Stop.
I wanted to scream.
"It was Mia's idea, and my decision. Blame me. Tonelico is already on the boat you mentioned. It will all be over once you send her off."
I wished my insides would just burst. My chest was heavy, as if a stone had been placed upon it.
To make matters worse, Mia said this:
"Don't worry! Brother."
What?
"Tonelico and I look just alike, don't we? They'll definitely be fooled. Isn't that a relief?"
"How can you even say that right now?!"
I didn't even feel the pain anymore.
My body had been pierced, slashed, and had poured out a lake of blood, but it didn't hurt.
This was more agonizing.
"Does dying solve everything? If you die, if you and Mother die, what about Tonelico? What about me?"
My heart couldn't breathe.
"I'll be a worthless failure who couldn't protect the 'Clan of Rain' I called family, and couldn't even protect my real family, my sister and mother! Tonelico will live the rest of her life racked with guilt. You call that a relief?"
"I… I'm sorry, brother. I should have told you beforehand…."
No. That's not it.
"That's not what I'm talking about...…!"
"Calm down, my son."
Mother's hand touched my cheek.
Her touch, which had always been so warm, was cold today.
As if to soothe me, Mother whispered in a gentle voice.
"Do you remember Tonelico's dream?"
"…To create a peaceful country. A country where people live understanding and caring for each other through dialogue."
"Though we will die here, I know Tonelico will surely make that dream come true."
"Please, stop saying such strange things. There's no way that's possible. You didn't believe it either, Mother."
Mia spoke from a distance.
"Why not? It's Tonelico. She's super smart, and super strong! I believe she can do it."
"How can she do it alone?"
"The world is wide, and there are many fairies, right? Besides the 'Clan of Rain,' there must be other fairies who wish for peace."
My head was burning.
I slapped away my mother's hand without thinking and glared at Mia.
"Those crazy clans united to come and slaughter us. Cal is dead, Scarlett is dead, everyone is dead. The only ones left are you, Mother, and Tonelico. Do you really think those blood-crazed bastards truly wish for peace?"
I needed to shove the heartless truth down their throats. But there was no time, no leeway for that.
"You say something too, Mother! You should be telling her, 'Why solve things with words when you can just take it by force'!"
Just as Mia flinched.
*Slap.* Mother struck my cheek.
Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.
"Then must we fight for all eternity?"
"…What?"
"Tonelico is the 'Fairy of Paradise.' The enemy of fairies. So must she live her entire life being chased by fairies, fighting until she is on the brink of death?"
That… couldn't happen.
She was a child who loved to read books.
She was a good fighter, but to do it for her whole life would be no different from a punishment.
I couldn't give her such a wretched existence. That would be an unhappy life for Tonelico.
"Above all, you yourself wrote a children's story about the importance of communication. [The Fox Yokai and the Father]."
"That's my favorite book!"
"And you are the one to deny Tonelico's dream?"
I was ashamed.
Mother believed in Tonelico, but I had not. I was so terribly ashamed of that fact.
"That is why we die here. The story of the 'Fairy of Paradise' and the 'Clan of Rain' who protected her ends here, and a new story will begin."
"What kind of story?"
"I've already thought of one! [The Legend of the Savior Tonelico], the story of a savior who makes Britain a land of peace! How about it?"
I wanted to condemn Mia for her cheerful tone, but the unwavering look in her eyes silenced me.
Mother was the same.
I knelt before that golden spirit.
"Do you really believe that? If the Fairy of Paradise and the Clan of Rain die, and the Savior Tonelico appears… will she be happy?"
"I believe in Tonelico's dream, and her happiness."
"I believe in it too!"
Tears flowed without me realizing it.
Mother hugged me.
"My son. You must help her. It will be hard for Tonelico alone. I am sorry that I cannot help."
"Brother, you're not from the 'Clan of Rain,' so most of them won't know you. Ah! But don't forget we're family!"
"Mother… Mia…."
That warmth… it was driving me insane.
Reason told me it was impossible.
But my body and my heart were accepting it.
It seems I truly am a part of this fairy family.
This golden spirit… that doesn't lose hope even in the face of death….
"…Ah."
Just then, I felt something snap in my head.
My burning-hot brain cooled in an instant.
It felt as if my body was declaring that it would move no more.
When I had forced my way through the encirclement, I had felt something break.
My limit had just been reached.
I collapsed on the spot.
"…ther?"
"…Mia… is that… you…."
No.
My eyelids wouldn't open.
I didn't even have the strength to peel off the crusted blood.
If I close my eyes now, I'll regret it for the rest of my life.
But my eyes wouldn't open.
I woke up just fine back then.
Why today. Why now.
"...Heeheehee!"
Laughter woke me from my slumber.
I was in the same place I had collapsed. The office on the second floor.
But the space where the window had been was torn out, wall and all.
Through the gaping hole, I could look down at the hill below.
I crawled on the floor. I approached the opening.
My body was as heavy as if I were carrying a load of iron.
The sweat and blood I had shed a bucketful of mixed together, creating a terrible stench.
But from somewhere, the faint smell of grilling meat drifted to me.
An ominous thought surfaced in my mind and refused to leave.
This time, on the contrary, my intuition was screaming that the moment I saw it, I would never be able to forget it.
It was shouting at me not to look, for my own sake.
Just a mere intuition.
I ignored it and crawled across the floor, and finally, I was able to look down at the hill below.
Where were Mother and Mia?
"Kyahahat! Look at this! I wove the fingers together to make a hat! It's sticky, but it's not half bad, right?"
"You should see my sewing skills! I attached the arms where the legs should be, and the legs where the arms should be!"
My body froze.
My mouth hung open, unable to close.
Two giant crosses had been erected on the hill.
Each had a name carved into it.
'Traitor' and 'Fairy of Paradise, Vivian.'
Mother's corpse had everything reversed.
Her arms and legs, her hips and chest were attached backwards.
Pieces of her skin, roughly flayed with a knife, had become toys for the fairies.
Her head was attached upside down, so her neck faced the sky.
There was no way to know what expression Mother had worn when she died.
"This is a little tough."
"Well, she was tough when she was dying too. Of course it is!"
It was because the fairies were gnawing on her scalp.
Between the fairies' greedy teeth, a few strands of golden hair could be seen.
I couldn't look away.
"Who wants to play ball with the Fairy of Paradise's head! First come, first served! Me! One person, done!"
"Hey! That's not fair!"
"I'd like to join in as well. Khuhuhu."
"No~ way!"
The mischievous Mia.
My ever-smiling little sister was dead.
Beheaded.
"Wanna see me trap it? Hup!"
A fairy was bouncing her head up and down.
With each bounce, blood splattered into the air.
I couldn't take my eyes off the oval-shaped thing spinning in the air.
My sister's final expression was one of terror.
Dried tears stained her face, and her eyes and mouth were stretched wide open as if they would tear.
The girl who had so calmly said she would die in Tonelico's place had, in the end.
Died in terror.
Her body on the cross had been hacked to pieces by a sword, a testament to how desperately she had struggled to live.
"Dribbling the Fairy of Paradise's head! Whoosh whoosh… huh?"
"Hey, what the heck. It burst! You should've kicked it a little softer!"
"Tch. Well, I guess we can play with that instead."
The moment my eyes met those of the dead Mia,
her head burst.
Brain matter exploded, spraying blood everywhere.
The image of Mia's face, just before it burst, remained as an afterimage before my eyes.
"Ugh. Gross."
"How annoying. She was a pain when she was crying and screaming, and now this is even more irritating!"
The fairies laughed, as if annoyed that they had gotten blood on them.
The crosses were gradually consumed by the flames of hell.
The two fairies died like that.
"So, shall we head back now?"
"I'm for it! I'm bored of this now."
"I wish to enjoy this more. I can smell the remaining fairies."
"Maybe I'll stay too? I want to jump rope with some intestines!"
No flame ignited in my heart.
Instead, it grew chillingly cold. My burning body and soul turned to ice.
Mother and Mia were wrong.
The utterly naive 'Clan of Rain' was dead. They had gone extinct, clinging to a vain hope.
Those things were not worthy of dialogue, nor did they have the right to enjoy peace.
"You are creatures that should not exist."
They must all be killed.
To make the world clean. To protect those who are more beneficial.
They must be cleansed.
I carved it into my soul.