You're Part of My Crew Now, Princess

Pile Of Ashes

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Lolilo243 and SHAHADmakharesh for always supporting this story. Even if all they did was vote for a chapter. Thank you for always voting, or commenting, because it's the only reason I've continued this story, even though I wanted to quit. I'd also like to apologize for taking so long to publish this chapter.

Natsu let out one final roar before the group attacked. Lucy stayed back with Levy because they were both better at fighting from a distance. Lucy sent Loke and Taurus into the battle but wasn't able to keep them both out for long due to her fleeting energy.

"Levy, please don't leave me."

"Don't worry Lu-chan, I'm not going anywhere."

"That's good." Lucy then slumped to the floor passed out.

"Lu-chan!?" Levy bent down and felt for her pulse.

"Shrimp! What's going on back there?" Gajeel yelled from the middle of the battle.

"She's fine, just unconscious. I'll take care of her, don't worry about us."

"Akagi! If you lay another hand on Lucy, I'll turn you into a pile of ashes!" Natsu roared at the man he was fighting after he saw Lucy pass out.

It was looking like the pirates were going to win the battle, when Lord Akagi suddenly started laughing.

"You think you can beat me this easily? You think you can win just like that? I've been keeping tabs on all of you, and I have ways to take you all out. With the documents you stole from one of my bases I'm sure you read about my plans with magic adaption. My plan was to be able to suck the magic out of people and then use the magic as a weapon. Well, I've recently made a new model and it seems to have worked with my test subjects. Let's see how it works on you guys."

Levy watched in slow motion as a beam shot out from the wall and was heading towards Natsu and Gajeel. With quick thinking, she made a mirror in front of them and shot the beam back at Akagi.

You see, Levy had her suspicions that Akagi was a magic user himself. He had been outcasted from his family before he later returned and killed off his family members to take the throne for himself.

Akagi screamed in pain and doubled over.

"How did you know! Nobody but my family knew about this! I'll get you for this!" Akagi was still withering on the floor, but his threat was serious.

"Shrimp! Get out of here! Now!"

"Why? What's wro-" Levy didn't have time to finish when she was suddenly shoved to the floor.

A scream echoed through the room, and everyone stared at its source.

"Luce! No no no no no!" Natsu had run up to Lucy and fell to his knees and cradled Lucy in his arms.

"Natsu, I'll be alright."

Lucy reached up a hand and cradled Natsu's face. He leaned into her hand and covered hers with his own. Tears flowed down his face and Lucy used her other hand to wipe them away before she fell unconscious.

Natsu gently laid Lucy down and kissed her forehead. He stood up and glared at Akagi.

"You bastard! You'll pay for this! By the end of the day, you will be nothing more than a pile of ashes!" Natsu's face was full of anger and the temperature in the room shot up.

"Natsu, be careful," Gray advised from the side of the room.

"Get Luce to the ship. And I advise that everyone leave this room immediately. It's about to get a little hot in here."