*Violet's POV*

When I came out of the shower, August was waiting in the living room. As soon as I opened the door I could feel the buzzing in his head. He was planning something, something big. And he intended to tell me about it. I assumed it had something to do with his most recent meeting with the master, and possibly his talk with Laxus too.

I wasn't in the mood for another long, and probably stressful conversation, but if August was this excited, I knew he would probably do most of the talking. I just had to be sure not to mention too much of what had happened on my end of things while he was indisposed.

I wasn't the best at guessing intentions, but I wasn't an idiot. August wanted me to play nice with the other fairies. Especially Natsu. I didn't want him trying to divide his attention between his own problems, and the ones that I'd caused earlier today. The less he knew about it, the better. And that went for my little run in the Laxus as well.

"What's up?" I called, taking a seat in the chair across from him. "Did it go well with the master?"

August narrowed his eyes, suspecting something. I realized for the first time that he must have noticed I'd left the guild hall, despite agreeing to wait for him. He must have realized something had happened. Or been told.

"It was fine," he said, testing the waters to see if he could get a reaction. He knew what I was reading there. I pretended not to notice, pushing for his story before he could ask for mine.

"What did you talk about?" I asked. I'd been careful not to ask for details about his meetings with the master, only engaging when he was the one to bring it up. I knew that they were working to keep us a secret from the outside world, making the council think that we were normal mages, making Takashi think that we were still planning to eliminate our targets.

August blinked, then relaxed. He must have known that I was just trying to distract him from asking why I'd left the guild hall. Perhaps he didn't care. "It has to do with what Laxus talked to me about last night."

He seemed to be insinuating something, still asking to receive even though he appeared to be giving. Was this meant to be a hint that he knew Laxus and I had talked earlier that day? Wherever the conversion went now it would probably lead there...still. If I could convince him to talk first, he might get distracted, or at least give me time to come up with a way to weave the story so that it left out the problematic parts.

"And what was that?"

Now he knew for sure I was avoiding talking about myself. Rather than continue to fight it, he let out a sigh and shrugged, allowing himself to fall back against the couch.

"Fairy Tail has offered to help us fight Justice Valkyrie." he said.

"What?!" He might as well have told me that Laxus liked to weave friendship bracelets or bake pastries in his free time. "I thought the plan was to lie low for a while."

"It is," August agreed, "but we can't keep this up forever, I mean eventually they're going to realize we don't plan to kill anyone."

In the back of my head I'd always known that was true. But I'd been working too hard just to survive each day, there hadn't been time to think about how we were going to get out of this in the long run. And even when I had, my thoughts had drifted to Topaz and Kaze, living alone, keeping to themselves. The idea that Fairy Tail could survive...or that August and I could survive with them. Well...there had been a reason I didn't want to think too hard about what would happen when Takashi stopped swallowing our lies.

"So you guys were...working out a plan?"

August nodded.

I tried to picture him there, sitting in the master's office, talking strategy as he once did with me. In his element, all attention on him, yet still somehow...cold. Not himself. It made me feel a little better about all the attention he was getting from the master, to know that it was purely transactional. At least on August's side of things anyway.

"We have to start with Takashi." August said.

I nodded slowly, agreeing now what had been brought up, despite the turning in my stomach at the mention of his name.

"He's the one that knows the most about us, not to mention the one that seems to be keeping us in cheek. If we can get rid of him first, we could buy a little time while they regroup, and then it's time for the big guns."

"Which are?"

"Well we didn't get that far yet."

But I could tell how excited he was. To be thinking about it. To be talking about it, to have his mind wrapped around a problem again, just like he used to with jobs.

And I wanted to feel the same. I wanted to get the same rush that he had. Or even better, the same rush that I used to get when we were called to receive an assignment, when I woke up in the middle of the night to take a life under cover of darkness. When Takashi awarded me for improved scores.

But instead I felt a looming dread, the thought of Fairy Tail storming into one of the compounds, familiar faces in a familiar place that didn't belong to them. The two halves of my life finally colliding, and tearing each other apart wherever the seems met.

I knew of course, that Justice Valkyrie hadn't been a good place. But it was the only place I'd ever been until now. I didn't want to return there, not really. But I knew that I could...if I wanted to. That it was still there, the same buildings and paths that had been my childhood, every square inch of it covered in memory, even if they weren't good ones.

And it hadn't all been bad. There had been August. And Takashi. And the feeling of being better than everyone that I still sometimes forgot was misguided. The way the people walked around the compound, like they belonged there. Like they belonged to the world because of it. Because it gave them a purpose. It gave me a purpose.

And I knew it was wrong to miss it.

And it didn't change a thing.

Justice Valkyrie was cold and calculating, focused on uniformity, and the job, on winning. But winning had felt so good. To walk back into the compound and give my debrief, to see the master's half smile…

Fairy Tail was warm and chaotic and loving. But it was new, and unfamiliar. And down right confusing to me. And I knew that I was better off here in theory but...I had never had to question how I fit into the world before I'd arrived. I'd never had to face death, to accept and expect it, only for it to turn away like I wasn't even worth it's time.

"Violet?"

"Sorry," I blinked, turning away from August. "Just tired I think." it wasn't a total lie.

"Yeah okay," August said. He knew I was avoiding him. He didn't care, "You should sleep, I'll see you in the morning, maybe you could help the master and I come up with some more ideas."

The thought sent a silver up my spine, but I simply gave a noncommittal "Maybe," and headed for my room.