Alexis stared off into the black, her eyes scanning the faded, eerie silhouettes from just a few inches away. The ghostly, pale moonlight gave off smallest glimpses of forbearance, the cool, velvet curtains swaying in some artificial breeze from far away. The tall, stained glass windows reflected back the light behind it, the tiny dust particles swaying to their own, rhythmic lullaby. The wooden floorboards creaked softly as the girl stepped forward, watching her own movements, all the while listening in on nonexistent footsteps lingering near. Her hand slowly moved toward the golden countertop, her eyes straying to the single, tiny photograph next to her fingertips. She couldn't help but stare at it for a while, before moving on from it. She could see familiar shadows leaving the parking lot, and inside, a black hurst with two faces both Jaden and the reporter knew all too well.

Serene paintings stared down at her, entwining gracelessly to the light azure surrounding them. A large, black grand piano sat in the middle of the lobby, its pure keys innocently waiting for its visitors to come and play it again. There were a few mahogany benches out in the lobby, all of which were faced to the piano, anxious for the next pianist to come and perform for them. Two big bookshelves were settled toward the back of the room, its morbid books claiming her attention so very easily. There were a few tables here and there, some ostentatious, others incredibly humble, though in the end they all served the same purpose. Each of the tables had one single candle, all of which were white, unlit. Alexis scrutinized them for a few moments, as she walked over and crouched down to the edge, before finally recalling what they were for. Her glare softened, taking her time to admire the meticulous patterns carved onto the wax, before standing up, and moving on, the faces of the victims still in her mind.

Hours after that incident at the mall, Akiza was rushed to the hospital. From Jaden's told her, there was massive internal bleeding the doctors had to take care of. Along with a broken arm and leg, from the way she'd been responding, the doctors were thinking about keeping her in the hospital for a week or two. Her parents were already back, and as of now, both Jaden and Yusei were with Akiza.

Ms. Raines told them to take the rest of the week off too, though of course, that might just be for her own sake. Alexis saw the reporter on screen when the shooting happened, and now, the poor woman was probably trying to catch her breath. Apparently, she's witnessed a suicide too, and that alone was enough for Alexis to feel sorry for her; she really did need a break. As did Jaden, but since they still had a report to do, Alexis decided to go alone this time.

No, it wasn't purely out of selfless intent; after all, Alexis needed the distraction too. The uncanny appearance the murderers possessed just seemed a bit…too realistic, though all the same, too dreamlike. It was as if she'd seen them before, whether it be on some ad, or on FBI's most wanted, or Criminal Minds, or on some tabloid article where fallen celebrities try to reclaim the public's attention. Though Ms. Raines did say the group was responsible for the murders, Alexis found it incredibly hard to believe. She didn't know why; she just didn't. Then of course, Jaden always told her not to trust her own instincts. More often than not, it brought them more harm then good, and that was one of the few aspects Alexis could agree with him on, however painful the insult was. Still, Alexis kept the feeling close, and continued her search, shoving the notion to the farthest corner of her own mind.

She turned around then, surveying the elegant funeral home, before catching sight of a familiar door. Hurriedly, she came away from the lobby, and made a beeline to those large french doors, knowing full well that the basement was just behind it. Honestly, Alexis couldn't understand why Ms. Raines couldn't get in. The funeral director was such a nice person, telling Alexis that as long as she didn't mess with the bodies, everything should be fine. He even invited her to shadow him for a month or two, get a feel for what it was like in the mortuary. Career aspects, career aspects.

Then she remembered who Ms. Raines was, and her confusion dissipated.

She leaned her body against the cold surface, then twisted the knob. She creaked open the door, the cold air blasting her with all its might. She peeked inside, then opened the door wider, revealing a dark, rusty staircase descending further down into the basement. She regarded the pathway for sometime, before stepping inside, her footsteps resounding across her eardrums.

The roses those monsters had on their throats were so iconic. The strangeness she felt before, as well as the eerie confidence she had in knowing what would happen in the end, was more or less expected. Though so many people around them were horrified at the crime, it was as if that was the most normal thing to her, so normal that when she looked around, she thought every stranger near her was weird; it was as if they'd never seen a dead body before. And besides, Aki was strong, the greatest in the world. There was no way she wouldn't find a way out that situation; she was just too awesome.

Alexis traced the walls lightly with her fingers, the icy atmosphere beginning to overtake the warmth she held so very dearly. She breathed in a deep, lovely breath, as she turned back, the door still wide open. She paused for a moment, enthusiastically taking in the dark, dank atmosphere around her. After that little moment, she continued on her way, and before long, she reached the end of the staircase. She began fumbling around, searching for a light switch, trying to do whatever she could to, at the very least, see something from here. Ah, there.

The basement was big, from what she could remember. So incredibly big, with dissection tables all neatly lined up, in two simplistic columns, all of whom with bodies upon it. A tall, metal shelf stood in the back of the room, filled with whatever equipment the embalmers needed to get the job done. The metal sharply gleamed against the white light, and though Alexis was curious, she fought down the urge to search through the equipment. She held a disappointed smile on her face, before staring at the bodies so clearly laid out for her to see.

She blinked, as she came toward them, their same, icy blue faces covered with an ethereal expression, one Alexis knew wasn't there before. She bit back an amused giggle; stitches, scalpels, makeup, eyelashes; she asked herself if the embalmers were working late tonight, though at this point, she doubted there was anyone was here. Well, is this what Ms. Raines wanted from Jaden? Pictures of the bodies, right? Personally, Alexis had no problem with it, but as of this point, she doubted the reporter would want to see stuff like lipstick and mascara. And they all seemed to look like regular bodies to her; nothing out of the ordinary; did she even need to take any photos?

She peered around her cautiously, when she could see neat files stacked onto a lone, clean table in the middle of the room.

Her eyes widened, as she rushed toward them. Well, it was the mortician's fault for putting them out like this; if this wound up in the story, he'd have no one to blame but himself. Slowly, she splayed out the contents onto the table. She neatly lined them up in a single line, delicately handling them so they wouldn't get wrinkled. Her eyes stole a quick peek at the bodies, before returning back to the papers. There was a weird smell coming from them, and it smelled familiar, but she brushed it aside. She rapidly whipped out her cellphone, and began taking pictures of the documents, not even bothering to see the death certificates, certifying the symptoms they've died from, the cause as to what'd killed them. Alexis knew the result was the same; she only needed the family reports.

And who knows? Maybe she could sneak a corpse or two to the forensic labs, though that might be a bit trickier. But as far as she was concerned, these files were the only new information they had; Ms. Raines could look up the bodies later.

And yet, she found her gaze returning to the corpses.

There it was again, that smell.

Alexis blinked, as she shuffled the papers back into their respective places, and brought out new ones. She scanned through them, rereading the names to herself as she laid them out. There they were, the victims. Again, she began taking pictures of them, her fingers quickly storing the files as she dd.

Bitter almonds.

She stopped then.

She squinted her eyes against the white light, as she turned around. Before long, she found herself walking toward one of the bodies, the curious light embedded within her eyes, her phone in hand. She came to the side of an old, fat man, a politician whose name she'd forgotten, and leaned over. With one hand, she wafted the smell towards her nostrils, while the other gripped the edge of the table tightly. Her eyes narrowed, as she straightened.

That same scent, the smell of bitter almonds.

Cyanide.

Her gaze flickered down toward her phone. Already she was getting text messages from Jaden, telling her how frustrated he was, how frustrated everyone was.

She bit her lip. She held out her phone in front of her, her long, blond hair coming over her shoulder. Then, in that moment, she punched Jaden's phone number. She placed the tiny thing against her ear, and waited.

No one answered.

Yusei stared down at Akiza's unconscious face. It was so eerie, just seeing her like this; it was as if he was looking at a dead person. It was hard to tell if she was breathing, even if he did feel for her pulse. Her hair was splayed all over the bed, and her skin was a sickly pale, comparable to the hospital bed she was in. When he looked up at the needle jammed in her arm, he couldn't help but flinch. His eyes strayed to the bloody bag hovering just a few inches away from her, and he closed his eyes.

He could still remember her, in his arms, nothing at all like the strong duelist he'd come to know. He could feel her trembling hands, as he took the gun away from her, could see her empty, dull eyes staring at him, emotionless to the world around her. She was like that for hours, from what Crow had told him, before someone managed to get her to the hospital. By then, Yusei could only follow behind, while everyone else talked on and on about who the bastards were, what they wanted from Akiza. Yes, there were times when Jack asked Yusei what was going on, only for him to brush the blonde aside in favor of his own thoughts. But after that, everyone fell silent, and only hoped for the best outcome.

From the reports Trudge had gotten, it seems this group was actually responsible for the murders of the politicians. The leader had a pretty bad grudge against Goodwin, and since that leader was Jean Beaumont, an internationally wanted criminal who had connections to terrorist organizations, it would seem that the police had found their guy. As soon as everything settled down, and all the remaining members were arrested, society would go back to normal, or at least, as normal as things can get. People, of course, were still hurt, but in the end, no one died.

He didn't buy it, not one single bit.

Jean was an idiot, incompetent, someone who couldn't save his own men from being shot up. And it was Akiza that showed him that.

Aki.

As for the girl he followed, it seems she suffered a crueler end. The officer who shot her told Yusei he was only following orders from Trudge, which was to incapacitate everyone with a red collar on them. When Yusei asked him why, he simply shook his head and told Yusei to come back up, that Sector Security would deal with the body. "A lot of procedures and paperwork," was what the officer said.

Though he didn't see Yusei holding a gun, of course, sooner or later Yusei knew he would have to turn it in. Until then, he could only stand there, and watch.

Sir, that girl called, in that cheerful, psychotic tone of hers.

Just a few feet behind him, the nurses were comforting the others outside, trying to calm them all down, all the while telling Leo that she wasn't going to die. A doctor was with her parents, debriefing them on the procedures she was going to have to do for Akiza.

This situation seemed so surreal.

Then, there was a knock on the door.

Automatically, Yusei looked up. The doctor stopped for a moment, as did Akiza's parents. Carefully, it creaked open, and there Jaden was, with that same, concerned light in his eye.

Mr. Izinski turned to him then, taking one step toward Akiza protectively. He furrowed his scraggly brown eyebrows, his weary, dark strands making their way toward his face. He fixed his red tie, made sure his suit looked professional, and asked who Jaden was.

The boy stared at the man for the longest time, before finally saying something, the empathy entwined in his voice. "A friend," he murmured softly. "I just wanted to see if she was alright."

Mr. Izinski looked to Yusei, who nodded. He stole a look back at his daughter, before turning to the doctor, who was now simply profiling her wounds, which, of course, angered the man. Jaden could only scrutinize him a little more, then he shrugged his shoulders, and turned to Yusei. "I guess it's no surprise. I mean, your kid's here, stuck in this place. Wasn't really supposed to happen, right?"

Yusei nodded wordlessly.

"Don't worry," Jaden reassured, as he pulled the chair next to Akiza's bedside. He sat down, and placed his arms onto the seat. He placed his chin against the rest, never once taking his eyes off her. "She'll be okay. She's really strong."

"Doctor says they'll need to keep her here for a few weeks," he replied.

"Doctor's orders through, right?"

From the corner of his eyes, he could see the subtle outrage the senator had on his face. All the while, his wife remained calm, trying to not fall into the same pits as her husband. Even with her calm composure, Yusei knew she was failing. "Something's wrong with the cell count," Yusei explained. "As of right now, they say she's severely anemic."

Jaden's lips parted. Slowly, he looked up to Yusei, and asked, "What happened?"

"Don't know. But as of this point, right now all they're doing is giving her blood transfusions."

He visibly flinched. "Must be painful then, being stuck with two broken limbs."

"She'll be on pain medication," Yusei answered easily. He looked up at the tubes then, at the casts on her arm and leg.

It really does hurt, doesn't it?

"By the way," Jaden added, as he cast an uncertain glance outside the room. "You're all friends, right? Why're they out there?"

"Just giving the family some space."

"Then why are you here?"

"Her parents asked me to be here," he explained. "And besides, I found her like this, so the doctor wanted to ask me some questions too."

"Huh."

The two lapsed in silence for a while. As the moments dragged on, with no signs of Akiza waking up, Yusei turned back to Jaden. "So, how is everything?"

"With what?"

"The internship."

"What internship?" Jaden asked, as he tore his gaze away from Akiza. Yusei stole a quick glance at Jaden then, the confusion replacing the regret on his face. "What? Don't you still have one?"

"Oh; that one," the boy groaned quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't know about that; lately, it seems all Raines is making me do is her dirty work. Well, us. I honestly don't know how much more I can put up with her, and for what? My name on some measly article no one's gonna read? But Alexis seems to be having fun, so I guess…"

Yusei smiled then. "Friend from school?"

"Yeah, she's-"

By the time Yusei turned back, he saw Jaden's astounded face, the humor vanishing from his expression. He looked up at him dumbly, before nodding. "Yeah," he said slowly. "Friend from school."

"What?" Yusei asked.

"Alexis," Jaden repeated, as he turned back, his eyes falling to the bright city lights outside the window. "Alexis Rhodes. You met her a couple months back."

"No."

"She talks about you all the time? Used to visit you, like, every week?"

He shrugged. "She probably has me confused for someone else."

"…No, she doesn't; I was there. C'mon, this isn't the time for jokes."

Yusei narrowed his eyes. "I'm not joking; I've never met her."

"Seriously?" he asked incredulously.

"Jaden-"

"Blond hair. Really big, cute brown eyes?"

"Cute?"

"Don't you remember anything?" Jaden pressed. "We did something really bad? You got onto us, and you scared her, just like that. Told us not to ever do it again?"

Yusei sighed frustratedly. "I always tell you not to do stupid things. I think I'd know if you had someone else with you."

"Are you kidding me?" the boy stated softly, as he stood from the chair. He shoved his hands in his pockets then, as he regarded Yusei evenly. "You told us not to get ourselves caught up in anything weird. You told us to stay off the streets, what with the Dark Signers and everything. You even asked her to see if Akiza was doing good at school."

"Jaden," Yusei hissed. "I really don't have time for this."

"Yeah well, neither do I." Jaden stated, as he shoved the chair beneath the bed. "Dude, get your shit together. We're in the middle of a crisis here, and Aki doesn't need any of this from you."

And with that, the boy left, leaving Yusei standing there, speechless at whatever the hell just happened.

Sayer scanned through the Arcadia Movement's records, financial statements, anything at all that would've revealed the slightest hints of yet another sponsor. He reread the numbers, redid calculations with his own two hands, trying to find discrepancies in that woman's story. Though he had none so far, he still couldn't let go of his ruined pride.

The fact that she was able to threaten him was all he could think about these days, and since he was the former leader of the Arcadia Movement, he just couldn't let this go. He never even bothered touching the assignment she gave him, never even bothered looking at his deck. The only thing that consumed him was the knowledge that he might not have been as aware as he should've been, and that alone got him through hours of just sitting at his desk, doing nothing except trying to prove his own benefactor wrong.

And yet, as time wore on, seconds becoming minutes, minutes hours, he began seeing patterns, correlations that only made sense when he took Amrbosine's words to heart. He could see the revenue increasing and decreasing with each transaction made, the predictability of it all mocking him like some awful pun. Sometimes, the politician would have stocks in the entertainment industry, other times in the drug mafias, and even still, others on the local gangs Sector Security preyed on in the Satellite, but the results were the same. And even then, Sayer needed to know more, where those charges were made, what profit was being generated. And when he came to his own conclusions, that being perfectly identical to Amrbosine's, he went to Goodwin's assets. He added the fees Goodwin would've taken up, and compared them to the numbers the officials had when they first made that money.

Then he froze.

None of the fees were going to Goodwin; only half those fees were used to pay for the Arcadia Movement. The other half were going somewhere else, somewhere off the grid.

Sayer bit the inside of his cheek, as he stole a look at his deck once again.

But then he cast it aside, and continued with his work.

The fees weren't being distributed anywhere, as far as he was concerned. And, now that he thought about it, practically every higher up was being subjected to the same taxing system. Taxes from corrupt politicians, police brigades, drug dealers, practically anyone who wanted to stay hidden; he calculated the bribes they took from those fees, the money they stole from the Satellite, the budget Neo Domino was on. All that money, and yet, the same result; half to the Arcadia Movement, the other half somewhere else.

He clenched his teeth, as he started drawing the lines. So far, he had only that to go off of. Since the Arcadia Movement's finances can only be accessed through Domino bank, that person must've already had accounts there, if only to make those transactions. Multiple accounts, more than likely held by different names, since Sayer knew this person didn't want to get caught.

And here it was, the documents laid out for him to see.

Documents that looked so familiar, in his eyes.

As much as he hated to admit it, he knew they weren't falsified. He remembered them so clearly, since, out of all his sponsors, those names were perhaps the most generous. He remembered their checks, the cash they seemingly dolled from their wallets, nearly half the revenue the Movement made coming from these names.

According to your records, when Akiza Izinski joined, suddenly, you gained a huge influx of support for your organization.

One check, for $300,000.

Another check, for $200,000.

And yet another, for $550,000.

You were able to expand nationally, to the point where you could even lobby some of the politicians to help benefit the Movement.

$800,000.

$1,400,000.

$2,000,000.

The senator, as you know, had nothing to do with your group. And aside from Akiza, no one else in your group exercised enough power to help support your cause.

Although he came across different names with different accounts, in the end, Sayer could only see one name that kept recurring, over and over again.

Izinski.

Nikolai Izinski.

Is this 'evidence' really all that?

It is.

It was at that instant he found himself reaching for his deck.

Author's Note:

-Hello, I am the Seelie Court Jester.

-Whenever someone's been poisoned by cyanide, a lot of the times, the cause of death would be labeled as cardiac arrest, seizures, headaches, and dizziness. Usually, afterwards, when you examine the corpse, you get the smell of bitter almonds coming off of it. From what I've heard, only 40% of people in the world can actually smell it. Since none of the medical officials were even allowed to do autopsies on the body, and not even the funeral director can smell it, chances of actually finding out the cause of death are slim to none. Except, of course, if the doctors decided to test for heavy metals to begin with, which doesn't happen that often.