I'm sooooo sorry for updating so late. I've been more busy than expected :x And since I made you wait for so long, I wrote a longer chapter than the others. Also, to make it up to you, I'll publish another chapter this week, I promise.
Also, this chapter is written in the Third person since the groups are separated, it would have been messy to change of point of view every time I changed of group. The next chapter will be like that too.
Anyway, I hope you'll like it and that I didn't make you wait for nothing (:
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Chapter 6: Choose the right way.
"STOP FREAKIN' THROWING US HERE EVERY FREAKIN' TIME WE OPEN A FREAKIN' DOOR!" Natsu yelled out of the blue.
"That's because we took the wrong one. Let's try again." Erza was remaining calm next to him, her arms crossed in front of her.
"But that's like the tenth time it happens. I'm starting to get stiff. And I never thought I'd say that one day, but I don't want to eat any more fire." He put his hand right hand on his stomach, his left hand on his mouth, and burped some smoke, "I think I'm going to have indigestion."
Like Lucy and Gray, they had to choose the right door to reach the next room. The first room had lasers, and if you touched merely one of them, you'd go back to the start. In the second room, they were blocked by a fire wall. They didn't go past this room yet.
"Then I'll equip my Sea Empress Armor and stop the fire with water. That's not a problem. So, let's move on." She started to walk again.
"It is a problem!" Natsu yelled from behind. "We don't know how much rooms like that there are until we reach the end, are we really gonna go back from the start every time we get one wrong? I'm tired of this. There must be another way."
Erza nodded, "You've got a point. There's probably some logic to it. We should try to find some clues that would tell us which door to open."
"Well, I was thinking of burning every door and see what's behind it, but if that doesn't work, maybe your idea will."
Erza sighed. "You already tried to burn everything up, and we were sent back here because it was considered as cheating, remember?"
"Oh, right. I forgot, hehe." He told her with a grin while scratching the back of his head. "Then, let's go for your idea."
Erza opened the red door in front of her. Unlike Gray and Lucy, the size of the rooms and corridors were normal. But they had to abide by the rules of each room, which were stated by runes.
Erza changed into a ninja outfit. "Come on." She jumped in, Natsu following her.
"I'm really tired of this" Natsu complained as he struggled between the lasers.
"Let's try to make it flawlessly until the end so we won't have to go through it again." Erza replied calmly, reaching swiftly the other end of the room. "Hurry up." She urged Natsu.
"I'm trying!" He yelled out of frustration. He finally made it to the end. He sighed, "I don't want to do that anymore."
"Then, pay more attention to our surroundings so we can resolve this."
"Hai, hai." He replied soullessly.
Erza opened the blue door. They had found out it was the good one after trying opening the two others. The other end of the room was blocked by a wall of fire.
"So, I guess it's my turn to take care of this." Erza declared as she began to equip her Sea Empress Armor. But just as she was going to attack the firewall, she noticed it had already disappeared. She sighed and turned around, "Natsu... I thought you were sick of it."
He burped. "Yep, but I couldn't not eat it, it was too tempting."
Erza shook her head a little while smiling, "I should've known better." She changed back to her usual armor. "Anyway, let's look around to find some kind of clue. We have to choose between the numbers 6, 7, and 8. We've already the door with the number 8 on it, and it didn't work."
"But there's nothing here. There was the fire, but I ate it, and I don't think it was the clue. What's only left are the little candles on the walls." Natsu remarked, already giving up.
"That's it!" Erza exclaimed.
"What?" He wasn't following her.
"The candles. Count them. It may tell us which number to choose." She shortly answered him.
Natsu looked around. He saw three candles on his right and three others on his left. "There are six of them. Then, let's go for door #6!" He was already rushing towards the door, but realized he was not moving at all. Erza had grabbed his scarf from behind. "Hey, what are you doing? Let's go!"
"You didn't pay attention enough. There are actually seven candles."
"Huh? Where's the last one?"
"Here." Erza pointed the top of the door behind them. There was another one, only it wasn't lit.
"Oow. I didn't see this one. Good job, Erza!" He grinned at her, impressed.
"I just looked around, nothing to be impressed about."
"Well, I didn't see it. If you hadn't stopped me, we would have been ejected at the starting point again."
"That's why you'll have to pay more attention from now on."
"Yes, m'am!" He acted like a soldier obeying his captain.
They opened the door with the number 7 on it. Natsu's eyes widened. "What's this?"
xxxxx Meanwhile... xxxxx
Happy was lying on the ground, still in front of the mansion.
"Natsuuuuu, come back!" He whined. "I'm bored. I tried everything to go in there, but nothing worked." He talked to himself, his eyes getting teary.
He closed his eyes, giving up. "I don't care anymore, I'll sleep until they come back."
But then, his stomach gurgled. "Oh no, I'm hungryyyy." He looked around but didn't find anything eatable. "Natsuuuuu!" He called for help.
xxxxx Meanwhile… xxxxxx
Juvia and Lyon were in a totally dark room, the only source of light being a candle on the top of each door at the other end of the room. A piano playing could be heard. Like the others, they'd found themselves in front of three doors at the end of the corridor. One light blue, one red, and one black. Juvia had tried to open the light blue door, but it was locked. Lyon tried the red one, and it was locked too. (That's because these ways were already taken by the two other groups.) So, they went for the black one.
"These little dolls are just soooo cute, I just can't get bored of them!" Juvia exclaimed smiling at the 'cute little dolls' (which would in fact look rather creepy to most people, but it kind of reminded her of the dolls she used to make herself) that were crawling their way towards the two mages.
"How are they cute? The crawl and grip our legs and have a really freaky smile!" Lyon complained, shaking away the ones that were climbing on his right leg. "Seriously, how many of them are there?" He couldn't even freeze them because Juvia would be upset about it (he'd already tried the first time, and didn't want to see her angry face again.)
"A lot, it seems." Juvia sounded delighted by the thought. She caught one of the little things and hugged it. "I wanna take them home with us." She rubbed her cheek against it.
"I don't!" The Ice Mage yelled angrily, but then his facial expression softened, "Wait, 'with us', do you mean, the two of us, together?" He was now grinning, totally forgetting the creepy dolls.
Juvia's expression became deadpan, "No, stop dreaming."
Lyon's smile turned into a pout. "You're mean, Juvia-chan."
"Don't. Call. Me. Juvia-CHAN!" She exploded. Apparently, it was his pet-name of the day for her. And she obviously wasn't a fan of it.
"But I like it, it's cute." He pouted.
Juvia only rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore him, and walked towards the doors. The dolls had disappeared when she screamed against Lyon. She looked sad, "I think I scared them. Poor little things… I'll miss them."
"The music stopped too." Lyon remarked, still pouting a little.
Juvia stopped in front of the doors. "So, which one do you think we should open?"
"Well, not white 'cause we've already tried it. Maybe the grey one?"
"We can't do it meaninglessly again. This has to be logic. What if there are a dozen of other rooms like this? We can't count on luck only." She argued.
"Well, then there should be something telling us which one to open."
Juvia nodded. "Did you see something grey or blue here?"
"Well, not really, since it's too dark to see anything in there. I couldn't even see these weird puppets coming because it was too dark, and they were mostly black so it didn't help."
"That's it!" She yelled.
"What? You finally admit they were weird?" Lyon's face lightened.
"No, they're cute. But I think they were the clue. Like you said, they were mostly black. But they had also some grey on them. Let's take the grey one."
"Ok, I trust you, Juvia." He blushed after saying this sentence.
"You know what? You're the creepy one of the room." She told him while opening the grey door.
The second room looked like a living room. It had a sofa and a closet on the right, a table and a few chairs in the middle, and a fireplace on the left. The fire lighted the whole place, it felt somewhat cozy.
"I like this room better," Lyon stated. He crushed on the sofa, "Time for a break."
"It's not the time for taking a break. Look for clues." Juvia reprimanded him.
"Come on, let's rest a little before other creepy things come to us." He placed his hands behind his head, crossed his legs and closed his eyes.
"I doubt it's a resting place. Something's wrong. It's too calm, it makes me worried. Plus, what if the others are in danger and we're just resting?" Juvia argued.
"The others, or Gray?" Lyon opened his left eye, looking at her. He couldn't hide his frustration. It was always about Gray, she didn't even have to tell him anymore.
"Everyone." Juvia answered immediately, upset about his remark, "Of course I worry about Gray, but also about Lucy, and Natsu, and Erza, and even Happy who's been left behind. They're family." She explained. "Not that I have to explain myself to you." She looked away from him and started to look around for clues.
Lyon sighed and straightened up. "Look Juvia, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I know you care about everyone, you're so nice, and that's one of the reasons why I like you. I'm just…"
"Overreacting and hypersensitive and jealous for nothing when we're not even a couple?" Juvia finished the sentence for him, still looking anywhere but at him. He couldn't see the blush that appeared on her face when he said he liked her. Even if she already knew, hearing him say it with so much affection in his voice was totally different.
"Yeah." Lyon admitted, looking at the floor.
Juvia's eyes widened. She definitely didn't expect him to admit it, heck even she didn't mean what she was saying. She was just angry that he told she wasn't thinking about her other precious friends. "I didn't–"
"No, you're right. I went too far. I'm sorry. Like you said, we're not a couple. You don't even like me that way. And you probably don't like me at all. So, let's find a clue and get out of there, so we can join the others. It's because of me and my selfishness that we're here after all." Now, Juvia was looking at him while he was looking around for some clues. Not really succeeding, though.
"Hey, stop talking like that. First, you sound like we're in great danger and someone is dying. We're not, and nobody is. We just have dolls and weird rooms with weird doors. Also, I don't not like you."
Lyon turned around to look at her and grinned, "So, you like me?"
"Yeah." She nodded. Then, she realized what she said, "Wait! Not like like. I meant as a friend!" She hurriedly tried to explain, shaking her hands and her head.
Lyon chuckled, she was such a cutie. "I know. Thank you." He smiled softly at her.
Juvia calmed down immediately after that. She gulped and stared at him. What's this feeling? She thought. She couldn't talk or move.
"Juvia? Are you okay?" Lyon worried about her.
She shook her head, and nodded. "I'm fine. Anyway, let's find something with a star, a heart or a flower on it." She tried to change the subject.
"I didn't see any."
"Then, search more." Juvia replied.
"That's what I'm doing." Lyon ended up on the sofa again, but this time he in a sitting position.
"No, you're resting, not looking!" Juvia complained again.
"I am looking. From there, I can see the whole room, it's sometimes better to look at the big picture, you know." He explained, and Juvia seemed to agree with him. He tapped on the sofa, "Come sit with me. I'm sure it'll help you too."
She hesitated a little, and decided to join him. She sat straight, the more away from him possible, which was still really close since the sofa was made for only two people. Her hands were on her knees and she was looking straight forward. She didn't really know why, but she was feeling kind of nervous because of the proximity.
Lyon, on the other hand, was overjoyed by the situation; he couldn't hide his smile.
xxxxx Meanwhile... xxxxx
"Graay, I don't like this atmosphere at all." Lucy whined as they were walking into the woods. She was hiding behind Gray, looking around if anything was coming at them. "And I'm really tired of this house. Seriously, how big is this forest? We've been walking since forever."
"I don't know. But it seems big enough for keeping whatever-howled-before from finding us."
"You're right. Plus, we didn't hear it anymore after that. Maybe it fell asleep." She was more trying to convince herself than anything else.
"Maybe." Gray then felt Lucy's hand on his shoulder tremble. He stopped and turned around to face her. "Are you okay? You're shaking."
"Yeah, I'm just a little cold, that's it." She assured him.
"Why don't you summon your Clock-spirit?" He suggested.
"It's Horologium. And I thought about it, but it wouldn't be fair for you to walk alone." She explained.
"I wouldn't be alone, you'd still be there, but in a Clock, that talks for you." He replied.
"Yeah but still. I'm okay, really." She assured him.
"If only I hadn't left my jacket somewhere along the way…" Gray whispered to himself.
"What did you say?" Lucy asked him.
"Nothing. Let's keep moving, it'll warm you up a little." He changed the subject. She executed.
xxxxx
After a few minutes, Lucy stopped walking. "Gray, look!" She pointed at a tree on their right.
"What is it?" Gray asked as he looked at what she was talking about.
"Isn't that your jacket?"
"It is." It was hung on a branch of the tree. "Weird. I'll go get it. Stay here so that we don't deviate from our original way."
"No problem." She smiled at him. "It's not like it was far away from here. I won't be alone for long, and I won't lose you from my sight."
He smiled at her and left her there to go get his jacket back.
"I wonder while he cares about it. He's never cold, and I'm sure that if he puts it on, he'll strip in a few minutes anyway and lose it again." Lucy thought out loud.
"I'm back." It really took less than a minute.
Lucy looked at him. He was holding the jacket. "Why aren't you wearing it?"
"Because it's not for me." He handed it to her. "You're still cold, aren't you?"
"I'm not!" She argued.
Gray chuckled.
"What?"
"Just look at you. You are cold." She was wrapping her arms around herself in order to warm herself up.
She immediately uncrossed her arms, embarrassed.
"Come on, it's normal to be cold when you're out at night without a jacket."
"Says the guy who's walking around half-naked." She retorted.
"Well, I never said I was normal. Anyway, cold or not, wear the damn jacket, so that I didn't get it back for nothing." Before she could answer, he went behind her and put it on her shoulders.
She grabbed it by instinct so it wouldn't fall off. She turned around. "Thank you," she finally said, her cheeks becoming slightly red. She was holding the jacket tightly against her so she would feel warm.
"You're welcome," he smiled.
She smiled back. He took a look at her. The sleeves of his coat were hanging since she left it like he put it on her. It was longer than her outfit and covered most of it, besides the part on the front since the jacket wasn't closed.
"It looks good on you, by the way." He couldn't help but say it. "Maybe I should give my clothes to you instead of throwing them who knows where."
"So you want me to be your coat rack?" Lucy joked. "Plus, for that, you should be aware of when you take them off." Lucy remarked. Most of the times it was the others who had to tell him he was almost (or totally) naked.
"Touché." He admitted. "Let's go on." He said as he began to walk in front of her.
"Hm!" She agreed and followed him.
"I meant it, you know." Gray suddenly spoke up after a few seconds.
"What are you talking about?" She wasn't following him.
"About my jacket. I didn't say it for you to be my coat rack." He explained, still walking in front of her.
She looked surprised. "Come on, I was joking. I know that."
"Still, I just wanted to make sure." He stopped and turned around. He looked at her and their eyes met, "It really looks good on you. Not that I should be surprised, though."
"What do you mean?"
"Pretty much everything looks good on you. It's a fact." He replied sincerely.
Normally, she would have boasted and agreed about how true it was. Most of the times, nobody had to tell her anything; she'd compliment herself on her own. She wanted to say 'You're right, I've never worn an outfit that didn't suit me, I guess I'm really too pretty' or something along those lines. But weirdly, she couldn't. She also felt her cheeks burn.
Of course, it wasn't the first time someone complimented her, nor the first time he complimented her. But it was the first time he insisted on it. And it was the first time she was wearing his clothes, and that he complimented her about how she looked in his clothes.
"Lucy, are you okay?"
She finally snapped out of it, and nodded while smiling, "I'm okay."
He looked at her for a few seconds before accepting her answer, "Okay. Let's try to find the exit then."
xxxxx Meanwhile... xxxxx
"This is making me dizzy," Natsu declared as he was looking at the room full of runes everywhere.
"Hahaha! What do you think of this? Isn't it awesome? Hahaha!" a man's voice came from the other end of the room, but Erza and Natsu couldn't see him because of the runes.
"Who're you? You're the bastard messing with us since the start?" Natsu angrily shouted.
"Who are you calling a bastard? I wanted to have some fun with you, that's all. Hahaha!" The man answered.
"Sorry to say that, but it's not Fun At All! Now, show yourself so I can beat the crap out of you and go out of this house!"
"Why so much violence? You don't like my incredible sets?" He sounded disappointed.
"NO!" Natsu yelled angrily.
"Natsu, calm down. You're hurting this person's feelings. Let's talk about this issue calmly." Erza intervened.
"What? You're on his side? Aren't you fed up with this too? Why should we care about him damn feelings?" Natsu couldn't believe her.
"Listen to your lady-friend, boy. She seems wise." The man said.
"Thank you," Erza smiled and bowed her head a little, even thought she still couldn't see him.
"You're welcome," the guy replied as kindly.
"Don't ignore me!" Natsu yelled at Erza, and turned his attention back to the man, "And you, show yourself, stop hiding behind your runes and fight me!"
"But I don't want to fight you. And if you want to see me, you'll have to go through my runes."
"Freakin' coward! Don't worry about it, I'm coming!" Natsu shouted as he charged into the runes-walls, "Ouch!" Of course, he couldn't break them like this.
"Don't you ever learn?" Erza was shaking her head. "We have to follow what the runes say before going through them." She explained.
"I know! But I still wanted to try. Anyway, what do we have to do, then?"
"You two have to compliment the other." The man answered.
"What kind of lame trap is this? Why the heck do you want us to do that? Seriously, why do we always meet the crazy ones, huh?" Natsu complained loudly.
"Natsu, how do you want me to compliment you when you're acting like that?" Erza asked seriously.
"Yeah Natsu, stop acting like that." The man mocked.
"You, just wait 'til I get to you…" Natu's eyes were filled with anger.
"Come on. Play the game and stop complaining. It's not like we have to fight." Erza tried to reason him.
"I would have preferred to fight," he muttered.
She ignored him and spoke up, "Ok, I'll start. Natsu, even though you often act childish, and never think before acting, and never listen to me –"
"Where's the compliment in this?" He interrupted her.
"It's coming," she replied without losing track of what she was saying, "And even though you're impatient and stubborn, I think you're a great mage and very kind a reliable," she finished. "Now, your turn."
He just looked at her and said nothing.
"Natsu…" She warned him.
He sighed. "Fine, I'll do it. Even if you can be really, really scary, you're family and the guild would probably feel empty without you. Plus, you're scary because you're badass as hell, so you're on my top list of Who-I-have-to-beat."
"Was that really a compliment? 'you're scary, family, and badass as hell', seriously? Find something better, boy." The man reprimanded him.
"Of course it was a compliment! These are really good compliments! Now, release your runes."
"Hm, don't want to. Try again, and I'll let you move onto the next cube."
"You know, I liked what he said," Erza acknowledge.
"Dear lady, I just want you to hear one very good compliment. I'm sure you've heard those already, haven't you?"
"I have. But it's always good to hear them. But I do appreciate your concern for me."
"Will you to stop being buddy-buddy?" Natsu couldn't take it anymore.
"Come on, boy. It's just one compliment, it won't kill you." The man stated.
"Fine. But it's only because I want to get out of there, and not without hurting you." The Fire Mage replied. He then looked at Erza. "Hm… I already said you were really strong, and that I cared a lot for you… What else could I say?" He scratched his head, thinking really hard.
"Boy, she's a woman. Don't only think about her strength," the man tried to help him.
"Shut up! I don't want your advice!" Natsu shouted stubbornly. "OH! I know!" He then exclaimed. "Erza, your behavior makes me and a lot of people forget that you're in fact a girl, so when you act cutely without even realizing it, it's even more cute than if other girls acted like that." He smiled proudly, thinking he came with the best compliment he could find.
Erza's eyes widened a little and she looked away, embarrassed. "I never act cutely…"
"You did, once or twice."
"What nonsense."
"Come on, Erza, it's a good thing you know!"
"Okay! You passed!" the man suddenly shouted.
"See, even that weirdo agrees with me!"
"Who are you calling a weirdo?"
"You! Why? If you're not, show yourself to prove it." Natsu dared him.
"But it won't be fun that way." The man complained. "Anyway. Now you have to choose in which cube you'll go in. Some have cute and simple rules like that one, but others are creepy and frightening challenges."
"You seemed to have put a lot of thoughts in this. I'm impressed." Erza remarked.
"I did, thank you for acknowledging it."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just go straight forward so it'll be faster." Natsu intervened.
"You're right, let's do that." Erza agreed.
"Be careful, you don't know what kind of challenges it will be. Sometimes, the faster way isn't the simpler one."
"I don't care. I even prefer when it's hard. I'm all for action," the Salamander grinned.
"If you say so. Then, step in the next cube."
Erza and Natsu made a few steps forward.
"So, what is the challenge now?" Erza asked.
"Get rid of what's in there, without hurting your partner, of course. Oh, and did I say that if you don't follow the rules, you go back to the start?" They could hear his smirk in his voice.
"No problem, but what's in there, exactly?"
"This." The man said as a trapdoor opened on top of the mages. Lots of spiders fell from it.
But they never hit the floor, because Natsu burned them before they could. "Clear. Next one."
"Natsu! We could've got rid of them by using another way. Burning them was a little harsh." Erza remarked.
"Why? They weren't even real."
"How did you know, boy?" The man sounded surprised.
"They didn't have an animal smell, but a plastic smell." He explained like it was the more obvious thing in the world.
"S..Smell?" The guy couldn't believe it.
"That's Natsu for you," Erza smiled. "So, what's next?"
Like that, they had to go through a few other challenges. They had to find a key in a box full of serpents, to be tickled during two minutes, to hug for five seconds, and finally to reach the end of the room while being blindfolded. They completed all of those pretty well.
"Ok, now, weirdo. Show yourself!" Natsu yelled.
"A promise is a promise. Here I am." The guy declared, and jumped from the balcony to meet them. He was wearing a long black and red cape, and a large hat matching it. He was also holding a fancy cane; it was red with a golden crane on the top. "My name is Wizo. Nice to meet you." He took out his hat and bowed to them in a theatrical way.
Erza smiled and bowed her head in response, but Natsu replied angrily, "Well, not so nice for us. Let us leave right now or I'll seriously beat you up."
"Of course, follow me." He opened the door behind him. They were in what looked like a cozy living room. It had a few red couches and a big fire place that was enough to light to whole room.
"What exactly are you up to? You'll let us go just like that? And where are our friends?" Erza asked Wizo.
"Your friends don't seem to have finished their challenges yet, but don't worry they aren't in danger in any way. Let's just wait for them."
"I'm fine with this solution. Let's rest for a bit, I think we deserve it." Erza stated as she sat on a sofa.
xxxxx
xxxxx
A/N: Just to be clear, I don't ship Natsu/Erza as a couple. But they had to be together for this, so I thought it would be funny to put them in situations like this.
And yeah, not much GraLu in this chapter, but they will be a lot more present in the next, don't worry (: