Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE SISTERS GRIMM SO DON'T SUE!!!
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2. Final Fights and Realizations
New Devine ~ Linkin Park
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Sabrina's point of view...
I guess this is getting kind of confusing for you to keep up with so I'll elaborate.
You see, we've all changed in a way after battling the Scarlet Hand and finally defeating the Master.
Puck realized that life isn't all fun and games and the world isn't his playground.
Daphne finally figured out that life isn't all about happiness, rainbows, and ponies.
And yes, even if I don't dare admit it aloud to Daphne, I changed too. So others tell me. Daphne says I'm not as fun as I once was. But in my defense, war isn't all fun and laughs, if you get what I mean.
Of course no one could stay unscarred later! Imagine defeating killers and witnessing murders still in early teens. Would you be able to truly laugh again? At least after a few years?
I didn't think so.
But if so, have you yet witnessed what you thought was the murder of an innocent boy? And what if that boy was your own baby brother? And you couldn't do anything except stand there, petrified to a single spot on the ground, while--in your own eyes--he was murdered? What if it was the only way?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Flashback
"Andy!" I yell.
Daphne, Puck, and I were breathless, following Pinocchio, Mirror, and Andy through the trees of the Dark Woods in Rapunzel's fairy-tale. All of us had to play parts in the story to get past the other fairy tales and plays and such.
Puck, Daphne, and I had to be the frog in The Frog Prince, toto in The Wizard of Oz, even the fairy godmother in Cinderella, and so many others while still chasing the Scarlet Hand. Now, we had just finished playing the Princess and the Pea when we found ourselves in a dark forest with a tower a long way off and aparently, from the stiff dress and long hair, Daphne was supposed to play Rapunzel.
And we knew that where the main story was supposed to take place was supposedly the main place of magic and so they all raced us here to complete the transition of their so-called Master's soul into Hanky's body. And let me tell ya, a LOT of Scarlet Hand members came into the book after their so-called Master.
"It's too late now, Grimms! You'll never defeat me! The transformation is nearly complete and soon, your little brother will be no more! Instead, I shall be him!-- That is to say, we shall be one! And I shall finally be able to escape this wretched prison!"
"Sabrina, what are we supposed to do now?" whimpers a terrified Daphne at my side.
"'Brina! Daphne! Where are you guys?" The voice is followed by its owner, and soon, Uncle Jake is standing a few feet away.
"Aw, now, Jakey! I had everything under control; but no, you just gotta barge in and save the day! I am the Trickster King and when I CHOOSE to be the hero--which isn't often since; let me remind ya, I am a indeed a VILLAIN who doesn't rescue little baby boys from evil mirrors--can you at least TRY to let me live in the moment?! Can you at least--"
"Puck!" we all shout, glaring at the fairy boy in midair. Realizing it's serious, he shrugs off the annoyance and lands back down.
"Well, what DO you suggest we do?" he asks, arms crossed against his chest in a very childish manner.
"By now, Mirror's probably more than halfway done with the transformation. We can a) try to stop the transformation now before it's too late and rescue Andy, or b) try to destroy him after the transformation is complete so he won't be able to get away along with the rest of the Scarlet Hand, or c) stand back and hope Mirror's plan somehow fails. All I can say here folks is that we're in a really tough predicament here."
"Uncle Jake, what's a pr--pre--predicament?" asks Daphne.
"Not now, Daph," he waves her off.
"Wow, this MUST be serious if you don't even have patience for your own niece!" accuses the stupid fairy.
"Puck," Uncle Jake warns.
"Alright, alright! Sheesh! It means trouble, Marshmellow," he clarifies to a confused looking Daphne.
"Uncle Jake, what did you mean by destroying him?" I ask suddenly. "You don't mean destroying him while he's still inside Hanky?"
"But that's only if the first plan doesn't work, right?!" asks a horryified Daphne. "I kinda like the last idea better."
"Yeah, I gotta agree with Marshmellow," Puck says. "Why don't we just wait here and see how everything turns out?"
"What happened to you? One minute you're all 'Stand aside, I'm the hero, let me fight!' and now you're all in scaredy-cat mode? Who are you and what did you do with Puck?" I accuse.
"What's it to you, Grimm? You're just jealous," that stupid fairy boy has the nerve to accuse.
"J-- W-- H-- Jealous?!" I scream, outraged. "Of what?! You know what? Just--just go and find a rock to crawl under and stay there for the rest of eternity, for all I care!"
"Hey, you two!" Luckily Uncle Jake's interruption came right before Puck could even think of a come-back. "We have a possible war on our hands here. So don't argue!"
"Uncle Jake, we won't have to kill Hanky will we?" my little sister asks.
"Marshmellow, don't worry!" says Puck. "Well, Jake?"
"Well..."
"'Well'?!" I confront him, enraged. "Whaddya mean, 'well' ?!"
"Grimm, it's done," says a speechless looking Puck, staring ahead.
"What's done?" I ask, completely clueless.
"It is DONE!" scream the crazed members of the Scarlet Hand.
"You IDIOTS! Right when we could have something, you've wasted time arguing and just plain talking! We could have at least cast a spell with one of your wands, Uncle Jake, or at least do SOMETHING!" I yell. How could they just stand there when baby Andy is barley even our brother anymore?!
"Don't blame all of us!" says Puck. "What about you? You were the one yelling the whole time! Remember, 'crawl under a rock and die' ?!"
"First of all, I never SAID die! And whaddya mean, yelling? And-- Hey! You were arguing too! In fact, you were the one--as usual, might I add--that kept interrupting Uncle Jake. And now Mirror's inside of Hanky!"
"Brina, the only thing we can do now is try to defeat the Master when he's in that form," Uncle Jake says quietly.
"But how?" asks Daphne, looking as bewildered as I felt.
"Well, the rest of Charming's army aren't far behind. We've all followed the Scarlet Hand members here in case a battle breaks out. Oh, here comes Poppa Bear and Snow."
"Miss White!" yells Daphne and suddenly she's in her old teacher's arms whispering incomprehensible words.
"What?! Jake, Daphne tells me you still haven't done anything and Mirror's already possessed Hanky's body!" accuses the beauty.
"Well..."
"Well, well, well, what?!"
Finally, he straightens up, last-minute bravery showing through. "Poppa Bear, can you and Little John try to hold off Nottingham and the Queen of Hearts?"
With a quick nod, they're off.
"Charming, can you and Geppetto go with Robin and his men and take care of the crowd up ahead led by Oz? And--"
"But--" interrupts Mr. Charming.
"What, Billy? Don't you want to help?" asks Snow, hands on her hips, Daphne at her side.
"Well, of course, but--" he flusters.
"There you go! Of course he'll help, Jake," she says, and so they head off and are soon out of sight in the thick woods.
"Good. Now, the rest of you, team up in groups and take different sides. Buzzflower, you and Mallobarb two groups to the front! Arthur, take your men around back. Beauty and Goldilocks, can you two take all the animals you can gather and go with them? Good. Brina, can you and Daphne stay here with Puck?"
"But we wanna help!" Daphne and I simultaneously scream above all the noise of the other Everafters as Puck says, "Hey, why do I always have to babysit when there's some action?!"
"Again with the bipolarness, fairy boy!" I say.
With a glare from Uncle Jake to silence us, he says,"You'll stay here because I do not want to be held responsible for your deaths just because you snuck here while your parents are home, sick with worry about you!"
"Where is cranky Hank by the way?" mutters Puck.
"I convinced him and Veronica to stay with Relda and Mr. Clay and some others back at the camp and fight the Scarlet Hand members there while we take care of the ones here and get you and your brother back safely. So, can I at least trust YOU, Puck, to not let them wander while I go deal with Mirror?!"
"Yeah, yeah," he mutters again with a bored stare and his arms crossed.
"Good. These stones all around you that I've put are protection crystals. No one can get in and no one can get out, unless the people INSIDE the circle move the crystals. So, you're safe for now. And NO, Sabrina! Stay here!" he says, and before I can say another thing, he's closed the circle with the last white crystal and disappeared in the trees.
Daphne, Puck and I are now alone in the small clearing. Since Ms. White went off with Charming, Daphne is even more depressed and looks about to collapse.
"Daphne," I say, instantly at her side. "He'll be fine. Andy'll be okay. Uncle Jake's going to take care of Mirror and defeat the Scarlet Hand with the other Everafters so we can finally go home in peace."
"But I don't wanna go back to New York City! I wanna stay in Ferryport Landing with Granny Relda and Uncle Jake and Mr. Clay and Ms. White and Puck and the rest of the Everafters," she mumbles into my side as she hugs me close.
"I know, I know, I do too. I just hope dad lets us stay and not run away again, like last time," I confess.
"Really, Sabrina? You wanna stay here?" she asks.
"Really, Grimm? I thought you hated all of us," accuses the fairy boy.
"Well, I don't anymore. You're all family to me. And yeah, Daphne, I do wanna stay, even if it means I have to fight with dad to do it."
A few minutes later, Puck says, "Well, what are we supposed to do now?"
"Well, Uncle Jake said to stay here," replies Daphne.
"But we should do SOMETHING!" I say. "We should be able to help."
"I agree!" says Puck, suddenly up 10 feet in the air.
"No, Puck! You should stay here with Daphne in case someone from the Scarlet Hand comes."
"What?!-- No! I am KING and if a king wants to fight, I say--"
"Well, I say put a sock in it! Uncle Jake said you had to protect us!" I yell.
"Yeah, BOTH of you!" he replies, landing back down and tucking his wings aside.
"Who do you think he'd rather have safe? None of us, or at least Daphne?"
"Well, Daphne, of course, but--"
"Then it's final! I'm going and you can't do a thing about it, then. And--"
"But, Sabrina, what if you get hurt? Or killed?" Daphne asks.
"Then at least you'll still be safe. You'll have Puck. And Puck, you better stay here with her or--"
"No! I'm going with you! I'll call my pixies and they'll watch over her!"
"But they're back in Ferryport Landing!"
"Sabrina, Sabrina," he says, shaking his head at me. "Don't you know by now that my pixies can follow me anywhere?"
"Well, yeah, but what if they get bored watching over Daphne and leave her here alone in this forest?"
"Oh, they won't do that." And suddenly, Puck takes out his flute and blows a few notes. After a few seconds, his pixies come out of nowhere and stand at attention. "Now, men, take good care of Miss Grimm here! You are to watch over her and make sure no one does her any harm! If I am to find out that you were lazy and didn't do your job, you better hope you did 'cause I have the WORST punishment ever that I didn't yet try out on Grimm here as a prank. And trust me, it's permanent. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!" After a few murmurs and buzzes, a proud smile falls on Puck's face as the pixies sit on the ground all around a terrified Daphne.
"Puck--"
"Nuh, uh, uh! It's still my turn."
Puck's point of view...
I looked all around me.
Everyone was fighting for what's right, even if it meant death.
This was it, I realized, we were gonna die fighting the Scarlet Hand.
I swiftly untucked my pink fairy wings and spread them out for the fight after I tell Sabrina the truth, knowing that I at least had to buy time for some of the others to escape...especially her.
It was then that I faced the truth...that nothing had messed with my head...that no one had stolen my sense of truth. It was when I was surely about to die that I realized this. Everyone said that when you were about to die, things got clearer, things that you would never even guess to be true, you realize all of a sudden are actually true.
The same goes for me...I realized all of a sudden that...that I...that I loved Sabrina...and would protect her with my very last breath.
That being settled, I opened my mouth to tell Sabrina how I really felt about her, and knew that soon, I would be in the sky looking for trouble to mess with, and surely my doom...
Sabrina's point of view...
"Well, spit it out, we don't have much time," I say, staring at the fairy boy standing barely a few feet away from me.
"I know. So...if we do end up...dying..." He winces.
Wait, what? Puck, wincing?! The Trickster King?! The villain whose name makes little children tremble in fear?!
But before I can voice my thoughts, he says,"I just want you to know...if we DO end up dying..."
"Yeah, I think we've established by now that dying IS a possibility," I say, rolling my eyes, but the idiot fairy just waves off my sarcasm.
"Grimm...Sabrina...I just want you to know," he says, stepping closer with each word. "Sabrina...I love you," he admits, his striking green eyes penetrating my gaze.
"Yeah, well-- WHAT?!" I ask, completely bewildered and confused.
"Well, I've been thinking about it, and I've realized that the only reason I was teasing you and pulling pranks on you to make you mad all the time was because...well, because I...love.... you. Now, believe me, this isn't easy to say, seeing as how I'm staring at your hideous dogface."
"Don't push it!" I warn.
"Fine. I just wanted you to know that I DO care about you, if we die down there."
"If this is another joke--"
"Honestly, Brina, no joke," he says, holding up his hands a second.
Speechless, I convert my gaze to the ground and wait for the next thing he'll say. But instead of hearing more words, I feel a pair of soft lips on mine and suddenly he's kissing me in such a totally different way than our first kiss in his forest of a bedroom with monkeys-- sorry, "chimpanzees" all around us. And I can't help but think, this is Puck! PUCK!
But he's kissing me with so much tenderness and passion that I can't help but kiss him back. And soon, our lips are moving in such synchronization that I nearly melt and forget all about what's going on all around us until I hear a certain "Ahem" behind me that I let go and turn around to see Daphne there, lonely as ever, but with a wide grin plastered on her face.
Turning back to Puck, I see the fairy is as beet red as I probably am, averting my gaze for the obvious reason.
"Puck...*sigh*...I don't know. I mean, why know? Couldn't you have told me before all this?" I say, gesturing to all the fighting all around us in the woods.
"But...THIS... is why I'm telling you. I don't even want you to die! You shouldn't go off like that! But seeing as how I'm going to fight too, I have no choice but to let you go save your brother. Now, come on. We don't have much time."
More confused than I have ever been before in my life, I slowly turn away, hug Daphne goodbye, whisper a "take care" and run off after the pink gleaming wings into the night.
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Puck and I decided to split up; he wanted to go off fighting and I wanted to go help Uncle Jake fight Mirror and free Hanky. And so, while he took a left, I took a right.
After a few moments, I spot Robin Hood and his men up ahead, fighting with a couple of hobgoblins and Scarlet Hand witches.
Ha! Without their wands, those old hags are just as helpless as pet poodles up against a handful of ferocious lions!
To my right, Poppa Bear is wrestling with the Queen of Hearts. Damn! That woman can take a fight!
I run past Charming under a small cave crowded in between a couple of trees, his left arm being bandaged by Snow, and ask them where Uncle Jake went.
"Jake went through those trees over there, that way, to deal with Mirror and Pinocchio," Snow says, pointing behind her, deep within the Everafter Battle, where the Tower of the current fairy-tale princess lay, deep within the woods. Both sides were fighting all over the battlefields, injured ones laying on the ground here and there, being treated by a few fairies. "But sweetie, what are you doing here? You should be safe and back at the clearing with Puck and your sister. Jake said..."
But the rest of her speech fades out as I make my way through the trees, creep around a couple of fights, then shimmy around back to sneak through the tower's back door until I am standing in front of a long flight of stone steps, shivering from the surprising coldness of the room.
I hear voices and grunts coming from above and decide to investigate, slowly climbing the crumbling steps.
"You'll never defeat us now!" says a voice. "Not when we've already succeeded! As you clearly see, every knickknack you throw is completely useless! It can't even hurt a fly!"
As I finally reach the top, I see Pinocchio with Andy up on Aladdin's flying carpet, laughing manically at a strained Uncle Jake who's throwing so many different things at the villains from his huge trench coat which are easily dodged by the deranged lot.
"You'll pay for what you did to Briar, Mirror! How dare you even betray us?! We could have helped you! We could have done something!" he says as another potion misses its mark.
"We don't need your help, human!" Pinocchio spits out. "You never even wanted to help a few puny Everafters! Even when some asked-- but no, you all have your own problems to deal with!"
"That's NOT true!"
"Oh, you know it is! We Everafters can barely trust you Grimms anymore! You who let the Jabberwocky out a mere few years ago! You who even condemned your own father! Who practically handed him to his own death!"
"Hey, that was a LONG time ago!" Jake says, but I can see that last comment got to him.
"Ha! And now you are useless! No more potions to throw, I see. Eh, Jake? Guards, seize him!"
And suddenly, half a dozen of Heart's guards I hadn't even noticed came up and wrapped a strongly resisting Jake with a thick metal chain and tied him to a pillar need the back door.
Now what am I supposed to do--
Hold on; BACK DOOR! I can sneak through the back and help Uncle Jake escape! And thanks to my baby brother's diaper stage, Pinocchio was too preoccupied by the smell to notice me.
"Hey, Uncle Jake!" I call out to him after carefully closing the back door.
"Brina, what are you doing here?! I told you to stay with Puck and Daphne! Ugh, Hank's gonna kill me!"
"It's okay, Uncle Jake, Daphne's fine--Puck's pixies are guarding her--and Puck's out fighting with some Scarlet Hand members. As for us, well, I'll bust you out and we'll defeat Mirror together," I suggest, whole-heartedly.
With a sigh and a few short minutes, he gives in.
"Okay, Brina, look in my trench coat over there and see if you can find anything," he says, and the next thing I know, I'm surrounded by knickknacks and watnots, all stuffed in the hundreds of pockets of the huge, over-sized, brown coat. Wands, a pocket knife, a couple of bottles of thick multi-colored liquid he must have missed, twenty rings, nine amulets, a couple key rings, and so many other things practically overflowed every pocket sewn into the old coat.
"Uncle Jake, which one? There are nearly a million things in here!" I stage whisper in his direction.
"Look for the silver ring with the emerald crystal in it."
"I can't find it," I say, looking around all the rings frantically. "There's ruby rings, sapphire ones, even a black pearl one, but I certainly do NOT see a-- Oh! Here," I say, tossing him the ring quietly through the dark as some guards turn away.
As soon as the silver ring is on his finger, he swiftly slips out of the metal bonds and I stare in wonder, questioningly, at his "Hudini" escape.
"It's a flexibility ring. Basically, it lets the wearer obtain snake flexibility and escape out of any box, ropes, chains, or traps of any sort. Now hand me the coat," and when I do, he slips off the ring and tucks it away in an inner pocket then dons the coat.
"What now?" I ask, terrified of the guard that had spotted the escape and were now making their way towards us.
"Run, Brina!" says my worry-wort of an uncle.
"No! I'm staying with you! You ARE gonna fight Mirror, aren't you?!"
"Yeah, but-- Fine, just stay behind me," he says, as he sees my hands on my hips.
"Decided to intrude, dear Sabrina?" says Pinocchio, apparently done changing his master. "Well, you Grimms sure aren't escaping this time! Guards!"
But as soon as the cards reach us, Uncle Jake takes out a ruby amulet, taps it twice, and out comes a gleaming force-field that instantly surrounds us. My first thought as the guards came nearer was that we're toast, but as they all gradually fell unconscious from the force of the rosy bubble hitting their faces, I laughed.
Soon, all the cards were wiped out, too tired from battling the forced-field to get up.
"Why, you...you...conniving nitwits!" yells Pinocchio.
"That's us!" I call cheerfully.
"Well! You may have defeated our guards but you certainly won't be able to stop us from escaping this wretched place!"
Suddenly, I feel the color draining from my face as I realize what he says is true.
"Uncle Jake, what do we do now?"
"I'm working on it, Brina, I'm thinking... Ah!" And when I look down I see him gripping a small dagger with a silver handle, gleaming like a star.
"What's that?" I ask, pointing at the curious object in his hand.
"It's a Soul-Freeing Athame--basically self explanatory. It sucks the souls out of people and stores it inside the handle until the user decided to free the souls. It's dangerous in the hands of evil, but proves to be valuable and powerful the few times I HAVE used it. And let me tell ya, they were dark and helpless times, only when nothing else has worked."
"What are you gonna do with it?" my brainless self asks.
"I'm afraid one person can only use it 5 times. I've already had my fair share of soul-sucking. So by now, it's useless for me. But you..." he says, scratching his chin.
"Me, what?"
"You might be able to do it..."
"What? Suck the soul out of my own brother?! No, thank you, mom would kill me!" I say, outraged.
"It wouldn't be Andy's soul; you'd be sucking Mirror out him!" he explains, softly.
"Of COURSE!" I say, eyes gleaming with understanding. "Now, what exactly do I have to do?"
"What are you Grimms plotting now?!" asks a suspicious Pinocchio.
"What, we can't say simple goodbyes before our deaths by such a powerful man?!" I ask innocently.
"Oh, very well! You have a few seconds before you draw your last breath!"
"It's pretty simple; you just have to drive it in his heart, all the while gripping hard on the handle--quite important--then after the athame gleams a soft shade, extract it slowly in order not to harm your brother and take it back to me."
"But what if something happens to Andy?!" horrified me asks.
"Nothing will happen as long as you do EXACTLY what I said. Now, I'm gonna create a distraction for Pinocchio so you can sneak near Andy."
"Uh, Uncle Jake?"
"I told you, Brina, you have nothing to worry about."
"No, I mean, the force field is still up."
"Oh, " he says, and so he taps the amulet thrice and the rosy bubble disappears. "Sorry about that. Now, as soon as you hear my signal, run over to Hanky and do what I said."
"What's the signal?" But he's gone before the first word.
Dang it! Now what?
After a few suspiciously quiet minutes, I decide to investigate.
But before I can take two steps, I hear a "cockadoodle doo!"
After a few brainless seconds wondering where the rooster came from, I realize it's Uncle Jake's signal and run towards a confused looking Andy.
Carefully, though quite nervous about making the wrong turn and ending his life, I plunge the dagger through his heart. I wait for a few minutes, and then Andy's out cold while the handle is practically screaming from whiteness. As I slowly remove the dagger, I see a pool of blood seeping from Andy's pj's, and I'm suddenly sweating with worry.
Did I do it right? Is Andy alright? Did I kill him?
But before I can think another thought, Uncle Jake is behind me, picking Hanky up and telling me that we better hurry before Pinocchio wakes up from the spell he put on him.
And so I run after him, down the steps of the tower, dagger still in hand, all the while not knowing where I am, just wordlessly following, worrying if Hanky's life was truly just stolen by his oldest sister.
A/N: Thanx for reading!
I'll try to update soon! Sorry if there's some errors. I was typing up this chapter OD late last night, couldn't go over it because my mom was threatening to throw my laptop out the window! So now I've fixed the ones that were brought to my attention.
Thanx so much to IKidnappedSpock, sistersgrimmaddict, MOLLy 3, Daramqueenruling, Bluestocking inc., MoodyRuby227, FaminaSG, carly, Ayns and Sky, ladedalada, Unique-ness is Happiness, TheSecretWeasley5147, obsessedwithbooks, Lchick354, iD Sisters Grimm iD, Lara D, and ZOMBIEfiedCrayons for reviewing! Thanx so much you guys! Reviews really bring up my day!
To "carly" if you're reading this: RAIN DOES TOO GO PLOP PLOP PLOP!!! And sorry if the writing's too fluffy for you but the previous chapter was SUPPOSED to be like that!
(That also explains why it was too OOC, too.)
To iD Sisters Grimm iD: Yeah, i agree, it WAS pretty sad but, same as being OOC, it was MEANT to be that way. ^^
And special thanx to Ayns and Sky for sending me a PM on the MANY typos! ^^
So, remember to review!
I expect reviews to get up to at least 25 before I update!
Please?
~Lyla ^^