Memento Mori

Their infiltration spanned over the course of less than a month. They had until May fifteenth. The day of the teacher meeting where Mannox would expel all of them plus Joan. They were honestly unsure if he was expelling Kat too, and that thought was all the more worrying.

They would go into the grand music hall and make their way through its winding hall, destroying shadows (and gaining Personas, in Cathy’s case) as they went.

They even discovered more areas, like the giant garden that was more of a hedge maze with a giant, gold statue of a smug Mannox in the middle.

Infiltrating the palace, they were put in danger. There were serious moments and fun, exciting moments. They had to talk about reincarnation and even deal with stuff in reality. They had competitions, protected each other, played pranks.

Those things happened, and both kinds of situations had happy endings.

~~||~~||~~

It was a normal routine in the palace. They had finished another battle (this time against an elite, so they all needed a bit of rest) and had headed back to the safe room. Cathy had gotten another strategy idea and wanted to write it down as soon as she could.

Anna and Anne were talking at the other side of the table. Cathy was hunched over the table, pen scratching furiously against paper.

She was so excited for this strategy! Becoming a Phantom Thief is one of the best things to happen to her. She couldn’t ask for better friends and she gets to focus her brain on strategies like this!

“Hey, Survivor, what are you doing with your hand?” It was Mona who asked. Anna and Anne glanced over curiously as well.

Cathy froze. One of her hands was held slightly in the air. And with a dawning anxiety and fear, Cathy realized that she had begun to flap it in her excitement and happiness.

She always did that, but it had been a long time since someone had actively witnessed her doing it.

She quickly began to spiral, thoughts negative. Oh god, were the thieves going to think it was weird? Cathy didn’t know how she could keep going if they left her like the rest.

Cathy didn’t blink back into the world until she felt a gentle pressure on her shoulders. Anna had moved the chair and was kneeling in front of her, hands in Cathy’s shoulders. All three of her teammates were looking at her with such concern and curiosity that it hurt.

Cathy also didn’t realize that she had begun to spiral. Her breathing had picked up and she had begun to rock herself. Her eyes had been squeezed shut and one arm was locked in her own iron grip. Anna’s touch was what started to bring her out of it, but she was still half in a panic attack.

“I wasn’t trying to accuse you of anything!” Morgana said quickly upon noticing Cathy’s eyes glance towards him. “I was just curious, promise!”

“Yeah, Somnolente… we weren’t trying to be mean, promise.” Anne soothed from where she stood at the table. She was ready to join Anna if she needed to.

“There’s nothing wrong with what you were doing and we aren’t angry or disgusted, promise.” Anna agreed. It was like the group knew what exactly she feared…

Cathy blinked and shrunk a little, she glanced at them warily, as if trying to weed out their ‘true thoughts’ that, unknown to her, didn’t even exist. “You don’t… you don’t think it’s weird?”

“Who told you it was weird, Bücherwurm?” Anna asked gently. Her posture, all of their postures, was relaxed except for the bit of tense muscles that showed they were fully ready to strike someone down. And in the back of her mind (the extremely small corner where the wave of panic hadn’t hit), Cathy knew she would be in the exact same position if she was to trade places.

Cathy stared at the three of them, as if trying to find an ulterior motive. It wasn’t weird? But… everyone else told her so…

Cathy’s mouth felt dry. She struggled to get her words out. “Everyone did… Henry and Thomas would yell…”

There was a moment of silence and Cathy turned her gaze to the floor, her hands grip on her arm tight enough to draw blood. She heard a muffled curse from all three.

“Hey, hey.” Anne said next, she gently stepped forward and knelt in front of Cathy next to Anna, the red queen shifting over slightly and letting go of Cathy’s shoulders. Anne gently took Cathy’s hands in her grip. “You’ll hurt yourself… And never listen to those two. Past life or this life, they are liars and scum. And everyone else just doesn’t understand, alright? You aren’t weird and none of what you do is weird, I promise you.”

“I…” Cathy couldn’t find words. She looked suspicious, but when none of the other thieves made a move, only looking at her with the corners of their lips lifting up to give her patient smiles, Cathy’s guard dropped carefully. “Thank you…”

“Of course! I can’t let a fellow thief be upset, can I?” Morgana asked in his familiar smug attitude that made Cathy chuckle.

For a moment, the group made small conversation, calming Cathy down further.

“Now, can you tell us a bit more about why you do it? We’re just curious and if you don’t want to then we completely understand.” Anna asked Cathy slowly and carefully, ready to take the question back if needed.

Cathy was silent for a moment before carefully speaking. “I have ASD… Autism.”

“And what’s that?” Morgana asked.

“I don’t…” Cathy took a deep breath before she carefully pulled her notebook off the table, turned to a clean page, and began to write.

It was a long minute before Cathy paused in her writing. She hesitated for a moment before carefully holding the notebook out to the other thieves.

Anne took it with a grin and held it for Morgana and Anna to read as well. The three poured over it for a little bit before looking back up to Cathy with reassuring smiles.

“Thank you for telling us, Bücherwurm.” Anna said gently, her familiar easy grin on her face.

“See? Not weird at all! It’s just you expressing yourself!” Anne was beaming at Cathy.

Morgana tilted his head. “I can’t claim I completely understand… but I’ll do my best to!”

Cathy stared at all three for a moment before her lips curled into the tiniest of smiles and her hand slowly began to flap and forth again.

“Am I okay to ask what it means for you to flap your hand?” Anna asked with a small laugh.

“Happy. Excited.” Cathy said before quickly leaning forward to capture Anne and Anna into a hug.

Both of them eagerly gave into the hug. The duo along with Mona seemed very happy by the fact that all of their adventuring, acceptance, and more was making Cathy happier. She had come to London seemingly depressed and then everything with Mannox happened… but they were managing to cheer her up.

“Don’t you far think you’re getting out of the group hug, Mona!”

“Agh, fine!” No one mentioned how happy Morgana seemed at the hug.

They would go on with the palace for a little longer that day, the group asking small questions with constant reassurances that Cathy didn’t have to answer if she was uncomfortable. And most of the questions, Cathy answered happily (she told them about eye contact, her fidget cube, the headphones, and as much more as she could).

No one had ever listened to her explain why she acted differently. No one treated her like a person after finding out about her autism. And Cathy felt herself being endeared and growing more attached to this ragtag, strange group the longer she was around them.

She would lead them in battle willingly, and she would be their friend as long as she could. And for once, the voice in the back of her mind telling her she was weird, that this group would abandon her like the rest, was quiet. She knew it would come back, but Cathy would do her best not to listen.

They were connected by so many things, reincarnation, Personas, and the Metaverse. But they had forged bonds both through and past those things.

And all four cherished it.

That night, Anne and Anna would go home and research autism, wanting to do everything they could to make Cathy more comfortable. Morgana would keep a close eye on Cathy like normal, helping her create some lockpicks.

And Anne would find an article on ADHD during her search. And something about its contents felt achingly familiar…

~~||~~||~~

But while they had courage and fun in the Metaverse, reality still had its ways of fucking with them.

Cathy thought her confidence in the Metaverse was raising her pride and confidence in reality. And it was! But you couldn’t stand against everything…

Only now, Cathy wasn’t dealing with it on her own.

She had left class, heading for their familiar meetup bench. Anna had gone to find Kat and Morgana was still with Cathy in the girl’s bag.

During class, Morgana had begun to join Cathy and would squeeze his way into the small desk space. He was curious and always either listening attentively to the lesson or helping Cathy with something. Anna was just as amused by the sight as Cathy and always helped hide him. Luckily, they were in the very back corner.

Now, school was over and both Cathy and Morgana were ready to do some more infiltration.

“We don’t know how much longer Anne can keep Kat out of Mannox’s lesson, we need to take his treasure as soon as possible.” Morgana told Cathy from the bag as they sat down.

“Hopefully, we are close. If the maps are right, there’s one more area to the Palace. Maybe within this week…” Cathy mumbled the last line more to herself.

“No worries! I trust you and your strategies to pull us through, Survivor!” Morgana purred, causing Cathy to chuckle.

“Could you find my fidget cube?” Cathy asked Morgana quietly as a group of students passed a little too close for comfort.

“Of course I can!” Cathy stuck her hand into the bag and quickly felt Morgana press the object into her hand.

“Thank you, Morgana. And I’m sorry you have to be crammed in there with all of my stuff.”

“I’ve already told you, it’s fine! You don’t keep much in here anyways. Supplies make up most of it.”

It was true, Cathy had begun separating her schoolwork and notebooks (the exception was the notebook she kept in the supply and Morgana bag for writing strategies) into a book bag she brought to school with them.

For several minutes it was quiet, Cathy focusing on her fidget cube with the occasional small hum and Mona could be heard shifting through supplies, making a last minute check that they had everything.

That was when the disaster started.

“Hey look, it’s the criminal transfer student!” A loud voice taunted. Cathy’s hands paused in their movement and out of the corner of her eye, she could spot two boys and two girls making their way over, laughing. There were the ones who avoided her like the plague, and then the small handful who were like this.

A low hiss could be heard and for a moment, Cathy seriously thought Morgana was going to come flying out of the bag and find the one who taunted her.

They reached her and Cathy flinched as they promptly surrounded her. Dammit... This wasn’t shadows, she couldn’t fight back without causing problems.

“Hey criminal! How has your day been? Stab anyone recently?” One of the girls taunted. Two teens were in front of her and two were behind her leaning against the bench.

Cathy didn’t offer them a response.

“Oi, she asked a question!” One of the boys snapped, reaching forward to smack the side of Cathy’s head.

Cathy hunched down lower, inhaling sharply through her nose. So they weren’t afraid to be physical…

For a minute or two, the four students talked above her, occasionally asking her a question that she didn’t respond to. The silence was usually met by another slap to the head. But the stinging pain didn’t hurt as much as Cathy expected it to.

“Hey guys, do you think she would talk if we took her little toy?” One of the girls finally asked with a malicious grin.

The other three’s eyes lit up at that suggestion and Cathy quickly moved to pull the cube back to where she could hold it tightly.

But before she could, the boy of the group reached forward and slapped the cube out of Cathy’s hands.

That was the exact second chaos erupted.

Cathy fell into a panic almost immediately, leaping up and shoving the boy away from where he had taken several steps closer to her. The boy yelped and his friends were quickly catching him. Cathy had shoved him hard in the chest and the boy was regaining his breath as he was steadied.

From there, Cathy had grabbed the cube and was trying to focus as she stamped down the rage and tried to hide from the suddenly too bright voices and too bright sunlight.

Cathy was crouched on the ground and let out a cry as she herself was suddenly shoved to the floor. The cube went spinning from her hand and Cathy instinctively curled in on herself, laying on her side on the too hot too rough cement.

She was already caught off guard by the verbal attack and then the sudden physical attack, but then yelling broke out.

Her senses flew into overdrive as her emotions and panic overwhelmed her. And so did her memories. Thomas, Henry, the court. Their yelling and abuse flashed before her eyes. She felt that familiar sickness pool in her stomach and Cathy could only curl further in on herself, willing her body not to gag, heave, and vomit.

Her eyes were clamped shut, the visions flashing behind closed eyelids. Her hands were squeezed tight to her ears, marks and dots of blood appearing where her nails made contact with her skin.

Cathy wanted her senses to stop screaming. She wanted the men to stop screaming. She wanted her Personas to stop crying out in fury and rage at the injustice of it all. She wanted everything to shut the fuck up!

With her heart beating loud in her ears and the blood rushing through her skull, Cathy didn’t hear the distressed noises that escaped her lips. Screaming, crying, whining. She wanted to lash out again, her hands were occupied. So Cathy began to kick, thrashing her feet out in the air.

Cathy couldn’t fight back here. She didn’t have the power and strength that she did in the Metaverse. She was weak and stuck with her mental and physical demons.

As the split second events took place, Anna and Anne had met up and we’re making their way over when they saw the scene. The two’s fast walk turned into a sprint and simultaneously, Morgana was launching out of the bag. All three were in blurs.

They just knew that Cathy, their friend, the person they considered as a leader, had been attacked and was in a panic. That was the only motivation they needed.

Anne was in front of the teenagers in the span of a second. Morgana had startled all of them but wasn’t actually attacking, he was in front of Cathy protectively, staying out of the range of Cathy’s swinging legs.

While the cat and green queen faced off protectively, Anna knelt by Cathy’s side. She was almost with Morgana and Anne, but quickly realized that they had the defense handled. So she grabbed Cathy’s bag and knelt by her side.

She knew that Cathy probably had some items in her bag. She began whispering soothing words to Cathy as she searched the bag. One of Anna's hands rested on Cathy’s shoulder and the blue queen tried to move away for a moment. Then, she seemed to take the touch as a focus point and leaned more into it. Her legs stopped kicking but she was rocking herself, eyes still clenched shut in pain and hands pressed tightly over her ears.

By this point, a small crowd of the remaining students had gathered, whispering and murmuring to each other.

For a second, Anna heard the boys and Anne exchange insults and furious comments, all originating around Cathy.

Then, Anne must have said something to set the first boy off. Because that was when the first boy’s fist lashed out, aimed directly for Anne’s face.

While their reflexes, strength, and speed weren’t as good in reality as they were in the Metaverse, (what they did there was almost impossible compared to before) they still had gained some of those capabilities in reality, only to a smaller extent.

So when that fist came towards Anne, the only thing she had to do was slip to the side, grab his arm and twist. Red rage pricked at the corners of her vision and she knew for a fact that she would have flipped him so she could.

It was a sad fact that he was too heavy for her to do so. Hmm, Anna probably could. The fact that the fight could move their expulsion deadline to today was a worrying thought that was quickly pressed to the back of her mind by the glowing fury.

The boy cried out at the pressure and backed up, staring wide eyed at Anne. The two girls and the other guy all glared at her.

Then, the first boy lunged again. Anne met him head on and the two tumbled to the ground.

“Scheisse—! Mona watch her! Hang on, Bücherwurm!” And then Anna was leaping to Anne’s side, practically tackling the second boy that was about to slam into Anne. The girls immediately began cheering for the boys. Morgana remained crouched by Cathy’s side, whispering to the girl, nuzzling her arm and forehead, and looking for any chance he could get to join the fight.

The fight had started in half a second, and it was stopped just as quickly.

“And what exactly are you doing?”

The teenagers all paused from where they had gotten back to their feet to face off and turned to find one Catalina Aragon. The golden clad teenager had a cold look on her face. But it wasn’t directed towards Cathy and the other queens, it was all aimed towards the bullies.

“What does it matter to you Aragon, you religious bitch?! Go back to serving the principal and the staff or whatever the fuck you do!” One of the girls barked.

For a moment, a flash of pain appeared in Catalina’s eyes. But it was quickly replaced by the original cold stare.

“All four of you will be leaving this group alone right now.”

“What do you care about a criminal?! She’s a fucking freak! She’s already forming a gang and she attacked Jason! She’ll snap one of these days, and you’ll regret stepping in!” One of the girls countered.

“That’s my sister and her friends you just hurt. I suggest you leave them alone and go home.” Upon seeing the defiant looks, Catalina added a threatening, “Now.”

The bullies all paled slightly. Then, all four turned tail and scattered. They all separated and vanished into different directions. The crowd dispersed almost as quickly. Luckily, the teachers hadn’t been attracted by the crowd, the events having been short.

The second the danger was gone, the thieves were by Cathy’s side. Morgana had been by her side the entirety of the fight, keeping a careful eye and trying to ground her.

Cathy had stopped kicking, but was still curled up and trying to block off her senses, rocking herself and whining softly.

Catalina was swiftly making her way over and sitting on the ground, reaching over and pulling Cathy up into her arms. She secured an arm around Cathy’s waist and pulled the girl’s head into the crook of her neck. She covered Cathy’s exposed ear with her own hand, and didn’t complain when Cathy’s hands took a deathgrip onto Catalina’s arm.

For a moment, Cathy squirmed in Catalina’s arms. But then she went limp and actually relaxed further into the embrace.

“Shh, just relax, it’s safe and quiet now.” Catalina murmured.

“Is she having an overload?” Anne asked, tapping her fingers against the back of her other hand.

“Looks like it to me…” Anna replied, she reached over and placed a gentle hand on Anne’s shoulder and let Morgana up to perch on her own shoulder. “Catalina’s got her.”

At some point, Kat had reached their side. “Is Cathy okay?” She asked immediately.

“She will be Chaton.” Anne replied. Kat bit her lip nervously but nodded, her eyes staying glued to the scene in front of her.

(During their days on infiltration, they always made sure to keep up with Kat. They would hang out with her, comfort her. And Kat latched onto the friendship, the comfort and kindness, returning it with her own. She may not be a thief, but she sure as hell was one of their own.)

Eventually, Cathy calmed down and everyone was able to gather around without causing her to spiral further. They all began whispering, Cathy staying silent and trying to sign when someone else walked up.

“I believe this is yours?”

All five girls glanced over to the origin of the soft voice. They found a girl dressed in white and black, the grey uniform blending with it. She had long blond hair pulled back on top and was smiling gently at them, looking mainly to Cathy. In her outstretched hand she held out the blue queen’s fidget cube.

For a moment, Cathy stared. Then she slowly nodded her head, reaching up to take the cube from her position in Catalina’s arms. The other girl handed it over with a smile, which turned a little sad.

“I’m sorry something like that happened to you… I must be going but I do hope your day goes better!” And then the girl was off, practically speed walking down the sidewalk in her haste to get somewhere.

Everyone watched her go before Anne started chuckling. “Well, Somnolente. Looks like you’ve met all of the queens!”

From there, the group escorted Cathy to the station, where she proceeded home with Catalina and Morgana. Away from the two non-thieves, the other thieves would quietly reassure Cathy that it was alright to take a break from infiltration especially after what happened.

The tube ride was rather uneventful (Catalina did have to calm Cathy again, but it was far more minor compared to the meltdown back in front of the school) and soon, the two humans and one cat reached home. As they walked in the front door, Cathy put her bags down, letting Morgana clamber out. She could put them upstairs later.

“Movie?” Cathy asked in a whisper, glancing towards the television and tugging on Catalina’s sleeve. Catalina’s gaze softened as she very quickly realized what Cathy was trying to ask.

“I think now is the perfect time.”

So that’s what they did. Catalina made them both mugs of hot chocolate and they curled up together on the couch, Cathy getting control over the movie. Morgana didn’t leave Cathy’s side through any of it, curled up on the girl’s lap. None of them moved from their spots for the rest of the night.

The panic and stinging pain from the bullies’ slaps and the meltdown slowly faded the further the night went on and Cathy found herself drifting into a blissful sleep.

~~||~~||~~

A blast of shadows quickly decimated an oncoming shadow, one weak to that magic.

“Heads up!”

Ghost ducked as Hound leapt forward, striking down the approaching shadow.

Then, Survivor vaulted over Hound, hitting that same shadow with a blast of fire magic summoned by Cait Sith. She then spun to face another shadow racing up behind all of them, quickly summoning Eligor to knock it back with a physical skill, cleave. Then, all it took was Mona summoning Zorro to hit the shadow with a strong wind skill.

“Good work everyone!” Mona praised, looking very proud of the queen trio.

“So, are we going to back out for the day?” Hound rolled her shoulders back. “We made it far!”

Survivor hummed and shook her head. “Just a little bit further. I think there’s another safe room a little further ahead.”

“Then let’s get moving everyone.” Mona told everyone, stepping a little further down the hall.

Suddenly, it seemed like a lightbulb went off in Ghost’s head. “Let’s see who can destroy the most shadows by the time we reach the safe room!” Ghost declared, a smirk on her face.

“Oh, it’s on!” Hound shot back, body straightening and an excited glint appearing in her eyes.

“It sounds fun.” Survivor agreed before everyone looked to Mona. The thief was silent for a moment.

“Alright… I’m going to sit out though. And everyone needs to continue to be vigilant and alert during your fun, alright?!” Morgana demanded, tail swishing angrily. “I don’t want any injured thieves!”

(They all preferred to not remember the time a shadow’s blade came inches too close to Anne’s neck. The following panic attack had hurt all of them, not just Anne. And it hurt even worse when they had to explain to Morgana exactly why Anne freaked out further than just possible death.)

After everyone gave their assent to Mona’s condition, the game began.

Ghost and Hound powered forward. As they continued down their path, many shadows fell to their weapons and skills.

Sometimes, they worked together. Hound used her axe to launch Ghost towards a shadow, one the earliest strategies Survivor developed.

Sometimes they stole each other’s kills. Hound finished off the shadow Ghost cornered with a blast of ice magic fired by Artemis’s arrow, earning her a competitive scowl.

But it was clear that both were taking out as many shadows as they could. Their magic and energy was quickly being drained by all of the useage. So they did one last burst of attacks, counting as they went.

Nemesis chuckled happily as she called the curse magic that struck down a shadow creeping up on Hound. Artemis nodded to herself as she returned the favor to Ghost with an arrow of ice magic. “EIGHTEEN!”

Then both quickly swept past each other to where they were back to back. They turned to melee weapons, their magic having finally been drained. It took a minute of fighting, but they struck down the shadows. “NINETEEN!”

And then, they turned to face each other again. Hound fired her rifle over Ghost’s shoulders and Ghost threw a shuriken over Hound’s shoulder, destroying the already weakened Andras and Kelpie that had been creeping up behind the both of them.

They gazed at each other challengingly for a moment. Triumphant grins were stretched across their face.

“TWENTY!”

Silence for a beat. Then, realization hit. Ghost and Hound stared at each other, gaping. They had gotten the same number of shadows.

“There’s no way.” Ghost said after a moment, eyes narrowing.

“Oh, this has got to be a joke.” Hound agreed, her eyes also narrowing as she brought her axe up to rest on her shoulder.

“THERE’S NO WAY WE TIED!”

“YEAH, SO WHAT WAS YOUR REAL NUMBER?!”

“ME?!”

“Twenty-four.”

Ghost and Hound both blinked at the new number and whipped their heads to look at Survivor, who had arrived with Mona when they began arguing. Mona was laughing on the floor and Survivor was watching the two with a tilted head.

“That means I win, yeah?”

For a moment, Hound and Ghost swore a smug smirk passed Survivor’s face, but neither could confirm it. Instead, both just gaped at her for several seconds.

“How did you—?”

“What—?!”

Survivor chuckled. “A magician never reveals their secrets…”

“ÜBERLEBENDE—!”

“OH, C'EST PARTI—!”

Hound and Ghost’s competition would continue for their time as Phantom Thieves. And the two never could figure out how Survivor always got more shadows than them.

Mona still thought it was hilarious and maintained that he wasn’t competing because he could easily win.

~~||~~||~~

Anne Boleyn, Ghost, was bored.

Sure, she loved fighting shadows. It was something for her to release every single pent up emotion on. She got to do it with her newfound friends too, a major bonus.

But while she still loved doing it, whenever the adrenaline wore off, she would find herself losing focus and becoming more bored with the familiar scenery of the music hall and ongoing puzzles.

That was why, when she wandered off from the others to have some fun, she couldn’t really be blamed!

Now, Anne didn’t like being called dumb. It was something she heard commonly and she hated every second of it. Home, school, people usually had something to say about her intelligence.

They never knew that Anne was smart as hell, she just couldn’t focus on that damn school work. It was part of why she liked theatre, it gave her times where she was able to move, act.

The only thing Anne liked about their assumptions was that they never saw the pranks coming. Intelligent, planned pranks. Pranks that when she wasn’t distracted, Anne could plan elaborately. She couldn’t be caught after all. The rumors and ‘dumb’ comments were enough, troublemaker didn’t need to be included to the list.

She couldn’t go overboard in reality. She had to be sneaky and there was no possible way for her to prank her Father and Step-Grandmother.

But this? This was another world where Anne could cause as much trouble as she truly wanted to (well, as long as she considered that fact that this was someone’s subconsciousness and who knew what would happen if she fucked it up).

That meant Anne could prank the shadows. She could prank the shadows and even Mannox’s shadow. She could release that energy always pent up inside of her towards not only battles, but pranks.

That was why Anne armed herself with supplies. Cans of spray paints, smoke bombs she had stolen off Cathy and Morgana, and some other stuff. All squirreled away in a backpack that the others thankfully didn’t question.

The shadows would never see Ghost coming.

~~||~~||~~

Guard one was taking a break. After all, the thieves were further in the palace, not back in the classrooms. There was no need for alarm.

Guard two rounded the corner at the end of the hall.

They both greeted each other at the same time. They began to patrol together, making their way through the classroom’s winding halls. They didn’t appear to hear the screams.

“Those Phantom Thieves have made their way further into the Hall. The Great Conductor may direct most of us to that area soon.”

“Do you think we’ll get sent there?”

“I hope so! I’m sure I could take out the thieves no problem!”

“I don’t know… I’ve heard that they’ve taken out three elites!”

“Ha! Rumors and gossip!”

Then, both heard a laugh. A mischievous one that was just asking for trouble if they went near.

Both guards froze upon seeing a figure at the end of the hallway. It was one of the thieves. Dressed in green and giving them a mischievous grin, both guards recognized her as the one they called Ghost.

“Bonjour les perdants!” Ghost crowed before quickly sprinting down the hallway.

“Hey, stop!”

“Get back here!”

The guards quickly raced after the thief. They ignored the thought of just how bizarre this was…

Where were the other thieves? Why would one show themselves like this? But the guards were under orders from their great conductor.

They were going to catch that thief.

They made their way down several hallways, the guards always a few steps behind the green thief. Finally, they came across a doorway.

The guards didn’t notice Ghost hop over something. They continued their run, only to hit a small string stretched across the doorway.

For the guards, it went to slow motion, their eyes widening almost frantically.

In less than a second after hitting the tripwire, both shadows were covered head to toe in glitter. They yelped in pain as the glitter assaulted their eyes, blinding them.

Then, as they stumbled frantically, batons dropped and hands held over their eyes, one guard stepped into a looped rope on the floor. That guard was dragged up into the air with a shriek, dangling him inside down.

The other guard was kicked from behind, sending him flailing to the floor. The guard laid there, still trying to remove glitter from his eyes as something heavy, a bookshelf, also fell down on him, pinning him to the floor.

Before either had time to recover and free themselves, much less transform into their shadow selves, the fainting laughter showed that their attacker, the thief, had vanished.

For a moment, it was silent. Both shadows still struggling to clear their eyes and free themselves.

“None of the others will know about this.”

“Agreed. AGH!” The rope snapped and the guard hit the floor with a pained groan.

Taking a break from her pranks, Ghost found a balcony overlooking the Music Hall’s garden the thieves recently discovered. She hopped up onto the overhang of the door so she was hidden from any passing guards.

She fidgeted with the can of spray paint in her hand as she looked over the garden.

Faintly, she wondered if the others noticed her disappearance by this point. She was sure they did. She snickered at the thought of the group finding her path of destruction.

They’d definitely catch up soon, probably scold her too. But there was one more prank Anne wanted to try and pull before they found her.

Pranking the shadow guards was fun, but Anne wanted to go bigger. She wanted to prank the Palace’s main shadow himself, Mannox. She was too furious at him to just let her pranks stop without that one big bruise to his ego.

She just knew she needed some way to get back to Mannox. Something to satisfy her until she could finally steal his treasure.

That was when Ghost noticed the giant, gold statue in the center of the gardens. It was gold and garish and Ghost hated just to look at it, that smug smirk on a half naked, golden statue. Ghost glanced from the statue to the can of spray paint she held in her hand.

Perfect.

When Ghost questioned if the others had begun looking for her, she was exactly right. The others had long noticed by now and began their search.

“Wie zum Teufel did we lose her?” Hound huffed as they backtracked quickly.

“I just wish we noticed sooner…” Survivor whispered under her breath as the ducked around another corner.

“We have to hurry, what if the shadows got her?” Mona hissed to them.

Both of the humans’ eyes narrowed. It was Hound who spoke. “Alright, we’re stopping that thought right there. Ghost probably just got separated. There’s no way she would let herself be captured like that.”

They reached the courtyard and were now under the statue as Mona grumbled so the others couldn’t hear him. “She’s a good fighter, but with how loud she is…” Just then, the smallest thief looked up and gaped in surprise.

“Wait guys, look up!” Mona alerted the others. The other two looked up and could only stare in surprise.

Ghost was perched on the shoulder of the giant statue of Mannox, spray painting onto its face. She had begun to paint the ‘skin’ pink with a black circle encasing one eye.

“Ghost!” It was Hound who called.

Ghost jolted and looked that them. Then a beaming grin stretched across her face. “There you guys are!”

“What are you doing?” Survivor spoke up, tilting her head curiously.

“I’m pranking Mannox! I’ve already gotten a few of the shadows!” Ghost tittered, looking very pleased as she managed to climb down.

“By spray painting his statue?!” Mona hissed.

“I think it’s hilarious.” Hound spoke up, a very amused smile on her face.

“Listen, fighting shadows is fun and all, but I wanted to do something else.” Ghost explained easily, tossing the can back and forth between her hands. “And what better to do than fuck with the shadows and, even better, Mannox!”

“We need to focus on the palace!”

“Come on, Mona! You have to admit you want to do it too! I saw the way you eyed up the spray paints!”

“Well… wait no, we need to focus on the treasure!”

Everyone glanced at Survivor, who carefully grabbed another can of spray paint from Ghost’s bag. She studied it for a moment before turning and tossing it to Hound, who caught it easily.

“We have several more days before the deadline… what plans did you have?” Survivor eventually asked.

Ghost beamed and put her backpack down. The other thieves listened with interest as Ghost began to explain all of the pranks she had put together and also her plans for the statue, rambling in the process.

After Ghost explained her plans and pranks, the other three actually looked eager. (That didn’t stop Survivor from giving Ghost a small, rather peaceful scolding about separating from the group later on)

Survivor picked up the third and final can of spray paint that had been left on the ground and shook it. She looked back to the others.

“Well Phantom Thieves, I vote for trying out vandalism.”

And after they finished their vandalism, they proceeded to set up several more pranks throughout the palace, leading helpless shadows straight to them.

It was later that Mannox came storming into the gardens. His guards had alerted him as to what happened and he came rushing out. His jaw dropped upon seeing the state of his once grand statue.

It’s once golden ‘skin’ was spray painted a bright pink, someone had given it a mustache and black eye. The underwear was painted navy, but they had left gold in the front, as a certain symbolism. They had spray painted red cheeks and done much more to turn the statue into a colorful disgrace. At some point, they had even chipped the nose off (no one had to know that someone simply slipped and broke it).

Mannox let out a cry of shock and anger. His guards took a slight step back from the noise.

“DAMN THIEVES!”

He never noticed the four thieves laughing at his expression and cry from up high before they left the palace for the day, laughter never fading.

It was much more fun than the group thought it would be. And if this Phantom Thievery continued, they were certain they would be helping Ghost with her pranks more often.

~~||~~||~~

Throughout all of the infiltration, one thing was clear to all four. They were gaining confidence and happiness.

Cathy, Survivor, was so much stronger than before, moving towards forgiving herself and finding the happiness and friendship she never truly had. Anne, Ghost, was becoming less spiteful and angry, the world that wronged her in so many ways was finally giving back to her with actual friends and a way to give others their own justice.

Anna, Hound, was becoming more protective of them and noticeably happier, she hadn’t had anyone other than Kat and now she was gaining friends and avenging her best friend. Morgana, Mona, was less spiteful and losing his edges (even if he still was smug and sarcastic), he clearly had come to care about the queens and took the role of guide and healer with pride, looking after the queens and joining their antics.

Yeah, they were having fun during the month of infiltration. Learning more about each other, releasing pent up energy and emotion on shadows.

But now? It was time to end it. They were going to free the students from the abuse and oppression. They were going to avenge Kat.

They were going to steal Mannox’s treasure.