TW: Dead body, meations of possible drug use and violence, implied possible stalking and stolen property.
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Sunny didn't grow up in Fabletown. Hell, she could probably count on one hand the number of times she had visited before getting the 'new job'.
As a result, almost everything around her was unknown. Catriona had explained a few things to her, so she wasn't completely lost. And there was one thing she was more than familiar with. That thing being the Witching Well. No matter how it was explained to Sunny, she couldn't help but think of it as something akin to a portal straight to hell.
Most other days, that would be the most uncomfortable thing to be in the room with, but it was Sunny's (un)lucky day. Instead of staring down the dead well with horrid memories crawling back into her head, Sunny was staring at a body identical to hers.
She hated everything about this.
"Wow. I didn't realise... I've never seen her face before now," Snow said, shaking her head.
Sunny couldn't think of what to say. She just ended up just staring at the woman. The Witching Well Chamber was a dark lifeless room. The quietest whispers would echo through the place.
"Are you gonna be okay? You don't have to stay," Wolf looked to Sunny again.
Sunny shook her head. She kept her arms crossed.
"The glamour is so effective; it's invasive. If you need-" Snow started to say.
"It's fine, really," Sunny told her. "Sorry. It's... like you said, just so vivid."
Sunny didn't want to say it aloud, but the idea of them searching the body while she wasn't there felt sick. She was desperate for some form of control, and leaving at this point would not give it to her.
They started by examining the head. Finding the same neck wound as Faith's but no ribbon hidden away in their mouth.
Wolf was checking her clothes when he found a brooch pinned to her jacket. He and Sunny both looked at it in confusion. It was a light chestnut colour that swirled in a loop.
"I don't own anything like that?" Sunny said as she took the brooch.
"Maybe it really belonged to her....not part of the glamour." Wolf wondered.
"It might be from the homelands?" Snow added.
"Bufkin, do you recognize this symbol?" Sunny asked the winged creature.
"No, nothing I've seen before," Bulfkin shrugged.
"Why bother with the right perfume if the appearance doesn't completely match?" Sunny tried to think.
"Maybe it really belonged to her...not part of the glamour?" Wolf supplied.
Sunny sighed. Putting the brooch into her pocket as Wolf continued looking over the body.
They moved on. Spotting that her fist was clenched tightly. None of them could tell whether she was holding something or not.
"Do you think she fought back?" Snow asked Wolf.
"No marks on the knuckles," Wolf told her. Making it unlikely.
Sunny stepped forward. Grabbing a hold of the woman's knuckles to pry them open. Hesitating for a moment when feeling the woman's cold hands. Snow made a slight sound of protest, but Wolf assured her it was the only way to find out.
The woman's fingers straightened out with some force and unsetting cracks. Revealing a handful of soft blue petals.
"Flowers?" Snow said with a raised eyebrow.
"I think..." Sunny picked them up and held them closer to her face. They were forget-me-nots. What could this person have been doing to end up with flowers clutched in her hands? "I just don't get it."
Wolf didn't seem to have any answers either. He just sighed and turned to Snow again.
"Did Doctor Swineheart ever get back to you about Faith, Snow?" Wolf asked.
"No. He said he wanted to run more tests." Snow said in disappointment.
Sunny started pacing and forth while Wolf continued on. He reached the woman's legs and turned to Sunny before rolling up her pants.
"Do you mind?" Wolf asked.
"Ah, nah, go ahead," Sunny told him as she crossed her arms anxiously.
Sunny looked as Wolf did so. Noticing there were a couple of doodles drawn on the pants. Silly things Liena had drawn while trying to entertain herself. It kept making her wonder if it was part of the glamour or if someone somehow got a hold of her clothes.
"Rope marks."
"She was tied up?" Bulfkin asked
"They tied cinderblocks to her ankles...so she would sink," Wolf explained to him. Making him let out a noise of scared understanding.
"And track marks," Wolf added.
"So she used drugs?" Sunny asked.
"Looks that way. Pretty heavily too. I hear they only go for the legs if they've used up the veins in their arms...or if they're trying to hide the marks. Anyway, it means it's not a perfect match to your leg. Unless..."
"Unless?" Sunny raised an eyebrow at him.
"Maybe she was trying to compensate with that perfume," Wolf said with a shrug.
"I guess that could explain it," Sunny pulled her hair back again.
"Wait. If the glamour is supposed to make her look like Sunny, shouldn't it be concealing things like track marks?" Snow pointed out. "That brooch too. Why would it change everything else? I've never seen one this sloppy."
"It might be a cheap one...just to get the job done," Sunny responded.
"The witches upstairs know what they're doing; that's why they cost so much," Snow said
"Unless someone outside of the business office is making glamours?" Sunny said. Making Snow's frown deepen. "Bit sketchy, but it's not illegal."
Bulfkin agreed with a smile. "It's not encouraged, for sure, but there aren't any laws specifically forbidding it."
"So there's some sort of black market for glamours?" Wolf shook his head.
"One would assume so," Bulfkin answered. "I imagine anyone with the proper books and training could theoretically produce a glamour."
"Yet another thing to worry about," Snow muttered in frustration. "Black market or not, it's a pretty good match."
"I wonder," Sunny stepped forward and looked to Wolf. "I'm gonna check her pockets."
She started doing so while Wolf gave her a cautionary glance. "You still okay?"
The deputy didn't look up. "I'm fi-"
"Sorry, that, uh, took longer than expected," Crane said as he approached the group. "What have you found out?"
"She was using Mundy drugs. Pretty heavily, too, judging by the track marks on her legs," Wolf went over what they found. "That and her glamour is defec-"
"Track marks? Isn't there...there are diseases..." Crane asked abruptly.
Everyone looked at Crane. Looks ranging from confusion, disgust and disappointment.
"I don't think she has to worry about that now," Snow told him. Clearly not comfortable with Crane's priorities.
"No...no, of course not," Crane backpedalled.
Sunny just rolled her eyes and went back to searching the woman's jeans pockets. She wasn't expecting to find much. In an ideal world, the woman would have some ID on her or something to that effect. What Sunny did find was strange. A bottle of perfume identical to hers with a bit of tape saying 'use this'. It made sense and explained the smell, but it didn't really help find the identity of this woman.
"They got your perfume right," Wolf told Sunny.
"How-" Sunny stopped herself. Wondering if she really wanted the answer.
"I saw the bottle while you emptied your bag," Wolf said as he continued examining the body.
"Right," Sunny looked away awkwardly.
The other pocket was much more interesting. A cylindrical off-white container. It could easily be confused for an old lipstick tube if you didn't know any better.
"I've seen things like this before," Snow mused as she looked at the tube. "It's definitely magic, though witches don't usually craft objects these days."
Sunny stared at the object. It was somewhat familiar to her. Given she had seen her aunt and father made glamorous over the years. The two of them often crafted theirs into lockets of some kind. Very different to the tube Sunny was currently looking at.
"I don't think it's wise to fool around with that. It's some kind of black market magic; who knows what it could do? We should have it looked at. Just to make sure it isn't dangerous. Don't you think?" Crane asked Wolf. Looking somewhat panicked.
Wolf looked at it curiously. Not really paying attention to Crane's concerns.
"You may be right. One way to find out," Wolf said with a surprising amount of cheekiness in his voice. He gave the container a quick shake. Hearing something tumble around inside of it. "There's something in here."
"How do we open it?" Snow asked.
"Anyone got a hammer?" Sunny half-joked.
"Are you-" Crane started to shout at her.
"Relax," Wolf stopped him. "I think I can figure it out."
"It kinda reminds me of a cryptex. Maybe try turning the rings?" Sunny pointed out. While there weren't any letters on it, perhaps the patterns could of reveal something.
Wolf raised an eyebrow and considered it. He started to turn the rings until they formed a picture of a white deer. There was a clear click.
"A deer? What does that mean?" Snow wondered.
"Could it be a familiar or maybe some kind of signet?" Sunny said to Snow. She remembered her aunt often using flowers as a motif in a lot of her magic objects... forget-me-nots. But surely that was a coincidence.
Wolf lifted the lid off with ease as they talked. He poured the contents of the container onto the pedestal so that everyone could see. There was a lock of dark brown hair and a piece of paper wrapped up into a roll.
Sunny wasn't surprised by the hair. She remembered a conversation with her father years ago.
"Things like hair or blood will get the job done quickly, mi luz," The father explained to his preteen daughter. "But it's messy and leaves the chance of a double walking around. You're better off using pure magic."
At the time, Sunny didn't think much of it. The conversation had just been bonding small talk. Sunny was sure her father didn't mean this exact scenario, but it was starting to feel like a self-fulfilling prophecy on some level.
Sunny had held it together pretty well. All things considered. Though the jeans, the perfume, the goddamn hair. She had stayed calm.
It was that picture that made her snap.
Wolf had unrolled the paper to get a better look at it. Revealing it to be a torn in half photograph of Sunny.
Sunny took one look at it and snatched it out of Wolf's hands, much to his surprise. She turned it over. Hoping it wasn't what she thought it was.
"I know this picture," Sunny said with clenched teeth. "Someone stole this out of my apartment."
"It could be a copy," Snow tried to comfort Sunny.
"No, the writing on the back-" Sunny shook her head. "This is the last picture I had of my dad. I thought it went missing while we were moving!"
The picture was an old one. Taken the summer before she started college. Sunny's father had written a small paragraph on the back about how proud he was. It was the last picture Sunny had of him before he was killed. Now ripped in half, so there was no remanence of the man in sight.
Sunny walked away from the pedestal. Followed by Snow and Wolf. She clutched her fists in anger. Slightly crushing the edge of the photo in the process. She wanted to find the sick fuck who had done this and make them pay.
Before she could express this to Snow or Wolf, a flash of green came from the pedestal. The three turned back to the pedestal to see the identical body was not so identical anymore.
"Oh, my god." Snow gasped.
"She's a troll?!" Bulfkin shouted in surprise.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Crane muttered in shock.
The woman was now a lot larger, with dark grey skin and yellow horns poking out from her jet-black hair. The clothes were all the same. Just stretched out to an uncomfortable-looking degree. The whites of her eyes had turned yellow, and the dark brown irises a light pink.
"Alright, you can calm down. It's not like you haven't seen a troll before," Wolf told everyone as they continued to gawk.
"Wh- who is she?" Sunny asked. Somewhat shunned as she was horribly reminded that this wasn't just about her and her old keepsakes.
Snow looked down at the woman's leg. Noticing a tattoo of leaves wrapping around her ankle. "That wasn't there before. Who do you think she is? I don't know many trolls, I'm afraid."
Sunny took a step back. Trying to calm herself down and sort through the hundreds of thoughts running through her head.
"Should've left them all back in the Homelands," Crane make a face as he looked away and crossed his arms.
"Have some respect!" Sunny shouted at him. It echoed through the room. Causing everyone to go quiet for a moment.
Sunny was really starting to slip up now. Things were getting to her, and everyone knew it.
"Just... who is she?" Sunny asked Wolf again after taking a breath. Her voice was stuck somewhere between defeated and desperate.
Wolf took a second to think. "She looks like Holly."
"The owner of the Trip Trap?" Snow questioned. "No, she looks a little... Oh, no."
"What?" Wolf turned to her.
"It's not Holly. It's her sister Lily. She was reported missing, but I...I guess it just slipped through the cracks."
Sunny felt her throat go dry. She couldn't help but think that seemed to happen a lot around here.
"We have to go tell Holly," Sunny nodded. "If her sister died, she should know."
"Right. She might know something about this. Who Lily was seeing-" Snow said.
"Certainly another troll," Crane butted in.
He was given yet another judging set of looks from the others for his unhelpful additions. He at least had the decently to look embarrassed this time.
"Let's go," Sunny said to Wolf as she turned to leave.
"You can't go out there," Crane exclaimed.
"Excuse me?" Sunny replied with disdain.
"It's too dangerous. Someone tried to kill you," He turned to Wolf. "Bigby, you can't let her go out there with you. You'd be putting her life at risk."
"Don't you dare! Wolf is not my mother!" Sunny yelled. Who did Crane think he was? Trying to sidestep her as if she was a helpless child.
"He's your superior," Crane tried to argue. Looking to Wolf desperately.
Bigby let out a sigh. Turning to Sunny. "You're up for this?"
Sunny nodded her head with a determined frown.
"Let's go then," Wolf started leaving.
Sunny looked at him in surprise for a moment, then smiled.
"I'll update you on anything once we get back," Sunny told Snow. Who nodded her head with a smile.
The cab ride over to Holly's bar was quiet. Not painfully or awkwardly quiet. Just silent (save for the honking of other cars, but that was a given in New York).
Sunny spent most of it thinking. She didn't know this Holly. How close was she to Lily? Snow said Lily had been missing for a while. Would Holly be pissed having this be the first mention of her sister in ages? Sunny certainly would be.
Her mind kept going back to the first year without her father. How wrecked she and her family had been for months. Her mother hanging on by a string. Catriona trying to be an uplifting force, only to cry when she thought none of them could see. The memories kept flashing in her mind.
Sunny had thrown herself into her studies at the time. Desperately trying not to think about what they had lost. The fact that Holly might have to go through similar feelings... Sunny hated the thought of it.
"Holly is already pissed off as it is," Bigby shook his head.
"I heard. You got into a fight with one of the customers," Sunny said as she continued staring out the window.
"And destroyed half the shit in the place," Bigby rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
"Fuck," Sunny leaned back into the seat and rubbed her temple. "We're just... going to hell."
"Sure feels it,"
The two arrived in front of the bar a few minutes later. Bigby took a moment to light yet another cigarette. Sunny looked to the door. It didn't really stand out from the many other bars in New York, but Sunny guessed that properly was what Holly wanted. Most Fables seemed to like their piracy.
Sunny and Bigby exchanged a look before stepping into the bar. Not quite ready for what they were about to do.
Hey folks! So I don't have any notes for this chapter, but I do have a bit of bad news (I mean I guess it's good news for me *shrugs*). I'll be on holiday with my family for a bit, so unfortunately, I won't be able to post any new chapters while I'm gone.
In other words: Heads Will Roll is going on hiatus until the 20th of October.
I feel really bad because that's like a month without updates, but at the same time, it's a holiday. I'm meant to be relaxing and letting my brain reset. I was originally gonna try and use the schedule option Wattpad has, but I like rereading chapters before I post them, and don't like the idea of leaving chapters to sit where I can't edit them last minute. I'm sure you all understand.
... also I just realised no one is reading this fic on Wattpad so it doesn't matter anyway lol