The Wooden Swan Cuckoo Clock

By Schroederplayspiano

Five am: Fists Fly From My Mouth As It turns South

Five in the morning. It is five in the morning. I don't understand why we are aiding in this particular arrest so early in the day.

What is even more perplexing is why my fellow dwarf, Sleepy, is somehow wide-awake.

"Grumpy!" Sleepy nudges me as we lean against the moist underground wall. "Am I seriously the one to remind you to stay awake? Me, of all people, seriously?"

"Tell me how you are so awake this morning. You, of all people?"

"I don't know." Sleepy shrugs. "I guess I'm excited about putting him in jail, especially in the cell we made for his father. It'll be nice to give the Charming Family some piece of mind for once."

"After the news about Anna this morning, I don't know why you think putting Henry's father in jail will give them any less peace of mind," my demeaning comment comes out without much thought. I blame the hour of the day. Readjusting my position against the wall, I say, "He will just find a way out again."

"Find a way out?" Sleepy is insulted. "How can you have so little faith in our craftsmanship? If Rumpelstiltskin couldn't escape there is no way his son, who hates magic, will."

"That's not what I meant," I tell Sleepy. "That pathetic loser couldn't find a way out of here if another curse came and tore our land apart again -"

Sleepy points at me and looks at me seriously. "Don't jinx it, Grumpy."

I ignore him. "I meant that if Rumpelstiltskin created the whole curse to find his son, he is not going to sit back and watch as we lock that same son in jail."

"You haven't heard?" Sleepy gapes at me, his pointer finger dropping unconsciously. "Apparently Rumpelstiltskin wants him in here."

The idea is so laughable to me; I feel my lips upturning despite begging him for more information. "Why would he want his son in the same horrible cell that we put him in?"

Quickly, Sleepy corrects me. "No, no. Just because Rumpelstiltskin reported the crime doesn't mean he can choose what cell he goes into."

Shocked, my voice raises, "Rumpelstiltskin reported his son!"

A smile appears on Sleepy's face and he nods. "Apparently he put a magic spell on their kingdom, banning Baelfire from entering it ever again."

"Well, that makes sense," I try to stay serious, saying matter-of-factly, "Since he burned down the kingdom's wheat mill."

We look into each other's eyes, busting out laughing at the same.

"Let's go, move your feet." When we hear Prince James' commanding voice, Sleepy and I look away from each other, trying to regain our composure as the arresting party, including our five other dwarfs, enters with the prisoner.

"No. No. This is a misunderstanding." Baelfire pleads. "I didn't mean to do it, please. No one feels worse about it than I do, please. I am so sorry."

Pinocchio walks past us, pulling the rope keeping the prisoner's hands tied together. "Save your remorse for someone who cares, Bae." I've never heard Pincocchio's voice so cold before, and I live at court – I see him everyday, in every mood imaginable.

"I can explain," he pleads again. Prince James' cape brushes against my arm as he vigorously walks past me to open the cell door. "I was doing it for Henry."

"For Henry!" Pinocchio and Prince James yell together, appalled.

"Yes!" Baelfire yells back. While Pinocchio unravels Baelfire's rope, Prince James takes him by the arm, throwing Baelfire onto the floor in the cell's back corner. He uses the corner to push-off, running to the cell's door before it locked.

He reaches the door's bars and grabs hold of them just as Pinocchio secures the lock. Baelfire manages to take hold of Pinocchio's shirt collar, an action that puts all of us on alert, before Pinocchio kicks him back onto the cell's floor.

"Don't pretend you're not enjoying this!" Baelfire yells. Standing, he walks to the bars again, a place where everyone has cleared, making his desperate reaches through the bars seem pathetic. Finally, he holds on to them to steady himself. "You've been wanting to do this since you saw me at that bus station years ago."

Violently, Pinocchio takes Doc's torch from his grasp and turns to face his prisoner. "There's so much going on in my life right now that I given very little thought to your existence. While I can admit once you were a thorn in my side, now you are just a bug zooming I have pleasure in squashing." The two men stare at each other and the rest of us watch, waiting for their verbal fist match to turn ugly. "You are under some allusion that you have been more than a bug." He pauses and adds a graver tone to his voice. "You haven't been. I am not enjoying this, Baelfire, because I know how much this will upset Henry, trust me: That is the last thing I want to do."

"Henry forgave me!" Baefire exclaims. "It was a mistake! While I understand why Emma won't forgive me, how can any of you not understand making a mistake?"

Prince James crosses his arms. Putting his judge face on, he says, "You call blowing up the wheat mill a mistake?"

"What?" Baelfire says innocently. There's something about his expression, his surprise, which tells me he honestly thought we were locking him for a different crime. What crime that would be, however, I have no idea. "Blowing up the mill?" Baefire's whole posture changes from a desperate man to a cynical one. "That's what you're booking me under, really? I gave you guys more credit than that."

Suddenly, Pinocchio bursts out laughing. "You think we don't know?" He shakes his head, clearly displaying his low opinion of the man. "We are charging you right now with blowing up your Kingdom's wheat mill since we have several witness claiming that you were practicing magic that afternoon. We won't deny that child abuse is the reason your in the securest cell that exists in the land."

"I would never hurt my son!" Baefire states strongly. "It was a mistake. Henry knows that! I would never hurt him."

"Mistakes don't exist when children come back less than perfect." Prince James controls his anger when he speaks. "You must know that."

"Huh. Funny." Baelfire smiles and his words come out in a higher tone. His mocking sends shivers down my spine. "I wonder if you'd say that about your newest grandchild. Rumor has it she was born less than perfect. And yet, you're not locking up the person responsible for her condition."

The underground tunnel shakes after his words are spoken. My anger fuels my lead into the cell. My fellow dwarfs and I slam the prisoner against the rocks, holding him in position so both Anna's Father and Grandfather have a clear shot at him while we cause him pain, tightening our grasps on his body.

Pinocchio's punch has so much force behind it that it leaves Baelfire unconscious. Realizing his state, all of the dwarfs let go of him together and we watch as his pathetic figure falls in the dirt.

I don't realize the tears streaming down Pinocchio's face until I turn back from securing the lock.

Doc steps in front of Pinocchio, who is clearly trying to leave - to escape his audience, and puts his arm reassuringly on Pinocchio's. "Listen to me. It's not your fault. In no way, in medical terms or in magical terms is Anna's condition your fault. While we don't know everything about her condition, we know it had nothing to do with your Father making you out of wood – we know for sure. You can't blame yourself, Pinocchio. It won't help Emma or Anna."

Pinocchio stops fighting Doc and stands before him as a broken man. My own heart breaks for him as I watch his tears continue to flow down his cheeks.

Prince James approaches his son-in-law very slowly, placing one arm around his shoulders. I barely hear him whisper, "Let's go. The air makes it hard anyone to think straight."

Silently, the dwarfs follow the two men out of the tunnel into the darkness of the early morning.

Out of all of us, Doc looks the most heartbroken and remorseful. He stands straighter when Pinocchio breaks out of Prince James' arms to question him.

"How could you not know?" Pinocchio cries. "You are her doctor. You said my daughter was healthy."

"She was!" Doc defends himself. "And my tests are inconclusive right now, Pinocchio. I think Anna is healthy right now, despite her condition."

Anger propels Pinocchio forward, but Prince James pulls him back quickly. "Despite her condition! Despite her condition…How can you say that?"

I watch Doc as he tries to stay calm, tries to reassure a worried father. He whispers, "We just received the test results yesterday, Pinocchio. Even if Anna does have what the test show, that doesn't mean she will never speak."

Finally our world stops spinning. When Pinocchio turns in defeat from Doc, everyone lets out the breaths they did not know they were holding.

I look away from Pinocchio to watch the last star disappear into the sky.

"Odds are," Doc continues to whisper. "She will speak. Her brain just processes information differently than we do. Give your daughter a chance to show you how brilliant she is, Pinocchio."

A/N: I think I might be a little bit evil. :0!