User blog comment:Prof. Draco/RP/ Cursed be he.../@comment-1674153-20130712131823

Epilogue

After the H.E.A.R.T. had cleaned up the Warehouse floor, Sandy could be seen running his hands along the spines of the books in the Library of First Editions, feeling their stories hum underneath his fingers. He would sigh in contentment, soak in the ink, paper, and glue that made up the room, and only leave on necessity.

This time was different, however. H.E.A.R.T. had finally managed to pick out Marie Guichon's Cape from the rubble where it had been lost, and Sandy had volunteered to shelve it again. But even as he had taken the cape, he knew he had been lying.

The cape hung in his gloved hands as the psychic agent eyed the shelves, looking for the book he had shelved there less than a week ago. With a sound of victory, Sandy stood on his tiptoes and pulled out the book of Fairy Tales that Guichon had vanished into.

He traced the golden inlay of the words, contemplating. It was a Fairy Tale artifact that had brought up to the Warehouse, an artifact that had hurt his idea of happy endings. That was why Guichon had targeted him specifically.

"Who are you?"

"Your friends who so rudely accosted me in my home would call me Gloria Von Dichi. Some would call me Marie Perrault. I say my name is Marie Guichon...Yet you would know me as Little Red Riding Hood."

He cracked open the book.

"You know the pain of being trapped in a story, of never being brought with that which you hold most dear. Help me, Mr. Calecer. Help me, please."

"..."

He flipped the pages.

"The consequences of your neutrality will be harsh."

"..."

He located the Red Riding Hood chapter, and looked at the perpetually youthful illustration of Guichon. He took a moment to look her in the eyes.

"...Find Christopher Milne's Notebook. It's your only chance to survive this."

"What a foolish boy."

Sandy took Christopher Milne's notebook from his pocket, and applied it to the cape and book. With a flash, the scarlett cape appeared around the illustration of Marie, in it's full glory.

The illustration almost looked like it was smiling.

Sandy smiled back, shelved the book, and walked away.