The Queen of Games [Worm/Yu-Gi-Oh]

[MadsGM]

Chapter 1: The Puzzle of the Gods

1​

There is a history of games. The history of games is intertwined with human history, starting in the Egyptian empire five thousand years ago. Ancient games predicted the future for both citizens and kings. As these games were played, fate was decided in magical ceremonies. These were known as "The Shadow Games."

2​

There was a hospital room. In it, there was a middle-aged man slumped in a chair, appearing to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, and a strange futuristic knight in blue metallic armor.

And, in the center of the room, there was a girl lying on the bed.

She seemed to be asleep... or dead. She did not wake up even with the noisy device used to examine her. Clearly, she was not dead, as pale as her face was, but still, she gave the impression that she might disappear with a puff. That's how insubstantial she seemed.

"So?" asked the man.

The knight nodded slowly.

"She did not have a Trigger Event. I can't be one hundred percent sure without taking her to the Protectorate, but let's say I'm ninety-nine percent sure."

Enough to assume that there was no problem here and to leave. Anyway, he had no reason to think that the family would not cooperate if it turned out that the scanner had failed in some way. Who else would they seek help from?

"Well, I am. I am one hundred percent sure. My daughter would never do anything wrong."

The knight blinked, confused. When he understood, or thought he did, he took a few extra moments to measure his words. He didn't want to mess up. Yes, maybe the pause would be a bit long, but wasn't it better to take the time he needed? At least that's what he thought.

"Hmm? I understand how you feel, Mr. Hebert, but I'm not here for that. While many people who have a Trigger Event due to trauma become supervillains, not all do. Not even the majority. They are capable of overcoming their pain like anyone else."

"I understand. I'm sorry."

Things would be simpler if people said what they thought. Did he really understand or were those just words? He couldn't know. Not just with his own abilities, that is.

But he could understand.

"I'm the one who should apologize. This should never have happened to your daughter."

For example, that was part of the kind of things he had to say, even though it meant nothing. Platitudes and courtesies, the oil for the gears of everyday life. That, at least, he understood perfectly.

"You can't be everywhere."

The knight was sure that that was also just a courtesy. It was so obvious that even he could be sure of it.

"No. It's true..."

He lowered his gaze.

"May I ask what that thing is?" He had finished his duty here, so he wanted to leave as soon as possible and continue with his work. However, he was curious. No Thinker could resist their curiosity. That's why they were Thinkers.

The middle-aged man turned that 'something' over in his hands, his expression darkening even more if possible.

It wouldn't be because of something he had said, right? He would be looking into the past.

"An ancient Egyptian puzzle that her mother gave her before dying. More than once I've caught her trying to solve it during the night... I hope it brings her some peace when she needs it most."

The middle-aged man finally stood up from the chair, approached the bed, and placed the half-finished puzzle on the girl's chest, who still had not flinched. Asleep was too sweet a word to use for her. She wasn't waking up, but that was because she was in a catatonic state. They had cornered her to that point.

Without him knowing.

"My daughter. My little one..." The man began to weep bitterly.

Without being able to do anything.

"Taylor."

3​

Another day passed.

Just one day, and the miracle he had been praying for happened. No, he shouldn't call it a miracle. The doctors had told him she would wake up, and there was no reason for her not to wake up.

Yet, he couldn't help but shed tears of happiness this time when he saw her sitting up in bed, working on that puzzle.

He ran and hugged her against his chest, perhaps with a bit more force than he should use with a girl who had been in a catatonic state until a moment ago. Yes, Danny had just stepped out for a moment to get a glass of water, and when he returned, the miracle had occurred.

So who could blame him?

For going a bit overboard, just a little bit. He had the feeling that if he let her go, she would disappear.

As if she was about to fly out the window, or as if she was going to open her eyes and discover that her awakening had been just a dream, and all he was left with was the cruel reality of her catatonia. That someone had done this to his daughter, and he didn't even know who to unleash all this burning rage inside him on.

But she was here.

Definitely here. That's why he couldn't stop crying. He should be strong for Taylor, who needed him, but he couldn't.

"Dad..."

"I was afraid... I..."

"You want to know what happened," she said in an empty voice. There was no happiness, but no pain either. Yet, that unnatural emptiness was proof enough of the magnitude of her suffering.

Taylor had been such a cheerful and lively child, full of life. When had things started to twist? He couldn't understand it. That was the most painful part of all.

"Well, I... just want to finish the puzzle," she continued, in the end. "No, I need to finish it. I won't be saved unless I do."

"What are you talking about?" Danny stepped back a bit. Just enough to look her in the eyes.

Besides, he didn't want to overwhelm her. He needed to relax.

"It's the most important thing. I should never have given up. I should have known that mom gave me this for a reason."

Danny opened his mouth, but quickly closed it, thinking better of it. He decided it didn't matter whether what Taylor was saying made sense or not. She had just woken up, she had suffered a great trauma, and this was what he had wanted, right? The puzzle was giving her something to cling to when she needed it most.

Danny felt a bit hurt... that the memory of his mother, who was no longer there, was more effective than his clumsy efforts as a father. But that was just childish envy.

He just wanted the best for his daughter.

So it didn't matter if she was talking nonsense. She wouldn't be talking so calmly if the puzzle, if her mother's last gift, wasn't here.

That was enough for him.

"I understand, but the doctors have to examine you to make sure you're okay."

Taylor frowned, thoughtful. And, for a moment... Maybe it was his imagination, no, it definitely was his imagination... But for a moment, she twisted her face in a way that made her not even look like his daughter... For an eternal moment, he had the feeling of looking at the face of a stranger.

"Okay. But make it quick. I need... to work."

Danny nodded and left the room to call the doctors, but first he promised her that he would be right back... that, this time, he wouldn't take his eyes off her.

And Taylor, just returned an empty look, as her hands moved over the puzzle pieces.

The so-called Millennium Puzzle of an unnamed pharaoh, that no one had been able to solve...

4​

"Taylor, Emma has come to visit you."

His daughter looked up from the puzzle, which gave Danny false hopes, since her attention returned to the usual after a moment.

"Can she come in? If you prefer that we be alone..."

"Let her in," she said slowly and after a while. "But don't bother me, I need to work."

"Taylor!"

Even he had thought she seemed not to want her here, but hearing her say something like that was too strange. They were childhood friends. Yes, Emma hadn't stopped by the house in a while, but they would see each other at school and...

What?

He shouldn't be surprised or angry because she was perhaps a bit rude. Danny took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, Emma. You must understand that after this incident... She still wasn't quite right."

"I understand, Mr. Hebert. Don't worry."

"Come on, call me Danny. Just Danny. I know it's been a long time since we last saw each other, but you'll always have a place in our house."

Emma nodded. Then, hesitantly, she approached Taylor's bed, dragged one of the chairs near, and took a seat.

"Well, I'll leave you alone for a while," said Danny.

Probably, he was just being overly paranoid.

Probably they would be able to laugh together like in the old times. Taylor... kept receiving one blow after another, but at least she had a friend who would be by her side through that.

One single friend was all that was needed.

Quality was always better than quantity.

There were too many so-called 'friends' who were only there for the good times, drinks, and parties, and turned their backs on you when you really needed them.

Danny knew this very well, so he was glad that Taylor had at least one true friend who would make everything more bearable.

5​

"You didn't have the guts to tell your dad, huh? Even now."

"If I had told him, you'd say I'm a coward for seeking the help of adults," she said, as Taylor had no intention of taking her gaze off the puzzle or ceasing her persistent effort. "There's no way to earn your respect, but... I absolutely don't care."

"Do you think you're better than me?"

"I have to finish this puzzle. I'm only interested in what you think if you help me finish it... No, even if you were capable, it doesn't make sense unless I do it myself."

"Even if... you were capable? You must have gone crazy in there, Hebert," she spat. "Do you think you can talk to me like that? That I won't make you pay?"

Taylor took the next piece out of the partially open box, placed on the nightstand. She simply had the feeling that it was time to take it. It wasn't like her, but now she was trying to complete the puzzle by instinct.

Thinking too much hadn't led her anywhere. She had failed day after day, night after night for years. In fact, since she had started to let her instinct guide her, she had made great progress. Maybe she would finish it today. Hopefully, she would finish it today.

She would feel as if she could fly.

"Hey! Answer me when I talk to you."

"I've been... paying for years without having done anything to you. What can change what I say? And what exactly do you think you can do to me that's worse than this?"

Emma, surprisingly, fell silent. If looks could kill, she would be dead, but she fell silent.

Good.

She had told dad to let her in because she had wanted to spare herself the headache of explaining the situation, but anyway, she had done nothing but bother her. That was what she was best at. She would enjoy the peace she had earned for however brief it lasted. Sooner or later, she would get bored and go look for another girl to torment in the meantime, or a butterfly to tear the wings off, in any case, she would be out of her sight and out of earshot, it was irrelevant.

Surprisingly, Emma held her tongue for an hour and played the role of a good girl when dad came back into the room. The look of happiness on his face when he saw them 'talking' almost made it worth having let it slide, after all.

Emma was a total snake, but for the moment, it was convenient.

And once she solved the puzzle, Emma would no longer be a problem. Taylor wasn't sure how she would get rid of the problem. It's not like she wanted to jump to murder, haha, but in any case, definitely, the problem would cease to exist.

So that's why she could be patient, swallow her hatred and just work on the Millennium Puzzle.

Just for that.

It's not like she hadn't thought about seriously harming Emma, and Sophia, and all those who had... But what would she gain from that, other than ruining her life? That would be letting them win. Indeed, they wouldn't feel like winners, but going down that path only meant letting them win.

Perhaps the worst of all. In the eyes of the rest of the world, that would justify what she had suffered.

Moreover, they would no longer be aggressors... Killing them, she would turn them into damn martyrs... She couldn't think of a more unbearable thought!

So she couldn't run away, she couldn't kill them, but the puzzle would give her an answer. And it's not like she was giving up, seeking salvation in a higher power. She would earn her happy future. By solving this puzzle, she would earn the key to the future she desired with her own hands, with her blood, sweat, and tears.

She was making good progress, now that she let herself be guided by her impulses and hunches, now that she let herself... be carried by the current.

She would complete it, she would definitely complete it. Tonight. Tonight. Tonight!

Night came, and... she was close, but she hadn't achieved it.

Still, it was all a matter of time. She couldn't lose hope and throw in the towel, as she had done years ago. All the suffering she had been experiencing since then... was nothing but the just punishment for abandoning her duty.

So, once she completed the puzzle, that evil flow would be cut off forever.

Once...

"You need to sleep. I understand it's not easy, but it will only be a few days. We'll be able to go home soon." Dad was still there. Of course. And, of course, he was worried... It hurt to see him, but she couldn't do anything. Not when the only thing she could do about it was what caused him that pain.

"You're the one who needs to rest," Taylor spoke the truth.

But, without looking him in the eyes.

She didn't even look him in the eyes. It was as if an invisible force was holding her by the back of the head, fixing her gaze on the puzzle, whether she wanted to or not. The tense muscles of her neck slowly creaked, just like the pieces she moved here and there or rotated.

"Taylor..." He sighed. Then, he decided to change tactics. "If I fall asleep first, will you at least try?"

"Okay."

"Alright."

Dad dragged his chair against the wall, closed his eyes, crossed his arms, and leaned against the wall. It was the closest to comfort he could be without another bed. Taylor continued working in silence. And, after a while, when she was convinced, she spoke.

"I know you wanted to pretend to fall asleep, but you've already fallen asleep, huh? Good. Rest. I... I'll rest when I have the puzzle hanging from my neck. Only then will I be able to rest. When I finish the puzzle, no one will be able to hurt us again. That is my wish. My only wish. And this puzzle will grant me that wish. For sure. Something you can show, but you can't see..."

Her heart... stopped abruptly. Now, the only 'darkness' of the puzzle was right in the center. Just one more gap to fill... one last piece for her broken heart.

Her hand blindly reached for the box and... found nothing.

If her heart had already stopped just from the excitement of being close to finishing, this fright almost made it unable to start again.

Impossible.

It's the last piece. The last of dozens, the last of so many, it can't have disappeared now, not just now, just one more to make my wish come true, why now, when my wish would be fulfilled?, it's just a gap, one last piece, it's like all the problems of my life had been reduced to something the size of a flea, so why, why, how can it not be there?, it's impossible, impossible, impossible...

Then... it clicked... and her heart, for the first time, filled with true murderous rage... Although before she might have had the opportunity and the means, surely she wouldn't have been able to do it in the end. But now, if Taylor had her in front of her, she would definitely kill her.

Her teeth chattered.

"Emma."

6​

"I thought you would never notice."

A disgusting laugh.

And Taylor was hearing that... because she remembered it. Much to her regret, she still perfectly remembered her phone number. It was one of the very few things that hadn't changed in the last few years.

"What's up, Taylor? Were you finally about to finish your stupid puzzle?"

"Where?"

"What..."

"Don't give me that bullshit, you little shit! Where? I'll come wherever you want, so come out if you have the guts! Just give me a place and time, damn bitchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

More laughter, as if all this were a joke.

"I never thought I'd hear you talk like that. I guess it was worth it. Alright, listen."

7​

Taylor and Emma met under the moonlight. They didn't exchange greetings, of course. Emma simply pulled a small piece from the pocket of her jacket. A small piece, but the most important one, the one that had to go right in the center. The heart of the puzzle.

"For something as insignificant as this, you've come here in a robe and barefoot. In Brockton Bay, that's incredible, hahahaha. Although I don't think any thug would want to lay hands on someone as disgusting as you."

"Give it back."

"Or what? I've already told you, do you think you have power over me? Do you think you're better than me? You're not even a shadow of what you were, and you were never much!"

Then Emma did the stupidest thing she had done in her life. As she gloated, the puzzle piece slipped through her fingers... and bounced towards Taylor. She, of course, saw it as a mysterious sign. But she didn't wait for the piece to fall into her hands. She lunged forward just as Emma did...

She was the first to get there.

Emma screamed like a banshee and threw her to the ground, but it didn't matter. Taylor had already forgotten about her. With a manic smile, she inserted the last piece.

There was a golden light, as if it were the immeasurable treasure of an ancient pharaoh, and then…

8​

It's written in the Book of the Dead that the one who solves that puzzle inherits the Shadow Games. They become the guardian of right and pass judgment on evil.

9​

There was something odd here. Something wrong.

In another time and place, Emma might have dismissed those thoughts as stupid fantasies, a trick of the mind. But now she couldn't.

Maybe because the full moon reigned over the skies, and it was the witching hour...

When the golden flash faded, she had the impression that Taylor was no longer there. The person who stood up with Taylor's body and smiled with her lips couldn't be her.

It was a merciless, cruel smile, and above all, confident.

The smile of someone powerful who had never known defeat.

Somehow, Emma had that impression. No, certainty!

So, she backed away.

Although it was silly, although it had to be Taylor, although she had nothing to fear from her original and much less from the shadow that had been stumbling through life since her mother died.

Emma took a deep breath.

Yes, it was silly. So she had to stop the nonsense and show her who was in charge here, as always.

"You have trespassed on my soul! Therefore, you must play a game with me!" It didn't sound like Taylor's voice at first, but that was also her fooling herself, her mind playing tricks on her.

It was simply that Taylor never sounded so confident. Even before everything that happened, she had never sounded like that, like someone who was... complete. That's why it seemed like the voice of a different person.

Really? Was that all? Taylor had never been very feminine, hers was a deep and rough voice. If she closed her eyes, she might confuse it for the voice of a man...

"What are you talking about?"

"It's just a simple game of dice! People have been gambling their fate on dice since ancient Egypt! Although, back then, we used 'astragali'—the irregular heel bones of calves and sheep."

We? Is that what she had said...? We used...?!!

"Now let me explain the rules of this game of fate. The rules are simple! We both roll the dice. I roll first. Whoever rolls the lowest number wins. I'll even let you win in case of a tie! Sounds good?"

Her smile widened. It looked as sharp as a knife.

"However, if I win, then you'll have to play a Penalty Game as punishment."

"Ridiculous. Why would I have to play with you? And... how could I let you punish me... you, someone like you?"

"I'll give you the puzzle if you win. Not a piece, the entire puzzle. Then you can do whatever you want with it. You don't need to say anything, it's evident on your face twisted by evil. I see the answer clearly. Let the game begin."

Then Taylor... didn't throw the die. She simply let it drop from her hand. It bounced against the ground and, slowly, slowly, stopped... on a six.

Emma laughed.

"A six! And you said you would let me win in case of a tie, you said it! Taylor! No matter what number comes up, I win. I don't even have to throw the die. What a pity! Even the heavens spit on you. So much effort to keep crawling on the ground like a worm."

Taylor's expression didn't change a bit. She really must have gone mad. How could her eyes still shine? How could she have that confident smile?

"The odds are in your favor, but the game doesn't end until you throw the die."

Emma clicked her tongue and bent down to pick it up.

"You used to be a depressing little girl, always quiet, and now you won't shut the fuck up! Well, well, well, here, take the die you want so much!"

Emma threw the die at the head of that idiot.

It bounced off her forehead. If she had been paying attention, she would have heard a strange crunch too, but all Emma saw was the die falling to the ground. The result was a one. A strange one, but definitely a one, a single black dot.

If only she had known that it was an eye watching her, judging her... Well, nothing would have really changed, because she had already made her move.

"I win! Give it to me!"

"Look closer."

"Impossible..."

Taylor had lifted the puzzle to protect herself from the die. It hadn't bounced off her forehead, but off the puzzle, and on the ground... the die was split in half. Definitely, on one side there was a one. But on the other, there was a six.

"That doesn't count! You can't say that..."

Emma fell silent.

Taylor had extended an arm and was pointing a finger at her. It was like a judge passing sentence. Yes, she had said it from the start. If she lost, there would be a...

"Penalty Game!! Mind Crush!!"

Emma couldn't look away.

On Taylor's forehead... it had to be a hallucination, but on Taylor's forehead shone... a third eye, with a golden glow that burned the retina, and that third eye... flew towards her, even passed through her, beyond, to her soul.

Emma Barnes, for the second time in her life, was shattered.

10​

"Goodbye, Emma. I have shattered your heart filled with evil. You deserved a worse punishment, but my other self once saw you as a sister. That's why I granted you this special privilege. Now you can reassemble the shattered puzzle of your heart, piece by piece. If you make no mistakes, if you complete it, one day you will return..."

The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, with the Eye of Wdjat still shining on his forehead, stretched his neck back to gaze at the full moon reigning over the night sky.

"Or maybe not! Maybe you'll spend the rest of your life struggling alone in the darkness, kukikikikakkakakahhyahhyaaaahhahhahhahahhhahahhyaaahh!!"

The Puzzle of the Gods: FIN

 

[MadsGM]

Chapter 2: Lately, I've Been Getting Lost on Familiar Streets

1​

"I'm fine," Taylor insisted for the umpteenth time. She hated having to insist, not being heard. She was tired of it. "And if I were unwell, I don't think my mental health would improve being trapped in a hospital. I just want to go home."

Mom's not there anymore, an inner voice whispered. Home doesn't exist.

She tried to ignore that voice. It wasn't perfect, nothing was, but she had her father, who did what he could, and the puzzle. Now that she had completed the puzzle, it was as if a piece of her mother was with her forever. Close to her heart because she had placed it there, around her neck, resting on her heart, tied to a chain she had made her father buy.

There was no medical reason to keep her; they were going to discharge her. There was also no psychological reason to, well, send her to a madhouse.

"You do seem to be fine, Taylor, but I'm a bit concerned about your unusual attachment to that puzzle."

"It's a memento of my mother. What's unusual about that?"

"Taylor, you seem to be fine. That's the key word. But maybe you're not. Maybe that puzzle is the only thing keeping you standing, and you're clinging to it to avoid facing your problems. It's common for people to develop an unusual fixation on something after a trauma, for better or worse."

It's been so many years, and she still refuses to buy a phone.

That damn voice, again.

"I'm not telling you to get rid of it or anything like that. Not at all. I'm sure it will do you good... But if it's the only thing keeping you standing, you're going to fall sooner or later."

Taylor remained silent. She had already said everything she had to say, and if she continued, she would end up doing something they would both regret, but especially her because she just wanted to go home. She didn't want to give him reasons to label her as aggressive and send her to therapy.

Well, more reasons. She had been unusually tense and edgy since she walked through the door.

First of all, because she didn't like this place; ironically, it drove her crazy. Secondly... Why the hell not? She had been biting her tongue and bowing her head for too long; it was time for a change. Even if it was a bit unfair, even if deep down she knew he was just doing his job, why not? She deserved to say what was on her mind and be heard.

She deserved a minimum of respect like any human being.

Everything was going to change, everything would be better now, and no one could stop that. Especially not this shrink.

Who sighed.

"I understand that you don't like me and don't want to listen to me, but I'm really just thinking about your well-being like any of my patients. Anyway, you're free to go; the rest would be going in circles, and we've already gone in enough. I just hope this is our last conversation. That my fears are unfounded."

Taylor got up from the chair and nodded curtly, turning to leave this damn place. First his office and then the hospital, she would leave through the front door and never look back.

That's how it would be. She had hit rock bottom, so things could only get better from now on. Besides, her mother, who was always by her side, would protect her.

Taylor had never managed to believe in things like God, heaven, and life after death, no matter how much she wanted to reunite with her mother someday; she had always known that wasn't possible.

But the puzzle somehow allowed her to believe that at least a part of her was there and always would be, watching over her.

It was something she could feel and touch, after all, completely different, and it also had a mysterious and palpable aura, even though the rest of the world seemed not to notice it somehow, for her it was as evident as the sun rising in the morning.

"Everything okay?" Dad asked.

"Yes. No problem. I can't wait to go home." Her voice broke a little.

She didn't have big dreams or aspirations. If she ever had, they had faded over time. She just wanted peace of mind, security. The same as any ordinary person. And she would have it.

She grabbed the puzzle with both hands.

Squeezing.

She wouldn't let go of it for anything in the world.

2​

They discharged her, and finally, they set off back home by car. She had to wait too long, to the point that the sky was already tinged with the colors of sunset, but now that she finally had what she wanted, Taylor felt refreshed and as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, so she stopped caring. She had never been overly optimistic. To her surprise, she received more good news very soon, although at first, she was scared because her father started speaking hesitantly and with a heavy tone as if he didn't know how to break the news.

When in reality, it was a gift.

"Okay. I thought about not telling you, but you deserve to know. I don't know what happened after she left, but Emma never made it home, and now... She's in bad shape, Taylor. She's in a coma. She's stable, but it's too early to know if she'll ever wake up. We can only cross our fingers."

"Taylor?"

"What's up?"

"You're... smiling."

She forced herself to put on a neutral expression, even though she had never heard anything better. Her faith in the puzzle of the gods had been rewarded.

Killing someone would destroy her life, and she didn't want to cross that line.

In the past, it might have also disturbed her that Emma ended up in a coma because, after all, it was the same as death, but after what she had done to her, she couldn't force herself to care even knowing that her mother hadn't raised her to be like that. She felt satisfied. Even proud, though she hadn't done anything. Directly, at least.

"No. Of course not."

"I saw you, daughter. It's not your fault; you've been through a lot, but maybe the psychologist was right. Smiling when you find out your best friend is in a coma. Maybe, honey, they released you too soon. I was worried too, to be honest. I felt happy that you seemed to be fine, but after something like that, it's not normal to act as if nothing happened..."

"Dad."

She looked at her reflection in the rearview mirror. He was nervous, naturally. He didn't know what to do or say. He did what he could, but he usually didn't.

He had lost a part of himself, after all. He could learn to live with it, but he would never be the same. The same went for her, of course. You could say that Danny had been hurt more because he was old enough to know what he was losing, but what could be worse than a child losing her mother, her center in a world full of shadows and unknowns, before she had time to grow up?

Taylor had been full of holes before she even had the chance to take shape, and the twisted and strange creature she saw in the mirror was the result. There was nothing more repulsive than her own reflection compared to what she could have been, to what she would have liked to be.

Before she could take shape, they had forcibly given her a shape with hammer blows, breaking her, twisting her. She had grown up wrong, plain and simple. Could she recover from that? Could she find her own shape?

"Taylor? You can tell me anything. I'll always be on your side."

But not always by my side, she thought, staring at the empty seat.

"It was her. It was always her."

"What do you mean?"

A shiver ran down her spine. Maybe it was a trace of the mysterious event that had put Emma in the hospital last night. Strangely, she had left without doing anything to her. She must have chickened out, thinking she wouldn't get away with it in a hospital, unlike at school. But anyway, she had gotten what she deserved.

"Her and her friends."

Maybe excluding herself was what made her realize. What furrowed her brow.

"Then yesterday... I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

But in a way, you'd like it to be, right? Because at least you could do something about it.

"How did it happen? You were so close."

Taylor shrugged, trying to pretend it didn't affect her. It shouldn't. But much to her dismay, the Emma who had come to gloat over her, who hadn't had enough with publicly humiliating her by locking her in a locker full of disgusting things, wasn't the only one she remembered.

"She liked Sophia more than a depressing loser like me, I guess."

"Don't talk about yourself like that. You're better than her, better than all of them. You're special."

It would mean much more if the words didn't come from him (or from her mother, who would have said more or less the same if she were still here to do so). What was he going to say? He was her father.

"And I owe you another apology. It doesn't mean it's okay, but now I understand why you were smiling. You have the right to be angry."

Taylor focused on her knuckles, getting whiter as she gripped the steering wheel.

"You also have the right."

"Yes. I'm not sure what happened to her, but, God help me, I'm not sure it was enough either."

Taylor was content that she was out of her life.

But she was also dissatisfied in a way. With Emma in a coma, the ones who would suffer would be her family, not her (not her friends, she had friends only in the same way Taylor had had Emma).

That is, she wouldn't know anything.

She wouldn't suffer.

Everything had ended very suddenly. She hadn't gotten what she deserved, but it was enough. She had to think it was, take a deep breath, and move on.

Still, she would never be anyone's victim again. It wouldn't happen again. She swore it.

3​

Human beings are born alone and die alone. Emma Barnes was dying alone in the depths of her mind, but at the same time, she was slowly being born, piece by piece. She didn't know why she was here. She knew almost nothing. After all, what she was assembling were the scattered pieces of her own heart. She was just another shadow in the deepest darkness. She had to gather them all, or she would never be human again. That, at least, she understood perfectly.

Maybe someday she could find her way back to the light. If she knew when or how she had lost sight of the light and then sunk into darkness, it would be easier, but that wasn't allowed.

It couldn't be easy.

This was a punishment, not a spider's thread extended for her to climb out of hell.

Merely a punishment, and nothing more.

4​

Taylor got into bed, rested her head on the pillow, and slowly closed her eyes in the dark. After a while, she realized that this was the first time in so long that she couldn't even remember that she went to bed with a light heart, without apprehension for tomorrow.

She didn't feel happy or sad, just vaguely confused that it had taken so long to acquire something resembling peace of mind.

5​

Early in the morning, she gave him the news. That is, she communicated her decision, and Danny took it as well as could be expected. That is, he seemed more confused than angry or worried. It was really the best she could hope for.

"Do you really want to go back to school so soon? Or go back, in general. We haven't talked about it, but that's because I thought it was obvious you wouldn't want to set foot in that shithole again."

Taylor blinked.

Okay, that was precisely Winslow, the normal students weren't much better than the gangs for the most part, but her father never got angry (well, only once that she still remembered vividly) and she had never heard him swear.

"Listen, Taylor, I don't care if you miss weeks or months of education. For all I care, you can take a gap year, ha, you know. Even if it's late, I want to transfer you to another school, I want you to be okay. Education is important, but there are more important things, and you're a smart girl. I think you'd catch up quickly."

He overestimated her.

Clearly, she was very stupid or she would have chosen a better best friend. Besides, her grades weren't great in most classes and Winslow didn't have a high bar either.

But that wasn't what mattered, of course.

"It's just..."

"What is it?"

"I feel like I need to go back there with my head held high. Prove that they haven't beaten me. I know it's silly."

"I understand how you feel. Although yes, it's silly. It shouldn't matter what anyone thinks. They are beneath you."

I know, she thought. But it's easier said than done.

"There's another reason. But you're going to worry about my mental health if I say it."

"That's what parents do, Taylor. Live scared. Just say it."

Besides, now you can't tell me to forget it after saying that. I can't just ignore it.

Yeah.

It was a mistake, but it hadn't been a decision, it had just slipped out. It hadn't been that long since they put her there. She didn't want to give the asshole psychologist anything, but she still wasn't quite well, of course.

Her emotions leaped in ways she sometimes couldn't explain and with an intensity that often scared her. Her common sense seemed to have vanished, and before she realized it, she was saying the kind of things she should have kept quiet. It was liberating, in a way, since she had kept too many things to herself for too long. And it was okay to talk about those things with someone who cared about her, not a psychologist she had just met who only pretended to care about what happened to her.

"I have the feeling that I can't leave until something is finished."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember my mom's stories, right? The legends about the puzzle and all that."

"Yes. I didn't like her talking about those creepy things, but yes."

Part of her wanted to shut her mouth because maybe she would convince him that she had lost her mind and it was true that she needed all the psychological help she could get. She didn't see how being locked up between four walls was going to improve anyone's mental health, but the world had been crazy and upside down for a long time.

Taylor lowered her gaze to the puzzle and realized she had been turning it over in her hands for a while.

"It is written in the book of the dead that whoever solves this puzzle will inherit the shadow games. He will become the guardian of justice and pass judgment on evil."

"Where are you going with this?"

Taylor slowly raised her head. It was just a suspicion. However...

"That this has only just begun, and I want to be there to see it."

She had tried to keep her father on the sidelines and in the dark, and it had done her no good. If she wanted things to change, she decided to start by opening up to him and showing some trust, even with her most confusing and unformed thoughts.

At the very least, she should extend a hand to see if she could trust him.

She needed someone to trust, especially because she was just beginning to learn to trust herself.

6​

Taylor closed the locker and suddenly found herself face to face with a very silent thug. It was obvious that he was a member of some gang because of the tattoos. Sophia and Madison had basically ignored her, making some comments under their breath as if they believed she couldn't hear them, the same as always, but compared to what they could do to her and what they had done, it was nothing. Background noise. She should have known she would run into trouble one way or another, that she would manage.

But she wasn't afraid.

Not a bit of fear.

"Hebert... It's Hebert, right?"

"What do you want?"

"Nothing... I wish I could say that, but after the spectacle the other day, we have no choice but to intervene."

"How?"

"We can't let a nigger with an inflated ego go around bossing a white girl. Because you're white, aren't you? No Jewish blood, with that last name?"

"Not that I know of." It was the truth, aside from what she needed to say to get by. It wasn't convenient to start anything right now... and she could think of thousands of ways to start something, but not how to end it. She knew she had the power of the puzzle on her side, but how to use it was another story.

"Good. Good." The racist nodded, satisfied.

What was he going to do if not, a blood test right here? The idea almost made her laugh. But it wasn't the right time.

"Well, then... thanks."

"You're not doing it for yourself, we just can't allow black people to go around thinking they can do whatever they want. They already have too high an opinion of themselves."

He turned around and left just like that, which she appreciated. She had been about to punch him. Despite everything, Sophia didn't deserve what they would do to her. Maybe a beating wouldn't hurt her, but those white supremacists wouldn't stop at that. They could kill her. They could rape her, no matter how much they claimed to despise people of inferior races.

Besides, what would be left in the hands of "people" like those guys wouldn't be justice.

She had to take justice into her own hands.

He would become the guardian of justice and pass judgment on evil.

Yes.

That was what she had to do, that was the reason she was here.

That was the reason she had completed the puzzle.

Justice, nothing more. Not revenge. Her only desire was to make the world make sense again.

No matter what.

7​

"Oh, Hebert. What's up, are you here to cheer us on?" Jack said mockingly.

The gang member turned around and saw the person he was expecting, but at the same time, everything was different.

He couldn't say what seemed so different, but he couldn't help but feel that way, and much to his dismay, a shiver ran down his spine. I can't be afraid of this kid. She weighs nothing, I could lift her above my head with one hand, what the hell is wrong with you? He had to concentrate. Was he nervous about the mission? About attacking that Sophia? It couldn't be that either, eleven people would accompany him to beat her up and maybe something beyond that.

That's because it's nothing. Just my imagination.

"I'm here to play," Hebert said. In the same way, although her voice was identical, it gave a completely different impression. That smile that spread across her lips.

It was sinister.

"Oh really? You're too ugly for my taste," Jack joked, and most of the boys laughed in unison. Surely it was just his nerves, but he couldn't understand how they could look at her and joke as if nothing was happening here. Was he the only one who saw it?

Of course, he was the only one, if it was only in his head.

He decided he was nervous because talking was easy, but this was the first time he was going to cross the line and act. The blacks, the Jews, all of them, were nothing more than animals with human appearance. But they were going to gather to beat up that girl, and he didn't know if he could act as he should, he was afraid of chickening out at the most crucial moment. Because she looked enough like a human being to cry and scream and beg for mercy.

It was just that and nothing more. So of course, no one saw anything strange about Taylor.

The only thing strange about her is that she must be a bit messed up in the head, he thought. I'm not surprised, after the shit they did to her, although I don't care either.

The only reason to get involved in this is that they couldn't let people think that blacks could do whatever they wanted in the Empire's territory, bossing around someone of the Aryan race. Even a weirdo like Hebert. As his brothers said, reputation is everything, and rumors kill.

That's why this mission was important.

It went beyond this little school, Hebert the loser, and that black girl. It could reach the Kaiser's ears, and he wouldn't be pleased. His entire family would be in danger if he acted like a coward, so he had to man up and stop fooling around once and for all.

"What's up, Hebert? You've gone very quiet. I guess the truth hurts."

More laughter, echoing, nothing more. If it weren't for the malice, they would be empty. Just like his own laughter.

"I'm here to play a Shadow Game," Hebert said with all seriousness, arms crossed over the puzzle hanging from her neck. Despite being just a girl surrounded by twelve gang members, all of them armed, although not all the weapons were out and visible, she didn't even blink.

No, the abnormality of this matter, of this behavior, was definitely not just in his head.

But everything would be fine.

Hebert was messed up in the head from her recent experiences. That's where her strange calm came from, not from any grounded reason.

"What are you saying? We don't have time to play anything."

"The rules are simple," Hebert began to explain, completely ignoring him. Had she done it on purpose? He felt a shiver. In any case, she managed to attract Jack's attention. He gritted his teeth and clicked his tongue, giving her a withering look. "The twelve of you will come at me to kill at the same time."

Damn. As if nothing. As if in her mind, the possibility that they could kill her didn't even exist despite all the disadvantages in this situation.

Why would she be nervous?

Suddenly, he had the ridiculous impression that this was a person who had never been challenged in her life. Used to getting everything she wanted.

Ridiculous, perhaps, but it felt right.

After all, she acted like it. The only discrepancy was regarding what he thought he knew, but the most real was evidently what he saw and heard with his own eyes.

"The only trick is that you will have to choose a single part of the body. If you attack using something else, you will be contravening the rules. And the twelve of you will face a Penalty Game. Of course, the rules also applied to me. I choose my right thumb," she said, raising it.

A Penalty Game... It should sound like something childish. Something a kid wrapped in fantasies where he was the protagonist of a story would say. However, it sounded sinister. A shiver ran down his spine, and he wasn't the only one.

"And what does stop us from choosing our hands and killing you with our weapons?"

"A hand is a part of your body, obviously it falls within the rules. It should be evident even to you people."

"What a smartass."

"Not just the Jews, also the women, as soon as you give them a hand, they rip off your arm."

"Someone has to teach them respect."

"Blows are the language of animals and women."

He felt lost in that storm of words and bad intentions. For some reason, he was starting to feel deeply uncomfortable. Nothing they said was incorrect, right?

Jack lunged, the others followed closely, and he was swept along by the human tide with no other option. Twelve grown men assaulting a defenseless girl. Wasn't this even more shameful than the problem they had come to fix?

The beating began. Or at least it should have.

"How can she be so fast?"

She slipped between them effortlessly, avoiding the bats and knives. Also avoiding the hands that reached out to grab her. It almost seemed like she was dancing under the moonlight. Indeed. Her movements were terrifyingly fast, no one could catch her. But each one had a casual air that was the most terrifying of all.

It would be one thing if she were fighting with all her might to barely avoid being beaten to death. But it was obvious she wasn't even trying. So anyone would wonder what she would be capable of if she started to try. They would wonder, trembling.

"Bitch..."

A horrible scream. Since Hebert dodged, one of them hit a companion in the head. Blood flowed copiously from his forehead. Was it bad luck, or had it been planned?

Either way, they already had the first injured, and she hadn't even had to attack herself. He shuddered. It wasn't normal. None of this was normal, but it was too late to back out. The silent pressure of being in a group made them continue with a fight they perhaps should have realized was lost from the beginning.

He definitely had no hope. His legs kept running. His arms kept moving, swinging the bat, but all the movements were like those of a worn-out corpse. It wasn't real, in other words.

"She's just a girl, for God's sake! And a skinny little shit at that. Stop acting like a bunch of castrated idiots. We can take her!"

The bravest among them, suddenly. He didn't even remember his name. But what he would remember, if he survived this night, is that he stayed behind even while shouting those useless provocations. As if to prove him wrong, Hebert used her right thumb for the first time.

Like a knife. His finger plunged deeply into someone's eyeball.

"Oh my God. My God!"

Of course, that wasn't the end. The finger went much further. To where nothing should reach. The crunch echoed in the night like a shotgun blast. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Such a terrifying sight. Of course, someone had to screw up. When Hebert made him lose his weapon, he attacked with both hands. Driven mad by fear. His eyes were so wide that his pupils had turned into black dots. It was no wonder he had been irrational, but even so, he had doomed them all.

Hebert dodged effortlessly with a leap.

"As I thought, you couldn't follow the rules after all!" She let out a laugh that almost sounded masculine.

The air changed in an instant. How could she jump so far with that small body and those thin legs? She had to be something more than human.

There was a simple answer. They had picked a fight with a parahuman. Everything fit. Her strange confidence.

Of course, she wouldn't think it was possible to get hurt by normal people like them.

She had been in control of the situation from the beginning. The question was... Why? It was easy to explain her bullying by saying she had recently acquired her powers. But why do this to them when, after all, they were helping her?

Why go so far when all they intended tonight was to make an example of the girl who had made her life a living hell, showing that no one could do whatever they wanted in the Empire's territory?

He didn't understand. He didn't understand anything and wasn't sure he wanted to understand. Because someone had broken the rules. What followed was the Penalty Game she had talked about. What could that be?

He turned to look at Hebert's landing spot and froze. There was an eye. A third eye burning on Hebert's forehead. He felt like a vampire under the sunlight. It was impossible to bear that light. The light of the eye of judgment.

"Penalty Game..."

The scream echoed through the air. No, it was a simple declaration. But everyone was silent, paralyzed with terror. Even the night had gone out to ensure her voice could be transmitted perfectly.

No, who was he kidding? There was something more.

Everyone heard Hebert's voice in their heads. She shouldn't know what was happening in other people's minds, but she knew it instinctively and without a doubt.

"Solitary fight."

That voice resonating in everyone's heads hypnotically.

That malicious smile. Those cold and at the same time burning eyes, and the light of the third eye that burned them. He knew. Not by instinct, but by common sense. Taylor Hebert was not a parahuman.

Obviously, she wasn't human at all.

"This isn't even a punishment. It's what you want."

That's what she said, but... Things turned into hell on earth in the blink of an eye.

8​

The gang member finished crushing the Jew's head. He had suddenly jumped on him. For a rat, he had turned out to be surprisingly strong. He had resisted until the end, but the Aryan spirit had triumphed as always. However...

"Guys, where are you?"

His cold breath flew to join the night air. Had it really been such a cold night from the beginning?

"Guys?"

It's not that he was scared. He was a proud member of the Empire Eighty-Eight. He wasn't an important member by any means, but he had the determination needed to climb the ranks. No matter what happened, he wouldn't yield to Jews and other opportunistic animals. But...

He didn't want to be alone on this cold and dark night. What was wrong with that?

His own name gave it away. The Empire Eighty-Eight. Apart from the obvious meaning, his own name spoke of the numerical strength they possessed. It was something to be proud of, not ashamed of. So...

"Where is everyone?"

Everything had changed in the blink of an eye. The darkness of the night seemed to have come to life. And although he was alone, he couldn't shake the feeling... That he was being watched.

"Come on, animals! I'm ready!"

He saw eyes shining in the darkness. Suddenly, he wasn't so sure of his own words, but he had to stand firm and not succumb to fear. It didn't matter what was beyond the veil of darkness. He was superior to any animal. He was one of the chosen ones!

The animal emerged from the darkness. It had teeth like a and a huge Jewish nose. It was black and, to top it off, gay, he knew instinctively. As it approached him, crawling like some kind of zombie, the details changed subtly. It was everything and nothing at the same time.

It contained within itself all the subhumans they fought against. Horrible sounds emanated from its throat in demonic tongues. He gathered his courage and lunged at the demon with his bat. They were just rats. Dangerous in large numbers, but a single one could be crushed like nothing.

It should be like that.

He screamed to expel all his fear and swung the bat.

9​

His head hurt horribly. He was barely aware of the fact that he was on his knees on the ground. The only thing he saw, despite it having disappeared long ago, was the third eye. He didn't know when he had seen it, where, or why. Its glow had erased everything else from his mind.

He would do anything to make that glow disappear for real.

That's why it was a relief when 'something' grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into the depths of the darkness.

"Damn animal, you're not going to defeat me."

The person who had grabbed him was just talking nonsense, but he didn't care. Anything to get rid of the burning image of the third eye seared into his very soul. Yes. Right into his soul. Then, the only release was naturally for his soul to leave the shell of his body and fly away. The person who had grabbed him granted his wish.

10​

Jack was confused. One moment he was in the numerical majority. The next, he found himself alone and surrounded by all kinds of undesirables. He defended himself as best he could with his knife, of course. No undesirable could defeat him. He was a proud warrior of the Aryan race, not a pushover like... that girl. He wouldn't let himself be trampled by any rat of that kind.

But...

It was all very strange. He couldn't remember anything, and his head hurt when he tried. The night was cold and lonely, but he felt as hot as if he were melting. Contradictory, maddening sensations.

Everything had an explanation, but he couldn't explain any of this. Although he also couldn't remember why this seemed so strange to him. What had he been doing a moment ago? All those things were out of his reach right now.

He was lost in the middle of the darkness. Surrounded by nothing but enemies, with no way out.

"You can't defeat me."

But the beasts with human skin continued to approach him. Moving slowly and clumsily like zombies, their eyes shining like torches in the icy darkness. Trapped. Before he realized it, he found himself with his back against the wall, completely surrounded.

"I won't die... I won't die today."

His voice sounded weak, however. Distant and scared. It sounded like a completely different person. His legs were trembling. Suddenly, he realized he couldn't even keep his legs steady.

And then, for the first time in his life...

"I don't want to die!"

He fell to his knees and begged. However, such pleas were useless on this dark night. The air was charged with a mystical power, and even the shadows were alive. That was because...

"The door of darkness has been opened."

That was the last thing Jack heard before those animals pounced on him.

11​

Danny watched the scene on the television with his heart in his throat. The wildest thing wasn't his heartbeat, but the connections his brain was trying to make. While, at the same time, rejecting them with all his might.

"Twelve members of the Empire Eighty-Eight were found dead in the area. There are no signs of the attackers."

It wasn't that it was a tragedy. Twelve dead white supremacists. If they had stayed alive, they would have done nothing but keep pushing a world that seemed to be on the brink of the abyss. Pushing it and staining it even more. Despite being kids the age of his daughter, he couldn't say the news moved his heart.

However...

The natural thing is that they faced justice, not that they died in such a horrible way. Nothing explicit was shown, of course. The bodies had been removed long ago, but the bloodstains were sufficient indication. That this was still a victory for the criminals and the scum of the world. Even if it was a different kind of scum that had come out victorious in the end.

So he couldn't lament it, but he couldn't rejoice either. Especially...

"Is this what you meant by it had only just begun, daughter?"

Because he didn't believe it had nothing to do with him. Taylor looked at him. She had been watching the news impassively. There was no indication that she had been involved. He wished she hadn't been. And he believed it, but it was human to have doubts.

"I don't know."

She didn't give him the answer he wanted.

"If something happened, I don't remember."

Losing memory wasn't normal, but she offered that possibility too naturally. As if it were common sense. Do you remember what happened with Emma?

Danny didn't dare ask the question.

"I understand."

He understood more than he wanted to. Taylor couldn't rule out that she was responsible for it even if she didn't remember. Something so ridiculous. His doubts weren't just unfounded, that practically confirmed he had hit the nail on the head, right?

Danny lifted the spoon again, bringing the food to his mouth. Practically. But not entirely. As long as he was just assuming, he shouldn't do anything. It would be a grave mistake.

Part of him resisted believing that the puzzle could truly have those dark powers. Despite living in a world full of superpowers, it seemed like something completely different. But maybe, after all, it was true. Gods and legends. What if what they now called parahumans had emerged in different forms throughout history, giving rise to those myths and legends? Only to disappear. Remain latent until the next opportunity.

And that thing Taylor wore around her neck... Was it the remnant of a dark millennial superpower? What if it was all true?

Then, his daughter was doomed to be the guardian of right. For better or worse.

Lately, I've Been Getting Lost on Familiar Streets: FIN

 

[MadsGM]

Chapter 3: I Ride the White Line, Oh, Oh, Oh!

1

Taylor's heart was pounding. It wasn't a normal heartbeat, but the heartbeat of someone fighting for their life, yet she wasn't afraid. There was nothing to fear in the first place. She was in the middle of an absolute void that even light couldn't reach.

Or so it should be. But she knew. Somehow, she knew there was something beyond the darkness.

Watching her.

"Who are you?"

Her words didn't go beyond her own ears. It was as if she had her head underwater. She didn't feel like she was out of breath, but what should have been words came out as bubbles that got lost in the blackness. Where something like a shark swam.

"Who are you?"

Yes. Something like that. For weak humans, encountering such a predator in its natural habitat was instant death. That darkness belonged to it, and she would be swallowed if she was careless.

"Who are you?"

For the third time, there was no response. At least not verbally. But it became clear. Taylor's vision penetrated the unfathomable darkness and saw...

"Ah." A choked gasp.

Her own face, only it was completely different. She hadn't smiled much lately. She hadn't had many reasons to smile for years, so any kind of smile would have looked strange on her face, as if she had forgotten how to smile. But, that smile.

That smile full of malice. That dark smile was utterly unthinkable.

And if that were the only change in that imperfect reflection. Additionally, a strange third eye burned on her forehead. Its golden light seemed to burn her, punish her, judge her. Well, maybe not her, but for some reason, she instinctively understood that it existed for that purpose. That light was the fire of the valley of the deepest shadows.

And, there was something on her clothes. Hanging from both sleeves, tied by nothing. Taylor knew what that object was called, but now she simply couldn't think. The fingers of her mind tried to grasp the relevant memories, but they slipped away from her.

There was nothing to fear, but she was afraid.

Her reflection extended its thumb towards her, still with the same damn smile. Somehow she knew what it was going to say before it said it. She knew what was going to happen.

"Penalty Game..."

She didn't hear the rest. An image projected from the burning third eye shot towards her like a bullet. It surely hit her right in the heart. Then, Taylor woke up.

In the locker again. Of course. Waking up in the hospital, solving a puzzle she had failed for years in a single day as if she already knew the answer, Emma and the strange things that had started happening. All a product of a feverish mind on the brink of death.

Sophia and the others hadn't just locked her in a school locker. It had been a dirty, rusty one taken from some dumpster. Then they had thrown it into the sea with the door closed. Now she was sinking.

That's why she had started thinking about being underwater in the middle of the dream. That's why she couldn't even speak.

Strange sounds that a human throat shouldn't be able to form resonated in the claustrophobic space as Taylor pounded on the door. It was useless, of course. Rusty or not, the metal door wouldn't yield to the insignificant strength of a girl like her. To begin with, she could barely gather strength. She barely had any oxygen and strength left.

She didn't want to die.

She didn't want to disappear in this underwater coffin. But it didn't matter what she wanted. The world was cold and dark and not for people like her. Even before her mother died, Taylor had simply been bad at life.

She had had a single friend who had stabbed her in the back. Given how willing she had been to betray her, she supposed she had only put up with her out of pity in the first place.

So it was probably a good thing. She probably had to disappear here.

2

Taylor woke up, this time for real.

The caged warmth of her sheets contrasted sharply with the imaginary cold of her underwater tomb. She took a deep breath, trying to regain control of her breathing. It had only been a dream. A fucked-up nightmare, but just that. Shit. It wasn't the first time she dreamed that she hadn't really gotten out of the locker and it wouldn't be the last, but shit.

Taylor threw the sheets off the bed but didn't get up. She lay on the bed. Without energy, staring at the ceiling with empty eyes. It was a school day, but she didn't want to go anywhere. She wasn't up for it.

She got up and went to the bathroom. Maybe she had gotten up a little too quickly because she felt a bit dizzy. She grabbed the porcelain sink firmly on both sides. She turned on the faucet and washed her face, closing her eyes. There was a certain desperation in her as if she were a poor bastard lost in the desert and this was the first time in who knows how long that she saw some water.

Sinking in the locker to the bottom of the sea. It had certainly been horrible, but there was something much worse. Something she couldn't remember. But she felt it was close to the surface, that she could reach out and bring it to light. If she wanted to. She wasn't sure she wanted to do something like that.

Taylor looked back at her reflection. It was still the same. Looking away a bit, however, it felt like out of the corner of her eye...

Nothing. It was nonsense. She shook her head. She wasn't going anywhere today, she needed to rest. Taylor went to find her father to tell him, hoping he hadn't already left for work.

And he hadn't left. She found him in the kitchen, clearly worried. He always was. That hadn't changed either.

"Dad, I don't want to go to school today."

He relaxed immediately. Not completely, but it was noticeable. Of course. He hadn't wanted her to go back to Winslow in the first place. Although she had made the decision herself, she suddenly wasn't sure why she had wanted to go back. Vague feelings and impressions shouldn't outweigh bad memories. There were only bad memories there.

"What's wrong, Taylor? Are you feeling sick?"

"Yes. I didn't sleep well. I mean, I did sleep, but I didn't rest."

Dad lowered his gaze to his coffee cup.

"Nightmares?"

Taylor swallowed. She didn't want to lie to him. She was tired of lying to him, and it hadn't led to anything good anyway. She didn't want to worry him either, but she had already admitted that something was wrong. She was freshly awake. She didn't have the head to make up a different excuse.

"Yes." She looked away. Wondering if, well, he would ask. She knew he wanted to. That wasn't the question.

"I'm sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry for? It's not your fault."

"I'm your father, Taylor. My mission in this world is to protect you, and I failed. I have a lot to apologize for."

This wouldn't make it easier for him, not really, but...

"You couldn't have done anything." She decided to give him the truth. "You have a lot of work. No matter how much you complained at every opportunity, the teachers would lie to you or ignore you because they have bigger problems. Like gang activity. And you couldn't afford to transfer me to a better school. So don't blame yourself for anything. It's really my fault."

Dad looked at her with wide eyes. Instead of being hurt by her words towards him, he was offended by what she had said about herself.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, I befriended Emma. I chose very poorly. I don't think anything special happened, she just showed her true face. And if I were smarter, I would have skipped a few grades and now I'd be out of Winslow."

"What are you talking about? Blame Emma, that Sophia, those..." His voice trembled. It was clear what he wanted to say, but he didn't want to say it. Not in front of her. He still regretted the only time she had seen him raise his voice in anger. "Blame the school. Blame me, for not doing anything. Blame this shitty world. But you are not to blame for anything, don't talk like that again."

Taylor fell silent. Slowly and after a while...

"Well, okay, but neither are you. Can we agree on that?"

Dad's face darkened slightly. No, he wasn't. He never would be. No matter what she told him, it wouldn't erase the feeling of guilt from his mind. The truth that he couldn't have done anything even if he had noticed earlier was insignificant. In fact, it only increased his pain and guilt.

A terrible spiral that was destined to destroy him from within. He already had too many things to think about. Taylor felt useless. No matter how desperately she wanted to stop that, she couldn't do anything. Did she feel? She was a damn useless. Even now, she was only causing him problems.

She just wanted...

She just wanted to have peace, damn it. Was it too much to ask? Mental peace? Was it really too much to ask?

"Okay, Taylor. Agreed."

It was a lie, but she nodded, willing to accept it. At least for now.

"Hey... I'm going to take the day off too. Let's spend some time together."

Taylor nodded again. Her eyes stung.

3

They got in the car. The trip felt very brief. When he parked near a café, Danny presented her with another problem to face.

"I didn't want to bring it up after the talk we had this morning, but don't you want to contact the Protectorate? After what happened with Emma and those guys... It's undeniable that strange things are happening. Even if you don't remember, even if it turns out to be nothing, I think it would be best..."

"Didn't Emma deserve it?"

Danny looked at her through the rearview mirror. He moved his hands on the steering wheel, nervous.

"Of course she deserved it. She could have done the same to you, after all. It's just luck that you didn't end up in a coma."

She could feel the "but" floating in the air. She wasn't willing to let him say it.

"And the other possible... Victims? Gang members, white supremacists. Even if something is happening, what's the problem, Dad? Tell me."

Danny sighed. He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back.

"Nothing. I'm sorry I brought it up."

Dad opened the door, getting out of the car. Taylor followed him out shortly after. She hated how weak she was, even now. Even an argument, if you could call it that, in which she had the advantage and had won left her hands trembling. She hated it with all her soul.

They walked towards the café in silence. She felt like a little girl following her father.

She was a little girl, no matter how much she wanted to think of herself otherwise. A powerless little girl who couldn't solve her own problems. Emma was to blame, but she hadn't made it easy for her. Now that she was free from the brutal daily routine that wore her down physically and mentally, she could see that clearly. No matter what excuses she used, no matter how close they were to the truth, what mattered was that she had given up.

Emma was sleeping a probably eternal sleep. But what about Sophia and the others? Nothing had ended.

She wasn't satisfied at all.

"I can't get rid of the puzzle," she admitted. "I need it to feel strong. Without it, I won't be able to keep my sanity."

Because it was simply too much. Even looking back was dizzying from how far she had to look. So many years of the same shit over and over again, without a valve to escape, without escape. One could never escape oneself. Except if...

Well.

Except if they gave birth to another self.

That other self, newly born and unscarred, might possess the strength she desired to have. It could be everything she needed.

Dad turned around to look at her, without stopping his walk forward. Taylor's eyes widened. She saw what was going to happen. She saw it coming, but she also knew immediately that it wouldn't do any good.

That didn't give her permission not to try, of course. Her arm extended before she could think about it. All the sounds of the world disappeared, except for the beating of her heart. Only that wild beating resonated in her ears.

She was about to grab his hand, but their fingers merely brushed. Although they were so close, they seemed to be a world apart, with no possibility of touching. Even before he was sent flying. Taylor's mouth fell open. She collapsed to her knees.

A little later, Dad ended up lying on the pavement. A red carpet slowly extended from his head. A carpet so red it hurt to look at.

She crawled towards him on all fours. Only then did she realize she was no longer standing. That her vision had turned white and she had collapsed as if she had been the one hit.

Hit.

Yes, one of the two cars that were wildly driving down the road. Inside each of them was an idiot in disguise. Uber and Leet playing protagonists of GTA, or any other generic open-world game. The police, as usual too late, were chasing them. They would be collecting stars.

A nervous laugh escaped her throat. She knew she was laughing, but she couldn't hear anything.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw some movement. He's still breathing. Of course, he has to be alive. Her father's misty eyes passed through her. For a moment she feared the worst, but she was able to grab his hand and squeeze it as if wanting to finish some unresolved business.

No. He would survive. He was strong and would survive. He couldn't die in an accident... No, it hadn't been an accident, but... He couldn't die. He couldn't. No.

The sound of ambulance sirens broke the stasis of her world on the brink of the abyss, bringing back the noises and color.

Had someone called the ambulance while she had been staring into nothing, lying on the ground, instead of delighting in others' suffering? That didn't fit her view of the world, but she didn't give a damn. She was too scared to cry. The fear was like a physical pressure on her chest. But she wanted to cry, that was for sure.

The medics appeared around her like ghosts in white coats, taking her father away on a stretcher, asking useless questions. Her ears buzzed. She moved her tongue without knowing what she was saying, but one thing she heard clearly.

"Do you want to ride in the ambulance?"

Taylor nodded. Her throat couldn't form words at this point.

4

The ambulance was swaying and shaking a lot. It couldn't be comfortable for her father, but she supposed he wasn't conscious enough to notice. Taylor clutched the puzzle against her chest with both hands. She hadn't put it on before leaving the house. To put it on, she must have taken it off at some point.

Since she solved it... Well, since she bought a chain for the puzzle, she hadn't taken it off. She had done everything with it beating against her chest, as if it were alive. Now it also seemed to beat.

It seemed to be pushing her forward. I know, she thought. I know very well what I have to do.

She frowned.

They won't get away with it.

5

When the medics told her that Dad would probably wake up, that it could have been much worse, Taylor nodded and left. Part of her wanted to stay here and be the first person he saw when he woke up, but the rage was too strong. They couldn't get away with it. That was the only thing she could think of.

Taylor went into the bathroom on the first floor of the hospital. In one of the stalls, closing the door behind her, as if seeking her comfort zone at school. Or the closest thing that existed, in any case. But it wasn't about that.

Taylor threw her head back, closing her eyes. She took a deep breath. And she spoke to it.

She spoke directly to the shark that swam in her darkest nightmares.

"I'll do what you want, but now cooperate. Show me where Uber and Leet are."

It showed her, of course. It could do anything, why wouldn't it do what she wanted? She didn't care if it was the powers of darkness. She didn't feel it as a dark power, in any case. It was a blade for justice.

"There you are. There you are, you bastards. Laughing. Celebrating, as if nothing had happened. There you are."

While in reality, they had almost destroyed the remaining half of her world. She realized her teeth were chattering. It wasn't the only thing she was clenching. If she thought it was an ordinary object, Taylor would worry about shattering the puzzle into a thousand pieces.

The puzzle that beat against her chest was resonating with her rage as she squeezed it so, so hard.

Taylor left the hospital. She didn't have a car, she didn't know how to drive, but she didn't need one either. A secret base was useless if it was no longer so secret. Her feet took her to the destination in the blink of an eye. It almost felt like the journey had been erased from her memories, as it couldn't have been that short.

She entered Uber and Leet's lair. As expected, the only design theme was video games. Only design was an exaggeration. It was a vomit of things only vaguely related, like most of their shitty broadcasts.

In the very distant past, sometimes she had watched them and found them funny. Now she couldn't believe such a memory existed.

"Who the hell are you?" Leet said with a trembling voice.

He's tiny, she thought. He's a damn kid.

Which she already knew, of course, but seeing him in person was somehow different. How can they be so full of evil? Just like his partner. How could there be so much evil wherever she looked? Someone had to fix things, even if it was step by step. The guardian of justice.

"Hey, I asked you a question!"

Yes, she understood. Taylor understood perfectly why the puzzle had passed into her hands. The powers of darkness existed to judge evil. Light couldn't reach the deep darkness, it disappeared before it could touch it. That's why it could persist.

Someone like her was needed to set things right. To make this world that had gone mad make sense again.

Piece by piece.

Uber, more cautious, remained silent. Maybe he sensed something. Too late.

"You ran over my father. I don't care who it was, you're both going to pay."

"Your father? When?"

"Today," she said, her voice barely audible. "Today."

He didn't remember, of course. Those who had too much power for everyone's good, the popular ones, the bullies. They never remembered the ants they crushed along the way. Although Uber and Leet were far from popular, they were still privileged by having superpowers.

They thought they were better than others. They thought they could do anything and get away with it.

Someone had to clip their wings.

"I'm going to kill you."

It was crossing a line, she knew. It was something that should be unthinkable for normal people. But normal hadn't served her at all. It didn't serve anyone. Normal was for someone like her to be trampled on, so she would spit on normality and rise. With the help of the powers of the deepest shadows.

Leet took a step forward and brandished a bat. Of course. They weren't going to go around with firearms, so they didn't have many options to disguise themselves as a GTA protagonist.

Taylor barely had time to react, raising her arms to protect her head. Her arms took the full impact. She felt the vibration down to her boots and fell to her knees. Of course, that wasn't going to go well.

"Leet...!"

"Don't worry. You just heard her, she's threatening us. It's not like I'm going to kill her, damn it, what do you think? It's just that well..." Suddenly the tone changed, it became very cold. "The cameras are still recording. Focus."

"You can't even dress-up properly. Tell me, I'm lost, but in which GTA do they have those masks that cover the whole face exactly? Didn't have the balls... to put on one of those that only cover everything below the eyes, huh?"

She wasn't speaking as if she were herself. She wasn't speaking with a shred of sense. She didn't want to.

Leet, of course, got angry and hit her square in the face this time. Lying on the ground, Taylor didn't think about the pain or the blood she felt on her fingertips when she brought them up to check the wound. The only thing she thought about was how that idiot wanted the video to make them look good, even in front of their fans. She didn't know.

She had no idea how these little shits had fans in the first place!

Taylor laughed at her own joke that wasn't a joke at all.

And even Uber, more sensible and patient, lost his patience. They gave him a good beating, saying a lot of useless things for the benefit of the audience. Taylor didn't listen. She didn't have an ounce of fear. She could have focused on the dialogue if she had wanted to. That was the point, she simply didn't want to. She didn't have to hear any of that.

"What's the matter, what were you going to do to us?" Leet mocked. She wondered if he was acting like the complete sociopath that any open-world video game protagonist in the hands of a bored person would be, or if he really believed this would count as a win. Beating up a powerless girl who had barely defended herself. The video they were broadcasting on their own would be a good hit in itself, but Taylor wasn't satisfied with that. She needed more. Much more.

She grabbed Leet's ankle, squeezing hard.

"Ouch, it seems she still has more strength than you," Leet protested, slightly pained, but not at all worried. He thought he had gotten away with it, as usual. There was the problem. People like him got used to it, and then they not only continued. They went further and further. Until they crossed the line. Until they did something irreversible.

"No respect for us. She still hasn't learned the lesson, damn it."

Lesson? Yes, it was time for a lesson.

The puzzle began to shake and vibrate. At that very moment...

"Damn it!"

"What's the matter?"

"The connection has been cut. The WiFi, all the cameras, somehow."

Taylor saw the shadow behind her extend across the wall. She shouldn't have been able to see it from her position for obvious reasons, but she saw it. Maybe with the eye of her mind. The shark had emerged from the depths of the black sea. In any case, at that very moment, she lost the last thread that tied her to consciousness.

Her last memory was the golden light of judgment burning intensely.

I Ride the White Line, Oh, Oh, Oh!: FIN

 

[MadsGM]

Chapter 4: Violent Battle – A Shadow Game

The nosy girl stood up.

Both Leet and his partner were too surprised to react properly. A lot of strange things had started to happen, and it didn't take a genius like him to realize she was the cause. And what that meant. Leet clicked his tongue.

"You're a parahuman." As if that wasn't enough, she had revealed her identity. Today's escape hadn't gone too well, and that was an added complication. He didn't want to use it as blackmail, to sink that low, but they might be forced to do it if the girl refused to listen to reason. And she probably would.

She had said they had run over her father, after all. Leet didn't remember, he saw the same expression on Über's face, but he was willing to believe it. They hadn't exactly looked both ways before crossing the road while being chased by the police. Anything could have happened.

"How did you find us?" Über asked.

It was a good question. He knew they hadn't bothered much to hide it, but they also hadn't announced the location of the base over loudspeakers. How the hell? No, with a clear head, it was obvious.

"With a power, what else could it be?" Leet said.

That would explain why they had beaten her up so easily. Apart from the fact that she was a girl, of course.

"The important thing is what she intends to do with that information."

The girl smiled. Her expressions, her gestures, her confidence. Everything was completely different. She was like a different person. Even her rage had changed. One might say it had disappeared entirely, but no. It was simply subtle and very, very cold.

Leet swallowed, grateful for wearing a mask. That way, no one would see the expression he must be wearing right now.

"You hit the nail on the head, and you know perfectly well what I intend to do. Unless you play a game with me, of course."

A game? Much to his dismay, his curiosity was piqued.

"What kind of game?"

"I'll leave it to your choice. After all, that's your concept, right? Going from game to game without even a consistent custome."

Leet frowned. Well, that insult was nothing he hadn't heard before. He took a seat on the other side of the table.

"Are you really going to do it?" Über asked.

"What else can I do? Besides, it's not a bad opportunity. It's even a shame she turned off the cameras."

"Whatever, do what you want," Über said, slowly and after a while.

Naturally. It was this or kill her to silence her... They wouldn't do that. They weren't that kind of people.

"Since you have us disconnected, I'll put video games aside this time. There's a game that's gaining popularity. Magic & Wizards, have you heard of it?"

"No. But it doesn't matter. I accept the challenge." How arrogant. Could she really be so sure she would win even as a complete beginner? He would have to teach her the rules, for God's sake. "However, if you lose, you'll have to face a Penalty Game."

That didn't sound good at all.

"Leet... I don't like this."

"Me neither, but shut up. Bring the briefcase."

Über hesitated, but in the end, he did it. He placed the briefcase on the table and opened it. Inside were a few decks of Magic & Wizards.

"Choose whichever you want. In the meantime, I'll explain the rules."

The girl picked one of the decks. She shuffled it a couple of times and left it on the table without looking at it.

"Is that it? You're not going to take more time?"

"My decisions are none of your concern. Besides, this caught you by surprise. You haven't had time to lay any kind of trap for me."

Yeah, whatever... It's true that he shouldn't worry if his opponent was doing something stupid, but rather celebrate it.

Leet chose his own deck.

"Okay, these are the rules, more or less. Each player draws five cards at the beginning of the game, then just one at the beginning of each turn. There are two types of cards, Monster cards and Magic cards. Each player has two thousand life points. If you run out of points, you lose. You lose points if your monster's attack points are lower than your opponent's. However, you can also place your Monster in defense position. In that case, you wouldn't lose points. The attack position is vertical, the defense position horizontal. Only the player who has the turn can activate Magic cards. You can place Magic cards face down until you find it convenient to use them. If you run out of cards, of course, you lose... I think I haven't skipped anything..."

"That's enough for me. I'll take the first turn."

"As you wish."

That wouldn't change the obvious outcome. Except if...

"Wait, you mysteriously discovered our base. How do I know you can't cheat?"

"I used my power to find this base, yes. But what good would it do here? Would knowing what I'm going to draw next turn change the game, even if I could do that?"

"Well, not really, but... Okay."

"I see you're not convinced. We're not playing an ordinary game. No cheating is allowed here. Come, let me show you." She drew a card. Then took another one and placed it on the table.

She placed a monster in attack position. Blackland Fire Dragon, she had a good start, but more importantly... The card started emitting a strange white smoke. And from within... the monster depicted on the card emerged. It wasn't particularly big or heavy, otherwise, the table would have broken in two, but it was still terrifying.

His heart froze.

Although he had lived in a world since he could remember, he wondered what the hell was happening.

He told himself it had to be a dream.

"Leet, stop, withdraw."

"He can do that if he pleases," the girl said with a smile darker than a starless night. "As long as he's willing to face the Penalty Game, of course."

Leet had made a series of very bad decisions, but it didn't take a genius to realize that whatever that Penalty Game was, it wasn't a price he was willing to pay just to abandon this strange game of Magic & Wizards with 'real' magic.

Those monsters surely wouldn't harm him. Otherwise, the girl wouldn't have done this, exposing herself to the same danger. If they were real attacks, the dragon's breath would tear him apart in one blow. He knew she sought revenge, but no... It didn't make sense. Besides, the game was about 'wizards' making their monsters fight. The girl's monster didn't have to attack him. As long as she followed the rules, of course.

Leet swallowed.

No matter how he justified it, he had to continue. He had no other option. He drew another card from the deck.

It seemed luck hadn't abandoned him after all. He had drawn a monster that beat that girl's, albeit by very little.

"I summon Ruby Dragon in attack position."

"I know, I'm right here."

Leet clicked his tongue.

"You have no sense of style."

"Well, whatever." The girl shrugged. "It won't change the outcome of this game."

The card had been emitting smoke while she spoke, of course. The monster appeared. Dragon against dragon. He had to admit that, despite the circumstances, it excited him to see something like that. Magic & Wizards was good, but something like this would take the game to the next level. Everyone would be desperate to play it if this represented a normal game. It was just a dream, at least for now, but still...

Well, he had always been the type to have his head in the clouds.

"Ruby Dragon, attack Blackland Fire Dragon." His voice trembled a bit when giving the order. He hoped that girl hadn't noticed that, though she seemed like nothing escaped her. He couldn't help it. It was exciting.

His dragon attacked, dissipating his opponent's monster and inflicting a hundred points of damage. His dragon had sixteen hundred points and the girl's fifteen hundred. It was a tiny difference, but enough to give him the advantage, at least for now. More importantly, even the card disappeared, looking closely. His heart leaped into his throat.

No, not exactly, but it was practically the same. The image had disappeared, as if the monster had truly died, so no collector would want to buy it.

Whether he attacked or defended, he would lose a card. The magic cards were safe, but the monsters were not, and they were the majority of the deck.

"Hey, I paid a lot for those cards!" Leet shouted in a not particularly masculine tone.

The girl laughed, openly mocking him. Leet clenched his fists.

"You have something more important to worry about than some cards."

Yes. The Penalty Game. If he backed out, he would have to pay it. If he lost, too...

But he wasn't losing, why would he lose? She was a novice with a randomly chosen deck. Worse than a novice, in fact, since she had learned the rules like five minutes ago. He wasn't going to lose. It wasn't possible for him to lose.

He would win, crush her arrogance, and get her to keep quiet about the base. If they had no other choice, they could move, of course, but Leet didn't want to do that. He felt sorry for her father, he hadn't done it on purpose, but he wasn't going to let her push him around. He had powers for a reason. Leet was tired of being underestimated and pushed around, especially by women.

Although this girl didn't feel like a woman.

It was stupid, but when he looked at her, he wasn't sure he was seeing a human being at all, let alone a woman. He supposed it was just nerves—what else could it be?—but he couldn't get the idea out of his head. He could barely stand to look her in the eyes. There was something there, very cold, dark, and evil.

Humanly evil, as it couldn't be otherwise, but even so, it made his hair stand on end. The girl (whose name he still didn't know, now that he thought about it, she hadn't bothered to introduce herself) drew another card, but she didn't use the one she had drawn. Because she already had a much better one.

She placed it on the table, summoning the monster into this world.

Summoned Skull.

A demon with horns, huge bat-like wings, and surrounded by electrical sparks, its whole body charged with power, not to mention the muscles of the flesh it still retained. On the card, it was a cool concept, an impressive drawing; in real life, it was a horrible spectacle.

Not to mention what this meant for the game.

His Ruby Dragon had a measly sixteen hundred attack points. It couldn't compete against Summoned Skull, one of the most powerful cards in the game.

ATK/2500 DEF/1200

Its defense was minimal, but it didn't need it.

Leet swallowed hard.

"I'm going to test that thing you said in style." The girl laughed with narrowed eyes and a sharp smile like a knife. "Summoned Skull, attack his Ruby Dragon. Demonic Descending Thunder!"

If not for the illusion of the monster in front of his eyes, it would have sounded almost ridiculous, though he wasn't one to throw stones, something that could be heard in a primary school recess game.

Yes, if not for that.

If not for the way the demon's muscles tensed as it gathered electrical energy, for the guttural growls it emitted, for how real everything seemed.

It should even be funny that a 'demon' that didn't even have the size it should have tried to look intimidating, but it wasn't funny at all.

Summoned Skull's attack shattered his dragon. It died, dissipating into white smoke that quickly disappeared, along with the drawing on the card. Nine hundred points of damage in one hit.

But more importantly, it was real damage.

As soon as his monster died, Leet doubled over the table, clutching his heart. For one delirious moment, he thought he was having a heart attack; he didn't associate the pain at all with what was happening to him, even though it was the obvious answer.

He lifted his head, staring at that woman with tears in his eyes.

But she hadn't reacted when he destroyed her monster. Had she not felt any pain at all? Or was the pain proportional to the life points you lost? In any case, this looked very bad. He wanted to withdraw, he wanted to hide from that woman who, yes, could not be human after all, could not be. He wanted to withdraw, but…

"What are you complaining about? It's nothing compared to the pain my father is going through, or the pain of the countless people you've hurt, treating their lives as if they were part of a game in which you are the protagonists."

"You bitch! What are you doing to him? Stop it!"

"This can end whenever you want," said that creature, laughing softly. "But withdrawing prematurely is the same as losing. Therefore, he will have to face his punishment game. He will know the pain he has always ignored and experience the sensation of dying."

A chill ran down his spine. Even though he tried with all his might, he couldn't suppress it. She was a monster. Some kind of vengeful spirit, not a simple parahuman, he was convinced of that.

"Not if I kill you first," said Über.

Leet's eyes widened. The girl didn't even blink.

"Try if you want," she said simply, "but that would be interfering with the game. Therefore, Leet would immediately lose."

"He'll lose more if he keeps playing by your ru…"

Leet stopped Über, grabbing his arm.

"No."

"Dude, what are you saying?"

"No."

"I can't even see your face, but it's obvious you're a mess. This can't go on like this."

Leet shook his head.

"You won't be able to kill her. You'll only get me punished... If I continue with the game, at least I have a chance to win."

"But do you hear yourself? Don't let her scare you. If her powers worked in a direct fight, she wouldn't waste time with little games like this."

Leet shook his head again.

"Please. I don't want to... Please."

Über hesitated, but in the end, he backed off.

He turned his attention back to the monster sitting across the table.

Summoned Skull was one of the strongest cards in the game. His deck didn't have a monster with comparable attack power, but the game was about much more than that; that's why magic cards existed.

He could do this.

He could overcome adversity and come out on top. He was as convinced that the creature would respect its own rules if Leet managed to win as he was that it was a creature in the first place.

"Let's continue," said Leet.

Violent Battle – A Shadow Game: END















Author's Note:

The next chapter should end Über and Leet, who will be the last "bad guys of the week" for a while. The first proper story arc is approaching.

And yes, the card game was that basic at the beginning. After all, it was meant to last one-chapter.

 

[MadsGM]

Chapter 5: Break My Heart, Break Your Heart, Part 1

Leet drew a card.

Unfortunately, that didn't improve his chances. He had nothing to help him overcome this situation. That didn't mean he was going to give up, of course. At least he could buy time.

He placed Alexandrite Dragon in defense position. He didn't say anything at all. The game had stopped being fun, there was no point in being dramatic. There weren't any cameras recording them either.

The most important thing was that he could still feel the pain, even though that woman hadn't even blinked. If he hadn't been sitting, he would have fallen to the ground. He was doing what he could to hide his weakness, but his legs were shaking. That woman's penetrating gaze made him feel like they were nothing but childish attempts.

"What's your name?" Leet asked suddenly.

Maybe knowing her name would help him stop thinking she wasn't even a human being. She's as human as I am, which doesn't make her much less terrifying, but surely she's not a monster. Monsters don't exist. Not that kind of monster, at least. Even Nilbog, to say something, was nothing more than another parahuman.

"It has nothing to do with the game, but as you wish. My name is Taylor."

"Taylor. A surprisingly normal name."

"I don't know what you were expecting."

Yeah, actually he was asking himself that question. Not to mention that nothing had changed. Now he had a name to refer to her by, but she didn't seem any less terrifying at all. Or more human. Nothing had changed.

"Me neither. Anyway, let's continue."

He placed a magic card face down on the field and ended his turn.

Taylor attacked his dragon without fear of his bluff. Summoned Skull, the demon that brought a storm with it, effortlessly destroyed his monster.

Leet felt no pain. It made sense. Since it was in defense position, no matter how weak his monster was, he wouldn't receive battle damage. But he had been afraid that he had assumed too much in thinking that the pain had something to do with the damage suffered in the game and not just with the destruction of his monsters.

He had saved himself for now. That was all he had been able to do with his hand, buy time.

Leet gritted his teeth.

Luck was also a factor in any card game, unless you were cheating. So even the most experienced player could lose to a beginner due to luck. Not that it happened very often, but it could definitely happen. It was one of the realities of the game.

So this situation didn't necessarily speak badly of his skills, but it was still frustrating.

The ease with which she controlled the game despite being a mere beginner.

The arrogance that seemed so natural, as if she didn't even know the meaning of the word defeat.

Leet wasn't the best player. Not the worst either, no doubt, but the point is that at least he had tried. Studying the rules, collecting cards, developing strategies.

Much or little, he had made an effort.

She hadn't.

She hadn't, and yet it was so easy for her.

He wished he could think she was lying about never having played Magic & Wizards before, but as much as he wanted to, he knew she had told the truth.

That was the worst part. He couldn't even cling to the interpretation that suited him best.

He was almost more worried about that than the Penalty Game that hung over his neck like the executioner's ax. It might be silly, but it was a matter of pride. There was no point in living without pride. Arrogance was another story, but a human being without pride wasn't human.

It wasn't a life worth living.

After destroying his only defense, Taylor ended her turn. Leet drew another card, hoping this would be what he needed to turn the tables. And it was. It wasn't the best possible solution to the problem, but it was enough. It was about time luck smiled on him.

He wanted to wipe that fucking smile off her face.

He summoned Lava Dragon (ATK 1100/DEF 1000) in attack position. Then he activated the magic card he had just drawn.

"I can use Limiter Removal to double the attack of one of my monsters. Of course, I choose the only one on the field. I attack Summoned Skull."

"Looks like you're not very good at math."

The demon destroyed this dragon as easily as the previous one, only this time Leet received three hundred points of damage. It felt like a stab in the heart. He fell forward and almost dropped the cards, losing strength in his fingers. It was an even worse pain than the previous time. Of course, three times worse. Before he had only suffered one hundred points of damage.

If he lost the game, would he be able to bear it? Would he be able to remain standing?

Was he actually playing for his life, rather than a vague and unknown punishment? He swallowed hard. In that case, he was a condemned man approaching the guillotine with each attack.

"You are a weak being," Taylor said. "If you have the determination to harm others, you should be able to endure the same pain. Now my father lies in the hospital with several broken ribs, a perforated lung, and I don't know how many other things. You're not experiencing even a fraction of this and it seems like you want to complain about how unfair your life is. This is not unfair at all. I'm delivering justice. I'm giving you what you deserve. The Shadow Games... are nothing more than the mirror of the human heart. You are doing this to yourself. Not me."

"Shut up already," he managed to spit out.

Summoned Skull disappeared, along with the image of its card. Taylor frowned.

"What happened here?"

"Anyone who destroys a monster affected by this card... is also destroyed." Leet tried to regain control of his breathing. "And receives half of the destroyed monster's attack points as damage."

In other words, twelve hundred and fifty points.

With a single blow he had turned the tables, now Taylor was the one losing by a large margin, she only had six hundred and fifty life points left. But deep down that wasn't what mattered to Leet.

He actually wanted to see her suffer, to return every blow.

Upon declaring that, he confirmed that the game was fair after all. He saw the girl's face contort in pain, quickly covering with sweat as she gripped the edges of the table tightly.

Part of him shuddered thinking about how terrible the pain must be to make her react, when she hadn't flinched at a level of pain that had almost made him pass out.

But only part of him.

The rest licked his lips and laughed as if he had lost his mind.

"Not so fun now, huh?"

The satisfaction didn't last long. Forced or not, Taylor managed to return to that expression of superiority that annoyed him so much. Leaning back in the chair, relaxing again.

"You think so? A game where your opponent has no claws is no fun at all."

She was still mocking him, despite being one step away from defeat. Leet clicked his tongue. At least he had been able to wipe that smile off her face for a few delicious seconds.

"I end my turn."

Taylor drew a card. And smiled even more. It's not like you often needed to have a poker face in this game, but... If she had drawn such a good card, wouldn't she have hidden it instead of making it obvious, just in case? Unless it was something that guaranteed her victory in one turn.

I don't want to die in a place like this. I don't want to die at all.

Although he was trying to convince himself otherwise, convince himself that that wasn't what was at stake in this game, the fear of dying had followed him from the first moment.

He was realizing that and that he couldn't escape.

No more than an animal could escape the fear of fire. It was instinctive, rooted from the beginning, before the beginning. It was obvious that what was staring back at him wasn't a human being. Although it didn't make sense, he had to accept it if he wanted to get out of this.

Taylor placed two cards face down. What could they be? He had built that deck himself, along with the others, but that wouldn't help him guess.

"I summon Mystical Elf in defense position and end my turn."

Was that all? Leet raised an eyebrow. He had expected a crushing offensive. Well, there were no monsters on his field. It wasn't like she could attack him directly or anything. But still he had expected... Well, more.

Because he felt intimidated by her. Because he felt cornered despite being the one with the advantage in terms of life points. That was clear.

"My turn." Leet drew a card.

The two face-down cards were a much bigger problem than the Mystical Elf, despite its high defense of two thousand points. He didn't have any card or cards to protect himself from their possible effects. He knew every magic card in that deck. He could get an idea. Actually, he was the one playing with an advantage in every sense, not Taylor.

Should he attack carelessly, trusting it would be a bluff? But if he was wrong, it could be his end. At the same time, with each passing turn Taylor would summon another monster. Each turn without destroying the Mystical Elf would bring him closer to defeat. He had to break through that barrier.

Yes. Doubt was defeat. It was time to show he wasn't afraid.

"I summon Fire Guardian (ATK 2100/DEF 400) in attack position and..." Was it really the right thing to do? To hell with it. "I attack Mystical Elf."

His Guardian spat a firestorm, effortlessly erasing Mystical Elf from this world. Unfortunately, Taylor's monster was in defense position, so she didn't suffer any damage. Of course, Leet wasn't referring to damage to life points. That wasn't what mattered to him. He wanted to see her suffer as she was making him suffer. He wanted to see her face contort in pain again.

In any case, nothing happened. Had it been a bluff after all? Leet also placed two cards face down. For now, they wouldn't be of any use to him, but well, they could be. Besides, this way it seemed he had more defense than the attack power of his only monster on the field.

What would Taylor do now? What could she do with the cards she might have in her hand? He remembered the cards that had appeared so far. He knew exactly how many copies of each card were in the deck. His memory was good. Once again, that didn't matter, but he couldn't help dwelling on it.

Taylor drew a card, then very quickly flipped one of the cards she had placed in her previous turn. Ah, thought Leet, so that's what it was.

"I use Monster Reborn to bring Summoned Skull back to the field. In attack position, of course."

Leet clicked his tongue. That monster again. He could endure the four hundred points of damage, the real problem was how to get rid of that monster again. At least he knew this couldn't happen again. There was only one Monster Reborn in that deck and all of them. It was a limited card due to its power.

"There won't be a next time."

Leet shuddered.

"This ends here and now." She flipped the other card. "I use Sacrifice to the Devil to remove Mystical Elf from the game and add her attack points to Summoned Skull."

Leet's eyes widened.

"What?"

He couldn't process that everything was over. Moreover, it was his fault. If he hadn't destroyed Mystical Elf, he would still have a chance. He had stupidly thought that if the consequences didn't come as soon as he attacked, then there was nothing to worry about.

Summoned Skull shattered Mystical Elf's corpse, bathing in her blood. And in this way it became twice as large, and the electricity surrounding it transformed into a real storm. Leet trembled, but didn't move from his seat. It was as if his feet were nailed to the floor.

When the attack came, shattering his monster...

—

"It's over."

Leet regained consciousness suddenly. He was lying on the table and felt half dead. Yes, in the end he had passed out from the pain. But only passed out.

Although he felt like he was going to die, it wasn't real. It wasn't a wound, so he couldn't die. He vaguely understood that it was actually only in his head.

However, now...

"Now it's time for you to face a Penalty Game."

Taylor stood up from the table, her gaze fixed on him. She didn't even turn away despite Uber pointing a gun at her. How could she be like this even in these circumstances? As soon as Uber pulled the trigger, she would die. Uber couldn't miss and she couldn't dodge.

"At first I thought about making you experience the illusion of dying, but that would only give you pain and all you've learned from your pain is to spread it through the world. To make it darker, uglier. So..."

Yes... Probably yes, but... That didn't matter to him. Because one way or another he would receive his punishment.

"I'm going to make you see the world in a different way. Penalty game..."

Uber pulled the trigger, but the bullet didn't even come close to Taylor. Not that she had dodged it. Somehow Uber had missed at a distance where it should be impossible for him to miss. However...

"Pixel vision!"

He knew he couldn't blame his friend. That something had happened.

And now, he had to experience his sentence. Like a dark tunnel. How would he be when he came out the other side, and what would he see? When it started affecting him, he realized that dark tunnel had been a poor metaphor. There was nothing dark about it, in fact, the world filled with vibrant colors. And, of course, pixels. It hadn't been any metaphor. The world resembled games from the time of the first Super Mario. In the blink of an eye everything had changed in that way.

Certainly, it wasn't pleasant, especially if he had to suffer it for the rest of his life. But to call it a punishment, well... After all, it could have been worse. He could have never seen anything again, for starters.

Of course, he should have known it couldn't be just that.

Uber extended a hand towards him. His hand transformed into one of the piranhas from Super Mario, perhaps because he had been thinking about that recently, before the hand made contact with his face. Of course, Leet quickly moved away, stifling a scream. Deep down in his mind he knew it wasn't real.

That it was only in his head. But very deep down. He wasn't going to risk it, in any case.

"Take it off! Take this shit off me!"

Taylor...

She wasn't there. Where had she disappeared to? In her place, in any case, there was a door. It's like the ones in Princess Peach's castle in Super Mario 64, he thought. He approached the door.

Before he knew it, Uber had disappeared too. Not knowing what else he could do, he opened the door. On the other side he found himself on a beam that floated magically over a bottomless void.

He didn't have any coins to throw to check, but he had no doubts either. And, of course, he should have known... Of course, from above there was a giant monkey throwing barrels at him. They rolled down the beams, coming for him. I want to go back, he thought. Leet began to laugh.

Completely hysterical.

—

"Leet! Wait, wait, where the fuck are you going, wait!"

But he didn't listen. Leet ran out of the base, laughing. Uber shook his head. Anyway, he couldn't do anything for his friend even if he ran fast enough to catch him and knock him unconscious. The source of the problem was right in front of his eyes.

Uber pointed the gun at her.

"Undo what you've done to him."

"Play a game with me, then," that monster said. "This curious card game, or anything. I'm willing to let you decide the game and the rules."

"Do you think I'm crazy or stupid? Why would I play, entering your territory? Undo what you've done or I'll shoot, and this time I won't miss."

He had plenty of bullets. One of them had to hit her. It was simply impossible for him to miss all the shots, and he doubted she was one of those immune to bullets. That would explain her strange confidence, but no. Impossible.

So why would she bother with this nonsense of...? What had she called it? Ah, yes. Shadow Games.

"If that's what you think you have to do, shoot."

Uber pulled the trigger without thinking twice. However, no shot was fired. He looked at his weapon, stunned. Had it jammed, right now? He had only fired once. There was no doubt that the weapon had been fully loaded, so he should have plenty of bullets left!

Something did come out of the gun barrel after all.

But what came out...

Wasn't a bullet.

Uber screamed. His legs gave out, and he fell on his backside to the floor. A huge snake. That's what crawled out of the barrel. A huge snake with fangs dripping venom.

"The door of darkness... has been opened."

Uber screamed and screamed, but there was no one to hear the screams. In any case, they quickly ceased. Because the snake destroyed the gun to get out and coiled its huge body around him, squeezing. In a matter of seconds he had no oxygen to gasp, much less scream.

All that could be heard were the sounds of him choking in the snake's lethal embrace.

No, one more thing.

Just one more thing.

A laugh with a masculine touch, though it undoubtedly had to be a woman's voice.

A deep and evil laugh.

Yes.

From the depths of a darkness that no one knew.

—

Taylor returned to the hospital. To the room where her father was fighting between life and death. Unlike all the other times, she remembered every second of what had happened, and...

"Thank you," she murmured, her voice barely audible, looking at her father's pale face. "Thank you, other self."

She couldn't be happier.

Break My Heart, Break Your Heart, Part 1: END
***

I hope this chapter has been an improvement in more than one sense. Anyway, a couple of points:

1. Yes, I invented a few overpowered cards for Magic & Wizards, but well... I don't know, it seemed interesting to me and I couldn't find any real cards that suited me.

2. Yes, what Atem does with Uber's gun is a completely canonical application of his powerset. Both in the manga and the anime, he does something similar. Converting, without the explicit consent/participation of a teacher, a love letter she was putting together piece by piece to punish the student who had written it into a Shadow Game and applying a Penalty Game as soon as she reconstructed it. Just because. Because he felt like it. So when Atem bothers to sit down and play a game with you, that's exactly what it means. He's playing.

A power so OP that, of course, wasn't seen in the rest of the series.

 

[MadsGM]

Chapter 6: Break My Heart, Break Your Heart, Part 2

"Any progress?" asked Armsmaster.

He hoped to receive a positive answer, but deep in his heart he knew it before Dragon opened her mouth. The woman spoke to him from the other side of the monitor with the calm voice that always managed to soothe his nerves and make him see things differently.

"Nothing at all. The recordings are too well manipulated. There's no way to clarify it, to recover the original recordings."

He had known, but still Armsmaster leaned back in his chair, put his legs on the table and sighed deeply, closing his eyes. Nothing at all. They only had Uber and Leet, off the streets, crazy.

The last point of the recent strange incidents.

Armsmaster was convinced they were related. Not many shared that opinion.

"There's only one clue," Dragon said.

Yes. The girl who had entered one of Uber and Leet's bases while broadcasting live.

The girl who had somehow managed to perfectly erase her face as soon as she went on air. Neither Dragon nor he had gotten results. He doubted other Thinkers in the Protectorate would have better luck, especially when they didn't give it the same importance as he did.

The girl in a school uniform.

The Winslow uniform, the same school attended by one of the Wards. And also the recent victim of a horrible prank that had put her in the hospital.

He had gone to examine. The tests indicated that she hadn't had a Trigger Event, but it wasn't infallible.

"Do you think it was her?" asked Dragon, as if she had read his mind. She was getting better at doing that. Used to people not understanding him, Armsmaster didn't find it uncomfortable. Quite the opposite. It was very pleasant that he didn't have to make the constant and exhausting extra effort with her.

He often wondered if this was how normal people felt with everyone. And he felt envious.

Armsmaster opened his eyes again.

"I hope not," he said simply.

Parahumans tended to spread their pain throughout the world. That's why there were more villains than heroes. No, people tended to. The world wouldn't be better if there were no superpowers.

Humans were practically designed to repay pain with more pain. Few saw it as an opportunity to rise above, to be better than their pain. The human race was practically designed for the opposite, in fact.

So it wouldn't surprise him at all.

After such a horrible "prank", anyone would feel tempted to take revenge at the very least. Emma Barnes had been the first to fall. Then perhaps she had felt the need to justify her actions and had gone after the gang members. As for Uber and Leet, the motive was obvious. Taylor Hebert's father had been one of the duo's victims, ending up in the hospital.

It fit.

He had no proof, but it fit.

He didn't have a heart cold enough to want to put a child behind bars, but he would do what he had to do.

He would do his job.

——

Danny was getting better. They hadn't discharged him yet, but at least he had woken up. Four days. It had taken too long. Taylor had been terrified, thinking he would remain in a coma, that he would never wake up. But now she could put those fears behind her.

Because he had indeed woken up. He could walk, albeit with difficulty, and even eat by himself. It could have been much worse. All the doctors told her that as if she didn't already know.

Seeing him lying in the middle of the road like a broken toy, blood everywhere, believing he had really died... Her world had started to crumble. She had lost mom, she couldn't lose him too. So yes, she knew perfectly well it could have been worse.

The world was doing its best to crush her, but against all odds, Taylor was happy. She was serious. She could hardly believe it herself, but it was the truth, neither more nor less. Now Taylor was going shopping. It would still be a while before they discharged dad, so she would have to take care of the household chores.

Cooking too. She wasn't good at it, she would have to buy a lot of instant food and canned goods. Well, to be honest, her father had never been very good at it either. Mom had always been... Taylor grimaced.

There was no need to ruin a rare period of happiness and peace of mind thinking about unnecessary things. About the holes that were everywhere. She had feared a bit the other self that had been born in the darkness, but after what happened with Uber and Leet, Taylor knew she had nothing to fear. Whatever the puzzle had awakened in her wanted the same things.

It made no sense to fear a part of herself. That was something she should have seen much earlier. Just as the things that the Trio had turned into a shame were nothing to be ashamed of at all. There was no shame in being yourself. Happiness consisted of managing to accept yourself. Like everything in life, it was easier said than done.

But at least she had taken the first step. At least now she understood. Near the entrance of the supermarket, she encountered a girl who was the type she couldn't help but envy and hate in equal measure. Not because she had what Taylor didn't, beauty and femininity, but because she seemed to be trying her hardest to ruin it.

She dressed... Well, like a whore, and had dyed a strand of her hair red. She wasn't being very charitable, but she couldn't help feeling what she felt. Their eyes met and she smiled. Instinctively, Taylor looked away at that very moment. In her experience, that wasn't a good sign.

But maybe her experience wasn't everything. The girl approached her and patted her on the shoulder. She had to admit she had a nice smile. A pleasant, friendly smile. That is, nice beyond appearance.

Maybe... No, surely she had misjudged her.

"Go in there and steal some cigarettes for me," the girl said.

"What? Why would I do that? I don't even know you."

"Come on, it's not a big deal. Deep down you want to do it, don't you? Not for me but for yourself. It's time you stop being a scared little mouse..." she said slowly. "And let your hair down, don't you think?"

Taylor nodded after thinking about it for a bit. Well, why not? The girl would probably pay her when she had the money for it. It wasn't bad.

And she wasn't wrong in any case. She felt... tempted. She knew it was wrong, but she wanted to know if she could do it, more than getting something for free. The act was what mattered. She didn't even smoke, after all.

Yes, she would be doing it for herself.

Taylor nodded again and entered the supermarket. The theft was surprisingly easy. She had never done anything like this before. Always following the rules, always being a good girl, for all the good it had done her.

But she wouldn't have needed practice for this. There were simply too many people milling about and very few watching. Cameras here and there, of course, but it was easy to get lost in the noise and the crowd. It was even disappointingly easy, something she could have done whenever she wanted.

She reached the girl who hadn't even bothered to introduce herself and handed her the tobacco packs. Yes, she had taken the liberty of stealing more than one. Well, she thought that since she was at it, if she got caught, it should be for more than just one measly pack. Then she or the girl would hand over the corresponding money. It wouldn't be a real theft.

She had just wanted to prove something to herself and she had done it... She supposed. Or hadn't she? Wasn't something strange happening here? Hadn't it been happening from the beginning?

"Now how about..." The girl stopped abruptly because the puzzle began to shake, vibrate, flash.

Taylor's consciousness sank into the other side of the coin.

——

"What happened? Your attitude, your emotions, everything changed in an instant."

Her next target protested as if she couldn't accept what had just happened.

The spirit of the millennium puzzle stepped forward, smiling sinisterly.

"What does it matter? The important thing is that I'm not going to turn you in, don't worry. As long as you play with me."

The girl's face twisted into an ugly grimace. Without thinking twice, she drew a gun hidden in her jacket. She was used to killing. There was no doubt that her heart was infected with evil. Bad weeds had to be pulled out by the root. Nothing else could end the problem. She knew it perfectly. One shouldn't have mercy, but stomp on any annoying bug until it disappeared.

"I'm not playing, crazy girl," the girl said. She aimed between her eyebrows, putting her finger on the trigger. They were in the alley next to the supermarket, of course. Her other self hadn't met her where it would be more visible. But still, the fact that she didn't hesitate to do something like this near so many people demonstrated her cold-bloodedness.

"A shadow game. Get rid of all the bullets except one and spin the cylinder. I think they call this Russian Roulette, don't they? The consequences of having bad luck when pulling the trigger will be... different, however."

"What are you talking about? Yes, I'm going to pull the trigger and blow your fucking brains out. In a few seconds, you'll be dead. Why would I play with you?"

"Because you have nowhere to hide."

The door of darkness had opened, taking them to a different space. The woman with the gun had realized a little too late. She looked around, scared, as everything was engulfed by shadows. Although nothing had changed, except that now she was in a dark void.

She still had the advantage, in theory. She could simply pull the trigger. However...

"What the hell have you done to me?"

"You should understand the situation perfectly. You won't get out of here unless you play with me. I don't care who you are or what you want, I'm here to dispense justice. Your heart is on the scale."

The woman swallowed.

"As you wish."

She did as asked. Emptying the gun, spinning the cylinder.

"Who the fuck goes first?"

"I'll go if you want. I don't care, although I imagine you'll say you can't trust me and just hand me the gun like that."

The woman put the gun against her forehead, took a deep breath. She put her finger on the trigger.

"Who are you?" asked the spirit of the millennium puzzle.

"Cherish."

She pulled the trigger.

Break My Heart, Break Your Heart, Part 2: END