Yikes, long time no see, huh? I'm really sorry, I actually forgot about this story! I found it like two weeks ago and have been working on it a little bit every chance I got. I finally dragged my lazy butt out of bed today and finished it in honor of posting stories for a year! Yup, it's been one year for me… yay! And after finally rereading Reign again, I decided to try to squeeze one more chapter into my first story, The Risk. I'm trying to add Teague/Jared's thoughts after he is reunited. Hopefully it will work out well, and will be better written because let's be honest- the writing style was kind of eh (it was my very first story ever shared with anyone, ever.) Well here's the final chapter, hopefully you like it! Oh and I didn't really edit as well as I could have, so I'm sorry for any mistakes.

The hospital was on fire, a Reaper was fighting his old nanny, he was still trapped in a reflection, the Grimoire might possibly burn to ashes and Mina was in the middle of it all. Great, just another day in the life of a curse.

Jared angrily pounded on the glass window separating them, trying to not feel useless. Mina needed him. Where was Mina? He had lost sight of her in the smoke filled room. There was a spraying sound in the corner and then the happiest feeling Jared had ever felt filled him. He felt Mina's good magic wrap around the Grimoire and pull him out of the prison. He appeared next to her small frame as she whispered something to the book.

"It's about time! I thought you were going to forget about me!" he tried to sound annoyed, but the relief was obvious in his voice and his eyes.

She looked over at him, trying to hide her own obvious relief. "I should have abandoned you, you deserve it." He was about to apologize again until a deafening roar filled his ears. Diedre was losing the battle. He looked down to see that Mina had run towards them. Jared ran after her and saw the horrifying scene.

"Why isn't he dying?"

"The Reaper is an iron giant. Her dragon claws, teeth and fire won't be enough to kill him."

He saw the need to help in her eyes; she didn't want anyone to get hurt. But it was useless. "What can kill him?"

"No one knows, but she will kill herself trying to protect us." Jared watched the scene before him. Images of when he was younger flipped through his mind. Diedre had cared for him more than his own parents had. He hated to watch her slowly die to save him and Mina.

His thoughts were interrupted as Diedre called their attention. "Do it! Do it now! Use the book!"

Mina watched in horror as the Reaper shifted into its Fae form. Jared unknowingly stepped closer to her as the Reaper fought harder to get free. She opened the Grimoire and he felt the hum of power from the small book. "Why is she doing this? Tell her to stop and move away!"

Jared shook his head. "She won't. He is too strong for either of us, and we can't weaken him. If she released him, we would never catch him to entrap him in the book. It's the only way." He fought to keep his voice steady. He walked forward and placed his hand on her scales, silently saying his goodbye. Diedre looked at him and he knew she was okay with her decision to sacrifice herself for them.

"I won't do it," Mina had tears in her eyes.

Jared spun around to look at her. "You will! If you don't, you dishonor her death, and it will be for nothing!" He saw the Reaper move out of the corner of his eye and Diedre cried out in pain. He reached to help, ignoring the fact that no matter what they did would go to waste. Diedre used the last of her strength to push him out of the way, caring for him until the end. Jared was sent flying across the room and into the wall. He quickly rolled to his feet, too distracted to feel any pain.

He turned to Mina, tears flowing nonstop from her brown eyes. "Do it now! Use the book and entrap them, she's dying!" Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why wasn't she listening to him?

She collapsed to the ground and screamed something incoherently.

She needed to understand. He knelt next to her small frame. "Listen to me. She is dying, she knows it, I know it, the Reaper knows it. If you don't entrap them now, then once she dies, the Reaper will be free and he will kill you," he pleaded with his eyes. Heat and smoke were getting closer to them. "If you don't do it soon we will all die anyway."

Mina looked away from him and to Diedre. She gulped and reached for the book, and opened it. Jared watched as the Reaper fought harder to escape, but Diedre was persistent and held him down as the book's magic wrapped around them. The pull of the book was stronger than ever before, and soon everything in the room was being pulled into the pages- including them. He knew they couldn't be entrapped in it, but he still saw the fear in Mina's eyes.

Jared wrapped his arms around her and pushed her down, ducking in time to avoid a flying chair. He felt her try to sit up, but he held her down as the pull became stronger to drag the dragon and Reaper in. Mina started screaming, her hair kept flying everywhere, including hitting his face.

Suddenly, the pull stopped. Everything was still and quiet except for their breathing. He slowly sat up, keeping an arm around her protectively. Mina looked around the room, seeing the destruction.

She stood up abruptly. "Nan! Dr. Martin! We have to make sure they're okay!" Jared barely heard her words. He stared at the drawing now in the notebook. "Who was she?"

"A dragon." He touched the page gently, remembering every moment with his nanny. When had she come here?

"No, who was she to you?" He hadn't realized tears had fallen until she wiped one away gently. Even now, his heart fluttered at her showing affection towards him. It had taken a while, but she finally trusted him.

He needed to stop showing emotions, be strong for the both of them and don't let her see his thoughts. "Probably the only one who ever cared about me."

"That's not true," she shifted to kneel in front of him, leaning her forehead against his. "I care," she said softly. His heart raced as he stared into his eyes. He memorized every feature, savoring the moment as it was likely it would never happen again.

He forced himself to pull away from her. "She was my nanny. She raised me since I was a kid until I was banished. I was like a son to her."

"Why did she try to scare me?"

"I think she thought you had the Grimoire and, like most Fae, she's not real fond of the Grimms. But I didn't even know she had come over to this plane. She must have come over shortly after I did. I was as surprised as you when she came crashing through the door." He had been watching Mina fight Diedre through whatever had imprisoned him. When he recognized who it was he had been shocked.

She nodded in understanding and stood up, taking his hand. They walked down the stairs together. Her hand tugged lightly but he held tighter, enjoying the comfort she gave him. Firefighters ran to 'rescue' them, rushing them the rest of the way outside.

Jared refused to leave her side, sitting next to Mina as medical personnel checked on her. He also refused to let them touch him, he knew they were both fine. Suddenly, Mina pulled away from him and ran across the parking lot. He stood up abruptly, watching her closely. He faintly heard Dr. Martin talking to the police, demanding to know what had happened and was his future stepdaughter alright.

A feeling he had come to recognize as jealousy flared inside of him as she ran into Brody Carmichael's arms. He slowly walked up, ignoring whatever the stupid human was saying to his Grimm. Jared frowned and nearly growled as Brody kissed Mina. She didn't pull away.

He crept up next to them. One second… two seconds… he wouldn't wait anymore. He cleared his throat loudly, glaring at Brody when they looked at him. "Excuse me, but Dr. Martin is awake and asking a lot of questions. Also, they are about to transfer Nan to a different hospital… I think you should get over there if you know what I mean." He jerked his head in their direction.

Her brown eyes widened and she grabbed another boy's hand, dragging him towards Nan's stretcher. She begged the EMT to let her through and he followed as the man reluctantly agreed to allow them a moment. Jared watched as she turned to the other boy- Peter was apparently his name- and tried to convince him to break the spell by kissing Nan. If the situation wasn't so dire, he would laugh at Mina's attempts to get him to kiss the sleeping beauty.

Brody had walked up next to him, watching the scene unfold. He started talking to the supposed prince charming of the quest, trying to get him to kiss the princess. Jared wasn't listening, he was thinking how the tale could have turned out if Mina had not turned herself into the Evil Queen. Who would have woken her up? Brody Carmichael wasn't her love, the slight crush he thought he had on Mina was only because the Story had implanted the idea. Jared had been imprisoned, and even if he wasn't would he have been able to break the spell? No- Mina didn't love him back no matter how much she cared.

Mina turned to him, tears in her eyes again. "That can't be!" He looked up, noticing Nan was still stuck in her sleep. Mina motioned for him to come over and he did. "What's wrong? I gave the stupid Story everything it needs for the stupid fairy tale!" she pushed him angrily as hard as she could, though it wasn't a lot of force. "I kept my part of the bargain! I found the Grimoire and saved you. The Fates were supposed to give me a fighting chance to save her. I did that; I saved her and I even brought a prince to kiss her! You can't get a more fairy tale ending than that!" she was almost in hysterics, pacing and twirling her hair.

What bargain? "You made a deal with the Fates? Both of them?" His parents actually interfered with the tales? They must have been really intrigued by this, especially after the Reaper found Mina by accident. "What did they tell you?" If they told Mina anything about who he really was, she would never trust him again. She could not know all of his secrets- it was too dangerous.

Mina pulled him away from his panicked thoughts. "Well just the Queen- but I kept my part of the bargain. She lied."

He bit his lip and watched the other boys by the flashing lights. The Story would try to make this as plot twisting as possible, especially for her… Mina wouldn't like the outcome. But she had to finish the quest no matter how hard it would be. "Maybe you have the wrong prince. After all you've got three more to choose from." Her eyes lit up in hope.

"We can give it a try, but this time you have to do the convincing of kissing a girl in a coma."

"NO!" What was she thinking?

"Yes, Jared you owe me!" she shot him a glare and turned on her heel. Was she serious? There was no way he would do it- it was her job and funny to watch. He wouldn't have owed her anything if she hadn't lost the stupid book… but then again she wouldn't have been able to lose it if he didn't trick her into getting lost. When she watched him expectantly and tapping her foot, he knew there was no way he could get out of this.

He frowned and trudged forward, mumbling under his breath. He cleared his throat to get their attention. "Uh… I- we think you should all kiss Nan…" he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. All of the boys gave him strange looks. "Um… it's worth a shot, I guess?" he tried. A glance at Mina told him he was all alone.

"Why do we need to kiss an unconscious girl again?" one of them asked.

"It might help…" More blank looks. Fine, time for some help. He reached out, grabbing power and focusing on manipulating their thoughts. "Kiss Nan… please." It took a minute for their eyes to blink back into focus. Mina was too anxious to realize he had cheated.

One by one the boys kissed her. Mina's eyes lit up with hope for each one and fell when no response came. "I don't know what else to do, I'm out of ideas. I was sure true love's kiss would have done it." She turned away dejectedly but Jared focused on Brody. He had a determined look on his face as he walked towards Nan. Jared grabbed Mina's arm, motioning for her to look.

Mina's breath caught as Brody kissed her best friend. "Please," she whispered, visibly relaxing when the Fae magic started to work. She turned away and Jared reached for her, pulling her small frame close as tears fell. She really did like Brody, and the Story used that against her in this ending. Nan woke up, still talking too much even after being in a coma for a few weeks. He reluctantly let her go to her best friend. Eventually Mina disappeared from his sight.

After making sure everything was cleaned up with the magic, he went in search of her. The strong magical pull of a portal sent him on guard, and he heard Mina talking to someone. He approached in time to hear the end of Mina's tirade as she pieced together what he didn't want her to know. At least she still didn't know she could make him do whatever she wanted. That would be a huge pain. He stopped just behind Mina, glaring at his mother.

When she caught sight of him he walked up to them, standing in front of Mina protectively. There was a chance Teague would come through with her- or other Reapers or just other Fae in general. "Hello Mother."

"Why, Jared, you are looking well." How dare she try small talk after neglecting him and the curse for years?

"Did Dad tell the Reaper to go after Mina?"

"No, that was an accident how he stumbled upon her. You were there, you knocked the tree down to save her from the car."

"I know that." He interrupted. So they had been watching this quest. "But it was you and Dad that told the Reaper to go after an innocent girl, knowing that I would tell Mina and she would walk into your trap." His hands were shaking from anger. It had to have been the Fates- Teague wouldn't send a Reaper after this Grimm- not Mina. They must have realized who Mina was and were trying to kill her now so she couldn't do anything in the future… past? Whatever. They were trying to stop it now, permanently altering their lives.

"Don't you raise your tone to me, young man!" so she was trying to play parent here, was she? "It was your insolence that got you banished and put you into your current circumstances. It wasn't me, but can you blame your father for trying to kill the Grimm and get the book back to safety?" That was a lie. It wasn't Teague or Jared's fault this had happened. They didn't want the Grimoire safe, they wanted it far away so the two 'brothers' wouldn't be reunited. But that wouldn't happen- Mina didn't know what was going on and as long as she was left in the dark everything would be okay. She would find another way to break the curse.

"So what? I can be trapped in limbo for years on end, waiting for the next Grimm? I've had it, I'm tired of being your pawn. I'm tired of you and my brother manipulating Mina for your own enjoyment, its sick!" He wouldn't let the curse go on, Mina will somehow break it- freeing him.

The queen looked extremely uncomfortable talking about her now two sons. Jared himself didn't know how to explain the situation. "Teague can get a little carried away sometimes, but I'm sure you know the reasons. He is just as tired of his constraints as you are with yours."

"Rein him in."

"I was only trying to do what's best for you, and I don't think it is this girl. I can see you are becoming attached and that's-"

"Leave!" he interrupted "You've done enough damage already. Just leave."

Her eyes lit up in anger, "Don't think you can save this one. I told you not to get attached. After all, they all die in the end." He didn't miss the threat, but he did ignore it. She couldn't do anything to Mina or him, that was Teague's job and he wouldn't let anyone take the claim away from him.

Mina finally interfered and pushed him to the side, approaching the Queen. "I've fulfilled my end of the bargain. Although I think you owe me for saving your son." He almost laughed, Maeve didn't care about him.

"I don't owe you anything!"

"That remains to be seen," Mina snapped back. Maeve stepped back through the portal without saying another word. He turned to Mina, only to see her walking away.

"Hey, wait up!" he jogged a little to catch up to her, pausing when an idea came to him. He thought for a millisecond before he was sitting behind the wheel of his favorite sports car, a red Mustang. Mina didn't have a ride home, he could at least thank her by helping her out this time.

"It's a little flashy…" What was wrong with flashy? Still, he changed it into a boring Prius, just for her. She glanced back towards the hospital one more time before sliding in.

They drove in silence for a few minutes. He cleared his throat, "Do you want music on?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks," she wiped at her eyes, trying to hide the lingering tears. He opened his mouth to ask why she was still crying over Brody, but thought better of it. She had done a lot tonight, might as well give it a break.

He pulled up to the old Chinese restaurant and she slid out. He rolled down the window and watched her silently. Her hand shook slightly before she finally got the key into the door. Before she walked in, she turned around and waved.

He gave her a small smile, and waved back.