**Chapter 52/1 – The Collective "Time Chest"**
1486.
Each one placed a small piece of themselves in a chest that Elara froze in an eternal second:
- Joker: a torn playing card (the Joker)
- Harley: a nail from the pink hammer
- Sylvara: a seed that only blooms with tears of happiness
- Lirien: a crystallized silver tear
- Rina: a strand from her tail
- Kuroe: a Loki rune drawn with her own blood
- Astrid: a baby tooth that fell during a fight
- Marina: a pearlescent blue scale
- Lysithea: a lock of her own silver hair
- Mirella: an arrow feather
- Graciela: a strand of dwarven mustache
- Elara: a piece of her broken celestial armor
Sealed with 13 seals (one from each).
Rule: it only opens if one day someone forgets that we are family.
The chest is buried beneath the central tree in the garden.
**Chapter 52/2 – The Day Everyone Protected Someone**
1485. A group of slave hunters appeared in the village wanting to "buy the exotic girls."
Each character protected another:
- Joker froze the leader with shadows and whispered "good night"
- Harley crushed another's knee with an illusory hammer
- Sylvara made carnivorous flowers swallow two
- Lirien sang a prophecy that made three give up on living
- Rina bit one in the jugular
- Kuroe drove the rest insane with runes
- Astrid broke backs like twigs
- Marina drowned two in superheated steam
- Elara froze time and positioned everyone for a simultaneous strike
- Lysithea, Mirella, and Graciela finished off the rest
The first time the 13 fought as a single machine.
They returned home covered in blood… and hugged each other for an hour without saying a word.
**Chapter 52/3 – The "Secret Club" That Became Everyone's**
1486. The "girls only" club was invaded by Joker and Harley.
Instead of kicking them out, they changed the name to "Secret Club of the 13."
New rules:
- Every Friday at midnight
- Whoever arrives last gets tickled until they cry
- Mandatory to bring a story or secret
- It always ends in a human pile on the floor
Even Lysithea, Mirella, and Graciela joined.
The attic became the most sacred place in the orphanage.
**Chapter 52/4 – The Oath of the Marks**
1485. One night, all the awakened marks glowed at the same time for no apparent reason.
Everyone ran to the garden.
Joker spoke first:
— The marks are speaking.
They want a new oath.
Each one touched their own mark and spoke a sentence:
Joker: "My madness belongs to you all."
Harley: "My hammer protects this family."
Sylvara: "My flowers only bite those who hurt you."
Lirien: "My future is ours."
Rina: "My tails are a shield."
Kuroe: "My chaos obeys only us."
Astrid: "My strength carries everyone."
Marina: "My steam warms hearts."
Elara: "My time stops here with you."
Lysithea: "My love is eternal."
Mirella: "My arrows guard everyone's backs."
Graciela: "My axe cuts any bad fate."
The marks glowed so brightly they illuminated the entire garden.
The pact was sealed.
**Chapter 52/5 – The Day Everyone Drew the Future**
1486. A rainy afternoon.
Each one drew "what we'll be like in 100 years."
- Joker and Harley: still children, sitting on circus thrones with everyone around them.
- Sylvara: everyone in an infinite garden of giant flowers.
- Lirien: everyone holding hands under an aurora borealis.
- Rina: everyone with fox tails.
- Kuroe: everyone with glowing runes, laughing in chaos.
- Astrid: her carrying the world on her back with everyone on top.
- Marina: everyone swimming in an ocean of warm steam.
- Elara: everyone frozen in an eternal hug.
- Lysithea: everyone old… but still hugging (even though they're eternal).
They glued all the drawings on the hall wall.
Collective title: "Our future starts now."
**Chapter 52/6 – The First Time Graciela, Mirella, and Lysithea Trained with the Children**
1486. The three nuns decided to "join the game."
Graciela fought Astrid (and lost on purpose in the end).
Mirella shot arrows with Sylvara and Lirien.
Lysithea used her pink shadow wings to fly with Marina and Rina.
Result: the children won… but let the nuns win one round "so it wouldn't hurt their egos."
In the end, a human pile with the three adults in the center being crushed by 10 laughing children.
Graciela, buried:
— That's what family is, you little pests!