Review Responses:

Link- Yur such a dork LOL But yeh Happy's up to something and Natsu's all cuddly

Riven- I'm SSSOOO Happy you enjoyed it! TY!

Guest- TY!

rxp- LOL I think I was heading to bed when I wrote that so yeh it makes me wanna cuddle up and sleep too LMAO

Nayami- I was actually thinking about doing something like that at some point in this fic LOL Hence why I gave her the random ability LMFAO I'm so glad you enjoyed all the other fics I have on here as well as the fact yur lookin forward to the rest of this one :)

Exxcal- TYVM! And I like to keep the story goin so ppl don't loose interest LOL And TY for the suggestion I'm not 100% I can work something like that into this story but who knows if I'll make a one shot with that idea some day

leos- LOL Eventually there's a few more things to come but he's getting there... :)

Now Back to the story!

The trio of mages sat in the outer office waiting room impatiently waiting to meet with the mayor. Once again Lucy read over the request.

REQUEST: Help needed ASAP! A monstrous creature has taken over the mines and we can't work!

REWARD: 500,000J

CONTACT: Mayor Zaphron Azulla

Lucy frowned as she read it over. The reward was high and there was little information. That was never good. The irritation from sitting here being ignored by the secretary that seemed too good to do anything wasn't helping. Neither was Natsu's grumblings.

"This place reeks like the tin can's playground." He voiced once again.

"Natsu!" Lucy quickly scolded. "Don't be rude! What did you expect? This is an IRON mining town you baka! The mountains here are riddled with the stuff."

She watched as he slumped in his seat and continued to scowl. He'd been irritable most the morning and she didn't know why. Then again she didn't bother to stop and ask trying to ignore him best she could out of her own embarrassment. Waking up curled into his embrace was a wonderful feeling and she was growing to love that too. All morning she couldn't meet his eyes thanks to the awkward feeling she had after her non-admittance admittance the night before. For not the first time she damned her emotions and wished she could ignore them also.

The snooty secretary's voice broke Lucy from her musings, "You can go in now," was all she said as she pointed over her shoulder to the double doors behind her.

Rolling her eyes Lucy, as well as Natsu and Happy entered the room. There stood the mayor in all his glory in front of a desk that was clearly taller than himself. Lucy tried not to snicker at the man before her. Not only was he short but he was as round as a pool ball and almost as bald. It seemed that other then the tuft of curly hair at the front of his head, all his hair was in a robust mustache that easily could rival that of the Celestial King. She elbowed Natsu and yanked on Happy's tail the second she heard their laughter start to boil out. Last thing she wanted was to have gone on that long trip only to be tossed out for rude behavior and have to truck all the way home with no pay to show for it.

"Yes, yes, yes! You are the mages from Fairy Tail! I recognize you both, both, both!" the mayor greeted. Gesturing to the chairs as he moved to go behind his desk he continued, "I am Mayor Zaphron Azulla, and who, who, who might you be?"

Raising a brow to the man's odd speech pattern, Lucy spoke first, "I'm Lucy, this is Natsu and this is Happy." She said pointing while introducing. "Pardon me though, didn't you just say you recognized us?"

"Indeed, indeed, indeed! But I'm poor, poor, poor with names!" Mayor Azulla replied all smiles. Suddenly turning extremely serious he looked the two human mages in the eye and said, "Names mean nothing, nothing, nothing however unless you lot fix, fix, fix my issues! Now, now, now I trust you are capable?"

Natsu stood up to this, "Of course we are! We're from Fairy Tail! Leave it to us! Yoosh I'm all fired up!"

"AYE SIR!" Happy added.

Placing a hand on Natsu's arm to try and settle him down, Lucy looked to the mayor once more. "We will do our best for you sir, however can you tell us anything more about this 'monstrous creature'?"

"No, no, no." the mayor said sadly. "You see, no one has seen, seen, seen it. The men, men, men heard it echoing in the mine. No seeing, seeing, seeing only hearing, hearing, hearing! Now they won't, won't, won't go back in until it's dead, dead, dead!" Straightening a bit he continued while boasting, "Our mine is the number one, one, one in all of Fiore for iron, iron, iron! If we don't mine we'll be broke, broke, broke in no time!"

Lucy frowned a bit at the lack of information. Natsu however seemed unfazed. Grabbing Lucy and pulling her to her feet he looked to the man and said, "Don't worry! We'll have you guys working again no time!" and dragged her out along with him ignoring her protest at such action.

The walk to the mine entrance was made in silence. Lucy was worrying over the lack of information while Natsu was brooding over Lucy. For some strange reason she had been ignoring him all morning and he couldn't figure out what he did wrong. Waking up peacefully and cuddled up had been great. It was even better to not get into an argument in the morning. However his bliss had been short lived when she had rushed off to get ready and then wouldn't meet his eye or hold a conversation all morning.

One or two word answers were the best he could get to anything. She seemed fine talking and laughing with Happy through breakfast so whatever the issue was it was with him. Natsu pouted, he hadn't even said or done anything to her but greet her this morning. Sighing he continued walking, it should only be a few moments until they reached the entrance and could get this mission over with.

Lucy snuck a glance in Natsu's direction. She frowned, he seemed depressed for some reason and she wondered what it was. She had spent the better part of their morning trying in vain to take hold of her emotional turmoil. She finally admitted defeat twenty minutes ago. She was head over heels for the man who was her partner and there was nothing she could do about it. She would just have to deal with it and stop ignoring him in favor of saving her own pride. It wasn't fair after all.

Could that be the reason behind his downtrodden expression? Shaking her head she reasoned that it was impossible. Why would he be upset if she wasn't talkative? Normally either Natsu or Happy would tease her about talking too much, so a lack of it should be welcomed for them. He was probably upset over the lack of information on the monster they would be facing. Knowing Natsu he was hoping it was something formidable but since no one had seen it there was no telling. For all they knew it could be some small woodland creature. Caves and mine shafts can do funny things to noises and make them sound much scarier than they were.

Hearing Natsu sigh brought her out of her mind to focus on him. Maybe she should just ask him what's wrong? "Hey Natsu?" she asked catching up to him.

Natsu didn't try to hide his surprise at the fact that Lucy was actually trying to talk to him. "Yeh? What's up Lucy?" he asked almost excided.

Furrowing her brow in confusion at his sudden change in attitude she asked, "Is everything ok? You seem well…. A bit off."

"I wanted to ask you the same thing. You've been weirder then normal all morning."

Surprised at his response she flushed, "Oh! Well you see… Umm about that… I-"

"AYE! We're here!" Happy interrupted.

BUM-BUM-BUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Yup that's where I left it... Unresolved embarrassment and irritation and they FINALLY made it to the job site LMFAO

So I don't have much to say I'm actually pretty tired and prolly goin to bed early LOL Hope you all enjoy and don't forget to send me some luvin!

~Gemi