A/N: Happy Friday the 13th! I had some time, so you guys get the chapter early this week (yay!)! Cassie's powers are very much inspired by a certain character from Brandon Sanderson's Reckoners trilogy (even mentioning their name is a spoiler), so I encourage you to read those if you want to see even more reality-warping shenanigans.

Review Responses:

Diana Raven, surprise! It's early! Thanks for the review!

karma88, Mordred likes living in the lap of luxury, lol. And he certainly has more faces than the one he prefers to show people, as does Cassie! Thanks for the review, and hope you enjoy this chapter!

pokelover01, I'm really glad you enjoyed that last chapter (although I have my fingers crossed that you'll hopefully enjoy this one too). Vayne is like a rubber band, he bounces back really quickly (my sister and I comment on Vayne's resilience a lot when we're plotting chapters). Really glad you enjoyed the Reiame moment! There's not much I can say without spoiling this chapter, so I invite you to keep reading!

skullcandyklive, thanks again for your review, and no worries about skipping a few chapters! Like with the review above you, I can't say much in reply that won't spoil this chapter or the remaining thirteen chapters ahead of us (we're getting deep into the part of the fic where every chapter has plot significance), but I'm really glad to know that you enjoyed the chapter and that you like my writing. Cassie has mild reality warping powers (I say mild, but they're still pretty damn awesome). She can pull out illusions and shadows from neighboring realities for a short amount of time, or her meister can temporarily overwrite reality using their imagination (as Morgan does when wielding her). Enjoy the chapter!

Arcane Student, thanks so much for the review! I'm really glad you're enjoying this story, and hope that you enjoy the coming chapter!

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Luck Be a Lady Pt. 1; Infiltration

Rei peered at his reflection in the mirror, frowning as he prodded at the side of his face, tugged at his hair, inspected the set of his jaw.

No matter which way he looked at it, he looked entirely too much like his dad. But there wasn't really that much he could do about it. He ran a hand through his hair, giving himself one last scowl, then stepped out of the bathroom and into the motel room that he and the others had rented.

The plan to infiltrate The Round Table, Mordred's establishment, had been cobbled together at the last minute, broke just about every single school rule short of the ones punishable by outright execution, and didn't exactly respect the laws of physics or the sanctity of the space-time continuum either, but so far so good. After learning the name of the casino from Cassie, it had barely taken Clark an hour to find out that while it had been suspiciously 'closed for renovations' over the past month or so, Mordred was hosting a grand re-opening party that weekend, and from there it had been like any other mission. Step one: slip away from the DWMA without being caught. Step two: Find a way into Mordred's party. Step three: Find information about where Fata Morgana, the Morrigan's flying castle, would be.

The first step had been the simplest, even if it seemed to Rei that it was the most nerve-wracking. Mordred's party was on a Saturday, so the only thing they had to do was slip away from Death City Friday night, and hope that no one noticed. The nice thing about being an E.A.T. student at the DWMA was that they had access to skills and resources that most normal fourteen-year-olds didn't.

Or to put it another way, who knew Clark could drive a pick-up truck?

They had had to make sure that they had all of their gear with them when they left, because there wouldn't be enough time to slip back into Death City and pick up anything they forgot. So the two days leading up to their departure had been a frantic mess of making sure that everyone knew which things were in which bags, and that everything was packed and ready to go. They didn't have to pack much—since their disguises didn't actually take on a physical form—but what they did have to pack was absolutely essential.

He was fairly certain that his mother knew what they were up to, had caught on to the fact that he refused to look her in the eye during class on Friday afternoon, and had been half-convinced that she was going to stop them on the road, but if Maka knew what they were doing, she hadn't interfered.

So they were here, with all of their gear. Step one: check.

Step two was a little trickier.

Cassie had explained her powers to them in fits and starts over the past couple of days, particularly the parts of her power that involved alternate realities. Apparently, as the Grimoire of Reality, her powers came in two parts. She could make whatever was written into her pages real for a time, and she could refer back through her pages and draw out things that were already real, that existed in alternate realities.

The first part was something she needed a meister for, but the second part was something that, with some limitations, she could do on her own.

"There are realities where the four of you were each born a little earlier," she had said, explaining the details of her plan to them. "I can tap into each of those realities, turning you into older versions of yourself. It's more of an illusion than anything, and it won't last long, but I think I can hold it for three, maybe four hours."

She'd lasted about three and a half hours during trial runs, so Rei, ever cautious, had planned for two and a half, not counting the thirty minutes it would take them to get in place. There were also apparently situations in each of those realities where the four of them had had to dress up in formal wear, so appropriate clothing wasn't a problem. He tugged at the lapels of his borrowed tuxedo as he stepped into the room, wondering what exactly his older self had been up to when his appearance had been rudely borrowed and superimposed onto this one, but Cassie had said that it was probably better not to ask.

He shut the door behind him, looking at the others, who were arrayed around the room waiting for him. Clark, Vayne, and Ayame had each been transformed as well, taking on the appearance of their older selves. Clark had filled out somewhat, and Vayne had changed his hairstyle, but in many ways, they still looked very much like themselves, enough so that Rei found himself worrying whether or not Mordred would recognize them. But blond hair and brown hair were common enough features to come by, and the two of them did look somewhat different now, so they had decided to call it a calculated risk. Not so for Ayame, whose blue hair and violet eyes would stand out in any crowd, but after some deliberation, Cassie had managed to find a reality where Ayame had inherited Tsubaki's rich, black hair.

She looked odd with dark hair, like herself but not, and Rei found it difficult to look at this older version of her and reconcile it with Ayame. But if he had trouble doing that, so would Mordred.

Besides, if all went well, the two of them wouldn't need to keep up this charade for long.

"Alright," he said, trying to sound like a leader. "Let's go over the plan one last time. IDs?"

"Got 'em," said Vayne from where he was seated backwards on the motel's desk chair, his arms folded across the chair's back. He held up drivers' licenses with their borrowed names and identities on them. "Still, not sure I want to know how Jonas knows how to make fakes like this. Or why."

"Probably best not to ask," said Rei. "Invitations?"

"Here too," said Vayne, grinning. "One for Clark, one for you, and one for Ayame."

Cassie could draw an illusion of anything that actually existed from a reality near their own, but even she had had trouble finding one where they had names that were different enough from their real ones to not make Mordred suspicious, or a reality where they had actually been invited to Mordred's party. After some careful thinking, she had managed to lift one of the invitations from a guest that had been invited to Mordred's party in another universe, one that Rei hoped was similar enough to their own that the invitation wouldn't have a recognizably different design. From there, it had been up to Clark to use his connections to find a way to copy the needed documents.

Chalk another up to DWMA skills and resources.

"Earpieces?" Rei asked.

"Gotcha covered," said Ayame, scooping a cloth bag up from the bed and tossing it underhand to Rei. The earpieces had been his and Ayame's contribution to the venture, swiped from right under the nose of the DWMA Intelligence Agency. If the theft had already been discovered, Sid was probably regretting giving them special training right about now.

He slid one of the earpieces out of the bag and passed it around to the others, slipping the device into his ear and turning it on. It crackled to life, and they took a moment to test them. Once they were sure that the earpieces were secure, Rei looked around at the others.

"Everyone know your jobs?" he asked.

They nodded.

"Let's go over them one more time to be sure. Clark?"

Clark smiled, striking a pose from where he stood next to the doorway, dressed in a tailored suit. "I drink, gamble and cavort with the best of them, and all the while make sure that you and Ayame know when our friend Mordred decides to leave the party."

"No actual drinking," Rei pointed out. "You're not actually twenty-one. And we're working."

"I know, I know," said Clark, giving him a reassuring smile. "Just a figure of speech."

He wasn't convinced, but there was no time to worry about that now. "Vayne?" he asked instead.

"Bartending duty," said Vayne, tugging at the bartender's outfit that he was wearing. Cassie had managed to find a reality where that was Vayne's job, and Vayne had spent the two days leading up to the mission learning more than any teenager needed to know about mixed drinks. "I do the same thing as Clark—keep an eye on the mark and let you guys know if there's any trouble."

"Great," said Rei. "Cassie?"

"Mission control," said Cassie, her eyes glassy from the effort of keeping all of these separate realities contained. "I find a nice quiet spot on the rooftop across the street and basically concentrate really hard for the next three hours, all while watching our escape route."

"Sounds good," said Rei, nodding. "Ayame?"

"You and I are on Team Super-Special-Awesome-Ninja-Warriors," Ayame said, flashing him a brilliant grin. "Or to use your lame name for it, Team Shadow. We get in the building with the others, play around for a bit, then slip away as soon as we get the chance, Cassie drops the disguises to give her more time with Clark and Vayne, and we canvas the place for information. When we're done, we head right back out to the floor, Cassie does her thing again, and we all slip out one at a time and disappear into the night."

Rei nodded at her. "And that's pretty much all there is to it," he said.

"Oh, is that all?" asked Vayne, grinning. "Doesn't sound too hard. I mean, we're only breaking the laws of reality and trying to pull one over a thousand-year-old sorcerer, right?"

"Shut it before I lose my nerve," said Rei, shooting him a glare before looking up at the others. "Let's get going."

"Oh, wow, that's very interesting. What did you say your name was again?"

Clark gave the woman in the blue dress his most charming smile, letting her rest a little on his arm as she took another sip from her glass of champagne. Inwardly, however, he found himself feeling a little lost. The same 'techniques' that had gotten him turned down by every girl at the DWMA not too long ago seemed to be working like a charm here, but he couldn't really tell whether that was a result of the crowd being different, or if it was because he looked older, or if it was that the reality that Cassie was drawing from was one in which he was loaded. It wasn't like he really cared—the money he spent here would disappear with the rest of it when Cassie stopped concentrating, and he wasn't actually interested in anyone here, but he couldn't help but feel a little…disappointed? Dejected?

Well, whatever it was, it wasn't really important now.

"Kent," he said. "Kent Smith."

Over their shared channel, he heard Vayne stifle a laugh. Clark resisted the urge to look up and glare at him, keeping his smile fixed firmly on his face.

Twenty minutes into the mission, and so far, things were going remarkably smoothly. The four of them had all entered the building separately, except for Rei and Ayame, who had arrived as a couple. Vayne had set up shop at the bar, and Clark was currently wandering around, socializing and trying to keep Mordred visible out of the corner of his eye.

The sorcerer was present, and, aside from one nerve-wracking moment where he had looked right at Clark with narrowed eyes as if he was trying to remember something, didn't appear to have recognized them. At the moment, Mordred was moving smoothly from group to group, talking to guests, while Clark and Vayne tried to keep him in sight and Rei and Ayame looked for an opportunity to slip away.

At least, that had been the plan. But when Clark tried to glance in Rei and Ayame's direction to see how things were going, he couldn't help but notice that Ayame had collected a group of admirers all of her own. It wasn't entirely unexpected. Even with her dark hair and surrounded by all of these socialites, Ayame was still the most eye-catching girl in the room. Rei waited a few feet behind her, looking annoyed at this development, but Ayame's newfound popularity had afforded him some freedom of movement.

Nobody seemed to particularly care who he was. And since nobody was looking at him, he had some ability to sneak around.

The girl he was talking to tripped as they walked, nearly spilling her champagne, and Clark helped her back up to her feet, taking the opportunity to hand her off to a concerned waiter and slipping back into the crowd, all while keeping up his 'charming' façade. His earpiece crackled to life as Vayne spoke.

"You suck at coming up with aliases, man."

Clark rolled his eyes, accepting a glass of something from a passing waiter and feigning taking a sip. Remembering Rei's warning, he didn't actually drink, but dumped about half of it into a nearby plant. He looked around the room again, fighting off a sudden wave of concern.

So far so good, but if Rei and Ayame couldn't find a way to slip away from the party soon, they were going to run out of time.

Early on, they had identified several 'Employees Only' areas, any one of which could lead to Mordred's office. Vayne, who was for the moment an employee, had managed to rule out those that led only to kitchens or other prep areas, which left one stairwell that led to the upper floors.

It was also guarded by two of the meanest, most gorilla-like men that Clark had ever seen, because of course it was.

He was just running through what he could do to distract the guards without compromising their position or getting thrown out of the party, when he heard Vayne take in a sharp breath from his end of the line. Forgetting himself, Clark looked up quickly, turning his head in the direction of the bar.

Mordred was gliding smoothly over to Vayne, a frown on his face as if he had just realized something. Clark felt his heart leap into his throat. Vayne stood there, watching Mordred approach with a half-cleaned glass in his hand, looking like a deer in the headlights.

"You," Mordred said, audible over the frequency that he and Vayne had been using. Clark tensed, calculating the distance between them, trying to figure out how fast he would need to run to make it to Vayne on time. Just as he was sinking down, ready to make a break for it, Mordred went on. "You're not my usual bartender. Where is Jack?"

Clark's knees sagged with relief. He sank back against the wall, letting out a sigh, and waved off the concerned look that a couple shot him as they passed by just out of the corner of his vision.

"Little too much to drink," he said with a smile, waving his glass. As they wandered off, he settled in to listen to the conversation, doing his best not to actually look in Vayne's direction.

"Oh—um—," Vayne froze, then seemed to recover quickly. "I'm filling in. Jack's sick—really sick. Between you and me, uh, you know the buffet next door? Well…" He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "He had the sushi."

There was a pause that seemed to stretch on for hours. Clark waited with bated breath, swirling his drink around in his glass and trying to look like he belonged there, while at the same time keeping an ear out for any sign of trouble. But when Mordred next spoke, he sounded…surprisingly concerned.

"I've told him time and time again not to trust that place," Mordred said. "Awful management. Well, regardless, thank you for filling in. What did you say your name was?"

"Uh—Wayne," said Vayne quickly.

This time, it was Clark's turn to repress a snicker.

"I see. Well, keep up the good work," Mordred said, about to turn away. He paused, just as Clark was starting to relax. "By the way…Wayne. Have I seen you before?"

Clark tensed again.

"Uh—nope, can't say that you have," said Vayne, almost a little too quickly. "First time working here. I'm—uh—new in town, you know."

"Hmm…" said Mordred, and Clark could practically hear the thoughtful frown in his voice. "…Yes, I suppose. Well, thank you again."

This time, he did leave, disappearing back into the crowd. The relief was a visceral thing, and Clark sagged back against the wall, taking it in for a few long moments. When he felt like he could speak, he pressed his hand to his ear, making sure that Mordred wasn't looking, and turned away from the crowd.

"Wayne?" he asked, lowering his voice.

"Shut it, Kent," said Vayne in reply.

"Whatever you say, Batman."

He turned, about to slip back into the crowd, when something else caught his eye. A commotion by the front doors, where a man in his fifties was presently trying to gain entry into the casino, brandishing an invitation.

A man in his fifties…who also happened to be Spirit Albarn.

"Crap," Clark muttered under his breath. "Crap, crap, crap."

A pair of young women nearby looked up sharply from their conversation, giving him quizzical looks. Clark quickly gave them a nervous smile in reply, holding up his half-empty glass of champagne. "Spilled some on myself," he said, taking a step back. "Let me just—uh, which way was the restroom again?"

He handed off his glass to a perplexed looking waiter, disappearing into the men's room and quickly hiding himself in one of the stalls. He pressed his hand to his ear again, activating his microphone. "Code Red," he told the others. "Guys, Code Red."

There was a pause, during which he heard some shuffling around, particularly from Vayne who hadn't apparently turned his microphone off.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Rei asked, sounding annoyed.

"It means," Clark said, "that your grandfather and probably everyone else from the DWMA is about to burst in here and blow our whole plan into tiny little pieces."

Another pause. Clark thought the shuffling around sounded a little more frantic this time.

"Cassie?" Rei asked.

"I see him," Cassie confirmed, sounding strained. "He's outside. They're not letting him in."

"Okay, okay, I see him," said Vayne. "Everyone relax. This could be a good thing. Mordred's heading over there himself—oh, hey! I think those goons are moving away from the door!"

"We're not ready—," Rei began.

"Who cares if you're not ready?" Clark asked, feeling a touch of panic. "You're going to have to go now. You think your grandfather isn't going to notice you just because you look a little older?"

Silence from Rei's end. Clark waited for several very long seconds, during which he heard someone else step into the bathroom and start moving around.

When Rei's microphone came back on, it sounded a lot quieter wherever he was. "Alright," he said, his voice soft. "We're gone."

The stairwell was empty. Rather than bother with running up the stairs, Rei made use of the Cloak of Shadows, using Ayame's abilities to hoist himself to the very top of the stairs. Cassie had thrown off the illusion surrounding them the moment they slipped out of sight, and now the two of them had taken on their normal appearances again, with Rei dressed in a black shirt and fatigues that were easier to move around in than the suit he had been wearing earlier, and Ayame back to her usual, blue-haired self.

There were some advantages to having someone on your team who could see into alternate realities. Cassie had warned them that she had been able to glimpse realities where they had tried this mission and failed, mostly because they had triggered some of the warning spells that Mordred had placed around the stairwell. She hadn't been able to grasp all of the permutations, and as a result, hadn't been able to pinpoint all of the traps, but Rei had gotten around the obvious ones and was counting on his Soul Perception and the stealthiness that the Cloak of Shadows gave him to handle the rest.

Now, clinging to the ceiling near the darkest corner of the stairwell, stopped from falling only by the tines of the Cloak of Shadows, Rei tried to breathe, tried to slow his heart rate enough to concentrate and bring up the waves of awareness that his Soul Perception cast around him. The thing about magic was that it was just another product of one's soul wavelength, so if he searched hard enough—

—there. He could just barely make out the twists and turns of the net of magic that Mordred had placed around this stairwell, meant to catch any intruders like him. Even as he thought about it, he knew that he wasn't catching everything, that Mordred must have had some way to counter Soul Perception, but between what he could see and what Cassie had warned him about, there was a chance that he could accomplish this and get away.

It was a small, ridiculously thin chance, but it would have to be enough.

"In and out…" he muttered to himself, trying to stifle his fear. "Quiet as a shadow…"

"Be careful," Cassie warned him, his voice loud in her ear when compared to the silence of the stairwell. "Your grandfather can't have been the only one here from the DWMA. It's too obvious…they knew Mordred would recognize him immediately. There has to be someone else."

Rei nodded, heart-pounding. He had been expecting that, had been thinking it since the moment that Spirit Albarn showed up at the door, drawing everyone's attention. A part of him wondered why he had never planned for this, why he hadn't thought that the DWMA's professionals wouldn't be observant enough to notice the opportunity that he, a student, had picked up on.

But there would be time to scold himself later. For now, he had to get this done, or they would lose their one chance of finding Morgan first.

Nothing left to do but go for it. He gestured with one hand to catch Ayame's attention, then performed a set of complicated maneuvers with the Cloak of Shadows, slipping through and around Mordred's defenses and making for the set of doors at the top of the stairs.

The incident with Spirit was handled in only a few minutes.

Vayne watched from the bar, trying not to look too nervous, as Mordred made his way smoothly to the front door, his security guards trailing along behind him. He tried not to look at Rei and Ayame as they slipped away from the crowd, but couldn't help but risk a glance as they slipped through the doors, disappearing from sight. From the front door, Mordred exchanged a few quiet words, his expression never changing, and his security team closed ranks around him, dragging a protesting Spirit back out into the street. His heart pounded, and he drummed his fingers on the bar, wondering if Spirit was okay, but there wasn't much time to worry about that.

He had bigger problems. Mordred was coming his way.

Vayne cleared his throat, hoping against hope that his nervousness didn't show on his face. Mordred came to a stop in front of him, giving him that look again, as if he was trying to figure out where he had seen Vayne before. Vayne tried not to look too guilty as he handed a drink off to one of the patrons, wiping down the bar for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Everything alright, boss?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

Mordred blinked, and then his expression changed, growing slightly exasperated as he flicked his eyes toward the door. "Just the usual rabble," he said. "If you see that man again, don't let him in, regardless of what identification he shows you. He's a known cheater."

Yeah, I'll bet he is…Vayne thought, but all he said was. "If I see him, you'll be the first to know."

"Good man," said Mordred, fishing a folded up bill from his pocket and sliding it across the countertop towards Vayne. "For your trouble."

"Uh—thanks," said Vayne, picking up the bill.

"I'll be in my office if you need me," said Mordred, turning around and eyeing the crowd. Vayne thought he saw a hint of disdain in Mordred's expression before he walked off, with one last word reminding Vayne to 'see to their needs'. Vayne nodded dumbly, watching as Mordred walked away. He glanced down at the bill in his hand, his eyes growing round.

They quickly widened for a different reason as realization struck him, and he looked up at Mordred's retreating back with horror. Where was it that Mordred had said he would be? His office?

Vayne quickly turned away from the crowd, faking a coughing fit so that he could speak into his microphone.

"Uh—Rei?" he asked. "Ayame? Where exactly are you guys right now?"

Mordred's office was an unmarked door at the end of a long hallway, on the outside not looking much different from all of the other doors along the hallway. Rei, with Ayame's guidance and using his Soul Perception to avoid any of the magical traps, managed to pick the lock, slipping in through the front door in the last second before a guard moved across the entrance of the hallway. He stood with his back to the closed door, breathing hard, his heart pounding.

The office wasn't large, which was almost a surprise to Rei, who assumed that Mordred would prefer a wide, open space. Shelves lined the walls, packed from floor to ceiling with books, and the dark carpet, coupled with a desk of polished, dark wood, gave the whole office a close, almost stuffy feel. There were none of the trappings of modern technology here, aside from a light switch that Rei ignored in favor of using his Soul Perception. The curtains had been drawn over the room's single high window, blocking out almost all light.

Magic crackled everywhere, and he had to cross the room in a zigzagging pattern to avoid tripping over any of the magic circles that lay there. When he finally made it to Mordred's desk, he raised his hand to his ear, activating his microphone.

"I need information, Cassie," he said.

"Safe," Cassie said. "Under the desk. In most of the realities where you nearly succeeded, you found the safe."

Rei wasn't sure he liked the sound of 'nearly succeeded', but he nodded, crouching down in front of the desk and feeling around with his fingers. One of the wooden panels beneath the desk drawer on the right side seemed to be loose, and he gripped one of the Cloak's kunai by the handle, using the blade's pointed tip to carefully pry the panel free. He worked quickly, aware not only of enemies all around them and the time ticking away but of the possibility of DWMA agents bursting in at this very moment and finding him crouching there, red-faced.

Every sound from outside made his heart jump, and it was a miracle to Rei that he managed to pry the panel free, leaning it against the desk with surprisingly steady hands and studying the safe in front of him.

The safe was surprisingly utilitarian, a block of black metal with an unadorned surface and a keypad that waited for the input of a four-digit passcode.

A passcode that Rei didn't know, that he had no idea how to even begin guessing. If they had had the opportunity, they would have tried something beforehand, but Cassie's powers came with two significant limitations—she could only see into realities that were sufficiently close enough to their own, and could only see things as they were happening, not what would happen in the future. In a handful of realities, he and his team had embarked on their mission a little bit earlier than they did now, and he had drawn what he could from that, but according to Cassie, 'most of the time' the mission happened on this date. During this party.

He muttered a curse under his breath.

"I guess there's no chance it's his birthday?" Ayame asked from inside her soul space. Rei didn't answer, staring at the safe.

"Cass," he whispered instead. "What am I doing, in those other realities you're watching?"

"Trying random numbers," Cassie said from over the other end of the line.

"And how's that working out for me?"

"Not well."

Rei scowled, staring down at the safe. He tried to breathe, tried to control the pounding of his heart, but he still felt as though someone was about to burst into the office at any minute and find them there.

"Any where I'm close?" Rei asked.

"A few…" said Cassie.

"Any where I survive?"

Cassie was silent for a long moment before she replied, "Hopefully this one."

He narrowed the focus of his Soul Perception to the safe, trying not to panic. The thing was loaded with magic, from alarm spells to defensive measures to spells that Rei couldn't even begin to recognize. He had no doubt that if he put in the wrong combination, all of Mordred's goons would be on him in an instant. But he had no idea what the right combination would be, or what he could do next.

Hope that in some freakishly lucky alternate reality, he had stumbled upon the right combination on the first try? That seemed entirely too risky for Rei, and besides, a reality that far removed from his own might not even be something that Cassie would see. But he had to do something, and fast, or they were going to run out of time.

And then, as if things couldn't possibly get worse, Vayne's voice crackled over the line, sounding nervous.

"Uh—Rei? Ayame? Where exactly are you guys right now?"

Rei frowned, but raised his hand up to his ear, activating his microphone. "Mordred's office," he said. "Why?"

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of," said Vayne. "You have incoming."

Rei shot a startled glance up towards the door. If Mordred was coming in, there was no way that Rei would be able to hide from him. To begin with, there was nowhere to hide. From what he could sense, the window was closed and locked behind him, and there was only one exit out of the room, the door that he had just come through. The door that opened up onto a long hallway that led straight to the stairs. The stairs that Mordred was probably climbing at this very moment.

He was screwed. Screwed, screwed, screwed. He could use the Cloak of Shadows to cling to a dark corner of the roof and hope that Mordred never turned the lights on, but…

"Alright," Ayame said in her soul space, sounding as if she had just made a decision. "Guess we've got no choice."

Before Rei could ask her what she meant, she transformed in a flash of light, landing soundlessly on the ground next to him. He could see her in the dark, from the faint light that came from the hallway outside, could feel her in the second sight of his Soul Perception as she straightened up, her eyes on the door.

"Ayame," Rei began, "What—?"

Ayame silenced him with a hand, her other on her earpiece. "Cass," Rei heard her ask. "Is there a reality where I look a little…different? Still me, but different looking? Not the same one that we used to get in—I'm going to need that to get out."

"There's one where you're a boy," Cassie said in reply.

"That'll do," said Ayame, with a grin. "Always wanted to know what I'd look like as a dude." She turned towards Rei. "I'll draw him off."

Rei blinked at her, surprised. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"It's the only way," said Ayame. "I'll do what I do best—catching people's attention—and you do what you do best—pulling off a miracle with the safe and getting the hell out of here without being seen. We'll meet back up on the floor."

"Ayame—," Rei began.

"I know," Ayame said, cutting him off. "I know you don't like it, but we don't have time to argue. We need to get moving."

Rei opened his mouth to protest, but he had nothing to say. She was right. They didn't have time to argue.

That didn't mean he had to like it.

"Be careful," he said instead.

"I'm always careful," said Ayame, turning towards the door. He saw her crouch down, as if getting ready to make a break for it, then she paused, almost hesitant. Her eyes flicked from the door to Rei and back again, as if she was having an argument with herself.

"Ayame?" Rei began, wondering if she was having second thoughts now, of all times. "What—?"

Ayame surprised him.

Before he could get the words out, she moved, but not towards the door. She surged towards him, grabbing him by the shoulder and pressing her lips quickly to his.

Time stopped. His world narrowed to a point, his eyes widening in shock as his heart tried to break its way free of his chest. The kiss lasted hours or less than a second, Rei couldn't tell which, but either way it felt entirely too short as Ayame danced away from him, a slightly embarrassed grin on her face.

"For luck," she told him, giving him a wink before dashing out the door.

Rei stood there for a few long moments, feeling as though the inside of his mind had been turned to static. His senses were still full of the scent and warmth and feel of her. His lips tingled where they had touched hers, his mind still struggled to process what had just happened.

"…Uh, Rei?" Cassie asked, sounding concerned.

Shouts sounded from outside, coming from the hallway. Someone laughed in a voice that was both Ayame's and not Ayame's, and he heard the sounds of fighting. The noise and Cassie's voice jolted him back into reality, reminding him of where he was and what he was supposed to do.

The safe.

He was supposed to find a way into the safe.

"Alright, Cass," he said, shaking his head and trying to dispel the sensations, trying to quiet the roaring of his heart. He crouched down in front of the safe, one hand on his earpiece. "We need to figure this out. Talk to me."