The atmosphere was eerily quiet, so much so that one could hear the light scurrying of a mouse. A heavy patch of mist blanketed the entire field, but unlike their previous visit to this domain, not a single sign of marble-like trees, grass, or shrubs could be found.

Jac slowly opened her eyes to find herself laying on a cushion in what appeared to be a house.. or rather, what was left of it. The flames had chewed out a large portion of the abandoned structure, which allowed the heavy fog to seep inside. The first thing she could discern as she gazed up was the charred remnants of what appeared to be a mural painting that had been discolored and withered over the span of ages. It depicted a battle between a woman wearing white robes and a large, multi eyed black monster with multiple people scattered about on both sides cheering them on.

"Ah! You're finally awake!" The baritone voice shook Jac out of her laying position. She turned to find an older gentleman who wore a black cowboy hat.

"I brought you over here to rest up. There was quite a commotion out there earlier. Destroyed this old place, it did." The old man sighed.

He looked up at the mural when he noticed the young woman had taken an interest. "And to think that this was one of the few things that survived the onslaught. Such an odd thing, that fate is."

"Am... I dead?" Jac said reluctantly.

"Oh no! You still have that cord that's chained to your body. You can't see it, but it's there. You'll live. Oh!" The gentleman recalled. "There's someone outside who's waiting to see you. He's been worried sick about you ever since you arrived, and he kept on apologizing--"

Without another word Jac sprung up, and while she struggled to maintain her footing, she managed to make her way past the burned up corridors until at last she found an opening. There on the Veranda stood a lowly person who carried a large plumage of red and gold feathered wings on his back. His arms were folded on the guardrail, and his face was completely sheltered in them as he slumped low in deep despair. Jac paused for a moment, before she found her voice again.

"...Aiden?"

The familiar red head swung his head back the instant he heard her voice and immediately lunged himself forward to wrap his arms around her. The young woman was no less shocked than she was a second ago, but she would nonetheless embrace this moment by squeezing him tighter.

"I'm so sorry Jac!!" Tears were running down Aiden's face. "I didn't know what else to do to get rid of that witch, but I was so worried you might have--"

"It's alright. You... saved me.. but..."

Jac looked down at the enlarged wings on his back, and upon further inspection discovered that they were transparent. Tears started to form in her eyes as well, as she planted her face onto the chest of the puzzled Wile. Jac said nothing to alleviate his confusion but her crying grew louder all the same.

"What's wrong?" Aiden sniffed.

"You're dead, that's what's wrong..."

"WHAT?!!"

Jac then brushed her fingers on the tip of his wings, and that's when he realized what she was referring to.

"OH! Oh no. This?" He then began to lightly swat at the wings while saying "Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!" And they in turn gradually faded out of sight.

"This is just what happens when I use my powers too much and wind up in, um... limbo, of sorts." Aiden placed a hand behind his neck. "I may be gone for a little bit, but I promise I'll be fine, okay? I just need some time to recover, that's all."

"Are you an angel?" Jac asked with sadness in her voice.

"No.."

"Are you... satan?"

"NO!" Aiden grumbled. "I'm just a regular Wile giant who just happens to have magic that's a bit different from everyone else."

"You weren't kidding..."

Jac chose to drop it for now; she's seen him come back before, yet this was the first time she got up close and personal with witnessing his spirit form. Speaking of which..

"How long have I been here for? I hope it's not too late before I--"

"No need to worry about that." Said the older gentleman as he stepped out to greet the two. "Even if you spend a long time here, it'll only be like a few seconds in your world. So you can take as long as you need to unwind.. Or not. It's your choice."

"Oh. That's... convenient." Jac uttered.

She felt a large weight thrown off of her shoulders upon hearing that revelation, but it would not be long before a new problem caught her eye. She turned her attention to the edge of the veranda, where she spotted two bright lights that were perched atop the railing. Jac squinted her eyes before she decided to have a closer look. The glow of the two objects had cut through the mist, as if they were a beacon from a lighthouse, except of course much smaller.

"Is that...?"

Jac gasped when she immediately recognized the glowing butterfly, which was laying on its side with what appeared to be a broken wing.

"Yeah, that's her." Aiden spoke with a slight crack in his voice. "I burned up her spirit, so her core is all that's left. I believe all of her magic is gone."

Jac breathed a sigh of relief. "Serves her right. Well, what is… who is that glowing bug standing next to her?"

"I'm not sure. I found him inside of the collective demon's body, believe it or not. He actually helped me to get my head together and fight back."

"You're kidding!"

"Hold on just a minute!" The gentleman with the black cowboy hat pulled out his monocle and began to look very closely at the small speck. And upon a thorough examination, he nearly dropped his glasses in his flabbergasted state.

"Mr. Jones!" He said rather bitterly.

"Hello Reginald." The firefly replied after a brief moment of silence.

With that confirmation, the old man took out his leather wallet and swatted at the poor bug, which caused audible squeaks to be heard from the two youngsters behind him.

"I should have known you would show your face around here again! Scoundrels like you never get Tickets!"

"Hey hey hey, no need to resort to violence, okay?" Aiden said as he stepped in between them. "He helped me out, so I brought him here. I had no idea he was...that guy..."

"It's alright." The white speck said with a strained voice, though he was otherwise unfazed. "I had it coming for a while. When I was in the body of that beast I had about a hundred years to reflect on my past transgressions. I deserved every bit of punishment that I had received during that time, and I've accepted the fact that I won't be forgiven for most of them."

He then turned to the golden butterfly and paused. "I haven't caught wind of everything, but it seems as though my wife had done all of these things with the sole purpose of trying to bring me back to life. If only she knew, that would have been impossible..."

"After what you've done I don't understand why she would go through all this trouble!" Reginald huffed.

"I knew of those rumors, and I understand why you don't see me as trustworthy. But mark my words, I've never cheated on her since we were together. When I made my vows to her... I wanted to change because she became the light of my life... and now..."

The light of the firefly had grown to a mere flicker, as his voice began to well up uncontrollably. "Now she won't even speak. She's been unresponsive ever since she got here! It's as if she's dead, even though souls can't die... I expect some form of damnation. But not like this..."

"Now now. There's no need to go that extreme." Reginald sighed. "I could transfer a little bit of my energy to her, but I don't believe it'll be enough to revive her."

Nothing was said for the next few minutes as the room grew heavy with the Firefly's increasing grief. As much as it pained her to do so, Jac was also trying to come up with a solution despite her grievances against the witch.

"Are you absolutely sure she can't regain her magic?" She asked the Wile.

"Positive." Aiden replied. "Wait, why?"

"Does your regenerative powers work on others?"

"I... I never considered using it that way before. I don't think it's impossible, just... hard."

"I have a suggestion." The firefly said after giving it a bit of thought. "Perhaps, lad, I could ask you to give a little bit of your energy to me so that I may use it to try to revive her myself? We have what you folks call, a Link, a contract of sorts. I can help her, but not if I'm trapped in this... pitiful state."

"Well, I can sure try. Sharing energy is a piece of cake. If you think you can use that to charge up your powers, then go for it."

"I'm willing to try anything."

The firefly wasted no time getting on the shrunken Wile's hand as soon as he was prompted to do so. Aiden cupped him with the other and closed his eyes, and within moments his energy wings reappeared as he began to take on a gentle, yet otherworldly orange glow. Beams of light were absorbed into the small form underneath his fingers. Almost instantly, a bright light flashed between his fingers; as soon as the Wile opened his palms, the firefly shot out and reemerged as a tall, dark man sporting a pompous suit and a tuft of hair on his chin.

"Great Scotts! I... I'm free...." Mr. Jones was nearly speechless.

"Wait... I thought you were a much older guy than... this?" Jac questioned.

"You're looking at someone who is eternally 38 years young! Whoever gave you that impression?" The man said as he gave a teasing leer to his former butler, who only raised his arms coyishly in response.

Without further delay, Mr. Jones lifted the lifeless butterfly onto his open palms, and tried to imitate what was done to him just moments before. After a minute of no change, despite giving as much of his own light to her as he could muster, he immediately knelt down, and embraced the tiny insect in a pool of tears.

"I... I'm so sorry for what I've done to you..." He whimpered as softly as he could, "none of this would have happened if I hadn't... If I didn't... with my own..."

Just then, he heard the faintest whisper from between his palms.

"It... wasn't your fault..."

The man opened his hands and his expression melted as he looked down upon his wife. The former witch was now a tiny little thing, with small, white butterfly wings on her back. Her robe was a pure sheen of gold unlike the dusty white of her past self, and her expression was that of bewilderment and simultaneously of overwhelming relief.

"Bartleby...?" She gasped.

"Evangeline!" He cried.

"Why are you so big?"

"I don't know! Why are you so little?" He laughed while shedding tears of joy. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that I can't make you any taller..."

"I don't mind. So long as I'm with you, I don't care either way."

"Likewise."

The two shared in each other's warmth for some time, as everyone cried tears of joy for them.. except for Jac. Laughter was shared and formal introductions were made, and while the young woman was still incredibly salty about what happened just hours before, this would change somewhat quickly after it became apparent that Evangeline couldn't recognize her or Aiden, and had seemingly forgotten everything that had happened since her reawakening. Jac thought 'If she was faking her amnesia, she was putting up a damn good act,' but she eventually dropped making any mention of it further.

Bartleby Jones called for a celebration, but Aiden and Jac felt that they had enough adventures for one day.

"Time for you two to be heading home then?" Reginald asked.

Aiden looked at his friend for confirmation and got it with a swift nod.

"I want to rest up in my own body, I think. Aches and all." She said.

"Well, that's understandable. Feel free to come by and visit any..."

The realization settled in that the ghosts didn't have any home to return to, for their mansion had been left in shambles.

"I'm sorry..." Aiden felt guilty.

"It was an accident." Reginald said, and with a long sigh he gave a fraction of a smile. "I guess this means it's about time for me to get a move on. Got a Ticket for a train I've been meaning to ride for quite some time. I heard the destination is nice."

"I wish you the best of luck on your journey." Mr. Jones said. "Unfortunately, due to my... actions in the past, I was never gifted a Ticket."

"Heck, almost everyone gets one eventually. Even scoundrels like the two of you!" Reginald chuckled. "You just have to earn yours over time. It may take a millennium or two, but it will happen."

"Well, that's plenty of time for us to explore the world at our own pace, isn't that right, Bart?" Eva announced.

Bartleby smiled at his wife on his left shoulder. "I'll be glad to go anywhere if it's with you, my love."

…..

After one last goodbye, Aiden took Jac by the hand, and with the lift of his magical wings he flew her en route back to reality. When he finally sets her back down to the spot where her physical body laid, the Wile too, would have to part ways.

"I have to go build my nest now… I'm so gosh darn tired, I'll likely need a month to fully rejuvenate. I'll be on standby if you need me."

"Wait!" Jac exclaimed. Aiden turned around and saw that Jac was on the verge of tears.

"Thank you.... For everything... for saving everyone!"

Aiden didn't feel like a hero, but he accepted that form of sincerity nonetheless. "No problem, Jac. I'll see you around!"

And with that his spirit took off into the air, heading off to what was likely a place where he could use his Phoenix reviving power in peace.

.....

"Jac... Jac...! Please... wake up..."

Jac slowly awakened to the sound of her Wile giant's voice. And the first thing she saw was his face overtaking her entire view, with his nose propped up against her cheek.

"Rich…ard...?" She said weakly. "Y...you're alright..."

"I'm the one who should be telling you that!!" Richard cried excessively, though the volume of his voice remained low. "I thought I lost you for real this time!...I can't!... I just want to..."

Jac watched as the Wile giant's lips parted, to which she immediately reacted with a sharp "NO!" But the smaller human was surprised to get a series of soft kisses, wet kisses, and cheek rubs back to back. Jac had no energy to make a fake protest against it, for the overwhelming relief of surviving all of this had finally started to set in, as she too released a cascade of tears of her own.

"I'll be ok Richard! Don't worry! We don't have to worry about that witch or the curse, or anything anymore!"

Jac held onto Richard in a tight hug for a good, long time.

A new dawn approached, and this meant that that frightful Hallows Eve had finally come to a close. The friends would take it easy for many months thereafter, with Aiden reuniting with the gang shortly enough. He made up with Jillian, and thanked her for helping him to snap out of it during his rage. To which she humbly replied no hard feelings towards.

Everyone avoided high magic thrills and paranormal hijinks for a long, long time. After all that excitement, they all deserved a little break.