Chapter 1

"You really are him. The insignia proves it."

My blood ran cold at her voice. I refused to meet her gaze as I tried to play it off. "I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Don't you dare play dumb with me, Natsu Dragneel! Turn around and face me!"

Her harsh tone made me cringe. I had two choices in front of me: run away or face her. The clock was ticking down and I made my choice.

I–

"Natsu, wake up!"

I yelped, fell out of bed, and landed in a tangle of blankets and pillows. In front of my face was a pair of school shoes tapping the carpet impatiently.

"Natsu, we're going to be late for school if you don't get up now!"

I groaned and pulled a blanket over my head. "Just go on without me, Wendy! I was planning to be late anyways."

Wendy pouted and grabbed my arm from under the blankets. "Come on, Natsu! I promised Uncle Igneel that I wasn't going to let you be late from now on!"

"Then don't make promises you can't keep," I retorted, grabbing my pillow as my cousin pulled me out from the pile of blankets on top of me. "Wendy, you're going to give me rug burn," I complained as I felt my bare back get hot.

"Then pull your own weight! Jeez!" Wendy let go of my arm when I was halfway into the bathroom. She kicked my side when I didn't move.

"Ow!" I exclaimed. "Okay, okay, I'll get ready…"

"Hurry up! Breakfast is waiting."

I watched the pair of school shoes leave the bathroom then heard the sound of a door opening and slamming shut.

I sighed from my spot on the floor and spent a couple minutes on my back before Wendy yelled downstairs telling me I had five minutes. I heaved a hefty sigh and got ready. I came out of my room wearing my white school shirt, half of it being untucked from my black school slacks. I left the red tie on the floor.

I came down the staircase ready to eat Wendy's special pancakes, but was instead greeted by a piece of toast stuffed into my mouth. Before I could realize it, my book bag was on my arm and I was out the door. I turned around and saw Wendy scrambling to get the door locked. I took a bite out of my piece of toast and let Wendy drag me by my hand to school.

I swallowed my last bite of toast by the time we reached Cait Shelter Middle School. I slowed down in front of the gates, but Wendy kept pulling.

"Aren't you going to school, Wendy?" I asked.

She didn't miss a step when she replied, "Of course I am, but I need to make sure you're actually going to school before I leave you. You're not ditching like last time!"

I thought back to a time when Wendy rushed me like this. She left for school first and I was left to spent the day hanging out with the boys; outside of school, of course. We made a bonfire and roasted marshmallows. I chuckled at the time when someone's shirt caught fire and we panicked, sending him flying into the river.

Wendy looked back at me, wondering what I was laughing at. I brushed it off like it was nothing and paused in front of my school gates.

I shook her hand off and said, "Well, I'm here. You can go to school now."

Wendy stayed put. "I'm not leaving until I know for sure you won't ditch!"

"And how are you planning to do that? Don't tell me you're going to watch me 'til the bell rings. You might end up late yourself."

Wendy shook her head with a confident smile plastered on her face. "I'm not going to watch you, Erza is!"

I stood staring numbly at my cousin until her words finally sunk in. "E-Erza, you say?" I stammered.

Wendy nodded.

"Why would you do this to me you little…" My words were cut off when someone came up from behind me and wrapped an arm around my neck. I could feel the muscles flex as her arm coiled tighter around my neck.

While I was gasping for breath, I heard a cheery voice next to my ear. "Natsu! I was wondering where you were when you didn't show up for class."

"Re-really?" I managed to choke out. The glare off her glasses and the eerily wide smile on her face told me she was far from what the tone of her voice was.

"I took the liberty of taking notes for the classes you missed. I think I left them in my locker. Let's go, Natsu," Erza seethed the last word and ushered me towards school with her arm still around my neck.

I saw Wendy waving goodbye at the gates and then she skipped off to school.

"You could've called in sick…"

"Huh?" I stopped struggling and looked at Erza. The glare off her glasses hid her eyes, but the tone in her voice was completely different from the angry one before. It sounded… sad? Disappointed? Displeased? I couldn't tell.

"Instead of ditching, you could have called in sick and caused less trouble for yourself," Erza explained further.

I remained silent and let Erza drag me into school. Before we reached the doors, I whispered, "If only it were that easy…"

"Mr. Dragneel, please clip on your ID before entering the classroom."

I rolled my eyes and shuffled through my bag. I felt what I was looking for under my textbooks and forcibly pulled it out. My student ID encased in a neon green case snapped out of the bag and I moodily showed it to my teacher. She shot me a dirty glance before nodding me in.

I shoved my ID into my pocket as I walked to my seat. Pulling out my chair, I slumped into the seat and waited for class to start.

"These clip-on IDs are such a nuisance. They're too flashy! Why do we have to wear these anyways?"

I casted a side glance at my classmates surrounding the table next to me. They were all chatting so noisily I couldn't help but to pick up on their conversation.

"I heard it's because of the Karen Lilica case at Blue Pegasus. A young adult who supposedly had something against her snuck into her school and stabbed her to death."

"Wow, that's scary!"

"And the worst thing was the killer supposedly walked away from the school, right in front of a teacher! The teacher was standing in front of the school gates after school and waved goodbye thinking it was one of his students!"

"Woah, but I still don't understand why we have to wear these. Why can't we keep it in our wallet or bag like a normal person?"

"I heard it's because the police said it would be more efficient this way; to detect suspicious activity faster or something."

"That's stupid. I think they're wasting their time."

An itch at the back of my throat urged me to yell at them to be quiet, but I restrained my urge and tried to tune them out. Hearing anyone badmouthing the police always made me peeved. I think it's because my dad is the chief in charge of Magnolia's unit and it's like they're saying my dad, himself, is stupid. I'm okay taking other peoples taunts calling me an idiot and being stupid because I really am, but when it's my dad I can't help but to feel annoyed. He's a genius and no one apparently knows it but us, his family.

I pulled an annoyed sigh and tried to get through class without punching someone in the face.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

I anxiously waited for the clock to strike three and ring the bell, signaling the end of school. Unfortunately it was barely eleven and I already wanted school to end. The bell for lunch rang instead and had to settle for that.

I started to walk towards the courtyard where my friends and I would eat lunch everyday, then the thought of sneaking out of school and ditching came to mind. I didn't really care if I had to spend the rest of the day alone, I just need to mess something up, badly.

I suddenly stopped in the middle of the hall and turn on my heels. It didn't even take two steps before I collided into someone and fell backwards onto the floor.

"Ouch! Hey, don't stop in the middle of the hall like that!"

I was about to snap back with a comeback when I saw who it was I bumped into. I blinked in surprise realizing it was Lucy Heartfilia.

The only reason why I remember her name was because she was the only person who didn't show up on the first day of school. She showed up the next, but since then she rarely attended school. Every time, she always came up with the same excuse saying that she was sick.

I had thought that she would turn out to be a delinquent the first time I expected to see her, but that image dissolved into a regular school girl who was too frail to step out of the comfort of her room.

"Are you going to apologize or what?"

The harshness in her voice snapped me back to reality and I realized that we were still on the floor. I tried to offer a hand, but she looked at it offensively and got up on her own. Without another word, she walked away.

I remained shocked at her rude behavior and scowled on the floor. "What was her problem? I tried to help, didn't I?"

I stood up and brushed off the dirt from my pants. Shooting one last glare at her departing figure, I proceeded down the hall and pushed through the double doors.

I raised my eyes at the berserk honking coming down the street. A few moments later, a car zoomed by in front of me while I waited for my turn to walk at the intersection. My hair and clothes tugged gently at the car and returned still. The engine was still thundering in the distance when I stepped up onto the curb on the other side of the street. I took a step then stopped when I heard eerie screeching in the distance. My eyes impulsively looked at the direction of the sound and sighed when I saw a stream of smoke rising to the sky.

I faced forward once again and led one foot in the other. Without realizing it, I found myself kicking a tin can my foot must've found next to an overflowing trash can. I listened silently to the satisfying, empty clank of metal on the concrete then stopped. Deeming tired of the can, my foot reeled back and kicked it into an alley. I guess I kicked it a bit too hard because it collided with an empty trash can, causing it fall over.

A loud hiss echoed in the alley made me jump. A flash of blue zipped out of the alley and clumsily crashed into my leg. It shook its head, confused and just sat there staring at a blank space. I cocked my head when I realized it was a cat that had vibrant blue fur. I picked it up by its scruff tentatively and held it in front of my face, examining the rare creature.

"What kind of cat are you?"

The cat shook its head again and looked at me with big, round eyes. It mewled and licked the tip of my nose. My hand jerked back and I raised my fingers to my nose. The cat purred and I subconsciously brought it to my chest. I cradled it in my arms and felt its purrs reach my heart.

"You're pretty cute. Maybe I'll keep you."

As if the cat understood what I was saying, it mewled once more and rubbed its head against my shirt.

Progress Log: Salamander found.