Chapter Text
Just One hour later Red and Luis find the group at the forest clearing, Chloe runs up to Red hugging her.
,,I thought we'll never find eachother again!"
Briar rolls her eyes, she's got a real problem with those princesses. Something about them is off... like they're hiding something.
Briar leans back against a tree, when Max appears next to her.
,,Hey Never Girl, who spit in your tea now?" he asks her trying to cover his serious curiosity behind a joke. Briar looks to the side to look him in the eyes, that Hatter has a way of getting on her nerves even more than the perfect princesses.
,,Very funny. I just don't like obnoxious princesses that never had to struggle a day in their life." briar responds. Max nods slightly, he gets it. His life wasn't easy either and everytime he walks through the halls of Auradon and hears the Hk's talking he wants to scream. Their biggest problems are what outfit they'll wear to a ball or when they'll rule their kingdom.
But isn't Briar an Hk too? Her mother Wendy Darling isn't exactly a villain now, is she?
,,Aren't you basically one of them tho? Except for the fact that you don't wear a crown" Briar fully turns her body towards him, looking upset.
,,I'm not some powdered brat, and I'm most definitely not one of them." She states angrily.
,,Alright Never Girl, didn't mean to upset you. I get it..." Max looks at the floor at the last words, whatever happened back at Neverland, he gets her. Parents can be... a lot. Maybe Wendy isn't as Nice as she seemed? Or maybe it's about Briars dad. It doesn't matter why she feels that way, what matters is that he knows that feeling.
That pressure on the heart every single day, the shame of even daring to exist.
,,I don't think you do, hatter" briar whispers, he can watch her eyes unfocusing. For a moment see looks like she's not even with him anymore, like she's somewhere else.
Without even thinking max puts a hand on her shoulder. She slowly turns her head back in his direction, her pupils are huge, barely even moving as if she's seen a ghost.
,,Hey...You're okay never girl..." Max mumbles, he knows that look – that trauma in someone's eyes. He sees it everytime he looks in the mirror. He slowly put a hand on briars cheek, Seconds later it's like she snapped out of a bad dream she catches his hand twisting it.
,,No touching Wonderland boy, I'm not one of your fragile little princesses. I don't want your pity." She blurts out. Her eyebrows are pressed together, but instead of looking angry, she looks almost stressed.
,,okay got it, no touching" Max replies in a calm tone, usually he would start an argument but he's seen the disturbing look on her face... he's no monster.
She turns around and storms off into the forest, Max looks silently looks after her. That girl is different from anyone he's ever met. She's so unpredictable and closed off, its like she has two completely different personalities. Just one hour ago she was laughing with pink, teaching her how to fight. And then in just a second her past seems to get to her.
Briar is walking through the woods, the sun is almost fully set but she's used to darkness from all the years in neverland. She misses it. What a weird thought – she hates herself for even thinking that way. Neverland was hell on earth, but it also holds comfort. She never knew anything else, and now that she's out of neverland she has no clue how to act.
Everytime briar opens her mouth she feels like the room goes silent, no matter what she does it feels wrong. She feels like some weird monster that nobody wants to have around. Back in neverland she knew exactly what to do at all times.
Briar climbs up one of the trees, that's something she used to do at home a lot – well mostly to look out for threats but also because she feels like nothing can hurt her if she's on top of everything else. She can see any threat coming close from miles away, nobody can bother her up there. As she reaches the top, briar sits down on one of the big branches.
What if she just ran off, try to find a way out of here on her own. She never needed anyone but herself, so why wouldn't she be able to get herself out of wonderland? Even though Max said his father made sure there's no way in or out... if he's anything like the villain in neverland, not even a fly will make it out... Except for tink.
Tinkerbell isn't bound to any place or magic. Briar has always been jealous of Tink, because she could leave when things got worse. But she also loved her for always coming back. Without tinkerbell her and the boys would've starved to death more times than she can count.
Tink always came back for them, And briar would always come back for Tink.
,,BRIAR!" a high pitched voice Is screaming from bellow. It's pitch dark now, even though the fireflies light up the entire path down there. Briar looks down to see who's behind that voice.
And there's the pink hair. Pink is staring up at briar looking upset.
,,Briar! I thought you got lost, what are you doing up there? It's dangerous at night!" Pink complains.
Pink went after her? Because she thought that briar got lost... That's awfully thoughtful of her.
Briar takes a last deep breath before climbing down the tree.
,,Are you crazy going up there?! You could've fallen!" Pink says gesturing wildly with her hands. Briar Walks up to Pink after getting down again, Pink seems truly upset.
,,I climbed higher trees back home all the time, pinky" She answers with crossed arms. Pink frowns at that.
,,It's still dangerous... I was worried." She admits. Pink was worried about her, nobody ever worried about briar. Everyone always knew that she will make it on her own, and if she didn't make it nobody would actually really care. But pink, she's worried about her.
Briar clears her throat.
,,Come on pink, let's go back and drink some of your tea and eat that snacks you talked about earlier."
Pink hesitates for a second before following briar back to the group.