The sound of shouting intruded upon Ari's limbo, and he pushed it away. After a while, it came back; this time, it was accompanied by a pounding noise. Again, Ari ignored it and went back to sleep. Finally, however, sleep threw him out and back into the world of being awake.

When he opened his eyes, it was very dark. He sat up slowly, but his head didn't hurt like he thought would. All around him, the shadows played tricks on his mind. A weird shaped lump in one corner could only have been Drake coming back to finish the job; then it moved slightly, and Ari realized it was only the sleeping form of Rosalyn. He found Stan on the other side of the room, as far from Rosalyn as he could get without actually leaving the room. A shadow moved, making Ari jump, but it was only the curtain rustling slightly. Still unnerved, Ari laid back down, but sleep wouldn't come again.

Finally, an extremely bored Ari got out of bed and walked to the window. As he stood there, trying to piece together what he could remember, he noticed something flash on the horizon. The flash was followed by a booming noise that sent both Rosalyn and Stan stumbling to their feet and demanding answers. "Guys, look!" Ari said, interrupting what might have become a major battle, considering the current mentality of his two comrades.

Rosalyn gasped. "I don't believe it," she muttered. "They're attacking Triste…"

As the reality of this sank in, Ari shouted, "Mom and dad!" He turned to run out the door, but crashed headlong into Stan's arm.

"Not so fast," Stan said. "Stay. You're in no position to go anywhere."

"But my parents are there!" Ari argued. "And Annie, and Marlene!"

Stan muttered something to the effect of, "So what's your point?", but he was drowned out by Rosalyn, who said, "Don't worry, Ari. You rest. I'll save everybody."

"You couldn't save yourself from a dead snail," Stan scoffed.

"Well, at least I'm doing more than you!"

Ari took the opportunity awarded by their argument to sneak around Stan and rush out the door.

Stan opened his mouth to reply to some inane comment, then shut it again and looked around in puzzlement. He cussed and charged out after Ari. Fortunately for her dignity, Rosalyn realized what was amiss rather quickly and ran out hot on his heels.

By the time the three of them were able to reach Triste, it was past dawn, and the city was in ruins. A few people wandered around aimlessly or sifted through rubble to find anything that had been spared destruction. Several of the buildings were still burning, and the smoke and soot that emanated from the fires coated everything, making breathing difficult and seeing only slightly less so.

Rosalyn said nothing; she simply started helping to rescue people that had been trapped. Ari set about looking for his family. Stan looked around, very impressed at the level of destruction; then, at fairly loose ends, he followed Ari.

"Excuse me," Ari said to an old woman. "I'm looking for someone…"

"All gone…" the woman was muttering. "Just came and…it was all gone…"

"Ma'am?" Ari tried again. "Can you help me?" The woman just continued to mutter.

"Hey, there he is!" someone shouted, pointing at Stan.

"Get him!" someone else yelled. Within minutes, a full-fledged angry mob had formed, complete with torches and pitchforks.

"Now, wait a minute-" Stan began, but he was interrupted by Rosalyn.

"Wait, everyone!" she was shouting. "Let me handle this! I'm a Hero!"

The mob made a few more half-hearted shouts, but they didn't really want to take on an Evil King by themselves and were more than happy to let Rosalyn do it. She drew her rapier and faced Stan. "All right, Evil King!" she yelled. "Prepare to meet your doom!" Then she winked.

Stan smirked right back. "We'll see, Hero," he sneered. He gathered energy to his right hand and forced it into a sword-like shape. "En garde!"

The two met in a shower of sparks, mainly courtesy of Stan's weapon, then jumped back and circled each other warily. The angry mob thinned somewhat, and everyone backed as far away as they could get and still see the action. Several people cheered for Rosalyn, and a few of the more courageous booed Stan. Stan answered this by sending a few shots wildly into the crowd; fortunately, no one was hit. No one booed again, either.

As the two continued to fight, Ari felt a touch on his arm and turned. "Marlene!" he exclaimed.

Marlene nodded. "We're all okay. What's going on? I thought Stan already left."

"That wasn't really Stan." Ari tried to explain what he had learned, but he figured Stan would have to do it again later. "So where's everyone else?" he asked once he had finished.

Marlene pointed toward what was left of the train station, and they started to head that way. One of Stan's shots went wide and crashed to the ground right in front of them. Once it had dissipated, they quickly moved farther away.

Rosalyn jumped back as Stan swung his energy sword at her, then charged forward and locked blades with him. "You're supposed to be losing," she hissed.

"But why?" Stan answered with a smirk. "Winning is so much more gratifying." With that, he forced energy through his weapon and into Rosalyn's; it knocked her backwards several feet when it exploded. She jumped to her feet and nearly fell again as pain shot though her leg. She tried to cover her limp, but to no avail.

"Oh, did the poor Hero woman hurt herself?" Stan said in a sickeningly babyish tone.

"Oh, shut up!" Rosalyn yelled. Prior to this, she had been holding back somewhat. She wasn't anymore. She wasn't very good at healing during a battle, but she managed to restore her leg to the point that she could walk on it before she had to dodge Stan's next attack. She jumped away and rolled, then swung her rapier and caught Stan across the arm; it might have bit considerably deeper if she hadn't remembered at the last second that Stan was something resembling an ally.

Stan stopped and held his hand over his injured arm. Suddenly, he smiled. "So, the toothless old dog does have a bite. I guess that wasn't just a one time thing after all," he said, referring to the day before when she had sent him crashing through the door of the inn.

Rosalyn shook her head and sighed. "En garde, Stanley," she said mockingly as she charged him. Another frenzied bout of swordplay followed, during which both combatants were injured, and several bystanders discovered a new love for life as they just barely managed to get out of the way. Finally seeming to understand that retreat was a good idea, everyone scattered to view the fight from a vantage that wouldn't get them killed.

"Oh, would you just hurry up and lose?" Stan demanded as they locked weapons again. "I'm getting bored."

"I'll lose on purpose the day you turn good," Rosalyn shot back.

Stan rolled his eyes. "I'll turn good the day you turn bad."

"Like that'll ever happen."

"Exactly."

They broke apart again and circled each other. Both of them were using this as an excuse to catch their breath, although neither would have admitted this in the presence of the other.

"Why don't you just give up and admit that you're outclassed?" Stan sneered.

"Why don't you grow a brain?" Rosalyn asked with mock curiosity.

"Obviously, an ignorant cow such as yourself could never be expected to fully comprehend the greatness that is moi, Evil King Stan!"

"You mean the great stupid-ness, don't you?"

Stan snarled something that shouldn't be repeated and started shooting one energy shot after another at Rosalyn as she jumped and dodged. He didn't seem to notice that she was working her way closer to him until she was top of him. She stabbed his arm with her rapier; at least, she thought she did, but he clutched at his heart and staggered backwards, moaning.

"Oh no!" he wailed. "How could I, the Great Evil King, be defeated by such a pork loin like you? Oh, woe is me!" He fell to the ground and vanished in a shadowy black smoke.

Rosalyn stood where she was for several seconds trying to figure out what had just happened. She didn't think she had killed him. Her thoughts were interrupted by the cheering mass as they swarmed around her shouting praises, and she decided to figure it out later.

"Did Stan just lose?" Annie muttered to Ari.

"Looks like it," he answered, almost as stunned as Rosalyn.

"On purpose?"

Ari shrugged.

Ari's parents finally broke the reverie. "Come on," exclaimed Ari's dad. "Let's join the festivities!" He dragged Ari's mother, giggling, into the crowd.

"These people certainly have little enough to celebrate, now," Marlene said sagely. "I'm sure Stan is just hiding somewhere. Come along, Ari."

The festivities didn't go on for very long. There were still fires to put out and people to rescue; the townsfolk had taken enough time off to watch the battle. Ari sent Marlene and Annie to help his parents with whatever they were doing, and searched out Rosalyn. He found her, parasol set aside for the moment, already half buried headfirst in a hole.

"Give me a hand," she yelled to two men who were standing nearby. They pulled her out; she had a child in her arms. The little girl was so covered in mud that Ari couldn't discern any particular features. She was sniffling, but not crying yet, and she clutched a torn and filthy teddy bear in her small hands.

Rosalyn spied Ari and motioned him closer. "Honey, this is a friend of mine," she told the little girl. "He's going to help you, okay?"

"Hey, there," Ari said sweetly, taking her free hand. "My name's Ari. What's yours?" The little girl hid her face behind her bear.

"Take her to your parents," Rosalyn said. "I think I heard they're over by the train station."

"Yeah, I found them," Ari agreed. He gently tugged the little girl's arm and they set off.

His parents, as it turned out, were busy helping to get people cleaned up and trying to reunite family members. The train station had been hit badly, but it was a resilient old building. Most of the roof was still relatively in tact, and the plumbing hadn't been damaged in the least. Ari's family had set up shop there to take advantage of all that. The townsfolk who weren't helping or standing around in shock were gathered there.

Ari had no sooner stepped in the door than someone shouted, "Kari!"

The little girl pulled her hand free and rushed toward her mother and father, crying. They cried, too, and hugged her, saying nonsensical things that seemed to make sense to them. "Thank you so much for finding her," the man said to Ari.

"We were so worried," the woman continued.

Ari shrugged. "Actually, Rosalyn's the one who saved her. I'll give her your thanks, though."

They nodded and went back to celebrating the reunification of their family.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" said a voice.

Ari turned and exclaimed, "KT! I didn't realize you were here."

KT smiled. "Triste will always be my home. I see you found Stan."

"He was in a place called the Simulacrum."

KT gasped. "You can reach the mirror world from the Diablerie? This is not good."

"How do you know about it?" Ari demanded.

KT shook her head. "I'm sorry. I can't say anything else. I have to go tell…" She trailed off. She clearly didn't mean to have said so much.

"Who? Tell who?"

"I'm sorry." KT turned away and was quickly lost in the crowd. Ari looked for her, but he finally gave up and went back to helping everyone. He suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to ask Delilah what she knew, but it was a little late for that now.