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The shadows clung to her at all times. No matter what she did where she went, they followed her. Ever since that night. Chloe understands the weight of what she did. She had the physical reminders along with the mental ones. Her hair still had not returned to it's original shade of blue, instead resembling the colour of midnight. Her wrist still ached and carried the burnt scars of the bracelet. The faded memory of that night was burnt into her brain, the murkiness of her thoughts being overridden by the bracelet.
Red woke up to the sound of tossing and turning. She rolled over in her bed to see a shadow moving across the room. She squinted her eyes and caught a glimpse of blue hair. The figure bent over, picking up a sword, before slipping out of the room, gently shutting the door behind.
Red checked her phone.
3:27AM
She blinked a few times before sleep took over her again.
Sunlight streamed through the windows illuminating Red's face. She turned over to face the bed next to her, finding it empty. Red sat up alarmed, she looked around the room before spotting a white piece of paper lying on her bedside table.
"Dear Red,
Don't be alarmed if I'm not there, I've gone to Swords & Shields practice a little early.
Yours truly,
Chloe."
Red felt a hazy memory of Chloe leaving the room slither out of her brain. She checked her phone again.
8:42
Had Chloe really been practicing for 5 hours?
Red tumbled out of bed, hurrying to get ready. She left the dorm room making her way down to the Swords & Shields practice room.
The Swords & Shields gym looked to be in a total disarray. Hay from the practice dummies was strewn all over the ground, along with scuff marks from shoes and small dents from swords. In the middle stood Chloe furiously swinging her sword at a practice dummy. Red leaned against the wall, admiring Chloe. Her toned arms flexed as she swung, and her lips pursed as she concentrated on her target. Red was shaken out of her stupor when she noticed the unshed tears that were pooled in Chloe's eyes.
She surged forward grabbing Chloe's arms, pulling her against herself. Chloe struggled for a moment before dropping her arms. Her sword clattered loudly against the ground, and Chloe became limp in Red's arms allowing her to carry all of her weight. Red slowly lowered herself to the ground, keeping a firm hold on Chloe. She placed Chloe in her lap, running her hands through Chloe's blue curls.
They sat there together in silence, Chloe's face buried in Red's shoulder. A sob broke through her as her body started trembling. Red pulled Chloe in tighter, slowly tracing a pattern on her back.
"What's going on pretty girl?"
Chloe's lips trembled.
"Nothing. It's fine. I'm fine."
"Chloe," Red gripped Chloe's chin gently, lifting her face up to make eye contact with her. "It's obviously not nothing. You barely sleep anymore, and you spend all your time practicing."
Chloe's eyes welled with tears once more and she raised her arm to wipe them away. Her sleeve rolled down, exposing her wrist.
Red gasped and gripped Chloe's hand.
"Oh Chlo," her fingers ghosted over the scar of what she assumed to be from the bracelet. "Is this- is this from the Wonderland? Why didn't you tell me?"
Chloe's eyes widened as she yanked her arm back.
"What? No! It's fine, I'm fine."
She stumbled out of Red's lap before grabbing her sword and bolting out of the room, leaving Red by herself on the floor.
A week passed by and Red noticed Chloe was slowly pulling away more than before. She rarely frequented their shared dorm, only stopping by late at night for a few hours of unrestful sleep. She stoped showing up to the cafeteria for meals. In the rare moments that Red was able to catch sight of Chloe, she noticed that Chloe had grown silent. The moments in class where she used to constantly raise her hand to answer questions had been replaced with quietness where Chloe would barely make eye contact with the teacher. Fleeting glances at her notebook in class showed no notes, where once there would be pages upon pages of writing. The weather got hotter over the next few weeks, and yet Chloe's clothing remained long and heavy. She refused to switch to the summer version of the Swords and Shields uniform, electing to keep her long sleeves and pants.
It all came to a head that day during the lunch period.
Red approached Chloe at the end of their lesson and dragged her to sit with the rest of the Wonderland crew. She hadn't been able to convince Chloe to leave all her books behind, but something was better than nothing.
There they all sat on the grass pavilion, Robbie, Felix, and Luis deep in conversation, while Red stared at Chloe in concern as she picked and nibbled at her lunch. Hazel sat off to the side with the Smee twins surrounding her, squabbling over something or the other. Pink lay down on the grass, staring up at the sky.
Red watched as Chloe pushed the rest of her lunch away, only a quarter eaten, and instead picked up her history textbook to read.
She heard faint footsteps and turned her head to see Max approaching the group. He joined the group and silently waved before sitting down at the empty space next to Chloe, who seemed to not notice his arrival.
Max gave a questioning look to Red, who shrugged her shoulders, before leaning over Chloe's shoulder to get a better look at the book she was reading. Chloe glanced up at Max's profile leaning over her, and her body seemed to unwillingly flinch away from him.
Chloe's eyes widened as she stuttered through repeated apologies, before hurriedly gathering her things and leaving the group.
Max and Red made eye contact once more, as the rest of the group stared at Chloe's retreating figure.
"Uh... What was that?" He questioned as his finger pointed vaguely in the direction that Chloe was heading.
"I have no clue," murmured Red as her forehead drew closer together as if she were deep in thought. "Something's been up with Chloe though, she's been distancing herself from me for a while."
The rest of the group all nodded along, each interjecting with their instances of Chloe estranging herself.
"She doesn't ever look me in the eyes," Max added. "Not that she ever talks to me that much or ever looks at me."
Red's eyes widened as he spoke, and a flash of recognition shot through them.
"I think I might know what this is about," she mumbled before running in the same direction that Chloe had previously gone.
Red hovered outside the door to her and Chloe's shared room. Her hand inched towards the door knob, slowly turning it as she entered the room. Chloe was crouched against the wall, head between her knees, sucking in gulps of air as if she couldn't breathe properly. Her hands shook as she let out tiny sobs.
Red rushed to her side, kneeling down beside her. She hovered awkwardly in front of Chloe. Her hands reached out tentatively before she pulled them back again.
"Can I touch you?" She asked, inching her hands forward once again.
Chloe responded with another sob before lurching forward into Red's lap. She curled up into a little ball, and gripped Red's jacket tightly.
Red held her closer, humming a soft lullaby. She rubbed her hands up and down Chloe's back in a soothing pattern. They sat three, backs against the wall for a couple of minutes, before Red scooped up Chloe and stood up.
Chloe whined, a small sound of distress and gripped Red harder.
"I'm not going anywhere, I'm just moving us towards the bed." Red shushed her soothingly.
Together, they both laid down, limbs tangled with each other. Red continued her humming, and ran her fingers through Chloe's hair. She felt as Chloe slowly released all the tension in her body, falling asleep on top of Red. Red lay as still as she could, hoping not to jostle and wake Chloe. It had been so long since she had seen Chloe actually sleep properly. Recently, most of her sleep had been riddled with night terrors. Red's eyes slowly closed as she too succumbed to sleep, she pulled Chloe closer to her almost instinctively as she fell into a deep slumber.
When Red awoke again, she noticed that the lack of weight on top of her. She blearily sat up, realising that Chloe had gotten up sometime before her. Her gazed swept throughout the room, and she saw Chloe dressed up, looking as though she were about to leave the dorms.
"What's up? Where are you going?" Red questioned.
Chloe jumped, her eyes wide and guilty as though she didn't expect Red to be awake.
"Oh hey," she mumbled. "Um... Hazel invited me to this party. Well, she invited both of us technically, but I know that's not really your thing. I mean it's not really mine either, but I wanted a change of scenery."
Red nodded slowly to the rambling.
"Are you sure you want to go?" She asked. "I mean I know these past couple of weeks have been a bit..." She gave a general with her hand. "I'm sure Hazel would understand if you gave this one a miss."
Chloe's eyes flared with something akin to anger.
"I told you I'm fine Red." She snapped.
They both stared at each other for a second. Red's face tinged with surprise. Chloe's expression slowly fell, irritation replaced with remorse.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap, but I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
Red stared at Chloe for another second, before making a quick decision.
"I'm coming with you," she declared, as she stood up and began to get ready.
They walked together in silence, the cool night breeze blowing down on them. Chloe wrapped her arms around herself, her shoulders curled in. It reminded Red faintly of their argument back in the White Rabbit's House. They arrived at Hazel's house, Chloe lifted a trembling arm to knock.
The door swung open and Hazel appeared, drink in her hand. She looked confused for a fraction of a second before smoothening her face into a neutral look.
"Princess," she greeted Chloe. "Didn't think you'd make it."
Hazel nodded her head at Red as well in greeting.
"Yeah, well here I am," Chloe said.
Hazel opened the door wider.
"Come in, make yourself at home."
The house was filled with people.
"The drinks are over there, help yourself." Hazel waved her arm in a general direction before stumbling off somewhere else.
Red leaned back watching as Chloe fixed herself another drink. She watched as some blonde guy tapped her on the shoulder.
The blonde leaned in closer towards Chloe, who tilted backwards. Her eyebrows furrowed as her jaw clenched. Red saw her shake her head once, slurring something. The guy took a step towards Chloe, his arm reaching out and gripping her chin. He grinned lewdly down at her, as his other hand reached under her shirt. Chloe squirmed but was too inebriated to do more than move back a couple inches.
Red jolted up from her position across the room, and ran towards Chloe.
"Fuck off," she swore pushing the guy off of Chloe. "Leave her alone."
The guy turned to Red, his smile becoming more of a sneer.
"She was obviously asking for it Princess, leave us alone I'll take care of her."
Red took another step forward, standing in between Chloe and the man. She clenched her fists a few times, breathing harshly.
The blonde stepped to the side, as if he were going to go past Red to Chloe. Red took another deep breath before swinging her fist towards his face.
The man snarled and jumped towards Red but Hazel got in the middle pulling him back.
"What's happening here?"
Majority of the people in the house were looking towards them, staring.
"This— this asshole was touching Chloe. Said she wanted it."
Hazel's face hardened. She nodded towards Chloe once.
"Go, take your girl. I'll deal with this piece of shit."
Red grabbed Chloe, dragging her along with her. Chloe stumbled next to Red, her legs almost giving out on her.
"Okay wait this isn't working." Red stopped them before lifting Chloe over her shoulders like a sack of potatoes.
Red carried Chloe all the way to their dorm, placing her gently on the bed. She stood up to go to the bathroom but was pulled back by Chloe's arms.
"Red," she whispered. "I can't do this anymore. It's too much. I can't, I just can't."
Red shushed her gently.
"I know Chlo. It's okay. We'll talk tomorrow morning."
Red stirred awake the next morning as the sun's rays hit her in the face. She felt a weight on her and opened her eyes to see Chloe's sleeping form. Red sat there and stared. Chloe looked strangely peaceful in her sleep. The usual anxious furrow of her brows had smoothened out. Red noticed the dark circles formed under her eyes from her lack of sleep, as well as the dried tear tracks on her face.
Chloe slowly awakened, becoming more aware of her surroundings. She turned around, took one good look at Red before attempting to jump out of the bed. Red's arms tightened around Chloe, not uncomfortably but firm.
"No wait," she said. "Stay. I want to talk about what's been going on with you."
Chloe opened her mouth as though she were about to argue, before closing it and hanging her head low. She burrowed closer to Red.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Hey, no. It's okay. You don't have anything to be sorry for."
"But I do." Chloe argued. "For Wonderland, and for basically everything. I just— it's just that—. You were going through so much as well, and I dumped all my problems on you. And I definitely need to apologise for Midnight Chloe—"
"Chloe, Chloe stop." Red interrupted. "Chlo. Listen. You don't need to apologise for anything. I got so caught up in my new life that I forgot about you and about us. And Midnight Chloe wasn't your fault. You were coerced by Max. I promise you clover, there is nothing you need to apologise for."
Red reached out, wiping a stray tear off of Chloe's cheeks. She reached down and gripped Chloe's arm, gently pulling her sleeve back. Her fingers ghosted over the darkened scars. Red slowly lifted Chloe's arm up to her face, placing soft kisses around the scars.
"It's okay, everything will be okay." Red pulled her closer. "Close your eyes, sleep for a little longer, I'll be here for you when you wake up."
Things weren't fixed, they wouldn't be for a while. But Chloe could finally go to sleep in peace knowing that she didn't have to carry everything alone. Knowing that Red was there to protect her.