"You're not going to activate...the Fate cards, are you?" Fay asked hesitantly as the duel begun.

Fay: 4000
Erick: 4000

"Do you have a problem with our dueling methods?" Fay turned white. "It's your move." Fay tried to put on a brave front.

He hasn't activated the cards yet. If I can beat him before he does, then both of us live!

"I'll summon my Skilled Dark Magician (1900/1700) to the field in attack mode! Then I'll place one card face down and end my turn." Erick looked puzzled.

"Don't tell me you've changed your deck again! First fairies, then chain burn and now spellcasters?" Fay shook her head.

"I haven't changed my deck since dueling Marie." Erick frowned as he tried to remember something.

"Oh, Miss Machaud! I can't say she was a great duelist, but that was made clear when you defeated her. Anyway, I..."

"How can you just say that?" Fay looked outraged at Erick. He blinked at the angry look.

"Miss Machaud chose her own Fate by playing those cards. Had she actually taken a look at her skill level, she..."

"YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT HER! SHE GAVE HER LIFE TO WHATEVER STUPID CAUSE YOU'RE GOING FOR! MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE A LITTLE RESPECT FOR THE DEAD!" Erick looked nonplussed.

"It doesn't take much to give your life. It's all about the sentiments behind it, and Miss Machaud was not intending to die in that duel."

"What about Mendoza?" Arlene interrupted. Erick looked thoughtful again.

"The "examiner" at Duel Academy...quite the coincidence that you duelled her for your entrance exam. Then again, Fate has a funny way of going about its business." Arlene looked incredulous.

"You're saying that your little Fate cards decided that I was going to duel Mendoza? I doubt that somehow."

"I wouldn't expect you to believe me, but I'll have you know that these "little Fate cards" have more power than you would think. Of course, you can thank Miss Britt for that." Arlene bristled.

"She didn't choose to be an experiment!" Erick gave a small smirk.

"There will be plenty of time for talking later. For now, we duel. I discard my Gravekeeper's Commander (1600/1500) from my hand to activate its special ability: I get to add the Necrovalley field magic card to my hand, which I now play!" Fay was secretly breathing a sigh of relief.

He hasn't activated any Fate cards yet! If I can just beat him quickly...

"...then I'll summon my Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier (1500/1000) to the field and activate Necrovalley! Now," Erick gave Fay a patronising look at this point, as she was staring confused at the field magic card, "Necrovalley has three effects. The first is that any effects of monster, magic or trap cards that involve graveyards are automatically negated. Secondly neither of us can remove cards in our graveyards from play. And finally, all monsters with Gravekeeper's in their name gets a 500 point boost to their attack and defence, so my Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier's attack (1500/1000 - 2000/1500) now surpasses your Skilled Dark Magician! So my monster will destroy yours." Fay didn't even flinch at the attack.

Fay: 3900
Erick: 4000

As long as those Fate cards don't turn up, the worst that'll happen is that I'll lose.

"I'll set three cards face down and set a monster. That's my turn." Erick picked up his card and looked at it with interest.

"Well. Now I summon my Gravekeeper's Assailant (1500/1500 - 2000/2000) to the field. Now my Spear Soldier will attack your face down!" The Spear Soldier easily pierced Fay's monster, causing damage to Fay.

Fay: 3700
Erick: 4000

"Your Spear Soldier has a pierce ability?" Fay enquired. Erick nodded slowly. "Legendary Jutjitsu Master (1300/1800) activate your effect!" Erick's Spear Soldier was removed from the field and placed on the top of his deck.

"I see. So your monster can send any monster that attacks it to the top of the owner's deck. Still, my Assailant can attack you directly!"

Fay: 1700
Erick: 4000

"And now to remove one of your face downs with Mystical Space Typhoon. I'm anxious to see what your bluffs were." Fay gave a large grin.

"You've just set off my chain! I activate my Chain Detonation as chain link 2! Then I activate Reckless Greed! Next up is Accumulated Fortune and last but by no means least is Chain Strike!" Erick was struggling to register what had just happened.

"So...what do all these cards do exactly?"

"Well, first off Chain Strike inflicts 400 damage to you, multiplied by its position on the chain. In this case it was chain link 5, so you lose 2000 life points!"

Fay: 1700
Erick: 2000

"Accumulated Fortune resolves next, which can only be activated on chain link 4 or higher. It allows me to draw two cards." Fay did so. "Reckless Greed lets me draw two cards provided I skip my next two draw phases..." Fay picked up another two cards, "...and lastly Chain Detonation inflicts 500 points of damage to you!"

Fay: 1700
Erick: 1500

"Even better," Fay continued, "If my Chain Detonation was activated on Chain link 2 or higher - which it was in this case - it goes back to my deck instead of to my graveyard! Oh, and then your Mystical Space Typhoon resolves, but seeing as all of my cards are gone no luck for you!" Erick shrugged and ended his turn. "Alright then! I miss my draw phase but I'm not worried. I set 3 cards face down and set one monster as well for good measure." Erick shook his head sadly.

"Do you mean to drain yourself of all your resources? Missing draw phases and leaving yourself with one card in your hand is not smart play."

"Seems to me like you're trying to stall," Arlene growled from the sidelines. "Make your move and get on with it."

"Oh? You don't want to know more about Begia? Or more specifically, how to save your brother?" Arlene stared at him. "There is a way to save your brother you know. However we shall save that information for the next time we meet, as it is not all good news. Anything else you care to know about Begia?"

"Why are you telling us this?" Arlene snapped at him.

"I'm in a generous mood." A memory of the boy surfaced in Erick's mind. He glanced around but didn't see him.

"Why can't I remember anything before I was 8?" Fay asked. Erick gave a large grin.

"It's simple. We needed to you to show a range of emotions for us to get the biggest benefit and to improve our Fate cards. After all, whether you choose to believe this or not, not all of the Fate cards are bad."

"But I was released! How could you use my emotions if I wasn't chained up to one of your machines?"

"Ah, poor Ms. Britt. Begia has evolved from that. It is now possible for us to use the same technology, except from much further away." Arlene looked stunned.

"Arlene? What is it?" Fay asked.

"She's caught on much quicker than you have, Fay. That escape was set up by us. The memory loss was set up by us. This way we could have you running around feeling all of these emotions without you knowing too much about the project."

"B...but the man told me all about the project!"

"Oh? Did he tell you the specifics of the machines? Why your parents agreed to give you up? Why we needed children? Ms. Britt, that man hardly told you anything!"

"If you wanted her to feel a range of emotions," Arlene interrupted. "Why did you chase her?"

"Our leader felt that the negative Fate cards were of higher priority, and so made sure you didn't stay happy for too long." Fay stared at the ground, at a complete loss for words.

All this time I thought I've been free...I've still been part of their experiment? All this time I've been helping them make more of those cards? Erick gave a small smirk and continued his turn.

Adela stared out the window of the helicopter as it made its way back to the mainland.

"You didn't tell me you could fly one of these," Adela said to Bryon. He grinned.

"I had a few lessons when I was younger. The ONLY problem was I was TOO confident!" Adela nodded. "Hey, Adela? Who is this Caleb guy that I dueled?"

"He's new. Thinks everyone else is below him. He wanted to do the island job all by himself, and even though only the best of us were allowed he became part of our team. The boss has been making some weird decisions lately." Bryon nodded. Adela pressed her face up to the window.

I feel drained. I haven't eaten or had anything to drink or...maybe when I get back on solid ground I can find something.

"Well," said Erick. "I'll get my Spear Soldier to attack your monster." Fay did nothing.

"FAY!" Arlene called from the sidelines. "SNAP OUT OF IT!" Fay's monster was revealed to be Royal Magical Library (0/2000). Arlene breathed a sigh of relief but Erick looked more confident.

"Now. I activate Preparations for the End, paying half of my life points to remove all Fate cards from my hand, deck or graveyard from play."

Fay: 1700
Erick: 0750

"Gravekeeper's Assailant will attack. When he does, I can change the battle position of one face up monster, so I'll change your Royal Magical Library to attack mode."

"FAY!" Arlene called again. "DON'T LET HIM WIN! SO WHAT IF YOU'VE BEEN AN EXPERIMENT? YOU'RE STILL YOU! YOU PICK YOURSELF UP AND BEAT THIS GUY BEFORE HE USES THOSE FATE CARDS ON YOU! DON'T BE A VICTIM!" Fay turned her eyes to Arlene.

"Good luck." Fay whispered before being hit by Erick's monster.

Fay: 0000
Erick: 0750

"Pick your card," Erick said dispassionatly. Fay had tears pouring down her face, but she looked defiant as she chose the second Fate card from the left. It turned to reveal The Death of Fate.

"Oh." Fay noted. Then she rose into the air. Arlene screamed out to Fay, but Fay was beyond hearing her. Fay's face steadily darkened until it was clear that she was dead. All the while Arlene was screaming at her, while Erick turned and walked away. When Fay crumpled to the floor, Arlene cradled her in her arms, desperately feeling for a pulse.

"Come on, Fay...come on COME ON!" Arlene broke down and buried her face in Fay's shoulder.

The boy was now following Erick Guerra again.

"You're a bad man!" The boy called.

Just ignore him.

"You killed that nice girl!"

I didn't kill her, she chose her own...

"How could you do that, Mr. Guerra?"

"WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?" Erick yelled. "I...I was under orders..." He sunk to the floor. "I...I didn't...h...have any other choice. He would have killed me." The boy was looking at Erick intently. "But why didn't I try? Why did I win? Why didn't I lose? These cards..." Erick pulled out his Fate cards and tore them to shreds. He stood up and tossed them over his shoulder at the boy. "I'm done. Begia has gone too far. I need to settle this." He walked off quickly.

It's time to have a little showdown with the boss. This has gone on for too long.