(*Warning* Not completely edited (like, the second half or so), so please don't hate me for the difference in quality.)

Heh. I had fun writing this. The type of speech they take on isn't completely correct, but it was fun trying to translate my original banter and insults to Old English or King's English or whatever the hell I did lol. Oh wait, I had the old English, but then I got rid of it cuz it was too weird and the comebacks were too awkward... Bleh. I tried..

So. Let's just pretend like people talked the same we do now, a thousand years ago. Along with that, let's pretend that faeries are real :D (then again, we all know they are, so no pretending needed.)

And, yes. I did change my username again. Yeah. I know. I am pathetic. Oh, well. I'm really thinking about keeping this one though. The last one was just too... sad. :x

And because ninjas are beast. Nuff said.

=:- Love and Respect -:=

Meetings and Fire

I twirled my daggers in my hands absently, taking in the interior of the castle with boredom.

The ceilings of the halls arched gracefully above my head with intricate moldings lining the edges. The tiled floor was polished until it was gleaming, and the paintings adorning the walls looked as if they were freshly created, the substance shining like it was wet.

This is too strange. Where the hell are the monsters? I came here expecting to fight through hordes of creatures with varying sizes in teeth and claws, yet here I am, strolling through the hallways like I'm taking a walk in the park. Is this a hide-and-seek challenge? If it is, I don't think I'll last very long. My patience is something that is pretty questionable.

Letting out a sigh of frustration, I reached the end of the hallway and was about to turn the corner when I bumped into something.

A startled gasp escaped from my lips as I staggered back a step from the impact, feeling electricity thrum through my veins at contact. I held out my minutely-shaking arms a few inches from my sides to keep myself balanced on the balls of my feet like a bird getting ready for flight. Blowing away the fringe that was obstructing my vision, my eyes sharply glanced up to see an alarmed, beautiful, redheaded fey with a simply-crafted bow strapped to his back and a dagger held loosely in his long fingers.

Immediately reacting to his weapons, I straightened into a defensive stance with my legs spread out, knees slightly bent, and my knives held in front of my chest and neck. In a time period that was just as quick as mine, he had arranged himself into a wary, ready, and slightly bristling pose with his bright, emerald eyes narrowing suspiciously while he sized me up as an opponent, and I did likewise.

"See anything you like?" he quipped, surprising me. I blinked as a strange shiver went down my spine at the sound of his smooth, deep voice, which went unnoticed as I kept my body reactionless despite the feeling.

"I'm not seeing much of anything at all, really" I answered coolly giving my head a patronizing tilt to let him know that I wasn't interested. Though, that wasn't entirely of truth.

I must admit, he was quite the looker. He wore loose, dark brown trousers made of a thick fabric tucked into a pair of tan, leather boots that molded to his feet and emphasized his long and muscular calves along with a comfortable, hunter green tunic that failed to completely hide his toned chest and arms. Below his artfully messy, fiery red hair, he had defined, sharp cheekbones and alluring, emerald green eyes with a strong jaw. Yes. This faerie was quite handsome.

Not that I'd let him know.

Judging by the first words that have escaped his mouth, I could tell he did not need a lift to his pride but possibly needed to be taken down a few notches. Something of which I'd be more than happy to do. I guess you could describe me as mildly sadistic...

An amused smirk played at the faerie's lips in response. "For being a nothing, you've been watching me long enough to make me feel like a something," he remarked arrogantly.

I quirked an eyebrow. "You're a bit off the mark. I'm actually hoping with all my heart that you'll end up being just another figment of my nightmarish imagination that will disappear any second now."

He grinned, not in the slightest deterred by my prod but seemingly even more provoked. "Honey, I doubt I'm a part of any nightmarish imagination or any imagination of yours at all. This," the redhead gestured down to his body, "is too amazing for anyone to recreate without any help."

I was incorrect. He could most definitely use an ego deflation. A large one.

"As—" I started before being cutoff by a sudden sharp motion of his arm. My eyes narrowed and my mouth opened to respond once more when I noticed the serious look in his eyes as he stared at something over my shoulder. My muscles tensed, and I mentally berated myself for letting my guard down in one the most feared palaces in the faery world to talk to some handsome redhead. Honestly, I don't know what had come over me.

"Hey," he said in a low voice, catching my attention. His shining, green eyes pierced into mine as he uttered the warning, "Don't. Move. A muscle."

What. A. Cliche.

Of course, me being the rebel I was, turned around. Yeah. Big mistake.

I quickly leapt to the side and into an agile tumble that landed me back onto my feet. Staring at the spot where I was formerly standing, my jaw hung loose as I took in, well, nothing.

Literally, nothing.

As in, the floor has been vaporized, and all that was left was a huge gaping hole. One that I would be enjoined with if I hadn't moved at the last second.

"Damn," the faerie cursed, dancing away a fireball that threatened to turn him into pixie dust. He set his blazing eyes on me. "You couldn't have stopped moving for the few moments it would have taken for the dragon to leave the hallway?" he asked in exasperation. "I thought Winters were good at that stuff." He ran a hand through his fiery hair that matched the flames that were dancing around us.

"Hey," I defended over the dragon's furious roars while swiping at a claw that was getting too close for my liking, "I only just met you; did you seriously think I was going to obey your word just like that?"

He sputtered incredulously as he released a fuzzy, brown ball on his belt and threw it at the dragon. The ball exploded into an angry bear that stood for a second before being destroyed by the dragon and turning into a weak flurry of leaves. "How you didn't notice a sixty foot dragon roaming through the hallways is beyond me."

"Many things are beyond you," I muttered, forming a long, sharp ice spear and whipping it into the dragon's side, piercing the hide. Its bellows turning into agonized howls before spitting fire every which way in angered retaliation.

"Nice job! You should join the Olympic spear hurdling team!" he called sarcastically, simultaneously slashing the dragon's leathery wings and beating down the bottom of his sweatshirt that hadn't been able to escape the fire.

"Oh, look! Now your tunic and your hair match! One point for color coordination! By the way, it's called javelin throwing!" I shouted back.

As we continued fighting the dragon and verbally attacking each other, our bodies moved as if perfectly attuned to each either with the strange tingling aside. Our team work was impeccable like we had been fighting by each others' sides for lifetimes as we ducked, attacked, weaved, advanced, and retreated. Just when we were about to defeat the dragon, I took at step back and looked up at the beast.

"What the hell are you doing?" my temporary partner asked, appearing at my side in an instant. He gave me a disbelieving look after shooting his last feather-tipped arrow from his bow with a strong thrum at the dragon's chest with almost perfect accuracy. Ha. Not so much of a hotshot there, were you?

"Don't tell me that you're queasy about killing it," he blanched, pausing to stare at me in horror.

I scoffed, "Of course not. But," I pointed at the weakened dragon, "It is so not sixty feet tall."

After killing the dragon, you'd think the faerie and I would have forming a kinship with the teamwork and all.

But nope.

We immediately turned against each other, the dragon's corpse laying on the crumbling tiles. We attacked each other, we threw paintings at each other, we tried to stab each other, we hated each other.

All because of this stupid tingling sensation it turned out.

"Quit it!" he roared, chucking another knife at me. It skimmed under my ear and above my shoulder, cutting off a chunk of my dark hair before lodging firmly into the stone behind me. If I hadn't moved, it would have cleanly sliced my head from my neck.

Now, that got me a little angry.

"You have anger management issues," I hissed while taking a small step back. My fist began to clench into tight fists. The dragon was dead, and no other monsters were heading this way, yet he's blaming me for something? What does he think I did? Make the humans stop believing in us? Destroy his favorite pair of underpants?

"Me? I have problems? Me?" he shouted with a touch of hysteria in his voice.

"Naw. I was talking to the large audience we seemed to have gained," I said, sarcasm practically dripping from my tone as I gestured to the empty hallway.

His green eyes flashed. "I've been dealing with it ever since we bumped into each other, and even while fighting the dragon, but you haven't let up at all, and I'm getting a bit annoyed," he ground out in a low growl.

"Really? I thought you had an itch on your back you couldn't reach."

He sucked in a sharp breath before letting it out, trying to keep his temper in control. "It's more of a tingling that won't go away," he muttered.

I looked at him in shock. "You feel it, too?" I whispered, feeling relief course through my veins. So it wasn't just me that was going crazy... At least when we get diagnosed with a strange disease, I won't be dying alone. I hope he kicks the bucket first, so I have a moment to smile before traveling down the same path. Could anyone blame me? He just tried to decapitate me. Don't I have the right to develop harsh feelings? Well, I guess a human wouldn't exactly agree since the mortal society is just so sickeningly patriarchal right now.

The faerie stared at me.

"So... you're not the one doing it?" I asked dumbly.

"No, I just attacked you for the shits and giggles of it and not because I thought you were doing something to me," he rolled his eyes.

My lips pursed. Don't kill him, don't kill him, don't kill him.

Great. Time to get serious.

I sighed before crossing my arms and leaning back against the wall. "Obviously, the two of us are here for a reason. It's unheard of to have two competitors in here," I said in an attempt to get the ball rolling.

"Or maybe the other competitor just ends up dead," he fired back.

"And maybe I should just kill you now and get this over with," I mocked under my breath. This thing crackled with energy.

I sucked in a sharp breath. Man, that was going to be annoying. "Maybe we should work together," I proposed slowly, watching him carefully in case he decided to come swinging with sharp objects.

His green eyes studied me for a moment. Then, he sighed and raked a hand through his hair before agreeing sullenly, "Fine, lets."

"YOU ARE DEAD, YOU PUNY PESTILENCES!" Deep, gargling voices roared agreeingly in response.

"Honestly, I was having a great time wandering an empty castle until we met. You're a bad luck charm, aren't you?" Goodfellow muttered scathingly as the two of us dashed up a grand staircase with a horde of uncharacteristically-intelligent trolls following us.

"I could say the same to you, but how about we work on getting rid of the not-so-little uglies that decided to play a game of tag with us, hm?" I ground out through clenched teeth, annoyed that the little crap thought I was the cause of all the worlds' problems.

"You know, self-esteem issues can lead to even bigger problems," he remarked before making a sharp right that had me stumbling for a moment. Damn guys and their natural ability to make sharp turns while running.

"Like the over-inflated head you have to cart around everyday?"

Goodfellow gave me a sideways grin. The electricity picked up a small notch, only adding to the adrenaline. Heavy footsteps and animistic grunts could be heard from the hallway we just exited.

My eyes flitted around the room we entered, daggers held firmly in my hands.

"And you got us cornered. Nice job," my accomplice of the time-being drawled.

Turning to him, I said with a snarl, "Might I remind you that you were the one to turn the—" I cut myself off as I locked in on an object that hung from the sweeping chandelier above our heads.

"What—" He looked up as well.

Then, I noticed something. The sounds of the trolls were gone.

"Hey, Frost-bite? Can I tell you something about myself?" Goodfellow asked in a slightly detached voice while I kept my gaze on the silver band that was hanging delicately on the arm of the chandelier. It teasingly flashed, reflecting the light as it swayed gently.

"No," I answered, not really paying attention but heard enough to recognize the nickname.

"Well, I don't care," he stated. I saw him move from the corner of my eye.

"The thing is, I don't like to share."

"You're going to die one day, surrounded by extremely-sharp, iron things with a troll sitting on your chest, and a 'kick me' sign stuck to your back. It will all be by my hand," I stated calmly, pressing a hand against my nose.

"Look what you did! You made her angry, and now she's going most likely going to do me bodily harm," Glitch hissed at Goodfellow from behind my back.

I felt the smugness oozing from the redhead.

"Honestly, it was her fault for not knowing it wasn't a trod," the twit declared, not bothering to lower his voice.

My hand lowered from my face and clenched into a dangerous fist.

Meghan was scolding Puck, "You shouldn't play tricks on us like that."

"Yeah, Goodfellow," I echoed. "You really shouldn't."

"And why not? Is the little ice princess delicate?" he fired back.

Whirling around, I set my eyes on him, ignoring the wide-eyed looks on Meghan and Glitch's faces. "I dare you to call me that again."

There was a malicious curl to Goodfellow's lips as he said, "Ice princess."

Well, more like ice pri— since I had cut him off by throwing a knife at his neck. The clone choked theatrically for a moment before bursting into a flurry of autumnal leaves.

"Now, come out and show yourself. You know you can't hide from me," I growled.

"Oh, I wonder why I even bother," Goodfellow's voice said mockingly from behind me.

Slowly turning around, ignoring the wide-eyed looks on Meghan and Glitch's faces, I faced an armed redheaded faery who was crouched into a dangerous position.

I lifted an unclenched hand from my side, brought it to the front of his face, and snapped my fingers.

A tendril of his fiery red hair lit into actual flames.

Oh my god. I'm just so freaking happy that I can't stop laughing and smiling and standing up to cover my mouth and grin like an idiot... I don't know why. Seriously. I have nothing to really really smile about. I keep sneezing and my nose keeps dripping since I'm sick. I have homework to do. But here I am, grinning like a fool and smiling even wider with even song I recognize on the radio and laughing at my own writing even though it isn't funny... The hell is wrong with me? o-O

Whatever.

Heh. Just so happeh! :)

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

I wrote the AN a while ago, and as I'm looking back, there is no doubt that I was high... on my sickness. Be careful y'all. Don't catch the loopy disease.

Btw, I didn't put who got the item for a reason. Well, no I didn't.

I'll just shove it into a different chapter.

Rafanan: You are first to be responded to. Why? Because you commented twice just to get me to update. :D Thanks! And, lol. Ira'll kick Ash's ass... in a long time. Sorry. The ass-kicking is a bit of a way off xD

Queenie: You... Word-twister. .-. Yeah. That's as mean as I could get when talking about you xD lol I like fictional characters that have red hair (like anime and stuff), but I didn't realize I liked them more than others until I met Puck. He opened my eyes LOL Ah yeah. I did do that. I should have ended it before I explained all the stuff, but oh well. I don't want to change it... (cough... I'm so not lazy). Isn't Puck, like, really young in the Sisters Grimm? Or young-looking? And tanks yew :)

Mackie Effing Mad: YES! ICE-CREAM! Wait what? I dunno... Omg. I can make people feel disappointed... That is so cool. (Oh... Did I sound sadistic there?) But tanks yews too :D

Blood Bond: If this is crack, crack should become legal. If it doesn't become legal... I'm going to jail? D; Ahh. That's deep. And cool. Loyalty ftw :)

Twinzie: Twinni... We've become detached D: (-calls a surgeon and places an appointment for a reattachment-)

Whoosh!

Like a Ninja