Outside the premises of the Crimson Castle, Ruby is still chasing after the CC.
Ruby: Kitty! Kitty! Kitty! Wait! No, no! Uh... Here kitty, kitty, kitty! Here kitty, kitty, kitty! Oh... c'mon, kitty.
Little: (yelps) Eek! (cowers in Ruby's hood, whispering) The cat's hindquarters!
The Curious Cat's tail can be seen sticking out of the tall grass on the side of the path.
Ruby: Um... Excuse me?
Curious Cat: (pops out) You're excused!
Ruby gets startled and notices the Curious Cat is behind her. Little gets scared and hides inside Ruby's hood. Team RWBY watches the Curious Cat walking without their hindquarters.
Vanadi: I'm just gonna say this, this is the most craziest fever dream I'd have in my sleep.
Coral chuckles.
Ruby: Uh... Hello, uh, cat.
The Cat then joins both of their body parts together.
Ruby: (shakes her head) Curious Cat? Which one do you go by?
Curious Cat: Oh! I don't go by. That belongs to the days and the years. But if you are asking what I am, I am indeed a cat, most curious.
Ruby: Of course. (slightly laughs) Look, my friends and I really need to get to that giant tree, and so far, nothing we tried has gotten us any further.
Weiss: It looks to me like we're even farther!
Vanadi looks at CC.
Vanadi: If it's all the same to you, I'll just stick with CC.
Curious Cat: That can work as well.
Yang looks at Weiss.
Yang: Yeah, I think that's because we're six inches tall.
Weiss: It could be both.
Curious Cat: The tree... Tree, tree, tree, tree... (gasps) Of course. That is most definitely impossible. You do not go to the tree, the tree goes to you. Unless, of course, you're me, you see.
Coral: (facepalms) In English, please?
Curious Cat: Well, that's your problem. It's a matter of perspective, I'm afraid.
Y/N: (sarcastic tone) What a helpful feline you are.
Ruby: But, uh, couldn't you take us then? You'd been there before.
Curious Cat: So why would I ever want to go back? Yes, I'm glad we understand one another. No sense it seems a sight seen.
The Curious Cat notices a yellow butterfly and pounces at it.
Blake: Please. You helped Alyx when she was-
Curious Cat: Alyx? ''Alyx'' Alyx? How do you know her? Are you friends of hers? Lifelong nemeses? Wait. Don't tell me. (short pause) Okay. No, tell me.
Ruby: Oh, well, we don't know her personally. Just uh...
Weiss: She wrote a book about her entire adventure in the Ever After.
Curious Cat: (surprised) A book? Is it well-liked?
Coral: It is, actually.
Blake: It's kind of a childhood favorite of everyone's, where we're from.
Curious Cat: Yes. Oh, please. I simply must know more. What did she write about? How was I portrayed? And... (sniffs) Do I smell a mouse?
Little quickly cowers behind Yang. Coral and Blake quickly shield Little from the Curious Cat.
Blake: Umm... From one cat to another, could you give us a minute, please?
Curious Cat: Oh... so they're spoken for. Well please, please hurry, I have so many, many questions.
The Cat proceeds to chase after the butterfly into the grass again.
Weiss: Are we sure they're not called the "Constantly Annoying Cat"?
Y/N: (you chuckle, holding your stomach) Shots fired.
Weiss: (smugly smiling) Thank you, Y/N.
Blake: Guys, the Curious Cat was described as an ally, with an appetite for information. Just because they don't want to go back to the tree, doesn't mean we can't lure them there.
Yang nods in agreement.
Ruby: Okay, yeah! We just need to keep their attention along the way. That shouldn't be too hard. We know all sorts of-
Yang: The cat's gone.
Vanadi: You're kidding, right?
Hearing this, Ruby panics.
Ruby: WHAT?! No! No! No!
Ruby frantically looks around, but manages to find the Cat when they pounce on the butterfly.
Ruby: Whoa, wait up! Didn't you have questions for us? We'll be happy to answer them.
Coral: ...Please give us the answers already.
The Cat pops out from the red grass. Ruby gives a big sigh of relief.
Curious Cat: I sense a "but" approaching.
The Cat's hind legs then rejoin their front half, Vanadi is trying is best to hold back a laugh.
Ruby: No, no! Uh, I mean... we do still need to go to the tree, but that'll take ages, right? Plenty of time to tell you all the stuff from our world. (chuckles nervously) Look!
Ruby then pulls out her Scroll.
Ruby: Ever seen a Scroll before?
Curious Cat: Luminous rectangle! (proceeds to takes the Scroll from Ruby) Ooh! What does this button do? (the light from Ruby's Scroll flashes, and they take a few more selfies) Why is it painting tiny flat versions of me? Is that what I look like when smiling? I've so many more questions, how exciting!
Weiss: Hook, line, and sinker.
Ruby smiles, walking off with CC.
Meanwhile.
Koamaru walks up to a boulder, and rests his head against it as he sweats, remembering another memory from his past.
In it, Koamaru is at the front door of the Hawthorne Estate, no longer a child, but now a young man who is old enough to enroll into an Academy. Almost. All he needs is one more year, but from the looks of it, he's ready to go on a tour of Haven Academy asap.
Darius and Ramona smile upon seeing Koamaru all dressed up, she hugs her.
Ramona: I'm so proud of my little boy!
Koamaru tries to hug his parents back, while gasping for air.
Koamaru: Mom... dad... can't... breathe...!
Ramona and Darius lets Koa go.
Ramona: Sorry. But it's just... (holds his wrists) I'm so proud of the Huntsmen and Huntress you and your siblings are becoming.
Koamaru: What can I say? You and dad raised us three to be warriors.
Trisaris pops her head out from around the corner.
Trisaris: I won't lie, I'll always miss those times though.
And then you come sliding down to the front on the rail to the stairs.
Y/N: I will too. Dad, thank you for teaching us.
Darius: You're most welcome, kids.
You step up to Koamaru.
Y/N: So this is it, huh? You're really going to go to Haven? Why not Beacon?
Koamaru: Oh please, I'd rather not have eyes constantly following me everywhere I go cause of my last name, thank you brother.
Y/N: Makes sense.
You and Koamaru share a hug.
Y/N: You're sure you don't wanna go to Beacon? Chances are we'll see Wisteria and Pyrrha again.
Koamaru: Aaand then their friends are gonna tell the whole Academy about me, and film me everywhere I go. Sounds nice to see them, but no. But, tell them I said hi.
You chuckle, hearing the horn of an airship outside.
Koamaru: That's my ride, I'll be back before you guys know it!
Trisaris: Bye, Koa! Have a safe trip!
You wave with your parents and your sister as Koamaru smiles back, waving too.
Koamaru's blinks rapidly, soon enough looking at the Ever After again. He slides down the boulder, but then looks to his left to see a cave. He goes to the front.
Back to you.
Curious Cat: So the old man and the boy share a body now? Ooh, that's got some uncomfortable implications. Who thought that was a helpful way to reincarnate? The same people who put a city in the sky? Ooh, speaking of Atlas, did that Ciel girl from the Vytal Festival ever come back in a notable way? Hoo hoo! There's just so many characters to keep track of! Wait, what was my original question?
You, Coral, and Vanadi all share tired looks with Team RWBY.
Yang: (exhausted tone) Blake... It's your turn.
Blake: (also has an exhausted tone) You asked about the origins of Remnant...
Curious Cat: That's right! Ooh, those Two Brothers! Talk about a god complex, am I right? (sighs) All in all, a rather entertaining summary, though I felt some of the character voices were a bit uninspired. (to you) Looking at you, wise hunter.
Y/N: Just call me Hawthorne at this point.
Curious Cat: (chuckles) Apologies. To your credit, you lot certainly know more about the beginnings of Remnant than Alyx did, and that girl could barely see past her own nose.
Ruby: Oh, what do you mean?
Curious Cat: Don't you know? Just hilariously concerned with trivial things.
Blake: Yeah, but she learned her lesson in the end, right?
Curious Cat: I'd certainly say so. Oh, would you look at that. The edge of the Garden's Acre.
Multiple leaves fall from the night sky. Ruby becomes amazed as she continues walking. The Cat plays with one of the leaves.
Yang: This entire world is put together like a bunch of mixed-up puzzle pieces. How does everyone make sense of this?
Curious Cat: Each acre is made specifically for its inhabitants and their roles. Is it not like that on Remnant?
Yang: N-No?
Curious Cat: How strange. It never even occurred to me to ask that before.
Vanadi: Riiight.
Weiss: I have a question I'd like to ask. How much longer before we're back to regular size?
Curious Cat: Not long at all. The garden is just down this path, and is sure to have all the ingredients we need for a lovely Grow-gurt Parfait. Just don't go talking to anyone without me. If you're not careful...
Blake: We might get our heads cut off.
Curious Cat: That is how we met, isn't it? (chuckles) Ooh, you Remnant folk are such troublemakers.
Coral: Tell us about it.
Weiss: (putting her fingers on the bridge of her nose) Well, I'm sure we'll cause a lot less trouble once we're back to normal.
Y/N: Which I hope is soon.
Curious Cat: Bah. I don't see what all the fuss is about. Some of my best friends are six-inches tall. If I were you, I'd be more worried about... Oh, who was that scary sorceress you mentioned? Uh... Salim? Salem? How many more Relics does she need to end the world again? Ha. How are you even supposed to stop her now that Atlas is gone?
Ruby stops walking, Vanadi's head perks up in shock, Ruby just stops walking, and Weiss just freezes up. In your mind, you get a few flashbacks to when Darius made you put him out of his misery. Blake gently shakes you, snapping you out of it. You painfully frown at her, your face of distraught saying it all. Ruby looks at the Gardens path and shuts her eyes, not saying a word.
Yang: Uh, hey, Rubes?
Ruby: I... uh...
Y/N: Ruby...
Blake: Maybe we shouldn't worry about home right now. We got enough problems to-
Yang: The Cat!
Ruby opens her eyes back up.
Ruby: What?! Oh no, I wasn't paying attention! Where did they go now?
Little: Oh! They saw a bug.
Yang: And you didn't say anything?!
Little: It was a very interesting bug?
Weiss: (sighs) Of all the characters from the book, why did it have to be the Cat? Why couldn't we have gotten help from the Lively Carpenter or the Rusted Knight? One was sweet, one was handsome, and neither of them had the attention span of a goldfish!
Little: You know, I bet you could find a goldfish in one of these ponds.
Weiss sighs and facepalms at the comment. Suddenly, a deep humming can be heard.
Yang: Hey... Do you hear that?
Y/N: Yeah.
Ruby turns to the direction of where the humming is coming from. They walk further into the forest, approaching a large, blue glowing mushroom. There's a garden in front of it.
Ruby: Is this... the Garden?
Blake: It certainly looks like a garden, but... where's that humming coming from?
Coral: No clue.
A pile of leaves rustles in front of Ruby, and she stops cautiously. Three eyes can then be seen opening inside the pile.
Herbalist: What are you?
Ruby: (sighs) I'm getting really tired of that question.
The Herbalist then emerges from the pile of leaves, revealing themselves to be a caterpillar-like being. They are holding a sack and a rake in each hand.
Herbalist: What question?
Ruby yelps in surprise.
Yang: What are you?!
Vanadi: I'm with my friend on this one.
Herbalist: Oh... That question. Isn't it obvious? I am an Herbalist, the Herbalist. At least... Hmm... Until I'm not anymore...
The Herbalist is raking the multi-colored leaves.
Yang: (sarcastic tone) Oh good. Well, all questions answered then...
Ruby: Um, sorry to bother, but uh, my friends and I could use some help. See, we're trying to get to that giant tree, but...
A door leading inside the giant mushroom then opens up, and the Herbalist enters, wiping his hands in the process and putting the sack down. Ruby looks up at the giant mushroom.
Herbalist: Well? Are you coming in? Or aren't you?
Ruby: You can make us a Grow-gurt Parfait, right?
The Herbalist sighs. Ruby then enters the mushroom, and the door closes behind her.
Herbalist: (grinding some herbs in a bowl) Mm, I must say, you all seem a bit, uh... hesitant. What did you say you were again?
Ruby: We're... Huntresses and Huntsmen.
Herbalist: And what exactly does a Huntress and a Huntsman do?
Ruby: Fight... monsters, I guess? I'm sorry, I don't understand why this matters.
Herbalist: I don't understand how you don't understand!
You groan, couching down, thinking about the Curious Cat.
Y/N: Get... us... out of here....
The Herbalist then takes out a scale, placing it on the counter.
Herbalist: I am an herbalist. I make medicines and remedies to help others on their journeys. (takes out some leaves from a jar) It is what I am. So... (places a weight on one scale, and the leaves on the other) Do you know what a Huntress and a Huntsman is, or do you guess?
Blake: Huntresses and Huntsmen are heroes. We protect those who can't protect themselves.
Vanadi: To tooth and nail might I add.
Herbalist: Thank you. Now... (takes the leaves and wraps them in a paper) Would you say you're good Huntresses and Huntsmen?
Ruby tries to answer, but hesitates.
Yang: Look, can you help us, or not?
Herbalist: (puts their hand on their head) I... am trying.
Ruby gasps.
Herbalist: ... But you are making this far more complicated than it needs to be. We all have our titles, our roles to play, but in order to help you become whatever it is you need to become, you should really have a better understanding of what you are now.
Weiss: Okaaay. How do we open the... mushroom door?
Herbalist: (groans) This is how a king winds up a prince... Follow me. My work is never done.
The Herbalist goes through a beaded curtain into the next room. Ruby follows. There are shelves of bongs all around the room. The Herbalist is seen smoking from a large hookah. Ruby carries you, Vanadi, Coral, Weiss, Blake, and Yang in her hands.
Herbalist: Come, take a seat.
Vanadi looks at the Herbalist with eyes narrowed.
Vanadi: No thanks, bro.
Before the seven of you could even exit the hut, the entrance closes up. You look right back at the Herbalist.
Y/N: What are you playing at, you bug?!
Herbalist: Now, now, no need for the hostilities. This won't take long.
Herbalist takes leaves to hold in his hands, puffing on the pipe again to such a degree that smoke envelops you all from a pipe. Ruby coughs and drops down with everyone else, her eyes closing, but opening again to see nothing but smoke around her.
Herbalist: Are you sure you know? You have to be sure of what you are. And what you're going to become.
Vanadi looks around the smoke. Seeing nobody at all.
Vanadi: Guys? Anyone?
Vanadi keeps looking around, and sees his younger self, all suited up in an Atlesian cadet uniform way before the burn mark on his face.
Past Vanadi: Is there any point as to why you're still fighting? Beacon is gone. Haven is gone. Even Atlas is gone. There's no point to any of it anymore.
Vanadi: I'm not rolling over.
Elsewhere, Coral is having the same hallucinations as everyone else, standing opposite from her past, Beacon era self.
Past Coral: Are you seriously trying to still be a goody two shoes after you did so many bad things? Violet gave us both a lesson as to why we're always damned to be vile criminals.
Coral: You're wrong.
Past Coral: Am I now?
-
Weiss, Blake, and Yang get up as well, but the smoke is far too thick for them to see clearly, and they are separated in different 3 spaces.
Yang: Blake! Ruby! (coughs)
Black smoke comes out from Yang's mouth and it takes the form of her own past self.
Yang: (confused tone) What?
Suddenly, a younger Yang with an intact arm emerges from the smoke.
Past Yang: You don't have to go forward, y'know? You can go back, back to before.
Yang stares down at her prosthetic arm and holds it.
Yang: What? What are you talking about?
In another space.
Past Blake: (smiling) It's simple, really. You could just be a human, or just give up, if you wanted to. Really, it's all up to you.
Blake: And why would I do that?
Past Blake: It's like I said, it's simple, much simpler than trying to build a bridge of unity between Humans and Faunus. Why struggle with that responsibility?
The current Blake frowns.
Meanwhile, in another space.
Past Weiss: The Schnee name. Why bother anymore? What does it even stand for now? Instead, you could be a nobody. Could you imagine? Not even a single bit of baggage on your shoulders. Isn't that what you want? To be free?
Past Blake: To be something simpler?
Past Yang: ...To be made whole again?
Yang gives a serious, yet determined look of defiance on her face.
Yang: No. All of my losses, all of my failures. Those more than anything are what have shaped me into who I am today, and showed me how I needed to grow. If there's something I'm missing, it's not because I lost it. It's cuz I haven't found it just yet. And the only way to do that is to keep moving forward.
Blake: (to her own past self) A simple life wouldn't be my life! (draws Gambol Shroud's katana) My family, my friends, my lover, my culture. I belong to them, just as much as they belong to me. To give that all away wouldn't be simplicity, it would be betrayal.
Weiss: (in her old snarky and sassy tone towards her past self as well) I don't know who you think you are, but let me tell you who I am: I am the granddaughter of a hero and a child of a villain. (she points Myrtenaster at her past self) I am a citizen of a fallen Kingdom and an heir to nothing. I will not be defined by my name because I will be the one to define it. I am Weiss Schnee, and I am a Huntress!
-
Past Vanadi: After Salem herself rolled out the Grimm infested red carpet with Onyx at the front to turn Atlas and Mantle into nothing, the smartest choice here is to just join her.
Vanadi: No. Fuck that. I'm not planning on switching sides to join a psychotic woman with suicidal tendencies. Never have, never will. She may taken down Atlas, but she'll never take the fighting spirit that lives inside every Huntsman and Huntress who escaped Ironwood's lunacy and had enough of his shit. So yeah, I'd rather die than be a slave to Salem like he was.
-
Coral: I may have been a criminal, I may have been abused. And I may have been broken in my past life by own "sister" of all people, but she no longer has any hold on me, nor is she my "sister", anymore. I've went through a life that would make or break anyone, yet I didn't give into becoming more worse than Violet ever was. With whatever goodness that was left in me, I left my "sister", and dedicated my own life to become a defender of the people.
Past Coral: Lies, lies, lies.
-
Out from the smoke, a younger you steps up to you. Your past self is wearing the same outfit you wore during you fight at Higanbana, with your missing body parts intact and the same poncho that's draped over your old self.
Past Y/N: You know... You are losing family members and friends left right and center, plus you mercy killed your own dad. Maybe, just maybe it's time for you to just stop being a Hawthorne, and just go ghost. You did head to Beacon with the goal with your sister to simply just do it because of your ties to a family of magical warriors, right?
Y/N: No. I'm not listening to a word you say.
You turn away from yourself.
Past Y/N: But I am you, yet you don't know yourself.
Y/N: I know all there is about myself, thank you very fucking much.
Past Y/N: Are you certain? Just like... are you certain that you won't end up like your dad? That you won't end up like your grandparents or Lorcan? It's done. It's over. Every single path you ever took to free Remnant alongside all of your friends, and your family, it only lead to pain. You may have raised your sword and your daggers countless times against Salem and her yapping dogs at this point, but to what end?
You grit your teeth, looking at your old self.
Past Y/N: Besides. Ecru and Wisteria knew what they signed up for by going to Beacon Academy. And speaking of dead friends, Penny thought she was on the path of righteous. But she died. Not once, but twice. She's never returning. Then there's Clover. he thought that he was the big man in charge, until he wasn't. Why continue this warpath of ending Salem when all you've done since Beacon was lose people, and to kill the White Fang who invaded Beacon?
Y/N: They attacked us first!
Past Y/N: However, you got so lost in your mindless bloodlust to kill Cinder's cousin so much that you thought that 2 innocent Faunus at a White Fang outpost were assisting Fyrren. (cackles) What about that annoying little sister who always follows you around? Or- or better yet, what about Ruby? Our delicate little Rose. Or Yang, or Weiss or even Blake and Fiona for that matter, hm? All they've done, like you, was to lose. To sum it up, I have a solution. Bending the knee to Salem and hopefully holding out hope that she spares you, and turns you into a Hound like your father when the Brother Gods eventually arrive to purge Remnant of all possible life seems like a good idea if you ask me. Face it, you're no Hawthorne. You're no better than Adam. You're a murderer. Just. Like. Him. Are you seeking to give up yet?
Silence.
Y/N: ...No.
Past Y/N: What did you just say?
Y/N: NO!
Your yell echoes throughout the smoke, you look up at your younger self with defiance.
Y/N: Their deaths have always been on the back of my mind, and I'll always, always regret killing Reolin and Lupi the same way I'll always regret not being able to save my my father, Penny, Ecru and Wisteria, alongside fighting to defend Atlas and Mantle from Salem and her allies only to be forced to leave the cities due to a coward of a General who never deserved his position, and an immortal woman who lost her mind long ago just like he did. But through that pain, that hardship, I find strength. Strength to save Remnant, and to keep moving forward no matter what happens to me. I only stumbled over a few stones in the road, it simply means nothing to me. My goal lies far beyond all of this; to put an end to the monster's life who forced us all in this situation to begin with by meeting Ozpin.
Past Y/N: Ha! Listen to you! Salem can't be stopped for as long as she's immortal, you idiot! Do you really think a killer like you would ever be forgiven-
Y/N: Label me what you want, I don't care. But I know two things that are very certain. One, I am a Hawthorne. I always have been since the moment I've been born, and the day I've been able to hold a knife. And two, my name is Y/N Azrael Delco Hawthorne. And I, am a Huntsman. Through and through.
Blake, Yang, Weiss, Vanadi, & Coral: (To their respective past selves) I am a Huntress / Huntsman.
Meanwhile, with Ruby, she's just on her knees, defeated. her Past self just looks down at her with a constant twisted smile.
Past Ruby: So? Are you a Huntress? Like the ones in books you and Yang read when you were both little, or like the Hawthornes?
Ruby: I... don't know.
Past Ruby: They always saved the day in the end, didn't they? They always saved the innocent, stopped the bad guys, and take down the Grimm. They knew what to do and how to do it, always winning in the end.
Ruby: But, I- ...life isn't like the stories and the books...
Past Ruby: That's right. That's why "we're all here to make it better." Isn't that what you said once? It all depends on you. Your sister needs you, your friends need you, Y/N might be filled with magic like a jelly donut, but even he needs you. The whole world needs you to keep fighting. Forever and ever. Against an invisible evil that took your mother and turned Y/N's father into an abomination. Mom was the best, and Darius Hawthorne was one of the greatest Huntsmen in Mistral before he settled down. Yet with all their powers, they still fell in the end.
Ruby stays silent.
Past Ruby: Both you and Y/N suffered because of it. It doesn't seem fair, does it? Y/N knows you went through a lot because you were dedicated to stop Salem, he followed and experienced so many excruciating events just like you did. He was forced to kill his own father to stop his agony, failed to save his teammate, and watched his second and final teammate die. All while his own sister, niece, and aunt think he's dead. Now, for a guy who walks around with powerful armor while calling himself "The Vengeance of The Hawthornes", he sure is filled with so much regret and murderous intent after Beacon fell. Isn't that sad?
Ruby just looks up at her past self. Unsure of what to say. Until she does.
Ruby: But... what do I do?
Past Ruby: You can do whateeeever you want. Go wherever you want to. You could be Ruby Hawthorne at this point. You don't even have to be Ruby Rose.
Ruby just looks at the ground as her last name is echoed a few times, Ruby is still silent.
Past Ruby: So, what are you going to be?
Suddenly, the smoke around you all then starts to vanish as the Curious Cat comes to the rescue, jumping in.
Curious Cat: Get away from them!
The Herbalist gets into a coughing fit as the smoke waves away.
Herbalist: Oh my... that's a but much.
Curious Cat: Oh Herb, look at yourself. You're supposed to help others find their way. But how can you do that when you've lost your own? Please, let me help.
CC walks up and places its paw on the Herbalist until they reach a symbol on his chest. Suddenly, he acts differently.
Herbalist: Oh. I'm so sorry. I guess I got a little carried away there. Perhaps I've been working too hard. Huntsmen and Huntresses, was it? How fascinating.
Suddenly, a hole in the ground appears beneath him, and he falls right down it. The hole closes right back up, leaving you all in shock. Then, out of nowhere, Little wakes up from Ruby's hood.
Little: What's going on? (Looks at CC) Oh, I found the cat!
Little woke up at the wrong time. A very wrong time.
Elsewhere.
Koamaru made himself a campfire as he hides out in a cave. As he stares into the fire, the vision of him being captured by Fyrren, Adam, and Violet comes to his mind.
Koa coughs up while backing away from the downed airship that caught fire. As he gets up, and then turns around, Adam knees him in the gut, causing him to fall over and cough.
Adam: Filthy human.
Violet: Congrats. You've been saved from the clutches of the system that plagues Huntsmen Academies. Please do not resist.
Koamaru: Agh... who... who are you people?!
Violet kicks Koamaru over on his side, and Fyrren steps right up to him.
Fyrren: We are people that will change your life. Whether you like it or not.
Koamaru: Why? What have I-
Fyrren: You have been chosen as the perfect candidate for a project. And you're coming with us.
Koamaru's eyes flare up with magic, and before he can even fight back as he gets to his knees, Adam stabs him through the chest. Out in the distance, flashlights can be seen.
Huntsman: I see the fire! Over here!
Fyrren: Grab him, let's move!
Violet lifts and carries Koamaru as she follows Fyrren, Adam follows as well. Koamaru's eyes close as his heart stops.
Upon opening them again, he's still in the cave, and he looks out at the night sky of the Ever After, wondering if following Salem's lead was ever worth it.
In the end, it never really was.