It had been difficult for Aria to fall asleep the night before. For more than one reason. It had been te by the time she finally passed out, so she knew it hadn’t been a full sleep by the time she woke up. With how much resting she’d done the day before, it made sense.

  But it didn’t make her feel any less groggy to sit back up, to shut the arm off. Though she didn’t need to, it turned out. By the time she was rubbing her eyes, Flynn had already done the job.

  Aria stretched her hands out and yawned. What a night that had been. It was truly dawning on her that none of that had been a dream. All the magic, her new friends, and the rugpull that put her right back where she belonged. She grimaced, knowing how that wasn’t even true. It’s not that she belonged in a boy’s school, especially with the revetions in identity to think about. But clearly, that’s what the world thought, right?

  As more of her mental faculties returned, she eyed Flynn in front of her. He’d already stood up, and was in the middle of getting dressed into the uniform. He… hadn’t said a word. Had he even noticed she was here?

  “Um, hey Flynn.” Aria spoke up. God it was weird to get used to again, having the traditional means of communication returned to her. What's more, how easily it reminded her of the body she was forced back into. “I’m back, by the way.”

  “Welcome back,” He pinly responded, eyes fixed on the mirror as he got his tie ready.

  That felt awfully blunt from him. Had she done something? Was he mad about her ditching everyone this past week? It’s not as if he'd let anything like that show the night she first transformed.

  “You okay?” Aria asked. She’d want to know if one of her only friends was mad at her.

  “I’m fine. Just need to eat and get to css.” He answered. Again, somewhat bluntly.

  Sighing, Aria stood up and figured to do the same. Making her bed, finding her old clothes that were still in her closet. It looked like Flynn had also made his own bed while she was waking up. She had to assume that without her here, he must have picked up the sck in keeping their room tidy.

  As she was thinking this, the door opened and then shut. Flynn had left. He hadn’t even waited for her? She hurriedly finished getting herself ready and went to head out of the room.

  Flynn was already a dozen steps ahead as she left. Not in any hurry.

  Aria was beginning to wonder at this point if there was something she'd done to piss him off. Or better yet, maybe he was depressed over something? She had no idea what had been going on at Hanssen’s, after all.

  An idea popping into her head, Aria located the vending machine in the dorm hallway. The stock was practically full, which made it a cinch to grab some of her spare change to hook her friend up.

  Within a minute, she’d ran to catch up with her roommate. “Hey, I know what’ll cheer you up!” She shook the can of Red Bull near his ear. “Gives you wings, remember? Looks like you could use some.”

  She offered the can, but it wasn’t accepted. Flynn just continued walking, a calm gaze fixed ahead. “No thanks. It’s unhealthy to have energy drinks early in the morning.”

  Aria’s eyes went wide, stunned into silence. “Oh. You, uh, turning over a new leaf then?”

  “Yes.”

  It’s not like Aria wouldn’t be proud of her friend for abandoning an addiction, but this definitely felt sudden.

  As they walked down the stairs, the weird feeling in Aria’s stomach only grew. It was more than that that was different. She couldn't help but pause as she watched her friend walk down the stairs. Flynn’s posture, the way he expertly took each step. The way he hadn't even so much as looked at her while talking, and then there was his behaviour back in the dorm, too.

  All of this was very un-Flynn-like.

  “I know I already asked, but, are you sure you’re okay?” Aria hurriedly caught back up to him to ask. “Something’s different. You’re different.”

  “I’m fine,” He answered again. “I just need to make sure I get some breakfast and head to css on time.”

  This did not ease Aria’s worries. “Since when have you cared about css?” She asked, feigning a joking chuckle.

  “It’s what’s most important for my future.”

  “Did Sully rub off on you?”

  But he didn’t answer. Aria couldn’t keep the smile going any longer. “Flynn. Did something happen while I was gone? Why-?”

  They stepped through the doors to the cafeteria, at which point what Aria saw completely took her attention away from finishing the question.

  She stood still even as Flynn walked ahead into the eerily quiet hall. On both sides, she saw seats filled with her fellow students. All at their little tables or corners.

  Not a single one of them was speaking.

  The usual background noise from the cafeteria was gone, practically muted down to just the sounds of walking, eating and the cnging of silverware.

  This wasn’t the St. Hanssen’s cafeteria mood she remembered. None of them were bragging to their friends about something asinine. No one was loudly riffing on a buddy. Not a soul was trying to grab attention from their peers. She heard no ughs.

  After having spent almost a lifetime going to a school filled with nothing but loudmouth boys, Aria couldn’t help but feel disturbed.

  She walked by everyone. Many faces she recognized from her time spent here, faces that she’d gotten used to greeting every morning.

  “Um, morning, Archie.”

  “Hello, Adam.”

  “Gil? H-How are you doing?”

  “Morning, Adam.”

  She winced at her birthname being spoken, but that discomfort was only secondary to everything else.

  “Mack? Ray? You guys holding up?”

  But their expressions were as calm as the rest of them. “We’re fine, thank you for asking.” Mack answered.

  It wasn’t as if they were robots or anything. Something about their tones just sounded… dull. Like the excitement itself had been zapped out of them. Again, a far cry from the environment Aria had grown used to. From the cssmates she knew.

  Aria looked over the cafeteria once more. Was everyone like this? Why?! Was she the only one who wasn’t-?

  Realizing she’d lost sight of Flynn, she caught him walking to a table after having gotten himself a healthy snack. Healthy, the word repeated in Aria’s head. Not a single one of the boys were having the type of snacks she’d usually see them the most excited over. They all appeared to be having pin breakfasts, the unhealthiest ingredients probably being the butter smeared on some of their toasts.

  “Flynn, please. Why is everyone acting like this? Something is wrong here!”

  “Wrong? No one is doing anything wrong, everyone's following school guidelines.” He answered.

  “Why is that suddenly so important? From what I remember, teenagers liked having fun.” She argued back. “Besides, this is obviously more than that! None of them are even talking to each other!”

  Flynn sat down at his seat. “It’s not needed, it’s pointless.”

  “The heck do you mean ‘pointless’?!” Aria put her hands on the table. “None of what you’re saying makes any sense! No one was like this the st time I was here! You didn’t care about any of this before! What happened, Flynn?!”

  Flynn’s face winced, as if his trying to process something. Suddenly he leaned down and held a hand to his head, “I… don’t know.”

  It only bothered Aria even more to hear his answer.

  She looked to the side, and saw Scott sitting in a nearby seat. She almost didn’t realize it was him, his hair slightly more maintained and now without headphones over the back of his neck. Apparently everyone was also following dress code.

  “Scott, y-you’re more knowledgeable, right? Please, tell me something!”

  His focused stare shifted to the girl. “I’m sorry, but my days of spreading false information and baseless rumors are over, Adam.”

  Aria’s eyes furrowed, “What?”

  “I only ever lied for the sake of attention. For that, I'm very sorry.”

  “Um, g-good for you?” She responded. Wait, was he saying he lied about all those times where- wait, no that didn’t matter!

  “E-Enjoy breakfast, I guess.” She walked away, nerves on edge as she made her way through the cafeteria hall. This was wrong, all wrong! There had to be a reason for this!

  As her jog sped up to a dash, she bumped into another figure.

  “No running in the halls.”

  “Agh, sorry, I-” Wait, she recognized the voice of the taller boy. “Sully?”

  He looked down at her, but she could tell that his gaze felt different. The look of concern and brotherly care from her tutor was gone. “Hello, Aria. Welcome back.”

  “Sully, please. I don’t know what’s going on. Why is everyone acting differently?”

  He winced, mouth agape for a few seconds as the answer came to him. “The direction of the school has changed. But I... can't find a reason to care. To do something about it.”

  “Wh-What do you mean, you don’t?” Aria argued, “You’re the one who told me you wanted to make the world a better pce! Why wouldn’t you want to do anything?!”

  The stare that followed said enough. As if Sully didn’t want to answer, but knew he didn’t need to. Once more, she felt goosebumps return.

  “Someone did this.” She spoke back up. “Someone’s done this to the school. Who is it, Sully?!”

  But again he didn’t answer. Of course, it quickly became obvious to Aria that she didn’t need one. After all, there was only one potential root cause for something like this.

  Aria walked to the library in a rush. She felt a simmering anger, combined with confusion, the need for answers. If the situation she’d woken up to wasn’t caused by magic, then she didn’t know what anymore.

  The obvious suspect came to mind. The woman who had given her the body she desired in the first pce.

  She had the power to take away Aria’s voice, and change her entire body. Who’s to say what else she could do? It was the only thing that could make sense to her, right now!

  But opening the door, she was met with a surprising sight. Not of the older woman she was looking for. But of an older man.

  The librarian’s desk was empty, but off to the side was a familiar face rolling the cart, stocking books into the shelves.

  “...Grandpa?”

  The man’s gaze turned, and his expression shifted into a tearful smile. “Adam.”

  “Grandpa!” Without a second thought, she ran to his side, who immediately had his arms ready for an embrace. He was the only family she had here, away from home.

  “My boy, I’m so gd you’re okay!” He said, and Aria could swear he was holding back tears.

  The realization made the girl pull back in surprise. “Wait, you’re still you! Y-You’re not all weird like anyone else!” She could feel it, he didn’t feel different and uncanny the way her cssmates did.

  Mr. Andersen furrowed his brows. “Weird?”

  “Y-You know what I mean, right?” Aria stepped further back to gesture out into the hall. “You haven’t noticed? Everyone’s all… different! Like they’ve had a part of their souls sucked out!”

  His expression shifted to that of a sad realization. “Ah. Right, that. I could tell something was amiss, but…” he grabbed hold of the librarian cart again. Now empty, he strolled it to the librarian’s desk. “As you can see, I don’t quite have the influence I used to.”

  On the desk, facing Aria, she noted a new namepte. ‘C. Andersen.’ “You got demoted?”

  “That would be the short of it. Yes.”

  Aria’s gaze grew suspicious. This wasn’t adding up. “But, how? Why would-?” Then the answer quickly came to her. “...Rosalynn. The librarian. She did this.”

  After a heavy silence, Mr. Andersen confessed, “Yes.” He let out with a sigh. “I would assume you are already acquainted.”

  Aria shivered. How much did he know? “Wh… What happened?"

  Another handful of seconds of eye contact passed, as the former headmaster started his expnation. “Well, you remember how it began.”

  Aria recalled back, the st time she’d seen her grandfather had been the day her dorm room got raided.

  “You scared me half to death when you went missing that night. Even though you appeared the next day, you didn’t want to talk to me.”

  What? When she'd appeared? But she’d made the deal with Rosalynn and left for St. Marie’s that very night.

  “You look confused.”

  “I-It’s alright, continue.”

  “Well, naturally, your behaviour troubled me. But I knew I shouldn’t be getting too involved in a specific student’s life, so I tried to ignore it.”

  Thinking back, Sully had mentioned a doppelgangar to her back at the carnival. Was this about that? Why would there be a second version of her walking around?

  “...Then you disappeared again.”

  Aria gripped her fist in frustration.

  “After all that silence, I feared something more drastic had happened. I spent a portion of that evening with the police, but well, the town is small. There wasn’t much to search.”

  She understood what that meant. Maybe having a doppelgangar was part of the insurance to make sure her grandpa didn’t freak out about her disappearing, at least for a while? Because she saw where this story was going.

  “I was at a loss. Not just losing a student, but… well, you. Then all those rumors of what you may have been up to. I-I knew it'd be unthinkable for you, but...! Well, as my panic grew, I thought to myself that I’d be willing to do anything, to at least know you were safe.”

  Mr. Andersen breathed in, “That was when she appeared.”

  “Rosalynn.” Aria answered.

  “She came to me with this story, one hard to believe. About magic, about deals. We had only hired her to keep over our library, I thought the woman was insane.”

  She’d arrived at just the time he’d want her help the most. Just like with Aria. She grit her teeth as she listened, “And you… gave up your position?”

  She could tell he was ashamed of that fact, hesitating for a long second before answering with a nod. “That was how the conversation ended. I-I know how reckless it was. In my head, I justified it as such, that I did not deserve my position if I couldn’t keep my students safe. Especially my own family.” There was grief in his voice, the hand he held up to his face was trembling in his age.

  “Of course, I didn’t know she would fill in the void I left. That the contract I signed would work in such a manner.” He continued. “Nor did I think the school would change this much.”

  “What did you get?” Aria asked. “She made you give it up. But for what? Me?”

  Mr. Andersen closed his eyes, “Yes.” He let out a sigh. “Like I said, all I wanted was to guarantee your safety. She said she could do that. And that was what she did.”

  Aria furrowed her brows, “How…?” How was that part enforced? Could it really be that…?

  “She showed me a vision. Through her ball, I witnessed two students at a carnival.”

  Aria immediately knew when that had been. If that was what he’d seen though, then…

  “A boy, and a girl who looked remarkably like your mother once did, entering a ferris wheel.”

  Her hand shook. She found herself sitting down, trying to catch her breath and stop the tears from coming out. “All for that?”

  “She cimed that showing this was her honoring her end of the deal. I didn’t want to believe her, but in my heart, I knew I couldn’t deny it.” He sighed again, “I mean, why lie about it?”

  “...I’d already been gone for a week by that point.” Aria admitted. “She did the same with me, then led you on with some… fake me, I guess.”

  “That she did. I suspected foul py, in the aftermath.”

  All for what? A raise? Just to become the headmaster? There had to be more to it, just looking at the school as it currently was. But that was still beside the point.

  Neither of them could bring themselves to continue the conversation. Right now, sitting in front of the librarian’s desk. She felt the same distance she did when st confronted by her retive. When she’d missed the choir performance, due to the ‘hobby’ he would ter discover. One he had yet to address, which only became harder to ignore when he’d seen what she’d been up to in her absence.

  The silence spoke louder than words, Aria thought. Yet the exchange that followed only felt more deafening. “...I’m gd you’re okay.” But they were hollow. He was trying to dodge the subject. Pretend it didn’t exist.

  “I’m transgender, grandpa.” She bluntly uttered out.

  He met the statement with silence, an unsure expression.

  Aria gripped her chest, “These… These feelings, that I’ve tried trapping in my heart. They don’t go away! I wanted to hide it, so I could keep trying to be a grandson you could be proud of!” She felt the tears starting to flow. “But it’s… it’s just me. I don’t think I can compromise on who I am. I can’t be a grandson, it was pointless to start!”

  “...So that’s how it is…”

  “I-I was so scared!” She sobbed, “Of what was wrong with me! What people would think, Mom, Dad, and you! I just wanted to be normal!”

  Mr. Andersen stood up as she cried, stepping around the desk.

  “I’m sorry I’m not who I’m supposed to be!”

  He sat down at the chair beside hers, ying a gentle hand on her shoulder. “We’ll… figure this out.”

  She tried to look back at him through her tears, “Huh?”

  “This should have been a while coming. I wasn’t expecting this answer, but… I knew it had to be something,” He encouraged. “My chief regret is that I was unable to be there for you.”

  “What? No.” She wiped her tears. “It’s all my fault. This only happened because I did what I did, because I was so scared of myself. I got strung along, and now everyone’s acting like a zombie!” She gestured to outside the library.

  But her grandfather shook his head. “No. It’s my fault for not being there, not being ready to understand. As a grandfather, and headmaster. I let one role outweigh the other. When I lost you, and again when I caved to Rosalynn’s deal.”

  Aria let those words sink in, eyes drifting back over to the desk. “But… why is that wrong?”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “I get it. You wanted to protect me, because you promised Mom and Dad, and you love us. But you also want to protect the school and everyone else. Because that’s your job, and you love it.” She looked back at him. “Why can’t you love both?”

  In response, he let out a heavy sigh. “The world is complicated. Sometimes, you can’t choose two things at once.”

  “Well, I think the world’s an asshole.” She blurted out.

  To this, her grandfather gained a sudden smile, and ughed. “Where did you get that foul mouth?”

  “It’s true, isn’t it? Why does it have to be that way?” She questioned. Of course, this applied to her own struggle, too. She had just wanted to be a girl, and the world had decided to punish her for it. “It’s… unfair. I always bmed myself, I thought I was always being punished for something I did. But if these feelings aren’t wrong, then I just wonder why? What's the point of it all?”

  Mr. Andersen smiled warmly, “You’ve matured. You’ve grown into a fine young man.”

  “A-Actually, I think ‘young woman’ would probably be better here.” She corrected him.

  “R-Right, of course.” He shuffled awkwardly, before shifting his gaze to a wall. “Well, I’m sure Christ felt the same way, up on that cross.”

  Aria turned her head up to follow his eyes, at a cross hanging on the wall.

  “That he was transgender?” She snarked.

  Her grandfather huffed, “No, the punishment. Hunted down by the Romans, only for his virtue.”

  “They were just scared, weren’t they?” Aria questioned. She knew her religious history. His persecution had more to do with power than heresy, the way she saw it. “It was circumstance. Maybe it wouldn’t have happened if he was born in a different part of the world.”

  “But he persevered.” He argued back. “It did not die with him. His soul returned, ascended to heaven, his disciples spread the word, and the rest is history.”

  “You keep fighting,” I thought out loud. People have always had to face these types of obstacles, throughout history. But we’re all still here.

  “Thanks, grandpa,” I said, standing up. “I should get going now.”

  “I believe css has already started, you’re much too te already.”

  “No. I'm not going to css.” Aria walked away, before momentarily turning back to him. “I still need to talk to her. The one responsible for putting us through this."