Begin!

~Violet's POV

"At last after hours of searching I have finally found the Queequeg!" Olaf was in an unusually good mood this time around.

"Oh, will you shut up," I blurted out almost instantly.

"Violet telling someone to shut up is not very nice," Phil said.

"Believe me there's a lot worse I'd rather say to him," I muttered.

Olaf glared down at me from his position standing on the center table. "I don't have to listen to you Violet." He jumped off the table before he continued. "And what luck I have to find you Baude-losers as well! And it's not even my birthday!"

I could see Klaus rolling his eyes. I tried not to think about Sunny's condition.

Olaf then set his gaze on Fiona and stared in mild shock. "Well, do my eyes deceive me? The last time I saw you I was trying to throw thumbtacks in your cradle."

Fiona narrowed her eyes at him. "Get the fuck off my ship."

"Language child," Olaf replied.

"I'm not a child."

Olaf ignored the comment. He then went into a speech about how he was going to get us to tell him the location of the sugar bowl. I glanced at the clock; he was wasting our time. He then made a show of telling us that with us trapped inside his submarine we were at his mercy. And just like that all of us were being taken out of the Queequeg onto his submarine. He immediately put Phil with all the Snow Scouts he kidnapped on Mount Fraught.

He led us through the halls and we had to listen as Carmelita tortured the Snow Scouts with her "singing" and tap dancing.

Fiona leaned over to us at one point and asked, "Does that girl really think gorgeous starts with M?"

"She's really dumb..." Klaus replied.

"I can see that... And I thought Quigley was full of himself..."

Olaf and Esmé had some conversation about how they've basically adopted Carmelita. (A match in heaven right there; I wouldn't be surprised if her parents didn't care because it gets her out of the house.) Although it is rather funny that Esmé forced Olaf to name his submarine the Carmelita. I guess he was outvoted.

Olaf led the four of us to a room on his ship and shoved us inside, muttering something about a family reunion, then slamming the door shut behind us. I kept my sister held close inside her dive suit as I could hear her coughing getting worse. But what I was focused on was the hook-handed man who was sitting at a table fussing with a deck of cards. He looked at us; more specifically he looked at only one of us.

"Fiona!"

"Fernald!"

And my worries about what I had discovered were proven true as the two awkwardly embraced. Klaus looked shocked that he somehow didn't figure it out. I handed Sunny to Klaus.

I pulled out my newspaper scrap and handed it to her. "Fiona, he burned down Anwhistle Aquatics."

Fiona stared at the paper in shock, "Fernald you didn't... you'd never hurt anyone."

"It was for a good reason." Fernald replied; his tone was more gentle and kind than we'd ever heard. He must be a different person for his family.

He told us everything about how Gregor Anwhistle was an unstable volunteer who thought the solution to the schism was to poison all the villains and defectors with the Medusoid Mycelium.

"I left because I was going to be ousted by the organization anyway for starting a fire. All I could do was say good-bye to you first. Our stepdad said I was crazy for going to such an extreme. No matter the reason I was labeled a murderer because Gregor died in that fire. But to me, the world's better off without such a sick man in it. That's how I lost my hands; they were burned so bad they had to be amputated. Sometimes people do bad things for good reasons and I'm no different."

"Was hanging our sister from a 30 foot tower in a cage for a good reason," Klaus asked, "Sunny was poisoned by those mushrooms, and you're working for the man who's stopping us from helping her!"

Fernald's expression changed at that. He looked legitimately worried for Sunny as he stared at her through her diving helmet. "The kid got infected?!"

Fiona nodded. "She has a half an hour at most to live."

"How close are you to finding a cure," Fernald asked.

"Close enough," Fiona replied, "But we need to get to my research. Please, Fernald, take us back to the Queequeg. Help me save my friend."

Fernald paused for a moment and looked at his sister thoughtfully. It would be some time before my siblings and I truly forgave this man for the things he put us through but tonight, we made an alliance we did not regret.

"If it's on the ship, then we're all in danger," Fernald said finally. "I'll help you."

"After everything you did to us," I started, "Why?"

"Because family looks out for each other," Fernald replied smiling at Fiona, "And I'd gladly lose both my hands all over again if it meant keeping you safe little sister."

He looked at us. "Besides I've been helping you from the start. Olaf told me to throw Sunny off Mount Fraught, I let her out instead. He told me to drop her cage from the tower; we were already at the play when he called me because I had let her out. He sent me to kidnap Duncan and Isadora and I did it, but I also tried my best not to hurt them for your sake. They got out with only small scratches. I saw you at the pep rally, I knew you were close. On Mount Fraught, I gave Sunny the sled you used to escape with your friend."

Klaus and I looked at each other in realization. "You helped us all those times? Why?"

"Because people in this world aren't either wicked or noble," Fernald said.

He then added, "And I've been done working for Olaf for years. When my family is involved, I work for my family."

He then used his awkward appendages to open the door and motioned for us to follow him out. He led us through the halls of the submarine quickly but carefully.

"By the way, Fiona I got your message from Quigley Quagmire."

Fiona perked up instantly, "Quigley kept his promise?"

"Promise," I said quizzically, "When did Quigley talk to you?"

"On Mount Fraught, he snuck over to me and told me a message from her that he was asked to give. Then he went back near Sunny's cage and disappeared over the waterfall until he showed up with you the next day."

Realization clicked in my head. "Quigley climbed the waterfall with me to get a chance to speak to you. He knew you were Olaf's associate all along."

"And you didn't try to stop him from leaving or rat him out to Olaf," Klaus noted.

"He said he was close to Fiona so I let him go..." Fernald looked at Fiona suspiciously. "Why did he say he was close to you anyway?"

Fiona smirked but didn't reply. Though like most siblings, Fernald saw right through her.

"Is he your boyfriend?!"

"So what if he is? It's not like it's any of your business."

"It's every bit of my business," Fernald whisper-shouted, "I don't see you for 10 years and I come back and find that you have a boyfriend, and it wasn't the first thing you told me."

"I don't like how unbelievable you make it sound."

"It's not unbelievable, just not something I approve of. What did he do to you?"

"Nothing; I'm not stupid! Fernald, Quigley is a good guy and I like him a lot. And we're still together so your opinion does not matter here."

"Does stepdad know?"

"Yes he does and he even approves, he and Quigley get along perfectly fine."

Fernald huffed and said something about having a "talk" with Quigley once they are able to meet again.

Meanwhile, Klaus leaned over to me and softly said, "Wow, they really are brother and sister..."

I couldn't help agreeing with that statement. Eventually we came across the Snow Scouts once more and had to hear more of Carmelita's pathetic excuse for singing.

"How are we going to get past them," I asked.

"Fernald and I will distract them."

"You're insane," Klaus replied. "What makes you think they won't hurt you?"

Fiona pointed at Esmé, "That's Esmé Squalor; she used to be friends with our mother."

Fernald nodded. "Emphasis on used to. I didn't like Olaf bringing her into the group; she's crazy. She doesn't seem to have recognized me though."

"I'll go out there with Fernald and once they're paying attention to us you sneak past and get to the ship. Klaus, the book you're looking for is called Mushroom Minutiae. The Medusoid Mycelium is on chapter 50. We'll stall them for as long as we can."

And so we put our plan into action. While Klaus kept Sunny close to him as we maneuvered around the enslaved scouts, we could see Fiona and Fernald talking to Esmé and Carmelita about things to keep them busy. So far it seemed to be working. We may have trouble trusting Fernald, but we did trust Fiona.

Once we climbed back into the Queequeg, Klaus hurriedly found the book he was told to use and we set to work on figuring out a cure.

"Is the dilution simple? But of course! Just one small dose of root of horse," Klaus read aloud after finding the correct page.

"Root of horse?"

I watched my brother's face as the possible answers to the riddle shifted through his mind. He then smiled at me, "Horseradish."

We spent some time searching through the Queequeg's kitchen top to bottom looking for the antidote but to no avail. Though we did find a birthday cake in the fridge that had my name on it and the sight almost made me break down crying.

"Sunny remembered my birthday..."

Klaus looked at our sister, sitting on the counter and coughing harder than before. She couldn't even talk at this point from the poison.

"We can't lose Sunny." I said fiercely. "Get her out of there and see if we can ask for her help."

We did exactly that. We covered our faces with cloth to keep from breathing in the toxic spores and we quickly secured them in the helmet once more so they couldn't spread.

"Sunny is there a culinary equivalent to horseradish," Klaus asked.

Sunny gazed up at us tiredly and wheezed, "Wasabi..."

While saying that she pointed down at the waterproof bag Fiona had brought into the grotto with us. I quickly opened it and found that they had indeed brought a jar of wasabi from Anwhistle Aquatics. We carefully fed our sister a spoonful, and took some ourselves just in case. Within moments Sunny was breathing easier again and we embraced to celebrate saving her life.

But as we did, something else happened we heard the telegraph machine on the main deck going off as it printed a Volunteer Factual Dispatch. I grabbed the paper and read it aloud.

Meeting at Hotel Denouement; Baudelaires I'll be waiting on Briny Beach.

-Kit Snicket.

"Quigley said he knew Kit because she's Jacques' sister," I said.

"So we need to meet Kit on the beach to get to the meeting," Klaus said.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere."

We turned and saw Olaf had found us. He was smiling evilly as usual and his shiny eyes were swirling with supposed triumph. Standing beside him was Fiona, who appeared to not be in any trouble whatsoever. She stared at us with a completely neutral expression. We saw no sign of Fernald, but we assumed he was waiting outside.

"I was about to throw your little friend here overboard for escaping my cell, but then she asked to be my new associate!" Olaf patted Fiona's shoulder affectionately. "Isn't that just wonderful?"

Olaf proceeded to make dramatic insinuations that we were hurt in many ways by this outcome. He even made an amusing suggestion that Klaus and Fiona were romantically involved, but he was the only one in this room who didn't know that claim was false. The only problem is that he looked on the floor and saw the diving helmet we had closed up to keep the mushrooms in. After looking inside briefly he figured out what it was and took it for himself.

"Why with the mycelium," He started, "I could end V.F.D. once and for all!"

"Are you insane?!" Fiona shouted almost instantly. "That is dangerous it needs to be disposed of properly, and without the cure it'll kill you too if you use it!"

Olaf sneered at Fiona for talking back to him. "If you're going to work with me, then you do as I say, you little bitch. Otherwise you'll cease to be useful."

He took the helmet and went to climb out the porthole window. But he looked at Fiona once more before leaving and said, "You know I remember the one time I fought against Samantha... I have a feeling you'd be easier to take down. That woman knew how to throw a punch; pity she was such a goody-good volunteer. And besides, you're stuck in here with me no matter what!" He chuckled evilly before leaving with his new weapon.

We listened as the sound of his footsteps disappeared before Klaus spoke.

"You're no Elizabeth Taylor, but that was a very convincing performance."

Fiona smiled at us. "You think he bought it?"

"Absolutely," I said, "I was this close to calling you a bitch!"

She laughed. "That would have been going a little far. Sunny is looking well did you figure out the cure?"

"It's horseradish, and anything with horseradish in it," Klaus replied. He showed her the jar of wasabi, "We took some ourselves just to be safe but the cure is very fast acting."

Fiona stuffed the jar into her uniform pocket. "I'll keep this in case he decides to poison everyone."

"Kit sent a telegram," I said, "She wants to meet us on Briny Beach so we can go to the meeting."

"I won't be going to the meeting, and neither will Fernald. I want you all to take the Queequeg and get out of here. Fernald and I will get this submarine away from Olaf to help Phil and those poor Snow Scouts. You can repair this porthole with a replacement cover from that cabinet over there once I'm gone."

Sunny and I set to work pulling out the materials we needed to fix the window while Klaus and Fiona talked.

"It'll be a while before we see each other again I can tell," Fiona said, "But let me promise you guys something right now: the next time you board the Queequeg the Quagmires will be waiting here for you with me."

"You're sure about that," Klaus said.

"Positive, I'll pick up the submarine from Briny Beach once we help those kids escape. And take care of it for me will you? It is my home after all."

"And Fernald, what will he do once this plan is finished?"

"He's going to come home so we can be a family again. It'll be hard getting Duncan and Isadora to forgive him, but he isn't going to stand by while Quigley and I are together. Even if our stepfather never comes back, he'll help me look after your companions for you, because you're my friends. And that's all the proof Fernald needs to be a better person."

Sunny and I couldn't hear the following part but I would later find out that Klaus very quietly asked Fiona a favor for when she meets Quigley's family for the first time. He wanted to pass on a private message to a certain poet he missed very dearly. And I did eventually find out that Fiona kept this promise.

Once Fiona turned to leave to stay with her brother, she said some final words to us, "Good luck and give Kit Snicket my regards; she's a good family friend, she'll protect you."

~Fiona's POV

"I'll deal with you later," Olaf said while shoving Fernald and I in a jail cell, "You two think about what you've done..."

Once he was gone I looked out the window of his submarine and saw the Queequeg escaping just as intended. The plan had worked, even if Olaf figured out that I let them get away.

"Time for phase two," Fernald said, picking the lock on the door with his hooks.

"And once we get to phase three, I'll be able to introduce you to Quigley," I replied smiling at the thought of my wonderful cartographer.

Fernald scowled at me, "He'd better be good to you, or else..."

"Oh please, Fernald, you're the cinnamon roll of this family; you wouldn't hurt him if you tried." With that, the two of us stepped out into the halls of the villains' ship and made our way to the main deck.

~End of Chapter!

Made this a nice long part, and I'm thinking that the next one will be the last since I don't have much else to tell here. Hope you liked it!