Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a rare stormy day in the usually sunny Auradon. The clouds were uncharacteristically gray and hung heavy in the sky, creating a dim atmosphere that seemed to blanket everything in sight. Small beams of sunlight occasionally fought to peek through them as they lazily drifted through the foggy air.

About halfway through the morning it had started to rain. Small drops of water practically oozed out of the clouds, like water being squeezed from a sponge. The light pitter patter of the droplets hitting the ground created the perfect sound to go with the gloom.

Most people would say that the current weather was nothing but a bummer, but Red found it comforting. There was nothing like the silence and serenity of an overcast day.

Time seemed to stop on days like this, it felt as if her pocket watch had sprung back into action and froze everyone and everything around her.

From the passenger seat of Chloe’s car, Red caught a glimpse of the empty park as they drove by. The rain created ripples in the lake at the center of it. They formed and overlapped each other over and over again making it look like the water was dancing.

Once the park was out of sight she turned her attention downward, she noticed the small rivers of water that had formed in the gutters on either side of the usually busy road. But today, there wasn’t a person in sight.

Red sighed gently into the comfortable silence between her and Chloe and leaned her head against the cold car window. She watched as raindrops met and then dripped down the glass.

Chloe had gotten the car as a gift for her sixteenth birthday after she had gotten her drivers license. Red would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy the freedom that the car had brought the two of them. She was starting to get a bit stir crazy stuck at Auradon Prep twenty four- seven.

“Now we can go on so many fun adventures!”Chloe had said bursting through the door of their dorm, shaking her keys in the air, “As long as we’re back by nine” she quickly added, pointing a stern finger at Red. “ever the responsible one.”, Red had teased.

As the night went on the girls had huddled together in Chloe’s bed, whispering back and forth about anything and everything. Knowing she hadn’t traveled much, Chloe told Red that she would take her anywhere she wanted, all she had to do was ask.

Red had found it so incredibly sweet and thoughtful that she’d wanted nothing more than to scoop Chloe up into the air and spin her around until she laughed her precious bell-like laugh. So she did just that before pulling her into a tight hug and whispering a soft thank you.

Red would never understand how someone as good, kind, and patient as Chloe had chosen her, but she would forever be grateful. She looked over at her princess in the driver seat who was busy humming to herself. Red smiled before looking back out the window.

Red had thought long and hard about Chloe’s offer. She’d waited so long to explore the world after being stuck in one place her entire life, but all this thought of adventure brought her thoughts right back to Wonderland.

She found it conflicting, how oddly homesick she felt for a place full of such bad memories. But the more she thought about it, the more she began to remember the good.

When she’d mustered up the courage to briefly bring this up to Chloe, she had suggested using a journal to help keep thoughts organized. So the next day when she found herself with some much needed alone time, Red sat at her desk, opened up one of her unused school notebooks and began to write.

It was painful at first, digging up old memories that she had sworn to forget. But she was feeling much stronger lately, mostly due to having Chloe in her corner. She was determined to sort out her past once and for all.

The bad memories came first, lots of screaming, slammed doors, and biting words. She had one memory stick out in particular, she had to have been around twelve.

Every morning her mother would sit on her throne and have any “criminals” caught in the night be brought before her for punishment. On one particular morning, her mom had demanded that Red be in attendance. The only person to be brought in was a young girl who looked like she had to be in her late teens. It was hard to be sure because she couldn’t fully see the girl's face.

She looked down at the floor with her hair covering her face. Red couldn’t remember what the girl had done but her mother was furious.

The queen's screams billowed through the throne room. They bounced off the walls and echoed throughout the large room making it sound like they were hammering down from every angle. The girl was trying to hold herself strong but Red could see that she was shaking.

Red felt frozen to her seat at the sudden silence when her mom had finished. Then her ears were filled with the shrieks and cries of the girl as she was dragged away by two of the guards. Red never did find out what happened to her.

Red’s heart was beating so hard and fast, she felt like she could barely breathe. She’d known her mother was cruel but not to this degree.

Then her mother had turned her attention to Red, her words still sharp and clear in her mind. “I brought you here today daughter because it is time you begin to learn of your future royal duties. After all you will take over for me one day”, Red’s brain involuntarily tuned everything else out after that.

It was at that moment that she came to the horrifying realization of what her future would be. One day she would be her mom, she would make people so terrified that they wouldn’t even want to look at her. She wouldn’t have to endure her mother’s terrorizing anymore, she would be the one doing the terrorizing and that horrified her more than anything her mom could ever do to her.

Shortly after that day she began her nighttime rebellion sprees, partly in the girl’s honor.

Red had to stop writing for a few minutes after that, she hadn’t even noticed that she’d been crying until her tears hit the page of her notebook. She quickly wiped away any evidence of tears.

Red hated crying, it made her feel like she wasn’t in control. Her mother also hated it when she cried, she’d made that loud and clear on several occasions.

She took some deep breaths and watched the birds that were flitting around outside her window for a few minutes. They chirped a sweet little tune as they hopped across the branches of the trees. After she had calmed down, Red turned to a fresh page, took a deep breath, and opened up her mind again.

This time she ventured to a different part of her memories. She remembered her special spot, high up in a tumtum tree, where not even her mother could find her. When she climbed to the very top, she could see the entirety of the Tulgey Wood stretched out before her.

All of Wonderland looked small enough to fit in the palm of her hand from up there. Every noise turned into a faint echo and for once the only sound in Red’s ears was silence. Red had yet to find a feeling as freeing as being up in that tree.

She thought of her friends, Chester and Ace, the only ones she’d ever had before they had been cruelly subjected to a doomed fate by her own mother. She had both of their faces committed to memory. Chester's big, mischievous smile and larger than life laugh. Ace’s piercing eyes and rebellious spirit.

They had gone on an adventure of their own together, they’d traveled to the end of Wonderland and back again and in that short amount of time she had made her most cherished memories with them.

Despite the many grandiose memories she had with them, her favorites were quite the opposite. The two boys would often climb the ivy that grew along the castle wall up to her bedroom. The three of them would sit cross-legged on the floor of her room in the late hours of night.

They would talk, and tease each other. Chester once made her and Ace laugh so hard that they cried. She’d never laughed that much in her life. And then they’d dance. They all looked so awkward and ridiculous, it was the purest form of defiance against the queen. Red remembered how she had wished they could dance up and down the streets for all of wonderland to see.

Losing them hurt so indescribably bad. It was part of the reason she had such a hard time making connections with people.

She found a lot of peace in the fact that they were most likely still alive and well in this new timeline, now that she and Chloe had fixed things.

After several weeks of very uncharacteristic pondering, Red decided that she really did want to go back to Wonderland and show Chloe a bit of where she had grown up.

She finally decided to bring it up to Chloe during one of their late night talks. Chloe was immediately all for it. Red could tell that Chloe wanted to be as supportive about this as possible. She very intently listened to everything Red had told her. Red could also tell by the look on her face that there were gears turning in her brain.

“What’s that face all about?” Red had asked once she was finished saying her piece, poking Chloe’s side. She was rewarded with her favorite sound in the world, Chloe’s giggle.

Then Chloe had grabbed Red and they both gently fell back against the bed, Red in Chloe’s arms.

Chloe then suggested they make a day out of it and have a picnic while they were there. Red liked that idea, it made it seem more like a date and less like dragging Chloe around to dig up old trauma all day.

Chloe loved to meticulously plan dates and this one was no different. Red had come back to their dorm on Friday night to find quite the scene. There were several different outfits laid out on Chloe’s bed and music that Red recognized to be on Chloe’s dance playlist was blaring.

Chloe herself was in the corner of the room with a spreadsheet open on her computer, packing a box of what looked like brownies into a large bag. “Don’t look at me like that, you know I can’t resist a spreadsheet.”, Chloe had pouted. “You’re such a dork”, was Red’s loving response.

When the day of the trip came, Red was relieved to wake up to the sound of rain. It was one of her favorite sounds and the gentle tapping sound helped calm her anxieties.

After going through the motions of a typical morning, Red helped Chloe go over her checklist before heading downstairs to the school parking lot hand in hand.

Even in this weather Chloe was as sunny as ever. She had her favorite outfit on and was chattering about the book she’d finished reading the night before. Her head of bright blue curls bounced as she practically skipped with every step she took.

Her big brown doe eyes sparkled as she spoke which was very distracting. Even now in the car, Red couldn’t help admiring how beautiful Chloe was, she looked so free swaying along to whatever was playing on the radio. It took everything in Reds willpower to not lean over and…..

Red was lurched out of her head when Chloe abruptly stopped the car. Slightly confused, Red looks over at Chloe to find her wordlessly looking back, a glint of worry in her eye. They had stopped directly in front of the rabbit hole.

There it was just as she had left it. Gold and purple hues of light shone through the remaining boards of wood from when the hole had been boarded up. Bathed in the purple glow, Red reached for Chloe’s hand and squeezed it before nodding her head. Chloe gave her a knowing nod back and both girls climbed out of the car.

Chapter Text

Red felt a slight breeze whip through her hair as she stood directly on the edge of the rabbit hole, staring down into it. It felt as if the longer she looked, the more the hole seemed to stretch. It was almost like looking down one end of a large accordion.

Somewhere in the distance she could hear faint sounds of rummaging and rustling, signifying to her that Chloe was double checking the contents of her picnic bag. Next thing she knew, her girlfriend came to stand right beside her, their shoulders lightly brushing in the process. Red instantly felt comfort at the slight contact.

Standing side by side, they both silently looked down into the seemingly endless glowing void that stretched out below them. Red heard Chloe take a deep breath, She looked over to find a nervous expression on Chloe’s face. Her eyebrows were slightly scrunched, her hands were tightly clutching the straps of her bag, and Red could tell by the look in her eyes that the gears in her brain were working overtime.

“What’s goin’ on up there princess?”, Red asked, tapping on Chloe’s temple with her pointer finger. “Hm, oh nothing. I just feel a little jumbled in the head at the moment is all”. “I’m so excited to see where you grew up and I’m so honored that you trust me enough to bring me here, but I’m also slightly nervous”. “Nervous how?”, Red asked. “I don’t know, I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be a literal hole”, Chloe said, gesturing to the rabbit hole before them. It took everything in Red to not let out a snort at that.

“Well I really don’t know what else you would have expected”, She replied, slightly confused but also amused. “Okay let’s just jump in or whatever it is we’re supposed to do because I can tell if we wait a second longer you’re going to make fun of me.”. “Who me, never”, Red’s voice dripped with sarcasm. But then she felt that now was not the time and dropped it. “In all honesty Chlo, I’m a little bit nervous too”, she said, grabbing Chloe’s hand and softly rubbing her knuckles with her thumb.

“On the count of three?” Chloe said
“On the count of three.” Red agreed.

Just as they planned, on three, they leapt off of the edge, Red screwed her eyes tightly closed as they plunged into the purple void below them. She braced herself for a quick, intense rush to the bottom. But that feeling never came. What she felt instead was slow and gentle, the rush of the initial fall immediately gone.

She slowly opened her eyes to find that she and Chloe were falling in almost slow motion, as if they had invisible parachutes above them to slow their fall. She looked over to find Chloe’s earlier worried expression gone from her face, it was replaced by wonderment as she observed her new surroundings.

No longer worried about Chloe, or the impact of the fall, Red allowed herself the chance to look around. Her mother had barreled through the rabbit hole so quickly on the way out that she hadn’t gotten a proper look around.

The walls were checkered black and white, resembling a chess board. Gnarled tree branches stuck out of them this way and that. There were various wooden tables and chairs that seemed to be falling with them. Each table adorned with a tea set and a doily or two.

Chloe began to giggle, filling Red’s ears with her favorite sound. It rang out like a million little bells and echoed throughout the rabbit hole. They made eye contact and the world went not silent, but quiet.

Chloe’s electric blue ringlets softly flowed around her face, swirling around, and tickling her nose, which was scrunched up with laughter. She looked as close to an angel as any person could get in Red’s opinion and a warmth gushed into her heart. The warmth bubbled up until Red felt it escape out of her mouth and soon found herself joining Chloe in her giggling. Their laughs mingled and intertwined together, continuing to get louder.

Their joint giggles were interrupted by the small “oof” sound they both made when they felt solid ground beneath their feet again. “That was surprisingly…..pleasant” Chloe commented, taking a moment to find the right word to describe what they had just experienced. “Yeah, much different than going through it with my mom, that’s for sure”, Red replied in an almost mumble.

They had landed in the hollowed out base of a very large tree. Fall colored leaves littered the ground creating a crunching noise whenever either of them moved. There were various carvings and scratches on the inside of the tree, signs that there had been others before them.

“Hey Red, where are we?” Chloe asked after a beat, promptly getting up, brushing herself off, and looking around. “Tugley Woods. I used to come here a lot to be alone”, Red said, immediately recognizing where they were even from her place on the ground. “Well, you’re the expert. Lead the way captain Red”. Chloe gave Red a salute before reaching down to help her up. Red affectionately rolled her eyes at that, god Chloe could be such a dork sometimes. Once standing Red didn’t let go of Chloe’s hand. She needed the extra support. She could already feel herself slightly trembling.

She could tell that Chloe could feel it too because she squeezed Red’s hand and gave her a reassuring look and a small nod of her head.

That was all it took for Red to take a deep breath and take her first step. “Before we go into town, there’s something here that I really wanna show you”, Red said, making a last minute decision in her mind. She made a quick turn to the left, letting her muscle memory take over.

As she led the way, everything felt so familiar yet foreign. It was like walking right through a dream or a distant memory. The tumtum trees were still as purple and red as ever, but Red noticed that the red wasn’t quite as pronounced as it had been before. She also had yet to see a single rabbit which was unusual for this part of the woods.

However, once she walked past a mushroom twice her size and breathed in the scent of tiger lilies and damp moss, everything began to feel familiar again. She was back home. Or at least where she had once called home.

“So”, Chloe spoke again, Obviously sensing the release of tension in Red’s hand which was still firmly held in her own. “How do you feel?”. That was a very loaded question that would take a while to fully answer, so for the time being Red settled on “Weird, but good”.

Light peeked through trees, creating small illuminated patterns on the ground. A trickling stream created a comforting gurgling sound to go with the visuals of their surroundings. A cluster of several small dragonflies flutter overhead causing both girls to look up.

“It’s so beautiful here” Chloe says in a breathy whisper as she watches the dragonfly’s pass. “I’ve never really thought of it that way, but yeah it really is.” Everything felt beautiful with Chloe around. She always saw the best in things, including this forest. She also always saw the best in people, including Red.

They continued walking hand in hand, Red pointing out various different plants and animals as they went. Chloe responded with just as much enthusiasm to every single one. Sometimes Chloe’s free hand would reach out and clutch Red’s arm in excitement, it very quickly got to a point where she never let go.

Once the conversation died down, Chloe took a deep, satisfied breath before gently resting her head on Red’s shoulder. Even amidst the peaceful nature of their walk, Red spent the rest of it with her face turned the same color as her name.

Then, just like that, there it was. The tree stood in front of them with a strong trunk and curling branches. This wasn’t just any tree, it was her tree. Red stopped walking the moment she saw it. At the sudden halt of movement Chloe lifted her head. Red could feel Chloe’s eyes on her as she continued to stare straight ahead.

“What is it?”Chloe asked softly, reaching up and tucking Red’s hair behind her ear. “This is what I wanted to show you”. “You might wanna leave this down here”, she said, tugging on one of the straps of Chloe’s bag. Chloe just looked at her with a puzzled expression on her face. “What do you mean by down here?”.

Red just gave Chloe a small smirk before grabbing a spiraled branch of the tree and hoisting herself up, she was a very efficient climber and in just a few moments she was already quite a ways up. “I MEAN, LEAVE YOUR BAG DOWN THERE SO YOU CAN CLIMB UP HERE!”Red yelled down to an exasperated Chloe.

With swift agility Red swung up one final branch and plopped herself onto a thick branch near the top of the tree. She watched in amusement as Chloe hauled herself up onto the same branch a few moments later.

“You are so lucky I love you because I would not be doing this for just anybody”, Chloe panted, trying to catch her breath. “Ooooooo you looooove me!” Red replied, deciding that she needed to tease Chloe just a little bit more. “I hate you”. “No you don’t”. “No I don’t”, Chloe signed in defeat and tucked her head onto Red’s shoulder once more.

“I used to come up here all the time to think, it was the only place I could go that was quiet”. “Yeah?” Chloe asked softly. “A couple years ago, a servant accidentally dropped a bucket of red paint on the gown I was wearing for my mom’s annual rose painting ceremony, and I don’t mean just a small splatter, it was like the entire bucket. Anyways, my mom just lost it on her and all I could do was just stand there, just completely frozen. I just got this horrible feeling in my gut, here was this poor woman being absolutely beratated all for my sake. I just couldn’t take it, so I ran. I ran and I ran and I ran until I was in the woods. My mom’s screams wouldn’t stop ringing in my ears, it felt like she was in my brain. It didn’t stop until I climbed all the way up her and the rest is history I guess.”

She wasn’t sure when it had started but Red noticed that as she spoke, she had absent mindedly pulled Chloe’s left hand into her lap and was now gently playing with her fingers. Once she had fallen silent she didn’t stop.

They sat like that for a while, Red felt better letting some things off her chest and she was glad to enjoy the silence that followed. It was so peaceful. Unfortunately, Red could only live in peace for so long.

“Hey princess”. “Hm”. “Did you know that the woods that we’re right now are the very same woods that the Jabberwocky lives in?”. “Oh yeah? You still gonna feed me to him?”. Chloe mumbled. She had very obviously been on the verge of sleep just moments before.

Before Red could process what was happening, Chloe’s face was directly in front of her and it was slowly getting closer and closer. “Maybe this was your grand plan all along”Chloe’s voice sounded incredibly smug, Red’s mind was slowly going blank, just a few more inches and…. “luring me to Wonderland just so that you can-”. Chloe was cut off by a faint noise coming from the base of the tree. It sounded to Red like a repetitive high pitched snicker.

Both girls peeked down to the bottom of the tree to find a group of about five mice rummaging around in the picnic bag. “Ugh, it's a bunch of dormice!”Red scowled, pressing her palms into her eyes with annoyance. God those little pests got into everything. They were chittering around the bag pulling things out. Specifically a tupperware of something and stealing several crackers from a small box. The mice grabbed as much contents of the bag as they could and made a run for it.

Shocked, Red turned to Chloe to find a look of absolute horror on her face morph into one of anger. “OH I DON’T THINK SO!”, she shouted. And just like that she was barreling down the tree after them.

Now it was Red’s turn to struggle to keep up. Chloe, with her sword and all, raced through the wood with ease, jumping over logs, and dodging trees. Red was not as graceful in her efforts but she decided that as long as she could keep her knight in shining armor within eyesight she was doing just fine.

Chloe was shouting things that sounded very intense, but Red couldn’t make out a word she was saying if she was being completely honest. In the midst of her thoughts Red failed to realize that Chloe had stopped running and had quite the surprise when she ran directly into Chloe who was now kneeled on the forest floor.

Red landed flat on her back. The first thing she saw was Chloe’s face which showed a mix of shock, amusement, and concern all at once. Red gave her a quick thumbs up to let her know that she was okay.

That was when she heard it, a chorus of little squeaks. Those little idiots!Red thought sharply, turning her head to the side to find all six of them looking directly back at her. She glared at them.

Then Chloe began to speak. “Yes I promise she’s fine”. More squeaks. “Well she wouldn’t have fallen in the first place if you hadn’t stolen our lunch”. Red most likely would have processed what was happening a lot sooner if she hadn’t been busy trying to intimidate a bunch of mice while still laying flat on the ground. As soon as the subjects of her “wrath” had all scampered away, it suddenly clicked. “Wait, SINCE WHEN CAN YOU TALK TO ANIMALS”.

“Are you forgetting who my mother is? Talking to mice is like her whole brand”. Red sat up with the biggest cheshire smile on her face. “Oh my god, this is too good”. “Yeah yeah, I’m never gonna hear the end of it but at least I got us our lunch back”.

Chloe helped an ecstatic Red off the ground for the second time that day. “Alrighty boss, where to next?”.