Chapter Text
"Absolutely not."
Chloe had never answered her mother so quickly. The neat scroll lay open across the dining table, its crimson seal broken only moments before. A royal decree from Wonderland.
It wasn’t an invitation. It wasn’t a request. It was an order.
Princess Pink and Princess Red required a new royal knight. And for reasons nobody present in the room seemed able to explain…
Chloe Charming had already been chosen.
Her mother didn’t flinch, resting her hands in her lap.
"That answer isn’t on the table, dear. I wish it was, believe me."
Ella admitted solemnly. Internally, though, she was trying to hide her worry. Her hands moved to smooth out the blue fabric of her dress as a reflex.
"It is when it’s my life!"
Chloe snapped. The words landed hard in the quiet dining room. Her father finally looked up from the scroll. His expression wasn’t anger. It was worse.
Careful.
Measured.
Like he was already bracing for something he couldn’t stop.
"This isn’t a social invitation, Chloe. It’s a royal designation."
"I didn’t apply to be anything!"
Chloe barked. Her chair scraped back slightly as she shot up, visibly enraged.
"And I definitely didn’t apply to belong to two strangers in Wonderland!"
A pause.
At the word “belong”, her mother’s fingers tightened just slightly around the edge of the table. Ella sighed, opening her mouth to speak. Then came the knock at the door.
Once.
Twice.
Then a third. The final one was sharper and more deliberate, like whoever stood outside already knew they’d be let in. Their knocks weren’t a request. They were a demand.
Chloe didn’t move. Nobody did.
The servants outside the dining hall doors went silent, as if the entire household had collectively decided not to breathe. Her father exhaled slowly.
"They’re early."
He spoke, his voice laced with a hint of nervous energy. Chloe gulped. Her father was never nervous.
"That’s not possible."
Ella murmured. But the doors were already opening. Cold air swept into the room like a warning.
And standing there, seeming too bright and too composed for the early morning, too certain, was a Wonderland envoy in silver and red. Behind them, two armored guards stepped forward. The envoy smiled politely and took a step inside, their boots thumping against the polished marble beneath.
"By decree of the Queen of Hearts, we are here to escort Chloe Charming to the castle of Wonderland.”
They announced like she had won a prize. Chloe took a step back, terrified at the sudden declaration. What was happening? Why her? Yesterday, she was just a normal princess herself, but now she was chosen to become a knight for two princesses?
"I’m not going."
"I’m afraid that wasn’t a given option."
The envoy reached into the sleeve of their silver coat and withdrew another scroll. Unlike the first, this one wasn’t sealed. It had already been signed.
"The decree bears the signatures of Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, and the past rulers of Cinderellasburg."
The envoy unfolded it with practiced precision, taking a second to clear their throat before speaking again.
"Princess Chloe Charming has been appointed Royal Knight to Her Highnesses Princess Pink and Princess Red, effective immediately."
Chloe stared.
"…My parents signed that?"
Her father closed his eyes for the briefest moment.
"We didn’t have a choice."
Silence washed over the room. She looked between them, waiting for somebody to laugh, to admit this had all been some elaborate misunderstanding. No one did.
"You just… You agreed to send me away?"
"We agreed to keep the peace."
King Charming’s words were quiet, but they struck harder than if he’d shouted them.
"There are treaties older than either of us, Chloe. When Wonderland invokes them, refusing isn’t… simple."
"It isn’t possible."
The envoy corrected politely. Chloe’s stomach dropped at the words that left their mouth.
"No."
She took another step backward until her shoulders bumped against the wall.
"I’m not leaving. You can’t force me."
One of the armored guards shifted. Not threateningly. Simply preparing. The soft scrape of steel against polished stone echoed through the dining room.
Ella immediately stood.
"Please."
Every eye turned toward her.
"She’s frightened."
"That is understandable. But our orders remain unchanged."
The envoy replied with an incline of their head. Ella quickly crossed the room in three steps and cupped Chloe’s face.
"You listen to me."
Her voice trembled despite her effort to hide it.
"No matter what happens in Wonderland… you are still our daughter."
"Mom, please. Don’t make me go."
"I wish I could, sweetheart."
"Please…"
Chloe searched her mother’s eyes for reassurance. For a lie. For something that said that this whole thing was a joke.
All she found was fear. Real fear. The kind that made queens lower their voices and kings sign decrees they hated.
Whatever this was…
It wasn’t about becoming a knight. It was something much bigger.
The envoy stepped aside.
Outside, waiting beyond the palace gates, stood a carriage unlike any Chloe had ever seen. Its black lacquer reflected nothing. Its crimson wheels turned without a sound, and harnessed to it were four red horses clad in silver armor, standing unnaturally still.
"The Princesses are expecting you."
The envoy extended a gloved hand with a polite smile.
"We would advise not keeping Wonderland waiting."
Another heavy silence settled over the room before Chloe let out a slow, shaky breath.
"…Fine."
Her parents looked up hopefully as their daughter made her choice.
"I’ll go."
No one celebrated. No one sighed in relief. It felt almost worse that way. Ella wrapped her daughter in a fierce embrace, holding her for a heartbeat longer than she normally would. Chloe stood stiffly at first before slowly returning it.
"Come back to us."
The whisper barely reached her ear. Chloe pulled away and stared into her eyes, giving a small nod.
"I’ll try."
King Charming approached next. He rested a hand on her shoulder, searching her face for something to say. After a long silence, he reached into the inside of his coat and offered out a dagger.
Its leather grip had been worn smooth with years of practice, and the silver crossguard carried the engraved crest of the Charmings.
"My father carried this."
He placed it carefully into her hands.
"I carried it."
His fingers lingered on the hilt before letting go.
"Now you do."
Chloe stared at the weapon, before giving a nod. The envoy cleared their throat, interrupting their possibly last moment together.
"If Her Highness is prepared."
"I’m not."
Chloe answered flatly.
"… But apparently that doesn’t matter to the people in Wonderland."
Without waiting for permission, she pushed past the envoy harshly, making her way outside. The palace corridors felt impossibly long. Servants who had watched her grow up stood pressed against the walls, bowing as she passed. Some offered sympathetic smiles. Others couldn’t even meet her eyes.
Outside, the strange carriage waited exactly where it had before. The horses hadn’t moved. Not a twitch. Not a blink. Even the morning breeze seemed to avoid them. The armored guards opened the carriage door in perfect silence. Its interior was lined with deep crimson velvet, though it was oddly dark inside, as if the sunlight simply refused to enter.
Chloe hesitated. The envoy seemed to notice almost instantly.
"There is no danger during the journey."
"… That’s not very reassuring."
"It was not intended to be."
Wonderful.
She carefully climbed inside, barely taking a seat before the door shut behind her with a heavy thump. No driver climbed into the front. No command was given. Yet the carriage lurched forward, and the palace she had spent her whole life in seemed to shrink behind her.
She watched her parents grow smaller through the window. Her mother was watching as the carriage drove away. Her father stood motionless beside her, one arm wrapped around Ella’s shoulders tightly. Neither looked away.
Chloe pressed her hand against the glass longingly.
Then the world blurred.
The road bent upward like a ribbon, the sky cracked into red and white diamonds, and the trees twisted into impossible spirals. The horses never sped up. Reality simply changed around them. The air tasted faintly of roses and smoke.
—
Before Chloe knew it, the carriage skidded to a halt, being met with a large castle towering over them. It seemed to bee adorned with pink wall and large, sharp red roofs, decorated with hearts. She winced as the golden hearts that decorated the palace reflected the sun into her eyes, instinctively looking away. She blinked against the glare, squinting as the carriage door opened without a sound. No announcement. No escort. Just expectation.
The moment her boots touched the marble path, she felt it. Something in the air shifted, as if the castle itself had noticed her arrival.
The gates stood open. That alone felt wrong.
Nothing about this place looked like it expected visitors. Everything was too precise. Too deliberate. Even the wind felt arranged, brushing past her in careful, measured patterns like it had been trained. She stepped forward anyway. Because what else was there to do?
The courtyard stretched wider than it should have been, lined with hedges trimmed into perfect heart shapes. Statues of crowned figures stood at intervals, all facing inward toward the palace doors. Chloe swore, for half a second, that one of them had just… turned its head. A servant suddenly made an appearance next to her, their hands clasped together behind their back as they offered a warm smile.
"Greetings! Allow me to escort you to the ballroom! Our princesses are very excited to meet you!"
Before Chloe could respond with confusion, she was being dragged inside by her hand, that was now taken into a soft hold by the servant. She let out a small grunt as she surrendered, allowing herself to be taken through the labyrinth of halls.
"They’re… excited?"
Chloe asked, not expecting for the people that had forced her here against her will to be excited to meet in person. The servant nodded.
"Of course!"
The servant knew her words were only half true, but she chose not to make herself more clear. Princess Pink was excited and eager, though she got excited at everything. Like a portable sun colored pink. And Princess Red seemed to barely like anything. They were two very confusing sisters.
The servant continued chattering as they hurried through corridor after corridor, her polished shoes clicking against the marble floor.
"Princess Pink has been talking about your arrival for days! She’s super excited to become friends with you!"
"Friends? I thought I was their knight now?"
"You’re both to her!"
"Great…. And Princess Red?"
The servant’s smile faltered for only a heartbeat.
"…Princess Red has also been informed of your arrival."
That was not an answer at all.
Chloe frowned but didn’t press. Something told her that asking questions in this castle only earned carefully chosen responses.
Every hallway looked different from the last. One was lined entirely with stained-glass windows depicting hearts in every imaginable shade of red and pink. Another held dozens of enormous portraits of Wonderland’s rulers. Their painted eyes seemed almost alive.
As Chloe passed one particularly large portrait of the Queen of Hearts, grinning there with a deck of pink and red cards, she could have sworn she had seen the woman’s gaze shift ever so slightly to follow the duo.
She stopped walking.
"… Did that just—?"
"It is considered polite not to stare."
The servant interrupted pleasantly, gently tugging Chloe forward before she could investigate further.
"Right…"
Definitely haunted. Or magical. Neither option made her feel better. She hoped it was just an optical illusion and kept walking.
Eventually the corridors widened into a massive set of gilded doors nearly three stories tall. Gold vines curled across their surface, wrapping around a giant heart-shaped crest in the center. Two royal guards stood motionless beside them.
The servant finally released Chloe’s hand.
"We’ve arrived!"
"This is the ballroom?"
"Indeed!"
"They need… that much room for dancing?"
Chloe looked at the enormous doors, questioning how large the room the room that awaited them would be.
"Yep! The Queen loves hosting parties with a large amount of guests!"
The servant replied with glee before stepping forward. The guards reacted almost instantly, parting away from their stance by the door and gracefully opening the doors, revealing an elegant ballroom within. Crystal chandeliers hung impossibly high overhead, each one shaped like an upside-down crown of glass hearts. Thousands of candles floated between them without chains or strings, casting warm gold light across polished marble that reflected the entire room like a mirror.
Music drifted through the air. Not from musicians. From nowhere.
Couples dressed in elaborate gowns and embroidered suits glided across the floor in perfect synchronization. They never missed a step. Every smile seemed rehearsed. Every laugh arrived at exactly the right moment before fading away again.
Chloe stood frozen in the doorway.
"… This is a party?"
The servant beamed.
"It is!"
"It looks more like a royal performance."
"In Wonderland, those are usually the same thing."
The words spoken weren’t comforting.
As Chloe stepped inside, conversations slowed. Then stopped. One by one, heads turned.
Nobles.
Servants.
Guards.
Musicians who somehow continued playing despite having no visible instruments. Every pair of eyes settled on her. Heat rushed into Chloe’s face.
"They’re staring."
"They’ve been waiting."
Waiting.
Not welcoming.
Waiting.
A trumpet suddenly rang through the ballroom. The music stopped so abruptly it felt like someone had cut the world in half. A herald standing upon the staircase struck the marble floor once with the end of his silver staff.
"Presenting…"
His voice echoed through every corner of the hall.
"…Her Royal Highness, Princess Pink of Wonderland!"
The enormous staircase at the far end of the ballroom seemed to bloom with color. Princess Pink appeared first. She descended with effortless confidence, smiling brightly at every person she passed. Her gown shimmered like rose quartz beneath the chandeliers, and every few steps she waved enthusiastically to someone in the crowd, whether they waved back or not.
"There she is…"
the servant whispered with obvious affection.
Pink’s eyes immediately found Chloe. Her entire face lit up.
"There you are! Hey! Hello!"
Before anyone could stop her, Pink gathered the front of her skirt and hurried down the remaining steps, abandoning every bit of royal composure expected of a princess.
She nearly collided with Chloe, eagerly taking the girls wrists and bouncing on her heels, glee practically radiating off of her.
"You came!"
Pink exclaimed, sounding genuinely relieved.
“I was worried you’d say no!"
Chloe blinked.
"… I did."
"… Oh."
"You sent soldiers.”
"… Right…"
Pink rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.
"I didn’t actually know they would force you! But I’m so glad that you’re here!"
Before Chloe could answer, the temperature in the ballroom seemed to drop. The conversations that had begun to return died once more. Another figure appeared at the top of the staircase.
Unlike Pink, she didn’t rush. She didn’t smile. She only descended one measured step at a time, her crimson dress fitting around her body perfectly.
Princess Red.
She surveyed the ballroom with cool, unreadable eyes before her gaze finally landed on Chloe. There was no excitement there.
Only evaluation.
As if she were inspecting a sword before deciding whether it was worth carrying.
She reached the bottom of the stairs, and lingered for another heartbeat. Then Red opened her mouth to speak as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"So…"
Her voice was calm yet dry.
"This is the knight Mother chose for us."
Not our knight. Not welcome. Just an observation.
Chloe met her stare without flinching, before bowing politely. She held the bow only as long as etiquette required before straightening again.
"I suppose I should thank Your Highnesses for having me dragged halfway across the kingdoms."
The words were perfectly polite. The tone was anything but. Several nobles inhaled sharply as Pink blinked.
"Oh."
She looked genuinely stricken.
"I… I’m sorry."
Red raised an eyebrow.
"You’re apologizing?"
"Well… she isn’t wrong."
"You did send soldiers."
"I didn’t know Mom was going to send soldiers!"
"You knew she wasn’t coming willingly."
"… I thought she’d get another invitation."
Red sighed through her nose.
For the first time since arriving, Chloe wasn’t sure what to say. She had expected arrogance. Cruelty. Some spoiled princess delighted to have a knight handed to them.
Instead, Princess Pink looked… embarrassed.
Red, however, remained unconvinced. She descended the final step until she stood only a few feet from Chloe. Her brown eyes swept over her from head to toe. Not rudely. Clinically. She noted the travel cloak. The worn boots. The dagger at Chloe’s side. The tension in her shoulders.
"… Hm."
And with that, Red sharply turned and walked away, leaving Pink and Chloe to interact. Slowly, the guests in the ballrooms began to fill the ballroom with chatter and music again. Pink looked back at Chloe, before taking her hands in her own.
"So… now that I have a knight of my own… do you think my mom would be okay with it if we snuck off?"
"… Where?"
"Oh! I wanted to go see what pastries our chefs had prepared!"
Pink said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. As if Chloe hadn’t just been dragged across dimensions against her will. As if armed guards hadn’t escorted her like she was a sealed royal artifact.
Chloe blinked.
"… You want to sneak away from your own royal ball to… eat pastries?"
Pink nodded eagerly.
"Yep!"
"… Fine by me, I guess."
The princess couldn’t hold back a squeal of excitement and quickly ran off, expecting her new knight to follow. Chloe watched, before finally snapping out of her confused state and moving to rush after her. What was happening to her life? She swiftly darted past guests in order to keep up with Pink, who was humming with glee as she skipped through the halls.
Pink darted throughout the palace halls as though she’d forgotten entirely that royal etiquette existed.
"Hurry!"
"I’m trying!"
Chloe barely avoided colliding with a servant carrying an enormous silver tray stacked with crystal glasses. Pink had already disappeared around another corner, her laughter echoing through the halls.
"For someone who wanted a knight, she certainly isn’t making my job easy."
Chloe muttered under her breath. She rounded the corner just in time to see Pink skid to a stop outside an enormous pair of kitchen doors.
"We’re here!"
"… The kitchens?"
Pink nodded enthusiastically.
"They always make the best pastries before the balls! The fancy desserts downstairs are pretty, but the kitchen ones are still warm."
Without hesitation she pushed the doors open.