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It started just like any other day. The Great Hall was full of students ready for their round of classes, and there were a few disruptions from the four Gryffindors who were dubbed the Marauders.

That was until a chilling air came in causing the candles and the bewitched ceiling to go away, causing students and staff to panic a bit. Dumbledore ordered for the students to head to the gate to go to their commonrooms, but as their hands reached the door, it began to disappear, leaving everyone trapped in the Great Hall as they watched it change into what seemed like a theater.

First and second years began to panic, as the older years from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw began shouting out of the rising Dark Lord and his gang of Death Eaters.

Just as the Great Hall finished its transformation, the professors were able to round up their houses and have them pushed near where the gate once was, before lining themselves in front of them with their wands out, ready to fight off whoever, whatever was doing this.

Alongside the Marauders, the older years of every house took out their wand ready to jump in and help their professors. All except the Slytherin house, which earned them some disgusted and dark looks. The four Gryffindors paid most attention to the black lanky haired, pale-skinned snake with black eyes who sneered back at them, making the younger years flinch away from the students doused in green and silver.

Their attention went to the bright lights that began to pour into the room in front of them. Everyone had to shield their eyes from the lights, which dimmed down after a while they appeared.

In front of them stood two figures, both heavenly cloaked, their faces veiled with cloth. One was definitely female in appearance, and her cloak glowed a golden glow, while her companion just wore a black cloak and their face was shadowed off, preventing anyone from seeing what they looked liked.

Before anyone could speak, the woman spoke in a chipper tone, “Oh! There you are!”

She stepped forward causing everyone to lift their wands up, even the younger years, who while cowering in fear, raised their wands.

She stopped on the first step down, and tilted her head and raised her hands in a peaceful act, “There is no need to do that now. I’m just here to see our favorite cat. It took us a while to find him, and when we did he was already gone in limbo ready for Death to lead him to the peace he deserves. So we took the liberty to ask our elder sister, Time, for help.”

She walked forward, slowly, so as to not scare them off. A few students and staff looked towards Dumbledore who, while had his wand raised, didn’t seem too disturbed at what the figures were doing.

“Who might you be talking about? Is it someone here?” he said, his voice echoing against the walls of the rarely silent Great Hall.

“It would have to be considering she is here, and it would have to be a male student,” said FIlius Flitwick, the Charms Professor and the Ravenclaw Head of House.

“Correct, Filius,” said Minerva McGonagalll, the Transfiguration Professor and the Gryffindor Head of House, as she stood straight with her eyes on both figures. She smiled a little as she heard her lions let out slight cheers and started talking about her taking them both on a two-on-one duel.

“Indeed, we are,” said a deep raspy voice coming from the second individual. “We grew interested in him during his time in my borderlands. Something I’ve come up with whenever there would be too many souls for me to collect and deliver to peace. His way of thinking was interesting to see in someone so young, but with the life he’s led, there’s no reason as to why we thought differently to how he would play the games.”

“Games?” Pomona Sprout asked. She glanced behind her, at her Puffs, who looked just as confused as she—everyone really—was. She looked at the only four lions who liked games and pranks, and along with everyone else, stared at the four increasingly flustered lions. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.

“We promise we have nothing to do with this!” said Potter and Black together, with Lupin and Pettigrew nodding along, too flustered to really say anything. They were all used to being stared at, looked at, but not at this degree, and certainly not at this level of annoyance and slight anger and fear.

The woman laughed out loud, like even suggesting that these four boys could do anything at this scale.

“Of course, not! I’m looking for another boy. You were correct on that part. It is easier to track him now, compared to when he grew up, as he always spent his time here, compared to the muggle world. It didn’t even cross our mind that he was magical. His first time crossing the borderlands, he made it out before we could really get the sense of his magical power.”

“What do you mean borderlands? And what do you mean by ‘crossing’?” said a much younger, female voice. Lily Evans stared at the two figures, as she slowly inched closer to her friend who seemed to be doing the same, albeit even slower. She noticed the black-clothed figure seemingly stare at him. And it didn’t give her a good feeling. The least she could feel thankful for, was that this wasn’t something caused by the idiotic Marauders.

“And who are you?!” Marlene McKinnion, another Gryffindor, yelled out, causing other students (mostly Gryffindors) to do the same.

“QUIET!”

Both figures snapped, before the light dimmed after blinding them all again.

The woman raised a hand and put it against her chest, “I am Fate, and this is my brother Death. We have come for someone our interests lie in, and we have finally found him.”

The hearts of every living thing in the Great Hall thumped with fear, students started moving together as one as far as they could from the two figures who called themselves, Fate and Death.

Death let out an eerie chuckle, before stepping forward, easily towering over every wixen in the Hall. “You can’t really leave, not until we let you out.”

Albus Dumbledore stepped forward, ready to use his power as both the Headmaster and one of the strongest wizards in Britain to full, and asked, “And who might you be speaking about? Which student has come to earn your interest.”

Both Fate and Death giggled, before Fate said, “We don’t want to harm him, we just want to help him. Show him that there are people he can open himself up to, to show him that even when humanity starts to turn on each other for their own survival, there will be those who will do anything to help him, even when he hurts them first.”

“And who is this boy?”

Fate let out what could only be a smile as it showed through her veil, a bright light of a smile glowed behind it, “Why Severus Snape, of course!”

The boy in question was dragged behind a fiery and scared Lily Evans with a surprised gasp, as they both stood still in the middle of a crowd of their peers and teachers.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Severus often wished he could disappear, if he could always wear his disillusionment charm wherever he went, but it would always wear out. And they would always find him. And they would make him pay, and then he would hurt them back. Oftentimes being blamed for hurting them, when they had started it.

He stood in the middle of the crowd with Lily, as she grabbed onto his forearm with a strength he didn’t even know she possessed. But he wouldn’t be surprised, she was always the strongest person he knew, and she was proving it. Protecting him against what seemed like the whole school, who looked at him with something he couldn’t understand. It wasn’t fear, it wasn’t the usual disgust he knew, it was something he hadn’t seen on their faces, in their eyes.

While he had a thousand questions running through his mind, the only one he could think of was, “What do you mean by ‘made it out’?”

Fate tilted her head, as if she didn’t hear his question.

So he spoke loudly, his deep voice echoing throughout the room, “What do you mean by ‘made it out’? Do you mean your. . . ‘games’?”

“Yes, silly!”

Severus scrunched his nose. “And what do these games entail exactly?”

Fate clapped her hands together, earning a flinch at the sharp sound as it rang throughout the Hall. “Well these games, technically the entire Borderlands, are created for souls to see if they are strong enough to survive after they have passed on for a minute. For that minute of death, the Borderlands will take you and you will fight for your survival and whatever happens, whether you live or die, will cross over in the real world.”

Death looked over to Fate, almost amused and annoyed by her actions. “To make it easy to explain, you die in the games, you die in the real world. And I take your soul to peace. You survive all the games, and make it till the end, then you wake up in the real world. But without all the memories you’ve shared.”

Lily let out a gasp of shock and her grip tightened. Both her and Severus didn’t hear the gasps of shock and whispering coming from everyone, even the Marauders who stared at Snape as if he was already dead.

“Do you mean that Severus dies sometime in the future?”

A smile could be heard from Death’s voice, an amusing tilt made it almost appear through the darkness of his hood, “Everyone dies someday. Sometimes accidents, situations, problems arise, and most of the time someone loses their life. Luckily for you though, Severus lives past this. He did die, but only for a moment. Only for a minute.”

Lily nodded as she patted her beating heart. She felt like it could jump out of her throat, she looked up at her friend, who continued to stare ahead at the two figures.

“So when this happens, I won’t even remember what happened?”

“Yes.”

“So why come here and show me at all? Wouldn’t you just wait, until whatever happened to send me there, happened?” His voice, while not strong, felt like an eerie whisper, as people began to realize that Snape didn’t really care that he was going to die. They know that he survives, but he doesn’t seem afraid of Death or even Fate.

Fate shrugged, “You’re an interesting character. Especially with what happened in the games, what you were shown through the people you played with, with what you were taught. Sometimes selflessness is something that is hard to understand, but once you do, you do things that you would have never done before.”

“What do you mean?” Severus said, wanting to know more. Wanting to understand the words coming out of Fate’s mouth, but nothing else was said after.

Everyone watched as a white screen appeared above the Head Table where the professors and the Headmaster sat. Then they felt the pressure of what the older years thought to be apparition, before it went away as soon as they felt it. They looked around and saw every student in a section, in their own house, as their Heads of Houses joining the first line. The rest of the professors joined their previous houses that they were in as students.

“Let’s watch some future games, hmm?”

“What’s the point? If I am going to this place, if it’s going to happen, wouldn’t that ruin the ‘fun’ I see you having?” sneered Severus, who was startled when he felt the cold hand that patted his head.

“Not for our fun, silly! It’s to help you. Or at least two of your games, the games we actually enjoyed. There were more of course, but we couldn’t be bothered with them, as they were your first games. We were watching another player’s games. You meet him in a couple other games as well.”

With that Fate turned back at the screen, readying it to play Snape’s future memories, for all to see.

Severus and Lily held hands, as tightly as they could once they found that they were sitting next to each other. The only people without what seemed like a barrier between the Gryffindor and Slytherin House.

The screen glowed before it showed what appeared to be a prison as it was encased by the shadows of the night sky. As the screen moved, it seemed to be following a line of sight from someone not seen on the screen yet.

What showed next was a card showcasing japanese kanji; which were translated to read; “PUT ON A COLLAR AND GO UPSTAIRS TO THE CENTRAL GUARDROOM”.

“Hold on,” said Black, “What was he doing in Japan?”

“Oh, he was going to go into wizarding Japan to gather potion ingredients,” Fate answered, her eyes still on the paused screen.

“Yes, dear?” she said as she continued to stare directly at the screen. Lily grew increasingly nervous as Fate didn't look at her but knew her hand was up. She shook it off before asking, “How old is Severus? How far into the future does this happen?”

“He would have been around 23 years old during the games.”

Severus thought to himself, a whole eight years into the future will he experience this. He should be prepared for what happens. He paid no mind to the states of shock and fear that rang throughout the crowd, even more than before. In eight years, Severus Snape would be battling for his life, and there was nothing anyone could really do.

When a man picked up the last collar, he put it on and the screen was filled with flickering card suit symbols; diamond, heart, club, spade. It landed on a club. As steps echoed as they went up, a man entered a room filled with other people. As he stopped, the screen panned over the people, some stood like they were waiting in line, others stood timidly, some avoiding eye contact. As the screen panned to an end, a bright hooded figure could be seen, before he took up the majority of the screen. He too was wearing a collar, just like everyone else.

“I never took you as someone to wear such a bright color, Severus,” Lily whispered to her friend.

He let out a small huff of laughter, before answering, “Now I know what color to avoid the most. There’s no way I would ever wear something as bright as that, if I wanted to not cast attention on myself.”

“Well, clearly, your future self doesn’t agree.”

Severus turned his attention to a chime coming from another screen as a voice said, “Difficult level, Jack of Hearts. Game, Solitary Confinement. Rules, guess the card suit that appears on the back of your collar.”

“That sounds easy enough,” said Peter, “Either ask someone else or—”

“A reflection, maybe?” guessed Remus. “Sorry Wormtail, but yeah I think those are the only options.”

“Could be,” said James. “But we have to take in how deadly these games are supposed to be, considering that if you die in the games, you die in real life.”

“However, you may not look at the symbol yourself. The time limit is one hour per round. In the final five minutes, enter your cell and disclose your symbol. If you do not answer with the correct symbol, it is game over.”

“So goodbye to Moony’s plan then,” huffed Peter.

“We still have yours. Going to someone else,” clarified Sirius.

Severus, hearing their discussion, interrupted with a bitter laugh, “Yeah, if you could trust them that is.”

Black clenched his jaw in anger before glaring at the snake, “Trust can be easily found in—”

“I guarantee you, that it is not. Trust takes a while to form and mold into something equally agreeable on both sides. And in a game like this where it is literal life or death, you have to focus on your own survival and guarantee every chance that you can to make it out alive,” Severus continued, not realizing everyone was listening in.

“In this game, trust might work between two players, not in a huge group. But once it gets to the final four—that is if you consider the fact that the other two players are teamed up—everyone is bound to want to strike and will lead to someone lying and sabotaging their partner. The problem leads down to how much you trust each other. And whether you think that they will lie to you or not.”

“You could also just make others second-guess whether or not another partner is telling them the truth,” Regulus Black jumped in. “You could just be in a group and completely manipulate them with fear, and just start targeting others in the game whenever they do something miniscule as getting scared.”

“Ah, so it's a snake’s game, then,” sneered Black. Gryffindors, accompanied by Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, made sounds of discomfort and tried not to glance at Snape who was—would be— a player.

Beside her, Severus rolled his eyes before scoffing. Compared to the other Gryffindors, who saw everything in black and white, Lily could at least try to understand this game. But it didn’t sit right with her, betraying others, lying to others who asked for help. Severus on the other hand.

“If you want to think of it that way, then yes, it’s a snake’s game. Besides, it’s not like you’ll be playing them,” said Regulus, not even bothering to look at his elder brother.

“The collar will explode, and you will die. Additionally, when the time limit reaches zero, the symbol on the collar will reset and change for each round.”

“Do you think it’s quick?” mumbled Mary McDonald to Dorcas Meadowes.

“What is quick. The death?” Mary nodded. “I would think so, otherwise, it’ll be a horrible way to die.”

“Do you think there’s a pattern to it?” Dorcas shrugged her shoulder, “I guess it depends on the game? I don’t really know? I mean we haven’t even got to the entire ‘Jack of Hearts’ stuff, or even why the woman on the announcement called it a difficulty.”

“It could be based on feelings, you know, like the heart,” said Alice Fortescue as she layed her head on Frank Longbottom’s shoulder, who agreed with her.

“Yeah, since this game requires you to betray and lie, and it also involves trust. Maybe different suits mean different things?”

“Wait, a sec. So that means we just have to ask each other what our symbols are,” a guy wearing blue overalls said as he smiled over to Severus before continuing, “That’s easy, huh?”

“Wormtail's plan seems to be the only plan, so far.” Prongs whispered to his fellow Marauders.

Severus looked over at him, immediately taking that plan down. “I’m not so sure. They haven’t told us what the conditions to win are yet.” He said as he looked back up at the game screen that changed letters that the announcer began to read out.

“The Solitary Confinement game is about how much you can trust your fellow players.”

Many students remembered what Snape had said, and exchanged nervous glances. He pretty much proved how easy it would be to lose this game, alongside Regulus Black.

“Be aware that your opponent, the Jack of Hearts, has already been placed among you,” the announcer said as the game screen switched to show the amount of players in this game, and then changed to show the Jack of Hearts card.

“Merlin, twenty?” Frank said in astonishment, “How many people do you think are playing other games? Do you think there’s a limit?”

“There is one,” answered Fate. “Well, there’s a registration period for each game, and every game can have a limited number of players,” added Death.

“It’s fun when there’s more. It makes the games last longer. And while I have no ill will towards smaller sized groups, the games last only a while,” pouted Fate.

“Ah,” confirmed Frank, squeezing Alice’s waist in a hug, while trying to rid Fate’s eyes off himself.

“Oh, that’s good,” said Severus, as someone else repeated the question with surprise and nervousness.

“How to win. Rounds repeat every hour. You win the game when the Jack of Hearts dies. Prohibited actions. Looking at your symbol with a reflective surface is cheating. Players may not use weapons or violence to kill fellow players.”

“Well, there’s confirmation,” Remus said, “It could have still been a good plan if it was allowed, though.”

“At least violence isn’t allowed,” added Mary.

That was when Barty Crouch Jr. jumped in, adding in a comment that made everyone shiver as they felt chills down their spines. “She said, ‘may not be used to kill fellow players’. Essentially, you can hurt each other, just not enough to actually kill them in one go.”

“Oh, fun. Torture,” joked Potter, before looking around and stopped smiling, knowing exactly why everyone turned tense. At least he tried to lighten up the mood.

“I guess that’s another way besides Regulus’ plan on using fear as a strategy,” laughed Evan Rosier.

“You could, but you’ll be lucky to live past a few rounds before your victim grows tired and either kills themself, or lies to you. Thereby, killing you,” added Amelia Bones, the only Hufflepuff who seemed interested in what could happen. Her fellow housemates slowly backed away from her, including her sister.

“This means that the only way this game will ever end is if the Jack gives the wrong answer. So, basically, no one here is getting out of here alive, unless they lie to the Jack,” said Severus.

Lily tapped Severus’ shoulder and whispered to him, “He seems like a good partner.”

Severus tilted his head in affirmation, “You’re not wrong, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of person who kills others, even if it was life or death. He’d be a good one, but I don’t think he’ll last long.”

As the announcer continued on, informing the players of the unlimited amount of rounds and food, as the audience’s screen switched over to showcase the shelves of food, drinks, and gallons of water for this game.

“While participating in this game, no days will be removed from your visas.”

“What in Merlin's name are ‘visas’, and why are they important?!” questioned Avery, followed by Rosier. They automatically turned to Snape, who ignored their stares.

So instead Lily answered, “A visa, in the muggle world, is given to a person who travels to another country, and it basically tells them the amount of time they are able to spend in that country. Once it’s over, you can either leave or get it replenished to spend more time in that country, I believe. So, it might be the same in the borderlands?” She looked over at Death and Fate who nodded at her statement.

“You’re correct. But the end of a visa in the borderlands, means you are killed,” added Death in an amused voice.

Severus sighed before saying, “So, basically, you have to play the games in order to replenish your visas,” he huffed out a huge breath of agitation, “How fun.”

For a moment no one said anything. Minerva looked over at Albus, wondering if he could do anything to prevent the boy from going there. It didn’t matter if he survived, even if it was alongside others, she didn’t think it would be fair for him to not only witness the horrific acts of these so-called “games”, only to actually experience them within the coming eight years. She guessed that the only good thing about this was that he would know what he was up against.

Dumbledore thought otherwise. What route would Severus take? Fifteen year old Severus Snape and twenty-three year old Severus Snape were two completely different people, who are technically living two entirely different lives. Albus remembered Fate mentioned how clever and cunning older Severus was, but how far along is he?

How dangerous is the boy?

Because now, fifteen year old Severus, wasn’t. He was strong, there was no doubt about that, but he had too much anger, too much pride. Pride and anger don’t go well together, especially when constantly harassed and put down, not by his peers, but by his professors.

Albus could only hope that Severus chose right in his future. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t looking for the black mark that decorated the inner-forearms of the captured Death Eaters the Ministry has in stocking up their cells in Azkaban. Time could only tell, and this Severus Snape seemed more sure of himself. But he seemed to lack the slight humanity his teenage self had, even if it was only shown whenever he was with Lily.

“So we need to start lying, find the Jack of Hearts, and kill them off, or we’ll live out the rest of our days in this prison. Solitary. . .for life.”

“The game will now commence.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As round one of Snape’s Hearts game started, James tapped Sirius’ arm getting his attention. “Do you think he’s a Death Eater in the future? I mean, he’s wearing a jacket.”

Sirius stood straight up, not having thought of that at all. “He could be. Let’s keep an eye on his sleeves, in case he pulls them up.”

Naturally, both told Peter and Remus. Peter immediately agreed on helping, and added in, “Do you think we should tell everyone? Or at least Dumbledore? Maybe he could do something, when Snape becomes one.”

Remus rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact. “Are you even sure he is one? I mean,” he hastily added when his friends looked at him in confusion, “We barely know anything about him, or what’s going to happen to him. We know this one,” he pointed over to the only Snape in the room, “but this is eight years in the future. He might not be one.”

“Moony, you’re smart,” Sirius started before James took over, “And you’re smart enough to see that Snivellous is practically cozying up to the purebloods in the snake den! Evans' not going to be by his side all the damn time. The best case we get from this, is that she’ll see what a monster he is, a snake he is, and she’ll leave him.”

Remus sighed, knowing that there was just no communicating with them on this whenever it involved Snape, so he nodded. “Let’s just avoid telling anyone of Death Eater suspicions. Everyone’s already too nervous with the two gods in front of the Hall.”

Peter snorted, “They’re not gods, Moony.”

“They might as well be,” he mumbled under his breath.

Even when the announcer said that the players could roam freely until it was time to guess their symbols, everyone looked towards each other, no one making a move.

At least, until one man wearing a brown shirt went to another asking for his symbol to be told, saying, “I’ll tell you yours.” That got the other to agree quickly, who went to tell him.

“That's a good way to start. You know, be casual, be confident. No?” asked Marlene.

Lily nodded her head, “I mean I would do the same. It seems like the easy way to really get a partner.”

“So, the 20 of us need to eliminate each other until we somehow figure out who the Jack of Hearts is. What makes you think anyone is trustworthy?” a man in a suit said, making the one helping back away.

“Nevermind,” Marlene sighed, “He ruined it.”. Lily reached over, patting her shoulder.

“Technically, he asked a valid question. Even if it stopped someone from helping. Everyone in there is a stranger. So, why should you trust so easily?” pointed out Amelia. She looked around and took in the stares from her house and the lions. She scoffed at this, “Really?”

“Bones makes a good argument. Again, life or death here.” Crouch agreed with what Bones was saying. He looked over to his own house, and noticed most Ravenclaws nodding to his statement. They were too scared to really say anything, but they knew that she was right. Adding in trust when you could die if you’re lied to, changes everything.

Barty shook his head, not understanding how gullible Gryffindors and Puffs were. At least, Bones shows promise. But then again, she has stated she would go to work in the Ministry, and with a mind like hers, she would get far.

But while it stopped those two from partnering up, three people joined heading downstairs away from the central guardroom. A gangster looked around looking for a partner, before stopping at two others. He scoffed and walked to them, ignoring the first man the audience saw and headed straight for the more timid and meeker man.

A playful voice rang out, “I have an idea. How about we get together and make teams to tell each other? So that way, nobody can lie?”

“Could she be the Jack of Hearts. She seems just too. . .happy to be in this situation,” said Mary.

Noises of agreement went around, even some Slytherins agreed.

Regulus tilted his head before leaning over and whispering to Severus, “She’s like a mix of Bella and Evan.”

Severus flinched away from him, his face a perfect mixture of disgust and surprise, “Don’t tell me that. Now I can’t unsee it.”

Regulus shrugged his shoulders, “I’m right though.”

The girl clasped her hands together looking around her as people started asking her if they could join, and she nodded, letting them in her group, “Sure! The more the merrier!”

Severus couldn’t stop himself, so he leaned towards Regulus and whispered, “Maybe a touch of Pandora Ollivander’s way of moving, but make it much more suspicious. Ollivander is kind, this girl is not.”

Regulus nodded back, “I can see it. At least Ollivander doesn’t make me slightly uncomfortable looking into her eyes. It’s weird that they sparkle like hers too.”

As more players began to roam the prison, the first man in a light blue button-up shirt went downstairs who was followed by another whose bangs covered his right eye. The gangster cornered the meek man who stuttered at his demands.

The screen returned to Severus and the overalls-wearing guy.

“Hey, wanna tell each other the answer?”

Severus looked over at him before telling him, “If you’re trying to survive, I would examine all the people here a little more carefully. Make sure you keep the ones who don’t lie close.”

He moved his body facing the other, his arms still crossed and said, “For all you know, I’m the one who might be the Jack.”

The other, who was examining the other players who were still remaining, turned his head towards Severus and moved slightly away from him. His eyes looked Severus up and down.

“You see? They all started breaking off into groups. Everyone wants to know who’s trustworthy and who’s not,” Severus added, before sighing and stepped closer to the man before pointing at a couple. “Take those two.”

A man wearing a nice suit and a woman wearing business attire. They were close, the woman fiddling with her hands, while the man stood tall and confident. “Listen. If you wanna be safe. . .”

“Before the games started, you wanna know what they were doing?” A smirk grew on his face as he continued looking at the couple.

A howl of laughter came from Rosier and Crouch, and others started joining in, realizing what Snape had meant. The younger years, confused by the laughing students, started asking questions. McGonagall stood up glaring at the laughing older years who subsided their laughter and just tried to muffle it, ignoring the confused younger years who pestered them.

A simple, “You don’t need to know,” and a “You’re not old enough,” was enough to make them stop.

“What?” the other asked, confused and surprised.

“That guy wants to control everything she does to exert power over her, so that she can’t interact with any of the other players. Which is smart, in the long run. If you’ve got someone you can trust that much,” Severus turned to the other, “that's how you can win the game.”

“Hey,” a voice said, catching Severus’s attention, making him step forward to hear the rest of an oncoming conversation. “Doesn’t look like you have a partner yet. Tell me what my symbol is, and I’ll tell you yours.”

The man in blue fully turned to the other and pointed out, “That’s a pretty aggressive attitude to take. That kind of childishness makes you painfully transparent.”

Severus and Regulus muffled their surprised laugh that came out of their mouths.

“That was very straightforward and blunt. Kind of like you, Sev,” joined a giggling Lily, which made Regulus try to smother his giggles. Severus, not wanting to really admit that he was sometimes like that, ignored the two laughing at his sides, and paid attention to the screen.

“You’re ashamed of the darkness inside of you, which makes you petty and jealous,” he said as he slowly stepped forward, looking directly in the eyes of the other.

Severus ignored the small pit in his stomach. Regulus quieted his giggling into small huffs of air, before stopping when he glanced at an insecure Severus. Lily continued looking forward, her smile into a confused face as she looked at the man in blue and his supposed partner.

“You okay?” Regulus whispered near Severus’ ear. He nodded in return, Regulus squeezed his arm in comfort, knowing his friend didn’t want to talk about it right now.

“You try to keep yourself safe behind those bangs. You hide your face so that people won’t see your ugly, empty soul.”

The room started to quiet down until it was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Everyone grew uncomfortable with the man, not liking the way his eyes looked. Or the way his voice stayed monotone and yet held a curious and direct tone which made his monologue the more uncomfortable to sit through.

“You’re a pathetic excuse of a human being who judges others to feel better,” he continued. His eyes still trained, still burrowing into the other who looked away. “Pathetic and small. But that’s what I like about you,” a smile grew on his face. “We should be friends.”

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to even say after that interaction.

“Merlin, that guy,” said Pettigrew as he leaned closer to his friends. The other three nodded their heads, as they couldn't think of what they wanted to say out loud.

Horace Slughorn, the Head of Slytherin, looked shakened. That man. His eyes reminded him too of the prodigy that walked these halls once. And when he came to him to talk about the most horrible act of magic. He breathed in and out as Albus put a hand on his shoulder. They both shared a look, both being reminded of the student who has been terrorizing Wizarding Britain, building an army out of his snakes.

The girl from before walked around, five other people following her like puppies or lost sheep. She stepped up to the overall-wearing man asking him if he wanted to join “their” team. Her smile grew larger as she added, “No pressure or anything.”

“Still don’t like her smile,” someone in the audience said. But no one really cared as they all agreed with it. Some even shivered when she said that.

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” he said, before looking over at Severus who went back to leaning against the wall. Severus quickly looked from his partner to the girl and responded, “Okay. We’ll join the group.”

“Well, that was quick,” Severus said to himself.

“I guess he’s much more agreeable than you,” Regulus said before he was lightly shoved by a flustered Severus. “I’m not wrong though. It takes forever to get you in a study group or to get you to join us when we go to Hogsmeade. And don’t say otherwise, you know you do.”

Severus crossed his arms and slumped back into his seat, huffing as he did so. Regulus was right in that regard.

The girl’s group added another person, before they went to the circular platform.

“So I’m gonna go first, okay? I hope you’ll all give me the right answer!,” she said as she pulled her hair away showing the symbol on the back of her collar.

Another woman in yellow stepped forward quickly, “Oh, Urumi, yours is. . . is a heart.”

With that everyone nodded their heads and started repeating it. Urumi stepped back, but not off the platform before the same woman stepped on and asked them to tell her hers. But behind them, the gangster had his partner by the hair, dragging him along with him.

Lily sat up in shock, “They’re not going to do anything?”

“They didn’t see it, but even if they did, I wouldn’t think so,” said Severus, not bothering to look at the astonishment on Lily’s face.

The screen panned over to show Severus, standing there his arms still crossed as he looked around at the other partnered up people.

A buzzer rang as the player lined up on walls where the cell doors were. “It is time to give your answer. Please enter a solitary confinement cell of your choosing.”

Severus walked past some cells, before going up to one and opening it, before stepping inside. The lights turned on and the cell door closed behind him, locking closed.

A buzzer rang again, “Please give your answer.”

Severus looked past the screen as he said, “Diamond.” The screen then switched showing the back of his head, and the collar having a bright diamond suit showing through the ends of his hair.

The timer took up the screen counting down from three before landing on zero. The hallways were shown, eerily clear of people. This time a bell rang, and the door unlocked.

The players began to pile out of the cells on both floors, looking around for their partners and groups.

Urumi was the first to talk, stretching her arms up and exclaiming with joy, “Wow! That was so easy!” She laughed as her voice echoed throughout the hallways. The other players in her group expressed their relief at this partnership working.

Severus’ partner smiled at him as he walked past him, before following him.

“Round two begins now.” Severus’ collar began to flicker symbols before landing on a club suit.

Several people palmed their chests, not realizing their hearts wanting to beat out of them as they let out a breath of relief. They had not realized how stressful the game got, most likely because Snape was in a group and had a partner who looked like he could not lie.

“Urumi still creeps me out. But not in the disturbing way, it's more like a ‘you kinda scare me and I don't want to be near you' way,” Marlene said as she shivered.

“Tell me about it. And you’re probably not the only one,” Dorcas stated as she looked around them. Mary followed, seeing Lily and waving at her before beckoning her to join them. Lily bit her lip before glancing at Severus who was conversing with Black, and turned back, shaking her head.

“Maybe later?” she mouthed. Mary pouted before nodding.

Urumi’s group stood in a circle with Urumi herself still on the platform. They again started to bow, giving their thanks to each other for telling the correct symbols.

“Banda!” Fate shouted with glee as she clapped. Recognizing another character she deemed as ‘interesting’. “I wasn’t paying attention earlier, but that man crouching down is Sunato Banda. He’s another interesting character, of course not beating out Severus!”

Death made a noise of disagreement, “He’s not one of my interesting souls. Too many murdered souls came to me because of him.”

Remus sputtered, “You mean he’s killed people?”

Death nodded, “Four women I believe, which makes him a serial killer.”

“I mean it makes sense. You can tell by his eyes, they looked so empty. His voice too,” pointed out Amelia.

Against a wall, stood Banda’s partner looking at the group. “I keep wondering how long this is going to go on for.”

On the floor, Banda spoke, “Either the Jack will start to kill, or someone who’s afraid of the Jack will start to kill. Until either or both of those things happen, this will never end.”

“Exactly,” said Severus.

“As long as we keep being honest with each other, we’ll be alright,” his partner smiled at him.

“Or not.”

“Sev!” scolded Lily.

“I’m not doing anything. That's future me, not present me.”

“Okay, but still! Try to keep yourself alive please!”

He shrugged his shoulders, “Okay.”

“What the fuck!?” A rough voice rang out as the gangster’s partner was tossed roughly into the opening where Banda was sitting near. He whimpered and let out a sob as his partner shouted, “I told you to give me the answer!”

The entire commotion got everyone’s attention. But none stepped in to help, only watching what was happening.

That was when Banda stood up, going to the scared man on the floor. “You all right?” he said as he put his hands on the other's shoulders before leaning down to whisper, “Tell him he’s a club.”

The man gasped in shock, his eyes glancing back at Banda, who leaned back, staring at the gangster. Severus watched this, but did not say anything, instead looking back and forth between the two.

Rosier clapped his hands before cheerfully saying, “Looks like the game is actually starting!”

Potter glared at Snape before shouting, “Why aren’t you saying anything?!”

Severus turned towards him and raised an eyebrow, “Potter. I don’t know if you can tell, but that is a twenty-three adult version of me in the future. How can I know what he is thinking?” Severus crossed his arms still staring at Potter, like he was stupid. Which he was.

Before Potter could retort, the screen played again. The gangster grabbed his sobbing partner by his hair , earning winces and glares from both students and professors. It increased as Banda stepped away, leaving the man being punched to the floor sobbing, and it continued as Urumi leaned against the banister of her platform, her chin on her folded hands as she smiled at the scene.

“These people,” stated Lily, who looked sick at what was happening.

“It’s just humanity undressed,” said Severus, looking on without a care in the world. Lily though turned her attention to him, her green eyes showing how not right and not okay his reaction and comment was.

Severus sighed before turning towards her, “Don’t pretend like you haven’t seen this before, Lils. I mean, I haven’t sobbed or whimpered since second year, but that doesn’t mean this is any different.”

He wanted to say that her reaction to this scene and his comments hurt, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Lily might be his best friend, but she too was too caught up in the ‘Gryffindor means good’ and ‘Slytherin means bad’ train. He’s seen her stare at him with disappointment whenever he cursed and spelled the idiot Marauders back. As if he was the one who started it. The only thing she did was shout insulting comments at Potter, before stepping in whenever things got too destructive. Either for the school’s hallways or students around them.

He sighed as he looked back at the screen.

“Give me the answer!” The gangster said as he pulled his fist back, readying another punch.

“C–Clubs!” the partner said, “Club!” He stared into the gangster with what looked to be a brave face and glaring eyes, as he readied himself for another oncoming punch. His partner laughed before slapping his face once, “Don’t wait so long next time.” With that, he threw his sobbing partner onto the ground and walked off, looking at the other players who made way for him threateningly.

As he passed Severus and his partner, his partner noticed the collar which showed a diamond suit, and meant to say something before Severus shushed him. “Now the game is really starting,” a slight upturn of his smile came as he said that, the other players noticing the symbol but not saying anything.

“Fucking psychopath,” mumbled a glaring Potter.

“You would think he would step in to help,” added a worried Lupin.

Amelia scoffed, a dangerous smile on her face, “Why would he help, when we haven’t helped him?”

The Marauders stared straight ahead, their faces showing the annoyance but no shame as the students realized the size of her comment. There was no arguing. Bones was right. They’ve watched as Snape was hexed, cursed, humiliated, and pushed at every turn during every year. Most learned to steer clear of what they deemed an “argument gone bad” problem between the Marauders and Snape.

The Marauders' previous victims of their so-called “fun” looked down in shame. In not wanting to become victims again, they avoided the confrontations between them and Snape, not wanting to deal with seeing them again that they left Snape to deal with them by himself. Not even Evans stepped in to help, not at least until it got too rowdy, and she was his supposed “best friend”.

While they never spoke to Snape, they would stare at him with respect whenever he passed by as Snape had been the only one to really fight back against all four of them. Sometimes he’d hit them really hard, oftentimes coming close to winning if it weren’t for the professors who came in at the wrong time, giving all five of them detention after sending them to Madam Pomfrey’s.

Urumi stepped out from her platform and stared at the retreating figure, before going over to the man on the floor. She dropped down, her torso leaning against her folded legs, “Are you all right?”. Her smile carved onto her face as she continued after the man nodded, “How would you like to join up with our group instead?”

As the man thanked her, Banda stood not far from them, staring at the conversation with interest. His plan has worked.

“Could he be the Jack?” asked Dorcas. “He did tell the other guy to lie, but then again I believe anyone would have done it, but. . .” She shrugged her shoulders as she scratched her chin as she continued thinking.

“I was thinking that too. Aside from Urumi, Banda comes close.” Regulus thought for a while before adding, “I don’t think we can guess who the Jack of Hearts is right now since there’s only two people we’ve seen manipulate those around them.”

The screen was taken by a clock counting down five minutes before repeating the same thing as all the players were in front of a cell door.

The nervous man looked over at the gangster who was smirking before he opened the door, tapping the side of it with his hands, closing the door as he went in. Severus’s partner, Ippei, looked on. The man, Akifumi, then followed.

The buzzer then, “Please give your answer.”

The gangster inside the cell, scratched his nose before saying confidently, “The answer’s club.”

The screen flashed to three seconds counting down, and then the collar exploded Genki’s neck, painting his cell with blood.

He dropped dead to the floor, like a puppet whose strings were cut.

Students screamed in both shock and horror. The younger years cried as the older students who were near them tried to cover their eyes, but it was too late. Students covered their mouths, and those with weak stomachs started gagging at the mess. Professors tried to help them but there were only a few of them, and only four were the Heads.

But as everything turned chaotic, the screen continued playing.

The game board, which showed every player, blacked out the picture of the gangster, Genki Kiriu, marking his elimination as a game over with the sound of a buzzer. The other players looked around shocked, whispering if they could be next.

Urumi looked at Akifumi, before looking at her group who were around her. She whispered, “Hey. That guy must be the Jack.” A simple statement which made her group still and turn towards her in astonishment. “He lied to that big bully and killed him. I think we’d better kill him next turn.” Her curled smile turned big as she continued staring at Akifumi who was cowering away by himself.

“What?” said Ippei in confusion.

“Exactly! What?!” said Lily.

“Simple, Evans. It goes back to my plan of using fear. Genki, the big guy, had used physical means to abuse his partner into giving him his symbol. Urumi is instead manipulating the fear of the Jack of Hearts in the more anxious players—which is almost everyone in her group—by pointing fingers,” stated Regulus.

“Merlin’s balls, you wouldn’t last a day in this game,” laughed Rosier, earning a shout from Potter who rose from his seat.

The woman in yellow, Meisa, came up from behind Urumi timidly before questioning her on her comment. “Are you saying. . .we should lie to him?”

Urumi turned around to face her, her smile dropping and replaced by a fake pout, “Of course. He’s definitely the Jack. And if not, he’s still dangerous. We should eliminate him while we have the chance.” She turned back towards Akifumi, her smile up once again.

As the screen panned over the group as they looked towards each other not knowing what to do, it stopped on Severus. He barely glanced at his group before looking around the room before stopping completely. At least his head did. His eyes, instead, went staring directly into the screen. He turned his head so he would be facing it head on directly.

“That’s so weird,” mumbled Regulus. Severus turned to him confused, “What do you mean?”

Regulus huffed a laugh, “I mean it’s weird that you are right next to me, when in front of me there’s another version of you.” Regulus tilted his head before speaking again, “I’ve also never seen that challenging look on your face before. I mean, your eyes can glare daggers into our souls, but when you challenge someone, your mouth at least tilts into a small smile or frown. Your future self didn’t do either.”

Lily, on the other hand, looked at the eyes and face of her friend. This wasn’t the Severus she knew. Sure this one was sarcastic and spoke his mind, but he wasn’t hers. What happened for Severus to look like this. His stare sent shivers down her spine, as she watched this older Severus stare into the screen out at them completely stone face ready for something they did not know.

Staring directly at Severus, was Banda who smirked at him, and Severus held his gaze.

Evan and Barty stared at the screen in anticipation. They liked this version of Snape. While they liked the one a few seats away from them, they liked this one more. They grinned at each other, before watching the next scene.

At the cafeteria, almost everyone was gathered. Urumi’s group was giving each other’s symbols. When Urumi turned around, Akifumi gave her her symbol. “Your symbol is a diamond.” After it was confirmed by the rest, he turned around asking for her help in giving him his.

Urumi leaned in and said, “Looks like your symbol’s a spade!” The rest of the players around them confirmed it, but Akifumi couldn’t see their nervous faces as they said it.

Akifumi turned back around, gave her a smile and thanked her and them. The heart suit focuses as the screen switches to show the uneasy and hesitant smiling players.

Severus, sitting down a bit away from them, just munched on his cookie, not saying anything.

Frank mumbled out something while running a hand down his face as he looked at the players in disappointment and sadness for the Akifumi. Alice looked worn out as she grabbed her boyfriend’s hand, and squeezed it.

When it was time to tell their symbol, Akifumi stated his as a spade. When the screen panned through the hallways, a muffled explosion could be heard.

Many students and all professors let out a sigh of relief as the gore they witnessed before wasn’t shown. The professor nodded to their prefects, Head Boy and Girl, and other older years as they uncovered the eyes of the younger students.

“At least it wasn’t shown. I didn’t think I could see it again,” mumbled Mary. Her face grew pale as she remembered what had happened before. Even if it was a person she didn’t like, that was a horrible way to die. But it was a quick way to go.

Akifumi Seto’s picture was blackened, making him the second player to get eliminated from the game. The buzzer blared, before starting round four.

Urumi’s group started growing anxious, shocked that Akifumi wasn’t the Jack of Hearts. Urumi, meanwhile, was licking a lollipop without a care in the world.

Two men who were the first to ask what their symbol was were paired together, crouching by a wall. A trio consisting of two men and a woman, were sharing looks at each other, not talking but it was easy to tell that they were all growing nervous.

“People are starting to get nervous. I know they said there was no time limit. . .” he stated as his eyes lifted to the game board, “except that people are actually starting to die now. I’m not sure we'll find the Jack at all.”

The camera showed the partnered players being in their own spaces. The two men, the couple, Banda and his partner.

The screen switched to Meisa drinking water, before letting out a shaky breath before she tried to relax herself by breathing in and out several times while anxiously fiddling with her paper cup. Behind her, Urumi’s group sat. Urumi thumped her fist against the table twice bringing their attention to her. She leaned forward before whispering to them, “That girl there, she wasn’t on our side when we tried to get our stories straight earlier. Should we kill her? Hmm?” She leaned back to her seat slowly, looking into each of their eyes before smiling a little and going back to licking her lollipop.

Another woman in the group stared at her with an unreadable expression.

“She’s not even trying to hide the fact that she’s getting rid of them one by one just for fun,” said Frank, annoyed at Urumi’s actions.

“I’m more interested in the woman that was shown. It looks like she’s going to do something by that stare of hers,” points out Dorcas.

“Merlin, I hope,” mumbled Frank.

Ippei seemed to join Severus in separating themselves from Urumi’s group. He looked upset at them, plotting to kill an innocent person just because they were afraid. Severus, as usual, just casted a glance at Urumi.

When the next scene showed, Ippei was faced away from them and getting his symbol read. When they finished, Meisa asked for hers to be read. Urumi stepped forward, lollipop in her hand as she leaned forward and said, “It looks like your symbol is a club!”

Meisa turned around and smiled thankfully at them, not knowing her symbol was actually a heart. Ippei stared at Urumi. The woman, Shinobu, looked from her to Urumi.

When Shinobu entered her cell, she stated her symbol before hearing a muffled explosion and turned her head towards the sound. Meisa Tokui, was the next person to be blackened on the game board.

Banda’s partner grabbed the red pack of four different flavored snacks from the shelf before passing Urumi’s group giving a player her symbol. When it was Shinobu’s turn to get her symbol read, Urumi told her it was a heart. She told Urumi’s hers, but not without glaring at her, thinking about lying to her but refrained from doing it, as Ippei looked on.

“Do you think Urumi’s ever going to die?” stated a bored Evan.

Barty shrugged leaning against him, “I don’t know man. I’m still waiting for whatever this woman’s gonna do.”

Evan hummed as he patted Barty’s head, before looking back at the screen.

Shinobu has called out to the two men, and told them that she didn’t think her group was telling her the truth. When one of the men did, he lied to her, telling her her symbol was a club. When she left, his partner stared at him as they watched her run laughing.

“Can’t be too careful, right?” Before he walked away as well.

“Hah! She’s fucked! Hahaha!,” cackled Evan who was joined by Barty as they laughed together at this situation. Frank let out a groan, putting his head in his hands.

“Fear and mistrust. She felt like she couldn’t trust her group, and her fear clouded her judgement, leaving her to essentially fuck herself over. She trusted strangers over her group. But then again, I think anyone would have done the same if Urumi was your groups’ leader,” murmured Amelia.

Ippei, on the second floor, watched this go down. His face fell even more whenever he witnessed all this lying and deceiving and backstabbing and betraying.

When Shinobu was in her cell, laughing as she did. When it was time, answered club. Outside, an explosion could be heard. And the board showed two people having their pictures shadowed. The trio of two men and that other woman whose picture was taken out had betrayed her. Now it was just them two.

“Oh, two people died this round,” said Potter.

“Snape’s partner is looking to take the easy way out,” called out Black, earning a smack on the arm from Lupin who glared at him.

“For once I agree with my brother. Severus’ partner is not the person to kill another. His face has lost its smile, and it’s all starting to get to him,” Regulus continued staring at the screen as it showed both Severus and Ippei waiting by the cell doors. By themselves this time.

Ippei was pacing anxiously, his breath shaky with each inhale and exhale. Severus, as usual, stood calm and stoic just watching his partner. Ippei stopped and went to rest against the wall Severus was leaning against.

“Why are they all tricking each other?” he said, his head still reeling from all the deceiving.

“Wow, are you really surprised? Nobody wants to be the next to die.”

As time went on, players started getting eliminated. A player from Urumi’s group, the trio, and then the duo. All that was left were ten.

“We’ve barely reached half!” yelled out a shocked Frank. It felt like everyone was getting killed, and to find out that it was all just ten people gone, Frank couldn’t believe it.

“And in nine rounds, can you believe it?” commented Crouch, earning a glare from Frank.

As the ninth round started, a man from the Urumi’s group seemed like he couldn’t take the lying anymore as he started to get sick. When Urumi manhandled Motohiko to see his symbol, the man had tried to lie to Urumi by saying that her symbol was a diamond instead of a heart. But as he stuttered his way, Urumi’s usual smile slowly melted away as he stuttered before gasping out the word “heart”.

“She didn’t like that,” chuckled a gleeful Rosier.

“I mean he did try. I guess the guilt has gotten to him,” Marlene said as she turned to Dorcas, Mary, and Lily who moved to sit with them. Lily had switched seats when she felt it was time to go with her other friends. She looked over as Severus and Regulus whispered to each other, their heads tilted towards one another as they discussed what was going to happen next.

As the man walked in front of the last two left of the group, Urumi walked behind them with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face as she stated, “Let’s eliminate him now.”

The two anxious members stopped and questioned her decision. Her smirk dropped, “He was thinking about tricking me. It seems he has a problem with how I work.”

“But. . .” the girl said, not able to say anything else as she stared at Urumi.

“If we don’t get rid of him right away, we’ll all be in danger.”

The man and girl looked at each other with anxiety as everyone was alerted that the ninth round was almost over. As Urumi skipped past the cell doors, Motohiko stood in front of the other two and told them that they should eliminate her. As they gasped, Motohiko reasoned that Urumi wasn’t allowed to play with them however she wanted anymore. The screen focused on the two behind him as they started panicking before turning to each other.

“At least he grew a spine,” commented Marlene. “It should have been done a long time ago, but I guess the guilt finally caught up to him.”

“Yeah, but he’s also just as screwed as she is. I think the other two are going to take them both out,” added Dorcas.

The two walked down a dark hallway leading to the cafeteria, where they watched as Motohiko brought snacks and drinks to Urumi who sat and played with Pocky. They turned to each other, agreeing to eliminate both of them through tears.

As the four sat down, they told each their symbols. “Thanks, guy. You’re the only people I can trust now!” Urumi said as she put her chin on top of her hands, staring at each of them.

Ippei and Severus sat at the table next to them. Ippei looking over defeated, Severus just stared as he ate his cookier. As the players were to tell their symbol, Motohiko and Urumi said the wrong ones.

The moment Urumi said spade, her collar exploded, her body dropping exactly like Genki’s. Her picture and Motohiko’s picture joined the eliminated players. When the two last players of Urumi’s group sat across from each other, they told each other the wrong symbol. Their pictures joined the dead.

All that was left was six players, all in pairs. Severus and Ippei, the couple; Yaba and Kotoko, and Banda and Matsushita.

Barty looked over to Frank and asked, “Well, you did ask for shorter rounds.”

Frank ignored him.

Some people wore tired expressions, although some seemed too excited to see the game finished. Regulus wanted to see how Severus lived through this game, what he had thought of to survive.

“Wonder what’s going to happen next, considering these are three pairs of people who trust each other,” commented Regulus.

“How do you know Snape even trusts the guy?” snarked Sirius.

Regulus sighed in annoyance before facing his brother, “One, Severus is always with him. And two, he has lived this long. His partner seems to be a genuine and trustful person, so why would he lie to Severus. Have you seen the way he reacted when the players started to lie to each other?”

There was no reply back, so Regulus turned back to the screen that showed Yaba, the man in the suit with Kotoko. “They all fell for the Jack of Hearts’ trap. Once team members start killing each other, the trust is broken, and the group is destroyed.” She responded that they wouldn’t have that problem.

The screen switched to show Ippei looking at the board. He sob before saying, “I don’t think I can keep playing this game.”

“Oh no,” said Remus softly. “He’s gonna—”

“Diamond.” Severus’ single word made Ippei turn around to face his partner. He sobbed a bit before asking, “How much longer, man?”. He crouched, touching the ground before sobbing again. “It’s so messed up.”

He took another breath before saying, “I thought that. . .people were much better than this.”

The screen focused on Severus as he looked down at his partner. “Man, you led a charmed life.”

When Ippei continued sobbing, Severus said, “I’m sorry. But this is our reality now. Maybe we won’t get out of this alive. But even so, all we can do for now is help each other so that we can get out of this game.”

He stepped closer before closer before crouching next to his friend. “Okay? We can do this,” Severus said before he turned so that his collar would be facing Ippei.

“Okay. What’s my symbol?” Ippei looked up, before looking back down. “Heart.” When the screen focused on Severus again, small twitches in his face gave away what he believed he knew what Ippei was going to do.

The entire hall was silent during the exchange. The Professors and the older students started to realize what was going to happen once the announcer called for players to give their symbol. Some started to tear up. The game had started with Severus’ friend and partner, Ippei, smiling, and now he looked so defeated and worn down. Severus’ nonchalant and calm attitude, seemed to waver as he blinked before the scene changed to Ippei sitting down in his cell.

“I can’t do it.” As the clock ticked down, showing that only thirty seconds remained. “I can’t. I can’t do this.” Then the buzzer rang, signalling for the player to answer. The clock showed up again; fifteen seconds left. Ippei still hadn’t answered. The clock ticked down eight, seven. Ippei breathed in before stating, “I won’t do this.” The clock returned with one and then zero, as blood splattered against the wall. Ippei Oki’s picture dimmed.

Most Hufflepuffs had tears in their eyes as they watched Ippei die. He lost hope in humanity, and despite living so far in the borderlands, he still hoped. Until he saw the grasps humans went to to survive. Killing each other, before ultimately dying. He was a loyal friend till the end.

Severus was shown walking to check on Ippei’s cell. He stopped at the door, and peered inside seeing the bloody mess of his partner’s body. He sighed before stating, “You were too kind for this world, Ippei.”

He breathed deeply through his nose, before turning to face the last remaining players as they exited their cells. “Well, that’s settled. Seems I’ve lost my partner.” The four players looked at him before walking away leaving Severus alone.

“Looks like I’m screwed,” he sighed.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“So, if Urumi wasn’t the Jack of Hearts, could it be Banda?,” asked Amelia.

“It might be Banda, but we can’t really rule out the other three just yet.” answered Regulus. “Besides, I’m more interested in how Severus is going to beat this game without a partner.”

Dorcas nodded, “You’re right. He’s going to have to be pulling so many strings in order to guess his symbol correctly. I mean, we know he survives this game, but the question is just as Black said. How?. What’s he gonna do when the other four don’t want anything to do with him?”

As the sun rose, bringing light into the prison, in the cafeteria sat Severus. He was facing the empty space with its too stocked shelves of food and drinks for five people. He turned his head when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. It was Matsushita, who went directly to the four different flavored snacks of the same brand. He waved his finger around the four before settling on the white packaged snack. As he looked it over, behind him Severus appeared before speaking. “These cookies taste better.”

“What he’s going to win him over with bribery, the fuck he’s doing?” said Black.

“Aw, are you worried about my survival mutt?” Sirius snapped his head at him before glaring, not bothering to respond as Remus held his arm.

Severus smirked, earning himself an even more heated glare and a sneer. Now while he didn’t start the fights, he didn’t mean that he started them by throwing around hexes and jinxes. His words seemed more like a weapon if used right, and case in point, it was working once again. Not that he has any trouble using them to wind up Black.

“Hey, would you mind telling me what my symbol is?” Severus said, staring at Matsushita who didn’t say anything and instead chose to ignore and walked past him. Severus inhaled sharply before calling out, “That guy you hang out with?” That got Matsushita’s attention slightly as he stopped and inclined his head to the side waiting to hear out Severus.

“You should know he’s a murderer.” A shocked Matsushita fully turned around, “What?”

“His name’s Sunato Banda,” stated Severus, not even looking at Matsushita, “It was in the newspaper. Murdered four women, so that makes him a serial killer.” He turned his attention to Matsushita as he added, “And, you know, that’s punishable by death.”

“Ah. I see now,” perked up Dorcas, “He’s using Black’s plan of fear mongering, and is instead trying to make Matsushita scared of Banda, which will make him lie.”

“I couldn’t have said better myself,” said Regulus, who ignored the look that Dorcas gave him.

“A compliment? From Regulus Black, no less?” Marlene gasped out, clenching her nonexistent pearls in faked shock. Dorcas, Mary, and Lily giggled next to her, making her break her shocked face and laughing alongside her friends.

“Don’t get used to it.”

“That’s a filthy lie.”

“No. It’s true.” Severus put a hand in his jacket’s pocket, before tilting his head slightly. “Know what I think? I think he’s the Jack of Hearts.”

Matsushita let out a small gasp of shock.

“There it is,” said Dorcas.

“Anyone else think that reaction looked just a tad bit fake?” pointed out Frank. He looked around shocked as he heard a few of the Slytherins agree with him.

“There’s only five of us left. Time is running out, so the Jack's gonna start to get aggressive now,” Severus said. “Might as well share symbols.”

He started to walk forward towards Matsushita as he talked. “For the moment, you’re in a good position. The Jack still trusts you.” He walked past Matsushita going behind him, still talking, “So if anyone is going to lie to the Jack , it has to be you. Which means this game can only end one way. The key player here is you.”

He stopped before crossing his arms before continuing as Matsushita turned his head towards him, “I’m sure this is a lot, and you don’t trust me yet. For what it’s worth, there’s no advantage for me to lie, so I’ll tell you the truth about your symbol. Don’t you wanna make sure that Banda’s telling you the truth?”

“What makes you think that I would trust you over him?” asked Matsushita.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. If I were in your shoes, I’d want to weigh my options.”

A few students groaned loudly as some facepalm.

“What are you doing?” asked Lupin, “Why would you basically tell him why he shouldn’t trust you?”

“Well, first off, that is technically not me. And secondly, I believe that is to paint himself—myself—as a truthful person. By both telling him his symbol while also pointing out the risks of trusting him, might make Matsushita second-guess whether Banda tells the truth or not, and will make him think about future me’s request.”

Lupin titled his head from side to side, agreeing with the reasoning, “I guess you’re right.”

“And I’ve got no reason to lie to you. Banda’s a murderer, and that’s a fact.”

Matsushita fully turned around, facing Severus directly before telling him, “I still don’t trust you.”

“Fine. You’ll see for yourself, once the next round is over.”

“He’s casting doubt,” Crouch pointed out. He huffed a small laugh as he said quietly, “He’s trying to get into his head.”

“You’re a spade, just so you know.” Severus turned around, letting Matsushita see his symbol. “So, will you tell me mine?”

As Matsushita stayed quiet, Severus turned slightly back around, letting out a small amused laugh, “Come on. I told you what yours is.”

“I never agreed to this deal.” Matsushita walked past Severus, before stopping, turning back around to face him and said, “Heart.” With that, he walked out, as the screen focused on Severus’ collar clearly showing a diamond suit.

Severus looked slightly amused by this. Most likely knowing that Matshushita had lied to him.

The screen switched to show Matsushita walking down a hallway before reaching the end, getting startled as Banda asked, “What’s happening?”

Frank jumped a little, “Merlin, he’s everywhere! He’s really fucking creepy, popping in and out like that.”

“I think the Jack of Hearts is. . . is that guy right there,” Matsushita said as he lifted an arm to point at Severus’ picture on the board.

“I thought he was suspicious too.”

“Well, don’t worry.” Banda turned towards Matsushita, “He’ll die this round. You can trust me on that.”

Banda gave him a small smirk, as he looked back up at the board.

An entire hallway away from them, stood the second pair. Yaba and Kotoko. Yaba was staring at Banda and Matsushita. “That kid Banda. He’s the one we need to watch out for.” As he was talking, Kotoko peaked her head out from the corner. “You know that emo kid who lied first to kill that big guy? Banda’s the one who convinced him to lie to the man. I saw him do it.”

“Huh?”

Yaba walked to where Kotoko was. “He whispered in his ear. Banda looks innocent, but he’s got no actual empathy for anyone else. He can only process human emotion through logic and reason,” Yaba looked down, smiling before continuing, “He’s certifiably psychopathic.” He turned towards Kotoko. “He’s the Jack of Heart. I’m sure of it.”

Kotoko turned back to look at Banda and Matsushito, but her focus was on Banda who leaned against the wall. As the screen went closer to his face, a small almost engraved smile was on his face as he stared into space.

“You know,” Rosier started, “They’re putting too much attention on Banda.”

At the confused looks he received, Evan sighed before explaining, “I mean, there’s so much suspicion around Banda coming from everyone. When there’s too much focus on one person, that most likely means that it’s not him. He may be suspicious and the things he does and shows certainly proves that, but with everyone pointing their fingers at him, it just tells us that Banda is not the Jack of Hearts. Someone else is.”

Severus tilted his head, taking that into consideration.

“It could be Yaba,” said Lily. “He’s another big player, with a very submissive partner. We definitely know it’s not Severus, no matter how. . . dangerous he is. In this game, now that he has no partner, I mean.”

Severus didn’t turn his head towards Lily’s statement, no matter how much it hurt hearing her call him dangerous. Normally, he would take pride in the fact that Lily had called him strong. Being dangerous meant being strong. Powerful. At least to him and the Slytherins. Normally, he would get slightly giddy over the fact that Lily had complimented him like that, but he realized his feelings of love towards her were more like a strong platonic siblings’ bond than romantic love for her. Not that everyone could tell.

Most of the school thought that he was in love with Lily, and that was why Potter and his goons would pick fights with him, especially whenever Lily wasn’t around. But that bond has been slowly dwindling as the years passed by at Hogwarts. And as things started going bad in the wizarding world, especially with the rise of a dark lord and an army of so-called “Death Eaters”, things started going rocky between them.

Sure there were times where their bond got strong, like it was when Fate and Death invited themselves in the Great Hall and put everyone’s attention on him. But the fire in their bond slowly grew smaller whenever Lily continued seeing how he was reacting, the things he’s said, his actions during his stay in the borderlands. These games were slowly casting doubt on his person, as Lily started to mix both present him and future him together, not being able to tell which was different.

Kotoko made her way into the cafeteria, and as she looked through the shelf, she stopped to pick out from the same brand of snacks that Matsushita always got. She was startled when Severus stepped into view past the shelf. “There are only five of us left, and unfortunately, my partner’s dead.”

She didn’t hesitate to ignore him and started to hastily walk back.

“I asked that guy Matsushita what my symbol is, but he told me he doesn’t trust me, and I’m pretty sure that he lied to me. Sort of a hunch, I guess. So, would you mind telling me what my symbol is? I know this is kind of a big ask. But if you want, I promise to tell you your symbol in exchange. I. . . don’t mean to presume, but you strike me as an honest person, at least from over here.”

Kotoko looked away from him as she breathed unsteadily. She took a small step forward before stopping as Severus spoke, “Also, that Yaba guy strikes me as a bit of a conman, and since you’re aligned with him, I thought you should know.”

Kotoko stayed where she was, but the audience could tell she was getting nervous as she looked around quickly, not even sparing Severus a glance. She hadn’t even spoken during this one-sided conversation.

“Looks like Snape is going to be using the same plan, except he was a bit nicer to her than when he was talking to Matsushita,” said Amelia.

“Except Matsushita lied to him, and now both Banda and him believe that Severus is the Jack. What do you think Kotoko’s going to do?” asked Regulus.

Amelia hummed, before answering, “I think she’s either going to lie to him, or just not tell him. I’m leaning towards her not even telling him, and just walking away like what Matsushita was going to do before he turned to lie to him. She seems like a very submissive person, especially with a guy like Yaba always near her.”

The screen switched to show both Yaba and Bando using the urinals, before Yaba started speaking. “Let me get right to the point. Are you the Jack of Hearts or not?”

“I’ll only say this. I might be the Jack of Hearts, but the fact that you’re bringing it up means it could be you.” This earned Banda a chuckle from Yaba who responded, “I know one thing. You and I will never get along.”

The screen switched back to Severus and Kotoko, “Your symbol is a heart,” he said as he walked in front of Kotoko giving her the view of his collar. “Now, what about mine? It’s a club, right?”

"Matsushita told him it was a heart. Snape is trying to knock off what his symbol is, and by saying it was a club, Kotoko might just help him see if it is a spade or a diamond," pointed out Amelia.

Kotoko stepped closer, looking at his symbol before looking back and forth between Severus and his collar and then walked away, her breathing becoming unsteady. “These taste better, you know,” Severus called out, showing her fleeting back his cookies.

“Okay, one; What was that discussion between Yaba and Banda, and two; why is Snape advertising his cookies,” said Frank. Despite the tense atmosphere this round of the game was creating, Frank’s comment about Severus and his advertising made a few students laugh.

“He definitely knows something we don’t,” pointed out Dorcas. “But what that could be, is really unclear to even figure out,” added Marlene.

“I think it might be about those cookies. And by ‘those’ I mean both Kotoko, Matsushita, and Severus. He’s always there, and he keeps—as Frank said—telling them that his cookies taste better,” said Amelia, with a thoughtful look on her face. Her eyes seemed to squint as she had a hand on her chin, trying to think of what Snape knew and what he was planning before the screen showed her. “Black, you got anything?”

Regulus shrugged before breathing a slight frustrated sigh, “Honestly, I don’t even know what he’s planning, but as Meadowes said, he knows something. But as we’ve seen what he does during the beginning of the game, he might wait until he has to say his symbol to really put his plan into play.”

Severus walked into the central guardroom, watching as Yaba and Banda headed straight to their partners, looking at him but completely ignoring him. “Five people left, and only two pairs. The Jack’s definitely going to make a move this round,” he said as he stepped into the platform that Urumi usually stood on. He looked between the two pairs, before chuckling, “I guess that this is the last round.” He let out a smile, before turning and walking back.

Back with the pairs, Yaba told Kotoko hers, “Heart.” Kotoko told him, “Diamond.”

“Spade,” said Banda. “All right, and now it’s my turn.” He turned around. Matsushita told him, “Spade.”

The screen panned up to focus on both Yaba and Banda’s faces as their partners told them their suits, but neither looked like they believed it.

“It is time to answer. Please enter a solitary confinement cell of your choosing.”

Students stood up in shock, and there were some yells of confusion. “They definitely know they were lied to,” exclaimed Frank.

“They must've told each other their symbols during that scene in the restroom!” pointed out Marlene.

But before anyone could say anything, the screen continued.

A cell door closed, locking as it did. A timer showing one minute and thirty seconds popped up, before switching to show Severus standing in his cell with his arms crossed. “I bet Matshushita lied to me. I’m sure he did. And Kotoko, she totally ignored me.”. He tilted his head as he weighed his options, not at all nervous or worried about his impending doom. “Meaning that. . . it’s a diamond,” he tilted his head the other way, “or a spade, right?”. He inhaled sharply, before sighing. “Hmm. Ah, well. . . I’ll go with my gut.” He said, a smile on his lips. His eyes looked too happy.

Students watched their hands clasped together as the screen showed all five players. Banda, then Matshuita, followed by Yaba, and then Kotoko. And finally, Severus’ smirking face. “Please give your answer.”

The screen showed one second remaining, before hitting zero and an explosion echoed out.

“Who died!” became the only words that filled the Great Hall/theater, as students whispered to their friends of who could have died.

Amelia, followed by Regulus, Dorcas, Marlene, and Frank jumped out of their seats, together shouting, “THERE WAS ONLY ONE!”

“One explosion?” repeated Lily, “Who do you think it was?”

Students suddenly started shouting their answers. One half of the room shouted Banda, the other Yaba. No one shouted the other three players' names. One was of course the only one they would not suspect. Snape lived until the end, no matter how stressful situations he put himself in. He wasn’t going to die, Death and Fate said so.

As the five students that jumped from their seats sat down, they looked at each other as the screen showed a hallway before a cell door suddenly opened. And stepped out, Matsushita. As the door closed behind him, making it ring out throughout the prison. The screen showed different cell doors, as they stayed closed.

“I won,” he said before devolving into a fit of maniacal laughter. His laughter came to a stop as a cell door suddenly opened.

Cheers rang out, startling Severus who looked at the scene of people cheering for his appearance. He stared confused. Not knowing if he should be feeling grateful that they didn’t want to see him dead, or if he should sneer at them for being idiots at the fact that everyone knew he wasn’t going to die in the borderlands.

No one seemed to care at Severus’ confused feelings as they all sat back down listening to his plan. Amelia, Regulus, Dorcas, Marlene, and Frank paid careful attention to what Severus was going to say.

“I had a feeling you were the Jack of Hearts,” said Severus, his hands in his pockets as he stepped out from his cell, smiling at Matsushita who looked back bewildered and shocked. There was a small hint of fear as he stuttered out, “But how did you. . .”

“You teamed up with Banda from the start, and he’s a murder, so it just made sense.”

A flashback showed both Banda and Matsushita teaming up as Severus watched from the top floor. It ended as it returned to Matsushita's shocked face. “Even if somehow, you were moved by Banda’s little monologue, I knew you wouldn’t trust him. You don’t trust strangers. And certainly not as fast as that.”

Before anyone could say anything another door opened, making Matsushita turn to face it. “Most people won’t even talk to a guy like me. But you wanted to kill me,” said Banda as the door closed behind him.

Shouts of shock almost rivaled the cheering from before as people began to wonder who else was alive. Kotoko or Yaba.

“I could sense that in you right away. So I wanted to see if you were smart, or just stupid, or whether you were a true psychopath.”

“You mean. . .” gasped Matsushita. “You thought you were controlling me this whole time. But I was manipulating you into thinking that way. Ultimately, it was your huge superiority complex that gave you away,” said Banda as he walked forward closer to Matsushita.

Severus spoke from behind him, making him turn towards him, “That kind of self-importance usually comes from being put in a special position. Something that made you feel untouchable. Like being chosen as the Jack of Hearts.”

Immediately, Matsushita denied this. “You guys are wrong about this,” he pointed his finger to Banda as he accused Banda of being the Jack of Hearts.

“Sorry, kid,” Yaba said as he stepped down from the stairs, stopping as he entered the hallway where the other three were. “It’s not Banda.”

“Kotoko’s dead. How?” murmured Frank.

Matsushita's face turned into an anxious and nervous one, as he stared at the alive Yaba who started walking forward. “You and Kotoko were connected. I told Kotoko what her symbol was. And yet, she still died. Which means Kotoko was being manipulated by someone other than me.”

Matsushita seemed to be out of his grasp as he suddenly accused Severus.

“Every time I went to the cafeteria, you and Kotoko would always be there, getting snacks at the same time,” a flashback showed to where Urumi’s group was still there, and switched to show Severus looking at Matsushita as he walked over to the four different flavored snacks of the same brand. “And each time, you’d get the exact same kind of snack.” The screen showed another flashback, this time of Kotoko, with Severus looking at her. She walked nervously through the aisle, before reaching out to take the cookie in the black packaging. “You and Kotoko were secretly communicating in the cafeteria.”

As she lifted the snack, she whispered to herself, “Spade.”

Back to the present, Severus continued, smirking as he looked at Matsushita, “Both of you were just pretending that you were being controlled.” Another flashback, this time showing both Matsushita and Kotoko passing by each other with their colored snacks in their hands in an easy way to tell each other their symbol. “There were four different flavors of the snack. You would confirm your symbols by checking the packaging, using those snacks as a code with each other. I caught on pretty quickly.”

A stunned silence rang throughout the Hall. Amelia broke it by groaning out a weak chuckle, “I would have never guessed that.”

“I think that would have been a very clever way of winning, if there weren’t such smart players like Sverus, Yaba, and Banda. Having a secret code with someone you were manipulating before telling them to lie to their partner as you lie to yours. And then with the code you created, lie to your secret partner by grabbing the wrong packaging,” said Regulus who looked almost impressed.

“The fact that Snape caught on quickly, most likely means that when he was telling them about his snack tasting better, he was actually telling them that he knew!” exclaimed a happy Marlene. “He was just playing with them,” said Dorca, letting out a small laugh after she said that.

“I’m just happy I thought of this,” murmured Amelia, still not believing she was close to the truth about the use of the different cookies.

Frank turned to where Severus was, before saying, “You are terrifying, you know that.”

Severus looked at a smirking Regulus before looking back at Longbottom, and said in a confused voice, “Thank you?”

“And then, you told Kotoko to give me the wrong symbol,” said Yaba. “See?” pointed out Regulus. ”I really did trust her. Except at the end.”

Matsushita stuttered a bit as his breath quickened when he asked, “When did the three of you guys start working together?”

“Well, the very first announcement said that this game is about how much we can trust one another. So we simply followed that principle. In order to gain someone’s trust you can’t control, or manipulate, or guide them in any way. You can’t brainwash or hypnotize them, lie to them or instill fear. It’s called equality.”

Severus tried not to shrink into his seat as stares came over him. He might have overdone it with that speech about trust having to be done equally on both sides, but Black was annoying him. Regulus, meanwhile, stared straight ahead as he ignored them. His speech on using the fear of others to manipulate flashed through everyone’s mind. So were Barty’s about hurting others, Amelia’s doubtful trust and how it could lead to someone making the wrong decision.

Matsushita looked between both Yaba and Banda, as the scene from the restroom between them showed. “I know one thing. You and I will never get along.”

“Tell me. I want to know why you’re here playing the games in this country? I’ll tell you why I’m here. I’ve never seen a place more beautiful than this one,” said Banda.

“I’m here because I. . . because I believe that this world is a place that is worth conquering.”

“Well, then, you and I might be more alike than you think.”

Yaba turned around to face Banda, “I’m starting to get that feeling too. Trust is the most important thing in this game. We’ll be good for each other. Intellectual equals, and trustworthy partners.”

Banda smiled at him.

“A weird way to tell someone else is your equal, but hey if it works, it works,” said Sirius.

In the present time, both Yaba and Banda stood next to each other as they stared at Matsushita as he panicked. “Wait a sec. What makes you so sure it’s me? The Jack of Hearts could easily be one of you guys. Okay, maybe I did try to blame everything on you by setting you up, but look! But that’s not enough, huh? You guys don’t have any proof that I’m the Jack of Hearts, huh?”

“Now, he’s really selling that he is the Jack of Hearts,” said Severus. “He’s panicking, and just trying to stall the inevitable.”

“You sure about that?” said Severus. Matsushita turned to him. “Just think about it,” he started as he began walking to him. “If they suspected that you were the Jack, then why did you survive this last round? Why didn’t Banda lie? Tell you the wrong thing? The reason you’re still alive is because you’re the Jack.”

Severus tilted his head at him as he smirked. “And these guys planned to keep you alive,” he walked closer to him before continuing, “because they decided they wanna get information out of you.” he said as he leaned forward slightly.

Matsushita quickly understood as he heard footsteps from behind. Yaba and Banda walked forth, both ready to exact their information as Matsushita breathing began picking up.

“Round 14, start.”

“Well, Potter. You were right,” called out Rosier.

“What?” said James, confused as to why this was relevant to him.

“About the torture being ‘fun’,” Evan said as he smirked at Potter’s quickly pale face. They all looked at the screen as Matsushita was thrown into a cell. “What are you doing?!” he panted, as Yaba and Banda walked in.

“There have been so few opportunities to really get to talk to the citizens of this place,” said Yaba as he took off his suit jacket and hung it.

“We need you to tell us the ins and outs of this country,” continued Banda.

That was when Matsushita gasped as she tried to crawl backwards in a panic as he noticed the large kitchen knife Bande was holding. “I’m sorry that we won't be able to kill you, but. . .” he started as he crouched down eye-level to Matsushita, “there are a lot of other ways to have fun.” He smiled as he held up a straight blade.

Matsushita tried to bring his arms up but couldn’t as Yaba held them down. Banda grabbed his face as he brought the straight blade closer to Matsushita, who started screaming as he watched it get closer.

James shivered as he regretted making that comment. He mumbled, his tanned face still pale, “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

Rosier smiled gleefully at him, “Sure, you did.” James glared at him when he winked. He added a sneer when Crouch laughed.

Outside the prison, the gates rumbled as they were pulled open by Severus, who strolled out, his hands in his pockets. As he walked, a metal blimp behind him holding the Jack of Hearts card sign, exploded. Severus watched it start to fall, then he turned and walked away, a small smirk on his face. Matsushita was dead.

Inside, a bloody Banda and Yaba walked through the hallways. “We didn’t get very much out of him,” said Yaba.

“I can’t believe he just gave up like that and said the wrong answer, even though we told him what the real answer was,” smiled Banda.

“He certainly gave up faster than I expected,” smirked Yaba. “Hmm. Yeah,” laughed Banda.

Both men walked past the screen, as it blacked out.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“So they’re not going to come back right? ‘Cause I don’t want to see any of them,” said Frank.

“Eh,” shrugged Fate, “They appear but only for a while. They decide to stay in the borderlands, instead of denying, like the rest.”

“What do you mean deny?” asked Amelia.

The screen switched on to show a metal blimp, and just like the Jack of Hearts, holding up a giant face card showing the King of Diamonds above a building. The screen showed close up words that when pulled back, spelled out, ‘Supreme Court’.

“Okay, wait hold on,” said Marlene. When she got the go ahead from Death, she asked, “What do the cards’ suit mean? I mean, we know what the Heart's suit means. At least, we kind of do. It deals with your feelings and trust, but what about the others?”

“Ah. Well, you're somewhat right about the Hearts,” answered Fate. “But what one suit means might be either harder or easier for others than what you believe them to be. Each game, at least before the second stage, involved the number cards. One through ten. One being the easiest, ten being the hardest. When you entered, you would often not know what suit game it would be or the difficulty.”

Fate looked around, making sure everyone understood, before continuing, “Hearts, like the Jack of Hearts game we saw, is considered one of the most difficult suits, due to the fact that it puts you through emotional and psychological tests. Oftentimes, these Heart games are set on betraying others for your own survival. It’s even worse when you play with friends.” Fate gave a chilling smile, as her gaze swept over the crowd. To toy with them, she stopped to stare at the students who were sitting with their friends through most of the showing, which of course, scared them.

“Clubs means that the games you’re going to play require you to work in teams. It's just teamwork games, but sometimes it might involve just two players, a large or small group of players, or even the entire total of registered players in the same game. Think of Quidditch, that’s a team sport right?” Fate added. Everyone knew how Quidditch worked, but for life or death, that would most likely depend on how well you knew your team, and how well you worked with them. “Now, Spades are where your games push your physical strength and speed beyond what you could accomplish. Like a fight to the death.”

“Diamonds, like this game we’re about to see with Severus, require you to prioritize logic and intelligence. They do not require you to use any physical strength, and instead, want you to use your critical thinking, analytical skills, and strategy to survive.”

Students around the Hall began whispering what suit games they could survive. Of course, if they weren’t life or death. Almost all of them came to the same conclusion. The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors would survive the club games. Diamonds, of course, went to the Ravenclaws and Slytherins. And as for Gryffindors, they would easily win spades, with a few of the physically strong and fast members of other houses. As for hearts, mostly everyone was scared. And it didn’t help when Alice’s soft voice rang throughout the Great Hall.

“That would be horrible,” murmured Alice. “Imagine you go into a game with your friends and end up playing a Hearts game, and you have to basically fight against them to survive.”

Her comment sent groups of friends to hug each other’s hands, in comfort, not wanting to even think about that at the moment.

“Considering that Snape survived the Jack of Hearts, does that make him good at Hearts games or is he good at other suits,” asked Amelia. “Because I cannot see him participating in any Spade or Club games, especially this older Snape. No offense,” She added as she turned her head towards Snape in the Hall.

“Eh, none taken. I would do horrible with Spades. If I were with people I trust I could maybe do Club games, but if it was a Hearts game, especially one that require me betraying the people I love and respect the most, I would try to think of a way to bend the rules,” said Severus before adding, “If I couldn’t, then I would choose the most capable person, and then just. . .” his voice grew quieter as they continued, but most got the message. And they didn’t like what he meant.

The Marauders looked at each other. They couldn’t, wouldn’t, even if it cost them their own lives, kill each other. They would never sell each other out. But if one of them died, they would use their last words to ask for the others to live. That was how they were. James grasped Remus’, Sirius’, and Peter’s hands and gave them a smile before saying, “I don’t know what I would do, if any of you died.” He let out a deep sigh before closing his eyes, and when he opened them, he looked in each of their eyes and said, “I would give up my life, if it meant any of you would survive. And I would want you to continue living your best life even if that means that I am gone.”

That got both Remus and Sirius angry with him, but out of love. Because they knew that they would do the same. Peter, on the other hand, just smiled and nodded. Because he knew, deep down, he didn’t think that he would do the same. The human instinct of survival can come in different situations. And most of the time, if it was a painful death, one would do anything to survive, even if it meant doing the worst thing you could imagine. But Peter smiled and repeated the words to James, who lit up like the sun.

Remus looked over at Snape, he knew that James and Sirius were too, and even if they didn’t like him, they all knew that they would follow in Snape’s footsteps if it meant making sure that the people that they loved, lived on, even if it meant at the cost of their own lives.

They were brought out of their minds, when they heard the voice of Death.

“Most diamond games end up with one player surviving. Some hearts games like to walk the line of either having a few, a lot, or just one. But it does depend on how big the registered list of players are for those games,” said Death.

“And,” said Lily, wringing her hands together, “What about Severus. What were most of his games?”

“Diamonds, mostly,” answered Death.

Inside the building of the Supreme Court, the screen peered up to show each of the five players. An older man compared to the other players, Yashige, a middle-aged man, Asuma, and a young woman, Daimon. “Fascinating,” smiled Severus as the screen showed him, making him the fourth player. “So you were the King of Diamonds all along. The Beach executive. Former Number Two. Kuzuryu,” Severus said as the screen switched to show the King of Diamonds.

Kuzuryu had his hands clasped together, as his head was slightly bowed down, shadowing his face, all except his glasses which hit the light showing from above the players.

“Why was the King of Diamonds at the Beach?”

“Why is he asking about the beach?” asked Potter. “I think he means it as some sort of resort,” answered Lupin.

“Lupin is right. The Beach was a place of refuge that housed hundreds of players. Of course, not even a refuge could really stop the games from being played or the visas counting down your days, so you would go to play the games you would already know in order to replenish them and come back,” said Fate.

“Was?” asked Regulus, “What happened to it?”

“It burnt down when the Ten of Hearts game was cleared,” smiled Fate. Regulus nodded, slightly moving behind Severus, who smirked at him.

“I was curious,” answered Kuzuryu.

“Undercover, then” smirked Severus.

A chime rang throughout the empty space.

“Hold on!” exclaimed Amelia. “They’re strapped to their seats!”

Eyes went to the figure of Snape on the screen and as they continued to stare. They noticed the black strap that ran across Snape’s chest that could barely be seen through his black shirt, but his white jacket helped with finding it.

“What happens to the losers?” asked Black. “I think the question we should be asking is, what is going to pour down on them?” replied Potter as he eyed beams that peaked behind Snape’s figure.

“Difficulty, King of Diamonds. Game, Beauty Contest.”

“Let us begin.” With that the screen began moving backwards from Kuzuryu’s face, to show the other players and the arena. Giant scales sat behind each player, and in front of them, each player had metal tables which held a tablet. In front of those tables, were screens where the announcer’s voice was coming front where she displayed the rules.

“Rules. Contestants have three minutes to choose a number between 0 and 100. The average of the numbers everyone selected is multiplied by 0.8. The person who chose the number closest to that result is the winner.”

“Multiply the average value of what we all chose by 0.8,” said Yashige as his fingers began moving around almost strategically as if he was already counting in his head, while looking around at the other players.

“Whoever’s number is closest to that result wins,” stated Asuma.

“Hmm? Multiply the average value by 0.8?” Daimon asked as she pouted with her head cupped in her hands, “Why 0.8? What’s 0.8 mean?”

“I get it. Multiplying the average by the fixed value of 0.8 disrupts the scale’s balance. That’s why it’s a game,” answered Asuma.

“0.8 is a drop. A single drop straight from heaven,” stated Severus as he smirked.

James had his hands in his already unruly, messy hair as he said, “So many words and 0.8’s were said, and I understood none of them!”

“Basically, they all choose a number between zero and one hundred, and whatever those numbers are, they’re added before the answer of those numbers is divided by five, because that’s how many players there are, and after that, that answer is then multiplied by 0.8. And finally, whoever has the closest number to the final value, wins,” answered Severus as he explained what seemed to be a simple question.

“Snape, thank you, but whatever you just said still doesn’t make sense to me,” said Potter.

Severus let out a deep sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose, “Just. . .look at the screen. It’ll make sense if you just see.”

No one commented on the fact that James Potter and Severus Snape just behaved civil towards each other, without hexing each other or throwing insults. Potter even thanked Snape!

“One point will be deducted from the four losers, and the round is concluded. When a player reaches negative ten points, they will receive a game over. The last player standing will clear the game. However, every time a player is eliminated, a new rule is added,” continued the announcer.

“A new rule? What’s with that?” asked Daimon.

Severus looked up before asking, “And nobody’s explaining these scales.”

A buzzer sounded before the announcer said, “Round one, start.”

The room was quiet as everyone stared at their screen, before one by one they each picked their number as it chimed signalling they'd chosen.

The buzzer returned, “Time limit reached.” Pictures of each of the five players were shown and beneath them were their numbers. Asuma with 33, Daimon with 40, Kuzuryu with 29, Yashige with 30, and Severus with 32. “The average of the numbers chosen in the first round is 32.8. After multiplying this value by 0.8,” the computer showed 26.24, “the player closest to this number,” the computer then switched back to the players’ faces, “. . .is Master Kuzuryu, the winner.”

“There’s no way he guessed so close!” exclaimed Black, accompanied by others.

“There’s no way any of them guessed close to twenty-six,” mumbled Mary. “Merlin, I’m so terrible with mental math!”

Muggleborns and muggle-raised half-bloods agreed, as they looked at the screen with confusion and slight horror. If they had paper, or even a calculator, they would have been able to, but in three minutes, they would not have finished even placing their answer.

“I don’t think it’s based on just math,” pointed out Lily. “Remember what diamond games need. Analytical skills and strategy. There could be some kind of way to pick the correct number, or at least, a number close to it.”

Regulus shrugged his shoulders, “Or it could be just luck. You never know from what we’ve seen with these games. Severus guessed his symbol in the Jack of Hearts. But you’re right, especially with how smart Severus is, he’s definitely got some kind of card up his sleeve.”

Regulus smirked when some students groaned at his slight pun.

As the screen switched back to show the computer after panning up to show Kuzuryu lifting his head after his victory of round one, his picture displayed a ‘WIN’ at the top as he stayed at zero, while the others went down by negative one points which were highlighted in red.

“If everyone picked 40, then the average value would be 40, of course. Multiplying that by 0.8 is 32. Even if everyone anticipated that and chose 32, multiping the average value by 0.8 will yield a lower number. So that won’t work. If everyone picks the same, that means getting stuck in a cycle and no one wins. So we can’t do that. Nah,” Yashige said.

Daimon clapped her hands and said with a smile, “Ah, I understand. You just need to predict your opponents’ moves and be a few steps ahead. Mmm. . . This feels like a heart more than a diamond. Hmm! We’re reading each other.”

“Whether you play poker or chess, in an intellectual game, you have to read your opponent. Not reading their minds, but predicting their reasoning. Wouldn’t you say?” said Severus as he turned to Kuzuryu, “Huh, King?”

“Their reasoning?” asked Daimon.

Kuzuryu stayed silent. Severus let out a small noise of amusement, “You ignoring me?”

As Severus’ gaze still on the King, Asuma heard water going into a bowl above him. He looked up as he questioned what that was.

“What’s that? Water.” Asuma looked at Severus' scale, as some type of liquid was being poured into the bowl above his head.

Kuzuryu stated, “That is sulfuric acid.”

Gasps of horror came out of every muggleborn and muggle-raised wizard and witch as they stared at the close of the seemingly innocent looking liquid that resembled water.

“What’s sulfuric acid?” asked a pureblood Slytherin. “It’s a type of chemical formula in liquid form that can cause severe burns if it comes in contact with skin. It can melt almost anything, if I remember correctly,” answered Severus, whose skin turned even paler as he stared at the scene with horror and disgust.“Those scales,” he continued not bothering with the looks of horror from the now informed wizard-raised students, “are made to tip over the player. And with the sulfuric acid in it,. . . Let’s just say that will be a horrible, horrible way to die. I don't even think I want to see what happens when it gets dumped on a human head.”After a few minutes of silence, Potter’s voice rang out, “I would rather take the explosive collar. At least, it’s instant.”Noises of agreement followed his statement. “Well, there’s also another way to go. One that’s also instant,” cooed Fate.“What do you mean?” asked Dorcas.Fate giggled, “The laser.”“Laser?” Regulus stared at Fate confused.“It’s a small beam of light that muggles use. I don’t know what they’re used for but in some forms of muggle media they’re usually deadly,” answered Sirius.“Thanks.”Death nodded, “Yes. In the borderlands, these lasers are usually shot out at the players whose visas run out. It’s why you would have to play the games. But since everyone has entered the second stage after completing every number card, the visas don’t matter as much. Now it’s just about survival and taking down the face cards.”

“What?” said Daimon, astonished.

“Oh, so you’ll answer him,” replied Severus, as Kuzuryu continued to ignore him

“If someone reaches negative ten points, the scales will tip,” answered Asuma, as the screen panned around to show everyone but Severus and Kuzuryu looking up at their respective scales.

“It’ll melt our bodies,” stated the King.

Yashige looked up as he talked, “Best case, we end up horribly disfigured.”

As the screen panned down from a scale to show Severus as he said to himself, “Scales, well. . .,” Severus then looked to Kuzuryu, “Let me guess. The King of Diamonds is a lawyer. At least, he used to be.”

“Yes, but that’s in the past,” said Kuzuryu.

“That bad, was it?,” asked Severus, “But even so, you selected this venue. Interesting game arena, the Supreme Court. This giant installation. The badge a lawyer wears represents equality and fairness. All lives, including yours, is equally valuable. Is that what you wanna say? What you want us to understand?”

Daimon let out a sharp laugh, “The scale will always tip to whatever side has more gold.” She then looked at Kuzuryu who was staring down at his metal table, “Not all life has the same value, you know.”

A sense of understanding went through everyone in the Great Hall, even if some hated how right she was. Because no matter how unfair, no matter the amount of evidence you had, people are greedy. And those who have enough gold that sits in their pockets, will always get away with it.No matter how different the muggle and wizarding world can say they are, there are always similarities. And one of the most glaring ones was the fact that names have power and money, and those in power with wealthy pockets could do whatever they want. They were those who actively hurt others knowing that their names mean something, and will never be punished heavily for their actions.James felt a heaviness in his gut. He knew what it was, because he felt it whenever he was guilty of something and he tried to shake it off. But it didn’t go away. ‘Not all life has the same value’ rang through his head. He tried not to look over at Snape. He tried not to think about the years he and his friends have spent bullying, humiliating him because they were either bored or wanted to test out a prank. If you could even call them that.He remembered a prank they pulled in fourth year that involved using a muggle balloon and red and gold glitter. He remembered that they had spelled it to become invisible and to follow Snape the moment they saw him enter the train. Then they activated it. What followed was supposed to be a funny memory, but that was not the feeling James was feeling when he remembered it now. It was guilt. A heavy, sinking feeling that seemed to be finally taking its toll on him. Something he wasn’t used to when dealing with Snape.The glitter they spelled multiplied as it exploded around Snape when he closed the door to his cart. When they saw him he was choking on the glitter that had entered and filled his lungs, his eyes were a bright red and watery. He had to miss out on the sorting ceremony for the first years and the first couple days of classes, in order to remove all the glitter that had entered his system. When they were called into Dumbledore’s office accompanied by their Head of House, they lost Gryffindor a hundred points together, and had a month’s worth of detention. They had taken this as a thing to celebrate, even when they heard that Snape could have suffocated if he hadn’t escaped his cart in time.‘Not all life has the same value’. James wiped his sweaty and shaking hands on his uniform that started to feel constricting on him, as he calmed his breathing. Snape could have died or have been permanently or seriously injured in any and all of their pranks. They even made the Marauder’s Map specifically to follow him and ambush him, when Snape had gotten real good at hiding and running away from them whenever Lily wasn’t with him.James knew how to say sorry. He has said it hundreds of times to his father, his mother, his friends, and his peers. But he didn’t know how he could say it to Snape. He didn’t know what two simple words could mean against the five years of torment they’ve put him through. He put him through. But somehow, James will try to fix this.At least, fix it to the best of his ability. He knows what to expect. Instant rejection, followed by maybe a curse or two, but James will try to show it to not just Snape, but to everybody who he has ever hurt with the so-called “pranks” he and his friends have pulled for their own amusement.He knew Remus felt the same way, if the look on his face said anything. He caught his eyes, and both shot an understanding look towards one another, before their gaze shifted over to Snape who looked like he knew how Daimon’s words felt. Mostly because he has lived through them.Constantly having his problems pushed aside because he wasn’t wealthy enough, or simply because he was wearing the silver and green robes.It would take years to undo all the damage he—they—have done to Snape and the others, and he knows that it would take time to do so as Sirius will not go quietly with the plans he has, and Peter would follow the loudest voice there would be in the incoming arguments he knows they are going to have in their dorm after these memories are finished showing.

“Round two, start.”

‘Since 26 was the answer before, maybe I’ll multiply that by 0.8 this time?’ thought Daimon.

“Are we hearing their thoughts?” asked Marlene. When she got confirmation, she said, “Cool! Will we see Snape’s thoughts?”Eyes glanced over to Snape as she asked her question, but a simple yet eerie smile from Fate and a soul-tearing glare from Snape made them turn back to the screen.

‘No, everyone might be thinking the same thing. Ah, maybe I’ll multiply it by another 0.8?’ her thoughts continued.

‘Suppose everyone chooses 100. The product after multiplying it by 0.8 would be 80. In order to win, picking a number higher than 80 is pointless. If 80 is the highest average we can have, multiplying it by 0.8 is 64. If the highest average is 64, then multiplying that by 0.8 is 51.2. So 51. And we can go on and on, getting closer to zero. The law of the stock market is to invest in stocks that everyone wants to invest in. you have to predict everyone’s desires,’ thought Asuma.

Many students began to look at each other wondering what Asuma was talking about with their bodies slumped down in their seats and their heads leaning against their hands as they listened to his words. There were too many things going at once, and it was hard to even keep up with.When Yashige started thinking, some students let out small groans of confusion and boredom.

‘The crux of this game is to read a few steps ahead of everyone else’s deductions. There are already equations that exist to help read an opponent’s rationality,’ thought Yashige.

When the buzzer rang signalling the end of the time limit, the pictures of the players were shown with their answers. Asuma; 15. Daimon; 21. Kuzuryu; 14. Yashige; 16. And Severus; 17. The average of their numbers was 16.6, and after multiplying it with 0.8 got the value of 13.28, making Kuzuryu the winner again of the second round, earning the rest of the players another negative point, putting them at -2, as the acid poured into the bowls above their heads.

Severus looked thoughtful. “You were even closer this time.”

Everyone but Severus and Kuzuryu thought to themselves about the fact that the rational choice due to the numbers becoming smaller would be to pick zero.

“Kuzuryu,” asked Severus as he looked at the King again.

“What?”

“I think I understand now,” Severus answered, “The thing that you’re trying to measure. . . it’s the value of life, isn’t it?”

Kuzuryu exhaled a short but deep breath before answering, “No, it’s not.”

“Then what are you doing?” Severus said, “You can tell me.”

“I believe I know what Mr. Snape is doing,” spoke Filius, gaining the attention of the Hall, “He is trying to understand the games. It’s why he’s asking so many questions. To understand how they work, why they are the way they are. It’s also why he wasn’t actively against or for tricking or killing anyone in the Jack of Hearts game. He wanted to observe and gather as much information as he could before activating his plan. After all, he caught onto the secret code Kotoko and Matsushita created to win. But he didn’t say anything, because, well, it wasn’t the time.”“And when he completely guessed his symbol to be a diamond after being lied to and ignored, he wasn’t panicking,” added Frank.“But Professor Flitwick,” asked Dorcas, “Why do you think he’s doing this? Not the observing part, that’s easy to understand, but whenever we’ve seen him, he always has this nonchalant attitude and a cold way of speaking. It’s almost like. . .”“. . .He doesn’t care about winning,” finished Regulus, who stared in concern for his friend.Dorcas looked over to Regulus, her expression joining the student body and staff as they thought about Snape’s actions, his words through. For Snape, these games weren’t about winning. But about understanding them and how they worked. But, why?

The screen had gotten close to Kuzuryu as the game and the arena had faded away into a flashback of a younger Kuzuryu in the real world.

“Perhaps we could propose a new settlement figure?” he asked his boss who was standing looking through a large window by his desk, overlooking the city. “The contaminants that the factory dumped actually did cause environmental issues. Twenty people in the surrounding community died as a result.”

Before he could even get his last words out, his boss had said, “Diseases can be caused by many factors. What proof is there that our company is responsible?”

Kuzuryu looked confused. “I heard that you were an extremely talented lawyer, but it seems you do not understand the law. Laws don’t exist to protect the weak from the powerful.”

“Everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, sir,” responded a firm Kuzuryu. He continued looking confused at his employer, who immediately jumped in. “That is naive,” he said before turning around to face him. “In order to save starving people, you first need the power to influence the world’s economy. Your principles are not enough to change a world so full of contradictions.”

He continued as he stepped towards Kuzuryu, “Let me ask you. What do you think we should do to maintain a respectable, modern society?”

“We need a justice system. A fair justice system must exist at all levels,” he answered, “You mentioned. . . You mentioned the importance of respecting the world’s economy. But prioritizing economic growth will create more inequality. A wealth gap—”

“No!” shouted his boss. Kuzuryu looked on, almost horrified at his boss’s thinking. “Your duty as a lawyer isn’t to make sound arguments. Any fool is able to preach equality. Fairness and justice have no place in a world full of monsters than men. However, thanks to the power of human imagination, we can make an unfair argument sound fair and just. And you will do just that. It is your solemn duty that is given to you by God.”

Kuzuryu blinked his eyes, as he couldn’t make out words as his boss walked away satisfied. He stood there completely in shock as he took in the words thrown at him.

“He lost his hope in humanity,” mumbled Lily.“I think. . . I think it’s more like he lost his vision of the world he thought he knew. A fair world in which everyone, in a courtroom and by law, can be treated as equals to make a fair and justified argument to put those who cause harm away for good and to help the victims, but in the end. . .It’s those with the power, the money, the influence who really run the world. They just like to hide behind false smiles of equality while stabbing everyone they deem a nuisance or bother to them and their business in the back,” softly spoke Severus.

As Kuzuryu came back, round three had ended. Asuma, Kuzuryu, and Yashige had 0, while Daimon had 1. Severus, meanwhile, put down 100.

As the announcer began counting the average which ended in Daimon winning due to her number being the closest 16.16, Asuma looked over to Severus in shock.

“What’s up, man?!” questioned Yashige, also in shock by what Severus did, which made Severus turn his head to him. “Why’d you do that?! You picked 100! That means you’ll always lose! There’s a zero percent chance of winning, don’t you know?!”

“I think all of you are overthinking this,” Severus started as he turned his head facing the middle, “That kind of stuff just gives me a headache. So I blew it up.” He finished his statement with a small smile as the screen panned upwards to show the acid pouring into his scale.

“Mr. Black,” called out Professor Flitwick. “Yes sir?”“I believe you were correct about Mr. Snape’s concern about the games. He doesn’t care about winning. More about. . . well, just like I said. He’s learning about the game,” Filius finished, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling of uneasiness as he watched the acid pour.

Daimon laughed as she stated, “Wow, you’re insane!”

Severus let out a small chuckle as he looked down. As the screen began turning around the players, the sixth round rang and quickly finished, Severus ended up being the winner. He smiled as Yashige stared at him frustrated and scared. The seventh round ended with Daimon the winner, and Severus chose the number 100 again. That left Asuma with -7 points, Kuzuryu with -3 points, Yashige with -7 points, Severus with -6 points, and Daimon whose -6 points didn’t get lowered. She cheered as the acid began pouring into the scales.

“I definitely don’t want to die like that,” stated Severus as he peered up at his scale.

As round ten started, the screen showed every player and their points.

‘I’m at minus nine points,’ thought a stressed out Yashige as he rubbed his fingers against his temples, “If I miss any more, I die.’

Kazuryu has -4 points and appeared calm and collected. Daimon had -6 points. ‘What do I do? I’m so lost here. I can’t use the same strategy,’ she thought as she ran a stressed hand through her short curled hair.

‘I can’t make a single mistake,’ thought a frustrated and terrified Asuma as he pulled at his short black hair, ‘The next time I lose, it’s game over.’

Severus had -7 points, and appeared just as calm and collected as Kuzuryu, if not even more colder and emotionless than he was before. ‘Rationally speaking, the average should be getting closer to zero. I bet he predicted this outcome.’

As everyone quickly picked their numbers, some more nervous than others, the tenth round ended. “The winner of round ten is. . . Master Kuzuryu.”

As the pictures were brought back, a chiming rang two times. “Two players now have negative ten points,” the screen showed the sweaty and panicked faces of both Yashige and Asuma as the screen switched back to show the point values. Daimon; -7. Kuzuryu; -4. Severus; -8. Both Asuma and Yashige at -10 as the word, ‘LOSE’ went on top of both pictures. “It is game over for these participants.”

As acid poured into their scales, the acid fell onto their metal tables hissing as it landed on it. Both started to scream and tried to get themselves off the chairs as the acid slowly slipped over the scales. But the straps holding them down wouldn’t come off.

As Yashige began pleading, begging at Kuzuryu, the King of Diamonds remained completely stone faced. Even as some acid dripped over the side and as it landed on Asuma’s hand, burning it. He continued screaming as more drops of acid landed on his body. His thighs, his shoulders leaving burnt holes in his shirt behind, and his face and hair. Asuma looked up to the creaking scale terrified as it began to slowly tip over. And in nine seconds, Asuma’s body was slumped against the table. A red, burnt corpse, still smoking.

Yashige looked at the body horrified and gasping with terror as he realized what would happen next. He looked up just as the acid poured directly on his face, the clear water-like liquid quickly turned red as it passed over Yashige whose screams turned into nothing more than gurgles before he too slumped forward dead.

Screams echoed throughout the Hall as many students started gagging as they stared at the bodies. Professors had to spell some of the sickness that some students’ let out due to them not being able to hold it in anymore. While a few looked away the moment the scale tipped, many were frozen in their seats as they witnessed the bodies completely lose their skin and clothes leaving behind a burning cadaver.

Daimon stared in horror as he stared at both sizzling, smoking bodies, while Severus simply said, “Now, this is more like a face card game. Is this the equality you’re after?”

As the chime rang two times, the announcer’s voice stated, “As two players were eliminated, two new rules will be added.”

“I forgot about this,” mumbled a pale Regulus. He was slumped down in his seat with a fist over his mouth and an arm around his stomach. He wasn’t the only one who was seated this way. Many more were too, the more weak-stomached ones had completely covered their eyes or spelled their eyes from seeing the bodies.

“Rule one. If two or more players choose the same number, they will be disqualified from the round and will each lose one point. Rule number two. Choosing the exact correct number will cause the other players to lose two points instead of one.”

“Merlin, that’s horrible,” grunted Frank through a pale face. Alice wasn’t much better. Nor were Marlene, Dorcas, or Lily. Lily was holding her hands over the bottom half of her face as she squinted through her eyelashes to look at the screen.

As the remaining three players picked their numbers, the screen moved down with their finger as they each chose zero. Round eleven ended with them all being disqualified, leaving Daimon with -8, Kuzuryu with -5 and Severus with a -9.

“Everyone ended up choosing the same number,” Severus said to himself. ‘If that happens one more time, it’s game over for me,’ he thought as round twelve started.

Regulus slapped Severus’ arm, earning a yelp and a small glare, “What the hell?!”“Care more about your life, Severus. Merlin, it’s stressful watching you look so nonchalant about living or dying when you could lose any time. Especially now,” said Regulus.

Daimon shakingly chose her number, before looking up determined.

“Results for round 12,” the screens showed their answers. Daimon; 62. Kuzuryu; 1. Severus; 23. The final answer was 22.93. A ‘WIN’ appeared above Severus’ picture as the announcer chimed, “As the winner chose the exact correct number, the other two players will lose two points.”

“No way,” Daimon gasped out in shock. “No way! This can’t be happening! How did you. . .”. She looked up to where Severus was sitting before yelling at him, “You saw my answer, didn’t you?”

“How in the fuck, did he even see your answer?” said Potter, “He’s not even close to you! And he’s strapped to the chair.”“She’s panicking,” answered Amelia.

“He cheated! He did! You did! How else would you be able to know which number I chose?!”

“I knew it because I’ve been watching,” stated Severus, an amused smirk on his face as he stared at Daimon. “At the start of the last round, you had negative eight points, and I had negative nine. Even if you lost, you’d still get another chance. So you took a risk, thinking we’d eliminate each other. I thought about that, and I figured you’d pick a random number.”

Daimon scoffed, “You want us to believe you just guessed?!”

“Impossible!” She shouted.

“I knew what you thought we’d pick. Odds are we’d choose numbers under 50,” Severus simply stated.

Daimon looked fearful as she stared at Severus’ calm figure. ‘It’s like he read my mind.’ The screen showed what she thought could have happened as she continued, ‘The King was up by three points before. I couldn’t catch up if we chose the same number.’ As the screen showed everyone picking one, with Severus reaching ten and dropping out of the game, but her points were up to negative nine. ‘But I still had a chance if I could get them to pick the same number,’ the screen showed both Kuzuryu and Severus picking 0 and Daimon picking 50. Severus dropped out as Kuzuryu reached negative six, leaving her at negative eight.

“She at least thought. But she forgot that the other two could have thought that as well,” stated Amelia.“More like she forgot how smart Kuzuryu is, and how unhinged Severus is,” added Regulus.Severus looked over to his friend confused, “I’m smart.”Regulus waved his concerns away, saying, “I know. I know. But future you seems a bit more of a risk taker. Especially when he wants to prove a point."Severus shrugged, “Fair.”

Severus continued with his explanation, “So you’d have to avoid numbers under 50. And if you were going to do that, you’d have to avoid them by a large margin. Even so, you wouldn’t pick too high. Ninety and up is too much. So over 50, under 90.”

Students and staff looked on in shock at the graph that had shown up as Severus explained. They saw how easily he removed sixty-one numbers between zero and one hundred.

“When you ask people to guess a number, a few things come to mind. Double digits, so they’re out. Same thing with nice, round numbers divisible by ten. When you put someone on the spot and ask them to choose a number, they’ll usually go for eights, threes and fives, and some of those are prime. You’d try not to pick them.”

Everyone looked at one another before looking back up at the screen as only six numbers remained; 64, 62, 72, 76, 74, and 69. They tried to avoid eye contact with Snape. A few students near him, slowly scooted away.

“Not too many options left now. How do we narrow this list further? Some of these numbers we see every day. Game systems, movie titles, brand logos. Easy associations. By my count, that just leaves 62 and 74. No way to narrow it down. So I. . . Well, . . . I got lucky.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have picked 62,” Said Daimon shakingly. The chime of the announcer came on ringing two times, as it stated, “A player has now reached negative ten points.” As the ‘LOSE’ title went over Daimon’s head, she began panicking as she tried to remove the strap across her body. “No, no. No. No, no!” she began as she started pleading while she tried her hardest to remove the strap.

She began screaming and wailing as she looked over at the body of Asuma, and as her scale tipped, her body became the next one, dropping over the table.

Severus stared at her. “Well. . . She said that not all lives have the same value. Think she still believed it? Up until the bitter end?” he asked Kuzuryu.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Everyone looked towards Severus, who grew flustered and began to shrink in on himself as best as he could.

“I wouldn’t want to be your enemy,” muttered Frank. Others around them shakingly agreed, but some Gryffindors only nodded their heads, their faces pale.

Amelia had her head in her hands again, “I still can’t believe he just guessed what she was going to put down.”

“Do you think if she had picked seventy-four, Snape would have lost?” wondered Rosier.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” shrugged Barty, "Maybe."

“Tell me,” asked Kuzuryu, “Have you ever peered behind the curtain, seen how the world really works? Watched children die because their parents couldn’t afford a few yen for medicine? Seen girls sold off to pay for their parents’ debts? Been powerless to break the cycle of poverty?”

As the buzzer sounded, Severus stared at Kuzuryu. Understanding what this game is trying to do. “A new rule is being added. If a player chooses zero as their number, the other player will win if they choose 100.”

“Something tells me Snape is going to do something very, very reckless,” said Amelia.

Regulus breathed a heavy sigh, and glanced at Severus.

“A-ha. Since there’s only two players left in the game at this point, the one who picks closer to zero is inevitably going to be the winner,” stated Severus. As the screen panned around, he continued, “Just math. So if you pick zero each time, you’ll win. You’re further from negative ten. But this new rule changes everything. I still have a chance. If you choose zero, I can win by choosing 100. But then if you think I’ll choose 100, you can choose one, and you’ll win.”

The bodies of the three showed as the screen passed Kuzuryu, heading back to Severus. “Three choices. It all comes down to three choices. Zero, one, and 100. Rock, paper, scissors,” As the screen landed on Severus, he finished, “But I’ve only got one point left. If we tie, that’s game over for me, isn’t it?”

Severus sighed, “The stakes couldn’t be higher if you tried.”

As round thirteen started, Severus spoke. “I get it. You’re desperately trying to make this fair. But why? Why bother?”

“Hypothetically,” Kuzuryu started, “if there were a million doses of a vaccine for a disease, which million people would you save?”

“Those in unfortunate situations,” Lily spoke up, which made others start shouting their answers.

Mostly everyone chose the same answer, or around that margin; To save those who had no power, or who were in bad situations. Children were the more popular vote. Of course, others yelled out much more different answers. Some wanted to save those who could heal the world and so on.

Of course, this was just a dream. This wouldn’t actually happen. But it was fun throwing out the ways they could help, even if it would be false.

“Ahh. I see it now,” answered Severus, “You don’t wanna have to choose who gets to live and who has to die. You don’t want to determine the value of a life.”

“Exactly. How could I weigh all the variables? What makes one life worth saving and one worthless? How can I know?,” Kuzuryu said as he mimed both options with his hands, “So, tell me what you think.”

Kuzuryu looked at Severus. “If you had to answer the question put before you. . .”

“What I’d do? Give ‘em to kids with no parents or money.”

Kuzuryu looked at him surprised, “You would?”

“It’s the right thing to do, though. Why is he so surprised?” whispered Lily.

“I mean, if you look at the borderlands, it actually tells you a lot. Especially now that we’ve seen what happened to him. He didn’t expect Severus to say such an answer. In this world, it literally puts you against your friends in some cases. You have to do anything to survive, so Kuzuryu most likely lost hope in humanity, at the unfairness of both worlds. The real world, where he most likely had to use his skills as a lawyer to put down cases by much poorer people because they would bring down the companies and businesses they were most likely suing,” answered Amelia.

“I would try to do that. But I wouldn’t be the one to choose. It’s about money. Because anyone with enough money can choose a life’s value,” stated Severus with a slight heaviness in his voice, “I bet you’ve seen it. Am I right? You’ve peered behind the curtain.”

Students in less known wizarding families and every muggleborn nodded. It hurt to admit, even if they tried not to when Daimon had said it, but their lives meant nothing if they couldn’t pay for it. Sadly, it was a fact of life. Something, Severus knows very well.

“I have,” answered Kuzuryu, “After an accident, there was no settlement paid out. People died when they couldn’t afford the proper treatment.”

“So you understand,” stated Severus, “Why do you bother striving for justice at all?”

“Because I must!” said Kuzuryu firmly, “Equality is something we fight for.”

“Anyone else thinks Snape’s questions are starting to get very. . .” started Frank as he stretched out the question.

“Negative?” answered Potter. “Yeah,” said Frank.

They all started the screen as it started to zoom into Severus’ face as it faded away to show a child’s eyes.

A heart monitor beeped as the screen panned down to show the pale, sickly child laying on his back with his mother to his side with a cloth in her hand. The doctor was shown to be listening to his heart. His black hair tied up in a small ponytail as he leaned down with his stethoscope.

As he got up, he spoke, “Very good. You were great. Next week is the big day. You keep it up, okay?”

“You were a doctor?!” said Lily. “It’s a muggle healer,” she stated as she looked at the confused faces of wizard-raised students.

“It looks like he works with kids,” pointed out Mary.

“Something tells me we won’t like what’s going to happen next,” stated Marlene. “They were just talking about unfairness after all.”

The excitement of voices flushed away as the reality set in. They really weren’t going to like it.

“Yeah,” said the boy weakly. The mother got up crying, “Thank you. Doctor, thank you so much.”

“Of course. Excuse me,” responded Severus as he bowed before walking out of the room.

The screen switched to show Severus walking with his supervisor in an empty, clean, and white hallway of the hospital. “Hayato’s condition is finally stable. And that means this next surgery should save his life,” Severus said.

“Yes. About the surgery. . .” started his supervisor.

“I told you,” mumbled bitterly Marlene.

Lily let out a breath of fury as she glared at the screen. She knew, everyone knew, what was going to happen next.

“Listen. There’s been a change to the transplant priority list,” he stated as he continued walking. Severus, though, he stopped.

“You’ve made a change?” he asked, staring at his boss. “Yes,” replied his supervisor.

The supervisor got out an envelope from his clipboard and handed it to Severus. “This patient was just moved up the list.”

When Severus opened it and stared at the name, his supervisor stated, “The grandchild of a good friend of the director’s.”

“And what about Hayato?” asked Severus in a heavy yet monotone voice as he looked up at his supervisor.

“Postponed. They’re important,” the supervisor stated. He heaved a big sigh, “Their support keeps the hospital running.” As he turned to leave, he looked back at Severus, who stood there frozen with the paper in his hand and an expressionless face.
“We don’t have a choice,” he said, “Medicine is all about this sort of thing. Now, go inform the patient’s parents.”

“But what do I say?” asked an empty Severus.

The supervisor scoffed before letting out a laugh, “You'll think of something. He’s your patient.” With that, he turned and walked away.

Severus stood there, still frozen, as he looked between the paper and his supervisor. The scene faded away to show Hayato’s mother sobbing as quietly as she could in the quiet waiting room of the hospital as she said her son’s name, which echoed.

Through a window overseeing her, stood both Severus and his supervisor, who looked uncaring as he said, “Well. . . Even if he got the transplant last week, there was a chance he wasn’t going to make it.”

Severus stared at her, his face completely lacking emotions as he stood. His supervisor looked up from her, “This isn’t my fault. You should know by now your ideals aren’t enough to save a life.”

Severus continued staring at her, emotionless before he began speaking in a heavy voice, “That’s clear. I’m not gonna carry it with me, sir.” He heaved a heavy sigh as he turned to his supervisor but not looking at him, “This is our job.”

A series of scenes were shown. A letter given to Severus telling him that his patients’ surgeries were moved or postponed for someone more important. As it continued, Severus didn’t even bother to open the envelopes, but just put them in his pocket.

A close up of Severus’ badge read; “PHYSICIAN. PEDIATRIC CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY.” As these letters continued, the light in Severus’ eyes began to dim until they showed no more, showing the Severus the audience knew from the borderlands. He sighed heavily as his supervisor told him, “So, take care of it.”

“Sir.” Both doctors left the hallway, as the flashback faded into the present time.

A defeated scoff from James came out as he stated, “You’re right Macdonald. He worked with children.”

James looked sadly at Snape on screen. His expressions were barely there, but James could tell how sad and disappointed Snape was. He saw how worn down he kept getting. “He accepted it as it continued to happen. As his patients were cast aside to make room for more wealthier, important patients,” James sneered at the word.

“He’s just like Kuzuryu. He lost hope in the world, and now doesn’t bother with its unfairness,” said Amelia.

Severus let out a sigh, “How fascinating.” He gave a small smile before it disappeared, “Perhaps I was brought to this place so I could play this game with you.”

In the silence, Kuzuryu closed his eyes before opening them and looking down at his table. Suddenly, Severus spoke up, “I’m going to choose 100.”

“What?!” said the majority of the audience, astonished that Snape would say what he would choose.

Regulus leaned forward in his seat as he stared at a confident and stoic Severus on screen. He scoffed amused, “Severus is giving him a choice.”

Stares went over to him as he explained, “By saying that he is going to choose one hundred, he is making Kuzuryu choose on whether or not he will choose to kill him. He’s essentially gambling with his life.”

A shocked Kuzuryu looked up at a smirking Severus who stared directly at him. “Why would you say that?”

Severus looked down for a moment before looking back up at Kuzuryu, “Just giving you some help.”

“Are you mad? You can’t just tell me what you’ll choose. Unless I select zero this round, you’ve guaranteed your death,” he stated seriously with furrowed brows as he stared confusingly at Severus.

“Merlin, I forgot he was at negative nine points,” groaned Frank.

Regulus reached over and hit the back of Severus’ head which earned him a glare. “That is not me!”

“Might as well be,” shrugged Regulus.

Severus stared at Kuzuryu for a moment before speaking, “Sitting across from you is a man who is charging towards death. You have to decide. What value does this life hold? What value does my life hold?” He looked almost amused as he finished, but he remained the ever stoic, calm, and emotionless Severus Snape as he looked at Kuzuryu.

Regulus breathed softly through his nose before hitting Severus again, which earned him a yelp and another glare. “Stop it!”

“No.”

Kuzuryu stared at Severus and he appeared nervous as he looked down at his tablet. Severus stared back, smiling as Kuzuryu slowly and hesitantly picked a number as he raised a hand to his temple.

In another flashback, the founders of the Beach stood in an empty hotel as it lit up changing to the dreary feeling it once gave. A man, Takeru, walked forward as he looked around. Kuzuryu looked around as he asked, “It’s huge. Why bother?”

“We lost everything when we came here,” Takeru stated as he looked at the group, “To abandon our ideals would be mad.”

“Ideals?”

Another flashback showed the inside of a tall building where shouts from players echoed as they ran up the spiral staircase. Players ran up, but a man, Kuzuryu, was sitting down, looking worn out and ready to just stop playing all together. As another player ran past him, he stopped, “Hey. Come one,” he said as he leant a hand to Kuzuryu.

“What are you doing? Just go.”

“I can’t do that,” the man said. “In the last game I played, a young man saved my life. Now it’s my turn to save someone. I have to pay it forward.” The man was kneeling to look into Kuzuryu’s eyes, “You’re not getting left behind. I’m choosing to fight for this.”

“You’re choosing?” said Kuzuryu. The man nodded, before grabbing his hand, “Now let’s go.”

In the present game, the screen showed the numbers. Zero and one. Kuzuryu looked between them before closing his eyes and opened them. He looked down at his tablet and his arm lowered slowly. A chime rang as he chose his number.

The Great Hall watched in silence as they grabbed the person near them.

“Time limit reached. The winner of round 13 is . . . Master Severus.”

Cheers rang throughout before they subsided into grins and small laughs as the scene continued. They watched as Severus’ eyes showed slight surprise as he asked, “You actually selected zero?”

Kuzuryu said nothing as the acid went into his scale. The buzzer sounded, and round fourteen had started. Severus looked from Kuzuryu to his tablet and chose one hundred. Kuzuryu slowly picked zero, making Severus the winner of round fourteen and added acid into Kuzuryu’s scale.

“That’s it then, isn’t it? Only one point left each. This is the last round,” Severus said as he looked at Kuzuryu as round fifteen started.

“So then, can you do it?” Severus paused before sighing, “If you’re finding it hard to make your choice, you can just kill me. That’s fair, don’t you think?”

Severus dodged the incoming hand before he yelped again as he turned to see Lily, who had all but marched her way to Severus to hit him. But as he began to question her, he felt another hand swat his head. Regulus said nothing as he stared at the screen too. Severus slumped in his seat, arms crossed, and leaned back so as to not earn anymore from those two.

“I cannot make that decision,” answered Kuzuryu. “Was that your aim the whole time, Master Severus? To make sure that our scores ended up tied?”

“In a way,” replied Severus, “I wanted to witness this. I wanted to be around for your final choice.”

Both men stared into each other’s eyes before Severus broke contact to pick his number. As he did, he picked up the tablet from the table and showed it to Kuzuryu. One hundred was shown on the tablet. “If you pick one, you win.”

Kuzuryu closed his eyes and thought back to another flashback. This time the empty hotel was filled with partying and cheering people. Overlooking them from a balcony was Kuzuryu and a young woman.

“Ms. Momoka,” Kuzuryu called out to the woman, “Would you answer a question for me?”

“You volunteered. Someone had to be the witch. But that means killing yourself,” he stated as he began walking closer to Momoka. “Why would you do that?”

Momoka thought for a moment before answering, “I did it for my ideals.” She looked away from him and at the crowd. “The human heart is a beautiful thing. Human life is precious. I believe that, truly. And when I look at my life, I know I've been able to survive because of those ideals,” she said as she began to tear up. The noise from the crowd faded away.

“Your games and rules don’t get to kill me. I’m not going to die because I lost. I’m doing this to show you all that you’re wrong. They’re not going to kill each other because they’re not all bad,” she said firmly to Kuzuryu, before turning her gaze looking around at the hotel instead of the crowd. “If I’m destined to die here someday. . . then I get to choose how I walk that path.”

Teary eyes and soft smiles were the only thing in the Great Hall, as many nodded along to Momoka’s words. Because no matter how horrible the world may seem, there is still good. You just had to look for it.

Some Slytherins scoffed, but decided not to say anything.

There were questions they wanted to ask, but now didn’t seem like the time to ask them.

“I’m just one man. I don’t know the value of a life. Or the meaning of one. And I don’t think I ever will. I’ll never be the one to decide that,” said Kuzuryu as he looked at Severus, “But there’s one thing I’m able to decide now.”

Severus watched as Kuzuryu looked down at his tablet and chose his number. “The final round is over.”

“So you made your choice,” stated Severus, “The value of a life can’t be decided. Tell me why you did it.”

Kuzuryu looked up from his tablet to Severus before saying, “I did it for my ideals.”

A zero was shown on his tablet, as the announcer pronounced Severus the winner. Kuzuryu’s -9, turned into a -10, as the chime rang two times. “A player has reached negative ten points. It is game over for that player.”

As the computer talked, Kuzuryu didn’t panic, instead he looked up into the light, a free expression on his face as he closed his eyes and smiled.

“It’s nice to see that you can actually smile,” said Severus.

“I’m finally free,” Kuzuryu said as he opened his eyes, “I made my own choice. And based on my own ideals.”

Kuzuryu slowly lowered his head as he looked at Severus, his smile grew and his eyes teared up, “It’s all because of you.” As he closed his eyes and tears ran down his face, a flashback to the destruction of the hotel was shown with two people standing afar watching it burn.

“At last. It’s our turn,” the woman said excitedly as she smiled before looking at the King of Diamonds. “What? That doesn’t excite you?” she asked.

“If I’m going to have a game to myself. . . I want it to be fair.”

As Kuzuryu stared into Severus’s eyes, the scale tipped and poured over Kuzuryu, killing him. His body slumped forward, joining the others as Severus watched.

“You quit while you were ahead. I gave you the chance to make that choice,” he stated. “I’m so jealous of you.”

The strap that had Severus tied down to the chair, opened and Severus stood up. As he began to walk away, he stopped and turned around. He looked at Kuzuryu one final time, before turning forward and walked away. On the screen, his picture showed alone with the words, ‘WINNER’ on top of it before it switched to show the words; ‘GAME CLEAR. CONGRATULATIONS.’

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Was that the Ten of Hearts game that destroyed the hotel? ‘The Beach’, I believe it was called?” asked Amelia.

Fate nodded, “Yes. The man you saw with the group in the empty hotel was the leader of the Beach. He and those in his group founded it. His name is Hatter.”
“His group?” asked Mary.“Yes, his group. Remember Hatter arrived at the hotel resort with a group of four people. Those people included Hatter, a woman named Ann, Kuzuryu, and a big, muscular man named Aguni,” answered Fate.“But as the Beach got larger, and more people started to show up to this ‘utopia’, more people got added to this main group,” added Death.“Is there a way to get added into this group?” asked Regulus.“I believe you just have to be good at games. I’m not sure,” smiled Fate. Regulus didn’t believe her, but didn’t question her. The sooner she answered, the less that smile was directed at him.
“What about Momoka? Who was she?” asked James. “She wasn’t with the main four.”

Fate smiled, “She was one of our dealers, alongside her friend, Asahi. There are other dealers who make the game. They were our Ten of Hearts dealers.”

“What did he mean by Momoka volunteering to be the witch?” asked Lily.

“Dealers take part in the games. In this one, it was a witch hunt. And due to it being a Hearts game, the witch was Momoka who played the victim for the game. She was already dead by the time the game started. The players had to see who had killed Momoka, and burn the ‘witch’ in the Fire of Judgement,” answered Death.
Amelia thought as the crowd grew slightly uncomfortable at the mention of burning witches and a witch hunt, “If the Beach had a huge community of people, and the game was the Ten of Hearts, wouldn’t panic and fear over who the witch was make the people start to attack each other?”She did not receive an answer but she knew she was somewhat, if not entirely, correct as Death let out a small chuckle and as Fate’s smile grew larger.
It was silent as everyone thought over Amelia’s question, because she was right. In a life or death world, and with an entirely large group of people who thought they would be in a safe place, are forced to play those games in the supposed utopia will start to accuse others due to overwhelming fear and would likely start to harm and kill others over wanting to get the game over with, even if it would take up most of the population of the community.

As many whispered to their peers as they came to conclusions about Amelia’s question they flinched as their attention was suddenly brought over to a sharp sound as it echoed throughout the Great Hall. Fate had clapped her hands and gave the crowd a huge grin. “I’ve thought of something fun!”

The crowd looked at each other uneasy. They didn’t want a repeat of the other brutal games, which Fate had found ‘fun’.

Fate laughed as she looked at their faces, “It won’t be anything like that,” she cooed, “We are going back in time to before these two games, and see Severus during his time at the Beach!”

“That should be fun,” added Death.

Curiosity overtook many of them. Fate and Death saw their change of attitude before looking at the screen and watched as it began to show a huge crowd of people partying before a horn blared and a shout came from a man, “Hey, it’s game time!”

Cheers erupted from the partying crowd as they all started moving into the annex of the hotel that was now transformed into the utopia; The Beach.

“A new game arena has been confirmed in Shinagawa!” shouted another man. “The cars are in the second parking lot!” yelled another.

“Adachi and Koto wards form two groups! Let’s go!” yelled a third.

The rest of the crowd looked up from the annex of the Beach they were in as they looked up as they cheered. On the balcony overseeing them stood a man, Danma Takeru. The man the audience of Hogwarts knew to be with Kuzuryu in his flashback, but instead of his name being shouted, the name ‘Hatter’ was. Over and over until they saw him, and when they did the cheers and shouts became louder.

As Hatter raised his arms for the crowd to quiet their cheering, they did so immediately. “Comrades! Tonight brings us a new challenge. And my soldiers never back down from one. This challenge is a war against your own fear. Individually, each of you has the courage within to play. To battle and to win. And when you stand united as one, nothing can stand in your way. Together, we will get the cards we need to return us to our old world. I know that you will get there!”

As he finished his last sentence with an enthusiastic shout, his crowd erupted into cheers. “Let’s go!” he said finally before walking back as the crowd began to follow his orders.

“Do they remind you of anyone?” whispered Albus to Horace, whose face turned pale as he shivered.

“It’s like a cult, masquerading as a fun, utopia for players,” stated Amelia.

“And what’s with the cards? Why are they collecting them?” asked Frank. “I know he said it was to return to their original world, but why cards?”

“A muggle card deck has a total of fifty-two cards,” answered Lily, “We’ve already seen the face cards; the Jack of Hearts and King of Diamonds, but there are ten more face cards from each suit. We already know that the number of the suit means the difficulty, so there's your number cards. And we already know what each suit means; Clubs, Hearts, Spades, and Diamonds.”

“But since Fate said that we were watching something happening from the past—to before the Beach utopia had been destroyed and before the Ten of Hearts game which takes place at the Beach—then it’s safe to say that they don’t have any of the face cards yet. Like the Jacks, the Kings, and the Queens,” added Severus.

“So, in order to go back to their original world, they have to play all— What? Forty number games and then twelve face card games to go back to the real world?” guessed Mary.

“It would seem so,” said Severus. “It makes sense. But they look like they might make it because of how large the Beach is. It’s basically a community going out in groups to participate in games and bring the cards back to then add to the deck of cards Hatter already has.”

“But remember what Fate and Death said,” pointed out Amelia, “Players don’t know what games they are going to play, so it’s safe to assume that there are doubles of the same cards due to how many people we’ve seen in the borderlands already.”

“Merlin,” said Frank, “It’s easier said than done.”

The same man who had shouted first had yelled to the crowd, “Go to the car that has your number!” as he raised a piece of paper before running off, followed by other players.

The screen then switched to show two new people Hogwarts didn’t know. A young woman in a pink, think jacket and short, cropped hair and a young man with messy shaggy hair wearing a dark green T-shirt. “Is this what we are now? One of them? Collecting cards?” said the young man.

“We’ve been divided into two separate games,” said the woman.

“Promise me you’ll be careful?” the man asked, earning a nod from the woman.

“Aww, they’re cute together,” stated Alice.

Fate and Death huffed an amused laugh.

Watching them from afar was a familiar face wearing a white jacket with the hood up. A young woman with her hair in dreads and braids—some decorated with ribbons and beads—up in a high ponytail and in a two-piece blue bathing suit decorated with flowers came to stand next to Severus. “What’s wrong?” she asked as she put a fake cigarette in her mouth.

“We were together in the last game,” Severus answered.

“Who? Those two?”

“Yeah.” Severus looked at her before looking back at the other two, “Maybe we can use them. They could fit into the plan.”

“Okay, I have many questions from that short little interaction there,” stated Marlene who sounded strangely excited. “First, who were those two in the beginning. Second, who was that other girl in the dreads, she’s very pretty. Actually both girls were pretty. And third, what is ‘the plan’ that Snape is talking about?” she said as she quoted with her fingers.

Mary couldn’t help herself as she moved in her seat with also the same strange excitement Marlene was giving. But she wasn’t the only one. Snickers from younger students, and whispers from mainly the girls were moving through the Hall. Severus caught several looks from other students ranging from first years to even sixth and seventh years. He didn’t know what was happening but he knew something was about to happen.

“Is she his girlfriend?” Mary quickly said before she covered her mouth and hid behind Dorcas as Snape’s head whipped around to glare at her.

Fate cackled while Death let out a chuckle before answering, “No, she is not his girlfriend. She’s just a friend. Her name is Kuina. And to answer your other questions, the other girl is Usagi and the other man is Arisu. As for the plan. . .”

Death stopped before looking at Fate as Fate looked back before they came to a solution, “You are going to find out soon enough.”

Groans met his answers, but Severus couldn’t tell whether they were towards Marlene’s second question or third. He let himself think it was about the third, but he knew everyone else, especially his roommates and friends, thought otherwise. He glared at anyone who looked disappointed as they glanced at him.

“Why was he shirtless underneath the jacket and why was Kuina wearing a bathing suit?” asked Sirius who meant to question his friends, but ended up speaking louder than he intended.

“Why were you staring at his chest?” asked Regulus who overheard his question and decided to start chaos.

Which chaos did start, as students began to look over at a flustered and embarrassed Sirius Black who was surrounded by cackling Marauders. James had slapped Sirius’ back as everyone turned to look at him before collapsing onto the floor holding his stomach, Remus and Peter weren’t any better as they covered their reddening faces as they too followed James onto the floor. Sirius glared at them before slumping into his seat with his arms crossed and tried to hide away from the snickering crowd, especially the Gryffindors and Slytherins, with his hair.

“That was not what I meant,” he mumbled.

Severus on the other hand, had an expression that made Regulus and Lily burst out laughing as they held onto each other. “I don’t like how this conversation is going,” he stated. He shivered in his seat in disgust at the thought of Black staring at his naked chest.

Sirius erupted in a flustered anger as he jumped from his seat to glare at Snape, “THAT WAS NOT WHAT I MEANT!”

Death stepped in and tried to calm them all down. “Severus was shirtless underneath his jacket because Hatter had a rule for people who join the Beach. They have to wear bathing suits in order to make sure that you do not have any weapons on you. It’s why Hatter what also shirtless, but had a very colorful and patterned red robe, and why Kuina was only wearing a bathing suit.”

Even with an explanation, the snickering didn’t stop, but they did calm down. Evan and Barty were having the time of their lives as they began to pester Severus. “I’m going to curse you both when this is finished.”

The screen showed various vehicles driving down the road as radios called out to teams telling them which game arenas were available and where they were located. Many games were shown and all were beaten by members of the Beach.

During one of the games, ‘Jungle Beast Hunter’, members of the Beach used weapons ranging from guns while another used a katana. Another had used his fists. Usagi had beaten ‘Bingo Night at the Match Factory’.

Arisu was in the Four of Diamonds game; ‘Light Bulb’, as was Kuina and another young man that Arisu seemed to know from a previous game. And had cleared it by flipping on the right switch to turn on the light bulb in a separate room, but an executive of the Beach–Ann–had given out the answer, because she had known the entire time, the correct answer. She was testing him.

Back at the Beach after the games were cleared, Arisu and Usagi met at the pool area surrounded by the partying crowd. Kuina had found them as well, and had taken a seat next to them. “Is she your girlfriend?”

“What? No, I’m not,” said a surprised Usagi.

“If you two like each other, why not hook up?” Kuina asked with a smile. “You guys could die tomorrow.”

Arisu asked defensively, “What’s it to you?”

“You should live while you’re alive,” she answered. As Arisu and Usagi looked away and stayed quiet, Kuina continued. “My mother is stuck in a hospital. She can’t even go to the toilet by herself. And I wound up here. That’s why I need to survive and go home. And that’s the reason I quit smoking,” she added as she held up her fake plastic cigarette with a smile. “Back in the day, I couldn’t stop smoking. But to survive the game, you need to stay healthy. I absolutely need to survive and go back to my other world.”

As she finished a clang was heard as someone ordered the music to stop playing, and the once partying crowd had quieted down. A group of men and women with guns had walked around the pool.

“They’re the militant corps at the Beach,” stated Kuina. “If you want to live in peace here, then do not mess with them.”

The front man, the one who had punched a tiger during the Jungle Beast Hunter game, was General Aguni. Who had a background as an ex-Special Forces Officer.

“He controls all of the weapons at the Beach,” Kuina continued. “The person who commands the beach right now is the number one Hatter and his lackeys. As well as the militants led by Aguni. Right now, law and order at the Beach is very fragile. Both of these groups could clash at any time.”

As she finished, the militants had reached their destination. They stood in front of Asrisu, Usagi, and Kuina. Aguni had looked at Arisu who nervously looked away when he caught his gaze. His expression turned sad and he stuttered his answer when Aguni had asked where his friend, Karube, was. “Oh, yeah? He’s dead? Too bad,” he said, “Yet someone like you still lives.”

Glares were sent to Aguni, especially from the Marauders.

Kuina asked Arisu, “You know each other?”

Aguni had looked to Usagi who stared right back, and he asked the militant to the left of him, a pierced man, to bring her. As the militant stepped forward, Arisu stood up the moment his hand touched Usagi’s bicep. Kuina grabbed his wrist telling him to not get involved.

“My boss says to bring you to him,” said the militant in a mocking way as he looked at Arisu. He grabbed Usagi again, “Get up.”

Disgusted noises echoed throughout the Great Hall as couple’s grabbed onto each other and as group friends brought themselves closer together. The Professors glared at the men on screen, and everyone applauded as Arisu stepped in, even though he knew they were stronger and held weapons that could easily kill him.

“Leave her,” said Arisu as he grabbed onto the militant’s wrist.

“Are you a tough guy? What should I do with him?” the man asked as he looked at Aguni.

“Break both of his legs so he dies in the next game.”

“Good one. Hey! Take the woman,” he ordered the blade-wielding, tattooed militant that had stood to the right of Aguni. “And you, come with me.” He grabbed Arisu's arm, before dragging him away as Aguni led the militants away from the pool area.

“Come on, let’s go,” said the blade-wielding man but before he could grab her, Arisu broke his arm away from the pierced man’s grasp to head to Usagi, but was stopped as another militant had stepped in front.

As the first militant cooed at Arisu, Hatter’s voice rang out through the quiet of the crowd, “Is there a problem?”

The crowd parted as Hatter stepped forward, flanked with two guards wearing black open, chested robes. He stopped in front of Aguni’s path.

“Back off, Hatter. This is none of your business.”

“But this business is mine. I am the Beach’s leader. What I say is the law here,” Hatter raised his voice and spoke out, not only to Aguni, but to his militants and the people of the Beach. “And I’m saying. . .” he stepped closer to Aguni, “that you will keep your hands off the newcomers, Aguni.”

In the silence, Hatter turned to the pierced man, “Niragi?”

Niragi had turned his head in annoyance and clicked his tongue,” The only boss I have is the general.” The blade-wielding man let out a chuckle.

Hatter stared at Niragi before stepping even closer to Aguni. “Then I will ask the general. Who do you think is your boss, then, Aguni?”

Aguni, who was looking straight ahead, stone-faced, had turned his body face-to-face with Hatter. “I know it is you.”

“Shower once in a while,” was all Hatter said as Aguni walked away. Hatter turned to the crowd as he shouted, “Executive members! Meeting in the conference room.” As the militants followed their general, with Hatter’s eyes following them, he called out, “Arisu, you too. Ann told me you have potential. Come with us.”

As Arisu walked with Hatter and as Usagi’s gaze followed him, Kuina stood up. “So?” asked Severus, who walked up to her with a small smile. “How was he? Is he good?”

Kuina took her fake cigarette out of her mouth as she answered with a grin, “He was great.”

“I don’t think whatever Snape’s plan is, is going to go great,” stated Dorcas.

“You’re right,” replied Amelia, “There’s too many things to watch out for, especially if Snape wants to recruit both Usagi and Arisu. They’ve got people watching them due to this scuffle.”

The screen switched to show a table with a nice emerald green flower-patterned cloth as it had hands start to count the amount of cards they had.

“All right, let’s start the meeting. If you’re not an executive member, leave the room,” said Hatter, as he sat down at the head of a long table with a white cloth over it.

To his right and left hand sides, sat down Kuzuryu and Ann. Severus’ back was shown to sit down next to Ann, which caused murmurs to be whispered throughout the Hall. They didn’t know that Snape was an executive of the Beach. As the screen panned to show the entire table, Niragi sat down but had a space between Kuzuryu and him. The blade-wielding militant had grabbed the head of the chair next to Severus, and Aguni sat at the end of the table.

Arisu moved to the wall of the conference room, but as he turned to watch the meeting, he caught the gaze of the militant who played with the handle of his katana while staring directly at him. His gaze moved to Severus who was lounging the chair. Severus smiled at him and lifted a hand out of his pocket to wave at him.

“Hi,” Arisu said to Severus.

“I like how nonchalant Snape is in the future,” grinned Rosier.

Barty and others nodded, also siling at the small interaction between Arisu and Snape. “He just does not care, even when his life is in danger,” laughed Barty.

A woman wearing black flowy beachwear, named Mira, started talking as she began walking from the emerald green covered table to the head table, “We took the Two of Spades. Six of Spades. Four of Diamonds. And the Two of Clubs.” She placed them in front of Hatter who took them in hand. “So far, the existence of any face cards has not been confirmed,” she said as she sat down in the space between Niragi and Kuzuryu.

“If there are no face cards, then only the Ten of Hearts remains,” replied Hatter.

“The Ten of Hearts,” stated Mira as the screen showed a close up of a wall with the fifty-two cards, numbered from the Aces to the Kings. Spades in the first line, followed by Diamonds, Clubs, and finally Hearts. Almost every card was crossed out, except for the face cards and the cards that Mira had stated before. “It hasn’t appeared in any game yet.”

Arisu looked at the board in shock as he realized how close everyone was to finishing the numbered card games.

“If the Ten of Hearts hasn’t appeared yet, then maybe there’s a reason for it,” said Ann, “Perhaps it’s not in Tokyo.”

“No game arena has been found outside the 23 districts,” stated Kuzuryu.

“That only means we haven’t searched far enough,” reasoned Ann.

“We’re not changing the plan,” jumped in Hatter, his voice a lot louder than Ann’s soft yet stern voice. “The search for the other game arenas in Tokyo will continue. Keep an eye on visa expirations. Let’s wait for the Ten of Hearts to show up.”

Hatter paused before bringing an arm up to cover a small portion of the lower half of his face as he leaned his head against it, “My visa needs to be reissued soon.” Aguni looked at him before sharing a glance with Niragi and the blade-wielding militant who smirked.

“Respectfully, there is a way to earn a visa,” spoke Mira. Hatter leaned forward as he stared at her, “Oh?”

“A Hearts game. . . is a game that plays with people’s minds and emotions. We use a decoy we know will die and fix the game so that you survive,” Mira let out a chilling smile before she looked towards Hatter while Arisu’s figure could be seen behind her, “Arisu cleared the Seven of Hearts game. I guess that means. . .If he can do it, then anyone can!” She ended with a giggle.

“Anyone getting weird vibes off her?” asked James. “It’s almost like the same feeling with Urumi. Add that to the fact that she was talking about the Hearts games, then it looks like she is either a Hearts player or. . .” said Remus before his voice wandered off in thought.

“She could be a Queen of a game. Like how Matsushita was the Jack of Hearts and how Kuzuryu was the King of Diamonds,” stated Amelia.

“She could be, honestly,” added Frank.

“Arisu, you cleared the Seven of Hearts?” asked Hatter as he extended an arm at Arisu, “Can you give us any advice?” As Hatter let out a ring of laughter, Mira smiled brightly as she looked at Arisu.

“Anyone else wonder what the Seven of Hearts game was?” asked Barty.

“It’s a high level card. It could’ve been anything,” answered Regulus.

“Well, I’m voting for the fact that it could have included those explosive collars, only because we’ve only seen them in that one Hearts game as it makes the most sense,” said Evan.

“How?” asked Regulus.

“Well. . .,” dragged out Evan, “Dousing someone in a liquid that can kill you through lethal burns doesn’t exactly scream ‘Hearts game’ to me. It screams, ‘Spades’ or, of course, ‘Diamonds’!”

Fate and Death stared at Rosier amazed, or rather, Fate was amazed, while Death was concerned. Regulus caught the stares, “Is he right?”

“About the explosive collars?” asked Fate, “Yes.”

“There’s no way to predict when a Hearts game may appear,” stated Ann, “Don’t forget, we only find out what the game is after registration closes.”

“True, but the theory of probability should help us determine the arena,” pointed out Kuzuryu. But Hatter didn’t seem to like that as he shot and slammed down a hand on the table’s surface as he looked at Kuzuryu.

“I don’t need pretentious theories,” sneered Hatter. He stood up, swiping the cards in his hand before walking to the board, “I will participate in the next game. I don’t care if it’s a Heart or a Spade. I can hear them all! And I’ll be there when the Ten of Hearts appears.” Hatter spread his arms wide as he stared at his board of crossed out cards and shouted, “The cards are on the table. Our day of departure is near!”

He turned to the executives. “Executives, you’re in charge while I’m away,” Hatter clapped as he adjourned the meeting.

“Looks like Aguni is going to start a coup while Hatter is away,” stated Amelia.

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” scoffed James. “Did you not see the looks between the three militants?”

“The katana guy gives me the creeps,” shivered Marlene. Many girls have their agreements. It wasn’t just the fact that his tattoos went up to his entire head, but they seemed to cover his eyelids which made his beady eyes stand out even more whenever he stared.

The screen switched to show Usagi and Arisu going around the Beach and asking for information about the game arenas, but had gotten none. All they knew was that the games seemed to be happening in Tokyo, only. As they both entered the annex of the hotel resort, Usagi said, “The more I hear, the more depressing it gets.”

“Yeah, I know. . .” replied Arisu, “Our only hope might be with those playing cards.”

As they reached the outside back area of the hotel, Usagi stated that she was heading to the annex to get food and weapons, before also adding that she would try to get more information.

When it was just Arisu left, he turned to continue walking. “Yeah, wouldn’t that be real nice?” he muttered.

He turned his head to the left as he noticed two girls standing there chatting in quiet voices.

“It’s Momoka!” called out Mary. “And I guess that’s Asahi?” asked Dorcas. Fate nodded as the girls smiled at each other.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” asked Alice.

“It might be the Ten of Hearts game. I mean, we know that they are the dealers of that game, and we know that the game takes place at the Beach,” answered Severus.

“Hey! You guys mind if I ask you something?” said Arisu as he ran towards them. Both Momoka and Asahi looked at him before looking at each other, and with a small glance back, they ran off. “Wait, I’m not trying to hit on ya!”

Before Arisu could do anything else, he flinched as he heard gunshots in a close distance. He looked around before walking to where he heard clattering noises.

As his head peaked around the corner, he watched as three militants walked away from a tarp-covered dumpster, their weapons in hand. When they were gone, Arisu slowly crept up to the dumpster.

The older students had covered the eyes of the younger ones while Professors helped put a charm on them to prevent them from seeing if they grew too curious to peek out from the heads or accidentally saw it.

When Arisu got close enough to touch the tarp, he groaned and coughed as he plugged his nose with one hand, while the other pulled the tarp up. Inside, was a mangle of limbs from dead Beach goers. Flies buzzed around them, before a rough cough escaped Arisu who dropped the tarp to cover the dumpster back up.

“That’s what this utopia really looks like,” Severus’ voice rang out, catching Arisu’s attention. Severus walked down the steps alongside Kuina, but as Kuina stopped a few steps to the bottom, Severus continued until he reached the bottom, “Another Beach rule. ‘Death if you’re a traitor’”.

Arisu looked panicked as he glanced between them, thinking he was going to be killed.

As the screen switched to show the three standing on the hotel rooftop, students wondered if Snape and Kuina were going to talk about their plan, as they had remembered that Snape had wanted to recruit them. Arisu stood with his back to the edge as he was caged in by Severus and Kuina.

“Arisu,” said Severus, “You and Usagi seem to have gathered a whole bunch of information. Are you two planning something?”

“No, not really,” replied Arisu. He looked back and forth between the two for a while before Severus spoke up. “All right, I’ll cut to the chase.”

“How do you think you’re going to live in a world full of despair?”

“What?” said Arisu.

Severus stared at him as Arisu turned to look at Kuina who had taken her fake cigarette out of her mouth as she stared back. “Look, all I want is some answers. Who’s behind these sick games and. . .who killed my friends, Karube and Chota.”

“I thought I’d be able to survive and go back to the world the way it used to be. But if that’s not possible, I want Usagi to return at the very least. She’s the only reason I’m alive.”

Severus let out an amused huff of laughter before smiling at him, “Very touching.” He said as he started to walk around Arisu, overlooking the hotel from the rooftop.

Arisu furrowed his brows at the monotone voice. “This wish of yours. . . sure is nice, but not very practical, I’ll tell you.”

Kuina scoffed and smiled as she too began walking but only a few steps forward. “You’d have to win every single game coming up and become the next Number 1. Impossible.”

Arisu sighed before talking, “Look, it’s not about you guys, all right?”

Severus turned to him, “We think you both have potential.” Arisu turned to question him.

“Yeah, that’s why we’re here right now,” Severus said as he looked back over the hotel.

“What do you mean?” asked Arisu.

Severus turned again to tell him, “What would you say if I told you, things could play out differently?”

Students groaned as the screen switched to show Beach goers cheering and clapping as a bar with Hatter revved up.

“They’ve got a lot of guns,” said Usagi as she and Arisu were shown to be walking through a hallway. “Their arsenal is in the deepest room in the annex, and they have patrols too. As long as they have all those weapons, Hatter will be in control of everything.”

“What’s the matter?” she asked as Arisu stopped walking. When Arisu walked to the nearest window, overlooking the spectacle of Hatter yelling to his followers that he was off.

Severus’ voice was sounded over spectacle as he talked, “Hatter’s making sure he keeps control of the militant corps,” the screen switched to show a smirking Niragi as he leaned against a wall watching the cheering crowd, “but it’s only a matter of time before they retaliate.”

Back on the rooftop, Severus once again stared out into the open world, “And if that happens, this place will be run by a bunch of brainless idiots with guns. Then it’s cut and run.”

“What are you planning?” asked Arisu. “I’m planning to steal all the playing cards. . .and bail off the Beach.”

As Arisu’s eyes slightly widened, the screen switched to show Hatter leaving the entrance archway of the Beach, waving as the car slowly drove away. “Beach. A pseudo-utopia built on one guy’s charisma. But then again, maybe we’re the only ones who think that way. There is no utopia in this world. Usagi. We need to talk,” Arisu said as he turned towards Usagi who looked at him slightly confused.

“Can they really pull it off?” asked Lupin. “I mean, can just four people really pull it off, even with the militants—who while they don't like to follow Hatter’s orders—they won’t just let the playing cards be stolen either.”

Amelia scratched her head as she thought. “I don’t know, honestly,” she started, “But Snape looks confident in his plan, so maybe it might?”

“There’s always a way that a plan can go south,” said Regulus.

The screen showed Arisu and Usagi as they walked down a hallway quickly. As they reached two militants, they were stopped. “Woah, what are you doin’ here?” one asked.

“What the hell do you two want?” asked Niragi as he stepped forward with his huge gun resting on his shoulder, like it wasn’t a dangerous weapon, “No one asked you to come here!”

“Actually, I’m the one who asked him,” Severus said as he stepped forward.

Niragi turned to him, “Yeah? Who says you can summon people now?”

“There’s something important he has to hear,” replied Severus, with a slight smile on his face as he looked at Niragi before turning his gaze to Arisu, “Let’s go in.”

Arisu turned to Usagi, “See you later.”

As both men stepped to the conference room door, Arisu turned to Severus and asked, “what’s going on?”

“Not a clue, but it’s gotta be something pretty serious,” replied Severus as he opened the double door and entered the room, followed by Arisu.

When they entered, they found themselves faced with a dead Hatter on the meeting table, as the other executives stood around him.

“How’d he’d die?” asked James. “A game, maybe?” replied Remus.

As Arisu looked horrified, Severus looked indifferent as he stared down at the body. When Ann and the player that Arisu played with before—Tatta—entered, they stopped and stared at the body in shock. “Apparently, he couldn’t clear the game,” said Tatta. “The maintenance team just happened to find him in Shinjuku while we were filling up with gas.”

Ann stepped forward to examine the body, but she was stopped by Niragi.

“Hey, do me a favor and keep your hands off him,” he said in a mocking way, “You’re obsessed with dissecting things.”

Ann took her hand off, but she still examined him with her eyes. As she peered down at the body, she noticed a bullet hole. “Did the game he was playing involve guns?”

“Seems like it,” answered Tatta, “Apparently, people around the game area heard gunshots.”

Niragi laughed, “Holy shit!” but as he did, Arisu and Severus turned to look at each other. Severus quickly shook his head before looking back at the rest of the room. “Looks like he should’ve brought the militant corps along with him.”

“Wait, what does Snape know?” asked Sirius.

“Probably thinks he wasn’t killed during the game? I don’t know?” replied Regulus. “Pay attention to the screen.”

As the executives looked at the body of Hatter, one said, “So now what? What happens to the Beach?”

Mira spoke up, “Nobody says a word about this, understood? We don’t want people freaking out.”

Kuzuryu stepped forward, “I’ll step in as leader since I’m Number 2.”

“Wait a second,” said Niragi as he stepped close to Kuzuryu. “Shouldn’t the strongest person be the leader? In case you didn’t know, we’re the ones who have been getting rid of the traitors, but we’ve been thrown into the shadows the whole time. This bullshit ends now, you get that?!”

“If the Number 1 dies, everyone moves up by a number. We all knew that,” stated Kuzuryu.

“Yeah, well, this elitist dictator is dead,” Niragi said as the screen showed a close up of Hatter’s limp wrist showcasing a bracelet with the tag reading; 001. “The power has shifted, hasn’t it?”

“Let’s just be democratic and go with the majority,” said Niragi in a playful voice. He walked around Kuzuryu and stopped next to Mira as he said, “Who’s with me and thinks that Aguni should be our new leader?”

Nobody answered as both Niragi and the blade-wielding militant—Last Boss— glanced around the room. Niragi scoffed, “Are you all serious right now?”

“Last Boss,” Niragi had said before nodding his head as a signal. Instantly, Last Boos unsheathed his katana as he walked to Ann and pointed at her hip before creepily and slowly raising it up her body to her neck. “So I’ll ask again,” said Niragi as he lazily tilted his head around the room, “Who thinks Aguni should be leader?”

As Ann stared at Last Boss, she let out a soft scoff before raising her hand. Niragi grinned and dropped his head when the others in the room realized what could happen if they didn’t raise their hands in agreement.

“This. . .” said Mira, “is not a democracy.”

Niragi scoffed in annoyance before he walked to her left side, “But I think it is, isn’t it?” He lifted the gun from his shoulder and put it in his other hand, he leaned down to Mira’s level. The muzzle of the gun pointed at the underside of her jaw. “You can vote however you want, right?”

The students and staff cringed in disgust as Niragi stuck his tongue out, showing his tongue piercing before smirking as Mira lifted her hand looking defeated. He lifted his eyes and asked Kuzuryu, “And how about the former Number 2 over there? What do you think?”

Kuzuryu lifted a hand and Niragi laughed. As he turned to the other executive named Joe who quickly lifted his hand up, but Niragi wasn’t focused on him.

“Oh, no,” mumbled Lily. Many joined her as they tensed up as Niragi focused on Severus who wasn’t even looking at him.

Niragi’s face turned from amused to annoyed as he grabbed his gun and cocked it at Severus. “And what about you?”

Severus slowly turned his head to look at Niragi with a bored expression on his face. “Severus, you’re not looking down on us, are ya?”

Severus had an amused glint in his eyes and a rising smirk on his lips as he simply said, “Y’all morons in the corps?”

Heavy sighs went around the Hall and everyone ignored the two slaps to the back of a certain someone’s head and the yelp that came from the back of the Great Hall.

Niragi rushed forward threateningly as he dropped his gun before levelling it to Severus’ jaw. He stepped closer as he stared down at Severus before letting out a mixture of an annoyed laugh and scoff, “Those eyes of yours piss me off sometimes, you know that?”

As Severus looked up at him, the audience could tell he found this amusing. Niragi pointed the gun even closer before saying, “You really think you’re better than us, don’t ya?”

Severus leaned slightly back as he took his hands out of his pockets and raised them up mockingly. “I vote for Aguni to be the leader,” he stated before he let a small smile show on his face as he looked down at the gun and looked back up, “I’m pretty sure that’s what you want to hear, don’t you?,” Severus finished as he mockingly raised both eyebrows as he stared directly into Niragi’s eyes.

Niragi, on the other hand, didn’t look as amused as Severus was, and instead wore a face of dislike as he put the gun away as he scoffed at him. “Well, let this be a reminder of how you should act in the future.” He gave one last sneer at Severus before he paid attention to Arisu.

“Hey, why are you looking so freaked out?” he let out a small chuckle.

Niragi quickly stepped towards Arisu, pointing his gun up at him when he got in close range, forcing Arisu to lean back away from the muzzle. “I thought I told you to give me an answer there? Whose side are you on, anyway?” Arisu flinched back harshly as Last Boss lunged forward with his katana as it was pointed at his chest.

Niragi giggled as Last Boss raised the katana slightly upwards so that it would be pointing up at Arisu’s nose. “Just about to shit your pants there, huh?!” He let out a harsh laugh, “Look at his face!”

Arisu looked between Niragi and the katana as he shakily raised his hand. “All right,” Niragi said as he walked around lazily pointing at the rest of the executives who raised their hands.

“Looks like we have a unanimous decision,” he snickered, “So, we’ve got a new leader, right?”

But Ann spoke up. In her raised voice she said, “Hatter would not allow this. If he were alive, he would not have allowed this.” But while it seemed like she was just stating a fact, it felt like she was talking directly to Aguni who looked away from her and instead focused his attention on somewhere else. His body and head were directly pointed towards Hatter’s body, but his eyes looked somewhere else, not wanting to look at the corpse.

Niragi chuckled as he walked to the head of Hatter’s body. “But he’s not alive, is he?” he asked before he started hitting the head with the butt of his gun. “The dead really have no say as to what’s going on. Watch.” He said before he started banging it again and again and again as the executives watched on. Some like Ann and Kuzuryu looked on in discomfort, while others like Arisu joined by Tatta flinched slightly and looked on in horror with each hit as it continued one after the other.

Everyone cringed as each hit was shown on the screen. The hard, harsh way the sound of the gun striking the body made some cover their ears. The way Niragi was full of hatred with how hard he was hitting could easily be noticed. Exclaims of disgust and anger sprang out as Niragi spit on the corpse before Aguni called out, “That’s enough.”

Niragi walked away from the body as Aguni said his words. “From this day onward, I will be the Beach’s new king.”

Niragi stood to Aguni’s right before raising his gun to rest on his shoulder before sighing loudly, “Yeah, let’s hear it for the King, huh?!” He mockingly applauded. “Okay, boss. Time for the succession ceremony, right? Maybe you should open up the black envelope.”

As the executives looked uneasy, Severus smirked as he stared at Aguni.

“The black envelope. All the playing cards collected by members of the Beach are kept in the safe in Hatter’s royal suite. The code for opening the safe is sealed inside the black envelope. The envelope is kept in a secret location. And the only time it’s opened is when there’s a new Number 1.” As Severus’ voice was heard over a past still-alive Hatter as he poured red wax on the black envelope before he sealed it with his ring that read; ‘BOSS’, the screen transitioned to Aguni as he cut open the sealed wax, and opened the envelope.

“The new Number 1 opens the envelope in front of the executives, but only he sees the code to the safe,” Severus said. As Aguni opened the paper with the code on it, Severus’ black eyes were eyeing it. “Then, he places the paper with the code written on it into a new envelope and seals it again. It then must be signed by all executives.”

The scene changed to show Severus sitting down in a chair in a hotel room accompanied by Kuina, Usagi, and Arisu as he explained his plan, “First, Arisu will infiltrate the royal suite. Then he’ll search for the safe, and steal all the playing cards inside.”

“And how do I get the code?” asked Arisu. “Don’t worry about that,” replied Severus with a smirk. “I’ll let you know when you’re in front of the safe.” With that he placed one of the four radios in front of Arisu who looked nervous.

“I sure hope you’re right,” he said, “I’m on it.” Arisu grabbed the radio as Severus looked towards Usagi and placed another radio before stating, “Usagi and Kuina will be on the lookout.”

Usagi, though, looked nervous about executing the plan. “This is too dangerous. They’ll kill us if they see us,” she said as she looked at Severus who stared at her with his sly smile before he looked away.

“I don’t think we have any other choice,” Arisu told her with a worried look on his face mirroring hers. “Now that Hatter’s dead, the unity in the Beach is wavering. I think this plan could work for us.”

But as Arisu finished, Severus gave a smirk as he looked down and gave a nervous Kuina her radio.

Amelia breathed deeply, “He’s hiding something. That smile of his always has a tell to it. But it’s hard to figure out.”

“He’s definitely not telling them something, which is dangerous considering it’ll be hard to find other people who will go against the gun-wielding maniacs,” added James.

Lily bit her lip as she watched the smirk Severus gave. It definitely said something bad was going to happen, either to Arisu or Usagi, or both. “Kuina might know, considering she shifted a bit before reaching for her radio.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too,” said Regulus, “But I don’t think she will say anything. Remember she has to go back to the real world. For her mother. But she does seem to be having some conflict with this untold plan of Severus’.”

Back in the annex of the hotel, Niragi and the militants stood on the same balcony Hatter once used to talk to them all. The executives, though, stood in the far back behind all the militants. “I’m here to tell you, we have a new leader,” as the crowd murmured in confusion, Niragi continued, “Hatter is no longer with us, and that leader has been chosen.”

“Niragi let a smug grin grow on his face, “The new leader is Aguni.” The second he finished his statement, the crowd murmurs increased with a touch of fear added to their whispers of gossip. “Everyone, shut up!” Immediately, the crowd followed that order. “It seems as though Hatter failed in his game. He just couldn’t crack it. A vote was taken, and the executive was unanimous, and Aguni was voted as our new Number 1. Now, let’s hear from Aguni. You better all listen carefully.”

As Niragi stepped back, Aguni stepped forward. “Niragi said everything that needs to be said. . .” Aguni’s voice filtered out as the screen panned back to show Severus with his hood up observing from another balcony the ceremony.

He raised his radio to his mouth as he spoke, “All right, the new leader is making a speech in the lobby.” The screen then showed Usagi on lookout as Severus’ voice continued, “All members of the executive and the militant corps are here at the annex. We’re not gonna get another chance like this.”

As Severus finished, Arisu had opened the double doors to Hatter’s suite and stepped inside. “I’ll let you guys know if there are any changes here. I’m counting on you, Arisu,” Severus stated before the radio switched off.

Arisu began searching around as quickly as he could before the screen switched to Aguni’s speech again. “Now that Hatter is gone and I’m the Number 1, I have full control over the Beach. Follow my orders. I want you to live for me, and you may have to die for me.”

Severus huffed an amused laugh as he heard Aguni’s statement, before it switched to Arisu in the suite. As he opened a closet, he found a safe. “I found it,” he whispered into the radio.

“There’s no way he found it that fast,” scoffed Sirius, “It’s in a way too easy to reach space, you would expect a safe holding something as valuable as these cards to be somewhere more hidden.”

“All right, what’s the code?”

“8-0-2-2,” answered Severus.

“So you saw what’s in the letter?” asked Arisu as he checked behind him.

“No,” replied Severus, “But Aguni’s expression pretty much said it all.” A flashback showed when Aguni had the white paper with the code in hand. “When he opened it, his face kinda went all dark, like he was completely surprised and really perplexed. I’m pretty sure there was nothing written on it.”

“Nothing? Then how did you get the code?” asked Arisu, surprised.

Severus let out a huffed giggle before he answered, “From the wax seal. The Boss seals it with his ring. It has numbers on it. And that’s the code.”

A flashback to where Aguni reapplied the red wax to the black envelope showed that Hatter’s ‘BOSS’ ring had instead read ‘8022’.

Back to Arisu, he smiled into the radio, “Sure as hell wouldn’t want to be your enemy”. Arisu turned to the safe and put in the code.

Frank’s face paled as he remembered what he had said when Snape figured out Daimon’s number and got lucky. The people who agreed with him also felt slight shivers run down their spine as they too remembered.

But before anyone could celebrate a plan well done, nervous whispers rose into shouts as the safe had started to beep rapidly, telling Arisu that he inputted the wrong code. “It’s not working!”

Arisu, in a panic, had started to try and pull the knob of the safe but was only met with the clanking of the said safe. “Severus!” He continued trying to turn and pull the knob. “Severus, you there?!”

The beeping continued before Arisu was startled by Niragi saying, “Yeah, I gotta hand it to you. You really got balls.”

Arisu looked scared and panicked as he looked at Niragi and Aguni and the rest of the militants who were inside of the suite. But those eyes had turned to something else as they widened in shock.

The screen switched to show Severus entering his field of vision, smirking as he tossed the radio in his hand until he came to a stop behind Aguni.

“YOU FUCKING SNAKE!” yelled Sirius, followed by many other students who stood up out of their seats as they all turned to glare and shouted curses at Snape who tried to make himself smaller.

Severus avoided those heated glares as he enjoyed the compliments he had received before in the past scenes before this one. After all, it was nice to be on the receiving end of compliments, especially from other houses, including his own, that were not Lily or Regulus. He really wished that Lucius and Narcissa were here, as they would have helped with this, but they had already graduated. He let out a small sigh as he stared down at his scruffy shoes that were a size too small, as he slowly started to disassociate as the comments continued.

Somewhere along all the shouting, Regulus had stood up as well shouting back at the students that consisted of mostly Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, and some Ravenclaws. The Slytherin House had looked at Severus with respect, not expecting him to betray Arisu. But they, along with the Ravenclaws who weren’t shouting abuse at Snape, and surprisingly, Amelia Bones, had caught onto the real plan. But it did not click until they saw Snape stand with Aguni.

This plan had seemed way too easy the moment Arisu had found the safe. It had seemed too easy when he recruited Arisu and Usagi. They had all noticed the smirk, as Amelia had pointed out, on Severus’ face as he gave them the radios. They had all noticed the amount of movement coming from Kuina as she reached for her radio.

There was something to the plan that was supposed to involve Severus, and as Professor Filius stated before during the King of Diamonds game, Snape was sitting back and observing, taking in information before he decided to act. This was what he was doing. Even though it did lead to people being hurt, it did seem like Snape had started to slightly care about people as time had passed, according to the Jack of Hearts game. He cared about Ippei, and it looked like Kuzuryu had added to that change in him. This had happened in the past, and somewhere along the way Snape was changing.

They had tried to stand up to the shouting mob of students, and had shouted to the Professors who looked disappointed at Snape, as they hadn’t even bothered to step in.

This had lasted a while until everyone’s voice had gone out, sending the Great Hall’s noise level back down to silence besides the scuffle of robes and shoes as everyone that was shouting had turned to panic at what seemed to be a silencio casted on the entire student and staff body.

“Shut your mouths and continue to watch in peace,” stated a very monotone Fate. Her usual smile and peppy, cheerful voice had gone away. Death seemed to stare into their souls as he straightened himself out, looking down at them.

With that, the two faced the screen as everyone was suddenly pushed into their seats unable to get up. The only ones left unaffected were Amelia, Regulus, Severus, and the Slytherins and Ravenclaws who hadn’t joined in the shouting war directed at Severus.

“Why would you. . .” started Arisu, before a shout from Usagi got his attention. “Let me go!” she shouted as she was fighting against the two militants who dragged her inside the suite. “Usagi!” Arisu shouted as he got up and tried to run to her to help, but was harshly thrown to the ground by Niragi’s gun, as it hit his head. “Arisu!”

Niragi laughed before shouting, “Stop crying for your stupid boyfriend, you stupid bitch!”

He kicked Arisu’s stomach, over and over again as Usagi called out for him. Aguni and Severus watched this happen. Aguni, still staring at the scene, had called out to Severus, “Severus, I owe you.” He turned to face him, “We wouldn’t have caught them if it wasn’t for you.”

The silence from the forced shut mouths didn’t stop everyone from glaring heatingly at Severus who tried his best to keep up his calm face as he stared at the screen, his hands clenched tightly at his uniform pants, not caring if he caught his skin around his thighs under the strength of his hands and nails.

Severus looked down almost shyly, as he smiled, “Yeah, well. . .Just wanna be of service.”

Aguni looked away from him, his gaze stopping somewhere. Severus turned his head to where Aguni was looking, and had found a painting of a stag hanging from a wall opposite of the closet Arisu had opened.

“Well, now. Looks like. . .”Niragi started as he knelt down and raised an unconscious Arisu’s head by his hair, “Someone’s gone night-night.” He laughed as Usagi looked scared and panicked as she stopped struggling as hard as she was before.

“All right. Bring him to the room.” The screen had gone black for a while until it turned on again and showed Kuina leaning against a pillar in a hallway as she picked up the radio in her hand when Severus’ voice was heard, “How are things going over there, Kuina?”

“All right, I guess. Aguni is still in his room,” she said, “I’m dying of boredom over here.”

“Well, let’s go ahead with our plan, then.”

The screen switched to show Severus walking into Hatter’s suite as the moon’s light showed through the uncovered windows during nightfall. As Severus strolled in, he brought his radio up and stated, “I have no idea if Arisu is smart or stupid. There’s no way they’d keep the cards in an ordinary safe.”

“Then where do you think the real safe is?

“I’m not sure, but when Arisu found the fake safe, Aguni, who usually has a good poker face, was glancing towards something else. I think that whatever’s in that envelope isn’t a code or some blank letter.”

The scene of Aguni opening the blank paper showed again, but this time it showed what was inside. A simple drawn picture of a stag in pen was printed on, as it transitioned into the hanging picture in the suite Severus was currently standing in. “I think it might just be a drawing.”

As Severus stepped in front of the painting, he smiled and then let out a sigh as he looked at it. He grabbed the painting by the sides as he picked it off the wall, and there it was. A harshly cut out hole where the real safe was sitting. “Found it.”

“So this is why you sacrificed them?” said Kuina.

“Yeah, well, you gotta give something to get something,” Severus stated, “They were pawns, that’s all. Shit happens.”

Kuina looked disappointed and a bit sad as he gave a sigh, “Yeah, well, all I know. . .is that I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be your enemy.”

Some students had rolled their eyes as they witnessed what Snape could do to an enemy without even actively fighting them. They continued glaring at him as they listened to his careless, heartless words as he listed both Arisu and Usagi off as pawns, nothing more.

Amelia sighed as she frowned at them, “Are you all going to be holding a grudge on Snape forever now? You know that we are technically watching his future actions right? This hasn’t happened yet, you know? For all we know, Snape might try to change what happens here while getting the same results. You should know by now that this world isn’t fair, and Snape was doing what he could to reach his goal.”

“Severus was just doing what he knew he could do. Sit back and observe. Besides, Arisu and Usagi are incredibly too trusting people, and that kind of naivety is dangerous in a world like the borderlands. It may seem harsh right now, but if you even paid attention to the two face card games, Severus does change and starts to care about people,” added Regulus, “Don’t pretend like you wouldn’t do whatever it took to survive, like Kuina is doing. She’s going along with this plan, even though she feels bad about it, because she wants to get back to her mother.”

Severus turned to look at them both, as they stared down the students and staff of Hogwarts before they sat back down. As Regulus sat beside him and squeezed his arm in reassurance, his eyes seemed to wander over to Lily who, in the chaos, had gone back to her friends and House. He had seen the disappointment and anger in her emerald eyes, and it felt like his heart was being squeezed until it bled when she had avoided all eye contact from him during the shouting.

Now, she was silent due to the spell and stared at the screen with furrowed brows as she was listening to the words that had come out of Amelia and Regulus’ mouths. Out of everyone, only two people had bothered to help him, to stand up for him. His housemates, while also unaffected by the spell, hadn’t spoken up. But he could guess that was because they liked what he did. And it ashamed him to admit, but Severus bit back a smile as he thought of the plan his future self had come up with to get the playing cards. It was every bit of Slytherin in him alongside every bit of Ravenclaw he had as well.

Severus gave a soft chuckle as he raised the radio to his mouth and replied, “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

Kuina had looked at her radio before hiding it under her folded arms as she heard the scuffle of footsteps. She turned her head quickly to see Last Boss walking past her.

The screen switched to the code, 8022, was entered into the safe and it clicked open. Inside was a wooden box. Back with Kuina, Last Boss had stopped walking.

As Severus grabbed the wooden box out of the safe and as he opened it, he smirked at the playing cards that sat innocently inside. He grabbed them before closing the safe. Last Boss had turned to stare at Kuina, who after a while, shot him a wink with a slight smile. He turned around and walked away, as Kuina sighed with relief.

The screen seemed to black out again before it showed the electrical boxes of the hotel resort shut down before turning back on.

Outside, Severus walked towards an archway that led out the hotel. He took off his Beach bracelet as he told Kuina, who was waiting for him, “Well, I guess I can get rid of this now, too.”

“Don’t you feel sorry for him?” asked Kuina as she stared at the hotel, “Arisu, I mean.”

Severus stopped. He turned his head slightly towards her, “Sorry for him?”

“Hmm. Yeah, I know I do.”

Severus turned his body towards her this time, as she simply told her, “Sometimes we have to do things in order to survive.” Kuina looked at him with an unreadable expression. “If you’re so worried about him, then you should help him.” He gave her a small smile before he turned and continued to walk away. But as he took just one step forward, his smile faded.

He looked concerned and confused, as he stared at something invisible past the archway. “No way. . .” he whispered under his breath. He seemed shocked by what he was looking at.

Kuina had left her spot on the lamppost but as she reached to where he was, Severus raised his voice, “W-Wait!”
Amelia had moved to sit next to Snape and Regulus. She could withstand the looks she received from her House, but it did get slightly annoying.Now here she was, in a sea of green wearing bright yellow and black robes. The only Hufflepuff in Slytherin.
She leaned towards them and whispered, “I believe Kuina also helped change him. He reacted when she almost walked to her death.”

Kuina was startled and surprised by Severus’s stutter, and so she stepped backwards with him and watched as Severus threw his bracelet through the archway. The moment it went past it, it was shot down by a laser which burnt a hole through it as it landed on the pavement. Kuina slowly stepped forward, taking out her fake cigarette from her mouth, and eyed the laser grid that had shown up lining the archway opening.
Regulus smiled a bit and nodded, “You’re right. He stuttered as she got close to the lasers.”
“He does care for her. In his own sort of way,” added Amelia who was smirking.

“She definitely wormed his way into his heart,” said Regulus who held back giggles as he was joined by Amelia. “Merlin, you’re right!” she gasped, “I believe it took a while, but he just left her to proclaim them friends when he gave up on trying to make her go away.”

They let out muffled laughter which could be heard from the students who surrounded them who did hear a bit about their conversation. And some did agree with what they were saying. Snape did care about Kuina, so much so that he didn’t betray her like he did with Usagi and Arisu.

He didn’t need to tell Kuina the true plan, but they could guess that it was because he truly did care about her or he just needed a lookout as he stole the cards.

“Seriously?” she asked, both scared and surprised. Both turned around as lasers began to show up, surrounding the entire hotel resort turning the Beach into a game arena.

The screen switched to show Arisu tied to a chair in an empty room with both rope and duct tape as his screams were muffled. He stopped when the PA chimed and male announcer came on.

“We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for staying at Seaside Paradise, Tokyo.” As the announcer talked, the annex was empty but in the front, stood a familiar white table with fifty-eight phones laying on top. “As a token of our appreciation, we will now commence a game with all 58 participants in the venue.”

In a television screen where Niragi and other militants had carried Usagi into, had stared at the television as it read, “THE GAME WILL NOW COMMENCE.”

The female announcer came on once again as she stated, “Difficulty, Ten of Hearts.”

With their attention somewhere else, Usagi threw their hands off and jumped from the bed and sprinted from the room and into the running crowd of players.

“All participants must assemble in the lobby immediately. The rules of the game will then be explained.”

In the empty room with Arisu, the announcer repeated her request as Arisu started screaming even louder than before as he strained against his bonds.

In the annex, players ran to the table as they started to pass out the phones. When Usagi reached the annex and grabbed her phone to register, she noticed another crowd forming. She made her way through it, and found a dead Momoka on the floor with a knife through her heart.

Just then every phone chimed. “Game, ‘Witch Hunt’. The murderous witch who killed this girl is hiding amongst you in plain sight. The witch is not limited to women. To clear the game, you must find the witch and burn him or her in the Fire of Judgement. Time limit, two hours.”

As a bonfire had started outside the annex walls, the screen switched to show the words; “GAME START”.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The silenced students and staff had coughed hard when they felt the spell lift from them. The smarter students had kept their mouths shut. The ones who had overheard the conversation between Amelia and Regulus had thought to themselves, and after adding in what Amelia talked about as she scolded them, then yeah they could see from Snape’s and Kuina’s perspective.

They were just trying to survive. Snape knew that the Beach would descend into chaos once Hatter had died and the militants had taken full control of the Beach. And they were right, the Beach does burn down, eventually.

And Snape does start to care for other people. Like Ippei, a very cheerful man who had once believed in the very best of humanity only for it to be shown that human beings can easily break, tear, and ruin each other for their own well being, or just for their own sick amusement. Snape had cared for him.

While they had no idea how Kuina and him had met, Snape had brought her in the real plan, and had stopped her from dying. He was scared for her the moment the lasers had gone up. And Kuzuryu made just as big an impact on him as both Ippei and Kuina.

Kuzuryu taught him to face his own ideals and beliefs. Snape had given him a choice on reconciling with the grief of losing his ideals that had held him up as a lawyer in the real world once again, after the Beach had disappointed him. Kuzuryu was able to die a fair man whose ideals had been completed, which was why, despite winning the game, Snape had envied him. Because he had lost his ideals during his job as a doctor, he can’t reconcile with them as he has never gotten the chance, hence his idea while playing the games to understand why they were made the way they were.

Snape doesn’t care whether he lives or dies, they could tell that much from the games and explanations from their more observant peers (Bones and Black) but he does care for a few people who have shown him a small fracture of light in the dark the borderlands that cemented his view on humanity. Even if he doesn’t show it.

In the annex of the resort, the crowd clamoured as it was confirmed that there was a huge bonfire at the back of the building waiting for its witch to be judged.

“We have to find whoever murdered Momoka and burn them in the Fire of Judgement,” stated Ann.

“A witch hunt game, huh? This ought to be good,” smiled Niragi as he headed to the front of the crowd where Momoka’s body was. As he passed by, he whispered into Usagi's ear, “Raincheck on our date, huh?”. The older students and staff glared at him when they remembered what he was about to do to her when the game had started. “All right, let’s go witch hunting!” he yelled as the crowd of players quickly stumbled away to make room for the militants who were coming forward.

In the crowd, stood both Severus with his hood up and Kuina with her fake cigarette in her mouth. Severus looked annoyed as the militants stepped forward, as he turned and walked away from the entire thing. Kuina glanced at him as he passed before looking back at the crowd of nervous people, before she too began walking away.

Ann quickly stepped forward, moving Asahi from her friend’s body as she examined it. Another woman from the crowd in front had asked Asahi with suspicion in her voice, “You, you’re always with her.”

As Asahi turned to her before she asked again, “Why weren’t you with her today?”

“What?” asked Asahi.

“That’s true, you weren’t. What happened? You fight?” said a male player. As he finished, Niragi jumped forward, his gun already in his hands as he leaned towards Asahi who backed away scared. “Are you our witch?”

“It’s not me!” But her words fell on deaf ears as Niragi’s voice overpowered hers.

“I guess we’ll know when we throw you in the fire!”

“I was in my room! She was my friend!”

Another male player said his piece, “So you’re with her everyday, except the day she gets killed.”

Niragi chuckled as he shouted, “Great, then we’ve agreed, she’s the witch. Take her to the fire!” As he called out to the militants, they raced forward and grabbed Asahi by her arms and legs as they hefted her up on their shoulders and began to walk outside. She struggled as she yelled out to let her go and that she did not kill her friend.

“That’s enough!” called out Mira as she and Usagi walked in front of the group. “Put down Asahi.”

“We’re all suspects in this game,” stated Usagi as Asahi was dropped onto the floor. Usagi began to look around at the rest of the crowd as she said, “Where were all of you? And what were you all doing? And can you prove it?”

As Niragi made another disgusting comment, Ann stood up and told the crowd, “Everyone will take turns explaining what you did in the past hour.”

“That’s not really a good plan, especially when you have only, what, two hours on the clock? And, there’s fifty-eight people. Stories will get tangled in a mess especially when nerves tend to make you forget things, which might lead to an innocent person being thrown into the fire,” stated Amelia.

“Plus, we already know who the witch is, so everything that’s going to happen is because of a Hearts game that manipulates fear, which is increased when you have people like Niragi around,” added Regulus.

A woman gasped out as she noted Ann’s handkerchief that was stained with blood. Ann looked confused before she looked at her handkerchief, “I can explain this.”

“Finally, this is getting interesting,” said Niragi before quickly raising his voice, completely ecstatic, “I say she’s the witch!”

Ann turned to him quickly and raised her voice, “You’re wrong!”. She turned to the crowd as she raised her hand showing off the bloody cloth as she stated, “This is Hatter’s blood.”

The crowd burst into murmurs as Ann continued, “I was examining Hatter’s body. That’s how the blood got on me.”

At a question from a player, Ann added, “Hatter was murdered.”

“Hatter was killed?”

“Why didn’t you tell us?!”

“The executives believed that this might throw everyone into a panic,” she said.

“Well, no shit,” muttered James. “It’s going to get even worse with the game now it’s been told to them.”

“The executives might be in danger, since Aguni and his militants are the ones in charge now. They could point the fingers at them. Have them killed under the suspicion that one of them is the witch,” added Regulus.

“What else are you. . .you people hiding from us? Huh? What?” said a man from the front of the crowd.

Kuzuryu’s voice called out as he too joined Usagi, Mira, and Ann in the front, “Calm down.”

Ann unfolded her handkerchief and raised a bullet, “I took this bullet from Hatter’s body. Its caliber is the same as those we have here at the Beach.”

“Uh-huh?” mocked Niragi.

Ann glanced at him slightly annoyed before continuing, “This means that someone here at the Beach killed Hatter.”

“Okay! My guess is Aguni,” called out James. He looked around as he felt glances at him before he sighed and added, “It looks like the only people to really have a grudge against Hatter, that also have the most amount of weapons, are the militants who listen to Aguni. And the only militant that Hatter would be alone with would be Aguni. So. . . my guess is that it was Aguni who killed Hatter.”

A girl gasped out nervously bringing the attention onto her, “Do you think that maybe the witch killed Hatter?” She looked around meeting the eyes from everyone, before anxiously spatting out, “I mean, that doesn’t sound so crazy, am I right?”

She pointed a finger at the executives and militants, “Uh, the witch could be one of them—”

The audience flinched as the tip of a katana pierced through her chest. They rubbed their chests in phantom pain when Last Boss drew the blade back, dropping the girl who had blood pouring through her mouth.

The crowd had stumbled back with urgency as they hadn’t seen Last Boss until that moment. “I found her annoying,” he said in a sickly calm voice. “Let’s just burn everyone.”

As he finished stating that, Usagi breathed in shakingly and behind her, the crowds’ shoulders had risen in fear as they looked at each other wondering what to do. They became more fearful when Aguni’s voice was heard. “If someone here is the witch, then everyone in this room except me could be the witch,” he said as he brought the rest of the militants. “So, who here is the witch? Step forward.”

When they reached the front, Aguni looked to Niragi as he said, “If no one here will admit it, then all of you will burn.”

Niragi fired his gun with a cheer into the ceiling causing everyone to run from the militants who began firing into the fleeting crowd. The three executives; Ann, Mira, and Kuzuryu walked away.

As Usagi grabbed Asahi to leave, she ran over to the last phone on the table; Arisu’s registration phone.

Back with the militants, Niragi told them, “Comb through all of them, got that? No one escapes!”

A militant in a red shirt had come up to Aguni saying, “Are you really gonna do what he says? We worked together as a team until today.”

“Eh?” smiled Niragi. “If the game doesn’t end after you do this, then eventually, we’ll have to kill—” the militant didn’t finish his sentence as he was shot dead by Niragi, who cheered as he went back to hunting the rest of the Bach’s inhabitants.

“I hate being right sometimes,” groaned Amelia.

“I personally love the idea of me being always right, but not at the moment,” mumbled Regulus.

“I would too, but not when my idea comes at the cost of killing innocent people,” said James.

Aguni looked at the body before telling his militants to burn him as he was of no use to them anymore. The screen then switched to show a group of people screaming as they ran through hallways before stopping as the militants met them at gunpoint. But they had not fired, and instead just held their guns at the crowd.

That was until Niragi came and shot a few of them, “We have others to question and time’s running out.” With that the other militants took position and fired into the fleeting crowd, chasing after them.

“It looked for a moment they were scared of killing them before Niragi showed up,” stated Lupin.

“It’s one thing to intimidate people,” said Professor McGonagall looking pale, “It’s an entirely different thing to kill. Niragi most likely pointed them towards that path as he is the right-hand man to Aguni, alongside Last Boss.”

With Usagi and Asahi, they met up with Tatta and Joe. Usahi had wanted Asahi to hide, but Asahi wanted to help, stating that she would be killed if she stayed there. As gunshots went off in the hallway behind them, they froze in fear before Tatta and Joe showed up relieving them of it.

Tatta had asked Usagi if they could help with finding Arisu, who was still strapped to the chair screaming his voice hoarse as he tried to make a sound.

Back with the same crowd of people who fled from the militants in the hallways, a couple had fallen behind due to the girlfriend hurting her ankle in the chaos. Her boyfriend ran back and tried to help her up but a militant in a tiger-printed shirt had found them and quickly pointed his gun at them. “Don’t shoot, she’s not the witch! I swear!”

But Niragi arrived, and shot him. He giggled as he bumped the militant’s shoulder who looked shocked at the death of the boyfriend. “Don’t think, just shoot.” With that Niragi left. As the militant took aim, the girlfriend had begun sobbing, begging him not to shoot her. His arm began to shake violently as he looked conflicted with himself. “I have to or I’m next,” he said as he took steps closer to her, “You’re not human!” he screamed as he fired multiple shots, killing her.

Minerva sighed sadly, “Case in point.”

“The fear of death versus actively becoming it will lead to people doing horrible things to each other,” stated Filius, “Just like how Ms. Bones, Mr. Regulus, and Mr. Snape pointed out. ”

The militants carried out the bodies of the dead and threw them into the fire, as Aguni stood and watched. On security cameras, the militants had walked with a purpose as they killed every person they had found. The Beach had become littered with bodies. “They’ve all gone crazy,” stated Kuina. She and Severus were in the security room where they saw the carnage happen on the monitors. Severus, who sat on a table simply said, “Not their smartest move. Why would they go so far just to survive?”

A few students who reacted with anger at Snape had slightly flinched as it felt like the question was aimed at them. Regulus smirked a little as he saw some react, but said nothing. It was funny to see them bite back their words, as they were met with answers as to why Severus did what he did in the future.

It all led to the survival of the fittest.

“There’s no way to find out who the witch is this way,” said Kuina. It was silent for a moment as they both stared at the monitors before Severus broke it. “You could be the witch. Right, Kuina?” he asked with a smirk on his lips.

She looked at him, “Or it could be you.”

Severus glanced at her with a smirk, which turned into a small smile as he let out a small laugh while slightly nodding his head.

While looking at the monitors, Kuina’s eyes caught something on one of them. She leaned closer to see what it was, but it was difficult to see due to the graininess of the camera quality.

“Do you think this is where the fire starts?” asked Peter who leaned to Sirius’ and James’ ears.

“What?” asked Sirius. “Oh, shit, you’re right!” exclaimed James, “The fire! The Beach literally burns to the ground! Remember with Kuzuryu and Mira.” He said as he looked at Sirius.

Sirius realized what he meant as he remembered Kuzuryu’s flashback, “Fuck.”

Outside, people were running around and screaming before they looked around as one of them was shot. On the rooftop of the hotel, Niragi was able to snipe at least two more before he called on his radio, “Herd them out through the courtyard. It’ll be easier to move their bodies,” he chuckled.

In the basement of the hotel, Last Boss walked with a gas canister as Niragi’s amused voice could be heard from his radio, “Some of them are hiding inside the hotel.”

Last Boss gave a laugh, “But I’ll force them all out.” He threw his radio aside as he kicked the canister over, joining the other two on the ground. As the gas sloshed out, he pulled out a lighter and threw it in, the floor erupting in flames, that ignited that entire portion of the basement in golden light.

“Well, we found the start of the fire,” said James. “I kind of thought it would have been Niragi to actually set it, not Last Boss.”

Sirius shrugged, “I thought that both could be the culprits to be honest.”

James made an agreeing sound as he turned to the screen to see Usagi, Asahi, Tatta, and Joe running from room to room, opening their doors and shouting Arisu’s name. As Usagi went into one room, followed by Asahi, she saw a militant holding his knees in a tub holding a gun. As Usagi approached him slowly, she knelt down and asked him if he had seen Arisu. The militant slowly lifted his head, shaking as he did so, and told her where he was.

With Tatta and Joe, they had run along opening more doors as they called out Arisu’s name. As Tatte went into one room, Joe had reached the end of the hallway they were in and had run into two militants.

As the militants ran forward to catch him, Joe had dodged one and had the other by his waist. He fought the two, before Tatta joined in, punching one to the ground as Joe hit the other.

But as Joe got up from his fall, he was shot in the middle of his chest by a female militant, dropping dead to the ground. Tatta had whispered Joe’s name before he screamed at the woman.

He ran forward and with all his might tackled the woman and as he punched her once he grabbed onto her vest and asked where Arisu was. When she just smiled and said nothing, he raised a hand to punch her again, before she told him that he was somewhere on the fourth floor. With one punch from Tatta, Saiko was knocked out.

Cheers erupted from some as they saw the fight, gasped as Joe was killed, and cheered again as Tatta had tackled and knocked Saiko out. While they had not really known Joe, it was nice seeing someone avenge their friend.

In a dark room, Ann was looking for something, but she flinched as she stared at Kuina who had turned the lights on.

“It’s the room Kuina was looking at earlier!” said Mary. “What’s Ann even doing?” asked Marlene.

As Ann told Kuina to help her, Kuina had questioned if Ann was the witch, and Ann questioned her back. As Kuina didn’t say anything, Ann had guessed not. “Anyone trying to find the witch on their own is not one. If I were the witch, you’d be hiding right now or having fun killing people.”

“Again, what are you doing?” said Kuina as she stepped forward. “Looking for the witch,” responded Ann, still searching through the many shelves, drawers, and desks for. . .something. As she opened a small drawer, she said, “Ah, there it is,” as she picked up a small tube of paste.

“What’s that?”

“Cyanoacrylate glue,” stated Ann, “It’s super glue.”

“Huh?”

“And if we heat this up and apply it on the murder weapon, all the moisture in the cyanoacrylate will evaporate and hopefully, leave behind fingerprints,” explained Ann as she left the room followed by Kuina in a hurry. “Then I’ll be able to use cocoa powder to dust for fingerprints on the knife handle. After I lift the fingerprints with cellophane tape, I’ll be able to identify the witch.”

Kuina asked, amazed, “What did you do before you came here?”

“Forensics, Tokyo Metro Police,” stated Ann as she walked with a purpose to her small lab in the hotel that was once a kitchen. As Kuina exclaimed how they could clear the game with Ann’s plan, Ann's face had changed from determination to slight wariness. Kuina looked at her confused before looking forward and realizing what had made her stop in her tracks. Kuina lost her smile.

Many groaned at the appearance of Last Boss. They had asked what a forensic was and it was explained to them. Ann was someone who was smart, and she used it in her games. Not only was she smart and put her studies to good use, but she was what muggle Aurors were!

“What do you think he wants?” questioned Marlene with annoyance. They were so close to Ann’s lab.

“Probably to kill them,” stated Dorcas, “You know, stop them from clearing the game in a way that is not their way of doing it.”

Kuina stepped forward staring Last Boss down as she told Ann to go. When Ann turned to her confused, she explained that they needed her to clear the game.

As Last Boss started walking forward the screen had switched to people screaming frantically through smoke filled hallways, before changing to a tied up Arisu who tried to struggle from his binds, before his chair had fallen over. Smoke had also seemed to be seeping into his room, as he coughed.

Five Beach goers ran from the smoke filling the hallways, one of them shouted to get to the annex as he ran ahead, but a gunshot was heard and he was pushed back into the hallways that the rest were in, forcing them back into the smoke. As the militants killed two of them, the other two had turned to run away but more people ran in, forcing them to run straight to the militants, not caring if they were shot. They had overpowered them as they ran to them.

“Honestly, I would rather die quick from a gunshot than being burned alive,” mumbled Severus who had stopped dissociating. Those around him who heard him were startled as they hadn’t heard from him after the shouting from the betrayal.

They glanced at him before agreeing. It was the same with Kuzuryu’s way of death. They would take a quick death compared to the two alternate ways.

Back on the rooftop, Niragi was looking through his sniper as he continued killing players. As he looked at another player, who was looking around scared, Niragi’s smile faltered as he slowly leaned his head away from the scope.

A young man’s voice was heard as the screen switched to show a group of bullies and their victim in school uniforms.

“Okay, aim!” he said. Another boy yelled, “Let’s do this, come on!”

“Steady, aim. . .” The first one said as laughter was coming from all around the victim, who turned out to be a younger Niragi who was wearing glasses and was staring at his bullies off-screen in fear.

The first boy had batted a ball and hit Niragi’s face sending him to the ground in pain as laughter erupted. “Hey! Stand up! We’re not done with you yet! Come on!” a third bully shouted as he ran to Niragi pushing his shoulder.

“Get up!” said the second as Niragi whimpered on the ground.

The first boy, holding a baseball bat, stated, “If you don’t move, you can have lunch.” As he finished the laughter subsided as everyone listened to him. Clearly, he was the leader of this bully squad of five. “Pissy rice soup!” Laughter had risen again.

“Okay, whose turn is it?” said the third. “Mine! Mine!” said a fourth excitedly.

Niragi, meanwhile, just stared at them as blood came from his nose and mouth, his glasses broken as the ball had stricken them right in the middle, most likely breaking them. “Come one, stand up! Come on!”

Niragi was dragged up by the third bully as he whimpered. “On your feet, Niragi!”

“It still doesn’t justify his actions and what he’s done to everyone,” stated Amelia as the audience stared at the screen in disbelief.

“It seems the borderlands have a reason to release all that pain and anger from his teen years,” said Regulus.

“Well, yeah, obviously. In this world, there is no police or anybody with the authority to really tell him to not kill people. He only listens to those he knows can’t take down, like Aguni,” replied Amelia.

“He has that power, he’s never had before. I think that’s why he’s acting like this. Why he loves killing and intimidating people. Because he’s never had that, and now he does. He’s able to do whatever without consequences,” stated Severus.

The Marauders looked uncomfortable with one another. The scene reminded them too much of their incidents with Snape. Niragi was dressed in a black uniform, and was surrounded by five bullies. If it had been four, then they would essentially be seeing a fight between them and Snape. Even if their pranks and attacks weren’t as bad as Niragi’s bullying, they still hurt him, in more ways than one.

James and Remus looked away uncomfortable the moment the baseball had hit Niragi’s face. They wanted to cover their ears as the bullies had laughed, as they were reminded of the many instances where they had laughed at a beaten down Snape who tried to fight off spells, jinxes, and hexes that were thrown at him from four wands.

Sirius bit down the slight guilt he felt, with the fact that Snape could be a Death Eater. All Slytherins were. They were Dark Wizards, and behaved just like his family. Snape was just hiding it really well. It didn’t matter what happens to him in the future, it was bound to happen. Snivellous Snape was a future Death Eater, Sirius repeated as the bullying scene was shown.

But the guilt had risen up as Niragi was grabbed again, forced to entertain his bullies. It took all in him to not look away, and give in to the satisfaction that Regulus was waiting for. Because the moment the scene had started, Regulus looked at him. Staring at him, searching for something that he knew Sirius felt.

As he ignored his brother, Regulus turned back with a wicked smirk at the screen as it showed the current Niragi, with his sniper in hand ready to kill another.

As Niragi took aim, Severus’ voice was heard. “Don’t you get tired of bullying people weaker than you?”

Niragi looked incredibly annoyed as he licked his lips and turned to stare at Severus, “And where were you hiding?”

Severus walked towards him, hands in his pockets, as he looked at the carnage, “Oh, there are lots of places for me to hide.”

“You really get on my nerves, you know that?! Think you’re so goddamn smart!” shouted an even more annoyed Niragi as he sat on the ground.

“Acting like you’re so damn clever!”

Severus just had a small smile on his face as he stood there calmly and tilted his head. He scoffed as his smile widened a little, “I don’t have to act clever.”

Niragi snorted softly before grabbing his gun and stood up, “Okay then.” He walked to the middle of the roof and rested his gun on his shoulder, “Why don’t we put an end to this right now?”

Severus moved his body so he would be in front of Niragi. His head still tilted, the other way this time, as he looked at Niragi with an amused glint in his eyes and smile.

Students groaned again as the screen switched. Just as it was about to get interesting. They were all leaned forward in their seats the moment Snape’s voice rang out, and they felt nervous when Niragi took hold of his gun and stood up. And Snape had stood there, with no weapons visible on him. He was clever and smart, so when he did something like this, it most definitely meant that he had a plan.

The screen switched to show Kuina and Last Boss fighting. All though it was more of Last Boss slashing his katana through the air as Kuina dodge every swing. Kuina got rid of her shoes as she ran off, leading Last Boss somewhere.

With Ann, she had headed to the body of Momoka and had grabbed the knife by the blade, careful not to touch it with her bare hands.

The girls and women in the audience started cheering as the screen showed Kuina and Last Boss again. They cheered Kuina on as she dodged every cut through the air from Last Boss. They stood from their seats as Kuina jumped over one slash across the air and as Last Boss stumbled into the couch afterwards. Kuina had blocked a slash from his katana with a round tabletop and continued dodging.

She was smacked into a stage which turned on the music and lights when Last Boss had kicked her. He chuckled as he complimented her and asked what she’d do before coming to the borderlands.

“I sold wedding gowns,” was all she said before a flashback appeared.

“Huh. Karate?” mumbled Mary.

“It would explain all the dodging she was able to do before. You know, quick reflexes and stuff,” added Marlene.

“It’s a form of muggle combat originally from the Ryukyu Kingdom which is now present day Okinawa prefecture in Japan,” stated Death as questions from purebloods were raised.

As Kuina’s backstory was shown, many looked confused as a karate fight had played which showed a young boy fighting against an older man, most likely his teacher. As they fought, the boy had lost due to hesitating a punch to his teacher. “Never hesitate to strike,” he said.

The scene changed to show a peaceful view of a room. On the desk stood the boy’s karate uniform with his black belt wrapped around it. But it soon changed to show makeup displayed around a table. A hand had picked up a lipstick and the boy from earlier was shown putting it on and looking in the mirror before smiling, happy with himself.

But soon that soft scene was ruined by a hand destroying and wiping the products off the table. The man from earlier, the boy’s father, was yelling about this not happening in his house as the boy tried desperately to stop his father. He was slapped to the ground, as his father had returned to destroy his products while yelling that his son was a boy and not a girl.

As the scene switched again, this time showing the boy with a big bag in the dojo as his–her—father stopped her. “Hikari. Don’t ever come back.”

With that she turned and bowed before grabbing her bag and walking through the gate as her mother called out for her. Her mother turned and looked at her husband in horror realizing what he had done.

“Wait, I’m confused,” said Frank. Mumbles of agreement echoed throughout the Hall, as they tried to understand what was shown.

“Was that boy Kuina?” asked James.

“I mean, it had to be because we were shown a flashback during Kuina’s battle with Last Boss when the scene changed,” answered Sirius.

“Kuina is transgender,” stated Death.

“What’s that?” asked Amelia.

“Well, it's basically someone whose gender identity differs from what their sex assigned at birth is. In this case, Kuina identifies as female despite being born male,” explained Death. “It’s very simple to understand. It can go the opposite as well, like a girl identifying as a boy.”

“I’m sure that there are potions and such that help other Wixen with issues such as this, they just probably don’t tell strangers that they’ve completely changed their gender,” added Fate, “You magical folks probably have better luck with being accepted due to you having, well, magic and all. You probably have potions and spells which can actually change your sex without surgeries and estrogen or testosterone.”

Fate smiled as she saw a few wizards and witches in the crowd nod at her words, their hands shaking slightly.

“Why did his–her sorry. Her father react that way then?” asked Remus.

“Well some people don’t like the fact that someone can change their gender and go by those gender pronouns and ask to be called by a different name than the one assigned at birth,” answered Death.

“Don’t ask why, they usually don’t ever make sense. Some people are just hateful towards those that are different,” added Fate.

“But enough about me. What about you?” Kuina asked.

The crowd groaned in annoyance again at the switching scenes between characters. But it quickly resided and changed into eagerness as it showed Niragi and Severus on the rooftop.

“Our main power supply’s been diverted since this game started,” stated Severus.

“What?” asked Niragi.

“The electricity we’ve always used from these power generators was switched to the hotel’s power supply. That means that whoever’s running the game snuck into the Beach and controls its power from underground,” explained Severus, looking as unbothered as always as he looked at Niragi.

“What the hell are you saying?”

“I think you know who the witch is. That it’s someone close to you.”

Niragi shouted as he swung his gun off his shoulder, entirely amused by Severus’ assumption, “You saying you think I’m the witch?”. He laughed a little before adding, “Sorry, but you’re wrong.”

“Only the executive members have information on how the power grid operates. I also know that only the executives have the key to access the underground,” said Severus. “And I’ll kill all the executives to get that key, starting with you.”

“How’s he even going to kill Niragi if he doesn’t have any weapons on him?” asked James.

“I don’t know, but I’m getting slightly stressed now that Niragi has both his hands on his gun,” answered Regulus.

Regulus turned to Severus, who quickly put his hand behind his head, shielding it from what he believed to be another slap. “For Merlin’s sake!”

Regulus continued staring at him, his eyes squinting with promise before he stopped and smirked.

Niragi had lifted his gun and pointed it to Severus, who just stood there smiling, “Sorry, but I can’t let you do that. I’ve got plans.”

“Uh-huh,” Severus said, his smile widened as he said that. And not even a second later, Severus ran towards Niragi who shouted for him to back off before he took the playing cards in hand and threw them up in the air causing Niragi to look up. As they fluttered down, Niragi turned to Severus who jumped to the side.

“What the hell was that?” he said amusingly as he turned his gun and fired a bullet.

But as he jumped, Severus had pulled out a water gun with a lighter attached to the tip. And as he fired it, all Niragi could do was widen his eyes as the stream of fire encased him.

As Niragi screamed and ran around to the edge of the building unknowingly, Severus stood up stumbling slightly as he held his arm with the make-shift flamethrower as he followed. Niragi fell from the roof as he continued burning before black overtook the screen.

Students jumped out of their seats as they watched Snape pull down his makeshift flamethrower and set Niragi on fire. They continued cheering, shaking each other as Niragi fell down, and had supposedly died.

Regulus joined the standing students, which made Severus let out a laugh as Regulus caught himself and quickly sat down, a pink flush on his cheeks as both Amelia and Severus prodded him. Amelia, sat down as well, but she wasn’t embarrassed at being caught not using pureblood etiquette, mostly due to her family being of both muggle and wizard heritage.

The cheers continued as the screen showed Kuina and Last Boss. Last Boss looked at her before answering her question, “My story. . . has no past.” He snickered as he said that, but they stopped when Kuina began laughing.

Last Boss looked slightly confused. Kuina put her hand up apologetically, “Oh, sorry, sorry. I understand it all now. I always thought that you and I were the very same.”

“Me and you?” Last Boss amusingly.

Kuina stood straight, her face serious as she spoke, “Both of us hate our past.” She chuckled before adding, “But there’s a very big difference between us. You keep turning your back on your past. But I will face my past. And it will ensure that I survive.”

Last Boss laughed maniacally, while Kuina readied herself into a fighting pose as she breathed in deeply. Last Boss stopped laughing as he too readied himself into a fighting pose, his arms raising his katana.

As Last Boss striked first, he swung his katana rapidly as Kuina dodged, striking him back with her fists whenever he got close enough to reach. Students cheered when Last Boss grunted at one of her punches, he held his katana with one hand while the other held his side. But gasped as the screen showed Kuina’s cut on her left forearm.

The fight continued. As they charged towards each other, the fight was brought to the floor with both Kuina and Last Boss on their knees. Kuina managed to disarm Last Boss, but in doing so she was grabbed by her hair. She was able to twist out of it, but at the cost of Last Boss trying to reach for his sword.

A harsh tug from Kuina, brought him in a chokehold from her as he struggled to get out of it. An elbow to her side and pulled her arms up, accompanied by another elbow to her sides made him free. Last Boss stayed in that position deciding to alternate between blowing her harshly as Kuina tried blocking them with her arms. As they turned to face each other, Last Boss tried to strike her but Kuina jumped and with a spin kick to his chest, sent him flying backwards hitting a glass table.

The audience cheered for Kuina as they watched her fight Last Boss. The female population of Hogwarts screamed the loudest, even jumping up and down as they cheered Kuina on. A few of the younger years were mimicking Kuina’s battle poses and mimicking the fight. Most winced as she had taken the hard hits from Last Boss, but they rallied again as she blocked him as every hit and screamed their heads off as she kicked him back. Kuina Hikari had essentially become an inspiration to every female student in Hogwarts.

The screen showed Arisu not moving from where he fell on the floor. He breathed but didn’t move, as the fire alarm rang over and over again as smoke continued to enter the room. He thought back to a memory before they had all been brought to the borderlands. He, Chota, and Karube laughed at past memories, past adventures as they drank. “Arisu,” said Karube, “Do something with your life.”

“Yeah. And remember us.” added Chota. The memory faded as both his friends smiled back at him. He coughed as he returned to the present. He started to scrape his head against the floor, trying to remove the tape that covered most of his mouth, and as he did he vomited a bit before shouting weakly for help between cries and coughing.

Outside in the smoke-filled hallways, Usagi, Asahi, and Tata ran, before Usagi stopped them. With almost super-sonic hearing, she was able to hear Arisu shouting. She pressed her ears against the doors she thought she heard him from, before finding the right one. She tried to open the door, but it was locked. Before they could grab anything to open the door with, two militants ran in and started shooting at them. So the three had to run away.

Usagi ran into one room, opened a window and effortlessly climbed out before jumping to a small balcony. She slipped as one militant shot at her, but missed. He couldn’t shoot her again as he was grabbed and pulled back in by Tatta. Tatta quickly got up and grabbed a wooden chair before smashing it against one militant’s back, knocking him out. As the other got up, Asahi grabbed a glass vase and smashed it against his head, also knocking him out. Both Tatta and Asahi stared at each other in shock.

Usagi had managed to smash the window of the small balcony she climbed on in Arisu’s room, and managed to save him.

Many Puffs cheered as they watched the three continue to save each other despite being heavily outarmed. They clapped when Tatta smashed the chair against one and laughed a bit as Asahi told him that she couldn’t do this anymore before screaming and smashing the vase against the other’s head.

And everyone clapped their hands and cheered as Usagi managed to get to Arisu.

“Does anyone think that that memory Arisu played, seemed like his brain was telling him to move?” ask Dorcas.

“Yeah, I thought that too,” said Frank. “It was like his mind was telling him to continue living and to try to work something out, by using the memory of his friends.”

Back with Kuina’s fight, she once again had to dodge as Last Boss threw glass bottles and cups at her while cackling. She tried to walk forward, but her foot began bleeding as she accidentally stepped onto a small piece of glass. She looked around slightly worried as the entire floor was covered in glass. Last Boss bent down and grabbed his katana before asking her, “Is that all you’ve got? Hmm? I knew it when I saw you. Your will to survive is weak.”

Kuina looked more determined than ever as she said, “It’s weak, is it? Really?”

Another flashback showed Kuina, fully transitioned into herself, visiting her mother who looked pale and sickly in a hospital bed. Kuina smiled as her mother recognized her and called her beautiful.

Kuina readied herself into her father’s fighting pose he used against her. Glass cracked as she moved her feet back against it as she readied her arms in and breathed and exhaled deeply. Last Boss readied his katana, and as he ran forward wanting to stab through her face, Kuina turned her head, and kicked the back of his arm, disarming him once again.

She damned her elbow against his throat, making him spit up, before kicking him in the side of his head hard, throwing him against the ground, before jumping on him and with one single punch, had defeated Last Boss. She quoted her father, and thanked him for teaching her everything.

Students screamed their heads off as Kuina won her fight. They cheered her name over and over again, like they were watching an intense quidditch match, until the screen showed again.

This time Usagi, Asahi, and Tatta led a weak Arisu into a room away from all the fire and smoke. Usagi warned him that they had only thirty minutes left of the game. Arisu had the rules of the Ten of Hearts game explained to him as he tried to think how to win it.

“This is the worst game yet,” he said, “But just like those horse-headed taggers we met before, they were forced to participate with rules of their own. I’m sure it’s the same this time. The witch had to kill the girl to start the game and try to survive until the end of it. In other words, the witch clears the game if everyone at the Beach gets a Game Over, or gets killed by the laser.”

“I’m sorry, ‘horse-headed taggers’?” asked James.

“It was the game that included Arisu and one of his friends, Karube, Usagi, Tatta, and Severus,” explained Death, “The taggers had to wear horse masks while hunting down the hiders in a game. It’s also the first game that they all met.”

“And that the taggers themselves had to kill all the players in order to win. Just as Arisu said, they had new rules, so he’s not wrong in thinking that,” stated Amelia.

“I think Asahi is starting to feel a bit guilty, I mean look at her face,” pointed out Frank.

“Well, she is the dealer, but we, the audience, only know it due to it being explained to us,” answered Regulus.

“But she is the one who most likely called for the game to start, and she’s most likely feeling guilty over all this death,” said Severus, “Maybe that was what she meant by saying that she was getting tired of all ‘this’.”

“But who the hell could be the witch?” said Tatta frustrated. “If I were the witch, I’d join the others on the hunt,” stated Usagi, “because it’d be Game Over if I was caught.”

“So, it’s someone in the militant corps?” said Asahi.

“Niragi, Last Boss, or Aguni?” listed Tatta. “No. If that was the case, the militant corps would simply kill each other. It doesn’t feel like that’s the purpose of the game,” stated Arisu.

“The purpose of the game?” asked Usagi.

“This is a Hearts game. It’s not just a physical game. I know because I’ve cleared a Hearts game before. It’s the most evil of the games. You toy with people’s feelings. You betray and try to kill each other. The Hearts game can eat away at your soul. Even if the militant corps wins, other conflicts will turn up,” explained Arisu as he hung his head low.

“So, what should we do?” said Tatta.

Arisu rose his head, “Something’s not right. What could it be?” He scratched at the side of his head in frustration. “If I was the witch, how would I steer the game to win?”

As Arisu thought, he realized something, “No. I shouldn’t be putting myself in the witch’s shoes. I should be in the shoes of the game master.”

Usagi stepped forward, “Game master?”

Arisu turned to her, “Don’t you see? The game was designed to suit both its location and its players. Right after Hatter was killed, Momoka was murdered. Someone who knows the ins and outs of the Beach constructed the game and its timing.”

“The two deaths didn’t happen at the same time by chance. It’s like the game master has been waiting for this moment.”

“Seriously?” said Tatta nervously, as the screen focused on Asahi as she spoke, “The, who’s the witch?”

“Hatter’s death was announced after Momoka died. The only people who knew of his death before that were the militant corps and the executives,” stated Usagi as she paced to the window and back slowly.

“But the game master may have known about Hatter’s death too,” replied Arisu.

“Then everyone at the Beach is a suspect,” said Usagi.

“When I passed by the lobby an hour before the game started, Momoka’s body wasn’t there,” added Tatta.

“Someone must have moved her body there sometimes during that hour,” said Asahi.

“No point in questioning someone. The witch can simply lie. The question is. . . why did the game start when it did? Why did they wait for Hatter’s death before starting the game? I’m guessing it was. . .to throw the Beach into a state of confusion. If that’s true. . . If I were the game master, what would I do next?”Arisu whispered to himself.

“Asahi looked a little amazed as Arisu started to dissect the making of the game,” stated Amelia.

“She probably didn’t expect Arisu to be this smart. At least I think so,” shrugged Frank.

In a room where Ann was holding the knife by the blade, making sure her hands wouldn’t interfere with the examination, she was boiling water in an electric kettle as she held the handle over the kettle. She put the handle over a lamp, seeing the fingerprints with the light.

Her eyes widened as she came to the realization, “Of course. I know who it is!”

She said as she ran out the door, knife in hand. But as she ran out, she was smacked in the face by a gun, sending her to the floor unconscious and bleeding from her temple.

Two militants stood on top of her as one of them stated, “If we stop here, then all we did would be pointless. We can’t stop now!”

“Oh, I totally forgot about Ann and her plan,” muttered Marlene. “Well, there were all those scenes of Kuina and Last Boss, alongside Usagi, Tatta, Asahi, and Arisu,” said Dorcas.

“Don’t forget Snape’s confrontation of Niragi—” started Barty, “—and thEN FUCKING SET HIM ON FIRE!” cackled Rosier.

“And the militants, don’t forget about them,” stated Amelia.

“Some were afraid of actually killing them, like how Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were talking about. Now that they have practically killed at least a third of the Beach’s residents, they can’t really stop because if they did, then what they’ve been doing for the entire game means nothing,” added Severus.

The screen showed a balcony before Severus came out from the shadows, and just watched over the empty annex with no one but Momoka’s body as the announcer stated, “Time remaining, 20 minutes.”

Back in the room, Arisu stood up from the bed prompting the others to look at him, “I think that I know who the witch is.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Why am I nervous?” said Frank, wiping the sweat from his palms.

“Probably because we are going to see how they all react to who the witch is,” stated Regulus. “We know it's Momoka, and it looks like Arisu knows it too.”

“No,” called out Amelia, her hand on her chin and an unreadable expression on her face, “No, it seems too easy for Arisu and the others to go down there in the chaos to tell them that Momoka is the witch. Something’s going to happen, I just can’t tell what.”

Bodies upon bodies hung from the large bonfire as it used the limbs for fuel. The fire was large, the wood from before now nowhere to be seen as the Beach’s inhabitants were thrown in.

In the security room where Kuina and Severus once were, the fire alarm began beeping as smoke seemed through. On one of the cameras, the place where Kuina fought Last Boss, smoke began filling it. The announcer called in, “Fifteen minutes remaining.”

In the annex, the surviving players were held at gunpoint by the militants, with Aguni in the middle telling his group to kill them all. As the crowd grabbed onto their partners and readied themselves for the oncoming slaughter, militants were shown to be hesitating and the blonde militant that told Usagi where Arisu was sobbed, “I can’t do this anymore.”

Another whispered to him, “We’ve got no choice.” His voice was shaking as he continued, “We’ll never be the same again after killing so many people.” When he finished, Aguni kicked his leg, dropping him to the ground.

“Did you hear me?” said Aguni. “Anyone who defies me here is the witch.” He raised a gun to the militant’s head. “JUST SHOOT ME THEN!” he yelled from the ground, not bothering to look behind him as the gun was raised at the back of his head.

But before Aguni could pull the trigger, Arisu’s voice rang out, “THAT’S ENOUGH!”

The crowd turned and made space for Asahi, Usagi, Tatta, and Arisu to come to the front. Usagi and Tatta held onto Arisu who struggled to walk on his own. “This ends now!” stated Tatta.

From the balcony, Severus’ head turned in surprise from where he was previously inclining it. He slowly moved his body to see the scene more closely.

“You. . .You had me tied up the whole time,” Arisu started as he stumbled ahead of Tatta, “When the murder happened, that’s where I was. So that means that you know that. . .that I can’t be the witch.”

Regulus chuckled a bit, “He’s making it so that Aguni can’t kill him right then and there.”

“And if you aren’t the witch, you don’t need to kill me.—

“See,” said Regulus.

“Yeah, we know Black,” replied Amelia.

Regulus just shrugged his shoulders in response.

—Just work with me and we’ll find the witch!”

Aguni said nothing as he walked forward, gun in hand, and when he got close he brought his gun down on Arisu’s nose, before punching and kicking him to the ground. “Stop it!” Usagi shouted, as she ran forward grabbing Aguni, but was thrown to the side.

Aguni continued to Arisu, and grabbed him by the back of his shirt, hauling him up on his feet. “I know everything!” Usagi yelled, “You’re going after Arisu even though you know he didn’t do it. And that’s. . .because you’re the witch!”

Aguni didn’t say anything, and instead, chose to strike Arisu in the face again, throwing him to where Usagi was on the ground.

The crowd watching looked uneasy as one man stuttered out nervously, “Are ya. . .the witch?”

“Yes,” replied Aguni with no emotion in his voice. He raised it a little before adding, “I am the witch.”

The crowd stepped back as most looked at each other nervously. Their breaths caught in their throat as they looked at Aguni. One by one the militants raised their guns at Aguni, as he stepped forward, dropping his gun and continued walking. His attention went to the blonde militant from before. Aguni stopped in front of the gun, where it lowered to his chest.

As Aguni pressed his chest against the militant’s gun, an amused smirk appeared on his face as he stated, “Go ahead.”

When the militant’s hand shook, Aguni shouted, “DO IT!”

One by one the rest of the militants’ arms shook, one man from the crowd shouted, “Well, shoot him!”

“Aguni is not the witch!” Arisu shouted from his position on the floor. “It’s a Ten of Hearts game! It plays with your feelings and your emotions! You're not gonna win by killing Aguni. That’s not the way this game works!”

“I mean,” Regulus started, “I would have let them shoot Aguni, before revealing that.”

Frank turned to Regulus in disbelief, “Why would you do that?!”

Regulus shrugged before answering, “Well, one—if I was in Arisu’s place—I would be bleeding from being smacked in the face multiple times with a metal weapon, and two,” Regulus smirked a little, “It be fun to see their faces as they’ve killed someone who was not the witch. I’ll just watch them spiral into a panic when the game doesn’t end.”

Silence met his words as Frank continued to stare in disbelief, “Again. Why would you do that?!”

Regulus rolled his eyes, “I hold grudges, okay. And it’s not like I’m actually there, it’s just a suggestion, really. Besides, Arisu is too kind to even do that. I mean, he stopped them from killing Aguni.”

To his right, Severus coughed a little trying to hide his chuckle. Regulus turned to him and let out a small laugh as well.

Aguni turned to Arisu. “I know you’re not the witch. So why then? You gotta have another reason.”

“What are you saying?” asked Usagi.

“The one that you killed wasn’t Momoka,” Arisu answered, but his eyes were looking directly at Aguni, “It was Hatter.”

James jumped out of his chair, “I KNEW IT!”

Several people stared at him in annoyance. They were immersed, and it was ruined. James shrugged his shoulders before sitting back down. He was right about his guess, and that was all he cared about at the moment.

“No one really added to their guesses about who killed Hatter,” murmured Remus, “Yours was the only one, and I don’t think anyone really paid attention to it, Prongs.”

James looked at Moony sourly, a pout forming on his lips as he crossed his arms in a childish way, a smile forming on his face that he tried to fight back as he said, “Don’t ruin this for me, Moony.”

Remus laughed before patting his friend on his back.

The crowd started whispering as one of the militants looked at Arisu confusingly, “What?”. He lowered his gun a bit when he looked between Arisu and Aguni.

“I could see it right away in your eyes. It was as if you lost all hope and. . . just gave up,” Arisu stated, his eyes shining with remorse and empathy as he looked back at Aguni. “I had the same feeling. . . when I killed my friends.”

The students and staff remained silent, the Marauders stopped smiling at each other as they stared at the screen in shock.

“The memory with his friends and the fact that in the first meeting between Aguni, Arisu and Usagi, most likely points to the fact that Arisu and his friends participated in a game that ended with one survivor. Him,” stated Amelia, her voice dipped in sympathy.

“The Seven of Hearts,” added Severus. “And the explosive collars, Fate confirmed that the Seven of Hearts involved them. Arisu and his friends, Karube and Chota I believe they were called, must’ve participated in this game and it ended tragically.”

Severus took in a deep breath, his eyes staring up at the screen taking in Arisu’s empathetic expression, “Considering from his memory of his friends telling him to live on, they definitely sacrificed themselves for Arisu to survive the game. Arisu blames himself for their deaths, because he was the only winner of that game.”

The Marauders took in Snape’s words. Playing a game for their own survival was one thing, but at least if they were caught in this world, they could win them together. But a Hearts game that involves trust and betrayal?

They would behave just like Arisu. They would lose all hope if they had to kill each other for their own survival. They couldn’t imagine killing each other, but if it came to a head, they would have to make a choice, especially if they didn’t want all of them to die.

Arisu’s friends most likely made sure that they couldn’t win. And the Marauders were sure that Arisu tried his hardest to reach them, to let him win, but in the end, he couldn’t.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter held each other's hands, squeezing them until they were white. Remus looked over at Peter’s confused as Peter didn’t look them in the eyes. Peter turned over to him, and gave him a sheepish smile and muttered something about not wanting to imagine them dying. Remus gave him a hug, and smiled back at him.

“You’re not dumb. But as soon as you took over, you wanted to kill everyone. And that’s not like you. So you. . .” Arisu paused before standing up, grunting as he did so, “. . .had to have another motive.”

“Ever since I came to the Beach, I couldn’t quite figure it out. If you had possession of all these guns, why didn’t the militant corps take over a long time ago? That never happened until now. Because in the end, you weren’t against Hatter at all. Didn’t you actually help each other out? You wanted to make sure that. . . scary people like Niragi don’t go ballistic. You tried to hold them back.”

The militants, the crowd, even Severus from his place on the balcony, looked between Aguni and Arisu. They took in every word coming out of Arisu’s mouth.

The militants had their guns in their hands, but they weren’t even aimed at anyone anymore. They just looked on, in shock.

Arisu stepped forward, his body stumbling a bit trying to complete the steps. He walked forward towards Aguni, who still had not said anything.

“I know. . . how close you and Hatter were. You were best friends, weren’t you?” Arisu said, “Then, why did you kill him?”

“I’ll tell you why. Because you could never forgive him for what he did. You wanted it all to stop, but it was too late,” Arisu continued as he stepped towards Aguni more. “You didn’t recognize him anymore, isn’t that right?”

A series of Aguni’s flashbacks played.

In the first one, Aguni and Hatter—Takeru—as they both stood on the roof of a tall building as they overlooked the city of another world. The next, it was them in the annex of the hotel that would soon become the Beach. Takeru stated that he wanted to build a utopia in it. A place where those who had lost hope, could gain it back. He could try to give them a better life in this horrible world.

The third showed Takeru—now using the name, ‘Hatter’—standing in the balcony overlooking the cheering crowd in the annex, as he preached his plans of glory. The fourth shifted from the cheers as it showed Aguni staring at something off-screen, his eyes widened with horror.

Hogwarts gasped as they covered their mouths as they were shown a hotel room destroyed and three bodies covered in blood. Hatter stood in the middle of the room, heavily breathing, his right hand covered in their blood. He murmured that they were idiots, traitors as he held up cards in his bloodied left hand. He had killed them because they were hiding their playing cards from him.

Aguni looked on in disbelief at his friend, who had completely spiralled down from the man he once knew. A choked gasp had come from one of the Beach inhabitants. Hatter threw the cards to the side, as he rounded the bed the man was on and grabbed onto his neck and began punching his head with all his strength. Aguni looked on completely in horror, disbelief, shock, pain, and grief. Danma Takeru had changed.

This day marked the day that the third rule was created; ‘Death to any traitor’.

“Hatter was a man who fell from grace. And his best friend had to watch it all happen,” stated Amelia.

“And Hatter’s madness led his friend to have to kill him,” added Dorcas. “Maybe an argument which then led to a physical fight, and it could have been an ‘at-the-moment-kill’?”

“He probably didn't have any time to really grieve his friend, considering that the next time Hatter is seen, is when he is displayed on the table,” said Marlene.

“Explains Aguni’s sternness when Niragi started to smack Hatter’s head over and over again during the voting scene,” added Frank, his face in a grimace as he remembered the hits.

Back to the present, Aguni’s eyes changed. Slight tears were in them, making his once empty eyes shine with regret. But as he stared at Arisu, Aguni grew angry. “You don’t know anything!” he said as he grabbed Arisu’s shirt, dragging him forward.

When a small flashback played of a happy Takeru back in the real world, Aguni snapped back, not wanting to think about those memories, and delivered punches onto Arisu, prompting Tatta to run and grab Aguni by his waist as he tried to bring him down. Aguni showed no sign of stopping as he continued forward, wanting to hurt Arisu more. The weight of Tatta and Usagi, who ran to help, not stopping him and he punched and kicked Arisu to the ground.

As he got closer to Arisu and delivered a harsh kick, he pushed Tatta and Usagi off him, before turning back to Arisu, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and looking down at the bleeding Arisu who showed no movement of defending himself. Aguni’s eyes showed regret and sadness. His eyes were fully tearful as he stated in a whisper to Arisu, “You know nothing.”

No one said a thing even as they flinched with every hit, every kick Aguni delivered to Arisu. They winced and grimaced at the bloody face of Arisu.

“He doesn’t want to deal with the pain,” whispered Amelia. “He doesn’t want to even think about the happy memories of his friend, before he turned into the person he was.”

“He hurts Arisu because he knows that he’s right. He doesn’t want to admit it, because it hurts him,” added Dorcas.

“It could also be the guilt,” said Marlene, “The guilt he felt when watching his friend spiral, and he didn’t do anything because he felt like he couldn’t. Just like Snape said, he blames himself. Not just because he did kill Hatter, but because he didn’t do anything to prevent his friend from going mad.”

In the game where Hatter went before his death, it showed he went with a few other members of the Beach, with Aguni waiting outside. As the darkening sky fully darkened into night, the announcer’s voice chimed, “Congratulations.”

Hatter’s whistling could be heard as the screen panned over dead plants and flowers inside of Hatter’s own club he had run in the real world. ‘Beach’. His whistling stopped as he read the words. “That brings back memories,” he said, “This place really hasn’t changed at all.”

Aguni was shown to be sitting down on a couch behind Hatter. “Look. . . I’m done,” he said sternly. He paused for a moment, letting his words sink into Hatter before speaking, “We’re losing control of NIragi and the militant corps. Let’s get rid of the Beach.”

Hatter looked down from his sign before turning around stating almost mockingly, “Get rid of it?”. He took off his sunglasses he was wearing, “Every member of the Beach is consumed with the happiness that they found there.”

Aguni looked away from his friend, “Getting back to the old world by gathering a few cards was just a lie you came up with.” His voice was tired, he was just done with dealing with all this.

He looked up to his friend again before starting in a firm voice, “We need to end this.”

But Hatter didn’t like that. He looked angry as his throat bobbled before his voice became deep and angry, “So you’re. . . betraying me, then?”

Aguni’s face shifted a little. He looked confused.

Hatter continued, as he raised his hands up in a way like a preacher appeasing a crowd of believers, “‘Death to any traitor,’ right?”. He stopped his pose before dropping one arm down and raising one finger as if he was making a point, his voice and facial features becoming slightly condescending, “That’s the rule of the Beach, remember that.”

Aguni looked frustrated as he raised his voice, “The Beach means nothing!”. He toned down his voice into a more pleading one, “Just stop this.”

Hatter breathed in deeply, his voice growing even more louder and angrier, rising as he spoke, “I wanted to instill hope, to creATE A UTOPIA!”.

Aguni stood up to shout back at him, not even letting his friend finish, “IT’S BULLSHIT, AND YOU KNOW IT!”

His voice turned back into a pleading, soft tone. His face full of defeat and weariness, “There is no hope here.”

“But Hatter doesn’t want to. It’s something he has fully turned himself into,” spoke Severus in a soft voice. “He’s fully gone down this rabbit hole, with no turning back. He doesn’t want to even think if gathering all the cards was even going to work or not. He filled himself with false hope, and ended up believing it.”

Aguni’s face showed sadness as he continued speaking, “This world we’re in. . .has crushed all hope.”. Hatter’s face grew more regretful and dejected, followed by frustration and irritation as the regretful feelings went away quickly. His breathing quickened as he stared at his friend. Aguni walked forward, meeting him eye-to-eye,” You see, I used to have friends with me I could trust. But all the hope I had. . . died along with them.”

Hatter said nothing as his eyes teared up. His breathing turned into shudders as his facial expressions turned into irritation as he walked away. Aguni stared at the spot his friend left in grief, as he too turned to walk out of the club. But he was stopped by the rough voice of his friend, “Sometimes, a king. . .is in a position where he has to make decisions that are painfully hard.”

“Like right now, my friend,” Hatter said before reaching into his swim shorts and pulling out a gun before turning around and cocking it at Aguni. His face was hardened without remorse, his eyes narrowed as if this decision wasn’t hard to even make. Aguni stood in shock. His eyes widened in disbelief.

But as Hatter’s finger moved to fire the gun, Aguni dropped to the ground, pulling out his own gun and shooting a single shot without question.

Some faces in the audience in the Great Hall grew saddened by the scene. As they watched Hatter convince himself that he was not in the wrong. While others were more apathetic, already predicting things would go this way, even if they already knew Hatter would die at the hand of Aguni.

But Hatter had dug his hole. His mind was maddened with this false hope he not only fed into the members of the Beach, or at least the majority of it, and into his own head. In a world where it feeds on hope itself, Hatter wanted to help others, to help find their lost hope, but had slowly fallen victim to the world’s clutches. His friend watching and unable to do anything as Hatter disregarded any kind of help.

Back in the annex in present time, Aguni had tears down his face as he continued looking at Arisu. He didn’t do anything but hold him there by his shirt. But Arisu had something to say as he looked at the mourning Aguni, “I know what it feels like to see your friends die. To kill them, I see it. You killed your friend. I see it in your eyes. And now you just wanna kill everyone here, because they were the ones who made your friend crazy. These painful feelings of yours, the game master is using all of them. That’s why it’s a game of Hearts. Don’t you get that?!”

When Arisu’s voice rose as he finished, Aguni shouted, “SHUT UP!” before shoving him down. Usagi and Tatta got up from the ground and rushed to him as Arisu didn’t show any signs of trying to get up.

“But as someone who has killed their friend, it’ll be hard to even think of clearing a game when you’re swallowed by grief and guilt,” mumbled Lupin.

“It is as some muggles say,” started Headmaster Dumbledore, his gaze filled with empathy, but his voice felt stiff and hardened, “Grief makes you do crazy things. It is why support is most needed, and if you try to push it away, it will come back tenfold.”

A man from the crowd nervously said, “So if all of this is true, then. . . Aguni wanted to kill everyone no matter what the game was.”

Another joined, but he was talking to the militants, “He had you do it.”. His voice was filled with sympathy as most of the militants looked fatigued.

A militant stepped forward and added a tiredness in his voice, “And we said nothing and went along with it all.”

From the ground, Usagi stated, “So, who here is the witch then?”. On the floor, Arisu stated weakly, “I know who it is. I know who the real witch is.” He looked up at Usagi, and she understood. She and Tatta carefully helped him sit up, as Arisu looked somewhere. “A game master. . .uses similar characteristics in every game. In a game of Hearts, he usually makes a fool out of everyone. It might be that. . . there really was a way to end the game. . .without having to kill everyone. A solution where. . .nobody has to get hurt, and no one has to die.”

“But. . .that’s impossible,” stuttered out a woman, “We have to hunt down the witch and burn them in the Fire of Judgement, right?”

“Can you imagine the absolute guilt, irritation, and grief when they find out the witch was the already dead Momoka?” stated Marlene, “Just imagine having to run for your life for two hours, and lose people you once knew only for it to be revealed that the solution was easy.”

She huffed a heavy sigh and ran her hands through her hair, “I know it seems like I’m annoyed but like, game of Hearts are entirely horrible. All those people killed, full on hunted down and the solution to clear the game was to burn the first person that was found dead.”

“Well,” replied Crouch, “Heart games don’t care about your feelings. Remember, it plays with them. It doesn’t care.”

Marlene looked dejected, “I know but. . .”

She couldn't finish, and instead just let out another heavy sigh and she slumped into her seat.

Arisu inhaled sharply and he weakly continued, his gaze still on something that the screen cannot see, “No.”. He looked determined as he tried to stand up, and with help from both Usagi and Tatta, he was able to. “The witch could be right here and. . . no one dies. Because it’s. . .”

He raised his arm, “Momoka. She was the witch all along.”

The crowd murmured as they stared at the body of Momoka in disbelief. “So, wait. She stabbed herself in the chest?”

Asahi stared in bewilderment as she looked between the crowd, Momoka, and Arisu, saying nothing.

“Yes. If I were the game master. . .that’s what I would come up with.”

Students and staff let out shouts of anger and frustration as they watched as Aguni side-kicked Arisu’s stomach, sending him straight back to the ground.

“What is his problem?!” yelled several students.

“You’re full of shit!” Aguni said, his eyes wide. He turned his head to the crowd as he shouted, “I’m the witch!” As he got closer to the militants, they backed away from him in fear.

“You all wanna kill me, right?” He continued walking in circles as people backed away from him when he got close. After a minute of doing that, he decided to charge towards a man, and grabbed him by his biceps, making him unable to move his arms in defense and delivered a punch.

But this time the crowd came in to help.

Several grabbed onto Aguni, but they weren’t able to get a good hold on him before they were thrown like nothing. In waves, they kept coming, trying to make Aguni stop.

“Aguni’s trying to take everyone down with him,” said Arisu to Usagi. They looked over to the fight, watching Aguni fight his own militants alongside Beach members as they grabbed around his waist, held onto his biceps and arms, and jumped on his back, and for a moment they had him.

But all Aguni could think about was the way he wailed as he shot and killed his friend. In the club, he stared at Takeru’s gun before sobbing his friend’s name and tried to shake him awake. He yelled his friend’s name as he held him, sobbing into his head.

As the men were pulling with all their strength, Aguni began wailing, and with that he managed to pull and punch them all off. He yelled as he punched the ones who were on him, “The Beach made him crazy! Do you hear me! You guys made him crazy!”

“Kill me, I’m the witch!”

Frustrated students glared at Aguni, some understood what he was doing, but it still made them feel incredibly frustrated at the fact that the solution to clear the game was right there, but he couldn’t do it because he felt that the people of the Beach, and the Beach itself, made his friend spiral, which ultimately lead him to play the hand that would kill his friend.

“I’m sure that many would react the same way, especially if someone they loved were killed,” whispered Barty into Evan’s ear, who chuckled in response.

“I don’t think they even want to think that, Bart. Besides, it’s not like they would be strong enough to fight back, but hey. . . It’s the spirit that counts.”

In the chaos, Asahi ran to where Usagi and Arisu were, crouched down and told them, “Listen, I know how to stop Aguni, trust me! I’ll get his attention, all right?! Burn Momoka in the Fire of Judgement!”

She looked towards Arisu, and told him, “This whole thing has to stop now, okay?”

“Oh, great,” started Sirius, “She’s going to sacrifice herself in order to get everyone’s attention.”

Asahi made her way to the center and shouted, “Everyone! I’m the one! The dealer of this game!”

Immediately, a laser was shot through her head, and Asahi dropped to the ground dead.

The crowd looked at her when she first shouted to get their attention, and some flinched back as the laser was shot down. They all started in bewilderment at Asahi’s body and her exclamation. Even Severus looked surprised from his perch in the balcony, free from all this mess.

Not giving them time to think, Ann’s voice was heard, “It was a reverse grip.” Coming into the annex, was Kuina holding up Ann, who held up the knife.

“Fingerprints with a reverse grip were found on the knife. That means Momoka grabbed the handle of the knife and stabbed it through her chest. She was the witch.”

The crowd was coming into realization. The fact that dealers existed, the fact that the two were just toying with them. Tatta joined in, stating if there was no real high power, but Usagi replied that maybe they were controlled by something else.

“Aguni,” Arisu said weakly, “We need to stop this. No more innocent people have to die. Too many have already. I understand how it feels. . .to kill your friends. But we can’t take it out on. . .people who are still alive! We are still alive! We’re all in this together. . .and we have to fight to end it all! I don't want anybody else to die!”

Everyone sighed in relief as Aguni looked like he was going to help. Like Aguni was listening to Arisu’s words.

But the chaos was not done. As the crowd was silent, listening to Arisu’s speech, someone in the back shouted that fire was spreading. And fire had indeed started.

The ones in the back ran to the front, as Kuina shouted for people to hurry up and move Momoka’s body in the Fire of Judgement. But before two militants could even pick her up, they were shot and killed.

Students gasped in shock and anger as they stood up and exclaimed in surprise as a limping body in tattered clothing held a gun in one hand and a torch in the other. Niragi breathed heavily, mumbling to himself as he stalked forward, making the crowd look on in horror and fear. He held up the torch and shouted in a rough and raspy voice, “If I could do it all over again, I’d use the Fire of Judgement to BURN THIS WHOLE PLACE DOWN! AND THAT WILL MAKE ME THE WINNER!”

When he made it to the annex, he threw the torch and began firing into the screaming crowd. Everyone had no idea what to do except run, trying to scramble over shot bodies, tripping over each other, not knowing where to go. The fire from the torch had begun to spread, and Niragi was still firing his gun into the slower runners.

The Great Hall was loud as everyone talked over each other, exclaiming at both the massacre, the fire, and the fact that Niragi was still alive.

“HOW?!” was the main question that was shouted. But soon those shouts were switched to cheers as Usagi jumped on Niragi’s back and as Arisu grabbed onto his arm that held the gun, but was kicked off. Usagi was thrown into Arisu, who stood up to catch her.

Niragi pointed his gun at Arisu, but as he did the bullet didn’t hit Arisu. Charging towards him, was Aguni who took in three bullets shot by Niragi before carrying him into the smoke and both disappeared into the fire, as gunshots rang out.

“Three minutes remaining in the game.”

Groups of people quickly gathered around Momoka and carried her off to throw her into the Fire of Judgement. But As Arisu limped after them, he noticed Asahi’s phone was one and recording, and the screen panned over to show the remaining Beach members watching the bonfire and then switched to show everyone watching the burning resort.

Students rubbed their sore throats as they thought back to this entire game. There was too much happening all at once, and they had no idea where to even begin.

“Is Aguni still alive?” asked Potter.

“Yes,” answered Death.

“What about Niragi?” asked a very reluctant Amelia.

Fate smiled and decided not to answer. Her smile grew as groans were heard all around the Hall.

“How did he even survive the fire?!” shouted Frank, his hand grabbing onto his hair.

Death sighed before answering, “Niragi survived by jumping off the roof, but instead of dying, he was able to land in a pool which extinguished the flames. But not before, of course, leaving behind scars over most of his body.”

“So Snape still has the cards, right?” said Marlene.

“Yes, Severus still has them, and I think that you should watch the next couple of scenes before we finish watching the past.”

“Erm, you mean we’re going back to watching the future of his future?” said Dorcas.

“Could you have worded that any other way?” said Frank.

Dorcas groaned, “I meant that we are going to go back to watching Snape’s future memories that are not about the Beach, which in that context, was all in the past.”

“Yes,” replied Fate. “You are all going to watch Severus’ future, future memories.”

Dorcas pointed her arm towards Fate while looking at Frank, who looked even more confused as before. She sighed and said, “You know what, never mind.”

Before Frank could say anything, the screen showed a white table glowing against the orange light of the flames overtaking the Beach. In the center of the round table, was the Ten of Hearts card, and walking to it was Severus. He stared down at the card, before reaching over and taking it in his hand.

“You never quit, do you?” said Kuina, who walked up to him.

Severus looked over to her, “I was starting to think collecting these cards was pointless.”

Kuina chuckled, “What do you think now?”

“I’m thinking that. . . we still haven't seen any of the face cards,” he answered. He turned back to the cards and then stared at the fire, “And so what is it the game’s controllers want us to see?”

“Are you serious, Severus?” said Regulus as he looked over at his friend.

“Do I have to wear a sign that says that that is not who I am,” replied Severus.

“Yeah, yet,” added Rosier.

“Rosier, I will curse you.”

“Not if you can’t use magic!” cooed Rosier, who cackled as he angled his body away from Snape’s swipes at trying to reach him from where he was.

“Would you all like to see the first encounter with the King of Spades?” asked Fate, bringing their attention to her.

“Is this the first face card we see?” asked Amelia. “I thought Snape’s first face card game was the Jack of Hearts?”

“By himself, yes,” answered Death.

“The King of Spades’ game ran throughout the entire city, while the rest of the face cards were in single locations,” added Fate.

“So,” stated Regulus, “Every surviving player plays against the King of Spades? At any time?”

“Yep!” chirped Fate.

Severus sighed, “Let’s see it then.”

Fate giggled as Death added, “But before you see the beginning of that game, I want you to see the reunion between Kuina, Severus, Arisu, and Usagi.”

With that both Fate and Death turned back to the screen, prompting everyone else to do the same.

The screen switched to show a dark circular room filled with screens that were turned off. There were desks covered in monitors, and people were dead. Their bodies either lay on the floor or on desks.

“Who are they?” asked Marlene.

Arisu and Usagi were the only two alive people in there, and as Arisu panned his flashlight around, holes were seen in a couple of the bodies dead. “I don’t believe it.”

As Arisu and Usagi looked around them, and up at the monitors and many screens, a deep but calm voice startled them. “So you actually found this place.”

Arisu pointed his flashlight ahead of them and onto another opening. Kuina and Severus stepped through. Severus smiled at him as he said, “I expected no less from you.”

“Long time no see,” added Kuina who walked the opposite way that Severus was walking. Severus was making his way towards them, as Usagi asked what was going on.

“Thanks to you two, I have all the numbered playing cards right here,” Severus said with a smile as he lifted up the cards. “Thank you.”

A few scowls morphed, as everyone remembered Snape’s betrayal, what Niragi did to Arisu and had wanted to do to Usagi.

“How did you find this place?” asked Arisu.

Severus lifted a piece of folded paper before answering, “It took me a while, but I figured out that this is actually the map of a subway station.”

“It’s a form of muggle travel,” said Mary, “Especially in large cities, but the subways are usually in poor condition.”

“Maybe they’ve improved in the future,” she added. Those that needed that clarification nodded, some even thinking to visit muggle cities just to travel in these ‘subway stations’.

A scribble of lines coming through a circle was shown drawn on the paper, which made many students squint their eyes on what they were seeing and how Snape even came to that conclusion, but before anyone could really ask they exclaimed in disgust as the screen switched to show Severus standing in a dark room with two buttons on the opposite walls facing each other. But that was not what the audience was focusing on. It was the blood which decorated most of the three walls, especially the back wall. The body lying by the opened door, seemed to be where the blood came from.

Severus was shown rummaging through the body’s pockets, before he came up with the piece of paper. As he opened it, his eyebrows pinched up in surprise and he stared at the scribble in confusion.

Back in the room with Arisu, Usagi, and Kuina, Severus put the paper back in his sweatpants that he changed into now that the Beach attire wasn’t needed.

“So what happens when we collect all the cards? I thought coming here would provide me with an answer. But I gotta tell you, I only know one thing,” he said as he casually strolled over to stand beside Arisu.

“These people aren’t the game masters, are they?” finished Arisu.

“Right,” answered Severus, “What’s pretty clear is they were all killed after our victory. They’re just humans like us, and the kicker is. . . there’s someone above them.”

“I’m guessing that these people were the ones controlling all the number games,” stated Marlene, answering her own question about who these people were.

“Makes sense,” added Dorcas, “The face cards are controlled by the Jacks, Kings, and Queens, so the numbers ones had to have their own controllers, but something tells me these people didn’t actually create them.”

“I agree with Meadowes,” stated Regulus. “I do too,” added Amelia.

Regulus looked over to her amused before explaining, “It’s either all the Jacks, Kings, and Queens of all four suits come together and make the number games, or it’s only the Kings or Queens who make them.”

“Well, we know Matsushita was the Jack of Hearts, while Kuzuryu was the King of Diamonds. So, I’m guessing that the Jacks don’t create the games, since they aren’t high on the hierarchy of suits,” explained Amelia, her hand grabbing her chin in deep thought.

Amelia turned to Regulus, “I think you’re right about both Kings and Queens creating the games together. Either that, or they split them up and make half of them, considering that there’s ten number cards for each suit.”

Regulus nodded in agreement.

“So, then. . . who could they be?” asked Usagi, as she looked at Arisu and Severus.

Severus looked more amused than ever as he answered, “Who knows? Maybe aliens.”

Arisu looked at him in slight annoyance, Severus though turned his head towards him, and mockingly added “Maybe God.”

Suddenly, lights turned on as every screen in the room showed a bright white screen. Everyone winced as their eyes were blinded by the sudden light, a nasty shift from the darkness of the previous scene. On the five largest screens that were hung from a thick metal pole, showed the four suits; A black spade, a red diamond, a black club, and a red heart. ‘SPECIAL URGENT BROADCAST’ the words on top of the four suits read.

The four looked around as fanfare music began playing, before a figure showed up on the many mini screens that lined along the circular walls of the room.

“Congratulations to all players!” said the figure.

“Huh?” said a shocked Kuina as she backed up, joining the three side-by-side.

“Oh,” said Severus, his interest peaked.

The figure on the screens was Mira, a Beach executive, smiling.

“We were right about the feelings towards Mira,” said James and Remus.

“She’s a Queen, but for what suit?” asked Frank.

“She seemed entirely too amused with the Hearts games, so she could be the Queen of Hearts,” shrugged Mary.

Frank hummed at them, and then nodded in agreement, “Makes sense, actually.”

Mira’s unsettling, smiling and grinning figure was shown in all the screens, surrounding the four all around the room. “Except for the face cards, you’ve all completed the numbered games, and emerged victorious! And the prize of these sweet victories was the sacrifice of many lives.”

Arisu looked both confused and angry, Usagi was confused, Severus interested, and Kuina looked annoyed and frustrated.

Mira looked off from the screen in false wonder. Her soft voice rang out, “I wonder. . . just how many of your close friends have died?” The screens showed a full figure of her in front of the four as she stood up. Her image towering above them all, “Do you remember. . . the ones who were shot in the head? That girl you burned alive? The ones struck down by lasers. . .Or the ones who drowned? The ones whose heads were blown off? Your friends. All that despair you felt. . . ”

As Mira spoke, her image circled them as videos were shown of every game that dealt with what she spoke showing to the four. Arisu looked furious as she mentioned head being blown off as he looked at himself on a screen yelling his friend’s Karube’s name as he bolted towards before his friend’s head was blown off from an explosive collar.

“Those gruesome scenes, you’ll never forget them. And that. . .REALLY TOUCHES ME!” Mira said as she sobbed, before a crazed smile replaced it as she stared straight into the screen with a matching crazed gaze.

No one bothered to look over to Rosier or Crouch as they began cackling in delight as they were right about what the Seven of Hearts game entailed. Explosive collars or not, they didn’t want to see the entire game. From what the tiny screen showed, Arisu watched as his friend’s head exploded on him seconds after he arrived.

“To all surviving players,” she started with a huge grin, “We just wanted to give you a present.”

Kuina spoke in a steady voice, “Going back to our world?”

Mira exclaimed in delight, her eyes widened as she spoke, “There will be new games! Let’s all play and this time with all the face cards!”

“New games?” asked Kuina, her face far from the joyful Mira’s.

“I don’t hate that idea,” said Severus, in a monotone voice.

Mira laughed. “We’ve got so many more wonderful and exciting games in store for you all, so be prepared!”

“So then. . .Is she the game master?” stated Usagi as she stared straight at Mira.

“I think I'd rather see an alien up there,” added Kuina, annoyed and frustrated.

“The next stage starts tomorrow, when the clock strikes noon,” Mira said as she looked down at them. Her eyes widened once more and her smile grew larger as she brought her arms up in celebration, “Let’s have some fun, all together!”

“So we have to fight once again,” said Usagi.

“Yeah. But there’s one difference,” replied Arisu. He looked determined as he stared at Mira’s image, “Now we know what our target looks like.”

The screen switched from the underground room to the beautiful blue sky as fireworks erupted across Tokyo. As empty streets were shown, a giant billboard that was once empty turned on showing a white background and the words; ‘NEXT STAGE’ on it.

In front of the board, stood Arisu, Usagi, Severus, and Kuina, all waiting to see what happens.

A giant shadow overcame the light from the sun, and the familiar metal blimps were shown flying across the streets, their suit cards for all to see. The screen panned out from where the four were, and showed all twelve face cards accompanied by their blimps flying around Tokyo, before black overtook the screen signalling the end of the memory.

Everyone sighed in annoyance at the end scene wanting to see more, but a few looked over at Snape. They had remembered why he was playing the games. And it made them want to ask questions when Snape told them that the second stage of games was ‘interesting’.

Frank was one of those people.

“So,” he started, his voice calling many to him, “Why would Snape want to play the games? I mean— I know he wants to understand how they’re made, but this was from before the two face cards games we’ve seen. So, why is he so unbothered by the fact that he has to play twelve more games.” Frank paused before uncomfortably adding, “I mean, it looks like he is having some type of fun from playing these games, like all that death and blood don’t exactly bother him.”

A quiet voice spoke up from the back, as more joined in, “He isn’t bothered by it, at all.”

“Did you see how he behaved in the first two games we saw?”

“I know, but. . .” sighed Frank.

Eyes flickered to a blank face Snape, to Regulus Black and Amelia Bones, as they were the ones who had all the answers when it came to questions like this. But they weren’t the ones who answered.

“I think that the answer is less of the ‘me’ and more of the type of person that belongs in this world,” Severus said, his deep voice eerily monotone.

“What do you mean?” asked Mary.

“I mean,” he glanced at her, “This world, from what we’ve all seen, forces you to think about your own survival, and from what I’ve seen and about what happens to me and what I become in the future. . . I think that future-me likes playing these games because he can be himself and because he knows he belongs in this world.”

“What—” started Marlene before Snape’s sharp voice interrupted her.

“I mean that for some people, the real world was unforgiving. They hated it. And from what the King of Diamonds game flashback of future-me showed, I hated it too,” Severus paused before continuing, “For some people, living isn’t exactly living. I think for those people, the borderlands create some type of relief from the real world that it can’t provide. My guess; a reason for living.”

“It’s as Professor Flitwick and Regulus said,” Severus stated, “future-me doesn’t care whether he lives or dies in these games. Just if he’s right about them.”

The screen turned on showing the four waiting around for the stage to start.

Everyone had to pay attention, but Snape’s words stuck in their minds as they thought back to the two games. Somehow, someway, Snape changes. That much they knew. But what about before those face card games? What happened during his number games? How did they plan out?

“None of the games have started yet,” said Arisu looking down one street.

“Maybe we still have time,” replied Usagi, looking at another.

Severus was looking around, his hands in the pockets of his pants as he gave another small smile. “Or they forgot to push the big red start button.”

On the ground sat Kuina as she sighed, “They didn’t even tell us about the rules for this one.”

Usagi turned her head sharply and looked around catching the attention of Kuina who asked her what was wrong. She walked to where Kuina was sitting and stared down one empty street, joined by the others who stood and stared with her. “I hear something.”

As they continued to stare, cars began revving up and arriving at where they were. “They’re alive. Beach people,” stated Kuina.

Vehicles full of people parked their cars and trucks, and got out. Arisu went up to one of the ex-Beach members and asked, “What is this? What are you doing here?”

“We saw the blimps show up,” he answered. Another added, “There are rumors that the next stage is starting.”

“Right,” Arisu said, he turned to look at the still empty board, still showing the words; ‘NEXT STAGE’, and turned back to the two members, “Here’s the thing—”

But before Arisu could finish the man was blown back, dead from what sounded like an explosion. The woman was next, and then another.

“Rifle,” muttered Severus, not at all concerned with what was happening.

“Get moving!” said Arisu, as he, Usagi, and Kuina ran to hide, joined by the other players.

A man shouted for people to go back to their cars, but Severus quickly disputed that. His voice sounded clear for the audience, as he backed away and didn’t join the others in running full sprint, “That thing’s an anti-tank rifle.”. The man made it to his car, but was killed as the bullet hit through the metal of his vehicle. Severus flinched away as he added, “So I’d forget about hiding behind a car.”

Regulus gave a heavy, heavy sighed as he stared at the future person that was his friend, before slowly turning his head to said friend. Severus winced as he scratched his head, feeling his face grow hot as others began looking at him weirdly.

He did not bother to look at Regulus, who was just staring at him with an unreadable expression, but he made sure to not get close enough for him to hit him. Again.

As Arisu, Usagi, Kuina, and a jogging Severus ran, they were discussing where the shots were coming from, while also trying to avoid getting shot themselves. They sprinted, or jogged in Severus’ case, to what looked to be a huge metal stand and hid behind it.

“Is he jogging?!” exclaimed Mary, joined by Amelia and Marlene.

“I swear Severus,” sighed Regulus, bringing a hand to his face.

“Does this mean the game’s started?” asked Kuina. “I don’t know,” answered Severus.

“Did they give us any rules?” she added.

“Without rules, this is just a massacre!” stated Arisu.

The four rounded the corner of the stand, and crouched by the end that was looking at the starting point. “That rifle can kill from a kilometer away,” informed Severus.

But that wasn’t all that was there. A multiple of rapid-fired gunshots were added. “Damn it, I recognize that sound,” said Kuina.

“Now we’ve got an assault rifle,” stated Severus, who seemed to be joining the others in wanting to see where the people shooting were.

“We have no idea how many there are!” said Usagi. “Other players are starting to group together,” informed Kuina.

“Could be more than one shooter,” said Arisu, as they all watched a lot more people sprinting down the road. “I had no idea so many players were still alive,” added Kuina.

As some of those players were shot dead, Arisu stated as he quickly turned around that the shooters were getting closer. He ran, informing the others that they had to leave, now.

When they went back to the side of the stand, a shot got closer making Severus flinch away and hit the side, preventing him from seeing down the street where the shots were firing.

“Let’s go!” shouted Arisu as he, Usagi, and Kuina sprinted forward, but he fell as the assault rifle became mowing down players all around them. “We need to split up!” shouted Severus as he ran behind Kuina who sprinted another way from where Arisu and Usagi ran.

The camera followed Arisu who sprinted with all he had dodging fallen players and dust particles from where shots were hitting the concrete of the road.

“Where are they coming from?!” asked James. “It’s like it’s coming from everywhere,” added Peter.

Students were standing from their seats, moving whenever Arisu was close to getting shot by the shooters. They gave sighs of relief when they missed. They clapped when Usagi arrived, calling over for Arisu to follow her. Together they ran down the steps of the pavement deck and headed down to the ground road. They sprinted even faster when the shots seemed to follow them, but didn’t quite hit them. Students slumped back into their seats with huge sighs of relief as they watched them both hide behind two cars.

The gunfire seemed to stop, making Arisu peek around the car and his eyes caught Kuina hiding behind another. She shouted, “Are you trying to get killed out there?!”

She yelped as gunshots fired in her direction but hit the car’s right side instead.

She went back to hiding, as she asked where they were shooting from. To the right of her, sat Severus. Suddenly a low rumbling could be heard. Both turned their heads to the noise. Severus titled his head back in interest, “Huh. He must be the King of Spades.”

Many groaned as they put their hands to their heads. Some paced along their seats as they watched the metal blimp fly in between the large buildings holding the King of Spades suit.

“It’s moving,” informed Amelia in surprise.

“What do you mean?! Yeah, it’s moving!” groaned James.

“I mean,” added Amelia, “That—”. She couldn’t finish her sentence as the screen continued playing. Arisu and Usagi watched the menacing suit fly around them as it turned to go down one street before stopping, letting the card suit flutter in the wind.

With Kuina and Severus, Severus reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked to be an orange soda can but its top was covered in black tape, with red and blue wires sticking off of it, and to tie it all together, a white string was tied with a metal ring.

“Take this,” he said as he held it out to Kuina, “A good luck charm.”

He smiled a little, looking amused as Kuina took it and looked at it in confusion, “An explosive? You made this?”

Severus reached again into his pocket, and pulled out another one, this time the can was green. “Just use it if you have to.”

“When did he have the time to make them?!” exclaimed Sirius. “How did they fit in his pockets more like it,” replied Remus, who stared impressively at the two explosives.

“Well,” started Mary, “Men’s pants tend to have more room for pocket space. So it wouldn’t be too much for him to fit two cans in one pocket.”

“Okay, but. . .When did he have the time to make them?!” asked Sirius.

“I don’t know! I’m not future Snape!”

Fate decided to jump in, “He also made a taser!”

Sirius let out a groan. He knew what those were. The Marauders had bought some—technically, they stole it before Confunding the Muggle shop owner—but they were curious as to what some of their Muggleborn Gryffindors were talking about when they were comparing several shocking jinxes to the effect of a taser.

The results, while informative, left embarrassing memories as the four played with them in their dorm room one night. Safe to say, Prongs and him never felt even more amazed with Muggles and their technology. No matter how painful, some of their technology was.

Sirius could admit, it was impressive to build a taser in a world like the borderlands, where electricity was very limited.

Usagi looked out, and turned to Arisu, shouting to him to take their chance and run to where Kuina and Severus were. As they did, Arisu’s attention was taken by a man who was shot on the ground, still alive.

As both Usagi and Arisu went to him, they turned and froze. Down the street, stalking towards them as a figure clad in a black robe, it’s hood up, covering their face. “The King of Spades is here,” said Arisu, staring at the King in fright.

“Come on!” shouted Usagi, snapping him out of his trance.

They grabbed the man, and brought him over, running as fast as they could while dodging the bullets fired upon them. As they reached shelter though, Arisu shook the man , only for him to slump against him dead. Arisu carefully rested him against the ground.

“At least he tried to save him,” said Filius. “Must’ve bled out, the poor boy,” added Albus.

Muggle weapons seemed to only be improving. Albus wondered if these bullets could shoot through a shielding spell.

“Hey!” shouted Kuina, bringing Arisu’s and Usagi’s attention from the man to them. “You two okay?! You hurt?!”

From Kuina’s side, Severus brought a hand in a wave.

“I swear, he’s nothing but calm and collected in these types of situations,” grumbled Regulus.

“Hey, at least he’s calm,” stated Amelia. Regulus turned to her. She rolled her eyes before adding, “It’s smart keeping calm as it allows you more time to think about your next action.”

Regulus titled his head in reluctant agreement, “I guess you’re not wrong, but still he could pick up the pace when he runs. He was jogging!”

Amelia let out a laugh.

Gunshots were heard, and as Arisu peaked out to stare, several players shouted while running before being killed. “The King of Spades is just one guy?” he asked, confused.

They all flinched back as shots were fired in their direction. Some coughed as their dirt went into their faces. “We’re pinned down here!” yelled out Kuina.

“If we step out, he’ll get us!” shouted Usagi.

But she peaked out in confusion as they all heard a car horn. They all peaked out to see a car with Ann and Tatta in it. Tatta climbed up, shouting to them, “GET IN!”

“Don’t just stand there!” added Ann. Tatta scrambled back in the car as shots were fired his way.

They all sprinted towards the car, and one by one they all stuffed themselves in the backseat. First Usagi, then Arisu, followed by Kuina. Severus ran, flinching away from the bullets, with his hands in his pockets.

“Run Severus!” shouted Kuina.

But as Severus reached the door, something rolled in front of him. “That’s bad. Drive!” he ordered as he ran back, and dove behind a car before the grenade exploded. The others fled the scene, their vehicle rocking a little from the explosion that scraped them.

“Severus!” yelled Kuina, as they drove away.

Silence ran through the Great Hall before James’ voice broke it. “I guess that’s how they split up, rendering Snape to be in the Jack of Hearts.”

“‘That’s bad’?!” whispered a very frustrated Regulus as he turned to Severus.

“What do you want me to say?!” whispered back Severus, his face still a bit red.

As they both stared at each other, Amelia jumped in. “At least, he’s alive?”

“Hmm,” was all Regulus said as he crossed his arms as looked back at the screen as it depicted the car with Ann, Tatta, Arisu, Usagi, and Kuina weaving between other vehicles in their way.

“Okay! We’re safe for now,” said Tatta.

Kuina, still looking behind her from the window, sighed as she turned forward and asked worriedly, “Do you think Severus will be okay?”

“He can take care of himself,” answered Arisu, trying to comfort her.

“What kind of game is this, guys? No rules. I mean, we didn’t even register,” Kuina stated, trying to get her mind in control.

“We just take the bad guys down, right?” said Usagi. “And how many are there?” replied Kuina.

“There’s just the one,” stated Arisu, getting the attention from everyone in the car. “There’s only one King of Spades. He’s like the boss of the physical challenges.”

“During the attack, the blimp was flying around,” added Ann, “Maybe the battlefield spans the whole city this time.”

“How are we supposed to fight them without a weapon?” asked a freaked out Tatta.

“This next stage, they really leveled up, huh?” said Kuina.

As Mira’s speech about playing the next stage of games together came up, Usagi questioned who Mira was, and if she was even human.

“All I can say is she might be one of the game masters,” stated Arisu.

Ann questioned, “Mira? Game Master?”

“If we’re right about the King of Spades, it’s possible each suit has its own game master at the top. We defeat all four, and we complete the next stage. We beat the bosses.”

“Then what?” asked Usagi.

“We get to go home?” added Kuina, hopefully.

Ann and Tatta said nothing, but they looked over at Arisu the same way.

“I’m not sure yet,” Arisu said, “But that’s our best chance to survive.”

“How many face cards are there again?” asked Sirius.

“There are twelve face cards in a deck,” answered Mary.

“Thanks,” replied Sirius. “So, all players have to play twelve more games in order to return to their original world.”

Sirius paused before continuing, “You know, it sounds easier said than done.”

“Can’t lie with you Black,” stated Amelia. “Considering the two—technically three if you count the King of Spades we are currently seeing—other face card games that were beaten by Snape.”

“Makes me kind of curious about the other games,” said Frank. “Like the Jack, Queen, and King of Clubs.”

“Or the Queen of Spades and Diamonds, and the King of Hearts,” added Lily.

Severus looked over to her in slight surprise. This was the first time he has heard her voice since his future self had betrayed Arisu and Usagi for the playing cards.

It felt nice to hear her voice after what seemed like an eternity, but he quickly tried to shake those feelings off.

He needed time to think about their friendship. He knew that it was crumbling, and it was crumbling fast the more time they spent in Hogwarts. In five years, trust between them has all but slowly withered away and now it looked to be completely forgotten as Lily wouldn’t look at his way. It hurt to see her go away from him, even if he did understand it.

Lily couldn’t bother being friends with someone who wouldn’t hesitate throwing someone under the bus for something they wanted. Even if it didn’t even happen yet. Severus turned his head before Lily looked over.

“Just because we get through all the face cards safely, that doesn’t mean we get to go back home,” stated Ann. “You don’t believe Hatter’s bullshit now, do you?”

“Ah, right,” stated a very dejected Frank, “I think we all forgot that Hatter was the one who came up with the plan on getting all the cards.”

“I think we just forgot because it was Aguni who called him out, and we were all distracted with how the Ten of Hearts game was going and Niragi’s survival,” said Severus.

Frank nodded as he sent a sheepish smile to Severus, who shrugged in response.

“Yeah, but the next stage did start after we got 40 different cards, like he said,” responded Arisu. “None of us knew what was going on when we got here. We figured out that winning games extended our visas by the number of days on a card. If our visas run out, we’re killed by a laser. According to Hatter, collecting a whole deck of cards would allow us to return home. The rules at least make sense.”

Ann closed her eyes in slight frustration, “You just want it to be true.”

Arisu added in determination as he looked at her from the back seat, “No, it’s more than that. There’s a pattern. It seemed crazy, but there were always rules.”

“I could understand why she seems so reluctant to really believe this tale as it was spun from an insane man,” stated Regulus. “It’s just kind of funny that someone like Hatter thought of a plan that, while it seemed like it was going nowhere, actually held some truth to it.”

A car sped up from behind them and managed to get to the side of them as Tatta noticed and said, “hey, there’s some Beach guys there.”

They all looked at the car before ducking as the King of Spades brought out a gun and started shooting into their vehicle. “TATTA! GO!”

“HOLD ON!” shouted Tatta as he drove faster and faster, the car swerving around other vehicles in the road with such recklessness that the three in the back crashed against each other. Tatta was driving with his head ducked down to avoid any bullets hitting him.

They were ahead of the King of Spades, but he wasn’t going to let them get away. As they swerved around cars, Ann told him to let her drive. Tatter turned to her in confusion before Ann suddenly got up and moved in the driver’s seat, Tatta still there.

“Now! Move!”

“Hey, careful! Shit!”

As they switched seats, Ann stepped on the pedal and the car zoomed forward, leading to the other four to yelp in surprise as they were suddenly pressed against their seats. “Hang on.”

Ann expertly swerved the car between vehicles, sometimes getting too close for comfort in some but nonetheless the King of Spades seemed to be far behind them as a sky-view of the car chase was shown on the screen.

“I love women,” said Marlene who looked at Ann with stars in her eyes. Dorcas and Mary laughed at her before saying their agreements.

The car was continuing being fired upon by the King, this time with an assault rifle, leading Ann to swerve the car just like Tatta to prevent anyone from being shot.

As they reached a crosswalk, Ann drifted the vehicle and drove back through the same street they came from. The King of Spades did lose them for a second, before catching up with them, leading the small celebrations from the five to tell Ann, who stamped on the pedal.

Ann in a panic as the King managed to ram them at their sides and pushed them against other lined up cars on the street, managed to drive through an opening, leaving them alone for a while as the King was trapped in the other road.

Students let out groans of both disgust and fright as they saw the bloody bodies inside of the King’s car. It got louder as the King didn’t care about the disfigurement of the bodies in the front seat as he fired his rifle at the players.

Due to being fired upon, Ann drove right into a small group of players who ran out of her way right into the path of the King. which let her be distracting as she looked behind her, it was too late to swerve around a small light blue car that was parked in the middle of the road, leading to the car the five were in to crash right into it and flip their car over.

As the King drove around them, another car full of players smashed right into him.

Claps and cheers erupted as they saw it happen but they stopped after a few minutes as they knew this wasn’t enough to really take down a King. and definitely not the King of Spades.

Ann, Tatta, Kuina, Usagi, and Arisu climbed out of the car slightly injured and dirty but lethally. Players gathered around them as they climbed out of their hiding spaces, but they couldn’t wait around as the King of Spades started firing into them, leading the group of five to split off.

Usagi, Tatta, Kuina, and Arisu went one way, while Ann ran another. The screen then blacked out, letting the audience a space to collect themselves.

“The King of Spades seems unstoppable,” said James as he ruffled his hair to calm himself.

“He also seems to be incredibly trained, like some type of soldier,” added Lily.

“He’s most likely trained better than a normal soldier, Evans,” stated Amelia.

“Most likely a special ops of some kind?” said Severus.

But that was all the relief the audience was given as the screen turned back on, this time showing Usagi and Arisu in a convenience store gathering food.

“Usagi?” said Arisu, bringing Usagi out of her thoughts. She turned around, not wanting to face Arisu. “Uh, what is it?” he added out of concern for his friend.

Usagi sighed before saying, “Arisu. . .Did you really love your life so much?”

Much like Arisu, students looked confused. But Frank’s eyes widened as he remembered what Snape had said before the King of Spades’ game had started. Snape had said the exact same thing, and it seemed like others remembered as well and their pale faces quietly turned over to stare at Snape.

“I lost my dad. . .right before all this. They called him a liar. They harassed him too. Never left him alone,” Usagi said quietly, “He went for a climb. And never came back. That was the last I heard.”

She let out a sigh of grief before continuing, “But he’d been out so many times. And it wasn’t a tough mountain at all. It’s impossible, that’s what I told myself. But now. . .After living here, I understand.”

Usagi had looked up at Arisu for a moment before looking away, “He hated this world. And he wanted. . .He hoped he could find a different one. I never thought about that before. And that’s. . .that’s how I feel, too. I didn’t realize how much I hated our world. If we went back, I’d still hate it there.”

She added, tears in her eyes, “I’m sorry. I. . . Getting back is something everyone else wants.”

Arisu gave her a hug as he spoke in a steady voice full of empathy, “Usagi. I know how you feel. I do. I hated so much of my life. The world was shit. But now I don't know,”. He let her go, before softly grabbing her shoulders, bringing her attention to him, “Since coming here, I wanna try again. I wanna be a better person. I'll protect you. I'll do whatever it takes. Let’s go back together.”

As he said those final words, Usagi quickly grabbed his hands and shifted them off her shoulders. She looked away from him, “I’m sorry. Everyone says it, Arisu. That they know how I feel. That I should just forget the past and be happy. But it’s not so easy to forget.”

She looked up at him again, “Even you. . .I don’t know what you’ve been through either. If someone understands me or not, it doesn’t make a difference. It’s just. . .if somebody gave me the chance to go back there. . .to that world. I really don’t think that I would.”

“Staying here won’t change that,” Arisu softly said, a small smile on his face, trying to make her see. He raised a hand again, “Usagi. . .”

But she didn’t want it. “We should go. Everyone’s waiting,” she stated, leaving the store.

They stared at Snape who tilted his head, eerily similar to how he did in the games, and watched as he just took in Usagi’s words. Because deep down, everyone seemed to know that if given the chance, Snape would gladly take the road to stay in the borderlands. While he didn't show it outright, everyone knew. Especially, when they remembered what he said before this.

They’ve seen the way everyone in the Great Hall treated him. No one was really safe from that. The only people who seemed to actually care were Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy and Regulus Black. Lily Evans was far from a good friend, with how she quickly left him after future-Snape threw Usagi and Arisu under the bus, and if she would do that to him even if it was in the future, she would do that in present time.

But then a thought came. Change. Snape changed. Even if it was further into the games. Snape grew to care for others, gradually, over time. Although Kuina was the only person he liked from the Beach, he seemed to open his heart out to Ippei in the Jack of Hearts, and Kuzuryu in the King of Diamonds.

If Snape thought about this now, he most definitely would change his way of thinking when it would come to the end. Only time would tell.

The screen turned on to show Arisu on a roof of a tall building which showed where the blimps were. “The King of Spades is getting closer. It’s just like you said. His arena is the whole city.”

Surrounding a map of Tokyo, sat everyone as Arisu moved a bottle cap marked with the Spade suit to where the blimp of the King of Spades moved to.

“That’s not good. We gotta stay ahead of him, keep running,” said Tatta.

“There’s another way we can stay off his radar,” continued Arisu.

“What?” said Kuina, looking at him with surprise.

Arisu turned to look at her, “There’s other games we can join, right?”

“So they are going to try and play other games in hopes of avoiding the King of Spades?” stated a confused James.

“Eh,” shrugged Dorcas, “Seems that way.”

“It does seem safer, Prongs,” said Sirius. Remus and Peter nodded as they tapped their friend’s shoulder as he mumbled, “But it seems safer to just stay and hide. I don’t care if it’s not considered the Gryffindor way.”

“Huh?!” exclaimed Tatta, who looked at Arisu.

Arisu sighed as he looked between them all before stating, “Put yourself in their shoes for a sec. I wouldn’t want my game interfered with.”

“So they have some kind of agreement, is that it?” asked Usagi, as she stood up from the map, “Don’t interfere with each other, be polite.”

Arisu looked at her for a moment before continuing, “Each game so far has had rules. Very strict rules. If another game got mixed in, it would completely ruin it.”

“But, like. . .,” said Tatta, as he looked down at his hands, “What if I don’t wanna play anymore?”

“We were forced into the King of Spades’ game, like it or not,” stated Kuina,” We can keep hiding, sure. But eventually, he’ll find us and kill us, or our visas will run out and then, pyeow!”

“If we keep playing, though, we’ll be able to get more information,” added Arisu, “Find out from the game masters what this place is. Or why we’re here. We need more answers. Or everyone else died for nothing.”

Kuina spoke up, “Why don’t we vote on it?”

“I’m with Arisu on this,” she added as everyone looked at her.

Tatta cursed before exclaiming, “All right. Count me in.”

“Usagi?” asked Kuina as she looked at her.

“It’s majority rules. You have your answer,” Usagi said before crouching down again looking at the map, joined by the others.

“So, which game first? What do you think?” asked Tatta, as Arisu brought a hand over.

“The furthest one we can see is here, along the harbor. The King of Clubs,” he said as he touched the bottle cap with the suit.

“You’re picking a King? You’re joking?!” asked a very concerned Kuina.

“A King would probably have more key information.”

Kuina sighed, “You’ve got guts, Arisu.”

Arisu smiled a little before looking back down at their diagram, “And besides, Club games are about teamwork. So we’ll have a chance to win.”

“With this group, for sure!” cheered Kuina, followed by Tatta.

As the four arrived at the arena to play against the King of Clubs, they noticed a table with four thick wristbands. The said arena seemed to be inside a huge maze of shipping containers, making it hard to climb if you didn’t have experience.

A sign above the table read; ‘NO WEAPONS’, while another read; ‘PARTICIPANTS: FIVE PLAYERS PLEASE PUT ON BRACELETS AND WAIT’.

“It says we need five players,” said Kuina.

“But there’s only four,” replied Usagi.

“Five, actually,” answered a noticeable voice from behind them. The group turned and saw a very burned and scarred Niragi. “It’s been a while.”

Each of them looked at him with extreme distrust and hatred. “You’re still alive?” said Tatta.

“Team up with him? I don’t think so,” scoffed Kuina.

“He’ll sabotage us, for sure,” added Tatta as he looked at Arisu, “I bet he’s already got a plan to screw us over.”

Niragi walked forward and held an arm up high, showing off the bracelet he had on, “The bracelet’s not comin’ off now. All I wanna do is enjoy the game. If you’re not interested in playin’, you’d better get outta here, huh?”

Usagi was the first to put on the bracelet, “If we don’t join the game, we’ll be gunned down. That’s it. I’d rather fight here, than die like an animal.”

Arisu followed. Then Kuina. Tatta, who looked at Niragi one more time, said, “Hey, don’t slow us down! This game is about working together!”

The metal gates opened as the announcer chimed and stated, “Registration is now closed. The game will now commence.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“So. . .,” asked James, “Are we going to see the King of Clubs game or not?”

“Nope!” answered Fate, her smile beaming with a weird glee. “You are going to be watching a. . . Let’s say. . . A Player-Against-Player game of sorts.”

Confused students looked at each other. Weren’t all the games technically player against player? What was so different about this one?

As some students (ie Amelia, Dorcas, Regulus) opened their mouths to ask, Death stepped in. “Those other games, while yes, you are playing against other players, most of them are actually against the dealers in the numbered games, and therefore the citizens with these face card games.”

“Those games do give you a chance to play with your fellow players, it’s just hidden in fine print,” added Fate.

Confusion still rocked through the Great Hall, leading Fate and Death to turn on the screen, leaving many to stop overthinking as they watched Arisu wander through a Tokyo with overgrown greenery and destroyed buildings.

As he walked though, his eyes caught what looked to be a rifle laying on the ground. He hastily walked towards it, before reaching down and taking it in his hands. As he did, he found a torn bag under it and stuffed the ammo he found in his pockets. With gun and ammo in hand in case he needed it, he slung the rifle over his back and continued walking further and deeper into the ruined city.

“Why is the city so. . .ruined?” asked Mary.

“It’s the borderlands’ way of showing to the players the passage of time,” answered Death, “Due to the second stage, there will be a lot less players due to the face cards. An easier way to say this, . . . Remember the dealers for the numbered card games? The people who were killed after Arisu and everyone in the Beach cleared the Ten of Hearts game?”

At the nods, Death continued, “Well, there’s no need for those arenas to be cared for by them because there is no more first stage. In this second stage, it’s new arenas and harder games. Fewer citizens who don’t have to care for the whole city as they just have to worry about their game, hence the overgrown greenery and the destruction of some parts of the city that don’t have any games in its vicinity.”

“It. . .kind of makes sense. . .In a way,” said Mary. “It’s like. . .like the borderlands are coming to an end. . .Right?”

Mary raised her head at Fate and Death who looked at her before nodding. They both turned towards the screen, not wanting to continue talking.

But Fate added in an eerie tone, “The borderlands are reaching the end of its need for all these people.”

Even though her back was all everyone could see, they could practically hear the huge smile that was etched onto her face.

Arisu stopped, looking at the wrecked buildings not knowing where to even go, when his head whirled over when he heard a voice call out to him. “Hey.”

Severus walked to Arisu as he added, “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Severus.”

“There are only two games left,” Severus started, “Players are starting to gather in Shibuya. I had a pretty good hunch that you were probably still alive.”

As Severus finished, he gave Arisu a lazy smile as he stopped a good few feet away from him.

After a moment of silence from the both of them, Arisu asked, “What? Is that the only thing you’ve gotta say?”

“So?” shrugged Severus.

“Nothing. It’s just. . .You’re a lot less grumpy now.”

The audience joined Severus’ chuckle as he added, “Oh, less grumpy, huh? Well, I’ve been through a hell of a lot.”

Severus walked closer to Arisu, thinking a bit before asking, “Hey, Arisu. . .can I share something with you that I’ve never told anyone before?”

Everyone leaned forward in their seats, curious as to what Snape would say.

This version of Snape was someone who hid behind walls, not letting anyone close to them see their true intentions. So close to their Snape, but at least their Snape’s emotions could be seen on his face outright.

Arisu huffed a laugh before stating, “Yeah.”

Severus looked around a little, before looking back at Arisu and heaved a sigh, “Well, I—”

Both Arisu and the audience flinched as a gunshot rang through the air as Severus was shot to the ground, his left side bursting in a crimson stain.

“Yo!”

If everyone wasn’t screaming before, they were now, doubling in noise as they were all shouting obscurities and cursing at Niragi who walked behind Arisu.

The moment Arisu turned around, he pointed his rifle at Niragi, his face in astonishment as he took in the sight of Niragi.

Slytherins, Regulus, Amelia, Dorcas, and even James and Lily were the first to stand up and shout. Severus winced in phantom pain as he clutched his side. He shivered, not wanting to deal with what a gunshot felt like. He definitely didn’t want to deal with this in the future. The death games, fine. But a gunshot, nope. Or even a stab wound.

“I thought I’d never see you again! I am so fuckin’ happy!” stated Niragi, a feral smile on his lips as he pointed his gun at Arisu.

“Niragi!” said Arisu.

“Did you mean to miss a vital organ?” asked Severus in a pained voice from his position on the ground, gripping his bleeding side.

Regulus and Amelia (as well as nearly everyone) sighed at the same Severus. No matter how much he was dealing with, Severus Snape would absolutely not lose his attitude in the future. It instead got heavier as he added in a nonchalance sense to danger and anything lethal.

“I didn’t want to end things with a surprise attack,” said Niragi as he walked a few steps towards Arisu and Severus before stopping. “So let’s begin. It’s a new murder game. Not like there’s anything else for the three of us to do here!”

“Is this the ‘Player-against-Player’ game you were talking about?” asked Regulus, as he held a wincing Severus’ hand, who tried to pry off Regulus’ deathgrip.

“Yup!” chirped Fate.

Regulus sighed heavily, “Great.”

“You want to start a game between players?” asked Severus.

“The three of us are the same,” started Niragi in a serious tone, entirely different from his maniacal, cheerie voice from before. “Social outcast. Losers. Yet we still want to know how it feels to be alive, more than anyone!”

Niragi lurched forward as a wet cough left his throat, blood following after. He breathed heavily as he weakly brought his body up, “I don’t have very much time left. Do me one last favor. One more game, come on!”

As Niragi continued, he reached behind him and pulled out another gun from the waistband of his pants, “I thought you guys were my bros!”

He tossed the gun near Severus, who weaky stood up and walked to the gun. His bloody right hand reached down, grabbing it while his other hand held the injury.

“Sounds like fun,” he stated with a smile, “Arisu, what do you think?”

“What do you mean?!” asked Arisu as he looked at Severus with both concern and confusion.

“Come one, don’t play dumb. I know you’ve got a bone to pick with me,” Severus said with a teasing voice as he fixed his stance to face Niragi directly, “We might as well deal with it right now. We can settle things once and for all.”

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

“I don’t think Arisu’s the type of person to really hold grudges though,” stated Frank.

“I think it’s just Snape’s way of thinking. He definitely knows that’s not the way Arisu is, but he’s instead just trying to goad him in whether he wants to or not,” added Amelia.

“Plus, even if Arisu was the type of person to hold grudges, I don’t think a betrayal would really be at the top of his mind, especially this far into the face card games,” said Potter.

“I hate to have to agree with Potter, but he’s not wrong,” stated Severus. “A betrayal for cards is not as important as your life in the second stage.”

“Come one, where’s your gun? I know you got one!” interrupted Niragi.

As the three men stood in the ruined city, Niragi to the left facing both Arisu and Severus, Arisu in the middle in between both, and Severus to the right facing the two of them, Arisu’s worried voice could be heard, “There’s gotta be another way to do this.”

Niragi quickly changed where his gun was pointing too, as he shot at Arisu instead of Severus. Arisu quickly ran towards cover as the bullet hit the ground in front of him. Severus shot a couple shots at Niragi with a steady arm.

He ran behind a car for cover, before climbing the roof of it and began firing at Severus, who stumbled away, groaning behind a car as he hit the metal with his wounded side.

As Niragi continued firing, Arisu shouted from his spot, “NIRAGI! STOP THIS!”

“I’M JUST ACTING LIKE YOU GUYS! DOING WHATEVER I FEEL LIKE! EVERYTIME YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTHS, IT’S JUST TO TALK ABOUT YOURSELVES!” shouted back Niragi as he weaved the gun between the two cars. “I’VE HAD TO LISTEN TO YOUR BULLSHIT THE WHOLE TIME!”

In a slightly calmer voice, he continued, “Stop acting like you’re better than everyone because you’ve seen people die. And don’t say you’re trying to survive for someone else, because I know that deep down you’re just as selfish! The only thing that matters is that we come out on top!”. He ended his speech with a smile as he continued weaving his gun between Severus’ and Arisu’s hiding spots.

Memories played in Arisu’s head. First, of an injured Karube in the Seven of Hearts as he shouted at a sobbing, scared Arisu who hid away, “You said it’d all work out if we worked together! From the very start, you just wanted to be the only survivor!”

Then it showed a sobbing Chota, who was holding Shibuki from running after Arisu, “I don’t want it to end this way!”

The next memory it showed was of Tatta in the King of Clubs. His arm outstretched, his bloody hand resting against an open shipping container as he sternly told Arisu, “Please, or you’ll kill everyone! Do it for them!”

Back in the present, Arisu stated, “Yeah. . . You might have a good point. Maybe we’re all just supposed to kill each other in this place.”

Niragi laughed, “Now you’re starting to make sense.”

“D-Did Tatta die?” asked Mary.

Death looked at her and anyone else who seemed to have the same question on the tips of their tongues. “Yes. Tatta died in the King of Clubs, for Arisu and the rest of the players to clear the game.”

“And someone like Niragi still lives?!” shouted Frank. He paused as he said his words, but couldn’t feel any guilt. A good person like Tatta died, while an awful person like Niragi continued living.

“It’s not that easy,” said Death, “The borderlands are a cross between the living and the dead. The souls who walk it, either live or die if they have the will to survive. It’s cruel, yes, but it shows why some people die very easily, and some continue living no matter what is thrown their way. Hence Niragi getting set on fire and surviving this far, while Tatta died from getting his hand mangled and losing blood. One had the overwhelming will to continue to survive, because he was resilient. While the other wasn’t, both in the real world and this one. Tatta lost his will to survive, and gave his life for his team.”

Niragi pointed the gun Arisu’s way before smiling and turning it back to Severus. “Niragi,” Arisu called out, “I know what you’re trying to do, but it won’t work! You’re trying to wear me down! Except. . .now it won’t work. I’m not gonna act weak and selfish ever again!”

In his spot, Severus looked to be thinking. His posture and expression relaxed as Arisu grasped his rifle and stood up. “I’m out.” He dropped his rifle, as he stood his back to Niragi as he stated, “I’m not gonna pull this trigger just so that I can survive.”

He turned to look at Niragi, who lost his smile and whose arm twitched between lowering his gun and directing it to Arisu. Severus leaned back against the car as his arms relaxed the stiff hold on the gun. He looked down to contemplate Arisu’s words as he thought back to Kuzuryu.

“I’m finally free. I made my own choice. And based on my own ideals. It’s all because of you.”

Regulus tensed up, his arm shooting out to grab Severus tightly. “You’re not doing what I think you’re going to do.”

Severus winced at his friend’s grasp as he turned to look at him, already knowing what he was thinking. Severus glanced at the screen. Arisu had a way with words, and Severus knew that something was going to happen. He just didn’t want to be in the vicinity of. . .everyone here when it came to Arisu knowing whatever his future-self was going to tell him before Niragi came along.

“I’m not going to do anything,” Severus said softly, his hands holding Regulus’ when he softened his grip. “Besides, if anything does happen, I will live to the end. Death and Fate said so.”

Regulus let out a weak smile, the tension and anxiety visible on his face, as he scooted closer to Severus. He quietly hugged his friend, who returned it with an arm wrapping around his shoulders.

Niragi had completely dropped the gun, as he frowned at Arisu. He scoffed, “You ruined it. Thanks a lot, asshole.”

But a soft voice joined in, confused at what was happening. “Arisu?”

Both Niragi and Arisu turned their heads to find Usagi arriving.

Usagi looked at the three of them and said, “What’s going on here?”

She began moving slowly, growing vigilant with the weapons in their hands.

Niragi smiled once again as he softly said, “Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about you.”. With that he began shooting at her, but luckily none of the bullets landed. Usagi began moving but had tripped and fell.

Arisu shouted her name before pointing his rifle at Niragi yelling and threatening him, “STOP THIS! SHE’S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!”

“Games need a heroine to rescue. But this one should die.”

“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!”

“If I kill you now,” started Niragi, “everything can go back to the way it was.”

Niragi looked at Usagi, who glared back at him from her spot on the floor. “You. . .just get in the way.”

As Niragi fired, Usagi braced herself for the oncoming pain. Arisu fired his weapon, hitting Niragi in the chest as he fell off the car. Many cheered as Niragi seemed to be dead, but there were only a few who had their hands over their mouths not wanting to believe what was happening. Those cheers stopped as they heard a soft sob and turned their heads to see Regulus Black hugging Snape. They grew confused as Snape simply patted his friend and hugged him back, his gaze on the screen in a blank stare.

Usagi opened her eyes to feel nothing. She heard the two shots echo, but she didn’t feel any pain. Slowly she looked up and saw Severus standing in front of her.

A red spot on the right side of his chest grew, ruining the white of his jacket. The Great Hall sat in stunned silence as they watched Severus fall to the ground as Usagi ran to him. “SEVERUS!”

Arisu quickly turned and joined Usagi. Usagi got to her knees and began adding pressure to Severus’ injury, “Severus! You saved me! Why did you do it?!”

Severus groaned as he weakly answered, “I wanted to do something that was a bit out of character,” he chuckled before continuing, “I know it’s thanks to the people I met here. . . Like Kuzuryu. . .” He glanced at Arisu, “Arisu too.”

“Hey,” Arisu said, his face full of worry, “Before, what were you gonna say?”

Severus grunted before answering, “Oh, yeah. . .”

He let out a soft laugh before inhaling deeply. “Honest people. . .always seemed pretty stupid to me. I’ve always loved messing with people who try too hard at life. I hated selflessness. . . It’s probably because I was jealous. . . They all had something I was missing. . . It was like. . .they could always see. . .what a pathetic and small-minded person I really was.”

He gave a small amused huff of laughter, “I was always afraid. . .”

Arisu looked at him, “I get you.”

Severus glanced at him again before smiling a little, “Yeah, I thought you’d be the one to understand.”

There was no sound in the Great Hall besides the muffled sobs of Lily Evans and Regulus Black. Severus didn’t bother to look around, his focus was entirely on Regulus who tried to hide his cries by stuffing his face onto Severus’ stomach. They were currently on the floor, Regulus on top of him and his legs, strangling his waist. Severus soothed him as best as he could, Amelia joined in by rubbing Regulus’ back softly, whispering comforting words.

Lily stared in horror at the image of a bleeding and close to death Severus. There was nothing, no coherent words that could go through her mind at a stable, calm pace. It was just jumbled up sentences, as she stared staggered at the screen paused, depicting her friend potentially dying. The only thing that was keeping her together were the words that Death and Fate stated at the beginning; Severus Snape survives the borderlands. Five words that seemed to be the only words that could be heard through her mind.

The Marauders stared at the scene, nothing in their veins but shock and terror. James and Remus trembled. Sirius refused to stare at the scene, his head looking at his polished shoes, his hair creating a barricade between everyone else and him. He tried not to listen to his little brother’s sobs, Bones’ soft words of affirmation that Snape was right here, alive. But his ears seemed to only want to focus on that, to hone in on what was happening.

James could only look on and he absentmindedly went to Lily and hugged her in comfort, as he caught her wide-eyed stare. She flinched when he came near, but when she relaxed he moved to hug her. It seemed like something she desperately needed, which seemed to get worse as they heard Black’s muffled cries.

Peter stared in bewilderment at the future-Snape. Why would he do that? It was the question that came to his mind when it was revealed that the bullet hadn’t hit Usagi, but instead Snape. He was shocked, sure, but to do this? He guessed if his friends would have been in that situation then he might’ve done the same, but he didn’t understand the reason why Snape would do that for someone like Usagi. Kuina seemed like the first and only person that this Snape would take a bullet for. Arisu, second. But while he didn’t understand fully, he could guess that was what showed the full change of Snape.

Someone who seemed so ready to throw people away, and yet fully didn’t care about his own life. Someone so apathetic to the death and misery of this world, only to be shown the goodness of a few. That was what interested Peter. The change in someone from this present Snape to this future Snape in the borderlands.

When Remus looked on with nothing but horror like Evans, Peter patted his shoulder. Remus didn’t know what to even think, it seemed, but Peter wanted to help his friend. He was the only one of them to really try to stop them when it came to pranking Snape in the past, even if he was pants at it.

Looking around the Great Hall, there wasn’t a dry eye. But. . .none felt like they should be reacting in such a way considering the way they’ve been treating him in the past. Why should they be crying over him when they hadn’t cared about him before? It was cruel to think it, but would Snape really care about people crying over his dead body? He would most likely scoff at the thought of people only caring about his existence when he lost his life.

But. . .

They were probably reacting this way because of the way Snape looked as his future-self said those words to Arisu as he lay.

He looked. . .content.

Seen.

Like what his future-self said was what he was thinking at the moment.

Maybe it was.

Maybe what was said was what Snape had always thought whenever he sneered or glared at anyone in his way.

Suddenly Niragi’s voice came in a mocking way, “I guess hunting rifles aren’t as deadly as you thought.”

Arisu stood up and ran with his rifle to where Niragi lay, laughing weakly. “Whatever you do, just don’t make me out to be the villain. . . If there were seven billion of me, you guys would all be villains too. . . You’re pretty lucky, you know. You guys are the majority.”

Arisu looked at him with confusion, and Usagi continued glaring, before her glare turned into worry as a shadow passed over her. She looked up and Arisu joined. They watched as the metal blimp containing the King of Spades’ suit slowly flew over them.

“Run!” said Arisu as he went back to Usagi. They looked to the direction from where gunfire and screaming could be heard. “Hide them under the cars!”

As many continued watching, they were quiet. Most likely the quietest they have ever been. They watched, feeling their happiness slightly return as Usagi and Arisu called over Kuina and Ann to their spot. But it was dampened again as Kuina asked where Severus was. Arisu lied to her, saying that he was good.

While they wanted to ask questions about it, they quickly understood that in a situation like this Kuina would most likely not be fully focused on surviving against the King of Spades if she was fully focusing her attention on whether or not Snape was okay.

As the shots got closer and as the King was seen, the four opted to run. Hands were clenched together as Ann fell due to stray bullets landing in her way, causing her to trip, and as the King was able to stand over her, shooting the person that fell alongside her. They let out slight cheers as Kuina kicked a car side-view mirror, hitting the back of the King’s head, making him turn around and start shooting at her, letting Ann run to safety.

The King was suddenly hit by a car driven by two players who jumped the moment the King was hit, and the stray car hit another before exploding into flames. The players stared at the destruction, wondering if it was over, the two who hit the King cheered. They were joined by others, but the feeling of freedom ended just as soon as it started as the gunshots continued once more.

The King of Spades exited the flames, his robe ruined as he took it off and tossed it aside, before removing the balaclava which was underneath.

Many flinched at how emotionless the man looked as he shot at Arisu and Usagi. Arisu stayed behind as Usagi sprinted across several cars before the King ran out of bullets. Sighs of relief could be heard as Usagi was safe, but they did groan as Arisu’s shot at the King was missed.

As the King reloaded and pointed his assault rifle at Arisu’s hiding place, surprised exclamations and cheering came as a girl with a bow and a prosthetic leg shot the King’s bicep. But those cheers went away with hope for the girl — Heiya — to be okay as the King shot at her. In the nick of time though, Heiya managed to jump away, crashing harshly against a car’s roof before running away for cover.

“Other players are fighting back as well,” mumbled Mary as she watched two unknown men shoot at the King, but missed. As they ran, they bumped into each other and crashed on the ground, immediately getting shot dead by the King who continued his warpath against the other running players. “. . .They’re just not experienced with those weapons,” Mary continued.

“Well, it is them against him, and with how experienced the King of Spades is, it’s going to take a lot for the King to even die. I mean the man had two cars run into him and still managed to climb out of the flames!” groaned Frank.

“Not to mention that that arrow the girl shot him with, barely did anything to him. It’s going to take someone as experienced as him to take him down,” replied Remus.

“Maybe Aguni,” guessed Marlene, “Remember what Kuina said during Arisu’s and Usagi’s first night at the Beach? He’s ex-special forces.”

“You're right, Marlene! Maybe the showdown with the King might be a military vs military fight!” stated Mary.

Usagi and Arisu managed to get together again and both ran to an opening of a building, where Ann and Kuina came from the other side and hid with them. Together the four crouched by one side as they peaked out to see the massacre.

Heiya’s voice made the four turn to her in confusion, and Aguni’s voice joined, “He’ll run out of ammo soon. Stay in here where there’s cover.”

Aguni walked to them as he told them, his hands ready to fire his gun if the King got to their spot, “He’s just human. He’s not invincible. And as for his guns, he won’t be able to shoot forever. Once he runs out of ammo, he’ll need to restock. I think they drop supplies from the blimps.”

Arisu turned to look outside, before he looked back as he raised his rifle, “We’ve all got weapons.”

The screen panned down from Arisu, showing Usagi, Kuina raising her fists, Ann checking her small pistol, Heiya reloading her bow, and Aguni raising his assault rifle.

“But this is all the ammo I’ve got left,” said Aguni.

Kuina gasped out, “I almost forgot!” She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a familiar orange soda-can explosive,” My good luck charm. This is the bomb Severus made.”

“Severus?” scoffed Aguni, “A lot of good that toy will do us.”

Arisu reached over and grabbed it, “We can lure him in and use it at close range,” he leaned down to smell it, “From the way it smells, I’m guessing the bomb contains kerosene.”

“An ANFO bomb,” stated Ann.

“Then the explosion it makes won’t be that big,” said Aguni.

“I can see a drugstore over there,” pointed out Arisu, “If we can fill it up with gas, then the explosion will be bigger.”

“Are you sure?”

“Probably.”

Kuina spoke up, a bit afraid, “So you’re saying, someone needs to lure in the King of Spades in there?”

“Yeah,” said Arisu, “I’ll wait for him inside the store, and then trigger it.”

“You’re going to die if you do that,” stated Ann.

“No. I’ll make it out.”

“How?”

“When the bomb detonates, if I’m on the second floor, I’ll be able to survive the fall,” said Arisu, “. . .Probably.”

Ann smirked at him, as Heiya said, “You know, you say ‘probably’ a lot.”

“His ‘probably’ is worth betting on. It’s worth its weight in gold,” stated Aguni before adding, “I’ll be the bait. I’ll lure him in.”

“It’s reckless to try to do it alone,” said Usagi.

“I’ve handled a lot worse.”

Usagi leaned closer to the other women, “We’ll. . .We’ll do it together.”

Kuina agreed, “Yes, together. Just leave it to us.”

Ann nodded and Heiya smiled as they all looked at Aguni, who scoffed and looked away.

“All right, then,” stated Arisu with a determined smile growing on his face, “Let’s do it.”

The screen turned to black as the group split up, with the five leaving Arisu to head to lure the King, while Arisu went another way to the drugstore.

Groans were met the moment the screen went to black, but everyone was just glad that the intense and emotional scene was over. Too many emotions were stretched, just like the scene with the Ten of Hearts.

James ran a hand over his face as he stretched, saying, “Something tells me that something goes, very, very wrong.”

Dorcas reached over and smacked his shoulder, earning a yelp from him, “What?! I’m just giving input!”

“I don't care if you are, you’re putting bad thoughts in my mind!”

“Actually, he’s not wrong!” Fate jumped in, making Dorcas glare at Potter who put his hands up in mock surrender.

“Don’t look at me!”

Fate giggled before adding, “We are going to show you the Queen of Hearts next!”

Confusion rang throughout the Hall. Frank raised his hand as he stated, “You aren’t going to show us the King of Spades aftermath?”

Fate just gave a smile, “No. We’re skipping the defeat of the King of Spades and going straight to Mirs, the Queen of Hearts!”

From the smile alone, shivers went down spines and their hearts dropped to their stomachs as they took in the information. Someone, maybe all of them, die in their fight to take down the King of Spades.

Many students looked at each other, too afraid to really ask, but Amelia did.

“Who dies in fighting the King of Spades?” she asked, her voice steely, but many noticed just a twinge of anxiety as she said the suit.

“Mmm, you’ll know later,” Fate said, making many stare blankly at her. She sighed, “Just know that everyone does survive. Remember, their will to survive in the borderlands. . .”

“. . .Determines their survival in the real world,” continued Lily.

Fate nodded and smiled, before signalling to Death to start the next scene.

“This is the final game. Participating players should register immediately,” spoke out the computer-like announcer.

A pale, bleeding, but still alive Severus and Niragi watched a very injured and limping Usagi being carried by Arisu, walking to the building which had the Queen of Hearts suit floating above.

As the pair reached the top, Arisu stopped and turned his head to Usagi as he said, “If the rules force the players to start killing each other. . .I promise that I’m going to protect you.”

“That. . .makes you sound. . .ridiculous right now,” chuckled Usagi weakly in between gasps.

Arisu joined in laughing before giving her a final smile, before they both walked to the entrance of the Queen of Heart’s game. They looked at each other one final time, before they entered.

Inside were bushes and an archway decorated to the brim with white roses, and past the archway, was a clean-cut lawn of grass with wickets sticking out of the ground.

Past the lawn though, sat Mira in her black gown at a white clothed table underneath a white gazebo that resembled a cage from far away. She stood from her white chair and rounded the table before walking to where the lawn stopped on her side and greeting Arisu and Usagi with a wide smile.

“Welcome,” Mira said as she raised her arms in accordance, “to your final game venue!”

“She really gives you the chills, huh?” mumbled Sirius, as he shivered a bit from Mira’s slightly manic grin.

“It doesn’t help that she’s basically the last citizen of one of the hardest suit games either,” added Marlene.

“She’ll most likely be the most psychologically damaging,” stated Severus.

“What do you mean?” asked Potter.

“Heart games deal with trust and betrayal,” Sveerus started, “You play with the hearts of others and then rip them apart to win. And from what we’ve seen of Mira in the Beach and in the underground dealers’ workstations, she had fun creating all the Hearts games, not only in her suits but in all the other games as well. She genuinely enjoys them and what happens in them.”

“Is it possible for Mira to make Usagi and Arisu have to choose between themself or each other to win Mira’s game?” asked Potter.

Severus thought for a moment before shaking his head. “No, I think she will make them play together,” Severus paused a bit before adding, “But I do think that she will try to mess with their heads, before choosing the one that is most mentally weak and targeting them. In this case, I believe she will go for Arisu.”

“Why do you think that?” asked Frank, before he made a sound of realization and answered his own question, “Of course. She’s probably going to use his most painful memories from his life. Usagi is injured and will probably not be able to really play, so it's basically Arisu versus Mira, then huh?”

“Yeah,” said Mary, “As much as brave and heroic Arisu is, he is very vulnerable when it comes to the people he loves. And with Usagi’s injuries, his emotions will be at an all time high and his focus will be focused on her.”

Mira stood in front of Arisu and Usagi. Her hands clasped in front of her as she spoke, “Allow me to introduce my game to you. This game, the one that we’re all about to play, is called. . .The Queen of Croquet!”

Arisu and Usagi stared at her confused. “Croquet?” Usagi asked.

“Lawn billiards is what they used to call it in 19th-century England, at the height of its popularity. I don’t believe that it was ever quite so popular in Japan.”

“We don’t know the rules,” said Arisu.

“That’s all right. You don’t really need to,” replied Mira. She laughed, “Don’t worry. It doesn’t matter which one of us wins!”

“What?” said Usagi.

Mira seemed to ignore her question as she told the rules, “Clearing Croquet is simple. You just have to complete three little sets of croquet games without withdrawing. If you decide to give up, game over. Weapons are also allowed here! It’s so simple. Just three little rounds of croquet.”

“W-We just have to finish three rounds?” asked Usagi before adding, “We don’t even have to win?”

Mira clapped her hands and gave a giggle, “Exactly! Simple, huh?”

She turned around as she began walking to get the croquet sets, “Now, why don’t we begin?”

“I don’t think it would be that simple,” scoffed Sirius.

“Exactly, Pads, there’s some type of catch. Maybe something in between the rounds?” said James.

“She also said that they didn’t have to really win the croquet game,” said Amelia. “Mira wants to play croquet, but that is not all the Queen of Hearts can do.”

“You think there are two games?” asked Remus.

“Yes,” nodded Amelia, “The croquet game and the Hearts one. Most likely, I believe she will be using her Hearts skills to try and stop Arisu and Usagi from continuing to play the croquet game. Which is the cover for her Hearts skills. . . It’s hard to really explain and put into words, but—”

“Yeah, I understand what you’re trying to say,” said Regulus as he waved away Bones’ concerns.

“Each side has two balls, one blue and black, the other red and yellow. To win, you need to pass your balls through the six hoops in a certain order, then hit the final finishing peg before your opponent does,” explained Mira.

She then started the game as she passed her blue ball through the first hoop. Usagi was sitting on a small base, while Arisu played against Mira. He went to the first hoop and clumsily held the mallet, before hitting his red ball. Unfortunately, it hit the side of the hoop, and rolled to the right. Mira giggled at his attempt.

The game continued with Mira winning the first set. “The first set’s mine. Better luck next time!” she giggled as she rounded up all the balls and pins.

Arisu turned to Usagi and said, “We clear the game by finishing three sets without quitting. I’m not gonna forfeit. There are two sets left. What is she thinking?”

Mira walked up to them, and picked up her blue ball before stating, “All right, round two now!”

As the second round played, with Mira looking to be in the lead Usagi whispered to Arisu, “It looks like she’s dragging the game out, making it last. I think she’s playing with us.”

“I need to get a move on,” said Arisu as he turned to Usagi, but he quickly stopped talking as blood began pouring out of her wound on her thighs as her breathing began getting labored and heavy.

“What’s terrible about this game is that you need to be patient, and with a loved one heavily injured and bleeding, you are going to want to speed the game up, most likely hitting the ball too hard, making it miss its intended mark,” stated Regulus.

“I mean, you can’t really blame him,” murmured Dorcas, “I wouldn’t be too clear-minded if I had someone I loved looking like they are going to pass out from blood loss, like Usagi is.”

“I’m not saying that,” replied Regulus, “I’m just stating facts.”

The second round ended in Arisu’s win.

“It looks like I lost the second set,” said Mira. She turned to Arisu and gasped out, “You are really talented!”

“Okay,” said Arisu, “Time for round three.”

That was when Mira stopped walking and rolled her head, “Hmm! That was just exhausting,” she pouted before her eyes widened with fake surprise, and her smile grew, “What say we have some tea, hmm?”

“Tea?” asked Arisu confusingly.

“She’s stalling for the third round huh?” murmured Marlene. “Maybe this is where she’ll use her Hearts tactics?”

Mira poured tea into two white cups decorated with beautiful pink and magenta roses, the lips lined with gold. All three sat underneath the white cage-like gazebo, but Arisu wasn’t having whatever Mira was doing.

“Forget about the tea. Let’s play the game,” he stated.

“But teatime is tradition. It’s proper croquet etiquette,” Mira replied. She passed Arisu and Usagi their teacup, “Now, please, help yourselves.”

As she poured herself some tea, Usagi and Arisu turned to look at each other, annoyed at Mira’s antics. As the silence continued while Mira drank her cup, Arisu asked his question.

“When this game is over, will we return to our world?”

“You’ll find out at the end of the game,” Mira answered.

“Don’t talk to her, Arisu,” said Usagi, “Don’t pay any attention to her. Remember. We just need to finish.”

“Why do you want to know so badly?” asked Mira, curiously.

“My best friends died. They never got to learn the truth. So I need to find out. I’m doing this for their sake. That’s why I made it this far,” he said.

“You want to know. But you also want to return to your world.”

“Can we return?”

Mira stared at him before laughing. “Aww. . . I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.”

“For all you know, this could be the ruins of your original world.”

“See you say that,” Arisu started, getting slightly restless, “But I bet you don't know anything either.”

“Yes, I do.”

Mira looked at them both before giving a sad sigh, “Hmm. I guess I have no choice. . . If you want to know so bad, then I’ll tell you everything. The whole truth about where we are.”

“That was almost too easy,” scoffed Marlene. “She’s going to lie to them or something. Give ‘em false stories.”

“You're probably right, McKinnon,” stated Regulus.

“I mean it seemed pretty obvious,” she pointed out.

Regulus shrugged, “Still. It’s probably the right guess based on what we’ve seen from Mira and what Severus said before.”

“However, when I start, there’s no going back. Remember that you had to know the answer. You asked for this, Arisu,” Mira said in a serious tone.

“Tell me, have you ever thought. . .pictured what the future would be like?” Mira asked, giving them an innocent smile.

“Future?” said Usagi.

“Yes,” replied Mira. “Nanotechnology and renewable energy, pluripotent cells, virtual reality, cryogenics, terraforming. . . The science and technology from your era burst with mountains of hope and potential. Perhaps you should be celebrating, because all of those things became a reality. What’s more, technology rapidly advanced and progressed. Within 30 years, the economies of developing countries grew, and the inequality of living standards was eventually eliminated. Fifty years later, gene manipulation extended the human lifespan.”

Severus huffed a laugh at her explanation, making many turn to him confusion all over their faces.

“She’s doing exactly what McKinnon stated. She’s giving them a lie,” he said, before he tilted his head, his eyes gaining a glint to them as he continued. “I mean . . . I can’t be the only one staring at the hunting rifle by Arisu’s side, am I?”

Widened eyes looked back and forth between Arisu and his gun before some winced at the possibility.

“You think she's going to try to make him shoot her by testing his patience?” asked Mary.

Severus nodded. “Why else would she stop them from continuing on to the third round? And remember, this is a Hearts game. Playing with feelings, remember? Mira is most likely going to try to mess with Arisu’s already fragile temper. Did you see the way his body was tensing when Mira was dodging his questions?”

“Wait a second,” said Arisu with a look of disbelief on his face, “What are you saying?”

Mira chuckled, “‘What are you saying?’. I am simply providing information. I’m telling you about 1000 years of human history!”

“A thousand years?” Arisu scoffed, “In the future?”

“After humanity acquired more advanced knowledge, it persisted in making new discoveries in every field. And so, in short, approximately ten years after what you believe is the current year, virtual reality and avatars begin to take over all aspects of people’s lives.

After 50 years, cures for dementia, cancer, and many other maladies become possible through genetics. After a hundred, natural disasters are eliminated thanks to environmental and weather control technologies.

After 200 years, the mechanism of the brain is analyzed. Memories and thoughts can be transplanted.

After 300, humanity finally conquers natural death and extends their lifespan to 300 years.

After 400, due to a perfect understanding of physics, humanity unlocks all laws of causality. Coincidence and fate are no more.

After 500, there are no irregular occurrences. Humankind is perfectly able to control its whole world, basically becoming immortal.

In the 500 years that follow, as long as they are supplied with dopamine, humans can live forever. That’s the world in 1000 years,” Mira ended with an eerie, slightly artificial smile.

Arisu looked at her before his eyes caught on something behind her. In the green bushes full of white roses, there poking out of one bush was a camera lens pointed directly at him.

The screen panned from the lens to show an emotionless and empty Arisu and Usagi standing amongst many other people wearing black, skin-tight suits hovering on round platforms.

Mira’s voice echoed throughout the black room, “Right now, you are playing this game within a virtual reality. You are so deeply immersed that you’ve forgotten. This particular simulation is the most popular virtual reality package a thousand years in the future. After more or less achieving eternal life, people started losing their drive to live. And yet, we were enamored with the period of time a thousand years ago. A time where people feared death and the end of the world. It continued to fascinate us.”

Back in the borderlands, Usagi and Arisu stared at Mira with astonishment as she continued, “Oh, and. . .I’m the administrator of this system.”

But not even a second of holding a serious face, she bursted in laughter as she spoke, “I’m just joking! Not a word was true.”

As Mira giggled at their faces, Arisu sneered, “Just quit fucking around.”

Regulus sighed, “She’s getting there.”

“If she puts as much effort into her other lies as this one, Arisu will not hesitate to shoot her,” said James.

“Well—” Sirius started, before James cut him off, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. That is what she’s counting on.”

Mira stopped giggling before calming her voice, and speaking in a deeper, more serious tone again, “This is the truth. Genetically modified plants developed sudden mutations and exploded with growth. I’m sure you must have noticed. The city? It’s completely overrun with vegetation. What’s more, the mountains surround us and close us in.”

Mira’s eyes widened as the screen changed to show the city of Tokyo completely overrun by greenery. Vines climbed up tall buildings and some had bushes grown at the top and sides. “All of that was the work of aliens.”

“. . .Aliens?” asked Arisu, incredulously.

“They captured all of humanity and wiped our memories. Forced us to play countless games. All so they could conduct behavioral experiments on us,” answered Mira.

“Is that. . .” Arisu said with a slightly annoyed and frustrated smile on his face, “Is that true?”

“Of course it is,” said Mira leaning slightly forward with widened, innocent eyes, “Except a rumor started circulating among the players. The ones forced to compete in the games. A rumor that that wasn’t the whole story. A nuclear apocalypse had wiped out most life, and the wealthy elite living underground had created androids with artificial memories. These androids compete in games on the surface, and the wealthy place bets on who would survive.”

As Mira finished, the screen one again showed a whole new story. Mira, Arisu and Usagi were shown on a monitor, among many other players, as they were watched by a shadowed crowd. The wealthy elite were talking, drinking, placing bets as they walked around the walls of monitors showcasing the players in the deadly games.

“The players believe that they are humans, being forced by aliens to play these games. But actually, they. . .and you are simply androids with a collection of artificial memories—”

Arisu hit the table with his fist as he stared at Mira with angry eyes. He sneered as he spoke, “So is that actually true?”. His patience was running thin.

Mira laughed, “No! Just kidding!”

As she chuckled, Usagi reminded Arisu who looked incredibly angry and annoyed at the chuckling Queen, “We need to finish one more set. Don’t listen to what she’s saying.”

But Arisu didn’t seem to be listening to his partner as he stared down Mira, “You don’t even know the real answer, do you?”

“I-I can’t even tell what is going on anymore,” said a confused Frank.

“I’m right with you,” said Sirius as he ran a hand through his hair, “Mira sure is having fun with them.”

“Wonder what is it going to take for Arisu to try and shoot her,” stated Evan.

“Arisu is getting there,” answered Amelia. “So, I guess not that much left.”

“He looks ready to lunge across the table to strangle Mira,” said James. James paused before shrugging as he added, “Not that I really blame him.”

Mira stopped giggling, her smile dropping as she stared down Arisu, “You might be right. . . Do you want the truth so badly?”

She smirked before she said, “You want the truth for the sake of your dead friends?”

“Aaannnd she’s there,” said Amelia as she dragged out the word. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat, curious as to how this would play out. Arisu was someone who practically wore his heart on his sleeve. But in this final game, Arisu’s emotions would get the best of him if Mira continued this attempt.

James breathed through his teeth, as he winced at Mira’s statement, “I did not expect her to go there.”

“She’s enjoying this,” said Dorcas, “Having Arisu react this way. She’s enjoying it.”

Usagi looked at Arisu panicked, as his forearm still on the table from hitting it, tensed slightly. Mira, though, looked at him with mocking sympathy, “Oh, you poor, poor thing. It’s written all over your face.”

Her face held nothing but a nasty smirk as she spoke, “They were tremendously important to you, weren’t they?”

Arisu’s expression changed from anger to frustration to grief before settling on glaring at Mira with hate.

Mira glanced to the right before a glint came into her eyes as she said gleefully, “You should know, I’m the one who made that game for you.”

Many covered their mouths as their eyes went wide with shock. Others winced as Mira continued with her statement, watching as Arisu’s face filled with shock and rage.

Evan hummed before whispering to Barty, “I guess Reggie and Bones were right about the face cards creating the numbered games.”

“I designed the Seven of Hearts because you three were so close,” Mira finished with a smile.

Within a split second, Arisu grabbed his rifle, stood up, and cocked the weapon at Mira’s face. “ARISU!” yelled Usagi.

“It’s all right,” cooed Mira, staring straight at Arisu. No worry on her face as the gun was pointing at her. “Please don’t stop him. Let him hate. Hate is the most incredible motivator.”

“So that’s what she wants,” concluded Severus. “If Arisu kills her, they lose. With no Queen of Hearts left to clear her game, everyone will essentially be stuck in the borderlands forever.”

“You don’t think the blimp will explode?” asked Lupin. “When the other Face Cards died, their blimps exploded.”

Severus turned to look at him, leaving Lupin to grow flustered as he shifted in his seat, before smirking a little and turning back to stare at the screen before answering. “No. I don’t think it will. Remember, the games are only cleared if the players beat the Jack, King, or Queen in their game. Mira specifically said that they had to play three rounds of Croquet and the team with the most sets wins. She said weapons are allowed, but. . .”

Severus paused before tilting his head a little, “This is a Hearts game. If it were any other player, they would hear that weapons are allowed and would instantly shoot Mira to kill her, but that wouldn’t mean that they automatically win the game.”

“Right,” sighed Frank, “I keep forgetting that this is a Hearts game.”

“And Hearts games are known for their weird layout of the rules,” added Amelia. “Their rules always have a double-meaning. If Arisu kills Mira before the third round of Croquet, then he can’t clear the game. The real game is Croquet.”

“And as you said Amelia,” interrupted Regulus, “This little stalling thing she’s doing is to make sure that they can’t reach the third round, which of course frustrated Arisu at first. She then decided to test his patience by telling lies of this world, and now that his anger can be seen front-forward, she’s aiming for him to forget his Hearts-game techniques he’s learned.”

Arisu and Mira stared at one another. Arisu glaring at Mira, shaking with anger. While Mira’s smile grew. Usagi stared up at Arisu, with horror and despair on her face.

Arisu’s finger shook as it slightly tightened around the trigger, making many cringe as others slowly rose out of their chairs, expressions of shock on their faces as they watched the tense scene. But then Arisu said, “It’s all part of your plan, isn’t it?”. Sighs of relief echoed throughout the Great Hall, and a few spoke words thanking whatever deity that Arisu saw through Mira’s plan.

Mira’s smile dimmed a little as Arisu’s eyes shined with tears as he spoke, “You want to get killed. I’m supposed to shoot you now. If I kill you in this game, we won’t win. We won’t clear it. There won’t even be a game over. That means I would make this game go on forever. If that happens, all the other players are doomed to wait until their visas expire. You want that. You want us to fall into despair. You want us to lose all hope.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” James said. He turned to Death and asked, “Why did you say that their visas don’t matter?”

Death smiled, “There were worse things you had to think about at the time. Like Severus’ game against Kuzuryu.”

James huffed in annoyance.

Mary stared at the screen before stating, “You three scare me.”

Many looked at her questionably, before they looked to where she was pointing and sounded their agreements. Black, Bones, and Snape had exactly pin-pointed Mira’s plan with eerie precision.

“I mean,” said Regulus, “It was pretty easy to figure out. It just took some thinking.”

Amelia nodded and shrugged at the looks of everyone, while Severus smirked a little.

“We didn’t exactly predict all of her plans,” added Severus. “We forgot about the whole ‘losing hope’ thing.”

“Didn’t you technically insinuate that with your whole ‘everyone being stuck in the borderlands forever’?” said Amelia.

Severus thought for a moment, before replying, “Oh, yeah. I guess I did.”

“So, my point still stands,” said Regulus.

Mira looked at Arisu with an impressed grin.

“Tell me something. . .” she started, “While you were playing the games, did you really care about the rest of the world? Were you thinking about how the world works or what its purpose is? Your own goals? Or did you lose interest? Huh?”

“Did you start to accept that it didn’t matter?” Mira gasped out innocently. Her voice turned deeper, almost empty and yet still felt like she was mocking him, “The answer doesn’t matter. And I think you know that.”

“Arisu,” stated Usagi, with urgence in her voice as she looked up at Arisu. “Don’t listen to her.”

“I wanna know the answer.”

“ARISU!”

“Are you really sure?” said Mira, her face blank, but her eyes filled with malice.

“Yeah.”

Mira smiled. “It seems like you’re prepared to accept reality.”

Severus hummed a little before staring at Mira with curiosity and interest. Something about that word. . .

Mira’s smile dropped as she straightened her back and stared directly forward as she spoke, “So be it, then. I’ll stop dodging your questions and tell you what you want to know. Let’s start with the big one. The world, this world in front of your face, none of it is real.”

“Huh.”

Regulus looked at his friend. “What? . . . You see something?”

“Maybe.”

“You gonna tell me?”

Severus gave a small smile, before succumbing to his friend’s wishes. “Why would she use the word ‘reality’, and then use it again while describing the borderland world?”

Regulus glared a little at Severus. “You know saying cryptic things like that won’t make me understand what you’re thinking.”

Severus smirked, “I mean—”

Regulus smacked his bicep, “Don’t you dare!”

“—It’s pretty easy to figure out.”

“Damn you,” sighed Regulus before giving him a small smile.

“It’s an illusion,” Mira continued.

Usagi looked at her in both frustration and disbelief, while Arisu’s anger increased.

“You want me to believe all of this is a trick?” he said.

Mira looked at him incredulously, “Arisu, were you never once suspicious since you arrived? The desolate city, and the science far too advanced? The mysterious games? Is it humans, or aliens? That doesn’t make any sense, does it? Even if they were behind all this, why would they choose to run these games?

“Tag, hide-and-seek, they’re children’s games. Nothing beyond your imagination is possible here,” Mira finished.

Arisu thought back to all his games, before coming back to the present. His grip on his rifle loosened as he stared at Mira in shock.

“It is no surprise that you were right,” Mira said in a soft voice, “You were always meant to survive this long. . . It’s simple, really. . . This is all taking place in your mind. This is all in your head, you see.”

Mira began chuckling, “In a brain that barely weighs 1,500 grams.”

Arisu’s rifle dropped, as he brought his left hand up and looked at it, almost like he was in a trance. Like he was trying to find the lie.

Usagi’s soft voice called out to him, “Don’t listen to her. . .”

But Arisu continued to stare at his hand, his eyes wide with shell-shock. She continued, “. . . If this were an illusion, that means I’m not real! I can’t just be something you invented! Listen, I’m alive and I’m here!”

She slammed her hand against the table, trying to get Arisu to snap out of it but it didn’t work.

“Of course you are,” said Mira loudly as she looked from Arisu to Usagi, “You exist, all right. Of course you do. But you’re somewhere else. That is not the reality Arisu is looking at right now.”

“Ah,” said Regulus before looking over at Severus, “‘Reality’. . . She’s making Arisu lose the game through another way. . . And weirdly enough, exactly like you said before. She’s messing with their heads, targeting the one with the weaker mind. . . in a way.”

Severus glanced over at his friend, “I mean, there was no way she was just going to give up like that. It was rather obvious she was going to try something else. . . I was just lucky in this sense, I guess.”

Regulus huffed amusedly, “There is no ‘luck’ with you. Your mind works in wonders, especially with how little information you’re given. Sometimes you’re wrong, but most of the time you’re right.”

“So,” Regulus said, “Tell me what you’re thinking right now. About this whole situation with Mira and Arisu.”

Severus sighed, “I think that Mira’s going to try— actually, she does have him — thinking that this world, the borderlands, is something made up in his mind just as she said. She's going to try something while Arisu is in her trap, something that will make him quit playing the game without him realizing it, and Usagi’s going to try to bring him out of it.”

Regulus hummed, “How do you think that?”

Severus didn’t say anything for a minute before he opened his mouth and began his theory, “Well, we’ve seen what Mira was able to do in her first lie. . . She literally made a camera appear out of nowhere. Arisu saw it, and it was gone when she revealed it to be a lie. Who’s to say that she can’t make one person see something that isn’t there, while the other is helpless to bring them out of her illusion.”

There was silence for a good minute before another steady voice followed with her addition to this theory.

“I read something about muggle science and their studies with brains and trauma,” said Amelia. She stood straight in her seat, and in a voice that sounded like she was giving a lecture, had everyone paying attention.

“Muggles have studied the human brain, the mind, and how some traumatic experiences can affect it,” she started, “One such response is that the mind can create scenarios and, just like Mira said, imagined worldsas a coping mechanism. The person can distance themselves from reality. . . I believe they called this, ‘dissociation’? Anyways, the response is said to help them manage overwhelming emotions and memories from extreme stress.”

“. . . That is,” started Severus, “. . . Something I didn’t think about. . .” Severus turned to stare at Amelia with awe. “Did—Did you just have that information in your head? Why would you have that?”

Amelia looked at him amusingly before she shrugged, feeling proud at the looks of admiration given to her.

“Well she is going to be in the Ministry, and the Ministry needs someone with a competent mind,” answered Regulus.

Mira looked back up at Arisu and called his name, making him look at her with an empty face. “Arisu. What happened in that moment? . . . You remember, don’t you? . . . When you lost them. . . Those friends that were so precious to you. The shock of it. . .wiped your memories. I’m your doctor. My name is Mira Kano. Remember me? Your psychiatrist. I’m helping you. We are doing therapy together. You just. . .don’t remember. You don’t remember anything? So? What about now? Your memories. . . Are they coming back?”

Arisu’s right hand holding the rifle went limp, and he robotically sat down, his face frozen in shock.

In a white room, a blank-faced Arisu sat in white clothes across from a pristine Mira in a doctor-white coat. On the table were orange and white pills, two of them in the middle of the table.

“Arisu, how are you?” Mira asked calmly, “Tell me about your memories. Are they coming back to you?”

Amelia, Regulus, and Severus looked at each other before coming to the same conclusion. Those pills would play a role in Mira’s illusion.

Arisu’s face turned to grief as he gasped out, “Chota. . .Karube. . .”

Mira sighed sadly before looking to her right at something before laughing softly. “You’re both two peas in a pod. She’s always checking in. she really worries about you.”

Arisu slowly looked to where Mira was glancing at before.

“She also lost someone very precious to her,” Mira continued in a soft voice, “So she’s been hospitalized here. Just like you.”

There, behind a door, stood Usagi in white patient’s clothing just like Arisu. She was peaking in, and not making any movement besides just staring at Arisu.

Mira sighed, “Now, tell me.”

She called Arisu’s attention once more. “Tell me what happened to you, Arisu. On that day with the fireworks.”

Usagi stepped closer.

“Go on,” Mira encouraged softly, “Try to remember.”

“. . .Fireworks. . .” Arisu mumbled.

The loud sound of a car horn made many flinch at the sudden noise, but they were too enraptured by the following to really complain. In Shibuya Crossing, Arisu, Karube, and Chota were in the middle of the crosswalk where cars were blaring their horns as the three friends tried weaving through speeding cars trying to make it to the sidewalk where the crowds of people were.

Everyone gasped in shock as they watched Arisu make it to the crowd, but Karube and Chota were hit by a car, sending them flying. Arisu turned around confused, before his eyes rested on his friends’ bodies.

“There’s the traumatic event Mira used,” mumbled Amelia.

“I actually want to know how they made it to the borderlands,” said Frank. “We know Arisu, Karube, and Chota came together, so maybe this is where they travelled to the borderlands?”

“Those fireworks as well,” pointed out Dorcas. “They were important enough that Mira included them in Arisu’s false memory, so they most likely happened in the actual ones.”

James snapped his fingers and stated, “The fireworks also appeared when the second stage started as well. When all the blimps began moving into positions. Maybe it signals entering something new in the borderlands, like how the three first entered the world and how Arisu made it to the second stage?”

Dorcas shrugged, “Maybe.”

Back in the white room, Arisu began trembling as he blinked back tears and sobbed quietly. “It was all my fault. And now they’re dead.”

“It seems like you remember now,” said Mira.

“I’m the one who killed them. . . My fault. . .” Arisu mumbled.

“The answer you’re trying to find, it’s not about this world. Why it exists. The answer you’re really searching for is what you are. You want to know why you’re alive. Why you lived. You want to know why you exist. You grew up starved for love.

You’ve been seeking that answer a long time. Long before you came here. So what did you do? You manifested these games in your fantasies, these childlike games you made for yourself,” Mira explained softly.

As she continued, the screen showed a close-up view of a black-and-white painting of three people playing croquet. One woman separated from the other two players; a man and a woman. Behind them was a white gazebo with a table and chairs. And surrounding the front-side of the painting was blank white rose bushes.

“And as you kept surviving the games, you developed the desire to know the truth about this place. And that overlapped with your search for meaning in your own life. They became intertwined in your head. Tell me, Arisu. . .in this whole world, is there anyone who needs you?. . . Is there a reason you exist in this world?. . . Does your life have any meaning?. . . And now. . .you’re the one who survived,” Mira finished.

Arisu’s past memories began surfacing as she asked these questions. First of his father comforting his brother. Then of him sitting in his room playing video games and ignoring his father who asked about his life purpose and how he will spend the rest of his days. His father then asked if there was a reason why he was alive, making Arisu stop playing before his face switched back into the current Arisu as he sniffed.

“I don’t know why,” Arisu answered, “There’s no reason for me to live. . . They’re the ones who should have survived. . . Karube. . .Chota. . .Instead, it’s me. I survived. The one with no reason to. . . I shouldn’t be alive at all.”

Soft sobs were the only sounds in the Great Hall. But among those soft hearts and sobbing souls, were three students who looked rather interested in the tone of the supposed Queen of Hearts.

Amelia leaned towards Regulus and Severus and mumbled, “Mira’s voice is entirely sincere. I can’t hear any kind of mockery, or anything close. . . There’s no doubt that she was a psychologist before she found herself in the borderlands, as her questions sound entirely too real.”

The two nodded. Regulus added, “She’s definitely not faking anything, besides that memory. She’s using her specialty to manipulate Arisu into giving up on his own, therefore losing the game.”

When he finished, the door squeaked as it was opened and Usagi walked in before heading straight to Arisu. Mira scolded her, wanting her to go back and to wait for her session, but Usagi ignored her as she knelt down and grabbed Arisu’s shoulders, turning him to look at her.

“Arisu!” Usagi gasped, “Hey, hey! Wake up! Hey!”

“I said stop that!” Mira said firmly. “Arisu’s remembering his past so that he can recover. And you’re interfering with that.”

“No!—” Usagi started desperately.

“Step back,” Mira interrupted. She turned to Arisu who wasn’t saying anything but instead was just staring blankly. “Now, Arisu. . .why don’t we make this go away? All you need to do is tell me that you’re giving up. . .and the game will end.”

Mira gave an eerie-like soft smile as she stared at Arisu. Usagi, meanwhile, slowly turned her head to Mira as she stumbled over the words, “The game will. . .end?”

Severus let out a small chuckle which grabbed those around him their attention.

“What is it, Severus?” said Regulus.

“She just made a mistake in trying to get Arisu to end the game,” he started. “Both Arisu and Usagi had believed that this mental hospital was the real thing. Hence the close-up on the black-and-white painting, but the moment Mira mentioned ‘the game’, she made Usagi snap out of it because she was focusing all her attention on Arisu because he was the stronger threat and because she was interested in him and his character.”

“It’s funny how a simple word could unravel all her plans,” murmured Amelia.

“That means it’s real. . .It wasn’t an illusion. . .” Usagi murmured. She looked at the painting, “I was a player in that game too. . .”

Usagi began breathing shakily as she looked down and saw blood pouring from her thighs as she remembered her injuries from the King of Spades. Mira gave a huffed laugh as she looked down at her before her doctor face came back on.

“Now,” she started, “Arisu. . . Let me be absolutely certain. You’re forfeiting? You’re quitting the game, right?”

As Arisu continued being dormant, Mira’s smile grew. She reached to her side of the white table, and grabbed the cup of water and the pills. On a napkin, were two orange and white pills. She moved both in front of Arisu as she spoke, “You’ll feel better after you take your medicine. . .Go on.”

Arisu gasped as he slowly looked over at the medicine.

“After that. . . You can answer,” said Mira. Her chin was resting on her hands as she looked at the scene in front of her.

Arisu robotically raised both arms as he reached for the cup and pills, but as his hands slowly brought them to his mouth, Usagi still tried to stop him from her spot on the ground.

Her hands and legs were covered in blood, staining the white patient clothes in a dark crimson, “Arisu, stop it. . . ARISU! NO!”

She jumped up, grabbing his forearms, pushing them both to the floor. The cup shattered as it fell, and Mira stood up.

But as she walked over to Usagi, Usagi had quickly grabbed the largest shard of glass and used it as a weapon, pointing it to Mira, who made no move.

“I would put that down,” Mira said condescendingly.

“Arisu. . .” Usagi started, her breath heavy as she glared at Mira, “you promised. . . You promised you’d protect me, no matter what. . . Don’t listen to her. . . I am definitely here with you. . . I’m alive! But if you believe what she said. . .then our time together wasn’t real. . . It was just something you created in your mind. . . And if you made it all up, then. . .then that means I don’t matter to you. . . And what I do shouldn’t affect you!”

Usagi glared one final time at a smirking Mira, before she turned around and held her left arm out. Everyone winced and some covered their eyes and the eyes of the younger years as Usagi used the glass shard to cut her wrist. Blood poured out of her wound as she called for Arisu to wake up.

Frank, along with many other students, stood from their seats as they paced around shaking their arms, wanting the phantom feeling to wash away.

Everyone was affected, from the staff to the older years. Even Severus, Amelia, and Regulus were. Severus looked away the minute Usagi finished her speech, while Regulus and Amelia winced when they witnessed the rather harsh cut Usagi gave herself.

Arisu opened his eyes. The screen switched scenery as a metronome ticked. With every couple ticks, it changed and the only thing that remained the same was Arisu laying on the ground in his white clothing.

The first scene was of a green forest, then of the game arena with the Queen of Spades. The bright, white board casting a blinding light against the metal pipes and yellow railings of the arena. Then came the shipping containers on the docks from the King of Clubs. Shibuya Crossing. The annex of the Beach. The tunnel from the Four of Clubs. This time the orange light from the sets of small lights casted a nice glow.

With each switch and with every tick, Arisu’s face began changing into an understanding. And as he layed in the tunnel, bathed in a soft orange light, his eyes widened in shock as he took in the sight of a bleeding Usagi on the pavement across from him. She gasped and whimpered out his name as best as she could.

Back in the room, Usagi was kneeling by his body, her arm bleeding heavily as her breathing began getting heavier.

“What a truly touching display. . . However,” Mira stated coldly, “the feeling you call love is powerless.”

As blood continued to drop from Usagi, she eventually dropped to the ground, her eyes getting heavier as she continued to try to mumble out Arisu’s name.

“. . .I shouldn’t be here. . . I shouldn’t be alive. . . I have no reason to live. . .” Arisu mumbled out. With that, Usagi fell to the ground, having no strength to hold herself as Mira looked on.

“Come back. . .” Usagi muttered out, “Arisu. . .”

She let out gasps as she tried to stay conscious. She laid in front of Arisu, looking at him as she sobbed out, “The answer you’re looking for. . .a reason to be alive. . . Forget all of it, Arisu. . . The–The truth is. . .everyone has a different answer. . . It doesn’t matter now. You–you don’t need. . .a–a reason to live. This whole time we were looking for answers. . .we’ve been searching side by side. . . That alone was all I needed. That was enough. . . You helped me realize what was important. . . It was you. . . It was you, Arisu.”

Usagi gasped for a few minutes as she stared at Arisu, who had closed his eyes, before she too closed her eyes, waiting to succumb to her wounds.

Many held onto their friends, their siblings, the people they loved, as everyone stared blankly at the screen as tears ran down their faces.

The only thing that was on their minds was the fact that they did make it out of the borderlands, but even with that, they couldn’t shake the feeling that they were going to lose to Mira.

Back in the room, Mira knelt down beside Usagi and petted her head softly as she muttered, “You poor thing.”

“Looks like I’ve won,” a smile replaced the once cold look, Mira returning to the Queen of Hearts mask from before. A manic-like look came forward as she said, “You’ll be forfeiting now. Isn’t that right, Arisu?”

Mira looked over at the unresponsive and catatonic Arisu and at the bleeding, unconscious Usagi as she smiled. “And then our game will be over,” she chuckled out.

But as she looked back over the two, the screen had switched showing a close-up of Arisu’s hand. Gasps echoed as a few younger years had the energy in them to clap and let out small cheers of relief but had quickly fallen silent as Arisu’s hand came to life as it twitched before slowly reaching over to take the pills. But everyone was proven wrong as small cheers came from the younger years, now joined by other students and staff as Arisu ignored the pills and instead had reached over to grasp Usagi’s wrist, making Mira lose her smile.

“Usagi. . .,” Arisu weakly muttered. Mira looked confused as she looked between the two. “Usagi. . . I want to feel your hand. . . Just one more time. . . Walk side by side. One more time. . . And I want to eat next to you. . .”

Mira cast one more glance between the two of them and stood up, a tendon in her neck twitching as she swallowed.

The cheers got louder as Usagi’s soft voice could be heard as she weakly replied, “Me too. . . Tomorrow. . .I just want. . .to say good morning to you. . .”

“I want to laugh with you every single day. . .”Arisu said.

“And someday. . .I want us to climb a mountain. . .” Usagi smiled as she looked at him.

Arisu gave one back as he said, “Just being with you. . .that’s more than enough, Usagi.”

“We may fight. . . But some days, that might be nice,” she replied.

Arisu weakly chuckled at her before he sobbed, “I want you to live. . . I want that.”

Mira looked on, her face not giving any kind of expression as both Arisu and Usagi looked into each other’s eyes and as Arisu tightened his grip on Usagi’s arm.

“. . .I want to keep protecting you,” he said. Arisu slowly got up as he stared up at Mira, a newfound determination in his face. “Game on. Last round.”

Now as the orange glow of the sun bounced off the rooftop of Mira’s building venue, the third round of Croquet had begun.

Usagi weakly called Arisu’s name, making him take his eyes off Mira.
“It’s okay now,” he said as he carefully grabbed her and held her up in his arms.

Arisu looked back up at Mira, who held out a white cloth, “Here, take it.” A soft look came over her as she held it out to him. Gone was the manic smile and glee in her eyes.

With the cloth, Arisu was able to wrap up Usagi’s wounds.

“How beautiful that was,” Mira said softly as she looked at them, “I do mean that.”

“Let’s finish off the game,” Mira stated as she gave a small smile, “Let’s both do it for her.”

“Huh,” Crouch’s voice rang out. “Guess Mira’s still human.”

“Honestly, it makes me feel much relaxed now that we know she’s capable of having these emotions instead of the whole manic flee of the games,” said Frank as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

“She’s like how Snape was during the entire Beach scenes,” stated Dorcas. “He was cold and cunning, enough to throw two people under the bus for the cards. He didn’t care in the past, but as we’ve all seen, he has changed. Maybe Mira has seen the good of humanity in both Usagi and Arisu.”

“Kind of ironic that the Queen of Hearts' weakness is love,” muttered Mary with a small smile.

Now leaning against a column of the gazebo, Usagi stared at the third round of the game between Arisu and Mira. The game went on with both Mira and Arisu scoring, with Mira seeming more human than the Queen of Hearts persona as the game progressed.

As night came around, the game continued, and then ended as Arisu missed the last hoop. Mira cheered with joy as she won the third round. She looked at Arisu who looked crestfallen.

Many looked confused at this. Arisu and Usagi were supposed to win. How did they exactly get out of the borderlands if they had lost the third set to Mira?

“Well done,” she stated, “You finished three sets. You didn’t quit or forfeit the match. Congratulations, Arisu.”

Regulus gasped out as he smacked Severus’ arm. “She stated at the very start of this that it didn’t matter who would win. They just needed to play three rounds of Croquet. They didn’t need to win! Oh, I forgot about that!”

“I’m guessing that the entire illusion Mira had was the only plan she had,” added Severus, “If they quit or forfeit, then she would have won. But because they broke out of the illusion, they had won.”

Arisu stared at Mira confused for a moment before the announcer’s voice came on.

“The game has ended.”

“Finally. . .” said Usagi weakly before looking up at Arisu, “Is it over?”

He turned to her and confirmed it. They had won.

Arisu turned back to Mira and dropped the mallet. “Well? What is this place? Can you tell me now?”

Mira stepped around the hoop she was behind and slowly walked to him before stopping. “Arisu. . . You’ll find out soon enough. . .”

She smiled gently at him and she began, “You will be given two choices. No matter which one you pick, you will learn the answer. And you’ll learn who you really are when you choose. You’ll find out. Life is just. . .a game we play together. You should try to enjoy it.”

With one last smile resting on her face, Arisu and Usagi watched as a red beam struck Mira through the top of her head, blood coating the underside of her chin spreading down onto her chest before she slowly fell.

“Congratulations,” the announcer began, “All of the games have now been cleared.”

The Queen of Hearts blimp exploded as fireworks were launched into the night sky casting a wonder of colors across the dark-ridden Tokyo city.

“It’s so beautiful,” whispered Mary. Marlene, Dorcas, and Lily adding in their agreements as well as the four girls (and everyone else in the Great Hall) stared at the scene in awe.

“You know, we can do this,” said Sirius to his fellow Marauders, “Without the whole deadly games thing, of course!”

“I’m thinking. . .fireworks of each house with their colors before changing into their symbol and then the Hogwarts crest,” added James.

“Don’t forget the motto; ‘Never tickle a sleeping dragon’!” pointed out Remus, smiling at his friends. “After the crest!”

“Maybe,” stated Peter, “We could add the faces of our Heads of Houses as well?”

Sirius patted Peter on the back, “Great idea Wormtail!”

Away from the Marauders, Regulus shifted to whisper to Severus’ ear.

“I wouldn’t mind this type of ‘Congratulations’ for my birthday,” he said.

Severus gave him a look before adding, “That’s too much even for you, Regulus.”

Regulus scoffed, “Then what were you thinking?”

“I was thinking. . . A ‘Congratulations’ for every seventh year after they finish their exams and on Graduation Night.”

“I can’t even disagree with that,” sulked Regulus before smiling at his friend, “It would be a beautiful way to finish school.”

Arisu joined Usagi, sitting on the steps of the gazebo as the voice came back on.

“All surviving players will be presented with two choices,” she said. “Players must now all decide whether to accept permanent residency in this country, or decline it.”

Many gasped out, their awe immediately diminishing and replaced with horror as a bleeding and still Aguni rested against metal debris. “Once again, players must now decide whether to accept permanent residency, or decline it.”

“I decline,” said Aguni in a raspy voice. A rustle followed by whimpering made his head turn, his eyes widening slightly at the heavily injured Heiya weakly crawling to Aguni. As she crawled, Aguni tried to reach for her as best as he could. His arm strained before relaxing as she grabbed onto it like a lifeline. He helped her land on top of him, and Heiya sobbed.

“And I. . . don’t want it!”

“. . .Is that—” gasped Remus, “Is that what. . . What happened to the rest?”

He looked to Fate and Death. “What happened to Ann and Kuina?”

Fate tilted her head as Death remained silent.

The screen switched to show an alleyway. There on the floor lay the bodies of Ann and Kuina.

They gasped as they saw the bloodied Kuina, her chest stuttering with each breath.

“I decline,” Kuina said before turning her head to look at a still Ann. Blood was spotted across her face, her arm out. Kuina slowly reached and grasped her still hand, saying, “Let’s go back together.”

“So,” started James, “Did Ann die?”

When he received no answer he leaned back in his seat, his voice slightly carrying across the Hall as he whispered, “Now you both decide to be silent?”

On an overgrown billboard stood two familiar figures.

“Oh, great,” said Frank, an unpleased expression on his face. “These guys.”

Yaba and Banda stood side-by-side as they accepted the residency.

“I accept, naturally,” stated Yaba.

“I will gladly take it as well,” said Banda.

Laying against a car, a severely pale Severus slowly blinked up at the lights. “I want. . .to turn it down, I think. . .”

He stayed silent for a moment before asking, “What are you gonna say?”

Groans ripped through the silence as Niragi appeared. His head resting against the bumper of a car. “I decline.”

Back on top of the building, Arisu held Usagi’s hand as they smiled at each other.

“I decline,” she said, “I’m choosing not to stay here.”

“Same for me,” he stated, “I don’t want it.”

The screen faded to black leaving the audience in silence.