[Fanfiction] Arena 2: The Cursed Chain [COMPLETED!]

[Catterjune]

One Sentence Summary:
A sequel to a slice-of-life fanfic taking place in a Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Academy scenario.

Longer Summary:
For the start of their penultimate year at Hawthorne Academy, Arthur Surrogate and his friends must face off against a mysterious girl with unclear motives and unusual powers, the remaining links of the Cursed Chain, and a dark plot that threatens to shake the fabric of existence to it's very core.

What's the idea behind this fanfic?:
The original idea for the first fanfic was greatly inspired by YuGiOh GX and [a certain RP website] I've been involved with for almost 10 years. On our RP, we try to keep the action and universe a little more grounded in reality. We attempt to answer the question, What would it really be like to live in a GX Duel Academy? For Arena 1, I tried to translate that feeling into a consistent story.
For the sequel, it's a little more outlandish and a little more ridiculous, taking more cues from GX fanfics then from the anime itself. If Arena 1 attempted to parody the GX anime, Arena 2 attempts to parody GX fanfictions.

Is it necessary to read the first part?
I attempted not to introduce too many people or too many concepts all at once, though I will admit the first couple chapters are a bit of a slog to get through. Too much info dumps and too little actual progression of story. It's mostly to bring new readers up to speed, or remind old readers on stuff they may have forgotten. You can certainly read and enjoy this story, but it is highly recommended you read the first part.

Where can I read the first part?
https://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/topic/350681-arena-a-duel-academy-fanfic-completed/

Is this REALLY a parody, or are you just a bad writer who's hiding behind the word parody to excuse your bad writing?
Yes.

What's the release schedule?
Once a week, every Saturday


[spoiler=Table of Contents]Chapter 1: Welcome Back to Hawthorne
Word Count: 3345
Chapter Summary:
A forgetful boy
A girl with black and white hair
Welcome back to school

Chapter 2: Everything's Gonna Be Okay
Word Count: 3554
Chapter Summary:
Arena explains.
Nothing is ever okay
After that duel ends

Chapter 3: School Time Sadness
Word Count: 4529
Chapter Summary:
A confrontation
With the fourth link in the chain
Followed with a tag duel
 
Chapter 4: Clearly
Word Count: 4091
Chapter Summary:
Knowledge is power
Unless people won't listen
Truth is meaningless

Chapter 5: This Isn't What It Looks Like
Word Count: 3910
Chapter Summary:
His memory back
The crew learns more about Aynn
Counterattack time

Chapter 6: What Do You Have In Mind
Word Count: 4094
Chapter Summary:
A slumber party!
The return of memories
And one final plan
 
Chapter 7: The Book that Controls the Universe
Word Count: 4505
Chapter Summary:
A plain old notebook
Leads our heroes to a duel.
The truth is revealed.
 
Chapter 8: Demigoddess
Word Count: 3350
Chapter Summary:
A climactic duel
But not the one you expect
A chain link trades hands

Chapter 9: Unconditional Surrender
Word Count: 2600
Chapter Summary:
The ultimate fate
Of Aynn and everyone else
Is decided here

---

Chapter 10: Midterms
Word Count: 5340
Chapter Summary:
The students discuss
Their academic studies
And work on midterms

Chapter 11: Duel Monster Spirit Day
Word Count: 3780
Chapter Summary:
Gal and her friends find
On Duel Monster Spirit Day
Something not so sweet

Chapter 12: Family Day
Word Count: 5558
Chapter Summary
Meet Misses Uni
The Surrogates, the Blanklies
And everyone else
 
Chapter 13: The Kelen Duel Academy
Word Count: 4636
Chapter Summary
Crimson Wind tourney?
A new school shows up instead
All links are revealed

Chapter 14: Ophelia's Blade
Word Count: 3232
Chapter Summary
Without Aynn Mischa
It is exposition time
Starring Arena

Chapter 15: Three! Two! One!
Word Count: 3547
Chapter Summary:
After a long night
Team Surname plans a road trip
Destination: Aynn

Chapter 16: Lord Ikari's Traveling Farm
Word Count: 3985
Chapter Summary:
A simple road trip
Turns into something much more
All eight links gather
 
Chapter 17: Good Evening Everyone
Word Count: 3465
Chapter Summary:
A paralyzed boy
A mysterious old woman
The final two links
 
Chapter 18: The Eighth Link in the Chain
Word Count: 5208
Chapter Summary:
One final mission
Save Aynn Mischa Surrogate.
Not without a fight.
 
---

Chapter 19: Anyone With the Slightest Bit of Interest
Word Count: 3841
Chapter Summary:
Sweethearts Day draws close
Ben hopes to take Gal Surname
Gal has other plans
 
Chapter 20: Our Gal Surname
Word Count: 3001
Chapter Summary:
Arthur makes his choice
The kids travel to their dance
Before the world ends

Chapter 21: Victory Dance
Word Count: 4348
Chapter Summary:
Arthur and Gal's date
They do not find what they want
They find something else

Chapter 22: Forty Nine
Word Count: 3831
Chapter Summary:
Hortense and Arthur.
A duel to decide their fate.
Maybe a surprise

Chapter 23: Something Nefarious
Word Count: 3539
Chapter Summary:
Everyone hangs out
Spencer talks with Ikari
The Covenant lives

Chapter 24: Children of Silvershine
Word Count: 3814
Chapter Summary
To the Aether Realm
The Links gather in one spot
The portal opens

Chapter 25: The Aether Realm

Word Count: 3682

Chapter Summary:

One last adventure

The demigods all gather

To stop a madman

 

Chapter 26: A Drop in the Bucket

Word Count: 4860
Chapter Summary:
All the Eternals
All of the Links in the Chain
All the Demigods

Chapter 27: The Fabric of Reality

Word Count: 4588

Chapter Summary:

All points lead to this

The Covenant versus Gal

Only one winner

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 1: Welcome Back to Hawthorne]
So you're looking at the title and you might be worried because this is a sequel. 'Arena 2!? But I've never even read Arena 1!' Or maybe you did read the first one, but after all this time you can't remember a single detail about my first year at Hawthorne Academy.

Don't worry about it. I couldn't remember any of it either.

Every memory I had made from last year was completely gone. I didn't remember anything about Arena - the Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy and how she had fallen in love with me. And I certainly didn't know anything about how Arena had altered the timeline by creating the Cursed Chain, a series of magical artifacts that granted it's wielder an amazing power along with a horrifying curse. And I didn't know about how these Links in the Chain fell into the hands of two of my friends, as well as our enemy, Lady Lorem Ipsum and I didn't remember their final climatic battle they held on the roof of Zenkai Hospital.

What was worse was that even basic things were gone too. Simple things like my own name (Arthur Surrogate) where I was going (the admin offices) and what I was doing before this chapter started (filling out paperwork) were all extremely difficult to recall.

All I knew was there was a white flash of light, and the feeling of something squeezing tightly around my brain. I was sure the information was all still there, right on the tip of my tongue, but still entirely out of reach.

I found myself walking absentmindedly in a hallway, with about a hundred other people.

No, these weren't just ANY people. They were all girls, and if I had to venture a guess I would say they were school girls judging by the fact they all wore uniforms. Their wardrobes were all different colors, though I didn't understand the significance of what being a Hermos Red, Critias Black, or Timaeus Blue student meant.

As I made my way through the hallway, I happened to catch a glimpse of my reflection from a nearby mirror hanging on the inside door of a girl's locker. I was a male wearing a red jacket, black dress pants, messed up dark black hair and dark colored eyes. The only thing that made me stand out was my gender. I was clearly a boy in what looked like an all-girl school but for the most part none of the girls seemed too upset or appalled to see a boy wandering the halls like this. In fact, the girls were all too wrapped up in their own little conversations and their own little world to bother with me.

I decided to get to the bottom of this, but as I began my approach I was beginning to have second thoughts. Approaching someone at random just felt too impolite and even if I did, like... what would I even say?

'Hi! I don't know who I am or where I am or what I'm supposed to be doing!'

What help could a random stranger possibly provide me?

I just continued walking, feeling that if I physically moved forward I could also somehow move mentally forward, and perhaps stumble across some answers.

Instead of answers, it seemed I stumbled across a peculiar girl in all white hoodie.


---


I assume because her hood was up she didn't have very good peripheral vision. My excuse was that I was still quite stupefied over what I could only describe as sudden memory loss. In any case, I bumped into this girl which caused her to fall and drop a black and white composite notebook.

She let out a gasp, but picked herself up quickly thereafter.

"Oh, I umm..." I began as I picked up her book for her. As I picked up the book however, I noticed a strange sentence written at the top of one of the pages. 'Stop Arena. Save Daddy.'

I felt it was none of my business so I quickly shut the book and handed it back to the girl. "I'm sorry but-"

Now closer to her, I noticed just how familiar she looked to me.

I didn't feel like I knew her specifically, but her cute little nose, the shape of her eyes, and everything about her face seemed to remind me of... someone else who I felt I should know.

This girl wore plain blue jeans and white hoodie with the word 'pink' on it. She seemed to study me with her dark gray eyes before she removed the hood portion of the hoodie to reveal the most startling part of her appearance.

Have you ever seen those girls who dye their hair platinum blonde? After about a week or so their natural hair begins to grow in. The tips would remain white, however up near the scalp, right at the root, you would see their natural dark brown hair.

This girl's hair was exactly the opposite.

The girl in the 'pink' hoodie had a short cute looking pixie cut that started with white at the roots, which got more and more gray the further down you went, ending with a dark shade of black like my own hair. Her bangs were the same way. White near her scalp, black near the ends.

She looked as though she was about to say something when suddenly a voice called out to me in another direction, taking my attention away from her.

"Yo Arthur! Over here man!"

I turned around to see who it was. A smooth looking, blond boy slightly taller than me approached with a smirk on his face as he extended his arm for a high five. I raised my hand slightly and he swatted it.

I looked back again, and the girl in the 'pink' hoodie was gone.

"Did anyone-" I began, before a slim girl with auburn hair quickly approached me.

"Welcome back to Hawthorne!" she greeted excitedly before latching onto me and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. My hand was still in the previous high five position before I awkwardly patted this girl on the back.

If I didn't know it any better, I could have sworn the blond boy gave a disapproving scowl. "Don't let Arena catch you doing that." Before a quick smile showed up to prove he was joking.

"Speaking of which," I looked over to see their third musketeer, who looked absolutely identical to the first girl. Possibly the girl's twin sister? "Where is Arena?"

I gave this person a puzzled look, before gesturing over my shoulder. Behind me, emblazoned in big block letters there was a sign reading 'Hawthorne Academy Dueling Arena' and I gave a noncommittal shrug. "Is that what you're looking for?"

"Ha, good one Arthur." the blond boy chuckled.

"Arthur?" I blinked. "Is that my name?"

The boy smirked. "Yes, King Arthur in fact!" he exclaimed with a certain pompous and grandiose tone. "And I am Sir Oliver Khlozoff, Gallant Knight of the Round Cafeteria Table! This here is the fair maiden, Lady Gal Surname, and over there is her identical twin brother, Guy Surname the village idiot!"

"Shut up Oliver." the person who was identified as Guy Surname said curtly before turning his attention to me. "Arthur looks a little shaken up."

"Are you feeling okay? Did you hit your head or something?" the girl known as Gal Surname asked with a worried tone in her voice.

I didn't want to worry this girl and her brother but I wasn't really sure what to say. "I can't... remember anything." Other than feeling lost and unsure, I felt physically fine. No broken bones, no bumps, bruises, or blood loss.

"You know," Gal Surname began, with a finger on her chin and her other hand on her elbow. "I saw a documentary about this a little while ago."

"That was a cartoon." Guy Surname corrected.

"Do you remember anything about fine dining?" Gal leaned in towards to me and spoke in a pleading tone of voice. "How about breathing?!"

"Gal!" Guy pulled his sister away from me. "Stop joking around. If Arthur bumped his head he should probably see a doctor. Has anyone seen Nurse Marosa?"

The commotion seemed to attract the attention of a few other girls, but they didn't seem to directly engage any of us. I'd see a few pointing, hear a few whispers, but overall no one stepped up.

"I don't..." I began, awkwardly touching my arm. "I don't think I need a doctor. I don't feel sick, it's just... I can't remember anything."

"See, he's fine!" the Gallant Knight of the Round Cafeteria Table declared. "How would Nurse Marosa even help him regain his memories anyway?"

"Oh, and you're better suited to help Arthur than a qualified medical professional, right?" though Guy was shorter than Oliver, that didn't stop him from trying to confront the blond.

Oliver effortlessly pushed past him and put an arm around my shoulder. "Who better to jog Arthur's memories than his nearest and dearest friends?" He began leading me down a corridor in this academy. "You know what'll help our ol' buddy Arthur? A literal trip down memory lane!"

The twins could only sigh and follow closely behind us as Oliver prepared to give me the grand tour of the academy.


---


Even though I was lost and confused, something about these 3 felt familiar. It was a different feeling from the girl in the "pink" sweater. After only a few minutes with them I was certain that Oliver Khlozoff and the Surname twins were my friends. But I was still unsure what the girl with the black and white hair meant to me. I would have to ask them at some point, but I felt I had a million and one other, more pressing questions to ask.

"This here is Hawthorne Academy - Premier All Girl School in Silvershine City. What are a trio of handsome dudes like us doing here? I'll tell ya!"

We rounded the corner as a few girls pushed past us, whispering about something and giggling as they headed onward.

"Our old school, Lincoln Academy burned to the ground and the three of us are the only survivors. We all still needed a formal education so they transferred us all here. Along the way we've had many whacky adventures and met a colorful cast of characters!"

I nodded as Oliver kept leading me down and point out important places to visit, such as the cafeteria, the water fountain, the only boys bathroom in the entire campus. As we walked he also pointed out people to me though I didn't know what, if any, relationship I had with any of them.

"That's Claire Annette and Marsha Mellow!" we passed by two girls - one average looking and the other one was rather overweight. They both looked up when they heard their names and nodded and smiled, before going back to discussing their summer vacation.

Oliver continued showing me the sites of the academy. "See that bench right underneath that staircase? Best place to sit if you wanna look up a girl's skirt."

"WHAT?!" Gal exclaimed, her face turning bright red as she awkwardly fidgeted with her Timaeus Blue skirt.

"There's Paige Turner and Jenna Talia." Oliver continued, as two girls descended the staircase. One wore more makeup and eyeliner then all the other girls in the school combined. The other was extremely curvy and extremely well endowed. The nodded at the sound their names and continued.

"W-wow... y-you weren't kidding there." Guy stammered, his face as red as my jacket.

Gal tried to continue with the tour, leading the boys down another hallway.

"That's Headmistress Mishegoss's office." Gal pointed out. "She's my favorite! Not JUST cause she's the headmistress, and not JUST cause she's the head of the Duel Disk department but also because-"

"Hey!" Oliver began "Check out Karen Maintenance and Lauren Order!" A dark skinned girl smiled, and a nervous girl in glasses gave us a quick wave as we continued.

It was evident pretty quickly this wasn't a tour to actually teach me anything. We were going by too fast for any of this to really sink in. This was more a tour to try to help jumpstart my memory. Unfortunately for everyone involved, it did not work.

As we now approached a group of lockers, Oliver pointed out a girl in a blue jacket who had her back turned to us. "And there's Bernouli! She hates us!" Oliver said with a grin.
Upon hearing her name the taller girl in Blue turned around, before scowling as she realized who we were.

"Oh, it's 'Team Surname'." she slammed her locker shut and frowned at us.

"I thought she just hated Guy." Gal corrected.

"I don't..." Bernouli stopped to consider it. "It's complicated but I guess I can't really hold a grudge after you six you kinda saved the town or whatever last year."

Something she said didn't quite sound right. "Six of us?" I looked over our little four-person group. "Are a couple people not here anymore?"

The three of them gave a sigh at the same time.

"Yeah..." my friends said at exactly the same time, but it turns out each of them were thinking of somebody else.

"Ami" said Gal.
"Laplace" said Oliver.
"Ella" said Guy.

None of these names sounded familiar to me at all. I had no idea that Ami was Gal's best friend from elementary school, who transferred over to another academy by her father over fears of her falling victim to the First Link in the Chain. I didn't know Laplace was Oliver's ex-girlfriend, who was converted to a middle age woman by the magical powers of the First Link in the Chain. And even when she was alive, I never got to really know Ella Minnow before the First Link in the Chain drained her of her youth and killed her of old age.

It seemed Bernouli wasn't satisfied with any of their answers though.

"You idiots are forgetting the most important little rat faced girl of your group."

"Are you sure?" Oliver began. He began scanning the area before pointing at another girl dressed in an all-black uniform. "Small Boobs was never really a member of our group..."

The girl turned revealing she was remarkably flat chested. She blushed profusely at the ridiculous nickname and put her arms around her lack-of-chest. "Shut up Olly! That's not my name!"

Guy gave a quick chuckle but shook his head at the girl's reaction. "Bernouli's talking about Arena."

The way he pronounced the name was unusual. He didn't pronounce it like the word 'arena', such as a place where we were going to watch a duel in Chapter 2. He instead pronounced it like the word "Air" followed by the ending "-ina", like the ending of the name Christina.

"Yeah, I know." Oliver smirked. "Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy."

"Arthur's roommate and girlfriend." Guy added in.

"Soulmate!" Gal corrected with a giggle. "With a love that transcends both time and space!"

Bernouli rolled her eyes and walked away. A slow realization seemed to dawn on all three of them all of a sudden, and it was Gal Surname who spoke her concerns first.

"Wait, where is Arena anyway?"

I wanted to point again to the Hawthorne Academy Dueling Arena, but I knew that wasn't the answer they were looking for.

The trio looked concerned at me, then looked at themselves.

"I think the next stage of the tour will be more of a search party..." Oliver said.

"I'm sure once we find Arena, everything will be fine."

I still felt completely at a loss, but my friends seemed hopeful. All I could do was smile and go along with them.


---


We tried to go over what we knew about Arena, and possibly her favorite hangout spots but according to Gal all she had ever said about the subject was 'anywhere near Arthur'. The only other hint we had was that her and I shared a dorm together, so we started with that.

After rummaging through my own pockets I managed to find a room key with a keychain attached that said '415' on it. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this was meant to be me and Arena's room.

At the lobby of the Red Dorm, I was worried the security guard wouldn't let Gal, Guy or Oliver in, since they were in the Blue and Black however it seemed the security guard seemed to know us and let us all in with no further issue.

"Thanks Weibull!" Gal called out before we got into the elevator and hit the number four.

The fourth floor was crawling with activity, and dozens of girls were in the lounge area. They all seemed surprised to see us, and Guy and Oliver seemed just as surprised to see them.

"Wow... the fourth floor wasn't this crowded last year." Guy stammered.

There were whispers and pointing but these freshman girls didn't interrupt us as we made our way down the hallway and into the room marked 415.

Room 415 looked rather plain, drab, and unassuming. Imagine a moderately-priced hotel room with only red accents here and there and you can probably picture what my dorm room looked there. The wallpaper had a bit of a red trim to it and there was a red blanket on top of the single person bed. There was a simple redwood desk with a red rolling chair, a single person arm chair in front of a TV, a small refrigerator, a dresser, and from the entrance of the room we could see doors - one leading to the closet and the other leading into the bathroom.

"Wow. This room is really..." Guy paused to think of a better word, but did not succeed. "... small."

"Arena's pretty small too." Gal said.

"And Arthur's not exactly Mister Longfellow himself."

"No, I mean... where do they sleep?" Guy motioned towards the single, twin-sized bed in the middle of the room. Again, I wasn't very tall, but this bed was clearly only big enough for one person.

"Oh..." I slowly realized what he meant, and I could tell I was blushing even without the mirror on the nearby dresser.

Oliver gave an uproarious laugh. "My man! Good job Arthur!" he raised his hand for a high five, but I did not feel like obliging him this time.

"If it's twin sized, that means two people can lay down on it, right?" Gal took a seat on my bed and prepared to recline back before Guy put his hand on her back and stopped her.

"Knock it off Gal. You're wearing a skirt."

I however was more interested in my own clothing. I felt a little weird rifling through the drawers and closet, even if this stuff was supposed to be mine. Nevertheless, it seemed that I had a full stock of clothing here. I had either unpacked my own clothes prior to my memory failing me, or whoever my alleged roommate was had helped me. Still, I felt as though this was all just a dead end.

All I could do was shake my head.

"Nothing here is ringing any-" I began, before a bell chime sound came from my jacket pocket, followed by 3 other similar beeping sounds from my friends. I reached in to find the source of the sound, as did my friends with their own pockets. The four of us all looked at the message we just recieved on our own PDAs.

'Attention all students. Please report to the Hawthorne Academy Dueling Arena immediately for a mandatory presentation.'

"Ugh, already?" Oliver groaned. "This is gonna suck."

I gave a shrug. "Let's just go. How bad could it be?"

I didn't know it at the time, but all of us, and in fact the entire student body was walking right into a trap.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 2: Everything's Gonna Be Okay]

It was our first day back at Hawthorne Academy and it seemed I had forgotten to bring my memories. After we received a message on our PDAs, the four of us walked to the dueling arena mostly in silence. The Surname twins took the lead while Oliver and I followed. As we approached the Dueling arena we could see hundreds of other students already crowding in. Oliver yawned, fingers interlocked on the back of his head before he finally spoke.

 

"Hey man, if this whole memory loss thing is some big elaborate prank you should probably cut it out." He smirked, before quickly adding in the following. "I mean, not so much for my sake but... Gal you know. She's worried I guess."

 

I didn't know too much about Oliver Khlozoff, but I think that was his way of telling me he was worried, but didn't want to show it.

 

"Sorry to disappoint, but I really can't remember anything." I said.

 

"Are you sure you REALLY don't remember anything at all before we saw you today?"

 

I thought about it for a moment, before I suddenly remembered something. It wasn't anything from last year, however it was from before I met them, namely the girl in the 'pink' hoodie.

 

"Wait... I think I might have seen Arena earlier today." I said excitedly.

 

"You did!?" Oliver asked, with a bit more genuine excitement as opposed to his phony pretending to be excited motif.

 

The Surname twins turned around.

 

"Everything's gonna be okay!" Guy said with a smile.

 

"I'm sure Arena will help!" Gal exclaimed.

 

Oliver's smile faded ever so slightly before a more skeptical look emerged. "Wait, how do you know it was Arena? What did she say? What did she look like?"

 

In my mind, I expected someone who called themselves a god or goddess to look weird and really stand out. The girl I saw, with her bizarre hair definitely fit the bill in my mind

 

"Just before you guys found me, I bumped into this girl with dark gray eyes and... like, bizarre black and white hair. White at the roots and black at the bangs. Short, kind of like Gal and Guy's hair, but maybe a little shorter. She was also wearing blue jeans and a white hoodie with the word 'pink' written on it. I didn't really-" I stopped, as I had finally noticed the disappointment in their faces.

 

Gal's hopeful expression had completely faded by the time I had finally looked up. "Everyone is supposed to wear a uniform, unless they're a freshman. Arena's a second year."

 

"And Arena has pale gray eyes and long white hair." Guy continued. "Whoever you saw wasn't her."

 

"Don't worry, you'll know her when you see her. She's got this whole... regal air about her." Oliver nodded.

 

"Oh..." it was all I could really say. If anyone was a Goddess I was certain it was that bizarre looking girl I had met hours earlier. But the real Arena, the Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy was actually closer than I thought.

 

We entered the auditorium area of the dueling arena, and sure enough at the very first seat in the closest row to our entrance, I could the back of someone's head. Their extremely long white hair was draped over the back of the chair they were sitting on. My heart skipped a beat as I approached.

 

"Arena..." it wasn't a question. I was certain this was the girl.

 

"Oh, she was here all along? Whatever." Guy gave a quick wave before he began to file into the same row Arena was in. Gal followed her brother, but not before she gave Arena a quick hug that Arena did not reciprocate or respond to in anyway. Oliver smiled towards Arena but otherwise kept it professional and took his seat next to Gal, leaving only a single empty seat for me to sit next to this girl who was allegedly mu roommate.

 

Arena looked up at me with a blank expression on her face.

 

"You are late." she said simply.

 

As soon as I took a seat next to her, the girl interlocked her hands into mine. She looked at me, studied me hard and sighed.

 

"This won't be easy."

 

I was puzzled by Arena's words. "What do you mean by that?"

 

She didn't speak, but I did get an answer. The girl took a deep breath and a pained expression spread across her face. She closed her eyes and suddenly the world got dark all around me. The dueling arena was gone and this girl was the only light I could see in the rapidly expanding void of darkness before me.

 

 

---

 

 

Have you ever found yourself with a mysterious case of amnesia floating in a dark endless void with no visual stimuli other than a white haired, gray eyed school girl who seemed to radiate light?

 

This was a lot like that.

 

My three friends, Oliver Khlozoff and Guy and Gal Surname seemed thoroughly convinced that a girl named Arena could somehow fix all of my problem. As the world grew dark all around me I was beginning to have second thoughts.

 

Arena was the only source of light in front of me, and I was no longer sure if I was even still sitting or not. My body was limp, and as I tried to grab at whatever was around me I found that Oliver and company were no longer there. I tried to lean back but I felt I was no longer in a seat either. Naturally I tried to get into a more "standing up" position but from where I was floating in space I wasn't sure which direction was up.

 

"What the hell is this!?" I exclaimed as I floated in midair.

 

"Peace my dear Arthur." the girl stated simply. "I am here to help you, my beloved."

 

She gave the smallest hint of a smile, though with the look of pity in her eyes I wasn't exactly filled with confidence. She was extremely rigid and robotic in her movements, which was more than a bit unnerving. She was less like a human and more like an observer. She spoke like an outsider who had been studying humans for thousands of years and was only just now doing her best to imitate one.

 

"Okay then, if you're here to help... do it already! Restore my memories!"

 

The girl named Arena floated in midair in front of me. She seemed to be thinking, before a short sentence escaped her lips. "State what you remember so far."

 

I raised an eyebrow at this girl's command but decided to follow along.

 

"Okay. My name is Arthur Surrogate..." a small bit of light in the far off distance seemed to twinkle to life, like a star in the vast endless ocean of space. "I go to Hawthorne Academy. Oliver Khlozoff, Guy Surname, Gal Surname, those are my closest friends. And you are... Arena, a Goddess who is in love with me. But that's all stuff I only learned today." With each word I spoke, another little twinkle of a light seemed to light up in the far off distance.

 

Arena scowled as she continued studying me. She did a peculiar mid-air about face, then began floating over somewhere else, as though she was studying something else.

 

"She did a lot of damage."

 

"Who did?"

 

She seemed to find the endless void of darkness much more interesting than I was before she suddenly did a midair about face to turn her attention onto me again.

 

"The Fourth Link in the Cursed Chain."

 

I had a creeping sensation that this wasn't the first time Arena had given me one of these nonsense unhelpful non-answers. I also had the feel that asking again would not yield a better result.

 

"Okay then, where exactly am I? What the hell is all this?"

 

She smiled. "These, my dear Arthur," she snapped her fingers and a hundred more twinkling stars came to life, filling the entire night sky with light "are your memories."

 

Have you ever been to a busy electronics store, and passed by the television aisle? There's dozens of TVs all seemingly pointed to the same channel. This was a lot like that, but there were about a billion more TVs and they were all pointed to static.

 

I realized this wasn't some sort of endless void, but rather a long tunnel of television-like displays. I doubt they were really televisions, but for simplicity's sake that's what these rectangular screens of light looked like to me. They were on display in all directions, but unfortunately for me it seemed with all the static on display all the memory TV screens were broken.

 

The only memory TVs that seemed to be getting receptions were ones that were showing today's highlights. Spread across 7 or 8 different TVs were scenes I had experienced earlier today I saw myself walking through the academy, bumping into the girl with the "pink" hoodie, meeting my friends, taking a tour and then meeting Arena in the auditorium.

 

"Your memories..." Arena began, and I understood she meant the static-filled ones. "They're all there. They still exist. They just need to be fixed."

 

She floated over to one of the broken televisions and affectionately put her hand over it. A huge smile emerged on her face. "Our first kiss..."

 

I looked over at the broken television she focused on, completely indivisible from the other twenty or thirty million all around it.

 

"And this... Fourth Chain person broke my memories?"

 

"Memories are fragile. They can be broken and easily painted over, but despite that they're still there and can be fixed. You must wary of moments when you feel unease. That may be a clue that someone is playing with your memories."

 

Her pale gray eyes scanned the area quickly before continuing. "So far your memories have merely been broken. It seems to be a rushed job as the Fourth Link did not have the time to replace them."

 

I was stunned. Like... what exactly can you even say to that? My memories had been wiped clean by some nefarious person. How would I fix my memories, and how could I prevent these new ones from being taken away too? As if she were reading my mind, Arena answered my question before I could ask it.

 

"Do not worry my beloved. I will be by your side at the Academy to prevent your memories from failing you once again."

 

That was one half of the equation. "But can you fix my memories?"

 

All of the TV sets that were formerly set to static seemed to click and whirr, fast forwarding and rewinding to different moments in my life.

 

Several TV sets had what looked like Arena and I in a dorm room. Others had them throughout what looked like a school campus, probably Hawthorne. A large number of these seemed to take place in all white room with a lot of bright lights though.

 

All of the moments on display, and this exact moment I was experiencing right now with Arena all had the exact same thing in common. Arena appeared to be studying me. She took in a quick breath to speak, and a single sentence came at me from each and every direction.

 

"I cannot meddle with human affairs."

 

The sound was deafening. The TV sets seemed to grow brighter and brighter in intensity. I felt blinded by the light before me. I reached out, struggling to grab at anything in front of me. At last I found a hand to latch onto.

 

 

---

 

 

As the world began to return to normal, I felt someone pushing my hand away, and I heard a voice before my eyes fully adjusted themselves.

 

"Woah! You're a great kid Arthur, but I think you're gonna make Arena a little jealous."

 

At last my eyes seemed to fix themselves and I was back at the dueling arena at Hawthorne Academy. To my left was Oliver Khlozoff, with a mildly bemused expression on his face. To my right was the same girl I had seen in my far off dream in the TV section of Better Buy, Arena - The Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy. Her eyes were closed, as though she were sleeping.

 

"I know auditoriums are boring, but I can't believe you two both fell asleep before anything even happened." Oliver gave a laugh. "Mishegoss isn't even here yet."

 

Guy and Gal seemed more focused on important things though. "Did Arena help you?"

 

"Do you remember anything now?" Gal asked with a hopeful expression.

 

I shook my head from left to right. "She told me that someone damaged my memories, and also told me she couldn't fix them."

 

"She said she COULDN'T? Or she said she WOULDN'T?" Guy seemed to ask in a way that implied he already knew the answer.

 

And I myself knew the answer wouldn't be what anyone wanted to hear. "She said she couldn't meddle with human affairs."

 

"Yeah, that sounds about right for Arena." Gal said as she began slinking back down into her seat.

 

"So there you have it Guy! Olly wins again!" Oliver smirked. "The Nurse couldn't help him. The Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy couldn't help him. Clearly the best solution WAS for him to hang out with his friends more."

 

"Oh stop it!" Gal playfully swatted Oliver's shoulder. "The important thing is, Team Surname is all back together and nothing is gonna break us apart anymore."

 

Arena at last opened her eyes. She stared at the four of us for a moment, curling her fingers and intertwining them with my own.

 

Oliver raised a brow, but it seemed curiosity got the better of him. "Alright little Miss Goddess. If you're so high and mighty, tell us what's causing Arthur's memory loss."

 

Arena stared at Oliver for a moment before speaking. "Just think about it."

 

Of course I didn't remember it, but we had done something similar to this once before. Arena was the Goddess of Wisdom and according to her, wisdom is something that must be experienced. It can't be freely given out. Judging by the look on Arena's face, I felt she knew we could solve this.

 

"Well my memories need fixing because someone broke them..." I began.

 

"And Arena can't fix them because she can't meddle with human affairs..." Oliver continued.

 

"So what she's saying is..." Gal began. "A human did this?"

 

Guy and Gal looked at each other and smiled as though they just solved a brain teaser. They spoke at exactly the same time as twins sometimes do. "The Cursed Chain!"

 

That worded sounded familiar to me. I nodded towards the pair. "Arena did mention it was the Fourth Link, whatever that means."

 

Guy, Gal and Oliver exchanged a nervous look before Gal began speaking.

 

"Well, Arena told us all about the Cursed Chain some time last year. Basically she can predict the future and she fell in love with you, but those were just predictions. There wasn't a guarantee you'd actually be born or survive to your teenage years, so she needed to cheat the timeline to make sure it happened."

 

Guy nodded, continuing where his sister left off. "She couldn't directly interact with humanity, so instead she created eight... sort of weird magical artifacts that are tied to a person's soul at the moment of conception or something like that. We call them the Cursed Chain, and each individual power is called a Link in the Chain. Each one has tremendous power along with a terrifying curse."

 

"We know about 4 of them so far I think." Oliver raised four fingers.

 

"Gal and I have the 7th link." Guy began. "Headmistress Lorem Ipsum had the first link in the Cursed Chain. It let her steal people's youth but it made her age much faster, before she died at least. Now we think it's probably scattered to the winds."

 

Guy looked over at Arena for confirmation. Arena said nothing. Guy shrugged and continued speaking.

 

"Since Arena is immortal, so are her Cursed Chain powers. When their owner dies, they go to some other random person."

 

"They go to the next person to be conceived after the previous owner's death." Arena corrected.

 

"Guy has the Second Link, which is like a creepy mind trick that makes people do what he says." Gal shivered as she made a grossed out face.

 

"And I ALSO have the third link in the chain, which lets me pass through solid objects."

 

"And since you get your magical powers when you're conceived," Oliver began "The Wonder twins over there each share one half of the 7th link in the chain."

 

"It can negate all the other powers in the Cursed Chain..." Guy said with a bit of uncertainty to her voice.

 

"Or at least portions of them?" Gal also said. "Like, me and my bro don't get the negative parts of the Cursed Chain."

 

"Something like that, I don't know. It's a little bit unclear." Guy shook his head, slightly ashamed at how the chain he held the longest was the one he knew the least about.

 

"The drawback is that all other members of the Cursed Chain can tell that you have it, and naturally gravitate towards it." Arena continued.

 

"You know..." Gal began as she put a fingertip to her chin. "Remember that police officer from last year? Detective Freidman? Remember his little sister, Hortense I think-"

 

"We're not explaining this all too fast are we?" Guy said, concerned.

 

I shook my head. "I think I got it. Arena can't directly meddle with human's lives, but she can create 8 gifts to humanity and they can alter the timeline on her behalf, sort of."

 

"Correct my love." Arena said as she gripped my hand. "They cannot be destroyed. Only wagered and exchanged in competitive battles."

 

"Like Duel Monsters!" Gal said eagerly.

 

"Okay, that's all well and good folks," Oliver began, in a tone that seemed to indicate that thing were neither well nor good. "But who's the fourth link in the chain that's messing with Arthur's memories?"

 

Before I could think about it further, the lights dimmed and I was worried Arena was dragging me back into my memories again. However the sound of someone clearing their throat on the PA system and a spotlight emerging on the battlefield before me reminded me that we were here for a special announcement.

 

I followed the spotlight to see a red-headed woman with glasses. She was a bit thin, her jacket held up by shoulder pads, but she looked so overwhelmingly happy it was hard to feel anything but joy when looking at her.

 

"Wow, Headmistress Mishegoss looks way better than I remember." Oliver said, sounding quite pleased to see her.

 

The woman, Headmistress Hilda Mishegoss, looked to be in her early 20s if I had to venture a guess. She had on a headset, and her duel disk was at the ready.

 

"And now for our FINAL duel we're gonna do something a lit-tle SPECIAL!" Headmistress Mishegoss's voice echoed throughout the PA system before she gave a giggle.

 

"In a save the BEST for last sort of way, we are ALL going to pay our undivided attention to one of OUR newest students!"

 

I realized now that this 'presentation' was actually going to be a duel as a second spotlight came on, lighting up Headmistress Mishegoss's opponent. The girl wore a white hoodie with the word 'pink' written across her chest, regular blue jeans, and she had startling black and white hair. The girl looked as confused and lost as I felt when I first got here. With her right hand she shielded her face from the bright blinding light by using her duel disk. In her left arm was a plain black and white composite notebook.

 

"Well now my little freshling! Will you PLEASE do us the honor of introducing yourself!?" Mishegoss said while grinning from ear to ear.

 

The awkward girl looked at Mishegoss with confusion before she quickly opened her book and snuck a glance at something before slamming the book shut. A confident smirk emerged on her face.

 

"My name is Aynn! Aynn Misha!"

 

"Alright then little Aynn, your placement exam begins NOW!" Mishegoss raised her arm and her duel disk came to life.

 

Aynn's duel disk also buzzed to life as well as she drew an opening hand of five cards, followed by a six.

 

As I watched the two of them duel, I could feel something squeezing tightly around my brain, before feeling something squeezing tightly around my arm. I looked down to see Arena clinging sharply. She gave me a stern look of warning.

 

"Keep on guard." she muttered.

 

With the dark lights around me, I didn't notice the spell everyone was falling under. Even if the lights were on, I wouldn't understand what I was seeing as I watched the pupils in people's eyes, growing wider and wider until they condensed into a single point.

 

True to her word, as long as Arena was by my side, my memories would remain untouched. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the rest of the academy.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 3: School Time Sadness]

Have you ever had a serious illness where you missed out on a week or two of school? Imagine that, and multiply it by about 400 and you'll get a good idea of how I felt after my first week at Hawthorne Academy.

 

I was pretty lucky to have the Goddess of Wisdom as my roommate, because otherwise nothing in any of my classes would have made any sense.

 

Every day after class we would return to our dorm room and she'd begin tutoring me. It's hard to learn without a set of rock solid fundamentals, and this was something I was really lacking with my inexplicable memory loss. Nevertheless, as Goddess of Wisdom it seemed that the only thing Arena enjoyed more than my company was a chance to teach me something. She was always smiling and always full of joy as she taught me basic arithmetic, the ins and outs of the game, and whatever else we could manage before it was time for bed.

 

Fortunately I had managed to make it through almost the whole week without drawing any unnecessary attention to myself. For some strange reasons the teachers seemed to take quite a liking to that new Critias girl, Aynn Mischa. It wasn't just the teachers though, as she quickly had a big following of friends almost immediately. I didn't mind as it meant there was less of a chance of people realizing I had lost my memory and having to explain my way out of it.

 

During lunch on Friday, I took a seat across from Oliver and Gal in the cafeteria, while Arena took a seat next to me. Guy was in line waiting for his food.

 

There was a strange stillness in the air, and even Gal seemed to be bothered by something. Her brother approached with a tray of spaghetti and looked us over before speaking.

 

"School Time Sadness?" Guy asked.

 

Gal sighed

 

"Yeah, something like-" before she could continue, an uproarious laughter came from the other side of the cafeteria. The 5 of us were on one end of the room, while literally everyone else was crowded around the latest and greatest Critias Black, Aynn Mischa.

 

"Well, I guess I sorta miss Ami-" Gal tried before again being interrupted by more raucous laughter.

 

Oliver meanwhile had his back turned to us, staring in awe at the group of girls and smiling the whole time, as he did almost every day.

 

"Is Oliver okay?" I asked. "I mean, I can tell he's a bit of a skirt chaser but I thought he and Gal were dating."

 

"WHAT?!" Gal exclaimed, almost choking on her pizza. "That's crazy talk! You're crazy! Listen to this crazy guy with his crazy talk! I'm gonna..." she mumbled something else as she took a long swig of milk.

 

Guy raised an eyebrow at his sister, and gave Oliver a disapproving look. Oliver however might as well have been on a different planet with how little he seemed to notice us.

 

"I think we should all go hang out with Aynn." Oliver suggested. "She seems pretty awesome."

 

"Uhh... do whatever you want I guess, but stay away from my sister." Guy gave a nervous chuckle, while Gal was still taking a long drawn out sip.

 

"Cool! Thanks bro!" Oliver picked up his tray and began making his way over to the group of about 40 or so girls. All we could do was watch as the girls parted their group and assimilated him into Aynn's circle of friends. In a few seconds he disappeared into a crowd of girls.

 

Gal frowned as she glanced over at Arena.

 

"Am I wrong here, or is there something really really weird about that girl? I don't think I'm jealous but it's just kinda weird. Everyone loves her even though she's kinda plain looking and awkward. Is it her hair?"

 

All Gal could do with her own short hair was run her hand through it. "I just don't see the appeal..."

 

"Well, you might be a little jealous-" her brother began before being interrupted.

 

"Excuse me sir, but I want a girl's opinion on this one! What do you think Arena?"

 

Arena was happily eating a bowl of fruit before she heard Gal's voice. Arena stopped and frowned, looking at the grape in her hand. She glanced up a second at Gal, then turned back to the grape. She tightened her grip around the fruit, crushing it completely.

 

"I think Aynn is an irredeemable monster and I would not be upset if she were to choke to death on her ham and cheese sandwich right this instant."

 

Guy dropped his plastic fork in surprise and Gal's jaw fell right open. I couldn't remember Arena ever saying anything quite so hurtful about anyone before.

 

"That's a pretty strong opinion there Arena." Guy began. "Why do you hate her so much?"

 

"I believe it is quite obvious." Arena began before popping a slice of kiwi into her mouth. "She took Arthur's memories."

 

"Arthur's memories?" Gal asked. She blinked, and it seemed it had finally all come together.

 

"You mean she's..."

"The fourth link in the chain!" Gal and Guy spoke at the same time.

 

It probably makes sense to an outsider looking in, but to us living through it at the time Arena's statement was a bit of a shock. Sure, Aynn Mischa was a bit of a weirdo crazy person, but the school had dozens of girls with weird personality quirks. Bernouli ate the peel of her bananas and the rind of her oranges. Small Boobs had a really big collection of tea cups, but she hated the taste of tea. Gal could burp the entire alphabet backwards.

 

"Are you sure about-" Gal began, before realizing she was literally speaking to the Goddess of Wisdom.

 

Arena nodded at Gal's exclamation. "The Cursed Chain naturally gravitates towards the seventh link." Arena reminded. "It is not a surprise that the links find themselves here in Silvershine."

 

Guy pushed away from the table and stood up. He quickly began to shovel in his spaghetti into his mouth and talking with his mouth full.

 

"If she's a member of the cursed chain, she needs to go down." or at least, that's what we thought he said. He quickly finished his styrofoam bowl and began walking towards the group of girls on the other side of the room.

 

"Wait wait wait!" Gal exclaimed. "We're just going to have a big showdown so soon into the school year? We haven't even finished our first week of classes!"

 

I raised a brow at Gal's assertion. "What does it matter that it's only the first week?"

 

"Look Arthur, I know what my bro is planning." She turned to Guy. "You're gonna try to beat her in a duel, right?"

 

"That thought had crossed my mind. Yes."

 

"Why are you so eager to challenge her to a duel anyway? We don't even really know what she's up to! Maybe she's using her fourth link powers for good?"

 

I rubbed the back of my head and remembered my memory loss. "I don't think that's what she's doing." I looked around and noticed the harem of girls, and Oliver, all hovering around Aynn, laughing, smiling, and just being happy to be around her. "Something about her... just ruins people's minds."

 

Gal frowned. "And you Arena?"

 

"You already know my thoughts on her." Arena said as she picked up the last strawberry on her plate. "Irredeemable monster."

 

"Can we make this a unanimous decision sis?"

 

Gal looked uneasy, but it seemed Guy had an idea of how to get her to see things his way.

 

"Gal, remember last year? We didn't strike against Headmistress Ipsum until it was already way too late. She killed Headmistress Swebb. She killed Ella. She almost killed Laplace. If you could turn back the clock, you'd stop her in a heartbeat wouldn't you?"

 

Gal still seemed unready to commit. I however felt I had an idea of something that could change her mind.

 

"Oliver's over there." I reminded. "If she's as dangerous as we think, we can't just leave him alone with her."

 

Gal gave a sigh and the faintest hint of a blush. "Alright. I'm in."

 

 

---

 

 

You can tell a lot about someone by the company they keep. If you went to the Point Blank night club and met a lot of fun party people who set you up on a blind date, your date would probably end up also being a fun party person. If you went to the academy library and met a quiet reserved group of book worms who had a friend to introduce you to, you probably wouldn't be incorrect to assume their friend was a quiet reserved book worm.

 

Aynn's friends however, were a broad spectrum of girls from every single clique in the school. There were stereotypical party girls like Anita Newman standing next to goth girls like Paige Turner. There were sporty athletic girls like Ilene Dover along with drama nerds like Jaqueline Hyde. We had hall monitoring brown nosers like Karen Maintenance and we had nerdy girls like Lauren Order. We had anti-social losers like Marsha Mellow, and school bullies like Bernouli. She even had half the male population fawning over her with Oliver Khlozoff on one side as well as Ilene's little brother, Ben.

 

The girls, and Oliver and Ben, were so caught up with their beloved queen that they didn't notice our approach until Guy was within easy shouting distance.

 

"Aynn Mischa!" Guy yelled as he approached the mass of people. "We need to talk!"

 

The girls all stopped what they were doing to glare at Guy. Some had their hands over their duel disks, and a few of them began reaching towards their bags. Guy wasn't worried though, as he had an ace up his sleeve to get whatever he wanted.

 

"Bro, I don't think this is a good idea." Gal whispered. "There's like 40 people here. We can't duel all of them."

 

Guy took in a deep breath before speaking again. "Ladies, can you please step aside and let me speak with Aynn?"

 

And something peculiar happened among the group of girls in the cafeteria. They all straightened up suddenly, chest out and standing perfectly straight. Their pupils dilated, growing bigger and bigger until they almost completely overtook the irises they were in. They all took a step back and around, opening up their group and giving us full line of sight to the girl with the black and white hair, Aynn Mischa.

 

Aynn was sitting at the cafeteria table, with a glazed over expression on her face as she studied the four of us before glancing down at the composition notebook right next to her half eaten ham and cheese sandwich.

 

After studying Guy for what seemed like an eternity, at last Aynn spoke two simple words.

 

"You're cute!" she said with a big silly grin on her face.

 

Aynn eagerly opened up her notebook and pulled a pen from behind her ear, like she was about to interview him for the most important position of his life. "Do you wanna be my boyfriend?"

 

Guy seemed quite shocked and taken aback by this girl's sudden confession. He was at a complete loss of words for about a minute, muttering a bunch of 'umms' and 'ahhs'.

 

"Aww... bro." Gal giggled.

 

I couldn't help but smile too. Guy often tried to act like he was a leader or like he was older than he really was, so it was kinda funny to see the normally unflappable Surname twin caught in an awkward situation.

 

"I... we know you're up to no good Aynn! We're here to stop you!"

 

Aynn Mischa nodded at Guy's words, writing them down before slamming her notebook shut with a loud thud. She stared at Guy for another moment before blurting out what was on her mind.

 

"You're cute!" she smiled again. "You should be my boyfriend!"

 

Guy was still red in the face by her second confession. "N-no... I'm n-not going to be your boyfriend Aynn."

 

Aynn blinked a bit, a glazed look etched itself on her face before she closed her eyes. "Are you sure? Are you sure we aren't already dating?"

 

Everyone else's pupils began expanding once again, before contracting suddenly and then going back to normal. There were now a lot of nods and murmurs of agreement to Aynn's statement.

 

"... Yeah, Aynn Surname..."

"... Silvershine Sweethearts..."

"... Sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S..."

 

I felt something tightening around my brain, and I think I did briefly remember them going to the Sweetheart's Day Dance last year. I felt Arena clutching at my arm before that strange thought went away.

 

"Aynn wasn't even alive back then."

 

I blinked, and everything suddenly clicked back into place, or as much as it ever did since this school year began. The Guy Surname and Ami Pastiche went as friends. Oliver and Gal also went as friends, though I had a feeling there may have been more to it than that. I of course went with Arena. Everything was becoming clear except for one thing.

 

"What do you mean she wasn't alive back then?"

 

But I did not get that answer, as Guy spoke up again trying to regain control of the situation. "Look Aynn! You need to stop messing with my friends memories! And... Bernouli's and Karen's and everyone else's too!"

 

Aynn look at Guy for a moment, then quickly produced a pen from behind her ear. She skipped over a few pages in her notebook before quickly writing down something. Her eyes glazed over for a bit and she began staring him, studying him very carefully before speaking.

 

"Um... what were we talking about again?"

 

Again Guy was stunned, left speechless and completely unsure on how to respond. "Just... what!? Are you gaslighting me!? What the heck is wrong with you!?"

 

Aynn stood up dramatically and opened her notebook. She flipped over a few pages and began reading out loud. "I am up to no good here, and you're here to stop me!" she loudly declared, with a certain tone of pride to her voice.

 

This was a bit much for the three of us mere mortals. We looked over at the Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy for any kind of guidance. She seemed more annoyed than anything else.

 

"Irredeemable monster." Arena repeated flatly.

 

"Fine dining! Breathing!" Gal exclaimed.

 

The 'playing dumb' bit was cute at first, slightly annoying the second time, but now I had felt strangely sorry for this girl.

 

"Aynn, are you feeling okay?"

 

Guy held a finger to his temple and thought it over.

 

"The First Link could steal people's youth, but they themselves aged too quickly. The Second Link could melt through shadows, but was terribly disfigured and burned by any kind of light. And now we have the Fourth Link in the chain who can alter people's memories, but..."

 

Gal, me and Arena spoke at the exact same time.

 

"She has a goldfish memory?"

"She can't remember anything?"

"She's an irredeemable monster."

 

Aynn studied us a bit, quickly scrawled something into her notebook then shut it with extra emphasis. She looked at the four of us confused, then cocked her head to the side. "Umm... what?"

 

We all groaned, but while it seemed Guy's spell could prevent the LADIES from interfering, it had no effect on any of the gentlemen in Aynn's circle of friends.

 

Oliver stepped up with a smirk on his face. "Hey everyone, what's all this drama?"

 

"Oliver!" Gal smiled and her eyes lit up, before she suddenly remembered the circumstances we had all found themselves in. "Aynn's bad news Olly! She's mind controlling people, and making them do whatever she wants!"

 

Oliver gave a laugh. "Really? Are you sure that's not your brother controlling other people? 'Can you please step aside?' Don't think I don't know what the third link in the chain does."

 

"Wait..." Aynn interrupted before she scratched the back of her ear with her pen. "Umm... what?"

 

"The Third Link in the chain Aynn." Oliver began. Aynn blinked, then quickly opened up her notebook and began scribbling.

 

"Guy Surname can control everyone, sweet talk his way to victory, and get anyone to do anything, and yet here he is accusing our precious Aynn of his own treachery! How despicable!"

 

"Yeah!" the girls chanted in unison, though for some reason they still kept a safe distance away from the scene before them. The ladies were doing everything they could to let Guy continue to speak with Aynn.

 

"Yeah homie! That's wiggity wack!" a second boy, one I hadn't met before also stepped up. He was young, clearly a freshman. Shorter than Gal, about the same height as Arena.

 

When we first arrived at the school, Guy, Oliver and myself got custom made uniforms. It seemed this particular freshman didn't. His outfit was about two sizes too big for him. He wore baggy trousers, a dark black beanie, and he had on a wife beater shirt underneath his oversized Critias Black jacket and a gold chain.

 

"Guy Surname, go take your homeboy Arthur, your Goddess of Apathy, and your fine ass identical twin sister and get the hell outta here!"

 

The Surname twins exchanged a very confused look. Gal's face was quite red at his description for her. Guy shook his head and tried to get back on track.

 

"Look, we have no issue with you two. We just need to duel Aynn." He motioned towards the girl who was busy writing down something in her composite notebook.

 

"How ya' gonna do that with us standin' in your way chump!?" Ben said with a cocky smirk on his face.

 

Guy was unfazed by the shorter boy. "A member of the Cursed Chain can't refuse a challenge from another Cursed Chain link, so-"

 

"Guy Surname!" Oliver exclaimed in a panic before speaking quickly. "I challenge you to a duel!"

 

"Yo'! That goes double for me! Tag Duel!"

 

"What!?" I exclaimed. "Oliver..." I paused. "Umm... other guy... are you two REALLY defending this girl!?"

 

Oliver and Aynn exchanged a look. Suddenly Oliver's pupils expanded then quickly shrunk back down before he nodded.

 

"Absolutely! I'd do anything for the girl who saved my life."

 

We all groaned, especially Guy. "Stop wasting time Oliver! This is between me and Aynn Mischa."

 

"We're not letting you anywhere near her!" Oliver and Ben stood between Guy and Aynn.

 

I felt Arena remove herself from my arm, before suddenly feeling my Duel Disk being placed on me. I looked down to see Arena adjusting it, smiling.

 

"A Tag Duel it is." Guy began. He glanced over at Gal who was rummaging through her bag before he locked eyes with me.

 

"Arthur, you're my partner!"

 

 

---

 

 

I was pretty certain that Guy would pick his sister as his tag partner, but no one was more surprised than Gal Surname herself as Arena pulled her aside to join the other girls.

 

"No fair! Why'd Guy pick your boyfriend as his partner instead of me?!"

 

Arena stared at Gal before speaking. "Four reasons. Firstly, he does not wish for Aynn to view your deck and come up with a good counter strategy in case he fails. Secondly, he is slightly jealous you were the one to defeat Headmistress Ipsum so he wants to handle Aynn himself. Thirdly, he thinks that since he is a man it is up to him to protect you, a woman. Lastly, he worries that Arthur is correct and that you will take it easy on Oliver because you are in l-"

 

"H-h-hey! S-sorry I asked!"

 

Arena and Gal took their spots in the audience as the only four boys in the entire academy got a Duelists Distance away from each other.

 

"Standard rules." Guy declared as life point counters hit four thousand.

 

Oliver drew five cards, and a sixth on his draw phase. "I'll set one monster and let you take your turn."

 

A simple rectangular box of light was all that protected Oliver from a direct attack.

 

As I looked over at my own five cards, followed by a six one on my draw phase, I had the feeling that Guy had made a terrible mistake choosing me as a partner.

 

"Ummm..." I began.

 

"Arthur, Arena HAS been tutoring you, hasn't she?" Guy asked, a skeptical look on his face.

 

"Of course! I know how to play the game and all the rulings and stuff!" I said, pretending to be offended.

 

"Is this your first time seeing your deck?"

 

It seemed he saw right through me.

 

"Uhh..." I gave a nervous laugh.

 

"Just try summoning something! I'll take care of it on my turn!"

 

"I umm... normal summon Brron, Mad King of Dark World!"

 

I placed the effect monster in attack position on my duel disk, and a wicked deformed looking monster emerged on my field. It certainly looked like something that I would describe as a Mad King. Despite how disheveled he looked, I was proud of my first normal summon.

 

I looked across the field towards my opponent, unsure of how to end my turn.

 

"Umm... your turn kiddo?"

 

Oliver's tag partner scowled. "Yo' it's Ben! Benjamin Quincy Dover! And I aint your kiddo!"

 

Aynn nodded, taking note of everything she saw and heard in her notebook.

 

Ben drew a card and smiled. "Check it scrubs! I play Polymerization! I fuse my homeboy Avian and my homegirl Burstinatrix to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!"

 

Gal groaned. "Elemental Heroes? Seriously?"

 

"Can't beat you punks down on my first turn, so I'll just end it here."

 

---

 

Guy looked over his hand and scowled, not because he had a bad hand but rather because he even had to duel in the first place.

 

"I'll start us off with Trade-In. I'll discard a level 8 monster, Legendary Maju Garzett, to draw two new cards." He sent the card to the grave and was rewarded with two new cards.

 

"Next up is my field spell, Gateway to Chaos!" The world dimmed ever so slightly, before a wave of light emerged in the center of all four of us.

 

"This Field Spell lets me search any Gaia The Fierce Knight monster, and I'll pick Charging Gaia the Fierce Knight! And I'll normal summon him too!"

 

A level 7 knight on a horse emerged on Guy's field.

 

"But my monster won't stick around for long, because I tribute him in order to special summon my Turret Warrior!"

 

Ben snorted a laugh. "You gave up a 1900 beatstick for a 1200 attack scrub? Get outta here!"

 

Oliver seemed dumbfounded by his partner before he found himself stammering "It... it has an effect."

 

"They both do." Guy clarified. "When my Gaia is tributed, I get to search out one Black Luster Solider monster. And when Turret Warrior is summoned, it gains attack equal to the tributed monster's original attack."

 

"So... 1200 plus 1900..." Ben started counting with his fingers before Guy interrupted.

 

"ORIGINAL attack. And my Gaia had 2300 attack originally. It only drops to 1900 when summoned without a tribute. You're looking at a 3500 attack power monster, but... that's not even my best move."

 

He smiled as he readied one more card in his hand. "I summon my ace monster! Black Luster Solider - Envoy of the Beginning!" Legendary Maju Garzett and Charging Gaia the Fierce Knight were banished from the graveyard as Guy's best monster hit the field.

 

"Black Luster Soldier! Attack Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!"

 

The mighty knight sped forward, launching his first attack and destroying Ben's Flame Wingman. Ben lost 900 life points, leaving him with 3100.

 

"And Black Luster Solider gets a second attack because he destroyed a monster. So Black Luster Solider, destroy Oliver's face down monster too!"

 

The Envoy of the Beginning sped forward and charged at Oliver's monster, Batteryman D, before it exploded into a million pixels and was sent to the grave.

 

"Turret Warrior! Take Ben out of this game!" With 3100 life points and facing a 3500 attack beast, Ben barely stood a chance as his life points hit zero.

 

I may not have remembered my cards, but I was lucky Guy was my partner, and luckier that Oliver's partner was a worse duelist than me.

 

"One down, one to go." Guy said simply. "Take your turn."

 

 

---

 

 

The girls were all silent, except for Aynn of course.

 

"Wow... he got you good!" she exclaimed with a smile.

 

Oliver scowled as he silently drew his sixth card.

 

Guy smirked. "Well Oliver, are you ready to admit defe-"

 

But before Guy could finish asking, he got his answer as a loud bell went off. Lunch time was over.

 

"Phew," Oliver breathed a sigh of relief "Guess we gotta call it a tie. And would you look at that! Sweet little ol' Aynn's free to go!"

 

The group of girls began to disperse and Aynn disappeared into the crowd.

 

"Peace fools!" Ben said as he got his backpack and began exiting along with everyone else.

 

"Hey wait!" Guy began, before suddenly being grabbed by Bernouli.

 

"No, you wait." Bernouli said with a scowl. She grabbed at Guy's arms and tucked them behind his back.

 

"You didn't win. Leave Aynn and the rest of us in peace."

 

Small Boobs grabbed Gal's right hand and wrist and tried to pull her along too.

 

"S-stop it Suri!" Gal protested in fright. "Please, we just want to help and restore everyone's memories!"

 

And then, something peculiar happened. Small Boobs's eyes grew wide as her hands were locked with Gal's. Her pupil's dilated, then contracted before she blinked. She seemed mildly confused, mildly lost, like she had just woken up from a long sleep.

 

"My head..." she whispered as she pulled her hands back. Without Small Boobs to restrain her, Gal made her way over to Bernouli and her brother.

 

"Let him go you big jerk!" Gal protested.

 

Bernouli was strong, stronger than Guy at least. But Guy had a second ace up his sleeve to get out of any situation. He closed his eyes and took a deep breathe, before taking two quick steps backwards. He activated the second link in the chain to move through solid objects and walked through Bernouli herself, easily escaping her grasp.

 

Bernouli shivered and cringed at the thought of having a boy literally inside her, but she had bigger problems as she motioned towards Small Boobs. "Let's hurry back to Aynn."

 

Small Boobs still looked in a bit of a daze but didn't resist as Bernouli grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her away.

 

I looked over at my tag duel partner and sighed. "Don't worry Guy. I'm sure we'll get her next time."

 

I thought this would be easy, but it seemed a girl who could command an army and turn our friends against us was tougher than I imagined. We didn't get a chance to finish the war right here, but we would find out later that we did win the battle in some small way.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 4: Clearly]
Aynn Misha did something to everyone in the school. She replaced all of our histories and made herself the center of everyone's life. It seemed to be spreading, with teachers and students alike singing her praises. It seemed there were only 4 people at the academy who could see through her trick, namely me, Arena, Guy and Gal. Before the end of the day, I would learn there were two others.

But as for the people who loved Aynn, our professor of Duel Scenarios, Miss Lydia Andry was probably the worst.

Professor Andry was a tall, thin woman with extremely curly light brown in her late 40s, possibly early 50s. She was the leader of Guy and Gal's dorm, Timaeus Blue. Miss Andry was said to hate men, though she mostly showed Oliver and Ben a cold indifference. Maybe they were tolerated in her eyes because they were Aynn's friends. Maybe when Aynn had brainwashed the entire academy she had eliminated the hatred of men inside Miss Andry. Or maybe Miss Andry was still under Guy's spell from Chapter 23 of Arena 1, which I of course knew nothing about.

All I knew was that for the most part she was leaving the men in her class alone. I would later find out this privilege did not extend to my girlfriend Arena.

The both of us sat in the back of the room in an amphitheater-like auditorium, taking out our notebooks and getting ready for class. There were no chairs, only long benches in front of a long table. The rest of the class seemed to crowd around the front, near Aynn Mischa of course. Guy and Gal did not need to take Duel Scenarios so it was just me and Arena as the only two people not under Aynn's spell. Or at least that's what I thought, until she showed up.

I was looking over my notes and concentrating on my books from last year so much that I hadn't even noticed Arena and I were not alone.

"Hey guys..." I heard a girl's voice speaking quite sheepishly. "Can I sit with you?"

A short, flat chested girl with long dark hair looked at me with big soulful eyes. I never got her name before, but I knew Oliver had called her 'Small Boobs', a rather rude nickname. I didn't want to ask her name and reveal my memory loss just yet. I just looked at Small Boobs, confused as to why a member of Aynn's group was even approaching us.

I felt this had to be a trick. Aynn had probably ordered Small Boobs to spy on the both of us. I looked over at my girlfriend, who seemed to ignore me and only give Small Boobs a quick nod before speaking.

"You may."

I looked at Arena like she was crazy, but Small Boobs didn't seem to notice. Instead she just gave a sigh of relief and looked as though the weight of the world had lifted off her shoulders.

"Great! Jenna and Claire are acting super weird." Small Boobs poked me in the ribs, urging me to move closer to Arena. "Unless you want me sitting on your lap, move over please."

Arena seemed to encourage having me move closer to her as she put an arm around me and pulled me in. With enough room for a proper sitting place, Small Boobs now took her seat.

"Everyone's been pretty weird lately too. I just kinda noticed it last Friday." she continued as she began unpacking her notebook.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Not the normal kind of everyday weird. Like how Gal can burp the-"

"Her memories have been restored." Arena interrupted.

"Wait, what?" I exclaimed, however before I could get a full answer the sound of the doorknob clicking open, followed by the clicking of high heels that had alerted me our Professor of Duel Scenarios, Miss Andry had entered the class.

"Good morning class!" she said in that tone of voice that teachers often use when they want the entire class to repeat back 'Good morning'. Instead all she got was a few murmurs of apathy and disinterest. She frowned, but kept moving along so as to not delay the class.

"You all recieved the syllabus last week and had a chance to review it. Were there any pressing questions?" More silence and the sound of shuffling paper. Miss Andry now smiled. "Good! Then let us not waste any more time!"

I however had much more important things on my mind than anything that was going on in Duel Scenarios. My friend Oliver was being mind controlled and this girl we knew as Small Boobs was either spying for Aynn's side or she legitimately broke free of Aynn's spell somehow. Both were things that I wanted to learn more about.

"Arena, what do you mean her memories are restored?"

"What I mean is..." she paused and looked up, anticipating what would happen. Miss Andry immediately turned around, her high heels clicking as she made her way over to me, Small Boobs and Arena.

"MISS Arena!" she exclaimed, as though trying to get Arena's attention, though of course Arena knew this was coming.

Aynn and her friends began to giggle.

"Do you have something to share with the class?!" She said, glaring directly at my roommate.

Arena looked at Miss Andry, then over at Aynn and her friends.

"Nothing that would provide any long term benefit to any of these children's lives."

I heard more laughing from Aynn's crew.

"Then please refrain from interrupting my class!"

Miss Andry turned around and began to walk away. I was glad it was over, however it seemed Arena was not about to drop the subject. Arena stared at Miss Andry for a moment before speaking.

"I believe the time you take out of class in an attempt to scold me is a much bigger interruption."

"Oooooh." I heard coming from Aynn's squad.

Miss Andry turned back to Arena, surprised at her outburst and at Aynn's friends. "Enough!" shrieked Miss Andry. The entire class flinched except Arena.

"Miss Arena, do you really want to go down this path? You're a bright young girl-"

"That's an understatment." Arena stated quickly with a blank expression on her face.

Miss Andry growled, but as a teacher she knew there was nothing she could do to physically harm a student. Miss Andry instead took a breath, then a quick smirk emerged on her face.

"Alright! Pop quiz Smarty Skirt! In the quarter finals of the Duelist Kingdom tournament, by how many life points did the King of Games win?"

Arena stared at Miss Andry and sighed. She looked slightly pained to have to give this answer, because she knew what was about to happen.

"That is a trick question. After the loss of her Harpie's Pet Dragon, the King's opponent surrendered. The King had 300 life points to his opponents 750 when she..." Arena paused, knowing she was about to be interrupted.

"WRONG!" Miss Andry declared smugly, as the pupils in her eyes grew bigger and bigger. "Can anyone tell the class what's so wrong with Miss Arena?"

Arena scowled, and it seemed her scowl got more intense as Aynn Mischa herself stood to answer the question.

"Clearly!" Aynn declared, rather loudly and pompously as she cleared her throat. She paused a moment and nervously looked through her book. "Uhh..." at last it seemed she found whatever page she was looking for as a smile emerged on her face. "Clearly Arena is an ignorant fool who needs to study more!"

The entire class erupted in laughter at Aynn's words, including Miss Andry. Small Boobs and I exchanged a nervous look.

"Oh of course my darling Aynn! I agree!" Miss Andry was practically giddy with excitement at being able to put Aynn in her place. "Can you tell her what, SPECIFICALLY, she is wrong about?"

"Of course!"

I could feel something squeezing tightly around my brain, and something wrapping around my arm, though strangely not from the side Arena was sitting on. I glanced over to see Small Boobs clutching my arm tightly, her forehead pressed against the back of my arm as she whispered "No... not again..."

I could suddenly remember being a little kid, watching the quarter finals of the Duelist Kingdom tournament. As Aynn spoke, the memory itself began to come alive.

"The King of Games beat his opponent with a full 4000 life points!" Aynn said with a cocky smirk.

And to me, that made sense, but suddenly I felt Arena's presence and that memory quickly corrected itself. I was a kid again watching TV at max volume so I could drown out my parents yelling. The King summoned Black Luster Solider, defeated his opponent's Harpie's Pet Dragon, and with no other outs she surrendered.

"You are wrong." Arena said flatly. "On multiple levels. They only played with two thousand life points during..." she paused again.

"MISS Arena!" Miss Andry stamped her heels into the ground loudly. "As teacher I will not stand and listen to you insult my brightest pupil and make a mockery of my class!"

Arena did not need to rely on similar theatrics. She continued staring intensely, never wavering or showing any sign of emotion.

"And as Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy I won't stand by and watch people spread ignorance and misinformation."

Miss Andry looked about ready to pop a gasket, but at last she found her inner calm as a cruel idea came to mind. "It looks like there's only one way to settle this then!" Her little heels clicked as she made her way back over to her podium and produced a duel disk. "Duel!"

"If you want to be embarrassed in front of your students, that's fine with me." Arena raised her hand parallel to the ground, and a gorgeous ivory and gold duel disk with an elaborate design suddenly materialized on her arm.

The class, including Miss Andry, seemed rather taken aback to see a Duel Disk suddenly materialize itself on Arena's arm. Arena scowled, and drew an opening hand of five cards.

"Professor Andry, forget what you know about Doctor Slyft. Today you'll learn that the only truly unwinnable Dueling Scenario is one in which I am your opponent."


---


Professor Lydia Andry wasn't a bad duelist, but she just couldn't compare to Arena. Miss Andry had studied dueling all her life. Arena had studied the art of war and military strategy since before the genesis of creation and she had an infinite wellspring of knowledge to draw from. You may have once heard of the expression "bringing a knife to a gunfight", but this was more like bringing a knife to a bombing range.

On Miss Andry's first turn, she played polymerization, fused two monsters, and summoned Lunalight Cat Dancer before it was Arena's turn.

Arena used Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen to special summon The Agent of Creation Venus then summoned three Mystic Shineballs.

Her Agent was Banished for Master Hyperion and her three Shineballs were tributed to summon the Winged Dragon of Ra. Hyperion banished a Shineball to clear Andry's field. The Winged Dragon of Ra took nearly all of Arena's life points and converted them to attack points. The Winged Dragon of Ra attacked directly.

And just like that, Arena won the game on her very first turn.

"What!?" Miss Andry shrieked. "You little cheat! I can't believe you..."

Andry's eyes suddenly grew wide, as did the rest of the class. My head was beginning to hurt again and I could again hear Aynn's voice.

"That was a great duel Miss Andry!" Aynn said with a smile. "She almost could have won, but you pulled off quite an impressive win in the end!"

And suddenly I remembered the duel a little bit differently.

Arena went first and special summoned Tethys with Valhalla, then played Trade In and drew two more cards. One was a fairy, so she was able to draw more due to Tethys's effect.

Hand Destruction. Trade In. Another Hand Destruction, and so much drawing. Her next move was to special summon Master Hyperion.

With four fairies in the grave Arena was also able to special summon Archlord Kristya. She had three powerful monster on the field and still hadn't even normal summoned yet. After tributing Tethys, Master Hyperion, and Archlord Kristya, The Winged Dragon of Ra hit the field again with 7900 attack, and Arena stood with full life points.

Andry was able to summon Lunalight Leo Dancer, and special summon Lunalight Blue Cat to double Leo Dancer's attack to a whopping 7000 attack. Then she activated her Nightmare Archfiends trap card, tributed Blue Cat, and summoned 3 tokens on Arena's field. With 7000 attack points and two attacks per battle phase and three Nightmare Archfiend Tokens in attack mode on Arena's side of the field, Leo Dancer was able to attack and end the duel with Miss Andry's victory.

I was absolutely certain I saw it, and yet knowing what I knew about Aynn I was also certain my memories had been altered.

"Marie-Aynn Sumischa, stop it!" Arena called out, like a mother scolding a child.

Arena was mainly the Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy but she had a few other traits under her belt as well. She was also the goddess of weaving, arts and crafts, reason, literature, civil order, courage and fear. Right now it seemed Aynn was about to get a glimpse of the last one.

It was clear that Arena's words had chilled Aynn to the bone. The smug smirk on her face was wiped away, and it seemed a primordial, long forgotten carnal terror had just awoken within the girl with the fourth link in the chain. Even when her eyes glazed over and I could tell she had forgotten the specific words she had heard, it seemed the fear lingered.

"No MISS Arena," Miss Andry exclaimed "it's time for YOU to stop it!" With a sharp snap of her hands she pointed to the door of her classroom. "To the Headmistress's Office with you! NOW!"

Arena stared at Andry, then glanced over at me with a bit of worry before she turned back to Andry. "Very well." she said calmly. Arena quietly gathered her belongings and in a bright flash of light she disappeared.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, before Aynn spoke. "Let's get back to class!"

"Yes," Andry said as she got her dry erase markers ready. "Let's all forget all about that troublemaker Arena!"


---


With Arena gone, I felt like me and Small Boobs were all alone in the lion's den. My hands were shaking as I looked at my notebook and quickly began to scribble everything I knew to be true. I was so worried that I would suddenly have my memories taken again, I frantically wrote down everything that was important to me. I barely paid attention to anything Andry said the whole time, or anything in the world around me for that matter, that the only thing that shook me out of my trance was the chime of a bell signaling the end of class.

"Ugh, Duel Rulings now with Professor Terrible-Accent." Small Boobs said with a yawn. "Let's go Arthur."

If you're sick of this whole 'lost memories' shtick, don't worry about it. I begin to get my memories back at the end of this chapter, and I get back all of them at the end of Chapter 6.

But for right now all I knew was that without Arena around my memories were vulnerable to Aynn's mischief. Small Boobs picked up on my trepidation and rolled her eyes as we made our way towards Duel Rulings.

"Hey Arthur, I know your girlfriend's not here but no need to act like such a big homo." she gave a smirk. "Mishegoss isn't gonna expel Arena or anything. Probably just give her a spanking and send her to detention or something. No big deal, I get detention all the time."

"No! It's not that! It's... the memories you and I have!"

Small Boobs raised an eyebrow and looked appropriately grossed out. "Uhh Arthur, not unless you were the last guy in Hawthorne. My list goes Guy, Oliver, Ben, and then you. And I think Arena would kill me if I stole her man like that. Like... literally kill me. She's got those dead serial killer eyes like a serial killer."

I blinked. "No Small Boobs,"

"It's Suri."

"Gesundheit. Anyway, that new girl Aynn Mischa, she's evil."

Small Boobs gave me a confused look. "Aynn Mischa? Is that the little rat-faced girl with the stupid hair that everyone loves? Why do you say she's evil?"

"She's rewriting everyone's memories."

"O-kay..." she said as she put a bit more distance between us "I mean, I don't remember her doing that but-"

"That's 'cause she erased your memories!" I said with an exasperated sigh.

"Alright alright! Don't get all mad at me just because you're last on my list bro."

I pinched the bridge of my nose before suddenly realizing what we needed to do. "Guy can vouch for me, and he can prove I'm telling the truth. Let's just get to Duel Rulings and we can sort it out there."

Pro Dueling was, by far, the most popular curriculum at Hawthorne Academy. It was the first major program we had and it was the program that ultimately decided what color uniform we wore, even if we had no real interest in dueling. But there were other branches and other classes to take. Headmistress Mishegoss lead the Duel Disk Repair program, and Professor Handbasket was in charge of Card Design. As future Professional Duelists, it was important we know all about how cards worked and interacted with each other, but as people who designed cards, it was equally as important for Card Designers to be aware of how cards interacted with each other as well.

Duel Disk Repair had no need to learn much about rulings, which is why I made a mistaken when I saw a familiar face.

"Hey Guy," I exclaimed at the person I saw sitting at Arena's chair.

"It's Gal." she said with a sigh.

"I'm over here." Guy waved from his usually assigned seat.

"He must not have recognized you without a smile on." Small Boobs said with a shrug. She looked Gal over for a minute before speaking again. "Aren't you normally in Duel Disk repair or something Gal?"

Gal however looked over Small Boobs rather nervously like she was still trying to size up what Small Boobs was doing. "H-headmistress Mishegoss had a very important last-second meeting and had to cancel class this week. She asked that those of us in Duel Disk Repair take a different class."

I gave Gal a smile. "Don't worry about Small Boobs. She got her memory back today."

"It's Suri."

"oh right, sorry. It came back EARLY. Like, Friday you said?"

Small Boobs glared at me before sighing and looking at the Surname twins.

"I don't know what Arthur's talking about but I've been getting these really bad migraines ever since the school year started. It feels like something is squeezing tightly around my brain for a second, but it's usually just a quick episode. Honestly it's scarier than anything else. Nurse Marosa said it's probably nothing, but that I should talk to Aynn if it gets worse... fat chance."

Guy and Gal exchanged apprehensive, yet slightly hopeful looks. As twins, they often found themselves thinking the same thing. They smiled, and a barrage of questions began.

"Who did I go to the Sweetheart's Day Dance with?"
"Oliver. Why? Did you forget or something?"
"Why did they have to cancel the dance last year?"
"Like, that headmistress lady from Crimson Wind died. Why?"
"How did you and I meet?"
"I dropped all my books freshman year and you helped me pick them up. What's with all the questions?"
"Who won between Headmistress Mishegoss and Aynn Mischa during the entrance exam?"
"Stop asking me questions."

Gal's eyes lit up in excitement as she bolted up and gave Small Boobs a tight and loving embrace.

"Oh Suri! It's you! You're back! I mean, your memory! It's back!"

"I don't understand..." Guy began.

"Yeah, you and me both." Small Boobs said as she tried to awkwardly push Gal away.

"It looks like somehow you broke Aynn's spell." Guy smiled at the little ray of hope Small boobs had given him. "How'd you do it? Do you remember anything happening before your memories came back?"

At last Gal released Small Boobs, who was more than a bit confused as to the questions and all the attention. "What do you mean 'since my memories came back'? I don't remember ever forgetting anything."

I thought over everything I knew for a moment before it finally hit me. I was the only one who had lost my memories. Everyone else had their memories replaced. As far Small Boobs knew, her memories were always working correctly.

"Okay, just tell us everything you remember since the first day of classes."

Her face grew pale and she awkwardly looked away. "Honestly... it's all kinda cloudy to tell you the truth. I remember watching Mishegoss and Aynn duel and then... I'm not sure why but I really felt like Aynn and I were BFFs or something, but I can't seem to really remember why I thought that. I'm pretty sure I just met her that day."

"And you don't think that way anymore, right?" I asked.

Small Boobs shook her head. "I remember after the duel everyone was talking about how awesome Aynn was, and everything was fine. Then you dudes had your big tag duel last Friday. I remember trying to get Gal to leave the cafeteria, then suddenly everything felt a lot clearer, and a lot scarier too. Everyone still talked about how much they loved Aynn but they also kept talking about stuff I don't remember. I went along with it at first cause I thought it was some big dumb inside joke, but it's kinda... scary... how weird they've gotten, ya' know? So I just left everyone else behind."

"After the duel?" Guy scratched his chin. "I remember using my Cursed Chain to slip through Bernouli's clutches. How about you sis?"

Gal scratched her head and thought about it. "I remember Suri was trying to get me to move..." she grinned then stuck out her tongue "But I'm much stronger than her."

"So what's the diagnosis Doctor Surname?" Small Boobs said as she slipped into Oliver's normal seat. "How long do I have to live?"

"I think you're gonna be fine Small Boobs." said Guy.

"Thanks..." she smiled, before realizing what Guy had called her "Hey, wait!"

"I think I got it." Gal said with a snap of her fingers. "Wait, no... nevermind."

"Oh come on sis. What was it?"

"Well I mean," she looked a bit uncertain but decided to share what was on her mind.

"I guess I was thinking that maybe I could use my 7th link to fix everyone's memories. But we couldn't use the 7th link to restore Laplace's age last year. So..."

"I mean, something clearly happened here though." Guy said as he motioned to her. "Small Boobs is living proof that Aynn's power isn't permanent."

I thought back to my first meeting with Arena. I remembered floating in a room full of broken televisions with her. As I floated in the endless void, I remembered Arena's words.

"Wait... Arena once told me... 'Memories are fragile. They can be broken and easily painted over, but despite that they're still there and can be fixed.' So... maybe?" I said, uncertain of what I was talking.

The three of them looked at me like I was crazy, but Guy blinked and it seemed the gears in his head were turning.

"Arena said last year she couldn't restore Laplace's youth because it was stolen and put on Ophelia's Blade-"

"Hey! Where is that knife anyway?"

"- But according to Arthur, Aynn's not STEALING memories. She's just breaking and re-making them."

A smile emerged on Guy's face as though he had unraveled a riddle "So Gal, if you can bring Small Boobs back, then that means..."

Gal excitedly grabbed my hand and closed her eyes before taking a deep breath.

"Alright Arthur! Buckle up because you're about to remember everything!"

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 5: This Isn't What It Looks Like]
After discovering one of our classmates had managed to have her memories restored, Gal had decided to try out her seventh link powers on me. She grabbed my hand and we both closed our eyes, and I could once again feel myself being pulled into the television section at Better Buy.

All around me I could see screens filled with static, but the reception on them slowly seemed to improve and a crystal clear picture eventually emerged.

I saw my first day of school and how I threw up from how scared I was. I saw the day at little league where I got hit in the face with the ball that knocked out my front teeth. I could see the Sweetheart's Day Dance in middle school and how I got first kiss from Becca Kwighted. I remembered the summer before I arrived at Lincoln Academy, and how I drowned out my parents' screaming matches by immersing myself in the books, articles, maps, and reading everything I could about my new home, Silvershine City. I remembered my first year at Lincoln, and how dull and drab it all felt compared to what Arena had brought me to.

I remembered the fire that destroyed Lincoln Academy, and I remembered how melancholy I felt as I arrived at Hawthorne. I remembered meeting Guy and Oliver and dueling former Headmistress Ipsum on our first day. I remember meeting Arena and I remembered how I was so shy and embarrassed to be around her, but when I thought I would lose her that was when I realized how much I loved her.

All the classes I took, all the friends and enemies I had made, Office Friedman and his sister Hortense, the Necrophades and Heaven's Sake, the Sweetheart's Dance, the death of Ella Minnow, and our final battle against Headmistress Lorem Ipsum was all coming back.

At last I remembered last year, standing before a pillar of light with Arena at my side. We were making our plans for summer break, and Arena wanted to take me to the Aether Realm, the World of the Gods.

I looked at the memory-screen in front of me, watching me and Arena play out the scene I had experienced last year.

Arena smiled as she clung onto my arm in the screen before me. "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 watched myself and Arena standing in front of the pillar of light.

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

I remembered the trepidation I felt as I watched myself pull out my PDA and hit a number on speed dial. But suddenly, the memory in my hands seemed to slow down, fade once more, and become more static. I heard my own voice, getting more and more muffled and distorted

"Hey guys! I̵t'̡s͏ ̨Art͟h̡u̶ŗ.̵.. y̧o̧ur̨ bel͟oved son.̛ D͝o͜͡n͏̶̨'̴t̶̸ ͞w̶͘͝o͞r̷͝r̨y͏̧ a̷͞bó̡͢ut̴͢͡ me̶̶.͜ ́I̵͝͝ ḿ̴ad̷e ̨͢l͠͏o͏̡t̛̕s̢ ́͘͡ơ͠͠f̷ f͝r͠i͡͏end̸̡̨ş ̛a͟͟͢t̡͠͏ ̢͢͡s̸c̀h̶ool͘ a͏̧n̨̕͟d̴̡̧̡͢ ̢̡͞o̕͘͘n̨̕͞ę̀͠ ̸̴͢͠ǫf̶̢ ̀͢͜͝͡t͘͝hé̸̸̢͘ḿ̢͟͠͞.̷̕̕.̷͜.̸͜͜͟ ̨̨̕͜v̴̴̷̛͞o͞l̷̷͢ư̷̶̧͟n͘t̨̧e̷͞e̡͘͘͜r̴̷̸͞e̢̛d̡́͘͘ ̧̕͜͢͡ţ̸o̕͜͜͞ ̢̨̕͟͟ļ͟͢e̴̸̸̷͡t̵͟ m̡̀͢e͢ ͏́͢͠s̵͜͞p̶ȩ̧̀͘n̛͠d̛͘͟ ̸̢̢̡t̸̢͠h̕͡e̶͜ ́͏̸́s̀͢͟͢u̴̵̧͢m̧͘̕͠me̡̢̨͡ŕ̷̀͜ ̷͘͢͏́ẃ̧į̢̛t͢h̶̷̡́͘ ̷̵̢̧͞ t̸̵̴h̸̡̧̀e̢̨̕͟͟m̶͘͢͢.."

Everything got more and more corrupted, breaking apart from static, before suddenly I was once pulled back into the world of the living, and I was back at Hawthorne Academy in Duel Rulings class.

"Huh? Wh-what?" I felt lightheaded, but I felt my memories were mostly complete. I awkwardly tried to grasp at Gal's hand again, but she pulled them back and hid them under her desk. Her face was a bright shade of red and there was a look of panic in her eyes.

"This isn't what it looks like!" she exclaimed. I followed her stare and noticed Aynn, Oliver, Ben, and all her other friends walking past. As they finally finished crossing I saw my girlfriend, staring emotionless at Gal.

"Serial killer eyes..." I heard Small Boobs whisper quietly to Guy, though obviously not quietly enough since I had heard her.

Arena was often an emotionless weirdo, but here the faintest hint of a smile etched itself on her face. The smile on Arena's face did not seem to ease Gal Surname though.

"It looks like you were trying to mend Arthur's memories. Thank you." Arena now smiled a little bit more.

"Yeah, I'm sure Arena knew you didn't mean anything by holding Arthur's hand." Guy began, but she still seemed nervous and bothered.

"I kinda think it's impossible for Arena to feel jealous." I motioned for Arena to approach me. She complied and I gave her a quick hug from my seated position. She gently put a hand on my forehead, combing my hair back and gave me a soft kiss.

"Y-yeah... I th-thought Arena would get jealous." Gal said with a resigned tone of voice.

I raised an eyebrow, wondering if there was more to it than that. "Hey Gal..." I began.

Unfortunately there was no more time for further chitchat as our teacher, Professor Odette Arshlocke entered the room.

Doctor Arshlocke was head of the Critias Black Dorm, and an absolute bear of a woman. She was from one of those Eastern European countries with 6 foot tall women and 7 foot tall men, and she had the accent to prove it. Arshlocke was a former pro duelist back in the old country, and seemed to care about one thing and one thing only, winning. It was a bit weird that such a hulking brute of a woman was more interested in rule sharking, but no one would dare ever want to confront her about it.

She got up in front of the class and spoke with a thick accent. "Today entire class will have quiz."

We all groaned, especially Gal and Karen Maintenance.

"We’re not even officially enrolled in this class!" Karen exclaimed.

"No complaints!" Arshlocke declared as her pupils began to dilate. By know I knew this was a signal that Aynn was using the powers of her 4th link in the chain. She could alter people's memories, but with Arena nearby I felt safe.

Aynn stared blankly at Arshlocke before speaking. "Are you sure we weren't having a pizza party? I think we all talked about that last month."

"It is only our second week." Arena reminded.

Guy and I exchanged a worried look. Small Boobs gave a chuckle. "Yeah! Free pizza!"

Arshlocke scowled. "How come we eating pizza!?" she angrily declared.

Small Boobs shrugged. "When in Rome..." before she stood up and answered Arshlocke.

"Today is Jacqueline's birthday, right?"

"Jackie!" Claire squealed with delight as she hugged her friend.

"Suri!" Gal whispered. "Why are you trying to encourage them?"

"Hey man, free pizza is free pizza. If EVERYONE'S lying and making stuff up today, might as well go with the flow."

Aynn Mischa cocked her head to the side then looked over at me. "Is that true Arthur?"

"Uh... yeah! Jackie's birthday... pizza party..." I stammered nervously. Guy nudged my shoulder and shook his head.

Aynn looked at me for a second before suddenly scrawling something into her notebook. "Jacqueline's... birthday was today."

Me and the Surname twins glanced over at Small Boobs. Guy nervously looked over the class.

"Does she... does everyone believe us?"

There was all an unorganized mess of indistinguishable whispers before Gal stood up and tried to lead everyone.

"H-haaappy biiirthdaaaay toooo yoooou!"

The rest of the class slowly and awkwardly joined in.

"Haaappy biiirthdaaay tooo yooou!"

Guy and Small Boobs joined in with the class as well.

"Haaappy biiirthdaaay Jacqueline Hyde!"

We all paused for a moment to give a confused look at Professor Arshlocke, who hit the highest pitched note on 'birthday'.

"Happy birthday to you!"

Everyone other than Arena concluded and we all awkwardly laughed and clapped, except for Aynn who was frowning and staring at my roommate.

"Arena didn't sing!" Aynn tattled.

"Arena!" Professor Arshlocke declared. "How disrespectful! March over to Headmistress office! Right away!"

Guy looked around before suddenly raising his hand and pulling Gal closer to him. "Us too! We didn't sing either!"

"Wh-yes we did! I started it, remember?"

I realized what his plan was. "No no, remember Aynn? You started singing but all of us were sitting down the whole time."

Aynn stared at me, then seemed like she suddenly woke up from a trance. "Wh-what? Oh yeah. They didn't sing for Jackie! So rude!" she said as she began flipping open her notebook.

Oliver gave us all a look as his pupil's dilated. "Psh, bunch of troublemakers. Why'd I ever even hang out with them to begin with?"

"The four of them always caused trouble last year." Bernouli began. "Gal, Guy, Arena, Arthur..."

"... Not Arthur." Aynn pleaded with a pout.

"Not Arthur, but he's been slowly going downhill ever since he met Arena last month!" Bernouli concluded, shaking her head.

"Yo'! Gal's always been my number one lady!" Ben chimed in. "But that Arena girl, man! She be trippin'!"

Guy cleared his throat and began slowly making his way to the door. "So uhh... headmistress office then? Let's go everyone!"

We all grabbed out things and made our way out of Duel Rulings before anyone changed their mind, leaving the brainwashed masses to celebrate Jacqueline's non-existent birthday.


---


When we first found out about Aynn Mischa and the fourth link in the chain we thought she would be our most difficult enemy yet. She was a girl who could completely convert our friends into enemies and turn the entire world against us. When we actually met her, she was a bit of a confused child. We had just easily outwitted her, and in doing so were able to outwit the entirety of the class. I briefly thought that maybe it wouldn't be so terrible to have Aynn in charge for a little while longer if it meant pizza parties and getting out of boring lectures.

Arena made her opinion known first.

"As Goddess of Wisdom, I do not approve of spreading misinformation."

"But as Goddess of War, you do approve of using subterfuge and deceit to combat our enemies, right?" Guy responded.

Arena sighed. "I... suppose the two cancel each other out."

"Well whatever, we got outta class." Gal said with a yawn.

"Yeah!" Small Boobs exclaimed. "So, where are we going next?"

"To the headmistress's office." Arena reminded.

"Haha, no but seriously. Where do you guys wanna go? Starton Cafe? Check out the Pigeon Races at the Silverdome? Oh! We could head back to my room and have a tea party!"

"We are going to the headmistress's office." Arena stared at Small Boobs, as though daring her to disagree.

"I dunno about visiting Hilda." Gal said uneasily. "She was the bestest teacher ever! I'd hate to see what kind of babbling brook Aynn's turned her into."

"I agree with Gal." Guy said,

"Big surprise from the Wonder Twins here." Small Boobs said with a roll of her eyes.

"No, it's not because she's my sister. Think about it logically. Aynn is turning all our friends and all the teachers against us. She got to Oliver, she got to the entire school, and she got Professor Arshlocke. What happens when Aynn uses the Fourth Link on someone higher up the chain of command, like the headmistress?"

While Guy did make a good point, there was one person I knew would never steer me wrong.

"What do you think we should do Arena?"

"It is in our best interest to pay the headmistress a visit." Arena said impatiently, as this was the third time she had mentioned it.

"So Arthur and Arena say we should visit Mishegoss. My sister and I say no." Guy pointed as he went along the way. "Small Boobs, you're the tie breaking vote."

"If you're gonna keep calling me that, I'll vote with Arthur and Arena." she said with a scowl.

Arena smiled. "It appears the matter is settled then." There was a bit of a spring in Arena's step and a smile as she led the way to the Headmistress's office.


---


Headmistress Lorem Ipsum was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on. She had gorgeous hair, beautiful eyes, and everything about her seemed to emanate a youthful joy.

It was too bad she was a horrible monster on the inside. Underneath the sweet smile she was actually an eight century old witch. She was wielder of the first link in the Cursed Chain, which let her steal the youth off living things while making her age much faster. After her death, we all figured her Chain Link was scattered to the winds, to be given to the next person to be conceived. We were wrong.

But none of us were thinking of that as we approached the administrative wing and knocked on the door of her replacement, Headmistress Hilda Mishegoss.

Mishegoss was a former student at Hawthorne Academy herself, and a real whiz at Duel Disk repair. She graduated at the age of 16, and returned to Hawthorne at 21 to begin her teaching career. Though she had many offers from various engineering firms ultimately she felt more at home in the classroom. At 22 she became leader of the Hermos Red Dorm, and last summer at age 23 she had been appointed temporary interim headmistress. No one had stepped forward since then so the temporary position had slowly morphed into a more permanent one.

At 23 years of age, Headmistress Mishegoss was closer to our age so it was hard for us not to view her as a peer, and her typical upbeat and jovial attitude seemed to make her seem even younger.

We were unsure what kind of a woman we would meet after knocking on the door, but when we see Mishegoss's frizzy red hair, cat-eye glasses, and smile on her face we were a bit more revealed.

"Goooood morning my little freshlings!" Mishegoss greeted with an enormous smile. "What brings all five of you here?!"

"We were thrown out of class." Arena said with a blank expression.

"H-hey! Plausible deniability!" Small Boobs protested.

Mishegoss raised an eyebrow, then snorted slightly before bursting into an enormous full body laugh. "Oh Suri! You're so precious!"

"So... we're not in trouble then?" Suri said with a bit of trepidation.

"Aunt Arena might be." Mishegoss gave a giggle. Arena did not.

"Young lady, weren't you in my office just forty minutes ago for the exact same thing?"  Mishegoss said in her most threatening tone of voice which honestly wasn't so threatening. At last she exploded into a fit of giggles. Arena remained as stoic as ever though.

"Uhh... what's going on Hilda?" Gal asked.

"Relax Gal! Who do YOOOOU think you're talking to? Of COURSE I know all about the fourth link in the chain and all that brainwashing stuff Aynn's been doing around school."

At last we all breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone at the school was being affected by Aynn's sinister power, but Headmistress Mishegoss was completely unscathed. It was a small sense of security in a greatly worrying world. All of us except for one seemed to accept this.

"What do you mean AUNT Arena?" Small Boobs said with a scowl. "Arena can't be someone's aunt. She barely able to dress herself."

Mishegoss gave a laugh before just smiling towards Small Boobs. "Oh you've got a lot to learn if you're gonna be hanging out with Team Surname for a while."

She winked towards Arena and continued. "As I'm sure you know by now, Arena is the Goddess of War, Wisdom, and Military Strategy."

It took a second for the words to register with Small Boobs. She did a double take, turning from Mishegoss to Arena, and back. "W-what!? Like... legit? Literally? I thought it was all just a big inside joke."

Guy and Gal exchanged a chuckle. Mishegoss continued. "Okay, as I'm sure you know by NOW," Mishegoss added with extra emphasis. "Arena is THE Goddess of War, Wisdom AAAAND Military Strategy."

Small Boobs glanced over Arena and nodded weakly. "Okay... and how do you know that exactly?"

"Well if you ever read your mythology textbooks, you'd know the Gods often had demigod children with mortals, and I juuust so happen to be ONE of those demigods."

"Your Arena's kid!?" Small Boobs paused. "Wait... her niece?"

"My dad was Aphraestus - God of Love, Blacksmithery and Creation. One of Arena's siblings."

It looked like a lot to take in as Small Boobs tried to process it all. "I always knew Hawthorne was weird but... wow."

"Yeah, sorry for all that exposition." Mishegoss put a hand on Small Boobs' shoulder. "I thought the kids would have told you before."

Small Boobs thought for a moment. "Am I related to any of them!? The Gods I mean? Is this like a school for demigods?"

"You miiiight be..." Mishegoss said with a bit of unease.

"Well you’d have to have one absentee parent for it to work." I explained. "Do you know who your parents are Small Boobs?"

She thought for a moment then sighed. "Nah, I'm definitely their kid."

"It's pretty dangerous to society as a whole to have so many powerful people running around." Mishegoss began. "Each God typically only ever has one or two kids per century. I only know about 3 other demigods and there's only... 7 Eternals in the Aether Realm, right?"

Arena seemed to be staring off at nothing in particular before responding. "That is... an accurate statement."

I raised an eyebrow at Arena's words. Typically when she paused like that it meant there was something misleading about what she was saying.

"So why can you still remember everything Hilda?" Gal asked. "Do you have another copy of the 7th Link in the Chain?"

"There is only one 7th Link in the Cursed Chain." Arena reminded. "It has been broken into two halves, so it is not as effective as it typically is."

"Then I guess she's just immune to the Fourth Link because she's amazing!"

"It's probably the demigoddess thing." Guy said.

"Righto Guy!" she winked at the male Surname twin and continued. "As a demigoddess I'm a bit more in-tune with otherworldly powers. I can tell when they're being used, and I can resist them to some degree. Aynn was able to give me the memories she wanted me to have, but I still have my original ones as well."

I tried to process what I had just heard but was still a bit unsure. "Uhh... how does that work exactly?"

"Well Arthur! Imagine you were a fancy pants actor in a play and you had to memorize a script! However NOW there's been some changes and the director wants YOU to memorize a new one! That's sort of what Aynn Mischa did to all of us. The MORTALS can't remember ANY details from the previous script, but the DEMIGODS can!"

"So, how do we fight back against Aynn!?" Guy said.

Mishegoss shook her head. "I'm sorry Guy. I've never been the one for war or military strategy." she smiled towards Arena. "Since Aynn has the ability to turn everyone against you on a dime she's a pretty powerful foe. You might be able to turn back your friends one by one, but Aynn's fourth link would just turn them back en mass like she did during our duel. You can't brute force your way through it. You gotta..." she looked over at Gal and smiled. "Think of something creative and come up with an outside-the-box style strategy for this one."

Guy shook his head. "Mishegoss, you have to know something..."

"The only lesson I can give all of you is take care of each other and watch each other's back."

Guy gave a sigh.

"I'm always glad to be your teacher kids! Just remember to work as a team and I'm sure you'll go far!"

We all nodded, and it seemed there was nothing more to say.


---


For the next few weeks, we all tried to live up to Mishegoss's words. We went to class and did our best to avoid Aynn Mischa and any of her brain controlled friends. It was kinda cool, like us five against the world but it was also pretty tough dealing with the isolation. Literally everyone in the Academy was against us in some way as far as I could tell.

Friday during lunch we all agreed to hang out that evening after class. We couldn't pick the fourht floor lounge, our old hang out, because it had become overrun by freshmen. Any place out in the open wasn't safe either, so ultimately Small Boobs agreed to let us hang out in her dorm room.

It was a bit peculiar but even though I was certain everyone at the school was supposed to hate us, Guy, Arena and I got into the Black Dorm with little resistance. When we made it to Small Boobs's dorm room, the three of us realized we had arrived just in time to catch the tail end of Gal showing off her hidden talent.

"L-K-J" Gal belched out. "I-H-G" she took a long swing of something out of a small teacup before concluding her burping the alphabet backwards trick. "F-E-D-C-B and A"

I wasn't sure whether to be impressed or grossed out. "Uhh... great." I said sarcastically.

Small Boobs and Gal exploded into a fit of giggles. The two were sitting on her bed, each of them holding very fancy and ornate looking teacups. Behind Small Boobs were about twenty others on display.

"Geez sis," Guy began. "That's very unladylike."

"Everything I do is ladylike, for I am a lady!" Gal put her hands on her waist to give herself more of a feminine figure and stuck out her chest. She crossed her legs and stuck up her nose, then burst out laughing along with Small Boobs.

"More soda?"

"Yes please!" Gal said, handing over her cup. Gal smiled as she watched Small Boobs walk over to a min fridge nearby before she spoke. "Man! It's great having another girl around."

Small Boobs produced a bottle and began to refill Gal's cup before handing it back. "What about Arena?"

"Arena?" Gal took a sip. "I mean, she's okay but she's not even a real character! More of a plot device honestly."

Arena scowled at being described that way, but it seemed the two girls were too busy laughing to notice.

"Alright... ladies." Guy smiled towards Gal and Small Boobs. "Enough soda for right now, it's time we get a little serious."

Small Boobs handed me a teacup and filled it with a soda, so much so that it quickly overflowed. I blew it on just out of habit, finding it had actually poured less than half. Arena also received a teacup but she placed a hand when Small Boobs offered her some soda, not wanting to drink anything processed.

"Serious? I don't like the sound of that." Small Boobs said as she gave a dramatic twirl and plopped down on her bed, with no regard for her skirt at all.

Guy ignored her. "I've done a bit of recon and I think I've got a plan."

"Recon?" Gal raised an eyebrow.

"We're going to take down Aynn Mischa, and I know just how we're gonna do it."

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 6: What Do You Have In Mind?]

After a couple of weeks of avoiding Aynn and her cohorts, all the members of Team Surname had come to pay Small Boobs a visit in her dorm room. Small Boobs and Gal were having fun playing out their little soda-tea party however Guy was all business as he casually strolled in to the Critias girl's dorm room. Guy had revealed he had come up with a plan of attack to strike against Anne Mischa, who currently had a firm grasp over the memories of everyone in the Academy.

 

"What do you have in mind?" asked Gal as she put her teacup down on a nearby nightstand.

 

"Well I started interview a few of Aynn's mind slaves." Guy began as he took a seat on a nearby desk chair. "I was able to... ahem... persuade a few of them into coughing up a good amount of information."

 

I shook my head as I made my way towards an arm chair and dropped off my book bag nearby. Arena took a seat on my lap soon afterwards. "You really shouldn't overuse the second link in the chain like that."

 

"Look, I didn't start the war but I'm certainly going to finish it." Guy exclaimed. "Aynn thinks she's Queen of the Academy but I still managed to get two important bits of info from her minions. Firstly, today's her birthday-"

 

"Marie-Aynn does not have a birthday." Arena corrected.

 

"So everyone went down to the Cafeteria to have a big party. Secondly, and much more importantly, you know that book Aynn's always writing and looking into?"

 

Other than Arena, we all nodded to encourage Guy to finish.

 

"It's called The Book That Controls the Universe."

 

There was a certain bit of gravity in the air, like Guy had just said something very important. We stayed in a bit of a hushed silence before Small Boobs awkwardly ruffled a bag of Chip'Ems.

 

"Snacks?" she asked as she handed Gal a small teacup full of potato chips.

 

"Yeah!" Gal eagerly grabbed the cup and began chowing down.

 

"What did you find out about the book anyway?" Small Boobs asked as she gave Guy a flowery teacup with fizzy soda inside. Guy smiled but put it aside on the desk in front of him.

 

"Not too much. It looks like a plain black and white composite notebook but everyone says they never see her without it. She keeps it around her everywhere she goes so it's definitely important to her. It's probably sort of like Ophelia's Blade and..."

 

"There you go again!" Gal exclaimed with a mouthful of chips before she swallowed. "Ophelia's Blade, Schmo-schmelia's Schmlade! The knife former Headmistress Ipsum had. Arena says it's important. You think it's important!" She rubbed her greasy and salt-filled hands on her skirt "What's the big deal with it anyway?"

 

Guy scratched his cheek. "Well... honestly, I haven't figured it out."

 

All eyes turned to the girl sitting on my lap.

 

"I guess Arena can tell us about Ophelia's Blade, right?" I nudged my roommate.

 

She stared at me for a few seconds, thinking of how to respond. All of us, except for Small Boobs already knew exactly what she was going to say, so much so that the four of us said it at exactly the same time.

 

"I cannot meddle with human affairs."

"I can't meddle with human affairs."

"I cannot meddle with mortal affairs."

"I can't deal with human affairs."

 

Arena spoke with a serious tone as though this was a sacred rule that she followed and not just something she said when it was convenient. I spoke with an exasperated tone of voice, growing tired of how often she played this card. Guy was more mocking and sarcastic, feeling as though Arena was insulting him by not offering any information. Gal merely followed along in order to be a part of something.

 

"Why do you even keep Arena around if she won’t tell us anything?" Small Boobs says as she finished her teacup of soda and began pouring another one.

 

Guy muttered something under her breath.

 

Arena grabbed my arms and pulled them tightly around herself as she reclined back into me. "All you offer is soda in teacups." Arena said defensively.

 

She was my girlfriend so I had to defend her.

 

"I'm sure she has her reasons." I smiled and gently ruffled her hair. "What can you tell us then Arena?"

 

"If you truly wish to know about Ophelia's Blade I will tell you everything about it after you've met with every member in the Cursed Chain." Arena took an imaginary sip out of her tea.

 

"As for Ophelia's Blade, it is currently with Headmistress Mishegoss."

 

Guy's eyes lit up as he heard Arena continue to explain.

 

"Guy spent all summer trying to research the knife but could not figure out anything important about it. He traded it to Mishegoss in exchange for-"

 

"Hey hey hey!" Guy interrupted. "They don't need to know my plan."

 

"It's just as well." Arena responded with no sense of urgency to her voice. "You do not end up using your secret weapon anyway."

 

"Alright, whatever." Guy finished off his cup of soda in one mouthful then put it down on the desk in front of him with a bit of a loud hollow smack.

 

"Want some more Guy?" Small Boobs asked as she produced some more for him.

 

Guy nodded. "Yeah. Sorry to ask again so soon. It's just... you know... teacups." He began to take a sip as she finished pouring.

 

"Do you have a problem with my cup size?"

 

I stifled a laugh. Guy coughed loudly, face was red, and it seemed he had spit some of the soda on the sleeve of his Timaeus Blue jacket.

 

Guy was cracking up before he spoke. "Gosh Small Boobs, was this whole tea party thing just a set up for that one joke?"

 

Small Boobs stared blankly. "What joke?"

 

Guy rolled his eyes but didn't continue pursuing it. "Never mind."

 

 

---

 

 

The five of us talked more about the school, our plans for the future, and just general random nonsense. Pigeon races, The Spectral Detectives, Patchwork, and pretty much anything we had in mind. It was nice to feel like a bunch of normal kids for a change instead of the only 5 humans who weren't brainwashed in an academy. I didn't quite want the night to end so soon, but it seemed Guy Surname had different ideas.

 

"Alright, I think that's enough kidding around." Guy stood from his seat and grabbed his backpack. "We should get going if we want to stop Aynn tonight."

 

"Wait, hold on." I began, which caused Guy to stop moving towards the door.

 

"Yes?"

 

"If they're all having a party, it might be best to sneak up on Aynn in the morning."

 

Guy looked at me for a moment, considering what I had said. "Well..."

 

I continued. "If Aynn's surrounded by all of her friends it's going to be an uphill battle for us. If she's exhausted after her party she might put up less of a fight."

 

Guy nodded. "I guess..."

 

A devilish grin got on Small Boobs's face, as she got up with a spring in her step.

 

"If you guys are sticking around in the Black Dorm you'll have to dress the part so as not to arouse any suspicions!" she hurried over to her clothes and began rifling through her drawers and picking out shirts, camisoles, socks and skirts.

 

She threw a shirt and a jacket at me. Guy got a skirt and some socks.

 

"Unfortunately, the only black dorm outfits I have are my own which means that you two, Guy and Arthur, are gonna have to dress like girls and wear my clothes!" she looked as though she could barely contain her excitement.

 

Guy looked extremely disturbed by this sudden announcement. "Umm... no?"

 

"Guy has a point. We're like... already in the Black Dorm aren't we?" I began. "This is your room, isn't it? The locks on the door work don't they? Who exactly are we trying to fool here?"

 

"Well... y-yeah." She looked a bit deflated and looked down at the ground before suddenly picking herself back up. "But I mean, if you wanna wander around the dorm undetected tomorrow, you're gonna have to look the part."

 

"Well if she's in the cafeteria, we wouldn't need to wander the dorm." I said.

 

"A-after the cafeteria!" Small Boobs quickly added in. "You were gonna ambush her outside her room, right?"

 

"That's possible..." Gal said as she began munching on a few more chips. "But as long as we're traveling with someone in Critias they won't kick us out."

 

"Besides, I have the second link to let me talk my way out of anything."

 

Small Boobs furrowed her brow as she thought really hard, before finally a smile as she came up with a solution.

 

"Okay, I think I understand the problem here! My clothes won't fit Guy very well but that's okay. You can probably ask to borrow your sister's clothes. They'd probably fit you better anyway. You kind already have a girl's haircut, so just a little makeup and-"

 

"If I'm trying to sneak around the Norleras Dorm why would I need to borrow a Timaeus outfit?"

 

"Yeah, come on Small Boobs." I said. "Do we REALLY need to do all this?"

 

"Do you two want to dress like girls or not?!"

 

Guy and I exchanged confused and bewildered looks. Gal burst out laughing.

 

"N-no! What the hell!" Guy protested.

 

"God damn it!" Small Boobs exclaimed, tossing the clothes she had gathered onto the ground. "I just wanted to see you two dressed like girls!"

 

"Uhh... w-what!?" I stammered.

 

Small Boobs groaned loudly before she slammed down on her bed and collapsed in a heap with no regard to what her skirt was doing. "God!"

 

"Yes?" Arena responded.

 

"What's the point of even having boys around if you can't make them crossdress!?"

 

We weren't sure what to say, but it seemed Arena had something in mind.

 

"If Arthur wore a skirt, I would have much easier access."

 

"Access to what?" Gal asked.

 

"Okay everyone!" Guy said as he stood up. "This was a really... interesting conversation, but we've got something more important to deal with."

 

"Yeah! Slumber party!" Gal declared as she threw a pillow at Guy. It struck him in the face before harmlessly falling on the ground. Gal giggled profusely.

 

"Well I've never had a boy sleep over in my room, so I'm sure having 5 people here all in one location won't be a problem." Small Boobs gave a shrug.

 

"Awesome! To friendship then!" Gal said as she held the entire soda bottle up like she was raising a toast. She smiled as she drank straight from the bottle.

 

Guy and I exchanged looks, not sure if we wanted to spend the night in Small Boobs's room, but at the least we went along with her for now. "To friendship I guess..." Guy raised his teacup, as did the rest of us.

 

 

---

 

 

It was getting pretty late and the Walter Sidney movie Small Boobs put on for us had just finished. After that, it seemed Gal had the bright idea to style Arena's extremely long white hair. We were watching the girls laughing and giggling as they combed and brushed Arena's long luxurious locks.

 

"I'm thinking pig tails!" Gal said. "Pig tails are adorable!"

 

"Let's braid her hair!" Small Boobs giggled. "If my hair was longer I'd definitely braid it."

 

"Let's do both! Braided pigtails!"

 

Arena stared ahead, not moving and not even flinching as the girls went to work. Meanwhile Guy and I were talking about our experiences so far with Aynn and with the mind controlled Academy when something suddenly came to my mind.

 

"Hey Guy, there was something I was wondering about..."

 

"Sure, what is it?"

 

"Well I thought you fixed Miss Andry last year."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"Last year when we were investigating into the First Link in the Chain. Just before we left you told her 'please don't treat my friends harshly anymore.'"

 

Guy gave a laugh. "Wow. Gal really did fix your memory after all."

 

"Yeah she did, but... you asked her to stop treating your FRIENDS harshly yet she was pretty mean to Arena."

 

The girls stopped what they were doing and Small Boobs looked towards. "Huh? Oh yeah. Andry was all against Arena.... I kinda sorta think a part of the memory thing is that Aynn makes us think Arena's an enemy."

 

"Oh." I quietly looked at my soda. "So that's the whole story? Aynn messed with everyone's memory and made Arena her enemy."

 

"No." Arena said as she straightened her posture. Gal practically threw herself over Arena..

 

"St-stop moving!" Gal protested. Arena once again remained motionless.

 

Guy looked really guilty and awkwardly rubbed his arms. "Well I mean... I guess..." Guy avoided eye contact the whole while he was talking. "Look, I mean... I know she's your girlfriend and all but..."

 

I quickly realized just what was on his mind, however I let him dig his own grave.

 

"I mean... I did sorta say... my FRIENDS... and I mean she's not REALLY... I mean..." Guy continued avoid eye contact and awkwardly rubbing his arm.

 

"Bro, you don't consider Arena's your friend?" Gal said with a bit of concern in her voice. "B-but she's so adorable!" She pinched Arena's cheeks and ruffled her hair. Arena gave no response.

 

Small Boobs scowled.

 

"Nah, I kinda get what he means. She's all stiff and boring. See!" she lifted Arena's arms ever so slightly then let them go. Arena's arms stayed in place, like a mannequin. When Small Boobs got bored of it, she pushed Arena's hands down back onto her lap.

 

"She's also weirdly obsessed with Arthur and too single-minded and serious. She doesn't wanna talk about Patchwork or what boys she thinks are cute, doesn't wear makeup, doesn't go on DuelSpace and doesn't take selfies. She's just weird."

 

Arena didn't move, and seemed to be staring daggers at Guy before speaking.

 

"He also does not like me because he does not trust me."

 

"Hey! I don't..." Guy paused to consider it. "Well... I guess if I had to sum it up in one word then yeah, that's it. I don't care about Small Boobs's opinion on makeup or boys, but... I think I trust her more than Arena."

 

"Oh wow." Gal said quietly. "That's pretty harsh bro."

 

"Awesome! In your face Arena!" Small Boobs said gleefully.

 

Arena finally blinked after a long time of staring. "I have no interest in befriending Guy Surname or earning his trust. My only concern in the mortal realm is my beloved, Arthur Surrogate."

 

I couldn't say I was surprised. Perhaps as though she could read my mind, Arena continued.

 

"For my beloved sake, I'll tell you one piece of information for tomorrow to put your mind at ease. You will not defeat Aynn Mischa."

 

Gal blinked. "Why would that put us at ease?"

 

Guy gave a sigh. "And then you wonder why..."

 

"I do not wonder anything." Arena stared. With Arena's hair only halfway braided, it seemed the girls mood had quickly soured.

 

"Whatever. If we have to defeat Aynn in the morning I think we should go to sleep soon." Guy began as he picked up his backpack.

 

"We were having a sleep over!" Gal insisted, throwing another pillow.

 

"Yeah. The security guards may not have gotten you coming in, but I'm sure they'll get you sneaking out. Then you'll be wish you were in my panties!" Small Boobs gave a wink.

Guy gave Small Boobs a sigh.

 

"Fine, I'll stay the night." he said in a defeated tone.

 

"Slumber party!" Gal said with a giggle.

 

Arena and I gathered the two pillows Gal had thrown earlier and arranged them on the floor. Small Boobs reached into her closet and pulled out two extra blankets. Guy looked over the pillow he was given.

 

"These pillows are a little flat." Guy began.

 

Small Boobs grinned. "Do you not-"

 

"Nevermind!" he shot back immediately. "They're fine."

 

We laid out the blankets and pillows and turned down the lights, preparing to go to sleep for an early morning tomorrow.

 

 

---

 

 

The girls giggled and laughed for a good portion of the night, and I heard Guy tossing and turning in his sleep for much of the night. I wasn't sure when I fell asleep but I'm certain I did at some point because I never would have allowed Gal to get so close to me if I was wide awake. I don't mean to brag, but every single day for the past year I had fallen asleep with a girl in my arms. Granted, 99.726 percent of the time it was with my roommate Arena. Right now I had the 'good fortune' of falling sleep with two girls in my arms.

 

On the left was my beloved roommate Arena. I recognized her from the half-formed pigtails which hadn't completely untangled themselves yes. Her head was resting on my chest and my left arm was around her waist. I could feel her breathing but from how her head was positioned I could not tell if she was asleep or not.

 

On the right side however I found an auburn hair girl wrapping herself around my arm. She held my entire arm how someone might hug a small animal or a cute stuffed animal. She buried her face in my shoulder and seemed to be having pleasant dreams.

 

After a minute or two of her cuddling my arm close, I heard her whisper someone else's name into my ear.

 

"Olly..."

 

"Huh..." I was still mostly out of it, but I definitely knew the sound of Gal's voice.

 

"I... I can fix your... memories... we can make new memories... together... let me... show you."

 

Before I could say anything or resist, I felt Gal's hands interlock with mine. It wasn't quite light outside yet so I couldn't tell that I had once again been consumed by darkness. My only sign that the 7th Link in the Chain had activated itself was that I soon saw bright rectangular shaped lights as I once again found myself back at the television section of Better Buy.

 

All my fractured memories, the ones between my last day at Hawthorne and the first day of classes, were laid out before me. The static began to lift and my memories began to repair themselves. I was back at the street corner just outside Hawthorne Academy and I could once again see Arena and I standing before the pillar of light that lead to the Aether Realm.

 

I saw myself hang up the phone and smile towards the Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy.

 

"Alright, let's go."

 

Arena rarely ever showed emotion, but now she looked ready to break down with tears of joy. "Oh Arthur, you'll love your new home. I just know it."

 

The both of us couldn't stop smiling as we interlocked fingers and entered the portal.

 

"As long as I'm with you Arena, I'm always home."

 

And from my morning meeting with Gal, all my memories came flooding back. I finally remembered what it was like when I first met the Gods of the Aether Realm. I remembered meeting her family and how hostile they were to me at me first, and how they insulted Arena for bringing me here, but how she still defended me after everything.

 

Arena was right about time flowing differently in the Aether Realm. What felt like 3 months on the outside felt like years and years to me with my girlfriend in her home. And since this was a place that existed outside of time you could choose what form you took. I decided to stay exactly the way I was when I first entered, as did Arena. Time passed, though what really counted as time in the Aether Realm was difficult to say. I was fairly certain at this point I had spent more time in the Aether Realm than I had in the mortal realm.

 

Time continued on and on, and the Gods of the Aether Realm did eventually warm up to me, find me endearing, and still treated Arena like she was a silly little girl who had brought home a stray puppy.

 

But things in the Aether Realm did change and I made the decision to return back to the Mortal Plane. As I viewed my life on display and felt my memories return I realized exactly what had happened in my life. I found out why my memories had been erased, and not entirely replaced like Aynn did with everyone else. I found out why I had been targeted first above everyone else in the Academy. I finally realized what Aynn's book meant when she wrote 'Stop Arena. Save Daddy' and the inescapable truth behind my link with Aynn Mischa was plain as the daylight streaming in from the windows and hitting me in the face.

 

 

---

 

 

I bolted upright so fast I'd likely have knocked Arena into the wall if she didn't have quicker reflexes. Gal however was not so lucky. Gal gave a panicked yelp as she woke with a start and rubbed her eyes.

 

"What's the big idea!?" Gal protested, still in a daze and exhausted.

 

Small Boobs quickly came back, halfway dressed and fumbling with her PDA. "Aww man, I didn't get my camera for you two."

 

Gal blinked, then yawned loudly. "Ohhh... I was having the nicest dream where..."

 

Our eyes met, and we both blushed.

 

"F-f-forget it!" I said, instantly looking away. "Where's Guy?"

 

Small Boobs gave a shrug. "Beats me. I just woke up a minute ago to watch you two lovebirds snuggling over there."

 

Normally her teasing would get to me, but not today. I turned to my girlfriend. "Arena?"

 

"Guy Surname used the third link in the Chain to melt into the floors and sneak out without being seen early in the morning. Furthermore he used the third link to sneak into Marie-Aynn Sumischa's room but she was not there either. The entire student body is still asleep in the cafeteria after their party. This is where Guy is currently traveling."

 

"Let's go!"

 

 

---

 

 

We quickly threw on our school jackets and put on our shoes before we raced to the school cafeteria. Arena and Guy were telling the truth about Aynn's birthday party. Everyone at the school was in attendance, and I do literally mean everyone.

 

Headmistress Mishegoss had a messy bun of frizzy red hair and her glasses were all askew. She seemed to have just fallen asleep wherever, splayed out on the floor with Paige Turner using Mishegoss's stomach as a pillow. Bernouli was asleep and hugging Ben quite tightly like he was her first teddy bear. Professor Arshlocke was asleep with frosting all over her face, and it seemed there were empty pizza boxes and soda bottles littered all over the ground.

 

"Looks like their night was a lot more interesting than ours." Gal whispered.

 

And there in the middle of it all was Guy Surname, standing in front of our nemesis, Aynn Mischa. She was hugging the Book that Controls the Universe, but Guy didn't seem bothered by it. His fingers touched the tip of the book. He took a breath and activated the third link in the chain which allowed him to move through solid objects. It seemed he had mastered the ability to extend this over anything he touched as well since, with a quick flick of the wrist he pulled the book through Aynn's arms as though she weren't even there.

 

Guy turned around, nearly dropping the book when he saw us standing at the entrance of the cafeteria. Guy put a finger to his lips, encouraging us to be quiet. We nodded at him He took another breath and began to sink into the ground. There was about a 10 second pause before he suddenly rose from the ground in front of us.

 

"WAH!" Gal choked out before I put my hands over her mouth.

 

"Shh!"

 

"What happened to sticking together?" Small Boobs asked with a smirk.

 

Guy did not seem amused.

 

"It's fine. I knew I could do it alone," He held up his prize. "And here's the proof."

 

We stared at the plain black and white composite book, eager to read what was held within its pages.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 7: The Book That Controls the Universe]

Growing up can be hard for kids during their teenage years. They could have bullying and body dysmorphic issues that make them feel uncomfortable in your own skin. They could have hormones which caused sudden mood swings and would leave them irritable with their closest friends. They might have unrequited love with a person who will never reciprocate. Or they might even face teenage parenthood and have kids before they're ready. I don't know how common "mind controlled student population" was, but it was our number one concern at this stage of our lives.

 

Nevertheless, as we stood at the black and white composite notebook in Guy's arms at the entrance way of the cafeteria it seemed we finally had a weapon to turn the tide.

 

"The Book that Controls the Universe..." I heard Gal say with a tone of wonder in her voice. "Open it! Open it! Open it! Open it!"

 

Guy eagerly opened the book before us and began to look through it, however the smile on his face quickly melted away into one of confusion and bewilderment.

 

"What the hell is this?"

 

Small Boobs had to tiptoe to get a look, and an equally confused look spread on her face.

 

"It looks like she wrote this in some kinda complicated hieroglyphics."

 

Gal frowned and turned to my girlfriend. "Could Arena even read this?"

 

"Yes." Arena said quickly, though she did not provide any additional information.

 

I looked over the book, but I wasn't quite understanding what the problem was.

 

"It's in English." Sure, it was a little sloppy but it was perfectly legible English.

 

"What!?" Guy yelled, before immediately realizing we had just crashed a party where the guests were supposed to stay asleep. He crouched down and whispered. "Really?"

 

"What does it say then smarty pants?" Small Boobs stuck out her tongue as Guy passed me the book. I looked at the random page that was left open.

 

The book was definitely pretty easy to read, and the penmanship reminded me of my own. While there were definitely English words, it didn't really say anything.

 

"It doesn't really say anything." I said. The looks on their faces told me I had better start elaborating.

 

"I mean, it physically has words in sentences, but none of it is organized in any coherent way. It looks like she just randomly started writing one off sentences of whatever she happened."

 

The confusion did not escape my friends' faces, so I decided the easiest way for them to understand was for me to start reading out loud.

 

"'Jenna Talia is in room one-six-nine. The forty ninth name on the Ebony Wall at Solar Dusk Memorial Park is Allison Katherine Swebb."

 

"Swebb?" Gal asked. "Like the headmistress?"

 

"'A Carmelatto at Starton Cafe costs two-twenty-five. You have to be twenty-one or older in order to enter the Point Blank Night Club. The Spectral Detectives is an animated TV show produced in Silvershine. Paige Turner really likes lemons.'" I looked up at my friends. "See, they're just random one off sentences."

 

"Are you making this up?" Gal asked.

 

"He is not." Arena responded quickly.

 

"Maybe it's some kind of riddle?" Guy offered.

 

"It is not." Arena responded quickly.

 

"So what? Aynn just writes down the first thing that comes to mind, no matter how stupid and nonsensical it is? That's dumb." Small Boobs yawned.

 

Guy thought for a moment. "Maybe... there's instructions for how to read it on the first page?"

 

I gave a shrug, figuring there was no harm in checking.

 

"It says... 'My name is Marie-Aynn Sumischa-'." I paused, reading the final part and the next few sentence to myself.

 

"The... next part's a little hard to read... kinda smudged..." I gave a nervous laugh and continued to the middle section. "'There's only 6 people in the entire world allowed to make changes to this book. The King, the Queen, the Rook, the Bishop, the Knight and the Pawn.'"

 

My friends stared at me in confusion.

 

"Does it say who they are? Like a name or something?" Guy asked.

 

I rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah, it says that right here." I said sarcastically as I pointed to a random blank spot on the book. "Of course it doesn't say that. If it did, I'd have read that part too."

 

"Are you sure that's what it says?" Gal said as she squinted and strained her eyes.

 

"Yeah. I'm positive."

 

Gal gave a shrug. "I guess it takes bad handwriting to read bad handwriting."

 

"Yeah. This notebook is giving me bad flashbacks to the Midterm Massacre when I had to borrow your Duel Rulings notes." Guy gave a laugh.

 

However I knew the real reason I could read the book so easily, and I felt Gal and her brother were getting close to the truth. I tried to deflect what they were saying.

 

"It may be bad, but at least I don't put little hearts when I dot my i-s"

 

"It's supposed to be cute!" Gal and Guy both protested at the same time.

 

Small Boobs yawned again and scratched at her ribs before speaking. "Alright, so the book is useless to us, but useful to Aynn. Looks like our next step is obvious."

 

She quietly tiptoed over to a half-eaten multi-tiered birthday cake and picked up a match book. She also pulled up a large metal trash can half filled with napkins and pizza-crusts.

 

"Let's burn it."

 

With a flick of Small Boobs's wrists she lit the match and dropped it unceremoniously into the garbage can. The napkins seemed to provide proper kindling and soon we had a roaring bonfire going near the entrance of the cafeteria.

 

 

---

 

 

When I first started at Lincoln Academy my father gave me a similar black and white composite notebook just like the one I was holding right now. He told me to fill it with my thoughts and feelings and when it was filled to look over it and see if I still felt the same way. I never got the chance to fill up my notebook unfortunately, as by the time I was halfway through the fire at Lincoln Academy had destroyed all of my belongings. Seeing Small Boobs light a fire caused both me and Guy to flinch though.

 

"Alright, chuck it in." she said, gesturing to the metal trash can.

 

I looked at the book in my hands and suddenly found myself unable to drop the book into the roaring fire. As I saw Guy take a step towards me I instinctively took a step back and pulled the book close.

 

"He's not going to do it." Arena whispered.

 

"W-wait." I said. "Think about it. Maybe Aynn can be reasoned with?"

 

Guy raised a brow at my sudden outburst. "What are you going on about?"

 

"Like, we beat Ipsum and never managed to find out how to reverse her Cursed Chain!"

 

"We already know how to fix this one." Gal reminded. "Seventh Link yo'."

 

"Besides, there's no reasoning with a girl like her." Guy began.

 

"Irredeemable monster." Arena reminded.

 

"Guy's right." Small Boobs said. "Even if we did make a breakthrough I'm sure her retrograde amnesia would just put us back at square one."

 

I looked at the fire, still roaring and cackling away, but still shook my head. "It's not right."

 

Guy sighed, before a flash of brilliance came to his mind. "Arena's on our side, isn't she?"

 

Arena was staring blankly at nothing in particular before speaking. "I despise the girl and I believe her birth was a mistake-"

 

"Okay then!" Guy interrupted. "Arthur won't listen to his friends, he won't listen to reason, but by now I think we can..." he paused "I think we can all trust the Goddess of Wisdom's judgement on this one."

 

It was flawless logic on Guy's behalf. I had trusted Arena with my whole life and in fact, I'd probably be nothing more than a pile of ash, left to die in Lincoln Academy if not for her divine intervention on that cold September night last year. I reluctantly handed the book to my girlfriend. She looked at me, then to Guy, to Gal, and down to the book in her arms.

 

"I... can't do it either."

 

"What!?" Guy exclaimed. He reached over to snatch the book out of Arena's hands, but she pulled it away at the last second.

 

"Can't meddle with human affairs huh?" Small Boobs said nonchalantly.

 

"No." Arena shook her head. "The book is literally garbage and nothing drastic is changed whether or not the book is destroyed. But I do have my reasons. Marie-Aynn may be an irredeemable monster, but-"

 

Arena didn't get a chance to finish. A loud shrill bell suddenly went off and it seemed the people at the party had slowly began to stir from the sound.

 

"What-" Guy began before the sprinkles came down, drenching the cafeteria as it seemed the fire we had left burning in the trash can had set off the smoke detectors. If a blaring sound didn't wake them, a splash of cold water certainly would.

 

 

---

 

 

My muscles didn't obey me. The loud piercing shrill sound of a fire alarm had brought back memories of that night, and it seemed they had paralyzed Guy as well. Even with Gal and Small Boobs trying to get us to move us, neither Guy nor I found the will to move. The girls said something, but I couldn't hear over the fire alarm. I saw some of the students groggily waking up and smile towards us, probably just residual happiness from the party as I'm sure Aynn had brainwashed them against us.

 

Finally the blaring sound stopped, and at last I felt my sense return to me, just in time to hear Oliver's voice from near where Aynn was resting.

 

"Where's your book Aynn!?"

 

"Huh!?" Aynn scratched her face and looked around. "I have a book?"

 

"You do! It's the Book that Controls the Universe." Oliver said in a reassuring tone.

 

"Sounds important... I should... write that down." Aynn said was she began reaching for a napkin and pulling a pen from behind her ear.

 

It didn't take long for people to notice us, the 5 most hated people at Hawthorne Academy, standing near the entrance of the cafeteria. And it didn't take long for even the dumbest of Aynn's groupies to realize we had it.

 

"YO', those fools over there swiped it!" Ben exclaimed as he pointed us out.

 

"Can we PLEASE move now?" Gal said, practically yelling as she tugged hard at me and Guy's sleeves.

 

At last Guy seemed to snap out of his daze.

 

"N-no..." He shook his head. "I think I understand what Arthur was talking about. We can't reason with Aynn, but we can still use the book here."

 

It wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but I gave a shrug and decided to go with it. "Y-yeah!"

 

Arena looked at Guy and smiled, before handing over the notebook to the male Surname twin.

 

Oliver took a step forward and began making his way towards us.

 

"Guy, I'll only ask this once. Where's Aynn's book?"

 

Guy smirked, revealing the notebook with a bit of a flourish. "We've got it right here."

 

His fists curled at his sides. "Better hand it over before I rearrange your face and make you and Gal un-identical twins."

 

The last time I saw Oliver was this mad was last when Laplace, his ex-girlfriend at the time was attacked by the First Link in the Chain.

 

"Olly..." Gal began.

 

"Stay out of this Gal!" Oliver barked back. Gal flinched.

 

Guy glanced over his sister, then back to his opponent. "How about we settle this like gentlemen instead? One-on-one. No lunch breaks this time."

 

"You read my mind!"

 

"Duel!"

 

 

---

 

 

Oliver and Guy had seen each other duel many times before. They knew each other's key strategies and ace cards and would probably be able to guess what card was drawn just by the look on the other's face. And while Guy wasn't exactly a bad duelist, he couldn't hold a candle to Oliver. Being the best duelist in Card Design didn't mean much against someone who specialized in Pro Dueling.

 

Oliver always held back against Guy. Today I could tell by the look in his eye he wouldn't be doing the same.

 

"Standard life points Oliver! Now let's settle this once and for all!"

 

Guy opened the top of his Timaeus Blue jacket and safely but awkwardly tucked the book away.

 

Guy drew an opening hand of five, then one more on his draw phase. He looked over his cards and a quick opening strategy began to form.

 

"I summon Charging Gaia the Fierce Knight!"

 

Being normal summoned without a tribute, Guy's Charging Gaia was at 1900 attack.

 

"And I'll set one support card. Now show me what your Batterymen can do!"

 

 

---

 

 

After drawing his first 5 cards, a smile spread itself on Oliver's face, followed by a loud chuckle.

 

"You think you've got me all figured out eh Guy Surname? Well don’t worry, I've got a surprise for you!"

 

Bernouli smiled. "We all put together all the cards we had, all our allowances, and we super charged Oliver's deck! No more wimpy Batterymen for Olly!"

 

The remaining members of Team Surname looked confused. Small Boobs was the first to speak up. "Wh-why'd you all do that?"

 

The girls all seemed confused for a moment, whispering and muttering things before Aynn brought them back to their sense. "Because he's important!"

 

With their Queen guiding them, they all seemed to regain their composure, agreeing that Oliver was a central figure in Aynn's regime.

 

"Now that we got all that figured out, the Royal Knight of The Cafeteria Table is here to take you down!" Oliver exclaimed as he drew his sixth card, then immediately slapped it down onto his duel disk.

 

"I'll start us off with Noble Knight Medraut, in attack mode!"

 

A handsome, blond haired blue eyes warrior emerged on Oliver's side of the field.

 

"I activate Noble Arms of Destiny, but don't except it to stick around for long, because I use Medraut's effect! I can special summon one Noble Knight monster from deck and then sacrifice one equip spell on the field."

 

Oliver picked up his deck and picked out a card before his duel disk's automatic-shuffling program kicked in. He played the card on his field, and a dark, mysterious knight appeared on Oliver's side of the field.

 

"say Hello to Noble Knight Eachtar, and Goodbye to Noble Arms of Destiny!"

 

The blonde knight Medraut raised his sword, and it shattered into a rainbow of pixels.

 

"But Noble Arms of Destiny has another effect. Once per turn if it gets destroyed, I get to equip it another Noble Knight monster. So Medraut, pick up your blade once again!"

 

Medraut raised his arm, and once again his divine blade emerged in hand.

 

"And there's yet one more effect kids! When Medraut's equipped with one of my Noble Arms spell cards, he gains a level!"

 

Oliver smirked at his two powerful monsters. "With two level 5 monsters, I can perform an Xyz summon! So I'll create an overlay network..."

 

Oliver's two monsters were enveloped in light and a new monster appeared on his field.

 

"And special summon Number 61: Volcasaurus!"

 

"That's not a Noble Knight monster!" Guy protested.

 

Oliver laughed. "What kind of chump ONLY uses all monster of the same archetype? Nah, see with this Volcasaurus I can destroy one of your monsters, and what's more you take damage equal to your monster's original attack! So Mister 2300 original attack, take that outta Guy's life points!"

 

In one swoop, Guy's Charging Gaia exploded, and with that he lost over half his life points.

 

Guy flinched in surprised. "Good thing your Xyz monster can't attack."

 

"Yeah, but I've got one last trick!" Oliver smirked as he began to pick up his extra deck. "I'll summon another Xyz monster using my current monster as material! I'll create an overlay network and special summon Gaia Dragon the Thunder Charger!"

 

Volcasaurus was absorbed in light and once again, a new Xyz monster appeared on Oliver's side of the fear.

 

"Hey! That's not fair!" Gal protested. "I thought you needed two of the same level monsters!"

 

Small Boobs shook her head. "For this one, all you need is a Rank 5 or 6 monster."

 

Oliver gave a slow clap. "Right you are Small Boobs." He turned his attention back to Guy. "Gaia Dragon, end this!"

 

With 2600 attack and Guy with only 1700 life points left, it looked like it was all over, but fortunately for Guy, he still had one face down card left to keep him alive.

 

 

---

 

 

"Activate trap!" Guy declared as his facedown came up. "Call of the Haunted!" With only one monster, his next move was obvious, but it was just a replay of before. Sure, he got back a 2300 attack monster, but it wasn't enough to swing the duel in his favor.

 

"Attack Charging Gaia anyway!" In Gaia versus Gaia, it seemed Oliver's came out on top and Guy took 300 points of damage. He was still alive, but hanging by a thread.

 

"You may still be standing, but you can't turn this duel around Guy." Oliver began. "I'm a future Pro Duelist man."

 

Guy picked up his top card and a smile and a strategy began to form.

 

"I may not have the cards for it now, but I'll work on it with my Trade In spell card!"

 

Guy discarded Legendary Maju Garzett and drew two new cards. We could all tell what Guy drew by the look on his face.

 

Oliver gave a chuckle. "Lemme guess, you drew your ace monster, didn't you?"

 

"Show it to him bro!" Gal exclaimed.

 

Guy smiled as he banished his Garzett and Charging Gaia from the grave.

 

"I special summon my best monster! Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning!"

 

Oliver didn't even flinch. "Is that monster supposed to scare me?"

 

"Black Luster Soldier, attack his Gaia Dragon!" Guy's Soldier charged forward, shattering Oliver's monster.

 

"Now riposte and attack Oliver's life points directly!"

 

This time he flinched. Oliver practically jumped out of his skin from that powerful counter attack from Guy. We thought it was just about over and our side had won, but Oliver craned his neck back and gave a loud laugh.

 

 

---

 

 

"You really are the best duelist in the Card Design program Guy." Oliver drew his topmost card. "Unfortunately your best wasn't good enough, and it's time to end this."

 

Oliver slapped down a spell card. "I activate Last Chapter of the Noble Knights!"

 

There was a reflection of a lady in a lake on Oliver's side of the field.

 

"With this I can special summon a Noble Knight monster and equip it with a Noble Arms spell. So let's bid a warm welcome to Medraut and his Noble Arms of Destiny!"

 

Once again, Medraut emerged from the lake, Noble Arms of Destiny at the ready.

 

"And now for an encore of last turn! With Medraut's effect I can special summon a Noble Knight from my deck, so I'll pick Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn!"

 

A dark, possibly possessed monster emerged on Oliver's side of the field as Noble Arms of Destiny was dissolved.

 

"And Noble Arms comes back once per turn." Medraut picked up his blade again.

 

"This is trouble." Gal muttered to Small Boobs.

 

I nodded as I overheard them. "Guy better think of something fast or this is over."

 

"This IS over." Oliver corrected. "I'll perform an Overlay Network and Xyz summon Sacred Noble Knight of King Artorigus!"

 

"My monster still has more attack points!" Guy protested.

 

"Don't worry about that. Because with my Sacred Noble King, I can get rid of one overlay unit to destroy one of your monster! Now get rid of Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning!"

 

The Sacred Noble Knight raised a blade and Guy's field was empty. No monsters, no spells, no traps to protect him.

 

"And with a direct line to your life points, that means this game is over!"

 

Oliver's Sacred Noble Knight sped forward, slicing at Guy with a hologram just as his life points hit zero.

 

 

---

 

 

As the duel came to a close, Professor Arshlocke wasted no time as she quickly made her way to Guy Surname, a serious scowl on her face as she looked down on him.

 

"Ze book. NOW!"

 

Guy hesitated, awkwardly pulling out the book from his jacket and keeping it about chest level. Arshlocke snatched it out of his hands.

 

"Ha! We win!" Guy declared as the professor made her way back to Aynn and handed it back. Aynn looked the book over like a dog examining a treat before gleefully smiling and pulling the book close to her.

 

"Don't mess with Team Aynn Mischa again!" Aynn declared as she pointed menacingly at us.

 

Guy seemed strangely calm, and smiled as he took a relaxed breath. "Yeah, you guys did win." He slowly made his way across the battlefield, and as he reached close enough to Oliver, a smile formed on Guy's face as he spoke his next words.

 

"Handshake?"

 

Oliver raised a brow, but his defenses softened as he saw the calm demeanor in Guy's expression. Maybe it was a bit of muscle memory, or maybe a bit of his actual memory, but Oliver smiled back and extended his arm.

 

"Sure, I guess it's the sportsmanlike thing to-"

 

As their hands met, a serious expression suddenly extended to Guy's face as though he was concentrating. The pupils in Oliver's dilated, expanding bigger and bigger so that his normally hazel eyes were completely enveloped by the darkness of his pupil. His pupils then suddenly contracted and his entire eye was all iris. Oliver's whole body shook, and at last he stopped with a fatigue look on his face as though he had just woken from a coma.

 

"Wh-what..." Oliver began as he brought his hand to his temples, as though he was in the middle of a terrible migraine.

 

Guy smiled to his friend. "Welcome back man."

 

 

---

 

 

The next thing happened so fast I barely even had time to register it.

 

"Surprise!" I heard Gal's voice before turning around to see her grabbing at both Bernouli and Paige's hands. They looked like they were beginning to resist before suddenly freezing in their tracks. Have you ever seen one of those hypnotists where they gently tap someone on the forehead and that person seems to fall asleep? It was a lot like that. Their pupils grew wide, before growing small and finally turning back to normal. They seemed lost in a daze and with Gal rushed to visit her next two patients it seemed I had precious time to explain.

 

"Aynn Mischa's brainwashed the entire school." I said quickly.

 

The girls blinked and gave me a confused look.

 

"Who the hell is Aynn Mischa?" Bernouli asked.

 

Meanwhile, Small Boobs had pulled Oliver towards us leaving Guy to fend off three hostile young ladies, Lauren Order, Jenna Talia and Ilene Dover.

 

"Uhh..." Guy began nervously, before suddenly being tackled by Lauren. As soon as they made contact though, Lauren's body went limp and her eyes grew dark. Guy flew backwards, bumping into Jenna and her pupils too seemed to grow large and her body went limp.

 

"Oh so..." he awkwardly pushed Lauren off of him and she rolled to the side. "I just need to make physical contact to use the seventh huh?"

 

Ilene seemed as though she was having second thoughts on attacking Guy.

 

Aynn meanwhile was looking over her group of mind slaves, who were slowly regaining their senses as Gal and Guy touched their hands.

 

A dull and dazed expression etched itself on Aynn's face. "Hey! What's going on!?" She asked before taking out a pen and opening The Book That Controls the Universe.

 

"Your army is crumbling one by one Aynn!" Guy declared as he put a hand on Professor Handbasket's forehead. "We're coming for you soon!"

 

"Welcome back Claire!" Gal greeted as she pulled her hand away from the girl, then turned to her next target for conversion. "You too Marsha!"

 

Oliver and Small Boobs made their way over to Arena and I who were only standing by the sidelines. "Hey Arthur..." he said with a tone of fatigue to his voice. "There's probably a few things you need to fill me in on here, but I do still think I remember a few things from my time with Aynn..."

 

"There'll be time for that later, let's get outta here!" Small Boobs yelled.

 

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Aynn declared.

 

Guy took in a deep breath, activating the second link in the chain.

 

"Everyone pledges loyalty to Aynn! Please stay as close to my sister as you possibly can, but don't harm her!"

 

A hundred pair of eyes turned to Gal Surname after Guy spoke.

 

"Uhh... g-group hug?" Gal said as she opened her arms wide, followed by a nervous laugh.

 

"Ayy! I'm down!" Ben said with a smile.

 

The sounds of a hundred feet shuffling over to Gal was overwhelming. Even I had a strong compulsion to hug Gal before I felt Arena tug at my arm and snap me out of my daze. I glanced down to my roommate.

 

"You'll have to tell them soon." she whispered.

 

I turned my attention back to Guy and Aynn, and it seemed the two were finally ready to end this.

 

"You... you... Guy Surname! I'll remember this!" she began as she quickly scribbled something into her book. "Arena put you up to this didn't she!?"

 

Guy didn't respond, merely taking a breath and beginning to activate the second link in the chain again.

 

"Aynn Mischa, please destroy the Book that Controls the Universe."

 

Aynn's eyes grew wide, but there was a bit of uncertainty. She resisted, and she began to cry.

 

"M-my book..." she whispered, crying hysterically "I can't... all my memories..." she said, but her body betrayed her words.

 

Her hands trembled and she slowly opened the book to the last pages. Though she was given a command it was up to her interpret it, and rather than damage any of her works she began by tearing out the last few pages and crumpling them into a pall, tossing them aside. Every page made her cry harder and harder.

 

As I watched Guy smiling smugly at a crying little girl, felt I had seen enough though.

 

"Guy! Stop it!"

 

Guy shook his head. "I see what Arena said is true. Aynn is truly an irredeemable monster."

 

"She's not a monster Guy! And she's not JUST the fourth link in the chain!"

 

I swallowed hard. It was time to tell them everything Gal had shown me last night when she fully restored my memories.

 

"Marie-Aynn Sumischa Surogate is my daughter!"

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 8: Demigoddess]

My name is Arthur Surrogate. My father's name is Rider Surrogate and after the divorce is finalized my mother's name will revert to Edith Scribe. I was born 16 years ago, almost 17 in the spring. I am currently a junior at Hawthorne Academy in Silvershine City. My best friends' names are Oliver Khlozoff, Guy Surname, Gal Surname, and Ami Pastiche. The name of my girlfriend and the mother of my child is Arena - Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy. And speaking of my child, I can say with absolutely certainty that I am the father of 13 year old high school freshman, Marie-Aynn Sumischa Surrogate.

 

Guy Surname looked at me like I was crazy after my declaration, but even though he knew Aynn could alter everyone's memories, we all somehow knew what I was saying was the absolute truth.

 

"She's a demigoddess." I explained as if that would explain the age discrepancy. "The Demigoddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy. She's Arena and I's daughter."

 

To say that everyone at the academy was surprised was a bit of an understatement. Everyone stopped what they were doing, freezing to consider what was just said. The 30 or so people dogpiling on Gal stopped what they were doing, turned to look at me and just stared, mouth agape in utter shock.

 

In the moment of confusion, Gal shoved Ben away from her.

 

Headmistress Mishegoss froze and just looked at us, her face reddening as she blushed and looked away. Even Aynn who was still ripping up the blank sheet of paper from The Book That Controls The Universe was slowing down to pay me a bit more attention.

 

"So... Aynn's not just a normal girl..." Bernouli began, letting go of Gal's arm.

 

"Not even a normal girl with the Cursed Chain..." Small Boobs said through a mouthful of cake.

 

"She's a... a..." Oliver stammered, still in disbelief.

 

"Demigoddess!" Aynn declared as she threw the torn off bits of paper into the air like it was confetti. The smile quickly faded and a blank look etched itself on her face as her eyes glazed over. "Umm... what?"

 

"I can't believe it." Oliver whispered. He blinked, stopping to give it a second thought before shaking his head. "Wait no. That's not true. I could totally imagine Arena trying to get freaky with Arthur."

 

"What!?" I exclaimed.

 

"Yeah." Paige's gravelly voice croaked in agreement. "Arena tries to suck face with Arthur literally every chance she gets."

 

Gal blushed and looked away. "You should have seen what she tried during the school trip while Arthur was asleep!"

 

"I didn't SEE it," Small Boobs said, pointing with a fork. "But I certainly HEARD some things I don't think as delicate young lady such as myself should have."

 

"Yeah, like what the hell?" Security Guard Weibull gave a chuckle. "Arena's supposed to be some sort of logical goddess but she couldn't even keep it in her skirt for one night?"

 

"OKAY!" I yelled out blushing. "Can we drop the subject?"

 

Arena tugged at my arm and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "I am not ashamed to love and be loved."

 

There was a bit of snickering and whispering as Arena and I were the center of attention. Guy however wasn't interested in what Arena and I did in our spare time.

 

"This doesn't change anything." Guy said while shaking his head. "Aynn is still our enemy and she needs to go down."

 

"Wait!" Aynn protested as she continued picking at her single sheet of paper like she was picking pedals off a flower. She smiled and blushed towards Guy.

 

"You're cute! Be my boyfriend!"

 

We all groaned, but Gal had something on her mind as she spoke up.

 

"I wanna hear know more about how Aynn exists." Gal stopped as she realized what she said then shook her head.

 

"Not like that though! I mean, we were only gone for 3 months. How do you already have a 13 year old daughter?"

 

Arena looked at me and nodded. I sighed, realizing now was the time to tell the entire school body the whole truth.

 

"After the end of the last school year I decided to visit Arena's family in the Aether Realm. I'm not too sure myself, but I guess... time flows more slowly... or not at all in the Aether Realm? It's a little bit unclear"

 

"Neither of those are correct." Arena corrected. "The Aether Realm exists outside of time itself. Time only affects the Mortal Realm."

 

Oliver stopped to foreshadow a much later chapter. "So, if I had an alarm clock in the Aether Realm would it still go off?"

 

Arena raised an eyebrow at his question, as though she was unsure of how to answer. A single word escaped her lips. "Yes."

 

"If th-that's true, why doesn't that boy l-look much older?" Professor Handbasket stammered.

 

"I could pick how I looked, and I decided to just stay with the appearance I had when I left Hawthorne." I gave an indifferent shrug.

 

"But... I guess I did still age. At least my brain did I think. I feel like my childhood was a really long time ago." I turned to Arena.

 

"How far back do my memories go anyway?"

 

"Ohh!" Aynn said excitedly as she began looking through her book. She smiled proudly like a child first learning to read.

 

"When I tried to rearrange your memories you had way way more memories then everyone else! Like, uhh... way way more memories! If I made new ones it would have taken forever and you'd like... realize something was weird about them instantly. So I just blanked it instead!" The smile faded from her face and she looked over her book confused.

 

"Just how old are you daddy?"

 

"He's sixteen still. Time is meaningless in the Aether Realm." Arena replied. "But if everyone insist on trying to put a number to it, Arthur has approximately five hundred more years of life experience than his body would suggest."

 

We all gasped in shock.

 

"Five hundred!? I... I spent five hundred years in the Aether Realm!?"

 

"And you're still stupid and immature." Bernouli said with a laugh.

 

"You spent zero years in the Aether Realm because time doesn't work that way." Arena said with a serious scowl. "It's like saying you spent 38 meters in Holography Class. It's a nonsensical value that doesn't provide any context."

 

"Alright, no one cares" Guy said dismissively as Aynn started ripping into the next page of her notebook. "Aynn still brainwashed all our friends and tried to ruin all our lives. She's a monster!"

 

"That's where you're wrong Guy!" I took a step forward. I glanced over at Aynn and snatched the book away from her to keep her from tearing out more pages.

 

What I said next may have sounded stupid and immature, but it was the truth.

 

"Aynn's not a monster. She can't be because... she makes me happy!" I swallowed hard, trying to fight back tears. "I remember how elated I felt the night Arena told me she was pregnant. I remember being there when Aynn was finally born. And I remember holding my darling daughter in my arms and then hearing that she had somehow wound up with a link in the Cursed Chain. And I..."

 

I gasped, feeling tears stream down my face.

 

"I tried, I really did! I tried to teach her anything but nothing would stick! Apollemis couldn't help Aynn! Arena wouldn't remove the Chain Link! Everyone else gave up on her, but I never did! I won't let any of you give up on her either!"

 

Guy raised an eyebrow. "Give up on her? Wh-what do you mean?"

 

"After all the time I spent in the Aether Realm I realized... I missed all of you. Guy, Gal, Oliver, Ami... and I missed the Mortal Realm too. My parents may not mean much to me, but the four of you helped me grow and change and better myself as a person. And if you could all help someone as... insignificant as me, I wanted the same for my daughter."

 

Headmistress Mishegoss gave out a loud cry and brought a napkin to her eyes. If it were anyone else, I would have assumed they were mocking me. Mishegoss though, I could tell was sincere with her tears.

 

"Aww... that's SO sweet!"

 

Guy was unmoved however. "Look, Arthur that's really nice and all but an appeal to emotion won't work on me."

 

"Woah! Hold on there Mister Roboto!" Oliver interrupted. "I thought Gal was the one who loved machinery, not you."

 

But Guy ignored Oliver. "The stone cold fact is Aynn is a menace and she caused us a lot of trouble for no reason."

 

I tried to think it over. "I admit she did cause us trouble, but that's just cause she doesn't know any better. She's a sad, scared little girl with powers she doesn't understand in a world that doesn't make sense to her."

 

"I don't really care." Guy said, adjusting the Duel Disk that was still on his wrist.

 

"You're a logical person Guy, so I know you don't actually want this to end without understanding everything."

 

"Arthur..." Guy spoke through clenched teeth.

 

"Why else haven't you challenged Aynn to a duel yet?"

 

I felt there was only one person in the world who could shed more light about my daughter's motive. I handed Aynn back the Book That Controls The Universe.

 

"Marie-Aynn, please tell us what's on your mind!"

 

 

---

 

 

As soon as the book returned to her it was like a light went on in her mind. She breezed through the pages like she was fanning herself with them, before suddenly stopping at a page. She was sitting on the ground with the book on the floor in front of her. With her right hand she was writing and with her left she was nervously picking at the edges of another page. Her last instructions were to destroy the book, though she was able to fight it to some degree.

 

She seemed to be humming a jaunty tune before suddenly realizing we were all looking at her. "Oh! I remember something!"

 

Guy rolled his eyes. "I swear to god, if she says that 'You're cute. Be my boyfriend' thing one more time."

 

Aynn studied Guy for a bit, then blushed lightly. "Uhh... if you insist, but no. I wrote it down actually!"

 

She opened to the front page, cleared her throat and smiled. "As Demigoddess of Wisdom, I can easily learn and pick up knowledge with ease! I can read lightning fast and I'm incredibly perceptive, and I can quickly figure out what's happening in as flash! I just... can't..." she looked over her book, confused. "I forgot what we were talking about."

 

"The Book that Controls the Universe?" Guy said, trying to job her memory.

 

"Oh! The book? Yeah, I can pick it up and read the whole thing cover to cover in about a second. That's why I wrote only my most important notes here, and why only 6 people are allowed to make changes to it!"

 

"The King, the Queen, the Rook, the Bishop, the Knight, and the Pawn?" I said, reminding myself of what I read not so long ago.

 

Guy seemed as though he was shaking with rage. "So it's just a normal garbage book with no magical powers to it after all?"

 

"That's what I said." Arena responded quickly.

 

"It's not garbage! It's my most important treasure!" She cradled the book close, then frowned at Arena.

 

"And I didn't ask for your dumb opinion Arena! I never asked to be born and I never wanted to have the Cursed Chain either! You let bad things happen to good people. To completely innocent people! To your own daughter! You have the power to end everything and you... you..." though she had tears in her eyes, they quickly glazed over and I knew she had forgotten what she was just talking about. She looked over at the book and began flipping through pages again.

 

"I can't meddle with human affairs." Arena replied.

 

Aynn had finally concluded her book, a smile on her face. "Well it's too bad! Because I can!"

 

She slammed her book shut, yet still nervously picked at a page. "You let people die. No, worse! You are the reason war exists! The Ionian Revolt, the Terminal Classic, the Crusades, the Mfecane, the Holocaust, they're all because of you! Arena, you're the only irredeemable monster in this... here..." Her body shook with tears, but her eyes soon glazed over again.

 

She reached out to her eyes and whispered. "I... I can't remember why I'm crying..."

 

"Aynn... please don't say such terrible things about your mother." I pleaded.

 

She blinked, picking up what she had probably said from my tone of voice. "Arena's no mother to me! What kind of mother would allow her daughter to suffer like this? What kind of mother tells her daughter she wants nothing to do with her? I'm no different from any other stranger in Silvershine to her! At least I have my fourth link in the chain to explain why I am this way. What's Arena's..." she stopped.

 

"Who's... Arena? Umm… what...?"

 

She began to look through her book, her memory fading at the end of every few sentences she said.

 

"W-wait..." Professor Andry began. "I don't understand. Is that little rat faced girl Arena an alien or something?"

 

"We'll talk later!" Headmistress Mishegoss gave Andry a weary smile.

 

Guy seemed so ready to defeat Aynn a moment ago, but now he looked sympathetic to her cause.

 

"Look, everyone's got their problem with Arena, but there's no reason for Aynn to lash out at innocent bystanders."

 

"I just want everyone to love me!" she exclaimed.

 

"Aynn is an irredeemable monster, but... I understand why she is the way that she is." Arena said with a sigh.

 

Guy turned to Arena. "And what do you intend to do about it?"

 

Arena frowned, looking ashamed and not bothering to meet Guy's eyes.. "We both know what I'm about to say."

 

"I cannot meddle with human affairs." they both said at the exact same time.

 

Guy turned to me. "And what about you daddy dearest? Are you going to take control of the situation?"

 

"Look, Aynn's my family and my daughter so-."

 

"So you're just going to let her run amok?"

 

"Let me deal with her..."

 

"You've been doing a pretty lousy job of it so far."

 

"He's got ya' there!" Gal said with a smile. "Me and my bro were the only ones who were able to turn back the academy so far." Gal snapped her fingers, as though suddenly realizing something.

 

Guy turned to Aynn, who was busy crossing out words in her book. She was resisting heavily, only giving each word a single pass through so she could still read it.

 

Guy scowled as he raised his duel disk. "There's just one thing left to do."

 

"What are you getting at?"

 

"I'm saying, the only way this ends is in a duel. Aynn, please stop destroying your book for a second." Aynn gave a sigh of relief and put her pen behind her ear again.

 

"Now Aynn, get your duel disk ready because-"

 

"Guy! This isn't some game and this isn't some joke and this isn't some comic or cartoon where big important life changing decisions are decided by a duel!"

 

"I don't see anyone else giving any other solutions."

 

I took two steps forward and placed myself between Guy and Aynn. "I won't let you hurt my daughter!"

 

"Another duel?"

 

"Looks like it." I said as my Duel Disk came to life.

 

Guy's duel disk also came to life and he drew an opening hand of five. I responded with five cards as well, and a sixth on my draw phase.

 

I didn't duel as often as Guy and Oliver did, but I knew we both knew each other's cards very well. My field spell and my Graphas could go toe-to-toe with his Black Luster Soldier, but the boy had a bad habit of drawing Honest just when he needed it most. I thought about every strategy I had ever seen Guy pull, and thought of every strategy my deck could do, what outs and what counters our decks could pull. I thought this would be the most important duel of my entire life. Arena was a Goddess and didn't need my protection, but my daughter Aynn Mischa was half mortal, and still susceptible to harm.

 

I thought I calculated everything, but I only saw half of the puzzle. I thought I was dueling the boy with the seventh link in the chain before I suddenly heard Gal's voice from behind me.

 

"Aynn Mischa! I challenge you to a duel!"

 

 

---

 

 

My blood ran cold as I realized what was going on. I was so busy trying to keep Guy from challenging my daughter to a duel, I didn't realize his twin sister had snuck behind me and issued a challenge herself. To my even greater surprise though, this wasn't a coordinated effort from the twins. Guy's face was as shocked as mine.

 

"Gal, what the hell do you think you're doing!?" he exclaimed from his side of our duel.

 

"I'm about to duel Aynn Mischa!" Gal declared as her Duel Disk came to life.

 

"Oh you are? Uhh..." Aynn opened her book and quickly flipped through its pages. "I accept!" She awkwardly picked through her bag and produced a duel disk. A glazed look spread itself on her eyes before she looked down, realizing there's only one reason she needed a duel disk. She quickly strapped it on and drew an opening hand of five cards.

 

"Gal, I was supposed to duel Aynn!" he exclaimed.

 

"You're dueling Arthur. I'll take out Aynn!"

 

"I surrender!" Guy put a hand over his duel disk and, after powering it down, quickly made his way over to his sister's side. "Gal! Come on! Think about what you're doing!"

 

"She's already seen your deck twice. She probably already knows how to counter it."

 

"Call off the duel Gal! Please!"

 

"I can't! Backing down is the same as surrendering, remember?"

 

"Why..." Guy whispered.

 

"Aynn Mischa's Cursed Chain is the key to all of our problems. The quickest way to remove her chain is to defeat her in a duel!"

 

I stopped to consider what she said, and I thought for a brief moment that maybe this was the one and only major life problem that actually COULD be solved by a duel.

 

"But... no!" her brother protested, though I wasn't sure why.

 

"What's wrong? Don't think I'll win?

 

"No I... I know you can beat that goldfish memory girl... but..."

 

"Then what's the problem?"

 

At last I realized what the problem was.

 

"What happens to you Gal!? What happens when you win!? You'll get the Cursed Chain and... then what!? You'll become just like her! Your memory will lock up and freeze and you'll need to carry around a book for the rest of your life just to remember your own name! Gal, don't take this challenge!"

 

Gal took a deep breath and gave her brother a weary smile. "I'd gladly lose my memories if it means everyone else can be happy again."

 

"Gal..." Guy choked back tears, but there was nothing else he could do.

 

"Let's go Aynn!"

 

I would really love to say my daughter got her dueling skills from her Pro Duelist dad. Unfortunately for Gal, that was not the case. Headmistress Mishegoss was excellent at mechanical work, but that was from having the God of Mechanics as her father. Likewise, Aynn's strategic mind came from her mother, the Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy. Even with her Fourth Link in the Chain handicapping her and causing her memory to reset every few seconds, Gal barely stood a chance.

 

We all watched in horror as Gal's life points hit zero with Aynn's final attack.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 9: Unconditional Surrender]

 

Since time immemorial the Cursed Chain had existed to play small, yet integral part throughout history. They helped escalate wars, diffuse tense situations, and completely alter the landscape of war. The wielders of the Cursed Chain never took center stage at major conflicts themselves, but merely pulled just enough strings to forever change the course of history. Until now that is.

 

I'd like to say it was a well fought match between Aynn Mischa and Gal Surname, but it really wasn't. Even with the fourth link in the chain constantly rebooting Aynn's memory, my daughter had an out to every single one of Gal's strategies and before the girl could even get her momentum going Aynn pulled out her most powerful combo and ended the game right then and there with a full four thousand life points.

 

As the duel came to a close, Guy was frozen in disbelief. Oliver rushed over to Gal and gave her a quick reassuring hug. As they pulled away, he asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

 

"So... what's gonna happen now?"

 

Gal seemed in a bit of a daze before she blushed. It took her a second to registering what Oliver had said but at last only two words came to mind.

 

"Unconditional surrender. At least I guess that's what she'll want from us."

 

Aynn Mischa laughed loudly at Gal's words. "Unconditional surrender! What a great idea!"

 

She smirked, but her eyes seemed to quickly glaze over as if she forgot what she was just saying.

 

"Gal, I..." Guy stammered as he made his way over. "I'm so sorry you had to fight her. I'm sorry you lost."

 

"It's f-fine." she whispered.

 

"It's not fine! I was supposed to protect you! Protect all of us! But instead you lost..."

 

"The seventh link in the chain..." Gal took a deep breath. "If I lose it that means Aynn gets it now, right? So it’s not all bad. Arthur’s daughter will be protected from the damaging effect of the fourth link in the chain."

 

Aynn blinked, then quickly opened up her book and began jotting down what she just heard. "Yeah! The seventh link in the chain! My ultimate prize!"

 

Aynn slammed her book shut before quickly making her way towards Gal, grabbing the Surname twin by the wrist.

 

"Able to quell the rage of any of the other Links in the Cursed Chain. Owned by the single cell union of Jeremiah Surname and Ramona Blankly. Split in half and now owned by Gal and Guy Surname. Now hand it over!"

 

Aynn interlocked her hands with Gal's, and the pupils in Aynn's eyes began to grow. Gal flinched and looked away, but otherwise did not resist.

 

Arena shook her head at her daughter though. "Aynn should already have her Cursed Chain after she won that duel. She did not have to reach across the battlefield to claim it. The exchange happens as soon as a duel reaches its conclusions."

 

Nevertheless it seemed the clarity hit Aynn all at once, her pupils grew wide, then suddenly contracted to a single pinpoint. She blinked and her eyes were back to normal.

 

She dropped her book to the side. If she truly had the seventh link in the chain, it was unlikely she would ever need The Book That Controls the Universe again.

 

"I'll start by rearranging everyone's memory again." Aynn whispered.

 

 

---

 

 

Have you ever played a game where you tried something silly or unconventional and were surprised you were actually allowed to do it? Maybe you opened a door you didn't think you would be able to. Maybe instead of challenging the final boss you attacked something off to the side that was his main source of power. Or maybe you stalled in a duel and your opponent died of old age. Guy Surname was about to experience something similar to all that.

 

At last it seemed Aynn stood at the edge of her ultimate victory. She had defeated the girl who had come to stop her, and only one boy stood in her way. Unfortunately for Aynn, Guy had more links then just the seventh.

 

"Marie-Aynn Sumischa Surrogate!" Guy declared loudly in a panic. "Please do not use your memory altering powers on any of the students at Hawthorne Academy!"

 

One again her eyes bugged out and she twitched, shivering. She tried to resist, and as a demigoddess she was certainly able to fight it, but ultimately Guy's second link in the chain rendered any type of resistance hopeless. Her pupils grew large, then shrank back down before returning to normal.

 

Aynn raised a brow at Guy before giving him an odd little 'harumph'.

 

"Oh you're no fun." she scoffed.

 

Oliver stifled a nervous laugh. "Did... did that actually work?"

 

Aynn gave a weak nod. Arena confirmed it. “Of course it did.”

 

"Wow, what a terrible climax." Small Boobs said with a yawn as she dropped the rest of her cake into a garbage can and began making her way to the exit.

 

"If we're all through being mind-controlled slaves for a while, let's all go to the mall or something. It's Saturday."

 

Claire and Jenna quickly followed after Small Boobs, and there was a general murmur of agreement from everyone else. They began gathering their belongings and making their way out of Aynn's big fake birthday bash.

 

"... He said 'anyBODY at the academy', r-right?" I heard Professor Handbasket asking Professor Arshlocke. "He wasn't really stupid enough to just say 'students', was he?"

 

Aynn tried to get people to stop and wait, but the crowds all pushed past her, and soon it was just the five members of Team Surname alone with Aynn Mischa.

 

"Alright Aynn, congrats again on the victory." Guy said with a smug smirk. "This party’s over! Let's go everyone."

 

Everyone seemed rather pleased with the turn of events, but I couldn't help but feel sympathy for my poor daughter Aynn.

 

"Let's head to Starton!" Oliver declared. "There's this cute new barista named Kay Stopoff and-"

 

"Wait!" Aynn exclaimed. "This... this isn't over! I... I..."

 

Arena shook her head. "She doesn't have any plan beyond this."

 

"Sh-shut up mom!" Aynn protested. "I do too!"

 

"You are Aynn Mischa - Demigoddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy. You have an unparalleled propensity for wisdom... however..." Arena smiled. "The fourth link cripples you."

 

"I'll cripple you if you don't knock it off!" Aynn yelled out.

 

"Aynn!" I shot back. She flinched like a chastised child, which made sense given who she was.

 

"You can't hurt Arena!" Gal exclaimed as she put a hand on my girlfriend's shoulder. "And you can't hurt anyone else here at the academy, right Guy?"

 

Arena continued. "Without Wisdom, all you have are War and Military Strategy at your disposal. You are a warrior obsessed with your next conquest, but you have already won. With no one else left to fight you have nothing else worth living for."

 

Aynn collapsed in a heap on the ground and began bawling. "Th-that's not true! I have... I have..."

 

"Nothing. Else."

 

 

---

 

 

When I first arrived at Hawthorne Academy, I had no memories of anything. My name, my past, my present, my friends and family, and everything else about me was a complete mystery. Fortunately my friends found me and they were able to help.

 

But what about Aynn? I was lost for about 20 minutes before my friends found me and began helping out. Meanwhile Aynn was always lost. Even surrounded by friends and people who cherished and fawned over her, she was still lost and alone. With her Cursed Chain, it was physically impossible for anyone to help her. The initial feeling of fear and confusion would never go away for her.

 

When my full memories finally returned, I felt I had a good grasp of the situation and I knew who my real friends were and who I could trust. Aynn felt quite the opposite, realizing nobody loved or cared about her after all.

 

My friends were already at the door, but I stayed behind, looking at my miserable daughter crying into the remains of a book that would no longer bring her any joy. She was no longer like a small child who cleverly solved a riddle, but more like a girl who had found out how the magician pulled off his secret and she was no longer enchanted by the illusions she saw.

 

I turned towards my friends, and three simple words escaped my lips.

 

"Arena, you're wrong."

 

Arena stopped dead in her tracks and did a quick and abrupt about face. "What!?"

 

She spoke with so much scorn and so much contempt in her voice I flinched. As I did, Arena gasped, her face softened and she looked like she was about to cry because she had caused me to flinch. She had made her own daughter cry miserably with no remorse and yet this was what had caused a change of heart?

 

I shook my head, trying to stay on task. "What I mean is, I'm sure Aynn has friends, loved ones, and people she trusts!"

 

Gal shook her head. "I mean, I'm pretty sure all her friends were just brainwashed memory slaves but..."

 

"No, not anyone at the academy. " I walked over to Aynn and took the book out of her hands. She did not offer much resistance as she knew the book was useless trash now.

 

"She wrote down the 6 people she trusts to change the Book that Controls the Universe."

 

Oliver however had never read the book, or maybe he did but like everyone else he was probably unable to read Aynn's penmanship.

 

"I mean, I was pretty high up in Aynn's chain of command and I never heard about any other people she trusted to make changes to her book. It was always just her who scribbled in it."

 

"She has 6 people she trusts more than anything! The King, the Queen, the Rook, the Bishop, the Knight and the Pawn!" I said matter-of-factly as I found the passage. "If we find out who they are, they can help Aynn."

 

There was a profound silence as my friends stared at me. Guy spoke out first.

 

"Why do we want to help Aynn?"

 

"Don't be like that Guy." I scolded. "She's... family. You know, flesh and blood! Just think about how you felt when you thought Gal was going to beat Aynn and lose her memories and you'll know how I feel about Aynn right now."

 

Guy scowled at me, but after he glanced over at Gal he looked down, ashamed. "I guess you’re right."

 

I glanced over at Aynn who was still on the ground, her eyes were cast on the floor as she looked away with a miserable expression on her face.

 

"Aynn's not gonna be any help for this one." Oliver began. "But when she had no memory Aynn was just a weird blank slate that kept rebooting every two seconds. She doesn't trust anyone."

 

"Right." Arena said.

 

We all stopped to look at my girlfriend.

 

I put a hand on her shoulder, crouched down to look her in the eye and spoke. "Okay Arena, I don't understand it when you speak in riddles like that."

 

"She does not trust anyone, and the people she is referencing in the book are not the people she trusts the most."

 

I was asking the wrong questions.

 

"Then who are the people Aynn's talking about?"

 

Aynn finally bolted up. "It's you!"

 

It seemed Aynn had inherited Arena's penchant for talking in riddles. At last though, Arena made the situation clearer.

 

"The six people she wrote in the book are not actually the six people SHE herself trusts the most. They're the people YOU, Arthur Surrogate, trust the most."

 

I stared at Arena in confusion, then turned to Aynn, who was hugging her knees and looking absolutely defeated.

 

"... What?"

 

"Arthur you are the King. Aynn sees herself as the Queen. The other four are your friends. Guy is the Rook, Gal is the bishop, Oliver is the Knight, and Ami Pastiche is the Pawn. You told Aynn all about your adventures from last year, and her biggest take away from your stories was that those were the people she should look up to, trust, and respect above all others."

 

The faces of my friends were a wild mix of emotions. Guy seemed slightly confused and disturbed. Oliver was grinning like he had just heard a good joke. Gal had a huge smile on her face.

 

"Aww! Group hug Team Surname!" Gal said as she pulled me in for a tight and loving embrace. Guy and Oliver thankfully did not follow suit. Arena did not seem too pleased by Gal's action either.

 

"Okay Gal... I love you too." I awkwardly patted her on the back and she finally let go after what felt like much longer than 10 seconds.

 

"So... she trusts us more than anyone else?" I asked.

 

"That is correct. When you, Guy, Gal, Oliver or Ami speak, she takes notice."

 

Aynn sniffed hard, rubbing her face with the sleeve of her Critias Black jacket to wipe away the tears.

 

"Everyone!" She announced "I finally decided what my conditions for your surrender are."

 

She picked herself up off the floor and walked over to us, smiling at last.

 

"Arena said I have nothing worth living for, and that may be true-"

 

"It is."

 

"Well then, that's my condition."

 

The rest of Team Surname looked at her confused.

 

"I want something worth living for! To be your friend, to join your group, and go to high school with the 5 of you like a normal girl!"

 

We all stared at Aynn like she was crazy. Just one hour ago we had thought she was the greatest threat to Silvershine imaginable and now it seemed she was recruiting us to be her friends.

 

Gal seemed up for the challenge though.

 

"Yay! New friends!"

 

"Team Surname's missing something! A Pastiche, if you will! I'll grace the five of you with my presence, and in return you people will give my life meaning, just like you did to my dad!"

 

She packed up the book that controls the universe into her backpack and smiled towards us.

 

"It'll be great! Guy'll be my boyfriend, Gal'll be his sister, Oliver will be Gal's boyfriend, and Arena and Arthur will be my parents!"

 

Both of the twins suddenly blushed profusely.

"Hey! I never agreed to that!" Guy stammered nervously.

 

Gal meanwhile was having trouble formulating her sentences. "I! You! We! Me and Olly! We... uhh."

 

Oliver looked over at Gal and nudged her. "I don't mind if you don't."

 

Gal looked at him and smiled, gave a high pitched chirp of excitement.

 

I looked over at Aynn, still unsure if this was a trick or an evil plan I hadn’t fully figured out yet.

 

"And what if we refuse?"

 

"If you refuse," she leaned in towards me, and a sinister smile etched itself on her face. She had 'the dead serial killer eyes' as Small Boobs had so eloquently put it.

 

"I'll make sure you all regret it."

 

The mortal members of Team Surname looked each other over, unsure of our next step but fairly certain we had no other choice in this matter. And that was how we entered into an uneasy alliance with Aynn Mischa, and how she became a regular at our lunch table. She was mine and Arena's daughter, and the latest addition to Team Surname, for better or for worse.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 10: Midterms]There were three major programs at Hawthorne Academy and out of those three, Pro Dueling was by far the most popular one. About half of the entire student body aimed to be a Pro Duelist after graduation. For the rest, about thirty percent of all students were in Card Design, and the last 20 were enrolled in Duel Disk Engineering.

 

If Hawthorne Academy was anything like Lincoln Academy, the freshman didn't have to pick a major until their second year. We mostly took general elective classes before declaring our path in the spring and officially enrolling in our assigned majors in the fall of our sophomore year.

 

With all these wildly varying programs we of course had wildly varying classes and wildly different homework and assignments.

 

For our midterm project last year, the Pro Duelists had to present 100 duels. As I'm sure you already know, Academy Duel Disks record all duels ever played on them and upload them onto a central server. Winning or losing did not matter, though we were of course encouraged to win. We were also allowed to challenge anyone we wanted, which was something Oliver and I didn't know until after we had already turned in our Duel Disk data. We challenged people in the Pro Dueling program while Ella Minnow and Laplace scored easy wins dueling the less-dueling-inclined, Card Design or Duel Disk Repair.

 

It all turned out for the best anyway because for this year, our Junior Year, we had to present 10 "well fought" duels. By that, the school meant duels that were not completely one-sided smack downs. Sure, it was important to win but for the Pro Duelists, the crowds didn't pay to watch a ten second knock out. The audience craved excitement, thrills, and a well fought rollercoaster of a duel. So while some girls had gotten a bunch of cheap and easy wins last year, they now had more duelists to challenge for year 2. Oliver and I however had a good amount of data to go through and could just resubmit duels from last year.

 

Arena - The Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy was not as lucky.

 

Oliver and I sat at a small 4-person booth at Starton Cafe. We were going through our PDAs, looking over a few duels we had last year and reminiscing over a couple of Starton Cafe's signature ice coffees when Arena walked in with an exhausted look on her face. Aynn Mischa, our daughter followed close behind.

 

"This task is impossible for a Goddess." Arena said as she took a seat next to me and sighed audibly.

 

"Uhh, is she talking about what I think she is?" Oliver said, pointing to Arena with his straw.

 

"Midterms..." Aynn said as she sat next to Oliver. "Glad freshmen don't have to take them yet."

 

I gave a bit of a chuckle at Arena's misfortune. She always seemed so perfect so it was cute and a little bit humanizing to see her struggle.

 

Arena was a brilliant Goddess and she could see about ten moves ahead of everyone. It was physically impossible for her to have a 'balanced' and 'exciting' match because no one at the academy even came close to her in skill. I gently put my arm around her and giving her a quick side hug before pulling away. Arena did not respond.

 

"Can't you just play poorly or take a dive?" Aynn asked.

 

Arena looked up at Aynn, frowned, and said nothing else.

 

"Guess that's a no..."

 

"What about your duel with the Demon of Turbo last year?" Oliver said as he tried stirring his iced coffee a bit with his straw. "That one was pretty close."

 

"Andry, Arshlock and Minolta are able to pull all the data related to the duel." Arena began. “Cards in hand, cards in field, cards in grave. They would have seen I had Honest and did not play it and the duel would be declared invalid. Even if they did allow it, I would still need 9 more."

 

Oliver took a sip of his coffee. "If you can't have a good even match but still want good grades why not just switch to Duel Disk Engineering or Card Design?"

 

"Impossible!" Arena shot back.

 

"If she did that, then we wouldn't have classes together." I said with a smile.

 

Arena looked up at me and gave me a weary smile.

 

"I know you can do it Arena. You just gotta think a little bit outside the box for this one."

 

Arena looked up towards me and gave me a weary smile. "If my beloved believes in me, I will soldier on." In one quick motion she scooted over to me, before she closed her eyes and rested her head against my arms.

 

"I believe in you too mommy!" Aynn said with a smile.

 

Arena opened her eyes, glanced at Aynn for a moment, then closed her eyes again went back to cuddling next to me.

 

Aynn frowned, then kicked up from her seat. "I'll get us both some coffee."

 

"Water." Arena replied without opening her eyes.

 

As Aynn began making her way to the counter, Oliver stood up and put a hand on Aynn's shoulder. He smiled that ever charming smile of his.

 

"Hold on a second young lady! Are you sure you're old enough to be drinking coffee?"

 

"I certainly feel pretty old." she said, playing along as she patted her chest. "I think I'm a couple inches taller than I was when the school year started too."

 

"You're hair certainly is!" I remarked towards her now shoulder length hair. It was a bit strange how fast her hair seemed to be growing, but I thought nothing of it at the time.

 

"And you're definitely as cranky and irritable as any juniors!" Oliver raised his cup as though he wanted to give a toast. "Drink up!"

 

Aynn gave a bit of a chuckle as she walked past Oliver as made her way to the counter.

 

Arena cuddled up close to me, taking my arm and putting it around her. I tried to comfort her which she seemed to appreciate.

 

"It's so unfortunate though." Arena lamented. "Every duel only leads to disappointment."

 

"Hey you two love birds," Oliver began. "Don't looking now but speaking of disappointments..."

 

I followed Oliver's line of sight and saw a familiar face at the doorway of Starton Cafe, it was one of the Surname twins. I couldn't tell which one at a glance, but I did punch Oliver in the arm for it.

 

"Oliver! That's so rude!"

 

"He's not talking about Guy." Arena corrected, though she still hadn't opened her eyes since she began cuddling up to me.

 

Shortly after Guy entered the diminutive Critias Black and only other boy in the entire school followed behind, Ilene Dover's little brother, Ben.

 

 

---

 

 

Benjamin Quincy Dover wasn't exactly a bad guy. He just seemed to only want to talk to us to get more information about Guy's identical yet oppositely gendered sister, Gal. He also seemed to want to project a "hoodlum" tough gangster kind of look even though he was a pale short skinny kid in baggy clothes.

 

Guy gave us a bit of an apologetic look as he took a seat next to Oliver. He seemed rather embarrassed to have brought this stray dog to us. Nevertheless, Ben didn't seem to realize he wasn't wanted, either by us or by Gal Surname.

 

"Yo, so Suuurname. Tell me, what's a fella like me gotta do to get a gal like Gal?"

 

"You've been following me around for 20 minutes asking me the exact same thing. I really don't know."

 

"Come on playa! Why you gotta do me like this son?"

 

Guy looked at him with disgust as he shook his head.

 

"Look Ben, Gal's my sister but until last year she's been completely estranged to me."

 

Ben gave Guy a confused look. "Whatcha' mean she's... strange?"

 

"Estranged - Not close. Alienated." Arena recited with her eyes still closed. "Neither of them knew of the other's existence until last year."

 

"I was adopted by my dad's parents. She was adopted by my mom's. We're pretty close now but since I never grew up with her I can't tell you anything worthwhile that could help. I don't have any cute brother-sister late night talks. Nothing about any vacations we took. I don't have any stories about our parents. And heck, I'm not even good with girls myself!"

 

Suddenly Aynn approached Guy from behind and quickly kissed him on the cheek before putting her coffee and a water bottle down near Arena.

 

"A coffee for Aynn, and a water for Arena!" With Arena cuddled up next to me, there was more than enough room for Aynn to sit on our side of the booth, however as the girl took a step towards us Arena who quickly opened her eyes and bolted right up.

 

"Don't sit next to me!" Arena shot back, before once again resting her head on my shoulder and cooing gently.

 

Aynn blinked, surprised at Arena's sudden outburst. "F-fine..." Aynn brought in a chair from another table before taking a seat.

 

Guy was still frozen, blushing from the kiss Aynn had just given him. He shook his head and avoided eye contact.

 

"Honestly, the only girl who's ever shown any interest in me was Arthur and Arena's daughter. It's actually kinda creepy to me that ANY body wants to date Gal to begin with since she looks absolutely identical to me."

 

"Pretty sure Ami had a thing for you too Guy..." I reminded.

 

Guy rolled his eyes and blushed. "Yeah right. I wish."

 

Oliver raised a brow and looked like he was about to say something before taking a sip of his coffee instead.

 

Before we could ask Guy what he meant by that, a dark haired 20-something year old woman approached our group. She had on a green visor and an apron that both said 'Starton Cafe' on them, and a name tag that said 'Hello, my name is KAY STOPOFF'. She tapped Aynn on the shoulder.

 

"Excuse me miss! You forgot to pay for your drinks."

 

Aynn turned with a coy playful smirk as she twirled a finger through her shoulder length black and white hair. "Did I?"

 

"She didn't. She had no intention of paying." Arena said quickly before going back to cuddling with me.

 

The barista with the 'Kay Stopoff' nametag did not seem impressed.

 

"Uhh, Aynn." I began. "The feminine charms things only works on other boys."

 

I stood up and began reaching for my wallet. "I can pay for her. An ice coffee and a bottle of water. That's like... four something? Maybe if we forget about this you can keep the full five as a tip."

 

Kay's eyes lit up excitedly, but it seemed Aynn was not willing to let this go.

 

"No no, it's fine." Aynn raised her hand and smiled towards the barista. "I definitely paid for my drinks, remember?"

 

Kay's whole body tensed up before her eyes suddenly opened up wide. Her pupils expanded, before contracting to a singular point. She blinked, looking rather lightheaded. "Oh... uhh... yeah... you did pay." Kay rubbed her head and slowly turned around.

 

"And I paid with a twenty!" Aynn yelled back. "I expect my change back soon!"

 

I stared in shock, completely dumbstruck at the fact my daughter had just used her cursed chain to steal from a local barista. She seemed so blasé and indifferent about the whole thing, taking a sip of her coffee before turning to the group.

 

"So... what were we talking about again?" Aynn asked.

 

"Helpin' your boi Ben get with Gal Surname! Come on Guy, hook a brutha' up!"

 

Guy pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, loudly and audibly.

 

"Ben, if you're looking for girl advice you should probably just ask Oliver. He's probably gotten to at least second base with almost all the girls at school."

 

"Yeah." Oliver said.

 

"Correct." Arena affirmed.

 

I was still worried about my daughter's morals that it took a minute to register what Arena had just said.

 

"Wait, which side of that are you on Arena?"

 

Guy interrupted. "Plus I think it's implied he and Gal are dating anyway."

 

Ben got a big cheesy smirk as he sauntered over to Oliver. "Well well well! Olly Khlozoff eh? Whatcha' gotta say about Gal?"

 

Oliver gave Guy a bit of a death glare, before turning to Ben. "Well, Gal will probably tell you that she wants to be treated like a princess by a knight in shining armor..."

 

"Alright, good looks fam!" Ben quickly turned towards the door.

 

"BUT!" Ben stopped as he heard Oliver continuing. "That's not what she actually wants. Gal's not a princess. She's a strong independant woman. She doesn't need someone to protect her. She doesn't want someone to tell her she's pretty. She doesn't want someone to put her on a pedestal. She wants someone to be her equal. She wants a friend to laugh with and cry with. She wants a partner in crime and in life. She wants someone to have fun with, not someone who praises her. She wants a sidekick to her nerdy goofy self."

 

Ben gave a laugh. "Dat's what I'm talkin' 'bout boi!"

 

With a spring in his step, Ben cheerfully exited the coffee shop. The five of us exchanged a look before Guy got up and yelled out towards Ben.

 

"And... stop talking like a jackass! Pick up a book or something!"

 

Guy sat back down and the rest of us sighed, feeling absolutely drained from our conversation with the freshman.

 

"Alright, so we can all agree there's no way in hell Gal would ever want to date a loser like him, right?" Oliver said before chuckling.

 

"Not unless the entire city were destroyed and he was her last shot at love." Guy said.

 

"Or unless he somehow become significantly more mature." I began.

 

"Or unless there were some sort of Cursed Chain shenanigans involved." Oliver took a sip of his drink.

 

Arena stared at the three of us, processing it all for a moment before speaking. "Correct."

 

We all laughed it over, blissfully unaware of what Arena meant and what the city would be like just 1 year from today.

 

 

---

 

 

We were sitting around for another few minutes, before suddenly the barista Kay Stopoff returned, much more upset then the first time. She put a hand on Aynn's shoulders. Aynn did not turn around, but Kay didn't seem to mind as she raised her voice.

 

"Hey, my manager came to check my till and she said my numbers were off!"

 

"You must have stolen it." Aynn said, rolling her shoulders to get Kay's hands off.

 

I however, was not a fan of petty theft like this. "Hey! Don't-" I began, but Kay raised her right palm as though asking me to sit back down. Her eyes were already being affected by the Cursed Chain.

 

"No, it's okay. I... remember now. I'm pretty sure I stole it." she said simply.

 

Kay took a breath and began to walk away before suddenly turning around.

 

"Wait hold on! I saw the security tapes too!"

 

"No you didn't, remember? They were burned in a fire."

 

Kay's eyes went through the three stages of the cursed chain before she began to stagger back to the counter.

 

"I'm gonna get my manager." Kay muttered as she rubbed her head.

 

Oliver chuckled lightly before finishing his iced coffee. "Hey Aynn. I could use another refill..." Oliver began as he pointed at Aynn with his straw. I swatted his hand away.

 

"Can you guys stop encouraging this?"

 

Guy gave an absentminded shrug as he was looking over a small pile of cards. "I mean, I tried fighting it at first but now I'm just kinda going with the flow. Besides, I've got problems of my own for right now."

 

Aynn looked over at Guy and frowned as she put a hand on his wrist. "What's wrong my love?"

 

Guy flinched and pulled his hands away. "It's these E-Pathics cards. Part of my Card Design midterm."

 

For their sophomore year, the Card Design team had to design their very own archetype. They had to create 9 cards based on whatever they wanted. For their junior year, the Design Team was assigned a group of last year's cards and they had to build up on another classmate's archetype. Think something like the Legendary Six Samurai after the original Six, or think about Tellar Knights, Stellar Knights, and Constellar Knights series. The lesson behind this was supposed to be something about not living in a vacuum and building up on other people's works or something like that. I don't really. I'm not in Card Design.

 

Guy gave his 9 cards a quick shuffle before placing them all face up on the table in front of us.

 

E-Pathics Aim Lady, a nerdy looking girl in glasses was on the card he showed. Psychic type. Level 4. I didn't get a chance to read the effect before he flipped over the next one.

 

E-Pathics Murena Guy, another psychic type, though I would have guessed Sea Serpent or Fish from the name. The artwork was of an average looking boy with auburn hair.

 

E-Pathics Numeral Gal, a female spellcaster with auburn hair. She looked really happy and upbeat. Her facial structure reminded me a little of Murena Guy.

 

E-Pathics Reana, a white haired, child-like Divine Attribute level 3 Divine Beast. This card made me do a bit of a double take. There was only one white-haired Divine girl I was familiar with.

 

E-Pathics Lookover, a cool, spy-looking warrior type in a suit.

 

E-Pathics Outrage, another warrior type. He looked like a plain person, but behind him was a dark and sinister shadow or dark aura.

 

"And they gave me about 3 spells and traps. They seem to focus on Mia and Murena Guy though."

 

Oliver read allowed the support cards. "Unrequited Love. Secret Wishes. Stolen Glances."

 

"Yeah, I still haven't gotten a chance to read them much." Guy grabbed back the spells and trap from Oliver.

 

Aynn closed her eyes as she quickly glanced over the cards.

 

"It appears the girl who created these wrote them based on people she knew." Aynn said. "All of them appear to be teenagers. If I had to guess, I think Aim Lady is supposed to be the artist since she has the most detail out of all of them."

 

Oliver looked over at the cards confused, then at Aynn. "What makes you think a girl made these?"

 

"This is an all-girl school stupid." Guy said.

 

"And there is only one boy in Card Design." Arena reminded. "Since students do not get their own cards back, clearly the creator had to be a woman."

 

Aynn glanced over at the support cards. "Also this girl was madly in love with someone."

 

"Okay so... I mean I guess this sort of helps." Guy said, looking over the cards one more time. "If I can get into this girl's mindset when she was making these, maybe it'll help me add something to her card set."

 

"The spells and traps seem to imply a connection between Murena Guy and Aim Lady." Aynn continued. "So whoever Murena is based on must be-"

 

But before she could continue, a hand suddenly grabbed at Aynn and spun her around. It was Kay Stopoff, looking as furious as ever.

 

"You! You need to pay for those drinks and get out!" She said in a rage. "And give me back the change from the 20 dollars I gave you!"

 

Aynn seemed unimpressed and dismissively rolled her eyes. "Don't you remember what we talked about a minute ago? Do I need to speak to your manager?"

 

"Absolutely! She's here to back me up!"

 

With an outstretched thumb, Kay motioned behind her to a girl with auburn hair in a green visor and a green apron. The girl did not seem pleased to be the one confronting us.

 

Kay smiled smugly as she looked us over, but suddenly stopped and did a double take when she saw Guy.

 

"Uhh... Gal? How come you didn't tell me you had an identical twin sister?"

 

The manager sighed, removing her visor to let us see her face.

 

 

---

 

 

Gal Surname looked us over with a disappointed face. Kay smiled, like a cheerleader off on the sidelines.

 

"Go get 'em Gal!"

 

"Woah! Your sister works here?!" Oliver asked.

 

Gal was usually upbeat and happy so seeing her disappointed, sullen, and embarrassed to see us made me feel pretty awful.

 

"You know..." Gal began as she approached. "When I heard there was a Hawthorne girl with black and white hair causing trouble, I really hoped it wasn't you guys."

 

"Well I mean... not that many girls fit that description." I reminded.

 

"You're Kay's manager!? But you're like ten years younger than her!" Guy protested.

 

"I take my job very seriously, and I take theft just as seriously, if not more so!"

 

"We paid for it fair and square! She even gave us change and everything!" Aynn emptied her pockets as she dropped a five, a ten, and a few coins from her academy jacket. "We definitely paid for our drinks, remember?"

 

A cruel smirk spread on Aynn's face, but Gal was not amused as she flicked Aynn on the nose. Aynn gave a panicked yelp and clutched at her face.

 

"You can't use your Cursed Chain on any student from Hawthorne Academy thanks to Guy, remember?"

 

"Ahh fine!" Aynn grumbled as she pushed over the change and bills so that they fell off the table. Gal bent over to pick them up.

 

Aynn meanwhile looked at me and awkwardly blushed. "Dad, can you umm..."

 

I stood and pulled out my wallet, pulled out some money and handed it to the dark haired older woman. "Here's a ten. I'm really sorry for everything."

 

"Ha! Kay wins again!" Kay declared triumphantly before making her way back to the counter.

 

"Spoil sport." Aynn grumbled with hands across her chest. Gal did the same move too, though she was much less quiet about it.

 

"Geez, I can't believe you almost let her get away with that!" Gal exclaimed as she glared at me. "Aren't you supposed to be her dad? How about you set a better example?"

 

"I tried to stop her-"

 

"And aren't you supposed to be her mom?"

 

"I cannot meddle wi-"

 

"And aren't you supposed to be her boyfriend?"

 

"Well I mean... I never really agreed to that though..." Guy muttered awkwardly.

 

At the sight of Oliver her expression softened and a smile finally emerged on her face. It looked like angry Gal was not permanent.

 

"Treat your girlfriend like a princess!" Gal said as she poked her brother in the ribs. "Otherwise she'll turn into a monster!"

 

"Well I've got a few other things on my mind." Guy motioned towards the cards in front of him.

 

Gal's eyes lit up in excitement as she awkwardly sat as close to Guy as she possibly could without sitting on his lap. "Ohh! Your midterm!? Lemme see! Lemme see!"

 

Guy awkwardly tried to move away but finally at last had to stand to get Gal off of him. With that, Gal took his seat, gleefully winning the fight. She looked over the cards, studying them for less time than Aynn did before coming to her conclusion.

 

"Oh! Those are Ami's cards!"

 

I looked at her confused. "... What?"

 

"You remember Ami, right? Ami Pastiche from last year?"

 

"No I mean like... how can you tell?"

 

"Well, I've known Ami since we were in kindergarten. These are definitely her cards. The heavy lines, the awkward way she draws hands, the big cartoon-like eyes. The faint little blush she gives girls and the cool smirk she gives boys. I can see her art style from a mile away. And that's not even going into the names of these cards. 'E-Pathics'? That just Pastiche spelled backwards!"

 

"It's not backwards." Aynn Mischa responded.

 

"It's cute though! It looks like Ami made cards out of all of us!"

 

Gal picked up a card and raised it gleefully. "E-Pathics Numeral Gal! That's me!"

 

Guy seemed shell shocked, unable to properly construct a thought. "Ami... made these cards?"

 

"Aim Lady's definitely supposed to be her. And look! Murena Guy practically has your name on it! Literally!"

 

Guy looked at Gal, then at the spells and traps.

 

"And when she thought about these two cards together... the only words that came to mind were... Unrequited Love, Secret Wishes and Stolen Glances?"

 

Gal was always the dorky, extremely emotional girl of the group. Though Guy loved his sister, at Hawthorne he was always compared to her since they knew her first. Because of this, he wanted to be her exact opposite. Guy Surname always tried to look cool, and always maintain some control over his emotions. But as he finally put two and two together and realized the truth about his friend Ami's feelings for him, his eyes became misty and his hands were trembling. He looked away and took a deep breath to try to gain some control.

 

"Uhh... Bro, are you okay?" Gal said concerned.

 

"I... I'm not sure..." he said with a trembling voice as he gathered his cards. "I... I'm gonna go take a walk."

 

Guy hurried out of the Starton Cafe, leaving me and Oliver with Gal, Aynn and Arena.

 

 

---

 

 

Duel Disk Engineering is pretty different from Pro Dueling and Card Design. Card Design has a lot of leeway on what constitutes a good card. What one teacher may think is A-plus material another teacher may find drab and uninspired. Ultimately it was art, so it was always subjective.

 

You might think Pro Dueling was a lot more obvious pass-fail, but there was plenty to learn from in a loss as well as with a win. As long as you kept improving, and as long as you kept your duels interesting, there wasn't too much that could be said with a well fought duel.

 

Duel Disk Engineers probably had the steepest learning curve though. Everything they did was pretty much pass-fail, and there was very little room for error. Either the Duel Disk powered on or it didn't. Either the hologram responded correctly and exploded when it was supposed to or it didn't. Either the life points were calculated correctly or they weren't. There wasn't really any wiggle room for any kind of subjectivity here.

 

Because of that, Duel Disk Engineering's midterm was a lot more pass-fail then the other two. For the sophomore year, students had to be able to take apart and put back together their own duel disk. At the end of the day, either it worked or it didn't.

 

Have you ever actually seen a duel monster card before? On the bottom right hand corner was a small, thin, holographic little chip that held all the information that a duel disk read in order for holograms to work. For their junior year midterm, the engineers had to work with cards created by card design and get the holograms actually physically up and running. They only needed to program in the holograms to visually exist though. The additional work and rulings would go in later.

 

Ultimately it may have been easier to think of Duel Disk Engineering the way someone might think of computer engineering. For their sophomore year, the students had to work on the 'hardware' of a duel disk. For their junior year, they were more focused on the 'software', getting the cards working.

 

But for right now, the prodigy of Duel Disk Engineering Gal Surname didn't need any help on her midterms.

 

"I'm on break right now, so I guess I can hang out with you guys for a little bit." Gal gave a smile as she took Guy's seat. "I finished my midterm project earlier today so do any of you guys need any help from big sister Surname?"

 

"Me and Oliver are fine."

"Arthur and I got this."

"Not from you."

 

We all declared at exactly the same time. Aynn however looked at Gal for a minute, slightly embarrassed before raising her hand.

 

"Well I did have a bit of a personal problem myself."

 

"What's on your mind?"

 

"Is it normal to bleed after brushing your teeth?"

 

"Uhh, you might want to brush more often. They say you have to brush for a full two minutes. I mean, nobody really does..." Gal offered.

 

"You could try switching to a softer brush." Oliver recommended.

 

"Maybe check with a dentist?" I said.

 

"That's not what she means." Arena said.

 

"No, I don't mean my teeth. Is it normal to bleed..." she whispered. "Down there?"

 

Oliver and I stopped what we were doing and exchanged worried looks. Gal however looked absolutely thrilled.

 

"Aww! Sounds like little Aynn is blossoming into womanhood!"

 

"I don't want to blossom into anything! I wanna stay the same forever... except for that umm..." Aynn paused, her eyes began to glaze over a little bit. She flinched and looked away. "What were we... oh! I wanted to stay the same. Growing up is the worst!"

 

"Come on! A game is only better when it gets more challenging!"

 

"If you want to play life on hard mode try..." she blinked, shaking her head. "Never mind."

 

Arena raised an eyebrow at Aynn.

 

"Sounds like we owe you ladies some privacy..." Oliver said as he began nervously packing his belongings.

 

"Yeah! Let's go Arena..." I said, though strangely she was staring at Aynn, as though studying her profusely.

 

"I've had a change of heart about Aynn." Arena gave a smirk. "I've found a proper use for her."

 

"Uhh..." Aynn stated nervously.

 

"As Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy, I find mortals to be too plain and easily predictable, but as a demigoddess of mine, as well as holder of the Cursed Chain, I think my daughter just may be the perfect opponent for me after all."

 

It was the first time I had heard Arena acknowledge Aynn as her daughter, and she seemed happy, nearly proud about it.

 

"Great, we'll leave you ladies alone then! Good luck!"

 

Oliver and I hurried out of Starton Cafe, leaving the girls to their own devices as we all went off to finish our midterms.

 

 

---

 

 

For our senior year, the midterms for all three programs were combined into one grand project. Two Card Designers prepared two 18 card archetypes for two separate duelists. The Engineers prepared the holograms and ensured all the rulings were programmed in correctly, and the Pro Duelists had a limited amount of time to construct their decks and compete in a short round robin style tournament.

 

For right now though, we were focused on our junior midterm. Oliver and I lost some points due to outdated cards, but we earned a bit of extra credit for taking initiative and getting it resolved on time, not to mention extra credit for winning most of our duels so it ended up balancing out.

 

Gal's duel disk work was flawless of course, and she ended up getting the highest marks.

 

Arena likewise was able to present 10 well fought matches with Aynn as her opponent.

 

Guy was nervous about his project, but not so much about his grade. Even though he passed with relatively high marks, as far as Guy was concerned only one girl's opinion mattered.

 

As the weather grew colder we knew we were in the swing of things over at Hawthorne Academy and we all felt we were doing quite well for our our junior year. With glowing marks from the conclusion of our junior midterms, the kids from Team Surname were confident we'd be able to tackle anything that came our way.

 

Little did we know however, we would never get the chance to take our senior midterm project.

 

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 11: Duel Monster Spirit Day]This past March we met Detective Spencer Friedman, the self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Detective". I honestly found him to be an eccentric pompous buffoon but Bernouli insisted he was the best detective the world had ever seen. When we visited his office to discuss the crimson Wind headmistress case we also met with his 4 year old sister, a lovely little bisque doll by the name of Hortense Friedman. She seemed to have a permanent scowl etched on her face and a book on her lap. I didn't have the faintest idea what Hortense was doing at Hawthorne Academy right now.

 

With Guy as our leader, Oliver, Arena, Aynn and I were able to easily gain access to the Timaeus Blue Dorm and make our way to room 212.

 

"What's going on?" I asked as I entered Gal's bedroom with the rest of Team Surname.

 

"Duel Monster Spirit Day." said Hortense, sitting in a stroller and wearing a ridiculous all pink turtle costume. She gave me a very awkward smile, as though her facial muscles hurt from doing something they weren't normally used to.

 

Oliver gasped at the sight of her. "She's so cute!" He squealed in delight as he picked her up. She tried to paw at him to get him to stop but soon relented.

 

It was the last day of October and though we all had plans for that evening Gal called us in for an emergency meeting at her dorm room.

 

The room was about what I expected for Gal's room to look like, except I had forgotten she had a double. On Gal's side of the room there were stuffed animals everywhere, but also some random (I assume) Duel Disk parts on a nearby table. The other half of Gal's room was completely immaculate as though it had never been touched since Ami left. It also smelled sickeningly sweet in her room, like someone had found a way to turn gummy bears into a perfume.

 

And while her room was exactly what I expected it to look like, Gal herself was not. Gal Surname was wearing a long white ankle-length gown with a single white glove on her left hand. Her outfit seemed to have gold highlights to it everywhere. Her pocket had a gold lining to it. The clasp on her belt had a shiny bit of gold on it. Her gold necklace was inlaid with a red ruby, and even her auburn hair and her single white glove were held together with elaborate gold bands.

 

"Hey everyone! You made it!" she exclaimed excitedly.

 

With an all-white dress, and calling all her friends over there was just one thing on my mind.

 

"Uhh... are you getting married or something?"

 

Gal burst out laughing. "No marriage today! For right now I'm Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden!"

 

"It's her Duel Monster Spirit Day costume." Arena said simply.

 

"Yeah! I have one for everyone here! Even Hortense has one!"

 

"I'm Numen erat Testudo." said the small girl in Oliver's arms.

 

"We're all gonna dress up, and we're gonna break the record for most candy eaten, and it's gonna be a great time! Hurry up though! The sun is just about to set."

 

Gal hurried over to her bed and began picking up outfits on coat hangers.

 

"We're too old to go Sweets-or-Swindling sis." Guy said, unamused.

 

"I know!" Gal said as she handed Guy his wire hanger. "That's why I got Hortense to come along!"

 

Guy looked over the outfit he was given. It was all white, and looked somewhat like a chicken costume. Gal walked back and began gathering more costumes.

 

"This is the greatest idea in the world!" Gal continued as she handed me a purple looking morph suit with plastic bits. "I asked Detective Friedman if I could babysit Hortense and take her out Sweets-or-Swindling and he said yes! So now, not only do we get free candy, but we also get 60 bucks for keeping Hortense for the rest of the night!"

 

"Anything to avoid the plebian doldrums of another playdate with the children from the Happily Ever After Daycare." Hortense gave a shudder.

 

"You talk funny for a girl your age." Oliver said as he began tickling her and baby talking. "Yes you do! Yes you do!"

 

Hortense gave awkward laughs that sound a mix of crying, pain and laughter. It was clear she wasn't used to laughing.

 

Gal however seemed pretty excited about the general air of everything as she handed Arena a costume.

 

"Tethys, Goddess of Light." Arena said without flinching. She then turned to me and nodded. "And you are Bronn, Mad King of Dark World."

 

Arena began to unbutton the top of her academy jacket before I quickly ushered her into the bathroom.

 

"What about me!?" Aynn exclaimed.

 

"Well I was gonna offer you Ami's old costume but..." Gal began, before she stopped and began really trying to process what she was seeing. "You look a lot shorter today. Were you wearing heels the last time I saw you?"

 

"Uhh... don't worry about it!" Aynn said nervously.

 

Gal gave a shrug. "In any case, last year Ami was Fairy Tail - Snow. It should still be in her closet. Check to see if it fits."

 

Aynn eagerly rushed to Ami's side of the room and dashed inside the closet.

 

Guy however was much less excited about his costume.

 

"What exactly is this? Some sort of pigeon or something?"

 

"I wish!" Gal said excitedly. "Since I'm Minerva, I thought it would be cute if you were Minerva's Pet Owl! We're like... a team!"

 

Guy looked as though he had a few choice words with Gal, but before he could she had already made her way over to Oliver and Hortense. "And Olly the last costume on my bed is for you. When you're done playing with Hortense you can put on your Noble Knight Medraut costume."

 

"Oh... do I really gotta dress up?" Oliver said reluctantly as he put Hortense back in her stroller.

 

"If I have to dress up so does everyone else." Hortense said. "My costume is a bit too warm but on the bright side, no chance of accidental skin-to-skin contact!"

 

"Fairy Tail - Snow reporting in!" Aynn declared as she emerged in an awkward squirrel-girl costume that was a little too big for her.

 

Arena emerged from the bathroom the spitting image of Tethys, Goddess of Light. She approached Oliver and turned around. She used a free hand to adjust her long hair. "Please assist me in lacing up my outfit."

 

Oliver gave a smirk. "I'd love to Arena, but I cannot meddle with ethereal affairs."

 

Arena did not look amused.

 

"Just kidding!" Oliver began as he helped her lace up the back of her dress and assisted with the wings

 

"Alright slow pokes!" Gal declared loudly. "All the girls are dressed and ready to go! Guy, Arthur, Olly, chop chop! Hurry up and get dressed so we can start collecting candy!"

 

The three of us exchanged awkward looks, and after all the trouble Gal went to it seemed pretty awful to have to break it to her. Oliver and I both looked at Guy, her brother and wordlessly nodded towards him. If the bad news came from anyone it would be best to be a blood relative.

 

Guy noticed us all looking at him and sighed as he looked his sister in the eye.

 

"Gal... we're not going Sweets-or-Swindling with you."

 

 

---

 

 

Duel Monster Spirit Day was a day meant to honor Duel Monster Spirits... though no one actually really cares about its origins. As far as I knew the day wasn't really celebrated much in the town where I grew up. We all considered it more of a corporate holiday that the candy companies pushed in order to make record profits. Sure we were aware of it, and we may have paid lip service to some of the traditions, but no one really cared about it too much. Even when I came to Silvershine I kept up my "not caring about Duel Monster Spirit Day" tradition and spent all of last year's Duel Monster Spirit Day cuddling with Arena in our dorm room.

 

I guess Gal did not want me to miss out on all the fun this year.

 

"Come on bro! I can't go Sweets-or-Swindling without my pet owl!" she gave a brief, slightly quivering smile. "I'm incomplete without you."

 

The expression on Guy's face made it clear that he hated having to hurt Gal's feelings like this. Nevertheless, he went forward with it.

 

"Honestly, it's kind of embarrassing to still be out on the streets begging for sweets when we're so close to adulthood."

 

"B-but-"

 

"I'm kinda with Guy on this." Oliver interrupted. "I'll be glad to wear the costume and I'd love to hang out with you and Hortense, but I've already got plans."

 

"Same." I responded. Truthfully, I wasn't really a fan of Duel Monster Spirit Day and preferred spending time alone with my girlfriend.

 

"Arena and I were going to go watch scary movies."

 

"Yeah, and I had about thirty rolls of toilet paper and four dozen eggs that I was going to... umm... donate to charity!" Oliver gave a nervous laugh.

 

Gal looked as though she was about to cry.

 

"Don't worry Gal!" Aynn volunteered cheerfully. "I'm still willing to go out with you!"

 

She glanced over at Aynn, then began crying uncontrollably.

 

Guy shook his head at his sister. "Gal, please stop crying..." A phrase which very seldom calms down people when they are crying.

 

Gal continued crying, but she glanced up at her brother before speaking. "Well, what's your excuse!?"

 

Guy blinked, and a nervous look on his face. He didn't have a girlfriend and he was too much of a good natured guy to go out vandalizing. There was something far worse up his sleeve.

 

He looked as though he was thinking for a while before coming up with something.

 

"I actually heard there was a party over at Crimson Wind Academy, and the boat leaves here at sundown."

 

"Ooooh, sounds like somebody wants to see Ami..." Oliver said as he put an arm around Guy.

 

Guy's face turned red. "That's not... I'm not going to Crimson Wind to see Ami!"

 

Aynn frowned. "Who's Ami?" Her eyes slightly glazed over and the frown melted away. She now seemed more legitimately confused than anything. "Who's Ami?"

 

"Well who are you going to see then?" Oliver smirked. "Is it Handsome?"

 

"Alistair graduated last year." Arena stated. "In any case Guy is going to meet with Headmistress Kallone and Guidance Counselor Pare-"

 

Guy's face panicked as he covered Arena's mouth. "H-hey! Knock it off Arena!"

 

Gal stopped crying momentarily with a puzzled expression on her face. "Why are you going to visit the staff?"

 

Guy glared at Arena, then sighed and shook his head.

 

"It's probably better you hear it from me then from Arena."

 

With a heavy heart Guy took a deep breath and admitted his thoughts to his sister.

 

"I... I'm transferring to Crimson Wind Academy next fall."

 

About one hour ago, Gal Surname was on top of the world at the prospect of Sweets-or-Swindling with all of her friends. It wasn't so much the candy, and it wasn't so much the 60 dollars for babysitting, but after a long month of drama with Aynn, working part time at Starton Cafe and studying for midterms, Gal wanted a sense of normalcy and hang out time with her friends.

 

She got pretty much exactly the opposite from Guy Surname, the boy she trusted most.

 

Gal looked absolutely gob smacked at Guy. He'd have probably gotten a better reaction from Gal if he slapped her across the face. She stared at him silently, shaking uncontrollably. After a long pause, a single word escaped her lips.

 

"... Transferring?"

 

I had only ever seen Gal like this once before. The day she discovered Headmistress Ipsum murdered her parents. But their death was in the past, and she had never even gotten to know them. This was a fresh wound, and one that wouldn't even come up until next fall. Every time she would see her brother she would think about him transferring. And since they were identical twins, every time she saw her own face in the mirror she would think of Guy's face and that fresh feeling of pain would linger again.

 

"G-Gal... It's not about you or any of our friends or about Silvershine or Hawthorne. I'm an artist and unfortunately I can only use my own life experiences as my muse. I've been stuck in this city for so long, I don't think I've ever been to a forest or swam in a river or climbed a mountain or laid on the grass or really explored much of nature. An isolated island like Crimson Wind would be perfect for artistic inspiration. I just need to expand my limits."

 

Gal looked at herself in the mirror. "... Limits?"

 

"You're not a limit to me Gal, but I just wanted to get my application in. Today's the last day."

 

There was a long drawn out pause before Oliver shook his head. "Dude, you're really leaving the crew for Ami?"

 

Guy gave a heavy sigh. "I mean... yeah I'll admit it partially is for Ami. But all the other stuff is still true too. Art is based on your life experiences, and I feel my art would be greatly elevated by visiting more locations."

 

Gal remained quiet, motionless as she seemed to be processing it all.

 

"Come on Gal. Do something. Cry? Yell and be angry?" Guy said in a pleading tone. "Please?"

 

At last, she took a breath and spoke in a hollow, bitter tone to her voice.

 

"It feels like you figured out the worst, most painful thing you could have possibly said to me and you said it anyway."

 

The other five members of Team Surname didn't move. Gal got behind Hortense's stroller and wheeled her out of there.

 

"Let's go Hortense."

 

And just like that, they were gone.

 

 

---

 

 

Arena and Aynn returned to their normal uniforms and the five of us all made out way to Starton Cafe, our new temporary hangout spot since the fourth floor of the Hermos dorm got taken over by freshman girls. Kay Stopoff, dressed as Madolche Queen Tiaramisu, was suspicious of us as we ordered, however Guy assured her we wouldn't cause trouble and asked her to 'please overlook any previous issues' which seemed to work on her.

 

We were sitting at a booth, still uneasy over what happened with Gal back there.

 

"Man, I still can't believe you wanted to leave us all behind." I said as I stuck a straw in my ice coffee.

 

"Yeah, whatever Surrogate." Guy said with a sigh as he looked over his unhealthy looking Caramelatto, just like his sister drank when we came to Starton. "I think Gal got what she wanted. I can't... I can't leave if she's this hung up over me, you know?"

 

Aynn blinked. "Uhh... does my opinion count in any of this? I am your girlfriend, aren't I?"

 

Arena took a sip of water before speaking. "Gal is not upset about you leaving."

 

Guy raised an eyebrow at Arena's words. "What?"

 

"Arena, did you see Gal?" I began. "You don't need to be the Goddess of Wisdom to know she was upset."

 

Arena shook her head, feeling she needed to clarify. "Gal is still devastated because she feels she lost the seventh link in the chain."

 

Guy looked even more confused before he spoke again. "What?"

 

"Even though you were identical twins, Gal never felt that close to you because you grew up completely separate. You had different family, different histories, and you always try to act like the exact opposite of her. If you didn't have the same face as her, she wouldn't believe you were siblings."

 

Arena took another sip of water.

 

"But the seventh link in the chain was the one thing that tied the both of you together. No matter the distance, she felt the two of you were inescapably tied together due to the seventh link. And she feels Aynn took that away from her."

 

Aynn had a bit of a glazed expression on her face before she seemed to snap out of her trance. "Hey! I'm not... it's not my fault I won a duel!"

 

"Are you sure?" Guy said, before realizing who he was talking to. "Never mind."

 

"Wow, I never would have guessed." I said.

 

"She hides it pretty well."

 

"Gal?! Hiding an emotion? Are you sure about that?" Oliver said with a chuckle.

 

Arena raised her right arm with five fingers extended. "You can ask her yourself in 3... 2..." Arena pointed to the door as a bell chimed.

 

"Sweets-or-Swindle!" Gal exclaimed cheerfully with a plastic bucket in hand.

 

"Sweets-or-Swindle!" Hortense said with a big plastic bucket on her lap.

 

"Wow Gal, I didn't know you had a daughter!" Kay teased as she dropped a candy coffee into Gal and Hortense's bucket.

 

Gal turned sharply and waved goodbye to her coworker.

 

"Thanks a lot Kay! Happy Duel Monster Spirit- Oh..."

 

She stopped as she noticed our stares watching her from our booth.

 

Guy got up and began walking over to his sister.

 

"Gal..." Guy began.

 

Gal was quiet, eyes down. She shook her head from left to right, not wanting to see him right now.

 

"It's okay Gal. Don't be mad or sad or upset or anything. I decided I'm not going to Crimson Wind Academy."

 

"What!?" Gal said, dropping her bucket and rushing over to him. She hit him in the arm. "Bro! That's crazy! I can't ask you to abandon your dreams and career just for me!"

 

"My mind's made up. If it causes you so much pain for us to be separated, I guess we can't be separated."

 

"No! Stop it!" Gal put her hands on her hips and frowned. "I don't want you to wake up one day and think 'Oh there's Gal Surname, the girl who cost me my future!'"

 

"Well I'm not gonna go live in some rundown shambles after I'm out of school. I'm sure there'll be more than enough chances to explore the world when I grow up."

 

"Yeah but..."

 

Arena sighed audibly. "I believe I can help solve this problem..."

 

Arena snapped her fingers, and a large portal giving off a massive amount of light opened up near us. Arena got up from her seat and took a step inside it. About two seconds later she emerged with a boy who looked like a high school senior. He had curly brown hair underneath a winged helmet. He had no facial hair and he wore a cloak over a plain short sleeve white dress shirt and white dress pants. If I didn't know any better, I'd suspect him of being an Enrise White graduate of Lincoln Academy. I had however met this boy before, when Arena had introduced me to all the other gods of the Aether Realm.

 

"Diomes!" Aynn declared like an excited toddler seeing her favorite uncle.

 

"Hey kids! My names Diomes." said the boy. "I think I've seen some of you before, but for the uninitiated, I am the God of Travel, Wine, and Emissary for the Eternals."

 

"I've explained the situation to him." Arena said. "He knows you have until midnight tonight, and he stopped by Crimson Wind Academy to get a few more copies of your application just in case. Diomes can deliver your application in an instant."

 

"Woah. I can't believe it." Guy began as he started processing the scene. "I mean... I won't need a second copy, but I've already got my full application ready here."

 

Guy pulled an envelope from outside his jacket pocket.

 

Gal however was staring at the upperclassman-looking God in awe and wonder, when at last she stood up straight like a student eager to have her question answered.

 

"Wait!" Gal declared. "If you have extra applications to Crimson Wind then... I want to apply there too!"

 

The boys of Team Surname and Hortense gasped.

 

"What!?" we all said at almost the same time.

 

"We're not supposed to be separated, right? I've got until midnight to finish this so the sooner I start the better."

 

Gal took Arena's seat next to me and Diomes handed her an application.

 

"Are you sure?" Guy asked. "What about Sweets-or-Swindle?"

 

Gal smiled as she looked over the Crimson Wind Academy application in front of her. "This is much more important."

 

 

---

 

 

We didn't help Gal eat a record amount of candy like she wanted, but we were able to get our dear friend the one thing she needed all along. She was finally secure in the knowledge that nothing would be keeping her brother and her apart. We helped Gal finish her application with just minutes to spare and true to his word, Diomes sped off to deliver their applications.

 

With all that said, we left Starton cafe in relatively good moods. Oliver and Gal went to return Hortense to Office Friedman. Guy and Aynn went off somewhere else, and Arena and I went back to Hawthorne Academy.

 

Arena and I walked past the creepy judgmental freshmen girls of the fourth floor Hermos lounge and made it back to our dorm room.

 

As I put on a movie and Arena got close to cuddle though, I couldn't help shake a nagging question at the back of my mind.

 

"Arena, I thought the Gods couldn't meddle with human affairs."

 

"That is correct."

 

I nodded. "Then why did Diomes help out Guy and Gal?"

 

"For the same reason I participated in the Ladies and Gentlemen Tournament last year at Crimson Wind Academy."

 

"But you said that joining the tournament didn't change the outcome of anything."

 

"Correct."

 

I was still unsure, but it sounded like bad news was ahead for the twins. "So... whether or not they get their application in on time, they both still come back to Hawthorne in the fall?"

 

"I wouldn't quite say that. Whether the twins get their applications in on time, whether they get them in late, whether Guy gets in and Gal does not, or whether Gal gets in and he does not, no matter what possible outcome comes out of Diomes delivering the letters on time, the fate of everyone will remain the same."

 

"I... think I understand."

 

Though truly I didn't. If I knew for a second what Arena was trying to say, I think I would have warned everyone that I could about what was coming next year.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 12: Family Day]In the past, the Silverdome had played host to major sporting events like the Olympic, major Duel Monster tournaments like the Ladies of Legend series, major concerts like the Patchwork World Tour, and major conventions like NerdCon. Today it was rented out for a special event hosted by Headmistress Mishegoss.

 

There were three women up in the center of it all. One was Headmistress Mishegoss, headmistress of Hawthorne Academy. The second was a rather curvaceous woman I had never seen before, and the last one was a young girl who looked like a student.

 

Mishegoss had the mic, and she seemed excited and jovial as she took center stage.

 

"Grrrr-eetings friends, family, faculty, and duelists of all ages! My name is Headmistress Hilda Mishegoss." she exclaimed like she was the ringmaster of a three ringed circus. She motioned towards the other woman next to her as she passed the mic over.

 

The curvy woman on stage wore a form fitting and figure hugging black and purple dress, with long black and purple gloves that extended above her elbows. She was a taller woman with extremely long, ankle length and very light auburn hair. Her eyes were a very light shade of pink.

 

"Kallone." she said simply and with a tone of disinterest. She passed the mic over to the small girl.

 

The girl was blonde, short, and she looked about the same age as most of the other girls at our school

 

"My name's Violet Lynn Dionaea but everyone just calls me Lynn! Ooh, except-"

 

"Thank you!" Mishegoss quickly grabbed the mic away from the blonde little girl.

 

"We're all here to welcome you to our Family Day celebration! You may notice a FEW more people that you may not know yet, so let me explain! For this particular Family Day, three different academies and a few other benefactors decided to pool our resources together to rent out the Silverdome! It may be Family Day, but we wanted to invite our extended families at our two closest duel academies to celebrate with us as well! From Crimson Wind Academy we have Headmistress Kallone and from the Kelen Duel Academy we have..." she muttered the next part quietly and rushed. "the Deputy... Assistant to the" before returning to form. "HEADMISTRESS! Violet Lynn Dionaea."

 

There was a bit of awkward applause and cheering from the crowd. Mishegoss gave a quick little giggle. "But I'm sure you don't want to hear from us any longer! Go out and spend time with your families!"

 

 

---

 

 

It was the last Thursday in November and it seemed Headmistress Mishegoss had organized the largest Family Day gathering in Hawthorne Academy history. Normally the students would go to the Hawthorne Dueling Arena where the clubs set up a silly little fair. Ring toss, milk bottles and tennis balls would be set up and junk food from the vending machine would be sold at three times the price for fundraising. Overall it was nothing too amazing.

 

Or at least, that's what I heard it was like last year.

 

Since my family didn't come for family day, I didn't have any reason to go. With a daughter at my side, I felt I had some sort of obligation to visit, at least for her sake.

 

This year it looked much more professional than what they described but it was still a quick little carnival inside a building. They had artificial grass all over and three rows of stands of fried food, carnival games, and what looked like an indoor Ferris wheel.

 

I was exploring the fairgrounds of the Silverdome with Arena and Aynn Mischa. All of my other friends had gone off to find their families when the day began, leaving the Surrogate family alone.

 

"Must be nice to have your family here." I remarked sarcastically, seeing no sight of Rider Surrogate or Edith Scribe, my parents who were still embroiled in a bitter divorce and had seemingly forgotten all about me, yet again.

 

I looked over at Arena and sighed. "At least the three of us can hang out today."

 

"I wouldn't be so sure." Arena said as we passed by a ring toss kind of game.

 

As we rounded the corner we were confronted with a familiar figure that the three of us all recognized. The person had shoulder length gray hair, and their gender was a bit ambiguous. Nevertheless I recognized the piercing expression on their face and the regal gender-neutral tone of voice, along with the fact that they dressed like they were a Hellenistic statue come to life.

 

This was an Eternal from the Aether Realm. It was Zera, Lord of the Sky and Ruler of the Celestial Family.

 

"Hello dear daughter!" this gender-neutral figure said, as though they were an old-time orator delivering a stunning proclamation.

 

Arena was never much to show an interest in anything or even act humble. Other than when I was involved, she was often very slow to act and put much thought and planning into every decision before she made any move. At seeing her Celestial parent in front of her, she instinctively bowed in reverence.

 

"Greetings Lord Zera."

 

She elbowed me in the stomach and I doubled over in pain. Clutching at my stomach, Lord Zera may have confused me for someone bowing.

 

"Arise dear children! For I, Lord Zera am not hear to receive praise and adulation for gracing you with my divine presence!" the Lord of the Sky spoke in a pompous tone of voice.

 

"Then..." I said as I tried to catch my breath. For a small girl, Arena could hit very hard when she wanted to. "W-why are you here?"

 

"Family Day." Aynn said with a shrug.

 

"Ah yes! News of this little mortal soiree had befallen my divine ears!"

 

"Hilda asked Diomes, the messenger God, to deliver a letter to her father, Aphraestus - The God of Love, Blacksmithing and Creation." Arena explained.

 

"She never got a chance to see him for every past Family Day. It was not until I had informed her she was a Demigoddess that she understood and she wanted to connect with him."

 

Arena then closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment. "I believe... every single God from the Aether Realm and every single currently living Demigoddess they've spawned is here today."

 

"Where's yours Arena?" Aynn asked smugly. She blinked, and her eyes glazed over a little before she shook her head.

 

"Uhh... wait..." Aynn pointed to Lord Zera. "Who are you again?"

 

"That's your gran-gran. Lord Zera." I said.

 

"Didn't you... go by a different name before?" Aynn asked shaking her head. "Zeuthera or... something stupid like that?"

 

"Ha! As a member of the Aether Realm, I've gone through many names and titles throughout the eons! Tinia, Zeus, Jupiter, Amun, Uni, Hera, Juno, Mut, and now I am known simply as Zera - Lord of the Sky and Ruler of the Celestial Family!"

 

Thunder clapped and wind roared as Lord Zera announced their divine name and full title. I noticed a few people turn our way, whispering and pointing something.

 

"Alright alright! Keep it down Lord Zera!" I said in a hushed tone of voice. "So you want to hang out with Arena for Family Day? Go ahead but... try not to draw so much attention to yourself, please?"

 

"That I shall my boy!" Lord Zera put their arm around Arena's shoulder. "You can enjoy the festival with your daughter, and I'll enjoy it with mine!"

 

Arena gave me a worried look, then glanced over at Aynn.

 

I noted the look of worry in Arena's voice and tossed the Ruler of the Celestial Family one final question. "Can we meet back in about an hour?"

 

"As you wish!" Lord Zera exclaimed loudly as they lead Arena away.

 

With nothing left to do, I put my arm around my daughter and lead her in the opposite direction.

 

"Well... come on Aynn. Let's go try to find our friends."

 

 

---

 

 

I wasn't a fan of yelling adults. It reminded me too much of my own childhood. Fortunately it didn't seem like it was a husband and wife fighting each other. Rather, it was two grown adults arguing with somebody else's parents.

 

There was a man and a woman, both dressed like they were bank employees. One wore a pressed suit and looked like he made more in a year then I would ever make in my lifetime. The woman looked like his secretary, in a pencil skirt, opaque tights, and a blouse.

 

The people they were arguing with looked like dirty homeless beggars, a fat man and a thin woman. The fat man had a long bushy beard and he wore a poncho, blue jeans, and socks with sandals. His wife was incredibly thin, like he had eaten all of the food that was meant to go to her. She had a long nose, and glasses but wore a yellow sundress that was likely the nicest clothes she owned.

 

"Don't you dare talk about our daughter ever again!" shouted the bank manager.

 

"All I'm saying..." said the heavy hippie. "Is that it's a good thing your daughter had such loose morals. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been blessed with our two grandkids!"

 

"And all we're saying..." began the secretary. "Is that it's a good thing your son was such a defiler of women, otherwise we'd never have gotten our dear Gal Surname out of it."

 

"Grammy!" Gal protested.

 

"It's Mrs Blankly to you!" corrected Mrs Blankly.

 

"Grandpa..."

 

"It's Daddy-O!" Daddy-O said cheerfully.

 

"There's just one way to settle this argument." Mr Blankly said as he adjusted his tie. "A duel!"

 

"Daddy-O and Momma-Z are gonna take you out!" the thin woman, Momma-Z said as she raised her duel disk.

 

"Not between us you two stooges." Mrs Blankly corrected "A duel between our grandkids."

 

Guy and Gal Surname suddenly looked up. "Us?" they said at exactly the same time.

 

"There's too many variables with too many data points if we all do a tag duel." Mrs Blankly began as she adjusted her glasses. "We live in a results based world, and the best way to prove we’re superior parents is to have the results of our parenting, our grandchildren, duke it out."

 

"Read my mind!" Daddy-O turned to Guy. "Go beat up your sister!"

 

"Gal! Do not disappoint us!" said Mr Blankly.

 

The twins looked at each other uneasily.

 

"We've never dueled before." Gal muttered.

 

"I c-can't duel Gal." Guy stammered under his breath.

 

The two twins slowly made their way a duelist's distance away from each other, but before any of them could even put on their duel disk Aynn herself suddenly step forward, taking a place between the two of them.

 

"Stop!"

 

"We uhh... didn't start." Gal began.

 

"You can't fight like this! Haven't any of you ever wondered why it was so important for Guy and Gal to be different genders?"

 

The Blanklies and the Surnames exchanged confused looks.

 

"No?" Mr Blankly said in a tone of confusion. "Until last year, I didn't even know Guy Surname existed."

 

"I'll tell you why!" Aynn said before she cleared her throat.

 

"Imagine growing up with a brother or sister. They'd probably be your first friend, but also your first major rival. Along with your tea parties and lego building, you'd also have competitive activities too! And the Cursed Chain activates for any competition, not just for duel monsters. Even something simple as 'race you to the roller coaster!' could complete undue all of the work mommy set up when she tried to set up a second pawn in the war for the Cursed Chain!"

 

I stared in silence, trying to process what Aynn was talking about. Mr and Mrs Surname, and Mr and Mrs Blankly however had something else in mind.

 

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Stupid girl."

"She's gone crazy."

"Poor girl."

 

Gal whispered towards my daughter. "Umm Aynn. Grammy and Grampy don't know anything about the Cursed Chain."

 

"I'm a little bit confused too." I began. "Even if that was all true before, Gal lost the seventh link in the chain after she lost to you, didn't she? Why does any of this matter now?"

 

"Let's talk about it after we meet up with Arena again." Aynn said quickly with a smile, before a serious expression when she turned to Gal and Guy's grandparents.

 

"If you're so keen on dueling, how about a 4-v-1 against me!? If you win, I'll let Guy and Gal duel!"

 

The parents smiled smugly as they readied their duel disks. Aynn was no slouch though, and as Arena’s daughter Aynn easily beat them without even breaking a sweat.

 

 

---

 

 

Aynn and I were traveling the Family Day carnival and right now I was determined to win my daughter a stuffed unicorn toy. I prepared a pitch and was just about to throw my final baseball when all of a sudden I felt a strong chill throughout my body.

 

"Hello there Arthur." a woman's dark, sultry voice whispered in me ear. I turned around suddenly to see an older looking woman who looked like she was in her mid-40s in a long black dress and a hat with a black veil. She looked like a widow, but I recognized her instantly as one of Arena's Celestial family. This was Persades - Goddess of the Underworld, Death and Rebirth.

 

"How about a kiss for your dear sister-in-law?"

 

"N-no way." I stammered, though the stutter made me sound less cool. Even Aynn giggled at my reaction.

 

"Oh come now, even after spending a mortal summer with the Eternals you're still nervous around me?" she gave a breath laugh as she covered her mouth. "That's so precious!"

 

"You're the Goddess of Death. Forgive me for not being welcoming to a woman who's killed literally everyone that has ever existed."

 

Persades scowled at me, then lifted her veil so I could get a better look at her face as she spoke.

 

"First of all, all of the Gods could kill you without breaking a sweat, and they wouldn't even feel bad about it because human lives are so utterly insignificant to the Eternals."

 

This did not alleviate my fears.

 

"Second of all, I don't actually do the killing. I merely preside over the souls of the dead in the Underworld."

 

This also did nothing to help me feel better.

 

"Lastly, I could never interfere with your life at my whims like that." She smiled as she let her veil fall back over her face. "I'm sure Arena's already told you. We cannot meddle with human affairs."

 

That one helped a little, but if she wasn't here to kill me or threaten me, it just left me with one final question.

 

"So why are you here then?"

 

She gave another quick laugh. "Am I the first Eternal you've met today? I'm doing the same as everyone else is."

 

The older woman smiled behind her black lace veil and for a split second, I felt a little less guarded around her.

 

"I came here to see my daughter."

 

Family Day, it seemed, had a more powerful effect than I realized. I looked over the crowd, wondering what kind of weird kid the daughter of Death would be like. What was even worse, I wondered what kind of man would find her attractive.

 

I shook my head, wondering if I should ask what was on my mind. "Who is she? What did you want to talk to her about?"

 

Persades once again gave a mocking laugh. "I am not here to speak with her, mortal. I merely wish to SEE her and ensure she's okay before I return to the Underworld. Can't meddle with human affairs and all that. "

 

I raised an eyebrow at this woman. "I know you guys can't but like... Arena talks with mortals all the time."

 

"Nothing that would cause fate to unwind itself though." Persades gave a shrug. "One of the perks of being blessed with unparalleled wisdom I suppose. She knows exactly what to say or do to limit her involvement with mortals. As for me, I don't really take too much stride in fate and knowledge of the future and all that. The only fate I agree with is that someday everyone dies."

 

"But you're a mother to a demigodess!" Aynn protested. "Doesn't that count as meddling with human affairs?"

 

Persades gave another polite laugh before speaking. "If you scattered a bunch of seeds into the winds and one of them happens to grow into a tree, does that somehow make you a farmer? Likewise, just because I enjoyed a night of passion and birthed a blonde little girl that doesn't qualify me as a mother. I've done nothing to help raise that child."

 

"B-but... mommy's here for me..." Aynn tried protesting, but it was no use.

 

"Oh you sweet little demi!" Persades smiled brightly at Aynn, like she was a puppy who did something adorable.

 

"Arena's here for one reason and one reason only and his name is Arthur Surrogate." Persades said in her not-reassuring voice. "Truth is, the goddess doesn't want anything to do with you Aynn."

 

"I... r-really?" Aynn whispered miserably.

 

"Hey, don't look so glum dear. Here..." Persades took my final ball and, in one quick motion, knocked over all the glass milk bottles earning Aynn her pick of the stuffed animals.

 

"Take whichever one you want." Persades said before slipping into a crowd and disappearing from my sights.

 

Aynn sniffed before her eyes began to glaze over. "D-dad... why am I crying?" she asked.

 

I looked over at the man in charge of the games, then back to my daughter. "The unicorn please?"

 

Aynn's face instantly brightened up as she held her giant white unicorn, as though everything Persades had just said was instantly forgotten.

 

 

---

 

 

Aynn was on top of the world and invincible with Mrs Uni, her little stuffed unicorn toy. We had about half an hour until we had to meet with Zera and Arena again, so we decided to go grab a bite to eat. I asked Aynn and Mrs Uni to go find us a table while I got us the food.

 

"Hello Arthur." the girl working the fryer said pleasantly. I was a bit surprised to hear my name by a girl I only barely recognized.

 

She was a girl from Crimson Wind Academy, and I think I remembered meeting her at the Black Dorm. Beyond that I couldn't recall her first name. Had she ever even told it to me? All I could think of while I looked at this blonde haired, red eyed girl was 'Witch of Necrophades'.

 

"Oh hey... you." I greeted back. "Necrophades Black, right?"

 

"Correct." she smiled, glad that I had remembered her at least that much.

 

Her boyfriend/or-not-boyfriend was on the register, a bespectacled young man wearing an 'Ikari Foods' apron. He gave a weak smile then continued standing around.

 

"My father is here as well, but he is with Robin and Candice, and their teacher Allison."

 

For those that didn't get invited to the field trip last year, The Witch of Necrophades was raised in quite an extensive family. Her father was leader of a group called the Covenant of the Eternals, and this deeply religious group had some sort of ties to the Gods of the Aether Realm.

 

As if on cue, the Witch's father quickly made his presence known. He wore a suit, dark orange sunglasses, and white gloves. Next to him was a boy in a wheelchair, a girl who was all wrapped up in a cloak, and a blonde young woman with blue eyes and a tightly laced corset. The three seemed to keep their distance, but the Witch's father was all smiles and charismatic as he approached us.

 

"Are you helping our guests here Kira?"

 

"Hai!" The witch responded. "This is Arthur Surrogate by the way. The boy I told you about... you know."

 

I couldn't see his eyes behind his sunglasses, but with how quickly he turned to look at me I could tell he was quite pleased to see me.

 

"Arthur? THE Arthur Surrogate?" His smile broadened. "It's such a pleasure to meet you! My name is Lord Ikari. My darling Kira's has told me so much about you and your little girlfriend. Is she around by any chance?"

 

I nodded. "Arena? She's here with her dad."

 

It was a simple enough statement, and at the time I didn't think about how this would spark a plan inside this man's mind. Instead he continued smiling, not showing off his eyes behind his sunglasses and a simple word escaped his lips.

 

"Excellent!"

 

He pointed at his daughter and spoke in a bit more of a commanding voice. "Anything this boy wants, it’s on the house!"

 

I was pretty surprised to hear this command, but decided not to let this opportunity pass me by. "Anything?"

 

 

---

 

 

On my first day at Hawthorne Academy, I found a girl who was madly in love with me. Today, I found a second one.

 

I decided to get two of everything on the menu at Ikari Foods. Hamburgers, french fries, hot dogs, chicken tenders, deep fried Forrester snack cakes, onion rings, with no budgetary concerns, nothing was off limits.

 

"This is the best day ever!" Aynn said excitedly as she 'fed' Mrs Uni some french fries. She brought a fry to the unicorn's mouth, waited a second, and then ate it herself.

 

I was so caught up in my moment with Aynn and feeling like super dad I didn't notice the little brown-haired ten year old girl approach me.

 

"Hi! You're cute!" said a short little girl as she stole a handful of fries.

 

"Hey! Those are mine!" I protested. It wasn't so much that I had less food, but rather that this girl just stole something without a care in the world.

 

The girl smiled at me though. "We can share." She stuck a single fry in her mouth and smiled. She pointed the fry at me like it was a cigarette as she waited for me to take the initiative. I of course did not.

 

"Just who the heck are you?"

 

"I'm glad you asked!" She said through clenched teeth before eating the fry. "My name is Alma! Are you enjoying Family Day so far?""

 

"Uh... it's okay I guess." I said as I grabbed another fry from my basket. "You shouldn't steal things Alma."

 

"But you've already stolen my heart, so I figured fair is fair!"

 

I gave a nervous laugh before looking around. "Where's your mom and dad?"

 

"My dad's dead." Alma said bluntly. "My step-dad though! He's around here somewhere. So's my stepbrother. In fact.” she squinted off into the distance. "I think I see him coming over this way right now."

 

I followed her line of sight and considering how flirty this girl was I probably should have guessed who her stepbrother was supposed to be.

 

"Hey Alma." Oliver said, a bit nervous, weary, and out of breath but overall relieved to see Alma safe and sound.

 

"Hey big bro!" Alma said excitedly. "Ask your future brother-in-law here to share some of his food. He's got regular fries AND waffle fries!"

 

"I'm alright Alma." Oliver said, finally catching his breath. "Thanks for finding her Arthur."

 

Alma looked at me with shock in her eyes. "Th-this is Arthur!?"

 

"Yeah," Oliver said as he grabbed one of Aynn's chicken tenders.

 

"Why does she sound so surprised?" I asked.

 

"I thought you'd look more boring and ugly. You're really really cute!"

 

"Arthur? Cute!?" Oliver gave a laugh and grabbed one of Aynn's waffle fries. "Are you sure you don't need to go back to Doctor Ivan again?"

 

"Nuh-uh! I have perfect twenty-twenty vision! Just ask anyone in my class!"

 

She smiled, then her line of sight drifted to Aynn. "Arena looks boring for a goddess."

 

"You told her Arena's a goddess!?"

 

"I tell everyone." Oliver said with a shrug. "Was it supposed to be a secret?"

 

"I'm not Arena. My name is..." she paused for a moment. "Uhh... it's Aynn!"

 

For a while I had noticed it and just assumed it was my eyes playing tricks or maybe just common human mental lapses, but they seemed to be happening more and more frequent with Aynn. I wondered if the seventh link in the chain that she won from Gal wasn't working correctly.

 

"Are you okay Aynn? You've kinda seemed a bit out of it for a while."

 

"I'm just... finish eating... we can talk later." Aynn shook her head and began eating her burger, though no longer with the same enthusiasm as she fed Mrs Uni.

 

"Family Day's pretty cool so far. Fun games, alright food, and pretty cute girls from Crimson Wind and Kelen." he gave a sly smirk, and it took me a second to register what he just said.

 

"Hold it!" I exclaimed. "You do NOT wanna date any of the girls from Kelen Academy man."

 

"Why not? I mean, I've already gotten to second base with half the girls from Hawthorne already. Variety is the spice of life my friend!"

 

"You do NOT want to date one of the girls from Kelen Academy." I repeated. "Let's just leave it at that."

 

"Ah, you're no fun." Oliver said with a yawn.

 

Alma yawned as well, and the two laughed.

 

"Come on Alma, let's go before dad gets too worried about where you ran off to."

 

"Ah you're no fun!" Alma imitated. She turned to me and smiled. "Do you want to meet my step-dad? Maybe ask him for a certain someone's hand in marriage?

 

I glanced at my PDA. "Maybe later. It's almost been an hour and I've gotta meet someone else's dad instead."

 

"Alright, see you later Oliver!"

 

"Later Arthur!"

 

As I watched Oliver walk away, with Alma close behind, I briefly began to wonder about something Oliver had said.

 

"Hey Oliver! Hold up a second!" I watched him pause and turn around, as he slowly began to walk toward me. He was still a long distance away so I had to yell to be heard.

 

"When you said you've gotten to second base with half the girls from Hawthorne, are you including Aynn and Arena on the list?"

 

Oliver suddenly stopped. Alma gave a giggle.

 

"Alma! Race you to the roller coaster!"

 

And like that, Oliver and his stepsister sped out from the food court. I sighed, offering at least one final bit of advice to the Khlozoff siblings.

 

"If he's here, keep Alma away from Hilda's dad!"

 

 

---

 

 

I stared at my PDA and, just as the digital display changed from :59 to :00, I saw Zera - Lord of the Sky arrive at the food court area with Arena in tow. She instantly ran up to me, giving me a heartfelt kiss on the lips.

 

Zera himself was followed by Persades, as well as 4 other people who were most-certainly-not-people, rather the gods of the Aether Realm. Arena was right that all of them had decided to stop by for Family Day. I wondered briefly if I had met any of their demigods. None of the students I met today had seemed particularly noteworthy, but then again neither did Mishegoss or Aynn.

 

After the seven gods of the Aether Realm, I saw Lord Ikari with a sinister smirk on his lips. The adults sat at another table and they had a bit of a conversation about things. I wondered what a religious leader who worshipped these 7 Eternals would say or do when literally being confronted with the 7 Gods in the flesh. I smiled, wishing I could overhear their conversation as I was sure it would be animated and excited.

 

I was so naive.

 

"Hey mommy, want a fried Forrester Snack Cake?" Aynn offered jokingly.

 

Arena looked at Aynn's outstretched arm and knocked it out of her hand, letting it fall on the artificial grass of the Silverdome. Arena then went back to hugging me, burying her face in my chest.

 

"That man, Lord Ikari. I do not trust him." she said simply.

 

I glanced over at the table across the food court, unsure of what to say.

 

"They're the most powerful beings in the universe Arena. I'm sure they'll be fine." I said in a reassuring tone of voice.

 

When I was upset, what usually changed my mood was someone changing the subject. Arena was clearly upset over this Lord Ikari person, but Aynn and I were a little down too without Arena there.

 

"Aynn and I missed you today."

 

Arena blinked. Her hands fell to her sides and she seemed to pull away.

 

"It's okay Arena. We can do something with Aynn tomorrow. I mean, it's Family Day and we're a family but we can try-"

 

"I'm sorry Arthur." she interrupted with a serious tone of voice. "I can't involve myself in human affairs. Raising a child with you, a human to walk the mortal realm, would be the absolute definition of meddling with human affairs. As a Goddess I am absolutely forbidden from doing so."

 

I was shocked. I knew she didn't like Aynn, and I knew she often said she couldn't meddle with human affairs, but I never imagined she was absolutely sworn against it.

 

"I..."

 

"I'm sorry my beloved. Please do not think any lesser of me. I love you with all of my heart."

 

"But you don't love our daughter."

 

She looked deeply ashamed. "That is correct."

 

I didn't like Aynn when I first met her either, but she grew on me and reminded me of the best parts of Arena with the best parts of me. Without my parents I swore to myself I'd never be a negligent father like my own parents were. Seeing Arena as the one to give up was hard to bear.

 

Aynn looked absolutely broken hearted. "Wow... I'm actually sort of glad I'll be forgetting this soon."

 

 

---

 

 

We stayed in a stunned silence for a few minutes before Lord Ikari suddenly sauntered over to us.

 

"Arena! Please, come join us with the rest of the grownups!"

 

Arena looked at me, then at Aynn. "Very well." she said simply, leaving Aynn and I alone.

 

I stopped for a minute to think it all over.

 

The holder of the fourth link in the chain was cursed to have random bouts of memory loss. The seventh link in the chain was supposed to protect you from the other segments of the chain. Aynn was clearly still being affected by the fourth link. If Aynn didn't have the seventh link in the chain there was just one other place the seventh link could possibly be.

 

"Gal still has the seventh link in the chain, doesn't she?"

 

"Pretty sure she does." Aynn replied.

 

"How did that happen?"

 

"I... not sure. You're gonna have to ask m-" she stopped. "Ask Arena."

 

"She'd never tell me."

 

We both smiled and imitated her. "I cannot meddle with human affairs!"

 

We laughed a little, but Aynn swept a loose black and white strand of hair off her face

 

"Dad, I am horribly crippled with sudden bouts of memory loss and even..." her eyes glazed over. "Umm..." she shook her head. "Dad... I'm scared."

 

"Aynn relax! You're memory came back to you after you defeated Gal, right?"

 

"It was only temporary! Every single time was just a temporary fix! Touching Gal or Guy's hands is usually enough to bring me back to my senses for a few... umm..." she pulled a pen out of her pocket and got a napkin and began scribbling. "I can't keep living like this. My mind is already swiss cheese."

 

Aynn dropped her pen and looked at me for a few seconds. "What were we talking about again?"

 

"You said Guy and Gal can bring your memory back for a little while, but it wears off, right? They're your friends so I'm sure they’ll still do it! "

 

"I don't think so." she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "What happens when they go to Crimson Wind Academy next year? What happens before that? What happens when they leave for Winter Break? Or... uhh..."

 

I took one of her unused napkins and helped her dry her face. "Please don't cry Aynn. I'll do whatever I can to help."

 

"I…"

 

"Aynn, you're my daughter and I love you. I promise..." she wouldn't remember any promise I made her, but I felt I couldn't lie to her either. I wondered if this was how Arena felt, carefully planning her words so they could be 'technically true', while still giving herself enough breathing room to be vague.

 

"I promise I'll keep you safe." I kissed my daughter on the forehead and held her as she continued crying.

 

I thought that with a promise as vague as that I would have no problem keeping it. I was already coming up with a plan on how I could keep my promise. I didn't know it at the time but my plan wouldn't just fail, it would fail so terribly it would bring not just my daughter, but all of the Demigods, all of the Cursed Chain, and all of existence itself to the edge of destruction.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 13: The Kelen Dueling Academy]

Hawthorne Academy's biggest rivals used to be Lincoln Academy, before the fires at least.

 

Every year during Winter Break the all-girls school and the all-boys school would rent out the Silverdome and hold the Ladies and Gentlemen tournament. Losers had to host and pay for the Sweetheart's Day Ball for both schools.

 

Last year after Lincoln Academy burned to the ground, sixteen representatives from Hawthorne visited our next-nearest rivals, Crimson Wind Academy and held an epic three day long event. We crossed the Cassandrian Sea, met Headmistress Swebb, discovered a lot of new friends, new enemies, learned a lot about ourselves and the Cursed Chain, but ultimately our school lost against Crimson Wind and we were forced to host their school in Silvershine for Sweetheart's Day.

 

Today we were out for revenge. Sixteen representatives from Crimson Wind Academy came to Silvershine to keep the tradition alive. All of my friends were at the Silverdome ready to defend our Academy from the Crimson Tide.

 

Everyone except for me of course.

 

I had something much more important to do than get involved with the Ladies and Gentlemen tournament this year. While all my friends were dueling their hearts out, I was on a train out into the countryside along with my daughter, Marie-Aynn Sumischa Surrogate.

 

After a two hour train ride and a half hour cab, the both of us had finally made it to our destination.

 

"The Kelen Dueling Academy? What are we doing here?" Aynn asked as she read the sign above the building. She looked at me for about 30 seconds before her eyes began to glaze over and she smiled. She held my hand tightly and hummed a merry tune.

 

I gave her a faint smile but I didn't respond to her question. There would be no point in answering her since she had probably already forgotten what she had asked. With my daughter on my right arm and her luggage on my left we made our way to the enrollment office.

 

"Hello, my name is Arthur Surrogate. I'd like to enroll my d-d... dear sister Aynn Mischa Surrogate to be a student at Kelen Academy."

 

 

---

 

 

Last year we were told that Crimson Wind Academy was the closest Duel Academy to us. That wasn't entirely true.

 

Crimson Wind Academy was the closest High School equivalent Duel Academy. Kelen Academy taught students K-through-12. One reason why we didn't pick Kelen as our rival academy for the tournament was because hosting a party for five year old babies, for pre-pubescent teens, and for teens who were almost adults would have been a monumental task. They'd never all agree on what was fun.

 

The main reason though was that not a single person at Hawthorne wanted to duel any of the kids from Kelen Academy.

 

In any case, the receptionist at Kelen Academy was a cute little blonde girl with extremely large breasts despite her short stature. She wore a white dress shirt, and a black vest that was unbuttoned due to her ample chest size. Since she was behind the counter, I couldn't yet see her black pencil skirt, white opaque tights, and black high heels. I studied her for a moment, before realizing where I had seen this girl before.

 

"Hi!" she greeted excitedly. "My name is Assistant Headmistress Violet Lynn Dionaea! All my friends call me Lynn though!"

 

She closed her eyes and puckered her lips before leaning onto the counter as though trying to greet me with a kiss. I quickly pulled away from her. Even though this girl looked to be about the same age as me and maybe even a little younger, she was still an employee here.

 

"A-assistant Headmistress?" I stammered, trying to change the subject to what I remembered from Family Day. "Wasn't it supposed to be Assistant TO the Headmistress?"

 

"Psh! Semantics!" she scoffed "Winchester TECHNICALLY has the title, but everyone knows it's me who runs this joint!" she pointed a thumb at herself and stuck up her nose with a grin before turning back to me and smiling.

 

"Right so we're a little short staffed here. Most of the teachers and students went away for Winter Break so I'm filling in a few other positions." She smiled towards me and Aynn. "Why did you two end up choosing Kelen?!"

 

"Well it was mostly my decision but-"

 

"Was it the small class sizes? The attentive personal care? The state of the art medical labs? Tell me tell me tell me pleeeease!" Headmistress Lynn pulled out a pen and a pad of paper to eagerly write down my thoughts. I backed away even more now.

 

"Well... this was the closest school that had what Aynn needed. I didn't want to be so far away from my dau-" I paused. "From Aynn."

 

Headmistress Lynn gave a giggle and seemed to be bouncing on her heels.

 

"She's lucky she has such a cute little brother looking out for her!"

 

I thought about objecting to Lynn's statement before changing my mind. Aynn and I were almost the same height but to think I was younger than Aynn when I was her father was a little ridiculous. Nevertheless, I said nothing.

 

"Here, let me give you some more information!" the blonde buxom short little girl pulled out a few brochures, though I already knew this would be the right school for Aynn.

 

"Here at Kelen Academy we pride ourselves in taking in the children that everyone's pretty much given up on and we help them reach their-"

 

"Hey." I interrupted. Lynn looked as though she was about to fall over from being interrupted so suddenly. I however continued speaking.

 

"We really don't need the sales pitch here. We already know all about Kelen Duel Academy for Disabled Duelists."

 

Aynn blinked, tilting her head and looking at me confused. "I don't." Though I had explained it to her many times on the ride over.

 

Headmistress Lynn smiled towards Aynn then came around from behind the counter. Even though Lynn wore heels, Aynn was still taller than the Assistant Headmistress.

 

"This is a school for kids who are blind, deaf, terribly injured, or have other disabilities that keep them from being able to go to a regular duel academy." she said in a reassuring tone.

 

"You're here because your family doesn't think a regular duel academy is the best place for you. You're unique, different, and special so you can't cut out with the normal students. So Aynn Mischa, why couldn't you make it in a normal dueling academy?"

 

Aynn stared at Lynn for a moment, before her eyes glazed over for a minute and she shook her head. "You smell like coffee and candy!"

 

"She has retrograde amnesia." I interrupted. "Her memory span is extremely limited. She can usually only remember the last 20, maybe 30 seconds."

 

Lynn seemed absolutely shocked. "Twenty or thirty seconds!? How can she possibly live like that? I mean... I once forgot to wear a bra and it changed my life forever! I was kinda in a rush since I overslept after partying out with Cathy after we beat Hawthorne last year. Cathy's my best friend! We went to Crimson Wind Academy last year. Hey, I think I remember seeing you there once too! Anyway, we beat you guys pretty good last year! Except that Arena girl almost got Gouki. Where was I? Oh yeah! So I forgot to wear a bra and it was kinda cold since it was Winter Break so-"

 

As she spoke her pace got quicker and quicker. I had a feeling I'd be here for hours if I didn't put a stop to this.

 

"Listen Lynn! I really appreciate the concern, but even though my... sister has retrograde amnesia, she's pretty clever." I began. "She can read, speak, dress herself and do all the other things a normal little girl her age should be able to do. She just forgets really quickly. She normally needs a notebook in order to keep track of all her thoughts but we kinda lost it."

 

Lynn gave a sagely nod. "We've dealt with kids who've had traumatic brain injuries before. Never quite as severe as only a few seconds though."

 

"But you still think you can help her?"

 

"If anyone can it's us!" Lynn stated cheerfully. "So you're planning on enrolling next fall, right?"

 

I motioned to the luggage in my left hand. "We were thinking of enrolling after Winter Break. "

 

If Headmistress Lynn had been drinking coffee, this would be the part where she spit it out and did a dramatic double take. Instead she just awkwardly waved her hands and did a weird pirouette on her heels.

 

"We can't do it for the Spring Semester!" She paused, then quickly went back behind the counter and began typing away. "I mean, it would be very difficult to arrange classes and even so, it's not really my decision."

 

"We have to wait for the real Headmistress?"

 

"No…" she said solemnly, before realizing what I said.

 

"Hey!" she exclaimed with a pout. "I already told you! I run this joint! Headmistress Winchester would be fine with accepting Aynn, it’s just…. Well…"

 

This girl was a chatty little girl, but it seemed she was finally slowing down and growing quieter.

 

"Well what? What do I have to do?"

 

Her quietness didn't last long.

 

"We pride ourselves in giving our students specialized care. We keep small class sizes and a low student-to-teacher ratio. Most teachers here only take on two, MAYBE three students at a time."

 

I raised an eyebrow. "Why do you only accept so few students?"

 

"Our kids need very specialized care! If they need medicine or any kind of doctor visits, the teachers have to be able to help, not only as a teacher but also as a parental guardian and nurses. The students are usually with their teachers for their entire stay at the Academy. In order to maintain our high standards, the maximum number of students-per-teacher we allow is three."

 

"Okay so... how many teachers does this school have? What are her options?"

 

She began typing in her computer, but though she was all smiles a minute ago she seemed to grow sadder and sadder.

 

"Sorry Arthur, there's plenty of teachers with only two students, but none of them are here to do intake since it's Winter Break. Currently there's only one teacher in the entire academy who doesn't have the maximum of three students." I heard a printer go off and I saw Headmistress Lynn turn before producing a small stack of papers.

 

"Ultimately the choice isn't up to me. It's up to Professor Allison."

 

 

---

 

 

After leaving Aynn's luggage in Lynn's office, we made our way up a wheelchair accessible ramp, passed by an academy store that sold braille Duel Monsters cards and something called a "D-Gazer" for the deaf. Apparently it provided augmented reality features uch as transcribing what your opponent said so you could follow along in a duel. I just couldn't stop giggling because I thought the word gazer sounded a lot like gay-laser.

 

They had Duel Vests for one-armed duelists, and something called a 'D-Wheel' which I assumed was some kind of wheelchair. They had modified speak-and-plays for the blind that quietly announced the card that were played if your opponent happened to be mute.

 

Eventually we made it to a door labeled 'Professor Allison Katherine'. I looked at the door for a minute, wondering where I had heard the first two parts of that name before, but alas it did not come to me.

 

There was a bit of a silence and I wondered if the room was empty before I heard the tiny sound of approaching footsteps and saw the door swing open. In front of me was a taller woman with dirty blonde hair held in two pig tails with a pair of all black ribbons. She wore a black tightly laced corset over what looked like a white long sleeve button-up blouse, a white pair of opaque tights, and a black petticoat-like-skirt along with a pair of cute little mary janes, like the shoes little girls wear to church.

 

Professor Allison was probably somewhere in her early twenties, but between the pigtails, petticoat and mary janes she looked much younger.

 

"Allie!" it seemed kissing was Headmistress Lynn's preferred way of greeting as she leaned into the much older woman. Professor Allison however quickly raised her hand, planted a palm on Lynn's forehead and pushed her away.

 

"..." Professor Allison scowled as she looked us over, studying me, Lynn and my daughter. At last she gave a weak and weary smile before she opened the door wider and motioned for us to come inside.

 

Professor Allison's office wasn't so much an office as much as it was more of like a duplex apartment. The bottom floor looked a bit like a kindergarten classroom with a book shelf, a globe, two desks, a chalkboard and a carpet with a mix of a teacher's private office since she had a bigger desk, a computer, a file cabinet and a phone. There was also a small kitchen for what I assume were snacks and a small living room area for recreation time. There were stairs and a ramp that lead to the second floor of that duplex that lead to a bedroom area.

 

"Allie, Arthur here wants to enroll his sister Marie Aynn Sumischa to our school."

 

"..." Professor Allison looked at Headmistress Lynn, confused as to why she came all this way to announce this.

 

"But he wants her to be enrolled for the spring semester!"

 

"...!" Professor Allison looked surprised by our request. She walked over to her desk and began typing away at her computer, shaking her head the whole time.

 

"I know it's a bit short notice Allie, but we're the only ones who can help her! I've known her all my life and I know she's a good kid!"

 

One of the perks of having a daughter who could alter other people's memories was that she could make anyone believe anything, even that they had known each other all their lives. After a bit of a moment Professor Allison sighed.

 

"So, what do you say Allie? Can you take Aynn in?"

 

Allison looked at the three of us, a bit of a pained expression before she finally reached for a picture on her desk. She quickly turned it to us, revealing a photograph of herself, Professor Allison, smiling, next to a small boy in a wheelchair and a girl wearing a cloak.

 

Other than Professor Allison, none of the others looked familiar to me.

 

"Uhh... who's that?"

 

"Robin and Candice?" Lynn asked.

 

Professor Allison nodded.

 

"I think I understand Allie. It's not your decision to make, is it?"

 

Professor Allison nodded, more eagerly then she did before.

 

Lynn gave me a weak and weary smile.

 

"We pride ourselves in small class sizes, and those two have really grown with her for the past 3 years. She's saying the decision isn't up to her. It's up to the two other students that share her, Robin and Candice."

 

 

---

 

 

At the age of 16, Headmistress Charlotte Swebb from Crimson Wind Academy had a daughter named Allison Katherine Swebb. Due to being an unwed teenage mother and barely able to feed herself, Charlotte was forced to give her newborn daughter up for adoption. Charlotte went on to get her GED, go to college, graduate, become headmistress of an academy, and then died. After that, we found her killer and the kids of Team Surname were each given a five thousand dollar reward.

 

That was the end of Headmistress Swebb's story, but what became of her daughter?

 

As close as Detective Friedman could tell, the girl was adopted by a peculiar old man who wore a long cloak. After that, Allison Swebb was sent to Solar Dusk Academy, which later sank to the bottom of the sea in a totally unrelated incident. As far as anyone else was concerned, that was the end of Allison Katherine Swebb’s story.

 

I stared at Professor Allison Katherine, not knowing why her scowl felt so familiar, yet also feeling this would be my best chance to plead my case for Aynn.

 

"I'm sure Aynn, Robin and Candice will be the best of friends! As soon as they meet it'll be like they've known each other their whole lives." I was more than sure about this. Once Aynn used the fourth link in the chain, she'd be accepted for sure.

 

Professor Allison seemed to call my bluff on this as she pulled out a PDA and quickly sent out a message.

 

"Where are Candice and Robin anyway?" Headmistress Lynn asked cheerfully.

 

Allison said nothing.

 

About a minute later I could hear the nearby jangling of keys and I saw the door begin to open. There was a kid in a wheelchair being pushed by a girl. Being the gentleman that I am, I hurried over to hold the door for them.

 

"Thank you sir." The young boy in the wheelchair was about 10 or 11 years old, wearing what I assumed was the Kelen Academy Uniform. He had a simple white dress shirt, a black vest, a pair of black slacks and, since he didn't walk around or need shoes, he wore plain white cotton socks.

 

The girl pushing his wheelchair wore a similar outfit to Headmistress Lynn's, though her chest wasn't anywhere near as big as Lynn’s so her vest was buttoned up all the way. Underneath she wore a white blouse, black skirt, white tights, and plain black shoes.

 

There were only two difference between her and Lynn's outfit. The first was that the girl wore all white cotton gloves. The second, and most alarming difference was that this girl wore what I recognized as a Norleras Black cloak from Lincoln Academy, my old school. With her hood up, I couldn't see her face at all.

 

"Robin!" Headmistress Lynn kissed the boy on the cheek. He blushed.

 

"Candice!" she snuck under the hood and planted one on the girl as well.

 

"Hello Lynn" Robin was still blushing but he nodded towards the headmistress. "Hello Allison" he nodded towards his blonde teacher, then he stopped and looked at me.

 

"And who might you be?" the ten year old boy in the wheelchair greeted with a polite smile.

 

Taking them all in I was slightly caught off guard by his question. "Oh... Arthur." I said quickly. I offered my hand. "Arthur Surrogate."

 

The boy looked down at my hand and stifled a laugh.

 

"Arthur!" Lynn exclaimed. "That is so rude!"

 

"It's okay." the boy said with a reassuring nod. "He couldn't possibly have known I've been paralyzed from the neck down since I was a baby."

 

I cringed, awkwardly lowering my hand back to my side. "S-sorry."

 

"Not your fault." the boy said. "The name's Robin by the way. Robin Weaver."

 

"Candice." the other girl muttered, a bit of a muffled sound came from under her hood.

 

"That's my sister, Candice Sublime. She... has hideous painful scars all over her face from when her old school burned to the ground."

 

I looked at them cautiously. There was something odd about these kids but I couldn't quite put my finger on it, and I didn't think it was just because they were handicapped.

 

"New... person?" Candice kept her head down but I could sense she was directing her question towards me.

 

"Ah yes, Allison told us we might be having a new student join our class today." Robin smiled towards me. "I take it that's you?"

 

"Not me." I shook my head. "I'm perfectly healthy. The new student we wanted to enroll was my d... my dear sister, Marie-Aynn Sumischa Surrogate."

 

Aynn was staring blankly out into nothing in particular before she spoke. "Hmm? Huh? Oh! That's me! My friends call me... umm..."

 

"Aynn." I said with an affectionate smile. "We call you Aynn. And you have severe retrograde amnesia."

 

"Amnesia?" Candice looked up and I could at last see her mouth, or at least where her mouth would have been. The bottom of her face was completely covered in bandages, like a mummy. She glanced over at Robin, and Robin nodded.

 

"Make a good first impression Aynn!" I said nervously.

 

"First impression?" Aynn blinked, confused. "But the three of us met a long time ago, remember?"

 

I looked over at Robin and I could see the pupils in his eyes begin to dilate.

 

"Uhh..." Candice also began to lean a bit more on Robin's wheelchair, possibly feeling a bit lightheaded from Aynn’s magic.

 

I could feel something wrapping tightly around my brain, and my memory began to fill in the blanks.

 

I was certain the three had met before as kids, and very vividly remembered them running along and playing tag together at Solar Dusk Memorial Park when they were pre-school age. In my head I could see Arena and I smiling as we looked upon the three of them as the sun set behind us. Robin was chasing after Aynn, Aynn was laughing and yelling out 'no tag backs!' as she tried to catch her breath. Even Candice was there, smiling beautifully before the flames had taken away her face.

 

I shook my head, realizing none of that previous memory made any sense. Aynn was never that young while in the mortal realm. Robin was paralyzed since he was a baby so he wouldn't be running around. And none of us had ever seen Candice's face so whatever I had just seen in my memory was a complete fabrication. If these kids saw the same thing I did, they'd know it was a fake too.

 

Robin looked towards his sister with a bit of a weary smile. Whatever he saw in Candice's eyes told him they both agreed.

 

"We trust Aynn a hundred percent." Robin said with a sigh. "Right Candice?"

 

"Y-yes." she said with a bit of a strain to her voice.

 

Professor Allison raised an eyebrow at the kids, but if she had anything on her mind she didn't say anything.

 

"Wow! Looks like it's all settled then!" Lynn said excitedly.

 

"Here's some paperwork for you Allie!" she handed Professor Allison the small pile of papers she had printed out earlier. "And Arthur and I have more paperwork at my office. After it's all finalized I'll bring over Aynn's luggage. The four of you can get to know each other better!"

 

"We know plenty about the fourth link in the chain." Robin said smiling, before Candice elbowed him in the arm. Robin did not flinch, as he had no sensation below his neck.

 

"Say goodbye to your brother Aynn!" Lynn said as she cheerfully skipped ahead.

 

Without any hesitation Aynn smiled at me before she gave me a tight and loving embrace. "Bye dad. See you tomorrow."

 

I shook my head, tears streaming down my face. "Goodbye Aynn."

 

 

---

 

 

As we made our way back I thought a bit of retail therapy would cheer me up. I wanted to see if I could pick up one of those D-Gazers at the academy store. Despite the ridiculous name and my perfect 20/20 vision, I wanted to see what exactly this "augmented reality" looked like. I assumed the D-Gazer would be a bit expensive, but since I hadn't spent a single cent of the five thousand dollar reward I had gotten from the old Crimson Wind Headmistress case from last year I figured it would be fine. Unfortunately the shop didn't accept personal checks.

 

In any case, we made it back to Headmistress Lynn's office. I gave a heavy sigh and began filling out the paperwork.

 

We sat for a moment in awkward silence as I filled out form after form before Lynn spoke.

 

"It's always hard to let your family go, but trust me when I say this is the best place for her."

 

"Yeah, I know..." I said, as I continued signing all the forms and filling in the rest of the information they requested.

 

At last I completed the final page in the stack, and Lynn's honey colored eyes glinted like gold. "Now, as soon as you pay Aynn's tuition she'll be a full-fledged member of Kelen Academy."

 

I paused, feeling the blood drain from my face. "Her what?"

 

"Tuition! We're a private school. We're not public like Crimson Wind, Lincoln, or Hawthorne."

 

"Oh..." I stammered. "I think Aynn and I already paid that, remember?" I looked around, finding Aynn nowhere in sight.

 

"Nope." Lynn giggled. "It's five thousand dollars for each semester."

 

"Five thousand dollars!?"

 

Lynn gave a coy smirk and sauntered over to me. She spoke in a breathy, almost seductive tone of voice. "I'm sure a cute young man like you can figure out some way to make it up to a sweet little girl like me. As long as you put in some kind of effort, I can work with ANYTHING you give me. We can try to stretch thing out too if you're a little HARD pressed right now. After all, I can be surprisingly…" she whispered the final word. "Flexible."

 

I looked up at her and watched her wink as she bit her bottom lip and unbuttoned the top button of her blouse.

 

"Uhh... d-do you accept personal checks?"

 

 

---

 

 

After leaving Aynn behind and making it back to Silvershine I couldn't eat. Partly because my bank account was empty, partly because of the shame of leaving my family behind.

 

All I could do for now was make it to the fourth floor lounge and collapse in disgrace on the couch. A few of the freshman girls whispered and pointed, but they left me alone. As I sat in the fourth floor lounge I longed for a simpler time, before I had a daughter and it was just the 6 of us from Team Surname. And before long, the dinging of an elevator seemed to answer my wish.

 

"Is he here? Arena said he was." I heard Oliver's voice speak from over the elevator area. I barely looked up at them, still feeling terrible for my daughter. Even so, it was hard to stay so glum and miserable from Gal's infectious joy.

 

"Arthur! Arthur! Guess what! Guess what! We won! Hawthorne Academy defeated Crimson Wind Academy!"

 

"Didn't really give him any time to guess did you?" Guy said with a smirk. "And... we didn't come just bearing good news..."

 

"Surprise!" A brown haired girl with glasses excitedly jumped up from behind Guy before interlocking her arms with him. They both blushed. "It's Ami!"

 

Arena was strangely quiet as she looked me over, studying me very hard. She obviously already knew what I had done.

 

"Better not let Aynn catch Ami here. She'll be really upset that her boyfriend's cheating on her." Oliver laughed.

 

Guy rolled his eyes. "Look, Aynn's... a nice girl but she doesn't make me happy like Ami does. And I guess... if Aynn wants to break up with me, she'd be doing me a favor."

 

Ami seemed frozen, blushing profusely and unable to speak. "H-h-happy?" she eventually managed to choke out as though she was about to burst into tears of joy.

 

Gal looked around confused. "Wait, where is Aynn anyway?"

 

I felt as though I was about to burst into the other kind of tears. "She's... not here."

 

"Good riddance."

"Oh, okay."

"Not here?"

"Who's Aynn?"

 

The four of my friends all spoke at once. At last Arena finished her assessment and was ready to speak. I expected to hear reassuring words, condemnation, or maybe anything in between. What I got from Arena was something entirely unexpected, as usual.

 

"You are now ready to hear about Ophelia's Blade."

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 14: Ophelia's Blade]

A couple miles away from Silvershine near the little town of Hamlish there was a duel academy that specialized in working with handicapped duelists. That was where I left my daughter Aynn Mischa, who suffered from an extreme case of memory loss caused by the fourth link in the chain.

 

I hadn't yet told my friends, but surely the Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy already knew what I had done. I was expecting some kind of scolding from her, or really any kind of reaction but instead she launched into something completely unrelated.

 

I was still wracked with guilt and whatever she had just said barely even registered to me. I stared at her blankly in a bit of a daze.

 

"What?"

 

Before I could get Arena to repeat herself, Guy, Gal, Oliver and Ami all collapsed around me on the couch, like a bunch of rowdy 8 year olds waiting for Arena to start the Saturday morning cartoons.

 

"Ophelia's Blade!" Gal exclaimed excitedly. "Now shh!" She put her elbows on her knees and leaned on her hands, anxiously awaiting to hear more from my girlfriend.

 

Knowing she had our undivided attention, Arena began to speak.

 

"In order to fully understand Ophelia's Blade, you must first understand the nature of the Gods of the Aether Realm, the Covenant of the Eternals, and the reason we do not meddle with human affairs."

 

 

---

 

 

"Eons ago, the Eternals spent much more time in the mortal realm than they do today. They also exercised much more influence over human lives and procreated with humans much more frequently, creating many, many offspring. This was a mistake.

 

You may have read in your mythology books about legendary heroes from ancient civilizations who were thought to be the children of the Gods. They probably were. The primary reason you do not see as many people claim divinity today is simply because the denizens of the Aether Realm had greatly limited the amount of children they spawned compared to back then.

 

In ancient times the Gods of the Aether Realm were vain, and we made mistakes. A little flattery from the mortals went a long way and even though we were charmed by such inferior creatures we figured there wouldn't be any harm in intermingling with them. We were wrong.

 

As time wore on, more legendary heroes were promoted and more of our half-mortal offspring, the Demigods, were elevated to divine status as well. As if to amplify the issue, the original 12 Gods of the Pantheon intermingled and had children of their own with other minor gods, perpetuating the cycle over and over again. Over time, the power of the Pantheon began to dwindle and dilute.

 

Think about it like this. I was originally the God of War, but we also had a Goddess of Victory and a God of Strength and a Goddess of Strife and Discord and a multitude of other similar Gods that people prayed to in times of war and hardship. Originally I was the sole and central figure when it came to deciding battles. Now, it was a contest decided among many, and the list grew with each passing season. The winner of war should be decided by one figure, and one figure only!

 

When I was just the Goddess of Wisdom, I realized all of this rather quickly and predicted it would all soon spiral out of control. Had we not taken steps we would likely end up much like the mortals we regarded as so mundane. As Goddess of Wisdom I would be no wiser than any of the other hundreds and thousands of other children I had reared. As God of War, I would be no stronger than any of the other children I fathered. This could not be allowed.

 

Mine was a two-step plan. First, draw up a pact for all the gods to forbid all future children. It did not take long for my father, the God of Thunder, to return to his lecherous ways. This was why we needed the second part of my plan.

 

If having more Gods was the problem, the solution was to have less of them.

 

Of course, no one wanted to fall on the sword and die for something like this. My idea was much simpler. I came up with the plan for the Grand Convergence. Instead of having to end our lives or reduce ourselves to mortals by giving up our powers the plan was for all of us to find a partner and fuse together. We would combine aspects of our partner's personalities and become a whole new being entirely.

 

My father, the God of the Sky would merge with my mother, the Goddess of the Family.

The God of the Sea would merge with the Goddess of the Harvest.

The Goddess of Love merged with her husband, the God of Blacksmithing.

The God of Travel merged with his good friend, the God of Wine.

The twins obviously fused together. The God of Music merged with his sister the Goddess of the Hunt.

And though he was not originally in the Pantheon we included the God of the Underworld and his wife the Goddess of Vegetation in our plan as well.

 

That left the last two to fuse as the Goddess of Wisdom and her most embittered rival, the God of War to become me, Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy.

 

In our new forms we were much more powerful than we ever were separately. The other minor gods could not compare to our new forms so their influences waned, and only we were left. And with that, we retired from our meddling with the human realm and agreed to no longer have any children. Of course, we would all later have to renounce this agreement."

 

 

---

 

 

"Not everyone was happy with our decision. We had made the lives of our dear mortals much easier and now it was all coming to an end for them. We provided strength in times of war, offered advice in times of uncertainty, ended droughts, altered the weather, and raised the dead for mortals that had gained our favor. None of the mortals wanted that to come to an end.

 

A small group of people from the mortal realm, calling themselves the Covenant of the Eternals would not let us go so easily.

 

After the Grand Convergence, the last remaining demigods banded together to try to call our attention and beg us not to leave the mortal realm. We let their prayers and tribute offerings go unanswered. After their first plan failed, their second plan was to get a response from us with mass human sacrifices. This got our attention.

 

Mortals were simple, but they were still our creation and our responsibility. With enough human sacrifices we had to give at least some kind of a response, some sign of divine intervention.

 

Early in its development, the Covenant of the Eternals was made up of many mortals who pass down ancient knowledge regarding curses, potions, and summoning arts. The higher ranking ones in the Covenant were ones that could trace their roots back to a divine bloodline. The ones who are direct descendants of the original 12 of the Pantheon were much more skilled then the offspring of minor gods.

 

Think about it like this. An Eternal in the mortal realm can open a portal to the Aether Realm anywhere they want. Several direct descendants of the gods may be able to open a portal to the Aether Realm but only in specific locations that possess a high amount of spiritual energy. A much diluted descendant, such as one that only had a divine great great grandfather, may need dozens of human sacrifices and very specific and elaborate rituals just to open a portal big enough for one person.

 

Unfortunately as time wore on their bloodline got even more and more diluted. Their spells and potions became weaker, and their summoning rituals had to involve more and more mass murder in order to gain our attention.

 

There summoning rituals have happened many times in human history just so you are aware. The two you may be most familiar with would be the Horakthy White Dorm in Crimson Wind Academy as well the Lincoln Academy fires. Our response to Horakthy was to spare the building, and my response to Lincoln was to keep Arthur alive.

 

But we did not want the mortals to continue to die needlessly on our behalf. In our divine benevolence, the Gods struck a deal with the Covenant. Every generation one of us would descend to the mortal realm and have a child with the current leader of the Covenant of the Eternals. This new demigod or demigoddess who would lead the Covenant to a brighter age and hopefully bring a permanent end to the senseless violence. This generation it happened to be Persades - Goddess of the Underworld, Death and Rebirth.

 

However many of the Eternals did not find this an agreeable arrangement. 'If he can have a child, why can't I?' And so we decided to alter our original agreement.

 

Instead of being barred from having kids, every generation all of the Eternals would be allowed to have a maximum of one child, if we should choose to have one. As Arena, I declined to produce an heir every single time, until I met my beloved Arthur of course.

 

With all that said, this is not a long forgotten myth from the ancient times. These people still exist to this day. You have already met one who loudly proclaims herself a member of the Convenant, Kira Ikari - The Witch of Necrophades Black from Crimson Wind Academy.

 

Their ultimate goal is to meet face to face with the Gods of the Aether Realm and bring the world back to the way it was during the ancient times.

 

As for anything specific... I cannot share that right now. Informing you of their plans would mean meddling with human affairs. If you truly wish to find out what the Covenant of the Eternals is planning, ask one of them the next time you see them.

 

There is a lot more of them than you think."

 

 

---

 

 

"Now that you all fully understand the background of the Gods and the Covenant, we come to the grand bridge between mortals and Eternals, Ophelia's Blade.

 

After the Grand Convergence I, Arena, began to make predictions about the future based on what I already knew. I knew a general would make the wrong decision and be defeated in an upcoming battle. But then further still, I knew a man would drink to combat his depression and cause arguments with his wife. And even further, I could see every possible road, every possible outcome, every wingbeat of every butterfly and see exactly what it would take to get there, what would be needed and how we could stop it. Skating through our self imposed lack of meddling rule, I was able to create the Cursed Chain and slowly guide humanity to my main goal.

 

You, Arthur Surrogate, were my one and only goal.

 

However I was not the only Eternal looking for love in the Mortal Realm. After I discovered the future existence of my beloved Arthur Surrogate, Aphraestus - God of Love and Blacksmithing, asked me to do the same and find his own mortal soulmate.

 

I found his soulmate in a girl named Ophelia Daly. Her existence was much simpler, and it seemed nothing would stand in their way.

 

Before she was to be born, Aphraestus carved a divine blade made of celestial steel. He named this knife Ophelia's Blade. The night before she was to be born, Aphraestus present himself to Ophelia's father at his doorstep. He explained that he was the God of Love and that he knew the man's daughter would grow up to become his mortal soulmate. Aphraestus handed over Ophelia’s blade, and asked Mr Daly to present that blade to his daughter when she became of age. With blade in hand, Ophelia would then be taken away by Aphraestus who would bring her to the Aether Realm and they would never be apart ever again.

 

This did not come to pass.

 

As for the knife itself, it is not of the mortal realm. It is an Aether Realm creation made of celestial steel. That gives it two distinct properties.

 

The first is that, since time does not flow in the Aether Realm, it can store a limitless amount of youth. It never ages, and never dulls. It is the perfect companion to the first link in the Cursed Chain.

 

The second, and far more serious implication of the blade is that it is the only object in the mortal realm that can kill a God.

 

I do not mean that it can injure a God. The Gods can still be injured from conventional weaponry, however we heal very quickly from it. A cut from a duel disk across the face can be healed in an instant. Lost limbs can be regenerated and ichor can be replaced. Even if we were somehow caught in a large explosion we could reform ourselves after a couple of decades.

 

But the celestial steel blade is the one surefire way to eliminate not only a God's existence, but all influence they wield as well.

 

The Covenant of Eternals prides itself in gathering as many artifacts from the Aether Realm as possible. They are always on the lookout for Links in the Cursed Chain, demigods, and Aethereal artifacts. They are a dangerous cult with a lot of Aethereal knowledge so whatever you do, you cannot allow the blade to fall into their hands.

 

 

---

 

 

It was hard to ignore the fact that Arena was staring at Guy Surname.

 

"If a member of the Covenant of the Eternals were to acquire Ophelia's Blade, I can assure you all that nothing good would come of it. For the Gods, for the mortals, and for all of existence as we know it."

 

"A weapon that can kill a God?" Ami said in a tone of awe and wonder.

 

"Not just kill a God, but kill the very thing they were meant to represent as well."

 

"Well, where is it now then?" Ami said as she adjusted her glasses.

 

All eyes turned to Guy Surname, who awkwardly rubbed his hands together.

 

"I umm… gave it to Headmistress Mishegoss. I'm s-sure she's taking good care of it."

 

Now that we knew the exact meaning behind Ophelia's Blade, we felt it would be much too dangerous to leave in the hands of our dear headmistress. The only one who should even have something like that was probably Arena, and why she didn't insist on taking it the first time she saw it would be a mystery until much later. For right now, the kids from Team Surname hurried over to Mishegoss's office to speak to her.

 

 

---

 

 

It may have been rude, but Guy felt he would deal with any kind of fallout later. He didn't knock on Headmistress Mishegoss's door. Instead he barged right in and marched his way to her desk. The rest of us quickly followed afterwards. Without even announcing himself, Guy loudly demanded her attention.

 

"Headmistress Mishegoss!"

 

Mishegoss nearly dropped her paper, but gave Guy a weak smile when she realized who it was. "Oh hey there Mister Surname. Long time no see. " Though she had actually just seen him earlier today. "What's up?"

 

Her words had slightly disarmed him. Gal spoke up in his stead.

 

"Hilda," Gal began. "We need to know what happened to the knife my brother loaned you a little while ago."

 

Professor Mishegoss raised a brow, then leaned back in her seat a little bit. "Oh right, that knife Guy let me borrow." She put a hand to her forehead and scrunched her face to think before she snapped her fingers. "I gave it to that nice guy from Ikari Farms, Lord Ikari."

 

Guy slammed his fists on the table. "You did what!?"

 

A smile spread on Mishegoss's face. "What's wrong G-guy?" she asked, with a bit of a snort. "Did you need a knife to... to...?" Finally she snorted, then burst out laughing.

 

"Just kidding!" she managed to choke out before laughter consumed her once again.

 

She wiped the tears from her eyes and began to walk towards a filing cabinet. "I..." she sniffed, wiped away more tears and tried to catch her breath. "I wouldn't give away something a student loaned me."

 

She pulled out a plain black leather holster, and from the jewels on the handle I could tell it was Ophelia's Blade in all of its glory. Guy's eyes lit up at the sight of it.

 

"Lord Ikari did seem to know a lot about it. He knew it used to belong to Headmistress Ipsum, for one. He also said Ipsum used it on people in his own family! As if! Can you imagine Ipsum herself as some type of murderer? Ridiculous!" Mishegoss scoffed.

 

We were thankful the blade was still in our belongings, but it was only at this point that we realized that only those of us from Team Surname and the Distribution knew the truth about Headmistress Ipsum.

 

"We... can tell her later." Oliver whispered. "Let's all just head home."

 

"Sorry to bother Hilda! Thanks for the early Holiday present!" Gal yelled as we all turned around and walked away.

 

"Don't worry about it kids! Enjoy Winter Break!" Mishegoss yelled out towards us. "And have a Happy New Year!"

 

 

---

 

 

Since it was winter break, the red dorm lounge was mostly empty. There were also less people due to the fact it was getting close to our normal bed time.

 

With Ami back and without Aynn it certainly did feel just like old times. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief when we returned to our normal hangout.

 

"Man Arena, why did you have to sour our moods like that?" Oliver asked as he slumped in his seat.

 

"I promised I would-"

 

"Everyone was happy that Hawthorne won the tournament-"

 

"Well..." Ami began. "I mean, not everyone..."

 

"And now's the time you decided to tell us about Ophelia's Blade?" Guy said as he checked the knife in his pocket for about the 8th time since we walked in.

 

I looked over at Oliver and thought over his question, as well as Arena's response. I gave it a moment to settle before the realization slowly dawned on me.

 

"Wait a minute Arena. You said you'd tell us all about Ophelia's Blade after we met every single member of the Cursed Chain..."

 

"Correct." Arena said with a quick nod, and an eager look in his eye.

 

"Ipsum had the first, Guy had the second and third, Aynn has the fourth... I think Hortense has one, and Guy and Gal are still sharing the seventh. So that leaves us with..."

 

Gal raised an eyebrow at my words. "What do you mean Guy and me share the seventh? I thought-"

 

I snapped my fingers as I realized, but stammered with my words at the unavoidable conclusion. "Those kids, Robin and Candice... they were..."

 

Arena smiled. "The sixth and eighth link in the chain, as well as two servants of the Covenant of the Eternals."

 

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 15: Three! Two! One!]

 

People always say 'Walter Sidney movies ruined little girls' lives!' because they set unrealistic expectation on impressionable young minds. All those Sidney Princesses were beautiful role models and lived happily ever after when their brave prince ended up saving the day. Little girls ended up thinking that if they weren't pretty or if they didn't have a boy willing to slay a dragon for them she would end up alone and bitter and depressed.

 

But what about little boys? We got those super hero comics to look up to. The heroes in those comics were super powerful, super smart, but above all else they were super noble. The always helped the weak and down trodden not just with their strength and skills but they always made the right decision that ended up helping everyone in the end.

 

So when a little boy can't help anyone, or when he tries to help everyone and instead actively makes a situation significantly worse he's left with the same incomplete feelings a former Sidney Princess might feel.

 

This was how I felt for much of our Winter Break.

 

I didn't tell my friends what I had done, though I'm pretty sure they either figured it out themselves or they asked Arena about it. I had given up my only daughter, my own flesh and blood, and put her in the hands of a bunch of deranged cultists at a school for the handicapped.

 

My friends tried to assure me I did the right thing. Robin and Candice were kids and they weren't going to hurt Aynn. The school would be a fine place for her. Even if she joined the Covenant of the Eternals, Aynn may one day end up leading the cult to a brighter future and join a much bigger family. Maybe Aynn was in exactly the right place to find the only people who could help her.

 

Even Arena, who often never gave me straight answers very explicitly assured me that giving her up was the right move. Nevertheless, nothing they said or did was able to shake me out of my unbreakable depressed stupor.

 

We planned out many things for Holiday break, but none of them lifted my spirits either. The six of us went ice skating, though Arena and I sort of just stood around while Ami and Gal tried to teach the other boys how to skate. I think Ami just planned skating just so she could hold Guy close to her and so she could wear one of those tight skirts that showed off her butt for him.

 

The day that it snowed we all went to play in Solar Dusk Memorial Park, however I offered no resistance as Small Boobs and Bernouli pelted me with snowballs. Guy and Ami built a snowman while Gal and Oliver tried to build an igloo. Arena took the school wide snowball fight very seriously. She organized Ben and Ilene, Claire, Jenna and Paige into a veritable Seal Team 6 of the snowball world. Watch them made me wonder if the was ever a war that was decided with a snowball fight.

 

Arena and I were the only two people in Team Surname who didn't have any money for tickets to the Silvershine Holiday Spectacular. I had spent my life savings on Aynn's tuition, and Arena was a goddess who did not rely on human currency. Instead Ami Pastiche and Gal Surname dipped into their reward fund from last year and bought tickets for the both of us.

 

For New Year's Eve we decided to hang out on the fourth floor lounge, and even invited Bernouli, Weibull and Small Boobs to hang out with us. The nine of us gathered around the TV we wheeled in from room 415.

 

"Three! Two! One!" all of us, including Guy and Gal, chanted at exactly the same time.

 

"Happy New Year!"

 

It was hard to stay gloomy in the face of such a big party. All of our friends and even a few of our part-time acquaintances had come together to celebrate another year. I cracked a little bit of a smile and that was all the invitation Arena needed before she took her chance, grabbed me by the collar and planted a kiss on my lips.

 

Ami and Guy awkwardly held hands before Guy finally willed up the courage and kissed Ami on the cheek. Ami gasped, grabbed Guy by the shoulders, and pulled him into a much more romantic kiss on the lips. Gal and Oliver exchanged awkward hugs, the both of them unsure of their current relationship status.

 

Nevertheless, we all talked for about an hour more about whatever random nonsense was on our mind.

 

"So wait, why don't you guys go to the bathroom in pairs?" Ami asked.

 

"Yeah, who do you guys talk to while you're in there?" Gal asked.

 

"What do you mean!?" Oliver said with a bit of a laugh. "There's no talking in the bathroom."

 

"What if you accidentally like," Small Boobs began, trying to think of how to phrase it. "What if you step on someone else's shoes when you're both standing in front of those Euro-waterfall things?"

 

"You mean a urinal?" I asked.

 

"You don't stand next to each other at a urinal!" Guy said, cracking a smile.

 

"But what if you run out of toilet paper?" Bernouli asked. "If you can't talk and you can't stand next to each other when you run out, what happens when you need to wipe afterwards?"

 

"You... you don't need to wipe after using a urinal." Oliver said bewildered.

 

The girls all raised an eyebrow, except for Arena who had very intricate knowledge of everything so she didn't need to ask. The mortal schoolgirls all had a mixture of confused, grossed out, and surprised on their looks.

 

Weibull gave a bit of a chuckle at their reactions. "I have 7 other brothers, so I know what it's like." She said before yawning and pushing off from her seat. "Alright, it's been fun hanging out with you kids again." she tapped the security guard badge on her chest. "But I've gotta be up at 6AM tomorrow. See you guys around!"

 

Bernouli gave a yawn as well. "Yeah, it's getting late. I should head off soon too." She glanced over at her PDA. "It's almost 1 AM." The girl made her way to the stairs before suddenly pausing and turning around.

 

"Oh and by the way Suri... I think you'd make a great addition to the Distribution. Swing by my room tomorrow and we can talk a bit more."

 

Small Boobs's eyes lit up and she gave a quick military style salute. "Y-yes ma'am!"

 

Bernouli gave a laugh as she shook her head and walked away.

 

We all smiled and waved and wished Bernouli well, but as soon as the door to the stairwell closed Oliver instantly dropped the facade. Not to say he was miserable, but while he was all smiles before, his face changed to a more relaxed one.

 

"Man, I thought they'd never leave!" Oliver walked over to a messenger bag near the couch and began rummaging through it. "Now that they're all gone, the real party can begin!"

 

The messenger bag in Oliver's hands was made of leather. It looked extremely professional, and pretty much the opposite of what I'd imagine Oliver would own. I saw it leaning against the couch when the party began but I had assumed it was Bernouli's. The messenger bag was all black but it somehow seemed to glow with an otherworld power. As I watched Oliver scoop up the bag it looked as though it was empty, however in an instant Oliver produced a bottle from the satchel. The bottle was made of blue stained glass, the label was fading but I could make out the words 'Bolt from the Blue'.

 

"Ta-da!"

 

"Is that..." Gal began, whispering and looking around nervously. "Beer?"

 

"No stupid. It's wine." Oliver said with a laugh as he began to uncork the bottle. "And I've got more than enough for everyone. Small Boobs, the teacups if you please?" Small Boobs was still giddy from the thought of joining the Distribution so she ignored the fact that Oliver didn't use her real name.

 

Oliver filled two cups, handing one to Gal and leaving one on the table nearby for himself. Gal looked at into her cup nervously, unsure of what to make of it before taking a sip. She shivered, her hair stood on ends, and she puckered her lips as she did not enjoy the sour taste. Nevertheless, she went back for a second sip.

 

Guy got two cups and took a step towards Gal, before noticing she was already drinking. He then turned to Ami and offered her the second cup. Ami accepted it, clanging her teacup with Guy's.

 

Small Boobs got her own cup, and I felt like continuing the trend of boyfriends picking up cups for their girlfriends. I picked up Arena and I's drink, however the look on her face as I approached her nearly made me drop the cup.

 

Arena was always calm, slow to change expression, and calculated to a fault. Her words, actions, and expression were always measured and subdued. She looked legitimately surprised, stunned, frozen at what she had just seen.

 

"Y-you!" she stammered as she pointed at Oliver. "I knew I recognized it! That's... Diomes's satchel!"

 

"Diomes?" Small Boobs said as she took a sip of 'Bolt from the Blue'. She gave a shiver and a bit of a giggle. "Is this gonna be one of those Other Realm things?"

 

"Relax Arena. He gave it to me." Oliver said with a smile. "I didn't steal it or anything like that."

 

"No!" she exclaimed so loudly I thought the walls themselves would collapse. "I... I know you didn't steal from the God of Wine and Travels. I knew he granted you a gift on Family Day. It's just..." she shook her head, and seemed to calm down a bit.

 

"Mortals are easy to predict if they are left alone. Once gods perform acts of Divine Intervention however, things become much more difficult to predict. I had made so many plans for Arthur and I's life. I had predicted the best course for the future and made sure my gifts to humanity, the Cursed Chain, would cause the most beneficial results. If the Gods meddle with human affairs and we introduce a new variable in the form of gifts of Divine Intervention then everything after this point needs to be recalculated in order to-"

 

Before she could continue, Oliver stuck the opened bottle of 'Bolt from the Blue' in Arena's mouth. He gently leaned the bottle back.

 

Arena gave him a glare, but Oliver just smiled.

 

"Drink up Arena. Relax. It's good to let your mind wander some time."

 

Arena's face reddened as she awkwardly wiped her mouth after finishing half the bottle. I didn't know it was possible for a Goddess to become drunk. Then again, this was Aethereal Wine, nectar of the Gods, so surely even a Goddess like Arena would feel some effects.

 

".. Hmm..." Arena slurred. "There's one wine for each God..." she took a seat next to me and rest her head on her shoulder before she closed her eyes.

 

"Mine is... a Thirst for Knowledge." Arena gave a giggle.

 

"A toast then!" Oliver said, raising his teacup. "To Team Surname!"

 

"To new friends!" Small Boobs said, lifting her empty teacup since she had already finished it.

 

"To old friends!" Ami said.

 

"To Silvershine!" Guy exclaimed.

 

I took a small sip of Bold from the Blue. It was good. Kinda strong, kinda sour, but also kind of a milky taste too. It left a tingle on my lips but as I let my mind wander, there was only one person my mind kept wandering over to.

 

"This is all great and all but..."

 

Oliver approached me, satchel in hand as he began to look through it. "I know just what's on your mind man. I think you're gonna need something a little stronger." He pulled out a bottle labeled 'Clear Water'.

 

"Take him to The Elysian Flower Fields!" Arena slurred loudly, before laughing and awkwardly planting her lips on my cheek. I heard her whisper 'I love you' into my ear before she went back to slobbering over my cheek.

 

Oliver stuck 'Clear Water' back and instead produced an all black and silver bottle, labeled 'The Elysian Flowers'. He grabbed my still mostly full teacup and drank the whole thing without even flinching before filling my cup with Elysian Flowers wine.

 

"Don't worry about Aynn. We'll worry about it tomorrow. Just enjoy the night." Olvier smiled and patted me on the back.

 

I heard Arena whisper 'I love you' about 4 more times as I looked down at the all black liquid in the porcelain cup.

 

"G-Guess what Artie!" Arena slurred. "I love you!"

 

Oliver gave a laugh then walked back over to Gal.

 

I took in a deep breath and took a sip from the teacup. As I finished my first sip, it was like all of my fears and worries began to fade away. I felt like I had no more responsibilities and no more cares in the entire world. I took another sip and everything else began to fade away as well.

 

 

---

 

 

It seemed the first morning of my New Year started like every other day of last year. I awoke in my own bed with Arena cuddling on top of me, the both of us intertwined in a blanket like a burrito. There was something different about Arena, and after studying her for a minute I think I finally figured out what it was.

 

"Arena..." I gave her a gentle pat on the back to alert her that I was awake. "Are you not wearing any clothes?"

 

"Hmm..." it seemed she had actually fallen asleep, which I thought she physically could not do. She looked at me, trying to process what I had just said.

 

"What? That's ridiculous!" she exclaimed at last. "I'm wearing my ethereal armor! A blend of divine silk and ethereal metals. It is so thin and lightweight, it may feel like I'm not wearing anything at all."

 

She propped herself up and I could see... well, everything.

 

"It is so holy, that only those with the purest and most noblest of heart can... can..." she snorted, then exploded into a fit of laughter before collapsing on top of me again.

 

"Yeah, I'm not wearing any clothes." She gave another laugh then kissed me on the lips, intertwining her fingers with mine.

 

I couldn't remember much from last night. I remember drinking with my friends to celebrate New Years, and now I woke up in bed with Arena. I rubbed my head, thankful I somehow avoided a hangover. I figured it was just the otherworldly wine and thought nothing else of it.

 

"What happened last night?"

 

"Oh come on. Do you really have to ask?" Arena said with a smile. We were both naked, cuddling up close, and boyfriend and girlfriend. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what had happened.

 

Arena rolled off of me and began to make her way to the bathroom. Even though I had known her for so long I still blushed and looked away as she began getting ready for the day.

 

"You wouldn't stop talking about Aynn last night... so Ami suggested that since you wanted a daughter so badly, you and I should go back to our room and make a new one."

 

"W-what!?" I stammered.

 

She close the bathroom door behind her, then in an instant the door opened again and she was once again wearing her full Hermos Red uniform.

 

"A new daughter... that would have been a terrible idea." she said blushing.

 

She yawned and stretched before taking a seat in front of the whole where our TV used to be. "You should get dressed. Your friends will be here soon."

 

I nodded before I hurried over to shower to get ready for the day.

 

 

---

 

 

After getting dressed I noticed I had received quite a few messages from all my friends telling me to get ready for a surprise. Other than my normal uniform I also put on a snow jacket. Arena wore her typical Hermos Red uniform, but she also wore my old Critias Black cloak, the one I got from Lincoln Academy, over it.

 

As we sat in the lobby of the Hermos Red Dorm, Arena seemed lost in a deep thought.

 

"Small changes..." she whispered. "But... they're leading to bigger ones." she shook her head and frowned. "By about... Sweetheart's Day it should all be stabilized, I think."

 

I knew I couldn't do much to help her, so I merely watched the road from the window. The city was quiet and still, likely due to people nursing a hangover from last night's New Year's party. After a minute I saw the first car I had seen in ten minutes. An all tan SUV parked in front of the Hermos red dorm, and to my surprise I noticed Oliver was the driver.

 

Arena and I quickly exited the lobby to meet with Oliver. I tapped his window and smiled as he rolled down the windows.

 

"Hey Olly! What's with the mom-mobile?"

 

"It's actually my dad's! He said he'd let me borrow it as long as I stopped sleeping with your mom!"

 

"Unlock the door and let 'em in already!" I heard Gal's voice yell. "It's freezing with that window open!"

 

The passenger side of the SUV opened up and I saw Ami sitting in the second row. She scooted over to give Arena and I more room. I took a seat next to her and Arena took one next to me.

 

As the Kholzoff family SUV started moving, I noticed it was much more crowded than I originally expected. Of course the 6 founding members of Team Surname were there. Oliver was driving, the twins were in the third row, and Ami was sitting next to me in the second row, but there were two other girls in the car as well. I didn't mean Hawthorne girls by the way. They were much much younger.

 

"Hey! It's my husband!" Alma Khlozoff, Oliver's 10 year old little sister squeaked from the front seat. Arena glared at her, clutching at my arm defensively.

 

"It's not wise to tease a goddess." I heard a high pitched, very serious voice call out from the third row of the SUV. "He and Arena are deeply in love."

 

"My dad said I could borrow the car as long as I babysat Alma too." Oliver said, keeping his eyes on the road.

 

"And I kinda wanted to make some money today, so I decided to babysit Hortense as well!" Gal said.

 

I nodded, it all sounded agreeable.

 

"So where are we all going? Soccer practice?" I asked with a bit of a chuckle.

 

"Not exactly Artie." Oliver glanced over at me from the rearview mirror and smiled. I cringed at the nickname.

 

"We're your friends and we hate to see you so depressed." Gal said sadly.

 

"You haven't been eating. You look like you haven't slept. Arena says you've been distant with her too." Guy said, counting off the grievances with his fingers.

 

"Since you've been so down lately, and since we're your best friends, we're all going to the Kelen Academy to visit Aynn Mischa together." Oliver said as he made the turn on to the highway.

 

"And if she's in danger, we'll bust her out!" Even Alma seemed excited for this mission they were.

 

Arena seemed strangely quiet for a bit before she shook her head from left to right.

 

"If you want to visit Marie-Aynn Sumischa Surrogate she's not at Kelen Academy right now."

 

It was lucky there was no one else on the highway, otherwise Oliver slamming his brakes might have caused an accident. "What!?"

 

"H-hey! Eyes at ten and two!" Alma, the co-pilot directed, though it was doubtful she understood what she said. Oliver gave a chuckle and continued driving but slightly slower.

 

"Alright then, if we're not going to Kelen...." he tossed his PDA over to Alma. "Plot a course for our next destination Co-Pilot Alma! Cartographer Arena, please let our Co-Pilot know where we're headed!"

 

"It's Winter Break, so Candice, Robin, and Allison wanted to visit their adopted father, Lord Ikari, leader of the Covenant of the Eternals. Naturally, they brought Aynn along with them as well."

 

Alma nodded. "So uhh... where exactly do I need to set the Maps App to?"

 

"You'll find everyone you need at Lord Ikari's Traveling Farm."

 

Alma punched in the name and a small map appeared on Oliver's PDA. She set it on the dashboard, and smiled towards her older brother.

 

With an empty road in front of us, none of us knew where we'd all end up. Not even Arena knew what would come of everything after the bit of Divine Intervention and drinking from last night. All we knew was that we were going in together, and that was all that mattered.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 16: Lord Ikari's Traveling Farm]

Last chapter I opened up talking about princesses and super heroes. This chapter, I'm ramping up the excitement all the way to eleven by talking about Excel worksheets.

Excel is a computer program, sort of like a calculator, but much more advanced. Let's say you put in the number three into one of the cells on an excel sheet. You can then type in, for example, "seven plus some other number" and tell excel to use the first number as your "some other number". After running you formula, excel spits out a second number. You can then make a whole new formula, apply it to the second, and get a third number, and you can just repeat this for as long as you like. Apply a formula to the fourth, the fifth, and so on until you get bored. Multiply it by ten! Divide the fourth number by the third! Make it an exponent! Whatever you want! The real surprising thing though is if you went back to the very beginning and change that very first number from a three to a four, all of a sudden all of the other numbers would fall into place and adjust themselves accordingly.

This was sort of what Arena was going through, but instead of an excel sheet with numbers she was calculating all of our lives, the lives of all the mortals we knew, and the lives of all the mortals we would ever meet and try to make them all fit after a slight change she didn't account for.

Not too long ago, the God of Wine had given Oliver a bag of liquor for New Years Eve. Maybe the bag had somehow caused a drastic butterfly effect. Maybe the divine wine had actually melted some of Arena's celestial brain cells. Whatever it was, Arena seemed a bit jittery on the car ride over. She was whispering something and nervously talking to herself, trying to find a pattern in the cars that drove by and trying to predict them. She seemed to give a contented sigh when she got them right, but she'd frown and grow upset when she got them wrong. She seemed to be growing happier as the sun began to set and she getting more and more of the car colors right.

"I... think the future might be stabilizing." she said with a smile.

"Awesome! Take off your seatbelts everyone!" Oliver yelled. "Arena says we're all good now!"

The twins of course didn't take off their seatbelts. They were fast asleep in the backseat. Hortense was also in the back, wide awake but she couldn't take off her child safety seat even if she wanted. Alma quickly undid her seatbelt though, which caused Ami to yell.

"No!" Ami protested, which woke up Guy and Gal. "What if we get in a crash!?"

Gal muttered something inaudibly as she rubbed her eyes.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it Pastiche." Oliver said with a smile. "You can take off your seatbelt cause the car's in park. We're already here!"

I looked out the window, and saw we weren't on any road. We were parked in the grass near the top of a hill overlooking a village. "Where exactly is here?"

"Lord Ikari's Traveling Farm! Duh!" Alma said as she rolled her eyes.

Arena scowled. "We're here already?" She looked over at the time on the dashboard, and then glanced over at the setting sun, squinting. "You went through the yellow light 3 miles back instead of waiting?"

Oliver and his little sister shared a look and both shrugged at the same time.

Arena let out a sigh then slumped back in her seat.

"I... think I should stay in the car for a little while longer." Arena said.

"No problem Arena." Oliver said as he stepped out of the car. "Think fast!"

"I always think fast-" Arena said before Oliver's car keys hit her in the face.

Oliver struggled to keep from bursting out laughing as Arena rubbed her nose with her right and clutched the keys with her left. "Alright M-Mrs Surrogate. Get to the front seat and keep the engine running in case we need to gun it. Everyone else! Let's roll!"

After about 5 hours in a car the 7 of us were eager to stretch our legs. Though we looked around the farmland before us and the small town ahead, I was beginning to have second thoughts. The only thing that drove me on was the idea that somewhere on this compound I would find my daughter.


---


"Lord Ikari's Traveling Farm." Hortense said as she read a sign outloud. While sitting in her stroller she was wearing a tiny little coat, cute little earmuffs, and white cotton gloves that made her look like a princess. I smiled as she reminded me of what Aynn looked like when she was little.

Alma Khlozoff however wasn't smiling. "What? That's not what it says! It's like..." Alma squinted hard and tried to sound out what she was reading. "Cinnamon... Ikari... Re-tie My Olive...""

"Arthur's pretty good at reading gibberish." Gal teased as she wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Hey Artie! Tell us what it says!"

"It's Arthur for one..." I said pushing Gal away, though the fact that I disliked my nickname made Gal smile even more. "Secondly, it's not handwritten. It's an easy to read font, and it looks like regular characters but... it's not words I understand. I have no idea how Hortense is reading it."

"Ohh... uhh..." Hortense awkwardly looked away.

"Can you give it a rest already Friedman?" Ami said with a yawn. "We already figured out you're not normal. You have a link in the Cursed Chain just like Guy and Gal do, right? What's it do? Let you read stuff in foreign languages, like that Russian History of Time?"

Hortense blinked. "A Cursed Chain? Is that what it's called?"

"Arena can tell us- oh." I looked around before realizing Arena had stayed behind in the car. The car itself was rather far behind, just a dot off in the distance. I turned ahead and I could see the vastness of Lord Ikari's Traveling Farm.

"Let a girl keep her secrets!" Oliver protested. "If this Covenant of the Eternals thing is as great as Arena says, I'm sure we'll find out sooner rather than later."

Despite the name 'Traveling Farm', it wasn't exactly what I had imagined it being. When I first heard the phrase uttered last year, I pictured a magical house like from that animated movie with the wizard and the moving castle. Or maybe it would be a smaller house that could fly on balloons like the movie with the old man and the house that could fly on balloons. What I saw instead was just a normal looking town with normal looking houses and a rather large yet normal looking mansion in the center of town. There were just two things that stuck out as extremely abnormal.

I didn't know much about plants or farming or anything, but I always just assumed farmers only took care of one major type of plant a time. You'd have a pumpkin patch if you want pumpkins or an apple orchard if you want apples or a corn field if you want corn. These were big patches of land explicitly set aside and specialized to hold one specific type of plant, and these large tracts of land were often far away from each other. That wasn't the case here. There were extremely varied fruits and vegetables all really close to each other. I saw a few bean stalks in the shade of an orange tree with a grape vine wrapped around them.

There were so many different fruits and vegetables that it was hard to see a path between any of the houses or to the Ikari Family mansion at the center of town. And remember, this was also the first day of January so not only were all these fruits and vegetables in full bloom, it was also in the middle of winter. We saw not a single leaf on any of the trees on the drive in, yet here it was like we were in the middle of the spring harvest.

The second thing that was unusual was how the farm got its "moving" title. On the edge of the little town I could see plants and vegetables dying immediately, then suddenly springing back to life seconds later. I thought it was an optical illusion at first, however as I approached a withered olive tree, it suddenly sprouted all of its leaves and many more olives before wilting and dying again immediately. It was like the farm was moving in time, in movement to something else moving around the area. This only happened around the edges of town. Whatever was causing the plants to grow like this seemed to be coming from the center of town, right at Lord Ikari's manor.

My friends were mostly in awe of what we were seeing at this bizarre farm, but I knew we were here for one reason and one reason only.

"So... I'm guessing Aynn is in the big house over there?" I said, pointing to the Ikari Family Mansion.

"Do you think any of those people saw her?" Gal asked.

It was only here that I noticed we weren't alone in the traveling farm. While sitting in Oliver's car, I had noticed many people working the field, picking food and all wearing what looked like Lincoln Academy cloaks. Most wore black and gray, however I had seen at least two wearing white. Once our car was parked on the hill overlooking the farm, the workers stopped what they were doing and began to make their way over to us, surrounding us on all sides and encircling the group, standing between us and the Ikari Mansion.

Eldery men and women, adults, young children, teens, and everything else in between staring at the 7 of us, whispering quietly among themselves in some language I didn't understand.

"Sutcidelam Euqrot"
"Sudnuces knil"
"Suitret knil"
"Sutniuq knil"
"Amitapes knil"

"Any.... any idea what they're saying?" I asked the group. They all shook their heads except for Hortense.

"Cursed Chain." she replied. "I think they can tell who we are."

"How do you know that?" Ami asked, though I think Gal had the better question.

"Are they gonna kill us?"

A bit of a silence from Hortense before she answered Gal's question.

"I don't think they've decided yet."

Oliver raised his arms like he was trying to calm down a few agitated velociraptors. "Don't worry, these guys are primitive savages and they're probably just scared because they've never seen a car before."

"They're not the Amish!" Ami protested.

"So stay close, don't make any sudden movements, and if you get scared show them your PDA. They'll probably think you're some kind of wizard and leave you alone."

"Sutucol tse Sunimod Ikari..." I heard an older man yell before a few women and some kids hurried off towards the mansion. The only word I understood from this was was 'Ikari'.

"They're going to tell their boss we're here." Hortense translated.

"And then what?" Alma asked.

Guy yawned as he pushed past us.

"Let's not wait around to find out." Guy took a breath and I could tell he was about to active the second link in the chain, the one that let him control people by asking politely.

"Can you please bring us to the leader of the Covenant of the Eternals?"

Even though I had no idea where he was, I had the strongest feeling of wanting to introduce Guy to Lord Ikari before realizing I didn't know where to begin. I shivered and the feeling quickly went away. I looked at my friends and it seemed that, other than Gal, they all just experienced the same thing. However with the crowd of 20 or so people encircling us, and possibly more hiding in the tall fruits and vegetables around us, and with their hoods up and obscuring their faces, it was difficult to tell what was going on in their minds.

"... C-can they hear me? Do they even speak our language?"

"Try saying 'Orcesbo erepicca sibon tu Sunimod Ikari'." Hortense offered.

"... Uhh... s-say that again, but slower." Guy said nervously.

"We understand." I heard a familar girl's voice as she removed her white hood. She had long blonde hair and piercing red eyes, but a gentle and familiar smile on her face. I recognized this girl as the Witch of Necrophades from Crimson Wind Academy. She was the daughter of Lord Ikari and likely some sort of high priestess in the Covenant of the Eternals. Fortunately, we already knew she was friendly.

"It would be the honor of a lifetime to present the Cursed Chain to my father."


---


The journey to Lord Ikari's mansion couldn't have been farther than my daily commute from the Red Dorm to the main Academy Building, yet with the tangle web of vegetation all over the trip was more difficult than it really needed to be. We had to abandon Hortense's stroller and Gal carried her in her arms. Alma was also feeling tired so Oliver offered her a piggy back ride.

The witch of Necrophades seemed to have no problem navigating the root vegetables and vines and shrubbery all around us. In fact, if I didn't know any better I'd suspect vegetation seemed to move out of the way for her as she walked. As we drew closer to the house, I noticed more and more Covenant of the Eternals cult members gathering around us, however they seemed to bow deeply towards Guy, Gal and Hortense before standing aside. It was unnerving as all hell, and I was glad to be back inside a building and away from all the plants and weirdos in cloaks.

The inside of the Ikari Manor was dimly lit by candles, and there were book shelves all over the place with books in languages I didn't understand, but I suspected Hortense could read them. There were religious looking paintings of the gods performing miracles. Arena was leading an army. Demeidon was parting the sea. And I saw replicas of Aethereal artifacts, like Arena's shield, Apollemis's bow, and Zera's javelin.
We followed the Necrophades Witch deep into the mansion and it was only after about the third turn that I realized I didn't know exactly how to get out of the mansion if we had to make an escape.

"Uhh... we're looking for a friend of ours named Aynn Mischa." Oliver began.

"The Demigoddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy. Yes, she is here." The Witch smiled politely as she continued walking ahead of us.

We walked in silence for a little while longer before Guy spoke up. "So... you're taking us to see Lord Ikari, right?"

"It might actually be easier to bring us over to Aynn," Oliver began. "Or maybe even bring Aynn over to my dad's car. We got a long trip back to Silvershine and-"

The Witch stopped in front of a door and smiled. "You seven must be famished after your long journey then."

She opened the door before us to reveal a huge fruit and vegetable spread of food. A buffet of health food was on display in a large ebony table, with 10 seats all around the table.

Though we hadn't eaten all day, we all looked at the food uneasily. What if it was poisoned?

"Please, eat your fill as I go find my father for us." The Witch turned around to walk away, but the sound of Hortense's voice made her stop.

"Before we eat, it would be rude to not properly introduce myself to our host." Hortense began quickly. She hastily removed one of her white cotton gloves and raised her hand to The Witch.

"My name is Hortense Friedman."

"Kira Ikari."

As their hands met, Hortense's eyes got bigger, as did Kira Ikari's. It was just for a split second, but before long Hortense suddenly pulled away as though she just touched something that was way too hot.

"The fifth link in the chain huh? I had a suspicion, but it looks like I can confirm it now." The Witch smiled. "My father will be so happy to see the entire Cursed Chain in one room together." She eagerly skipped away leaving the 7 of us alone with a plentiful supply of food.

Hortense seemed a bit lightheaded, but Gal quickly picked her up and let her sit on the table, giving her room to breathe.

"Are you okay Hortense?" Gal asked. "I don't know if it's safe to eat this food, and I'm sorry but I left your animal crackers in the car."

"I'm not hungry, it's just surprised that girl was able to resist. I read her mind and read her memories but-"

"Alright Hortense! Spit it out already!" Ami said, impatiently tapping her foot on the ground. "We Crimson Wind Academy kids don't take kindly to being teased like this! What's your Cursed Link do already?"

Oliver glared at Ami, then turned to Hortense and smiled. "Don't let the big mean girl scare you Tensey-Wensey. You don't need to tell us anything."

Hortense shook her head. "I don't quite know what you all mean, but whenever I touch someone's hand I can... see their entire life."

I blinked, unsure of what exactly she meant. "When you say their entire life, do you mean from birth to death?"

Hortense stood on the table so she could see all of us (except Alma) in the eye. "Not until death. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but in the split second that I appear to zone out, I'm actually, in my own mind, experiencing the entirety of someone else's life up to the point they shook my hand. I gain all their knowledge, all their skills, and I know everything they've ever experienced. That's.... sort of how I understood their language. I think I must have picked it up at some point."

None of us really knew what to say. It explained why she avoided hand contact if it would send her into a coma, and it explained how she seemed so much older despite being around four years old. Heck, it also explained how Spencer Friedman could pretend to be the World's Greatest Detective despite being kind of an idiot. He actually used his sister to read other people's lives and she would confirm if they were the murderer or not.

"It takes a horrifying mental toll on you, as I'm sure you can imagine. But I've had it my whole life and by now..." She reached into her pocket and put her glove back on. "I can manage."

Hortense yawned as she looked over at the Surname twins. "The only people I've ever had difficulty reading were Guy and Gal-"

"The seventh link keeps the other ones from working!" Gal said, as she suddenly hugged her brother. He blushed and tried to wiggle away, but Gal just pulled him in closer and giggled.

"Yeah, and that Ikari Kira girl... sort of. She was able to resist, and she was able to slow me down but ultimately I was still able to read her whole life. She's… more than she seems and I was able to find out a lot about the Cursed Chain."

We were so caught up with Hortense we hadn't noticed the door open, and we didn't notice the three people who had walked in and overheard our conversation.

"Oh wow, the fifth link in the chain huh?" a boy's voice called out. I turned to see Robin Weaver, the boy in the wheelchair from Kelen Academy, along with his sister Candice Sublime and their teacher, Professor Allison. Candice wore an all-black Lincoln Academy cloak.

Hortense covered her mouth and looked down, embarrassed that they had overheard our conversation.

"Hey hey! No need to get all shy about it. This is a safe space." Robin smiled as Allison wheeled him up to the table. "Eat up guys. Once Lord Ikari comes down I'm sure he'll let you guys join the family."

Professor Allison nodded as she ate one grape, then fed one to Robin.

"Name's Robin by the way! Robin Weaver."

Candice picked up a slice of watermelon in her heavily bandaged hands and brought it to her face. With her hood up I couldn't tell for certain if she ate it, but judging from the bite mark I naturally assumed she did.

"Candice Sublime." She pointed her other heavily bandaged hand to the older woman feeding Robin. "And that's Professor Allison."

"Don't worry about introducing yourselves Arthur, Oliver, Guy, Gal, Ami, Alma and Hortense." Robin said as Allison was eating a grape. "We already know all about you, hence why we're allowing you guys to join our family."

"No weapons." Candice said.

"Ah yes, Candice is right. Guy, before you're allowed to join you're going to have to drop off Ophelia's Blade with my father."

Guy raised an eyebrow, then immediately patted his right breast pocket. "How..." he was dumbfounded as to how they knew he had it.

I shook my head though. "We're not here to join the Covenant of the Eternals. We're here to pick up Aynn and then take her back home."

The group stopped what they were doing and exchanged looks amongst themselves.

"Take back... Sister Aynn?" Candice removed her hood to reveal her heavily bandaged face. All I could see where her eyes, which seemed to be wavering like she was about to cry.

"No, that won't be happening." Robin said shaking his head. "Aynn's a priceless treasure. She's more valuable than me, Candice and Allison combined. Father Ikari's not going to let you just walk out the door with her, and neither will we."

"So it's a fight then?" Oliver raised his duel disk and smiled. "I think I can take on a kid in a wheelchair."

"They have Links in the Cursed Chain." Hortense reminded as she put a gloved hand on Oliver's shoulder. "They're a lot stronger than they look."

"So are we." Guy said with a smile. He took a breath and I figured he was about to use the second chain. "Candice and Robin..."

Their eyes lit up in a panic, before Robin spoke. "W-wait! Hold on there champ! We're all friends here, and just to prove we're all on the same side, I've got an idea."

Robin nodded towards Candice and she leaned in. He whispered something into her ear. Candice whispered something back. Then, the two nodded.

"After much deliberation, we all agreed that we can't let you LEAVE with Aynn, but she is your daughter and since you are our family," Robin paused, then smiled. "The least we can do is let you see her."

The seventh of us looked each other over. This didn't sound like much of a fair deal for us, however it seemed Robin and Candice had already made up their minds.

"Candice, go tell father about the change of plans."

"Yes, dear brother." Candice put her hood back on and walked out of the room in a bit of a tough military stance.

"Allison, please be a dear take us over to our dear sisters bed chambers after our guests have finished their dinner."

The seven of us were unsure of the future, but we ate a little bit quietly. The food was good, fresh, and full of life just as I remembered it from Sweetheart's Day last year. However I didn't trust any of the people in the Covenant of the Eternals, and I'd soon learn I was right to keep my skepticism.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 17: Good Evening Everyone]

 

Team Surname, plus two other kids we just happened to be babysitting at the time went about half a day out of our way to Ikari Farms, the home of the Covenant of the Eternals in order to rescue my daughter, Aynn Mischa.

After a quick meal of fruits and vegetables, I thought I was prepared for anything. I thought that, worst case scenario, we would have to fight our way using the Cursed Chain. Gal would use the seventh link to clear up Aynn's memories for a bit, and then Aynn would rewrite people's memories while Guy would persuade them to step out of our way. Then we would sprint through the field of vegetables, get to Oliver's car and laugh our way home back to Silvershine.

I thought this would be easy.

I was wrong.

As I entered the room before me, I heard a grave, sickly old lady voice calling out towards us.

"Good evening everyone..."

My heart sank as I could barely see the outline of a woman in the soft candle light. She was slumped over in the corner, and she sounded much older than the little teenager I had remembered.

"A-Aynn?"

"Is that really her?" Ami pressed a few buttons on her PDA to bring up the flashlight app, and a bright light projected outwards.

"D-Don't shine that light at me!" the old woman hissed as she shielded her eyes. It was only on her for a second, but I was certain I saw Aynn signature white-and-black hair. White on top, black at the ends. The cute button nose was a little more crooked but definitely still hers. And while her eyes were formerly dark gray, they were now a soft milky white. She wore a cloak with the hood down and a yellow sundress.

"She has bad cataracts in her old age." Robin explained as Allison pushed his wheelchair into the room. "Bright lights causes her terrible pain."

"What do you mean 'old age'?" Oliver asked. "She's a teenager just like us isn't she?"

Robin smiled, then looked over to me. "Surely her father told his friends, didn't he?"

My friends looked me over, a mixture of concern and confusion as they wait to hear what I had to say. Even Hortense wasn't sure what to think as she looked at me patiently.

According to Arena, the best way to learn new information was to just lay out what you already knew. I sighed and took a breath, preparing to give Arena's method of teaching a try.

"Well," I began, hand under my chin as I tried to organize my thoughts into the most constructive way I could. "Aynn defeated Gal in a duel near the end of September. Even so, it's abundantly clear Aynn doesn't have the seventh link in the chain."

"Huh?" Gal did a double take. "What do you mean abundantly clear?"

"Well after she beat you in a duel, Guy asked her to 'please not alter anyone's memories' or something like that. He used the second link in the chain on her and she... obeyed. If she had the seventh link, she wouldn't have been compelled to do it"

Guy looked as though he was about to say something, then thought better of it and stopped to consider what I said.

Oliver snapped his fingers. "But wait, after she beat Gal she was able to keep her memories for a while wasn't she?"

"Not exactly. Touching Gal's hand meant the seventh link cleared her mind, but not permanently. If you were feeling hungry but then ate something, you'd feel better for a little while. Similarly, touching Gal's hand was able to bring her temporary clarity, for about 12 hours at least." I sighed.

"S-she told me that on Family Day."

My friends stayed quiet after my littler revelation. I didn't know if they were mad or upset that I had kept that hidden from them since November. Since she was my daughter, I felt it was my own burden to carry. I was unsure what they were thinking of, but one thing was clear. Robin wasn't exactly thrilled with my revelation.

"Twelve hours? That's ridiculous!" he scoffed with a smile. "We've studied the curse chain, measured the way the chains interacted with each other, and it's abundantly clear the seventh link's mind clearing effects on the fourth last for 24 hours."

"Oh, that's because-" Ami began, before Hortense elbowed her in the knee.

"That's because..." Hortense stopped to think it over. "Because Aynn's a demigoddess."

Allison raised an eyebrow at Hortense's words but didn't say anything.

"Yes, I'm sure the Covenant only recently learned Aynn's unique gifts." Hortense said with a nervous smile. "According to Kira's memories, this was the first time in the Covenant's history that the documented a DemiGoddess with a link in the chain. As you know, the blessing is magnified, hence why she was able to brainwash an entire school. But the curse is also magnified, so... it was able to overpower the seventh."

I wasn't sure about Hortense's words, and I was pretty sure she wasn't sure about them either. Hortense always spoke so plainly and with confidence, but here there was a nervousness behind her every word. Even so, I knew the much simpler solution was that the seventh link was split between Gal and Guy. However, Hortense's explanation seemed to appease Robin.

If he could move his arms I'm sure he'd run a hand through his hair and smirk. Instead he settled on just a smirk.

"Ah, that makes sense. There's less information on the DemiGods and DemiGoddesses as they can typically live much more normal lives." he laughed. "Well, not exactly normal. They'd be exceptional in their field and have tons of raw natural talent, but beyond that they'd be indistinguishable to anyone who didn't have a lifetime of training like those of us at in the Covenant."

"Y-yeah." the old woman in front of us said in a bit of a strained voice. "Even with all the wisdom I have, I can still feel my memory slipping."

"But I still don't understand." Gal said. "Why is she an old lady? What does that have to do with… oh… "

"Since it's clear Aynn didn't win the seventh," I began. "She must have won something else from her duel with Gal. And there's only one link in the chain that can cause someone to age much faster."

Gal groaned and shivered. "Y-you don't mean..."

"The first link in the chain, previously owned by Headmistress Ipsum."

Gal gave a shriek and began wriggling her arms like she had just touched an insect. "Eww eww eww! Ipsum had her gross link in the chain inside me this whole time!?"

"Think of it this way Gal," Oliver began. "Since you lost the first link in the chain, that means you still have the seventh."

That seemed to put Gal at ease as she blushed and looked over at Guy. "R-really?"

Ami shook her head. "But I mean... Gal didn't REALLY defeat Ipsum. Ipsum had the upper hand and Gal just stalled for time. Our headmistress died of old age."

"Oh man..." Oliver smacked his forehead with his palm as thought it had finally dawned on him.

"Battle City Semi Finals, right?" Alma asked excitedly.

"Yeah. Ipsum's duel disk deactivated and she became unable to duel. Pretty sure that still counts in Gal's favor. Happened during one of the Battle City semi-finals just like that."

"Really? Just like that? Ground to dust and everything?" Guy mocked sarcastically, but we ignored him.

I nodded towards Oliver's suggestion. "So if Gal beat Ipsum and she won the first link, and Aynn beat Gal, and won a link in the chain, since Aynn didn't take the seventh.... The logic follows that Aynn must have won the first link in the chain when she beat Gal. The one that lets you rob the youth from others but at the cost of aging much faster!"

If Robin could leap and clap, I'm sure he would have. Instead he sat in his wheelchair and nodded while smiling.

"So you've all figured out what the Covenant knew within the first few days of meeting her? Congratulations!"

While it felt good to have solved the riddle, I was suddenly horrified by what it implied. I turned to the woman and gasped as the realization dawned on me.

"Wait! If that's true, then that means you're going to die of old age soon!"

I threw myself at the girl, and she recoiled. She felt cold and soft to the touch so I loosened my grip.

"Aynn! Please! Take my youth if you have to but please keep yourself alive!"

I heard all my friends, Hortense and Alma gasp before I felt something tap me on my shoulder. I turned and whatever it was that had tried to get my attention was gone, only Robin remained.

"There's no need to get all dramatic Surrogate. We all want to help Aynn just like you do. She's not just your daughter, but she's our sister now too."

Professor Allison gave Robin an uneasy look, but whatever was on her mind she didn't say.

I tried to stand up normally and wipe my face with my sleeves, but they already seemed to be covered in water. I didn't think I was crying that badly, but then again I didn't know what Hortense knew about the Cursed Chain.

"Aynn just needs one thing and one thing only." a smile etched itself on Robin's face.

"Ophelia's Blade."


---


I assume by now the audience has figured out this was some sort of trick. A little convenient that the one thing Aynn needed was also the one thing the Covenant wanted. But as a father, when you see your kid in trouble you don't thinking straight. If they told me Aynn needed a drop of my blood, I would have gladly grabbed Ophelia's Blade myself and poured out a gallon.

"Yes, absolutely." I said without a second of hesitation. "Guy! Hand it over."

Guy suddenly put a hand over his right breast pocket. "Wait, hold on." Guy protested.

"There's no time to 'hold on' Guy. Every second that ticks is an unnecessary moment of agony for my little girl as she inches closer to death. You saw what happened to Ipsum, right?"

"I did, but I don't think that-

"Guy! Don't make me say it again. Aynn NEEDS this."

"It's a knife that has the power to kill a God! It's a really heavy burden to just give away and... I don't really trust these people."

"A little convenient that she needs the knife." Ami scoffed.

"I don't care how convenient it is. If my daughter needs it-" I took a step forward to Guy however Oliver matched my stance and pushed himself between us.

"H-hey! Let's not do anything we'll regret." Oliver interrupted with a nervous smile on his face. "Let's not forget we have a 6 hour long car ride after this."

"You're on his side too?"

"All I'm saying is," Guy began. "Aynn's had the first link for four months and she's barely seemed to age in all the time we've known her."

I stopped to think about it for a second, but I turned to my daughter and it seemed she had an answer pretty quickly.

"I... used it. Here and there. A few days off some of the kids, a year or two off older folks who wouldn't have noticed. Nothing.... nothing too noticeable. I... I didn't want to worry you dad." Her voice sounded so strained and so far away, but I didn't take notice of that. I focused more on the words she said.

"Oh honey..." I reached down to hug her but she recoiled at my touch.

"Y-yeah. See! There you go!" Robin said nervously. "So if you want her to keep living, I suggest you hand over Ophelia's Blade sooner rather than later."

Guy shook his head. "No, something's not adding up here." He turned to the woman on the ground.

"How do you remember any of that? The fourth link in the chain keeps you from remembering."

Robin and the older woman shared a glance. Robin nodded.

"I'm the Demigoddess of Wisdom." she said. "I can pick up things pretty quickly, even if my memory is shot."

"Well then maybe you can tell us what you do remember."

"You can't be serious." I said, in shock just before he activated the second link in the chain.

"Aynn Surrogate if that is your real name, please tell us what you remember!"

The woman looked at us in a panic but even in the dark I could tell she was sitting up straighter and that the link had worked.

"I do not have many memories of my childhood, however there's bits and pieces of it here and there. I was born with the Cursed Chain and ever since I was little I knew I was different. My biological mother rejected me. It was only when I met my father that everything seemed to click. He loved and supported me, and I know he would want me to have Ophelia's Blade." When she spoke it sounded hollow and slightly far away, however I assumed it was just the work of the second link.

"There you go. All this drama for nothing." I said scowling. "Now give Aynn the knife."

Hortense tugged at Guy's pants pocket to get his attention. "Don't do it."

---

Spencer Friedman was the self-proclaimed World's Greatest Detective. In truth, it was nothing more than a façade. His little sister was the true brains behind the operation. That wasn't to say Spencer had no detective skills, but at the end of the day when he hit his toughest cases, his sister and the fifth link in the chain she had would be the special task force that would clear up the crimes no one else could. So when Hortense gave her opinion, it was usually right.

I however, wasn't really thinking straight.

"Hortense...." I began.

"Everything this woman said is extremely vague and unspecific. Half of her story could apply to me, or to you, or to a huge majority of the people I've ever had the privilege of... meeting." She cringed. "What she says may be the truth, but it's grossly misleading. Since my brother is a detective I've heard dozens of stories like this. They were nothing more than half-truths and hers is no different."

"Hortense, please! We're trying to-"

"If there's anyone who knows how to skirt through the limits of the second link in the chain it would be someone from the Covenant. And if there's anyone who would be able to carry out a deception like this" She smiled and turned to Robin. "it would be the holder of the eighth link in the chain." She looked Robin right in the eye as she spoke. "So where is Candice anyway?"

Allison and Robin shared a nervous glance.

"Sh-she went to go get father and-"

"Candice Sublime? The girl who's inseparable from Robin Weaver ever since Lord Ikari found them together? That Candice Sublime? No no no. You'd sooner send Allison to fetch Lord Ikari then your beloved sister. It's a little strange that you two didn't come to help us visit Aynn."

Allison took a step forward and grabbed Hortense by the wrist. Hortense gasped, but with the help of Gal they both managed to pull her away, leaving behind her white cotton gloves in Professor Allison's hands.

"Hey! You leave Hortense alone!" Gal said as she cradled the little girl in her arms.

"Look Arthur, you know your own daughter better than anyone else here." Robin began. "Just look her in the eyes right now and tell Aynn 'I'm sorry, my friends mean more to me than your life.' I'm sure she'll understand."

"If you knew what the eighth link in the chain could do, you'd realize it too! She can-"

That was as far as Hortense got before suddenly something shot out from underneath Robin's chair and struck her hard in the face. At least, that's what I thought had happened. It actually wrapped around her neck suddenly and choked her hard. Thinking quickly, Guy unsheathed Ophelia's blade and cut it without a second thought. It loosened its grip around Hortense, and while she didn't die or anything quite that severe, there was already a bruise forming on her neck and the girl was having difficulty breathing.


---


Have you ever thought you knew someone, but then they surprised you with something completely unrelated that you never could have possibly imagined? Like a big burly weight lifter, who could also do ballet? Or a really feminine and cute ladylike princess, who on her off time played violent video games and yelled at 'noobs' in her favorite shooters? This was sort of how we suddenly felt about Robin. He played the role of frail, yet happy-go-lucky kid pretty well, and while we knew he had Cursed Chain powers, none of us really expected what the sixth link could do.

"What the hell is this?" Guy looked at what he had cut off from around Hortense's neck. It was a long all white fabric similar to bandages.

"The sixth link in the chain." Robin said with a smile.

"Wh-what?" Alma asked.

"I've been paralyzed since birth, however I have complete control over those long forms of fabric underneath my chair." He drew a breath and concentrated and, like snakes under control of a snake charmer, a series of six long cords came out from the bottom section of Robin's wheelchair.

"Again, what?"

"Oh it's all on the up and up! Arena is the goddess of many things, and one of the things she is the matriarch of is the loom. She was the ultimate seamstress, and as such the gift for the sixth link is complete control over fabric."

Alma looked absolutely dumbfounded for a moment, before blurting out the first thing that came to her mind. "That's stupid!"

"Yeah. I've seen some pretty ridiculous stuff over at Crimson Wind Academy but this one takes the cake." Ami agreed.

"Are we supposed to be scared of-" was as far as Oliver got before one of Robin's long fabric like tendrils grabbed at his legs and pulled him off his feet. Oliver fell to the ground with a loud thud, and in one sudden movement was quickly raised up. Oliver and Robin could now see each other eye-to-eye, except Oliver was completely upside down, suspended by one of the tendrils of the sixth link in the chain.

"Olly!" Alma cried out.

"Show some respect, and don't forget who's in charge here." Robin said. Two of his tendrils went to about his side and pushed him as though he was pacing.

"Put Oliver down!" Ami protested.

"Once Guy hands over Ophelia's Blade, I assure you we won't harm any of you."

"What about Aynn?" I asked.

Robin laughed. "You STILL haven't figured it out yet?"

At last Hortense began to stir.

"Water..." she said with a gasp.

"You need water?" Gal whispered.

She shook her head. "Eighth link... is... made of water."

The girl who I thought was Aynn smiled, and stood up straight. "Alright, looks like the cat's out of the bag now." But her voice sounded different. Further away, like it was echoing all over the place. It was like I was listening to some using a speaker underwater. I'd soon understand why.

"Well sister, looks like we can't get Ophelia's Blade through trickery."

"How about a little show of force then?"

I blushed as Candice removed her dress in one sudden motion. I had seen Arena naked just earlier today, however this girl didn't seem to have any of those features. Her anatomy was more like a Polly Dolly after you take off their clothes. But what was most startling about this new figure was that she was slightly translucent. It was clear what Hortense said was true. The eighth link in the chain was made entirely of water.

"Wh-who... Wh-what the hell are you!?" Ami yelled out.

Have you ever seen the movie with the robot who could turn into liquid? It was sort of like that as her arm shape shifted into a long blade, and I suddenly realized how they were able to trick me into believing she was Aynn for a second.

"Candice Sublime. Eighth Link in the Chain."

This girl had some sort of minor shapeshifting powers and was using them to try to trick us all along. I didn't know what would happen next, but it was abundantly clear this wasn't my daughter Aynn Mischa.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 18: The Eighth Link in the Chain]

 

The first link in the chain allowed you to absorb the youth off living things, however you aged at a much faster rate. The current owner was my daughter, Aynn Mischa.

 

The second link in the chain allowed you to politely give people commands, however (and we didn't know this at the time) it made you incredibly scared and nervous all the time. The current owner was Guy Surname.

 

The third link in the chain allowed you to move through solid objects, however light caused you terrible agony. The current owner was also Guy Surname.

 

The fourth link in the chain allowed you to alter someone else's memories, at the cost of having a greatly limited memory yourself. The current owner again was Aynn Mischa.

 

The fifth link in the chain let you see into someone's entire life from their birth to the moment they touched your hand. The drawback was you experienced it all in real time and it would take a great psychological toll on your psyche. The current owner was Hortense Friedman.

 

The sixth link in the chain gave you tremendous weaving skills and you could control fabrics at the cost of movement in your arms and legs. The current owner was Robin Weaver.

 

The seventh link in the chain could negate the other links, however the other members of the chain could sense where you were at all times. The current owners were Guy and Gal Surname.

 

The eighth link in the chain let you freely change your form, however you were made of water. The owner of this link was Candice Sublime.

 

Guy and Gal had faced off against many members of the Cursed Chain before, including Ailment Euryval, Headmistress Ipsum, Professor Chapel and Aynn Mischa, however they had never faced off against two of the links at the same time, and never ones as clever or as cruel as Candice Sublime and Robin Weaver.

 

"The Eighth Link in the Chain!?" Guy exclaimed.

 

Gal took her eyes off Hortense for a second to see Oliver being held upside down by Robin. "Hey! Please put Oliver down! He's not a Cursed Chain or anything!"

 

Robin smirked. "Your pleas fall on deaf ears m'lady."

 

"Then it's up to me!" Guy declared. "Please put Oliver down" he quickly added in "... Gently!"

 

Robin winced, but with Guy using the second link in the chain he was compelled to obey

 

"And please-" was as far as he got before a long length of fabric wrapped itself tightly around his throat. Guy instinctively reached for Ophelia's blade, but dropped it in his struggle. Guy let out one quick gasp, before activating the third link in the chain. He took one step forward and the fabric slipped easily through his neck like he wasn't even there. Freed from his deadly noose, Guy rubbed at his throat and made a strained wheezing noise.

 

"P-lease..." he strained to speak.

 

My eyes immediately fell to the glint of Ophelia's Blade. Even in the dim candle light I saw a bit of light reflecting off the blade. I sped towards it as quick as I could, but it seemed Candice Sublime saw it too.

 

Candice moved, not like a person, but more like an ocean's wave. Rather than putting one foot in front of the other, everything from the waist down seemed to be flowing like an ocean's wave towards Ophelia's Blade.

 

Our hands grabbed the blade at the same time, and I don't mean we were both touching opposite ends of the blade. My hand grabbed at the knife, then suddenly a splash of cold water hit me in the arm, Candice Sublime's arm enveloped my own.

 

"Drop it."

 

I was face to face with the girl made of water and could feel the warmth draining from my hand. I glanced down and noticed her arm was beginning to crystalize, turning itself to ice. She was using her own body as a weapon against me, and it seemed she had a plan for her other arm as well.

 

"I SAID DROP IT!"

 

As stated in the previous chapter, her other arm was shape shifted into a long blade, and this sword of pure water was now aimed right at my chest. With my arm interlocked with hers, quite literally since it was now ice from the forearm down, I braced for impact and tried to pull away

 

I expected a terrible pain, but instead it felt more like a splash of cold water to the chest. I breathed a quick sigh of relief, but Candice seemed intent on making it the last breath I ever took.

 

Her sword arm reformed itself into a sphere, completely encircling my upper torso and around my head. I struggled to hold my breath. I think I saw Robin grabbing Alma and Ami and I might have heard some frantic and panicked yells before I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness.

 

 

---

 

 

Along with the eight links in the chain, there were also 7 demigods and demigoddesses.

 

Robin Weaver told us not so long ago that a Demigod would be indistinguishable to anyone who didn't have a lifetime of training like those in the Covenant. We had actually met all 7 Demigods within our last two years at Hawthorne Academy, we just didn't know it at the time.

 

Until Arena told us, we had no idea the clueless little Aynn Mischa was actually the demigoddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy. Hiding underneath her gross pit stains and frizzy red hair, apparently Headmistress Mishegoss was the Demigoddess of Love, Blacksmithing and Creation.

 

And despite her calm and quiet facade, Professor Allison Katherine Swebb was actually the Demigoddess of Water, Earthquakes, and the Harvest.

 

Candice let out a yell, a horrible shriek as her circular blob arm disentangled itself from my face. I was finally able to breathe free and I took advantage of it.

 

"Professor Allison? Wh-what are you-"

 

But that was as far as Candice got before, with a wave of her hands, the girl exploded in front of me and was reduced to a large puddle of water on the ground.

 

Allison looked at me and gave me a weak smile, before taking my ice covered hand and smashed it against her raised knee, breaking it and dropping shards of ice upon the floor. I glanced down to see my hand, raw and red from the ice and from gripping Ophelia's Blade so tightly. My fingers were numb from the cold, however the rest of me was numb from what I had just seen.

 

"Ah, so that's the game is it?" Robin smirked as he casually let go of Alma and Ami. Oliver was able to cushion his sister's fall, however Ami took a full ten foot drop face down. She came up with a bloody nose she tried to wipe on her sleeve.

 

"She'll live..." Hortense managed to blurt out as Gal continued cuddling her.

 

"Yes Candice will be fine, though the same may not be so true for our dear demigoddess Professor here."

 

Robin turned all six of his cords of fabric and pointed them menacingly towards his teacher. "The typical punishment for when Candice misbehaves I see?"

 

Allison nodded once with a serious scowl on her face, but didn't say anything.

 

"I wouldn't compare MURDER to misbehaving!" Ami called back as she tried to make her way back to our group.

 

"We are adults Professor!" the eleven year old boy said as one length of fabric sped towards Allison's right arm but she dodged, only to fall into a lasso on the left. It quickly entangled itself around her ankle and picked her up.

 

Oliver and I looked away, blushing since Professor Allison wore a skirt. Guy however, was nowhere to be found.

 

"We are on the precipice of something great!" One fabric strand wrapped itself around her arm, lifting her to an upright position. Two more grabbed her other free leg and arm.

 

"We are on the edge of a new world order!" One wrapped itself around her leg and the final cord of fabric wrapped itself around her waist.

 

"Unlimited power, we would be able to reshape the world in any which way we see!"

 

With Robin distracted by his speech to Professor Allison, Guy found it easy to escape from Robin's line of sight. Since he also had the power to walk through solid objects, it was even easier for Guy to melt through the floor before emerging from behind Robin's wheelchair.

 

"H-hey." Guy muttered weakly, before he placed his hands over Robin's. Robin's eyes opened wide and the cords that laced around Allison collapsed like regular strips of fabric. She fell to the ground in a loud thud, alive but in terrible pain.

 

"W-what did you do-" Robin exclaimed as he stood up in a panic. A sudden sensation of pain shot through his body as he stood up, and then he realized that feeling anything at all wasn't normal for him.

 

"T-the seventh link in the chain?"

 

"Yeah." Guy croaked weakly, still rubbing his throat from when Robin had attempted to crush his windpipe.

 

With the majority of the battle over, Oliver, Alma and I went to check on Guy and Robin. He could move his arms and legs, but having never practiced with them he couldn't do much beyond awkwardly flail. We were safe for the most part.

 

Ami, Gal and Hortense went to check on Professor Allison who had managed to not only save my life but also distract Robin enough for Guy to take him out with the seventh link. Hortense wriggled around in Gal's arms before Gal put her on the ground. Back on the ground, Hortense quickly toddled over to Professor Allison.

 

"High five?" she said before she closed her eyes and interlocked her fingers with the professor's. Hortense's eyes suddenly snapped open, and her pupils grew big, before suddenly condensing into small little circles. She blinked, a familiar expression of lightheadedness spreading on her face as she nearly fainted.

 

"This... this isn't over you know." Robin said, taking a breath to relax himself before he awkwardly slapped himself across the face. He looked over at his hand then, very slowly ran his limp hand awkwardly through his hair. He smiled, then gave a loud laugh.

 

"Just like Aynn's memory fix, this is only temporary. I'll be back to full strength in about 24 hours."

 

"Being paralyzed for you means being at full strength?" Alma said.

 

"I won't stop hunting you down. I won't stop fighting you guys." he smiled, then nodded towards me and the knife in my hand. "Guess you better kill me."

 

"Wh-what!?" I stammered, almost dropping the knife but stopping myself at the last second.

 

"Go ahead. You have Ophelia's Blade. Killing me is the only way to stop me." He smiled, and a hideous glint emerged on his eye.

 

"Of course, even that would just be a temporary fix too. You'll just scatter the 6th link in the chain to some poor defenseless newborn in nine month, and we'll start the cycle all over again."

 

"That's where you're wrong kid!" Oliver said with a smile. "You're looking at Guy Surname, seventh link in the chain! He's helped free Ailment Euryval and Professor Chapel from the horrors of the Cursed Chain. All Guy has to do is beat you in a duel and you'll be free!"

 

Robin gave a mocking snort, then rolled his eyes. "If you do that, you won't even need to kill me. Father will do it for you."

 

There was a bit of a silence in the room before Hortense's voice spoke up.

 

"He's distracting you." she squeaked in a bit of a strained whisper. Though she could speak in full sentences it was clear she wasn't at full strength.

 

"When Lord Ikari adopted Candice she was hard to..." Hortense paused, coughed, and cleared her throat. "Candice was hard to control. No one could physically touch her. Their hands would just slip through her. She couldn't be put in a room for time out because she could leak out through the door, and locking her in an airtight jar or bottle would just be too cruel."

 

Hortense motioned to the badly bruised woman that Ami and Gal were helping to get back on her feet.

 

"Professor Allison was the only one who could actually come up with any punishment. If Candice wanted to raise her hand towards anyone in the Covenant, Allison could take control over Candice's arms and reduce them to puddles."

 

Hortense motioned towards a slowly forming puddle in the corner of the room. "How long do you think it'll be before Candice is back and launches her sneak attack on us?"

 

"Sh-shut up you..." The puddle on the ground slowly started to form itself a mouth and the rest of a face. She was nothing more but a head and a bit of a nub for an arm as she seemed to pull herself from the puddle, but it was definitely the remnants of Candice Sublime, slowly trying to put themselves back together.

 

"Eww... gross.." Alma shivered as she buried her face in Oliver's sleeve.

 

Candice melted back into a puddle then awkwardly began to flow over to Hortense. She tried to once again regain her form, but nothing more than a head and a weird deformed hand emerging from the puddle on the ground.

 

"You may have had a Cursed Chain, but you didn't have one like I did. I was a monster."

 

"You kinda still are." Ami muttered under her breath.

 

"Hated, ridiculed by everyone I knew. The Covenant was the only place I found acceptance. More than acceptance! I was loved. Praised!" Candice pointed her malformed hand at Hortense. "What do you know about our lives?!"

 

Hortense hesitated for a moment before realizing the value in what Candice was saying. "Good point!" she exclaimed before she interlocked her ungloved fingers with Candice's own. Hortense's eyes expanded and contracted to a singular point. She blinked, gasped, and Hortense's face contorted to one of pain and agony. She looked over at her arms and legs and began crying as she backed away from Candice.

 

"This place isn't safe..." Hortense whispered between sobs as Gal picked her up. "I don't want to be anywhere near anyone from the Covenant."

 

"If that's true," Gal turned to Robin and smiled. "You two should come with us back to Silvershine!"

 

Ami elbowed Gal in the ribs.

 

"I mean... come back with us to Hamlish, where we all live!" She gave a nervous laugh before quickly adding in something else. "Don't follow us to Silvershine if you're going to kill us please."

 

"Stop talking Gal." Ami whispered nervously.

 

"We're not leaving Lord Ikari, and we're not leaving the Covenant!" Candice replied.

 

A sinister laughed echoed from near the doorway. "Ha! That's my kids."

 

Only one person would consider these two his children, and I was certain we'd soon come face to face with Lord Ikari himself.

 

 

---

 

 

There's an old saying that goes something like "speak of the devil and he doth appear" and you can tell it's an old saying because it unironically uses the word 'doth'. Nowadays it just means something like "hey, look who just walked in! We were just talking about you!" but back then it was meant more as a superstitious phrase. If you looked up and said out loud "it looks like rain" seconds before a torrential downpour, you may follow up with "speak of the devil".

 

In the dimly lit room we could tell Lord Ikari was here, and judging by the second shadow it looked like his daughter Kira was by his side as well. She quickly walked over to the wall and flicked on a switch.

 

"Do not strain your vision in the dark everyone."

 

I flinched at the bright light, however I could see more to the room now. Book cases with books thrown around. Damp rugs from and puddles from when Candice exploded. A sofa in one end of the room, Robin's wheelchair in the middle and Allison looked broken down and hurt, hunched over.

 

"Nii-chan!?" Kira exclaimed, before rushing over to her non-biological sister. "Leave my Nii-chan alone! I'll take her to the medical wing!" she said with a worried tone as she put Allison's arms over her shoulder. The two awkwardly staggered out of the room, leaving us to face off against her mortal father.

 

We looked up at Lord Ikari, and while I certainly recognized his out he looked about 20 years younger than he did at Family Day. He still wore glasses, gloves, and a Lincoln Academy cloak, but he had less wrinkles, he looked less stressed, and he had a slimmer build.

 

"Welcome Children of Silvershine. Now to what do I owe the pleasure?"

 

"You, used the first link in the chain!?" I blurted out.

 

"Wrong." He motioned to a baby basket carrier in his hands. "She did."

 

Within the carrier there was of course was a tiny little girl with big soulful gray eyes. She had all white hair, except for the tips which were pitch black. I could feel my heart melt and I just wanted to pick her up, but I knew I'd have to control my emotions.

 

"Aynn..." I whispered.

 

"She's adorable!" Oliver exclaimed as Ami pulled him back.

 

"We're here to take Aynn back home with us!" Gal declared.

 

Lord Ikari raised an eyebrow, then tiled his head back and laughed, loudly.

 

"Do you understand at all what you're asking? Do you even understand what a boon she is to the Covenant of the Eternals!? You found her as a mild inconvenience, but when I saw her, I saw.... limitless potential!" A greedy smile emerged on his face as he began explaining.

 

"My daughters, Allison Swebb and Kira Ikari. As I'm sure you know they are both demigoddesses. They can keep the fields extremely fertile and full of life, just with their presences. And yet, even in the most ideal of conditions we still had to wait. That all changed when Aynn showed up.

 

"My children brought me this girl from Kelen Academy and they explained their suspicions. We figured out quickly she had the fourth link in the chain, but imagine our surprise when we found the first inside her as well, and better still, a demigoddess at that! As you know, since she's a demigoddess the Cursed Chain reacts much more strongly around her. As students of Silvershine, you must have met Headmistress Ipsum. She could draw the youth out of a single living thing. As a demigoddess with the first link though? Aynn can simultaneous draw youth from many living things all at once."

 

I felt my heart skip a beat. "You... what!?"

 

"Relax boy, no one was harmed. If anything we're all doing better than ever before!" he said with a proud smile. "We're not drawing away the youth from people! We're drawing the youth away from the food in the gardens outside! Can you imagine it? An apple tree from a seed in a matter of seconds! And Aynn's the reason for all of it! But that's not even the best part!"

 

He drew a breath and smiled, removing his cloak to reveal a pressed suit. It was now abundantly clear the man had altered his age to that of a young, low 20-year-old man.

 

"With all the youth Aynn is harvesting for us, she needs somewhere to put it. Ipsum put it on a blade of some Ethereal knife. I however suggested putting it in every one of my cult members. Think of it! For the small cost of joining the Covenant any elderly man can be restored to a healthy young teen, and we get food much quicker!"

 

"You literally handed over the fountain of youth and infinite food to me... and you expect me to just willingly hand it over?!"

 

He looked me right in the eye and scowled. His voice dropped an octave as he spoke. "I'd sooner kill each and every one of you then allow my-"

 

"Lord Ikari," Guy blurted out, before noticing Robin and Candice as well. "And anyone else in this room! Please hand over Aynn Mischa and let us leave in peace!"

 

I expected Lord Ikari to explode into a fit of rage after being outsmarted by Guy, but he barely even changed his expression. He was a well learned man, he had written and read many books on the Cursed Chain and what they were capable of, so he had to know Guy's gambit could possibly happen. Ultimately though, Lord Ikari was a schemer. He was the kind of man who always had a Plan B, and then a Plan C, D, E and F.

 

"Whatever you say." He wasn't upset to lose his Fountain of Youth and Limitless Food source. He quickly clapped his hands together in a prayer position and began praying.

 

"Sibon secilppus oititep maroc dupa Arena,"

 

Though nothing he said made sense, I could definitely understand the word 'Arena'. It wasn't pronounced like a place you might have a duel, but rather like the ending of the word 'ballerina'.

 

Robin and Candice exchanged nervous looks but sighed and mimicked his prayer position.

 

"Aed metua mulleb, eaitneipas, te mutilim illeb"

 

I didn't know what they were saying, but three phrase and the last phrase being a bit longer made me think they said something about war, wisdom and military strategy, Arena's official title.

 

"Te otinilbo sutcartnoc mu-"

 

I never got to hear the conclusion on their foreign language lessons, because, speak of the devil, it seemed a portal from the sky suddenly opened up, illuminating the entire room and out of it stepped my girlfriend, Arena - the Goddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy. She appeared before us in her full Ethereal glory. She wore a helmet over her all white hair, white polished armor over her long ankle length skirt, and she held a spear in the right and a shield in the left.

 

"It's... her..." Robin and Candice exchanged nervous looks once again and bowed deeply, hands held in a prayer position and eyes shut wide.

 

"I am certain this isn't exactly how you expected us to meet, is it mortal?" she said accusingly towards Lord Ikari.

 

He turned as pale as Arena's white dress before he smirked. "I-is that... the Goddess of Wisdom asking me a question?"

 

"A rhetorical question. I've already seen through your plan. First you wanted to lure the entire Cursed Chain into one room. Next you wanted to kill all of them in order to summon me."

 

"He was gonna kill us!?" Gal and Guy exclaimed at the same time before realizing who else had a Cursed Chain link in the room. "He was gonna kill his own kids!?"

 

"After that, you were going to retrieve Ophelia's Blade and hold me hostage until my father bent to your ridiculous demands."

 

"Ridiculous!? With only one link in the chain and 3 demigoddesses I was able to create paradise on Earth! A literal New Eden with limitless food and eternal life! I would have been a God on Earth!"

 

"You pitiful shortsighted mortal." She shook her head like a mother scolding her child. "You may have been able to coerce my daughter, but the mere thought of holding me hostage is laughable. I am not nearly as docile or malleable as she was."

 

"And I'm not like any of these other mortals here! Robin and Candice see themselves and they see monsters. But I see limitless possibilities! You call me short sighted but-"

 

Arena brought her spear a hairs breath away from Lord Ikari's jugular.

 

"I suggest you not finish that sentence, or your next words will have to be gurgled out through blood."

 

When she was certain she had inspired the fear of eternity into him, she pulled her spear away. She yawned and took a few steps toward, her armor and weapons dissolving into light-like sand, leaving her as the normal Arena in her Hermos Red uniform.

 

"Arthur, please take our daughter to the car. Let's go home. The second link will prevent Lord Ikari from stopping us."

 

Arena pushed past Lord Ikari and continued on without us. We were all too stunned to speak before I at last picked up my daughter's baby carrier.

 

I looked the man in the face, unsure if I should say anything or if I should just leave. Lord Ikari looked me in the eye and spoke.

 

"I'm a man of my word, I will not do anything to stop you all. Go down the hall on your left, then make a right and two more lefts and you'll be outside."

 

We were all uneasy as we made it to the hallway, however with the lights on it was much more evident which way the exit was.

 

As we opened the front door to the Ikari Manor however, we were met with about a hundred faces and dark shadowy figures hidden behind Lincoln Academy cloaks holding large burning branches. I heard Lord Ikari's voice echoing throughout the halls.

 

"I and my family may not hold you back, however the same cannot be said of my followers! Good luck getting home!"

 

 

---

 

 

We were almost home free. We beat Lord Ikari's kids, we found my daughter, and the only thing that separated us from our getaway vehicle was a field full of fruits, vegetables, and a hundred angry people who were probably already told that if we got away all their food and infinite youth would be gone forever.

 

"It looks like they all have earplugs." Guy whispered.

 

"He planned pretty far ahead." Oliver whispered.

 

"What's the rest of his plan?" Ami asked.

 

"Probably kill the mortals." Hortense replied. "Keep me and Aynn alive. I think he knows Guy's too dangerous to keep alive so he'll take his chances and kill him, then go looking for the second, third and seventh link in the chain later. I'm pretty sure no one knows Gal has the seventh link. That may be our final ace in the hole."

 

"Oh good." Gal said cheerfully. "So what's our plan then?"

 

"Well if I'm the one they want, I'll lead them away from you!"

 

Using the third link in the chain, Guy was easily able to make it through the crowd of people. He didn't need to speed through them or zip in any particular direction. He could melt through them without a care. The vegetation also didn't pose any threat as he could melt his legs into shadows too.

 

Guy was able to get about half the group of people to chase him. Unfortunately the other 50 or so people were circling us taking steps towards us too.

 

"So now what? We die or something?" Alma asked.

 

We were all out of Deus Ex Machinas, however a Demi-deus or two was a completely different story.

 

"Hey! They're good people down there! Leave them alone!" I heard the Witch of Necrophades call out from her window.

 

They yelled something in their little foreign language, but otherwise they began walking towards us again.

 

"Nii-chan! Let's save our friends!"

 

As demigoddesses, they certainly weren't as strong as their parents. They wouldn't be able to fight a hundred or so people. But they could at least clear a path for us and slow down the others.

 

Kira Ikari was the demigoddess of death, but rather then kill anyone she killed a few plants that were in our way, leaving a path open for us.

 

Allison however was a lot more powerful then she originally let on. She certainly earned her title of Demigoddess of Earthquakes. After all, she once sank Solar Dusk Academy to the bottom of the sea.

 

The world began to shake violently and I figured this was as good a time as any to make our getaway.

 

"Let's..." I pulled Aynn from her baby carrier and brought her to my chest. I could feel her hands struggling to grasp onto my shirt collar.

 

"Let's go ladies!" Oliver said as he scooped up Alma and began sprinting through the path Kira made for us.

 

As Lord Ikari's henchman got closer to us, I could feel the ground shake harder and harder as Allison was using her Demigoddess powers to keep our attackers away. I staggered, almost dropped my little girl, but held onto her for dear life and sprinted across the field as quick as I could manage. I let her go once before and was determined not to make that same mistake again.

 

With miniature earthquakes going off every few seconds and plants dissolving underneath my feet it was a miracle that we made it back to the car in the first place.

 

At long last we were back in Oliver's dad's minivan. Oliver was driving, Alma was his co-pliot, Arena, Ami and I were sitting in the middle seat, and Guy and Gal took the back, while Gal strapped Aynn to the child seat.

 

We were sitting in silence for a minute, trying to catch our breath before finally Oliver yelled out.

 

"Woo! We made it!"

 

"Yeah!" Alma declared as she leaned over to the driver's side and began blaring the horn.

 

"That was really close." Ami said as she tried wiping her glasses on her shirt.

 

"Uhh..." Gal began, thinking.

 

"Those guys were monsters. I hope we never see the Covenant of the Eternals again."

 

"One, two, three, four," Gal began counting.

 

"We will, at least... I think so." Arena said. "The future is still a little blurry to me but I'm fairly certain I was able to get us back on the right path."

 

"Seven, eight, nine..."

 

"What's wrong sis?"

 

"St-stop the car!" Gal exclaimed in a panic. "Where's Hortense!?!"

 

 

---

 

 

True to its name, Lord Ikari's Traveling Farm had already managed to begin traveling by the time we got back. The fields were barren, covered in snow and the multiple houses that surrounded Ikari Manor were empty. There was no sign of Lord Ikari, Robin, Candice, Hortense, Allison, Kira, or any other people from the Covenant.

 

We found a small hotel in Hamlish to crash for the night and called the local police as well as the SSPD as soon as we could.

 

The next morning was an even colder trail and a colder winter morning. No signs of life anywhere at the Ikari Farms, especially after the snowfall that hit at 2AM.

 

Detective Friedman didn't seem very troubled by Hortense's disappearance. 'She's a fighter!' he insisted, certain that his four year old half-sister would come out of her ordeal a stronger person.

 

'When she's back, we're gonna have more than enough information to put that whack job cult behind bars until the end of time!'

 

I wasn't so sure. There was nothing else I could do but close my eyes and appreciate the one little girl I did manage to save on my trip. As we miserably drove back home, I looked at the small girl in my arms, held her close, and cried my eyes out until we made it back to Silvershine.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 19: Anyone With the Slightest Bit of Interest]

In the Spring Semester of junior year, many students at Hawthorne typically took up an internship based on their major in order to prepare themselves for their lives after graduation. Card Designers would visit the Industrial Illusions Silvershine branch while Duel Disk Engineers went to the Kaiba Corp building downtown. I had found a pro duelist to take me under his wing, a former Crimson Wind Academy student by the name of Alistair Solaris.

When I first stepped into the Silverdome, I thought he'd be a rude jerk but he actually seemed to remember me from the two times we met before and was pretty amicable, talking like we were old friends. I thought he was just a phony, but after I spent more time with him I realized he actually was a pretty friendly guy. He was patient, taught me a lot more than many of the teachers at Hawthorne, and he was willing to let me take breaks to feed and take care of Aynn while she began teething, walking and talking.

On the Friday before Sweethearts Day, he had invited me and 3 friends to come watch a real live Pro Duel at the Silverdome. I took my three mortal friends, Guy, Gal and Oliver with me to watch the showcase duel. Arena and Aynn didn't need a ticket, since Arena could just open portals and teleport the two of them in and out wherever she felt like.

It was Handsome versus The Demon of Turbo, in a true battle of good versus evil. Alistair Solaris ran a deck of those Lightsworn monsters, and Gouki Shinkou ran a deck of Destiny Heroes.

The Duel was played as a match, best two out of three. It came down to the third duel, and each duelist had about two thousand life points left.

Alistair drew his topmost card and smiled.

"Now now Gouki" Alistair said with a wag of his finger. "You may think of yourself as a Hero, but I can see through your little Dark Law's mask!"

"See through whatever you want. You can't bring your monsters back. It's over!" Gouki declared with a laugh.

"What's that old expression? Fight fire with fire? If darkness is what it takes to beat darkness, then I sided in just the right card for you!" Alistair gave a wink and slapped a card onto his duel disk. "Let's go! Punishment Dragon!"

The crowd roared in excitement, and even Gal who was complaining the whole time appreciated the ending of the game enough to give it a standing ovation just like everyone else.

With Punishment Dragon's effect, Alistair was able to clear the board and win the game with a direct attack.

---

After the duel was over, it was time for the Pro Duelists to meet their adoring fans. Gouki gave a quick little speech, signed very few autographs and left about 5 minutes later. Alistair however was greeting everyone he could, shaking hands, signing anything, taking pictures, and even taking time out of his day to reassure the Demon of Turbo's fans who couldn't get an autograph. He respected his opponent, and practically sang his praises more than the fans themselves did. Because there were so many people waiting for a chance to meet Alistair, the kids of Team Surname had to hang out in the back with only one other person behind us.

Gal however didn't seem too keen to stand in line for something she didn't even want.

A lot of people, including Gal Surname, think Pro Dueling is fake. Alistair had already explained the harsh realities of Pro Dueling to me, and it sounded a lot like our own homework and projects in school and I had always kind suspected it, but as a Duel Disk Engineer, Gal didn't see it our way.

"Gal why are you so sour about the duel?" Oliver asked. "Did a Lightsworn Beast tear up your favorite stuffed animal or something??"

Aynn gasped as she hugged her stuffed unicorn, Misses Uni a little bit tighter with her right arm.

"It's fine." Arena said in a reassuring voice as she gave Aynn a gentle pat on the back.

Gal however just shook her head. "Anyone with the slightest bit of interest..."

But she instantly stopped talking as her turn came up and she came face to face with the pro duelist. Her cheeks ignited with red and she had trouble forming words. Gal felt butterflies in her stomach and she felt dizzy and lightheaded as her legs began to shake.

"Uhh..." Gal held her flyer over her face to hide her rosy red cheeks. Though she was dismissive of him a minute ago, it was hard to be critical to someone's face, and even harder because Gal found him to be incredibly handsome.

"Hello gorgeous." Alistair said with a wink. Gal gave a very high pitched giggle and seemed to struggle with her words as she just kind of made awkward noises.

Fortunately for her, Alistair had probably experienced both of these things before. The girl's reaction along with what she was saying were nothing new for the pro duelist.

"Let me guess, 'anyone with the slightest bit of interest in... oh let's say, Duel Disk Engineering, could tell that our Brybell Devices were disabled. Without that, our duel disks weren't actually shuffling our decks.' Is that about right? Am I maybe in the ballpark?"

Gal nodded weakly, still red in the face and weak at the knees.

"I've heard it before sweetie. Don't worry about offending me." He then grinned. "In fact, I'll take it as an opportunity to educate you seven lucky kids! A teachable moment, if you will"

Team Surname... and that one extra person behind us... gathered around a bit to hear the Pro Duelist speak.

"So you might notice we didn't shuffle, and you might think the games we play are rigged. You wouldn't be entirely wrong, but it would be a little misleading to say Pro Dueling is fake. Most of the duels you see on TV are scripted beforehand, however the way we arrive at the script is by dueling them out anyway. Here, let me explain."

He pointed to Oliver. "Let's say me and Try Hard over here", he gave Oliver a smile and a wink. Oliver groaned and rolled his eyes. It seemed even after over a year Alistair still remembered him.

"Say the both of us are Pro Duelists and we needed to find 3 good duels for the match we're about to perform. It's 9 AM, I just got my coffee, I'm feeling good, so naturally I wipe the floor with him. A blow out, full life to zero! But that's boring and no one pays good money to see that. Now let's say the second round starts and his coffee starts kicking in, so now it's more of an even match.” Alistair started dancing a bit on his tiptoes, like a professional boxer as he pantomimed fighting an opponent.

“So this goes on and on, we keep dueling until we both get our groove going and now we've got about 20 or 30 good, even and well fought duels."  

He stopped shadow boxing and turned to Gal. "Now, as my little sweetheart- What was your name again?"

"S-s-sweetheart?"

"Her name's Gal Surname. And I'm her brother Guy."

"Gal huh? Cute name. Very feminine and ladylike." he smiled and Gal gave an awkward and high pitched giggle again.

"Anyway, our resident Duel Disk Engineer here, Gal Surname probably already knows this, but all duels are recorded. So after we've dueled our hearts out a couple dozens of times, we pick out the top 3 of them and get ready to act them out in front of the greatest audience in Silvershine. Usually the one with the most wins for the day gets to decide which three duels we use for our match and they usually pick the good even duels. Of course I say 'usually', but certain pro duelists may have specific terms in their contracts or their pro dueling manager may have the final say or they may want to project a certain image and blah blah blah. Whatever! You're not here for a lesson in contract law, right? You're here for autographs, and I'm here to oblige."

And just like that he snatched the flyer from out of Gal's still trembling hands.

Gal let out a high pitched squeal and jumped back. "Uhh... f-flyer... s-sign."

"Of course little lady." Alistair said as he took out his felt tip marker. "I'll be making this one out to my newest fan!"

"M-Making... out...?" Gal's face grew redder and her eyes began to water and she probably wished she still had her flyer to hide her face in.

"Make it out to DuelAuctions." Oliver interrupted. "That's DuelAuctions, all one word. D-U-E-"

"Don't worry Try Hard, you'll get an autograph too!" Alistair said with a laugh as he handed Gal back her flyer.

Oliver scowled, but handed over a copy of Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner for him to sign.

"And there's Artie!" Alistair hastily pushed past Oliver and walked over to me. "Why'd you guys wait all the way in the back for so long? You were my special guests and everything!"

"S-special? Me? U-us?" Gal squeaked, covering her mouth with her hands and still feeling quite love-struck.

"All my fans are special, and since you all waited so long, you'll all get my undivided attention!" he said as he wrote down autographs for the last seven people waiting in line.

'To my new favorite Gal from your new favorite Pro Duelist, Alistair!"
'To one heck of a Guy, from your new pal Alistair Solaris'
'To my old pal Artie! Life's a party! - Alistair'
'To Oliver. Don't forget to Try Hard in school - Gouki Shinkou'
'For Arena. Remember to enjoy life kiddo! Alistair"
'To Aynn and Misses Uni. Always stay young at heart! - Alistair'
'For Ben. Focus on what you're good at. - Alistair'

We looked confused at the seventh autograph, then turned behind us to see Benjamin Quincy Dover, Ilene's 'little' brother who was now quite a bit taller than I last remembered him.

"Hello folks, and especially hello to my babygirl Gal." Even though his baggy clothes fit him a lot better due to him hitting a growth spurt around last Duel Monster Spirit Day, and even though he gave up talking like a wannabe gangster and he looked less like a hoodlum, it seemed Gal still found something about Ben Dover to be intrinsically unattractive. Unfortunately for Gal, he was still hopelessly devoted to her.

Gal rolled her eyes and made a gagging noise under her breath as she clutched at her throat.

"So Gal, got any plans on who you're going with for the Sweetheart's Day Dance?"

"Yeah uhh..." her eyes darted over to our group, before landing on Oliver.

"Me? I was thinking of asking out Small Boobs." Oliver said with a smile. "She's been laying low, but I think she's earned it this year."

She looked disgusted and even more embarrassed as her eyes fell on her brother. "As friends?"

"Ami Pastiche." Guy said weakly.

"The Sweethearts Day Dance at Crimson Wind? What a coincidence!" Alistair exclaimed. "I'm going to the dance with my special girl too!"

And just like that, it seemed all of Gal's possible options were gone.

"My girl's really sweet and funny. She goes to Hawthorne just like you guys too. Do any of you know a girl named Malady Euryval?"

"You mean Bernouli?" I asked. To say we knew her was a bit of an understatement. She was a longtime rival and part-time frenemy for Team Surname. Around this time last year us and the Distribution joined together to solve a murder. "Yeah, we're familiar with her."

"So it looks like everyone's paired up except for you and me Gal..."

Ben grabbed her hands and pulled her in. Gal gave a yell and broke free of his clutches. She pushed him hard and backed away quickly.

"I uhh... I gotta go to the ladies room!" Gal protested as she hurried past us all and stormed off.

"Wait up Gal!"

"N-no Ben." Alistair said as he raised an arm and got between Ben and Gal. "I think you need to wait up. We need to have a nice little chat about all of this. Another teachable moment, if you will!"


---


Alistair Solaris had a very interesting past. He never knew his mother or his father, and spent a good amount of his youth traveling around the world, rarely ever spending more than a week in the same town. He continued his vagabond lifestyle until around 4 years ago at the age of 14 when he caught the attention of a young 24 year old woman. She sponsored him and helped him apply to Crimson Wind Academy, and they say the rest is history. Through his travels he had learned that everyone has something to teach you. There was some sort of intrinsic value to everyone in the world, even if it was just to teach others on what you shouldn't be doing. He was big on helping people see the best in themselves, and tonight he would try to do the same for Ben.

"Listen you, I'm gonna help you out because you remind me of my old friend Try Hard over here."

"Hey!" Oliver protested.

Alistair draped an arm over Ben's shoulders and began pacing with him absentmindedly, leading him towards one end of the dueling arena and back.

"Gal doesn't like you, right?"

"Hey! Well I mean, if she got to know me a little better-"

Alistair smiled. "That's not what I said kid. TODAY, she doesn't like you, right?"

Ben looked down. "Well no... But I mean she barely even-"

"Good!" Alistair stopped pacing took his arm off of Ben. "I'm gonna tear you down a bit, hope you don't mind. In order to paint a masterpiece you gotta start with a blank canvas. Is that okay? Great! Let's get started!"

Alistair did a sudden about face on his heels and pointed right at me.

"Artie, you have a girlfriend, right?"

"Soulmates." Arena and I corrected at the same time. We both smiled.

"And you too Guy?"

"Sort of. I mean, it's kinda unofficial but also kinda-"

"Even Try Hard has someone?"

"I've had plenty but-"

"Great! So what do these three young men have that you don't Ben?"

"A girlfriend?"

"Ooh, are you Performage Trick Clown cause I'm about to laugh. What do they have beyond that stupid?"

"I don't know? They're smarter, better looking, older?"

"It's not intelligence. Guy's pretty smart. Try Hard's dumb as a mule. Both of them still found love. It's not appearances either, since Try Hard's looks like a Silvershine Apparel model, while Guy looks more like the Rebecca's Secret type yet if you know what I mean."

Guy looked as though he was about to say something, but then just blushed and looked away.

"And it's not old age either, since Artie and Arena have been together since last year and she was just a 14 year old freshman."

"I'm actually an ancient multi-dimensional Aethereal Goddess."

"Yeah, and I'm a Sagittarius!" Alistair said with a smile.

"Look Mister Alistair, I think I know what you're getting at. Girls can't handle me 'cause I'm too real."

I tried to stifle a laugh. Guy snorted, which caused Oliver to burst out laughing. Even Aynn and Alistair joined in. Arena smiled, though she often did when I was smiling or laughing.

"Wh-what's so funny!?" Ben choked out, getting red in the face.

We tried to catch our breaths, but it seemed Alistair was able to compose himself first.

"I think you're closing in on the problem, but you're drew the completely wrong answer. Oliver's never lied about what he wants from a women. He wants fun, casual good times, something non-committal so that's what he gets. Artie wants someone who knows and understands him at a deep and profound level, and he's got Arena. Guy wants someone to be friends with and he's got Ami."

He smiled. "So Ben, what is it that you want from Gal?"

"I... I dunno, but umm-"

"Alright then Ben, riddle me this. What is it that you LIKE about her?"

Ben sighed. "Oh that's an easy one. She's really pretty. She's got those soft pink kissable lips, subtle curvy figure, gorgeous green eyes, soft auburn hair, cute button nose-"

Guy bushed as he awkwardly raised his hand. "Uhh... identical twin brother here. Should I be concerned?"

Alistair shook his head. "Nope. Not good enough. Go home kid."

"Not good enough?! What do you mean?!"

Alistair clapped his hands and looked like Gal did when she first saw him. "'Oooh, she's so pretty!'" he mimicked, before he shook his head and returned to form. "But that's just today. What about 10 years from now when she let herself go after your second kid?"

"Kids!? With Gal!? Uhh I guess..."

"What about 20 years from now when she's more wrinkled than a Holiday Sweater?"

"I mean, she won't be able to get anyone better than me so-"

"What about 30 years from now when the kids have left the nest and it's back to just the two of you?"

"I mean, we'll get through it but-"

"Look kid, I just sorta met Gal, but from what I know about girls in general, a girl doesn't want someone to tell her she's pretty. She doesn't want someone to love her TODAY. She wants someone to love her all of her days, forever. When she's old and sad and pathetic she wants a man to be there by her side. When she's crying she wants someone to hold her and tell her it's gonna be okay. And I don't think you've got that in you Ben. I don't think you know the first thing about Gal other than that she's a pretty face."

"Well, she's-"

"Forget about her physically! How would you describe her to someone who's never met her before?"

Ben paused. He thought for a moment, and thought some more. He stayed quiet for a really long time as he thought his answer carefully, but only one unavoidable conclusion came to his mind.

"Well... I guess... I'm not sure."

"Then start from there."

---

After being verbally berated by Alistair, Ben left to quietly reflect on what he was told. Meanwhile, we spent about the next 20 minutes talking with Alistair for a bit. He was kind of like a cool older brother that none of us ever had. And even though they were rivals and enemies at first, it seemed Gal may have found somewhat of an older sister in Bernouli.

"Look what I found crying in the ladies room." Bernouli said as she walked in holding Gal's hand. Gal was misty eyed but seemed to be recovering when she joined us.

"So, Ben's gone huh?" she asked.

"Ben Dover? Ugh, what a creep." Bernouli shivered and made a gagging noise then a quick laugh. "He did get one thing right though. The Silverdome locks up soon, so we should all get going."

Alistair smiled at Bernouli, then kissed her on the cheek. "Hey babe."

"Drop me off at Hawthorne, okay?"

Alistair smiled, then glanced over at us a bit worried. "You kids don't need a ride do you?"

"We're fine. I borrowed my dad's car." Oliver said with a grin, eager to tell just about anyone he had a car to his name.

With only a small handful of cars in the parking lot, it was easy to see Oliver's dad's SUV underneath a street lamp. We quickly filed into the Khlozoff family SUV. Guy was riding in the front seat, Aynn and Arena took the middle, which left Gal and I in the back.

Oliver and Guy were fighting over the radio. Arena was mostly quiet, but considering she was the Goddess of Wisdom she already knew what Gal and I were whispering about.

"Hey... you wanna talk?"

Gal stayed silent.

"Yeah, there's 100 girls and only 4 boys at Hawthorne. The odds were stacked pretty heavily against you and-"

"It's not... it wasn't JUST him you know."

I wasn't sure what to say. Arena knew everything and loved me unconditionally. Gal was a whole different type of person.

"Was it something we did? Like, maybe we could have come to defend you more but-"

"No no. It's not entirely Sweetheart's Day. I mean... lately I've just not been feeling myself you know?"

"I had amnesia for the first month or so of school, so yeah. I know plenty about not feeling like myself."

Gal gave a smile, and I felt I had succeeded if only just a little.

"Well yeah, Mister Forgetful, but you don't know what it's like to have a creepy weirdo like you!"

"Are you kidding? When I first met Arena I was terrified of her. She just claimed she loved me so enthusiastically and she didn't know a thing about me, or so I thought. But she knew me better than anyone else, and now here she is, one and a half years later and I can't imagine my life without her."

Gal gave a weak nod. "Well I mean, why does that creep even like me anyway?"

"How could he not? I mean, you're pretty amazing Gal."

"Me? Amazing? Lately I haven't really felt like it. Losing to Aynn, losing one of my links in the chain, losing Hortense. Lately I've just been feeling like some kind of great big loser."

"Gal, you're not a loser! You're smart, one of the best duel disk engineers I've ever seen. You're clever like when you beat Headmistress Ipsum even though she was a better duelist. You're responsible, holding down a job at Starton, a babysitting gig on the side, and going to school full time."

"Well... I guess that's true." In the dark of the backseat, I couldn't tell Gal was blushing.

"What's not to love? You're the glue that holds us all together. You're the happiest person I know, and the joy you bring spreads to anyone who's near you. You're the one that pushes us forward when we're all feeling down. Just seeing you all bright eyed and excited is enough to make anyone else happy too! That's why you're one of my best friends Gal."

Gal was always a simple girl. She wore her emotions on her sleeve and was very easy to read, or so I thought. As she looked at me and smiled, I thought it was the typical 'Gal Surname signature smile', but there was something deeper. I saw something twinkle in her eyes, and I heard a reluctance in her voice as she spoke. I was completely unprepared for what she said next.

"Hey Arthur."

"Yeah?"

"Will you go to the Sweetheart's Day Dance with me?"

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 20: Our Gal Surname]

The Monday before the Sweetheart's Day Dance, I was sitting in the cafeteria, ignoring my food and completely zoning out to what my friends were saying. I was still thinking about what Gal said, what Arena said when I told her, and I had been circling and rethinking it over a million times, wondering if I could have said or done anything different.

 

"Hey man, you okay?" Oliver asked as he tapped me on the shoulder.

 

"Oh what? Yeah. Just thinking." I said as I dug into my hamburger with a spoon.

 

Oliver raised an eyebrow but just shrugged. "Save the thinking for class man. Lunch is when we just chill."

 

I nodded weakly. "Chill." I said as I poured out a spoonful of ketchup.

 

Though in truth, nothing about me felt chill. I looked over at Arena who was feeding our beloved daughter Aynn some animal crackers. She was making horse sounds for the cracker shaped like a horse. I was looking over at Oliver, who was staring at me like I just sprouted another head. And I was avoiding eye contact with Guy, since he looked so much like his sister.

 

"Uhh... what are you thinking about anyway Artie?"

 

Arena stopped making animal sounds to answer Oliver's question. "Gal asked him out to the Sweetheart's Day Dance."

 

"Woah!? What!? Gal? Gal Surname!?" Oliver exclaimed.

 

Guy spit out his drink and had to cover his face with a napkin. "Our Gal Surname?" he choked out.

 

I nodded weakly. "Yeah, we were in the backseat of Oliver's car and-"

 

"Did she kiss you!?" Oliver exclaimed.

 

"No, we were just-"

 

"Did you kiss her!?"

 

"No, it was nothing like that. We just-"

 

"Did you grab underneath her Timaeus jacket?"

 

I was growing impatient over being interrupted. "All we did was talk. She asked me out in the backseat of your car. That's it!"

 

I stuck the spoon in my mouth in defiance and cringed in disgust as the ketchup hit my tongue.

 

"Ever since she asked me out though, I just can't stop thinking about it."

 

Guy stared at me for a moment before he spoke. "What's there to think about?"

 

"He doesn't know whether to accept her invitation or not." Arena again stated bluntly.

 

"WHAT!?" Guy and Oliver both exclaimed. Oliver bolted straight up, knocking over his chocolate milk. Aynn giggled, purposely knocking over her box of animal crackers.

 

"Neigh!" Aynn yelled as her cracker horses spilled out. Arena frowned at Aynn.

 

"It's just... not that simple okay? Gal's hurting and maybe she just needs one night with... I dunno, with a friend to pay her his undivided attention?"

 

"That's ridiculous!" Oliver interrupted. "We all love Gal!"

 

"Gal doesn't want to interrupt your date with Small Boobs or her brother's date with Ami."

 

"But-" Oliver began before it was my turn to interrupt.

 

"She doesn't wanna be just another notch on a boy's belt, and she doesn't want to be with a family member who's kinda supposed to be there for her anyway. At least that's what she told me in the car. She wants a boy to treat her to a fun night out and... yeah."

 

"And yeah what? You're gonna be her boyfriend now?" Oliver stated with his hands on his hips. "You have a girlfriend and a daughter for crying out loud!"

 

Guy glanced over at my girlfriend. "Arena, what do you think about all of this?"

 

"I already stated it was fine by me. He is already my soulmate. Spending one night with Gal Surname does not diminish any of that."

 

Oliver was at a complete loss for words. It was a fair point however, since I was also at a loss for words when I originally heard it from Arena last Friday.

 

"Arena and I already talked it over and she's fine with it. I mean... Arena can't dance anyway so she'll be fine with babysitting Aynn for the night."

 

"What's the deal with that anyway?" Guy asked pointedly towards Arena. "Didn't you hate Aynn or something?"

 

"I stated she was an irredeemable monster, and I still stand by it, however...." Arena sighed as she began wiping Aynn's mouth with a napkin.

 

"I love Arthur Surrogate, and if Aynn is such an important part of his life, I suppose Aynn has to be an important part of my life too."

 

"Not important enough to spend Sweetheart's Day with." Oliver said with a scowl.

 

"Gal just wants a friend right now. Is that really so wrong?" I asked

 

"Why are you so offended by this anyway Oliver?" Guy asked. "I mean, she's my sister and I'm... well, it's not really fine, but it's not really enough to raise a federal case over."

 

Oliver blushed, unable to put it into words. "It's just..."

 

We stared at him patiently, but he never quite found the right way to say whatever was on his mind. Instead he shook his head and crossed his arms across his chest. "Alright then! If Arthur's going as 'just friends' with Gal this Thursday, let's not leave out the sixth wheel of Team Surname!"

 

Oliver turned to my girlfriend, held her hand close and looked her straight in the eye.

 

"Arena, will you go to the Sweethearts Day Dance with me?"

 

One time when I was little I was invited to Becca Kwighted's 9th birthday party. It was there that I accidentally bumped into Justin Cider and knocked the birthday cake out of his hands. He was really mad at me for a while, before he knocked my slice of cake out of my hand. I remember the mean, spiteful look on his face. Instead of getting his own slice, he decided the best form of justice was to take something away from me.

 

Oliver had the same exact look on his face that Justin did, however his smile was short lived as Arena already knew he would ask, and she already knew her response.

 

"Yes."

 

---

 

I couldn't really say anything about Arena's decision. I felt I needed to be there for Gal, and Arena was willing to let me be there for my friend. It would be hypocritical of me to go out with another girl and get upset for Arena going out with another boy. But that didn't stop me from feeling upset over it. I was going in order to help Gal. As far as I could tell, I didn't see any good reason as to why Arena was going with Oliver.

 

It was Sweetheart's Day, and Arena wore what looked like her beautiful all white battle armor. She wore a long white skirt, a tight fitting breast plate that gave her more of a figure, and an elaborate helmet that helped define her face better.

 

I watched Arena as she adjusting Aynn's outfit. My daughter was wearing a long flowy checker board pattern black and white dress that stretched down to her ankles. It looked a bit loose on her, so she wore a belt around her waist. Arena was tying Aynn's pigtails, with a black ribbon on the right and a white ribbon on her left, but Aynn kept unfastening them.

 

"I really can't believe you're going through with this Arena."

 

"I wanted to be there so I could be close by when your date with Gal ended. You're going with your friend Gal. Me going with Oliver is no different."

 

Arena was patiently trying to get Aynn to sit still, and possibly considering the benefits and drawbacks of breaking Aynn's arms and legs to get her to stop moving and fidgeting

 

"I mean..."

 

"I already know." Arena said as she handed Aynn her favorite doll, Misses Uni the unicorn. Aynn's eyes lit up as she hugged her unicorn tightly. With her arms wrapped around her toy, Arena could easily pull the bands onto Aynn's hair.

 

"Gal makes you feel important, and I do not." Arena said before she put the end of the black ribbon in her mouth and let it dangle as she tied on the white one to the side of Aynn's head.

 

"Well..."

 

"And you aren't important." With the first ribbon in place, Arena grabbed the next one from her mouth.

 

"That's what attracted me to you. I forbade myself from interfering with the mortal realm, and yet you, a mortal, makes such little impact on this realm. Nothing that you say or do matters, and you leave no outstanding legacy to any of your friends, your family or anyone."

 

Arena had told me this before last year. I was a boring and insignificant person, so boring and insignificant in fact that nothing I said or did had any lasting effects on the mortal realm. Whether I lived or died, apparently everything went exactly as Arena had already foreseen. I had perhaps agreed with Arena last year, however as I watched her take care of my daughter I wasn't sure if that was true.

 

"What about-"

 

"You were about to ask, 'what about Aynn?'" Arena interrupted. "She's had a profound impact on the lives of our friends, the academy, and will have a very lasting impression on Silvershine long after this is all over. And you believe that since she is our daughter, and she was formed by our union, she is the sign that you had some impact in this world."

 

At last Aynn's hair ribbons were in place. Aynn didn't seem to notice as she continued cuddling Misses Uni.

 

Arena studied me strangely for a few seconds before speaking.

 

"Let me tell you the story of Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom." It took me bit to realize she had said 'Athena', with a TH instead of 'Arena', her own name.

 

"I will not bore you with the details, however Athena's father, Zeus, had swallowed her when she was young. One night on Mount Olympus, Zeus had a terrible headache and, in order to alleviate the pressure, the god Hephaestus cracked open his skull to let the humors out. Instead of humors, out popped Athena, fully clad in armor and spear at hand. The female goddess sprang from her father's head, a child born of the mind. And since Athena is a part of me, I can do the same."

 

I blinked. "What?"

 

"As Goddess of Wisdom, I can conceive children by joining my mind with my lover. My children can spring from my mind, just as Athena sprang from her father's mind. Though you and I enjoy sexual intimacy to conceive Aynn, I did not actually need your body in order to have our daughter. Regardless of whether you survived the fire at Lincoln Academy or not, Aynn would have still been born."

 

My mouth dropped, unsure of how to react. I had always felt pretty insignificant, but seeing Aynn gave me some sort of purpose and some sort of value to my life. If nothing really mattered and Arena got what she wanted, why even bother being with her? She loved me profoundly, but she made me feel completely insignificant.

 

Arena probably already knew how I felt. She knew everything.

 

"Hey..."

 

But before she could assure me of anything. There was a knock at the door. She sighed, then opened the door to reveal my friend Oliver in a white suit, white tie, and black dress shirt. He looked like someone had hit 'Invert Colors' on my outfit and then gave it to him.

 

Oliver handed Arena a corsage and gave a bit of an awkward laugh as he slipped it on her wrist. He kneeled and kissed Arena's hand then gave a nervous laugh, possibly expecting a reaction from me. After hearing that it didn't matter that I was Aynn's father, I felt nothing could get to me.

 

"Alright, your chariot awaits m'lady." Oliver said with a phony smile. "Everyone's waiting in the car already. Take Aynn downstairs and make sure she's in a child safety seat. I'll bring Arthur down in a minute."

 

Arena looked at me for a moment before calling out to me. "I love you."

 

I nodded weakly, but did not repeat it as I watched her take Aynn by the hand and make her way downstairs.

 

"Black suit, black tie, white shirt? What? Are you going to a funeral or something?"

 

"Yeah..." I replied, not really registering what he had said.

 

Oliver sighed. "Come on man, last chance to back out of it. You can go with Arena, and I'll go with Gal."

 

The way he said it so elegantly, so smoothly, like he had rehearsed it a hundred and one times. This wasn't a spur of the moment suggestion. "That's what you wanted all along wasn't it?"

 

Oliver blushed. "Well..."

 

"I'd love to, but that's not what Gal wants is it?"

 

I sighed, resigned to my fate. The girl who loved me most didn't make me happy and the girl who made me happy didn't love me at all.

 

---

 

The boat ride to Crimson Wind Academy always took about half a day. It was always a chore for the teachers and chaperones to wrangle about a hundred or so rowdy teens together and get them onto a large ferry to cross the Cassandrian Sea. Even after we got on board, there would always be issues of seasickness, hunger, and just in general mean girl cattiness.

 

'Your dress looks hideous and wrinkled!'

'Really? That's how it was after I finished sleeping with your boyfriend!'

'I could tell you've just woken up because your hair is a mess!"

 

But fortunately for all of us, we weren't taking a ferry today. What normally took about 6 hours had been reduced to a mere 45 minutes with the Crimson Silver Express. It was one of those fancy bullet train monorail things set to link the students of Crimson Wind Academy with Silvershine City. Not only that, but it would let students from the mainland be able to commute to Crimson Wind Academy too, if they so choose. And of course, the inaugural ride was set for this Thursday, Sweetheart's Day.

 

Oliver parked his car in the extended stay parking lot and the sixth of us made it on board for the maiden voyage.

 

Guy sat in an aisle seat, I sat in the middle, and Gal was sitting on the window seat, excitedly watching as the town sped by.

 

Across the aisle, Aynn was sitting on the window seat, Arena was sitting in the middle and Oliver was sitting in the aisle seat.

 

"So this train will link Crimson Wind Academy and Silvershine." Guy began. "When we start going there in the fall, me and Gal can visit you three every single weekend. It'll be like we never left."

 

Arena said nothing.

 

"Ooh! Adventures every weekend!" Gal said excitedly

 

"Adventure!" Aynn declared.

 

Considering how crappy we all felt the past week, everyone seemed to be in a good mood for right now. With the train speeding forward, nobody really noticed subtle movements so no one felt any kind of motion sickness. As far as clothes, Gal was wearing an all-black 1920's style flapper dress with beads and fabric from her thighs to a little bit below her knees. She also wore a long white shawl, long black gloves and a thick black pair of opaque tights. Her brother only wore a dress shirt, pants, suspenders, and a trilby hat, looking like the other half of the Bonny and Clyde gangster set up.

 

I rest my hand on the arm rest, and Gal's gloved hand came to rest itself on mine.

 

"You okay?" Gal asked with a weak smile.

 

"I'm just a little nervous." I lied.

 

What did it mean that Gal made me happier than Arena did? Did I just latch onto the first girl who showed me any kind of affection without thinking about how I really felt? I thought Arena was the only girl for me. She was the one girl who knew me and understood me at a fundamental level, but maybe I was missing something more?

 

"Oh! We can see all of Silvershine from over here! I wanna take a picture!" Gal pushed her phone as close to the window as possible and took a picture, capturing Silvershine in all its radiant glory in the setting sun. It looked less silver and more like gold in the setting sun.

 

"Say goodbye to Silvershine everyone!" Gal giggled.

 

"We'll see it again on Sunday." Oliver didn't know it at the time, but he would be wrong.

 

"Let's take lots of pictures together, okay Artie?" Gal said as she turned her phone's cameras to face us. She smiled enormously, but I could see from my own face reflected on her camera that my heart just wasn't in it.

 

"I wanna remember this night forever!"

 

"You won't need any pictures to remember what happens." Arena said blankly.

 

"I wonder how we'll top this one for next year's Sweetheart's Day!" Gal said with a grin. She smiled towards Arena, hoping to get a hint. Arena just frowned and looked away before speaking.

 

"Just enjoy the time you have tonight."

 

Little did I know that this was all just the calm before the storm. I took one last look at Silvershine, unaware it would be the last time I would ever get to see it like this. As the bullet train sped forward, I saw Gal laughing and smiling. We all talked about random pigeon races and TV shows and comics, laughing and acting like silly kids. This would be the last night any of us would get to laugh like that. I didn't know it, but it would also be one of the last few times I saw some of the girls from Hawthorne still alive. Today we had typical teenage problems. It was all dumb little dating and relationship issues like who was taking who to the big dance. If I knew what was coming up next, I'd wish what we had now was the worst of it.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 21: Victory Dance]

The Duel Academies were never meant to teach you how to duel. Sure, it was a happy byproduct that they helped people learn how to be a productive member in an ever changing duel-based economy, but teaching students how to duel or how to become Duel Disk Engineers or Card Designers was never the ultimate goal for everyone.

For the government, it was to get a good little tax payer to contribute to the coffers.

For the teachers and school staff, it actually was to teach students how to duel.

For the Covenant of the Eternals, their ultimate goal was to get the Gods of the Aether Realm to return to Earth, and they used the duel academies to do it.

The Covenant had many tactics and spells, but their most commonly used one was large scale mass sacrifices. Their most powerful spells required all the links in the Cursed Chain or a large number of demigods, but those things were very rare to come by. A hundred or so disposable mortal lives were easy to find and easily replaceable, especially if they were already gathered for you in one place by their parents for the purpose of "education"

And so it went throughout the ages. The abandoned dorm at Crimson Wind Academy. The fires of Lincoln Academy. The school at the bottom of the sea, Solar Dusk Academy. Many, many other schools throughout time faced the same fate as those we were familiar with.

Fortunately for us, Hawthorne and Crimson Wind would not be destroyed by the Covenant of the Eternals tonight. In fact, the reign of the Covenant, and their entire organization would fall apart before the end of the dance.

---

"Victory Dance!" Aynn squealed as she ran ahead of all of us and began giving the Necrophades Ball Room a victory lap. We watched as she disappeared into a crowd and laughed it off.

The students of Crimson Wind Academy weren't exactly pleased that a tiny little four year old girl was making fun of them, but they couldn't really say anything since they lost the Ladies and Gentleman tournament back in December. Because of that they were forced to host, decorate, and also pay for a party in our school's honor.

Last year we had all admired how magnificent the Necrophades Ballroom looked in the low candle lighting. Today we saw the dorm in all of its glory. The ballroom was fully cleaned and with running electricity and full renovated chandeliers, polished marble, waxed floors, and with a buffet of food and punch laid out for us in the Dining Hall to eat and drink.

As we enjoyed the scenery before us, we caught up with two of the people responsible for the party.

The Princess of Ra Yellow was wearing a short black pencil skirt, black tights, a blue dress shirt, and what looked like a police officer's hat. Even though a whole year had passed since we had last seen her and even though this girl was older than me and Oliver, she still looked like a child.

"Hey! So, what do you guys think?" asked The Princess as she bounced on her heels and looked over the six of us.

"You look great." Olive said in a noncommittal tone.

"Not me! I know I look great." The Princess struck a dramatic pose and smiled.

"Yeah." A boy dressed in what looked like a vampire costume spoke up. "What do you think about this year's theme?"

He gestured towards the other Crimson Wind Academy students, but I couldn't see a theme to all of them. The Firefly wore a bright orange dress. Small Boobs was wearing what looked like a cowgirl outfit. Two kids wore regular prom attire, but the couple seemed to be handcuffed together. Overall, nothing stuck out to me as a 'theme'

"It's... nice?" I asked.

The Vampire raised an eyebrow, as though realizing I didn't get it. "For our theme this year we chose Cops versus Robbers. A classic good guys versus bad guys you know?"

"That's why me and my bro are dressed like a 1920's gangsters!" Gal declared eagerly.

"Astynomia." Arena declared, though she didn't explain what that meant.

"Yarr, I be a pirate!" Though she didn't have an eyepatch due to her glasses, Ami Pastiche wore boots, leather pants, a frilly white shirt, a pirate's hat, and a leather vest that seemed to amplify her figure. She also had a knife tied onto her belt that looked very familiar...

"I'm the ultimate crime fighter, of course. A prosecuting attorney just like my dad!" Oliver said with a smile as he turned to The Vampire. "And what are you dressed as? Someone who robs people's blood?"

"Something like that. What about Artie over here?" I cringed as it seemed my nickname was spreading. "Are you some guy who committed tax evasion on Silver Street and defrauded all his investors?"

"Yeah." I lied. Truthfully I didn't know anything about a theme and even if I did I don't think I would have gone out of my way to dress up. It seemed my date for the night, Gal Surname however, was more than excited for the party. She was surveying the scene quite intently before she suddenly snapped her fingers and pointed accusingly at the Princess.

"A good party needs four things!" she declared. "A venue, food and drinks, entertainment, and decorations!"

"The ballroom's nice." Guy said.

"And we swabbed the decks and hoisted the mast for our special guests." Ami said with a smile.

Oliver took in a deep breathe. "Food smells good too."

"Where's the music?" Gal asked. "I hope whoever you got is as good as the Kristi Korrina Experience was last year."

"Even better!" The Princess said. "Kristi Korrina was the cover band. This year we got the real thing! We managed to book the real live Patchwork to perform at our dance!"

"Good luck topping that for next year's dance!" The Vampire exclaimed, not knowing there wouldn't be a dance next year.

Gal's eyes opened wide. "What!? Jacob? David? Nataly? Here!?" She looked around nervously as she tried to adjust her hair. "Where!?"

"They'll be up on stage in about 30 minutes." The Vampire motioned towards the stage and I saw two people, notably not the famous Patchwork up on stage and playing quietly. "For right now Kristi and Cathy are just providing ambient music while everyone gets familiar with the setup."

I recognized the boy as the lead singer from last year's Kristi Korrina Experience. He wore a simple suit, without the suit jacket and up on stage with him was a girl with bright red hair, and dark black cosplay cat ears on top of her head with a dark black cosplay tail pinned on the back of her black dress. She was probably supposed to be dressed as a 'cat burglar'.

The pair were playing quietly. It was more meant to provide ambient music and set the tone rather than trying to be the stars of the show. The girl was on drums and Kristi was strumming lightly on his guitar.

I gave the boy and girl a quick wave, but it seemed they were too involved in their own music to respond, or maybe too sad that they got bumped from the main act. At least it meant the two could enjoy the party together though.

"Wow... I can't believe Patchwork is gonna be up on that stage soon." Gal said in a bit of a dreamy voice.

"Arr! We can still shake a peg leg afore the real shanties begin!" Ami grabbed Guy's hand and lead him closer to the dance floor. Cathy and Kristi looked over at Guy and Ami. The band smiled at the couple, glad that they now had an audience to perform for.

"Since Arena can't dance, her and I are just gonna find some dark corner of the Black Dorm and make Aynn a half-sister."

Arena stared intensely at Oliver.

"Kidding! I'll get some food. Arena can... go be omnipotent or whatever she does when we're not around." Oliver laughed nervously before making a beeline for the food and drinks.

Arena studied me for a moment, before a simple sentence escaped her lips. "Take care of the girl."

I was unsure what exactly she meant. Was she inviting me to have a good time with Gal? I looked over at my date and smiled.

"So Gal, what do you-"

She grabbed me by the tie and pulled me in close. "Find Patchwork!"

---

Jacob Stevens was the heartthrob on lead guitar and vocals. David Stevens was the older, mysterious one who played drums. Natalya Soravera was the young, fun one on keyboard and occasional backup vocals. These were the three people that made up the band Patchwork. While they never acquired international fame, the band had acquired some renown and was pretty well known by Silvershine locals. Gal never struck me as the kind of girl who went crazy for a band, but once I remembered that Headmistress Mishegoss was also a fan, it all began to make sense.

"Okay Gal, how do we find your band?"

When confronted with a problem, Gal always had an original, out of the box solution. "First, we hack into the Crimson Wind Academy servers! Then we compare yesterday's Duel Disk log to todays. We find the three duel disks that weren't here yesterday, triangulate their position on the network, bing bang blow, Gal gets her autographs!"

I nodded, but there was one small problem. "But everyone from Silvershine brought their Duel Disk here too." I motioned to the device on my arm and to Gal's own duel disk on her wrist. "It wouldn't be just three new duel disk. It would be everyone from Silvershine."

"Oh... oh yeah." Gal said with a sigh. She scratched at her chin for a moment before she suddenly pulled her PDA, a wire, and a USB from her purse and plugged them all into her Duel Disk.

"Okay! Better idea! My Duel Disk is registered as a Hawthorne Academy Student Duel Disk. What we do is export the security certificate, then upload it onto Crimson Wind's update servers. Everyone who's currently getting updates from Crimson Wind, namely all the students and staff will download my update and they'll TECHNICALLY be seen as Hawthorne students by Crimson Wind's network. We'll tell the Crimson Wind Academy network to filter out any Duel Disks it sees as not belonging to Hawthorne students, and then boom! Patchwork City here we come!"

I raised an eyebrow at Gal's idea. "That sounds extremely complicated, really time intensive, and it sounds like it would cause a lot of problems tomorrow morning."

"No see, we're all getting Friday off too so they wouldn't see problems until Monday." Gal nodded as she kept typing away on her PDA.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just wait the 30 minutes for Patchwork to come onstage?"

Gal's PDA made a beeping noise. "B-but I wanna see them now!" she whined before doing that cute lower lip thing girls always do to get what they want.

I sighed, then walked past Guy and Ami and over to the boy on the guitar. "Excuse me, Kristi?"

"Kinda in the middle of something..." he said, motioning towards his guitar. "Whatcha need though?"

"You're the opening act for Patchwork. Any idea where they might be?"

He glanced over at Cathy, then gave a quick nod. She put down her drumsticks and awkwardly toddled over to us. With just the guitar Kristi was able to take the lead and the song did not suffer for it.

"Nya! I saw some cute little four year old kitten in black and white bothering them near the Dining Hall. They might still be there!"

"Thanks, that's..." I paused to consider what she said. "A four year old?"

"Coulda been different in cat years." Cathy gave a shrug before cheerfully skipping back to the drums.

It was at that point I had realized I hadn't seen Aynn in quite some time. I thought back to Arena's words 'Take care of the girl' and wondered if that was some ominous message about the fate of our daughter.

I walked back over to my date, who seemed to still be typing away on her PDA.

"Gal!"

"Wah!" she nearly dropped her PDA, then hid it behind her back and blushed. "Hey! So the good news is-"

"I just asked the cover band. Apparently Patchwork went to have a bite to eat at the dining hall. I think they might have Aynn too. You in?"

Her eyes lit up and she locked her arms with mine, practically leading the way herself. "I'd go anywhere for Patchwork! Let's go Artie!"

---

The last time I had food at the Black Dorm, is a weird mix of various foods from the other three dorms that somehow came together, much like its students. We had sirloin steak from the blue dorm, stale hotdogs buns from red, and blenderized french fries from the Yellow dorm as the mashed potatoes. This year however it looks like they went all out with regards to food.

There were all kinds of finger food like chicken wings, pizza rolls, mozzarella sticks, and also fruits and vegetables which I'm sure the Princess of Ra Yellow insisted on, but they were mostly meant as appetizers. Our main course would come after a brief speech from Headmistress Kallone and Headmistress Mishegoss.

I noticed a lot of people I didn't recognize, some from Hawthorne and some from Crimson Wind. I didn't know it at the time, but this would be the last time I would see most of them.

But there was one boy I noticed who would definitely survive to the final chapter.

"Oliver?" I asked.

"Ollie!" Gal waved as she put an arm around me.

He looked a bit nervous, and he seemed to almost jump when he heard my voice, but once his heartrate slowed down he smiled towards Gal and me.

"Oh hey, it's you two lovebirds." Oliver smiled. "How's the dance going so far?"

"Our date couldn't possibly be going any better!" Gal said rather loudly, before suddenly grabbing my tie and kissing me on the lips.

Arena was gentle and soft. Gal was quite the opposite. I'd describe it as sloppy and forceful and her hands were everywhere. Out of respect for the mother of my child, I kept my hands to my side. I didn't outwardly push Gal away but in hindsight it might have been the right choice.

When she eventually pulled away her first instinct was to turn towards Oliver. She smiled, as though daring him to say anything.

Oliver looked slightly annoyed, then gave a yawn. "My date with Arena's been pretty boring but glad you two are having fun."

Gal still looked smug at Oliver, before glancing over at me. She blushed lightly and then looked away.

"It's no big deal though. You know how the old saying goes?" And Oliver smiled while that mischievous glint returned to his eyes. "When life hands you lemons, grab some vodka and pour it into the Crimson Wind punch bowl!"

I looked over at the large bowl of red liquid, and the two or three students pouring themselves a drink before clanging together styrofoam cups.

"You didn't..." I said in disbelief.

"I did!" Oliver said with a laugh.

Gal blinked. "Did what?"

"That stuff was really potent man."

"Relax, I stirred the bowl pretty well."

"How'd you even manage to sneak booze into the dance anyway?"

Oliver motioned towards the messenger bag on his side. "Not only can it hold my Duel Disk but it also seems to have some weird alternate dimension with an infinite supply of wine and alcohol. Very handy!"

I shook my head and sighed, just pretending I didn't hear any of that. If Oliver got in trouble, I'd have to get my alibi sorted out.

"Whatever." I grabbed a wedge of pineapple with a toothpick to get the taste of Gal out of my mouth. I shook my head, trying to remember the main reason we came to the Dining Hall to begin with.

"Have you seen Aynn?"

"Or Patchwork!?" Gal added in.

"Well I sort of just showed up and I'm also just sort of about to leave. Don't wanna be here when the plan goes off. See ya!"

And with that, Oliver piled some fruits onto his plate and hastily sped away, nearly bumping into one of our chaperones.

"Hello kids." the man in the detective outfit said. "Oliver sure was in a hurry wasn't he?"

Detective Spencer Friedman was thought by many to be the world's greatest detective. However we discovered the secret to his success was actually his little sister, Hortense Friedman. Currently she was missing. She may have been dead or dying or being tortured by the Covenant of the Eternals. But as for the detective himself, he was as clueless as ever as he poured himself half a cup of punch.

I looked at him expectantly, wondering if Oliver's stupid plan was going to fail before it began when suddenly the detective pulled a flask from his coat pocket and poured it into his drink.

"Don't mind me. Just need something to settle my nerves." he smiled and took a sip of his drink. It seemed whatever he added from his flask was masking the alcohol the punch already had.

"Hello Detective!" Gal greeted cheerfully. "Are you here with a special sweetheart!?"

He smiled as he took a second drink. "I don't really have a sweetheart, though that's not to say there isn't one super important girl in my life."

Gal's face became pale. "O-oh..." Gal had lost Hortense to the Covenant while she was supposed to be babysitting and coming face to face with that seemed to alter her mood.

I could feel the atmosphere in the room getting heavy, so I quickly tried to change the subject. "So you're chaperoning, right Detective?"

"Headmistress Mishegoss asked me to." said the Detective. "Kinda working with Crimson Wind's head of security too. After last year's incident, we gotta make sure we have the best of the best available."

He poured himself another drink then gave us a bit of a salute with it. "Nice seeing you two again."

He began to walk away, before Gal suddenly called out to him.

"Hey wait! Can I get you to install an update onto your Duel Disk?" she handed over a USB and looked at the detective expectantly.

I rolled my eyes at Gal's request, but I realized that as a detective he may have seen more people than he let on.

"Also, have you seen a little girl in a black and white dress?"

Now Gal was the one who rolled her eyes.

"Tons of them." He plugged the USB into his Duel Disk. "Seems to be a recurring theme here."

I looked around and noticed the outfits. Cops versus Robbers was the theme of the party, and some girls wore black and white striped dresses, prisoner pattern.

"How about a girl with black and white hair? White at the root, black on the tip? Pig tails?"

"Now that I did see." Freidman adjusted his sunglasses and smiled before handing back Gal's USB. "That girl got a plate of chicken wings and celery then went off to find a table."

"Alright Gal, let's head back to the ballroom!"

"But what about Patchwork!?"

I stopped to think it over before remembering who else would be in the ballroom. "I think I know how we can solve both of our problems in one trip."

---

Gal was not happy with our little diversion. She was on the trail of her favorite person's favorite band, and just as we were about to find them we were being pulled into completely the opposite direction. I assured her though, I had a brilliant idea.

Though we weren't able to find Aynn sitting anywhere at any of the tables, we were able to find one of the two people I was eager to see.

"Really? On THIS island?" I overheard Oliver ask in a rather animated way.

Arena nodded.

"Sorry to interrupt. Arena, I just spoke to Detective Freidman. I'm sure you already know what he and I talked about."

"I do." Arena ran a hand through her hair. "The girl who sat with Oliver and I just moments ago stepped into the ladies room to wash her hands."

"Where's Patchwork!?" Gal asked excitedly.

"They are backstage, tuning their instruments and about ready to begin in 4 minutes and 28 seconds."

Gal turned around. "Then I'm off!"

My eyes met with Arena's, and I once again remembered her words. 'Take care of the girl.'

I hurried behind Gal and grabbed at her arm. "Don't you wanna stick together?"

"I'll be fine. You have to find your daughter don't you?" she said, a hint of anger in her voice.

"If she's in the ladies room, can I ask you to check?"

"No way! I have only 4 minutes to meet the greatest band ever!"

"Well... Guy kinda looks like a girl. Do you think he can-"

"Oh, right of course! 'I'm Guy Surname! I'm so great because I have the second, third and seventh link in the chain!'" She rolled her eyes and pulled her arm out of my grip. "Do whatever you want, and let me do what I want!"

Gal was feeling inferior to her brother for quite some time. He had 3 links in the chain, he had stolen her best friend, and she couldn't even find a date who wanted to spend the full night with her. Even when it was a task she was perfectly suited for, namely going into the girl's bathroom, she was being overlooked in favor of her brother.

All she wanted was to be seen as special by the woman she admired, Headmistress Mishegoss and she figured getting autographs would be the way to do it. All I could do was let her go and watch as she walked away. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of who else was watching and listening to what Gal was saying. I didn't know it at the time, but the next time I would see Gal Surname she would be tied up and held hostage by the Covenant of the Eternals.

Even though I wasn't a girl I was still determined to find my daughter. I couldn't enter the ladies bathroom so I did the next best thing and waited outside. Fortunately it wound up not being a very long wait before I saw a girl with black and white hair. Unfortunately for me, she was about the same age as me and had a Crimson Wind Academy Duel Disk on her wrist.

My eyes locked with this girl who looked like Aynn, but also much older. She had the same style of hair, the pigtails, and she even seemed to be wearing the exact same dress my four year old daughter wore. When Aynn wore the dress it was a long elaborate gown that went from her shoulders to her ankles. On this girl, it was more like one of those club dresses a girl would wear to go to Point Blank Night Club. The dress went from her shoulders to around her mid-thigh and while it was flowy and loose on my daughter, on this girl it clung to her body showing off her curvy and mature feminine figure. She also wore a belt around her waist, though it seemed to further show off her assets. This girl soon realized I was looking at her and gave me a weak smile.

"Uhh... hi?" the girl said with an awkward wave. Her voice sounded like Aynn's, but lower.

"Aynn?" I asked.

She shook her head from left and right. "Call me Acey."

I blinked. "Like an air conditioner?"

"No, like... Jack, Queen, King. Ace. Acey! It's short for Cat Girl Ace. Don't ask." Acey gave a laugh. "They called me that since freshman year here."

Aynn wasn't at Crimson Wind Academy her freshman year. The fact that this girl even remembered her freshman year seemed to rule out my forgetful daughter. A million different questions seemed to rush to my mind but before I could ask any of them, Acey spoke up.

"Arthur, right? Arena's told me so much about you."

Arena was the source of this confusion. She had told me earlier today she didn't need my body in order to produce a child. Was this girl one of those children? How many of these illegitimate children did I have in the world?

"Hello Crimson Wind Academy!" I heard a voice from the stage call out. It seemed Gal did not get to her band in time. "Are you ready to rock!?"

I heard a loud roar from the crowd, but my mind was running a mile a minute.

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

Another yell from the audience.

"Before we begin though, Headmistress Kallone wanted me to give this message. To the owner of a small four year old girl, she's waiting for you in the second floor lounge."

That snapped me out of my thoughts. "S-sorry to bother you Acey! I gotta go!"

---

I raced up to the second floor and saw what looked like a small child wearing an oversized Critias Black cloak that was way too long for her.

I dared to hope and called out her name. "Aynn?"

"I wish." the voice was not Aynn's, but it sounded familiar.

"If I was your daughter then I wouldn't be cursed with this impeccable memory and the horrors to last me a hundred lifetimes." she removed her hood and smiled at me.

It wasn't the girl I was hoping for, but my heart skipped a beat and I felt tears well up in my eyes at the sight of the blonde haired girl before me.

"Hortense."

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 22: Forty Nine]

Twenty seven years ago, Charlotte Brooke Swebb met the love of her life at a Sweetheart's Day Dance just like this one. He disappeared soon after the dance was over and nine months later, Charlotte gave birth to a daughter named Allison Katherine Swebb. Charlotte was disowned by her friends and family and forced to live on the streets until she was able to find a job. Unable to take care of her daughter, she put little Allison up for adoption.

Little did Swebb know that the youth she fell in love with was actually Demeidon, the God of the Sea and the Earth which made Allison a Demigoddess. Unfortunately for Allison and for humanity itself, the man who ended up adopting her knew all the telltale signs of a demigoddess when he saw one.

At the age of five, Allison was officially adopted by Lord Ikari and began learning the ways of the Covenant of the Eternals. As a DemiGoddess all of their rituals, potions and spells came second nature to her compared to the other mortals that lived at Ikari Farms.

Allison was an incredibly smart girl and at the age of 10, she enrolled into Solar Dusk Academy. Naive and short sighted, she did what she was told and started a ritual that would trigger an earthquake and sink the academy to the bottom of the sea.

Only 12 people survived.

She was assumed dead at this point, but due to being the Demigodess of the Sea she could not drown. Instead she floated around in the ocean, 3 days lost at sea, before finally drifting towards Silvershine. Back on dry land, the girl tried to lead as normal a life as possible though at 12 years old, not many people took her seriously.

Eventually Allison met Lady Lauren Winchester of Kelen Academy where she stayed until she was 18. Having nowhere else to go, she stayed with her mother and became a teacher at the Duel Academy for the Blind, Deaf and Handicapped

She didn't realize it, but the Covenant often made their way to the duel academies for many reasons. Sometimes it was to pick up recruits. Sometimes it was to scout for possible links in the Cursed Chain or Demigods. The disguised their members as parents and children. They came in as investors and donated uniforms, like they did in Lincoln. One day the Covenant happened to pick Kelen Academy. That was how Allison was brought back in to Lord Ikari's clutches, though a lot worldlier and a lot less trusting.

---

Hortense Friedman had one of the most unusual lives of anyone I had ever met, and I would end up meeting quite a lot of unusual people before my story was over. Hortense was extremely sheltered because she lived locked away in an apartment near the Other Side of the Highway with her half-brother, Spencer Friedman.

And yet despite this, she also lived the most varied and worldly life of anyone possible, because of the fifth link in the chain. Whenever she touched anyone's hand, to anyone watching she would have a split second stroke, and then seem slightly dazed and out of it for a while. To herself, within her own mind, she would live out someone's full life from the moment they were born to the moment they touched her hand.

But for the one split second I saw her, my heart felt like it was about to leap out of my chest as I rushed over to the four year old girl we had almost lost. Normally she dressed like a princess but today she wore a "SilverCup Studios" t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans and socks, along with the Norleras Black cloak I mentioned last chapter.

"Oh my God! Hortense! Hortense Friedman!" I scooped her up and pulled her into a tight and loving embrace.

"Why are you here? How did you get here? When did you get here?" My mind was racing a hundred miles an hour as I saw the dazed look in her eye. I knew I had accidentally triggered her fifth link and she had likely been forced to live out my full life. Normally it only lasted a split second, but for right now she was gone for almost three whole seconds. It seemed that, with my 500 years spent in the Aether Realm the length of her comatose state was just a little bit longer than usual.

"Forty nine..." she stared at me with a blank expression in her eyes. "I got here maybe fifty minutes ago?"

I gave a weak smile. Even after living about 500 years she still remembered what I had asked.

Hortense shook her head from left to right as I placed her gently on the Necrophades Black couch.

"No time for rest Arthur." she awkwardly staggered to get back up before falling face forward. I hesitated to catch her, instead watching as she dropped onto the floor. She frowned, then made sure to wrap her arms around with her Norleras Black cloak. She extended her encased arm and I helped pull her back up to her feet.

"There's so much going on, I can't imagine where to begin. I feel tired and exhausted but for right now, I'd like to talk to my brother."

I raised an eyebrow at her words. With a known shapeshifter like Candice Sublime still at large, it was hard to tell who was a friend and who was actually Candice in disguise.

"How did you know he was here?"

She smiled and the next words out of her mouth resolved my fears. "I saw him in your memories."

I smiled back and held her cloak-covered hand, leading her downstairs to the grand Necrophades Black Ballroom.

---

Patchwork was supposed to be a pretty big deal. They were professional musicians who owned their own equipment. They sold out nightclubs. They put out their own record. They had posters, t-shirts, fangirls. They were once even in the talks to perform on Late Night with Judas Skylake.

I thought they sounded pretty terrible as I led Hortense through the crowds, but I would soon find out why.

"I'm exhausted." Hortense whispered as she struggled to keep pace with me. "Can I get something to eat or drink?"

"Yeah." I said as I walked over to the table at the dining hall. I wasn't sure what to get her to eat so I sort of got a little bit of everything. Pigs in a blanket, celery, boneless chicken because I didn't want her to choke on anything.

If she was anything like Aynn she'd only like sweets. But instead Hortense was nothing like Aynn. She was serious, clever, and naturally cautious. While Aynn forgot things instantly, Hortense had the memory of an elephant. There was only one thing to drink so that was easy decision. I handed Hortense a plate with easy finger food and a cup of fruit punch. She devoured it instantly, then smiled.

"Let's..." she wiped her mouth with her cloak. "Let's go find my brother now."

It was a bit hard to concentrate with the bad music playing. It was slightly out of tune, and every once in a while it would be like the wrong string was plucked and he'd stammer "W-wait, let me try that again". Nevertheless, Jacob Stevens of Patchwork seemed to be having fun and the other kids seemed to be enjoying it so I wasn't about to ruin the party.

At last their current song ended, and everyone applauded and cheered.

"Play Love a Mildfire!" I heard Headmistress Mishegoss yell out.

"Love like a Wildfire? Yeah!" Jacob slurred as he drank from a red solo cup. "This one goes out to everyone's... to everyone who's never had a song dedicated to them!"

"So now... you can't say anything!" Natalya yelled out, then began laughing.

Hortense giggled as she tugged on my hands. "Artie! Come dance with me!"

I raised an eyebrow at Hortense's request. "Uhh... what? Are you feeling okay?"

"I think I'm fine. I think as long as there's no direct skin-to-skin contact I'll be safe."

As the slow song started up, Hortense stood on my shoes. She smiled gleefully and began swaying her arms out of time. Love like a Wildfire was a slow song that eventually picked up in tempo. As I looked around the dance floor and saw the couples holding tightly and staggering, falling over themselves I had finally realized what was going on.

"Damn it Oliver. You got everyone drunk with that magic bag of booze."

Hortense and I danced for about a minute more before it got to the part where Love like a Wildfire sped up. The song, much like love would speed up, getting louder and more intense, before finally ending with a loud and abrupt crash. As the song was supposed to get faster it just stayed the same, but got sloppier instead. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Hortense who was still trying to pass off her flailing as dancing.

"We should find your brother Hortense."

"Oh yeah! I gotta tell him how Lord Ikari's planning to kill everyone!"

That brought the party in my mind to a screeching halt. "What!?"

Nobody else seemed to hear Hortense, or if they did they were too lost in their wildfire of love to care. I looked to my left and saw the Witch and the Horseman, blushing and looking at each other dreamily. On my right I saw Sugu and Freezy, two girls, dancing together with smiles on their faces.

Hortense let go of me and began making her way through the crowd, though considering how small she was it many people didn't notice or get out of the way for her. I scooped her up and carried her off the dance floor.

"What good will Spencer be if he's as drunk as everyone else?"

"Suspenders Freeman is the Worst Greatest Defender!" Hortense slurred accusingly. "When all else fails, he does not!"

I rolled my eyes. "I think we should find Arena..."

"I cannot feddle with human ammairs." She said in a mocking tone.

"Maybe we can get you on stage to warn everyone?"

"What good would warning people do? Everyone's drunk." she hiccupped, then laughed. "I'm thirsty."

"Okay, pretend I'm your brother then Hortense. What would you tell me if I was him?"

Hortense looked at me for a moment, straining to imagine me as a big shot detective. At last she smiled.

"Big brother." Hortense gave a polite curtsy with her cloak. "I am honored that you include me in your life and your work. I never found the right time to tell you this, but it is about mother. Just before she died, our hands touched and I was able to see her full life's memories. The point is I know who your father is and I know he's still alive. He's-"

"Can we get to the part about Lord Ikari?"

She shook her head, snapping out of her drunk babbling stupor. "Right! Lord Ikari. He's drew one of those fancy circles on the roof of our house."

While many people did called the Necrophades dorm their home, this was certainly not a house.

"Lord Ikari is up there chanting like, an hour long spell or something. Long spells that do massive damage like killing everyone need a lot of concentration and prep work to pull off. He started chanting his spell about... a little less than an hour ago."

My eyes widened in shock at Hortense's words. I could feel the world around me slow down, then speed up, then suddenly crash.

"Woo! Love like a Wildfire!" Jacobs yelled as his song ended. "What's the next request?"

"Dude Looks Like a Lady!"

I looked over at the direction of the person yelling, finding Oliver and Arena sitting peacefully by a table. Arena smiled and made a kissy face at me before she took a drink from a red solo cup then winked. I remembered that Oliver's drinks could affect both mortals and gods alike.

"Well, that's really not one of our songs but we can give it a try." Jacob cleared his throat and began playing, poorly.

I rushed over to Oliver but it seemed he only had one thing on his mind as he saw the two of us approach.

"Is that Hortense!?"

"Yeah." I said as I wrapped her up in her cloak like she was a baby in a blanket and attempted to place her in Oliver's hands. He awkwardly fumbled and nearly dropped her, before gently placing her on the ground.

I rolled my eyes, but knew there were more important things to do for right now as I looked over my girlfriend and her date.

"Arena, Oliver. Go find Guy, Gal, and Ami. Meet on the roof as fast as you can!"

---

The last time I was this anxious on an elevator ride it was at the Zenkai Hospital in Silvershine. We had just discovered Headmistress Lorem Ipsum was actually the wielder of the First Link in the Chain, a deadly power that allowed one to draw youth from any living target. Back in Silvershine I had everyone from Team Surname and the Distribution for back up. Here I had no one. It would be me all alone with some deranged cultist madman.

The elevator opened to the top floor and I raced up the stairs for the final flight. It was exactly as Hortense said. I saw Lord Ikari in the pale blue moonlight. He looked exactly like he did that last time I saw him. He was a young twenty year old man after my daughter had gifted him some youth. He was standing with his eyes closed and hands locked in a prayer position. There was a very ornate circular design on the ground in front of him.

To my surprise though, I wasn't alone. Slightly off to the side I saw Professor Allison. She was covered in bruises and cuts but she bled a bizarre mixture of mortal blood and divine ichor, the blood of the gods. It made sense for a Demigoddess to have both.

I quickly rushed to see Allison and despite not knowing anything about first aid, I could tell she was still breathing. It seemed there was some kind of fight before I had gotten here, with Lord Ikari winning somehow. He was a mortal and she was a Demigoddess yet it seemed they had gone toe-to-toe and he had won. I decided not to pay it too much attention. All that mattered for right now was that Allison was alive and that Lord Ikari needed to be taken down.

"Lord Ikari!"

No response. The man was muttering something in his bizarre pseudo-latin chant under his breath. I walked closer to him and yelled again.

"LORD IKARI!"

I was about 5 inches from his face, and there was no way he didn't hear me unless he was in some sort of deep and heavy trance. He might have been able to beat up a 20-something year old woman, but he didn't have any defenses for a direct punch to the face.

I've never been in a fight, my form was sloppy, and my hand hurt like hell afterwards, but I wound back and punched Lord Ikari in the face as hard as I could. That woke the man out of his trance.

He hit the ground, then awkwardly staggered to get back up.

"Wh-what do you think you're doing!?" I couldn't see so well in the light, but I think I got him pretty good.

I looked down at my closed fist. It was wet, probably covered in his blood. "I'm here to stop you!"

"Ha, you think you can stop me?" he scowled, looking over at Allison's body. "She tried about 15 minutes ago and look where that got her!"

He smiled, running a hand through his hair and putting the hood on his Norleras Black cloak. "She is my family so I showed her mercy. But that won't be the same for you!"

"You're a mortal, just like me!" I exclaimed, and Lord Ikari seemed to be taken aback.

Lord Ikari looked down at his hands then smiled a wicked grin. "There's no reasoning with you is there boy?"

I thought for a moment but there was nothing else to do. I had a Duel Disk on and so did he. The choice seemed obvious.

"Lord Ikari! I challenge you to a duel!"

---

It wasn't the best of moves. After all, what would a duel between two mortals really solve? I had no Cursed Chain, and it took all my courage just to punch him in the face. I couldn't bring myself to kill the guy, and as far as I knew this was just a huge waste of time for everyone involved. But maybe a huge waste of time was just what I needed? That's what my plan would end up being. Stall for time until Arena, Gal and Guy showed up to save the day. Without his kids to protect him the guy was toothless. Once Guy got here, he could ask Lord Ikari to jump off the building or disband the Covenant or any number of things and he would have to accept.

For right now, all Lord Ikari could accept was a duel against me.

"Very well, and when I win I promise you'll regret ever crossing me!"

My duel disk lit up and my life points were set to the standard four thousand. Lord Ikari's Kelen Academy Duel Disk activated as he drew his top 5 cards.

I looked over my hand, trying to plan out a strategy as I drew my sixth card on my draw phase.

Dark World Dealings was normally a good start, but I didn't know his deck. Sending cards could fuel his own strategy better than my own, and drawing more would put him at an advantage as well.

Tour Guide of the Underworld could give me a quick Wind-Up Zenmaines to defend with, but I wasn't sure if I needed defense right away.

I had Foolish Burial, which could send Grapha, and I had Deck Devastation Virus, Snow and Broww as well.

Getting off a Deck Devastation Virus this early would be a pretty good opening move, but I didn't know his deck and it would leave me wide open on his turn.

I wasn't sure I wanted to telegraph my deck type, but the only move that wouldn't do that would be to go with Tour Guide Number 1 to summon tour Guide Number 2, then go into Zenmaines.

Oliver once told me there were two ways to play. You could either work to win or work to keep your opponent from winning. For right now, since I was stalling until Guy, Gal or Arena returned I felt the best choice would be to keep him from winning.

"I summon Tour Guide from the Underworld, then search out a second copy!" the cute little demon in a pencil skirt smiled as her twin sister hit the field.

"I'll perform an overlay network with my Tour Guides to summon Wind-Up Zenmaines!"

My little toy monster was ready to defend my life points. I set Foolish Burial as a bluff face down.

"And I'll set one support card! Your move!"

---

I had never seen Lord Ikari's deck before. I wasn't sure what to expect as I watched as the person in front of me drew a sixth card on their draw phase, and then their turn began

"I'll begin by using my Gishki Vision's effect!" he said, tapping the card on his duel disk before placing it in the graveyard. "I can discard my Gishi Vision to add a Gishki Ritual Monster to my hand. And I choose Gishki Zielgigas."

I made a mental note to pay close attention to his cards. I had a Mind Crush in my deck so if he was searching out cards it would be important to know what was in his hand. So far I knew for certain he had a powerful, high level Ritual Monster. Fortunately with such a high level it would take a lot of monsters to ritual summon properly.

"I'll normal summon Gishki Beast, which lets me revive my Gishki Vision!"

A classic sort of effect. 'Summon a monster to revive another.' He returned the card he just discarded and now had two monsters ready.

"Now I use my Gishki Aqua Mirror! With this I can ritual summon a Gishki monster, and I can use Gishki Vision as my entire tribute for my ritual summon!"

I gasped. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. He had just picked up Gishki Zielgigas, a level 10 monster with 3200 attack and I was about to see it hit the field.

From out of the mirror stepped a powerful monster which gave a triumphant roar.

"Now I use my Zielgigas's effect! For a little bit of blood-letting I get to draw a card!"

At the cost of one thousand life points, this man drew his top most card, Gishki Abyss.

"And that's not all! If the card I draw is a Gishki monster, I get to shuffle one card back into its deck, so say good bye to your Wind up Xyz monster and your only line of defense!"

I watched as my only monster was sent back to the extra deck and I was left with only a bluff to save me.

"You're wide open to a direct attack and it looks like the end for you now, Child of Silvershine! What I did to Allison I will magnify tenfold upon your pathetic body!"

There was a bit of apprehension to his movements as he looked at my face down Foolish Burial bluff. He looked at me and my hand hovered over it like I was preparing a Mirror Force.

"It's still your turn..." I reminded, a bit of a coy smirk as though I was daring him to attack though secretly I wished and prayed he wouldn't.

"This is over child! Don't try to trick me with such ridiculous bluffs. When I win I'll shave your skin off your corpse. With a second blood offering, I should be able to complete my ritual in half the time! I'll plunge all the souls this academy can offer to the Gods of the Aether Realm and then-"

I heard a loud bang and I saw as he stopped, mouth open and mid-sentence. There was a circular wound on his forehead and his hand slowly made his way to his temple. At last the man collapsed, face down and the holograms of his duel disks dissolved. The duel was over.

I looked behind him, and saw Spencer Friedman, smiling and holding a smoking gun.

"Surprise."

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 23: Something Nefarious]For anyone just tuning in, let me summarize the situation as succinctly as possible. We found Hortense, alive and well on Crimson Wind Academy. She was able to warn her brother just in time that a dangerous mad man was planning to use a ritual that would sacrifice everyone partying downstairs in the Necrophades Ball Room. I challenged him to a duel to stall for time but before the duel was over, Spencer Friedman put an end to Lord Ikari's plan with a bullet between the eyes, or so we thought.

 

Guy, Oliver, Ami, Arena and I were sitting on the second floor lounge, listening to Hortense's story about her time since we had left her at Ikari Farms.

 

After Kira and Allison used their Demigoddess powers to help us escape, Hortense trip and was buried under a thin layer of dirt. Though she could have easily shifted the soil and gotten herself free, it would have given away her position. Instead she spied on the conversation between the demigoddesses, the links in the chain, and the man that called himself their father.

 

In his rage Lord Ikari triggered another mass sacrifice ritual, killing all the other members of the Covenant except for himself, Candice, Robin, Allison, Kira and Hortense. It had no effect in opening a portal to the Aether Realm.

 

With no home, and now no family, Allison and Kira fought their way past the two links in the chain and escaped from Ikari Farms. Their plan was to return to Crimson Wind, Kira as a student and Allison as a teacher since she now had no more children to teach at Kelen.

 

"Wow, that's pretty terrible." Oliver began. "Glad the fifth chain only works in one direction. Wouldn't want anyone to relive your life."

 

Ami elbowed Oliver in the chest. Hortense stuck out her tongue at Oliver, which a year ago I would have thought would have been impossible. She was so serious and quiet, but now she treated us all like friends she could talk to and hang out with. Before she could continue with her story however, her brother stepped out of the dorm room closest to the elevator and made his way over to see us.

 

"Hey kids, I've got some good news to share with you all." Spencer Friedman said cheerfully. "After working with Headmistress Kallone and securing an unoccupied dorm room, we can safely say Lord Ikari is still alive."

 

Ami looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Argh, why be that good news matey?"

 

"Just because you're dressed like a pirate doesn't mean you have to keep talking like one." I reminded.

 

Ami rolled her eyes at me, then turned to Friedman. "Why would that be good news? He was a mass murdering insane cult leader."

 

"Yeah, but it's not my job to give out punishments. That's more the job of prosecuting attorneys. They're the ultimate crime fighter, after all."

 

"You shot him in the head." I reminded. "Pretty sure you didn't intend for him to just walk that one off."

 

"Great shot by the way." Oliver added. "Right between the eyes and everything."

 

"My job as a detective is to find out the truth, not to stop the villains. It's good news because now I get to interrogate the bastard. We still don't even know what he was planning."

 

"Something nefarious." Guy said, with a hand to his chin.

 

"Arena can tell us, I'm sure." I reminded.

 

Arena seemed to jump with surprise at her name being mentioned, which seemed unusual for her. She rubbed her temple and still seemed unusually woozy as she shook her head from left to right.

 

"I am not certain. Since drinking the fruit punch at the ball, my mental capacities have greatly diminished."

 

"Did we ever warn anyone else about that?" Ami asked, no pirate accent this time.

 

"Or at least figure out who did it?" Guy asked, as Oliver awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.

 

"Uhh... yeah, about that..."

 

"I know you're excited about unraveling the mysteries of the world but please, one mystery at a time folks!" Detective Friedman said with a smile.

 

Arena shook her head. "Since 218 people drank from the punch bowl, each one of them is now a new variable that must be recalculated."

 

"Wait, Hortense drank some punch too, so that makes 219 doesn't it?" Ami interrupted.

 

Arena's scowl deepened.

 

"If it helps your calculations any, I didn't drink either." I offered.

 

"And neither did Freidman, I think." Guy pointed out. "Nobody who was drinking could have possibly shot Lord Ikari like that."

 

Hortense and Spencer exchanged eye contact for a brief second.

 

"I'm mostly here to continue my investigation and I need my... uhh... good luck charm in the room with me while I do it!" Spencer nudged Hortense.

 

"We already know she's the fifth link in the chain and we already know about her powers." Ami said quickly. "She's the one actually solving all of your toughest cases."

 

Spencer looked like he was about to say something, then stopped and thought better of it. He smiled towards Hortense then gave her a quick pat on the head before performing an abrupt about face.

 

"Hortense, keep playing with your friends. I've got something to take care of myself."

 

Arena had often told me how my actions had no effect on the mortal world. Ami's words however, were a different story. A light jab and joke at a detectives expense and he had left his sister behind. Had he not let his pride get in the way of getting the job done, I imagine she'd still be with us.

 

---

 

We sat in silence, watching Spencer walk away. As he slammed the door shut, we all burst out laughing as a group, except for Arena and Hortense.

 

"I'm certain my brother will find out the information he needs from Lord Ikari even without my help." Hortense insisted.

 

Arena continued scowling and I was about to ask her what was wrong when I noticed a familiar black and white dress and even more familiar black and white hair style, though on a girl I had only ever met one other time before.

 

Acey and some other boy I never saw before walked past us. The boy was smiling with his hand around Acey's waist, and Acey was giggling and with an enormous goofy grin on her face.

 

Something about seeing her together with him seemed to bring out my paternal instincts.

 

"Who's your date Acey?" I called out.

 

"Oh, umm... he's... no one."

 

The boy raised an eyebrow. "No one? That's not what you were saying downsta-"

 

"Shh!" Acey said with a blush as she laughed and pushed him away nervously.

 

No One rolled his eyes and walked towards the dorm room furthest away from the elevators. No One took one last expectant look at Acey, then walked into what I could only assume was his own dorm room shaking his head.

 

"So, what's happening here?" Acey asked.

 

Whatever this girl's story was, I felt I had to know it. She looked so much like my daughter Marie Aynn Sumischa Surrogate I felt it couldn't be just a coincidence. Was she some secret child Arena had before she met me? Or was she practicing her 'make a child by melding minds' technique little bit early, just in case I happened to die at Lincoln Academy after all?

 

I wanted to ask this girl more about her life, but before I got the chance Oliver thought of an even quicker way to get the information we wanted to know.

 

"Hortense is reading everyone's future. She's a palm reader, an extra small medium. Wanna give it a try?"

 

Acey gave one last look to the door with No One inside, then shrugged before she walked over to us. She knelt before Hortense and stuck out her palm, face up. "Do your worst Hortense Friedman."

 

Hortense hovered her hand over Acey's, but before she put her hand down a thought made her pause.

 

"Hey, how did you know my last-"

 

Before she could finish her question, Acey grabbed Hortense's hand suddenly and the fifth link in the chain activated. Hortense's eyes opened wide, then condensed into small points and she looked like she was having a stroke or a brain aneurysm as she often did.

 

At last Hortense caught her breath.

 

I stood up, expecting a huge confrontation with the black and white haired girl but, just like Arena, the girl seemed slow to argue and slow to move. She was quiet and calm and moved gracefully to stand upright from her slumped down position when she let Hortense 'read her fortune'.

 

"So who are you? Candice Sublime? Arena from a parallel world? Why do you look so much like Aynn Mischa?" I asked Acey.

 

"The reason she looks so much like Aynn Mischa is obvious." Hortense declared "It's because she IS Aynn Mischa."

 

I blinked, unsure of what to make of the statement. She certainly had the power to age faster than a normal person, but not quite this fast. She was a toddler around New Years and a 4 year old by Sweetheart's Day. She went up by about one year every ten days, so to see her jump 12 years in a few hours was a bit concerning. Then again, the Covenant of the Eternals was nearby so there was likely some kind of otherworldly nonsense going on there. That seemed to be the obvious conclusion at least.

 

"So, she's aged up because of the First Link in the Chain?"

 

"'Fraid not." Acey said as she put her hands on her hips. "No Cursed Chain here. Watch! Let me prove it!"

 

She pointed dramatically at Guy. "Guy, I challenge you to the Quiet Game!"

 

Guy blinked. "The What Game?"

 

"Any challenge works." Arena reminded with a bit of a bored tone to her voice. "If this girl had a link in the chain, she would have taken one of Guy's right now. Since Guy can still melt through the floor, persuade people to do things, and be tracked down by other members of the Cursed Chain, this girl logically does not have any of the links in the chain."

 

Arena nodded, then closed her eyes and continued recalculating the future of 218 people.

 

"Okay, I'll admit it. I'm pretty lost." Ami said as she threw her hands in the air. "This girl is Aynn, but she doesn't have the Cursed Chain. What's going on? What did you learn from her memories Hortense?"

 

"Her memories are a mess. They don't make any sense at all." Hortense muttered, shaking her head from left and right. "There's lots of holes to her memory, and most of the things she remembers seeing are things that never happened before."

 

Hortense adjusted her seating position.

 

"I've experienced my brother's entire life, yet she seems to have a memory of him being sucked into a pillar of light. She has memories of watching me locked in cage. She has memories of Silvershine in ruins. The memories start getting clear around the time she began her freshman year at Crimson Wind Academy. I saw Silvershine the way others saw it 3 years ago in her thoughts but overall… it's a mess."

 

 

"Is it possible this girl is just one of Aynn's victims?" Oliver suggested. "If Aynn's on the run, the quickest way to get people to stop looking for her is to make them believe she's already been found. Maybe the Covenant coerced Aynn to implant false memories into this girl? To trick us or something?"

 

"Memories cannot be created or destroyed. Merely painted over. What Hortense sees is the absolute truth." Arena interjected before she closed her eyes and scrunched up her face to think and plot some more.

 

I thought I had a firm grasp of the situation, but this peculiar girl was a completely unanswered question. She claimed to be Aynn Mischa, yet it was clear she wasn't the same girl we knew. There was just one girl I thought who could make heads or tails of this situation, but even she was at a loss.

 

"Arena, do you want to explain any of this?" I asked my girlfriend.

 

She shook her head. "I cannot."

 

"Meddle with human affairs?" Ami continued for her. Arena stared at Ami for a moment before sighing.

 

"No, I am not sure where she came from. I planned out all possible courses for human mortals, but all that gets tossed out when any of the Gods perform an act of Divine Intervention. Giving Oliver a bag of divine alcohol and inebriating over 200 people forced me to recalculate everything. In my previously calculation, the ritual succeeded and you all died, except for Arthur and I of course."

 

I was stunned to hear how casually she explained this. It was like the death of all out friends meant nothing to her.

 

Acey yawned and raised her hands and put them behind her head.

 

"Well that's great, but if it's alright with you all I gotta go hang out with... uhh... No One."

 

Acey gave a nervous laugh and quickly began walking towards the dorm furthest away from the elevators.

 

---

 

We watched as Acey disappeared into one of the dorm rooms, not sure what to say or do or what to really make of her. Whatever we knew about her though, it seemed Ami didn't want to find out more.

 

"I'm pretty sure we don't want to hear whatever they're doing in there." Ami said as she hit a button on her PDA. Some of Patchwork's music began to play and I had to admit, when their lead guitarist was sober their music wasn't so bad.

 

We were mostly quiet in the lounge with only the sound of Patchwork's music to keep us entertained. It was almost like a certain glue that held us all together was gone and we were missing someone that pushes us forward when we're all feeling down.

 

"Arena, you know more about anything then anyone, mortal or God. If there's anyone who can find out what's happening with Acey it's you."

 

"I shouldn't need to find out. I should already know it." Arena said in a bit of a huff. "I'm the Goddess of Wisdom. Not knowing something is a grave oversight. I would be negligent of my duties if-"

 

"Yeah, and we're your friends." Ami said as she stood up. "Even if you want us all killed, we'd be negligent of OUR duty if we didn't make sure everyone in Team Surname was alright."

 

"Ami's right. You came to have a party and instead of doing that you're here worrying and planning and plotting out everyone's life." Oliver said as he took Arena by the arm and helped her get on her feet. "Maybe sometime it's okay not knowing things?"

 

"We're all still here at a dance," Guy began as Ami passed him her PDA. He cranked up the volume on Patchwork's music and dropped it into his breast pocket. "So how about we keep the party going? You dance with Arthur."

 

Arena shook her head and sat down again. "I never got to experience dancing with my beloved, however my work is paramount and must be completed quickly."

 

It seemed our efforts in trying to cheer or help out Arena had failed, however Hortense had an idea.

 

"Hey! I sort of have an idea!" Hortense said with a mischievous glint in her eye as she toddled over to Arena.

 

Arena scowled, but she seemed to humor the girl. "Yes?"

 

Hortense stood up on the couch and awkwardly made her way to my girlfriend. "The Cursed Chain is you, or at least that's what the Covenant thinks."

 

"Yes, that is what they think." Arena agreed.

 

"All of the links in the chain are also all of your powers too. You gave The First Link the ability to age faster, because that's one of your powers too. You can alter other people's memories and you can shapeshift and you can choose not to be affected by the Cursed Chain."

 

Arena nodded solemnly. "I know what you're going to say-"

 

"Well, I got to dance with Arthur earlier tonight so when you touch my hand, you should be able to absorb my memory of dancing with him, right?"

 

Hortense's hand interlocked with Arena's. She smiled at the thought of being able to help a goddess, but that smile would be the last thing she ever did. Arena looked at Hortense with pity, the last sight Hortense would see in her entire mortal life.

 

"Oh Hortense..." The last words Hortense would hear before falling into her eternal slumber.

 

"The Covenant doesn't know anything about how the Cursed Chain works and neither do you."

 

Hortense's eyes remained wide open as she leaned forward into Arena's chest. The smoothness of Arena's body armor was meant to deflect spears and sabers, so Hortense's face also veered to the side as her body slumped over and fell of the couch, crumpling into the ground.

 

"Enjoy the rest of eternity locked within my memories."

 

"Arena!?" I yelled.

 

"Hortense!" Oliver rushed to pick her up, but her mind was already gone. Ami rushed to Hortense's aid as well, trying to find a pulse.

 

"She's still breathing."

 

When Hortense touched a normal person's hand, she was out for about a split second. When she touched my hand, after I had lived 500 years in the Aether Realm, she was gone for about 3 seconds. Arena was an eternal being, living long before the beginning. Not only that, but she was actually the fusion of two different gods, so her already long existence was further torn up and complex.

 

"Arena! Please wake her up!" I insisted.

 

Arena looked away, ashamed. She probably could, but I already knew the answer.

 

"My sister is gonna be so heartbroken when we tell her we found Hortense, then lost her again." Guy said, with a sickened sound in his voice. He paused to reflect on his words and a new thought crossed his mind.

 

"Where is Gal anyway? Wasn't she on a date with you?"

 

I had barely enough time think when suddenly the dorm room furthest away from the elevator opened up. Acey came out of the hallway, no shoes, her hair and makeup were a mess and if I didn't know any better it looked like she wasn't wearing a bra.

 

"Ugh, what's with all that noise!? Can't a girl have s-" she stopped. "S-some alone time in a room all alone to herself without you guys making a racket!?"

 

"Acey, can you get Hortense's brother?" Oliver said as he gently laid Hortense on the couch. He closed her eyes for her and wrapped her up tightly in her Norleras Black cloak. "He should be in that room over there." He pointed to the room closest to the elevators.

 

Acey rolled her eyes as she made her way to the room closest to the elevator. "If it'll get you guys to shut-"

 

She opened the door and suddenly her face turned red and she covered her face. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"

 

She backed away from the door and soon we would see why.

 

All this time we assumed Lord Ikari was the one we had met on the roof. We assumed Lord Ikari was the one who got shot. We assumed Lord Ikari was the one being interrogated by Spencer Friedman. Unfortunately for us, Lord Ikari had a daughter with shapeshifting powers.

 

Though she did not wear clothes, she also looked like a Polly Dolly with no anatomical features. When Acey opened the door, she saw a girl standing, nude, and a male laying on the ground and assumed they were planning what she and No One were planning.

 

Candice quickly 'flowed' out of the room and into the hallway. Her action was much less like walking and more like a wave or a flowing stream. It was quick, and as she approached anyone she'd melt into a puddle and easily get past them, continuing her path until she made it on the couch and, in one suddenly motion, her entire arm morphed into some kind of watery cage with Hortense trapped inside.

 

"Arthur, Arena, Gal, Oliver, Ami. It's been a pleasure." She said with a smile. "Don't try to stop me from getting to The Door."

 

We were so stunned we were unable to stop her, and even if we could she'd probably just slip through our finger tips, like water through tightly clasped hands. We watched as the girl hurried to the second floor window, smashed it open and flowed, like a waterfall, down and out of the building.

 

And just like that, we had found out Lord Ikari was still alive, we had lost Hortense, and we had found out the Covenant was planning to open something called The Door. Though we were frozen and paralyzed with confusion at the time, and though none of us knew how to accomplish it, we all knew that the one thing we had to do was stop the Covenant of the Eternals.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 24: Children of Silvershine]We thought we had saved the princess and defeated the main villain, however it turns out we had in fact only stunned and mildly annoyed his shapeshifting daughter. We were all distracted when Hortense fell into an irreversible coma which gave Candice Sublime the perfect opportunity to suddenly swoop in and kidnapped the tiny unconscious girl. For those keeping score at home, the Covenant now had five and a half links in the chain to our two and a half.

Aynn had the first and the fourth, Hortense had the fifth, Robin had the Sixth, Gal had half of the seventh and Candice had the eighth.

Team Surname had Guy with the second, third and half of the seventh.

The surviving members of Team Surname sat on a couch in the second floor Black Dorm Lounge with no idea of what our next steps would be. Not knowing any better, we relinquished our decision making power to the three adults in the room. The first was our Headmistress. The second was the detective in charge of the investigation. Last but not least was the teacher who knew Robin and Candice the best.

"I can NOT believe this happened under my watch." Headmistress Mishegoss said, pacing back in forth along the second floor hallway.

Spencer Friedman nodded weakly, sitting on a plush arm chair with his leg propped up on a coffee table. "I'm not exactly happy about it either. Yeah, Gal was one of your students, but Hortense was my sister."

Spencer shifted in his seat and tried to get into a more comfortable position, however the look of pain on his face old us he instantly regretted it as he scrambled to prop his foot back up on the coffee table.

"We NEED to form a search party right away." Mishegoss insisted. "There's NO telling where the Covenant took away those poor defenseless kids!"

Leaning against the wall and with a bandage on her cheek and her right arm in a sling, Allison gave a sagely nod at Mishegoss's words.

"We can help too." Oliver interjected.

"...!" Allison exclaimed, frowning at Oliver's words before wincing in pain and touching her forehead.

"ABSOLUTELY not!" Mishegoss exclaimed. "Detective Spencer, myself, and Professor Allison are ADULTS! We're the ONLY ones capable of tracking down Lord Ikari and putting an end to him."

"His daughter's agreed to come with us too." Spencer said as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a flask. He took a long and drawn out swig as Allison glared at him. When he finished, he spoke again. "His biological daughter I meant. That girl, Kira Ikari. We can bring her along and see if she can talk some sense into her father too."

"What about Alistair AND Kristi?"

Mishegoss was always a little weird, but she wasn't stupid. Her last sentence however left the mortals of Team Surname rather perplexed. We had a detective, a teacher who could negotiate with Candice and Robin, and we had Lord Ikari's own daughter, yet for some reason she also felt the need to include two random boys, one a first year pro duelist and one the lead singer of the cover band. Whatever she was planning didn't make sense to us yet.

"You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, right?" Spencer asked.

"DESPERATE times, DESPERATE measures."

"..." Allison frowned, clearly not agreeing with whatever Mishegoss was thinking.

"What exactly is she thinking?" Ami asked.

I raised my hand before, an instinct because she was a teacher. "If you're gonna recruit random students, I think I speak for all of us when I say we'd like to volunteer."

"If I've said it ONCE I've said it TEN thousand times! You're not equipped to handle the Covenant! You're not legendary warriors! You're not Demigods like us! You're JUST Children of Silvershine!"

"Children of Silvershine?" Guy said with a raise of an eyebrow.

Though it seemed Ami was more on the ball than her boyfriend. "Demigods?"

Allison, the Demigodess of the Sea, Earth and Harvest gave a bit of a smirk.

Mishegoss, the Demigoddess of Love, Blacksmith and Creation scowled.

"Yeah." said Spencer as he finished his flask. He gave it a little twirl and it sounded like the flask was once again filled with liquid. "You can just call me the Demigod of Wine, Travel and Trickery."

At last one of the mysteries from last year was solved.

When Arena was struck in the face around this time last year, Spencer noticed she didn't bleed blood like a normal person but instead a golden colored liquid called ichor. He also believed everything about the Cursed Chain without a moment of hesitation when we brought it up to him. I thought he was a fool but in actuality he had known about the Gods of the Aether Realm longer than I had.

"The Covenant's been after the Cursed Chain AND the Demigods for years now." Mishegoss explained.

"Centuries." Spencer corrected. "This all started way before any of us were born."

"And with any luck," Arena began. "It will all end tonight."

Arena was always a small girl, but when she spoke up people took notice. Allison, Spencer and Mishegoss immediately dropped what they were doing to look at her and pay her their undivided attention.

"What's on your mind little miss?" Spencer said as he tucked his flask back into his pocket.

"Gather the Demigods." She said towards the adults in the room. "In the meantime, the five of us will do what we can to stop Lord Ikari."

---

It was so surreal standing in the cold night air just outside the Necrophades Black Dorm. I could faintly hear the music still coming from the ballroom as I glanced at my PDA to check the time.

"Alright Arena, where's Gal?" Ami asked.

"I cannot meddle with human affairs." Arena said instinctively.

Oliver groaned. "Then why'd you even volunteer us for this!?"

"I do not believe this is entirely a human affair. Everything that occurs after the portal opens is new territory for me, and I do not believe it will all be entirely a mortal concern at that point. Human actions are easy to predict, but once we involve the rest of the Eternals it can become quite unpredictable. Our goal for right now should be to prevent his ritual from completing."

"Can you tell us what Lord Ikari's ritual will do?" I asked.

"In due time."

Oliver scowled. "We know it's gonna kill everyone and send us all back to the stone age. Let's hurry up and find Gal and Hortense. Any idea where they might?"

Oliver glared at Arena, as if daring her to say her favorite six word phrase.

"I... might know." Guy said suddenly, but with a delayed pause. Arena raised an eyebrow but smiled and gave an encouraging nod.

"Ever since I was little I always had this bizarre, incessant tugging sensation in the pit of my stomach that seemed to be pulling me somewhere. It's always there, but only when I bother to pay attention or think about it. I always tried to ignore that strange sensation until I joined Lincoln Academy. When I enrolled I felt that tug pointing me towards Hawthorne Academy. I thought there was something weird with me, until I met Gal and I thought that somewhat explained it."

"Alright Wonder Twins, I guess we're going on your brother and sister bond?" Oliver gave a shrug. "I mean, it's better than nothing but-"

"No, I don't think this is a twin thing. It feels like more than that. I could always somewhat sense where Gal was, or at least the general direction."

Guy turned to Arena. "It's the Cursed Chain, isn't it? The Seventh Link? You said it naturally pulls in the other links in the chain. If my links in the chain are pointing me to the seventh..."

He closed his eyes and took a breath before he pointed out into the darkness. "She's being held up in the mountains."

"She is." Arena said with a nod.

And while it sounded like a good direction and it even had Arena's seal of approval, when we followed the direction of his finger all we saw was darkness. I could faintly see the trees in front of me from the light of the ballroom behind me, but it was so dark Guy might as well have been pointing to the beach.

Oliver, Ami and I shared uneasy looks. Guy and Arena may have been sure where we were going, but the non-Link mortals were at a loss.

"You lead the way then Guy." I said nervously.

---

We walked in silence for about 10 minutes in the darkness of the woods. Guy took the lead, followed closely by Ami who held his hand. Oliver was in the middle, and Arena was behind Oliver and me. Arena held my hand the whole way, leading me along.

Fortunately for Ami she had worn a pirate outfit for the dance. That meant that instead of wearing high heels like most girls she wore boots and her legs were entirely covered and less likely to be caught up by branches.

"When I see that dirty bootlick, I'll stick him with me cutlass and make him walk the plank!" she said with a smile as she pulled the blade from her holster and gave the knife a fancy twirl in the air that looked more like an orchestra conductor than a bilge rat stab.

"When we save Gal, we're gonna have a big party. I'll supply the booze." Oliver said as patted the bag that slung from his shoulder.

"I just wanna see Aynn again." I admitted. "My Aynn, not Acey. I wanna give her a great big hug and never again let her out of my sights ever again."

Of course, none of us would get what we wanted when this was all over.

As we walked ahead, I noticed something peculiar ahead of me, and I do mean that in the most literal of senses. At first I thought my eyes were getting adjusted to the low light, but as we continued onward it was unmistakable.

"Arena, are you glowing?"

The girl in front of me was giving off what started as a faint light but was now impossible to ignore compared to the darkness before us.

"We're getting close." Arena said, not answering the question.

"Close to what?"

"The Door."

We were used to Arena's non-answers so we didn't pry any further. As we got closer, to whatever 'the Door' was, Arena was very clearly glowing brighter and brighter. Whatever we were getting close to, it seemed to greatly amplify Arena's Celestial Powers. But we didn't need Arena's shining light or the sound of Guy's footsteps to guide us forward any longer. We could hear faint chanting off in the distance, getting closer as we walked forward. It was evident we were closing in on our target.

"Hey Arena, do you mind turning off the glow?" Oliver asked. "We don't want to blow our cover."

"I will not be the one to give away our location."

At last we were right in front of what looked like a campsite. The five of us began to fan out, and we could see the clearing before us. From our hiding spot with only six wooden torches set up as a source of light, we saw a dark red circle drawn on the ground. Under the flickering flames we were also able to see Robin Weaver, sitting within the circle on his wheelchair with ribbons tying his hands together in a prayer position. He was whispering something in some foreign language I believe I heard before.

Inimod enimon ni Zera
Demeidon seud quod
Aphraestus seud quod
Arena aed quod
Diomes seud quod
Persades aed quod
Apollemis seud quod
Kallone aed tse sutilbo te
Supplices te reicere curvaverunt et reversus dona eis

The only words I understood were the names of the Gods of the Aether Realm. When nothing happened, Robin began chanting the exact same words again.

Gal was sitting on the ground, but her wrists and her ankles were bound up in Robin's ribbons. She was also within the red circle on the ground

Hortense looked like she was peacefully asleep, still wrapped up in the Norleras black cloak from Lincoln Academy, also within the red circle.

Aynn was strapped into a children's car seat, possibly one they had used for Hortense before and right next to Hortense.

"I'm bored." she complained, before her mind began to wonder and she once again forgot her memory.

Lord Ikari, like Robin, was also deep in prayer and muttering the same words under his breath in unison with his son.

Candice was 'flowing' from side to side, walking awkward as though pacing and thinking. She seemed to stay within the circle they had drawn on the ground.

After a minute or two of watching them speak, Candice sighed loudly.

"Father, the ritual is not working!" Candice exclaimed, though Lord Ikari was still deep in his trance. "My brother has been praying since we got to this island and yet we've seen no results! The portal was supposed to open once we gathered all eight links to one spot and still we have nothing. We've got both of the girls, we've got both of us, and we have Guy Surname over there!"

She motioned towards Gal.

Those of us watching in the bushes looked around nervously.

"... Me?" Guy whispered.

"Wait," Gal looked around nervously. "Guy's here?"

"Don't act cute." Candice said with a tone of anger to her voice. "We heard you over there at the dance. 'I'm Guy Surname! I'm so great because I have the second, third and seventh link in the chain!' We know you put on a dress to disguise yourself as your sister, yet the portal won't open here! It should have opened the instant we planted the Fifth Link to our circle."

"Her name is Hortense!" Gal exclaimed. "And... I'm not... I mean..."

"You're not Guy Surname? Nonsense! I can sense that seventh link in the chain inside of you." she said as she pointed dramatically at Gal. "Even when I close my eyes and concentrate, I can still feel a tugging coming from..."

Candice paused, opening her eyes and turning toward's our direction. It seemed Arena was right after all. She wasn't going to be the one to give up our position, Guy was.

The shapeshifter quickly rushed to her brother and her father and shook them out of their trance. They woke with a start, frightened and startled.

"Father, we've been tricked! Duped! Decieved! This one is NOT Guy Surname! It's his completely useless twin sister!"

"Hey!" she protested, struggling to get back up on her feet despite the tight ribbons.

"Maybe we can use her as bait?" Robin offered.

"She's seen too much, and without a link in the chain she's useless to us." Lord Ikari turned to Candice. "Kill her."

---

Have you ever seen the movie with the liquid metal robot who could shapeshift? He's impossible to kill, bullets don't stop him, and he used his shapeshifting powers to chase after some people.

As I watched Candice Sublime shapeshift her arm into a long, drill-like blade my mind suddenly slipped back to watching that movie with my parents during happier times. I looked away as I saw her wind back, and in one quick second I heard a stab, a gasp, and a high pitched yell coming from a girl.

But the high pitched yell was not Gal Surname.

I looked up to see Arena, standing between Gal and Candice, with her spear driven right through Candice Sublime's rib cage.

Even after being impaled, Candice couldn't die from bodily injuries. She gave a weird sputtering cough but after a bit of struggling she was able to shapeshift and un-impale herself from off of Arena's spear.

"Is that what you call not meddling with human affairs?"

Arena stared at Candice with cold gray eyes, almost as cold and as gray as the metal point she had ready in her spear. As she raised her shield, Robin and Candice began to back away, slinking behind Lord Ikari.

"Gal!" Ami rushed over to her best friend, with Oliver close behind. The two helped Gal take off Robin's ribbons.

Guy took a step forward, but I put a hand on his shoulder. He tried to shrug me off but I put both hands down and held him back.

"Don't forget what Candice said!" I pointed down at the red fancy and ornate circle they had drawn on the ground. "Once all eight links are gathered to one spot, their portal will open."

Guy sighed but stopped resisting.

Lord Ikari looked at my girlfriend and gave a chuckle.

"Well well well, isn't this just a lovely surprise?"

"It most certainly is not." Arena scowled.

"I gathered the entirety of the Cursed Chain, and attempted to return them to you, and this is how you act?"

"You are grossly misusing the Cursed Chain. They were meant to be used as instruments to promote War, Wisdom or Military Strategy. They are not meant as keys to open a lock to a door!"

"Lady Arena, I know you can sense it." Lord Ikari breathed deeply and smiled. "This location is by far the most spiritual place in the entire world. This is the closest place to the Aether Realm in the entire mortal realm, yet still it's not enough. We could conduct spell after spell without sacrificing a single life. We would never need to bother the Eternals ever again! Just let the Covenant reconvene with the Eternals and we can bring back Eden."

"The Aether Realm is not for mortals. It is meant only for the Aethereal beings and those they have bonded with."

"Is that the will of all the Gods, or just you? We're willing to negotiate with the other Gods."

"There is nothing to negotiate!"

"Are you sure? We have plenty to bargain with. The Cursed Chain itself for one. We want to return it to the Gods and in exchange we'd like them to pay us a little more respect."

Arena stared at Lord Ikari, as though studying him and peering deep within his soul.

"Very well, if you're so eager to return the gifts of the Gods to the Aether Realm..."

Arena took in a deep breath and raised her spear high. A small beam of light shot out from the ground, going straight up and reaching into the sky. I couldn't see where the pillar of light ended, but I knew that stepping through it would be a one way ticket to the Aether Realm.

"Only Eternals, and those that have properly bonded their hearts to one can survive the trip. If you truly believe Persades still loves you, by all means follow me." Arena stepped into her own portal, disappearing into light.

There was a stillness in the air as we all gazed upon Arena's pillar of light. I remembered being liquefied and scattered to the far reaches of the Aether Realm the last time I wasn't properly bonded with Arena about a year and a half ago. It seemed Arena was planning the same fate for Lord Ikari, though it was unlikely she'd piece him back together. The cult leader swallowed hard, but he was man of faith and so he had to accept Arena's challenge. He walked into the pillar of light without flinching.

Robin and Candice stared in awe, but after a while they both clasped their hands together.

"Now Candice!"

"Supplices te reicere curvaverunt et reversus dona eis." They both muttered at the same time.

There was no longer a stillness in the air. The wind picked up like a big vacuum cleaner and it was like the pillar of light was inhaling us in. Hortense and Aynn, both small and unmoving were sucked in to the pillar of light like small little dust mites on a carpet.

"If we're returning gifts to the Gods, we'll be needing ALL of you!" Candice declared.

"Everyone in the Cursed Chain is coming with us!"

Gal was so busy adjusting her dress to preserve modesty she didn't notice the wind pushing her forward and dragging her closer and closer to the pillar of light. At long last, she was knocked off her heels and being dragged into the pillar of light by the uncontrollable wind.

Guy also tried resisting, but even as he dug his feet in the ground, whatever mysterious force was coming from the portal was pulling him harder than any tugging he had ever felt before in his life.

At long last, Robin extended a ribbon around Gal's arm and Candice wrapped a watery whip around Guy's waist. One hard pull from each and the final four wielders of the Cursed Chain were knocked off balance hurtled into the abyss, forced against their will into the Aether Realm.

"W-what do we do!? Should we follow them?!" I stammered. I didn't know it, but only I was lucky enough to be able to make a decision like that. The fates had already decided Ami and Oliver's fate.

The intense wind was not done and both of my friends suddenly fell over, skidding and picking up speed as they were hurtling towards the portal to the Aether Realm.

I reached out my hand, but they were already moving too fast for me to do anything.

"What's going on!?" Ami choked out as she tried to grab on to Oliver for support, not knowing he too was being dragged into this mess. "We don't have the Cursed Chain! Why us?"

Oliver looked her over before catching sight of the shard of metal dangling from her waist. "Is that Ophelia's Blade?"

"And you have the bag of infinite alcohol?"

"All the gifts from the Gods." Oliver whimpered. The two continued struggling and trashing about but there was nothing to grab onto as they sped into the portal.

It was like watching a car crash in slow motion. I did my best to keep up with my last two friends but it seemed the portal closed just as the last two crossed the threshold.

Satisfied with the goal of 'returning all gifts to the Aether Realm', the pillar of light suddenly dissolved and I was stuck in the middle of nowhere, all alone, with no idea of what to do next. I had watched my friends and my enemies be absorbed and if they weren't dead then at the minimum they were stuck in some parallel dimension with no way of getting home. I put my hand to my head and yelled out in frustration, with no idea what to do next.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 25: The Aether Realm]I stood in stunned silence for what felt like an eternity. What could I say? What could I do? Arena had created a portal to the Aether Realm and Candice and Robin had hijacked it, turned it into an overwhelming vacuum that had inhaled my daughter Aynn, our friend Hortense, Guy and Gal of the seventh link, and even my mortal friends Ami and Oliver who held onto Ophelia's Blade and The Bag of Infinite Alcohol.

I cried out and collapsed on the ground, anguishing over the futility of it all. Arena had always told me I couldn't affect anything, and it was pretty brazenly clear now more than ever before.

As I wallowed in misery, I heard some rustling in the nearby bushes that snapped me out of my state. I was in the dark woods, and my heart began to race. What if it was a dangerous wolf, or another bloodthirsty beast? Fortunately it was another human. Unfortunately, they had caught me crying.

"Hey Artie, are you crying?" It was the familiar voice of the man in charge of my internship, Alistair Solaris.

Not wanting to be seen crying by him, I quickly wiped my face with the sleeve of my shirt. Even though Alistair didn't seem like the type to make fun of me for it I still didn't want another man to find me like this. Mishegoss quickly approached and offered me a handkerchief, and we said nothing more was about how the two found me.

"Hey kid, where is everybody?" asked Detective Friedman, awkwardly limping as he leaned on both Professor Allison and that boy from the cover band, Kristi.

"Yeah. We were hoping to have more of a hero's welcome rather than... well, this." Alistair motioned towards me, alone in the empty clearing.

Kira Ikari glanced down at the ground. "Why is there still a ritual circle here after the ritual has been completed?"

"We never would have found you without that awesome light show!" Kristi exclaimed, excitedly. He was grinning from ear to ear, but he stopped when he saw my face.

"They're all gone." I muttered, replaying the horrible events in my mind over and over again. Was there anything I could have said or done to change everyone's fate? "Everyone in the Covenant and all my friends. Aynn, Hortense, Guy, Gal, Ami, Oliver and Arena. They all got sucked into a portal to the Aether Realm."

"Ami AND Oliver too!?" Mishegoss exclaimed. "But that's IMPOSSIBLE! They don't have ANYTHING magical about them WHATsoever!"

"She had Opheila's Blade and Oliver had a magic bag. I just... I couldn't help them! I watched helplessly as..." I could feel the tears well up again, but fortunately Kira spoke up.

"They're in a better place." spoke Kira, the Demigoddess of Death.

My tears turned instead to anger and disgust at her words.

"Dude!" Kristi exclaimed in a hushed tone.

Before anyone else could express their outrage at the Demigoddess's words, she finished her thoughts.

"They're in the Aether Realm, of course."


I glared at her for being so insensitive, but her words did fill me with some faint bit of hope. Being alive, but in some other dimension had to be better than being dead. At least that way there might be some way they could return. However, I shook my head as I thought about it further.

"Arena seemed to think they wouldn't have survived the trip." I said quickly. "And she's the Goddess of Wisdom so..."

"Arena may be all knowing about the mortal realm, but I'm with Kira on this one." Mishegoss agreed. "I'm sure they all survived the trip."

"Arena's the Goddess of Wisdom you guys. She literally cannot be wrong. It's..."

"Come on Artie." Alistair said with a smile. "What does your girlfriend always say about wisdom?"

"Wh-what?" Arena had come to cheer me on during my internship, so Alistair and she had spoken once in a while. Considering she was his aunt, maybe that wasn't so strange.

"Wisdom is knowledge based on experience." Alistair reminded, answering his own question.

"Right! And Arena has never experienced anything like this before." Mishegoss smiled.

"The Cursed Chain has never been brought together like this." Kira explained. "Neither have all the Demigods."

I put my hand to my chin. Arena was a literal goddess of knowledge. The idea of her being wrong was hard to imagine, but the idea of all my friends being dead was even worse.

"Arena may understand what she SEES, but she can NOT understand what she doesn't see." Mishegoss explained.

"What do you mean?"

"The thing that I'M the demigoddess of!" Mishegoss said with a big smile.

"Anyone can survive a trip as long as their hearts are bound to anyone else who can survive the trip." Kira explained.

I nodded.

"Arena may be the Goddess of Wisdom but she is prideful and shallow minded. She believes the Aether Realm is solely a realm meant for the Eternals and the ones they love. The Covenant of Eternals believe it to be literally anyone, as long as their souls are bound, creating a chain, if you will."

I shook my head, not understanding what she meant. "Can you... repeat that?"

"If my father survives the trip, it won't be because my mother loves him. It will instead be because my mother loves me. My ties with Persades allow me to enter the Aether Realm. In turn, I love my father and my brother and sister which allows THEM to survive the trip to the Aether Realm as well. Likewise, Arena loves you and you love your daughter so even though Arena hates Aynn, Aynn would still survive the trip because she is protected by your love. Same as with all your friends."

Allison nodded.

"I..." I began. "That's..."

It sounded ridiculous and it sounded like a long shot, but after what I had seen I wasn't so ready to dismiss every ridiculous thing I heard.

"Arena did say everything after the ritual would be new territory and unpredictable."

"Then here's the plan!" Alistair declared. "We do our own ritual, open a portal to the Aether Realm, get back our friends and put an end to the Covenant in this and any other realm they might be hiding in!"

---

How do you begin doing something you know absolutely nothing about? Naturally, I'd start by speaking to someone who had knowledge of the subject. I didn't know much about Duel Disk repair, so I often spoke to Gal when my disk needed a tune up. I didn't know much about art or calligraphy, so I often gave those tasks to Guy. When it came to stuff revolving the Aether Realm and otherworldly nonsense, I often looked towards Arena. Unfortunately for me though, she wasn't here right now.

"Alright then. How do we open a portal to the Aether Realm?" I asked.

There was a bit of silence in the air, before Kristi spoke up. "I dunno."

"Well kid, you would know the most about it than any of us." Detective Friedman spoke towards me. "How'd Lord Ikari do it? You were here when it all went down."

I paused, replaying it in my mind. I tried to remember what he said or what he did before the portal opened, before realizing one important fact.

"He didn't."

"I do not believe he was the one who opened the portal either." Kira added.

"Context clues kids!" Alistair declared. "If I may borrow your magnifying glass detective."

"I don't own one."

"Doesn't matter! Figure of speech!"

"I've NEVER heard a figure of speech like THAT."

"I'm going to go ahead and point out the obvious here for a second. We're all standing in some weird magic circle drawn in blood here on the ground." Alistair momentarily caught eye with Allison, then he pointed down towards the ground.

"It's pretty clear they did their magic little chants and religious mumbo jumbo. They got the Cursed Chain all in one spot, the circle activated, presto chango! One portal to the Aether Realm, hold the fries!"

"That was an astute observation however," Kira began. "However the blood would not remain on the ground if that was the case. It would have dissolved when the portal opened, if the Conjuring Circle had been what had opened the portal at least."

"Kira's right about that one." I said. "It wasn't Lord Ikari who opened the portal. It was Arena herself who did it."

Alistair raised an eyebrow but gave a shrug. "If you say so kid."

"But that means we are most fortunate." Kira declared. "Because my father left this magic circle for us to use, we can complete a different ritual with different catalysts and open the portal that way."

"Question!" Kristi's hand shot up. "Is this gonna kill us?"

Kira smiled. "For most rituals, we would need human sacrifices if we did not have enough catalysts however since there is so much ambient Celestial Light, I do not believe anything more needs to be done."

"Question!" Kristi's hand again shot up. "What?"

"I think I get what she means." began the detective. "If you want to start a fire, you need a whole lot of wood to burn. But if you tried to start a fire in a room filled with... what's that flammable gas again?"

"He-LEE-um!"
"Propane"
"Hydrogen"
"Farts."
"..."
"Oxygen."

"Yeah, one of those. You wouldn't need to gather any tinder at all if you had a room full of fuel."

The idea of an explosion going off wasn't exactly comforting, but I did admit the fact that Kira knew more about the Aether Realm than me was helpful. "Alright Kira, you're our only expert on this subject."

"I believe Nii-chan Allison knows just as much about the Covenant as well."

Professor Allison looked up, but whatever she had in mind she wasn't about to tell us.

"So, looks like we've got the basics on this portal business down." Detective Friedman said. "This magic circle on the ground is meant to open a portal to the Aether Realm. Apparently this one particular spot has a high concentration of Celestial Light so sacrificing human lives won't be necessary. And Kira, being the daughter of the leader, has enough knowledge on the subject so she could complete the ritual, right?"

"That is correct." Kira nodded.

"All righty!" Mishegoss exclaimed. "Now that we've got a BRIEF crash course on how portals work, can we make one to go to the Aether Realm now?"

"No."

---

We stared at the Necrophades Witch in a bit of a silence for about a second or two.

Kristi Korrina was the first one to speak up. "Whatdya mean 'no'!?"

"The magic circle on the ground specifies the use of specialized catalysts with a high level of Celestial Light for the reaction. My father intended to user the Cursed Chain to fulfill this reaction. However, when the portal to the Aether Realm was opened, he took the Cursed Chain along with him."

"Can't unlock the door if the master took the key." Detective Friedman grumbled as he drew his flask from his pocket and took a swig. As soon as the liquid reached his lips however he spit it out and glared at Allison, who was grinning eagerly. Detective Friedman poured out his drink, taking care not to spill a drop on the circle of blood.

"Lord Ikari used the Cursed Chain because they've got some of Arena's magic in them, right?" Alistair asked.

"The ritual circle specifies the use of a catalyst with a high degree of Celestial Light." Kira explained. "Since the Cursed Chain is made up of fragments of Arena's power, having all eight together would be enough."

"Can we use something else instead?" I asked.

"Like what? A human sacrifice?" Friedman asked.

"OUT of the question!" Mishegoss interrupted. "There's been TOO much death at the hands of the Covenant! I won't allow us to contribute to it as well!"

I looked over the six of them.

"What about using the Demigods as a catalyst?"

"Huh? You mean us?" asked Kristi.

"No the other Demigods." I rolled my eyes. "Yes you! You guys are half gods. Maybe my math is wrong, but with six demigods here, that should count for at least 3 gods. Am I wrong? Why couldn't we open a portal with you six?"

Kira raised an eyebrow as she looked over the circle.

"That... could work. But the ritual I have in mine requires all seven demigods. We only have six."

"Oh YEAH!" Mishegoss exclaimed. "Aynn was the Demigoddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy AND the fourth link in the chain."

"And the Gods of the Aether Realm agreed to only ever have one child per generation." Kira reminded.

"Damn, without her looks like we're sunk." Alistair remarked.

I thought back to everything I knew, everyone I ever met, and suddenly an idea came to my mind.

"I know what I have to do." I said solemnly. "I'll take care of it."

The other demigods muttered quietly to themselves.

"Is he serious?"
"No way!"
"!"
"What?"

Mishegoss began crying hysterically as she grabbed me and hugged me tightly.

"Don't do it Arthur! You've got so much to live for still!" Mishegoss said, choking back tears.

"Woah dude!" Kristi began. "I know your friends are stuck and it's the fate of the world and all that jazz, but none of us here would feel comfortable if we asked you to give your life to open up this portal."

Though it felt nice to be held, I could feel my cheeks turning red as I pushed my headmistress away.

"N-no! I'm not going to sacrifice myself to open the portal!" I said, backing away from everyone. "What I meant is, I think there's another one of Arena's daughters somewhere on this island."

Like a bolt from the blue, a high pitched voice I hadn't heard yet spoke up.

"And that's my cue!"

A young girl, about the same age as me and with some of my own facial features emerged from the behind the bushes. With black and white hair, a cute button nose, and a glint of mischief behind those dark gray eyes of hers, there was no doubt Acey was the Demigoddess of War, Wisdom and Military Strategy.

I was surprised, yet glad to see the sudden appearance of the girl.

"Acey? How did you find us?"

"I'm the Demigoddess of Wisdom stupid." Acey said with a smug smile. "Knowing things is kinda my business."

"She followed the pillar of light just like we all did." Kristi said with a smirk.

Acey rolled her eyes at Kristi but continued. "I think this is all still part of Arena's plan from the beginning you know? You can't open the portal without all 7 demigods, so that's why she sent me back here."

I couldn't stop smiling at this incredible stroke of luck before me. Just when we needed her it seemed the girl arrived. Arena was always a master planner, and last year she showed it by having a second pawn, Gal Surname in place. This year she proved she had a second Queen in reserve as well. I smiled as I saw the girl, but just one question remained.

"So, just to be clear... you're really Aynn right? Aynn Mischa?" I asked.

"You don't recognize your own flesh and blood when you see her?"

"Yet you're separate from the girl I saw go into the portal just 20 minutes ago?"

"Mhm."

"You're not an illusion, you're not some random girl who was brainwashed into believing this nonsense, and you're not some surprise second daughter we pulled out from nowhere?"

Acey gave a sigh.

"As I'm sure you're very much aware dad, time flows differently in the Aether Realm. Last year you walked in, spent 500 years with mom, and walked out to see it was only three months later. For me it was different though. I stepped…" she paused and tensed up. "I will step into the Aether Realm a year from now, and I will wake up 3 years ago at Crimson Wind Academy."

I gave a weak smile as I gave Acey a bit of a hug. She seemed surprised, but hugged me back.

"Great, so we've got all seven demigods." said Friedman. "Let's open up this portal!" He pointed towards the blonde girl with pigtails. "Kira, will you do the honors?"

"Not just yet."

We all groaned once again.

"What is it this time?" Alistair asked with a bit of a chuckle. "We can't go to the Aether Realm 30 minutes after eating?"

Kira shook her head. "I believe my father may have been working this from a more difficult angle then he should have. He was trying to create a portal to the Aether Realm. What I suggest is we instead reopen a dormant one."

"A DOOR-mant one you mean? I get it." Kristi gave a laugh. "You're talking about The Door, right?"

"What's The Door?" asked Mishegoss.

"Come on kids, The Door's not real." Alistair said with a bemused smirk. "At least the magical stuff isn't real. It was probably just some senior graduating class's school prank. Just a story to scare freshmen. You know like the Library Fairy, Bloody Charlotte, or the ghosts of the Abandoned Dorm."

"That fairy is real!" Kristi exclaimed as he dropped his backpack and began rummaging through a binder.

"The Abandoned Dorm was a real place too." Acey reminded.

"As are the spirits within it." Kira stated.

Acey raised an eyebrow at Kira's words, but whatever she had to say she didn't let it slip.

"I'm with the headmistress on this one." Friedman admitted. "What's this whole 'The Door' business about?"

Suddenly Allison snapped her fingers, quite loudly in fact. Loud enough for all of us to turn and pay attention to the woman. She closed her eyes, took a breath, and pointed out into the darkness ahead of us.

"I'll take over for Allie." Acey said. "At the top of the highest peak there's a mysterious door that seems to lead to nowhere... or maybe it leads to somewhere. At least that's how the legend goes."

"Yeah, and Failberg and I had a race to see who could find it. It's just a plain wooden door. There's nothing magical about it." Alistair said.

"It's gotta be magical!" Kristi declared as he pulled out two cards. He winked towards me as he showed off two cards. "Just like my gifts from the Library Fairy!"

"Expensive bookmarks from people with more money than common sense." Acey corrected.

"The Door is the quickest way to the Aether Realm." Kira loudly interrupted, and no one else had anything more to add after that. She spoke with authority and clapped her hands together in a prayer position.

"Everyone stand within the circle and allow me to begin."

We crowded in together to the circle on the ground and watched as Kira closed her eyes and began her ominous psuedo-latin chant.

Selibarenev sretarf sahcrairtap te acrairtam metua douq sirehtea mlaer

As she spoke, the blood on the ground began to glow white. I was a little alarmed at first, before realizing this meant the ritual was beginning.

Muut melimuh irebil acov ed tu sov, murortson subitnerap

The light got brighter and brighter as she continued, and I could hear what sounded like one of those heartburn tablets dissolving in water.

Erecalp subitnetap douq muitso et ednetso sibon douq ati tu artsev mumod

At the end of her sentence there was a bright flash of light from the ground, nearly blinding us before it went back to being dark. It took me a second for my eyes to adjust but when they did I noticed the red circle on the ground was gone.

"The ritual was a complete success."

"Awesome! The Aether Realm looks a lot like the woods of Crimson Wind though." Kristi admitted.

"We're still in the woods dum-dum." Acey said. "We have to visit The Door now."

"We're not just there yet, but I believe it should be open for the next hour." Kira said.

"Where is The Door?" I asked.

Acey leaned her hand on my shoulder and put all her body weight on me, nearly making me fall over. "It's at the top of the highest peak. Weren't you listening?"

"That's about a five minute hike from here, so hope you ladies are okay walking in heels." Alistair declared.

"My dad'll carry me if I get too tired, won't you?" Acey said with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face.

"Anything you say, just please let's go!" I said, eager to see if my friends were still alive.

The hike through the woods wasn't far and fortunately Acey didn't get tired after all, but sure enough as we followed the path I could see another clearing and a bright white rectangular light source in the shape of a doorway.

Ahead of me I saw a door flung wide open, leading into what I saw as a beam of light. Though I couldn't see all the way through to the other side and my eyes had to adjust I knew this was it.

"There it is." Kira declared. "The Portal to the Aether Realm."

The eight of us approached the portal and we took a deep breath. Light enveloped me and all the others as we approached.

---

The Aether Realm was, of course, too beautiful for words. A celestial city unfathomable to the mortal mind, though somehow ours endured it. I cannot convey to you the truth of what happened there though, as it defies words by its very nature and so I won't confuse or annoy you by trying.

"Are we dead?" Kristi asked in a bite of daze. "Is this heaven?"

"Wh-where are we?" I heard Mishegoss.

A familiar voice alerted me that at least one of my friends had survived the trip as my eyes struggled to adjust to the light.

"The Aether Realm."