Chapter Text
Normalcy never stayed with the Grimm family for long. Sabrina had hoped she would be able to give her children a normal and safe life but apparently the universe hated her. So instead of taking her daughter Emma to Target or arguing with her daughter Alison about boyfriends she was trying to calm her daughters down as wings sprouted from her eldest daughters back. Puck had sat in the back seat in an attempt to calm his child down and teach her how to retract the wings but it was proving to be futile.
"Where are we even going?!" whined Alison as she shifted around in the seat trying to get comfortable.
"Ferryport Landing. It's where your father grew up and I lived there for a few years." "Sweetie take a few deep breaths. You need to be calm so the wings can go back into your back."
"How am I supposed to calm down I'm fucking growing wings!!" Alison snapped.
Emma gasped, "She owes five bucks now.." mumbled the little girl with a sly smile.
"Not now Emma," Sabrina sighed as she pulled through the town gate, "but please don't use that language Alison."
"Whatever!" The girl cried.
Puck eventually managed to calm Alison down enough that the wings retreated back into her body but they both knew it wouldn’t stay for long. Puck helped her out of the car once they parked and whispered a couple words of encouragement hoping they would help her at least slightly.
Turning their heads the family saw Daphne waving and running over with her wife Red. "You guys are here!!" she said with a smile that reached ear to ear. Daphne never did lose her eccentric touch and Sabrina was incredibly grateful for that. So many times she had been pulled out of a spiral of hopelessness by her jokes and bright nature. She needed it now more than ever now.
"Auntie Daphne!!" Emma ran over and jumped up into the tall woman’s arms to hug her. "Emma!!" Daphne shouted back hugging her niece tightly before setting her down. "How are you guys doing? It's been too long! Is your mom being a sour wart again?"
"No actually, it's more Alison. She's turning into a bug," Emma said casually pointing to Alison whose wings had popped back out.
"I'm not a bug!!" Alison sobbed.
"Emma stop teasing your sister," said Sabrina who shot a glare at Puck when she saw him stifling a smirk.
"How about you all come inside? Mr. Canis has prepared some lunch," Red said suddenly. She was always very calm which contrasted greatly with her wife’s extravagance.
"Good idea," mumbled Sabrina as she began to usher her family inside. Inside Mr. Canis ,a tall skinny old man, stood using a cane to prop himself upright as he placed the final plate on the table. "Hello. I’m glad you all made it here safely. Please eat."
Alison and Emma sat down at the table both staring at Mr. Canis with suspicion. While Sabrina and Puck had mentioned him a few times in the occasionally childhood story the girls had never actually ever met Mr. Canis. They were lucky to see their uncle Basil Jr. at least once a year. According to their mother he was ‘very busy with important police work.’
"You're the old guy in the stories," Emma blurted out. Earning a small laugh from Mr. Canis. "I am I'm afraid. I was friends with your great-grandmother after all.”
The rather feeble attempt at a joke did seem to lighten the mood a little so the family sat down at the table and began to eat.
"Ugh- did you recreate Granny Relda's recipes?" Sabrina groaned as she picked at her food.
"I made an attempt. Squid ink is a difficult ingredient to find. "
"Yes oh my God it's been so long since I've had her food!" Daphne said as she shoveled the abnormally colored food into her mouth.
Alison stared at the food with disgust while Emma ate with gusto just like her aunt.
"I hear you have wings now Alison," Mr. Canis said finally breaking the awkward silence.
"Yeah. I'm a fairy princess!" Alison's voice was laced with venom and hatred as she glanced back at her pink fairy-like wings. Her glare crawled away from her wings and over to her mother and father. Puck blinked and swallowed anxiously while Sabrina rubbed her temples. "I would've loved this when I was like 10 and stupid."
"Hey!" Emma kicked Alison under the table.
"You little brat!" Alison kicked her back and the girls continued the fight.
Mr. Canis raised an eyebrow and looked between Sabrina and Daphne. "Hm."
"Girls- Girls!" Sabrina snapped. She grabbed both of them by the back of their shirts and dragged them up the stairs. "Just- stay up here. Ok? Don't kill each other. I'm going to talk with your father and the others."
Alison huffed "You still haven't answered any of my questions!"
"I'll explain later ok?"
When Sabrina left their fight started right back up again but in much more hushed voices to keep them from being heard. "This is crazy! It must be a- prank or- or something!" Alison turned her back to Emma and began to walk around the hall. "OW! what the hell?!"
Emma who had grabbed onto Alison's wings and squeezed let go and stared up at her with wide almost innocent eyes. "That hurt so the wings are real."
Alison scoffed and kept walking down the hall. Eventually the two sisters came across a room whose door was covered in dust and it looked like it hadn't been touched in years unlike the other doors. When Alison opened it she sighed at the emptiness in the room. She had expected there to be some storage or some secret but it was just a mirror.
Emma shoved past her sister and ran up to the mirror. "Ooh! Maybe this is the magic mirror! Mirror mirror on the wall whose the fairest of them all!"
The mirror didn't even glimmer in response and Alison let out a mocking laugh, "Oh please it's probably just some expensive old mirror that Uncle Basil was too scared to throw away." She leaned forward as if she was going to prop herself up against the mirror but let out a shout as she fell through the glass.
Emma's smile grew wider and wider, "I knew it!" she whispered as she hopped inside too.
The hall was old and run down as if it had been left to simply rot. Dust littered the floor and the doors were cracked and open. Alison and Emma remained thoroughly unimpressed. It seemed far too empty to be a magic mirror. While a few rooms did confuse or impress them like the room with the entire winter kingdom inside magic wasn't what the girls were looking for. Alison kept hoping she would find something that would make all of this make sense but everything she saw just gave her more and more questions.
"There's a few items in some of these rooms but not much," Emma said as she peaked in door after door.
"Why would there be any items in any door? What is the magic mirror some sort of storage closet?"
Eventually the two girls had been walking for too long. The hall never seemed to have an end in sight but eventually they saw a corner away from the other fancy doors. "This hallway goes on forever!" Emma whined.
"Lets stop.." Alison mumbled as she slumped against the wooden door in the corner. Under her weight the door broke off the rusted hinges and fell backwards, "oof! Ugh why the hell is there a wooden door in a hall of marble!"
Emma stepped over Alison and walked around, "This is so weird..." Her eyes scanned the room in disbelief. There was no secret or hidden item just shelves filled to the brim with puzzle books. Sudoku, word searches, scrambles and puzzles with tally marks on the boxes.
Alison finally sat up, rubbing her head and looked around. "What the hell..."
"I guess such a boring room would be in the corner," Emma said shrugging. Eventually another shelf caught her eyes. There was only one thing on the shelf, a small leather covered journal. As she picked it off the shelf her eyes went wide and nearly bulged out of her head. "Oh wow this is old!!"
"What? Let me see that," said Alison as she snatched the journal away from her. It was indeed an old journal that was centuries old yet it seemed perfectly intact. No one would even realize it was centuries year old if it didn't say it was from the 1800s. "Why is it just titled Mirror's Journal? Mirror isn't a real name at all." The teenage girl opened the journal to a random and began to read aloud.
"April 14th 1825. We have just arrived in Ferryport landing. Jacob is trying to organize the Everafters into homes but he's not doing very well. Not many people are happy about their magic items being confiscated and even less were happy about them being entrusted to me. It's not like I have a choice in the matter. Wilhelm just throws them in and acts as if it's my job to organize them. Lately the other everafters are growing frustrated with me over this. I won't lie more than a few people have threatened to shatter me."
Alison stopped and shut the journal, "Great nothing just some guy complaining about something."
"Wait- what if this is the magic mirrors diary!" Emma gasped.
"Seriously? it's diary? How would a mirror keep a diary. Don't be stupid Emma."
Emma grumbled, "Hmph. Just a thought...what if the mirror was a person."
Alison paused for a moment staring at the journal, "Yeah right. This isn't important at all it's not going to help us find out anything about this town or what's going on."
Emma took the journal from Alison and tucked it into her skirt pocket, "Then i'll read it."
Alison rolled her eyes and stepped out of the room. "How the hell are my wings going through my clothing..?" she mumbled to herself as she just realized how impossible that should be.
"You're a fairy princess. It's probably just magic!" Emma said as she walked back and stepped out of the mirror.
Alison shrugged and stepped out with her. "Don't tell mom we went in the mirror. I don't think she'd like us snooping."
Emma nodded and did an X motion across the right side of her chest, "Cross my heart!"
"Your hearts on the left side moron."
"Oh whatever," said Emma in a mockingly teenage girly voice.
As the girls left the room Sabrina was standing at the top of the stairs with her arms crossed, "What are you two doing?"
"What we can't look around? You dragged us up here," Alison snapped back.
Sabrina's eye twitched but she didn't respond. "Daphne, Red, your father and I are going to town. Mr. Canis will stay here and watch you. This will...be a good chance for you to get to know him." Sabrina reached out to hug her girls but when Alison stepped back she stopped. "I love you two. Be safe and don't give Mr. Canis too much trouble. He's old." Sabrina paused for a moment her gaze shifting over to the room they were just in for only a moment. "Stay out of there. That mirror is...not important. Just leave it alone." With a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes Sabrina ruffled Emma's hair and gave a loving look to Alison. "Goodbye girls we'll be back in an hour or two ok?"
"mk." Alison said unenthusiastically. "Why does the room only have a mirror in it?"
Sabrina sighed, "I'll explain later."
"Of course," Alison mumbled.
When Sabrina, Daphne and Red left the tension in the air grew thicker almost instantly. The silence became awkward instead of melancholy and Mr. Canis clearly had no idea what to say or do.
"Normally when I babysit I have Relda with me.." he said with an awkward chuckle.
"Well you don't have to babysit us. I'm going back upstairs," Alison turned to head back up but Mr. Canis stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
"I know you might want to explore but...I think you should stay downstairs. Your mother will show you the upstairs when you get back."
Alison huffed and wrenched her shoulder free before walking over to the couch and sitting down. Emma walked over too and sat down next to her. It was quiet. Too quiet. Alison wanted answers yet every question she was asking was being put off. "I can't believe this. They're just- leaving us here!" Alison whisper shouted. "They've hardly answered any of my questions and then they just leave!"
Emma sighed for a moment and stared at the floor clearly in deep thought, "Do you remember the movie we watched where the little girl was kidnapped and had to escape on her own?"
"What-? yeah what does that have to do with anything- OH. Are you sure?"
Emma nodded, "if we get out of the house we can go find someone who might have answers. This is our one chance. C'mon we're the princesses of mischief." A smirk crawled across Alison's face at the mention of their nicknames. The two girls nodded at each other and Emma stood up. Alison removed her jacket and placed it beside her.
"Mr. Canis! Can you come here please?" Emma said in an overly innocent tone.
Mr. Canis stopped washing the dishes and walked over with his eyebrows furrowed in concern. "yes girls what is it?"
"Just lean down I need to whisper something too you," Emma said blinking her eyes sweetly.
Mr. Canis gave the girls an odd look but leaned over. Emma slowly raised her mouth to Mr. Canis ear and shouted "NOW!"
When the old man let out a shout as pain shot through his ear Alison pulled her jacket over Mr. Canis' head and shoved him to the floor. "Sorry! but we've got some answers to find and if no one is going to explain this shit to me I'll figure it out!!" Alison grabbed Emma's and the girls bolted out of the house into the woods.
Mr. Canis laid on the floor for a moment dumbfounded. "They're just like Sabrina and Daphne..." he mumbled.
~🔍~
Emma and Alison finally slowed down after running for a while. When they stopped to catch their breath Alison's ran a hand through her hair and sighed angrily, "Now what? We're lost in the middle of the woods, we've never been in this town before so how the hell are we supposed to find mom and dad? AND these stupid wings won't stop bothering me!" Alison began turning around in a circle trying to swat and stuff her wings into her back.
"There has to be something around here Alison this town is pretty small.."
Alison who wasn't listening, kicked a tree out of anger and then immediately regretted it as she let out a cry of pain as she clutched her foot. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"
Emma sighed and rolled her eyes in annoyance. Leaving Alison behind she walked further into the woods convinced she would find her later. Eventually she saw a strange run down cabin that looked disgusting and completely inhabitable. As she grew closer she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and every instinct in her body began to tell her to turn away and run. Sadly Emma wasn't the best at listening and kept walking forward like an idiot. When she reached the house door she peaked to the side trying to look in a window but the inside looked just as bad and horrible as the outside. Assuming the house was abandoned she waltzed right inside and began looking around. "Wow..." she whispered in awe, "this place is creepy as hell."
"I assure you it is much worse than any hell you know child," said a strange voice suddenly appearing behind Emma.
Emma screamed and turned around falling onto her back.
"What are you doing in my house?" demanded the old and wrinkled raisin of a woman who stood before the child.
"I- I uh I'm sorry I thought it was abandoned!" said Emma whose bottom lip began to tremble in fear. She looked around for a moment and opened her mouth to call for her sister but quickly closed it.
The old woman scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Whatever just get out- wait a minute you look oddly familiar..."
Emma glanced to the side nervously and slowly stood up her gaze locked with the woman's.
"You're a Grimm aren't you?" she stated without a sense of doubt.
Emma's eyes widened, "How did you know?"
"Your family loves to shove their nose in other people's businesses. I wish I could prosecute them for trespassing or something.."
Alison burst into the house suddenly, nearly breaking the door off of its hinges, "Emma!!" she called out and when she saw Emma with the old woman her face relaxed a bit.
"Sure everyone just come inside don't even bother to knock I'm super friendly," sneered the woman who was now even more irritated. "I used to strike fear into the hearts of children why do so many insist on showing up at my house.."
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing with my sister?!"
"Oh great the Grimms procreated even more. You girls know you're interrupting my soap operas right?!"
"Whoa whoa whoa how do you know our last name?!" Alison said as she walked over to Emma and stood in front of her like a shield.
"It's obvious. You look just like Sabrina and Daphne Grimm. Same terrible manners too. And the wings on your back aren't exactly subtle"
"Sabrina Grimm is our mother..." Emma mumbled peaking out from behind Alison whose face was flushed red in embarrassment at the mention of her wings. "Who're you?"
"Baba Yaga," whispered the old woman with wide terrifying eyes.
Emma let out a yelp and hid back behind Alison.
Alison did her best to hide her shaking hands and sucked in a sharp breath. "How do you know our mother?"
"I've known the Grimm family for centuries. Generation after generation of nosy bastards. The only one I've respected was your great-grandmother Relda. When you see your mother again ask her about the time she tried to steal from me."
Alison and Emma shared at look of disbelief. The mother they knew would never act so recklessly but every second they spent in this town they continued to realize they knew even less about their mom than they thought. "If you're really Baba Yaga then maybe you have some sort of magic item that could help us?"
"What do you need help with girl"
"Maybe you could reverse my wings or something? Maybe you have some information about what the hell is going on with my parents? Why they went into town without us? or what this town is about? and-" Alison was on the verge of rambling but Baba Yaga clamped her thin shriveled hand around Alison's mouth.
"Shut up. First of all," she removed her hand, "I don't do things for free. Especially for Grimms."
"What do you want then?" Alison asked earning a 'you can't be serious!' look from Emma.
"Hm. Can't think of anything right now."
"Oh come on!!" Alison threw her hands up in the air.
Baba Yaga smiled for a moment which unsettled the girls even more. She turned and stared at Alison for a moment her eyes glancing over to her wings. "How about this... you'll owe me just one small favor and I decide what I want and when you'll give it to me."
Alison opened her mouth to agree but Emma interrupted her "Can you give us a moment.." Emma said with an awkward smile as she grabbed Alison's hand. Dragging her away, she knelt down and began whispering to her sister "I don't think this is a good idea."
"Emma we don't have a choice. Our parents aren't telling us anything and it's not like their friends or our aunts are going to say anything! She's our best chance at finally understanding what's going on."
"I don't know Allie I don't trust her...she's creepy and who knows what sort of favor she wants!"
"It doesn't matter right now! She can help us so quit bugging me!!" Alison snatched her hand away from Emma's and walked over to Baba Yaga. "What exactly are you offering?"
"A book."
"What?"
"A book." Baba Yaga repeated as if Alison didn't hear her the first time.
"No I heard- just that's it?" Alison stared at Baba Yaga in disbelief.
"Don't judge a book by its cover. It is a complete history on all Grimm. It has every written testimony by all of your ancestors including your mother and aunt. Now let me find it."
Baba Yaga began searching through drawers trying to find the book while Alison loomed behind her looking over her shoulder. Emma tapped her foot nervously and stayed behind. "This is taking forever," Alison scoffed and began wandering around the room aimlessly when something way back in a tucked away closet caught her eye. It was a small glow which anyone would have disregarded in Alison's situation. Had Alison been in a more stable mindset she might've done so too. However Alison did not do the smart thing, she took a step closer as if she was almost entranced by the sight. A voice began to whisper inside her head, "What do you wish for?" it asked. The simple phrase was whispered over and over until what Alison wanted more than anything in the world right now was all that consumed her mind. The voice whispered again and again drowning out any calls from her sister or Baba Yaga. "Take me and gain what you most desire." Alison's hand reached out and for a moment she hesitated. What was it that she wanted more than anything else in the entire world? The red glowing object came into view and Alison saw a hand reaching out to her and promising her safety and reassurance. Promising her answers.
"I'll explain later."
Her mother's voice echoed in her mind and a terrible anger overwhelmed her. Hatred, malice, resentment, and fear. She understood nothing around her but this hand promised to help her learn, to guide her and give her what she deserved.
"I wish..."
"Child what are you doing?!" Baba Yaga shouted but her cries fell on deaf ears.
"Alison stop!!" Emma screamed to no avail.
"I wish that everything would go back to the way it was before!"
Silence and then a voice echoing throughout the house like a horrifying promise.
"As you wish."