*Violet's POV*

I walked near August as we paraded through the streets of Magnolia. From the moment I realized who exactly would be accompanying us to the job, to the moment we actually left the guild hall, less than thirty minutes had passed. I hadn't yet had time to over think the possibilities of another job with Natsu.

But for now I had other concerns. The master had told us that we were going to do some kind of demonstration at a nearby school. That was fine in theory, nothing to fight, no difficult puzzles to solve. But this job presented other challenges. For one, the incident on the train back to Magnolia a couple days before had proven to me that my talents were less than adequate when it came to talking to children. And then there was the matter of my magic itself.

Unlike the other fairies or even August, my abilities weren't exactly flashy. If this was going to be a demonstration for children, what was I meant to do, make them all sad? Next to the others I was sure my presence would be underwhelming. I suppose I could do something without fear of harming them, maybe make one or two of them fall asleep only to wake them up again. Surely that could count for something, besides, I wouldn't have to do much when Natsu and Lucy were with me. I knew that their abilities were much more viewer friendly.

I supposed in a way, it kind of made sense. That the magic belonging to wizards form an official guild would be flashy and worthy of attention, whereas mine was meant to be done in the shadows, with no one to ogle or admire.

No witnesses.

A shiver ran down my spine, and I almost tripped over my foot. The action seemed to have alerted Lucy of my predicament, because she suddenly appeared at my side.

As an instinct my eyes slid to the ground. Lucy reacted gently, disappointed, but understanding, and there was a hint of Natsu's compassion in there too. A type of kind tolerance perhaps?

"Are you nervous?" she asked.

The way she saw it, talking things out could only ease my anxiety. I supposed she was halfway right, as now I was stressing over our conversation and not my upcoming humiliation.

"yes."

My answer must not have been what she was expecting, as she turned to look at me for a moment before looking away again. "You'll get the hang of it." she said, "jobs are...kinda crazy sometimes."

I knew that she had once been overwhelmed by the atmosphere of Fairy Tail. but I also knew that she had jumped right into it, surrounding herself with the crazy. Wrapping herself in it.

I didn't have that kind of bravery.

But her want, her need to comfort me, to even notice that I might be in need of comfort. It seemed like proof that I would be okay. As though empty words were no longer empty, all because they had been said in the first place. It didn't matter if her words helped me, it mattered that she was making the effort to say them.

"Thank you." I said.

And she smiled.

"Happy to help! Let me know if you need any rescuing there." she looked around briefly, "and I'm not just talking about the clients."

Before I could think of a response, the boys ahead of us stopped walking, before us stood the school beginning, the destination of our job.

"Here goes nothing."

*August's POV*

We made our way out of the guild hall in a neat little line, as though none of us wanted to talk to any of the others, or wanted to be seen talking at least. I wondered how Violet would describe the atmosphere, if she could make some kind of comparison that was lost to me.

Not that I could ask her with all the others around. As we walked I noticed Lucy slowly making her way closer to us, perhaps with the intention of talking to Violet. Ahead of us were Natsu and Happy, conversing in hushed voices and occasionally glancing back at us.

As Lucy came up between Violet and I, I saw it as an opportunity to have a word with Natsu. I knew that Violet would be safe in Lucy's care, not that I would be going that far anyway.

I lengthened my pace to meet up with the others, leaving Violet behind. She still had her eyes on the ground, and seemed to be focusing on Lucy rather than me anyway. As I slipped away, Lucy gave me a strange glance, and at first I wondered if it was me she had been meaning to talk to. But then she fell into step beside Violet, and gave me a little nood. Permission to leave them. My response was to walk away, heading toward the others.

Natsu and Happy were still talking in hushed voices when I approached them, though I still couldn't make out the words. For a moment I wondered if I should try and eavesdrop, but I knew that Natsu was too good a wizard to not notice me. Better to make my presence known before I startled him. Better not to invoke any unnecessary anger.

I cleared my throat.

As expected their chatter stopped immediately.

They both turned to stare, as though I had appeared suddenly behind them sporting a third eye and extra limbs. I suppose I should have expected that. It wasn't like the three of us had done much talking. Even before we were discovered I hadn't said much to them.

I watched as they both tried to play it off like I was a friend of theirs, and wondered what Violet would see, as she looked into their heads.

"We need to talk." I said, finally realizing that it was up to me to be the first to speak. I was the one interrupting them after all.

"About what?" Natsu asked. His voice was carefully neutral, giving nothing away. Happy on the other hand wasn't so lucky. His winds flustered nervously as he hovered ahead of me, looking between the two of us as thought watching an intense tennis match.

I thought of how to play this. Natsu had been told to reach out to Violet already, but did he know I knew that? Did he know I thought it was a good idea? "I had a chat with the master." I said.

His face flickered momentarily before setting back down. Curiosity perhaps? I fingered the master would be my best way in, I was unsure of what he thought of Violet, but the relationship between him and Makarov was clear. Easy.

Easy to exploit.

"What did he say."

"He told me to invite you and Lucy on this job." I said.

"I already knew that." he said. I had known this too of course, but it was as good of a segway as any.

"I wanted to let you know why." I said.

This got his attention.

"It's because of Violet." I said. "I don't know how much you guys had talked exactly, but the master seems to think that if you guys kiss and make up everything will be hunky dory for us."

"That's what he told me." Natsu said.

At least we were on the same page on that one.

"Do you believe him?" I asked.

He gave me a strange look. As though this wasn't the conversation's natural progression. As though he hadn't expected this.

"Well yeah," Natsu said, "Friends are good no matter the circumstances."

God I hated Fairy Tail sometimes.

"Look," I said, struggling for words where I had expected them to come easily. "I don't know what happened in those woods that day. I'm not sure if I even want to know.'' a shiver ran down my back at the thought of Violet's state when she returned from the Natsu job. And then him, right beside her, untouched. Undeterred.

"But we're here to stay." I finished, "So you're just going to have to get over that."

Both were looking at me with that piercing Fairy Tail gaze. I looked away, unable to stand it.

"Did you think we didn't want you here?" Natsu asked.

I looked up. Why would they?

"I don't know how it worked back in Justice Valkyrie, but here, we don't do things just because Gramps told us we should. I'm talking to Violet because I want to. Because I want you to stay."

My mouth opened...and then closed again. Gejeel had said something along the same lines when he had sought me out only a few days before. But here it was something more. Natsu, who had been the most affected by Violet's perceived treachery, wanted us to stay?

Before I could think of a response, or even an honest reaction, Natsu stopped walking, before us was the school building that held the job we'd been assigned. No more time for talking in circles with the one person who could solve my problems. We had to work.