6. Arrival
Natsu groaned and opened his eyes. Last night, he had fallen asleep in a sitting position with his back against a wall and lucy in his lap. Now, he was lying on his back and Lucy's head was on his chest, her hands grabbing his shoulders. He blushed. How had that happened?
At about the same time, Lucy opened her eyes and pushed herself upward, looking below her. Natsu was right under her, his eyes wide.
"Oh." Lucy croaked. "Uh, sorry…" she mumbled and rolled over on her side.
"Be careful!" Natsu yelled, grabbing her waist. They were at the edge of the tunnel and there was a deep hole right off the exit.
Natsu sighed in relief and pulled her up. "You scared me, Luce. You almost fell into that hole."
Luce? Since when did Natsu have a pet name for her? "Uh… thanks."
Natsu grinned and stood up, pulling Lucy up with him. "Well," he said. "We better get moving."
"Yeah." Lucy said, walking over to a sleeping Happy. "How do we get him up?"
"You can't seal my fish…" Happy mumbled in his sleep. Lucy couldn't help but giggle.
"Happy. Wake up." Natsu said, crouching down beside him.
Happy rolled over and faced Natsu. "Ugh, fine."
The three of them walked along the tunnel until they got to the edge again.
Lucy ran her fingers through her blonde hair. "So… how do we go on if there's a huge hole?"
Natsu nodded. "As I thought… we have to jump!"
Lucy looked over sternly. "This isn't some kind of game, stupid!"
"Lucy's scary…" Happy whispered to Natsu.
Natsu nodded. "I know."
"I can hear you!" Lucy shouted.
About ten seconds passed, none of them saying anything. "So how are we going to get to the other side?" Happy finally asked, breaking the silence.
Natsu brightened. "Why don't we have Happy fly us?"
Happy crossed his arms over his chest. "Natsu, sure, but no way can I carry Lucy."
Lucy narrowed her eyebrows. "You little…"
"Okay, okay, I'll try." Happy said, grabbing onto Lucy and Natsu. He extended his wings and started to fly.
Happy let out a grunt. "You guys are so heavy!"
"Gee, thanks." Lucy said sarcastically.
Happy's wings tilted o one side and his grip on Lucy loosened. "I'm gonna fall!" she yelled, eyes wide in fear.
"Lucy, grab onto my hand!" Natsu shouted, reaching for her. Lucy clutched his hand tightly just in time for Happy to let go completely.
She gasped and held onto Natsu's hand tighter. Happy gritted his teeth. "I can't hold onto both of you and fly at the same time!"
Lucy felt her grip on Natsu's hand slide. She tried grabbing on tighter, but it was too late. She was falling into the deep hole before she could do a thing.
a.a.a.
When Lucy opened her eyes, she was on a cold concrete floor. She didn't recognize the room, but it was small and dim candles were lighting it.
"Hey, she's awake." A voice whispered. Lucy looked around and saw a girl sitting against the wall. Wait. There was another. And another…
She realized that there were a lot of people against the wall and they had one single chain around their ankle.
"Uh… um," Lucy stammered. "Who are you?"
One of the men straightened his back and stared right at her. "We are from the guild 'Night Star'. Azerath saw us as a threat and captured us. They are planning on… blowng us up. Just like they did to members of 'Blue Pegasus'."
Lucy's eyes widened. "Now way." She covered her mouth in shock. "Why don't you fight against them?"
Another member shook her head sadly. "We can't use our powers because of these chains." She pointed at the chains on everyone's ankles.
Lucy suddenly stood up and balled up her fists. She gave one determined nod. "But I can. I'm not gonna let you die. I'll protect you!"
a.a.a.
"Lucy!" Natsu yelled as she fell down into the hole. Pretty soon, she was completely out of sight.
Happy had a worried look on his face. "I'll fly down there and we can get her." He grabbed onto Natsu tighter and plunged down deep into the hole. Suddenly, he stopped.
"Why'd you-" Natsu started to ask, but then he knew exactly why he'd stopped. There was concrete flooring with big letters that said "KEEP OUT".
Lucy was no where in sight. "This doesn't make sense." Happy said. "This is where the floor ends. If Lucy fell, she should be right here. But she's not… where is she?"
Natsu shook his head. "No. This isn't where the floor ends. There has to be something below his. Some sort of room. But it won't let us pass through."
Happy looked confused. "Then how did Lucy pass through?"
"I don't know. But… we have to find some way to get in."
a.a.a.
Lucy kept pacing around the room, planning for what she could do to save the people of 'Night Star'. Her power wasn't exactly strong enough to stop a huge bomb and she couldn't think of any celestial spirit to help her with that.
"Um… Miss?" She heard a voice say.
Lucy whipped around to face one of the members. "Yeah?"
"Well," the girl continued. "You have to hurry. He's almost here."
Lucy arched a brow in confusion. "He?" then she thought back to her fight with Jiro. He had collapsed to the floor and said something about a guy coming. Could this be the same person?
"He is the Master of Azerath. The one who's dropping the bomb. He's arriving any minute now." The girl said, her eyes filling up with tears.
"Oh… Well, how is he coming?" Lucy asked, a worried feeling coming over her body.
"He's coming from a plane. And he's dropping the bomb from above here." One of the men explained.
Lucy then realized something. Something that could help her fight against the bomb and save everyone.
She needed Natsu.
Suddenly, there was the sound of helicopter blades in the sky. The ceiling cracked and chips came off it. He was here. The Master of Azerath.