AN~ Edited. What's funny is that this is by far the longest chapter of this fic, and when I wrote it I thought it was insane, but it was honestly about the same length as my average chapters these days. I mean, it's a lot longer NOW, but then it was comparatively normal.

Once upon a time, in a small country called Fairyport Landing, there lived a princess named Sabrina. She lived in a relatively small castle in the woods with a lot of other people. She didn't know most of them very well, because they were servants and things, but some of them she knew very well.

The ones she knew best she knew because their jobs were important- although some of them she knew simply because they were related to her, such as her grandmother, the queen mother. Queen Mother Relda had mostly retired from queenly duties after her husband died, and now worked in the kitchen, much to everyone else's dismay. She also advised that everyone, even the royals, have a job. Thus, Sabrina's sister Princess Daphne was in charge of making sure the castle's guests were comfortable. The girl's uncle, Prince Jacob, was in charge of resources, such as making sure the castle had enough food, firewood, and properly trained animals, while his wife Lady Briar was in charge of the castle's gardens. Sabrina's brother, Prince Basil, was only six years old, entirely too young to have a job of his own, and Sabrina's parents were in charge of the day to day business of running the kingdom, which Sabrina was learning how to do, just in case. Her old job, mistress of the servants, had been taken over by the Duchess Red, the adopted daughter of Sir Tobias, the captain of the castle guard.

There were only three other people in the castle that Sabrina was close to in the castle, and only two of them counted. The first was Mirror, who did not have a title, as he was the spymaster. Second was his protege, Marquess Pinocchio. And then there was Prince Puck, who was visiting (had been for years, actually) the Fairyport Landing royals, apparently to learn more about the country as part of a treaty whose terms had never been properly explained to Sabrina. He was supposed to have another job, as well, something about castle upkeep, but Sabrina was fairly certain that he had dumped this job on someone else and taken up a new task: driving her insane.

Most days, life in the castle followed a pattern, and at two in the afternoon, as they always did, the aforementioned people gathered in their meeting room. As it was a Tuesday, they were listening to Mirror's report. The others had their own days to report on the goings-on of the castle and the kingdom. Sabrina was not expecting anything unusual. Fairyport Landing had been the same for the seventeen years she'd been alive, and it was not likely to change anytime soon, in her opinion. She was, however, very, very wrong.

"I have received reports that an organization called the Scarlet Hand is resurfacing and gaining support rapidly. They plan to stage a coup to overthrow the throne. Once they have succeeded, they plan to drive out or kill all the Untalented people in Fairyport Landing. There are even rumors that their plans include conquering the known world- though these are unconfirmed as of yet."

"What is the Scarlet Hand, exactly?" Princess Daphne asked.

"Pinocchio?" Mirror prompted. "What have you gathered?" Mirror believed in training by doing, and this meant that Pinocchio's task for the past week had been to learn what exactly the Scarlet Hand was, while his master learned what they were up to.

Marquess Pinocchio straightened and said, in a tone of voice that implied a memorized speech and tenseness, "The Scarlet Hand is an organization of many of the Talented which arose several hundred years ago, wishing to destroy all Untalented individuals in Fairyport Landing, claiming it as the land of the Talented- thus, they believe that having a family of Untalented as the rulers of the kingdom is sacrilegious. When steps were taken to hold the Talented in check, the Scarlet Hand moved into the shadows. It has been presumed to be disbanded for the past several hundred years, but recent information has proven otherwise. They have begun stirring, beginning to recruit others to assist them, mainly in this country, but also in neighboring countries such as Faerie, which also has an abnormally high population of Talented."

Prince Puck stiffened slightly. Sabrina wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been in the middle of poking her repeatedly.

Queen Veronica pulled Basil closer to her and said, "Well, what are we to do? They must be stopped before they can harm anyone."

"I will put my my soldiers to work immediately," Sir Tobias said, taking the notepad his daughter offered him and beginning to jot things down.

"And my informants will provide their movements as clearly as possible," Mirror added. He gave his apprentice a thoughtful look. "How do you feel about going on your first undercover assignment?"

Pinocchio gulped but stood straight and said, "If you feel I am ready, then I will go, sir."

"You're ready," Mirror said. "It's lucky you're Talented."

"Good," Relda said. "I also want to get as many of the Untalented people in the kingdom as possible to safety- inside the castle, perhaps..."

"Preferably without letting the Scarlet Hand find out about it," Sabrina added.

"Well, yes, that would be helpful," Princess Briar said. Sabrina wasn't sure if it was sarcasm or not.

"How do we do that, though?" Jake asked.

"Easy," Prince Puck said, leaning back in his chair so the front feet came off the ground. "Start hiring them one or two at a time and replace the Talented staff with them."

"That's... actually a pretty good idea," Sabrina said. "We'll tell the people we can trust that it's temporary, and we'll make excuses for the ones we can't."

"But that won't take care of everyone," Daphne said. "There are a lot of Untalented people in this kingdom- we can't hire them all!"

"We'll have a ball!" Veronica exclaimed.

Sabrina wrinkled her nose- balls were stuffy things- but she didn't complain. Puck, on the other hand, groans loudly.

"It'll be perfect," Veronica said, "We'll say it's for Sabrina's eighteenth birthday. That's an excellent reason to throw a party larger than any we've had before."

"I'll get started tomorrow," Duchess Red said quietly. "There's some staff I'm itching to fire anyway. If they go, no one will notice anything odd."

"So what do the rest of us do?" Henry asked, turning to his mother for advice, as he often did in difficult situations- just because she hadn't been born into the royal family didn't mean Relda would make a much better ruler than her son.

Relda thought a minute. "Puck, you and Tobias will train the soldiers- particularly the new ones- against magical attacks. Jake, you will make absolutely certain that we have enough food. Daphne, make them comfortable, and make sure nobody notices anything unusual. If that doesn't take too long, you can help your mother- Veronica will be planning the party. Briar, if you could perhaps expand the gardens as a way to hire more people, that would be excellent. Henry, you just keep right on doing what you normally do. It's important to keep up the appearance that we're unsuspecting. Mirror, you know what to do."

"What about me?" Sabrina asked.

"You can work undercover with Mirror, focusing on the more high-ranking people he has less access to- find out who we can trust among the nobility." Relda looked around the room, meeting everyone's eyes. "Thank you all," she said. "This will be difficult, but we can do it. Council dismissed."

Sabrina got up, carefully keeping her composure as she walked out of the room. As soon as she was a safe distance from her family, she threw a fist up into the air and shouted, "YES!"

"I'm glad you like your job," Puck's voice grumbled from behind her,

Sabrina jumped in surprise. She'd thought she was alone. She regained her composure and asked, "What, you don't?"

"No," Puck said, rolling his eyes.

"Really? That's the only other job I'd want," Sabrina said.

"The army?" Puck wrinkled his nose. "But you have to work there. Sir Tobias never lets anybody slack off."

"I don't mind work. And why is it so surprising that I'd want to be there?" Sabrina demanded, standing straighter.

"Because most of the princesses I've met scream when they even get near a sword, let alone try to use one," Puck said.

Sabrina wondered briefly how many princesses he'd met- there weren't all that many within visiting distance. But what she said was, "You've been living her since I was eleven. You ought to know I'm nothing like other princesses by now."

"Well, if I've been living here so long, you should know I don't like work, and you shouldn't be surprised I don't want to be with Sir Tobias."

"Please," Sabrina rolled her eyes. "You think I pay attention to what you like or don't like? I try to ignore you as much as possible."

"Well, I'd like to ignore you and your entire weird family, but I kind of have to live here," Puck said.

"Not my problem," Sabrina said breezily.

"Weirdo," Puck mutters.

"Exactly," Sabrina agrees. "And I just happen to be the kind of weirdo that likes to spy and mess around with swords. Arrows are more my thing, though."

"Really?" This time Puck looks less disgusted and more just surprised.

"Yeah, why?" Sabrina gave him a suspicious look. He wasn't going to start making fun of that, too, was he?"

"I love archery!" Puck said, grinning.

"I'm not that good yet," Sabrina admitted, "Nobody would teach me." It wasn't considered something a princess should enjoy.

"I'll teach you," Puck offered suddenly.

"You'd do that?" Sabrina pulled back, giving him a quizzical look. They weren't exactly on the best of terms.

"Don't get excited," he said, rolling his eyes. "I just want an excuse to shoot some arrows of my own. And if it comes with the added bonus of getting to boss you around while you look stupid, it's too good to resist."

Of course. But Sabrina was so desperate for a teacher that she said, "Fine. Lunch tomorrow?"

"Be there," Puck agreed.

The next several weeks passed by quickly. Everyone did their jobs, though some (Sabrina) were much more enthusiastic than others (Puck). The day of the ball drew closer, and the Untalented trickled into Fairyport castle while the Talented faded away. Sabrina spent a lot of time visiting nobles and having them visit her, inviting them to her birthday ball (which was being orchestrated beautifully by Veronica, Briar, Daphne, and Red with the help of the new servants) and learning where their loyalties rested. She reported all her information to Mirror, who passed the information on to Henry. Henry, likewise, gave orders to Tobias and Puck.

Meanwhile, Relda was attempting to find allies outside the kingdom. She formed a few, but the country which would normally have been Sabrina's first guess at an ally, Faerie, was being particularly difficult. She made no headway there, and would not even tell Sabrina what they wanted.

When Sabrina was home, Puck would help her practice her archery in his spare time. She'd been telling the truth when she said she wasn't very good, but Puck surprised her by being a good teacher, and she improved drastically over the several months between Mirror's information and the ball. They developed a strange sort of friendship that surprised the two of them as much as anyone else- particularly when Sabrina noticed she was looking forward to their lessons.

Finally, after months of preparation, the morning of the ball arrived. Princess Sabrina was in her room, being assisted by her recently hired ladies-in-waiting to change from her ordinary loose gowns with sashes (handy for tying skirts out of the way) over breeches into her ball gown. The peacock blue dress had long, tight sleeves, and a very, very tight bodice that plunged far too low for Sabrina's liking. It also had far too many buttons in hard-to-reach places, and the yards and yards of skirt made it difficult for her to walk. It was incredibly uncomfortable.

The dress was accompanied by a slightly less uncomfortable hairstyle created by weaving small blue flowers into her blonde hair. Sabrina was sure she would be shedding flowers all night, and she worried about that as she distracted herself from the powders and creams being applied to her face. The finishing touch was the jewelry: earbobs, a circlet, a bracelet, a ring, and a necklace, all made of delicate silver dotted with sapphires.

"Why all the blue?" she asked, as they were finishing.

"Well, it is our national color, your highness," one of her ladies in waiting said. "Your mother wanted you to look patriotic on the night you'll be declared official heir to the throne and an adult." She smiled. "It looks good on you, though. You're lucky. If you had your sister's coloring, you wouldn't look nearly as beautiful."

"Beautiful?" Sabrina asked. She never looked beautiful. She was too bony.

But the maids all nodded and turned her to the mirror. And Sabrina realized that they were right: she wasn't as gorgeous as her mother, or the very striking Princess Briar, but for tonight, she was beautiful. At least the dress was worth something.

This made it easier for her to head down to head down to make her grand entrance to the ball, and then to begin mingling.

After she got over the stress of getting herself into the ball and through her formal introduction, Sabrina got bored very fast. She abducted Puck from whatever he'd been planning to do to keep her from running away screaming (they spent their time making fun of the more ridiculous of the guests), and whenever anyone got too close, she played the happy guest of honor. After Sabrina skipping the first few dances, Veronica scolded her, reminding the princess that it was her job to participate in the ball. So Sabrina accepted the next few dances. It wasn't that she actively disliked dancing- it was that she'd been very bored by the classes as a child, and she knew she was a very awkward dancer. So she struggled through the dances, trying not to look too foolish.

Then, because of course that wasn't bad enough, things got worse.

While Sabrina was taking a break from dancing with a cup of punch, she noticed her grandmother nearby, arguing with Puck's mother, Queen Titania of Faerie. Puck was behind a plant, listening, so Sabrina sauntered over casually to join him in eavesdropping.

As she drew nearer, she began to pick up things, such as her grandmother saying vehemently, "They'll never agree to it!"

"I certainly think my son will!" Queen Titania said haughtily. "Have you seen the way he looks at her?"

"He may find her attractive, but they argue constantly! They've practically been enemies for seven years now!'

"We sent him over here so early to prevent that from happening!"

"And it was a good idea, but I'm telling you it won't work!"

"You said yourself they've been getting along the past few months."

"But if we force them to move too fast, they'll just dig their heels in and that will be the end of it," Relda pointed out.

Titania declared, "Puck will marry Princess Sabrina in one month or there will be no treaty!"

"Mother?" Puck said icily, stepping out of hiding.

Sabrina slapped a hand to her forehead. This boy just did not understand the concept of spying. Titania and Relda turned to the duo in surprise- at least they hadn't noticed them until Puck spoke, Sabrina decided.

"I'm not marrying anyone soon," Puck said, "Especially not because you arranged it for me. If I ever get married, it'll be because I've 'fallen in love,' or something."

"Besides," Sabrina said, "We're too young to get married- I don't even know who I am yet. I can't commit myself to someone else while I'm still figuring out who myself is. Can't you sign the treaty and hope we fall in love later? You can always dissolve it if we don't." Not like that was going to happen... right?

Titania shook her head. "If Puck doesn't marry you soon, I'll have to give in to another marriage treaty- one I think Puck would be far less able to live with."

"And she is...?" Puck asked.

"Princess Moth."

"Oh no. No. No no no. Not her."

"You know her?" Sabrina asked.

"She's a spoiled brat, and I think she's insane."

"Ouch," Sabrina hissed sympathetically.

"I need to settle this treaty with them as well, and unless Puck is spoken for, they'll insist that Moth and Puck marry. Otherwise Mustardseed has agreed to the marriage. I wished the best for my son and a way to keep my kingdom form going to war. I apologize for not explaining this before," Titania said.

"It's forgiven." Relda smiled.

"You mean either Sabrina and I get married or Moth-"

"That's why I sent you here in the first place." Titania nodded.

"Wait a second-" Sabrina said.

"What?" Puck asked warily, noticing the look in her eyes.

"Do we have to have a date?" Sabrina asked. "Or can we just be officially engaged?"

"Excellent point, Sabrina!" Relda said, grinning.

"What?" Puck asked, looking around cluelessly.

"If we don't specify a date you could wait years!" Titania exclaimed.

"And if Mustardseed and Moth are married, Puck and I could find and excuse for breaking off the engagement if we don't want to go through with it!" Sabrina pointed out.

Neither Puck nor Sabrina noticed the looks the queens gave each other when Puck didn't dispute the word "if."

From there, the evening looked as if it were going to be better. Sabrina started dancing again, a little less awkward now that she didn't have to worry about any of her partners trying to become her husband, when one of her partners danced her into a corner of the room. She didn't think much of it- more than one lord had tried to give her a birthday kiss out of everyone's view- until she felt the sharp cold press of steel between the buttons on her back. He had a knife.

"Don't say a word. Move and I stab you," he whispered.

"May I breathe?" Sabrina asked.

"Yes, you can breathe." The boy sighed.

Without responding, Sabrina scanned the ballroom, looking for help. Red was nearby, dancing with Mirror. She caught her eye and mouthed 'get Puck'. Red nodded and steered him towards the place Puck was dancing. She muttered something to Mirror, switched partners, and began whispering to Puck, then nodded towards Sabrina. They began to dance over towards the corner. Unfortunately, Sabrina's captor noticed.

"Oh no you don't!" he muttered. Then he shouted, "Now!"

The room, which had already been bustling with chatter, dancing, and music, exploded into chaos. Nearly a third of the guests pulled knives and swords out of skirts or tailcoats, and began brandishing them at the other guests. The few guards in the room were quickly outnumbered. Basil, Briar, and Pinocchio were all thrust into a corner behind Tobias, who was doing his best to defend three people at once. Daphne and Veronica worked their way to a door each and helped guests to escape. Henry and Jacob stood at the base of the throne, back to back, defending each other. Puck shoved Red into a servant's entrance with a few whispered words. Granny and Titania were shouting orders to anyone who would listen. And Mirror-

Mirror was standing on the dais, laughing.

"Oh no," Sabrina whispered. Her body felt as if it were being filled with lead as realization hit her: how they Hand had gotten into the room; how they hadn't known this was coming; how they'd only heard about the Hand this year. Mirror was a traitor.

He stopped laughing and called over the room, which was suddenly silent, "Well, everyone? I've got your princess captured-" he gestured to Sabrina- "and if you don't obey me, she'll be dead before you can blink."

"Oh, thanks a lot." Sabrina muttered. "If they don't listen I get killed. That's fair." The sarcasm helped her to cope with the weight of this betrayal

"Listen, princess, I have a tendency to jerk my arm when I'm irritated. You wouldn't want me to do that, would you?" the boy holding her hissed.

"I have a tendency to scream when I get hurt. Very loudly. And it usually sounds like 'guards!' Do you want that?"

"I'd kill you to stop the scream."

"The guards would still be on their way." Sabrina pointed out. "Can you fight them all?"

"Fine," the boy sighed. "Just... cooperate?"

"You obviously don't know me very well. I never cooperate with anyone." Sabrina smirked. The banter was giving her time to think, and even better, was distracting him from planning.

"Try."

"Let me go and I will."

"I feel sorry for whoever you're gonna marry."

"Trust me, he's almost as bad as I am."

"Well, then, I feel sorry for both of you."

Before Sabrina could come up with a response to that, she was knocked sideways by something flying into her. Whatever it was knocked her out of her captor's grip and, paired with her heavy dress, sent her stumbling into the wall. By the time she'd gotten her balance back, her captor had fallen to the ground, an arrow in his chest. Sabrina looked around, blinking. She'd been hit by a quiver full of arrows. Nobody else had noticed. Most were wailing or fighting. Mirror was arguing quietly with Henry. The only ones who were looking at her were Puck and Red, who stood by the servant's entrance, grinning at her.

Puck lifted the bow he was holding and threw it at her. Sabrina just barely caught it. She grinned back at Puck, then leaned down and nocked an arrow to the bow. From where she stood, she had a clear shot to Mirror. Puck didn't- Henry was in the way. She understood.

Mirror looked up and locked eyes with her. Sabrina took a deep breath and knew, suddenly, that she could kill him. Later, this would scare her. At the moment, though, all she felt was cold, clear resolve.

Mirror just laughed again. There was a bang, and a flash of light that smelled like eggs. And then suddenly Puck was between Mirror and the arrow, blocking her path, looking just as confused as Sabrina felt.

Sabrina froze. She couldn't shoot. There was no way she was a good enough shot to hit the small space between Puck's arm and his waist, the spot that led to Mirror's heart. Puck could do it. If he were able to move, which he didn't seem to be, he could knock Mirror in the head and end the whole thing right there. But she couldn't do anything. She'd hit Puck. And that... that would be the worst thing. Worse than losing her kingdom. Worse than dying herself. He was her best friend. He was more than that.

She almost laughed at herself. What a time to realize.

Puck smiled at her and mouthed the word 'shoot."

Sabrina's eyes widened, but he just kept smiling that cocky grin, so she took a deep breath, focused, and released.

The arrow flew straight and fast, arcing towards the center of the room.

Sabrina shut her eyes, hoping against hope that Puck wouldn't be hit.

The arrow struck its target: two inches below Puck's armpit, directly in Mirror's heart.

Sabrina opened her eyes as she heard the scream of agony. Miraculously, Puck was standing there, grinning at her. She looked around. Everyone was staring at her. Puck nodded. She smiled grimly back at him.

She'd done it.

Puck walked up to Sabrina an hour or so later. She was leaning on a wall by herself, catching her breath. Everything was cleaned up, now, and the party was getting started again.

"Hey," he said.

She smiled at him. "Hey. Look at them! We just had a rebellion and they're still partying!"

"Sad isn't it?"

"Very."

"You want to dance?"

"Sure." She grinned. During their dance, she said conversationally, "I realized something tonight."

"What's that?"

"I love you."

He blinked down at her. "Really?"

"Yup."

"Wow. Guess what?"

"What?"

"I love you too."

She grinned. "I guess the wedding's on, then."

"Not for a few years," Puck said firmly.

"Definitely not," Sabrina agreed, and she pressed her lips to his.

And they lived happily ever after.