“Mère L’Oye is unwriting the world because she doesn’t want it to exist without her,” Gin explained. “Although, it wasn’t all on purpose in the beginning: before, she would just forget things. That’s how it started, with the forgetting…

“She did alright by her older stories, but the new ones she’d forget almost as soon as she started to write them. She couldn’t remember where she wanted to go with them, or what events she was trying to set up…she noticed how confusing and convoluted they were getting when she read through them, and she didn’t like it. She had a feeling that…something was happening to her.”

“…I think I know,” said Dreadli. “Mama Bear told me that sometimes, when old folks get really old, their minds start to get old, too. And sometimes they have trouble remembering things. Even their family and friends…”

“Yes, that’s it,” said Gin. “To be honest, I think she might have forgotten Jack a little bit, too. It would explain why she started seeing him as an enemy…”

“Before, he used to be her partner. He’d write some of the stories, and she’d write some of the stories, and they’d all live together in LaConte. But then, when she started to struggle, he started writing more to compensate. He even finished some of her stories without her knowing, just to try to help. But the trouble started when he decided to…confront her with the problem.”

Gin frowned. “He asked me about it beforehand, and I told him it wasn’t a good idea,” she said. “I said that Mère L’Oye was prideful and stubborn and wanted everything her way, and that there was a reason they never collaborated directly in the past. But I suppose since she was his mother, he believed in her too much…”

“He sat down with her and told her that she wasn’t well. He suggested that she cut back on her writing, and offered to take over LaConte for her if anything were to…happen. Which is probably the worst thing he could have said, now that I think about it. He saw it as a reassurance, trying to preserve her legacy, but she saw it as erasing her influence from the world completely, making it as if she had never existed.

“After all, if a god dies and everything just chugs along as normal, then what was her significance…? I guess every mortal being feels that way at times…that unfairness when you realize that, when you die, the rest of the world will just go on without you…

“Well, she decided she wouldn’t let that happen. So now that she can’t write, no one will write. And when she dies, we will all die. At least, those of us who haven’t been unwritten already. And that is how the story of the universe will end.”

~~

Dreadlilocks looked into the fire, twisting the damp fabric of her dress between her fingers. “So…the Odsplut was telling the truth,” she said quietly. “We weren’t helping Mère L’Oye after all…because this was all her fault to begin with. And we didn’t even know…we had no idea…”

“Well, that’s why you came here, isn’t it?” Gin replied. “Remember, your story wasn’t supposed to end at the Margins. There was so much left for you and your friends to learn and do…in fact…there may still be things you could do…”

“…What do you mean?”

“Well…technically, this doesn’t have to be the end of the universe. Jack may be trapped now, but I think he can overpower Mère L’Oye if he really wants to. He just needs someone to encourage him…someone who could go to him, and stay with him until they make him understand what he has to do.”

Gin leaned in a bit closer. “You have to convince him to kill his mother and take her place,” she said. “Before it’s too late.”