Trust

Footsteps | 靴音

Lucy could hear every step she took, her shoes clicking on the marble steps being the only sound she could focus on. She counted each and every step as she walked up them to occupy her mind and force herself to not think about how nervous she is.

Eighteen, nineteen, twenty.

The Fairy Tail insignia on the dungeon has to be a fluke, doesn't it? How could they ever manage to come to this world—how could the First Master (the only one she knows who has the abilities to do this) allow them to come to this world out of every other world that possibly exists after she sent her here to get away from them?

Fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three.

She thought she'd finally be free of them, that she could finally move past them and have them fade away in the depths of her memories over time.

Seventy-five, seventy-six, seventy-seven.

But apparently, she can never be free of them. No matter how hard she tries, they always come back in one way or another.

Eighty-two, eighty-three, eighty-four.

Oh how she wishes this is just something with a similar insignia and has absolutely nothing to do with Fairy Tail—but who was she kidding, of course it was going to.

Ninety-eight, ninety-nine... one hundred.

Atop the one hundredth step, Lucy stopped walking, but not because she was having second thoughts or deciding to quit. No, she stopped because she had finally reached the very top of all of the steps.

Now, face to face with the black chasm that she still couldn't see through, she refused to hesitate any longer and stepped into it with confidence she doesn't have.

- - - - -

The inside of the dungeon was eerily familiar but she just couldn't figure out why.

She doesn't recognize anything about the layout or the actual area but she couldn't help but feel a nagging sensation tug at her, screaming that she knows this place and never one to ignore her instincts (she would've been long dead if she did), she kept the thought at the back of her head and cautiously began mentally mapping the dungeon out.

After every few steps, she would stop and make sure she wasn't in an area she already went through and searched around for any potential threats. But there was never anything. No potential threats—not even any sign of life except for her.

Which does not seem right at all.

From what she knows, dungeons are supposed to be full of life because of the Djinn it houses and they're never supposed to be as dead as this one is.

Yet, no matter how much of the dungeon she explored, the only thing alive in the vast and rocky caverns is her.

I should try to find the Djinn at least.

Even if there was no life and the dungeon itself makes all the hair on Lucy's skin stand on end, she has a reason to be here, one she's planning on following through on.

So, now with a more clear goal in mind, she spent her time trying to find the 'correct way' to navigate it and make it to wherever the Djinn may be hiding instead of mapping out the dungeon as a whole and hoping to come accros it somehow.

But while on her (what looks like) hopeless journey to the Djinn without being chosen as a potential king vessel of any of the Magi, something unexpected happened. She heard something in the distance. No, not something—someone. Multiple someone's. All grouped together, most likely traveling together, overlapping and yelling, being very clear tell-tale signs of life, something this dungeon has been clearly lacking in for the entire time she's been in it.

—————
A/N: who's voices did she hear? No one knows! Not even me! This chapter is so much shorter than usual but anything else I could've added would've made it have enough shit to fill an entire second chapter. But still, hope you enjoyed!