I've said pretty much everything I needed to for an introduction in the last chapter, so... yeah. Listening to Pandora again, silly me, and decided the theme for this chapter is Ass Back Home by Gym Class Heroes.
"Daphne, what are you doing?" Sabrina screeched. Her little sister was too young for this! She was going to get herself killed!
"I'm saving your butt, obviously!" Daphne replied, scowling. "No one else at home could find you. But I did. And I'm not leaving till I bring you guys back with me."
Maleficent laughed. "Oh, this is cute. The little Grimm, come to put on a heroic show. Well, you're a bit outnumbered, Daphne, and your sister was almost done, so why don't we let her finish?"
"Sabrina, no, don't say anything!" Daphne cried.
Terrified, Sabrina stayed quiet.
Maleficent's eyes hardened. "Wrong decision, Sabrina." She flicked her fingers, and suddenly at least fifty nasty Everafters materialized out of the woods and advanced on Daphne, growling and screaming for Grimm blood.
Oh god, what have I done? Sabrina thought desperately. She struggled against her chains, Puck doing the same beside her. "The Marshmallow is going to get herself killed!" he cried.
But contrary to popular belief, Daphne Grimm didn't get herself killed. She raised her wand, shouted, "Gimme some lightning!", and was instantly surrounded by huge bolts of raw energy. They targeted each and every Everafter who had been coming after her, and within minutes none were left standing.
Maleficent's eyes blazed, and Sabrina could tell her sister had just made the Draman very, very angry. "You've just made a grave decision, Daphne, one that could very well end your life. I knew you were powerful... more so than even Mirror suspected, but to challenge me..." She took out her staff and walked straight through the fire, coming out the other end completely unscathed.
"You don't know what you're messing with," Daphne snapped. Sabrina did a mental facepalm. Didn't her sister realize how powerful Maleficent was? Hadn't Sabrina made that clear?
The sorceress laughed, clearly thinking along the same lines. "Do I? Well, we'll soon find out." Her expression hardening, Maleficent pointed her gilded staff at Daphne, and it erupted in green energy.
Sabrina screamed, but Daphne had already deftly blocked the attack. "Daph, you've got to stop this!" Sabrina begged. How long could her sister stand up to the evil witch before she messed up, or worse, died? Had Sabrina made the wrong decision in staying silent? Had she doomed Daphne?
"I'm fine, Sabrina! I'm not a baby anymore!" Daphne growled, stepping further out of the shadows. Maleficent stepped closer, too, and the battle intensified. Daphne now sent out her own attacks, blinding slashes of raw magic, bolts of lightning, fiery spheres... Sabrina was shocked into silence. She'd known Daphne was way more powerful than herself due to Sabrina's addiction, but this was big magic.
The sky began to swirl, the clouds turning a muddy green color.
"Puck," Sabrina hissed, "We have to do something. She's powerful, but Daphne's not that strong. She's not even ten years old yet."
"It's not like I haven't been trying to get out of these chains since the second we were put into them," Puck retorted. "Like you said, they're probably magically- WHOA!"
One of Daphne's bolts of magic was hurtling toward the teenagers, and it slammed into the boulder directly between their heads. The chains on their wrists and ankles melted, but left angry burns in their place. The rock was completely pulverized, turned into pebbles and sand.
Sabrina collapsed onto the ground, her head pounding like a bass drum. She felt weak and fatigued, and her fingers were tingling from all the magic in the air. But she had to get to Daphne. It was obvious the little girl held her own in the fight, but it was also clear she was getting tired. Maleficent didn't even look like she'd broken a sweat.
Standing up dizzily, she glanced around for Puck. Sabrina found him about five yards away, lying on his back, unconscious. Conflicted, she stood between rushing toward her sister and swooping down to care for Puck. But she knew who was in more danger, and the winner was Daphne.
She charged forward, rushing over to help her sister. Addiction or not, she would play her part in defeating this witch. Maleficent paused for a moment and scowled. "Sabrina Grimm, you stay out of this."
"She's my sister! I'm not staying out of anything!"
"You've always been a thorn in my side," Maleficent hissed. "And a murderous one, at that." And then her staff was whistling through the air, pointing at Sabrina, and the girl was thrown backwards, burning in fiery pain...
Sabrina was fighting a battle, yes, but it was purely mental, one of willpower. She was choosing whether or not to succumb to death.
Death itself was like a huge black hole, sucking her in, welcoming her. But Sabrina was holding on to life, if even by a tiny thread. She couldn't die yet. What would happen to her family? Yet... death... it looked so comfortable... She slipped on the thread of life which she so desperately grasped. The thread itself was fraying... the option of death becoming more of a decision every second...
No. She mustn't think like that. She had to remember her family. Faces flashed through her mind.
Her dad. Stubborn, protective Henry, who insisted on treating his girls like toddlers. Her mom. Fiercely protective Veronica loved her children with a vigor that matched her strength. Her uncle Jake. He always had a magical remedy and a smile at hand. Mr. Canis. The softspoken old man had sacrificed so much for the Grimms. Red Riding Hood. Sabrina wished she could have hugged the shy girl when she'd had the chance. Her sister. Sweet, carefree Daphne, who knew so much about magic and still had the innocence to match it with. Elvis. The family's huge Great Dane never failed to put in a well-timed lick or fart when things got awkward. Her Granny Relda. That woman had loved the girls unconditionally from the start, even when things got rather messy. Puck. Her Puck. Through thick and thin, pranking or no pranking, he'd always been there for her.
Suddenly, at the thought of Puck, the fraying thread became a steel cable, strong and firm. Sabrina was filled with confidence, and in an instant, death didn't seem so daunting anymore. The cable began to pull her up, up, and away, and the pull of death faded until it was only a dream...
"Mom, look! Look at the monitor!"
"Oh, Daphne... The nurse said this would happen. Sabrina's in a coma. She's not going to wake up."
"But her heart, Mom! It's beating faster! And look, she's breathing more!"
"Sh. You shouldn't shout so loudly."
"Mom, why don't you believe me?"
"Daphne..."
"What, you're siding with her, too, Dad?"
"The chances of your sister waking up now are slim, honey. Sprat said we shouldn't push our luck."
"Hank, Veronica, perhaps it's not best to be pessimists."
"Mom, Sprat said Sabrina's likely to be in a coma for months! I'm being reasonable!"
"See, Dad?"
"Daphne, enough."
Sabrina took a deep breath while the voices argued. Yuck. The air smelled of medicine. She was in a hospital... again. Wait - hadn't she just been fighting for her life? In a coma, apparently?
Her life was so messed up...
"I told you, Mom! She's waking up!" Daphne's voice cried. Daphne. She was all right! Had they escaped from Maleficent for the time being? Sabrina was so confused...
The only thing to do now was wake up, so the girl blinked, even though she had a pounding headache. Daphne stood over her, grinning proudly. "I told you guys. I did!"
"Daph," Sabrina murmured, a little surprised at how rough and weak her voice sounded. Her sister leaned down and hugged her.
"It sure took you long enough!" Daphne squealed. "I haven't been home in four days."
"F-four days? Do you mean to say... I was out for four days?" Sabrina spluttered, looking around in surprise. Everyone else gathered around the bed- Veronica, Henry, and Granny Relda - nodded sadly. They looked kind of shell-shocked and worn. Henry had bags under his eyes so big, he looked like he'd been punched. Veronica and Granny looked stressed to pieces. "I-I'm sorry!"
Granny Relda smiled. "It was never your fault, liebling. Never."
"And," Henry added, shooting a loaded look at Daphne, "the threat's been dealt with."
Daphne giggled. "I'm grounded for four months, one for each day you were in a coma."
At Sabrina's questioning look, Veronica smiled exasperatingly. "She snuck out of the house to look for you one morning. We had no idea where she was; she worried us to bits. She would have been grounded for four years had the circumstances been different."
"Circumstances?" Sabrina echoed. "What circumstances?"
Henry looked like he wanted to both grin and frown at the same time. "She killed Maleficent."
Everyone in the room paused to see Sabrina's reaction. The girl simply blinked, a million thoughts racing through her head. It's over... Finally, it's over. She's not going to terrorize us anymore. But... was death the right way? Could she have been changed? And what about - oh, what about her baby? We killed an innocent child! Well... fetus. For a moment, Sabrina felt sick, relieved, and exhausted at the same time. She only had one question, though.
"How?"
Daphne cut Henry off as he started to explain. "Well, after Maleficent shot that spell at you, and you... kinda... died or something, I got really angry. I wanted to help, but she was taunting me, and eventually I got so mad the wand just sorta took over, and suddenly she was dead."
Sabrina had never been so proud. She sat up, ignoring the stiffness in her joints, and wrapped her arms around her little sister, pulling her into a tight hug.
"You did it, Daph," she murmured. "Now... when can we go home?"
Since tomorrow was Friday, and because of certain recent events, Henry and Veronica allowed the girls to skip school for the rest of the week. They were doing a lot of that, lately, Sabrina noticed. But it was probably for the best. For one, things would be very awkward between the little Sabrina, Kathryn and Puck love triangle, and secondly, she really didn't want to answer all of the questions she'd be getting about her absence. And then there was the homework. Ugh.
Thinking of Puck, Sabrina wondered where the faerie had gone off to. She hadn't seen him at all since waking up, and now they were driving home without him...
"Granny?"
"Liebling? Is everything okay?"
Sabrina nodded. "Yeah, I was just wondering where Puck was."
She ignored how Daphne bit her palm and smiled and instead focused on her grandmother's reply.
"Oh, he went back to the house with Jacob, Basil, Red and Mr. Canis a few days ago. They're all so excited to have you home!"
Sabrina smiled slightly, knowing that she'd be bombarded with questions - by Uncle Jake in particular. Once, she might have dreaded it, but now she just wanted to grab her whole family and hug them for a long time.
As Granny Relda parked in front of the house, Sabrina was amazed at how normal the yard looked. Just a few days earlier it had resembled a war zone. Now it was perfectly manicured, with two new lovely trees planted where the deepest craters had been.
As soon as she got out of the car, the door flew open and Uncle Jake hurried down the porch steps, Basil in his arms. The baby was giggling loudly and reaching for his mom, who took him without hesitation. Jake bent down and gave Sabrina a long hug.
"For a while there... I thought you were a goner," he said. "Good thing ol' Peanut ran away to find you. I swear, she has a sixth sense or something."
Yes, yes, it was all very fine and dandy that Daphne had killed Maleficent, but all Sabrina wanted to do now was sleep, so she told everyone she was going up to the guest room to catch some Z's. Even being up for a few hours had exhausted her, and her headache was back with a vengeance.
"Wait - Brina," Veronica called. "We redid your room for you, if you'd like to sleep there."
Sabrina was surprised. "When? And - er - thank you."
"When you were in the hospital," Henry replied. "We really had nothing to do, and then your mom decided we were going to redecorate..."
Veronica frowned. "Hank, wipe that look off of your face. You had fun, too!" Henry shrugged guiltily, and their daughters laughed.
Daphne gave Sabrina an encouraging push toward the house. "C'mon, Sabrina, you'll love it!"
"Ouch! Okay, I'm going, Daph." Sabrina opened the door and stepped inside, breathing in the scent of home. It was much better than the smell of moldy ropes and damp pine needles. Stepping over a pile of books, she headed toward the stairs. She couldn't help but notice that there were maps of Ferryport Forest everywhere; her family had certainly been searching.
Soon Sabrina was standing at the door of her apparently redecorated room. Daphne bounced excitedly behind her. "Open it!" she squeaked. And Sabrina did.
Holy cow. This was awesome. It had obviously been magically expanded, but the room still looked like a regular bedroom. The walls were painted lime green, but there were purple accents everywhere, from the fluffy purple rug on the wood floor to the green and purple comforter on the bed - which was brand new. There was a new vanity in one corner, and a large bookcase in another. Her dresser had been moved to another wall to make room for a large beanbag. A small, funky chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling while purple and green lanterns hung over strategic spots (her bed, the vanity, the beanbag).
It was definitely a teenage girl's room, and Sabrina found herself wishing she'd had this forever. She'd always been content to sleep in her father's old room, with all of the model airplanes and little trinkets from his boyhood, but having her own space was wonderful. Even better, Daphne wasn't sleeping here anymore.
"Wow," Sabrina managed.
"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Daphne said, almost wistfully.
Her older sister smiled slightly. "Well, next time you're in a coma I'm sure they'll redo the guest room for you. But for now..." she yawned, "I'm going to bed."
Daphne left and Sabrina changed into more comfortable clothing before climbing into her new bed. It was extraordinarily comfy, and all she wanted to do was grin.
She was home.
REMIND ME TO SAVE EVERY SIX SENTENCES. I had like fifteen long, beautiful paragraphs written and then I switched windows to change my Pandora song, and when I came back... POOF. ALL GONE.
As you probably realize, I am beyond frustrated. There was some good **** in those paragraphs! ;O Anyway, this is a LOOONG chapter, in my opinion. I just wanted to fit everything in, and hopefully you guys enjoyed the length of it.
Review! :)