"Alright, story time's over, kids," Stan said, standing. "I want to go into the sewers and see the magic square again."
Ari groaned, but stood. "Just as long as I don't have to go anywhere near it."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Rosalyn exclaimed. "What happened next? What about Marlene? Didn't they find her?"
Stan rolled his eyes. "If they had found her, we wouldn't be having this conversation, remember? You'd be dead by my hands." Rosalyn muttered something to the effect of "Whatever, Stan." "Besides," Stan continued. "I don't know what happens next. It was a fight just to get that much information. No one wanted to talk about it."
"But why not?" Rosalyn asked.
"Beiloune, most likely," Ari said. Stan nodded affirmation, so he continued. "That would have been a huge blow to him; he wouldn't have wanted it to be remembered."
"But it was, anyway," Rosalyn pointed out. "Was that because of Pollack?"
"Probably," Stan said with an unconcerned shrug. He entered Ari's shadow, then said, "Come on! Let's get out of here. If I stay here much longer, I'll go nuts."
"You are nuts," Rosalyn retorted. They continued to trade insults until they left the inn. Poor Ari, stuck in the middle of it all, as usual, was almost glad they were ignoring him.
The Madril sewers had not changed in the slightest. They were still covered in slime, and smelled of things best left unnamed. Rosalyn groaned as she stepped in something gooey. "I don't even want to know," she muttered.
Stan chuckled. "Don't worry, Pink. I'm sure it was just something very disgusting. Heh, too bad you don't have a servant to carry you around, like I do."
Rosalyn thought for a moment. "Hey, Ari," she said sweetly.
"No," Ari said.
"Darn it."
"Way to go, slave," Stan laughed.
"Ari, you don't have to do what Stan tells you," Rosalyn said. She may have still been trying to talk him into carrying her.
"Yes, he does," Stan contradicted her.
Ari gave a long-suffering sigh as Rosalyn and Stan continued to argue about his fate as slave to the Evil King. He didn't mind too much, sometimes; other times, it was a pain. But he thought it was his business whether or not he obeyed, and he was a little put off at Rosalyn and Stan for their constant bickering about it. Not that either of them cared.
He sighed, then realized that he could almost feel himself turning invisible. The Magic Square was close, and its power was already beginning to affect him. "Oh, great," he sighed. "Hey, guys! Shut up!" he exclaimed. Their argument came to an abrupt, surprised end. Ari had never told either of them to shut up. He continued. "Rosalyn, it's my business whether or not I want to do what Stan says. I'm sick of the two of you constantly arguing about it."
"Okay," Rosalyn said meekly. She was rather unnerved.
"Way to tell her off, slave," Stan said approvingly.
Ari sighed. "And you can stop calling me 'slave.' It's annoying."
Stan shrugged. "Tch. Whatever. …Slave." He grinned.
Ari rolled his eyes and shook his head. At least, he'd tried. The effects of the Magic Square were held at bay, for now. This hadn't happened, last time. The Square hadn't affected him until he had stood on it with Stan; then, it had enhanced his natural state of invisibility and made him even worse off than the rest of the Ignored. They had barely been able to see him. If it hadn't been for Block, the magic wielding Ringmaster of the Circus, he would still be in Triste. He couldn't imagine why the Square would be affecting him now, unless it was because he'd been affected before.
After a while of not meeting anything interesting, Stan got bored and picked a fight with Rosalyn about her parasol. They argued happily over Ari's head for the rest of trip, much to boy's amused annoyance. Finally, however, they arrived at the Magic Square.
Stan finally came out of Ari's shadow and walked around the Square.
"Afraid to step on it?" Rosalyn taunted.
"No!" Stan retorted. "I just don't feel like it right now."
"Sure, Stan."
Ari stood in the doorway; he didn't really want to get any closer. He also didn't want Rosalyn to tease Stan into actually standing on the Square, so he said, "Lay off, Ros."
She sighed. "So what are you looking for, anyway?"
Stan folded his arms and stared at the Square. "I'm not certain. I thought it would have power, but it doesn't seem to."
"Yes, it does," Ari said, and was subsequently ignored. He sighed. "Ah, come on…Yes, it does!" he said louder. This time, he was rewarded when Rosalyn jumped.
"Oh! Ari! I'd completely forgotten about you. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, I noticed," he grumbled. Now that he had their attention, it wasn't difficult to keep it. "That's thing's doing it to me."
Stan seemed surprised. "So it does have some power left? Oh, now I see…"
"But how can it? Didn't it use all of its power on Ari?" Rosalyn asked.
"Maybe it got it back when Block broke the spell," Ari ventured.
Stan nodded. "That could be." He looked around the room, then walked out into the hall and looked around.
"Now, what are you looking for?" Rosalyn demanded.
"We could probably set a trap here," Stan explained. "We can hide, and when James comes, we'll attack."
"Sounds good to me," Ari said. "Can we get out of here, now?"
Rosalyn nodded. "I agree. This place is filthy."
"Wussie," Stan accused good-naturedly. "Whatever. We'll come back and wait later tomorrow."
Mirror Stan tromped through the sewer. He didn't like being treated like a common slave, and he didn't like being in such a disgusting environment, but at least he was away from James and Natasha. Neither of them had wanted to come. He was relieved that they had sent him alone. It gave him a chance to relax and forget about being someone's subordinate for a while.
He saw the Magic Square ahead of him and sighed. It had been so nice, not having to deal with James. Now, it was almost over. He walked a few steps farther and suddenly found himself knocked to the floor. He wrestled with his assailant while he pulled energy into his hands. Finally, he had enough to send an energy shot into his opponent…
…At the exact moment that Stan sent one into him. The blast threw them both against the walls of the sewer. They recovered simultaneously, but it was now impossible to tell which was which.
"Oh, great," Rosalyn complained. "Now, I can't tell which one's the real one!"
"Who cares?" said Stan. He and Mirror Stan lunged at each other at the same time.
"That one," Ari said.
"Nope, I lost him again," Rosalyn sighed. She had her rapier at the ready, but it didn't look like she'd have much of a chance to use it.
The two combatants continued to use the exact same attacks at the exact same time, rendering the majority of their attacks useless. Finally, Stan backed away and Mirror Stan followed suit. "Had enough?" Stan sneered.
"Had enough?" his counterpart mimicked.
"Stan, he's mirroring you," Ari said.
"I noticed," Stan said dryly.
Mirror Stan sighed in annoyance. He gestured at the Magic Square and raised his eyebrows. Can I go now? he thought.
Stan glanced at the Square. "What? You think I'm just going to let you go now?"
Mirror Stan shrugged and nodded.
"Yeah, right!" Rosalyn yelled. "You're working for James! We'll never let you get away."
Mirror Stan rolled his eyes and gave Rosalyn a withering glare. Stan laughed. "I think I like you. Pity you can't talk."
Mirror Stan narrowed his eyes in thought, then shook his head. He was so close, now. All he needed was for Stan to name him…
"Where's James?" Rosalyn demanded. Mirror Stan pointed up. "He's up above? Well, how do we know you're telling the truth?"
"Mirrors can't lie," Ari said. Mirror Stan nodded.
Rosalyn scoffed at that; obviously, she thought that this one probably could.
"So what are you supposed to be doing here?" Ari asked.
"Yeah, right. Like he's going to tell us," Rosalyn muttered.
Mirror Stan glared at her again. He pointed to the Magic Square, then up toward the surface. Finally, he gathered energy to his hands and forced it away, then pulled it back. I really hate charades, he thought.
"I hate charades," Stan unknowingly echoed. "Something about taking it to James?"
"…taking it to James…" his counterpart agreed.
Rosalyn scoffed. "You're going to take the Magic Square up to James? How?"
Mirror Stan rolled his eyes and shook his head. I really, really hate charades. As annoying as this was, however, he was happy he didn't have to go back to James right away. James couldn't command him if he wasn't there. He leaned against the wall, perfectly happy to let this continue as long as necessary.
"Okay," Rosalyn said in exasperation. "You're not taking the Square, but you're taking the Square?"
"I knew you were dumb, but that's stupid even for you," Stan remarked.
"Oh, shut up, Stan!"
Ari groaned as the pair launched joyously into a shouting match, completely forgetting about everything else. "Pathetic, aren't they?" he said idly.
Mirror Stan nodded. Actually, it's kind of funny. I wonder what her name is.
"That's Rosalyn," Ari said.
Mirror Stan jumped and stared at Ari.
"I saw you looking at her and figured you didn't know her name," Ari explained.
Mirror Stan relaxed back against the wall, rather dejected. Damn it. I thought he might have heard me.
Rosalyn and Stan continued to argue, heedless of everything else.
"You know, not that I'm trying to help you or anything, but you could probably sneak past them right now."
Mirror Stan shook his head.
"Because they'll be at this for hours."
Mirror Stan grinned and shook his head again. This is hilarious. Why would I want to go anywhere?
"You really don't like doing what James tells you, do you?" Ari asked, his suspicions having been confirmed. "Not even destroying things?"
Where's the fun in mindless destruction when you're being forced to do it? Mirror Stan sighed. The boy couldn't hear him think, of course. Being unable to communicate was maddening.
"Can't you get free of him?" Ari asked, seemingly genuinely concerned.
Mirror Stan sighed and nodded slowly. He didn't know quite how to explain that Stan needed to say his name. He was saved from having to think of a new charade when an annoyingly familiar voice interrupted Stan and Rosalyn's argument.
"So this is what's taking so long!" said the voice of James. Everyone jumped; Ari drew his sword, and Stan pulled energy to his hands. Mirror Stan stood by, not really wanting to approach James, but unable to do anything against him.
"James!" Stan yelled. "How dare you betray me? I'm going to make you regret you ever considered it!"
"I think not, Your Majesty," James sneered. "Slave, destroy them."
Mirror Stan sighed and walked around until he was between James and the party. He shrugged as if to say, "This wasn't my idea," and started to gather energy.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Rosalyn exclaimed. She lunged forward and sliced at Mirror Stan, forcing him to take a step backward or risk being cut in two. Without his attention, the energy he gathered dispersed. Rosalyn kept hacking away at him; without having Stan's experience or finesse to mirror, all he could do was continue to retreat.
"What are you doing?" James demanded. "Kill her!"
"Oh, James," Stan said with mock sweetness.
James would have paled if he'd had skin; Stan was right behind him. He whirled around and back away quickly. "Uh…Master, James was only kidding," he wheedled. "It was a joke. You thought it was funny, right?"
"Oh, yes," Stan said mockingly. "Absolutely hilarious. Especially the part where I send you back to the Diablerie in pieces." James whimpered as Stan, in all his fury, advanced with painful slowness.
Ari yelped suddenly, and everyone stopped and turned toward him. Natasha had stolen his sword and was holding him bound with the blade at his throat. "I'll kill your servant. See if I don't."
"Ari!" Rosalyn exclaimed, completely forgetting that she was supposed to be fighting a battle. Fortunately for her, Mirror Stan decided to take this opportunity to take a break.
Stan shrugged. "I'm supposed to care?"
"Just back off!" She jerked Ari; he gasped as the sword bit into his throat.
"Leave him alone," Rosalyn yelled.
Natasha chuckled and started backing toward the Magic Square; Ari had no choice but to follow. "Just stay away, and I won't kill him."
Stan glared, but he really was concerned for Ari's safety. He let James hurry past him with little more than a muffled curse.
"Let him go," Rosalyn shouted. This was her first glimpse of Natasha, but she wasn't letting it faze her. Natasha only sneered and continued walking backwards.
"Let's go, slave," James called to Mirror Stan, who growled and started forward. He did not want to do this at all. As he passed Stan, he gave him a relatively pleading look. Stan, of course, had no idea why.
Mirror Stan glared inconspicuously toward James and Natasha then faced the Magic Square and closed his eyes. The Square reached grey tendrils of light toward him. "He's draining it," Stan muttered, amazed. He hadn't realized that his imposter was that strong, although he should have. He mentally smacked himself for the oversight.
"Incredible, isn't he?" James asked. "An Image from the Simulacrum. They can do anything their counterparts can. That would be you, of course."
His job completed, Mirror Stan faced James. James nodded in satisfaction and muttered something to Natasha, who threw Ari forward. Without another word, they vanished.