CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Erza woke up to a bright white light that was penetrating her eyelids. Eyelids are not entirely opaque, and occasionally bright lights can wake even the deepest sleeper into consciousness.

She stretched out lazily, squinting her eyes, letting her arms and legs pull in opposite directions and yawning loudly. It was the first stretch of the day, and it was glorious.

Sitting up, she began to notice something was very different from what she was expecting. As he vision adjusted, she noticed immediately that she was not in the same place she went to bed in. In fact, she was not in the barn at all.

She was surrounded by tall white walls.

She was in the labyrinth.

Standing suddenly, Erza began to pace in question of reality. Was this some sort of dream? Why was she back in the labyrinth, and where was Lux if she was?

"Lux?" yelled Erza looking up into the night sky of the dimension, something she had seen before when she first came to the labyrinth. She called out again for Lux and even Felix, walking aimlessly throughout the rooms and halls.

She barely noticed that she was running in a panicked frenzy, trying to tell if what she was experiencing was reality of some test or hallucination.

Yet, just as she was about to give up hope, she wondered into a room and came upon a sleeping Natsu. He was such a heavy sleeper that no bright light or yelling could wake him, only brute force. He was strewn out in the same odd position he normally slept in, with his arms astray and his legs in no definitive direction.

"Natsu!" yelled Erza bending down to his side and shaking him awake, "Get up, it's an emergency."

"Five more minutes, Erza," moaned Natsu, rolling over to the other side. How pathetic.

Erza sighed at the useless morning attitude Natsu was showing. "Natsu, seriously, we're in the labyrinth for some reason, wake up."

Natsu just rolled over toward Erza, his eyes opening slowly and seeing her face before him. Then he started to notice the white walls around him and began to apprehend the strangeness of the situation.

"Why are we here?" he asked, suddenly wide awake, "Is this another training or something?"

"I don't know, Natsu," said Erza looking around, "I'm just as confused as you are." Erza began to think about the situation. Before, she was in the labyrinth alone because Lux only allowed one at a time within the labyrinth. Being with Natsu was definitely cause for question. "Perhaps since there are more than one of us in here, I'd say there is another reason behind this," she theorized aloud.

Natsu nodded, looking around. He was remembering the fact that there was no way out unless Lux was there, so they felt truly stranded in the labyrinth at this time, unaware of what was to happen or what to expect. What was going on in reality that they were being trapped in this dimension like criminals.

The entire time, Erza was thinking about what she heard the night before about Lux's father wanting to hunt down Erza for her soul. And all the while, she couldn't shake the image of Amaliel out of her head. There was something horrifying about seeing him come for her, wanting to destroy her soul by descent into madness. However, she did not let this fear come out, she did not want to worry Natsu with what she heard at the moment.

Natsu was beginning to walk around, and Erza followed silently. There was no actual point in walking around anyway since they would never find an exit. However, moving seemed to be calming the nerves and tension between the two teammates.

"Perhaps Lucy and Gray are in here as well," said Natsu suddenly, stopping and turning back to Erza.

"That would make sense," she said quietly, still thinking about Amaliel.

Natsu began to call out for Gray and Lucy as they walked among the rooms. It seemed that sound did not travel very far, because it was not until they were within the room Lucy was in that she finally heard them.

Lucy, unlike Natsu, was awake at the time, but she was leaning against the wall in fear. She was viably shaking and grasping her knees to her chest, a natural comforting position for humans. However, when she saw Natsu and Erza walk in, she began to feel more relieved and rushed over to them.

"Thank goodness," she said pawing at the two of them, "I was afraid I was alone and this was some cynical training exercise."

"Are you okay?" asked Natsu cocking his head at the almost hysterical Lucy. She had tears running down her face and she was pale from terror.

"Yes, I am feeling better now that I'm no longer alone," she said wiping a tear from her eye. That hadn't been aware that she was so hysterical in this situation. The labyrinth brought back bad memories of the nightmares so returning to the same location as those nightmares brought on mixed fears.

Natsu just smiled before cupping his hands and turning to the sky, "Lux?" he yelled, "Lux, if you can hear us, why the hell are we in here?"

At first there was no answer, but just as he was about to call again, the voice of Lux ran clear within the maze.

"I am sorry," came her voice from an unknown place, "You are there for you own protection."

Erza and Lucy both looked up as if the sound was coming from there. However, her voice seemed to radiate from every angle, from every corner and place in the maze. It was a surround of her calm and complacent voice, however, there was a hint of strain in usual disposition. Almost as if she was feigning calmness.

"Protection from what?" yelled Erza back.

Lux did not say anything for a moment, gathering her thoughts, but then she made the situation clear.

"We were attacked last night," she said wryly and straight forward, "He came and there was nothing I could do. You are not capable of withstanding the delirium, so I put all four of you in the labyrinth to protect you."

"Lux, are you fighting him now?" asked Erza, her voice showing that she could hardly believe the situation.

"I am," she said, "But do not worry, just remain here."

"No!" yelled Lucy, all of a sudden yelling up, "That is foolish and you know it. We decided we would help you defeat your father, so locking us up does nothing to further our mission. You also said that keeping more people is magically taxing, so you won't be able to win if you imprison us in here."

"Lucy, you do not-"

"Put a little more faith in us, Lux," said Natsu, joining in support, "We can do this, the only way we can is together. Let us out, and we'll finish what we started."

"I cannot guarantee your safety," she responded.

"We never asked for that," said Erza, all of a sudden chiming in, "We are here to help you, so let us out so we can do our part."