Chapter Text
Luis finally stumbles out of the hedge maze, sputtering and brushing twigs off of his body. He hadn't been hurt, somehow, even though the walls seemed solid when they were bearing down on him.
Wonderland wasn't his favorite place. Things were a little too weird here for no good reason. Why were the bushes working against him?
He plucks some greenery from his curls with an irritated huff, looking around desperately for a clue to his next steps. The ground had been unstable for the last few minutes, like an earthquake had been added to their list of worries, but the cause is apparent as soon as he raises his head.
Taking up far more of the horizon than she should is Pink, walking with entirely too much pep in her step for someone that could now crush a house. He groans at the now obvious hindsight of eating that stupid cookie. They could have been done by now.
Luis is about to call out and rush after her. There's no doubt Red sent her to the castle. Maybe he'd actually be of some use there, in a way he can't be in some stupid overgrown maze.
But a haunted, gut-wrenching scream echoes through the air. It sends ice down his spine. Horror seeps into his bones before he can even place the noise properly.
It's Chloe.
He's running back into the hedges before he can think twice. Maybe he'd be better off trying to get Pink's attention. Maybe he's wondering back into a situation that's totally out of his depth. But that noise...
What if Red was –
Luis shakes his head to knock the thought away. He can't think about that. He can't think. Action has always been more his speed. If he could get there, he could do something. That's what mattered.
Now, the walls seem to part for him where they tried to close before. He's still twisting and turning around, completely lost, but part of him knows he's making progress. There are no more screams but there's a wailing now. Chloe is erupting with some burst of emotions but he can't pick out any noises from Red at all, yet. Or Max, for that matter.
The noise begins to die, eventually, like Chloe is wrestling back control. Or something worse. But he's close enough that it doesn't matter. He can see the clearing in the middle of maze, a gaping hole in the ground silently screaming out it's importance.
“Chloe?” He yells out, nearly tripping over himself as he speeds up even though he would have sworn he was going at top speed already.
“Luis?”
“Red!” Luis' knees nearly buckle in relief. “I'm coming!” Without a second thought he books it to the edge of the hole. The drop doesn't look pleasant but he can see the bottom, at least.
He lowers himself down, the idea of having to get back out not occurring to him in the slightest. Maybe he'd be better served helping Red, Chloe, and Max up, but up here wasn't where the problem was. Chloe wouldn't sound like that if she was just stuck.
Red wouldn't sound like that if she was just stuck. Her call out had been shaky and almost panicked. It was unlike her, especially this new version of her from the past few days. She'd been stronger than ever even though she was letting him in on insecurities he didn't even know she had.
He lands in the pit with a grunt, taking stock of the situation as quickly as he can. Red is stood nearby, arms crossed tightly across her chest as she avoids eye contact. She swipes at her eyes in frustration before turning away completely.
Chloe looks to be back to normal, not that it's easy to tell. She's sitting on the ground with her face buried in her knees, but her hair is back to being curly, at least. In contrast to Red, she's sniffling openly, making it more obvious that she's crying even though she still hasn't looked up at him.
Neither of them look hurt, which should be a relief. Instead it highlights the most likely reason they could be breaking down.
“Where's Max?” Luis asks in a rush, spinning in a circle to try and catch sight of him in the dim light of the cave.
Chloe makes a pained noise. Luis' stomach drops to his knees. He turns back to Red, waiting impatiently for her to give him a clue.
She raises a shaking hand and points forward and down. Luis had already checked that direction but he turns back anyway, squinting like it'll help him see better.
There's a fallen statue there, which still doesn't strike him as important. Who cares about some –
Oh.
There's a hand reaching out from the rubble, palm up and unmoving.
“Max!” Luis springs into action. His ears ring in the eerie silence, his attention singularly focused on the problem in front of him. Move the stone. Save Max.
Easy.
Something splashes beneath his feet but it barely registers. The statue is a strange shape but he doesn't want to waste time trying to figure out the best angle. Max had already been trapped too long. That stupid fucking maze had wasted so much of his time.
His hands scramble for purchase against the sculpted stone, settling firmly against the edges of it's in tact wing. He wouldn't be able to lift the whole statue straight up like this, but maybe he could push it to the side once it was off of him. If he was careful it shouldn't snap off.
“Luis –”
He ignores Red, figuring she'll get the message and come to help soon enough. She could help Chloe pull Max out once he got it high enough.
The stone barely moves before there's a wet, grinding noise. Luis stills, the rock heavier in his hands than it has any right to be. What if he made things worse? Should he be delicate here?
How?
“Luis, stop.” Red urges, her shoes scuffing on the floor as she takes a few steps forward.
He looks up at her, ready to ask for help. For guidance. If he was the muscle she could be the brains, make sure he did it right.
She shakes her head before he can get the words out. “He's not...He's gone, Luis. You have to stop.”
He's still frozen, trembling even though the weight should be child's play. He's afraid to lift it more.
He's terrified to let it go.
“No. No, we can still help. I can still –”
“Stop!” Red commands it even though she has no authority here.
Luis ignores her. He tries to shift his foot to get a better stance, the half-crouch he's in starting to hurt.
His shoe slips. It's a struggle to keep his balance. The awkward hunk of stone slips from his hands. It didn't have far to fall but it makes a deafening, horrible sound as it lands anyway.
Luis looks down in horror. Blood pools at his feet, slicking the ground. It's spilling out so far, in so many directions. The puddle just looked like a growing shadow in the dim light. He didn't notice. He should have noticed. Where was he going to be able to plant his feet? He had to have stable footing to move this thing. He couldn't –
He couldn't.
He couldn't do this.
Dark wet footprints blossom against the stone as he stumbles back. It's a struggle to tear his eyes away.
“What even happened?” Luis asks, voice breaking on the words as he circles around the puddle in order to face Red without the statue – without Max – in view. It feels like an ocean.
“Maddox must have used one of the cards –”
“Before that!” Luis snaps, gesturing at Chloe now. She finally uncurls at that, just a little, sucking in a gasp as she raises her head.
Red looks back at her too. “Maybe not here.”
“Yes, here!” Luis stops moving, his shoe slipping again. “What was Max talking about before? Why did he – Why did you..”
If Max was evil, if he'd played them all from the start, it would be easier. He needed to hear it. He couldn't climb out of here without it.
You don't save a villain. He didn't fail if Max was a villain, right? He was still a Hero.
Red closes her eyes and inhales, somehow managing to look irritated at him despite everything. “The pocket watch Maddox is trying to get it real. Chloe and I used it to go back in time to save her...” She rubs at her temple. “Our moms. It changed a bunch of things and... somehow Max found out.”
Luis' head is spinning. He digs his fingers into his legs to ground himself. “Why does he care if you've been to the past?”
Red turns away fully now, her back to him as she takes in another deep breath. “This life isn't ours. We changed to much. Max...”
Chloe stands now, reaching out for Red's wrist to comfort her even though she's now crying in earnest again herself. “Max was never meant to be a VK.” She finishes the thought like it's painful.
Red jerks her hand like she's going to pull away from Chloe before rethinking it. She twists their fingers together.
Luis shakes his head in disbelief. The pieces are coming together and they're making a terrible picture. “He said you basically stole his life. That's what he meant?”
“Maddox loved him. I don't understand how it ended up like this.” She sniffles and rips her hand away from Chloe's to wipe at her face again.
“So what happened to my Red? The one I knew? You just replaced her?”
“I think I'm going to remember, eventually. She's not gone. I am –”
“You're not!”
“I didn't mean for this to happen! I wish we could have destroyed the stupid thing.” Red spins around and gestures to the ground in frustration.
Luis turns his head instinctively. By sheer coincidence he'd ended up standing nearly on top of it. A gold pocket lying innocent on the ground next to a smeared, bloody footprint he'd just left behind.
He picks it up cautiously.
Red makes a strangled noise. “Be careful. You can't –”
“We should use it.” Luis looks up at her again, nodding resolutely.
“No!” Her and Chloe manage to shout the word in near unison.
There's no way he's heard them wrong but he has to have heard them wrong. Max is...
Fuck, they weren't friends, not really, but Max is dead. They can't just do nothing. Not when the solution is literally in the palm of his hand.
“Why?” He asks. Begs. Surely they'll give him some reason that makes sense. Because right now a resentment is bubbling in his blood. They kept this a secret, caused mayhem, and now they want to play it safe?
Chloe scrunches back into herself, dragging her knees back to her chest as she looks away.
Red groans in frustration. “Can't you just trust me?”
Luis scoffs out a humorless laugh. He's never sounded more bitter. It feels like someone else.
But in reality, Red was someone else. Chloe too. Somehow, Max was the one he knew the most here. Sure it was from stupid arguments and assumptions and meaningless rivalries, but he knew Max. He'd apparently met these two a few days ago and they'd been pretending the whole time. He had no way to know if he could trust them, not really.
What Max did was wrong, but Luis couldn't really blame him. Having this dumped on him was overwhelming, to say the least.
How was someone supposed to act in his shoes?
“What if we're just constantly trading who's the one to die?” Red posits, gesturing at the fallen statue vaguely. She's not looking at it directly. Even with this insane, cruel argument she's not able to look at Max.
“What if we're not? You don't even want to try?” Luis shouts, flailing his arms at the destruction around them. The watch feels cold and heavy in his hand.
“We could make everything worse!” Red argues, voice firm even though she's still teary.
Luis turns to Chloe, silently urging her to talk some sense into Red.
She hesitates for a second before shaking her head right back. “It's too unpredictable. If we mess something up –”
“You can't be serious! You almost used it because your feelings were hurt!” Luis huffs, turning away. His eyes skip over the horrible scene instinctively but he forces himself to look again. Max's hand is still outstretched.
He hadn't meant to but he'd ended up positioning himself like that hand is reaching directly for him.
The realization sparks a ticking noise. His grip tightens on the watch but he can't bring himself to look at it. Part of him is afraid the watch will be still. That something in his brain had cracked after all the shit he'd given Max. Another part of him is afraid that it will be moving. Goading him to use it despite the warnings.
Mostly, he finds his stomach churning at the thought of turning away from that hand.
Someone had reached out for help – Max had reached out for help...
And Luis had failed.
They'd all failed.
He can hear Red stepping towards him, all soft and careful. Right now it feels less like she's coming to comfort him and more like she's trying to ambush him. Would she try to snatch the watch from him?
The ticking noise speeds up. His fingers tighten.
Max's don't. They can't. He's dead.
But he doesn't have to be.
He shouldn't be.
Red is close now. Nearly close enough to make a grab for the watch. Chloe is saying something but he can't hear it over the watch's cacophony.
Luis should look at Red. He should at least apologize to her face to face.
But he still can't bring himself to look away from that hand. His free hand twitches like he means to take it. To try and pull Max from the rubble.
It's not that hand that can do that though.
“Sorry, Red.” Luis offers feebly, jerking the watch forward just as she makes a desperate grab for it.
His thumb jams down on the crown of it and the ticking stops.