Her Secret｜NaLu｜

Chapter 15・Trials

"P...please.. L-Lucy... w.. we can.. fix this," I said as I struggled to set free from her grasp, but she was too strong. I felt her nails dug through my neck as I hear her laugh.

I screamed in agony as she maniacally starts laughing.

"Scream more! I love the sound of suffering!" she said as my eyes drifted off into darkness.

I woke up from that dream and quickly looked for Lucy. I see her asleep next to Juvia. I then looked over to Natsu. "I better hope this trip we're taking to Zeref's base doesn't lead us to our death Natsu," I sighed and went back to sleep.

・～・～・～・～・

Morning rose and everyone woke up tired. "Let's get going," Kenko said to everyone.

A few more minutes of walking and they all finally reached the end of the forest. At the end, there was a huge cage and you can see all the torches inside. "Well this is it, Zeref is at the very bottom of this cage," Kenko said.

"You mean down there?" Sting asked. "Yup, down there," Kenko replied.

Everyone went inside and they were all suddenly surrounded by Zeref's underlings. Natsu and the others went on their fighting forms and started to fight them.

"There are 5 levels till you get to the very bottom, this is the 5th one, which are the weakest of his underlings!" Kenko informed everyone while taking out her katana and kicking ass. "What are the other levels?!" Gray asked as he used Ice-make: Lance and stabbed Zeref's underlings.

"The 4th are his hellhounds. The 3rd are the regular demons that have powers, so they're going to be difficult to beat. The 2nd is a dragon, it-"

"Wait a dragon?!" Sting exclaimed interrupting Kenko.

"Yes a dragon, now let me finish, we don't have much time till Zeref finds out what's going on. The dragon is an elemental dragon and only swords are the best chance to defeat it. The last one is Zeref, the hardest to beat out of all his underlings!" Kenko finished slashing the underlings in half.

They finally finished the weakest ones and ran down to the 4th level. When they got there, there was a huge door that blocked the way.

"Ok before we go in, we should make a plan on who stays and goes. I know it's difficult and messed up but it's the quickest way to get to Zeref instead of all of us just staying in one place and defeating every single underling," Kenko suggested.

"It's true, but how are we going to decide on who stays and goes?" Lucy asked. "I'll decide," Jellal said, the analytical in the group. "Since we need Natsu to get to Zeref, Levy, Yukino, Sting, and Juvia will stay on the 4th one and everyone goes to the next level. Gray, Rogue, Gajeel, Lucy, and I will be on the 3rd level an-"

"I'll be separated with Gray-sama!" Juvia whined interrupting Jellal.

"It's ok Juvia, I'll be alright and I know you will too, knowing you're a strong and independent woman," Gray comforted her making Juvia run up to him and hug him.

"Ok, anyways, on the 2nd level, it's Erza and Kenko," Jellal finished. "I'll be the one fighting Zeref, he needs to pay on what he's done, and I'm finishing him," Lucy said scowling.

"But you can't beat him all alone, once everyone beats his underlings, we'll go and fight with you, and it's too dangerous. You might end up getting kil-... hurt. You might get hurt. So I'm not letting you," Natsu said holding Lucy by the shoulders.

Lucy sighed, but then looked up at him. "Alright then."

"Ok everyone, let's move out," Kenko said. Levy, Yukino, Sting, and Juvia stayed on the 4th level while everyone else went to the 3rd. When they reached the 3rd, there was another large door. Gray, Rogue, Jellal, and Gajeel stayed there and fought the underlings while the rest ran to the 2nd one.

Lucy, Natsu, Kenko, and Erza finally reached the 2nd level. "We're up against the dragon, can we defeat it without getting too hurt?" Natsu asked.

"I'm not sure, I've only fought him once, but that's because I didn't have you guys with me. Since you're all here, we have a good chance do defeat," Kenko said.

They entered the 2nd lever door and it there it was, the dragon. The dragon noticed them and roared.

"Four against one? I think we can do this," Natsu said confidently. "Well they are hard to find. So you guys ready?" Kenko asked. Natsu, Lucy, and Erza all nodded and the four of them charged at the dragon.

But what they didn't know is that their number one threat was watching them the whole time.

"Looks like your daughter rebelled and came to get you," Zeref said looking away from his crystal ball.

"But I guess she was too late. And too bad this was all for nothing," he said with an evil smirk while looking at two dead bodies on the ground. One female that looked similar to Lucy and one male.