All rights to Hiro Mashima

~ Second ~

-Natsu-

"Wendy! We need a little help over here!" I can hear that her voice is strained and slightly panicked.

It also has the added effect of being louder than normal and was starting to garner some attention from the groups of decidedly…odd people all around them. Seriously...just who are these people. And why are there so many cats everywhere wearing clothes?

I was so distracted before; first by her eyes and secondly by the fact that my brain had a slightly empty feeling to it, that I hadn't realized that the woman and I weren't the only two people in this hall.

"Lucy!" A tiny, brilliantly blue haired girl sat down beside the woman. "What's wrong?"

"Wendy, oh thank Mavis," the woman breathed. "Can you please check Natsu out? Something isn't right. He says that he doesn't remember my name, or his for that matter. "

The small girl nodded at the blonde and then stretched out her hands over his chest. "Of course, hold on a minute Natsu, just stay still."

I just nod. 'Where am I gonna go anyways? Might as well stay, these people seem to have all the answers.'

The tiny girl cocks her head to the side. "Well… physically he's fine, a slight bruise on his shoulder from when he fell off the chair from Mystogan's spell…I healed that easily." She then looks at me in the eyes and says "But his brain chemistry and magic is…off. I can't explain it any better than that."

She looks down at the stones in the floor and flushes from embarrassment, "I'm sorry you guys, I just don't know what's causing this. Brains are just so complex, I think we need to call Porlyusica."

The blonde at my side grimaces slightly. "It's alright Wendy. We need to talk to Master anyways. He might know of something like this happening before. Or Levy even."

At her spoken words, yet another petite blue-haired girl is sitting on the floor with them. "Levy! Please tell me you have heard of something like this before, maybe in a book you've read?" The blonde pleads with the new bluenette in a hopeful tone.

Short blue hair swishes around her face as she shakes her head 'no.' "Sorry Lu, not that I've read before, but it isn't something that I'm an expert in. I'll head to the guild's library to pick up some books and start some preliminary research." At this she scampers away to a pair of double doors at the back of the room.

Another voice joins the fray. "What in Earthland are you brats all starring at?" This was a decidedly male voice. It evoked a sense of power and was filled with unspoken emotions.

'Finally maybe he can answer my questions.'

A very short, grey haired, balding old man stepped into my view from around a pair of legs. "Natsu? Why are you sitting on the floor?"

Getting annoyed, I finally speak up. "Okay, why do you people keep calling me 'Natsu?' Better yet, who are you people?" The older man looked at him with a slightly stunned expression, then looks at the blonde woman next to him. "Lucy, what's going on?"

"Master, I don't know! We all woke up from the sleep spell just fine like all the other times, but…Natsu says he doesn't remember anything. Wendy says his brain chemistry and magic energy is off, but we need to call Porlyusica please!"

I stare at the woman. I can hear the desperation in her voice. That makes me feel slightly bad. I don't want her to be sad about all this. 'I know I don't know her, but I feel like I should.' I squint my eyes at her a bit. 'Do I know her? She seems…familiar. Like an image from a dream that fades away when you wake up.'

The small man is still looking at the woman. "Lucy… how can you be sure that this isn't just something that's temporary? He might remember something soon."

She shakes her head. "No Master, this is something serious. Look at his eyes."

"What do you mean? They're the same colour as before, right?"

She huffs in exasperation. "Doesn't anyone see it? His eyes, look, there's no fire in them. Master, please call Porlyusica!" She's almost yelling at the end of her speech. Damn she's feisty.

I grin inwardly. 'At least someone wants answers as much as i do.'

The old man rakes a hand through what is left of his hair, mumbling about 'old pink-haired witches' and 'damn brats making my life short.' He then closes his eyes and sighs lightly. "Alright you two, into my office and I want to hear the whole story. Wendy, please call Porlyusica and ask her to come to the infirmary. We will meet her there when we're finished."

Twin blue pig tails bounce as the girl jumps up off the floor. "Of course Master." She bows slightly and disappears behind the legs of the gawkers standing in a semi-circle around us.

"Alright you brats! Back to work causing havoc or whatever you were doing before all this." Shaking his head the diminutive man walks towards the back of the room and disappears from sight.

"Come on Natsu, let's go talk to Master and get this over with." I nod at her statement. We both stand up from the floor and follow the old man.

"Thank you..." I trail off at the end of my sentence, unsure of how to continue.

"Why are you thanking me?" She tilts her head to the side and looks at me out of the corner of her eyes.

'Hmmm… cute.' Ugh, unhelpful brain making unhelpful comments.

The words slip out of my mouth unfiltered. "Because you believed me so fast. I don't know what's happening. Or where I am or who you are, or even who I am. But I think…that I can trust you? Maybe? Gods this is so strange." I wave my hands around the room, trying to convey my point.

We stop outside a large wooden door. "What are partners for? Natsu, I can see something's wrong. Believe me I want to figure this out…probably just as much as you do." She smiles at me.

'Damn,' I think. 'Partners? She's gorgeous. That smile puts the sun to shame. I have really good taste.'

Unbidden, I smile back at her. Something about her makes me…content? Warm? Happy?

All of those. Probably.

However, the blonde in front of me gasps slightly and grabs both sides of my face in her palms and forces me to grimace showing off my teeth. "Natsu! Your teeth…"

I run my tongue along them. Nothings damaged, nothing hurts. "What do you mean?"

Her eyes widen. "Your fangs are gone! What in Earthland is going on! We really need to talk to Master and Porlyusica about all this!"

'FANGS? Seriously? What am I? A vampire?' I huff and roll my eyes slightly. "I had fangs? Really?"

She chuckles slightly and shrugs. "Well, no, not really. They were more like really sharp canines. All dragon slayers have them. Gajeel and Wendy both do at least. Sting and Rogue too."

This tidbit of information floors me. "Dragon slayers? Like the big mythical flying lizards? Sweet Mavis. And I'm supposed to be the one who 'slays' them?" I groan. "You know what, I liked it better when I didn't know anything."

She turns around and knocks on the door in front of us. A small 'enter' is heard from behind it. She pushes open the door and turns to look at me. "This is going to be a shock to your system. All this information is going to seem really strange to you, but I promise to be right there beside you as everything goes along."

I nod. "And you never break your promises."

She turns sharply towards me again. Those deep amber eyes keep me rooted to the ground. "How did you know that?"

Shrugging, I reply. "I don't know… I just do. Intuition maybe? Sort of a gut feeling more than anything." I gesture to my stomach in a roundabout fashion.

She looks absolutely mollified. "Yah... let's just go with that, I guess." She turns towards the open door and walks through.

I follow her and the door shuts behind me.