*Violet's POV*

We were led out of the classroom by the same woman who had led us in, and somehow she seemed even less happy this time. Natsu seemed more than pleased with himself, whispering to Happy just low enough that I couldn't hear him. Lucy and August seemed a little more wary, sharing concerned glances over my head.

I had expected the woman to just lead us back out the main entrance, hand us the money and be done with it. But instead she took us back though the office, and we ended up in the room that we had first met her in. I could see that the money had already been set out on the table, presumably by one of the other secretaries.

"Sit." she ordered.

We sat.

"I'll have you know that the law requires I pay you." she said, "but I will be sending a letter to your master detailing your misbehavior."

I felt my heart sink, and August's as well. In our years as assassins we had heard those words a handful of times. Jobs not competed to the clients liking, loose ends we'd been unable to tie up.

The scars on my back tingled. I had half a mind to beg the woman to reconsider.

But then I noticed Natsu Happy and Lucy's feelings on the matter.

They were trying to hold back laughter. I glanced around the room. August had gone white. But the others seemed undeterred.

"To allow the children to witness such a crude display of sorcery...yes I will be writing a letter, that your own may punish you as he sees fit. In the meantime. Get out of my school."

No one needed to be told twice. Natsu grabbed the money and tucked it away, and then we all filtered out of the room, leaving the angry woman alone behind us.

As we passed back through the office, some of the workers smiled or waved, seemingly not knowing that we had caused any trouble, and then Natsu led us all the way out of the building, and into the afternoon sun.

He held the door as we all exited, and then pressed it firmly shut. As soon as he had done so, both he and Happy burst into laughter. Even Lucy was smiling. August and I exchanged a glance. Was this some kind of hysterical breakdown?

"I'm sorry." I said immediately, appealing to Lucy who at least seemed coherent. "I knew I shouldn't have done that spell on Natsu- and now the master- oh."

Now Lucy wasn't the only one confused. "What do you mean Violet, you did nothing wrong."

"I-" what?

Natsu stopped laughing long enough to wheeze out, "That was great she was so mad."

I stared at him, but it was August who spoke.

"Did you miss the part where she's writing the master?" he asked, "Aren't you worried about that?"

Lucy and Natsu looked at eachother, no one was laughing now. "He'll think it's hilarious." Happy said.

"Did you really think we were going to get in trouble for that?" Lucy asked.

August and I looked away sheepishly. I felt my hand creep up to my neck, bunching up the fabric that I knew was hiding my scars. I felt Natsu fill with potent anger and disgust. The change was so sudden that my eyes flashed up to him. He was staring at my hand. I dropped and looked away quickly. No one else noticed.

"Anyway Natsu, let's see that cash." Lucy said, holding out her hand as we started walking. I could tell that she is mostly trying to dispel the awkward situation, but I didn't care. I turned away from Natsu entirely, walking on the other side of August.

The conversation as we walked back to the guild hall was light, with August speaking only occasionally, and me not at all. We spit up the money, and Lucy counted carefully hers again before stashing it away.

Happy made a comment about her being money hungry, and Lucy remarked that he didn't have to pay rent.

We all laughed even though it wasn't really funny.

Natsu kept on glancing over at me from the other side of August, trying to draw me into the conversation. "What do you think Violet?" "Sounds like something Vi would do."

I engaged as minimally as possible, with August coming to my rescue when one word answers won't suffice.

I knew Natsu wanted me to talk to him, but I couldn't quite bring myself to do it, not after my outburst earlier. I didn't want him reading into me. But I knew the longer I waited the more assumptions he would draw. Not to mention what had happened at the school. Would he notice I had given him more alertness than I had taken? Could he see the way my eyelids were drooping? I didn't want to know. But I couldn't avoid him forever.

Whether because of my increased tiredness or because of my reluctance to return to the guild hall, I found myself struggling to keep up with the others. At first August was matching my pace, but then he faded away, and it was Natsu who was at my side.

"Vi!'' August was calling me from a few meters ahead. I looked up, squinting in the setting sun. "Take your time." he called, "We'll meet back at the guild."

I looked over to see that Natsu was still with me, but didn't want to so blatantly imply that I didn't want to be with him… "Alright." I called, "See you soon."

And then he ran to keep up with Lucy, leaving me alone. Alone with Natsu.

I glanced over at him as the others disappeared around a corner. Did he know how obvious he was being? Did he want me to talk first? What did he want to talk about in the first place, my outburst this morning or what happened at the school?

I was too tired to deal with this right now.

"You're quiet again." he said.

I looked over, not sure that I'd heard him right, and then returned my eyes to the ground. There was no reason to hide what I thought anymore, I'd told him almost everything earlier. "What's it to you?"

He shrugged.

I counted seven paces before he spoke again. "You gave me more awake than I gave you." he said.

So he had noticed.

"I took a lot." I said, "and you dropped like a fly. I wanted to pay you back."

"I gave a lot." Natsu corrected.

I glanced over at him under my hair. "Same difference."

Immediately I knew that he disagreed, but rather than press the point farther he moved on. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." he said, "I noticed you haven't been sleeping so I thought…"

My mouth went dry. I hadn't even considered that possibility. I had assumed that he had also been tried, but he had willingly pressed upon me the alertness that he thought I needed? He had wanted me to keep some of it?

I knew in theory that my magic could be used like that, as a catalyst for transferring feelings and emotions from one place to another. But I had never met anyone who was okay with sharing what they had. I was used to having the bad end of the deal when it came to emotion trading.

But had I ever really used the spell on a willing participant? One that would want the best for me and not the worst? And for Natsu to be comfortable enough with me to want to help in that way…

"I didn't need your help." I said finally.

Rather than take offense he noted that I wasn't denying the lack of sleep accusation. I mentally cursed myself, but took deep breaths. Erza and Grey already knew. It was only a matter of time before Natsu found out too anyway. I wondered if he expected me to tell him. To confess all like I had before. Was that his plan, to keep pressing me until I burst? Had that been his plan all along?

"Listen…" he said, "about this morning-"

"I don't wanna talk about it." I said.

He nodded, apparently this was a given.

"I just wanted to say that I didn't mean to make fun of you."

Apparently there was no avoiding it.

"It's fine." I said dismissively.

I knew he didn't believe me. I didn't care. By now we had reached the guild hall, and the end of your conversation by proxy. I took a deep breath and opened the door, letting the smell of booze and magic wash over me.

immediately I knew something was wrong. More people turned to watch me enter than usual, Lucy stood from a nearby table and walked over to us, as though she had been waiting for our return.

Even Natsu noticed something was off. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Lucy looked between us, carefully holding her next words in her mind before speaking. "Laxus is back."