She was at the desk in her office, impatiently waiting on whatever mundane excitement the new station would go on about today. Her eyes scanned her computer, the latest news erupting with recent scandals that've already lost her attention. Apparently, one of the politicians was having an affair with his secretary. His wife had just found out, and was now crying her eyes out for it. Meanwhile, her protective older brother was currently screaming on the camera, demanding to know where the lowlife bastard was, threatening that if he ever showed his face around his sister again, brother dearest would personally "gut him like a damn fish." Amusingly, no one dared come toward him, not even Sector Security. She couldn't help but smirk, before shutting her computer off, and looking out at the empty space.

It'd been three days, since negotiations broke down.

Three days since Nikolai left her.

"Ms. Raines?" an innocent voice asked from behind her closed door.

Belletrix donned her formal frown. "Come in," she ordered, as she relaxed at the sound of that familiar voice. After a few moments of silence, the door creaked open, and she found Belial standing in front of her, with a tiny grin plastered across his face. It only took her a split second to understand what he'd done.

She folded her arms across her chest, settling back into her seat. "I can use Mr. Atlas then?"

"You can, along with Mr. Hogan" Belial replied quietly, uncertainty emanating from his normally confident tone. "Are you sure you don't want me to get the other Signers?"

"No, those two will do. The twins have no prior connection to either Nikolai or Amaryllis. If I kill them, I doubt they'd feel anything."

Belial shifted his weight uncomfortably. Belletrix briefly flickered her eyes towards him, then smiled. "And what about Amrbosine?" she asked. "Does she know about any of this?"

"No ma'am."

"But you've already sent out the coordinates?"

"Yes ma'am."

"And you've given the coven my invitation?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Then what is it?" she pressed, as she straightened herself. She could practically see Belial breaking down before her, his mental state crumbling at the seams. She mustered whatever false, disillusioned warmth she felt for any of her siblings, and gave it half-heartedly to Belial, who was, as of this point, shaken by her 'concern.' "Is everything alright?"

"I…no, ma'am. Everything's fine."

"Belial."

He lowered his gaze, confusion decorating his ugly features. Finally, he took a deep breath, and looked back up. "Please, kill the Black Rose."

Belletrix narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"The man is a monster," the subordinate murmured fearfully, causing her to fall silent. "He hasn't said anything to the aristocracy, and as of this point, not even the Queens know what he's going to do next. I've seen this before, ma'am, and frankly, I believe he's planning on killing the lot of them."

"Of course he is," Belletrix replied, boredom briefly crossing her face. "It's been on his mind from the moment he started that silly game. At some point, he's going to-"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but he isn't just going to kill the candidates," Belial pressed. "He's going to massacre everyone. Including Ms. Izinski."

That got Belletrix's attention.

Slowly, she stood, her heightened senses making out the meticulous panic set in Belial's pulse. "Is there any proof?" she demanded.

"I've…the hospital discovered both arsenic and cyanide in her IV treatments. And the fact that he's carelessly placed Ms. Izinski in danger…he's even made her a target in that sick game of his! Ms. Alteo, please-!"

She couldn't make out anything of what the man was saying, as she dove into a relief she thought she'd forgotten. Irrational euphoria recklessly poured into her veins, along with an adrenaline she hadn't felt in the longest time. She thought back on Belial's words, on how affectionate her younger brother seemed with his latest toy. She thought back on how he guarded her, with that idiotic, puppy-dog smile lodged on his face. She thought back on how infatuated he was with her, the devilish siren tempting him without the slightest mercy.

And then she laughed.

She clutched her ribs tightly, the very depiction of Nikolai strangling the duelist leaving no end to the amusement. She cold just see the light fading from the girl's eyes, the helpless cries still in her throat, as she begged her sweetheart to stop. She could see traces of that insanity embedded in Nikolai's eyes, his own fangs baring down at her with predatory menace. She could see the humiliation filling that witch's eyes, the very revelation that her own subordinate was attacking her, tearing her apart from the inside out, more than enough for her to risk dying of embarrassment.

"M-ma'am…"

"Are…are you…are you serious?!" she suddenly screeched.

"…I-I-"

"All this time…all this time he's kept protecting her, and now…now he's just gonna kill her! Just like that!"

Belial merely stood there, and watched, dumbfounded by the unspoken humor draped meticulously around the reporter's shaking frame. "Y-yes," he said at last. "Yes, I believe he is planning on killing her, as well as-"

"I guess he was always too sensitive for his own good," she interrupted, her light chuckles still escaping from her lips. "Ah, I almost feel sorry for him. To just break down like that, and after just a simple meeting…"

"Ma'am?"

Belletrix swirled her icy gaze toward Belial, causing him to stop. Slowly, she lifted her finger, and hovered over toward the right side of her neck. "You've invited Nikolai's friends to the banquet tomorrow, didn't you?"

"I-I did."

"And Ms. Izinski, I take it, will be there too?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Then I'm shutting down this experiment."

Belial blinked. "What?"

"I've learned all that I needed to here," she said happily, as she took those old hospital files from the shelf. She twisted around and threw them in the trash, unable to keep down a relieved smile from her lips. "There's no point keeping the test subjects now, is there?"

Yusei had always bordered on suicidal.

But this…

This was bad.

Jaden towered over the chessboard, his dark eyes surveying over the black and white pawns, all of whom surrounded each other, suffocating each other to no end. He forced himself to analyze the impossibly difficult moves, all the while trying so hard not to count their grievous losses that were sitting just on the outside of the board. The sleek, black surfaces of the captured pawns reflected back Jaden's own discomfort, as he endeavored finding a way to salvage the hopeless situation. And yet, no matter what he did, he found himself sighing over and over again, knowing full well how pathetic it was to try and fix everything. It wasn't long before he finally slammed both hands on the table, some of the white pieces falling as he did.

It'd been two days since the last coven meeting, two days since Yusei killed that noble. So many of the aristocrats were already on edge, and though a majority of the covens still remained loyal to him, even they were beginning to question his brother's leadership. They haven't mounted any major attacks against Fallen, haven't even begun to break through their ranks. And yet, somehow, the organization had decimated theirs, nearly managing to kill Yusei once, in this silly little game. From an outsider's point of view, it seemed that Yusei was trying to destroy the coven from the inside-out. If it weren't for Yusei's growing mental instability, Jaden would've sided with the rest of the pawns.

Jaden closed his eyes, fighting the urge to check his phone for the umpteenth time today. He hasn't heard anything back from Yusei, nor has Raines even bothered trying to contact them. Normally, she'd be screaming at either he or Alexis, asking them about the progress they were making on the case. But what;s more, the fact that the reporter also came to give Akiza flowers, amaryllises, of all things, was still another thing to be considered.

You haven't seen her anywhere else?

"Dammit Yusei," Jaden muttered murderously, as he turned his attention to the three black pawns, all of which were sitting in the middle of the board. "What're you trying to pull?"

"Bald," a far-off voice sang.

Jaden jolted with surprise, his annoyance instantly vanishing at from the atmosphere. After a brief pause, his gaze fell to the white table cloth dangling from the edge. Hastily, he lifted it, and found Alexis squatting there, both hands cupped over her mouth.

He stared at her for a split second, before narrowing his eyes. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I should ask you the same thing," she replied seriously. She crawled out of the tiny space, the hem of her skirt sweeping across the wooden floorboards. "You missed class today," she reminded then. "And apparently, so did Aki."

He shrugged, as he turned his attention back to the board. "I don't blame her. With all the craziness that's happened, she probably just needs breather. Besides, she's exempted from finals, remember?"

Alexis blinked. Her eyes fell towards the silent, black phone, sitting next to Jaden, mocking them both in all its arrogance. "Nothing?"

He scowled. "Not a thing. Seriously, Yusei needs to get his shit together; we don't have a lot of time here."

The girl crouched down, and examined the pieces. "What makes you say that?"

"For starters, we're surrounded. We won't get anywhere if we keep playing this game. The other coven members are starting to doubt Yusei's legitimacy. We've still got support from our allies, but at this rate…"

He stopped, not even wanting to finish the sentence.

"We don't need them."

Jaden looked back at Alexis, surprise overtaking his features. "What?"

"We've handled ourselves before without them," Alexis said quietly, as she stroked the three black pieces. Jaden followed her fingers, her naiveté translating to memories of the bloodstained crimson she left on the battlefield. "We did it before, didn't we?"

"Akiza was with us, remember? She gave us our orders."

"All we have to do was kill and kill and kill," the girl continued, not even hearing Jaden's interjection. "Destroy everything until there's nothing left. That was how it usually worked, didn't it?"

"You mean you did that," Jaden reminded carefully, reaching out for the three pawns; they can't move there either. "Akiza's plans were a lot more complicated than that."

"How?"

"You were on the front lines." Jaden's finger hovered toward the piece in front, his mind piecing together the aspects of what was once Akiza's incoherent, somewhat risky measure. "And I would hack into the systems, just to stir things up. Yusei would play hostage, but if peace talks turned sour, he'd kill that leader, just out of spite. Sometimes, we'd fight with you. Other times, we couldn't go anywhere, unless Akiza changed her orders. Don't you remember that?"

"No."

Jaden shrugged. He reached out and ruffled Alexis's hair, before returning to the board, sorrow covering his expression. "Figures," he whispered quietly.

"But when you put it like that, it makes you wonder how she ever did anything without us."

Jaden closed his eyes. He remembered how scared Belletrix was, when either he or Yusei mentioned the Black Rose. He remembered how easily the witch eliminated Fallen's major branches, the very instance of chaos surrounding the woman in devastating enigma. He remembered how panicked his own scientists were, as they tried time and time again to produce the newest line of Fallen's demons, without so much as a thought as to whether or not they'd be obedient. He remembered it all, and then he chuckled emptily.

"I guess she got tired of being alone is all," was what came out of his mouth then.

"You're lying."

"Huh?"

"Whenever you lie, you sound really weird." Alexis stood up, and flicked her steel orbs towards Jaden's phone.

"How so?"

"You sound a lot darker. Aki did that too, but she wasn't nearly as noticeable. I bet I do that, except my voice gets higher."

"…And you're not going to bother to fix it?"

"No," she said quietly. "I like the flaw."

"Why?"

"It makes me feel more human."

Just then, the phone rang.

Jaden jumped, his nails scratching the surface of the desk as he did, Quickly, his eyes sped back down to his phone. Without reading the caller ID, he picked up the tiny device, placed it against his ear, and said, "Hello?"

No answer.

"Hello?" he pressed, more urgently this time. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Alexis shifting towards him, her cheek resting against his fingers.

"…Is Alexis with you?"

"Yusei!" Jaden breathed, fighting down a sigh of relief. "Where the hell are you?!"

"Is Alexis with you?" the witch repeated, a more determined tone set within his voice.

His lips parted slightly, as slowly, he lowered the phone. Hesitation permeated from his throat, though somehow, Jaden managed to answer/ "Y-yeah," he said. "She is."

"Good," Yusei muttered curtly. "Tomorrow night, I want you both to meet me at the Miyaki Hotel, at seven."

Jaden flinched at the ice in his tone. He knew full well to keep his mouth shut, but even then, it didn't seem Alexis caught onto the warning. "What for?" she asked. "Are we meeting with someone?"

"No," he said simply.

Jaden narrowed his eyes. "What about the other covens? And the game-?"

"Let me take care of that."

She remembered walking through the abandoned, empty streets. Flickering light posts gave little way to the darkness surrounding her, though the bright, ghastly moon managing to light her way somehow. Her footsteps came away from the tiny puddles overhead, the sorrowful reflections coming back up to her forlorn eyes. Her fingers scraped the wet stone, tiny traces of stone callously breaking away from the edifices. Traces of the evening starlight still shown through the skies, though as of that point, she didn't think it was incredibly important, whether or not she could see her way. If anything, she didn't shy away from those menacing shadows anymore, nor did she turn away, the disgust once so clearly embedded in her features now faded within the midst of time. Rather, a soft resignation brimmed from her eyes, her foreboding quiet now endeavoring to leave her. Akiza took only a single moment to survey her surroundings, taking in the dim, dancing silhouettes from a quiet, subtle rainstorm that'd passed overhead, before she turned away.

How long has it been, since she last saw Jaden, or Alexis, or even Yusei? How long since she even got to talk with the twins, or any of the other guys? She knew she should be there with them, though tension still coated the atmosphere. She should be there, learning everything she could about turbo dueling, supporting the guys like attempting to make herself useful somehow. She should be sitting in front of the TV, watching some celebrity scandal Angela was covering. She should be talking endlessly on the phone with some of her other friends, trying to, at the very least, coax them into doing their homework, with the same, threatening tone Jaden used on Alexis. She should be dancing to the sounds of her beloved ambience, without any regard for the people that had to listen to her awful singing.

Yet instead, she was here, walking through some neglected section of the former Satellite, with a single, black umbrella in hand. Her red pumps carried her throughout the streets, remnants of an old construction site slowly grazing the corners of her eyes. She could smell the rust coming off from the metal, the iron beams eroding away at the thought the rainstorm from before. The sounds of her heels resounded throughout the site, the cool, humid breeze slipping past her with ease. Her dark red bangs brushed past her face as she continued on, her golden eyes fixed to the ground.

Her skull kept pounding as she continued on her way. Though it was faint, she was beginning to recall the moments of a fake car accident, which left her lying in the hospital. She started remembering the tiny animals that bared their fangs at her, their whimpers reminding her of simplistic, lost children. She could even remember a familiar voice speaking to her, within those hallways, a cool presence that drowned out the sensation of those nightmarish, hellish lights. Although her brain still told her that the incidents were nothing more than bad dreams, dreams that'd disappear if Akiza would only allow them too, she held onto them. She didn't want to lose them, as she had with so many other moments. She didn't want to be trapped, desensitized to the tragedies around her, the very instance of chaos eluding her like so.

Blurs of shapes past her subtly, their hazy outlines barely reaching her eyes. Her breaths became a bit shallow, as she kept on her way. Yusei told her that he didn't want to say anything, that he was just playing along with her false delusions, until she was ready to face her real memories. If anything, he probably just wanted to help her get through whatever she was dealing with, and he was willing to lie to her to do it. He genuinely thought he could help her by doing it, even if his behavior was completely abnormal, especially for him. No, Akiza would expect Sayer to pull something like this, but with Yusei…

And what of Jaden and Alexis? They were a bit more genuine than Yusei, even more so than Akiza was with herself.

Yet all the same, she knew full well they were hiding something, no matter how small it was. From the looks of things, it seemed they didn't know much about it either. Even still, they chose to protect their little secret; it was as if they were protecting a world not even they had the courage to tread in, safeguarding some beloved sin neither one knew how to get rid of, or even some condemnation they chose to accept as part of their own being, never ones to bother with foreign concepts such as acceptance or benevolence.

They were scared, in Akiza's eyes.

Amaryllis Nite, was what came into her mind then.

Angela was curious about her, and though she fed Akiza that story, of how she was so worried that Alexis and Jaden were falling into the wrong crowd, Akiza found it hard to believe. Whenever Jaden talked about the reporter, he only ever had horrible things to say about her; he, after all, wasn't one to hide his disdain for others either. But despite her suspicions, she believed that somehow, someway, everything was connected to that name.

Then there were those characters, all of which shared her surname; she doubted Angela knew anything, considering the fact she had to turn to Akiza for information. Still, to think that there were people who would use her own family name for their own gains…yes, that happened a lot recently, but Akiza didn't think her papa was that famous. No one paid much attention to politics these days.

But the names seemed to fit.

She stopped at that instant, a small, nostalgic smile playing upon her lips. "Izinski," she muttered to herself. "Christoph and Arisé Izinski…"

She immediately frowned.

She didn't like those names.

No, not at all.

She could feel her own power unsettle at the mention of those names, the frustration building from inside her stomach. Confusion briefly splayed upon her face, but it wasn't long before even that faded from her completely. A hard, cruel weight quickly came into her chest, slowly pushing out all the breath in her lungs. She bit the inside of her cheek, as she relayed those names in her mind over and over and over again.

And then there was Nikolai.

Nikolai Izinski.

Shimmers of light carefully shrouded around her, the cool night latching onto her skin. Ominous clouds came overhead, bearing down at her miserably as they gathered each other for one, final maelstrom.

A name, in which only she could despise.

A representation of everything she detested in life, a depiction of the people she'd lost, the compassion she failed to comprehend, the kindness she could barely feel for, much less repay. A long forgotten secret she was supposed to have stolen from both Jaden, and Alexis.

A promise, she made to someone so very long ago, a promise that would've saved that someone, that would've made Akiza understand what it was she was missing, what it was she had to see through her own eyes.

But she got rid of that name, didn't she?

Akiza.

"Shut up," she heard herself say.

You're gonna be alright.

"Quiet," she said, in a harder voice.

Yes, she had.

"…bine."

Beneath crimson skies.

"…ing bitch…!"

With that same gun, pointed at her.

Suddenly, a sharp tug dragged her back. Akiza hissed sharply, as the umbrella dropped to the ground. Instinctively, her nails plunged into her attacker's hand, though it didn't serve to do much of anything. Strands of hair poured out from the aggressor's fist, and when Akiza finally mustered the courage to open her eyes, all her fear instantly disappeared. The only thing she saw was bright, red roses, all latched onto their throats.

"Kill her…done, right?"

"…the witch said…"

"Hey…conscious…"

"Hey…!"

Akiza clenched her teeth, as she trained her amber eyes toward the black, obsidian clouds up above. She regarded them for the longest time, as they forced her on her knees, a loud crack echoing from her ears.

And at that moment, he was there.

Screaming.

Crying.

Shouting for her over and over again.

She clenched her fists. She kept shaking the delusions away, as they closed in on her, their bloodstained claws suffocating her own throat. Though she refused to see them, she knew the tears cascading down their rotting cheeks, their glassy eyes marred by emotionless sorrow, and callous decadence. They were all there, doing whatever they could to catch her attention, trying with all their might to understand why she was ignoring them, why she was trying to settle into her own ignorance. They were there, couldn't she see? They reached out desperately.

Silently.

Miserably.

Why? he seemed to ask.

She shook her head, trying to cover her ears with her own hands.

How could you?

"…za."

How could you?!

"…iza!"

HOW COULD YOU?!

"Akiza!"

She snapped awake.

Red, crimson strands came undone from her silver hairpin, dangling from her wide, shocked pupils. Cold sweat came down her forehead, the very instance of those pleading words distorting her thoughts. Her hands lay limply on her lap, with ice creeping beneath her veins. She bit her lip, trying to shake the horror away.

Where were they?

Two strong hands carefully held her shoulder, endeavoring to steady her. Cool warmth slipped from those fingers, and when she looked up, her eyes widened.

Yusei.

And from his own, dark blue eyes, she only had to look around, to see the bodies surrounding her.