Red. Go!
Red stumbled on her feet, Mary leading the disoriented girl into the woods, away from the mob and the torches. Red, usually so at home in the forest, didn't see any of the familiar trees pass her by as Mary hurried her through, anxiously looking over her shoulder.
Red's mind was still reeling, spinning out of control, trying to grasp the impossible concept that she was the wolf. She was the wolf, and she had killed Peter.
She had killed Peter.
She had killed Peter.
Red whimpered, clutching at Mary's arm. Mary looked down at her worriedly, wrapping her arm tighter around her shoulders. "Don't worry, Red," she tried assuring her, looking around in panic. "It is going to be okay. Okay? You're going to be fine."
Mary bit her lip, trying to figure out which would be the best way to go. Before she met Red, she had known less than nothing about the woods, and Red had showed her the basics for all of thirty seconds.
"We just have to lose the hunting party before we can go back to the cottage. They don't know who the wolf is, so as long as they don't follow the tracks– We can't let them find you. I just don't–" She broke off, trying to keep it together. It didn't matter that she hadn't the faintest idea of what she was doing, she had to make sure Red was safe. She could figure this out, her Dad had always said that she was smart.
Red patted Mary's arm weakly, drawing her attention to a space between two trees. "That way," she whispered. She was still breathing heavily, but she managed to get out, "Hollow oak."
Mary sucked in a breath, pulling herself together. She latched onto the words, nodding her head, "Yes! Okay, come on, hollow oak, that's good."
She moved towards it, by now supporting almost all of Red's weight. Red was conscious of this fact, and knew she should at least try and lessen the strain on the other girl, but she just couldn't. It was almost like her mind had been cut off from the rest of her, separated by a big ball of hurt. She could feel Mary desperately trying to understand how to get through the woods, trying to find the hollow tree, but she knew she was floundering. Red closed her eyes. I have to remember to thank her later.
Mary glanced behind her worriedly again. "Shouldn't we be hiding our tracks or something? Can they follow us?"
Red shook her head, trying to focus on what her friend was saying. "N-no, no," she lifted her face to the sky, "it's windy tonight, it'll blow some snow to cover them a little. And our cloaks are brushing away some." She looked at the ground behind them and shot Mary a tired little smile through her tears. "Also, none of them can track anything to save their lives. I'm the best tracker in the village, it's why they wanted me in the hunting party."
Mary smiled back at her sadly, squeezing her arm. "It's going to be okay," she repeated again. The reason why they were out here in the first place was once again brought to the forefront of Red's mind, and her chest tightened. It's going to be okay, she chanted to herself. It's going to be okay. She closed her eyes against her tears.
Red realised they had stopped moving. Mary was standing next to her, scanning the trees with a look of growing panic all over her face. They could still hear the men looking for the wolf, never too close but always near, and they were getting louder. Red struggled to lift her head. "There," she said brokenly, "next to the fluffy one."
"This one?" Mary ran over, patting at it with her gloves, searching for an entrance. Red hobbled over and put her hand around the oak, finding the spot and pulling. She didn't have enough strength, but Mary noticed and reached over. The opening collapsed inwards, and Mary gasped, surprised. "Well that is impressive." She led her inside, Red finally letting herself fall onto the nearest soft surface, the pile of pillows left by the wall.
The space inside was bigger than one would suspect, and she saw Mary looking it over in awe. Red's father had built it when she was just a little girl. She used to hang out here, but Granny wouldn't let her come once she got older. There was a table, shelves, gas lamps, and lots of blankets and pillows to make a substitute bed. It was a homey little place.
Red took a deep breath, exhausted. She knew she wasn't fine, that there was another panic attack coming on, but she was so tired. So very tired, and there was just no more energy to sustain this pain. I'm the wolf. I killed Peter and all those men, she thought numbly. It was too surreal for her to fully believe. There'd be time later. She would let it in later.
Pain broke through into her mind, and she almost dismissed it, before realising it wasn't the same pain stemming from her heartache. Her entire body was throbbing, and Red could feel what had to be her skeleton still remolding. And it hurt.
And above that, there was a stinging coming from her left leg, one worse than the rest of her body. The pain was almost like that time she had fallen out of a tree and landed on a sharp branch, almost being impaled, but worse, and a lot more concentrated.
She winced, but she couldn't bring herself to care.
Mary knelt in front of her, putting her hands on Red's shoulders and peering worriedly into her eyes. Red stared back for a moment before she crumpled into herself, her tall form shaking with broken sobs. She sensed Mary moving towards her and jerked away.
"Red," Mary whispered softly.
"No!" Red looked at her with frantic eyes, just realizing something. "Why are you still near me? I'm a monster, Mary!" She recoiled even more from the concerned girl. "I don't know how to control the wolf, I could transform any time. I don't know how to stop the change, I could hurt you!"
She tried to push Mary away from her, but Mary fought back against her, grabbing at her hands. "Red, Red listen to me! No it's okay, it's okay!" Red was still struggling. "No, Red! It's the cloak, it stops you from changing! As long as you keep it on, nothing is going to happen!"
Red stilled. "It... what?" She looked up, barely daring to hope, and Mary nodded fast. "Granny bought it from a wizard, as long as you wear it you won't turn into the wolf."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
Red swallowed and looked down, unconsciously drawing the cloak tighter around her. "Okay." It came out softly. Mary sighed in relief.
"But I'm still a monster. Still a murderer." She sniffed, tears dripping down her face.
"Red, it's not your fault," Mary tried comforting her friend, "You didn't – oh my goodness, you're bleeding? Why are you bleeding!"
Confused, Red looked down and saw her dress was stained with blood. Mary was looking at it horrified, trying to understand where it was coming from. "Red, are you hurt?" Red could only look at her, suddenly conscious of the fact that she felt like someone had stabbed her with a knife and was gleefully twisting it into her leg, and her vision swam.
"My-my leg," the girl managed to gasp. Mary looked down in alarm, already starting to undo the corset to get to what held her skirt in place. Red just closed her eyes as she started to see spots. Mary unattached the first layer of her skirt, leaving only the lighter white one in place, now stained red.
"Red," she gasped when she saw the wound, "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't know," Red answered dully. She peered at what looked like an arrow wound, high up on her left leg. But when had she gotten hit by an arrow? She looked up to see Mary rummaging around on the shelves, presumably to find some bandages or something.
Red just leaned back and closed her eyes, neck bent uncomfortably. It didn't matter anyways. She'd just take a nap and take care of it later. Logically, she knew this was probably some kind of defence mechanism to block out the trauma, and Red just wanted to sleep forever. Maybe Peter would show up and she'd feel better, and all this aching would stop.
Her leg burned and she hissed. Opening her eyes, she looked and saw that Mary had somehow found some water and soap and was trying to clean her leg. And it burned. Mary looked up at her panicked at the sound. "I'm sorry! I-I'll try and be careful, but this needs to be cleaned Red." Her hands were shaking, and Red just took a deep breath. Her entire body was hurting, and she knew she would black out soon, not able to take it.
When she opened her eyes again, Mary had just finished wrapping her leg up, and Red had to say that any other day she would have been very impressed.
"Hey," Mary, now sitting next to her, smiled softly, "how are you feeling?" Red just shrugged. "Well," Mary, fidgeted with the glove in her hand, "I want you to know that you can talk to me, okay? I'm going to stay here with you."
"You're still not scared of me?"
"Oh, Red," Mary leaned over and hugged her gently, and Red was surprised to find that the pain from transforming had disappeared. This must be why she never noticed anything odd, the pain would always be gone by the time she woke up, safe in her bedroom.
"I'm a murderer, Mary."
"You didn't know what you were doing."
"But it was still me."
"No." Mary argued with her. Putting her hands on her cheeks, she turned Red's face towards her. "It wasn't your fault." Red tried to turn away, but Mary wouldn't let her. "You said it yourself, you can't control it. Look, Red, remember what you said when we thought Peter was the wolf? You said that he wouldn't know, that he wasn't in control. It's the same thing for you, understand?"
Red nodded. She realised it, but it would take some time for her to really believe it. Suddenly she froze, and Mary panicked at her look of alarm. "What is it? Does your leg hurt? Is something ha-"
"Shh," Red interrupted her. I hear people coming." It was the hunting party, and they must have been almost right outside the tree. Both girls were holding their breaths, scared they might be discovered, but after a moment the group of men moved on, their voices fading away.
Mary exhaled heavily. "Listen, Red, I have something to tell you," she started nervously, "I know now's not really the best time, but I really want to tell you."
"Sure," Red offered dully, not moving. She was very subdued, so unlike the girl Mary had met a few days ago.
"At the very least, it will probably get your mind off of – things..." Mary trailed off guiltily as Red's breath caught, but the younger girl straightened, broken but so much stronger than she ever thought she could be.
"Lay it on me," she tried smiling, and it was a valiant effort, but there was something foreign glittering in her eyes. But Mary could still see a shadow of the old Red, crushed by the wolf, but it would come back. Red would be okay.
That's what she kept telling herself anyways. She hadn't thought it was possible to hurt so much for a girl she'd just met a handful of days ago. She didn't know how to make it better, but she was going to try. No one should ever have to suffer this kind of heartache.
"What is it Mary?"
"My name is Snow White." Snow White closed her eyes, waiting for the horror to come.
Red's eyes widened. "You're Snow White? The one the Queen is looking for?"
"I am." There was a pause, and Snow looked at her friend, waiting for some kind of response. Red was still thinking about it.
"Why did she accuse you of treason? You didn't actually commit any crimes, did you?"
Snow White lowered her eyes, "I did something to her, something horrible. I didn't mean to, but..." She turned away, but then turned back towards Red. "I just wanted you to know. If you don't want me here, I can..." That was the thing. She really didn't have anywhere else to go.
But Red shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous, Ma- Snow. I don't know what you did, but I don't think you're a bad person."
Snow smiled in relief, happy she hadn't lost the only friend she still had. Red yawned, glad she had a friend to distract her so she didn't have to dwell on the things she had done.
Snow White took notice and wrapped her arms around Red, pulling one of the thick blankets over them to ward off the cold. "Now come on, you should get some sleep. First thing in the morning we'll head back to the cottage, get you back home." Red just nodded sadly, resting her head on Snow's shoulder and making sure the cloak was still wrapped around her body. "It's going to be okay," she whispered into the other girl's hair, and they both fell asleep, listening to the wind blowing through the forest.
Two weeks late, a search party of castle guards working for the queen came to the village in search of Snow. She had to leave, but Red promised that it would be okay. She had to run now, but Red would come find her once it was safe for both of them.