Kim Nanoha: Thank you for reviewing, glad you liked it! :)

This chapter is loosely inspired by 'Duel For Hire' and 'Heart Of Ice, Part 1'.

I only own my OC's!

"I can officially say 'arrivederci, siete inutili' to all of you." I grumbled while putting the last book on my desk.

Now, I knew books couldn't talk back, but telling them they were useless made me feel better… I knew it wouldn't solve my problems either. It didn't matter though. I really had the urge to take my frustration out on something…. It would be better if it were objects rather than actual people.

It's been a few days since both Ben and Chazz were free from the Society. Since they weren't part of it anymore, they moved back to the Slifer Dorm. Ben was sharing the room with Jaden, Syrus and Hassleberry once again, while the latter moved back into the renovated part.

Having Ben here made things a lot easier. I felt relieved, and happier now that he was back. Now, if only we could say the same for my aunt, Sartorius, and all other unfortunate people… I had no idea where Aunt Maria was, and I didn't dare go near the White Dorm after my stunt. Instead, I spent that time looking through the books I had borrowed earlier.

I would occasionally take a break to tag along with the guys. We would spend that time checking out what was going on around the island, or dueling for the tournament.

It was crazy how many professional duelists were on the island… Most Ra Yellow and Slifer Red students would run away from them immediately! I avoided dueling them as well, since I knew I stood no chance against professionals.

We even saw Alexis beating one of them. It looked like she was struggling with her loyalty to the Society. She didn't even play 'White Veil'. Chazz was sure she had had that card in her hand.

At some moments, I would wonder what Aunt and Sartorius were doing. Having Ben back just made me remember how much I missed them and Sarina too…

I managed to gather a few wins during those few days (from either Slifer or Ra students). Ben won a few times as well. In fact, he wanted to duel as much as he could, and he was quite excited about joining the tournament.

When it came to my search… I had absolutely no luck. I looked through every book about physics, and still didn't find anything about that damn force! It made me really irritated by now. I was sure I could find something, but that still didn't happen… Would I even find what I wanted? I could be looking through them, and still get no answer.

I tugged at my hair while walking out of the room.

"What's got you so worked up?" Ben asked in confusion as he walked up to me. "Stupid books." I frowned. "What exactly are you looking for? I never got to ask you…" He trailed off, giving me a curious look. "I'm trying to find out what that force is." I explained with my arms folded.

He stared at me as if I were crazy. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked, feeling uneasy because of his stare. "No offense, cuzo… But do you really think you can find an answer to that in a book?" He asked slowly. "If books don't know, then I don't know who else will." I responded as if was the most obvious thing in the world. "Sartorius?" My cousin suggested.

On one side, I had to admit he had a point. Surely, Sartorius would know what that thing was… Or have some sort of idea, at least. On the other hand, why bring that up in the first place? It wasn't like he would tell us, even if we asked… Besides, I didn't dare go near that dorm again. That would just be screaming 'my stunt wasn't enough; I want to get killed' to all of the Society. I doubted I could get away like last time if I were to go there…

"Si, si, a pretty good idea," I looked up at him with a smirk. "Let's just go straight up to him and ask 'Hey, Sartorius, mind telling us what's controlling you? Serena can't exactly figure it out herself!'" I commented sarcastically, waving with my hands as a good measure to emphasize how crazy the whole suggestion was.

Ben frowned at me. "That's not exactly what I had in mind…" He trailed off. "Then why did you mention him? It's not like we can find out that way." I pointed out. "I was just thinking out loud, alright?" He replied with an even bigger frown. "I wish there was a way to find out where Mum is…" He then trailed off a bit sadly.

"You've heard the rumors. She's winning medals from students around the island." I reminded him of what we had heard a few days ago. "What students are saying doesn't help if I don't know where exactly she is." Ben said. "I have a feeling she'll show up sooner or later." I told him honestly. "I hope so… This is so messed up." He shook his head in disbelief.

He then looked up at me. "Bene…" A small smile appeared on his face. "I wonder what's for breakfast today." "Just wait for me to get one of those painkillers and then we'll go there." "How long do you have to drink those?" He raised an eyebrow. "As long as my ribs don't heal…" I trailed off, my hand landing on where my left ribs were.

"Mrs. Fontaine told me yesterday they would heal in about five weeks." "Next time, watch out which branches you're grabbing." He gave me a slightly scolding look. "I don't even want to get near trees in the future." I shook my head. "You can't be serious. You've been climbing them for two years now!" He pointed out in disbelief.

He had a point about that too… Trees used to serve as my means of escape from the house whenever I was locked up. However, the last time I attempted to escape from somewhere using it, I ended up breaking my ribs… Seeing trees only reminded me of that. I wasn't particularly fond of big heights, but nearby trees made it easier up until recently. And now, well… I had no desire to go somewhere high, or climb trees. In fact, just thinking about the latter was frightening!

"I don't want a repeat of the last time." I frowned and walked into my room. I quickly took off my boots and walked towards the table. After grabbing one of the painkillers and my water bottle, I put on the boots and made my way outside.

"Let's get going?" I suggested to Ben. He eyed me before letting out a sigh. "Let's get going." He agreed with a nod.


"What have they got for breakfast today?" Ben asked while walking in. I walked in as well, right behind him. I ducked a bit from behind his shoulder to see who was in the room. Jaden, Chazz, Syrus and Hassleberry were sitting by one table. No one else was in here.

"Tamago Kake Gohan." Jaden spoke up cheerfully, waving with sticks in his right hand. His left one was holding a bowl of rice. "Delicious…" I trailed off, making him laugh. "Not bad, even though I prefer risottos…" Ben trailed off. "We're not in Italy, nor are we eating Aunt Maria's food." I reminded him. "I know." He simply nodded.

Tamako Kake Gohan was one of my favorite dishes from Japanese cuisine. It was quite delicious, and also quite simple. The dish basically consisted of rice mixed with a raw egg and soy sauce. Once you ate it, you would be full until next meal. Even my parents ate it as breakfast, since they had to hurry out of the house, and it was quite easy to make.

"We'd better get it before Jaden eats everything." Ben then smiled. "I am thinking of getting seconds…" Jaden trailed off sheepishly. "Wait for us first." I reminded, just as Ben and I walked over to the part where the food was served. We each took a tray, sticks, and a bowl of the dish. I could see some other things there, such as tuna, but I opted to take more soy sauce instead.

Once we took our trays, we walked back to the table where the guys were sitting. "I don't think you'll be able to put trays on the table." Chazz pointed out. "In that case, we'll just pull that table over." Ben grinned, and put his tray on a nearby table. I did the same, before we pulled it towards the table where the guys were sitting. I pulled a nearby chair and sat next on Jaden's left. Ben did the same, and sat on Chazz's right, right across me.

I took my sticks and started eating food. "So, anything interesting going on this morning?" Ben wondered, taking the bowl in his hands. "Apparently, Crowler and Bonaparte are getting fired." Syrus spoke up. "Really?" Jaden looked at him in surprise. "Yup… And after all they'd done to school, I'm surprised that's all Sheppard's doing to punish them." "Didn't see that coming…" Ben trailed off astonished.

"Serves them right. It's their fault that Sartorius and his goons are cramping everyone's style." Chazz commented, sounding somewhat pleased with this development. I frowned while taking more rice with my sticks.

Quite frankly, it was his choice of words that irked me. Referring to all those poor people as 'goons' was just wrong… It's not like they asked to be pulled into this!

"Need I remind you that you used to be one of them as well?" Syrus asked. "They're still cramping everyone's style." He said simply. "It's not like they asked to be a part of this. They're brainwashed." I noted. "Yeah, just like your former babysitter brainwashed me." Chazz nodded.

"I told you not to refer to him like that." I reminded with a frown. "Well, do you have any better suggestion?" He gave me an expectant look. "Chazz, just drop it…" Ben started, only for me to cut him off. "I'd rather you didn't use anything. But, if you have to, he's like a surrogate father to me. He's been there for me more often than my own parents." I stated.

Ben glanced at me. "Your parents had best intentions when they sent you to Academy…" He trailed off. Even though he usually didn't share the same opinion as my parents, he still didn't like when I said something bad about them. He was close to both of his parents, so he couldn't imagine me not being close to mine as well.

"They forced me into the whole thing, not even caring about my opinion." I reminded with a frown. "Well, I'm glad they did." Jaden spoke up, making me turn my head to him a bit incredulously. "Sure, you don't like it so much… But if they hadn't done that, I wouldn't have seen you again." He smiled, his chocolate brown eyes looking straight in my light blue ones.

He was right about that… If Mum and Dad hadn't forced me into this, I wouldn't have run into him again, or recovered some of my memories… Even though I was still angry that they did that, I guessed one part of me should be thankful for bringing me into this situation.

"Good point." I agreed, smiling back at Jaden. His smile became even bigger. "We won't get a chance to see who's on the island if we don't hurry up." I quickly looked away from Jaden to see Syrus tugging him by his right sleeve. "But it's only morning?" I asked a bit perplexed. "Come on, Jay." The short guy urged, apparently not hearing my words. My eyebrows furrowed in a bit of confusion.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Ben raised an eyebrow in a bit of amusement. "Fine." Jaden let out a laugh and continued eating. The rest of us did so as well, this time in complete silence.

Not long after that, Syrus pulled Jaden by his hand out of the dining room. "I'll see you later!" He waved with a smile. Ben and I waved back before Hassleberry and Chazz went after them as well.

Ben then turned his attention back to me. "I guess there are seconds left, since Jaden hadn't taken them." He pointed out in amusement. "Most probably. But I'm already full." I shrugged. "Whatever happened to the girl who had more than one stomach?" He was still amused. "I still love food, but one portion of this is more than enough. Besides, it depends on how hungry I am." I responded.

"When you were brainwashed, I didn't eat much for two days. Then I ended up buying three sandwiches from Dorothy's drawbread." I admitted sheepishly. "Impressive, cuzo." Ben let out a laugh. "One thing you and Jaden can talk about for sure. He loves food even more."

I facepalmed, trying not to laugh. "I know. When we were kids, his mother used to take us to a really good crepe shop. He would always take two crepes, while I would usually be okay with one." "Usually?" Ben raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "Unless I were really hungry. Then I'd take two as well." I admitted.

"There were a lot of other good food places back in Domino City…" I then added, trying to remember more of them. "Yes, one with good tempura, and the other one with excellent sushi… Jaden refused to touch eel sushi for a week after I told him how eel blood was poisonous." I reminisced sheepishly. "Really?" Ben started laughing. I nodded.

At that moment, someone opened the door. I looked up to see Bastion walking in. "Can we talk?" He walked up to Ben with a serious look on his face. "Uh, sure… Just wait for me to finish the meal." He quickly started eating the rest of the egg rice. Once he was done, he and Bastion walked outside.

My eyes went back to the remaining half of the portion. Then I started eating it, while wondering how I was going to solve my problem concerning the useless books.

Five minutes later, Ben walked back into the room. "Where are you going after breakfast?" He asked immediately. "Most probably to the library…" I frowned and took another bite of egg rice. "Can Bastion and I come along?" "Why? I thought you didn't believe I could find something in those books?" I raised an eyebrow.

My cousin let out a sigh and sat on a chair. "Bastion apparently thinks he's not a good enough duelist." He explained. "Why?" "His remaining friends at Ra dorm have just been brainwashed. He's wondering why the Society hasn't come after him as well."

Honestly, what Ben had just said surprised me. Bastion was a smart guy… Would he really want to risk them coming after him?! If I were him, I'd be happy. I'd do anything to avoid being Sartorius' target… I still didn't even know why that force wanted to kill me!

"What did you tell him?" I spoke up. "That he's absolutely nuts. Then he reminded me of how I was brainwashed," Ben rolled his eyes for a moment. "And I had to explain to him how Sartorius had most probably targeted me because you and I are cousins, and because he's after you… I had to remind him of how bad you felt during my time there. I also had to remind him Mum's part of the whole thing too…" He trailed off, looking at his hand.

He then looked up. "Then I told him that they probably weren't after him because he could beat them. Which is true, because he's an excellent duelist." He commented. "But what does that have to do with me and the library?" I demanded in a bit of confusion. "You need help, and looking through books could help Bastion take his mind off those crazy thoughts." Ben gave me a pleading look.

While I didn't exactly want help, he had just asked me a favor… It would be wrong of me to say 'no', especially since he wanted to help his friend.

"Alright then." I nodded. "Thanks, cuzo." Ben grinned. "Bastion is quite smart, so your search could become easier." "Let's hope so." I muttered and continued eating the rest of my rice.


"And you still didn't find anything in those books?" Bastion frowned while carrying some of the books in his hands. "Nothing." I shook my head.

Since we were going to the library, both Ben and Bastion had to help me carry back heavy books.

"What exactly are you looking for?" The latter demanded while we were on our way to the main building. "She's trying to find out more about the force that's controlling everyone." Ben told him before I could say anything.

I wasn't going to lie, it annoyed me a bit that he spilt all the beans to his friend, since I tried to keep quiet as much as possible… But I tried to act as if it was no big deal.

"Since both 'magic' and 'physics' failed, do you guys have any idea?" I asked. "I don't know…" Ben admitted. "The thing is associated with light. Where does the light come from?" Bastion looked at me expectantly. "From Sun?" I guessed. "Precisely." "Do you really think it could have something to do with the Sun itself? That thing logically shouldn't even exist!" I demanded in disbelief.

"Maybe it's not exactly associated to it. But you know what Sun is." "A star." I nodded. "And where do stars come from?" "Space." I responded the most obvious thing. "Precisely." Bastion repeated yet again with a nod. "Maybe we'd have more chance at finding something with astronomy."

Quite frankly, I found the whole thing to be just crazy. Associating that force with space was surreal, and it didn't make any sense… I may not have been an astronomy expert, but from what I read, not even space had such crazy things in it… The closest thing to it was the black hole.

Once we were finally inside the library, Mrs. Fontaine frowned. "You still haven't found what you're looking for?" "No." I agreed, shaking my head. "Could you give us all books concerning astronomy?" Ben then asked. "I will." She nodded.

After a few minutes of searching, she offered us about twenty books. "Hopefully, you'll find what you're looking for…" She trailed off. "Fingers crossed." I agreed, crossing my fingers. "Thank you." Bastion told the woman before we made our way towards the exit.


"What are you doing?" Aster demanded with a raised eyebrow once we saw him on our way back to the dorm. "Just picking books for some light reading." I shrugged. "Light reading?" He raised an eyebrow, eyeing all of the books in our hands. "Well, yeah, searching for more things about light…" Ben trailed off, apparently misunderstanding my comment.

Aster looked at him for a moment before turning his head back to me. "You're looking for the force from that card?" He presumed. "Well, yeah…" I trailed off, knowing Ben had spilt the beans once again. "But, personally, I sometimes wonder whether I'll actually find it. It's as insane-sounding as some things I heard when I was a kid." I shrugged.

"I mean, you do remember that 'white hole' nonsense that was mentioned…" I then told Ben once I saw him staring at me. "White hole?" He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "White hole?" Aster repeated, sounding surprised as well. A thoughtful look appeared on his face.

"Forget about that, it was just my overactive imagination." I tried to wave it off when I heard footsteps from behind us. "Crowler and Bonaparte are staying here after all!" Jaden exclaimed cheerfully, him, Syrus and Hassleberry running over to us. "They are?" Ben raised in surprise. "Yup." Hassleberry nodded.

He then frowned. "What are you doing with all those books, soldier?" "We're just trying to find out what that force is." Bastion explained briefly. "I would help you, but you know how I am with the books…" Jaden trailed off, giving me a sheepish look. "It's no big deal. I'm not sure whether we'll find it either, just as I was telling Aster right…." I turned around to look at where the professional duelist was…

Only to see he wasn't there anymore. It was literally as if he had disappeared in thin air... He must have left in the middle of our conversation.

"Now." I finished a bit surprised and turned around to look at the others.

I wasn't going to lie; I was a bit surprised Ben and Aster reacted like that to my 'white hole' nonsense… I didn't know what to think about that.

"Well, let's get those books inside." I said, grabbing Ben's hand and pulling him towards the dorm.


"Did you guys have any luck?" Jaden asked curiously while we were eating dinner. "No." I shook my head with a frown while taking another bite of my fried shrimp.

I liked fried shrimps, but, right now, they felt so tasteless… Not finding anything was getting on my nerves. I knew we still had some books to look through, however, I was slowly losing my patience. This was the third time I requested some of the books, and the end result did not look promising at all…

"It's crazy how big those books are, and yet they don't seem to have an answer." Ben let out a sigh, putting some soy sauce over his rice. "How many books have you looked through?" Syrus asked curiously. "Five so far." Bastion responded. "Don't be surprised if you can't find anything in there… Not everything can be in books." Hassleberry commented.

"How would you know?" Chazz raised an eyebrow at the Ra Yellow student. "There are some things I learned about dinosaurs' fossils firsthand. They're not written in most of books." Hassleberry explained briefly. "Maybe that is the case, but it still doesn't help." Ben let out another sigh. "Those five books can go straight to garbage when it comes to usefulness." I grumbled.

"No book should be in garbage." Bastion gave me a disapproving look.

It was as if I were a student who said something sacrilegious about books to a teacher…. I found his reaction quite amusing. Even though I agreed with him, I may have gone a bit too far with expressing my frustration…

"Sorry about that…" I apologized sheepishly, trying not to laugh. The guys (except Chazz), on the other hand, burst in uncontrollable laughter. "Have a shrimp, Bastion, to forget about my cousin's sacrilegious statement." Ben was trying to hold in his laughter, offering one of his shrimps to the guy. "Thank you, I guess…" He trailed off a bit perplexed, making the guys laugh yet again.

"Are you going to eat those fried shrimps?" Jaden then asked me, his eyes landing on my two remaining shrimps. My gaze landed on him, and then on the shrimps. At that moment, I felt hunger. I was feeling a bit better…

"I'll give you one if you give me a bit of your rice." I suggested with a smile. "Deal!" Jaden grinned excitedly and grabbed one of the shrimps from my plate with his sticks. I took his bowl of rice and brought some of the rice to the plate.

Ben looked at us back and forth in what seemed to be amusement. I returned the bowl to Jaden and decided to eat my remaining shrimp. "Their shrimps are not so bad…" I then trailed off once I swallowed it. "They're great. The only better ones are from that place in Domino City." Jaden grinned.

"You two should write a Domino City culinary guidebook." Ben facepalmed. That statement was met with laughter from Jaden, Hassleberry and Bastion. "If you say so." I rolled my eyes with a smirk and grabbed more rice with my sticks.


That night, I couldn't sleep at all. No matter how many times I tried to find a comfortable position, or just close my eyes and hope I'd fall asleep… It just didn't work.

I was lying there, and just staring at the ceiling. I gave up on sleeping, since it was obviously unsuccessful.

Suddenly, bright, white light started shining by the door. "What in the world?!" I yelped, getting off the bed as quickly as I could. At that moment, even more, blinding light appeared, which caused me to cover my eyes.

I wasn't sure what exactly was going on, and I wanted to know…

"Serena." A familiar voice called, making my heart rate go faster in panic. I quickly took hands off my eyes to see Sartorius standing right by the door. But then, he started coming closer! "Don't come any closer!" I screeched, grabbing the herbarium off my desk. I then held it up in a threatening way, with a glare on my face.

Sartorius' purple eyes looked at the object in my hands, before finally landing on me again. "I mean you no harm…" He started, only to be cut off. "How can I be sure this is not a trick?!" I demanded icily. "I don't have much time, which why I need you to lis…." "How can I be sure this is not some trick?!" I repeated more angrily this time.

"Please, Serena. I need you to listen to me." The man gave me a pleading look. I eyed him for a few moments.

It really looked like he wanted me to listen… His eyes were literally pleading with me as well! It was then I was sure that this wasn't some sort of a trick. Even though I didn't understand how, this was the real Sartorius… Why else would he plead with me to listen? That thing would never do so!

I slowly lowered my herbarium. "I'm listening." I finally spoke up, leaving the object at the table next to me, but not taking my eyes off him.

"Please, take this," Sartorius suddenly offered me a little box and an envelope. I quickly looked at them. I immediately recognized the box as one of the four he had been given along with the satellite controls. "And, no matter what anyone tells you, never return it to me." He then took my left hand and put two objects in it.

"But what is this? I mean, I get it for the box, but I don't understand what's in the envelope…" I quickly voiced my confusion. "Never open it." He warned. "But wait, why…" I never got to say more because bright light made me cover my eyes again.

Once it disappeared, I quickly took hands off my eyes, wanting to ask Sartorius what the envelope was… Only to see he was gone.

I looked at the envelope and the box with a frown. I then traced my fingers along the former. Honestly, I really wanted to know what was inside… But he told me not to open it. There must have been a good reason…

Putting the envelope on the table, I then opened the box. As I had already suspected, a metal stick thing was inside. It was identical to the one I had got from Sartorius' room. Aster still kept it with him…

However, I still didn't understand why it was so important. I didn't understand why Sartorius even gave me this, especially after my crazy stunt…

Once I left the box on the table, I walked to the window and opened it. I hoped some fresh air would help me think… But, instead, I saw something even weirder. Even though it was night time, the sky was shining with the same, white light.

Just when I thought things couldn't get weirder, something like this happened and surprised me yet again…

I think that by the events of Season 3, Serena won't even be surprised anymore, lmao… Well, the end of the chapter! I think this pretty much makes it clear we're slowly nearing the end of Season 2, which I'm looking forward to!

Words in Italian:

Arrivederci, siete inutile-Goodbye, you're useless,

Bene-Fine.

I hope you liked it and until next time ;)