So close, so close… Mirror Stan silently wailed. He had been so close to being free. Obviously, Stan had no real idea what Mirror Stan was, or he would have named him. Or would he? I would have, but then, I'm rather biased. Not that it mattered at this point. If he was going to get free, he was clearly going to have to take matters into his own hands.

James and Natasha had already taken the power of the Magic Square from him, but he still had plenty left for his plot. Carefully, so as not to arouse attention, he gathered his power and sent it out, calling to someone far away.

Somewhere on a far distant island, a woman tilted her head to the sky. She listened intently to a voice only she could hear, then nodded once. "So I'm not the only one anymore," she murmured. "Good. I was getting lonely."

She turned and gestured toward a stone pillar; in response, a white light erupted from it, which she entered.

KT stood anxiously by the gate of Triste. It had held up surprisingly well; Mirror Stan hadn't been particularly interested in it. She glanced around at the carnage; it wasn't quite as bad as it had been. The fires had finally been put out thanks to a massive rainstorm, and a lot of the rubble had been systematically cleared away. Everyone had finally been accounted for, thankfully, and there were no deaths, although there had been several close calls.

She thought that Stan's doppelganger hadn't really seemed interested in destroying anything. It was as though he had done it simply because someone had told him too, which was quite likely if it was what she thought.

Someone cleared her throat and KT whirled around, startled. The only person who could sneak up behind her was…

"Kestra!"

"Hello, KT," said the mysterious woman of Wap-Wap. "We have much to talk about."

"But what are you doing here?" KT asked. Kestra pointed behind herself, turned, took a step forward, and vanished. KT looked around and quickly followed. "I thought you didn't like to leave Travelers' Isle," she continued once they were reunited.

"I do not," Kestra answered. "But one of my kind is here."

KT nodded. "I've seen him. I had a feeling that's what he was."

"He must be freed," Kestra said emphatically. "His counterpart doesn't know the rules, and he's being controlled by someone."

KT shook her head. "I know what you want," she said. "I can't do it. That's seriously overstepping the bounds."

"The lines have already been crossed. My world should have always remained separate, but now it's connected to yours. Now, one of my kind is an unwilling servant to a very evil being. You must do something."

KT sighed. The rules had been, not just broken, but shattered. She was charged with working to protect that… "Alright," she said at last. "I'll tell Stan what to do."

Kestra smiled and patted her shoulder. "Thank you, KT. I knew you'd do the right thing." Once she had gone, KT shook her head. "Am I…?"

She settled down to wait for the trio of heroes, her thoughts in turmoil. She had already crossed the line by telling Ari how to get to the Diablerie, but that wasn't as bad. She hadn't actually told him what to do, just gave him a direction. This was completely different; she had just agreed to directly interfere. She couldn't interfere.

On the other hand, Beiloune had already started it long ago. If she could make it a little closer to how it should be by doing this, then she should.

No, I shouldn't, she thought as she saw the heroes and Evil King coming closer. I shouldn't, but I will.

She stood as they approached, and smiled. "It's good to see you again, Ari."

"Hey, KT," Ari responded, a bit suspiciously. He still wasn't precisely certain whether or not he wanted to trust her.

"Who's this?" Stan demanded. "How dare you greet the slave and ignore moi!"

"Stan, get over yourself," Rosalyn said in annoyance.

KT chuckled. "Forgive me, your majesty. My name is KT. I have something to tell you."

Stan folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. "What is it?"

KT took a deep breath. This was it; there was no taking this back. "Your imposter is a creature from the Simulacrum."

Stan nodded. "I know that already."

"They're called Images because that's what they are," she continued. "You created it in your image, but James controls it."

Rosalyn interrupted her this time. "You're telling us things we already know."

KT sighed. "I'm stalling," she admitted. "In order to stop the Image, just say its name."

"What is its name?" Stan asked.

"Only you can know the answer to that. I'm sorry. You called it; you created it. You know its name. You just have to look inside yourself and find it." She bowed her head, ignoring Stan's comments. "I must go. Good-bye."

"KT! Wa-!" Ari began, but KT had already vanished.

"…don't know its name…" Stan was complaining. "How am I supposed to know? What's she mean I created it?"

"I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually," Rosalyn said in a surprisingly successful attempt to shut him up. "Come on; we've got to get to the World Library."

Ari stared at the place where KT disappeared while he waited for Stan to take over his shadow. He knew she was on their side, but he didn't know what she was. One thing was for certain, though; she wasn't a normal human by any stretch of the imagination.

"The Forgotten City," Stan announced as they entered the maze of broken buildings and ancient rubble.

"What about it?" Rosalyn grumbled. Her feet hurt, and she was tired. She wasn't in the mood for Stan's inane blather.

"Nothing really," Stan admitted. "I just didn't get much of a chance to look around last time. I'll meet you on the other side."

Before they could stop him, he was gone.

Been a long time since I was here last, he thought. I wonder if the library is still here…

He jumped onto a wall and glanced toward Ari and Rosalyn; all he could see was the top of Rosalyn's parasol, which suited him just time. He jumped down on the other side and headed purposefully toward a small building that was still mostly intact.

It looked like a guardhouse from the outside, and the inside didn't do much to discourage that misconception. It was very plain; it always had been. A single desk and chair had sat in one corner; both were long rotted away from time and the elements. In one wall was a small hole, a testament to the small landscape that had once hung there. It had always had a stone floor, but a well-worn rug had once tried unsuccessfully to hide it. A cheery fire had always burned in the fireplace.

The inhabitant had been an old scholar once, though his eyes were so covered in cataracts that he had been nearly blind when Stan first met him. He had twisted a knob on the wall and the fire had died. That knob was gone now, ripped away, but Stan could still see where it had once been. Once the fire had died, the old man had pushed on one of the bricks above it, and the floor had scraped and groaned until it had disappeared, revealing a ladder. The floor had crumbled now, and the ladder rotted away, but Stan knew how far down it was. He carefully lowered himself into the chute and fell.

At the bottom, he cursed as he turned his foot on some unexpected rubble. It was too dark to see much of anything, but he knew what to do. He found the old oil lamp right where it was supposed to be and used his magic to light a fire on the wick. He didn't need to worry that the oil was too old to keep the flame going; it ran on magic.

The light revealed a library to rival Beiloune's. Nearby, at the old desk where he had once studied the ancient texts, sat a skeleton. Stan walked up to it and moved as though to touch it, but he stopped himself.

"Hello, Anders," he whispered. "It's been a while."

The skeleton didn't respond; Stan would have alarmed if it had. Although he wasn't often prone to sentimentality, he felt it now. He had spent a good part of his life in this underground treasure trove of knowledge. Anders had taught him everything he knew, including how to read the archaic text.

Not worried that he might harm the books, they were spelled against harm after all, Stan started pulling them down. He wanted to verify what KT had said, but he also wanted to find something. He remembered reading it and not paying much attention at the time, but now it seemed important. It had been about the power of the World Library.

Rosalyn kicked at a stone and sighed. "Where do you think he went?"

Ari shrugged and sat down on a rock. "I didn't think there was anything that interesting left," he responded.

They had just gotten out of the maze, but they were both starting to get nervous. They had expected Stan to find them again before they got out; it didn't take more than a few minutes to see all that the ruins had to offer. But he was still missing. Although she would never admit it, Rosalyn was starting to worry that he might have gotten into trouble. Ari, too, was worried, but he was more open about it.

"You don't think he might have met James, do you?" he asked. "Maybe he's hurt; maybe we should look for him."

Privately, Rosalyn agreed. Before she could respond, however, a voice interrupted her.

"Oh, please," said Stan. "I almost pity the dimwit who tries to take me on." He jumped down from the wall he'd been walking along. As an afterthought, he added, "Almost."

"Stan!" Rosalyn exclaimed. She may have been overreacting a bit, but he had startled her when he spoke. "Where have you been?"

Stan shrugged. "Around. Now, don't we have things to do?" He started walking with a very purposeful stride that might have been more correctly interpreted as a strut.

Rosalyn huffed loudly as she fell in behind him. "Oh! You are insufferable!"

"A five syllable word!" Stan exclaimed with mock amazement. "Did it make your tiny pea brain explode?"

And the fight was on. Ari groaned inwardly, but at least they were still moving for this one. He almost wished that one of them wasn't there, although he could never have decided which one. Despite their flaws, he loved them both. Including Stan, even if he did boss Ari around all the time.

Stan and Rosalyn really had more in common than they thought, Ari knew. They were both insufferable; they didn't like anyone telling them what to do. Both of them were arrogant and stubborn at the best of times, and outright pig-headed at the worst. And although Stan tended to have better insults, Ari got the impression that that was mainly because Rosalyn was a Hero, and not prone to being hateful and mean at a moment's notice. Stan evoked the worst in her, but the strangest part was, she let him.

Ari shook his head and laughed quietly. The two of them were made for each other.