I was in a café. It was a nice one with lots of decorations for the holidays. Halloween always made me smile, all the ghosts and ghouls coming out to play which are really little kids in costumes and make up. As I pondered over the scarred tradition, I felt a light tap on my shoulder and looked over at the man standing behind me. Short red hair gave way to calm green eyes and a face with a cross like scar, my right hand man, the Ace of Clubs. He was silent with mostly everyone but me and I wouldn't have doubted it from the start but after the Shelia episode as we liked to call it, he just never felt like speaking to anyone else. Which was perfectly fine with me, I was one of the few people he trusted after all. Then again, who wouldn't trust their queen? He hasn't left me alone for longer than five minutes after that scene and I knew why. We both did. It didn't mean that I was going to push him away. He needed me as much as I needed him. We had been the only two in that building at the time who had seen the horrific ritual there.

"Is something amusing?" Aiden asked glancing around at the crowd with contemplation.

"No, nothing much. I was just wondering why Halloween makes me smile," I replied and he sat across from me. He had been watching our target, a man who we believed to be the Six of Hearts, a lawyer. Of course the five minute rule had applied and he had just put cameras in every room of his house and office.

"Why would such a gruesome holiday make you happy?" He question turning back to me and I shrugged. I didn't know.

"Who knows? I just like the whole happiness with trick-or-treaters. Kids dressing up and knocking on doors with smiles on their faces is so strange. It's almost like they're begging or something and I just want to give them the world," I explained as best I could and a hint of the smile flinted across his face.

"You're a motherly type," He proclaimed softly and I smiled at him.

"Sure I am. That explains Kyle being with Mr. Withers and Nil travelling around with my dead beat foster mother. That explains everything," I rolled my eyes sarcastically and he snorted.

"At least you didn't insist on giving Georgia a lecture on how to behave at an upscale restaurant. You know they're following a Supreme Court Judge right? It seems the Hearts like to twist the law," He noted and I shook my head.

"That's the Ten right? I've been trying to find one of them for ages but I've only gotten as far as the couple of Nines over in Japan. Sakura and Montgomery are on them right now," I sighed. I really wasn't much of queen when you thought about it. Even my own Dove got killed. He had been a traitor and a liar though.

"Did you ever turn Monty back into a human?" He asked and I nodded. The Royal had been a panther before and I had to stop myself from laughing every time I remembered it.

"I was surprised that he looked as young as he did. You could have mistaken him for a college student," I pointed out. Montgomery as it turned out had come from Japan and he hadn't been back to his home country in long time.

"Jack was an idiot," I commented and the older man glanced at me. He knew that talk of my former dove was dangerous. I had often finished a conversation with tears and hysterics. I didn't feel like crying much today though. I just needed to talk about him.

"He always had been," He approached the topic warily.

"Yeah. The whole episode with Elizabeth was stupid. He got sick once, you know, and he kept mistaking me for her. I wasn't too keen on her after that," I informed him and he gave a short sympathetic nod. The man had been born to be a listener. A waitress came up right about then and I tagged her mind with mine to see if she was a card. She wasn't and I let her go with an order of a large chocolate milkshake. I loved those things. Sitting back into my chair, I watched the people in dark colored outfits come and go. Cafés had always been a hotspot for the "soulful" type. Not that I knew what that was or anything. I was just an ordinary English teacher...that was the Queen of the Cards. Strange where life takes you huh?

"What do you know about our lawyer?" I asked finally drawing myself away from my reminiscing.

"He's a newbie. Loves the law but doesn't know how to use it. He won a couple of important cases way back and that helped him shove himself into a good position as a company lawyer. He works for the same company his father runs and he gets a nice salary," he reported.

"Family?" I questioned and he nodded.

"A little girl. I talked to her when her dad was out working on a case. She's pretty adorable," he replied and I sighed. I hated messing up kids lives.

"Is there any chance that she's..." I trailed off but he got the point and shook his head.

"There wasn't any trace of them on her."

"What I do for people...any enemies?"

"Only one. A former buddy from college that stole away his wife. Shocked the poor guy out of his pants and he won the lawsuit to keep his daughter. It appears that the woman got the short end of the stick. He turned into a beater," He informed me and I frowned. I didn't like that type of men at all. They were absolute creeps.

"Will she ever be able to get away?" I asked and he shook his head.

"The man's like a watchdog. When I went to go check her out, he came out of nowhere and started mouthing off to me about no good men on his property," he stated but I could hear the remorse in his voice. We both wanted to do something.

"Would she be able to come forward in court?" I hoped but he dashed it.

"Not unless the she died," he responded and I scowled at the table. Even if she had cheated on her husband it wasn't right that she should have to be beaten for it.

"I want to help her," I announced and he stared at me.

"You do and you'll be risking everything for it. Do you, our queen, really want to do that?" He said softly and I slumped further down into my chair.

"No but...isn't there some way to help?" I begged him for some sliver of compassion and he looked at me for a long moment.

"There are a couple of things. I'll do them later on tonight when Kyle brings in his Six of Clubs. If that's what you want," he added cautiously.

"Yes," I answered simply and nodded. To get both of our minds off of the upcoming meeting we both started talking about the mission ahead. How we were going to tell our target what he was. How we were going to prove it and how we had to get him away from society without him knowing. It was a big job with him being a lawyer but we'd be able to pull it off. We'd done it a couple of times before with a Two and a Three. Oddly enough, they had been the easiest to find and now they ran the hotel and tried out their powers with each other in their spare time. One big happy family. Everyone seemed to be coping well and everyone had been found up to the Sixes. Which is what Kyle, Mr. Withers, and my team were on, finding the Six of each Suit. After our lovely talk we decided to leave for the hotel.

We arrived in the nick of time with a ton of people running around and showing off their powers to their new found colleagues.

"Stop," I said in every mind that was there and they obeyed me immediately. One of the rules that had been established was that no one was allowed to talk in someone else's mind except for me.

"What's going on here?" I voiced and the Numbers fell into lines according to ranks and suits. It seems Nil had been at them again.

"We were practicing our powers," one of them spoke up after a second of silence and I glared at the speaker.

"In the middle of the grounds? Do you understand that if we're found out that everyone's lifestyles and very lives could be at stake? You'd have people pinching and probing you with strange instruments and doing experiments with you for the rest of your existence. Do any of you want that? Because if you do I'll turn you in right now and make you display your power in front of the research department. So who wants it? Speak up!" I shouted at them. I was on edge and I had a right to be that way. Even if the surrounding area was neutralized it didn't mean that they couldn't use the power of their Suit. When no one said anything for a long moment, I turned on my heel and marched into the building with Aiden following dutifully behind me.

"I can't believe them! " I exploded after thanking the only Card, the Two of Diamonds, for giving me my room key.

"They are new to this," He pointed out infuriatingly and I scowled at him.

"They know the rules and until everyone's found I can't be here all the time. It's so aggravating!" I boomed into my suite and threw down my jacket onto a nearby chair.

"I don't know how you can stand shielding them all the time." I said exasperated and sank onto the couch with all the windows open so I could watch over them. Luckily, it seems that they were only playing some sort of weird game that included them all falling down at the same time. Oh, Ring around the Rosy.

"I just remember that it's for the good of your system and then I'm happy to shield them all the time," he shrugged sitting carefully across from me and I turned to him.

"You're really weird sometimes, you know that?" I told him and his smiled surfaced. If he didn't have the huge scar across his face then he would have been amazingly handsome. Most of the Royals were, in some way, above other humans in the food chain besides their powers.

Kyle came in an hour or so later and I stood up to greet the small boy. He was the son of one of the creators of an old enemy and the Ace of Diamonds. He seemed to think of me as a big sister and when he saw me he ran over to hug me.

"I found him!" He sang happily holding the ever present Mr. Valentine. I looked over at the new Card and held out my hand to him. The college student took it and shook it briefly before we all sat down and I looked over at him.

"Did they explain to you what's happening?" I questioned him and he nodded.

"You're running a facility that helps me with these migraines I've been getting right? Why do you call us Royals though?" His confusion exacted how much Mr. Withers had needed to blind sight him and I sighed.

"Have you ever seen music notes float in the air?" I diverted answering and he shook his head.

"That's impossible. Music notes don't float! They're just scribbles on paper," He frowned at me disapprovingly.

"I see...how about now. There is one right by your ear," I said pointing to the right side of his head and he glanced at the spot and looked back at me. Then went back to looking at the spot and stared at the music note that was hanging there.

"How'd you do that?" He muttered reaching up to the area and I shrugged making it disappear.

"I gathered the energy surrounding me. It's that simple. You can do it too and you might be able to do a little bit more. We aren't sure yet. Would you like to try it?" I asked and he thought for a moment.

"Would I be able to help the world?" he said slowly.

"That depends on how you want to help it. You'd also have to master your powers before you could do anything. Would you like to try?" I repeated and he searched my face for any sign of lying. He had accepted his position much easier than other people would. I had to admit the kid had guts or he was just really stupid.

"I'll try it. So I'm a Royal?" he asked and I shook my head.

"You're a number," I replied and Kyle stood up and pulled the man out of his seat.

"Come on! I want to show you your new room!" He said dragging him away. The hotel now had ten more floors...on stand. As the two left the room, I turned to my former superintendent and smiled at the elderly man. He had been through a lot and he somehow just kept running. The man was amazing.

"Where did you find him?" I asked and he sighed at the question.

"In the upper corner of Washington State. It was a quite a journey for the both of us and if we didn't have the exact location from you, I don't believe we would have found him," He exhaled and I nodded.

"There doesn't seem to be a pattern to where they are. They're just scattered all over the place," I informed him looking over at the map that was posted on my wall. Aiden got up and put the pin where Mr. Withers told him and sat back down next to me. The pins were littered all over the map and it seemed that the only place where it wasn't was where we lived...then again it might just be a coincidence.

"Don't forget that you have a meeting later on today," the old man said and stood back up with a small creak. He grinned at my worried face and ambled out of the room with only the smallest of noise.

"What are you going to do for the meeting?" Aiden questioned looking at me.

"It is a meeting about Shelia and our history. So I guess, I'll talk about that and then answer questions. I don't really see a need to prepare for it," I replied leaning heavily against the couch.

"And if they ask about Victory?" He said softly and I frowned at him.

"Why would they ask about him?" I muttered and scowled at the Ace.

"Because it wouldn't be fair to keep him out of the story. If they don't know the whole situation then they won't trust us. You know that," He replied patiently and I bit back an angry retort. It was true and I didn't want to make him angry.

"Are you sure?" I mumbled and he stood up getting me some paper and a pencil.

"Yes," he replied and left me to work on my speech.

Author's note: So how was the beginning? Anything that needs changing? Comment and vote! Thanks so much! :D