Frost

33

"So, what's your name?" Lucy asked. It's been an hour, and out of all the time they've been sitting there, the celestial mage is just now asking for his name. Happy glared at her with the most skeptical look ever, and the he folded his arms over his chest and decided to mind his own business. Pathetic, he thought. It was obvious that Lucy had some type of crush on this guy.

Happy looked back and forth between the two. The guy said that his name was Asa, and that he was from Clover. Apparently, Asa was in Magnolia for a study and was testing it on a non-biased audience. He said that there was somehow a mix-up with one of his potions, and he was trying to find the suspect before things got too out of hand. Lucy just smiled and nodded her head.

"So you make potions?" Happy asked questionably. Asa nodded, and with a small frown, he said, "I'm a beginner at it, too. I just don't understand why some potions look the same! It makes it so easy to mix up!" The exceed nodded. He didn't ask about that, but okay. The whole time, Lucy was staring at Asa like he was some type of celebrity. She was, no doubt, making both Happy and said male uncomfortable.

"M-Maybe we should start looking for that friend of yours, yeah?" Asa asked Lucy, who shook her head immediately.

"Yeah! That's a great idea!"

The trio walked deeper into the forest. As they walked further and further, Lucy started to drift away from Asa, moving closer to the flying exceed who was too busy trying to keep his distance from her. The atmosphere around them was just so awkward. After a while of walking and standing around, a smile finally grew on Asa's face.

There was a giant, smooth-looking rock that rested on the forest floor that sat almost twenty feet away. It was a pale shade of gray, and it looked like someone was messing with it. It took Asa nearly two long strides—this is an exaggeration—to reach the rock. It was as if he had just found a pot of gold that was almost worth trillions of jewel. He treated it so carefully and caressed it so gently that it was almost like he had some sort of rock fetish. Now, he was making Happy and Lucy more uncomfortable. After a few moments of whatever just happened, he knocked on the rock twice, said, "This is the rock!" and put his foot against it. Using all of his strength, he flipped the rock over.

His mouth dropped when he found nothing but dead leaves and crushed sticks.

"What? It's not here!"

Asa began to kick the leaves up and off the ground as he searched frantically for whatever it was. Lucy scratches her head before asking, "What exactly are you looking for?"

"There's this ladder that leads into the ground! I need to find it!"

Now, it was chaos. Lucy was starting to take back whatever feeling she had for this guy as she watched him frantically throw leaves into the air. Neither the girl nor the exceed wanted to help, for they were too afraid of getting torn apart by Asa's quick hands. Lucy began to back up. "I think I'm going to go this way . . ." she said as her body shifted to face the opposite direction from the guy digging in the leaves.

When she started walking, she noticed an irregular spot in the ground. It was dark, and nothing was covering it up. As she looked into it, she found that it was the top of a ladder. The celestial mage looked back at Happy and Asa, who were both now digging through the leaves a few feet away. Lucy looked back towards the hole and shouted, "I think I found it, Asa!" Both the exceed and the man sighed with relief, and Lucy could hear Asa's loud footsteps charging towards her.

"Thank you so much! You are amazing!" Asa exclaimed as he wrapped his arms around her for a hug. Lucy didn't return it, but her face grew so red from embarrassment. Happy glided towards them with an annoyed look. This guy gave off such a weird vibe to him, and Happy honestly couldn't stand it. Besides, he was pretty sure they weren't even looking for Natsu anymore. Asa climbed down the ladder first with Lucy following shortly behind. Happy slowly floated his way down afterwards. Once the three of them were in the tunnels, they walked. Lucy could not see absolutely anything in front of her.

However, she felt as though they were getting closer and closer the the ice mage.

•••

Natsu hated this arrangement. With Gajeel walking next to him, bugging the hell out of him and Pantherlily following closely behind and not intervening, he was ready to throw his fists. And once he started swinging, he wasn't going to stop. Without Gray around and with him not being able to see Gajeel as often because of the jobs he kept taking, Natsu didn't have a fighting buddy. Of course, there was Elfman, Laxas, and Erza, but they were all busy half the time, and Natsu felt like he already proved himself stronger than Elfman.

However, Gajeel was keeping quiet now, which was not Gajeel-like. Just a few moments ago, he was bugging Natsu like the pest he typically was. The fake-Gajeel was too busy dragging his feet and moping about who-knows-what. Fortunately, Lily was the same Lily. Natsu nudged Gajeel with his elbow, which did absolutely nothing. After poking and pinching Gajeel on the arm, the fire dragon slayer decided he had enough. "What the hell is wrong with you!? Why are you acting like that!?"

Gajeel's head slowly shifted towards Natsu, and with the saddest voice ever, Gajeel said, "It's nothing important." Natsu groaned. He heard Lily snicker behind them, but he didn't push it. They walked quietly together, and Natsu felt like he was going crazy. He watched as the shadows of the rocks from his fire shifted and danced in different directions. His eyes followed further down the tunnel until he saw a light at the end of it.

"Do you think that's coming from outside?" Natsu asked to no one in particular. All though he was kind of hoping for Gajeel to answer, Lily spoke up and said, "I believe that is artificial light."

"We should check it out then, and let's pray that we find someone, or even better, Gray in there," Natsu practically squealed. Gajeel flinched at the sound of Gray's name, and he looked at Natsu. A smile grew upon his lips, and his posture straightened. He loved that Natsu was excited about finding Gray. He couldn't stay upset after seeing the giant smile the grew on the fire dragon slayer's face.

"Yeah, lets pray he is," Gajeel whispered to himself.