1695 Story Avenue, South Bronx, New York City, America, June 11, 1986.
"This is bad..." I thought, keeping my gun trained on Lawrence.
I needed to pacify this situation now or I was going to have a homicide on my hands. The last thing I needed was the NYPD showing up and taking Lawrence and me into custody.
"Whoa...Lawrence, calm down. Don't do something you'll regret," I tried to placate him.
"He insulted my wife! Talking about Faith like she was a piece of meat! Deputy, my honor demands that I do something!" Lawrence yelled in fury and he cocked back the hammer of the revolver.
"Lawrence! I understand. I had someone I cared about just like you did and if somebody talked about her like that, I would want to break every damn bone in their body. But please put the gun down. I don't want you to lose your freedom and Faith wouldn't have wanted you to commit murder. The Sheriff and I will figure out what happened to your wife but please, put the gun down and let him go. Do it for your wife..." I said, slowly holstering my gun and holding up my hands to show I'm not a threat.
At first, Lawrence looked uncertain and seemed to struggle with himself, but then he uncocked the revolver and held his hands up where I could see them as he backed away from the man, looking completely broken. I carefully walked over and slowly took the gun out of his hand.
"I swear Lawrence, I will find out who hurt your wife, I promise," I said, putting the revolver back in the evidence bag.
"I know you will," Lawrence mumbled as I walked behind him and put my handcuffs around his wrists and sat him back on the chair.
"Just stay here, I'm going to see-" I said but I was cut off when the obese man suddenly shoved me and ran out the door, prompting me to chase after him.
As I followed the man into an alleyway, I shouted, "Stop! Police!"
"Leave me alone!" The man shouted back and ran inside a door that was slightly open at the end of the alley and slammed it shut.
I smashed through the door and had started up the stairwell when the obese man stopped at the top and threw a table down at me, prompting me to move quickly to the side to avoid getting hit.
The man ran up to the third floor and threw a lamp and a table down at me, forcing me to duck and dodge a few times as I stumbled up the stairs and chased him down the hallway around the corner. The man knocked into two men carrying a sofa, and threw it back at me as the men yelled at him. I dodged out of the way as it hit the wall near me, and jumped over it and apologized to the two men who were still on the ground as I sped past them and ran around the corner, finding myself facing two doors. The door on the right was ajar and the door on the left was closed but the number three was swinging upside down. I broke through the door on the left and saw the man trying to escape through the window that led to the fire escape.
I ran over to grab the man's foot and I struggled to pull him back inside, until the man kicked me in the face, sending me stumbling back. I quickly shook it off and followed him out the window just in time to see the man jump over to the fire escape on the next building and almost missing, causing metal railing to wobble dangerously as he pulled himself up and climbed in the open window.
"Oh shit, this is a really bad idea," I thought as I followed him, jumping across the space between the two buildings.
When I grabbed the railing that he had landed on, it collapsed and I crashed down onto the balcony one story below. Luckily the window was open, so I jumped through, scaring the hell out of the occupant who was watching TV, and apologized on my way out the door to the hallway.
Once in the hallway, I paused, trying to decide which way to go, then I heard a commotion and glass breaking at the end of the hallway above me, so I followed the noise to the left and I crashed through the window at the end of the hallway and landed on top of the man, who had fallen into the dumpster at the bottom. Unbelievably, he was on his feet in a second, trying to climb out.
"Hey!" I yelled when I saw he was almost out and I launched myself at him, sending the two of us flipping over the side of the dumpster, and landing on the pavement in the alley. Again, he tried to get up in a flash but I was on him quick and I tackled him to the ground.
"Get...off me!" The man grunted as he shoved me, throwing me into a wall and knocking the breath out of me.
I had had enough of this guy when I got up, gasping for breath and chased after him again down the alley. I laughed when I saw him stopped at a high fence.
"Oh bollocks!" The man exclaimed in panic and turned around to see me aiming my gun at him.
"Ease up Deputy, we're on the same side here," The man begged, raising his hands.
"Same side... my ass... motherfucker...making me chase you like that...who are you...and why the Hell...did you run?" I gasped out, breathing heavily.
"My name is Dee, I'm a private investigator and the reason why I ran is because you chased me. The fuck was I supposed to do?" Dee explained.
"Dumbass... if you hadn't run... I wouldn't have had to chase you... Okay Dee, why did you break into Lawrence's apartment?" I questioned when I caught my breath.
"I'm looking for answers just like you and the Sheriff. You two are looking for the Woodsman, right? My employer is looking to ask him a few questions too," Dee said.
"Okay Dee, if you're a PI, then show me some ID," I said.
"Sure. There's a business card in my shirt pocket, you can see it for yourself," Dee said, slowly taking a card out of his pocket and holding it out to me so I could read it.
Still keeping him in my sights, I looked at the card and saw that it was a coupon for Subway, and I exclaimed, "This is a coupon for a sandwich! Are you trying to be a smartass?!"
"Really? Huh, must've run out," Dee said with a smile.
"Okay asshole, who hired you?" I questioned sternly, not liking this guy's attitude.
"Sorry mate, my clients prefer a certain amount of discretion. I'm sure you understand," Dee said.
"Can't say that I do. C'mon, you're coming with me. You're under arrest for breaking and entering, disturbing a crime scene, resisting arrest, and assaulting a law enforcement officer of Fabletown." I reached for my handcuffs as I continued, "Get on your knees with your hands above your head."
"This could've been easy," Dee said menacingly.
"Oh don't worry, it still is. On your knees, I said," narrowing my eyes at his subtle threat.
"Dum," Dee said lowly.
"Dumb? Yes it is, now are you going to cooperate, or do I have to force the cuffs on you and drag you back?" I warned him.
"No, I'm Dee...he's Dum," Dee said, looking behind me.
Alarm bells went off in my head and before I could turn around to defend myself from the person that was behind me, I got clocked in the head hard by something and everything went black.
"Nathan? You still with us? You almost looked peaceful," I heard the familiar voice of Snow speaking as I regained consciousness.
I slowly opened my eyes to see Bigby and Snow looking down at me in concern. I rubbed my head to try and mitigate the pain.
"Yep, I'm good..." I groaned, feeling like someone had tapdanced on my ribs with a sledgehammer.
"Except you're lying in a dirty alley, with an open wound on the back of your head," Snow pointed out.
"Where the Hell did those fuckers go?" I asked as I got up, picked up my gun, and holstered it.
"Well, after the one guy hit you and the other one finished kicking you-" Snow started.
"Explains why my ribs feel busted up," I remarked while I held my side, feeling my injuries healing up.
"Then they jumped into a car and drove off," Snow finished.
"Make and model? License plate?" I asked.
"Sorry Dad, we were more focused on making sure you were okay," Bigby explained, looking sheepish.
"It's okay, I would've done the same thing if it happened to you or Snow. Did you two find out anything at Toad's place?" I asked them.
"Turns out that one of the Tweedle Dum was at Toad's place looking for something in Woody's apartment and he took off when Bigby called at him. We went inside and found out from Toad that Dum had broken in and vandalized the apartment and beat him up when Toad said he didn't have what he was looking for. Dum threatened that if he found out that ether me, Bigby, or you knew that Dum attacked him, he would kill T.J, so Toad tried to lie to Bigby, but it didn't work," Snow explained.
"Dum, that bastard. Any reason why he was there?" I asked.
"No, but we did get the donkeyskin coat and we came over to see how your progress was. We found Lawrence cuffed and Swineheart was taking him to the hospital. He told us everything," Snow said and she gave me my handcuffs back.
"Thanks. Now what do we do? We know that the Tweedles are looking for something, but we still have no idea where Woody's at," I said, slipping the handcuffs back into the pouch.
"Well, there's only one person that could know where Woody is..." Bigby said.
"Oh Jesus, please tell me we're not going to see Jack Horner," I said in slight irritation.
"Unfortunately yes," Bigby said wearily.
"Great...well, might as well get it over with. Knowing him, he and his girlfriend Rose should be at the Diner by now, I'll drive," I said, knowing that I was not going to like this.
I Am the Egg Man Diner, Upper West Side Manhattan, New York City, America, June 11, 1986.
"The Woodsman? You mean that tin guy from Oz? I haven't seen his ugly mug in decades," Jack said, and I glared at him for being a smartass.
"Fucking Hell...that's not who my Dad and I mean and you know it Jack. Big non-metal guy with an axe," Bigby snapped in irritation.
"Oh right! You mean Paul Bunyan! Big fat fella with funny looking giant blue pig sidekick," Jack said in false realization.
"No dumbass! It's not a pig, it's an ox!" Rose exclaimed humorously.
"Okay, just kidding. Big guy with the axe! All "Crom!" and thews and red nails and whatnot. Sure I know him, that guy's a badass!" Jack said, and it took all I had not to strangle him.
"Listen Jack, a woman named Faith is dead and The Woodsman may have done it. But go ahead and keep laughing, see how far that smartass attitude will get you," I said sternly and Bigby and I walked out of the Diner.
As we were about to head back to the office, my hearing picked up the door opening and Jack shouting, "Bigby! Nathan! Wait up!"
"What now?" Bigby asked irritably as he dragged on his smoke.
"Rose Red thinks I'm out here apologizing to you both, so if you two could play it like that, it'd be great," Jack said.
"We're listening," I said.
"This girl, Faith? She was a lady of the evening? Are we talking about that Faith?" Jack questioned.
"Yeah," Bigby confirmed.
"I ah, may have interacted with her in her professional capacity, nothing Rose needs to know about," Jack confessed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"I think we follow you, go on," I said, willing to listen what he had to say but still skeptical about it.
"Check out the Trip Trap. It's a bar down on the Crooked Mile in the Bronx, I'll lay you dollars to donuts that's where the son of a bitch is hiding out," Jack said.
"Yeah, we know the place. Hell, I go there whenever I have time off, but why should we believe you? We've never known you to be civic-minded," I questioned him, wondering what Jack's angle was.
"You and the Sheriff don't know me at all Deputy. There's still such a thing as honor in this world. I don't care for people who don't have any. If The Woodsman is the one who did it, you take that fucker down," Jack said.
"We will, thanks Jack" Bigby said and we walked back to my car so that we would drive to the Trip Trap.
As we were driving to the Trip Trap Bar, Bigby asked, "Are you okay Dad?"
"What? Yeah, I'm fine Son. Why do you ask?" I evaded, knowing that my son could tell that I felt uneasy.
"You're tense," Bigby pointed out in concern and continued, "It's about this case, isn't it?"
"I could never get anything past you. It's just...reading Faith's story, hearing how her mother died is eerily similar to how your Mother passed away. And the fact that the poor girl was forced to take up prostitution...how did the system get so fucked up? This community was created so that all Fables would have a fresh start, but now, Faith, Lawrence, Grendel, and all those other Fables who should've been living good lives are living in debt, poverty, and resorting to crime to make a living...I just don't know what to believe anymore. Things are worse off then they've ever been..." I explained, feeling useless.
"Well...that's not true," Bigby remarked.
"You're right, we've been through worse, but not by much," I agreed.
"We'll figure something out. Maybe we can talk to Snow and see what she could do," Bigby offered.
I nodded as we were pulling up at the Trip Trap Bar and we got out.
"How about you let me do the talking Son. The bartender knows me and things will go a lot smoother," I suggested.
"Yeah, maybe I should," Bigby said, and we walked over to the entrance and went inside.
As we walked in, I could see the bartender and the owner Holly, serving drinks to Gren. Holly looked at me and smiled but then she frowned when she saw Bigby.
"Nate, It's good to see you. But why is the Sheriff here?" Holly asked me, looking at Bigby in distaste.
"Hey Holly, it's good to see you too. I'll get straight to the point, the reason why we're here, is because we're looking for the Woodsman. Have you or Gren seen him?" I asked.
"Sorry Nate, haven't seen him so I guess you two can be on your way. Why are you looking for him?" Holly asked us.
"It's official Fabletown business Holly," Bigby evaded, prompting Gren to snort.
"Oh, well, if it's official Fabletown business..." Gren said sarcastically.
"Look Holly, we don't want to cause any problems. We just want to know the last time you saw him here, that's all," I said calmly.
"Is that so?" Holly said, glanced at Gren and continued, "I don't know, can't remember."
"We'd just like some help, then we'll be out of here," I said.
"Well, I'd be willing to help you two out of here. Would that help?" Holly said humorously with a smile.
I chuckled and said, "No thanks, we'll be fine."
Looking up, I saw a picture of Woody above the bar and asked, "The man in the picture, is he a regular?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, who?" Holly lied.
"The one with the bald head and the beard," Bigby pointed out.
"Never seen him before," Holly lied.
I saw Bigby looking at a half-empty glass of whiskey and he asked, "Whose is that?"
"Someone who left," Holly stated.
"If they left, why didn't you dump it?" Bigby questioned.
"If you want a cleaner place, feel free to get the fuck out of here," Gren snapped.
"I'm sensing a very hostile tone from you. Don't deny it, I'm good at picking this stuff up," Bigby retorted calmly, prompting me to nudge him with my elbow to get him to stop antagonizing Gren.
I looked at the jar of pickled eggs and stared at it, causing Holly to say, "Let me solve the mystery for you Nate. They're pickled eggs."
"I know what they are, I'm just wondering why anyone would eat them," I said with a grimace.
Shaking his head, Bigby walked over and sat down next to Gren.
"Lotta stools in this place," Gren grumbled.
"If I sit over there, I'm gonna have to yell to talk to you. And I don't like raising my voice unless I really have to," Bigby said humorously.
"Are you two gonna order something, or are you gonna bother me and my customer?" Holly asked with an edge in her tone.
"Fine, I'll take a scotch. Neat," Bigby said.
"Whiskey," I said.
Holly poured the drinks, handed them to us and said, "Here's your drinks, 17,95,"
"You must be loving this, huh Bigby?" Gren spoke up.
"Yeah? What's that Gren?" Bigby questioned him.
"The Big Bad Wolf gets a badge and goes after The Woodsman? That's pretty fucking rich if you ask me. It's like revenge porn," Gren said bitterly.
"Where have you been the last few centuries? We put all that stuff behind us, remember? The Fabletown compact-" Bigby said, only to be rudely interrupted by Gren.
"Yeah, yeah, sure. The fucking Fabletown compact. Big fat get-out-of-jail free card for you and Bluebeard and all those other rich fucks up at The Woodland. Nice how that worked out for all you guys," Gren spat out.
"Okay Gren, maybe you ought to-" Holly tried to break it up.
"No, fuck that! This guy right here...you know what he did? This paragon of...whatever? I'll tell you the story of what this fucking guy did," Gren snapped out as I got up from my seat and he continued, "He's, like, in the forest and shit and he comes up on this fine little piece of ass with a basket of goodies for her granny, right? He's thinking, "Fucking A. I'm gonna get in on that shit." So the motherfucker hightails it down to Granny's, like, cozy little cottage where Granny is. And he eats that old bitch right up, like she was a fucking jalapeño popper or some shit. And do you know what this sick fuck does next? He dresses up in her fucking granny pajamas and he just fucking waits. And then when this young chick shows up, he's all like, "Hey, come here sugar tits! Look at what big everything I have!" And do you know what was the only thing that stopped him? Fucking Woody, that's fucking who! Yeah, like Woody's there and he's like wha-chow and wha-ching with that fucking axe man! And then it's like, "Here's some bricks in your belly, bitch!" And, " Get on down the river! Fuck you!" And then everyone is, like, "Yeah, he's a hero!" And little Red let him do some riding, probably. And they lived happily ever after."
"Wow, it's like I was there," Bigby said sarcastically.
"Yeah, joke all you want. Make your little...witticisms, we'll see who's laughing last," Gren said menacingly, prompting me to step in front of Gren and try to calm him down.
"Okay Gren, I think maybe you had a bit too much to drink today. So how about you calm down and go home to sleep it off," I tried to placate him and Gren kicked the stool over in fury.
"Fuck you Nate! Don't tell me what to do! Thinking you're such a good person when you are the one to turn Bigby into The Big Bad Wolf when he was little! Every time you come here, I hear you talking about how you lost your mate and how you turned a sweet little wolf cub into a monster! You turned Bigby into The Big Bad Wolf! All the blood and carnage that he caused is on your hands!" Gren shouted at me.
"Hey! You think I don't know that?! I've had to live with it for centuries! When Winter died, I should've moved on but instead, I let my hatred and grief get the better of me and I brainwashed my Son into following me on my path of vengeance! When I realized what I done when I saw the carnage, It nearly destroyed me Gren. Am I proud of it? No, I'm not. If I could take it back, I would, but I can't and now I have to live with it," I snarled at him.
"Wait," I heard a familiar voice rang out and I turned to look at the hallway to see that it was Woody.
"Woody! What are you doing?!" Holly exclaimed in panic and Woody raised his hand.
"It's okay Holly," Woody reassured before turning to Gren and saying, "Cool your jets Gren. No need to go making this whole thing worse then it already is. I appreciate you sticking up for me buddy, but that ain't even how it really went down back then. Not even close."
"Woody, we need you to come with us and answer some questions," Bigby said.
"I know, but I didn't kill that girl. I know that's what people are saying, but I didn't. I'm a drunk and a piece of shit, but I don't kill girls," Woody said.
"Fuck that! This guy is a hero! He saves little girls and you two go treating him like some kind of murderer?! Fuck you!" Gren roared out.
"Gren! This is your last warning! I know you care about Woody, but if you don't calm down and let us do our jobs, Bigby and I will arrest you for disturbing the peace and interfering in a criminal investigation," I warned him, putting my hand on the butt of my gun.
"No! Holly's sister goes missing and not one of you people give one solitary fuck about it! I wait in that fucking line all morning to talk about it, just so I can file a complaint with a fucking monkey who tells me "it'll be looked into." But you bastards find something you can pin on Woody, and suddenly you're goddamn Columbo!" Gren yelled in frustration.
"Did anyone ever tell you that you have a big mouth?" Bigby asked lowly.
"Yeah, they did. What are you gonna do about it? Arrest me too? Tell me I have the right to remain silent?" Gren sneered at us.
"Maybe. Or maybe I'll shut you up the old-fashioned way," Bigby threatened.
When Gren didn't say anything, Bigby said, "Yeah, that's what I thought. Let's go Woody."
"I'd like to see you try," I heard Gren's voice deepening and the sounds of bone snapping and changing as we were walking Woody to the front door.
Turning around, my eyes widened when I saw Gren was in his Troll form and he was charging at us.
Before I could react, Gren smacked me away and I hit the wall and crumpled to the floor.
"Argh...fuck," I thought in pain as I picked myself up.
I saw Gren grabbing Bigby and smashing his head into the bar and picking him up before swinging him into the ceiling fan. Bigby grabbed what was left of the fan and crashed it into Gren's head, forcing Gren to lose his hold and drop Bigby to the floor. I took out my baton and flicked it open, running at Gren and hitting him hard in the leg, but Gren grabbed me and threw me at a wall again. As I bounced off it and landed on the floor with a crash, I lost my baton in the process. Groaning, I slowly got up and saw Gren grab the pool table and push it at me. I jumped up on the table to prevent myself from getting crushed. Flying at Gren, I punched him in the face and he slapped me away again. I hit the front door, feeling like a few of my ribs were cracked again . Gren was heading over to me when Bigby charged at Gren and kicked him in the leg, but Gren grabbed Bigby's leg and swung him around into the walls, the floor, and the ceiling like a ragdoll. Bigby was slammed onto the floor, motionless, and I decided to hell with it as I began to shift my form. My arms shifted into paw-like hands and my legs changed into digitigrade paws and my tail grew out for balance. My limbs and tail sprouted out in gray fur and my muscles grew bigger. I charged at Gren and slashed him in the legs, forcing him to let go of Bigby and he dropped to the floor, roaring in pain.
I heard a snarl and I saw Bigby getting up, looking more hairy, sprouting sharper teeth, longer claws, and golden eyes. He charged Gren, kicking him in the abdomen. Gren suddenly grabbed us and as he started running to the wall, we stabbed our claws into Gren's shoulders, forcing him to drop us in agony as he crashed into the wall alone, leaving a large hole and destroying the dartboard.
Bigby ran over and jumped on Gren's back, slashing at Gren's face and neck from behind as Gren thrashed around trying to shake him off. Gren then backed up and smashed Bigby into the wall, breaking a few pool cues hanging in a rack on the wall. Bigby grabbed a cue that had been broken in half and he stabbed it in Gren's shoulder, making him howl in agony and he dropped to his knees but another brutal kick from Bigby sent him to the floor clutching his shoulder.
"He's had enough!" Woody yelled.
Bigby and I glared at Woody and looked back at Gren.
"He's not worth it," I said coldly and we left Gren and headed back to the bar to finish our drinks.
I shifted my body back to normal, grabbed and holstered my baton, and we sat down on our stools and finished our drinks.
"Hey, um, sorry about the bar. I'll make sure to take care of it," I said sheepishly.
"Thanks Nate, you always did care about us strays," Holly said gratefully.
I looked around at the damage and when I saw Woody about to sneak out the back door, I warned, "Don't...even...think about it."
Woody flinched and looked to see Bigby and me glaring at him. He looked at the state of Gren and asked, "Is this the type of treatment I can expect if I let you two take me in?"
"No, if you come quietly, you'll be treated with respect," Bigby reassured.
Suddenly, the door swung open and Bigby and I looked to see that it was Dee.
"Oi, Holly! Draw us a pint! Have you seen..." Dee started to say, but he trailed off when he saw the mess and the state of Gren.
"Fuckin' Hell..." Dee said softly in disbelief and when he looked to see Bigby and me at the bar, he paled.
"Hello Dee, fancy seeing you again," I said with a smirk.
"Fuckin' Hell!" Dee yelled in complete panic and he started running, prompting Woody to try and run as well.
I immediately ran after Dee and tackled him to the ground before putting his hands behind his back and slipping the cuffs around his wrists.
"Fuck man! That's not necessary! The Woodsman's the one you want, not me!" Dee complained as I was dragging him roughly to his feet.
When Bigby walked over with Woody in cuffs, Dee slumped, knowing that he wasn't getting away.
"You were saying? Let's go you two. You're under arrest," I said as we escorted them to the car and put both of them in the back seat.
Bigby and I got in and I started driving us back to the office.
"Goddammit! Goddammit!" Woody roared in frustration.
"Relax Woody, unlike Dee, you're not being charged with anything, yet," Bigby reassured him.
"That ain't what I'm pissed about," Woody said.
"No? What are you pissed about?" I asked while I kept my eyes on the road.
"Gren, that dumbfuck," Woody grumbled.
"Don't worry about him, I'm sure he'll be okay and besides, it's not the first time someone tried to kill us," I said.
"It ain't that...it's...he was going to bat for me and it was all on account of a lie," Woody explained.
"What lie would that be Woody?" Bigby asked in confusion.
"You and your Father know. About the girl...Red and her granny. And you two," Woody said.
"What are you getting at?" Bigby asked.
Woody hesitated before continuing, "Truth is, I didn't come to that cottage to save those people. I didn't give two shits about that old bat or her granddaughter."
"Hold on, if you didn't head to that cottage to save Red and her Grandmother, then what were you doing there?" I questioned, looking at the review mirror and seeing the look of guilt on Woody's face.
"Dad's right, what were you doing there if you weren't going to save them?" Bigby agreed.
"You mean you don't know? I always figured you both knew. It was winter in The Homelands. It was so much cleaner than here, remember?" Woody asked us.
"Not really," Bigby said.
"Yeah, I do. You don't forget something like that," I said, smiling nostalgically.
"Even back then I had a taste for the booze and...ah fuck it, who am I kidding? I was a drunk. A good-for-nothing drunk. I had no trade. I couldn't keep a job, didn't want a job. The thieving started small, just a piece of fruit here, a bottle there. Enough to get by when I couldn't bum a few coins off of somebody. But it didn't take too long for that to get out of hand, too. But things really kicked into high gear after I rolled the Lumberjack. I went around the back of some tavern one night to take a piss and I found him passed out in a ditch. Took his clothes, his boots...and his axe. That axe has powerful magic. Never loses it's edge and it was so sharp that it can split anything without a sound. Made it the perfect burglary tool, I thought I was so fucking clever. In the beginning, I always got in and out clean and never took too much...just enough to stay loaded and pay for places to crash at night, maybe get a woman from time to time. At first, if someone was home, I'd run. But after a while, I stopped caring. If someone got in my way, well...that was their bad luck. Then one day, I was in town and I saw this old bitch yapping to the Blacksmith. Just talking about how her beautiful young granddaughter was coming to visit and bringing her a basket of goodies. And I thought, "I want those goodies, and I want that granddaughter."," Woody explained.
"Jesus fucking Christ, Woody," I said in shock.
"I ain't proud of it. I followed her back to the cottage to wait for this hot young thing to arrive. I must have been pretty blotto, because I actually blacked out while casing the place. Next thing I knew, I was hearing screams from the cottage. So I ran in thinking, "Nobody better be stealing my goodies." And there you were Bigby. Seeing a large black wolf literally swallowing a little girl whole stunned me but I came up with the idea that if I saved the girl and the old bitch, I would get some kind of reward. So I took you by surprise by knocking you out and dragging you outside, hacking you open and pulling the little girl and the old woman out, shoving bricks into you and tying the wound closed with rope and that's where you came out of nowhere Nathan with this look of bloodthirsty rage on your muzzle and I managed to accomplish the same thing. I was going to do bad things to those people and instead they made me out to be like I was some kind of Goddamn hero, and I let 'em. To this day, I let 'em," Woody confessed, looking ashamed.
"And that's who Gren got his ass kicked defending, huh," Bigby commented.
"That's all you got to say? "Huh"? I don't get you Wolf, how do you live with it?" Woody questioned him.
"With what?" Bigby asked.
"The guilt. You killed all those people back in the Homelands. You ate 'em." Woody said, looking surprised.
"I signed the Fabletown compact just like you. All that stuff is officially forgiven," Bigby explained.
"I ain't talking about that and you know it! I'm talking about on the inside. How do you tell yourself you're a good guy when you know all the terrible shit you did?" Woody asked in disbelief.
"What choice do I have? There's nothing I can do about any of that now," Bigby said.
"What about you Nathan? I heard what you and Gren were shouting about. How could you live with yourself, knowing that you created such a monster?" Woody asked me.
"I need to. That time was a very dark moment in my life. When Winter died, I should've moved on but I let my anger and hatred consume me and I deprived my son of a normal life so that I could get revenge. When I saw the results of what I had done, I was horrified of what we had become, knowing that we had the blood of so many innocents on our hands. So I keep reminding myself every day of what I had done so I won't make the same mistakes again. Look Woody, you want to punish yourself, go right ahead. But if you think you're doing the rest of us any favors by ruining your own life, you're an idiot. The world doesn't want your self-pity. So just accept the truth about your past and move on," I said sternly.
"I didn't kill that girl, Faith. It wasn't me," Woody said.
"No Woody, we don't think it was..." Bigby trailed off as we turned onto Bullfinch Street and saw police cars and NYPD patrol units keeping people away from the entrance of The Woodland that had been cordoned off by crime scene tape.
"What the Hell?" I said in confusion and pulled up near the site.
"We're gonna check this out. If ether of of you do anything stupid, we'll throw you down the Witching Well ourselves," Bigby threatened as we got out of the car and I locked it to prevent Dee or Woody from running.
While we walked up to the scene, I saw one officer running out and throwing up. When Bigby and I walked up to the tape, we saw something that would stay with us for the rest of our lives.
"Snow! Oh God no!" Bigby and I yelled in grief and not thinking straight, we ducked under the tape and were grabbed by a few officers.
"Nooo! Fuck you! Let me go! Snooow!" I roared out and punched an officer out of instinct. Instantly, I was tackled and having handcuffs put around my wrists.
What Bigby and I saw was the decapitated head of Snow White.