The Wolf Among Us: Season Two

Episode 2: Chapter 4

Monday September 17, 1945

It has been a fortnight and a day since The War ended and Mr. Wolf hasn't yet returned. A Mundy would typically fear death or imprisonment of their departed by now, but those have not even appeared to me as possibilities. It would take a hell of a lot to kill or even maim-

"Miss White, get Mr. Beast in here immediately." The Deputy Mayor demands from his desk, sitting his pen down on his desk. Becoming annoyed by her mindless note taking being interrupted and by the way her boss always treated her with little respect, Snow pushed her personal feelings to the side and followed her boss's demands.

"Yes, Mr. Crane." She replies with an obvious unenthusiastic voice. Rising from her wooden desk, Snow leaves the Business Office and enters the Sheriff's Office where Beast, Bigby's replacement while he was gone, resided.

"Crane wants to see you, Beast. Fair warning, he doesn't seem too happy." Snow sighs, peeking her head into the small office next door to her. The temporary sheriff sighs as well as he stands up and follows Snow White back into the Business Office. Beast had seldom spoken to Snow himself, but his wife, Belle, and her were friends so it was nice to have someone he was at least acquainted with over the past few years at his job.

After entering the office, the two go separate ways. Beast cautiously approaches the Deputy Mayor's desk where an irritated and angry looking Ichabod Crane sits and Miss White returns to her humble little desk. After a small hushed squabble about Beast secretly having the witches upstairs alter his curse so that he would be able to transform between man and beast much like the official sheriff, something Beast did at the beginning of his career as sheriff but was only recently brought to Crane's attention, the wooden door of the Business Office squeaks open.

"Bigby!" Snow exclaims, quickly jumping up from her desk due to a rush of excitement as a wide smile appears across her rose tinted lips. A sense of relief rushes over her as she realizes that she won't have to put up with working with Crane by herself anymore, since her old friend has returned to the office.

"Well, speak of the devil." Crane says in a stern and rude manner, intertwining his fingers and placing his hands on his desk. The small smile that the wolf wore fading quickly as his eyes landed upon his boss.

"Good to see you too, Ichabod." Bigby replies sarcastically as he saunters over towards Miss White's desk. "So, what all happened while I was gone?" He asks Snow, purposefully avoiding and ignoring the Deputy Mayor.

Before Snow has a chance to speak, Crane inserts himself into the conversation; "Yes, Miss White, please do fill in your colleague about the events that plagued us as he wasted six years of his life fighting for a country that has done nothing for us."

Ignoring his unnecessary comments yet following his orders, Snow rises from her desk and travels to the Sheriff's Office where she will have access to all criminal files, Bigby following close behind her.

"Thank God you're back, I don't know how much more I could take from that man without you to complain to and sympathize with." Snow sighs as she shuts the office door behind the two.

"Trust me, it was rough without you too." Bigby sighs as he sits down in the chair behind his desk. Little butterflies flew around in Snow's stomach but she ignored them, as she always does, yet put on a little smile to appease them. She considered asking why it was difficult for Bigby with her not around but she decides against it, sticking with her somewhat romantic interpretation of his words. For some odd reason it was always quite difficult for either of the two to admit that they cared for the other, even though they did deeply.

Snow had grown fond of him over many decades of Bigby being there for her and respecting her, but she didn't like it. Her walls that she had built up after entering the Mundane world protected her from all of the pain she suffered from in the Homelands. Being self reliant and not being too close to anybody were key points in her walls, and if she admitted to herself that she would like to be close to Bigby, her walls would crumble.

Bigby has grown fond of Snow across a long span of time as well. Her independence, bravery, and self assurance made him proud, in a strange way, to be with her. He wasn't sure if Snow knew or not, but he would see right through her walls. Unlike the majority of the Fabletown community, he understood that the front she puts up at work and in public is exactly that: a front. Underneath that facade she was warm and kind and comforting. Something about her complexity attracted him. He knew her so well that he could crack her system, he knew how to make her tick, and he craved to do so.

Regardless of opinion or emotion, the two had changed each other's lives deeply and drastically. If the wolf hadn't freed Snow from imprisonment, she may be dead or still being held captive in the Homelands. If Snow hadn't cut Bigby with her Lycanthropy stained knife, he would still be a wolf and unable to change into human form like he is capable of doing now. They had both brought each other to where they are right now.

"So, what all happened while I was out?" Bigby asks as he breaks the comfortable silence. He opens his far left desk drawer becomes confused as he looks inside.

"Beast probably moves some of your stuff around." Snow comments, noticing Bigby's confusion. He nods before grabbing a small paper and box of tobacco out of his pocket and rolling himself a smoke. He lights it between his lips and nods at Snow, waiting for her to fill him in. "We had been adjusting our lives to accommodate with the war for the most part. Little action or excitement happened in the sheriff department other than... well,"

"Snow?" The sheriff says, confused as concerned by her trailing off. She takes a deep breath before continuing.

"While you were gone, there was an uprising of sorts of Fables against the Mundane people."

"What do you mean uprising? They didn't attack any Mundies, did they?" The sheriff asks and he leans forward in his seat, growing worried.

"No, not Mundies directly, but they protested and petitioned for it to be illegal to work for Mundies because no common Mundy should be esteemed higher than a Fable. It was mainly the wealthy and those who took great pride in their previous lives in the Homelands, since they didn't quite understand that many Fables depended on Mundy work to survive." Snow explains, remembering the protestors outside of the Woodlands building. She and Beast had to explain to them that by protesting they were breaking the law by drawing the attention of Mundies and threatening to expose their community.

"Is this still going on?" Bigby asks, already becoming exhausted at the thought of having to deal with a bunch of ignorant, entitled Fables.

"Not really, the main group dispersed about a year ago but the anti-Mundy feeling is still strong in the community."

"When is it not?"
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I thought I posted this like two weeks ago but apparently I didn't whoops