*Violet's POV*
The building seemed to get taller the closer we came to it, a looming embodiment of my fear. Lucy, still walking beside me, offered a little smile as Natsu and August opened the doors. I took a deep breath, and then stepped inside. We appeared to be in a large open area, to our right was a sort of office, already I could see a secretary rusting forward to usher us inside.
I noticed Natsu and Happy looking around in what seemed to be a lesser degree of awe. I realized, considering their background, neither one of them had ever been inside a school like this before. I wondered if he was imagining himself there, imagining what could have been if things had been different.
Lucy didn't have the same reaction. Unlike Natsu and Happy, she held a kind of bitter recognition. I assumed she must have been in many private schools in her days before Fairy Tail. I couldn't imagine she would have fit in exactly.
August held mostly the same kind of heavy wistfulness that I did. As with Natsu, we might have ended up here, with teachers to give us our lessons indeed of celebrated murders. Lessons in music and art rather than how to properly sever someone's spinal column with a single strike.
In my case, I would probably still be in a school like this. Not with kids so young, but still nearly as innocent. Would I have been happy there? Living a normal life? Was there some universe where I was a normal girl? One who couldn't even imagine what it might be like to have magic? To have a weight of my sins following me at every turn? Would I even care to appreciate what I had?
The secretary approached us slowly, looking between us with excitement, and a little apprehension. "Are you the wizards from Fairy Tail?"
In response there was a shuffling of fabric as we all flashed our marks. I subconsciously looked over at the thick bandage on my left shoulder, hiding the evidence of my previous affiliation.
The secretary seemed convinced, and beckoned us into the office, leading us down one of the little halls to a large conference room. She gestured for us to take a seat, and we did, waiting for further instruction. Perhaps we weren't too different from the students here after all.
"Thank you all for coming." she said, sweetly, lingering by the door, "someone will be without in just a few minutes to give you a few more details before you go in to see the students."
"Thanks for letting us know." Lucy said.
The woman looked back all of us one last time, as if somehow sensing the tension in the air, then she shut the door, and we were alone.
For a moment we all stared at each other, until Lucy took it upon herself to break the silence. "What age do you think the kids will be?" it seemed to be the first thing that came into her mind, and she had run with it, only worrying about breaking the quiet and not the conversation that it would lead to.
"What's it matter," Natsu asked. He interlocked his fingered behind his head and leaned back on his chair, tilting the front legs so far off the ground it made me nervous. "Any age will think my magic is cool."
"And everybody likes cats!"
Lucy blinked at them, I wondered if she, as I did, was realizing that the two of them were unaware of why she had spoken in the first place. But rather than become frustrated, or even pleasantly annoyed as I had often felt in her, she simply decided to roll with it.
"Maybe fire has no age limit," she said, "but some of my spirits…"
"I don't see what's wrong with em."
"I can't summon virgo in front of a bunch of preschoolers, Natsu."
August and I shared a look that almost made me burst out laughing.
Natsu made a noise that made it seem like his brain had short circuited, then opened his mouth to reply. Before he could, the door to the conference room opened again, and a tall woman in the pressed pants suite entered the room.
She looked over us, spotting a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "So you're the Fairy Tail wizards." she said, her tone on the edge of something unpleasant.
"That's us!" Lucy said, with an upbeat tone that didn't match what I was reading.
The woman smiled again, gliding over to the chair at the head of the table despite her four inch heels. She took a seat slowly, smoothing down her pencil skirt as she went. My eyes drifted around the table. It seemed I wasn't the only one that was slightly uncomfortable.
"Now," she said, and I felt the others around me snap to attention, "as I'm sure you've been informed you are here to demonstrate some magic to the children here at Magnolia Academy. I'm here to give you a little more information as well as a few ground rules before I send you off."
She looked around the room, as if daring us to challenge her.
"The first thing that you should know is that the real reason you are here is because we've been having lessons about traditions and important parts of Magnolia. You are here as representatives of your guild to teach them about their town, not to distract them with some cheap parlor tricks."
I could practically hear Natsu's first tightness under the table.
"Is that understood?"
We nodded.
"Good." she said, placing a hand on her temple, and rubbing as though she had a migraine. "Now I know it's inevitable that the children will want to see some bits of magic, so I won't disallow it. But...I would encourage you all to remember why you're being payed."
She looked around the room with piercing eyes, as thought she too could see into people's minds. My face folded itself into the neutral look naturally, as did August's. The fairies struggled a bit more, lacking the years of training that we held, but the woman seemed satisfied, and stood with a nod. "I'll lead you to the first class room now."
Behind her back I watched Lucy and Natsu exchanged a look. It seemed that they were communicating in much the same way that August and I sometimes did. Despite neither one of them having Silver Tongue, the message was clear to both parties.
Don't do anything stupid.
I'm making no promises.
I glanced to August, who puffed out his cheeks and released the air slowly. This was going to be a long day.
