"Where's Chloe?" Bridget questioned, looking toward the castle curiously as Red came walking down the steps.

"Oh, she'll be out in a sec," Red told her, waving away her mother's concerns as Red excitedly approached her mother's side-by-side where it was parked and ready for her to drive for the first time.

Red's mother had invited her to come home over the weekend and since Chloe's parents were spending the weekend in town where Chloe's brother's college was to visit him, Red had very casually— while secretly panicking on the inside because what if she was being too nice too fast and she would scare away her only friend— invited Chloe to come with her to see her kingdom and to spend the weekend with her and her mother.

She had also been terrified that Chloe would not accept because of what had happened in their original reality with Red's mother being responsible for Cinderella's death.

Much to Red's relief, Chloe had eagerly agreed, her curiosity having shown itself since she was always so ridiculously excited about history and things. Red had offered a good façade of chillness about Chloe's acceptance, but she was actually utterly relieved and beyond happy about it since it spoke volumes about how Chloe actually cared about Red in return.

However, if Red was being honest with herself, one of the most major and deepest truths of Red's invitation to Chloe was because Red was a little scared to go home by herself without any manner of buffer between her mother and herself outside of Maddox.

She had not told Chloe about this, of course. It was not that she did not trust Chloe— she trusted her with her life, strangely enough— but she was not used to discussing sensitive topics too much. At least not without adding levity and pretending that she did not care. She had a suspicion that Chloe already had an idea of Red's struggles, but Chloe had thankfully not brought it up.

With Chloe coming, Red could get away with spending a lot of time with Chloe since Chloe was a guest and a friend from school. If Red went by herself, there was only so much time she could spend with Maddox before she would be left alone with her mother as she tried to navigate a new dynamic that she was not entirely sure how to even start figuring out.

Red had spent some time with her mother when they had come back from the time journey, but that had only been a little while, all things considered. She had not had a chance to really be alone with her for very long at all.

But nevertheless, she had managed to get Chloe to come with her, and when Bridget had picked them up in the side-by-side, Red had the perfect idea to test out how her mother would act around her more truly. It had been something that she had been dying to do forever anyway, and now that her mother was seemingly nice and changed, Red had decided she was going to take a chance and ask her about it.

Which was how she ended up asking her mother if she could drive her precious side-by-side and how that they were now outside with Red about to be in the driver's seat as they waited on Chloe to finish her restroom trip and come outside with them.

However, one important detail was that she had asked her mother to let her drive only when Chloe was not in the room. She wanted Chloe to come with her on the ride, and she knew Chloe would never agree to do that if she knew that Red had never actually driven it.

"Thanks, Mom. For letting me drive the UTV," Red told her, and her mother simply offered a kind smile to her as she looked at her lovingly.

"Of course, Red. I don't know why we didn't get you in the driver's seat sooner," Bridget told her, looking a little perplexed as she seemed to be thinking it over and trying to remember why exactly that they had not done it beforehand.

Red cleared her throat, deciding to interrupt this train of thought since nothing good could come of it. She was not sure about the rules of timeline-changing, but she did not want her mother to somehow accidentally remember her old self.

"So which paths do you recommend?" Red somewhat awkwardly asked her, really not caring too much about what Bridget would say since her primary objective was to distract her. Her mother raised her eyebrows, returning her gaze to Red more fully.

She stepped forward, moving so that she had a hand on Red's back softly. Red instantly homed in on the touch, surprised at it despite the fact that her mother had been much more physical lately. Her mother pointed to a couple of roads that were beaten-down.

"You see those paths there and there?" Bridget asked.

"Yeah?" Red responded, forcing herself to pay attention to her mother's words rather than the way that her hand felt as it lovingly touched her.

"Stick to those. They're fairly long, but they're safe and they loop around back to the castle. They should be good starter trails for you," she instructed, her voice holding that same weird wisdom and fondness that it had since Red and Chloe returned from their big adventure.

Red nodded to her, already finding herself tempted to try out some of the other trails.

"Sorry it took me so long, guys! I'm here!" Chloe came rushing down the stairs as she hurried over in front of Red and Bridget.

Bridget smiled at her, shaking her head.

"Don't worry, dear. You're fine," Bridget assured her.

Despite Bridget's reassurances, Chloe glanced at Red in something that Red believed to be nearly apologetic. Red instantly felt a wave of insecurity come over her as she swallowed, trying not to acknowledge the fact that Chloe knew Red did not want to be alone with her mother.

"Are you ready to go?" Chloe questioned, thankfully seeming to catch onto Red's avoidance of the topic.

"Sure. Let's get in," Red told her, and Chloe grinned as she happily bounced over to the passenger side. Red got into the driver's seat. Before she shut the door, she cranked the key, turning on the engine.

She then shut the door, aiming to wave to her mother and drive off.

But before she could do that, Bridget knocked on the window.

Red gritted her teeth, trying to avoid making a face. She was terrified that her mother was going to say something that would let Chloe know that she really did not know how to drive this thing.

Which would look especially bad since Red made such a big deal out of knowing how to drive it to alleviate Chloe's concerns from the previous night.

Red rolled the window down, dread deep-rooted within her, and Bridget moved closer as she placed her hands on the door where the window had made a gap of empty space. Bridget took in a breath, seeming to ready herself to speak as she gestured to the steering wheel.

"Okay, so I know that you'll be fine, but Red—"

"Mom, I know how to drive, okay? I'll be fine," Red explained, trying to cut her mother off before she said something that would give away to Chloe that Red actually had never driven the UTV before.

Bridget looked at her lovingly with one of those expressions that almost looked like she was thinking about how Red had grown.

Red swallowed as she eyed her mother.

"I know. Just make sure you and Chloe do up your seatbelts, love," Bridget informed them, and Red nodded quickly, starting to move to change the gear and put it in drive before the secret got out.

"Will do, Mom—"

"After all, you need to be extra safe on your first drive," Bridget told her, making the statement that Red had desperately been hoping she would not.

Red closed her eyes with a wince as soon as her mother said that, and she instantly felt Chloe's eyes on her.

Looked like the cat was out of the bag now…

"I love you, darling," her mother told her as she leaned in and kissed her cheek kindly before pulling back and stepping away. Red almost grimaced at her, offering a tight-lipped smile that did not meet her eyes.

"Love you," Red replied to her simply, the words still feeling wrong on her tongue despite the fact that she had gotten to know this version of her mother a little before she left her at Auradon Prep. It was just strange, but she did not find herself entirely opposed to it.

The only sad part was that her mother would never know all the things that she did to Red in her meaner form, so Red had quickly caught on that she was going to have to pretend that she and her mother had this great relationship and had always had it. Which was going to be hard because Red was admittedly carrying a lot of weight on her shoulders as a result of it.

Bridget waved to her as Red changed gears a little clumsily, hitting the gas as she took off in the direction of one of the paths that Bridget had made to go on joyrides.

"You said you knew how to drive this thing!" Chloe accused as soon as they had gotten away to where Bridget would not overhear them.

"I do! I've watched my mom do it several times," Red defended, and Chloe looked at Red in horror.

"You watched her?! Red, no offense, but she drives like a maniac! She doesn't follow any of the traffic rules, and she almost ran over several students when she was leaving Auradon Prep," Chloe cried, and Red let out a soft breath.

Red figured that she would avoid telling Chloe that her mother also almost ran over several people when she wastakingRed to Auradon Prep.

"Look, we're going to be fine. I'm an excellent driver," Red assured her as she drove over to the entrance of one of the paths that her mother had instructed her to drive on.

"How do you know?! You've never driven!" Chloe cried, and Red looked at her with narrowed eyes as she glanced rapidly between Chloe and the winding path that they were starting down. She played with the pedals for a moment, getting a feel for them as she turned the wheel.

Thankfully, it did not take her long to figure them out and to figure out how far she needed to push the brakes and the gas.

She looked over at Chloe, self-satisfaction filling her.

"As you can see, I'm a fast learner," Red informed her effortlessly.

Chloe just let out a breath, obviously not going to try to argue that point. Red was not sure whether she was offended or pleased at Chloe's lack of argument.

"I also am a trailblazer," Red informed her with a smirk as she spotted a trail that led off of the path that they were on. Chloe furrowed her brow, trying to figure out what Red meant. Red smirked as she drove toward the trail.

Chloe instantly figured out what she was doing.

"No, no, no, this is not a good idea!"

"It's gonna be fine! Trust me. Off-roading is good for the soul," Red told her, and Chloe hung on for dear life as Red went careening down the bumpy little road.

Red could not help but laugh at the sensation, the both of them bouncing around in their seats as Red sped along. To her absolute shock, after a few moments of this, Chloe actually started to laugh just a little bit, too. Red looked over at her, happily realizing that her friend was loosening up just a little.

Red came popping out of the woods into a clearing before long, and she jumped a root, the side-by-side actually getting a little airtime. Red yelled excitedly and to her shock, Chloe did as well.

Red grinned over at Chloe.

"Having fun, Goody?" Red asked her as she zipped around, mostly keeping her eyes on the ground ahead as she took in the sight of the large grassy area that they had opened up into. She recognized it as one of the training grounds for the guards, and while it had a few structures, it was largely open space. Red grinned as she hit the gas.

"Maybe a little," Chloe conceded with a wild laugh. Red laughed with her, her heart swelling in spite of herself as she watched Chloe loosen up and actually enjoy something that Red had thought of for them to do.

While Red had not been upset at Chloe for being against a lot of Red's activities, she also had secretly wanted to come up with something that they could do together that they both would actually enjoy.

"Who knew you were a secret adrenaline junkie?" Red laughed as she looked at the bluenette with a wide smile. Chloe shook her head, trying to argue.

However, she took in a sharp breath as Red turned to the right abruptly. Chloe then grinned ridiculously widely, unable to even try to deny Red's playful accusation.

Red rolled along, darting around the structures that were surrounding them.

But after several moments of fun and excitement, Chloe got quiet in the passenger seat.

"Red?" Chloe spoke up concernedly after a few moments.

"What?" Red asked, not really looking at her. After all, she was trying to largely keep her eyes on the ground before them so that Chloe would have no grounds upon which to say she was a bad driver.

"What's that?" Chloe asked.

Red glanced at her just a little as she noticed the look of definitive worry on Chloe's face. Red's smile faded just the barest bit as she furrowed her brow at Chloe. She then proceeded to look in the direction that Chloe was looking.

"What's wha—"

Red froze in her position, stopping mid-sentence as her blood ran cold.

She slammed on the brakes, the tires locking as they skid to a stop. Chloe lurched forward abruptly, letting out a protest as she held on tightly.

Chloe started to say something, but at the look that must have been on Red's face, she quieted, looking even more heavily concerned as she stared at the giant, menacing figure outside of the vehicle.

Red almost could not believe her eyes.

"The Jabberwocky," Red breathed.

Yes. They had indeed gotten into an awfully tight spot now. Most particularly because the thing was staring directly at them, perched on a nearby structure that had something to do with the guards' training facility.

Red swallowed nervously as she looked at the creature.

Red had only seen the Jabberwocky in books and heard of it in stories that Maddox had told her about it. When Red had told Chloe that she could introduce her to the Jabberwocky, that had been a bunch of bluster meant to scare Chloe off.

Unfortunately, out of all of the things that she heard about the creature, she did not quite know what would keep it from eating someone or how to fight back against it since they were just two weaponless girls in a side-by-side.

What was really weird was that it was so close to castle grounds. It was supposed to be out further in the more dead parts of Wonderland.

"Is that the thing you said eats annoying girls?" Chloe questioned, interrupting Red's train of thought. Chloe's voice was a whisper as she remained stock still.

"Yep," Red told her, her voice quiet.

"Umm… He kind of looks like he'll eat anything he can get his mouth on," Chloe confessed, and Red nodded just a little. She was thinking this over, not sure how to handle this situation.

Chloe shifted uncomfortably, but she swiftly stilled, obviously being just as afraid as Red was to make any sort of move or noise.

"He's watching us," Chloe finally told her.

"I know," Red told her, shifting her gaze around as she tried to figure out how she could get them both out of this unscathed or relatively so.

There was a beat of silence before Chloe spoke once more.

"What are we going to do?" Chloe asked, and Red let out a soft hum of slight irritation as she tried to calm herself enough to make a good decision about how to proceed.

"I'm thinking."

Chloe was quiet before letting out a noise of unhappiness.

"I wish I had my sword," Chloe muttered, and Red scoffed lightly.

"What? So you could run it through? That thing would eat you in one bite," Red flashed a glance at her.

Chloe did not say anything in return. Red's attention shifted to the path across the field that they had come out of earlier, and Chloe seemed to notice where she was looking.

"Make a run for it?" Chloe asked her, and Red nodded slowly.

"Might be the best option."

"On three," Red told her, and Chloe nodded to her.

"One. Two… Three," Red said before slamming the gas and taking off.

That one sharp motion sent the Jabberwocky into action, the creature taking off as it flew through the air.

"It's chasing us!" Chloe yelled, and Red kept her eyes trained on the path before them.

"I know!"

"It's getting closer!" Chloe's voice got higher and louder, and Red yelled back louder in reply to her.

"I know!"

Despite Chloe's warnings, Red was trying diligently not to look in the rearview mirror to check how close it was. Not that she could have seen much else besides the Jabberwocky getting ever closer to them, because in her peripheral vision, she could tell that the rearview mirror was almost entirely consumed by the creature's size and proximity to the back of the UTV.

"Red, Red, Red, RED!" Chloe started to scream, smacking Red's shoulder as her voice grew increasingly high-pitched in the midst of crying out in utter terror.

Red instantly felt her blood run cold as she realized that she was not going to be able to save them from this.

So Red did the only thing she could do.

Red braced for impact, instinctively flinging an arm out as she grabbed Chloe's shoulder and kept her arm across Chloe's chest as she tried to keep her grounded and safe in the seat.

The Jabberwocky swung around before hitting Chloe's side of the UTV, and the side-by-side immediately went rolling over. Red gritted her teeth, the entire vehicle somersaulting as they barreled over into the woods.

Just before they made contact, Red let out a scream as she realized that they were about to hit the tree that was quickly coming upon them.

It was then that everything went black.

…

When Red next woke up, she realized that she was hanging upside down in the UTV. She blearily blinked, looking around as she felt the panic setting upon her at the realization that the Jabberwocky could still be nearby.

However, she saw something even more terrifying than that as she realized that Chloe was hanging limply upside down next to her.

Red's heart was in her throat as it started to throb painfully against her ribcage. She instantly reached out over to Chloe. Red patted her arm, trying desperately to get her to wake up.

"Chloe!Chloe," Red urged, attempting to get through to her. She then smacked her arm a little harder, but there was still little to no response.

This had gone very, very badly all too quickly.

Red reached out to her, touching her face as she patted it.

"Chloe," she pleaded with her, and after only a moment more, Chloe's eyelashes fluttered. She blinked, furrowing her brow as she let out a soft grunt.

"Red?" Chloe spoke up, sounding a little strained as she opened her eyes and looked at Red.

Despite the intense relief that flooded Red that almost made her feel like crying, Red dropped her hand away from Chloe's face quickly so that Chloe would not know that she had been touching her so caringly. Red was not sure how Chloe would react to it. She was not scared of touching Chloe and actually loved it, but she did not know how Chloe felt about touching her.

It was crazy. She was worrying about touching and not touching at a time like this. What timing.

After only a brief moment, Chloe looked more awake and aware as she looked around, presumably having the same thoughts that Red had been.

"The Jabberwocky… Where—"

"It's gone, I think," Red assured her before homing in on the question that she really cared about.

"Chloe, are you okay?" Red questioned carefully.

Chloe looked at Red uncertainly, and Red had the strongest feeling that Chloe could hear the fear in Red's tone.

At this point, she could not even try to hide that fact. The entire thing had jarred her, and she was not even sure if Chloe was alright at this point.

Chloe took in a deep breath, immediately wincing. Red looked at her, reaching out to Chloe instinctively as she touched Chloe's arm where it was hanging. While Chloe's face was uncharted territory, her arm was definitely not off-limits.

"I could probably be better, to be honest," Chloe told her, and Red furrowed her brow.

"Are you hurt?" Red clarified, trying to get Chloe to tell her something more concrete as her desperation started to more increasingly come to light.

"No, no. It's… I'm a little bit sore right now," Chloe explained, and Red moved her head so that she was looking down her red clothing. She soon saw her seat buckle, and she started to reach for it.

"Be careful, there's glass below us," Chloe warned, and Red shook her head as she met Chloe's sweet gaze with her own determined one.

"I don't care. We're getting you out of here," Red told her, and Chloe looked at her in surprise. Before Chloe could argue any further, Red clicked the button, and the seatbelt released her as she fell to the floor. She let out a small cry, and Chloe instantly was asking if she was alright.

"I'm good. Come on," Red told her as she crawled over closer to the blue princess. She stopped underneath Chloe's seat, preparing herself as she opened her arms.

Red was not sure about this, but all she knew was that she had to keep Chloe from getting any glass in her hands or anywhere else.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to catch you," Red told her, and Chloe looked at Red as if she were officially insane. Chloe shook her head.

"Red, you can't catch me."

"Look, I'm going to cushion your fall so you don't get on the glass," Red informed her, moving her hands as she tried to gesture to Chloe to just go ahead and click the release and fall on her already.

"I can't let you do that," Chloe shook her head, and Red reached forward as she clicked Chloe's button for her.

As soon as she did, Chloe fell directly on top of Red, squishing her to the side-by-side roof that was now turned floor. Red reached around her, shifting around as she let Chloe sit up straighter in the gap formed between Red's spread legs. Red tried hard not to show that Chloe's weight actually had hurt her a little, the sudden contact only straining her already sore ribs a little.

"Red, did I hurt you?" Chloe asked her, and Red shook her head, looking to the door as she chose to avoid answering the question directly.

"It doesn't matter. Let's get out," Red told her.

Chloe furrowed her brow, obviously not ready to stop talking about this. Red, however, was not about to look at her and allow that conversation to continue.

Red started to reach out toward the door, grabbing the handle as she started to try to push it open. It was not getting very far, the metal having been crumpled with the force of the barrel roll they had pulled off earlier. Red suddenly smelled a wave of blue raspberry-scented shampoo wash over her as Chloe's hair touched her shoulder. Chloe moved in, pushing her shoulder against the door panel.

"On three," Chloe told her, and Red did not miss the irony of Chloe's statement.

It was what she had said to her when they tried to escape the situation just prior to the one they were in now.

Red finally nodded to her, recovering from the thoughts overcoming her. Chloe mirrored Red's motion and she prepared herself.

"Okay. One, two, three," Chloe spoke, and on three, they both shoved as hard as they could.

The door suddenly gave, and they both fell partially out of the vehicle.

Red put her hand on Chloe's back, pushing her to get out first. Chloe obeyed if only to clear the way for Red, and once Chloe was out of the way, Red crawled out. Chloe started to try to get to her feet, steadying herself against the large tree that they had hit.

As Red made it out of the UTV, Chloe extended her hand to Red to help her up. After a moment of hesitation, Red finally took it and let her help her.

As she straightened, her shoulder bumping into Chloe as she accidentally fell into her a little, she actually was able to look at the mess that was there before them.

By all practical purposes, they should have both been severely injured. The entire side-by-side was crumpled on all sides along with a large dent made from where it finally crashed into the tree. It was sitting on its roof, and Red had no idea how exactly that she and Chloe had made it out of that without some kind of severe pain or worse.

Chloe wrapped her arm around Red's waist tentatively, steadying her as Red leaned on her more heavily, the movement unconscious.

However, as Red realized what was happening, she straightened on her own, holding up her own weight. Chloe let her arm fall away from her, the bluenette breathing with some labor as she looked at the scene before them.

At this point, Red did not feel like she deserved to have help from Chloe. She did this to her, and she was now officially responsible for the near-death of one of the only three people that she truly cared about. She could not believe that she had done this. Her stupid decisions had led them here, and she could not believe how reckless she had allowed herself to be.

Red reached her hands up, running her fingers through her hair.

"Hey," Chloe spoke up, lightly touching Red's side. Red winced slightly at the finger in her currently sore ribs. Despite the pain, she looked over at Chloe questioningly as she took in a few shallow breaths.

"At least we lived," Chloe pointed out tiredly with the barest bit of a smile as she attempted positivity.

Yes. Red supposed there were some blessings in the midst of her own self-hatred.

A/N:So quick PSA... Jabberwocky's are not particular. They will eat annoying girls, nice girls, happy girls, bad girls, good girls, boring girls, or any kind of girls actually. So never approach them without proper defense. What sort of defense you ask? Well, no one really knows...

I hope y'all enjoyed this one! Positive comments mean so much so please don't hesitate! 3