The oddly short version of Fabias took a step back as Mena placed her hands on her hips. “I’ll have you know that Fabias the Famed is exactly six foot four, so unless he’s secretly a member of the Lollypop Labour Union, I know for certain that you’re not him.”

“H-h-hey,” the Faux-Fabias stammered. “I’m not that short.”

“Nothing wrong with being short,” Mena said. “Unless you’re short on telling the truth.”

“But…” the man deepened his voice and tried to sound suave. “I am Fabias the Famed.”

“Oh yeah,” Mena asked, raising one of her thick triangular eyebrows as she whipped out a bottle of Mone Cologne. “Would the Reputed Romantic use something as dastardly as this to mess with how a woman sees him? I think not.”

“I don’t know why you think that’s mine,” the Fabias impersonator said.

“Hmm,” Mena put her hand to her chin before cruelly dismissing him. “Because you sure smell like it!”

She sprayed the bottle and more purple haze came out; it caused the Fabias impersonator to gag. “Just like this body spray, the truth stinks!”

“Ack…” the Fabias impersonator said, “I give up. I’m not him. I simply wanted to look like him for this dance.”

“But why?” Mena asked.

“Like heck, if I’m going to tell you!” Faux Fabias said and he dashed out of the ballroom.

Mena watched him disappear, astounded that anyone would do that, until the pixie-reaper voice of Janus called her name. “Mena!”

Mena turned around to see Janus with the girl with the backwards leg brace hooked onto her shoulder. “I’m glad one of us is happy,” Mena said, when she saw the smiles on both of their faces.

Janus smiled. “I never thought I’d be spending the night with the head of the Astral Horse racing team. But sometimes fate isn’t as dead as you think it is!”

“And I never thought I’d be spending the night with the daughter of the Reaper,” the girl said with a concerned look on her face. “I hope that’s not bad luck.”

“Nah, we chill with Janus all the time, and nobody’s died,” Mena said.

“Well,” Janus said, her eyes positioned skyward with a coy smile. “You didn’t know our original third roommate…but that’s another story for another time.”

Mena shook her head in disbelief, not wanting to ask. “Anyway,” Mena said, “Janus have you been keeping an eye on Gaia?”

“Uh…” Janus said, nervously. ”Isn’t that him running out of the ballroom right now?”

Mena turned around in horror to see a black caped Gaia run through the double doors, going the same way as the Fabias impersonator. “I gotta catch him!” Mena exclaimed, and she started running.

“Better hurry,” Janus called out. “You’re going to miss the Unity Ceremony!”

There’s no time for that, Mena thought. I’ve gotta stop Gaia from finding the gilded door.

Mena ran out into the open hallway and squinted to adjust her eyes. The corridors of the castle were cheerfully bright, and the light blue pastels and snowy white floors were a direct contrast the dimly lit ballroom. She was just in time to see Gaia’s shadow cape swoop behind a passageway to the left. She dashed after him while remaining light on her feet so he would not hear her. She paused at the edge of hallway, narrowed her eyes and peered around just to see Gaia break into a run.

Mena shuffled on her purple platform shoes to catch up with him, but Gaia seemed to glide on his feet, running faster and faster. Mena ran down the narrow hallway, but Gaia had already reached the end and turned. “Drat rats!” Mena growled. “He better not disappear.”

She jogged, puffed and exhaled hard, realizing that not only did she lack the grace of running in platform shoes, but she was dreadfully out of shape. “I gotta keep going!” she said as she ran down the corridor, but it already seemed like her hopes were dashed.

Mena reached the far end of the hall, but before she could see Gaia, someone crashed into her. Mena toppled to the ground and when she looked up, she shouted angrily, “You!”

It was the Fabias impersonator and to add insult to her injury, he was still disguised as her dream-boat wizard. “Why are you still pretending to be Fabias?” she demanded.

“The ‘Mone Cologne doesn’t wear off ‘til the end of the night,” he said in a voice that sounded much more boyish and less suave.

“They ought to have you arrested for identity theft!” Mena shouted.

“For impersonating a fictional character?” Faux-Fabias asked, nonchalantly. “I believe the term is cosplaying. And besides, it’s you who think I look like Fabias. That’s simply what your hormones are telling you.”

“Well stop it!” Mena said, her face blushing and red. “Stop pretending to be my deepest desire, because you’re not.”

“That’s harsh,” the Fabias impersonator said. “If I knew I would earn your scorn this much, I wouldn’t have done it.”

“Why did you do it?”

“I ain’t telling you,” Faux Fabias said. “Especially with the way you’re treating me. Like everyone else here, I’ve simply been trying to get a date.”

“Weeeell,” Mena started, her face twisted in anger. “I’m trying to stop a crazy apocalypse teacher from finding a magical gilded door for his own nefarious purposes. My needs are way more important than yours. Now if you would kindly tell me which way he went.”

A sinister smile curled on Faux Fabias’ face, an ugly smirk hardly befitting for the dignified (if fictional) dignitary he was. “Not until you tell me you’re sorry.”

Now Mena was ready to explode. “Say I’m sorry? To you?! For playing with my ladyhood desires? Never!”

“Well,” Faux-Fabias said, shrugging his shoulders. “We all come from different walks of life, and if you knew the one I hailed from, you wouldn’t treat me so coldly. You might even feel sorry for me.”

“Gah,” Mena said, wringing her hands and grimacing. “I’d never in my whole life apologize to a horrible ragamuffin ruffian like you! Argh! This isn’t going anywhere!”

“And…” Professor Gaia said suddenly, appearing above them. “Neither are you two!”

Gaia, hovering over Mena and Faux-Fabias, released his cape which expanded twice the length and ensnared both of them. “I can’t have you kids mucking about, following me all over the castle. So, I’ve decided to that I’d kill two birds with one cape.”

As the cape wrapped Mena tightly with Faux Fabias, Gaia quickly pulled the cape over their heads and soon, they felt their bodies being slammed on the floor.

“Swooper,” Gaia said. “You know what to do with them.” And following his words, the sound of metal slammed behind them. “Mmmph!” Mena cried, her head being muffled harshly by the cape.

The Fabias impersonator was oddly silent, as Mena struggled against his back, trying to get the cape off her head.

They wriggled harder and harder as the cape levitated in the air. Mena let out a gasp as she managed to get the top of the cape off her head. She gasped. They were in a cavernous boiler room, hovering a few feet off the ground. The boiler steamed and moaned, displaying a red-hot maw that the cape was hovering towards closer and closer. Mena screamed loudly.

“You know,” the Fabias impersonator said with a dejected voice. “I kind of had a feeling it would end like this. First, my tribe is murdered by the Phantom Lord. I’m left disfigured for life, and I’m forced to live at a school where I’m endlessly bullied for my face. And now, I’m about to be sizzled in a furnace with a girl who somehow made the words ‘ragamuffin ruffian’ sound so painful.”

Mena was silent, but inside her mind raced. At last, she gasped, “I had no idea…I’m sorry.”

“Understatement of the year…” the Fabias impersonator said back.

“I thought I had it tough,” Mena said, “But you know, all you could have told me that and I would have understood! Why can’t you just communicate with me?!”

The Fabias impersonator remained silent for a moment. “…It’s a guy thing. Have you ever talked to a guy before?”

“Well…no,” Mena said softly. “But listen, you clearly had a reason to disguise yourself. You weren’t just trying to win my heart as Fabias…”

“Well, I was…” Faux Fabias said. “You’re really cute.”

Mena’s face shaded red, and she wasn’t sure if was the heat of the furnace or the fact that someone with Fabias’ face called her cute. “Look we have to find a way out of here,” she spat quickly. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Only one,” Faux-Fabias said.

Suddenly, Mena started feeling ticklish. She started giggling uncomfortably. “Wha-hat what are you doing?”

“This cape is a living fabric from the Nightmare Void so…so it might be allergic to dark-mites.”

“Dark-Mites?!” Mena gasped. “What are you?”

Fabias’ eyes turned black and his mouth opened up to reveal a bunch of tiny black shadows that quickly traveled into the cape. “A being that’s not fully in one world or the other,” he said. “I’m part shadow.”

With a loud sneeze, the cape spat Mena and Faux Fabias onto the ground. It twisted and contorted as the tiny spots ran circles around. “Now my friends,” Faux Fabias said. “Feed it into the fire! Back to the depths of hell from wence it came!”

The cape screamed as the shadows carried it into furnace where it was burnt to a red-orange crisp. Mena held her hands to her face in horror as she watched the tiny shadows return into Faux Fabias’ mouth. She was a little scared, but still relieved that she had been rescued.

“Th-thank you…” Mena mouthed, and she gave a loud snort.

Her faced turned red again, and she quickly spewed. “What’s your name?”

“Mm?” The Faux Fabias said, a droll look in his eye. “Now you’re interested?”

“Well uh…uh…” Mena’s mouth hung open. “No…I just want to know what to call you.”

“My name is Tal,” Faux Fabias said. “Prince Tal of the Shadow Nomads.”