Chapter Text
Maddox Hatter wasn't an evil man. Not in the timeline she came from, at least. But when Red of Hearts woke up in a room full of pretty things she didn't remember having, was sent to a breakfast with a lovely mother and a little sister she didn't remember having, and asked about the man, a tutor she remember having, the whole castle hold a breath.
He and Max were his only friends back in the timeline where her mother was the Queen of Hearts, who ruled without a drop of care for her people, or her only daughter. The Hatters were her family. Well. Sort of. The closer she got to one at least. Her mother looked so preoccupied now.
"Dear, are you okay? Don't you remember? Maddox is lost since the barrier is down. Why are you asking about that mad man? We are safe now." She said, putting her hand on top of Red hand. Took Red a lot of effort to not take her hand away. Her mother didn’t touch her with gentleness in their previous timelines. It was so strange feeling her warmth that Red almost didn’t register the words.
"Safe? From Maddox? Wait... the Isle?"
"Red? Are you off your head?" Asked Pink. Which send shivers down Red spine. "We don't talk about that man. He already did evil enough"
"Yes...okay. But what about Max?"
"Oh! You must be asking because you will be with him again this year in Auradon Prep. I guess he is fine." Said the queen. "Director Uma must be taking good care of him"
"Yeah. I'm sure. Director Uma is very condescending with the VK's... that's what I heard from Chloe brother... "
A VK. Right. If Maddox was evil now, that meant Max grew up on the isle... she didn't...she doesn't...oh my cards! What had they done!
Red was spiraling and her mother hand on hers wasn’t helping.
Okay, she thought, let’s back up a little.
Her mother was good. And that meant agreeing with the union of the kingdoms. So, Wonderland was now part of the United States of Auradon. Which meant anyone who was a villain was sent to the Isle of the Lost. But what exactly did Maddox do?
She couldn't ask. It would give away that she didn't remember it because she wasn't from this timeline. She needed to find another way to discover this. Her mother was talking to her again.
"Oh, my dear! You have such a good heart worrying about him. But don't think about that! Think about seeing all your friends!"
"Yes... you are right." She said, trying to smile as that sounded like a thing a lovable daughter would do. “I can’t wait to see Chloe” and she meant it. She really needed to talk to someone who could understand.
"Can you believe Red! Me and you in Auradon Prep! Together! Just like we always dreamed!"
Pink was all bubbly and happy and didn't sound or looked like a girl who had lived under a controlling and murderous mother. So, Bridget of Hearts wasn't evil anymore. At least, not to her daughters. The rest of Wonderland was a mystery to Red yet. Another thing to learn about.
"Yes...Pink... I’m so happy!" She said. Feeling strange.
A sister. A mother. A family. But not Maddox. The best outcome possible. But not that perfect after all. That would be impossible. Even in Wonderland.
Her room was strange. Pink was strange. She kept saying things about Red favorite flowers and cupcakes and dresses. All things Red didn't even know about. The maids dressed her in red but not her usual spikes and leather. She was wearing flowering skirt, and her hair was in a really complicated heart up-do. Her makeup was lighter, just like her mother's. She wasn't the princess of broken hearts anymore. But a real princess, in a pretty castle and a happy home.
She didn't knew how to deal with that. It was almost suffocating in a way. Part of her was happy to be out, in school dorms, so that she wouldn’t need to pretend understanding the ways of a perfect family.
When her mother gave her a hug, sending kisses as they got in the car for Auradon, she was shaking. All that didn't sound real. She pinched herself, not dreaming then, she thought, as the car drove her away from Wonderland for the first time in her new life. And the second in her whole life.
Auradon prep looked exactly like the last time she was here, in her old timeline. Chloe was waiting for her outside the castle, with all Cinderela maids carrying her baggage inside. They hugged.
"How was your mother?" Chloe asked, holding her hands.
"The sweetest person alive. Yours?"
"Alive. But…” she hesitated, that got Red worried “I don't know. Different"
"Do you think we changed her life too?" the worries growing.
"Well. She didn't lose her best friend to the forces of evil so… I guess... that changes a person’s perspective."
"Yes. But she wasn't the only one whose changed because of my mother's goodness"
Chloe frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"I still don't know."
"Red! What's dragging you?” Said pink from inside the dorms, “Let's go! I need to find my roommate!"
"Who’s that?” asked Chloe.
“My little sister” said Red, with a strange smile “One year younger. Pink of hearts.”
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Big changes"
“We are roommates,” said Chloe, letting go of her hand and entering with the maids from Wonderland carrying Red baggage. "We can talk later, okay?"
"Okay, I guess.” And she also entered the dorms, following Pink’s voice.
Pink roommate was Ariel little daughter, Melody. They got along well. Red helped her gather her things and then headed to her own room with Chloe. She just needed to figure out where that was. The Red she was in this timeline studied in Auradon Prep for a whole year already. While this Red was homeschooled her whole life. Maddox was her teacher back then. She never saw Max back in the day. Maddox was too afraid to show his son to the queen and accidentally give her a new toy. He couldn't save Red, but he needed to save Max. So, Max grew up inside Maddox inventor tower in the castle. Safe from the vicious eyes of the queen and away from a normal kid life.
When Red was eleven years old, she followed Maddox to the tower. Hoping to find his latest invention. What she found instead was a weak boy in bow ties and mismatched socks. Red was planning on cutting his head off and giving it to her mother as a gift when Maddox interfered. Explained that he was Max Hatter, his son, and that she couldn't tell a soul about him.
After that day, Red and Max started having tutoring classes together in the tower.
He was smart and quirky just like Maddox and was always making tea when she arrived. Red didn't talk a lot with him without Maddox presence because only him there could explain Red there. But she found the boy pleasing to be around. Maddox was still her favorite Hatter, and she kind of hoped to be his favorite kid too. Red didn’t knew who her father was, and even in this happy timeline Bridget ruled by herself. Maddox was what she imagined a father would be like. Sometimes, she watched the way he treated Max and demanded the same treatment. To some degree, she didn’t remember what her mother embrace was like but knew what was like to be loved when Maddox complimented her essays and gave her a sweet stole from the kitchen.
Max never looked annoyed with the treatment Red received from Maddox. He just didn’t like the idea of her writing better essays than him. He was rather clumsy with words but was beyond geniuses with mad science. He understood the difficult alchemy books in the tower like Red understood her painting tools. Max was happy when his hands were full of strange fluids in pretty glasses and everything was bubbling and smoking. That made him also a really good cooker, even if sometimes he almost exploded the tower. It was Max who made her the only birthday cake she ever tasted, since birthdays were forbidden in Wonderland.
It was her sixteen birthday. And only Maddox remembered. He gave her a chessboard with pieces that moved by voice, a new invention made with his automata. And Max spent a long time in the tower kitchen creating red sprinkles to put on top of a black frosting. Red didn’t have anything to compare, so she didn’t know if it was a good or bad cake, and Maddox didn’t say anything either, but seemed rather pleased to be eating cake again, even if made by someone who didn’t knew how cake was supposed to taste.
Maddox told them a story about old times, about a young Hatter who saw his homeland turn into a reign of terror in the hands of a sad queen who was once a colorful girl. And Red fell asleep while she laid on half of Max bed, as the older hatter told a tall tale about a one girl armor, who fought against said queen. That was her best birthday, the only one she remembered.
She needed to find where Max was, and what could have happened to a sweet boy like him on the Isle of the Lost. But first, she needed to find her way to her room. That was what she was thinking, when she crashed into a leathering wall.
“Hey!” said a girl’s voice, coming from the leather coat “look where you are going, HK!” Looking down at Red was a broad girl with long curly hazel hair. A VK, without a doubt, if the hook in her hand and the defiant look were any suggestion. Red was staring at her. “What? Did you lose something in the VK’s corridor?”
Red didn’t knew what to say. Her first instinct, as a former VK, was to make the big girl get down to her knees, so she could see what was like being seen from above. But her new status as HK, and a strange sensation that it was wrong intimidating people made her not react.
“Hazel, cut the crap.” Said someone behind the girl. A strangely familiar voice. “Let the princess go before we get into trouble in our first day back.”
From behind Hazel Hook appeared a purple haired boy, with smoked eyes and nails painted black. He was wearing a black hat with some spikes, a long lilac coat and some green trousers. He looked at Red and she opened her mouth in shock as he showed her a cunning smile.
“Max?”