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REVERSAL

"Out flew the web and floated wide, the mirror crack'd from side to side; "The curse is come upon me," cried The Lady of Shalott."

21
NEW MOON

After what had happened in Kokaua Town, my family was united in one desire: figuring out the truth behind those damn looking glasses.

That STUPID invention. The idea came to me in a dream. I'd been up all night, feverishly scribbling out ideas and theorems. Inspiration struck me overnight and by morning I was drawing out the schematics for a type of crystallized…well, I suppose one could call it "energy", but…

Knowing what I know now…that's not what it was. It was nothing I should have been fooling around with. And that led me here to this…AWFUL world. It led me to the White Knight.

He was sweet at first, he really was, but…but there was a darker side to him. One that popped up whenever someone he cared for got hurt in just the little bit. When my brother and I entered his service, he asked us to do things, MAKE things we'd never done before…never made before…never SHOULD have thought about before.

The worst part was I enjoyed it…

…at first.

Judah KEPT enjoying it, probably IS still enjoying it, he gets so lost in his work, I…

I'm rambling. I'm rambling as I write on paper towels from a bathroom…

Let me tell you how it happened. How I ended up here. I know any moment he'll come…it'll be the end of me…so you need to know the facts.

The red-haired woman hacked and coughed madly as she curled her body away from the toilet, taking in deep, but rasping breaths, wiping sweat away from her forehead as she finally managed to calm down. She slowly rose back up, going to the purse by the medicine cabinet in the hotel bathroom's sink and taking out a tiny white test. A very SPECIAL test.

"Put in microwave after…heat for…hmm. Never done THIS sort of thing before." She murmured, closing the door. King would be back soon…hopefully in time for the results.

As it were, he WAS back in time, and his golden/yellow eyes widened in surprise, three-digited clawed hand rising to his mouth as he took a step back. "Wh-what? Y-you're…you are SURE?" He whispered.

"…I'm pregnant, King. I'm most definitely pregnant." Patricia Rolar told her husband.

"I should have…this is…this is MUCH to take in, I…I need to sit down, I…" He practically passed out in surprise, the feelings bubbling up from his heart nigh-overwhelming him. He was happy, yes, but also worried, slightly anxious…afraid. He had failed his first children. Failed to help them. Not once. But TWICE…and their lives had been forfeit as a result. Was he ready for this?

Patty rubbed his back, gently resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes. "We've got so much to worry over…haven't we?"

"…a baby is a blessing." King insisted quietly, nodding as he turned to caress her cheek. "I'm ready…baby." He added with a hint of a hissing chuckle, kissing her on the forehead.

King and his wife Patty had been doing "The Hand of God", Manifest Destiny's work along with their friends, going from country to country, seeking the best and brightest. Manifest feared for the world, saying that should the Infection Pandemic that was rising across the nations grow too great, there should be a "safe zone" for the people meant to be the world's future. A "last ditch" resort…

One group that had yet to be reached was Kualili, the White Knight's It was King and Patty's investigation that led…to me getting into this mess. See, Kualili's people came from America, were, in a sense, citizens of the United States, but…immigrants. CONSTANT immigrants. Sari had said she'd uncovered "unpleasant details" about their creation and had refused to explain WHY she didn't want to talk about it. So I did some digging whilst Judah went back to preparing more troops for Carolina's fight against the country of Yurp...

It had been repeated time and time again. War was hell. There was no need to search for the Devil, Israel von Hamsterviel thought as she rubbed the side of her neck, looking out of the window from the luxurious palace of the White Knight. Judah was speaking dramatically to a group of Carolinian men…having captured an unfortunate prisoner. He was attempting to explain what to do with…uncooperative prisoners. The guy was talking.

But…well…he wasn't saying anything useful. He kept talking about how Judah was "ripping off that scene from Scarface". It was too bad, the two were almost getting into a rapport on the finer points of Al Pacino's acting, but Judah had decided to end things with the obscenely giant sword he carried…the one that could GROW…

There was no need to search for the Devil. You wanted to see him, just look around. He could be glimpsed in the eyes of those closest to you if you weren't careful. Izzy pulled away from the window, Kualili passing by the room, one arm around a black-haired youth with a blue tattoo beneath his left eye that imitated an upside down mountain range. He had a fairly large nose, but was darkly handsome in a simple, unassuming way, and carried an air of down-to-earthness, unlike the White Knight.

Indeed, there couldn't have been more of a sharp contrast. The white-furred being's long ears hung low like his thick silvery hair. Everything about him was a shade of white and light grey, it was almost blinding just to look at him, he was a giant pearl with the sun always reflecting off him. In fact, his armor might have been MADE out of pearls for all Izzy knew.

"We're very talented, really." Kualili told him Josef with a chuckle. "My people don't just do windows. We do a LOT. My cousin, a veteran sniper, was recruiting an acquaintance. He was enthusiastically selling his pitch, "Ya get paid by the head. For every guy you kill, you get this-and-that."

"Uh-huh." Josef said, scratching his head.

"But how do you prove how many you've killed?" The acquaintance asks. "BAH! They take your word for it!" The sniper says indignantly. "Is there no honor left in the world"?" Kualili chuckled.

"Heh, that IS funny." Josef admitted. "I never get tired of dark humor."

"I never get tired of you, Josef. I see a lot of…a very old friend in you." Kualili admitted quietly. "…a boy I loved deeply. Heh, he woulda been almost your age, I think, if he hadn't been lost in that river."

His face becomes dark. "How TRAGIC that his only sister should witness him in his drunkenness "accidentally falling out the window". And there were no body…so no proof that he was pushed. Yes, how very strange that it all worked out so well for the Red Princess." He mumbled balefully.

"Makes me glad I'm an only child." Josef laughed nervously. "But I've got eighteen bamillion Romany cousins! It's good to be a Romany rye, my friend!"

I found out that there was a reason Kualili had such a fondness for Mr. Josef and his Gypsy brethren…his own people lived like that…HAD lived like that...for decades.

That is, until Kualili went from being the White Knight…to White King of Carolina. Now, his people could live in a place that wouldn't reject them for the color of their skin…or fur…or fangs…or tentacles.

I foolishly thought the idea of seeing my "cousins"…even if only a reversed reflection of them…would be a welcome change. I really DO love my family, after all…

It didn't seem like a problem, having them set up shop in a village of their own making. Nice, peaceful farming country for nice, peaceful traveling farmers with fur.

…then one day…a few days before Patty was ready to give birth…on the same day that Manifest came to visit…that's when it began to go wrong. That's when I first found the clue that something wasn't right.

"The war is going fairly well...at least, for my dear friend Kualili. With Lewistania and Carolina combined, Yurp hasn't a prayer." Manifest informed The Mad Hatter as he, chef's hat, apron and all, carried a plate of pancakes and bacon into the dining room. Kualili was out, as usual, on the front lines with Judah. He'd taken the eager beaver as his "protégé" of sorts, something Izzy tacitly disapproved of. The Hatter tipped his hat to Manifest and the guests within the mansion who all began chowing down. Patty had to be eating for TWO, after all, a fact King seemed rather proud of. A beautiful baby boy or girl…who knew? They wanted it to be a surprise.

"Going well. That's a funny thing to say about war. War is never well." Junior said, sipping from some apple juice.

He'd gone with his son to the front lines…once. He'd lingered though, and ultimately left. Oh yes…it had been beautiful…beautiful in the same way a thunderstorm was beautiful. The sky turning orange with the unnatural light of exploding phosphorous bombs, whizzing rockets swirling through the air, the graceful beauty of flares falling gently through the night sky, iridescent golden balls on black velvet. It all lit up the night…the charm of weapons of mass destruction belying their foul intent, weapons that his son was ordering to move further and further…weapons his DAUGHTER had helped make.

Izzy ate, but mostly to keep her mind off of those damn weapons. Her father didn't like talking to her or Judah much…he had spoken to Kualili, sure…but he hadn't really been persuasive. If he'd really cared, he would have pressed the issue, but Kualili had dismissed his concerns, had told him and her that "Judah would be alright", that there wasn't anything to worry about, should things get out of hand, Manifest would take care of them.

Yeah. Sure he would. Big emphasis on "sure" with accompanying eyeroll and long, sarcastic drawl!

Her mother Green patted her shoulder, a sympathetic look on her face as she opened her mouth to speak and say something maternal…usually the sort of advice she gave was fairly blunt and to the point…she was NOT the "touchy feely" type. It was kind of funny how in-touch Junior was with his emotions and how hard it was for Green to be totally honest with hers, it was almost like SHE was the guy and HE was the gal.

But no, no, she'd not be hearing any advice from mammia mia. Not this morning. Because it was in that moment that Josef ran into the room, panting and heaving as he held aloft a basket from the kitchen, some food stains on his shirt.

"You have to help me!" He begged. "If you don't save me, I'm a dead man. If you don't find me an antidote, I'll be dead in two minutes!"

Everyone blinked in surprise at him. Josef could be a bit…OUT there…but he was pretty reliable for the most part, and his people seemed to admire him. It was always through Josef that they got their instructions on how they could aid in the war against Yurp, it was through Josef that they'd been administered Manifest's test…Josef seemed to be a natural leader, his hidden greatness shining out occasionally in the way he'd just suddenly speak authoritatively and, moments later, everything that was wrong would be made right.

But as aforementioned…he could be "out there". He had a bit of a weird sense of humor. And he liked…slightly dark stories. So when he said what he said…

"They're poisoned eggs! And I just ate a boiled one for my breakfast!"

"Josef, it's a bit early in the morning for practical jokes." Manifest said, rolling his eyes as he looked out the window at the beautiful full moon in the day sky. Be it before sunset or sunrise, that thing was always so pretty to look at. "Now if you'd greeted me with a hand buzzer, or a cream pie to the face, that woulda been hilarious."

"I'm telling you they're POISONED, smell 'em, here!" He shoved the basket in King's face, the snake sniffing it as Junior walked over and joined him…his red and blue eyes widening.

"Holy SMOKES, they don't smell right at all!" He mumbled.

"Yeeeessssssss. Sit down, Josef." King murmured quietly.

"Sit d-ohhh, is it too late?" Josef gasped in horror, everyone nervously looking around at each other, then squarely at him, as if expecting him to keel over and plop dead on the spot in, well, two minutes!

"No, no, it's nothing like THAT. Just sit down." King said as he took hold of one of the eggs, mumbling under his breath as he and Junior headed for the kitchen. "Junior's "Temperance" powers include various chemicals…I want to do some tests."

…

…

…

…Josef sat in a chair, Manifest patting him comfortingly on the shoulder as Izzy held up a pocket watch on a gold chain, looking from it to him. "You ain't dead yet. Feel any better?" She asked.

"NO!" He snapped as Green looked over in the direction of the kitchen as Patty practiced Lamaze breathing techniques, trying not to be fazed by this. "Where's Kualili? Can't he get a grip on his own people's produce? Set some standards?"

"He's not feeling very well today." Manifest said with a dry chuckle, closing the drapes to the window and obscuring the view of the sky outside.

"Well then someone get a pen and paper! This is the Last Will and Testament of Josef of the Romany Tribe…who departs this world foully murdered by HEN FRUIT." He chuckled dryly. "Kind of ironic. Eggs are my favorite food."

"You're not poisoned." King announced, entering the dining room, holding aloft a cup filled with egg that had been broken open and tested, Junior nodding firmly as the Mad Hatter poured Josef some tea to calm him down, reaching his arm into his hat, pulling out a cup and saucer from within.

"Then what's in those eggs?" Josef demanded to know, about to take a sip before deciding NOT to, since he'd most likely spray it everywhere if he did.

"Nitroglycerin." Junior remarked.

Green's eyes widened. "Ooooooh!"

"WHAT?!" Izzy gasped.

"Huh?" The Mad Hatter gaped.

"The explosive?" Manifest inquired. "No kidding?"

"I had dynamite for my breakfast?!" Josef hollered.

"In minute quantities, yes. The chickens that laid them put the nitro in. See, chickens are funny birds. What they eat goes into the eggs they lay. If a chicken eats moth balls, their eggs smell like camphor." Junior told them all. "I would know, believe me, there's an entire race of alien chickens, one time they all got wasted on spiked brownies and the next day their bedroom's bathroom…" He trailed off. "…it was weird. Point is, those eggs, they came from Kualili's village like the rest of the groceries…right?"

"Of course." Manifest said. "…wait…you mean that chickens from some farm in the village have been drinking or eating nitroglycerin? What sort of things could they be doing in there that require DYNAMITE?"

"Crooked business." Junior said darkly. "I'd wager those chickens have been drinking contaminated water from a factory making all the tools criminals would need for illicit activities!"

"Could THAT be why no country wanted to keep them? Could they all be a bunch of criminals? Hmm." Manifest rubbed his chin. "Sari never told me much about how they came into existence. She just said that their "big daddy" was an "idiot scientist"."

"I think…it's time we went to go see this "idiot scientist"…went to go see this "peaceful farming village"."

…

…

…

… "This isn't glass."

The Experimental American citizen named Nacht passed a pointed nail over the enormous looking glass in Izzy's laboratory, Nacht's normally calm tone eerily tainted with the faintest hint of...unease...possibly even fear.

"It's not glass at all. And I would know."

Their family had packed the insides of the laboratory. Every single Major Arcana member they could find, every cousin that wasn't busy. All were offering theories, of course. Sparky suggested that it was some kind of "Dark Side" trick brought to life. Kixx suggested brute force, making Grey whack him over the head and straight into the ground. Angel and Stitch had no clue what it could be and suggested Jumba examine it...

No luck, regrettably. And Dr. Rupert Jacques von Hamsterviel was not having any luck either.

"Go ahead and look it over AGAIN if you want, shan't do any good." Hammy mumbled balefully, ol "Rupe" was not having a very good day. He hated this damnable thing. Sometimes his grandchildren could be SUCH "pains in ze bootz". First Judah being constantly wanting to be called in for scaling village walls and making off with artifacts, Charles's "Um, part of my planet is on fire" calls, Ann's klutziness leading to an incident that looked like it belonged in the "Final Destination" series...

And now, this.

"I am seriously doubting you will being much help, "Devil"." Jumba remarked wryly as a brown-furred, tender-eyed, six-armed furry being much like an Experiment approached it, wearing a teal pair of shorts and sporting wings like that of a rainbow. He passed a hand over the glass...it had not taken in anyone else, thank goodness for that, and now as he felt it...

His voice was sharp and quick. "Tell me something. If you could paint a picture of that terrible, nasty little voice in your head...what would it look like?"

"What?" Lilo asked, scratching her head in confusion. "What's that?"

"The worst part of you. That horrible thing that tells you to break into the cookie jar, to lie to your beloved, to not go to the cops...the slimy thing from under a rock that whispers in your ear and tells you to indulge in your worst tendencies...what does it look like? What does corruption look like? I'll tell you..."

He gestured at the looking glass. "It would look like this." He informed them all.

"Hmm. A crystallized form of evil?" Nacht looked amused. "The doom has come upon us! Tell me…what do you all know of Alfred Lord Tennyson?"

Lilo snapped her fingers. "Ooh, ooh!" She spoke dramatically, waving her arms in the air. "Out flew the web and floated wide, the mirror crack'd from side to side; "The doom is come upon me," cried The Lady of Shalott!" Is THAT the poem you're thinking of?"

"It's "curse"…but close enough." Nacht said solemnly. "And a fitting poem indeed. Dark Energy thrives on negative and "dark" emotions...it's almost pure evil itself. This could be a strain of that...an offshoot. To make glass intense, VERY intense heat is required...hellfire's flames, perhaps?" The Experimental American chuckled slightly. "And a curse has come upon us all…hasn't it?"

"Everything began to change when I first struck that thing." Grey said, giving the looking-glass a rap with his knuckles, frowning with his green-tinted black eyes. "We've all been struggling because our memories are being fooled around with. Every day it becomes harder and harder to know what's real and what isn't."

The red-haired Logosian in the back "he-hemed", everyone turning to look at him, eyes drawn not to the old, thick rubbed-in wound around his neck from a noose, but his hands as he began to gesture, using sign language.

"I think I know why." Grey translated, rubbing the mood necklace around his neck, the thing that enabled him his avid understanding of all languages. "He's saying...that he received a revelation some time ago, the same as others...and...and he's saying...that we'd all forgotten someone important. Someone who played such a vital role in our lives that with him gone...it established a new timeline of events."

"What?" Lilo gasped in surprise.

"Who?" Jumba murmured.

"I can see his face." Rupert whispered. "...kind eyes. Good eyes. Hazel eyes..."

"My father." Grey told them all. "...your husband." He told Lilo. "With his death, he released something into history from a certain point in time, and that thing was the Knowledge of the Moral Law. Compassion, justice, love, the things that people need to show others, the things he spent his life trying to fight for, the things that he felt were moral absolutes..."

"I think I get it now." Rupert spoke up. "Our Nick in our world was POTENTIAL, that was his truly most powerful power. And he used that spark of real potential to introduce something that could change all reality. And now that other Nick is changing reality over there, and every time some big move is made THERE, it affects us over HERE, and vice-a-vers-a!"

"It's possible." Jumba admitted.

"More than possible. It MUST be so." Rupert insisted firmly.

"If Manifest needs to kill people to gain more power, I doubt he's up to anything good." Lilo spoke up. "Especially if he's killing us...well, other versions of us."

"But what can we do here?" Page asked quietly. "The doorway there seems blocked now. Our only source of information comes...when one of us MA...shuffles off the mortal coil."

"We need others who can help alter reality the way this looking glass pierced through ours and into another. Where's Mikhail? Staccato? Snizzi?" Dr. Rupert snapped. "Where are they hidingly hiding away? Why has nobody called them?"

"Any passageways to Heaven or Hell are just...sealed up. It's like EVERYBODY in EVERY place is losing control." Shin murmured quietly. "I tried to reach them, I really did."

"So the only person that might know what this guy is up to killed himself to make the knowledge of universal morality real, the big bad is wearing our friend's faces and killing off Major Arcana members like flies, and our only window/door to the truth just got "Cask of Amontillado" on us." Lilo reasoned.

"Bit by bit, he seals our doom...leaves us without our loved ones...and is bringing our world, most likely, to some terrible end, here...AND there." Jumba worried.

"In pace resquiat." Rupert chuckled darkly.

... "I mean, you do SEE, don't you?" A figure with a fringe of bright green hair and slender claws insisted as he stopped typing at an old-fashioned typewriter, turning to look a pinkish, koala-like being in the eyes as he waved a black claw in the air, a writer's look about him. "You've got this dashing young hero, Joshua Campbell, brave, upstanding, he skied all the way to his village, dripping with sweat he went twenty miles to avoid the-"

"He's FORTY now." R-Angel insisted to R-Dan. She sat on a chair some distance from a set of linden trees as a furry, vaguely angelic Experimental American put up some black and orange streamers. It was Halloween, and time for treats...and tricks! Well, really, mostly treats, as in sugary candy that would rot your teeth out in twenty seconds.

"No, no, Angel!" R-Dan moaned, shaking his head back and forth. "I see him more like...25?"

"Land's sakes, Dan! I've been writing him for 20 years, he was at LEAST 20 when I started." R-Angel told him, frowning at the yellow-furred R-Dan.

"But if you make him FORTY, we can't have any sexual tension between him and the darling Naomi! That'd make him a bit of a dirty old man, you see?" R-Dan insisted.

"Ugh. My husband was right, I should have stopped at Book 5." She mumbled, holding her paws over her face. "But all the people who've read my books NOW how old he is!"

"It's not a BOOK, it's a play!" R-Dan insisted loudly. "I told you already, ma'am! We need SOME sexual tension. You know how it is." He said, gesticulating with his paws. "They're nervous at first, antagonistic, but secretly they like each other until finally-"

"Except Joshua didn't care for women." R-Angel added as she sipped from her cup of coffee.

"Wh-WHAAAT? You can't make him a PANSY of...I mean..." R-Dan stuttered. "He's a rugged, outdoor type, he goes SKIING-"

"Nooooo...he's SIXTY!" R-Angel screeched at him.

"What a charming village." King remarked as he walked through the streets of Streamside, named for the charming streams that ran on the sides of the fine country home for countless Experimental citizens. There was a quaint, but pleasant air about the place, and the smell of apple cider, sugar and bread wafted lazily into the air as the sun began to set. King put one arm around Patty, seeing she was cold, and nuzzled her cheek as he did so.

Junior would have come, but he had decided to go with Josef to the Romany fairgrounds, leaving Green and the Mad Hatter to come take a look at the village with them. What the Hatter found most interesting was a game several dozen children were playing around a coal fire of some kind...no, not coal. Upon further examination, they were candied and sugared plums soaked in liquor with a fire roasting beneath, tiny embers flickering up as the kids snatched away at the plums with their paws, chanting a song as they did so, the little melody hauntingly ringing through the air and bringing a slight chill more unsettling than any fall breeze.

Snip, snap, dragon! Snip, snap, dragon! Do take care, don't take too much, be not greedy in your clutch! Snip, snap, dragon!

"Interesting game." The Mad Hatter admitted, rubbing his chin.

With his blue and lapping tongue, many of you will be stung! Snip, snap, dragon!

"What a creepy song." Green remarked. "And I know creepy." She added.

For he snaps at all that comes, snatching at his feast of plums! Snip, snap, dragon! Snip, snap, dragon! They chanted, getting louder and louder with each attempted "snap".

"Alright, that's enough." A crimson-haired female Experiment that looked all-too-similar to Heatwave clapped her hands, showing off her sharp teeth in a grin. "Time for you all to get home, I've probably spoiled your dinner completely."

Several of the children whined at this, but she just wagged a pointed nail in the air, shaking her head back and forth before the children all left for their respective homes, Heatwave turning to bow at the newcomers to her village. She was dressed in attire similar to the Middle East: linen shirt that showed her belly, long, flowing pants, earrings, necklaces, a hood around her head, lowered now to show off ALL her hair. "My name's Heatwaver, but everyone calls me Heatwave." She said. "It's catchier."

"Green." Green said, shaking R-Heatwave's paw. "And this is-"

"The Mad Hatter. I hear you've got a fine collection of hats, hoods and other heady garments." R-Heatwave remarked, stroking her chin. "By any chance, do you have one similar to this?" She wanted to know, pointing at her own hood. "There's this big hole near the bottom, see..."

"One moment." The Hatter said cheerily, taking his hat off and reaching deep inside, pulling out a "Boston Red Sox" cap that made him chuckle "Go Bosox" underneath his breath, a yarmulke, then, finally, the hood she wanted. "Here you go."

"You're awfully nice for a stranger." R-Heatwave admitted.

"Us gentemen never refuse a lady's request, ESPECIALLY if she's pretty. You've got BEAUTIFUL black eyes." He told her. "Nice pupils, too...make you look like you're a jack-o-lantern, with candles in your doorway to the soul."

"So you DO hit on anything that moves." R-Heatwave laughed. "The rumors were true. Here's another rumor that's totally true. All the people of Streamside are very nice people." R-Heatwave insisted. "Do you like my dress? Angel made it for me. It's Halloween you see, we're dressing up as the scariest things we can think of. I chose a Muslim heathen!"

Green began to laugh, the stunned and ornately-dressed Experimental American scratching her head at this. "Did I say something amusing?"

"It's-just…heh-heh-heh. Ohh, you don't get it, but when I tell my friend about this, she's going to LAAAAAUGH." Green managed to giggle out.

"You'll be staying the night? Why not sleep over at the place I'm lodging in? It's a very pleasant little cottage that Ms. Angel and her husband made into a boarding house..."

…

…

…

…King and his wife had, by providence, ended up in the same boarding house cottage that Green and the Mad Hatter had been, the only difference was that they'd been brought in not by Heatwave, but by the co-owner of the boarding house, none other than Stitch, or at least, this world's version thereof. He had let himself go slightly, he had a fairly ample gut and smelled...well, odd. Very odd. His wife had a weird smell too, but it was a bit more enjoyably exotic, unlike his smell, which seemed like he'd been rolling around among dirt and grime, even though his fur was impeccably washed and groomed, and his nails looked...well, MANICURED. How very strange, Green thought to herself, rubbing her head as a throbbing headache began to pound away like hammers against the inside of her skull.

Their room, luckily, was of extremely gracious proportions, but beyond that, it had nothing good to speak of. Green could feel broken springs under the saggy sofa she was sitting on, King and his wife were sitting in faded armchairs that didn't look much better, the wallpaper was faded and a tacky shade of brownish yellow, and the carpet had holes in it. Truth be told, the holes were an improvement, the design of the carpet was abysmal. One window was open, and unfortunately, despite multiple attempts from everyone to get the damn thing shut-

"CLOSE! CLOSE! CLOSE!" The Hatter yelled angrily, trying to yank it down.

"We tried once before, just ended up pulling the whole wall down." R-Stitch admitted sheepishly.

"Land's sakes. Well, despite all that, we try to keep this place as good and cheery and comfy as possible. Our little boarding-house is just like your old grandma's place would be: no telephone, no TV, no electricity, just quiet."

"Oh Lord, why you forsake me?" Green thought to herself.

"It was either this room or the one down the hall."

"What's the difference, if ya don't mind me askin'?" Patricia inquired in her charming Irish voice.

"One less blanket, very squeaky springs, and with that room, you might have to take a walk."

"...I...see." Patty said, gulping slightly. "Well it's a LOVELY room and a LOVELY house. Yes, you're all very nice people!"
"Land's sakes, that's what everyone says!" R-Angel laughed.

"Uh, bit of an issue!" A voice from downstairs called up as a form ascended the stairs and nervously rubbed one paw. "I cut my hand, bled all over the beans we were going to have for tonight." R-Heatwave admitted sheepishly. "See, here at the house everyone does SOME chores..."

"...right..." Patty said, turning a bit pale.

"But it'll be alright, we're boiling them, right? Everything's fine if you just boil it."

"...let's go OUT for dinner." Patty finally said, pulling her face slightly down as she let out a deep groan, rolling her eyes.

…

…

…

… "Well, isn't THIS a pleasant surprise!" Green growled darkly, claws twitching with a desire to cave in skull.

An all-too familiar light-brown-furred Experimental form was tied up to a chair in a certain experiment's fire-grill public house and dining hall, specifically, the exquisite Frenchfry, who's small little mustache twitched as a white-furred, angelic draconic experiment stood nearby, arms folded, looking proud. The crowd within the pub had been quite eager to show their visitors their catch.

"Sammy here WAS once one of us until he, as you say, "buggered off". We always suspected he had gone to New York, he was a "gold diggah"." R-Frenchfry growled out.

"And you CAUGHT him?" King inquired as the unmistakable face of Chibisuke turned to them, firmly nodding.

"I caught him sneaking through our trash cans. I KNEW it was more than just a raccoon." R-Chibisuke said proudly, patting his fist on his chest. "Mamma didn't raaaaaise no fool! And Papa didn't raaaaaise me at all!"

The reversed Samael had a stupid looking expression of peace on his face as he bobbed his head back and forth, happily humming to himself as everyone looked at each other, then at him. "What're YOU so happy about?" The Hatter inquired, noticing he was clutching a strange tome to his chest.

"I have seen the Light that the World has given us. The light within the darkness. All was made clear when I left Manhattan. I could have stayed within that beautiful land of dreams, but I knew I had to return to the place where the World had originated from. Our creator...our brilliant creator..." The Fallen went on cheerily, his pupils shimmering, almost clouded with haziness. "So amazing. We were all as caterpillars, and he created the cocoons from which we emerged as beautiful butterflies, none more beautiful than our Monarch, who even now watches over us all as the World commands him." King's eyes narrowed. Monarch...a ruler...a ruler related to the Experiments, and "The World"...could the Obscured be here? Here in Streamside, watching them with the aid of a comrade?

"Let's stick him in some other room. I don't like looking at this heathen." R-Heatwave mumbled as Chibisuke lifted him up and took him into the basement. "He ran away from us, his family, his beloved. He's the WORST kind of blood traitor! Allah will smite him at the time of judgment..." She growled, clenching pointed nails. "WOW, I am REALLY getting in character, aren't I?" She laughed.

"You have NO idea." King chuckled.

"Look, look, what you should do is get him interrogated on what he's doing here. I mean, he's been gone for years, and he only shows up just NOW? Something is seriously not right." Green spoke up.

"I'll go in if you'd like." One fat little experiment oddly resembling Jumba Jookiba offered.

"No, no. You've got a watch on. We want to keep him disoriented." Green insisted. "I'll talk to him." She offered, entering the basement with Chibisuke as he guarded the exit. "Sammy, listen. I'm just here to talk. Why don't you tell me more about...The World?" The Fallen smiled broadly at her. "Oh, Green. You've never met him. I know you think you and your friends have, but you haven't. If you'd met him, you'd know that he is positively amazing. He's EVERYTHING, Green. EVERYTHING." he laughed, holding up the book that read "The World: Our Lord". "...really?" Green said softly, one eyebrow raised.

"I have learned all from him, Green. And I have learned, most of all, to forgive Manifest. I no longer hate him. I pity him. The World pities all its enemies."

"Well, if you don't tell me what "The World" looks like, or where he can be found..." Green reasoned as she walked around in back of the Fallen, suddenly grabbing his head and leaning in to whisper darkly in his ear. "I'm going to pity you to death."

"I pity you, Green." The Fallen said simply. "I know how you killed those other Major Arcana members. You were a good child entering this place. Now look at you. You were helpful, brave, good-hearted...and yet you're becoming so very VIOLENT. Have you noticed WHY?...because HE has, Green. The World sees all with his unseeing deadeyes."

"Don't s-screw around with me, Sammy-boy." Green hissed. "You're not exactly a good guy here in this world. And the people upstairs don't seem to like you very much. If I say you "tried to escape" and you tragically "crushed your head against the wall", do you think anyone would care?" "I'd care." R-Chibisuke spoke up.
"Really?" Green asked quietly, looking back at him.

"...well...a LITTLE." R-Chibisuke finally admitted.

"You're a very nice person, child." The Fallen angel Samael told him. "The World is proud of you." "Ohhh. Thank him-er, thank you...thank you both for noticing!" R-Chibisuke murmured nervously, blushing visibly as he sheepishly smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Dear LORD, he seems spineless all of a sudden. I know the Devil's supposed to be charismatic, but this is REALLY quick..." Green thought to herself.

"You should read this. It'll change your life." Samael said, pointing at his book as Green grabbed it from him and looked through it, groaning as she finally tossed it to R-Chibisuke, who looked at its cover. "The Woooooorld our Looooord, praise be to heeeeee...promised he would proteeeeeect meeeeee..."

"Are you SERIOUS? This is ridiculous stuff." She said. "RIGHT, Chibisuke?" "Er...right! Yeah!" R-Chibisuke said quickly, nodding vigorously.

"I mean, have you READ that crap?!" Green asked The Fallen.

He raised an imaginary eyebrow at them. "...have you?" "I say, is everyone alright down there?" R-Dan asked, sticking her head down into the basement.

FIVE MINUTES LATER...

"The Woooooorld our Looooord, praise be to heeeeee...promised he would proteeeeeect meeeeee..."

"Y'know what? Make sure nobody else goes down into that basement unless their name is ME and they have the prettiest green and black eyes you ever saw." Green told Frenchfry with an annoyed glance back into the basement, the reversed Chibisuke, Dan and Samael all singing together.

"He shall cheeeerish me...correcteth me..."

"YOU'RE AS GODLESS AS PYGMIES IN THE AMAZON!" R-Heatwave snarled angrily down the basement steps.

"Er, Angel, tell me more about your…people." King asked as he took Angel aside, Patty walking alongside him and Stitch as the two headed outside for a breath of fresh air, a slightly chilling wind biting at their arms.

"Well, our father, Jumba, is a great man. Land's sakes, he patched us all together with magic, ya know." R-Angel said, putting a paw on her chest as they walked alongside an inn, their feet brushing aside a veritable nature's quilt of leaves with each step as door chimes jingled in the distance. "But of course, he couldn't keep doing it that way, we thought. Don't get us wrong, we were lil' caterpillars and he made us butterflies, but still…"

"So we tried for our own children. Most of us did well, except for…me and my own wife." R-Stitch admitted quietly. "Our child was…he's not well." R-Stitch trailed off. "…no. Not well at all."

"I got sick, and during that time…" R-Angel trailed off herself, trying to suppress a sob.

"…I see." King murmured. "…I'm a psychiatric doctor and experienced with medicinal ways, can I ask…the specifics?"

"…he…he had…strange eyes." R-Angel murmured. "…his…his pupils went…glassy and…and he was so small and…" She covered her face with one paw. "He's a sweet child, but…but even though he's twenty he never got beyond the age of eight…"

"…that IS serious." King whispered, suddenly stiffening as he heard the unmistakable howl that rippled through the air, looking far off into the distance at the rolling hillsides some distance away.

"Oh, you're not SCARED are you? Land's sakes, just a coyote!." R-Angel laughed, chuckling slightly. "Kualili's tried to scare 'em off. But coyotes are pretty harmless to us."

"We're going to go get Green and the Hatter and head back to your inn." King decided, bowing his head. "Th-thank you for your time." He murmured, quickly leading Patty away.

Coyotes. COYOTES. HA.

Coyotes weren't found ANYWHERE in Europe. For Pete's sakes, they were called the "American Jackal"! And that hadn't been the call of a wolf, either. It was far too high-pitched…

The people in Streamside were all very nice people.

But those faces…so smiling and happy…

…what secrets did they conceal?