We watched as the pile of gingerbread people caught fire and created a huge blaze that reached up to the sky. We were just like a group of people on a camping trip, enjoying a campfire together. "So what should we do now…?" the girl with the low twin ponytails asked me; everyone had gathered again, but there was still no sign of her younger brother and sister, Hansel and Gretel.
"This is the first time we've been trapped inside a Book, isn't it? We have to—" as I spoke and looked around, I suddenly remembered something. "Juliet! Do you know anything about this Book?!" I asked, as she was the only person who had ever been on the same team as the owner of this Book.
Juliet, who was sitting on Romeo's lap, immediately turned her attention to me; she looked extremely annoyed at being disturbed whilst she was getting cosy with her boyfriend, but she had to answer if she wanted to get out of here. "Hmm, not really, it's the first time I've ever been inside it..." She tried to think back until her eyes suddenly widened. "One thing I do remember is when Gretty fell asleep; I heard her muttering in her sleep about a witch who wanted to eat her."
"Were you in the same room?"
"No."
"Then how did you hear her muttering in her sleep?"
"I hadn't met Romy at that time."
I tried to brush off what had just happened and thought for a moment until Ciel's voice suddenly broke the silence. "From the explanation given by the Fables," she pointed at Romeo as if he were a nameless object, "Fairytale is a rank that can be attained once a Fable has come to terms with or accepted their darkest past, isn't it?"
I turned towards Romeo, annoyed and disappointed to realise he'd just blurted it out. "Really?" I asked, and the man wore a remorseful expression and apologised; I turned fully towards Ciel, who was standing tall, her eyes fixed on me. "So you mean this Book must have a connection to the Fairytales' pasts?"
"It turns out I don't need to explain any further, does it?" she remarked, and actually, it wasn't just some daft theory because it made quite a bit of sense—but what was it about Hansel and Gretel's past that led to the creation of a sweet world like this?
However, I didn't have a moment to think when I heard a squelching sound as something hit the ground; I looked around and realised we were already surrounded by dozens of gummy bears—and they seemed intent on taking revenge on the gingerbread man, who was now nothing but ashes.
I glanced over at the ginger-haired man, who was already on high alert. "Robin!" I called, and that immediately made him turn his head towards me. "Please help me by taking over as the one giving orders, okay?" I said before floating upwards and hovering in the air; I needed some quiet time to think, but every time I tried to do so, something would happen to disrupt it.
"We don't need your guidance!" shouted Ciel, who couldn't stand being treated like my subordinate, whilst Felix—who had said he didn't need my help either—didn't seem to mind in the slightest. "We can do it ourselves."
His loud voice reached my ears and I couldn't help but reply. "Good! You're lightening Robin's load!" I shouted, whilst the man I'd just mentioned was at a loss as to how to defeat so many giant gummy bears.
"How dare you, Alice!"
"Thank you, Grennie!"
Robin shot his arrow, but it stuck in the gummy bear without harming it; the red masquerade mask was already in place, and Romeo immediately sprinted forward to land a punch—but unlike before, Romeo's hand was instead swallowed up by the jelly. "Ah, this is bad," muttered Romeo before a squishy red hand launched an attack in his direction.
"Romy!" Juliet shouted, pushing Romeo out of the way, and they landed flat on the ground. The girl sat on top of the boy, growling in pain. "You're all right, aren't you?" she asked, to which Romeo replied with a nod.
"Get a room—but for later!" Robin shouted, continuing to fire his arrows even though it was all in vain; not even the poisoned arrows had any effect on the gummy bear, leaving Robin at a loss. "What if…" His dark eyes glanced towards Ciel and Felix, who were simultaneously chopping the gummy bear into bits.
Romeo's gaze drifted towards Snow, whose puppet was completely unable to land a strike that could hurt the gummy bear—yet he immediately came up with a brilliant idea. "Romeo, Juliet! Get the gummy bears to gather together, and then—Snow, trip them up using your puppet's strings!" he shouted out his plan so that everyone around him could hear.
He glanced at the two people he hadn't called over yet; he really wanted to call the man's name but changed his mind. "And Ciel… Ugh—let's put our arguments aside and focus on this; please hack them to pieces with your sword and Felix's too," he asked, and this made the woman grin smugly at seeing Robin beg like that.
"I can't refuse someone who's begging," Ciel replied, still wearing that smug grin at having managed to make Robin ask him for help—a smile that was bound to haunt the man every night.
"Got it, mate!" replied Felix, already ready for action. Robin couldn't help but let out a long sigh and regret what he'd just done; I, sitting up there thinking about this Book, found myself unable to suppress a chuckle—I was dying to see what would happen, but they'd just end up mocking me because, after all, I'd effectively betrayed them now.
Just as planned, Romeo and Juliet caught the gummy bears' attention by attacking them with punches and slaps from a giant lollipop, prompting the five walking sweets to give chase, fuelled by rage. Their eyes met as they sprinted side by side. Ahead of them stood two dwarves facing each other, each holding an end of the long string—Romeo and Juliet leapt over the string and high-fived in mid-air in celebration.
As their feet touched the ground, all the gummy bears toppled to the floor, leaving them immobilised for a moment, and that was when Ciel and Felix leapt—SLASH—SLASH—SLASH—blow after blow landed, chopping mercilessly—SLASH—SLASH—the final slash severed the gummy bear's leg, after which they stood with proud, slightly smug smiles.
The gummy bears weren't moving any more and Robin let out a long sigh of relief upon seeing that her plan had succeeded. "Heh, maybe I'm as clever as Alice now," he said to himself, when he turned his head to the side—he jumped in surprise when he saw my head hanging upside down, which frightened Robin; I couldn't help but laugh and spun round again.
I could spin like that because I'd stuck a card to my shoulder, which allowed me to float upside down. "So, have you found anything yet?" he asked, trying hard to hide his irritation.
"Well, I've spotted a giant house made of sweets; perhaps we could check it out," I replied, before flashing a mocking grin and nudging him. "You've only come up with one plan and you're already that cocky, are you? But you've taken far too long—you need to be more quick-witted, like me."
"Are you actually thinking of the same plan?"
"Of course I am, Greenie."
"Liar!"
"Ciel, did you bring that Pinoci—whatever it is?"
"Of course not, you idiot! Why on earth would I bring someone else's Everafter?" Ciel let out a long sigh of bewilderment and exasperation before sheathing his sword once more. "If that place really does hold a clue for us, we must hurry there."
However, before we had a chance to leave, my attention was immediately drawn to the sight of a blonde-haired girl putting a gummy bear in her mouth—the very same gummy bear that had nearly killed them all earlier. "J-Juliet… You're not actually going to eat that, are you?" Snow asked worriedly.
Romeo walked over and tried to stop his girlfriend from doing anything strange. "July, if you're hungry, I'll buy you some food after this!" He tried to reassure her, and she stared at them both for a long time with her red eyes, as if weighing up what to do.
But before either of them could stop her, the gummy bear's hand had already slipped into her mouth and she chewed it with a blank expression, leaving us all speechless at the actions of this foolish girl. He swallowed it and took another piece of the gummy bear to eat, which suggested that it didn't taste bad.
"You lot have a resistance to things like that, don't you?" asked Felix, glancing over at me, who was still silent. Robin glanced in my direction and realised there was something odd about my expression—it was natural to be surprised, but she realised it was unusual for me to be so lost in thought.
"Red," I called out the name of the missing girl, which caught Robin off guard; he turned his gaze back to Juliet and tried to analyse her. "…is she you?"