"Niisan! Don't!" "Marron...you've been protecting me long enough. Now it's my turn..." "Niisan..." "I've made my decision..." Carrot embraced Marron tightly. "Thank you for being my brother, Marron. I love you. Don't you ever forget that." "Ni-niisan..." Marron's eyes filled with tears as Carrot let go and stepped up to where Sacher Torte was standing. "All right, Sacher. I've had enough of you trying to destroy this world!" Carrot yelled. "How cute." Sacher looked down at the boy, a smirk on his face. "Let's get this over with." Carrot pulled out his sword. And then, in series of grunts, screams and blasts, it was over. Carrot was thrown several feet back, landing in front of Marron, Gateau, Tira, and Chocolat. "CARROT!" Tira gasped, her hand going slack and letting her whip fall to the ground. She collapsed to her knees at his side. "DARLING!" Chocolat let her wire fall from her hand as she knelt at Carrot's other side. "CARROT, YOU MORON!" Gateau screamed, tears of anger in his eyes. But the most extreme reaction was Marron's. His mouth was agape, but he couldn't form any words. Tears stung his eyes, but were unable to fall. "Guess I was a real idiot this time, guys," Carrot said weakly, coughing up a bit of blood. "Carrot..." Tira clasped his hand, tears streaming down her cheeks. "D...Darling, why?!" Chocolat cried, already holding tightly to Carrot's other hand. "You guys have always bailed me out whenever I got in over my head...this is my way of thanking you," Carrot whispered. "You call this thanking us?! What were you going to give us for Christmas, a copy of your will?!" Gateau snapped. "...Niisan..." Marron was finally able to choke out. His eyes looked like they were going to overflow. "Tira, Chocolat...I'm sorry for all those times I chased other women and made you so angry..." "Darling...t-that doesn't matter now!" "We knew you weren't trying to piss us off!" "Gateau...I'm sorry for all those times we argued, and...for being so picky about you and Marron..." "You accepted us eventually, though! And that's what matters!" Tira, Chocolat and Gateau looked at Carrot, tears streaming down their cheeks. "I'm still sorry..." Carrot looked towards his brother, who was still in a state of shock. "M...Marron..." Marron knelt before his brother's limp, bleeding form. "Ni...niisan..." "I'm sorry...if I wasn't much of a big brother to you sometimes...all those things I said about you in front of strangers...I've always been proud of you, otouto," Carrot whispered. "Ni-niisan, don't talk like that!" Marron choked. Chocolat let go of Carrot's hand so that Carrot could reach for Marron's. "Don't cry, Marron...remember, you're a big boy now..." Carrot said, smiling sadly as he reached to stroke Marron's cheek. "Niisan..." Marron clasped Carrot's hand in his own. "Goodbye, everyone...I'm sorry it had to end like this," Carrot whispered. "I...I love you all..." With those final words, his eyes fell shut and the last breath escaped his chest. Carrot Glacé was dead. ~ "...CARROT!" Tira's cry was heart-wrenching as she felt Carrot's hand slip from her own. "DARLING!" Chocolat pulled off her dominatrix cap and held it to her chest, sobs wracking her body. "CARROT!" Gateau just stared at the dead body of his late friend, shaking his head in disbelief. "..." Marron couldn't speak as he felt Carrot's hand go limp, then slip from his grasp. He looked once more at his brother's fallen body... "N..nii...san..." And the tears he'd been holding back finally spilled over. "NIISAN!" he sobbed, burying his face in his hands. "NI...NI-IISAAAAN!" Gateau brushed away his tears, turning his attention to Marron. "I...I know, Marron...it hurts like hell..." "Niisan!" Marron sobbed. "Oh, Marron..." Tira sniffled. "Carrot was everything to him..." Chocolat whispered amid her tears. "Marron..." Marron looked up into Gateau's eyes. Tears fell down his cheeks, but Gateau didn't seem to care who saw them. "..." Sobbing, he flung himself into Gateau's arms. "Just cry all you need, Marron..." Gateau whispered. "Niisan...niisan...!" Tira collapsed into her sister's arms, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. Chocolat quietly held Tira against her as they mourned the loss of the man they loved. Carrot had never even known how they felt about him. And now it was too late. Above them, Sacher could only laugh like a madman. "So tragic! It seems I've had to kill the source of power I needed so badly!" he cackled. "YOU BASTARD!" Gateau lifted his hand and shook a fist at Sacher. Chocolat forced herself to stop crying for the moment and grabbed her wire from where it had fallen. "You won't get away with this, Sacher Torte," she said, her voice still shaking. "I will avenge Darling, even at the cost of my life!" "Yes." Tira reached for her whip and picked herself up. "Where Carrot failed, we're going to succeed! "I'd like to see you try," Sacher sneered. "Try nothing." Marron slowly slipped from Gateau's embrace and stepped in front of Gateau, Tira, and Chocolat. His look of anguish was gone, replaced with one of inexplicable rage. "I always say, 'I cannot forgive the one who hurts my brother'," he said coldly. "And what you just did..." "Marron..." Tira looked nervously at the magic user. "Not forgiving you isn't going to be enough, Sacher Torte," Marron said. "Oh, I'm scared," Sacher said mockingly. Marron calmly picked up his brother's sword and wiped the blood from the handle. "I'm ending this once and for all." His eyes blazed with the fires of hell. "You heard him." Gateau stepped up to Marron's side. "You've done enough damage for many, many lifetimes." Tira joined them. "Now..." Chocolat was the last to step forward as she placed the cap back on her head. "Prepare for your death!" And at once, they charged forward. Normally this would have been a very stupid move. But Sacher was no match for four Sorcerer Hunters with only revenge on their minds. It didn't seem long before Sacher was near death. Tira and Chocolat's weapons were coated in blood, and Gateau had quite the satisfied smirk on his face. Marron's robes were stained with blood, but he didn't even notice as he stood before Sacher, sword still in hand. "Y...you'll never defeat me...you'll go join Carrot in hell!" Marron's eyes gleamed dangerously as he pointed the sword as Sacher's throat. "My brother died...so that I could live. And I'll be damned if I let his sacrifice be in vain!" He raised the sword, smiling coldly as he saw the glint of terror in Sacher's eyes. "It ends here," he hissed. "This is for niisan!" And with that, he plunged the sword into Sacher's chest. "AAAAARRRGH!" Sacher's scream tore through the night. "...You...you idiots will never win...it's just a flesh wound...I'll be back..." He gasped, blood staining his robe as his chest heaved. "F...fools..." With that final word, he collapsed to the ground in a bloody, motionless heap. "ALL RIGHT!" They exchanged high-fives all around... Then as quick as anger had taken over, it faded, leaving only grief in its place. Tira and Chocolat detransformed and sank to their knees. "He's gone...but the damage is already done..." Tira whispered. Marron looked at the sword embedded in Sacher's chest...then his blood- stained robes... And collapsed to the ground, sobbing bitterly once more. "Niisan..." "Come on, guys...let's go back to the inn and wash this blood off," Chocolat said, her voice wavering as she slowly got up. Tira silently followed her. Gateau looked over at Carrot's body once more, then sighed. "We can't just leave him there..." "Yeah...we have to give him a proper burial...the best we can!" Chocolat said. Just then, Milphey approached the group, a sad look on his face. "I...I'm sorry I couldn't come to help...I...guess Big Mama overestimated your abilities..." "Not really..." Tira pointed to Sacher's corpse. "But..." Milphey then noticed Marron knelt beside Carrot's body, his shoulders shaking. "...Oh no..." Milphey sighed as he walked over to Marron. "I...I'm so sorry..." "He died saving us all," Chocolat sniffled. "I figured he would," Milphey said, picking up Carrot. Amidst all of this, Marron continued to cry. Gateau walked over to him, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Marron...it's time to go back," he said. "Niisan..." Milphey and the Misu sisters quietly left to figure out where to bury Carrot. "Marron..." Gateau gently picked him up in his arms. Marron instinctively latched onto Gateau's shirt, burying his face in his chest. Gateau began to follow the others back to the inn, his own tears finally drying. 'Someone needs to be strong for them right now. Might as well be me.' ~ A few hours later, Marron silently emerged from the bathroom, his hair still wet and hanging down his back. He pulled on his nightshirt, then collapsed onto the bed. His sobbing had died down an hour ago, and since then he hadn't said a word. His silence worried the others more than his tears had. "Marron?" Gateau walked into the room and sat down on the bed. "Feeling any better?" No response. "That was a stupid question..." Sighing, he pulled a blanket over Marron and gently rubbed his hand over his back. "You sure you want to go to bed with your hair all wet? Can't be that comfortable," he said. Still no response. "Marron...I...I wish I knew what to say right now...I hate seeing you like this..." Marron sat up a little, brushing his hair away from his face. "Gateau..." "Marron..." Marron flung himself into Gateau's arms, a fresh wave of tears overcoming him. "I...I can't believe...I-I always said I would protect him at the cost of my life, and now..." "Shhh...I know...but he wanted to do this for you...for us all..." Gateau whispered. "And he would be very proud of the way you wasted Sacher earlier!" "I-I know..." Marron sniffled, clutching tightly at Gateau's shirt. The tears wouldn't stop. "I'm here, Marron..." Gateau said, gently stroking his hair. "Niisan..." Gateau sighed, feeling Marron's tears soaking his nightshirt. All he could do was hold him and let him cry. Soon, Marron fell into a fitful sleep, sobbing his brother's name over and over again. ~ In the next bedroom, Chocolat sat by the open window, looking out at the black, starless sky. The night breeze played with her hair, the red strands coming loose from their usual coif and whipping about. She shivered, the cold nipping at her skin through her thin nightgown. "Darling..." she whispered, a tear slipping down her cheek. He was an idiot. A pervert. Lazy, unmotivated, and immature. At times, she wondered how she even put up with his behavior. But in spite of it all, she loved him. Enough to give her life for him. 'It wasn't supposed to be the other way around,' she thought bitterly. ~ Tira stepped out of the bath and wrapped a towel around herself, then glanced at the mirror. She wasn't used to seeing herself without glasses in "normal" form. Her eyes were still a bit bloodshot from crying earlier, but at least she'd managed to stop. 'How long, though?' she wondered. As she began to comb the tangles out of her strawberry-pink hair, she thought about the daily interactions between her and Carrot. She'd always been quieter about her feelings for Carrot. Whenever Carrot chased after other girls, she would simply get angry and beat him with a mallet or a whip. Unlike Chocolat, she never insisted out loud that SHE was Carrot's one true love. But it didn't change the fact that she did love him. She thought back to all the times she had gotten angry at Chocolat for throwing herself at Carrot. All the times they had fought over Carrot. "How could we have been so stupid?" she sighed. "It's so pointless now... if there'd been any reason to worry which one of us he would choose, it would've been more obvious...and he gave his life to protect all of us. He apologized to us both as he was dying," she said quietly. She finished drying off, pulled her nightgown over her head, put her glasses on, and walked back to the bedroom. As she suspected, her sister was still by the window, staring at nothing. "Oneesama?" she whispered. Chocolat turned around, closing the window behind her. "Hey, Tira..." "Good thing it didn't start raining out there..." "Yeah." After a few moments of unbearable silence, Chocolat buried her face in her hands and began to cry again. Tira walked over and pulled her sister into her arms. "Tira...he's gone...Darling is..." Chocolat sniffled. "He's really gone." "I know...it's not that I don't appreciate his selflessness, but...how could that bastard die on us like that?!" Tira choked. "He knew he was going to die, and he went ahead and tried to fight Sacher anyway... reckless until the end." "God, when I think about all the times we smacked him and fought over him..." Chocolat sighed. "Sometimes I wondered how he could stick around, and wouldn't have blamed him for going off with some other girl," Tira said bitterly. "How could we say we loved him when all we did half the time was beat him up? No wonder he chased other girls and ran away from us! He only associated us with pain, not love!" Chocolat cried, then thought for a second and shook her head. "No, that's just stupid. Sorry, I...I got melodramatic there." "Carrot might've been afraid of us, but he knew we cared about him!" Tira said. "And if it had really affected him that badly he'd be afraid of all women, not just us." "You're right..." "Still...the way he apologized to us in his last moments...thinking about it, it just..." Tira trailed off. "Seemed so pointless." Chocolat nodded. "I mean, if I'd known this was going to happen, I..." Tira stopped herself, realizing how cliché that would've sounded. "No use dwelling on what was and what might've been," she said. "The fact is, he's gone." Her voice broke. "I'll never forgive him! How could the bastard leave us like that?!" "He never even knew how we felt about him!" Chocolat cried. "What gave him the right to go off and get himself killed before I could confess my undying love and have lots of beautiful children with him?!" She calmed down. "S-sorry, I know-" "It doesn't matter. Besides, I was going to say the same," Tira said. "And even more, Carrot was like a big brother to us...remember how we all used to play together and Carrot would protect you, me, and Marron from bullies or monsters?" she laughed slightly. "Yeah...things were so simple back then. No love triangles, no deadly missions, no grudges, no angst..." Chocolat sighed. "I miss him, oneesama," Tira choked, burying her face in Chocolat's shoulder. Chocolat wrapped her arms around her sister and nestled closer. "I know..." ~ Milphey sighed as he looked at the casket Carrot lay in. "Carrot...you were so young. How can this have happened to you?" he whispered, tears filling his eyes. He'd told Onion the news not long ago, and it hadn't been well received. In fact, the only thing that stopped Onion from rushing out to kill Sacher was Milphey telling him that Marron and the others had already done so. "For all their fighting...he really did love Carrot." Milphey smiled sadly. Carrot really was a chip off the old block, he thought, the image of himself and a teenage Onion coming to mind. "I'd better get back and see how the others are doing..." ~ An hour later, Marron was fast asleep, exhausted from crying. Gateau sighed softly as he looked down at Marron's bloodshot eyes. 'Poor guy...I knew he'd flip out if Carrot ever died...but still...' Gateau sighed. Marron hadn't been the only one crying in the last hour. He and Carrot barely ever saw eye to eye on things. Carrot accused him of perverting Marron, and Gateau called Carrot an "un-beautiful dolt". To an outsider, it would look like they hated each other. But underneath it all, Carrot had meant a lot to Gateau. Carrot and Marron had been his best friends ever since he became a Sorcerer Hunter. And no matter how much he flirted with Marron or argued with Carrot, they always had been. Even when Gateau and Marron became a couple and Carrot had a hard time dealing with it, he'd still been there for them. He smiled sadly as he felt Marron suddenly stir, nestling closer against him. "You feeling any better now?" he asked. "Warmer..." Marron looked up at Gateau with red, puffy eyes. "Stay with me..." "I'm here," Gateau said, gently stroking Marron's hair. For the first time that night, Marron managed a small smile. "I love you, Gateau," he said. "I know...I love you too, Marron," Gateau said. "Now get some sleep..." "I'll try..." Marron sniffled. "I miss him so much, Gateau," he said, his voice breaking again. "I know..." None of them got very much sleep that night. ~ Somewhere, outside the realm of the living, a young man opened his eyes and saw himself surrounded by white...no, that was just the bedsheets he was lying on. As his vision slowly came into focus, he noticed that wherever he was looked as ordinary as his own bedroom back home. "I'm...home?" But...he was supposed to be dead! After THAT beating... Unless...he'd somehow managed to survive! "Maybe I did!" Carrot smiled a little and leaned one hand against the wall... And screamed when he realized his arm was glowing! "What is this?!" "Sorry, Carrot!" A familiar voice laughed nervously. "I forgot to turn off the overhead lights this morning! We only use them at night." "..." Carrot turned around. He knew that voice anywhere. "...Mother?!" "Carrot...it's nice to see you again," she said. Carrot smiled tragically. "So I am dead." He sighed as he let his mother embrace him. ~ The next morning, Chocolat dragged herself out of bed and threw her clothes on. No sense in lying around crying all morning. Even with Sacher gone, there was still the risk of sorcerers lurking about. "What a night..." she groaned. She'd spent half the night crying, and sleep she did get was interrupted by nightmares. She couldn't get the images of yesterday's battle out of her head... "Morning, oneesama," Tira yawned as she got out of bed and put her glasses on. "I'd ask if you slept well, but you have bags under your eyes...so..." "Oh, I slept all right. The thing is, it was about three AM when I was too tired to cry anymore," Tira sighed. Chocolat sat down on the bed and put her arms around her sister. "I know..." she whispered as Tira fell against her, sniffling. "I...I woke up this morning, hoping it had just all been a bad dream, that any second I'd hear Carrot screaming at Gateau for using all the hot water, or see him walking outside to do some early morning girl-chasing," Tira cried. "I'm still hoping this is all just a bad dream and we'll wake up any minute," Chocolat said. ~ "Niisan...niisan...!" Gateau gently shook Marron's shoulders a little. "Marron?" Marron jolted from his sleep, slowly letting his vision adjust. The image of Carrot being blasted by Sacher wouldn't leave his mind all night. 'Niisan...why didn't you just let me protect you?' "Gateau..." "So I wasn't the only one having nightmares," Gateau said sadly, taking Marron into his arms. "I can't stop thinking about it...Gateau, this...this isn't a dream! Niisan..." He buried his face in Gateau's shoulder, sobbing. "I'll never get used to not seeing him trying to sneak out to chase girls...or not hearing him scream at me for using all the hot water...or never laughing and joking with him again..." Gateau choked. "Gateau..." Marron gently wrapped his arms around Gateau's back. [Come back to this later] ~ Half an hour later, the four of them sat around Marron and Gateau's room, picking at half-empty containers of ice cream. "Just think...we could've been smearing this all over his naked chest!" Chocolat sighed. "Oneesama..." Tira raised an eyebrow at her. "Why did I say that?" Chocolat groaned. "I guess you guys didn't get much sleep either," Gateau said, staring into his container of ice cream. "Y'know, this stuff is freezer-burned." "So it is." Tira stuffed another spoonful into her mouth. Marron silently leaned against the side of the bed, digging his spoon into his container and sighing. "I guess we have the day off," he said quietly. "Well, I AM still a little sore from that fight yesterday..." Chocolat rubbed her arm. Marron pulled back the sleeve of his robe and noticed a bruise. He must've gotten it yesterday and hadn't realized. Then again, who cared about some stupid bruise when the person most important to him was gone? 'Niisan...' He loved Gateau, of course. And Tira and Chocolat were his closest friends. But even their love and support couldn't replace his brother. "I didn't even notice if I got hurt," Gateau said. "Probably did...but it'll go away on its own." His eyes closed as he fought back a stream of oncoming tears. "But some scars...never, ever go away," he choked. ~ [Later that day] Gateau awoke to hear a knock at the door of his and Marron's room. "Who could that be?" Slowly, he got out of bed, taking care not to disturb the sleeping Marron. The moment he opened the door, a familiar figure threw herself into his arms. "Oniichan!" "Eclair..." Gateau smiled wearily, hugging his sister close. "I'm so glad to see you," he said. "I heard about...last night's battle from Milphey..." Her eyes closed. "I feel terrible, I wish I'd been there to help! If you'd had another person on your side maybe this wouldn't have happened!" "No...Carrot was hellbent on protecting everyone, even the ones who weren't there fighting Sacher. He would've done it no matter what," Gateau said quietly. "Under all that perverted recklessness, he really was a true hero," Eclair sighed. "I know..." Marron yawned, sitting up a little and rubbing his eyes. "Gateau?" "Hey, Marron," Gateau said, smiling gently. "Did you sleep well?" "Better than last night," Marron said. He smiled a little as he noticed their visitor. "Hey, Eclair." "Marron..." Eclair let go of her brother and ran to hug Marron. "I'm so sorry." "It's okay...niisan wanted us to live, and...his sacrifice wasn't in vain," Marron said. Eclair grinned. "You beat his ass into the ground, didn't ya?" Even though she'd had a relationship with Sacher some time ago, Eclair knew that the Sacher she'd fallen for had been a different person. Evil, but with a cause. After his cause had been rejected by so many people, and one too many beatings from the Sorcerer Hunters, he'd simply gone insane. "That's good to hear!" "He didn't stand a chance...we were just too angry. I...I stabbed him with niisan's sword," Marron said, smiling sadly. "Your brother would've been proud, Marron," Gateau said. "I...I know," Marron choked, dabbing at his eyes with the sleeve of his robe. "God, I wish I could stop crying! Niisan wouldn't want me to be depressed," he said. "Chocolat's been crying since late this morning, and Tira's thrown herself into planting a windowbox garden. I think Carrot wouldn't mind if we needed one day to be depressed," Gateau said. "I'm going to go see if Chocolat and Tira want company," Eclair said. "See ya later." She hugged Gateau and Marron each one more time, then walked out of the room. ~ In heaven, Carrot was watching the scenes below him, his eyes filled with tears. "They're miserable without me! If only I could come back somehow," he sighed. "Fat chance of THAT happening, though." "Now you know what it felt like for me every day," Apricot said sadly. "Seeing your father so lonely and depressed...watching you boys and Tira and Chocolat grow up so fast as you became Sorcerer Hunters..." Her eyes misted as she held Carrot in her arms. "I wanted to see you guys again... but not under these circumstances, Carrot." "I know..." "Your father looks even sadder than ever now..." "Heh. I didn't think he would care that much if I was dead...you know he loved to argue with me," Carrot said. "No matter how much you guys argued, your father still loved you very much, Carrot," Apricot said. "Apparently, everyone did. Jeez, you'd think I was some sort of living saint or idol star from the way everyone's weeping about it," Carrot muttered. "They really cared for you, Carrot," Apricot said, stroking her son's hair. "I know..."