Job Gone Wrong (Nalu)

Chapter 3

Pale moonlight filtered through into the darkness of the Labyrinth's interior, illuminating a small area around me.  Natsu then sauntered past me, lighting his fist on fire. 

"Wait, Natsu.  The light could attract trouble," I warned him, putting my hand on his shoulder. 

"Do you wanna see or not?" Natsu questioned in reply, his brow furrowing. 

"Fine," I sighed, following him into a small chamber with seven doorways.

I observed each path, noticing how they appeared identical.  With a sigh, I turned around, facing the entrance and staring at the moonlight.  Natsu stayed in his place, staring at each path as I had done before.

"Hey, Lucy, do you have a celestial spirit that can check out these paths?" Natsu wondered aloud.

"Is Cana sober?  Did Gray stop stripping? Natsu, did you just have an idea that wasn't useless?" I questioned rhetorically, my jaw dropping in surprise. 

"Yeah, I guess so," he chuckled, then paused briefly.  "Hey, that wasn't very nice!"

I burst into laughter, causing Natsu to frown and sigh.  I finally regained my composure and focused my attention back on Natsu's original question.  After a few minutes of discussion with Natsu about how to find the book, Natsu decided to do something reckless. No surprises there.

"Fire dragon roar!" Natsu yelled, causing an eerie echoing noise as he blasted flames at each of the entrances.

"What are you doing!?! You're going to make this place even more unstable than it already is!"

With that, a loud rumbling noise could be heard. A few pillars collapsed at the release of magic energy and fire, falling into a deep pit below us. The fall caused the lesser supported pathways to plummet below us as well. Only the more sturdy pathways remained, but many structures within the labyrinth collapsed. Now a huge open chamber spanned in front of me. I couldn't see far in the darkness, but runes in an ancient language had appeared in front of each of the remaining paths.

"Would ya look at that!" Natsu beamed at me.

"I wish Levy was here! She would be able to read those runes!" I sighed frustratedly, my lips curling into a slight frown.

"Runes? Oh those. I can't see much. Here lemme give us some light," he offered, lighting his hand on fire yet again.

"Be careful, Natsu!" I warned.

Suddenly, the runes in front of one path began to glow a faint green color. And the path illuminated in front of us.

"Let's go! Natsu ordered, gripping my hand and tugging me along with him. He lead me quickly along the path over the pit beneath us. As we stepped off of the path, it began to shake and crumble. With a loud crash, it was destroyed, leaving Natsu and me with no option to turn back.

Natsu, being the completely oblivious idiot he is, simply continued walking forward, dragging me along with him. We continued through the labyrinth for a few more hours, enduring trap after trap and countless situations before reaching another large chamber. Once inside, a large slab of rock fell across the entrance to the chamber, blocking us in. However, Natsu easily destroyed it with his 'Fire Dragon Iron Fist.'

Suddenly, water began to rush into the chamber, immediately soaking my feet. Natsu freaked out, blowing fire at all of the walls, but none of them would budge.