"So you mean that all mirrors are portals to other worlds, like in those old fables?" Vinyl Scratch asked, rolling her magenta eyes. "I will never get out of bath in front of a looking-glass again. Tell me there's chi whiz as well!"

"Not all mirrors, Vinyl". Victorian's tone stayed calm even after all the questions and jokes (mainly from the blue-haired girl). "Some really are, for instance, the mirror you girls made for Octavia's research... don't grimace, Vinyl, mirrors can be liquid-like as well! Haven't you read Lord of the Rings?"

"And Feng Shui doesn't have to deal with this at all". This was put in by History, another ace of keeping negative emotions in (though his feelings were beginning to break out - his white brows were frowned a teeny weeny bit more than usually). "Go on, Victorian".

"Well, yes, the mirror in the attic did have an influence of the parallel world, and not the best one". Victorian pulled on his collar as if it was choking him. "Yes, there is an infinite number of possible worlds, and it is highly inadvisable to let their inhabitants wander around them..."

"If I understand you correctly, the man whom Glimmer and Quote saw..." Octavia laced her fingers, preparing to go on, "...could be... Hobo's bad twin, like in those silly comic books?"

Victorian nodded.

"But no one has touched that mirror, ever", Time interfered. "Or has anyone? Glimmer? Quote?"

The mentioned ones backed away, shaking their heads (Glimmer got pale, and Quote's cheeks got covered with nervous blush - usually it was vice versa), but that was only the beginning: they almost visibly shrunk upon the sight of History walking forward to them. What to say, the boys shared respect for their "biggest bro" and fear for his rage. If they could tease Hobo and trick Dandy, the next oldest brothers, this didn't mean they could do it with History.

"What were you doing up there anyway?" Dandy demanded.

"W-we heard a noise from the attic, like in horror books", Glimmer mumbled.

"And decided to check, you two daredevils", Blast put in.

"Get lost". Victorian took the leading position, to the boys' obvious relief. "Has any of you heard a legend of evil locked in the cave with twelve chains, twelve walls and twelve locks?" The majority of people in the room shook their heads, except for History. "I could've not asked... Fine. This legend states that there's an evil spirit, the core of all evil in the world, trapped in the deepest cave of the hugest mountain. Twelve chains hold him in the place, twelve walls surround him and twelve locks secure the exit. During the year, this spirit attempts to break all the walls, destroy all the locks and tear all the chains, and he almost succeeds, but at the final day of the year, when he only has to do the final strike and break free, the walls, the locks and the chains restore themselves. You know why? If there's even a single pure soul left in the world, there's still hope".

"And why did you tell it?" Blast asked. He was easily annoyed by too much talking (and this didn't refer to his own).

"I told it because it's similar to this", Victorian replied. "A tiny bit of hope... or anything else... made the spirit break out".

"How sentimental..."

The figure in black with silver accents chuckled upon the sound of a collective gasp.

"I haven't been this close to falling asleep since you tossed me into that void. Are you feeling too alert?"

This was addressed to Hobo, with whom the newcomer shared a tremendous similarity, but certain differences stroke the eye. First of all, this "twin" looked much older than Hobo: there were shades under his eyes (which, though being as huge and blue as Hobo's, were empty, without a sparkle of life), his thick brows weren't able to form another expression than being knitted together, and age wrinkles were ready to show themselves fully. The second difference were wings, just like Glimmer and Quote had stated. They were of the same bluish black color, but bat-like, slightly larger, with claws on their tops and glittering, as if greased.

"What are you doing around here, Salamander?" Victorian occupied the position between the "evil twin" and the group.

"Was just passing by. It wasn't my fault that I couldn't achieve control over the space!"

"Nobody can. This is why you're sitting here instead of taking over the world in your fashion".

Salamander's expression slowly merged into irritated from cunning:

"Yes, you did turn me into a half-living being. So what?" He examined the present ones with his look. "Anyway, you're not going to get rid of me - and I know that you really want to - without accomplishing my terms".

"Whichever?" Hobo asked.

"And YOU have to be really careful". Salamander clicked his tongue.

"Be quiet, you're nothing more than my reflection", Hobo snapped.

"It's unknown who is whose reflection. Are you listening? There's only one way. Either I'm gone - and perhaps forever for you - or I'm back to this world and with whole collection!"

Victorian stayed silent, but his expression told more than words. He knew that Salamander was right and couldn't do anything about it. Or he could, but... No, he couldn't. Any Turner would use an extra chance if available, but this was another case.

"What do you want?" Victorian finally asked.

Salamander grinned.

"Play with me".

A/N: No way, sometimes you don't even need nicknames (see Classic Who episode The Enemy of the World).