Fable Justice (E-4)

by Chadw996

Bigby Wolf was cursed to die seven times, one time he was too damaged and was reincarnated. When Jason awakens after his death, he has flashes of another life, as the Big Bad Wolf. He returns as sheriff of Fabletown while keeping an eye on other supernatural cases. [DC/Young Justice, Fables/Wolf Among Us, Grimm, and more] (Harem)

2. Ch2: Murder Mystery

AN: I don't own Dc/Young Justice, Fables/Wolf Among Us, and more.

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Chapter Two: "Murder Mystery"

It has been about a month since Jason rejoined Fabletown. Most Fable citizens now know that the Big Bad Wolf is back and the sheriff once more.

Right now, Jason was taking a taxi to Toad's apartment complex, with the radio mentioning how hot June is.

Once he arrives at the Tenement Building in the Bronx sometime after midnight, Jason pays his cab driver and steps out and it leaves him there.

Around this time, his previous self would light a cigarette to smoke. Jason had broken the habit, however. Bigby had done it to dull some of his senses to handle living in a city like New york, but Jason had trained his senses to filter what he didn't want to smell, making it easier to track others.

Jason was wearing a red button up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He wore grey pants and red sneakers for running.

Jason looks at the note of the location to make sure he was at the right place and goes into the building with the yellow 79-89 Ford Mustang Foxbody in front of the main door.

Jason opens the door to see a 2-3 foot tall toad on two feet wearing clothes standing at the foot of the steps looking upstairs.

"Mr. Toad...", Jason greets almost ominously.

"Shit...", Toad mutters before turning to the sheriff with a smile, "Wolf! Listen mate, I know I don't look human", as Jason walked up to him, closing the door so anyone on the street won't see Mr Toad, "It's a problem, I get it, I just stepped out of the apartment just a second to see what kind of damage this drunk shit is doing", Mr Toad quietly explained to Jason, "Just cut me a break, yeah? I'll get me glamour first thing in the morning. Cross my heart.".

Glamours are spells that allow the user to change their appearance. They are expensive, but are required for non-human Fables like Mr. Toad to be among Mundies. While cheaper glamours can be found, they are often unreliable and prone to sudden failure.

"Look, no harm done...", Jason tells him, "I'll give you a pass, but listen... If you can't afford to look human, you're going to the Farm. It's as simple as that".

The Farm is home to Fables who can't pass for human, such as giants, goblins, animals, etc. It is currently located in upstate New york, far enough away Mundies to avoid detection. Due to many who can't or won't get a glamour, the residents view it like a prison. They can only leave if they get a glamour or somehow gain human form.

Mr Toad shakes his head at that, "You can't send me up to live with those animals...", Jason quirked an eyebrow at that, "You know what I mean".

"Go see a witch. Get a glamour", Jason instructed Toad.

"Wolf, they're bleeding me dry, mate. The quality of the spell goes down but the rates keep climbing up", Mr Toad complains to him, "Do you have any idea how much it costs to keep an entire family in glamour?"

They heard some kind of glass smashing from above, causing Toad to look up the stairs.

"I don't make the rules. Sorry", Jason tells Toad, bringing his gaze back to Jason, "I can't give you a free pass on this, Toad. My hands are tied".

"Right, right", Mr Toad dejectedly agrees.

"There's too much at stake", Jason reminds him, "Whatever it costs, it's worth it. You don't want me catching you out of glamour again", the end sounding a but threatening.

They then hear glass from upstairs smash outside as a old tv falls onto the sidewalk, from what Jason could tell via the noise.

"Fuckin' Hell", Toad exclaims at the noise as he covers his head, "See? This is what I called you about, Sheriff", having his hands on his hips, "You just going to stand there? Do something, Wolf", he was begging at the end, "Before he completely tears up the place".

Jason sighs, "I should probably go handle this", and goes up the stairs to the left side of the hall.

"Yes, please", Mr Toad says, "Thank you", he smiles and waves after him before slumping into an angry bitter appearance, "Furry pricked gobshite... tell me how to spend my money...", he mutters before spitting onto the ground.

"Dad, the lights are shaking again", the son of Toad tells him, with his head peaking out the door into the halls.

"What'd I say?", Mr Toad asks his son, "You want the Big Bad Wolf to take you away?"

"No", his son fearfully says while shaking his head, his voice going low.

"Then get the fuck back inside", Toad reprimands his son, going over to make sure he does as he's told.

Jason soon arrives to the floor the noise was coming from.

He could hear a man tell someone they were going to know who he was. The other person, a woman, was trying to stop him, telling him that he's drunk.

As he walks to the door, he spots something on the ground. It was a matchbox, torn so he couldn't tell where it was from. He pockets it before heading for the unhooked phone in the hall. he hands it up to to its out-of-service noise being annoying before he then turns around to face the door to the fighting.

Not waiting anymore, Jason kicks it open to see a bald bearded lumberjack smack a woman across her face.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey!", Jason shouts as he rushes forward and pushes the man into the wall. He then holds him there.

"You got something on your face...", the beaten woman tells the bearded man.

He looks to her in anger, "Fuck are you talking about you stupid cu-", before she then spits blood into his face, between the brows. This angers him more, "I'll fuckin' kill you".

"Alright, everyone just cal-", Jason goes but the bearded man headbutts him away, causing Jason to stumble back a few feet.

Jason rubs his face off as the other man cracks his neck.

"the fuck are you going to do? Huh?", the bearded man asks him, "Get the fuck outta the way before you get the axe again".

"You're drunk, alright. Think this through", Jason tries to reach him, "If you keep on like this, I won't have nay choice but to put you down.

"Put ME down?", the man questions, "You got a shit fucking memory, Wolf. That's not how it went last time".

"This isn't last time", Jason growled.

The bearded bald man before him was the Woodsman, also called Woody, the man that stopped the Big Bad Wolf and saved Red Riding Hood. Lets just say he was a shit person compared to the stories.

Woodsman goes to throw a punch, drunkenly telegraphing it, so Jason catches it and twists it behind the man's back. Woody brought his head back and headbutts Jason again which caused his nose to bleed, but Jason held strong and he tightens the hold on the arm.

"You going to calm down?", Jason demands as the Woodsman groaned in pain.

Jason then pushes him across the room into into the kitchen shelving unit. As they struggle, Jason grabs a nearby beer bottle and smashes it over the back of the Woodsman's head.

Woody grabs his toaster machine, "Go fuck yourself!", and bashes it to the side of Jason's head with a backhand, sending Jason stumbling back and allowing the Woodsman to get up.

The Woodsman then throws the toaster but Jason ducks to avoid it. Woody goes to grab a pot but Jason rushes forward and holds his arm against the Woodsman's throat before grabbing him by the collar and twisting him around, he then pushes him to the spring bed frame to the left of the girl and The Woodsman lands on his stomach over the side of it.

The Woodsman turns over to get up but Jason had came forward and landed on his gut with his knee who then kept his weight on it to hold Woody in place as he proceeds to beat his head in. Right, left, right, left, before then grabbing him again and pushing the bald bearded man into the couch in the far corner. The couch tips over as the Woodsman lands in the corner.

Jason stalks to the couch, "Had enough?", he aggressively asks. Only to be met with the Woodsman using both legs to kick the couch away from him and into Jason, knocking the wind out of him.

Woody gets up and wipes the blood from his mouth, "At least make this a fucking challenge", he gruffly taunts to Jason as he pushes the knocked over couch to the side and goes to Jason.

The Woodsman grabs him by the collar and holds him up to choke him but Jason grabs the top of Woody's head with right hand and pushes it up before punching him in the throat with his left. The Woodsman stumbles as he grabs his neck while releasing Jason.

Jason grabs his arm again and twist it before pushing him into the bookshelf on the other side of the girl, knocking his head against the wall and causing what little was on the shelf to fall to the ground.

"Back off, asshole", The woman aggressively says as he was to close for her liking.

The Woodsman ignores her as he grabs a standing lamp and swings it at Jason. Jason ducks under with ease and kicks Woody in the back of his right knee, causing him to fall to it. Jason proceeded to grab him by his face and slams it back into the bookshelf. He then picks him and up and throws the Woodsman towards the apartment's door.

The Woodsman stumbles as he wipes his face of blood before turning and grabbing his axe that was laying against the wall by the door.

Jason approaches as the Woodsman swings the axe down, dodging at the last second and causing the axe to be embedded into the wooden floor. Jason grabs the axe by the shaft near the axe head and the two men began a tug-of-war over it. Jason has and idea and forces it to the Woodsman, slamming the pommel of the axe into Woody's stomach and he falls to the ground. The Woodsman goes to get up but Jason comes in and slams the side of the Axehead across his face, causing him to fall over.

Jason takes a deep breath as he now believes the fight to be over.

Jason tosses the axe away towards the door to the hall and looks to the now approaching woman, "You should probably get out of here".

She crosses her arms, "Look... I'm not leaving till I get what's mine".

"Yer nod geddig shid, bidch", The woodsman says as he leans on his left elbow while holding his jaw, "Aisle fuhged puhd yew in da ground. Yew her me?"

"Hey! If you can't be nice, I'm gonna make you wait outside", Jason tells the Woodsman.

Before he started messing with his jaw, "Ah, fuhged... shid...", as it cracks, "Yew bogue buy jaw, yew badturd", he says through his messed up face.

Jason sighs as he approaches the woman again as he looks back to the Woodsman, "And still you talk", before looking to her as she overlooks her face in her compact mirror.

"Fug gyoo", Woody groans from where he lay.

"What the hell is going on? What happened?", Jason asks the woman.

"A little misunderstanding that turned into a real shit show", she says while focusing on her mirror before looking to him "Don't worry. You saw the best bits."

"Ders moar where dad cameb frumb, gurlie", the Woodsman utters out.

"Knock it off!", Jason turned to him with a snarl.

the woman closes her mirror and looks to Jason, "Look, this is just the start of a shitty night for me. I just need the money he owes me and I can go", crossing her arms.

"Are you alright?", Jason inquires to her health, despite the bruise around her right eye and the blood from the left of her mouth.

"I'm hunky dory", she says while looking away upset, "Thanks for asking".

"What's your name?", Jason asks so he just doesn't refer to her as "the prostitute" in the paper work.

"Whatever you'd like it to be, handsome", she says as though it was a routine.

"Don't make this more difficult than it has to be", Jason bemoans.

"Sorry, Sheriff. Wouldn't want to add more difficulty to your night", she remarks.

"Why was he hitting you?", he asks her.

She takes a moment before saying, "He asked me if I recognised him... knew who he was... i said I didn't. he started beating on me. Then you showed up, started beating on him", she looks down to the Woodsman, "That about cover it, hun?"

"I'd Duh Woodsman, yooo hoar...", Woody grumbles at her, "... aye saveed liddle reeed raiding hood frum this... monster... I cut dus fugger open... and filled hids belly full of...", he snaps his jaw back in place, "ugh, stones... AND THROW HIM IN THE FUCKING RIVER. That's who the fuck I am, you stupid bitch!", he yells in anger as he gets to his feet

Jason stalks towards him, "HEY! What'd did I say?! I said be nice, or you wait... out... side!", as he charged the Woodsman and tackles him out the window.

The both go falling into the street but hit the street lamp before them and they seperate, with the Woodsman landing on the road while Jason smashes on top of the Mustang with all the glass smashing.

Jason then woozily opens his eyes to see the night sky with the smashed up building and the ow broken lamp flickering above him. He lifts his head up to see the Woodsman laying a distance away with his head on the sidewalk, seemingly unconscious.

"Aw... shit...", Jason groans before laying back onto the bent roof of the car with Toad outside looking at the car in horror, "Hey, Toad", Jason says.

"My... car...", Mr. Toad almost cries.

"Yeah. Gimme a second", Jason groans.

"Oh, no. By all means. Take your time", Toad sarcastically says, "Male yourself comfortable".

"Sorry about the car...", Jason groans out an apology, "we ended up going out the window. Couldn't be avoided".

Toad shakes his head, "I can't be mad at you... I called you... and you come to help... I can't be mad", he slips into anger at the end, "But even when you help... things end up more fucked than when they started".

Jason groans as he remembers his previous life and his screw-ups then, along with them now.

Toad looks over to the tailend of the car, "Well, at least your not fucking dead", just before the Woodsman grabs Jason by his leg and pulls him off the car. He grabs him by his collar and pushes Jason into a bus stop. He moves his hands to his neck and begins to choke Jason.

Jason grabs Woody by his neck to reciprocate the action. The Woodsman tightens his hold and Jason retaliates by grabbing him by the face with his other hand/

"Quit fucking around", The Woodsman snarls before biting Jason's thumb to release his hold on his face. He slams him into the glass of the bus stop, "I know your fucking in there", as his hold around Jason's neck tightens, "Come on out you fucking dog. I'll put you out of your misery".

Jason felt his consciousness slipping as the Woodsman continues his taunts, "You fucking mongrel... you ignorant mutt... Come on out Wolf".

Jason eyes changed to that off his Wolfman form and his teeth shapren as he begins to lose control of his more animalistic instincts before the Woodsman get the gift of his own axe to the back of his head by the prostitute. Woody stumbles away before falling to the ground, the axe still embedded in his skull.

The woman looks to Jason with worry while he composed himself, appearing completely human once more. Seeing that Jason was alright, and that the Woodsman was crawling away, she angrily walks to him before he falls flat again.

She begins to search the bearded man's pockets while Jason came up to her.

"What are you doing?", Jason asks her.

"I'm just getting what he owes me", she looks to him before resuming her search, "You alright back there?", she stops and looks to him, "I mean.. your eyes... and the teeth... you're not really supposed to do that are you?", as she turns back to the Woodsman's pockets.

"Not if I can avoid it", Jason remarks with a head shake.

The woman sees that all she can find is loose change, not enough for her situation, "Great", she angrily retorts before throwing the coins at the Woodsman and getting to her feet. She begins kicking him.

"The guy's got an axe in his brain, he's not feeling that", Jason shares.

"It's more for me", she smiled, "He'll be fine"

"Aisllle kill yew. Yew fuckin bidch", the Woodsman suddenly says as he woozily swings his hands back to grab something.

"Let me help you with that", she snarks as she grinds her heel into the axehead to push it into his head soe more.

"Guy's havin a bad day", Jason comments as the Woodsman's face is ground into the road.

"That makes two of us", the woman remarks as she presses down before taking her foot away, "I guess it's a good thing Fables are hard to kill".

Jason shrugs, "I suppose it is", as she walks away to her purse on the steps into the building.

Jason goes about taking the axe out from the Woodsman's head, having to plant his foot into Woody's back as the axe was deep in the back of his skull. His head and upper torso was being pulled up tih it as The Woodsman mouth was left hanging open as Jason pulled out the axe before he fell to the ground once more.

Jason then tosses the axe away again and approaches the woman as she begins to walk away in the other direction.

She takes a cigarette and begins to try and light it but her lighter wasn't working, "Shit... just... come on...", and she stops as she repeatedly flicks it to no avail.

Jason stops behind her and takes out the matchbook, "Here". and he hands it to her.

"Thanks...", she offers a smile before taking a match and striking the back to light it before lighting her cigarette.

Jason scratches his stubble while she takes a puff and the duo stood in silence before Jason asked her, "Who do you work for, really?".

She looks down in gloom before saying, "These lips are sealed... sorry."

Jason was a little annoyed at the lack of an answer as he looked at her but he wasn't going to force her to talk.

She looks to him, "Hey", she smiles, "You like my ribbon?", she asked as she holds her hand up to the purple ribbon tied around her neck.

"Beautiful...", Jason says with a straight look.

She looks down again, "Thank you...", she sighs and takes another puff.

Jason furrows his brow, "I feel like we met somewhere before...", he shares.

She shrugs, "We probably have. We all sort of knew each other at one point or another... but things change I guess".

"I guess", Jason agrees, referring to his reincarnation.

Jason looks back to check on the Woodsman to see how he was doing only for him to be gone.

"Shit...", 'son of a bitch pulled a Batman on me?', Jason mutters and he goes to look for him.

The woman grabs his hand, "Stop", she tells him, "We don't have to make anymore of a thing out of it than it already is".

"Are you sure?", Jason asks with a raised brow. Who knows what a drunken and currently brain damaged fable could do.

"Eh, he's had enough", she claims with a smile, "For tonight at least. Wouldn't be surprised if he had an axe to grind though", it was silent as Jason looks to her with a slight smile before she realized what she did, "That wasn't intentional... sorry.", she realizes she is still holding his arm and lets go in a panic, looking away from him.

"How much was it that he owe ya?", Jason asks.

She hesitates before sharing, "A hundred", and she flicks some ash away from her cigarette.

"...and I'm guessing it would be bad for you to show up empty handed", Jason remarks.

She looks to him with a smile, "I'll be fine", she states.

Jason takes what remains from his wallet. He only keeps a hundred on him a day to avoid over spending. And as he arrived near the end of the day and hadn't been him to restock.

"Fifty-eight", Jason says to her as he holds the money out, "It's all I got on me. It'll help, right? take it".

She shakes her head, "It's okay. I'll be fine", she waves him off, "You've done enough really".

"Just... take the money, okay?", Jason kindly insists.

She sighs before taking it and stuffing the money into her bra, "You got me out of a bad situation back there... thanks", thanking him for his help with the Woodsman.

"I'm still gonna need a statement", Jason tells her.

"I have to go drop off... what I have", she informs him as she looks away from him to down the street.

"Meet me in my office then", Jason suggested.

She looks back to him with some humor, "It's a little late for an office visit, Sheriff. I'll swing by your apartment".

Jason's brows furrow, "How do you know where I...?"

She cuts him off, "You live in the smallest apartment in The Woodlands. Everyone knows that".

"Good to know", Jason remarks with a slight depression in his tone. Everyone has to know where the Big Bad Wolf is hiding for there safety.

"You should get cleaned up", she tells him with a smile, "You look like shit", referring to his bloody and dirty appearance from the fight, "And I don't use that term lightly".

"Wow... tel me what you really think?", Jason snarks back with a smile.

She seems to be in her thoughts before saying, "Hey. I need to tell you something".

"Well, what is it?", Jason asks.

She leans close into his right ear, "You're not as bad as everyone says you are", and kisses his cheek. she walks passed him and heads down the street, "I'll see you around... Wolf", she waves back at him without looking back.

As she rounds the corner, Jason looks around the area, from the hole on the third floor where he tackled Woody out of, to the destroyed car he landed on. He sighs before walking away to head back to the Woodlands on foot.

He soon arrives in the Upper Westside, to his home of The Woodland Luxury Apartments, just to the right of Cinderella's Glass Slipper Shoes, though Cinderella's name wasn't on the sign.

He heads to the gate and enters through it before it closes behind him.

He heads to the main door when he hears leaves rustling and smells someone he kid of recognized.

"Come on out", Jason calls out to them with his arms crossed as they had hid behind a tree.

"Alright... Alright", she gives as she steps around the tree. Revealing a blonde woman with a red jacket and black pants that Jason knew from his previous life and since coming back.

"Beauty...", Jason greets, surprised to see her so late at night.

This was Beauty of Beauty and the Beast fame, also known as Belle Leonblanc for her mundie IDs. Though they have the longest lasting relationship in Fabletown, her and Beast were almost always having an argument.

"Hello Jason", Beauty greets back to him as she walks along the grass, passing a sign that says not to do that, "I... wasn't expecting anyone", and she hugs herself, "I know this looks a little odd, but there's an explanation".

Jason asks her, "Why'd you hide when I walked up?", he hasn't done anything antagonistic to her.

"Well, I didn't know who it was", she replied, "You can't be too careful these days".

Jason nods in agreement, "No, you can't".

She looks to her watch, "Damn it. I'm Late", and she walks for the gate. She stops just before it, "Please, Jason...", she turns back to him, "Promise me you won't tell Beast you saw me. He worries too much as it is and..."

"Sure", Jason says, lowering his arms.

"You promise?", she asks, a little surprised he agreed.

"I promise", he swears to her.

This brings a tug on her lip, "Thank you, Jason", she goes to leave through the gate, "I'll explain it all to you later, I will, but I have to go", the gate closes behind and she looks through the bars to him, "Thank you... for trusting me. Really. I appreciate it, Jason", and she continues down the street from the Woodlands.

Jason then heads inside the building and is again greeted by the damn guard being asleep.

"Hey...", Jason calls out to Grimble, only for the security guard to continue his rest, "Probably for the best", Grimble sucked at his job.

Jason walks over to the mail boxes, "Been a while since I got mail", he remarks before opening it, "Seventh day in a row", he says as he sees it empty before closing it.

He looks to the Building Directory and sees his name embedded into it. Jason made sure of it since he didn't want to deal with the paper that would constantly fall off like in his previous life.

He then goes and pushes the elevator button and waits for it to arrive. Once its doors opened, Jason stepped on and pushed he button to his floor. As he waited for the doors to close, Jason sees Beast rush by in his usual black T-shirt and blue jeans, who then stops at the sight of him.

Beast was from the same story as his wife, the douchebag prince that was cursed. He goes by Adam Leonblanc for mundie things. Due to the lost of his riches when coming here, he has to work odd jobs to make ends-meet. While he is usually human in appearance, whenever Beauty is really upset with him, he'll revert to his beastly self, slowly but surely, usually starting with the horns and teeth and claws..

"Wolf! Hey! Wait up", Beast says, stopping the elevator door from closing, "Have you seen my wife? Have you seen Beauty?"

Jason shakes his head, "Nope. Haven't seen her", he lied.

"Oh...", Beast says downtrodden, "Okay. Sorry to bother you", he then got upset, "Damn it... something's going on", and he left as the elevator closed.

Jason didn't really feel bad about lying to Beast about seeing Beauty. He... didn't really like Beast. The tale of Beauty and the Beast always felt like a case of Stockholm Syndrome to Jason, no matter which version he's read or watched, no matter how others viewed it, no matter what the couple had to say on the matter.

Jason soon arrives to his floor and heads for his apartment of 204. He puts his keys and his phone onto the side table next to the door and looks around.

Since he moved back in to his old place, Jason used some of his trust fund, that he easily took from under Bruce's nose, along with pawning off some of the old things and spruced up the apartment.

The kitchen now had an up to date fridge, still in the classic "freezer on top" style. The sink was given the spart appliance treatment, turning on just by touching it, though he still had to manually regulate the temperature. While he didn't have an actual stove and oven, he got the more modern electric facsimiles, along with a microwave and an air-fryer, over the single electric burner that he had. Along with more modern dishes, civilware, and cooking equipment.

He had a new desk and chair for the area between the bathroom and the closet. it was simplistic and black, with storage cabinets for files. The chair was just a BestOffice mesh chair. A smart light that he just has to touch to turn on with very angles, and a place to put his phone to wirelessly charge it, was placed in the corner. A Chromebook laptop sat on it with some folders and files nearby.

The dining area now had a better table with matching chairs. There was a bag of Big Belly Burger still on it.

His living/bedroom now had a red futon with memory foam. The old nightstand / side table was replaced with a smaller one that sit at the end of the futon. the TV was replaced with one of those Roku smart-TVs, along with having an wi-fi box and a gaming system, all of which was either mounted on the wall or sat on shelved to the wall. The crappy double fan that sat in the window was replaced with an actual AC. The radiator was also replaced with a modern variant. The portrait of Little Red Riding Hood was cleaned and handing above the futon.

New wallpaper was all around, red and black for his favorite colors.

"Damn... should have left the AC on", Jason remarks at the heat and heads into the kitchen to the sink and rinses his face of the blood. He sighs once he's done and the sink is off, "What I night", he comments, exhausted.

He heads to his desk and flips through the file on Bluebeard, "Never trusted this guy", and sets it aside.

Jason heads to his dining table and grabs the bag. He crumples it up and tosses it into the trash next to his desk.

He then sees a sleeping pig snoring away on his futon.

Jason sighs, "Not again", rubbing his head before saying, "Hey... Colin... get up", he still sleeps so Jason just pokes him arm, immediately waking him as he then looked to Jason.

"Oh, hey Bigby", he tiredly greets Jason.

"Jason", Jason corrects with some aggression.

"Jason", Colin repeats, "I'm on your futon, huh?"

"I've only got the one", Jason tells him, "So, yeah"

Colin the big gets up and off the futon at a slow pace as a normal pig, causing Jason to shake his head. Jason sat in his seat while Colin lays on the ground with a pillow. Jason leans over and turns on the AC and begins cooling the room/apartment.

"Got a smoke?", Colin asks, causing Jason to give him a deadpan stare, "Right, forgot. Need to think of a new way for you to repay for the house".

"You were the dumbass who made a house of straw", Jason remarks, "Your brother, Dun, was no better with his sticks. Posey had some sense for the bricks, unlike her brothers".

Colin snorts in good humor.

Jason then sighs at Colin, "This has got to stop", Jason stands up, "You can't keep sneaking off the Farm like this", and heads into the kitchen again.

Colin stands on all fours and follows, "The fresh air and sunshine pitch they sell you on is bullshit. I didn't escape out of the Homelands to end up in some prison, okay. Don't send me back up there, Jason", as Jason grabs a class of to drink and sips from it, "You don't know what it's like, okay? You haven't been there".

"C'mon. That's a little dramatic", Jason remarks.

It was quiet before Colin asks, "Is that for me?", referring to the glass of bourbon.

"Nope", Jason replies and walks out of the kitchen.

Colin turned after, "The house didn't blow itself down, Jason, that's all I'm saying", trying to guilt trip him, "Do with that what you will", as Jason looks over laptop, "Now, I'm not saying it's reason enough for me to definitely get a drink, but uh... it would helped ease some of the pain you once caused me, yes. It would also show everyone how different you are now".

Jason looks back to Colin, "If that was all you were saying, I'd be able to get some rest", he carelessly says.

Colin gets careless in turn, "I take it all back... this is why everyone hates you".

Jason closes his laptop and completely turns to Colin, downtrodden, "So... everyone hates me?"

Colin gives a side eye, "Nah, I'm just giving you shit", he says in good humor.

"I'm doing the best I can", Jason tells him, he has yet to eat anyone.

"Clearly that is not true, what with the selfishness with the bourbon", Colin rebukes before continuing as Jason went back to his dining table for the newspaper, "But no, hates the wrong word. They fear you more than anything. You ate a lot of people back in the day".

Jason sighs at that, "I thought we were all supposed to have a fresh start here. It was literally a lifetime ago. I can't change the past."

"Well, you can't change people's memories either", Colin states looking into Jason's eyes, "look, I'm not saying it's fair... but it's real. People are scared of you. I mean, look at your hands", referring to Jason's bruised knuckles that were healing, "Who'd you get in a fight with? A Fable, right? I'm sure you're not going around punching Mundies".

"I was doing my job, whether you believe that or not", Jason tells him.

"Your job is to beat the shit out of Fables", Colin says with a raised eyebrow and an unimpressed tone.

"Sometimes I take them to the Farm", Jason snarks.

"Fuck you", Colin says back. All in good humor of course.

Jason goes over to his red futon, "You think my job is easy?", he asks as he sits down, setting the glass onto the end table, "You try keeping a bunch of Fables from killing each other. How do you think this works?", he asks as Colin lays in his spot once more.

"I don't know. How?", Colin satirically asks.

"By being big and being bad", Jason says, referring to his namesake.

"By being biiiig, by being baaaad", Colin repeats in a humorous way, "Don't say that shit in front of people. It's embarrassing".

Jason takes another sip of his bourbon. Despite Jason Todd not technically being 21 yet, Bigby Wolf and by extension Jason Wolf, were far older. Legally, Jason Wolf was of age via his new IDs.

"That's the attitude that gets you into trouble", Colin says, still upset at not getting some bourbon, "I'm sure you were shitty to everyone you came across tonight".

"Not everyone", Jason says as some people came to mind.

"Name one", Colin challenged.

"Toad", Jason says as he helped him with The Woodsman, though it went bad, h was nice as he could be.

"Mr Toad? Okay. How's his kids doing?", Colin asks.

"He was yelling at them", Jason bluntly answers.

"Sounds about right", Colin remarks with a blank look.

The duo sat in silence for a moment before Colin continues, "Life is easier with friends, Jason, and we live a long fucking time", Jason goes for another drink but just sets it down, "I know you like this whole Lone Wolf thing you got going for yourself, but I've seen the way you look at Snow, okay? You ain't fooling me"

"Will you shut up?", Jason growls, starting to get annoyed with Colin.

"Well, maybe if my throat wasn't so parched I wouldn't have to keep talking", Colin responds.

Jason face scrunched, "Wait that doesn't make-"

"Just give me a drink. Please!", Colin cuts him off.

"Colin. ENOUGH already. I haven't slept in two days. I went out a 3rd story window. And I want to get in two seconds of shut eye before I...", Jason says but sees Colin's pleading eyes, "Look. I fi give you this, will you let me sleep?", holding the glass of bourbon.

"Yeah, yeah, alright...", Colin agrees, "Probably".

Jason shakes his head and gets up before placing the glass before Colin.

"Thanks, Jason", Colin gave his appreciation before lapping at the glass and drinking some of the alcohol while Jason sat back down.

Jason lays back in the futon instead of shifting it to the bed form as he sleeps, waiting for the woman to arrive.

Sometime Later

Jason abruptly wakes to a series of knocks at his door.

He gets up and goes to the door. He straightens his black tie before opening the door to greet the woman only for it to be someone else.

"Jason!", Snow White calls out in worry.

"Snow?", Jason asks, wondering why she's here.

"Come with me", she instructs before turning and walking away.

Jason grabs his phone and keys and follows after her down the halls.

"Snow", Jason calls out as they walked but she ignores him as she is focused, "Snow!"

"What?", she asks turning to meet his gaze, which snaps ehr out of her focus, "Sorry... I... What is it?"

"Where are we going?", Jason aks her.

"Out in front of the building", she nervously states, "We have to get there-", but stops as they round a corner and are greeted by a redheaded fellow.

"Hi", he greets them.

"Hello", Snow cheerfully greets back, "Good morning Or... evening", as it was still dark out.

"Ha. Yeah", he agrees.

Snow and Jason continue passed him and he also leaves. They arrive at the elevator.

"These walls are paper thin...", Snow remarks as Jason pushes the button to go down, "We need to be careful. We'll talk outside".

They get on the elevator and head down to the lobby, where they see and security coat laying on the steps outside the building. She nervously looks to Jason while he looks on with a raised brow before heading outside.

He goes down the steps, around the jacket that seems to be covering something, and kneels before it with Snow standing in front of the door. He could smell something dead.

Jason looks to Snow then back to the jacket before removing it to reveal the decapitated head of the woman he had helped earlier tonight.

"No...", Jason utters as he looks down, shaking his head.

Snow walks closer, "You knew this girl?", she asks him, "Is... she's not a Mundy... right?", with Jason shaking his head at the question, "Who was she? I thought I knew everyone in Fabletown. She looks familiar".

"A working girl", Jason answers as to who she was, trying to word it better.

"A working girl?", Snow questions, "I don't- I mean, I'm a working girl...", before she then realizes what he meant, "Oh"

She looks between Jason and the girl before crossing her arms as she looks to Jason, wondering how he would know a prostitute.

Jason looks to her, "The Woodsman. He attacked, I stepped in", he shares, "Then, he threatened to kill us both".

"No...", her eyes went wide, "You don't think he..."

"I don't think anything yet", Jason tells her, "Just give me a second", as he looks at the head

"It's just... terrible", Snow breathes.

"So... who found her?", Jason asks Snow, wondering about witnesses.

"I did", she informs him, "She was just like this. I didn't touch her. I grabbed Grimble's jacket to cover her with... then... I came to get you right away".

"No one else was with you?", Jason asks to make sure.

Snow shakes her head, "No", she then says, "Jason, did one of us... do this?"

"There hasn't been a murder in Fabletown in a... long time...", Jason states.

"All the more reason we shouldn't start a panic before we know what's going on", Snow claims. She sees people walking the streets at night. "Have a look around", she tells him as she walks down the steps to cover the view to the head and make sure no one looks in, "We don't have much time before people will be coming through here".

Jason looks to the head and closes her eyes before beginning his investigation. Snow covers her mouth to stifle a sound.

Jason looks to the neck where her head was severed, "Strange cut...", he notes, "What did this to her?".

"What could do something like that?", Snow asks him.

"Either something very sharp or something with magic attached to it", Jason answers as he overviews the stump.

He then looks to where here head lays and noticed something, "She was placed here with some care", Jason shares with Snow.

"What do you mean?", Snow curiously asks.

"You can see that someone didn't just toss her here. She was deliberately placed... for us to find", Jason shares his thoughts.

"What kind of monster would do this?", she asks herself aloud.

Jason notices something purple sticking out of the mouth, "What is...", he grabs a hold of it and pulls it out to reveal the purple ribbon she wore around her neck with her ring tied at the other end, "It's her ribbon", he notes the lack of blood on it before he looks at the ring, "There's some kind of symbol here".

"Mm", Snow lets out as she also looked at it before shaking her head, "I... I don't recognise it",

"Neither do I", Jason claims. He'll probably research it for his files later. He pockets the ring and ribbon.

Not getting anything else from the head itself, Jason stands up and looks around. He takes a whiff of the air and looks over to see drops of blood.

Snow looks to the head before shaking her head, "Ugh, I... I'm sorry, this is just so surreal", bringing Jason's attention to her. Jason sighs and she asks, "Uh, what, uh, what do you want to do next?"

"We still have some time... I should investigate the area some more", Jason tells her.

She nods in agreement, "Ok. Good idea".

Jason then walks over to the blood trail, he sees that it goes around the corner in the fenced off area, he then kneels down and feels that it's still wet, "It's been here.. an hour, maybe?", before following the trail. He then notices a scrap of cloth on the ground, "No sign that it's been here long...", he picks it up, "Jean fabric... doesn't tell me much", as he pockets it. Jason looks tot he pointed fence post that leads into the alley and sees blood on it.

"Someone must have hopped the fence, got caught on it, then left the trail I found", Jason deduced before heading back to Snow White.

"Hey Snow. You alright?", he asks her.

"Yes, thanks", she says, "But you should hurry. We don't have much time left. We should head back inside soon".

"I've seen enough", Jason informs her. They don't have the resources for a more thorough investigation of the area.

"Great", she breathes out before looking to the head, "We should... move her... before anyone shows up. We'll find out more at the Business Office. She'll be in the books. I'm sure of it", she looks to him, "Jason, do you have any idea what's going on?", she desperately asks.

"Someone brought her in from the outside", Jason tells her.

"That makes sense", she accepts the idea, "There's no signs of a struggle. But how do you know?"

"I found blood on the fence back there. Someone hopped over", Jason shares with her.

"Okay, good. That's solid", she agreed, "So someone from the outside... Well, At least they didn't come from inside the Woodlands", she comments.

Jason kneels over the head again as Snow tells him, "I'm going to have to inform Crane about this", which he looks at ehr with a raised brow, "As long as King Cole is gone, he's acting Mayor..., " King COle is always gone, how is he still Mayor of Fabletown, "he needs to know. And he's going to find out anyway, so might as well get out in front of it".

"I guess it's useless to drag it out", Jason remarks.

"That's how I feel too", Snow shares, "I'm sure he won't be happy, but... it's just a part of the process. Hopefully he can be rational about it".

"I wouldn't hold my breathe", Jason comments as he knew it was unlikely.

Snow sighs, "I'm not".

"I just don't want him interfering", Jason tells her, "He's the kind of guy that would ruin an investigation by rushing it".

She furrowed her brows at the thought before heading inside, "Crane's not what's important right now", she turns back to him, "We need to figure out who this girl was, s we can find whoever did this", she gestures to the head, "Take this back to Dr Swineheart. He can take a look at it. I'll meet you back at the Business Office", and she heads there.

Jason sighs and covers the head.

Later

He had dropped off the head of the woman and was on his way to the Business Office. He sees three men lined-up for service, one of which was the redheaded man from earlier. jason walks passed them to enter the office, angering the man with the scar from his nose to under his right eye.

"What are you- blind?", he aggressively asks as he steps out of the line to confront Jason. Jason looks to him as he continues, "What? You don't see there is a line?", he walks to Jason, "I've been standing here a half hour already. You get to just walk in. Must be nice to be the Sheriff... ya get to do whatever the fuck you like".

"I work here", Jason bluntly reminds.

"And what great work you do, Sheriff", he sarcastically tells him.

"Hmm, that didn't feel very genuine", Jason remarks before heading inside the office.

"Fucker...", the man grumbles as the door closes.

"Dumbass...", Jason mutters about the man as he heads for Snow and Crane, who were arguing again.

"-and now you tell me there's a killer on the loose?", Crane gripes, "...you two tittering behind my back. -because you are the one bringing this to me, Miss Snow. The one who so simply "stumbled" upon this catastrophe on our very doorstep! The last thing I need with Mayor Cole away is a hysteria. Do you understand me?!".

"Yes. Of course I do, but-", Snow goes but Crane cuts her off.

"Don't interrupt me Miss Snow!", Crane angrily waves his hands.

"You asked me a question!", Snow says with some of her own aggression.

"Don't change the subject. you are to blame for this unpleasantness, Miss Snow!", Crane criticizes her.

"I brought this news as soon as I could!", she tells him.

"You are trusted to keep running things smoothly around here! This is a disaster!", Crane claims, pinning his responsibilities on Snow.

"It isn't anyone's fault here", Jason cuts in to tell Crane, "Instead of trying to assign blame, maybe we should figure out how to catch the fucker who did this"

"Oh? Is that how you see things?", Crane asks in a snobby tone before heading to his desk chair, "Sheriff, you are the one charged with protecting the citizens of Fabletown. Your failure to do so, cost someone their life", he sits while Jason is angered at his statement, "and the safety of the entire community!"

Snow goes to sit before him along with Jason, as Crane continues, "tell me you've been doing something. Are there any leads? Suspects? Anything? Anything at all?", he seems to taunt, "Any shred of evidence you two know what the hell your doing. because right now I have half the mind to fire the both of you".

"Yeah. Her pimp", Jason crosses his arms to control himself with Crane.

Crane was wide-eyed, "Her... was she a...?", he quirks a brow.

"Yeah", Jason confirms, "She was worried about a money situation"

"Well this is just wonderful" Crane sarcastically says, "Not only is a Fable killed, but it was a Fable hooker to boot", he sits up, "You two need to get a handle on this situation quickly, and quietly. The last thing we need is all of Fabletown knowing there's a killer amongst us", he remains silent for a moment, "Snow".

"Yes... sir?", she answers him.

"Call Vivian right this minute and let her know I'm coming in early for my massage", Crane instructs her.

"I will", she confirms.

Crane looks around his desk, "Where is the bottle of wine you were to purchase?".

Snow is confused and stands to look around the desk.

"Oh, bother", Crane stops her as he stands, "Forget it. Can't do anything right", and he goes to leave the office, calling back to Jason, "Do your job, Sheriff... or we'll find someone who can"

Jason held his tongue, but thought on how much of an asshole Crane is as the skinny man left the office.

"You would have just pissed him off more", Snow tells Jason in comfort for keeping quiet.

"Yeah", Jason gripes.

Snow sighs as she puts her hands on her hips, "Well, that could have gone better", before looking to Jason, "Well... maybe we should have "dragged it out"".

"For what is worth... I still think it was better to tell him", Jason sympathizes.

"Yeah. Maybe...", she moans in displeasure.

"What an asshole, though", Jason tells her.

"Yup", Snow agrees, "That was about an 8 on the asshole scale", before she question what she said, "...asshole scale... that doesn't sound right".

Jason then spots some green wings fluttering behind a cabinet behind Snow White.

"Is... is he gone?", Bufkin the flying monkey asks from his hiding spot.

Snow turns to him, "Yes. Thankfully".

He then flies from atop the cabinet with a wine bottle in hand and lands on Snow White's desk. Snow notices the bottle and walks over to him with a scowl while he tries to pry the cork off with his mouth.

"Bufkin!", Snow exclaims, starling him from his task.

He puts the bottle down and stands to greet her, "Hello, Miss Snow", giving a cheesy smile that looked creepy with his black eyes.

"Drinking? This early?", she hip holds herself again, "Where did you get that?", referring to the bottle.

"It was by Mr Ichabod's desk", Bufkin replies.

"Then don't you think it probably belongs to him?", Snow asks as though she is questioning a child.

"Maybe", Bufkin sheepishly answers.

Snow continued to scowl before taking the bottle off her desk and setting it over at Crane's.

Bufkin continues his doopy smile as he looks at Jason, "How are you today, Mr Jason?".

"Fine, Bufkin. Thanks for asking", Jason coolly replies, which Bufkin quirks a smirk at.

"Bufkin...", Snow calls out to him as she comes back, "get the books".

"Which books?", he asks her.

"The ones with all the fables in it!", she specifies.

"I'm not sure that was anymore specific", Jason tells her, as almost all of the books include fables.

"Bring the first three", she tells Bufkin.

"Be back in a few minutes", Bufkin states before taking off into the air and flying deep into the office.

The duo look after him as he flew, "He knows the ones I'm talking about", Snow comments to Jason before walking away from her desk with him in tow, "There's bound to be information on her here... somewhere", she stops and looks to Jason, "We'll at least be able to get her real name from the books whenever Bufkin finds them. In the meantime, poke around. Maybe the mirror can help", Jason looks to the magic mirror off to the side while she heads to Crane's desk to make a call, "I really have to get this... appointment squared away, but... let me know if you need anything".

While Snow rambles on the phone with a Vivian, Jason looked around the office.

Jason goes over and looks to the magic lamp, "Magic lamps are just lamps when the genie has been freed...", he rubs it for nothing to happen, "Worth a try", and he leaves it be.

He heads over the Crane's desk before Snow to see tarot cards, "Tarot cards. Jack had broguht them back from Appalachia... who knows when they were before then... or what he did to get them", he flips one over to see a black haired woman holding a wolf, "Strength...", he read, "Guess it comes in all forms", he flips another over to show a man atop a tower with a dead woman at the bottom of it, he flips the third and last on the table to see a man impaled by many swords, "Damn... just what in the hell is this supposed to mean?", he pockets this one and leaves the desk for now.

He finally heads for the Magic Mirror.

"Hey, Magic Mirror... I got a question", Jason says to it.

the reflective surface shifts two a green vortex with a green bald head with no visible inner mouth or eyeballs.

"The know the rule", MM says to him.

Jason sighs, "I don't have time for this shit", having to rhythm to use the Magic Mirror is such a pain to him.

"Your impatience is callow, you're needlessly cruel, but have some respect for our historied rules", Magic Mirror tells him.

Jason sighs again, "Mirror, Mirror, if you're... able... tell me all about this Fable...", he rhymes the best he can right now.

"See? Was that so hard?", Magic Mirror commentates.

"I'm about to seconds from kicking a hole in ya", Jason threatens, hating the need to rhyme.

Mirror shakes his head, "There's no need for that...", he thinks for a second, "Fine. Of which Fable do you wish to know?",.

Thinking back to when he met the woman, Jason says, "Show me the Woodsman".

The mirror shifts to show The Woodsman drunkenly walking down a street before it ends and the head reappears.

"Where is he?", Jason asks aloud.

"What you see is complete. The Woodsman stumbles down a street", Mirror says.

"No shit. Which street?", Jason asks him.

"I'm sorry, Wolf. I can only show you what can be seen", Mirror claims.

Jason then thinks for a second, "Show me... Bufkin".

The mirror the shows the green colored flying monkey sitting before a bookshelf with a wine bottle in hand that he chugs from.

"Hey!", Jason calls out to Bufkin through the office as he looks through the mirror, "Put down the bottle and get to work!".

"Still looking!", Bufkin calls out, looking towards the desks, not through the mirror since he couldn't see him or anything. And the image ends.

Jason looks to the Magic Mirror head, "I got nobody else to look for now".

"Very well", Mirror states, "Please return should you wish to ask about someone else... or someone new", and it goes back to looking like a regular mirror.

Bufkin soon flies overhead with books in hand, but due to how big the books were and how small he was, he soon crashed into the area Jason and Snow were, with the latter covering the phone as she looked over to make sure he was alright.

Snow finishes the call and heads over to Bufkin, who has set the books on the table, with the Fables Registry book open before him.

Before heading over, Jason asks the mirror, "Do you know what this means?", showing him the tarot card.

Mirror appears again, "Tarot's a backwards art. I wouldn't put too much stock in their wisdom, Wolf."

Jason pockets it again, "Not when you've been so helpful", he sarcastically says to the mirror.

"Provisions muddy. I am as clear as a window", Mirror claims.

With that done, Jason heads over to the table to meet with Bufkin and Snow.

"We'll start with these", Snow says as he looks over an open book showing a double spread of fables in action, "Any fables in our community will show up in these books".

Jason spots an image of a giant wolf, himself, facing off with the Woodsman with Red Riding Hood behind the man. There was also Snow White and the seven dwarves, with her holding a bitten apple. Beauty and Beast was shown, with Beauty on the same page as them, Beast on the other page. The three pigs were in the background, with only the brick house standing.

Ichabod Crane was shown running away to the right of the page, with the Headless Horseman chasing him. With how much he hates Crane, Jason had a feeling he'd like the Horseman.

"Ichabod Crane... scared shitless", Jaosn mutters.

"What's that?", SNow asks, barely hearing him.

"Your boss. His finest moment", Jason says to her, referring to the book, "hard to understand how he ended up running this place".

The duo looked to each other before Snow looks down and says, "well, maybe it's time that changed".

Jason continues through the book, spotting Mr Toad with his friend, Badger.

He then focuses on three people on the page. It a king, an unrelated prince, and what appears to be a woman wearing a donkey skin cloak. The king had a symbol on his tunic.

"...I've seen this before", Jason remarks about the symbol, drawing Snow's attention, "This symbol on the man's clothes. It's the same as the ring's".

"Could be her father, or husband?", Snow suggests, before gesturing to another book, "This has the emblems of the old days and usually what family they come from. If it's in here, we'll have her name".

Jason goes and opens the book. It's in German, but he can read it, along with speak it, from his time as Robin. He notes things like the Mark of the Frog Prince, The Woodsman's axe having a druid blessing, Toad Hall, and finally the ring with it's symbol.

"This is the one", Jason points out to a nearby Bufkin, "Family name... All-lair-lie-rau?".

"I'll go check it out", Bufkin says before looking through the registry.

"Allerleirauh... that means "every-kind-of-fur" in German", Snow shares.

Bufkin arrives at the page, ""Donkeyskin"", he read.

"Yes!", Snow confirms as Jason and her look to him, "What does it say?"

Bufkin begins to read the page, ""Donkeyskin girl, aka Donkeyskin, aka *laughs* Ass' Skin *laughs*, prefers to go by the name Faith". Poetic".

"Bufkin. We don't need the commentary", Snow admonishes.

Bufkin continues to read with a smile, ""The Story of Donkeyskin. There was once a great king with a beautiful queen. The queen grew ill and had her husband promise only to marry the most beautiful girl in the kingdom. After a long search, it became clear that the only woman in the land that could match her beauty was..."", Bufkin loses his smile, ""...his daughter ...Faith", disturbing Jason and Snow, ""She had a magic cloak made from the skin of her father's prized donkey... that would hide her beauty, so she could escape the kingdom. Eventually, she married a prince, who could see pass the magic cloak and knew her true beauty... and the lived happily ever after"", he finishes.

Bufkin then asks, "Should I... mark it, Miss Snow?"

"Yes. Please", Snow somberly says.

Bufkin lifts a stamp and presses it into the page, leaving a giant red 'DECEASED' now on the page.

"What's here husband's name?", Snow White asks Bufkin.

"Lawrence... Prince Lawrence", Bufkin informs.

"We got what we came for", Snow remarks while Jason walks away from the table.

"Yeah", Jason breathes out.

"Her name is Faith, she was married to Prince Lawrence. I mean, that's more than we-", Snow goes but Jason cuts in.

"Her name was Faith", Jason says in the past tense, emphasising that she was dead.

"Yeah", Snow sadly agrees.

Jason tiredly rubs his face before saying, "We should talk to the husband".

"You think he did?", Snow asks him.

We can't rule him out. When investigating crime, one always looks to the family first", Jason says, "And if he didn't do it, he should still be informed."

After this, Jason heads back to the Magic Mirror, "Mirro, Mirror, blah blah able... Blah blah blah about this Fable".

Mirror accepts this, "Of which fable do you wish to know?"

"Show me... Show me Faith", Jason instructs him.

"Through powerful magic her whereabouts concealed. Unfortunately for you, "these lips are sealed"", The mirror says as though in a trance or something.

"What?", Jason asks in confusion, as far as he knows, the mirror has never done this before.

"These lips are sealed", the Mirror repeats, "It's not my choice of phrasing, Wolf. It's simply the way this has to be".

Jason sighs, "Fine. Show me... Faith's father. The old king", he is greeted with the sight of a skeletal hand with the same ring as Faith, "I guess that crosses him off the suspect list", and also showing Jason that even the dead can be shown.

"Show me Prince Lawrence", Jason tells the Mirror.

Jason is shown the prince sitting in a chair in an apartment. He as unable to see his face and the room was dark save the light of a TV that was on. What drew Jason's attention was the ornate knife laying at his feet with blood around it.

"...What's he been doing?", Jason questions aloud before asking, "Where is this?"

"Where's what?", Snow calls out.

Jason looks to her, "Do you know where Prince Lawrence lives?"

Snow walks over to him and the mirror, "If he's a prince... probably relocated in the South Bronx... yellow building, red window shutters?"

"Red Frames", Jason specifies.

"Yep, that's the one", she smiles, "I can take us there".

Jason waves off the mirror.

Snow turns to the door, "Come on. We're going over there".

They go to leave before the office phone rang.

"Sorry, I have to get that", Snow apologize to Jason before going over and answering the phone, "Hello, Woodlands Business Off - Yes. I - He is. Hold on", she looks to Jason, "Jason... it's for you", she holds it out for him.

He grabs it and places the receiver to his ear, hearing Toad's voice, "Wolf! It's me. Toad. You there?".

"Sorry about the car", Jason again apologizes.

"Yeah yeah yeah. It's fine", Toad waves off, "Wolf! Shit. Listen, alright? There's a bloke upstairs, going through all the Woodsman's things. Get over here, Wolf! Before he- wait. Hang on", Jason hears something get knocked over, "Oy! Shit. Hey!", and the call ends.

Jason lowers the phone as Snow asks him, "What was that about?"

"Hard to say. Something's going on over at Toad's place", Jason replies.

"What about Faith's husband?", Snow asks.

"I don't know... I couldn't really tell, but... he could be in trouble. We should go there anyway, we can search her apartment", and he goes to leave the office, "Toad may have to wait"

"Whenever you're ready", Snow White says.

Jason opens the door and the duo leave the Business Office.

As they leave the building, Snow asks, "Did Toad say who was there? Was it the Woodsman?"

"I don't know. It's possible", Jason says as they go down the cleaned steps, "Whoever it was, it didn't seem like Toad was happy to see them".

"Well, maybe Prince Lawrence can wait", Snow suggest, wanting to help Toad.

"Eh, you didn't see him...", Jason says as they stop walking to the gate, "He... could use some help too".

Snow doesn't know what he meant but asks, "Well, where to first?"

Jason thought about it. He knew Toad was in more immediate danger, but Lawrence was so still with lots of blood shown in the Magic Mirror that someone might be dead.

"We need to solve this murder, Toad's disturbance can wait for now", Jason decides, he felt Mr Toad would be alright, but someone would die if they didn't hurry to Prince Lawrence.

"You're right", Snow agrees, "Toad's a tough... toad... he can probably handle himself for a few hours", as the duo walk towards their destination.

It's still early morning as they arrive at the building for the prince.

"I don't want to stay here any longer than we have to, so let's just pick an approach and stick to it, okay?", Snow tells Jason as they arrive, "Just humor me".

"When the Magic Mirror showed me this apartment... I saw a knife inside, covered in what looked like blood", Jason informs.

"I wasn't expecting that", Snow says in discomfort.

"yeah", Jason sympathized.

"Well, like I said, let's not overcomplicate things", Snow insists, "You can question him while I'll look around for clues".

"And if he objects?", Jason cautiously asks her.

Snow professionally says, "We're here on official Fabletown business. And we can be persuasive if necessary. Or... you can", she slyly smirks.

They go to the door marked '72', where the prince lives. Jason knocks to receive no answer. he goes to open the door but its locked.

"Lawrence! You in there?", Jason asks through the door, still getting no answer.

Walking away from the door, he looks around the building to see a window cracked open. Going over and peering inside, Jason sees the scene he saw in the Magic Mirror from a different angle. He looks higher to see Lawrence just laying in the chair in a weird position.

Jason scoops out the area as a police car passes by, causing Snow to follow his example.

Once the police car went by, Jason decides, "Alright, we'll try this out", and he pushes up the window.

"Guess we're out of options", SNow remarks as Jason moves he curtain before lifting himself into the apartment. "Come on. Help me up", Snow holds out her hand to him once he's in.

Jason does so and she slides into the room over a table. They are then immediately assaulted with a smell, the smell of death.

They see Prince Lawrence laying in his chair with his eyes open, seemingly dead.

"Oh god...", Snow utters in horror, "We're too late", Jason stands beside her as she turns to him, "That makes two Fables dead... we need to figure out what the hell is going on here...", before turning back to the pale prince, "Who would do this to them?"

"I don't know, Snow", Jason says in a low tone as he looks to Lawrence before looking to her.

Snow went over to a pile of mail from the slot on the door while Jason surveys the area.

He looks to the blade he saw in the mirror, "Sharp and definitely blood", before Snow comes from behind.

"Is that the knife you saw in the mirror?", SNow asks.

"Yeah", Jason confirms. He looks pass the gun on the floor to the prince in the chair, "i don't know why it's over here".

"I just don't understand...", Snow expresses her confusion, "Why would someone want to kill him?", before walking away.

Jason looks around some more before noticing a bullet hole high up in the wall behind the prince in his chair. He takes it out before further investigating the room.

Jason looks to Prince Lawrence and around him. He notes the mass of pills on the table next to the chair, Prescription Sleeping Pills. He looks to his hands to see blood in it but no injury, notes that it's dried. He sees the bullet wound and tries to estimate the trajectory with the hole in the wall.

Jason then looks to his face and comments, "They never look peaceful, do they?"

"I wouldn't know", Snow comments in a sad tone.

Jason then looks around on the other side of the chair and sees a still sticky dark splatter on the ground that looked to have a corner of something use to be there. He looks to the closet door and pulls on the handles to reveal a Murphy Bed. He sees the rest of the splatter on the bed along with a note.

"What is that?", Snow asks him about the note.

Jason picks it up and reads it, ""My dearest Faith, I never meant to hurt you, and I cannot endure knowing that I have. This was for the best. I'll see you again. Love, your devoted Lawrence".", Jason finishes.

Snow goes over to Lawrence, "I should know his face", trying to remember where she once saw him, "There are so few of us... I should know his face", only for Lawrence to blink before lurching forward as blood spilled from his bullet wound while Snow backs up with a gasp.

"Oh, my god", she breaths, "Jason, he's alive", while Lawrence fell to the ground.

"What -", Lawrence goes to get up but falls, "What are you doing here?", while Jason goes to help him up.

"Let's get you back up", Jason grunts as he sets him back into the chair.

"Aaaargh... what are you doing here?", Lawrence groans, "What's going on?"

"We found you here, in your chair, with what we thought was a fatal injury", Snow explains, not mentioning why they're here, "We should call Swineheart, have him take a look at you".

"Wait a second on that, Snow", Jason stops her before looking to Lawrence, "You know who I am?"

Lawrence was silent before quietly stating, "Yes".

"Good", Jason affirms, "I have a few questions"

"Why? Wha - What's this about?", Lawrence asks.

"We found your note...", Jason leads. He knows he tried to kill himself due to all the evidence pointing towards it. The empty pill bottles, the high trajectory for the bullet, the bloody hand and knife.

"I... made a decision... for us...", Lawrence shares, "it felt like the only way out... so... I... shot myself...", he grasps his chest, "in the heart... thought I'd be dead by now... It hurts like funking hell."

Jason looks at the wound, "Your heart is actually a little more towards the center. You probably hit a lung".

"Great", Lawrence groans in anger at the failure, "At least... that's how I think it happened... things are a little fuzzy...", he's quiet as a fly flies around, "...thought it was a bad dream".

Unable to take it anymore, Snow asks, "Why did you do it, Lawrence?"

"I did it because I was ashamed", Lawrence explains, "I.. I couldn't live with myself knowing what I had done that to her. I did what I could to keep her away. But she still worries about me. She comes by, makes sure I'm okay. I'm a fucking burden, I'm useless... I don't want her to have to worry about me anymore. She's better off without me... without me being here to drag her down. She deserves that. She's been through a lot", he cries, " I wish I could have done better by her... She has always been there for me".

Jason clears his throat, "I'm sorry to inform you... that... your wife has been killed", deciding not to lie to the man.

"No...", Lawrence cries, "no, no, no, no... I knew this would happen...".

"I... I'm sorry", Jason offers with sympathy, "I am... but I'm gonna need you to help me find whoever did this. So you need to try and remember anything that could possibly help us-"

Lawrence closes his eyes as he cries before cursing, "...fucking Georgie"

Jason brow furrows at the name, "Lawrence, I uh...", but a knock at the door interrupts him.

Both Jason and Snow look to it in confusion before at each other.

"Do you...?", Sow goes to ask but Jason shakes his head no.

They look to Lawrence, with Jason quietly asking, "Are you expecting anyone?", Lawrence shakes his head.

Jason goes to confront them, "I'll see who it is".

"No. Wait", Snow quietly stops him.

They here a jingle at the door, like it's being lock-picked.

"We need to know why whoever is out there is breaking in", Snow tells Lawrence, "I need your help".

"What do I do?", Lawrence asks her.

"Just play dead", she tells him.

"What?", he incredulously asks.

"Trust me", Snow asks of him, "You can't move in your condition anyway, so just stay still. The second we figure out what they're here for, Wolf will arrest them", using his last name since it's official business, "Think about your wife".

Lawrence nods, resolute. Jason and Snow go to hide in the side closet, while Lawrence slides the gun to him with his feet before picking it up and hiding it beside him.

The three are in position as the door finally opens and a somewhat short but heavy set man in a yellow button up polo shirt that one would see on a tropical based show like Miami Vice or Two and a Half Men.

Jason was a little anxious because Lawrence had that gun. He worries that he would do one of to things, get trigger happy and shoot the intruder, or get trigger happy and shoot himself to be with his wife.

"Hey!", Jason yells as he tries to open the closet door while the intruder gasps.

The door is stuck though as the intruder makes a run for it. Jason forces it open and gives chase.

"Stay here with Lawrence!", Jason yells back to Snow.

She hesitates, "No!", and goes to follow them.

Jason follows the fat man into an alley. He was surprisingly fast as he reaches the end and goes through an open door, closing it behind him. Jason smashes through it and follows him up the stairs, dodging a side table. They go up the next flight, with Jason dodging a flowered vase before another side table.

Jason chases him through the hall on this floor but he knocks a guy and a couch down, blocking the path for Jason but he jumps over with ease.

He arrives at the end of the hall to see two doors, one was open but the other had a broken metal letter that was shaking like the door was just open and closed. He goes through the latter to see the short fat guy trying to get out through the window.

Jason runs over and grabs his leg to pull him back in but gets a solid kick to the face with the guy's other foot.

The man gets out the window and Jason follows. Jason sees him run along the fire escape and jump over to the next one, crashing into the bar and dislodging it. Jason runs and jumps after him but the bar breaks and he falls t the next floor while the man enters into the building through the window. Jason does the same on his floor.

Jason goes into the halls and stops as he hears noise above him. He can hear the fat man moving around, with dust falling from the ceiling due to how fat he was. Jason ran down the hall and sees the man fall pass the window and Jason jumps out it. the man tries to get out of a dumpster but Jason lands on him.

The fat man climb out of the trash, "Hey!", Jason yells as he jumps onto hi again within the alley, taking him down to the ground.

"Ease up, Wolf... We're on the same side", the fat man begs.

Jason pants, "son of a bitch... making me chase you... Who are you?", h paces before the man.

"What?", the man asks.

"Who are you?", Jason repeats with more bite.

"Listen, man. I'm a... private investigator", the man answers.

Jason looks at him with scepticism while the man backs up into a garage door. He stands as Jason approaches before being right up in his face. Being face to face showed Jason that he wasn't actually short, he was around his height but looked short do to his proportions, like how fat he was or how big his head is.

"You're looking for the Woodsman, right?", the investigator asks him, "My employer is looking to ask him a few questions, too.

"Who are you exactly?", Jason demands.

"I'm Dee, and I'm a private investigator", he informs Jason in a frightened tone, "There's a business card in my shirt pocket. You can see for yourself."

Jason grabs it and looks it over, "This is for a sandwich shop", Jason growls.

"Really? Huh. Must have run out?", Dee smiles.

"Who hired you?", Jason inquires of the heavy weight man.

"I can't tell you that. It's confidential", Dee says in sleazily smug kind of way, "Sorry. I'm sure you understand."

"Nope", Jason shaked his head, like a child vainly denying the trouble he caused, "Can't say that I do. Come on. You're coming with me".

Dee shrugs, "This could have been easy.", sounding disappointed in Jason.

"Oh, don't worry. it still is", Jason tells him, "Come on".

"Dum", Dee says, stopping Jason from turning around.

"Dumb? Yeah, it is", Jason says, "Look, it would be much easier if-"

"No", Dee shakes his head before pointing to himself, "I'm Dee...", he looks behind Jason, "He's Dum".

Jason turns around and is met with a massive fist to the face from Dum, who wore a yellow version of the same shirt as Dee's blue shirt, knocking Jason out.

"You almost look peaceful", Jason hears Snow says as he comes to see her crouched over him with a smile.

"Yep", Jason agrees as he rubs his head.

"Except your lying in a dirty alley", Snow continued with a blunt statement at his state of being.

"Yup", Jason agreed again.

"With an open wound on the back of your head", Snow continued

"Yup", he agrees again before asking, "Where'd they go?"

"Well", she stands up, "After the one guy it you, and the other one finished kicking you...".

"That explains the ribs", Jason remarks as he felt the pain, he kept his eyes covered as Snow was standing above him in a skirt.

"Then they jumped in a car and drove off", Snow finished, "Come on, get up"

Jason rolls over and pushes himself up, getting to his feet.

"We should check in on Toad", Snow tells him, "See if there's anything there that can get us back on the trail or not".

Jason wiped himself off and they left the alley.

Early Morning, Toad's Place

It was still in the early morning as they reach the apartments from last night.

"And we ended up going out the window and I landed on Toad's car", Jason tells the story of what happened to Snow White.

"You guys made a real mess", SNow comments at the dilapidated building.

"Yeah", Jason agrees as they cross the street to the building, "It looks worse in the day."

Snow looks to the caved in car before looking to the hole in the building, "I don't think anybody is here..."

Jason sighs, "If we came all this way for nothing...", and they enter the main entrance.

they could hear crying from a child and Toad saying, "Alright, son, alright. He's gone, he's left, it's over now..."

Snow is upset at the child crying and heads for Toad's apartment door first, followed by Jason.

She stops before the door and turns to Jason, "Is... that his son?", she asks.

"Toad's? I think so", Jason says before he goes to enter but Snow stops him.

He looks to her and she says, "Be nice in there, OK?", not wanting to traumatize the kid further.

"Hey, Toad... You in there?", Jason calls out, instead of barging in.

Instead of anyone answering, the door edges open on its own, something that Jason notes as they enter into the apartment to see Toad escorting his son to his room.

"Jason! ...and Miss Snow!", Mr Toad greets, sounding like a kid that got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, "Surely you didn't come all this way just for my bother!", as he rubs his head, which now wore a fedora.

Jason and SNow briefly look at each other as Toad looks on in some worry.

"Sorry, Wolf", Toad says as he puts his hands in his cardigan pockets, "It's embarrassing to have to admit, but, eh, I thought there was someone else in Woody's place. there wasn't though, not when I checked- nothin but I leaking drain pipe", he nervously smiled as aosn looked down on him with his arms crossed, "Imagination must have got the best of me. So, you now, false alarm. Sorry for dragging Miss White into this".

"Are you SURE there wasn't anyone here?", Jason asks, remembering the struggle he heard over the phone.

"Not that I saw. A-a-and if there was, they didn't take nothing, so.. ya know... all's well that ends", Toad tried to lie.

Snow White looked to the door leading to Mr Toad's son with worry. He wouldn't have been crying if nothing happened.

"Is your son in there?", Snow asks as she steps to Toad.

"He's fine, Miss White. Just stung his little toe", Mr Toad brushes off, "Better swimmer than walker, just like his dad".

Snow looks to Jason, "Wanna...", she goes to say.

"So I guess you'll be taking off now. No need to hang around here anymore", Mr Toad cuts in, "i mean, I'm sorry you came all the way here for nothing..."

"this is for your own safety, Toad. You called us, remember?", Jason says to him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know", Toad utters, "and I appreciate it, and I-".

"It's fine, relax", Jason stops him from rambling, "We'll be outta here in a minute. I just want to check things out here first".

"Alright, alright", Toad agreed, "I just don't want to waste your time is all", he walks to the steps to the lving room, "Have a seat, have a cup of tea, whatever you like!"

While Jason looked at Toad with suspicion, Snow went over to the door, knocking on it, "TJ? Are you alright?", the crying boy opens the door to her, "There you are. I don't mean to intrude, but... Flycatcher said you had a "Pretty awesome" insect collection, and I was wondering if you could... perhaps...let me see it?"

TJ was silent for a moment before he looked up with his now tearless eyes, "It has a weevil?", he tells her.

Snow smiled at him, "Cool...", and TJ opens the door more for her to come in and she heads in, leaving Toad and Jason alone.

"Just mind the upholstery while you're looking for nothing", Toad tells Jason.

"Yeah, sure thing", Jason agreed.

He first looks to the door, "Your lock's busted", Jason mentions

"Eh?", tad sounds out from behind him.

"The lock", Jason gestures to the door where the locks and knob was placed, showing a massive missing piece of wood from the frame, "Looks like someone kicked in the door".

"For Christ's sakes. the fucking lock's been busted for weeks, mate", Toad excused it, "Rotted just like everything else in this bloody building".

"Hmm", Jason doubts Toad's words, he can tell that it was a fresh break by the state of the wood.

Jason then looks to the broken lamp before the door near the table and crouches before it, "And the lamp's broken, too".

"Fucking hell", Toad grumbles, "Damn thing must have fallen off the table".

"Uh-huh. The lamp just fell off the table", Jason remarks as he notices that the nearby plugin outlet was already full, meaning it didn't belong here.

"You know, with this place, its like living on the foundation of termites, it is", Toad supplied, "All's so cheap, it's a wonder it stays standing as long as it does".

Jason gets to his feet and walks pass Toad down the two steps into the living room, where he spots a bloody fireplace power and a blood spray on the wall near a racecar poster. Jason leans close to the wall and sniffs, it's definitely blood.

Jason looks to Toad, "You bleeding?"

"W-Why? Is that-", Toad goes.

"It's blood", Jason confirms, "Still fresh"

"Oh, well, I cut me hand", Toad explains, "Heh. Ran around like a tit trying to pick out a wrap...", Jason crosses his arms as he listens as Toad rubs his head, "Must've got some on the furnishments... Lamp in pieces, blood on the wall... it's awful, I know".

"Sounds painful", Jason sceptically remarks.

Toad scowls, "Oy, don't you go Mother Henning now! The wound didn't sit very long, you know. Perks of being a Fable, I s'pose. And a frog". Isn't he a toad?

Jason picks up the fireplace boker and inspects it of the also fresh blood, "There's more blood over here", he tells Toad

"On the poker?", Toad hesitantly asks.

"Yeah", Jason states as he gets to his feet with the poker in hand, "What happened?"

"Ah, well, that's-", Toad goes to explain, "that's how it happened didn't it? I- I was poking the coals and it slipped a bit- sliced open my foot like a seashell", Jason could see his feet as Toad was barefoot and it looked unharmed, "Hurt like a shit, the ugly thing".

Toad was getting restless, "If you're going to say something, out with it".

"You dropped it on your foot?", Jason notes, "You told me before that you cut your hand".

"Yeah, no, I-I did cut my hand", Toad goes, "I cut my hand first, and that made me drop the damn thing on me foot", Toad nervously laughs, "Ruinous flip of events, really".

Jason groans in doubt before nearing the blood on the wall and swinging the poker like a bat towards it, miming an action that could have caused it.

"Oh my God, would you not make a big faff outta this!", Toad exclaims in annoyance, "There's nothing to solve here, Sheriff, I'm telling you everything that happened! Why don't you believe me?", Jason gives him a side eye, "I mean, things happen you know..."

"This apartment is a goddamn mess, Toad", Jason tells him, "It looks like after a struggle, or a fight. And I don't know why you'd cover for it... But I know you're lying about something".

"But I'm not-", Toad goes but Jason continues.

"And you're just going to make it worse for yourself the longer that you keep up the act", Jason says to him.

"I'm not bullshitting you. Honest", Toad almost pleaded.

"We'll see", Jason says before dropping the poker.

He looks around and sees a dust ring on the side table beside the red chair in the room.

"That more blood?", Toad nervously asks.

"No, just a clean space in the dust", Jason informs him, "Did you move something?"

"Uh, maybe one of Junior's toys or something", Toad tells him, "I mean who knows"

Jason sees that it was a octagonal shape, eight sided, and he looks over behind Toad to see the lamp that was broken had a octagonal base. He also spots another electrical outlet right next to it that was empty.

"Bloody hell, Wolf, what sinister bit have you uncovered this time?", Toad asks in a irritated tone, "I left the water tap running? Didn't sort the recycling? What is the pit of all this, really?!"

"That broken lamp use to be here", Jason states with certainty, "Right? Just tell me what happened".

"Nothing happened, Mate", Toad forces out, "Nothing", he raised his hands in anger before asking, "And why did the lamp have to be there, of all the blooming pointless inquiries? It's my own place-".

"Because The amp was always over here, Toad", Jason cuts him off, "It as voer here... and now it's there", pointing between the side table and the broken lamp, "The space in the dust is from where you moved it".

"I-I did some refiguring-", Toad defends, "who fucking cares? Bloody hell, mate, c'mon get off with this", he almost begs.

Jason continues to look around and notices something at the window near the TV. They looked like smudge finger lines. He opens the window to get a better look at them.

"There's some marks here on the windowsill", Jason looks back to Toad.

"Well, like I said, Juniour leaves his toys around all the time-", Toad goes to say.

"these don't look like they're from a toy", Jason dismissed his words

"Oh, well...", Toad stops to think, "Just last night, when I'd come out, I was in a - a down right tizzy, mate - as you would be - and I plum forgot the keys to this place. And I had to climb in through the bloody window".

"Really", Jason remarks in a dead tone, with doubt to what Toad said.

"Scared Junior half to death", Toad adds.

Jason glances at the window before looking to the door.

"You, uh, heard the new... Shakin Stevens album yet?", Toad awkwardly asks, forgetting that it doesn't come out till november.

"But you wouldn't need keys since the lock's broken", Jason comments, "So, why did you climb in through the window?"

"Huh?", Toad asks in confusion.

"Why'd you climb in through the window?", Jason asks again, "You said it yourself, the lock's been rotten for weeks...", as Toad glances at the broken door frame, "You wouldn't have needed a key to get in".

"Fuckin hell", Toad shakes his head, "just what are you on about, mate? After the state I was in, I didn't have me head, that's all it was, I forgot the fucking handle was fucking busted", he scowls again, "And I tell you what else, it's embarrassing, you bringing all this shit up, alright? So quit it with the third degree and all that".

Jason walks up the steps and stands before Toad as he pleads, "Wolf, c'mon, I'm begging for mercy over here, old boy. I was looking forward to a nice afternoon, just me and me son, and you've taken up enough of the day, with all this - this sniffing around at me private belongings!", he calms down, "I'm sorry I called, really, I am, but... will you please- please, just bugger off?".

"Not yet", Jason hmms.

""Not Yet"?", Toad is in disbelief, "No one fought anyone, Wolf. There wasn't any scrap. So when? When are you gonna leave? I mean, I feel like I'm on trial here-".

"When? When you start telling me the truth, Toad", Jason tells him.

"But I've told you the truth, mate", Toad claims, "Jesus Christ, what more do you want?"

"Toad...", Jason began, "These stories have made no sense. You didn't cut yourself on the poker. You didn't forget your keys. You didn't bump the lamp off the table", he looks down to him, "You wanna tell me what's going on?"

suddenly, the one door opens as TJ and Snow come out.

"... she doesn't think much of me, I don't think", TJ tells Snow, from whatever they were talking about.

"Oh, I wouldn't necessarily say that...", Snow dissuades the boy with a smile before asking Jason, "Progress?"

Toad hugs his son, revealing a trail of blood from his hat to Jason and Snow.

"Mr Toad... you bleeding", Snow says in worry.

Toad grabs the back of his head and feels the liquid before looking down in shame.

"Take off the hat", Jason instruts Toad.

He does so, revealing a cut that was maybe a few inches long.

Toad sighs as he sits on a nearby milk crate, "It was that... butcher, a Tweedle", Snow White kneels down to look at the wound, "Dum or Dee, you gotta strip'em down to their johnnies before you can tell which is which", Snow applies a napkin to staunch the bleeding and Toad hold sit in place, "He comes barging in, screaming about something the Woodsman had, or thought he had... I don't know", Toad thought for a moment, "He tore up the place, beat me up when I said I didn't have it. And if you had come in when I asked you too, maybe he wouldn't of had the nerve to strong arm me boy".

"He hurt Toad Junior?", Snow asks in dismay, "How awful...", glancing to Jason.

Which Toad notices, "What the hell does he care?", he tells her before talking to Jason, "It's always the same with you, isn't it, Wolf? If I'm in trouble, need help, if I call about something, you always take livelong day to get here. What if he done something worse, eh?", he stands up, "I'm tired of feeling trivial, mate. A lot of us are", he shrugs at the end.

"We're sorry, TJ. Really", Snow apologises to the young toad before glancing at Jason as if blaming him, "We were lucky it didn't go further".

"What was he looking for?", Jason asks Toad, ignoring Snow's look as he knows that Prince Lawrence would have died if they hadn't went there when they did.

"I have no idea", Toad told him, "I would have told you- I want to, really I did... But he said if word of this ever got back to him, if he ever thought you knew, or Miss White... he'd come back and kill my boy", leaving Snow in discomfort at the thought, "I even tried to give the bastard her coat. He wouldn't take it."

"Whose coat?", Snow asked.

"The girl", Toad said.

TJ steps in and says, "Dad borrows things from people who live here...", he notices his dad's displeased look, "...Uh...sometimes...?"

"Borrows?", Jason doubtfully asks.

"I don't steal nothing", Toad says, "The turnaround here would astonish you, mate. I merely repossess what has been left behind". Yeah, landlords and those hired to clean places out will sometimes keep whatever is left behind. Jason did it when he was in Gotham.

"Well, we'll be taking the coat now", Snow decides, "If she has next of kin, family, anyone..."

"Alright", Toad agrees, "Fetch'em the fur", he tells Junior to do. As he waddles into the living room, Toad comments, "Fine bit of dress it is", Snow goes over to the chimney to help TJ and pulls at a donkey skin cloak with the head of a donkey on the hood, "Though I wouldn't wear it outside..."

Snow White sets the cloak onto the couch and Jason begins to examine it. He quickly notices an envelope sticking form it and grabs it.

"An envelope", Jason remarks.

"Fucking hell, of course there is", Toad moans in defeat as he steps down into the area, "With my luck, it's a map to some bloody doubloons."

Snow White looks to the envelope in Jason's hand, "It's addressed to Prince Lawrence", she shares, "What do you want to do with it...".

Jason pockets it, "Doesn't seem right opening another man's mail", he comments, "Let's try and give it to him".

"Okay", she accepts.

"Well, it's been quite a surprising day for all of us, hasn't it?", Toad remarks as he walks to the steps, "I'd see you out, but I'm afraid of drippin any more blood in the place".

Jason and Sow go to leave, but she stops before TJ, "It was very nice talking to you, TJ".

"Thanks", TJ nervously says, "Uh, see ya", smiling up to her.

"And don't worry about what happened earl", she tells him, "Just... fell better, ok?", and she goes to leave with Jason.

Toad stops them, "And if you're looking for the Woodsman, try down at the Trip Trap".

Jason nods in thanks and the human looking duo leave while Toad worries over his son.

Snow and Jason step onto the street before she asks him, "Does it always go that smoothly?"

"Not often", Jason retorts.

After a moment, "So... split a cab?", she asks.

Jason scratch his facial hair, "Sure. i can only go to the trip trap for now, anyway".

She raise a brow, "Not because of what Toad said?"

"Hopefully, the Woodsman's there or... I don't know, someone will know where to find him", Jason tells her.

She deadpans him.

"It's my best lead", he says.

"Our only lead, really", Snow comments before going to hail a cab.

"When you put it that way...", Jason mutters.

Much Later

They were in the backseat of a cab as it was now in the afternoon as the sun was beginning to set.

"Every time I think I'm getting a handle on what's going on... things just get more complicated", Snow quietly claims, so the driver doesn't overhear, before looking to Jason, "It feels like we're always a step behind".

"The Woodsman is the only lead we've got and he was one of the last people to see Faith alive", Jason implies, "Getting some answers out of him will start to clear things up".

She looks down to her lap, "I hope you're right", she is quiet for a moment, "Jason... Be honest with me. Who do you think... did this? I know it's still early. I just feel a step behind."

Jason rubs his chin, "Faith was in trouble. Afraid of someone. I need to find out who. Might be whoever she was working for", he looks to her, "There's still a lot of questions... We find the Woodsman, figure out what he knows, and go from there".

She nods, "Makes sense", she smiles at him, "That's probably the best approach.

they sat in silence for a minute before, "Thanks for the-", "I wish there was-", the go to speak at the same time but stop at the act.

Snow recovers first, "Sorry", she apologized.

"Go ahead", Jason tells her, "I didn't mean to cut you off".

"No, its-", Snow says, "It's nothing, I just...", she paused for a good second, "Seeing all of this today... There are Fables struggling worse than I'd imagine. We pay so much attention to the residents of the Woodlands... you forget there's a whole community out there to serve. To have to turn to... prostitution. I- I wish there was more we could do this sin't how I thought it would be... but Crane runs things his own way."

"Then you should do something about it", Jason suggests, "You are in a position to make a difference."

"Obviously you don't know what I do all day", Snow tells him, "Right now, I'm the gatekeeper, making sure none of these disenfranchised folks are, as he puts it, wasting his time", sadly looking at the window.

"if you really want to help, you'll figure out a way", Jason encourages her.

She smiles for a moment before becoming depressed, "I don't know... It's just a broken system. The Fables who walk in through the back door, like Bluebeard... we have all the time in the world for them. You try and come in through the front door, through the proper channels asking for anything- needing help, well- I turn you away", feeling so disappointed with herself, "Now things are worse off than they've ever been".

Jason comes in with, "Well... that's not true".

"Right, we've had it worse", she corrects, "but... not by much. Maybe this isn't for me".

"You should stick it out", Jason tells her, "There are Fables that would give up a lot to be in the position that you're in and I think it's easier to change something from the inside".

"You're telling me change comes from within", Snow simplifies, feeling that was almost to philosophical.

"Um, sure", Jason says.

"Not the advice I'd imagine hearing from you", Snow smiles again.

"I'm full of surprises", Jason responds.

Not long after, the taxi pulls up before a stairs that went down from the street into the bar known as the Trip Trap. It's sign was a metal bronze or something and depict three goats crossing a bridge with the name of the bar engraved on it as well.

"Yeah, maybe you should handle this one", Snow remarks as she sees the shady looking men standing around on the sidewalk.

"Yeah, maybe I should", Jason agrees since he doesn't think she can defend herself too well.

He steps out of the cab, closing the door behind him, and goes heads for the steps.

"Jason", Snow stops him and he looks back to here, "I... um... just... be careful, please".

"Don't worry. this will be over soon", Jason gives solace.

Snow, smiled at his words, "I hope so", and she leaves in the Taxi while Jason heads down to the bar.

Jason is greeted by the classic bar ambiance music as he enters. The bar had a a wooden look to it with a zig-zag wallpaper like it was from the 70s. Very few tables littered the relatively small bar, with a pool table in the middle. The bar itself was on the far left of the door entrance with normal, non-cushioned, barstools surrounding it. 'CASH-ONLY' was pasted on it, showing they don't accept cards or checks. Behind the bar was a golden bell off to the side, two TVs for entertainment, and various photos of customers along with a chalkboard for specials and the like.

The Trip Trap is actually the oldest bar in New York. Founded in 1725 in secret by Starkad, a legendary iking and reprobate, as a place for Fables to meet and drink. Once known as Grammarian's Tavern, Starkad lost it in a bet to a tribe of mountain trolls, who renamed it and made it their own.

Jason sees only two people in the bar, the dumbass he ran into this morning at the Business Office and the owner of the bar, Holly.

She had white hair and appeared roughly middle aged, she had a purple and black tattoo with lighting and a butterfly appearing across her chest over her shoulder and down across her back, slightly hidden by her tank top.

Holly sees him with wide eyes as the man side eyes to him from his drink.

"What do you want, Sheriff?", Holly asks him with aggression.

"I was in the neighborhood", Jason responds, "Thought I'd pop in and say "hello"."

Holly crosses her arms, "Well fucking "hello". Now you can get the fuck outta here", looking at him like he did her wrong.

Jason sighs, "Look, I'm not even going to ask where he is now, okay?", figuring they knew who he was here for, "I just want to know the last time he was here. That's all", as he now stands at the bar, before Holly.

"Who?", Holly asks him as though without a car, looking away to the other man at the bar.

Jason puts his hands on the bar, "I'm being nice, so please try again".

"He's hasn't been here for a few weeks", Holly denies, looking to the man again wh was shaking his head and Jason follows her gaze, "No... maybe. I don't know. But yeah, he hasn't been here in a while if he's been here at all... which... I... I don't know".

Jason looks to her, "Does he tell you when to close too?", referring to the man she is looking to for answers.

Holly shakes her head, "Nope, and he doesn't tell me when to tell you to fuck off".

Jason begins to look around the bar some more for any clues. He decides to go right to left, starting with a matchbook on the bar.

The matchbook was imprinted with the Trip Trap logo. Jason thinks it looks like the one ripped one he had found outside the Woodsman's apartment from the other night.

"A lot of these walk out the door?", Jason asks Holly about the matchbook.

"Yeah, it's called advertising", Holly states.

Jason quirks a brow as he sees the state of the bar, "Did you get a refund?", as he places the matchbook back down.

"Fuck you. The words getting out", Holly claims, a sneer on her face.

Jason then looks at the half empty glass of beer nearby.

"Who's is that?", Jason asks as she was just leaving it there, unattended.

"Someone who left", Holly coldly replies.

"So why didn't you dump it then?", Jason asks her.

"If you want a cleaner place, feel free to get the fuck out of here", the man sitting at the other end of the bar says before taking a sip of his drink.

Jason side eyes the man, "I'm sensing a very hostile tone from you", Jason teasingly says as though it wasn't obvious, "Don't deny it. I'm pretty good at picking up on this stuff".

Jason then looks up over the chalkboard to see a picture of Woody, with a glimpse of the side of Holly's head in the picture..

"He a regular?", Jason jokingly asks, knowing that he is at this point.

"I don't know who you're talking about?", Holly dismisses.

Jason sighs, the downside to being a sheriff instead of a hero or vigilante, people avoid talking to you for whatever reason.

"The one with the bald head and the beard", Jason refers to.

"Never seen him", Holly claims, obviously lying.

Jason goes over to the end stool and sits next to the only other man in the bar, was definitely the same guy that got angry at him for going to work.

"Lotta stools in this place", he grumbles to Jason.

"You got a problem, friend?", Jason asks in a overly friendly manner to unsettle him.

"I don't like you and now you're sitting right next to me", he gruffs.

"You could ask me to move", Jason tells him.

Holly walks up to him, "You going to order something", she leans over the bar counter, "or you just here to bother my customers".

This caused Jason to humorously glance around to see if anyone else was in the bar.

"You know what I mean", Holly groans.

"Gimme a Midas' Gold", Jason says. It was a Fable original beer, similar to how his previous self had the Fable original cigarettes, Huff N' Puffs.

"You want a lime?", Holly asks, scowling at him with a sneer.

"No", Jason bluntly says.

"Well, I don't got any anyway", Holly continues glower at him, smiling as the other man chuckles.

"Think that's funny?", Jason asks the man.

"Yup. Think it's fucking hilarious", the man takes a swig from his glass.

"It was alright", Jason mildly agrees.

Jason can feel the tension from his presence and cuts to the chase, "Come on guys. I don't want to be here. You don't want me here. The sooner you answer my questions the sooner I'll be out of your-", but the sound of a toilet flushing cuts him off, causing Holly and the man to go wide eyed.

They look to the door that leads to the back as they hear them use the sink and then make their way back to the bar, Holly and the man glance at each other in worry, the man shaking his head a little at her.

Soon, out walks the Woodsman, "Holly, you're out of paper towels in the...", but he trails off as he sees Jason sitting at the bar, who gave a glare before smiling a closed-mouth smile.

The Woodsman face goes blank as he accepts that Jason is there, most likely for him, and he goes back to his seat, where the half finished bear glass was.

It was silent before Woodsman began to speak in a tired tone, "You and me've been going at it for hundreds of years... I'm through fighting."

"Well, Woody, that makes two of us", Jason agreed. The Woodsman wasn't really a bad guy, just a bad drunk, and Jason wasn't the Big BAD Wolf that he use to be.

Jason leans to the man next to him, "You're in luck. I decided to switch seats", and Jason gets up from his stool, however, the man puts his hand on his shoulder to stop Jason, "I just want to talk. This doesn't have to go like this", says to the man.

The an looks to him with his right eye now looking more milky white compared to this morning, smiling at Jason before sneering, "Maybe he don't want to talk to you".

"Why don't you let him tell me that?", Jason asks of the man, nodding to Woody.

"It's okay, Gren", Woody tells him.

Gren pushes his hand away from Jason's shoulder and went back to his drink while Jason heads to the stool to the left of the Woodsman, taking his seat next to him.

"It's funny... just a minute ago, no one seemed to know who you were", Jason jokingly says to him.

Woody stays depressed, looking down, "Yeah... well... Everyone knows you. Big Bad Wolf. Now I'm the bad guy and you're the sheriff. What kind of fucking world is that, huh?"

"I'm not really comfortable with it either", Jason tells him, rathering he went the vigilante route again, "But you play the hand you're dealt".

Woody looks to him, "Some people are forced to play with shit..."

"That's a lovely image", Jason comments.

Woody looks to his drink again, "Guess you wanna know about the girl".

"Amongst other things, sure", Jason says.

"I'd walked past her place for weeks...", Woody began, "She didn't look like it, but she had money. I was sure of it... And she wouldn't have put up any kinda fight", he looks to Jason, "I was going to rob her. And the night I finally get up the nerve to do it... there you are... fucking things up for me. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I wasn't there to save her...", The Woodsman was talking about Little Red Riding Hood, not Faith like Jason was here for.

Before Jason could say anything, Gren chugs the last of his drink and stands up in anger, glaring at Jason.

"Hey!", Woody gets to his feet, "Stop. This isn't what I want".

"Shut the fuck up Woody", Gren yells, "Shit ain't just about 's about this fucking lapdog", pointing at Jason, "Only comes sniffing around this part of town when the rich fucks in the Woodlands need a shakedown. Ain't that right Wolf?", he growls at Jason.

"It's not like that", Jason says as he turns in his stool to look at him, "There are problems with the way things go, I get it. but that's got nothing to do with what's happening now."

Gren continues his rant, "Holly's sister goes missing and no one gives two shits about her. Paperwork, waiting rooms, and that bitch Snow White looking right past me", Jason stands up, "the ushering me out the fucking door."

Jason growls as he tries to control his temper while looking at Gren.

"I can growl too", Gren taunts him before he changes into his true form.

"Oh. Good", Jason sarcastically says.

Gren was now a tall massive, bulky white monster with both eyes now being a milky white. He had a fin on his head similar to King Shark. A noticeable feature is the fresh looking scar where his right arm connects to the rest of his body.

Jason now figured out who Gren was. He was Grendel from the tale of Beowulf. He was the first monster fought in the story, losing when Beowulf took his arm, explaining Grendel's scar. He would alter send his own mother, The Hag, to get vengeance but she failed. He would then eventually send the dragon to finish an elder Beowulf.

Grendel gets into Jason's face, "Should've walked outta here when you had the chance".

Jason continues to be nonchalant, "Come on. You're scaring the lady".

"Don't worry about me", Holly says as she shifts to her own true form.

She had become a tall red skinned troll with yellow horns from her forehead and jaw, along with a sharp tooth underbite. Unlike Grendel, she had kept her clothes with the transformation. Jason might look into that last part for himself.

Grendel takes the chance to whack Jason with his right ape like arm into the end of the bar. Jason goes to grab the beer stein there but Holly grabs his hand to stop him, keeping it on the bar. Grendel grabs him from behind and lifts him into the ceiling fan, breaking it as he is held on the ceiling. Jason grabs the fan and brings it down on Grendel's head. Grendel slams Jason on the ground in retaliation.

Jason goes to get up but Grendel throws him to the other side of the bar He gets up as Grendel rushes forward, pushing the pool table to crush him. Jason jumps onto it as it hits the wall. Jason punches Grendel in the face to no effect before Grendel back hands him to the Trip Trap bar door.

Jason gets to his feet again as Grendel throws a chair that he ducks under. Jason dives behind an old pay phone as Grendel threw a table. Grendel tears the phone away while Jason grabs a nearby coat hanger. He stabs the tip of the top of it ito Grendel's forehead before he knocks Jason down as he smashes the pole of the coat hanger.

Grendel tears the tip from his wound on his head and grabs Jason's leg. He lifts him up and over, smashing Jason into the ground. He then lifts him to a light at the wall corner, breaking that before Jason slams onto the ground. Grendel then slides him over to the door before slamming him up to the overhead light before the door, seemingly knocking Jason out.

Grendel then drags Jason by his foot to the two others in the bar before Hooly notices something that horrifies her and he is stopped. Grendel looks back to see a claw trail as Jason had dug his fingers in to stop Grendel. Grendel grabs him and throws him into a side counter that led to the back room next to The Woodsman.

Jason gets up and faces the three, revealing that he is now in his Wolfman form. He is crouched to attack with his claws at the ready.

Grendel rushes him, but Jason hits him down on his head, causing him to hit the ground face first. He had crawled over the ancient fable before gut kicking him as he tried to get up. Grendel gets up quick as he football tackles Jason.

Before they could reach the wall Grendel was going to tackle him into, Jason stabs a claw into the arm wound, causing Grendel to let go as he cries out in pain before he smashes himself face first into the wall as Jason fell to the side.

Jason got to his feet first and jumps onto his back. Grendel began moving around wildly to get him off. Jason clawed at Grendel's neck and over his left eye before Grendel slams him and his back into a wall. Jason grabs a broken pool cue from this and stabs it into Grendel's shoulder near his forever injured arm.

Grendel begins to collapse with Jason kicking him over to the pool table, he then kicks his knee in sideways to keep him down.

"He's had enough!", Woody cries out to stop the fight.

Wolfman Jason looks to him before looking back to Grendel, contemplating whether or not Grendel should lose that arm again before deciding against it. Grendel falls to the ground crying in pain as he held his old injury.

Jason then fiercely looks at Holly, stunning her as she fears she's next.

Jason menacingly walks towards the bar, directly in front of her, before growling, "Whiskey", she quickly gets a small glass and bottle but Jason throws small glass away, "Double", she grabs a bigger glass and pouts the whiskey till the bottle was empty.

Jason then proceeds to chug the glass and once he finished he was back in his human form, not free of his aggression.

Jason looks to Holly, "Submit a damage report with my office. Fabletown'll pay for this", he goes to pay for his own drink before realizing that he didn't grab his daily hundred today due to the rush, "Uh, charge the drink on there too", he looks off to the side where he tossed the now shattered glass, "...and the glass".

Jason then spots the Woodsman from the corner of his eye, trying to slowly back away to the back room to escape.

"Don't even think about it", Jason warns.

The Woodsman looks to Grendel, "Is this the type of treatment I can expect if I let you take me in?"

"Hey, he started it", Jason explains, "That was all self defense".

As The Woodsman seems to contemplate his next action someone else now enters the bar.

Jason and the others look to see Tweedle Dee, "Alright, I got hundred bucks for the first bloke that can tell me something about a girl named...", he takes a sucker into his mouth before trailing off as he sees the end result of the bar fight. Along with the fact Jason was there and looking at him mightily pissed.

Dee scutes back to leave as Jason steps forward, only for him to see Woody try and make a break for it along with Dee. Dee trips over a wayward stool while Woody trips and hip smacks into the abr countertop.

Growling, Jason had to make a quick decision on who to capture.

He could go for the Woodsman as his axe could have killed Faith or just for more info on how he came into contact with her. But from the last time he saw him last night to the next time early morning through the Magic Mirror, Woody was still suffering brain damage from his head wound and couldn't really do anything.

Tweedle Dee on the other hand, definitely knew more about what was going on. He worked for a mystery boss that had nothing to do with Faith, as far as Jason knew, but had Dee looking into her. He also goes out of his way to annoy Jason, literally kicking him when he's down.

With the snap decision, Jason goes after Tweedle Dee, chasing him to the door exit and pushing him into it.

He begins to cuff him as Dee grunts, "Fuck man! That's not necessary", while Woody runs out the back, Jason sighs while Dee continues, "He's the one you want. Not me!"

"Your brother won't be saving you this time", Jason tells him as he struggles in the magic cuffs, automatically changed to his size, "C'mon, you're under arrest", as they walk out the door of the Trip Trap.

"I told you. I didn't do it", Dee grumbles.

"then you got nothing to worry about", Jason remarks.

Without any money, Jason proceeds to walk Dee's fat ass all the way to the Woodlands. Before they could round the corner, the street was filled with flashing red and blue lights.

Jason goes and cuffs Dee's arms around a light pole, "Do anything stupid and I'll throw you down the Witching Well myself", he threatens before going to investigate what's going on.

Jason arrives to see a swarm of cop cars parked all around. He approaches the police tape line as cops stood guard with their backs to him. He sees Beast run in across the barricaded area on the other side of the street, with cops stopping the guy from entering.

As the police leave the area he's in, Jason goes under the line and approaches the Woodlands where all the cops were stationed before, with a cop in a nearby car noticing him. Jason sees one officer walk by covering his mouth to avoid puking as Jason enters through the gates onto the property.

He sees a group of officers huddled over the door steps as he quickly walks to them, while others now notice his presence and go to detain him.

Jason is able to see through the group of police officers to look on in horror at what layed on the steps, the decapitated head of Snow White.

Chapter End

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AN: Sorry it took so long. I am a massive procrastinator but it was also a pain to get through via the game due to unskippable segments. I used it and chose options I thought Jason might have chosen in the situation.

I thought about splitting this up in segments but ended up doing the whole Telltale episode. I will most likely use the full episodes for the rest of the telltale series.