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"... Leave... me... ALONE!"

"I know as well as you do. The difference is, I actually have a conscience."

Thirteen Hallowed Nights

The Eleventh Night:

"Fractures"

By Corvus no Genmu

It has been a general idea of the wizarding world that theirs is the true realm of magic and that they and the creatures they are "forced" to share it with are all that there is to it. Dragons are nothing but dumb beasts of flames and are at best limited to a species per country if even then, that fairies are no more than common gardening pests, mermaids are made of hideous scale and fishy faces with voices like a banshee's above their waters. That there is no such as elves or any other fairy tale nonsense.

They'd be wrong.

In the preset of the dividing years between that which would be known as the wizarding and mundane worlds, there came to be a third faction, a faction that realized the bigotry of the wizards and the cruelty of the mundane. The mundane would see them all dead regardless of whether they did harm or good and the wizards' sin of arrogance would only grow in the centuries to come. The wizards had all but forsaken the old magic and stayed firm in their ways. In another century there would be no magic but their own. They had no choice but to leave.

And so they did.

It was not a perfect world as one would hope, but it was world where the fear of death came from justifiable causes not the sins of pride and envy, of arrogance and fear. Though it took many years and countless battles, an almost ceaseless war ended and the world of refuge at long last gained a just and fair ruler and with her rise as Queen, so too did the world earn itself a name.

Grimmoire, the land of fairytales.

And like all fairytales, it had its share of happily-ever-after's… but in recent years those good-time endings have become a rarity for while 'normalcy' was an ill-defined concept in Grimmoire, the frequently increasing disturbances of its citizens could not be ignored or tolerated. From rampaging giants to hungry hags, terrifying trolls and wicked stepmothers and fathers. Thus an island in the far west became the ideal location for a place geared, nay dedicated to the betterment of Grimmoire.

The Everafter Maximum Security Asylum and Home for the Fantastically Traumatized.

As its name implies, its purpose is to keep the endings happily-ever-after and its inhabitants forever bright-eyed and/or bushy-tailed simply by removing the more unflattering residents of Grimmoire and placing them into rehabilitation… Oh, it was by no means a prison for those caught and found guilty of their crimes; they were punished severely and swiftly. No, this was, for lack of a better term, a hospital for the survivors of the crimes. Most would think that the asylum would be the perfect place for them and they'd be right. The victims of the mediocre horrors, the trolls and the hags and the wicked parents, spent little time in Everafter before they were released with little to do.

The rest… were not so lucky.

There has been a long-standing belief in the Balance, which for every spark of light there is a shadow of darkness. When the Retreat had been made, those ancient pilgrims kept true to the balance for there was no creature, light or dark, that didn't make that dreadful journey to Grimmoire but none ever stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, Grimmoire had its own Balance as well… and that the scales were already tipping dangerously to one side's favor.

Madness ruled the twisted fabrics of its mind, evil pumped its vile veins and painted its blood black, and shadows made up its ghastly form so much like a wraith but with all the savagery that earned its name.

The Big Bad Wolf.

Oh, you may scoff at the name; mayhap a jeering sneer at such a thing for a wolf, in your eyes, is just that. A carnivorous creature that can be noble as any lord ought to be or as savagely cruel as any villain may try to be. But a wolf is a mortal creature of blood and flesh, an animal that lives and dies just as any other. It hunts for food and lives for the thrill of the moonlit night with its pack.

The Big Bad Wolf… is a nightmare given flesh, a creature of primordial darkness that in its early hunts, claimed victims of wicked thought and design. In those forgotten days, it was seen as the boogeyman to villainy throughout Grimmoire and for a time it was idolized as a hero.

Then everything went to Hell in a hand basket.

Soon after Everafter's creation, the Big Bad Wolf lived up to its name and unleashed an unholy reign of terror wherever it roamed. There was no good in its empty eyes, only the wicked mothers, the cruel fathers, and the naughty children. Each and every one of them were evil in the eyes of the Big Bad Wolf and each and every one of them had to die. Whole towns destroyed, entire families gobbled up, it was highly improbable to find anyone alive in the aftermath.

Improbable… but not impossible…

"I trust that this will be a suitable… donation…?" Jacque stood in the office of the C.E.O. and Head Chairman of Everafter a Mr. H.C. Dumpty who resembled his ancestor's shape if not his form. The man was as round as an egg but clearly made of dreadfully pale flesh and a suit that made him look every bit the greasy little toady that he was. Oh yes, he truly did care for his patients but that care was pale as his skin compared to the care of his pocket book.

One of the first initial discoveries made in Grimmoire was that certain things that were some things that made the uncommon rare and the rare into uncommon. Precious stones like emeralds and rubies were in healthy abundance to the degree that it wasn't uncommon to find a fashionable pair of shoes to a nice pair of spectacles made of the stuff. Precious metals on the other hand… whatever silver there was to be found was commandeered to the knights of her majesty the Queen for defense against the darker monsters of the knight, and gold…?

The better question to ask, what gold?

So to have a man come to him with what had to be the most outrageous, if not completely insane, request he had ever heard and was about to promptly call for security to deal with what had to be Everafter's newest patient when the man took a simple step to the side to reveal his "donation". The jewels encrusting the chest had his eyes wide as saucers, its golden exterior had him drooling, but the sight of the chest opening, on its own for dramatic effect of course, to reveal that it was filled from top to bottom with solid gold coins…

Well he plum forgot to breathe until Jacque had spoken. He might well be a madman but he was a rich madman and that was enough for Mr. Dumpty. Still, he had to ask. "Might I inquiry for the number of coins, Sir Jacque. For the books of course."

Jacque's smile was a knowing one. "Of course." He made a show of the chest, presenting it like on would at an auctioneer's house and maintaining the proper decorum, being quite careful as to not actually touch the chest or the gold therein. "This chest has a sum total of eight-hundred-and-eighty-two pieces of gold. From the details of the designs on the pieces as well as those on the chest, I'd wager this was taken from Earth, possibly a culture ancient when the Retreat was but a mere idea."

882 coins… all solid gold… and from the Old World itself! Now one might think Mr. Dumpty was perhaps a bit too keen toward the chest and its contents, that he was perhaps thinking too much with avarice at his side and in a way, you would be right but you'd be wrong just the same. Mr. Dumpty did not get where he was by being a fool. His office was filled with enough security and safety measures that there could be no possible way for the chest in front of him to be anything but what it was.

A heaping pile of gold!

"Is this generous enough for you, Chairman?" asked Jacque, smiling at the egg-shaped man as he openly drooled at the number of gold coins.

Somehow managing to maintain a semblance of dignity despite the drool trailing down from his wide, toothy smile. "More than generous, Sir Jacque! Why, I'm sure this will last Everafter for another five years at the least!"

And your pocket book for twice that… Jacque nodded. "Very well then. May I make my own way or will I require a… escort?" It was obvious by the way he spoke that Jacque would be quite displeased with the idea.

Mr. Dumpty flinched and chose his words carefully for he didn't want his new best friend to suddenly change his mind. "I'm afraid that the patient you wish to see has had a recent… relapse… and has been placed into solitary confinement, and the good Doctor Crooked—"

"Ah, yes the doctor…" Jacque interrupted. Time to play my own cards in this little game. "I've heard he's done marvelously well here. I'm sure he's an excellent choice for your replacement, Chairman Dumpty."

A thick silence and a stiff. "Replacement? I'm not sure as to what you are referring."

"Oh I apologize; it's only that I've heard many a rumor regarding the man and his excellent care to the patients and staff here at Everafter. Why, it's almost as though the man runs it entirely by himself rather than relying on your better judgment."

Mr. Dumpty stiffened and his hands clenched so tightly they cracked like old graveyard bones. "Take the elevator down the far side of the hall down to Level C-7." His chair swiveled around, a clear sign of dismissal but Mr. Dumpty wasn't finished. "She will be the only patient down there."

"Thank you Chairman Dumpty." Jacque bowed slightly and turned to take his leave.

"Sir Jacque."

He paused, one hand on the doorknob of the office door. "Yes?"

"You are aware of how potentially… hazardous… that girl can be…" It wasn't a question so Jacque waited for the man to make his point. "I can't help but wonder… just what do you get out of this… arrangement?"

Jacque wondered how to respond and realized that sometimes, the best lie was made up partially out of truth. "Why, I thought it was obvious, Chairman Dumpty…" Jacque turned to reveal a cold smile, his emerald eyes dark and empty.

"Retribution."

It never changes…

"Haaaaaaaaaa…" Haaaaa… Haaaa…

"Don't you remember me little girl?" Remember me?

It is always there… waiting and watching… in the dark and in the light…

"Won't you come back?" Come back inside…?

"You mustn't forget." Mustn't forget us…

To take what's left of her away… until there's nothing left…

"We are here…" We are here… inside…

"Forever…" And ever…

Until the monster is all that remains…

"Haaaaaa…" Haaaaa…

"Enough."

"Who dares?" Dares to interfere…?

"She is not yours to play with any more."

This… was different… Steel herself for different was not always good. Many voices spoke to her in the depths of her shattered mind and though she did her best not to listen… she heard them… but this time was different though she did not know it

"Haaa… you think you can stop us, boy?" Little boy… Little man…

"I'm more than what I appear to be."

"So you are! What a delightful surprise to find you here!" Here inside… Here with us…

"Do you think you can lie to me?"

Who was this… that could to that Thing inside of her like it was something to be lectured to? Did this person not realize just what he was talking to? Or was it… that he was talking to her? No, impossible. She had no voice left to speak, no words to form a sentence.

"Lies are in abundance here, Old Boy…" They are everywhere… "Everybody lies." Everyone…

"You're afraid of me, of what I am, of what I can do to you and yours."

"Afraid? Of an old boy like you? You hold no power over us." No power here… "You are naught but a heathen—"

"SILENCE!"

"AAAAIEEEEEEE!"

Silence…

No voices making their demands… No cries in the dark… No screams of anguish… Just silence…

This feeling, this sudden strange warmth that was sparking deep in her chest… Is this hope? It feels so warm… Snatch it, protect it, cherish it! For hope was but a small spark in this dark abyss of shattered dreams and fractured memories. It would be lost and she'd be alone all over again.

"No. You're not alone. I'm right here, in front of you. Can't you see me?"

She did see him. A young man at the end of his teenage years and yet his hair was white like fine ivory but his eyes were much more ancient, like old emeralds that had born the ages for far too long but there was a power to them, a strength that dare not give up lest all be lost. She nodded.

"Can you see yourself?"

Could she? She didn't know, there were no mirrors here but where was here?

"Here is within yourself. This is your mind and so this is your world. All you have to do is want for it and it will be here."

Her mind…? No, her mind was gone, her memories shattered like glass and her heart ground into dust. There weren't enough horses and men in the entire world to put her together again.

"Who needs horses and men, when you have a friend?"

He held his hand out to her, waiting. A… friend… she remembered the word but not its meaning… what was it? Was it like… family…? Yes, it rather was like that but it wasn't. Family stayed with you but friends could leave you behind…

"I can be family if you want me to be." A stir of dust, a heart trying to be reborn from the ashes. It was a lie, it had to be. It had to! She had no family, they were gone! Gobbled up! She was alone, all alone…

"Stop it. I'm right here in front of you. Just reach out to me, take my hand."

Could she do that? Would she? No, there was no way she could do that she was… What? Was she weak? No, she was strong, strong enough to break free from his cell several times now, cutting down everything that stood between her and that damnable Beast! Was she afraid? Yes… yes she was terribly afraid… but that didn't mean she didn't have the courage to try!

Her hand grasped his.

It happened like a river suddenly free from a damn, flowing like a mighty torrent until there was no dark abyss but fields of green grasses and towering trees, a river brook tinkling merrily as it splashed by. The wind blew gently, a teasing caress through her brunette locks and there in the pale hands of the Old Boy was the small hand of a girl now into her own teen years.

Pale brown eyes stared down at her hand and she squeezed it tentatively. The other hand squeezed back and drew her eyes to a gently smiling face framed by ivory locks. "Hello there… my name is Jacque, what's yours?"

"… Red…" She gripped his hand tightly. "Is this… real?"

Jacque's smile was sad as he answered. "This world is yours, Red. This is your mind whole and healed so in a way it is very much real."

"No…" She shook her head. She held his hand like a vice; staring down at it as though it would slip away from her should she take her eyes away for even a moment. "Is this real?"

"Yes, Red. This is real." He grasped her hand with both his own. "I'm real."

She didn't dare to believe. "Prove it."

His smile turned mischievous. "If you insist."

A sharp pinch of her cheek.

"Ouch!" She slapped the hand away from her face, turning a murderous glare to—Jacque? She blinked and stared open-mouthed at the man before realizing that she wasn't in her room at the Everafter Asylum. She looked around and saw that she was in a modestly decorated room with two beds at opposite corners, hers being next to the window where a tree stood tall and proud with a nest of birds in plain sight through the glass. She looked around the room in stunned silence before her eyes fell back to Jacque.

"Where…?"

"My home. Yours and Samara's room to be specific." Jacque frowned in concern. "If you'd rather a room to yourself I can give you mine. I'm sure Samara will be disappointed that she can't share a room with her 'big sister' but I don't want to push too much on you too quickly…"

"Sister…?" She swallowed painfully when a glass of water was suddenly held out to her. She took it graciously and nearly downed it all in one go. "You have a family?"

"Correction; we have a family." Jacque hesitated. "That is… if you want us?"

"… My family…?" She looked up at Jacque. "Who are you?"

Jacque sighed and patted her gently on the head. "You can't imagine how often I've been asked that particular question… My name though, is Jacque and I'm whatever you want me to be. The choice is entirely up to you."

She blushed under the forgotten contact of reassurance, and that strange sense of familiarity in this Old Boy who called himself Jacque. She looked up and met his green eyes and it suddenly clicked in her mind, just why those eyes seemed so familiar…

They were her grandmother's eyes…

Sometimes you have to be willing to give up everything you've ever known to get everything you've ever wanted.