When the group returned to town Sunday evening, there were five glowing, healthy faces that greeted their beds. Jamie fell asleep immediately, tuckered out by the day's adventures. The four adults stayed up a bit longer, their thoughts dwelling on the revelation of many truths. MK pondered over the developments on Jack's case, Jack thought of the images his wife had left behind for him, Richard remembered well his life and adventures before Cedar Grove, while Sarah May blushed at the memory of Richard stealing a kiss at the hospital before they left. That following week was fairly quiet, though a few eyebrows were raised at Jack's frequent visits to Richard, sometimes accompanied by the two Sandys. Dr. Lupei merely thought it progress that Richard was spending time with more friends, though what was actually happening was that the four were conspiring a plan to get MK to believe in the fairy tales before Halloween as well as coming up with ways to get out of Cedar Grove, in one piece. Jamie was right, no one had ever made it out of Cedar Grove, most of the people who ever tried to leave were often times seriously hurt, and they made up most of the patients at the hospital. Jack was worried about what changes would be made once the spell was broken as he doubted there wouldn't be repercussions for attempting to leave since none of them, besides MK and Jamie, were from this world, the only other three capable of leaving were the two Sandys and Mavis. The only explanation they could come up with was that since the three had kept their memories since the beginning of Cedar Grove, they would have no fear of losing them again. Jack did not want to attempt going anywhere near the boundary until they had come up with a way to get memories back, and someone to test it on.
Meanwhile, Esther had noticed a slight change in Richard, and reported that and Jack's visits to Mavis. Mavis only figured it had something to do with Richard and Sarah May getting rather close over their weekend trip, and asked Dr. Lupei to limit Sarah May's visits, if not make them stop. Dr. Lupei did as she asked, only letting Sarah May with Richard if someone else was there, usually Jack or Dr. Lupei. MK wasn't oblivious to the whole thing, nor was Jamie, though both thought it strange in different ways.
"Don't tell me it's because she's keeping Princess Merida and Chief Hiccup separate. You're mom is afraid of losing control of the town."
"Exactly, mom, if she loses control, then everyone can have their happy endings back. She's fighting to keep control so she can keep what she thinks is her happy ending."
"Do you think she'll get a happy ending?"
"Yeah, Aunt Heather wants her to have a happy ending and has even given up the search for her own happy ending until mom has given up her unnecessary revenge on Princess Merida and Chief Hiccup."
"Aunt Heather?"
"Yeah, mom's younger sister, she's way nicer than mom, but she refuses to give up hope."
"What kind of a story is this where the bad guy gets a happy ending?"
"Oh, mom's not the real bad guy, her mother, Frieda, is the real bad guy. There's some good in mom, both Aunt Heather and I can sense it, it's buried under a lot of misguided trust in Frieda's word, that's all."
MK rolled her eyes, "Of course, so you just wanted me to come and take away everything from her mom so her eyes could be opened?"
Jamie gave her an odd look before glancing away, shrugging, "If that's what it takes, then I guess so."
MK sighed, "OK, new line of thought, Mavis isn't all bad, she just needs a wake-up call."
"Basically."
"Alright, well, enough of that, homework time."
"Took care of most of it already, still have to work on the fairy tale and the costume. Can you help with that, even talking to mom about it?"
"Yeah, I'll talk to her when I drop you off, how's that sound?"
Jamie grinned, "Great, thanks mom! Now, um, should I base the costume on a fairy tale, or should I do something different?"
"Hmm . . . I don't know, have you decided on a fairy tale yet?"
Jamie shook his head, "Not really, everybody uses the same fairy tales every year and bases their costumes off their fairy tales, I kinda want to do something different, both fairytale and costume. Do you know of any fairy tales that are not so well known?"
MK shook her head, "Sorry, kid, only know the well-known ones. But you know what, I haven't been to the library yet, so maybe I'll go tomorrow and look to see what they've got."
"Great, thanks! Hey, have you decided on what your costume will be?"
"Probably another reason why I should head to the library, get some ideas. You want to match?"
"Sure! If it's something you like."
MK grinned, "Oh don't worry, I'll make sure it is."
Jamie glanced at her, "Just nothing pink for me."
"Oh, OK."
"Mom!"
"OK! Fine! No pink for Jamie, all the more for me," she grinned and winked. The two burst out laughing.
MK went to the library the next day, as she said she would, but she had realized that there was another reason why she needed to go. It wasn't just for ideas for Halloween, it was to double-check the history of the town. Some of the things that were talked about while they had been at the Hawkins's didn't seem to fit. Sometimes the stories were too off, or they were too similar, and sometimes, the stories got changed, in just one sitting. But she figured on playing it safe and looked for the history while searching for fairy tales. The head librarian, Maria, showed her to the fairytale section and the Cedar Grove history section, not far from each other. MK browsed through the books there, there weren't many to choose from in either section. MK didn't find much, either in the way of fairy tales, or in history. It was all recent history, to be exact, Mavis was named the mayor in all of them. She next went to the computers, searching the internet for fairy tales and Cedar Grove. The internet proved more productive for fairy tales, but found nothing for Cedar Grove. No matter how hard MK looked, she couldn't find it. Every single online map said that the area she was looking for had nothing but an unnamed road instead of Bear Valley Drive and a tiny lake. Frustrated with the dead ends with the maps, MK turned her attention back to the fairy tales, noting just how many there were. She took down notes of the most interesting, and the most unique ones, but there was one she kept going back to. It was odd, she felt like she had a connection to this particular fairy tale, despite having never heard of it till now. There were only three other fairytales she found interesting, two making her think of her friends Alexa and Krystin. She decided to print out all four fairy tales. While she waited for them to print, she racked her brain for some other way to find out more about the town's history. Maria noticed her pensive look and asked her about it.
MK sighed, "Ah, well, I've been trying to find old stories of the town, it's to help my son with his homework, and I haven't been able to find anything."
"Well, maybe there's something in the old newspapers," stated Maria as she gave MK the sheets of paper.
"You have old newspapers? That just might have the answer."
"OK, well, can you wait a bit? I would have to be in there with you, those things are extremely old."
"I can take her back, if you'd like, Maria." MK turned around, the speaker was a pretty brunette with green eyes.
"Oh, would you, Heather? I'm all alone in the library today."
Heather smiled, "So I noticed, that's why I offered. I also have to get something from the back as well, so I kinda need to go to the back."
"Oh, alright," stated Maria as she took a key from the desk. "Thank you again, so much."
"Oh, not at all. By the way, were are your usual helpers?"
"Well, Carlos had to stay home to take care of his mother, she's gotten really sick, and Jo had to go out and get a few things for them."
"In other words, since you're the best librarian, you got stuck with the place."
Maria chuckled slightly, "I guess you could say that. Thanks again, Heather."
"No problem, we'll be back in a bit." Heather walked off towards the far back of the library, MK following close behind with the fairy tales. Heather unlocked the door and let MK in first before closing it behind herself. "So, what year would you like to start in?"
"Um, how about, 2005?"
Heather gave her an odd look before going to the box marked 2005, "Alright then, 2005 it is. Here you go. Be very careful with that, a lot of these are falling apart."
"OK, very careful," stated MK as she did take one out extremely carefully. She held it gingerly with her fingertips and placed it gently on the table.
"You've worked with old papers before?"
"Sort of, I took a Crime Scene class back in college as an elective, they taught us how to handle a lot of things carefully."
"Well, it's a good skill to have. It looks like you've got this, so I'll head around the corner and get what I came for. Just holler if you need me."
"Alright, thanks." Heather walked away, and MK began to skim through the articles, searching for anything pertaining to anyone finding Richard, but there was nothing. She skimmed through more articles and more papers, but still found nothing. She placed everything back in the box and picked it up. She glanced around at the other boxes, which year next? Her eyes paused over one year in particular, 1989, her birth year. Curious to see what might have happened the year she was born, she took down the box and began browsing the papers very, very carefully. Not a whole lot happened that year, it seemed, the papers were small, filled with the comings and goings of Cedar Grove, as few as there were. She took out the last newspaper in the box. She blinked, there was a lot off about this paper from the get-go. It was proudly announcing itself as the first newspaper of Cedar Grove, complete with a guide to the town. She gasped when she got to the page about prominent figures. Mavis Bennett graced the mayoral picture. Not far from that sat the pictures of the teachers announced for that year, Sarah May among them. And below that sat a picture of Richard, an advertisement asking if anyone knew this coma patient. She nearly dropped it, but Heather caught it.
"Wh-what, why, how?"
Heather sighed, "MK, the answers are there in front of you, why won't you see them?"
"B-but . . ."
"MK, I know you're a good detective, Jamie told me so. Look at your clues, what do they tell you? And don't leave out any because you think they're too fantastic or impossible, a good detective looks at every clue, no matter how ridiculous it may seem. Just put the pieces in the right place, and you'll get to see the whole picture. Only, don't start thinking the picture is wrong when you put the pieces in the right places, alright?" Heather sighed as she began putting the newpapers back in the box. MK took to helping her after a short pause, questions still whirling around in her head. MK's brain was on auto, and didn't notice she had placed the four pages she had printed out in the box with the newspapers, but Heather did.
"These don't go in there," she stated, taking them out before they were buried in the newspapers. She took a quick glance at them before letting out a soft, sharp gasp. "These are the last four fairy tales. Here, close your eyes, and take one" MK rolled her eyes, but did as she was asked, closed her eyes and took a page. When she opened them, she glanced down and saw the fairy tale she had felt a connection to. "So, that one's yours," whispered Heather. She glanced at MK's widening eyes before handing her the rest of the fairy tales. "Keep these close, you might have to refer to them soon."
MK shook her head, "No, no more fairy tales. What's the use of them anyway? They're so unrealistic."
"Are they?" MK glanced sharply at Heather. "Are they really, truly unrealistic, or are you refusing to hope, refusing to believe that you can find your happy ending, your true love?"
"M-my true love's gone," whispered MK.
"Is he? Or have you just quit fighting for him, looking for him? Fairy tales show us how to get our happy endings, we have to keep fighting for them, we have to keep looking for them. If we stop, then of course we'll never find ours. That is what is unrealistic, people thinking that happy endings are not worth fighting for, not worth looking for, not worth working for. If that's the case, we're just telling ourselves that we're not worthy of a happy ending or anything good. Please, trust me on this, MK, I know what I'm talking about. I'm still looking for my happy ending, I'm still fighting for it. It's been years since I've started looking, but I'm not going to give up because I know my happy ending is still out there, even if it takes me ten more years before I get mine, I will keep going. Do you know why?" MK shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "Because my happy ending is worth it, the people I love or hope to love are worth it. If I give up, then I will be giving in to the notion that happy endings are unreasonable, unrealistic, too much work, and too much pain. But I am not going to stop because I know it's so much more than that, and the more I work, look, and fight for it, the better it will be. I don't know when, I don't know with whom, but I'll get it. Now, what are you willing to do to get your happy ending?"
"I-I don't know, I-I don't know what I can do."
Heather wrapped her in a hug, "You can start by hoping and believing, and once you've taken that first step, the rest will fall into place, one step at a time. And don't stop looking or fighting for it, it will slip from your grasp the instant you do."
"But what if my true love is dead?"
"Not all happy endings require a true love, sometimes, family and friends is all that you'll need. And there is love there, true love, it's not the same as having your one true love, but it counts, all the same."
MK backed out of the hug, sniffling, "O-OK, I'll go look at the clues, put the puzzle pieces in the right places, put together the big picture."
Heather nodded, "Right, you go on ahead, I'll finish up in here. And let Maria know I'll be out in a bit." MK just nodded, and walked out, relaying Heather's message to Maria before heading back to her hotel room. Heather stood by the table a little longer after she had left. She sighed, "I hope this works, you guys, we're running out of time. And Mer, I guess we're even now." She smiled as she picked up the rest of the newspapers before picking up the box and heading back to the bookshelf she needed to be. She let out a breath as she glanced over its contents and took a book off the shelf, just one of about twenty identical books, all titled A Faraway Land.