Hey y'all!

Here's chapter 2! I really hope you like it! And just a side note, I know some may feel Natsu's cursing seems like it's a little much, but it's a part of his personality for the moment. Little bits and pieces are going to be changing throughout the story, so it'll loosen up. Again, sorry to you all who dislike it, but try to read past it and enjoy the rest of the story! I do want everyone to enjoy it as much as possible!

Now, on to the story! Enjoy! :D

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ANY REAL WORLD REFERENCES IN THIS STORY!

Ch2 - I'm Not Okay

The two of us now shared the same look. They basically read: What the fuck was that? Panicking, which I had never done before, I tried to think of something to say. In the meantime, which felt like forever, I found myself lost in her brown orbs. I was confused with what I was experiencing. Finally, I managed to say something to try and smooth out the situation.

"Um, sorry about that!" I said, scratching the back of my head. I had never been in this sort of situation before. If Igneel were here, he'd be laughing his scaly ass off. Just thinking about it pissed me off. Taking a deep breath, I smiled and put on my best acting job. "I'm not from around here and you just startled me a little." I said. My brain, however, was saying, You fucking liar. She TOTALLY caught you off guard.

She smiled back at me and waved her hands. "No worries, and sorry for startling you." she said. She extended her hand out to me, which I took and shook. Wow, she's got soft hands. "My name's Lucy Heartfilia. I'm a student here at Magnolia University. And just who might you be?"

"I, uh," I said, fumbling while staring at her smiling face. Fuck! Get it together! "My name is Natsu." I managed to say. "Natsu Dragneel." I mean, I wasn't lying right? Besides, what do I care if. There's no way in hell anyone would know that the human me was technically dead. "I'm from, uh, North Carolina? Yeah!" If I remembered correctly from the maps of the modern world, North Carolina was on the opposite side of the continent, Magnolia being in a little "state" called California or something.

She giggled. It was funny that she was giggling. And kind of cute the way she smiled when she was laughing. I sighed with relief, until she asked another question I had to lie about. "So, what exactly are you doing here, Natsu?"

"Well… it's kind of hard to explain," Damn straight! "You see, my family is poor and we couldn't afford to go to school, so I worked on my parent's farm. Not to say I'm dumb or anything. I wanted to apply to Magnolia, but I'll have to take a year or so to get in, if I even can."

"Oh, wow." she said surprised. Her cute face showed concern. "So I presume you're here to get a job close to school?" Now I was the one wearing a surprise on my face. I mean, thinking about it, that was the only thing that really made sense.

"Well, Yeah. That's exactly right." I said. "Oh right! I did bring enough money with me so I might be able to pay the rent for an apartment while I look for work, but I don't know where I can go." That was a truth thank you very much. I was being honest, and what was I? A demon. Something seen by humans to be lying, conniving, deceiving, and more. So the jokes on you assholes who think that's the same for all demons! I'm not saying that I'm a fucking perfect prince or some shit, but I'm not your average demon, obviously. After agreeing to show me around the city for a little while, we hit the streets.

I was in awe of the buildings' sizes. Igneel was a large dragon, and one of the largest in the caverns, and the largest of these things easily could've fit nearly fifty of him in them. It was fascinating that humans could do this without magic. I found Lucy giggling once more at my actions, but come on! I'd never really seen these things before, in both my real life, and my fake one. When I asked her about it, she explained that indeed it was a dangerous job, but they manage it through hard work and machinery(which I had guessed).

So far, Magnolia was impressing me. The one I remember from way back when didn't have these tall buildings. Machines were limited, but lost to time when humans gave up magic. I remember those whatchamacallits that you could ride around in, with the little thing that goes on your arm, using your magic as a power source. I can't remember for the life of me. But that's probably because I hated the damn things. Personally, I'm glad they're gone, but the vehicles in this era aren't much better. The only differences they have are the power sources and the design(which I must say look fine as hell). Although I hate vehicles, I can understand the need to get somewhere quickly, but I did so via magic bitches(and my fucking sexy ass wings)!

Humans, like Lucy, gave up magic ages ago, and I still don't have a clue as to why. Magic is a beautiful thing, and yet they tossed it to the side as if it were some apple core. Every time I walked by someone, their magic supply was nearly empty from their neglect to use it, including the blonde with me. It was almost insulting as it was mystifying. I do feel, however, they think of magic as fantasy nowadays, due to it never being in the history books(as that one dragon I talked to said). I just don't understand humans.

Sighing, I glanced at Lucy, she was cheerfully walking slightly ahead of me. The pep in her step was odd, alluding to something of importance. I walked up beside her, noticing the bright smile on her face. Being curious as to what had sparked her gleeful attitude, I decided to give in to my nosiness.

"Hey, Lucy?" I asked, her face turning to mine.. "May I ask what's got you in such a happy mood?"

"Oh!" she said. "I'm just, er, you see I'm striving to major in literature and I want to become a best-selling author. It's been my dream ever since I was a little kid, and I'm so close! My professor was looking over a book I wrote last year and I'll be hearing back from him today!"

I don't know why, but this human makes me feel strange. I smiled at her in response. "Sounds like you have lots to look forward to." My face felt weird. I'd never smiled this much around a human(in fact at all). My cheeks felt unnaturally warm(and yes, this is coming from a fire demon), like it had never been before. My heart(or whatever I'm supposed to have in my chest) was beating faster than normal.

"Speaking of which, I know you aren't in school yet, and might not be for a while," she said, and I could tell she was trying not to seem rude. Cute. "but is there a particular area you want to study?"

"Well, I'm not quite sure about that." I admitted. I wanted to go to this school just to check it out, not really thinking about the studying involved. Fuck, I could be an idiot sometimes. "I guess I'll just have to figure it out, what I'm interested in, that is."

She nodded. "That's understandable. It's natural for people to go into college without understanding what they like,though most people do." She noted.

"I see." I said, taking in the information. It would seem I'm not as screwed as I thought. But I had to focus on two things right now: finding an apartment and a job. "Say, do you know where I could find a decent place to live in this city?"

She smiled her wonderful smile. "Sure thing! I know just the building!" And with that, she led me down the street. It was not too long of a walk, but sure enough, we came to about an eight-floor apartment building that looked older than most of the buildings around, but I can't deny that it was quaint. Walking inside, I noticed it looked more modern than the outside, but that's not really what I wanted to see. Lucy brought me to someone at the desk, who seemed to recognize her. The woman smiled at the blonde and then her gaze found me.

"So, Lucy," she said. "Whose this fine young man you've brought here?" Her gray hair matched that of Metalicana's iron scales, which to say she was an elder of the human race. That tends to happen when humans get older. When dragons age, their scales start losing their color and become just faded. When they die, their scales lose all their color and mainly become white(which with the dragons who have white scales, it's always confusing. In fact, I used to think they were undead). An example of this is my scarf. The design looks like it was sewn out of dragon scales, which is due to the fact that it was. It was a gift from Igneel for my seventeen-hundredth re-birthday. When his scales fell off, he had them knitted into this scarf for me by a human(don't ask me who, he won't tell). From then on, I wore this scarf in almost everything I did(and I still do. It means a lot to me). To be honest, I questioned why she hadn't questioned me since I was wearing a jacket, pants, and a scarf in the middle of summer. Well, I can't really feel the heat since I'm a fire demon(#perksofbeingafiredemon).

After talking to the desk lady briefly, she led me upstairs while Lucy went out to go get something from a coffee shop nearby. She asked me if I wanted anything, to which I said just a regular old coffee would do. I hadn't had that stuff in over five hundred years, so I'd completely forgotten what it tasted like! I do remember not being able to sleep one time from drinking too much though, as well as my bladder hating me for a week. Throughout that whole ordeal, I had learned moderation(but only for coffee and other drinks).

As I said before, the building had around eight floors, and each floor seemed to have two rooms on each side of the large staircase in the center of the building. We went up to the third floor, and she opened the door of room 301. The last resident had moved out, according to the desk lady, and headed to one of the other states in this county I found myself in. I guess that's what happens when you live in a cavern with dragons for over a thousand years or so. Each unit had one bedroom and one bathroom, a decent sized room which had both a kitchen and dining area, a decent sized living room, a small office space, and it came with all the appliances and furnishings you'd need. I had to hand it to whoever designed the place. It was pretty cozy. The walls were plain, but a nice grey and the whole floor was done in a smooth oak wood(which I had made a mental note not to burn). The appliances were stainless steel, and updated so they ran smoothly. The lady mentioned that the owner had invested quite a bit in the appliances.

In the living area, the couch's and the two chairs' fabric matched the color of the wall, with their legs being a dark wood. The cabinets were painted white, making them pop out, and a black forty-six inch TV was placed upon it. The counter-tops of the kitchen area were a light grey marble, with white cabinets above and below. There were three dark, wooden stools next to the small island. For the dining area, white wooden chairs sat around a matching wooden table on a grey wool carpet.

The office was just off the living room, having a small glass top desk, with steel legs and drawers. There was a nice, comfy black leather chair and another set of white wooden drawers for storage. The bedroom had a small dual door closet, the doors being white, and a queen sized bed. I wasn't the largest guy out there, so I figured it'd be fine, though it looked as though two people could fit on it and still have enough room. She also mentioned that WiFI wouldn't be a problem since the building could support multiple devices on a single connection without it being slow(which I had no clue what she was talking about). Apparently, I'd have to buy my own computer for the office space if I needed it(again, I didn't know what she was talking about.

After that little discussion, I gulped, wondering if my parents gave me enough money to pay for a little while. They had given me around $50,000 in the common currency of this country, which seemed like a lot. When she told me the price was $500 a month, I did the quick math(which I supposedly never paid attention to at home), and it came out to 100 months worth of rent, which by the way is more than five years. I was astonished, but then I factored in food(damn eating habit of mine) and other shit I'd need. So it seemed less realistic than normal. I was told to pay at the end of every month via debit or credit. Fuck. I don't know what that means. Thankfully, she was kind enough to explain it to me, so I listened attentively(surprising, right?) as she went over all the basics.

She left me alone in the room so I unpacked, but then I caught the whiff of coffee as it was coming up the stairs. Not even five seconds later, I heard a knock at the door. I opened to find none other than Lucy there with a brown paper bag, and a little gray tray with two little paper cups in it. Her smile seemed to brighten the room as I let her inside. Looking around she put the items in her hands on the island counter in the kitchen. She sat on the stool and looked around the room, nodding as if she were agreeing with some invisible apparition. "Wow," she said, "this is nice!"

"Yeah, it works." I said agreeing with her. "I didn't have this kind of place when I was back home. I was working another job just to help my parents get enough money to come here."

"Oh wow." she said, handing me my cup. I took a sip and sighed with pleasure as the warm liquid went down my throat. I looked at her, noticing something odd about her facial expression. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"You drink coffee black?" she asked in return. I took the lid off, I was surprised to find it was. I was still confused at her reaction. "What's wrong with that?" I asked. "Is there more than one way to drink coffee?"

She began giggling at my cluelessness. I was slightly annoyed, but rather more drawn to her cute giggles. "Of course, silly!" she said. "You can put sugar and milk in it, or flavored cream…" she began listing all the types of coffee and what you could do with them(and if I had to pick one I'd like to try right now, I'd say the cappuccino). I nodded, taking in this information. Damn, there were so many things you could do with a drink! How the fuck did humans choose which to consume?

"Anyway, this is kind of funny." she said, which prompted me to raise my eyebrow. "I'm the one who brought you here, and you've now moved in right next to me!" My eyes widened a little. A few steps to the right outside my door was the entrance to her apartment? What a strange coincidence this had turned out to be. She told me she had much more blue in her unit, but it looks similar to mine in almost every way. I stood across from her, behind the island, sipping my cup of goodness as she began talking about Magnolia U. It sounded like a great institution, and I noticed she described the literary and English(the language we were speaking) departments to be her favorite from her mentioning them multiple times. She also told me about her friends, one of which I noticed was Gajeel, noting that a few live in this same building.

The other things I learned about the blonde: that she was born on July 1st, 1997, making her nineteen since it was Tuesday, June 15th, meaning she was going to turn twenty soon; she loved to read and write; her mother died when she was around ten years old; she'd just become a junior with the end of their last semester not too long ago; and she worked at a news station on the side to help pay for her rent. She said her father was paying for her college, but they didn't really talk much after a little argument they had. We talked for what seemed like hours(thankfully she had off today from work), until she yawned. I, on the other hand, don't really get tired, what with being a demon such as myself, though I sleep of course.

She bid me goodnight, and headed over to her place, leaving me alone in the unit to think. I'd have to think of a bunch of stuff to tell her in case she asked. I was actually enjoying myself and I wasn't about to ruin my fun by spilling that I'm actually a demon, created by my immortal dark wizard brother. How would she react? Probably scream, run, and call some sort of exorcist. Cue the pope to make his entrance when they got me in lock down or something. I got into a white night shirt and boxer shorts, and flopped on my bed. It was rather comfy, to where I melted into the fabric and never wanted to leave. It was much better than straw and dirt. I'm just kidding. We had dragon sized beds, with one made small for me, but they weren't this comfy. I sighed and looked outside my window.

It was dark out now, and from the window, I could see the intersection that our building was on. People were still bustling about outside, which made me curious. A question formed in my brain. Are there any other races like me here? Not only were humans always afraid of me, but normal creatures. If they sensed me coming, they ran. If they saw me, they ran or attempted to find the nearest river, thinking I wouldn't cross it(which I found kind of dumb AND ineffective). Personally, I never liked water, what with me being a fire demon, but I can handle it fine.

However, I decided to mask my magic power just in case, and then tried sensing if any was nearby. At first I sensed nothing and sighed. I mean, what did I expe- oh, There it is. In the far corner of the city, I could faintly sense a being's magic power. It was strange since it felt cold, as well as it felt like it was coming from… a human? I dismissed the thought as soon as it disappeared, thinking it was probably just some lizard or something(and yes, other creatures like your pet Frank, the iguana, have magic power). But it left me unsettled as I fell asleep, and a dream took over my vision.

It was cold and dark. I could barely see a thing. And then I found myself in the middle of Magnolia on the street. Right dead center in the middle of an intersection. No lights were on, yet I could still see thanks to my great vision. Down the Northern facing road, I saw a robed figure with a hood over their head walking toward me. The ground froze with every step they took. Their right arm coming out of the robe, showing what appeared to be black demon skin, running all the way up their arm and to their shoulder and main body. But something was off. White tattoo-like markings were on their arms, and no demon I remembered had those kinds of markings. No, this was magic, and a very unnerving kind for me to be near.

I heard steps from the west. Another robed figure, this time in black clothing that I recognized instantly. A white cloth running across his body from his left shoulder, and a purplish black mass in his right hand. His obsidian eyes staring directly at me. From the east, a figure in a brown cloak, with long and wild hair. It was the color or a faded blue sky, along with similar colored markings on his face and body, which allowed me to identify him as well.

And from the south, a girl about Lucy's age. No, it was her. Exactly the same hair and eyes, wearing a cloak in tatters. There were blood stains on it, as well as over her body. Bruises and gashes upon her now pale skin. Tear stains were draped on her cheeks, and then an arm shot through her chest from behind, her eyes widening in pain. The screams rippled and rang in my ears. I stared in horror as a maniacal laugh came from all four directions, surrounding me and getting louder with every second.

"Stop." I said. "Stop, I don't want to see this!" Large red eyes formed behind Lucy, they glinted in the firelight. A mouth with fangs formed below them. It uttered only three words over and over again.

"It was you."

I attempted to shut out the noise by clamping my hands over my ears and shaking my head. I couldn't close my eyes, no matter how hard I tried. Bodies began to litter the streets around me, piling up as the voices got louder and louder. I screamed in agony as I shot up out of the dream, sitting in my bed in a cold sweat. I was breathing heavily, my hand over my chest. My eyes wide in terror, and a lone tear streaked down my face. My heart, or whatever was in there, was beating faster than ever. For the first time in my life, I was afraid. At this moment I knew it. It was the first sign that I was not okay.

"What's happening to me?"

That's a wrap! I hope you all enjoyed! UwU

I hope that the descriptions turned out alright! And I'm not so sure about the apartment pricing and stuff so that might change, so please let me know. Reason why? I don't have a freaking clue as to what it'd cost. XD

Anyways, see you next time! :3

STAY SAFE OUT THERE! BE ALERT, NOT ANXIOUS!

With luv,

WritingHobbyist2020

AS ALWAYS, FEEL FREE TO LEAVE A REVIEW OR A QUESTION IN EITHER THE REVIEW SECTION OR IN A PM, AND THANKS FOR READING! :D