I didn't quite black out, but the memories of what happened next seemed to just vanish from my mind. That seems to happen a lot to the people around me, but it was a little off-putting that it happened to me. After all, my memory has been fairly strong for quite some time.

One moment, I was being knocked over, then the next, I was sitting at a table across from my mirror image. Well, ALMOST my mirror image. 

Another practically perfect version of Brooks stared at me. He trembled slightly, as if afraid. 

"Aww, is Brooks feeling a little overwhelmed?" Her voice asked. A voice that seemed to echo. It was like a mixture of a sweet/childish voice with a dark, creepy voice. 

The other Brooks, or more accurately, Mario, and I looked up as if trying to determine where the voice was coming from.

Which one of us was she talking to?! Also, how did she get in here? Did she somehow manage to kidnap me AND Mario from my father?

Honestly, a part of me was thankful. 

However, another part of me was terrified, knowing what she did to all the Brooks clones she came across. I could tell which version of Angel this is just from her way of speaking. It was Mimi, and she had stolen us so she could do whatever sick, twisted things she was convinced she had to do in order to make her beautiful.

"Awww, it's alright Brooksie. I understand," she giggled. "It's not every day someone gets to bask in the glory of an angel sent from above."

Mario continued to tremble. If he was anything like me, then he most likely had practically all his memories, which meant that he could remember each and every time she caught him, tore him apart, then remade him. No wonder he seemed so terrified. 

"I bet you're wondering what I want," her voice laughed. "Well, as you know, the perfect Brooks is one of a kind. So, to put it bluntly, all I want is to remove your face. To peel your skin away like paper. I want your insides torn out, ready for me to use!! And, with your generous sacrifice, I'll become beautiful..."

What was with her and Dimentio and their obsessions with sacrifice?!

I quickly took a look around. There was one door that didn't look locked. For a second, I silently wondered why Mario wasn't making a break for it. However, he probably knew by now that Mimi wouldn't let him escape so easily. If anything, trying to escape would just make things worse. We were most likely cornered. We couldn't do anything except wait for a miracle-

"I think I found it! I think I found the room!" A different female voice chimed.

Mario seemed to perk up slightly, then look around. I couldn't tell where the voice was coming from, but about thirty seconds later, a vent on the side of the room opposite the door was kicked open. Angel quickly crawled out, then dusted herself off. She wasn't the distorted Angel though.

"BROOKS!" She exclaimed before quickly running up to Mario and hugging him tightly. "I FOUND YOU! THE REAL YOU! OH MY GOODNESS, NEVER DO THAT AGAIN! YOU SCARED ME, DUMMY!"

Ah, so Peach had come to rescue us. What a turn of events.

"Did you find the right one, or are you just making a fool of yourself yet again," a different voice breathed. Not a moment later, Dimentio fell out of the vent too. He, however, didn't exist nearly as gracefully. He stumbled before regaining his balance, then looked up at me and Mario.

"Where's L?" He questioned.

Funny. I would think that the first thing he would ask would be Where's Inky?

I shrugged while Peach pulled away from Mario, grinning from ear to ear now. Her smile practically brightened up the entire room. Mario also seemed much more at ease. He stopped trembling.

"Well, we have to find him," Dimentio breathed, turning back to the vent. "This way. If we walk through the halls, the lost ones will find us..."

"Oh, you should have seen us, Brooks!" Peach gushed while enthusiastically holding her arms out. "We were locked in two separate rooms, trapped until I got the brilliant idea to use the vents! They're just barely big enough to fit people! I found the music man, then we started looking for you, the other Brooks, the creator, and Inky!"

I wasn't a fan of using the vents to get around, but Peach seemed very excited about it. I've never really been claustrophobic, but the idea of crawling through something so dark and tight just made me squirm. Still, according to Peach, we couldn't just go out the front door and walk the halls. She made it very clear that lost ones were swarming the place.

Although, if they were, then how did Mimi get ahold of us? She clearly wasn't working with my father. Even if she was crazy, I know she'd never do something like that. 

Maybe she had taken us far enough away from my father's home base that there were fewer people out and about. I had no idea where we even were anymore. 

Oh well. None of that mattered. What mattered now was following Peach and Dimentio, getting Mr. L back, then escaping so we could come up with a plan-

"I see you there..." Mimi's voice echoed through the room. Peach grabbed Mario's hand while Dimentio seemed unphased as if hearing voices was normal for him, which it probably was. 

"Nobody humiliates an angel!" Her voice hissed, suddenly much deeper and angry. "NOBODY! Now hold still, this is gonna sting!"

Suddenly, there was the sound of rumbling, and a bunch of rubees fell out of the vents, pouring into the room. Instead of being red, they were a dull grey color, but they were still sharp. Just touching them stung.

"We have to leave!" Peach exclaimed, keeping hold of Mario's hand and running for the door. I quickly followed, while Dimentio brought his hands together and began to pray to the Ink Demon. I had to turn back and grab his arm before he got left behind.

Once Peach swung the door open, smaller rubees began to fly at us like bullets. There was a burst of high-pitched laughter that flooded the room, sending chills down my spine. 

We hid behind the walls so the rubees wouldn't hit us, but the room we were in was filling fast. We had to make an escape, and quick. 

Mario was covering his face and trembling once again while Peach gently rubbed his back, whispering to him. She was probably trying to reassure him that everything would be alright. Dimentio, on the other hand, continued to pray.

It looked like it was time for me to figure something out.

I peeked my head in the doorway for a split second so I could get a quick view of what was going on and where the rubees were coming from. Surely enough, the other room was formatted like a large foyer. There was a balcony Mimi was standing on, and she was surrounded by rubees. She looked just as distorted as before, only now she had her old weapons. Still, it wasn't as scary as her true form. Almost NOTHING was as scary as Mimi's true form. 

Okay, all we had to do was somehow manage to sneak up behind her so we could disarm her. There were four of us, so one of us would have to be the distraction while the other three split up.

I was the perfect Brooks, so it was only fitting that I be the one to distract her. 

I looked at Peach, then tapped her shoulder. She looked up at me, then cocked her head to the side. "What is it?" She asked.

Now for the hardest part of this plan; explaining my plan without verbally speaking.

I pointed to myself, then pointed to Mimi. Then, I gestured to the three of them and pointed to the sides of the room. There were pillars and stairs that led up and around to the back of the balcony, behind Mimi. I pointed to Peach and Mario, then pointed to the right staircase. Then, I pointed to Dimentio and pointed to the left staircase.

".... Huh?" Peach asked.

I mentally facepalmed.

"He's saying that he's going to distract Angel. You and your imperfect Brooks go up the right staircase and try to stay out of her sight. I'll go up the left. We can try to take her by surprise from behind, all while perfect Brooks here keeps her attention."

Oh thank GRAMBI Dimentio somehow knew what I was saying. I honestly wasn't sure if he was even paying attention to me.

I nodded, then quickly stepped into the open doorway with my hands up. Rubees continued firing, but none of them hit me. 

I don't think the rubees were meant to actually hit me or Mario. After all, Mimi wouldn't want to ruin the perfect Brooks with rubees. Whenever she attacked Brooks clones, she would tear them apart, but she would never attack them and ruin their image beforehand. She needed to kill them herself. The rubees were meant to hurt Peach and Dimentio.

I still don't know why the world convinced her that she needed to tear apart the perfect Brooks in order to become beautiful. It must be the same reason why the world made Dimentio worship a monster. Just to cause chaos. 

Mimi locked eyes with me. She grinned, then began laughing. 

"You have no idea how long I've spent looking for you," she sneered. "How many imperfect replicas I've torn apart, and now, here you are, holding your hands up like a coward."

I continued slowly stepping forward, keeping my hands up. I was doing my best not to tremble. I tried not to think about how much I missed Timpani, or about how Mimi very well could kill me. I didn't want to be torn apart like Mario had so many times. I didn't even know what death would do to me or my mind. It was scary to think about what could happen. 

I couldn't tell if Dimentio, Peach, or Mario had started sneaking around. I couldn't even check, because looking would surely give their position away. I had to keep my gaze on Mimi. I had to maintain eye contact and just trust that they would do what I wanted them to do. 

It wasn't until I saw Dimentio slowly creeping up behind her that I even knew if anyone had left the room. I could see him tip-toe closer and closer, reaching out for her.

However, she must have seen my gaze shift just past her, because as soon as I spotted him, she turned around and grabbed ahold of his wrist with a deadly look in her eyes. 

Oh no.

"The music director?" She laughed, though it sounded more like a snarl. "Did you really think I wouldn't hear you?"

She squeezed his wrist tighter. I couldn't tell if he was in pain or not because of the cardboard cutout covering his face, but based on his posture I could tell that he was at least somewhat afraid. 

"Don't think I don't see you two either," she growled, shooting a glare at Peach and Mario, who were about halfway up the stairs on the right. "What did you think would happen? Did you think you could catch me off guard? Stab me in the back?"

She chuckled, then shook her head. Her voice was still bouncing back and forth from being high-pitched and cheery to being low and edgy. 

"It's the final curtain for you," she giggled, glaring at Dimentio. "Say farewell to the audience-"

Suddenly, there was a knife through her stomach. She gasped, then looked down. The scene seemed familiar. I should know, I had seen it before. The very same thing happened when Mimi was about to kill Mr. L in the cycle.

Mimi let go of Dimentio's arm, then collapsed backward, revealing Timpani, my perfect, beautiful Timpani, standing behind her. 

My angel caught her, then looked down at the distorted version of Angel that Mimi had become. Meanwhile, Mimi looked up at her in awe. 

"You... you have my face," Mimi whispered. Her voice no longer bounced between the two voices she had. Instead of being overly cheery or far too deep, it was somewhere in the middle. She sounded more like herself. More like the Mimi she knew.

"It's actually our face," Timpani corrected.

Mimi paused, then shakily reached up for Timpani. 

"I... I'm beautiful," she breathed.

Timpani smiled, then grabbed Mimi's wrist and slowly lowered her hand before the distorted angel could touch her face. 

"You always were," Timpani said.

Mimi slowly smiled.

Then, she closed her eyes and went limp.

Timpani let out a sigh, then set her down. "Why... why does this feel familiar?" She asked.

"Because it's happened before," Mr. L breathed, stepping out behind her.

Dimentio, for once, was silent. He appeared to still be in shock from being caught by Mimi, then saved at the last minute. He looked back and forth from Timpani to the man in green. 

"Hey Dimentio," Mr. L breathed, flashing him a small smile, before turning his attention over to Mario and Peach.

Mario looked at him with a lost expression.

Meanwhile, I looked at Timpani, finally feeling found.