...Ali returned to the tower.
"Look who's back," said Other Ali with a hiss.
"Did you fetch the ingredients?" Edna's Shadow said in between hurling a random potion at the wraith.
"No, there's no time," Ali said hurriedly. "Shadow, stand down."
The shadow stared at her with trepidation but did as told. She was relieved to have another Neopian the wraith would surely focus its anger toward.
"Shadow, what was that potion, anyway?"
"A separator, though I'm sure you've figured that out already. It's meant to separate you from your 'other', the version of you with those personality traits you hate about yourself -- your insecurities, your rage, whatever." She shrugged. "Clearly you hate this wraith form."
"That's not entirely true," Ali replied. "I hated the notion that people would see my wraith form and believe me to be inherently bad. I suppose that separator produced the version of me that IS inherently bad, the version I was afraid others would see..."
The green Korbat feigned confidence and said, "Look, wraith," and the wraith looked at her with eyes soulless yet blazing, "you were part of me and I am part of you. You were a part I didn't know existed, and, well... you obviously are like the bad wraiths."
The wraith frowned. "I... why, thanks for noticing." A small maniacal grin crept upon her face.
"But, a force such as yourself cannot survive here. Sure, you can trash this room, and sack us, but do you really think you can survive the Haunted Woods?" She gestured toward Trevor.
"I-it's true," the Kougra started. "We wanted to go after Ali -- well, the you and her combined Ali -- with pitchforks, and containment units, and the best magic we have." He wrung his paws nervously. "And if you are the parts of Ali she thought were toxic, you, er, obviously don't have the negotiating skills, nuances, or personality to talk your way out of being anything other than hunted."
Other Ali scowled as she took this in.
"You do, however, have the option of re-merging with me," Ali squeaked.
Trevor nodded at her; he felt this was her plan all along.
The wraith snarled. "OK, Korbat. I may be more powerful than you, more vicious, more cunning -- more 'bad' -- but I suppose I can't survive on that alone."
That was all the prompt the shadow needed. She blew some dust at the two and they instantly re-merged.
The sensation, rather than painful, felt invigorating.
While she was not bad like the other wraiths, she, at least, now acknowledged she couldn't suppress her wraith insecurities any longer.
"Come on," Ali said to herself if nothing more. "It's time to fly around and cause some lighthearted havoc. Show them all that wraiths aren't necessarily good, but certainly aren't bad." She gave Trevor a parting smirk. "See you again sooner than you think, Trevor."
And with that, she soared out the window, and overtop the dim glow of the Haunted Woods.
***
"So," Edna asked upon returning to her Tower, "Anything interesting happen today?"
Her shadow shrugged. "Eh, just the usual stuff."
THE END
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