Red skidded to a halt as she re-appeared in the street and looked around for Georgie and Vivienne. She spotted them next to a car and narrowed her eyes: there was no way in hell they were getting away with this. Behind her, she heard running and turned to see Bigby with his eyes glowing yellow like hers fixed on Vivienne. The female Fable gave them a terrified look before running to the front and starting the car as quickly as she could.

"Shit!" Red cursed and ran for it, the car was about to get away when Bigby grabbed the back of it and lifted the two back wheels clear off the ground. Red coughed at the dust being revved up and out of the corner of her eye, seen the Crooked Man in the back of a black car watching them with a smirk on his face.

"Bigby! It's the Crooked Man!" she called out, trying not to choke and her eyes widened when she seen that Bigby had transformed as he had fighting the Tweedles and Bloody Mary in the alley. Vivienne must have had her foot pressed down hard on the pedal and due to all the pressure, the bumper fell off into Bigby's claws and the car suddenly sped down the street.

"Get to the Pudding n' Pie!" Bigby growled at her before running down the street after Georgie and Vivienne on all fours at an impressive speed. Red looked back over her shoulder just in time to see the Crooked Man's car come pelting towards her and she jumped out of the way at the last minute.

Knowing there was no way she'd be able to follow the rest of them on foot with all the traffic, Red did as Bigby had said and began to run towards the strip club hoping to pass a taxi or something on the way to shorten her journey. There was a squeal of tyres as she ran across the road and she ignored the Mundies shouting after her, she had to focus and figure out which alleys to go down.

In her head, she thought about all the alleys and was actually thankful for once for her wolf blood as she was running faster than she ever had before the attack. Hearing screams, she knew that Bigby must be close by as someone shouted 'Monster' at the top of their lungs. She just hoped that he would be okay.

Red was too focused on getting to the strip club that she ran out in front of a car and was blinded by the headlights, "Red! What the fuck?"

"Jack?" she said lowering her hands and then realized that he was driving a car, "Is that you?"

"What the hell are you doing out here?" he asked, frowning when she began to walk over to him with a determined look on her face, "Are you even listening to me? Red-"

She pushed him roughly and he landed on his back, looking up at her confused, "I'm commandeering this vehicle," she said getting in the front seat and closing the door, "I'll try and get it back to you in one piece but I can't make any promises."

"Red, that's my fuckin' car!" Jack fumed and got to his feet but Red hit the accelerator before winking at him, "You can't just-!"

"Sorry Jack, it's for the good of Fabletown!" she called out driving down the road. Looking in the rear-view mirror, she seen him stand stunned in the middle of the road and despite her situation couldn't help but laugh at the expression on his face.

She might consider them even after this.

Not even caring about her driving as she drove in between traffic, Red stopped the car just around the corner of the Pudding 'n Pie and seen Vivienne help a badly injured Georgie out of the car and could hear him curse and swear in pain. She could smell the blood instantly but could also smell something else – cigarettes and whiskey.

Bigby was close by.

"Glad to see you made it."

She looked behind her and seen Bigby wearing a dark pair of trousers and a white shirt that wasn't completely buttoned revealing his chest. They weren't his clothes and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Went clothes shopping did we?"

"More like I stole it off a washing line," he said, walking towards the doorway and Red fell in step with him, "mine got a little ripped during the chase and I didn't want to do it naked."

"That's a shame."

Red's eyes widened as she looked at the state of Vivienne's car, the front screen was smashed and there were claw marks all over the roof. "Whoa…you really did a number on their car," she said quietly, glancing at Bigby, "I'm surprised she didn't crash."

"She's a good getaway driver…I'll give her that," Bigby opened the door for her and gave her a serious look, "You ready to finish this?"

Giving him a determined look, Red nodded "Yeah, that son of a bitch killed Rapunzel and the other girls…I want him dead."

Inside, the lights were off and the two of them could hear Vivienne begging Georgie to leave, "Come on, we can't stay here!" she cried out and Red followed Bigby down the hall.

"Hang on….oh…fuck! I need a minute."

When they reached the main room, Red seen a trail of blood leading to the couches where a weakened Georgie and a frantic Vivienne were sitting. He was shaking with pain and opened his eyes to see Red and Bigby standing in the doorway. "Shit!" he muttered and then let out a shaky breath "Hello Bigby. Red."

"How you doin'?" Red asked coldly, not feeling sorry for him at all when he bent over in pain clutching at his stomach.

Georgie coughed and a trickle of blood fell down his chin, "I hoped you'd come to your senses…" he muttered weakly as he slowly stood up, "Crooked Man's the one you want but of course…you're too much of an idiot to see that."

Bigby narrowed his eyes and began to walk towards Georgie with his jaw set, his hands clenching into fists despite the obvious anger in the Sheriff's face and stance, Georgie continued to antagonise him, "Or maybe you just like me too much to let me go?"

"Fucker…" Bigby growled, grabbing him roughly by the throat and pushing him back. The pimp stumbled back and Vivienne ran forward in front of him before Bigby could grab him again.

"Sheriff! Please!" she cried out, "Haven't you done enough? Look at him! He's…he's dying."

Red felt anger and strode straight up to Vivienne and glared at her, "How the fuck can you stand there and try to defend this guy!" she shouted, "After what he did to Rapunzel? To Lilly and Faith?" she looked at the identical ribbon around her neck and shook his head, "After what he did to you?"

"I'm not going anywhere," she said firmly although Red seen a flicker of guilt at the mention of the girl's names, "It isn't his fault."

"He's a goddamn murderer!" Bigby yelled, "He's the reason those girls are dead!"

Vivienne sighed and glanced at Georgie, who for once was silent, "Look, I know he made a few mistakes. We all have-"

"He made sure those girls couldn't talk with those damn ribbons!" Bigby snapped "Then he killed them! You're wearing one yourself!"

Red shook her head at the woman "How can this not bother you even a little?" she asked quietly "Knowing that that man murdered-"

"Of course it does!" Vivienne shouted, her eyes full of tears "Those girls, they're like-"

Georgie glared at her, "So it's all my fuckin' fault then?" he snarled at Vivienne "You fucking –AH!"

"I didn't mean-"

"You gonna throw me to the fucking wolves too?" Georgie asked her, his eyes hard as he leaned against the bar, "You know I didn't have a goddamn choice! What the fuck! I did what I had too! You can't blame me for that!"

Vivienne frowned "Look, we need to-"

"Sometimes we need to do exactly what we're fucking told!" Georgie growled "Then it comes back bite you in the ass because some good for nothin' Crooked basterd decides you're not worth shit anymore!"

Bigby crossed his arms, "Why the fuck did you do it then, huh?" he asked heatedly "If it's not your fault then what the fuck happened?"

"Look, Faith and the others tried to pull a runner on us and as you can imagine the Crooked Man wasn't too thrilled," Georgie explained quickly, his face paling with the blood loss, "but of course the big boss didn't want to get his fuckin' hands dirty…so he told me to take care of it!" he narrowed his eyes at Bigby and Red "You two think I don't know what that means? Either I do what he says or I'm the one getting 'dealt with'!"

He paused for a moment before shaking his head, "So I fuckin' killed them! And I'd do it again."

"You expect us to not hold you fuckin' responsible for this?" Red fumed "You were the one who killed them instead of going to Bigby and telling him what was going on!"

"Believe what you want, Princess Red!" Georgie snapped "I can tell you and Bigby have made up your mind. Doesn't matter if it's fuckin' true or not! You stupid bitch!"

Bigby stepped forward and gave him a dangerous look, "I'd talk nicer to her if I were you."

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Georgie raised his eyebrows at Bigby, "Go ahead and do it Sheriff! It won't bring back her fuckin' grandmother or those girls and it won't free your little friend Nerissa! Trust me on that!"

"Georgie, stop it!" Vivienne said, a tear falling from her eye, "Please!"

But he didn't listen and instead gave Bigby an intense stare, "It must be so easy being you…" he said quietly "…just come in here and blame me for all of this shit! Job's done, right?"

"You are to blame shit head!" Red glared at him, "You fuckin' killed them! You just admitted it!"

Georgie's eyes swivelled to meet hers, "You don't know how bad it's gotten, Red…you think it was bad before? It's worse now."

Red shook her head, "It's getting worse because assholes like you are just bending over for the Crooked Man instead of standing up to him! Stop making excuses and just take responsibility for your actions!"

"Those girls didn't need you putting ribbons around their necks and forcing them to do terrible things!" Bigby snapped "You could have let them go but you didn't!"

"You don't know what the fuck you're talking about! If I freed them-!" Georgie glanced at Vivienne who looked down at the floor sadly and Red frowned as Georgie's eyes softened a little, "What would you have me do? Kill her?"

"Georgie, don't!"

He sighed, his breath more laboured "It was them or Vivien…so you tell me! If freeing Lilly meant she had to die-" he stopped and glared at Red "Do you still think that I had a fuckin' choice?"

"How the hell is she involved in all of this?" Bigby asked slowly, his eyes settling on Vivien.

Georgie put a hand on her shoulder "This is the original," he said slowly "'The Girl with the Ribbon'. I'm sure you've heard the stories. Couldn't take it off. Couldn't talk about it."

"Oh my god…" Red whispered, she remembered her Grams telling her that story.

"Viv' used her little purple ribbon to make more of 'em. To keep our girls quiet. To ensure 'absolute discretion'-"

"You promised you wouldn't…" Vivien whispered, sounding as if she was in pain.

Red couldn't help but look at the ribbon tied around Vivien's neck, "All that magic is connected to that little thing," she said quietly.

"Ruby recognized it on Viv's neck and made the connection," Georgie explained, "threatened to tell the Business Office about it if we didn't let her go, but I refused and told her…told her we'd be paying you a visit if she didn't shut up," he averted his eyes from Red as she felt the rage grow within her, "Rapunzel was going to go to the Business Office with her so we had to get rid of her…but the Crooked Man wasn't happy with that. He wanted Ruby gone too so he made a little potion and had it sent to you…"

Feeling as if someone was gripping her windpipe, Red shook her head, "So that's why he had her killed…to keep this quiet? Why didn't you just let them go?"

"You remove Viv's ribbon…and the spells broken…they're all free. But you know what happens to her?" Georgie looked saddened now, "The same thing that happened to Faith…so don't you two come in here and tell me I fucked up!"

Vivien wriggled out of Georgie's grasp and glared at him, "What the hell, Georgie!" she snapped angrily "We were supposed to look out for each other! I trusted you!"

"You can't fuckin' blame me. You're not innocent here either!"

"I know that! But did it have to be like this?"

Bigby gave Vivien an incredulous look, "Wait, those were your ribbons? You're in on this?" he shook his head at her, "I thought you cared about those girls."

"I do! Of course I do…" Vivien looked at them both pleadingly "You have to understand…nobody was supposed to die. When we built this place…it was just a stupid idea…a gimmick. 'Discretion is our guarantee'…That's how it started anyway."

Red rolled her eyes, "If you're trying to get me to feel sorry for you…you're wasting your time."

"It's not about that," Vivien said to her desperately "this was supposed to be our place. We were gonna be in charge for once and nobody would try to control us or use us…that was the point. Then the Crooked Man showed up and everything just turned to shit…"

Georgie nodded slowly and then looked up at Bigby, still holding his stomach tightly "So do you get it now? Why I couldn't just-" he grimaced in pain and then shook his head "If you two still think it's so fuckin' simple then you do it! Go right ahead!"

Bigby looked sadly at Vivien who clutched at her neck and gave Georgie a shocked gasp, "What are you doing?"

"Break the spell Sheriff! Be the fuckin' hero."

Red stepped forward, actually worried that Bigby would do it, "Look, maybe there's another way to break the spell. No more Fables need to die!"

"Ah, not so easy is it, Princess Red! Making all the hard decisions. Come on Sheriff, just fuckin' do it!"

Bigby pushed him away and shook his head, "I'm not playing this game, Georgie. I won't kill her!"

"Don't talk about me like I'm not even here!" Vivien said heatedly, lowering her hand from her neck and glaring at Georgie, "You think this is hard for you? My life is such a fucking burden on your conscience? Don't I get a say!"

"Not if your involved in this," Bigby said slowly but there was a tone of reluctance in his voice, "I'm sorry Vivien."

She let out a shaky breath and slowly gripped the bow of her ribbon in her fingers, "I'm sick of everyone thinking that they can just…do what they want with my life. I thought it would be different here…but I was wrong."

"Vivien…I didn't mean-"

"Do you think I wanted to be this person?" Vivien interrupted Georgie and gave him a sad stare "What I did to Faith and Lilly and Rapunzel…to all of them…"

Georgie looked worried now as Vivien tightened her grip on the bow, "Vivien….wait, I-"

"Everyday I have to look Gwen and Hans in the eye and pretend I don't care," she said softly "I have to forget what I've done to them. What I took away from them…I look at Nerissa and I hate myself."

"Vivien…" Red was surprised at the tender tone Georgie had used and the look on his face as he gazed at his partner. She didn't know he was possible of that kind of emotion.

She shook her head "I can't pretend anymore…"

Bigby's eyes widened "What are you doing?"

"Vivien! NO!" Red shouted, trying to run forward before she pulled the ribbon but she was too late…

The Fable's eyes were on Georgie's as the ribbon slipped away from her skin, "Goodbye Georgie," she whispered and her head came off of her body and fell to the floor. Red stared horrified at Vivien's decapitated head and could only watch on as Georgie fell to his knees by her side and let out a cry of pain.

"No…no, no, no, NO!"

A/N I'm so sorry for the wait but there has been a major loss in my family and it took me a while to get to a good place and write again. Hope you like the new chapter and thanks to all who are reading this story and leaving reviews. They make my day, thank you again. ~ BsI