Author's Note: Remember how I said I was going to tell you all my headcanon for Sparrow's mom? Well, here it is. With guest appearance by a character who is only in the diaries so far! Enjoy! And please leave a review if you like it!
Six Pages
According to history class, only six pages had ever been torn from the Storybook of Legends. No one knew what those six pages were, but Sparrow could take a pretty accurate guess as to two of them.
The storybook was magic. Every new generation, the storybook created the new pages as needed. No paper wasted, no ink spilled. Every new princess or prince, hero or villain, sidekick or love interest got a page – no more how big or small their part.
If Sparrow had to guess, he'd say one of the pages torn was his own. Of course, he had a page in the storybook. The page that made him out to be the next Robin Hood. The page he'd never signed on Legacy Day because if he was going to end up on a poster, it wasn't going to have "Wanted" scrawled across the top.
But his mother had been a fairy tale – though he didn't know which – and she'd only ever had the one kid. Him. Which meant, at some point, there'd been a second page with his face on it. A second page that told him who his mother would have been. Who he was supposed to be.
Sparrow groaned and flopped back on the grass. Hidden beneath a willow tree in the Enchanted Forest, he didn't mind letting his thoughts run wild.
He had to wonder what happened to those pages. Where the two – his and his mother's – had ended up. Had they been burned? Hidden away? Were they even in the school?
Sparrow knew what his powers were. Knew what he could do beyond his incredible marksmanship skills and his thievery. Knew about his voice and why he purposely sang off-key. But he had no idea what the story those extra powers belonged to.
That was the main problem with tearing the pages out. Once they were gone, the story was destroyed. At least, that was what Sparrow had always been told.
He remembered Raven Queen, ripping her page from the book. Remembered how she hadn't disappeared or even really flinched. Granted, he thought that had to do with her being Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen. She was simply too powerful to be written completely out of existence.
There must be more to destroying a story than tearing the page.
Standing, Sparrow stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed back toward Ever After High. It was a warm day, with the end of winter fast approaching. Only a little snow remained, but it wasn't chilly enough for Sparrow's breath to form in the air.
He wondered as he walked where the pages might be. Which Grimm brother might have them, if the pages hadn't been destroyed.
As Sparrow drew closer to the school, the trees faded away. Once the horizon was clear, he found his gaze drifting toward the headmaster's tower. If the pages were anywhere. They'd be there.
He darted toward the tower, remaining in the shadows as best as he could. It was mid-afternoon and slightly cloudy. The scent of rain was in the air. It rose the hair on the back of Sparrow's neck. He could almost taste the rain. Knew it would fall in less than an hour.
Sparrow hesitated at the bottom of the tower. Wondered if this was the right thing to do. Then, he wondered why he even cared. Right and wrong didn't concern Sparrow the way it had past Robin Hood's. All things were a means to an end. If the end was justified, than what else mattered?
Steeling himself, Sparrow leaped at the tower. He caught one of the lifted bricks. His feet found others. Then, he started climbing.
Hand over hand; foot over foot; Sparrow climbed the tower beneath the shadows of the gathering storm clouds. Quickly, a sweat broke over his skin. It pooled above his eyes and dripped down his nose. It left his hands slick and slippery on the smooth white stones.
Still, he climbed, rising higher and higher into the air until he finally rested at the window sill to Headmaster Grimm's office.
Sparrow perched carefully on the window sill and jimmied open the window. Then, he climbed into the empty office and let the window slide shut behind him. With light feet and lighter fingers, he started digging through the office.
The filing cabinets didn't have pages, although they did have permanent records. Sparrow chanced a glance at a few. Found that Lizzie Hearts and Daring Charming had skipped four classes in the last two weeks. Under Lizzie Hearts' file, someone had written "Wonderland quirk?"
Sparrow shut the cabinet and checked the desk. A tablet rested inside, turned to Blondie's last MirrorCast. Another drawer had pens and pencils. Another had a loose leaf copy of some old tests. Sparrow made note to come back to those later.
Still he did not find the pages.
Sparrow kept digging. He pulled apart bookcases; checked in the potted plants; checked under the carpet corners and in the old boxes; checked on the tablet and inside the books; checked everything and anything until he knew he'd turned the office upside down at least twice. He'd left everything as he'd found it, but he could see the damage in his mind.
"Where are they?" hissed Sparrow.
"Destroyed."
Sparrow spun. Sitting in her wheelchair, just inside the doorway, was Meeshell Mermaid. She rested her hands in her lap and smiled softly at Sparrow. But her smile didn't reach her eyes. No, her eyes were hard and sad all at once.
"The rule of the Storybook Protectors is that all removed pages are destroyed," said Meeshell.
"No," breathed Sparrow. His knees buckled. He fell to the carpet. Tears gathered in his eyes. "I was so sure," he croaked.
"I know," said Meeshell. She wheeled over to him and rested a hand on his shoulder. "But I think I can help. You're looking for your mother, right?"
Sparrow looked up. "Yeah. How do you…"
She shrugged. "My magic touch." Meeshell took a deep breath. "Your mother was my aunt. My mother's older sister."
Sparrow stared. "What?"
"One of the interesting things about being a mermaid – at least, a full one – is that our memories can't be altered. When the pages were removed, we didn't lose our memories like the rest of Ever After," said Meeshell.
Sparrow could only stare. Found he couldn't find the words to ask what she knew.
"Your mother was my mother's older sister," said Meeshell.
Sparrow blinked. "Then she was…"
"The little mermaid," said Meeshell, nodding. "When her page was removed, my mother gained the designation, and I became the heir to the story. The Little Mermaid story in the Storybook of Legends isn't the right one." She sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."
Slowly, Sparrow stood. He shook his head. Felt around his ringing mind for the words to talk to her. But still none would come. The little mermaid? His mother had been the little mermaid?
A sudden flash of vibrant red. A soft laugh that wrapped itself around him like a blanket. Then, a smile. A kiss on his cheek.
His mother.
Sparrow blinked against sudden tears. Felt them slip down his cheeks and drip into the carpet far below. Meeshell looked up at him, a tiny smile on her face.
"We're cousins," she said after a long moment.
"Yeah," said Sparrow, his voice more a croak than anything else. "We are."
Meeshell grinned. "Hi."
"Hi," said Sparrow, and he managed a weak laugh.
"Do you… want to talk about it?" asked Meeshell.
Sparrow shook his head. Then, he paused. Considered it. Asked, "So I'm a siren."
Meeshell's eyebrows went up. "Yeah," she said. "How…"
"I've done it before. Controlled people." He swallowed hard. "I used to ask Melody about it. Try to find out how I could do it without telling her, ya know?" He leaned against the desk behind him. "I thought maybe we were related. Guess I was wrong."
"I know I'm nothing special," Meeshell started.
Sparrow cut her off. "No." Her eyes went wide. "You're perfect. You told me who I was. That… that's something no one else could ever do."
"I could teach you too," she said. "How to sing without turning the people you love into zombies. How to lift your voice without lifting the water around you."
"Yeah?" said Sparrow.
She nodded. "Come to the music room after grimmnastics, and I'll show you."
"Sounds spelltacular," said Sparrow. In the hallway, the bell rang. The two looked to one another. Then they both burst out laughing.
"Walk you to class?" said Sparrow.
Meeshell snorted. "Sure, but you're pushing."
Together, the two headed off to class, both reveling in finding a new family member.