And I am back! It's good to be writing again, folks. First let's get a few things out of the way:

This is a sequel to Animals, but you don't really have to read the first story to understand this one. Just try to enjoy it. It's currently rated T for violence and swearing. If you have any troubles with the content rating, just shoot me a PM and I will fix it for you :)

Also, I have a butt-ton of things I need to keep track of right now, so I won't be updating as often. I apologize in advance for any long waits. This is a short chapter, but it's more of a prologue to see how this story is gonna go. I would appreciate some feedback to help me decide if I'm going to continue, and if so, how I should continue.

Without further ado, here's the chapter!

She wasn't entirely sure what woke her up.

Snow White's eyes fluttered open, and she stretched on top of her bed. Bigby groaned in his sleep as her shoulder dug into his chest. Snow smiled. It had been a while since she'd been able to have a good night's rest like that. She glanced at the clock that sat on the nightstand next to the bed and sighed. It was late. So late that it was early. She hadn't intended for Bigby to stay the night, but one thing just lead to another and…

Snow rolled over and rested her head on his chest. She heart the heavy thump of his heart and closed her eyes, listening to its rhythmic beat.

I'll have to go back to the office today, she realized, feeling dread crawl into her stomach. After that day in her office, Snow had decided to take a few days off to recuperate. Boy Blue had recently returned from his trip to the Farm, and was able to take over business at the office for a while. It had barely been a week since Bloody Mary.

She didn't know what would happen when she returned to her work. When Bigby said he'd take some vacation days as well, everyone assumed that they were dating – which, technically, they were. But Snow couldn't go back to the office as a laughing stock, and all of this put her in a very difficult position.

Snow flexed the fingers of her left hand. Feeling had started to return to them. They were still a little stiff, but she knew it wouldn't be long until they were completely healed. She briefly wondered how Bigby's leg was doing. He didn't talk about it much, and he walked normally for the most part, but Snow caught a pained expression on his face every now and again. It seemed as if their experience with Mary left a few scars.

She heard a noise from downstairs, and her muscles tensed. Was that…singing?

"Bigby," she whispered. She looked at the werewolf, who was still fast asleep. "Bigby, wake up." But he only murmured in his sleep and rolled onto his side.

Snow cursed and raised herself into a sitting position, letting the silken sheets fall into her lap, exposing herself. She slipped out of bed and picked a random shirt off the floor to cover herself. This is Bigby's, she realized as she buttoned it while sneaking out of the room and down the staircase. As she descended to the floor below, she was able to hear the singing more clearly.

It was a soft, melodic voice that strung the notes together in a perfect tune. It took a little bit before Snow was able to make out the words.

"He don't take no time to play, time to play, time to play. All he does is work all day. La-la-la-la-la."

She paused at the foot of the stairs and looked around for a weapon. "I really should've woken him up," she said to herself as the voice continued to sing.

"You can play and laugh and fiddle. Don't think you can make me sore. I'll be safe, and you'll be sorry when the wolf comes to your door."

Snow's eyes rested on Clarent – the sword of peace from Arthurian legend. It hung on her wall, a gift that had been given to her a few decades ago as an award for her centuries of service. That would do. The mayor stepped forward and carefully took the blade from its stand, trying to be as quiet as possible. The steel hit one of the edges of its stand, and a sharp metal ding sounded through the room. The voice paused in its singing for a second, and Snow held her breath. But then, it continued its song.

"Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, the Big Bad Wolf, the Big Bad Wolf? Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? La-la-la-la-la."

She turned the corner into the kitchen and froze. A woman was sitting on her kitchen table, dressed in jeans, a white tee, and combat boots. As Snow entered the room, the Fable turned her head, and the mayor gasped.

It was Mary, but not Mary. Her skin was cracked and misshapen, like a glass statue that had been sloppily glued back together. She smiled, the flesh around her lips making a sound like cracking glass.

"You!" Snow exclaimed, holding up the sword defensively.

But Mary made no move to get up and fight. Instead, she raised a broken finger to her lips. "Shush. This is my favorite part," she whispered before clearing her throat and singing, "I'll punch him in the nose, I'll tie him in a knot, I'll kick him in the chin, we'll put him on the spot. La-la-la-la-la." Then, the Fable cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. "You know, I actually did all of that, save for the 'tying in the knot' bit. I'll put that on my to-do list."

"Enough," Snow said, taking a menacing step forward. "How are you here? You were nothing but a pile of glass. We threw you down the Witching Well!"

Mary didn't answer, but gave Snow a condescending look. "Put the sword down, Snow. It's not going to do anything. I'm not really here."

The mayor blinked in confusion. "What do you mean? Am I dreaming?"

The other Fable waved her hand in a vague gesture, the glass around her wrist crunching noisily. "More or less. Point is, I can't hurt you and you can't hurt me. So there's really no reason for you to be waving that thing around like an idiot. You don't even know how to use it."

"I think I'll hold onto it if you don't mind," Snow said in a biting tone.

Mary only shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat," she said nonchalantly. She then swung her legs onto the table and leaned back so that she was lying down on its surface. Then, she proceeded to continue humming the song pleasantly. Snow stared at her, holding her sword cautiously and wondering what to do. Should she go back upstairs and try to wake Bigby? If she was really dreaming, then that wouldn't do much good.

She jumped when Mary suddenly decided to speak. "What? Are you surprised that I can sing? Don't forget that one version of my mundy tale is that I'm the ghost of Queen Mary I." She smiled to herself. "Queens are supposed to be able to sing, right?"

Snow snorted. "Honestly, I couldn't care less about your singing. I'm just wondering what you're doing in my dreams."

"Good on you, Snow. Asking the right questions."

"Just answer it."

"Alright, alright. No need to get snappy." Mary turned her head so that her bloodred eyes met Snow's icy blue. "I just wanted to tell you that it's not over."

"Is that a threat?" the mayor snarled, eyes narrowing.

At that, the other Fable laughed. "If it was a threat, it would be a pretty pathetic one. I'm dead, remember? No, I'm saying that your problems aren't over. There's a big storm coming for you, Mayor."

Snow scoffed. "I already know that. I know that there's a lot I need to do. You made damn well sure of that," she said coldly.

Mary gave her a doubtful look. "Aren't you supposed to be the smart one? Never mind," she said when the mayor opened her mouth to say something. "You're missing the big picture. I'm not talking about long office days or paperwork or anything like that. There are powerful forces at work here, and they're not going to rest until all of Fabletown is burned to the ground."

"I think you're missing a pretty big picture here, too, Mary," Snow said, trying to keep her voice steady. It took all of her strength not to swing at the Fable right then and there.

Mary raised an eyebrow. "What's that?" she asked.

"You're a murderer. A sick, sadistic psychopath who almost destroyed Fabletown not one week ago. Why should I believe a word you're saying?" Snow continued.

Mary frowned, her expression solemn. "I'm dead, Snow. My fight's over. Do I have any reason to lie?"

"Revenge," the mayor said automatically. "You don't like the fact that we beat you. So now you're here to distract us, to make sure that we don't get any rest after all the trouble you've caused us."

The Fable looked impressed. "OK, you have me there. But I'm not lying, as it turns out. There's something coming. Something big. And you don't have the power to stop it right now. That's why I'm here," she said.

"I don't believe you," Snow said simply.

Mary shrugged and rose from the table. She jumped down, her knees crackling as the glass shifted. "Whatever. It's your grave," replied. "Go back to your boyfriend and just ignore everything I said. It's not going to make me any more dead."

"Wait," Snow tried to say, but everything started to get fuzzy. The entire kitchen seemed to melt together and swirl around her head.

The mayor awoke with a gasp. She was still in bed, her fists clenched by her side. She looked over at the clock. 4:30.

Bigby opened his eyes and shifted his weight beside her. "Snow, are you OK?" he asked, placing a hand gently on her shoulder.

"What? Um, yeah," she said quietly. She looked down at the werewolf. His expression was soft, concerned. Simply looking into his warm, brown eyes made Snow's heart slow down a little. "Just a weird dream," she said.

"You wanna talk about it?"

She managed a small smile. "No, it's nothing. Go back to sleep."

Bigby looked doubtful. He could probably smell how troubled she was, but decided against mentioning. He nodded and rolled over, shutting his eyes once more.

Snow laid back down beside him and snuggled close, but sleep could not find her. She kept thinking back to Mary's words. There are powerful forces at work.

They're not going to rest until all of Fabletown is burned to the ground.