"What on earth is that?!" The voice from the sky echoed throughout the place; a girl with black hair floated in the air, a smile on her face.
"Wow! It's lovely to breathe in some fresh air after so long." I won't refer to that girl as 'I', because that isn't me anymore. Echila's red eyes glanced down at the ground and took in everyone gaping in shock. "Yo, Robin, Romeo, Juliet, Snow, Ciel and Felix—is that right? Seven against one and you still haven't won; how pathetic."
"I'll teach you lot how to fight her—" but before Echila could finish, two giant hands slammed down on the demon like a slice of meat in a sandwich; gasps rang out from everyone witnessing it.
The witch's laughter echoed along with the laughter from the sky. "You're all talk, yet you still end up like a fly," said a teenage girl's voice from the sky, but the witch's palm could feel something wriggling; in that very instant, a flame crept up her hand, causing the witch to withdraw her hand.
Smoke swirled all around her; Echila was still floating, but now—on her back—a pair of black wings spread out into the air, whilst the horns hidden beneath her hair had become thicker and more pointed. "Goodness, take it easy, will you? You really are so impatient, aren't you?" This startled the witch, whilst Echila merely tossed her hair.
A vast number of cards emerged from behind her arm, but this time, the white cards were a different colour—they were black with Echila's name written in red in the corner. The letter 'A' in the centre had also changed to an 'E'; they were now truly like the other Everafters—no longer like mine.
However, she didn't just pull out two or four cards; she produced forty cards at once, each one completely beyond what anyone might have expected—missiles shot out from all forty cards and hurtled straight towards the witch. "HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!" she roared with laughter whilst continuing to fly round and round the witch and firing those missiles at her.
"Alice produced something like that…?" Romeo muttered, almost to himself, his dark eyes fixed on the witch's body, which had been so easily wounded. What was happening felt unreal, and even I still couldn't believe her energy could be so immense that she was capable of firing missiles time and time again.
Robin shook her head before trying to stand up again. "If that was the real Alice, she'd be dead from exhaustion by now," she said, her legs trembling, as she looked at all her colleagues sitting helplessly on the ground. "We've got to help her!"
"But how? If we go near her, there's a chance the missile might hit us, isn't there?" the female police officer asked, her hands already clenched tightly on her knees—a gentle hand reached out to take hers before holding it firmly; a man with grey cat-like ears, matching his hair, looked at Ciel with a face that screamed he would protect that woman no matter what.
The girl with blonde hair got back up from the ground and brushed the colourful, sugary sprinkles off her clothes. "Alice would never hurt her friends," she said with conviction; all eyes immediately turned to her—wondering what could make her so certain. "My intuition tells me that."
A pair of gigantic stone hands emerged from the black card and, without warning, forcibly prised open the witch's mouth—the witch screamed, but to no avail, as the missiles were immediately fired straight into her mouth, swimming down her throat and heading for her stomach; and that wasn't all, Echila produced a dozen time bombs and piled them onto the witch's tongue before flying down towards the ground.
"You don't need to do a thing," she said, before pulling a deckchair out of the card and lying down on it as if she were on a beach. "Though it's not New Year yet, you're going to see a massive fireworks display in three…"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A barrage of explosions instantly shattered the witch's head and body into pieces; blood spattered everywhere, and Echila looked disappointed at the sight. "Huh, looks like I set the timer too early," she said casually, the witch's legs immediately retreating back into the ravine until she was no longer visible.
Their bodies went rigid at the sight of the witch being so easily defeated like that; her red eyes darted towards Robin and a broad smile spread across her face. She leapt down from the bench and walked towards the man. "Oh? Robin! Now I can see you up close."
"Who are you really? You're not the Alice I know." Robin completely ignored the demon's greeting and chose to seek an answer immediately. His dark eyes stared seriously at Echila, his hands already clenched tightly, ready should he have to resort to force.
"What was the Alice you knew like, exactly? Arrogant, conceited, haughty?"
"You're forgetting that she was also kind and cared deeply for her friends; if you really were her—you'd definitely have asked us to go and keep ourselves safe."
"Ohh?" Echila couldn't help but laugh at what Robin had said; she kept laughing until her eyes watered. "Now I'm not surprised why Alice even thinks of you as her own brother—oh, for goodness' sake, now that I've said that, Alice will surely never want to swap control with me again." She actually said something so embarrassing that I won't be able to look Robin in the eye again later—Echila, you rascal!
"This can't be happening—THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING, CAN IT?!" A cry of frustration rang out from the sky; they all looked up and saw that the pink sky had begun to crack like glass. "BIG BROTHER, HOW COULD THEY HAVE DEFEATED THAT WITCH SO EASILY?! WHEN WE ALMOST DIED JUST FROM ENCOUNTERING HER?!"
"Don't worry, I'm here—stop whingeing for now," said a man, trying to calm his little sister; his voice sounded shattered. Slowly, the crack spread further and further before finally—SHATTERED—the world literally burst apart, and they could breathe in fresh air again after having to endure the sweet smell everywhere for every single second.
We found ourselves back where we'd been trapped before, atop a rooftop—a girl with orange hair in twin tails was curled up, held in the arms of the man beside her. "Go on, cry. I'll stay by your side." They all looked on with pity; their terrified faces made it hard to bring themselves to finish them off.
But Echila was not the sort to feel pity; she pulled out one of her black cards and from it—a black hand emerged, immediately clutching their bodies tightly. Their green eyes widened as both of them were dragged to the ground, their screams ringing out.
"Afraid? You really should be afraid of me." Echila smiled defiantly and couldn't help but feel amused at the sight of the siblings; her sharp, bloodshot eyes were enough to frighten them. "Now, I can see everything you've been holding back all this time," but before her hand could reach out, a firm hand gripped Echila's shoulder tightly.
"That's enough. Whoever you are, stop." When Echila turned round, she immediately saw that it was Robin who had stopped her from mutilating the girl. "Alice wouldn't do anything like what you're trying to do to them. So, give her body back to her." It didn't sound like an order; it was more like a heartfelt plea.
Echila turned round and her pale hand gently caressed Robin's cheek. "Can't you bear to watch a girl you consider your own little sister doing such a cruel thing? So it turns out your feelings are mutual, eh? How intriguing," Echila chuckled softly, Robin's hand clasping the demon's firmly before pulling her downwards. "Let me tell you, I'm not Alice—but you can call me Echila."
"All right, Echila—return Alice's body to her."
"Hehehe, you'll regret this later—but never mind, as this won't be the last time we meet. It's been lovely to meet you, Robin, and please look after your 'little sister'."
In that very instant, those red eyes turned back into diamond-blue, and her body—or rather, my body—immediately plummeted to the ground, only to be caught just in time by Robin. "Phew… Things are bound to get awkward between us later." Just as Hansel and Gretel spotted an opportunity to escape, the black hand vanished instantly as Echila disappeared too.
But before they could manage to escape, a thread and a rope bound both their hands; it was Snow's thread and Ciel's thick rope, which for some reason he carried around with him everywhere. They screamed and writhed, trying to break free. "Be quiet or die." Ciel's icy voice immediately silenced them. "You two are off to a special prison—and I hope you'll have your fill of what's on offer there."
My eyes flew open—and in that very instant, I found myself in Robin's embrace. On impulse, my hand shot out and struck him across the face. "PERVERT!" I screamed, sending the man flying backwards; my body nearly hit the ground, but my feet managed to brace me just in time.
"Well, I saw that coming…" Robin muttered, almost to himself, whilst rubbing the cheek I'd punched. Whilst Echila was controlling my body, I could see what she saw and heard what she said—and hearing Echila reveal exactly how I'd been looking at Robin made me want to tear his face to shreds.
"Forget everything Echila said."
"Oh? So you can still hear even when she isn't controlling your body? That means… you've heard plenty about—"
"FORGET. EVERY. SINGLE. WORD."
"Noted."