Disclaimer: I own nothing here.

I had been glad to return to North Academy, thinking that this next year would be as good as my last, which had been by no stretch of the imagination either great or terrible. On the submarine ride to the island I learned that the first years did not fear the upperclassmen for the most part, so my plans to bully them were shot. Jeanne, who had clung to me since our reunion, glared at any first year who was foolish enough to look at her. "They are so disrespectful, Elisabeth. We'll have to teach them all a lesson."

"Eh, Jeanne . . ." I trailed off, my gaze travelling among the faces and looking for something, anything to hold my attention. "I'm not so sure about that. I don't really care what the first years think."

"Oh, don't be like that. I know you—you wanted to hold your seniority over their little heads."

I gaped at her. How did she do that?

"Heh heh, I got you, Elisabeth." She winked.

My stomach writhed.

For most of my life I have preferred to consider myself a simple person with simple needs. Sure I wanted to live in Chelsea and I dreamed of a glamorous career I knew I was never going to have, but I was content with my life. But I was not pleased, however, when I found that the female population had nearly tripled, forcing me to double up with Jeanne. Some girls had to go four to a room, but our second-year status saved us from that nightmare. On the first night of sharing a room we talked over the day's assembly and how sorry she was for letting me sleep through last year's. I forgave her, of course, because from that decision a few pleasant events had sprung forth. Then she began talking about her childhood, only stopping at one in the morning when sleep had finally been able to claim her. I had learned more about Paris and her family than I ever needed to know.

The next day I found it impossible to drag myself out of bed after only five hours of sleep, so Jeanne did the work for me. Gripping my arm, she tugged me out of bed and onto to my feet, shocking the tiredness out of me with surprise at her strength.

"Not, bad, eh?" She smiled and then moved to collect her toiletries.

"No . . . You're quite powerful despite your frame."

"There are many things that you may not be able to know about me just by looking at me, Elisabeth."

Of course—she hid more than she showed.

I was exhausted after the day's classes, too tired to even visit my spot near the cliff. Johan would understand, though, because he had other boys meeting with him there. Jeanne didn't return until later that evening, so I ended up brooding myself in a gloomy state as I lay down. Wind assaulted the building . . .

When I woke up it was still sunny outside. How bizarre it was to have so much sunlight in one day! My body's internal clock had shut down so I couldn't tell if it was still evening or if I had slept through the night and it was now dawn. The lack of Jeanne, however, told me it was still evening. I figured that with no one to talk to and no homework to complete I may as well pay my spot a visit. Johan and his group had probably finished their business, anyway.

The walk there was longer than I had remembered. Several new snow banks had formed, making it a much more arduous venture. I tripped four times and had wet knees and a sour attitude by the time I got there.

My complaints vanished when I got there, however—the two upperclassmen smirked at me when they spotted me. One of them I recognized as the towering lackey of Yuri's who seemed to be a favorite for inheriting the title of King of North Academy. The other one was a brown-haired beatstick god who wielded Skill Drain as easily as a marksman handles a bow.

They began to approach me.

My heart refused to beat as adrenaline flooded my bloodstream. Shit.

"She hangs out with him, doesn't she?" asked the brown-haired boy. His name . . . James, was it?

The taller one nodded. "Yes, she does. With both of them, actually." Turning to address me, he began "did you know that your friend Johan was suppose to met us here for a duel? He was suppose to bring Ikaku too, but neither of them have shown their faces. Do you know why?"

I shook my slightly, my entire body quivering. Yuri's lackey approached me and settled his hands on my shoulder. They were large; rough through the thick fabric of my uniform jacket.

He leaned forward and I could smell his horrible breathe. Oh, such a noisome stench! Was it his smell? Or had I . . . "They're both little scared fags," he breathed into my ear. I was stunned for a moment, not able to believe what he was saying to me. Then I exploded and launched myself onto him.

I was able to get in two punches to his naval and one bite on his arm before he gained a definite grip on my waist. I didn't scream, but I flailed and kicked and tugged at his arms in an attempt to free myself. He backed up against a rock and transferred control of me to one arm. His free hand wrenched open my collar and violently felt around my neck.There was nothing to find. My hands now shot to my neck in an attempt to drag his prying hand away.

James looked at us and grinned stupidly. There was a feral gleam in his eyes that conceived a deep fear in me. He stepped forward, then hesitated.

Strangely enough, I was rather aloof from the matter save for my reflexive struggle. Sure I was afraid of them, but I wasn't afraid of what they could and probably would do to me. If they were that desperate, all they had to do was ask.

Yuri's lackey withdrew his hand and slapped the back of my head. "Nothing? No necklaces I can steal? No lockets? The last girl was loaded! Why is it that females are so damned inconsistent?"

"Tell me about it," James said as he began walking towards us again. When he was close enough he reached out a tentative hand and, after leaving it suspended and shaking it in the air for ten seconds, rested it on my exposed collar bones. I watched, detached, as he traced the contours of my bones. I stifled a gasp as he suddenly travelled lower and his face twisted into something like a grimace.

And when I thought he would continue until he reached past my naval and stuffed his entire arm in my shirt, I heard a voice in the distance. I was too tired to look up, however.

"Shit. Come here," Yuri's lackey ordered as he pulled himself and I over to the edge of the cliff. I was vaguely aware of him letting go of my waist and the two large hands on my back urging me to step off the cliff. I obeyed the prompting and plummeted until I crashed into a small ledge. I was sure that my back was hurting, but at that time I couldn't register anything but the mixture of disappointment and relief consuming me.

Several hundred years later Jeanne's and Johan's faces peeked out over the edge of the cliff. They appeared to be floating.

"Elisabeth!" Jeanne cried out. Her face was red and her hair dishevelled. She said something to Johan and pointed to ocean less than seven meters below me.

I closed my eyes, hoping just for a moment of sleep. I was screaming at myself, knowing better—that I might have a concussion—but it was only suppose to be for a little while . . .

Jeanne was all over me the moment I woke up. Touching my forehead despite my shying away from her touch, she leaned over and finished dressing my shoulder. I tried to shift to see so that I might ascertain the damage, but she pinned my good shoulder down and glared at me. "Elisabeth, calm down please." I tried to move my fingers and toes, and I was surprised to find that each phalange responded.

"What have I broken?"

"My heart," Jeanne answered back. She raised a hand to her chest to accentuate her melodrama.

"I'm being serious, Jeanne."

"As am I. As for you, miraculously none of your bones were broken but a rock was lodged in your shoulder. And you have been out for two days."

Then I remembered why I had fallen. Sensing my shift, Jeanne frowned and creased her brow.

"Elisabeth, what happened is not your fault. No matter what they said . . ."

"Have you ever had something stolen from you on this island? A necklace?"

"I—"

"Just answer the question, Jeanne."

"Yes, the same two boys. They . . ."

"Last year before break. They beat you and took their prize, didn't they? Jeanne, what did they do to you?"

At this point I was inflamed. I cared not for my pain and sat up, gazing intently and purposefully at her.

"Oh, nothing like that. They just roughed me up a bit and stole a very precious family heirloom. Other than that . . . They didn't molest me."

And I felt dirty twice over. Violated and a horrible friend. Such a thing I had missed . . .

News of what happened stayed relatively secret and for that I have to thank Jeanne, Johan, and Ichinose. I never did see the two boys again, and I'm not sure what I would've done if I had. I believe I handled the experience well, for other than a developing fear for males looking at me I was doing well. Though, I didn't seem to mind Johan's and Ikaku's presence. We found a spot in the quad to call our own and met there every day to complete homework, socialize, and get in duel practice. Until the endless days began shifting into interminable night, we had a routine. Then we moved to the library which was abandoned on most days.

I hadn't meant to avoid Jeanne, but I was shaken by having shared an experience with her and her previous silence about her encounter with the two boys. By an by, this unease morphed into a certain loathing. Why was she too good to not think that I would care about her problems? Or perhaps she was above my caring. Johan tried to council me on these feelings when he discovered them, and I did my best to take his advice to heart. But soon enough I was mad at him for thinking he knew better than me, so I quit showing up at the library and instead offered to help Mr. Smith with grading papers and preparing the next day's lesson.

Over the next few weeks the daylight waned to a mere two hours per day while my math grade rose from an eighty to a ninety-one.

Of course, I couldn't avoid Jeanne who, being my roommate, carried on pointless conversation with me every night while we prepared for bed. I had never before been partial to shallow banter, but we sure did banter a lot during those months.

When the last week before holiday break finally arrived I was euphoric. Then Friday arrived and I was ready to leave even if we still had a full day of school ahead of us. I considered skipping classes, but I knew better than that.

I was halfway through the day when I realized that Ikaku was missing. I looked over to Johan for an answer but he was sleeping. Jeanne tried to get my attention, but I shrugged and looked up towards the teacher who was explaining the appropriate context for the counter trap Triage. No options for losers, apparently.

Johan seemed glad enough to see me when I approached him in the hallway during our five minute break. He smiled and greeted me with a nod of his head. But he had no idea where Ikaku had gone. "He failed his test yesterday, though. He told me about it and seemed a bit depressed. I tried to cheer him up, but he wouldn't listen," Johan explained with a frown adorning his face.

"Ah . . . His grades aren't that good, are they?"

"Not good . . . Not the best 's'all. He's still having problems trusting his deck and I don't know why." There was such a raw concern in his eyes that I felt a pang in my breast—I knew it had to be jealousy. But why? I had ditched them because I had been angry at Johan for reasons I couldn't remember, and I had shunned them. Why . . . Why did I care?

"Dammit, where the hell did he go? Who does he think he is, not attending class and making us worry?"

Making Johan worry?

"Elisabeth, calm down. I'm sure he's fine."

"No, I won't calm down!" I snapped at Johan, grinding my teeth and puffing my cheeks as I glared at him. He seemed unaffected, but recoiled slightly. "That bastard thinks that he can behave like this after all that you have done for him?" I was shouting now, drawing attention to us. Several people stared while others snickered. I heard a muttered "looks like that bitch is whipping his ass."

I wheeled around and, with as much strength as I could muster, rammed my fist into the jaw of the nearest boy—it just had to have been that obnoxious freshman.

"Fuck!" he cried as a hand flew to cradle his jaw. The freshman stumbled away from me and those who had witnessed the event stood staring.

"Who else has something to say? Go on! Let's discuss your stupid little opinions!" I shouted as I looked at each one of them. Birgit met my glare however, and adjusted her skirt nervously.

Two freshman boys blindsided me, one of them pinioning my arms and the other trying to take a shot at my face. I wrenched my body and dipped violently to the left, blocking the punch with my bad shoulder. Only a small cry before I twisted and wheeled in an attempt to break the circular grasp on my arms.

Johan, who had stood spectator up until this point, stepped in and asked us quietly to stop. The voice of reasons was lost in our thrashings, however.

Finally, I was able to break away from the freshman. He was stunned for a moment, but quickly renewed his assault. I was ready this time ,so I easily landed an impromptu punch on his jaw.

I was tired now, panting, but the adrenaline in my body kept me standing and my fervor burning. When I was met with nothing but dumb stares, from boy the assaulters and the bystanders, I knew that there was nothing else for me here. But I knew where I would get my next source of aggravation—and that is what my rage became to me: a high.

The punctures I made in last night's snowfall were deep. Melancholic silver light illuminated the whitescape and it all sparkled dimly, even the ice-ground. I marched among this phantasmagoric landscape and eventually it affected me to the point where my aggression was utterly pacified. I stopped walking all together. Standing among celestial snow banks, I regretted how stupid I had been. Guilt became my new drug as I threw myself to the ground and cursed my outburst.

A form approached me, but I couldn't make it out despite the glowing snow and the bright ribbons of the Aurora pulsing in the sky. I feared being seen in this state so I sat up and pretended to nurse knee as though I had fallen. Then the figure (I had hoped that it was Johan) got close enough and I saw that it was Ikaku (but my fluttering heart landed on a perch and sulked). He looked eerily pale in the moonlight, the color in his face completely washed out and his usually bright eyes now a dead ink-black.

"What're you doing here?" I asked. My words were laced with a lingering spite.

He didn't answer.

Instead he smirked. He knew something that I didn't.

"It's good to see you again, Elisabeth. Do you need any help?" Ikaku offered as he bent down and reached out a hand for me to take. I pushed it away from me and stood up on my own.

He seemed to not care.

"I'm fine. I was just tying my shoes."

We both knew that the girls' boots had no laces.

"Ah. Double or triple knot?"

"Single."

"All right. See you later," he said with a wave of his hand.

"No you don't! Get your arse to class right now! Johan is worried about you so get a move on back to class where you ought to be!"

Ikaku considered me, a wide smile developing—nearly festering—on his face.

"Johan . . . ? Would you tell him that I'll see him later? I have something to finish right now."

"Listen you little leech, I'm not your messenger! You hold your business for later and go and tell him yourself that you're ditching him!"

"Ditching him? Aren't you being a bit harsh, Elisabeth? Why do you even care?"

"I . . . I don't want to see him worried."

True enough. Though there was more: I don't want to see him fret over someone like you because, quite frankly, you don't deserve it.

Now, it's not a question of whether I liked Johan or not. Nor did I care about his relationships, because I was in no way qualified to mediate those kinds of things. I did know, however, that the two were not involved like that for sure. Not only was it a disgusting image, but Jeanne had once told me of a certain incident involving Ikaku and Eleanor and payment for the repatching of his four pairs pants and an equivalent payment.

I realized then, with a subsequent degree of horror, that I being protective of Johan. Maybe not the person, but the ideas that he severed as a walking crystallization of.

"Heh, you're hilarious you know? But I like you. I think we'd get along quite well if formed our group again. The two of us, losers together."

I had had it; shot up and rushed for him. But he caught my fist in his palm and smiled. "And fiery. A twin flame that this island has not been able to douse."

"Just go back and tell him . . . Please."

"And I asked you to go and tell him for me. Fair enough, right? I get saved the detour and you can see Johan's mind eased."

I grunted. It was by no means fair, but I knew there was no point in arguing with someone whom I felt was so selfish.

Ikaku turned on his turned on his toes and left me sitting in the snow.

A cloud snuck in front of Luna, sealing away her benevolent gift and plunging the island in momentary darkness. When I found my way back to class I was awarded a tardy notice and a sharp "return to your seat and quit disrupting my class, Williams." Johan smiled limply when I delivered Ikaku's message. No one said anything about my fight, but several people gave me knowing glances.

I went home and forgot about my troubles during the three week break. My parents worried about the scar on my shoulder (they had never been informed of my incident) so I offered the explanation of slipping. My mom looked convinced but my dad quirked a brow and eyed me. Most of the time on break was spent at home because it seemed I had lost my ability to function in normal society. My old friends did their best to draw up lame excuses as to why they couldn't meet me for a day in town or at the cinema. I returned to North Academy and knew that I was home, no matter how dysfunctional it was.

Jeanne had dyed her hair over the break to match mine, so that when we walked from the school to our dorm we would have been two golden dots against the whitescape if there had been any sunlight. I divided all my time between helping Mr. Smith, homework, and Jeanne. As such, the weeks flew by and the light began to seep back into the black days. When a healthy balance had been reached between lightness and darkness, I couldn't help but feel that my soul was cleansed. Theatric I know, but still true.

Principle Ichinose singled me out one afternoon. The sun was shining warmly at it's zenith despite it being three in the evening. It was March and had just become warm enough to pack away the ugly longjohns.

"Elisabeth, may I talk to you for a moment?" he asked pleasantly as he stopped me in the hallway. Jeanne stared at him and made a face. She had never been fond of being interrupted.

"Ah, of course."

"Alone."

"Oh . . . ? Jeanne . . ."

"I'll be waiting at the end of the hall," she stated coolly before walking off. The heels of her boots clicked definitively

Ichinose had aged in the past year, I noticed. Crow's feet had begun to form at the corners of his eyes. His stubble was back and adding ten years to his physical age. He smiled tiredly at me and began "Elisabeth, do you want to go to the Pro Leagues?"

"Yes, I do. I really do. But I don't possess the talent."

"Elisabeth, you are one of the students I am considering placing in a very important tournament. Not to participate, but to go along and see how the process works."

"Oh? And what is this tournament?"

"The European Conglomerate."

My bottom lip quivered. The single most important tournament hosted in Europe. Many, many names would be there. The kind of exposure one could get there would easily find a job for even the most untalented of duelists—someone like me.

"I . . . Who would I be going with . . . ?"

"I cannot tell you that."

I searched his eyes, pleading.

"Will . . . Will Johan Andersen be going?"

"Elisabeth, I can't tell you who will also be going."

His eyes told me yes, however.

"Right, I understand. And when will I know for sure if I'm going?"

"In May."

"Because I don't want to go."

" . . . What?"

. . . was I doing? Throwing away such a ripe chance? I was sure that he thought I was going insane, that this island had gotten to me. But I smiled at him and shook my head.

"No thank you, sir. I've too much to take care of here."

"Very well, then. Just let me know if you change your mind."

"Mmm. I will!"

He left and Jeanne came to my side. She asked me what that been about; I told her that he had been concerned about how my shoulder was doing. Whether she believed me or not I can't say.

May came and we second years were given a test to help point us in the right vocational direction. Jeanne was told to head right for the Pro Leagues after graduation while I was told that I should consider teaching at one of Duel Academia's schools. At first the idea pissed me off, but by and by the irritation wore off and I considered the idea wholly. Maybe I would become a teacher of card technique and detail. I might not duel well, but name any card and I could give you the effect word for word along with all potential contexts. And like that I was able to find myself slipping into a content lull for nine days.

Then the announcement came, naming all the people who were to participate in the European Conglomerate and Johan was one of the fifteen named. They left for London two weeks later. Ikaku, who had been upset by the news, disappeared from the island.

One of the Seven Wonders was reported missing.

I knew where that bastard had run off to. Be wary Duel Academia and don't fear the reaper.

Feigning sickness, I skipped classes and hid away with Ms. Lindsey's (the head of the female dorm, that is) portable television to watch Johan's duels. Over the course of the week professional strategy and gilt celebrities danced across the small screen. The finals arrived and Johan won an easy but grand victory. Pegasus, the infamous creator of Duel Monsters, personally handed over a one-of-a-kind deck and named Johan fifth best duelist in the world.

He was finally getting what he deserved.

(It's but a small detail, but I swear he was smiling at his new deck.)

As thus, Johan returned to the island as the master of the Gem Beasts. I was happy for him and his new found popularity, but I was jealous again. Every single one of the students knew who he was now, so I wasn't able to talk to him face to face until he found me back at that spot by the cliff on the second to last day of the term.

Johan was very tired. His smile was generous but limp. I gestured to the general direction of left and he sat down by my side, our shoulders and sides and hips touching. It was the closest I had ever been to him. I noticed that he smelt like plums and clementines.

"It's good to see you, stranger," I opened.

"Yeah, good to see you too. It's peaceful here."

The ocean was a distant tenor.

"That was a great duel you had. You really are the best on this island."

"Yeah. Oh, do you want to see my new deck?" There was a contagious light in his excitement that infected me and gave me the smiling-disease.

"I would like that."

So we leaved through his cards and I became acquainted with his new family. Bonjour Cobalt Eagle, Ruby Carbuncle, Amethyst Cat, Amber Mammoth, Sapphire Pegasus, Topaz Tiger, and Emerald Turtle. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm an . . . acquaintance of Johan's. I pray that you may protect him where I can't.

Johan and I talked for hours about his new deck and I even helped him formulate strategies. The strange and unique effects of the Gem Beasts had my head spinning, but I was content. Maybe that teaching job wasn't was such a bad idea, I thought. Time passed and somewhere in the world stars arced across the sky. But here in our frozen bubble Sol hung proudly and unmovable in the sky.

"You," Johan began after our thinking had worn us down, "remind me of a drop of milk spilt when one is pouring a glass. You may rush down the side but soon you stop because you just can't extend yourself any further."

I remember his words well because they were that profound and resounding. Me as a droplet of liquid . . . Liquid, a stage lost during sublimation.

"Thank you, Johan. You're right and I . . . I want to change that."

"Mmm. Just do it then."

"But it's hard for someone like me. You saw my fight. When I punched those freshmen . . ."

It had been a good number of hours when I finally reached my limit. I faltered and nearly fell into the clutches of sleep. But I caught myself and stood up. My arm waving was an attempt to shake the invading tiredness out of me.

Johan stood up and smiled. I smiled back. His eyes were green, compassionate, and bright. Very, very bright.

"You know, I can't wait for next year," I said softly, but hopefully. "We'll have to spend more time like this."

"Elisabeth, next year I'm going to be a representative of North Academy."

I may have been piggish, uncouth, stupid, dull, fat, and ugly but I wasn't dense, even when I was exhausted.

I nodded. "Right. When you come back."

"Yeah, definitely!"

Jeanne was packed by the time I arrived back at the dorm. Johan had accompanied me there, so she was able to bid him good night and 'Thank you for returning Elisabeth safely'. Her suggestive tone was lost on the tired boy. She helped me find my bed and pajamas. Some things were said by her and I nodded.

"Yes, the constant sunlight threw me off too."

Never ending sun . . . The blazing Sol. Johan . . . My mind swelled with thoughts of him and the pleasant afternoon. He had a new family, didn't he? But his old family . . . Of them I knew nothing and I wouldn't be able to ask him about them until next year.

Jeanne helped me sit down and placed my change of clothing on the bed next to me. Gently, she unstrapped my collar and removed my jacket from my shoulders. She smiled at me, her hands lingering over my arms.

"Elisabeth, is your shoulder still hurting you?"

I moved my head in a way that might have been a nod. Dysphoria bubbled in my mind and began to seep into my circulation. Soon even my fingers wanted to twitch, to move, to touch.

"Elisabeth . . . My Elisabeth. I am glad you are all right," she whispered. Leaning in, Jeanne wrapped her arms around me, linking them in the space between my shoulder blades.

"There are some things I don't know just by looking at you," I quoted her dumbly. Until I found their context they had no meaning. So now they meant a world to me. "Jeanne, I like him. I . . . I like Johan."

She said nothing.

"Ah . . . What am I to do?" I supplicated.

Jeanne pulled up and searched my face. Reverently, she touched a hand to my cheek. My skin blazed beneath her touch.

"My Elisabeth . . . What to do? They're overrated. Real women don't need boys."

I had heard once that it takes two wings to fly. Getting an aeroplane off the ground is a concert effort between the pilot and ground control. Both parties put forth an equal effort . . . It's mutual.

I said nothing.

Of what happened, I can't say, for I'm not sure if anything did happen that night. All I remember is falling into a black sleep.