Tao winced as a bright light spiraled out of the book, blinding her and Katyusha in the process. Blinking away the spots in her eyes, Tao looked around where the spell had taken place. There was a crowd of the townspeople, confused looking as they tried to figure out what had just happened, Alfred lying down like he had been in the story. Tao cried out in joy and ran to hug Kiku and Heracles who appeared in front of the group, crowding over a small area. She stopped though, as she saw just what, or who in this case, they were standing above. Oliver's small frame was still sickly as she had seen before the month of trying to fix the stories, weak, and looking brittle to the touch. "Did we…? Is he…?" Tao couldn't voice her question.

"He's alive. We got to him in time." Heracles assured her. Tao choked out a sigh of relief before sweeping Oliver's head into her wings. She wasn't even bothered by the fact that she was still enchanted.

The rest of the town started to come out of their daze, some of them leaning on each other and hushing questions. There was one voice that Tao couldn't help but focus on. "That was very unpleasant. Let's not do that again, da?"

Her head shot up in the direction of the Russian prince's voice. Ivan was alive. "Ivan!" She yelled in surprise. Oliver twitched below her, but stayed asleep. The other swan froze before turning to look at her, and let out a squawk of happiness, running to her side and embracing him with his own wings. "I thought that-"

"I did too." Ivan said. "I waited to be able to do this." His beak pressed against hers. Tao froze before falling into the kiss, closing her eyes. Gasps sounded from all around them, and she could feel that something was different. Opening her eyes, she saw that Ivan was once again the scary Russian man that she and Oliver had met on the streets. This time, however, he was less frightening.

"How…?" She asked, looking at herself, to find that she was in her old outfit from the party, the one that had fallen off of her when she had transformed, though now it was a bit more to look at, small sequins lining the edges.

"I told you it would work!" Katyusha exclaimed from her spot far off. "True love's kiss breaks any curse, and by golly you have the most true love filled town in existence."

"I thought we needed a princess."

"I said true love was an option as well."

"Then why not have done that to begin with?"

"Er, yeah, you guys were almost there, but not all the way. But it seems the month apart synched the deal."

"Wait, wait, wait…true love exists?" Gilbert asked, standing next to his wife, Elizabeta.

"Of course, you're a living example of it. Just look at how you two fit together."

"But I thought-"

"Exactly, you're wife is right about you on that part. You should leave the thinking to her." Elizabeta gave a smirk and elbowed her husband who just gaped in shock.

"Okay, here is a better and more important question. What just happened?" Arthur asked.

"For once, my son-in-law asked a bright and actually good question." Alice agreed.

"I'm right next to you."

"Shut up you twat." Alice smacked him with her cane, earning a glare.

"You were all trapped in Oliver's reality." Tao spoke, brushing her charge's hair as she spoke. It seemed breaking Jacque's spell had finally stopped the toll it was taking on him. Speaking of Jacque, she looked around to see that Katyusha was sitting on top of him, a gag in his mouth. Tao shook her head, and tried to stop from laughing.

"Continue, Tao-san. I don't believe that they understand." Kiku urged.

"Alright, where do I start?"

"Why were we all sent back to the medieval period?" Ludwig asked. "And why was Felicia there?" The pain in his eyes was prevalent, and Tao avoided his gaze.

"Oliver created a world based on the stories that I read him to help him sleep. He was convinced that the happy endings there would fix everything, including the past." Tao sighed. "Each one of you was put in as a character for a reason."

There was silence before Ludwig asked, "Was Felicia Sleeping Beauty because she's in a coma?"

Tao nodded solemnly. "He wants you to wake her up. She had always been so kind to him. He just wants to see you two happy."

"Why was I a pirate prince thing?" Arthur asked.

"You are the king of England in Oliver's eyes because you are the chief of the police, and always a fair judge. You help everyone along with Amelia. He chose Cinderella for her because she works so hard to help others, but never gets enough recognition for it. She has helped me find many jobs over the years."

"Crap, do I not recognize you enough?" Arthur turned to Amelia.

"You're one of the only ones that does. That's how you save her, along with forcing her to take a break, which she does with you as well." Tao assured him. "And Alice is the fairy godmother since she basically takes care of the whole town and is the oldest person here that Oliver knows of, with her friends Lukas and Nicoleta being the other two fairies."

"Mari." Lukas whispered, looking at Tao. "I saw Mari again." Alice and Nicoleta both looked at him with sympathy.

"He remembered what you told him on Wednesday's, about how you met, and raised Berwald."

Lukas started to tear up and his son put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Berwald was the next to speak. "Why w's I th' H'nchb'ck? 'Nd wh't w's w'th M'tth's 'nd Liv?"

"You scare a lot of people in this town, but since you and Tina run the daycare center, Oliver knows better than that, and wanted others to actually meet you. Matthias and Liv, however, I still don't understand where that came from." Tao admitted.

"I think we can answer that." Matthias chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "We kinda got married a little while ago, and didn't tell anyone."

"But you two hate each other, don't you?"

"Not exactly. It's a love hate relationship. I flirt, and love her, and she pretends to hate me by slapping me to death."

"Why didn't you invite me to the wedding?" Tina looked hurt.

"We didn't tell anyone, but Tao had us babysit Oliver one day, and he kind of had to come along. Weirdly enough, the judge allowed him as the witness." Matthias explained. "Afterwards we got a lecture from a ten year old who could only speak in broken sentences about unresolved sexual tension and random curse words, which I am blaming Arthur for."

"I did no such thing!"

"You're the only one who could have taught him half of those words, the only other marine here is Antonio, who deserted before he could learn anything good."

"What about Lovina? She's pretty crass."

"Even she knows to shut up around Oliver."

"I'm-a right here, you-a jerks!" Lovina shouted, crossing her arms and huffing. "And why did I have amnesia?"

"You're really bad at remembering people's names and have a tendency to call them unflattering things in your language." Antonio said. "I told him once that I wouldn't be surprised if you forgot your own name. I think it may of stuck." Lovina glared at her husband, who looked at her sheepishly. "Lo siento, Lovi."

"Don't-a call me that you-" She was cut off by a kiss, Antonio ignoring it as she tried to strangle him in the process. Everyone chuckled.

"Why did I have to be friends with him?" Sadiq jerked his thumb towards Gilbert, who had been avoiding his gaze the entire time.

"Oliver didn't like that you two had a fight, and thought it would be a good way for you guys to trust each other again."

"And the children being furniture? And me liking books of all things?" Julchen balked.

"I don't understand why the furniture yet, and I don't think I ever will, but with the books, he thinks you would like them if you gave them a chance." Julchen frowned at Tao's words.

"And the beast?" Matthew asked.

"You get pretty competitive when it comes to sports, like you are a different person completely."

"And how did Natalia and I end up as villains?" Ivan asked.

"The dark magic that was forcing his magic got sucked up into the book as well, and corrupted some you into your darker versions, or at least the ones that he imagined. Think of it like the Id to your Ego."

"Then how are we still alive?"

"I'm also not sure about that one." Tao admitted

"I think I have the answer to that." Alfred said. Everyone turned to look at him.

"What?"

"He asked me to wish for us to all have a happy ending, and for Tao that requires Ivan, and for Anastasia that requires her sister, Natalia."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Anastasia said. "But what about the last story, where everyone was together? Why was I an ice queen? Who was Allen and Katya? Why was Alfred wanted in that story? It doesn't make sense."

Tao looked down at Oliver. "It does if you look through Oliver's eyes. You were the ice queen because he thinks that you hide behind Natalia, that you let her into the spotlight because you're scared, fear is your greatest enemy. Diana was the princess because she is strong willed, and hopeful at all times. Allen was…" Tao trailed off, trying to figure out the bests way to put it.

She started again. "When Katyusha tried to enter the story, something blocked her, the dark magic twisted her into something that Oliver saw in her when they met. She was intimidating and her presence seemed all knowing and that was all he knew about her. What he knew was his reality and that was that."

"Then who was Allen?" Alfred asked.

"He was you."

"Wait, what? How does that work? I was already in the story."

"Yes, but not all of you."

"Can you stop being so vague?"

"Allen was you when you killed his parents." Alfred sucked in a breath. "He was manipulative, conniving, and everything you weren't because Oliver can't see you as the man that killed his parents. He understands that a man inside of you, one that is dark and doesn't feel a thing, is the one that killed his parents. He's never blamed you for what happened because he knows that it wasn't you, you weren't all there, that it was the alcohol twisting your mind. You were never the villain to him, just a tragic hero that was misunderstood." There were tears in Alfred's eyes.

"He forgave me?"

"He never held it against you."

"Then why did Alfred almost die?" Diana asked.

"That would be my fault." Tao said. "In the book of stories there were all the happy endings and Oliver started to think that that was how the world worked, so I included an unhappy ending, a tragic one. In the story, Alfred's character dies for the one he loves most, and it goes on like Romeo and Juliet from there. That was why Kiku and Heracles had to stop the story before it got to that moment."

"They were in every story." Alice whispered, coming to the realization.

"We are very adept shapeshifters, Alice-senpai." Kiku stated. "We found a way to make sure the stories stayed on their path, even with the dark magic trying to corrupt the tales."

"Oh… is Oliver going to be okay?" Alice asked after a while, everyone focusing on the small boy.

"If we hadn't gotten to him on time… the dark magic was searching for him, and would have killed him once it reached him. Kiku and Heracles got there right in time to save all of you and him from it. He should be fine, but his magic is exhausted, it might take a while for him to wake up... if he does wake up."


Oliver was sure that he must have fallen off a cliff or something, because everything hurt like the dickens. His bones ached, his muscles ached, his head ached, even his toes ached, and that was a weird feeling. Whining a bit, he found that his voice hurt too. Wasn't that just wonderful. There was a shout of surprise from beside him, and he could feel arms supporting his head, and the lights around him dimming a bit. A voice cut in and out as he tried to keep up with his tired mind. "- wake- Oliver are- is he- Oliver are you hurt?"

He groaned as there was more touching and he was irritated. "No. Touch." He moaned, and the hands and arms froze and disappeared, only two supporting his head stayed, massaging the base of his neck.

"Oliver, sweetie, can you open your eyes? Please, aru." The voice was familiar and he wanted to please her so he opened his eyes, even as his eyelids protested. "There we are, aru." It was Tao above him, her hands still at the base of his neck, and a smile on her face. "I was worried you wouldn't wake up, you've been out for three days."

"Three?"

"Yep, three."

"Cold. Hot. Weird." He tried to explain.

"That would be Ivan's fault, he thought you might be better freezing your fever rather than sweating it out."

"Ivan. You. Happy?"

"Yes, I'm happy that he is back, but I'm so much more happy that the both of you are with me."

"Me too?"

"Yes, you too." Tao hesitated for a bit. "Actually, Oliver, I wanted to ask if you might consider being adopted by Ivan and me."

Oliver froze. "Me. Son."

"Yes, you would be my son, and Heracles and Kiku would be your uncles."

"Happy?"

"We'd all be so very happy with that."

Oliver considered and nodded. "Yes. Mommy." And snuggled into her leg, missing the tears in her eyes once again. This was all their happily ever after.