Disclaimer: I do not own TNBC, nor the official characters and places involved. The OCs are my responsibility, though... Also, this was written back in July 2008. I really thought I'd uploaded this earlier... (I've made no changes since the original writing, so forgive the... roughness.)
A teenage vampire, ram demon, and the Mayor's eldest daughter were standing idly on the east side of Halloweentown's cemetery in August, seemingly waiting for something. But, as usual, not much was happening. Cyndi, the Mayor's orange-skinned and blonde-haired daughter, was examining her nails with a bored expression. Hitsuji, the ram demon and Cyndi's boyfriend, was leaning against a stone pillar and looking out in one direction. The vampire, Evita, had her eyes looking the other way, a folded piece of paper in her hand. After a few more moments of silence, Hitsuji opened his mouth.
"Are you sure it's east?"
"Yes." Evita said in a monotone.
"And that the cemetery-"
"Look at it yourself," Evita sighed, interrupting him, "if you really don't' trust I'm reading it right." She tossed the letter into the air in his direction.
"No, I have faith in what you say it says." he said as he caught it mid-air. "I just have doubt that it says what it truly means."
"What does it say, anyway?" Cyndi asked, her focus finally diverted to something else.
"You've read it before." he said.
"Well, I forgot." she replied innocently. He chuckled as he scanned the letter's fanciful writing for the information they were talking about.
"'Meet by the old open crypt on the east side of the cemetery.' That's all it says about the location."
"Are we sure this is east?" Cyndi asked again.
"Yes." both Hitsuji and Evita said at the same time.
"Just checking." she said defensively. "We've been sitting here for at least an hour."
"I don't think it's been quite that long." Evita commented.
"Well, it feels like it has…" A slight breeze picked up for a few moments, then died.
"That happens a lot here, doesn't it?" Hitsuji remarked.
"Yup." Cyndi continued. The wind picked up again, a little stronger.
Evita lifted her head slightly and closed her eyes, smiling. "Mmm… feels nice…" she said as her short hair was blown about.
Cyndi shifted beside half of a pillar. "Feels a bit cool to me." Hitsuji started to offer his jacket, but she waved her hand. "It's not that bad."
As the wind died down again, Cyndi happened to glance up at the branches of a nearby tree. A piece of paper was caught in the outer twigs. "Hey guys; looky there." She said nonchalantly as she pointed to it.
"So?" Hitsuji said, "It's a random piece of paper. They tend to fly around when wind blows."
Cyndi stuck out her tongue. "I know that, silly."
"It wasn't there earlier." Evita said as she started walking to the tree.
"The wind probably blew it over just now. Nothing important."
"Hey, Hitsuji; come over here and see if you can get it out." Evita continued, ignoring him.
"You can't reach it?" he said as he came over.
"No, I probably could but you can easier." She said as he reached up into the branches.
"You just don't wanna work, do you?" He said accusingly as Cyndi joined them by the tree. Evita stuck her tongue out at him while he shook the branches, finding he couldn't quite reach the paper. As it came loose, it fell to the ground a few feet away. Evita and Cyndi both lunged after it, wanting to get to it first. Leaning forward, Evita happened to reach it first, and snatched the paper away from Cyndi's grip. Cyndi reached out, but then lost her balance. Evita straightened up with the paper, and Cyndi fell flat out in front of her.
After a second, Cyndi proclaimed, "Not fair! You have longer arms!" Evita just stuck her tongue out again, smirking. Hitsuji laughed as he helped Cyndi up. "Well," she said, impatiently brushing herself off, "aren't you going to read it, Evi?"
Evita was already reading to herself. "Well… you're not gonna like it…" She said skeptically.
"What do you mean?"
"It says that they can't make it."
"What?!" Cyndi practically screeched. Evita cringed for a moment and Cyndi plucked the paper out of her hands, reading it herself.
"Why?" Hitsuji asked, knowing better than to try to read over Cyndi's shoulder.
"...Complications of some sort on their end, it said." Responded Evita, shrugging. "No specifications."
Cyndi tried throwing the paper on the ground, huffy with frustration. Unfortunately, as she'd not crumpled it, it merely drifted downward, adding to her irritation. So she gave it a nice kick before it landed. "Not again!" Cyndi growled, exasperated.
"Actually, Cyndi," Hitsuji began carefully.
Evita continued flatly for him. "Last time, you read the date wrong."
Flustered, Cyndi argued. "That's not my fault! The handwriting's so fancy that you can't tell a 5 from a 6."
Hitsuji started to disagree, but thought better of it and let her rant.
"And, how do we know we can trust this letter to be from the same one?" She said, a glimmer of triumph in her voice.
"Cyndi… it's in the same handwriting. And it addresses us." Hitsuji said slowly. Cyndi paced, trying to find something to hurl her temper at while it still flared.
"Well, it could've been from the little brats' club! They're always trying to get on our nerves…"
"No." Evita said, rolling her eyes. "You've seen the handwriting; I don't think any of them could manage a single sentence that way. Besides, the words are too sophisticated for them, even for a prank. I don't think they own a dictionary."
"You know what?" Cyndi declared, stopping in her tracks, "It doesn't matter anymore. If this person is so hard to meet up with just to get a deal started, I say forget about it!" Evita raised an eyebrow. Cyndi was always quick to anger; why should something that had been her own idea be any different? Hitsuji moved to follow her as she stormed off.
"Cyndi- just one more try at a meeting? You know you wanted to- Just wait a moment- Wait!"
Evita chuckled to herself; Hitsuji was nicer to Cyndi than she deserved credit for. But oh well; so was she. She just didn't worry about her feelings as much as he did at times. Shaking her head, she picked up the note. It felt cold, but not from the ground; she hadn't really noticed before. Evita thought that this probably would not be the last they'd hear from their would-be employer, though she wasn't sure how she knew.
She looked once more in the direction she thought the wind had come from, bringing the letter. She may have been acting a little wary, but wondered what kind of plot was being set up around them. Whatever it was, it didn't feel to bode well…
Cyndi and Evita were walking around the cemetery one evening the next week, talking casually.
"So, what is it you're planning for your sister again?" Evita asked. In the never-ending battle between siblings, it was Cyndi's time to get back at Alice, after she had let a bucket full of leeches loose in the shower while Cyndi was in it, messing up her hair. The red splotches and loss of blood she could deal with… but the leeches just left her hair a mess.
"I'm still working on a plan, but I think I've got a good idea…" Cyndi trailed off, and they stopped walking. She looked at the stones nearby suspiciously, and Evita made a motion at a large stone cross to the right. Cyndi smirked knowingly, then slowly sauntered near it.
Suddenly, she pounced, coming back up from behind the grave with two struggling forms in her hands. Held by the scruff of their shirts, their wild flailing was in vain. Now out of their hiding place, the pair could easily see that it was Lock and Barrel, the devil boy and skeleton imitator.
"Let me GO!" Lock yelled furiously as his mask fell off and he thrashed about, his arms too short to reach over to his captor. Barrel struggled as well, though with less yelling. Cyndi watched their pathetic efforts impassively.
"Yeah… Right."
"If you don't let me go right now, you'll regret it! I'll put regurgitated bug entrails in your hair, and-" Cyndi glared at him and shook his whole body.
"I'd like to see you try." She growled menacingly.
"Besides, why were you over there anyway?" Evita asked. Cyndi stopped shaking him so he could answer. Barrel had stopped resisting as he saw what happened to Lock, though his eyes still looked unhappy.
"What's it matter to you?" Lock said after he regained some stability.
"It matters if you were eavesdropping on us." Evita commented as she walked over and sat on a short gravestone. Barrel took off his mask.
"Why would we want to eavesdrop on girls?" he said with a slight snicker. Cyndi rolled her eyes at their immaturity.
"Because someone might have bribed you to find out what might be in store for her; eh? Am I close?" Barrel looked the other way, trying to look clueless; Lock just crossed his arms and glared in the other direction. Evita laughed in the charming trill that was uniquely hers as she tilted her head back slightly. The boys knew she was laughing at them.
Cyndi smirked before continuing. "Well, you can just tell that little monster that her attempts at learning my secrets are as pathetic as she is." She dropped them on the ground heavily. They gathered themselves together quickly, Lock grabbing his mask and subconsciously wiping it off, and ran off. "Next time, try not to be so obvious!" She called after them. "Stupid little brats…" Cyndi muttered lightly as she shook her head, turned away and walked off again.
"You know that they aren't always a pain." Evita said smoothly as she joined her. "They give us a good laugh."
Cyndi smiled a bit. "True."
"They could be great scarers if they tried."
"Yeah, but they'd never get fully recognized for it 'cause of how often they practice on citizens."
As they neared a mausoleum, they tried resuming their conversation.
"What were you saying before?" Evita said. Before Cyndi could answer, she saw another dark form at the old chamber's corner and sighed.
"Don't tell me that everyone is trying to keep me from talking with my best friend!" The figure chuckled in the shadows.
"Nonsense; I would never come between you and your 'girl talk', if only to keep you from trying to explain it to me." He stepped out and smirked. "Is this a bad time?" Cyndi grinned as she saw Hitsuji come towards them.
"Of course not; it's never a bad time to see you." she said with a smile. Evita rolled her eyes at the couple.
"Ever since you two hooked up, the atmosphere's been all lovey-dovey when you're around each other." Cyndi wrapped an arm around Hitsuji's shoulder and leaned backwards, looking questioningly at Evita.
"Would you rather we hate each others' guts?" she asked innocently. Evita laughed.
"I don't think that's possible." Hitsuji helped Cyndi back up.
"If I am interrupting something, I'm sorry; I'll go-" Evita cut him off with a wave of her hand.
"No, that's alright. It's not really that important; I'll just leave you two alone for now." She turned to go, and then looked back over her shoulder, raising her eyebrow. "Unless that's a bad idea?" Cyndi laughed.
"Don't worry Evi, we'll promise to be good."
"Or bad, depending on your point of view."
Evita laughed as she strolled off.
Cyndi walked over to some steps up to the mausoleum's roof, Hitsuji following.
"So, what have you been up to, Hitsuji?" she said casually. He held out his hand as she held it for some extra support as she went up the narrow steps, him staying on the ground.
"Oh, you know; helping out with the Halloween preparations, practicing my scaring, same as usual." She sighed as she left his hand and walked above him on the crypt's roof.
"Not much different with me, I'm sorry to say." She laid down and look down on him. "Don't you wish something would happen sometimes?" Hitsuji leaned back against a grave and looked up at her.
"I think that things are beautiful as they are, especially since we started going out."
"Aww, that's so sweet!" she cooed, then snorted a bit as she laughed. "But you know what I mean."
"Yes; too bad that the other meeting never happened." He looked back down, and suddenly seemed to have something in his hands. Cyndi couldn't quite see, and perked up.
"Hey, what 'cha got there?" She couldn't see it, but he grinned.
"Something for you." He brought his head back up and held up his hand; in it was a dead red rose. The flowers' petals were dry and fragile, and the stem had become a thin twig. She gazed at it fondly.
"It's horridly beautiful, Hitsuji!" Before she could get up from leaning over the roof, he walked over and handed it to her as she reached out. "I love it." she exclaimed happily as she very carefully caressed the petals.
"I know that you prefer black, but I think that red looks better with you and your personality. Romantic, beautiful, and fiery as well. Though, if that's because you're angry or not…" He shrugged. She looked at the rose a bit longer, then swung her legs over the roof and jumped down. She landed on her feet beside Hitsuji, but then somewhat lost her balance. He reached out and steadied her.
"You should know to be careful when you jump from high places."
She smiled at him, reveling in the feeling. "But I know you'll always be there to catch me."
A shadowy figure stood beside a tree a ways off, watching the couple.
"Fools…" she muttered under her breath, her hand gripping the trunk a little tighter. Then, exhaling a rough sigh, she turned to leave. Trailing her hand up along the tree as she turned, a trail of ice was left behind. The crystals expanded, growing up and along the branches. In a little amount of time, the whole tree was frozen, encased in clear, shimmery ice crystals. The figure, however, was long gone.
Hitsuji was meandering near the lake a week later, doing nothing in particular. He was alone. A few days ago, he had proposed to Cyndi. She'd enthusiastically accepted and wore the pin he'd given her constantly. It was a skull and crossbones that would just fit in her palm, made from real bone and two onyx stones inverted for eyeholes. Evita, of course, had also been excited that he'd 'finally done it', and had insisted on celebrating. She was always one to love a party.
Now he was tired, and Cyndi had had to go back home. Evita was who-knew-where currently, and the lake was a nice creepy place to relax. He remembered he'd also wanted to come over here earlier for some reason, but…
"Well, this is a surprise." A feminine voice said. Oh yes; the date and place of the new rendezvous from the letter had been to here. So, their mystery employer had finally decided to show up.
"I was expecting someone to come, but… only you?" She sounded disappointed, at best. His boots gnashed their teeth a bit, agitated that they couldn't locate the source of the new sound. He softly urged them to be quiet; he didn't want to upset the owner of the voice if he were to be the only one open for negotiation.
"My friends would have been here," he stated, "but their responsibilities have called them away." It was mostly true; Cyndi had been taken for tasks, but she wouldn't have come anyway; she still didn't like the fact that the previous meetings had been duds, and didn't let grudges slide easily. But their prospective boss needn't know that.
"If they couldn't come, why should you bother?" she asked disdainfully as she finally revealed herself. Hitsuji was a little surprised; she looked rather human except for her blue-tinted skin and white hair, and even that wasn't terribly strange. The blue tips added some color, along with her dress, but not much. Her icy glare was just about the only thing that proved she was inhuman, and it was focused on him now. It unsettled him slightly; why should she look at him that way when they hadn't even met before? Yes, it might have been because of the town and area, but she didn't look familiar…
"I came to inquire as to if you still wanted our assistance." he replied.
"No." she said, turning a different direction, "Neither yours nor the blonde girl's." The last part caught Hitsuji's attention, especially since she'd said it with such contempt.
"Why just us?" he asked cautiously. She scoffed slightly, not turning back.
"You're engaged, aren't you?" The question caught him off-guard.
"…Yes; we are. But, why should that make any difference to you?"
She laughed dryly. "It's not the engagement that that plagues me, but what it symbolizes."
"And what could it be that so offends you?" He asked, somewhat confused. She snapped her head around to glare at him, with ten times the force it'd been before. Hitsuji actually felt a cold gust of wind accompany it.
"That you 'love' her." She said it with such malice that it sounded more like a murder accusation, had he been in a human court.
"…Love?"
"Yes, 'love'; that flittery little feeling you think you get when you see her." She was facing him fully now.
"What do you mean 'think' I get? I know-"
"Wrong!"She interjected, stepping forward. "You know nothing right now! Not only are you too impertinent, but ignorant as well. You don't know hardly anything about life in general, much less love." He didn't notice, but it was rapidly growing colder around them.
"I'm sorry, but I beg to differ-"
"Oooh; you 'beg'? She repeated in mock sympathy, "You 'beg' to differ? Why don't you 'beg' to get married? Or 'beg' to be imprisoned; 'beg' to be blinded?" She stepped slowly around him, continuing. "How about you 'beg' to be indifferent? Or, maybe, you 'beg' to die."
"..Die?"
"Good boy, you're catching on quicker, I think. Yes, die; you've quite earned it by now." Hitsuji entered a defensive stance.
"I did no such-"
"Of course you did!" She barked, silencing him. "The moment you asked her hand you did!" She stopped and made a visible effort to calm herself, then lowered her voice.
"Of course, I must admit these things were done in ignorance. I now ask; what do you think 'love' is?"
Hitsuji was unsure how to answer this seemingly mad woman.
"Love… is an exceptional emotion, which overcomes all things in its path. It is sincere and true, and-"
"Lies!" She shrieked, "Elaborate lies!" He looked a bit startled, but kept his composure.
"Everything you're taught about love is a lie, a filthy myth to cover the truth." She paced, closer now as well. "Love is really a monster, a carnivorous sore that will devour anything and everything it touches. It gives you feelings of joy, euphoria to addict you. Then, when it's had its way and its fill, it crushes you in pain and despair, seemingly incomparable to anything else. It will do so again and again, without mercy. It is voracious, unrelenting." She clenched her hand into a tight fist. "Love is deceitful. Love is cruel, and unforgiving in its dealings."
Her face then grew strangely softer; she released her fist and looked straight at him. "This is why it is wrong to give this 'emotion' reign in our lives, or even a place among it. 'Love' is nothing but a parasite, though many are fooled to so believe otherwise. Now; break off your engagement, and you and your friends can help me free the world of love."
Hitsuji had remained quiet during her speech, and was now evaluating what to say. His back was to the lake, her in front of him.
"I… am sorry for your opinion." He finally said carefully, "I am not able to… take on such an endeavor. I appreciate your consideration in offering, but I must decline." She sighed.
"I'd thought as much. I was going at least try to save you, but love has already sunken its teeth in you." Hitsuji began to leave, but found she blocked his way in any viable direction.
"If I'm going to conquer love, I can't let even the tiniest bit survive." Her tone was low.
He looked quickly to the sides, realizing far too late she had the advantage. She waved her hand, shooting a few slightly large icicles at him. He jumped to a side, protecting himself with his arms. He brushed one that made contact off, but it left a clean tear along his jacket arm. He was somewhat surprised to see a little blood, as well. She waved again with the other hand, and he knew he'd have to go in the water to avoid a certain hit.
Jumping backwards, he expected to land in some shallow water. However, as he abruptly landed on ice, he slipped and fell back, landing on his back. While he tried to gather himself, she laughed. Taking advantage of the moment's distraction, he glanced at the lake as he got to his feet. The ice only went a short distance from the shore, just around where they were.
"Is that all your 'powerful love' can do?" She jeered.
Hitsuji stood up and, glancing over his shoulder occasionally, backed away. He might be ready to run, but he wasn't always the best fighter. He had a solid frame, but that in itself couldn't help him much.
"So now it's 'try to run away'?" She continued mocking him, following him out. As she stepped onto the ice, it became more solid. "Sorry, but I don't think that plan will work out too well; I doubt you could swim fast enough to escape me." With every other step, the ice grew outward over the lake more. Hitsuji kept an eye on it to make sure he didn't get too close to the edge, and followed it while watching the woman approach.
"You know, I could kill you quickly; just get it over and done with," She said, "seeing as you did have the graces to at least be polite about it." She shrugged. "But, then again, that doesn't really count for much in my book."
They were about a third of the way towards the middle of the lake now, farther from shore but still visible.
"Besides, you might still have a chance to see the light." Though the ice was longer, it still wasn't much wider. However, Hitsuji took his chances and lunged out back towards shore, as far from her as possible.
Suddenly, his head stopped as he smacked into a large and dense piece of ice. It was only at his head level, though, so his body swung under and he fell backwards again, hitting his head on the ice.
"Of course, you could do without being so obvious about your actions." She smirked and stated, "And get some balance."
Hitsuji was glad for his hard skull and horns, but that didn't mean nothing hurt. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to hold his face or the back of his head, so just got up as quickly as he could.
She glanced at the ice to move it his way, barely exerting any effort. He clutched his bleeding nose with one hand and ran from the block. She watched and chuckled, then let her face fall.
"This is pointless."
One of Hitsuji's feet fell through the ice, and the block suddenly dropped. Before he could haul his foot out, the ice under his other foot cracked and gave way. He plunged down in the water to at least his chest, then the ice formed itself back around him. One of his arms was trapped under, and the ice was too strong to break. Then he saw the block that'd been chasing him break into at least a hundred small icicles, which then all arranged themselves around his head and neck. He dared not move, else endanger his throat from being pierced. Her stoic yet angry face glared down at him as she leaned over slightly.
"I could end all this nonsense right now." She said as an icicle pressed itself against his flesh. She blinked, and her countenance changed. "But; wait… Oooh, I like that idea…"
She backed up a moment, as did the icicles, and she nodded to herself in thought. "Yes; oh, this could be fun."
She turned to Hitsuji with a smile. "You may not die after all. Well, at least not immediately." Hitsuji looked at her strangely; what was she on about now? And what was with her moods? One moment she was calmly talking, another she was furiously yelling and attacking, the next she was laughing!
"How would you like it if, instead of dying, you were merely in a 'stasis' of sorts?" She continued, "Yes, that would seem contradictory to my purpose, but I'm willing to try an experiment."
The icicles melted away, and Hitsuji felt he could breathe easier.
"If your… 'girlfriend' can find you," She said, having some trouble with the word 'girlfriend', "and awaken you without killing you, then I might to give 'love' a little more respect. Though it is highly unlikely that I'll do so, I might as well give it a shot; see how far she's willing to go for 'love'." She laughed, and Hitsuji tried asking, 'what do you mean 'without killing me'?'
However, he merely uttered "What-" when a terrible pain attacked him and cut him off, like an icy fist began squeezing his chest. He felt constrained, and his blood began to feel like thorny fire raking through his veins.
"Just thought I'd give you a little preview of what will happen to your body while you're still conscious and can feel it." She said, still smiling. Hitsuji couldn't' be exactly sure at the moment, but all of him below the water slowly stopped moving and went numb. She watched without a word and with a grin.
Then, the ice holding him broke; he saw that what'd been beneath was now encased in a solid block of ice. And it was working its way up.
He bobbed in the water as the ice tried to float, his one free arm flailing to get balance. She looked up, thoughtful for a moment, and then made some choppy movements with her hands. The ice-block surrounding him chipped away to a more form-fitting shape, and he sunk under the water.
As the ice moved up his neck and face, and water encircled him, Hitsuji helplessly looked up. He was so tired… She was still watching him with a smile.
The pain numbed as he drifted, both in reality and consciousness. His last thoughts were of Cyndi as he closed his eyes and the ice covered his head.
She watched the ice finish covering the boy.
"That's one down." Then she saw that he was only slightly still sinking.
Looking up towards the shore to pick out a suitable rock to throw in and attach him to, she saw a girl on land staring at her. It was the vampire girl that hung out with the couple. She began walking towards the girl.
Evita had only come recently; just long enough to see a strange-yet-ordinary-looking lady stand over Hitsuji half-submerged in ice on the lake and watch him, no, make him go underwater. He wasn't coming back up on his own, she knew.
When the lady saw her and stared coming towards her, she didn't know what to do. She wasn't a terrible fighter, but she didn't think she was ready to take on her. The lake was partially frozen over, Hitsuji had gone under without effort, and the woman didn't look like she'd even broken a sweat. Evita could keep composure of herself, but she wasn't confident of doing much else.
"Hey;" The woman said, almost on land again. Evita stayed silent. "I think you might want to go and tell your blonde friend that 'her man' isn't coming back tonight." Evita watched her walk among some rocks.
"What's your name?" Evita asked.
"Me? I'm Crystalline. What about you?"
"…Evita." She said cautiously. It was silent for a few moments; no one moved.
"Well?" Crystalline said, in a more serious tone, "Go on then." She made a shooing motion with one hand.
Evita backed away a few steps, then turned and walked off. Crystalline watched her for a bit, then turned back to the rocks. Evita made sure she wasn't looking and hid behind a tree.
Crystalline picked out a large rock, at least half as large or more than herself. Forming a large ice-holder around it, Crystalline had the ice pick up the rock and started floating it just above the ice on the lake over to the hole. It was a bit harder, as the rock was heavy, but Crystalline got it over to the hole without much problem. Evita watched her encase the rock in ice and quickly drop it in.
As it fell, Crystalline quickly bonded the ice around Hitsuji to the rock, made his thicker, and then watched them drop beyond sight into the murky depths. Her smile became calmer as she watched.
"I'd say I didn't enjoy having to liberate the world," She said to herself, "but I'd be lying."
Evita went back and told Cyndi what had happened, but she didn't believe her at first. After a day or two, Cyndi finally realized that Evita was right. Almost immediately she went to her father the Mayor and begged him to bring Hitsuji back up. Being as high-strung as he was, the Mayor immediately became frantic and began to order search parties to be made. Jack stepped in though, and calmed the Mayor; he brought in some reason and convinced him that perhaps the boy had just gotten lost or something of the sort. Besides, Halloween was coming up soon; he should focus on that.
However, after Halloween passed and there was still no sign of Hitsuji, Jack and the Mayor decided to at least give a look around in the lake. They could find no sign Hitsuji or of anything pointing to his disappearance.
Cyndi tried to rationalize some sort of compromise to prove she and Evita were right, and that Hitsuji was still under the water. But Jack and even the Mayor didn't have high hopes for her predictions; even if she was right, by the time he melted and got to the surface he'd probably have drowned and be over-half-eaten, if even recognizable. Yet if he was, the damage done to tissues by being frozen was still basically irreversible, and it would be hard to re-animate a body that damaged. If, past all else, it was still possible, there was a high chance that he wouldn't be able to be reanimated, or at least with the same mind, since he originally came from Halloweentown anyway.
Crystalline tried approaching with the same offer the next year, but was instead attacked by Cyndi (Evita recognized her, and Crystalline openly admitted to it). Evita attempted to be a voice of reason or compromise, but Cyndi wouldn't listen to a word of it. Crystalline was intrigued with Cyndi's passion, though held her off with almost no effort. She then left, and has showed up periodically, but not often enough to satisfy Cyndi or be recognizable in Halloweentown.