A/N: (Updated: February 23, 2025) Hey guys! I meant to say this last chapter, but I apologize for the OOCness. I thought gray Quigley would make a more interesting story than white Quigley (morality wise). Makes him more real, more human. I hope you enjoy nonetheless! ^_^ \m/

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Disclaimer: Me no own ASOUE. Sorry, I'm not the droid you're looking for. *shrug*

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Chapter 19:
Fight Fire With Fire
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It was ready. Well, almost. We were pretty close. It was deep enough to where I had to deploy my rope. The pit was just like my plan––cold and unforgiving. I could just feel its intentions in the air, our homemade maw itching to swallow a poor, unsuspecting soul, never to see the sun shine again. I still couldn't believe I had come up with this idea. Who was I? Did I even know anymore? Did the fire twist something inside me, recalibrating my moral compass? Was I becoming the very thing that I promised Jacques I would stop? So many thoughts rushed through my mind, worse than the adrenaline rushing through my veins right now. I hope Violet would understand. I couldn't bear to lose her over this. I only wanted to help her, and I was running out of options on how to save her sister. But we'd get Sunny back, I'd make sure of it.

Okay. Break time. Time for a snack. I'm starving. "I'm gonna get something to eat," I told Violet and Klaus. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay," Violet said, and resumed digging.

I gripped the rope and climbed up the side. I pulled myself out, headed over to the arch, and sat down against it, right beside my backpack. I unzipped it and pulled out a carrot. I ripped a bite off and looked up into the night sky. The moon was high above the mountaintops, its glare bright and disdaining as it shone its supremacy down on what we were doing. Off in the distance, probably on a different mountain, I heard the faint howl of a wolf. Or was it one of our enemies lurking in the dark? Very well could be. It was hard to tell in the shadows. The four drafts were just as callous as the villains up top Mount Fraught, cutting through my layers to where my skin felt its icy, soulless breath. Though my hands were gloved, I couldn't feel my fingers, either because of the cold dirt or the amount of work I'd put them through. In fact, I was surprised they were still working. I was surprised I was still awake. I'd never felt stakes like this before. The severity of the situation began to sink in. We were playing with fire now, and it was only a matter of time before we got burned.

I finished my carrot and looked down at my hands. They were committing evil. Willingly. I was doing this for Violet. Was this what love was? A twisted, convoluted devotion to another? Who knew an innocent feeling could have such mature connotations? My stomach flipped. I was sick. Sick of what I was doing. It wasn't me. Mother and Father raised me better than that. I could only picture the disappointment on their faces as they watched me commit such an atrocity. Maybe we should fill it in, pretend this never happened. Maintain our innocence.

But no.

It was his turn to bleed.

My face darkened and I began to grit my teeth. My girlfriend and her siblings were suffering at the hands of a greedy, vile man. For whatever reasons he had against them, he'd gone too far. He had to be stopped. At all costs. I was running out of moral ways to put an end to this, so I had no choice but to flirt with the dark side of humanity for a bit. Just until he was no longer a threat. I hope it wouldn't be much longer. I was already exhausted by what I was doing.

Just then, Violet popped up from the pit and made her way over to me. I smiled, relieved at her fantastic timing, as it yanked me right out of my psychosis. She returned the smile as I slid over to make room for her. She sat down and rested her head on my shoulder, the magnitude of our deed weighing down on her. I wrapped her in my arms and we watched Klaus lob dirt out every so often with the pitcher. I'd love to tell her everything would be alright, but I wasn't certain. For all I know, this plan could go horribly wrong. Backfire. Head south. And I would be to blame. Everything between me and Violet depended on this, and God forbid it didn't go my way.

"You hungry?" I asked.

"No, I'm good," Violet said. "Just taking a break."

I watched her shiver and I hugged her closer, hoping that would warm her up. I was ready to give her my coat should she shiver again. She wasted no time melting into my embrace.

"I don't know about this," Violet said, shaking her head.

"Don't know about what?" I asked. "The pit?"

"Yeah," Violet nodded. "Are you sure we should do this? It doesn't feel right."

"I'm only doing this to get Sunny back," I assured her. "If there was a better way, I would've done it."

Violet looked at me, those beautiful browns unconvinced. "I don't think our parents would approve of what we're doing."

I looked at her. "Our parents aren't in our predicament."

"True. But I can just feel them yelling at us right now."

"I'm sure they'd understand."

"Would they, though? They raised us better than this."

"I know. But sometimes you gotta fight fire with fire. If we always take the high road, we won't get very far."

"What good is getting far if you lose yourself?"

My mind came to a screeching halt. She was right––I was out of line. She was an angel; too good for me. A voice of reason. I didn't deserve her. How she could fall for a monster was beyond me. And how dare I force her to change her virtues for my sake. "You're right. But that promise you told me about, the one about you protecting your siblings. You take that seriously."

"I do."

"What if this was the only way to protect Sunny from harm? Would you do it?"

Violet was quiet for awhile, probably fighting a civil war within herself. "Only if this was the only way."

"If we can't climb back up there and get her, then we have to do this."

Violet sighed. "I don't like it. I feel like I'm just as evil as they are."

"You're not," I turned her head so she'd look into my eyes. "You're far from evil, Violet. If anyone's evil, it's me for coming up with this."

Violet smiled weakly. "You're not evil, Quigley. You're just trying to get Sunny back, and I appreciate it. More than you know." She reached up and gave me a kiss.

I smiled, my cheeks sizzling again. Her kisses were so sweet, with a hidden twinge of insurgence mixed in there. I couldn't get enough of them. They were a drug––the best one out there––and I was hopelessly addicted. I looked back at the pit and watched Klaus throw another pitcherful of dirt out. Immediately, my face became dewy and cold. Dawn was only a few hours away, and I could only cross my fingers and hope for the best. If anybody but Esmé fell in, we'd be screwed. We couldn't afford to mess this up. And if we did? I could kiss Never Never Land goodbye for the rest of my life.

/

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

"Are you ready? Quigley!"

I jerked awake. I had fallen asleep again leaning on the arch. Oh, God, what a night. I don't think I had hands anymore. Even my spyglass set to 'heat' wasn't enough to get the blood pumping through them. Frostbite had surely crept in and swiped them when I least expected it. I looked around in a daze until I saw Violet looking at me questioningly.

"Huh?" I grunted.

"Are you ready?" Violet asked.

"Uh...yeah," I said. I reached down and dug around in my backpack for the Verdant Flammable Devices. I pulled out two and zipped it back up. I set them on the far side of the pit, closest to the waterfall, so that way, when I lit them, the smoke would camouflage our dirty little secret. I walked back behind the arch and got out my spyglass. Twisting the rings to the right configuration, I aimed the laser at the Verdant Flammable Devices. In no time, up curled a very dense wall of dark green smoke. This was sure to get somebody's attention. I turned off my laser and extended my spyglass, averting my attention to the scum above. Nobody yet. I looked over at Klaus, who was looking up at the summit through his spyglass. "Klaus, see anything?"

Klaus shook his head. "Nothing."

"Give it some time," I said, then looked at Violet. She, too, was gazing up at the top of Mount Fraught, praying nobody would come down the waterfall. I watched her bite her lip. She was just far enough away to where I couldn't be sure, but she was probably trying to fight back tears. I looked back up through my spyglass, unable to watch her misery any further. I had done this to her. I inwardly kicked myself. For a guy who loved a girl so much that he wanted to save her from the evils of the world, I sure loved to make her suffer. I took a deep breath and kept my eyes peeled. Five minutes went by. Ten. Fifteen.

Nothing.

I looked at the Verdant Flammable Devices. They were still going strong, but I couldn't see them amongst the smoke. I didn't know how much more time they had left to burn, and I didn't want to waste them all on this one objective. Oh, please, somebody, anybody at this point, come down here. I didn't know how much more time Sunny had left before something bad happened to her.

Then, there was a red speck. And it was beginning its descent down the waterfall. My eyes widened as I fumbled for my spyglass to get a better look at our target. "Someone's coming down that slope!" I said.

"Must be Sunny!" Violet said, glancing at me.

Oh, I hope so. Hopefully we can get a better look at their face the closer they got to the bottom.

"I don't think so," Klaus said, looking through his spyglass again. "Whoever it is, they're too tall to be Sunny."

Damn! Now we have no choice but to use the pit.

Klaus looked at us. "That's strange. It looks like they're on fire." He looked through his spyglass again.

Violet snatched his spyglass and took a look for herself. "It's not fire," she said. "It's fashion."

"Esmé!" Klaus said.

Yes! Talk about luck. Things were going exactly as planned. We pressed ourselves right up against the arch and braced for the scream that was to come. A few more minutes went by before there was a horrible scraping of ice. My heart beat faster, almost to the point where it was hard to see. There were footsteps. Closer they came. Closer. Closer. I squeezed my eyes shut. There was a whining of wood, a horrified, surprised screech, and a hard crash!

Uncomfortable silence filled the air, and Violet, Klaus, and I looked at each other, both of them looking uneasy, a tiny, triumphant smile on my face. I couldn't believe it. My trap worked. A fly had gotten tangled in my web, and I was ready to eat it. I was the first to come out from behind the arch, followed by Klaus, then Violet. My legs grew more and more unstable with each step I took. It was time to get a look at our catch.

"Is she alive?" Klaus asked when we reached the pit.

"Get me out of here at once!" came a thunderous roar as Esmé stood up and paced around like a hungry lion.

"She's alive," I said.

"Get me out of here!" Esmé screamed again. "When my boyfriend finds out that you trapped me down here, he is going to be so angry!"

We walked into view and I glared down at her.

"Oh this is rich." Esmé grinned in surprise. "You're not volunteers at all––you're Baudelaires! Olaf will be so disappointed you didn't die when he dropped you off that mountain. But, he'll be thrilled he'll get to kill you all over again." She looked at me. "You! Didn't you float off in a bunch of balloons?"

Again with the Duncan insult. I'm tired of it. Some days I wish he didn't look like me. "I'm Quigley Quagmire," I growled. "I survived the fire."

"Some days you just can't catch a break," Esmé said, shaking her head.

Good. I was glad to throw a wrench in their plans. I'm just full of surprises, just ask Duncan and Isadora. "We'll get you out Esmé," I said. "But only if you help us get Sunny back."

"And what if I refuse?" Esmé said.

I felt my throat tighten. I hadn't thought of that part of the plan. I thought she'd immediately be on board with getting Sunny back if we scared her enough into helping us. I refused to darken my plan. I looked at Violet and Klaus, hoping they had an answer to this question, but I was wrong. They were just as speechless as I was.

"That's the problem with your side of the schism," Esmé said. "Being righteous and well-read never gets you anywhere." She leaned against the side of the pit. "When I was your age, I was supposed to waste my entire summer reading Anna Karenina. I didn't think that dumb book would ever help me, so I threw it in the fireplace. And look at me now! I'm beautiful! And fashionable!"

Geez. This woman was something else. Maybe I wasn't wrong to trap her in the pit. Hell, if it were my choice, I'd leave her down here and climb back up to get Sunny myself.

"You're tapped at the bottom of a pit," Violet said.

"And I'm still better off than you!" Esmé said. "You will never save your sister! Just like you'll never save those rich kids hiking up Mount Fraught to celebrate False Spring."

My eyes widened. I thought back to what Violet and I heard from under Count Olaf's car. No...

"False Spring?" Violet looked at me, and terror was in her eyes as well.

"Countless orphans!" I said.

"Countless fortunes!" Klaus said.

"They're going to kidnap the Snow Scouts and murder their parents!" Violet said.

Esmé smiled smugly.

I gritted my teeth. That's what they were discussing up there! We had to stop them. Fast.

"We have to get her out of there," I said.

"I can make a pulley to get her out," Violet said.

"There's no time. I'll tie my rope to the arch and have her climb out," I said.

"Then what?" Violet asked.

"We'll climb back up there and trade her for Sunny," I said.

"How're you going to get me up there?" Esmé said.

"Um," I said, thinking.

"Exactly. If you weren't such an idiot, you would've thought about that."

"He is not an idiot!" Violet spat fiercely.

I blushed with a sheepish grin. Thanks, MacGyver. I appreciate it. I'd never seen her so hostile before. To be honest, she was cute when she was angry.

"Then I suppose you know how we can get there," Esmé said. "The toboggan doesn't go uphill, so I actually have no idea how we can reach the peak."

"She will invent a way," I said firmly.

Violet smiled at me, thankful for my support, and I returned the gesture. I am curious as to what she'd come up with to get us all up there. She closed her eyes. It was a few minutes before she opened them, only this time, her face had fallen.

"What?" I asked.

She sighed. "We have to pull her up on the toboggan as we climb."

My eyebrows rose. "There's no other way?" I asked, astonished at her answer.

Violet shook her head, looking like she was sorry that her inventing skills had failed.

I sighed. This day just keeps getting worse. "Alright. Let's go."

I tied my rope to the arch and helped Esmé out of the pit, much to my disgust. I packed it away and Violet and I got our climbing gear. She rigged up some fork-assisted climbing shoes for Klaus, finding some spare forks he could use for ice testers, and she ad hocked a chair back Esmé could lean back on while we climbed. We begrudgingly wrapped the toboggan straps around our waists, Esmé climbed on the toboggan with a cruel giggle, and we began our ascent.

"Mush!" Esmé shouted. "Mush! Mush! Mush!"

I growled under my breath, fighting to breathe as I stabbed my candelabra leg into the ice. Immediately, a big chunk came undone from the waterfall and skydived to the bottom. And right then, water began to seep out from the rock. I gulped. That's not good. The ice was thawing, and I can only pray it stayed frozen until we got to the top. It was one thing to fall from the waterfall and die as I climbed up the first time with Violet. It was another thing to fall and die because I was dragging a despicable woman up Mount Fraught with the Baudelaires. I wouldn't have it. If I was going to die, it would be on my terms, in my way. And this was the last way I wanted to die.

"Mush! Mush!" Esmé shouted again. "Mush! Mush!"

"I wish you'd stop saying that!" Violet yelled. "It's not helping!"

"I wish you would 'mush' faster!" Esmé said.

"I still don't like this plan!" Klaus said, jabbing his fork-assisted climbing shoe into the waterfall.

"Me neither, but what choice do we have?" Violet snapped.

"Mush! Mush!" Esmé said. "Mush!"

God, I don't know how much more I could take of this. This is hell. Definitely one of the worst moments in my life, other than the fire and when I got my nose punched by that one kid in school for liking the same girl he did. Please, make it stop. I can't do this anymore! Right about now, I think I'll take my chances with falling and dying at the base of the waterfall.

This day couldn't possibly get any worse.