AUTHOR'S NOTE: I want to thank you all for your support. This is a really fun fic to write. I'm actually in the middle of rewriting chapters thirty through thirty-three, so don't worry about me giving it up any time in the near future. On a side note, Flashpichu? You said you wanted to review all my fics, but you missed one. 'whistles innocently'

Deep in the heart of the Necropolis, there is a massive, stone crypt dedicated to the Evil Kings that fell in battle against Heroes. This is to say, all of them except for the last one. It was in this grand monument that a three hundred-year-old conspiracy was finally beginning to bear fruit. There was just one little problem.

Stan had gotten out of the Simulacrum. Just a little while longer and his mind would have been completely gone, perfect for Natasha's plans. Oh, she could still progress, of course. But his escape was going to make things much more difficult. He was going to be able to fight back.

The Hero was definitely going to be a problem as well. Fortunately, she knew exactly how to deal with them both. Her spies had told her all about how the two of them had behaved when the boy Ari had been close to death. Stan's response had surprised her the most, and she thought she knew exactly how to capitalize on it.

"Don't turn him," she said. "And don't kill him. Just leave him close enough to death that Nightmare can get in."

"As my Lady wishes," her listener replied, and bowed himself out.

Apparently, five in the morning was not the time of day to go shopping for mirrors. Stan, predictably enough, decided that they should simply take one from somewhere. Finally, just to keep the peace, Illisaith talked the Mirage hostess into giving them one. Ari, of course, was in charge of its safekeeping. After some trial and error, they rigged up a harness, and it was now strapped across his back. He would be useless should they be attacked by ghosts, but between Rosalyn, Stan, Illisaith, and Star, they should be able to handle anything. Except each other.

"Well, I think we should all take a turn carrying it," Rosalyn said heatedly. "I mean, poor Ari shouldn't have to do it all by himself."

"You go right ahead," Stan informed her.

She looked at Illisaith for backup, but he held up his hands. "Don't look at me," he said gruffly. "Wrapped or not, I am not touching that thing. And don't look at Star, either."

"I would much like to help," Star protested.

"How?"

She flipped her paper-thin wings as though to speak then realized what he meant.

"It's okay, Ros," Ari said for the billionth time. "I really don't mind."

"But it's so heavy."

"Not really…" The mirror in question was a cheap, rectangular thing set into a plastic frame. It weighed a grand total of ten pounds maybe, but probably not even that much. Ari's only concern was breaking it. He shook his head. "Just watch out for that ghost."

Rosalyn turned her attention back to the road just in time to see said ghost explode into flames. "Alright! Which one of you did that?" Insolent laughter from both sides was her only reply.

"This is quite a fascinating and insightful trip," Star observed. "I have never traveled before. I find it most pleasant."

"I can't imagine why," Rosalyn grumbled. "Traveling with Stan is bad enough. Now, I have to deal with Illisaith, too. I don't know why I continue to put up with this."

"Because you love me," Illisaith quipped delightedly.

"Oh, you are even more of a child than he is!"

"Hey!" Stan exclaimed. "Who's the child here again? Could it possibly be the self-image obsessed pork woman?"

Rosalyn ground her teeth. "You will fix my shadow, Trinidad."

"Maybe," Stan replied.

"No, I mean it. You will."

"You know, he could just as easily," Stan pointed out.

Rosalyn stopped dead. Illisaith was suddenly her best friend. She grinned. "So…Illisaith…how's…you know, life and everything?"

"Couldn't be better," he answered happily. "No."

"Why not?" she demanded.

"First, I didn't do it. Second, I think it's hot."

Stan growled. "Moving right along…"

Rosalyn was suddenly reminded of Illisaith's comment from the night before and forcibly shoved the thought out of her head.

"I do not understand," Star chirped, the perfect distraction. "Shadows give off no heat…"

"It's slang," Ari told her. "It means cute or…beautiful…" He trailed off as the absurdity of that notion kicked in.

"And now we're going to change the subject," Stan decreed. "Sl-…Ari, think of a new subject."

"Uh…Oh, look a bird," he hazarded.

Stan muttered something about a roast, though whether he was talking about the bird or Ari remained to be seen. "Something…interesting…"

"I think Rosalyn's shadow is interesting," Illisaith announced.

Stan clenched his hands into fists. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?"

Illisaith grinned. "Maybe not. But what does that say about you?"

Stan opened his mouth and closed it again as quickly. The silence lasted for almost ten minutes.

"Knock it off," Stan said through gritted teeth.

Rosalyn huffed angrily. "Oh, now what?" she demanded.

"Him. That. Cut it out."

Illisaith growled. "What? What am I doing now?"

"You're mirroring me," Stan accused.

Illisaith looked between his own feet and Stan's. "Oh, no, it's horrible," he said completely deadpan. "We're walking in sync." He made a concentrated effort to stop before saying, "You know, that's not something I can really help with you right there."

"Well, do it anyway," Stan returned.

"Okay!" Rosalyn yelled. "Enough! Both of you! This is not the third grade."

"He started it," Illisaith whined.

Rosalyn rolled her eyes. "You are so immature…"

"They are a great deal alike at times," Star observed.

In perfect unison, Stan and Illisaith announced, "I am not like him!"

"I rest my case," Star finished happily to considerable mumbling and grumbling from the two Evil Kings.

This time, the silence lasted just long enough for Illisaith to remove his jacket and throw it over his shoulder.

"Are we there yet?" Illisaith whined in his best child impersonation.

"Does it look like we're there yet?" Rosalyn demanded.

"Young one, contrive to be pleasant, at least," Star said disapprovingly.

"But it's just so easy," Illisaith argued.

"That's it," Stan said loudly. "Ari, hold still." Once he had possessed the boy's shadow, he said without showing himself, "I'm sick of the lot of you."

"Well, we're sick of you, too," Rosalyn informed him. "So good riddance."

The rest of the trip passed in peace and quiet.

Repairs to the village of Tenel were going slowly. The town had been completely demolished by Illisaith, who was very proud of himself. Stan rose up to see the village; it was the first time he'd been back since this all began, and he, too, was impressed.

"Nice…" he said.

Illisaith grinned. "Coming from you, that's the highest compliment.

"Don't get used to it, mirror mock-up."

Ari's family was still in Triste, so no work had been done on his house yet. The area was completely deserted, and probably for the best since the sight of Stan or Illisaith would have caused mass panic. Ari propped the mirror up against some rubble.

"If anyone feels that they can't live without me," Illisaith said with a pointedly impish glance at Rosalyn, "I'll be as far from that thing as I get." He went wandering back down the stone steps leading to the house.

"Good riddance," Stan muttered. "Now, is this thing going to make another one like him?"

"This will merely be a doorway," Star answered. "I will drive the Images away from it." She closed her eyes, spread her wings, and began to hum softly. Stan shuddered and took a few steps back; the sound called to something inside him, in his soul, and he didn't like it.

Rosalyn, naturally, thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard, and closed her eyes to listen. She could feel her Hero power stirring in response, trying to rejoin its source. Disturbing, however, was a tiny bit of coldness deep in her mind that recoiled from the sound.

Ari looked between his two comrades. He thought the music was beautiful, but he could not feel it like they did. Even so, he was sorry when it ended. Star chirruped sharply, and flicked her wings. The surface of the mirror was now a shimmering silver wall that reminded Ari of its counterpart in the Diablerie.

"Finally!" Stan exclaimed. "Alright, s- Ari! Let's go."

Ari hid a smile. Stan had actually remembered all day, and Ari was grateful for it. Not that he would actually have said that, unless he wanted a tongue-lashing. Instead, he showed his gratitude in a way Stan would understand and accept. "Right away, Your Majesty."

"Hold on!" Rosalyn said. "Stan, he's not going."

"He's my slave!" Stan yelled. "I say he's going!"

Rosalyn got as far as "He's not-" before she remembered they were not allowed to argue about that anymore. Stan grinned smugly and answered anyway. "Yes, he is."

"Whatever. He's not going without me, and since I can't go, he's not going."

Star glanced at Ari. They were doing it again, but she was not going to interfere this time. Ari sighed unhappily. He really hated trying to stop them; it seldom went well. "Hey, guys?" he said.

He expected them to ignore him; he had not spoken that loudly. It was extremely gratifying when Stan paid attention, even if it was just to yell, "I don't recall giving you permission to speak, slave!"

"We were doing it again, weren't we?" Rosalyn asked ruefully. "I'm sorry. What is it?"

"Just wanted to say that I'm going," Ari answered.

Stan laughed triumphantly. "See? The boy knows who his master is."

"Ari, it's dangerous," Rosalyn argued. "Last time you went in there, you almost died."

"Master Stan won't let me die," Ari said. "He'd have to train a new slave, then."

Stan crossed his arms and turned around, grumbling something about useless, impertinent slaves who don't know their place. Rosalyn made a disgusted noise but refrained from challenging him on the issue.

"I shall accompany, if I may," Star broke in suddenly.

"That is an even worse idea than bringing her," Stan scoffed. "You'd light up our location like a bonfire." Star merely looked at him, but her eyes were distinctly brazen. Her light dimmed until it practically went out. Stan glared back. "Fine, so you can hide your power. Big deal. You're still not coming."

"Actually," Ari said after a few moments consideration. "…Master Stan. She is pretty powerful. If she came along, she could protect me, and we could both stay out of your way."

Stan thought about this for a long time. He wasn't stupid; he knew Ari was trying to manipulate him, something he had become very good at over the year or more they had known each other. The boy had potential. He also had a valid point. Star was very powerful, although her will to actually do damage was lacking. But it was also the only thing likely to shut the Hero woman up. "Whatever," Stan grumbled. "Let's go!" He walked through the mirror without waiting for anymore of an argument.

"Thanks, Star," Rosalyn said, relieved both that Ari was not going to be alone, and that her awareness of Stan had finally ceased. "You two, be careful, now. I'm going to worry until you get back."

"We'll be fine," Ari promised. He followed Stan, leaving Star and Rosalyn alone.

"You will not harm the young one," Star commanded.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Star chimed. "Good. Be patient. He knows little better, but he tries." She floated through the door after her two comrades.

Rosalyn sighed. "Well, I might dream of it," she amended. Illisaith was arrogant and insufferable, the two qualities she hated most in Stan, next to the fact that he was evil. She truly did not know how to act around him. He could go from flattering and flirting to enraged in the space of a minute without missing a beat. She recalled something Stan had said about instability in Illisaith's creation, and wondered if that could account for it. At least, he wasn't like that all the time.

She walked to the top of the steps and looked down to where the object of her inner monologue was lounging back with his hands behind his head, staring up at the sky. "They're gone, you know," she called. "You can come back up, now."

He twisted around to look at her. "Do you honestly think I was using that mirror as an excuse to get away from him?"

"Uh…not anymore…" At his behest, she walked halfway down the steps to join him next to the small gravesites.

"I get distinctly uncomfortable around reflective surfaces," Illisaith informed her as he went back to lounging. "Being an Image, I have no reflection. I don't even see the mirror; I see where I came from."

"What was it like there?" Rosalyn asked. She felt something like pity for the creature.

"I don't really remember. I wasn't alive; I didn't exist. It was dark, I remember that. Sometimes living things would get through, and I remember…or I think I remember that I envied them. Hated them, even."

"So you don't have any memory at all?"

"It's like dreaming, which is fun! Really fun! I like dreaming." He sighed contentedly, then went back to business. "But it's like that. You wake up, and you know you were dreaming, but you can only remember the things that really stood out."

His expression darkened, and he sat up. For a while, he stared at his hands as though he had never seen anything like them, then he shook his head. "I do have one vivid memory. We all remember that time. It nearly drove us all mad…

"There's…'windows' after a sort scattered throughout the world. They're the places where reality is at its most thin. Things seep through in those places: animals, emotions…I think all the lost socks in the world end up there…"

Rosalyn smacked him lightly, and he grinned for a moment before he sobered again. "Seriously, though. This world was in such a state of terror that it spilled over into the Simulacrum. We killed anything that made it through. No, killed isn't the right word. We…devoured them. I mean, that place…it's something we can't really help. That place just sucks the life out of you after a while. But during that time, we did it consciously and on purpose. We fought over the scraps…I'm never going back there. Never!" The last word was snarled angrily, and Rosalyn jumped slightly. She didn't think she had ever heard Stan sound that vicious.

"You won't have to," she placated. "I'll make sure of it."

"Can you…?" Illisaith asked quietly.

"Of course, I can," Rosalyn answered in mock arrogance. "I'm the Great Hero, after all."

After a few moments, Illisaith turned around and grinned. "And you accuse him of being egotistical."

"Only because he is," she answered loftily. "Hey, you said real things made it through, didn't you?"

"…what about it?"

"Just something Stan said…He implied that real things can't get there without a doorway like Star made."

Illisaith laughed darkly; it sounded very insincere. "Oh, no, it happens all the time. If you want the gate to be stable and be where you want it when you want it there, then you can make one of those. But little windows between the worlds open up all the time. Everything gets lost in those. I was joking about the socks, but it does happen. People, animals…once, a long time ago, I think I remember an entire country getting sucked in."

"Are you kidding?" Rosalyn asked. She desperately wanted to believe that he was, and had the sinking feeling that he wasn't.

"Well, I don't exactly remember what happened," he answered in all seriousness. "But there is a place there now that's solid and mostly real. We called it something…I can't remember what…something like…av-…ava…" He growled lightly. "I don't remember! It started with an 'a', though."

Rosalyn made an awed sound. She had never heard any stories of an entire country vanishing, but if it had happened in the outside world, she wouldn't have. She shook herself out of her reverie. "Oh, Star went with them."

"Yeah, I figured that." Illisaith looked pointedly at the ground and started doodling in the dirt. "So it's just you and me, now. All alone…together…"

"Knock it off," Rosalyn warned him as she realized he was drawing little hearts. His only response was to chuckle maliciously. "I mean it, Illisaith. There is nothing between us." Her hand strayed toward her rapier just in case, but he merely started to pout.

He leaned back to rest his head on her feet and look at her upside down. "Ah, but if only milady fair did understand the workings of this twisted, blackened heart."

"Poetry will get you nowhere," Rosalyn laughed.

"Are you sure?" Illisaith asked. "Because I can keep going."

"Where do you even get this stuff?"

He grinned. "I can only work with the materials I have available." He managed to sit up, turn around, and grab her hand all in one quick motion. Leaning close, he continued with his impromptu poem. "So dark, the inner sanctum of my mind seeks out the blessed purity of milady's bright soul."

Rosalyn giggled. Maybe Illisaith wasn't that bad, after all. "You are such a tease," she tried to protest.

"Ah, milady doth wound me," Illisaith cried out comically.

"You can stop any time now, you know."

"I know."

He didn't.

The trip through the Simulacrum was a singularly uneventful affair. Without Rosalyn around to taunt, Stan passed the journey in relative silence. He listened to Ari tell Star about the last time they were here and interjected with a comment every now and again. But for the most part, he was quiet.

He didn't like it in the Mirror World. It reminded him of being there for so long with no one to talk to and nothing to do. He had raged for a while, then it started to seem pointless. He just walked around talking to himself after that, and he wasn't sure exactly when he stopped. He could feel himself fading in there, and it had bothered him significantly less than it should have. Even being stuck in a bottle for three hundred years had not affected him like that.

The denizens of the Mirror World fed off reality. They had stolen part of his life in there. It was an experience he was in no hurry to repeat. Not that he would ever have told anyone about it. It was bad enough that Ari had seen how far gone he was. If word ever got back to the Hero woman, he didn't think he would ever live it down. At least he could trust Ari not to taunt him about it…

"How much farther is it?" Stan demanded at the first break in conversation.

"Not far," Star assured him.

"Hey, S-ah, Master Stan," Ari caught himself. He liked not being called "slave"; he was not about to jeopardize that. "What do you see here?"

Stan shrugged. "I see your world."

"Strange, that," Star said quietly. "Demons are black; you should see the black realms."

"Why? I haven't been there in three hundred years." He nearly mentioned that he could barely remember what his world looked like, but caught himself. That was another of those things he would never confide in anyone.

After a second or two, Star started to giggle. Any and all attempts to ascertain why were expertly deflected. She was not about to tell Stan that she knew why he saw the light world and not the dark one. He didn't seem to like being called human.

There was an entire country once that vanished into the Mirror World. A creature had gone there to hide; a rather ingenious plan it thought, since no one had found it. It felt something faint and familiar, but that was nothing new. Echoes of the thing it had lost were all over. It had gone seeking them out, at first, and had found only pale imitations. This time, it merely closed ocean-blue eyes and wailed.