Natsu opened his eyes and saw the light softly filtering through curtains and half-closed blinds.
A new day was beginning.
The sun was just breaching the horizon, the grey-yellow light was drawing some images against the bare wall, images that would slide across the room as the sun moved, Natsu knew that now.
But, for the moment, he let himself be. Waiting for the sun to rise a little bit more, so that it was time to go to school – and wasn't that still a hard concept to wrap his head around – and be able to continue with this strange life.
It was too good to be true, though.
It had to be a dream.
Sun,
Rice cakes,
Story
Those words seemed to resound in his half-awake mind, he was too comfortable to get up and remember. Because everything was calm in the house and it was a sharp contrast to the memories he wanted to forget.
Yet…
He knew that he couldn't forget.
All of this had to be a trick, the nagging doubt never left him, always in the back of his mind and making sure he knew that it wasn't to last.
It just couldn't. Life had taught him as much, so far.
The alarm started blaring, making Natsu jump up, frowning because he'd gotten distracted. And the sun had slid on the wall quite a bit. And he was used to getting up with it – even in the poor conditions he'd lived in, he would always rouse with the sun.
Sun.
He could now feel the balmy warmth on his skin, the way it felt like a gentle caress, a loving embrace almost. And Natsu would always try to not be sad about that.
"Time to get up, Natsu!" the loud voice came from the other side of the door, followed by a couple of knocks. And with that, Natsu was out of the bed and hurrying into the bathroom and to getting ready.
It was time for the day to start.
Breakfast with Igneel had been awkward.
Now they'd eased into a companionable silence.
It was… nice…
School was a completely different matter.
There was a tension in the air. Every time he got to the classroom, he knew that eyes were following his every step. It was unnerving and brought bad memories.
Inside, the tension was different.
Anxiety still filled the air, leaving an acrid aftertaste in his mouth. The group was still too disjointed from the events.
Natsu sat with Wendy, and she shared a tired smile with him. He felt that his own was as tired as hers. They quickly looked to the front of the classroom as the teacher walked in. Professor Goldmine was kind and overly in a cheerful mood but he didn't allow for disturbances.
And with that, class could begin.
Walking home – and wasn't that another strange word for him to think! – after a long day at school still had Natsu reeling.
What he was experiencing, what he was living was normal. He didn't know normalcy, Igneel had told him about it and promised to make it so that he could have it for himself, but he hadn't believed him.
All he knew were dark corners and pain.
Not this sunshine and words, music, food – laughter!
Natsu stopped and shook his head. He looked to the side, a garden where parents were taking their kids to play. Normal and mage alike, probably? He didn't know, it was still quite difficult to wrap his head around certain things.
But this peaceful thing he was in, it couldn't be true. Natsu hadn't lasted so much without breaking by being dumb, no. He knew that he was in a dream and reality would wake him soon enough. Grasping his bag tighter, he resumed his walk.
He was in the sun for the moment but he could feel the glossy tendrils of inky-black oil that were stretching out to close around him.