The Fallen(Nalu)

27- Bad Feeling

"Are we really sure we want to do this?"

My feet are planted on the ground. My hands sweat nervously.

Natsu and Happy stand a little in front of me, watching me with annoyed expressions.

"Yes, Lucy. We took the job. We can't back out now."

I cringe my nose in a pout but take a step towards the cave anyway.

He's right. We took the job so we need to carry through.

Plus whatever thing is lurking in here isn't a match for Natsu so I shouldn't be worried.

We all walk through the mouth of the cave, the light immediately fading out as the sun gets hidden by the rocky ceiling.

The air is extremely humid and warm.

"Happy look at this!"

I glance over and see Natsu running his hand down the rocky wall, a slimy substance sticking to his fingers.

My eyes widen and my mouth turns down in disgust.

"That is so gross, Natsu! Don't go touching stuff when you don't know what it is!"

He shrugs me off and laughs, Happy immediately following Natsu in wiping his paw down the wall.

A chill runs down my spine and I wrap my arms around my front.

"This place seriously gives me the creeps. Who even paid us to do this job all the way out here, anyway?"

Natsu and Happy stop messing with the wall and walk up to me. I take a safe step away from the both of them so they don't get any ideas about wiping their dirty hands on me.

"The owner of this land paid us."

I raise an eyebrow at Natsu.

"Someone owns this land? There's nothing up here except mountains."

Natsu nods his head and starts walking again.

"I don't know why he bought the land in the first place but now he's trying to explore this cave and see if there's anything valuable here. He said two of his nephews had a run in with this monster down here that almost got them killed."

I gulp and look ahead of me.

"I see."

The farther we walk the darker it gets and the only source of light is the one Natsu controls with his hand.

The walls slowly start to close in leaving just enough room for the three of us to stand side by side.

I guess if the rest of the cave has tunnels this size we don't need to worry about the creature being too big.

As soon as the thought comes to my mind the cave suddenly opens up to a huge area.

We all stop in place.

We can only see as far as the small flame in Natsu's hand will reach so he extends his arm and shoots a beam of fire from his hand.

It goes forward, lighting up the walls around us and the ceiling that extends much higher than I expected.

"Well, I'd say this is probably where it is."

I press my lips together and gulp.

I hate this place.

It's dark and slimy and who knows how far down we are now.

The sound of rocks cluttering echoes off of the walls around us.

We all look over to the source of the noise and my eyes widen when I see something slither across the ceiling.

"It looks like a giant worm...ewwww...."

Happy whispers from my side and I can see Natsu nod his head.

A giant long, wormy creature crawls across the ceiling of the cave...but it's much worse than a worm. It's got a bunch a bunch of tiny legs all across it's underside more like a centipede and it's mouth region covers it's whole head, hundreds of razor sharp teeth all lined up in a circle going all the way back.

My hands tighten around my arms and I tremble slightly.

"You know what, Lucy. I'm starting to realize maybe it wasn't all that funny."

Natsu chuckles from beside me and I stop trembling. I glance over at him and smack his arm with my left hand.

"I know this isn't funny, Natsu. It's mean."

"Well...it is a little funny. But I won't do this to you again. That thing is honestly pretty gross."

"Hey, guys?"

We both look over at Happy who stares straight ahead of him.

"What?"

As Natsu responds to Happy my gaze follows Happy's.

"I think it can hear us..."

When my eyes finally match Happy's line of sight , straight ahead is the cave creature slithering directly towards us on the ceiling.

"Okay, Natsu. You picked this job...you can go first. If it doesn't work out I'll help you out."

Natsu's fist lights aflame and he starts running forward.

"Sounds good to me!"