Author's Note: I wasn't planning on this being the next chapter at first, but I didn't want to let the ideas I had for it go to waste. I had actually intended to post this last night, but life got in the way. This is more of a "talky one", but I hope you can all get something out of it.
Earth-95859
Bailey City
The night sky hanging above Bailey City was a foreboding Stygian. It was like all the stars we're being hidden from the people below. A waxing crescent moon was the only spot of white that could be seen against the seemingly endless blanket of black.
"I don't like this. Something feels wrong." a girl groused.
The girl was sitting on a grassy hill, staring up at the sky above it. She felt a shiver on her arm and looked down to see that her pale, sandy skin had goosebumps. She ran her fingers through her shoulder length golden blond hair.
"Liza, are you 'kay?" a boy asked.
The girl turned around to look at the one who had addressed her by name. He was a light-skinned boy with curly, rufous hair. Nearby sat two other youths. One of them was a black girl who had very dark brown hair, while the other looked like he could pass as Liza's brother if he wanted to, with his skin and hair pigments being close to her own. All of them were in heavy coats, pants, boots, and knapsacks of varying colors. The gang of four also had a couple portable electric lanterns that allowed them to actually see one another.
"Liza's probably just cold. I know I am." the dark haired girl commented.
"Melody's right; It's just a little too cold, Eddie." the blond boy answered.
The redheaded boy, Eddie, crossed his arms. He looked skeptical, if not a bit annoyed.
"Howie, this was her idea. If she wants to wuss out and call it quits, she should just say it." Eddie said.
"You know I wouldn't back out." Liza chided him.
"I'm just telling it like it is, Liza." Eddie huffed. "It isn't my fault we're out here tonight."
"We all agreed to do this, Eddie." Melody spoke. "Now all of you listen up…"
Melody lifted up one of the lanterns and looked towards the faint sliver of the moon up above their heads. Looking at it made Howie wince. There was something in the air that made the whole scene rather ominous.
"...I've been a skeptic in the past, but those days are over; we live in a strange world, one full of strange people. People who may not even be actual people at all."
"Monsters. You can say the word, Melody." Liza stated.
"Yeah, Liza's right, Melody." Howie said in agreement. "After all, only...only...a monster could've...could've…make me...oh my god..."
Howie began to tear up and within seconds was thrashing on the ground, sobbing wildly.
"Oh no! Guys!" Melody shouted.
"It's gonna take me again! Nobody can help us! I can feel it!" Howie wailed.
Howie was in a panic. Liza wrapped her arms around her friend to try and comfort him in his time of need.
"It's over, Howie. You're not being taken from us. We're all here with you." Liza said as soothingly as she could.
Eddie zipped open Howie's knapsack and pulled out a shiny bag. He did it in such a hurry that he didn't notice a large piece of paper fall out from it and into the grass. The writing and images printed on the bag indicated they were garlic coated potato chips. Eddie hurriedly popped open the bag and held it up to Howie's face. The strong scent of the chips caused Howie to calm down a little. He took the bag from Eddie and stuffed a small handful of the chips into his mouth. After chewing them up and swallowing them down, Howie let out a heavy sigh and wiped away some tears from his eyes.
"I...I'll be okay." Howie told them with a weak smile. "This needs to be done. We have to know the truth."
For a full minute, the children stayed silent. The chirping of insects in the distance filled the air for that time, until Liza spoke up.
"There've been moments where I started to think I was insane to believe in monsters. That everything we've seen has all been in my head. A way to make myself feel special or something maybe." Liza confessed. "I mean…werewolves? Sea monsters? Zombies? Myths? It all sounds so bizarre."
Melody took Liza's hand, but clearly wasn't sure what to say.
"Things are different now though. Everything has changed. Something happened that no one can just explain away." Liza continued. "I'm sick of everything being…up to interpretation. I need to know the truth."
"You aren't the only one. That's why we are out here tonight, Liza." Melody said. "There are still questions that need answering. Like it or not, I think we're the ones who need to find those answers."
Eddie stood up.
"We won't figure out a thing just sittin' here. I say we get a move on already." Eddie asserted.
"For once, I agree with Eddie." Howie stated. "Maybe finally figuring out who…or what…took me away will help me get back to normal."
"So none of us are backing out?" Melody asked.
Howie, Liza, and Eddie all looked at one another. Even though they seemed nervous, they all nodded in agreement. There was no going back now. They gathered their supplies, walked down the grassy hill and then then went on their way towards an eerie forest in the distance. Back on the hill, a figure hidden in the near complete darkness walked up and picked up the paper that had fallen out of Eddie's bag.
"Ah. I understand now…" the figure hissed. "They're looking for me."
The figure's eyes glowed green as they read the piece of paper. It was a cut out piece of a newspaper that read 'Local School Teacher Presumed Dead'.
"Fools…" she whispered to herself.
It didn't take long for the four children to enter the forest. Thanks to the light of their lanterns, they were able to find the obscure path they were seeking. It was a path marked by a hand crafted wooden sign hung up on an old tree. It had letters written on it in sloppy white paint, above a drawing of an arrow.
"Carole's All Natural Maple Syrup." Howie read aloud.
"When she said that the world would be 'split in two', I never thought it would mean that half of the people on it would vanish." Melody said. "Then...not even a full week later…"
"We should have known she'd be right. I could tell that there was something special about her." Liza said. "You laughed at me, Eddie. You said that oracles don't harvest maple syrup."
"I said I was sorry." Eddie moaned.
"No you didn't. You just made fun of me like usual. You even called me 'Brainless Burkhardt' too, like it was actually funny." Liza berated him.
Eddie fell silent. The look on his face was enough to infer that Liza was right.
"We should keep walking. The sooner we get there, the sooner we get the answers we've been looking for." Melody spoke back up.
"She's right." Howie said in agreement. "Besides, we're almost there."
Howie was not incorrect, as it really wasn't that much longer of a trek for them. After about twenty more minutes of walking through the woods, they arrived at their destination. It was a man-made clearing in the forest, with a multi-room log cabin smack dab in the center of it. The lights were on, peeking out through the windows. Before the four could take another step, a door swung open, letting out even more light from the inside of the cabin. The kids looked to see a woman in the doorway.
"Carole!" the four let out in unison.
"Hey there. About time you Bailey school kids showed up." the woman greeted them.
Carole was a stout, muscular woman with a swarthy complexion and short, messy dark gray hair. She had a round face and big, soulful brown eyes. In terms of clothing, she was dressed like a classic cartoon lumberjack, right down to the dark suspenders over her dark red flannel shirt.
"Well, come on in! I've been expecting you!" Carole cheerfully beckoned.
"Of course she has." Eddie grumbled.
The gang of elementary school students looked at each other, nodded, and then walked into Carole's cabin, with the entrance leading to the living room. It was a very welcoming little home. Everything inside the cabin was at least a decade out of date, from her sofa, coffee table, and recliner to her television and radio. The warm lighting and cozy atmosphere helped the kids become less nervous, though they weren't going to forget why they had come to see Carole.
"You have a lovely home, ma'am." Liza remarked.
"Why thank you, Liza!" Carole beamed. "It can be a bit rough during the winter, but I'd be lying if I said I'd rather live anywhere else. How about I get you all some nice, warm drinks?"
"...Carole...I know that you know why we came here." Melody uttered.
Carole fell silent and walked over to her recliner.
"Please take a seat, children." Carole requested, motioning to her sofa.
Liza, Eddie, Melody, and Howie all walked over to it and all sat down. Carole looked at them all with a serious expression on her face.
"Go ahead." Carole said to them.
"We know you're an oracle." Howie articulated.
Carole chuckled.
"I'm not making fun of you. It's just that that isn't exactly an aspect about myself that I hide, cutie pie." Carole responded.
"What Howie means is that...know we really believe." Liza said.
"When we first came here with our class, and you started mentioning things before they happened, we began to think something was up with you. After you said the world would 'split in two', and nothing like that happened, we stopped worrying and just laughed it off." Melody delineated. "After that, we moved on to other things, like thinking the guy who called the numbers at Eddie's grandma's bingo games was actually the mapinguari."
"He was very nice, but I just got a weird vibe from him." Liza added.
The woman smiled knowingly at that.
"We had to spend the whole night picking up all the number balls off the floor because of that one." Eddie griped.
"Oh yes, I knew that would happen." Carole said with a smirk.
"But...shortly after that…" Melody started to say.
"It happened." Howie cut her off. "...and I was one of those who was taken."
"It was like a nightmare." Eddie shuddered.
Carole frowned sadly.
"I...I know. I knew…but...I also knew there was nothing I could do to stop it. Regardless, I'm sorry." Carole told them.
"After everyone came back, and we learned that half the world had been taken, we recalled what you had said that day." Howie said.
"That day changed everything, including me and what I could accept to be impossible or not." Melody said.
"Like how I'm an oracle, dear girl?" Carole calmly questioned.
"Exactly." Melody confirmed.
Carole got up from her recliner and crossed her arms.
"You've come here in search of knowledge. I can provide it to you, but there is a caveat; I can only answer one query for each of you." Carole informed them.
The four kids all looked shocked at that.
"What? Why?" Liza asked.
"Yeah! What gives?!" Eddie shouted.
"It isn't anything personal, children. You see, if an oracle answers too many direct, deliberate questions at once, we lose our abilities altogether, and they transfer into a random newborn baby for them to discover later in life. You'll have to choose your words wisely." Carole advised them.
The kids huddled together and whispered to each other for about four minutes before turning their heads back up at Carole.
"Alright, I'll go first." Eddie said. "Alright, Carole, our teacher Mrs. Jeepers has…"
"Gone missing? I'm aware." Carole spoke. "But you may want to wait a minute before you…"
"No! I get to ask the question I want! The police think she's dead, but I know she's out there!" Eddie shouted.
"Exactly! She's right outsi…" Carole tried to tell him.
"Where is Mrs. Jeepers?!" Eddie demanded to know.
Carole sunk back into her chair and dragged her own hand down her face.
"She's right outside the cabin." Carole answered.
The door to the cabin was kicked open and Eddie, Howie, Melody, and Liza all gasped. Standing in the doorway was Mrs. Jeepers, with her bright ginger hair a mess and her purple polka dot covered dressed in tatters and stained with dirt.
"Good to see you, students. Did you miss me?" Jeepers rhetorically asked, her vague Eastern European accent as strong as ever.
The kids all looked stunned. This wasn't what they were expecting.
"I was trying to tell you not to waste a question, Eddie." Carole sighed.
Liza, Howie, and Melody all slapped their own foreheads. Eddie had messed up.
"D'oh!" Eddie yelped.
Mrs. Jeepers began to slink up menacingly at her students on the sofa.
"Did it ever occur to you that I didn't want to be found, you foolish children? Because I'm afraid that's the case. Yes, I left Bailey City on my own accord." Jeepers divulged.
She glared at them with her striking green eyes. They couldn't move. Suddenly, in a flash, Carole sprang up from her chair and grabbed Mrs. Jeepers's left wrist.
"They aren't going to tell anyone, Jeepers." Carole growled at the taller woman.
Jeepers scoffed at Carole's words.
"There's no way you could confirm that. How could you...oh...oh right." the red haired woman said, recognizing her mental blunder. "But why not?"
"Because I just said they wouldn't." Carole responded, glancing over at the four. "Right, kids?"
All of them nervously nodded in agreement, but Mrs. Jeepers looked unconvinced.
"We both know I could defeat you if you're lying to me, oracle." Jeepers said threateningly.
"I don't lie. I can't." Carole reminded her.
"No, Mrs. Jeepers!" Liza cried out in objection, getting up from the old sofa. "We need this! Howie needs this!"
Jeepers looked at Howie as her wrist was being freed. On the surface, he didn't seem that different from the boy she used to teach in class, but she could see past that. Liza was right; Howie was only barely clinging on. He did need it. The woman then turned her gaze to Liza herself and something about her caused her eyes to widen. Mrs. Jeepers could feel a sensation inside of herself.
"It cannot be…" the tall, redheaded woman gulped. "...we wiped you all out…"
She then quickly covered her own mouth with both her hands and stepped back in a way that seemed instinctual. The four kids were all visibly perplexed at how their former teacher was acting. Eddie stepped towards her with an outstretched hand. Even he didn't seem to understand why he was doing it.
"Mrs. Jeepers, what's happened to you?" Eddie asked.
Mrs. Jeepers pulled away from him and then pointed at Carole.
"The events of that dreadful day changed a lot of people, Eddie, including myself. That is all you need to know. I do what I do for my own reasons, and I owe no explanations to you." Jeepers coldly snapped at the redheaded boy.
She then turned her back to all of them and began to walk to the door.
"Mrs. Jeepers, wait a minute." Melody tried to object.
"I'm glad I could be part of your lives, but that chapter of our story has ended." Mrs. Jeepers spoke softly. "You will not be seeing me again."
With that, she went out the door and closed it behind her. Carole held up her hand before any of the four could try to run out after her.
"I can already confirm that she's true to her word. You really will never see that woman again." Carole told them.
With that, the kids regrouped back on the sofa, with none of them knowing how to feel about their former teacher.
"I can't believe I wasted my question." Eddie glumly bemoaned.
"We still have ours. We may as well use them." Melody said, holding Eddie's shoulder. "...Howie, you're up."
Howie closed his eyes for a moment. He was deep in thought, reflecting on what he had been through ever since he had felt his body become nothing but ashes in the wind. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at Carole, who was now back in her recliner, looking directly at him.
"Why did half the world get taken away? Who or what caused it?" Howie asked.
"An alien did it." Carole answered.
The young friends all looked at one another.
"More details, please." Howie requested.
"Sure thing." Carole replied kindly. "So our universe isn't the only one; there are millions and millions of them."
"Woah." Eddie let out.
"Yes, it's all very impressive. Anyway, in one universe, a man most twisted found items of great power, and used their powers to wipe out half of all intelligent life." the oracle continued. "It was so powerful that it instead affected...all worlds in our multiverse. In that moment, all of our dimensions became…more intertwined. So much so that the universe itself could feel it coming and send me a warning. Not that it really helped. Some warriors of three worlds defeated the one responsible and everyone, including you, was returned. Good won that day, Howie."
"Dang." Melody said.
"OMG…" Liza let out.
"Woah." Eddie repeated from earlier. "...yes, again."
The three all looked at Howie, who smiled faintly.
"You have my gratitude, Carole. It's good to know the truth. It may not fix everything, but I know it will help me when I need it to." Howie thanked the oracle before him.
Everyone looked happy for him.
"I think you should go next, Melody." Carole then said.
Melody could hardly believe that it was finally time. It was time to finally learn the truth about Bailey City. She took a deep breath.
"Are the weird adults we keep running into really werewolves, ghouls, witches, and all that?" Melody asked.
There was a pause.
"They aren't." Carole answered.
The kids all looked flabbergasted.
"But...I…" Liza stammered. "...the feelings I get…"
"I don't understand." Melody said.
"You can't seriously expect us to buy that we are all just crazy. You're an actual oracle, lady." Eddie brought up.
"Please be straight with us. We need to finally know what's really going on." Howie pleaded.
Carole held up a finger.
"Ah ah ah. You didn't let me finish. Allow me to explain what I and the others really are. Just be warned that it's a bit of a doozy." Carole warned them.
The four quieted down and prepared to hear words that would change how they saw their world for the rest of their lives.
"The beings you've encountered for years now aren't the monsters and strange characters you've seen in campfire stories and fairy tales. We are something much more complex; We are the basis for all those stories. There are many different kinds of us, all with different faces, names, and abilities, but we as a people are known to those who once hunted us by a single collective name; Wesen." Carole revealed. "We have lived among 'normal' humans for ages and ages. Most of us just want to live our lives in peace, but…we are fallible, and just as capable of evil as any human is. Because of this, a subset of humans existed that existed with the power to see our true forms. They used this ability to punish us...to hunt us like animals. They were known as the Grimm."
All of this was absolutely equally astounding to Liza, Howie, Melody, and Eddie. In spite of that, they were able to keep calm.
"Like the Brothers Grimm." Eddie commented.
"That's right, my boy. The names for our races came from the olden days of Germany." Carole continued on. "The Grimm once existed all over the world. Throughout all of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, Grimm of every ethnicity, nationality, and religion lived among humanity, affecting the history of the world, for both the better and the worse, in secret. Not unlike the Wesen. But that was the past, and things are very different now; there was a great war. Though fought in the shadows, the toll was great. Most Wesen are...gone now, living in small pocket communities, struggling to repopulate. Bailey City is one of the places chosen. As for the Grimm? More extreme Wesen have all but wiped them out in return. Only one exists now, born to parents who don't even know of their lineage. Her powers have been beginning to manifest, and fears that she's insane, as she has only just now learnt of the Grimm and the Wesen."
Liza stood up, with her three friends watching her as she did. None of this is what they were expecting.
"Carole, I want to ask my question now. I'm just worried that if I do, I'll never feel the same again." Liza proclaimed, her heart pounding hard in her chest.
Carole got up as well and placed her hand on the top of the girl's head.
"Yet I know you're going to ask it anyway, Miss Burkhardt." Carole spoke gently to her. "You've already come all this way. It's time."
"Oh my god…" Howie whispered to the others.
"I know. This can't be happening." Melody whispered back.
"What happens now?" Eddie asked.
Neither Melody nor Howie could think of what to say. All the information they had been given, about the truth of their world, and of the multiverse, was overwhelming them. Then, at last, the last question of that night was asked, and an answer was given.
"Am I the last Grimm?" Liza asked.
"Yes, you are the last Grimm that exists in our world." Carole solemnly verified. "Your abilities will only grow stronger, Liza. Though mastering them will be a challenge for you, you must believe in yourself. the other Grimm will need your help in the near future."
Liza stared down at her hands. The most peculiar events of her life were playing back in her mind. At last, after so long, why she saw the things she saw, and felt the feeling she felt, and felt compelled to do the things she did we're actually starting to make sense. She was a Grimm. She had been attracted to the presence of the Wesen. The others had just been along for the ride.
"I…" Liza began to say. "...wait. Other Grimm? I thought you said I was the last one."
"In this world, yes. Other worlds are a whole other story." Carole responded enigmatically. "I'm afraid that's all I can tell you now though, as per our agreement. You should probably be heading back home now."
Despite their collective protests, Carole then shooed all four kids out of her cabin. She offered them no more words, just bottles of her maple syrup. As the last Grimm of her world and her closest allies began to walk away, a small winged creature flew in the light of the crescent moon. All of them were too distracted to notice it. This had proved itself to be an abnormal night to be sure. In Bailey City, of course, abnormal was very much the norm. This night was a different sort of strange for them though, as they had finally gotten answers they had been seeking for the longest time. A chapter of their lives had just ended and none of them knew what the next one would be like. Or what to do when it began.
Yeah, I think it's safe to assume that nobody was expecting The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids book series to be made a part of all this. That I'd link it to Grimm of all shows is probably even more of a surprise. Once the idea entered my mind, it just wouldn't die. I knew I had to do it.
Some Notes:
- Earth-95859 is not the universe of Grimm, and exists parallel to it. In this world, the Burkhardts who were Nick's direct ancestors were among those killed. In the Grimm universe, Liza was never born, and would've lived a totally different life even if she had been.
- The number for Earth-95859 comes from the birthdays of Marcia T. Jones and Debbie Dadey, the co-authors of the Bailey School Kids series of books.
- There was never an "oracle" character in the books, so I created Carole to fill the role. Let's just think of "Oracles Don't Harvest Maple Syrup" as an imaginary "lost" story.
- Carole's name is an anagram of "Oracle". In fact, I like to think that she was born with another name and that she chose the name Carole for herself because of that.
- The kids' last names were never given in the books, so I thought I'd make Liza's Burkhardt in order to foreshadow the reveal.
The next chapter will a new DC Comics related world, so don't miss out. Have a good one!