Author's Note: Welcome back, my dear Wastelings! Welcome back to season thirteen! I missed you guys. It feels so good to be back! From where we last left off, almost all of the countries went to Feliciano's party. Now, he's got them trapped in the house. What the hell is going on? What is Feliciano playing at? How is everyone going to get out of this mess? You are going to have to stick around and see. At one point, I thought I was going to end up finishing up the match early. But I made it the right amount of words and pages. I don't know how I am going to play this season out but I will just go with it like I always do. Next week, we will check in Alfred like we always do. For now, enjoy this season premiere.

Tea Leaves and Pale Lace

Match One: Justification, Jing, and Villainy:

-Ju-

Does it make me a villain for what I did? I didn't have a choice. That is not an excuse, but that is how it is in my situation. They pushed me into a corner and gave me a choice. No matter what I choose, I will end up losing. The worst part was they put my son up as a bargaining chip.

I could feel my blood burning as I thought about that conversation again.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. This isn't me. This isn't me.

I took in a deep breath.

Where was I again? Oh yes. He forced me to make the choice. Silver or gold. Both of them are not beautiful. Both of them are poison in reality. I'm not an idiot. Feliciano told me my options. Here is how I see it: If I choose gold, I lose. If I choose silver, I still lose. It's up to me to damn the whole world for my son. He just had to throw my son into this shitty mix. He's just a baby! Why does he have to be so special? Can't he just be a baby? Jing doesn't even know how to walk yet!

I took another breath.

I keep getting angrier the more I think about it. I need a drink. I looked down at my glass. Oh. When did I finish it? I shrugged and set down my glass. Oh well.

I made my choice. I didn't want to do this. What else was I supposed to do? We're all stuck in this stupid house at this stupid party. I can't even call Bik to check on Jing. I leaned back in my chair.

"Do you see what I am saying here?"

Yao sat across with his eyes narrowed at me. "So you're saying that you sold our son for his benefit and doomed as us?"

"I didn't sell him. Were you not listening to me?"

"Yes, I heard you. I am just trying to understand what you did here."

I narrowed my eyes as I fought back the urge to scream. Did he not hear a single thing that I said? How was I not getting through to him? I don't know how much clearer I can make it to him.

"I didn't want to do this, you know?" I said.

"Yes, I know," Yao said. That wasn't helping. What was it that was not getting through to him? I mean he wasn't accusing me of anything. I just…

"What do you want to do?" Yao asked.

I lifted my head. "Huh?"

"How do you plan to get out of this mess?"

I stared at him. I should've expected that one. But he didn't have to dump it on me like that. I frowned as I rubbed my forehead. This would be better if I had another drink. But I don't even know where we are. I don't know where the kitchen is. I don't know where the drink table is. I can't even remember when and how I got in this room. I doubt that Yao knows either.

So here we are. Yao and I sat at a table in a dark room. I definitely know that it is my husband in front of me. I would know that if I was talking to his double. Frankly, I don't know if he is aware of his doppelganger on the loose in this house. But that is neither here nor there. The point is this whole mess I was forced to push everyone into. Thinking about it again is going to piss me off. I feel like we are just going around in circles at this point.

I threw up my hands.

"Honestly, I don't know," I said.

"What do you mean?" Yao asked.

"What would you have done?"

"What?"

"Put yourself in my place. What would you have done?" I had a dull expression on my face as I stared at him. Yao struggled to come up with an answer. He would open his mouth but nothing came out. He finally put down his hands.

"I don't know," he said at last.

"Do you see what I am dealing with here?" I asked. I folded my arms across my chest.

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to go home. For Jing to be normal. To hold my baby. To get out of this damn home." He reached for my hand but I pulled it back. There was just one thought that crossed my mind.

"Does this make me a villain?" I asked.

"What?" Yao asked. I looked up at him. He started shaking his head.

"Why would you think that?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Ju…"

"Don't!" I dropped my head on the table. Damn it! This just keeps getting worse the more we go over this. Yao lifted my head. I stared into his eyes. I had a good guess of what was coming next. It wasn't going to work.

"Spare me."

"Ju."

"Spare me!" I'm not mad at him. This is just…

"Can we just go home?" I asked.

"How are we even going to get out of here?" Yao asked. I puffed up my cheeks and frowned. It was just one thing after another, wasn't it? How was this spiraling out of control? I really needed a drink. I looked down at my glass. When did I finish my drink?

"Well, we need to get out of this room first," Yao said.

"And go where?" I asked.

"You tell me," he said. We're back in another circle again. It looks like it's going to be up to me again. I sat up in my chair.

"First, we should get up," I said. I stood up from my chair. Yao stood up as well. I frowned as I thought about the various steps I was going to have to take to get out of this unfolding nightmare.

"I need a drink," I said. My eyes went back to that empty glass. It's almost like I keep hoping to manifest another drink in that glass. That would explain why I picked it up.

"So we're going to get a drink first?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. I started looking for the door. There's nothing in here. Just this table and two chairs. This room was pitch black. I was only able to see within our circle.

"Uh… Where is the exit?" I asked. Yao started looking around too. Did he trap us in here? Come to think of it, how did I get in here? I was talking to Feliciano in one room and then I walked out. Did I go into the hallway or did I just go next door? Damn it, I don't remember! I rubbed my forehead.

"Are you okay?" Yao asked. I waved him off.

"Just find a way out," I said.

"Right," he said. We had to walk around the room as we looked. We couldn't see everything around us. I reached into my pocket for my phone. Good, it's still there. I pulled it out and turned on the flashlight. I started my swipe around the room.

"Good idea," Yao said. He took out his phone and began looking with the flashlight. We looked around for a door with our lights. At first, we didn't see anything. I frowned as I puffed up my cheeks. Don't tell me that…

"There!" Yao shouted. I turned to see my husband standing across the room. He smiled as he stood by the door.

"Check if it's locked," I said. He reached over and jiggled the handle. The door opened a crack. Yes! There was something going right for us. I walked up to the doorway and left the room. Yao followed behind.

I don't know where we are. We're just walking around. Is this a hallway? Which way are we going? I held onto Yao's hand. I wasn't going to lose track of him this time.

We're just walking. That's just it. I tried to think of something to say but words just fell flat on my tongue. I think we're going to the kitchen first. That's right. I wanted another drink. After that… After that…

I frowned in the dark.

I've got nothing. My mind went back to the deal forced into my lap. What gave them the right to use our son as a bargaining chip? Why do I keep bringing this up? Oh yeah, because I have nothing else going for me. We're still stuck in this weird house. Speaking of which…

"Has Feliciano's house ever been like this?" I asked. Yao shook his head.

"No," he said.

"I didn't think so," I said. What is going on here? Feliciano wasn't one for playing pranks and this wasn't a prank. This felt… wrong. No, this was beyond wrong. There was something sinister about this.

"Yao," I said.

"What?" he asked.

"When did you say Feliciano changed?" I asked. My husband took a moment to think.

"Somewhere between summer and fall," he said.

"When exactly was that?"

"July or August? Maybe?"

"I see."

"Why?"

"Why is he doing this?"

"I don't know."

And there it is. We were back to where we started. Why do we keep going around in circles? I was starting to get a headache again. Feliciano couldn't be doing this alone. Someone had to be helping him.

"Yao," I said again.

"Can you just keep talking to me? If we keep walking in silence, I will give myself a headache with all of these thoughts," I complained. I leaned my head on his shoulder. He tried to push me off.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know. Just say anything," I said.

"Okay. Uh… This party has been weird, hasn't it?" he asked. I nodded.

"Yep," I said. "Where are we going again?"

"Didn't you want another drink?"

"Yeah."

"What do you want to drink?"

"I don't care at this point. I will take anything."

"Alright."

"Um…" My brain dug around for something to say. This was hard. I didn't want to go back to my decision. I made up my mind. I don't enjoy it either. What I don't understand is why Jing? What is so special about him?

"He's just a baby." I froze when I realized that came out of my mouth. Yao looked over his shoulder.

"I know," he said. I cursed myself under my breath. We're about to go back into this again, aren't we? I just walked into that one, didn't I? I noticed that Yao said something to me.

"Hm?" I asked.

"What are you going to do to fix this?" he asked. I frowned with a sour look on my face.

"I don't know," I said. "I am not going to know. Can you please stop asking me that? If you don't, I think I will scream. So don't ask again."

"Okay, okay," my dearest husband said.

"Thank you," I said. I breathed out. Suddenly, I froze.

"Ju?" Yao asked.

"Shhh," I whispered. I held up my hand as I took a listen around us.

"Do you hear that?" I asked.

"What?" he asked.

"Shhh," I said again. He and I took to a listen together. I'm certain we're not alone in this hallway. (I think we're in a hallway. I don't know anymore. I don't know what the hell Feliciano did to this house.) I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight. I flashed it behind us. I couldn't see anything but I heard a faint shuffling just down the hall from us. There is someone following us!

"Hello?" I asked. "Are you lost too?" I started to walk toward the sound.

"Ju?" Yao asked. I shushed him again as I kept walking. At one point, I thought I saw someone staring at us. Was it Feliciano watching us? Laughing at us? I swore when I caught up to him I was going to give him a piece of my mind.

"Ju! Come look at this!" Yao said. I whipped around. Suddenly, our surroundings grew lighter. Oh. We are in a hallway. I saw my husband standing by a large glass wall.

"What the hell?" I asked. "What is that?" I walked up and tapped on the glass. Yao didn't have an answer. Suddenly, the glass seemed to come to life. A light blue light came on on the other side.

"Did I make that happen?" I asked. Yao slowly shook his head. He and I turned to the screen in time to see an image come to life.

"What the hell? What the hell is this?" I asked. I would get my answer as the image came to life on the glass.