JULY 7, X777

The first thing I noticed was the heat. It wasn't just the burning sensation that immediately slammed into my chest, like stepping too close to a roaring bonfire. It was the power—a deep, gnawing feeling in my bones, a feeling that I was on fire. But it wasn't the kind of fire I was familiar with—no, this was something deeper. Something I didn't know how to control.

I looked down at my hands—small, rugged hands, calloused from years of wilderness, and covered in burns. They weren't mine. They weren't... my hands. I could feel it. The weight of the body felt... wrong. Small yetpowerful.As though it didn't belong to me. The flames coursing through my veins felt like they had always been there—like I should know how to wield them, how to control them.

But I didn't.

My heart pounded in my chest as I pushed myself up from the ground. The surroundings were unfamiliar, but I recognized them all too well—the trees, the mountains, the familiar sense of danger in the air. Fiore. Fairy Tail.

The weight of memories hit me all at once—Natsu Dragneel. I was him. I was actually him. Natsu.

It wasn't like waking up in someone else's clothes. No, it was more like—like I'd shifted into his body. This wasn't a dream. There was no waking up. I could feel his pulse, his muscles—his power inside me. The loss of my - his father. Igneel. But the struggle to make sense of it was so overwhelming I almost couldn't breathe.

Everything was happening so quickly. I wasn't sure if the fire coursing through me was mine—or if it was something I was supposed to control. I could sense it, feel the heat pooling at my hands, ready to burst out like an uncontrollable blaze. I wanted to panic. I was panicking. But there was no time. There was only... fire.

"Damn it, calm down!" I muttered to myself, but the words didn't match the feeling. The fire inside me roared, begging to be released. The power was right there, just waiting for me to unleash it. I remembered Natsu—his reckless nature, his fury in battle, his desire to protect those he cared about. But I wasn't Natsu. I was just me—a fan of the series, a stranger in a strange body, and this was far beyond anything I could've imagined.

The warmth of the fire didn't comfort me, it terrified me. I felt small against it—just a guy who had read too many stories, watched too many episodes, and now I was living in one.

I clenched my fists, trying to focus, trying to bring myself back to reality. What's happening to me? How did I even get here? Was this some kind of joke? Was this a sick fantasy? But I could feel it—I could feel Natsu's emotions running through me, too. That reckless bravery, that unfocused energy that never knew when to stop, when to hold back.

But there was something more, something... darker. A tinge of anger. Anger at... at myself? No. It was a deeper, more ancient kind of anger. I realized then, in the core of my chest, that the fire inside me didn't just belong to Natsu—it was Igneel's? or is it E.N.D.'s?

I gasped, sucking in air, panic swirling in my gut. I didn't know what to do with that. I didn't know what to do with this. Was I supposed to act like Natsu? To fight like him? To think like him?

I tried to recall everything I knew about Natsu, his fierce loyalty, his childish antics, his burning need to never lose. But none of that felt like me. I wasn't him. I was just... me. A person who had no idea how to deal with all of this power inside, with the dragon slayer magic coursing through my veins, the responsibility of it, the danger of it.

I stumbled forward, stumbling over my own feet as I tried to gather my bearings. I could still hear the fire in my chest, urging me to fight, to release it. I closed my eyes tightly, trying to push it back, but I couldn't. I couldn't stop it.

"Fire Dragon's Roar," I blurted, not even knowing why I said it. The words felt right, but there was no control. The fire erupted, blasting out from my mouth in an uncontrollable wave. It was so powerful that I could feel the ground shaking beneath me, and the trees near me were incinerated instantly.

I froze, heart pounding in my ears, eyes wide. I'd just done that.

That wasn't just a little spark—it was a torrent of flames, and I had no idea how to stop it. The surroundings were burning. Was that what Natsu felt like? Was this power supposed to feel like that? How was I supposed to keep control? How was I supposed to fit into this body, into this life, knowing that the flames inside me could reduce everything to ash?

The fire roared in my chest, my breath shallow as I stood there, staring at the scorched ground around me. The trees were smoldering, their bark reduced to ash, the air thick with smoke. I couldn't even process what had just happened—how I'd just unleashed such raw, uncontrollable power. The heat that radiated off me was suffocating, and yet, in some strange way, it felt... like I had no choice.

My heart was pounding, but slowly, as the fire subsided, the noise in my head began to fade. The rush of panic, the feeling of drowning in this unfamiliar body, started to recede.

I closed my eyes. My hands were trembling, and the warmth of the flames still lingered, like a mark left behind, searing my skin with the memory of what I had just done. The roar of the fire was still alive in my ears, but it was quieter now. It wasn't the overwhelming inferno it had been moments before.

I took a deep breath, the cool air filling my lungs, grounding me. Focus, I told myself, just as I had seen Natsu do a hundred times. But this was different. This wasn't the reckless, battle-hungry Natsu. This was me—someone who had no idea how to fight this power, let alone how to control it.

I glanced down at my hands again, this time paying attention to the small details—the calluses, the scars. They weren't mine. They couldn't be. These hands, these arms—this body—they were the result of a life I wasn't supposed to be living. I looked around, unsure of what to do. I felt... misplaced. My mind scrambled to make sense of it.

Then, my eyes caught something that almost sent me into another panic. There was no Fairy Tail mark. No guild stamp on my arm. I wasn't even part of the guild yet. That was... something of a relief, actually. Maybe there was still time.

I knelt down, placing my hand on the earth, grounding myself further. The fire still simmered within me, but it was quieter, more distant, as if it too was waiting for me to get a hold of it. The sensation of being Natsu was still alien, but I couldn't deny it. I could feel his emotions—his reckless ambition, his impulsive bravery, and, surprisingly, his warmth. But at the same time, I could feel something darker, something fiercer, and much older—Igneel's fire.

I had to keep my head straight. I had to. This wasn't just some misplaced dream. I wasn't a character in a story anymore. I wasn't just an observer in Natsu's life—I was living it.

Seven years . I stopped, my hand resting on the dirt beneath me. For some reason, that thought, that realization, gave me a strange sense of calm. I'm only ten. The implications of it slowly sank in. Natsu hadn't even fully become the person I knew yet. That meant I had time. Time to learn how to control this power. Time to figure out what I was doing here, why this had happened to me, and most importantly, how to control the flames inside me before they controlled me.

I exhaled slowly, allowing the tense muscles in my shoulders to relax. The emotions swirling inside me didn't feel so foreign now. They were Natsu's emotions, yes, but the intensity of them had cooled, like a fire being dampened by rain. It's better this way, I thought. At least I have time. I'm not thrust into something I don't understand.

The world around me was still burning, but it felt more like a memory now, the echoes of a power that I couldn't just ignore. I flexed my fingers and whispered to myself, "I can't let it control me." Slowly, tentatively, I felt the fire within me begin to calm. It wasn't a perfect control, but it was something—something I could build on.

I was a stranger in Natsu's body, but for now, that was okay. I had time to figure it out. And for the first time since I'd woken up here, in this strange world, I felt like I could breathe.

I stood up, brushing off the dirt from my clothes, a determined resolve forming deep within me. The fire in my chest didn't need to burn out of control. I didn't need to fight like Natsu yet, and I certainly didn't need to act like him. I just needed to be myself—maybe a little wiser, maybe a little more patient than the person I knew Natsu to be.

For now, I had the luxury of time. Time to learn. Time to grow.

But the hardest part, I knew, was going to be controlling the fire—and learning how to be more than just a body. Natsu's body, yes—but my body now, too.

And I wasn't going to let it burn me alive.

A/N: So had this idea in my head. not sure why there are no Natsu SI fics when basically all harem!natsu and whatever else fics all have a completely oc natsu. so an experiment. lets see where it goes. leave a constructive review.