AN~ Sorry it took so long. I have no excuses other than life.
The Winner of Last Question of the Day: PsycoBrunette for her plot to take over the world! Congratulations! Step up and claim your prize!
New Question of the Day: You're having a tea party and can invite three to six guests (people you know, people you'd like to know, people that don't actually exist that should, etc.), and you can have (other than tea) two drinks, five things to eat on/with, and seven kinds of food. You can have less if you want. Tell me what your tea party will be like. What should the guests wear? Where will it be?
Other (): I'm updating.
() who may possibly be named Velika Silvertongue: Ch. 83: Thanks! But that's a bad idea. Sleep is good. Ch. 88:Because emotion is what keeps people reading, I guess. Ch. 100:I doubt the mail truck can go underwater, unless it's a mail truck from Atlantis.
Purpleflower23: How can I make you not confused?
QN: I share no spoilers about deaths unless someone wins and asks for them. And as you just asked for Daphne to say something random, you lost your chance, sorry. :) QotD: Whoa whoa whoa, where did you get Chipmunks? I'm OK with jail, but you were not allotted any chipmunks! :) J/K. It was funny.
Agd: Lol 'bout QotD. It's the real Sabrina. She can time travel (Janus arc).
ChiefPotato: That's amusing. But you didn't actually respond to the chapter, so you're ineligible to win, sorry.
ISI 8D: :D I'd totally give you an update just to get to come to the penguin party. 'Cause that would be totally awesome.
After that, things went pretty simply. Sabrina wasn't there to see it, though. She went back to her time, leaving Henry and Veronica to clean up the mess.
"Bit rude of her, don't you think?" Veronica said conversationally, administering a bit of blue potion to Frau Pfefferkuchenhaus.
Henry nodded. "I thought we'd raised her better than that. Jumping out and leaving us with all the dirty work."
Veronica smiled at Frau Pfefferkuchenhaus as she sat up, looking instantly better. "Hey." She said. "Listen, the Scarlet Hand's attacking, and since you're feeling better, want to go give Charming a hand?"
The old woman, looking very bewildered, nodded and heaved herself out of bed, heading for the door. Veronica decided not to point out that she was wearing footie pajamas.
"We can't be too hard on her, though." Veronica pointed out. "I mean, she's gone, and all. And it wouldn't be fair to punish her for something she hasn't done yet."
"Oh, but when we get then..." Henry said vehemently, shoving a spoon of blue liquid into Bella's mouth.
Bella sat up, blinking. "What's going on?" She asked, scratching her arms.
"We've got the cure." Henry responded, shoving a bottle and a spoon into her hands. "Go down to the other end of the tent and work your way back here, would you? The Scarlet Hand's attacking, and we need all the help we can get."
Bella shrugged and walked off, still scratching her free arm.
They worked their way towards the center of their room, Veronica and Henry going faster than Bella, who had to give both sides of the long tent the cure, and was still a little stiff from her long time in bed. Everyone who had something to contribute to the battle was sent outside, and the others joined the wakeup group.
By the time everyone was awake, the battle was over.
"They weren't expecting us to put up as much resistance as we did." Mr. Clay said. "They were unprepared, so we defeated them."
The Grimms and the leaders of the Emerald Foot were gathered in Charming's office to discuss plans for the future. Charming hadn't said anything yet, he was too busy staring at Snow, holding her hand as if it was the only thing that was keeping him from floating off into the sky.
Sabrina was watching the room, and the shadows of what had happened there before. She wondered if she'd ever see full visions again, or have a time when she didn't see ghosts flitting around. It was distracting, almost to the point that she couldn't concentrate on the conversation.
"How is everyone?" Snow asked. She wasn't quite as focused as Charming, but she wasn't complaining about his hold on her hand.
"They're recovering." Jake said. "But so far, everyone we've talked to has had something that isn't back to normal. On the other hand, Bess and Hamstead are back, almost completely. And they were the worst. I didn't think they'd make it."
"Do you have anything?" Daphne asked, looking at Snow, and fingering the feathers that were mixed in with her pigtails.
Snow pulled her hand out of Charming's and held it up to the light, so Daphne could see its wrinkles clearly. The rest of her looked as young and beautiful as ever, but her right hand was that of an old, old woman.
Sabrina hissed, because she could see the shadow of what the hand used to be, and saw the huge difference. But then she realized that Charming- Charming, who was the handomest man in town, possibly in the whole word, Charming, who was shallow and stuck up- had been holding Snow's ancient hand for several hours now, without the slightest sign that he cared.
"I wonder how they came up with the disease." Henry mused, changing the subject from Snow's hand.
"Morgan and I have been discussing that." Jake said. "We think they must have been trying to make themselves stronger. A super-soldier project, if you will. And it went wrong, so they gave it to us as a disease."
"Like those movies." Veronica said. "Where they try to cure cancer with the measles or something and it turns everyone who takes it into zombies.
"Pretty much." Jake agreed. "Except they had a cure, too." He held up one of the blue bottles.
"What was in that, do you know?" Robin Hood asked.
"Morgan and Nurse Sprat are running tests on it right now." Jake said.
Briar, hearing Morgan Le Fay's name again, made a face and wrapped her arms around Jake. He put his arm back around her, running his hands over her hair and the gray streak that was her price for the sickness.
"That was too easy." Mr. Clay said. "One guard over that many bottles of cure? They had to know we'd come for it. There must be a catch."
"That's why we're testing it." Jake said. "To make sure there isn't something worse underneath."
"So there's a possibility we've been fed poison." Briar muttered.
"We don't die for three weeks." Sabrina said cheerfully. "If that makes you feel any better. Or at least I don't."
Daphne raised her eyebrows at her sister. "Well, you're oddly happy."
Sabrina shrugged. "I'm better. It's nice."
"Yeah, so are the rest of us, but we're not bouncing." Puck muttered, his voice raspy. He ran his hands over his lips, which were now striped with ropy scar tissue.
"I dunno, I think it's pretty cool what Daphne came out with." Veronica grinned. "Hair feathers."
She ruffled Daphne's hair, and the ten year old ducked, making a face. "Mo-om!" She complained.
"What?" Veronica asked.
"Stop doing that with my hair!" Daphne pouted. "I'm not a little kid anymore!"
"Nope." Puck grinned. "But you have hairfeathers." He began playing with her hair, too, pulling a feather free and running his fingers wrong way down it, pulling the feather's individual pieces apart.
"Stop it!" Daphne snapped, jerking away from him. "That feels funny!"
"Sorry." Puck shrugged. But he was smiling so much it was obvious he didn't mean it.
"Anyway." Snow said pointedly. "Back on task, please?"
"What's the task, exactly?" Sabrina asked.
"Planning our next move." Mr. Clay rumbled.
"Oh." Sabrina said. "Will you guys listen to anything I say?"
"Probably not." Uncle Jake grinned at her, wrapping his arms tighter around Briar.
"Mm." Sabrina made a face. "And will I find this out later?"
"Most likely." Granny said. "We don't intentionally shut you out, liebling."
"Right." Sabrina said. "And will anything crucially important to my immediate future get talked about?"
"Not crucially." Henry said. "But maybe a bit."
Sabrina shrugged. "I'm going to go for a fly, then, all right? It's too nice a day to be inside, especially after being sick so long."
"Go right ahead." Veronica gestured to the door. "Have fun. But don't go too far! Be safe!" She shouted the last bit, because Sabrina was already gone, taking most of the rest of the kids with her.
Outside, they went their separate ways, but Sabrina just stopped, basking in the bright sunshine, eyes closed in her upturned face, where a small smile grew.
"Feels good, doesn't it?" A rough voice that Sabrina recognized but didn't said from next to her.
She opened her eyes reluctantly and was met with the shadows of the past again, but she also saw Puck, looking up at the sun, too. It was his voice she'd heard.
She smiled a little. "Yeah. I didn't realize how much I'd missed outside."
"I thought I did." Puck said, and the roughness of his voice made her flinch.
She reached a tentative hand up to his mouth, running it over the scars, slowly, as if he was a wild animal, and might bolt. "Does it hurt?" She asked.
Puck froze when she touched him, eyes widening. It wasn't until she put her hand back down that he said, "Some. Not as much as when I was still sick."
"I wonder if it'll ever get better." Sabrina said quietly, rubbing her hands together. Her fingers tingled a bit from where she'd touched Puck.
Puck shrugged and said, "I can deal. It's not like I lost an arm or anything. I just sound like I have a cold."
Sabrina decided to lighten the mood. Things were getting too serious. "Well, I think this is an improvement." She grinned at him.
"Yeah, now you don't have to worry about my siren-song voice." Puck teased, popping his wings out. "Now come on! We'd better go on that fly if we want to be back in time for dinner!"
Sabrina unfurled her own wings and followed him into the sky, grinning. She did a few loop-the-loops in the great summery expanse, her eyes shut.
Then she stopped, and stared at Puck, ignoring the shadows. "Wait... Siren-song?"
Puck didn't say anything, but he grinned at her.
"That was a joke, right?" Sabrina asked.
"You'll never know, will you?" Puck grinned at her.
Sabrina glared at him, trying her hardest to focus on him, not the shadows of him before, and a bird that had flown there a week ago.
Puck was looking back at her, and the longer her looked, the more concerned his face got.
"What's up, Grimm?" He asked. "You look... weird."
"Yeah." Sabrina nodded, "I'm fine."
"You sure?" Puck peered at her closely. "What's your leftover symptom? From being sick?"
"Don't worry about it." Sabrina said, closing her eyes. "It's not important, and I'll learn to deal with it."
Puck gave her a Look.
Sabrina rolled her eyes, but said, "Well, you know how I can see the past, right?"
"Right." Puck said, his voice flat. No duh was the subtext.
"Well, when I was sick, I started seeing it all the time, not in full-out visions like I used to, but like a shadow over everything." Sabrina explained. "And I'm still doing it. It's confusing, 'cause there's about fifteen things happening at once no matter where I go or what I look at."
Puck blinked. Then blinked again. "Shouldn't that give you a headache?" He asked.
Sabrina made a face, because she hadn't noticed the dull ache that was settling into her temples until Puck brought it up. "Thanks for that." She muttered. "Yeah, actually. It does, now you mention it."
"Maybe you should go talk to someone." Puck suggested. "See if there's a way you can fix it."
"Oh, like you're doing?" Sabrina asked. "I'll deal with it. They're busy right now, and there are other people who came out of it worse than I did. I'll just see if I can learn to ignore them."
"Suit yourself." Puck said. "But don't come running to me to complain when you can't put up with it anymore."
"Your confidence in my stamina astounds me." Sabrina rolled her eyes.
"Well, you bug me to help you all the time anyway!" Puck snorted. "Why should now be any different?"
"I'm a lot more self-sufficient than you think I am." Sabrina retorted.
"Sure." Puck said. "Which is why you always need me to rescue you."
"When was the last time I needed your help?" Sabrina snapped.
"Umm... let's see... that pickle jar, right before Art got sick." Puck said sarcastically.
"I meant for something big!" Sabrina rolled her eyes.
"Who got us out of Mab's dungeon?" Puck pointed out.
"That was months ago!" Sabrina snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. She hadn't noticed it, but as she'd argued with Puck, she'd been flying higher, and her wings were creating quite a breeze. "And before that I didn't need your help for anything for ages!"
"I saved your butt tons of times in the Book of Everafter!"
"What about the time when it was the four girls against the Five Chinese brothers? You weren't even there, and we handled ourselves fine!"
"If that's the only time you've done stuff on your own, you're screwed, Grimm, and I just won the argument." Puck stopped yelling and smirked at her.
Sabrina fumed at him for a few seconds and said, "You want me to prove I can take care of myself? Fine, I will!" She flew back down towards the ground, zooming into a dive.
"Whoa whoa whoa, Grimm, I didn't mean you should run off and get yourself in trouble!" Puck shouted, flying after her.
If Sabrina hadn't been so angry, she'd have snorted. She wasn't that stupid. Instead, she shouted, loud enough that she could be heard by the camp, "Puck, I challenge you to a duel!"
Puck stopped short, backtracking. "Whoa, what?" He asked, staring at Sabrina.
"I'm proving I'm just as capable as you." Sabrina said. "You versus me, one on one, you pick the time."
"All right then." Puck said. "Tonight at seven."
"It's on, fairy boy." Sabrina said, smiling fiercely.
"I hope you liked the medical tent, 'cause you'll be spending a lot more time there once I'm done with you!" Puck shot back.
Sabrina snorted. "You wish." But she wasn't as angry anymore, and she was losing some of her bravado. She glanced down at the crowd below and blushed. There were a lot of people down there, staring at them. That was embarassing. And that had been a pretty stupid comeback.
She flew back to the ground, touching down as gracefully as she could. There weren't actually as many people as she'd thought, a lot were shadows of people who had been there some time before.
Rubbing her head, she walked back inside Charming's office, where the adults were still talking. Uncle Jake had left, but otherwise, not much had changed.
"What's up, sweetheart?" Veronica asked, interrupting Charming in the middle of what looked like a rant.
"Not much, just dueling with Puck tonight, any pointers?" Sabrina said, trying to sound as calm as possible. "Also, can we go home? Please?"
"Back up a second." Henry said, his voice tense. "What do you mean, a duel?"
"I mean that Puck keeps treating me like I can't do anything and I'm sick of it, so I'm proving I'm capable." Sabrina said. "Relax, I can bet you twenty bucks he won't go all out on me."
"Sabrina, do you think this is a good idea so soon?" Granny asked, her eyebrows tilting up in worry. "You just got better."
"I'm fine." Sabrina assured her. "I just want to go home and get ready first, OK?"
"All right..." Granny said, her tone suggesting that she thought this was a very bad idea, but that Sabrina was old enough to make her own stupid mistakes.
"I'll take her home." Veronica offered. "Basil should sleep in his own bed, anyway." She glanced over at her son, who was sleeping on the floor.
Henry looked at her, and after a few seconds, Veronica nodded. Sabrina got the distinct impression that Veronica was supposed to talk her out of this. She set her jaw. Nothing doing.
Sure enough, as soon as they were back at the house and Basil was in bed, Veronica confronted Sabrina and said, "This is a bad idea."
"Mom, I have to do this." Sabrina said, resolute.
"Why?" Veronica asked, exasperated.
"Because you all don't want me to, and I have to prove I can!" Sabrina half shouted. "I'm sick and tired of being treated like I can't do anything." She took a deep breath. "Besides, we both know I'll be fine in three weeks. Anything that only takes three weeks to heal can't be that bad."
Veronica shook her head at her and sighed. "Fine." She said. "Go ahead. But be careful."
"Thanks." Sabrina smiled, focusing on the version of her mother that was in front of her then, not the shadows from before. She realized then, that she had no idea what she was getting herself into. "Uh... mom?"
"What's up?" Veronica asked.
"What exactly do I do in a duel?" Sabrina asked, blushing a bit.
Veronica laughed. "Just like your father." She said. "Jumping into things without thinking about them because of your feelings."
"Yeah, great." Sabrina said. "But what do I do?"
"Wing it." Veronica said. "You're good at that."
"Seriously?" Sabrina gave her mother a look. "I'm looking for advice, here."
"And I gave you it." Veronica responded. "I've never been in a duel, sweetie. Just... go there, and don't let Puck beat you up too bad."
"All right..." Sabrina said hesitantly.
"You'll do great." Veronica assured her. "I believe in you."