Chapter Text
~Red~
Dark clouds rolled into Wonderland, and Red smiled a little. It’s matched her murderous mood perfectly. She sat on a small lip or the castles high roof, relishing in the cold as it came in huge wind blasts.
It had only been a few days since her meeting with the Queen, and she was feeling less depressed and more…angry. Red knew that she should have expected this, seeing as her mother hadn’t actually been her mother since that day three weeks ago. She knew her Queens latest episode had been the longest by far, and seemingly the worst yet.
Almost seventeen years of life and her mother had never hit her. Never. She had always said that she loved Red, and words strike harder than any blow. But the sheer force, the uncensored malice that her Queen had struck with…
Red absently touched her cheek, the bruise still a deep purple, and yet the emotional battle made her hurt more than the physical wound she now had. The Queens word still rung out, Auradon…negotiations…
Red had known the Queens episodes could get bad, but this? Going willingly into enemy territory after all this time for school? It’s just didn’t make sense.
But Red knew she had no choice, she had to go, or face the further wrath of the Queens episode. But with her new anger covering her sadness and regret and confusion, she decided. She would go out with her mark on the land. She would let her mother, and the Queen, know that she was not broken. She was still fighting.
So she sat on the roof, watching the sun dip below mountains, relishing in the crack of white-bright lightning starting to splinter the dark sky. Pellets of rain dropped to her flushed skin, and she closed her eyes, her chest aching as she thought of her friend again.
She thought of his quiet comfort to her in the courts she had to attend, the gentle squeeze of a shoulder when her mother summoned her privately, the dark nights where he snuck out with her to watch the glowing bugs across the purple fields. When he would make small gadgets for her to take apart and then rebuild with him, giving her the forbidden textbooks he would find mysteriously. She wondered for a moment where he found them, how he never was caught, and finally opened her eyes.
Ready.
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The thin coat she had on was not enough to keep the storm out. Red shivered fiercely, her teeth chattering so much she was worried she would be heard by the Caurds marching past. She hid in the shadows behind a row of thorny roses, keeping her breathing steady as she watched and waited. She had to plan ahead for this one, much to her surprise, but this was going to be her biggest repulse yet. Her bing bang before she was forced into a new world.
The Caurd group had water dripping from their thick walls armor, but they didn’t seem affected in the slightest. Sometimes Red wondered what they were, on the inside, but she’d always gotten too far into the thought of some scary monster in the armor and stopped her thoughts.
The group finally moved far enough away, and she crouched and shuffled to the right, keeping herself hidden in the bushes as she went. Her hand slowly moved to her back pockets, unstrapping a few of the knives and small metal bits she had from Maddox’s old toys. Her chest ached as she looked at them, now being slowly puddled by rain. Finally she ducked out from the bushes, springing just far enough up to throw from both her hands, striking the two Caurds in the back of the group, and covering back down as they grunted and fell.
Commotion started as the other Caurds turned to see what had happened, but Red had already started moving, crouching and moving fast as she could to the small buildings housing the other Caurds soldiers. She gently opened the side window she had unlocked a few nights ago, watching through the raindrops as Caurds huddled around a fireplace and a small side bar.
Red grabbed two small paintballs from her pouch, then the small wood slingshot she had made as a kid. She lined her shot up, aiming for the center guard at the bar, where everyone could see him fall but not know where the shot had come from.
But just as she lined the shot up another man walked in front of the window. She cursed, and tried to lower the shot, but her wet fingers slipped and the shot went inside, barely skimming the man who walked by and the hitting another in the back of the head.
Both turned to look at the other, then at the window. Red didn’t stay to find out if they saw her, cursing and ducking out of their sight until she reached the next buildings shadows.
Dammit, she thought frustratedly. I didn’t distract them enough.But I can’t go back.
Breathing deeply for a moment, she rethought her plan, finding a way around the small inconvenience. Satisfied after a moment she crouched again and made her way to the street, keeping back as she watched for an all clear. Red listened as a group of soldiers moved up the street next to her and grabbed another small piece of metal. It looked like the small charms that ancient Believers used to wear, but since the Queens reign they had been banished.
Red looked at the street lamp across from her, and she tossed the charm onto the street, then ducked into the darkness. She waited as the Caurds came up, and finally one noticed the charm.
The rest of the group kept moving, clearly uninterested, until he made an almost choked noise and ran up to the head of the group. He stuck the charm out to the commander, and Red could make out small snippets of their conversation.
Rebels…Queen said…maybe should…how did…trouble…
Red smirked, moving further back into the shadows as the group moved at a more frantic pace back toward the castle.
One last stop…
This is either going to be a cathartic experience or one of the worst pain enhancers ever.
Red slowly tiptoed out to the now empty street, the plaza up ahead. Her steps were slow, her mind acutely aware of how heavy her steps were, how cold the wind and rain were, how numb her hands were already, how her brain brought back that loop.
Screams and heartache and betrayal.
Red pulled the small canister from her pouch, stepping up to the podium her Queen had sat in that day. She glanced at the small chair, her chair, then her mother’s, her Queens. She wanted to scream, she wanted to strike. She could do one tonight, and make sure her mother did the other when she saw this.
The canister had just enough Begglebug syrup to get the job done, even in the rain. Red gripped the can, breathing harshly as the loop played over…over…over…
A line of the syrup across the stage, a small spark, and the Oscar winning performance went up in flames.
——————————————-
Red woke to the smell of sickening sour smoke, the bright sun reflecting off the puddles of water from the night.
The Queen had summoned everyone to the plaza, her face a mask of calm, but she hadn’t said anything since the crowd had gathered. Red counted in her head, and after almost 500 seconds her mother finally spoke.
”I was informed last night that a group was terrorizing all of my loyal Caurds, leaving small marks of rebellion and antagonizing their rest. This, my people, is inexcusable.” The Queens voice was quiet, low in a way that suggested even a slight murmur from the crowd would set her off. Everyone remained silent.
Red couldn’t help but feel satisfaction. This was what she wanted, for her mother to see that her kingdom was slowly coming undone before her, and nothing she did would stop it. Her mother had watched it start small, but now that more frequent visits had come from the rebels, it was only a matter of time before it all went down.
The Queens mouth twitched. She stepped into the crowd, her steps slow, heels clicking as she went. Her voice raised slightly, but it was delicate, lulling. “Some of my Caurds found this act disrespectful. I couldn’t help but agree. For all they have done for this land, and you as a people, and yet some have the audacity to attack them still.”
The Queen stopped, now at the back of the crowd, and everyone watched her as she stood with the Caurds, watching as they lined up next to her. Red frowned, taking a hesitant step forward.
The Queens voice continued, gently gesturing to her guards beside her. “They are so loyal, and yet…So, I have decided that a new law must be passed.” She cast a sharp gaze across everyone, and Red saw as they all shuffled nervously. “Prior to this, the law had been that my guards could bring suspected criminals to me for judging. But I have decided that I have given to much freedom with that rule.”
Red watched her mother smile slowly, Red shivered and stepped forward again. “But from now on…” the Queen drawled, her voice loud, “criminals, even if only suspected, will be at the mercy of my loyal Caurds.” Red watched as they all smirked, hands going to their sharp blades.
The Queens voice continued flicked a hand, and the crowd parted again, her steps quick as she strode back to the burnt podium. Red could see her mothers control slipping again, and she stepped back, not ready to be caught by her anger again.
Once at the podium, the Queen turned and raised her crazed eyes to the crowd, her voice an almost yell. “This is disrespect to me and my kingdom! And it will not go unpaid for!”
The Queen turned her crazed eyes to the side, and screamed.
It was so loud everyone covered their ears immediately, even Red stumbled as the pitch got higher and higher, until a dark cloud appeared above them. Large bolts of lightning shot down, and Caurds and people all scattered as it aimed for them. Screams erupted, but it was as if the world was muted.
Red could only watch her mother slowly bend to a kneel on her burned podium, the world fuzzing as she saw tears drip down her cheeks, her mouth gaping with something so high it was white noise now, blocking out everything else.
Red saw her mother differently now, how fragile she looked watching her whole world beginning to burn around her. She felt numb, rooted into her spot.
Her mothers fragile face turned to her, and she only saw the anguish and tears before a blinding light hit her, and everything went dark.