As Zodd drew ever closer to his destination, his wings struggled to maintain his steady flight pattern and his energy began to sputter out. The possibility of a crash landing loomed over the Apostle as his exhausted body found it an ordeal to stay afloat.

As soon as he touched down right at the bottom of the Castle steps, he immediately shifted back into his "human" form. Barely a second after, he collapsed on all fours and choked out several pints of blood, the numerous injuries from his prior scuffle taking a heavier toll on his weaker, original self. He caught a few wary glances from the various castle staff and citizens walking by, but they ultimately went on their business as usual.

"Ah, there is my Captain." Griffith casually stated as he descended the steps, with Toffee and Eclipsa walking beside him. "I was beginning to worry something might have happened. We're about ready to take our leave."

The Apostle didn't reply right away nor did he face his superior. His body shuddered violently as he could barely hold himself up and breath normally.

After a slight roll of his eyes, Griffith strolled over to his wounded cohort and knelt right before him. He gently laid a hand upon his head and cast a silverish white glow over the barbarian's entire form. Immediately all the bruises and scars that decorated his flesh vanished, save for the one on his forehead. That was essentially Zodd's dog collar as administered by Griffith.

The Apostle's breathing normalized and he had regained the strength to rise to his full height.

"Many thanks, Lord Griffith." Said Zodd as he stretched his limbs.

"You're welcome." The White Hawk's face lit up and his eyes trailed up the steep steps of the Castle. Toffee and Eclipsa's gaze followed along.

The young King then returned his gaze to his comrade. "I assume the children gave you quite the trouble?"

Zodd said nothing. Instead he merely crossed his arms and grunted, which Griffith took to mean "yes".

"I see. Did you at least enjoy yourself?"

"I would be spouting falsehood if I said I didn't. The boy. The girl. Both exceptional warriors worthy of the extraordinary weapons that they wield. However, the girl herself was the most... shall I say, peculiar out of the two."

"Oh? Why do you say that?" Griffith curiously asked. Toffee arched an intrigued eyebrow while Eclipsa couldn't contain her faint, yet noticeable smile.

The barbarian scratched his head before elaborating. "Do you recall my report from that particular mission you sent me and Grunbeld, along with an army of Apostles, where our objective was to burn the Spirit Tree where the witch Flora resided in?"

"Yes? What of it?"

"Do you remember the specific details regarding the Black Swordsman?"

Griffith's lips involuntarily pursed. "Ah yes, the Berserk Armor fiasco, correct? What does that have to with the peculiarity of the former princess?"

"Well, apparently she has become the wearer of said armor. Though whether it is the original or a mere facsimile is something I've yet to be certain about."

The White Hawk turned around and shot a rather sharp, inquisitive glare at the Dark Queen.

"Care to explain, Eclipsa?"

The elder Butterfly cleared her throat and composed herself. "Yes, well. I have recently discovered that a good portion of my descendants have managed to emulate various magics from other dimensions."

"Is that so?" Toffee asked. "I had no idea your family was so unoriginal."

"I assure you that no one before me has ever plagiarized spells from other dimensions. For some reason it became a trend some generations after mine and has since perpetuated to this day. Solaria and Celena are two such examples. In fact, I've uncovered records stating that the latter has ventured into Midland during her teens. Most likely some years prior to your ascension, Griffith. Perhaps that's how Star managed to get her hands on such a powerful and rather dangerous artifact."

"Interesting...Well, no matter." Griffith dismissively stated. "I'd wager the young lady would end up destroying herself as well as those close to her anyhow. It is the same reason I find the Black Swordsman no threat to me whatsoever."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, my friend." Eclipsa dissented with great certainty.

"Pardon me?"

"Well, in both of their cases, it is abundantly clear that they each have someone to fight for. Such simple, yet valiant ambitions can carry one to the greatest of heights, of which I'm sure you are well aware of, Griffith."

The silver-haired man simply scoffed before turning back to Zodd.

"Well then, shall we depart, Lord Griffith?" The Apostle asked, devolving back to his beastly form and spanning his large wings to prepare for takeoff. "Ah yes, before I forget again, where is that masked rodent, anyways?"

"He just slithered into the castle not long after you landed." Toffee answered.

Zodd sighed. "Did he adhere himself to me once again? That amorphous fool should give clearer warnings on such actions."

"You know that's not how he operates." Griffith retorted with a smile.

"Regardless, it's quite irksome to say the least."

"Speaking of which, he's back." Eclipsa pointed out. "He's on your wing now, Zodd."

The Apostle rigorously flapped both of his wings to shake off his teammate, but nothing dropped off. Then again, he wouldn't have known if anything did.

"Raksas, is it too much to ask for some communication regarding personal space?"

"No, but I take great pleasure in being right under the great Nosferatu Zodd's nose unbeknownst to him."

"Ugh, may we please depart already? I'm beginning to suffer a migraine."

"Shortly, my friend." Griffith turned to his two hosts to bid his farewells.

"Toffee. Eclipsa. It's been a pleasure spending these past couple days with you."

"Likewise." Toffee replied as he gave a bow. Eclipsa followed with the same gesture. "I was especially enthralled by the brawl I shared with you, Zodd."

"The feeling is mutual." The beast amiably replied. "If I may be honest, I was rather taken aback by your altered form, yet not surprised at the same time.

"I hope you'll come visit us once again." The Dark Queen said with a noticeable longing in her tone.

"In due time. I also hope any of you may find your way to Falconia some day as well. Don't hesitate to ask for me."

"You know I won't." Eclipsa spoke rather flirtatiously.

"Ah yes, Toffee. You would be delighted to know that Falconia hosts a Colosseum for us Apostles to partake in deathly combat. I look forward to seeing how you fare against my other Hawk members such as Irving and Locus."

"Looking forward to it, Zodd."

"Well then. If that will be all, then we shall be on our merry way." The White Hawk landed upon his monstrous subordinate's back in a single bound and then proceeded to conjure up a misty silver tear in the fabric of space with a nonchalant wave of his hand.

"May your dreams stay afloat and your rule remain everlasting."

With that, all three guests faded into the swirling vortex as it closed behind them the moment their forms disappeared.

Toffee and Eclipsa were on the verge of climbing back up the castle steps until they were met with a rather cross-looking Jackie Lynn Thomas standing at the top of the stares.

"Ms. Thomas." Eclipsa formally addressed, her voice calm yet somewhat laced with surprise. "What brings you out here?"

Jackie's sea-foam eyes looked to be burning holes right through her two superiors, yet neither seemed fazed by them whatsoever. She placed a hand on the saber/katana that hung from her hip and squeezed tight.

"So Berserker Armor, huh?"


"Yo Marco, you've been sitting there for like, ever." Janna pointed out as he walked up to him. He had his back against the wall and held his unconscious friend in his arms for an amount of time he didn't bother to measure. While he, Janna, and Mina saw to her wounds, he took it upon himself to wrap her in his hoodie.

He didn't say anything back. He was too caught up in what Star's been through and how much she needed him that he couldn't find it in himself to relax and let her be. If anything, he knew that she needed him then more than ever.

"Dude c'mon, the stream's about to start. I wanna show you and Star- whenever she wakes up- something we've been doing to pass the time while you were going through your respective out-of-body experiences. Which, by the way, I'm still kinda jelly of."

"Stream?" A perplexed expression was plastered on Marco's face upon hearing about something he was only vaguely familiar with in his previous excursions on the internet.

"Yeah man, Salty Bet's 'bout to start."

Marco's confusion only deepened as he arched an eyebrow.

"Ugh, just... c'mon, I'll show you what I'm talkin' about," Janna turned around and made a beckoning wave. "Carry her on over if you gotta."

With a bit of hesitation, Marco relented to Janna's proposition of watching a Stream. Like before, he cradled the girl in his arms like a baby and went his steady way around the massive fountain in the middle of the building and towards the other side where everyone else was.

Mina and Glossaryck were sitting in front of Marco's laptop, its monitor displaying the overlay of some streaming site he didn't recognize. There was only one that knew of anyways. Among them was Mina's overturned helmet filled to the brim with tortilla chips.

"Uh, how did you guys even get WiFi here?" Marco asked as he gently sat himself upon the ground with Star in tow.

"Guilty as charged." Glossaryck raised a hand. A white WiFi symbol was drawn on the purple crystal that adhered to his forehead, displaying full bars.

"Alright so," Janna plopped onto a spot next to Marco. "you know Mugen, right?"

Marco couldn't contain his wince when the memories of his existential crisis regarding that game seeped into his mind. "Uh, yeah? What about it?"

"I should let you know that, for some reason, Glossaryck has a folder on your computer labeled Berserk which has Skull Knight and some of his associates as playable characters. And he refuses to explain himself." Mina shot a wary glare at the little blue man, to which he responded with a shrug and a smile.

"Anyways," Janna continued. "yeah, so Salty Bet's pretty much a gambling site where you bet on who you think might win during Fighting Game tournament matches. They don't use real money though, so it's just all in good fun."

"So I'm guessing there's a Mugen tournament going on right now?"

"Err, kinda? Except that we'd be watching AI duke it out instead of real people. They do that every night or so when there's no event going on. Right now they're hosting a tournament of S-Tier characters, and I'm hoping to see my boy Rare Akuma show up."

"He's not in the lineup, Janna."said Glossaryck as he was browsing through a list of names on the computer. "In fact, he hasn't been in the lineup for S-tier tournies in ages."

"Yeah, well a girl can dream can't she?"

"The heck is Rare Akuma?" Marco recalled that Akuma was who Star wanted to main when they were playing Third Strike. He was confused by the inclusion of "Rare" in his name.

"Oh-ho-hoo man, Marco. Very few can match the bullshit made digital that is Rare Akuma. I wish he was competing just so I could see your reaction to how stupidly powerful he is."

"So this is pretty much a competition to see whose OP OC could win over all the rest."

"Exactly!" Janna pointed an affirmative finger to the air. "And man, are we lucky to be part of an S-Tier tourney tonight. Who knows what kinda insanity we'll see on the 2D battlefield?"

"Hm." Marco reached for a tortilla chip before getting his hand slapped away by Mina. "What? I just wanted a chip."

"Those are our betting chips." Sternly stated Mina.

"You don't get to eat till after the Stream's over." Janna grabbed the helmet and slid it closer to her. "If you want some chips, ya gotta get in on this and bet with us."

Just then, Marco's stomach groaned, audibly pleading to its master for sustenance. Despite the resounding cry of his gut and the low rumble of his belly, Star had not stirred from her slumber.

"Alright fine." The boy relented.

"Awesome. This is the last of our chips too, so you better hope you win the whole pot or something."

Janna proceeded to pass out chips to everyone, barring Glossaryck, one at time until each participant totaled fifteen chips each.

"Glossaryck, you're not getting in on this?" Marco asked, noticing his lacking a single crumb.

"Kid, you sure you want to gamble against yours truly while your hunger is at stake?"

"Eh, good point."

"Aw, what!?" Janna blurted out as she shot her hands up in exasperation. "Technical difficulties? Fifteen minute delay? Ugh! Boooo! Boooo!"

"Hm. Can't say I didn't see that coming." Glossaryck dryly remarked.

"Speaking of 'boo'," Marco wished to address something that slipped his mind earlier when his focus was diverted to Star's well-being. "Janna, where'd all those skeletons come from?"

The girl in question took a momentary pause to strum up a sufficient explanation. She then proceeded to dig into her beanie and pulled out a purple cloth sack tied shut by a thin drawstring. Little depictions of skulls and crossbones were drawn all over the bloated, bumpy surface of the bag. Janna unraveled the draw string and dipped a couple fingers into the bag. She fished out a marble-sized skull decorated in such a way that reminded Marco of all the times he's celebrated Dia De Los Muertos with his family.

"So pretty much the way I summon those guys is that I speak certain phrases to these little skulls. I toss 'em onto the ground and, depending on what I say, they materialize in different forms with different abilities, weapons, and other stuff. Watch."

Janna stood up from her seat with the tiny skull pinched between her fingers. She brought it in close proximity to her lips and, after taking a mild breath, she spoke into the skull's "ear".

"Skele-ton Warri-or! Dadadadadada-dadadadaaa!"

Janna tossed the little skull some distance away. A large puff of gray smoke rose from its landing and its eventual fade gave way to a bare skeleton holding a curved sword and a round shield. The very same variety that Marco met with upon reentering the Sanctuary.

"How..." Marco scratched his head in confusion. "does that even work?"

"Hold on a sec," Janna held up a halting finger. She took another short inhale before speaking with as much clarity and authority as she could muster. "Thank, Mr. Skeltal."

Upon the uttering of the last syllable, the familiar's body instantly disintegrated into ash, then each grain converged and formed a snake-like shape which flew though the air and into Janna's open palm. The collection of ash spun and closed into itself until it hardened and formed the exact miniature skull from which it derived from.

"What..." Marco had no words.

"You wanna see my favorite one so far? Too bad, I'm showing you anyways." Janna brought the same skull near her lips and she spoke into it once again. "Skele-ton Trumpe-ter! Dootdootdootdootdootdoot-dootdootdootdoooot!"

Performing the same actions as before summoned forth a skeleton that looked exactly like the previous one except it came out wearing a pair of shades while playing a trumpet.

"Dunno what he does besides look snazzy, but I like him anyways. Ok. Thank Mr. Skeltal!"

And just like before, the skeleton returned to its original, bite-sized skull form which rested upon Janna's palm.

"So, how are you able to do that? And where'd you get all those little skulls?"

"Well, I got 'em when I went out of Star's... former Kingdom. Thought they looked cool and they weren't super expensive. Found out via Glossaryck that each of these skulls are actually molded out of real bone ash and that I could revive them and do all sorts of crazy stuff. All I had to do was drink someone's ashes mixed with some milk and boom! I'm a discount necromancer now!"

"You drank someone's ashes!?" Marco could and couldn't believe how insane Janna was for desecrating someone's remains in that fashion. He wasn't surprised that she'd have the gall to do it, but it didn't lessen how aghast he felt.

"Marco, is she alright in the head?" Mina asked as she pointed a finger to her own noggin, the irony of the question lost on her. "Just a few hours ago, she was hitting on Skull Knight."

"Yeah, she dated a skeleton once, so I could see that. And to answer your first question, I don't know."

"Hey c'mon Mina, you gotta admit he's pretty hot. I'd like to be swept off my feet by that White Knight, knowwhatImean?"

The veteran warrior dropped her forehead on her palm and shook it slowly.

"Still... someone's ashes, Janna? Like I know that's your thing but that's just wrong."

"Hey, Glossaryck said that it was important that I- Baaaa-aaa-aahhh!"

Janna's eyes widened to extreme widths and she immediately slapped her mouth shut with both palms.

"YOU MADE HER SWALLOW LEKMET'S ASHES!?" Mina was absolutely livid at the revelation. Her wild eyes darted towards the little blue man sitting by the laptop and grinning that shit-eating grin of his. "Glossaryck... what the f... how did... why!? "

"Well, how else was I going to bring him back?" Glossaryck justified, holding a shrug as he did so. "By the way, how's it goin' Lekmet? I see you finally woke up after a couple weeks."

"Wait, who- Baa-ah-ah-aahhh!" Janna bleated again. Whenever she did so, the whites of her eyes momentarily turned yellow and her pupils became small lines.

"Wait..." Marco vaguely recalled hearing that name. He then associated it with someone he only briefly met some time ago but never really got to know. "you talking about that one goat guy in the MHC?"

"Yup, the very same." Glossaryck confirmed. "The being in charge of life-giving, funerals, and just Mortality in general."

"So I got a magic goat dude inside me?" Janna held a hand to her stomach, then pumped both of her fists in celebration. "Aweso-baa-aaahhhh!" Janna instinctively brought a hand to her mouth again. "Ok, that's gonna get real annoying if we don't reach a compromise or something, goat-dude."

"Yeah, get used to sharing a body, Janna." Glossaryck said. "As for you Lekmet, I'm sorry I had to do it this way, but hey! You're back and Janna gets to live out her dreams of raising the dead. It's a win-win."

"Hey, I don't mind. I've always wanted to be possessed, anyways."

"Just to let you know, you also might get a craving for grass and other such foliage every so often."

"Eh, I need to eat more veggies any- huh? Oh, sure. Take it away, dude." Janna (Or Lekmet) cleared her throat. "Baah-aaaahhh-aaahh-aaa?" Lekmet bleated inquisitively.

"Oh, errr..." Glossaryck sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, about Hekapoo, Rhombulus and Omni... they're uh, alive and well but... not on our side anymore."

"Baahh-aaaa?"

"Toffee."

"Baahhh..." Janna's head hung in dejection, her yellowish gaze dropping to the ground.

"Oh man, if you think that's bad, get-a-load-a this: Eclipa's back, too."

Janna's head shot up and her eyes threatened to pop out of her skull. Lekmet smacked each hand against her temples. "Baaahh-bahhh-bahhhha-aaaahhhh! Baaaaahhhhhhhh!?"

"It's... complicated. But hey, don't despair. Marco over there's got the Right Hand and Star... well, Star's Star."

"Baa-aaaah?" Lekmet looked over to the still-sleeping Star and the still-confused Marco and proceeded to examine them. "Baaa-aahhh-aaah?"

"Yeah, Left Hand's not with us. Lucitor's defected."

"Baa-baahhh..." Lekmet shook Janna's head. "Baaaa-baaaahhh?"

"Oh geez... Are you sure you wanna know what happened with Moon?"

Marco and Mina grew sullen upon hearing the late Queen's name with their mournful gazes brought to the ground beneath them. Star, whether by coincidence or not, bit her lower lip in her sleep.

"Baahhh... Baaah-aaahhh-aaah...?"

"That doesn't even begin to describe what happened. And I'll spare you the details, lest we all open some rather fresh wounds."

"Baaa-aaahhh..."

"Yeah, but uhh, moving on from that, we were just about to start watching a Salty Bet stream. Which is about to start in..." Glossaryck turned to the monitor. "Like five minutes."

"Baaa-aaah?"

"Nah, Evo's not till next month. Mugen tourney tonight. S-tier."

Lekmet perked up. "Baah-bah-baaaahhh-aaa?"

"Oh my goodness, no." Glossaryck brought three fingers to his jeweled forehead in annoyance. "Rare Akuma is not in the lineup tonight. Why does everyone keep- do you want in on this?"

"Baa-aaahhh-aaahh."

"I guess that makes more sense. I mean, you're both sharing a body now."

"You know how to make good calls, goat-dude?" Janna returned momentarily. She paused for a bit, seemingly having a conversation with Lekmet in her head. "Huh. Alright man, I trust you."

"Hey, can I get in on this, too?" Star instantly roused from her sleep and directed everyone's attention to her.

"Star!" Marco's call was nearly shouted as he briefly lost himself in his own excitement. He embraced her tightly. "I was so worried, I thought I'd lost you or something."

"Nah, I'm alright, I guess." She didn't sound very convincing, but no one bothered to comment on that. "Anyways, gimme some chips. I wanna get in on this 'Salty Bet' thing."

"Wait, have you been awake this whole time?"

"Since you carried me over here." Star said with a sly smirk. "Not gonna lie. I was close to losing it when Janna summoned that trumpet-playing skeleton. Almost lost it again when we found out she drank Lekmet's ashes."

"Lekmet says he's glad you're ok and he's sorry that- uhhh, never mind." Janna looked distant for a bit. "I know you're trying to be nice and all but c'mon, give her a break. She's been through a lot. Too much, I'd even say."

"No no, it's okay..." Star sat up from Marco's lap. The hoodie that concealed her form dropped to her lap. "Thanks, Lekmet."

"He says 'you're welcome'."

"Alright well," Glossaryck clapped his hands. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, shall we get to high-rollin'?

"Yeah sure," Star outstretched her left palm and prompted for some chips. "Gimme a-"

Star's face fell to shock as she quickly noticed her newly acquired arm. She brought the clawed hand to her face and twisted it around. Her arm re-extended and she spun the whole thing, closely inspecting every metallic groove from top to bottom.

"Wh-when did I get this?" She asked, still somewhat shaken by the revelation.

"Uh..." Marco scratched his cheek and looked to the ground. "You... kinda got it after you... got in that armor thing."

"Armor thi- Oh." Star recalled the circumstances of her casting that spell as well what happened afterwards. In fact she remembered the events vividly as well as the insatiable lust for blood that accompanied them, which gradually grew stronger once her intended enemy departed the fight.

"I... I didn't hurt any of you while I was in there, did I?"

"Well, you did attack Skull Knight right after Zodd retreated." Mina reminded with a bit of passive-aggression. Star's expression and mood was a combination of apologetic and self-loathing upon hearing that.

"Can I just point out how cool it looked when you first put it on, though?" Janna beamed, her expression like that of a kid at a candy store. "Like it started out with black goo wrapping around your entire body and then you started convulsing super hard before going limp. Like, I thought the thing killed you for a second and I started freaking out, but then, like a vampire or something, you just lifted to your feet, jumped outta the hole you made, and started kicking that big dude's ass. It was so cool!"

"I didn't... feel very cool though." Star quietly muttered, still staring into her armored arm.

"How did it feel using that Berserker Carapace?" Glossaryck asked.

"Well," She took a moment to recall. Apprehended by a feeling of dread, she shuddered before elaborating. "It was dark and claustrophobic and I couldn't feel anything. Yet at the same time I could feel everything the armor was doing to me."

"What was it doing to you?" Marco asked out of sheer morbid curiosity. "Y'know, besides turning you into some bloodthirsty killing machine?"

"Like... I could feel all these little needles getting into my skin and deep into my body. I could feel all my bones being put back together and stuff being pumped into my veins and my organs. It was like... going through surgery and being awake for it. Then after that, I felt like I was... deep underwater or something, but the water was like, thick and gooey and I felt really trapped. If I hadn't heard Marco call out to me, I probably would've been stuck in there for who knows how long."

"It's... not a feeling you could ever get used to..." Mina said in despondent reminiscence. She brought her knees to her chest and embraced her legs.

"What?" Star blinked. "Mina, you-"

"I don't wanna talk about it." The veteran warrior couldn't cut her off fast enough.

A rather tangible tension filled the air that brought forth a torrent of silence from which everyone found it difficult to rise from. A few coughs here or there and an audible shuffling of bodies was all that was heard.

"Hey look, it's started!" Janna pointed at the laptop screen, which displayed two complicated names divided by the the word "Vs." written across a Salty Bet themed background. On one corner of the screen was a dancing salt shaker and below that was a drawn, scantily clad woman who, much to Star and Marco's surprise and subsequent discomfort, bore flowing blonde hair as it was crowned by pair of devil horns.

After several seconds, the screen switched to the designated stage along with the two fighters standing on each side of the screen idly animating away. One was a crudely drawn mass of bloated, bulky shapes that looked like it was made in MS Paint, while the other looked like a legitimate fighting game character.

Janna put her chips down and made her call. "I got three on Repainted Zangeif!"


Everyone ended up waking up around the crack of dawn. While the other three were packing it up and having the very last of the vending machine snacks as their breakfast, Marco stood right behind Star as she sat upon a stone bench, covered in a conjured up barber's sheet. Marco had a pair of non-functioning dimensional scissors in hand.

"You sure you wanna do this, Star?" He asked as he snipped the air a few times. "I mean, I've never cut anyone's hair before and you kept it at this length for so long."

"Yeah..." She said with resignation in her tone. "Besides, I'm not sure if things'll ever get back to way they were. And I dunno if I should even consider myself Queen at this point. Might as well make a drastic change to reflect that."

Marco sighed. "I guess you're right. I'm gonna miss long-haired Star."

"Yeah. I will, too."

"I'm uh..." Marco looked to the side and rubbed his own hair. "a bit scared that I'll mess it up. Dunno why you didn't ask Mina or Janna instead. I think they'd be able to handle a girl's hair better than I would."

A soft smile formed on Star's lips. "Don't worry about it too much. I trust you."

"Heh. Okay."

With that, Marco proceeded to snip away at Star's hair as carefully and as precisely as he could. Bushels of it fell to the ground by his feet with each slow snip. Eventually, they formed a rather sizeable pile that went just short of Marco's knees. It was somewhat challenging what with how much hair was present, but he managed just fine.

"There." Marco finalized, shaking a few stray strands from the back of Star's neck. She turned her Wand into a hand mirror and proceeded to inspect her best friend's admittedly amateur handiwork. She saw that her hair now only reached to the base of her neck. It was then that she realized that her heart marks blackened and one of her bangs were bleached white.

"Huh." She said as she rubbed one cheek mark with one hand and lightly tugged at the white bang with the other. "How did that happen?"

"Dunno. Happened after you got out of that armor."

"Hm. Anyways, not bad for your first time." Star complimented genuinely. "I think you've gotta career hair-styling ahead of ya."

"You really think so?"

"Mmhm. I could see it now." Star drifted an open palm slowly across the air. 'Marco Diaz's Dojo and Beauty Salon'. Co-founded by Star Butterfly."

"Heh heh. 'Karate choppin' and hair cuttin' since current year'." Marco joined in on the quips.

"You guys ready to get goin'?" Mina asked as she as well as Janna walked up to the two. "Wish you didn't have to cut your hair, Star. I preferred it the way it was before."

"Yeah well, I felt it was necessary."

"I'm diggin' the 'Punished Star' look." Janna remarked. "Lekmet likes it, too."

"Dunno what that means, but thanks." Star shot a faint grin.

"Alright then." Marco breathed a heavy sigh. "Let's get outta here."

With that, all six, including the remaining Magic High Commission members, departed the Sanctuary. Allowing the heavy stone doors to shut one last time. The second every single person stepped off the last floating stone and faded into the nearby forest, the Sanctuary, as well as its accompanying steps sunk back into the deep lake, away from any errant, prying eyes not meant to lay upon it. One of the blue alligators tasked with guarding said Sanctuary returned to the shore, keeping watch until the next time someone engages in a conversation comprised solely of back and forth "Bwaaahs".