I do not own Dictatorial Grimoire.
Amelia and Cinderella stood and turned to where Otogi's voice was coming from, seeing a black blur as Bremen flew out of the hole in the floor and moved towards them, Otogi and Jacob on his back. The Grimm boy sat behind where his father lay on the creature's back, the older blond seemingly unconscious.
Bremen stopped just in front of the two, Otogi sliding off his back and helping his cousin and Cinderella gently set his father on the ground. The girl placed two fingers on the side of Jacob's neck just under his jaw, checking for a pulse. Nothing. The spell really did stop his heart when the seal was stabbed with the dagger.
She gazed up at her cousin, who had a hopeful look in his eyes, and sadly shook her head.
"I'm sorry. We weren't able to stop my father in time."
Otogi stared dumbfounded at her. "So, he's-?"
Amelia nodded. "He's gone. I'm sorry."
"Wilhelm stopped his heart before we could stop him," Cinderella explained, wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulders in an effort to comfort her, knowing all of this had taken a large toll on her.
"Where is hee-haw, anyway?" Bremen asked, looking around.
Amelia reached down and picked up the paper at her feet, showing it to them. Otogi took the document from her and examined it, noticing the figure of a puppet master was printed onto it.
"I locked him away in this page," she explained as he handed the page back to her, folding and stuffing the paper into one of her pockets. "Now he can't harm anyone just because he wants to."
"She used the same spell that the brothers performed when they made their "agreement" with me over two hundred years ago," the silver-haired Märchen demon added. "Wilhelm was about to recreate my page, but Amelia countered it and caused the spell to affect him instead."
The room started to shake suddenly, the hole in the floor growing larger.
'The structure of the room was weakened when the floor caved in!' the group realized at the same time.
Cinderella quickly pulled Otogi and Amelia onto Bremen's back, jumping on behind them as the creature began to beat its wings and takeoff. Moments later, the floor collapsed under them as they reached the exit, taking out part of the floor in the hallways with it.
Amelia, sandwiched between her cousin and Cinderella, sadly looked behind them at the damage triggered by everything that had transpired only a few moments ago. She replayed everything over in her head, especially the memories she had seen from her father before she sealed him away. Those were the images she lingered over the most.
She saw and heard everything through her father's point of view. She observed him cast the curse that would let him stop his elder brother's heart at any time he wished. She watched as he forced Jacob to help him form the Grimoire by creating the Märchen demons pages. She saw the two brothers create the "agreement" Cinderella was forced into over two hundred years ago. She beheld him put the same curse on Otogi as the one he cast on Jacob. She witnessed all this and everything in-between, not fully knowing how to react to the crimes he'd committed against those around him.
The girl bowed her head slightly, letting out a forced but silent exhale of air. This didn't go totally unnoticed, though.
"Are you alright?" Cinderella asked, whispering into her ear so as not to draw Otogi's or Bremen's attention to them.
Amelia remained silent, but nodded anyway. She hoped he wouldn't try to pry too deep into the subject. She really didn't want to share what she'd witnessed from her father's memories.
It seemed like he wanted to say more, but dropped the subject when their friends came into view as Bremen stopped flying and began walking towards the exit, every one of them waiting outside of the building. By that time, the inside of the building looked like what you would expect when entering after seeing the outside.
Spider webs lined almost every corner, peeling paint flaked from the walls as the slight air movement from their passing hit it, the windows were smashed in, the drapes lining said windows were battered and faded…It looked like an old school building instead of the grand palace they were met with when they first entered the structure.
()()()()
"All of that really happened?" Hiyori asked, everyone having heard Amelia's and Cinderella's accounts of what had happened between them and Wilhelm. They didn't leave out many details, though they did leave some parts vaguer than others. One of the occurrences the two did want to exclude, for now at least, was the kiss.
All of this took place after Amelia removed the curse from her cousin, which to do so she had to use the dagger while the seal was activated to draw at least a drop of his blood from the part of the mark where the image of the dagger met the image of the heart. She then destroyed the dagger so no one could use it to curse anyone again. Now the curse was completely removed from Otogi, only a small cut that would barely leave a scar remaining from where Amelia drew his blood.
The brunette Grimm nodded at Hiyori's question, stroking Bremen's head as he sat on her lap, nodding off. It had been a long day, so it wasn't surprising some of them were tired.
"So you didn't capture any of the members of team Jäger?" she asked, curious about what had happened with the others.
They shook their heads, Rapunzel speaking up when no one else did.
"They ran off before we could finish our battles."
"The brats probably realized they didn't stand a chance against us," Snow added, obviously referring more to Hansel and Gretel than Bluebeard and Puss in Boots.
Sorimachi scoffed lightly. "I didn't get a good fight with Nekota like last time when we were rescuing Cinderella. His phone rang in the middle of our match, and he disappeared saying he couldn't stay because his work was summoning him."
Amelia giggled slightly. "That's what happens when you face off with someone who has work other than battling as a Märchen demon. Especially when they're working as a music producer, like Puss in Boots is. He's likely buried in his work with his clients when he's not busy dealing with us."
She paused for a moment, thinking something over.
"Do you think he has a job as a music producer so he can keep working as Puss in Boots without anyone realizing it?"
"I wouldn't doubt it," Cinderella answered from his seat next to the girl, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer.
"Did we miss something?" Red asked, slightly smirking at the two.
At his comment, the others began to take notice of their behavior too.
"Yeah, you in love or something?" Snow asked jokingly, grinning widely at them, expecting them to retort to his words.
Instead, Amelia blushed and hid her expression in the silver-haired Märchen demon's overcoat as she felt herself begin to smile uncontrollably, said Märchen demon gently smiling down at her as she did so and drawing her even closer.
Rapunzel squealed, hugging Otogi tightly from where she stood behind him.
"They are!" she exclaimed.
"When did that happen?" Sorimachi asked.
Amelia felt her blush deepen as the others continued their teasing and questions. She got the hunch Red knew more about the two of them than the rest of the group did. Of course, he's been around Cinderella the longest from what she was told, so it shouldn't have surprised her that he caught on to their attraction quicker than the others.
After a few moments, Cinderella gingerly squeezed the brunette Grimm's shoulder, causing her to look up at him.
"I can take you up to your room, if you wish," he offered. "You must be exhausted after everything that's happened."
The girl nodded her head, grateful for the distraction as she carefully set Bremen down on the couch next to her, opposite from Cinderella, in an attempt to keep from waking him up. She prepared to stand, but before she could, she was abruptly scooped up from her spot on the couch and into Cinderella's arms.
She clutched onto the Märchen demon's overcoat as he headed for the stairs, one arm under her knees and the other around her back. She rested her head on his chest, suddenly feeling more tired than she originally thought she was.
The others had grown silent at the scene, unsure of how to take this unusual behavior from the silver-haired man. They then began to whisper quietly among themselves.
Once the two entered Amelia's room, Cinderella strolled over to her bed and sat her on it, giving her a quick peck on the lips before pressing his forehead against hers lovingly.
"I made the mistake of not telling the Ash Princess I loved her. I refuse to make that same mistake with you," he stated, making the girl smile.
With that, he left her room to rejoin the group downstairs. Once she knew the silver-haired Märchen demon was out of hearing range, Amelia flopped back on the bed and sighed happily, letting sleep take over as her exhaustion finally caught up with her. She had a good home and an even better family now. Despite all the trouble that had occurred after she arrived in Japan, she knew everything had turned out alright.