Just as Holmes could bear to look any longer, his hand moved instinctively to shut the door—but he thought he heard someone's voice; it wasn't coming from the room in front of Holmes, but from further ahead.
The voices seemed to be calling out both their names and before Holmes could say anything to Alice, she flew straight into the room she'd said she didn't want to enter. In her hand was a card from which a clenched fist made of stone emerged—SMASH—the fist had already smashed through the wall.
When she entered the room ahead of her, she saw it was filled with torture devices. "Hey, up here," a voice sounded above her head, a voice very familiar to Alice's ears.
As she turned and looked up, she saw Robin and me chained by both feet and hands. "Sooner than I thought," Robin said, and I agreed with a nod.
"Why? Do you want to stay here?" Alice flew up, using a lock pick made from her card to pick my handcuffs. "You'd better explain what's going on, Red" she said after successfully freeing my left hand and was working on the right one.
"I don't mean to spoil this touching reunion, but could you call Holmes over and ask him to let me go?" Robin asked from beside us.
"Unchain yourself, Greenie."
"Hey! What do you mean?!"
"Oh, that's a good nickname."
"No, it isn't!"
And the man in question had already entered the room and lifted his head to look at us, chained together. "Holmes! Help me! As men, we have to help each other, don't we?!"
"This is the very last thing I wanted to happen," he said to himself.
"Don't ignore me, for God's sake!" shouted Robin, annoyed and frustrated at not having received any help so far.
Holmes immediately floated into the air, and Alice threw a lock pick at him because the one used to unlock the door earlier was too big to open the handcuffs.
Once all the handcuffs were off, I was immediately picked up and carried like a princess being carried by her knight. "Thank you," I said, and that made Alice look away, her cheeks flushing—she'd normally just react normally, you know.
We slowly descended to the floor and she set me down gently; once my feet touched the ground, she immediately examined me from head to toe. "Apart from your jacket being torn again, are you hurt?" she asked.
"I'm hungry."
"I knew it..." She shook her head as if she couldn't believe what she'd heard.
"Mr. Loxley? Have you been crying?" Holmes said, and that made Robin's face go as red as a tomato—though, to be fair, it was already pretty obvious from his red eyes and puffy under-eyes.
Hearing that, Alice nudged me, "Red, how did you mock him so much that he ended up like that? You're actually quite cruel, aren't you?" she said, but when she glanced over, she saw that I was actually smiling with sincerity.
I glanced over and our eyes met; I tilted my head in confusion at his surprised expression. "Why?" I asked, was it that strange when I smiled?
Before Alice could reply, we heard a door creak open with a long, heavy groan. When we turned round, we saw a man with a blue beard walking in. "Well, I never expected all my targets to gather here, though there's a little pipsqueak here who doesn't want to be here," he said, glancing at Holmes, who was setting Robin down.
"Even though you've gathered, you still can't possibly beat me, you know," said Gilles arrogantly, "Only the Three Gods of Neverland can stop me!"
He laughed and I could see that my teammates were annoyed by his confidence, whilst I myself had another question. "What do you mean by the Three Gods of Neverland?" I asked, and instantly Gilles's laughter stopped and all eyes turned to me; the room, which had previously been tense, fell flat the moment I asked.
"So you're actually stupid, are you?" asked Gilles.
"You're not being serious, are you?" asked Robin.
"Are you sure you haven't been watching too many Chaplin films?" asked Holmes.
Alice walked over and placed her hand on my shoulder before sighing and adopting a pitying expression. "I'll be your private tutor after this." I genuinely felt humiliated now.
We refocused on Gilles, who was pulling out his Everafter—a golden key—BANG—my shotgun bullet whizzed towards him, forcing him to abandon his attempt to open the door to save himself.
"Don't let him use his Everafter," I shouted as I ran. Before he realised it, I was in front of Gilles, who was about to materialise a door, but my elbow had already landed in his stomach, sending him flying backwards.
Alice leaps into the air and, from her card, summons a clenched fist made of stone, hurling it towards Gilles lying on the floor. Gilles tries to open the door but—SMASH—the fist strikes him, sending him crashing through the floor. He lies sprawled in agony, several teeth knocked loose from his mouth.
WHOOSH
An arrow whizzed past and lodged itself in Gilles' abdomen. "It's poisoned," said the person who fired the shot. Robin walked closer and looked at him, motionless.
"Where's your arrogance now?" Alice asked with a smug grin on her face.
I glanced over and noticed his wrist moving; I leapt to stop him, but it was too late—the door had already opened and he plunged inside, with me accidentally following him in.
When I stepped out of the door, I landed on solid ground and saw that we were back in England—specifically on London Bridge. From the doorway, my teammates followed suit, leaping through and landing back where they'd come from.
Far ahead of us, Gilles stood with a battered face and, without saying a word, he immediately moved his hand as if opening a door, and instantly—dozens of doors appeared all around us.
"Bloody hell... YOU LOT, YOU BASTARDS! I'LL WIPE YOU OUT UNTIL YOU'RE UNRECOGNISABLE!" He screamed, full of rage and frustration.
"My name is Gilles Moreau, I'm the leader of The False Epilogue! I AM DEATH ITSELF!"