Bloody Love [A NaLu Fanfic]

Chapter 7: Beneath the City

Lucy and Natsu ran across the cobblestoned street to the place where Natsu's flames had vanished.

Looking down, they saw a metal grate that led to a dark passageway under the streets.

"It must be down there," Lucy pointed. Lifting the metal grate, she dropped down to the depths below.

Lucy landed on a cold stone floor that was oozing with black water. Man, it reeks in here, she thought, looking around at the dirty stone walls decked occasionally with dim lights as Natsu landed beside her. Beyond them, two passageways extended in opposite directions -- one to the left, and one to the right. Well, at least I can see, I guess... no mist here.

"Which way?" Natsu asked.

"Maybe we should split up?" Lucy suggested. The walls and ceiling of the passageway dripped, creating eerie echoes that reverberated down both halls. Lucy suddenly shivered with cold.

"We're not splitting up," Natsu said firmly, gripping her arm. "I'm not going to let you escape again."

Lucy looked up at his face with a look of shock written on hers. He looked back at her with a frown on his face. "Nani?" she inquired. "What's wrong, Natsu?"

Natsu shook his head. "Never mind. Let's get this darned mission over with first. We'll talk about it afterward."

Lucy had never seen Natsu this irritated before, especially not at her. She sighed. "Why don't you light a fire and we can see where the flames go?"

Natsu obliged, creating a small flame in his hand. It was immediately pulled toward the left tunnel by an invisible wind.

"Alright, left we go," Natsu said, walking toward it. Once he entered the tunnel, however, his image flickered and was gone, and the tunnel disappeared, too.

"Natsu?!" Lucy exclaimed in panic, running up to the place where the tunnel used to be. She knocked on the wall, but it was solid. It was as if the tunnel had never existed.

No, not this again, Lucy thought worriedly as she suddenly had flashbacks of the mission where everything had gone wrong.

Dark cave... sudden earthquake... steaming ground... surging swarm of monsters... pitch black... Lucy screaming... Natsu's wild look in his eyes... "Save yourself, Lucy! I'll hold them back! Maybe one of us can still survive..." ... "NATSUUUU, NOOOOOO!"

Snap out of it, Lucy! Lucy's eyes suddenly opened wide, she was sitting on the ground, panting and shivering. Shakily, Lucy rose to her feet, seeing the rightward tunnel still extending in front of her. Well, I have to go on, she thought to herself. To finish this mission, to find Natsu... and she stepped into the tunnel.
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Natsu, in the left tunnel of the cave, turned around when he didn't hear Lucy behind him.

He faced a dead end with no Lucy in sight.

"What the hell?" Natsu muttered under his breath, totally confused. "Lucy?" he yelled, running up to the dead end where the opening used to be and punching the wall hard. "DAMN IT!" he exclaimed, punching it again and again. But it was no use.

Turning around, Natsu looked at the passageway before him. Dripping water echoed down the hall, where he could smell the faintest trace of a strange, sinister odor. The sooner I get this mission over with, the sooner I can find Lucy and get the hell out of this place, he thought as he walked down the tunnel.
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As Lucy walked down her tunnel, she suddenly heard a noise behind her and turned around.

The end of the tunnel from which she came was sealed.

"Who's there?" Lucy called out nervously. No one responded, so she walked on.

As she walked on the cold, damp stones, she suddenly came across a huge chasm with jagged rocks at a great depth below. Carefully edging her way along the wall, where there was a tiny strip of floor left, she walked parallel to the chasm until she made it to the other side. Yikes, that was close, Lucy thought. What is this place?

Next, Lucy came upon a set of mirrors on the walls of the tunnel. At first, they reflected her image back to her, but as she walked along, the mirrors started to distort and reflect different things.

One mirror reflected Lucy's childhood: it showed a young Lucy in the yard of her mansion, laughing and playing with her mother and father.

Another mirror showed Lucy fighting alongside her friends during the Grand Magic Games. They were victorious, and Lucy, still injured and confined to a hospital bed, smiled when she saw the news.

"This is creepy..." Lucy muttered to herself as she walked on.

But Lucy paused at a third mirror that showed just her and Natsu. The two of them were in a meadow in springtime, sitting under a cherry blossom tree with a picnic laid out in front of them. Lucy leaned against Natsu and smiled at him. Natsu smiled back, grabbing Lucy's hand, and kissed her on the lips.

"A-ahh!" the real Lucy widened her eyes in surprise as Mirror-Natsu and Mirror-Lucy continued kissing with more passion. But Lucy couldn't stop watching... something in her had stirred...

Suddenly the mirror turned smoky and the scene changed, turning to a rainy day. Mirror-Lucy was standing with her back to real Lucy, blood dripping from her hands. Mirror-Natsu approached Mirror-Lucy and sliced her through the stomach, then caught her as she fell. The mirror went black.

Lucy gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, tears in her eyes. What could this scene possibly mean? Something to happen in the future? Everything else in the mirrors had been true...

Shivering, Lucy kept walking. The tunnel took a sudden right turn, and she followed it... to find more mirrors.

No, I don't want to see more, Lucy squeezed her eyes shut and walked quickly. When she opened her eyes again, however, the whole tunnel was full of mirrors.

Lucy screamed, her heart pounding and head aching. Her reflection was everywhere around her, but they started changing, distorting...

Meanwhile, on Natsu's end of the tunnel, he faintly heard Lucy's scream. "Lucy?!" he called out into the darkness. But there was no reply. Natsu started running down the tunnel when he suddenly saw--

Lucy.

She briefly glanced at him, then started walking quickly away. "Wait, Lucy, wait!" Natsu yelled after her, running quickly as her figure faded into the distance...
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OMG what is this underground labyrinth?!?! Hella creepy if you ask me!! Well the fun has only just begun... stay tuned to find out what other psychological thrills are in for Natsu and Lucy next!!