AN~ Reminder:
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The name of this story is scheduled to change. This is a warning, and I will not be changing the title quite yet, because people will no longer be able to find it. Soon, though (in approximately two chapters), this story will be called 'The Long and Winding Road'.
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The Winner of Last QotD: Oh, gosh, I can't pick one. Archer Princess gave me one with the benefit of 'Previously the Never Gonna Happen Challenge', which is great, but Psycho Crazy Curl Girl and PenguinLoverGurl both had great ones. I think I'll pull pieces from all of them. So three winners.
New QotD: You've been locked in a knitting factory and forced to make sweater-vests for the rest of your life by the owners. How do you escape? You only have things you'd find in a knitting factory to do this.
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Bluedragon: Glad you like the fanfic, and I feel that I disagree with your opinion on this pairing slightly, mostly because your only argument against it is 'bled' when you can call them 'purple' just as easily. Though I am a bigger fan of Red/Basil. Do you have an account to do the challenge with?
I'm srry: You're kind of late. Over a hundred chapters late, actually.
Agd: I agree that the name could be kept because this is a big story, but the whole reasoning behind it was that Sabrina would never become an Everafter. And she did. About the previous chapter: she stopped expanding the barrier 'cause she'd reached her marker.
oah ehm gee: Thanks! EVERY DAY? Holy crow that would be a lot of writing.
PenguinLoverGurl: Took me a second to figure out why TUG was relevant... I shall fix the capitalization error. I'm surprised Sabrina hasn't done that BEFORE. QotD: I think you did a pretty good job.
Sabrina tugged at the line, but whatever was on the other end (she really hoped it was the fish they were trying for) was pulling back just as hard. Maybe two weeks ago she could have gotten it, but she was still feeling a little rubbery.
"I- can't..." She grunted, pulling at the fishing pole.
Daphne joined her, wrapping her arms around her big sister and digging her heels in as Sabrina yanked. Finally, with a loud popping splash, the two fell backwards, a fish landing on top of them.
"Oh, not you two again." A peeved voice said as the girls righted themselves. "Don't tell me you're going to end up as bad as your uncle."
"Actually," Daphne said, dusting herself off, "he's part of what we bothered you for. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't important, of course, but our family is being held captive in the Little Mermaid's stronghold."
The fish looked around at the group and groaned. "Don't tell me you're all Grimms. You people bother me so much. Almost as much as that Nottingham fellow."
"Oh, no, but their families are gone too." Daphne assured him.
Sabrina, though, had had her interest piqued by the second half of the comment. "Nottingham?" She asked. "What's he doing here?"
"Same thing as you." The fish rolled his eyes- an interesting sight- "Bothering me to be able to breathe underwater. I can do so much more, but all you people want is to swim."
"Other wishes from you tend to go horribly wrong, though." Mustardseed observed. "Wouldn't you rather we just ask for something simple and then not ask you to undo it?"
"Well... maybe." The fish huffed. "But it would be nice to use my full skills again, once in a while."
"Show-off." Sabrina muttered.
"Takes one to know one, sweetheart." The fish shot back. "Can we get on with this?"
"I wish we could all breathe underwater." Daphne said.
On everyone's heads appeared starfish, and the fish jumped back into the water muttering about young people interrupting his important schedule. Sabrina would have yelled something after him, but she'd remembered the side effect of not being able to breathe above water, and was in the process of getting in the Hudson herself, into the blessedly cool water and the beautiful ability to breathe. The others followed, some catching on faster than others.
"Where to?" Mustardseed asked once everyone had been accounted for in the murky river water.
Daphne pointed upstream, and she and Sabrina headed off in what, if they remembered correctly, was the right direction, the others following them. They were almost positive it had been very pressed up against the old edge of the barrier. But the further they swam, the more worried Sabrina was that she'd been wrong. She was just about to admit they'd made a mistake when the castle became visible through the silt. They must have gone under further south than they'd thought.
"Where are we going now?" Mustardseed asked.
Sabrina pointed around back, to where she knew the Crustacean had been kept. She figured it was as good a place as any. "I don't know if we can get in from outside this way." She said. "But we should definitely not go in. From what I remember, the place was swarming with merfolk."
Daphne nodded. "Surprised we haven't seen any yet."
Puck appeared out of nowhere, snickering, and said, "I know why."
"Why?" Sabrina asked, rolling her eyes.
Wordlessly, Puck pointed down to the riverbed.
Below them was a rather soggy picnic blanket covered in equally soggy food. On it sat two people: the Mermaid herself and Nottingham. They were holding hands.'
"Holy-" Daphne burst out, shoving her hand in her mouth, and thankfully cutting off any noise that might have alerted the happy couple.
Sabrina's eyes bugged out slightly less than most people's, because she had had a hint a while ago, but she was still shocked. And slightly disgusted.
"She looks like she's lost weight." Daphne muttered to Sabrina.
Sabrina nodded back and began swimming off, still staring at the duo below her. Most of the others were doing much the same.
When they reached the far side of the castle, Sabrina began concentrating on the shadows around her, looking for any with legs. Hopefully, if she found them fast enough, nobody would know just how little of the castle they'd seen. Most of them were merfolk, but through one window she saw a flash of chain, and attached to it, legs.
"We go in here." She said confidently, pointing to the window. "I can find it from there."
"You're sure?" Mustardseed asked. "It's been a long time since you were here."
"I'm sure." Sabrina reassured him. "I'm double-checking everything."
"Oh, good." Mustardseed said, and he relaxed suddenly. "Here I was afraid you were doing all this by memory."
Daphne rolled her eyes, swimming through the window. "Would we be that stupid?" She asked.
"Yes." Puck muttered, but the girls ignored him.
After another ten minutes or so of Sabrina and Daphne pretending to know what they were doing, they'd reached what was definitely a prison, even if it was made out of some very odd materials, with rows of stone and concrete bars crisscrossing each other, mixed with some rustproof metals. Most of the cells were filled, and most of their occupants were the adults they'd come for, all with their own head-starfish. There were no guards in sight, which worried Sabrina.
"Mom!" Daphne shrieked quietly, swimming over to her mother, in a cell nearby.
"Girls!" Veronica whispered. "What are you doing here?"
"We came to rescue you." Daphne said.
"You shouldn't have come." Henry scolded. "What if you'd been hurt?"
Sabrina shrugged, looking for a way to let them out, and said, "It was only a matter of time, anyway. It's just us kids and the old people you left at the fort. We had to do something."
Most of the kids had run to their parents, but a few (Sabrina, Mustardseed, Peaseblossom, and several of the older, more reserved children) were searching for keys, or weaknesses.
"Daphne could always grow something through the place." Sabrina suggested, and she thought she saw her sister's face brighten.
Mustardseed shook his head. "Too dangerous. For one thing, something could fall on someone, or we could bring the whole place down, and it would also alert people to our presence."
"Alert people to our presence. Who talks like that?" Puck asked, rolling his eyes. "Speaking of that, though, why aren't there any guards?"
"The Mermaid threw everyone out so that she could have a date." Uncle Jake said. "I heard the guards complaining about it."
"Too bad they didn't leave the keys behind, right?" Puck joked.
"I've got it!" Peaseblossom shouted from the corner.
"The keys?" Puck asked rather stupidly.
"No, but I do have a way to get them out." Peaseblossom said, grinning.
"So what is it?" Sabrina asked impatiently.
"We'll use Daphne's plant thing." Peaseblossom said. "But we'll use it to hold the place steady while Art breaks it down."
"Will that work?" Sabrina asked dubiously. "He's not at full strength, you know, after..." She trailed off, nodding to Art's lopsided chest muscles.
"I can do it." Art said, though he didn't sound as confident as he might have. "And if you messed with gravity a bit, it'd be easier."
Mustardseed nodded. "It doesn't just have to be him, actually. We can all help. Especially those of us who can transform. As long as Daphne can make sure the structure of the building isn't compromised, we don't have to be careful."
Daphne nodded and closed her eyes. There was a quiet rumble, and then, worming their way through cracks in the building, came tree roots by the hundreds, securing themselves around everything not living. When they stopped moving,about fifteen minutes later, the outer walls and the ceiling were as much root as they were building.
Once the roots were still, everyone set about destroying things. The fairies and Daphne transformed into things like whales and sharks and began ramming the walls, Art shouldered against a large concrete block and sent it toppling, Sabrina switched the gravitational forces of two walls near her to each other and upped their pulls so that they crashed into each other in the center of the hallway, and everyone else started clearing away rubble and pulling adults out of the wreckage.
They were done in twenty minutes.
"That was surprisingly easy." Daphne said, dusting off her hands, then realizing what she was doing and putting her hands down.
"Or not." Sabrina said, her eyes widening as she stared at something behind Daphne.
Daphne spun and saw a frighteningly large crowd of armored merfolk, spears at the ready.
"You just had to say something, Marshmallow." Puck muttered, pulling out his sword.
"Sorry!" Daphne protested, handing Henry her sword and pulling out a dagger.
The other kids handed their parents weapons similarly, and they began to battle. It was interesting, fighting underwater: everyone moved much slower and tired more quickly, even the merfolk, who had the obvious advantage, having lived in this environment their whole lives. Sabrina lost a lot of her advantage with the lack of speed, and she got sliced in the wing, a billow of red exploding from between the black feathers. Eventually, and she wasn't sure how, they found themselves all exploding to the sky and swimming as fast as they could to the shore, the merfolk following and throwing spears, seeming reluctant to break the surface. Sabrina peeled off her starfish and gasped, breathing in air for the first time in too long, and dragged herself onto the shore, spreading her wings out on the grass and rocks.
She was one of the last ones up, because her wings had slowed her down a lot, and they weren't letting her stay put. Daphne was already dragging her back, away from the spears the merfolk were throwing, pulling her to her feet and forcing her to run, even though all she wanted to do was lie down and never get up again. She'd decided that she was not a creature of water.
They retreated a lot further than Sabrina would have liked before she was allowed to sit down in the sun and spread her wings so they could dry. Maybe if that happened, they'd feel less like dead weights on her back.
"What were you kids thinking, coming after us like that?" A woman, probably Eve's mom (she was glaring directly at her) shouted. "That was idiotic! You could have been killed!"
Eve shrugged, brushing off her mom's shouts in a way Sabrina wished she could react to her father, and said, "But we didn't. And now you're back."
"What were you guys thinking, getting kidnapped, anyway?" Daphne said, crossing her arms. "We wouldn't have had to be risky if you weren't in trouble."
Veronica, who had been glaring with the other parents, burst out laughing, joined by Jake. Most of the adults gave them betrayed looks, but some others joined.
"Sorry." Veronica apologized. "It's just... they have a point. And... Oh, gosh, girls, it's good to see you again." She bundled her children into her arms, smiling.
Sabrina draped her arms around her mother limply, and Daphne squeezed, though not as hard as she usually would.
"How'd you guys get captured, anyway?" Peaseblossom asked, looking at her mom suspiciously. "You're better than that."
Charming shrugged. "We were unprepared, surprised, and overpowered because of that. And most of us didn't have our weapons on hand."
"Well, I think we-" Puck began, puffing his chest up.
"Shouldn't gloat." Mustardseed cut in, glaring at his brother.
"Fine." Puck muttered, looking down and kicking at a tuft of grass.
"Sorry we weren't here sooner." Annie apologized, looking up at her dad as she hugged him. "We didn't know where you were, though."
Her dad kissed her forehead silently.
"Well." Robin Hood said. "I think we should head back to a safe haven now, and continue our discussion there."
Sabrina groaned, but stood, and began walking, held up in part by her mother. It was a long, slow walk home, with a lot but not enough stops to rest, and by the time they'd made it back to the Grimm's house (Sabrina had wanted to call the chicken house, but Rapunzel stopped her, saying it was unfair), it was twilight. Bella greeted them with a dry roast turkey (cooking was not one of her strong suits) and empty beds, because she and Nurse Sprat had spent the day moving the remaining injured people back to the hospital tent in the fort.
It was decided that it was too late for the people who lived in the Golden Egg to return home, and because Sabrina was injured, she was sent to the hospital tent to make room for them to stay. She slept long and deeply, and when she woke, she was stiff and uncomfortable and not at all rested, but allowed to go home with instructions to leave that bandage on her wing and not use it for at least week- no exceptions, and no complaining.
On her way back to Charming's mirror and her own, she passed Mr. Seven, who was shuffling from foot to foot nervously.
"What's up?" She asked him. "You look like you're expecting to get slapped."
"Well... figuratively." Mr. Seven said. "I have a date with Morgan, and I have something important to ask her."
"Wait." Sabrina said, putting her hands up. "You and Morgan le Fay are dating? What?"
Mr. Seven nodded. "We have been for a while now. I don't know what she sees in me, but Mordred hasn't killed me yet, so I suppose it might just be that. After all, she could have anyone she wanted."
Sabrina grinned, walking on. "If it helps, I think you're one of the nicest guys in town. And good luck with your question!"
"Thank you!" Mr. Seven called, though he still looked nervous
Sabrina walked off, wondering what the question was.
It had been almost a week of full-on training, with the adults trying their best to plan out the Scarlet Hand's next move, except for Mr. Seven and Morgan Le Faye. His question had been a wedding proposal, and the two were so wrapped up in each other that they were ignoring everyone else. Puck had been watching them and envying Mr. Seven his courage, or watching Sabrina and wondering if it was worth it to bring something up, for most of the week.
The previous day, Puck had actually talked to Mr. Seven. He'd seen the boy watching them and headed over to find out why Puck had been staring for several days.
"What's up?" Mr. Seven asked, far more amiably than Puck would have expected.
"Um..." Puck felt himself reddening. "Nothing, sorry. I'll leave now."
"No, what is it?" Mr. Seven asked, waving to Morgan. She nodded and smiled, blowing him a kiss before she walked off.
"It's just..." Puck trailed off again. There was no good way to explain what he had been doing there, nothing that would both explain what he was up to and save face. He took a deep breath and said, "I'm jealous, I guess."
Mr. Seven smiled. "Morgan is quite a catch." He said proudly.
Puck shook his head. "No, it's not Morgan. I mean, she's great and all, she's just... not my type. It's..."
"Sabrina?" Mr. Seven asked, giving Puck a smile that would have bothered him if he wasn't so confused.
He wanted to slam his face into the wall. Was he that obvious? "I just..." He started, "How do you do it? Just up and tell someone you care about them?"
"Pretty much just like that." Mr. Seven said.
"But that's so embarrassing!" Puck complained.
"Well, of course it is." Mr. Seven said. "If love was easy, it wouldn't be special."
"...What?" Puck asked, brow furrowing.
"Why do you think we all crave love so much?" Mr. Seven asked. "It's because it's special, it's rare, and it's something we have to work to keep, or get. So you have to put yourself out there. You have to lay yourself bare and hope that the person you love feels the same way, because if you can't be vulnerable with the person you love, then your relationship will never work."
"So I just... go talk to her?" Puck asked incredulously.
Mr. Seven nodded. "Pick a time when you won't be interrupted and just tell her. It'll be the hardest thing you'll ever do, but if you can, you're braver than most."
Puck stared at him. "I don't think I like this."
"You can do it." Mr. Seven assured him.
Puck took a deep breath. "All right. I'll try, I guess."
Mr. Seven watched him walk off with a small smile on his face. "Go get her, Puck." He muttered, then headed back to find Morgan.