Twisted Wonderland 2

An End to This Disaster

Trein and Grim draw the firelotuses away from the townspeople. Trying to clear as much as possible while avoiding getting caught.

"MRAAAH! The flowers are right on my tail!" Grim runs around in circles.

Trein leans against a wall tiredly. "We've been drawing the firelotuses away, but it looks like you are at your limit. I'm running on empty myself. My back's in so much pain it's gone numb."

Grim leaps to Trein's shoulders. "Hey, Trein! Do somethin', wouldja?"

"Ow, stop that! You are not welcome on my shoulder! You're heavy!" Trein groans. "It's almost dawn. Things are going from bad to worse..."

A dull ring echos across the city. The flowers wilt and crumble once the sound waves hit them.

"That sound..." Trein's eyes widen. "It's the Bell of Solace!"

At the bell tower, the firelotuses wilt away until there's none left but crumbled remains.

"No..." Rollo cries out. "No, this isn't happening...!"

Azul grins. "All of the flowers are wilting!"

Malleus nods, walking over to the window. "Yes, and look outside. You can see them disappearing from the cityscape. We've managed to nip them in the bud before they could spread beyond the city limits. Now we can eradicate them."

You dart to the window, seeing the flowers disappear. "You guys did it!"

"Yup, the Bell of Solace is one OP artifact." Idia smirks.

Rollo scoops some of the dried flowers in his hands. "The firelotuses... My flowers, my salvation, they're all withering away..." He glares at the boys. "You VILLAINS. What have you done?"

Azul folds his arms. "There's clearly only one villain here, and that's you."

"Not so from Flamme's perspective." Malleus says. "He seems to truly believe he's in the right."

Azul nods. "I'm sure he does. It's probably the only way he can sleep at night. What a pitiful man."

"You think I'm in the wrong?" Rollo jumps to his feet, waving a hand angrily. "No, YOU'RE wrong! It's magic! Magic is what took him away... That's the whole reason I'm trying to rid the world of mages and make it a peaceful place. I'm not the one in the wrong here!"

You frown. He's so consumed in his grief that he can't truly understand what he did...

Idia sighs. "Yup, there it is. The exact defensive denial I expected. This is just embarrassing."

Rollo freezes, turning his glare to Idia.

"What, so you believe that if magic goes away, everything'll be hunky-dory?" Idia rolls his eyes. "Please, that's the LOL to end all LOLZ. You talk about peace, but the only peace you actually care about is your own. You're over here yammering about how this is for 'everyone' and 'the world'. Meanwhile, we're just doing the blank stare emoji."

"Just so." Malleus adds.

"And another thing." Idia continues. "You say you're trying to get rid of magic for your brother, but did he ever ask you to do that? You can't just claim he would've wanted something to justify your own atonement."

Rollo tilts his head. "Atonement? I'm not-"

Idia doesn't let him finish. "Look, I'm not saying you're wrong to feel guilty. And I definitely don't think it's wrong to remember the person you lost. But let's be real, you're not doing this for him. You're doing it for YOU. You're just calling it noble when it's actually selfish. You're not trying to save your brother or the world. You want to save yourself."