There was a lot of things that Glynda Goodwitch expected to see when she reached the school grounds: papers stacked to the ceiling, rats hiding away in the cafeteria kitchen, dust accumulating in the empty classrooms, Grimm roaming near the cliffs of Emerald Forest, but the one thing she never thought she would ever see was standing in the middle of the school's courtyard.

He was still, his eyes wide with wonder as he looked at the statue towering over him. Glynda stood next to him, beaming with pride as she looked upon the statue with the boy.

"This statue is a symbol of mankind's ability to overcome. No matter what may lurk in the darkness, humanity will illuminate a path to the future. We are capable of such great things, but there is always danger wandering just beneath the surface. Are you by chance lost, little boy?"

"Yeah, but Mr. Ozpin I could stay here. I'm Natsu."

"Well it is nice to meet you, Natsu. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. How did you get here to Beacon? You couldn't have travelled alone. Where are your parents?"

The pinkette shrugged. "I don't know where my dad is. Mr. Ozpin brought me here."

"Where did you come from?"

Natsu pointed to the sky. Glynda was even more confused than before.

"I don't understand. Did Professor Ozpin bring you here by airship?"

The boy shook his head. "I don't know what that is, but he said found me in the forest after I fell out of a hole in the sky."

It took a moment for Glynda to respond. "You fell...from a hole in the sky?"

"There you are."

Professor Ozpin approaching the pair from the doors of the amphitheater. "You mustn't run off like that on your own, Natsu. It's easy to get lost in a place as big as this."

"Sorry." Natsu apologized. "I got bored and wanted to explore."

"Well then I'll be sure to give you a tour later on today." he turned to the blonde. "Good morning, Glynda. Did you just arrive?"

"Good morning, Professor Ozpin." she bowed her head upon answering. "Yes sir. I did."

"I see you have already met Natsu."

"Y-yes. I have. If I may ask, just where did this boy come from?"

"The sky."

Professor Ozpin's simple answer stunned Glynda. Though his playful smirk still made her skeptical.

"Told ya." the boy said with a superior grin.

"Come along, Natsu. It's time for your check-up." Ozpin started to walk away.

"Again?" the boy whined. "We just did one."

"And we will keep doing them until we are one hundred percent sure you are healthy."

Natsu huffed. "Fine, but this better be the last one." He took off towards Beacon Tower.

"Be careful not to fall!" Ozpin called.

"I won't!" Natsu shouted back.

"You're welcome to join us as well, Glynda. I'm sure you must have plenty of questions about the situation."

"Yes, sir."

Glynda stared intently at Natsu's x-rays on the medical holo-screen in front of her. She had been doing so for the past ten minutes, but still had yet to find anything of interest.

"What exactly am I looking at, sir?" she asked.

"According to the charts, Natsu is a perfectly healthy boy." Ozpin replied.

"I can see that."

"Does that not strike you as odd?"

"Not particularly, though if the story you told me about him falling from the sky is true than yes it would classify as 'odd'."

"I assure you what I said was no lie. This boy did indeed fall from the sky. "

"But how? Even at cruising altitude a fall from an airship would cause a sever sprain at best. There is nothing out of place here."

"That's the thing. The boy didn't arrive by airship. Do you remember the storm a few days ago?"

"Yes." Glynda nodded. "It came just as quickly as it went. The meteorologists still can't make heads or tales of it."

"Just as the storm started there was a...distortion in the air. The clouds circled, creating a hole that crackled with a sort of strange energy that I had never felt before. Natsu fell from that distortion." Ozpin pulled up a camera feed from his office of the incident. Glynda was astonished at the sight.

"What does that mean? Just where did the boy come from?"

"I'm not sure. The boy says he comes from a place known as 'Earthland', but as far as I've researched no such place exists in all of Remnant."

"Could it be some sort of hidden village or underground community like Mountain Glenn?"

"It's possible, but I doubt such a place would exist without someone knowing about it."

"Yes. It is quite troubling if even you haven't heard of it." Glynda looked over Natsu's x-rays again and noticed something odd on the boy's joints. "What are these nodes?" she pointed out.

"I still have yet to figure that out myself. Based on the tests I've run they serve no real function."

"They appear attached to whatever these black veins are." Glynda traced her finger along one said vein that lead up Natsu's arm.

"Perhaps they increase his blood flow."

"Are we done yet?" Natsu groaned from the medical bed. "I'm getting hungry."

"Just a little longer." Ozpin said. "Have you been feeling anything…odd or out of the ordinary since your last check up?"

"You mean since the one we had this morning? No. Not really. I feel pretty normal since you gave me that candy."

"Candy?" Glynda repeated.

"He was having headaches so I gave him a children's medication." Ozpin said.

The pair continued examining Natsu's chart when they saw that the nodes as well as the black veins start to light up. They quickly turned to Natsu. To their increasing shock they saw the boy playing around with a fireball in his hand. Natsu quickly put out the small blaze and hid his hands behind his back.

"I didn't do it! I swear!"

"Hurry up, Ms. Glynda! I wanna eat here!"

"Ok! Ok! I'm coming! Just calm down." I swear this boy will be the death of me. At the behest of Professor Ozpin, Glynda was tasked with taking Natsu into the city to eat lunch while he conducted more tests. She sugeested that he simply eat something from the cafeteria, but Ozpin insisted that the boy at least explore the city some while he was there. Lest he wander on his own. Knowing what could happen if Natsu ended up in Forever Fall or the Emerald Forest by himself, Glynda reluctantly accepted her task.

She followed the eager boyinto a restaurant located downtown. Just across from the docks. Glynda herself had been here once or twice. Overall she found the establishment somewhat on the mediocre side, but Natsu seemed over the moon. They were greeted by the hostess upon entering the double doors.

"Welcome to Jewel of the Sea." she said "Will you be dining in today?"

"Yes." Glynda nodded.

The hostess grabbed a regular menu and a kids menu from the podium. "Would you to dine inside or outside?"

"Insi-"

"I want to go outside!" Natsu interjected.

Glynda sighed with a forced smile. "Outside it is then."

"Excellent. Follow me please."

Glynda and Natsu followed the hostess to the outside dining area. It was of modest size, but to Natsu it might as well have been as big as the city square. His eyes marveled at the parasols protecting the fine wooden dining tables from the shining sun. Each table was also covered with a pure white table cloth with little black anchors on the edges, adding to the restaurant's nautical theme.

Natsu practically hopped to his seat, a still disillusioned Glynda following after. Once seated the hostess gave them their menus.

"Here you are."

"Hey, lady!" Natsu piped up. "Do you cook all the food here yourself?"

"Natsu, that's rude." Glynda hissed. "Show some decorum."

"Some what?

The Hostess giggled. "It's quite alright, ma'am. No I don't. We have chefs in the kitchen that can make any food you want on the menu."

Natsu's eyes went wide. "Really?"

The hostess nodded.

"Whoa...what's a menu?"

"The folded paper I gave you." The hostess opened the menu. "See? You can have anything on the menu you want. Except for the alcohol of course. That's a drink for grown-ups."

Natsu stuck out his tongue. "That stuff tastes nasty anyway. Igneel let me try some."

The Hostess - as well as Glynda - was shocked at the boy's statement. "Igneel?"

"That's my dad."

"Your father let you try alcohol?"

Natsu nodded. The hostess gave an accusatory stare to Glynda.

"I am not the boy's mother." she responded.

"Well anyway...your waiter will be with you in a moment. Please enjoy your meal." The hostess bowed and took her leave.

Glynda took a brief glance over the menu. She wasn't really hungry, and she didn't have much of a taste for seafood. In the end she decided on a simple salad. She looked across the table to her young companion. His face was twisted in displeasure as he perused the menu.

"Something wrong?"

"I don't know any of this food. It doesn't sound very good. Is there any meat?"

"Well it is seafood. So I would say yes. There is."

"All of this is fish?" Natsu gasped.

Glynda nodded.

"Awesome! That's way easier! Why didn't they just say so instead of making this thing hard to read?" Natsu looked over the menu with a new purpose. While watching him, Glynda was struck curious.

"Have you never been to a restaurant before, Natsu?" she asked.

The boy briefly looked up from the menu. "Nope. Igneel never took me to one. We stayed in the forest a lot."

"I see." Glynda nodded. "You mentioned this 'Igneel' a little while ago. Just who is he? A relative of some sort?"

"He's my dad."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Nope, but I'm going to find him."

Before Glynda could ask another question, the waiter arrived.

"Can I start you two off with something to drink?"

"I'll have a water please." Glynda said. "Natsu? What would you like to drink?"

"Hmmm…" Natsu looked over the drinks for a few seconds. "This Bloody Mary thing sounds cool."

"I'm afraid you're a little too young to drink that, young man." The waiter said with a nervous laugh. "It has alcohol in it."

"Yuck. What about...a marga...righta?"

"That also-"

"He'll have a water as well." Glynda interjected.

"Ok. I'll have those right out for you." The waiter wrote down the drinks on his pad and walked back into the restaurant.

Natsu looked past the dining area railing to the large cruise ship anchored at the dock. Glynda noticed his curious stare.

"Do they not have ships in Earthland?"

"Yeah, but not that big. It must hold like a million people."

Glynda chuckled softly. "I think that is a bit more than the ship can hold, but it still brought a lot. I'd guess around three thousand."

"Wow." Natsu marveled with widened eyes. "Where did they all come from?"

"From all over Remnant. Vale is a popular tourist area during the summer."

"Vale." Natsu said to himself. "That's the name of the country we're in now right?"

"Correct." Glynda nodded. "It's also the name of this city."

"That's kinda weird."

Glynda giggled for a moment. "I never thought about it, but I suppose it is a bit odd to newcomers."

The waiter returned with their drinks and took their orders. Glynda had a salad, while Natsu settled on the biggest seafood platter the restaurant served. When he received his meal, the boy was disappointed by how little food there was - despite the platter being filled with bread, fries, and one of every fish the restaurant served; the plate was even almost half as big as the table itself. Nontheless he ate it. All of it. In less than five minutes.

Glynda was barely into her salad when Natsu finished scarfing down his food. Clearly wherever Earthland was they were lacking in manners. Once done eating Natsu let out a loud burp that even made people walking past the restaurant take notice.

"That hit the spot." He slid down into his chair while he rubbed his full stomach, a big smile on his messy face.

"Clearly." Glynda finished eating and cleaned the corners of her mouth with her napkin. She stood up from her seat and placed the lien for meal on the table – she even added a little extra tip for the waiter. "It's time to return to the academy."

"Ok." Natsu hopped from his seat.

"Wait."

"What?"

Glynda grabbed Natsu's mostly unused napkin and took a knee before the boy. "Hold still." She grabbed Natsu under his chin and started to clean his mouth free of food. The boy was absolutely filthy with bread crumbs, bits of vegetables, tartar sauce, and uneaten fish meat allover his mouth and part of his clothes.

Natsu fought to move his head away. "Stop it." He whined.

"I said hold still. I'm almost done. There" When she finished she placed the dirtied napkin back to the table with her telekinesis.

"How did you do that?" Natsu gasped in amazement.

"Telekinesis. I can move virtually any object with my mind."

"Can you teach me how to do that?!" Natsu's eyes were wide as the plate his food was on. He was practically bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Your Semblance is conjuring fire. So it would be not only pointless, but impossible for me to try and teach you. Though I am impressed. Most children don't discover their semblance until well into their middle school years."

Natsu tilted his head and narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Sem…blance?"

"I thought we were done doing tests."

"This is the last one. I promise." Ozpin smiled. He readied the display on his holo-tablet. It showed Natsu's vitals, as well as his x-rays. "I want you to show me and Professor Goodwitch your ability."

"My ability?"

"Yes. With the fire from earlier. Just do what you did then and we'll observe you."

"Umm…ok. I don't really get it, but I'll try."

"Good. Are you ready?"

Natsu nodded.

"Begin."

Natsu quickly ignited his hand. "Like this?"

"Yes. Perfect. Keep it up for as long as you can."

Ozpin and Glynda watched Natsu's vitals on their monitoring pad. His temperature was elevating to almost impossible levels, but the rest of his body reamained stable.

"Do you feel hot at all, Natsu?" Glynda asked.

"Nope. Is this gonna take much longer?" the boy yawned. "I'm getting sleepy."

"Just few more minutes." Ozpin said. Natsu groaned in displeasure.

"What are we looking for, sir?"

"This." Ozpin pointed to a black bar at the edge of his screen.

"I'm not sure I follow." Glynda said.

"This indicator is used to tell when an individual is using their semblance. That's what I thought his fire was at first, but as you can see the bar has yet to light up."

"So if this fire is not his semblance, then what is it?"

"I'm not sure yet. Natsu."

"Yeah?" The boy looked up from the grass.

"Is it possible for you to make that fire in your hands bigger?"

"I think so. How big do you want it?"

"As big as you can muster."

"Alright." Natsu took a deep breath and focused his energy. Slowly but surely the flame in his hand started to grow. Soon it was the size of his arm.

"Amazing." Glynda gasped. Ozpin continued looking at the pad. The Semblance indicator still hadn't changed, neither had the aura detector. Something was off. How can he be displaying such an ability, but it not be tied to a semblance or an aura. Ozpin noticed something when he looked to Natsu. His power, he had felt it somewhere else before, but he couldn't quite remember where.

When the blaze was the size of his upper body, Natsu could no longer hold it. The fire snuffed itself out and the boy fell to his back in the grass in a heap. Glynda rushed to his side.

"Natsu, Are you alright?"

The boy nodded. "I've never made one that big before." he smiled weakly. "I'm tired. Can I sleep now?"

Glynda returned his smile. "Yes. You may."

"Goodnight…" Natsu drifted off to sleep in the blonde's arms. Ozpin walked to her side. He looked to his chart, once again Natsu's vitals were normal. Even after all that power displayed, the indicators still hadn't changed.

"I think that's enough for today."

Ozpin entered the dorm room with a tray of food in hand. He saw Natsu sitting up in the bed, his eyes looking out to the moon. "Good. You're finally awake." Ozpin placed the tray on the night stand and pulled up a chair to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"My head still kind of hurts." Natsu replied. He took a bite out of the bread on the plate. "Where's Miss Glynda?"

"She went home for the evening."

"I thought this was where she lived."

Ozpin grinned. "No I'm afraid I'm the only one who lives here at the school."

"Doesn't it get lonely being in this huge place by yourself all the time?"

Ozpin thought for a moment. "I suppose you could think of it like that, but the truth is I like being alone from time to time."

"Oh." Natsu took another bite of the bread roll. He finally took a look around at the room he was in. It was much smaller than both the Headmaster's office and the infirmary. There was a desk near the door, as well as three other neatly made beds next to his. "Where am I anyway?"

"The school's dormitory. This is where we house the students that attend Beacon during the school year. If you're feeling up to it, I'd like to ask you a few questions."

Natsu's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Is this another test?"

"No, I'm just indulging my curiosity. I want to know more about you and where you come from. It will help me find a way to get you home."

Natsu was still somewhat suspicions of the headmaster, but he relented. "Ok."

"Thank you. You said that you came from a place called Earthland, correct?" Natsu nodded. "What was it like? Was it similar to Vale in any way?"

Natsu thought for a moment. He tried his best to remember just what his home actually looked like. He never explored much outside the forests, but he did know that the village and towns he would visit were not as advanced as the one's he saw in Vale. When he told Ozpin this the man simply nodded in understanding.

"Glynda told me that you mentioned your father while out eating today. Can you describe him to me? How is he? What doe he looks like?"

Natsu seemed to light up at the topic of his father. "Igneel? He's very big. Like bigger than this whole building. He has red scales all over, and wings, and a super long tail! He also has really sharp teeth and huge horns on his head. Oh yeah, and he has scars! There's one on his eye, and his cheek and this giant one on his stomach too!"

Ozpin tried his best to process what the boy was saying. He expected a man similar to him in appearance, but instead what Natsu described was some sort of monster. Possibly a faunus, but even that seemed like a bit of stretch that a faunus with those sort of characteristics. Even so he had to ask.

"Is your father some sort of faunus by chance?"

"I don't know what that is, but no. Igneel is a dragon."

Ozpin was aghast. "A...dragon?"

Natsu nodded. "Yep!"

"…Interesting." Was all Ozpin could say. He had no idea how to proceed. By all accounts Natsu appeared to be telling the truth, but at the same time his story could only be viewed as fantasy. Dragons simply did not exist. They were creatures only relegated to storybooks and children's tales. Well...that wasn't entirely accurate. Ozpin knew of one "dragon", but there was no way that was the one the young boy was referring to.

"Did your…father have the same Semblance as you?"

"Miss Glynda asked me the same thing. What's a semblance?"

"A semblance is a ability unique to whichever individual exhibits it." the Headmaster explained. "Think of it as a sort of…super power that allows it's user to do extraordinary things others can't. I believe you saw Glynda's telekinesis today? That is her semblance."

"Kind of sounds like magic." Natsu reasoned.

"I suppose you could classify it as such, though it's more scientific than mystical in nature. Is that what you call your semblance?"

"No. I really do use magic." Natsu ignited his hand. "Igneel taught me Fire Dragon Slayer magic."

"Fire Dragon Slayer...magic?" Ozpin repeated. Natsu nodded.

"I see. Can everyone in Earthland use 'magic' as well?"

"Not everyone. Some people can, but a lot of people can't."

"You say Igneel was a dragon. Why would he teach you magic specifically made to kill him and his kind?"

Natsu snuffed out the flame. "I don't know." He shrugged. "Maybe because there are bad dragons out there too along with the good ones."

"Was Igneel a 'good' dragon?"

"He was the best dragon ever!" Natsu chirped. "He taught me how to read and write and all kinds of other stuff!" Slowly his enthusiasm started to fade. "I wish I could see him again."

"What happened to him?"

"I don't know. One day I woke up and he was just...gone. I've been looking for him, but I couldn't find him anywhere." He sniffed and tears started to pool in his eyes. "Now I'm stuck in some weird place and don't know how to get home. I'll never see Igneel again."

Ozpin gently placed his hand on the boy's head to stopp his sniffing. "Don't worry. I will do everything in my power to see that you return to your home."

"Really?" Natsu wiped away his tears.

"You have my word." Ozpin smiled. "I will return you home, and then you will be able to see your father again." He stood up. "You should get some rest. You've had a long day."

"Ok." Natsu laid down and Ozpin tucked him in. "Goodnight, Mr. Ozpin."

"Goodnight, Natsu."

Ozpin slowly closed the door behind him when he exited the room. He pulled out his tablet and looked Natsu's medical files again. After talking to him everything started falling in his place. There was no doubt in his mind that this boy had indeed come from a place not of Remnant. He possessed neither and Aura nor a Semblance. Normally such a thing was impossible. No matter how weak an individual was, they all possessed an Aura of some kind. But this boy was anything but normal. He came from a completely different world.

Just then, Ozpin realized just where he felt Natsu's power. It was similar to the Maidens' powers. His eyes went wide in shock, his arms starting to tremble as the medical screen flashed on the tablet.

"This boy...what is he?"

NEW CHAPTER! In honor of the Vol. 4 debuting. i thought it would be good to post a new chapter. Going a bit deeper into Natsu's origins in Remnant. In case ya'll haven't noticed these chapters will be a tad shorter than the others. Mostly because i don't want to spend too much time on this arc, and I think just giving more of the broad strokes is a bit better than the minute details. I could always be wrong though.

As for V. 4 I'm not going to spoil anything, but I did like the premiere. I'm really digging the new animation style. It's much more fluid and polished than previous volumes. Hopefully it stays that way throughout. I've also got a few things planned for when I get that far.

As always leave a comment/review letting me know what you think. Thanks for reading! :)