"Is that all? How boring," said the woman sitting in mid-air, folding her legs, whilst the other two Fables—Romeo and Snow—sighed with relief that it was all over. "Who's the strongest Fable you know?"
The two Fables immediately exchanged glances and turned their gaze back to Mirabelle. "Alice, perhaps? Her potential is truly extraordinary,' she replied. The woman tilted her head slightly, and the way she spoke piqued her interest.
But before she could explain further, Romeo's ears picked up the sound of someone approaching and shouting—he turned, and a green masquerade mask materialised to cover his face; with both arms, he parried the blow of a poisonous sword.
"Since when have you…?!" Romeo immediately pushed the figure back, sending them reeling; the masquerade mask turned blue and darted forward. His fist shot towards the woman's stomach, but to his shock—the blow passed right through her body, as if he'd struck nothing but smoke. "Fake?!"
Romeo shouted as the body of the woman named Miralda turned into green smoke that instantly engulfed her entire body. "Romeo!" Snow shouted and conjured five dolls bound by nets onto each of her ten fingers; she controlled the dolls as they ran forward, and as they entered the smoke—their tiny hands began to pull Romeo's body out.
After exerting a great deal of effort, Romeo was pulled out, his body covered with red wounds and blisters—his body slammed onto the ground and didn't move a muscle; he merely growled in pain.
"Mi—Mirabelle!" As Snow walked closer, a red shadow moved with incredible speed, snatching Romeo's body like a hawk seizing a fish from the sea. "H-Huh?!" The body had already vanished.
"Where—what?!" She looked all around but found no sign of Romeo; worry and panic began to fill her as her new colleague, with whom she'd only just started working, had vanished.
"Don't let your guard down," said Mirabelle, and a punch landed squarely on Snow's cheek, sending her flying through the air; the fact that the punch had made contact with her skin meant this was her true body. "Typical… and I did warn you," Mirabelle sighed, shaking her head, as Snow's body landed in her lap.
Her gentle hand touched Snow's pale skin where the blow had landed, and the pain vanished instantly. "Take heart, I'll help you," Mirabelle said, and Snow slowly descended until her feet touched the ground once more.
"Tie her legs," the woman commanded, and Snow nodded almost immediately; two dwarf puppets appeared and ran towards Miralda—the woman released poison from the palms of her hands, causing the puppets to bounce backwards. "A simple command like that, and yet you still can't manage it?"
"I'm sorry! It won't happen again!" Snow replied, and the doll vanished into thin air before a white light formed two more dolls—this time, they moved far more swiftly and dodged the barrage of poison aimed at them until, finally, they were able to close in, clasp Miralda's legs tightly and pin her in place.
"Well then, hold on," the pink-haired woman said, before rising back into the air and walking towards Miralda, who was struggling to shake off the dwarf clinging tightly to her leg.
Miralda roared, her pupils vanishing—replaced by a green glow radiating from both her eyes. From her palm, she unleashed a torrent of poisonous smoke at Mirabelle, who continued to walk leisurely with a mocking smile plastered across her face.
"Those of you blessed with faces pleasant to look at will never know the pain I inflict!" She began screaming in agony; the poisonous smoke grew ever thicker—yet all of the poison bounced off and not a single drop touched Mirabelle's skin.
"I've been shunned! Called a goblin, an orc and all manner of other repulsive creatures! Yet you, who've enjoyed the privilege of beauty since childhood, will never face such treatment"
"After I finally managed to attain the beauty I'd always wanted—after those scoundrels nearly bullied me to the point of taking my life!"
"You lot just turn up wanting to take it all away?!" Although she'd poured all her emotions and rage into her words, Mirabelle, standing right in front of her, didn't even give her a sorrowful or sympathetic glance.
"Cry about it," she replied curtly, causing Miralda to vent even more, to the point of exhausting all her energy.
"Miralda!" Snow called from behind and, with all her might, tried to hold the thread controlling Flint and Slate to keep the envious girl from moving anywhere. "I never hoped to have a beautiful face because none of that matters to me!"
"What's important is the friendship between souls who care for one another!" Snow emphasised, her face full of determination and her fingers beginning to turn red from the tight threads. "Beauty isn't everything!"
Far ahead, Mirabelle, who had heard this, offered a faint smile before turning towards Snow, who was kneeling, exhausted, her energy largely drained by her Everafter. "I don't agree with that," she replied, causing the girl with light ash-coloured hair to widen her eyes in shock—instantly, Mirabelle gathered all the poison in her hand into a single bundle and forcefully channeled it into her own mouth.
Miralda screamed, but her brain was unable to stop the poison pouring from her palm; this gave Mirabelle the opportunity to continue forcing it into her mouth. "Eat your fill, won't you? Don't leave a single trace—it'd be a waste." The poison had already begun to fill Miralda's body, from head to toe.
It was true that she had created the poison, but that didn't mean she couldn't be affected by it if forced—one of the dwarves could already feel that one leg had lost all strength, followed by the other, until eventually her body gave way and she collapsed to the ground.
"It didn't even make me break a sweat," Miralda sneered before turning away and walking off; Snow herself eventually collapsed to the ground as well—she had been protected from the toxic fumes by Mirabelle's powers, but the constant drain on her energy meant that, in the end, her body simply couldn't keep going.
"Snow—isn't it?" Her ears could still make out the sound of someone calling her; she turned around and saw Mirabelle had stopped walking, and their blue eyes met. "All of life's problems would be easier to deal with if you were pretty—that's why I disagree with you."
"Because in the end..." She refocused on the road ahead and her feet began to move again. "Beauty Is a Beast" Snow gaped and tried to make sense of the words uttered by the woman who remained shrouded in mystery.
She shook her head and looked up at the sun, which had almost set completely. "Romeo!" She suddenly remembered her friend who had vanished without a trace, "I've got to find him!"
Elsewhere, the man she was searching for lay on the grass in a dense forest—beside him was a girl with blonde hair, whose fringe covered her left eye. "All it takes is… this," she took another small bottle from her pocket and slowly poured the liquid inside into Romeo's mouth, as he lay still unconscious.
Shortly afterwards, all the wounds on Romeo's body slowly disappeared—soon his eyelids fluttered open, revealing the black pupils beneath. "Mngh…? Juliet…?" Although it was faint and he wasn't certain it was her, Romeo still called out her name—because she was the first person who came to mind.
"You're awake!" A broad smile spread across her face, but when she realised something, she immediately puffed out her cheeks, turned away, and crossed her arms. "Y-Yeah! If you hadn't woken up, I would've forced you to wake up by any means necessary!"
Hearing this, Romeo replied with a sincere smile. "Thank you, Juliet," the girl's lips immediately flushed, and she still did not so much as glance at the poor man lying there, limp and exhausted. "I owe you one."
"It's only right," said Juliet. Romeo mustered his strength to get up from the ground and sat down, leaning against a tree trunk. "Hey, don't push yourself! Your whole body's only just recovered from Miralda's poison, you know."
Romeo stared at the ground before his dark eyes locked onto Juliet beside him. "By the way… are you all right with helping me like this?" The question left the girl silent for a moment, her hands clenched tightly around the earth.
"I don't care anymore…" Juliet replied, still refusing to lift her head. "I'm staying in The Seven Sins because I was chosen directly by Lord Death—he's the one who formed this team."
Romeo was immediately intrigued by the story; he remained silent and let the girl continue. "I was supposed to join The False Epilogue, but… I haven't got my Bad Ending yet."
"A Bad Ending…?"
"I don't fully understand it myself, but until I've got that, I have to stay with The Seven Sins so that Lord Death can keep an eye on me."
Romeo's hand instinctively grasped Juliet's, and he showed no sign of wanting to pull away or let go. "Leave that team—and come with us; I swear I'll protect you from all manner of danger!" he declared, full of the determination and passion that shone in his eyes.
Juliet lifted her head and gazed into Romeo's eyes; time seemed to stand still, and before long a soft chuckle escaped her lips. "Silly, you said that so casually," she said, her cheeks flushing, though this time her smile remained fixed on her face.
Both their hearts were beating fast in perfect unison; without realising it, Juliet leaned forward, and the distance between them had narrowed so much that they could feel each other's breath. In that quiet forest, they were finally able to express the feelings they'd been hiding from one another all this time—feelings that had begun to grow the moment their eyes first met.