Natasha stared at her collection of letters, trying to spot any word she could make that, even if it didn't raise her from last place, at least narrowed the distance between her and the other players.

"Hurry up," complained Stacy. "I'd like to finish this game at some point this century."

"Bah, fine," said Natasha, and played 'cat'.

"Five points. Well done," said Stacy.

"Yeah, yeah. Cut out the sarcasm."

"What I don't understand is why you're still playing when you always lose," said Decay.

"It's not the winning, it's the taking part that counts," answered Natasha.

"That's all well and good, but I believe the intent behind that proverb is that you gain something meaningful from the experience of taking part, whether that's enjoyment, experience, or something else. You appear to be gaining nothing. Your skill is not improving, nor do you seem to be enjoying yourself."

"I don't enjoy losing, but that's not the same as not enjoying myself. Hanging out with friends like this is fun, whatever we do."

"Hmm..." said Decay, non-committally. "And your use of the term 'friends'... Does that include me?"

"Obviously," scoffed Natasha.

"Hmm..." repeated Decay.

"Please don't base your view of humanity around her," begged Stacy. "Look at Agatha instead. She's a far better role model."

Agatha didn't respond, being too focused on taking her turn. "Ha!" she exclaimed suddenly, playing five letters across a double word score for over thirty points. "Suck on that!"

"... Or maybe not."

"What was that, dearie?" asked Agatha. "Did I miss something?"

Decay sniggered.

"To change the topic to something more serious, how are your energy reserves?" asked Tracy. "William's replacement is getting progressively more confused about why you don't seem to be feeding."

"Bah. Don't mention his name, that damn scheming kitten. He knew full well what he was doing, detonating like that."

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"What do you mean?" asked Mary, playing six letters for forty points and retaking the lead.

"Did you never ask yourself why, if he had so much energy, he needed to die? Why couldn't he have given me only what was needed to heal you lot? Even if it weakened him immensely, or knocked him out, he was planning to rejoin his greater self anyway. It wouldn't have mattered. Instead, he explosively released every last drop of power that he contained, killing himself in the process."

"The thought had crossed my mind," nodded Mary. "I assumed you weren't able to draw energy from him in your usual way."

"That was my first thought, too, until I realised I wasn't getting hungry," said Decay, playing six letters of his own and jumping back over Mary, albeit with a reduced lead. "That damn kitten burnt out my entire circulatory system, and then healed it wrong. I can process the ambient energy here on Earth, now. Not quite well enough that I'll never get hungry, but certainly enough that you lot can sustain me indefinitely with no negative consequences to yourselves."

"Wow! That's amazing!" exclaimed Natasha.

"But now I'll starve if I ever return to Midnight," pointed out Decay.

"I didn't think you wanted to return to Midnight. At least, not now that you're safe here."

"I don't, but that's beside the point. As far as I understand your morals, that was not a decision he had the right to make. He should have discussed it with me first. Obtained consent."

"True," nodded Natasha.

"While I have no idea what you're talking about, should you really be discussing it in front of me?" asked Agatha.

"At this point, I think it would be fair to declare you an honorary member of the team," said Tracy. "In fact, you probably did more good than any of us this time around."

Natasha peered at Agatha appraisingly. "A white one?" she asked, old age having left the elderly lady's hair the colour of fresh snow. "I'm not sure the costume would suit her, though. She's a bit... uh... wizened?"

"Oh, no. Four of you are already more than enough," said Decay. "Don't you dare start breeding."

"So, is this it, then?" asked Stacy. "No other Banes can get into our world for as long as Decay... I mean, Sebastian... is here. Sebastian no longer needs to worry about his food supply. No-one is fighting anyone else, except when Natasha tries to invent new words to cheat at scrabble. The other Banes can't do anything to threaten us from the other side of the rift. Doesn't that mean everything is over?"

"For now, perhaps, but this world is old and will grow older still. Perhaps my peers will find a way to enlarge the rift from the other side. Perhaps new rifts will form naturally. Perhaps there are other fallen worlds like Midnight, which will launch invasions of their own. You humans live short lives, and your definition of 'over' is correspondingly limited."

"Wow. That was a bit of a downer," said Natasha. "Anyway, whose turn is it?"

"Tracy's," answered Decay.

"Oh, another good sign!"

"Huh? Why is it being Tracy's turn 'good'?"

"It's not. The good sign was that you used her name, instead of 'Shining Nova' or 'the red one'."

Decay sighed. "I wonder if all four of you are needed to keep me fed, or if I can make do with just the serious ones?"

"Natasha is a given, but which category do I come under?" asked Stacy.

Decay didn't answer.

And, outside the window, a floating white kitten peeked through the blinds in confusion. It was far too professional to do something as treasonous as play board games with the enemy, but simultaneously was too diligent to let its charges deal with a Bane without support, hence the clandestine spying.

And the more it spied, the more the confusion grew.

"What the fuck did my predecessor do?" it complained.