…

…

…

“No!”

…

“You worry too much! He’s just a…”

“Nononononononononono!”

“All he does is-”

…

A baby is crawling around on the floor. Testing the airborne capabilities of toys, dolls, and whatever else it can get its hands on.

“Bah! Bah! BAAAAAAAAAAAH!” as it launches them high into the air.

Two young girls watch as the baby continues to experiment with its surroundings.

One of them is careful to dodge if anything thrown gets too close. This girl has long shoulder-length hair.

The other younger-looking girl is busy trying to achieve the maximum level of a pouty face.

Not. Happy.

Her hair is almost shoulder-length.

“He needs to play in his own room!” the pouty sister exclaims.

“…but I told Papa his crib can stay in here…” the responsible older sister says.

The pouty one puffs her cheeks!

“THAT’S ANOTHER PROBLEM! ALWAYS BABYSITTING THAT MONKEY BABY! YA WERE SUPPOSED TO TELL ME A STORY!” her pouty attitude rising…

“He can listen with us!” her sister replies, patting the baby on his head.

They play peekaboo! The baby has a big smile!

*THUD* *THUD* *THUD*

He starts gleefully pounding a wooden figure of a red rabbit on the floor!

“AND HE STEALS MY THINGS!!!” the pouty sister shouts!

“I think he plays with your things because he knows you love them. That might mean he loves you a lot!” the sweet sister says.

The baby looks up at the pouty girl with big sparkly eyes.

“Nononononono! I don’t want a monkey’s love!” the pouty sister declares!

The baby is now chewing on the wooden rabbit…

The pouty sister wishes, “Heh. Heh. Heh. I hope you choke on a splinter!”

*BONK*

The wooden rabbit flew straight into her forehead…

She screams, “DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!”

…this girl is Faith…

“Bah!” that baby must be Dee…

The sweet sister giggles, “Well…ya aren’t crying this time. Ya must be getting used to-” *COUGH* COUGH*

She starts harshly coughing.

Faith runs over, pats her on the back, and says, “See! It must be the monkey virus! He’s bad for our health!”

The sweet sister coughs again and chuckles, “Papa thinks you gave it to me from sliding in the mud all the time…” *COUGH* COUGH*

“That’s impossible! I am so innocent! Sliding in the mud isn’t very ladylike!” Faith insists.

She feels something annoying tugging at her leg.

Baby Dee is desperately trying to pull himself up and wants to be held.

In his hand…is Faith’s muddy blouse…he must have gotten into the hamper…

She glares down upon baby Dee.

“Dumb baby! Shoo!” Faith shoves him with her foot…

…he begins to roll…

…into a perfectly executed curve…

…toppling over a canvas…and a nightstand with paint bottles like bowling pins!

“Bah! Bah!” baby Dee’s victory chant.

Faith darts over.

She is shaking…

…her pride…

…all those long hours…

Her masterpiece is ruined!

Faith takes turns checking the canvas, that STUPID MONKEY BABY, and her sister back-to-back…

She collects herself…

…lets out a…

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” and bolts out of the room.

The sister left behind picks up Dee.

“Somebody needs a bath!” she says while trying to wipe off some paint from his face with a handkerchief.

“Bah! Bah! Bah!” he claps his paint-filled hands on her cheeks.

She puts him down, “Wait right there. Good baby!”

Baby Dee sits perfectly still!

She tries cleaning up some of the room.

“What a mess…” *cough*

Making her way over to the canvas on the floor, she inspects it…

‘Hmm…Dee’s accident really did a number on it…’

It is hard to make out as it is badly smeared…

The only details that can be deciphered are…

‘…a witch’s hat?…’

‘…a number 12?…’

And a name in the corner, Grace.

‘Is this me?’ wonders Faith and Dee’s older sister…Grace!

…

Faith looked up to her, and it was easy to understand why!

What was not to love about Grace?

Grace was wise and had an answer for everything! She helped teach Faith to count all the way up to thirteen!

Grace was strong! She could fight off the bullies with her patented Scarlet Slap!...or at least that was what Faith called it!

Grace loved to tell stories, and Faith would nominate herself to draw all the characters!

Dumb Baby Dee was just dumb! Nothing else!

Grace would always take the initiative in helping their father watch him…

A mere monkey acting as a rival for Grace’s affection, the nerve!

Faith is even trying to grow her hair long to be more like Grace, but has she noticed?

During storytime now, that dumb baby gets the priority and all the bells and whistles along with it! Grace even integrates sock puppets to entertain Dee.

Faith has to survive immature stories of fluffy sheep in calm, quiet farms…no drama…

Listening to Grace say to baby Dee, “Here comes the cuddle sheep~!”

~Snuggle~♥

…no combat…

He laughs loudly each time she cuddles with him.

“Here comes the cuddle sheep~!”

~Snuggle~♥

All to Faith’s chagrin and causing her to suffer from more frequent pouty faces…

‘WHERE’S MY CUDDLE SHEEP?’ Faith wonders and has begun developing sad kitty eyes as of late…

…

As time passed, promises of storytelling and amazing adventures would have to wait for both her and Dee…

…

For Grace, what started as just a cough…

…kept coming back…

..each time taking a lil’ more away from her…

…

Years going by…

Grace is becoming ill…

…

…

…

“Here…you can cut it for me!” Grace hands a pair of scissors to Faith.

The two sisters are older now…

Grace’s hair has started falling out, and she figured that it would be best to take most of it off.

Faith sits there for a moment, and when Grace turns around to look her in the eyes…

Faith cannot take it!

She drops the scissors and runs away.

…

“Oh…I shouldn’t be a bother to you…” Grace picks them back up.

“It’s ok! I can do it by myself. You do enough for me already…”

…

Faith had not gotten far and was only right outside the doorway.

She silently peeks back inside, looking at the reflection of Grace’s mirror…

…

Grace eventually takes a break from cutting her hair…

She cannot force herself to keep going when crying this hard…

…

More time passes…

…

“I don’t know…maybe it’s too big?” Grace picked out a straw hat.

“…it’s fine, I guess…” replies Faith.

The difference in hair length between the two sisters had swapped...

Faith does have a shorter hairstyle now, and Grace is nearly bald...

They went together to the market. Grace had to keep pestering Faith into going with her.

Their father won’t allow Grace to go off by herself anymore after a recent accident…she is too sick…

Grace savors any chance to get out of the house.

If she had to pick someone, it absolutely needed to be Faith!

They can start talking again!

They can have fun again…

Grace seems to be the only one happy at the market…

Faith seems miserable.

Grace just wanted to be with her sister…

She thinks to herself, ‘…was I being selfish again?’

‘Is being with me really this…’

*HA-HA-HA-HA*

Grace is frightened by the sound of some kids laughing as they run by with their dog.

Whenever Grace hears laughing…any laughing at all…it feels like a knife to the chest…

She looks at Faith, who nonchalantly is looking off, probably wishing she was somewhere else…

…

They start to make their way back home, passing the river.

It used to be their favorite route...

“Doesn’t that look pretty!” Grace runs ahead.

The way the sun reflects off the water and boats. It is very picturesque!

“Ya know, I was thinking of a really dramatic love confession by the river for the two main characters in my story!” she says excitedly.

Faith does not seem interested…

Grace feels a little bit hurt but continues, “Umm…but later after the mushy stuff, I swear there will be a DRAMATIC FIGHT between the valiant Prince from a faraway jungle and a King from a faraway…hmm…somewhere!”

“He wants to marry the Princess! Even if he DIES trying!” Grace raises her hand into the sky as if she were holding a blade!

“Oh! The King can have a lizard’s tail that gets chopped off!” swinging her imaginary blade down.

Faith’s expression hasn’t changed…

Grace turns away and starts lightly kicking around gravel, “Still too much romance? Or maybe I’m no good at explaining action? Heh. Heh.” “Well…anyway…I thought that your art could be a nice distraction from my words…”

“…you could illustrate the whole story for me…”

Faith starts to cry a little bit. Grace hasn’t noticed yet.

Grace continues, “…or maybe it’s too selfish to ask…you seem busy with that game…”

Faith is now tearing up more.

“…the doctor told me that-” Grace quickly stops herself and instead says, “…I just want us to have fun again…”

She is crying and turns around to see that Faith is doing the same.

“Faith?” she asks.

“…Grace…” Faith has something she really wants to get out, but before getting another word in…

“GOT IT!” they were not alone.

Two other girls must have followed them back, and one of them yanked off Grace’s hat.

“Hey! You were wrong! I can only see the sun off the water. Not her bald head!”

Grace is shoved to the ground.

“This hat feels cheap! I bet I can rip it in half!” says one of the girls.

“No! It is garbage! Put it in the trash!” replies the other.

Grace struggles in vain to run between the girls while they take turns handing the hat off to each other.

Faith just silently watching…

Grace begs them, “We just bought that! Give it back-”

…

“BULLSEYE!” one of the girls had thrown an egg at the back of Grace’s head.

“We just bought these too!” the girls laugh to themselves.

Grace kneels and starts crying.

The two bullies assault her further…

“Look! She has a little bit of hair!”

“Let me see! Let me see!”

“Don’t pull so hard! It might rip out like grass!”

“So what? Grass grows back!”

“She’s not screaming yet! Keep pulling!”

…

…Faith does not intervene…

It eventually stops…

“Give her back her trash before our luck runs out, and she blows up!”

“Heads up!” one of the girls tries tossing the hat back like a frisbee.

It lands in a puddle of mud.

“I tried!”

One of them starts to run off.

The second girl decides to jump on Grace's hat, flattening it deeper in the mud, then hops off and joins her friend.

The two bullies then leave together.

Grace just quietly fidgets with her thumbs.

Faith is still silent as Grace retrieves the muddy hat.

She puts it back on.

“A lil’ dirty, but it still fits!” Grace says with a smile.

“WHAT ARE YA TALKING ABOUT!? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU!?” Faith’s sudden screaming shocks Grace…

“WHY DIDN’T YA FIGHT BACK!? NO WONDER EVERYONE LAUGHS AT US NOW!”

…

“THE OLD YOU WOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING! THE OLD YOU DIDN’T SPEND ALL DAY BEING MOPEY! THE OLD YOU WASN’T WEAK!”

…

“THAT HAT IS FILTHY! IT’S GROSS!”

“WIPE THAT STUPID SMILE OFF YOUR FACE!”

“IT’S EMBARRASSING!”

…

When Faith is done lashing out, she gets a good look at Grace…

The reaction that Grace had on her face…Faith had deleted it from her memory…the guilt was too much…

“…I don’t want to keep making things difficult for you anymore. You, Papa, and Dee have to constantly watch over me like a baby now…”

“…causing you more trouble…”

Grace starts to walk ahead by herself…

“If you want to wait a bit…to g-g-give m-me a head start…I-If you won’t be seen with me…”

“…then I can’t embarrass you…”

Grace only gets a few more steps ahead…

…before losing all the strength in her legs and collapses to the ground…

Faith runs to her…

…

Grace cannot get out of bed anymore…

…

Leaving Grace’s bedroom with Dee, their father puts his hand on Faith’s shoulder and walks away. He does his best to console the boy.

Faith enters the room.

Grace looks so frail lying in her bed…already crying…

“It must be awful to see me like this…” she says.

Faith should have held her tight.

Faith should have said sorry a thousand times over.

Faith should have done so much more.

Instead, she did nothing.

…

Grace says, “…It’s all over your face, Faith. You don’t even want to see me...”

“That is fine. I don’t like it either, having to ask father…t-to have you visit me when I’m feeling selfish and lonely…but…”

Grace pulls out something from under her pillow.

“Here! Take it quickly! The faster you take it, then the faster you can leave and play games with your friends! Right?” Grace’s smile does not match the tears in her eyes.

Faith walks closer and takes it.

…

It’s a small book titled Legend of HEART. The story that Grace had been writing until it became too difficult to hold a pen…

“Go on now! I cannot even finish it! I really am no good!”

“You can read it to Dee for me someday!”

“I know that you two don’t always get along…but…I think Dee might love that…”

Grace wipes away her tears.

“…he stays up with me every night ya know…”

“…I tell him to go, but today, he yelled at me…”

“He made me promise to never say that to him again!” Grace tries as hard as she can to hold it in, but the tears come back.

…

“…there’s something on page 7, just for you…”

Faith immediately opens the book to page 7.

Something stands out to her…

It makes Faith put her hand over her face…

She is crying now too…

“…that’s why it’s just a story. I only know one person that brave…It’s you!” Faith says to her.

Grace’s eyes are closed…

“Don’t pretend to be asleep! You know it’s true!”

“I throw away so many paintings now…because they just laugh at me…but you still have more pages than I do drawings!”

“AND! I have something for ya too.”

Grace does not respond…

“I was up all night…and the night before…and even the night before that one!”

Faith's hands start to shake as she fumbles around in her pocket.

She says with overflowing tears, “BUT! I made the FIRST and BEST character card just for-”

Grace isn’t breathing…

…

…

Faith is alone…

…

…

…standing there with a single poker card…

…of a fiery Queen of Hearts with a witch’s hat and a scepter…

…a special card that she made for her sister…

…

…

Faith waited too long…

…

Always waiting too long…

Another summer goes by…

Another season of rain…

…

…

Faith can see a bright light…

…

Leaving the memories behind and returning to the present…

…

It is still a blur…but she can see in front of her again…

The war grid…

Jacques and The Queen of NightSPADE are laughing with glee. Not even acknowledging her…

Jacques opens a luxury pocket watch.

“It’s almost time! It’s almost midnight! Just a little longer, Mother. We will be together again! I can be better this time!”

He takes her by the hand.

As she walks down, slowly vanishing away to her hidden location among the cards, Jacques is leading her like a princess down a staircase.

Kissing her hand again.

She smiles at him with passion in her eyes.

Before disappearing completely, she puts a finger to his lips…

…

AN EXPLOSION STRIKES THE QUEEN OF NIGHTSPADE’S BACK!

“WHAT!?” Jacques loses his grip! Throwing up blood all over the watch.

The force of the explosion is enough to send The Queen of NightSPADE careening off the grid!

Off the stone slab!

And far down the hall itself!

He turns around…like observing a rocket…to see how far the flames send her deeper into the darkness…

Turning back…

On the war grid…

The card that occupied the tile directly in front of The Queen of NightSPADE has been reduced to ash…

Behind it lays a long and wide scorch trail…

Even the edge of the stone itself feels hot…

Edges of his cards that were not targeted are singed on the corners…

Slowly looking up, he sees who is responsible…

There it is…

LV.11

An archer's bow made of rippling flame in its hand. A sparkling ring on the middle finger with an emblem of HEART!

The warrior princess.

Hailing from the Burning Lands.

The next in line…no…the one TRUE commander…

The Jack of BurningHEARTS!

Jacques cannot believe it! She is the near spitting image of Faith except, of course, for the pointy ears…

He looks up further…

It is not just the ears…

Something else is different…

Faith’s eyes are bloodshot with rage!

The aura around her is much more pronounced. It is a true flame!

“…minus one Soul Four-Ce for ya…” she speaks!

“…you can’t perform more than one emergency Range Strike per turn…”

“…your phase was over…even if you didn’t say it…”

Jacques just sits there, and he looks at the Range Dice.

It had landed on a 7.

“…you didn’t have any cards left in your hand either…you had no way of countering that roll…”

He begins to look annoyed…

“…is there a problem, Mr. Lenoir? We can check the Expert Guide…”

“…if you want to retrieve the pages you ripped out…”

…

“…it’s not my fault you weren’t paying attention by choosing to fawn over your mommy…you really do love her…especially how you study her..”

He grits his teeth…

“…perverted freak…” Faith says with narrow eyes.

“You got lucky, brat. You won’t be-” Jacques feels a tense grip on his shoulder…

The Queen of NightSPADE made her way back…

She looks down upon Jacques…

Offering him a harsh judgment…

The Queen’s eyes do the talking.

Do NOT make another mistake!

“PHASE OPEN!” Jacques must make it count!

Drawing his card…he makes another realization…

Before Faith had made her Range Strike, she must have moved some cards around!

He lost the chance to analyze Faith’s “poker face”.

‘Damn…’ he thinks to himself. He had been able to exploit it so well before…

‘How many did she move then…’

‘Hmm. That card was moved 1. That other card must have been moved 1 too…’

“…it’s a 6…”

‘WHAT!?’

Jacques is confused by his own thought…

Sure, maybe she rolled a 6 on the Field Dice, but he still has not fully counted out…

“…it’s a 6…”

“He drew a 6…”

Jacques is terrified and begins sweating again. These thoughts…where…who…

He did indeed draw a 6 card when his turn began...

…

“Young lady…he drew a 6…”

“Faith…he might hold that card for his next turn…”

‘Where in the hell are these voices coming from!?!?!?’

He looks to Faith.

She impatiently looks back at him.

“I roll the Field Dice!” Jacques says.

It lands on a 3. Better than nothing.

The voices cease…

With his aura, he prepares to move a card forward!

“That's his King!”

He nearly loses his breath!

“What other cards are nearby…”

“Faith already found the Queen…”

“That Queen deserves to die next…”

“…NO! He should die first…”

“…make him watch The Queen suffer…”

“…she has a brother too…”

“…I never got to go home…”

“…I told him it hurt…”

“…I was scared…”

“…he tricked me…”

“…he won’t make it…”

“Faith, his grid is not guarded well….”

…

“YOU TELL HER NOTHING!” he slams his fists on the stone, hurting himself.

Faith briefly checks around her. What does he mean, who is talking to her?

Jacques looks to the walls…

Now he sees it…

Eyes…so many eyes…staring at him…faces…hands…pressed up close…

Even beneath the floor...

They continue to speak…

“Thief!”

“Lecher!”

“He thinks we are not here when he’s alone with Mommy…”

“ENOUGH!” sending out a burst of aura that dispels those foul spirits.

…

To Faith, he seems to have lost it more than he has already.

Whatever torments him so, is none of her concern.

Jacques chooses to move a different card, not his King...

Simply ending his turn.

Part of him feared to initiate any Field Clashes…in case any failed...now is not a good time to upset Mother...

The Queen’s gaze is focused intently on the enemy.

Jacques understands why, because he can feel it too...

Faith set the pace.

…

..the conclusion of their game draws near…

…

How many turns are left?

…

-CHAPTER END-

Do not falter! Your HEART must stay strong!

-PHASE CLOSE-