AN~ Those of you who just want the story, skip the AN, it's not important and really long.
Cool Bean of the not-logged-in sort: British is the best.
Lara D, also of the not-logged-in sort: Yeah... I don't know why I did that. Apparently Moth has a previously-unknown ability to be a superfighter.
This extremely long review reply goes to purrrple1, who reviewed every single chapter of the whole story. I dedicate this chapter to her, and respond with a number corresponding to the chapter the review came from:
55: That's not the pairing, that's the main characters. It'd be a pretty screwy pairing.
47: A sling is just a piece of cloth folded in half with a rock in it. A slingshot is a y-shaped stick with a rubber band or something in the y, and the rock goes there. Slingshots are much easier to aim.
45: I kind of just made that necklace up. I don't know if anyone actually makes necklaces like that.
44: (And all other times you told me to spellcheck) I know. I'm sorry. And editing.
42: Daphne will be a something else. I don't know what, exactly.
36: That'd be not there at all on the quotation marks. Fanfiction's wordprocessor deleted them.
32: It's a Jesus camp, and the school only sounds racist if you think that way. :) It's named after Snow White, but I just used her last name.
30: I'm pretty sure Shakespeare isn't an everafter, he just wrote about them, kind of like the Brothers Grimm.
24: Alice's Cat is the Cheshire Cat, and MB put him in the Scarlet Hand, so he hates the Grimms. *sadface* I love the Cheshire Cat.
20: spelling: probably.
18: You thought she'd be 13+ for the same reason I still read this series when I'm eighteen: because Sabrina acts WAAAAY too mature.
16: I kind of just came up with superpowers that I thought were cool. Which are a lot. And there are tons more that I didn't give her. And no, you don't seem weird. You seem awesome. Hence the chapter dedication.
15: Wendell IS the Pied Piper's son, you were right!
"Sabrina?" Red asked timidly.
Sabrina pushed her sweaty hair out of her eyes and turned to look at the girl, lowering her sword. "Wassup?"
"Well, we were going to start moving our things into the chicken house today, my... my parents and me, but... the house is being dificult."
"Can't it wait?" Sabrina asked. "I've only got two more days to get back in shape before school starts."
"Grimm, you've been practicing since you found out you were in the advanced class." Puck rolled his eyes, dropping his own sword on the porch. "You might as well take a break."
"But I barely even picked up a sword all summer!" Sabrina snapped. "I'm rusty!"
"And your family needs your help." Puck said. "One hour spent talking sense into a moody building won't make that much of a difference."
Sabrina sighed. "Fine. I'll go. Happy?"
"You're such a grouch." Puck rolled his eyes again. "Come on."
Sabrina stuck her tongue out at him, rubbing her thumb along the hilt of her sword and turning it back into wood before shoving it in her belt and turning to Red. "So where is the house?"
"That's part of the problem." Red said apologetically. "We don't know. It ran off into the backyard."
"Crap." Sabrina muttered. "It could take hours to find."
"Use your magic key thing." Puck suggested.
Sabrina reached for the chain around her neck, pulling both Puck's charm and the key for Baba Yaga's house out from inside her shirt.
"Since when do you keep that there?" Red asked.
Sabrina shrugged. "Since the funeral. It's nice to have a reminder."
"What exactly does the key do?" Puck asked as they headed for the forest.
"I... don't know." Sabrina said. "It sort of reminds the house that I own it, I guess. And... locks doors and stuff like that."
"Do you think you could find the house with it?" Puck asked. "Or call it or something?"
"I could try..." Sabrina said doubtfully, then began. "Here, housie housie housie..." She sighed. "This is stupid. It'll never work."
The bushes rustled.
"Keep going." Red said encouragingly.
"House?" Sabrina asked, rolling her eyes. "Come out, come out wherever you are." She sighed again. "This is so stupid!"
"Just keep going." Puck muttered. "I thought I saw a feather."
"Exciting." Sabrina muttered, then, "Come on out, house. I need to see you."
The bushes rustled again, and then a chicken stepped out from one of them.
"Could you maybe stop being a chicken and start being a house again?" Sabrina asked the chicken.
There was a loud 'whoompfh' and then the house was standing there on its chicken legs.
"All right, so maybe I was wrong about that." Sabrina told Puck, half begrudging, half awed. "House? Mind sitting down?"
The house sat, and the three stepped onto the stoop. Red headed in, and Sabrina was about to follow her when she blinked, and her left eye flashed gold inside the black circle on her face. She rubbed her head and wobbled slightly.
"Y'OK?" Puck asked.
"Eh." Sabrina said, not looking away from the invisible thing. "I'm... I'm seeing things."
"Dead people?" Puck asked, indicating her gold eye.
Sabrina blinked, and her eye returned to blue. "What? No! Well... sort of. Memories. Of things that happened here."
"But you've been here before and not had issues." Puck pointed out.
"It's just worse than usual today." Sabrina said. "Maybe because the house is thinking about it. Or as much as houses can think, anyway."
"What are you seeing, then, if it's not dead people?"
"Memories." Sabrina said, staring into midair again. "She's at the stove, cooking something disgusting. It's smoking. Her guardians are there. She's... she's laughing. And so are they."
"Wish I could see it." Puck said.
"I wish I could turn it off." Sabrina said. "I get these things all the time. I don't know how Daphne deals with it. She says the future's always changing, and every five minutes she'll see something different happening to the same person. At least I see stuff that already happened. It's solid."
"You guys coming?" Red asked, poking her head back around the corner.
"Yeah." Sabrina said. "In a minute. I think the house needs some TLC first, though."
"TLC?" Red asked.
"Tender Loving Care." Sabrina explained.
"I know that." Red said. "But how can a house need TLC?"
"I think... I think it thought I was getting rid of it. It feels... felt... I don't know. Abandoned."
"How can a house feel abandoned?" Puck asked.
Sabrina shrugged. "Maybe it had so much magic in it for so long that it sort of became alive... ish. But it is, and Baba Yaga left, and I haven't been here in days, and after we fixed it up and the first people in here were practically strangers... maybe it thought we sold it."
"So the house thinks you didn't want it and got in a funk?" Red asked, clarifying.
Puck blinked. "I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around this 'houses-can-think' business."
Sabrina shrugged. "I've given up on things making sense. Just go with it, and pretend it's not really a house."
"So how do we get it to stop feeling like you've abandoned it?" Red asked. "I like it here, and I want my own room."
"Well, talking to it worked before, right?" Puck asked. "Why don't you just do that again?"
"Because I feel weird, talking to a house." Sabrina said. "Maybe you could, like, go away, and then I'll talk to the house. How's that?"
"Yeah... no." Puck said dryly. "I want to watch you suffer."
"Jerk." Sabrina muttered, then turned hopefully to Red and asked "Don't suppose you'd be willing to leave?"
Red shook her head, and Sabrina sighed. "Figured." She turned away from the other two, looking at the walls and trying to pretend she was alone in the building. "Hey, house." She said, "Listen. You can't keep sulking like this."
The house groaned, and she glared at the walls.
"I mean it." She said sternly. "I know you miss her, and I know you feel like I'm ignoring you, but I'm thirteen. I can't have a whole house to myself! So I'm loaning you to Uncle Jake, Aunt Briar, and Red. I'm not getting rid of you, I plan to use you to get around all the time. But I can't live in here, and you can't stay empty, and they need a house. So it works out best for everyone. So please... cooperate? Let them in, be there when they need you, that kind of thing. Please?"
The house groaned again, but this time it sounded less like it was complaining and more like it was agreeing with her.
"Good." Sabrina smiled and patted the wall. "Thanks." She turned to Red and said, "I think you're good now. But I may have to see about getting this key copied or something for you guys, so that you can call the house when you need it."
"Thanks." Red smiled shyly. "Now I can start moving my things in."
Sabrina grinned back at her and offered, "You need help with that?"
"I thought you wanted to get back to training." Puck accused.
"And I thought you wanted me to take a break." Sabrina countered, faking a sweet smile.
Puck sighed. "I don't understand you."
Red patted his arm as she walked out of the house. "She's a girl. Get used to it."
"What exactly does that have to do with it?" Puck asked wearily.
"Girls' ultimate goal in life is to confuse boys." Red explained. "Or, well... not really. But it's a big one."
"Hi, guys." Daphne called from the porch. "Whatcha doing?"
"Helping Red move her stuff into the chickenhouse." Sabrina said. "Wanna help?"
"Sure." Daphne bounced up to the door.
They began moving boxes, and as they did, talk turned to the army.
"We need a name." Daphne said. "We can't just be 'Charming's army,' that's like saying he's our king."
"And if we do that now, then as soon as the war's over, he'll make sure he is king." Sabrina said darkly. "And he may be loosening up some, but we don't need a king, especially not one like him."
"It has to be a creative name, though." Puck said thoughtfully. "One that say what we are but's still fun."
"Not just the anti-hand, then?" Red asked. "'Cause that's what we are."
"We could be the green foot." Sabrina suggested. "Feet are about as opposite hands as you can get, and green is the opposite of red, which is what scarlet is."
"Not green, though." Daphne mused. "The... the Emerald Foot!"
"Dude." Puck grinned. "We have to tell Charming about this."
"He'll flip." Sabrina said. "There's no way he'd agree to be part of something that called itself the Emerald Foot."
Still, it was too good an idea for Daphne and Puck to let go of, so after they'd moved all of Red's things into the chicken house, they took it to Fort Charming, with Sabrina giving the house directions while she wasn't grumbling about how this was a stupid, pointless trip, and they were going to be in so much trouble when they got home.
"Ah, stuff it, Grimm." Puck said cheerfully.
"When have you ever let getting in trouble stop you from doing anything, anyway?" Daphne asked.
"Good point." Puck grinned.
"That was for important stuff, though." Sabrina said. "Not going to talk to Charming about something we all know he'll say no to. Couldn't we have at least stopped to tell someone we were leaving?"
"Who?" Red asked. "My... parents were out, and yours were, too, and Granny Relda was busy with Bella in the basement."
"What are they doing down there, anyway?" Daphne wondered. "They're down there all the time, and they won't say anything about what they're doing."
"Cleaning?" Sabrina guessed. "I honestly haven't noticed."
"That's 'cause you've been spending every. Single. Second. Training." Daphne pointed out. "You'd think we were going to be attacked tomorow or something, the way you've been going at it."
"We might be." Sabrina shot back. "We're in a war, Daphne. Just because we don't know when they're going to strike does't mean it won't be soon. How do you think mom and dad are going to feel when they get home and we're not there? 'Cause they know how serious this is, even if you don't."
"We're here." Red said quietly, cutting off the argument before it could start.
Daphne and Sabrina glared at each other while they waited for someone to come open the gate, and continued glaring while the house entered the fort, and as the group headed for Charming's office.
"What is it?" Charming asked as they entered. "I'm in the middle of-" He looked up. "Oh. It's you. What do you want?"
"Nothing important." Sabrina said. "We can come back later if you're busy, 'cause we're really going to catch it if we don't get back-"
"We wanted to talk to you about a name." Daphne interrupted. "For your army."
"We think it'll boost morale if you give the troops a name." Puck said. "Give them something to rally around, you know?"
Sabrina blinked at Puck and whispered, "Where did that come from?"
Puck shrugged. "I think I got it out of a movie. And it sounded cool. What does it mean?"
"I'll tell you later." She promised.
Snow walked through the back door of Charming's office and, after she blinked at the four friends, she smiled. "Hi, kids. What are you doing here?"
"Daphne and Puck wanted to suggest a name for the army." Red said quietly. "And the dragged Sabrina along, so I followed."
"A name?" Snow asked, excited. "Oh, good. I've been trying to think one up myself, but I haven't gotten anything good. Let's hear it."
"I personally see nothing wrong with Charming's Army." Charming said to the room in general.
"It makes you sound like a chauvenistic, egostistical jerk, that's what." Sabrina told him. "And if you want to have any chance at being the mayor when this is over, you'll give up a bit of power now so that people like you enough to give you more later."
"Good point." Snow said. "Now listen to their idea, Billy."
"Fine. What is it?" Charming said wearily.
"The Emerald Foot." Daphne declared with a flourish.
Charming stared at her, mouth agape, for a full five minutes before saying, "...The what?"
"The Emerald Foot." Daphne repeated.
"Yes, yes, yes, I heard you." Charming said impatiently. "But...really? It seems silly to me."
"I kind of like it." Snow said with a smile. "How about we put it to a vote?"
"Can you do that some other time?" Sabrina asked impatiently, looking at the sky. "It's getting late."
"Relax." Daphne told her. "You can just rewind time, can't you?"
"I could," Sabrina said, "But it's a lot of effort. And I'm not sure I could take the house with me."
"So you'd rather complain than take the solution?" Puck asked.
"Yeah, that about sums it up." Sabrina nodded. "But can we please go home before we get in even more trouble?"
"No, I want to see the vote." Daphne said stubbornly.
Sabrina sighed. Red patted her on the shoulder sympathetically.
"Make it fast, all right?" Sabrina begged.
They tried, truly they did. But it took so much time to get the votes of just the fort, even with magic, that it was dusk by the time they finally headed home, Daphne and Puck leading the way triumphantly, because the Emerald Foot had won by such a landslide over Charming's Army that it was the official name, even without anyone from the rest of town's votes.
They were about halfway home when the house stopped short.
"Sabrina?" Red asked, her voice a little tremulous.
"Why'd we stop?" Puck asked.
Sabrina shrugged, then realized that no one could see it, because it was so dark. "Anyone know where the light switch is?"
"It's broken, remember?" Daphne called. "Uncle Jake said he'd fix it today."
"So he couldn't because you decided to steal the house?" Sabrina sighed. "Typical."
"Umm... Red?" Puck asked. "Why were you moving in when you didn't have electricity yet?"
"More importantly, why didn't she remind us when we left that we'd be keeping her from getting electricity?" Sabrina complained. "That might have been a good reason not to go."
"Stop complaining." Puck said. "You've jumped into things without thinking them through enough yourself, Daphne's entitled to do it once or twice."
"Whatever. I'm going to go see where we are." Sabrina said, and a fireball formed in her left hand, while her right went to her sword... just in case.
She stepped out onto the porch and looked down. Puck and Red, then, after a pause, Daphne followed her out.
"It's where the house used to be." Sabrina said softly. "Before the Hand chased them to us."
"So why'd it stop here?" Daphne asked.
Sabrina looked at her face, eerily light by her fire and the moon, and shrugged. "Maybe it misses it. House? Head home."
It started to take a step, but then it fell forward, almost like it tripped. The four crashed to the ground, and barely got themselves airborne before they hit, Puck holding Red and Daphne as a Snowy Owl.
"What on-" Sabrina examined the house, which was attempting to right itself, without much luck. "There's a rope around its legs. It's all tangled up."
Puck joined her. "How'd that get there?"
"Laundry line?" Daphne asked.
Red shook her head, the flickering firelight making her look like her hair was on fire. "No. We pulled the old dryer out, remember? Besides, this rope's in too good a shape to be hers. It'd have spent at least a year out in the weather."
"So where'd it come from?" Puck asked.
A branch snapped, and Sabrina whipped her head around "Guys... I think I have the answer."
The others turned and saw what she'd seen: a patrol of soldiers, all bearing scarlet red handprints on their chests.
