On the steps of the mansion, the Role Holders gathered. After a little tinkering, snipping and screaming, they managed to get the girls' eyes back where they belonged. With their eyes back in place, each girl took her clock in hand; the metal timepieces fading and the girls' chest light up briefly. Jabberwocky touched her chest, frowning at first, and then grinning when her clock resumed its regular pace within her. Nix gave her big brother a hug and Julie smiled at her own brother, tears in her eyes. Free. They were finally free. No matter what happened next, they could live or die as free girls.

"Hey!" Everyone turned to see the outsiders walking up with grins on their faces. Nix ran up and grabbed Alice's dress, "Did you do it? Did you follow the instructions?" Coraline nodded and produced the weapon. A dagger. Made of sewing needles. The black key had been fused into the handle.

"It took some fancy blow torch work, but it'll do the job." Everyone turned to the mansion's doors and Coraline turned to speak, "This is it. We don't know what the Other Mother has waiting for us, and some of us might not make it. But we have to do this."

Alice, Cat, and Coraline decided not to reveal what had happened under the hatch. Somehow they managed to grab the music box and place the doll inside for her safety. Breathing in, Coraline gripped on to her weapon tightly and kept the other in her pocket. Everyone nodded, gripping their own weapons tightly, and followed her through the gates to the final battle. There were no others to go aiagnts them this time. But, there were insects of various sizes attacking the role-holders and only leaving those who were wanted by the Beldam to find her. Reluctantly, the group passed, running through the foyer, down the halls.

Coraline turned to Nix and the twins as they ran, "Where would she be?!"

Nix pointed, "She'll be in Blood's study!"

Coraline swallowed hard as she pushed open the doors to the Mafioso's study...and resisted the urge to throw up. The room...was furnished with the same freaky bug furniture as the room in the Pink Palace. There was a large, ornate fireplace giving off a greenish glow. Behind the cockroach desk, a what seemed to be a maze of book cases extended who knows how far. chirping, crackling and distant screaming filled the otherwise silent room. But...no Beldam.

Coraline and the group stepped further in and Cat murmured, "...Could she be hiding elsewhere?"

Juliet shook her head and Jabberwocky answered, "No way. This is her favorite room. She's here...somewhere."

Coraline and the small group approached the maze and entered, wary of the glow worms that lit the paths. As they walked along, Juliet muttered, "I once read about mazes and labyrinths. The trick to solving them is to stick to the right-hand side."

"It is what it isn't, and what it isn't it is" the voice of Loise made Coraline stop.

"Then...this must be sticking to the left side" deciphered the girl. The others sighed but did not object to the order and continued to walk along, dragging their hands lightly over the bookcase to their left. The twists and turns of the maze became steadily more elaborate as the area around them deteriorated. The books, slowly, became less detailed. Eventually, they disappeared altogether as the shelves started to break down into dirt walls. Instead of pages and dust bunnies littering a tile floor, it became a dirt trail, covered in broken children's toys and...small bones. The walls and roof quickly changed to match the floor, and then the twists stopped. They were standing in a long tunnel, lit only by the glow worms lodged in the walls and ceiling.

And at the end of the tunnel...was a small door. A door that seemed to made of...sandstone, with a small, strange symbol carved into the front. It was nearly sealed shut by cobwebs, but there were small, lit candles on either side of it. And in the dancing flames, the skulls of children of various ages could be seen, piled high on either side like welcome signs. Coraline swallowed and walked over slowly. The door sat, not moving an inch.

Yvette, the warden Jabberwocky, held out her arm, "Wait. I'll go first. This could be a trap and we can't afford to lose you." Coraline nodded hesitantly, as there was no arguing at his point.

Yvette leaned down, pulled out a knife, and started to saw through the cobwebs that held the door. They were thick and surprisingly sticky, as she really had to put her weight on the blade to make it move. But after a minute or two, she finished, and simply...pushed on the door. It didn't fall open, it fell OVER. It didn't have any sort of hinge and seemed to only be held shut by the cobwebs. Dust temporarily clouded the opening and Yvette coughed. But when the dust cleared, they saw what lay on the other side.

Alice walked over, clutching a knife she had found, tightly, "...Do you think we can win?"

Cat scoffed, "I know we can win. I've watched the Other Mother catch and devour children for centuries. This would only be fair."

Alice's eyes widened as she looked at Cat, his words sinking in. "...Cat, what are YOU, exactly?"

He looked up at her, and Alice could've sworn he grinned, "I'm me. And me is all I am."

With a sigh they all crawled through the door, the others following close. On the other side of the sandstone, the door was an antechamber, bigger than the ballroom at the castle. Its walls were covered in cobwebs, more skeletal remains littered the ground, and high above their heads, a massive spider web stretched from wall to wall, nothing but darkness above it.

Nix stared up and around, amazed, "...Where are we?"

Coraline gulped, "This...this is the Beldam's home. ...This...is where she was born. I can feel it."

Juliet looked about, observing the wall, and said in a quiet voice, "This is what the Other world really is. The origin that never changes, always buried Deep within her lies. I remember...here it was when I tried to save Edith"

Brianna, the jester, walked a little further in and turned towards the others, "Then, where's-"

The redhead was slammed into the wall. She screamed and the others grouped up, startled. The creature that held Jester in its hands turned to look at them...and smiled. The Other Mother, the Beldam, Lamashtu or Akhkhazu, Lilith, Lamia, Rangda, the witch of the Gingerbread house, IT, the child eater that has gone by countless names over the centuries...let go of the poor jester, leaving her stuck to the webbed walls.

"Oh, you all have no idea how happy it makes me that you all came." She gently brushed at Warden's red hair, the girl trembling and glaring. "Now, we can all be one big happy family."

Coraline stepped forward and readied the knife, "We're not your family. We're not your anything."

"We were a family! But it was never enough!" yelled Juliet furiously.

"But you don't understand." The Beldam held out her arms, "We are ALL family. Each and every precious soul."

The twins snarled, "Every soul that you destroyed!"

"Lorina...please! You're being unreasonable!" exclaimed Alice trambling.

The Beldam sighed and stepped a little closer, "Coraline dear, put down the knife. I promise to take care of you, and love you, just like a real mother would."

Nix's hair was starting to stand on end, "Mother?! You wouldn't know mothering if I slapped you with a manual!"

"Wasn't I kind to you?! Didn't I do all and give you all you asked?!"

"Yeah, except mothers don't eat their kids."

"You did not, you gave me a horrid life I would have rather never had! You stole my memories, my identity, you took it all! Even the body of dear Edith as your own! All because of your supposed love for Alice" growled Juliet letting her wings extend.

The Beldam sighed and took a step...and started to walk up the walls. She was tapping her chin as she walked, "You don't know what it's like! Look around you! This Dum was all I knew for so long!"

"Lorina...I do not understand. You did not need to do this" sobbed Alice. "You never needed to hurt everyone to be close to me. I loved you"

"Oh dearest Alice, you love me in the way you think I want. No, I want more...I wanted to be with you forever. Like a husband would be with a wife, like a father with a mother. Theses were a¿our servants, our children...your happiness" The beldam was standing upside down on the web above them, "And when I found Wonderland I saw an opportunity for us. I saw children, with their mothers. I WANTED it! I saw perfection!"

Coraline looked up at the creature, "And you got it, but that wasn't enough for you, was it?!"

"Lorina, im so sorry..." whispered Alice.

The Beldam screeched from her perch and fell from the web, stopping upside down, hanging from a thread of the web, just a few meters from the group, "You could NEVER UNDERSTAND YOU BRATS! Only Alice understands love and loss! Only she is enough! Edith was being an idiot, a selfish woman with a body! Dearest Blake at least was able to free the world from that wretched woman!"

"You horrid creature!" screamed Juliet charging towards the Beldam. The witch swiped out with her sharp hands, causing Alice and Coraline to dodge, barely getting out of the way. But Juliet wasn't so lucky. Julie was knocked away like a doll, thrown several meters, right into the wall. Her head dipped and then dropped, her body sticking to the web. The others screamed and scattered as the Beldam scratched in a fury.

Coraline screamed, "NO! STAY TOGETHER!"

Nix ran at the witch transforming into the beast she truely was. Sinking her claws into the creatures back, making ten rough lines of black Blood. The Beldam screeched and her tail flailed, sending Nix flying. The girl turned back and struggled to get up, but she grabbing at her chest with a wince. The twins drew their weapons and charged, but the Other Mother grabbed their axes as though they were pencils and snapped them over her knees, grinning as she hopped down from her hanging, grabbed the twins by their waists, and tied them with the tread. The twins screamed as the thread stuck them together, back to back, and the Other Mother laughed as Brianna pulled her gun and opened fire.

Coraline screamed in warning as the Beldam ran towards the jester, her guns blazing. The monster knocked the gun out of her hands, laughing. Brianna rolled out of the way and tripped over a skull, sending her to the ground. The Beldam hissed and approached her, but the Jabberwocky pulled out her whip and cracked it at the Beldam, drawing a line of black on the peeling paper face. The Beldam screamed and jumped back, but not fast enough, for when Brianna cracked her whip again- SWIP! Out fell a black button eye!

"LORINA! STOP THIS!" pleaded Alice, yet, she remained unheard.

As the Beldam screeched and clutched at her face, Coraline ran forward and stabbed the monster through her back; right where her heart should've been. The Beldam's screams reached an earsplitting pitch as she bucked, throwing Coraline off of her. Coraline regained her feet and tried to calm her heart. One button and nine stab to go.

The Other Mother tore her hands from her face and looked directly at the redheaded jester, "You little brat! I'll rip you from the inside out!"

"NO YOU WON'T!" Gunshots echoed in the Dumrn and the Beldam jerked back, black pools opening up in her chest.

Nix crouched on the floor, holding her rib cage with one hand and aiming a pistol with the other. She snarled, "LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE YOU UGLY OLD HAG!"

BANG BANG! The Beldam screeched again as one of Nix's bullets struck home, sending her other eye flying. She turned to where Coraline was still standing, "This is MY realm! I don't need eyes to see you!"

Coraline scrambled to get out of the way as the Beldam lunged, only for the creature to be thrown to the side by a strike to the head. There was no option, Alice tearfully nodded towards Cat. As Coraline turned back to the Beldam, she saw Cat on the downed creature, clawing and hissing in frenzy. The Other Mother screamed and tried to rip him off her face, but Cat was too squirmy for her. Alice ran past Coraline, right up to the Beldam, and shoved Cat off, taking his place. Coraline stared, gape-mouthed, as Alice lifted her arm.

A butcher knife glinted with slimy tar from the blade. "LORINA DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THAT CHILD!"

And snicker-snack, off with the Beldam's head. Alice jumped back, the Beldam's hair in her fist, "Let's see you do anything now!"

The head screamed in anger and pain as the body, spouting the ink Blood like an oil geyser, stood on trembling legs and stumbled about like a chicken without a head.

The twins screamed from their spot, "CORALINE! FINISH HER!"

Coraline recovered from her shock and ran forward, tackling the disoriented body to the ground and raising her own dagger, "This is for my parents!"

Down came the knife.

"This is for the ghost children!" Again.

"This is for all the therapy I had to sit through because of the Nightmares!" Again.

"This is for everyone in Wonderland!" Again.

Coraline held the knife up again, black tar coating it and her, "And these are for all the other kids whose lives you destroyed.

The Beldam's head cried as it dangled from Alice's hand, "CORALINE, STOP! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS LIKE! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW LONELY I WAS! ALICE! OH DEAR ALICE! STOP HER!"

Coraline ignored the cries and swung down again. And again. And again. And again. And, at last, again. Coraline breathed heavily as she stood, backed away, and fell to her knees, the knife falling out of her hand. Alice screamed as the head in her hand started to rot. She dropped it, but by the time it hit the ground, it was nothing but ash. The body of the Other Mother fell away into dust. The cobwebs on the walls...retreated. They shrunk back up into the main web at the top. They seemed to have also lost their stickiness because the roll holders slumped to the ground, Julie still unconscious. But Jester ran to her counterpart and then the two rushed to gather up the others.

They gathered in a circle around Coraline as the web above them also fell to ash. Coraline held her hands close to her chest and Cat put his paw on her leg, "Come Coraline. We need to leave. Without her here, this world will collapse."

Coraline nodded numbly, stood, and allowed Alice to lead her to the exit. The maze wasn't there anymore. The door led directly into the study. As they headed towards the door back to Wonderland, they found the other Role Holders, who had all been heading to the study to see what had happened. The girls and twins explained on the way out, and needless to say, everyone was more than a bit surprised that Alice had beheaded the Other Mother. More than surprised, but more than proud to. They made it to the door and filed out, one by one, just as the world started to crumble. Coraline, the last to leave, looked at the Whiteness that was taking over this world. What would become of it? What happens to this little pocket of a dimension now that it's empty? Coraline turned and exited the world, smiling.

Because she couldn't have cared less. It was over and done with. The Beldam was dead and gone, and this Nightmare was finally finished.