"You lot just stand back—I can handle this on my own." The woman immediately took up a fighting stance; her men, hearing her command, immediately stepped back and made room for us to fight.
"Red, are you ready?"
"Oh? Can't think of another colour name right now?"
"Don't tempt me."
BANG—A bullet whizzed towards Ciel without warning, but she quickly dodged it. I ran towards her and when I was in front of her—I crouched down and tried to attack, but she jumped and swung her sword, which I blocked with my shotgun.
From behind, roots began to crawl and attack Ciel; she was able to quickly dodge them with agility—none of our attacks injured or even hit her—SLASH—the sword sliced through the roots, cutting them into pieces.
She ran, and the tip of the blade stabbed towards me repeatedly. I parry and dodge the sword's blade, I leap backwards towards Alice; I glance at my jacket, which is slashed.
Ciel is the only human I know who can keep up with us, The Fables. "Red, switch." She whispers. It takes me a while to grasp what she means; I nod and let Alice run forward.
Alice produced two cards and, from within them, an ice sword emerged, immediately attempting to slash at Ciel—only for the ice sword to be swiftly shattered by Ciel's own blade. From the left card emerged another ice sword, its tip aimed straight at the stomach of the woman with navy-blue hair, which was once again easily shattered by the steel blade.
Alice ducked and—BANG—my shotgun bullet flew towards Ciel; seeing this, her eyes widened and she reflexively jumped, causing the bullet to fly past beneath her. Instantly, as Ciel looked down, she saw Alice's cards embedded in the floor—from within the four cards, roots shot out and immediately wrapped around both Ciel's legs and arms, trapping her in mid-air.
"Gotcha"
Ciel growled, "Let me go, fables!" She writhed, trying to break free, though it was impossible because the root bindings could immobilise even a bear. Seeing their boss had been defeated, her minions immediately pointed their weapons at the two of us.
We couldn't escape from here on land, forcing us to take to the air; I looked towards the clock tower and saw that the stone tower lifting Rapunzel and Sullivan had vanished; we had to rescue them from up there first before leaving.
Up there, Rapunzel saw us, though it was very difficult for her from that height. "I can hardly see… what's happening? Who's winning?" she wondered, squinting her eyes in the hope of seeing more clearly.
"Don't move too much, or you'll fall!" said Sullivan worriedly. Rapunzel was casually—or rather, recklessly—crawling, and if she slipped even slightly, she would certainly fall and plunge down.
Rapunzel turned towards Sullivan before saying, "I mean, they're my first female friends! If anything happens to them, I can't imagine how I'd feel! We haven't got to know each other properly yet; there's still so much I don't know about them, and I've got so many questions I want to ask them! When we get down, I'll go straight to check on them both; I—"
On the ground, the men slowly advanced towards us, still pointing their weapons at us. Before any of us could say a word, I heard a scream—I turned towards the sound and my eyes widened in shock when I saw something, or rather someone, falling from the clock tower.
The scream was followed by a man calling her name, "Rapunzel!" The man jumped after her and reached out to grab the golden-haired girl's hand, but their hands were too far apart to touch.
I glanced over and saw Alice, who was already holding the cards in her hand; her hands were shaking and sweat was beginning to run down her cheeks. We let them plunge to their deaths because that was the mission we'd been given—we had to try to kill her.
"Fables! You have the power to save her but you won't do it?!" Ciel shouted, her voice even becoming hoarse.
We didn't reply and let Rapunzel experience the moment we'd once felt—the moment of near-death.
In the air, her hair suddenly emitted a golden light so bright it made it hard for us to see; the light formed something on her head, and when it faded—a white tiara appeared. In an instant, Rapunzel's blonde hair grew long and formed a safety net made of her own hair; she landed without a single scratch, as did Sullivan, who fell into her golden hair.
"What… What on earth was that?" Ciel gaped in shock, her eyes unable to believe what she'd just seen.
Alice was both surprised and grateful that Mother's prediction had proved correct; she had become one of us—Alice glanced at Ciel before finally replying, "It is the birth of a new Everafter, and a new Fable has been born."