Colonnelo had been chastised for the whole rest of the day. Lal had hit him, while he had just stared at Violet in obvious guilt just repeating how he hadn't known.

Fon had covered her with a towel, before placing himself directly behind her, letting her lean on to him while Reborn was still in front of her.

Even after she had calmed down again they had still fussed about her. Colonnello had constantly apologized and she even had to fight to be allowed to walk on her own. Not really pleased with all the coddling, she had grabbed her backpack, clutching on it and glaring at anyone who tried to take it away from her.

The walk home hadn't been much better and she had actually felt a strong sense of relief when she had finally made it into her bedroom that night.

Her routine the next morning had been uninterrupted and as it seemed the arcobalenos had calmed down as well, not that this spared her from Colonnello's guilt ridden gazes. She might have had a hand in it when a stray orange hit his head when he had gotten too much for her.

Lunch had been a quieter atmosphere but she still had made her way to her room afterwards with the intention of spending a bit of time with her animal companion.

She barely spent an hour petting him when she could make out a soft knock on her door and she entangled herself from Oodakos clutches, already yelling: "come in."

Fon appeared in her door frame, as often just wearing his pants and smiling at her.

"Violet? I thought it was time to finally tackle your meditation lessons."

"Oh, I almost forgot about that," she sheepishly said.

"Don't worry. Would you follow me to my room?"

She nodded and stepped forwards to his side.

"I actually thought about the matter a bit. I was thinking we start with a bit of Yoga to generally settle your thoughts and achieve a calmer mind and then we breach into meditation.`" He explained his plans while opening the door for her.

On his floor were already two thin mats.

She smiled up at him "Sounds good. I think I'm a bit hopeless at that activity… so be patient."

"When was I ever not? Would you take a seat first? I worry your hair might hinder you."

"I even have problems putting it in a bun… so not sure how we would achieve that."

"Just trust me. I'm capable." his hands guiding her to his bed.

She sat down and he positioned himself behind her.

To be honest she was ready to have him despair at her hair and a lot of tugging. Not that it happened. Instead gentle hands carefully entangling her locks, his hands patient and calm but skillfully working on it.

Violet just closed her eyes, enjoying the comfortable silence, still doubting he would succeed where she had despaired.

"I'm finished."

"Really?" she opened her eyes and wonder filled her when she looked at the neat braid Fon had helpfully laid over her shoulder "How did you even…."

"Prestidigitation"

She turned around, kneeling in front of him and looking up at him "Which demon did you sell your soul too? And would he take mine too?"

He just laughed softly "Come one. We have a lot planned."

Yoga wasn't easy. She actually almost regretted agreeing to the lesson with Fon. The storm just smiled at her struggle, constantly being at her side and gently guiding her in the positions and correcting her pose.

They didn't even really talk, just his short explanations and his recurring soft chuckles at her struggles. Violet herself was too busy trying to follow whatever he was saying to consider conversation.

"It almost seems like you're doing this on purpose." he chuckled.

Fon stepped behind her, one hand softly holding her wrist guiding it to the correct spot at her chest, his other hand carefully grabbing her thigh, lifting it a bit higher.

"Do you not need balance for your stunts?"

She blushed a little, "It's different."

"If you say so."

She could feel his laughter vibrating against her skin.

At this point Fon didn't even bother explaining or performing the positions first, instead he just folded her body however he pleased.

Meditation was actually better than her failed attempts at Yoga. Fon again helped her immensely. His voice was calm and quiet, leading her deeper in the desired state.

She actually felt like she could give Occlumency a try again, at least if Fon would help her in the future as well.

He smiled at her "I told you, you could do it."

She just grinned at him, "Teamwork makes the dream work." lifting up a hand for a high five.

Fon still amused, humored her, but instead of letting go linked their hands "Can I interest you in a cup of tea?"

"Always."

They sat down together, the water had already been prepared and with a quick charm reached the correct temperature.

The martial artist still hadn't let go of Violet's hand but she didn't really mind.

Fons presence had always been comforting and while she knew that under his polite facade slumbered one of the sharpest, dangerous and most shameless people she had ever met, she still couldn't stop herself from relaxing around him.

The storm sat his cup down "Violet, I actually wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"You uttered something at the picnic that hasn't left my mind."

"I said a few things that day,"she mused.

"But you talked about being poisoned at 12, with the world's deadliest poison to be accurate."

"Yeah, and?"

"So that was true?"

"Why would I lie about that?"

He paused for a moment and closed his eyes for a second. "You did say that wizards are more resistant against poisons, is that the reason?"

"No, it was a magical poison."

"Did your flames save you then?"

She shook her head "No, they wouldn't have been able to do anything… Basilisk poison kills in less than a minute and the only cure is phoenix tears. That's actually the scar on my arm where Verde didn't believe me that it was from a snake."

He stiffened again, closing his eyes for a second and taking a deep breath "Basilisk?"

"We had one in our school. Stuff happened and I stood in front of it at the end of my school year. I'm actually quite proud of that. I mean I killed it with a sword without prior training."

"But how did you even end up in that situation?"

"Well that's just my potterluck"

His smile was clearly strained when he lifted his cup to take a sip of tea "I don't think you will give me more details than this?"

"That's correct."

"Then tell me about your prior experience with meditation."

"You mean the clearing my mind part?"

"Yes."

"In my fifth year I had to learn Occlumency because of special circumstances and well I just wasn't able to do it. One of the requirements is clearing your head."

"Occlumency?"

"The art of closing your mind from legilimency. It means not having anyone able to read your thoughts."

"How do you even practise that?" he inquired.

"Well my teacher repeatedly attacked my mind and went through it. I just wasn't able to keep him out."

He paused again "You're…. telling me someone repeatedly went through your mind?"

"Yeah, the headaches I got from it were terrible though."

"Why… was this needed?" he pressed further, leaning closer and his gaze sharply fixated on her.

"Well… the simple answer is someone had an active connection to my mind and was able to mess with it."

"We're going to Viper."

"What? Why?"

"You didn't get checked out for damages, right? Even if the answer is yes I'm only going to calm down about this if I can be sure that you have no lasting damages. I just… Let's go, okay? Please Violet."

"I… well… okay?"

he hurriedly stood up, still holding her hand and pulling her with him, before stopping abruptly and turning towards her "Violet? Thank you for telling me about this. I'm proud of you." with that he leaned down and gave her a small kiss on her forehead "I'm really proud of you."

She actually wasn't able to stop her blushing. She really shouldn't be that weak to his praise.

The two of them made their way into the living room. The storm didn't even waste a second, immediately addressing the miser. "Viper, I need you to examine Violet's mind. She had a connection with someone that messed with her mind and a teacher that broke into it repeatedly."

Viper immediately stood up, abandoning the money they had been counting

"For how long?"

Violet did offer an answer, even when she saw no point in blowing it out of proportions"The teacher was just a few weeks. The other one… around three years?"

Several heads shot up and Viper stepped directly in front of violet.

"I'm gonna be quick."

Violet didn't even notice it when Viper apparently slipped into her mind, the only telltale sign was Vipers still body. They froze for a second before their partly visible face was pulled into a quite different emotion.

"Who did that?" Viper in their rage almost hissed it out.

Violet stumbled back, surprised by the explosive emotions from the normally calm miser "What?"

"Who the fuck was that? There isn't even a normal barrier left! No wonder anyone could trick you into illusions! Do you even have any clue what that affects? Who was that?"

The rest of the arcobaleno abruptly stood up, Reborn already fingering his gun.

"Calm down." Violet tried to placate the angry miser.

"No! Who was that?"

"They are dead. Just calm down please."

"How can you be sure?"

Violet actually got overwhelmed at the cornering, the last few days had been way too much "I saw my teacher being murdered in front of me. He's dead, okay? I was with him in his last moments." she almost spat out, emotion and memories flashing up uncontrollably.

"The other one?"

"He's dead. leave it alone!"

"Violet. I swear to god!"

"I killed him when I was 17! He's bloody dead, okay? I murdered him!"

The tension in the room just reached new heights.

Reborn's voice was firm but as collected as he could manage "You killed someone before entering the mafia?"

"Bloody hell! It wasn't even the first time. Bugger off!" Violet shouted, overwhelmed and emotions just crashing down on her.

She couldn't take it. It was too much. She didn't want to think about any of this. Not now and not ever. Actually all she could think about was how to get away from everything and therefore her first reflex was to sprint to the door, ripping it open and making her way into the garden.

Her eyes flickered around, almost panicked from the influx of emotion. She wanted to get away. Why was she even here?

Everything in her screamed but still her feet weren't moving anymore. Just painfully staring at the line that seperated their property from the outside world. She couldn't go. She didn't even understand why. But she just couldn't leave.

Her head was spinning more than before and even though she didn't really understand why she hurried to the next tree. She just kept on climbing until the branches started to crack under her weight. She still clawed her fingers into the bark. Just holding on and trying to get rid of all the incoming memories.

She didn't even know how long she had been in this position, her arms hurt but she still didn't move. She didn't even think she could if she wanted to. It was stupid but just staying like this let the world calm down. The pain was barely noticeable but constantly reminding her where she was. As her mind cleared up she could make out how dark it had gotten, still she didn't move.

"Violet."

She didn't look down, even though she recognized his voice.

"Can you hear me?"

She stayed quiet, her forehead still pressed against the bark, listening to the quiet noise of the branch struggling under her, ripping slightly.

"We tried several times so far but you didn't react."

The bark was riddled with deep lines, the sharper part, almost punctured her forehead.

"Could you please come down?"

Her fingers felt numb, she wasn't even sure she could move them anymore. Who knows maybe she would be stranded here until the tree finally gave up under her weight.

"We know we shouldn't come too close right now but… please come down. it's getting late."

She didn't know why she didn't answer.

"Please Violet."

Maybe speaking would destroy everything again, the spell would break and everything would crush her down even more.

"I'm waiting here, okay?"

Maybe her voice would come back if she moved. She didn't want to try out.

"Violet, please consider coming down."

The branch snapped, she could barely move her arms and shield her face from the passing branches or even readying herself for the impact of the ground.

She didn't have too though, instead falling into strong arms.

Dark eyes staring intently at her, barely visible in the dark but still cutting in their intensity.

"You have to be more careful…"

And suddenly the world was spinning again, her mouth forming words without her own input "Why? You're going to catch me anyway."

Reborn just strengthened his grip on her, pressing her closer to his body while he walked the few meters to their house.