AN: Guess who's back, back again. Sorry this a bit late. Although, I suppose it's considerably less late than the last update in '3 Rounds and A Sound' supposed to be. Aha ha ha haaaa...
Anyways. Here is Chapter One of my old fic, but re-imagined and redone! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Sisters Grimm, nor do I own any of the song titles I mention. Keeping that in mind, the fic is named after a Penny & Sparrow song, from their new album Struggle Pretty. If you can't (or don't want to) buy the album, check out their music video for Rattle that was shot in my home state of Oregon. Also, this chapter's title is from Daughter's "Smother" another great band.
Chapter One: In The Darkness
After the Everafter War ended, life went on.
This made a lot of people very unhappy and has widely been regarded as a bad move. It seemed to everyone involved in the matter that the whole Earth should just stop spinning and that everything should cease to exist. There were too many newly made orphans, too many widows and just too many broken hearts. How could life go on when there was so much pain and grief? how could the sun keep circling the sky when there was no reason for many to see another day?
There isn't any satisfying answer, except that it just could. The world and humanity in general have an annoyingly consistent knack for surviving, and this was just another thing for the world to endure. And endure it did. Nobody pressed the big pause button that froze all of Earth and it's inhabitants (mainly because it had been lost several years prior in a huge battle somewhere in the Himalayas.) People kept going to waking up after sunrise and going to bed after sunset. Families kept on bickering over the breakfast table and cab drivers in New York kept on choosing the worst possible route from point A to point B. Everything just kept happening.
It was around the time of this realization that the nightmares started. Grimms in general were no strangers to nightmares. Even before the events in Fairyport Landing, Daphne would wake up in the night crying and yelling and Sabrina would resolutely not. Things only got worse afterwards. Henry dreamt of waking up too late and not being able to save his girls. Veronica dreamt of waking up at exactly the right time and still not being able to save her girls. Daphne sailed through dreams of about the cold, dark foster homes of the time that had been aggressively dubbed Before and the bloody battles that had been dubbed After. Even little Basil's dreams were stained with red fingertips.
Despite this familiarity with night horrors, there was something the dreams that Sabrina started to have that was particularly gruesome. At least, that's what the Grimms assumed, because she could clam up when ever anybody asked for details.
It was a widely acknowledged fact that Sabrina didn't scare easily, and that when she did she didn't show it. It was probably because of this knowledge that on the first night, about a week after the Grimm family had resettled in New York, they all came running when they heard her screams. Equipped with various weapons (some a little more on the stuffed animal side) the Grimm's burst into their eldest childs room in search of danger. What they found was more startling than burglars.
There was only Sabrina, cheeks tear soaked and face pale. Everyone instantly felt as though they were the intruders, seeing as the Mighty Sabrina Grimm in any state other than fierce and tough as nails was unheard of. The younger children ushered back to bed by Henry, and Veronica remained to comfort and ease her daughter back into sleep. When Sabrina finally had fallen asleep, the household breathed a sigh of relief. The wrongness of that night would pass, and everything would go back to normal.
For the next month, it was. But then the screaming happened again and all the Grimm's charged back through Sabrina's door, guns blazing. The result was the same every time. Sabrina was always the only one there, and everyone else wandered off in various states of shock and embarrassment, leaving one member to comfort her. And no one talked about it in the morning, mainly because any and all questions were shot down with Sabina's alarmingly effective stink eye. They all accepted it, thinking that Sabrina would be able to work through her problems on her own, she always had Before.
Her first year as a teenager was spent this way, with small disturbances every few months and smooth waters in between. The nightmares seemed to be tied with Sabrina's proximity to Everafters and Fairyport Landing itself. When she was in town she was fine, but as soon as she got home she'd be assaulted by her own subconscious. The more time she spent near people from the War, the worse the dreams were afterwards. But they were still rare, and not enough to really worry anyone too greatly. They all knew that group therapy was probably something they needed to look into, but explaining the fact that their family had fought and survived a war would be difficult to say the least.
The nightmares really started picking up after Sabrina's fourteenth birthday and her last year or middle school. What were once trimonthly occurrences became monthly, than fortnightly, than weekly. It built up to the point where someone was going into Sabrina's room every three nights. After a particular grisly week, during which there were four scream-filled nights in a row, the Grimms all knew something had to be done, and quickly.
So by unanimous and silent vote, all five people clambered into their minivan as soon as the last bells of the school year rang out. They made arrangements to stay in Relda and Mr. Clay's restored house and planned to visit for the whole summer, or at least until they had the chance to help Sabrina as one unit. And if it took longer than expected, so be it. Any and all lengths felt worth it to help their daughter and sister.
The ride out to Western New York was peaceful, much more so than Sabrina's first trip there. In the past year and a half or so, what was once dreary farmlands became familiar and even cherished. More and more landmarks popped up with every trip. Soon, Sabrina could figure out house close they were to Fairyport Landing without looking at any signs. The apple orchards meant they still had an hour left, but once they passed the fruit stand it was a straight shot into town.
Sabrina spent the majority of the ride listening to Basil explain the elaborate and detailed past of every Red Power Ranger to Ever Exist. Daphne was always very attentive and serious when he started to talk about these things, asking questions and making lots of affirmative little noises to assure Basil. Probably to make up for her own stolen chance at a childhood. With her encouragement alone, he could go on for hours, explaining the complex hero stories and every twist and turn in each Power Rangers journey. It was adorable at first, but once Basil had discovered Netflix streaming, there was really no going back.
He had just finished describing one of the major "Boss Battles" in Power Rangers S.P.D ("What does that stand for?" "Space Patrol Delta." "Oooh.") when the Sabrina caught a glimpse of a well-known gravel driveway. That grabbed the youngest Grimm child's attention immediately and was punctuated with a happy shout. Daphne also felt the need to exclaim the all too obvious fact that they were almost there. Sabrina found herself wincing and nursing one of her many cups of coffee that morning and wondered how long she had been a such a cynic. Her next thought was "Always."
Outside of the house stood Mr. Clay, leaning heavily on a young girl's shoulder. He had remained mostly the same since the end of the war, but Red was another case entirely. After a few months of decision making and intense meditation, the Everafter had decided to age at a typical human pace. Although, with the way she clung to Daphne, it wasn't a surprising choice to most everyone. She was now physically ten, still burning off the bit of baby fat in her face. Red had grown her mass of red curls down to her shoulders, but began to wear them in a ponytail soon after she decided to take on every kind of art possible. Her (red) t-shirt was stained with (various shades of red) paint and Sabrina felt that if she was given the opportunity to examine Red's hands, she would find paint stains and clay under blunt fingernails.
Henry brought the car to a full stop right in front of the duo, and was the first to hop out and greet both. Daphne and Basil were quick on his heels, both tackling Red as soon as Mr. Clay no longer leaned on her arm. Anyone who had met the quiet and fearful girl years ago would have had a hard time believing this was the same person, smiling brightly and just taking in the two biggest motor mouths in the North East. Sabrina and Veronica both stayed behind, rolling their eyes simultaneously and grabbing the suitcases from the trunk.
"Lieblings!" A warm voice called from the door.
"Granny!" Came the equally enthusiastic response as both Daphne and Basil rounded on their new prey.
"Oh my dears, it's so good to see you!" Relda Grimm said into her grandchildren's hair. "Let me look at you both."
As Sabrina walked up to the group, she heard snippets of Daphne explaining that no one was actually going to be putting bricks on Basil's head and that "it's just an expression."
"And Daphne, you're almost taller than me!" Relda smiled.
Daphne's grin turned slightly manic at that comment, and she drew her back up a little straighter.
"It's great to be back." She exclaimed, grabbing her own duffle from Sabrina as she dragged Red and Basil into the house.
"Sabrina," Relda grabbed the almost fifteen year old, "you get more lovely everytime I see you."
"Hi Granny." Sabrina smiled indulgently. The last time they'd seen Relda was when she showed up on Christmas Eve with a bag full of presents and some strange attempt at figgy pudding that'd turned orange along the way. It had taken a good deal of convincing to get her to let them take her home, but it was worth keeping her crazy driving off the icy streets.
Sabrina pulled away gently, always becoming aware of her grandmother's age when she was in close proximity to her. Henry and Veronica came up behind them, holding the rest of the bags in their collective hands. It looked like Mr. Clay's attempts to spirit it away had been meet with resistance.
"Sabrina, why don't you go unpack your things into my old room?" Henry asked while giving his daughter a pointed look. Sabrina translated this as "I respect you too much to talk about you in front of your face, but not enough to tell you that's what I will be doing." in adult. With her second eyeroll in much too short amount of time, Sabrina grabbed her bags and wandered inside.
"How bad has it been recently?" She heard Relda ask just before she moved out of earshot.
The route upstairs was deeply ingrained by that point, so much so that Sabrina was sure she'd be able to navigate it blindfolded. Although, that fact that Red had taken it upon herself to throw together some kind of organized system for all the books in the house might have helped. Henry's old room was just the same, planes still hanging from the ceiling and old bed in the same position by the wall. One of the only new additions was a picture on the dresser. Sabrina dropped her duffel on the bed as she reached to pick it up.
Four children stood in the picture, all with their arms around each other. A ten year old brunette clung to a meek looking red head girl on one side and a blonde boy on the other. The boy had his head thrown back in maniacal glee as another blonde tried to glare at him from the other side of the frame, a small smile sneaking on to her lips. Sabrina let herself study the photo for a moment before dropping it face first back on to the dresser and turning away.
The rest of the afternoon passed in an uneventful blur of unpacking. It had been established beforehand that Daphne would be bunking with Red and that Basil was staying in Veronica and Henry's room. Secretly, Sabrina was glad, if for no reason other than the arrangement meant there was less of a chance that she'd be waking up anyone in the middle of the night. That and the fact that Daphne was a crazy heavy sleeper and tended to take up more than her fair share of bed. And, on par with Relda's observation, the ten-year-old had grown taller and pointer, making her less than ideal for a bedmate.
The rest of Sabrina's evening was spent in the comforting tedium of unpacking both her and her sibling's bags. T-shirts blurred into swimsuits and by the time it was evening, Sabrina had to pull herself out of a mindless unfolding and refolding trance. The strange smells wafting from the kitchen were a cruel reminder of her only problem with staying in Fairyport Landing. Knowing that someone would be sent to retrieve her for dinner soon, Sabrina finished putting away the rest of her clothes with a sigh.
Surely enough, a tentative knock sounded off her door not five minutes later. Sabrina dropped the book she had started to read and reached for the handle.
"Papa Canis said to tell you it's suppertime." Red wrung her fingers a little embarrassedly. Although she had branched out in recent years, Red was still far from a social butterfly, and was always shy around anyone other than her inner circle.
"Thanks Red. How are things?" Sabrina asked as she tossed her book on to her bed.
"Good I suppose. I just got some new canvases last week, but I can't decided what to paint them yet. I always get so overwhelmed with a white surface like that." Red chuckled nervously.
"Maybe you could paint it a different color, like grey or black." Sabrina noted absently, studying a picture of her mother and father's wedding on the wall. "Might make it a bit less intimidating."
"Huh, that's actually a really good idea."
"Don't act so surprised, I do have those from time to time."
Red laughed when Sabrina punctuated each word with a poke to her side. "What about you?" The younger girl turned serious. "How have you been recently?"
"Alright I guess." Sabrina tried to dodge the subject, not meeting Red's eyes. She heard a faint sigh.
"You know, it's okay to ask for help every now and then." A small hand reached for her arm, and pulled Sabrina around so she had to face the girl. "I know you have this whole hero complex going on, where you have to work through everything on your own. It doesn't always have to be like that. You have a big family who loves you and wants to help you, but you have to let us."
Sabrina blinked, a bit surprised by the solemn look Red was wearing. "Yeah, okay."
Red gave a little nod, seemingly satisfied with that response, before letting go of Sabrina's elbow. "Good."
The girls made their way downstairs in relative silence until Sabrina spoke up. "Man, when'd you get so smart?"
"I watch a lot of Cosmos." Red replied in a deadpan. Sabrina couldn't restrain a snort and both girls were laughing as they walked into the dining room together.
"I hope everyone's hungry!" Relda exclaimed as the two slipped into seats on either side of Daphne. The dinner table was lined with bizarre dishes, ranging from purple meatloaf to applesauce that had a faint blue cheese smell. Sabrina suppressed a groan, nibbling on a dinner roll only to find it was full of heavily seasoned meat. Wrinkling her nose in distaste, Sabrina watched as everyone else dug in with enthusiasm. Knowing she was likely the only one to raise complaints about the cooking, she resolved to sip at water and eat the bread part of the rolls.
"What's wrong liebling?" Relda asked sometime in the middle of dinner. "There is plenty of food if you're still hungry."
"Perfect, cause I'm starvin'!" A hearty voice interrupted from the door. Most of the people sitting at the table jumped a foot in the air, save for Relda whose nerves of steel rivaled even Sabrina's.
"Uncle Jake!" Daphne cried, hoping out of her seat to give him a squeeze. "It's been forever!"
Jake laughed as he detached his niece, ruffling her loose hair fondly. "It's good to see you too kiddo. Although, you're not much of a kid anymore. Who said you were allowed to get bigger?"
Daphne beamed back at him, moving to let Henry greet his brother. "What are you doing in town? I thought you were going to be in Jeuno until September."
"Eh, no one wanted to give me info on the Kushtaka, and the trail went dead after a couple days. So I decided I'd come back early, catch ya while you were around." Jake gave Veronica a look similar to the one Sabrina had received earlier that day.
Ah, Sabrina thought, He's here to help with the Spanish Inquisition.
"Hey Uncle Jake, if you're here does that mean-" Daphne began as she sat down, only to be stopped when Sabrina shot her a look. At least, Sabrina thought that's what stopped her. For some reason, Daphne's deer in headlights expression was directed over her shoulder towards-oh.
"You better believe it, Marshmellow." Sabrina turned to the doorway. If Sabrina was being honest with herself, she might say she was pleasantly surprised with what she saw. But, Sabrina was very rarely honest with herself.
The blonde, curly haired teen had changed rather drastically since Sabrina had seen him last, although his knowing smirk was no less infuriating than it was three years ago. It appeared as though he had acquired a new sweatshirt, this one better fitting but just as dirty. His eyes were a clear green (words like emerald and jade came to mind and then were mercilessly crushed) and he'd grown to a rather ridiculous height, now almost level with Jake's forehead. All of his limbs looked much too long for his body, like a puppy that was just growing into it's feet. Although, comparing him to a puppy was an insult to dogs everywhere in Sabrina's mind.
"Didja miss me Grimm?" Puck asked with a roguish (wait, roguish?!) wink and Sabrina could sense a migraine in her near future.
AN: The Kushtaka is a real Alaskan myth! It is the otterman, a creature that many Native Alaskans are afraid to talk about because his name can summon him. Ah the things you learn when you live in rural Alaska for three years...
QotW: Can you find the Douglas Adams quote? Also, check out Neil deGrasse Tyson's Cosmos, for no other reason than SPACE.