I think one hard part about writing this is deciding how much of canon to use and how to do it, because I don't want to pull too many lines word for word from canon, just the really important ones, but sometimes it's not really avoidable.

Anyways, have some more late night shenanigans, this time more or less legal, and Michael and Victoria being everyone's big sibs, the usual.

At the sound of the door opening and closing, Michael glances up from where he's trying to assemble a bookshelf. Morgan and Mime walk in, looking disappointed.

"What were you two up to, out and about so late?" he asks, curious.

Morgan draws breath to respond, but Mime beats them to it, rattling off all in one breath, "Well, Elizabeth sent us to get ingredients from Quinn's, so we went to Quinn's, but they said they just sold their last lilies, and it turns out Kim was the one who bought them! So we went after him to the forest-"

"You went into the forest alone?" he can't help but interrupt.

"Yeah, but it was fine, and we caught up to Kim! Oh, but…" Mime's expression becomes sheepish as she and Morgan exchange glances. "He…kind of saw me? I don't know how, I really thought I cast my spell!"

Michael blinks slowly, a little overwhelmed by Mime's breakneck delivery, and Morgan hurries to reassure him, "He seemed pretty nice about it, so I think we can trust him. We're working on saving his brother, after all. Just…" They chuckle awkwardly and whisper, "Maybe don't tell Victoria?"

"Don't tell her what?"

They all jump, but it's just Ann, walking in behind Morgan and Mime. The Tinker raises her eyebrows at them expectantly at the lack of answer, and Mime explains, "Kim kind of saw me in the woods earlier…"

"Oh."

Ann doesn't get much further than that before Morgan frowns, glancing around. "Where's Kaidan? I thought he was with you all day."

"He was," Ann agrees flatly, her tone a clear indicator of how she felt about that. "I finally called it a day about an hour ago. He just walked me back here and left again." She sets her satchel down on the couch. "Not sure where he went, though. I think he said something about reconnaissance?"

They all glance outside, where it's pitch black and Kaidan's marks would stand out like…well, like glowing blue lines on someone's skin would stand out in the middle of the night.

"Is he looking for something in particular?" Mime asks in bewilderment.

"I didn't ask," Ann admits. "I was just glad to get him to stop hovering over my shoulder."

"I think he's just trying to make himself feel useful," Michael speculates, leaning his chin on one hand, "and make up for what happened to the forest." Holding up a hand to forestall Mime, he adds, "Which wasn't his fault, but I wouldn't be surprised if he still feels like it was. He was counting on the recovery of the sword to allow him to contribute to the mission with the ritual, but now that we know it never had enough power to work from the start…"

Ann drops her gaze, looking slightly guilty, and Morgan decides, "I'll go find him and make sure he's okay."

They turn on their heel and walk back out before anyone can stop them. Mime scrambles to follow, the door shutting firmly behind the pair.

"Are they going to be alright?" Ann asks aloud.

Michael hesitates, on the verge of getting up to go after them. In the last few days following the heist, Victoria has been adamant that they lay low, and if they have to go out, to go in pairs or groups. By unspoken agreement, they've been trying to make sure that Morgan and Mime don't travel by themselves.

Still, he's no babysitter, and they aren't helpless. The last thing he wants to do is smother them in the name of caution.

"Morgan knows their way around better than the rest of us, and Mime's with them. Once they find Kaidan, I'm sure they'll stay together and come straight back. All the same," he adds, lowering his voice, "maybe we don't have to tell Victoria this either."

"Right…" Ann sighs, lifting a gloved hand to her face with a grimace. "Now I feel bad for being so impatient with Kaidan. After all…" She leans back against the wall. "I'm the one who told him he's as soft as a jellyfish."

Michael's first reaction is to grin at the comparison, but on second thought, she's not wrong. Despite the mystery and uncertainty that Kaidan's appearance first brought, beneath the reticent exterior is a shy, selfless young man with, as Ann said, a soft heart.

"He'll be fine," he says aloud. "Jellyfish are resilient. And they have a way of eventually finding where they need to be."

Ann hums quietly, and he adds, "Not that we don't enjoy your company, by the way, but why are you here so late?"

"I thought I'd take a break from the sword. Elizabeth said she had some enchanted alchemy tools that she'd let me take a look at. Have you seen her?"

Michael points her upstairs, and Ann goes off with a new bounce in her step. Alone in the living room again, he rubs his eyes, stares a little while longer at the pieces of wood in front of him, and decides that he needs coffee if he's going to make this work.

Quietly, he makes his way to the kitchen, only to stop just behind the corner.

Sitting hunched over various documents on the table is Victoria. Things have been so quiet that he'd nearly forgotten she was even in the house. Though her face is turned away from him, her posture and hand lifted to her temple betray her weary frustration. Her coat drapes over the back of her chair. In the moonlight, the long, thin scar on her arm disappearing up her crisp white sleeve stands out like a boundary line on a map. A ceramic mug sits next to her on the table, no steam rising from it; with the way she gets absorbed in her work, he bets that whatever is in it has long since gone lukewarm—and that there's a good chance she tuned out what Michael was just talking about with the others.

Michael is about to announce himself when a chime startles him back into hiding. He presses himself back out of view against the wall as Victoria sighs heavily. Her chair scrapes back as she stands; a moment later, an unfamiliar voice speaks, curt and expectant.

"Victoria. Do you have something to report?"

He tenses, knowing without needing to be told exactly who is speaking. Of course, he'd been caught up on how exactly Morgan and Mime got dragged into demon hunting courtesy of the Knight Commander of Erodas once she found out what they could do. Still, thus far, she has been only a faceless, silent authority to him.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out the caller's identity, though—few would have the confidence to make a demand like that from Victoria of all people, and the ability to get away with it.

Michael practically hear Victoria straighten up in front of her commander as she reports on the demons coming from the mines and Goldner's awareness of the fact. Her tone all but vibrates with anticipation, expecting Alethea to react, to do something with this new information.

Both she and Michael inhale sharply when all Alethea says is, "How…unfortunate."

"You knew?" Victoria whispers, all of her rehearsed formality falling away in shock.

Throughout their conversation, Alethea continues to rebuff Victoria's warnings. It's a strange juxtaposition, with the Knight Commander herself encouraging Victoria, who seems to act even more straight-laced than her superior, to use any means necessary to achieve the goal, something that Michael himself can agree with. At the same time, her plan itself gets on his nerves—keep the populace blissfully ignorant by demanding it of Victoria.

If Alethea didn't know Victoria had allies, would she still refuse her aid?

The communication crystal shuts off, and Michael almost jumps at the sound of Victoria slamming the orb down on the table.

"Cursed politics," she growls.

For a split second, Michael contemplates walking away. Victoria will skin him alive if he admits that he overheard such a conversation.

But he could hear the undercurrent of helplessness beneath the anger, and before he can think better, he reveals himself, sidling into the kitchen.

"I couldn't agree more," he declares cheerfully, meeting her startled gaze with a smile.

Her surprise soon turns to anger, though, and she narrows her eyes angrily. "Of course you would be one to eavesdrop."

"You're the one having a top secret conversation in the kitchen, which is a common area," he points out innocently, skirting around the side of the table opposite from where she stands towards the kettle. "I just wanted some coffee."

Her glare holds for another second or two before, to his surprise, she lets it drop and sits down heavily in her seat with a long sigh. As she looks away, he quietly takes her half full mug.

"Well, I was going to tell you all later anyways, since we're very much in this together now…" She brushes a strand of hair from her face and knits her fingers together, her gaze falling to the table; from behind her hands, she mutters almost too quietly to hear, "And it seems like it's just us, at this point…"

Michael raises his eyebrows mildly. Is that a hint of resentment he hears? To be frank, he can't really blame her in this case. He'd certainly be bitter if he was told that he had to solve an entire demon army outbreak by himself while keeping the whole town in ignorance of the risk that might swallow them whole.

"Don't get too upset," he says aloud, setting the kettle to boil. "Politics makes things hard for everyone—except the people pulling the strings, of course."

Her hand hits the table with an audible thud. "Don't blame the commander for this," she snaps; at least she's sounding more like herself now.

"Bold of you to assume that I'd take orders from a Knight," he replies cheerfully. "And I didn't say that I do. Still…" Undaunted, he turns to face her with a challenging tilt of his head, hands tucked behind his back. "You're not really just going to let her tell you to ignore Goldner, are you?"

Victoria opens her mouth, then closes it, her fingers starting to drum absently on the table.

"No," she decides, and he ducks his head to hide his smile. "I…respect her decision."

He snorts. "That makes one of us."

She glares at him. "But that doesn't mean we can't do a little bit of digging on our own." Her chin comes up a fraction of an inch. "He'll pay for what he's done—one way or another."

"That he will," he agrees, meeting her gaze and finding nothing but determination.

One way or another, they'll see this through until the end, as a team. The Knight Commander may have decided that Victoria will shoulder this alone, but like hell any of them will stand by idly.

o0o0o

Victoria blinks when Michael presents her with her tea, still half full but with wisps of steam coiling from the surface again, like a peace offering. He must've used his magic again, and she draws breath to reprimand him.

Oh, but the comfort of a hot drink is so tempting. Her gaze flickers up to his, wondering when she became so accustomed to his wild violet flames that she didn't even notice them tonight.

Perhaps it's when she realized that all he has used it for is to help people, whether it's creating blinding distractions in the midst of a chaotic battle, or lighting the fireplace with a snap of his fingers to save someone else the trouble. Those flames have burned someone before, no doubt—just like her own blade has been stained with blood.

If there's anything this past fortnight has taught her, though, it's the importance of looking at what is in front of her with unclouded eyes.

With a murmured thank you, she takes the mug, breathing in the aroma and taking a sip. She leans back against the counter next to him with a contented sigh.

The feeling of having eyes on her prickles at her neck, and she glances at Michael to find him staring at her with a peculiar expression akin to the look of someone who walks into a room, only to forget why they did so in the first place. Frowning, she opens her mouth to ask what's the matter with him.

From the back of the shop comes a thud and a muffled grunt, and both of them snap to attention. Abandoning her tea, Victoria hurries to the door, throwing it open with one hand and half-drawing her sword with the other.

Standing just inside the back entrance are Morgan, Mime, and Kaidan, all looking shaken. Morgan is fretting over Kaidan, who is hunched over against the back of the couch and worryingly unresponsive, while Mime doesn't seem to know who to be concerned for first. The alchemist's eyes are shot through with panicked gold, eerily luminant in the darkness of the room. In contrast, upon second glance, Kaidan's blue markings are present, but only barely compared to his typical glow.

"What happened?" Victoria demands, her heart having leapt into her throat as her mind whirls through a dozen terrible possibilities in the space of a second.

Kaidan's marks glow brighter, just for a moment, and he flinches away. Rapid footsteps descend the stairs, and Elizabeth's voice demands, "What in the world is going on?" with Ann a few steps behind her.

Victoria hears a sharp inhale from next to her, and she follows Michael's gaze to Morgan. Her gut twists at the sight of something dark matted in the alchemist's pale hair.

"You're hurt," she says, striding over to the alchemist. Ignoring their weak protests that they're fine, really, she sits them down on the couch. "Head injuries are no small issue, even if it only looks like a surface wound. Ann, can you get the first aid kit? It's in the kitchen, under the sink."

While the Tinker hurries to find it, Victoria kneels down in front of the alchemist and asks, "How did it happen?"

"I sort of fell into a wall…not super hard, but…"

Victoria narrows her eyes but decides that the details can wait. She glances up at Kaidan. "Are you hurt at all?"

He shakes his head silently. His demeanor troubles her, but as long as he's physically unharmed, he can wait.

She runs through the standard questions for head injuries with Morgan, relieved when they answer negatively to all of the red flags. In the meantime, Elizabeth has taken the first aid kit from Ann and is working on cleaning the wound. Sensing that Morgan, still rattled, would probably prefer the comfort that their guardian can give rather than having Victoria hovering over them, she leaves them to it and retreats to stand with Michael, who finally addresses the elephant in the room.

"What on earth happened to you three?" he asks.

Morgan and Mime look at each other, and Morgan takes a deep breath. "W-well…when I said I fell into a wall…I meant that I kind of got pushed."

"We were looking for Kaidan," Mime explains nervously, her gaze flickering between everyone, "and we ran into some of Goldner's miners. They accused us of stealing from them, which-" She winces. "-I guess we kind of did, but not from them specifically…"

"They were angry that Goldner cut their salaries for the month," Morgan explains in a subdued whisper. "We tried to run, b-but they caught up…"

Ann tenses, and the look in Elizabeth's eyes turns stormy. A warning thrum from Gingersnap draws Victoria's attention. At her side, Michael's expression, cold enough to have been hewn from stone, betrays the anger taking the form of winking lights pulsing at his fingertips.

Without thinking, she grabs his arm, and his head snaps around to her. A tinge of violet churns in his dark eyes, and a bristling spark lashes at her grip.

She ignores the jolt and squeezes harder. Calm down.

The simmering ire in his eyes flickers, then dims into a still, even darkness. The motes of light dancing at his fingers likewise vanish, along with Gingersnap's panicked buzzing. His eyes flutter shut; with a single deep breath, the tension in his frame eases, and he turns to her, looking still shaken but in control again, and gives a little nod of acknowledgement. On anyone else, she might interpret his expression as some form of gratitude; with Michael, though, she's grown leery of assuming things.

A rueful smile tugs at the corner of his lips as he places his hand over hers, gently tugging her fingers from his arm. Belatedly, Victoria pulls away with perhaps too much haste, her skin tingling, heart beating a little too fast. She berates herself inwardly for letting herself grow so used to his wild magic that she'd let it snap at her like that.

Michael turns to Morgan again. "I'm sorry," he says quietly. "I should've gone with you and Mime."

Victoria glances sharply at him, but Morgan is quick to reassure, "Don't be. None of us could've known something like that would happen. It was just bad luck."

Her first instinct is to tell him off for knowingly letting them go out by themselves late at night, so soon after they just stole from the most powerful man in the town. When she looks at him again, though, it's clear that he regrets it. Morgan spoke the truth as well—although Victoria's worries aren't unfounded, no one can predict the future. She's cognizant enough to know that a lot of the time, her paranoia never actually manifests; it's simply the few times that it does that keep her wary.

"They're right," she says. Michael looks at her in disbelief, and she elaborates, "Things would've gotten much more dangerous for all of us if you had to resort to using your magic in front of the miners."

"And it could've definitely gone worse," Mime offers. "If it wasn't for Kaidan…"

Victoria turns to look over Kaidan just to make sure he's unhurt.

"Were you seen?" she asks at the same time that Michael asks, "Were you hurt?"

Half collapsed over the back of the couch still, Kaidan grimaces, dragging one hand along his face and looking as if he might pass out at any second. "Yes and no…"

"I don't think he was seen," Morgan answers in his stead, still looking at him in worry. "It was pitch black, and…I don't know what you did, Kaidan, but even I couldn't see you. Your marks were just gone…"

Pausing in her ministrations, Elizabeth turns to Kaidan and asks, "You are a Nightwalker?"

The others look at Elizabeth in confusion. Kaidan winces again, his marks straining to pulse brighter as if in defiance.

"No," he answers with uncharacteristic curtness. He hunches in on himself even more, if possible. "I…I was trained as one, but…" His head hangs in dull shame. "I couldn't."

Ann voices the question for the rest of them. "What's a Nightwalker?"

Kaidan heaves a sigh, looking as if he wishes he could just disappear into the couch, but reluctantly explains. Victoria, who has dealt with Nightwalkers as a Demon Hunter in the past, if rarely, can't help but feel a certain empathy for the young man who possesses the training but not the fortitude to walk the path of his people's warriors. In the end, the Demon Hunters and Nightwalkers had demanded of them both something that they were not able or willing to give.

Her mind drifts to the Demon Hunters. She can't help but wonder what happens to the people who get stuck, as Kaidan put it; his fear of it implies that it's happened to a Nightwalker before.

Perhaps if back then, she was able to do what the Nightwalkers do, and cut herself off from her emotions to only think rationally…

"We are stronger because we care. If we didn't have something we cared about, we'd have nothing to fight fear for."

The unexpected memory of Michael's words resurfaces, as if in admonishment. Annoyed with herself, she tries to dismiss her reminiscences of the past.

Everyone jumps when Michael claps his hands together suddenly and declares, "Alright, enough of this gloomy talk. Clearly we've all had a long day—let's do something fun!"

In a whirl of color, he disappears back into the kitchen with an airy wave, beckoning them all to follow. Victoria narrows her eyes after him, wondering what he's up to, and glances at the others, only to find them all staring at her, as if she's going to stop him. Not liking being in the dark, she reluctantly follows.

Gingersnap vibrates in its scabbard as she enters to see Michael point a finger at the sink, turning the faucet on. At the same time, he flicks his hand at the pantry, a bag of something flying into his hand with a purple glow. From the basin, he grabs a pot now half full of water and sets it on the stove, lighting the flames with a snap of his fingers.

The questions she ought to ask are derailed when she sees what the bag is. "Chocolate?" she asks in disbelief.

"Someone was selling some in the market a few days ago," he says by way of explanation, moving to the refrigerator. "And I found these as well."

With a cheerful grin, he brandishes a small bag, and Mime exclaims, ears perking straight up, "Strawberries?!"

Ann leans on the counter, looking interested. "Are you making chocolate covered strawberries? My roommates and I used to make those by the dozens." She tilts her head. "Also always at odd hours of the night, funnily enough."

"That's when they taste the best, of course," Michael claims, his tone declaring that this makes perfect sense, and Ann nods emphatically, as if it does.

Finally finding her voice, Victoria feels the need to point out, "It's past eleven o'clock."

Michael, Ann, and Mime all turn to her with a perfectly synchronized, "So?"

Mime bounces on the balls of her feet as she adds, "Never too late for chocolate!"

With great difficulty, Victoria withholds a sigh. From the threshold, Elizabeth does a poor job of hiding a chuckle.

"Well, it's getting a little late for this old woman. You children have fun," the elder alchemist says with an amused smile. "Don't stay up too late."

"Yes, ma'am," they automatically respond as Elizabeth leaves.

When she's gone, Michael adds slyly, "By all means, feel free to turn in for the night if you want to miss out on the sugar rush, Victoria."

She purses her lips but is cut off as Mime skips around the counter, asking eagerly, "Can I help?"

Michael looks a little nonplussed, glancing at the two ingredients that they have, before smiling down at Mime. "You know what? Sure. Keep stirring the chocolate as it melts until it's all liquid, alright? Let's see if there's a stepstool around here…"

"Here." Ann pulls one out of the closet, setting it down in front of the stove for Mime, who giggles as she hops up, taking the spatula that Michael offers her, ready to do her job.

Morgan's voice chimes in from behind Victoria. "We'll wash the strawberries, if you'd like."

As they lead Kaidan over to the sink—hand in hand, Victoria notices absently—the young man asks, now sounding considerably less heavy-hearted, "What exactly are strawberries?"

Unsure of what to do herself, Victoria wanders closer to the stove, unable to resist the aroma of warm chocolate. Mime sees her and gives her a bright grin.

"Really makes you wanna just stick your face out and-" Mime does exactly that and breathes in deeply, her hair falling forward over her shoulders.

"Watch out," Victoria reprimands, quickly pulling Mime's hair back from the stove. "I don't know if your hair is fireproof, and I don't want to find out the hard way."

Mime grins sheepishly. "Good call. Do you think you can put it up for me?"

She hesitates, hands full of candy pink hair with nothing resembling a hair tie in sight. In the end, she undoes the red ribbon tied beneath her own collar and ties Mime's hair up in a loose, slightly crooked ponytail with it.

Two weeks ago, Mime could barely look Victoria in the eye, mouse-like in her timid reticence and so quiet that Victoria always feared that she'd turn around and find that Mime had disappeared ten minutes ago. Now, the little spirit hums happily while Victoria does her hair, poking at half melted, amalgamated chocolate pieces in the bowl. She reminds Victoria of Marie, both genuine in their innocence.

Victoria leaves Mime to it and looks around the kitchen. Morgan and Kaidan continue to cut and wash strawberries in peaceful silence at the sink. Meanwhile, Ann locates several plates, cutting a piece of parchment paper to cover each one and save them the trouble of washing them later.

When she finds Michael, leaning against the counter at the corner of the kitchen supervising, he's smiling suspiciously at her. If anything, when she narrows her eyes at him, his smile just widens, and she walks closer, crossing her arms.

"What?" she asks curtly.

"Nothing," he replies, all innocence. "Just thinking about how I'm always right."

In response, she gives him an irritated look, wondering if he's calling her out on their earlier conversation regarding Alethea. "Oh? Do tell," she says sarcastically, lifting her chin.

From the stove, Mime exclaims, "Michael, the chocolate's done!"

"Alright, you can take it off the stove."

He makes his way around Victoria but stops at her side; the light in his eyes has nothing to do with magic this time.

"Like I said," he says, quiet enough for just the two of them, "you keep us safe, until the end."

As he moves to help Mime, Victoria's gaze follows of its own volition, and she lets her feet carry her to join the others, pressing her lips together in an effort to contain a small smile.

Fun fact, my college roommates also liked making chocolate strawberries late at night, which is where I got the inspiration :3

(I also don't know how short Mime is and if she actually would need a stepstool; however, she is but a smol innocent bean in my eyes and she gets a stepstool :))

Small detail, but I like the idea of Victoria being the most well-trained and experienced first responder in the group (and of course she would know where the first aid kit is). As a Demon Hunter and a Knight, she's definitely had a lot of experience patching people up, both herself and her coworkers and probably civilians too. That part about her responding to Morgan's injury was added in as a later edit (in the first draft, Victoria kind of just stood there with Michael and calmed him down), but I thought it would be good to have her actually do something, especially when Michael finishes off the chapter by saying that she keeps them safe (which was at first just a reference to her keeping Mime from catching fire).