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Chloe coughed twice, stumbling over her feet. Her abdomen stung from where she was stabbed, and she stopped in an attempt to catch her breath. A quick glance behind her revealed she had put some distance between her place of captivity and the forest where she stopped. She rested her back against a tree, using her tightly bound hands to slow her respiration. She looked down at her feet, seeing the loosely tied rope wrap around her calves.
"Ugh," Chloe groaned to herself. "This is gonna slow me down."
Her gaze swept around her surroundings, looking for something to cut the ropes. Her eyes landed on something sharp and spiky. A bear trap.
Was it a bad idea? Definitely. But she had no other option if she wanted to escape quicker.
Chloe squeezed her eyes shut as she approached the bear trap, tentatively placing the twine around her foot in it. She knelt down and began fraying the rope by repeatedly rubbing it against the sharp claws of the bear trap. She kept rubbing it for multiple minutes until the rope began to slowly peel apart.
The sound of a twig snapping caught her by surprise. Chloe yelled, turning around to face whoever had made the noise. Her abrupt turn caused her to lose her footing, placing her leg in the middle of the bear trap. A large snapping sound was made as the trap shut closed on Chloe's foot, causing her to yelp and jump.
The pain of the trap latched onto her brain, making it the only thing she could focus on. The forest around her swam in and out of her vision, as the edges grew darker. Chloe stumbled back once more, causing the trap to sink further into her foot. She fell over, hitting her head harshly on a tree root. The last thing she noticed in her sight, was wavy purple locks of hair, before everything went dark.
Red was growing worried. Chloe hadn't answered any of her texts the entire day, nor had she answered any calls. She checked Chloe's location, and a small tendril of fear curled up in her stomach as she realised that her location had been turned off 40 minutes ago. In the many months of them dating, following Wonderland and everything after that, Red and Chloe had promised to always share their location with each other. Just in case.
She took a deep breath. Panicking wasn't going to help her with anything. Red checked her phone one last time, looking for Chloe's last seen location. She grabbed her coat before heading off towards Sidekick Academy. Hopefully this entire thing was a big misunderstanding, one they would laugh about in the future.
Sidekick Academy was nothing like Red had expected. She had seen pictures of it before, mainly from Chloe who was extremely excited about her upcoming visit— practically jumping off the walls. However, the Sidekick Academy that she approached looked to be slightly tilted, as if it had been moved a couple inches from its original position. Students were crowded along the entrance and the courtyard, whispering amongst themselves as they looked up fearfully at the school.
Red weaved her way through the people, looking around for a flash of curly blue hair. She looked for minutes on end, finding multiple curly blue haired heads but not her curly blue haired head. Despondently, she sank to the ground, sitting on the curb. She pulled her knees up, putting her head between her legs. A small object glinting in the sun caught her eye.
Red turned her head to the side, finding one of Chloe's silver hair pins lying on the ground. Next to it was a splatter of blood that Red prayed didn't belong to Chloe. She picked the pin up, turning it over in her hand. Her head lifted up a bit more, and she saw what looked to be a phone lying farther away. She stood, running towards it.
The phone looked to be smashed beyond repair, but could be easily identified as Chloe's. Red desperately tried to turn it on, hoping that it would still work despite its state. The phone made a small pinging noise, before showcasing Chloe's lockscreen of her and Red together. Red unlocked the phone, which was on Red's last chat with Chloe. There was an undelivered message sent to Red, along with a paused voice recording. Red walked over to a more secluded space, and sat down to listen to the recording. The first couple of minutes showed that the recording was made as an accident, but during minute five Red heard the beginning of what she assumed to be what happened to Chloe and the school.
Red brought the phone up, closer to her ear.
"Zara, you don't have to do this. The rest of the school did nothing wrong, why don't you just put the wand down and we can talk it out?"
Red almost sobbed as she heard Chloe's voice. She urgently needed to know what had happened to her girlfriend.
"What the fuck do you know about this Princess." The nickname was spat out like an insult. Red could only assume that the voice belonged to Zara "My best friend betrayed me, publicly says he hates me, I need to do this."
Red listened intently as she heard what she presumed to be a tussle between Chloe and Zara. The phone sounded as though it was dropped, and then silence.
For multiple beats.
The audio recording ended with a muffled thump, and a sound remarkably similar to a body hitting the floor.
Red sat there quietly. She hoped that Chloe wasn't too majorly injured. She knew of course that Chloe could handle herself, but she was worried nonetheless. There was not much anyone could do physically against magic. She tried to think of where Chloe could have been taken. Anywhere on school grounds would be ruled out, someone would have found them already. Red peered around, searching for an isolated area where Chloe could have been taken. She saw several more drops of blood, and some heavy footprints leading towards a large and ominous forest.
Red stood up, following the trail of blood. She came to the edge of the woods and saw a small strand of blue hair snagged on a tree root. She kept walking in the same direction, hoping that she wasn't heading the wrong way.
Red had been on the forest trail for almost 30 minutes, when she noticed another one of Chloe's hair pins. The pin was a few metres off the track, and the dirt next to it was indented as if something had been dragged through it. Red broke off into a sprint in the direction of the dirt tracks, praying that she would be able to find Chloe soon. She ran for a couple more miles, slowing down as she heard a raised voice.
"You just had to ruin it didn't you." Red recognised the voice as Zara's. "I'm gonna kill you, I swear."
Red hid behind a tree, peering past it to see a purple haired girl (who she could only assume was Zara) tower over Chloe. Her girlfriend sat there silently, with her hands tied tightly together and her legs spread out. Red could see something large attached to her left leg, though she couldn't make out exactly what from the place where she was stood at. Chloe's blue hair was matted with what appeared to be blood. Her clothes had mud all over them, and Chloe herself she had a large streak of dirt on her face.
Chloe looked up at Zara, her gaze a little unfocused. Her eyes squinted as she tried to follow what Zara was saying.
Red looked around, searching for something to incapacitate Zara so that she could save her girlfriend. Her eyes dropped down to a large stick. She picked it up, twirling it around, getting a good feel of it. She stood there next to the tree, waiting for the perfect moment to swing.
Zara finished monologuing, stepping forward towards Chloe with a sinister look on her face. Red took the opportunity and jumped behind her, swinging the stick. The log made contact with Zara's head, making a large thwack sound. Zara looked temporarily surprised before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she passed out.
Red wasted no time making her way to Chloe. She knelt beside her girlfriend, taking her bound hands in her free ones.
"Oh Chlo," she murmured. "What did she do to you."
Chloe blinked up at Red in surprise.
"You came," she broke out into a goofy grin.
"Of course I came you idiot."
"Your idiot," Chloe whispered before burying her head into Red's shoulder.
Red ran her hands through Chloe's hair, stopping when she heard her wince slightly. She gripped Chloe's chin, moving her head slightly towards the sun to look at the wound. There was some light bleeding, but it didn't look too bad. She looked into Chloe's eyes, and saw her pupils blown wide out, one eye's pupil bigger than the other.
"Well, I think you have a concussion."
Red then looked down at Chloe's leg. She recognised the large thing attached to her leg as a bear trap. The trap had attached itself firmly around Chloe's ankle, gripping its teeth into it, making her leg bleed sluggishly.
"Ouch Princess, how did this happen?" The title was uttered with gentle devotion, a stark contrast to how Zara had previously said it.
"Had to break the rope," Chloe slurred. "It— it was wrong. Tight. Couldn— couldn't move."
She leaned further into Red, closing her eyes.
"Hey, no, wait. Don't pass out on me. Stay awake Charming."
Chloe blinked slowly. In front of them Zara begin to stir.
Red threw a rock at her, hitting her on the head again.
"Let's get outta here." She said. "But first, let me take care of the trap."
Red stood on the bear trap, placing all her weight on the side leaf spring. The trap opened, and Chloe lethargically removed her leg. Red knelt down by her.
"Okay Princess, can you stand."
Chloe placed an arm around Red's shoulder, slowly putting weight on her legs. She stood for a second before both her leg collapsed. Red caught her before she could hit the ground.
"Okay, new plan."
Red knelt on the floor once again, and got Chloe to place both arms around her neck. She then slowly rose, carrying Chloe piggyback style. Chloe protested at first, blurring her words together as she tried to argue.
"Red, 'm fine."
"Princess you could barely stand without collapsing. I'm carrying you. End of story."
Red trudged through the woods. Carrying Chloe was putting a considerable strain on her arms, but the alternative would've hurt Chloe more so she ignored it. After her range of emotions today, the thought of having Chloe anywhere but in her arms was inconceivable.
The sun was beginning to set, covering Red and Chloe in it's orange rays. They had been walking for a while, stopping every now and then to readjust Red's grip or when Chloe would let out a large whimper of pain.
Red looked around at their surroundings. She recognised that tree. Maybe. They all looked the same. She turned around to see her previous footprints.
"I think we're lost."
"Uh oh," Chloe muttered, lifting her head up. "That's not good."
Red grabbed her phone from her pocket.
"Maybe I can call for help?" She held the phone high for a bit, fiddling with it before placing it back in her pocket. "Never mind, there's no cell service, guess we have to keep walking."
They kept plodding through the woods, trying to make their way back. Chloe had started rambling, something about the wind and the birds. Red didn't mind, as long as she stayed awake.
The sound of approaching footsteps grew nearer, and Red almost sank to the ground in relief. She turned around, careful of Chloe on her shoulders, and came face to face with Zara.
Zara had a large bump on her head from where Red had hit her, and she looked afraid.
"Listen," she started. "I know we got off on the wrong foot—"
"You nearly fucking killed my girlfriend." Red interrupted.
"Yes, I know. But," she paused. "It's getting darker, and there are creatures in these woods. I know you guys are lost, but I can help you find your way back."
"Don't you have your magic wand thing, why are you so scared of these creatures? And anyway what could we provide that would require you begging us for help?"
"There are some things that magic cannot harm. And as for what you can offer me." Zara took a breath, a conflicted expression flashing across her face before disappearing. "I want your help to grant me immunity. I know what I did was bad. I trapped the academy in a pocket dimension, and I kidnapped your girlfriend. I know I deserve the consequences of my actions, but please don't let them expel me. I'd have to go back to my mum, and she won't be pleased with me, to put it nicely."
Red paused, mulling it over.
"You lead us out of here, and we'll appeal to the Fairy Godmother for you. But after that I want you to never even glance at Chloe again."
Zara nodded fervently.
"I'm really sorry."
Chloe grimaced at her in response. Not quite forgiveness, but not utter contempt either.
Zara led them carefully to the edge of the woods, allowing them to finally gain sight of the academy.
Red immediately sprinted towards the infirmary where she could get Chloe medical attention. The nurses gently took Chloe from Red, running tests and diagnostic scans. The final diagnosis was that she had a concussion, as well as a sprained ankle with some bruising. There was also a small wound from when Zara had originally stabbed Chloe that needed stitching.
That night following the infirmary and appealing to Fairy Godmother, Red and Chloe lay together on the bed.
"I'm never letting you outside of my sight again princess."
Red drew Chloe closer, placing a protective hand over her. Chloe just snuggled closer to Red, her eyes closed in a deep sleep. Red closed her eyes as well, finally at peace with her girl next to her.