This can only be dedicated to one person - Matt. He's the one that convinced me to finish it, so it's only right.
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Sabrina's breath came fast and ragged as her mind raced to make a decision. Should she go in after Puck, or shouldn't she? She may me captured, attacked, or worse if she went into the cave, but could she function knowing that she may have left Puck alone and fighting for his life on a mountain?
Making a decision, Sabrina inhaled shakily, and took a baby step towards the mouth of the cave. Every fiber in her body screamed in protest, but slowly she made her way to the entrance. The living darkness seemed to beckon her in the same way a poisonous snake might beckon an unsuspecting child. She shivered at the thought. Allowing her mind to numb itself to fear, she simply walked in. The dark felt like a cold shower, and she gasped in shock upon contact with it. It was like stepping through a black curtain, and she was through in an instant.
The light emanated off the walls of the cave was a sickening green, and the rocks seemed to glow with it. The end of the cave was not visible; it simply continued, the way being led by the eerie light.
Then she saw him.
About a hundred yards ahead of her she saw a dark lump on the ground that could only be Puck. She began to run. However, the brown flats were uncomfortable and limited her, so she kicked them off and continued. She could hear her heart drumming fiercely in her ears, and a strange sense of exhilaration came washing down on her. This feeling gave her an energy boost, and she reached Puck in seconds. He was slumped on the ground, eyes halfway open, unseeing, and his limbs limp.
Sabrina's heart tightened. He was not breathing.
Panic bloomed in her mouth. Oh no, oh no oh no oh no. Sabrina's mind seemed to be stalling, and she had no idea what to do.
His pulse, she thought. Take his pulse. Taking his wrist and shivering slightly in the drafty tunnel, she pressed her thumb firmly against the vein there. She could feel the blood pumping strong and fast. That can't be right…she though to herself, utterly confused and relieved that he was alive. Looking around her, she realized that whatever had done this to Puck would still be lurking around here somewhere…but it was not in sight. She glanced back down at Puck, and her eyes widened.
He was looking up at her. Directly up at her.
"Puck! You're ok! Thank goodness! Listen, we have to get out of here. Ok? There's something in the tun - In the…In the tunnel…."
Puck's eyes held no pain, no suffering, no worry, no anger, no fear. They held only mischief.
"Puck?…" Sabrina said slowly.
Puck bounced to his feet and looked down at her in ecstatic disbelief. "Wow. I got you good." His huge blue eyes were brimming with satisfaction.
Sabrina's body understood before her mind did. Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself attacking Puck, beating his in every place she could reach. She had punched his forehead, his stomach, his shoulder, kicked his shin and ribcage, and wrestled him to the ground before she could speak.
"I HATE YOU!" She spat on him, and it hit his t-shirt. "I HATE YOU, DO YOU HEAR ME? I DO! I PROMISE YOU!" Her stomach knotted as full comprehension dropped into it. "IT WAS ALL A TRICK, WASN'T IT? WASN'T IT?" Tears welled up in her eyes. "Wasn't it…" The question was no longer necessary. Puck's mischievous, only slightly guilty face said it all.
"But, but why Puck? Why would you do this?" Her voice broke in several places and she had to fight to keep down the lump that was forming in her throat.
Puck snorted, but his eyes softened just ever so slightly. "Come on, Grimm! You didn't think that I was just going to let a prank like the one you pulled go un-matched, did you?" He grinned wickedly at her. "I am not about to be outdone."
With a jolt, Sabrina remembered the Peter Pan Plot. It made her sick. Then the anger returned and she could feel it burning like crazy.
"THAT WAS NO REASON FOR YOU TO DO THIS! YOU MADE ME TRUST YOU! I TRUSTED YOU!" She spat out the word trust as if it were poisonous. She lunged at him again, and had gotten several good swings at his ruddy cheeks, leaving them red, before he pushed her away.
Despite the pain he must have felt from the punches, he managed to smirk. She was panting on the opposite side of the tunnel.
"Because, Grimm. I simply can." Then, still smiling, he had the nerve to say, "Would you like a ride back down, or would you rather walk.
"Of course I don't want a ride from you, you idiot fairy. Go, and I hope you fall to your death." She spat without thinking. Turning away from him and crossing her arms, she waited until the buzz of his wings had faded away. Then she ran to the mouth of the cave, and saw him, already just a fleck in the distance, zooming down the mountain. With a sigh she remembered that she would have to climb all the way down. She couldn't be less than four miles up the rocky, steep mountain; it would take her the better part of the day to get back down. Whatever was she going to tell Granny?
After an hour of making her slow way down the side of the mountain, she came to a conclusion. Everything that Puck had said or done today had been false. His compliments, his gentleness, his kindness. Everything. Tears began to leak out of her eyes at the thought. Why? She had liked it so much. Hadn't he seen that? Rubbing away the tears, she sighed shakily. All she needed now was for him to tell her that he was dating some perfect Everafter girl. She was probably some sweet, pretty little thing who absolutely adored him, praised him, always had something nice to talk about with him. What am I doing? Thought Sabrina in annoyance. Nobody like that would ever date Puck! Who would? This cruel thought made Sabrina smile, and it sustained her for another half an hour. However, it did not rid her of the pang of jealousy that she felt when she thought about this imaginary girl. Then again, who in this town wasn't imaginary?
When she had been walking for a full two hours, she rested on a small rock to catch her breath. Just as she was wishing she heard a small noise come from behind her. Whirling around, she saw, standing behind her, Puck. Puck. Puck.
"I AM SO GOING TO INJURE YOU, FAIRY BOY!" She made to grab him but he was faster. He simply grabbed her wrist tightly, so tightly that it made her yelp in pain, and began to fly.
She was doing everything she could to make him let go before realizing that if he did than she would fall and be dashed to pieces on the ground, which lay a hundred feet beneath them. This did not stop her from throwing insults at him though, and just as she was calling him a pig faced creep, he released her. He just let her thin wrist slip through his grasp, and she felt herself fall.
Sabrina did not even have the breath to scream. She simply felt herself fall, and stopped trying. So Puck had done it. Funny, she never thought he would actually go so far as to kill her. The bottom of the mountain no longer lay sprawled beneath her; she was falling directly towards the grassy green hill near the door. Sabrina tried to ready herself for death, but no thoughts came to her. Her mind was perfectly blank.
She was now only ten feet from the ground. It was over, and she closed her eyes in anticipation. She felt something hit her stomach hard, and she felt something soft beneath her hands. Instinctively, she grabbed it for comfort.
Am I dead? Thought Sabrina. She dared to open her eyes, and she saw she was only feet from the ground. But she wasn't falling any more. She was hanging on something. Looking down at what she was squeezing with her left hand, she was confused to see that it was a blue fabric. A smudged, familiar blue fabric.
Sabrina's whole body tensed, and she turned her head just slightly, so that she could see the blond head next to hers. She screamed in rage. He hadn't even let her die properly. She began to beat his back with her fists, and kick her feet wildly.
"Fine, fine. If you want to be let down, so much, fine." He dropped her, and she hit the ground with a small thud.
Puck landed, and his wings folded. "Who would I fight with if you got smooshed?" He asked cynically.
She just shook her head. She was shaking all over.
He just turned and walked towards the white door that they had come through what seemed like days ago. He didn't even turn around once after that.
It was a good few minutes before she could stand, and when she did she was wobbly. She made her way slowly to the door, and out the hallway. Mirror was waiting for her by the exit; he handed her a cup of ice water. His eyes were kind, and he looked genuinely concerned. He asked no questions, which Sabrina was eternally grateful for.
Sabrina went into her room, took one look at herself in the mirror, and began to sob hysterically. Her hair was frizzy and dirty and sweaty, her shirt was covered in grass stains and sweat and mud. Her white jacket was dirty and torn beyond repair. Her jeans were stained with brown and green, and her beautiful shoes were - she realized with an angry pang - gone. Left in the cave, all because of Puck.
She collapsed onto her bed, a filthy heap of misery. She had her cry, and it did a world of good. After a two hour long hot bath and a vent to a sympathetic Daphne, she felt much better. By then it was the end of the day, and Sabrina didn't want to go down for dinner because Puck would surely be there. He never missed dinner.
As Sabrina was debating about whether or not to descend, she heard a faint buzzing noise which she dismissed as a fly. However, when she rolled over and looked up at the ceiling for consolation, she saw a note taped there. It was written in a messy scrawl, and it was almost unintelligible. It said -
I'M SORRY, OK? BUT I'M NOT PETER PAN.
Sabrina could have laughed when she saw it. How typical. She sat up and sighed. She would forgive him. What choice did she have? But she would never apologize. Puck would just have to deal with that. She grinned as she saw the green felt hat with the red feather placed neatly at the end of her bed, along with a pair of brown flats.