Fairy Tail: Pirates and Merpeople - Ch. 5

Fairy Tail: Pirates and Merpeople – Ch. 5

The Black Cloud

“…The club?” Wendy asked confused but maybe a little interested.  Natsu’s eyes grw bright again, a smile spreading on his face.  He grabbed a chair from Erza’s desk and sat down on it with the back facing forward.  Gajeel leaned against the wall.

“My, our,” Natsu added looking over to Gajeel, “our parents are Dragon’s Claw Pirates, too.”

“Your parents?”  Wendy asked looking back and forth between the two of them.  “ You and…”

“Gajeel.” Natsu answered.

“Gajeel Redfox.” Gajeel elaborated a little quietly.

“Oh. Nice to meet you.”  Wendy answered shyly.  Gajeel replied with a small grunt and a nod in her direction.

“So…You and Gajeel’s parents are in the same crew as my mom?”

Natsu and Gajeel nodded simultaneously.

“So…they’re…gone, too?”

They nodded solemnly.

“Oh…” she said looking down.  “Natsu how’d you know about my mom?”

“Hmm?” he asked clutching his chin in thought. “I just had a feeling you were like us.”

“Yeah right!”  Gajeel interrupted, hitting Natsu on the head.

“Jerk.” Natsu spat through his teeth. “Uh, well,” he continued rubbing his head.  

“Actually… I kinda heard you tellin’ Gramps, hehe.”

“What are your parents’ names?” Wendy asked, thoughtlessly playing with the tips of her hair.

“Hmm?” Natsu asked.  Wendy looked up at them.

“Your parents?”

“My dad.  His name is Igneel.”  Natsu said proudly.

“Metalicana.  That’s my old man.”  Gajeel replied a little longingly.

“And your mom, Wendy,” Natsu began, “She’s Grandine, right?”

“Oh.  Mhm.  She’s the navigator for the Dragon’s Claws.” A sad smile spread to her eyes.  

“She’s really good at understanding the weather based on what her senses tell her and she taught me how to do it.”

“Ohh! That’s where you get your superpowers from, huh?” Natsu asked.

“Eh? Superpowers?” Gajeel asked, quirking his pierced eyebrow.

“No, no, i-it’s not a superpower, it’s just a, uh, sense, sort of.” Wendy laughed nervously.

“Oh. I get it.”

“Yeah, “ Natsu added.  “She’s like an astrologist.”

“You mean meteorologist…idiot.” Gajeel said, rolling his eyes.

“Right. A meatosogist.”

“Not even close.”

“My dad taught me cool stuff too, Wendy,”  Natsu said moving his chair closer to Wendy’s cot.

“Like what?” she said, a curious look on her face.  A mischievous grin played on his lips.

“Hehe.  He taught me how to breathe fire!”  

Wendy’s eyes lit up and her mouth dropped.  “What?!”

“Mhm.” Natsu nodded.

“No, no, no,” Gajeel interrupted, shaking his head.  “He doesn’t BREATHE fire.  He EATS it.  Like a circus freak.”

“I’M a circus freak?  You’re the one who eats spoons and knives.”

“I-I don’t EAT knives!…I just like the taste of metal is all…” Gajeel argued, growing a little red.  Natsu turned towards Wendy, pointing over his shoulder towards Gajeel.

“Don’t listen to him, Wendy.  He’s just jealous ‘cause we have cooler powers than he does.”

“Jealous? None of us even HAS powers, stupid.”

“Ok, fine. Special skills.”

“Oh, please.” Gajeel snorted. “At least Wendy’s mom taught her something useful.  Our dad’s just taught us how to eat stuff we’re not supposed to.”

“Whatever.”

“Um,” Wendy interrupted their bantering.  “So…well…your dads haven’t…” Natsu hesitated before answering.  

“Nuhuh.” He replied looking at his hands. “We actually came here to ask you the same thing.”

“But I’m guessing we’re all in the same boat.” Gajeel interjected, looking from Wendy to Natsu.  They nodded silently.  They all stayed quiet for a couple of seconds before there was a knock on the door.  Mira peeked her head in.

“Gajeel, Erza’s looking for you.”

“Crap! I was supposed to be on duty.  She’s gonna be so pissed.”

“Haha!” Natsu snickered. “Good job, genius.”

“SHUT UP!” he yelled back.

“Uh, bye, Gajeel.” Wendy said sweetly.  Gajeel hesitated before replying with and awkward nod and then leaving the room as Mira closed the door behind her.  Natsu grinned turning back to Wendy.  

“He’s kind of a big idiot.”

“Gajeel?”

“Yep.  A little rough around the edges, but he’s part of the family like everyone here.”

“You seem like you’ve known each other a long time.  The way you fight and stuff.”

“Huh?  Oh well, it’s only been a couple months.  Actually, when we first met, he tried to kill me.”

“Kill…you?”

“Mhm.  He used to be this big time pirate bounty hunter.”

“A bounty hunter…”

“Yep.”

Wendy considered it for a moment.  An unsure look spread across her face.  Natsu looked at her confused before he raised his eyebrows and smirked evilly.

“Hey, Wendy.  You’re not scared, are ya?”

She looked up quickly.  “Huh? N-No, I just, um…”

Natsu laughed softly.

“You shouldn’t be.  Really.  Gajeel yells all the time and he’s kinda hard to look at.  But,” he hesitated, thinking about his words. “He’s pretty cool to have around.  Before I met him, I hadn’t met anyone else like me, ya know?”
Wendy looked Natsu straight in the eye and smiled.

“Yeah.  I do.”

At that moment, a loud clap of thunder boomed, shaking the ship.  Natsu got up and looked out of the small round window over Wendy’s cot.

“What the-,”

“Natsu!” Mira yelled opening the door.  “You need to go help on deck! There’s a big storm coming! It came out of nowhere!”

“What?” Wendy asked, going rigid.

"Wendy, what’s wrong?” Natsu asked, looking down at her with concern, his brows furrowed.

“Natsu! You need to go help, it’s closing in fast.” Mira repeated.

“No, no, no.” Wendy shook her head.  “It’s just like the last one.”

“What?” Natsu asked.

“Natsu! Go!”  Mira yelled.  “I’ll be here with Wendy.”
Natsu nodded before putting his hand on Wendy’s head.  She looked up at him, her eyes wet.

“Don’t worry, ok.”

She nodded slowly before he ran out of the cabin and down the hall.

***

Natsu ran up the stairs onto deck.  As soon as he stepped on, he slipped and fell, water splashing all over, the wind throwing around buckets and crewmates.  He hoisted himself up, looking over the deck out to sea.  The water was almost calm near the boat, but on the horizon, a black cloud was rolling, almost spiraling forward faster than a train.  Lightning burst from it in bright rods as if being thrown by an angry God.

“Whoa.” Is all Natsu could say.

“Hey!” A voice came from behind him.  He barely heard it over the wind.  He turned and saw Gray pushing his way against the wind towards Natsu.

“Hey, Natsu!  We could use a hand on closing the sails!”

“Yeah. Sure thing! But I need to talk to Gramps!”

“What?! Now!?”

“Yeah! I need to tell him someth-,”

A big splash of water came over the side of the ship, knocking Natsu and Gray on their butts.  The ship was rocking back and forth now, making it even more difficult for the crew to prepare for the storm.  Natsu and Gray half walked, half crawled across the deck, sputtering from all the water.  Elfman and Gajeel stood struggling with ropes for the sails.  Gray left Natsu to help them, while Natsu continued making his way to the steps leading to the upper deck.  Erza and Makarov stood there yelling orders down below and trying to keep their balance.  When they saw Natsu struggling against the wind to climb the stairs, they stopped what they were doing.

“Natsu, son! What’re you doing up here?!” Makarov yelled over the wind, his damp moustache sticking to this face.

“Something’s wrong!” He hollered back.

“Wanna be more specific?!” Erza asked.

“This storm! It’s moving in way too fast! Wendy said ‘it’s just like the last one’!”  Makarov and Erza looked at each other with a grave expression.

“We should’ve realized it sooner!” Makarov said.

“Captain! If this storm is like the other, there’s nothing we can do!  We need to take cover!” Erza said.  At that moment, the sea around the ship began to swirl.  The wind whipped the drops of water around so fast, they cut the surface of people’s skin.  The black clod seemed to be the only thing in sight.  The sound of this crew’s frantic yells came from below.  Makarov’s eyes grew wide.  He walked immediately to the rail of the upper deck.  

“STOP! Stop what you’re doing, children!  We need to take cover! Get downsta-,” The ship started spinning rapidly, water and wind swirling like a vortex.  Makarov and Erza held onto the side of the rail, while Natsu clung to the bars on the side of the stairs, his legs beginning the lift into the air.  Natsu managed to crane his neck around to the deck below.  The sails were ripped off, along with one of the masts.  Some of the crew were tied to the other mast with rope, holding onto rails and handles.  However, some didn’t have anything to hold onto.  All Natsu could do was watch helplessly as a few of his crewmates flew off the deck, disappearing in the wall of black cloud.  He tightened his hold on the bars, gritting his teeth.  He snapped out of it when he got a sharp blow to the neck.

“Gah!” he croaked.  He turned forward to see what had happened.  Makarov was still on his knees, clinging to the rails on the upper deck, but Erza had flown over the side, hanging parallel to Natsu, struggling to keep her grip with her legs flailing in the air.

“Erza! Hold on! Please!” Natsu screamed.  She looked at Natsu with wide eyes as her fingers on her right hand slipped slowly from the bars.  Natsu let one arm go as well, using all his strength to reach for her, but before he could make it, Erza’s hand lost its grip.  In less than the time it took to blink, she was sucked into the spiraling vortex, her red hair the only thing visible in the black cloud.  Natsu saw her spin with the cloud like a lost red feather in the wind.  Then she was gone.

“ERZA!!” Natsu screamed at the top of his lungs, though his cry was stolen by the vacuum like suction of the air.  A giant crack shot its way like lightning up the center of the ship.  The two halves began to pull away from each other, showing everything inside the ship like a split diagram.  Natsu billowed like a flag over the huge crack.  He stared down, wide-eyed at it, parted so that the thick black sea showed.  Natsu felt as if he were flying over a bottomless chasm.  His crewmates began to fall into the crack, or continued to be sucked into the vortex.  The wetness in Natsu’s eyes blended with the spraying water cutting in his face.  

Boards and planks began to peel from the ship’s deck like tree bark, flying in all directions at high speed.  Natsu hunched closer to the rail trying not to get hit.  He dodged one that flew straight over his head, but it hurled straight into Captain Makarov.  Makarov received a blow to the head, a hard one that took away his balance.  He lost grip of the handle but tried to hold on with the other hand.  Natsu caught his leg and yelled “Hold on!” though neither could hear his words, but another plank spun its way toward Natsu and this time we couldn’t dodge it.  The corner caught him by the forehead with great force.  He lost his grip and both Natsu and Makarov were pulled into the vortex of black cloud.

***

Natsu blinked into consciousness surrounded by a pool of black.

‘Where am I?’ he thought.  He realized he wasn’t sitting or standing but his body was light, drifting.  The trickle of blood coming from his head floated away in the air.
“What…”  In the distance he saw a flicker of red.  A body.  It was Erza.


“Erza!” he screamed.  His words seemed to have bounced off a wall, echoing back and humming in his ears.  He tried to swim towards her, but his legs and arms wouldn’t move.  

“Erza! Wake up! Please!”  She didn’t respond.  Natsu struggled but it was no use.  Erza’s body continued to drift in the black.  All he could do was the same.

***

Natsu felt as if he’d been staring up at the nothingness for a long time.  Seconds, minutes, hours, days even…  After staring for a while, he saw that the blackness was some kind of mist.  It swirled around his body beautifully, flashing hints of glittering silver light as it danced around.  He had the urge to smile, though he knew he wasn’t happy.  His eyes became heavy though he wasn’t sleepy.  As he closed his eyes, the mist closing around him, cradling him.  Before he slipped fully into unconsciousness, he heard someone whisper his name.

“Natsssuuu…” It hissed sweetly.  He parted his eyes slightly, seeing the silhouette of a man.

“I…Igneel?...Dad?...” Natsu whispered.  The silhouette held Natsu warmly.  It shimmered like the mist, its mouth parted in a small smile, though it had no eyes or nose.

“Ssssleeep ssonnn…”

“Where…have you-,”

“Naatsssuuu…sssleeepp.”

Natsu tried to argue.  He wanted badly to ask questions, but his body was heavy with fatigue.  The shadow figure released his body and Natsu continued to drift.  As he gave into sleep, the last thing he remembered was hearing the voice of a man, seething hatred, chanting.

Follow the blackness, human…Like the sea you’ve filled with oil.
Follow the blackness, human…follow the blackness of your soul…