Chapter 25
Titiana's funeral lacked all the grandiose that her husband's had had. She was buried with two hundred others, a few words spoken specially for her service and dedication, but ultimately seen as only another number.
No one but her sons had really known the deceased queen. She had kept all others at arm's-length, weary of a world full of inexperienced people. She was not pitied, or mourned, only respected for her life and the choices that she had made. She was alien to most.
But not to Puck or Mustardseed. The favorite parent, esteemed and adored even when she lectured them, she was all they had left of a time before their own. Parentless for the first time, lacking the guidance that she had provided them with, both of them lost a crucial member of their family.
Unlike Oberon's death, which had given them guilt along with sorrow, her death handed to them anger. Puck became a more determined general, unforgiving to his soldiers and oppressing to those who disappointed him. Mustardseed threw himself into preparations, going unseen for days as he attempted to get everything done.
Both Faeries were given a wide berth. Soldiers scattered when Puck left the house, or became so focused on their tasks that they tripped over their own feet as they hurried to get away from him. He snapped at those who didn't meet his impossible standards, yelled at everyone, and sulked when there was nothing to take his anger out on.
Sabrina avoided him just as much as anyone else. She couldn't deal with this like she had Oberon. Puck and Mustardseed didn't want to be comforted. They wanted to be mad, to inflict the pain that they felt onto the enemy to make them pay for the grief that they had been caused. She felt guilty every time she ducked when he passed, worse than the time that she broke her sister's favorite doll, but she wasn't brave enough to face him.
And he still scared her. She couldn't shake the memory of his fighting, and the complete coldness that he had displayed. He hadn't even been phased by the projectiles hurled at him, had handled them the same way he dealt with Sabrina's first clumsy attempts at attack. He was terrifyingly powerful.
Besides, it wasn't like she had a lot of time to go running after angry rulers. She was organizing watches, trainings, and a million other little things that Puck and Mustardseed had seen to before. With both of them put out of commission, she found herself scrambling to get everything done. She wondered why none of the older and more experienced Everafters didn't contribute until she realized that they had depended on the brothers for this war just as much as she had, and so they had even less of an idea about what was going on. She began to wonder what all those Councils were good for if everyone was so oblivious to what was going on around them.
Charming forged on with her. He valiantly attempted to organize war councils without the help of the Faeries, but it quickly became evident just how much relied on them.
Mirror was no help to her. He could only listen, and offer small suggestions, but he wasn't the support that she was used to. So she talked to him more instead of less, desperate to feel the same connection that she had with the princes. And slowly, he became better at letting her rant without asking questions. He let her get her frustration out of her system in the short snatches of time that she got with him. She was grateful, and it was wonderful of him, but it wasn't what she needed, and she knew it.
And one day, Sabrina got angry.
It had been a long day, 18 hours of constant motion, a desperate attempt to organize and carry everything out on her own. The camp was growing uneasy with the lack of leadership in addition to their grief, her head pounded, her feet ached, and she had forgotten to eat all day. She hadn't had a bath in a week, she was out of clean underwear, and to top it all off, there was still no electricity. She had collapsed into bed, only to realize that she should get up and brush her teeth. For some reason, that set her off more than anything else.
Anger might not have been the proper emotion. After all, she knew what it was like to lose your family. But damn it all, she hadn't fallen apart like this. She had started on something else, not wallowed in her misery. How dare they both just drop everything and everyone depending on them!
She got back out of the bed, throwing her blankets back, snatching up her sword, and stalking down the hall to the Faerie's room with new found energy. Each step only fueled her rage, until she stood in front of their door, quivering with suppressed emotion. She rapped on the door, hard and incessant.
When there was no reply, she shoved the door open, ready to yell at both of them for ignoring her. But the room was unsatisfyingly empty. Sabrina glared at the wall and kicked the nearest bed, successfully stubbing her toe, but without relieving her frustration.
She reversed course, heading for the stairs and the weapons bunker. If she couldn't find at least one of them there, she'd check the grave site, but they had avoided it as if though it were poison. Her bet was that Puck at least could be found hacking at things in a field, or hiding from his responsibilities in a tree.
She was right. He wasn't in the bunker, but out in the training field, swinging desperately at a fence post. In the moonlight, the sword was a beautiful extension of his arm, fluid as his own movements as he took out all his anger on a chunk of wood. She suppressed a shiver of fear.
Damn it all. She shouldn't be scared of Puck, of all people. He wouldn't hurt her, and she could yell at him without any danger. Besides, he more than deserved it at this point.
"Yo." She shouted, heading for him, prepared to shout her frustrations out at him until she felt better. "Where have you been?"
He paused, setting the sword against his side. She could see his shoulders heaving as she got closer. she was unprepared when he turned around.
He had been crying. She could see it, even with just the moonlight to see by. Tear tracks gleamed wetly on his face, but he seemed to be done for the most part. It wasn't fair to yell at him. She knew that. He was scared, and alone, and she shouldn't make him feel worse. He didn't need someone shouting at him. He needed someone to listen to him for once. How many times had she confided in him? At least this once, she could return the favor and be the understanding one.
"What, Grimm?" He wasn't snapping at her; not like he had been the past few weeks. Instead, he only sounded defeated. He wasn't angry right now, just tired of grief and being alone. It made it easier to approach him.
Sabrina stopped, looking him up and down. "Wanna fight?" She offered finally, already knowing the answer.
"Not really." Puck shook his head, letting his blade drop to the ground. "'M tired of it." He slid down to sit next to it. Sabrina stood for a moment, then sat down next to him, setting her own sword down.
"Yeah, me too." She leaned against him, pulling his arm around her shoulders. He was warm, sweaty with the heat of the exercise he had given himself attacking the post. She sighed, nestling into his side. She had missed him over the past weeks. She had never really realized that he was her best friend in addition to everything else. She sighed, tilting her head up to look at the stars. Puck leaned into her, dropping his temple against her head. He sighed, and if there was a little bit of a sob in it, well… She didn't have to notice it.
They sat like that all night, leaning up against a wooden post and just looking at the stars together until the sun rose. There were none of Puck's confessions as there were with his father's death. Sabrina thought that his grief was too deep and raw this time for him to try to talk about it. So instead, they sat. Together, and somehow, alone.
~Sisters Grimm~
Nothing is instant. Puck didn't immediately get back with the program. He was still prone to outbursts against the stupidity of his soldiers and their inability to perform perfectly. But he was making a visible effort, enough that there were no mutinous mutterings against his leadership.
One thing that had changed, though, was that now, every once in a few nights, he'd wake Sabrina up to go look at the stars with him. He'd just knock on the door, and fly them out to the outer perimeter to look up at the lights.
Sometimes she wondered if he did it because she didn't ask anything of him, or because he liked to spend time with her away from the hectic demands of a war.
Regardless, she never refused, just rubbed her eyes, glared at him, and took his hand. It was amazing as much as it was annoying. She didn't want to miss the hour of sleep, but she didn't want to ignore him either. So instead she downed an extra cup of coffee every morning before going out to her chores for the day. It wasn't as if though he had never sacrificed for her.
Mustardseed, on the other hand, was not undergoing any type of healing process. He spent hours locked in his small den-turned-office, scribbling in notebooks and plotting strategies. The only sign that he was even alive was the fact that new battle plans and statistics showed up on Puck's bed. Large black trash bags of discarded paper were hauled out of the room, the writing on the sheets nearly illegible.
Puck wouldn't let anyone disturb his brother. No one was to go inside the room without express consent, and certainly no one was supposed to interrupt him. He staunchly held that Mustardseed would know when to quit, and that it was best to let him work it out of his system.
Sabrina thought he was wrong and told him so.
But there was no denying that Mustardseed would not welcome interruption, so life continued around him. With Puck back, the war council was able to limp on. And limp they did. Bereaved of Titiana's considerable advice and air of command in addition to Mustardseed, their efficiency was cut nearly in half.
No one seemed to know quite what to do without them. Strategies were suggested, written down on tablets, and the tablets lost. Suggestions were made, but not implemented. Complaints were voiced, but unattended.
Finally, Relda sat down at one of the meetings with a pad of paper and began taking notes, then filing them into cardboard boxes as the meeting progressed.
"Children," She smiled gently, "one would think none of you have ever organized a war in your life."
Her system lacked the elegance that Mustardseed implemented, but it was effective. Things weren't attended to quite as quickly as they had been before, but nevertheless, they did get done.
Better yet, Relda's actions sparked a revolution of work. Charming and Snow took over training some of the martial art courses, Robin Hood took it upon himself to train archers, and Geppetto put himself to use as Relda's secretary.
Slowly, the camp regained equilibrium.
Sabrina didn't like it. Shouldn't the Scarlet Hand have made a move by now? Why were they waiting to be attacked? If her original thought had been true, that they were allowing their enemies to make the first move, it had been made. The Hand had taken out a crucial member of the hierarchy, but then they gave them the time to recover? Surely no one was that stupid.
Why wait a month between battles? At this rate, the war wouldn't end until long after Sabrina's death. No one could just give up their life for that long. Something had to be going on. But what? What was gained by letting their high-strung soldiers sit around, waiting for bloodshed? It nagged at her.
Unless… Unless the Hand was lulling them into a false sense of security by letting them set the battles on their own terms? Or at least something like that?
She made up her mind to bring it up at the next Council, but she never got the chance. The next day, battle came to them.
It started at 2 am in the morning. Shouting slowly brought Sabrina to consciousness, but what really woke her up was the hammering on her bedroom door.
"Grimm! Get up!" Puck's voice drifted through the door. Sabrina stumbled to the door, rubbing sleep out of her eyes with one hand, pawing for her sword with the other.
"Wha-" She yawned as she opened the door, "Was' goin' on?" Her eyes widened as she took him in. Blond hair disheveled, sword unsheathed in one hand and wearing pajama pants, he stood in her doorway.
"You wanted to fight? Here's your chance. The Hand is a mile out; we're riding out to meet them." He snatched her hand and dragged her down the hallway. "You're going to direct the witches." He stopped to look at her, eyes hard. "It should be fairly safe for you." He swallowed.
"Great." Sabrina nodded. "Let's get going then, shall we?"
"Sabrina," Puck stopped, and looked over his shoulder, jaw working. "Sabrina, it was Mother's positioning. So don't get overly confident, okay?" He looked at her, eyes desperate for her to understand the danger he was asking her to put herself in. Well. She knew what she was doing, and it wasn't going to be sitting around camp and twiddling her thumbs.
"Yeah, got it." Sabrina nodded again, freeing herself of his grasp. "Move already. We've got people depending on us, right? Don't worry about me, take care of them."
His smile was strained, but visible. "Awesome. Let's kick some ass." He took her by the hand again and led her out of the house, towards the assembling army. She could see that some of them were still in their pajamas, rubbing sleep out of their eyes and glaring blearily around.
He dropped her off at the west gate, with a group of about a hundred magic wielding Everafters. "This is Grimm. Grimm, this is your group. You keep them in the back, right in front of the archers. Spells can go a distance."
And with that, he disappeared, presumably off to find his own squadron.
"We get Sabrina Grimm?" One of the wizards edged forwards, peering at the blonde teenager. "Hmm. Thought you were older, dear."
"Oh, hush." One witch, a curvy beauty, smacked him upside the head. "Better her than you, goofy." She peered closely at Sabrina. "Ah, yes. One of my own wardings." She smiled. "And one of my better ones, to boot. Do you have any idea how powerful you are, my dear?" She continued without letting Sabrina answer. "Oh yes, you could win the war on your own. I'm Morgana LeFay." She introduced herself. "And we are honored to follow the daughter of Henry and Veronica Grimm into battle."
"This slip is the daughter of the Grimms?" The wizard peered at her with more interest.
"Oh, honestly, Mordred." Morgana shook her head. "You'll have to excuse my son. He can be a little slow on the uptake."
Sabrina nodded, wordless. "Uh, thanks?" She offered. Morgana nodded, smiling once more. "Uh, Puck said that he wants us behind the foot soldiers and the cavalry, but in front of the archers. So I think our best bet to hit the enemy is to start off before the armies can get close to each other. We'll want to start with the first lines, give the Everafters behind them something to trip over. Once the armies start fighting, we need to hit the middle of their pack. Don't throw just anything into the middle of the fighting. Our soldiers have a better chance without dodging the missiles of their own allies. The archers would be better for picking them off in the middle of the fight, anyway. Who has the longest range spell?"
"That would be my group." One woman lifted a hand, and pointed out five of the assembled magicians. "Roberta, Castilla, Ruby, Jonathan, and Birdy."
"Great. You go first. Toss them as far as you can, cause some mayhem. For the closer range weapons, get the front lines, okay?" There were murmurs of agreement. "Charlie Weasley, Mordred and I will keep guard so that you guys can get as much done as possible."
A sharp whistle broke through the camp, and Sabrina jerked her head up. Puck hovered above them, sword held tightly in one hand. "Got your strategies? Too bad. Let's get moving, people!" He darted over the wall, a herd of tiny lights following him. The army followed him on foot out through the gates.
As Sabrina directed her troops, she looked around. Dismay filled her. They couldn't win. Not as tired and unprepared as they were. But they couldn't let the Hand get near to the camp, or else they'd be ruined. She could see Charming ahead of them, half his hair plastered to the side of his head as he yawned without bothering to cover his mouth.
Sabrina turned her attention back to the wizards that she was leading. They seemed content to follow her now that they knew who her parents were. At least they seemed more awake, although she suspected that it was because of small spells more than anything else. A few of them were muttering under their breath to each other. She hoped it was because they were planning an attack together, not protesting her command.
Twenty minutes later, the army was in formation, set up to Puck's specifications. The Hand was only a few hundred yards away when he dropped down next to her, tucking in his wings as he looked out at the group. They gazed out at the assembled armies, the advancing enemy with their torches, shining dimly in the faint light they provided.
"Well, Grimm." He looked at her, unsmiling. "You still want to do this? It's not too late to leave."
"What do you think?" Sabrina punched him in the arm. She ignored the twitching in her stomach, the rising nerves. It was one thing to practice, another to see battle, and, as she was finding out, yet another thing to actually fight. Puck didn't need to know how she felt about it.
"Yeah, I thought not." He reached out and squeezed her hand, a desperate pressure to make sure that she was still there and alive. "Wish you would, though."
"No, you don't."
"Guess not." He shook his head. Sabrina looked down, and realized that they were both still in their pajamas.
"We got a chance?" She asked quietly, pretending not to see the ears of the soldiers around them straining for an answer. She wasn't sure that she wanted to know.
"Always got a chance, Grimm." He replied. "Just some chances are better than others."
"Thanks, Yoda. How good are our chances, then?" She rolled her eyes. The bickering was calming. Normal.
"Weeelll…" He drew the word out, then shrugged. "Even. We're trained and ready, even if we were caught with our pants down. They've got the advantage of timing, and possibly of weapons. But they're more brutal, which-"
"So you don't know." Sabrina interrupted.
"You never know until it's over. And even then, you might still not know."
"Quit it with the philosophy and give me an answer."
"Nope." He shook his head. "Don't know, but I'm optimistic."
"Good." She gave him a shove and freed her hand. "Get back to your men, idiot."
He saluted. "Yes, ma'am." He grinned at her, then hesitated, before leaning forward.
His lips brushed her cheek, and he was gone, off to fight.
Like every clichéd heroine in a book, Sabrina found herself raising a hand to touch her cheek. She stopped herself, feeling foolish. Touching it wouldn't make the kiss come back.
She turned, and found the magicians grinning at her.
"Well, finally." Mordred rolled his eyes. "That only took forever. How long have you two been dancing around each other?"
"Oh, about a year if the rumors are true." One witch giggled. "And believe me, they're innocently oblivious."
"Oh, shut up and get to work." Sabrina huffed. They didn't have time to waste on silly rumors. They had a battle to fight.
And maybe, a future after that.
~Sisters Grimm~
Huh. That would actually be a good ending line. Or a really bad one. Who knows?
Yeah, chapter's over. And it was shorter than the past few to boot. Sorry.
Finally got some Puckabrina action, though! Only been building up to it for 24 chapters… Hope it doesn't disappoint! I think it was time for some, but don't even think that they're going to be all lovey-dovey after this.
Okay, so you guys were very generous with your reviews this week. Thank you! I enjoyed reading every single one of them, and to show it, I'm replying!
Divergent Raven: You have no idea of how obnoxiously proud I am of that little line from Mirror. "Wait, there's a battle going on? No one tells me anything!" (I'm paraphrasing, obviously.) I really liked his character in the book, but, well, his reasoning for starting the war in the first place was glazed over. I'm trying to add to it, and flesh him out some. I too am very glad Puck made it out okay. He almost didn't. I seriously considered wounding him pretty badly.
Guest: Ha! That's actually a good point. And to add insult to injury, Peter Pan is in Once upon a Time. I should put that in though. May I?
Guest: Mirror's betrayal… I'm still working out the kinks. Obviously, it has to be great, but really, he's not in the story enough for it to be really hear rending. Not yet, anyway. We'll see. And honestly, Titiana was just getting in my way. She had to go. She was a very loose end, but she could add character development very easily. So her death was not without purpose. Glad you liked the chapter!
ShoreEvee: So you know how you said you'd like to see Puck kidnap Sabrina? Well, I didn't want him to get beat up too badly, so I decided to not to. Glad you're enjoying the story!
Quillandspindle: As always, it was a delight to get your review. Although I think the character development in this chapter left something to be desired. It felt as if it was too easily resolved, and I need to add to it. And, oh, Mirror. He's a sneaky one, and poor Sabrina. She's so trusting and lonely… I can't wait to use that some more! As you can see, there was no civil war. I did consider it, but, alas, not to be. But Sabrina, Puck and Relda are all working together, so we'll see how that goes. And, actually, I've been waiting to let Mustardseed snap. Again. He's very organized, and I can see something like his mother's death causing his at least momentary downfall. Again, thank you for your review! It was very helpful.
Arabella Quinn: As you can see, Puck and Mustardseed did not react well. At all. Poor boys. Thanks for reviewing!
Guest: You have no idea how nice it is to read the words, "I have literally gotten obsessed with this story." Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it, and I hope you liked this chapter!
IAMAGUEST: At your request, Sabrina's wariness of Puck continues. I agree that it is awesome. I don't think enough people realize that Puck is as old (if not older than) recorded history, and that he could be impossible to really know, especially over the course of just a year. And did you know that you were the only one who commented on Charlie's line, "Constant vigilance". So good work, my fellow nerd!
OakeX: I actually have two little brothers, and their fights used to be very one-sided. But now the younger one has gotten his growth-spurt, and suddenly there are a lot less fights. About the war action: Yeah. I read it, I watch it. Actually, I watch it more than I read it. Medieval movies are cool. And, unfortunately, the only way to get good at writing it is to practice. And practicing writing those scenes is hard. I think we are both completely swamped. I don't know what you're doing, but I have to scramble to find time to write these chapters. And thank you for the compliment! Relda is very dangerous in her sweet, old lady way. She knows all. Thanks for reviewing! I was glad to see them in my inbox.
Anyway, got to go. Life to live and stuff to do. All that nonsense that I don't want to be reminded of.
'Til next time!
-The Irish Lass