Taking Back the Crown

by JCMorrigan

Mozenrath. Archibald Snatcher. Roman Torchwick. Mad Madam Mim. Yzma. The Huntsman. Wuya. Ayam Aghoul. Their mission: take over the multiverse, or look fabulous trying. Rated M for swearing, steamy implications and VERY bloody battles. Contains slash and het shipping.

146. Mind Over Matter

The Last Train chugged its way across the void, leaving Morbia far in the distance as it slid between the stars. Then there was a flash of light, and the train was on solid ground, using no tracks but still moving fairly fluidly through the dark valley it had found itself in, bordered with gnarled black trees, long-abandoned homes that were falling to pieces, and an ominous red sky.

This was the village of Camlann, though there wasn't exactly a welcome sign to inform anyone onboard of that.

Up front in the engine car, Giovanni was keeping the train moving dead center of the valley while Velvet crouched before Neko Zombie, using the very edge of her Nightmare claw to sever the stitches over his eyes and mouth – careful not to undo any of those that seemed to be holding the skin of his head together elsewhere on his face.

"There," she said as the last snippet fell to the ground. "That should be a little more comfortable." She gave a soft smile.

"…It is," Neko Zombie said softly.

The door opened; Harley skipped inside, with Yang trailing. "So, what's the scoop?" Giovanni asked.

"Not that we doubted you, but we double-checked," Yang said. "Assuming you still have Spinel on you, you got everyone. Even Ben."

Giovanni extended a hand to show Yang the pink fragments. "Never, EVER doubt my dedication to making sure the entirety of a team ends up along on a trip. You ever been left behind by a group that didn't notice you were gone? It's the WORST! That's eviler than evil! I couldn't do that!"

"Aside from that, not much noteworthy," Harley said. "Found a stash of peanuts for snackin', but most of the packages were glowin', so we left 'em alone. Then there's a car with a big locked door. We tried snoopin' a bit, and after some parkour, we could see through the window that it's fulla weapons. Bombs, swords, guns, the works. But it's shut tight."

"Damn," Giovanni responded. "We coulda used that stuff."

"Hopefully we won't have to," Velvet told him. "Besides, many of us here are arsenals in and of ourselves."

"So where is this, anyway?" Harley said. "Sure don't look cheery one bit."

"Like I said," Neko Zombie reminded them all. "This is the world you should've woken up in. The continent of Glenwood. The true version of the dream you were living."

"In other words, my world in the future," Velvet said. "The world Sorey knew. And gave up in order to save it."

"Know where we are?" Yang asked.

"The geography must've changed," Velvet said. "That or we're on one of the outer islands that Eizen was always sending expeditions to. Either way, I don't have a clue. We'll just have to keep riding and see where – "

A sudden and horrible jolt. The train squealed to a horrendous stop, rattling Velvet, Giovanni, Harley, Yang, and Neko Zombie down to their bones while jolting Sleepy Sheep out of his nap. The sound of twisting metal punctuated the interruption.

Then the worst sound of all: a boomingly loud voice bellowing, "THE JESTER'S FAÇADE ENDS HERE!"

"Ohhhhhh no," Harley realized. "It's her."

"Cyclonis?" Yang identified.

"Well, sorta?" Giovanni said. "She's using Sheep Brat's Epithet, meaning she's in this dream form that's kinda her but kinda her OC."

"Well, I'm not letting her stop us here." Velvet threw open a door, leaping off the train.

Harley patted Neko Zombie's head; "Wait here. An' guard the little guy." She nodded to Sleepy Sheep.

"Actually, hold onto these." Giovanni passed Neko Zombie the fragments of Spinel. "These are SUPER important and you can't lose 'em, okay? But I've got a feeling it's about to get ugly out there, and I don't wanna bring her into this if it is."

"I won't lose them," Neko Zombie promised. "They're a friend of yours. I'll keep her safe."

Before the edge of the door, Yang paused, trembling.

"You okay?" Harley asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah," Yang panted. "I think I'm just…nightmared out."

"You can sit back if it's gonna be too traumatizin'," Harley said.

Yang shook her head. "No. I have to do this. For me if no one else. But there is someone else, and it's you. Just do me a favor, okay?"

"What?"

"Don't freak out over me too much. Or get weird about protecting me."

"'Cause it'll just make ya do the same thing, right? Freak out?"

"Yeah," Yang admitted. "Now let's go."

She hopped out, followed by Harley, then Giovanni.

The Dark Queen filled the Camlann sky. Two of her massive arms held onto gigantic swords while a third bore a thick magical scepter. The fourth was currently being employed to hold the Last Train in place, having crumpled the front part of the locomotive almost to the point of being inoperable. Countless dark tentacles spun out into the red twilight from the Dark Queen's back.

"HARLEY QUINN," she boomed. "MASTER CYCLONIS GAVE YOU HER FINAL CHANCE. NOW SHE AND I UNITE FOR ONE PURPOSE: TO SEE YOU SLAUGHTERED ALONGSIDE YOUR PRECIOUS LOVED ONES."

Harley gritted her teeth, clenching her fists as she scooted one foot back to strike a battle stance. "I'd like to see ya try."

"Don't you get it?" Yang added. "If our choices are to fight an impossible battle or roll over and give up, we'll ALWAYS choose the impossible battle."

"I once brought down an Empyrean," Velvet snarled. "You think as a Nightmare, you can fare any better?"

Giovanni already had the Soul-Slugger Doom Bat raised over a shoulder; "You might be all big and scary, but you're still just one person! WE'RE A WHOLE TEAM, BITCH! And this team's about to BRING THE HURT!"

"VERY WELL," the Dark Queen boomed. "THEN DIE FIGHTING!"

Orbs of crystal-clear magic, sizzling hot, rained from the sky at her behest. Harley, Yang, Velvet, and Giovanni leapt in four directions to avoid the deadly precipitation, then each took a different route to attack.

Giovanni started by blasting himself up to the top of the train and using the height advantage to hurl orbs of burning-hot soup into the air and bat them at the Dark Queen's face – or whatever passed for her face area. "How do you like THEM apples?" he yelled. "Or, y'know…soups! YOU KNOW WHAT? IT'S CURRIED APPLE SOUP NOW SO IT'S BOTH!"

Velvet extended her blade, slashing through the white-hot orbs in order to get close enough to lunge. With a cry of "NO MERCY!", she extended her claw, tearing it into the ethereal "flesh" of the Dark Queen. "IMPULSE DESIRE!" Velvet yelled, feeding agonizing magic through her claw into the wound she'd created. "NOW FEEL MY PAIN!"

Yang was speeding this way and that, returning fire with the half of Ember Celica she still had. When a few smaller orbs came into her path, she let herself take a few hits. Then leapt to release the pent-up pain into the Dark Queen's gigantic form with a yell.

Harley backflipped and twirled, mostly playing an evasion game. "This'd be so much easier if I had some kinda weapon," she muttered.

Then noticed one of the blackened trees nearby. "Huh. That'll work."

Within minutes, she'd snapped off one of the gnarled dead branches, rushing at the Dark Queen's orbs to bat them right back at their originator.

Yet despite being pummeled from four angles by four very persistent fighters, the Dark Queen barely even flinched. She was too large, too powerful for this to have any effect.

There was a small part of Harley that might have thought about giving up, or realizing it was futile to even fight. But that part of her was quickly drowned out by a deep voice singing "BA-BA-BABADA BUH-DA-DA-DOO-DA, CH-CH-CH-DOODOODOO DADA-DOODA!"

Kronk barreled onto the field, falling in line next to Harley. "Let's take care of this former-Kronk-and-Yzma-style," he declared. "I'll take the brunt of the attacks while you do anything that could net you the glory."

"Okay, you DEFINITELY need therapy after this is over," Harley told him. "But I'll take a diversion."

He guarded her as she went back into the fray. "Oh, and by the way," he said, "unless this is another really weird dream, there were more of us starting to wake up. Granted, this is gonna be kind of a weird thing to wake up to…"

"YAY!" Harley squealed as she swatted several orbs back toward the Dark Queen. "Who else is up?"

"Hi." A monotone voice from her other side. "So I can't, like, do much that isn't acting or disguises, but if there's any way that could work, then I'm open to it."

"AINSLEY!" Harley shrieked. "Good to see ya! How about you an' Kronk run around and make a lotta noise to get Cykes all stirred up?"

"Run in the around direction and make noise that is a lot." Kronk saluted. "Got it." He then began to run in complete circles, making loud animal calls.

Ainsley followed him at a much slower pace, letting Kronk lap them as they muttered "You've got to keep chasing your schemes, keep chasing your scheeeeemes…" and clapped the rhythm of the strange song.

The Dark Queen did flinch, unsure at first what to make of the spectacle. Easy pickings. Too easy.

Especially when an entire Tyrannosaurus Rex made of goo latched onto her with its gelatinous jaws from behind. "You know what they say!" Globby quipped. "FIGHT MONSTERS WITH MONSTERS!"

Well, actually, because his mouth was full of Dark Queen, what he said was "Oo no wah de shay! FYE MUFFER WIF MUFFER!"

A blast caused him to explode into a purple rain, gathering on the ground to reform into his usual shape plus butterfly wings. Globby lifted off into the air, sharpening his arms into spikes. "Now, don't think I forgot the tricks Obake taught me!" he taunted, shooting a hail of deadly spears at the Dark Queen.

There was a sudden bang. Harley sought out the source of the noise and spotted Felony Carl, aiming a pistol up at the Dark Queen. "Been a while since I actually pulled the trigger on one of these," he muttered.

"Had to kill somebody to protect someone ya love?" Harley guessed.

"Absolutely," Carl confirmed.

"Where'd ya get it, anyway?" Harley asked. "Looks like somethin' from that weapons car…but that was locked."

"It ain't anymore," Carl said.

Harley was rather confused, but was sure that question would get answered later. For now, she was rather occupied with the fact that the Dark Queen, having realized the army against her was growing, had decided to summon backup, the way Sylvie would normally call upon his Counting Sheep. What she found was the Nightmares a tier below anything she could've summoned from Desolation, but a cut above most of the larger things she'd been calling upon.

An ancient spirit regarded as either a guide to the heroic or a false friend who lured people astray and then devoured them. In its Nightmare form, the latter. These large, muscular bipedal cats with their enormous claws and spreading wings – the Chirithies – descended in a dectet, yowling and snarling at the Dark Queen's attackers.

With a growl, another sort of cat entirely launched into the fray. Catra delivered a roundhouse kick to one of the Chirithies before clawing at its chest furiously. "I'M the only cat who gets to show her claws around here!" she screeched. "I finally find a place I stand out and you're gonna try and make me one of a crowd? YOU'RE DONE!"

A second Chirithy rose up from behind, ready to cleave Catra in the back when she wasn't looking. Before it could get anywhere close to doing such a thing, Melog plowed it over, beating it to a paste.

Beside them, Scorpia challenged another Chirithy. "I am REALLY sorry I have to do this," she said nervously before spinning, stabbing her tail into it and causing it to pass out cold on the ground.

The sound of a spark, and a cannon's fuse was lit. "With all due respect, I only bother apologizing to those I actually feel sorry for," Jack Sparrow said as he tilted the cannon to point at the Dark Queen. "Such as myself for having to fight this battle on land rather than at sea." He withdrew his sword, running at a Chirithy while letting the cannon fire on the Dark Queen without him. "And I'm rather not fond of the implications that I can't even say this is the most horrible thing I've dueled on land or sea."

There was a bright red flash: a thick, destructive laser emitting from Hordak's arm-mounted cannon. "Horde Prime modeled me to be a destroyer," he growled. "In this case alone, I am proud to be." The next laser shot left a gash on the Dark Queen that healed over into a shimmering silver scar: a weak point.

Emily came rushing past him with Entrapta sitting cross-legged atop her orb; "EMILYYYYYY CHAAAAAAARGE!" Emily revealed an array of small guns, blasting at the Chirithies and the Dark Queen alike.

Imp swooped overhead, repeating, "EMILYYYYYY CHAAAAAAARGE!"

Then there came the fire from another blaster, carving a heart shape into the Dark Queen's chest. "Look what I did!" Wrong Hordak chirped proudly.

"Yes," Hordak sighed. "I can see it." Then, seized by a sudden burst of artistic spontaneity, he slashed upward, leaving a diagonal scar across that heart and pointing it with an arrow's tip.

"Our collaboration is beautiful, brother!" Wrong Hordak squealed.

"HERE I COME!" Eleanor Hume came in flying, spear spinning to knock back several of the Dark Queen's orbs. "I know where my loyalties lie now, and I'll die to protect them if I have to!" Her spear pointed straight up into the air, summoning a massive beam of magical energy to pour down and strike the Dark Queen; "GUNGNIR TWISTER!"

Gluntz flung a catch pole over one of the Chirithies' necks from behind, pulling it off balance. "Oh, you are SO going to naughty animal jail!" Gluntz declared.

"WOO!" The Once-ler came trotting onto the field, swinging back an axe. "How ba-a-a-ad can I be?" he sang. "I dunno, does THIS answer your question?" He sank the axe into the side of a Chirithy, causing it to dissipate entirely.

There was a sudden, piercing cry of two wild animals. Bud and Lou surged onto the field, realizing right away that the large wildcats before them were not friends of their master. That made them fair game for dinner.

Harley whistled at them; "BOYS! SNACK TIME!"

Bud and Lou leapt, jaws snapping, at the nearest Chirithy. It fell beneath them with the sounds of ripping and tearing.

"BEHOLD!" Magilou rose high into the air, feet planted on the back of one of her battle cards that she'd enlarged and enchanted to act as a flying vehicle. She held her hands up high into the air, and beside her, Bienfu did the same. "Your evil is a paltry parlor trick next to the artes of THE MAGNIFICENT MAGILOU!"

"And sidekick!" Bienfu waved.

"Can you stand up to the might of forty-nine lost souls?" Magilou called beside her several Dream Eaters, vaguely in the shape of Normin, floating in the sky. "WHY DON'T WE TEST YOUR MIGHT? GO, MY BEAUTIFUL SOULS!"

The Normin Dream Eaters descended in a fleet upon the Dark Queen and her Chirithies. Three of the Chirithies were actually eliminated this way; three more cropped up to replace them.

One of them had gotten to exist for a full ten seconds before Locus hit all its pressure points, immobilized it, and then emptied a cartridge into its head. As the Chirithy faded, Locus muttered, "Not even a challenge. I would've contracted a hit on this for free."

Up in the air around the Dark Queen's upper half, two dark portals appeared; the Spot and Dr. Sylvia Lopez leaned out of them to call out, "HELLOOOOOOO!" Then they vanished, only to reappear elsewhere and yell again. The Dark Queen couldn't help but flinch to attention each time, making herself more vulnerable still to the barrage of attacks.

Especially the cannon of pure white light that zapped into her from behind. As she reeled, she heard Laphicet say, "Some things deserve to be suppressed. You are one."

From within one of the dilapidated houses that lined the valley road there burst a parade of dancing furniture, rising into the air and circling the Dark Queen before each table, chair, and bookshelf flew forward and punched her in turn. Down below, Cedric waved his wand to a beat only he could hear, directing the choreography of the wayward furniture. "You know something?" he said. "I think I AM a sensational sorcerer after all! And so do they, so I'm not about to let you ruin that!"

From atop his shoulder, Wormwood sighed, "Sometimes he does have moments of clarity after all."

A burlap bag suddenly landed in front of Harley. "Say wha?" She kicked at it, and several grenades rolled out. "AW, SWEET! But how – "

A pair of long-fingered hands settled onto her shoulders from behind. "I take it you like your little Christmas gift. I worked so hard to pick it out."

With a squeal, Harley broke her concentration for a moment so she could spin around and hug Ragdoll, who wrapped their arms quite tightly around her in return. "Shoulda known you'd come through for me, Ragsy!" she squealed. "You're the one who opened up the weapons car, right?"

"Really, Harley, you didn't figure that part out immediately?"

"It was just locked so tight and there was no way in – "

"NO way, Harley? Are you certain about that?"

She let go of them, worming out of their embrace. "I owe ya one, Ragsy. Now, wanna help me blow these big ol' kitties to bitties?"

Ragdoll had already picked up one grenade, bending their elbow backward and settling the grenade in the reverse-crook. "Allow me to demonstrate what I like to call the human slingshot maneuver."

"BATTER UP!" Harley tossed a grenade high, then used her tree branch to whack it at the same time that Ragdoll suddenly bent their arm in the usual direction, sending their grenade sailing in the same direction. Two Chirithies blew up once the projectiles landed.

"Oh, now THIS is what I call an opponent!" Rokurou said as he sauntered onto the field. "Y'know, I actually won't even be mad for the help." His eye – what was once a daemon eye, now a Nightmare's red set in a patch not of black but of very, very dark purple – glowed with battle fury. He reached back to the Stormquell sword strapped to his back, unsheathed it an inch, and then charged.

The Dark Queen felt a piercing pain that caused her to writhe. And Rokurou, having made his cuts, landed on the other side of her, sheathing Stormquell before taking out his twin daggers to continue the job.

Six bright-yellow uniforms headed onto the field. "BLASTERRRRRRS!" Crusher yelled, leading Spike, Darkstar, Car Crash, Flamethrower, and Ben into battle. "ZUPPA TOSCANA FORMATION!"

They arranged in a particular pattern, guns out, then began to bob and weave as they fired at the Dark Queen, not leaving her a stationary target.

"NOW SELL IT!" Flamethrower yelled, and they all put a little extra cheerleader spring in their step.

"Man, it's too bad the train's busted," Car Crash moaned.

"Are you seriously fucking thinking about driving the TRAIN into that thing?" Ben sputtered.

"It, uh, it kinda looks like they already did," Darkstar pointed out. "Didn't exactly work." (Still he didn't notice how every now and again six Blasters became seven, with dual bodies of him on the field.)

Giovanni's squeal cut through their firing; "I'M SO PROUD OF YOU, BOYS!" He watched them through misting eyes.

"Oh, Crusher," Spike teased. "You're turnin' all red!"

"YOU'RE BLUSHING TOO!" Crusher yelled back.

"Yeah, well, I'm not embarrassed about it," she said before blowing a raspberry at her teammate.

"IFURITA!" Jinnai called out. "MAKE A TORNADO LIKE WE TALKED ABOUT AND BLOW HER OUT OF THE SKY!"

"Okay, Master!" Ifurita rocketed high into the air, surrounding herself with wildly whipping winds. She then flew directly at the Dark Queen, letting the tornado pummel her. After a few blows, Ifurita laughed, "Oh, this is lots of fun!"

"Oh, the IRONY!" Jinnai cackled. "We're using a CYCLONE to defeat CYCLONIS! A-HOHOHOHO!"

A pair of hastily-constructed battle robots, made of spare parts from the weapons car, hurtled toward the Chirithies. One of them briefly camouflaged itself long enough to get close, then ejected a spinning miter-saw blade that cut out the Chirithy's legs. The other came faster than its target could react to, using a spear-point to puncture all the way through the Chirithy's massive chest.

Holding the remote controls, Mel Meyer and Abigail Callaghan slapped a high-five.

Sylvie Ashling and Molly Blyndeff charged from the train, only for Neko Zombie and Sleepy Sheep to leap onto Sylvie and hold him back by his sweater. "You don't have your power!" Neko Zombie argued. "If you want to SURVIVE, you get back on the train!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Sylvie swatted at the pair.

Molly skidded in next to Laphicet. "If you boost my Epithet, I can get rid of some of those big cats!" she said hastily.

Laphicet reached down and took her hand. "Do it."

And a whole Chirithy was simply silenced out of existence.

A glowing golden trail shot into the air; Firefly started to circle the Dark Queen. "Thought you'd heat things up a little, huh?" he taunted as he pointed both gauntlets at her. "Well, I never get out of the kitchen." And he opened fire.

As Firefly worked on circling the Dark Queen's upper half, one of the scythes of Thief's Respite dug into her waist, and Emerald Sustrai used its chain to swing round and round the massive nightmare, blasting away with the other half of Thief's Respite. "Bet Salem regrets letting me go," she said to herself with a smirk. "Though the feeling's not mutual."

A horde of new Chirithies was born, barreling toward the assorted Heathens, only to get washed up in a veritable tidal wave made only of sand. Sandman's voice came from the tousled earth: "And now's the part where I get creative." Guillotines, iron maidens, and a blender made of sand cropped up around the Chirithies, disposing of them quickly.

Leaping over the mass of sand, Electro disengaged his mask, for once throwing away all inhibitions and focusing on letting as much of his power loose as possible. "LAST WARNING TO GET OUT OF MY WAY!" he yelled as he landed before the Dark Queen. "You're about to see me at my PEAK!"

What hit her was practically an entire thunderstorm's worth of lightning.

Eizen strode onto the field, flipping his vessel coin. It landed tails-up, as usual. "Looks like today's your unlucky day," he growled before charging up a massive amount of flaming-hot energy that cracked the very ground beneath him, then letting it go toward the Dark Queen in a single punch.

It was clear that the constant barrage was wearing the Dark Queen down. Her Chirithies had stopped generating, and she was faltering. She countered by channeling even more into her staff, causing orbs to rain down thickly as her blades swept outward. Many were suddenly knocked back across the field, tumbling head over heels.

"She's like a wounded animal!" Harley realized after she took one such spill, sitting back up. "She knows we got her beat, so she's pullin' out all the stops!"

"HARLEY!" Sylvie, Neko Zombie, and Sleepy Sheep rushed over to her. "It's no use! She's dreamed too big! We'll never stop her now!"

"But we almost did!" Harley protested. "All we need is some kinda big finisher! Like…like Yang an' Gio's dual attack!"

"There are WAY too many people in the way to try something like that!" Sylvie argued. "Also, I'm pretty sure she'd kill them instantly before they could even get close!"

Harley was about to make a rebuttal. Then she noticed it.

Emerald, dislodged from the Dark Queen, slicing at one of the tentacles with her scythes. One got too close. Emerald put up a hand, and the tendril froze before backing off ever so slightly.

"It's a dream," Harley realized. "It's all in Cykes' head! That means Emmy can mess it up!"

On cue, Emerald was flung to faceplant nex to Harley. "RIGHT ON TIME!" Harley chirped. "I need your help real bad!"

"Okay!" Emerald leapt to her feet. "I'll do what I can! Hopefully better than whatever that just was!"

"Dream Big means that whole thing is a nightmare Cykes made up!" Harley insisted. "Your whole thing is you control people's thoughts an' dreams! Could you get her to cool off?"

"Whoa!" Emerald flinched, putting up her hands. "That is a TALL order. You've seen that thing, right? You've seen how we barely SCRATCHED that thing?"

"But she's wearin' down!" Harley urged. "We almost got her! And back in the dream, you could bend the whole world!"

"Velvet wasn't actively trying to stop me from rewriting her at every turn," Emerald protested. "That thing IS. I could try it, but I have no guarantee it would work!"

"Oh, pardon me!" Cedric came jogging over. "If I may! I know a subset of spells that increases one's will based on the amount of supporters who join into the wish! If you already have the power to control Cyclonis to begin with, then I could play off the others here to boost your ability!"

"We'd need to get everyone outta the way anyway," Harley said. "I'm gonna wind up Yang an' Gio to deliver that double critical hit. You don't wanna be there when it lands!"

"What do I even make her DO?" Emerald asked.

"Iunno!" Harley said sharply. "A silly dance or somethin'! Get creative!"

"You know," Cedric realized, "a dance would most certainly fuel everyone's energy toward Emerald's spe – her power! If we could get everyone to dance along, then she would be incredibly amplified once I cast my own spell!"

"How do we get everyone to know they have to stop everything and put on a flash mob?" Emerald asked.

The question was answered by a beat. A soft yet thunderous thrum, like a heartbeat. And on it came a faint wave of music.

"Ugh, not the time for the voices!" Harley growled.

"I hear it too," Emerald said.

"As do I!" Cedric started to tap his toe. "Rather catchy, actually."

Harley gasped. Then turned to where Neko Zombie had his paw extended, Sleepy Sheep and Sylvie staring at what lay in it.

The gem fragments vibrated with light that matched the heartbeat-drum.

"SPINS!" Harley shrieked. "Knew ya'd come through for us!"

Emerald was nodding in time with the music Spinel was pumping into the battlefield. "Okay. This, I can work with."

"EVERYONE!" Cedric bellowed. "I COMMAND YOU ALL TO STOP WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING AND GET GROOVY!"

Emerald put all her focus on the Dark Queen. Cedric fueled bright-white magic into her, amplifying her natural ability.

One by one, the others got the point. Kronk and Ainsley were the first to start simply dancing, seeing as acting the diversion had lost its effectiveness. Then the Banzai Blasters slid in to prove how well they could bop in unison. Then Magilou pulled Eleanor into a twirl as Rokurou dragged Eizen out to the dancefloor.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" the Dark Queen bellowed as she saw the sight. "YOU ARE ONLY MAKING IT EASIER FOR ME TO DESTROY YOU!"

She raised a blade high, ready to smite the rapidly growing flash mob –

And couldn't lower it. Her arm was frozen.

"WHAT?"

Then her body started to move of its own accord. "NO!" she thundered as she realized she was copying the dance moves of her opponents. "NOOOOOOO!"

Now Emerald was having fun. Bright white lights emitted from everyone who joined in the dance, fueling Cedric's spell, and that made Emerald all the more powerful. She looked to each of her allies in turn – Ragdoll twisting into arabesques, Once-ler moshing, Entrapta breakdancing, Jinnai just jumping around and believing he looked sophisticated. Emerald fueled all of these tics into the Dark Queen, choreographing perhaps the most chaotic dance known to humanity.

Thanks to the others fueling her and Cedric, she was soon able to overtake the Dark Queen completely. The massive Nightmare stopped fighting altogether, instead rocking out to Spinel's tune. She cried out in anger, though her body language really didn't look that angry – she was shaking, moving, grooving.

By that time, Harley had managed to tell the next stage of the plan to Yang and Giovanni. Giovanni began the process of bopping Yang in order to charge them both up, and in unison, they counted up: "ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! FIVE! SIX! SEVEN! EIGHT! NINE! TEN! ELEVEN! TWELVE!"

They exchanged a look. "Let's do this villain-style," Giovanni told her.

"Anti-hero style," Yang corrected with a wink.

They launched into the air, Yang burning with fiery Aura and Giovanni leaking steam. Bat and fist were drawn back, and as one, they yelled, "DOUBLE CRITICAL EXPLOSION EXTRAORDINAIRE!"

The impact sent the Dark Queen tumbling head over heels clear across Camlann. Her swords planted into the ground along the way, her staff dropped unceremoniously.

Velvet lunged like a beast, scampering over the dead village until she reached the fallen Nightmare. Then she leapt up to the Dark Queen's chest, extending her claw, plunging it deep in.

The entirety of the Dark Queen shuddered, then began to flow into that very claw, faster and faster until there was nothing left but a sleeping teenage girl. Cyclonis jolted awake suddenly, aware that her Nightmare was gone.

She looked to Velvet. "You…" she growled. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"I ate your dream," Velvet responded, flicking her claw. "It tasted incredibly bitter, but I don't think I'll need another meal for twenty-four hours."

Cyclonis launched herself to her feet. Her eyes flicked to where the Dark Queen's staff had fallen, shrinking back into her Cyclonian staff stabbed into a lawn. Before she could make a move, she was seized from behind, her arms put into a tight lock by Ragdoll. Firefly landed in front of her, pointing a gauntlet to her throat.

"One wrong move and you go up in flames," he warned.

Harley came storming up to glare into her eyes. "This is your last warnin'," she seethed. "DON'T mess with me or my pals ever again! And I'm not your doll to play with! You got pals now, so go be possessive over them, not me!"

Cyclonis panted heavy breaths through gritted teeth. She felt an emptiness inside, as though she were rapidly being drained of some crucial part of her soul. Why should she feel that way? She had no desire to be Harley's friend anymore, she was sure of it. All she wanted now was an escape. Getting back to Morbia sounded pretty good, even if it meant she'd have to fight her way out of some cruel and unusual punishments.

(All the better to prove herself.)

She focused. Her staff quivered, then shot across the field. Ragdoll quickly let Cyclonis go, backflipping out of the way so they wouldn't be impaled. Once the staff hit Cyclonis' hand, she shot straight up into the red sky, far, far away from the Heathens.

Ragdoll straightened up. "Well, I'd say we got our point across," they remarked.

"Did you?" Firefly asked, lowering his weapon. Because threatening Cyclonis had never been the point.

Ragdoll extended a fist. Then let a cat-shaped amulet with a sparkling green gem drop from it, suspended by its chain.

Up in the air, as Cyclonis made her retreat, it finally hit her what exactly that "emptiness" was. The piece she was missing was the solid concept of the word "Drowsy."

While Ragdoll had been holding her hostage, they'd really been draining her stolen Epithet back out of her.

She let out a wordless scream of rage that was heard the world over, reported as hellion activity over the Hyland Empire.

Back in Camlann, Sylvie had rushed over to Ragdoll, who tossed the eager boy the source of his power. Sylvie settled it around his own neck, breathing in as Drowsy filled him once more. "BACK IN BUSINESS!" he yelled, pumping his fist. "COUNTING SHEEP!"

A host of golden sheep surrounded him, and he fell back against them as though they were a pillow fort. They cuddled up against him, and Sleepy Sheep wandered over to rest on his fellow ovines.

"Comfy," the small sheep boy muttered as he snuggled in.

"WE DID IT!" Harley screamed, raising a fist high, and the entire group burst into cheers and applause, hugging one another. Harley and Yang kissed deeply. Giovanni latched onto a blushing Crusher's waist and jumped up and down while yelling "I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!". Rokurou ruffled Eleanor's hair. Velvet gave a thankful smile to Emerald, who turned away blushing. Ifurita and the Spot were still dancing, whooping with happiness as they did so. Wrong Hordak was crying, and Gluntz had lent him her hat to sob into.

At first, no one heard the slow, rhythmic clapping that blended right in with the celebration. Until a low, raspy voice drawled, "Good job, kiddos. Not bad for your first run as a squad."

That was when they all noticed the man in the black leather coat with his hood up.

"Uhhh…hi?" Harley greeted.

"Oh, don't mind me," the Organization representative said. "I was just passin' through on my own errands. Which reminds me! Got a message for any WHAM ARMY that might be hangin' around. Anyone here from the WHAM ARMY?"

Firefly and Ragdoll slowly raised their hands.

"Good," the Organization representative said. "'Cause you gotta know to step off this world. I've got Seeker of Darkness business here, orders from the big Nort himself. There's a power here I'm not lettin' anyone even get close to, especially if that person's name is Mozenrath. Are we understood?"

"I think we do what we want," Firefly seethed.

"We'll certainly let Mozenrath know you didn't want him here," Ragdoll added. "What he does next is out of our hands." They waved jazz fingers for effect.

"That's all I'm askin'," the cloaked man said. "Just to deliver the message." He turned to walk away. "Oh, and by the way!" He began to laugh, practically doubling over. "Of all the people I didn't expect to see here, it was the black sheep of the Rangetsu clan himself!"

He fired one more look over his shoulder, his hood falling back just enough that Rokurou could see the man's eyepatch, scar, golden iris. "I owe you one," Braig chuckled. "Next time we cross paths, it's gonna get real interesting."

Then he was gone as though he were never there.

"You knew that man?" Velvet asked.

"No," Rokurou replied. "I mean, he sounded a lot like Shigure in how he talked, but that was definitely not Shigure."

"That's your evil brother you dueled to the death, right?" Giovanni recalled.

"Eh, I wouldn't say 'evil,'" Rokurou corrected. "But he was my mortal rival, so I did what has to be done. Anyway, this new guy sounded like he was challenging me to a duel. If that was the case…can't pass that up."

"I wouldn't go rushing into it," Eizen cautioned. "If he really wanted you to fight him so badly, he must believe he already has the advantage."

"What, you worried about me?" Rokurou teased. "I can handle him. He looked like a wimp. You could already see he lost a fight so bad it took out half his face!"

"Bold words from someone who, himself, only has half a face to speak of," Magilou remarked.

"Forget about that guy," Yang said. "He was trying to psych us out. Which is probably a bad idea in a place like this. I say we keep moving. Train's out of order, so it's time for a nature walk."

"Soon as we hit civilization," Harley said, "I can put out the word an' see if Terminus' got a branch on this world. He's pretty easy to contact if ya know the magic words."

"Then let's go." Velvet began to stride toward the entrance of the village.

Giovanni did a head count as everyone fell into step, making sure everyone was accounted for, then brought up the rear of the procession. On his way out, he shuddered. This place was giving him the creeps. Really, he wouldn't have been surprised if the whole village were haunted.

(Not entirely wrong. But she wasn't going to waste a grand appearance on mindless entertainment at best.)

...

"And so," Solus concluded as he sauntered toward Salem, arms outstretched, "it all comes to this. I have laid waste to your chess pieces, and you to my…entertainment. I believe you know what remains."

Salem was walking briskly toward Solus. "I cannot make you die," she seethed. "But I can show you eternal pain."

"Hm…how quaint." Solus stopped to give her a smirk. "You say that as if I am a stranger to the concept."

He reached out an arm to her, a cluster of purple orbs of magical light glowing in the air around him. Then he snapped, and the orbs shot toward Salem at the very moment that a score of Grimm arms shot up from a portal in the floor, seizing Solus and dragging him down.

With a scream, Salem arched forward; a pair of veined wings sprouted from her back with a horrible tearing sound, and she used them to climb high, out of the way of Solus' onslaught before it pummeled into the floor where she'd stood.

Solus gave a glance back to the Huntsman. Wormed an arm out of his writhing, living cage, and cast a single Corridor of Darkness. "There is no end to this in which the city itself survives," he said hastily. "Collect your forces and send them through this portal. DO NOT interfere unless you wish to be exterminated in the crossfire."

Then Solus himself exploded, his body expanding, taller and wider. The Grimm arms holding him down were ripped from their roots and shaken loose as Solus became a towering Grimm himself, vaguely human-shaped, clothed in Darkness that swayed like a robe. His hands were now immense claws that reached out for Salem, swiping at her, hoping to knock her out of the sky.

Finally, Mim ripped her tusks out of the floor with a resounding crack. Aghoul and Velma, with wounds gaping, dropped to the tile.

"Get going!" Mim urged, and neither Aghoul nor Velma needed to be told twice. Off they scampered, into the safe location Solus had designated. Mim shrank to the form of an Ursa, hoisting herself to her hind legs and approaching the Huntsman.

"NO," he growled. "The others first. Take me through last, but ENSURE I escape."

Salem flew circles around Hades, zapping a constant stream of prismatic lightning at him. He flinched upon the impact, but largely was able to bat it away, ignoring the cuts and the gashes as he summoned a circle below Salem to track her. Round and round it followed her until it detonated, sending a harsh beam of Darkness spearing straight through her abdomen.

Blood spilled. Salem screamed. She'd been torn apart, but not for long; she was already healing up. And now all the angrier. Her hands were thrown skyward; a dark cyclone became her foundation, carrying her to render her wings redundant. Dark wisps broke from this cyclone, tearing toward the massive Solus at high speeds.

He cried out as they bit into him. But not in pain. In anger.

Hecate stirred as Mim carried her to the portal. "Unh…?" Her eyes cracked open, and she was able to see it when Aghoul leaned back out of his escape route, taking her bridal-style into his arms from Mim and rushing her to safety.

Geysers of orange flame spewed from the floor at Solus' behest, attempting to swallow up Salem's cyclone. She deftly dodged each one, which cued Solus to begin raining attacks from above: seething discs of electric blue.

Mim ripped the last of Cinder's swords out of the Mukhtar, letting him throw an arm around her shoulder long enough for her to pass him through the portal as well.

With a roar, Salem called in the cavalry. Winged Ravager Grimm erupted from over the sides of the drop of the Vault, converging upon Hades.

So he called upon one of the few Grimm that did not answer to her. Hashmal, a muscular lion-beast with immense bladed arms, burst up through the platform before the Vault, leaving a massive ravine between the passed-out Overtakers and the rapidly escaping WHAM ARMY.

Of course, summoning Zalera and Hashmal in such short succession didn't come without a price. Solus wasn't able to maintain his Grimm form much longer, and collapsed down to a more humanoid size. He would have to wait for his magical energy to regenerate if he wanted to change shape or summon a Grimm again – but he still had other tricks at his disposal in the meantime.

Mim hurled Drakken into the portal like a rag doll.

Solus rose into the air, levitating of his own accord, and glared down Salem. After only a moment of eye contact, the two rushed each other, white-hot magic in hand, and threw fists face-to-face in midair over the gap. Hashmal had already brought down the rest of the Ravagers; the chunks of stone and ice where he'd burst through were levitating nearby, charged by the raw magical energy of the duel.

The Huntsman tossed Mim his staff; she plunged its tip, glowing, into the shield that held Zorg's ankle down. "Much obliged," Zorg panted before charging for the portal.

Salem rose high, gathering up the flying stone chunks to circle about her like an asteroid belt. Once they'd reached maximum speed, she deployed them to Solus. She had hoped he would be crushed, but as the rocks slammed into one another, pulverizing into dust, Solus rose even higher out of the wreckage, with the ice shards from the same cataclysm surrounding him and sharpening themselves into spears. He let them fly at Salem, and while she was quick enough to dodge most of them, one hit home.

Mim poked harshly at Hannibal's wound before rolling him through the portal on his side, and truth be told, he liked that.

Salem pressed the halves of her head together from Solus' well-placed blow of ice. They fused, as they always did. Her brain always needed a little time to reorient itself, which was why Solus was now taking the window to rush Salem with even more ice shards he'd summoned up on his own, but she gained clarity long enough to set herself completely aflame like a phoenix, radiating a sun of light over the field. Solus was too close.

The iceberg shattered around Neo, who nodded at Mim before simply disappearing – or, rather, camouflaging her location as she leapt into the portal.

Solus flinched and retreated, the burns on his flesh rippling over. Hashmal had worn out his welcome and retreated to the Darkness; Solus was now alone, which was fine by him. He surrounded himself with the same prismatic light that Salem had used earlier, gathering it in a spark before him.

Salem realized exactly what he was doing to do and copied the move. The two cannons of lightning slammed into each other, pushing, attempting to gain ground on one another.

A groggy Melanie helped Mim drag Miltia to the portal.

The connection point of the two lightning attacks exploded in a rainbow of destruction, sending both Salem and Solus reeling head over heels in midair. Solus recovered almost immediately, sending a host of Dark tendrils out to bind Salem. Salem struggled, gritting her teeth as she waited for whatever blow he had planned – ah, and there it was, a starfall of bright white energy headed her way on an arc.

"Last one!" Mim resumed the form of the Ursa, scooping up the Huntsman. Then into the Corridor she went.

Solus chanced a diversion of his attention, closing the Corridor. Salem ripped out of his bindings just before the magic could hit, and she deflected it with a flash of light of her own.

Then came the sound of shifting and scraping. Solus spun, eyes wide in rage as he realized that the door to the Vault itself was now open, revealing the Staff of Creation on its altar in the grassy meadow. "But only the Maiden – "

Fish's mismatched eyes glowed at him as she stood beside the door. She'd awoken. Meaning others of the Overtakers might rise soon as well. "Surprised?"

Salem and Solus took off like two comets for the Vault's interior. Because Solus had been held up by the shock of the turn of events, Salem had a clear lead. Therefore, Solus knew that if he wanted to prevent her from getting the staff – or at least delay it – he had to go big.

Good thing his energy had replenished, for the most part.

The form he took next filled the Vault, blotting out the artificial sunlight. He lay forward vertically like an animal, hard plates like armor protecting his body, white skulls studding his Grimm wings. "YOU SHALL DIVIDE ME DOWN INTO THE DUST OF THE WORLD BEFORE I LET YOU WALK AWAY WITH THE RELIC OF HYDAELYN," he said, and it echoed throughout the whole chamber.

Then began to charge up the most magic yet, the skill this form offered him. Enough to obliterate her on impact. She wouldn't die, of course. She'd just need some time to recuperate before her body could be considered whole again. And probably somewhere far away from the Vault.

Salem knew this. Which was why she reached inward, gathering as much of her own magic as she could. Glowing so brightly she was nearly blinding. Focusing it at her foe. Pouring everything she had, her very being, into this strike.

"IF I COULD NOT DESTROY YOUR GOD," she screamed, "THEN I WILL DESTROY YOU IN HIS PLACE!"

He let go of his wide-ranged explosive as she focused her burning laser. She was ripped to shreds instantly. He was pierced straight through, dissolving as he faltered.

Then they were both gone, but not for good.

That left only the Overtakers with the open Vault. One in particular was already making his way up. He nodded to Fish en route, and Fish nodded back, telling him, "From what I've heard, you deserve this."

Arthur Watts strode into the Vault almost casually, taking the Staff of Creation up into his hand as though it were a mere tool in his box. "Oh, Ambrosius," he said. "I should like to have a word."

There was a rush of blue smoke. Then came the large and rather attractive spirit of the Staff, a nude male with sky-blue skin and bearing chains of luminous gold.

"Well, I'm not sure quite what I was expecting," Ambrosius groaned, "but you're definitely not it. That said, having heard my name, I cannot very well deny whatever you would ask of me. What is it you want?"

Watts delicately unfolded a small paper from his pocket. "This, if you please."

Ambrosius couldn't believe what he was looking at. "That," he said plainly, "is an ordinary teacup."

"And fill it with Earl Grey," Watts insisted.

"You summoned me here to ask me to make you a cup of tea?" Ambrosius said in disbelief.

"Well, yes and no," Watts replied. "I'm sure you realize the implications of what will happen once the tea is in my hand."

All of Ambrosius' creative energy was placed into keeping Atlas aloft. If he were asked anything else, he could no longer give to that endeavor. "So it's the fall of Atlas you want."

"Now you're catching on."

Ambrosius gave a chuckle. "Well. You did summon me, so I'm not about to reject your wish on the grounds of ethics."

There was a sparkle of light in the air. With a final glow, it congealed into a teacup filled with steaming liquid.

"Enjoy your Earl Grey," Ambrosius said before he vanished into the staff.

Watts retracted the staff into a more compact form with his left hand. Clutched the tea with his right. Took a long sip. It tasted wonderful.

"How long do we have?" Fish asked from outside the Vault.

"Just long enough," Watts replied. "Round up the others and bother Loki into making us an escape route."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, my apologies," Watts corrected. "PLEASE round up the others and then bother Loki into making us an escape route."

"That's more like it." Fish nodded, then turned to exit.

Giving the Vault one last look, Watts remarked, "James, James…you know none of this would ever have happened if you hadn't chosen that fat imbecile over me."

He emptied the cup. Then tossed it down to let it sit on its side in the grass. The last evidence that anyone had been there.

...

After a hike through hill and wood, the Heathens had come to a sprawling seaside capital calling itself "Ladylake."

("Why's it still all so medieval after a thousand years?" Harley asked as she picked through the wares at the open-air marketplace.

"Probably to do with the cycles of the Empyreans," Velvet replied. "Innominat used to remake the world in fire after each suppression. That shouldn't have happened since Laphicet and I entered our dream…but it sounds like Phi might've thrown something into the works.")

By some miracle, as it turned out, the Van Eltia had ended up here even when its passengers hadn't, and was discovered down by the docks because city guards were trying to figure out who'd left their ship unmanned and blocking the harbor for that many hours on end. And true to her word, Harley was able to find out who were customers of a strange little curio shop that was as close to the Nobles' District as you could get without actually spoiling the wealthy aesthetic within the walls of the Nobles' District.

"Ainsley?" Charlotte of Count Olaf's troupe (formerly) gasped. "Is that you?"

"Hey." Ainsley quickly put up a hand, then back down. "Did Dr. Terminus move you here now?"

"Temporarily," Charlotte replied. "There are all sorts of schemes to be pulled from the fact that there's a whole population of people here who are completely invisible. You wouldn't believe what we've gotten away with!"

"Could ya ring up the doc?" Harley asked. "We kinda need a ride back to the Liminal Space."

"Certainly!" Charlotte agreed, and scurried off to call him right away.

This began a chain of events that ended with the Van Eltia docked in the Interspace surrounding the Liminal Space's little island, and the Heathens sprawled out over the grounds and throughout the shop as they waited upon the verdict from Harley on what they should do next.

Out back of the building, Velvet, Eleanor, Magilou, Rokurou, Eizen, and Laphicet reconnected. "So apparently we were all best friends," Rokurou stated. Then he gave a nod to Laphicet; "Well, mostly."

Laphicet seemed to shimmer more in the light as he floated above the lawn by two inches. "I'm starting to think it wouldn't be a good thing for you to remember who I was after all," he sniffed.

"We all have sins to answer for here," Eizen reminded him.

"Some of them we don't even feel like answering for," Magilou added with a wink.

"You know what?" Eleanor resolved. "This is a good thing! I think I spend too much time worrying about being a good person or what others think of me. So starting now, I'm going to do my own sins! Like…like not replacing the toilet paper roll after it gets used up, or taking the last cookie even if Magilou already called dibs!"

("What?" Globby said from across the lawn before Felony Carl assured him it wasn't about him.)

"…Are you even serious?" Velvet laughed.

"Baby steps," Rokurou said. "She'll get there."

"If no one minds, I have a question that's been weighing on my mind since we awoke," Eizen stated. "We're Dream Eaters now, in whole or in part. I've noticed that several of us now have altered features that correspond to that race. Velvet and Rokurou's are easy to see; their daemon features have been replaced with Nightmare qualities."

Rokurou brushed back his bangs to reveal the dark purple of his Nightmare side, red eye sparking. Velvet, in turn, extended her claw, which was even more noticeably a brighter red in the light.

"I don't have anything standout like that," Laphicet stated. "It's more of a feeling throughout my whole body. Innominat is still there, but he's different."

"You look more visibly different on the whole," Eizen observed. "There's a sparkle to you, like the sun is shining directly on you. I think that's the feature you have. Between all of that and what I know about myself, I think it's fair to say that each of us now has the mark of a Dream Eater somewhere on our body."

"Well, what's yours?" Rokurou asked, expectant.

"I'm glad you asked." Eizen gave a smug smile, then suddenly whipped open a pair of reptilian wings from his back, stretching them out wide. They gleamed softly golden yellow, the loopy mark of the Dream Eaters visible only when the light shone through, like a watermark.

"Ohhh, I get it!" Rokurou realized. "It's because you turned into a dragon in the real world and died!"

"…Yes," Eizen said stonily. "That's obviously the connection. Though it isn't one I needed to be reminded of."

"Why not?" Rokurou asked. "You're alive now, aren't you? And if you're a Dream Eater, that means you can't become a REAL dragon."

"…True," Eizen relented. "Magilou?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Magilou said hastily. "I'm a perfect human being in every way! There's nothing out of place here!"

Bienfu came zipping around the corner; "Miss Magilou! You're not going to tell them?"

"Tell them?" Magilou repeated. "There's nothing to tell them about. I – "

Bienfu bounded upward and punched Magilou's hat right off her head. There, nestled in her golden hair, were two little dog-ears, black-furred and pink on the inside.

"Nice going, Bienfu," Magilou huffed. "Just for that, REVENGE!"

"MISS MAGILOU, NO – "

She whipped off Bienfu's top hat. Underneath, his head was the perfect roundness of an ordinary Normin, but with one key difference.

"SEE THAT?" Magilou pointed to a golden star shape that sat dead center of Bienfu's forehead. "I know THAT wasn't there before!"

"MAGILOUUUUUU WHYYYYY?" Bienfu snatched up his top hat, jamming it once again down over his head before scurrying away in tears.

"Velvet's claw, Laphicet's shine, Rokurou's face, my wings, Magilou's second set of ears, and Bienfu has a star marking," Eizen mused. "Bienfu's probably isn't as dramatic because he's so small to begin with. At any rate, that leaves Eleanor."

"Me?" Eleanor recoiled. "But – but I don't have any idea what mine is!"

"I mean, was there anything on you that was a unique feature beforehand?" Rokurou asked.

"Or anything you wore for a couple performances and apparently can't live down?" Magilou droned.

"Or a motif that would be connected to you," Eizen added.

"I can't think of anything!" Eleanor protested. "The only thing that's ever been odd about my body is…is…" She blanched. "Could you excuse me a second?"

She turned and bolted. Velvet knew exactly why. "She's got a scar on her chest," she explained. "From when the giant troll attacked her village. And you know how modest she is. She wouldn't bare that in public."

"Too bad," Magilou teased, elbowing Velvet.

Eleanor trotted into the one-stall restroom inside the shop, bolting the door shut. "Okay," she told herself. "It's probably not bad. The others' new body parts are all really cute! I bet mine is too!"

She shrugged off her blue Exorcist jacket, unbuttoned the top of her bodice, and bared her skin to the mirror.

When she saw the near-unspeakable horror that had replaced her scar, complete with teeth, she let out a piercing scream.

Inside the shop, Ainsley flinched upon hearing it. They debated on asking if Eleanor was all right. Since she was in the bathroom, they didn't really want to address her at all, because generally people don't like to be talked to in the bathroom.

"There you are!" An all-too-familiar voice drew Ainsley's attention. Once-ler sauntered over to them; "You know, the way we haven't run into each other since the ship, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were avoiding me!" He gave a laugh.

"…Ha," Ainsley replied, feeling the blood leave their face.

"Look," the Once-ler said. "I'm just gonna come out and say it. It's embarrassing, yes, but I don't care. I…I missed you. You're the literal best friend I have in existence right now, and I was VERY scared of coming back here without my best diversity consultant. …Not just because you're a diversity consultant! But you know, because I love talking theater with you, and about the weirdest clothes we wanna wear, and about how we both deserve better after being kicked around by scumbag mentor figures and – and I'm just glad things are back to normal, okay?"

Ainsley nodded, already feeling guilty. Because they thought of Once-ler as a very good friend as well. And if that had been the end of it, things would have been perfect. But they could now very easily see how Once-ler fidgeted and scraped a shoe on the floor and darted his eyes about the room. It really did seem very much like he had a crush on Ainsley.

While Ainsley was thinking about what "back to normal" would really mean for them, and whether they dared even bring up putting that on the Heathens' agenda.

"Ainsley?" the Once-ler said, waving a hand in front of their face. "Hellooooooo? Earth to Ainsley! You awake in there?"

"Yeah," Ainsley said. "It's just that as an introvert who might have an undiagnosed neurodivergence, I don't do great with social stuff." A pause. "I missed you too. As a platonic friend who is just a good conversation partner and is definitely very platonic. I said 'platonic' already, didn't I?"

"Yeah," the Once-ler replied. "You did." He broke out into a big smile; "It's so cute when you get spacey." Then he gasped. "I don't mean cute, though! I mean – uh – " He snapped a finger gun. "Spiffy."

Ainsley nodded. "Yep."

Once-ler nodded back. "Yep."

The nodding went on for a while.

The next yell to get everyone's attention came from the topmost floor, in the apartments, when Terminus bellowed, "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

"C'mooooonnn, Doc!" Harley begged. She, Yang, Giovanni, Garfield, and Ragdoll stood before Terminus and Hoagy, firing off the best puppy eyes they could all muster. "They're my responsibility now! I gotta find 'em a place to stay!"

"Harley," Terminus urged, "you know I would hardly ever say no to free labor, but do you not see that there's no possible way they can fit in the living quarters? They barely all fit on the grounds!"

"I mean, ya could house everybody somewhere else and commute to work," Hoagy suggested. "We got plenty of remote locations."

"Our evil base needs to be bigger and better anyway," Giovanni mused. "Like, I dunno, an abandoned castle on a cliffside, or a haunted house."

"Haunted house…" Terminus mused. "Yes, that might be it. There's a particular branch that's near a rather…interesting property I believe is currently unoccupied."

"Okay, you gotta spill now that you brought it up," Yang urged.

"It's been contested, and gone in and out of a few hands," Terminus stated. "I can't guarantee you'll be the only ones vying for it. But…given what I know about the interior…yes, yes, it should work to fit all of you…"

"ENOUGH WITH THE SUSPENSE!" Giovanni yelled.

"I could strangle the answer out of him," Ragdoll suggested. "No? Oh, well."

"It's an old mansion," Terminus stated. "Quite large, rumored to be quite haunted, and quite mysterious in origin. Assuming no other squatter has taken it over, or, even worse, no one's legally PURCHASED it yet…you might have some luck with the property in the woods just outside Twilight Town."

"I say we scope it out," Yang suggested. "If you can let our friends crash here for just a few hours while we do a property inspection, then we can come back and tell you if it's gonna work."

"It has to pass the Evil Lair Standards," Giovanni said very confidently, as though that were a real document that he referenced continuously.

"I think we can handle that," Hoagy said before Terminus could protest. "We'll put 'em to work on the deep clean!"

"You know, we haven't had a deep clean in…let me see…" Terminus started to count off the years. Once the number exceeded five, he realized he probably shouldn't give the actual answer. "Too long. Very well. We'll provide you a route to Twilight Town, and hopefully, it should work and you'll have everyone off the grounds before the next sunrise."

Harley turned to look at Garfield and Ragdoll in turn. "If you guys wanna head on back to the WHAM ARMY now…you already got a base. The settlin'-in part won't be as exciting for you."

"Yeah, we should check in," Garfield admitted. "Especially after the eyepatch guy got all ominous."

"If he doesn't want us to return to that world," Ragdoll said, "then we most certainly need to do so and figure out what is there that we want. All the same, don't be afraid to call if there's a heist brewing."

"Same," Garfield said. "Also, let us know if Twilight Town works out. That'd make it way easier to visit."

"Will do!" Harley gave a thumbs-up. Then she suddenly surged forward and hugged both Garfield and Ragdoll around the waist.

They responded in kind, pulling her close. "Love you, Harley," Garfield teased, blowing at a strand of her hair.

Harley was released, and she turned back to Giovanni and Yang. "Let's go round up Velvet!" she cried. "We're goin' house hunting!"

...

Solus had designated a safehouse, should he ever meet such a gruesome death as he just recently had. A place for his soul and the fragments of his body to return while he pieced himself back together. That place was the basement of a tavern in his reconstructed Amaurot. Much comfier than the room below Li'l Miss Malachite's, which was good, because the moment he regained consciousness, he realized everything was agonizing.

He'd had to completely rebuild after being disintegrated. Of course he was going to be achey. He stretched, then swung his feet off the side of the green bed.

"You ready to tell me what the fuck happened over there?"

The sudden feminine voice interrupted Solus' train of thought. He looked over to the woman in the room. She wasn't human, nor Faunus. No, she was something from another world entirely – and as far as he was concerned, just a friend of a friend. Someone he didn't mind dealing with, but really, he'd only protected because there was someone who would kill him if he didn't.

Her name was Luna, and she was a bit larger than your average human, with gray and blue fur all over and goatlike horns and ears over a longer mop of blue mane. She looked absolutely disheveled. Under normal circumstances, Solus couldn't have blamed her. After all, she'd been comfortably running Hole in the Wall from behind the curtain, keeping her identity shrouded from the locals, until Solus had sent her a missive to get out of dodge.

(Secrets for secrets. Because he knew what she was in the first place, she was allowed to know things about him.)

"Atlas has, presumably, fallen," Solus explained. "In a sense both metaphysical and literal."

"You saw it go down?"

"Not with these eyes, yet I can assure you it is inevitable, given who was left alone with the Staff of Creation. Ah, such a pity. I had hoped to be able to do the wicked deed myself."

An airborne koi floated into the room, its dark eyes bulging. "Mama Blue?" it chirped. "Squishy squishy time?"

Solus rolled his eyes as Luna let the koi snuggle into her hand and gave it a few squeezes. "Truly, Luna, we have discussed this," Solus groaned.

"He loves me," Luna grunted. "Just because you don't know what unconditional love feels like doesn't mean you get to stop others from having it."

"Who's new stripey hair man?" the koi asked. "I love stripey hair man!"

"Ah, ever since we met…" Solus teased. "There is a difference between unconditional love and throwing around a term for the sake of it."

"It is NOT fake love."

"I hadn't even reached that particular argument, Luna. Either you already know the script by heart or else you've realized deep down that a toy programmed to say the same phrase to everyone does not unconditional love make."

"We're not having this fucking argument." Luna let the koi go fly.

Well, if she wanted to cave to her addiction, Solus really didn't care that much. His job was to make sure she wasn't hit by such things as a falling city that was his fault. He would forever know, however, that she only liked the little koi – a failed experiment from the scientists of her otherworldly race – because he was simple. He asked nothing. Whereas Solus knew he had felt true love toward Ozma because he'd ended up giving away everything, and not even come away with Ozma's heart in the process.

"I sent you somewhat of a care package earlier," Solus said to change the subject. "Did you or did you not receive it?"

"I tended to their wounds as best I could," Luna replied. "They'll need a better medical facility. The one with the helmet is still on crutches."

"I shall be the one to make arrangements."

"They had a few drinks," Luna went on, "then, when they felt better, they went out to explore the city. Crutches and all. I can't tell you where they went from there."

"Ah, but I can. I express to you all due gratitude for your assistance." He bowed, somewhat playfully.

She turned away. So she was still sore because Solus had mentioned her fragile lifeline. Pity.

He simply took his leave, ascending the stairway from the room – which had pomegranate-colored walls in addition to the green bedding – and giving a flippant wave without even looking back.

From there, his path took him through the main room of the spacious bar, where a few glass shards told him that Mim had had more than her fair share of fun, and then out into the city streets, where a different sort of folk reigned. His memories. The Amaurotine people, either those he knew personally or extras he filled in to make the city more populous.

They greeted him with a nod or occasionally a wave as he passed, because this was his paradise and he could make them all worship him. Now, while Solus didn't have exact confirmation on where his new allies had run off to, he had a feeling that if they were truly the same breed, there was only one place they would go.

Seeing the Huntsman limping from the theater doors on his crutches affirmed it. "What should be the matter?" Solus asked as he approached. "Was the show not to your liking? Pity. I suppose there is no accounting for taste."

"The performance is expert," the Huntsman seethed. "I left for other reasons."

Those reasons being that as the WHAM ARMY representatives watched the show being portrayed on the stage, they refused to do so in silence.

"BOOOOOOO!" Mim yelled. "THIS IS HORRIBLE!" Even though it wasn't and she just wanted to yell a boo.

To one side of her, Hannibal had his vines wrapped around her, his plant tissue regenerating slowly but surely. "You an' I, we're better actors than this," Hannibal snorted. "Just watch." Instantly, he'd morphed into a double of the lead actor (but kept the vines). "Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo?"

"That's not even the show we're watching," Hecate hissed. She was sitting by Velma, who was sitting by Aghoul, who was on Mim's other side. As for what Velma and Aghoul were doing, it was very loud, sloppy, wet, and just short of indecent exposure. Hecate, on the other hand, was playing critic. "Though the fact that it's not Shakespeare is painfully obvious. Who wrote this, Euripedes? It's as weepy as a Euripedes, and I HATE it."

"You just got no eye for the fine arts, have ya?" Zorg urged. "The writin's solid, but it's the special effects just gone all haywire, an' the costumes've got SO much room for improvement I'm laughin'."

"Wha – " Hecate gestured to the stage with both hands. "THE VILLAIN AND THE HERO DON'T EVEN MEET!"

"They don't need to for a compellin' narrative," Zorg argued.

"A play isn't any good unless its hero and villain are DIRECT FOILS!" Hecate yelled.

"They're foils thematically," Zorg argued. "One of 'em's an everyman, stupid and straight as they come, while the more interestin' one's high-class, intelligent enough to carry the whole show, an' delightfully queercoded. An' even if they weren't foils, a solid story's a solid story. Now, the comic relief character I could do without."

"He's, like, not even hot," Melanie said from the other side of Neo, who was next to Zorg. "None of them are hot."

"The beta hero's kinda hot," Miltia remarked.

"Shut up," Melanie told her. "You have no taste anymore and you know why."

Miltia flinched. The Mukhtar was sitting to her other side and hopefully not putting pieces together.

"Anyway, the only saving grace is the romance plot," Melanie said, "though I'm still waiting on them to dump the third wheel and just end the whole triangle shit already. We already KNOW the main guy's gonna get the girl."

"Um, that's not confirmed," Miltia replied. "The side guy's actually a lot better for her. I'm hoping for an underdog upheaval."

"Ugh, that is so wrong!"

"No, you're the one who's wrong."

The Mukhtar broke in: "From what little I can tell, Miltia's suitor treats the heroine with respect. Melanie's suitor merely goes through motions."

"Fucking win," Miltia said as she shoved Melanie. Then, with some subtle bedroom eyes, she told the Mukhtar, "You totally have my back."

"I am only telling you how I read this story," the Mukhtar replied. "It is not to do with you."

"Rude." Miltia leaned back in her seat, folding her arms.

"On the contrary," the Mukhtar told her. "I should think it better that you and I hold an agreement without bowing to one another out of principle."

Miltia perked up a little. "…Yeah. Yeah, it is."

"Whatever." Melanie turned back to Neo. "Gimme some of that candy."

Neo had stocked up on enormous buckets of tiny candies and a small dish of frozen yogurt and was taking the opportunity to have a picnic all to herself. Anytime one of her fellows reached for the food – such as Melanie was doing now – Neo roughly jerked it away, inevitably spilling some on the nice floor. No, it wasn't filling, since it was made of memories, but Solus had certainly remembered how good the sweets were supposed to taste, and perhaps his nostalgia was making them even sweeter.

"Gimme your fucking food, Neo!" Melanie made another grab.

Neo lightly punched her in the face as she shoveled far too much candy into her mouth.

"Excuse me," an usher said as he walked down the side aisle. "There have been complaints about the amount of noise you're making. I'm going to have to ask you to leave the theater."

Mim simply pointed at him and set his clothes on fire. He went screaming right the rest of the way down the alley to the stage, where he collapsed in the middle of the performance, and since Solus hadn't accounted for this, the show just went on around him as he immolated.

"Now, THAT'S entertainment!" Mim crowed.

After the final curtain call, they left in a group to find Solus and the Huntsman sitting at the edge of a large ornamental fountain, chatting animatedly. "Well?" Aghoul asked as he approached, the bandage over his chest more prominent and thereby drawing attention to the one on Velma. "What's the verdict?"

"He would like to join us," the Huntsman said.

"After all," Solus added, "my only request was that you did not bore me. You not only fulfilled but went above and beyond. And from what I hear, obnoxious as you were, you continued to entertain even while intaking other entertainment."

"It's just who we are!" Mim curtsied.

"As I had said, this marks the end of the era for General James Ironwood," Solus said. "I shudder to think of what he shall become after this…and truly await the outcome with bated breath. However, it is not conducive to my work. It seems this world, in general, is not conducive to my work."

"He seeks to spread Darkness and evil while holding power and claiming his independence from both his god and his old flame," the Huntsman said. "I should think that aligns plenty well with the WHAM ARMY's goals."

"While the Huntsman is an inferior example of the WHAM ARMY breed," Solus stated, "being utterly lacking in magic and quite mortal, I can tell there are others of you present and still more not present who have something resembling a respectable soul. The corpse, the spider sovereign, the witch, the goddess, and the hunter of genies among the group that stands before me."

"Are you just gonna let him diss you like that?" Melanie asked the Huntsman.

"I…er…" The Huntsman couldn't verbalize the rationale.

Solus, however, could; "He knows very well not to throw stones. Hunter of the magically gifted that he is."

"I say we let him onboard!" Mim proclaimed. "He's going to drive the morale among the mortals and the Muggles down so very much! It'll be WONDERFUL!"

"You were the patron of that little show back there, right?" Zorg asked. "'Cause if that's the case, I can put up with some demeanin' language toward me and my kind in exchange for more high-class theater."

"I look forward to embarking upon this endeavor," Solus said. "Though I have but two requests on your part, should you welcome me into your ranks."

"Well?" Aghoul urged. "Let's hear them!"

"First and foremost," Solus said, "one does not enter a burrow without a back door, nor does one jump without a net. I request a single ally, one I know shall be undyingly loyal, for I instilled that loyalty in him."

Without waiting for approval, he snapped his fingers. A man dressed in a green suit, his hair a matching dark green and covering one eye, hurried over. "My lord," he greeted with a smug smile. "How may I be of service?"

"This is Mythros," Solus explained. "A construct entirely of my own memory, to the point where he is far more compliant than the original. I request he serve as my advisor and report to me whether there is plotting in the shadows against me. Dispose of him and I shall be immediately aware."

"That is a request we can accommodate," the Huntsman stated. "Has he any use in battle?"

"Quite so," Solus confirmed. "He remembers as much magic as I do."

"One request down," Aghoul stated. "This next one better not be for any of us to die, Solus. After all, I'm already there and you can't do much more about it."

"No, yet you have touched upon the nature of my second request within your very words," Solus stated. "The moniker of 'Solus' belonged among the Ace Operatives. It is only somewhat fitting. I should rather be called something that belongs wholly to me."

Hecate rolled her eyes. "We already HAVE a Hades. Well, we don't have him. We HATE him. And I'm all for having the better Hades, but not if I actually have to go around calling you Hades and thinking about the WRONG Hades."

"Then you are most in luck," the man who wasn't Solus anymore said. "For that name may very well have died when Amaurot did. Perhaps even when Ozma did. I have become something far grander than Hades. I have undergone a metamorphosis, and there is but one name I bore when I reached its peak."

"Is this going where I think it is?" Mim asked.

"If we are to forge an alliance," the man said, "then do respectfully call me 'Emet-Selch.'"

...

The Gummi ship piloted by the resident Cinnamon faction soared through the stratosphere so as to avoid the blockade. Qrow was more and more baffled the further the journey went on, prompting many to think that if this alone wowed him, actual inter-world travel would blow his mind.

"Gotta hand it to ya," he told Donald, who was at the wheel. "This is a pretty convenient mode of travel. Could cut down on a lot of complications."

"Maybe we could help this world out with the Gummi technology!" Goofy suggested. "Y'know, now that the world order's so much more…uh…"

"Screwed?" Nora filled in.

"Well, it's different for sure," Goofy said.

"I wouldn't go handin' a buncha random weirdos Gummi blocks just yet," Donald snapped. "We dunno how they'll use 'em! We could be settin' up a real disaster!"

"Who're you callin' a random weirdo?" Qrow growled. "You look in a mirror lately?"

"WHAAAAAT?" Donald nearly let go of the wheel. "THOSE'RE FIGHTIN' WORDS!"

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby snapped. "Donald! Don't!"

"A whole city that floats in the air," Booster recalled rather dreamily. "I bet it's amazing in person. How does it feel to be going home?" This last was directed at Weiss.

"It…" Weiss shrugged. "It's not exactly 'home' to me. Too cold in more ways than one."

"Oh." Booster's face fell. "Sorry I asked."

"Well…" Weiss admitted, "the city itself is pretty impressive. I think you'd like the way the Academy is set up. They say some of the best Huntsmen and Huntresses come from there. My sister is one of them. She's probably exactly the kind of hero you've always wanted to meet."

"I remember Winter!" Ruby gasped. "Remember that time she almost kicked Qrow's butt?"

"Yeah, I remember that, all right," Qrow said sardonically. "Except I'm pretty sure it was the other way around."

"That sounds really awesome!" Booster said with a great smile.

"And actually, there are some pretty esoteric grocery stores peppered around the city too," Weiss recalled. "If you had any recipes you'd always wanted to make but couldn't get ahold of that special ingredient for."

Ruby and Booster's eyes were sparkling in unison. Together, they gasped with excitement.

"There's also a pretty big public library," Weiss said, turning to regard Blake. "I've never asked for a book that they couldn't find."

"Huh," Blake said in response. "I'll think that over for sure."

"Count me in on that one," Ren said.

"This is a serious mission, not a vacation," Qrow grunted.

"Have they got one of those big ol' toy shops with tons of floors?" Goofy asked.

"How about a candy store?" Donald added.

Weiss nodded. "Both."

"But the weapons tech is where it's really at, right?" Nora urged. "We could get upgrades! We could get EXTRA firepower against the bad guys!"

"Ehhh…" This from Kokichi, who sat in the back of the ship. "I don't really like that idea. After all, I AM one of the bad guys. I think instead of touring Atlas, I'll just take it over instead! Nee-hee-hee!"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Lemme guess. Another lie?"

"Well, if you tell me where that toy shop is, I can make it my base of operations!" Kokichi chuckled.

"In his defense," Ruby said, "I don't think he's lying about wanting to see the toy shop."

"A supervillain needs his playing cards, okay?" Kokichi spat defensively.

"Isn't this Dust central?" Yuffie asked. "Could we get the good stuff here?"

"If you're willing to pay more than the net worth," Weiss told her.

"Pay?" Yuffie scoffed. "Who said anything about paying?"

"I'M SAYING IT RIGHT NOW!" Donald insisted. "We're supposed to be the good guys!"

"But I mean, like, Weiss can talk us into a huge discount, right?" Yuffie posed. "She is the Dust princess."

"I'd rather avoid that," Weiss said sharply. "Honestly, the more I can stay out of sight, the better. The minute I get spotted here, it's gonna be paparazzi, news reporters…and my dad."

"Descending ship!" Donald said; they'd reached the other side of the blockade.

"Hopefully James takes a minute to notice how we got past his defenses so easily," Qrow sighed. "Or at least long enough for us to not get shot at."

Ruby put a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "We'll just have to make sure to watch your back," she said. "We're a team. It's what teams do."

Blake put her hand on Weiss' opposite shoulder. "She's right."

"Thanks," Weiss said, flushing. "But…truth be told, I've already had one too many people take a hit for me recently." She frowned.

"He'll be okay," Ruby told her. "Trust me. We caught him trying to saw off his own leg the one time. There was way more blood then."

Blake snorted. "Sorry," she mumbled. "That was NOT funny."

Weiss smiled softly. "No sense worrying, I guess," she realized. "Anyway, it probably won't make sense for all of us to approach Ironwood at once. All things considered, I think things will go most smoothly if I ask for an audience with Winter first, then use that to springboard to Ironwood and bring Qrow along, and then get the rest of you a ticket in. Until then, the city's yours."

"Good call," Blake said.

"YES!" Ruby squeaked. "That means we get to – "

"Wait." Qrow put up a hand. "Something's wrong."

Out the front dashboard window, the great floating city of Atlas seemed to have shifted ever so slightly.

Weiss was the first to the window, leaning in for a closer look. "What…"

It started slowly. At first, no one was even sure if the city was descending, or it was just a trick of the light.

It picked up speed. To the point where everyone was now sure.

"THE CITY'S FALLIN'!" Goofy cried.

"NO!" Weiss pounded the dashboard with her fists.

"That'll crush everyone in Mantle," Qrow said, agape. "The hell happened to the Staff of Creation? Why isn't – "

"IT'S GOING FASTER!" Ruby shrieked.

No one could look away. Before their eyes, Atlas plummeted straight down, falling like the heavy stone it was situated upon. Then it made impact with the ground below, kicking up clouds of white that nearly obscured visibility completely.

The entire military blockade turned around, speeding toward the fallen city. Skyscrapers were toppling. And that was to say nothing of the whole half of the population that had been living beneath that overhanging plateau of Damocles.

There was no Mantle anymore.

Atlas had fallen.

A long, dead silence was broken by Kokichi Oma laughing. Laughing loud, laughing in a tone meant to capture the concept of reckless abandon. A tone that was forced and straining, only intended as a distraction so no one would notice the tears falling fast down his face.