A woman with dark red hair sank to her knees on the ground, her hands covering her face before we could gradually hear her sobbing; no one dared to approach to comfort her—except for one person: her own daughter.
Rapunzel walked over; slowly and gently, she embraced her mother from behind. She didn't say a word, but that was precisely what made her mother weep uncontrollably—everyone watched in silence, with no one daring to utter a sound.
"Forgive me, Rapunzel…" she sobbed, "I… I've failed to be a good mother to you—all this time I've actually always blamed myself for what happened…"
"But believe me, everything I did was because I love you! I still remember when I used to feed you, when I'd stroke your short hair..."
Before her mother could say anything else, Rapunzel's embrace tightened, filled with a daughter's affection for her mother. "It's all right, Mother, I understand"
Everyone watched that heart-wrenching moment; I could even see a few police officers wiping back tears. I glanced at Alice, and she was in a 'don't bother me' mood for the time being, and the uneasy feeling in my heart grew stronger—I became even more certain of my hunch.
Margaret seemed to be speaking not to the daughter hugging her… but to another girl.
Before I could even think about who this girl was, I realised that our confrontation with the police officers would lead to a charge, and taking Rapunzel away could be considered kidnapping—and for the umpteenth time, we would be in court.
We'd been through this court case time and time again, and on this occasion, given the serious nature of our offence, we'd engaged our top lawyer for a situation like this.
After the court hearing finished, we were able to step outside and breathe in the air of victory. "Thanks, Rumple, you've saved us again" said Alice before sitting down and letting out a sigh of relief that it was finally over.
Near us, a small man smiled wryly; he had short curly brown hair and striking red shoes. "It's all right. Besides, helping you lot is the same as helping Mother—by the way, how is she?"
"You know Mother isn't going to give you a chance, don't you?" I replied, and the man named Rumpelstiltskin laughed—this bloke had the hots for Mother, and he showed it in a rather blunt manner.
"By the way... Just because you're Mother's favourite Fables doesn't mean you get an exception," he smiled, and Alice reached into her pocket and tossed the gold necklace towards him.
"I hope we can work together again."
"Oh, of course!" He said, examining the gold necklace with delight—now, we just had one more place to go.
We found ourselves standing in front of a maroon car; a girl with golden hair looked at us from inside the car and, in an instant, she ran over and hugged us. "You've actually come! I'm so happy!" Her hug was so tight that I struggled to break free.
"We're not the sort of people who'd just forget about you," Alice glanced back and saw Sullivan loading things into the boot of the car, "Are you sure you're moving?" she asked again, just to be sure.
Rapunzel released her embrace before laughing and replying, "Absolutely! We're starting a new life, and now it's not just with Mother, but with Mr. Sullivan too!" Her eyes practically sparkled; she glanced to the side and her cheeks flushed slightly, "…I'd be even happier if you came along… But I suppose that's asking too much."
Hearing that, Alice and I exchanged glances before her hand touched Rapunzel's hair and gently stroked it. "It's such a shame, but we have to stay here and keep London—our home—safe from all sorts of dangers. Seeing that, my hand reached out and pinched her cheek.
"You can look after yourself now, can't you? Don't do anything stupid," I said, and her soft cheek—to be frank—was fun to play with.
"Rapunzel! Come on, get in quickly, sweetie—we're leaving soon," her mother called from inside the car with a smile on her face. Hearing that, Rapunzel asked to wait a moment—she turned to us again, looking confused about how to say goodbye.
"We'll miss you, Rae," Alice said, and hearing that brought tears to her eyes. She turned to look at me, who hadn't said a word or followed up on Alice's words. "She doesn't want to admit it, but she feels the same way I do," she added, and at that, she immediately ran back and hugged us again.
"Thank you... I'm so grateful to have best friends like you," she said, her tears flowing and soaking our clothes. "I won't forget you... and I'll definitely get in touch as often as I can!"
Alice nodded, and a moment later the car carrying the three of them drove off, leaving the two of us alone. A long silence fell before I finally broke it. "Mission complete… how do you feel?" I asked, but she didn't even glance at me.
"We've always accepted any mission if we're capable of carrying it out… but I still feel bad about leaving Rapunzel with those two."
Our mission wasn't just to free Rapunzel from her chains, but we also had to try to kill her so she could get Everafter to protect herself, because, after all, once they reached the new place, only time would tell who would kill whom between Margaret and Sullivan in the fight over Rapunzel.