Lucy's Shadow

Forgotten Hallway

I woke up and, to my disappointment, I was not in fact back in my own bed with Natsu and Happy. I was really starting to miss those guys, even though it hasn't been that long. I hoped their okay.

I got up, feeling better now that I had more sleep, and saw a deep purple fabric on the ground with a note attached. The note said," A gown fit for a queen. I am sure you will look beautiful in it as always. Lucifer"

I set the note down and picked up the dress. It was a true work of art. The fabric was softer than the finest of silks. It felt like I was running my hand over the surface of calm water. As I held it up, I admired the design. It was simple, flowy and almost delicate, with a plunging neckline that I believed would reveal just enough.

After I put it on, (the dress fit like it was made for me) I glanced around, and my eyes landed on a mirror. I froze. My eyes, glued to my reflection. The dress hugged my body in all of the right places. As I had expected, the neckline showed the perfect amount of cleavage. The fabric flowed down me, and pooled around my feet, not quite long enough to trip me, but long enough to look like I was wearing a waterfall that reflected the sunset. I moved to turn around, and the dress shimmered slightly. The straps connected in the back, leaving my back completely exposed.

Once I was done admiring myself, I decided to adventure outside of this room. I opened the door, and looked out. There was a short hallway, and then a flight of stairs spiraling downward. It looked dark and unwelcoming, but as I looked back into my room, I decided that I couldn't stay up there forever, and before I could change my mind, I walked out of the room, closing the door, and down the staircase.

It turned out that the staircase was longer than I expected. When I got down to the next floor, I was out of breath, and had a stitch in my side.

After catching my breath for a few moments, I began to walk down the new hallway. There were five doors on both sides of me, but all of them were locked, and refused to budge, so I kept walking. The hallway went on for what felt like forever, the stone's lit by strange magenta torches.

When I finally reached the end, I saw a final door. It wasn't plain like all of the others, but instead it was intricate and beautiful. It was made of what looked like wood, but it had a certain glow that was lacking in the rest of the hallway, or the rest of this world for that matter. It was laced with gold and silver veins that made a pattern of what looked like an interlaced heart.

The strangest part of all was not the pattern, but the fact that the door had no handle whatsoever. There was no keyhole either. I looked at the door, and noticed that there was a small handprint imprinted into the center of the heart. Out of instinct, I placed my hand in the indent.

My hand fit perfectly, and the veins of metal glowed. The next thing I knew was that I was on, what was presumably, the other side of the door. It was beautiful. A garden of roses, lilies, lilacs, anything you could think of, it was there.

The gravel path I was standing on was cutting through the rows of flowers, and as I followed it I started to hear things. At first, it was just whispers, but then they started to grow louder the farther in I went.

I followed the path until it opened up into a clearing. In the center of said clearing was a ball. As I drew closer to it, as if it compelled me, I started to see images. The images never stayed long, just like the whispers were just quiet enough for me to not make out the words, the images were changing too fast for me to make out a clear picture.

I felt a sudden chill run up my spine, and I whipped around to see the flowers sway just the smallest bit, even though there was no wind. The nice calming atmosphere was gone, as were the whispers, and when I turned back to the sphere, it looked as if someone filled it with blood.

That was it for me. I turned and ran back to the entrance, and whenever I passed a flower, it seemed to wilt and die. I began to hear rustling in the dead flowers, and I swore I saw a torn and matted hide slinking through, but then I made it to the door, and slamming my hand into the indent, I left the nightmare garden.

My running didn't stop there however. I ran down that lengthy hallway, tripping over my dress, until I saw Lucifer. He saw me as well, and when I stopped next to him trying to catch my breath, all he did was raise an eyebrow.

"Monster... flowers... door..." I tried to explain to him. My breath was still trying to catch up with the rest of me, and my heart refused to stop pounding.

He stared at me, then smirked. "The nightmare garden, yes. You are not allowed in there Lucy, and I'm sorry I have to do this, but you forced my hand."

He proceeded to put his hand up to my forehead, and with a faint glow of his magic, I felt all of the memories of that door and what lay behind it slip away until nothing but the fear remained.

I woke up suddenly, in the arms of Lucifer. "What happened?" I groggily asked.

"I was going to ask you the same thing Lucy. We were going on a tour of the castle when you just fainted. You nearly gave me a heart attack," he replied, his eyebrows furrowed worriedly.

"It must have been out of exhaustion. I feel better now, really. We can continue on our tour. I'm dying to see the rest of this place anyhow," I laughed slightly. I really was feeling better, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. I shrugged inwardly and let Lucifer guide me back to the stairs to have the tour. I didn't even glance back at the forgotten hallway.