A cold wind blew through the Underwhere. Still, the Shaydes didn't notice it. None of them could even remember a time when they had noticed it, even those who had just arrived. They had been here for eternity, and they would remain there for eternity. Time would never have meaning again.

Count Bleck was strolling through the plaza, head high, staff to his side. He looked over the heads of the Shaydes, eyes fixed on his destination. He was the only one in the Underwhere who even had a destination. Destinations were another one of those things that loose their meaning.

"Hey!" a particular Shayde called out, seeing him. "It's Mr. Funny! Your game finally end this time, eh?"

Count Bleck didn't answer. "I'm not funny," he told the Shayde. "But if it's the only thing that makes you feel better in this Nimforsaken place, then go ahead and laugh."

"Okay." The Shayde cleared his throat. Count Bleck watched him, half impatient, half amused. The Shayde lost his nerve. "Well, I can't do it while you're lookin' at me…"

"Ah. Terribly sorry." Count Bleck turned around and went off.

Another Shayde turned to the one who had spoken to Count Bleck. "So, is his game over, or what?"

The first Shayde shrugged.

"Blumiere!" Queen Jaydes spotted him the moment he stepped up the stairs to her palace. "I wasn't expecting you—you know better than to take me by surprise!"

Count Bleck weaved his way through the D-Men, scrambling here and there, trying their hardest to get an eternity's worth of work done. He approached Jaydes, who was on her phone.

"I can't believe it! Did we not just have this discussion? I certainly hope she's grounded. If she's not, I swear I—With who? And you believed her? Grams, she's a teenager. Of course she lied to you. And you're not letting her keep the skirt, are you?"

She pulled the phone away from her ear. "He hung up on me." She put it in her pocket. "Family crisis," she said. "You'll understand when you have kids."

Count Bleck shook his head. "I don't think I'll ever have kids. After all, I already have minions."

"I don't think that's exactly the same thing…"

Count Bleck's cell phone SP rang. He excused himself from the conversation and answered it.

"Count Bleck!" Mimi cried from the other end of the phone. "Dimentio's touching me!"

"I am not touching her," Dimentio said calmly, speaking into the phone from behind her.

"He's touching me!"

"I most certainly am not touching her."

"He's totally touching me!"

"I must emphasize that I am not, in fact, touching her."

"Mimi," said Count Bleck. "If you stop throwing tantrums, then he'll stop. Dimentio, stay out of Mimi's personal space." And he hung up.

"Never mind," said Jaydes. "All right, tell me. You're game's not really over. So what are you doing here?"

Count Bleck shrugged.

"Although you did come pretty close," she added with a grin.

"You know about that?"

"I know everything," she replied. She gestured to the mountains of files and papers and drawers. "It's all here, somewhere."

"Then you must know about all the awful things I've done."

She groaned. "Is that what this is about? Look, I can't tell you whether or not you'll find your redemption, but I can tell you that it's not worth worrying over. Just look at Dimentio. He doesn't worry about it."

"You've met him?"

"Before the 1-up shroom takes effect, a person has to meet with me," she replied. "It's an old tradition."

"I didn't know that." Count Bleck nodded thoughtfully. Then, suddenly, it dawned on him. "Wait, Dimentio's trying to attain redemption?"

"I didn't say that," said Jaydes. "I'm not allowed to say that."

"Seriously. You must tell me."

She zipped her lips.

"What about Nawrocki? Is he down here?"

"No. Pity, too. He puts a lot of work on us, when he's allowed to run free up there. I think he's somewhere on Yoshi's Island, soaking up the sun and getting better. Now, look, I love to have a social call, but I just don't have the time. Luvbi's going to be here for the weekend and I've got to get that pile of paperwork out of the way so she'll have a place to sleep."

Count Bleck nodded. "Well, good luck with that."

"Yeah, thanks. And hey," she added, "Don't worry. It's not good for you. Keep it up and you'll end up here sooner than you like."

"No offence intended, but isn't it always sooner than you'd like?"

They both shared a laugh.

Meanwhile, the minions were restoring Castle Bleck to its former glory. There was a wall to be patched, factory equipment stashed (it turned out that Nawrock had dismantled his equipment in order to move it, and had left it all over the place) and machine corpses to be dragged to the curb for Interdimensional Pickup, assuming it existed. And someone had to patch the hole in time and space that Nawrocki made upon his exit.

Before he'd left, Merlon had given the potion a once-over. "I don't know too much about potions when it come to actually mixing them," he'd admitted, "but I'm certain one of my relatives does. I'll send it off and see if we can't get it finished." So he'd left with it tucked under his arm right before Count Bleck returned.

Count Bleck was moving slower than ever. It wasn't just that he was injured. There was something heavy about him, something sad and troubled on top of his usual depressed distress. When he walked into the lab, he brought a heaviness with him that seemed to settle on everybody.

"Good afternoon, Count." Nastasia was at the doorway to greet him. "Yeah, so, production is way ahead of schedule on the rebuilding of the outer wall, and we've managed to locate most of the factory surplus, but no word on when the guy is coming in to fix the hole in space."

Count Bleck waved her off. "Where's Timpani?" he asked.

"Right here, Blumiere!" She fluttered up to him. "You were right! Merlon's going to find someone to finish the potion, and then everything will be the way we wanted it to be!"

His face brightened.

Seeing his happiness, she continued. "It's so wonderful! I'm so glad we did this. Despite everything, we've come out ahead!"

Count Bleck took her in his arms. "I agree," he said. "There's hope for the future, isn't there?"

She giggled. "Always."

Nastasia backed away. She hadn't intended on a lovey-dovey show. As she was backing, she backed right into O'Chunks.

"Oh, pardon me!" she said quickly.

"Ah, 'scuse me, miss, I didn't mean teh—"

"Quite all right, I wasn't looking where I was—"

"Got a block o' blocks 'ere, can't see over 'em—"

"And I was just..."

They both stopped.

"Listen, O'Chunks," she said, "I know that you like me, and I like you, too. I just don't think there's anything more to it than that."

"Eh? What'r yeh sayin'?"

She sighed. "I'm saying, I don't think we should see each other again. Not informally, that is."

"Saw it comin'." He heaved a warrior's sigh. "Well, thanks fer tryin', Nassy."

She straightened her glasses. "Anytime. Well—no, it's just an expression."

Dimentio, meanwhile, was not working at all. He was sitting on a pile of rubble, knees hugged to his chest, grinning to himself. Something inside him was warm, a feeling he was quite unused to. It was almost pleasant. Almost.

When Mimi passed he waved her down.

"My dear Mimi," he said. "How long have we known each other?"

"I-uh-oh. A while?"

Facepalm. "I'm being serious."

"You're always serious."

"Tell me, do you know why the rest of you are insufferably happy, and Nawrocki seemed not to be so?"

"'Cause he didn't have any friends," she answered.

"Exactly. I've been thinking this over for a long time, and I think I'd like to give it a try."

She snorted. "What?"

"I've decided, I want to be friends with the rest of you."

Mimi started laughing. "Get serious!"

"I told you, I am being serious."

She picked up a bag of rubble. "Dimentio, you don't care about anyone but yourself."

"That's why I need lessons."

"Pardon?"

"Friendship lessons."

"Friendship's not really something you can teach."

Dimentio shrugged. "Fine." He held his finger out in front of her face.

"Quit it."

"Quit what?"

"Quit touching me."

"I am not touching you."

"All right!" She slapped his hand away. "I guess if you want to, I'll give it a try. But don't be mean to me! That's your first lesson."

"One step at a time."

Suddenly, Mr. L ran into the room from the hole in the wall, waving his mailbox SP. "Hey, guys!" he called out. "My bro just tipped me off! There's a mission for us!"

Count Bleck looked up from what he was doing with Tippi. "A mission? Everyone! To the meeting room! I'd like details on this mission!"

Who cares about redemption? There's work to be done!