Haru had recently struck up a contract with a wealthy investor, and as such found herself deep in the Dawncliff mines once more prospecting for potential locations filled with high-quality minerals and gemstones. The first time she'd felt the ground rumble a little she'd thought nothing of it, perhaps just fellow miners excavating nearby, something she'd have to stay wary of. However, as she continued to follow the shafts deeper, it became clearer that there were no sounds or lights of miners nearby, yet the rumbling only grew stronger as the ground continued to shake, as if it were growing unstable.

Despite her body urging her to turn around and escape, she ran towards the sounds instead, eventually coming across the strangest sight. While it was clear the area had once caved in, there was now a large eerily perfectly round hole where stone and rubble had once sat. She knew the local moles in the area had evolved magically to the point that they could dig and eat stone, but they never formed holes that cut so perfectly. Something else, perhaps more dangerous lurked within. She considered turning around to alert her fellow guild members, but once more, curiosity got the better of her, as she slid down the pathway.

The feline continued to follow the path of destruction, yet despite the carving out of stone, there was no rubble. Haru could only surmise that there was either, some sort of machine was digging out the dirt and collecting it, or something was completely disintegrating the walls. The latter was much more terrifying. She had come too far to turn back now though, as she pressed on. Eventually, she found a large deceased mole and upon inspection, she found it possessed a large hole in its body, not unlike those made in the walls. Not a big loss to the mining community, but still, worrisome that something had easily chewed through the beast.

Pressing on further she'd find shattered crystals and gemstones that lay in pieces on the ground. The prospector in her felt her heart drop. So many jewels gone to waste. By this point, she could feel the magical lantern her client had issued her begin to run out of juice, so she had to replenish it with some of her own magical energy before continuing forward. The mines looked less like mines now and more like some sort of carved out ruins. Perhaps dwarves used to live in these mountains?

The silver maned feline had to pause for a moment as she finally spied something at the edge of her lantern's range. Not a mole, nor a person. But a cat. Similar to Renji in many aspects except the colour of its fur. Crimson coloured. It was waiting at what looked like a stone door. No way, had such a cute little creature caused all this destruction? Was Renji capable of this kind of thing too? Clearing her throat he'd tried to get the little one's attention, hopefully, it wouldn't be openly hostile towards her.

Revy is pounding on the door a little as she is worried about Kaito cause she knows he was pushing himself. ”This damn door needs open! Kaito!? Are you okay? ” she turns around feeling like someone is behind her. ” Hello who is there?” she thinks she sees a human like figure but the light on her head is blinding her a little. She gets ready for a fight but hopes that it is not going to come to that in the end cause she is still tired from the trip down here.

When the woman gets close to Revy she sees the woman is not a scary monster or a treasure goblin of some sort. ”Are you by chance someone that can help me ? ” she slowly inched closer to the woman in hopes that she will make sure this person is safe before she lets her guard down around her.

Haru would visibly relax, her hands moving away from the pistols they had been unconsciously inching towards. The fellow feline didn't appear to be hostile, quite the opposite, in fact. The exceed sounded a little frightened, did she perhaps also come seeking the cause of the rumbling within the mine, or was she perhaps simply in the wrong place at the wrong time?

"Help?" Haru tilted her head a little in surprise. Glancing back at the path of destruction that had led her to this point, "Possibly..." The feline woman crouched down to be on Revy's level, taking the lantern and placing it to the side so it wouldn't blind either of them but still keep the tunnel well lit.

"Are you also searching for the creature that caused this hole in my mountain?" The silver maned woman asked, her ears twitching as they attentively turned to listen to what the crimson kitty had to say on the matter. Maybe they could assist each other a little.

The exceed looks a little scared of her still but can make out the woman. ” No I know what… I mean who made those holes in the mountain, he is inside fighting for his life if those rumbles were any sign.” she returns to pushing on the giant door trying to get it to open and let her in so she could help Kai or at least see that he is okay she is starting to panic a little and push harder.

The doors open and Kai is against the wall next to the door he is breathing heavily but he is alive and he stays still trying to figure out if he is really alive or if he is dead and that maybe Revy whose voice sound like she is speaking through water to him is finding his body right now and that is why he hears her yelling.

Revy as soon as the doors had opened ran into the room and she sees him like that. ” You idiot! Why would you run off ahead of my do you not know how worried I was!” She tries to get calm but she is a mixture of happy and furious at Kaito for being such an idiot and getting himself locked in like that she is nearly crying.

Haru's ears twitched as she tilted her head in thought. She said 'who made those holes'. So it wasn't some mindless creature or machine. The neko stood up as the exceed walked back to the door, struggling in an attempt to push it open. Much to the feline's surprise it almost seemed as if her efforts weren't in vain as the door finally slides open, revealing a strange humanoid figure, one that seemed completely exhausted as if he'd just run a marathon. Her golden eyes trailed over the figure glancing between them and the exceed. Was this this 'who'? If so they were a danger to both her and the mountain.

Pulling out one of her pistols she'd hold it out, aiming it towards the figure. They hadn't spoken yet, but they seemed far too tired to put up a fight against her right now. With a thumb she'd pull back on the hammer, readying a shot in case she needed it. The figure seemed a little familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why. The lighting, or lack thereof, was not doing any favours in helping her to recognise them either.

"Halt. I Haru of Paradise Dawn, demand you reveal your identity immediately as well as your intentions in regards to delving into this mine. I do not wish harm upon you or your... companion." She glanced down at the exceed, "But I shall use force if deemed necessary."

The man heard another voice but he is to tired to even look up. "I am Kaito… of Fairy Tail. " Revy makes him eat a snack and she looks at the woman who is pointing her gun at Kaito. She shakes her head as if telling her she won’t be needing to have her gun drawn. Kai looks up at her the thing Revy made him eat seeming to work in helping him to recover. " Didn’t who ever trained you… tell you that you’re not to aim those at things at things you aren’t looking to kill."

Revy walks over to the woman and gently taps her leg looking up at her with a smile. ”Trust me he is not a threat to you you have my word miss Haru of paradise dawn. ”  she bows her head then she looks back to Kaito who looks like he is recovering from his lack of mana and is starting to get some color back to his skin.

Kaito shifts a little so he is sitting up straight and he raises his head to look at her. " Sorry if I got a little out of hand with my spell, but something in here was calling to me." he points to the door across from them that is still closed with glowing writing on it. " I think it is calling to me from in there." he attempts to get up but he can’t he still needs to time recover and rest before he will be able to keep going on forward.  He asks Revy to go and find out what the door says.


Revy runs over to the door then runs back to him and she smiles at him. ”I can’t red it but it looks like the scribbles you write those messages to your master in. ”  she covered her mouth after just saying the loud enough tha Haru could hear and giving away a secret.

Kaito laughs a little at the exceed blurting that out so freely. " So it is in an elven tongue." He looked back to the Demi-human cat. "So what will it be miss Haru? " he has a weak and weary smile on his face and he moves his hair back out of his face, his mask is on the floor next to him.

"Not exactly those words, but I suppose someone did recently tell me that if I were to ever point this gun at someone I should shoot, is that what you'd like?" Haru smirked, "I'd be more than happy to oblige." She held the gun there a little longer, contemplating his words. Kaito from Fairy Tail was it? Ah, that was it, she'd heard about an odd fellow by his name through rumours while drinking at taverns.

"However, I would personally prefer to make a new friend rather than an enemy. Even if they have made a mess of my beloved mountains." She lowered the pistol, placing it back in its holster, given that he wasn't a threat to her.  It was a little strange to think something was 'calling' to him. Her ears twitched as she attempted to listen to the caves. Nothing out of the ordinary sounds. Then again, the rumours had always referred to him as 'an odd one'.

"Care for some help?" she'd move over to where he lay and reached out offering her hand to help pick him up, "You can lean on me if you need."

He laughs and he looks at her. "who ever told you that sounds like an idiot that wants you to hurt innocent people. Also I have never heard of paradise dawn before… " He wondered if he had fallen into a different universe by accident but this woman seemed not to question what fairy tail is so maybe he is still in his own dimension.

" Yeah I would prefer to make friends as well over me being shot." he hopes she doesn’t turn on him, be he has a feeling that she is honest and that she doesn’t seek to fill him with holes so he can at least trust in that. he wondered why she said this was her mountain, maybe he was between dimensions at the moment. But he would keep going till he found out.

He takes her hand and he gets to his feet and he smiles for she seemed kind. "I think once I get going I should be fine, but thank you for the hand up. " he can feel the effects of the thing he ate taking effect and helping him recover faster. "So why do you call this your mountain am I trespassing ? " he looked at the Demi-cat girl as he walks with her and Revy toward the door.

"Er..." Haru averted her eyes, "Technically, I do not own it, at least not directly. I prospect for a client and in return, I am rewarded based on how successful the expedition is at the locations I select. It makes up a large portion of my income." She'd turn to him now, to look him dead in the eyes, her golden orbs glowering, "So I'd prefer it if the mine shafts didn't collapse." She gave him a warning smile as if to dare him to blast another hole in the wall and destroy the precious minerals that may lay inside.

"As for Paradise Dawn.." Her scowl instantly shifted back to a happy smile again as she picked up the lantern once they made it back to the door. "We are a fairly new guild. Located between a couple of mountain peaks not far from here actually." She peered down at the exceed, she was certainly just as cute as Renji. Her eyes flickered back to the man called Kaito, he certainly didn't have the exceed's adorable feline charm, but he wasn't half bad looking for a human she supposed.

He listened to her story about why she is like that about it, he knows what it is like to have to do dirty work for a pay and depending all of that one thing or person to keep that money to eat and live, lucky enough for him now he really doesn’t have to worry about that as he gets paid a lot more for his deeds now then he did when he was first started out be he will heed her warning to him.

He figured it was probably a good idea to warn her just in case what ever was on the other side of the door caused them to have to fight something. "If something happens watch how close you are and if my skin is exposed try not to touch it with your own. " he smiles softly at her to make sure she knew it wasn’t him threatening her but warning her, cause he had no want to make any of the mine shafts collapse on anyone. "I will try not to use it is I can get away without using it, as it takes a lot of mana to use and is just pure destruction. "

He looks a little sad that this new spell is so harmful that it can just carve through things but he knows he will probably need use of it one day as he gets in a lot of trouble. Revy looks at Haru and gets close to her and whispers. ”He doesn’t think he is good looking what do you think ?” she was teasing the poor girl to try and get the girl to loosen up a little.


Kaito gets to the locked door and he starts speaking in an elven tongue. Then he turns to the two women. " It says behind this door is a creature of wisdom and age. Sounds like a turtle, how good are those guns for armor ?" he looks back to the door and starts solving the puzzle.

Haru was a little confused by his words, it wasn't like she'd purposely go out of her way to touch him without consent, but perhaps with a face like that he'd dealt with a few people that had attempted such. She was all too aware of how disgusting some people could get around someone they found physically attractive. Regardless he didn't seem to be lying when he said he'd try not to use the destructive power he possessed. For that much she was thankful. When the exceed moved in closer to get her attention Haru cocked her head, glancing back over at the brunette.

"Let's see, face wise, fairly attractive." She nodded to herself, "The clothing choice though..." She paused as she eyed him up and down, not even bothering to be secretive about her judgement, "He could definitely do with a proper stylist. I'm sorry did you say something about turtles?" Haru asked, too preoccupied with judging his attire to listen properly.

” Well he is cursed so he dresses like that so no one feels the curse.” she smiled and looked at Kaito as he spoke about a turtle for some reason and in that moment Kai had solved the puzzle and the door slides open he looks at them both and he smiles and rubs the back of his head. "Sorry I probably should have given given you guys a little bit more of a warning. "

Kai looks into the room in front of him, he doesn’t see a turtle. " I had asked how powerful your guns are and if they are good vs armor." He walks into the room looking around and he doesn’t see a turtle but he does see a bunch of giant crystal clusters as he walks along, it is a huge dome shaped room and their are oil filed spots on the walls that lit up when the door had opened. "Maybe we are in luck and the creature is dead. " He sees a dome shape with clusters on it back and he wonders if he may have spoke a little too soon and are about to regret opening his mouth.

Curse? The feline wondered exactly what kind of curse would result in him being required to cover his entire body in such a bizarre manner. Tightening the ponytail that was her silver mane, she'd ready herself as the door began to open as she sent a semi-worried glance at Kaito.

"They are not particularly made for piercing, but they can pack a punch depending on how much magical power I invest before I fire." She admitted. Her weapons were rather basic. She had initially chosen them with that in mind as she had wanted something simple that she could easily wield without having to spend years mastering techniques.

Stepping into the next chamber beside the male, she'd be sure to keep some distance between them as he had requested. Her golden eyes glimmered as they spied the crystal. Jackpot. If she could remember how to get here, there would be an enormous paycheck in it for her. So preoccupied with the gemstones she had failed to notice what they were attached to.

"Hmm... Creature?" Haru went to ask as she felt the earth shake a little as the crystals she'd been staring at began to shift, "Oh... That..."

A giant turtle like creature stands up from the ground crystal like spikes along its back, the door to the room shuts hard and Kai looks at her. "I hope you are ready kid. " Revy opens her sack and Kaito’s katana appears in his hand the katana looks like it has been through a lot with him. The creature starts trying to step on Kai and he keeps its attention so it doesn’t place the girl into danger along with Revy. Kai is studying how it moves and if it seems to have any weak spots that he can tell from just the sight of it.

Revy readies herself to help and she is as well looking for any cracks in it’s armor, so she can be of use to Kai. She speaks to the girl in a calm and caring manner. ”If you are too scared or you want to run, the door is locked but if you are scared then hide we won’t judge you. We will keep you safe I promise. ” the exceed smiles and then runs toward the creature and she sees it has a huge crack that runs along the under side of its shell that they can probably use to beat it.

Haru's body tensed as the creature stood, revealing leathery-looking limbs that protruded from a hard shell covered with crystals. Unconsciously she'd find herself drawing her twin pistols, one in each hand, aiming towards the fleshier parts of its body. Her golden eyes would shift momentarily to Kaito as he spoke, then back to the turtle. His comment irked her, although he wasn't wrong as she was technically still a child, most people didn't treat her like one.

Alas getting irritated with her ally wasn't about to help the situation, as she'd take a deep breath to steady her nerves. The brunette seemed to have managed to take its attention, the creature's beady eyes locking onto the man as it followed his movements. She was about to start shooting when the exceed spoke up. Did the cat just assume that Haru would be a coward? Alright, that was it, she wasn't going to back down until they were done here, if for nothing else than her selfish pride.

Swiftly moving to the opposite side of the chamber to Kaito, Haru would pull back on the hammers of her pistols, pouring in the maximum amount of mana as the weapons could handle before firing both shots towards one of the leathery limbs. Her magical bullets seemed to do some damage, but nowhere near as much as she had anticipated. Her attacks seemed to just anger the beast as it began lashing out more furiously.

Revy upon realizing that crack speaks out so they can react. ” It’s weak point should be the under belly!” she made sure she yelled it loud enough that both had heard her, so no one was left out. She is glad Haru was wise and brave enough to stay and help them as she is not sure in Kaito’s current condition if he would be able to handle this creature alone.

The creature upon hearing Revy scream out the weak spot turns toward her and starts rushing her, Kaito warps and swings his katana and it shatters against the creature, Kai swears under his breath. "I am gonna force it up aim for the crack on it’s underbelly, please Haru I am unsure how long I will be able to keep it up for you but make the shots count." He slams his palms down and two portals appear and two long stone pillars come through pushing the creature up and exposing the long crack along the underbelly of the creature.

Kai hopes this can hold long enough for Haru to get some damage in and if need be he will finish it with his spell. He can feel Revy shaking a little as she clings to his back in fear after she had almost got trampled by the creature and seeing Kaito’s katana shatter like glass against it.

As the exceed called out, Haru noticed the creature's focus shift, she'd try to halt herself, spinning on the spot to turn to protect the crimson kitty. Before she had the chance to start sprinting to cover her though, the dimensional mage teleported, defending her against the incoming blow at the cost of his sword. Her golden eyes blinked a couple of times as her brain processed exactly what she was seeing as stone pillars forced the creature upwards, exposing the cracked underbelly.

"Right." Haru replied, pulling the hammers back on her twin pistols and firing them repeatedly, over and over sending a barrage of bullets towards the wounded belly of the beast. With each shot, the crack widened, exposing the feeble flesh beneath. With what mana she could muster she'd send a final powerful shot that pierced through it, causing a loud rumbling roar-like sound to erupt from the creature as it collapsed lifeless against the pillars Kaito had produced.

Kaito looked back at the girl and he smiled seeing how well she had handled her self and he had seen the girl had ran to protect Revy as well, he was glad to see how brave and daring this woman was. After the creature had died he sat the creature down gently so not to cause more harm to the room and he walks over to the woman and he goes to hug her, but he stops himself and instead pats her shoulder with a smile. "You did well Haru I am glad you were here with me, cause I am not sure if even I would have been able to win that one on my own. "

Revy knows Kaito could have probably been fine but he is making sure this woman is getting properly praised as she had a big part in bringing it down. ”Thank you For coming to protect me. ” She bows her head to those woman.

Kai also bows his head to the woman as well, he is glad he didn’t underestimate her skills and she was selfless in moving to protect the exceed. "I owe you a debt for protecting her. " He stands straight back up, and then he heads for the final door and he touches the door and it unlocks and inside are treasure and in the center of the room is a magic circle with a sword in the middle with a cape hanging on it. He feels it is the sword calling to him with the cape, he seems like he is in a trance as he starts walking toward the sword and cape.

Haru's head tilted as she stared at the glove covered hand on her shoulder. Didn't he say he didn't want to touch due to some curse thing? She was slightly confused. Her eyes darted around towards where pillars had risen out of the earth moments ago, as he praised her. Considering how he had practically destroyed walls to get to this point and the memory of the dead giant mountain mole still fresh in her mind, she highly doubted he couldn't have handled this without her.

"I really didn't do much." She admitted, as her golden orbs locked onto the crimson kitty, but at least they weren't questioning her courage anymore. The flattery was nice, but unnecessary in the feline's mind. She'd follow as he stepped towards the next door, opening it to reveal a treasure room of sorts. Once more her golden eyes glittered as the light from her lantern reflected off the various items within the trove. She was hesitant to touch anything, lest they have some sort of magical traps or triggers.

Noticing the strange trance-like state that Kaito had entered as he stepped forward. Haru unconsciously went to reach out to stop him moving forward but drew her hand back recalling the whole 'not touching' thing. Her heart raced a little as she feared what was about to occur, staring down at the exceed as if to ask for her help on this.

"Ahh... Do we stop him?"

Revy looks at her and she pats her leg. She had seen the  Demi human cat hesitated when she reached out. ”You can touch him his warning was about his skin, the other was in case he had to protect you so you were in range for him to warp you if you got into trouble, he is a sweet guy no need to fear getting closer to him.”

she was trying to push her to be friends with Kai cause she seemed like she might be a strong contact to have as back up. She has taken a shining to this young brave woman who seemed to come out on top of her expectations, not only did she stand her ground in the face of that creature but she also moved to protect her as a hero in her own right.

Kaito gets to the edge of the magic circle and he looks at it and he studies the circle. " It seems only the worthy can enter the circle, this sword is calling to me. Shall I go in Haru? If it kills me can I trust you to take care of Revy for me?" he smiles back at her, he figures he can trust her if it does kill him, he doubts if this is calling to him that he is gonna be killed, it seems to have chosen him as far as he can tell.

The silver maned feline blinked a few times as she processed both of their words. So skin contact was the 'nono'. That made much more sense and why him touching her with a glove did nothing. It was a little late to stop him now though as he stood on the edge of the circle, it would be ultimately up to him if he entered or not. The name he mentioned caused her to tilt her head.

"Revy?" she muttered, looking down at the exceed, that was her name she supposed, it was the first time it had been spoken since meeting the duo, "Ah, yea, of course, I'd be more than happy to take care of her but..." She scowled, a little confused, why asked for her permission, he'd only just met her and what was this about only the worthy? What made someone worthy? The entire situation was leaving her a little disorientated.

Revy holds onto the woman a little as she watched Kai enter the magic circle and grasp the sword, the magic circle activates as it leaves the ground, he dons the cape as well and his wounds and signs of wear seem to disappear from his skin and his body and he looks to the girl and he walks toward her with his new sword in hand. " Now I think I owe you some lunch or some reward of your naming what will it be." His voice is calm and kind, he knows that to this woman he might seem strange and Dangerous.

Revy looks up at her and reaches into her bag and pulls out fish flavored snacks Kai has made her. ” Do you like fish snacks as well?” she holds some of them up to Haru as a thank you to her for saving her and she has a huge smile and looks excited to have met this new person and they seemed nice and even said they would care for her if something went wrong.

Kaito has started looking at the sword, it seemed like a hero’s weapon to him from stories but he isn’t sure if this weapon is indeed that good or not But he knows for now he has a new weapon though he will miss his katana. He puts the sword away and he looks to the girl for is she will take him up on his offer.

Her ears flickered as he entered the circle, watching cautiously, her body tensing as it did... nothing. The man was perfectly fine as he took both sword and cape and strode out back to the two felines. Her body relaxed and she'd look own at the one called Revy who had gripped onto her during the anti-climatic scene. It would seem Haru would not be getting herself an adorable exceed today after all.

"Lunch would suffice." Her tail twitched. She didn't feel like she deserved a reward, she'd barely done anything to warrant such. However, she was not one to give up the offer of a free meal, "Fish snacks?" She'd tilt her head, squatting down to take the treat offered to her as she eyed it over.

She personally didn't know if she'd enjoy them, but there was only one way to find out, plus it would be rude not to eat it now since the exceed looked so excited to share. Placing it gingerly in her mouth the flavour of fish hit her tongue. As it hit her palate it was an absolutely scrumptious flavour. Growing up the neko hadn't had the opportunity to eat fish often, their home was not near sea nor river, however, she had to say she was definitely a fan.

"Delicious!" She'd exclaim shooting the crimson exceed a huge smile in appreciation. She had to get her hand on the recipe.

Revy bounced with joy at the woman liking them. ” I am glad to hear that they are my favorite. Kaito makes them he does look rough I know.” she giggles and looks at Kaito who she climbs up on and into his hood, Kaito wonders where this woman would like to go to. Kaito hopes he hadn’t scared or creeped this poor woman out.


"Where would you like to go ? And also sorry about calling you kid you just look a little green still." he smiled at the woman and rubs the back of his head he was a little embarrassed he had acted so macho when he walked into that circle he knows he is gonna have to really ask for Revy’s forgiveness later for doing that and asking a stranger to take care of her.

" Also thanks for saying you liked the snack as well." He bows his head to her and he hopes where she wants to go is somewhere he has been in the north so he can warp them to the place cause climbing back out of this area would be an actual nightmare and take forever.

Her golden eyes moved away from the exceed, locking onto the brunette's face as she tried to get a read on him and his intentions as Revy mentioned him looking 'rough'. He definitely appeared to be a bit of a weirdo. However, considering their current location and the situations that had arisen, he had had more than enough opportunities to prove himself a bad person. As such she could only conclude he was being sincere with his apology.

"I would say his appearance gives off the aura of an oddball, rather than seeming  rough." She snickered, staring straight at him as she responded to Revy's remark, "As for where to go..." She paused averting her eyes momentarily as she thought, "I've heard good things about some of the restaurants in Rush Valley from my client," she answered shooting him a kind smile. Honestly, she wasn't really a cafe or restaurant person, she usually just ate whatever was on special at her guild's tavern.