Old Names and New Faces

by OrigamiArrows

After magic is discovered in Alice's world of science and war, things go terribly wrong when someone uses it. She is separated from her younger brother and needs to find him quickly before their time runs out. But when she goes to the one woman that can help her, Alice finds she'll have to deal with the last thing she wanted; traveling companions.

15. Chapter 15

AN: This took way too long to write, so sorry about that. I'd had this chapter mostly written for a long time, but didn't really like how it turned out. But, my awesome beta reader pulled me out of my indecision and helped me fix the chapter up. Hope you guys like the results!

The day before we left:

"Nothing?" Adrian asked, his tone frigid.

The team of scientists standing before him flinched. I wasn't sure what they expected. Adrian had given them a task, and they hadn't delivered. They were charged with identifying the feather, but it was still an anomaly.

The woman heading the team straightened and consulted her screen. "It is, by appearance, a feather. Of course, it has enormous energy outputs, including a small amount of visible light and low level ultra-violet and infrared rays. But we can't find anything else. There are no results explaining its ability to float. It must be giving off more energy than just photons, but it's not electricity, magnetism, or radiation."

Adrian stared at the images of the feather of his screens, fingers drumming against his desk. "How many times have you run the tests?"

"Three times each."

He pushed off from the desk. "Replace all of your machinery and personnel, then run them again. Now."

The scientists scuttled out of the room. When the door shut behind them, Adrian turned to me. "How have they been behaving?"

I was on security, and one of the few with high enough clearance to be in the lab with the feather. Adrian had tasked me with watching the scientists for strange behavior. He knew I that could spot something obviously suspicious. No doubt he had other people watching them as well.

"From what I can tell, the tests are thorough and careful. The scientists seem frustrated at the lack of results, but have remained professional." I hadn't known most of the procedures, of course, but I'd know a guilty look, or the slip of a hand pocketing classified results. Adrian had chosen his team well, and I'd seen nothing but an efficient analysis.

Adrian nodded, and sat back down at his desk. He fingers flew over the screen as his eyes flickered over various graphs and write ups from the lab team. After a few minutes he signed something, scanned his fingerprint onto it, and sent it off.

The lack of progress frustrated me too. The longer the lab team took to identify the feather, the longer I had to stay here. It left me with a lot of time staring at walls and thinking. There was a question I'd wanted to ask Adrian for six years. And until now, I'd buried it. There wasn't a real point in asking it; the answer wouldn't change the past. But I'd behaved perfectly for the past year. So even though this wasn't the best time, I felt confident Adrian would entertain the question, if only to take a break from researching this feather.

"Adrian," I said, assuming a blank expression, "may I ask a question?"

Adrian glanced up from his screen and sighed. "Don't be evasive, Alice. It's childish."

"Why did you select me for the Alice project?" I didn't resent that I'd been chosen. When I was younger, angrier, I did. But now I knew there was no point in wishing someone else had been unlucky. There was no changing it. But I wanted to know what circumstances set me apart from the other candidates Adrian must have examined.

Adrian hesitated, then shut off his screen and leaned back in his chair. I took the seat across from him.

"There was a list, of course, of the children who had the characteristics I wanted."

"What characteristics?"

Adrian looked at the ceiling. "The list had children between the ages of eight and eleven, with high grades in a Class A school. They had two or fewer distant relatives and a small family unit that lived outside of the city boundaries. They had good DNA, with a genetic predisposition for strength, and no history of family illness. Children who took part in combat based extracurricular activities were higher on the list."

A distant memory of my last year of school came floating back to me. I'd signed up for the school's sharpshooters club. Myself and a handful of other students had stayed after school for an hour or two to practice shooting targets with BB guns. I think my gun had my name painted on the side in blue. Our parents or a staff member would teach and supervise, sometimes it was my mother. There had been a few competitions against other schools.

I must have won a few of them, because I remembered my mother scooping me up with a smile as I showed her my gleaming medal. It was a silver star with a red ribbon falling from it, marking it as top tier. Dad had pinned it to my school uniform the next morning, next to a few others, ruffling my hair.

Shaking off the memory, I met Adrian's eyes. "Their families were loyal to you as well, weren't they?"

Adrian smirked. "Of course. But it would be easier to count those disloyal to me than those who were loyal."

"Even with all that," I said, frowning, "you'd still have a long list. Why me?"

"Luck. Once I had my list, and the results narrowed down with a few other parameters, selections were made randomly."

"Luck?" I asked, incredulity tinting my voice. I corrected it when Adrian gave me a look. "All right, by chance then. But you said selections . . ."

"Of course," Adrian said, opening his screen again. "Every project had prototypes. You were the first success." He glanced up at me, a slight smile on his lips.

My empty expression threatened to crack. It should have been obvious—there were always prototypes for new tech, and Adrian had a System of his own. He wouldn't have gotten it unless he'd known it was safe. I guess at some point, I'd confused the childish assumption that I was the only one with fact. But the idea I'd had predecessors, for however short an amount of time, stunned me.

They were doubtless dead now. If their System implants had been unsuccessful, it would have been disastrous, leaving them brain-dead or disabled. Adrian would have gleaned any information he could from the trials and terminated them. So it was luck, that I was Alice. I thought to ask how many, but realized I didn't want to know.

Adrian must have seen some of what I'd thought on my face, despite my efforts. Or maybe he just knew me well enough to guess. Whichever it was, he smirked and returned his attention to his screen. "I've cleared the feather for more advanced tests. Go back to the lab and resume your watch. You'll have a break in four hours."

I rose, glad to leave the room.

When I reached the lab entrance after a series of locked doors, I had to flash my clearance badge for the fourth and final time. Aashi stood guard. "Alice, reporting."

She looked me over with dark eyes, just glancing at my badge as she scanned it, before opening the door. She'd been my knife instructor for three years. She knew who I was.

Inside the lab, the new staff members caught sight me and slowed in their work, but quickly refocused on their tasks. The old team had begun ignoring me just as much as the other members of security after an hour or so. The new team would as well.

I took my place against the south wall. One member of security stood at each wall, their backs straight and faces empty. Nothing had happened so far, at least as far as they were concerned. Not even an out of date clearance badge to be sorted out.

My gaze fell on the glowing feather at the center of the room. It floated inside a glass tube that could be lifted and lowered as needed. After initial tests confirmed it wasn't generating any harmful rays or such, the containment unit had been downgraded from a nuclear grade containment to this.

I stared at the wall across from me, as I would for the next four hours. With the information I'd just learned, I wasn't looking forward to where my thoughts would take me during that time. I wished I could call my brother.

Present:

"Tired?" I snapped. I stood in the center of the café, my stance set.

Sakura met my challenge with a determined glare. She stood a few feet away from me, hands raised but shaking. She gave me a quick nod. A bead of sweat fell from her chin to onto the hardwood. The café was closed, and we'd pushed the tables and chairs away from the center of the room.

We'd just finished sparring. I forced her to go longer than usual to underline the importance of ending a fight quickly. The longer the fight went, the harder it was to survive.

"We'll be done," I said, raising a hand when she slumped in relief, "when you get out of the building." I wanted Sakura to start looking for potential exits when she entered a room, and to learn to use her surroundings. I figured this challenge would get her thinking.

I took a few steps back, placing myself between her and the front door. "Your goal is to get out, and my goal will be to stop you." I narrowed my eyes. "Act as though your life depends on it. If you have to break the furniture or objects, do it, but whatever it takes, don't let me stop you. The one exception is your gun. Don't use it."

She glanced at the revolver on her hip and around the empty café, shuffling back a step before setting her stance. "All right."

"Start," I said.

Sakura darted to the right, turning her back on me and running for the back door.

I was on her in a second, looping an arm around her neck and yanking her back. "Never," I snapped, "give an opponent your back. Feel that?" I tightened the headlock for half a second, putting pressure on the arteries in her neck, then eased up.

"Yeah," she croaked.

"That's a blood choke. If someone puts you in that, you have about three seconds before you're unconscious. What can you do here?"

Sakura lifted her leg and delivered a mock back kick to my knee.

"Good idea, but . . ." I swept my leg out of the way before kicking the back of her knee and dragging her back and down. She lost her balance, and was forced to sit. "Now you can't kick. Which means you can either elbow me and hope I let go, or use your knife if you have one. But you won't have very long, and you'll be panicked. So: always face your opponent if they can reach you."

I let go and held out a hand to help her up. She took it, and I pulled her to her feet.

She rubbed her neck. "Can you teach me that?"

"Sure," I said. "But you'll still need to get out after."

She winced and gave a tired laughed. "Right."

I let her practice on me, showing her how to loop her arms around my neck and lock them against each other. She tightened the hold for just a moment to test it out. The familiar pressure looped around my neck and I had to crush the urge to throw her over my shoulder. But I knew this was Sakura, who wasn't an enemy and would be hurt if I threw her onto the hardwood. The instant I tapped her arm, she let go.

"I did it! Are you okay?"

I nodded. "You did it. I'm fine. If you ever use it hold on for a while, and watch your opponent's hands. They may go for a weapon." I waved her a few paces back. "Now we're going back to the escape exercise."

Her shoulders slumped, but she nodded and raised her hands.

"Begin."

About fifteen minutes later, the front door slid open. Fai paused in the doorway, bags of groceries hanging from his grip. Mokona sat on his shoulder ears perked. Fai glanced us over. "More training?"

"Yes," I said. I had Sakura in an arm bar, giving her a second to see if she could get out of it. When she couldn't, I let go.

"Reset," I said, walking back to the center of the room. Sakura groaned and followed me. The crease between her eyebrows told me she was getting frustrated. Good. Even if she started making rash choices, they'd be new, and may yield new results.

Fai closed the door and made his way to the counter. "What's the objective?"

Sakura set her stance and met my eyes. "I need to get out of the room. Alice-san is trying to stop me."

He leaned against the counter. "Interesting."

"Begin," I said.

Sakura didn't move, letting me come to her. I aimed a punch for her head.

She blocked it, rotating my wrist along her arm and deflecting my momentum to the side before giving me a good shove to the center of my collar bone. It knocked me off balance long enough for her to run for the stairs.

I chased her, but she had enough of a head start that if she was clever, she'd win this time. She made it to her room and slammed the door shut just as I got there. The lock on the door slid into place with a click the instant before I rattled the latch. Beyond the door, her window creaked open.

Satisfied, I walked back downstairs. Fai watched me, eyebrows raised in question. "She did it," I said.

Sakura staggered in through the front door a second later. Leaves stuck out of her hair as she trembled, but she wore a grin. "I did it!" She dropped into the closest chair and slumped over the bar top.

"Well done," I said as Mokona handed her a bottle of water.

"Congratulations, Sakura-chan," Fai said. "Did you jump out of the window?" Sakura nodded. "Smart."

I glanced upstairs. "How will you get back into your room? Do you have a key somewhere?"

Sakura froze, before dropping her face into her hands with a groan.

I snorted. "I'll get it." I exited the room and made my way to the back of the shop. The window was set in the second floor, with a small ledge beneath it before the drop. I took several steps back before running for the building. I jumped and caught the ledge with my hands. Setting my feet against the wall, I hauled myself up and through the window. Once inside, I crossed the room and opened the door.

Downstairs, Sakura had fallen asleep at the table. Fai draped a blanket around her shoulders, looking up as I entered. "She's been working hard lately, hasn't she?"

"She's learning faster that I thought she would." I figured between her weakened condition, and my difficulty teaching, it would be slow going. But Sakura had tackled everything I'd thrown at her with determination and patience.

The door to the café opened with a jingle, and Kurogane and Syaoran entered. Syaoran had a few tears in his shirt, but he looked much better than he did after his last training session. "We're back," he said with a wave.

Fai grinned. "Welcome back."

Syaoran caught sight of Sakura and approached. "Is she all right?"

"Just tired from training," I said.

"Sakura jumped out a window!" Mokona added.

Syaoran started. "What?"

I sighed, waving down his alarm and giving Mokona an exasperated look. "The goal of the training was to get out of the house while I tried to stop her. She jumped out her window. It was a smart move." I plucked a leaf from her hair.

Kurogane took a seat at the counter next to Fai. He met my eyes. "The kid and I are going to City Hall tomorrow to ask about the new oni. You should come."

I crossed my arms. "I will. It's unlikely they'll tell us anything they haven't already heard, but it's worth trying." It was also a safe question to ask. Every oni hunter we'd met had been openly interested, so if we asked city hall, they likely wouldn't care. I turned to Syaoran. "You can't let anyone know you recognize Seishirou as your teacher. If they think you know him, they may suspect you're his accomplice." I was hesitant to say that out loud, but I decided the benefits of the warning outweighed the risks.

Syaoran nodded. "I'll be careful."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I glanced around the alley before turning to the ladder behind me. Rust flaked off it in some places, but not badly enough to worry me about its structural integrity. I turned to Sakura. "Wait until I reach the top, then follow me. Keep your back to the ladder while you wait and keep your eyes open. If you see any oni, you have my permission to shoot."

Sakura nodded, drawing her revolver and turning to face the street. We were nearing oni territory, and though we hadn't seen any yet, I didn't want both of us on the ladder at the same time. Sakura would cover me while I climbed, then I would cover her from the roof as she followed.

The building may have been an old office. It stood two stories high, with walls of brick, and abandoned. The few windows that still had glass were covered in dust. Inside, overturned chairs lay among forgotten papers.

I reached the top and stood, gripping my rifle again. A quick scan of the darkened street showed it was still empty. "All right, come up."

Sakura holstered her weapon and began the climb, the ladder shuddering slightly. When she reached the top, I offered her a hand, pulling her up the rest of the way.

"Why are we up here?" she asked.

I gestured for her to follow and started for the far side of the roof. "When you have a ranged weapon, you don't have to meet a fight head on. With a gun, you almost always have the advantage when you have distance. That way, the enemy can't take your gun or strike back unless they have one as well." I pointed to the dark alley below. Puddles were scattered along the street and shone in the moonlight. "I don't know if this will work, but if we can get the oni to show down there, while we're up here . . ." I looked to Sakura and raised an eyebrow.

Her eyes lit up and she grinned. "Then we have the advantage."

"Exactly."

We reached the edge of the roof and knelt. There was a low wall along the rim, only a couple feet high and perfect for cover. I set my rifle on the wall, aiming down at the street below. The new silencer glinted on the end of the barrel. It was a small metal ring, no more than an inch thick, which made it the most compact silencer I'd ever seen. I found it odd that Outo country, technologically behind Elpedite, had invented it. It was just another thing about this place that wasn't quite right.

Sakura crouched next to me, her revolver in her hands, pointed down. She leaned over the edge of the roof, looking down onto the alley. "How do you plan to make them appear?"

"I figured we'd try this." I opened my backpack and withdrew an empty soda bottle. "But if they can fly or we need to run, we're leaving the way we came. You'll go down the ladder first and I'll follow. Understand?"

"Okay," Sakura said, glancing from the street below back to the ladder.

"This will be a longer distance than you're used to, but it will be good practice. And don't worry, I'll catch anything you miss."

"I won't miss," she said, aiming into the street below and waiting.

I snorted. She'd miss at some point, but it was nice that she felt confident. I took the bottle and tossed it into the street. It shattered against the pavement, the moonlight catching on the shards as they spun across the ground. Both hands on my rifle, I watched the street through the sights.

For several heartbeats, nothing moved. Then, in the shadows of the gutter, a shape bubbled up. It solidified as a giant lizard, a single lantern eye dominating it's face. It twitched, looking around.

Bang!

The oni recoiled from the bullet that hit it straight in the eye, its limbs already dissolving. Next to me, Sakura's revolver trailed smoke.

"Nice shot," I said. "But can you do it again?" Sakura wasn't a bad shot for a beginner, and she always hit her first shot directly, but after that things were less certain. It must have been the 'Luck' that Fai had mentioned. It was the same thing that won her the games she'd played. If she was smart, that first lucky shot could be her greatest weapon.

"Definitely!" She said.

When the next lizard appeared, a little further down the street, she fired again. The oni's leg burst into motes of shadow. It snarled, stumbled, and skittered toward us on its remaining legs.

I followed it with my sights. When Sakura fired again, the concrete next to the oni sparked. I fired, nailing it in the eye. It skidded to a stop, motionless.

Three more appeared, one of them spotting us and dashing our way. "Take the farther two," I said.

Sakura fired while I aimed at the approaching one. I pulled the trigger, hitting the oni in the chest. The last oni moved in our direction, but Sakura's shot landed perfectly in its eye. Another shadow shifted in the street, and I tilted my rifle to keep the coalescing creature in my sights.

On the wall under us, a dark shape darted out of the window and surged up the wall.

I had half a second to flinch back and process the flash of claws before they raked across the left side of my face and eye. Sakura gasped. I fell back with a snarl, raising my rifle and shooting the oni point blank as it tried to scramble over the roof's edge. It croaked and fell back into air.

Scrambling to my feet, I clamped a hand over the left side of my face. "Run!" I dropped my rifle to my side, letting the strap across my shoulder hold it, and drew my pistol. Adrenaline pumped through me as I tried to determine how bad the wound was. I couldn't feel any blood, but I had my gloves on. It felt like the claws had gone right over my eye.

Sakura shot to her feet, reaching for me, her eyes wide.

"No," I snapped. "Run for the ladder! Go!"

She spun and sprinted across the roof. I followed, shuddering as I looked over my shoulder. Two lizards darted over the edge of the roof, their eyes rolling to focus on us. I fired at them, one handed. It took me five shots to get them both and I had to crush the desire to activate The System.

Of course they can climb, I snarled internally. They were lizards, but it hadn't occurred to me they could scale walls. The soldiers I'd fought never had.

Sakura reached the ladder and rushed down it. I set my back to her, firing at another oni darting toward us. A distant part of me registered the lack of pain, but the adrenaline was probably masking it.

"Come down!" Sakura yelled.

I spun, holstering my gun and dropping onto the ladder. I had to take my hand away from my face to grip the side rails. I propped my feet against the side as well and slid down.

My feet hit the ground with a thud and I pressed my hand back over the wound. "Go! Go!"

We ran, weaving through alleys and around warehouses until we reached a well-lit street. A shopfront marked it as a civilian street that should be free of oni.

"Stop," I said, slowing my walk. I still couldn't feel the real pain. There was some, but it felt more like someone had raked their nails across my face, not blade-like claws. The adrenaline should be wearing off more than that now.

Sakura hovered in front of me, hands drifting over the side of my face. "Are you . . ." She bit her lip.

I took a breath, and pulled my hand away. The yellow street lamp reflected off the leather of my clean glove.

"What . . ." I breathed. I met Sakura's gaze, seeing her with both eyes, but she looked just as shocked as I was.

"You're fine!" she said, her relieved smile shifting to bafflement. "How?"

I shook my head, pressing my hand against my face and checking it again for blood. Nothing. "I don't know."

Sakura leaned in, her gaze locked on my left eye. "There's nothing there."

"But you saw it claw me, right?" I asked. I may have thought this was another hallucination caused by The System's shutdown, like what had happened when I'd been washing dishes.

"It did," Sakura said, looking back over her shoulder the way we'd come.

If Mokona had been here, I may have asked them to take us to the next world right then. This place had me on edge, but this was just insane. There was no possible way for me to walk away from that strike unharmed, but I had anyway.

I ran a hand through my hair, glaring at the cement, then at the moon hanging above us. "Let's go back to the café."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I slumped against the counter, propping my head in my hand. Fai regarded me with raised eyebrows. "Someone looks tired."

"Yeah," I sighed. I hadn't slept at all. The incident with the oni last night had my nerves on fire. Every shifting shadow had been an oni forming in the corner of my room, every glint of light the lens of someone watching. And I couldn't let go of what had happened. I couldn't negotiate how I'd gotten away unscathed.

With The System broken I could have attributed it to another hallucination. But Sakura had seen it too. We'd spoken and agreed that I should be injured. Which meant I had either hallucinated Sakura as well, which would mean I was truly going insane, or something bigger than I could imagine was happening. Both possibilities left a sick dread swimming in my stomach.

"Rabbit should have some coffee," Mokona chirped, sliding a mug over to me.

"Thank you," I said, taking it with both hands. The caffeine wouldn't get rid of the foreboding hanging on me, but it would wake me up.

"So you and the puppies are going to city hall today, right?" Fai asked, sipping from his own mug.

I'd actually forgotten in my distraction. "Yes. Do you know where they are?" Footsteps descended the stairs the moment I'd asked. Fai smirked and pointed over my shoulder. "Well, there's Big Puppy."

Kurogane scowled at Fai. "It's too early for this shit."

"Is Syaoran awake?" I asked. I wanted to go to city hall soon, just to have something to do.

Kurogane cut a glance my way as he sat at the bar. "The kid should be down in a minute."

I nodded, focusing on the mug in my hands.

"You look like shit."

"Hmm." I kept my eyes fixed ahead. Again, the smarter part of me knew I should try to make nice with Kurogane. But I was too stressed right now. Any conversation requiring a level head was not gonna happen today. So instead I watched the coffee swirl in my mug.

Syaoran descended the stairs, his sword at his hip. "Are we leaving now?"

"Food first. We'll eat as we walk," Kurogane said, rising to retrieve three muffins from the kitchen. He tossed one to Syaoran and the other to me. I downed the rest of my coffee and rose. Fai took the empty mug as I thanked him.

"Good luck," Fai and Mokona said in unison, waving goodbye.

Syaoran swung the door shut behind us. "Thank you!"

Kurogane took the lead as Syaoran and I trailed behind. Syaoran fell in step beside me. "How did oni hunting go last night?"

I overrode the desire to sigh with a bite of muffin instead. "It was fine," I said once I'd swallowed. I didn't want to mention what happened. If it did, both Syaoran and Kurogane would want me to recount the event, which would wind me up even tighter. I'd tell them by tomorrow, or Sakura would tell Syaoran, who'd tell Kurogane. But for now, I just didn't want to go over it again. When we paused at a street corner, I caught Kurogane giving me a look. I realized my free hand rested on my holstered gun. I dropped my hand to my side.

The trip to city hall passed in a blur, only clearing when we reached the marble steps. Inside, we weaved through people to approach an open desk. The Emma behind it greeted us with a smile. "Hello. Welcome to city hall. Can I assist you with anything?"

"Yeah," Kurogane said, "we want to know about the oni that's been attacking civilians and controlling other oni."

Emma smile vanished. "There is no such thing."

I grimaced. Both Syaoran and I had seen it, along with many other hunters, so it did exist. But if she was denying it, we were probably asking a dangerous question.

Syaoran leaned across the desk, brows drawn. "I've seen it. I know it exists, and it controls the other oni."

"Syaoran," I hissed, gripping his shoulder and pulling him back. He stared back over his shoulder at me in confusion.

Emma's expression remained cold as her eyes slid from me back to Syaoran. "We cannot release any information regarding 'creatures that control the oni.'"

"So there is information," Syaoran said.

"How do we get it?" Kurogane asked.

I glanced back. No one was moving toward us, but I could have sworn some of the other Emmas were watching. I'd thought these were safe questions to ask, since all the oni hunters were gossiping about it, but maybe they just knew where it was safe to talk. "We should leave," I said, keeping my voice low.

"Why?" Kurogane snapped.

Syaoran turned to me, his expression firm, but a hint of an apology in his voice. "Se—This oni could know something about the feather."

Emma interrupted us. "Only oni hunters may enter the area where this information is retrieved. As such, you all qualify." Her eyes slid over me and the others, pausing for a moment on each of us. "However, this area is dangerous, and only seven percent of hunters survive."

Kurogane grinned. "Fine by me."

I clenched my jaw, realizing we couldn't retreat now. This Emma knew who we were. She'd probably logged our identities and might have us arrested. She handed Syaoran a photo of a stone tower stretching into a blue sky, and a map. "This is the Tower of Little People," she said. "If you can reach the top, you may retrieve the information you want."

I'd been wondering why an official hadn't approached us yet, with a quiet offer to speak more in another room. This tower must be the place they sent their problems. Although it was strange we weren't getting escorted there. So far as we knew, anyway. I grimaced.

Syaoran accepted the papers. "Thank you."

I followed Kurogane and Syaoran out of city hall without a word. As we exited, I glanced over my shoulder to see Emma, watching us leave. She waved and gave me a smile.

Syaoran led the way to the tower as I waited for reason to hit him, or for the people bustling around us to leave. Everyone's eyes seemed to linger on us a little too long, and their gazes seemed a bit too empty. I glanced over my shoulder as we turned street corners, waiting to see someone follow with their eyes locked on us. There was no one.

We reached a white stone bridge stretching over a river. On the other side was a grove of trees, and above that, the tower loomed. People passed the bridge on the side we come from, but no one crossed it, and no one waited on the other side.

"Really?" I said, once we were halfway across and out of anyone's earshot. "You guys are going in there?"

Syaoran blinked. "You're not?"

"Of course not." I stopped. They did as well, turning to face me. "Do you not realize how wrong this is? Think! Why would they send us here?" There was no logic to the explanation they'd given us. If information was classified, you didn't just hand it out to the first person capable of punching hard enough. You guarded it against them.

Syaoran glanced from the tower to me. "But this is where Emma said the information was."

"If you're worried about the challenge," Kurogane said, "then you don't have to come."

"It's not a challenge!" I shouted. "It's a trap! That's the only way this makes sense. We're oni hunters, powerful combatants, who want classified information. If they flat out tell us no, there's the potential we'd turn violent. So, to avoid that, or contain it, they send us here." I pointed to the tower. "An environment they control, where they could have any number of traps of ambushes."

"Emma said it would be dangerous though," Syaoran said. "They didn't hide that from us."

"And that scares off the undetermined," I said. "If we aren't scared off by the 'seven percent survival' rate, then we're not going to give up at a flat 'you're not allowed to have the information.'"

Kurogane met my eyes for several seconds before gazing at the tower. "If this is their line of defense, then we can break it and find our info. The situation is still the same: we fight and win, we get what we want."

"You can't fight them when they have all the control." I swept a hand towards the tower. "If you go in there, you give them that."

Syaoran gazed up at the building, brows draw. "I have to go. If there's a chance I can find Her Highness's feather . . ."

"And what happens if you don't come back?" I asked. He turned to look at me, surprised. "If you die, and leave Sakura on her own, what then? She'll have to navigate countless world with a handful of memories and a condition that has her passing out at random." I didn't mention that the rest of us would help her, but if Syaoran did die I wasn't sure what that would do to Sakura's head. He was one of the few constants she had right now and she trusted him.

"I won't die," he said, without hesitation. "I have to do this, so I will. And I'll come back."

He stared me down, his face set in determination. He was doing this and nothing I said would sway him. I looked beyond him to the tower, grey stone against a blue sky, then to Kurogane. "And if he goes in?"

Kurogane grinned. "I'm itching for a good fight."

They were going to die.

Kurogane was vicious, but the most powerful person in the world couldn't shrug off a bullet, or breathe poison air, or stand against a bomb. They were going to die.

And I didn't want them to.

I couldn't place why. But Syaoran was a good person, and Sakura cared about him. Kurogane was stubborn, and he made me uneasy, but not the same way Adrian or his people did. I didn't worry about knife in my back when I turned away from him. And he'd pulled me out of the way of the oni's attack our first night here. He'd probably saved my life.

It felt like I owed them, like I should go with them. If I did, I might know about weapons they didn't and warn them. But that would only increase their chances a tiny bit. And I couldn't use The System, or trust my own senses right now. We'd probably all die. I'd never find Nathaniel.

I was being forced to choose again, between my brother and everyone else. I'd thought that if I ever got free of Adrian, I wouldn't have to make those choices anymore. But here I was again. Would I make the same choice I always did?

"You shouldn't come."

I started, meeting Kurogane's gaze. He looked down at me with a cool glare. "You're not in the right state for this," he said. "And you've still got to find your brother, right?"

I looked away, shuttering my expression before anything could bleed out. Rather than relax me, his words deepened my guilt. I didn't know why. He was giving me an excuse to leave, that should relieve me. "You'll die if you go in there," I said.

Kurogane snorted. "Relax." He grinned, mostly teeth. "It's not like I'm new to this." Kurogane held his sword propped on his shoulder, the tower behind him. Based on the magic attacks I'd seen him use, he could probably bring it down. If the playing field proved unfair, he could destroy it.

He turned away from me and began walking. "Tell the magician we'll be home in a few hours."

Syaoran gave me a smile. "And please tell Her Highness I'll be home as well."

I sighed after a moment. There wasn't nothing more I could do. They were going and I had to wait and see if they came back. "Be careful." It was all I could think to say.

Syaoran gave me smile. "We will." He ran to catch up with Kurogane. Kurogane raised a hand to show he'd heard, but didn't turn around.

I watched them until they crossed the bridge and vanished into the trees.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"They should be climbing the tower now," I said, finishing my recount of the events in town hall and the bridge. I stopped pacing the café floor, crossing my arms to suppress my nervous energy.

Across the counter from me, Fai waved a hand dismissively. "They'll be fine."

Sakura nodded, her expression a little less sure, but still bright. "I'm sure Syaoran-kun can do it."

Their confidence eased my nerves, which didn't make much sense. We had no idea what awaited the others within the tower, but just hearing the words helped a little.

Fai leaned across the counter with a smile. "Now, would you two mind giving me a little help me around the shop?"

"Sure."

"Of course," Sakura said at the same time.

As it turned out, a 'little help' included washing dishes, sweeping the shopfront, cleaning the windows, and wiping down the tables. While Sakura and I stood hunched over one of the oak tables, scrubbing at a sticky spot of something that refused to come off, the front door swung open with a jingle.

I looked up and froze. A man stood in the doorway, a hood covering his face and a cloak drifting around him. It was the figure I'd seen on the power lines. Seishirou.

His eyes looked out at me from beneath his hood, and in them I saw Adrian's stare. It was a calculating gaze hidden behind a charming smile. I didn't know how, but I was sure he already knew I was armed, and how fast I could draw. Shit.

I didn't know why he was here, but I needed to keep things calm as long as I could. I put on one of Adrian's perfect smiles. I wasn't sure how well I'd done it, but I kept it on. "Hello, welcome to the Cat's Eye. I apologize, but we're closed today." Out of the corner of my eye, Sakura gave me a confused glance. My bright tone probably seemed strange.

The man scanned the café before meeting my eyes. "I was looking for a pair of oni hunters I heard lived here."

The kitchen door opened, and Fai stepped out, Mokona on his shoulder. He paused, his smile extinguished in an instant. I wasn't sure what it was about the man that tipped Fai off. Maybe he'd seen the same thing I had in the man's eyes. Or maybe he just knew a pretender when he saw one. Mokona's ears drooped as they went silent.

The man's gaze lingered on Fai before returning to me, expectantly. "They're out," I said. I didn't know if he was looking for Sakura and I, or Kurogane and Syaoran, but I didn't want him near us or them.

"Looking for the puppy pair?" Fai asked, his eyes sliding to me. I nodded, not taking my eyes off of the stranger. "What business do you have with them?" He stepped further into the room. He slipped a smile back in place, but it was brittle now. I wanted to tell him to stay by the door or behind the counter, somewhere with cover or an escape if this escalated.

I handed Sakura my rag as Fai spoke. "Take this to the back," I said, my voice low. It was a flimsy excuse to get her out of the room, but I was hoping the man would be uninterested in her. Sakura took the rag, giving Seishirou and uneasy glance, and walked to the kitchen.

The stranger's eyes followed Sakura, and my hand twitched for my gun. Then the kitchen door swung shut behind her and his attention was back on Fai and me. For just a second, I thought his smile had become more a smirk.

"My business with them . . ." The shadows beneath the man's cloak expanded, bleeding across the hardwood until they formed two pools on either side of him. I rested my hand on my gun. Two hulking, cat-like figures rose from the shadows. Each one planted huge claws against the hardwood floor and watched us with a cluster of eyes. They stood there unmoving. My hand was on my gun, ready to draw if they even twitched. The man's smile remained frozen. "I'd like to make them go away."

Fai propped his hands on his hips. "You're Seishirou-san, aren't you?"

The man nodded. "So Syaoran has told you about me?"

"Why are you after them?" I asked, my smile gone. Instead, I had the empty expression I'd always worn around Adrian. I wouldn't let this man latch onto any fear or anger I had. He'd decided to kill Syaoran and Kurogane, not us. Yet. If I stayed in control of my emotions, I might be able to direct him somewhere else.

"Syaoran and his partner are in my way. I'll need to remove them to find the two I'm searching for." His eyes flicked over me. "For a short time, I thought you might have been one of them. Your body doesn't work the way you're used to, does it?"

Unease swept through me, but I forced down the urge to tense my muscles. He must have noticed the night the wolves chased me, watching my aborted movements as I forced myself not to use the System. If he knew about The System, that was a problem, but he'd made it sound like he knew and didn't care. Was he looking for someone else with technology implants?

But he'd decided I wasn't them, and was therefore uninterested in me. So my goal was still to get him to leave.

"If you're looking for Syaoran and Kurogane, check Mirai Park," I said. I knew Syaoran and Kurogane were in the tower, roughly north of us, and Mirai Park was to the south. It was a place I could direct him that would minimize the risk of him actually crossing paths with his targets.

Out of the corner of my eye, Fai shot me an angry look. He knew they were in the tower, so he was probably playing along.

"You would give up the locations of your companions so easily?" Seishirou asked.

I let a little irritation bleed into my voice. "They're hardly my companions. And I'm not about to make my life more difficult to protect theirs." I tried to channel Adrian's personality. Something calculating and confident. Seishirou needed to think I wouldn't protect Syaoran and Kurogane. He needed to think I was telling the truth.

Seishirou's eyes drilled into me. I knew he could see every crack in my mask and every tic that might have told him I was lying.

"Thank you," Seishirou said. "I believe you."

I didn't let my shoulder's slump in relief. It was great that he'd believed me, but I didn't any piece of my body language to tip him off, so I stayed frozen.

"But," he took one step back, "I'd rather prepare for all possibilities."

The oni flanking him lunged.

I tore my gun from my holster, dodging the snapping jaws of the nearest creature. Aiming for Seishirou, I fired. Another oni appeared, darting in the take the bullet. Next to me, Fai ducked under the sweeping claws of one creature. His leg shuddered as he landed on it with a gasp. The oni looming over him moved to slash his legs.

I fired three shots into the oni's face, gripping Fai's arm in my free hand and yanking him to his feet. "The kitchen. Go!" I shot at the three oni closing in on us, forcing them back a few steps. If we could force a bottleneck, we might have a chance.

More shadows swam at the edges of the room, rising and forming more enemies. I scanned the room, but I'd lost track of Seishirou. Fai and I made it a few steps towards the kitchen before one of the oni swept his legs out from under him. They were closing in too fast.

I swung my gun up to aim at the oni just as another lunged in from the side and raked its claws across my arm, pushing my gun down as I pulled the trigger. The shot punched a hole in the hardwood.

Swinging my arm back up, I slammed an elbow into the oni's face and snatched my knife from my belt with my free hand to slash at the creature. It recoiled, but before I could check on Fai, another oni loomed over me.

Bang!

The oni's head snapped to the side before it began dripping apart. I followed the movement back to Sakura, standing behind the bar and glaring down her revolver. She fired another shot, aimed somewhere over my head.

Fai stumbled as he got back to his feet. I swung my knife at the oni that tried to fall on Fai. Distantly, I noticed neither Fai nor I were bleeding, despite being struck.

When Fai was up, I shoved the hilt of my knife into his hand and spun to put my back to him, freeing my second knife from my belt. I slashed at the closest shadow, catching it across the chest. It snarled, unflinching.

The oni before me raised its arm to strike, but with Fai behind me, and more oni on either side, there was nowhere for me to dodge. I raised my arms.

The blow landed, and one of the claws hooked around my wrist, wrenching it to the side and throwing me to the floor. I landed on my back and raised my gun, firing at the oni above me until it stopped moving. Another oni rushed at me, barreling through tables and chairs. I swiveled on my back to fire more shots at it. I managed three before it swung its arm down. I tumbled across the floor, and when I pushed myself to my feet, my gun was gone. I scanned the hardwood, but before I could find it, I had to duck under the swipe of a pursuing oni. I slashed at its torso as I recovered, but it barely flinched.

Stepping back before it could strike me again, I scanned the room again. Fai was still on his feet, Sakura reloading her gun with shaking hands.

The oni above me rose onto its back legs, both its arms raised above it. I pivoted to the right, letting the strike land just next to me, and drove my knife down into its arm.

The oni stepped back in the same moment several oni beyond it did, leaving a clear path leading straight to Seishirou. He held my gun aimed at me, a smile on his face.

He fired.

The impact to my chest threw me back against a table. I kept my feet, my free hand flying to the wound. He'd shot me. My blood froze and I kept my glare locked on Seishirou, refusing to look down.

"Alice-san!" I wasn't sure who'd yelled, but in that moment I hated that name. I'd never wanted the name; Adrian had given it to me. Now that I was away from him, why had I kept it? I'd been shot in the chest, with no armor on. That name was probably the last thing I'd hear. I pushed the thought away.

I glared at Seishirou, a brief flash of regret igniting in me as I pulled back my arm to throw my knife. I knew I wouldn't make it, but I wanted to try. He adjusted his aim and pulled the trigger.

The café vanished, leaving a black void all around me. The previous sensations—the pain, the pressure of the floor beneath me feet, the crashing of the fight—all vanished.

But I was still here . . . or at least, processing the lack of everything. My panic and confusion was just starting to boil over when a sterile voice spoke.

"Game over. Returning player to lobby."

A sensation like waking up from surgery—dizzy and weak-limbed—hit me. I opened my eyes. I wasn't sure if it was a reflex or the urge to shove something away, but my hands flew up, hitting something in front of me with a thud.

I squinted at the pane of glass my hands pressed against, my black gloves flexing as I moved. I followed the glass to see it curved around me in a dome. I glanced down, finding I was back in my clothes from Elpedite. The ones I'd sold weeks ago.

With a hum, the top half of the glass rose. I stood halfway out of a seat in the center. As soon as it was open far enough, I leapt out of the strange device. My legs threatened to buckle as I landed. I took a second to shake out the pins and needles running through them.

Once I'd gotten my balance, I looked around. I stood on a thin metal bridge, just a bit wider across then my arms would reach. The room beyond stretched up, down, and away, and scattered through it were more glass orbs, all connected by bridges. Each one held a sleeping figure.

I stood unmoving, gazing at the space around me. The haze of sleep was clearing, but my confusion was not. I couldn't figure out how I wasn't dead, or where I was now. Maybe it had been a dream? But then, when had the dream started?

Moving a little way down the bridge, I spotted Syaoran in one of the globes. Running to it, I pressed a hand against the glass. "Hey! Syaoran!" He didn't move. As I watched his face, a flash of blue light flickered over his relaxed expression. It was The System, scanning his face. The System was on, and working. I immediately ran a complete scan, looking for any malfunctions in the program, or any injuries to myself. Everything came back clear.

I took a deep breath and looked down the bridge. Fai slept in the next pod over, next to Kurogane and Sakura. All of them sat motionless, little lights flashing on the machinery behind them. As I watched them, I ran through the events of Outo. The voice I'd heard after dying had said 'game over' and now The System was working and my old clothes were back. It was like Outo had never happened. Then it clicked.

"Damn it!" I snarled, my hands curling into fists. It was virtual reality! Outo was just a simulation. It would explain the strange government system, the oni, the injuries that didn't hurt or bleed, and how I wasn't dead. All that time, it had been a game.

There was a beep off to my left. I turned to see Fai's globe crack open. I glanced at Syaoran a final time before running to the other pod.

Beyond the glass, Fai blinked awake. I gripped the edge of the glass dome as it eased open, and shoved it the rest of the way. I didn't like the idea of it snapping shut again.

Fai blinked awake and ran a shaking hand over his face. He hadn't noticed me yet.

"Fai," I said. "It's all right. You're okay."

He met my eyes, surprise lighting his face. "Alice-san?" His smile returned. "I'm glad to see you're alive." His gaze shifted beyond me to our surroundings. His eyebrows rose. "Well this is interesting. Do you have any idea what's going on?"

I offered him a hand and pulled him from the pod, steadying him when his legs wobbled. "Outo was something called virtual reality, I think. It's like . . . a dream. A dream made by a computer. It controls everything that happens to you, and it feels like reality. People in my world use it for training."

I'd used it years ago, before I had The System. After I'd had The System implanted, it was deemed too complicated and risky to try to make the technology compatible with the virtual reality machines. Most people in the military had used it for training. Otherwise, it was illegal, having been ruled too immersive a distraction for a productive society. A perfect world was easy to get lost in.

Fai took in our surroundings as I spoke. "Well, that would explain a few things. But how did we get here? And what is this world, if it's not Outo?"

I shook my head, reaching for the memory and expecting to find nothing. But a fuzzy recollection formed. We'd dropped into this world, directly into the seats of the pods. The details were missing, ironically, in a dream-like quality. The pods had shut and activated before we could get out, and then we'd been in Outo.

"Wait, I remember—"

"Dropping in here?" Fai asked with a smirk. "It just came back to me too."

"I'm sorry about that," a woman's voice said.

We turned to see a woman, her hands clasped in front of her. She had a mic and headset on, and regarded us with an apologetic expression. "Your circumstances were unique."

"Who are you?" I asked, my hand landing in the space my holster should have been. Irritation flared as I realized I was once again without a gun.

"I'm Chitose. I'm the manager in charge of Outo."

Well, she'd done a shit job of it. Who lets people land in their gaming consoles from thin air, shrugs, and hits the start button? I knew some of the steps must have been automated, but there should be some safety checks.

I'd just opened my mouth to berate her when Fai put a hand on my shoulder. I shot him a look, but sighed and stepped back. He'd be a better speaker than me, and therefore had a better chance at keeping things civil with this woman and getting the info we wanted.

"Nice to meet you," Fai said. "But would you mind waking our friends up? I'm afraid they don't know that Outo is a game, and are probably in some distress."

I glanced at Sakura's pod, looking for any sign of her waking. But she remained still. She must have been alone in the café after Fai 'died,' so why hadn't Seishirou killed her too?

Chitose shook her head. "I'm sorry, but our control of Outo is . . . limited at the moment. Otherwise we would have woken everyone already."

"What do you mean?" I snapped. "Even if some of your machines have broken, you should have some safety protocols in place."

Chitose half turned away. "If you'll follow me, I'll explain. I can't be away from our control room for long."

Fai and I glanced at each other. He shrugged. "What else can we do?"

"Fine," I sighed. I swept my gaze over the room once again, but this time I used The System to map it and mark the location of our companions.

Chitose turned away, waving for us to follow. "You are currently in Fairy Park, the number one amusement park in the world. Our top attraction is the virtual reality world: Outo. Players can choose almost any profession, including the hunting monsters in an adventure style." She shot an apologetic look over her shoulder. "Most of our first time players enjoy the game more if they don't know it's a game. So our software will wipe your memory of entering the game, leaving the player with the impression that everything they're experiencing is real. However, upon waking, those memories will return within minutes."

We exited the room into a white hallway. What looked like a notice board hung on one wall, and several doors ran down either side. We headed for a set of double-doors stood at the end of the short walk. "These two roles are supposed to stay separate from each other. The kind of person who chooses a non-combative lifestyle would be terrified and unprepared to face the monsters of the game."

"But the oni have been attacking civilians," Fai said, a question in his tone.

She nodded and swiped a key card over a scanner by the door. A green light switched on as the door clicked open. She held the door for us as we entered.

A wall of screens lit the dark room. I recognized the lobby of Outo's city hall in one and the main street in another. Rows of desks faced the screens, and the people behind them clattered away at keyboards or spoke quietly into headsets.

"The oni attacks were the first of the symptoms we noticed. Other glitches followed in various areas." Chitose looked at me. "One of the bugs happened to you. You input an action, but the glitch undid it. You were washing dishes, I believe."

So that's what that had been. A bug in an unstable video game, not The System frying my brain. The images that had haunted me for weeks, wires rusting in my arms and power cells leaking into my head, vanished. I sighed. Even though I'd pretty much figured it out, it was a relief to know I wasn't losing my mind.

"We suspected you for a while," Chitose said, her eyes sweeping over me. "You have implants we aren't familiar with, and we weren't sure what their purpose was." I stiffened and glanced around the room. Everyone remained at their desks. No one tried to approach. How much did they know?

Fai glanced between Chitose and me. "What did you suspect Alice-san of?"

"There's a hacker, isn't there?" I asked. It made sense, if they were losing control of their game and looking for an outside source. It was the same reason I had The System and not a robot. You couldn't hack a person.

Chitose shut her eyes and sighed. "Yes. We now know who is manipulating the game, but with our diminishing control, we can't stop them." She swept an arm back towards the desks. "Our team is working on an emergency shutdown, but we keep getting blocked."

Fai raised a hand. "Sorry," he glanced at me, "but 'hacker' isn't translating for me. What is it?"

I faced him. "So a computer is a machine that thinks, and it uses those thoughts to accomplish a goal. A hacker is someone who tries to change the machine's thoughts. Usually they want to steal information, or change the computer's goal, or just break it." I was almost certain Seishirou was the culprit. He must be if he had control of the oni.

Fai ran a hand over is mouth. "So a hacker is controlling Outo?"

"Not entirely," Chitose said. Behind her, four of the screen's broadcasting Outo went black.

"Damn it!" someone snarled, as several others in the room sighed. A new flurry of motion swept across the desks.

Chitose winced. "But we are at a disadvantage here. Time is condensed in Outo. Which means even though you've only been awake for approximately ten minutes, two hours have passed in the game."

I grit my teeth. Two hours since we'd 'died.' Syaoran and Kurogane had probably returned to the café by now, and I wasn't sure what had happened to Sakura. Seishirou wanted to kill Syaoran and Kurogane, but he needed to move efficiently. Killing Fai and I was probably going to piss them off, and if Seishirou had told Sakura where they could find him, they'd hunt him down.

"Can we get a message to the people who entered Outo with us?" I asked.

"Sorry, no. That function has been shut down for some time."

"Then would you be able to tell us what happened to Sakura-chan?" Fai asked. "She was the girl in the café with us."

"I can check."

She led us to a small office, took a seat at her desk and began typing away at her keyboard. I was briefly reminded of the times I'd stood in front of Adrian's desk, waiting for him to finish his work, but shrugged it off. "Here." Chitose turned the screen to face us. "Remember: this already happened."

I recognized the café, and the shadows darting across it. The image was clear, but there was no sound. Onscreen, Seishirou aimed for me and pulled the trigger. It must have been the second shot, because I was already facing him. I jerked from the impact, then my figure blurred, dissolving away.

The Fai and Sakura onscreen froze, staring at where I'd been. That had probably shattered their focus. Then the fight rushed back into motion. Fai managed to duck and weave between the oni strikes, but with all of them focused on him, he was bound to lose. One caught him on the injured leg. As soon as he hit the floor, the two other fell upon him. I winced as he vanished.

I couldn't see Sakura's expression, but she must have been panicked by now. She fired on the oni, emptying her revolver and continuing to pull the trigger when she'd run out of bullets. One oni leapt over the bar and swiped at her hand, sending the gun spinning across the room.

Sakura fell back against the wall, clutching her hands as every oni in the room froze. Seishirou stood in the center of it, facing Sakura. After a moment, Sakura's mouth moved as if she was responding to him. Her eyes were red-rimmed as she glared at him.

The oni next to Sakura struck again, knocking her to the floor. She didn't move, but she didn't disappear either. Then the oni vanished back into Seishirou's shadow, and he strode out of the café.

I glanced at Fai out of the corner of my eye. He glared at the screen, his smile long gone. I suspected I wore a similar look.

"When did Kurogane and Syaoran return?" I asked.

"An hour later, their time," Chitose said, hitting a few buttons. The shadows on the café floor shifted about a foot across the hardwood. A moment later, Kurogane threw the café door open, and he and Syaoran rushed in. They paused, taking in the broken furniture and claw marks across the floor and walls.

Mokona bounced onto the bar, waving them over to Sakura. Syaoran sprinted to her. Moments later she rubbed at her eyes and spoke, Syaoran's hand resting on her shoulder. Kurogane stood over both of them, angled toward the door with his hand on his sword.

Sakura got to her feet with Syaoran's help and collected her revolver from the floor, and after hesitating, my pistol. A spark a gratitude lit my chest, and a bit of guilt. I wished I could tell her we were okay.

Syaoran moved towards the door. He must have said something, because Sakura stiffened and spun on him, her shoulders bunched. She looked angrier than I'd ever seen her. Syaoran stared at her as she gestured toward the door, raising his hands in defense. Sakura shouted something, pointing to herself, then the door. I realized Syaoran must have said he was going to find Seishirou, and Sakura didn't want him fighting the man who'd just killed two people in front of her. Syaoran shook his head and looked to Kurogane. The man shrugged, crossing his arms.

"They stayed in the café," Chitose said. "But things are deteriorating quickly." She hit a button. On the screen, Sakura, Syaoran, and Kurogane darted across the café, some of the debris disappearing as they moved. They snapped back to regular speed when an oni clawed its way through the window. Kurogane swung his sword and decapitated the monster before it could climb all the way inside. He leaned out the door for a moment before snapping something at Syaoran and Sakura. They moved away from the windows and drew their weapons.

Chitose turned the screen away from us. "The oni grow in numbers at this point, and your friends had to leave the café. We lost track of them after that."

My ears popped as the pressure in the room suddenly increased. An instant later, a shock wave rolled through the room, rattling the computer and picture frames on the wall. "What was that?" I asked.

"I don't know," Chitose said, her fingers flying over her keys.

Behind us, the door to the office burst open. Fai and I turned to see a woman in a suit, panting. "Ma'am, check the park feed." Alarm tinged their voice.

Chitose's hands hovered over the keyboard. "Which one?"

"Any of them!"

Chitose's face drained of color. Fai and I rounded the desk to see her screen. Fai did the same and we gave each other an apprehensive glace before peering over her shoulders. It took me several seconds to work out what I was seeing.

A Ferris wheel dominated the background of the image as the camera focused on a street lined with vendors. Further down, spinning rides and rollercoaster ground to a stop. Smoke billowed from a fire somewhere out of view. People ran screaming down the streets as oni pursued them, leaping from rooftops to stalls to people.

"I thought you were looking at the amusement park, not Outo," I said watching an oni slash at a woman's back.

Chitose stared at the screen, her face pale. "This is the park."

A man stumbled into the room, pushing the first woman aside as he did so. "All of the players are gone!"

"From the game?"

"From the pods!"

Another flick of her fingers and we were looking at the pod room. Only a few of the closest globes were clearly visible, all of them empty. The ones beyond were empty of shadows that might have indicated a person. Chitose took a deep breath and rose, her panic replaced with a steely expression. "Madison, begin evacuations from the park. Jackson . . ." Chitose strode out of the room, commanding various people to help with evacuations, contact authorities, and secure more video feeds. As she did so, the screens on the far wall switched to various images of the park. One showed the source of the fire, crackling away in a dark room. Another was a street full of stampeding people, and third showed oni clambering up the Ferris wheel.

"There!" Fai pointed to one of the screens on the right. On it, Kurogane stood with Syaoran and Sakura, all three of them looking around in confusion between attacks on the oni around them. They all still had their clothes and gear from Outo.

I grabbed the arm of the nearest person. "Where is that?" I asked pointing to the screen.

She barely looked at me. "Garden section. Exit that door, follow the walkway on your left." Tugging her arm back, she ran to one of the other desks.

"Thank you," Fai called after her as we headed for the door she'd indicated. I rested a hand against the door and paused to look back at him.

"It's going to be bad out there. Like the café. Are you ready?" We didn't really have the option of hiding. We needed to meet with the others before they left us behind, thinking us dead. But I wanted him in the right head space.

Fai smiled, but it was sharp. It reminded me how much I didn't know about him. "I am."

I nodded and shoved open the door. Shouts and screams surrounded us, along with distant, ground-shaking explosions. We broke into a run, following the path to our left, which looked to cut through some sort of garden section. Bushes lined the stone path, and flowering trees beyond them.

About halfway down the path, a woman ran past me. It happened so fast I wondered if I'd seen it right, but her clothing flickered between a white dress and the style of coat I'd seen in Outo.

Before I could really think on it, an oni appeared in our path, flickering in the same way before solidifying. It was small, about the size of a cat, hissing at us and bearing its fangs. I hardly paused in my run as The System carried me forward with the perfect momentum, and the perfect amount of force to kick the oni at a forty-five-degree angle into the bushes. Fai might have shouted "ten points!" but it was hard to hear with the chaos around us.

The distant screech of metal drew our attention to the Ferris wheel. An oni towered over it, pulling it apart.

"Is this magic?" I yelled to Fai over my shoulder. This world must be fusing with Outo. Which shouldn't be possible, since Outo was just data. Magic was the only explanation I could think of.

"I think it must be," Fai shouted back.

The path took a sharp turn, and as we rounded it, Sakura and Syaoran came into view. They stood in a circle with Ryuuo, Souma, Yuzuriha, and Shiyu, with everyone facing outwards.

Fai waved his arm as we approached. "Syaoran-kun! Sakura-chan!"

Their heads swiveled in unison, lighting up as they caught sight of us. Sakura holstered her revolver and ran to meet us, Syaoran right behind her.

She stumbled to a stop in front of us, her hands outstretched between Fai and me. "You're okay! You're both okay!" Her eyes started to water. It seemed she'd held herself together well so far, but the relief at our return was probably one too many emotions to manage.

Mokona leapt from her shoulder to Fai's, ears twitching. "Mokona was very worried about Fai and Alice. Don't do it again!"

Fai rested a hand on Mokona. "We promise to be more careful next time."

I wasn't sure how we would have done anything different. Seishirou attacked us after we'd done everything to deescalate the situation. But Mokona had been worried, so I let it go.

Syaoran looked us both over with a concerned smile. "I'm really glad to see you're both all right."

I gripped Sakura's shoulders. "Me too." I looked her in the eye. "It wasn't real, Sakura. I'll explain more later, but we're okay. You need to focus now."

Sakura blinked a few times and took a deep breath. When she let it out, she wore a determined look. "Here." She handed me my pistol.

Relief washed over me as I took it. I slid the magazine out to check it, and shut it again with a snap. Aiming at an oni clambering through the trees, The System lit up the line of my shot in blue. It pushed my hand millimeters to the left, so that the line ended right between the oni's eyes. I fired, and the creature fell to the ground.

Ryuuo appeared next to Syaoran. "Hey! Big kitty, Rabbit! Glad to see you're okay." He looked me over. "I thought you died? In the game, I mean. Why do you have game gear?"

"I don't," I said, glowering at my Elpedite uniform. "These are my real clothes."

He blinked. "And the knives?"

"Those too."

"Oh." He stared at me. "You know, that explains a few things."

"Where is Kuro-pin?" Fai asked, his eyes scanning the group.

"He went to fight Seishirou-san." Syaoran glared at the Ferris wheel. "He's up there."

I followed his gaze. The Ferris wheel, crumpled and twisted, loomed above the smoking amusement park. From behind it, an oni flew into the air. Its snake-like body was held aloft by tattered wings, a cloaked figure on its back. The oni paused, turning to face the Ferris wheel.

On one of the beams stood a lone figure with a sword.

Syaoran turned to Fai and me. "Mokona sensed the feather coming from Seishirou. We think he has it."

"Then why are you here?" It came out more accusatory than I'd intended, but I'd expected Syaoran to go charging off the instant he found out. Both Sakura and Syaoran winced. Syaoran glanced at the dirt. "I . . ."

"I was going to go with him," Sakura said, her expression caught between guilt and determination. "After I saw you and Fai-san d-die, I didn't want Syaoran-kun to fight him. But I wanted to help, if he did."

I sighed, glancing up at the Ferris wheel. The two figures remained at a standstill, but that would end soon. Kurogane was probably ready to take Seishirou's head off, so any conversation between them would be short. "Mokona, do you have my rifle?"

"Yep," Mokona jumped from Fai's shoulder, opening their mouth and expelling a spiral of colors that coalesced into my hands. My rifle gleamed in the light.

"Thank you. Now, you need us all together for us to travel, right?"

"Nope!"

I blinked. "Explain."

Mokona grinned. "Mokona can transport everyone, even from far away."

"That's super cool, Mokona," Fai said. Mokona puffed up at the praise.

"Okay then," I said, "Syaoran and I should go back Kurogane up. Sakura and Fai, you two wait here." Syaoran wasn't going to leave unless he had that feather, and I was itching to shoot the guy that had it. Since Mokona's radius for transport was much larger than I'd assumed, then Sakura and Fai would be safer keeping their distance.

"But—" Sakura said.

"I understand you're concerned," I thumbed over my shoulder at the Ferris wheel. "But this time it will be me, Syaoran, and Kurogane against one guy, and we don't have to beat Seishirou." I looked to Syaoran. "We just have to get the feather away from him. Mokona, you'll come with us. The moment you see us grab it, transport us away."

Mokona hopped to my shoulder, giving me a little salute. "Yes ma'am."

Sakura still looked worried, but less like she was about to dash after us or burst into tears. Fai rested a hand on her shoulder. "Sounds like a good plan, Alice-san. We'll be cheering you three on!"

I nodded, but something bothered me. When Fai had called me Alice, back in the café just before I died, I'd been so angry for a moment. Not at him, just in general. I didn't want to have that name, I realized. And I didn't have to.

There was no point in keeping the name. I was never going back to Elpedite, and even if I did, things would never be the same again. Any reliance Adrian had on my obedience was shattered, and I knew working for him would be too dangerous. And if I had my way, Nathaniel and I would never return to our world.

It really hit me then, that the life I'd lived for the past seven years was behind me. It would never be the same, even if Adrian found us. I'd been so focus on finding Nathaniel, and orienting myself in these new worlds full of magic, I'd barely thought about it. Alice was gone.

I took a breath and shut it all away. I'd deal with that later.

I looked to Syaoran. "Let's go."

"Right." He fell into step next to me, hand on his sword.

Ahead of us loomed the Ferris wheel. I glared up at Seishirou. He'd fought me at my weakest. Now that I had The System, and the advantage of distance, I'd make him regret it.

AN: Thanks for reading! Please leave a review if you liked the chapter, they always make my day!