Lights came on, shooting at the lady with ruby earrings and a scintillating diamond ring. Her thick mascara seemed way too incompatible with her violet V-neck blouse, a little too revealing. The quiet set unsettled her as the camera panned left and right and came to a halt directly opposite of her. She tapped the microphone attached to the white tabletop and waited for the echo to pass.

"Good morning, Kalos. This is the eight o'clock news on NewsDaily Channel," she said with faked enthusiasm. Her pupils dilated upon reporting the news. "Last night, a woman by the name of Tarocchi Gardner was found at the edge of Ambrette Town. She told the police that she was on a mysterious island far from Kalos and this is what she has to say."

The lady gave the cameraman a slight nod. The video played on the screen and a woman, dripping wet from head to toe, sat on the pavement of Ambrette Town with a towel wrapped around her. Several microphones blocked the lower half of her body.

"Giratina's spawns! I'm never going back to that place ever again!" Tarocchi said.

The screen blacked out. Static erupted in the set. A song flowed into every person's ears, a girl's enchanting voice surrounding them like fog invading a forest.

"What's going on?" The news reporter whispered but received no reply. "Why is the Devil's song playing?"

No. Why is this happening? Could it be... that girl is from the island? This is the curse of the mysterious island! The lady gasped. She blocked her ears and shut her eyes but it was too late. The camera was still rolling and screams wrecked the set. A man butted the polished table and scarlet splattered onto marble tiles.

No! There will more deaths.

The lady convulsed and fell off her seat. She could not control her hands, the nails digging into flesh. Those delicate fingers reached for her eyes. The blood-covered diamond ring scratched her skin and she hissed. She knew at the back of her mind Kalos had sunken into tragedy. She was certain the whole world suffered from this agony simultaneously.

"So down I went, into fear!" The line shot her ears. Her wriggling toes froze. Silent was her world.

In a soundproof room beside the studio, Tarocchi Gardner watched the scene through the huge glass. It utterly disgusted her. All she needed was the whole world to know of those inhuman brats. Hell, she managed to survive the Sharpedo-infested waters. Her Malamar had killed all of them with Superpower.

"How dare you, Yvette," Tarocchi spat as the door creaked open and someone entered the room. Something whirred and clicked in her ears. Her experience told her what it was, but not who it was, so she had to turn around gradually while holding her breath to see who held her at gunpoint.

"I thought you were dead." The voice pierced Tarocchi's heart and those words only aggravated her wound.

"Valencia!" The High Priestess gripped her black robe. Breaking into cold sweat, she fumbled with her words so much so that she could make neither head nor tail out of them.

"You must be doing well then. So well you have forgotten all about me. Remember our Inkay? What beautiful Malamar they are now." Valencia placed her index finger on the trigger. Donned in a long, maroon silk dress, and black high heels, the woman made sure that her foe knew she was out for revenge.

"How did you find me?" It sounded timid.

"Where else other than the news station?" The woman glared at the High Priestess. "You killed two of my students, I heard?"

"Your... students? I didn't know. Yvette controlled me. I—"

"Shut your trap, Tarocchi." Valencia aimed the revolver at the woman's forehead.

Tarocchi Gardner swore she saw a shadow move behind Valencia. There, smirking at her while leaning on the door frame, was Yvette.

"Kill her, Valencia. She is of no use to me since she sought immortality then. What I want is world domination. A better place without people with the likes of some High Priestess," Yvette said.

"She would never shoot me," Tarocchi said as she clenched her fists. "R-Right, Valencia?"

"Oh? Then you two can battle it out." Yvette took a step forward and flipped her long scarlet hair. "My plan is already in action. I'll make sure you can't stop me."

"What plan?" Tarocchi stiffened and sent out her Malamar.

"The plan to bring disaster to the world to eradicate all evils, of course. You got to destroy the world to rebuild it to perfection. Didn't know you're such a birdbrain." Yvette tapped her left foot. "The first of all is, of course, Karma. The Devil's song? Karma's nothing like that. She just needs a coping method."

"You're insane." Tarocchi took a step back and hit the wall. Stuck to a corner of the room, she watched as Yvette slammed the door shut. In a soundproof room, no one from the outside could hear her screams.

"Is that a compliment? Do you want to settle your sinking friendship with a battle as commemoration? There's no time for Russian roulette," Yvette said.

Valencia pointed the gun at the High Priestess of the Alpha Chrysalis and hummed. Am I not going to resist? Yvette's planting words in my mind. That Gothorita!

A forceful shift shook her. Wyatt's dull voice trailed in her head. Bitch, why's there a little girl? Don't play tricks with me!

Her head throbbed and she let go of the revolver to clutch her head. Valencia hissed and her body plummeted to the floor in half-squat position. Alternate, vigorous nods and shakes zipped by and she felt gallons of fear rising and drowning her soul who suffered from leg cramps. Wyatt and Ulysses fought for power over her being and her identity as Valencia faded in time.

"I want to kill Wyatt!" Valencia hollered, her voice hoarse. How many gallons of fear had she swallowed? Her leg, still numb, hindered her struggles. Her hand still reached for the patch of light, the two shadows of her alter egos above her dismissing her absence.

"Bitch, this fucking body is mine!" Wyatt said. "I'll kill you!"

"Kill the man who called for Snipey! Kill! Justice! Kill!" Ulysses gazed up to Wyatt with a dagger in hand. It glinted as Wyatt shivered, his eyes failing to remove themselves from the dripping scarlet.

"Gwah! B-Blood!" Wyatt covered his face with trembling hands. He choked on his saliva. He kicked away at nothing and screamed till his larynx bobbed up and down for ages and his mouth ran dry. Who was this girl who invaded his life? What did she want from him?

"The law punishes perpetrators only after the crime has been committed. The law doesn't stop the crime at all. The law only fails the victim. That's why justice is essential." Ulysses held out the dagger and pushed it into the man's belly button. "Sometimes, justice is blind. Other times, justice stems from the real truth that's left untold."

My sense of justice. Ulysses is an incarnate of it. She's right, isn't she? The truth is not what is true, but what the majority thinks is true.

"Kill Snipey! Kill the man who ordered Snipey to murder! Kill! Kill! Justice always prevails!" Ulysses clapped. "Kill the cynical!"

Valencia knew little of micro-expressions, but she saw it in a split second. Ulysses's smile. It's so childlike in its innocence as the gesture spoke of joy that evil was defeated. But, Valencia knew it wasn't time to celebrate.

"But Wyatt is tough like steel. He's probably still alive. Yvette will do something to ascertain that."

Valencia's words never reached the girl who calmed down. The Host felt a force drag her to the surface and let out a sigh of relief. No, she was paralysed. How would she explain this to her best friend? Or... ex-best friend? The force released her and she fell into the dark waters of fear, her surroundings so strangely soundless she thought she might have been deaf or at death's doorstep.

It's all in my head. Valencia wheezed, and wheezed.

Tarocchi Gardner, an observer, did not understand. All she saw was a woman talking to herself, clutching her head, screaming and acting out of character. Tarocchi frowned. The words that left her lips brought waves of unrest in her chest. "Who are you?"

Yvette huffed and stormed out of the room, muttering under her breath. Damn High Priestess wrecked her plans. It would be no use if Valencia had resisted. If only that woman didn't have a multi-personality disorder! If only Valencia had a healing Singularity; but she had no Singularity at all. If only Wyatt had controlled his damn temper! Then her plans wouldn't have been foiled like this.

The scarlet-haired girl leaned against the wall, just beside the door she had closed, and clenched her fists. Just what went wrong? Could she right that wrong?

Inside the soundproof room, Tarocchi Gardner glanced at her friend, waiting.

"I am Valencia," the tall woman said upon regaining her composure. "Listen, Tarocchi. You are in great danger. The world is dancing on the palm of disaster. Flee. Go somewhere off the grid."

"What? Is it because of that song? She sounds like a Pri—"

"If Wyatt hears it, he will kill you. Some secrets need to be buried just like some things are to die for."

I don't want you to die like Xerosic did. That's a cursed word. Valencia grabbed her friend's hands.

"You're not making much sense! Who is Wyatt? Why will he kill me?"

"We haven't much time. Please! Take your Major Arcana with you." Valencia took her phone, returned her Malamar and pushed the gun into her blouse. "Scoot."

Tarocchi nodded. She opened the door to see Yvette facing her.

"I won't kill you anymore. Go ahead and spout all the nonsense you want. No one will believe a cynical cretin like you. I'll pay you a visit in your asylum ward when the time comes," Yvette said.

"If the time comes," Tarocchi mumbled.

"You know," Yvette started, "the Kalosian government sent four men to the island to investigate and I had Valencia kill them. Do you really want to be friends with a murderer?"

"I don't care. She must have her reasons to actually listen to someone like you," Tarocchi said and turned her back. "I believe her."

"Be careful who you trust. I've learned it the hard way, that even though blood is thicker than water, it's useless and meaningless shit." Yvette crossed her arms and glanced at Valencia. "We will leave now."

"That's why you killed Amity? Because of her worsening your relationship with Zayn?" Valencia whispered as the two of them brisk-walked out of the building, with the woman trying to catch up with the girl.

"I hate her too. You know what say about keeping your enemies closer. And, I could kill Ciara next. She's annoying."

"Because she's black and you're a white racist? Then you're no different from the white policemen who unreasonably shot the black people in Unova."

"I never said anything about wanting to be different from them. I was from Unova. Also, I'm not that bad of a racist if I actually allow a black Wooloo to live amongst the white ones. That bitch! I told you about Trump the Pidove. If only Trump never existed!" Yvette scowled and stuck her hand out. "The gun."

"Please reconsider," Valencia whined as she reached for the weapon. "Why do you even want them on the island when you have planned something?"

"Actually, don't kill Ciara. Don't kill that High Priestess too. They can be witnesses for what's to come. Initially, I want to silence each and every one of them, but I guess it's more amusing to keep them alive as an audience. Some of them have to go, though."

"If you say so."

"Of course, everyone will be grateful when I impose my ideal system on the world. Lysandre was right to seek a new, beautiful world in his image. I should invite him over to watch the spectacular performance unfold when the time comes. It's Healer Killer for a reason. In Unova, all I heard were about the truths and the ideals and the need for balance. With my world domination, we will live in an utopia that's real! There will be no such thing as crimes anymore."

"And you'd kill for that?"

"Sacrifices are necessary, mother."

「」

Luminol is often used to trace amounts of blood at crime scenes as it reacts with the iron in haemoglobin. Upon waking up, Zayn was hit with the familiarity of that information. It entered the crevices in his mind like running water in between stones.

With an open eye, he tilted his head to meet his roommate, Sage, who had his laptop on his pillow. Zayn thought about the previous night, how they looked through his laptop without his permission and pouted.

"Hey, you're up." His roommate swept his brown hair and yawned. Sage stretched a little and flicked his gaze to his laptop. "I have a feeling things are getting worse. Understatement of the year, yeah?"

"Haha." Zayn got up. "Ask for permission next time you use my laptop."

"Oh. Sure. You look pale. Nightmare?"

"Not really. It's sort of a sense of foreboding. I mean, no one wakes up with the thought of luminol." Zayn shrugged and tidied his bed.

"Foreboding? You think someone died again? We're going to run out of water soon if this continues. I will probably need a lot of showers."

"Remember what I said? Confront the problem, stop evading it." Blade walked out of the bathroom and patted Sage's head. "You can save water if you do that."

"I hear ye," Sage said.

"What are you looking at? Mind control?" Zayn sat on Sage's bed.

"Zayn, when Jade gave you the prompt for Healer Killer, was she acting strange?"

"No. I think it's strange too. She sent me an email out of nowhere and gave me this prompt." Zayn gazed at the screen as Sage scrolled through articles on mind control.

"An email?" Blade said. "It couldn't be Jade. If you two are close, she can just find you. Unless..."

"Yvette." Zayn seethed. "I've been used by my sister. She could have used Jade's email. Why didn't I think about that?"

"Sister? She's your sister?"

"Yes, my sister who's one month older than I. We aren't very close. I remembered a lot along with that luminol info, to be honest."

"Do you know MWVM?" Sage recalled the letters. Amity must have a reason for those letters.

"No, though I know what WAMW means. I know why you're researching about mind control now."

So I have been seeing it in the wrong direction all this while, Sage thought.

"What do you mean?" Sage blinked.

"Words Are My Weapon. That's Yvette's Singularity. That's how she controls people."