-PHASE OPEN-

“GO FIELD DICE!” Faith continues with her turn.

It lands on a 4.

The Swordsman of SaurDIAMONDS strolls casually to his destination, the unoccupied III-zone.

It’s eerily quiet. Silence from Jacques. Silence from The Queen of NightSPADE.

Crossing its blades on his chest, The Swordsman kneels…

“…Zone Locked…” Faith says.

Sinking into a red vortex.

“Hmm…I did all I could do!” shrugging with her hands up.

Still silence from the enemy.

Faith is waiting for a reaction, hoping for one.

“Phase Close, Mr. Lenoir!”

Jacques takes his card and begins his turn.

“…I have to hand it to you…” he says.

“You had your back against the wall and fought hard.”

“Some of the others had tried to, but your energy, the way you played it felt the most real. The most honest.”

“I won’t pamper you with praise. I won’t claim you were the best. I won’t even pretend you were the smartest either…you can't win with just honesty!”

Faith is reacting accordingly to his words. Half annoyed and half on her guard.

He chuckles and continues, “…even IF you were blessed with more wisdom, more skill, how long could you hold onto it?”

“I feel my own mind slipping, piece by piece, with each passing day. I have to be ready to pass the torch.”

He gives Faith a stern look. She returns it.

He rolls the Field Dice.

It lands on a 5.

To The King of NightSPADE, he asks, “You will move for us, won’t you?”

The Spade King scowls at The Queen behind him.

She impatiently taps her nails.

“It’s in the rules. Please behave!” Jacques says.

The Spade Queen grunts and sharpens a claw.

The King points at her…

“…No…honor!” he hisses from his bones. He walks ahead.

The message begins to echo…

No honor

No honor

No honor

From all corners of the room repeated by more voices…

As The Spade Queen listens and puts up with it, she closes her eyes.

No honor…

Shaking with anger…

No honor!

Faith can hear The Queen breathing…

NO HONOR!

…

“COWARDS!”

The Queen explodes with a black storm of energy!

“FILTH!”

It’s with the force of a hurricane!

“WEAKLINGS!”

Faith can only see two white eyes in the middle of the ferocious dark storm. She keeps one hand on her bow and holds her card close to her chest with the other.

“SHOW ME THE WORTH OF YOUR WORDS! SHOW ME THE WORTH OF YOUR COURAGE! INSTEAD OF SPEAKING AROUND ME…SPEAK IN FRONT OF ME!”

The fury of The Queen’s outburst has silenced the voices.

The storm subsides, and she stands silently. Her eyes closed again.

Faith was surprised to finally hear her voice.

The King has already finished moving. He gives off to Faith a vibe of remorse.

Jacques flips around the two cards in his hand. Then, he floats them in front of Faith’s face.

“A Queen and a Jack!” he reveals smugly.

“I’ll still do things in order, of course, but I wanted to show you what you’re in for!”

“First…”

The Jack card evaporates.

He rolls the Range Dice, and it lands on a 7.

Faith doesn’t try to counter it.

“Lucky! We’ll have The Jack of NightSPADE strike!”

The beaten and weak doll struggles to stand…

Almost up…

It falls and clacks back down…

It tries crawling…

Barely…just barely moving…

The Spade Queen punts it forward in frustration.

Even Faith winces in empathy.

The doll still fails to stand.

*SNAP*

It doesn’t matter to The Queen now. Binding it with a conjured chain, she yanks it up. Holding it, the scythe blades poking from the sides of the chain.

The Queen smirks at Faith and launches the chained doll into the air, ripping back downward, back up in a curve, and twirling it around with shredding speed.

Jacques says, “Mother will always pick up the slack!”

“…in SPADES!” laughing at his own joke.

“SHE ALREADY KNOWS WHERE TO STRIKE! SCOURGING SLAVE SAW!

The Spade Queen slams the doll down and pulls a length of chain like a ripcord!

Shredding away at the wood tiles, the bound doll slices across the grid towards its target!

Fragments of chain snapping off as it whizzes closer…

A section of card is cleaved off…the target reveals itself.

Blood dripping down her side and down to her feet.

They found her. It is The Jack of BurningHEARTS!

Although…

“How much does it hurt? You can share anything with us!” Jacques inquires.

Faith is gripping her left arm tightly.

…it feels limp…

The Heart Jack has no fear in her eyes, but her own left arm is missing…

Faith has 1 Soul Four-Ce left.

He continues on, “As you ran out of cards on the field, it was only a matter of time!”

“And of course, with Mother’s guidance and intuition, she showed me the way whenever I doubted myself!”

Faith looks back down at the stone tablet and to Jacques.

Fighting for breath and letting the blood drip from her lips, she says to him, “…I couldn’t be sure…from inside this rock…has that thing been…”

The Queen floats over and holds Jacques’ face close to her bosom, and he responds, “That’s right, you can’t be sure because you are WRONG. Mind your tone, bitch. Mother plays fair too! We can all debate technicalities as long as you’d like! We have time!”

Because of Dee, Faith begrudgingly allows it to slide. Preferring to move on.

“Mother is a genius! For her, it’s trivial to count cards and dissect your playstyle. But, of course, you had yourself to blame with your own poker face too! She and I are a match made in heaven!”

“I would take pride in having her bear my torch when she returns to our world...”

She showers him with kisses and runs her fingers through his hair. He revels in delight.

“It’s time…” Jacques says as the Queen card floating in front of Faith’s face disappears.

With a loving look in her eyes, she lets go of Jacques.

She begins to move towards Faith…

Her head tilts down, and as Faith watches her…

She is melting. Thick pale-colored droplets are dripping on the tiles.

Shedding chunks of flesh and growing.

Exploding forward like a tidal wave, stopping a few inches in front of Faith’s face…

The water takes the shape of a demon with dissolving skin…

Faith questions, “A lil’ close ain’t ya? Your baby boy hasn’t even rolled the dice yet!”

“I WON’T KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN…I NEED TO BE READY!” The Queen replies.

“YOUR HAIR…YOUR EYES…YOUR LIPS…YOUR TONGUE…”

“YOU HAVE TOO MUCH! I WANT ALL OF YOU!”

Faith sticks out her tongue and starts lightly chewing on it, “Hmm. What if I bite it off before you can do anything?”

The Queen promises, “IF YOU DID…I CAN ALWAYS START SOMEWHERE ELSE…”

“DO IT! ROLL IT NOW!”

Jacques takes in the Range Dice in a whirlwind of black aura.

Charging with incredible power!

He casts it on the stone tablet. The force even makes a dent!

*CLACK*

Faith and The Queen staring at each other intently…

*CLACK*

Faith closes her eyes.

*CLACK*

Remembering a time when she and Dee were younger.

A time when she was sitting on her bed, holding herself in tears.

Turning around to see her tiny brother holding a game box that appeared to be stomped on and kicked around…

“Umm…I tried to fix it…”

“You can always play with me, Faith…”

*CLACK*

It lands…

…on a 0…

The room goes quiet. You could hear a pin drop.

Except for…

“Shoo!”

“Shoo!”

“Go away now! Wait your turn!” says Faith, gesturing for The Queen to back off.

The Queen slowly slinks back to her side of the grid, transforming to normal in silence.

Jacques dares not speak.

“Being a proud momma’s boy is just that. A momma’s boy!” Faith chastises him.

“Is your turn over?”

“Do ya need a moment?”

“If ya need a minute to cuddle with mom-"

*SCHWIIIIING*

A laser zoomed past and near Faith’s cheek…

Faith smiles at the sender.

“PHASE. CLOSE. BRAT!” Faith gets her reply from the scowling Queen.

“How can you get mad at someone so cute? HO! HO HO!” Faith remarks with a haughty attitude and sparkles around her face.

“PHASE OPEN!” drawing her card with a serious tone!

Analyzing her cards. Her left arm is still limp…

“Ok! Field Dice!” she rolls it.

It lands on a 2…

“Hmm…” she moves a card forward.

Jacques drops a bead of sweat…

“Hmm? Hmm! Hmm,” she moves another card a single space to the left.

The Queen grits her teeth…

…now she has a look of surprise…

…now starting to laugh…Jacques does too…

…all because they both noticed that Faith is crying heavily…

…doing her best to keep too many tears from pouring out and rubbing them with her right sleeve…

It must be an admission of defeat.

Confidence. Quips. All meaningless in the final hour.

They laugh a bit more loudly. They are unstoppable, and this seals the deal.

Together they erase more filth. Sure, sometimes, these idealistic upstarts approach them with exciting game ideas. They all have a certain degree of passion, but some lack the heart to see it through to the end or lack the brain to bring home the gold.

Sheesh.

These would be game creators…

Others can talk-the-talk but fall apart with their games when Jacques and his mother exploit a flaw in the design, the rules, or even the player…

…

*HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA*

A burst of much louder laughter overtakes theirs!

The Jack of BurningHEARTS is laughing at them.

They stop while she continues.

Jacques looks to Faith.

Her tears are gone, and she is grinning to one side. She had already flipped around the card in her hand.

It is a King card.

Jacques thinks to himself, ‘She can’t Range Strike with that…’

…then he remembers…

He focuses on the card she had moved off to the left!

“JOKER RUN!”

Using her aura, Faith stylishly throws the card in a spinning motion like a fan. It catapults the Range Dice high into the air.

The Queen and Jacques both watch with anticipation as it falls.

It lands on…

…a 1…

Faith is amused that it barely missed being a 0!

Jacques feels humiliated. Gripping his fists.

One of Faith’s cards on the field spins and drills down. Forming a deep hole.

The Queen and Jacques can only wonder what’s down there…

*FLOP*

A long furry ear pops up and down.

*FLOP*

Up comes another one, and it goes down again.

Next is a snout. Sniffing in a circular motion.

It climbs out. A fuzzy rabbit with red fur. Now outside the hole, it continues sniffing and crawling about. It’s wearing a long scarf that still dips into the hole.

This is Red Runner Rabbit. Another Joker Rank Card.

It looks up at Faith and *plops* down, awaiting her command.

She points ahead at the unguarded IV-zone.

…the last zone she needs to lock…

Understood. The Rabbit turns around and focuses on its goal…

With one foot, it begins to thump the tile it is standing on.

The Queen and Jacques feel a light rumble…

Stronger shaking…

Small bits of rock are falling from the ceiling…

Now a violent tremor…

Despite its small stature, this little Red Rabbit is building power!

Faith gleefully cheers it on, “RED RUNNER RABBIT! WILD RED RUN!”

*POW*

The Rabbit takes off!

Only to misfire and falls.

It quickly gets back up, shakes its fur, and tries again!

*BOOM*

Jacques can only see the afterimage of the Rabbit! Did it break the sound barrier?

More of the scarf is hoisted out of the hole like a crank. It just keeps going and going.

Finally, out pops an object.

The scarf was attached to a large metal shield with a HEART emblem.

It *thuds* back down on the opening of the hole.

The Queen of NightSPADE won’t stand for this!

She charges at the same IV-zone out of desperation. Shoving a nearby card out of the way. She must act fast!

She’ll rip that furball to shreds!

Honing her claws…

Locking eyes with The Rabbit…

She stands in its path…

She swipes at it!

He’s gone.

Did she get him?

*POMPF*

Nope!

The Rabbit bounces off her head, and she falls like a clown.

The Jack of BurningHEARTS, snickering at her failure, blows a raspberry and twirls her hair.

High in the sky, the Rabbit rolls into a ball. Fireworks shooting out from it.

Like a shooting star, it comes crashing down!

Faith, Jacques, and The Queen watch on…

*Ta-da!*

A perfectly executed landing. The Rabbit lets out one more firework, then burrows into the IV-zone…

The last red vortex forms…

Excitedly Faith screams, “ZONE LOCKED!”

The Queen lays there on her knees. Before wallowing in pity for too long, The Queen glows with a red aura and begins to float…

Like a magnet, she is dragged back to the tile she left.

*GE-HE-HE-HE-HE*

The King of NightSPADE mocks her. Then, he turns around and strangely begins to walk back to Jacques’ side of the grid.

“Ehm. Hem.”

Jacques looks to Faith…

“Ehm. Hem. Hem!” she is clearing her throat.

“This is my favorite part!”

She closes her eyes and raises her arm forward.

She giggles.

“Unus I...”

A pillar of flame erupts from the I-zone!

“Duo II…”

Another pillar of flame!

“Tres III…”

Another one! Magma is quickly consuming Nightfall Swamp!

Suddenly…

The room dims to an eerie blue glow…

Jacques is terrified! He’s all alone!

It’s just him sitting at the stone tablet. His mother, the cards, the game, Faith! All gone!

He stands up to look around.

Down the hallway behind him? Nothing.

…

Sitting back down…

…

“QUATTUOR IV!!!”

The sudden volume sends a chill down his spine!

Impossible…

‘When did they?’

In the same pose that Faith had…except with their eyes open…

A new face is occupying her seat…

A gaunt woman…dark circles around her eyes.

Eyes that make a statement.

A death sentence for Jacques…

This woman doesn’t have a hair on her head. Yet, she continues to stare at him with condemnation.

Jacques is puzzled. He doesn’t recognize her…

…or does he?...

‘The Queen of Burning-?’

Before it can fully click for him, everyone and everything appears to have returned.

Faith has stopped talking and opens her eyes.

“This is my favorite part! It’s been a while since I could recite it. Although…sometimes I wonder if I can come up with something cooler to say?”

The four pillars of fire have formed a wall…

“…well, a win’s a win. Thanks for playing my game and not quitting too early!”

Faith snaps her fingers, and the wall of fire centers into one spot.

…the flames are taking shape…

Two angelic wings…

Long flowing hair…

A pure and holy figure stands before Jacques and The Queen…

It radiates the same scarlet aura as Faith…

To Jacques, this Angel also resembles…

Faith points at him!

“Insignia for the Proud HEARTS of the Burning Lands! The road to victory lies before us!”

The Angel raises her left arm, and Jacques’ remaining cards in his deck turn into vapor. Wrapping around himself, The Queen, and a trail back to the Angel.

The Queen picks up on a foul odor, as does Jacques.

Faith commands, “CLEAR THE GRID!”

Jacques checks his sleeve…it’s a bit wet…

Then it dawns on him…this vapor around them…fumes…

Jacques jolts up out of his chair! His glasses fall off, he turns, ready to flee! The Queen glances at him, confused. Then she notices her face is wet and sticky…

“GRACEFUL CLEARING FIRESTORM!”

The Angel blows a kiss, a tiny HEART floats on her palm, it releases a stream of pink energy!

*FWOOOOOOSSSSSSSSH*

It ignites the vapor like gasoline! Creating an outward cerise cyclone!

Jacques and The Queen howl in agony as they are tortured in the sweltering gale!

One of their cards is not in pain…

The King of NightSPADE places a hand over where his heart once was, bows before Faith, and slowly begins to fade away…

Behind him, she can see other human faces…

They appear thankful. Flames of rest…to carry them to the afterlife…

The flames pass.

Nightfall Swamp is no more. Only stone. The wood tiles are gone.

The Queen of NightSPADE is Jacques’ sole remaining force…

Her smoking seared backside is facing Faith, and when she tries to turn her head…it snaps off at the nape…

Hitting the ground in a pile of ashes…the rest of her body crumbles…

Faith is looking up to The Angel.

The Angel turns around. She has an intense cool look as she leers down at Faith...

…she smiles and gives Faith a thumbs up…

Faith pauses and lowers her head…

She is crying again but perks back up…

…she’s shaking while smiling too and has returned the thumbs up back…

The Jack of BurningHEARTS is holding back tears of her own…

The Angel drifts away, feathers falling from her wings. In between them, Faith gets one last vision of The Queen of BurningHEARTS...

…

…then Grace…

~Goodbye~

She passes on.

They did it together.

The two sisters won.

-CHAPTER END-

End of Game Report!

Game played…Royal Four-Ces!

Jacques Lenoir vs. Faith Roos

Result…Faith Roos…WINNER by GRID CLEAR!

-PHASE CLOSE-