It's been a long time. Let's just get on with it :/
I don't own the Sisters Grimm.
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The skyline took Red's breath away as she flew into the Big Apple on the flying carpet. It was night time, and the city winked thousands of brilliant lights at her. She half hiccuped, half laughed as she took in what she missed.
The carpet started to descend, and Red gripped the sides. After a wind-rushing while, they landed. The surroundings were beautiful; it seemed to be a park. It was dark, and she couldn't see very well.
"Carpet? Are you sure this is the place?"
The carpet responded by rolling up.
Groaning, she looked around, squinting. She got on her knees and looked under benches; scanned the freshly mown grass; and stared at the sky.
Finally, she slapped her forehead. Of course!
She climbed a few trees and looked through the leaves at the branches. Nothing. At the second tree, she finally saw some curly blonde hair, and a pair of legs resting on a high branch.
Red grinned. "Alice!"
The legs jerked and the curly mop of hair moved. A pair of striking blue eyes shone in the darkness.
"Maisie?"
Red rubbed her eyes, she hadn't heard her real name said in millennia.
"Alice Pleasance Liddell," Red answered, using Alice's full name.
"Oh my goodness! It is you!" Alice tumbled off her branch and engulfed her friend in a hug.
"It's so good to see you! How have you been? I haven't seen you in forever." Alice gasped as she held Red at arm's length.
Red nodded, distracted. "It's good to see you too. I need help." Red grimaced; it was a bad start.
Alice put her hands on her hips and looked exasperated. "I knew it. My friend I haven't seen in literally forever finally comes and only came for help. I need to go to my Wonderland. Excuse me." At that, she lay on the ground, finger on her lips in a 'shh'-ing gesture, while Red looked sheepish and impatient.
"Okay, I'm sorry, but I really do need help. Actually..how about I do something for you if you help me?" After a minute of painful silence, Alice sat up at this and nodded.
"Help me find Cheshire."
Red gulped. "He's in...Ferryport Landing, I think."
Alice shook her head. "He isn't. After the war, he came to me and we reunited. We lived together for quite a while. But last night, he disappeared. He knows we're here, and I'm sure he's laughing right now. But I need to find him. I'll help you if you help me."
Red was surprised that Alice was so up to date with what happened in Ferryport Landing. "Alright. I'll help."
Alice Pleasance Liddell was obsessed with building her own wonderland that she swore she would live in someday; she looked for "ideas" in people and "took" it from them. She was a very nice person once one got past the weirdness, and Red was the only one from another "wonderland" to get past it.
Red nodded. "Close your eyes."
Alice did.
Red knew she had to resort to her own kind of crazy, as there was limited time and Sabrina needed help quickly. She grimaced, feeling an aching regret in her heart as she decided.
She lost control. She underwent the familiar and painful transformation; her skin rippled and coarse, thick, hair erupted. She grew several feet and fangs achingly soared from her mouth. Immediately, she was the Big Bad Wolf. Forcing her gigantic mouth shut, she just stood there, calming herself so the Wolf wouldn't take over.
She knew that Cheshire would quickly become visible. And sooner than she expected, a large purple cat with a very frightened face and a bushy tail appeared at the top branch of a tree.
Immediately, Red forced the wolf back inside before it ate Alice, and in her normal voice told Alice to open her eyes.
"Did you find him?"
"He's there on the top branch. Cheshire? Come down, will you?" Red internally groaned for being so harsh, but she thought of Sabrina's circumstances and gritted her teeth.
The nimble cat jumped down from branch to branch until he was on the ground. He shook his head for a moment and refused to look at Red. Cheshire jumped onto Alice's shoulder, and Alice thanked Red.
"What do you need help with? Do you need help picking flowers for your grandmother? Oh I know just the kind! Or do you need-"
Looking at her toes, and trying to forget what Alice said about her grandmother, Red cleared her throat. "I'm sorry Alice, but this is serious."
Red explained how her grandmother died, what happened that day, how she became adopted into the Grimm family, that the Scarlet Hand reunited again, and what recently happened to William Charming and Sabrina Grimm. She went into great detail about her insanity and how the Grimm family saved her. She then explained how she had the Wolf living inside her, and at that, Cheshire shuddered and burrowed into Alice's hair.
"Well, that's really what's happening. Sabrina joined the Scarlet Hand unwillingly, and we're thinking they're going to do something to her so that she changes into something evil. And that's where you and your folk come in. You, Cheshire here, and Abselom have a knack for cases like this."
Alice nodded thoughtfully. "You're my friend. If you like the Grimm's; so do I. We have to go to Abselom. He'll give us the prophecy."
Before the story of Red Riding Hood, Red was a lovely little girl named Maisie with Alice as her best friend. The two would go around the forest, solving small quests that Alice swore a certain caterpillar told her. Red never believed her, but now she did. The quests were always minor; they gave the girls adventures and the goal of rescuing a lost bunny back to its mother.
Red followed Alice as the girl looked for the caterpillar. "What is this place?"
"It's Central Park. Pretty place. When I look for inspiration for my Wonderland and what I want my dreams to be, I just go here. And there aren't too many people here at 3 am."
Red nodded, impatient and tired. But she forced herself to relax, looking around. It was a beautiful place; one of the prettiest parks she'd ever seen.
"Oh, I know where he is." Alice beckoned for Red to follow. The two, (including Cheshire) walked over a bridge, down a twisty, winding path that pushed them deeper and deeper into the part of the park that wasn't popularly visited. Alice took Red's hand and led the girl behind a large tree. Red gasped. Encircled by flowers and trees, was a humongous caterpillar. It was curled up perfectly, and apparently sleeping.
Alice used her foot and nudged Abselom's head. "Get up, get up, you lazy sinner, we need the sheets for the tablecloth, and it's almost time for dinner!"
The caterpillar lifted it's head and glared at Alice. It saw Red and nodded in greeting. Red nodded back.
"Abselom, we need help. Well, Red needs help." Red told the caterpillar the whole story, and when she finished the Caterpillar reached into a bush and pulled out a hookah. He inhaled, exhaled into Red's face and spoke.
"Interesting. I cannot help."
Red blanched. "But...but I need your help! You're probably crucial to my family's survival!"
"No can do. You see...I do not like the color Red. I like cool tones," the Caterpillar slurred. He said 'oo' sounds longer than they should be said. "Red is a warm tone, and anyway, I don't like the Grimm family."
Alice looked at Red. "You know, I don't know how to convince him. He is one of the most stubborn friends I've come across. You'd have to be pretty big and scary to make him give out a prophecy." At that, Red's eyes widened. She cringed.
"Alice...close your eyes."
"No."
"Please."
Alice closed her eyes, and Red, again, performed the horrible transformation into the Wolf. This time, however, she opened her mouth and exposed her huge fangs. Abselon dropped his hookah, and shrunk to the small size of a peanut.
"Okay! Okay, you can have the stupid prophecy," he gasped, shaking.
"Understand that there are deadly obstacles that come with the prophecy and are there because the answer you are looking for will solve almost all of your problems." And with a booming that almost toppled the tiny caterpillar, hurriedly gave Red and Alice the prophecy. Red had just enough time to shove the Wolf down and listen.
"Death of the crone, capture of the princess,
Two-souled victim, and lady of two worlds,
Beware, move swiftly, if someone stalls,
The spell shall fixate."
"Of three days time will your journey be,
At ground nor sky will trouble stir,
But take caution, choose wisely,
For the right choice many are none, there is only one."
The booming voice shrank as the caterpillar quickly dissolved into the dirt, leaving a dumbstruck Red in its wake. Silent commenced as the two girls thought about what they had heard.
Alice spoke first. "Well, I do know what we're going to do."
"How did you figure it out so quickly? And why do we have such tasks? Who makes them?"
Alice shrugged. "Fate?"
Red stared at her.
"Anyway, he said that four people are traveling, so the lady of two worlds is me, and the two-souled victim is you. I have no idea about the others."
Red snapped her eyes open. "I remember! Death of the crone is Baba Yaga, but I don't know how she's going to come back from the dead."
"I do." A crackly voice erupted from the shadows. Red and Alice jumped up and Cheshire leaped into the trees and vanished. Red turned to see Baba Yaga grinning at them. The witch cackled at the scared faces and swished her robes into the center of the clearing.
"I hate children, I really do. They question my abilities. But I understand that the Grimm family is in trouble, and I owe your grandmother."
Alice furrowed her brows. "How are you alive?"
"Bah! I'm a witch," She laughed. "Times are dangerous. Naturally, I put some Reversitall potion in my Lucky Charms that takes away any injury, poison, physical and mental harm that might come to me, past, present, and future, so I came back to life after two or three weeks of healing after those beasts ambushed me.. I used it all up though, and it's the only supply I think the world has."
Red couldn't contain her curiosity. "What happened?"
Baba Yaga sneered at her, and Red recoiled. "That's nothing a mere Wolf can understand. They wanted my valuables, and took many healing potions and spells. They took the barrier spell by the way, Wolf."
Red felt her anger bubble. "I'm not the Wolf."
The witch grinned, her black teeth visible.
"But can't you just overcome all the obstacles and save everyone? You're a witch!" Red exclaimed, testing her bravery.
The witch, again surprising Red, calmly explained how a prophecy worked. "You can't mess with the prophecy. When the success and reward is so great, challenges must be faced. Fate handles it, child."
Alice nodded. "So the only thing we can do is go back to Ferryport Landing. There's no barrier now, right?" Red nodded.
"Good. Wait...what about the princess?"
Red scrunched up her face. "Well, that would be Snow White, because she was kidnapped. I guess we'll uncover her in the journey." Alice shrugged, but Baba Yaga nodded. The witch started walking toward the red carpet, and the two girls followed reluctantly behind.
The trio arrived, and after Red and Alice argued about who was going to be closest to Baba Yaga, then silencing after she brandished some thunder in the beautiful night, ordered the carpet back to Ferryport Landing. Baba Yaga's robes rested on Red's right leg, making the leg feel like it was drenched in boiling hot water.
After around an hour of silence and strange mutterings from Baba Yaga, they stopped.
In midair.
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"Puck! Puck!" Loud footsteps stomped on the ground as Daphne ran down the stairs. Her cheeks were red and her breaths indicated that she had been running for quite a while.
Puck glanced at her, his mouth full. He had recently discovered the pantry, and had taken all the contents of it. He had laid it all out on the table and had eaten it slowly but steadily for hours on end. When he saw Daphne, he grinned cheekily.
"What's up, marshmallow? Oh by the way, you don't get to have my chips and powdered sugar."
Daphne ignored this, and instead wiped her now wet cheeks. "Red disappeared!"
Puck's eyes widened and his jaw slackened. Not only was Sabrina gone, but Red was too. Puck had never really been that talkative with Red, but he felt bad for her to be so insane for such a long time. He sat there for a second and chewed slowly. Nothing processed inside of him as he steadily ate his heart away.
"Puck! It's..it'll be okay. If..you just...just stop eating for one second, will you!" Daphne shouted, surprised at her own anger.
Puck stopped chewing. "Daph...but you never stop eating either."
"I've eaten less when I found that my sister disappeared!"
Puck grimaced and swallowed. Without a word, he stood up and toppled the chair, flying up the stairs. Daphne heard a door slam and knew she had crossed a line.
It felt like her heart was ripping into not two, but three pieces. She missed Red, she missed her sister, and now she missed her family. Granny Relda left to visit Morgan Le Fay with Mr. Canis and Uncle Jake to learn some things about Snow White, Baba Yaga, Charming, Sabrina, and what happened to them. Veronica and Henry left to go on a walk, which was a very dangerous thing to do. They put protection spells around them though, as they desperately needed some time alone. It was just Daphne and Puck, and at the moment, only Daphne.
The young Grimm member sobbed silently, the kitchen becoming blurry. Without thinking, she ran up the stairs to the safest place she could think of. She barged into Sabrina's room, ready to lie on her bed and smell Sabrina's lavender scent. But when she opened the door, she saw someone else lying on the bed.
Puck's green eyes were dark with sorrow as his tears slowly dripped onto Sabrina's pillow.
I realize that this is kind of like the Percy Jackson series in a way, with the prophecies and fate things and all :/. It was too interesting of an idea to turn down, however.
Please review and tell me what you think about this weird turn of events for Red and Alice. :)