It was a humid summer night, and Faith's world was falling apart. Glamoured as Nerissa, she had just been interrogated by Crane to no avail, and thankfully rescued by Snow White and her pet sheriff. Now she waited for Georgie in the dressing room. She knew that if he found out her true identity, she would likely be killed. So, as always, her lips were sealed.
Suddenly, she heard a car-no, two cars-pull up close to the back door. Mundy cops? But the Mundy police weren't usually subtle, and she didn't hear sirens. Curiosity got the best of her and she crept closer to the door. She couldn't make out everything the Tweedles were saying, but she gathered that they wanted Crane for themselves.
Faith wasn't surprised. She knew Crane wasn't the killer, of course, but if the Crooked Man truly wanted to frame him, he couldn't have the disgraced deputy mayor blabbing. In any case, when Faith heard gunshots and growling, she decided that maybe now was not the best time to be standing right by the door. But before she could make it back to her seat, she heard a husky female voice say, "And we want the girl, too."
Her eyes widened. They couldn't possibly be referring to her. Maybe the Crooked Man wanted to kill Snow and take over the business office. She relaxed a bit, knowing that Bigby would never let that happen. But that relief was short-lived. Before Faith could catch her breath, a high pitched screeching sound pierced the air, seeming to come from all directions.
She had no choice but to run. As she burst out of the back door, she saw Snow hunched over Bigby, who was bleeding out. In front of them was Tweedle Dum's body, and a woman who Faith had never seen before. Snow shouted at Faith to get back inside, but there was nowhere she could go.
"You're coming with me. Crooked Man's orders." the stranger said.
"I don't think I'll be of much use to you."
"Believe me, you will."
"What about Crane?"
"He's taken care of," said the woman, as Faith realized that one of the cars had disappeared. "Now get in."
She stepped forward, then faked left and ran back into the dressing room. There was the high pitched noise again. The lights flickered, and Faith was sure the place was about to blow up. Instead, the mirror on her desk began to glow, and as the screeching got louder, a face appeared. Faith had made a big mistake.
The woman from the alley climbed out of the mirror as if it was a tunnel. Once again, there was nowhere Faith could run. She had heard the Mundy stories about Bloody Mary, but she never would have guessed that the poltergeist would want Nerissa of all people. As far as she knew, Nerissa didn't have much information about the investigation, and even if she did, she wouldn't be able to divulge it. So Faith went with the villain. After all, her ribbon prevented her from revealing anything about her clientele, and years of practice made her better at playing dumb than most. Still, she thought her legs might give out as Bloody Mary led her to the car. She glanced at Snow one last time. If Faith was to be killed, at least she could die knowing Snow's conscience would never be unburdened.
The Crooked Man's car seemed a whole lot darker on the inside than your average Mercedes-Benz. Perhaps he had enchanted it. The drive couldn't have lasted longer than ten minutes, but sitting between Dee and Bloody Mary, it felt like hours.
Finally, they parked. Faith stayed silent as the villains led her through some sort of portal into what looked like the hallway of a castle. This wasn't the craziest thing that had ever happened to her, but it was definitely up there. She wondered if this castle had a dungeon.
Dee led her through what seemed like endless labyrinthine hallways. Afraid to look around, she opted instead to try and eavesdrop on Bloody Mary and the Crooked Man. She thought she heard the grotesque old man say her name, but she pushed away the thought. There was no way they could know who she really was.
At last, they came to a door. It looked exactly the same as every other door. There were no room numbers, no signs, and Faith knew deep down that she was going to die here. Bloody Mary unlocked the door, and Dee shoved Faith onto a beat up couch. It appeared to be some kind of storage room from centuries past. Although it wasn't the torture chamber Faith was expecting, she was still petrified with fear. There was no way out.
Bloody Mary had had to execute her fair share of prisoners before, and she knew that this time would be no different. The Crooked Man had left her in charge of Faith while he and Dee interrogated Crane. The prisoner was cuffed, but still glamoured to look like Nerissa. Bloody Mary was going to change that.
"Faith."
"That's not my name."
"Cut the bullshit. Where's your glamour tube?"
"These lips are sealed." Despite the fact that she was shaking like a leaf, Faith was not making this easy.
"I could kill you now and no one would ever find you," Bloody Mary said, axe in hand.
"Or, you know, you could... not do that?"
The villain looked at her prisoner. She wasn't wearing much, as expected from her line of work, but Bloody Mary noticed an odd pattern on her hairpin. Gotcha. She yanked it off and opened the cleverly hidden glamour tube. Faith, her true identity now revealed, glared up at her captor. Bloody Mary glared back. But as she did, something changed.
Killing Faith should have been no big deal. But as the prisoner looked up at Mary, the poltergeist no longer saw a disposable puppet for the Crooked Man. She saw a person.
Maybe Bloody Mary wasn't so bloody after all.
She knew she would have to kill Faith, or risk being killed herself. But the Crooked Man was still busy with Crane, and Dee was nowhere to be found.
Faith cleared her throat. "Are... are you alright?" She asked.
That caught Mary so off guard that the Woodsman's axe came clattering to the floor. She looked at the weapon and then back at Faith. "I can't do it," she whispered.
"Have a change of heart?"
"Don't push it," Mary said as she fiddled with Faith's cuffs.
As if the metal clanking summoned him, the Crooked Man opened the door.
"Ah. So you were able to undo her glamour," he said, not seeming to notice Mary turning bright red.
She finally found her voice. "Yeah, but the ribbon still keeps her from talking. I don't think she'll be of much help to us, or Bigby for that matter," she said. "But, I don't know. Maybe we should keep her around a little longer. After all, she'd make a great bargaining chip."
"Have you lost your mind? I ordered you to dispose of her if she couldn't talk!"
Bloody Mary wanted to protest further, but the Crooked Man handed her the axe before she could say anything. Trying to keep her hands steady, she raised the blade over Faith's head. With one swing, this would all be over and she would never have to think about it again. She closed her eyes.
She couldn't do it.
She looked back at the Crooked Man, who gestured for her to continue. But she had had enough. She tried to swing at him, but the damned curse prevented her from doing any damage. What had she done?
The Crooked Man was fuming. Mary didn't think she had ever seen him
that angry, and in that moment she knew she would be killed. He took the axe.
"Fine. If you want her alive so bad, you can both rot in the dungeon together."
The dungeon was cold and dark, and it smelled like rotten eggs. Faith still wasn't sure what Bloody Mary wanted with her, but somehow she knew that the specter was no longer a threat. No longer held back by the concealed glamour tube, Faith's hair covered her eyes. As she was still in handcuffs, she couldn't sweep it away like she usually did. So when she heard footsteps coming closer, she was sure that the Crooked Man had come to finish the job that Mary couldn't. But instead, a shaky voice echoed throughout the cell.
"Are you okay?" Mary asked.
"What the hell do you want from me?"
"I want to know if you're okay."
Faith shook her head in disbelief. "Well, I could be better, but considering that I'm supposed to be dead, I'd say I'm pretty alright." She looked up at the failed executioner. "Why on earth did you spare me?"
"Faith..." She shook her head. "It doesn't matter now."
"Yes, it does. You saved my life, and I want to know why."
Faith stood up and faced her fellow prisoner. The red streak in her hair seemed to be fading, or maybe that was just Faith's imagination. Her heart was racing as she closed the gap between them. Mary was a good few inches taller, but she seemed to shrink under Faith's gaze. Then it hit her.
"You..." The shorter woman began, her eyes wide. "You like me."
Mary's face was redder than her hair. "Is it that obvious?"
Despite everything, Faith chuckled. Who knew that Bloody Mary, the specter that haunted children's nightmares and possibly killed the sheriff of Fabletown, could look so adorably flustered?
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid... These lips are sealed." Faith smirked.
But as she turned her head, she realized that her ribbon was gone. Her eyes widened and she remembered Vivian's curse. But before she could say anything, the two prisoners heard footsteps coming down the dungeon stairs. Shit.
Tweedle Dee was pissed. Faith backed up as close to the wall as she could, but Bloody Mary had other plans. Shrieking like she had done in the dressing room of the Pudding and Pie, she somehow broke free of her cuffs and advanced towards the bars of the cell. Dee was armed, of course, but Mary didn't care. She phased right through the cell door and stabbed Dee before he had time to shoot. Unfortunately, the Crooked Man was following behind him.
She knew her powers were useless against him. But as much as she wanted to run, she knew she couldn't leave Faith.
"Bold as always, I see."
The shriveled old man would have been no match for Bloody Mary if not for the curse. But he was nothing if not smart, and he knew that his former executioner couldn't hurt him. How Faith managed to convince her to ignore his orders was still a mystery to him, but at this point he didn't care. Bloody Mary was not a threat to him, but what she didn't know was that the curse went both ways.
Just as the contract prevented her from hurting the crooked old Fable, his bullets would be useless against her. But he could still threaten her. After all, no one ever reads the fine print.
He drew his pistol, but Bloody Mary did not back down. He began to advance toward her when Dee pulled the shard of glass out of his abdomen and lunged at the escapee. Faith was still trapped in the cell, so she could only watch as the one remaining Tweedle beat Mary. It got to the point where she couldn't look anymore.
As Faith sobbed quietly, she heard the cell door open and close. Making a run for it was the last thing on her mind after seeing what had just happened. After what seemed like an eternity, she heard footsteps receding into the distance. Finally, she looked up.
Mary lay motionless beside her. Faith was almost too afraid to check if her fellow prisoner was breathing, but then she saw her chest rise and fall and realized that she was the one holding her breath. She scrambled over to Mary and held her, not caring that the specter was getting blood all over her. Faith choked back tears as she realized that they were both going to die there.
Some time passed, and Faith was trying to break out of her own handcuffs. She knew it was futile. But if she didn't have hope, she had nothing. So when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs for the second time, she prepared to face the Crooked Man with no mercy.
But the footsteps sounded different this time. Heels? That's odd… As far as Faith knew, she was the only one in the castle who wore such footwear. Listening closer, she made out a second set of footsteps that sounded like clunky boots. Not wanting to get her hopes up, Faith concluded that Dee had brought in another prisoner. So it came as quite a shock to her when Bigby Wolf and Snow White appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
Mary awoke to a bright light. She could just barely hear familiar voices arguing outside the interrogation room below the Business Office. What the hell? Bigby was supposed to be dead, but then again, so was Faith. Snow spoke firmly to the Sheriff before the door opened and the two investigators entered.
Mary spit out a mouthful of blood. "Bigby?" She squinted at him. "Am I dead?"
"No, but if you don't cooperate you will be."
Snow glared at Bigby before speaking. "Faith told us everything. So if your story doesn't align with hers, I'm afraid you're going to prison."
Faith. The one person who mattered most to Mary was alive. The poltergeist began to sob, catching both interrogators off guard. After the fight in the alley, Bigby didn't think she was even capable of emotions. But in this moment, she felt more than she had felt in her entire life. And Fables, as Colin had so eloquently put it, live a long fuckin' time. But one thing didn't add up.
"Where's the Crooked Man?" Mary meant for her voice to sound menacing, but after Dee's violent response to her failed escape attempt, she could only muster a cracked whisper.
"That's none of your concern." Although the Sheriff knew that Mary was no threat to him in this state, he was never one to forgive and forget.
But Snow took pity on the prisoner. She figured Bloody Mary had suffered enough at the hands of the Crooked Man, so she told the villain what had happened.
After Swineheart patched Bigby up, it wasn't long before he and Snow were able to apprehend the man behind the murders of Nerissa and Lily. And because Vivian sacrificed herself to free the other girls, convincing the rest of Fabletown to throw the true villain down the well was a breeze.
"So he's gone?"
"Yes. And don't get any ideas, or you're going to be right down there with him." Bigby growled.
"God... finally," Mary looked up at her interrogators with teary eyes. "I've been under his curse for years... and now-"
"Curse?" Bigby barked. "What the hell?"
"I was so stupid," the specter began, "When he offered to kill the man who imprisoned me, I agreed to his terms. I-" She coughed. "I was forced to do his bidding for... too long. So when I couldn't kill Faith, I thought for sure he was going to kill me. But now that he's gone, I'm finally free." She looked at her hands, still cuffed. "Well, sort of."
Snow was the first to speak. "Yeah, between Faith's account and Bufkin's knowledge, I figured there was something deeper going on." Her voice was soft. "I'm... sorry it had to get to this point."
Mary took a painful breath. "Don't be sorry, there was no way you could have known."
Bigby wasn't fully convinced. After all, he had almost been killed in that alley. But with Mary cuffed and Bluebeard guarding the door, he found that he no longer had a reason to feel threatened. He let Snow wrap up the interrogation, and just as he was about to leave, he heard a knock at the door.
"May I come in?" Faith's voice was muffled through the heavy door, but there was no mistaking that it was her.
Bluebeard didn't budge, waiting for orders from Bigby or Snow. After a few seconds, the Sheriff sighed and turned to Mary.
"If you try anything, you know what will happen," he growled.
"I can barely even move, what the hell do you think I'm going to try?"
Bigby narrowed his eyes at her before gesturing for Bluebeard to step aside. And there she was, as beautiful as always. Faith ran to Mary, and the two women embraced once more. Bigby and Snow looked at each other before deciding to leave this one to Bluebeard, who was still standing at the door.
Faith cupped Mary's face in her hand. "God, I thought they'd leave you to die," she said with tears in her eyes.
"I... I'm sorry for dragging you into this," Mary whispered.
"You saved my life," Faith replied, "There's no need to be sorry."
The room was spinning before Mary's eyes. She tried to speak, but could only cough up more blood.
"Shh. It's okay, I know." Faith spoke steadily, though she was terrified of losing Mary. The words escaped her lips before she could fully consider them.
"I love you."
Although Swineheart's medical knowledge was a couple centuries behind, he was able to get Mary bandaged up more easily than he had expected. After some hemming and hawing, it was decided that the former villain would be on indefinite probation. With Faith's help, she negotiated for Snow to be her parole officer. Understandably, Mary didn't want to take orders from a man ever again.
Same-sex marriage may not have been legal for Mundies yet, but god damn it if Fabletown wasn't different. At that year's Remembrance Ball, Mary sported a ruby engagement ring. Although this world was different from the Homelands, the couple knew that one thing was for sure.
They would live happily ever after.