Thump. Thump. Thump. Natsu anxiously paced around, leaving a trail of dust in his wake as thoughts darted across his mind. He had to keep reminding himself of the hours of practice he had with Gajeel, then Gray, then Lucy (time had slipped out of his fingers so quickly!) He would be fine, he would be fine, he would be great, he would be awesome-

Leaning against a chair, Gray watched Natsu with amusement. "Nervous for tonight's performance?"

"As if!" Natsu flung his hands up with a loud, brash laugh. "I'm fired up, of course!"

Raising an eyebrow, Gray only smirked. "You're a horrible liar."

Natsu only cracked his knuckles. "What was that, ice stripper?"

"Don't insult me when I'm trying to help you, hot-headed moron!"

"Gu—uys.."

Both whirled around. Natsu blinked as he slowly registered the presence…the presences of….

Lisanna and Happy.

Natsu gulped. "What? It's starting already?!"

Lisanna giggled. "No, silly, I just wanted to check up on you and Gray." Natsu immediately exhaled, slumping back against a chair, and Happy soared over, landing on his shoulder. Lisanna's lips quirked up. "Looks like someone's got a bit of stage fright, huh?"

What was with everyone?! He definitely wasn't scared for tonight's performance or anything!

Yeah, right.


Actually, Natsu's stomach churned at the thought of tonight's performance.

Ever since Igneel had left, most people had become background to Natsu. Like nothing but distorted voices echoing through the shadows. Before, when he was bored, he liked listening to all the conversations floating around. It was interesting! And fun! Natsu liked to think of himself as a flash of flames, flitting in and out of people's lives in the blink of an eye.

But when those voices had learned about his blindness, they were twisted with pity, their warped words writhing into the pit of his hollow heart and sinking their teeth into his flickering core.

"You're the son of a dragon. The son of Igneel. My son. But that's not enough."

Natsu scratched his head. "What do you mean, that's not enough? If everyone called me Igneel's son, I'd be so happy! And proud too!" He toothily beamed at Igneel.

Igneel only laughed his rumbling laughter. "You can take the surname of Dragneel but you'll always be Natsu. Be proud to be yourself." His gleaming golden eyes regarded Natsu solemnly. "No matter who you are. Howl your name to the heavens! Take to the skies! YOU ARE NATSU!"

"I AM NATSU!" Natsu shouted.

"Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise. Stand tall and proud, so that everyone can look you in the eye."

But their voices crushed him, choking him until he was disappearing into the shadows…

But Fairy Tail had changed that.

Fairy Tail was awesome, after all! Natsu had to grin at the thought. A weird awesome but awesome anyway. Because they were family. Because they cared. Because even though he was blind, they would paint the world out for him to see.

But to perform in front of strangers, in front of those cracking voices again…. he didn't know if he could do it or not.


"Natsu? Natsu? Are you there?"

"The stupid dragon-slayer'll be fine."

"Maybe I should hit him with a fish?"

"Don't do that, Happy," Natsu mumbled.

There were two sighs of relief and a snort.

"You were zoning out there," Gray remarked.

"Yeah, just thinking…."

"You can think?"

"Of course!" Lisanna replied cheerily. "Natsu's really smart! Right, Happy?"

"Aye sir! Um..I mean, ma'am!" Happy glanced at Natsu curiously. "But what WAS Natsu thinking about?"

Natsu laughed sheepishly. "About tonight, I was kinda freaking out about it." He scowled as Gray let out a triumphant 'I told you so!'

"What were you nervous about?" Lisanna inquired curiously.

"Everyone watching….I guess."

There was a thoughtful pause. Then, Happy chimed in.

"Hey, Natsu! Remember when I met you?"

"Yeah! You were saying something…about enimas..or was it animas…"

"Enigmas, smart one!" Gray snapped, only to be silenced by Lisanna's reproachful look.

"And?" Happy prodded Natsu.

"And you were talking about dreams! And wonders! And terrors! And magic!"

"Aye, aye! And that's what Fairy Tail's about. You're gonna make magic, you're gonna make dreams come true! So believe in yourself!"

"It's your moment to shine," Lisanna added. "Just be yourself. Be Natsu and you're going to amaze everyone in the audience."

"No matter who you are. Howl your name to the heavens! Take to the skies! YOU ARE NATSU!"

"I AAAAAMMMM NAAAAAAATTTTTSSSUUUUU!" Natsu bellowed, pumping his fist.

"AYE! HE'S NATSU!"

Lisanna's face lit up, and Gray rolled his eyes with a resigned groan. But there was a hint of pride in Gray's voice as he mumbled, "He's really 'fired up' now. So 'fired up' he's gonna end up burning everything down."


Outside the tent, Lucy watched the sky descend into swirls of blue. It was peaceful out here, peaceful enough to calm her nerves, peaceful like the crickets chirping and the fireflies glowing, a peaceful quie-

"I AAAAAMMMM NAAAAAAATTTTTSSSUUUUU!"

"AYE! HE'S NATSU!"

Lucy smiled.

Natsu was Natsu. And that was amazing.


A/N: Any quirks, queries, or qualms? Let me know!

... I haven't updated in almost four months.

*slams head against desk repeatedly* I must suffer the wrath of my angry self for having abandoned my Fanfic like that! RAAAAAWWWWRRRR!

Life swept me off my feet, and I was lost in the midst of it.

My sister was checking out Fanfic when she discovered "A Snapshot of the World". She later told me, "You had great reviews. Someone even said they would die if you didn't update."

I beamed at her. "Yeah, I've got the most wonderful reviewers ever." And then, I realized... Reviewers of a story I had neglected for almost four months.

This is mostly a filler about Natsu but I hope you enjoy it anyway ^^

It's such a tiny chapter but the next one will be much longer...Hopefully!

Thank you so much for being such dedicated and amazing readers. I just...gaaah, I can't thank you enough. It's beautiful. It's uplifting. It's...the joys of becoming a Fanfic author.

The joys of writing, you've all motivated me further :)

People ask me how I've changed the world
And I'll say, "I wrote today!"
And then, they'll call me stupid
But that's okay. Here's what I'll say:
Quit it with the big numbers!
Grades used to mean the world to me, those miserable numbers that
took over my life! Does happy really mean a 100?! Or is a 93 not enough?
Forget how many likes I have on Facebook! Forget how many views I have on my blog!
If I changed one life, it would make all the difference to me.
And so, I write. I write because writing is bits and pieces of the truth.
Adam and Eve ate fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. They knew too much of the truth and they despaired.
But writing is bits and pieces of the truth. Writing sure is powerful.
Writing's laugh-producing, it's tear-inducing, it's life-infusing!
It's a new year, 2013.
A lopsided number, but it's a fresh new start.
Happy New Year, everyone! Here's to another year we're alive!
Here's to another year we can try to make resolutions!
Here's to another year! People are born, people die.
People are married, people are divorced.
You and I get happy. You and I get depressed.
Everything changes.
You think that we could change the world, though?
So I write. I write madly and stupidly, but I write anyway.