A/N: Hope everyone had a great week, whether you celebrated the Easter holiday or not, but if you did, then I wish you a Happy Easter and hope your celebration was a good one! Enjoy the chapter~

Review Responses:

Diana Raven, sorry about that. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it! Thanks for reading and glad you're enjoying it so far~

pokelover01, thanks so much. Shelley didn't open up much to begin with, so Micah did kind of hit her hard. And yes, Rei and Ayame do need to understand a few more things about each other, but hopefully things will start to work out for them soon. Thanks for the reviews and enjoy the chapter!

Arcane Student, I have not watched Young Justice, but I've heard good things. And I don't know what you're talking about, I'm completely innocent~ (but glad you're enjoying the story. If you're feeling things, I'm doing my job. I can't spoil the ending for you, but I can tell you that I like happy endings.) Enjoy the chapter!

karma88, sorry for ending it there, lol. It seemed like a good place to end it. Thanks for the review and hopefully this chapter clears some stuff up. Enjoy!


CHAPTER THIRTY

Souls in Accord


"…I think the Assassin is my mom."

Rei lay on his back on the couch in his apartment, his eyes fixed on the ceiling as Clark's words played themselves over and over again in the back of his mind. Morgan's confession, he had been expecting, and she had told him nothing that he hadn't already been able to figure out, but Clark had taken him off-guard, and for some reason, he couldn't stop himself from picking over Clark's words, like a dog with a bone. A part of him, the sane, rational part that had been strangely silent since the incident with Morgan's uncle, told him that he had just seized on Clark's story because it stopped him from thinking about Ayame.

The apartment was quiet. Ayame had disappeared up the stairs shortly after they arrived from Morgan and Cassie's place, and hadn't come back down. He'd spent the evening puttering around the first floor, using every excuse conceivable to avoid going upstairs. At some point, he'd heated a dinner that had turned to ash in his mouth. The food that he had left out for Ayame remained on the counter, untouched.

Unable to stop himself, he sat up and glanced over into the darkened kitchen. The plastic container of pasta sitting on the countertop seemed like an accusation. His mind reached for Clark's story as a distraction again, but somehow, the intricacies of what Clark's mother being on the enemy side meant for their team and whether or not Clark would be able to fight her if it came to that and what Clark had to be going through to even suspect that his mother had killed Ophelia—all of those things didn't seem to carry weight with him anymore.

His mind was back on Ayame. On what he had said to her. On the way that she had folded into herself, the way she still wouldn't look him in the eye. He'd crossed a line. In the back of his mind, he was aware of that fact, but he was still too afraid to face it.

Afraid. Fear.

He was doing it again, the same thing he always did. He was going to let his partnership die because he was too afraid to go upstairs and tell his weapon, his partner, the girl who had risked her life with him on more than one occasion, that he was sorry. That he had lashed out at her because he had been afraid.

Envious, and afraid.

He sucked in a breath, staring up at the ceiling. His hand tightened over his chest, clenching into a fist. Everyone he had ever been afraid to face ran through his mind in turn—Grayson, Micah, Morgan's uncle. Everyone he had ever been envious of followed them, everyone that he had ever feared being compared to, everyone that he was sure he would never measure up against. His parents. Vayne, with his ability to take emotional blows and get back up again like no one's business. Ayame.

He stood up, getting to his feet.

Rei made his way quietly up the stairs, feeling a knot in his throat like he was holding his breath. The second floor was dark and quiet. He shuffled quietly over to Ayame's room and knocked softly on the door, but there was no response. He peered inside, quietly in case she was asleep, but there was no one there. Her room was dark, her futon still rolled up for the night. There was no sign of her presence at all.

He was just starting to worry before he noticed the open window, and got an idea.

Rei hauled himself carefully out of Ayame's window, grabbing hold of the exterior brickwork above him. It was surreal climbing a building without the added security of the Cloak of Shadows on him, and he felt his stomach lurch as he swung his legs over the windowsill, finding a foothold. For a second, his mind swam, the ground seeming to grow an infinite distance away. He squeezed his eyes shut until the wave of dizziness faded, then exhaled, looking back up at the rooftop ahead of him.

Steeling his courage, he found handholds and footholds and started to climb.

The wind was brisk on top of their apartment building, chill enough in the desert night to make him wish that he had brought a jacket with him. He found Ayame seated away from him on the rooftop, her arms around her knees and her face tilted upward towards the sky. She had a blanket draped over her shoulders to ward off the cold. He pulled himself onto the roof tiles and got to his feet, making his way slowly towards her.

She didn't look up. She knew he was there, though, how could she not? He hadn't made any move to conceal his presence, and Ayame's senses were sharper than his. He lowered himself slowly into a seat beside her, making sure to keep a respectful distance between them, and kept his eyes on her to see if she would object, but she didn't. She didn't look at him, only kept her eyes on the sky. The darkness of the night had lent shadows to her face and eyes that she didn't normally possess, clouding her violet eyes and making her look small, uncertain. Making him remember that despite her outward strength, Ayame could be surprisingly fragile.

He'd meant to look up at the stars with her, to wait until she acknowledged him, but he found that he couldn't stop just staring at her.

When she didn't speak, he realized that he would have to. He looked away from her, taking a breath to gather his courage. "I'm sorry," he said, looking out over the city.

"I know you are." Ayame's voice sounded thick, as if she had been crying. She sounded spent, drained, as if all of the emotion had already been knocked out of her.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"No," Ayame said. "You shouldn't have."

"Can you forgive me?" He hadn't been expecting his voice to tremble, to catch on those words, but it did. Rei let out a shaky breath, trying to work past the knot in his throat.

Ayame said nothing for several long seconds, then she let out a heavy sigh, her shoulders slumping as she lowered her eyes from the stars. She didn't look at him, turning her attention to the roof tiles at her feet. "I didn't ask to be strong."

It wasn't the answer he had been expecting—it wasn't either of the answers he had been preparing for, and it startled him enough for him to look up and turn towards her. She kept her eyes on the ground and went on as if he wasn't there.

"I didn't ask to inherit all the weapon forms, or even a part of my dad's stupidly insane wavelength, but there it is. I didn't ask to be athletic, or good at fighting, but you know, there it is. I didn't ask to have parents that spent every spare moment since I could walk training me because, you know, I'm part of a goddamn legacy, but there it freaking is." She sucked in a ragged breath, her eyes misting over. "And you know what, I definitely didn't ask for everyone from my kindergarten class, to my sparring buddies, to my goddamn partner to resent me because I just happen to be good at bashing heads in, and because I've been dragged over every square inch of this rock we call a planet, but hey—," —She made a sharp gesture, like slicing through the air with the blade of her hand, "—there it is."

Her shoulders slumped at that, the fight seeming to leave her as she leaned back over her knees and looked out at the rooftops of Death City. "At some point, you just have to own it. You tell yourself that your real friends don't care, but you live in fear anyway, because one screw-up and suddenly it's 'you wouldn't understand, Ayame' and 'you don't know what it's like, Ayame' and 'the normal people are talking now, go stand outside with all the other geniuses'. You start seriously thinking about pulling punches, but you don't do it because hey, turns out pride and honor are genetic. And you sit there and hope that this never gets between you and your partner, that your partner understands, that he knows you can't help it. That he gets that there's really only one thing you do very well, and dammit, you're gonna make sure you do it the best. And then it turns out he doesn't."

She fell silent at that, keeping her eyes fixed straight ahead of her. Rei stared at her for a few long moments, stunned. He had started to think that Ayame couldn't surprise him anymore.

It took him a while to find his voice.

"I…I had no idea…" he began.

Ayame snorted. "Yeah, well…I don't talk about my feelings much. Surprise, surprise."

"I was scared." It sounded so small when compared to Ayame's revelation, but he found himself needing to say the words anyway. "I…when we went up against Morgan's uncle, I froze again. The same way I did before. With Grayson. And I started thinking that there was no point to all of this training, that it didn't matter how strong I got, how well I could fight in a controlled situation. None of that matters if I'm too scared to fight the first strong enemy I see. I took it out on you. I—"

"Bullshit." Ayame's vehement denial startled him, and he broke off in mid-sentence, staring at her. "I've seen you take a stand, Rei. If you were too scared to fight, that only meant that he didn't push you against the wall far enough. When push comes to shove, you're there, scared or not. You fight when it counts."

"Yeah," said Rei, bitterly. "So do rats."

"Rats are good," Ayame said, shrugging. "Small. Smart. They don't get themselves killed charging into some stupid pissing contest, like say, a lion."

"I didn't want to drag you down—."

"Like I give a damn. You think I have some kind of agenda? Like I want to be the 'strongest in the world' or something like that? I know who the strongest warrior in the world is. I don't have a prayer of catching him, and I wouldn't want to even if I could. What would be the point? I'm in it for the fun. Being with you is fun. Was anyway."

He felt a stab of guilt. "Ayame…" he said. "I'm sorry."

"I heard you the first time, Rei."

"No really," Rei said. "I was dumb. I shouldn't have yelled at you, and I shouldn't have taken all that crap out on you. At the end of the day, you're my partner, Ayame, and I—."

"Shh," Ayame said, cutting him off. "It's okay. You don't have to explain it. I know."

Rei fell silent, looking back out at the city. Death City spread out before them, lights twinkling in the windows of the houses. In the distance, he could still see people moving, cars winding their way through the streets, but up here on the rooftop, he and Ayame were alone.

"So, does that mean we're okay?" he asked after a while.

"Eventually," Ayame said.

He considered his feelings, and realized that he was alright with 'eventually'. "I can live with that," he said. "Ayame."

The two of them lapsed into silence. Ayame tilted her head back up, considering the stars, and Rei continued to watch the city. Time passed, and slowly Rei felt the ragged edges in his chest start to knit back together, as if the air between them was clearing as they sat.

"Stars are pretty," Ayame said, breaking the silence between them. The words were said casually, but they felt like an olive branch. Rei nodded.

"They are," he agreed.

A cool breeze blew through the air, chilling him to the skin. He shivered in spite of himself.

Ayame glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Cold?" she asked.

"A little," he admitted.

She let out a long sigh and shifted closer, opening the blanket. Rei hesitated, the heat rising to his face before he shifted closer as well, letting her drape the blanket over his shoulders so that it covered the two of them. Ayame exhaled and leaned into him, wrapping her half of the blanket tight around herself, and she was warm and soft and most importantly, not ignoring him anymore, so Rei let himself move just that little bit closer to her, let an arm go up around her to pull her to him. He rested his chin on the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her, and she closed her eyes, relaxing against his chest.

The wind cut through the air, washing over the two of them. They sat there for a long while, wrapped up in each other.


Three days later

Rei looked back at the living room from the stove, frowning as another wave of giggling, mostly Ayame and Cassie, rose up and filtered through the house. He gave the stew another turn, then placed the pot's lid back on it, putting the spoon he was using on a plate next to the stove and shrugging out of his apron. Morgan, Cassie, and Ayame were watching some anime on TV that he was half-sure he didn't want to be caught dead anywhere within five miles of. He hung his apron back up, frowning at them.

"Not that I don't like you guys or anything," he said, "But was there any reason why you had to have your girls' night here?"

"Ayame lives here," said Morgan, as if that was answer enough. She frowned at the screen. "I don't understand. Why does she have to hide that she's a girl?"

"Because she wouldn't be able to work at the club if she didn't!" Ayame said. "Um—not that I'd know."

"Yeah, but—" Rei winced as something happened on screen, something that involved an improbable amount of roses. "—you and Cassie have a place."

"The food's better here," said Cassie with an unapologetic smile. She looked back at the screen, letting out a high-pitched sound that made Rei want to check to make sure that the windows hadn't broken. "I love the twins."

Rei decided that that was time to clear out, before they started arguing over which cast member they preferred. He checked his phone, breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Vayne had replied, and slipped his keys into his pocket. "Um, so I'm heading out," he said.

"Oh, really?" Ayame asked, looking at him over the back of the couch. "Where to?"

"Clark and Vayne's," said Rei. "There's a stew in the kitchen, Morgan. Check on it every ten minutes or so, and it should be ready to eat in a little less than an hour."

"Understood," said Morgan, nodding her head. "Thanks."

"Hey, how come you never ask me to help with the cooking?" asked Cassie.

"It's a trap, Rei. No need to answer that." Ayame waved her hand dismissively, looking back at the screen. "Have fun."

"But you know, not too much fun," said Cassie.

"What exactly constitutes 'too much fun'?" asked Morgan.

Ayame let out a derisive snort. "Nothing those three losers can come up with."

"Alright," Rei said. "Leaving now."

He received a couple of vague grunts in reply from Cassie and Morgan, and a "Smell ya later" from Ayame that made him roll his eyes, heading towards the door. Still, he thought with a smile, he had to admit that it was an improvement over fighting.


"Ah, there he is," Vayne said, when Rei knocked on the door to his and Clark's apartment a few minutes later. "The refugee."

Vayne was grinning. Rei rolled his eyes, stepping into Vayne and Clark's living room. Clark was seated on the couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table, tapping away at a video game controller in his hand. There were discarded soda cans on the surface of the table, accompanied by a half-empty pack of chips. As he walked in, he kicked aside a jacket that had fallen to the floor and lay discarded.

Rei breathed a sigh of relief, plopping down on the couch next to Clark. He elbowed the blond boy lightly in the ribs.

"Next game."


19:57 [Ayame] We bought ice cream. Your party is officially less cool.

Rei looked up from his buzzing phone at Clark, who had started shouting over something Vayne did in the game that they were playing together. He glanced at the screen and, satisfied that the two of them would be busy for a little while longer, quickly tapped out a reply and sent it.

19:57 We have video games.

Ayame's reply came quickly.

19:58 [Ayame] We have stew. :P

19:58 Yeah, a stew I made.

19:59 [Ayame] Yeah, thanks for that :D

Rei rolled his eyes, looking back up at the screen as something exploded, making Vayne mutter a curse under his breath. He glanced back down at his phone.

20:00 Okay, next time I won't cook for you.

20:01 [Ayame] Tsundere~

20:01 Am not.

20:02 [Ayame] Are too :P

Rei snorted softly, feeling the corner of his lip twitch up in a smile in spite of himself. He settled back against the couch cushions, drawing a knee up closer to himself and bringing his feet up onto the couch. Vayne and Clark faded into background noise as he typed up a reply.

20:03 So if you're bugging me, I'm guessing you guys are done talking about your feelings.

20:04 [Ayame] Lol we finished a long time ago. Now we're talking about you.

trust me, there's a lot to say

20:05 Nothing bad, I hope.

20:06 [Ayame] Hmm…that depends on what you think bad is.

He rolled his eyes. Before he could tap out a response, another message from Ayame came through.

20:06 [Ayame] Don't worry, they didn't talk about you for long. They're on Clark now.

Rei's eyes flicked back up towards Clark, whose avatar was now shooting at Vayne's with everything he had. He looked back down at his phone.

20:07 Anything good?

20:07 [Ayame] Lol not allowed to say

Girl code, you know~

20:08 [Ayame] Are they even feeding you there anyway?

Rei glanced down at the bowls piled up on the coffee table, then looked back at his screen.

20:09 Pieced together some ramen from instant ramen packets, ham, eggs

Not much real food here.

There was a pause, in which he could almost see Ayame laughing.

20:11 [Ayame] Oh you poor baby

20:11 Yeah, don't laugh

They want me to stay forever

20:12 [Ayame] Lol tell them they can't have you

I will starve

20:13 I feel so valued

20:14 [Ayame] Well you know, it's not like I need you back for your rugged good looks, princess.

Rei exhaled through his nose, biting back a chuckle. He brought his phone closer to his face, getting ready to reply.

Before he could, a hand reached out, snatching his phone away. His eyes widened and he sat up, turning to face Vayne. The other boy was standing with his phone in his hands, a grin on his face. Clark stood just over his shoulder, grinning at him as well.

"Stop texting your girlfriend," Vayne said, his grin turning into a teasing smirk.

"Hey, give that back!" said Rei, getting to his feet and reaching for it. Vayne jerked out of his reach before he could grab his phone, taking a step backwards.

"Nope," said Vayne, leaning down to look at the screen. "Let's see here…Ayame, Ayame, Ayame…you've got it bad."

"Tsk, tsk," said Clark, shaking his head and slipping one hand into the pocket of his jeans. "Disgraceful."

"Like you're one to talk," said Rei. He threw a pillow at Clark, jumping to his feet. He was painfully aware that the heat was rising to his face, which he only knew would help Vayne come to the wrong conclusions. "And Ayame and I are just friends, Vayne, now give that back!"

"And denial is just a river in Egypt," said Vayne, rolling his eyes. He twisted away from Rei as he lunged at him, laughing as Rei banged his shins into the coffee table in his haste. As Rei stepped back, muttering a curse under his breath and grabbing his leg, Vayne increased the distance between them. "Seriously, Rei, as your friend, I think you need an intervention."

"Here, let me try," said Clark, holding out his hand for the phone.

Rei's eyes widened in horror, and he stretched out a hand towards them. "No, don't."

But it was too late. Clark was already typing.

"Oh, Ayame…" he said, reading the message aloud as he typed. "The night sky has grown dimmer since you were born, because all the stars went into your eyes."

He decided that drastic times called for drastic measures. While Clark was distracted with the text message, Rei picked up one of the discarded soda cans, tossing it at his head. Clark's eyes widened, and he jerked his head back out of the path of the projectile, but Rei was already moving, launching himself over the coffee table and skidding towards Clark in a slide aimed directly at his ankles. Clark stumbled, struggling to regain his footing as Rei barreled into him, and that gave Rei enough time to snatch the phone out of the air. He quickly leaped back up to his feet, raising the phone close to his face and looking through it to survey the damage.

The message had already been sent. As he was staring at the message log, feeling despair start to settle somewhere in his belly, his phone buzzed with a reply from Ayame.

20:20 [Ayame] Hi, Clark

20:21 [Ayame] Give Rei his phone back

He will cry

Rei stared at his phone, torn between relief and indignation. Before he could respond, Vayne plucked the phone out of his grasp, looking at the reply.

Vayne laughed. "She's got you there."

"Shut up," Rei said, snatching his phone back and wiping the screen off with his sleeve. "And for the last time, there's nothing between me and Ayame."

"Sure," said Vayne, a lazy grin spreading over his face. "Whatever you say."

Rei scowled, deliberately choosing to ignore Vayne. He stuffed his phone in his pocket and picked up the stack of bowls, carting them off towards the kitchen. He dropped them in the sink and pulled his phone back out, looking over his shoulder to make sure Clark and Vayne weren't watching, but they were still in the living room, laughing to themselves and talking in soft voices.

He typed out another message.

20:25 For the record, I would not cry

20:25 [Ayame] Got your phone back though

20:26 Yeah. Freaking Clark.

20:26 [Ayame] Aww, don't worry

If you wanna get back at them, ask Vayne about Morgan

Rei frowned, thinking about that for a moment. He looked back down at his phone.

20:27 You are an evil person

20:27 [Ayame]: ;)


It felt like entirely too long since Maka had had a moment's peace.

She let out an exhausted breath and flopped backwards onto the couch in their living room, legs draped over the armrest as she savored the sound of silence. The attack on Death City had been busy and chaotic and everything that Maka had come to expect from an attack like that, but she had learned over the years that sometimes, the work that happened after the battles could make her wish to be out fighting again. The week since the battle had been full of meetings and debriefings, work parties to put the school back in order, nights at the library going over Soul Studies texts and trying to figure out what the Morrigan was doing to those souls, and frightened students coming to her door in the middle of the night because they couldn't sleep and she was sometimes the closest thing they had to a parent.

It would have been enough to drain anyone.

She threw her arm over her eyes and let them close, reveling in the silence that permeated the house. Upstairs, the twins had finally been put to bed for the night, and the lights were off throughout the house, except for one lamp up in her and Soul's bedroom and another in the piano room. After so many years spent here, the house's silence and darkness were comfortable, and she practically breathed that in.

She loved her children, but would be lying if she said that there weren't days when she preferred them all asleep.

Maka lifted the arm from her eyes as she felt someone drop down onto the couch beside her head, knowing without even having to use her Soul Perception that it was Soul. He placed a hand on her head with all the ease of long familiarity and she exhaled, scooting backwards on the couch so that she could draw closer to him.

"Tired?" he asked.

Maka snorted, letting her eyes fall closed again. The top of her head brushed his thigh. "Understatement," she said.

He ran his fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp lightly, and she sighed, leaning into the touch. She felt Soul shift back so that he was leaning into the couch and knew without having to look that she had tilted his head over the backrest so that he was looking up at the ceiling. One of her heels tapped the edge of the couch just below the armrest before she shifted so that she was lying on her side.

She'd hoped that the silence meant that the rest of the night would be peaceful, but a knock on the door told her that the thought was premature. Maka groaned, flopping over onto her back as Soul disentangled his fingers from her hair, standing up with a soft groan that reminded her gently that the both of them were starting to push forty.

"If that's another student," she said, staring up at the ceiling, "I will scream."

Soul chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "I'll run them off," he promised, as he walked towards the door.

"No, don't," said Maka, instantly feeling guilty. She pushed herself up so that she was sitting, reminding herself that for many of her students, this had been the first time that Death City had been attacked in their memory. "I'll talk to them."

Soul shrugged as if to say that it was her funeral, before throwing the door open.

It wasn't a student. Instead, Black Star grinned from the other side of the door, a bottle of something suspiciously amber-colored in his hands. "Hey—!" he said loudly, but he didn't get much farther than that before both Maka and Soul surged forward, covering his mouth with their hands. He quickly jerked his head away, scowling at them. "—mmph! What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Shhh!" said Maka and Soul at once, holding fingers up to their mouths frantically and staring at him with wide eyes. As Black Star blinked in confusion, Soul pointed up at the ceiling.

"Kids," he said. "In bed."

"Oh," Black Star said, frowning as if he hadn't realized that that was a concern. "Yeah, I get it. Tsubaki's home with Bright Star, but nothing wakes him up at night. The kid sleeps like a log." He grinned proudly, as if Bright Star's sleeping prowess was something to be bragged about. Maka, having a sudden flashback to long nights trying to make sure both twins were asleep and stayed asleep at the same time, wasn't sure it wasn't.

"What are you doing here, anyway, Black Star?" Maka asked, "It's the middle of the night."

Black Star snorted. "It's ten o'clock," he said. "Since when is that the middle of the night?" Maka opened her mouth, about to argue, but before she could, Black Star stepped forward, handing the bottle to Soul. "Here. Grabbed this from Kid's place. Feel like breaking into it, tonight?"

"You stole from Kid—?" Maka spluttered, but was cut off as Soul held the bottle at arm's length to examine it.

"This is pretty good stuff, actually…" Soul muttered.

"Soul!"

"What?" Soul said. "I'm just saying."

Maka sighed, pressing her fingers to her face. She relented, however, stepping back and away from the door. "You might as well come in," she said.

"Don't mind if I do," said Black Star with a grin, marching into the house like he owned the place.

They walked into the kitchen, and Maka flicked on the light as Soul pulled two glasses out from one of the cupboards. He pulled out a third and glanced over at Maka questioningly, and she shook her head in reply. The last time she had let Black Star trick her into drinking, she had been a wreck in class the next day. At a time like this, her students deserved better than that. She sank into a chair across from Black Star as Soul returned with the drinks, setting a glass in front of the blue-haired man.

Black Star downed his drink before Soul could take a sip, slamming the tumbler back down onto the table with a contented sigh and motioning for Soul to pour him more. Soul raised an eyebrow, but did so anyway, raising his glass to his mouth and taking a short sip.

"That's the stuff," Black Star said, when he had gotten through half of his drink. He set the glass down, and Maka propped her head up in her hand, tracing patterns on the kitchen table.

"You're going to be in trouble with Kid when he finds out," Maka said.

"He's never gonna notice," said Black Star, draining his drink. "Swapped it with another one. Besides, like I care." He poured himself a new one from the bottle, then gestured at Maka with it. "Sure you don't want any?"

"I'm sure," said Maka.

"Suit yourself," said Black Star, setting the bottle back down. He didn't pick up his glass. That was signal enough that the mood had changed. Maka watched, frowning thoughtfully, as Soul slowly set down his glass, reading the same things she was.

"So," Soul said, looking across the table from Black Star. "What's this really about?"

Black Star shrugged, tapping his fingers on the tabletop. "The old witch's somewhere," he said. "Hiding, probably listening to us, and we're all just waiting for her to attack again."

"Sounds about right," said Soul.

"What do you want to do?" asked Maka.

"I've been thinking," Black Star said. "Waiting around's not really my style. How d'you guys feel about taking the fight to her?"


The way back from Ayame's apartment was dark and quiet in the dead of night, most of Death City having already retreated back into their homes. Morgan walked with Cassie down the street, the grimoire humming along to some song on her headphones. She had a smile on her face, her hands over her headphones as they walked slowly back to their own apartment. A soft breeze stirred the cool air, tugging at Morgan's clothes and pulling her hair back.

It was a nice night. A few weeks ago, she might have appreciated that, but now every noise made her tense, every half-formed figure in the shadows was her uncle trying to take her back. Her eyes flicked towards the ravens perched on the streetlamp, watching her, securing her route, but she took no comfort in their presence. Her uncle knew how to hide from them, and even worse, in the dead of night, a crow was sometimes hard to distinguish from a raven.

A shiver ran down her spine and she tore her eyes away from the birds, forcing herself to look at the road ahead of her. It wouldn't happen. Not yet. Her grandmother wouldn't attack so soon. Morgan knew her. It wasn't her grandmother's way to reveal herself so quickly. She was like a cat with a mouse when it came to games like this. She would let them recover for a little while, let them think themselves safe. When they had dropped their guard, she would strike again.

Sooner or later, Mordred would come back from her.

She paused on the street corner, her eyes moving up to the towering structure of the DWMA, visible from everywhere in Death City, lit by the candles that floated around it. If she told everything she knew to Shinigami…but there was no telling what he would do to her if she did, and there was no imagining what her grandmother would do to her, if Morgan ever fell into her clutches again.

The last thought was enough to make her grow cold, to make her taste bile in her mouth. Morgan clenched her fists tightly, her fingernails digging into her palm, but the pain, sharp as it was, wasn't enough to bring her back to the present.

"Morgan?" Cassie asked, stopping from a few feet ahead and looking back at her. She had lifted her headphones from her ears, and was frowning at Morgan in question.

Morgan turned towards her, shaking her head. "It's nothing," she said, walking towards Cassie. She quickened her stride, the raven she had passed flying off with a raucous caw to scout the path ahead of her.

If the Morrigan ever found out where she was, what Morgan had been doing all this time, the consequences would be dire. Morgan was under no illusions about what the Morrigan could do to her, what the Morrigan would do to her. But if she ever betrayed her grandmother to Shinigami, if it ever got back to the Morrigan that Morgan had done such a thing…

It wouldn't only be Morgan that she would hurt. The Morrigan had ways of making her feelings known.

She brushed past Cassie, forging ahead into the night.