Lucy attributes the sudden lack of noise to adrenalized blood bombarding her inner ears. Through the silence, she continues to tussle with Kitty, but when the younger girl pauses mid-headlock, she realizes that the crackling flames in the barrels are still audible.

Kitty's lower lip droops in disappointment. "They're gone," she mutters.

"Who?" Lucy rolls away from Kitty's loosened embrace and staggers upright before following the murderous feline's gaze. Lilanna are quietly holding hands near the abandoned bamboo pieces from the tinikling battle. No. The Lurkers are crouched along the edge of the cliff, peering into the dark night. No. Irma cups her hands around her mouth and yells Angel's name. No. Now the blood really is pounding in Lucy's ears, drowning out everything around her, courtesy of her heart's panicked pace. She collapses to her knees, and for one of the few times in her life, she fails to note how the impact of her bones on the cobblestone sends a sharp jolt of pain through her joints. She does not consider the hue of the bruising that will undoubtedly appear on her skin. She stares blankly at the sharp splinters of wood lying dormant in the dusty gaps of the stone walkway, patiently lying-in-wait for the tender bare foot of a child. . .

She does not hear the cacophony of growls and squeaks and snapping jaws as the Castle's army appears seconds too late.

Alone again, naturally.

Cooper peers up and down the line of forumers. Where is Lucy? He expected her to be one of the first to the edge in order to take control of the situation. When the Castle army noisily makes its presence known, he turns around in time to see Gold and Head leading their mother towards her snow white boomer. He frowns. I wish I could tell her. . .

"Saph!" Zero yells, breaking the silence in which the group had been frozen. "Use Castor to fly down and search the Ice Cream Sea! Quick!"

There is no whinnying in response to her order. Moments later, Rowan taps Zero lightly on the shoulder, "Um. . .sorry, but I guess there was a really good Kerrang scheduled, so Becky is kind of, well. . .gone."

Zero sighs. "She's a busy girl. . .never in one place for very long, unfortunately." She reaches into her backpack and pulls out a moldy sandwich. To determine if it's still suitable for consumption, she unfolds the baggy and takes a whiff. Oh hell no. People think that sheep will eat anything, but that's simply not true! She pinches a corner of the baggie, lets the sandwich plunge into the vanilla-scented depths of the water, and stuffs the thin plastic into the front pocket of her jeans - she recently heard about an endangered species making its home along the shores of FanFictionNet. "I hate to bring it up, but-" Bravely reaching into her pack once more, she is rewarded with a fairly fresh-looking apple, "before any of us risk our necks in a 'Search and Rescue' mission, what would you say their odds of surviving that fall are, Iris?"

"Slim to none." Iris announces much too quickly, pleased that she has finally been presented with an opportunity to use such an old, cheesy joke. "And Slim just left town."

A brisk wind blasts the elder doppelganger from behind, accompanied by a tiny tornado of long, narrow leaves and Slim's voice, "I can assure you, I am still very much present! Shady is the one that will soon be traveling abroad!"

Slim continues to swirl around the ankles of the forumers as Iris totters on the unstable peanut brickle edge, arms pinwheeling in a comical attempt to regain her balance. A strong hand clamps on to her flailing wrist and pulls her safely from the precipice. "Whew!" Iris smiles gratefully at her savior, a short woman with bikechain grease smeared across her forehead. "Too bad you didn't arrive in time to rescue April!"

Kitty snickers at the innocent comment, knowing full well that the sole purpose of the tandem-riding odd couple's arrival was to wreak havoc. Onyx shushes her with a light swat to the head. Kitty occupies herself by licking the dried candy on Onyx's back. "Your shirt is delicious, Onny!" Onyx swats her again.

Zero rotates her apple, finding the last section still covered with green peel, and crunches into it. "Okay, we're not accomplishing anything here, folks! Toss in some ideas, please!"

"Ooh ooh!" Cooper raises his hand and bounces on the balls of his feet."We could rappel down the cliff using some more of that delicious rope licorice!"

An exasperated sigh of considerable volume greets the brave knight's suggestion."Don't make me pummel you with confetti again, Coop!" Lilanna has migrated closer to the group, and Johanna has her throwing hand poised behind her head.

Cooper cannot tell whether her fingers are indeed clutching little bits of colored paper and glitter, so he decides it would be less messy to stand down. As his attention resettles on Zero, another gust of wind rocks into the forumers and blows Johanna's confetti onto Cooper anyway - this time the disturbance is accompanied by Shady's voice, "Brooke has an idea. Someone bring a bucket!"

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Rachel retreats from her vantage point in Yew's greenery and drops gracefully into his tree fort. Though she likes to be aware of what is happening in her land, she finds it much more appealing to observe events from a safe distance - raging waters, leaping flames, and loud noises are not a few of her favorite things. She alternates between pacing the width of the small fortress and peeking through the open doorway to check the progress of the solitary kangaroo's journey home.

Sensing her unease, Yew softly swishes his branches at Rachel's forlorn meowing. "There is no proof, as of yet, that mourning we must commence."

Thump.

Thump.

Cat and Tree watch hopefully as the roo hops through the gate and his rider dismounts, but the world is still too dark to reveal the identity of the returned warrior. "Hark, who goes there?"

"Hello, Yew."

"Ah, the most valiant of queens, Queen Lucy!" Rachel meows her own greeting before Yew continues. "Has the war been won?"

"There are no winners in war."

"But-" Yew takes a moment to rephrase his question, hoping to receive a less confusing response. "Surely we have not lost?"

"Both sides have suffered loss," responds the remaining Queen of the Castle. "But I think I know how to lessen ours." With renewed determination, she marches not towards the more commonly used kitchen entrance, but onto the rainbow pathway that leads to Gold's laboratory.

Cooper returns with the bucket of Brooke, sets her in front of Zero and Iris, and falls to the ground, waiting for his breathing to return to normal. "Have you ever tried to run while the bucket you're carrying refuses to stop telling jokes?" He focuses on taking three even breaths in a row. "It's ridiculously tiring!"

"Hey! Have you guys heard the one about-"

"Maybe later, Brooke. Right now, we really need to hear your idea!"

"Oh! Sure! Well, I'm a liquid and the Ice Cream Sea is basically a liquid, so I'll just go have a look around, maybe chat up a few sea creatures, and, you know, mingle."

Iris looks incredulously at the talking pail of water. Zero takes her arm and turns them towards the cliff's edge to talk the proposal over. "It's the best we can do while it's still dark out."

"I know, I know." Iris looks over her shoulder at Brooke, who is sloshing over the rim in excitement. "It's still really weird, even for this place." She shivers. "I wish I had a cardigan."

"So. . .is that a 'yes'?"

"Unfortunately."

Zero spins around in excitement. "Guess what, Brooke? You're hired!" She picks up the pail, soaking her ninja sleeves to the elbows, and turns to Iris again. "At what mathematical trajectory should I send her off?"

Iris studies the situation for approximately half a second before reaching out and knocking the bucket from Zero's hands. They lean over the edge together, listening for the crash of metal on stone, but can hear nothing over the crash of waves. "Why'd you do that?" Zero asks.

"It was an experiment," shrugs Iris. "If it didn't work, we've got a few more buckets, and a lot more Brooke."

Muffin sits in the front entry, engrossed in reading fanfiction on her phone. She's nibbling on a piece of bread spread thick with nutella and topped by banana slices, but the scent of roses is steadily seeping into everything within a ten foot radius, and her appetite is decreasing at a similar rate. "My my, you are fragrant little beauties!" She picks up the vase and starts to walk the arrangement into the sitting room. "You will like it much better here, I promise! The morning sun will shine on you perfectly in just a few hours!"

As she enters the main hall to return to her assigned post, a flash of light from Gold's corridor catches her eye. "I have treated no injuries. . ." In her stocking feet, she creeps quietly closer, though she could be practicing clog-dancing and still not be heard over the racket taking place in the lab. "What the hell?" For better or worse, the Castle has some archaic locking systems on the doors - a keyhole large enough for an ornately carved skeleton key makes Muffin's spying an amazingly easy task. Her first two attempts to look inside are thwarted by bursts of blinding light, but the third. . .reveals to her what lengths a person will go to for love.

"Ahoy there, matey! I hope your night is going grrrrrrrreat!"

It takes Brooke's sight a moment longer to adjust, and when it finally does, she's positive that she's imagining the spectacle in front of her. "Are you. . .in a boat?"

"I am!"

"But-"

"Haven't you ever seen a whale sail?"

"I have not. No. Nope." Brooke bobs up and down with the waves, unsure of what to say to this odd creature. "Um. . .what washes up on tiny beaches?"

"A joke?!" The sailing whale blows his spout in excitement. "What?"

"Microwaves!"

As the mythical narwhale laughs, the waves reach higher into the sky and the the poor little boat sinks lower into the sea. "That was very updog!"

"What's 'updog'?"

"Nothing much, what about you, dawg?" Narwhal can barely contain himself now; he has been waiting years for someone to respond correctly to that joke. "Hahahahaha!"

"Good one!" Brooke manages to refrain from groaning this time, but decides they're defintely due for a change of subject. "Have you been sailing in this area all night? Seen anything weird?"

"Like what?"

"Like, I dunno, a dozen pandas and two humans plunging to their death?"

"Hmm, no, can't say that I have, but I was working on a comedic monologue in my head. . .would you like to hear it?"

"Oh, well, not really, but. . .okay!"

Zoey sidles up to Zero, runs a hand over her wool coat ooh, sexy! giggity giggity!, and whispers, "Does the fact that we have no way to get Brooke back up the cliff count as a plothole?"

Zero tries to think of a way to retrieve Brooke's intel, but can't come up with a feasible plan. "Baah. Yeah, I think you're right."

"Of course I am, my savory little lambchop. . ." Zoey licks the side of Zero's face from jawline to temple.

Iris intervenes before things can get too kinky, "Okay, that's all we can do for now! We'll have to wait for Brooke to evaporate from the sea and condensate back onto our level. Goodnight, everyone!"

"Go fish."

"Fuck."

As April draws a card from the center pile and frowns at it, Angel smiles delightedly. "Hey, it's not my fault this is the only game you know. Do you have any threes?" Angel giggles as April plucks a three of Hearts from her massive hand of cards and flicks it away. Enjoying having the upperhand, Angel doesn't even listen to what suit April asks for next. "Go fish."

"Fuck."

"Language!"

"Yeah, yeah. . .speaking of censorship," April scowls as she draws another useless card from the pond, "when do you think Irma will be able to reach us?"

"It wasn't a very long section of tunnel that collapsed," Angel responds, chomping into a potato chip and slurping down some orange soda. "As long as she remembered this smuggling cave, it shouldn't take the pandas more than a week to clear the rubble." Crunch. Crunch. Slurp."I hope."

If enough of your pandas survived the battle, April muses as she thrusts her hand deep into the chip bag to re-emerge with a handful of crumbs that contain more seasoning than chip. "Why couldn't you have a secret obsession with something more substantial? Like mushroom pizza?" She tosses the crumbs into her mouth and wipes the grease onto her black ninja pants.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for not letting you die! GO FISH!"

"I would have been fine," April declares confidently as she draws another card and tries to fit it into her ever-growing collection. "Hey," she scratches her head, "I didn't even ask you what you had!"

"Sure you did. Your memory's just not as good as it used to be." Angel picks a card from the center pile and hands it to April. "Here. You forgot this." Eyeing her suspiciously, April accepts the new card. Angel nods her approval, then narrows her eyes, "What do you mean you 'would have been fine'?"

"Let's just say. . ." April lays out her first book of four diamonds, "we're more alike than I would ever care to admit outside the current situation."

"I knew you Littles couldn't all be so perfect," chortles Angel. "Do you have any fives?"

April smirks. "Go fish."

"Fuck."