AN~ So that reviewing thing, guys. What happened? Is it 'cause I'm not updating on Friday anymore? I can sit on them 'til Fridays if you want. Or am I just spoiled?
QotU: Do I have any loose ends to tie up? I know I've asked that already, but I need to know again. What do you still have questions about?
Previous QotD winner: Alapest and earrings.
Review Replies:
hannnnnahhhhh: They've kissed more than that. You just haven't seen much of it, because this is not, nor has it ever been, a romance. But the rooftop scene will hopefully be romantic enough for you.
Savannah Starlit: Before you post this fanfic, I want to warn you about something: Savannah is a Mary Sue. Please look up 'Mary Sue Litmus Test' online and fill it out for your character; she's a little too convenient. QotD: You're not technically eligible for the QotD because even though you wrote quite a few long reviews, none of them are about MY story, which is the requirement. I was getting too many JUST QotD reviews, so I had to put in that standard.
The kitchen was empty. Of course, Sabrina had pretty much known it would be, because she'd have been able to tell if Tom was lying, but someone could always have been hiding in the corner somewhere. Or something.
"All right, everyone, go get as much food as you can," Mustardseed said, handing out bags to people as they filed into the kitchen.
They'd been gathering food for only a short time when the bell started ringing. Sabrina and most of the others spun to the source and found Cricket ringing it.
"What are you doing?" Peaseblossom shrieked, pulling his arm away from the string that rang the bell.
Cricket, whose expression was a bit vague, said, "I'm alerting them. Intruders in the castle."
"Cricket!" Peaseblossom wailed.
"Everyone out!" Sabrina called, "Everyone go now!"
"I can't believe you betrayed me again," Peaseblossom said to the blank-faced Cricket. "I trusted you!"
Cricket didn't even have the decency to apologize. He just shrugged and returned to the bell.
Peaseblossom's heartbroken expression turned furious, and, as he was going to pull the bell again, she slapped him fiercely across the face.
Cricket's expression cleared suddenly and he asked, "What did you do that for?"
Peaseblossom stared at him and said, "You were just ringing some sort of alarm bell!"
"No, I wouldn't..." Cricket trailed off, looking confused.
"Well, you just did," Peaseblossom snapped.
"Maybe he was under a spell?" Daphne suggested, pausing in her exit.
"I think I'd know," Cricket said, but he was looking more thoughtful than dismissive.
"Well, how can we tell?" Peaseblossom asked, giving her husband a strange look.
"Catch," Annie said, working something out of her pocket and throwing it to Cricket.
Cricket fumbled for the thing and, when he had it firmly in his grasp, began to glow blue, starting at his fingertips and working its way up.
"Nice," Daphne said appreciatively.
"Thanks," Annie said with a smile. "Cricket, someone's enchanted you."
"Great, he's not a traitor," Sabrina said, "Now can we get back to the running for our lives thing?"
"Chill," Tom said, and he sounded disdainful, which was so much more normal for what she knew of him than how he'd been acting today that she barely even jumped at the fact that his voice was right behind her. He continued, "I jumped in there and told them I'd been getting a snack and bumped the bell. They believed me. Helped that I had an apple in my hand. Idiots."
"So we're good?" Sabrina asked, "You sure? I hate to be a butt about this, but I really don't want to die today. So you have to be positive."
"I'm positive, okay?" Tom said, rolling his eyes.
"All right, everyone, false alarm!" Mustardseed called. "Go back to gathering! Come see me when your bags are full!"
The food stealing went smoothly after that, but after several minutes, Will looked up and said, sniffing, "Do you smell something burning?"
Everyone else sniffed and nodded.
It was Marcus who found it, and he said, "Ohmigosh the freaking cabinet's on fire!"
It was.
"Guys?" Sabrina said, "Know how I said run before? Run three times that fast. Now!"
Everyone scattered except Puck, Sabrina, and Will's girlfriend Yvonne. Sabrina was a bit surprised she'd stayed, since she was pretty sure the older girl had only come because Will was there.
"What do we do?" Puck asked, watching as the flames spread.
Sabrina shrugged and turned to Yvonne.
"We let it burn!" Yvonee said loudly over the growing roar of the flames. "We help it!"
"What?" Sabrina and Puck said in concert, both sounding incredulous.
"Think about it," Yvonne said, dangling a dishtowel over the flames, "THis'll be a huge blow for the Hand. They won't have their fortress. Or they'll have a lot less of it. We can totally take them down three notches if we do this! We can bring them to our level!"
Puck and Sabrina looked at each other and shrugged. Then Puck picked up a dishtowel of his own and hung it over the fire while Yvonne threw her burning rag across the room.
Sabrina watched them for a second, then backed away, shaking her head. "I... I can't, guys. I mean, leaving it is one thing, but... arson? People could die."
"We're in a war," Yvonne said, raising her eyebrows. "People are going to die anyway."
"Yeah, but... not like this," Sabrina said softly.
Yvonne shrugged and said, "Suit yourself."
Sabrina backed out of the room, eyes wide, and then, as soon as she'd left, ran for her life as the fire spread. She wasn't sure why, but setting a building on fire seemed worse than anything she'd ever done, and it was something she never wanted to do. She could kill people in a battle, and monsters whenever, but she couldn't set something on fire in cold blood. That was just... awful.
And she wasn't sure how she deal with Puck being okay with that.
There was a roar behind her, and she suddenly felt warmer, so she ran faster, putting Puck and this crisis out of her mind for the time being to deal with the more immediate problem of how to avoid being burned alive. She almost got turned around at one point, but Mustardseed had been waiting and directed her to the exit. She made it out of the building, panting and sweating from more than just exertion. Mustardseed, Puck, and Yvonne ran out a few minutes later, and everyone headed for the woods. Tom wasn't with them.
Soon after they'd all made it into the woods, there was a tremendous crackling crash, and the flames were suddenly visible from the outside. Minutes after that, Scarlet Hand members began leaving the building in droves, shoving each other out the small doors.
Several of the Emerald Foot members had stopped running and were staring, so Sabrina glared murder at them all and snapped, "What are you doing? Move move move!"
They moved, scurrying for the chicken house and away from Sabrina's wrath, full bags bouncing along with them.
Safely inside, they sat down as the chicken house bounded away, and Daphne said, "It's a bit sad, really."
"What is?" Jonas asked, pulling an apple out of his bag and taking a loud, crunching bite out of it.
"That it's all burning down," Daphne said. "I mean, I know they were evil and all, but the inside was pretty."
"It is too bad to lose the art," Red agreed.
"Whatever you say," Jonas said, looking bewildered, "I say good riddance."
Sabrina, listening, shook her head and walked off to the porch. She still wasn't sure what to think. She'd talk it over with Puck when he showed up, she guessed.
Tom was out there. He'd apparently come back.
"Where have you been?" Sabrina snapped.
"I was betraying your location to my multitude of friends in the Scarlet Hand," Tom rolled his eyes. "Where do you think I was? Covering your butts again."
"Well, thanks," Sabrina said, less angry now.
"No problem," Tom said, but he rolled his eyes.
"What is with you?" Sabrina snapped. "You're such a jerk! I know I've only seen you like four times, but you haven't said one nice thing in that whole time!"
"I can't help it that I'm better than you," Tom shrugged.
"Oh yes, you're absolutely amazing," Sabrina said, rolling her eyes. "So big and brave and strong and nice and powerful, Tom. I'm just astounded by your awesomeness."
"I may not be any of those things, but I'm smart," Tom said. "You should understand it. You're like me."
Sabrina gaped at him and, with an astounded breath of laughter, said, "I'm nothing like you."
"You don't want to be like me?" Tom asked.
"No!" Sabrina said, "You're nasty to everyone! I don't know why Cricket thinks you're a friend."
"'Cause I'm honest," Tom said with a shrug. "And I'm not a sheep like most of the Hand."
"Well, that's not a basis of a friendship," Sabrina scoffed.
"You really think I'm that nasty?" Tom asked.
"Yeah," Sabrina said.
"Well," Tom said, took a deep breath, and continued, "I'm sorry. Let me make it up to you?"
"How?" Sabrina asked skeptically.
"I'll take you to my favorite place in the world," Tom said, "It's an ice cream shop in Quebec. And I'll treat you to anything you want and try to have a civil conversation."
"Well..." Sabrina wavered, thinking of Puck.
"Come on, why not?" Tom said, holding his hand out to her.
"It sounds fun, but I was waiting for Puck," Sabrina said, "We were going to..." She trailed off.
"Why would you want to hang out with that loser?" Tom asked, smiling at her as if they were sharing an inside joke, or she'd just been nice to Puck, but now that a better offer had come along, she should drop it.
"Well..." Sabrina looked out at the woods they were traveling through, thinking. It was a beautiful afternoon, the slightest breeze moving the few wispy clouds through the gaps in the trees, and the leaves on the ground blowing around in patterns.
Ice cream sounded wonderful, even if it was cold. She hadn't had it in ages. And she still didn't know what she was going to say to Puck. But ditching him for a guy she didn't even like? That was just cruel. And yet... she got a feeling that they had to move very carefully to keep Tom on their side. He wasn't like anyone she'd met so far; he only seemed to help who he did on a whim. And she wanted to keep his whims focused on helping them for as long as possible.
So... "All right," she said, "But we'll have to take Daphne. If she finds out that I got ice cream and didn't take her, she'll flip."
Tom looked incredibly disappointed but agreed. So Sabrina went in, grabbed Daphne, and brought her back to the porch. Tom grabbed the two girls by the hand, and suddenly the three of them were inside a green and white ice cream parlor that was entirely too quaint for what Sabrina would have expected of Tom.
The ice cream was incredible, and Tom was nicer. Still annoying, stuck up, and sarcastic, but he was trying, Sabrina could tell. After they'd finished, Tom brought them home, and Sabrina smiled at him as Daphne ran off.
"Thanks," she said, "That was nice."
"No problem," Tom answered with a return smile, "Maybe we can do it again sometime."
"Maybe," Sabrina agreed.
Tom hesitated for a moment, then said, "Well... yeah. See you around, I guess."
And then he was gone.
Looking at the place he'd been, Sabrina shook her head. He was a strange one.
"Sabrina!" Puck called, coming up to her from elsewhere in the room.
"Hey," Sabrina said, smiling awkwardly. She still didn't know what she'd say to him.
"Where've you been?" Puck asked, "I've been looking for you since we got back."
"Tom took me and Daphne for ice cream," Sabrina said, giving him a look that showed how confused that made her. "It was... weird."
"He's weird," Puck muttered.
"We've established that," Sabrina said.
"So..." Puck said, "You wanna go?"
"All right," Sabrina agreed.
They headed for the roof as discreetly as possible and laid down on opposite sides of the peak, leaning against the chimney, not touching, Puck doing most of the talking.
"What's gotten into you?" he asked eventually. "You're all quiet and weird."
Sabrina, who up 'til now hadn't had any idea what to say, suddenly found it exploding out of her, and she said, "It's just that you were totally okay with burning down a building and we could have killed them all and I've been burned before, Puck, and it hurts like heck and I think that would be the worst way to die and you were pretty much saying that that was all right and I don't know how I feel about that... or how I feel about you thinking that."
"I wasn't," Puck said, once they'd been silent for long enough that he was sure she was finished.
"Weren't what?" Sabrina asked, looking at him for the first time.
"Okay with burning them all to death," Puck explained.
"Then why did you..."
"When I was there, remember that?" Puck asked, glancing over at her, "Well, I saw the safety precautions they have. They're ridiculous. I knew they'd all get out. So I didn't have a problem with it."
"Oh," Sabrina said softly.
"Why does it bother you so much?" Puck asked.
"I don't know," Sabrina said, "I've been trying to figure it out, but... burning just seems... horrible. I mean, I've done some horrible stuff, yeah. This is a war. Everyone does horrible stuff. But that's too far. If you're going to kill someone, it should at least be quick."
"Yeah, I guess," Puck shrugged. "Hey, listen, next time you find out something that bothers you that much? Tell me."
"Why?" Sabrina asked, "So you can tease me about it?"
"No, so I can make sure I don't do it," Puck said, rolling his eyes. "I only tease you about stuff that doesn't matter. Important stuff... I love you, Sabrina."
Sabrina wasn't quite sure how those two statements led into each other, but she said, "I love you, too."
"Good," Puck said, and he leaned over to kiss her.
Sabrina started to kiss him back, then pulled back, smacking her lips. "Puck, you taste disgusting. Go brush your teeth."
"I did!" Puck protested, though he stood anyway.
"When?" Sabrina challenged, raising her eyebrows.
"Yesterday..." Puck muttered.
"I thought so," Sabrina said, rolling her eyes.
Puck flew off, and Sabrina smiled dryly. She went to shift herself, and found that she couldn't. She was stuck to the roof.
Suspicious, she reached down and felt at it. Sure enough, the distinct texture of dried glue lined the seat of her pants.
"Pu-uck!"
She heard a high-pitched giggle from over the edge of the house.
When Puck returned, she refused to look at him, arms folded, glaring resolutely at a cloud that looked like a Christmas tree.
"Oh, good, you waited for me," Puck said, smiling at her. "I wasn't too long, was I? I'd hate for you to have been stuck here for ages being bored."
"You better have something that'll get me free," she said, glaring at him.
"Oh, I do," Puck said, grinning at her, "But you'll have to earn it."
"How?" Sabrina asked sullenly.
"Kisses," Puck answered, "I have not gotten nearly enough of them from you recently, and I want to make sure you stay put long enough for me to get caught up."
"Kiss my butt," Sabrina muttered.
"I would," Puck said, grinning, "But that'd be a bit difficult, seeing as you're glued to the slates. You could take off your pants and then I could kiss it," he suggested brightly.
"Heck no!" Sabrina snapped, indignant. "My pants stay on!"
"Too bad," Puck said with a shrug, "That'd be an easy way for you to get free."
"I hate you," Sabrina said, folding her arms.
"You love me," Puck said confidently, and he sat down very close to her.
Sabrina turned her face away from him.
It took several tickling misplaced kisses for Sabrina to give in, deciding that Puck had had enough punishment, and it obviously wasn't working. She'd just have to try a new way. So while she was kissing him back, she worked her hand into his sweatshirt pocket, feeling around slowly until she found a small bottle that he'd used to free her from his glue-messes before. Breaking the kiss, she pulled it out triumphantly grinning at him.
"How did you-" Puck asked, gaping.
Sabrina unstoppered the bottle and began applying it to the seat of her pants, working her way free while he was still confused. She only got about halfway done before he came out of his daze and started trying to get the bottle back.
"Wait a minute, I wasn't done yet!" he said, grabbing at the bottle with his left hand and her face with his right.
They struggled for a while, and eventually Sabrina worked herself free, letting him kiss her a few times in the process. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the kisses, Puck just had to earn the right to kiss her. And gluing her down was not earning the right. So when she worked her way free and he chased her, she flew for the sky, laughing as she left him behind.
Of course, he had that whole mega-speed thing, so he caught up in seconds, pinning her to a tree.
She turned her face away resolutely, still laughing a little.
"Come on," Puck pleaded, "Kiss me back."
"You know what you have to do," Sabrina told him.
Puck rolled his eyes and said nothing for several seconds, but Sabrina just stared at him until he said, "I'm sorry."
"Do you promise not to do it again?" Sabrina prompted.
"I promise not to glue you to the roof of the chicken house again," Puck muttered grudgingly.
That wasn't really what she wanted, but it was better than nothing, so she said, "All right."
Puck grinned and pressed his lips to hers. This time, she kissed him back.