Skittering and screeching echoed through the crypt as what seemed like hundreds of spiders cascaded on Chop Chop and Hex in one giant wave! The two of them just barely dodged in time, but even that wasn't enough to keep them safe; immediately after, two particularly large spiders screeched forward and slammed Chop Chop and Hex against the walls! The two of them snarled and squirmed as more spiders joined the two large ones, and the other spiders spun something thin and sticky around them—silk! Those spiders were trying to stick them to the wall! Despite Chop Chop and Hex’s struggling, these spiders were so numerous it was hard to shake them.

"T-Bone!" Chop Chop called as he jerked his head right. "Lend us a hand here!"

But, T-Bone was unfortunately of very little help, for he was more preoccupied with being chased by spiders than actually helping anyone!

"Shoo, shoo!" T-Bone cried as he shook several spiders off of his ankle. "My bones aren't for you! What is it with you creepy crawlies and bones anyways?"

Chop Chop only sighed while a moon widow chased T-Bone across the hall, shook his head, and yanked it back up as a spider tried to latch onto it! Chop Chop shook his head, flung the spider off, and turned to his side as a bright blue glow emanated incredibly close by.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Hex proclaimed as her whole body glowed with magic!

With a thrust of her arms, she not only completely split the threads that kept her and Chop Chop stuck, but blew away all the spiders around them! The spiders all toppled over each other as the blast receded, squeaked and skittered back into the holes from which they came. Now, it was just the two of them (and T-Bone) against the gargantula.

Once again, Hex and Chop Chop stood tall and ready to kill as they took their stances and glared down the gargantula, but the gargantula still stood its ground despite being outnumbered. It made a low hiss, yet this hiss grew louder and much more threatening as it shot out another blast of silk which splattered all across the walls! Chop Chop and Hex ducked and covered just in time, but T-Bone himself hadn't even noticed until it splatted him right into the wall!

"Heh, seems like I got myself in a sticky situation, huh?" T-Bone chuckled as looked down at the spider silk that stuck him to the wall.

Hex and Chop Chop hardly noticed his quips, for they focused themselves on fighting the gargantula! Hex sent a barricade of skulls crashing down on the gargantula as it lurched down with a pained groan! She stood firm, and with maybe a hint of confidence, as it groaned, but she gasped as it pulled itself up and lunged for her in a flash!

Before it could land, however, Chop Chop flung himself in front of Hex and pressed a gigantic shield between them and the gargantula! Instead of biting into Hex, the gargantula smacked headfirst into the shield and tumbled back!

"Thank you, Chop," Hex said as the shield shrank back down to its normal size.

However, Chop Chop only shook his head as he turned towards the gargantula, which already flipped itself back to its feet! "Don't thank me yet!" Chop Chop warned as he brandished his sword. "The battle's far from won!"

Chop Chop heaved his sword high, slammed it against the ground and awakened a storm of bony brambles that rocketed towards the gargantula right before it could attack back! The gargantula screamed as the brambles tore through its underside, but instead of blood or anything else, tiny spiders poured out from the cuts the brambles created! The spider hissed as they pooled out from the open wounds, and skittered towards Chop Chop and Hex!

Chop Chop and Hex slashed and splattered the spiders with all their might, but with what those spiders lacked in size, they more than made up for in numbers! They already completely cornered Chop Chop and Hex…

Splat!

The two of them looked aside and grimaced as gargantula silk completely sealed off the hallway entrance! Now, with spiders at every turn and any possible exit sealed away, there was no way they could escape, or even fight back! Worse yet, the spiders near-completely closed in on them!

Hex stood her ground as she held out her hands and summoned a thick wall of bones between her, Chop Chop and the spiders! While the spiders hissed and tapped at the bones, Hex just chanted something under her breath with no mind paid to how her hands glowed bright. Chop Chop understood well what she was doing; with a small gasp, he vaulted off of the bones and withdrew his twin swords!

"Seems it's time for me to slice and dice!" Chop Chop proclaimed as he swung forward and slashed through a wave of spiders. "Hyah!"

The spiders squeaked in shocked and hissed as they skittered towards Chop Chop, but he just kept slashing them away! Even then, his slashes and slices were much slower and more labored compared to before—and yet, these spiders were no less energetic than when the battle started! There were so many of them, and they were so tiny that it was hard to rid them completely. So, Chop Chop withdrew his shield and piledrived forward! The spiders squealed as Chop Chop tossed them away, and he created a makeshift path to the gargantula before he glared it down and whipped out his sword.

"En guard!"

The gargantula wailed as it stomped down its front legs and got ready to bite, but stopped as it realized Chop Chop vanished! It chirped and tilted its head as it examined the blank space before it, wailed and fell on its side!

"Lesson number one of war," Chop Chop remarked from the side of the gargantula as he finished sawing off its back legs, "never take your eyes off of your opponent."

Chop Chop turned around and went to run, but as he lifted his legs, they only pulled him back and tossed him onto the ground! Though the impact was intense enough that it tossed his sword out of his hands, it wasn't harsh by any means. It was soft and sticky, much like…

"Silk?" Chop Chop tried and failed to pull his hand out of the pile of silk he had landed in, sighed and hung his head. "And lesson number two of war, always be aware of your surroundings."

Chop Chop grunted as he tried to reach for his sword, but it was no use; he was completely stuck! The gargantula turned around and fixed its eyes on him—its beady, shiny, very hungry-looking eyes! The gargantula growled, yanked the string forward and opened wide. Before the gargantula could get a taste of skeleton, a gigantic skull smacked into its midsection and blew it to bits!

Hex and Chop Chop both shielded themselves as the goo rained down, and as the storm faded, Hex floated over to Chop Chop and cut him free of the spider silk!

"Huh, what? This isn't the afterlife, is it?"

Hex and Chop Chop turned their attention back to where the gargantula once stood, and in its place sat that very ghost who had tried to impersonate Mortalannis! He was now covered in goo and very confused. The ghost gasped as Chop Chop and Hex brandished their weapons, but rather than fight them, the ghost just whimpered and shook the goo off his ghastly body!

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS STUPID TREASURE HUNT!" the ghost wailed as he tossed the amassed treasure aside and phased through the walls, all while he sobbed streams of ectoplasmic tears. "I WANT MY MUMMY!"

And just like that, the ghost vanished into the walls, hopefully never to be seen again.

Hex blinked for a few moments, and surely Chop Chop did as well under that mask of his before he turned to Hex.

"Should we pursue him, my lady?" Chop Chop asked as he shot one last glance at the walls.

However, Hex just shook her head. "Just leave him be," Hex replied, "I do believe he's learned his lesson."

Chop Chop chuckled as he laid down his sword and entwined his fingers, cold and bony but still quite comforting nonetheless, with Hex's. "Very well then, my lady."

Hex made a soft sigh, but nonetheless ran her free hand against the side of Chop Chop's helmet; for a moment it seemed as though a soft laugh escaped her cold, stoic lips.

"Oh Chop…"

"Uh, hate to interrupt whatever you two've got going on, but," T-Bone said as he rattled his head, "But I'm, uh, still a little stuck here, if you get what I'm saying."

"Oh, right! That reminds me." Hex drew away from Chop Chop, floated towards T-Bone and tore him free of the spider silk. "We still need to retrieve that skull mask!"

T-Bone jumped down from the wall, stretched out his arms and smiled. "Well thankfully, we shouldn't be that far from it!" T-Bone proclaimed as he marched down the halls. "Follow me!"

§

Her cookie still held firmly in mouth, Chihiro wandered through the more forested parts of the village. By this point, she completely lost the robot she chased about two or three thickets ago; still, if it was gone, what exactly were those noises? There were no animals to be found last time Chihiro checked. Chihiro scarfed down the last of her cookie, dove behind some leafless bushes, bounced to a withered, bent-over tree, and hopped over a patch of wilted flowers. The area around her started to clear out a little and became nothing but dirt paths, but the noises were still prominent—in fact, they turned to voices.

"Quick, hurry…"

"We…"

"There's no way we can…"

Those voices, they sounded faintly familiar, but why? Chihiro frowned, and crept down the dirt paths as inconspicuously as possible, all while the voices grew more prominent. Soon enough, the path finally halted at some kind of clearing and—wait a second, she knew those fairies!

Sure enough, those were the fairies she attempted to help when she first arrived! Normally, she might have been happy to see them getting out of their homes and looking cleaner and better and such, but, this wasn't exactly the best circumstance. They held their hands out towards a faint, magical barrier and strained like they casted really intensive magic, all while the robot Chihiro tailed charged into a stone statue slanted in front of them and poised to crash!

"Collect the trash! Collect the trash!" the robot droned as it repeatedly slammed into the statue's base and caused it to slant slightly more with each tackle.

"There it is!" Chihiro exclaimed as quietly as she could.

But apparently, she wasn't as quiet as she thought she was, for she immediately attracted the attention of everyone around! The fairies all gasped as they turned back and looked at her, and they scowled as they turned away from whatever it was they did.

"You again!" cursed the fairy with stringy hair.

"Aren't you the one who broke into my house and nearly broke my precious heirloom?" scowled the artist fairy.

"Don't you think you've done enough around here?" said the third, wrinkled fairy, who Chihiro pegged as the one she coated in dust earlier. They rubbed their head and winced, but turned around. "We can take care of this ourselves." The wrinkled fairy turned around and grunted as they held out their hands. "Take your 'help' elsewhere!"

Chihiro gasped as her heart twisted in a knot, but a part of her just couldn't bring herself to move her feet! That robot was still dead-set on knocking over that statue, and the fairies seemed like they were barely keeping up that barrier; Chihiro had to do something! But, just seeing how angry they were at her completely locked her up… What if she only made things worse?

"What, you're still here?" the fairy exclaimed as they winced and screwed their eyes closer to shut. "Get going already! I told you, we don't need—"

"COLLECT THE TRAAAASSHHHH!" the robot shrieked as it slammed into the statue's base with such force that it finally tipped the statue completely over!

The fairies gasped as the statue slowly started to creak down, but in that moment of shock, their shield completely relented! Their eyes grew small as they realized just what happened and went back to spellcasting, but it wasn't working at all! They drained themselves so much that just standing up was too much! All they could do was collapse to the ground and watch with wide eyes as the statue tipped down, fully ready to crush them...

But, Chihiro wasn't going to let that happen! Without even realizing, she dashed forward and flung her arm out just in time to craft a new shield! Chihiro heaved heavy, strained breathes, not from pain but from shock; she drew her palms together, and transformed that shield into a tarp that wrapped around the monument and slowly put it back in place.

"Phew, close one," Chihiro sighed as she watched the statue stand firm. Her eyes glazed over it for a moment more, but she frowned as they traveled over to the now very confused robot.

"Trash?" The robot beeped as it watched the statue, whirled its arms and got reach to charge. "Collect the trash!"

"Hold on, buddy!" Chihiro teleported behind the robot and flipped open its back panel. With a huff, she yanked the conductor out of the its back and slammed the panel shut. "You've done enough trash collecting for one day!"

"Traaaaaaaaaasssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh…" the robot whined as the lights faded from its eyes, and with a groan and a clunk, it slunk over and deactivated at last.

Chihiro smiled, stowed away the conductor in her pocket and wiped her hands clean. "Who knew one little robot could cause so much trouble, huh?" Chihiro asked as she strode up to the statue and took it in.

Compared to, well, pretty much everything around this ruined forest, this statue was the epitome of beauty! Its surface was a clean, white stone that shone well in what little sunlight the world around had to offer, and its body was carefully crafted in broad strokes. Despite the more abstract nature of the statue, a figure could kind of be made from it, of a larger, winged person who swept up several smaller figures that reached towards it as best as they could.

"This statue's beautiful!" Chihiro brushed a hand against its base as she took in its beauty. "What is it?"

"A memorial," said the stringy-haired fairy with a sigh.

Chihiro tilted her head and frowned. "A, memorial?"

"This was the first thing we put up when we came back to our village and began cleanup," the artist fairy explained as they flitted up to the statue and clasped their hands. "It's one of my finest works, if I say so myself."

The artist fairy ran a hand across the statue's base and sighed.

"This statue was erected in memory of all those we lost to Kaos's forces. Friends, family, loved ones… Though they didn't live to see the end, as long as we have this, it's kind of like their spirits are still with us!" The sculptor fairy made a few pained laughs as they looked back to Chihiro. "You know?"

Chihiro shrunk into herself a bit as she clasped her hands and looked away. "I, I guess?"

The stringy-haired fairy just sat underneath the monument and heaved a sigh of their own, a sigh full of a heavy heart's pain.

"My best friend was one of the first to go down. We always told each other we'd follow our dreams together, you know. I'd be a baker, and she'd be one of the best spellcasters in all Skylands!" the stringy-haired fairy whimpered as their wings furled in on them. "At least she doesn't have to see how much of a mess this place is. She'd be so upset…"

The fairy stopped as their voice begin to crack, while the wrinkled fairy flew over and gently rubbed the first one's back.

"Yeah, this place used to be a lot more lively before we got conquered," the wrinkled fairy whispered, "y'know, sometimes I still swear I see my mom running down the street!" The wrinkled fairy shook their head. "But, that's all over now. Everyone we loved's gone now, and there's no way things will ever be the same, so what's the point anymore?"

"Well, hey!" the artist fairy said as they flew away from the statue, though their quivering lips made their jolly tone seemed more forced than anything. "At least we still have something to remember them by."

Chihiro's own lips slowly pursed into a frown as the fairies sat and stewed in their own apathy,. Just being around them made her own heart sink, but not in the kind of pitying way. Rather, it was in a more understanding way. Even though she hadn't gone through what they went through, their pain became her own and it rattled her to her heart and soul.

After all, they were stuck in such an awful situation; they lost so many people they cared about, came back to find their beloved home a mess well beyond their power to repair, and then Chihiro herself came along and made a mess of things. Chihiro bit her lip as she recalled her earlier, ultimately useless attempts at helping. Surely, she only made things worse byforcing herself in and trying to help them without understanding their situations at all!

"Hey, uh?" Chihiro uttered at last, and gulped as all the fairies fixed their eyes on her, "I, I'm—" Chihiro bowed as formally as she could "—I'm really sorry for everything I put you through, earlier!"

The fairies all paused and took a glance back at Chihiro, who in returned gulped and straightened herself back up.

"I, I didn't think about how you felt at all, and I ended up hurting you all really badly." Chihiro clasped her hands and sucked on her lip for a moment. "If any of you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, I'll try my best to help you the way you need!"

The fairies only sat silent for a few moments, but finally the stringy-haired fairy chuckled before they flew up to Chihiro and patted their shoulder.

"Well, if you saved our precious monument, I suppose you can't be all bad," the stringy-haired fairy said as they made a small grin. "Apology accepted! Name's Demeter, by the way."

"Apology accepted!" The other two fairies chimed in as they flew up to Chihiro's side, and the artist fairy grinned as they flew in front of Chihiro. "I'm Thalia," the artist fairy said as she gestured towards the wrinkled fairy, "and this is Athena!"

Chihiro beamed and nodded firmly before she skipped her way down the path. "Follow me! We've already gotten started on a lot of stuff!"

The three of them flew behind Chihiro, though their eyes hardly focused on the path behind them. Rather, they gazed in awe as they examined the repaired houses and flourishing natural world! It captured them like a beautiful trance, so wonderful that they couldn't bring themselves to turn away and just stood in awe for moments. It was almost like they hadn't seen something like this in a long while.

"Hey, we shouldn't be far now!" Chihiro shouted as she turned around and waved towards the trio of fairies. "Come on!"

Demeter shook her head and grinned. "I'm comin', I'm comin…"

Chihiro, however, became the one to freeze next as her eyes set on the fairy's smile! It was like some kind of magic, but not the kind from a spell, no. Rather, it felt, comforting, like a rainbow after rain or a cool night after a week of long, burning days.

"Come with me," Thalia said as she grabbed Chihiro's hand and dragged Chihiro back to her front yard, where the trash bags filled with Thalia's creations still sat in a lonely and sad manner.

Chihiro frowned and bit her lip as she examined the trash bags, but Thalia only frowned and went to tug them open. So, Chihiro hopped over, snapped her fingers and watched as the trash bags all folded open at once and unveiled the statue's broken remains!

"Now—" Thalia yanked some papers out of her pockets and handed them to Chihiro "—these papers were my initial sketches for these sculptures. Can you, er…"

"Restore them? Sure thing!" Chihiro smiled as she magically levitated the papers out, and snapped her fingers as she looked towards a pile of red, clay rubble. "Statue, go back to normal!"

That red rubble rumbled as its bits flew out into the open, slowly stretched itself out, and mashed itself into the shape of a vaguely draconic statue, as if it was being shaped by unseen hands! It wasn't the only one, either; one by one, all the statues lifted themselves up and shaped themselves back to their old forms. With the way the magic worked, it was like they were never broken in the first pace!

Thalia clasped her hands in glee as she admired her statues, but Chihiro only nodded as she bounced back to the other homes. This was only the beginning—she had a lot more work to do!

As Demeter flew by her side, Chihiro rushed over and slammed open the door to Demeter's home, snapped her fingers and summoned an entire army of brooms! With a simple gesture of her hands, the brooms immediately went to work; they cleaned and dusted away until the halls were sparkling clean once more!

But as Demeter gazed at her newly-cleaned house in awe, Chihiro teleported away to Athena's house, where Athena already stood steadfast at the doorway. Chihiro's eyes trailed over the broken furniture as she hummed, and with a few claps of her hands, the broken furniture fused back together!

While Chihiro's broom army marched away from Demeter's house and went to sweep up Athena's, however, Chihiro didn't stop to look! She had way more work to do!

So, she yanked a broom from the parade and dashed inside the mouse-infested house, shooed out the mice and grinned as they fled back into the wilderness. With a snap of her fingers, the magic from the broom released and swirled all around her before it flew onto her clothes and emitted a bright light as it formed into a magical beekeeper suit.

Now properly dressed for the occasion, Chihiro summoned a basket of magical fruit and hovered it outside the door of the fly-infested house, tossed it aside and slammed the door shut as the flies dashed out after it!

"Now just fix this window," Chihiro said as she teleported over to the house with the broken window, summoned a fully-functional replacement window and magically set it into place, "and I'm done!"

Chihiro smiled as she and everyone else took in the fresh air and surroundings. Though it was far from perfect, so much change happened that it was hard to believe this was the same Stillhaven from that morning! Bright, strong trees stood from the ground, flowers poked out from the earth, and the houses and cottages, while plain, still stood tall and bright with their fresh coats of paint.

"I can't believe it," sobbed one fairy as they leaned on the shoulder of another, "it’s almost as beautiful as it was before!"

"And here I thought everything was hopeless," croaked another.

Chihiro grinned as the fairies around cried tears of joy and embraced each other with relieved laughter, and perked up as something gently nudged her shoulder. She turned around, only to find none other than Athena, Demeter and Thalia.

"Hey, thanks, kid," Demeter said with a gentle smile. "If it wasn't for all the stuff your team did, I'd probably still be sulking in bed right now!"

Demeter looked up to the heavens, where the smoggy clouds cleared and birds soared among a bright, blue sky.

"But now I think, maybe, I, no, all of us, can finally start moving on and living again."