\(*v*)/ You all are amazing! Your reviews are, really, what reminds me that I'm not just joy writing; reminds me that people are actually reading this and that it has to be GOOD. If I haven't responded to your review, and it was signed, that's probably because I didn't know you made one. Fanfiction has been having some... issues and I don't always get an email. (-_-) which is really sad, because I like saying thanks. So... THANKS!

Cancer Chapter 2: Burning

Sabrina groaned as she buried her head in her hands. They'd been driving around town for three hours in search of options for the mirror. It had quickly been decided that just asking somebody to subject themselves to an eternity of servitude wasn't going to work; they would have to be tricked into it.

The problem was finding Everafters that would listen long enough to be deceived. The community had heard the news of Atticus being out there somewhere, along with a very powerful and angry mirror, and tensions had sky-rocketed. The Grimm's –Henry, Jake, Daphne, and Sabrina –along with Puck had been kicked out of every establishment before they could even begin to make their case.

The whole situation was irritating to everyone. Uncle Jake kept glancing at his watch as if he was worried they would miss a window of opportunity, Henry had been pushy and anxious, and the two had started bickering over how to drive. Puck had been strangely quiet, and even Daphne was starting to get a bit snippy. But most of all, Sabrina was tempted to pull out her hair. She had every intention of taking Mirror's place and, though she hadn't quite figured out how to do it yet, she didn't like the arduous task of being dragged hither and yon Ferryport Landing.

"Henry," groaned Jake, "there is no reason to stop for over seven seconds at a 'STOP' sign."

Henry scoffed, "You've obviously never taken defensive driving 101, Jacob."

"And I never plan to!"

"The cardinal rule of driving," Henry bit out through clenched teeth, "is that it's better to be safe than sorry. As you can see, I am being safe."

Jake rolled his eyes. "You're being saccharine!"

Sabrina could have sworn her father pouted for a moment before replying. "There is nothing wrong with checking both ways." As if to prove his point he dramatically turned his head to his left and to his right.

"We don't have time for this. Hank, this isn't New York. There's no one else on the road!"

"You keep thinking like that and then one day there will be someone on the road!"

"Oh goodness," Jake literally did a face palm.

"Girls!" Henry called to the backseat. "Who's right?"

Sabrina was hesitant with her answer. Choosing sides between her father and her Uncle was a dangerous task that all too often she was assigned. Trying to ignore them Sabrina gazed at the slowly passing grey and drear city as the wind gathered things up in a swirling mass and deposited them in other places.

Daphne, in all her well meaning, smiled shyly. "I wouldn't take my chances, Uncle Jake. Dad's right."

"You would side with Dad," Sabrina muttered.

Daphne crossed her arms, "And who would you side with?"

"Uncle Jake," Sabrina replied. She gave an apologetic look to her dad. "You've got to live a little."

Jake looked at her in the mirror and smiled. "Thank you." He shot a smug look towards her father who rolled his eyes.

"That's why I'm never letting you drive, Sabrina," he commented with a wink. She decided to let that empty threat roll off her as Jake made another remark on his brother's driving.

As conversation turned, yet again, to the rules of the road Sabrina gratefully tuned them out. Puck caught her attention as he fidgeted in his seat. Being decked out in a new hoodie, of course still green, and new pants, that he'd somehow already been able to partially destroy, he was acting different. He hadn't been as forthcoming with insults or as quick on his feet and, while that might've been a huge relief to Sabrina, she was getting a bit worried about him. Ever since the freefall in the woods he'd been jumpy. She didn't like that.

"What's with you?" She prodded quietly so as not to gain Daphne's attention.

He stuck out his tongue in her general direction, but otherwise didn't pay her the time of day. Persistent as ever she ignored the childish remark.

"Seriously, you've been acting strange," she nudged him with her shoulder.

He winced away from her and rubbed his arm. "None of your beeswax."

His reaction stunned her. "Does your arm still hurt?" She asked.

He didn't reply and slightly angled himself away from her.

She rolled her eyes, "Let me see it." Sabrina's hands reached to lift up the sleeve.

It was almost so quick that she didn't follow as Puck's hand grasped hers before she could expose his arm. His grip was firm on her wrist and she was forced to meet his green eyes as he stared at her.

"Don't," was all he said. Puck wasn't threatening, or even slightly intimidating, but there was something in his demeanor that made Sabrina think twice about retaliating harshly. She slowly drew her hand away.

Daphne, who had seen the whole thing, raised an eyebrow as if to say 'I told you he was acting weird.'

Sabrina was starting to agree.

"We're here!" Henry called out. Uncle Jake breathed out an over-exaggerated, "Finally."

Sabrina tore her attention away from Puck and looked out the car window. "And… where is 'here' exactly?"

"It's the new jail the town built," Jake answered her as he got out of the car. "Our next candidate is in there." He nodded towards the dark grey building.

"That's our great strategy?" Puck asked no one in particular. "We're going to ask someone, an Everafter who's already trapped in Ferryport, who was put in jail, another prison, to willingly sell us their soul and be put in jail again?"

"I suppose you have a better idea?" Henry asked with his arms crossed. Puck didn't reply.

"Who are we meeting here?" Daphne asked as she got out of the car with her sister.

"Sebastian Hartman," Jake replied. He walked up the stairs and held open the door for everyone to enter.

Sabrina's brow furrowed. "Okay, I don't know much," at which Puck openly laughed, "but I've never heard of Sebastian Hartman."

"He's a strange one," Henry explained as he led them through the doorway, "Of a not-so-well known story: The King's Son Who Feared Nothing. He's always taking daring challenges by random people, most of which don't end up very well for him. This time he was on a job to…" Henry seemed to blush, "Let's just say he's taken up the occupation of being a bounty hunter."

"Bounty hunter?" Daphne frowned and turned to her sister for an explanation.

Sabrina sent an wary look to her father and uncle. "It means that people can hire him to find and… sometimes kill other people." They were about to confront a murderer?

Daphne's brown eyes widened, "Then… should we even be here? Is it smart to ask someone so… evil to help us?" Quite honestly, Sabrina was wondering the same thing. She crossed her arms and raised a brow at the two adults.

"I'm evil," Puck offered, "and you don't seem to have a problem imposing on me."

"There are bunnies more frightening than you," Sabrina dismissed him. He didn't even retort to that.

Jake sighed, "Beggars can't be choosers. After we get someone in the new mirror they might not have to stay long. We'll have more time once Relda's in the clear."

Sabrina felt a strange chill as the door shut behind them. The room was dark and long shadows seemed to cast over them as they walked through the corridors of abandoned cells.

"You say that like we're on a time crunch," Sabrina said to her Uncle.

"Well, I'd like to get my mother back as soon as possible."

Sabrina narrowed her eyes, "Me too, but when you said 'once Relda's in the clear' it made it sound like we had more to worry about than Mirror and Atticus. Is there something I should know?"

He ignored her and squinted at the numbers etched on the metal doors in succession. "He should be in cell thirteen." Sabrina frowned as he picked up the pace just a bit and moved away from her.

"Ah, here we are." He pulled out a ring of keys from one of the infinite pockets in his jacket.

"Wait a minute," Daphne stopped him. "We're just going to unleash this guy? What if he's dangerous? I mean, he is in prison after all."

"It'll be fine," Jake reassured her as he tried to pick out the right key to unlock the cell. They watched with faint amusement as Jake struggled with the many objects on the ring that prevented him from finding the match to the lock. Uncle Jake cursed as the keys slipped out of his hands and onto the floor.

"You could just use a wand, Uncle Jake," Daphne advised already reaching for hers.

Henry gently admonished the idea. "He's trying not to rely on magic for everything."

"Yeah, seriously thinking of recalling that resolution," Jake grumbled as he had to retry all the previous keys he'd used.

Sabrina pushed past him as she removed some bobby pins from her hair. "Lucky for you, Uncle Jake, I know a whole different sort of magic. But if this guy turns out to be some crazy lunatic then I am so telling mom on you." Jake shuddered.

Henry frowned as he watched her maneuver the pins through the keyhole, "What are you doing?" Sabrina choose not to reply as she concentrated on finding the pressure points.

Puck rolled his eyes, "She's picking the lock."

"Since when can she pick a lock?" Henry demanded. His question fell on deaf ears as a satisfying click resounded throughout the room and Sabrina stepped back from the door slipping her hairpins back in their place.

Uncle Jake raised an eyebrow, "Wow… it's getting easier and easier to break someone out of jail in this town, isn't it?" He pushed gently on the door and it eerily creaked open to reveal the cell.

Sabrina peered inside with a gentle hand holding her sister back. A man was half hidden in the shadows of his prison; his head snapped up as if to look at them. His brown hair was long, tangled, and blood-knotted and a beard had grown on his face. Still that didn't mar the obvious beauty his features had once held. In fact, he would have been swooningly attractive if there weren't one conspicuous flaw. Where eyes should have been was a long and infuriated gash that turned the remaining eye milk-white with blindness.

Daphne moved past her sister and followed her gaze to the man. With boldness none of them felt the little girl asked, "Mr. Hartman?"

"Don't call me that, child." Sebastian's voice seemed tired and weighed down, his posture one of defeat. "I have no ties to any name now."

"What… what do you mean?" Daphne asked tentatively stepping even closer.

The man's sightless eyes darkened. "Dead men have no title, they are only called 'dead'." The thickens of his voice and the tension that lined through the muscles in his neck and shoulders made Sabrina's stomach drop. A small squeak escaped her before she could catch it and Sebastian looked up at her with the quickness of a cat. Sabrina shuddered back a step from the scrutiny in his gaze; if he couldn't see her why was he staring so intently into her eyes?

"Sebastian Hartman," Henry spoke, obviously missing the aura of the room, "I'm Henry Grimm and this is my brother Jacob. We're descendants of the Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm that you might have known a while back." A well mannered hand reached out towards the man in the open cell. When the man made no move to accept the hand Henry withdrew it. He was blind, after all, and perhaps didn't realize the effort at cordiality Henry had made. The unnerving thing was that Sebastian's milky eyes never left Sabrina's face.

Jake, a bit more perceptive of his surroundings, spoke with a hand in one of the many pockets of his coat. "We need to ask something of you." Again, no response from the man.

"I guess I should start at the beginning. Have you heard of the Scarlet Hand?" Nothing.

"They're a group of Everafters that are hell-bent on getting out of Ferryport Landing and their master is the Magic Mirror from Snow White. Do you know of it?" Sighing, Jake gave up on asking questions and explained the situation with the mirror (twisting the phrases he spoke with his usual finesse in the hopes to trick him), and their desperate need for a guardian but Sebastian didn't pay him any attention. When Jake had finished speaking, Sebastian moved to his feet.

"My, my…" the man whispered in wonder. "What do we have here?" His steps were shaky but deliberate as he walked towards Sabrina, an old and scared hand reaching out to touch her. Sabrina took fleeting steps away from him until she realized her back was up against the cool, dark prison wall. Jake pulled something small and dark out of his pocket and closed his hand over it, moving Daphne behind him as Henry pulled out his own source of magic and prepared to direct it to the threat in the room.

Puck took a step out in front of her, his hand hovering by the wooden sword at his waist and creating a good space between her and him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The man's sightless gaze immediately flicked from Sabrina to Puck. In a flash, Hartman swung his hand towards the boy's face and Puck dodged just in time for it to pass over his head and into the wall. The sheer shaking force of the advancement left a crack in the wall, and the fairy on his back, quickly reaching for the ever-present flute in his pocket. He brought the wooden mouth piece up to his lips and was just about to blow when Sabrina stopped him.

"No, Puck! Wait." She spoke the words in a frantic and quivering voice, the presence of the strange man in front of her putting her nerves on edge. Still, there was something about him…

Puck's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, 'wait'?"

"I mean…" Sabrina's voice trailed off, her eyes trained on Sebastian. What did she mean? The man's face was red, with exertion or with emotion she couldn't tell, his fists were clenched so that his knuckles turned white, and his breathing was labored and quick. He was probably dangerous, and definitely crazy, so there was no good reason for her to hesitate justifying hurting him. And yet, here she was, looking into his scarred eyes and feeling something more than just fear. A familiarity, a calm, that came with assurance. This man wouldn't hurt them.

Sebastian's laugh was dark and heavy as it rumbled through the empty jail cells and off the walls. "It appears I may have some life left in me after all. But, what are you doing here? Child, can you not see what lay ahead? Your heart will be your death, your mind will be your murderer and still you chase after false hope. Daughter of Destiny, you are quite a sight to behold!"

"Strange," Puck growled, pulling himself off of the floor, "I could've sworn you were blind."

The man's laugh only grew louder, "And you! Your powers are draining away from you, boy. Still, here you are, trying to save a woman from death when you face the same fate!" The laugh faded into a smile as Sebastian seated himself down again.

Puck drew his wooden sword and swiped it under the prisoner's chin, allowing it to point sharply on his throat. "You don't know what your talking about."

"Oh? Come now, you must at least find it ironic." Sebastian leaned back a bit, his arms crossing in amusement.

Puck snarled. "I should run you through."

"You and I both know you haven't got it in you! Not anymore." Sebastian's voice took on a different tone as he recited:

"Cave annulo ignis, ardet animus.

Cave annulo ignis, aut tu solvere moderamine.

Cave anulum ignis, innocuumque videtur et tamen.

Cave annulo ignis, vos ad mortem."

He finished the poem with a satisfied smirk. "The clock is ticking, I'm afraid."

The lyric was strange; the way it rolled off of Sebastian's tongue gave it an ancient feel as though before anything else had been those words. Sabrina stole a look at her father, who was the most learned of things like this, but he didn't seem to know. Henry's brows were furrowed, his teeth biting his lower lip in thought as he racked his brain for the meaning of the poem.

Puck's eyes were wide as his hand went slack and the sword clattered to the ground. He looked at the man with terror and bolted from the room, his coordination failing and causing him to slide into the door as he ran out of the building.

Sabrina quickly picked up the sword as she threw a wary gaze to the man in front of her. Puck's sword was like his lifeline and he'd just let it fall to the ground and left it there. She gripped the handle tightly, not knowing what to make of it.

"Look, we didn't ask for all this," she said, pointing the sword to Sebastian. Whatever enchantment you're saying, whatever you're smoking, whatever rock you crawled out from under –I don't care. All I want is a 'yes' or a 'no'. Will you help me get my grandmother back or won't you?"

Sebastian laughed, and clapped his hands, "Yes, that's more like it. Perhaps she was right about you." His chuckle gave her the chills.

"Daphne, Sabrina," Henry said, "Why don't we get going. I think we're done here." Sabrina nodded, not putting the sword down yet and not taking her eyes of Sebastian. The shadows that cast over his face and his chilling smile made her shiver.

"You should be afraid Daughter of Destiny," Sebastian nodded. "But not of me. My fate has been decided, but yours is still in progress."

Sabrina wanted to ask why he kept calling her that. She wanted to demand he explain himself and drop the limericks and beating around the bush. She wanted to know what he meant by the things he told Puck.

Henry put a hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her arm down until the sword was at her waist. "C'mon." Her father led her out of the jail with Daphne on their heels and Jake locking the man back up.

"Sabrina," Henry told her quietly, "Don't be bothered by what he said. For years there've been rumors circling that he's a little off his nut. I guess they were true."

Sabrina let out a bitter laugh that, somehow, helped alleviate the knot in her stomach that had formed the moment they walked into the jail. "Maybe you should do a background check on the person we're going to have live in our house."

"We did," Henry said giving her a sad smile. "Now we're desperate. Not many options left, and not much time either."

"Time? That's the second time someone's mentioned it. You mean, the time before Mirror finds out how to escape Ferryport Landing?"

Henry chewed on his lip and made sure Daphne was a good distance away before he spoke. "… We decided that you shouldn't know, there's no need to get you worried if the end result is inevitable, but I think you can handle it. There's-"

"-Hank," Jake interrupted with a set jaw. "Don't say something you'll regret. Remember, we've talked about this."

The two men had a type of stare-off; a silent conversation passed between the brothers and, for a few moments, Sabrina's eyes shot back and forth like she was watching a tennis match. It ended with Henry sighing and walking ahead out of the building and to the car.

"What don't you want me to know Uncle Jake?" Sabrina asked, her eyes narrow.

Jake shook his head, "I'm not the bad guy here, 'Brina. There are just some things…" He let his voice taper off and the conversation ended there.

~Sisters Grimm~

When the family made it outside Puck was leaning on the car his chest rising and falling quickly as if he'd just ran a marathon, and his forehead was gleaming with sweat. At the site of them coming down the steps he shook his head and quickly composed himself with his usual face of arrogance. He quickly sidestepped Sabrina's questioning gaze and got into the car. Sabrina climbed in after him, and then Daphne next to her. Her sister looked just as confused as she was.

Daphne frowned and nodded to the jail in a silent question. What just happened?

Sabrina shrugged in reply.

The little girl pointed to Puck. Do you know what's wrong with him?

Sabrina shook her head. Jake and Henry climbed into the car and started it up, the engine kicking and roaring like always.

Daphne gave her the look. Well, find out!

Sabrina held up her hand in mock surrender and turned to the boy next to her. "Puck?" she asked tentatively."Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said quietly, not meeting her eyes.

She shook her head. "No you aren't."

"If you were going to tell me the answer to your question, I wonder why you bothered to ask it?"

"Puck, stop being an idiot and tell me."

He was hesitant. "It's just…" Puck's eyes darted around, "that guy was really full of it, huh?"

Sabrina forced a smile she didn't feel. "Not unlike someone I know."

He looked at her for a moment, and then broke a ghost of a smile of his own.

"What he said…" she prodded gently, "About your powers and the clock and then that creepy séance thing…"

"He was just blowing hot air," Puck dismissed looking down at the ground.

"That doesn't explain why it had you so freaked out."

Puck met her eyes, "I… He acted like he knew me." She opened her mouth to respond but he didn't stop. "Not just like he knew me, but like he knew what would I would do next… what would happen to me if…"

"If what?" Puck now had her attention. His eyes were bemused, clouded with though, and lips had lost their usual cocky smirk. He absentmindedly rubbed at his leg.

"Did you hurt that in the fall too?" Sabrina asked him. She knew better than to lift up the pants leg but that didn't stop her from reaching out towards it.

Puck jerked back. "No. No, I'm fine." He sighed, stretched out as far as he could in the cramped car, and then smirked at her –his eyes returning back to the way she'd always known them to be. "Jeez Grimm, if I keep finding your nose in my business I might have to call for a restraining order."

Sabrina shook her head, "You dropped this." She held out the sword. He stared at it for a moment, then at her, and took it from her. He nodded his thanks and then turned to look out of the window. Sabrina did the same on Daphne's side.

Things weren't making sense… weren't adding up. Her father had written off Sebastian as just another crazy Everafter, but he seemed… different. She'd encountered plenty of whack-jobs, and while his people skills might not have been the best, Sebastian was definitely not a lunatic. He was smarter than that, wiser… like Puck said, he seemed to have an infinite amount of wisdom on them.

Then there were the secrets that the adults were keeping. What was so bad that they didn't want to tell her? Was it about Granny Relda? And how were they supposed to find someone to take the place of Mirror in a town that hated them? Well, to that she had the answer. She would do it; she had to. Lastly, there was Puck. He was acting so strange… what was going on?

~Sisters Grimm~

Sebastian wasn't the last candidate they had spoken to that day, but the results were the same: They were still without a guardian. With an unproductive day weighing them down, the quintet of fairytale investigators trudged into the house shoulders slumped and patience frayed.

Henry gave a gentle kiss to his wife and they talked in hushed voices for most of the night, Jake scratched his unshaven face as he went to his temporary room, Daphne curled up with Elvis and a book while she observed everyone carefully with a thoughtful frown, and Puck slipped upstairs to do whatever it was he did up in his room.

Sabrina grabbed a pen and her family journal; she used it more as a brainstorming place rather than a chronicle. What Sebastian had said was still ringing in her ears and she needed to think it out. She quickly scribbled out the little bit she remembered:

Puck's powers are failing?

Why did he call me the Daughter of Destiny?

"Cave annulo ignis"… what does that mean?

The clock is ticking. Are we running out of time to save Granny Relda?

Sabrina ran a hand through her hair. Thinking about it, there was a good chance that Sebastian was truly crazy and all of this meant nothing but that didn't stop her gaze from wandering up the stairs where Puck was. If there was something wrong with him she needed to figure it out, and fast.

That wasn't the only thing running through her mind, though. Their misfortune today had only cemented her drive to take the place of Mirror, but she knew that her family would never let her do that. She needed a way to talk to Bunny alone. Going behind her family's back wasn't something she was happy to do, especially not after all that had already happened, but Granny was an essential part of the family. Things wouldn't function without her for very long. On the other hand, Sabrina seemed to prove herself more and more of a burden than anything else.

She shook her head, forcing herself to push away her own insecurities. This wasn't about her. This was about finally doing something right for once. Doing something selfless. She buried herself in her journal as she planned a way to sneak out of the house and find Bunny.

~Sisters Grimm~

Puck howled as the pain in his leg increased. Literally, he howled. Somewhere in the process of digging a new bunker for the obstacle course him and his chimpanzees were setting up he'd managed to turn himself into a wolf. He wasn't quite sure when it had happened or what had brought it on, but he did know that he was having a difficult time changing back into a boy. Seven attempts so far had brought him to a cat, a horse, an elephant, a seal, a ram, a snake, and a walrus. At the moment it seemed like his body was content with being a wolf, and so Puck endured it. The only real problem was that he was pretty sure he had fleas.

He couldn't get a good look at his leg but he would've bet his wooden sword that the circles had become even more red and swollen. The muscles of his leg were taut and twitching and he was forced to lay awkwardly on his trampoline with his head in his paws. The words of that man from earlier that day were still haunting him and he couldn't get it out of his head. He knew that poem, heck he'd memorized it as a child, but he always had assumed that it was just another way to curb the desires young fairy's had for adventure. He'd never thought it was real. But if it was…

The throbbing pain in his leg changed to a relentless sharp and stabbing one. As the tingle of magic flashed through his body he cried out, a boy again, and grasped at his leg. When he got up the nerve to look it was far worse than he had imagined.

Henry said it earlier, but Sebastian is from "The King's Son who Feared Nothing." His name isn't mentioned in the original story, so Sebastian was mine. Other than that, his character belongs to the public, and the rest of these characters belong to Michael Buckley and Amulet Books. :D

THANKS! PEACE! God Bless!