*Violet's POV*

It took me ten minutes to calm down. It had been a long time since I'd had a meltdown that seemed to revolve around nothing. Usually they at least had a reason, seeing Natsu again, taking more fear than I could handle. But this time I had done nothing. Were my emotions really that out of whack?

I knew that I couldn't hide in her forever. Natsu and the others had probably already picked up on the strangeness of my sudden rush away from them. Normally I wouldn't be as worried about it. In the past, if any of them noticed anything they at least had the decency to keep it to themselves.

But that didn't include Natsu. Rather by lack of shame or of brain cells I wasn't sure, but his tendency to voice every concern was starting to become a major hindrance to my peace of mind. I had to keep him away from me. Especially now. But he wasn't the only problem.

Laxus had definitely been intending to talk to me before I'd fled the scene. It wouldn't be a pleasant experience for anyone if he ended up giving me a little chat now. I had no doubt that, just as he must have with August, the master had assigned him some task to read into me. Wasn't Natsu enough? At least he wasn't reporting everything back to the master the way Gajeel seemed to, or at least...not that I knew of.

But then...wasn't that what August wanted? To be the master's golden boy, just as he had been back at Justice Valkyrie? I pushed the thought away. It was an unfair wording. August's perceived loyalty to the master was the only thing that was earning us our place at Fairy Tail's table. Without him...if it had been on my shoulders to prove our innocence…

Maybe I didn't mind that August and the master were so close.

It wasn't like I wanted any part of that world. I wanted no claim to the plan to protect us from Justice Valkyrie. August and I had always been two halves of the same whole. I used my silver tongue to gather information, he used his confidence to craft the lies he fed our targets. The same lies he was feeding Takashi now, this time without my help.

But then...would I have given it?

My thoughts were interrupted by a tap on the door. I took a deep breath. If nothing else, my thoughts of the nightmare had been pushed from my mind, replaced rather than removed, but out of the way all the same.

At least for now.

"Violet?"

Natsu.

I took a deep breath, and reached for the door. I'd made my decision already. I didn't want to talk to him. I doubted he would be coming for me if August was around to stop him, and as long as he was still with the master, I had no real reason to stick around. There was plenty of fairyless town waiting right outside the guild hall. I just had to get there.

I opened the bathroom door. Natsu stared down at me, his concern only seeming to intensify now that I could see him. Now that he could see me. I focused on an invisible point above his right shoulder.

I couldn't handle both him and the voices in my head at the same time. Not today. I forced myself not to pay attention to my magic, trying to separate it from myself as though I were closing one eye.

"Vi, I-"

"I'm fine." I said immediately.

Get out before he could say more. Get out before I could even read him.

"I just wanted to-"

"I know." I wasn't hard to guess. "I don't want to talk."

The rush of disappointment and concern was so strong and gushed up over my defenses. My hand tightened at my side, pulling in close enough that I could feel little pricks of pain where my nails met my palm.

"I-"

"You're in my way."

He froze for a moment, confused rather than hurt. "Right, sorry,"

He stepped away, standing to the side as if preparing to follow me.

I took a deep breath and then forced my feet to move, moving past him. My hand brushed his as I went for the door. I mentally cursed myself for not taking better precautions.

"Violet-"

"Violet this, Violet that," I said, turning on him. "I'm so sick of hearing my own name."

He looked at me as thought I'd struck him. Maybe it would have been better if I had. I couldn't feel his physical pain. There was something twisting in his stomach, a dark realization. Then denial. He was still trying to convince himself that I was the victim here.

"Just stay away from me," I finished, trying to see many of the nearby guild members looking our way, including Lucy and the others, still watching from the table where I'd left them.

Tears of shame and frustration burned at the back of my eyes, and I turned away from them. I felt as though I were diverting half my energy to keep from crying, and the other half to get out of the guild hall before I did.

Each step was a relief, and a terror, I could feel their eyes on me, their quiet concern, as though they were ready at a moment to recreate the scene from my nightmares. My hand reached the door and flug it open, stepping out into the perfect spring air. I told myself I was free, but it was as though I could still feel their gaze on my back, like I was coated in it like mud. I broke into a run.

It wasn't long before my feet started to ache, protesting in the pinchy shoes I had bought because they looked like the pair I had seen Lucy wear once. This was what I got for choosing to put on something so impractical. I bent and took them off, hardly stopping before I started running again.

I was nearly at the edge of town now, reaching the woods where we had fought the forest vulcans on our first job. My feet left the hard concrete and were met with soft earth. It reminded me of old jobs, waiting in tree tops for wagons or magic mobiles, ready to jump down for quick kills before disappearing back into the forest.

Those had been my favorite type of jobs once. Now my favorite where the ones where my new fairy team mates asked the least questions. Finally my body reached its limit, and I came to a stop, leaning against the trunk of a large tree. Though the place where I had fought Natsu was still miles away, I knew that it was the same woods. The same trees, the same looming energy.

The rough bark behind my back suddenly became less confronting. I had felt it before, on much less friendly terms. My legs ached in a way that I knew they shouldn't be. This was the most physical exertion I'd faced in a while, and whether I liked it or not, my body was still healing from my failure with Natsu.

I threw my shoes to the ground, then sunk down next to them, not caring if my new clothes got dirty. There was a time when I'd thought that telling Natsu off like that would have given me some kind of satisfaction. The first time I'd done it it felt a little good in the moment. But then he had to go and ruin it by not getting offended.

But this time….there had been real hurt in him. Not that I needed my magic to know that. I could have seen it on his face. The others must have seen it on his face too. They must have known what I'd done to him. Would they hate me for it? Did I want them too?

I'd thought I'd wanted Natsu to hate me. It was what he was supposed to do. I had tried to kill him. And he had hated me...for a time. When he believed I was the man in the mask who had stolen his friend. There had been a real rage there, a desire, a need to destroy, but it had all but dissipated as soon as the mask fell away, as if knowing my lies before the truth made it different somehow.

And even now...he hadn't hated me when I'd left the guild hall. He had only been hurt. Disappointed, betrayed, heartbroken even. And I knew better than to think that it was just the echo of his emotions making my heart sink so low. I hadn't liked hurting him either.

I brought my hands to my face, then my neck, caving in on myself and holding them there, as if waiting for a building to collapse on top of me. My nails were biting into my flesh there as if doing so could somehow tear my magic out, tear even the memories of it out so I didn't have to always know what they thought of me.

I let out an impulsive shriek of dismay.

Someone stifled the border of my magic's reach.

My confusion was replaced with an intense fear in a flash. I jumped to my feet, curing myself for not bringing any weapons.

"Who's there?" I called.

I pulled my hands up to a defensive position. Even weaponless, I could still hold my own in hand to hand combat long enough to think of a plan. The presence was coming closer. I saw that it was casual, attentive, and looking for something. I swallowed. There was something else there too, a kind of depth that I only associated with one trait.

Whoever was after me was a magic user. But it wasn't Natsu or any of the others.

"Show yourself." I called.

Still they got closer. And I knew that they had heard me, and decided not to answer. Any well meaning fairy would have spoken up by now. Only a few more seconds and we would be face to face. I stepped forward, putting my back to a tree, and hoping I was hidden from the view of the stranger. I waited as they approached, hardly daring to breathe.

A twig snapped a foot away.

I jumped out from behind the tree, throwing a blind punch at what should have been neck height, a well practiced blow that would put anyone one the ground.

As it was, my fist collided with dense muscle. And the only reaction was a grunt, and a couple stumbled steps backwards.

I darted out of range as the stranger regained his balance.

"Hey there," he smiled, "You're Violet I take it."

My heart sank. Somehow this was worse than a faceless attacker.

"Laxus."