Chapter Text
Your eyes slowly crack open, a huge headache painfully pulsing at the sides of your temples as you try and fail to sit up, coughing as you laid sprawled on the hard surface of the floor. You take in a deep breath, skimming the wooden ceiling, trying to recall something, anything, but your memories are just a blur.
“What’s going on there?” a voice calls from the outside of the door, and you can hear the handle of the door being pulled from the outside, clicking slightly without moving since it was still locked.
Your abdomen painfully protests as you pin your elbows on the ground, levering yourself in a sitting position, and just then your nose seems to catch on the horrible stench of blood in which the room was seemingly flooded.
Looking down, laying a few inches from your pale feet, you can see the corpse of what must have once been a young man, torn to pieces and splattered everywhere on the floor. Your eyes look mesmerized at it, finding yourself seemingly unable to shift your gaze anywhere else in the room.
“Help!“ You manage to whine, apparently loud enough to be heard by whoever was outside, who started banging harder on the door until it finally gave in, splinters sent flying inside the room.
You slowly dug your heels on the ground to get as far away from the body as possible.
“What happened?!” you stare at the newcomer, touch your forehead, blood dripping down your temple. “I… I don’t know.”
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Beast had been walking up and down the narrow office for quite a long while, the wooden boards creaking underneath his weight anytime he stomped heavier than usual on them.
“Who are we waiting for exactly?” you asked, more to make conversation than to actually know: trying to recall your identity was becoming a maddening task since you realized you had no clue of where to start.
“The sheriff. He’s… an interesting fellow. I’m sure you’ll like him.” He said with a forced smile on his lips before getting back to walking up and down: simply looking at him was starting to make you feel anxious.
You slightly tilted your head and worryingly looked at Beast until he stopped walking to return the gaze. “What’s wrong?” he asked, as if it wasn't obvious enough.
“Why are you lying to me?”
It was clear he was tense. You couldn’t help but wonder how this sheriff would have been like.
Just when he was about to reply, you both saw a shadow approaching the outside of the door: you returned the glance of the newcomer, whom as soon as he had entered the room had been staring at you, still sitting in the chair.
His eyes drifted to the side, meeting Beast's ones “What is it?”
“Bigby, thank god!” he exclaimed relieved, but the wolf's gaze soon went back upon you. “Who is she?"
Silence settled in the room as you studied each other for a long moment: he looked like he hadn't been sleeping for days; slim frame, broad shoulders, eyes that could have easily pinned someone to a wall with a simple stare.
“She doesn’t remember.” Beast simply replied.
The sheriff took in a deep breath. “And so you thought sneaking her in my office would have helped?”
“I’m not a stupid! Just look at her: she is clearly a fable.” You didn’t know what exactly Beast was talking about, but you noticed the other man taking two big steps and closing the gap between the two of you: you held your breath and slightly pressed yourself against the chair as he grabbed the armrests on both your sides and leant in on the side of your head, taking a deep breath near your neck.
“Well, she does smell like one of us.” He mumbled softly beside your ear.
He slightly backed away, but didn’t stand up nor stopped looking at you. “Is it true? You don’t remember anything?” you blinked slowly, staring at his features: it was not an unknown face, but you couldn’t associate it with any name.
As you kept looking cluelessly at him, his expression shifted from curious to something resembling surprise. "You really don't know who I am?" You shook your head lightly, seeing the sheriff taking the news as a pleasant discovery.
Bigby slowly took a step back, crossing his arms on his chest, his eyes skimming your hooded figure up and down.
“What do you want me to do?” he murmured to Beast at his side.
"Maybe... take care of her, somehow?”
“And why don’t you ask Snow? I’m not good at handling…” he took a sideways glance towards you, speaking with an unconvinced tone. “…kids.”
“Well…” Beast scratched the back of his neck awkwardly “I was working when I found her…”
Bigby simply raised an eyebrow “And?”
“Beauty doesn’t know about my other job. I don’t want her to find out.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose for a second. “And so you don’t want things to be official.” He asked annoyedly as Beast nodded slightly, almost shyly.
“You’re lucky Snow is away now. We might just be able to find out what had happened without her knowing.”
Before Bigby could move, Beast spoke again, his tone a bit shackier than before. “The place I found her at… there was a corpse. Seemed like he had been slaughtered some days ago...”
Bigby turned towards him, raising an eyebrow. “One of us?”
“Not sure. There were just pieces of someone sprawled on the floor.” Beast replied as best he could, shrugging.
The sheriff scratched his chin in thought, thinking on what to do, a strange glint shining on his irises as he looked at you.
“Go back there, make sure no one touches anything.”
“I need to go back to work!” the bigger man snapped.
“You have already skipped half a day, I doubt losing a couple more hours would change anything right now.” Beast was about to reply, but he decided to just deeply sigh and do it his way.
“…fine.”
“I’ll reach you as soon as I can. I need to speak with Bufkin first. You-” he nudged at your direction with his chin “-come with me.”
You looked at him for a moment before standing up from the chair and walking beside him, feeling his hand through your thick cloak setting on the back of your neck, almost as if fearing you could bolt somewhere at the first corner. Your head was still faintly aching, and you knew a bruise was probably forming on the side of your forehead.
“I’ll wait you there.” Beast murmured as Bigby pushed you out of the door and simply grouched in response.
You walked around a couple of hallways, his hand always resting at the base of your neck, sending weird chills down your spine. "So, why did you kill that man?" You heard his rough voice whispering just above a murmur. You bit your lower lip, slightly narrowing your eyes at his accusation. "I didn't."
"And how do you know?" You stopped, almost walking by his side, glaring at him. "I may not know who I am, sheriff. But I'm no killer." He looked at you for a moment before resuming walking, disregarding you completely. "You don't believe me?" you said, catching up with him.
"Let's say I do, for now." He walked towards a door at the end of the aisle where many people were waiting, leaning against the wall.
You heard many of them scoff and grumble as you passed in front of them, but Bigby didn’t seem to take notice and so did you.
You were wearing a dark tattered robe with a hood and walked barefoot: it was no wonder you caught more than a couple of glances as Bigby pushed you onward.
“Who are these people?” you murmured when the two of you stopped in front of the door. “Other fables. Nothing you should be worrying about.”
He knocked quickly on the door and pocked his head inside. “Crane?”
Hearing no answer, he fully opened the door. “Come.”
He stepped aside and let you in first, as you entered what looked like a gargantuan, almost immaterial library. “This place is huge…” you had seen the building from the outside: it looked nothing but this.
“Just… regular magic. You get used to it.” He replied, slightly shrugging his shoulders and stepping inside of the room, his cynicism completely out of place as you saw a flying vessel soaring in the distance.
“Bufkin!” he yelled, his voice echoing through the wide hall as you kept looking up at the intricately detailed structures and columns, twirling around on yourself to have a better look at your surroundings.
Suddenly, a flapping sound was heard coming from the distance, and you looked up, shielding your eyes from the light with your hands, trying to detect the source of the noise: you saw something resembling a little man gliding around the bookshelves with odd maneuvers, curving the path of its flight at strange angles until it landed with a hard thud on the table next to Bigby.
You approached the figure, who was painfully standing back up on his two feet: just then you realized it was no man, but a green winged monkey with pitch black eyes.
Bigby's nose crinkled as he sniffed at the air “Damn, are you drunk again? It’s not even 11.”
“N-n-no, Sheriff Wolf!” he cheerily replied, straightening his back to look more composed. His gaze then set on you. “Oh, hi! We have visitors today!”
“Bufkin, at your service!” he said extending a hand towards you.
“Hi. I am… me.” You simply replied while shaking his paw, caught off guard.
“Me! What a nice name-“ “She doesn’t remember, you drunkard.” You heard the sheriff mumbling at your side and the corners of your mouth turned upwards in a little smile as you looked to the side and then back to Bufkin.
The monkey hiccupped again and bowed slightly in apology.
“Bring us the main book of Fables.” The monkey nodded and leapt in the air, correcting his trajectory every time he started curving it too much, disappearing behind some other bookshelves.
“Okay. You have a drunk winged monkey.” You would have questioned the fact he was comparing you to a tale as well, hadn't you just seen a green monkey saluting you and flying away: you turned around to face Bigby “What now?”
“We try to find out who you are. Then I run back to Beast before he has a panic attack.”
Bufkin came back shortly after and dropped the heavy book in front of the two of you, raising a cloud of dust in the process.
He opened it for you and you took a peek inside, turning the first pages to admire the hand-crafted miniatures.
Bigby took a step closer at your side without you noticing.
“If we’re lucky, you’re someone famous and we’ll know who you are soon enough.”
As he said that, his hand reached for your hood but you snapped back out of reflex, staring wide eyed at Bigby as he drew back his hand, fear slowly subsiding.
“Sorry. It’s been a crazy morning.” You murmured as you softly pulled your hood back, showing your face for the first time to the sheriff: he stared at your features for a while, his gaze not getting harder nor softer.
Your skin was not marred by any scar or tattoo, nothing immediately recognizable. That would have made things more difficult.
He started turning the pages to see if there was anyone looking like you. “Does it remind you of anyone?” he said, glancing sideways at Bufkin. The monkey took his head between his paws, scratching his ears in thought. “…no.” he murmured with an apologetic tone.
You sighed a bit and closed your eyes, feeling like you were getting nowhere.
“Can you untie your hair?”
You complied, removing the pin keeping your hairstyle together from the back of your head, your locks flopping down your shoulders with a soft swish, stopping - to your own surprise - at your knee’s height.
He looked at them, and murmured towards Bufkin “Start with Rapunzel and look for any other kid princesses fables.” The winged monkey fiddled with his hands, looking as if he was trying to tell something to the man. “I-it would take a while t-t-to-“ “Yes Bufkin, I know there are a lot of princesses.” He growled undertone, dragging his palm over his face. “Just get on with it, let me know if you find something resembling her.”
Bufkin suppressed a sigh and gave you a sad look, leaping again in the air and disappearing in the maze of shelves.
There was a moment of silence between you and the sheriff before you spoke again.
“Why are you helping me, really?”
“Not your business, kid.” He said while closing the book, giving his back to you.
“I guess it is, since it regards me directly.” You insisted, walking closer to him: his eyes minaciously settled on you.
“You’re in no position to make demands.”
“And you’re in no position to refuse help.” Your eyes quickly skimmed him up and down. “You don’t look like a charitable man. I don’t know why you’re helping me, but you’re a fool if you think I haven’t noticed how the others look at you. And I know I do know you, even if I don’t know how.”
He momentarily looked to the side, exhaling deeply.
“It’s clear I’m mainly just bothering you. Exchange notes with me- we’ll get on quicker!”
“Kid-“ he growled, but was cut halfway when the door opened again.
“Finally decided to give up the detective career and found a kindergarten?” the bald man who had just entered yelled from the other side of the hall. “Oh shit.” Bigby murmured undertone, closing his eyes and slightly tilting his head upwards. “Why all today…?”
“What do you think this is, wolf? A fun park?” he said while getting near you, grabbing your wrist and painfully yanking it.
Bigby growled and stepped between the two of you, the stranger swiftly letting go of your arm. “Not when you’re around, no.”
“I want this kid out of here, now! This is a work place-“
“Calm down, you’re still the oldest boy of the playground, no need to boss a little girl to establish dominance.” He said, putting himself between you and the newcomer as you started to move again, following him as he approached the door.
“Why don’t you just run away with your tail between your legs as you’re used to?”
“I needed to get out anyway, I didn’t need your ugly mug to remind me.”
You quickened your pace to keep up with him, getting out of the room first “Oh, and Bluebeard-“
“Fuck you too.” He said, slamming the door shut behind him.
You paced away from the crowd in front of the door, waiting for Bigby to reach you: he put a cigarette between his lips and lit it. “Charming.” You murmured, combing locks of hair together to tie them again. “So, we’re basically at the starting point.” You followed him down the aisle.
“Maybe. At least we know you must be something special if there’s no tale about you Bufkin could recall right away.” He said, stopping in front of the elevator while you kept staring at him as you clicked the pin close behind your head. As you didn't stop gazing at him, he sighed in defeat. “Yes, we are at the starting point.” He tiredly admitted as the doors opened and the two of you got in.
He pressed a button on the elevator control panel, and the doors closed again. The elevator was buzzing in motion, silence otherwise settling between the two of you.
You were feeling extremely tired, albeit it had been just a few hours since you had... woken up (if someone could call that sleep...). Albeit fading, the pain from whatever had hit you on your forehead hadn't still faded, and was swiftly turning into a pulsing headache.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you so much trouble.” You murmur, not even looking at him.
“Hey, trouble is my job. I would be broke weren’t for people like you.” He murmured, puffing on his cigarette.
You frowned a little, not sure whether that was supposed to sound reassuring.
The doors opened again and you followed him down another corridor, skimming the many doors all built inches from one another, wondering how large a house could be in here.
“You can stay at my apartment for the time being.” He said, while fiddling with keys and opening a door. “It’s not extremely welcoming, but-“
“I will manage.” You reply, smiling a little and stepping through the threshold, your gaze skimming around the room: it was... shabby. To put it nicely. Smelling of stale air and days old smoke, not extremely clean, but... welcoming. In its own particular way.
Seeing the glint in your eyes as they set on the notes that completely covered the only table, you hear Bigby calling you again “Don’t snoop around.”
“I’m not promising anything.” You smiled back. “And… thanks, sheriff.”
He simply gave you a nod of acknowledgment. “Stay here, until I find something.” He closed the door behind him as he got out of the room: you sighed and sat on the only armchair, cradling your legs closer to your chest and closing your eyes, wanting nothing more than a couple of hours of sleep.
You started counting sheep, unbeknown of Bigby pressing his body against the other side of the door, head leaning back against it with eyes shut as he tried to understand why he liked your scent so much.