I'm tired of my Puckabrina one-shots, so in this fanfic the couple doesn't appear at all.

This story's rather long to be publish as a chapter of Short Stories… Genre: adventure/romance.

Word #37. Ugly

The story of an ugly girl

Chapter 1. The Prisoners

Anne Hamstead was ugly, She had known it since her very childhood. She couldn't understand it! Her mother Elizabeth Jumpcow, or simply Bess, as everyone called her, was one of the most beautiful Everafters in New York City. Her father Ernest Hamstead was unnaturally fat, but still nobody could call him ugly.

Anne didn't know why she was born so terribly ugly. She had short reddish hair, a very large nose, too thin lips, too thick brown eyebrows and a tanned complexion. Plus she was short, too short to be noticed, as she thought to herself.

When she was nineteen, she wanted to enter the war with the Scarlet Hand.

"Perhaps if I fight bravely and Queen Titania with King Mustardseed praise me, people will forget my ugliness," the poor girl decided. She told her mother about her decision.

"OK, Annie, I know you very well. I know you're determined," Bess smiled. "But this war is very dangerous."

"I want to fight, nevertheless!"

Bess sighed:

"All right, dear. I'll tell His Majesty about it. Maybe he'll allow you to help our people with plans and strategy, and actually it's the best choice for a young weak clever girl."

Anne wasn't all satisfied with her mother's words. She wanted to show her courage and heroism on a battlefield, not on a quiet military base. But still, it was great for her to enter the Everafter War! She dreamed of wearing a helmet (so that no our would notice her face and hair), of riding a horse (so that nobody would see she's so short), and of killing the Master of the Scarlet Hand himself.

In two days, she went to the palace of the King of Faerie – now the main military base on the battle front of New York.

When Anne was waiting for her first tasks, a messenger fairy ran inside the palace.

"Urgent news! Urgent news!" he cried as he caught his breath. He turned around and noticed Anne:

"Miss, could you please tell His Majesty that Joe the messenger has returned – with urgent news!"

"Yes, sir," Anne curtsied and ran to tell King Mustardseed about Joe the messenger. King Mustardseed called for Joe to come to the throne room. Joe rushed inside, bowed and started talking immediately:

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty…"

"Hello, Joe. Where have you been today?" Mustardseed interrupted. The messenger said proudly:

"I've turned into an earthworm and crawled into the cells of the Scarlet Hand Local Prison in New York. The guards didn't even see me! Ha! I checked the cells and met every single one of our people who had been captured. I was alone, so I didn't try to rescue them. But – suddenly – I saw a cell that was without any door or window! I saw it, because there was a little hole in the wall that led to this cell. 'Maybe the prisoner in there is incredibly dangerous for the Scarlet Hand!' I guessed and I crawled through the hole. And I saw…"

Joe made a theatrical pause.

"Joe, you're not making a speech," Mustardseed reminded him. Joe smiled slyly and finished the sentence:

"COBWEB!"

Anne, who was listening to the whole dialogue, wasn't impressed at all. She had never heard this name. But Mustardseed seemed to know that Cobweb person very well. His eyes and his mouth opened wide:

"What?"

Joe was proud of impressing the King himself so much. He continued the story:

"Cobweb didn't drown back then! One of John Silver's pirates fished him out of the water and brought him to Oz. Oz quickly figured out that Cobweb had big powers, so he ordered to put him into a secret cell of their prison. Cobweb was allowed to eat once in two days – he was terribly weakened when I saw him, he was hard to recognize! He's now pale as snow, and his hair are longer than Queen Titania's!

"I gave him my share of bread and vegetables when I transformed into a human form," Joe added. "He was starving."

"We have to save him from there!" Mustardseed said, frowning. "He's my second greatest friend after my brother. Also his powers are needed. Joe, thanks a lot! Now you can go."

Joe bowed and left the throne room.

"Ms. Hamstead, did you tell me that you dreamed of going to a battlefield?" Mustardseed suddenly asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty, it's one of my favorite wishes," Anne nodded.

"And can you transform into animals like your parents do?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, I can turn into both a cow and a pig. When being a cow, I can jump very high. When being a pig, I'm very strong."

"Excellent. I'm thinking of sending a rescue group to the Scarlet Hand Local Prison. Cobweb must be freed, along with dozens of other Faerie troops. You'll be one of the rescue group. Understand?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Anne jumped with joy. Her dream was coming true! She would break into real prison, freeing real captured soldiers! The King, himself, gave her the order. Hooray!

11.30 p. m. The Scarlet Hand Local Prison of New York City

Mbvorrle was a goblin, a soldier of the Scarlet Hand. But he didn't fight at all; he worked as a guard in the prison. In his opinion, it was a much better thing than fighting and getting bad injuries on the battlefield. The prison corridors were always quiet, and Mbvorrle could torture the prisoners!

He liked his job. But in the late evening, it could get a little boring.

Mbvorrle had just checked the cells in Corridor One and walked to the front yard. There, he met his colleagues, Xtomm and Klotgioc.

"It's going to be cold now," Xtomm said. "So, Mbvorrle, is everything OK in Corridor One?"

"Nothing interesting," Mbvorrle yawned. "All is quiet."

"That's because your corridor's full of proud fairy men," Klotgioc explained. "They're always silent, especially when questioned," he laughed. "The cells of Corridor Two contain women and children, so there's always someone crying or whimpering. I have to ignore most of it. And Xtomm has the most important corridor, am I right?"

"Yeah, Corridor Three is mostly for the powerful guys," Xtomm said. "I don't believe they're so powerful. If they were powerful, why would they still suffer so much in here?"

"Don't make Oz suspect you in doing your job badly or not liking it," Klotgioc warned his friend. "If we're fired from here, we'll have to fight." He shuddered. "Mbvorrle, could you stop talking to yourself?"

"I'm not talking at all," Mbvorrle exclaimed. "Xtomm, is it you?"

Xtomm was busy chewing an enormous piece of gum.

"Uh-oh…" Klotgioc said. "Mbvorrle, Xtomm, quickly – check the yard for unwanted visitors!"

The three goblins examined the prison yard but found nothing suspicious in there.

"Maybe I imagined it…" Klotgioc mumbled, when, suddenly, he saw a flash of bright light in Corridor Three! The goblins ran inside and saw six tall men, one tall woman and a short one, and a hundred of gingerbread people standing near Cobweb's cell. The men were crashing the wall with some kind of magical wand.

"HE..." Mbvorrle started, but the tall woman threw a stone at his head. "lp..." the goblin gasped, falling on the floor. Xtomm was a little cleverer: he ran to fight the enemies, but slipped on the gumdrop thrown by a gingerbread man and collapsed on the ground as well. Klotgioc, the smartest of all, hid in a dark corner and thought:

"I have to go and alarm Oz! If I try to fight, I'll be killed or injured badly, and everyone will escape! But if I tell Oz about this now, maybe he'll be able to catch some of them!"

And Klotgioc ran outside, jumped over the prison gates, turned into a human, and teleported himself to Central Park. Then he went to Oz's apartment – he knew its location very well.

Ugly short Anne Hamstead was having the time of her life. She watched the six fairies breaking into Cobweb's cell, the goblin guards' attack, and Cobweb getting outside. She was so excited!

Cobweb looked very scary after so many years spent in a cell like this. He was almost as thin as a needle, his face was terribly pale indeed, his hair was long and dirty, so its natural color couldn't be figured. The fairies helped him to get on his feet and walked him outside.

"Firefly? Haricot? Rainfall and Thunder, Grasshopper, Oak, is it you?" Cobweb asked, looking at the six fairies and slowly recognizing them. Tears streamed down his wounded white face. "Is everything real?"

"It's real, you're free, Cobweb," the fairy named Rainfall assured him with a smile.

Cobweb turned to look at the rest of his saviors:

"Momma! And with your faithful gingerbread army!" he wiped his tears away. Momma happily greeted him and introduced me:

"Cobweb, it's Anne Hamstead, daughter of Hamstead and Bess. Anne, this is Cobweb."

"So Bess and Hamstead did marry?" Cobweb's expression was like a smile, but his frown was sad and his eyes were tired, so the smile looked fake. "Wonderful! Oh, how many years I wasted in this wretched cell..."

"Sorry, Cobweb, we need to save as many people as we can until the help for these guards arrives," Haricot said. The six fairies continued breaking into cells and getting exhausted, injured, pale prisoners out of there. Anne's excitement was now replaced with shock. How cruel the Scarlet Hand must have been!

Cobweb was standing near her and Momma. His face was still wet with tears.

"How much I had missed!" he repeated over and over. Momma told him what happened during the twenty years of his imprisonment.

"Don't worry, we're close to defeating the Hand," she said.

"They're going to pay for all this," Cobweb said and pointed to the broken prison cells.

Forty-five minutes later

More than fifty men, ten women and ten children were saved. Except for the two unconscious guards, Corridor Three was empty, as well as twenty-two cells of Corridor Two. Suddenly, one of the gingerbread men jumped with fear and cried:

"There are many people coming here! Angry people! I hear them!"

"Uh-oh, we have to leave," Firefly said.

"How?" one of the saved women cried. "We better return to the cells, else the Hand will kill us!"

"No, we won't allow it," Firefly said. "Everyone able to fight, surround the former prisoners and fight your way! Understand?"

Anne was frightened but she was one of the first fighters to run outside, transforming into a pig while running. Sixty of the Scarlet Hand soldiers surrounded them, but the fairies weren't so easy to kill! In ten minutes, half of the enemies was dead, but one fairy, Grasshopper, was killed, and Thunder was lightly injured.

Cobweb was fighting, too, and trying to get over his weakness. Anne defended him with all her might: he was the weakest of them all.

Another five minutes passed. Something hit Anne's head, and her world became blurry. Nevertheless, she was able to see her friends and the saved prisoner opening the gates and rushing away.

"They've escaped..." she thought happily, and the world faded completely.

Mustardseed's palace, an hour later

"Nooo!" Bess cried, breaking into a hysterical fit. "My daughter's captured!.. Annie's left there!"

"We were outnumbered," Momma said. "We did what we could. We lost Grasshopper and Haricot... Your daughter was very brave..."

"She saved my life four times during the fight," Cobweb sighed. "We should set her free."

"We'll have to wait," Mustardseed said. "Tomorrow's a large battle. After it, I'll sent a bigger rescue group and destroy the whole prison building."

The prison yard

Anne's unconscious body was carried into a free cell in Corridor Two. Klotgioc promised Oz:

"I'll question her. She mustn't be treated too hard, and in that case she'll tell us everything we need!"

He waited until Anne woke up, and then he said:

"So, miss I-don't-know-your-name, we need some information from you."

"You won't get it!" Anne's face twisted with rage. Klotjioc wasn't so stupid to shout or threaten her. He calmly continued:

"We're not even asking you to join us. We just want to know: where is King Mustardseed going to fight us tomorrow? Tell the truth, and you'll be free. Nothing else is requested. Only the answer."

"DUH!" Anne said. She decided to say only this as an answer. The guard chuckled:

"Oh, if only our soldiers were this silent when captured... Well, all right, fine, I won't ask you about the place where the battle's set. Just tell us who'll lead the army. That's all I'm asking now."

"DUH!" Anne said.

"One simple answer - and you're free."

"DUH!" Anne said.

"Oh, your freedom isn't all!" Klotjioc smiled. "Fine. The prisoners will be free. All of them."

"DUH!" Anne said. She was thinking:

"Of course they want to know whom they'll have to kill. An army without leaders means a snake without a head - I've heard it somewhere... The prisoners will be free. Oh, I don't think they'll do what they promised."

Meanwhile, Klotjioc was trying to think of something else to offer.

"Well..." he said. "What if we give you a thousand of gold coins?"

"DUH!" Anne replied.

"Duh again?" Klotjioc thought for a while. "And what if... what if the Wicked Witch of the West, who lives in Bronx and has recently joined the Hand, gives you a potion that will make you beautiful? You're almost as ugly as I am," he said with a hint of pride.

Anne was stunned. But she mustered her bravery to say "DUH" again.

"Why don't you agree to all of the promises?" Klotjioc wanted to know.

"Promises! Duh! You won't fulfill them. And I don't want to betray our army, which is even more important," Anne snapped.

"Won't fulfill them?" the goblin repeated slyly and left the cell.

Klotjioc made up a plan of getting all the information the Hand needed.

"We mustn't promise money and happiness to that girl, we need to give it to her. She'll tell everything! She'll even join the Hand!"

"Great!" Oz said. "Let's first take her to the Wicked Witch of the West, she has some beauty potions indeed."

So they did.