Mint turned around, and froze.
Rue, Ruenis, and Maya ran past Klaus, Belle, and Duke without acknowledging the other party, their attention entirely on Mint.
"Don't touch that!" Rue exclaimed urgently.
"What?!" Mint was so shocked to even see her sister and the two dolls to make much sense of what they were even saying, much less come up with a more intelligent response.
As Mint still tried to collect herself, Maya spoke. "My dear sister," she said pleadingly, "you don't know what's going on here. You need to step away from that."
And just like that, Mint's focus returned.
"Don't tell me what to do!" she shouted at Maya. "I've been searching for this for years, I've fought monsters and solved puzzles and faced down an Aeon - this is mine! I earned this, and now I'm going to take over the world! I don't care what you say!"
"Oh, for once in your life, would you just listen?" Maya exclaimed. "Not everything is about you! I don't want to see you take over the world, but if you touch that [relic], what will happen will be much worse than that."
A strange feeling, entirely foreign to Mint, stirred inside of her, actually urging her to listen to Maya for a change. But she wasn't going to change her mind now, not when she'd come so far.
"Please," Maya begged. "You don't understand what's going on here. There's something you…don't know…" She looked at Rue and Ruenis uncertainly, wondering if she should tell Mint the truth.
"Oh yeah?" Mint challenged. "I'm listening. You have five seconds."
Maya hesitated, wordlessly begging the two dolls for advice, but they were as uncertain as she was. After all this time, all the effort that had been put into keeping this secret, could they really reveal it now? And if they didn't, would Mint's quest to conquer the world never end?
"That's what I thought," Mint sneered, and she turned back to the [relic].
"Wait!" Maya cried. "NO!"
But she could do nothing as Mint's hand closed over the glowing ring, and she wrenched it from between the two arches.
The effect was instantaneous. Something like a tremendous lightning bolt, only much stronger, crashed straight through the roof and engulfed the entire altar, throwing Mint backward a good few feet. The blinding white light burned through all the colors in the room. It also burned through the binding spells on Rue and Ruenis's Dewstones, completely wiping them away.
The arches began to crack, then splinter; the base of the altar followed suit. There was a deafening crash as a rift between worlds was violently torn open, and the light became blinding.
When at last the light faded and the attendants could see once more, there, floating above the spot where the altar had been, was a spirit that four of them knew only too well, and whose identity the others could easily guess at.
"I'll be damned…" Belle breathed in awe.
Richly dressed and regal as a king, power emanating from his very essence…Valen had returned.
Mint's eyes widened. After a moment, she sent a very scathing glare in her sister's direction.
"You could have warned me!" she shouted.
Maya didn't respond. Everyone but Mint was staring at Valen; he stared back at them all with what almost looked like surprise.
"Here?" he asked at last. "This is where I return?"
Klaus's eyes widened as he recognized the voice from the end of his nightmare. Valen brought me here?
Mint stood up. "You're not the only one who's surprised!" she snarled at him. "What are you even doing here? This isn't one of your seals!"
"You!" Valen turned his eyes on the bratty princess. He shook his head in what looked like complete and total exasperation. "How is it that twice now, I've returned, only to be greeted by you?"
Mint shrugged. "You tell me," she said. She thought for a second, then added, "Oh, and I see you've got your old body back. Or no, wait, you don't have a body, do you?"
"Silence, worm!" Valen thundered, tossing a bolt of magic at Mint. Caught off guard, Mint was thrown against the far wall.
Valen turned to his dolls. "Rue," he said, his eyes glinting with recognition. "The broken doll. Have you finally decided to respect your creator?"
"No," Rue said firmly, his hand going to his weapon. "I came here to stop you."
"What about you, Ruenis?" Valen asked, turning to the young doll whose eyes were perfect circles of awe. "Are you broken as well?"
"Father…" Ruenis breathed.
"It seems not," Valen said, a bit of satisfaction finally crossing his face.
Ruenis shook his head, regaining his senses. "Father, please don't do this," he begged.
Valen blinked.
"I know you intend to shatter the world and rebuild it from scratch," Ruenis said, speaking fast, "and I know why - you showed me why, in the memories you gave me. But you don't understand - the world isn't as wretched as you think. Ruehi doesn't represent all people, or even all women for that matter!"
"And what makes you say that?" Valen asked, incredulous but not yet angry.
"Because I've met one," Ruenis told his creator. "A human woman, more angelic and virtuous than you even imagined Ruehi to be." He nodded to Rue. "My brother spent three years searching for the power to bring her back, after Ruecian accidentally killed her. You've seen her - the Dewprism rebuilt her mortal body. Father, people like her do exist, people who make this world one worth living in as it is, without rebuilding it all!"
"I see…" Valen said slowly.
Hope sparked in Ruenis's eyes. The uninvolved attendees and Mint had no clue what the two ancient beings were talking about, but Rue and Maya knew.
Valen closed his eyes, apparently deep in thought. "You have saved me," he said at last, "and now, in return…I will save you, my son."
Ruenis's eyes widened. "Father, no-!"
"She'll betray you!" Valen shouted, glaring at his youngest son now. "They always do! You'll see, one day, this woman you so admire will turn out just like all the others! I will spare you that experience, and I expect gratitude-!"
Mint had had enough. "Hey!" she shouted at Valen. "I don't know what's going on, but how about you crawl back into your dimension and leave us alone before I make you?! Or go to hell - that works, too," she added mockingly.
"How dare you?" Valen bellowed furiously, turning on her. "You miserable-!"
He froze. His eyes had finally caught sight of the green ring Mint was tossing up and down casually in one hand.
"That ring…" he breathed.
Mint looked at the ring she was holding. "This?" she said. "Yeah, you came back when I picked it up. Real convenient, by the way, how do you do it?"
Though he wasn't even corporeal, Valen began to shake with rage. "Relinquish that this instant!" he commanded, a dangerous wrath crackling through his words. "You human wretch! How dare you lay a hand on Ruehi's precious…?!" His face contorted with fury, and words failed him. Lightning gathered around his ghostly hands, and he raised them towards her, clearly intending to obliterate her on the spot.
"Mint!" Rue exclaimed, and he ran in front of her, just in time to block the blast of magic Valen unleashed towards her.
"Get out of my way!" Valen roared furiously, and the lightning doubled in strength.
Rue struggled to hold on. His weapon had been created for him by Valen, so it was unbreakable, but Rue could only hold it up to defend himself and Mint for so long. In desperation, he glanced at Ruenis, and a sudden understanding sparked between them. They nodded at each other.
Rue glanced back at Mint. "Mint," he called over the roar of Valen's wrath, "if given the choice, would you save the world as it is, or destroy it and then rebuild it?"
Mint blinked in surprised. "What a dumb question!" she exclaimed. "This is my world to conquer, as it is now! I don't want to make it myself from scratch - what fun would that be?"
It was as good an answer as Rue could have hoped for. Still holding up his shield, with the last remnants of his strength, he cried out, "Brother!"
Ruenis raised his hands over his head and summoned the magic of his Dewstone.
"Gizmo~Gia~Giaz!" he intoned, perfectly audible over the sound of the tidal wave of devastating magic.
As magical energy gathered around Ruenis, Valen stopped what he was doing and turned to him, as did everyone else. They stared at him, as he lowered his hands and stretched them out…towards Mint.
Mint's eyes widened with confusion as the force of the spell gathered around her.
"To you born of dew, I implore," Ruenis declared: "Reclaim your destiny, and be free forevermore!"
"What are you-? Aaaaah!"
Mint's words were cut short as a scream was wrenched from her own throat. A pulsing golden light bloomed in her chest. From it, cracks began to spread across her skin, much the same as they had covered the wall she had broken the seal on; the light was faintly visible through her clothes, but nearly blinding when it came across her hands and face.
She rose into the air, powerful magic swirling around her, both the ring and her Dual Halos clattering to the floor. Her eyes and mouth became holes of brilliant white light.
But something wasn't right. The magic stopped progressing, as though it had reached an impasse with a conflicting force, though it still fought.
It's not enough. The thought crossed Rue's mind, and in a split second, he knew what to do. He focused on the magic of his Dewstone, calling upon it as he never had before, his eyebrows meeting in total concentration. Then, he raised his free hand towards Mint, and completed what Ruenis began using the other incantation he had been born to recite - to be used, like everything else he had been born with, in a way entirely different from how it had been intended.
"Arise from the Aeon's sleep!" he cried. "Come forth, the time is now; reign unto eternity!"
The magical resistance shattered like a thin pane of glass, and the golden light exploded through Mint, a shriek piercing the air that at first seemed to come from her, but quickly rose to a pitch that indicated something else entirely, like metal protesting as it was wrenched apart. Her clothes were vaporized, even her hairpiece, leaving her bare, a golden star topped with a raging crimson flame. The sight was too awesome to be indecent, however. The light grew, and grew, blinding everyone, eradicating everything. Everyone raised their hand to shield their eyes - even Valen, out of instinct - but for naught…It was too bright…
The scream reached a peak and ripped through the air like thunder, magic crashed around everyone, and then…the noise and light faded. After a few seconds, everyone opened their eyes, just in time to see Mint descend slowly and touch down on the floor.
But it was not the Mint they knew.
Mint had been a late bloomer, always looking a bit more like the child she behaved like than the young adult she technically was. Not anymore. The young woman on one knee before them all was grown and elegant. 'Beautiful' was a pitiful word to describe her. Her crimson hair, now unbound, cascaded down around her in waves to the small of her back, looking like fire woven into threads and draped around her head. Her skin was an exotic golden color, smooth and radiant. A regal purple gown loosely hugged her body down to her waist, where her normal old belt was clasped; then it released and spread out around her - it was a little bit like her dress from East Heaven, only it covered her whole body and didn't have an open front. The cuffs around her wrist were a golden color just a bit more yellow and brilliant than her skin. Through a slit in her dress that came up to just below her knee, everyone could see elegant leather sandals, high-heeled and made up of many, many straps of the softest leather, woven around her feet and ankles.
And in the center of her forehead, looking for all the world like a new sort of Dewstone, was a glowing pink diamond. Though a delicate golden chain was woven through her hair and crossed the top of it, the diamond was clearly part of Mint's body, just as Rue and Ruenis's Dewstones were part of them.
Slowly, she raised her head, opened her ruby-red eyes, and stood. She looked down at her hands, at her whole self, in utter confusion. Not only was she baffled by her new appearance, but it felt as though she had been trapped in a haze her whole life, and now it had lifted - not only from her sight, but also from her mind and heart. Free at last of a spell that had drawn on her life force, her patience and tolerance for others could manifest fully, unhindered by an unconquerable weariness.
Of all the people in the room, the one most awestruck was Valen. Had he still been corporeal, his knees would have buckled, unable to support him. He stared at the transformed Mint with disbelief…and wonder.
Then, he breathed in awe two words that simultaneously answered everyone's questions and sparked a hundred more:
"My daughter."
Credit goes to penname "ReLiC AnGeL" for Mint's pink life stone.