Title: The Working Hour

Type: Multi-chapter fic (still not sure on how many chapters)

Pairing: Natsu/Gray

Rating: T (for now)

Warning: Language (for this chapter)

Summary: Natsu Dragneel, a student at Fairy Tail University, wakes up in a strange place, the Fairy Tail Guild. He is surprised as he recognizes the people but they seem to have a different relationship with him in this world. As he starts getting along with them he's pulled back into his own reality and, as he discovers new things about himself and both worlds, a new danger looms in the distance. Add the dangerous missions he takes to the blurring of reality to have him in a dimensional mess.

Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own anything.

The Working Hour

Chapter One – And so it begins

"Wait!"

Natsu sat on the bed, his hand stretched out in front of him, as if he wanted to reach to something. He blinked, sluggishly, and ran the back of his other hand across his sweaty forehead. Large beads of sweat were appearing and sliding down his face. The hand that had stood outstretched fell limply to the bed as the other went to hold the light, slightly scratchy blanket that covered his bottom half.

Thoughts twirled through his mind as they tried to right things until there was some sense in reality. He looked around the foreign room. He had never been here so how had he gotten to this place? What in the worlds had happened?

He let himself fall backwards, listening to the creak of the springs of the mattress and bouncing a bit on it.

He let out a weary sigh and rubbed at his head tiredly.

It was too hot in the room.

There was a knock on the door and someone entered. Natsu froze as he heard the approaching steps. As expected, a voice called him.

"Natsu. Natsu! It's time to wake up." A cold hand touched his forearm and gave a little shake.

Without his notice, a grunt emerged from his throat. There was a pleased hum before two cold hands held the forearm that was thrown across his eyes. Natsu blinked and his eyes opened to stare into the eyes of a blonde girl, her blue eyes filled with relief.

"You're finally awake," she was smiling broadly, "and you had us really worried, did you hear?" her expression closed off in a scowl before another smile settled on her features.

Natsu sat slowly on the bed.

"What do you mean?" he asked in a confused voice.

He did know this girl, he remembered that – she was one of the most popular ones on her department. She spent a good chunk of her time with her nose stuck in the books but she could have fun.

But… He had never talked to her… He had crossed her on the hallways but nothing else. Rumour had it that her family was quite wealthy. And, okay, he probably had just zoned out as she was speaking and he hadn't heard a word of what she had said. She stood up straight and let out a huff, hands coming to rest on her hips.

"Now that I have your full attention," she snapped her fingers, "I'll repeat what I was just saying; come to the main room, the others are waiting."

"Main room… others… what?"

"Oh, come on. It wasn't all that bad, right? The Master said that you should be okay by now."

Seriously? What was she saying? Her words weren't making any sense to Natsu. And what was this dull ache that was rising on the back of his head? Or the heat. Why was it so warm?

"Why is it so warm? Can't you guys open a window in this place?" he plucked absent-mindedly at the blanket.

The girl's frown – her name was Lucy, he could remember it – deepened slightly. "What do you mean?"

"The window! It's blazing hot in here…"

"But Natsu," and how did she know his name, again? "the window is open. And the temperature is fine – a little cold, even."

"I don't get it. Why am I feeling like this?" he went to grab his shirt only to meet sweaty skin. "Where are my clothes?"

"You're wearing them," Lucy replied, eyebrow arching. "You're only missing this," she threw a dark piece of cloth to his lap.

Natsu lifted it and saw the vest. 'This is mine? Since when?' but as he was feeling so warm he just shrugged it on.

"Come on, they're waiting for us."

Natsu nodded and, carefully, stood. He was a bit unsteady at first but the longer he was up, the better he felt – even if the pounding in his head kept on.

There were some sandals at the bottom of the bed and, not seeing anything else, he put them on. They felt a bit odd yet strangely right.

That cold hand was on his arm in no time, she was linking their arms together and making him walk towards the door. It was made of wood but the colour of the oak – but the patterns and different browns made him wonder.

The blonde girl opened the door without preamble and they entered the dark corridor. They walked through a maze of walls, stairs and door until they entered a massive hall.

"You're finally here. It's about time…" an armour-clad red head demanded, giving two steps before pausing to look at the pair's appearance. She blinked twice and narrowed her eyes, seemingly having conflicting thoughts. "Are you feeling better?" she finally asked.

Natsu's brow furrowed. He didn't understand the reason why she was worrying about him. He knew her – or, her rep, at least – and she was one of the brutes from the History department (no-one knew how or why but a group of students had gotten way too much into the study of weaponry and a militaristic view of the world. Not many were crazy to the point of crossing their path and those who had stood in their way had learned their lesson – the hard way). There was no way he had talked to her but, he could see that look of frustration and the way she was looking at him – she was starting to feel annoyed and that wasn't a good thing.

"I'm… fine. I only have a slight headache…" he was raising his hand to his forehead when he saw that it was surrounded by a ball of fire. He startled and started shaking his hand, trying to put it down in slight panic.

"-the fuck!" he yelped and nearly choked on his own spit (even if he wasn't sure that any remained) as he spit a column of fire. He gasped and let out a slightly pained gasp as it burned down his throat.

The room that had had a cheerful background noise shut up instantly, it was even possible to hear a pin fall to the ground. Everybody was interested in seeing what had made the dragon slayer lose his hold on his powers.

"Look at what you're doing, you stupid fire mage!" the irritated voice came from his right and Natsu looked in that direction. At the same time a big lock of fire climbed through his right leg as he twisted his body to face the newcomer and let out harshly, "What do you want, squinty eyes?"

As these words left his mouth Natsu was taken aback. He had had his unpleasant moments with this guy – his so called rival, at the Uni – but he had never gotten this kind of interaction. In all the years of their rivalry he had never been so close to the guy.

"Ah! So you want to fight. Bring it on!" Gray motioned for him to come but the imminent brawl was broken by the Master.

"Natsu! Gray! You're not going anywhere. We're still not aware of the effects that the hit had upon Natsu…" he stepped so that he was standing between the two mages, eyeing the fire mage. "How do you feel?" he asked, with a serious face.

"Hm…" Natsu paused to clear his throat and had the feeling that the whole place had paused and was hanging, waiting for his next words. "I'm alright… I think…" he managed to croak out. His surroundings regained a more usual level of noise as normalcy settled in again, to some degree. But the older man wasn't convinced.

"Then why are your fists blazing?"

Natsu looked down with wide eyes. He was right!

There it was again, this freaky, impossible thing. How in the world was he doing this?

"He's doing it again." Lucy chimed in. "When we got here was the same, looking at his magic as if it were the first time he was seeing it…"

At the blonde's statement the heads turned back towards him.

And Natsu blinked.

Magic.

Magic?

What the hell were they talking about? There was no such thing as magic!

"Okay…" Makarov cleared his throat and proceeded. "Can you tell me what do you remember?"

"Hm… my name is Natsu and-" he paused as he was at a loss about what he could say. Because there was something in here that wasn't right.

"Don't you remember anything else? Fairy Tail, Igneel…" Erza asked, her eyebrows arching high.

"No… I do remember it but-" he pressed his lips together and shook his head. Maybe he did it a bit too vigorously because he felt a bout of dizziness and watched his flames dissipating from around his fists as he was held up by the red head.

"He doesn't seem to remember anything. Amnesia, maybe…?" she asked.

"It is possible," the master scratched his chin.

Natsu managed to steady himself and looked around. "I don't understand what the hell you're saying. But something isn't right. I mean – there was fire coming-"

He was silenced by the imposing presence of the old man. "I heard it. But there is something else that isn't right," he approached the slightly distressed one, his face not portraying any of his thoughts. "but what might be it…?" he muttered before speaking louder. "You're not bad, considering… You do need to relearn how to control your powers. But for now, I think that your team should take you on a stroll, go see the village and whatnot. You need to know where you are."

Those who were closer to them nodded and Lucy and Erza laced their arms through his and started to pull him towards the huge door.

"Wait for me!" a voice sounded in the distance, approaching them quite fast.

Natsu looked up and his mouth fell open in shock. There was a flyingcat heading towards them. A flyingbluecat.

These things just weren't normal!

The cat perched itself in his right shoulder and started talking. He gulped and resumed his walk towards the door, the cat running his mouth off on his shoulder.

"In case you don't remember, this is Happy. He's your cat and-"

"My cat? But cats don't usually… you know… talk…"

"He's not your ordinary cat." Erza smirked and looked back. "Are you coming too?"

"Sure," the voice sounded and Natsu fell back from his shock to see the dark haired guy – Gray – walking behind them, nonchalantly.

They exited the guild.

Having seen most of the village's – Magnolia. This place was also called Magnolia – important spots, the group started walking towards the surrounding fields, leisurely. They were walking alongside the forest, listening to the small creatures that inhabited it.

All in all, this group of such different people – they were mages, he couldn't forget it – was a pretty neat one. He was feeling right at home among them – a feeling of rightness as he hadn't known before. It made him wonder about how things would be in his own world, should their counterparts meet in such a way.

He let a small, distracted smile appear on his lips.

Then, all of a sudden, he felt something. There was a shift in the environment. He stopped and looked around, sniffing unconsciously. The rest of the group also paused to see what was the matter.

"Natsu, what's wrong?" demanded Erza.

"I don't know…" he looked around. "I just know that something is off-" he hadn't finished speaking and there was a rustle from the nearby bushes and a dark figure threw itself at them.

All of a sudden they found themselves surrounded by Vulcans, the creatures growling menacingly at them.

"What the-?"

"It's a trap!"

They placed themselves in a circle – and then all hell broke loose. Magic started flowing and Natsu saw the others jump into action. He held himself together, not because he was feeling any fear (though, deep down there might be a part of his mind that was yelling about the whole craziness that was occurring) but to contain the power that wanted to break free from his body, the power that was running under his skin, making him itch to call it forth. So, he crossed his arms and dug his nails in his skin, as he bit down on his lip making a small stream of blood flow down his chin.

He was so distracted battling against himself that he only noticed that they were being led in a certain direction when it was almost too late. But then the group found its footing and fought back, finding a wall to protect their back and setting in different layers. Erza, Gray and Lucy were standing in the front – Natsu had been pushed (a bit roughly) to the back, against the wall with Happy hovering on his side.

The beasts stopped, breathing noisily and looking at them through wildly open eyes, seemingly bidding their time. They also got into a tighter formation, looming over them and ready to attack.

For minutes to no end they were in that standstill. No-one moved, and it even looked like the forest was holding its breath for what was about to happen.

Natsu's hairs on his arms were standing on end and he tried to contain the thing inside once again, but it was harder than before. It felt as if there was a beast of sorts trying to come out of him, to rip his skin apart and come to existence right in front of him. But he still held it. The young man didn't know what was happening but knew that he couldn't charge mindlessly towards the danger. Well, something said that he could (heck, it was nearly pulling him towards the front) but he didn't felt capable of managing this power. His friends did tell him that he was a hothead and jumped into stuff without thought a lot of the time but none of that was as serious as this, right? Because, well, it wasn't every day that you had a bunch of creatures attacking you – at most you would have things thrown at your head or be hit by a car. And had he just compared these beasts to being hit by a car? It didn't make sense to such a degree that he shook his head to get rid of it.

However that seemed to be the signal taken by everybody.

Moment of balance broken, the Vulcans threw themselves at them in a coordinated way, which was slightly odd for the mages. But they instantly got ready for the incoming attack.

The red head and guy both ran to the front, throwing themselves towards the chaos that this clash was, leaving the blonde and the cat behind, in a defensive measure. Natsu still had to stop himself.

His mouth tasted too much like blood so he spat at the ground, and that was when the first real clashes began. Magic flew and roars emerged at the same time one of the creatures was heading directly towards Natsu. Lucy tried to get in the way but another beast jumped at her and she had to defend herself. The flying cat also tried to take Natsu away – now that the last line of defence had been broken – but he didn't reach him on time.

The Vulcan was right in front of Natsu and, while he felt his body moving the right way to do something, he was punched. It was so hard that he broke the wall and came crashing onto a nearby amount of rocks, that sprouted amidst the green tufts of wild vegetation.

He hurt.

Someone called his name but before he could see who – everything went black.

Natsu woke up but remained with his eyes closed, trying to discern something about his surroundings.

He didn't come up with anything.

But, besides the silence outside, he felt strange…

For instance, there wasn't that pointy rock digging into his back, as he last remembered. And he wasn't hurting anywhere either – or, he just didn't feel anything and that could be worrying all the same. When he tried to open his hand to grab the grass that lied underneath he came up with nothing.

Nothing?

Huh? What did that mean?

And not only that – why wasn't there something under his head and body? It felt as if he were floating but that was preposterous, right?

Finally he decided to open his eyes only to be met with… black.

That just… wasn't right – that much he knew.

Looking down he noticed that he could see himself, somehow. And that just added to the weirdness.

All of a sudden there was a feeling of free-falling and Natsu startled when a figure fell and stood centimetres apart from him. It was a skeletal figure, the skull's white face contorted in an evil rictus. He was wearing a blood red cape that fell over thin limbs that were dressed in a shabby looking suit.

"You're already here?" it asked in a gravely voice, the body moved as if it were being pulled up, like a puppet.

"What the-? What do you mean with that?" Natsu pressed on, wanting to have answers.

"Ah, no, no. You're not going to learn anything from me. I'm only here for one thing, your answer-"

"Answer? What do you mean? To what?" he was beginning to lose his temper.

"The answer to the question, of course," it did a mocking bow and got back up to stare at Natsu through the empty eye sockets. 'But if he doesn't have eyes how can he see?' a small part on his slightly hysterical mind couldn't help but have the inane thought.

"If I don't know the question how do you want me to answer?" Natsu yelled, frustrated.

A hacking cough followed by a noise that reminded him of grinding stones was heard as the thing in front of Natsu doubled, laughing.

"You don't know the question? How's that possible?" the smirk on the pale bone grew even more evil.

"Well, it is. So, just tell me that stupid question or get lost!"

"So much violence… but I will tell you the question, don't worry. But before, how do you think you can get away? This is immense."

"I don't fucking care! The question?" Natsu crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Very well…" it seemed to give a long suffering sigh before leaning towards Natsu, skeletal hand gripping painfully on his forearm.

"So… is this game over?"

"Huh?" Natsu looked at it as if he hadn't heard correctly. But as his eyes landed on the figure, it started melting, the red overpowering the rest until it only seemed that there was a big red blob slowly turning into smaller red dots. The red started falling like rain and a wind seemed to rise as a myriad of colours emerged from all around, the black was no more, and the colours started to twirl, giving Natsu a headache. He tried to blink but the moment he closed his eyes he was falling to the nothingness.

Natsu woke with a start, a gasp escaping his lips.

He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling that he knew so well. Yes, he knew that ceiling, didn't he?

Slowly, he sat on the bed, pushing the cover down slowly.

He was in his room.

There was his desk, with his laptop and his opened notebook from where he had been studying some notes. And there was his bookcase too, filled with books. And his chair, piled with clean clothes. And the familiar trail of discarded clothes on the floor. The doors to the closet were ajar and he could see mess the inside was!

He was back in his room!

So, that meant that it had been a dream, just something crazy of one night.

Relieved, he laid back on the bed and went to trail a hand through his hair when he noticed something.

On his forearm. There was a bright red hand print.

So… that meant that…!

Oh fuck, that hadn't been a dream!

A/N: Finally, this is done! *cheers*

There you have it folks. This was my NaNoWriMo story that I, unfortunately, had to leave to gain some dust as I focused on other stuff (damn University work =^=).

I hope this has been interesting so far, there's still a lot of weirdness to come and I hope to do a good work on this fairly common genre. The name of the story comes from Tears for Fears' song by the same name (awesome song) and I started thinking about the plot for this one while listening to it. There are some things from it that I want to include here but I must admit that it's a wonder how I came up with this story just by listening to it. ^^

Anyway, I hope you liked this first chapter and that this has been a good read. ^^

My thanks to Nightslayr for the read and for making some of the weird parts (especially the one where I first left the story) something readable.

Feedback is always appreciated.