Chapter Text
The tea party had come and gone. A win celebrated. A mad man imprisoned.
Everything should just go back to normal now. Or at least some version of normal?
Right?
No. Because things are never that easy in the land of stories. The harsh truths can never be so easily hidden. Or if someone tries to, they are never hidden for long. And other times, they just forced out.
Pink helped The Smees settle into their guest room at the palace. (Her mother had graciously allowed the kids to stay the night to rest properly after their days of Wonderland adventures to save her and Chloe's mum.)
Okay, it might have been settling in followed by a little bit of a pillow fight and messing around. That got called off by Hazel and Red when the pair had realised that the three of them hadn't gone to bed yet. The Smees immediately at Hazel's words, gathered the pillows off the floor and went to bed.
Pink liked The Smees and her other new VK friends. She hoped that the end of the adventures didn't mean the end of their new friendships. It was different working with and being friendly with them.
She walked out of the room. The pirate girl said a soft sweet dreams to both Smees before she trailed out of the room turning the light off and leaving the door just a little open.
"You should go to bed too, little Princess." The girl said with a wave of her hook before walking off to her guest room. "Night, Pink. Night, Red."
Pink just lightly nodded. "Night, Hazel." She just stood there for a moment.
"Come on, Pink. It's bed time." Red said. "Let's go now before anyone else wakes up." She continued as walked down the corridor.
"Fine." The shorter girl huffed and shuffled along behind Red.
"Is everything okay, Pink?" The older girl asked as she turned around to face her younger sister.
"It's just…" The younger girl began looking at the floor.
"Just?" The taller girl asked softly. "What's wrong? Do I need to get mum?"
"No." The pink clad girl accidentally shouted. "No, you don't need to get mum." She answered quietly.
"Then what, Pink?" The red clad girl questioned carefully.
"I've just been thinking about what you and Chloe and Max were saying earlier to everyone about what happened and why it did." Pink said, picking her words carefully. "That… That other timeline sounded horrible. It sounded terrifying. And the fact that you had to go through it all by yourself for most your life. I just wish you didn't have to."
Red smiled a soft and slightly sad smile. She took a few steps to hug her sister. "But I'm not there anymore. I'm here. And I have you and a nice mum and Chloe and the rest of our little adventure crew. I won't be alone again. Not like that. Neither of us will. I promise."
"Okay." Pink replied, her voice muffled against Red's chest.
"Now it really is time for bed. Mum might not be a tyrant in this timeline but I'm pretty sure that she will still get annoyed if we're still awake late and don't wake up on time to get back to school in the morning." Red said as she stepped back from the hug and ruffled Pink's hair a little.
Pink made a sound of annoyance then tried to smooth out her hair. "Okay, good night, Red." She said as she approached her room door.
"Good night, Pink." Red replied before stepping into her own room and shutting the door behind her.
Pink was alone in the corridor for a just a moment. The palace being so quiet was a little odd to her. She twisted the door handle and pushed the door open.
Her room was still the same. She didn't know why she expected it to change somehow. She had just been here a little over a week ago before the first day of school. There was no reason that it should change while she wasn't there.
She made her way to her bed. Moved her extra pillows out of the way before she got herself into bed.
She rolled over to turn her lamp off, plunging her room into near darkness and snuggled her little pink bunny as she slowly fell asleep.
"Don't do that, little missy." A man's voice called out in a jokey manner.
A childish giggle and pattering little footsteps going further away from the man.
The colours simple and almost normal in the room but oh so very red outside the window.
"I've got you now, little missy." The man said as he wrapped his arms around the child to stop…
To stop her. To stop the little girl.
The little girl just giggled again in response.
The girl wasn't trapped by the man. She was messing about like little children do.
Pink woke up with a start. She gripped her bunny close to her chest.
That dream was very weird. She didn't know what it meant.
She couldn't remember the faces of the man or the girl. But the colours…
The colours they wore felt so….
Familiar.
Feelings of joy but also risk and fear lingering behind it.
She rolled over to check the time on her clock. It was still late at night. She considered waking up now but it seemed too early to wake up for the morning.
She rolled herself back, took a few breathes and kept holding the bunny tight.
She snuggled herself deep into her duvets and closed her eyes. She let sleep take over and hoped not to have another complicated dream like that.