I'm starting with the man in the mirror, oh yeah

Nick and Dani met up in the lobby, and Nick was pleasantly surprised.

“You didn’t have to go all-out, you know,” he commented, eyeing the tomboy’s choice of clothing. She had changed into wide-sleeved green top and a long, comfortable brown skirt, the kind of clothes he never expected Dani to usually wear. She’d even, in what Nick could only describe as completely beyond the bounds of possibility, put on… makeup?

Nick waved his hand in front of her face.

“You’re really Dani, right?” He asked suspiciously. “Dakota didn’t replace you with a doppelganger or something, did she?”

“Hilarious,” Dani said, rolling her eyes. “No, it’s me you boob. What, I can’t put some effort into looking nice?”

“…As a rule, no,” Nick said, shaking his head. “In fact, the majority of the time I’ve known you, Dani, you’ve been repulsed by the concept of makeup. So… why the big change?”

He gasped. “Wait, could it be… you’re actually falling for me after all?!”

Nick specifically intoned his voice to make it clear to Dani that he was kidding. Even still, it was a risky joke, given their previous history.

So when Dani laughed, he felt a wave of relief wash over him.

“Yeah, you wish,” she said, punching him in the arm. “Come on, even I can want to look good sometimes, if I want to,” she said.

The truth was, she’d been going back and forth on doing her makeup. And like, it wasn’t like she’d done THAT much. Just a bit of eyeshadow and some lip gloss. And it wasn’t for Nick, it was because, well… she wanted to work on her image a little.

Seeing Kim trying her hardest for the last few weeks had really sparked something inside of her. She sighed. “…Do you really want to know why I started doing makeup?” She asked quietly.

Nick nodded. He was curious, but when he saw the look on her face, he suddenly became worried. “I mean, if you want to tell me, that’s okay,” he said. “But you don’t need to if it’s not something you want to talk about…”

He really wasn’t sure he was onboard with being Dani’s 24/7 counselor. If this was going to lead into another “I need your support” thing, well… he wasn’t going to be thrilled about that.

But thankfully, Dani just shook her head. “Nah, it’s not a big deal. It’s just… look, it’s been a while since I’ve done my best at anything, you know? I used to focus all my productive energy into working out, and my art. And since I’m not drawing anymore, and lifting weights is, well…”

She looked down at her curvaceous figure. “I can work out as much as I want, but I’m not going to get my old look back,” she sighed. “And with my enhanced strength, it’s not like I really need to build muscle. So I’ve honestly been just going through the motions for a while now.”

Nick still wasn’t sure what that had to do with makeup.

“If I can’t look tough and cool anymore, I can at least try my best to look… p-pretty,” she stammered, feeling embarrassed just saying the word. “Pretty” wasn’t something she often used to describe herself, after all.

“Oh, I see…” Nick nodded thoughtfully. The closer he looked, the more obvious it became that Dani’s application was rather sloppy. “This wouldn’t happen to be for the sake of appealing to a certain cosplayer, would it?”

He’d meant to just tease Dani a little, but her face went bright red. And when she socked him in the arm, it wasn’t in the painful, joking manner she had before.

But the fact that his bone hadn’t snapped meant that at least she was going easy on him, which was a pleasant thing to know.

“Let’s just go already!” She said, embarrassed. “I just wanted to try it out a little! It’s not a big thing or anything!”

Nick decided that if Dani was fine with it, he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He was happy to keep going and moving forward.

To the Amusement Park!

“WOOOOOO!” Dani was full of energy coming off the roller coaster. “That was fucking awesome, dude! I haven’t been on a roller coaster in years!”

She punched the air, surging with energy.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Nick said, smiling. The happier Dani was, the less he had to worry about comforting her. He didn’t mind lending a kind shoulder to a friend, of course, but Dani could be a bit of a handful when she was upset.

He was glad that she seemed to be having fun.

One thing he noticed, though…

“Dani… you’re not used to long hair, huh?” He noted, staring at the tomboy. Her blue hair was as pretty as the sky, but after going on a few roller coaster rides, it looked like her head had lost a fight with a tornado. It was a mountain of split ends, and it tumbled down her back like a messy clump, the same way Gina wore her hair.

“Yeah, uh… yeah,” she laughed sheepishly, running her fingers through it like a makeshift comb, even though it had little to no practical effect. “My hair’s a bit of a mess… roller coasters and long hair don’t exactly go together very well. Not my fault though, I don’t think I’ve had long hair since I was a little girl!”

She had fond memories of finally being able to ask the barber to cut her hair the way she wanted; very short. It had been a necessity, after an incident involving a pair of scissors and an unfortunate attempt to give herself a makeover.

Yes, getting it cut was much better… and also, not something she would likely ever be able to do again, sadly.

Dani thought that never being able to have short hair again was something else she’d have to get comfort from Nick for; but the fact of the matter was that she didn’t really feel that torn up about it, even though it sucked. Some things she didn’t need his comfort for, apparently.

“I mean, you could always tie it up,” Nick pointed out. “That way, even though it’s really windy, it won’t get everywhere.”

Nick was honestly a little confused why Dani didn’t tie her hair up. Or why she made a sour expression the minute he suggested it.

“…Did I say something wrong?” He asked warily. “I mean, tomboys wear their hair in ponytails all the time, right?”

“Not a chance!” Dani sniffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Those aren’t real tomboys!”

“Uh… what?” Nick stared at her blankly, not sure what to make of that.

“A real tomboy wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a ponytail,” Dani snapped. “That’s just propagandist tomboy erasure! Any girl who would be willing to tolerate long hair, in spite of how difficult it is to maintain, when they could just chop it all off, isn’t a tomboy! They’re just playing pretend at being a tomboy!”

That… was quite an assertion. And not one Nick was at all prepared to address. “Um, Dani… I think it’s possible for tomboys to just… like having long hair. And hey, YOU wore a ponytail before, don’t think I forgot!”

The first day she’d tried to get him running, when they’d worked out together, Dani had tied her hair back in a ponytail. Nick wasn’t going to forget that.

But Dani wasn’t in the mood for compromise. Or for admitting her past mistakes. “Not if they’re tomboys, they don’t,” she replied militantly. “And just because I tried my hair out in a ponytail once, for convenience sake, that doesn’t mean I liked it! It was an affront to my views of what makes a true tomboy, never again!”

“Dani, are you familiar with the ‘No True Scottsman’ fallacy?” Nick asked.

She shook her head.

“…Okay, well, this is kind of like that, I think. Anyway, the point is, tomboys can have ponytails too, as far as I’m concerned.”

Dani looked at him like he was walking garbage.

She shook her head, her eyes glazing over with pity. “Perhaps we should change the subject,” she said. “After all… it’s not like I can really NOT have long hair. But even so, a ponytail…”

“Let’s just drop it,” Nick agreed. It was blindingly obvious that this conversation wasn’t going to get anywhere, and he really, really didn’t care. He was much more concerned with having a good time at the Amusement Park.

But they’d already ridden all the roller coasters, and the sun was still pretty high in the sky. They had hours to go.

“What about that place?” Nick asked, pointing at a building pretty close by. “The Hall of Mirrors. That could be fun.”

Dani made a face.

Nick sighed. “What is it?”

“Nothing, nothing,” she said, shaking her head. “Just… well… it’s not exactly going to be a thrill, walking through those mirrors and taking a look at my reflection so many times, you know?”

“What, are you a vampire or something?” Nick understood why Dani might not want to look at herself in a mirror, but frankly, he thought she was being a little too uptight about this. What happened to the fun-loving tomboy who had gotten him out of his shell way back in high school?

Dani could see the concern in his eyes, and she sighed. “Well… okay,” she relented, cracking a grin. She didn’t want to bring his bad mood down, not when she was hanging out for his sake, so they could be friends again. “But if you throw up, I don’t want to hear anything about it.”

“Come on, I’m not going to throw up!” Nick protested.

“You threw up when we went to an amusement park last time,” Dani pointed out. “And that was over ten years ago. I’m just saying, you’re probably not going to be able to hold your lunch…”

“That was because of that weird g-**** ride,” Nick protested. “Not a mirror maze! I threw up because I was stuck to the wall!”

Dani just laughed. Nick laughed too. If she was teasing him, that was a good sign.

The two of them ducked into the Hall of Mirrors.

As Nick anticipated, it was a mirror maze. Which, while fun and eerie (and thankfully not making him nauseous) had one tiny problem he didn’t account for.

“Ow! Fucking thing!” Dani rubbed her nose, stepping back from the glass wall. “I thought… dang it!” She seethed. “Glass walls are no fair!”

Dani had trouble with hedge mazes. One made out of mirrors and glass? That was a recipe for trouble, no doubt.

“We should have brought Dawn,” she muttered, after bumping into her reflection for the third time in two minutes. “She would know how to get out of this crazy thing.”

“Good thing we didn’t bring Carly and Marley,” Nick joked. “They’d probably get us even more confused, since they look so alike!”

“They don’t look alike,” Dani said quietly. “Marley’s eyes are a little sharper, Carly’s are really big and round. And Carly’s smile is a lot wider than her sister’s. Plus, Carly’s lips droop a little more when she’s talking…”

Her voice trailed off as she felt Nick staring at her.

“Wh-what?!” Dani demanded, turning red.

Nick shook his head. “Nothing, it’s nothing,” he said, trying not to smile at the adorable sight in front of him. “I just think it’s so cute, that you like Carly so much you can see all those little details, that’s all. It’s adorable.”

Dani turned even redder.

“W-well, anyone could, if they were paying attention,” she sniffed, turning up her nose. She wasn’t sure why she was so defensive; after all, Nick already knew what her feelings for Carly entailed. Still, talking about this topic right now…

“Anyway, let’s just get out of this dumb maze!” Dani groaned, turning on her heel. “I’m pretty sure the way back is- ow!”

She bumped into a regular mirror this time. She was getting sloppy.

“It’s okay, Dani,” Nick said. Trying not to laugh at his friend’s expense was getting harder and harder. “Come on, do you know the secret technique for getting through a maze?”

Dani blinked.

“…Yeah, you punch with everything you have,” she replied, walking up to the mirror and cracking her knuckles.

Nick practically had to tackle her to get her to stop.

“No! Not like that!” He exclaimed. “You’ll get seven years of bad luck if you break a mirror!”

“Come on,” Dani said, rolling her eyes. “You don’t seriously believe that, do you Nick?”

Nick winced. “Well… I mean with normal mirrors, no, but you gotta remember, either Dakota or Sylvia made this Amusement Park, with their host powers. Which means that these mirrors probably aren’t normal mirrors, right? So the chances of something bad happening are… well…”

Dani paused. “…Okay yes you raise a very good point,” she agreed immediately. “Let’s have none of that, thank you.”

The last thing she needed was to get some ridiculous punishment tacked on just for messing up a mirror. And Dakota would absolutely do that, just to mess with her.

Nick sighed in relief. “Okay, now back to what I was saying, the method for getting out of a maze… So you put your hand on the side of the maze and walk through it. That way, as long as you never remove your hand, eventually you’ll get out of the maze somehow. Got it?”

“Yeah, that sounds familiar,” Dani nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah! Carly taught me how to do that, I remember now!”

Nick actually did laugh this time.

“What’s so funny?!” Dani demanded. “It was sweet! She showed me how to do it when we went back to that garden, to show Marley!”

“No, it’s just… I was the one who taught Carly that method,” Nick explained. “Way back during the second challenge. She got us lost, so I had to show her the way to get out of the maze. Then she showed you right after and pretended like it was her idea? Oh, that’s just adorable!”

Dani blushed. Now that she knew the truth behind it, Nick was right, that sounded really, really cute.

But more importantly, they had important stuff to do! Like get out of this maze! Dani couldn’t just burn to a crisp because she was embarrassed.

Following Nick’s directions, the two of them treaded further into the maze. They moved around winding corridors and surprising false entrances, and avoided all of them because of the little trick that Nick had used.

Dakota would have to do a lot better to get to the two of them!

Then they turned a corner, and entered a room that was different from all the other rooms in the labyrinth.

For one thing, the walls were made of shiny black stone, not mirrors or glass. Rather, they’d been surrounded by mirrors aimed at just the right angles to prevent anyone from seeing this room as special until you stepped inside.

Once they entered, though, it was clear that they’d reached a new area.

A sign hung in the center of the room.

MAGIC MIRROR ROOM: THE REFLECTION OF REALITY

“Well… that’s ominous,” Nick noted with barely-hidden sarcasm. He looked around the circular room. There were still mirrors, of course, but they hung from the walls now rather than covered them. He stepped up to one curiously, and realized what was different about them.

“Dude!” Dani broke out laughing, pointing at Nick’s reflection. “You look like you’re 400 pounds!”

Nick winced at the whale of blubber staring back at him, all fat rolls and sweat. He couldn’t fit into his clothes at all, and his face had actually sunken into the fat of his cheeks. He looked like Jabba the Hutt!

“Ew, that’s distasteful,” he said, stepping away. He felt a little sick to his stomach.

“So these are the ‘magic mirrors’ huh?” Dani laughed, walking over to check out her reflection in one of them. “Funhouse mirrors, huh? Fitting for an amusement park, I’d say. Hey, Nick! Check me out!”

He wasn’t sure he wanted to at first. But he walked over to look at Dani’s appearance, and was pleasantly surprised. She had become buff again, her body was covered with muscle. But this wasn’t the Dani from before this show that he was staring at- rather, it was a bizarre hybrid between her past and current selves. She still had the long hair of her current form (though in the reflection it was completely straight) as well as the sculpted curves and large breasts. But the rest of her womanly figure was augmented by pure muscle, and her clothes had been replaced by a sports bra and tight shorts.

“Damn, if only this could be real,” she said thoughtfully, striking a bodybuilder pose.

“Even though you’re not a real tomboy, since you have long hair?” Nick teased.

Dani shot him a dirty look.

“Might as well try a few more mirrors,” she said, walking over to another one. Immediately, she made a face to show how distasteful he found it.

One look, and Nick could see why. That wasn’t Dani. It hardly looked anything like her. Her hair dye had gone from sky blue to bleach bottle blonde, and her clumsy attempts at makeup had been replaced by some really garish, over-the-top glamour looks. Not to mention, all of her clothes had been colored hot pink, and her breasts, somehow, looked even larger. She’d been remade into a total bimbo stereotype!

“Eeew, that’s just gross!” Dani made a face and stepped back, shaking her head. “Not that I’m surprised, given the kind of place this is.”

Nick wasn’t surprised either. He glanced at another mirror, showing a reflection of him with a cartoonishly massive bulge in his pants. It made him feel an ache below his belt, just imagining having equipment like that.

No thanks, he thought, shaking his head. Not even with my Skeleton Key transformation.

“Hey! Nick, look at this one!”

Nick turned and headed over to where Dani was. She seemed almost drawn to her reflection in this mirror, and Nick could see why in a second given their prior conversation today. Physically, Dani looked exactly the same as she did now- curvy figure, soft and squished into her clothes, but when it came to her hair… it had been cut short again, just like it used to be.

“This one wouldn’t be so bad,” Dani mused. “I actually kind of like it…”

“Even though you don’t have any muscle in this one?” Nick asked.

“It’s a pity, but… still, my hair… it’s short again,” Dani mused, reaching out longingly towards her own face. “And I guess I’d still have my strength…”

Her fingers grazed over the glass. Then, they began to tingle.

Nick’s eyes widened in shock as Dani’s mouth morphed into an “O” shape. She gasped and tried to pull her hand back, but it was too late. The sound of popping filled the air, like bubblewrap being run over by a truck, and her body started to shimmer.

Then to Nick’s surprise, she changed. Contact with the mirror had caused her to go through a transformation, but not a significant one. Just like the image the mirror had captured, her body was the same as it had always been. But now, her hair had returned to the boyish sky blue coif from his memories.

“Whoa!” She gasped in amazement. She knew something had changed, but she didn’t know what until her fingers reached her neck. “My hair! It… it’s short again!” Her eyes were wide in disbelief.

Nick, stunned, stumbled back. These mirrors, they weren’t normal mirrors! Whatever they were, they were magical!

He felt himself back into something cool, feeling his palm slap against it. He hadn’t even realized how close to the wall he was.

A strange tingle traveled down his arm, and he heard a popping noise in his ears. He couldn’t move as his body changed; the only thing he could do to tell what was happening was look at Dani’s shocked expression.

Not a great sign.

Finally the popping and tingling stopped, and his body felt… lighter somehow. He stumbled forward, shaking.

“What the hell is going on?!” The voice that left his lips wasn’t his own.

Dani still stared at him like she had seen a ghost. She raised a shaky hand and pointed at the mirror behind him.

Nick turned to see what had happened to his body.

He screamed.