Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or qualities of any of the characters. I do not own the excerpt written by Michael Buckley at the beginning of Chapter 1.
Here's the fifth chapter! Sorry it took such a long time to get it up, I've been busy lately... Please let me know what you think by reviewing, it encourages me to write more, Thanks XD. Oh yeah, I'm going to be a beta reader starting on July 1st, so if you're interested, just lemme know!
P.S.- Sorry if any of the words in other languages are wrong, I relied on Wikipedia and Google Translator for the spelling and actual words.
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Chapter 5- Falling
Daphne sighed and shook her head at Puck as the two watched Sabrina leave. "When will you ever learn, Puck?"
"Learn what?" Puck asked, genuinely confused. He hadn't meant to upset Sabrina, he was teasing her. And, playfully, of course.
"That's you're both hopelessly and madly in love!"
Puck stammered and sputtered as he tried to find an answer. "What? No—wait… I-I don't lo-love her like Th…that! I-I mean, she's p-pre-pretty, and sm—smart, and f—funny, and stu—stubborn, and ev-everything, b-but I-I d-don't l-like her!"
"You don't like her, because you know you really, and I mean, really, love her. And, how can you be so sure that you don't like nor love her?" Daphne replied, raising her eyebrows.
"W-What do you mean b-by that?"
"I mean, that you two are so madly in love that you'll get married one day and live happily ever after!"
Puck, usually not the one to blush, did blush this time. "How can you be so sure?"
"Remember when Sabrina and I went to the future?"
Puck weakly nodded his head. "Vaguely, it was like a couple of years ago or something."
Daphne was enjoying this form of torture to Puck. "Well, Sabrina and I went forward in the future by fifteen years, and you two are happily married forever after! And Sabrina was a month pregnant, she told me. She didn't tell Sabrina, because she thought it would freak her out."
Puck felt like crying. He didn't know whether they were happy or angry tears. Part of him wanted them to be angry tears, the other half happy tears (Not that he has, have, or will ever cry, especially in front of Sabrina). At the same time though, he felt light-headed at the idea of this. But, inside, he was celebrating. Sabrina Grimm, (though he hated to admit it, if only inside his head,) the beautiful, innocent, hardworking, clever, beautiful, moody, non-trusting, gorgeous, stubborn, intelligent, beautiful, independent, self-confident, gorgeous, funny, beautiful girl was going to be his one day. Oh yeah, did he mention that she was beautiful on the inside and outside above all?
All Puck could do was gape at Daphne, who was smirking. She knew that her work here was done, for now, and found a broom that was right behind the door, and started sweeping up the glass into the corner of the room.
Puck stood up, still slightly dumbfounded, left the cleaning up for Daphne to do, as he left the room to find Sabrina, and apologize, and maybe do more. He knew now (somewhat) how he truly felt about her. He wasn't completely sure, for he was only fifteen years old, and feelings can change. But, it was the first time he'd ever felt feelings so strong for a person, other than hate or revenge (mostly directed towards Moth and his father). And he was sure about his emotions towards her this time.
Puck, though, didn't know if Sabrina felt the same way as he thought he did about her. It wasn't like her was about to tell the world, and much less Sabrina. He'd rather get hit but his own worst prank than tell Sabrina the truth of what he'd been hiding for so long.
Sabrina, on the other hand, was in the makeshift bedroom that they had all slept in last night. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, back to the door, and ready to burst into tears, but she had no reason for why. The door was closed, and someone gently knocked on it.
"Who is it?" Sabrina asked through a choked voice.
"It's Puck. Can I come in?" Puck peeked inside, and walked right in without Sabrina's consent. He sat down next to her on the side of the bed, back towards the door, with a view of the nearby foliage through the window.
Sabrina turned her back towards Puck, and left him to do the speaking. She didn't really want to speak to anyone, especially him. She was in way to deep with her feelings about Puck. One moment she loved him, and the next, at war with him. It was all too tough to decide how she really felt about him. Even if she did love him, which she highly doubted, he wouldn't even feel close to that way about her. He might even laugh at her. But then, what other reason did he have for growing up?
He was immature, gross, disgusting, annoying, mean, and gassy, but at the same time nice, handsome, intelligent (in his own way), funny, clever, handsome, caring, understanding, handsome, protective, sweet, attractive, trustworthy, strong, independent, and handsome. Did she mention he was handsome?
Puck, seeing to the Sabrina wasn't going to talk, opened his mouth and came in here to do what he planned. "Sabrina? I'm really sorry about embarrassing you in front of Daphne earlier. And for all the other times, whether it was in front of others or not, perverted or not. I never really meant to be mean to you—you know how I am, about never thinking before speaking."
He paused, and gathered enough courage to suffice for his next few actions. Puck gently put his hands on Sabrina's shoulders and rotated her so that he was facing her. There were a couple of tear tracks on her face, and her eyes looked like they were going to spill over again. Not taking his hands off her shoulder, he continued. "So, all in all, I'm really sorry for everything I've ever done to make you feel embarrassed or hurt, because I didn't mean it. And I'm sorry for all the things that have gone wrong in your life, even though I haven't caused them. It hurts me so much to see you in pain."
Puck then gently wiped the tears off of her face with his thumbs. Hesitating slightly, he cupped her cheeks with his hands, leaned forward slowly but surely, and tenderly placed his lips against hers.
A million and one thoughts were running through Puck's head at that moment. The feeling was the best Puck had ever experienced, and by far beat the emotions of playing a prank on her. This was, in fact, the only reason he played pranks on her; to feel extremity of emotions now and then. He also liked the attention, though. This was beyond comparison; words weren't precise enough to describe this. But what if Sabrina didn't love him back? At that moment, 7:30 A.M on Friday, May 1st, Puck fell in love with a girl named Sabrina Grimm.
Sabrina was beyond surprised; she was stunned, astonished, astounded, amazed, and flabbergasted, all at once, as Puck's lips gently connected with her own. She didn't know how to respond, her mind was emptied as soon as Puck came close to her. The only things on her mind was how good Puck's breath smelled; as of mint, and the fact that he was kissing her. She sat like a stone brick as Puck still continued to kiss her, making no movement in response to his kiss. It was all too confusing; did Puck like her or not? Was he making fun of her? She desperately, deep down inside of her, wanted to kiss him back, but she was afraid to do so, for whatever reason.
Finally, Puck seemed to get the message that Sabrina wasn't kissing him back. He drew away as slowly as he had come forth; glad he had the courage to kiss her. It was worth it in his eyes. He tried to make eye contact with her; but she was clearly evading his eyes. The only thing that went wrong, she didn't even respond to his initiative. Sabrina took the chance to look at his eyes, and they were a light green, slowly turning a goldish-red, with clear frustration, sadness, pain, and rejection hidden beneath the surface.
Sabrina felt so bad for him, she didn't realize it would have this negative of an effect on him; but she really didn't want to talk to him right now. She was uber confused to begin with, and Puck's kiss didn't help to that situation either. She awkwardly stood up, and quickly left the room to find the bathroom, and locked the door shut as she sobbed from behind the door.
Puck felt the cold air of dejection and rejection, as Sabrina left the room. He could hear the door slam, and he guessed it was from the bathroom. Not even bothering to go find Sabrina and apologize (she wouldn't even listen to him), he lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling, doing nothing for the next ten minutes. He didn't care what anyone else was doing; all that mattered right now were Sabrina and him, him and Sabrina, them. Sabrina had made it clear (in Puck's eyes) that she didn't want to have anything to do with him. And he wasn't fine with it, but, if Sabrina needed time to think things over and through, he would wait for her. Even if it was until the end of the world. At that moment, as well, Puck found out the reason why he was growing up. A part of him had always told him it was because he loved her, but at the moment, Puck knew it was the truth.
Sabrina sobs turned into mere whimpers five minutes later. Knowing she could never look at Puck ever again, she didn't know what to do. One minute they were enemies, then friends, then one day they would be… Sabrina couldn't bear to say it, much less think it… boyfriend and girlfriend. Uggghhh.
The more she thought about it, the better it seemed. Puck was actually very nice, and handsome. But she didn't know that she could transition so fast from the 'friends' stage to the 'boyfriend/girlfriend' stage. It was weird to think about it. And what would everyone else say? She'd sworn to be his enemy ever since they met.
Sabrina knew it (boyfriend/girlfriend stage) would eventually come, though she had no idea when. A few years back, when they had gone to the future, she and Puck were happily married. Future Sabrina (FS) looked the same as her, except for some minor differences. FS was fierce, strong, and had a certain sadness lurking around her. But, there, for the first time, she looked truly happy, and in love when Puck gazed at her or was even around her. It made (present) Sabrina happy with herself to know that there was a grimm (no pun intended), but loving, happy future set aside for the two. And something seemed different between the two; there was an emotional and physical connection between the two of them.
Now, though, Sabrina would wait a couple of days to see how she really felt about Puck, by thinking it through on their journey.
'Oh yeah, right, the journey to find my little brother and save the world,' Sabrina thought to herself. She'd completely forgotten about that, with all the drama and tension between her and Puck, Puck and her, them. Hopefully, the master of the Scarlet Hand, mirror, the revolting disgusting, terrible, wicked, evil, backstabbing man, hadn't switched bodies (or whatever he was planning to do to harm her brother) yet. And that Pinocchio hadn't changed around his story as well. Both of those plans would be disastrous for both them and the future of not just Ferryport Landing, but possibly the world. Once mirror had the ability to leave his mirror, he might plan to kill all the Grimm's in order to leave Ferryport Landing, while setting loose all the crazy Everafters into the regular world (ex. Jabberwocky, Nottingham, Bluebeard, Queen of Hearts, anyone in the Scarlet Hand, etc.)
Sabrina shuddered just thinking about it. She, Daphne and Puck had to do something about it.
Sabrina stood up, putting all her fears beside and behind her, and opened the bathroom door and walked over to the kitchen, where Daphne was just finishing sweeping up the remainder of the glass. She then yelled, "Puck! Meet us in the kitchen for a conference!"
Daphne looked at Sabrina warily. "Sabrina?" She asked carefully.
"Yeah?"
"Are you sure things are fine between Puck and you?"
That caught Sabrina off guard. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean—," but Daphne was interrupted by Puck's entering of the room.
Sabrina couldn't seem to take her eyes off him now. His eyes were only slightly red, and Sabrina wouldn't have even noticed it if not for him looking directly in her eyes, five feet away from her.
Now, Sabrina felt terrible. She had caused Puck to cry, and she hurt his feelings, for it was strongly evident in his eyes.
She also began to see him in a new light. Never before had she seen the 15 freckles across his cheeks and nose, perfectly amounted in a cute way whenever he smiled (which was often when he was around Sabrina). Never before had she seen the way his hair laid, windswept in a handsome way with natural sun-streaked highlights consisting of blonde and brown. Never before had she seen the way he stood no matter what he had been though, with such confidence and modesty. Never before had she seen how tall he actually was, now towering over her, at a staggering height, and how fierce, proud, and somewhat intimidating glow he gave off.
Before, she had noticed how handsome he was, but now, that was all she could think about when she looked at him. Before, she had known how funny, mean (he was to her), and nice (to her), he could be, but now, she noticed that he never meant any harm in doing those mean things.
Sabrina still couldn't take her eyes off him. It was only when Daphne said, "Hello?" and waved her hand in front of Sabrina's face that she turned away, and said what she planned to do.
"Okay. I've got a plan. We've got to get out of this story, and stop getting distracted with other things that can be discussed rationally later." Sabrina looked pointedly and Puck, who just shrugged, with his hands crossed across his chest. 'Now, Daphne, you said that you found a way out of the story?"
"Yeah. There's a bookshelf of a bunch of different fairytales in the basement. I think we just have to find the next story we need to go to."
"Okay. Let's go."
Daphne led the others to the basement that was newly discovered. When they got down there, they only noticed a few books on the shelves. There was Hänsel und Gretel (Hansel and Gretel, German) , Goldilocks and the Three Bears (English), Snedronningen (The Snow queen, Danish), El Chico Que Gritó Lobo (The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Spanish), Sleeping Beauty (French), and La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast, French)
Sabrina couldn't help but feel disappointed. She'd hoped that there would be either Pinocchio and/or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves on the shelves, because those were the first two places she would have ventured to guess Mirror and Pinocchio would have gone to, but there was neither.
Her disappointment must have been evident to Puck and Daphne, for Puck put a hand around her waist, and Daphne hugged her from the front. Sabrina couldn't help but resist putting her head on Puck's chest, and letting a couple of tears fall from her eyes. Puck then hugged her by putting both of his arms around her, letting her know it was okay to cry.
After a minute, Sabrina said, "Though I was hoping for a better selection of books, I'm glad you," she looked at Daphne, "found these. Or else, who knows what would have happened. Now, we have a 1 in 5 chance of going to the next story which Mirror and Pinocchio went to, because they started out in the same story as us. But, which one is it?"
Daphne spoke again. "We're only positive of half of them."
"Yeah. I'm almost positive the first one is Hansel and Gretel, the second is Goldilocks, and the fifth is Sleeping Beauty. The last one is French, and it has the word 'belle' in it, so it could be Beauty and the Beast, because the main character's name is Belle. But I'm not really sure. The fourth book looks like it's Spanish, and I have absolutely no idea what the third one is."
"Me neither," Daphne chipped in.
"But, again, which one would they choose?"
Puck spoke for the first time. "I think it would be the last one, Beauty and the Beast, or Sleeping Beauty. And I'm not just saying that because of the embrasser (kiss)."
Sabrina gawked at him. "What language are you speaking and how did you know that one was Beauty and the Beast?"
"I'm speaking Français, and I know that it's Beauty and the Beast because it is Français," Puck replied, as if it was no big deal.
"French?" Sabrina asked, dumbfounded. She was awed, and a little impressed that Puck actually took the time to learn something.
"Yeah."
"When did you learn a different language?"
"Well, my darling mother and darling father made me learn some languages in order to rule over our kingdom, and let us communicate with different countries."
"So wait…." Sabrina asked, "You know more languages?"
"Sure do."
"Which ones?"
"Well, my strongest one is English, of course. My second language is Latin, then French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Greek, Spanish, and a bit of Chinese, Arabic, and Indian. But, honestly, I don't remember that much of anything from any of the languages, only a few words here and there, because I learned them over two thousand years ago."
"Wow." Sabrina couldn't help but feel amazed at the boy of 15, who at 12 years old (a thousand years ago), knew almost nine languages, though, forgotten a little of them them since. She never knew that simple fact about Puck. "So, can you tell what any of the other titles say?"
"Ummmmm… The one that's in Spanish, the fourth one, the word 'El' means the, 'Chico' means boy, and 'Que' means who. But that's not very helpful."
"No, not really." Sabrina replied, sarcastically.
"The last one I'm sure is the Beauty and the Beast, as I said before."
"Okay. So which one should we choose? I know you said Beauty and the Beast or Sleeping Beauty. But why did you say, and I quote, 'And I'm not just saying that because of the embrasser'? What the hell is an embrasser?"
"Ummmmm…" Puck looked down at his feet, like there was now something interesting about them, but there wasn't, of course. "It means 'kiss' in French." Puck's words were no louder than a mumble as he was afraid of what Sabrina would say.
Sabrina wasn't mad, she only turned a crimson color, due to the memories that happened recently that the word 'kiss' brought back. She responded almost as quietly as Puck had. "You better have a good reason for wanting to choose those stories instead of one like 'Hansel and Gretel'."
"I actually do have a good reason. I know for a fact that they were both avid readers, and had millions of books. So, they had to have had at least a wider selection of fairytales."
Sabrina opened her mouth to argue with him, but she could not find a reason to do so. Puck's explanation was perfectly reasonable, and on top of that made sense. But, she knew that both of those fairytales ended up with the characters falling in love and kissing at the end of the story. "Yeah, okay, that makes sense. But are you sure you won't care?"
Daphne looked confused at what Sabrina said, but Puck understood, and said, "I won't care if you don't care. Will you?"
"Ummm…" Now It was Sabrina's turn to look down at her feet and feel embarrassed. "I don't know."
"Well then, we've narrowed down out choices between Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast. Which one will be the lucky winner today?" Puck said in an announcer/ game show host voice. Leave it to Puck to make a bad day a good one.
"Can I pick?" Daphne exclaimed.
"Which one are you going to pick?" Sabrina asked, nervous at the outcome.
"I was going to pick Sleeping Beauty." Daphne replied.
Sabrina narrowed her eyes. "Why? Is it because at the end, Puck has to—"
Daphne squealed and put her hand in her mouth. "That's not the reason I was going to pick it, but that adds to the list. The real reason I was going to pick it was reverse psychology. Mirror knows that Sabrina and Puck 'hate'—" Daphne made air quotes with her hands, "each other. Mirror thinks you two would never, ever, ever come to this story. But if you two put aside your differences, and just went along with the story to the next one, we could save our little brother, and Mirror wouldn't even be expecting us."
For a twelve year old who didn't know the meaning of most words (and had to carry around a pocket dictionary to look them up), this was very advanced in the field of psychology.
Sabrina stole a glance at Puck. She nodded her head softly, as did Puck. This was what had to be done, and if it meant saving her little brother's life, she would do it. "Fine."
Daphne jumped up and down as she bit her palm, unable to contain her excitement as she grabbed the book labeled 'Sleeping Beauty'.
"Okay. We have to make sure we all hold hands or touch in some way, or else one of us will be left behind. And we probably won't have the luck of getting transported all in the same spot, since the characters are kind of far apart to begin with. We'll try to regroup as soon as possible, so stay focused on the mission. Got it?"
"Yeah," Puck and Sabrina replied simultaneously, as Puck placed his hand a little too low on Sabrina's back, giving her a small pat on her butt. She gave him a pointed look, and he moved his hand up just a little, now resting at the small of her back, on the base of her tailbone. Puck couldn't resist smacking her just a tiny bit, trying to make things a little less tense. Daphne didn't notice this exchange, and grabbed both Sabrina and Puck's free hands.
Puck leaned down, right near Sabrina's ear and quietly said, "See you on the other side."
Sabrina turned back to look at him for what could be their last moment, but it was too late. The book's magic had already transported them to their spots in Sleeping Beauty, and Sabrina fell unconscious, waiting for her own Prince Charming to arrive and wake her from her eternal slumbers.
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