AN: "Another MirrorMask story already?" you say? "Why, that's ri-cock-ulous! Does this girl have no life?!" No. I really don't. So what do I do instead? Why, entertain you, of course! Btw, this is gonna be a continuing story. So just sit back and enjoy the ride.

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"Valentine, give me the mask!" She thrusts her hand out to me urgently.

I am not a stagnant person. I fidget, jitter, drum my fingers, and occasionally even tap dance when I'm supposed to be standing still. I do not, however, stand still. I have too much energy surging through my body at any given moment. It happens when you spend most of your life expecting to run.

Now, for the first time in my life, I'm frozen in place.

I glance at the mirrormask for a moment. Perhaps being a waiter wouldn't be so bad. I mean, it's all balancing and reacting, really. Not all that different from juggling. And I won't be in the city. That's what I wanted from the beginning of all this darkness business, right?

But if I hand it over now, who knows what happens. Maybe things will go back the way they were before this fiasco. Then again, perhaps things will stay a crumpled mess. Either way, she still won't be here.

I could always cut my losses and jump through that window. But then she'd be trapped here. She'd die with this world. And if this is the world she created, would I die with it?

I realize now that I'm not very good at making split second decisions.

"Hurry up, there isn't much time!" She turns and looks at me with panic on her face. Now's as good a time as any.

I take a few steps towards her, weighing my options as I go, and finally hand it to her when I see the walls folding in on themselves.

Just as she places it on her face, everything goes black.

"It's over," I hear her say. "There's nothing left. She won."

There's silence. All I can see and feel is darkness. Is this what it's like to die? How...boring.

Suddenly, a square of light opens up in front of her. I catch a glimpse of...Helena? The princess? I don't know what to call her anymore. They're doubled in my sight, arguing. For a split second, I'm very confused and terrified. Then (anti?) Helena flies towards (real?) Helena and they melt together.

The girl falls to the floor next to me, asleep. The window is now blank. Nothing moves except for my fingers twirling around themselves as I try to figure out what the hell just happened.

Then, a rumbling sound. I look up to see the walls opening outwards, reforming themselves as the world becomes visible again. I choose a window that has reappeared and look at the surrounding land. A lot more...hilly than I remember it, but intact. It looks beautiful.

It makes me feel like someone punched my hopes and dreams in the throat.

I hear Helena...the princess, begin to stir. I look down at her and smile as she gazes at me, bleary eyed and confused.

"Well, well, well. Welcome back, Princess. You don't know me, but I'm a very important man." She stares, her mouth slightly agape. "You have a lot of explaining to do. But you can work all that out with your mother."

"What?" She's still half asleep. That is, until I sling her over my shoulder like a sack of sphinxes. Very angry sphinxes. "Hey! What are you doing?!" She pounds her fists on my back as I walk towards the door. "Put me down! I don't want to go home! No!"

I whistle cheerfully as I head down the road and wonder to myself if the queen will give me another "all the jewels I can carry".