Natsu walked down the main streets of downtown Magnolia with his hood up and head down. His ears tuned to the bustling market around him as he passed through, dodging many of its customers. It was perhaps the busiest time of the morning when many families and couples were more prominent than anyone else. Each shopping for the household necessities and whatever else. Despite the constant chatter around him, he had though it was a rather nice day. Although the indistinguishable conversations around him were becoming more dizzying the more time that past. Thankfully, he could see the studio in the far distance. A smile crept onto his lips, it had been a little while since he's seen everyone.

Especially in person.

Usually, at the end of each week, he would record the vocals by himself with the pre-recorded instrumentals. But every two weeks or so, they would meet up to record everything at once. Even then, it was rare to have all five of them there at once. Lizabeth and Kyle were the best keyboard and drummer he knew, Makoto was a really good bass guitarist and back up singer, often backing many of Natsu's choruses, and then there was Dana...where to even begin. She was once of the most recent recruits and also the most soft-spoken. But she played a mean guitar and was far better than Natsu was. Oh but he couldn't forget about Jed, their producer. He worked on balancing all the different parts and fixing any timing errors Natsu had missed in writing. There was also Karin, his manager and the one who stumbled upon him sitting in the park one day.

Natsu chuckled to himself remembering that awkward and life-changing experience.


Natsu sat on a bench, humming to a tune he'd had in mind for a while. It had become a hobby of his to write random poems and songs on missions only to come back and turn them into songs. This particular tune written after an event that could nearly have been more tragic if his team hadn't arrived when they did. A demonic creature had attacked a village, breathing fire over the fleeing townspeople and scorching them alive. Their screams could be heard for miles, cutting off abruptly as the flame-like beams touched them, disintegrating their bodies on contact. But the smell of burning flesh permeated the air in disturbing amount. One could hardly take a breath without gagging on the taste. Natsu had been lucky enough to whisk a pair of young children to safety, likely orphaned and traumatized for life. Their eyes were full of the terror they'd seen and the despair for everything they'd lost.

{ My family, long since gone~

It's been a long time since I cried and left you behind, buried in ashes~

It's hard leaving you that way when I never wanted to go~

Never wanted to leave you like that, alone and afraid~

Self-denial is a game I never would've played until there was no more you~

Cause I have learned that love is a word gets thrown a little bit too much~

The best excuse to fill this infinite abyss of my empty, shattered heart~

I would never ever have failed and lost you too~ }

He sang this part aloud, the piece that hit close enough to home that he couldn't help but let the words flow off his tongue. It reminded him of the days after Igneel had left and the months following until he had found Fairy Tail. It was his salvation and his prison. It allowed him once more the touch of family but reminded him what he had lost, and now, never to come back.

Natsu paused after he finished, hesitating the slightest bit before moving on to the chorus he had sung many times only to happen to glance up and notice someone was standing there with a look of awe on her tear-stricken face.

"That was so beautiful..." The woman said, removing her glasses to wipe at her face. "I have never heard anyone sing quite like that."

"Um...thanks." Natsu replied, a bit confused at her reaction. It wasn't as if he'd thought himself a good singer by any means at all. If he were asked he'd say he couldn't sing at all.

It was another moment before the woman replaced her glasses and took a breath, turning back to give Natsu her attention. "By the way, aren't you Mr. Dragneel-san, the great fire mage of Fairy Tail?"

"Yeah." He replied slowly as a card was held out before him. "What's this?"

"My card. You have talent, and it's a manager's job to find and shine light on that talent." She smiled, "I'm Karin. Feel free to call me on my lacrima at anytime."

"Okay..."


At first, Natsu thought she was joking. But less than a week later he ended up getting a hold of her and realized it could be fun. Life at the guild was exciting and all but there were times when he found himself with so much downtime and had often thought about getting a part-time job outside of his regular missions. In only a few short weeks, he had met and produced a song that reached the top of every chart it qualified on upon the day after its release.

Even now, the thought that he was famous for something other than his destruction was still something hard to perceive and yet...all too real. It wasn't until the next song when he was gotten his stage name "NIGHT" so he could remain mostly anonymous. Natsu chuckled to himself, thinking about all the crazy fun he's had since then.

Until a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Oi, Natsu~"

Well...there goes his nostalgic mood.

Natsu turned to face a pair walking out of an apartment building, arm in arm. The male, who had called out to him, grinned. He had short blond hair that looked like he had just woken up and left the house, his eyes were the darkest shade of onyx you'd ever see on a person. Almost every inch of his visible skin was covered in tattoos except for the front of his neck and his face. The girl that hung on his arm had her long hair tied up into a messy bun with her bangs shading one hazel eye. She too was covered in tattoos.

Natsu glanced over their tattered outfits with distaste, "Don't you own any real clothes?"

"These are real clothes," The girl purred, "They cover what they need to."

"Liz, you're not wearing clothes, that outfit is practically a shredded blanket." Natsu sighed, taking one glance at the male and repeated the action. "Don't get me started on you, Kyle. I can practically see your package from how high your rips go."

Kyle pouted, puffing out his pierced lip. "You're so mean."

"Uh-huh. And you're a saint?" Natsu replied sarcastically, starting to walk on, not worrying about the other two. He knew they would follow.

"You know what?" Kyle smirked, leaning on Natsu with an arm draped over his shoulder, "I am a saint. I'm so much of a saint that even you will bask in my glory!" He had barely finished his sentence when he jolted away from Natsu with a hiss.

"Don't play with fire and you won't get burned." Natsu chuckled, letting his skin return to its average temperature.

"Geez man," He rubbed his arm, "That was so not fair."

"Hey, I never said I was a saint either." Natsu chuckled. "By the way, we need to head on or else we'll be late. Although," He glanced over them, "It's nothing new to you guys. How long does it take to look that shredded?"

"A while actually," Lizabeth said while leaning against Natsu. "So, let's go then."

Natsu sighed and shook her off, moving to walk on ahead. Kyle had whining the whole rest of the way about unfair treatment and Natsu apparently having a gender bias since he was burned and Lizabeth got off easy. Natsu ignored his whining friend for the time being, wanting to focus rather on his songs as they were only a block away from their destination. A familiar face hanging around the studio building's entrance.

"Oi! Karin!" Natsu called out, catching her attention. He had only a moment of a fight or flee reaction before she ran towards them and nearly tackled him. Her sudden sprint towards them scaring the shit out of him.

"I'm soo sorry, Natsu-san!" she whined, tears brimming her eyes as Kyle and Lizabeth walked on ahead, leaving him to deal with the sobbing woman.

"What is it?"Natsu asked, noting the tenseness in her shoulders. He felt a pang of worry flit through him before he noticed her holding a magazine from Shatter, a publisher all about drama and rumors. Right on the front cover was a picture of him and Sting sitting in the restaurant where they had eaten after their live radio interview session. In the photo, Natsu had his hands over Sting's and was slightly leaned over the table and a light smile on both of their faces. A light blush cast over Sting's face. "Don't tell me..."

"We weren't able to stop them from publishing the pictures." She sobbed. "Whoever had taken the photos must have followed one of you all day after the interview was finished."

Natsu opened to the story, skimming over the major details. They had photos of them leaving Sorcerer's Weekly, captioned with questions of why they had been there together. Another small photo of them in the cafe where Natsu had been warning the waitress beside the one from the cover. On the next page were photos of the time when I was looking at an outfit Sting had picked in the mirror and after Natsu's little freakout. Scattered throughout the page were many scandalous questions. Questions about their relationship with one another and little rumors.

Natsu sighed and made a mental note to get a hold of Sting later and make sure him and Rogue weren't too shaken by this article. He could only hope that no members of FairyTail had read this but knowing his luck recently. Natsu could only sigh in exasperation, "Well, nothing we can do now. But these won't be on the shelves for long," As much as Natsu hated to admit it, they would be sold out soon as rumors such as this spread like wildfire. "I think we'd better be preparing for the worst."

Karin nodded, sniffling lightly. "I'm sorry."

Natsu smiled, putting an arm around her, "Cheer up, it's not like it's the end of the world." Just the end of my love life for a little while. As long as everything cleared up by the festival, Natsu couldn't care less. He guided them into the building, feeling a pair of eyes on him. He turned sharply, trying to pinpoint who was staring at him. But as soon as the pinkette had turned, the sensation went away. It was strange and Natsu quickly ushered Karin inside, wanting to get away from the feeling.

"Let's just get up to the room, we've left them waiting long enough." Natsu said, putting some cheer into his voice. If he let something like this affect him right now, it would probably bring along some attention to him even further. 'Night' has never been late when it came to song releases and he wasn't going to start now.


They walked upstairs, going over little things in his schedule that Natsu needed to remember, like his next interview and there was a teaser shoot he had agreed to (albeit reluctantly). Basically they would take some photos of him but leave out his face or recolor his hair which was well known to anyone Natsu associated with on a regular basis. Although he already knew that he'd be in some deep shit from Shatter's article.

Natsu sighed deeply as they rounded the hallway to the studio they'd be using. It was time for him to put everything else out of his mind and focus on the reason he was here.

They opened the door to find their little group arguing over something and Natsu sighed before entering. Apparently Kyle and Makoto had been arguing about something. "Can't you two stop for today?"

"But he started it!"

Is this how Erza feels dealing with him and Gray?

"I don't care who started it, I'm ending it." Natsu said with a stern look. "Look, if you can all get along today then we can all go to karaoke tonight."

Natsu smiled as they ask seemed to perk up. Why karaoke was so amazing to them he would never understand but if it kept them from arguing then it was all fine. "Come on, let's get this started."

Natsu glanced around the room, Kyle and Lizabeth were setting up their instruments, Dana was tuning her guitar and nodding to whatever Makoto was telling her. Jeb walked in shortly after, his voice cheery as he announced our standing on the charts.

"Who knew you idiots could keep the number one spot for so long?" Jeb ruffled Natsu's hair as he passed. "I'm so proud of you all."

A warmth spread in his chest as Natsu smiled. This crazy group was part off his home away from home. Another family he wouldn't leave as long as he had the choice to stay.

"Oh come on old man, you know perfectly well that we are awesome!" Makoto grinned cockily.

"Yeah yeah, come on you brats," Jeb chuckled fondly, "We have several songs to record today. So if you all can go into the sound booth now."

Natsu smiled, he wouldn't have to be told twice. He opened the door to the both and stepped in, moving to where his microphone was set up. "What's first? Solaris?" Makoto made a sound of confirmation as Natsu reached for his headphones. "Let's start then."

Time for 'Night' to begin.