My eyes felt light again; when I opened them, I found myself in a small room behind iron bars. Next to me, a man lay unconscious, his ginger hair covering one of his eyes. I crawled closer before shaking his shoulder. "Robin, wake up." His dark eyes began to appear from beneath his eyelids.
"…Alice?" He uttered my name; slowly, he sat up on the creaking wooden floor, looking around as he tried to work out where he was now. "I never thought I'd end up behind bars after all." The fact that he could still joke to lighten the mood meant he was all right.
"But being captured twice by people from the same organisation wasn't on my to-do list this year." He slowly braced himself on his feet and walked towards the bars before gripping the iron; he seemed to be gauging just how strong it was and whether he could bend it. "Bloody hell, this is impossible. Alice, do you have a plan?"
Robin turned to look at me, sitting there silently; our eyes met and I gave a nod in answer to his question. "No." Although the words that came out of my mouth suggested otherwise, it didn't confuse Robin in the slightest; in fact, he immediately understood what I was trying to do.
"Is that so? It's impossible even for you," she said, walking over and sitting right beside me. The reason my gesture and the words that came out of my mouth differed was because there might be someone eavesdropping on our conversation, and I didn't want that to happen at all.
Before long, the sound of creaking wood grew louder outside our cell, and it was only a matter of moments before the figure revealed himself—a man with a hideous face and bluish skin, wearing the sort of clothes a pirate might wear, though they were full of tears and rips, showing that he really didn't care about his appearance. "You're awake, I see," he said; from the way he looked at us, he regarded us as though we were animals in a cage.
For a moment, nobody said a single word, because I was afraid it would be taken as a question that would be answered, causing me to lose the chance to ask something important. "What is a 'Bad Ending'?" It was something that really intrigued me and kept nagging at me.
Yet that question wasn't enough to rattle him; he still stood upright with his hands clasped behind his back—I didn't know whether he would answer or not, but all I knew was that I wanted that answer to put my mind at ease. "When a Fable meets a tragic fate, their soul—which is bound to Everafter—will begin to slowly devour their flesh, after which they will lose their purpose in life."
"Anyone who sees their friend suffer a Bad Ending will immediately fail to recognise the person they once called a friend, because the Bad Ending also strips the victim of their identity and transforms them into a new being."
"Yet such a heavy price must surely yield a commensurate reward, for the Bad Ending is not truly the end for Fables, but rather a new beginning with abilities that are no longer the same."
"Satisfied?"
I was speechless, Mother. Someone I'd always regarded as the one who understood Fables best had never even alluded to it, as if it were unimportant—but I shouldn't have been surprised, as Mother did indeed keep many secrets from me and the other Fables. Still, a revelation like this left me utterly stunned. "...Is this like a Fairytale?"
"Fairytale?" Robin interjected; I'd just remembered that I hadn't explained it to Robin yet, but this wasn't the moment for that.
"Oh? So you know about Fairytale—turns out you're not quite that clueless after all," Jones sneered.
"I am clueless!" Robin raised his hand; of all of us, he was the only one who knew little about this.
"But I won't be answering any more of your questions; as I said—one day, one question." Hearing that, I was suddenly struck by something I'd only just realised.
"Wait, what do you mean… has another day passed since we met?" The question made him raise an eyebrow; from his expression, I'd already got the answer I needed—so we'd been trapped here for a whole day.
She turned to the side before speaking. "Just sit quietly here, because this might well be the last time you'll get a chance to rest." Whether it was a suggestion or a threat, I didn't know, but she walked away, leaving us in confusion—yet that was the moment I'd been waiting for; hidden in my pocket was a fairy who'd been there all along.
"Tinkie, get me the key to this prison," I asked, but the fairy seemed reluctant and frightened; it was only natural she'd feel that way—he could easily turn that beautiful fairy into an ugly half-fish creature. "If you do it, I'll give you as much honey as you want!"
Her ears pricked up immediately and she turned towards me with a broad smile, even wider than her own eyes; an enthusiastic jingle rang out as she said she'd demand her reward once we were out of here. "I swear it." Upon hearing this, Tinkie darted out of the cell and approached Jones from behind; she fluttered silently into the man's pocket and, with all her might, pulled the key to our cell out—the key was larger than the fairy herself.
In the end, the fairy managed to pull the key out, but—TINKLE—the tinkling sound immediately caught Jones's attention, making him turn round, only to find a draught of air—Tinkie herself, hiding behind the bars of the empty cell.
Tinkie breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the sound of Jones's footsteps fading into the distance; she poked her head out between the bars and, seeing that the coast was clear—she immediately fluttered off as fast as she could towards the cell where I was explaining what a 'Fairytale' was to Robin. "Tinkie, well done!" I praised, pausing in my explanation. "You've understood what I've been explaining, haven't you, Ronin?"
"Yes, but there are still plenty of things I'll want to ask Mother later," Robin replied just as the cell door was unlocked. "And I'll demand an answer," he said, taking his first step out—his head darting about to make sure no one could be spying on him.
"Alice, come out – it's safe!" He reassured me, and the moment I stepped out—we immediately heard the sound of creaking wood; it wasn't the sound my feet made, but that of another set of feet. Our eyes slowly glanced to the side to see the person who had caught us red-handed, and it was a girl with light tan skin and dark hair; her purple eyes widened as she saw us making our escape.
"Alice—!" Before she could call out, Robin darted forward and clamped her hand firmly over the mouth of the girl called Liz—any scream would immediately alert the rest of the crew, who would then swarm us. "Mmhh, sorry!" I raised my finger to signal that we shouldn't make a sound or say anything; she nodded and Robin slowly lowered her hand.
"…I'm glad you're safe," whispered Liz. Tinkie handed us the cell key, which I immediately slipped into my pocket—Liz's face showed gratitude and happiness at seeing us free from behind those bars once more.
I didn't let it show, but I too was glad that he hadn't been turned into a man-fish by Jones. "Liz, tell us what's happening outside," I said as I walked closer; upon hearing this, she nodded immediately.
"The Heart of the Sea, which we managed to take, has been seized by Jones… Then Captain Hook has become unlike his usual self," Liz reported, stealing a glance towards the street outside; a sigh full of desperation and frustration was palpable. "And we have to follow a captain to whom we haven't even sworn allegiance."
"What should we do now, Alice?" He walked closer, bringing the distance between us down to just a few centimetres before I took a step back—his clenched fists were trembling, whilst I rested my chin on my hand, trying to work out a way to resolve this situation.
"Robin, make a hole in the wall and make sure it's as quiet as possible—after that, we'll sneak in and knock out the whole crew, so that Jones can't turn them into fish-men and make them attack us." Hearing this, Robin immediately nodded and a greenish light appeared, forming an arrow.
He walked up to the wooden wall and from the tip of the arrow—a spark flew before a small flame flared up, and instantly he drove it into the wall; the fire spread rapidly whilst we waited for Tinkie to sprinkle us with pixie dust, making our bodies as light as feathers. However, there was one thing we hadn't anticipated: the billowing smoke made us stand out terribly—the sound of approaching footsteps could be heard.
And it turned out to be Captain Hook's crew, their skin turning pale blue just like Jones'. Before they could do anything—roots had already shot out from my card and bound them all together. We immediately kicked them into the cell where we'd been unconscious earlier and locked the door; I covered their mouths with roots so they couldn't shout or call for help.
"Let's go now!" I urged, before soaring through the hole created by the fire burning through that wall; once through it—I pulled out the card and doused the flames with water before taking to the air once more, determined to complete this mission today.