Ciel gasped for breath and bowed her head; Romeo's hand still clutched the sword's hilt, even as the blood flowed more freely. Ciel raised her head before shouting. "If Everafter is truly bestowed upon people who are about to die, then why didn't the God of Casuality grant it to my family?!"
"They died tragically, you know! Weren't they worthy?! What are the criteria for becoming a Fable? Having a pure heart? I doubt they were like that!" I fell silent, unable to reply; I was the one who'd sparked all this, yet, foolishly, I couldn't bring it to an end.
My mind was still a jumble and in disarray; if only what I'd sacrificed hadn't been my sanity, perhaps I could think clearly now. Footsteps sounded and as I turned, I saw that it was Robin, his bow having vanished from his hand.
"Becoming a Fable isn't as easy as you think," Robin began in a soft voice; he seemed to be trying hard to calm himself down. "After becoming Fables, we're forced to sacrifice one thing without our consent."
"Some sacrifice their eyes, some sacrifice their sanity, and some even have to sacrifice their love stories." Hearing Robin's words left me utterly shocked.
I knew who the first two examples referred to, but the third? …Could it be that Robin's love story was the one that was sacrificed?
"Even if your family gets Everafter, there's a strong chance that the one they'd be forced to sacrifice is you," said the man in the denim waistcoat, "After becoming a Fable… I lost my cousin—and I still always blame myself for that"
I was even more shocked to hear the sacrifice Romeo had made; it turned out this sacrifice could mean many things. Ciel fell silent for a moment, before finally speaking. "...Take your hand off," she said; her voice was far calmer than before.
Romeo slowly removed his hand from the blade of his sword, revealing that the palm of his hand was badly torn. "This is your business now; I don't care any more." said Ciel before walking out and leaving the scene.
Silence filled the room before Romeo broke it, looking down at his palm. "Huh, this is worse than I thought," he said, and only then did we remember; we rushed over to him.
"Alice! Can your card heal this wound?!" Robin shouted in panic, and I took out a piece of gauze and immediately bandaged the wound on his palm.
Some time after that, we cremated Mother's body, as that was what she'd once asked of me should she ever die. We then took her ashes to the River Thames and scattered them into the water; to our surprise—the ashes formed the words 'Thank you'.
The three of us who saw it were taken aback. "That was so sweet," said Romeo with a touched smile on his face. Robin and I exchanged glances before looking back at the river, which had already carried the ashes away.
"I'm sorry I didn't want to talk to you, Mother. Thank you… for helping me survive until now." My vision began to blur and I felt a hand gently patting my shoulder; I never expected to be comforted by him.
He must have known that my heart was absolutely shattered at having to lose two people who were so close to me; without realising it, I'd been staring at him for too long, and that might have made him notice the tears in my eyes. I bowed my head and didn't want to look at anyone for a while.
Hours passed and I was sitting with Robin and Romeo in a restaurant. I told Romeo everything that had happened, and when he heard my story, he even started crying too. "Oh, poor Red! There's no way I can say no to this—I'll help you both and I'm willing to join Team Pixi!"
"Pyxis," Robin corrected.
"I'm glad you're feeling more motivated," I said before taking a sip from my orange juice; there was still a big question weighing on my mind, "Who is the person who killed Mother, and what is their motive?"
Hearing that, the mood grew serious again. "Mother was the one who could get the Fables to work together… And they might want to shatter that unity so they can easily defeat us?" Robin speculated, leaving me to ponder the idea.
"But it's impossible for an ordinary person to have killed Mother, isn't it? I've never actually seen her powers though…" I muttered, before glancing out of the window. "But I suspect that Mother was also a very powerful Fable with a wealth of experience."
"You must have faced plenty of enemies who were Fables yourselves, haven't you?" asked Romeo, and Robin confirmed this. "It's quite possible an old enemy of Mother's has returned to take her life in revenge."
The very mention of the word 'revenge' immediately brings Red to mind; she was so desperate for revenge that it ended up costing her an arm and me her presence.
A realisation struck me instantly; my eyes widened and my mouth fell open slightly—I turned my head sharply towards them. "Or, they deliberately ended Mother's life so that no one could send the Fables to stop their criminal activities." This was the most likely theory; after seeing us defeat Gilles from The False Epilogue, they'd sent someone to kill the mastermind behind it all.
Robin immediately picked up on the theory in my head. "So it was someone from The False Epilogue who killed Mother?!" he asked, nearly slamming his fist on the table, leaving Romeo bewildered by our conversation.
Outside, we heard hysterical screams; our heads immediately turned towards the window and, in an instant—I saw a golden, human-shaped statue being flung into the air before crashing onto the street. "Let's go!" I shouted, and we ran and rushed out of the restaurant.
We saw the locals running in fear and panic, whilst two men stood there looking completely self-assured. "Huh," I couldn't believe my eyes—a fat man wearing nothing but boxer shorts and a golden crown on his head.
I stared at the man in utter disgust, especially when I saw his long black moustache, which had probably never been trimmed. "Why is there a pervert roaming about here?" I thought the pleasure of going naked was something only Admetus enjoyed, but it turns out others do too.
Standing beside that lecherous man was a fellow who was entirely gold from head to toe—from his hair and sunglasses to his suit and watch; everything was gold.
"I'm not high, right?" Robin muttered, taking in this bizarre sight in broad daylight.
"No, we're seeing exactly what you're seeing," I replied, already holding a card between my fingers.