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February 18th, X779

Natsu was doing his best to hide his sheer terror as Lucy rounded on him, blinding him with her flashlight. She could see it in the glimpse she got of his face before he swore and threw his hands up to protect his eyes. She ignored the half-hearted scowl he shot at her. "What the hell, Natsu–"

Natsu raked a trembling hand through his pink hair, nudging her along. Lucy couldn't tell if he was still struggling with the mineshafts and being underground, or if the fake Wendy they'd come across had unnerved him that much. "Don't stop walking. We're not safe here. These stupid tunnels help Ophiuchus as much as they trap it."

"And what is 'it?'" demanded Lucy.

"Ophiuchus." The name was strange, but fell easily off his tongue. Natsu walked swiftly, ignoring her plea to slow down. "It was meant to be one of the gods attached to the keys – like Scorpio, or Aries, or Aquarius. Something went wrong. Mavis cast it out. Ophiuchus is like a fallen god, but not. It's a little different since it never really was a god."

Lucy bit back the sarcastic comment that nearly escaped her lips. Now wasn't the time for sarcasm. "Why does it want the keys?"

"To unlock the prison Mavis threw it into, probably." Natsu checked to make sure she was still with him, seeming relieved when she was no more than a step behind. Not that she was having an easy time keeping up; Lucy wasn't the shortest person on the planet, but his stride was longer than hers and she occasionally had to skip or hop a bit to keep up with him. "We walked right into a trap, Luce."

Warily, Lucy asked, "Are we going to be able to get back out?"

"I don't know!" Natsu snapped, and Lucy was briefly taken aback by the sharpness of his voice.

It didn't stop her from speaking again, however. "What…what about Wendy?" she whispered.

He took a deep breath, and Lucy watched his shoulders rise and fall. Finally, he said steadily, "Ophiuchus can't steal the appearance of something or someone that's dead, which means she's okay for now. We need to find her though. It won't care about keeping her around now that we know it's here."

Lucy bit her lip, worried. They had to find Wendy. She didn't know how, but they had to. "Natsu…maybe I could…I don't know how I did what I did when I touched yours scarf, but maybe I could–"

Natsu instinctively seized the white material in his hand, grimacing. "We're in Ophiuchus's domain," he told her uncertainly. "I don't think it'd do us any good, even if you did get me fully charged up. And that's before we even start thinking about how badly I'd blow up. Remember Levy? After Wendy returned her diale?"

Lucy didn't think it'd be quite so severe, seeing as Levy had been separated from her diale for a long time and Natsu hadn't been at all, but she decided not to argue with him about it. It was clear he'd not go down that route regardless. "What do you think we should do then?"

"Find Wendy. Happy can find them." He tipped his head towards Happy, who'd gone on high alert, tail flicking back and forth.

Lucy wished she had as much faith in a cat as Natsu seemed to have.

"Natsu, I think we're going in circles."

Lucy's wary comment drew Natsu right to a stop. He realized she was probably absolutely right and cursed under his breath. They were just going in circles. He spun around, eyes darting this way and that. He half-expected Ophiuchus to come crawling out of the shadows.

As if reading his mind, the flashlight flickered.

Fear almost as intense as that which had swallowed him whole as he'd seen a wall of ash barreling towards him choked him into silence for a moment. The idea of being trapped beneath ground, without even a light–

"I've never seen a god run before," hummed a voice over their heads.

Lucy jumped, stepping closer. Natsu glared up at the ceiling of the mineshaft, but saw nothing beneath the flickering flashlight. He hummed warningly, hoping it would keep Ophiuchus away, but it only made it laugh.

"That spirit you call a patron god would be ashamed of such cowardice," mocked Ophiuchus. Its voice came from their left now. Fury sparked in Natsu's chest, because he knew Igneel would never be ashamed of him choosing to keep others safe, and he whirled in its direction, spewing ash. There was nothing there. Ophiuchus only laughed as his temper rose and split through his flesh, charring it.

Ophiuchus went on. "The spirits are cowards. Serving powers they don't wield. We are higher beings for a reason, sun god. That little half-spirit thing you're so fond of…she is nothing compared to the likes of you."

The hum jumped a pitch when Ophiuchus proceeded to turn on Lucy. "And you, little misfit, you are something unique, are you not? I can taste it." Lucy gasped, ripping away as if something had touched her. Natsu instinctively swept her back with a scowl. "You are like me. Something different, something new, and the gods and spirits do not like those like us."

Lucy stood firm against Ophiuchus's words, though Natsu thought her a little unsure when she retorted, "We aren't anything alike, and Natsu likes me just fine."

Ophiuchus hummed, unconvinced. "For now, perhaps. But all like us end up like me in the end, and what will your precious little sun god think of you when you lose the tether that connects you to what you used to be? You–" Ophiuchus broke off, hissing, and the sound echoed from every direction. There was silence, and Lucy's hand found Natsu's anxiously. He tightened his fingers around her, promising without a word that he'd not change his mind about his thoughts towards her no matter what.

Ophiuchus's abrupt scream made Natsu flinch. His skin crawled as something slithered past, vanishing into the mines.

After a moment, Lucy whispered, "What happened?"

"I don't know," he admitted, hating that it was becoming a common phrase. He wasn't sure if he ought to be happy the thing was gone or not. If it was around them, then it wasn't chasing after Wendy. He ran a shaking hand down his face, debating, and then glanced sharply at Lucy. He couldn't see much of her in the dim lighting of the mines, only a brief flash of gold when she turned her head to look back. "Luce, can you tell where Wendy is?"

Her eyes flashed with irritation in the light of their single flashlight. "I'm not a metal detector."

He ignored her attitude, knowing she got cranky when in dangerous situations. "I'm bad at tracking other gods," he told her. "Really bad. But Gray's good at it. Good enough that some of the others have asked him for help with it in the past, and you were with him for a while before the whole thing with the fallen god, right? Did he teach you how to track other gods?"

She seemed taken aback. "There…there weren't really any to try and practice with," she told him. "Mostly, we just spent a lot of time trying to figure out which direction you were coming from."

That had to count for something. "Did he at least tell you about it?"

"Sort of." She let out a soft puff of air. "I mean, I got a feeling when I first ran into Gray again, back on Hyacinth when everything went sideways. This weird…" She trailed off, unable to describe it. "I could tell someone was there before Gray showed up, but I didn't know it until he was there."

Natsu latched onto that. He couldn't even get that far much of the time. "Do you have that feeling now?"

Lucy considered it, then made a small gesture with her hand, shifting uneasily. "Not like I did when I found Gray, but maybe a little. I can't tell which direction it's coming from though."

"It's a start." Natsu snatched the flashlight from her hand, ignoring the fear that sparked when he flicked it off. Lucy spluttered her protest, but he ignored her and the encroaching feeling of dread swallowing him whole. If he'd thought the mines were bad with a flashlight, not being able to see on top of it all…well, Natsu made a note to never ever enter a cave again. "Focus. See if you can tell where to go, Luce."

"We don't have time for this–"

"Make the time," he retorted, "because I can't do it, and this is the fastest way to find Wendy. So focus."

Lucy grumbled – something about his attitude – but fell quiet. There were far more important things at hand, like finding their missing friend. There was a frighteningly long beat of silence and darkness in which Natsu considered reaching out to make sure Lucy was still there, before she suddenly grappled for the flashlight he'd stolen from her. He let her have it, and the moment the light flicked on, Lucy pointed it down the mineshaft to their left.

"That way," she said confidently.

Natsu grinned proudly and snagged her hand. "Let's go find Wendy."

Wendy Marvell wasn't scared of weird, underground tunnels and mineshafts and crevices. Once, she'd even called a cavern just like this home, finding it safe from the likes of Vhalis and other humans. That is, until her friends had come – when Natsu, Gray, and Lucy had sought her out, thinking she might be someone who could help the gods following the Fall.

So when her flashlight unexpectedly went out, she didn't panic in the pitch black. It helped that the ever faithful Charle was right with her, purring to let her know she was there. Not scared but certainly startled, Wendy puffed out a breath and flipped the switch a few more times. "Well," she muttered, "that's not good."

With no other choice, Wendy continued pushing forward. She went a little more cautiously, ensuring that she felt where she put each part of her body. The darkness seemed to go on forever, as did the odd path she'd chosen to take in the tunnel. At least there were no bugs, though she did wince when she ripped her coat on a sharp rock. Lucy won't be happy about that, she couldn't help but think. Lucy was always reminding them to be careful with their belongings.

It seemed like ages before the space opened up around her. She'd stopped hearing Lucy and Natsu, who'd sounded as if they were having a serious conversation, a while ago. Wendy took a relieved breath as she stepped free of the tight crevice and into somewhere new. She felt carefully with her feet, recalling the hole Natsu and Lucy had plummeted through.

"Well," she said aloud, "what do you think, Charle? Can you see anything?"

Charlie didn't reply, of course, but Wendy wished she could. It would have been nice to hear what Charle thought.

Wendy smacked her flashlight a few times and, to her surprise, the light flickered back on. She shone it this way and that, eyes round with curiosity. She'd found another section of the mines they'd fallen into, but this one was a little different from the tunnels they'd been wandering. It was less of a tunnel and more of a cave. Old supplies piled different parts of it, some clearly old enough that Wendy hardly spared them more than an interested look.

Other piles, however…

Wendy crouched beside a pile of fabric, puzzled. She fingered the corner of a blanket left there. It was a heated one, she realized, catching notice of the wire that had broken free of the fabric. Definitely a modern one. She looked over her shoulder when Charle mewed.

Wendy briskly crossed the cavern to investigate what Charle had found. Her stomach flipped. It was a pile of various personal items, from old cracked phones to wallets to keys. She flipped through a few of them, checking the phones. Unsurprisingly, none of them worked. The wallets were filled with cash and cards, though those would be useless in the world they now lived in. There were IDs, too.

Wendy fumbled through a stack of driver's licenses, skimming the names. "Millianna…Zeref…Samuel…" She tossed the last few aside, calling as she rose to her feet, "Come on, Charle, let's see if we can find an exit before we go back. Natsu didn't like it down here."

Wendy continued searching around the strange little system of caves that she'd found. They looked like something old had carved them into larger spaces than they'd once been. They'd become something's home, she thought as she huffed at a dead end. She found a few more odds and ends – including some bags of dried fruits and nuts that weren't yet expired, so she shoved those into her pockets before continuing on.

Charle's anxious meow brought Wendy back over to her. Her eyes rounded with awe as she scooped up the odd gem Charle had found. Its unique, shifting color was beautiful. Even better, there was moonlight streaming through the roof of the cavern it had been held within. It seemed to glow iridescently in the light, and she held it up to peer closer at it. In fact, it seemed to pulse with life.

"Wow," breathed Wendy, lips curving into a bright smile that vanished as a scream flooded the cavern. Something burst through the wall of the cave, shattering rock as if it were nothing.

Wendy screamed, ashen at the sight of the creature that reared over her. It was a massive serpent, filling the cave with its black-scaled body. Glowing red eyes glared viciously at her, narrowed on the gem still held tightly in her fingers. Blood now dripped from the cuts in her palm because of it. Charle hissed at Wendy's ankles, bristling.

"How dare you," seethed the monstrous creature. "How dare you–"

Wendy stumbled back, unsure of what she ought to do. So, she did the only thing she could think to do: she ran. Wendy whipped around and bolted down a sidepath she'd spotted, the only one she'd not yet investigated. The serpent roared its fury and charged after her. Wendy could only hope that Charle was with her as she hurtled around a corner, shining her flashlight as best as she could to prevent herself from tripping. Tripping just once meant she'd be gulped right up by the monster, and that was the last thing she wanted right now.

Something soft and familiar touched her cheeks. Left, whispered a voice in her ears.

Wendy spun right, choking down freezing cold air as it touched her face. She could see gentle morning light beginning to flood a mine entrance just ahead. She dared a look over her shoulder – and promptly screamed when she found herself staring down the gullet of the serpent, who'd parted its jaws and lunged.

Wendy narrowly managed to jump across the threshold before those jaws snapped shut.

It took shockingly little time for Lucy to figure out what she was doing, helped along by Natsu's little tips and tricks. For someone who couldn't do it, he was rather good at telling her how to follow the strange little gut feeling. It wasn't nearly as strong as when she'd felt it in Hyacinth, but it was enough to follow, at the very least.

They twisted through a confusing labyrinth that she knew distressed Natsu, who looked rather exhausted when they finally stepped into a larger cavern with a hole in the ceiling that allowed the dawn's soft glow into it. His skin had long since grown festered and cracked and burnt, but Lucy hardly noticed. It did feel rather strange when she smoothed her thumb comfortingly over his charred knuckles though. Regardless, it was Natsu, and it bothered her as little as the smell of burning flesh she'd grown so used to did.

A roar pierced their ears. They'd heard it before, some time ago, but this one was much, much closer.

Too close, even.

It hit them so quickly, the pain didn't register until Lucy was staring at the ceiling of the cavern. Lucy groaned when it began throbbing throughout her body. She slowly rolled herself onto her stomach, squinting around the cavern. "Natsu," she rasped, pushing herself to her knees, but there was no response. For a moment, she wondered if he'd disappeared into thin air. He eventually popped into view nearby, pink-haired head stained with gold from where he'd struck it. Happy was clutched close to him, and he hardly seemed dazed by the injury as he focused on the danger before them.

The hissing snarl of a creature much bigger than her had Lucy spinning on her knees to gawk at the serpent that filled the cavern behind her. Its glowing red eyes zeroed in on her. "Give me the keys," it demanded, tongue darting out. Its tongue was stained with gold, as if it had bitten it. "Give me the keys now."

"No." Lucy fought the urge to touch her pocket, where the keys resided. She knew they were there. She could feel it.

Its scream shook the earth around them. "GIVE THEM TO ME."

It was as if–

Lucy grinned. "You can't steal them, can you?" She pushed herself to her feet, admittedly somewhat unsteady. Her body felt like it had been through the ringer. "You can't steal the keys. They have to be willingly given to you, and no one would ever do that, because you're something dark and dangerous to what most gods want to protect."

Ophiuchus thrashed angrily, but it told her she was right.

Lucy dared to glance at Natsu. Her jaw nearly dropped. He was gone. She masked her irritation. She had no idea what he was doing, but it had to have been important. Natsu would have never left her like that. Not unless he had to. She scrambled to her feet, deciding to keep Ophiuchus's wrath upon her rather than the missing sun god it seemed to be so fond of taunting.

"Give them to me," repeated Ophiuchus, and in that anger, Lucy heard its desperation.

She almost felt bad for it. How long had this thing been imprisoned here? From the sounds of it, thousands of years. Lucy couldn't imagine that – being imprisoned in the dark, alone, for so long. For just a sliver of a moment, she was tempted, but Natsu's clear concerns about the serpent kept her from doing it.

"No."

Enraged, Ophiuchus lost its patience and launched at her. Lucy cursed, reeling back, unsure of what to do as she stared down the snarling, gaping jaws of a serpent that could swallow her whole.

"OPHIUCHUS!"

Natsu's shout stopped the monster in its tracks – as did the bloodied gem in his hand as he held it aloft, on the other side of the cavern. Lucy grinned, relieved to find that a very tired Wendy clutched the arm he carried Happy under. She looked a little scuffed up, as if she'd taken a tumble. Charle hissed at her feet, looking displeased as ever. Wendy stared, wide-eyed, at Lucy as Natsu grinned viciously at Ophiuchus.

Ophiuchus seethed, "Return my heart, sun god, or I will hunt you until this world's end."

"From your prison?" taunted Natsu, though he didn't look as confident as he sounded. He casually tossed the gem in the air, snagging it back in his fingers as Ophiuchus flinched. Natsu's eyes glowed with power as he tightened his hand around it, allowing the gem to heat between his fingers, and Ophiuchus screamed its fury. "We're leaving. And you're going to let us. I'll give you your heart back when we're free."

"Liar."

Natsu's jaw tightened at the accusation. "I promise. I'll return this," he waved the gem about, "when we're safely outside the mines. Let us leave."

Ophiuchus growled, lashing its tail. Lucy winced as rocks were flung this way and that. Finally, Ophiuchus whipped its head towards Lucy and bared its fangs. "Leave," it spat. "Leave, or I shall devour you and know that I can perish happily in the sun god's ruin."

Lucy didn't think twice; she sprinted for the others. Its glare burrowed into her back as she nearly slammed into Wendy, wrapping her arms around her and simultaneously shoving her towards the exit she'd apparently found before everything had gone sideways. Natsu wasn't far behind, looking delighted by the fact that they stepped into fresh, open air rather than more secluded mines and caves. Lucy could see the discomfort and fear leave him as they stepped into the dawn.

As Ophiuchus wailed and mourned over its lost freedom, Lucy tried not to feel sympathy for the creature that might have once become a god.

And so ends our adventures into the mines! We're onto some MAJORLY important stuff next!

Thanks to reviewers (Jellal Frenandes, InWonderl4nd, marn-marn, BurstingDragons, hopelesskar, nerdalertwarning, DREAMCHASING, Sir Sasquatch, & galactiaconstella!) as well as those who favorited and followed!