34 | reverse; a switch in reflection

The moment Elias' vigilant face came into view, Lucas almost turned around right there and then. He couldn't mistake the natural curl of the lips, and the bewilderment that morphed into settled amusement upon seeing who it was.

"Darling." breathed Elias, his voice a low, reverberating timbre that transferred through the mirror in a sort of echo.

Lucas seethed, already missing the other Elias standing beside him. "Bastard."

"Well, that's one way to say hello."

"I would've left if I knew the mirror connected me to you."

"That's a lie, isn't it?" said Elias knowingly, watching the ripples that skipped along the reflective surface. "Because you can't complete this story without me, and while I don't mind taking my time, you do."

"Tch."

"Words, please?"

A desperate man became vulnerable to the commands of even the one they most disliked. And while Lucas wasn't certain where exactly this clawing need to hurry came from, it was there.

He was a man who trusted his feelings.

"Where's the other me?"

Elias glanced sideways, smiling. "He's a little shy."

"...please don't speak about 'me' like that."

"I can't help it if it's true." Looking around, Elias tried to peek at his own reflection, but there was nothing there. "How about the other me?"

"He's obediently standing on the side."

Elias suddenly understood how strange it felt to be referred to in third person when he was standing right there. Dismissing the oddness, he tapped his fingers across the mirror.

Perhaps he could stick his hand through?

However, when he tried to press through the uneven surface, only the tips of his nails pushed through before being intercepted by a barrier; cold and metallic.

"Hm..."

"What are you trying to do?" asked Luca plainly, though his fingers had already been pushed through the mirror, feeling the same metallic barrier.

Both of their thoughts had been the same.

Elias glanced down at the outstretched arm reflected, and laughed. "It should be the same thing as what you're trying."

They lapsed into a silence, lost at what to do. Finally, Lucas suggested, "The words—what if we chanted them?"

"Let's give it a try."

At the same time, they uttered the magic phrase of 'mirror, mirror on the wall', before waiting patiently. However, there wasn't even a glimpse of reaction, and the experiment resulted in failure.

Lucas' patience was dwindling; was this a dead end?

To kill the Evil Queen, it was necessary for the Queen on the other side to be evil as well. Was the answer to rouse her irritation, make her suffer until cruelty came to surface?

But that would be far too crude—and also unlikely. He didn't think that method would be the correct way.

"Are the personalities set in side B and side A changeable?" wondered Lucas.

The other Elias shook his head from the bleak corner that he stood. "The roles are set. Snow White in side B will always remain evil, and Snow White in side A will remain good."

Hearing this, Lucas' mind flickered back to the rules the Teller had set.

'Evil never changes.'

It had been an out-of-place reminder, but Lucas couldn't figure out the reason behind it yet.

While the both of them were ruminating, the other versions of themselves shuffled to stand in front of the mirror. Although it appeared as if they were simply Elias' and Lucas' reflection, the movements didn't coordinate.

Elias was the first to notice the abnormality in his reflection and waved. "Oh, is this the other me? You're looking a little too serious."

Similarly, Lucas narrowed his eyes at his stagnant, awkward reflection. "...why do you look so scared of me—yourself?"

The 'timid' Lucas blinked, but said nothing and shrank back slightly.

The 'stoic' Elias simply stared with an unflinching frown.

"......"

Both Lucas and Elias felt a shiver run up their backs—it was really terribly strange to see their abnormal reflections.

Or more accurately, knowing that the other 'them' were in fact another side of themselves, buried deep and rarely seen, made them uncomfortable. As if a manifestation of their deepest thoughts stood before them, revealed for somebody to witness.

Lucas shook away the thought of his most vulnerable self being seen by Elias, that smiling weed.

Muttering, he racked through several ideas again. He repeated the phrase in a soft mumble, more to himself than anything else. "...mirror, mirror on the wall, whose the fairest of them all?"

Something moved in the corner of Elias' distracted stare, and he jolted back.

"Lucas!"

Elias sharp warning snapped the man out of his thoughts, as he jerked up his head just in time to see a cluster of hands stretching out towards him. The skin was still glued to the mirror's border, stretching and tethering on snapping.

It was grotesque, how the skin stretched like a balloon, growing more see-through as it reached its breaking point.

Boneless, the swells of fat grew visible, pushing against the surface.

No matter how Lucas moved, it writhed around his arms in a rooted grip, hauling him forward. Lucas planted his feet on the ground, struggling with his jaws locked tight, muscles tensed, to no avail.

They dragged him into the glowing mirror.

A strange sensation washed over him, stirring discord and dizziness in his mind as he blanked, feeling absolutely nothing yet everything simultaneously.

Then he blinked.

And there he was, staring into an antique mirror as he had been, thinking of an illusion that had come to pass, resembling a faded dream.

Lucas furrowed his eyebrows, and swept his head sideways where Elias lowered his eyes, gaze deep and contemplating.

The man studied his companion that hadn't shifted beside him, noticing a barrier of protective caution that hadn't been there earlier, and how the curl of displeasure had deepened slightly.

"You're my Lucas, aren't you?"

"I'm not yours." A bitter voice.

"That answers my question. The disparity between you and the other you is actually quite dramatic."

"I could say the same," came the tired response, irritable and confused. "The other you recognizes the meaning of quiet, unlike you."

You've got quite the mouth on you, don't you?" remarked Elias lightly.

Lucas glanced over idly. "Want me to teach you how to use it?"

The harsh banging of footsteps thundered in the outside hallway and they both hastily glanced at each other, before back into the reflection.

Strangely enough, the timidness in the other Lucas no longer appeared, replaced with an identical look.

Lucas frowned, and the other Lucas frowned back. Two stone-faced statues had a silent stare off, before finally sighing.

"If a something switches sides, their personality is swapped as well." He landed a thoughtful tap on the mirror that sent more ripples across. "However, we are exceptions. It's just our reflection that change."

Elias nodded. "That seems to be the case. Unfortunately, if both sides swap personalities, the situation won't change even if we moved the Good Queen through, since the Evil one would change as well."

"But evil doesn't change."

"Hm?"

"That's a rule of this Story: evil never changes. It's safe to assume that only good will become evil, but not vice versa."

"Then all we need to do is get both sides of the Evil Queen to stand before the mirror."

Lucas nodded, but fell into a rasping silence.

There was an issue with that; the Good Queen didn't seem to exist. He'd easily slipped through with the other Elias, but there were no glimpses of anybody within the castle walls, save for the few servants that roamed.

He'd searched through the rooms after splitting up with Elias, and found not a single member of royalty. It was possible that she simply wasn't there at the moment, but Lucas didn't think so.

Often, a person overlooks things when first seeing it. However, when recalling things of absolute necessary, they remember details they didn't originally acknowledge.

The sharp object that had grazed Lucas' hand—he'd seen a glimpse of that gold when Snow White threw the doors open.

A lonely, abandoned crowned clinging to congealed blood.

"The Good Queen may be dead."

Elias raised an eyebrow in faint surprise, not expecting that outcome. "...then, I suppose the only other option is..."

"To crown Snow White." finished Lucas, lifting his stormy eyes with a tranquil brush of understanding. "We'll target her instead."

"Whatever you say, darling."

"...can you be serious for one moment?"

"Aren't I being serious?"

Knock, knock, knock.

The wall creaked, groaning under the weight of something hitting it from within in a rhythmic beat.

It edged closer slowly, as if stuffing through the gaps and nearing.

Knock.

"Oh." A fake look of innocence that hardly suited Elias crossed his face. "I forgot. This side of the mirror seems to be haunted."

"......."

Don't people generally warn others at the beginning?

"Well, it's stuck inside, so don't worry."

As he said that, the knocking stopped and the sound of a sharp nail digging filled the dreary silence.

A tiny hole poked out of the wall, too small and pitch to see what was peering out.

If they hadn't been watching the spot, they wouldn't have even noticed the dot that appeared. It would've secretly peeked out,

Watching...

Waiting...

"...say that again?"

"I don't think I will, no."

There was little time for idle chat, and both men moved away from the wall, never removing their gaze lest something appear in the second that they did. The dim lighting of the room barely pulsed, occasionally flickering.

They'd backed up into the mirror, stopped by the bony outstretched hands that remained frozen, awaiting command.

"Boss." Lucas turned his head, glancing backwards into Elias' disoriented reflection. "You're going to have to go to the other side."

"When you refer to me at that, can you at least sound a little respectful?"

"...is this really the time for complaints?"

Elias offered a sly smile, lowering his eyelashes to sweep his gaze across the room. Staying together would do no good when there were two versions of the same target on separate sides.

He took a shallow breath, more amused than scared. Would this be the end of him—or the darling fool who he'd dragged along?

What a thrilling idea.

The tinge of madness that edged on the surface of Elias' irises didn't go unnoticed by Lucas, whose frown tugged down further. "Stop your ridiculous ideas and beat it."

Scratch. Scratch.

Tss—

The hole in the wall was slowly getting wider, a small finger poking through along with a wave of rancid stench, of rotting flesh.

Not to mention, the footsteps outside the room that Lucas had been quietly listening to grew nearer and nearer—

—he had to leave soon, or there'd be no leaving anymore.

Elias languidly leaned back, behaving as if he had all the time in the world to spare. Lucas gritted his teeth, half ready to shove the man through the mirror by force, whether or not it worked.

"Patience, darling."

When an entire hand burst through the deteriorating wall, and a peek of decomposing flesh flaked off, Elias swept his gaze towards his reflection.

Lucas abandoned his irritable companion in a second, rushing towards the door.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, whose the fairest of them all?"

The hands lunged out, wrapping around Elias entirely until nothing could be seen but a mound of flesh, pulling towards the shimmering mirror. Lucas glanced back and swore, hushed whispers of all sorts of profanities.

As the 'reflection' replaced the earlier standing man, Lucas snatched the arm that had started to emerge and dragged it behind him, smashing through the closed door.

He heard the 'thing' burst through the wall as they exited the room, his heart palpitating and beating out of his chest.

Pulling Elias—or his reflection—whatever it was that he held onto, he glanced backwards.

His heart dropped to his stomach, recoiling with disgust.

Within his firm hold was a dangling mound of flesh pried from the mirror at some unknown time. The skin at the ends warped, wrinkled with the protruding of white bone poking from the end.

Lucas immediately threw the hand portion away, flinging his head up.

At the opposite end, near the room he'd just left, was a smiling man, casually waving a dismembered hand in the air.

"......"

He'd forgotten that the peaceful, stoic Elias would've changed after going through the mirror. Without another thought, he spun on his heels and continued to run without his companion.

There was a rush of wind, a breeze blowing past him before he realized that a second pair of footsteps was running beside him.

"...beat it. Go run the other way."

Elias continued his pace leisurely. "Isn't your attitude to me pretty different now, darling?"

Lucas squinted, sharply skidding down another corner as more banging surrounded the flimsy walls around them. The lights flickered wildly, plummeting them into darkness, then dragging them back into brightness.

"There's no possibility that you're just a reflection."

The other man considered it. "Well, the other me will remember everything when you leave the Story. And my knowledge is slightly more limited in general, though it's more expansive when it comes to the Story itself."

"Why couldn't your annoying meter be limited?"

"Because I surpass any meter."

"And you're proud of that?"

"I am, actually, believe it or not." Elias grabbed Lucas who was about to run into a wild, outstretched arm, dragging him sideways roughly. "You're welcome, by the way."

The certain dragged man glared accusingly, before kicking his legs out to send the other sprawling on the ground. Above, a wrinkled hand, covered in gathered skin and absolutely no blood or flesh, burst out of the wall.

Lucas glanced down at the kneeling man and raised his chin arrogantly. "On your knees for me, Elias?"

"You don't sound quite so charming dressed in over-sized clothes."

Glancing down at his outfit he hadn't had the opportunity to change out of, Lucas flung his lavender hat onto the ground and scoffed. "Are you really saying that, dressed in a maid's outfit?"

"Doesn't it suit me?"

Giving a long, hard blink, Lucas replied coldly. "It does. So why don't you be an obedient maid and shut up?"

"Do you want me to call you Master~ too?"

Shivers crawled up Lucas' arms, covering them in goosebumps as he noticeably paled in disgust. The tidy maid outfit had been ripped at the bottom, exposing a pair of muscular legs, and the tight bodice empathized the man's chest—

—in other words, to hear such syrupy words coming from such a sight made Lucas want to abandon his life, right there and then.

What the hell sort of play was this?

"Enough." dismissed the man, turning away. "We need to bring Snow White here, so stop dwindling."

"And how do you plan to do that? She ran away from home to escape the hunter, didn't she?" Elias followed him. "And the Evil Queen won't allow her crown to be stolen."

"Let's assume the one adorning the crown represents the Queen—all we have to do is temporarily disable the Queen."

"You speak as if it's easy."

"Tch." Lucas clicked his tongue, narrowly dodging another one of the mangled flesh that started inching along the floor. "There's no point in creating a plan when we aren't certain it'll work—just do it."

As expected of this fool who believed a single punch was better than conversation. Somebody who thought with his fists over his brain.

But it was good to focus on a task and pick up clues along the way. Snow White was definitely a key aspect to this Story, so there'd be no harm in finding her.

Lucas peeked over Elias' shoulder, noticing a dark mess in the distance that he couldn't make out due to his poor eyesight. He squinted, hardly making out any extra details.

However, an ominous feeling came with the cluster of wriggling in the background, and Lucas turned one more corner before wrapping his fingers around Elias' skirt.

Only a few seconds before that 'thing' caught up with them.

It started to crawl faster with wild abandon.

He jerked his head around, throwing open a door and pulling the other inside with him. The door slammed behind him, and he twisted the lock, heaving.

Closing his eyes, adjusting to the startling darkness of the room, he listened quietly. His ears pressed near the door, he pushed further against something below him and attentively waited for the scurry of wriggling sounds outside.

A shadow peeked from underneath the door, and the sound stopped.

Instinctively, without thinking of their position, Lucas clamped his hand against Elias' disobedient mouth, frowning.

Silence accompanied.

He swallowed inaudibly, feeling the rise and fall of the person beneath him and the suffocating warmth of close contact.

His heartbeat slowed, and the shadow outside didn't move.

Lucas' hair was slicked with sweat, strands hanging loosely over his rounded forehead, overcasting chilling pale eyes that pulsed with caution, narrowed along with his furrowed brows.

Finally, the sound of something dragging against the floor drew further away, and Lucas scrunched his nose at the terrible odor of spoiling meat.

When he was certain that it'd completely disappeared, he breathed a sigh of relief. Then, something slithered up his waist, resting a painful weight over his sides.

It gave a squeeze.

"......"

Lucas fell silent, irritation building in his chest.

A certain man squeezed again shamelessly, and even dared to offer a comment of praise. "Hm, pretty solid."