Let's face it, we'd all love to play 'Hide and Seek' with the Cloak!

I own absolutely nothing you recognise from Marvel.

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"Ready or not, here I come!" Everjoy called out, tilting her head and listening for the sound of giggles which tended to betray where six-year-old Alice Strange was hiding. There was no giggling this time, but there was a stripe of red visible through a door, and everyone knew that unless it was needed by its chosen sorcerer, the cloak tended to be where Alice was.

Sneaking up, Everjoy opened the door with one quick moment, causing the hidden child to squeal. "You caught me again! Can we play one more time?" The child did her best puppy-dog-eyes and the sorcerer smiled involuntarily.

"One more time, then I am taking you straight back to Wong! He had a book for you before you go home." Smiling at the very serious nod she got in return, Everjoy backtracked to count once more.

Alice was searching for a better hiding spot. She had already shooed the cloak away; she was certain it was what had given them away last time. At home, the cloak would often be the one to seek, but at Kamar-Taj she had to have a grownup with her. Because it was much bigger, that's what mum said. And everyone knew mum was always right. Even if she didn't know so much about sorcerers. She knew a lot about doctorly things instead.

Wrinkling her nose in thought, Alice disregarded the obvious options. She was making this one count, and that meant not being caught in just five minutes. Daring to go a little bit further, she ended up in a corridor.

She'd hidden there twice just last week, but she hadn't ever gone very far down it.

She wandered in the hallway somewhat aimlessly, though she knew Everjoy would soon come to seek. Going through a green door with a parchment note, which had a locking charm on it but had been left ajar, she stood in a room with red doors. She had never been there before.

Now, she knew not to go too far and it was her honest intention to hide in the room as opposed to picking a door, but as she waited she saw that amongst all the red doors there was one which didn't look like any of the rest.

Opening it somewhat hesitantly, though it was sliding open easily, she found herself in a large room with natural wood and one side fenced off with glowing golden bars. On the other side of the magical barrier sat a man, not dressed in the blue robes she was so used to but wearing green. "Hi," she said, a little concerned for him. "I'm Alice Strange. What's your name?"

He looked up hastily, as if deeply startled by her presence. "I'm Mordo," he replied, blinking but not moving from the bench he had been resting on. Narrowing his eyes in sudden realisation, he asked, "Are you Strange's daughter?"

She nodded, "I was playing Hide and Seak with Crimson - that's dad's cloak - and Everjoy but I don't think they'll find me yet in here.

The unknown man, Mordo, smiled. It was more genuine than it had been in years, though she didn't know that. "No," he agreed, chuckling slightly, "they wouldn't expect you to be in here. The artifact will find you eventually, but it might take a while." He looked behind her back, making her turn, and he gestured to the items sat on a shelf against the other wall.

"We use artifacts to contain certain magics," he explained to her, like he had told her father so many years ago. "I have some too. I got to keep them with me, though I am not allowed to touch."

"Why?!" She frowned, nose wrinkled, and he felt his heart touched for the first time in a long while when she clearly found this unjust and took his side without question. He didn't know why, but he felt compelled to explain, unconsiously taking an important step towards redemption.

"I was... naughty," he confessed, sighing and leaning against the wall. "Very much so. They were actually very nice to let me keep them at all."

She sat down, leaning on the opposite wall, the very picture of sympathy. "Have you said sorry?" She tilted her head in question.

Mordo found himself mimicking the gesture without thinking. "No... but maybe I should. I did hurt someone... but don't worry, your father helped him."

"That's good. You should say sorry. Are you on the naughty step, but for grownups?"

He hadn't laughed for many years, not since the Ancient One was alive, but now he did. "For a fashion, yes. Do you want to touch the artifacts? I think theyd like you better than anyone else they've had for company."

It was indeed the cloak that eventually found her. When it lead a thoroughly worried Everjoy and those who had joined her in the search for the suddenly missing girl to the room, Alice was sitting against the wall and telling a suprisingly at peace Mordo about an incident involving a bunny which had meant she wasn't allowed to go out to play for an entire day.

Maybe Mordo would be there to teach her after all, like Wong had once wanted.

One day.