Silence hung over them for a few seconds. At that time, Judy pondered whether she should hide the fact from Aya and Ryo. However, she knew that this time Nick would have to know the whole truth for the story to proceed and for them to get out of there unharmed. She decided, then, to show him what she had been shown.

"Nick?"

She caught his eye so that he faced her. Then, she stood up and placed herself mere inches away from the fox. Nick looked at her confused by the sudden approach.

"Forgive me!"

And without the fox being able to even react, she stood on tiptoe, and her lips lightly touched him.

Such a thing took them back in time. The landscape changed. The large Japanese-style garden surrounded them. The bridge in front of them was illuminated by the large full moon. On it, two figures, who were undecipherable, lovingly embraced each other.

"Aya and Ryo," Judy spoke.

However, Nick was still in shock by his companion's attitude. The surprise kiss caught him off guard. It still took a while, before he came back to the reality of events. Oblivious to the little kiss was Judy. Her eyes were fixed on the two figures. Each time she saw them, anguish and sorrow seemed to prick at her heart like sharp needles.

"A doe and a fox. Both children of the two prestigious families."

It was then that Nick broke off. The confusion of the sudden kiss was filled with the shock of seeing those two mammals.

"They are..."

"Us!" Judy completed the sentence. "Aya is my ancestor. Ryo yours. We have their lineage."

"That can't be."

"Reality. I am a direct descendant of Aya and you of Ryo. The same blood runs in our veins."

"That's not possible, Carrots. More than two hundred years have passed."

"Before Aya died, she promised to find a strong soul in the future in which she could experience her story again to break the curse. Ryo did too."

"But Yae and Sae. Sae's soul was with me." Nick was much more confused than before.

"Natsuhiko so forced her. He knew about us, he always knew. He knew about our coming here. He knew everything."

"And you, how do you know all this? Did Alisha tell you?"

"Some of it yes, but some of its no. Don't ask me how, but the words come out of my mouth without me realizing it either. It feels like it's Aya talking. Or it's because I have the same blood and I feel like I know the story. I honestly don't know." Judy shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "However, what I'm going to tell you next is concrete." closing her eyes, Judy took a deep breath. For what she was going to tell, she knew it would shock Nick more than what she had told him so far. "Nick, Aya is a special rabbit. Very special indeed. Although she has the appearance of a normal rabbit, there are two differences not visible to the naked eye. And that starts with her parents. Her mother is a normal rabbit, but her father, on the other paw, is another story."

"No, that can't be. There is no difference in her at all." Nick's eyes went in Aya's direction. She had nothing to tell him that she had a father of a different kind.

"It can. Her father is a fox. Aya was born from the first marriage of different species. But since the spotlight was on the other families, they didn't have to go through such rituals. It just happened."

Nick now paid his attention to the doe in front of him who was staring at him from the side. His eyes ran the friend from the tip of her ears to the tip of her toes, and as such, she was a normal rabbit.

"But I'm not." as if she could read his thoughts, she answered him.

Then, she turned her body facing him. Without delay, she brought her paws to her right eye, where she removed the colored lens. Nick was in shock. The color of the other eye was different and so familiar.

"The same color as yours." Judy did not put the lens back on, sending this one away. There was no reason to hide it. Then, she smiled in a shy smile, hiding the urge she had to cry. "My blood has mixture in it."

"All that remains impossible. As far as I can remember, your parents are normal rabbits."

Nick waved his arms from side to side. His attention was sometimes on Judy and sometimes on Aya. If the story with the twins had been confusing. This one was even worse.

"Aya will be subjected to tattooing. Then to dancing and finally to marriage."

"Aya or you?" Now Nick's expression went from confused to an angry one. "You will live it all out and I will stay in the shadows and watch. Don't even think about it."

Nick turned his back on Judy and started down the small hill. Startled by the fox's sudden attitude, she ran after him, grabbing him by the wrist.

"You can't change the course of history, Nick."

"And watch you die?"

He let go and continued walking toward Aya and Ryo. Judy grabbed him again and turned to face him, keeping her paws firmly on his wrists.

"No one is going to die. We just have to recreate the history to get out of here."

"But don't you understand?! All paths will lead to that."

"This time will be different!"

"The other time too and we barely got out alive. Look what happened to Alisha and Jack."

"Nick there is no other solution."

That's when Nick let go of her paws and put his own on her shoulders. He wished he hadn't yelled, but he had lost his patience.

"Judy open your eyes. Everything will lead to death. Aya can help, but it will always take a living soul to break the curse. Do you know half the story and the rest? Aya had to suffer for the love of Ryo. But what about him? What did he do? Did he get his paws tied? Why did he let the female he loved die? Something doesn't fit and I won't let anything happen to us either."

Judy knew he was right. But she wanted to see the possible in the impossible. It might just be that this time would be different.

" I understand what you're saying. I know all that, but what about the solution? Natsuhiko will make his own. It will be inevitable. "

" Alisha too, just like the twins. Do you want to be subjected again to the suffering that is the tattoo being carved into your skin? Do you want to recreate the dance where it will drive you crazy? Do you want the wedding to kill you for good since the previous rituals didn't? Yeah, I don't want that. I let myself be sacrificed for the sake of getting out of here. You interfered by postponing my death. And now you want to be the one to sacrifice yourself for me to get out of here? Have you considered that even though you might be relieved that I'm alive, how would I rise in society after losing you?" Nick gasped. He was angry and Judy knew how much she meant to him. No words were needed to show both feelings.

" But..."

" They want war, they'll get it." Nick released her. Then he stood with his back to her. "I'm tired of going round and round, where the only solution to all this is death." He paused and then took a deep breath. "I don't care if it's the right thing to do or not. I just want an end to all of this." And he started walking toward Aya and Ryo.

To be continued…