Chapter Text
Timeline 27
…
Red reaches for the knife on the bedside table, ready to tuck it into her boot as she gets ready for the day, and then hesitates. She turns it over slowly in her hand. Familiar.
She had almost given up too soon several weeks ago, cutting off this timeline before she was ready. She doesn’t think she’ll ever be ready. She doesn’t want to start over. Ever. Chloe’s words whisper in her ear- a ghosting brush against her skin. ‘Gods, Red. This is the last time, okay?’
Red… doesn’t want to start over. Could this really be the last time? Just two more weeks, and her mom could be overthrown and…
Slowly, Red sets the knife back down on the table. Her fingers linger on the hilt, then pull away. Even if she’s captured, even if she’s dragged before the Queen, it’s not over until her head parts from her neck.
“Hey.” Arms loop around her waist from behind, tugging her back against a warm front.
Red turns, eyes passing over her face, lingering on her scar. She reaches up, ghosting her fingers along the line, tracing it from one end to the other, nose to ear. Chloe tilts her face into the touch with a sigh and lidded eyes.
“I know you think it’s your fault, but it’s not,” she hums. “It’s just a scar.”
“Scars aren’t just scars,” Red retorts, thinking of her own collection. “They’re reminders.”
“This is my reminder,” she argues. “That I fought for something, and I won. I protected you. When I see it, I only feel pride.” She angles her head to glance a kiss against her palm, and looks at her warmly through her lashes. “I love you, Red.”
Red sucks in a sharp breath. She instinctively- initially- recoils, hand lifting away and curling into itself. Her heart stalls. Then it takes off in her chest like a rabbit late for a meeting. Then, unmitigated joy bursts through her, and she grabs either side of her girlfriend’s face, bringing their foreheads together.
“I-” the words get lodged in her throat with a gasp. She tries to force them out. To return the vulnerable confession, but they’re stuck like her mother’s hand is around her throat and her whisper is a hiss in her ear. ‘What you want doesn’t exist.’ Except it must. It does. “I-” she tries again desperately, and Chloe’s hand passes gently down her arm as she offers a sad little smile.
“It’s okay, Red. You don’t need to say it.”
But she wants to. She’s been wanting to, she’s beginning to realize, as it builds familiarly like a licking fire behind her ribs, demanding she pay attention or it will burn her from the inside out. And no matter how she looks at it, no matter all her mother’s warnings in her ear, she only wants to protect that flame and let it consume her. She wouldn’t mind burning.
But those particular words, no matter how hard she tries, no matter knowing what they are now, don’t shape in her mouth. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” Red swears instead- an insufficient stand in for the words she really wants to relay- for the ones Chloe had just gifted her for the first time in her life. “I’ll protect you, too." She can feel the conviction in her muscles, tense, barely resisting dragging the princess into her arms and trapping her there. "No matter what.”
“We’ll get through this,” Chloe promises, tilting her chin and bumping their noses. They stay there for a long moment, Chloe a calming presence- Red teetering on calm the longers she's held. Then Chloe seems to startle. “Oh, I got you something,” she says, drawing away just far enough to reach into her pocket.
She pulls out a small slip of a thing, stiffer than paper, and passes it over. Red’s heart stalls when she sees that it’s a picture. Their picture- Chloe draped over her and Red grinning goofily. She stares at it, holding it carefully, and Red doesn’t know how to handle this much warmth and raw, choking emotion. When it had appeared on Chloe's wall, surrounded by all the other things and people Chloe cares for, Red hadn't been able to pull her eyes away. Since then, it had stopped her without fail every time she passed it, or even when her attention would drift from across the room.
This one is smaller than the original. Pocket sized.
“This one is for you. Do you like it?” Chloe prompts, and Red withdraws the pocket-watch from her shirt and flicks open the cover. The picture settles perfectly overtop the glass before Red snaps it closed and lets it fall. Now it’s protected, and she can always carry it with her.
She’d like to keep staring at it, but she wants to kiss the princess more. So she reaches out and drags the princess’s face back toward hers.
Chloe makes a little humming noise as their mouths connect, parting her lips and deepening the kiss. The room spins, and she doesn’t know how it happens, but Red’s back hits the bed.
It’s not the first time they’ve kissed laying down like this, but it’s the first time that it’s not soft, glancing, so very sweet kisses that make her forget to breathe and how to function. These kisses are almost rough in nature and steal her breath even when she does remember the need for it. It’s open mouth and tongue and a different kind of intensity, different kind of ache. It’s a longing that carves and settles low in her stomach, and it’s helplessly trying to hold the other girl to her while she gasps into her mouth.
And then Chloe’s lips leave hers, trailing across her jaw with little nips that send shocks down her spine. And then those dragging teeth reach her neck, and something darker else shivers through her.
A hair raising tingle of anxiety. Discomfort. Distracting from the other things she feels in and on her body- like the hand just under her shirt, stroking little patterns along her ribs. She tries to focus on that instead. It feels nice.
But Chloe sucks gently at her pulse, and suddenly all Red can feel is the wet heat against her skin. And then the barest pressure of teeth.
Her chest hitches in something other than want. A disconcerting static tickles insistently at the back of her skull and spreads quickly across her skin, and she flinches away from the sensation.
Chloe pulls back, eyes dark but face pinched in concern. “Sorry. Too much?” she asks, withdrawing her hand.
Red mourns the loss of contact despite the fog that is trying to crawl over her.
“No, no,” Red says quickly, and it’s true. She doesn’t want to stop.
Chloe frowns at her doubtfully, sitting back on her heels. “Then what’s wrong? I know something is. Talk to me, please.”
“Just-” Red’s hand lifts to her throat, swallowing as she clutches at the spit slicked side trying to stem the bleeding. “I don’t-” She rubs harshly at the spot, trying to scrub away the sensations- the clutter of memories that feel just a little too close to the surface. “Not on my neck? Please?”
Chloe’s eyes immediately soften. “Kissing? Or touching in general?” she asks. She slouches down beside Red, turning on her side and facing her. One hand goes to prop her head while the other reaches out to the one of Red’s that is resting limply on her stomach, threading their fingers.
“Um. Probably best to just steer clear.” Red lets her hand fall from her neck she's fine, she's not bleeding and traces the back of her hand. “That’s, um. Where most of my deaths came from. Split throat. Beheading.” Red sees the horror on her face and grimaces. “Sorry.”
“Gods, don’t apologize, Red.” Her hand falls from her cheek as she sits up on her elbow to look down at Red. “That’s…” She shakes her head sharply, crushing Red’s hand. “Shit. Okay. Anywhere else I should avoid?”
“No?” Red guesses. “I’m not sure.”
“We can learn as we go,” Chloe reassures. “But only if you tell me if I do anything that makes you uncomfortable, okay?”
Red lifts the hand on her stomach to her face, kissing it. “Yeah. I liked everything else though.”
“Yeah?” Chloe asks, smiling a little and turning her hand to trace fingertips over Red’s lips.
“Uh huh,” she nods.
"Good," Chloe pulls her closer until they are chest to chest, hip to hip, and her forehead comes down to rest against Red's, "Because I did too." She breathes in deeply. Red mimics it, and her nose and senses are flooded in Chloe. Her skin carries a different scent that her hair, which falls forward and tickles her nose as Chloe grazes a flutter of kisses across her cheek. She stops when she reaches Red's ear, pressing her nose into the hair just above it. "Let's just stay here a while," she sighs softly.
It's not like Red is going to object.
………………….
Red wakes to the quiet of their room feeling warm. Not just temperature warmth, but a heat in her chest that makes her insides, her head, feel still. Content.
She can feel Chloe in the bed with her, wrapped around her back. Her breath tickles the back of her neck, slow and even. Red’s (really Chloe’s) shirt has ridden up during the night, and Chloe’s hand rests just under it on her stomach. She holds her breath for a moment as the fingers curl slightly, clutching her in her sleep.
Then the arms around her flex further, tugging Red more firmly against her as she snuffles and nuzzles against her shoulder.
“Mmm, morning,” Chloe mumbles, relaxing her arms and leaning heavily into her. Her voice is rough with sleep, a pleasant sounding, scratchy timbre that makes Red shiver.
Red presses back, holding onto the arms holding her, not wishing to move. Not ever. Not when moving means only one more night in this bed before they confront her mother. Things will have to change after that, right? When there is no fight against her mother, why would the King and Queen let her stay?
Red turns her head, craning it back, and her nose bumps the underside of her girlfriend’s chin. She makes a happy sounding hum as Red aims a kiss at her lips, missing just slightly before Chloe angles her head for better access. “It is a good morning,” she mumbles, sliding her hand higher up Red’s stomach.
Red sucks in a shaky breath through her nose, heart jumping. Emotions have been… so sharp since meeting Chloe. Not just for Chloe, but in general- the world is sharper. Painful and too much sometimes. It crawls through her, overwhelming and intense, filling her so much it feels like she’s fit to burst. She doesn’t know what to do with it all.
“I love you,” Chloe murmurs, drawing back just slightly and placing soft, lingering little kisses to Red’s lips, never enough for the throbbing in her chest. It’s not enough. It’s not enough. Red wants to crawl into her skin, or draw her into her own, or- something. It’s too much- it’s achingly not enough. Gods.
Red turns her body slightly so her neck isn’t at such a dramatic angle as she catches the princess’s lip between her teeth and draws her closer. Closer until she can easily press her tongue forward past parted lips. Her girlfriend makes a very pleasing sound that has heat rushing through her and sleepiness evaporating. The blankets are suddenly too hot, and she kicks them, hooking her leg through one of Chloe’s and drawing it between hers before pressing up.
“Gods, Red,” Chloe gasps, coming wide awake as she presses Red back into the bed harder than before, and Red’s hands slide up to tangle in messy blue hair.
“Chloe,” Red answers, chest squeezing, pressing closer. “Chloe, I… Chloe, please, I-” love you.
She wants to say it. It aches to a painful degree as it’s held back by something she cannot control, throbbing and crashing like waves against her chest cavity. She needs to say it. But it won’t make it past the gnawing in her teeth. So she pulls her even closer. Closer.
Closer.
“I know,” Chloe reassures on the softest of whispers. “I love you,” she whispers again, and it’s not fair- not fair that she can't give this gift to her in return when she does. Red bites her in response. Sharp. Pleading. She drags her nails down to the small of her back, clinging closer by her waist. “Fuck,” Chloe breathes against her lips, "Red, I want you." Fingers pull at her clothes, but don't dare to remove them. Red would have let her- her shirt is already bunched halfway over her ribs.
“I’m yours,” she promises, just as breathless. And if she can’t ever put voice to her feelings, this, at least, is the truest thing Red has ever uttered. Because there is nothing else, now. Maybe there never was, from the moment Red snuck down to that dungeon with that blanket. From the moment she went against her mother and removed that helmet and those brown eyes blinked back at her, soft even in their confusion and fear.
Chloe's hand drags further up her exposed stomach and underneath her shirt, just grazing the underside of her breast. Kisses press across her cheek, teeth bite at her jaw, and then skip her neck entirely and past her increasingly bunched shirt, to graze lips against her lower sternum.
“Can I have you?” Chloe asks against her skin.
“I’m yours,” Red says again on a low whine, that thrumming, intoxicating rush heating her from the inside out. Her own heartbeat is choking her.
“Red,” Chloe says, pulling back and staring down at her. Her whole body hovers over her, hips flush and legs entwined, hair a tousled and dense curtain around them. “Do you understand what I’m asking?”
“Chloe,” Red responds impatiently, stretching and pushing her chest up against her, “I’m not that unaware. Take off my fucking clothes.”
“Oh.” An even deeper flush fills her cheeks as a bubbly, nervous laugh escapes. “Okay.”
…………………..
Red gets flashes every time she closes her eyes. A glimpse of a blue curl. A whiff of a familiar scent. Her skin tingles with the imprint squeeze of their desperate goodbye. Her chest is still squeezing with it.
She fumbles with the watch, and then forces herself to be careful when she grasps the picture hidden inside it. They’ve only been apart for a couple hours, but she traces the outline, longing to have her back at her side again. It’s better this way, though- Chloe with the team evacuating the school. Even if Red isn't with her.
Chloe shouldn’t be coming under direct combat as her mother’s endless armies become preoccupied with the mass of soldiers marching into the capital, pulled from every kingdom not already brought to their knees. And, even more importantly, she won’t be going to Beast Castle where she’d fall under the awareness of the Queen of Hearts herself. Red hadn't told her girlfriend until later, that she had asked to go with the dragon Queen instead of the school. Chloe had still wanted to go with Red, but sneaking onto a dragon is a bit harder than a shipping container.
She had been prepared for her princess's anger. Instead, she had wrapped her in a crushing hug, and made her swear that she'd be careful. That they'd see each other soon.
Red is brought out of her thoughts by a slightly unfamiliar voice. “That is sickeningly sweet.”
Red blinks at the dragon Queen without her throne, and then back down at her picture. She carefully returns it to it's secure spot in her watch and clicks it closed. Safe. Like Chloe will be after today.
“You’ll see your Princess Charming soon enough, kid. It’s going to be an easy day,” she says, arms folded as she leans against a tree.
“You don’t know my mother,” Red counters half-heartedly.
“Maybe not, but I’ve known plenty of bitches just like her. Power crazy, spiteful assholes who throw temper tantrums when they don’t get what they want? Sound familiar?”
“Intimately,” Red huffs, shoulders relaxing. She glances at the queen. “Are you going to send me back to Wonderland? After you capture my mom?”
“Do you want to go back to Wonderland?” Mal asks.
She doesn’t even need to think about it. “I want to stay with Chloe,” Red says. Even though she’s not allowed to want things. Wanting things always ensured she didn’t get it. But that was with her mom.
“Then you’ll stay with Chloe,” the Queen of all queens sighs. “Look, we’ll figure everything out after all this is over. I already have a headache just thinking about all the meetings that I’m going to be stuck in the next couple days. But after going against your mom like you have? You deserve a say. You’ll have a say.”
Red blinks, stunned at those words. At the meaning of those words. She’s never had a say before in anything involving her life. “Oh,” she utters.
The eerie green gaze observes her for a moment. The Mal grumbles, “Fuck, how has Uma not adopted you yet,” flicking her eyes away.
“The principal?” Red sputters in confusion. “She’s hardly in Ellasburg, and I’m almost seventeen. Why would she adopt me?”
“Nevermind,” she sighs, straightening as she glances at her phone. “You ready? We need to-” she cuts herself off as her head abruptly whips up, fast. She takes two steps toward the edge of the trees, nose flaring and eyes suddenly blazing a brilliant green. “Something’s wrong,” she says, every muscle taught.
“What,” Red says, sharply. Her already tense muscles grow even stiffer. “What’s wrong?” Nothing should have been able to go wrong, yet.
Mal doesn’t answer in words. A low growl rumbles from her as a plume of purple smoke starts to gather around her so thick that all Red can see of the dragon queen are her glowing eyes. The smell of fire and ash becomes noticeable as the queen transforms, and Red swallows as she finds herself once more standing beside a beast as large and predatory as any Jabberwock.
Mal snorts more smoke and reaches out with a clawed hand bigger than her person. Red only hesitates a moment before clinging to the purple scales that wrap around her.
The hold is gentle, but stiff as stone as she’s quickly brought to a softer scale chest. She’s moving with more speed, more urgency, than the first time she collected Red into her hand. The heat radiating off the queen is instantly sweltering as she lets out a warning rumble and her muscles coil.
Red’s stomach is left on the ground as the dragon launches into the air and they burst out of the treetops.
It’s a worse way to travel than horseback with a fractured ankle, rising and dropping with every beat of wings and thousands of feet in the air. The large thumping heart by her ear drowns out the sound of her own in her chest. It almost drowns out the wind, too, but not entirely.
Red’s eyes instantly start streaming as she tries to pry them open to watch the ground pass under them. She sees buildings sprinkled throughout the groups of trees. Then more. Then she sees the school. Beast castle is just beyond it.
But the school- the school is on fire.
The people running around below are so small they are hard to see, but Red sees them. She sees the crimson colors. They block the exits. It looks like people are streaming from the surrounding woods, trying to reach blocked archways. Chloe. She knows Chloe is in that group. She can feel it in her gut. She wouldn’t be able to resist.
The dragon Queen lets out a deafening screech as she abruptly dives toward the flames, and Red’s breath is ripped from her lungs. When she’s able to inhale again, it’s smoke.
The sounds of screams are immediately louder when they hit the ground with jarring force. Mal lashes out with her unoccupied hand, sweeping five cards off their feet, and several students rush through the open gap before more soldiers are surging forward, headless of the heat, or danger.
It wouldn’t matter to them, anyway. Their silver helms are fitted and snug.
Red squirms in the suddenly tight grip around her, coughing into her arm. With the sudden clamor of distress, it takes her a moment to hear the directed shouts. Mal hears it first, turning her large head in the direction of the King waving them down.
“Go! Mal, go! We've got this, get the Queen of Hearts!”
Mal growls a low rumble that Red can feel in her whole body. For a moment, Red doesn’t think she’s going to do it. But then she feels the muscles tense. Red opens her mouth to yell at her to put her down. Leave her- she changed her mind. She needs to find Chloe. This wasn’t the plan- she has to find her girlfriend.
But she inhales more smoke and her air is stolen before she can even start coughing as the dragon launches back into the air, twisting mid leap to catch the wind and lift her higher.
For a moment, it’s quiet again except for the wind and the heartbeat. In her pocket of protection against the scaled chest, she coughs freely.
Her brain spins and races, remaining down below. Why was the school on fire? They need to go back. Red needs to go back. It couldn’t have been an accident. Not with her mother’s brainwashed soldiers keeping the students in. She needs to get to Chloe, because why would her mother do this unless she knew-
Red gasps as the dragon holding her lets out another ear ringing shriek. She feels the flinch even in the hand holding her, and Red scrabbles for purchase along smooth scales as the Queen’s body jerks and something boilingly hot splashes against her cheek.
She cranes her neck back, breathing picking up and heart slamming in her throat, to see a sprout of arrows coming out of the soft scale of the dragon’s shoulder. Red twists her head, looking toward the castle far below. She isn’t afraid of heights, but the spiraling view makes her stomach swoop.
A dozen archers line the parapets, and even more stumble out onto the balconies. Mal roars as she dives for the line of soldiers, breathing a gusting billow of hot air that sends a couple over the edge. Red is grateful that it’s not fire, because just the air has her sweating through her clothes.
Suddenly, a bolt as large as a telephone pole comes twisting toward them mid turn, with a thick chain attached at the end. Mal’s body jerks as it pieces her wing, and she lets out a bestial scream that leaves Red’s ears ringing. And then they are falling.
Red is falling, spiraling out of the dragon Queen’s grip, and she’s not attached to anything. The air whips around her, tugs at her hair and clothes as the castle grounds rush up at her quickly.
What was that? What weapon was that? They don’t have any weapons that could fight against a Jabberwock.
She’s looking at the garden, then the sky, then a tower. She doesn’t know which way is up or down as sky and ground blur past sickeningly chaotic, snatching her thoughts and senses away until there is only her stomach in her throat and fear. Throbbing, choking fear.
Spades, what is happening right now? She’s not- this was supposed to be-