The tension in that meeting was so thick it had its own presence in the room. Never before in Rogueport had a summit of such importance taken place. Three rival gangs, who had been warring on the streets of Rogueport and beyond, were finally burying the hatchet. For the past nine days the Pianta Syndicate, the Robbo Gang, and Count Bleck's minions had met in the inn, hammering out an agreement that would end the gang war and make life a bit easier for the citizens of that poor, crime-ridden port town.

Ever patient, Count Bleck had led the negotiation for days on end as they all set territory limits, agreed on ground rules, and sacrificed a little with the promise of gaining more than they had now. Neither had wanted to give an inch at first, but after hours and hours, days upon days, Count Bleck carefully worked out a treaty.

Finally it was finished. Count Bleck, Ishnail, and Frankie sat back around the table as Nastasia picked up the treaty. It was written in chicken scratch, re-written, crossed out and edited dozens of times on each of the many pages.

Nastasia cleared her throat, adjusted her glasses, and picked up the first sheet. "This agreement is between the three parties: The Pianta Syndicate, the Robbo Gang, and Count Bleck. This is to further the territory restrictions between the three parties. Point the first: the West Side is exclusively under the control of the Piantas, while the East is under control of the Robbos. In exchange for territory rights to the train station, the Piantas agree to give up the back alleys..."

Count Bleck pulled down the brim of his hat. Negotiations had been tough; even though Rogueport had nothing he wanted, he couldn't just give up everything at the drop of his white top hat. No, he'd had to make it seem like he actually had a stake in this. If they had known he wanted nothing, they would not have taken his concessions as anything valuable. But they thought he was a rival gang like them, and had believed that ever since he began on this Make-The-World-Better mission he and his minions had been working at for years now.

But was the world better? Count Bleck had been reading the pages of the Beige Prognosticus, the book where he wrote down the past to make guidance for the future, about the many missions he had sent his minions on. Some had been successful. Some had been failures. Most of them had been small scale. Rescuing a baby penguin. Returning the sky to the sky. Relationship counseling. Some had been big, but they were few and far between. And, of course, there were the good old-fashioned failures.

This, though, was something big. Ending gang wars in Rogueport would make a difference in not just the life of a mother and child, or an isolated village. It would make life better for an entire city. A city... then maybe an entire dimension?

"Are there any questions at this time?"

Count Bleck was snapped out of his trance by Nastasia's voice as she set the document down.

"No, I got nuttin'," said Frankie.

"I'm good," said Ishnail. "Sounds like it's on the up-and-up."

"Very well. I suggest we break for the day. I'm going to re-copy this document into the final draft. Tomorrow we're going to meet here at the inn and sign it. Each of you will leave with a copy. And that will be it."

"Sounds good."

Frankie and Ishnail left the inn, giving each other the side-eye but not looking outwardly hostile. Count Bleck slumped further down in his chair, closing his eyes. "We did it," he murmured.

"Not quite," said Nastasia. "I wouldn't relax until the treaty is signed."

"What difference will that make? There's no built-in enforcement. Signing the document won't cinch anything. It's up to them to both agree that it's easier to make concessions and co-exist than it is to constantly be fighting."

"That's true," said Nastasia, "but they still might pull out of the deal-"

"If they pull out tonight or next week, it'll be the same; Rogueport is back to square one. I honestly believe both of them are as tired of the fighting as everyone else is."

"I hope you're right," said Nastasia.

Count Bleck stretched out his hands. "Count Bleck is hungry," he announced. "I'm going to find my wife and we'll find a classy establishment for dinner."

"You might have to leave the dimension for that," Nastasia remarked.

Count Bleck got up and began heading out himself. Nastasia followed closely behind him. "It feels good, though, doesn't it?" said Count Bleck.

"Accomplishing something like this? Yes, it does."

"Not just something, Nastasia. Peace. Cooperation. Mutual understanding."

"I wouldn't go that far."

"Don't you think? In five years time, what do you think Rogueport will be like if the gang war never starts up?"

"There will still be gangs. There will still be crime."

"Unless this is the first step to dismantling the establishment entirely."

Nastasia regarded him curiously. "You don't really think..."

"Count Bleck has many ideas about how this may go. And perhaps he can think of several ways to quietly reach his hand in and give fate a little push..."

They opened the door, and Count Bleck collided with a figure who was just pushing the door open to come in.

"Pardon me!"

"'Ey, watch where yer goin'!"

Count Bleck straightened his hat and dusted off his cape as he moved aside. "After you, of course."

"Huh. How noble of you."

Count Bleck blinked, as he for the first time focused on the figure he had hit. It was a red-shelled Koopa with black triangle shades, not too different from every other red-shelled bad koopa. But Count Bleck recognized that voice all too well.

"K. Man Koopa," said Count Bleck in his even, diplomatic tone. He almost said something to the extent of, "Nice to see you again," but remembering their last encounter he thought the better of it.

"Count Bleck," said K. Man. "Never thought I'd see your ugly mug again."

They stared at each other, neither one of them sure what the next move in this case should be. Given that during their last encounter, K. Man had had his Magikoopa friend brainwash Count Bleck into being their amnesiac slave as punishment for trying to destroy all of existence, there wasn't a lot of precedent in how a reunion between two people in their positions should go.

At last, K. Man spoke: "Heard you're putting an end to the gangs fightin' each other in Rogueport. Settin' up some neutral territory, too."

Count Bleck nodded. "Yes. It's part of my attempt to drastically reduce the overall crime rate in this city."

There was another uncomfortable pause. Nastasia glanced between the two, wondering if she should intervene, but holding back.

"You know that doesn't change a thing," said K. Man at last. "You're scum. You've always been scum, and you'll always be scum, because only scum is capable of doing what you did, and once you're scum you can never come back from that."

Voice tight, Count Bleck replied, "I'm sorry you feel that way."

Satisfied, K. Man turned and went up to the bar. Count Bleck passed through the doorway, trembling.

Once they were outside, Count Bleck ducked into the alley behind the main square. "That was absolutely uncalled for," said Nastasia as she trailed him. "You want me to go back there and brainwash him? I can pencil that in for right now..."

"No." Count Bleck's voice cracked. "It wouldn't be right."

"Count Bleck...?" Nastasia quickened her step until she was beside him. Count Bleck stopped and put his hand against the wall, leaning into it and covering his face with his other hand. "Count? Are you...? Look, you shouldn't let him get to you like that."

"I know, and... I usually don't... but Count Bleck..." Count Bleck sounded a bit like he was out of breath. "I'm sorry, but I thought accomplishing something like this might get rid of it."

"Get rid of what?"

"The belief that he's right."

Nastasia looked quickly up at Count Bleck. "He's not right. You know that."

"It doesn't feel that way," said Count Bleck. "Nastasia, what he just said is what I try every day not to tell myself. And I fail." Count Bleck looked at her. It was clear he was trying his hardest not to cry. "Do you know how hard it is to live knowing you did what I did? For the reasons you did it?"

"Yeah, but..."

"I know Mimi tells herself it isn't her fault, that she was obeying my command and she trusted me. O'Chunks, too. So now I have to have that guilt on top of me, too, knowing I manipulated two trusting people into my warped evil. Nastasia..."

He looked away from her. "Nastasia, I knew you were in love with me. The whole time. And I used you because of that. I knew you would do anything for me, and I used you."

He started to walk away from her. Nastasia grabbed his cape. "I know. I always knew."

Count Bleck turned around. "Pardon?"

"I knew you were using me. I didn't care. I wanted to be used because then I would be close to you. So you didn't exactly lead me on."

They stared at each other. Count Bleck seemed momentarily stunned by the confession, unable to pick up where he had been.

"Count, I know it's hard. But you're doing so much good because of it. Don't forget that."

"I don't know what to do, Nastasia. It's been years and I still feel like I'm being smothered. I'm being crushed by unyielding guilt. I look into the future, and all I see is an existence where every moment of the day I'm suffocating and... it terrifies me. I don't know how I'm going to face a future like that."

"Yeah, so it sounds like you're having a panic attack right now," said Nastasia. "Let's do some deep breathing exercises, K? See how we feel after that."

Count Bleck looked down at the one gloved hand that wasn't holding his cane, and it was shaking. "I think you may be right," he said. "All right. Deep breaths." He steadied himself with a few until his hand stopped trembling.

"Come with me back to the castle," said Nastasia.

Count Bleck gently tugged his cape out of her hands. "I can't right now. I'm sorry. I just need to- I'm sorry, I -" and then he tripped.

Neither Count Bleck nor Nastasia saw there was anything where he was heading until he had already toppled over and went sprawling in the alley. Now, though, they saw an old pile of rags had been heaped against the wall with a hunk of cardboard.

"My next act will be to get the litter in this town cleaned up," Count Bleck groused as he scooped up the rags.

The rags yelped.

Count Bleck dropped them quickly, moving his hands up and letting them in the ground. "Oh, ow, jeeze, yeah, that feels good, dropping me like that..."

Another familiar voice, this one low and gravelly. Count Bleck's eyes jumped over to the cardboard, which was inscribed with Will Poshe 4 Snax. Then he watched the rags as a large, green snout poked out, followed by two dinner-plate eyes and a big green ponytail made of leaves.

"NAWROCKI?!"

Nastasia immediately went for her glasses, leaning her weight forward on her right foot and ready to jump in front of the Count should the monster make any sudden movements. Count Bleck, however, knelt down to get a better look at the sad little plant man.

"Nawrocki?" Count Bleck asked again, a bit more gently.

"That's my name, don't wear it out." He looked at Count Bleck. "And I'm sorry, I have no idea who you are, but if I owe you money I have none and if I owe you an apology, you'll have to tell me what it's for first."

"You took over my castle and made Machine Mades so you could take over the world like your idol Smithy."

Nawrocki stared at Count Bleck as if he were crazy, until a minute later when realization dawned and he grinned. "Oh, yeah. I remember. Good times."

"Not for me."

"Well. I never did jail time, since I was in your jurisdiction so it's your job to punish me for what I did. I assume you want revenge. Here I am." He spread his leaves out. "Just make it quick. I bore easily."

"You seem entirely too calm about this," said Count Bleck.

"What are you gonna do? Kill me? At this point it wouldn't even be a punishment; it would be a mercy. Here, let me get you started." Nawrocki grabbed one of the Count's gloves and put it on the base of his ponytail. He took Count Bleck's other hand and guided it to his stalk, right at the base of his head and above the two red felt stripes he wore around his neck. "Twist the ponytail in one direction and the stalk in the opposite direction. Like you're opening up a soda bottle. I really hate that."

"If you hate it then why did you-"

"Because I'm far beyond the point of caring about anything," said Nawrocki. "Look at me. I live in an alley in a trash kingdom. I sell crummy magic potions in exchange for and made out of crusts of bread. I have nothing except this blanket and this cardboard. I don't have a single coin to my name. I have nobody who would be mad at you. Remember that cool magic knife I escaped your castle with? I sold it for food money. That money's long spent, eaten, and expelled."

"I thought plants ate sunlight."

"I'm a carnivorous plant. I need sunlight and meat to survive."

Count Bleck dropped Nawrocki. "It seems there's nothing Count Bleck can do to you that life has not done already."

"You're telling me," said Nawrocki. "And don't give me that look. The last thing I need is a visit from the Pity Committee."

Count Bleck looked away quickly, and then back with his usual expression.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," said Nawrocki, "but we had some business going on between us before I absconded."

"We sent it to Merlon," said Nastasia, "to see if there was anything he could do with it. Unfortunately, he hasn't as of yet been able to figure out what ingredients he's missing."

"He probably won't think of it," said Nawrocki. "It's a very unconventional ingredient that's difficult to procure; and as you can see, I have no stock."

"What is it?"

"Tell you later," said Nawrocki. "I just wanted you to know, I haven't forgotten. I'm just a little..." he waved his leaves around him, gesturing to his current station. "So. If there's nothing else, I have a very busy schedule ahead of me. I've got to hold this sign and hassle passers-by for the rest of the... year, I guess? So are you going to punish me for what I did or just let me continue living as a sad little hobo? Because at this point I'd welcome three squares and a cot if that's what your dungeon accommodations include."

Count Bleck turned away. "Come, Nastasia. Let's go back to the castle."

Nastasia glanced from Count Bleck to Nawrocki and back again. "Um... are you sure?"

"Completely." Count Bleck held his arm out and disappeared. Nastasia gave Nawrocki a warning glance, and followed.

Nawrocki reached into his ponytail and pulled out a few stray kernels of popcorn, which he munched on, a thoughtful expression across his snout.