Chapter Text
Red was a Leo, which didn’t come as much of a surprise to Chloe. She had shown much of the leadership people — namely Dizzy, who cared about and understood astrology far more than Chloe did — associated with the zodiac in Wonderland, no matter how reluctant she had been to take up with such a ragtag team, and she had grown pretty popular within said team. Probably a little more popular than she had ever expected to be among their new friends, and a little more popular with one boy in particular than Chloe had expected, but it was apparently very Leo of her nonetheless.
What had surprised Chloe was how nonchalant Red was about her birthday, dangerously nonchalant. The day had started off ordinarily enough, for Chloe it had started at 7:00AM since it was summer break and for Red it had started at midday, but the pair of them had since made their way down to the Enchanted Lake with a couple of towels and a picnic basket. Red had made a very quick game of splashing Chloe when her back was turned and pretending she hadn’t moved a muscle whenever Chloe turned around. But the sun had risen even higher in the sky since they had first made it down a couple of hours ago, and in the height of summer it was too hot for even messing around in the water, and they had long since retreated to the temple ruins — Red with her legs still dangling in the water as she cradled her newfound sketchbook and Chloe spread out across the picnic blanket three pages into a book she had been barely reading for the past hour. It wasn’t her fault, she really had wanted to learn more about the history of Arendelle, but it had just been her and Red down by the Enchanted Lake and Red had been enjoying her first summer in Auradon so much and she hadn’t stopped smiling and Chloe lived for every moment she saw Red smile — like, actually genuinely smile with her teeth out and everything — and it was impossible to look at literally anything else.
Red’s sketchbook was a new addition after Principal Uma had made her swap out her late-night graffiti runs for Art Club at the start of the term or face detention for the rest of the year. And although Red was yet to admit this, and had pretty sharply denied it before, she had definitely come to enjoy Art Club more than she realized and especially loved her sketchbook. At least, Chloe figured Red was getting some good use out of her sketchbook because she never let Chloe or anyone else look inside. All she and anyone else knew about Red’s artwork was that she had a major project she had been working on all summer and that was why she needed to stay at Auradon Prep over the break. No other reason.
“Red! There you are, I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
Pink, in fewer ruffles and bows than Chloe had ever seen her, clambered down to them in record time. She had the same frantic energy as when she first found out Bridget had been captured and Chloe readied herself for the worst, as had Red. She had snapped her sketchbook shut and the smile Chloe had spent most of the afternoon admiring had disappeared instantaneously. She had almost forgotten Red could do that, that her happiness was fleeting. “Pink, hi. Is everything okay?”
“It’s July 30th today,” Pink cooed as she scurried up next to them. “You know what that means.”
“Uh, remind me?” Chloe asked lightly, and hoped that she said it jovially enough Pink would take it as a teasing remark. At least it sounded like the Queen was safe this time.
“One week until Red’s birthday, silly! I can’t believe you’ve been so quiet about it this year. Are you planning your own surprise party or something?”
“Right, of course. My birthday party,” Red said slowly. Her feet had stopped kicking in the water.
“Oh, I think I can see Meri over there! I’m gonna say hi quickly.” This was one of those times where Pink’s overabundant energy and friendliness was far more of a boon to Red than it was a grievance because she was in such a joyful mood she hadn’t yet noticed Red was the exact opposite.
“I’m going to assume that your birthday wasn’t much of a celebration in the original Wonderland,” Chloe murmured as she watched Pink disappear.
“Of course not,” Red snapped. “Sorry, I’m sorry. My birthday might have been my mom’s least favorite day of the year in the old timeline. The day she expected to birth a Mini-Me and ended up with a lifetime of disappointment instead.”
“Maybe you could just tell your mom that you’re really busy with school and you don’t have time for your birthday this year?”
“I don’t think me blowing off a party in favor of doing more homework is believable in either timeline, Princess,” Red replied, but a smile had broken out onto her face nonetheless, just in time for Pink to hurry back toward them.
“It was Meri! Anyways, back to your birthday. Mom and I are so excited for it, she says she’s barely seen you since you started at Auradon Prep. She’s about to start decorating the castle, she just wants to know-”
“Uh, actually, Pink, Red just asked me if she could have a small garden party in Cinderellasburg this year,” Chloe said quickly. “So that all of our Auradon friends can come, and Aunt Bridget can still get there through the magic mirror.”
Everything had tumbled out of Chloe’s mouth so fast that she had barely processed what she had said before it was out in the open. Red might not have wanted a party at all and Chloe had just unwittingly signed her up for one. What if she had screwed up in saying that because it was so unlike Red to want a party anywhere but Wonderland and she had just accidentally exposed everything and-
“That sounds like so much fun! We can hang fairy lights outside and hang streamers in the trees and the evening air is always so warm in the summer, like a hug from Mother Earth. Great idea, sis! I’ll grab my scrapbook and we can start planning. Be right back!”
“Thank you,” Red said softly, well after Pink was out of earshot. Chloe had been worried to look at her for a moment, but she turned her head back around to Red as she spoke, two little words Chloe had never felt so relieved to hear. “Thank you so, so much. But you really don’t have to do that, it sounds like my birthday is usually a lot more trouble than it’s worth.”
Every birthday party Cinderella and Prince Charming had ever thrown for their children included cakes taller than their daughter — or they had been that tall until Chloe was about nine — and lights and streamers and music all throughout the castle, and more presents than she could count. The thought of Red growing up without all of the things Chloe had taken as a given since birth, the cheering as she blew out the candles and dancing with her friends until sundown, shouldn’t have been surprising by this point but it still twisted Chloe’s heartstrings all the same.
“I want you to have an amazing birthday party to finish off an amazing summer. But I also think you need to visit Wonderland sooner rather than later, Red. Like, a proper stay with your sister. And your mom. But it can wait until after your birthday, which isn’t any trouble at all.”
“I don’t know what I’d do with you, Princess.”
According to the magazines Dizzy had loved to read in her tween years, fire signs were shameless when it came to affection, never afraid to say what they were thinking and never ones to hold back when it came to touch. That wasn’t the Red she knew, the Red she knew said things like I don’t know what I’d do without you quietly and with her face turned away from Chloe, painfully nervous to be so open, like Chloe would tear that little gap apart otherwise. What would a Red who had only ever known a mother’s unyielding warmth and love be like? Red was assertive, sure, but most of that assertiveness didn’t come from the bold confidence the so-called astrology experts described. She was brash and reckless in a cold, learned way that oozed through her personality after spending most of her life trying not to flinch, not to cry, not to feel — not to let anyone know her or see her vulnerable and especially to never let anyone reach her. She had tried so hard, her walls were up so high. But Chloe had managed to scale them, or Red might have lowered them just for her, either way one sentence had left Chloe gasping for words and Red had the nerve to scroll through her phone like she hadn’t thrown Chloe’s mind into a tailspin.
“Oh, change of plans,” Red said dully. “Pink wants me to visit her Evie’s 4 Hearts. She already has color swatches she wants me to look over. She says she’ll text you photos once I’ve decided on a palette. I’ll see you later, yeah?”
“I know it’s hard but the more time you spend with your sister, and eventually your mom, the more we’ll know about the current timeline and the easier it will be to adjust. Hopefully. And hey, maybe you could goad her into baking a few cake samples for you whilst you’re party-planning.”
For the second time today, a grin split out onto Red’s face. A grin that Chloe had put there. Forget Swords and Shields, making Red smile had become Chloe’s new favorite thing in the world to do. “Chloe Charming, that is so devious of you. I’m proud of how far you’ve come. Knowing Pink, this will go on forever so I’ll just see you back at the dorm.”
Slightly calloused fingers wrapped around Chloe’s shoulder and gave it a quick squeeze before Red hurried off but the warmth of her fingers lingered on her skin and Chloe had never been so happy to have a smudge of graphite pencil cling to one of her white blouses. So, that was a Red, still a Leo, who had been raised by the loving and warm mother she deserved all along. Someone who let Chloe share in her emotions, who had no qualms about physical touch and was confident enough to shower her loved ones in affection. Especially Chloe, the girl she had once threatened to feed to the Jabberwock upon first meeting her. Maybe one decent birthday party would bring out a little more of that Leo, if only Red felt all of the love and support she deserved to for once in her life. Oh, Godmother, what was Chloe going to do for Red’s birthday?
***
Well, the first thing Chloe had to do for Red’s birthday was actually get her parents to agree to host Red’s birthday party, and given how strict the new Cinderella appeared, that seemed like a mammoth challenge. She had relaxed a little more, or at least Chloe had been led to believe her mother had relaxed a little more since she had barely spent any time with her before she and Red had run off into Wonderland and then by the time they returned her mother had promised to not put so much pressure on her. Luckily for Red, since her birthday fell just before the end of summer break, Cinderella had relented relatively quickly, or Prince Charming had.
“That’s a lovely thing for you to do for Red, Chloe,” her dad said. “And it’ll be great to see all of your friends again, you haven’t had anyone over for a while.”
“Maybe just give us a little more notice next time though,” Cinderella added. “But it’s a very nice thought, I’m sure Red will be very grateful. The March Hare might be a little disappointed though, he loves performing at the palace.”
No, Chloe hadn’t had any friends over for a little while, whether her father had meant her old Auradon friends she still presumably knew in the present timeline or the assortment of misfits she had picked up from Wonderland, the Isle of the Lost, and everywhere in-between she was yet to figure out. She liked her new friend group, she really, really liked her new friend group but if anyone among them was most likely to flake out on a hang, it was Chloe, which bothered her. Chloe Charming wasn’t flaky, most who knew her would argue she was the farthest thing from flaky and Chloe took pride in that.
Maybe she just needed to take some of her own advice and spend time with her new friends the way Red needed to spend time in Wonderland with Pink and Bridget. Immersion therapy or something like that, especially where Max was concerned. And the Madrigal boy too, who Chloe knew deep down in the rational part of her brain was a genuinely nice guy who hadn’t done anything to wrong her. Except kiss Red, dance with Red, date Red… which, as the rational part of Chloe’s brain that she had increasingly grown to despise reminded her, was still not anything that wronged Chloe since Red wasn’t Chloe’s and never would be. Godmother, she needed to just immerse herself in party planning.
***
Chloe hadn’t been as involved in the party setup as she would have liked. Perfect princesses may get summer breaks but never breaks from their royal duties and what their mothers kingdoms expected from them. So, she was stuck in an elocution lesson she hadn’t paid nearly as much attention to as she normally did, something that had long started to wear on both her and her tutor as the last of the decorations went up around the garden. Fairy lights were strung up around the fountain and the bushes as the sky slowly drifted away from a slightly cloudy cerulean and into the aureate hues of sunset, a time Chloe sometimes joked was actually the start of Red’s day as much as it was the end of everyone else’s. Every time Chloe peered out of the window under the guise of checking her notes, another tray of desserts had sprung up from the immaculately-trimmed grass and five times the number of tables Chloe thought necessary for what she had envisioned as an intimate gathering for someone who had never been allowed to celebrate her birthday.
“And, uh, I think that brings us to the end of our lesson today,” Mr. Ortega said, far wearier than usual for someone who had mastered public speaking and presentation. “Off you go, Your Highness.”
“Thank you, Mr. Ortega. Have a lovely week!” On any other day if a teacher, or any adult really, had spoken to Chloe with half of the disappointment Mr. Ortega just did, her stomach would have curdled and the memory would have haunted her for weeks. But this was Red’s first-ever birthday party and she had trusted Chloe of all people with such a big endeavor.
There was too much to do until the party officially started for Chloe to worry about what Mr. Ortega thought of her that week. And yet there was somehow far too little for Chloe to do because the castle staff did almost everything to her chagrin. She had wanted to execute every little last detail for Red, just to make sure it was everything Red had ever wanted. Instead, she had mostly sat obediently quiet in her chambers as she waited to greet the guests like a refined, oh-so-fun princess would, with a practiced smile and a charming curtsy. Godmother, she hoped the rest of the party wouldn’t be like this, she wanted Red to have an actual party, to get to breathe for once in Auradon. Of all the guests Chloe had to wait for, she hadn’t expected Hazel to be so punctual — pirates weren’t exactly known for their timekeeping skills in the most dire of situations — and yet she and the Smees were the first guests to arrive. It was a pleasant surprise and actually very sweet to see Hazel so happy and considerate enough to-
“Time to feed the Smees,” Hazel said simply as they walked up the garden path, well, Hazel walked and the Smees tripped over themselves in their haste to get to the party. “Heads up, I’d maybe station a couple of waiters around the chocolate fountain if you want literally anyone else coming here to try it.”
“Duly noted. How many waiters do you think it will take to keep them at bay?”
“Oh, at least two per Smee. This is a really, really nice party for you to throw. For your friend,” Hazel added quickly, just fast enough that Chloe didn’t look away in time and thus saw the smirk playing out on Hazel’s face. “My birthday’s November 19th if you want to keep that in the back of your mind.”
Hazel never said anything outright to Chloe about her apparently obvious feelings for Red, but she had met Chloe’s eyes enough times after Chloe had pulled away from the sight of Red and Luis — an embarrassing number of times — to know. But Red’s birthday party wasn’t the time to suddenly divulge everything, it was probably the worst possible time to get into Chloe’s thorny love life because she still had so much to do. The new priority item on the list was to find literally any distraction that would quell both Hazel’s teasing and the blush in Chloe’s face.
“Hey, Max! Do you need help with that?”
It looked to be some kind of a mirror ball contraption from a distance, silvery with a bright glimmer, as Max lugged it toward them, but Chloe wasn’t sure. It was hard not to be a little wary of Max’s inventions since… everything. Especially when one of them tangentially involved Red. See how it sparkles, it’s just like you! But that didn’t matter, that was all in the past, and both Chloe and Max were together as friends to celebrate Red’s birthday because they loved Red. Chloe really, really loved Red, probably a little too much.
“All good, Princess, it’s not that heavy. Just lead me to the dance floor.”
It had turned out to be a floating mirror ball, one that twirled in the air free as a bird, but also shrank and grew and projected a faint red glow onto the dance floor. Half of Chloe had a mind to ask Max if there was any risk of it falling onto someone’s head, and if so, what would happen next, but the other half begged her to just have fun. She did concede that it was good advice, and despite the never ending list of things she needed to do to make sure that Red’s birthday party was perfect, the sight of Dizzy running toward her after not having seen her in a couple of months definitely gave weight to Team Have Fun. But that didn’t mean Chloe could completely forget her duties an she didn’t think there was anything that could fully distract her from… oh, Godmother, it couldn’t be. That girl had never been on time, let alone early, for anything in her life!
“Her Royal Highness, Princess Red of Wonderland,” the crier announced, his voice loud and imposing enough that it distracted from the baffled look on his face as the guest of honor quietly slipped out of a simple, one-horse carriage and strolled up the steps without any fanfare. Literally.
Hazel and her snickering be damned, Chloe ran over to her best friend immediately, her arms around Red’s waist the second she came into view. For a moment that was both an eternity and too short for words, all of Chloe’s world was the soft waves of Red’s hair and the heady scent of her bergamot perfume. Red was here. Red was early for a party Chloe had thrown for her, even though it went against every fiber of her being. Which meant that Chloe had to switch back into focus and make sure everything was perfect, if she could just get out of Red’s embrace.
“Hi, Red. Wow, you’re early. I mean, it’s your party, you can show up whenever you want but I’m just adding the finishing touches here. I thought maybe you would just want something lowkey, I hope it’s not too overboard. Or too little, it’s not that we don’t care or didn’t put any effort in, I just-”
“Princess,” Red started, but stopped just as suddenly and Chloe’s entire being froze until the widest smile Chloe had ever seen spread across Red’s face like wildfire, so big and holding back so much laughter Red could barely speak. Godmother, Red's laughter alone made the entire week of agonizing over this party worth it. “This is perfect.”
“Are you sure? I know that you didn’t really have many parties before and I didn’t want to overwhelm you but I also want you to know that your birthday’s not any trouble at all. It’s a pretty important day actually.”
“No, really, Chloe. Thank you so, so much, this is amazing.” Chloe got the feeling that maybe it wasn’t just the rows of tarts and scones that had compelled Red to such gratitude, but everything that had led up to the last-minute celebration in Cinderellasburg. “Do I smell pumpkin pizza?”
“Yeah, just about all of your Auradon favorites,” Chloe replied. It was definitively all of Red’s Auradon favorites, Chloe had made a very comprehensive list, but Red didn’t need to know that and neither did anyone else.
“Food, dancing, more food, dancing, cake. You and me all night long,” Red said as she led Chloe toward the buffet table, and it was both a good and bad thing that Red had such a tight grip on her sleeve because Chloe almost forgot how to walk as Red’s words spun around in her head. You and me.
Luckily, she remembered just before she crashed into the table and sent the pizza slices Red had already started piling onto her plate flying, and her brain snapped back into gear as another hand pressed against her shoulder. “Red, what a surprise! We didn’t think we’d see you until a little later. Chloe always tells us that midday is 7:00AM to you. Bridget was the same way at Merlin Academy, she ran on Wonderland time for most of our studies too.” Cinderella’s laugh had always been one of Chloe’s favorite sounds in the entire world, her mother had such a pretty laugh. It was nice to know that even the new, much more regal version of her mother remembered how to laugh every once in a while.
“Thank you so much for letting have a birthday party here, Your Majesty.” Chloe would have been a little more worried about how suddenly awkward Red was around a woman she had supposedly known her whole life if seeing Red so flustered around her mother wasn’t slightly adorable to her.
“Red, please. You know it’s Cinderella to you. And we’re more than happy to- oh, Bridget and Pink must have just arrived.”
Maybe it had just been a coincidence, or Wonderland magic, or a terrible omen but the breeze had become a low wind, one with a bite to it, as the town crier announced the Queen of Hearts and Princess Pink. The air felt colder, the laughter that had carried all around Cinderellasburg had dimmed. She looked around to see whether Red had felt it too, to just glean some subtle nod or a couple of words mouthed to gauge Red’s emotions, but her best friend had disappeared by the time Chloe came back to the present.
The first time Chloe had seen the Queen of Hearts in the new timeline was in a pink dress like puff pastry as she interrupted Uma’s speech. Godmother, the relief at knowing this Queen of Hearts wasn’t going to execute her mother — which meant her mother was safe and alive — and the warmth in her chest at knowing she and Red had saved sweet, optimistic Bridget from a devastating fate still wracked Chloe’s body from time to time. They had changed the course of history, and in the early days, Chloe had taken flight on that high like a pegasus. But the initial elation she had felt after she and Red stepped back into the Welcome Ceremony to a flurry of bubbles and smiles had long since faded, and in the soft fingers wrapped around a bouquet she saw the claw that had ordered her mother to kneel, in the curve of Bridget’s lips she saw the smirk that had spelled out a death sentence for her mother. She wondered briefly whether it made her a bit of a hypocrite to constantly push Red to spend time with the Queen when she still found herself so uneasy in her presence but Chloe had little time to dwell on it because Red had found her family — or they had found her — and Red was captured in conversation either way. A conversation that at least seemed to be going well, or Chloe had briefly thought so as she not-so-subtly inched toward them, for Pink handed Red the bouquet of bizarre roses whilst Bridget clapped. The same, peculiar flowers Pink had first handed Red in Wonderland — Tickling… somethings. Something to do with tickling, or maybe sneezing. Her favorites, according to Pink. Whatever they were, Red didn’t seem nearly as excited to have received them as Pink and Bridget were to have given them to her.
“I’m gonna go get some punch,” Chloe heard Red say coolly, but neither her mother or sister seemed fazed by her sudden affectation, and that was the only part of their conversation Chloe had made out before Red backed away from them, the bouquet limp at her side.
“Hurry back soon,” Pink called out as Red sped off. “Mom’s dying to meet the future Prince of Hearts.”
Chloe had really chosen the wrong time to try and greet the Hearts family. She knew Pink was teasing, she knew that the thought of marriage probably made someone with as serious intimacy issues as Red want to throw up. But the small, masochistic part of Chloe’s mind chose that exact moment to remind her there was a chance that Red didn’t fear the thought of being married to Luis. Which was good, of course, she didn’t want Red to spend her life alone and perpetually terrified of commitment, a fear borne of a lifetime of neglect. Whatever, Chloe liked to believe they were all still too young to be thinking of marriage even if half of Auradon had other ideas. And more to the point, she needed to check on Red fast before she lost sight of the girl. When Red didn’t want to let her guard down in front of other people, she really didn’t want to be around other people, for she had already made a beeline for the edge of the water well away from the castle grounds by the time Chloe caught up to her.
“Hey,” Chloe called out, perhaps a little too loudly because Red seemed startled as she jumped back around. But her eyes locked onto Chloe’s face quickly, and she didn’t curse or yell or push Chloe away, although she did turn back to face the water. “Is everything okay?”
“Oh, Chloe. It’s you. Yeah, everything’s fine, I just needed a break. Not from the party,” Red stammered, and Chloe’s face softened slightly at the thought of Red trying not to hurt her feelings even when her own were clearly so bruised. How was this the same girl who had called her annoying the first time they met and threatened to have her eaten alive? “It’s just still all too much for me sometimes, especially with Pink and Bridget in the picture.”
“Don’t be sorry. This timeline is still new and we’re still learning different things about it every day and we didn’t get a very easy start to our new lives. It’s okay if you need a little break from that sometimes.”
“No, what I need is to toughen up and stop complaining so much. I mean, it worked! I got everything I asked for; my mom is sweet and kind, your mom is alive, I got to leave Wonderland, and Auradon is safe. I’ve spent my whole life waiting for my mom to tell me that she loves me and that I make her happy. But I’m not a perfect princess and I don’t like sparkly tiaras and tickling roses aren’t my favorite flower. And once it dawns on Pink and… her that I’m not who they think I am or who they want me to be then she’s just going to reject me like she used to. And then I will have just upended my life, and Max’s life, for nothing.”
Stray cat approach again, it usually worked whenever Red had spiraled into a rabbit hole of memories and misery, a rabbit hole Chloe usually struggled to dig Red out of. The most important thing about approaching a stray cat was approaching the cat slowly, and the conversational equivalent of that was seguing into a different topic without getting too distracted. “Do you have a favorite flower? Like, your actual favorite flower from before?”
Red turned back around at that, her posture loosened slightly as the conversation drifted away from the Queen of Hearts. “In the original Wonderland I was only allowed one favorite flower and they were red roses. They had to be everyone’s favorite flower or else. But when I was nine, Maddox was teaching me some basic botany and one of the books had a section on nightshade. Most of the chapter was just bullshit about how poisonous they are or something but all I saw were the pretty flowers. I liked the purple.”
Nightshade. All Chloe knew about it was that it was just as toxic as the petals were a silky amaranthine, but among the bunch there had to be some non-poisonous variations. Safe or not, nobody else in Auradon would have had nightshade as their favorite flower, Chloe was partial to amaryllis, but the rest of Auradon was all bluebells and daisies — at least, it tried to be. “You just saw something in them that everyone else overlooked?”
Red took a moment to answer as she lifted her gaze to meet Chloe’s, and Chloe had never felt so worried she was going to die that night — she couldn’t have Red catch her by surprise with those cat-like eyes of hers, how they bored into Chloe so intently. At least she’d die happy. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess I did. Feels pretty special when that happens.”
There was a split-second, wild and ephemeral but still so real, where Chloe wondered whether someone else had stolen the pocket watch because she could have sworn time froze as Red stared her down — and that theory was only second to how hungry Red had looked in that moment, like there was something else that had lurked below the surface she had tried to keep from Chloe. Most of the guests had arrived, the band had struck up full swing, and sunset had fully taken shape over Cinderellasburg. Everything was louder, everything was bigger, nothing lasted forever. Even the best spells only lasted until the stroke of midnight, and if Chloe didn’t move from that spot, away from Red and her pretty eyes and the beating heart she pretended didn’t feel things, Chloe didn’t think she ever would.
“Uh, I’m going to head back now, a perfect princess can’t neglect her hostess duties. You take as much time as you need out here, I’ll cover for you if anyone asks.”
“Are you sure? Don’t feel pressured just because of the party, it’s really okay. I want you to feel safe here.”
“You never make me feel pressured, Chloe,” Red said quietly, and her breath hitched in her throat as though the comment had caught her by surprise and her body stilled. But whatever had just happened, Red pressed her lips together firmly and moved twice as fast as Chloe back into the throng. The music grew louder, the air was warmer and the sugary smell of pastries threaded through it. Everything else was sure to go swimmingly… until he showed up.
Whether because Pink had dragged him over to them or if he had just stumbled into conversation, Pink and Bridget were enthralled by Luis. Their laughter rolled like a carriage over toward Red and Chloe and made a bumpy, sudden stop in the shell of Chloe’s ears. Maybe, just as a little reward for being such a good person and such a gracious hostess, Chloe would get to steal one more moment with Red and only Red. The three of them seemed to be enjoying each other’s company so much, it would have been rude to interrupt. Red, interestingly enough, hadn’t moved any closer to her boyfriend either, but that was probably more of a Pink and Bridget thing than a- Godmother, just on cue, Pink saw Red and waved her over immediately and Red raised a lone hand back with half the enthusiasm.
“I’ll leave you to it. I’m going to see if Mom needs help in the kitchen.”
Chloe couldn’t actually recall the last time she had seen Cinderella in the kitchen in this timeline, if the white-glove butlers and the housemaids suddenly abound in the castle were any indication, her mother didn’t spend nearly as much time getting her hands dirty in the new timeline as she had in the last. As she slowly peeked around the doorway, Chloe looked around for any little knickknack or piece of the old timeline left behind — the careworn oven mittens her mother used to don whenever they baked cookies or the soot marks on the splashback that had been there ever since Chad burned Prince Charming’s breakfast in bed on Father’s Day, his first and last foray into scrambled eggs — but there was nothing. She couldn’t even find the little crevice her mother had once used to sneak cheese cubes and bread to Jaq and Gus without Prudence noticing.
“Your Highness, is everything alright?” one of the servant girls asked. Chloe felt horrible that she didn’t know the girl’s name — she had prided herself on knowing the names of all the staff in the original timeline, her mother had been the one to instill that in her since she could talk — but the number of attendants seemed to have tripled in the new timeline and Chloe hadn’t spent enough time in Cinderellasburg to properly introduce herself to anyone.
“Uh, yeah. Everything’s fine. I was just wondering if my mom was down here.”
“Her Majesty is outside entertaining the guests, of course. Does she need something?” a man in a blue suit responded curtly, and something about the way he said of course had soured Chloe’s mood even more.
“No, no. All good. Merci beaucoup.”
So, in the new timeline Chloe apparently didn’t spend much time in the kitchen either. The kitchen had fallen eerily still and silent from the moment she had entered it, and more than a few mouths had gaped at the sight of the princess wandering into the kitchen as though she were some mere scullery maid. Even after Chloe treaded out of the kitchen alone, all she could hear in the empty hallway was the slow, plodding of her boots against the marble. More than anything, Chloe had hoped for at least the light chatter she was used to in the kitchens, if not the odd song from time to time, but she was left alone with her increasingly muddled, loud thoughts.
The next couple of hours went by rather uneventfully, at least by Wonderland standards. Once or twice, Pink had lamented the lack of Hearts family traditions spread throughout the night — and the fact that the March Hare had apparently addressed a very spiteful letter to the Queen after finding out that his services were not required this year — but spent most of the night doubled over in giggles after one Smee accidentally tipped the chocolate fountain onto the other. Not to mention Red seemed to be in much higher spirits at least, and she had stomached more small talk with Bridget without running off on her family again, even if she had flinched a couple of times when Bridget reached out to brush a couple of stray strands of hair out of Red’s eyes or press a hand against her shoulder.
Chloe didn’t want to talk about it or think about it but she spent definitely an above-average amount of time staring at Red throughout the party, particularly whenever Red orbited the Queen. It was just good hostessing, Chloe told herself, making sure that everybody was happy, especially the guest of honor. That’s exactly what she would have told Hazel too if the pirate had dared to tease her some more. And it wasn’t like she spent the whole night staring at the side of Red’s face, the opposite happened whenever Red found herself in Luis’ arms again on the dance floor or talking to a couple of his friends. Fortunately for Chloe, Luis hung around Red for most of the night. So did the bracelet he pulled out in the middle of the party to slip around her wrist, from the distance Chloe ran to as soon as he brought it out, the large, silver bracelet looked more like a manacle but Red held it up to the moonlight anyway. She liked being attached to him.
Whatever, watching Hazel cuss out the Smees as they slipped around in melted chocolate like children going down a water slide was more interesting than anything Luis was doing. For the most part, Chloe found it easier than she usually did to keep her mind off of Red and Luis in the company of her friends, probably because of the number of people around to drive a distance between Chloe and the happy couple — and maybe the number of people around to drive a distance between Red and Luis. Courtesy of a very eager Dizzy, Felix had started reading the palms of several curious party goers and quickly drawn a sizable audience. It was nice to see her friends outside of a school environment, to see little parts of them she couldn’t see elsewhere, and it felt even nicer for Chloe to be able to share her (new) family and home with the people she cared about too. Almost as though she had other people to navigate the bewildering, unfamiliar timeline with when Red wasn’t around. And whenever Chloe did accidentally zone out on the group again, her gaze usually wandered back to the Queen of Hearts as she mulled about the party with a teacup in hand, introducing herself to all of Red’s Art Club friends and dancing with Pink. Wait, Pink had left her mother’s side. Where had Pink gone because Chloe had just-
“Chloe! There you are, I’ve barely seen you tonight. This has been really fun, even though it’s not a Wonderland party. I love the little- oh? Red just left her flowers there?”
At the far end of a table set up for presents, the roses had been shoved behind a tower of gifts that looked dangerously close to toppling over — it had happened at Chad’s eleventh birthday party and Chloe still teased him about it, or she would have still teased him about it if she had known whether it had happened in this timeline too. Now, Chloe had seen Pink in crisis before, both there’s-an-injured-bird-by-the-window crisis and Mom’s-been-kidnapped crisis, but Chloe very rarely ever saw Pink sad, save for their conversation about Red in Wonderland. Eyes downcast and lips in a frown, of course sadness was human but it just looked extra pitiful and unnatural on Pink and it made Chloe’s stomach turn. Poor Pink didn’t know anything about the time travel, she didn’t know anything other than the fact that she had grown up with a sister like a best friend to her and suddenly the same sister could barely stand to be around her.
“Oh, sorry, Pink. That’s on me. I was going to grab a vase for them so they wouldn’t wilt during the party and I got a little sidetracked. Trust me, Red was really… moved by her bouquet.”
“Okay, great! Thanks for taking such good care of them, Chloe.” There were a lot of aspects where Pink felt like everything Red was in reverse, but Pink’s ability to instantaneously go from sad to happy had to be the most disarming one. As slightly disturbing as it was, the most important thing was that Pink was beaming again as Chloe picked up the bouquet, and she ran to refill her mother’s teacup with the vigor of a greyhound.
“Uh, Princess Red needs a vase for these, please,” Chloe said to the first servant she saw, another steward she didn’t know the name of. Maybe they had just hired extra help for the party, it wasn’t like Chloe had given them much notice before she sprang everything on her parents, because they certainly didn’t act nearly as friendly toward her as Chloe was used to. Not impolite, of course, but in the old timeline if Chloe had handed a Wonderland bouquet to Beatrice or Daphne, they would have giggled and gushed about how whimsical the flowers were — her mother’s ladies-in-waiting and the rest of the staff had always felt like extended family, not extensions of the house. Either way, he took them wordlessly and Chloe pushed them out of her mind until the party’s end.
***
Red had insisted on being one of the last ones to leave, only because she wanted to say goodbye to every guest who had shown up to celebrate her birthday and help the Charmings clean up as a thank you for their hospitality — or that was what Red had told a despondent Queen and Pink as she denied an invite back to Wonderland for the night. As much as she feared the Queen in the back of her mind, a little part of Chloe couldn’t help but feel sorry for her as she and Pink reluctantly departed for Wonderland. This was Bridget, the sweet girl who baked flamingo cupcakes and told Red how proud she would have been to have a daughter who expressed herself so bravely, and she had grown up into a woman who loved her children with all her heart and never denied an opportunity to tell them so. Still, Chloe kept her distance as Red bade her family good night and made what Chloe hoped wasn’t an empty promise to spend more time with them in the future, and she turned her head away entirely when Luis pulled Red into a farewell kiss. At least he left eventually, and it was too late in the night and Chloe was too tired to scold herself for being mean.
“Well, I should have brought a larger carriage,” Red said sheepishly as the last of her gifts were loaded into it. “This is a part of being an Auradon Kid I could probably get used to.”
“You’re going to love Christmas then. All of Auradon is like this party for a solid two months and then- hey, wait. Don’t forget Pink’s flowers.”
“Huh. Forget…”
Pink’s heartbroken face slipped back into view and suddenly Chloe didn’t care for the way Red’s fingers aimlessly skittered across the tablecloth as she stared down the roses. “Red, they’re not your favorite flowers but they were still a gift from your sister. Please take them back to the dorm. Pink would be crushed if you just abandoned them.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay. Only because I don’t want anything to ruin what has been a pretty amazing night.” Red reached out for the bouquet, gingerly and reluctant. “Come on, we better head back to the dorm soon. I’d hate for you to miss curfew, Princess.”
“Uh, I’m probably going to stay in Cinderellasburg for a couple more days. Chad will be spending the rest of the week here and I haven’t see him much since, you know, everything.”
“Oh. Oh, okay. Yeah, see you in a couple of days. Thank you again for the party, Princess. It’s been the best one I’ve ever had.”
Chloe knew it was also the only party Red had ever had, no thanks to that bothersome rational part of her brain again, but she kept quiet in the moment. Who cared? She had made Red happy, she had surrounded Red with people who adored her and wanted to celebrate her, and that was all Chloe had wanted. That was all something Chloe had brought together for Red, and if that wasn’t enough to shut her brain up, the way Red hugged her at the end of the night and brought her nose to the crook of Chloe’s neck definitely was.
***
Chad was one of the reasons why Chloe had wanted to spend a little extra time in Cinderellasburg, in the old timeline she had spent far less time with him ever since he went to college and in the new timeline Chloe had been dragged headfirst into Maddox’s coup before she had gotten almost any time to adjust to her new normal. It was something Chloe had fretted over post-Wonderland, whether her relationship with Chad would remain the same, if he were the same person she had made snowmen with in December and chased through piles of amber leaves in the fall. Had the New Chad heard about Midnight Chloe and the destruction she had caused? Would he look at his sister the same way? Chloe would have spent a lot more time in Cinderellasburg over the summer break and probably wouldn’t have stayed at Auradon Prep at all if it weren’t for the fact that Red was so deathly afraid of returning to Wonderland. Out of everyone in her new life, Chad seemed the most like his original self — the pampered, annoying, overprotective older brother that Chloe couldn’t imagine her life without — and felt like the easiest to talk to, which was probably the biggest relief Chloe had ever felt in all her sixteen years, aside from seeing her mother alive again. That never used to be a problem in the old timeline, everyone in Chloe’s family used to be easy to talk to, especially her mother.
The other minor reason Chloe had extended her time in Cinderellasburg was its beautiful flora and fauna that her parents ensured was very well-tended to. The weeping willows were so nice to sit under and the bluebirds were such pretty singers in the morning… and apparently small patches of non-poisonous nightshade grew within the woods that spread out around Faraway Cove, not that Chloe had obsessively researched where to find nightshade in Auradon the moment the party had ended or anything. What better way to spend quality time with Chad than a calming stroll through the forest just before summer break ended?
“So, is there a reason why we’re walking through such a dark part of the forest? You don’t have a secret drug dealer you’re meeting up with here, do you?”
“Uh, it’s for class.” Lying used to be a lot less frequent, practically nonexistent in Chloe’s life. Lying used to be a lot harder for her to do, even to complete strangers and much less her own brother. “We’re reading about nightshade right now but I’m having trouble differentiating between the poisonous and non-poisonous kinds. I just want to get a better handle on it before class goes back. Gotta hit the ground running, you know?”
“Whoa, whoa. Okay. I’ll help you look for nightshade but the touching part is all on you,” Chad said, the most Chad answer he could have given. It brought a smile back to Chloe’s face that the deceit had taken away, at least until Chad’s mouth opened next. “So, Red. Red’s with that guy, huh?”
“Um, yeah,” Chloe said quickly. “Luis Madrigal. What about it?”
“Nothing, nothing,” Chad replied. He had picked up the pace a little to match his sister’s sudden speed to Chloe’s chagrin, so far he seemed just as skilled at reading her as the Old Chad, a blessing and a curse. “I just thought that Red, you know, that she… never mind.”
“So, how are things with Audrey going?” Chloe asked, and no, it wasn’t a sudden change of subject so that she wouldn’t have to think about Red being with that guy, let alone answer Chad’s needling questions about it, it had been a tactical means of covertly gaining more information about her family and the new timeline.
Given how deliberately Chloe had avoided looking at her brother’s face, and how much she didn’t want him to see the furious blush that may or may not have risen in her cheeks at the mention of Red, it was difficult for her to gauge whether or not Chad had taken the bait of if he knew precisely what Chloe was up to. After a pause that lingered a little too long, Chad started talking about how Audrey had recently started working with Queen Mal on more outreach programs for villain kids and what Auroria could do to better support Isle families as Audrey prepared to become queen. From what Chloe had gleaned, not much had changed as far as Chad and Audrey’s relationship, Scepter Incident and all, which Chloe guiltily felt a little grateful for. If there was anyone in Auradon who would have understood why and how Midnight Chloe happened, it was Audrey, but barely seeing Chad meant seeing Audrey even less and this really felt like an in-person conversation. Midnight Chloe aside, Regular Chloe and Chad had settled into comfortable conversation about family and duty for most of the walk.
“Anyways, Audrey and I have both been really busy but I think we’re due for a little break soon. I was thinking Agrabah at first but the humidity would wreak too much havoc on our beautiful heads of hair. Then I was thinking the cottage in Sherwood Forest but we go there all the time and-”
“Ooh, look! I think this is it!” As much as she loved schoolwork, Chloe must have looked a little too excited about the discovery because Chad raised an eyebrow as she hurried over to the flowers.
She understood then why Red had been so indignant about Chloe only being around eighty-percent sure that the Sorcerer’s Cookbook wouldn’t permanently freeze her if she opened it. Twenty percent seemed like a much wider margin of error now that she was the one in peril, but Chloe squeezed her eyes shut anyway and thanked her lucky star her mother still kept an extra-thick pair of gardening gloves around somewhere as she tugged at the roots of the nightshade. It took more effort than Chloe had readied herself for, but with a little time and patience, they came away from the dirt and spread out gently across the palm of her hand. They also hadn’t poisoned her just from touch, so that was a plus as she slowly traced one ungloved finger over the stem.
They had five petals each, pointed out like stars, and a bright yellow pistil of a center. A little sunshine, a little light, amid the darkness. “Whoa, they are really pretty.”
“Okay,” Chad said eventually with a sigh. “I hope you get what you need out of them.”
***
The dorm room was empty as Chloe trudged back to Auradon Prep with three times the number of books, notepads, and pens that her roommate had put together. Which was a little disappointing, but at least it meant that she could get a head start on the homework she had neglected during Red’s birthday. It had been a little while since the dorm had been so quiet, Chloe usually had the sound of Red drawing in her sketchbook or snoring through the morning after a sleepless night to center her whenever her responsibilities felt overwhelming, but at least the absence gave her a pleasant surprise to look forward to.
“Hey, Princess,” Red said suddenly from behind, and Chloe turned around in a flinch quick enough to see the exact moment Red’s face split into a toothy smirk. “Fancy seeing you around.”
“Red! Don’t sneak up on me again,” Chloe murmured into her shoulder. They both knew she was going to do it again, and as if to dig her heels in and prove Chloe’s exact thought, Red’s hands lowered slightly to Chloe’s waist as she began to tickle her.
Red had never tickled her before, Red was still new to initiating physical contact with Chloe, let alone anyone else other than… Luis. The sheer shock of Red being so playful and touchy with her left Chloe even more exposed to Red as she skittered her hands up and down Chloe’s side until they both lost balance and stumbled onto Chloe’s bed. Not that Chloe minded, of course. Red, almost as breathless as Chloe, had rolled over and splayed herself out on Chloe’s bed as though she owned it, still heaving with laughter. And whilst Chloe knew now her mother didn’t believe in rewards for being a good student or a good person, something about Red’s carefree mood the week following the party and the peals of giggling that rocketed around the room like fireworks was nothing short of a trophy, one of Chloe’s greatest accomplishments. She had done something very, very right to have Red come undone right in front of her, she wanted to keep doing right by Red.
“Wait, I have something for you. I know your birthday was a couple of days ago but I have one more gift for you. I hope getting spoiled this much won’t turn you into prissy, limbs-are-painted-on princess. Eyes closed, please.”
Red rolled her eyes but she put her hands over them a moment later anyways, her tongue between her lips as Chloe fumbled around for the flowers — Godmother, she hoped that they hadn’t gotten crushed on the way back to Auradon Prep, or that she hadn’t forgotten them in Cinderellasburg because that would be super embarrassing and… oh, there they were.
“Okay, open your eyes,” Chloe said softly, she didn’t want to startle Red but she grazed the petals gently against Red’s hands anyway.
Godmother, she had forgotten in the thirty seconds Red’s eyes had been closed just how ridiculously, unfathomably stunning they were. She would have taken much more time to drink them in and remember if it weren’t for the even more captivating sight of Red’s lips, which had since gaped in shock. “Chloe…”
“You don’t have to like tickle roses if you don’t want to, Red. I know it’s been really hard trying to fit into this new timeline and deal with new expectations and new family but that doesn’t mean the old you has to be erased either. There’s still room for nightshade.”
“Chloe,” Red said again, even quieter the second time around, her gaze stuck on the nightshade.
She had seen Red shaky and timid after a particularly repulsive nightmare and she had seen Red go stiff around Pink and Bridget but Chloe had never seen Red speechless the way she was as she twirled the nightshade between her fingers. What if this had been a mistake? Red seemed overwhelmed, Red looked overwhelmed, Chloe had probably overstepped again like she tended to do with Red and made the other girl uncomfortable. It was so difficult for Red to open up to others, she had probably wanted to leave that nightshade conversation in the past and never bring it up again, and yet Chloe had stupidly dragged it back with them to Auradon Prep without a second thought. She probably needed to give Red her space, even for Red, she seemed particularly taken aback by the nightshade. But just as Chloe stood up to leave, a cool hand wrapped around her wrist and nails dug into her skin, slightly painful actually but Chloe didn’t pull away.
With a thud, Chloe landed back on the bed, close enough to Red that Red’s knee grazed her own and the heave of her chest as she took in one shallow breath after another sent a fluttering sensation through Chloe’s own body. Red had laced their fingers on one hand together already and without a second thought, Chloe grabbed Red’s other hand with her free one. Across nicks and scars, some raised and some faded, splotchy reds and purples like a sunset that plunged into an endless, dark night, Chloe ran her thumb across every inch of Red’s skin she could caress. Greed felt like too rough a word to describe it, like Chloe took for granted how lucky she was to get to hold Red when she really, really didn’t take it for granted, but every little jolt of adrenaline that coursed through Chloe’s body at the contact still felt intoxicating to her, like someone had poured a love potion into a vat of champagne. Until she came across something thin and cold, like an icicle that froze her heart and body in place.
The bracelet Luis had gifted Red was wrapped around her wrist, Chloe’s fingers had brushed against it without meaning to but now she couldn’t pretend Luis wasn’t just as much a constant in Red’s life as Chloe — if not more of a constant than Chloe but she had to push that thought as far back as possible if she didn’t want to cry — or even just invisible in the moment. The future Prince of Hearts. He was who Red liked, as much as she liked nightshade and desserts, and he was who Red had chosen. Godmother, she felt the tears well up behind her eyes at the same time the awful pulling feeling burred in her stomach and it all came together in a sticky, constricting glob in Chloe’s throat.
“Uh, I should get back to studying. You should get some water for those.”
For the briefest moment, Chloe could have sworn Red winced at the sudden loss of contact as Chloe pulled her hands away and retreated to her desk without another word. The scratching of her pen filled the room but it didn’t bring her the same comfort it had before as she kept her eyes anywhere but on Red.