Blaine's head jerked up the moment he heard Sam scream.

"Sam?" Kurt's eyes widened. "Oh my god," he said, so fast that the words blurred together and Blaine could barely understand what he was saying. Then they both took off running at the same moment, shoving their way through the crowd and racing up the stairs.

"What's going on?" someone else demanded, and Blaine glanced at him long enough to realize that it was Robert, but he didn't pay any more attention than that. He put all of his effort into reaching Sam's side.

He got there a second later. Sam was holding his right wrist in his left hand, cradling to his chest, doubled over like he was trying to protect it. His eyes were screwed shut, his breathing coming fast and hard. Blaine grabbed Sam's forearms, half in comfort, and half because he was afraid that Sam would fall over. "Sam," he said, his fingers tightening on Sam's skin. "Sam, what happened? How are you hurt?"

Sam's eyes opened, just a little. "Blaine-"

"It was the apple," Giselle said. Until then, Blaine hadn't even noticed that she was there. Now, though, he whipped his head around frantically, looking at the horrified workers who clearly didn't know what to do, the faces of their friends as they all shoved their way through the crowd, Giselle holding the banister for support, the old woman in the dark cloak-

And the apple sizzling on the ground by Sam, already starting it eat its way through the top stair.

"Poisoned," Blaine called, looking around for Edward, who had pushed his way to the front of the crowd and was hurrying up the staircase. He was the only one who might know what this meant. "It's a poisoned apple!"

"Poisoned," Giselle repeated, her voice slightly faint. Then she spun to face the witch and announced in a much stronger voice, "You were trying to kill me!"

All at once, Robert was at Giselle's side, holding her tightly while she clung to him, looking shaken. In the same moment, Edward drew his sword, laying the tip of the blade against the old crone's neck. "You," he said. "Tell me why you're after my bride."

The woman tilted her head. "Now, you can put that sword away," she said, her voice soothing and slightly hypnotic, the kind of voice that could easily convince people to do as it said. "This is all just a misunderstanding, you'll see."

Edward just pressed the sword closer to her skin. "Tell me!"

Sam staggered, and suddenly Blaine was holding him up, struggling to keep him from falling. "It's alright, it's alright," Blaine said, pointlessly, knowing it was a foolish lie but unable to stop the words from pouring from his mouth. Adam joined him, taking Sam's left arm while Blaine held his right, both of them helping Sam to sit on the step, being careful to keep him away from where the apple still burned. "It's alright," Blaine kept repeating. "Just sit, it's alright."

Sam did. Once he was seated, he didn't look so much as though he was going to fall over, but his breathing was even heavier than before, and he was still holding his right hand tight to his chest.

"What happened?" Adam demanded. Both he and Blaine were crouching on either side of Sam now. Adam's eyes were wide with fear, his whole body practically shaking. "What did you mean, poison? Someone poisoned Sam?"

Blaine didn't respond. He didn't think that he'd be able to explain it to someone from this world who didn't believe in magic, and there were more important things to do. Instead, Blaine knelt as close to Sam as he could get, one hand on Sam's shoulder and the other gently holding Sam's right wrist. "Let me see your hand," he said softly, trying to move it away from Sam's chest as gently as he could. Sam let out a hissing breath, but nodded and held out his hand so that they could see it.

Adam gasped, softly, and Blaine felt his own breath catch at the sight of Sam's red and blistered skin. But no matter how sick he felt at the sight, he did his best not to let it show in his voice. "The apple burned your hand," Blaine said, in the calmest voice that he could manage. "It doesn't look that bad," he lied.

"Call 911," Adam said, looking past Blaine toward the rest of the group. Kurt already had a phone out and was talking rapidly, words that Blaine didn't bother to listen to. He squeezed Sam's shoulder, trying to seem reassuring. "Help is on the way," he promised.

Sam shook his head. The movement was slight enough that Blaine almost didn't realize that Sam was doing it deliberately, until he added, "No. The apples… they won't know."

Blaine swallowed. Sam was right, though Blaine would never admit it out loud. But the apple had come from Andalasia. It was guaranteed that nobody from this world had ever seen anything like it, and they certainly wouldn't know how to treat it. Blaine doubted if anyone would.

But there had to be something that could be done.

Blaine hadn't been watching Edward and the crone, but by now, he had her backed up against the wall, still threatening her with his sword. "I will only ask you one more time. Tell me who you are."

"I already told you," the old woman crooned. "I'm just a simple woman who thought that she could help the pretty lady escape her pain. I never thought that this would happen. I-"

"She's the queen."

Everyone spun to look at Nathaniel stepped out of the elevator, his head high, glaring straight at the old woman.

Edward frowned, the anger on his face shifting to a confused look. "Excuse me."

"She's the queen," Nathaniel said again. His mouth curled into a hint of a sneer. "Narissa."

"You think that my mother would try to kill my bride?" Edward asked, still sounding more confused than anything else. "Nathaniel, that's absurd."

"I'm afraid that it's true," Nathaniel said, not taking his eyes off of the old woman for a second. "She was the one who sent the girl here. She was also the one who attempted to poison her. With my help, I regret to say."

"Are you certain?" Edward demanded, turning to face Nathaniel more fully. He didn't remove the sword from the woman's neck, but his rigid group loosening so that the tip of the sword began to point slightly downward.

Blaine realized what was about to happen, and shouted, "Edward, watch her!"

But not in time.

The woman ripped the sword from Edward's grip. For a split second, she disappeared into a sudden puff of smoke, and then Queen Narissa was standing there, brandishing the sword toward Edward.

"So it was you all along, Mother!" Edward exclaimed. For a moment, he just stared at her in open shock, but collected himself quickly and glared at her. "Once we return to Andalasia, I'll make sure that the whole kingdom knows about what you did."

"I suppose you could do that," she said, a wicked smile appearing on her face, "if you live that long, that is. Somehow, I don't think that you will." She stretched her hands above her head, chanting, "Speciosus, formosus-"

"Get back!" Blaine shouted, not knowing exactly what Narissa was going to do, but knowing that they wouldn't want to be too close. Robert and Giselle stumbled back, trying to get down the steps.

"Praeclarus!"

Lightning flashed. Smoke poured out from where Narissa was standing, only a dozen feet or so away from Sam, Blaine, and Adam. Blaine leaned closer to Sam, trying to shield him from harm, though he didn't know what type of harm that Narissa would cause. Sam whimpered and buried his head against Blaine's shoulder. On Blaine's other side, Adam was clutching the banister, a look of absolute panic on his face.

"Get back," Blaine shouted again, this time directly at Adam. Blaine couldn't leave, not without finding a way to bring Sam with him, but that didn't mean that anyone else had to be in danger.

For a moment, Blaine was sure that Adam would listen. Then he shook his head. "You'll need my help moving Sam," he shouted.

The thunder and smoke disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. Only then did Blaine dare to look up and see what Narissa had done.

A dragon. She'd transformed into a dragon.

"You know," she said, almost conversationally, "I've been thinking. If I'm going to remain queen, I'm going to need some sort of story when I go back. Hmm." She rubber her chin with one giant claw. Her tail whipped out behind her, causing the entire back wall to crumble and collapse. "What if a giant, vicious beast showed up and killed everyone? And poor, defenseless Queen Narissa, she just couldn't save them." She leaned forward, turning her head to look around the room. He eyes landed on Giselle, who was a few steps down, still holding onto Robert. "Let's begin with the girl who started it all, shall we? Or, wait, I have an even better idea. How about I kill her true love and let her watch?"

"No," Giselle said at once, stepping in front of Robert, putting herself between him and the queen. She didn't look like she even thought about it. It was more like it was complete instinct. "You stay away from him!"

Narissa had already been turned toward Edward, but now she stopped and looked back toward Giselle and Robert. "Well," she said, a slow grin spreading across her face, "isn't this a plot twist? After all that effort I put into keeping you from marrying Edward, you go and announce that you're in love with someone else. You know, if you had just said so earlier, it would have saved a whole lot of trouble."

"What?" Giselle asked, looking honestly shocked. She covered her mouth with one hand, looking at the ground, and said to herself, "I did just say that, didn't I?" She looked over her shoulder at Robert, who looked just as shocked as she did.

"Of course, you still have to die," Narissa said casually.

"Over my dead body," Robert said, and this time, he was the one to step between Giselle and Narissa.

Narissa pretended to consider it for a second, then shrugged. "Alright. I'm flexible."

Then, before anyone got the chance to react, she snatched Robert and flew off, diving straight out the giant window on the opposite end of the ballroom.

"Robert!" Giselle screamed. A second later, she was yanking off her shoes and grabbing the sword that Narissa had dropped, then running off after them.

"Giselle!" Edward reached for where he kept his sword, looking ready to charge after her. Then he realized that his scabbard was empty, and paused, looking like he didn't know what to do without his sword.

Blaine could hear the building creaking. "We need to get out of here, now!" he shouted, mostly aiming his words at Sam's friends who were still gathered around, as the rest of the guests were already stampeding toward the exits. Blaine turned toward Sam. "Do you think that you can walk?"

Sam groaned but nodded, and even though Blaine doubted whether he would actually be able to, they didn't have any other choice. Blaine took one arm, Adam took the other, and together, they managed to get Sam to his feet, though he slumped between the two of them, looking like he could barely support himself.

"What the hell is going on?" Kurt demanded, his voice getting higher from fear. "Because your mom just transformed into a dragon and tried to kill us."

"I'm sorry to involve you in this," Blaine said, still leading Sam forward. He was walking, which was better than Blaine had thought that he'd be able to do. But every movement was slow, as if Sam could barely make his limbs move. At this rate, it might take them an hour to actually escape the building.

If Sam even had that much time.

The building shook again, and broken bits of plaster began raining from the ceiling. Half of the group screamed.

"It's alright," Edward said. He had this look on his face, like he was relieved that he had finally figured out something he could do that didn't require his sword. He grabbed the person closest to him – Shelby – and began leading her away from the rubble. "I'll make sure to get you to safety!"

Shelby took a deep breath, and looked like she wanted to make a run for the door right then, but she shook her head. "We can't leave until everyone gets out."

Edward seemed puzzled by that for just a moment, then announced, "Then I'll make sure that everyone escapes safely!" As if it were that simple.

Sam stumbled, and would have fallen if Adam and Blaine hadn't caught him.

"What's wrong with him?" a girl demanded. Blaine didn't recognize her, but she had her arms around the shoulders of a blonde girl, holding her close and comforting her. "Were you serious about that Snow White crap? What, Trouty's a Disney princess now?" She sneered and shook her head, but the way her voice was shaking betrayed her fear.

Blaine didn't know what some of those words meant, but that wasn't important. "Yes, it was a poisoned apple, if that's what you mean."

Sam stumbled again, and this time, he fell to his knees before Adam and Blaine could catch him.

"Then why is it doing this?" Kurt demanded, his voice getting even shriller. "This definitely didn't happen in fairy tales!"

"I don't think he'll be able to walk any farther," Adam said.

Blaine agreed, but he didn't want to say it out loud. They had to get Sam out of the building. Even though getting him to safety wouldn't be enough to save him.

"Seriously, isn't it supposed to put him to sleep?" Kurt continued.

"Well, clearly the fairy tales were wrong," the girl form earlier snapped, but Kurt's words made Blaine freeze.

"Sam," Blaine said urgently, even shaking Sam's shoulder slightly to force him to pay attention. "Listen, this is important. How do you feel? Exactly?"

"How is that supposed to help anyone?" Rachel asked. She sounded a lot like Kurt – her voice getting higher and much more terrified, like she was on the verge of panicking and barely holding herself together. Finn squeezed her shoulders pulling her closer to his side.

"Come on, Sam," Blaine urged. "I need you to tell me. Please."

For a second, Blaine didn't think that Sam would be able to, but then he said, "Hurts." His voice was slurred, so much that Blaine could barely understand him. After a second, he added, "Tired."

Blaine suddenly understood.

"It is putting him to sleep," he said, almost more to himself than to the group. He wanted to hear it out loud, to make sure that he was really correct. "When he touched the apple, the poison must have burned through his skin. It's still affecting him, just slower than it would have if he'd bitten it."

"Oh, great, that's great to know," Kurt said, still sounding like he was on the verge of panicking. "Now how do we fix it?"

Everyone was looking at Blaine, and with all the panic and fear running through him, he almost couldn't think of an answer. But then he remembered.

"True love's kiss," he whispered.

Edward was the first to catch on. "Yes!" he exclaimed. "Yes! We just need to find some maidens and see if they're his true love!" He started spinning around, staring all around the room like he was expecting random maidens to somehow emerge from around the corners or behind the rubble. "Is there anyone who wants to kiss this man? Anyone?"

Except Sam's true love wasn't going to be someone who they had to go searching for. Blaine knew who it would be.

He hoped that he knew.

Sam's wasn't moving. His head drooped like he didn't have the energy to support it, and his limbs hung limply at his side. If Adam and Blaine weren't still holding him in a sitting position, he definitely would have collapsed.

Blaine's hands were shaking, which wasn't a very princely response to danger, but he couldn't help it. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to run away, to bury his head in his hands and imagine that none of this had ever happened.

But he couldn't. If the clock struck midnight, then Sam would die. And the one thing that Blaine knew for sure was that he could not let that happen. Even if Blaine was wrong, he'd find a way to save Sam some other way.

Blaine hoped that he wasn't wrong.

Sam's breathing was getting shallower and more labored, like even the simple act of drawing air was a struggle for him.

Blaine didn't take the time to think about what to do, or to wonder if he was right. Instead, he put his hands on both sides of Sam's face and kissed him.

For one awful, terrifying, agonizing second, Sam didn't respond. It lasted just long enough for Blaine to think that maybe he'd been wrong, and that his feeling weren't actually love, and to panic over the thought that saving Sam would be impossible.

Then Sam's head moved, just slightly.

Blaine pulled back, and Sam's eyes blinked open. For a second, he looked around, like he had no idea what was going on. Then his eyes landed on Blaine, and he grinned. "I guess I was wrong about you not liking me, after all."

Blaine could have laughed from relief.

They stared at each other for one moment. One long, wonderful moment that seemed like it stretched out for an eternity, lost in each other's gazes. Then Blaine shook his head and pulled himself from his thoughts. "We need to get outside," he said, taking Sam's arm and helping him to his feet. Then they all turned and ran for the exit, bursting out the door and into the rainy street.

Outside, the sidewalk was packed with people, to the point where they were starting to spill out into the road. And every single one of them had their heads tilted back to watch something happening in the sky.

Blaine turned, lifting one hand to shield his eyes from the rain that was drizzling down, squinting as he tried to take in what was happening above.

Narissa was hanging from the top of the building, swatting at a tiny figure who must have been Robert or Giselle, though it was too far up for Blaine to tell for sure. Blaine's breath caught as her claws swiped at the figure again, and for a terrible second, he was sure that Robert or Giselle was about the plummet to their death.

"We have to help them!" Edward shouted. Blaine grabbed his arm and held tight, not sure if he was going to hold his brother back or rush off with him. Because Edward was right, they couldn't just sit here and let Giselle and Robert now. But by now, Blaine wasn't sure how they would be able to help.

It turned out that they didn't have to do anything at all, because a second later, Narissa fell.

She plummeted toward the ground, so fast that the air around her began to burn. People shrieked. Sam used his left hand to grab Blaine's shoulder, fingernails digging into Blaine's skin. Blaine grabbed Sam back with his free hand, and they both turned their heads away, shielding their eyes as Narissa exploded with one final, agonizing cry.

Slowly, Blaine dared to open his eyes, to look up toward where Narissa had disappeared.

"She's gone," Sam whispered, his voice tinted with relief.

"But where's Giselle and that other man?" Edward asked, squinting up toward the top of the building.

For a long minute, nobody said anything. Then Shelby lifted her hand and pointed. "There!"

Blaine followed the direction that she was pointing toward, and let out a long sigh of relief. Giselle and Robert were barely visible. They were sitting on the edge of the roof, several hundred feet in the air, but they were alive.

Slowly, the group began to relax, none of them quite able to believe that this had happened. Adam was shaking, looking more terrified now that the ordeal had ended than he had while in the midst of it, and Kurt was rubbing circles on his arms. Finn was hugging Rachel, so tightly that it looked as though she was lost in his arms. The two girls that Blaine didn't know had their arms around each other, and even Shelby was clinging to Edward without seeming to be aware of that fact.

And every one of them was alright. That was a better outcome than he ever could have hoped for.

Blaine's whole body sagged with relief, and he leaned his head against Sam's shoulder, suddenly feeling as though he were the one who couldn't remain standing without help. And finally, Blaine smiled. "It's over," he said. Narissa was gone. They had won.