"I did not do anything!" came the voice of Barron from the door as he was the one who had caught the attention of the black witch first. 

Lucas and Belle were split, the butler trying to get to the black witch who had a series of spells that flew in the air and he tried to dodge them. The witch was quick in her movements, appearing to be experienced as she didn"t let him get close to her and instead tried to drive him away from the house. 

In that time, Belle went to the girl who had her hands tied. 

"S-she"s going to come back!" the girl whispered, panic in her voice. 

"Don"t worry. You will be fine," said Belle, untying the rope from the girl"s hand, she removed the bounds as quick as she could, "Where do you live? Where is your family?"

The girl was visibly shaken and she found it hard to speak. Belle searched for Barron, but the rabbit had disappeared out of sight. Where did he go? Belle looked back and forth and then decided to take the girl somewhere safe. 

Belle took two steps to look for Barron who had indeed vanished. She then said, "Let"s take you somewhere safe away from here," and she turned to the girl but the girl had disappeared. 

Lucas had finally caught up to the witch and he killed her with her body turning to dust. 

"Barron and the girl, both of them are missing," Belle said in worry. 

"What about the girl? Did she still have the black smoke around her?" inquired Lucas in search of Barron and not the girl, because the girl was going to die anyways but if Barron was caught by a pa.s.sing reaper it would be troublesome. 

"She still had it," answered Belle looking left and right, front and back searching for the girl who had disappeared from sight. Was there another witch they had failed to notice while looking inside the house?

They had reached the end of the forest and Lucas said, "I can"t find the presence of either of them."

"Shadow," Belle said catching something move pa.s.s the walls near the village and both Belle and Lucas followed the shadow.

Though it was the time of night where almost every person in the village had gone to sleep and rest, there was a woman and a small girl who was only walking back home as they had missed the local carriage from the other town. 

Belle and Lucas were only searching for the shadow when they caught sight of the girl who had escaped from the black witch to appear behind the woman and the small girl, to kill them both with a knife. Belle"s eyes widened when she caught sight of this.

The girl looked up at them, licking the knife that had blood on it. Her eyes turned to slit eyes, letting them know that she was a black witch and not a helpless human. The smoke around her turned even heavier than before which was when Barron who came behind her, used his scythe to kill the black witch. 

Belle was about to run towards the woman and the small girl who had fallen dead, bleeding from their necks as they laid on the ground when Lucas caught hold of Belle"s arm. 

"They need our help," Belle said to him.

"The reapers are going to arrive soon for the souls," said Lucas and Belle looked at the dead corpse but she couldn"t see the soul.

"They are almost here!" Barron who was the Grim reaper didn"t want to get reported about his presence being here and he quickly ran towards the couple. 

Noticing how Belle had a hard time tearing her eyes away from the people who had just died, Lucas didn"t wait for her and he zapped both Barron as well as Belle out of the village. When the reapers did arrive, they smelled the atmosphere that had traces of other death reapers who had been here but they took the soul with them. 

Reaching back to the mansion, in the study room, Belle couldn"t get the scene of the black witch out of her mind who had slit the throats of the two innocent people who were out in the village. 

"Do you understand now?" asked Lucas to her that had her look at him, "The mother and the child would have been alive if it weren"t for our disruption or Barron"s," he said looking at Barron who had hidden himself behind the lamp post. 

"But we didn"t help-"

"You untied the black witch. You thought that the other black witch was holding a human captive and you set her free. Not everything we think is right, Belle. If it weren"t for you, maybe the mother and daughter would still be alive. They weren"t part of the death plan."

Belle shook her head, her heart filling up in guilt.

"That"s a little harsh-" Barron started to speak knowing exactly what Lucas" lesson was today but he was interrupted,

"Don"t even start with me," Lucas glared at Barron, "You are the one who started it and Belle followed it like a Domino effect. This is exactly what I spoke about consequences. Don"t try saving everyone and everything around you."

Belle didn"t like that. She could feel the guilt that was starting to acc.u.mulate in her chest right now. She hadn"t meant for others to die. She didn"t know the person was a black witch...her lips pursed together for the life that had cost over her decision because of her action in untying the black witch"s hands. 

Her eyes turned down to look at the ground, "I didn"t mean for it..."

Seeing how she understood it, Lucas sighed and walked up to hug her, "I know."