Arena: A Duel Academy Fanfic - [COMPLETED]

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 24: Double Exponential]
Word Count: 4031

When I was a kid, we always used to set up decorations for Duel Monster Spirit Day around the end of October. We'd set up posters of our favorite Duel Monster spirits, hang around creepy black lights to identify any wandering spirits that happened to pass by. We'd set up fake Ancient Egyptian stone tablets on the front lawn, and we'd go out dressed as our favorite Duel Monsters and beg for candy.

One of my least favorite traditions however was pumpkin carving. I was never really the artistic type growing up, otherwise I'd probably have ended up in the Card Design program instead of Pro Dueling. But in any case the only Duel Monster I could ever get even remotely okay on my pumpkin was Pumpking the King of Ghosts. Because of this, I disliked carving them. I disliked the smell afterwards, disliked the cleanup, and after all that set up I'd always forgot to take them back in after the holiday was over. By around Pilgrims Day my King of Ghosts pumpkin would be in a sorry state. It's once proud snarl would be reduced to an anguished mouth crying out in pain. Its fearless eye would be a hollow, sunken pit. The cheeks would sag, the overall shape would droop, and just in general the pumpkin would be nothing more than a disgusting dark brown husk of what it was before.

As I looked at the corpse of Ella Minnow, the first girl I had ever met on this island, all I could think of was my Duel Monster Spirit Day pumpkin from when I was a kid.

I had no idea what to say, so I just blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.

"This is bad."

"Bit of an understatement." Oliver said. In his arms Laplace was a sobbing hysterical mess.

"Oh... god... why..." I could barely make out what she was saying as she dry heaving and crying into Oliver's Critias Black jacket. Oliver did what he could to try to console her, holding her close and gently patting her on the back.

"Bad? This is like, a million times bad!" Guy meanwhile seemed to be pacing back and forth. "A million exponentials bad! A million exponential to the million exponential!"

"Double Exponential." Arena stated with a blank expression on her face.

Guy stopped pacing back and forth, turning his attention to Arena. "You knew she was going to die didn't you!?"

Arena stared at Guy before replying. "I know everything."

"Arena, stop playing around and answer the question."

Arena gave a sigh. "You will not be relieved to hear the answer, nor is there anything you can do to change the outcome, however yes I did foresee see her death."

I wasn't sure how to feel. Angry? Betrayed? Hurt? Sorry? It was a mixture of all those things, and though Arena rarely showed emotion either, it looks like she was feeling just a hint of all that too.

"I suggest you stop playing around as well." Arena added quickly. "Headmistress Ipsum is about to exit her office, and I believe you wished to use the Second Link in the Chain on her."

Guy glared at Arena, but inside all of us we all felt completely powerless in this situation. Arena always maintained that she'd avoid meddling with human affairs, so we tried getting stronger. For all the powers and abilities he had gathered from the Cursed Chain, nothing had made him feel as feeble as seeing the girl's corpse on the ground. But there would a time for grieving, and a time to mourn later. For right now, Guy Surname swallowed hard, tried to compose himself. Pushing down his anger and rage and all the bad feelings he felt and prepared to confront Lady Ipsum. It seemed he had gathered himself just in the nick of time too, as Lady Ipsum's door opened there she was, with a heavy jacket in hand.

Headmistress Ipsum quickly pushed past us students and did what she could to cover up the body with her spare jacket, to prevent anyone else from seeing her.

"I've already called the police, and the other staff are on their way. Please leave this area at once."

Though she was a natural beauty, even in a situation like this I couldn't feel much beyond the hollow painful feeling of Ella's death.

"Now!" Headmistress Ipsum commanded.

Oliver and Laplace didn't need additional convincing as they quietly walked away, but Guy stood his ground.

"W-wait headmistress Ipsum! I had a few questions!"

"Now is REALLY not the time Mister Surname." she spoke with a stern yet respectful tone of voice.

"Please headmistress, tell us the truth! Did you kill either Headmistress Swebb or Ella Minnow?"

She gasped at his accusation. Nevertheless, her eyes dilated and it was clear she was under the effect of the second link. She had to do whatever Guy said, in the case tell the truth.

"I know you're in shock over the loss of your friend, but I can say with utmost certainty that I did not kill those two! Please, do not throw around reckless speculations like that at such a grave time."

She put a hand over her chest and breathed deeply. It seemed at least we were able to cross headmistress Ipsum off the list.

"Let's go Guy." I said.

Arena looked at Guy, then at Headmistress Ipsum, and finally at the jacket-covered corpse. She gave a sigh and followed me as I ushered Guy away.


---


We didn't need to meet up with the rest of Team Surname and the Distribution for them to catch wind of what had happened. All afternoon classes were cancelled in a mass email, and all students were advised to avoid the administrative wing. The entire campus was on lockdown, and to get back in Bernouli, Gal, Ami and Weibull had to present their IDs to about 8 different cops. Ultimately they were allowed back on campus and, just as the nine of us promised early in the morning, we all met together on the fourth floor lounge to discuss what we had discovered.

I felt quite emotionally drained after today, and those of us that hadn't ditched class decided to take a seat. The other four, Team Civic Center, decided to remain standing. As soon as there was a mild lull, Weibull spoke about the metaphorical elephant in the room.

"So... Ella Minnow is dead too?"

Laplace sniffled, but Oliver held her hand and let Laplace rest her head on his shoulder.

"She didn't die like a normal person." Guy began. "I mean, she didn't leave behind a normal corpse."

"There was no blood, or stab wounds or bullet holes." I began. "She looked the same but... older. Much older. Like she had been dead for a million years."

I glanced over at Arena, unsure of what to make of it. Arena smiled as I looked her way however I felt I had nothing to smile about. I felt as though there was a pit in my stomach. Ella wasn't my closest friend or anything but she was a human being and she didn't deserve to die the way she did

"Sounds much more interesting than our day." Ami said. "We didn't find anything worthwhile at the Civic Center."

"I'd hardly call discovering a corpse 'interesting', but whatever." Oliver said with a shrug.

I stopped to think about what I knew for a moment. "Ella was about to show us a picture of the old lady from Crimson Wind. Maybe she died the same way?"

The 8 of us were quiet when at last Laplace spoke up.

"I kind of want to talk about something else right now." Laplace said, wiping tears from her face.

We all stared at her for a moment, though no one quiet knew what to say.

Of course it was up to Gal to pick up the mood. "Hey! Remember how we all met!" she said with a silly grin.

We were all unsure how to proceed with the conversation, but we did our best to navigate the troubled waters.

"Well the boys met with the Distribution when they tried hazing us last October." Ami reminded.

"We met them the same way!" Gal said eagerly. "Of course, Laplace hadn't joined them yet! It was... parrot-o?"

"Pareto." Bernouli and Arena corrected at the same time. Bernouli glared at Arena, but continued. "Distribution is always one sophomore, one junior, and one senior, so Pareto graduated last year. Laplace is this year’s sophomore."

"She'll be a senior sooner than you think." Arena said.

Guy stared at Bernouli for a minute before blurting out what was on his mind. "You hated me when we first met."

Bernouli scowled. "I'm still on the fence. After you defeated my brother Ailment during the Graduation duel at Lincoln he was forever changed. Consider this just a temporary truce until..." Bernouli paused to glance over at Laplace before continuing.

"Well, for now we don't need to worry ourselves with investigations. Let the professionals handle it. The SSPD decided to pick up the case again since there was a second... well... since this afternoon."

Laplace gave a weak smile. "Yeah, I don't want to worry about any of that anymore."

She took a deep breath and tried to sit up straight. "I wish we could all just go back to the way things were. Back to when we all first met, when I first signaled our arrival at the track field with my air horn. Back to our first duel, our first date, all those things I thought would last forever. I guess all this stuff with Ella Minnow just kind of makes you think... life is short, you know?"

Oliver blushed, pulling away from Laplace. "Our... first date?"

She scowled. "I mean... I know NOW that Arena doesn't mean anything like that to you. She... helped you with your classes, with her magical powers. I just..."

Laplace kept fidgeting uncomfortable, but Gal seemed to have an idea as to where this was all headed. "Just kiss already!"

"Shut up Gal!" Laplace blushed. "But I mean... if we went back to how things were... it would be nice."

Oliver smiled back. "We'll make things better than they were before."

He leaned in, kissing Laplace on the cheek.

"Aww." Gal and Ami cooed. Weibull gave an approving smile. Bernouli scowled, before sighing and nodding. Arena looked at me and rest her head on her shoulder.

Guy was the only one who remained quiet. His mind had drifted to something he felt was far more important. "I know we've 'officially' given up the investigation here, but if it's alright with everyone here, there was just one teacher left for us to investigate."

Gal gasped. "You can't mean Hilda! She's like, the nicest bestest teacher ever!"

"She's still a suspect, and our only one at that."

"Actually..." Ami adjusted her glasses. "Arena said it wasn't a child and it wasn't someone from Crimson Wind. There's about 38 teachers, faculty and staff at Hawthorne-"

"Alright, you go investigate the 37 others people Ami. I'll investigate Mishegoss. I can't explain it, but there's just a feeling I've got that Mishegoss is more than she seems."

"Yeah! In the best way!" Gal shot back. "I'm coming along too to make sure you don't harm Hilda's good name!"

Guy seemed to have similar thoughts to me. I always knew there was something weird with Mishegoss, and with Oliver and Laplace on the cusp of a reunion this seemed like as good a time as any to leave. "I'll tag along too. We should probably leave the two lovebirds alone."

The two others of the Distribution gave each other a look before shaking their heads and rolling their eyes. "Alright, looks like our investigation is officially over." Bernouli announced as she pressed the button for the elevator.

"Don't have too much fun kids." Weibull said with a bit of a smile. At last the elevator arrived and the pair got in.

"Don't expect to see us when you get back!" Laplace called out as the doors closed. She stood up from the lounge couch and looked back at Oliver. "I'm heading home. Olly, are you coming with?"

"Yeah, I just needed to visit my room for... I needed to pick up something."

He gave her a coy and knowing smirk. She blushed but nodded. "I'll see you downstairs then."

"Alright then." Guy began. "Tonight we'll find out once and for all just who's responsible for all of this, and put an end to it."

For all their years of training and manpower, Guy Surname had one thing that the SSPD lacked, and that was the power of the Cursed Chain. Unfortunately for us, our killer had years of experience evading the other Links of the Cursed Chain as well.


----


It was late in the evening and the sun was beginning to set, casting weird, orange lights all throughout the hallways. I had been carried out unconscious by a fireman, but I briefly wondered if the Lincoln Academy dorms looked like this the day our school burned down.

We wandered a bit looking for the professor, from her office to the cafeteria, before we finally stopped to ask Arena for directions. The Goddess of Wisdom informed us that she was in the Duel Disk labs.

We found Mishegoss with hair tied back, thick safety glasses on, long slacks, and she was covered in grease while being wrist deep in a duel disk.

"Hey kids!" Mishegoss greeted with a smile.

"Hey Hilda!" Gal greeted, as though she completely forgot why we came here. "Whatcha workin' on today?"

She smiled. "Cops wanted ME of all people to PULL Ella's Speak-N-Play!"

She seemed awfully cheerful given what just happened hours ago. Even Gal seemed a bit confused as to Mishegoss's sudden cheerfulness. We all looked at her worried as she continued. "The SSPD wanted to SEE if there was anything SUSPICIOUS recorded on her duel disk. Preee-tty positive there is NOTHING worthwhile on it. They ONLY activate before duels OR manually. Doubt SHE would know to start recording. In ANY case, the police insisted they would have THEIR own forensic people look it over." Mishegoss gave a laugh. "Puh-lease! As IF there's anyone better at taking apart a duel disk then ME!"

Gal leaned over first, a look of fear in her eyes. "Hilda... do you have some sort of secret you're not telling us?"

"ALL women have their secrets kids." Mishegoss gave us a wink and a quick laugh.

Guy glanced over at Gal. She gave Guy a nod, then looked away. Guy looked over at Mishegoss.

"Did you kill her? Did you kill Ella? Or maybe the headmistress of Crimson Wind Academy?"

Mishegoss gasped and seemed shocked. "Wha?! Where did all of THIS come from!?"

"Professor Hilda Mishegoss, please tell us-"

Mishegoss shut her eyes suddenly and grasped at her head and snapped her hands over her ears. "Hey, hey HEY! Okay Guy, here's the TRUTH! I can FEEL when you do THAT so knock it off, OKAY?"

Guy stopped, mildly surprised at what she had just said. "I... what?"

"That uhh... Second Link in the Cursing Chain or what-EVER it's called! That! Knock it off Guy." Mishegoss scowled, one hand on her hips and one hand wagging a finger like a nanny scolding a child.

We were all still surprised at what she had just said. We thought Guy was our trump card yet it seemed Mishegoss already knew all about him. Gal spoke up first, still worried. "How do you know about the Cursed Chain anyway?"

If she knew about the chain, it was likely she had a link herself. However, the answer she gave was much simpler than I expected.

"Arena told me all about it last... I wanna say October? Along with a lot of other things too."

She had learned about the Cursed Chain the same way the rest of us had learned about it. I glared at my roommate.

"How come you never told us any of this before?"

"You never asked."

Mishegoss seemed to remain on task. "As for that particular link in the Cursed Chain, I've felt it before during our Hawaiian Luau. It was uhh... what's his name again?"

"Ailement Euryval." Arena reminded.

"Ailment! Yeah! Even as a freshman at Lincoln he was pretty much the big man on campus over at that all-boys school. Got whatever he wanted, even decided to see if he could date a cute senior girl, yours truly of course!"

Guy stopped for a moment to think. "Wait, so Ailment had the second link originally, and when I dueled him it became mine?"

Mishegoss shrugged. "Beats me. Ask the Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy over there."

At last a few things began to fall into place, but one question remained. "Hey Arena. If you can't meddle with mortal affairs or whatever, why did you tell Mishegoss all about the Cursed Chain?"

Before Arena could speak, Gal spoke excited. "Oh! I know! Since Arena can't mess with mortal affairs that means that Mishegoss isn't… mortal!"

Gal stopped, realizing what exactly she was saying. It sounded stupid when she said it outloud, however when we looked over at Mishegoss she was smiling like a parent who just saw their son or daughter do something very clever. "Close Gal! Very very close!"

Guy thought for a moment before speaking. "Can you please-"

"UGH! Spare me. Do NOT use that weirdo mind control thing here Guy."

Mishegoss then turned to me. "How about THIS. I'll tell you what-EVER you want to know, and your girlfriend will verify that I'm telling the TRUTH, okay?"

I glanced at Arena, then back to Mishegoss. In the back of my mind it all made sense and once you put the pieces together it barely needed mentioning "You're not normal, are you Mishegoss? You called Arena your aunt. That means her brother or sister is your parent. And since she's a Goddess and all her siblings are Gods and Goddesses that must make you..."

"A demi-goddess!" She said with a grin. "Half god, half mortal!"

Guy and Gal were stunned for a brief moment, but Guy broke the silence with the first thing that came to his mind. "Gods can have kids?!"

"We can." Arena said blankly, before blushing and smiling towards me. "Do you want-"

"Unfair! Everyone gets magical powers except me!" Gal pouted.

Arena glanced over at Gal, possibly upset with her over interrupting me and her moment.

Arena was the Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy. I wondered what Mishegoss’s mom was supposed to be the Goddess of. As far as I knew, there likely wasn't a goddess of sweaty gross pit stains and duel disk repair. "So... if you're a demigoddess, what was your mom then?"

"She was a baker!" Mishegoss grinned. "If you're asking which Eternal I'm the offspring of, it was actually my dad. I'm the daughter of Aphraestus, God of Love, Blacksmith and Creation!"

She put her hands on her hips and stuck out her chest in pride. She gave a laugh then turned back to me and Arena.

"I may not be a Goddess myself, but I can NOT get in the way of true love! That's why I let the two of you room together. I couldn't bear to see my FAAAAAVORITE couple not end up together!"

She put an arm on me and Arena's shoulders and pushed us close together. Arena seemed happy about this arrangement. I meanwhile came all this way and, while I did learn some interesting information we still weren't any closer to discovering this mystery.

"So, who's the one killing everyone?" I finally asked.

"I dunno."  Mishegoss shrugged as she began to pick up a screwdriver and put Ella’s duel disk back together.

"My money was on that Professor Chapel guy. He dresses like the Grim Reaper so it seemed pretty obvious, but apparently Professor Handbasket was with him the whole night that Headmistress Swebb was murdered. Not to mention he was nowhere near Hawthorne for Ella. It's not like he can walk through shadows or anything."

"Not anymore." Guy stated.

"This is dumb! We still don't know who's going around killing people!" Gal protested.

"The First Link in the Chain." Arena said again, as flatly and unemotional as ever.

I groaned. "Alright Arena, this is just getting ridiculous know. Can you please just tell us who the First Link in the Chain is already?"

Before she could answer, a loud earsplitting air horn went off. My eyes widened as I remembered the last time I heard something like that. It was back near the beginning of the school year, when we were all distracted and talking to the girls about something else. Suddenly The Distribution tried to call attention to themselves by blowing an air horn.

The same feeling I had when I saw Ella's corpse began to wash over me. Determined not to let it happen again, I began to make for the door. "Let's go!"


---


There was already a crowd forming by the time me and Arena, the Surname Twins, and Mishegoss got there. There was another attack, but fortunately the police were already on the scene.

"Who was it?"
"I think it was Lillian."
"Laplace was the killer?"
"No stupid, the victim!"
"She's still alive."
"REALLY? Did she see who did it?"
"Laplace? Is she okay?"
"Not dead-"
"Oh wow."

There was a flurry of chatty gossips in the crowd, whispering and talking among themselves. I was fearing the worst after everything that happened so far, but much to my relief I saw somebody standing up ever so lightly n the center of a crowd.

I tried to push through the crowd to get towards her. "Laplace!? Are you okay?"

"I... feel kind of tired." a wispy voice called out. She had a crumpled can of compressed air at her feet.

Guy was the first one to get a better look of our friend. He gasped, putting his hand to his mouth. "Oh god, Laplace. You're so-"

Gal's eyes widened in fright as she saw her friend, and the twins spoke in unison. "Old."

Our good friend Laplace had been aged about 40 years in the short span of time since we had last seen her. We definitely recognized her in her Critias Black uniform, but she was noticeably different. I at first thought it was a trick of the moon light, but then I noticed her blonde hair was already graying. It was extremely long, luxurious, and full of body. Now her hair was a matted mess, dry and stringy and littered with silvery streaks. Her cheerful expression seemed to have taken their toll on her face as very visible laugh lines and wrinkles seemed to spring up on her face. She had well pronounced veins on her hands and legs, and sorry to be a guy about this, but there was a noticeable sag to her breasts.

"What do you mean 'old'?" A hoarse scratchy whisper escaped the older woman's voice before she coughed, rubbing at a sore spot on her posterior.

"Don’t freak out about this Laplace!" Gal said nervously. She produced her PDA and took a picture of the woman before handing it over to her.

Laplace looked over the picture, gave a weak and nervous smile and a cough. "That's... a pretty good app. One of those 'make you look older' apps, r-right?"

We all avoided eye contact. Nobody dared to answer Laplace's question.

"R-right?" a bit of a panic began to creep in her voice as she fiddled with Gal’s PDA, turning it back to camera mode as she used it like a pseudo mirror.

In less than an hour since we saw her it seemed Laplace had been aged horribly. Though no one could bring themselves to say it, it seemed our silence had already answered her questions enough. Laplace let out a horrible wail, crying in agony at what she saw in her reflection.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 25: The First Link in the Chain]
Word Count: 4292

The police had ordered us all to leave the area, and most of the teachers were slowly complying by ushering us back to our dorm rooms. When the EMTs arrived, Laplace was given a mild sedative to help calm her nerves and settle her down before being loaded onto a stretcher.

Who could really blame Laplace for freaking out though? She woke up this morning as a beautiful teenage girl without a care in the world. By lunch time, she discovered a classmate's dead body. Now at the end of the day she was being placed on a stretcher as an old woman after being attacked with whatever age-changing magic had befallen Headmistress Swebb and Ella Minnow. Sure, she was alive but no one could predict the kind of life she'd be able to lead right now. No one except for Arena, the Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy of course.

"YOU!" As he arrived on the scene, Oliver's voice was filled with a rage I had never seen before or since. He was shaking with anger as he pointed to Arena. "This is all your fault!"

Arena didn't seem even remotely startled or worried about Oliver. She merely shook her head. "The First Link in the Chain-"

"SHUT UP! I'm sick of this whole 'I can't meddle with human affairs' nonsense you keep spewing!"

"H-hey Oliver." Gal spoke up nervously. "Arena's not allowed to interfere with our lives. She got rules to follow just-"

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing!" Oliver quoted, probably from some comic book or video game or something. He raised his duel disk in a dramatic fashion. "And I'm sick of doing nothing while the whole world falls apart before my eyes!"

With his duel disk outstretched, the rest of us expected a duel to break out between the two of them, so we quickly took a few steps back to give Arena and Oliver some room.

Instead Oliver quickly closed the duelists' distance that separated him and Arena before he violently struck her as hard as he could across the face with the blunt edge of his duel disk.

Personally, I've never been a violent person, but I could definitely see where Oliver was coming from. Arena wasn't a bad person, she was just unconcerned with the goings on of the mortal world. Unfortunately it seemed some of it hit a bit close to home, as Laplace was a casualty. I'm sure if somebody hurt Arena, I'd likely be inconsolably enraged as well.

'But Arthur!' I imagine some of you may be thinking. 'You just saw Oliver attacking Arena! Where's the inconsolable rage?'

That only counts if I thought for even one second that any mere mortal could inflict any kind of injury to Arena. I felt that small bit of anger for the briefest of split-seconds before suddenly remembering who Arena was.

Unfortunately, the police weren't aware of Arena's goddess status. All they saw was a teenage boy attacking a teenage girl.

Oliver backed away for a split second, realizing what he had done. Arena stared into him with cold, lifeless eyes. There was a vicious gash on her forehead, a trickle of gold colored blood escaping her nose and her lower lip, but she seemed otherwise unfazed. Oliver's duel disk seemed to be the only major casualty in everything, as it crumpled up, looking like it was run over by the Silverline Express.

"You..." was all Oliver could manage to say before he was tackled to the ground by three police officers.

"FREEZE!"
"STOP RESISTING!"
"YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT!"

Detective Friedman calmly strolled over to Arena to survey the scene. "Are you alright little girl? You're bleeding!"

"She'll be FIIINE." Mishegoss said with a smile, like she was proud of her Aunt Arena for taking a punch and not even flinching.

"But there's-" As he got a closer look of Arena's face, he stopped. Unlike most girls who get punched in the face, Arena wasn't bleeding a normal trail of blood like a normal person. Instead of crimson red blood there was a gold color liquid seeping out from her wounds.

"Oh..." Friedman nodded, as though suddenly everything had become clear.

Oliver meanwhile was crying as he was being handcuffed. Sobbing miserably, hysterical, before Friedman approached the other three officers.

"Let the kid go." he said nonchalantly.

The police seemed alarmed. "But sir, we all just witnessed-"

"The girl's bleeding ichor." he said, as though anyone would understand what the hell he meant by the word 'ichor'. "Let him go."

The officers looked each other over before uncuffing Oliver. Either His face was covered in dirt or he had a cut on his face from where the police pinned his head down, but for right now he didn't seem like a threat. He now knew better than to pick a fight with a Goddess.

He slowly walked towards Arena, but kept his hands up in a 'surrendering' position.

"H-hey... s-sorry." Oliver choked out.

Arena stared at him for a minute before speaking with a bit of a mocking tone. "That did not make you feel any better, nor did it fix the situation."

"N-no. Not rea-"

"Then I suggest you do not do that again." Arena wiped her face with the sleeve of her shirt, and just like that it seemed whatever the ichor was stopped flowing, and her wounds healed themselves.

"You can fix Laplace, can't you?" He crumpled on to the ground, kneeling down and begging, on his knees. "P-please?"

Arena looked at him with pity before sighing.

"Laplace was robbed, and I cannot create something out of nothing. Nor can I can I simply return what was taken from her. It currently resides on the edge of a knife."

"What was taken from her?!" Oliver blurted out, choking back tears.

Arena stared at Oliver, and spoke two simple words. "Her youth."


---


It's not every day that a girl gets to celebrate her sweet sixteen. This especially held true for Ami Pastiche, who, on the first of April, did not think she would get to celebrate her sixteenth birthday. With the death of Ella Minnow still fresh on everyone's mind and the sudden aging up of our friend Laplace, many people just plain forgot, including Ami herself.

Fortunately for Ami, she had Team Surname and The Distribution as her friends to remind her. We would never abandon one of our own, which was the main reason we were also continued to visit Laplace at the hospital each and every day since her aging incident. We not only wanted to check up on her condition, but we also wanted to just talk with Laplace and make her feel normal. And as far as the doctors could tell, everything about Laplace WAS normal, other than her age of course. She was the correct weight, had normal blood pressure, and everything about her was normal for a 49 year old woman... except she was 16.

In any case, Gal was assigned with the task of distracting Ami and slowing her down for the day. At last, a little bit after 7:30 PM, the two finally showed up just as we were finishing putting up the decorations. It wasn't at the level of the Civic Center, but with balloons, banners, and a cake we did pretty well for just the 7 of us.

"SURPRISE!" everyone yelled out as Gal and Ami walked in.

"Wah? Oh..." Ami was flustered, red in the face with embarrassment that everyone was focused on her. She tried to regain her composure, though she was having some difficulty. "Aww shucks, you shouldn't have!"

"Nope! We absolutely needed to!" Laplace sat up straight in her hospital bed and smiled. Ever since that night, Laplace didn't smile as often. She tried to show off a brave front but we all knew she was as clueless as the rest of us, except Arena, about what happened to her.

"Yeah Ami, you're an important part of Team Surname!" Oliver grinned.

"Team Surname?" Bernouli scowled. "I thought we were calling ourselves the Two-Point Distribution?"

"We can decide on all that later." Guy said dismissively. "It's Ami's special day today!"

"Yeah, now hurry up and blow out your candles." Weibull motioned towards the circular cake on the tray nearest to Laplace.

Ami smiled sincerely, grateful that she hadn't been forgotten. She walked over to the cake on Laplace's table.

"Seriously guys, thanks a lot. It feels nice for things to be a little bit normal for a change." And just before she blew out the candles, her eyes met with Laplace's.

It was abundantly clear to everyone in the room just exactly what Ami meant went she said 'a little bit normal'. She was referring to something in this room, or rather someone, who had a completely abnormal condition.

There wasn't much cheering or clapping as she blew out the candles. Even Ami realized what she had said.

"Oh... Laplace... I mean, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

Laplace sighed. "No Ami, it's okay. It's been about two weeks and I've kind of... accepted this as the new normal. I'm not dead, I just have the blood work, bone density, teeth, skin, and everything else of a healthy 49 year old woman. It could have been a lot worse."

"But... you've lost your childhood! You can't go to Hawthorne anymore!" Ami protested.

"I mean... I have money so I'm not too worried about not getting a proper education. It's not the end of the world."

Ami disagreed. "But you and Oliver couldn't get back together!"

There was a pause before Oliver spoke. "Yeah, we know. You don't really need to remind us."

"Look Ami, today's your birthday so can we just... have fun?" Laplace looked over at Gal. "How was your trip here? You two came much later than normal."

"Oh it was so much fun!" Gal began.

And just like that, it was almost like we were back to the old times. Like we could forget for just a few minutes that Laplace had been aged up and pretend we were all just a bunch of normal teens. And it seemed good news came in pairs, because while we were joking around about pigeons and having a good time, the most beautiful woman in the world, Lady Lorem Ipsum seemed to arrive at about a quarter to 9.

"Good even- ah! Children, you're all visiting Miss D'Vallé today too?" Headmistress Lorem Ipsum was at the door with an enormous smile on her face and a bouquet of flowers in her arms.

I blushed, and all the men seemed to be spellbound by her appearance. Gal smiled back at the headmistress.

"Good evening headmistress Ipsum!" Gal grinned eagerly.

"What are you doing here ma'am?" Bernouli asked.

"Oh, I just wanted to visit Lillian one last time." she motioned towards the flowers in her arms, with the words 'Get Well Soon!' in fancy script scrawled on them.

Something about what she had just said struck me as a little bit odd though. "What do you mean by 'one last time'?" I asked.

She gave me a forlorn expression before sighing as though she had some bad news to deliver. "Well there's going to be a mass email soon so here's no harming in telling you all early. Don't tell anyone just yet, but I am giving up the position of Headmistress at Hawthorne Academy and leaving Silvershine."

We all gasped at this sudden declaration from our headmistress.

"Headmistress Ipsum! You can't!" Weibull exclaimed.

"I have to. I let down the school, I let down the faculty, I let down my students and I've let down their families as well. I am not fit to wear the mantle of headmistress, so it's time for me to take my leave."

So many questions ran through my mind. Was she quitting or was she being forced out by someone higher up? Was there anything we could to help her stay? Who would be replacing her? If we stopped the First Link, did that mean we could keep Headmistress Ipsum?

As though she could sense our many questions, Ipsum continued speaking. "I do not want to make a big deal over it. There won't be a big event to announce my resignation. I've spoken to the faculty in private over the matter. The position of headmistress will temporarily be filled by Professor Mishegoss. The email will be delivered to everyone at exactly 10:30PM tonight."

"Where will you go after this?" Bernouli asked.

"I'm not sure yet. I have just a few..." Ipsum glanced at Laplace. "... Loose ends to tie up here in Silvershine. After that, I'll be on my way."

"I know that feeling." Laplace said, stretching her arms a little bit. "I'm also going to be doing a bit of traveling soon."

Ipsum paused, her eyes grew wide and she flinched, before that smile formed on her face once again. "... Oh, you're leaving too my dear Miss D'Vallé?"

"Yeah, mom and dad scheduled it. They want me to see a few specialists before I... I guess before I give up and try to continue with my life like this." She raised her arms, motioning to her new, 49 year old body.

"My dear, do you know how soon you will be leaving?" Ipsum asked with a hint of worry to her voice.

"This Friday."

"What!?" we were all surprised.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner!?" Bernouli shouted.

"I didn't wanna just ruin Ami's special day by announcing it like this." Laplace began. "But I guess the cats’ out of the bag now. I didn't really want to sour everyone's mood so close to the end of the school year."

"Same here." Ami said.

"Now you've got something to share with the class too Ami?" Oliver crossed his arms and smirked, but stopped when he noted how sad and serious Ami looked.

"My parents kinda... well they're scared something's going to happen to me here in Silvershine and I don't really blame them. I'm going to finish the school year, but once fall rolls around I'm transferring to Crimson Wind Academy. It's on an isolated island. I'm sure it'll be much safer."

Arena said nothing.

"What!?" Guy protested. "But... you can't!"

Ami looked up hopefully at Guy's outburst, before suddenly remembering what he was upset about. "Umm... s-sorry. It's all already kinda set."

"Come on guys!" Gal insisted "Let's not be sad anymore! Let future Two-Point Distribution worry about all these problems!"

"She's right." I said. "We'll have the rest of our lives to worry about what might have been."

Ami looked at Guy with an expression of longing before sighing. "I guess so. For now, let's just have some of my birthday cake." She pointed to the cake near Laplace's bed.

The headmistress's mood seemed to lift. "Oh, today's you're birthday Ami? Mine is tomorrow!" she smiled. "We're both rams!"

"Oh, cool! Happy... three hours until your birthday then headmistress!" Ami looked at the cake, then looked around. "Does anyone have a knife?"

This whole time, Arena had been staring daggers at Headmistress Ipsum. At Ami's words, Arena coughed and then nodded towards Headmistress Ipsum.

"I believe I asked Oliver to bring it." Bernouli said, though with a condescending tone of voice like she already knew what the answer was going to be and she was just asking in order to be facetious. "Oliver?"

"Me? Ever since the police saw me beat up Arena it seems like every cop in the city wants to stop-and-frisk me. I'm not risking a stay at juvie by having a weapon on my person."

"Way to drop the ball Olly." Bernouli rolled her eyes.

"Me!? Why didn't you bring one yourself?"

"Guys!" Ami yelled with a pleading tone to her voice. "Stop fighting! It's my birthday!"

Headmistress Ipsum had been silently watching the scene before she gave a little sigh. "I... have a knife on me."

We all stopped to look at the headmistress, but as soon as she noticed the attention she was getting, the headmistress tried to backtrack. "I mean, it's... pretty old! A family heirloom in fact! Maybe it's not a good idea to use it."

We all looked at the woman for a moment before Guy spoke. "Well, can we at least see it?"

"Yeah! A family heirloom sounds cool." Laplace agreed.

Gal smiled. "Wow, I never imagined the headmistress would be some kinda cool street punk with a knife! What next? Do you know how to ride a chopper?"

"The headmistress has done a lot of things you would have never imagined." Arena stated with a blank expression on her face.

"Well okay..." The headmistress seemed very uneasy as she slowly began to unbutton her jacket. "It's very old though. No touching!"

The headmistress finally removed the final button of her jacket and removed it. I gasped, as I got a better look at the gorgeous woman's figure. She reached in to a secret pocket on the inside of her jacket and produced a short looking knife in a plain black leather holster.

I was no knife expert, but I always figured the blade had to be about double the length of the handle. For this knife, they seemed to be about equal in length. The knife however was very ornate looking. There were small jewels embedded in the handle, it was polished very fine, and there was an intricate pattern on it as well, the centerpiece of which appeared to be an hourglass design. The metal blade on the other half was very simple, but very clean looking.

"It sure doesn't look that old to me." I began. "My parents have kitchen knives that look worse than that knife."

"Ophelia's blade is centuries old!" Ipsum pulled it defensively towards her. "And on second thought, it's not really fit for something like cutting a cake!"

Gal looked at the fancy knife, then at Ipsum's face. "What do you use it for then?"

Ipsum immediately re-holstered her knife and put it back into the secret pocket on the inner part of the right side of her jacket. There was a bit of a heavy thud as she threw on her jacket. Her PDA must have been in her left.

"If you need a knife to cut a cake, I suggest you visit the cafeteria and ask someone there!"

"Or-" a man's voice began. "You can all go visit the cafeteria. It's 9PM and visiting hours are over." Despite his androgynous looking face and figure, the violet haired gentleman had a bit of a scruff and five-o'clock shadow. He was definitely a male doctor. He had a name tag on his coat that identified him as 'Doctor Xenneth Hikari'.

Headmistress Ipsum smiled towards Dr Hikari. "May I just have a minute alone to speak with the patient?"

"Absolutely not ma'am. Protocol is protocol."

"You can't bend the rules just once for me? I mean, I was here on the hospital's inaugural day and everything!"

"Ma'am, this is sensitive medical work and I take my job very seriously. Take your cake and get out."

Gal frowned but she seemed to give in. "Fine... big jerk doctor." she grumbled as she began putting Ami's birthday cake back in its box.

Laplace seemed slightly entranced since Ipsum revealed her knife. "I... think I've seen that knife somewhere before."

Ipsum stared at Laplace, then smiled cheerfully towards the doctor. "She seems a bit delirious. You should probably sedate her!"

"The anesthesiologist is on the third floor, but she seems fine to me." Dr Hikari stated. "Now please, leave me and the patient alone. She needs one final checkup before we can release her."

Ipsum seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. "Alright, sorry to have bothered you doctor."

Headmistress Ipsum ushered us out of the room, then began walking down the hall towards the elevators.


---



The eight of us were in the basement cafeteria of the Zenkai Hospital, sitting at a circular table and each with a piece of birthday cake in front of us. We had found a kitchen knife to cut up Ami's cake but no one was really in the mood to eat given what we had just learned.

"I'm sorry for not telling you guys sooner." Ami stated with a glum expression.

"It's not you Ami." Bernouli reassured her. "There's just a lot of tension going on lately. People are dying, everyone's leaving. It’s not your fault."

"Yeah I know." Ami began with a sigh. "It's the First Link in the Chain."

Gal pouted. "And we still don't really know anything about them."

Arena frowned. "You all know enough about the chain. Just stop and think about it. I'll fill in whatever else you need."

We all stared at Arena for a moment.

The dictionary defines knowledge as "awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation". As the Goddess of Knowledge, it was no wonder that Arena never wanted to spell out anything for us. She'd tell us what she knew and allow us to piece things together from there. To just tell us the name of the First Link would be too easy for her. It wasn't enough to know the answer, we had to acquire it and earn it by experiencing it.

Gal started us off. "Well there are 8 links in the cursed chain, each with a wonderful power and a terrifying curse."

Then Oliver. "The third link lets you go through solid objects, but makes you monstrously ugly."

I shook my head. "It was the light. Professor Chapel was in pain from the light. That caused horrible blisters on his face."

"The second link lets me bend people's will and make them do whatever I want, but... I don’t know. What was Euryval's problem? He was a big jerk?"

"Hey! That's my brother you're talking about!"

Ami interrupted. "Cursed Chain links are acquired at birth."

"At inception." Gal corrected.

"At conception." Arena corrected.

"We're going nowhere with this." I said. I looked over at Arena. She stared back. I closed my eyes and thought for a moment.

"Arena, what does the First Link in the Cursed Chain do exactly?"

Arena gave a smile, as though we were on the right track and finally asking the right questions.

"The First Link in the chain allows you to absorb the youth from others and transplant it into anyone or anything else, however you age at a much quicker rate."

We stopped to consider what we heard.

"So... Laplace is the first link than?" Weibull asked. "She seemed to age pretty fast in there."

"No, she's had her youth stolen by the first link." Oliver corrected.

"So the fifty thousand dollar question is, who is the First Link?" Guy concluded.

Arena drew a breath. If there was any time for the Goddess of Wisdom's influence to work, now would be it. She closed her eyes, and put both hands on the table. I don't know why, but we were all compelled to do the same. We all took a deep breath in unison and closed our eyes.

"Think about everything you know about the case and everything you have learned about the First Link and the answer will be clear."

I heard Gal's voice first. "The victims were Headmistress Swebb, Ella Minnow, and Laplace. Why were all three of them targeted?"

Arena answered. "Only one of them was a target. The other two were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Guy's voice came next. "Well what do we know about the suspects? It was someone from Hawthorne, but it wasn't a child and it wasn't Handbasket, Andry, Ipsum or Mishegoss."

There was a long pause before Arena spoke again. "You ruled those four out by asking them a question while using the second link in the chain."

Another long silence as Guy stopped to consider what Arena was saying. "Well yeah. We asked them if they killed Headmistress Swebb and they all said no."

Arena's voice answered. "I told you before. No one killed the headmistress or Ella. They died of old age. I'm sure you've seen Laplace and can verify that for yourselves."

Oliver spoke up next. "I think I understand what Arena's getting at. If you stole someone's food and they died of starvation because they didn't have any... are you really to blame for killing them?"

Ami answered. "Well yeah, I think you would be!"

Oliver's voice responded. "But it doesn't matter what YOU specifically think. It matters what the killer was thinking when we asked them."

I stopped to think it over. "So since the Cursed Chain ages you faster, it's somebody who looks old, but is actually young?"

Gal answered me back. "No, I think it's the other way around. With the power to drain people's youth, it's gotta be someone who looks young, but is actually extremely old."

"Someone with medieval, old world ideals..." Ami thought out loud. "Who would have been offended that we were being taught sex-ed by Mishegoss."

"Someone old enough to be Headmistress Swebb's teacher..." Oliver continued. "To explain why she held a grudge against her."

Guy spoke out loud next. "Someone who was old enough..."

We all opened out eyes in unison and looked over to see a plaque by the door. 'Zenkai Hospital, founded in 1881.'

"Old enough to be here on the inaugural day that Zenkai Hospital was founded."

Only one name was on our minds as someone who fit the bill. All eight of us spoke her name at the same time:

"Ipsum."

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 26: The Seventh Link in the Chain]
Word Count: 4653

"It is with a heavy heart but a clear head that I announce my resignation as headmistress of Hawthorne Academy. I believe I have served you well these past decades, however recent events have reminded me of my own shortcomings and I feel I can no longer call myself headmistress with pride. I have failed you all as a leader and as a protector so I must take my leave. Please do not mourn me now that I am gone. Instead please celebrate the promotion of your new academy leader, Headmistress Hilda Mishegoss.

Please treat her with all the same respect you would give me or anyone else in the position

All the best,
Lorem Ipsum"


---


Just as she promised, at exactly 10:30 PM tonight our PDAs ignited with an automated message from the headmistress. At last everything was beginning to fall into place. All those subtle clues that Ipsum was much, much older than she looked had begun to make sense in hindsight. We thought she was a beautiful, charming woman but underneath the surface Lady Lorem Ipsum as nothing more than a centuries old monster, robbing the youth of the children of the academy.

"It was Ipsum! It was Ipsum all along! God damn it!" Oliver pounded the table.

"She..."  A slow realization began to dawn on Ami. "She was going to finish off Laplace tonight wasn't she?!"

All our minds were racing at what Arena had allowed us to discover. Every conversation, every wild rumor, every auditorium presentation where Ipsum was present had to be re-examined with he lens of this new information. We all stood up, leaving our cake behind, and began making our way down the hall towards the elevators. We hit the button, hearing the bells chime for each floor where the elevator sopped.

"God damn it, how were we fooled for so long!? I mean... God damn it!" Oliver was in a fury, twitching with how much he wanted to confront Ipsum.

"Calm down Oliver." Weibull began. "Cooler heads will prevail here."

"Weibull's right." Bernouli reminded. "If we all go charging in for her, she'll take out Laplace while we're away. And if we split up, she'll likely pick us off one by one. I believe half of us should go protect Laplace. The other half can go confront Ipsum."

"Well I have to be the one to confront her." Guy began. "I'm the only one of us with a Cursed Chain, right Arena?"

He looked at Arena for some sign of confirmation. She merely stared at him blankly.

"I can't let my brother go alone!" Gal insisted. "I'm going with too! How else will he stay safe?"

"The Seventh Link in the Chain." Arena responded flatly.

"I knew I could count on you sis!" Guy smiled. "If I'm going to fight some unholy centuries old witch, I'd like to have the Goddess of War on my side. Arena, please tell me you're in too."

Arena clung on to my arm. "Only if Arthur joins us as well."

"Guess that settles that then." I stated simply.

With a ding, the elevator door opened and the 8 of us stepped inside.

"Laplace's room is on the second floor." Bernouli explained.

"And Headmistress Ipsum?" I asked.

"Third floor. Talking to the anesthesiologist." Arena said.

We hit two buttons, one for each floor, and soon the elevator began to rise and we were on our way.

"We're gonna get her!" Oliver yelled.

"I know." I said, though in fact I did not know.

"She's gonna pay for what she did to Laplace!" Oliver declared loudly.

"And Ella, and Swebb." Gal added in.

We passed the first floor with an uneventful ding from the elevator. "Tear out her hair! End her by any means necessary!" Oliver yelled excitedly.

When we finally reached the second floor the elevator doors opened and the Distribution, plus Oliver and Ami got out.

"Good luck." Bernouli said as Weibull and Ami began hurrying towards Laplace's room. "And whatever you do, don't let her split you guys up!"

"We know." Gal responded somberly. "Ipsum attacked everyone when they were alone. We won't split up no matter what."

Just as she finished, the doors closed ahead of us.

"And when you see Ipsum, be sure to drive that knife of hers straight through her heart!" though the doors were closed, we heard Oliver's voice yelling at us.

Without Oliver there to pump up the crowd, there was a pensive quietness in the air. The only sound was the elevator motor straining to remind us that we were alive.

As soon as the doors open, the three of us hurriedly rushed out into the hallway. Arena meanwhile calmly strolled out. We were high on adrenaline, but it seemed it would be up to me to ask the obvious question.

"So... umm... what's the plan?" I asked.

Guy was taking shallow breaths as he was looking around. "Well..." His breathing slowed, becoming less intense. "I guess we need to find the anesthesiologist office first."

A familiar saccharinely sweet voice alerted us that we were not alone. "Third door to the left."

Our blood ran cold as we quickly spun around. Headmistress Ipsum was standing in the elevator, a smug smirk on her face. It seemed before the elevator came to the third floor, she had heard Oliver's war cry, clamoring for her blood. Thinking quickly the woman was leaning off to the side, back against the wall and waiting for the elevator. When we poured out into the hallway, the woman silently snuck in behind us.

We raced back as quick as we could, silently watching the doors closing before our very eyes. Gal got there first, a split second too late as the doors closed shut and a ding from the elevator told us that Ipsum had gotten away.

"Oh no! What do we do now?!" Gal said in a panic.

"She won't get away. I've got this." Guy said quickly. He put his hands on the door, took a deep breathe, and leaned in, activating the powers of the Third Link in the Cursed Chain. He melted right through the elevators door and presumably was now face to face with the headmistress.

Gal and I were frozen, staring at the spot Guy had melted in to. Gal let out a sharp loud cry as though she had been horribly injured.

"GUY! NO! WE CAN'T SPLIT UP! DON'T LEAVE ME!" she banged against the metal door where he had melted into, but to no avail. Without the third link, there was nothing she could do to save him.

Without a second to waste, Gal grabbed at Arena's collar, pulling her close and shaking her. "ARENA! My brother's all alone with that crazy woman! We have to do something!"

"His age will not be altered." Arena said dismissively. "I cannot promise anything beyond that though."

"We have to go save him!" Gal let go of Arena's collar and rushed to the nearby stairwell. "Second floor, right?!"

I glanced above the elevator to see the electronic digital display showing where the elevator was. It was on three for a bit, before suddenly changing to four, then five. The big capital letter R which seemed to be their final destination.

"Looks like your brother may have hit the button before Ipsum could. They're not heading down to the second floor to take on Laplace. Looks like this elevator's going to the roof."

"Then that's where we're going too!"

Gal and I weren't exactly couch potatoes, but we definitely not going to be on the school's track team anytime soon either. When adrenaline kicks in, you might find yourself capable of performing extraordinary feats, but those extraordinary feats would only last for so long. We raced up one flight of stairs, probably shattering the world record, but as soon as we started our trek to the fifth our form became sloppy, by the sixth we were panting and gasping for air and we were practically crawling for the seventh and eighth floor. Arena was calmly trotting behind us, because of course the Goddess of War would have amazing endurance.

"Gotta... save..."

"Stop... talking..." I stammered. "Waste... breathe..."

At long last Gal and I reached door that lead to the roof of the Zenkai Hospital. We at last took one last deep breath and pushed the handle in together. One way or another, this would all end tonight.


---


In the pale moonlight at the very top of the Zentai Hospital roof, we could see the entire Silvershine skyline in the horizon. Everything from Transit Towers to the Point Blank night club to Hawthorne Academy was fully illuminated. As we looked around we head the bells beginning to ring from the Silvershine Cathedral, 11 times to signal 11PM.

Ipsum seemed to be at the center of the roof, about ten feet away from the helicopter landing pad. Off closer to the edge of the rood leaning on a fence railing with Ipsum's jacket covering him was the holder of the second and third link in the Cursed Chain, Guy Surname.

"GUY!" Gal rushed over to her brother and looked him over. She put her hands on his wrist to try to check for a pulse, though truth be told Gal didn't know anything about first aid or checking for injuries. At last she took the deepest breath she possibly could and pinched Guy's nose. She leaned in, but Arena's voice suddenly called her attention.

"Don't do that." Arena warned. "He's still breathing."

Gal stopped what she was doing to look over her brother. He seemed to be asleep, dreaming peacefully, and it was only when she examined his ribs did she notice a syringe sticking out of it. It was labeled with a big fancy word Gal didn't understand, but consider Lorem Ipsum was just at the anesthesiologist’s office, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what had happened here.

"You drugged him!" Gal shouted.

"The brat had it coming. He tried stabbing me in the chest with my own knife!" She pointed to a dark stain on her shirt. It wasn't blood though, but rather the spray you get when you stab a lithium-ion battery. "I'm lucky my PDA was there to catch Ophelia's blade and keep it from going in any deeper."

I looked amazed at Guy who had performed quite the feat given that he was cornered.

"He's still alive, for now at least. That's the second time I've spared his life, but consider that the end of my mercy. Cross me again and I promise I'll come at you with my full 800 years of life experience."

I glanced over at Guy and Gal, then back towards Lady Ipsum. The twins were identical, but alas only one of them held the second and third link in the chain, which we'd need to wager in order to stop this woman. However, there was a very obvious question as I stopped to consider it all.

"Okay!" I exclaimed. "So do it already!"

Gal's eyes widened. "Arthur! What the heck are you doing!?"

"You had Guy cornered, he was literally the only one of us that could stop your reign of terror, and he was coming at you with a knife. You've attacked Laplace for just catching a glimpse of your knife. You killed Ella just for showing you the picture she took during Sweetheart's Day. You've done much worse to people who've done much less! There had to be a reason you decided to spare Guy!"

Ipsum scowled, a serious expression etched on her lips before Arena spoke again.

"He's being protected by the Seventh Link in the Chain."

Headmistress Ipsum glared at Arena, but there was little she could do. She took a deep breath and gave her same phony smile. "Alright, looks like your little Goddess is quite chatty for a change. I'm sure if I don't tell you, she will." Headmistress Ipsum gave a smug smirk.

"Yes, everyone who has a Link in the Chain was born with at least one and it turns out the Seventh is the one Guy was born with. The Seventh is capable of negating the other powers of the Cursed Chain. The one major drawback is that every other member of the Cursed Chain can sense that you have it. Essentially, Guy is a walking target for any Cursed Link holder."

"So..." Gal closed her eyes, thinking. "Guy can negate your Cursed Link then?"

Headmistress Ipsum shook her head. "It won't negate any effect already activated, so there's no reversing what was already done on Laplace."

I thought over what I had heard. The seventh link can negate the powers of the Cursed Chain. That explained why Guy was able to avoid having his face melt off when he reclaimed the Second Link in the chain from Chapel at Crimson Wind. Heck, it could have even explained how he acquired the Third Link from Ailment Euryval. Everyone was too entranced to stand up to the guy, except for Guy, because we literally all were entranced, and only Guy was able to see through the Link in the Chain.

"Well... he's down now. Why didn't you age him up before we got here?"

"Psst! Stop encouraging the villain!" Gal half-whispered, half-yelled through clenched teeth.

"The Seventh Link is always in effect. It's a subconscious thing." Ipsum explained. "If I tried to attack Gal right now, I'm sure his link would feel it and instinctively try to protect her."

Gal blinked, and a weak smile emerged on her face. She gave her unconscious brother a quick hug. "That's so sweet!"

Ipsum turned her attention to me and a sinister grin etched itself on her face. "Basically, it means I can't use my Chain Link to change his age, or the person closest to him."

She gave a snicker, then raised her hand in my direction. I could feel a dark aura emanating from her. "But that doesn't mean he'll be able to save you!"

I gasped, before I closed my eyes and brought up my arm to defend myself. I felt cold, chilled to the bone as though I was on death's door. Then suddenly, a loud crash, like a sword cutting through steel and a bright flash of light. I adjusted my eyes to the source of light in front of me. Arena stood between Ipsum and I, shield in the left and spear in the right, overlaid in white ethereal silver.

"Arthur doesn't need Guy to protect him." Arena said with a blank expression on her face. "He has me to do that for him."

My eyes lit up and my spirit soared as I saw Arena with weapons at hand between me and Ipsum

"Alright Arena! Now go take down Headmistress Ipsum for Swebb, Ella, Laplace, and everyone else she's hurt throughout the years!"

Arena turned to look at me. She blinked twice, and the next words out of her mouth brought me crashing back down to earth. "... No."

"What!? What do you mean no!? You could easily defeat her, couldn't you!?"

"That is correct. However as I have stated countless times, I cannot meddle with human affairs." The glow began to fade, and her weapons began to dissolve as well. "I will protect my beloved with all of the strength my body can muster however..."

Arena looked over at Guy and Gal. "I have no reason to protect anyone else. The rest of humanity is on their own."

Lady Ipsum gave a loud cackle in delight. "Oh this is too precious! You all talked so much about how you were going to defeat me on the elevator ride here, yet all you've managed to do was break my PDA and steal my knife! For all that talk and bluster, you can't lay a finger on me!"

"Well... same to you!" Gal shot back. "We can't kill you, and you can't kill us like you killed Swebb and Ella!"

The mocking smile from her face disappeared as a serious expression began to form itself on Ipsum's face. "I did NOT kill those two. I brought them as close to death's door as it was possible for them to be. They crossed into the other side on their own accord."

"That's a lie!" Gal shot back. "You're a vicious youth thirsty serial killer!"

She glared at Gal, before a cruel smile suddenly etched itself on her mind. "You're not entirely incorrect there Gal. In my long life, I've only killed one person, but I assure you that person had it coming."

Have you ever asked a question, knowing you would hate the answer? Gal was probably feeling that as the next word escaped her trembling lips.

"W-who?"

An insidious grin emerged on Ipsum's face. "Your mother."


---


Gal was never the toughest girl in the world. In fact, of all the girls I've ever met in my life I'd say that, second only to the Princess of Ra Yellow, Gal was probably the most emotionally fragile of any girl I had ever met. But learning your mother's murderer was standing right in front of you would be enough to break even the strongest of men, and for Gal it seemed to be too much for her poor heart to bear.

She was a 16 year old girl, but hearing about her mom had completely shut her down, broken her to the level of an infant and froze her completely in her tracks.

"M... mommy?" she whispered quietly, eyes beginning to fill with tears but no sounds coming from her mouth.

"Ipsum killed Misses Surname?" I turned to Arena. "But I thought-" And suddenly all of the times I had ever misunderstood Arena came rushing back. She would always say one thing but mean something else entirely.

"What exactly did you say about their parents again?"

Arena took a deep breath and spoke, in the exact same tone and cadence she had used way back in October after our triple date when we first found out about the Surname twins. "'Their parents were broken up shortly after they were born'."

I scowled, analyzing the wording she had given me and gave a sigh. "So... when you said 'broken up' you meant with a knife or something, didn't you?"

"Only for their mother. Their father was aged up and scattered to the winds as dust."

Headmistress Ipsum gave a laugh, then sneered as she looked over at Gal.

"Your mother and father met at the Ladies and Gentleman Tournament, back during the Winter Holiday. Six months later, and your mother was very visibly six months pregnant. She was a star student, a gifted athlete, and she threw it all away for... THAT BOY. Your father."

"Daddy..." Gal was shaking, a blank expression on her face.

Ipsum just shook her head. "It makes my blood boil even now, just thinking how he corrupted her. It was just like young Charlotte Swebb all over again! Hawthorne Academy exists to expose the joys of sisterhood and the old time traditions of the Middle Ages when I grew up! Your mother couldn't keep her legs closed, and to make it worse she seemed to flaunt that baby bump of hers! While Charlotte ended up suffering for her mistake, both of your grandparents, on your mom's side and your dad's were excited, thrilled even to become grandparents!"

She shudder at the thought, but continued onward. "This could not stand! We couldn't allow women to believe life had no consequences! That you could make huge mistakes and just walk away scott-free!?"

Gal looked at Guy, then at her hands. "M-mistake?"

"August came around and she went in to labor. This was when I decided to strike." Ipsum smiled like a child getting to their favorite part of a story. "Just as I had done to Swebb and to Ella, I confronted your father on this very roof and drained him of all his youth, pushed beyond what I normally draw. I pulled from him so much in fact that his remains were nothing more than dust, scattered to the wind."

The wind did indeed pick up, and I could imagine what kind of day it was when Mister Surname was murdered by Headmistress Ipsum. I looked over the horizon, and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a helicopter.

"Your mother meanwhile was having nurses check up on her every 15 minutes so I only had a very narrow window to exact my form of justice on her."

"As I approached her bed I drew a breath and raised my hand to draw out all of her youth, but as I tried to claim all of her future years, I realized I could not. Something was blocking me from doing it. I've encountered the Seventh Link multiple times before, but this was the first time I had encountered it in a child, before it was born. Even inside your mom, your brother was able to instinctively protect her from the powers of the First Link in the Chain. Fortunately I always travel with Ophelia's Blade. I ended her life and calmly walked away for the next shift nurse to deal with her remains."

She smiled in Guy and Gal's direction. "Fortunately for you two, she was in a hospital. They were able to save the both of you with an emergency C-section. Your grandparents, both your mother's family and your father's, knew your mother was pregnant but they never knew she was pregnant with twins. Mom side of the family ended up raising Gal. Guy's side of the family ended up raising him."

Gal still seemed frozen, processing everything she had ever heard.

I was unsure what to make of everything, and though I had my suspicions I had to know for sure. "What about Swebb? The Headmistress of Crimson Wind Academy?"

"Headmistress Swebb was exactly the same way. She was a beautiful bright girl, and while she did suffer for her loose morals, she didn't suffer anywhere near enough! She was back on top of the world, as a headmistress of an esteemed academy no less! I feigned happiness in seeing her, but finding out she was such a big success after how much of a tramp she was in high school was too much! If she was so willing and so eager to throw away her childhood innocence and years of youth... it was an easy decision to take away the rest."

It was a lot of exposition to take in but nothing she said seemed to me to stand out as wrong. In fact, everything seemed to make even more sense than ever before. I walked over to Gal and gently put my hand on her shoulder. "Y-you okay?"

Gal stared at Headmistress Ipsum and a single word escaped her lips. "Why..."

"Why did I kill them? They willingly threw away their youth! I was merely taking what they no longer wanted."

"No, you're a twisted monster, and I don't think I'll ever understand why you murdered all the people you did." She closed her eyes hard, tears streaming down her face before she swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Why are you telling us all of this?"

I could hear a pounding in my ear, getting louder and louder.

Ipsum put her hands on her hips gave a loud laugh. "Isn't it obvious my dear?"

Gal shook her head from left to right. The pounding felt like it was getting louder and louder.

Ipsum smiled once again.

"I'm stalling for time."

It was at this point I noticed the pounding wasn't coming from my head. It was a medical helicopter, landing on the helipad in front of Lorem Ipsum.


---


Three men quickly unloaded a stretcher and wheeled a man into the elevator. They didn't say much, didn't even acknowledge us as they whisked their patient away. And just like that, the five of us were once again alone on the rooftop.

"Well, looks like my ride's here." Ipsum smiled towards the helicopter and began walking calmly towards it.

My eyes widened in panic as I realized she intended to make her escape on the med-chopper. "Hey wait! You're just going to leave!?"

"I'm a very busy woman. My birthday is coming up soon, and if I can't find Ophelia's blade, I'll have to start pulling the youth from anyone and anything to stay alive."

"How did you know there'd be a chopper here?!" I asked.

"I saw it here way back when I murdered Mister Surname. I knew this hospital had a helicopter. It was just a matter of waiting for it to return."

I still stared, completely dumbfounded at how her plan had worked.

"As I'm sure you've already guessed, I'm much much older than I appear. When you've had hundreds of years to learn and to train, you can pick up just about anything. Like flying a helicopter for example."

I was in a panic, and with an unconscious Guy, with an Arena that wouldn't meddle, and with Gal still being spellbound by Ipsum's story, it looked like it just might be up to me to do something.

"W-wait! Ipsum, you can't just leave like this."

She gave a very unladylike snort. "I'm pretty sure I can. If a fellow Link in the Cursed Chain issues a challenge I would have to stay, but with without a Link in the Chain, you can't possibly stop me."

I turned to Guy, who was still unconscious. Notably, Gal was no longer doting over him. Instead she was rummaging through her backpack, looking for something.

Ipsum arrived at the helicopter and smiled. "It's been nice chatting with you all for one last time. Now I really must go. Please, don't come looking for me."

"We won't be looking for you because this ends tonight!" It seemed Gal found what she was looking for as she rushed forward, duel disk at the ready.

"Headmistress Lorem Ipsum! I challenge you to a duel!"

I stared at her in stunned silence, trying to pick my brain off from the floor. Even Headmistress Ipsum seemed to pause, considering the challenge.

"A duel!?" I managed to gather my thoughts. "You can't be serious Gal! The only one who could stop her is Guy."

"No, the only one who could stop her is someone with a Link in the Cursed Chain!"

"Right, and our only holder of the Cursed Chain is Guy."

"That's not the whole truth! Think about it Arthur! Think about everything Arena has ever told us about the Cursed Chain. They're powers you get at the moment of inception."

"Conception." Arena corrected with an eager smile.

"Think about what Hilda told us about how identical twins are made. It's one egg, and it gets split into two! Guy's always had the powers of the seventh link in the Cursed Chain ever since the moment he was conceived the night of the Ladies and Gentleman tournament. So if all that's true and I'm his identical twin sister then logically it stands to reason..." She took a deep breath and stared at Headmistress Ipsum.

"I am the wielder of the Seventh Link in the Cursed Chain too!"

Everything Gal said made sense in theory, but I had to look over at Arena to confirm it. She had a huge grin on her face, as though we had finally unraveled the final riddle she had set up.

Arena once told us, 'their exact genetic information is VERY important to my plan' and true to her word, having identical twins was the only way to guarantee she'd end up with a second pawn in the War for the Cursed Chain. With all that said, nothing else remained but one final duel to settle everything.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 27: Gal Cannot Win]
Word Count: 4982

After everything we had seen, learned and experienced of the year, we had finally discovered the identity of the First Link in the Cursed Chain. It was our headmistress all along, Lady Lorem Ipsum. She could stay eternally young and beautiful by robbing the lifespan and youth of any living creature. She had likely been doing this for centuries now, and so far her latest targets had been the headmistress of Crimson Wind Academy Charlotte Swebb, our classmate Ella Minnow, and our good friend Laplace.

With our current holder of the Cursed Chain out of commission, Gal stepped up and challenged Lady Ipsum, revealing that she herself also held a fragment of the chain.

Tonight on the roof of Zenkai Hospital, one way or the other it would all come to an end.

Gal stood a duelists' distance away from Ipsum, the wings of her duel disks expanded as she prepared to duel.

"You can't refuse a challenge from a holder of the cursed Chain, so here I am! Let's go!"

Ipsum glanced at the cockpit of the helicopter and shook her head. She took a quick breathe then did an abrupt about face, turning to look at Gal. "You're right about that my dear. Refusing a challenge is akin to surrendering. However, I insist you hurry. Once I win, I'll begin by absorbing the youth of all your little friends down in Laplace's room."

Gal gasped, shivering. "I... I won't lose!" she stammered, trying to remain brave.

"You're already shaking Miss Surname."

And Gal was. She was scared, terrified even of all the pressure ahead of her and what stood on the line of this one single duel. But she knew she had to win, for the sake of everyone.

"It's not too late to back out. If you give up right now, I'll spare your friends, spare your city, and go far away. You'll never see or hear from me ever again."

Gal looked as though she was giving it some serious consideration before a determined expression began to form on her face.

"Backing down from a challenge is akin to a surrender, isn't it!?"

Ipsum smiled, then gave a quick laugh. "If that's the tone you want to take, let's go."

Gal drew an opening hand of five, and a sixth card on her draw phase.

As their duel began, I looked over at my girlfriend. "Hey, Arena! What are the chances Gal will win this?"

"Gal cannot win." she replied curtly. "Not in a straight duel."

"Oh." I paused.

"Arena, I know you're always right about everything, but just this once I really hope you're wrong."


---


"If you plan to challenge me sweetheart, I suggest you set your gear to the maximum amount of life points you possibly can."

"Already on it!"

Both of their life point displays lit up at 8000 points for each duelist. Gal looked over her hand and a strategy began to form.

"I'll start us off with Charge of the Light Brigade! With this, I can send the top three cards from my deck to the graveyard to look for a Lightsworn monster!" The cards she milled were mostly irrelevant. Card Trooper, Battle Fader, and Allure of Darkness. Nothing that could activate in the graveyard, unfortunately.

"And I'll normal summon the card I picked, Raiden, Lightsworn Assailant!" Gal slapped down the card onto her duel disk. "With Raiden on the field, I can send the top two cards from deck to the graveyard!"

Solar Recharge and Eclipse Wyvern hit the graveyard. I gasped at the top card in her graveyard.

"When Eclipse Wyvern hits the grave," Gal began. "I get to banish a high level dragon monster from my deck." She picked up her deck and selected her card.

"And when Eclipse Wyvern itself is banished, I get that card back. So I banish my Wyvern to summon my Black Dragon Collarserpent." Gal played her card in attack mode, and her dragon in grave was banished.

"And since Eclipse Wyvern was banned, I'll add back my strongest monster! Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End!"

Headmistress Ipsum raised an eyebrow at Gal, then smiled.

"If that's your strongest monster I think I'll be fine."

"Using Raiden and Collarserpent I'll perform a Synchro Summon! I can send them both to the grave for a level 8 Synchro Monster! So let's go, Stardust Spark Dragon!"

A mighty 2500 attack power dragon emerged on Gal's side of the field. It also had a powerful effect that would protect it from destruction once per turn.

"And that's not all! When Collarserpent hits the grave, I can add it's brother to my hand, White Dragon Wyvernbuster!"

With six cards in hand, one of them being the Chaos Emperor Dragon, it seemed Gal had very little to fear. "Go ahead Ipsum, make your move!"


---


"Arena, are you sure Gal loses this? She's got a pretty good amount of cards in hand and a pretty powerful monster on the field."

Arena shook her head. "Gal is not suited for dueling. She is a duel disk engineer. Her strength lies in creative, out-of-the-box style thinking."

I looked away, and out of the corner of my peripheral I noticed a bit of movement. I turned to it, startled.

"Hngr..." Guy muttered, slowly stirring. In his left hand was a PDA with a knife sticking out of it.

"What... happened to my PDA?"

"That's Ipsum's." Arena corrected.

"Guy!?" I exclaimed, surprised as I rushed towards him. "Everything's fine for now. Gal's taking care of Ipsum."

Guy breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh good." He stopped, realizing what I just said. "Wait... Gal? What happened to everyone else?!" He quickly bolted up, before letting out a cry of pain and putting his head back down again.

"E-everyone else?" I nervously reached into my pocket "That's a- umm... good question." I quickly produced my PDA to send out a message to Oliver, Ami and the Distribution.


---


"If that's all you're offering, then I'll make it quick. I summon Michion the Timelord!" An enormous level 10 fairy monster emerged on Ipsum's side of the field. I cringed at the sight of it. Even now over half a year later, I still remembered how badly Ipsum had defeated me using her Timelord deck.

"That monster's got zero attack points." Gal stammered nervously. "It must have a powerful effect."

"It does. Now Michion! Attack her Stardust Spark Dragon!"

Gal's eyes widened in fright. "I activate Stardust Spark Dragon's effect! You can't destroy my monster this turn!"

Michion's two enormous wings surrounded Gal's Stardust Spark Dragon, but Gal's dragon just flapped it's wings as though shrugging off the attack. Both monsters came out of the battle phase unharmed, and neither duelist took damage. Not yet at least.

"Hey, what gives? Is your gear broken?" Gal scowled. "How come your life points didn't tick down?"

"Gal and Ipsum have never dueled before." Arena explained. "Ipsum avoided dueling Gal, just as she avoided dueling Guy in the beginning of this school year just in case by some fluke they won, and she'd be forced to give up her Link in the Chain."

"Arena's right my dear. I have no interest in breaking your monster. I'm here to break you! I don't take battle damage from any battle with Michion the Timelord. Also, he can't be destroyed by battle. Oh and, one more thing! When Michion is involved in a battle, my opponent's life points are halved!"

As her battle phase came to an end, Gal felt the full force of Michion's true attack. She was hit with a blast, leaving her with just four thousand life points left.


---


A clicking sound of the nearby door alerted to me the fact that we were no longer alone. It seemed the Distribution decided to stick together during the final fight. Oliver walked over to watch the battlefield with Arena and I while Ami rushed over to Guy to see how he was doing.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen!" Oliver announced. "What did we miss?"

"Gal's dueling Ipsum." I said quickly. "Also she has the Seventh Link in the chain, or... half of it? I think."

"Yeah! You go Gal!" Ami cheered.

Oliver shook his head. "I've never actually seen Gal duel before. She any good?"

"She beat Bernouli." Ami reminded.

"So did Guy." Oliver said.

Oliver rolled his eyes and looked over the battle field. He was in Pro Duelist classes, so asking a Card Artist's opinion on someone's dueling strategy probably wasn't the best idea. He quickly surveyed the field, realizing what was going on as Gal's turn began.

"Gal!" Oliver called out. "Whatever you do, do NOT attack!"

"Why not?" Guy asked. "Her monster's got zero attacks... attack points."

I rolled my eyes. "Have you been asleep for the past- oh never mind." Guy gave a weak smile but stuck out his tongue. He was finally able to sit up and, by leaning on Ami, was able to slowly stagger over to watch the duel.

I shook my head. "Michion's effect goes off when he attacks or when one of Gal's monsters attacks. If she tries fighting it this turn, she'll lose half her points again."


---


"Quit stalling!" Ipsum called out "I've got very important matters to attend to after this!"

"Yeah, I bet." Gal began, drawing her seventh card. A grin spread on it's face as her strategy began to form.  "Your monster can't be DESTROYED by battle, but it can still be SENT!"

"Her ace monster?" Ami asked, but it would be answered soon enough.

"I banish my lightsworn assailant and my collar serpent to special summon my greatest monster! Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End!"

The was a quick, almost robotic sound of something being banished, then a large mixture of black and white followed by the explosive birth of Gal's strongest monster.

"Now I activate my Chaos Emperor Dragon's effect. At the cost of one thousand life points, I can send all cards on the field and in both hands to the grave, and you take 300 points of damage for each card sent!"

For those keeping track of math, Gal had 6 cards in hand, and two monsters on the field. Ipsum had 5 cards in hand, and one on the field, for a grand total of 14 cards. In total, Ipsum took 4200 points of damage. And just as a quick aside, if Gal had instead picked the standard amount of life points, four thousand, she would have just won the duel.

"Ipsum! You may be stronger, smarter, and may have had all the advantages in life, but this monster is the grand equalizer! We've all got a clean slate now. It's time to see what you can really do! My turn is over!"

Gal had no monsters in hand or field, but Ipsum didn't have anything either.


---


We were all tense as we watched the duel play out before us.

"It's close." Oliver whispered nervously. "They're both flying blind now."

"Reckless." Arena said simply.

"Maybe a little, but I think my sister's doing pretty well." Guy said.

"She'll at least survive the turn." Ami insisted. "It's not like Ipsum can just plop down a monster with 3000 or more attack."


---


Ipsum drew her topmost card and smiled. "I summon Sandaion, the Timelord!"

Guy, Gal and Ami's jaws dropped at the summoning of such a powerful monster.

"Four thousand attack points!?" Ami exclaimed.

"Don't worry kids!" Oliver said in a nervous tone, trying to reassure them. "When it attacks, there's no battle damage!"

Ipsum nodded. "Neither player takes any BATTLE damage when my monster attacks, but you do take EFFECT damage! Two thousand points to be exact. Sandaion, attack!"

After halving her life points, paying 1000 for Chaos Emperor Dragon, and now with Sandaion's effect, Gal was left with just 1000 life points left to Ipsum's 3800.

"Your move sweetheart."


---


Arena was right as always. There was no way for Gal to win this duel. Her deck wasn't good enough. Her opponent was too skilled. Whatever you want to call it, there was no way for Gal to win against Ipsum in a straight duel. However, the fact that I'm telling you all this should hint that something else was about to happen. All of us were about to witness a move worthy of one of Dr Slift's Unsolvable Duel Scenarios.

"My move." Gal began, drawing the final card off the top of her duel disk. We all held our breath, looking to Gal with a nervous mix of anxiety and hope.

Gal's face said it all as her face contorted to a pained expression of disgust. "Mystical Space Typhoon?! Really!?"

Headmistress Ipsum couldn't control her laughing as she gave an uproarious howl. "Ha! Serves you right! Hurry up and end your turn so I can finish the duel."

"I... I failed..." Gal stammered with a hollow expression in her eyes as her whole body shook.

I turned to my girlfriend in panic. "Arena! Please! It can't end this way! Headmistress Ipsum will take Gal's Chain Link then kill us all when she wins!"

"I shall not let Lady Ipsum harm a hair on your head."

"And everyone else?!"

Arena sighed, closed her eyes. "I cannot meddle with human affairs."

"WHAT?!" Oliver grabbed at Arena's shirt. "Listen Arena! I don't care if you're Arthur's girlfriend or the Goddess of Whatever Nonsense! I'm not spending my senior year at Hawthorne as a LITERAL senior! I..."

Arena placed her hands over Oliver's. With a quick flick of her wrists she easily broke free of his clutches. He let out a pained yelp.

"All I can offer is a few words of advice." Arena turned to look at Gal's direction.

"Look back to every strategy you've ever seen as a duelist and realize that this moment is when you absolutely have to win."

Gal shook her head. "Arena, please! I was never any good at riddles!"

Ami turned to my roommate. "Come on Arena! We could all get turned to dust or die of old age like Swebb or Ella!"

"Ella." Arena repeated absentmindedly.

"Ella?" Gal repeated. She closed her eyes and began to think.

"Arena, please! Just give us a straight answer!" Guy insisted.

"The second link in the Cursed Chain won't affect me unless I let it."

"Stop playing around Arena, this is serious!" I pleaded.

"No fun allowed huh?" Arena said, strangely with an accusing tone to her voice which I thought wasn't exactly correct for what had just happened. She seemed to be directing that comment more towards Gal then towards any of the viewers watching.

At long last, Gal opened her eyes as she realized what Arena was hinting towards. "Oh... that's a pretty slimy move there Arena..." she began softly. "But this isn't the time for fun, now is it?"

Arena smiled. "That is correct."

Gal seemed to regain some courage as she stood up straight. "I know what I have to do now."

Headmistress Ipsum did not seem pleased by this turn of events. "Enough chit chat! Take your turn already."

Gal took a deep breath as she opened her arms wide. "I am. This is my turn."

"So I take you concede then?"

"Ha! I don't even know the meaning of that word!"

And I had a feeling Gal wasn't lying.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing Gal!?" Ipsum snarled.

Gal gave a smile to mask her nervous before doing the best Ipsum imitation. "Isn't it obvious my dear?"

Ipsum looked as though she was about to respond, before her jaw dropped as she realized what Gal's final ultimate strategy would be.

"I'm stalling for time."


---


There was a bit of a silence as Ipsum stared at Gal.

"What do you mean 'stalling'!?"

"I don't have to WIN this duel in order to stop you Headmistress! You're on a timer!" She pointed dramatically, and it seemed the old Gal had returned as a mischievous grin spread on her face.

"When the clock strikes twelve and your birthday rolls around, you'll need to absorb some youth or all those years you've been putting off will come flooding back! Without the ages you stuck on Ophelia's blade, you'll die of old age!"

"What!? YOU!" Ipsum choked out.

"My chain will protect Olly. Guy's link will protect Ami. Arena will protect Arthur. Everyone on the roof here is completely covered, and then we'll all live happily ever after! You, on the other hand, will be hit with all the years of squandered youth you stole! You're all out of targets, and in about 90 seconds, you'll be all out time too!"

"I... I can't let it end like this." Ipsum said in a panic as she took a step towards the helicopter.

"Backing down from a challenge is akin to a surrender." Arena reminded. "Don't forget, losing a duel against a Link in the Cursed Chain means surrendering your own link as well."

Ipsum began to pat herself down. "Wh-where's my PDA!? I'll disable your duel disk remotely and-"

"Oh..." Guy muttered absentmindedly, as he lifted the shattered remains of Ipsum's PDA from her jacket pocket. "Looks like this wasn't such a lucky break for you after all."

"W-we can call it a draw Gal!" Ipsum stammered, a woman at the end of her rope. "I'll turn Laplace back! I'll go far far away, and you'll never see or hear from me again!"

CLANG!

The clock began to strike, and it seemed Ipsum had aged ten years from the sound alone.

"PLEASE! Call off the duel!"

CLANG

And headmistress Ipsum looked even older, gray hairs and worry lines drawing themselves on her once beautiful face.

CLANG

"I'LL SHOW YOU HOW TO USE THE FIRST LINK!"

CLANG.

"I'll... I'll tell you where the other links are!"

CLANG

"Please! Money! Fame! Power! Anything you want!"

CLANG

"I've been alive for over 800 years! I... I know more than you could possibly imagine!"

CLANG

Gal was crying softly. "It's over Ipsum."

CLANG

"Please... show some dignity." Gal continued.

CLANG

Ipsum was turning older and older, faster and faster. Her beautiful eyes turned a milky white.

CLANG

Her skin grew more and more wrinkled, practically clinging off the corpse of the woman's fragile bony form.

CLANG.

Headmistres Ipsum was crying as she turned older and older.

"Please. I don't want to die." she sobbed miserably as she could feel the years coming back to her.

CLANG.

"N-nooooo!" she let out one last scream as her old withered husk collapsed on the ground in a cloud of dust. Her duel disk deactivated itself, as did Gal's. The holograms disappeared and at last it was safe to cross the battlefield.

"Happy birthday Headmistress." Gal said quietly as the woman's remains aged older and older, 800 years of robbed youth hitting her like a freight train, and even more than that since her chain forced her to age faster.

At long last it was all over and Gal Surname had triumphed over Headmistress Ipsum.


---


I wish I could say everything went back to the way it was, but unfortunately the damage that Ipsum had inflicted did not heal so easily. Friday morning rolled around and we still hadn't unlocked whatever secret Ophelia's blade held. We were all at Transit Towers Airport to wish Laplace a safe voyage. Even though she was older, she carried herself well. She wore a modest dress she borrowed from her mother with a little bit of light make up. Even after everything she had been through, she still tried to smile just for us.

"Don't be so down guys." The older, 49 year old Laplace said. "You guys did everything you could."

"We could have done more!" Ami argued back.

"Especially Arena." Oliver muttered under his breath before Weibull elbowed him in the stomach.

"We didn't figure out how Ophelia's blade works." Guy said, though he didn't dare bring it with him for fear of losing it to an airport security guard.

"And we still don't know what happened to the First Link. Since Ipsum died... it goes to a random person who was just concieved, right?"

Arena stayed quiet.

"Guys, it's fine!" Laplace insisted. "If it weren't for all of you, Ipsum would have finished me off at Zenkai Hospital anyway."

"So where will you be going anyway?" Bernouli asked.

"There's some experimental treatments across the ocean, and if that fails... I don't think I'll settle down just yet."

Laplace smiled at us. "Life is short guys. I know that now more than ever. Go out and explore the world. That's what I'll be doing before I come back to Silvershine."

Oliver looked a little hopeful at her words. "But you will be back, right?"

"Just try to keep me away Olly!" she blew him a kiss and smiled. "

Oliver blushed at the older Laplace. "Well... guess this is goodbye then?"

"Yeah... Don't break too many other girls' hearts before I get back!"

They announced the final boarding call for Laplace's flight, and she gleefully skipped away, ready to begin the next stage of her life.


---


We all swore we'd never speak about Headmistress Ipsum's death and what we witnessed at the top of Zenkai Hospital, but you can't really argue with fifty thousand dollars. After we heard the news, we were in Detective Friedman's office first thing in the morning and the 6 of us from Team Surname told him everything we knew.

"So let me get this straight," Friedman began with a chuckle. "You come here telling me that the old Headmistress of your school, Lady Lorem Ipsum, is the one who killed Charlotte Swebb, Ella Minnow, attacked Lillian D'Vallé? You say she used some sort of magical artifact called the First Link in the Cursed Chain, and that after you beat her in a duel the woman died of old age and rotted into dust? And all you have to back up your claim is this brand new knife?"

"It's old!" Gal responded. "Centuries old!"

"Look, we're not idiots at SSPD. We tested that knife of hers already in in every possible way. No blood stains, only her fingerprints, and carbon dating puts it at less than 2 years old."

"We already told you..." Oliver said with an exasperated sigh. "Ipsum was like, robbing youth and putting it in the knife for later! She drained more than she needed because..." Oliver stopped. "Wow, this does sound kind of crazy when you say it all out loud."

"But it's the truth! How can we get you to believe us?" Ami asked.

Friedman raised an eyebrow, then glanced over to his little sister Hortense at his side. She gave a sigh then removed a single white glove. She interlocked her hands with mine, and then she kind of seemed to have a stroke before suddenly pulling her hand away.

Friedman sat up straight to look over his sister. "So, what do you say Hortense?"

She stared at me, then stared at Friedman.

"They're telling the truth.

Friedman looked at her like she was crazy, but he gave a shrug. "Yeah, I guess I've heard stranger tales before."

"Awesome!" Oliver pumped his fists then looked at Friedman. "And... the reward?"

"Oliver!" Ami protested as she smacked him in the arm. "We're doing this because it's the right thing to do!"

"Well then Our Lady of Perpetual Pastiche, you can give up your share of the reward if you want. Arena already gave up hers."

"I do not require material possessions." Arena responded flatly.

Ami stayed quiet. Friedman however, gave a chuckle. "The posters said a fifty grand reward for information LEADING TO AN ARREST. I can't really arrest a woman whose dead and ground up into dust."

"What!?" we all exclaimed, except Arena.

Friedman smirked. "Tell ya' what kids. I'll give Sergeant Euryval a call, and see if I can at least get you kids half that."

"Hmm..." Oliver put a hand on his chin and thought about it. "I think I can at least get a USED car for that much."

And with Office Friedman's report, they officially closed the book on the Curious Case of the Time Thief.


---


Maybe it was the uniform, maybe I just had a thing for headmistresses, maybe it's because she was actually the daughter of the God of Love, but I had to admit that Headmistress Mishegoss looked pretty amazing during the commencement speech at Weibull's graduation. She gave a little speech about always looking forward, and always remembering our time together, because life is short.

After graduation, we all said goodbye to Weibull one last time, and began packing as tomorrow was the day dorms were to be cleared out.

The next day, we were all waiting outside the Hermos Red dorm. Gal was crying hysterically, while Guy tried to reassure her.

"Come on Gal! It's just summer break! We'll be back in no time."

"Yeah, like... all of us except Arthur still live in Silvershine. You'll see us more than ever if anything."

"But... Ami... Laplace!" Gal eventually managed to choke out.

Guy, Oliver and Ami exchanged awkward looks.

"Well, since Detective Friedman officially closed the case, I'll see if I can talk to my parents." Ami began. "As for Laplace... I know it's hard, but I'm sure we'll see that middle aged woman again someday!"

Arena looked at me and shook her head from left to right.

"Alright Arthur," Oliver began with a smile. "We're all head to Starton for one final drink.  We know you have to wait for your mom and dad to pick you up." To my surprise, he gave me a quick hug. I awkwardly hugged him back. "Have a safe ride home man."

Oliver smiled towards my girlfriend. "And you little girl! You take good care of Arthur!"

She smiled back. "I will."

"It's been great meeting you." Ami said with a warm hug.

"This year's been pretty memorable. I doubt it would have been as great without you." Guy gave me a high five.

Gal was still in tears but she knew she had to say goodbye. She leaned in and gave me and Arena a kiss on the cheek.

"Come on Gal!" Guy began. "We'll see them again in just 3 months! Besides, you said you wanted to meet grandma and grandpa. Is that REALLY how you want to meet them?"

Gal blinked at Guy's words, then a big exaggerated smile spread itself on her face. "Oh you told them about me!? Grammy and Grampy don't know anything about you! Oh my gosh, they're gonna be so excited to see that they're grandparents again! "

"Take care Arthur! Arena!" Gal called out as she rushed ahead. Guy shook his head and smiled, as did Oliver and Ami. They crossed the street and waved at us before hurrying to Starton Cafe.

I watched the rest of my friends leave happily and cheerfully, and I waved goodbye with a smile until they rounded the corner and I saw them disappear. My smile dropped and I gave a sigh.

"Your parents aren't coming." Arena said flatly.

"Yeah... I didn't think that they would." I looked over at my luggage bag, wondering if I could make the trip to Transit Towers myself. Fortunately I had saved most of my share of the five grand reward so I could certainly afford a train ticket if I still didn't get a response by the afternoon.

"You wanted to introduce me to your family." Arena looked at me and smiled. "But I think I have a better idea!"

She took a deep breath and with a wave of her hand, a pillar of light emerged from the sky. I gasped in shock and almost fell over backwards.

"We can go to the Aether Realm and I can introduce you to my family instead!" she said with a smile.

I was still having anxiety attacks from my last visit to the Aether Realm and how I was nearly dissolved into light. "Arena... are you sure it's s-safe?"

"The first time we tried, your heart was not yet ready. I'm certain after everything we've experienced this year, our hearts have truly melded now. I am certain you will survive the trip."

I merely stared at the all-white pillar before me in awe.

Arena continued. "It might be a while before you get come back, but don't worry. Time flows differently in the Aether Realm."

I stopped to consider it. Honestly, my family was going through their own issues, and according to Arena would hardly even notice I wasn't there. I gave it one last thought before pulling out my PDA.

I quickly hit a number in speed dial. It went straight to the machine.

"Hey guys! It's Arthur... your beloved son. Don't worry about me. I made lots of friends at school and one of them... volunteered to let me spend the summer with them. I'm sure with your divorce coming along the last thing you need is another thing to fight over! You guys can call if you need me! Love you guys! Bye!"

I clicked and hung up the phone, then looked to my roommate. Arena stared at me with wide eyed excitement. I grabbed her hand and smiled. "Alright, let's go."

Arena seemed about ready to break down and cry tears of joy. "Oh Arthur, you'll love your new home. I just know it."

I couldn't stop smiling as we walked, hand in hand towards the portal to the Aether Realm. "As long as I'm with you Arena, I'm always home." I took one last breath and entered the pillar of light, hand-in-hand with my girlfriend Arena, the Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy.


The End