Before I get started I would like to thank Scarletwebwarrior06 for inspiring this story and giving me permission to start it! Highly recommend checking out their work even if it will be left unfinished! I hope I can live up to it!

Before you read this story, you need to do one thing. Forget everything you think you know how the world works. As kids we grew up reading stories, and watching movies about incredible people who could do extraordinary things. superheroes and supervillains with incredible superpowers to destroy or save the world. Well those so called stories were closer to reality than you ever thought possible. Powers exist. So of course those without are afraid of what they cannot understand, it's a tale as old as time…

Chapter One: The Salamander

"Hurry up."

"I'm moving as fast as I can!"

"Well move faster! The cops could be here any second!" Three voices bickered in hushed tones. The three figures clad in completely black outfits and ski masks were currently hovering around a metal door in a pitch black alleyway. One of the figures was bent on his knees trying to lockpick the door while the other two stood guard holding large duffle bags.

"The cops won't be here if you two would just shut the hell up and let me work!" The crook that was currently working on the door's handle snapped.

"Sorry, man I'm just starting to get the creeps…I feel like I'm being watched…"

"Well relax, there's nothing to be worried about." An audible click filled the empty alley, and the lockpicker smirked under his mask.

"See, what did I tell ya! Now we just gotta get into the safe and we are home free, come on!" He flung the door open prompting the other two to glance at each other, shrug and follow him through the door and into the back, restricted area of a small local bank. The leader of the three clicked on a flashlight and they slowly stalked through the pitch black hallway. He tapped one of the other two on their shoulder and pointed to the corner of the hallway where a camera's flashing red light blinked. The camera was pointing directly at a person sized safe in the wall. Reaching into their bag one of the men grabbed a can of spray paint. He hugged the wall of the hallway until he was directly underneath the camera and sprayed the paint over the lens. He gave a thumbs up and the other two walked up to the safe.

"Stand back." The third man said, he reached into his back and pulled out a stethoscope. He crouched in front of the safe pressing the stethoscope to it, and began twisting the dial. The hallway was completely silent except for the faint clicking noises of the safe's dial. That was until further down the hall, by the door they had entered through there was a loud slurping noise. The three men froze in place, the one holding a flashlight quickly whipped the light around revealing that there was now a fourth figure in the hallway with them. The fourth figure was leaning against the wall watching them intently while slurping the last of the contents of what seemed to be a gas station slushie through a straw. They were clad in white pants, black combat boots, a long black overcoat with gold trim and only one sleeve covering their left arm, their right arm was wrapped in some kind of white tape all the way up to their shoulder, and they had a hood covering their head. The most distinct feature was the white scarf with black stripes that was wrapped around their neck and covered their face.

"What's the matter? Locked out? Forgot your keys at home?" The figure spoke with a thick air of sarcasm. The three crooks hadn't moved an inch. The hooded figure shook his cup to confirm that it was in fact empty, and sighed. He tossed the cup to the side and pulled his scarf back up over his face.

"W-Who the hell are ya?! Are you a cop?" The man holding the flashlight choked out.

"Oh yeah. Was it the scarf that gave it away? That's totally my bad. I didn't realize it was that obvious." The figure sarcastically replied while slowly walking towards them.

"Stay back! I'm not afraid to use this!" The crook held up his flashlight threateningly. This caused the scarfed man to stop in his tracks. He held his hands up into the air.

"Woah! Okay then. You got me I will stay right here I mean nobody wants to get hurt right?..." Just as he said that the hallway was filled with a stench akin to a large bonfire as the figure's hands while raised above his head began to smoke and then erupted into bright orange flames that danced around his arm. The crooks were speechless. The figure with the fiery hands chuckled and began walking towards them.

"Now…who wants to go first."

Less than twenty minutes later the three would-be burglars were stuffed in the back of a police cruiser, their clothes singed and smokey. Lumps, burns, and bruises covered their bodies.

"I-It w-was t-t-the S-Salamander….he's real! You gotta believe us! He was trying to kill us!" One of the crooks stuttered as the police officer who had reported to the scene following an anonymous call slammed the door on them.

"Yeah, yeah sure buddy, you're the fourth group of clowns tonight who claim they were beat up by some Salamander. There is no such thing." He muttered to himself and climbed into the driver's seat before driving off into the night leaving a lone figure to watch from atop an adjacent rooftop. He pulled down his scarf and flipped off his hood revealing disheveled pink hair, green eyes, and a cocky grin. This mysterious figure known as The Salamander was not only very real, he was also a young man who needed to head back to his Aunt's house soon. Tomorrow was a very big day. The boy in question was named Natsu Dragneel, and tomorrow he is moving into his dorm for his first year at the widely acclaimed Magnolia University.

So of course he got no sleep. It wasn't abnormal for him though, all nighters or nights with only an hour or two of genuine sleep were more common for him than getting a full night's rest. Maybe it was his severe case of ADHD, his over reliance on sugar in his diet, or something to do with his extracurricular activities. Whatever it might be, Natsu wasn't surprised when his alarm started buzzing at 7am, and he was still wide awake. A yawn escaped his lips and he groggily sat up in his disheveled bed. He wiped his eyes, and stretched. He cracked his neck and back, and began to gather his bags. He only had about two suitcases, a few boxes, and a backpack filled with stuff that he was bringing with him to the college. The campus was only twenty minutes away from his Aunt's house so if he ever needed anything he could easily come get it. Natsu Dragneel was nineteen years old, he had messy pink hair that was currently just slicked back and spiking out in a few areas. He had a fairly average build only standing at about 5'7"-5'8" on a good day. He was definitely in shape. Aside from the abnormal hair, he had a few other quirks that made him easily identifiable, the first of which was on his right arm he sported two tattoos. One on his shoulder, the other on his forearm. The one on his shoulder was dark red, and in some weird shape. It was the symbol of his martial arts school that he spent most of his childhood in. "Fairy Tail" was the name of the school, and Natsu felt it was fitting to honor it. The one on his forearm was much more personal, it took up the entirety of his lower arm. It was a dragon that he got to honor his late father. Well adopted father. Igneel. He passed away almost two years ago when Natsu was only seventeen years old. He was murdered by some scumbag trying to rob a convenience store, and Igneel was nothing if not brave and selfless. Underneath the dragon was "Igneel Atlas" scribbled in cursive ink.

The second of his quirks was the power he had been born with. It wasn't uncommon for people in the world to be born with powers, but it was rare…super rare. Much of Natsu's early life was spent struggling with controlling his so-called gifts. He was often unsuccessful. After one specific mishap resulted in chemicals igniting and causing a mild explosion in his middle school science class. Natsu was transferred to a fourth school in five years. He never fit in at any school. Luckily by sophomore year of high school his powers were more or less under control.

"Deep breaths." Natsu muttered trying to control his nerves that had kept him awake all night. He quickly changed into a black "Rave Master" band shirt. He wasn't a huge fan of their music, but the shirt itself looked cool, and some ripped blue jeans. He slipped on a pair of basketball sneakers and waltzed out of his bedroom which was really the basement. His Aunt. Igneel's sister Grandeeny was gracious enough to give him a place to stay and took care of him for the last two years after Igneel's murder. He trotted up the creaky wooden stairs, into the kitchen where he was greeted by the smell of pancakes and bacon. His stomach rumbled, he had been so preoccupied with his vigilante side job last night he totally forgot to eat aside from the slush and some jerky.

"Morning Natsu!" He was greeted by the high pitched squeaky voice of his much younger cousin Wendy. She beamed at him from the dining table where Natsu was walking towards.

"Morning." He yawned back at the young purple haired girl. He took a seat, and began stacking a mound of pancakes, and bacon onto his plate. He filled a glass full of orange juice, and began to gorge himself. The young adult had always had one ravenous appetite. Grandeeney peeked her head into the dining room from the kitchen.

"Oh good, you're awake. I was worried you would sleep through your alarm." Grandeeny looked like a much older, and matured version of Wendy, right down to the dark purple hair.

"Nah, I didn't get much sleep at all actually." Natsu murmured while his mouth was filled with pancakes.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, young man…but I get it. First day nerves?" Grandeeney walked in and took a seat at the table after she took a napkin and wiped some syrup off of Wendy's cheek which made the young girl blush in embarrassment. Natsu shrugged.

"I dunno, I just couldn't shut my brain off…" Natsu replied, tapping his forehead as if to emphasize his point.

"Oh hun. I know the feeling….Hey! Aren't your buddies Gray and Erza enrolled at MU as well? Maybe you could text them and we can meet up with them when we get there?" Grandeeney tried to change the subject, but she just saw her nephew frown.

"I ummm….I don't actually know….I didn't stay in contact with them this summer." Natsu frowned.

"Oh, I see….well you'll make plenty of friends there I'm sure…what about your roommate? How much do you know about them?"

"I actually got an email a few days ago that they decided to not enroll so at the moment I don't have one." Grandeeney didn't have a response for that so she just frowned at the young man in front of her who was stuffing his face. He was once the most social butterfly, making friends like nobody's business. As a young Natsu once said strangers were just friends that he hadn't made yet. However, he had practically become a hermit once Igneel died. He didn't even attend his prom senior year. It was sad to see, but she had hoped that him moving onto campus would force him back out of his shell and he would make friends the way he used to.

"Oh Natsu! I wanted to show you something!" Wendy quickly leapt out of her seat and rushed out of the room leaving a perplexed Natsu to glance at his Aunt who just shrugged. Wendy was only seven years old, and she always had a new obsession as most kids do. Most recently she began to draw. Sure enough she ran back into the dining room clutching her drawing pad, almost tripping on the white cat named Carla in the process.

"Here, I made this for you! Momma said I should get you something to hang up in your dorm, so I drew this so you always remember us!" She tore out a page and handed it to Natsu who almost choked on his drink. The picture in question was three stick figures, two of which with purple scribbles for hair and the third with pink triangles on his head. Carla had also made it into the picture, but she looked a lot more like a mouse? Whatever shape it was, it wasn't a cat. She was also colored orange. Clearly some artistic liberties had been taken. He looked up from the drawing to see Wendy's eyes shining up at him waiting for his reaction. He chuckled and gave her a large grin.

"Thanks Wendy, it looks amazing!" He folded it up carefully and tucked it into his back pocket.

"You mean it?"

"Of course squirt. I love it!" He beamed down at her and ruffled her hair. Wendy shot herself full force into his legs giving him a big tight hug. Grandeeney smiled warmly at the scene in front of her before glancing over at the clock on the wall.

"Oh dear it's almost 8, we should hurry up. Can't have you being late on move-in day." Grandeeney sat up from her seat and noticed Natsu begin to grab dishes off of the table.

"Aw Natsu, sweetie you don't need to clean up. I can take care of it just go grab your stuff and start loading it up in the van."

"You sure? It's the least I can do…" Natsu paused with his hands full of plates.

"Yes I'm sure go ahead and set those down. Go grab your bags." Natsu obeyed, and in no time he was in the passenger seat of Grandeeney's minivan in absolute misery. Natsu's motion sickness was legendary for how bad it was. The mere thought of being in a moving vehicle made him pale in the face. It was so bad that Grandeeney suspected it had started rubbing off on Wendy who complained that her belly didn't feel food anytime she got put into her carseat.

They pulled into the bustling campus parking lot. Several crowds of people were outside trying to recruit various new students into their respective clubs. Natsu took a shaky breath and got out of the car. Grandeeney grabbed his hand before he exited.

"Natsu…don't forget you're always welcome to come by, you always have a home with us." She gave him a warm smile. Natsu smiled back at her.

"Yeah I know, thanks for everything Grandeeney. I'll text you when I'm all situated."

"Bye Natsuuuuu!" Wendy waved from the backseat before he closed the passenger seat and went to grab his stuff from the trunk. He waved at them as they drove away leaving him to face college life all alone. He shouldered his bags, grabbed hold of his suitcase's handle and carefully held onto his boxes as he awkwardly attempted to find way to his dorm. After asking a few kids who looked older than him where to go Natsu had finally found his building. The lobby of the building was just as busy as the main courtyard with hundreds of kids running around, hugging their parents, or like Natsu trying to transport all their belongings without dropping everything. After waiting in line and checking with the receptionist and receiving his key he took the elevator up to the fourth floor where his solo dorm was at the end of the hallway, almost completely isolated from the others. Which considering his nighttime activities was probably for the best.

The door swung open revealing a tiny room with a single bed, desk and dresser. He took a deep breath, this was it. This was his home now. He closed the door behind him and dropped all his stuff on the floor. Reaching into his back pocket he grabbed the picture Wendy had drawn for him and placed it on his desk. The first step of making it feel less lifeless.

"This is it Dad…I made it." He sighed, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a framed photo of a much younger version of himself holding a large bass while his dad grinned proudly behind him. Igneel looked like you would picture a stereotypical lumberjack. Large, buff, and hairy. Orangish red hair tied into a tight bun, and a well kept but still bushy beard covered his warm face. Natsu stared at the photo sadly for a second before propping it up on the desk next to Wendy's drawing. In no time his clothes were haphazardly thrown into the closet, his suitcase stuffed under his bed. His boxes were filled with general knick knacks, such as comic books, his video game console, laptop, etc…" When he was done he looked around the room nodding in approval. There was just one last thing to do. He grabbed his backpack and hid it under his mattress. It would have to do for now until he could think of another place to hide his Salamander attire. Couldn't just have it out in the open. He could have guests over after all. As soon as that thought entered and exited his mind there was a quiet knock at his door. He glanced around to make sure the room was at least presentable, and opened it.

"Hello! Are you Natsu Dragneel?" A sweet angelic voice asked as soon as the door swung open revealing a beautiful girl with white hair with her bangs tied up. She was holding a clipboard, and a pen.

"U-Uh, yeah that's me…Who are you?" Natsu tilted his head and the woman smiled a radiant smile.

"My name is Mirajane Strauss, but you can just call me Mira. I'm your hall's resident advisor."

"Oh, well it's a pleasure to meet you." Natsu smiled back at her.

"Same to you, I was just going around introducing myself to my new residents, and letting them know that there will be a small get together tonight in the lounge area so we can all get to know our neighbors."

"Ah gotcha…well thanks for the invite, I'll be there." Natsu nodded his head, and Mira's eyes focused on him closer.

"Hey wait a minute, I know you don't I?" She gazed closer at him, to the point where Natsu felt a little uncomfortable. After a minute Mira snapped her fingers.

"Oh I know! You were friends with my baby sister! I knew your name seemed familiar." Natsu blinked slowly. He raked his brain for a second and then his eyes widened. Strauss was a very familiar last name to him, after all two of his closer friends in high school had the last name Strauss.

"No way! Your Lisanna and Elfman's older sister aren't you?!" Natsu ran his hand through his hair. Mira nodded her head.

"That's right, hey speaking of them. You know they also live in this building too, right? I'm sure they'd love to see you."

"I didn't but I will be on the lookout now. Thanks Mira."

"Of course! I'll see you tonight, I still need to get through this whole list. It was nice meeting you finally. It's good to have a face to match the name that Lisanna always brought up!" Mirajane skipped away leaving Natsu perplexed by the last comment. Did Lisanna talk about him that much? He felt like such a crappy friend. His entire Summer had been spent doing vigilante crime fighting stuff that he really hadn't kept in touch with anyone from high school. Well there was no excuse now, he might as well make up for lost time. He grabbed his phone, and keys and locked his dorm behind him. Scrolling through his phone he found the contact he was looking for, and dialed their number. The phone rang a few times, but there was nobody picking up. He shrugged, they were probably busy getting situated or with family still.

He decided the next big thing was to take a walk around campus and learn where everything was before he got lost before his first class. He found out one thing for sure, he should have stayed away from the courtyard. It was so overpopulated, so loud, and so crazy that anyone would be overwhelmed. He couldn't walk ten steps without a flier being thrust into his hands or a bracelet, or a pencil, a shirt, a water bottle, you name it he got it thrown at him as every single club and program, frat, and even a few pyramid schemes tried to get him to listen to their pitch. Safe to say he booked it into the nearest building he could find which happened to be one of his least favorite places on Earth. A library. Which even though there was a giant sign that read "Be courteous, be silent!" was still bustling with new students and was as loud as an airport. He turned a corner a bit too quickly and bumped right into someone who was carrying an armful of books. The woman yelped and stumbled before falling onto her butt, her books falling all over the place around her.

"Crap! I'm so sorry!" Natsu muttered and hastily bent over to pick up the woman's books.

"Oh no don't worry, it's fine I should have been watching where I was going." She sat up and for the first time met eyes with Natsu whose breath completely hitched in his throat. The woman kneeling in front of him began collecting her things, but Natsu had frozen. She had beautiful silky golden blonde hair that was tied into two pigtails, she had large chocolate brown eyes that once again met him and she gave him a stunning smile.

"What's wrong? Do I have something on my face?" She joked, and Natsu's face flushed suddenly feeling flustered. He grabbed the rest of her books to avoid her eye contact before mischievously grinning.

"Oh yeah, there's just a big old fly on your forehead." He joked, and the girl actually giggled.

"That's just Jeffery, he's my pet bug." It was Natsu's turn to chuckle as he rose to his feet and offered her a hand which she took, he effortlessly helped her to her feet, and she quickly fixed her white tank top and blue jean shorts.

"Oh ummm, here these are yours." He offered her stack of books back at her which she took into her arms with a smile.

"Thank you kindly….." She trailed off obviously waiting for him to introduce himself.

"Natsu. And you are?" She blinked at him puzzled, with a look that almost read as a kind of you can't be serious right? But when Natsu just stood there expectantly her eyes widened slightly, but she covered it up quickly.

"Lucy, I'm Lucy." Natsu was about to say something along the lines of it's a pleasure to meet you. But he couldn't even open his mouth before a tall boy with a brilliant smile that showed off his perfectly white teeth walked towards them. He was clad in a suit that Natsu could only guess cost as much as his tuition.

"Lulu, are you okay?! I saw this imbecile run into you, and I hope you're not hurt!" Natsu blinked in surprise.

"I'm fine Dan, I'm not made out of glass." She grinned at the boy, who took her books out of her arms.

"Well nonetheless I'll hold onto these for you. They are much too heavy for you to be carrying after a fall like that! Here follow me, I'll buy you some lunch!" He grabbed her hand with the one not supporting her stack of books and she stuttered, her cheeks turning pink.

"O-okay….bye Natsu….nice meeting you!" Natsu gave her a pitiful wave as he watched the pair walk out of the library hand in hand. He just sighed, and figured he should head back to his dorm to relax for the night. Tomorrow would probably be a better, and less busy day to explore. Returning to the dorm was tricky as it meant going back through the courtyard where once again his arms were stuffed full of useless Magnolia University branded stuff. He walked into the lobby which had quieted down quite a bit and headed to the elevator which opened up and he came face to faces with the people he had tried to call earlier. A tall boy with raven colored hair, standing next to two shorter women, one with blue hair who was holding his hand, and the other with a shimmering red that matched the color of blood. Behind her were two more figures. One tall boy who was by far the tallest of the group with piercings on his nose, ears, and lips. Next to him a tiny, petite bluenette with orange glasses.

"Well look at what the cat dragged in!" The one with all the piercings grinned down at him. Natsu smiled back at them. Gray Fullbuster, Juvia Lockser, Erza Belserion (Though they usually just called her Scarlet), Gajeel Redfox, and Levy Mcgarden. His former classmates and closest friends in the world.

Chapter 2: Settling in

So as I mentioned at the beginning I was a huge fan of the story "The Salamander" By Scarletwebwarrior06. Unfortunately the story is going on permanent hiatus, so I reached out to them and asked if I could put my own spin on it, they gave me permission and even said they would read it with great interest. I hope it lives up to their expectations, and I hope you all enjoy it! I will try to have 1-2 updates a week!

Love-BubbleBass!