"Mmmm... yes. Your scent has changed since last time..." the feline purrs, giving Kay's entire body a long sniff, or so she assumes, as it lacks a visible nose. "...but not in an unpleasant way. It is clear that you have grown strong, just as I had hoped. This world, you see, it is a truly foolish place. It may have given up on you, but only I could see your true potential."

"What are you talking about?" Frederich growls, stepping forward.

"Frederich, don't!" Mia blurts out, but he simply raises a paw in response.

"No, someone has to say this. She got strong? Yeah, she did. She worked hard, and suffered a lot, but only because you made her! You took everything from her, and sent her to risk her life collecting keys which, it turns out, you don't even care about!" he shouts to the dark lord. He doesn't draw his sword, both because his sword arm is still seriously injured, but also because, despite his anger, he realizes there is no sense in attacking the creature. He has no idea if such a creature even can be attacked.

"Do be quiet." the dark lord says. "The grown ups are talking."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. You're big and scary and super powerful and could kill us all without even moving." he says, swallowing as he looks towards the prone body of Helena, "But that doesn't make it right! Kay here, she's experienced enough pain already, without someone like you contributing to it, and you're going to make it right! You're going to grant her wish, even if I have to force you to!"

The dark lord audibly chuckles. "Well, you're a little better than that overly talkative woman over there. At least you recognize that your threat is an empty one, and are making it in service to someone other than yourself. Still, terribly unwise, but I know better than to expect proper wisdom from you creatures. As for your friend... Kay is it? Not a name I care for very much. As for her, I fully intend to deliver on my promises."

"Wait... really?" Frederich asks, head tilted to one side.

"While your little mouse fairy tales are not entirely accurate, and, in truth, I didn't promise her or anyone else that I would grant a wish, I will anyways. In fact, I have already begun to. It began the very first day we met." she says, turning back to Kay who stares back, intently. "I did say that it would take time for your gift to properly mature, and now it is finally time."

"Wow, that's great!" The armored mouse says in an excited voice. "I knew there was a reason we came all this way! Go on, Kay, tell it what you want!"

"I'm afraid you are mistaken." it says. "Wishes are not words. They are not things that you say, rather things that you feel, often so deeply that even you, yourself don't realize it."

"What?" Fred asks, head tilted once again.

"For instance, you believe that your wish is to become powerful. If asked to state your wish, that is what you would say. That isn't your true wish, however. Break it down, and your desire is to be recognized and respected, but even that isn't true, is it? See, a wish isn't what would specifically benefit you. It's what you feel that you deserve, and you, 'hero'? You always knew you were nothing. You've grown stronger, but even now feel that your strength is unearned. Perhaps if you had a less honest heart, you could have deluded yourself into truly wishing for success rather than failure. Still, that honesty is commendable in its own right."

"That's not true!" Mia blurts out. "He is strong! And brave! And noble! And we never would have made it this far without his help!"

"Huh, maybe you're right." The armored mouse says, scratching his chin with his one good arm. "Maybe I never really did think I deserved it. Maybe if I did, though, I wouldn't work so hard. I'd just dismiss it as the universe being unfair for not giving me what I feel I've earned. Maybe then I'd just find myself getting jealous and bitter about those who are stronger than me, like Kay here. If that's the case, I'm glad I never thought I deserved it, even if I got it anyways. I got a lot stronger, and recognized by people. Well, maybe only two people, but hey, that's enough for me. And, if I don't deserve it, well, that just means I'll just have to keep fighting and bettering myself, until I become the kind of mouse who's worthy of the blessings my friends gave me."

"...As for you..." the feline turns towards the robed sorceress. "You believe that your wish is for knowledge, correct? But then you couldn't even commit to that, could you? It is clear that you are a more clever soul than the male mouse, here. Your inner mind is closer to your outer than most. You partially already had your wish granted, however, by these two. You wished to run away. To no longer be burdened by the obligations or the expectations of others. To never fail anyone else again. You spoke with them about what you intended to do once you returned, but you never really expected to survive this journey, did you? The prospect of going back, facing your parents, facing your friends, facing your potential fiance, facing your life is more terrible than death itself."

"You're only part right." the black furred mouse nods. "Going back home is indeed terrifying. The idea of returning to the life I had, more specifically going back to being the person that I was, it scares me to my core. But, on the other hand, I've learned so much on this journey, and even if I am of little worth, the knowledge is precious and it would be a terrible crime to let it die with myself. The knowledge deserves better than that, it deserves a chance to spread and grow, and help others grow along with it. Yes, returning back to my old life is a scary idea, and in many ways thing would be much easier if I didn't have to... but I do, for many reasons, and I've always been the sort to hate disappointing others, even at a cost to myself."

"Petty rationalizations of weak-hearted creatures." the dark lord replies. "You and he, you are both prey species at heart. This isn't an insult, it's simply the reality. You know your place in this world, and, even if you adamantly deny it, I know you secretly strive to obtain it."

"You're wrong." Kay growls. "You don't know anything about them. "I don't know exactly who or what you are, and I don't think you're even lying, either. I think you genuinely believe the things you say, and maybe you're stronger than us, and maybe you're smarter than us, but there's things even you can't know or understand. We may be weak, and we may just be prey, but we're more complicated creatures than you give us credit for. Well, they are at least." she gives each a little smile, which is returned in kind.

"Good to hear you finally speak up. For a moment there, I feared that I never would get to hear your voice. In truth, the knight, the sorceress, the... guild mistress, was she called? They do not matter. They never mattered." it says. "You are the only one I care about. Yours is the only wish that matters."

"And what is my wish?" Kay asks, her earlier determination falling away, as though despite her insistence that the dark lord understood nothing, she dreads the answer to come.

"I granted you power, but you never desired that. That's something I liked about you from the start. Those who crave such things tend to be the least qualified to wield them, after all. Power, of course, was not your wish. I also granted you vision, the ability to see the unseen, and the understanding that came with it, but you were never a curious sort, were you? You never desired such things. Both were simply a means to and end, aid to help you reach this point. Now, what does that leave?"

The naked mouse pauses a moment, when the sudden realization hits her. "My name..."

"That's right." the entity purrs. "Of course that is only the beginning, just a small taste of the proper reward you would receive on completing this long and difficult journey."

"Kay? What is that creature talking about?" Frederich asks, his face pale. As for Kay, she simply lowers her head, avoiding looking him in the eye.

"Yes. You wished to forget. Your memories bring you such pain, that you craved to toss them aside. The desire to cast them aside, to give up on the ties that held you to your loved ones, to tarnish the precious memories, they fill you with guilt, which you similarly wish to forget. You want to forget all the pain and heartache, the loneliness, the negativity. It seems the three of you had made a good team after all."

"Even if that all is true..." Mia asks, nervously. "What exactly do you gain from all of this?"

"Heh. A very good question. You see, this business with the curse mark wasn't simply random. It wasn't just to drive this woman forward. It was to acclimate her to my power. Such a small vessel would never endure such a thing right away, of course. A period of adjustment was required."

"What... what are you talking about?" a voice behind the dark lord coughs, as Helena shakily rises to her feet, still bleeding profusely from a dozen places.

"Hmmm, you're sturdier than I expected." the entity says. "I suppose this effects you as well, so you deserve to know. Mice are very strange creatures, for quite a few reasons. Their strength and intelligence has grown at a rapid rate over a relatively short period of time. Do you know that back when I was a kitten, mice couldn't even speak?"

Frederich and Mia look to one another, simply confused.

"It isn't simply their growth which is strange, it is a special power they possess. The ability to alter reality, what you call 'magic', I believe? It is a far more universal power than you might realize. Do you not find it unusual how, just a few short weeks ago, our kind, 'dark lords' as you call them, were seen as virtually indestructible, yet ever since the business with the little mouse with the sewing needle, victories against them became relatively common?"

"Yeah... she showed us that if we're strong and brave enough, we can defeat your kind!" Frederich says.

"Mmmm, perhaps confidence played a small role, but is that really all there is to it? It's almost as though when you believed we were invincible, our power was unmatched, but the moment that perception changed, we grew weaker." the creature replies, turning her head towards Helena. "Strange business, is it not? Which brings us to your precious 'experience system'."

"What-what are you saying?" Helena asks, legs still shaking.

"Do you really need me to spell it out? Didn't you, even for a moment, consider it bizarre that your little adventurers started to grow stronger at a rate not directly proportional to their level of exercise and increased muscle mass? That such physical and mental traits were suddenly so easily quantifiable? That such a childishly convenient system proved to be real?" it asks, grinning, even if to Kay the face is simply a mass of featureless static. Helena simply stands frozen in place. "That's right. That system you are so proud of? It's nothing more than a mass delusion. Mice grow stronger because they believe the system will make themselves stronger... and therefore it does. All you did was spread a lie around for so long that enough people began to believe it, and it eventually became true."

"No. That can't be true..." the guild mistress stares to the dark lord with wide eyes.

"Oh, it very much is. Which brings us back to our increasingly attractive friend, here." the dark lord turns back to Kay. "The power of the dark lords is waning, and the timing of this couldn't possibly be worse. There is a threat coming, beyond anything you can possibly imagine, and neither my own kind or the so-called Makers are strong enough to overcome it. That's where you come in, nameless one. I take your memories, and in exchange, you gain my power. Really, it's win-win for you, so far as I can see it."

"And what do you expect for me to do with this power of yours?" Kay asks, still more than a little dazed by the repeated revelations.

"To lead those mice of yours. To make them strong. Not through some ridiculous experience system you learned from a book that your kind can hardly begin to understand, but with a combination of mouse ingenuity, and the power and wisdom of the dark lords, along with the already impressive rate of growth which your kind has repeatedly demonstrated, you won't need to be prey anymore. You won't be power craving fanatics, and mothers won't be left behind to grieve for their lost loves. Your kind as a whole will be better, stronger, smarter and with a potential far greater than even that of the humans." it says.

"This is ridiculous... absurd... impossible..." Helena growls, raising her head to glare at Kay. A wicked smile covers her face. "So be it. Maybe you won't grant my wishes, 'dark lord', but I'll make sure yours aren't granted either!"

She leaps forward, fist raised to strike not at the dark lord, knowing it's futile, but Kay instead, no longer pulling her punches, fully prepared to land a single, lethal blow which even her curse-mark infused body could not hope to endure. Neither Frederich or Mia reach quickly enough to guard her, but Kay sees this coming, and still makes no effort to guard herself, even as it strikes her square in the chest, right at her heart.

"What? Why?" Helena asks, eyes wide, looking the completely unharmed mouse straight in the eye. As for Kay, the fist is pressed against her furred chest, but didn't even force her back a single step. Her complete lack of anxiety came down to a single, simple fact: The information about the guild mistress' head: Helena. Level: 0.

"Do you really want to know?" the dark lord teases.

"This... this has to be some sort of trick! Explain yourself!" she snarls at it. With a single swift motion, if appears next to her, leaning close to whisper into the bloodied ear of the adventurers guild mistress. Her eyes go wide as she takes in the words, increasingly vacant, staring off into nothing, she falls to her knees, remaining there, seemingly lost to the world.

"What happened?" Frederich asks, looking to the nearly limp woman whose jaw hangs open, drooling.

"Belief is a funny thing." the dark lord chuckles. "It isn't a decision, it's a reaction, which is quite fortunate, otherwise it would cause a multitude of complications. It would seem that the realization that the experience system is less tangible than she realized caused her to lose faith in it, and thus lose the levels she had accumulated. Once I told her this, she tried to force herself to believe in it... but sometimes a strong mind can actually be a fatal weakness. If self delusion came a little easier for her, it wouldn't have been a problem, but, well, that wasn't the case. How can she believe in something that isn't real? But it is real, since it has actual effects... but it's not real, because she doesn't believe in it... but how can she not believe in something that affects reality in such a tangible way? Were she able to simply back down and refuse to believe, it would have been fine... or similarly, if she could just force herself to believe, it also would have been fine. Instead, she's forced to believe a contradiction which even she is actively aware of, and in turn, trapped in a sort of permanent, mental loop."

"Um... that doesn't seem like a very satisfying explanation..." Frederich says.

"Well, I did help a little to aid with the process. Suffice to say, she shouldn't be interrupting us anymore." the dark lord says, looking towards Kay. "Now, then, what do you say?"

"You can't do it!" Mia blurts out, but Frederich puts a paw to her chest, holding her back, shaking his head.

"Look, I... I don't want to lose her either. She's a good friend. But at the same time, I know how much she's been hurting." he pauses. "No, that's not true, I have no idea, I can only imagine it. I still want her to stay... her... but this is truly her wish, is this is truly the only way she can find peace then, well... I want her to be happy."

Mia frowns, looking away.

Kay similarly pauses for a moment, giving it a good deal of thought before finally looking back to the strange feline. "No deal."

"Oh, come now. You can't be serious. Even putting aside the obvious benefits, both to yourself and your civilization as a whole, you know better than anyone just what sort of damage that power is doing to your body. You only stand to lose by refusing."

"Yeah, you're right." she nods. "But I'll lose by agreeing, too. I'll lose everything. Everything I've ever known. Everyone I've ever cared about."

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Since when have those things ever brought you anything but pain?" it asks her.

"Since I met these two." she says, looking from Frederich to Mia. "No, that's not right. Since long before that. Yeah, it does hurt thinking back to my husband, thinking about my children. It hurts a lot, and sometimes, more than a few times, I really did wish for it to all just go away. Now, however, when really given the opportunity? I don't want to let them go. Maybe I'm just a masochist, or maybe, even with all the pain and sorrow and loneliness, as awful as those bad memories are, the good ones were just a little bit better."

The pair both smile back to her.

"Ridiculous. The whole point of forgetting is that all traces of them are gone. It's not as though you'll miss the lack of memories, or your lost friendships. You'll simply be free, free to make new memories, new friendships, and you'll be out nothing." it growls.

"No, that's just another kind of death. If I'm going to lose either way, I'd rather lose on my own terms. If I'm going to die, it's going to be as me, remembering my friends, my family." she nods.

"And what of the rest of the world?" the dark lord asks her.

"I can't imagine the world is in such a sorry state that it would need someone like me to save it. I don't really know what's going on, and maybe things will be pretty bad, but you know what? The world is filled with strong people, way stronger than me, and somehow or another, they'll pull through, and if not? If the only way to save the world is by becoming some sort of half-dark lord monster who's forgotten everything that matters? Well, if that's what it takes to fix things, maybe the world is better left broken."

"Are you sure?" Mia asks, looking to Kay, not so much at her personally, but at the dark curse mark which covers the entirely of her face, well aware of the implications.

"Yeah, I'm sure. These days, I'm not certain of very much, but I've never been more sure of anything in my life." she smiles.

Meanwhile, the dark lord slowly pads away, over towards the stone altar. "This way." it says.

The naked mouse nods her head, turning from Frederich to Mia. "You two, wait here. This won't take long." she says, stepping forward. Frederich does make a move to follow, not entirely sure what he intends to do, but not liking the idea of her going on alone, only to find his path blocked by a shimmering, transparent barrier of red and white static. The pair watch her go on, Mia filled with a similar trepidation.

"Do you know what it is that I seek?" the dark lord asks. Kay nods her head in response.

"Yeah, I can imagine." she says. "I figure you can't be too happy with me ruining those plans of yours. I do have one request, however."

"Perhaps you haven't been paying attention, but contrary to those silly mouse legends of yours, I'm not in the business of granting wishes."

"Yeah, I know that." Kay nods. "That's why it's just a request. A final request, as it were. Let Frederich and Mia go. They have nothing to do with this, and haven't wronged you in any way."

"Kay? What are you talking about?" Frederich asks from the other side of the barrier.

"You are a little bit mistaken." the dark lord says, looking to the naked mouse with its large, empty eyes. "Your primary conclusion is the correct one, however, even if not for the correct reasons. I am not one to act out of spite. However, not so long ago, at a moment that your life was meant to end, I granted you a new one. I am simply taking back what is owed, to re-balance the scales. As for those two, even if they weren't privy to some rather... inconvenient information, I don't tend to make a policy of sparing most mice I see. Why should I make an exception now?"

"You have nothing to gain from their deaths."

"Hmmm. You're not wrong. Their lives means nothing to me." it nods its head. "Very well. I shall spare them."

"What's all this about killing or sparing?" Frederich growls, Mia simply looking on in horror. "Kay here jumped through all these hoops you set up to get here, and did everything she was supposed to! And now, now you're just going to kill her?"

Kay raises a paw towards them. "It's alright." she says. "This curse mark of mine is already killing me. I can tell I don't have long, and the death is causes will be far slower and more painful than anything this creature will do to me."

The dark lord again nods in agreement.

"There's just one last thing I have to say..." the naked mouse says, looking back to the strange, distorted feline.

"You've already made your last requests. There's no sense dragging this out further." the dark lord growls.

"I know, and I promise this won't take long." she says, sighing. "You've caused me a lot of pain and misery. You took away my name and my home and the life I had built. But, that wasn't worth very much anyways. Back then if you asked me to give it all up in exchange for power, really, even in exchange for nothing, I might well have agreed. But, true to your words, even if it were for entirely selfish reasons, you gave me a new life, a life where I met new friends, had new experiences and got a chance to see that maybe, just maybe, the world isn't quite as cruel a place as I thought. Anyways, all I want to say is... thank you." she closes her eyes, and lowers her head.

The entity doesn't reply. Instead, it simply raises a familiar, shadowy paw, a single fuzzy (although not in the way one would expect from a feline) toe pointed straight to her forehead. The naked mouse opens her eyes once more raising her head to face it, as the single claw extends in an instant, piercing through her forehead.

She falls backwards with a sensation of blinding pain, landing heavily on the red stone ground. Both Mia and Frederich gasp, running towards her, not even noticing that the barrier which had once blocked their path had vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. Kay is immediately surprised as she opens her eyes, that she even can open her eyes, looking up at the familiar yet unfamiliar dark lord. She raises a paw to her forehead, but is shocked at the sight of her hands, the normal pale, pinkish color they had been for most of her life, with no signs of the blackened discoloration. It's at this moment, her allies reach her, looking to her with similar expressions of surprise. Her own eyes turn back to the lord of darkness, however, the strange, normal looking yet indescribable creature, an ordinary being sitting on the altar, within this bizarre and unnatural space, with no name or level displayed above its furred head.

"Why?" Kay asks, her small, pink eyes wide.

"I already told you. Your lives mean nothing to me, and I have nothing to gain from your deaths." it purrs. "I simply took back what I was owed... the portion of my power, and the potential new life and destiny which came with it. What happens with the pitiful scrap of mouse which remains, and what it does with itself is hardly my concern."

"But-but I ruined all those plans of yours." Kay exclaims. "Aren't you angry?"

It lets out a deep, throaty chuckle, one still indescribable, but far more conventionally feline that her earlier melodic voice. "Don't flatter yourself too much. Do you really think I would gamble everything on the whims of a single insignificant creature? While I can't deny, this didn't turn out quite as I had hoped, I can assure you I have plenty of other plans in the works."

"Wait a minute..." Frederich says, furrowing his brow. "Did you plan this all along? Was all of this just an elaborate scheme to help Kay here learn to appreciate life again?"

"Of course not." the dark lord scoffs. "That would be ridiculous."

"Huh, yeah." he nods, scratching his chin with his good arm. "I guess that does sound a little far fetched."

"Now then, our business here is settled, and I'll be taking my leave." it says, turning.

"Hey, wait!" Frederich calls to it.

"Don't." Mia says, holding his shoulder, but he pulls away from her, running forward, towards the cat.

"What now?" it growls.

"You can't just walk away! You put Kay here through hell, and I don't care what you say, you owe her a wish!" He shouts to it, drawing his sword awkwardly, his usual sword arm still broken. "You need to bring her family back!"

"Frederich..." Kay sighs.

The dark lord freezes in place, and shakes its head. "I'm sorry." it says, words that nobody here expected such a being to ever utter, not even itself, "But that is request far beyond my capability to grant."

"But..." he says, his expression of anger failing, replaced by one of hopelessness, fully believing the words, and knowing that no threat or action on his part will change things.

"It's okay," Kay smiles up at him, still lying on the floor, Mia crouched down next to her. "It... it really is."

"Now then, as for the three of you, you had better hope to never see me again." it pauses, mid-stride, turned back away from the group once more. "Oh, and about that matter I discussed earlier, involving the true nature of mouse magic: it would be best if that little tidbit didn't leave this place. It could cause... quite undesirable consequences." as it looks back over its shoulder at Helena, still kneeling, entirely oblivious to the world, for added emphasis.

"Um, yes, of course! I promise we won't say a word!" Mia blurts out.

"I'd already forgotten..." Frederich says, seemingly in deep thought, before looking to the disappointed glances directed towards him from all sides. "What? There's been a lot of talking, and it's hard to keep track of it all!"

"Well, I suppose that matter is more or less resolved." the dark lord says, sniffing the air. "Mmmm, you still have a nice scent to you, much different from back when you held a portion of my power Not the sort of thing I would have expected to like, but it's growing on me." it speaks, directed to Kay. "It will be rather interesting to see what you do now."

"So, I just go back to living my life, huh?" The nameless mouse says, her head lowered, "I'm not really sure I know how to."

"Let me tell you a little secret." the cat says, "Nobody does, and yet, somehow, we all seem to manage. I'm sure you'll do fine." it pauses, "Well, you know... assuming you survive the day."

"Um, what do you mean by that?" Frederich asks, head tilted to one side. It simply casts a bemused glance at the three, as they find themselves engulfed by white light, and finally, darkness. Not pitch darkness, but a familiar variety, and even that isn't quite as gloomy as they had remembered. Perhaps it's the relief of having, somehow, survived that ordeal, even if they came out of it empty handed, but more likely it's due to the fact that the storm had passed and the first traces of dawn had begun to shine in through the open doorway of the storage shed.

Both Frederich and Mia look outwards, from their incredibly high vantage point atop the building, they get a glorious view of the brightening sky, and the first hints of sunrise, standing next to one another. It takes them only a few seconds to notice that their ally isn't standing beside them, instead lying on the floor, wearing a horribly pained expression and breathing with visible difficulty.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Mia asks, "That dark lord. Did it do this?" she asks, looking down at the older mouse, her body no longer marked by the curse but covered in terrible wounds.

"No... that was... her, over there..." Kay coughs, looking over at the still kneeling guild-mistress who was apparently transported along with the three. "It looks like that... that curse mark of mine..."

"It-it helped you endure your injuries... and without it..." Mia gasps, although Kay, despite her pain, nods in response, smiling softly, relieved that she understands as speaking is causing her a great deal of pain. The young sorceress immediately puts her paws to the pale furred chest of the naked mouse, green energy flowing through them, but as before, it rapidly flickers in and out of focus."

"Is she going to be alright?" Frederich asks, kneeling next to her.

"I don't know." Mia sighs. "My magic is still weak, and the injuries she had taken in the fight would have killed an ordinary mouse ten times over. The curse mark itself probably nullified some of them, and I was able to offer her some healing earlier, but I don't know if it will be enough. She needs proper treatment... bandages... healing potions. If only we were back at the city! If only..."

The dark eyes of the young sorceress go wide as a sudden realization hits her, her expression not one of panic but surprise and embarrassment. A faint blush appears on her cheeks.

"What? What is it?" Frederich asks, near panic, unable to make sense of her change of expression.

"Um..." she says, looking back to him. "Do you promise not to be mad?"

"What? What are you talking about? If you can do something to help, just do it!" he cries. "Please..."

Mia nods her head removing her paws from Kay's chest, placing them on the floor besides her, instead. Rather an the usual green glow, an ornate green circle of elaborate shimmering rune appears in the center of the chamber, a warm and ever expanding light engulfs the four mice, encompassing their entire field of vision. There's a sudden and strange sensation of motion, and it fades in an instant. The surroundings are still rather dank, and it takes a moment to realize exactly what has changed. Once their eyes adjust, however, they see that the room is round rather than rectangular, the walls made of tiny stone bricks rather than wood.

Further, there are countless shocked eyes all about them, largely elderly looking faces, looking to the three, along with their added comatose baggage as though they had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Which, of course, they had.

"You see, um, it seems one of us did have a wish granted... remember way back when, when I was kind of hoping I could learn teleportation magic? Well, it just suddenly came to me, and I... I don't think I figured it out on my own. I'm sure I had a little help." she nervously squeaks. "You're not mad that I got something and you didn't, are you?"

Frederich blinks before shaking his head, smiling softly. "A little. But I'll get over it."

"Uh, sorry. Really hate to be a bother here..." Kay coughs. Both Mia and Frederich stop looking to one another, immediately remembering the situation, rushing to her side.

"Hey, we've got someone badly wounded over here!" Frederich calls to a nearby robed mouse, able to assume from general context clues that they have, somehow, found their way back to the lower levels of the university.

"You can't tell us what to do! Why, I've been studying eighth dimensional spatial effects for longer than you've been alive, and won't be bossed around by some trans-dimensional figment!" a gruff voice growls.

"Don't be a fool! They are clearly just illusions, and not some product of your poorly-throught out nonsense!" another shouts to him.

"No, not illusions, ghosts! It seems my work at contacting the dead has finally borne fruit!" yet another calls back.

"No way! They're obviously time travellers! They likely came from some point of time where the university didn't even exist!"

"Idiot, we're underground! If that were the case, their starting destination would have been inside of solid earth!"

The arguments grow louder and angrier, as each side debates the merits of their own theories, and, of course, simultaneously discounts all others. Even at the beginning, it's clearly nobody was truly listening to one another, but it only takes seconds for it to expand into meaningless, overlapping noise.

"All of you, shut up!" An engaged and especially loud voice calls out, silencing the entire room. It didn't come from Frederich, who was too stunned by the nonsensical situation to take action, and it doesn't come from Kay, either, who was still sprawled out, barely able to speak, and it certainly doesn't come from Helena, who still stares off into space, drool dripping onto her knees, still trapped in a bizarre logical paradox. No, instead it comes from a small, black-furred mouse who stands upright, tiny paws balled into fists, her dark eyes filled with enraged fire. "You!" she shouts, pointing a finger to a nearby mage, who immediately jumps. "Gather all the healing potions you can find! You!" she points to another. "Get some bandages, blankets and water!" the mage is about to object. "If you can't get them yourself, get some help! And you!" she glares at a particularly tall, thin and scruffy mouse. "Trim those whiskers of yours! They're disgusting!"

"How dare you!" he growls, but his bravado instantly breaks apart under her enraged glare. "Um... I'll go find a razor..."

"Oh, and um... if it's not too much trouble..." Frederich says in a soft voice. "Maybe could help me a little with this?" he raises his arm, or more accurately the upper arm, the lower portion still dangling.

"Well? You heard the man! Get a splint and some plaster and some... some... whatever you need for a broken arm! I'm not a doctor! And, as for everyone else..." she calls, looking to each of the local wizards in turn, "Clear some room, or gets some help, but I swear to the Makers, if I hear so much as a single peep out of any one of you, I will personally rip out each of your spines and beat you to death with them!"

More than a couple of the nearby mages are briefly tempted to point out that ripping out ones spine would already be fatal, making the beating redundant, but none actually dare to push their luck. After all, it might not be instantly fatal. Instead, every one of them hurriedly scrambles, off to work on their own task, even if it's something as simple as personal grooming or going away.

"Wow. I didn't know you had it in you..." Frederich blinks.

"Heh. Me neither." Mia grins back. Their attention is once again focused on Kay, even if she has to forcibly cough, just a little to make it happen.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she squeaks, resuming her healing magic, which is still operating intermittently, but the glow is a little more steady than before. "Are you alright?"

"You two... are always... asking that..." the naked mouse says, smiling weakly.

"Yeah, and you never give an honest answer." Fred smiles back. "Well?"

"Well, it feels like I broke every bone in my body..." she says. "I never thought anything could hurt this much... but, I have to say... I'm feeling pretty good, all things considered. How do I look?"

Both are briefly confused by the question, before remembering that this is the first time either of them had seen her natural, unmarred face.

"You're looking good, Kay." he nods.

The wounded mouse chuckles. "That's not my name." she says.

"Oh, right, I'd nearly forgotten!" Mia chimes in, continuing her healing efforts. "So... what is it?"

The naked mouse doesn't reply, instead looking down, wearing a soft, weary smile, eyes on the massive weapon lying at her side. "I knew I liked that name for a reason."

Mia smiles. "It's nice to meet you, Catherine."

Catherine, formerly Kay, nods her head and closes her eyes for a moment before turning her head to Frederich. "You know, you really do look a lot like Collin... um, my son..."

"Yeah, I remember." Fred says.

"You've just got that way about you. More determination than sense. I remember one afternoon warning him to not leave the city grounds to go explore the bog. I don't know what I was thinking..." she chuckles. "I'm sure he never would have, had I not put the idea into his head. Anyways, he comes back, some hours later, and when the moment he comes in the door, I notice that his arm looks strange. Well, for one thing, he's wearing a shirt, which was strange in itself..."

Frederich squeezes her paw, looking down at her with a concerned expression. "You know, you don't have to talk about your family if you don't want to..."

"I know." she lightly nods, before looking away. "And, um... I can stop if you want me to..."

The armored mouse smiles back, noticing the color returning to her cheeks, and her voice already stronger than before. "No, keep going." he says, his concerns that he is hearing some deathbed confession rapidly evaporating.

"I don't know whether he was afraid of getting in trouble, or afraid of admitting I was right, but wouldn't you know it, he had a leech on it that nearly took up the whole arm. He couldn't get it off, but was terrified to admit it. Then, when we discovered it, of course he wouldn't admit it was a problem, trying to pass it off as some sort of pet..." she chuckles again, which turns into a coughing fit which, while not exactly a good thing, did sound considerably healthier than her earlier one.

"And? How did you get it off?" he asks.

The mouse formerly known as Kay closes her eyes. "It wasn't easy, especially with Collin fighting every step of the way, all the worse with Ginny there, completely freaking out. The swamplands were a lot farther than most of us went, so we had no experience with such things. Spent nearly half the day running around looking for a mouse that did..."

Catherine the mouse continues talking for quite some time, even if she has no real idea why. Nobody asked, and nothing she says is particularly relevant. They'd just completed a long, difficult journey, and there are likely so many things that Mia and Frederich want to do, people they want to see, things they want to say, and yet the words kept bubbling out, all these ridiculous old stories about mice who had left this world long ago. She felt more than a little bit embarrassed, but didn't find herself wishing to stop, and neither Mia nor Fred feel any desire to stop her. Instead, although in a city filled with countless mice, that hardly mattered. For the moment at least, for each of the three, the company of the other two is all that they need.