TWs: Attempted murder and Panic Attack

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The sun had just started to rise as they got back to the Woodlands. However, there was no time to enjoy it. Bigby and Sunny took the Crooked Man straight down to the Witching Well Chamber. They followed the sound of yelling.

"I know, I know. But we have to do something."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"When is this thing happening?"

"Are we sure he's coming?"

"Yes, you'll have an opportunity to-" Snow tried to calm the crowd down as Sunny, Bigby and their 'guest' entered the room. She seemed relieved as she said. "They're back."

"The Crooked Man," Beast gasped as he held Beauty closer.

Bigby walked the Crooked Man up to Snow. As they passed, Gren splat at the Crooked Man and uttered an angry. "Motherfucker."

A circle of people started to gather around. Almost everyone in the room was someone Sunny recognised. Holly, Gren, Beauty, Beast, Lawrence and even Greenleaf.

Sunny hung back and ended up standing towards the back of the group, right behind Holly and Gren. Holly looked back at her. Her eyes wandered from her blood-covered clothes to Sunny's bleeding cheek.

"Are you okay? It's been hours," Snow asked Bigby. "We were worried you'd run into some trouble...at the Crooked Man's place. And after what happened with Mary..."

A concerned look appeared on Holly's face. Normally, Sunny would have at least tried giving her a smile, but the exhaustion was just too much. She simply looked back at Holly in tired defeat.

"It's nothing. I'm fine," Bigby told her.

"I guess you've been worse," Snow sighed. "The two of you did well. I'm...surprised."

They both gave her an incredulous look. Making Snow realise how that sounded.

"Not that you did well...but that...y'know... I'm just glad you made it back in one piece."

"It's about time you showed up," Gren shouted. "Now throw this asshole down the fuckin' well!"

"Yes, what are you waiting for?" Bluebeard added.

Several Fables all started shouting at once.

"What do you have to say for yourself? Those poor girls!"

"You murderer! My wife is dead because of you!

"You killed Lily!"

"She was my sister!"

"How could you?"

"Where the fuck do you get off? You think you have the right to just do this to people?"

"Everyone! Can I have your attention? Thank you all for coming here on such short notice. I know normally we'd schedule a formal hearing, but considering the circumstances... I thought it best if we do this as soon as possible. The Crooked Man is charged with the murder of Faith and L-"

"As I already informed your Sheriff and his deputy," Crooked Man interrupted. "It was Mr Georgie Porgie who killed those women, not me."

Gasps echoed through the room.

"I don't mean to interrupt you, Miss White. But I thought it would be unwise to proceed with such...faulty information."

"Bigby, is that true?" Snow asked.

"Georgie may have killed them, but you made the call," Bigby pointed out.

"Do I have to explain the situation to you again?" Crooked Man groaned.

"Wait a minute. So you're saying Georgie's the motherfucker who killed my sister?" Holly yelled, then turned to Sunny. "Well, where is he?"

"Yeah, you're gonna bring that shithead in, too, aren't you?" Gren added.

"Yes, Deputy. Where is the rotten scoundrel now?" Crooked Man said. While he kept a straight face, Sunny could hear the smirk in his tone.

All eyes were suddenly on Sunny. She wasn't used to it. She had been in courtrooms before. Many times. But always as a quiet observer. Someone tucked in the corner to take detailed notes. This made her realise: she didn't enjoy being looked at like she had all the answers.

"Is he still out there?" Beauty asked.

"There was a fight, and he was bleeding out from his wounds..." Sunny plainly stated but was hesitant as she kept talking.

"I killed him. He's dead," Bigby finished.

"He's...what?" Snow said. Wide-eyed.

"So you see, the culprit has been punished," Crooked Man started to say. "There's no need for this-"

"That doesn't change anything. We'll deal with it later, but right now, you're the one I'm concerned with." Snow told him.

"You called the shots. Georgie made that perfectly clear." Bigby snapped at the Crooked Man.

"In which case, you still have a lot to answer for. And I'd-"

"I was told I would be allowed to speak," Crooked Man cut Snow off.

"We have to read the rest of the charges-"

"What other charges?" Crooked Man scoffed.

"If you'd wait a moment," Snow said. She was somewhat losing her patience.

"I am well aware of my rights, Miss White. Unless you plan to abandon the charter entirely."

"Let her finish. Then you can have your say," Sunny frowned at him. "Simple as that."

Snow turned to Sunny for a moment. She seemed to appreciate Sunny's attempt to get things back on track. Sunny still couldn't bring herself to smile back.

"If you insist," Crooked Man relented.

"You are charged with the murder of Faith and Lily...which Georgie carried out on your order. Inciting violence against various members of the Fabletown community...including the attempted murder of Sheriff Bigby Wolf and Deputy Yenay Fei."

"Twice," Bigby narrowed his eyes at the Crooked Man.

"A misunderstanding," Crooked Man said.

"Aiding and providing monetary support for the forced prostitution at the Pudding N Pie," Snow raised her voice a bit. "Additionally, you are charged with multiple counts of fraud, extortion, racketeering, and the illegal possession and sale of magical artifacts.

"And resisting arrest," Sunny added. Remembering back to fight in the parlour.

"Oh. Yes," Snow nodded. "Now, is there anything you would like to say?"

"First of all, I had nothing to do with Faith and Lily, so you can strike that one from your little record book," Crooked Man glared at Sunny for a moment as he made the record book comment. "Secondly-"

"Bullshit! Like hell, you didn't!" Gren yelled.

"Stop the charade! We know you're involved!" Bluebeard chimed in.

"Come on! It's obvious!" Beauty shouted.

"And there's all the other crap he's done!" Holly screamed.

"The rest of the charges are more than enough to deserve execution," Bigby scowled.

"The Crooked Man has committed crimes against this government and, most importantly, its citizens." Snow pushed back in. "These charges, if proven, are enough to justify death, upon which your body will be committed to the Witching Well."

"Where it fuckin' belongs!"

"But!" Snow went on. "We promised you a chance to defend yourself! And I won't rob you of that right."

"What the fuck?" Holly said in disbelief.

"You're really going to let him talk?" Bluebeard huffed.

"This is about justice. If we're ever going to pull ourselves together and make something of this town, we have to start doing things correctly. No more snap judgments. No more secrets. We are going to treat everyone fairly. Even when they don't deserve it."

Bigby moved to take the cuffs off the Crooked Man. He flexed his fingers.

"This is ridiculous," Holly muttered bitterly. Sunny placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You have the floor," Snow told the Crooked Man.

"Thank you, Miss White. You've all met Georgie. I don't have to tell you what kind of...person he was. He was a total scoundrel, lacking in any sort of moral fibre. I hired him as a favour to his family, you see, a promise kept to a dying mother-"

"Aw, jeez," Gren rolled his eyes. Sunny was half tempted to join him.

"Are you gonna get to your point or what?" Holly angrily asked.

"Georgie was working for me, yes, but he was not acting on my behalf when he killed those women. It was his business...and for whatever reason I'm sure only he could understand, he murdered two of his most faithful employees. I had nothing to do with it."

"Georgie seemed pretty convinced he didn't have a say in the matter," Bigby said.

"He clearly misunderstood my intention."

"I seriously doubt that," Sunny called out. "It's quite a leap in logic for him to confuse 'speak to them' to 'murder them'.

"I would never authorise such an act," Crooked Man defended.

"Any of you actually believe this bullshit?" Holly asked everyone in the room.

"Holly, please," Snow tried to say.

"Tell them, Bigby, Ms Fei...when you two finally showed up at my door last night, wasn't I more than helpful? I answered your questions. I was willing to cooperate."

"I remember you trying to withhold information until your 'bodyguards' started getting antsy," Sunny said.

"Yeah, and then said goons attacked us. Did you forget that part?" Bigby tensed.

"They get a bit carried away sometimes, it's true, loyal to the end. They do it because they want to protect me, as I have protected them. You understand wanting to protect what you care about, don't you?" Crooked Man stepped towards Snow. "You'd do anything. You might even give up an innocent man...just to save someone."

As the Crooked Man talked, everyone's faces started to soften. The anger and hate slowly turned to concern and confliction.

"Yeah, right," Bigby scoffed. "They don't do it because they want to protect you. You intimidate people, use scare tactics...they're afraid if they don't follow orders, they'll end up dead."

"Let me explain this to you... My employees are just that. Hired help. I see some of them here among you," Crooked Man glanced at Beast. "They are not my slaves. They are all free to make their own decisions, as Georgie was-"

"You're not serious!" Lawrence shouted at him. "I know what you do to people; I've seen it firsthand! What you did to Faith! The way you manipulated her! Do you really think any of those girls were free? Do you really think Faith wanted to-"

"I'm sorry, Lawrence. I'm sorry that your wife came to me for help, and I'm sorry that I decided against my best judgment to give her a distasteful job."

"Right, and you kept them in debt so they couldn't leave," Sunny told him.

"Yeah. That's what you did to us. How you kept us all in line-" Beast tried to say.

"You forget, it was not me who put you in that position. You all act like I'm some kind of tyrant. When your government abandoned you, left you poor and helpless, snivelling on street corners, I was there to look out for you."

"We didn't abandon anyone! We've been trying to help them," Bigby argued.

"Really?" The Crooked Man turned to Greenleaf. "What about Aunty Greenleaf? Her story is not uncommon. She left everything she had back in the Homelands...everything that mattered, anyway. With nowhere else to turn, she came to me for help. And what did I do for you?"

"You got my tree back," Greenleaf answered.

"I got her tree back," Crooked Man repeated back to the crowd. "And in turn, we used her magic to help poor Fables get glamours. Because I helped her, she was able to make a living... provide for herself. And what did they do?"

"For the longest time...not much. But...they asked me to come work for them," Greenleaf nodded to Bigby.

"Really? The new Deputy Mayor wants you on the Thirteenth Floor?"

"No... The wolf offered me the job... She wanted my tree destroyed. If it weren't for the Spirit, I'd be hung out to dry on a clothesline by now."

"What?" Beauty said.

"You were gonna burn her tree?" Beast added.

"Snow, why would you want that?" Beauty asked. She sounded a bit appalled.

"I know what you're doing," Sunny marched up to the Crooked Man. "And it's not gonna work. You can't manipulate us or these people."

"We're not here to talk about this-" Bigby tried to add.

"Oh, we're not?" Greenleaf frowned.

"Bigby just means tha-" Snow said.

"This is important, and I'm glad it's being talked about!" Greenleaf yelled at her.

"You know why I asked him to destroy your tree," Snow shouted back. "You were working with Crane and the Crooked Man."

"You can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me. You hated Crane. You hated that he was more respected than you and that you weren't getting the recognition you thought you deserved! It had nothing to do with the Crooked Man."

Snow turned away for a moment. "We've made some mistakes. I've made some mistakes. But believe me... I truly want what's best for this town. And that may not always be clear... right away. But I want you all to know that I care deeply about all of you," Snow gestured to Bigby. "And so does the Sheriff and the Deputy"

"Yeah, right," Gren mumbled in disdain.

"I can't promise you perfection. No one can. But I can promise to always have your best interests at heart."

"Like you did with her?" Beast pointed to Greenleaf.

"Things haven't been great for a while now," Bigby admitted. "But we'll do better at protecting you from people like him."

"The Crooked Man's been exploiting all of you. Exploiting your hope for a better life." Sunny pointed at the Crooked Man.

"You would go to him for help...and he would take that weakness and add it to his strength. And if things didn't fall exactly his way...someone would die." Snow added.

"Do you really think the Crooked Man cared about you? He just cared about your money. He cares about your obedience." Bigby said.

"You're all still afraid of him... even now. But you don't have to be. His contamination of this town is ending... and Lily and Faith will have their justice." Sunny announced to the crowd.

Every Fable in the room had started gather around Sunny, Snow and Bigby in support. The Crooked Man was left standing alone. There was a disappointed look on his face, which slowly shifted to smug annoyance as he started slowly clapping his hands.

"Very good, very good, the sentiment is surely appreciated... but it doesn't disguise the fact that these accusations are completely unfounded. The Sheriff and his Deputy simply don't have a particle of evidence linking me to the murders."

"Georgie was working for you! Bigby and Sunny got a confession that-" Snow shouted in disbelief.

"A 'confession' that nobody heard! Now, I'm no barrister, but I'd think such a statement would carry more weight if Bigby and Ms Fei weren't the only ones to whom Georgie spoke. Especially given Bigby's... history and Ms Fei's biases."

"What are you talking about?" Someone asked from the back of the group.

"You won't be able to talk your way out of this, Crooked Man," Bigby shouted in the Crooked Man's face.

"What do you mean there's no evidence?" Beast questioned.

"Maybe...maybe he's...I mean," Beauty shook her head. "This doesn't feel right, how we're doing this. I just mean..."

Bluebeard stepped in front of her. "Of course, it's right. This man tormented all of you... for profit! Georgie killed-"

"Let me just make sure I understand you," Crooked Man looked at Bluebeard. "You're trying to say that I am responsible for what Georgie did because he was working for me at the time. Yes?"

"Yes," Bluebeard frowned at him.

"Where are you going with this?" Sunny worried.

"If I'm to blame for Georgie's mistakes, shouldn't Miss White be held accountable for yours and Bigby's actions as well?" Crooked Man asked Sunny. "Like the way he treated poor Tweedle Dee when he was in your custody?"

"Crane was still Deputy Mayor at the time," Sunny pointed out. "You know? Before you kidnapped him?!"

"It was for his own protection," Crooked Man huffed but then let out a sigh. "Oh, you're right, dear. Crane was in charge. Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference."

"That's enough," Snow narrowed her eyes at him.

"So, you won't answer for your employees' behaviour... but I must perish for mine?"

"This is completely different. We all-"

"I did not order those two girls dead. It simply never happened. Georgie killed Faith and Lily. End of story. They want to scapegoat me for their own tangled ends, but they refuse to answer for their own crimes!"

"This isn't right..." Beast muttered.

"Oh, please," Bluebeard rolled his eyes.

"This isn't the point!"

"We'll deal with them after we deal with you," Gren jabbed at the Crooked Man.

"Listen, I know-" Snow tried talking again.

"The laws apply when we need them to-"

"Bluebeard, please!" Snow hushed him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Beast shouted again.

"Everyone, calm down! This isn't the reason we're here!" Sunny told them.

"I mean, a certain level of privilege should be afforded to-" Bluebeard continued talking.

"To who?" Gren frowned.

"This is how it's always been!" Greenleaf loured.

"This is what I'm talking about. We lashed our ropes to this diseased world, and ever since, which one of us has been there for you? Who filled your lives with the promise of more? Who was there while they idly played in their towers... judging you, treating you as mindless children too stupid to command your own destiny."

Without me... Who will pay your rent when you are on the verge of eviction?

Who will dare challenge their brutality when it leaks to our dear citizens?

Who will protect you... from the Big Bad Wolf?"

"Bigby! Sunny!" A voice shouted from the entrance of the chamber. Everyone turned to Nerissa, rushing into the room.

"Nerissa! You okay?" Sunny asked Nerissa as she caught her breath.

"I...I wanted to make sure I had the chance to say something," Nerissa huffed as she held onto Sunny's forearms for support.

"Why don't you take a moment to catch your breath, little one?" Crooked Man said. Causing Sunny to give him a warning look.

"What's she doing here?" Bluebeard grumbled.

"I'd like to... I-I need to say something."

"We're kind of in the middle of something," Bluebeard told her.

"Zip it," Sunny scowled at the man.

"She has something to say, and we're gonna listen," Bigby told everyone. "Go right ahead."

Nerissa walked over to the Crooked Man and gave him a sad smile. "You probably don't remember me... I don't know why I was... afraid to come here.

"My dear, I don't know what it-"

"Just shut up!" Nerissa shouted at him. "You enslaved us for years. Let us hear stories about what you'd do.... You told us we would lose everything if we stepped just one toe out of line. And we couldn't say a word about it because of these damn ribbons."

"Wait..." The Crooked Man looked around nervously.

"But you know what... now it's my turn to talk," Nerissa continued.

"How are you-"

"I found Vivian's body. Did you kill her?" When the Crooked Man didn't give a fast enough answer, Nerissa snapped around to Sunny. "Did he?"

"Vivian wanted you freed from the ribbons... but she killed herself to do it," Sunny answered her.

"I'm sorry, um... I don't think I know your-" Crooked Man tried to say something. Sunny was surprised by how much he was losing his composure.

"Nerissa! My name is Nerissa!" She yelled at him.

"It's okay, my dear, it's going to be just-"

"He ordered them dead, this fucker," Nerissa told everyone. "Faith and Lily-"

"That's a lie!"

"I was in the goddamned room when he did it. Faith and Lily are dead because of you! The only two people who ever gave a damn about me... And now I can finally say," Nerissa looked at the Crooked man with a bitter smile. "You're an asshole... And I hope you rot at the bottom of the Wishing Well for what you did."

"Then this just confirms it," Bigby nodded.

"He made Georgie do it, it was always him; Georgie would've never done anything without his say-so, ever!" Nerissa added.

"You're going to take the word of-"

Nerissa cut him off. "At least five other girls will back me up on this. We all heard you say it!"

"Did you now?" The Crooked Man hissed at her.

"Looks like we found our evidence," Bigby smiled.

"She saw it first hand," Beauty mused.

"He's guilty!"

"Good enough for me," Bigby looked to Sunny, who just nodded and gave a small smile back.

"So that's it, right?" Beast asked.

"Throw him down the Witching Well!"

Bigby walked back over to the Crooked Man and snapped the cuffs back around his wrists.

"No! That's too fuckin' easy for a crook like that!" Gren yelled.

"What do you mean?" Beast wondered.

"He's gotta pay for what he did!"

"Listen to yourselves!" Greenleaf cried.

"You're all rats fleeing from one sinking ship to the next," The Crooked Man looked at them all with disgust. "So quick to latch onto whatever will keep your miserable lives afloat. This is how you want to repay all I've done for you?"

The kind and polite composure had slipped away. There was just an angry man staring them all down with hate in his eyes.

"What, you take two people's lives away, and now you want mercy?" Gren spat.

"You know we can't let you go free after this," Snow told him.

"What did you expect to happen here?" Bigby said. "You're getting what you deserve."

"Well done, then," Crooked Man muttered.

"Now, for your sentence-" Snow announced.

"We don't have to become murderers!" Greenleaf stepped in.

"What are you suggesting?" Sunny asked in confusion.

"He's guilty! I know that, but we don't have to kill anybody. We can imprison him. Lock him up forever...somewhere he can never hurt anyone again."

"How can we be sure he won't escape?" Sunny questioned.

"I can help! We'll use magic. I assure you-"

"That's not good enough!" Bluebeard told her.

"Maybe she has a point! Hasn't there been enough bloodshed already?" Beauty said.

"There will be more if he isn't stopped!" Nerissa pointed out.

"We can't let him live, it's too dangerous!"

"So we get rid of him!"

"I don't give a shit what you do with him as long as you get him out of here!"

"I don't know..."

"We can send him away!"

The yelling went on for a bit until Snow shook her head and shouted for anyone's attention.

"Listen up!" Snow called out. "Clearly, we're having trouble agreeing on a suitable punishment. So I think we-"

Everyone started arguing again. Half the room wasn't happy with Snow making the final decision.

"What about Bigby and Sunny?" Nerissa nodded to them.

"What about them? Snow said back.

"They were appointed; they're....the only official representatives, really. They should be the judges."

"Are you sure? This isn't how it's-"

"It's what the people want, Miss White," Bluebeard smirked.

Snow let out a sigh. "Okay. Mr Wolf, Ms Fei. It's your call."

"Snow, I-" Bigby tried to talk to her, but she stopped him.

"Just... Do what you think is right."

"Yes, Sheriff... Do what you think is right," Crooked Man said as the two of them walked behind one of the pillars to talk.

"What do you think?" Bigby whispered as quietly as he could.

"I'm not one hundred percent on board with Greenleaf's plan," Sunny brushed her hair back. "She hasn't exactly given us a good reason to put our full trust in her. I just think there's a chance she might try and pull something."

"You think we should just throw him down the well then?" Bigby asked. Sunny was having a hard time working on how it felt about it. He wasn't happy but wasn't totally against it either. "Just be done with it?"

"The thing is... I still have so many questions. I dunno, this is a hard decision to make in a minute." Sunny explained.

Bigby made a small noise of agreement. "We don't have much of a choice."

"Maybe... and I know this sounds crazy, but we keep him in custody. We can get him to elaborate on some things and, in the meantime, make a proper decision on how to punish him?"

"We could..." Bigby mused. "But that lot isn't exactly gonna be happy about it."

"Well, hopefully, they'll understand in the long run," Sunny rubbed at her wrist. She had never realised until then how much she used to fiddle with that old watch.

"Alright," Bigby stopped whispering. "Sounds like a plan."

The duo stepped out from behind the brick pillar and walked back to the group.

"Everyone-" Bigby started to tell them.

Sunny felt a sudden force around her neck. There were a few gasps and yells as The Crooked Man jumped behind Sunny and wrapped the cuffs' chain around her neck. Sunny's eyes went wide with panic as he started to drag her away.

"Not this way!" The Crooked Man shouted.

It felt like Sunny's body was struck by lightning. She kept screaming inside her head to fucking move, but the pressure around her neck was cutting off her airflow. She couldn't think straight. Her hands are grabbing at the chain. She tried pulling in the opposite direction to give herself enough room to slip out from the Crooked Man's gasp.

The Crooked Man had backed all the up to the Witching Well. Intending to throw Sunny down if the others tried anything. All the Fables had stepped forward but stopped. Not wanting to be the one to accidentally prompt the Crooked Man into going through with his threat.

"I will not allow my fate to be decided by this filthy half bre-"

Sunny pushed forward, then threw her head back. Slamming it right into the Crooked Man's nose. There was a distinct noise of bones breaking. Crooked Man started to slip back and, with a last pull of strength, tighten his grip around Sunny. Sending them both falling into the well.

Sunny heard the distant sound of horrified screams and a particularly loud 'NO'. She didn't even really have time to think or process anything. She simply raised a hand towards the sky.

Sunny's eyes snapped open when she felt a sudden pull. The unexpected jerk caused the Crooked Man to lose his grip. Causing him to fall to the bottom on his own.

Sunny looked up to see a few vines coming from her hand wrapped around Bigby's outreached arm.

"PULL ME UP! PULL ME UP!" Sunny cried as she gripped the vine with her other hand for dear life. Pressing her feet against the walls of the well.

Bigby did just that. Quickly helping her out and onto the floor. Sunny's legs were shaking uncontrollably. She fell to the floor with a thud and tears in her eyes.

Sunny was gonna die. She was within seconds of her life being completely over.

People started gathering around her. All making hushed noises of concern.

Sunny couldn't breathe.

Someone was asking if she was alright. Sunny flinched when she felt someone else place their hand on her back.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

Sunny jumped to her feet. Pushing a few people out of her way (at that moment, she didn't care who). Running out of the room as fast as her legs could. She didn't look back. Her mind was solely focused on getting as far away as possible.