A Curse Upon Thee 18C (Patreon)

There was a lot that an officer of the law had to deal with, no matter if you were a big city beat cop or a small-town sheriff. 

Murder and kidnapping usually wasn’t the bread and butter or the day-to-day. No, most of the time it was a lot lower on the sliding scale of seriousness. That usually meant things like domestic disturbances, jaywalking and occasionally vandalism.

Again, most of those were more on the beat cop area of things than the small town side. Which is why it was still a little surprising when Storybrooke’s collective ugliness had escalated overnight, going from drive-by shouts to loud-and-out spray paint.

‘Murderer’, huh?

Finn stood in the hallways, hands shoved deep in the pocket of his dark-washed jeans as he took in the words tagged across the front door of Mary Margaret’s apartment.

The word MURDERER stood out clear, the messy letters jagged, angry, and dripping from hastily-applied red paint that looked entirely too much like blood. Emma stood beside him, the woman dressed in the hastily-decided uniform of their office; red leather and dark jeans.

Posture rigid and face tight, it was clear she wasn’t taking this anywhere close to well. Not since last night and not since she woke up after renting a room in Granny’s Bed N Breakfast. Not that Finn was in any sort of mood or place to judge at all, considering that he was still in a skull-cracking sort of mood for last night.

Probably wouldn’t be a good idea to do that, though. At least, not for something like simple vandalism. However…

"We should find out who did this," Finn broke the silence, voice low and more pissed-off than he expected to sound. "Hell, I can find them. Just give me ten minutes."

"And charge them with what? Vandalism?" Emma laughed loud enough that Finn could almost pretend he heard even a drop of humor in it. “No, no, forget it.” She shook her head, blonde hair whipping around her shoulders. "They'll pay a fine. And that’s if an anonymous donation doesn’t have it paid for them.”

Emma nodded as Finn clicked his tongue. Regina.

“And then what?” The blonde woman kept going. “Until we clear Mary Margaret, they’ll just keep pulling shit like this anyway. And our jail only has two cells anyway."

"So we just let it go?" Finn turned her way, an itch in his throat as he pushed the words out. It was bad enough to know Regina was evil, but seeing her get away with it again right in front of his face. Just like Graham… "We just let them treat her like garbage?"

"Nobody said that, Deputy Red." Emma rolled her eyes, the woman sighing as she pulled her phone from her pocket. “Nobody said that at all.”

Finn huffed as his boss snapped a photo of the graffiti for whatever reason, mouth in a flat line of put-upon professionalism as the flash glared weakly against the paint. "I said charging them won't fix anything or change what the town thinks."

One blue eye twitched — his left one — as he stared at the still-dripping paint right in front of him. Another thing he couldn’t do a thing about. She’s right. 

He hated it, but Emma was right. Everything about this — the people and the paint — was just a symptom. The disease was the Mayor.

Still didn't make him feel any less like punching a hole straight through the door.

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

The hits kept coming and they didn’t stop coming.

Finn was at the station later that afternoon, slouched back in his desk chair as he watched Mary Margaret sleep off a night full of crying. Incident reports on some juvenile shoplifting cases sat forgotten behind him, the idea of finishing them so profoundly boring he’d almost joined the accused in dreamland minutes after picking them up.

Twice. 

Above his head, the fluorescent lights continued on with a steady droning buzz.

Emma's desk phone chose that moment to ring, the sheriff snatching it up before the first ring even finished. “Hello?” Her voice was low, clearly trying to keep the volume down as Mary Margaret continued her rest. 

"You're what?" 

Finn looked up as the low voice turned into a lower hiss, Emma’s shoulders going tight as her knuckles went white around the plastic receiver held tight to her ear. "She's been teaching there for years. The woman’s the best teacher at that damn school, what do y-"

The voice on the other end was a tinny, bureaucratic drone, Emma's jaw clenching so hard Finn could hear the grinding of teeth halfway across the office.

"Fine. I'll let Mary Margaret know." Emma didn’t waste a moment in slamming the phone back down, the woman hitting it hard enough that Finn was genuinely surprised he didn’t have to duck plastic shrapnel sent flying.

"Let me guess," Finn tossed his pen up onto the air. "They’re firing MM?”

“Something about administrative leave…” Emma’s voice lost what little life it had as the woman sighed. “Pending the outcome of the investigation.”

“So… she’s fired?” Finn raised an eyebrow as he caught his pen, snatching it out of the air. 

"Yep." The woman slouched back. "Apparently, the PTA didn't feel all that comfortable having a 'murder suspect' teaching their precious kids."

"She's not even a…” Finn sighed, closing his eyes for a second. Mary Margaret was more a person of interest under investigation more than anything else. The only reason she was even sleeping in the sheriff’s office was for her own safety. Not like that matters. People don’t know the difference anyway. 

"Doesn't matter. It’s all about what it looks like to the public." Emma dragged a hand down her face, looking older than twenty-eight. "And right now, everything looks like she's guilty. Regina made sure of that."

Finn’s knuckles whitened around his pen, black immediately blooming across his fingers as cheap plastic cracked in half. He stared down at the broken pieces, the mess dripping down as he let out a long, slow breath through his nose. "I need to get out of here.” Without another word, he stood up and tossed the broken plastic into the trash can.

"Pick me up something from Granny’s." 

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

Mary Margaret woke up a few hours later, and they chose then to do the official questioning.

Finn leaned back in his chair, the interrogation room small, dim and gray around them. Officially, he was there as a "deputy observer." Unofficially, he was generally there because Emma asked him to, and when Emma looked at him with a face that was somehow as sad as it was tired, he couldn't think of a single good way to say no.

Mary Margaret looked even more sad and — despite the full day of sleep — even more tired than Emma did, the schoolteacher appearing incredibly small as she sat across from Finn at the metal table. Her face was thinner too, as if the last day had already carved something vital out of her chest and just left her like this. “I didn’t do this.”

It had to be the twentieth time she'd said the exact same words since they started, that quiet voice a broken record.  "I didn't do anything to Kathryn. I don't know how that... that thing got in my apartment. I swear, Emma."

Emma leaned across the table, hands folded. "We know.”

"Really? Do you?" Mary Margaret looked up, eyes red-rimmed and puffy as she stared the sheriff in the face. "Because it doesn't feel like anybody else does. I don’t know why the whole world thinks I'm a monster. The parents, the people on the street... when they’re not looking at me like I'm covered in blood, they’re calling me a… a…."

Finn leaned forward too, elbows on his knees. “A slut?”

“Finn!” Emma said his name like a slur, a hand gripping his shoulder. “What have I t-”

“No, he’s… he’s right.” Mary Margaret shook her head. “He’s one hundred… a thousand percent right. They’re treating me exactly like that, Emma.”

"The world…” Finn bit back a sigh. “The world’s full of idiots, Mary Margaret.” 

Mary Margaret blinked over at him, a teary smile fighting for place on her face with a tiny, fragile twitch of her lips. "You might be right, but you’re not very good at being comforting, Finn."

"Emma can be comforting. I’m the meat she hired to watch her back." He shrugged, a casual roll of his shoulders, tapping his fingers against his knee. "But we both know people just want to see you as the bad guy because it makes them feel better about their own shitty boring lives. It gives them a bad guy and y."

Emma shot him a quick, sharp look — not helping, McHale — but she didn't interrupt him. Mary Margaret was quiet as the former teacher stared down at her hands, fingers twisting together atop the scarred metal table. “Why?”

Finn blinked again, leaning forward just a littl bit more at the single word Mary Margaret whispered. “Huh?”

“Why are you helping me?” She looked up, gaze locked onto his.

"Because it’s my job?” Finn gave a half-shrug, defaulting to his usual. “Technically."

"No." Mary Margaret shook her head, jaw set in a stubborn way that fit Emma more than it did her. "I mean... why do you believe me? Emma… Emma’s the sheriff, but she’s also my friend. But you... you barely know me. You owe me nothing."

Finn was quiet in the dimness of the room, a single lightbulb above their head as he looked between the two older woman. "Because you're kind, okay?" No sarcasm this time, no smirk, or sneer, and not even a hint of a joke as he answered her. "And kind people don't rip out hearts and stuff them in jewelry boxes."

Mary Margaret’s eyes filled with fresh tears as she huddled in on herself, the tension in her shoulders easing just a fraction. "Thank you.”

"Yeah, well…” Now, it was his turn to look down, blue eyes staring fixedly at a scratch on the table. "Don't mention it."

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

Favor of a Princess – 500 NP

Earn the loyalty of a true princess of the Enchanted Forest.

ROLL: Heart Locket (400 GP) [Undertale] {Benevolence}:
This simple, red, heart-shaped locket may look unassuming, but it's actually an extremely useful piece of protection. Not only does this locket boost your defenses against magic of all kinds, it strengthens the defenses of your SOUL. Not only will magic that directly attacks your SOUL prove less effective, but attempts to remove your SOUL or corrupt it will prove much, much more difficult so long as you wear the locket. This effect is amplified the stronger your SOUL is- It's certainly potent for a Monster, but it's much more effective for a Human.

Grimoire Points: 600