Ofelia would NOT give the faun her brother.
She would give up her title of Princess Moanna, she would give up her future, but she would NOT give up the only other person left in her family. The Faun had tried to warn her, but she persisted. With a bow and an “As you wish”, he disappeared with a pop! back into the fairy world.
Ofelia held her sleeping brother close to her, as a mother would. Perhaps she would become his mother, even though she was only ten years older than him and was trapped at the tail end of a war that would only become worse.
A tap at her shoulder. She turns around with a start only to see Captain Vidal, the devil in her own personal hell, right up to her face. He snatched at her brother, held him as if he was holding a god.
That was when she saw the gun.
“No!” Ofelia yelped, loud enough for the captain to hear. He turned around, and without a grimace or a smile or any expression whatsoever on his face, pointed the gun at Ofelia and pulled the trigger.
She did not feel the sharp pain in her belly at first, just the warm blood soaking into her grey woolen dress. She looked down, saw the dark spot blooming from her belly outwards. She looked down into the labyrinth, pressed her hand onto the wet, and saw her own blood. That was when she felt the burning, just under her ribs. She crumpled to the ground and, as the pain of the world blurred her vision, gave way into darkness.
