*Violet's POV*
I was lying alone in my bunk when August came to get me.
"What's up?" I asked.
"What do you think?" he asked, "it's our turn for debrief."
"Of course it is," I stood, jamming my shaking hands into the pockets of my sweatshirt. I hoped the Master hadn't found out about my last job or else...no I refused to think about it.
"It'll be fine Violet," August assured me, "There's no reason to be afraid of him unless you've broken rules."
"I know," I hissed, "That's why I am."
"The only one who knows about that is me." August said, "And do I look like I would tell anyone?"
"No," I sighed.
"Well there you have it then." He said, "Come on. Let's go."
August led the way out of the barracks and into the large chilly courtyard. This location was about as far to the north as you could get, so it was cold even in the dead of summer as it was now. The area was dotted with seemingly random storerooms and meeting houses and the whole thing was surrounded by a chain link fence. This was my least favorite location, to cold, but this was the only kind of life I had ever known, unless you counted the four barely memorable years before I joined the guild.
"Stop that." August said.
"Stop what?" I asked.
"Looking all nervous like that," he said, "If you keep that up the Master will be on to you."
"Right." I mumbled, returning my gaze to the ground. August would probably do all the talking anyway. He always did.
August had lived in the compound longer than me, in fact it was him who had brought me to this place all those years ago. He always said that it was no wonder that I had started thinking of him as my older brother, as though it had nothing to do with his personality. And although I had never disagreed with him out right, I knew that it could have been anyone who rescued me, but it was him, and that made a difference.
We neared the entrance to the Master's office and quarters. August took a deep breath and taped on the door. I tried to calm down but the cold "come in," sounded all too quickly and there was no time left to find my composer.
August opened the door and walked a few feet in before giving a respectful bow "Good morning sir." he said. I followed his lead.
There was no way for the Master to know what I had done. This was just the same as every other monthly check in.
The Master didn't return the greeting, he only looked over us, unblinking, then he shuffled through some papers on his desk. "You had a good run this past month I see."
"Yes sir." August nodded.
"Three completed missions," he added, "Rather impressive for our youngest team."
"Thank you sir."
"How many kills was it again?"
"Four this month sir." August stated proudly. I felt my stomach twist. It should have been five. We had a rule. No witnesses, and that little girl. She had escaped. but...I took a deep breath. It didn't matter. She was probably too young to know what she saw anyway.
"And you, Violet," the master said, "What is your total number of kills now?"
"Ninety nine sir." I said.
"Ninety nine." the master seemed to savor the words, and despite the churning my stomach, I felt my chest grow warm with pride.
"Almost to one hundred," the Master said proudly, "You are growing stronger Violet."
"Thank you sir." I beamed.
"Well in that case," the master continued, "I think I have another mission for you. Once I hand picked due to you being in Takashi's program."
"What is it?" August wondered.
"This one will be more of a challenge than anything you've done before." the master said, "and the job is from a big client of ours, so there can be no mistakes."
"What is it exactly?" August asked.
The master handed him a misson file. August flipped through it and his eyes widened. "S-sir?"
"Is there something wrong?"
"No," August said, "It's just are you sure we are ready for this, it's a lot of kills not to mention…"
"Are you saying you don't trust my judgment?" the master's tone was even, but powerful and terrifying nonetheless. August and I didn't like to talk about it, but we both terrified of the master, especially in moments like these.
"No sir." August said.
"Good." the Master sneered, "This job is a big honor. When you come back, there may be a promotion awaiting you."
My heart lept, a promotion that was a big deal, and the respect that came with it... All of my fear of the master discovering my failure dispersed.
"Everything you need is in the file." the master continued. "Ask your senior officer if you have any questions. Understood."
"Yes sir."
"Alright then," the master nodded, "hop to it."
We left.
"So…" I said, once I was sure the door had closed behind us, "What is the target?"
"Don't get too excited." August said, "You choked last time remember?"
"Yeah…" I mumbled, "but I won't this time. I'm stronger than that."
August shrugged. but even though he wasn't showing it I knew he was excited for this misson too.
"How many kills?" I asked, longing to know the details.
"Five." August said grimly.
"That's not to bad," I said. We had done jobs up to nine or ten targets a piece, so why was August acting so weird about this one.
"What are they?" I asked, "Politicians?" those were always hard, everything they did was publicized, so we had to be extra stealthy with those.
"No, worse." August said.
"Worse?"
"wizards." August said.
"Like from a guild?"
"yep."
"A legal one?"
"Double yep," August nodded.
"Wow, real life wizards" I asked dreamily.
"I think you're missing the point." August said, "We'll have to kill them."
"So?"
"They have magic too Violet," August said, "They can fight back."
"We can take them," I said, "besides…we'll get to meet other wizards." I knew relating to targets was a bad idea, but I had never really met any wizards that weren't members of my own assassins' guild. Much less members of a legal one. This was going to be fun.
We arrived at our empty barracks and August sunk to the floor, spreading the mission file out in front of him. I leaned over to read it.
"There's our five targets." I said. I was feeling a little more upbeat now, not only had the meeting with the master gone well, he had entrusted us with a challenging job,
not to mention one that would involve meeting actual wizards. It was as thought the pit in my stomach had all but melted away. August and I. we had been chosen.
"And look! We're going undercover." I said.
"I guess that's why he chose us," August nodded, "because we have magic to."
I nodded. It was a skill that only a few members of our assassins guild possessed. Around the time I arrived there, a new senior officer named Takeshi had risen to power, being the Master's own son it made sense why he could do whatever he pleased, so even though many long time members didn't like it, he started teaching some of us magic.
August and I were far from masters or our crafts, but we knew enough to get us out of a bad situation. With magic picked just to supplement our hand to hand combat skills. We were the perfect hybrids for the next generation of assassins.
And now we could finally use that magic to sneak into a guild of unsuspecting wizards. It was almost too good to be true.
I turned my attention to another page of the file and read the names out loud, "Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, Gajeel Redfox, Laxus Dreyar, and Erza Scarlet." I stared at the text, making sure there had been no mistake. "This is…"
"Fairy Tail." August said grimly.
Even though I had only ever left the compound for jobs, I knew all about Fairy Tail, winners of the Grand Magic Games. They were notorious for their skill and teamwork. And we were supposed to kill five of them? My excitement died.
"August," I said, "how are we going to do this?"
August looked down grimly. "I guess we'll have to get creative." He said, "We'll be undercover, so we can just lure them away, pick them off one by one."
"Right." I nodded, regaining my confidence, "When does the job have to be done by?"
August looked at another paper, "it says we can have all the time we need."
"Really?" that kind of allowance only ever went to the big shots.
"I guess we're moving up in the world," August smirked.
"Yeah," I smiled too.
"You mind packing some of my clothes?" August asked, grabbing a supplies list from the file, "I'm going to go grab everything else."
"Already?" I asked.
"Why wait?" He asked, "Would you rather stay here and run drills?" August already knew the answer, so he left without waiting for a reply.
Third POV
A young boy lounged in an armchair in front of the master's desk. "Do you really think those two pawns can handle a job like this?" He asked.
"Not at all, Takashi," said the master with a sneer, "I expect them to fail miserably."
"But then why did you send them, Father?"
"Because in war, it is the pawns that make the first move."