Chapter 18: Pass or Fail

"That was delicious," Maes Hughes laughed as he patted his belly.

"Delicious!" Elicia shouted, parroting her father exactly. Just as he was about to turn and declare how adorable she was, LLoyd coughed, and then grabbed reached out held his handout in front of Maes. Maes blinked for a second, before picking up the plate, and handing it to Lloyd, who grabbed the plate and added it to the dirty stack. He then turned on a dime, and walked into the kitchen, and felt his shoulders jump when he heard Maes jump into another one of his gooey tangents about his daughter.

'Does he use this as technique during interrogation?' He felt more pity for his captured fellow agents, who the man currently at his dinner table had almost single handedly brought into custody, 'because I wouldn't blame them at all for spilling everything they knew about WISE if this is what he did to them,' he then shook his head, 'don't think that Twilight,' he placed the dishes inside the sink, already filling up with warm water, 'his daughter is only two something, most of the agents he caught were before she was born.'

"Lloyd," He nearly jumped out of his skin, and turned to see Yor only a few feet away from him.

'How does she keep doing that?' Twilight considered his "wife's" tendency to slide under his notice, before shaking his head, and asking, "Yes?"

"You helped Gracia cook," she said bluntly, grabbing up a sponge from the hot water, and placing a hand on his side and pushing him away from the sink, "I will clean the dishes."

"I can stay and help you," it would be good to appear to share the domestic work for the Hughes benefit, make the relationship appear more real, "I didn't do that much cooking, I can-"

"Lloyd, please let me do this," She seemed to puff up slightly, her voice a bit pleading. She looked back behind her shoulder, "I wasn't...I wasn't very helpful with cooking earlier, but I know how to clean well."

'Oh,' Twilight looked back over his shoulder himself, and could see Gracia smiling as she talked with her husband, 'She's comparing herself to Gracia. It doesn't help that Yor's actually a year older, probably makes her feel like she's behind her junior,' he looked into his "wife's" eyes, and then nodded to her, 'Best to give her some support moving forward.'

"Okay, I'll go join our guests for a bit," he turned around, and walked out of the kitchen, as he heard his "wife" begin to work. As he exited, he threw back one last bit to Yor, "You're doing great," and then walked over to the table, and sat down.

He could see that both Anya and Elicia had left the table and were likely playing together somewhere else. That just left him with Maes and Gracia. The Lieutenant Colonel was currently being lightly scolded by his wife for his outbursts, but he seemed to have calmed down fully from earlier. And yet Lloyd could tell that Maes's eyes were following Lloyd, and were observing everything he was doing. It didn't seem like he was bracing himself for some kind of fight, but Lloyd was smart enough to know that sometimes you weren't ever going to be given even a fraction of a second of a warning. He pulled out his seat, and smiled

"So," Lloyd asked, trying to keep the focus on the two, not yet sitting down, "Is there anything else I can get you all, drinks, dessert?" he offered, trying to keep them focused on themselves.

"No, no," Gracia waved her hand, "I've been trying to watch myself lately," she turned her head towards the Lieutenant Colonel, "What about you Maes?"
"I'm good too," Maes rubbed his eyes, "Honestly, I'm kind of tired right now, long day at work," he gave a far too exaggerated yawn, "Any drinks beyond what I've had already might give me a hangover in the morning. Have a lot to do at work."

'He wants to head out soon,' Twilight's eyes then swung for but a second over to Gracia, who gave a small smile, 'Her smile means either she knows he wants to leave soon...or she's happy he's not getting drunk. Either or really.'

"Yes, I actually we will have to leave soon," Gracia said, confirming it was the first of those, "Elicia's almost past her bedtime, and she can be really cranky if she doesn't get enough sleep," she knowingly raised her arms, and Lloyd nodded quickly.

"Yes, it will probably also be good for Anya to get to sleep soon too," Twilight added quickly, glad for any reason to get the intelligence officer out of his house, "She has her exam tomorrow."

"Oh," Maes's eyes widened, clearly knowing what was going on, "So you're trying to get your daughter into the new High Amestrian Academy next year, huh?"

"Yes," Lloyd nodded, "My wife, my first wife," he corrected, "She was hoping Anya would have a better education than she did out in the countryside. When she was going through her sickness, she saw that this program was occurring, and decided that it was the best way for her daughter to rise up in society. I promised her I would help Anya reach her potential."

"Well, then it is probably time for us to head out," Maes remarked aloud, and Lloyd nodded at that. He then called out, "Elicia, we're about to go now, come on, let's get ready!"

"Actually, I wanted to run something by you two for a second," Gracia spoke up, and both Lloyd and Maes blinked at the smaller woman's interjection. She looked between the two of them, and then said, "Do either of you have any idea of who was behind the attempt to steal my daughter?" She specifically looked at Lloyd, "Maes explained that you work for the military too, so maybe you have some clue of who might be willing to attempt to kidnap a little girl?" She then looked back over at her husband, "Maybe it was Cresta, their spy organization?"

'Was afraid of this,' he looked directly into Gracia's eyes, 'Of course I know WISE wouldn't kidnap an innocent child, but I can't just go defending a foreign spy organiza-

"Honestly doesn't sound like their M.O.," Maes said aloud, rubbing his chin. Twilight was only able to put down his shock at being somewhat defended by his enemy because he had already been in the process of steeling his facial features. He just looked over at Maes, who was continuing, "This was too out in the open for that organization, they would have stolen Elicia from her bed at night or something," or, well, at least have thier competence defended, "This sounds like Drachma more likely, I hear there is a lot of consternation going on their right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if they thought they could come smash and grab an important officer's daughter and shove it in Amestris's face. As a peer power, they might feel they have the ability to get away with it more, where with Cresta, well..."

'A dying nation has to be worried about possibly inflaming Amestrian rage,' Twilight finished for Hughes in his head, 'I think he doesn't understand WISE's moral code,' Twilight for one would never accept a mission to kidnap children, 'but I can't say he doesn't understand Cresta's geopolitical situation.'

"I suppose that makes sense," Gracia nodded, "Though I don't know how a Drachman agent could get into Amestris."
"I'm just more surprised he got away so quickly," Yor said aloud, having finished the dishes, and walking in quickly, still wiping her hands with a dish towel, "I should have knocked him out with that kick, especially when he landed on the pavement, but it only took him a second to get away," after finishing drying her hands, she put the rag beneath over he shoulder, "Honestly, it was like he disappeared."

"At least everyone is safe and sound," Maes laughed, before standing up, "Now, it's," he looked over at the clock on the wall, "Seven Twenty-Seven, and Elicia's bed time is Eight," he then shouted, "Elicia, time to go home!"

"But, I don't want to go home!" they heard from the other room, and were soon greeted by the puffed out face of two and three quarters year old girl, stamping her feet as she marched into the hallway. Gracia frowned, but Maes smiled.

"But if we don't go now, we won't have enough time for bubble bath!"

"BUBBLE BATH?"

"BUBBLE BATH!"

'Urge to kill myself rising,' Twilight blinked as he stared at the officer pick up his daughter, who was now acting as excited as she possibly could about her next activity. The little girl clang to her father's arm, and then turned back to Anya, and began to wave.

"I got to go Anya, see you later," and then Anya waved back too.

"Bye Elicia," she said aloud.

Quickly, the Hughes family was moving out the door, the night's sky a collage of orange, purple and yellow. The sun would be down fully pretty soon. Twilight's three neighbors were smiling as they left. At the same time, Lloyd had managed to get his family together to wish them goodbye, standing right next to Yor and right above Anya, though making sure to not touch Yor since she might not want to be touched by her "Husband". Better not cause any disturbance be being too close.

"Great to meet you!" Elicia shouted as they walked down the stairs, and over towards their place. Twilight shut the door and let out a sigh of relief.

'Thank God that's over,' the thought, before turning back to the rest of the house, 'After everything else today, I feel like I have to sleep for a week to get my bearings again,' but he inwardly shook his head, 'Need to get ready for tomorrow.'

Twilight walked over towards the living room, and walked over towards the side table. He pulled out the chair that was sitting right beneath the table, and sat himself down. He grabbed the study book, flipped it open towards the answer sheet. He sat there for a moment, grading through the answers as best he could.

'Sixteen,' she'd have to get an average of twenty-five across five different subjects, 'she's improved,' Anya had regularly passed both Math and Science with nearly thirties, but still, even with her improvements on history and language, 'probably not enough, especially since that last test subject is hidden.'

It had been strange to Lloyd, that one topic was hidden. What reason could there be for a hidden topic? Still, it shouldn't have been too much of a problem, provided that a student even just averaged a thirty on the other four, they could probably just guess on that last topic and still pass with the required average.

'Still,' Lloyd looked over at Anya, who was walking towards her room, the day having exhausted her as well, 'We're probably going to need a miracle.'

"So what did you think?"

Gracia turned to her husband, dragging her attention away from the book in her hands. Maes was sitting against the back of their bed, arms folded behind his head. He was looking off into the air, mind clearly elsewhere. She flipped down the side of the page, and closed her book, before giving it a thought.

"I think, you may have a point," she said, "There is something going on with the Forgers. I'm not sure what, but you can tell something is off, and not just because they only got married this week."

Maes usually didn't talk to her about work. He liked to keep it separate from his home life, and from what she'd heard about Ishval, she understood why he thought this way. It meant at times, that Gracia often felt like she had no idea what he was doing half the time, and were it not for his tendency to be so open when he got home, she might have been suspicious.

Yet yesterday, he had told her that a secret government agent had moved next door, and was quite possibly investigating him. Why the Military would investigate one of it's best intelligence officers was beyond her, but she was ready to help as soon as she asked for it. When she heard that originally this Lloyd had been investigating Maes's old friend Mustang, she recognized why it was worrying that he'd moved right next to their house. Especially when he told her about how this agent hadn't been entirely truthful about why he'd been in East City to investigate Mustang in the first place. So, Maes and Gracia had hatched a plan to go over and invite their new neighbors for dinner this weekend, and separate them out and find whatever information they could.

Of course, then she'd met Yor this afternoon, and there had been the kidnapping incident, and somehow they'd ended up spending the afternoon and evening at their targets house.

"I really wonder why he'd choose Yor as a wife," Maes rubbed his chin, "I mean, she was part of Mustang's command, he knew her pretty well, and so I knew her pretty well too. If he's trying to investigate me, why would he marry someone who I already know."
"Maybe he really is focused on getting his daughter into the schooling program," she offered, shrugging. She'd heard about it for a long time, as many parents with children a few years older than Elicia were trying to get their children to become Selim Bradley's classmates. It was a pretty obvious way to secure their place in the politics of Amestris, with an almost direct line to the Fuhrer himself.

"That makes sense," Maes ran his hand through his hair while letting out a sigh, "Though...wait, that's it-"

"What?"

"We know this guy is meant to observe "problems" for Central Command, right?" Maes had made sure to put quotes around the word problems, and with Roy Mustang having been the previous one, Gracia understood what he meant, "So, what if Command wants to have someone who might be able to keep an eye on the parents of the children in this schooling program. You never know if their might be some dangerous element that might try to use the access having a child in the same class as Selim Bradley as a way to gather secret information about the military or the Fuhrer himself."

"That makes sense," she then stopped, and thought about it for a second, "But, he was specifically observing Roy, right? Who could he be investigating in the program?"

"That's what confuses me too," Maes groaned bending over slightly to the side, "The test is tomorrow, they don't know who will be in the class yet," he shook his head. He then groaned, removed his glasses, and placed them on the side table, "I just don't have enough information to go off of. I'd need to see a list of the actual participants to know who Lloyd is investigating."

"I know you'll figure it out," Gracia leaned over, and delivered a quick peck on her husband's cheek, whose face broke into a small smile. Gracia then turned back, grabbed the lamp's chord, and smiled to herself, "Good night Maes."

"Good night Gracia."

'For great peace.'

Anya continued to have to tell herself that as she sat in the wooden desk, surrounded by a whole bunch of other kids. And they were all beaten.

'Four down,' she began to shake, an actions that had already over come many of the children around her, 'just one more, just one more.'

First had been the writing exam, then the math exam, then the history, and then the science. There had been no breaks, no stopping except for a few minutes to pick up the finished sections, and then hand out the new ones. They hadn't even been allowed to go to the bathroom. She was pretty sure that one other little girl had left screaming after wetting herself. Another little boy and just begun to cry.

'I thought,' Anya felt her eyes go blank as her science test was picked up by a passing adult, 'I thought It'd be easier to get answers with so many people around me. But-'

It had been too much. Too many other test takers. Too many other little kids trying and, in many cases, failing to get the right answers for their test. It had been a shock when she realized that she was much better at the math section then the some of the other kids she'd been getting answers for, and it had taken her only a moment to realize that she probably had been getting wrong answers for almost the entirety of the first written exam. And if Papa was right, that meant she was really behind where she needed to be if she was going to pass this exam, and help Papa's mission.

'Papa needs me,' she felt herself shake even more, and tears coming to her eyes, 'If I fail this, then everything has been useless,' she actually felt some of the tears begin to pour down her cheeks, 'Then, I'm useless.'

She thought of her time in the dark place. About the disappointment all the scientists had when she didn't do anything special, and how they had, in their own minds, called her a failure. That's all she was, a failure. The dark people, when they had come by, had been worse. They had just outright called her worthless. Worthless. And now, even when her Papa had helped her, she was still a failure, still worthless. She couldn't do anything right, and she never would.

'Will Mama and Papa leave me then?' she could see both her Mama and Papa, walking away from her. Leaving her alone again...

'No,' she gripped her hand around her pencil, 'I'll just have to get a good score on the final subject. If I do, then I'll have enough to get in.'

She wiped away her tears, as one final packet of papers was placed in front of her. Unlike the others, this one's front page was blank, no mention of the subject inside. She remembered that this test was supposed to be a secret, so she guessed it made sense not to have what the test was about on the front. Still, she felt the need to reach out, and grab the front of the packet, and flip it open to start her test, but she stopped, and waited for the proctor at the front to announce the start. A tall man with a large white beard and moustache watched out over the Anya and everyone else, and then, after a moment, pulled out a watch.

"You may begin the final portion of the exam," he pressed down on the button on top of his watch, "Begin!"

Anya grabbed the front of the packet, and flipped it open. This was her last shot, and she knew it. If she was going to help her Papa bring peace to the world, she was going to have to pass this test with everything she had. She glared down at her final chance at completing her mission, full of determination.

ALCHEMY

Anya blinked. She then rubbed her eyes, trying to rub away the clearly wrong title for this section of the test.

ALCHEMY

It was still there. She reached over and pinched herself. She was clearly having a bad dream, but the good news was, that she would have a chance to take the whole test over again once she-

ALCHEMY

...

'I don't know anything about Alchemy!' she internally screamed. How could she. Alchemy is cool Science-Magic. She was a little girl. How was she supposed to know anything about this strange thing she'd only ever heard about on the radio or in the heads of scientists at the Dark Place. But she'd never even worked with it, how was she supposed to know what to do.

Defeated, she looked down at the first question, and the four bullet points beneath it. At least she knew that her task had been impossible. There was no way she was ever going to pass.

1) Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of:

'Equivalent Exchange,' Anya answered in her own head, robotically filling in B out of the four possible choices.

...

'What?' she thought, realizing she had actually known an answer. She then shook her head, 'that's really easy. Maybe I can get enough points here to score high enough to get in,' she then looked down to the second question.

2) The use of energy to break down the physical structure of the identified material into a more malleable state so as to be easily reshaped into a new form is known as:

'Deconstruction,' Again Anya knew the answer and again she filled in the bubble with that. Anya stared at her first two questions, and then she slowly moved her eyes further and further down the page.

'Gold,' for the third question.

'Flesh, Mind, Soul,' for the fourth.

And with every passing second, Anya was filled further and further with two undeniably opposite feelings, that were swirling around her. And with each correct answer she continued to get on this final section, she would attempt to read the minds of those around her. And every single time, she realized that no only was she getting these right, but almost no one else was even close to her. And that only further fueled those warring feelings inside of her.

When around twenty minutes into the final period, she had already finished the last question. She stared at the last few answers, and realized that while she knew what the answers were for the questions, she had no idea what a lot of the words or the answers actually meant, but she knew what the answers were. She had no clue what an "Electron Cloud" or a "Diana's Tree" even were. "Yesod" couldn't even be a real word, as far as she knew.

'I know this,' she though considering the questions as she looked them over again, 'But I don't know how I knew this.'

And for some reason she was really scared.

"So you burned down the Library's First Branch?" Fuhrer King Bradley looked over at Lust, who gave off a satisfied smile at the question.

"It did seem to be the best option, instead of having to go through every book in the damn place to find Marcoh's notes," she leaned against the wall, relaxing her body as she mused about her last mission, "We can't afford for the Elric brothers to discover what goes into the creation of the Philospher's Stone. They will be arriving here on Saturday, from what we can guess, so I had to move quickly."

"True enough," he was glad there was this private tower on his residence that he could retreat to for a little seclusion. He was not at all fond of the constraints that his role placed on his freedom of movement, with the Fuhrer always needing to be constantly guarded. It kept him from action, and deprived him of the ability to express his Wrath. But, they all had their place, and this was his, "I would have liked you to have at least given me some sort of warning about your plans, there were important documents in that building."

"Like what?"

Wrath couldn't help but sigh as he prepared himself to explain some very basic facts to his older sister. Lust, for all her cunning and careful planning, did at times have a blind spot for bureaucratic rules and regulations that human beings used to run a national state. She could handle human interaction, but the ins and outs of paperwork always seemed beyond her.

"Like Court Martial Records," Wrath groaned, "Prison sentences, intelligence briefings, certain penal codes were all there," he closed his one normal eye, "I'm not going to hear the end of it about the delays the loss of those documents will cause my intelligence division. I have to deal with those complaints and excuses, and they tend to cause my blood pressure to go up."

"Just remember they'll all be dead within a year," Lust shrugged. Wrath knew that was the plan, but considering they had only one sacrifice ready for use, there were times he wondered if the plan was going to go off as anticipated.

"Then there were many other alchemists' notes," he thought of a titan of a man with a very pointy moustache, "I'm pretty sure with the loss of those notes, we lost everything we knew about Iron-Blood Alchemy. It might still have proved useful."

"A bit concerning," Lust was always more interested in Alchemy, so it made sense she would feel a bit more remorse here than before. Perhaps it was that she had been fully birthed from the process, rather than the paperwork he was going to have to deal with on a daily basis.

"Lastly," Wrath finally was going to be able to bring up why he was so aggravated, and why he had asked to meet up here, "The test papers for this morning's exams were in there."

"Exam?"

"Wrath thought it might be fun to see about sticking me in a room full of brats."

Lust turned on her heal, and saw a red eye sticking out of one of the shadows. If had had any sort of human reflex to danger, she might have jumped at the sudden appearance of their oldest sibling. But she had long ago transcended the need of that particular characteristic of human frailty, so she just glared into the shadow.

"How are you doing Pride?" she asked. For all that Lust and Pride tended to be the closest of the homonculi to father, the two had never liked each other. There had always been a strange friction between the two, one that Wrath had noticed over the past four decades that he had been given his name and purpose. It wasn't out and out rivalry, but there was a distinct desire in each of them to out do the other, to prove that they were the most capable of Father's children. Honestly, the squabble irritated Wrath, but he'd let it lie. No reason to get between two Monster's like them.

"I honestly was feeling a lot worse until I heard that you burned down those stupid exams," that Pride was being complimentary of Lust almost certainly meant that he actually was pleased. As long as he wasn't taking on his role, Pride was almost always honest, "I'm glad that Wrath's little scheme to humiliate me was burned to ashes. Without those scores, there is no reason for me to go to that school."

"I'd like you to know that it was your mother's idea to have you spend more time with your peers," Wrath offered indignantly. And that was the undeniable truth of the matter, "But who said you weren't going to be going to be going to that school?"

"What?" Pride's eye moved off Lust, and stared directly at Wrath, "You said the tests were burnt up."

"The final scores were tallied," Wrath remembered speaking with one of the examiners, a tall bearded man named Henderson, "We managed to know that twenty-two out of the two hundred applicants passed the exam. You'll be starting in a few weeks."

"I refuse," Pride growled, "I have better things to do then spend my days hanging out with some spoiled brats."

"Not really," Wrath kept complete control of himself, as he saw Pride's shadow slowly begin to spread around him, sharp angles pointed at his body, which the First Homonculi could easily use to shred Wrath apart, "Especially since this will be important to prepare for the Promised Day."

"How would spending time with a bunch of six year-olds help with that?"

"One of the students that passed," Wrath said aloud, "Managed to get a perfect score on the alchemy section of the exam."

"There was an alch-perfect score?" Lust's eyes widened, "If it's true that this was done by a bunch of children, the only way someone could get a perfect score on an exam like that-"

"Would be if they had opened the gate," Wrath finished for her.

That meant, by complete accident, they'd come across a second ready sacrifice for the Promised Day on accident. They already knew about Edward Elric. That meant, alongside Alphonse Elric and Roy Mustang, that meant they only had to look for one more to complete the ritual when the eclipse occurred in less than a year. With all the concerns about having enough worthy sacrifices to pull off the country-wide transmutation circle, to have another one just fall into their laps was a coup.

"So let's just keep an eye on that one," Pride finally interjected, recovering from the revelation before his younger sibling, "It's not like I have to spend time with nearly two dozen different brats. We just grab this one, and lock them up for a year. Simple as that."

"It would be," Wrath nodded his head, "If we knew which "Brat" was the one that got that high of a score," at the look of confusion on Lust's face, he continued, "To keep anyone from paying off the proctors to get a better grade for their child, each child was given an anonymous id, and graded by multiple different individuals. The final tally was only a pass or fail. At the end of it, all the proctors knew was that twenty-two of them had passed, and that one of those children got a perfect score on the Alchemy exam."

"This wouldn't be a problem though," Wrath continued, "Since we would easily just check the tests themselves, and find our future sacrifice," he then turned his attention to Lust, "Had those tests not just been burnt out of existence."

...

"Oops," was all Lust could offer, as the shadows of Pride seemed to abandon Wrath, and began pointing at her, "I had no idea."

"It was a one in a million mistake," Wrath admitted, nodding his head at her, "And it is also deeply important for us to keep the Elric brothers from discovering too much about our plans, so I think you made the best decision you could have knowing what you knew," he shook his head, "Luckily, we already have a plan in place to find this sacrifice, since they will be joining Selim Bradley in school," he waved his hand towards Pride's eye, "You can observe these children, and find which of them is our next sacrifice."
"Wha-no," Pride was sputtering, sputtering. It took all of Wrath's fortitude to keep from bursting out laughing, "Father would never-"

"I already ran the plan by Father, and he thought it was a good way to respond to such a sudden shift in the winds," Wrath answered, before adding, "You can ask him yourself, if you want?"

Pride stayed silent for a moment. And then a second one. Finally, the shadows began to receded from around Wrath and Lust, and the glare of the eye had taken on a certain resignation. The wound to Pride was great, but he would always listen to his Father, "I will complete this mission," Pride agreed, before retreating down into the shadows, "Though I don't appreciate your candor, Wrath. If I should ever be given the chance, don't think I won't take an opportunity to show you how damaging pride can be."

"I would expect nothing less," Wrath admitted, as Pride finally disappeared. He turned to leave, before he heard a cough, and turned to look back at his sister.

"Do you need my help for this?" she asked.

"No," Wrath shook his head, "You have enough on your plate with the Elric Brothers and Mustang. You even have to head back to East City to deal with that Ishvalan thorn in our side," he waved back as he turned to head back down into the palace, "Besides, I think it will do Pride some good to interact with people on his level of maturity."

...

"You little shit," he heard Lust laugh, as he descended back into his role.

"It's here," Twilight felt his future in his hands. In his hands, he held the paper that would determine if Operation Strix would continue, or that he had failed his country and hope for Peace in the world. Anya and Yor were staring at him as he walked into the den, the closed envelope just waiting to be opened. That they had managed to grade the test so quickly was honestly impressive, though part of him worried it meant a lower class girl like Anya could never make it in.

"Well," Yor looked at Lloyd, her eyes filled with a bit of worry. She had uprooted her life for this, if this was a failure, she'd probably have to uproot this new one too.

"Open it," Anya was fidgeting. For all that she might have failed, it was undeniable that she had put in an extreme effort for a six year old. She probably remembered how important this was to get her adopted, so she was probably worried too.

Lloyd looked down at the envelope, nodded, and then ripped the opening clean. He then pulled out the paper, and read aloud.

"Dear Dr. and Mrs. Forger, Thank you for your interest in our Central Advanced Education Program. This is one of the most difficult education attainment offerings in the world, and to even attempt this exam is an impressive accomplishment," Twilight really hoped this wasn't an attempt to let their failure down gently, "It is thus our pleasure to invite your daughter Anya into our Prog-"

"MS. ANYA DID IT!" Yor shouted, suddenly picking up Anya, and twisting her around, while Anya began to giggle aloud, ecstatic at her victory. Lloyd looked over at the two triumphant girls, and felt his heart leap.

And then he felt his limbs give way. As he began to fall down, he could catch a glimpse of his family suddenly realize what was happening, and rush over to him. With one arm still around Anya, Yor managed to place a hand behind his back, and slow his fall, to where he never his the floor. He looked up, and suddenly saw Yor's panicking face.

'All this stress,' Twilight though, 'As soon as I relaxed, the fatigue I've been feeling so long overcame me,' Twilight continued to look up at Yor, as he began to feel consciousness drift away from him, 'Something must be wrong with me.'

"You're beautiful, you know that?" Lloyd Forger said as he drifted off to sleep.