Disclaimer: I don't own the Sisters Grimm.
Uncle Jake's arms were wide open, fully prepared to be toppled by Daphne. He paled when he didn't see the sweet little Grimm.
"Where is..." He faltered when the family lowered their eyes. Sabrina angrily stared at the floor. Jake seemed at a loss for words.
"Well, I guess we better rescue her, shall we?" Jake grinned sadly at Sabrina, who finally smiled for the first time that day when she saw that Uncle Jake was with her on rescuing Daphne. She walked up to her uncle and hugged him. He hugged her back tightly.
Finally, the tense air broke. Tears fell from every eye (even Puck, even though he hid it well) as the the family united and grieved for the disappearance of the youngest Grimm member. Finally, Sabrina pulled away and slowly walked up to her room. She lay on her bed, thinking about her escape.
Both Uncle Jake and Puck saw her absent-minded departure. They knew she was going to escape that night. When Granny Relda went to cook her signature snail dish, and the other family members went to talk about what they should do, Puck and Uncle Jake sat silently. Jake broke the silence.
"We know she's going to escape to find Daphne." He muttered, twiddling his thumbs.
"Mhm. She cares about marshmallow too much." Jake shot him an angry look, before standing up.
"We're going to follow her tonight. I'm going to make an announcement at dinner." He glared at the ceiling, as if blaming it on the problems at hand.
"What? No! We have to do it secretly. You slow in the head?" Uncle Jake rolled his eyes at the comment.
"No. It's a different announcement."
Daphne had a gag in her mouth and a blindfold over her eyes. It was itchy. She tried for the millionth time to shrug it off but received a blow to the head. Tears welled up and created wet spots on her blindfold. She was tied up and walking somewhere. There were many voices, but one was familiar, yet she couldn't figure out who it was. She struggled against the bonds. The air was extremely cold.
She had been in the Ferryport Landing jail cell for 24 hours, or so she thought, and a few hours ago had been forced to walk barefoot in the cold to who knows where. She tried pitifully to escape, and had a chance to, but it was too late. Her feet were bloody from being pricked from twigs and rocks, and she was extremely hungry.
Just as she was about to break down, they stopped. She breathed a sigh of relief. A creaky door was opened, and the group marched down a set of stairs. She was shoved into a room. A tall, muscular guard went to work roughly freeing her of her gag, blindfold, and bonds. She breathed deeply when she was free of the horrible bonds. She looked around and saw that she was in another cell, except this had a mattress, a moldy blanket, and some stale bread. The guard glared at her and went to stand beside his boss. The boss was turned, talking to someone. His voice was so painfully familiar. She limped over to an almost empty jug of water, and proceeded to carefully aim it at her mouth. When she swallowed a few drops, she almost wept with a short-lived happiness. She walked back to the group talking softly. She was compelled to slip through a small gap in the door, but decided against it.
Finally the boss turned.
When Daphne saw his hard face, she crumpled.
"Okay, family! I have some pretty bad news." Uncle Jake stated with an extremely fake smile. The family turned to him, putting their forks down, except for Puck, who shoveled more snail casserole into his already bulging mouth. Sabrina sneered at him. Uncle Jake cleared his throat.
"The Scarlet Hand is-"
"Yes, we know, Jacob. The Scarlet Hand is back." Granny Relda interrupted wearily. Uncle Jake shook his head, eyes downcast.
"Yes I know you know, but this is different." Now even Puck put his fork down.
"The Scarlet Hand is back, as you know. Baba Yaga is dead. Snow White was kidnapped. But what you don't know, is that there have been many skirmishes in Boston, New York City, Paris, Berlin, Portland, Chicago, and a couple more. They are getting together again, and they plan to bombard Charming's mansion and use it. They also plan to obliterate the Grimm family because we seem to always be obstacles in their way. So..." He faltered after his blurting speech.
It was silent once again, and Sabrina sighed. Her eyes hard and soulless, she pushed her chair back and calmly walked up the stairs. She opened her bedroom door, breathed deeply, and finished planning the last touches of her escape.
Meanwhile, Puck had his own war going on his head. He fought against a want to go comfort Sabrina, but decided comforting people was not his forte. He thought about not following Grimm's escape, but immediately shook his head. Not an option. Defeated and with a searing headache, he opted for more snail casserole.
Mr. Canis finished his meal quietly and retired to his room. Granny Relda proceeded to wash the dishes, then started to clean the entire house.
Puck crept up to his room. It wasn't the best of days for him, with his weird disease that Grimm gave him. He plopped onto his trampoline and clutched Kraven the Deceiver.
He started to drift away into unconsciousness when a figure came rushing towards him. He jumped up, flying high above to save Kraven. The figure laughed, and Puck recognized it as Uncle Jake. He groaned, and landed. Uncle Jake didn't comment on the unicorn, and instead fidgeted slightly.
"Puck, I don't know why I'm doing this, but when 'Brina leaves, we're going to have to follow her secretly. Veronica, Henry, Canis, and Mom all expect her to escape, so they'll be on their toes. We'll have to help her so she can escape easily, then we'll follow her." He looked conflicted, wanting to behave and not do the dangerous journey, but also quite anxious to rescue Daphne and Snow. However, it was clear that he was ready to escape the Grimm household. Puck looked at him with grudging admiration.
"Fine. What's the plan?"
Puck patted a spot next to him on his trampoline, and when Uncle Jake sat down, they talked about their plan.
In the end, they both agreed to trick the family into going to bed, and that they will make sure Sabrina doesn't escape. Jake seems disgruntled at the prospect of lying to his family, but didn't speak of it. Finally, the two navigated the large forest room and walked downstairs. The family was locking up the house and was prepared for Sabrina's escape. Uncle Jake sauntered into the middle of the living room and cleared his throat.
"Why are you guys locking up the house? Puck and I aren't going to let 'Brina leave, obviously. Do you guys not trust us?" He said this with false anger, and clapped his hands once to cue Puck's entrance.
"Old lady! What are you doing? I'm going to be lying down here all night, waiting to ruin ugly Grimm's escape! You need to trust me!" He went down on his knees and held Granny Relda's ankles. She chuckled nervously.
"Puck, you know Sabrina's good at escaping. We need to really work together to make sure we don't lose another Grimm."
Uncle Jake stared at the ground. "Mom, go to bed. Henry and Veronica, bed. It's fine. Puck and I got it. Please, you need to trust us. We won't let Sabrina leave."
The family looked skeptical, but seemed to believe the lie, because Henry stared into Jake's eyes and made him promise. Uncle Jake felt so devastated, betraying his family. Puck saw this, and stared at the ground, he hated lying to his family too.
When the family filed out, Uncle Jake and Puck lay on the couch. Jake made Puck go upstairs and silently spy on Sabrina. Puck did this. He heard nothing in Sabrina's room.
Quietly, he opened the door, only to find the window open. He went to the window, and saw an orange figure running. Compelled to run after her, he flew downstairs and warned Uncle Jake. The crooked-nosed man was already rushing out the front door and after the girl. They kept a slight distance, so as not to be spotted.
Sabrina smiled to herself. It was so long since she planned a good escape. She had snatched a wand from the shelf that kept all the magical items since no one used the mirror again, and had broken the magical bonds on the locked window. She then had slowly inched down on a magically-strengthened rope and ran for her life. She brought many weapons and had a few deadly potions strapped to her belt. She had decided to run to Charming's mansion and quietly slip through the chimney, like she did with Charming and Daphne when the Queen of Hearts was mayor. After running for around 15 minutes, she heard a faint flutter of wings. She stopped abruptly.
Balling her hands into fists, she turned angrily to see Uncle Jake and Puck grinning sheepishly at her. She squinted her eyes.
"What the hell are you two doing here?"
They shuffled their feet for a moment, but then Uncle Jake mumbled that they had been following her for 15 minutes. Shocked and angrier than she had ever been, she shouted how they needed to stay home. Uncle Jake shushed her.
"Sabrina Grimm, don't yell. We don't want enemies to come right now. Puck and I are going to be joining you on your mission. No questions."
"But-" Sabrina was shocked, and didn't want Puck or Uncle Jake to get hurt.
"No. Lead the way, 'Brina."
The group quietly walked the rest of the way to Charming's mansion. Finally, they saw the large mansion in the clearing, standing tall and ominous. Sabrina told them that she would have usually just knocked on the front door, but with the new Uncle Jake told them, they would have to sneak in from the chimney. The other two questioned her on how the heck they would do that; they didn't know anything about Charming's mansion. Sabrina explained how Daphne and Charming had snuck into his own home when Heart was mayor. She had brought a rope but Puck said he would lift them up. He wrapped his arm around each Grimm and flew to the roof. When they landed, Sabrina slowly lowered the rope into the chimney, and started to climb in when Uncle Jake stopped her.
"I'll go first. You and Puck go after," he said. Sabrina sighed, then nodded.
Uncle Jake lowered himself down, and the two teens heard wheezing, then some coughing. Finally they heard his feet touch the bottom.
"You go, Puck."
"No, stink face, you go. Fine, I'll go. No you go. Yeah, you go."
Sabrina rolled her eyes, and lowered herself into the chimney, hoping for a better experience than last time. Even though it was still itchy, and she scraped herself in many places, she didn't have trouble breathing. She hit the bottom, and crawled out and rubbed her eyes.
Uncle Jake was trapped against the wall, a a dagger to his neck. She cried aloud, and the dark figure in front of her uncle turned to look at her. His eyes glinted evilly, and he had a long ugly scar. Nottingham was at Charming's mansion. His dagger was slowly digging into Uncle Jake's neck, when a flurry of movement and a groan ensued.
Punches followed by painful cracks that seemed to be Nottingham's bones was what Puck saw when he entered the room. Puck snuck behind her to watch the scene as Uncle Jake dominated Nottingham.
Well, dominated him until Nottingham discreetly got a hold of his dagger. Uncle Jake didn't catch this, but Puck and Sabrina did. They yelled at Uncle Jake to watch out, but it was too late.
The darkness of the room made it difficult to see, but the gleam of the dagger was very easy to spot. The sound of flesh being sliced was heard and Uncle Jake groaned.
"Oh that was a good one," Nottingham sniggered.
He had slashed at Uncle Jake's neck. It wasn't a fatal cut, but one that was quickly making him lose a lot of blood.
Uncle Jake quickly punched Nottingham's arm, making the dagger skid across the room. Puck picked it up and threw it out a window. Meanwhile, Uncle Jake had frantically searched through his pockets, until he found what he was looking for. Pouring the entire contents of a small vial of red liquid onto his neck, the dangerous wound quickly became what looked like a paper cut. Nottingham groaned.
"Let's see what I can do with my bare hands."
"Not today." Taking a long and black wand from a pocket in his coat, Uncle Jake closed his eyes, muttering an enchantment, before slashing the air with it. Nottingham shouted in return and fell to the floor.
The wand did the same thing that the dagger did to Jake, except much worse. Nottingham's head was almost lopped off, and Uncle Jake grinned as he watched the fatal wound do its deed.
Puck and Sabrina were watching, wide-eyed. The gory death brought back memories, ones that they immediately tried to suppress.
Uncle Jake kicked Nottingham's finally dead form to the corner of the room and walked over to the teenagers. "My apologies on that. Let's just go on, shall we?"
Sabrina led the way, her mind still on the amount of blood that spilled from Nottingham's neck.
Her mind then drifted to more important things. Her little sister, and Charming's safety. She needed to go to him first and talk about the Scarlet Hand, but they already came, judging from Nottingham's appearance.
She decided to try the musty room at the bottom of the hidden stairway, and after some time in the dark, finally found the staircase. She looked behind her, and cursed herself when she didn't see Puck or Uncle Jake.
Why did I let them even come, she thought angrily. Turning back, she tried to run up the stairs, but it was so dark, she tripped. Involuntarily, she cried out, and her eyes widened when footsteps came in her direction. She hurried to the door, and tried to quieten her breathing. Apparently the man had trouble coming down the dark stairway too, as he groaned and cursed coming down.
"I swear there was a light here." A few seconds later a light flickered on. Sabrina stared at a small short man that sneered at her. Immediately, she felt the familiar anger seeping into her. She snarled, recognizing the small man as Rumpelstiltskin. He chuckled.
"Who has orange hair? I was looking for a blonde girl, but you know, can't be that picky. Say, you look like her. In fact, let me look at you." An unseen force that seemed to pour more anger into her pulled her closer to him.
"I see we've struck gold. There you are." He sneered.
"Are you the only one here, girlie?"
She nodded.
"It doesn't seem like it. Nottingham's dead. No girl could do that."
She sneered, slapping him hard. He chuckled, and she punched him in the face. He full on laughed. She was so angry she couldn't speak. Her body had been filled to the brim with liquid anger. The evil man seemed to understand that they couldn't do anything without lowering her anger, so suddenly she felt like a drain, the anger seeping out of her. Still, she was extremely pissed.
Quickly, the small man snapped his fingers, and she was unable to run away from him. She struggled, but it was of no use. The two quickly arrived at a small black door at the end of a hallway that was behind the main staircase. Rumpelstiltskin put his hand into the door, oddly enough, and soon a blue light in in the middle of the door seemed to engulf him. He disappeared. After her shock, Sabrina tried to run for it, but she was pulled into the room. It was a cooling sensation, similar to the feel of stepping into Mirror.
Quickly shrugging off the painful memories of her old "friend", she looked around. It was an enormous jail, with many creatures she recognized as criminals of the Ferryport Landing jail. Turning, she saw Uncle Jake and Puck inside a cell, also looking extremely pissed. Finally, she turned to the other side to see an enormous cell that was surrounded by enchanted glass, and inside was her sister. Her mouth dropped as she took in her sister's appearance.
Daphne looked absolutely awful. Her hair was tangled and ripped in certain places. Her clothes were almost gone, barely covering her. She was barefoot, and Sabrina saw large cuts on her feet. Sabrina fell to her feet. She felt her mouth moving as though she were screaming, but didn't hear anything. Tears blinded her.
A cry made her turn. Puck was purple in the face, tears streaming down his cheeks, jumping and motioning wildly for Sabrina to run. She turned quickly, expecting Rumpelstiltskin to murder her, but the odd little man was not there.
Instead was a very tall man. A very charming man.
William Charming was standing above her with a golden dagger.
Hello to anyone reading this. I hope you are having a nice January. A few things I'd like to say:
-I'm traveling internationally on a regular basis, so it's difficult for me to find time for writing. However, I do find time to, so it's not like I'm going to abandon the story.
-I'm enormously thankful for the helpful and nice reviews I've gotten, but it is important to me that I try to get at least 2 a chapter (I didn't get any in the last chapter). I can see how many people read my stories, and it's a substantial amount, so please, leave a review telling me what you think. It's very helpful.
Thanks.
-C