Once I'd tidied the whole house, I was finally able to sit on the sofa and have a chat with the man who'd been waiting for a while. I took a deep breath before my eyes met those of the ginger-haired man. "Let's get straight to it—do you know anything about The False Epilogue?"
He flinched slightly, rubbing his thumbs together before he finally replied. "I've only heard rumours," he began, his eyes meeting mine.
"A group who want to change the end of the world. They claim to know how this world will end and want to reshape it to suit their own desires."
"But I don't know exactly what they believe will happen when the world ends; all I know is that it's a large team of twenty-two people, and each person represents one of the Major Arcana cards."
I thought back to the scoundrel who'd left us badly injured that day, "And the one we fought that day was the embodiment of the Death card?" I asked, and Robin nodded in response.
Once I'd processed everything, I suddenly remembered I hadn't told Robin about Red yet. "I've heard from an acquaintance that Red is still alive and out there somewhere," I said, and Robin's eyes widened in surprise.
"Really?! But if she's still out there, why hasn't she come back here? Did Death manage to kidnap her?" Robin asked, and his guess matched exactly what was on my mind.
"Perhaps," I nodded, gazing deeply into Robin's eyes so that he could sense the gravity of what I was about to say. "That's why I called you here. Robin Hood, would you be willing to help me find Red?"
Hearing that, he gave me a smile, his gaze full of determination. "You don't need to ask; of course I'll help you—we are the Pyxis team, after all." Hearing his reply filled me with relief and joy; I'd been afraid he'd refuse because of what had happened that day.
"But I don't think it's enough for just the two of us to look for her; we're up against a big team… So we need more hands on deck to help." My statement took Robin a bit by surprise, and he seemed to realise what was going on.
"I know Holmes deceived us, but he's helped us a lot… What if we contact—" Before he could continue, I immediately interrupted him.
"I'd rather go to hell. I still can't trust him, and neither can Mother—she even put him on the team despite knowing he isn't a Fable," I said. Mother could tell whether someone had an Everafter simply by looking at their aura.
Hearing that, Robin leaned back on the sofa and looked towards the front door. "I have an acquaintance who might be able to help," he said—and that immediately caught my attention.
"Oh? Who?"
"Romeo Montague."
"…Still don't know who that is."
I then found myself in town, watching a man with tanned skin and dark brown hair lifting a car with just his bare hands.
He slowly set the car down in front of a garage, and behind him, a middle-aged man was following him. "Thank you, lad, for helping to lift my broken-down car," said the man.
"He's a nice bloke, isn't he?" said Robin, standing beside me, whilst I was focused on another oddity.
"Why's he wearing a Masquerade mask in broad daylight like this?" I asked; it really was bothering me.
"That's his Everafter," Robin replied with a slightly amused chuckle, understanding why it was bothering me. The man, named Romeo, noticed the two of us and immediately recognised Robin.
He took the mask off his face before running towards us. "Robin! Long time no see, mate! How are you?" he asked warmly.
"I'm fine, and you're still busy helping other people again, eh?" Robin greeted him back with a smile on his face, which was met by a chuckle from Romeo, whose eyes darted in my direction.
"And who's this? Your girlfriend?" he asked innocently.
"Not a chance in hell, mate," said Robin before glancing in my direction with a frightened look on his face.
"Oh? Your friend has an interesting assumption," I muttered, having already prepared a card in one of my hands—even though I trusted him, I couldn't stand being labeled as a couple.
"Hey, Romeo, apologise," Robin elbowed the man, who looked bewildered by the situation.
"No need. I'll get straight to the point," I said, letting out a long sigh to calm myself down. "Romeo, I'm a Fable just like you, but we've got a problem right now."
"We want to find our missing friend, so that's why I'd like to ask for your help in tracking him down," I'd prepared various options for negotiating with him, but contrary to my expectations, he simply nodded.
"Of course! I like helping people, and just think of it as my way of apologising," he said casually. Judging by his appearance, he was a year older than me; given his age, one might have expected him to think about his answer first.
I leaned in close to Robin and whispered, "He's an easy-going sort, isn't he?" I murmured, not expecting him to agree so readily.
"More like a fool who's far too kind," Robin whispered back, but I was glad we'd managed to get a new member so quickly.
"Right then, I look forward to working with you, new member," I said, holding out my hand, which he grasped firmly before giving it a firm shake.
"New member?" He tilted his head, but suddenly I felt something bite my left finger. I jumped in surprise, turned round immediately and found a goose—the culprit who'd bitten my finger for no apparent reason.
The goose began honking as if trying to tell me something. I studied it more closely and realised. "That's Mother's goose, isn't it?" Robin asked, and I replied with a nod. Mother's goose never leaves her side; the fact that it's here means something must have happened to Mother.
"Let's go!" I said, pulling out two cards before shooting off into the air with the help of the wind emanating from my cards, followed by Robin, who was running after me, and Romeo, who was wearing a mask shaped differently from before but which allowed him to run to keep up with me.
We stopped in front of a pub called 'Mother Goose'. I opened the door and saw a crowd of panicked people; I didn't have time to ask questions and immediately climbed the stairs, only to find the door leading to Mother's house cordoned off with police tape, prohibiting entry.
I stepped over the tape and opened the door, walking towards the living room, my eyes widening in shock—I could not believe what I was seeing. "Fables?! What are you doing here?! Can't you see this area is off-limits?!" It was the voice of the female police officer, a voice familiar to me.
I walked towards the sofa and saw the body of an elderly woman slumped against it, her chest torn open—and I could tell it was a gunshot wound.