Broken Hearts and Shattered Glass

by artemis1212121

Summary:

Chloe and Red have just come back from the past. They saved their moms so everything is perfect now right? Wrong. They messed with the timeline and because of that, the time wraiths must get involved. In an attempt to correct the flow of time, the time wraiths merge the 2 timelines. What does this mean for everyone, and what will this change?

Notes:

Let’s see how it all goes down

Chapter 1: Everything is Perfect Now Right?

Summary:

I'm back from the dead with more glassheart angst lol

“Red, you saved our moms! You changed history!” Chloe said gleefully.

 

Red beamed at her. “No, we did it!”

 

Red looked up and smiled at all of the heart bubbles that her mom had conjured as she walked over to her. Her mom smiled at her lovingly. Red was almost completely taken aback. Her mom had never looked at her like that before. She had never given Red a look that was even close to this before now. Red was so happy that she honestly could have started crying. 

 

The Queen of Hearts pulled Red into her arms, hugging her tightly. Red hugged back. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to take in the impossibility of this moment. Her mom was hugging her. Her mom actually loved her in this new timeline. Red had never thought that something like this could ever be possible. 

 

Red pulled back to look at her mom. All she could see on her mom’s face was pure love and fondness. Her face showed a sort of kindness that she had never thought her mother could ever possess until now. “You know Mom, you actually are really wonderful,” she said staring into her mom’s kind eyes. 

 

Red’s mom smiled at her again before taking Red’s face in her hands and gently resting her forehead against hers. 

 

Chloe watched Red with a soft smile pulling at her lips. She looked so happy, so at peace. Her eyes were drawn to the redhead’s beaming face and Chloe couldn’t help but marvel at how beautiful she looked like this. So purely, completely, and incandescently happy that Chloe could practically feel the joy radiating from that wonderfully joyous expression.

 

Suddenly Chloe remembered that she had something far more important to do than stare at Red like this. Chloe looked around scanning the crowd, when she caught sight of familiar blue hair. “Mom!” Chloe exclaimed, excitement and relief washing over her as she bounded over to her mother.

 

“There she is,” Ella said, resting her head against her daughter’s. Chloe grinned and sighed blissfully. Her mom was alive, Red’s mom was a good person, and Red was happy. Everything was perfect now. 

 

Just as that last thought entered Chloe’s mind, a bolt of black lightning struck the center of the courtyard. Chloe stared in shock. Lightning? On a sunny day? And black lightning? This couldn’t be good. 

 

Chloe looked over to Red to find that she was already staring at her with worry and fear in her eyes. Clearly she was thinking the same thing. Gasps rang out through the crowd followed by confused whispers. Chloe tore away from her mother and Red did the same. 

 

“What was that?” Red asked in a panic.

 

“I don’t know, but it definitely wasn’t natural,” Chloe answered with the same level of panic. 

 

Suddenly, a large storm cloud formed right above them. The cloud began to crackle with the same black lightning as before. Everyone stared up at the cloud in a mixture of confusion and shock. 

 

Something emerged from the cloud and descended toward the courtyard. As it got closer, it appeared to be what looked sort of like a skeletal figure with the upper body and head of a human skeleton which merged with and turned into wispy black smoke at the waist. 

 

The skeletal being was a sort of grayish color, so dark that it was almost black, and rather than looking bony, like a skeleton should, it actually looked kind of leathery, almost like there was long-dead skin pulled tightly and wrapped around each bone. 

 

The creature descended fully and grabbed Chloe and Red by the arm before hoisting them up and pulling them toward the storm cloud. Red and Chloe struggled against the creature, screaming and clawing as they tried to force it to drop them.

 

In all her flailing, Red dropped the pocket watch. She tried to grab for it helplessly, but it was too late. Both Chloe and Red watched as it busted open as soon as it hit the ground.

 

Screams rang out amongst the crowd below them. “Red!” came a panicked shout from below them. 

 

Red looked down to see her mother staring up at her. Tears began to fall from her eyes. She had just gotten this version of her mom and already she was being pulled away from her by whatever the fuck this thing that had kidnapped her and Chloe was?

 

“Chloe, what the fuck is happening?” Red screamed. 

 

“I don’t know!” She yelled back. “It obviously has something to do with us messing with the timeline though because it singled us out!”

 

Red swallowed hard as they approached the storm cloud, but looking closer, it didn’t appear to be a storm cloud, it was thousands of these skeletal creatures flying in a large circular formation.

 

Red began struggling again.

 

“Red don’t! If it drops you from this high, you’ll fall to your death!” Chloe warned.

 

The creature pulled them into the center of the mass of creatures, and everything went dark for a few moments. About a minute later, the cloud of skeletal creatures dispersed to reveal that they were now in an entirely different place.

 

Chloe looked around. There was nothing. All Chloe could see was empty space above them, below them, and all around them. To make things even more strange, the space around them was a soft, dusty orange color. 

 

“Hey, so where the hell are we, and are you just going to hold us forever?” Red asked, trying to sound more annoyed than freaked out. 

 

Chloe looked at the creature that was still gripping them by the arms. 

 

The creature wordlessly let the two of them go. Chloe gasped and Red yelped, both fully expecting to start falling forever, but much to their relief, they simply floated in place. 

 

The creature turned to them. “You have messed with time,” it began. 

 

Chloe and Red blinked at the creature in shock. They hadn't actually expected the thing to talk to them.

 

Its voice sounded like a blade being dragged over stone. Sharp, biting, and slightly metallic. 

 

“This change cannot be allowed to be made to time. The time wraiths must rectify this situation,” the time wraith continued.

 

“Time wraith? You're a time wraith?” Chloe asked dumbfounded. 

 

The creature didn't answer, it simply continued what it was saying. “In order to repair the fractured ends of these two separate strands of time, the two timelines will be merged,” the time wraith explained. 

 

“Merged? What do you mean merged? What's gonna change?” Red asked, the panic returning to her voice in full force. 

 

Once again, the time wraith ignored them. “You will not be permitted to alter time in this manner again,” the creature warned.

 

As soon as the time wraith had finished its speech, the world began to melt around them. 

 

Chloe grabbed Red's hand. “Red, what the hell is going on?”

 

“I don't know! Maddox never mentioned time wraiths!”Red yelled.

 

Red and Chloe started falling, they went to scream, but before they knew it. They had been dropped back into the middle of Aurodon’s courtyard. 

 

Chloe slowly sat up and blinked the stars out of her eyes. Suddenly she felt something cold being pressed against her neck. Her eyes widened. It was the blade of one of the Queen of Hearts’ guards. 

 

She looked around. The Queen of Hearts was wearing all red again. Her guards were surrounding everyone, Fairy Godmother’s wand was broken, and all of the exits were blocked by cards. They were back in the middle of the coup.

 

“Stop! Let her go!” 

 

Chloe looked to her left and saw Red grip the blade against her neck in her hand. “I ordered you to let her go,” Red snarled. 

 

The guard lowered his weapon and stood off to the side.

 

Chloe frantically began scanning the crowd for her mom. Her mom was standing about 5 feet away from her, a sword pressed against her neck. 

 

“Mom!” Chloe yelled, both relieved that she was still alive and panicked that there was a blade to her throat. 

 

Just then the Queen of Hearts stalked over to Chloe and Red. “You know I didn't realize until I saw the two of you standing next to each other, but you're them aren't you? You're the two girls who showed up at Merlin Academy all those years ago.”

 

Chloe's eyes widened. 

 

The queen turned to Red and glared at her menacingly. “You tried to stop me didn't you?” She snarled. 

 

Chloe turned to Red. Her eyes were wide and she was frozen, rooted to the spot. Red started shaking as her mother took a step closer to her. 

 

Chloe took a step toward Red but was immediately restricted by a guard. “Get off of me! Red! Snap out of it!” Chloe begged.

 

But Red couldn't hear her. All she could hear was the sound of her thumping heart echoing loudly in her ears as she watched her mom move closer to her. 

 

The Queen of Hearts raised a hand and backhanded Red so hard across the face that she staggered and fell to the ground. “Treason,” the queen whispered. “The punishment for treason is death, but I need you, as you are my heir. Therefore, a different course of action shall be taken with you.”

 

Oddly enough, this shocked Red out of her fearful daze. “I'm not just going to sit back and let this happen,” Red said, staring up at her mother with a steely glare full of anger and malice.

 

The Queen's eyes widened, shocked that Red had dared to speak to her that way. The queen snapped her fingers and pointed at Red. A guard to the right of them turned and kicked the already downed Red hard in the stomach.

 

“Red!” Chloe screamed. 

 

Red heard and felt a crack deep inside her chest as she was thrown backward and landed on her back. She rolled onto her side and coughed. She took a few wheezy breaths in before crawling to her feet and taking a shaky step toward her mother.

 

“I'm not letting you do this,” Red said shakily. 

 

The Queen's eyes narrowed and she walked over to Red. She reeled back and backhanded Red across the face again.

 

Red, too out of it to dodge, thanks to the previous strikes, took the full force of the blow and once again fell to the ground.

 

Her head hit the pavement hard and she was immediately knocked out cold. 

 

“Red!” Chloe screamed again. “Red please get up!”

 

The Queen of Hearts bent down and grabbed Red by her hair, pulling the unconscious princess upward. 

 

“Citizens of Aurodon,” the queen yelled in a booming voice. “You may thank your lucky stars. You have been spared for now.”

 

The Queen of Hearts looked down at her limp daughter. “I have a far more important punishment to dole out.”

 

Chloe struggled against the guard holding her in place. “No!” She shouted. 

 

The queen turned and fixed Chloe with a glare. “If I were you, I'd hold your tongue dear,” she snarled. 

 

“We return to Wonderland!” The queen shouted. 

 

The cards blocking one of the exits vanished and guards surrounded the Queen of Hearts as she walked out, dragging Red’s unconscious form behind her. 

 

The guard holding Chloe let her go and joined the rest. Chloe raced forward but stopped as two guards leveled their weapons at her while retreating. The cards reappeared in front of the exit. She couldn't follow them anymore.

 

Chloe felt tears start streaming down her face. “RED!!!” 

 

Ella walked over and went to place a hand on Chloe's shoulder, but she shook it off and ran to the blocked exit, pounding on it with her fists. “Red! I promise I'll save you!” Chloe sobbed. 

 

“Why are these still here!” Chloe screamed, returning to pounding on the cards. 

 

“Dearest they'll likely stay there until Bri— until the Queen of Hearts re-enters Wonderland,” Ella said softly. 

 

Chloe crumpled to the ground. “Red…” she whispered, as sobs began to rack her body. 

 

“Chloe, we need to talk,” Ella said, placing a soft hand on her daughter's shoulder. This time she didn't shake it off.

 

Chloe looked up at her mom and nodded. 

Chapter 2: I Won't Leave Her There

Summary:

Chloe is determined to save Red. Will anyone be willing to help her with her mission?

Notes:

I wonder what Ella wanted to talk about

“Chloe, Bri—” Ella sighed. “The Queen of Hearts said that you and Red were the two girls who came to Merlin Academy years ago and then left just as mysteriously as they arrived. Did the two of you do this attempting to stop what just happened?”

 

Chloe sniffled and leaned back against the large card blocking the exit to the courtyard. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing her tears to halt enough for her to speak. “Sort of.”

 

Ella tentatively sat on the ground next to her distraught daughter. “What do you mean dearest?”

 

Chloe sighed and told her mother everything. She told her about the way she and Red had met, the coup, Ella’s sentence, what happened when they went back in time, and about how the time wraiths had merged the timeline after they had gotten back. 

 

“My goodness, you saved my life,” Ella voiced in awe. “Oh darling, I’m so proud of you.”

 

Chloe shook her head. “It wasn’t just me mom. Actually, it never could have happened without Red. It was her pocketwatch, and there were so many times that I could have messed things up and she pulled us back on track. I know she probably wouldn’t have been able to do it without me either, but it never would have happened at all if she hadn’t had the courage to act against her mother in the first place and use the pocketwatch.”

 

Ella nodded in understanding. 

 

Chloe’s tears began to increase again. “She saved your life and now she…”

 

Ella wrapped her daughter in a warm embrace. “I know, but we won’t leave her there, we’ll find a way to help her, I promise.” She whispered gently. 

 

Chloe wiped her eyes and once again willed herself to stop crying. “Mom, if we still went to the past and successfully prevented the prank, then how did Bridget end up like this in this timeline?” Chloe asked.

 

Ella sighed and stared down at the ground sadly. “Well, Uliana never got over what happened that day with the cupcakes. At the end of our senior year, during our graduation, Uliana played a horrible prank on Bridget, the same one that you said you prevented from happening at Castlecoming.”

 

“Well, what did you do about it? Did you help Bridget?” Chloe inquired.

 

Ella turned to the side, refusing to look at her daughter. “I wasn’t there. Your father and I decided to ditch the ceremony as soon as we had gotten our diplomas. So I never saw it happen, and I wasn’t there for her when she needed me either.” she admitted sadly. 

 

Chloe shook her head. “Regardless of how it happened in this timeline, the fact remains that Bridget is awful again. She’s terrible and she has Red. Mom, I can’t leave her there, I won’t,” she declared firmly. 

 

“I know dearest, but you can’t save her on your own,” Ella reminded her.

 

Chloe groaned. “I know, but I don’t know who would be willing to help me.”

 

Ella thought for a moment. “I’ll see if I can get a meeting set up with Fay and Principal Uma so we can talk about this. Your principal seems to care very much about VKs. Once you tell her the situation, I’m sure she’ll be willing to help. And Fay might be able to provide some guidance.”

 

Chloe’s eyes widened. “Do you really think they’ll help?”

Ella smiled softly. “Well we won’t know unless we try, will we?

 

Chloe nodded. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A week later

 

Chloe had barely slept that week. Her mom had managed to talk to Fairy Godmother that day at Aurodon, but just as she started explaining the situation, the cards barricading the exits to the courtyard had vanished and chaos ensued again. 

 

Fairy Godmother had told her mom that she wouldn’t be able to set up a meeting for at least a week while she and Uma rushed to deal with the aftereffects of the half-finished coup.

 

It had been exactly a week and her mother had gotten an enchanted letter from Fairy Godmother telling her that the start of the semester had been pushed back a month and that she had been able to set up a meeting for later that day.

 

Chloe clenched her fist trying to calm her nervous energy as she climbed the steps to Aurodon Prep. The two of them made their way to the school’s conference room which was to be used as their meeting room. 

 

Chloe stopped just outside the door and took a shaky breath in. 

 

Ella placed a gentle hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “Are you ready?” 

 

Chloe nodded, and Ella smiled. Her daughter was a very focused and dedicated person. She always put 110% of her effort into everything that she did, but even then, she had never seen her so determined. 

 

Chloe pushed the door open and walked into the room. Fairy Godmother and Uma looked up at them as they entered. They were already seated at the round table in the center of the room. 

 

Chloe and Ella both took their seats. Ella opened her mouth to speak but was immediately cut off by her daughter.

 

“Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with us today,” Chloe began.

 

Uma nodded in acknowledgment. “Alright, I don’t have very much of the story, but I understand that this is about Princess Red?”

 

Chloe nodded. “I would like your help to save her from her mother.”

 

Fairy Godmother and Uma looked at her in silent surprise. 

 

Chloe took a deep breath and looked to her mom.

 

Ella nodded at her in support and smiled softly. 

 

With her resolve once again strengthened, she continued. “I know this seems like a hefty request, but she means the world to me and I can’t just leave her with her mother. I can’t even imagine what awful things her mother will do to her for trying to stop her, but I know that it won’t be anything good.”

 

Fairy Godmother nodded in agreement. “Pardon dear, but how, may I ask, is Princess Red so important to you? Wonderland has been sealed off for years, how could the two of you even have met before orientation day?” She inquired. 

 

Chloe sighed and once again recounted the entire story from beginning to end. 

 

Uma and Fairy Godmother once again stared at Chloe in shock. 

 

Uma was the first to break the silence. “Well damn, that’s a lot to process,” she muttered.

 

Chloe took a shaky breath in. “I know that this is a lot to take in and that it’s probably a difficult decision to make, but Red is such an amazing person. She saved my mom’s life and she stopped her mom from finishing the coup. Everyone is still here because of her. She did all of this and she was the one who got punished for it in the end. I can’t just leave her alone. I won’t, so will you please help me save her?” She asked hopefully. 

 

“This should probably be more difficult of a decision than it actually is to me,” Uma announced. “I said that I would never leave any VK behind that needed help, whether they come from the Isle of the Lost or not and it would seem that Princess Red could really use some help.”

Fairy Godmother nodded. “Yes, I agree. How could we possibly abandon someone who has done so much for the people around her, most of whom she has never met?”

 

Chloe beamed. “Thank you so much!”

 

Uma raised a hand to stop her. “Hold on, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Do you have a plan to rescue her? We can’t exactly just go in blind.”

 

“Yes, I do have a plan actually,” Chloe answered. “Red and I spent a lot of time together back at Merlin Academy. One night, we both couldn’t sleep, so I asked Red about Wonderland and what it was like to grow up there. Red told me all about the layout of the castle and the guard rotations. She also told me about all of the easiest escape routes that she used to get into and out of the castle.”

 

Uma blinked in surprise. “Yeah, that’s a pretty good place to start, but are you sure you remember enough of what she told you?” 

 

“I know that I do. I have a really good memory,” Chloe paused. “And Red is depending on me. I refuse to mess this up.”

 

At this, Ella piped up. “Dearest, I’m not sure if you should go on this rescue mission.”

 

Chloe looked at her mother, brows furrowed in dismay and confusion. “Why not Mom?”

 

Ella sighed. “This is going to be exceptionally dangerous and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

 

Chloe frowned, but then Uma spoke up as well.

 

“Your mom is right. This is going to be really dangerous. I’m not entirely sure that you should come. My crew and I can handle it.”

 

Chloe crossed her arms over her chest. “As it stands, I am the only one who knows how to pull this off at all and I refuse to tell anyone the plan until we’re in Wonderland. I am not just going to sit this one out. I can’t.”

 

Uma chuckled. “That’s about the answer I expected. I guess that settles that.”

 

With Uma now convinced, Chloe turned to her mom with pleading eyes. 

 

Her mom sighed. “I wouldn’t be able to stop you if I tried would I?”

 

Chloe shook her head. “No. I can’t just sit back and watch other people save Red. I need to be there. I’m the one who called for this mission. I won’t just sit on the sidelines.”

 

Ella smiled gently. “Alright then, I guess you’re going to Wonderland.”

Chloe grinned. 

 

“If you two are willing to wait until my wand is fixed, then I would be able to help you as well. At the very least I could cast some protection spells on the lot of you,” Fairy Godmother chimed in.

 

“How long will it be before your wand is fixed?” Uma asked.

 

“A little less than a month.”

 

Chloe began aggressively shaking her head. “That’s way too long, who knows what will have happened to Red by then?”

 

“I’m with Chloe on this one. I don’t know what’s happening to Princess Red right now, but I know it can’t be anything good based on how her mom is and what she said to her that day about punishing her for treason. I know what it’s like to have a villainous mother who doesn’t really care about you, nothing like the Queen of Hearts, but I know enough to know that we have to get her out of there as soon as possible,” Uma said.

 

Chloe nodded. “Alright, when can we leave then?” 

 

Uma thought for a moment. “How about 2 days from now? That way I’ll have time to gather enough of my crew and properly brief them on the situation.”

 

“That will give me enough time to start drawing up plans for how we’ll get into and out of the castle,” Chloe responded.

 

Uma smiled. “Well, I guess we have a plan then.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

2 days later

 

Chloe pulled the plans out of her bag and glanced over them one more time as she waited for Uma and her pirates to arrive. They were perfect. She had done the best she could and she was certain that they would at least be enough to get them into the castle undetected. She wasn’t sure how they would find Red once they were inside, but getting in was the first step. 

 

Chloe heard footsteps behind her and turned around to see Uma and about 10 pirates walking up to where she was standing just outside the rabbit hole.

 

“Are you ready for this?” Uma asked.

Chloe nodded in determination. “Let’s go save Red.”

Notes:

Chloe’s coming Red!

Chapter 3: Thoughts to Keep Me Going

Summary:

Meanwhile in Wonderland…

Notes:

This chapter has some graphic torture scenes and Red really goes through it in this chapter, so if you aren’t comfortable reading that you can skip this chapter! Just know that Red is suffering a lot at the hands of her mother.

It was cold. That was the first thought that Red had upon regaining consciousness. Wherever she was, it was cold. She had just enough time to put these two thoughts together before she slipped back into unconsciousness.

 

The next thought that Red had was that whatever surface she was on was hard. It was cold and hard. Stone maybe? Was she on the ground? She didn’t stay conscious long enough to find out. 

 

The third time that she regained consciousness, she actually managed to open her eyes a little bit before a bucket of icy water was promptly thrown in her face. Red gasped and coughed. Her eyes shot open. Suddenly she was wide awake. 

 

Red shivered and blinked rapidly before looking up to see who had thrown a bucket of ice water in her face. She looked up to see a familiar menacing glare, furrowed eyebrows, and blood-red lips framed by long straight hair of the same color. It was her mother, of course it was. 

 

“Finally awake are you?” The Queen of Hearts scoffed before sauntering over to the far side of the room and taking a seat in a large heart-shaped chair with velvet cushions. Red went to get up but quickly realized that she couldn’t.

 

Looking around she appeared to be in a large stone room with a single door and a large ornate throne on the wall closest to the door. Red had been forced into a kneeling position and her arms were hanging at an upward angle thanks to the chains that had been suspended from the ceiling and that currently bound her wrists. 

 

Red noted how cold she was and looked down at her own body. She had been dressed in a white cotton shirt and tattered matching shorts.

 

She was kneeling in the center of the room and behind her was an array of beaded whips, knives, and surgical tools. Red’s mouth ran dry. She had only ever been in this room once before, and never in this position. This was her mother’s torture room. Once she had taken Red down here and forced her to watch while she tortured a poor guard for screams before having him dragged out to the courtyard outside to be beheaded. 

 

Red closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If she was in her mom’s torture room that meant they were back in Wonderland which likely meant that her mother had decided to leave Aurodon and abandon the coup. Good, that meant her plan had worked and that Chloe was probably safe.

 

She wanted to ask her mom if she had done anything to Chloe after she had been knocked out, but she knew it would probably be best if she didn’t bring Chloe up to her mother. “How long have I been out?” Red asked instead.

 

“One day, which is honestly kind of pathetic, as you weren’t knocked out all that hard little one,” her mother said with a sneer. 

 

The term of endearment in this situation almost made Red sick. “And why have you brought me down here Mother?” Red inquired.

 

The Queen’s eyes flashed with anger and she stood up before walking over to Red and slapping her hard in the face. 

 

Red reeled back from the slap and rapidly blinked the stars out of her eyes. 

 

“You know why you’re here you little traitor,” the queen snarled. “You went so far as to go back in time to try and stop me from taking over Aurodon. Do you know what acting against the reigning monarch in this way is considered to be?”

 

Red frowned. She refused to play her mother’s game like this. “Gee, I don’t know,” Red answered with a sarcastic eye-roll. “But I’m sure you’ll tell me.”

 

The Queen of Hearts stalked around Red and grabbed something off the wall. Red couldn’t see what she had grabbed, but a second later she felt it.

 

Red screamed in pain as she felt stinging and the sensation of something ripping through the flesh on her back. Based on the feeling, Red figured the weapon was probably a short whip studded with sharp and jagged metal pieces. A weapon typically used for scourging. 

 

Red’s eyes began to water and she panted as she felt her ripped skin hang down and the blood drip down her back. Red had to bite her tongue to keep herself from throwing up from the pain. She had never felt pain like this before. Sure her mother had done some awful things to her before, but never like this. 

 

The queen laughed. “What a delightful sound. It’s a shame that it had to come from my own daughter though.” She walked around to Red’s front and gripped her face before yanking it up, forcing Red to face her. “Spare me the sarcasm next time hmm?”

 

Red refused to respond. She furrowed her brow and tried to look anywhere other than her mother’s face.

 

“Hmm, you really are quite stubborn, but not to worry, I’ll soon program that out of you. And I don’t care how long it takes,” The Queen of Hearts said breaking out into an unsettlingly wide and toothy grin. 

 

“The actions that you have committed constitute treason little one. Do you know what the punishment for treason is?” The queen asked.

 

Red couldn’t answer, her brain was drowning in the overwhelming feeling of pain that she was currently experiencing. 

 

Her mother clearly didn’t like this and wrapped a hand around Red’s neck before squeezing tightly and yanking her upward again. 

 

Red choked and sputtered. She went to claw at her neck, forgetting that her hands were bound. Saliva dripped out of the side of her mouth as her mother continued to crush her throat and block her airway. 

 

She held her there for about 20 seconds before releasing her. “I believe I asked you a question Red. The punishment for treason is death.”

 

Red coughed and hacked painfully. She gasped in air, noting how much it hurt every time she sucked in a breath. 

 

“If you were anyone else little one, your head would currently be sitting on a spike, but you’re my heir and I need you.”

 

Red faintly heard what her mother had said, but she didn’t have the strength to raise her head and acknowledge her words. 

 

The queen continued. “So in place of beheading you, I’ve decided to punish you in a different way. You are going to learn the weight of your crime through pain, and I will strip you down so completely and mold and put you back together until you are just like me. I wonder how long you’ll last, little rosebud.”

 

Red once again didn’t respond. This apparently angered the Queen of Hearts as she stalked around to Red’s back and raked the whip across her back again. Red once again let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain, only this time it came out far more hoarse and weak thanks to her now somewhat damaged throat.

 

“You will acknowledge me when I speak to you Red,” her mother growled. 

 

Red forced herself to nod weakly. Her mother broke out in a wide grin. “Oh good! Now, we have a lot to do tomorrow, so get some sleep,” she said before stalking out of the room, leaving Red alone. 

 

Now that she was alone, she let the tears fall. She had known that her mother would punish her severely for going back in time to stop her and for challenging her after she had gotten back too, but she had never imagined that her mother could do something like this to her. Maybe she should have. But was it possible that the new timeline had made her mother even crueler than she had been before? It certainly seemed that way.

 

At least Chloe is safe. Red told herself. Red and her mother were back in Wonderland which meant that Chloe and her family were safe and far away from where her mother could reach them. If Chloe was okay it was worth it, it had to be. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Red woke up with a start when she felt something cool on her back. Clearly, the person felt her jolt because they reached around and covered Red’s mouth before speaking. “Princess it’s me,” came the voice from behind her.

 

“Maddox?” Red whispered hoarsely.

 

“Gods you sound terrible,” Maddox said sadly. 

 

Red felt more coolness spread across her back. “I’m putting an antibiotic on your wounds. This should help a little bit with the pain and it will keep your wounds from getting infected,” Maddox said hurriedly. 

 

Red hummed in acknowledgment of Maddox’s words. 

 

Maddox slowly inched around to Red’s front and held a glass up to her lips. “I also brought you some water,” he whispered. 

 

Red drank it gratefully. 

 

“I’m sorry princess, this is all I can do for you,” Maddox said extremely apologetically. 

 

Red shook her head. She understood.

 

“These next few days are going to be extremely difficult and painful Red, and I won’t be able to help you. I recommend that you find one thing. One thought. A super happy and comforting thought to focus on while you’re going through this. It’ll help ground you and keep you sane,” Maddox suggested.

 

Red nodded in understanding. There was only one thing, or rather one person that she figured could ground her in such a way just by thinking of them. 

 

Maddox quickly took his leave. “Good luck princess. I’m so sorry that I can’t help more,” he added before quietly leaving the room. 

 

Red took a deep breath in and closed her eyes again. The first image that came into her head was a familiar head of long, curly, blue locks. Next came thoughts of kind, playful brown eyes brimming with energy and excitement, and finally thoughts of pretty pink lips turned upward in a beautifully dazzling smile filled her head. 

 

Red could get through whatever her mother was going to put her through. She had to, for Chloe.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Red once again awoke to a bucket of cold water to the face.

 

“Good morning little one, did you sleep well?” Came her mother’s voice.

 

Red let out a soft grunt, unable to answer fully.

 

The Queen of Hearts nodded. “Good. Now we have some work to do today. I’m going to make you just like me Red. Isn’t that exciting?” 

 

Red didn’t answer.

 

The queen immediately adopted an icy expression and slapped Red across the face for ignoring her. Red barely reacted to the slap, as her face was still a little numb from the ice water. 

 

The Queen’s displeasure grew upon seeing Red’s lack of a reaction. “I really wish you wouldn’t make me resort to such drastic measures so soon Red,” She said in a low voice before grabbing the same weapon as before and smacking Red in the back with it.

 

Red saw it coming this time and squeezed her eyes shut in preparation. She let her mind flood with thoughts of Chloe. The whip raked across her back, taking some of her skin with it. Red let out a loud cry, but quickly forced her brain to return to thinking about Chloe rather than focusing on the pain. 

 

Her mother seemed satisfied with Red’s proclamation of pain and sauntered over to the throne before plopping herself down and watching her daughter’s blood drip to the floor. “Let’s play a little game Red, shall we?” she asked, a nasty grin spreading across her face. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The next 4 days passed in very much the same way. Every day The queen would saunter into her cell and whip her whenever she didn’t react to something in the desired manner, the criteria of which changed with every interaction, however, the queen soon came to realize that her physical torture of her daughter didn’t seem to be doing very much to break down her psyche. It was time to take a slightly different approach she figured. 

 

Red had been focusing her thoughts on Chloe so much that she barely even heard her mother when she spoke to her anymore. She felt the wounds open in her back and the blows to her face and stomach, but she no longer reacted to them. She forced herself not to react anymore. Maybe if she stopped reacting, her mother wouldn’t find torturing her fun anymore and maybe she would stop.

 

The Queen of Hearts grabbed Red’s chin and stared her directly in the eye. She had just finished giving Red 5 lashings, which gave Red 5 more painful, deep, bloody wounds. At this point, she was struggling to remain conscious. For the most part, she had gotten used to the intense physical pain, but she had never gotten this many at the same time before. 

 

“Alright little one, this doesn’t seem to be working quite as well as I’d hoped, so it’s time to move to stage 2 a little early,” the queen said.

 

Now that got Red’s attention. She was immediately forced out of her brain’s little slideshow of Chloe’s prettiest smiles as she decided that it might be important to try and listen to what her mom had to say.

 

Staying conscious proved to be even more difficult after her mind drifted away from Chloe and she struggled to keep her eyes open. 

 

“I am going to send you somewhere Red,” her mother said as she pulled a playing card out of her pocket. It was the ace of hearts. “I’m going to put you inside this card and here you will stay until I decide that you have been mentally broken enough, driven insane by the isolation and maddening quiet as well as the physical pain that I’ll be able to mold you into whatever I want you to be. The magic in this card will keep you in the exact state that you are in until I decide to let you out. You won’t be able to sleep, your wounds won’t close up or heal, and you will be unable to die. Furthermore, you won’t be able to hear anything while you’re in here and you won’t be able to see anything either unless I let you. This card is going to become hell for you little rosebud,” The Queen of Hearts declared gleefully. 

 

Red’s eyes widened. This might be too much even for her to handle. She opened her mouth to say something but was immediately cut off.

 

“Oh that fearful expression on your face is so deliciously wonderful little one, but I’m afraid it’s time for you to go,” The queen said with a wide grin.

 

Suddenly there was a flash of light and Red was sucked into the card. The shackles which had previously held her hands swung uselessly back and forth. The queen smiled before placing the card in her pocket. 

 

Red felt herself drop to the ground. She looked around her. Everything was white. She was surrounded by endless nothingness. Red immediately began to cry. Soft tears soon turned to large body-racking sobs which just hurt thanks to the extremely poor state that her body was in, but she couldn’t control her tears anymore.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

2 days later

 

Red was still crying. She wasn’t sure how long it had been at this point, a few hours? A few days? It was impossible to tell. She had been sobbing off and on ever since she had landed in this card. Thoughts of Chloe helped soothe her mind and helped her regulate the maddening quiet and isolation that her mother had been talking about. 

 

It had been quiet and she had been isolated in the torture room too, but nothing quite like this. Back in the torture room, she had been able to hear things such as dripping water, the sounds of feet walking by outside, and soft voices. But now, it was so insanely silent that she could barely contain herself.

 

She wanted to claw at her ears just so she would hear something, but she forced herself to stay as still as possible so as not to aggravate any of her wounds and cause her poor failing body any more pain. 

 

Red’s tears slowed and eventually stopped altogether. She didn’t even feel like she really stopped crying. It was more like she was still kind of crying, but the well had run dry and no more tears would come out. 

 

Red stared out into the void as she lay on her side. She couldn’t feel anything anymore she realized. Physically she could, but her brain seemed to stop telling her how sad she was. She felt nothing, and all she could think about was Chloe. 

Notes:

Poor Red, being stuck in a playing card while injured seems pretty rough. In all seriousness, I felt super bad writing this.

Also does anyone actually like this fic enough for me to finish it? The rest of it is outlined but I haven’t written it yet

Chapter 4: Storm the Castle

Summary:

Chloe, Uma, and the pirates enter the castle to save Red! Will everything go as planned?

Notes:

Trigger warning: character death

“So far your directions have been pretty spot-on,” Uma whispered as she crouched next to Chloe who was looking over her map for the umpteenth time. 

 

Chloe nodded. So far everything was going according to plan, so naturally she should be ecstatic right about now right? Wrong. Something felt off. She couldn’t exactly place her finger on whatever it was, but the closer they got to actually entering the castle the more a deep sense of unease began to settle deep within Chloe’s bones. 

 

Chloe shook her head trying to expel her sense of discomfort. Everything was fine. They were going to make it into the castle undetected and they were going to save Red. She kept repeating that in her head like a mantra as their little group finally breached the castle. 

 

Chloe poked her head around a corner thankful to find it empty. She breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay the first place we need to look is the dungeon. Considering how mad the queen was I don’t think she would have let Red stay in her room,” Chloe whispered to the group. “The fastest way there is by taking this route which takes us right past the throne room, but at this time of night there shouldn’t be many guards around here as the queen is never in the throne room at this time,” she finished as she pointed to the map.

 

Uma nodded in understanding. “Alright, lead the way,” she whispered back.

 

Chloe quietly began walking in the direction of the throne room and the sense of unease and discomfort from earlier returned in full force. She knew her plans were correct. The fact that they had gotten this far undetected proved that, so why did she feel like there was something very wrong with the situation? What was she missing? What had she forgotten?

 

“The throne room is just up ahead. From there we’re going down the left corridor,” Chloe quietly informed the group, but no sooner had they reached the throne room when a loud booming laugh was heard from inside the room itself. 

 

Chloe’s blood turned to ice in her veins. No, it couldn’t be. She wasn’t supposed to be there. According to Red, her mother always spent the hours of 7-10 pm in her study. Red had told Chloe that she had no idea what she actually did in there for those hours and why it had to be for those hours specifically every day, but that it was a schedule she had always adhered to. Red was just happy that it meant she was guaranteed three hours where she was free from her mother every day.

 

So why was the queen in the throne room and seemingly just been alerted of their presence? Before Chloe had time to run through possible scenarios, several card guards flooded out of the mouth of the throne room completely surrounding the small party. 

 

“Shit,” Uma said unhelpfully, drawing her sword. Her pirates followed suit. “We have no choice but to fight now!” Uma yelled to her pirates. 

 

Chloe quickly steeled her nerves. She couldn’t afford to panic now. She quickly dodged a blow from a guard and sidestepped another before bringing the hilt of her sword down on the guard’s sword arm causing him to wince and stagger backward. She then struck him in the face with her hilt and watched his now unconscious form crumble to the ground. 

 

“Chloe! You go find Red we can hold these guys off!” Uma shouted. Chloe turned to see that Uma and her pirate crew were actually doing quite a good job of holding off the card guards. 

 

Chloe turned to run in the direction of the dungeon but halted. If the queen was in the throne room and had set up her card guards to ambush them then that meant she had known they were coming which also meant that Red probably wouldn’t be in the dungeon as that would have been way too obvious. So where the hell was she meant to go from here? 

 

There was no way she could just search every room and hope that she miraculously stumbled upon Red. It would take too long and she would definitely get caught. Chloe’s blood turned cold as she realized she was left with only one option. 

 

The only way to find Red now was to figure out where she was directly from the source itself. The only way was to go through the Queen of Hearts. She turned, pushed open the heavy door while dodging a blow from a card guard and ran into the throne room before she could change her mind. 

 

Chloe heard the heavy door shut behind her and immediately turned her attention to the apex of the room. There the Queen of Hearts sat on a large, red, heart-shaped throne with black velvety cushions looking a mix of amused, haughty, and eerily gleeful.

 

“Well, if it isn’t Ella’s little brat,” the queen said haughtily.

 

Chloe gripped her sword tightly to keep her hands from shaking and paused for a second. She refused to speak until she was sure her voice wouldn’t shake. She hated to admit it, but the Queen of Hearts scared the absolute shit out of her. Never before had she come across such an overwhelmingly malicious and domineering presence. One who not only had no regard for the lives of the people around her, but who actively took pleasure in causing pain and inflicting suffering on those around her, even if that person was her own daughter. 

 

Despite her fear, Chloe refused to show weakness in the face of such a terrible person. How could she after what Red had done to protect her and the rest of Auradon? She owed it to Red to stand here bravely and face her mother head-on. 

 

“How did you know we were coming?” Chloe asked calmly, at least that’s the tone she was aiming for. 

 

The queen laughed maliciously and pulled out a familiar looking item from her pocket. “In all the time that you’ve known each other did my darling daughter fail to mention the fact that I hold the looking glass?” 

 

Chloe’s heart dropped. The looking glass. Of course. How could she possibly have forgotten such an important factor? Actually, even if she had remembered would it really have mattered? Well, at the very least she could have warned everyone that the queen would likely know that they were coming and to be prepared for a fight.

 

Chloe cleared her throat and forced those thoughts out of her head. Whatever the case, it didn’t matter now. “Where’s Red?” Chloe said trying her best to keep the worry and anger out of her voice.

 

The queen smiled widely. “She’s much closer than you think.”

 

Chloe felt a chill run down her spine at the eerie smile and malevolent glint in the queen’s eyes. “Where is she?” Chloe asked again, her grip on her sword tightening even more. 

 

“Well, she refused to respond to her physical treatments and conditioning so I had to switch to some more creative methods,” the queen began. 

 

“And what methods were those?” Chloe asked, trying and failing to keep the concern from creeping into her voice.

 

The queen let out a heavy sigh. “Well I had to turn to the psychological stage of Red’s treatment sooner than expected so she’s still a little… worse for wear–” 

 

“WHERE IS SHE!” Chloe interrupted loudly. Her concern mixing with anger and genuine fear for Red’s condition.

 

The queen laughed once again at Chloe’s desperation. “Why she’s right here,” Bridget said calmly pulling a card out of her pocket. The ace of hearts. “I imagine she’s been bleeding out in here for about 3 days here.” she said thoughtfully before once again breaking out into a cruel smile. “It likely won’t be much longer until she gives up completely and is ready to respond to my treatment.”

 

Chloe froze. What? Red was trapped in a card and had been bleeding out… for 3 days? All of Chloe’s fear and concern melted away and was replaced with pure unbridled rage. How could someone do anything so horrible to anyone? Let alone their own daughter?

 

“You vile monstrosity.” Chloe snarled.

 

The queen smirked and let Red’s card float in the air before drawing a deck of cards out of her pocket. “As entertaining as this has been, I do believe you have overstayed your welcome.” The queen said calmly. “Allow me to ensure your speedy exit from my kingdom.” She said before opening the deck of cards. 

 

The queen stood and descended the few steps of the throne. She grabbed a card and it began to glow red. Chloe barely had time to dodge out of the way before the queen sent the card launching toward her. Chloe looked behind her to see that the card had buried itself in the door behind her. She swallowed heavily as she realized that if she hadn’t dodged the card that it would’ve cleanly removed her head from her shoulders. 

 

From the corner of her eye, Chloe saw another card being launched in her direction and this time managed to slice it cleanly in half with her sword. “I’m not dying here and I’m not leaving without Red.” Chloe spat. 

 

Bridget scoffed and grabbed a handful of cards before charging them and sending them flying toward Chloe who managed to avoid the sweeping blow by dropping to the ground before immediately rolling to the side on instinct. This instinct proved to be correct as a glowing red card buried itself in the ground right where her head had been seconds prior. 

 

Chloe launched to her feet again and parried a few more cards, doing her best to simultaneously think of a strategy beyond ‘don’t get hit.’ Red’s card was still floating in the air next to the queen. Her first thought was to make a dash for the card and then try to flee the throne room, but she quickly put the thought out of her mind. With the rate and speed at which Bridget was sending cards at her, there was absolutely no way she’d manage that without getting shredded.

 

There was no way that she could just keep dodging and hope that the queen would run out of cards either. While there are only 52 cards in a deck not including the jokers, Chloe had no idea how many decks the queen had on her currently and there was a decent chance that Chloe would slow down too much or completely run out of the stamina needed to dodge and deflect all of the cards before Bridget ran out of ammo. 

 

“Ah yes, dance for me little Charming!” the queen shrieked in amusement as she watched Chloe continue to dodge and parry her card strikes. “What a fabulous pre-execution show! But rest assured, your head will roll before the night reaches its end!” She blared maniacally.

 

Chloe frowned. Based on the queen’s reaction, she definitely wasn’t concerned that she was going to run out of ammo. She definitely had more up her sleeve. Given all of these variables, Chloe realized that she only had one option. The queen’s cards were very well suited to both ranged and close-quarters attacks, but Chloe herself had no way to make any attacks of her own unless she was within close range of the queen. Furthermore, there was absolutely no way she would be able to get Red out of here without the queen being downed. That was fine with Chloe, as the more she thought about what was happening to Red, the angrier she became and the more her vision seemed to be tinged red in her rage. 

 

Fighting the queen in close quarters was riskier and her attacks would likely be harder to dodge, but it was also the only way she stood any sort of chance at ending this fight without it ending via her head being separated from the rest of her. 

 

Chloe continued to dodge and deflect the cards as they came her way and made an effort to begin meving closer to the queen all the while. Bridget grinned as she realized what Chloe was trying to do.

 

“Trying to get within range to strike me are you?” she laughed. 

 

Chloe glared at the queen, her rage intensifying even more. With her plan being out in the open, there was no point in trying to hide her strategy anymore. Chloe charged for the queen her slashes increasing in speed as the volume of cards increased the closer she got. 

 

Bridget’s eyes widened, and for the first time that night, a look of surprise and concern colored her features. She drew another deck of cards out of her dress pockets, and began to throw twice as many glowing blood-red cards at the young Charming.

 

Chloe frowned. Seriously, how big were her pockets? Chloe continued her advance but found it increasingly difficult to avoid the cards. She hissed in pain as a card grazed her arm. The queen’s eyes took on a crazed glint at the exclamation.

 

Chloe, realizing that she was unlikely to get any closer, decided on a last minute hail mary. She threw her sword directly at Bridget, hoping her aim would serve her well. The queen’s eyes widened. She clearly hadn’t been expecting that and didn’t have time to dodge.

 

Just then, Chloe heard the sound of a door opening and of multiple feet stomping into the room.

 

Chloe’s sword buried itself in the queen’s chest, the point emerging from the other side. Chloe smiled in triumph, but felt a wetness spreading across her side. She looked down to realize that a card had sliced through her torso creating a deep wound. She pressed a hand to her side and stumbled before collapsing onto the ground. 

 

Bridget sputtered and crumpled to the floor lifeless. 

 

The queen’s passing seemed to cancel out her magic, as the ace of hearts which had been floating in the air up to this point spat out the injured form of Red before falling to the ground. 

 

Chloe faintly heard someone calling her name in the background, but all she cared about was Red who had fallen right next to her, sprawled in the opposite direction with their faces inches away from each other. 

 

Red’s eyes seemed to light up a little at the view in front of her. “Chloe” she rasped out before her eyes closed.

 

Chloe smiled at Red before she too slipped into unconsciousness.

Notes:

Will they be okay????

Spoiler: our girls will be fine lol

Chapter 5: What Happens Now?

Summary:

Time to deal with the fallout of having killed Wonderland’s reigning monarch.

Notes:

Takes place 1 month after the events of chapter 4

Chloe sighed heavily as she looked down at the sleeping form of Red. It had been about a month now and she still hadn’t woken up. Chloe could hardly blame her. While she didn’t know exactly how severe her punishment at the hands of her mother had been, she knew enough to know that Red had been in a deplorable state upon re-entering the world. 

 

Chloe herself had woken up a little less than three weeks ago to discover that she was still in Wonderland and that her mother, father, and brother were all in the room. After shaking off her delirium she came to understand that both her and Red had been patched up using healing magic, but that said magic sapped the energy of the patient and used that stolen energy to rapidly repair bodily damage and injuries. 

 

The amount of energy that is used is dependent on how injured the patient is and the length of time that a patient spends recovering and regaining energy is dependent on how much energy was sapped during the healing process. Thus why Chloe had woken up much sooner than Red. 

 

After talking to her parents, Chloe was informed that she was still in Wonderland as it had been determined that even after using healing magic, it was still recommended that she not make the long journey to Cinderellasburg until she was awake and more stable. Her mother had apparently rushed to Wonderland as soon as she’d heard the news but her father and brother had only been able to make the trip the day before. 

 

It also came to her attention that she had killed the Queen of Hearts and that Wonderland had been left entirely without a ruler as the crown princess was in a coma. Chloe was somewhat shocked however to find out that Wonderland’s government officials sought to take no action against Chloe despite her having killed their monarch and that no further action could be taken in the way of next steps until the next-in-line was able to be a part of the conversation, as she would have the final say in all matters concerning what would happen next with Wonderland.

 

Much to Chloe’s surprise her mother had left it up to her to decide what she wanted to do next using the reasoning that she knew Chloe would be exceedingly reluctant to leave Red’s side. Her mother had been correct. Chloe had decided to stay in Wonderland at least until Red woke up and her mother had chosen to stay with her, exceedingly apprehensive about leaving her daughter in a foreign kingdom. 

 

Despite wanting to stay and support Chloe, both Charming and Chad had been forced to return to Aurodon as Cinderellasburg needed at least one of its monarchs present and Chad needed to return to school.

 

Chloe shook her head to snap herself out of her reminiscing and placed a gentle hand on Red’s sleeping face before turning to her mother.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Warm. Wherever she was it was warm. That was the first thought that drifted into Red’s mind. The second thought was that it was bright as she could feel the light filtering in through her closed eyelids. Red’s third thought was that she could hear soft voices around her but in her delirium couldn’t seem to piece together who the voices belonged to or what it was they were saying. 

 

Red went to slowly open her eyes, but discovered that her body wouldn’t listen to what her brain had told it. Red waited a few seconds before trying again. This time she was able to slowly peel her eyelids apart. Red blinked a few times before taking in where she was. 

 

She was staring at a light pink ceiling. With some effort, she managed to turn her head to the left and some things about the situation started to click in her mind. One, she was at home and in the infirmary, and two; Chloe, her mom, and Maddox were in the room. 

 

The only presence that she really cared about at that moment was Chloe. Red’s mind immediately flooded with fondness and relief and she opened her mouth to call out to her, but found that she couldn’t make any sound leave her mouth. She had no idea how long she had been out but it must have been long enough that her body wasn’t used to needing to actually do anything beyond exist. 

 

Thankfully Red didn’t have to try to get Chloe’s attention, because it was at that moment that Chloe chose to turn around, locking eyes with Red. “RED!” Chloe squealed in delight immediately rushing over to the bed. 

 

Chloe went to all but tackle Red in a hug before remembering that Red was still weak and likely still in pain. So Chloe opted to gently wrap Red in her arms and cradle her to her chest before allowing tears of relief to stream down her face. 

 

Red smiled into Chloe’s chest and after a few tries was able to wrap her arms around Chloe’s back to return the hug. “Hey princess,” she rasped. 

 

At this Chloe only began to cry harder and squeezed her even tighter. Red made a strangled noise, “ok as happy as I am to see you princess I would also love to be able to breathe,” she choked out

 

Chloe immediately went to remove herself from Red but to her surprise Red kept her arms wrapped around Chloe and buried herself even more deeply in her chest. “Red–” Chloe began.

 

“Will you crawl in next to me?” Red asked, her voice soft and shaky as if she fully expected her request to be denied. 

 

Chloe blinked in surprise but immediately crawled in next to Red and tentatively wrapped her arms around her again. Okay this was definitely a weird request from Red. Chloe had been quite certain that Red was not a huge fan of physical touch or of affection in general but here she was practically gluing herself to Chloe’s frame. Not that she minded of course, quite the opposite actually. Chloe sighed. Whatever Red had gone through must have been quite extreme. 

 

Red turned and placed an ear on Chloe’s chest and was delighted to find that the steady thumping of Chloe’s heart seemed to soothe her nerves and make it easier for her to take in what was happening. 

 

Ella smiled at the sight of her daughter cradling Red in her arms fondly. Chloe had worried herself sick for weeks over the fact that Red wasn’t awake yet and over how confused, hurt, and scared she might be when she woke up. 

 

When Chloe wasn’t sitting by Red’s side telling her unconscious form about everything that happened that day, holding her hand, or watching the steady rise and fall of her chest, she was pouring over books and documents on Wonderlandian policy and succession rules so that she might be able to help Red even a little bit after she woke up. 

 

Watching Choe hug Red to her chest as tears of relief streamed down her face it suddenly crossed Ella’s mind that Chloe’s feelings for Red might have been deeper than even Chloe realized. After all, to anyone on the outside looking in, it looked a lot like Chloe was in the beginning stages of love, a fact that made Ella’s heart squeeze with joy tinged with a little sadness as she realized how quicly her little angel was growing up. 

 

Red allowed herself a few more seconds to revel in the warmth of Chloe’s embrace and listen to the gentle beating of her kind heart before sitting up with a little help from Chloe and turning to look at the other two people in the room. “How long have I been out and what needs to be done?”

 

Maddox walked over and smiled softly. “It’s been about a month Princess and the situation is quite complicated, but we don’t need to discuss all of the policy issues yet, take some time first. I think I’ll let your friend here explain some other things to you first.”

 

Red nodded at him in appreciation. “Thank you for helping me Maddox. I know how dangerous it was for you to do that.”

 

Maddox’s soft smile returned and he bowed respectfully and a little jokingly. “I regret nothing Princess, and I would do it again if I had to.”

 

Red smiled a little, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. She turned back to Chloe. “What happened? Also what are you even doing here? I mean I’m really happy that you are, but how did you save me? Oh and I haven’t thanked you for that yet–”

Chloe just laughed and placed a finger over Red’s lips to stop her adorable rambling. But all too quickly that smile faded and a more somber expression took its place. Chloe took a deep breath and told Red everything. From her plan to recruit Uma and Fairy Godmother to storming the castle, to the confrontation with her mom. 

 

Red leaned back and stared at the ceiling. She knew that she understood the words that had just been spoken to her but despite knowing what was said, she could still barely grasp their meaning. Her mother was dead. She was gone. 

 

Red blinked at the ceiling as she tried to process what that meant and how she felt about it. Red didn’t feel much of anything if she was being honest. Beyond being relieved that Chloe was with here and that she was safe, she couldn’t detect any other semblance of emotion from herself. There was no happiness, sadness, anger, pain, or confusion. She just felt empty. Her mind was quiet. So maddeningly quiet that it frustrated her, or at least she figured it should have. But no, there was nothing. 

 

Red suddenly felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and looked over to see Chloe’s face filled with concern. Warmth flooded into her and the maddening quiet of her mind was soon filled with a soft buzzing. Red blinked away her surprise at her own reaction to simply feeling Chloe near her. “It’s alright princess, I’m fine,” Red reassured; once again trying to give Chloe a convincing smile, but Chloe’s face told her she was unsuccessful. 

 

Regardless, Chloe dropped it seeming to sense that Red simply didn’t know how to respond to what she had just heard yet. 

 

Red closed her eyes for a beat and took a deep breath. “Alright so what happens now?” She asked, opening her eyes again. 

 

“Well at the very least we don’t have to worry about school,” Chloe said.

 

Ella nodded in confirmation. “I had a discussion with Principal Uma and she suggested that the both of you take a year to recover mentally and emotionally from this whole ordeal. She said she would add both of you to the students list for next year if that’s what you’d like.”

 

“Yeah I think we could really use the time to recover after everything that’s happened and unfortunately I thnk things are going to be a little crazy for at least a little bit while Wonderland is still technically leaderless,” Chloe added. “Prinicpal Uma also said to contact her if we needed anything so if you change your mind or if…” Chloe paused and looked down sadly. “Or if it’s decided that you can’t go to Aurodon we can always let her know later.”

 

“No I think you’re right. It’s a good idea. I’ll plan to go to Aurodon Prep next year for now and I guess pretty soon we’ll see if that’s still possible,” Red said thoughtfully. 

 

*1 week later*

 

Ella knocked on the door to Red’s room and poked her head in the door to see Red and Chloe both sprawled across Red’s bed, hands intertwined. Red was sketching and Chloe appeared to be reading yet another book on Wonderlandian succession policy. 

 

To be entirely honest, Ella was shocked that Chloe had been permitted to look so heavily into Wonderland’s official legalese considering the circumstances of the situation and the role that she played in it, but Maddox had done a fantastic job of mediating on their behalf while also buying some time to allow Red to recover and to think of her next course of action before forcing her to jump into political talks.

Unfortunately, that time had reached its end. Ella sighed. It really was absolutely heartbreaking to see someone who was so young and whom she had started to grow quite fond of forced into such a difficult position, especially so soon after going through something as traumatic as she had. 

 

Throughout that week, Chloe had informed the group that after reading as many law, political, and history books and documents as she could get her hands on, that Wonderland law stated that Red could not take over the throne in full capacity until she was 21. Both Red and Chloe were relieved to hear this news. 

 

Upon hearing this news and looking into the policy more, it was discovered that Wonderland policy dictated that until Red reached the age of 21 that Wonderland was to be ruled over by a council made up of 5 members, including the crown princess, that were hand-selected by her. This council would vote on all major decisions and handle the day-to-day workings of the Queendom that would ordinarily be made by the reigning monarch. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

*2 days ago*

 

Red placed her head on the table and sighed. She was so tired. She had been exhausted ever since she had woken up a week ago. It didn’t matter how much sleep she got, she was exhausted. Exhaustion was quite often the only thing she felt, unless Chloe was near, then sometimes she felt her heart constrict painfully in her chest, or skip a beat. Sometimes when she looked at her, she felt a sense of calm and relief wash over her that immediately soothed her and filled the silence in her mind with a soft, pleasant humming. 

 

Red’s dreams since waking up had been plagued with memories of her mother raking her metal-studded whip across her back and of slowly losing her mind in the mind-numbing quiet of the card which had become her prison. 

 

She would often wake up in a panic, crazily looking around at her surroundings only to be immediately soothed the second she saw Chloe who had started sleeping in her room with her after they both realized that she slept better and panicked less when Chloe was around. 

 

Chloe gently rubbed Red’s back comfortingly and Red looked up at the concerned faces of Ella, Chloe, and Maddox all of whom had gathered with her in the castle’s official conference room to discuss things before she informed the rest of the court. 

 

“Alright I guess the next thing to do is select the council members,” Red said, immediately straightening in her chair. “Maddox, will you join the council?” 

 

Madoxx looked at her in surprise. “Why me princess?”

 

“You’re the only person that I know I can trust no matter what,” Red said firmly. “Thanks to my mom I’m not as familiar with the other important figures in Wonderland as I should be. She always insisted that she was the only one who mattered, but I know you, and I trust that you’ll always have Wonderland’s and my best interests in mind.”

 

Maddox smiled warmly. “Of course princess. I’m honored that you think so highly of me.”

 

“You already knew that Maddox,” Red joked. “Anyway, do you have any other recommendations?”

 

Maddox nodded. “I recommend choosing at least one individual who was a part of your mother’s cabinet. While they became quite obsolete after she turned into a tyrant, the cabinet members still know quite a lot about your mother’s policies and which ones should stay, which should go, and which need to be updated. I believe it would be most beneficial to select Lady Ravensway, as she was on your mother’s cabinet the longest and was the most outspoken against her back when it was still safe to disagree with her without fear of execution.”

 

“Joining the old and the new court by including a member of the old cabinet is a very wise move and should also help make for a smoother transition between your mother’s rule and yours.” Ella added. 

 

Red smiled at Ella appreciatively and cleared her throat before continuing. “Alright, next I think it would be smart to bring in Captain Pinochle. He’s the current captain of the guard and I think it would be smart to get the royal guard and Wonderland’s military force on my side. He also likely knows far more about the realities of the living situation for Wonderland’s commoners and civilians than the rest of us, as unlike us, he doesn’t spend all of his time in the confines of the castle or the upper court. He’s also likely to have some sense of loyalty to me considering I refused to sentence him to execution after my mom tried to force me to.”

 

The other three people in the room looked at Red in surprise.

 

“What? Just because I act like I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention or think things through ever,” Red grumbled.

 

Chloe couldn’t help but laugh a little. Pouty Red certainly was adorable. “Alright well I’ve been reading a little bit about important Wonderland figures and I think it could be smart to bring in the blue caterpillar. He’s the keeper of Wonderland’s calendrical compendium and would likely know some of the best ways to proceed, as he can see the future to some extent,” Chloe voiced.

 

“The blue caterpillar… Absolum, of course,” Red said, somewhat surprised. “My mom told me about Absolum once. He used to be an important part of Wonderland’s inner court but my mom banished him from the inner court after a disagreement. He’s already familiar with the workings of the inner court too so it might not be too difficult to convince him,” Red said, drumming her fingers against her lips thoughtfully. 

 

“Yes, that’s a wonderful selection Princess,” Maddox agreed. “Anyway, counting you, that is all the members we need. Are you sure of all of the picks?”

 

Red nodded. “Yes, I think this is the best way to go. Maddox can you draft a formal request for our selected members to join the council and summon them to the castle in 2 days in the event that they accept?” she asked.

 

“Absolutely Princess, I’ll get on it right away,” Maddox confirmed. 

 

“Now that that’s settled, how are you doing Red? Do you feel any better or any differently? Ella asked concerned. “I’m a little worried that we’re placing too much strain on you too soon.”

 

Chloe nodded vigorously in agreement. 

 

Red wasn’t exactly sure what to say. How was she doing? She had no idea. Everywhere she looked she was reminded of what her mother had done to her and why. Her home felt like it should be a horrible place for her to be right now, but truthfully all she felt was numbness. 

 

“I’m not sure,” Red started. “Everywhere I look I’m surrounded by things that remind me of my mother and,” she paused to collect her thoughts. “And I’m not sure how I feel about it,” Red admitted. 

 

Chloe paused and thought for a moment. “I think being in Wonderland right now might be stopping you from processing everything that’s happened. I think you might need to separate yourself from this place in order to actually process your emotions.”

 

Ella reached over and placed a gentle hand over Red’s. “I’m not sure if this will be possible, but if it is, you are more than welcome to come and stay with us in Cinderellasburg for as long as you need to dear,” she said gently.

 

Chloe beamed at her mother and looked to Red for her response. 

 

Red was flabbergasted. “But why? You barely know me and my mother tried to kill you both and take over Aurodon. Trust me I’m not worth the trouble,” she said dejectedly.

 

Chloe and Ella’s hearts both broke at hearing Red talk about herself in such a way. “Red, you saved my life and stood up to your mother knowing that your punishment would be severe, all to protect us and the rest of Aurodon. This is the least we can do for you.” Ella said softly.

 

Chloe nodded her agreement. “Red, you’re amazing and you are the strongest person I know. But that doesn’t mean you can’t accept help from the people around you,” she said earnestly.

 

“I think it’s a wonderful idea Red. You should really take them up on their offer. Let yourself be taken care of for once,” Maddox said.

 

Red blinked and looked around at the three faces, all of which were looking at her with warmth and fondness. What a foreign concept, she thought to herself. 

 

“Ok, if I can, then I would very much like to accept your offer. Thank you your majesty. Although I don’t think I’ll be allowed to leave Wonderland for a while,” Red said softly. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

*back to the present*

 

Chloe looked up at her mother. “Is it time?” she asked. 

 

Ella nodded. “Everyone responded to the summons so it would appear that everyone has accepted. They’re waiting for you in the conference room to start the first official council meeting Red.”

Red sighed and headed toward the door. Ella and Chloe wouldn’t be able to be there to support her during this council meeting, a fact that troubled her to some extent, as the idea of being away from Chloe for an extended period of time made her a little uneasy. At least Maddox would be there. She had never been more thankful of the fact that he had accepted the position on the council. 

 

Chloe grabbed Red’s hand. Red turned around in surprise. “What is it princess?”

 

“Good luck, but I know you’ve got this,” she said, a soft smile coloring her features. 

 

Red squeezed her hand appreciatively. “Thanks princess. I’ll be back soon.

 

Chloe nodded and let go of Red’s hand. 

 

Red walked out the door and made her way to the conference room, already missing Chloe’s presence. 

 

Red walked into the conference room and took her seat at the head of the table. She cleared her throat before speaking. “Thank you all for accepting my request to join the council. This marks the beginning of our first official council meeting,” she said matter-of-factly.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Alright, it has been decided that we will not be seeking any sort of retribution on Chloe Charming or the rest of the Charming family, and with that I believe that concludes our discussion about the council’s agenda and main goals for the upcoming months,” Red said trying not to let her exhaustion seep into her voice. It had already been over 2 hours and she really wanted to see Chloe again. 

 

“If we are done discussing official matters, I would like to turn the topic of conversation to Princess Red,” Maddox piped up.

 

Red whipped around to look at him. What did that mean?

 

Maddox continued calmly. “After observing the physical, mental, and emotional state of the crown princess over the past week, I believe that she needs to take some time away from Wonderland in order to recover from the scars left on her by the late queen.”

Red frowned. What was Maddox getting at?

Maddox began to explain his findings as well as the offer that was made by Ella and Chloe to have Red stay in Cinderellasburg. 

 

After a brief period of discussion, a decision was reached. 

 

“Your highness,” Absolum began, “this council has reached the decision that you are to live in Aurodon for the remainder of your high school years and stay with the Charmings in Cinderellasburg. For the first year, you are not required to return to Wonderland at all, but for the subsequent years you must spend the entirety of your winter and summer holidays in Wonderland. For any major decisions that the council cannot come to an agreement about, you will be contacted and your decision will serve as the tie-breaker. According to the compendium, this is the best course of action. After this period is over, the crown princess will live in Wonderland full time and will be crowned as Wonderland’s next monarch when she reaches the age of 21. Are we all in agreement?” Absolum concluded.

 

The rest of the council members stated their affirmations and agreements. Red looked around the table trying her best to hide her shock and appreciation at the council’s decision. “I will abide by the council’s decision and I trust you all to run Wonderland in my absence,” she concluded. 

 

With that the council meeting ended and everyone filed out of the room. Everyone went their separate ways, but Red stopped Maddox before he could walk away. “Wait Maddox,” she began, grabbing his wrist.

 

“What is it Princess?” he asked turning around.

 

“Thank you Maddox. For this and for everything else.”

 

“It was nothing Princess. Now I do believe that you have someone you should inform of this development,” he said with a wink before turning and walking away. 

 

Red immediately made her way to her room where she suspected Chloe still was. She opened the door to find Chloe lying on her bed and scrolling through her phone. 

 

Chloe looked up at the sound of the door opening and immediately sat up and put her phone down at the sight of Red. “Red! Oh my gosh, that took so long! How did it go?”

 

“They’re letting me stay with you in Cinderellasburg,” Red said, a soft smile coming to her lips at the sight of Chloe. It had only been a few hours, but being away from Chloe had made her so anxious and nervous. 

 

Chloe squealed in excitement and delight and bounded over to tackle Red in a hug, knocking them both to the ground. “Oh gosh I’m sorry, are you ok!?” Chloe asked slightly panicked. Red was still a little weak after being in a coma for a month after all. 

 

Red just sighed and settled into Chloe’s embrace. “Yeah princess, I’m just fine,” she said as she allowed herself to be surrounded by Chloe’s warmth.

Notes:

Red needs therapy. Also yes, I did just steal the idea of the caterpillar and the calendrical compendium from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

Not entirely happy with how this chapter turned out, sorry guys

Chapter 6: Out of Tears

Summary:

4 months later and Chloe and Red are still trying to deal with everything that’s happened. Spoiler: Red is not doing too well

Notes:

Chloe is super worried about Red

 “Red?” Chloe asked, trying to get her attention only to be met with no response. Chloe sighed and slowly walked over to Red, softly calling her name again. When Red still didn’t respond, Chloe gently placed a hand on Red’s shoulder, shocking her out of the trance she had been in while staring at the wall. 

 

Red jumped at the touch and blinked a few times before looking around the room as if reminding herself that she was in Chloe’s room. She curled her fingers into the comforter beneath her to remind her body that she was sitting on Chloe’s bed which had also become her bed over the past few months. 

 

Finally after what felt like ages, Red looked over at Chloe and her eyes flickered with recognition and a hint of relief. “Sorry princess I was completely zoned out, what’s up?” she said with a forced smile, clearly trying to downplay her reaction and hoping that Chloe wouldn’t notice.

 

Chloe’s heart withered in her chest. This was how most of their interactions seemed to start since they had arrived in Cinderellasburg 4 months ago. Chloe often found Red zoning out and staring into space, and often had to try multiple times to get her attention. Even when they were in the same room, it felt like Red was millions of miles away. 

 

Every time Red came out of one of her trances, it seemed to take her a few seconds to realize where she was and what was happening, which had Chloe curious and exceedingly worried about where her mind went when this happened. She knew it couldn’t be anywhere good considering the flicker of relief that she saw in her eyes whenever she caught sight of Chloe after one of these episodes, or the fact that Red panicked whenever she came out of one of these trances and Chloe wasn’t within eyesight. 

 

Every day Chloe felt like her heart was breaking for Red, and she knew exactly why. Chloe had had strong feelings for Red ever since Red had first made her laugh back during their time travel debacle. Feelings which were made stronger when she had given her Hook’s shoes after she had broken hers saving Red, and feelings which became even stronger with every interaction that they’d had since. 

 

After these past 4 months, Chloe was sure that her feelings for Red could only be called one thing. Love. She loved Red, she was sure of it. She knew that she loved Red the same way that she knew her name was Chloe Charming. It was simply an immovable, unshakeable fact. So Chloe was determined to help her heal, even though it seemed like she wasn’t really making any progress so far. 

 

Chloe hadn't seen Red smile genuinely in months. There was the occasional forced smile of gratitude or acknowledgment from her, but she hadn't seen a smile or any expression beyond hurt or soul-crushing numbness from Red since before everything had gone down. Chloe understood of course, but it still broke her heart that Red was struggling so much and was still basically completely out of touch with her emotions. 

 

All of this had Chloe feeling quite discouraged, as it seemed like Red had only gotten worse since leaving Wonderland rather than better like she had hoped and honestly, assumed she would. While Chloe understood logically that progress and healing weren’t linear and definitely weren’t easy things to accomplish, she still found herself growing increasingly worried and disheartened as each day passed and Red showed no signs of opening up, processing her emotions, or coming to terms with them despite the effort that Chloe and her entire family were putting into helping Red. 

 

When Chloe first brought this confusing fact up to her mother, she had told her that it was likely because now that Red had been separated from the environment in which all of her pain had been inflicted, the reality of what had happened there had hit her all at once and become debilitating. Additionally, now that Red didn’t have Wonderland’s political situation to distract herself with, the only thing that was on her mind was probably a constant memory loop of what had happened to her, and nothing had happened to help her break out of that cycle yet. 

 

After mulling it over, Chloe admitted that this made a lot of sense, but it didn’t ease her worry in the slightest. Despite this, Chloe was exceptionally grateful to her mother, and the entirety of her family really for being so open with this situation. 

 

Chloe had known that her family would be extremely supportive and welcoming to Red from the minute her mother had offered to let Red stay with them, and she had been right. Both her parents and her brother had become quite fond of Red over the past few months, and she could tell that they were doing their best to work through the disconnect between them and Red due to her completely closed off state. 

 

Chloe also knew that Red was trying to force herself to be ok and to interact with all of them normally, and it broke Chloe’s heart that no matter how many times she tried to reassure Red that it was ok for her not to be ok yet and that she didn’t need to force herself, that Red still felt like she owed them her mental improvement. 

 

Chloe sighed. She never knew how unnerving and ridiculously worry-inducing it could be to see someone not cry. Red hadn’t shed a single tear in all the months that she had been with Chloe since the incident and that kind of scared the shit out of her. 

 

Chloe was so worried about Red that she constantly wanted to cry and if Red was out of her sight for longer than about an hour or two at a time she would panic. Red of course couldn't know any of this. She had to stay strong for Red. It was only late at night when Red was already fast asleep in her arms that Chloe let her tears fall, and she often cried herself to sleep, sick with worry for Red.

 

“Um Chloe? Were you saying something?” Red asked, eyebrows furrowed quizzically. 

 

Chloe blushed in embarrassment as the realiztion hit her that she had just been standing and staring at Red for what was likely several minutes now as she contemplated all of this. 

 

“Sorry, my mom wanted me to let you know that we’re going to have dinner soon and that we should start heading to the dining room,” Chloe said, trying to force the worry and unpleasant thoughts out of her head. 

 

“Oh, well we should probably head down then, you’ve kind of been zoning out for a while over there,” Red joked. 

 

Chloe smiled softly. At least Red had retained some of her sense of humor. It was when Red made little jokes like that, that Chloe was reminded that this was indeed still Red, and that maybe everything really would be ok.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Ella gazed at her daughter across the table, concern coloring her features. Chloe had been significantly more distracted, withdrawn, and depressed since the events that took place in Wonderland, which Ella very much understood and did her best to help her through, but tonight was different. She was even more withdrawn then usual and she and Charming had needed to try several times to get her attention when talking to her.

 

Chloe wasn’t paying enough attention to herself. All of her energy went into worrying about Red. Because of this, Chloe hadn’t really worked through or given much thought to the mental scars that this whole ordeal had left on her. Ella had been trying to figure out a way to bring this up to Chloe for a while, but every time she tried, Chloe would change the subject.

 

Despite this, Ella decided to give the conversation another attempt. So as the table was cleared, she stopped Chloe before she could retreat upstairs. “Chloe dearest, will you come talk to me before you go?”

 

Chloe seemed not to hear her and didn’t respond until Red poked her in the side. “What? Oh yeah of course,” Chloe said before sending Red off and walking over to her mother. “What is it mom?” she asked. 

 

“Are you doing alright sweetheart?” Ella began. 

 

Chloe tilted her head in confusion. “Yes, of course I am. Why?”

 

Ella sighed. “Dear you’ve been even more withdrawn and distracted today than usual. You can’t fool me I’m your mother,” she added with a playful wink at the end.

 

Chloe rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Sorry I’ve just been thinking about Red a lot today. I think there was something bigger wrong with her today, but I can’t even be sure because of how she’s been lately.” Chloe said dejectedly. 

 

“Dear I understand that you’re worried about Red, but what about you?” Ella said, making an attempt to steer the conversation toward her extremely stubborn daughter’s mental state. 

 

Chloe looked up, her face colored with confusion. “What about me?”

 

“Chloe you’ve been through so much because of this. Not nearly as much as Red has, but it worries me that you keep ignoring the pain that this has caused you.” Ella tried. 

 

Chloe frowned. “I’m fine. Even if there was something wrong with me, it’s nowhere near as bad as what’s happened to Red. I don’t matter right now, but if you’re so sure that there’s something wrong with me, then I’ll try to examine that, but not until after Red is doing better.”

 

Ella sighed again. This was about the response that she had expected. She had known that there was no way Chloe would let anything else occupy her mind until she stopped worrying about Red every second of the day. “How is Red doing?” Ella asked.

 

Chloe’s face grew somber again as she let her mind drift off to Red once again. “She’s not getting any better. I know she’s trying to force herself to seem like she’s better when she’s around us, but I can tell that it isn’t genuine. No matter how many times I’ve tried to tell her that she doesn’t owe us her improvement and that she should go at her own pace, she won’t listen to me.” 

 

Chloe let out a dejected sigh before continuing. “I haven’t seen a single emotion from her regarding her situation. Not even a single tear. I didn’t know how scary it could be to see someone not cry mom.” she finished.

 

“Well have you asked her why she thinks she hasn’t been able to do that yet? Why she can’t cry about everything that happened?” Ella asked softly.

 

Chloe blinked up at her mom in surprise. “No, I guess I haven’t.” Chloe paused to think. “I didn’t want to make her feel like she should have done that by now or make her feel like she’s going about processing her own feelings wrong I suppose.”

 

“Well, maybe that’s where you should start.” Ella said with a gentle smile. “Starting that conversation might help her think through and work through a small piece of the puzzle, and that’s the best way to get through this. Keep working at small pieces of the puzzle until you can see the entire thing.”

 

Chloe smiled at her mother. “Thanks mom, I’ll let you know how it goes!” she said determined. She had a new goal. 

 

“Of course darling.” Ella said, wrapping her arms around her daughter before whispering “I love you,” and placing a soft kiss on the crown of her head. 

 

“I love you too mom” Chloe said, reveling in her mom’s warmth for a moment before heading upstairs to her room after Red.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Chloe fidgeted nervously. After her talk with her mom, she knew what she wanted to ask Red, but wasn’t sure how to do it in a way that was least likely to upset her. 

 

“Alright Chloe, what’s going on with you? You’ve been weirdly quiet over there and you keep fidgeting. What’s wrong?” Red demanded. 

 

Chloe chuckled. Of course Red had noticed. She always seemed to notice when something was slightly off with her, the same way she noticed whenever Red was acting strangely. Chloe contemplated for a few more seconds before deciding to just ask Red point blank. She had always handled things very bluntly anyway. “Red, I know that you don’t know exactly what to feel about everything that’s happened yet, but I haven’t seen you cry once in the past 4 months. Not a single tear. Why do you think that is?”

 

Red’s eyes widened at the question and she leaned back to stare at the ceiling. It was a few minutes before she responded. "I just don't cry anymore. I can’t cry anymore. I've cried so many tears over the years, especially after my mom..." Red couldn't even bring herself to talk about what her mother had done to her. Red let out a sigh, “I cried enough to fill an ocean while I was stuck in that card and I just don't think I have any tears left. I’m all out. I suppose that makes me a monster,” Red said, whispering the last part. 

 

“No Red, please don’t think that way, you’re not a monster,” Chloe pleaded. 

 

“My mom tortured me for trying to go against her and now she’s dead, and I'm so broken that I don't even feel anything," Red said staring into her lap with an unreadable expression on her face. “What else would you call that? What kind of person doesn’t even feel sad after finding out that their mom is dead?”

 

Chloe pulled Red toward her and cradled her head into her chest so Red could listen to her heart beat, a grounding and steady sound, before speaking. “Red, your relationship with your mother was complicated. She was a master manipulator and an abuser. It’s only natural that you don’t know how to feel about her death.”

 

“She wasn’t all bad.” Red whispered. “Not always.”

 

A pang went through Chloe’s chest at the raw emotion and vulnerability in Red’s voice. “That doesn’t change what she did to you Red. What she did was too horrible to put into words and it is completely normal and understandable that you can’t quite narrow down your feelings on it yet.” Chloe said reassuringly. 

 

Red didn’t say anything for a long while. Chloe started to think she had fallen asleep, when she heard Red mutter a quiet “yeah,” before snuggling further into Chloe’s chest. A few minutes later, Red’s breathing evened out enough that Chloe could tell she had fallen asleep.

 

“Goodnight Red” Chloe whisperered before trying to fall asleep herself.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Red woke up with a scream and blinked rapidly. Her vision was blurry. Red then immediately dissolved into tears. Chloe shot up right next to her. “Red what’s wrong?” she asked, the panic evident in her voice.

 

Red turned and looked at Chloe with wide eyes before launching herself at Chloe and wrapping herself around her so tightly that Chloe struggled to breathe for a second. Red buried her head in Chloe’s chest where she was greeted with the steady beating of Chloe’s heart. Chloe was alive. Chloe was safe. Red’s body shook with sobs and her cries rang loudly and unfamiliarly in Chloe’s ears. 

 

Red was crying. She was finally crying. Chloe was relieved, as weird as that sounded. Chloe’s relief quickly faded and panic returned as she realized that Red was still very much in distress. Chloe started running her fingers through Red’s hair and gently letting her nails scratch Red’s scalp. Chloe had done this the 2nd time she had cuddled with Red like this and Red had told her that she liked the feeling, so Chloe did it every time they cuddled like this now. 

 

“It’s okay Red, you’re okay,” Chloe said softly, placing a kiss on the top of Red’s head. 

 

“You’re still here… you’re still here…still here,” Red sobbed over and over again. 

 

Chloe blinked in surprise at Red’s words. “Yes sweet girl, I’m still here,” Chloe said drawing soothing circles on Red’s back before transitioning to tracing card suits on her back. This was another thing that Red said she found comforting. The symbols were super familiar to her and immediately recognizable. That paired with Chloe’s touch helped ground her. Red’s crying eventually slowed and she sat up and looked at Chloe. “Oh Red, what happened?” Chloe asked gently. 

 

“You died, my mom, she killed you,” Red said shakily. 

 

“What?” Chloe asked. 

 

“I-in my dream. You were there and then you were dead, and-and then I was surrounded by you but you weren’t there,” Red rambled as she started hyperventilating again. 

 

Chloe’s heart clenched painfully in her chest at the sight of Red like this. “Ok Red, I want you to tell me everything, but first I want you to breathe. Can you do that for me? Here, I’ll do it with you.”

“In,” Chloe inhaled slowly, “and out,” she said letting out an exhale. It took a few tries before Red was able to match Chloe’s breathing but she was eventually able to slow her breathing back down to a normal pace. 

 

“Good,” Chloe said, relieved. “Now what happened in your dream?” She asked.

 

Red took a deep breath as she organized her thoughts. “Chloe, when I was in that card, everything was maddeningly quiet and all I saw was darkness because my mom kept me in her pocket. All I could see was nothing, and I couldn't hear anything, and all I could feel was the burning sensation of the wounds on my back. They wouldn’t heal while I was in there and I was always bleeding. I couldn’t die in that card, the magic kept me alive, but I could get pretty damn close I think. I couldn’t even sleep so I was just awake for I don’t know how long like that.”

 

Chloe blinked in shock. She hadn’t realized just how bad Red’s torture had been. She knew that it was horrifically severe, but this was still worse than she could have ever imagined. How could the Queen of Hearts force Red to live on the brink of death for days on end? She looked up at Red and listened attentively as she continued.

 

“Chloe it was so dark and quiet for so long that I almost went insane, I probably would have if my mom hadn’t pulled me out of her pocket when she did.” Red paused for a second and took a deep breath before continuing. “Chloe the first thing she let me see was you and her fighting. That was my first connection with the world again. I watched her hurt you and I watched you kill her.”

 

Chloe was once again shocked. She hadn’t known that Red had been able to see that fight. She remembered the Queen of Hearts pulling Red’s card out of a pocket in her dress and letting it float in the air as they fought, but Chloe had assumed that this was meant to taunt her. She had no idea that it was actually meant to be yet another way to torture Red. 

 

“Oh Red, I’m so sorry,” Chloe whispered as tears began to fall from her eyes. How could anyone put Red through this?

 

“That’s what actually happened Chloe, but that’s not what happened in my dream.”

 

Chloe looked at Red, patiently waiting for her to continue. 

 

Red took a deep breath, her voice starting to shake again. “In my dream, just when you stabbed my mom, she threw a card at you and cut your head off.”

 

Chloe’s eyes widened.

 

“She killed you Chloe, you were dead and all I could do was watch from my card.” Tears started to leak out of Red’s eyes again. “I banged on the edge of the card. I screamed until my voice was hoarse and I couldn’t make any sound anymore, but it didn’t matter. You were dead and all I could do was watch.”

 

Chloe opened her mouth to say something, thinking Red was done, but she continued. 

 

“Then my mom walked over to me and she plucked me out of the air and stared at me and said, ‘Off with her head,’ before laughing at me. She walked me over to you and dropped me into the pool of blood that was seeping out of your neck and all I could see was your expressionless face before the card sank in the blood and all I could see was red. Then your blood started seeping into the card until I was covered in it, I was drowning in your blood Chloe. You were all around me, but you were gone.” With that, Red’s voice broke fully and she dissolved into a crying mess again.

 

Chloe wrapped her arms around Red and pulled her into her chest again, now crying just as hard as the girl in her arms. “I’m so sorry Red, I’m so so sorry, I’m sorry,” Chloe repeated over and over again. She cried into Red’s hair as Red sobbed into her chest. 

 

“It felt so real Chloe,” Red said, her voice broken.

 

“I know, I know, but it wasn’t. I’m here. We’re both here and we’re together. We’re safe,” Chloe said reassuringly, willing her tears to stop. 

 

They held each other and cried for what felt like hours before they were both so exhausted that sleep swept them away.

Notes:

Don’t worry Red it’ll be ok!

So sorry for the long hiatus, my life kind of imploded there, but I’m doing a little better now and had the motivation to write so here’s the next chapter! Hope you liked it!

Also I’m sorry that the writing probably wasn’t that good, still reeling from the unending trainwreck that has been my life lately.

The next chapter will be the last chapter of the main story with chapter 8 being an epilogue and chapter 9 being a little after-story. I’m not exactly sure when they’ll be out, as I am still super busy and my life is still kind of in a state of chaos.