*Violet's POV*

Wendy spent some time going over my inquiries, and I spent the time assuring her that I was fine. I could still feel pain coming from many parts of my body, and the itch of the burn on my arm was particularly hard to ignore, but it was nothing compared to what it had been when Natsu first brought me back to the guild hall. Besides, injuries where nothing new to me. I was good at hiding the pain, it was a requirement at Justice Valkyrie. Never let them know you're hurting. Never let them know you're weak.

Once Wendy was done, I thanked her again. Despite hoping that she would leave as soon as humanly possible, I wanted to take time to show her how grateful I was. She acted as though it was nothing. As thought I was entitled to the help she gave me. It made my stomach twist.

Wendy rushed out of the room, and Grey replaced her. I assumed that he had been standing guard outside all this time. I felt become weary of me as soon as he entered the room, perhaps he was expecting me to attack him. But that wasn't the only emotion I felt. There was something else there too, some kind of...curiosity?

I tilted my head, trying to get a better read on him, but he was still all the way across the room. I focused as hard as I could, trying to dig out a better description for the latent emotion. It wasn't until I met his eyes that I realized I had turned to look at him. And of course he was staring at me.

I returned my gaze to my lap quickly, not wanting him to think that I was trying to start anything. I felt the latent feeling spike; he was preparing to ask me a question, but he didn't have time to act on it before the door opened again. The sound made me jump.

This time it was Erza. I had grown accustomed to her aura, even soothed by it, thought I knew that her feelings for me would be much different now than they had been before…

"It's good to see you awake." Erza said.

Her words were kind, but her tone did not reflect the sentiment.

I swallowed. Before I had been so upset that my enemies were acting like my friends. And now they were acting like they should, but I still didn't like it. The grass is always greener on the other side.

I heard Erza's footstep come closer to my bed, until her body cast a shadow over the pale yellow covers. Still I did not look up. I wasn't sure yet why she was there. Had she been sent as an ambassador of sorts? I had spent a fair amount of time with her before everything went wrong.

Or maybe she was just there to escort me to Lucy's. You had to be a special kind of stupid to try anything when Erza was around. Even I knew that.

"The master said he already told you," Erza continued, "but you'll be staying at Lucy's house for a while."

"He told me." I said, still not looking up.

I felt her aura shift. Was she...annoyed with me?

"If you're ready we can leave now." Erza said. It wasn't a request.

"Okay."

I took a deep breath and then turned away from Erza, swinging my legs over the opposite side of the bed. I hadn't tried walking in a while, so I stood slowly. My legs had not been partially damaged in the fight, but the pain in my stomach was more than enough to make up for it, and lying in the infirmary for days on end had done nothing to help my dexterity.

I gripped the edge of the bedside table as I took a few steps, testing out my balance. I felt Erza's emotions change behind me, for a moment I thought she might be feeling guilty, but when I focused more I realized it was concern. I focused on her as I tested my legs. I felt her worry grow and boil over, she had made a choice.

Without looking, I knew that she was by my side.

"I don't need help."

I turned just enough to find Erza's hand hovering in the air next to me. I was glad I had been paying enough attention to stop her before she touched me.

"I don't need help." I repeated, and her hand fell away slowly.

I took a long breath before releasing my grip on the bedside table. I stepped farther out into the infirmary, I seemed stable enough. Erza did not offer me her hand again, but I noticed that she was standing closer to me than should have been normal, as if she was ready for me to hit the floor at any moment.

If I had been a normal person that might have been true, but as it was, I was perfectly capable of walking on my own. At Justice Valkyrie there was no time for healing and rest between jobs or training exercises. I could handle myself.

But as I walked toward the door I remembered that I would have to go thought the guild hall to make it outside. That was a little harder to face.

By now all of them would know what I'd done. All of them would hate me. I used my silver tongue to reach out beyond the door. I could feel them all waiting on the other side. But there was an underlying feeling beneath the happy-go-lucky atmosphere that I was accustomed too. A danger that I had guessed at before was now on a more open display.

It was a kind of righteous anger that I was familiar with. I had felt it before in the higher ranking members of Justice Valkyrie. I had felt it myself when I killed. It was the kind of emotion that I'd thought was indisputable, a dark kind of aching deep in the heart.

But I didn't think that I would ever feel it in a place like Fairy Tail. But then again, this was a guild that called their vanquished foes back to the guild hall as trophies rather than allowing them to die with honor. Perhaps it did make sense for them to feel that pride.

My feet only carried for me as far as the door to the infirmary. For on the other side was the enemy. I believed that now even more than when I had been planning to kill them.

I heard Erza shuffling behind me, felt her concussion flicker to understanding, but I could not force my hand to reach the door knob. Who would be guarding me from the other side? Would it be Grey who I had lied to? Or Natsu who I had betrayed? Or would it be someone else entirely, who had not interacted with me enough to be confused by my actions.

"Violet?" Erza was closer to me than ever.

I shook my head, making my hair fall from my shoulder to shield my face from her.

"No one out there will hurt you." Erza assured me.

She misunderstood my fear. But I was in no condition to correct her.

"I can go first." she offered, "then you'll only have to look at me as you follow behind."

I nodded slowly, and stepped back, keeping my eyes on the floor. How could I allow her to do this for me? How weak was I? I heard the door open in front of me, and took a deep breath, I had no choice but to follow.

*August's POV*

I sat alone in the master's office, going through old files with my archive magic. We had to be prepared for when Justice Valkyrie attacked. It was the only way that Vi and I could be safe. The only way that I could make up for my own stupidity.

I should have taken Violet and ran the night that Takashi came to visit. We could have left the region, even the country, and lived out the rest of our days in peace. Now, this was the only way that the two of us where going to escape. I had to do it.

Already the Fairies' kindness had been more than I'd expected. At first I was wary of it, but now that Violet was awake, I was praying that they would be as tolerant with her as they had been with me. If her social issues hadn't been obvious to them before, they would be now. I knew that Violet was strong, and I trusted Lucy to be gentle with her until I could meet up with them again. She would be safe.

Until now, I had been eagerly awaiting Violet's awakening. But now that it had happened I wasn't sure how I felt. I still wasn't sure where she stood in all this, and there wasn't a good chance to ask her with the master breathing down my neck every second of the day.

What if she didn't like my plan? What if she didn't trust the Fairies enough to think it would work?

Most of the guild had found out about what we where by now. No one had really talked to me about it, but I saw the way they looked at me, the way they stopped talking when I entered a room.

A part of me wondered if perhaps the constant watch of the master wasn't out of fear that I would betray them, but something else. Luckily, I didn't see much of the same hostility toward Violet.

Granted, she had been unconscious for most of it, but the few times that I'd seen members interact with her, they had done so gently, kindly even. The same treatment wasn't given to me. I assumed that most of the members were just too good natured to hate someone who had been so badly injured, regardless of context. But I felt like they blamed me for her state, rather than the man who gave her the burns.

Natsu had done his best to avoid me. Thought, the same was true for the rest of the guild. During the brief times when I was let out of the master's office, I could feel him watching me, but he never tried to say anything. I wondered if he was afraid of me. Whatever the reason, he kept his distance, and I was better for it. Despite the strangeness of it all, everyone acted about the same as I'd expected they would given the circumstances, everyone accept master Makarov.

He was the only one who seemed more wary of Violet then of me. I understood that he had spent more time watching me, where as the only reason he had trusted Violet was because her story backed up mine.

He asked me a lot of questions about her, "how long has she been in Justice Valkyrie?" "Does she have any friends there?" "How many lives has she taken?"

He was careful not to dig too far into each one at once, but I could tell that he wanted to know more about her. I wasn't sure what to do. I had proved my own loyalty when I removed my Justice Valkyrie guild mark, but I couldn't say anything to protect Violet.

I knew that she wouldn't want to spend time away from me after she woke. And I hated that she would have to, but I need everyone to trust her, and for that, she would have to interact with them without me around as a buffer.

I knew her well enough to know that she would avoid talking unless absolutely necessary, which usually lead to me doing it on her behalf. But that wasn't going to work here. They had to hear her feelings straight from the horse's mouth. And I wasn't exactly an unbiased party.

Violet was going to have to earn back the fairy's trust by herself. I only prayed she was capable of it.

My thoughts were interrupted when there was a knock at the door. I knew instantly it was the master. I had told him there was no need for him to knock when entering his own office, but he always did anyway.

"Come in," I sighed.

The master entered, followed by Grey, who seemed to be taking every chance he could to get close to me.

"What is it?" I asked, shutting down my archive.

"A letter just came for you." the master said, "it's from Takashi."