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Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Go Berserk

'Earlier – The day everyone was frozen'

Red sat on the roof of a tall building, tucked away in a dark corner. It was one of her favorite spots. She could look across the entirety of the Big Market and people watch to her heart's delight. People watching was one of her favorite activities, but one major setback was that no one wanted to see her. So, in order to not get pelted with rocks or rotten vegetables, Red always had to stay in the shadows.

It was weird to see the Isle like this. Ever since the war ended about a year ago, people had started smiling and sharing more. The market was bustling with people trading food or other goods. There was little shouting and no fighting. Strange.

Life had always been difficult on the Isle of the Lost for everyone who resided there.

Life was even more difficult for those unfortunate enough to live in Wonderland – known as 'the slumps' to the rest of the Isle.

Life was especially even more difficult for the only child of the maniacal self-styled ruler of the slumps.

That was Red. Red of Hearts. Daughter of the Queen of Hearts.

Even though she was a princess, a fact her deranged mother would remind her of at least ten times a day, her life was far from a fairytale. Life on the Isle was shitty, and even shittier in the slumps, but most resilient villains still managed to make the most of it. They would find others, be they friends, family or loved ones, to share in their misery.

Red had none of that.

Her only family was her batshit insane mother, who would spend her days endlessly babbling on about the glorious life she once led back in the real Wonderland, reprimanding Red for menial things mostly centering around her appearance, or round up unruly Isle inhabitants or goblins to perform grandiose public beheading ceremonies. Red had stopped attending these ceremonies when she started making decisions for herself at around age seven.

Due to her mother's notoriety and influence, almost no one would even dare to come near her. For one, they feared that Red would take a disliking towards them and have her mother cut off their head. Second, they feared that her mother would not approve of them being around her daughter and would cut off their head.

And so, Red had spent nearly her entire youth completely alone. She hated her mother, and the only others who lived with them in their 'palace' were a few servants and guards, none of whom would ever speak to Red about anything other than her mother.

As much as the people in the slumps wanted nothing to do with her, at least they did not actively hate her. The rest of the Isle, however, was a different matter entirely.

The people of the slumps had once been villains who did not fight alongside the side of evil during the first great war, which ended in a victory for the heroes and banishment to the Isle of the Lost for the villains. This led to a lot of resentment from all sides. The villains on other parts of the Isle, also known as the 'real villains', hated the people of the slumps for supposedly being weak and spineless traitors. The people of the slumps, in turn, were aggrieved that they had been sent to the Isle even when they had not taken part in the war.

Red had found out the hard way how much the real villains despised her and her mother. The Queen of Hearts had always forbade Red from leaving the slumps, and she obediently did as she was told until a certain age, when she started rebelling against her overbearing mother and began venturing beyond the borders of her mother's crappy kingdom.

The other islanders had not welcomed her with open arms. Red was easily identifiable, and always has been, due to her bright red hair and attire, complete with heart-shaped trinkets, patches and jewelry. Everyone hated the people from the slumps, and the Queen of Hearts in particular. Red still vividly remembered how she had been yelled at, shoved and spat at by villains of all ages, leading to her quickly returning home.

While far from a success, her first real visit to the outside world had sparked a relentless curiosity in her, and so she went out again. And again. And again. Hundreds of times.

Attitudes regarding her never changed, but Red somewhat learned to live with the way people sneered and hurled all sorts of projectiles in her direction. She became somewhat of an expert in ducking for cover and making quick exits, in addition to learning to fight and stand up for herself in a way her mother never bothered to teach her.

Red had always loved the intrigue of the Isle. The way multiple villain kids had started their own gangs which competed for territory and supplies was endlessly entertaining to her. She would often stake out on a roof top like the one she was sitting on now to spy on the warring gangs, be it Mal and her associates staking their claim to the Big Market, or Uma and Solomon's goons constantly turning entire streets into downright bloodbaths.

Every early attempt to connect with or form friendships with other villain kids had ended in utter failure. Red still remembered how Jay, son of Jafar, had once roughly tossed her out of a second-story window after she had tried to get closer to him and Mal. Or when she had approached Uma and her pirates, only to get caught in a net and dragged through the streets, where cackling villains would dump their garbage cans all over her.

Despite all these setbacks, Red would keep coming back. In the back of her mind, she always believed that, if she could just prove herself somehow, the others would have to accept her. The other villain kids would always brag about how evil they were, so Red would try her best to be the evilest of them all. She even tried to get some tips on evildoing out of her mother, whose knowledge sadly did not extend further than 'just cut off their heads and be done with it!'.

And so, Red had set out in her attempt to become the most loathsome and notorious villain the Isle had ever seen. She stole. She ransacked. She beat people up. She set things on fire. She kicked at animals. She learned every slur in the book. She kicked ass. She went berserk.

Sadly for her, in retrospect, she succeeded in her goal. What she didn't realize until it was too late, was that being unkind and unpleasant did not make others want to associate with you, no matter what they claimed.

Red never possessed the aura of Mal, the authority of Uma or the ruthlessness of Solomon. She was just Red, that weird girl from the slumps, who had started to act out and become a nuisance. At least, that was what everyone said about her behind her back.

When Mal would burn someone's house down, she was applauded. When Uma would keelhaul someone underneath her ship, people cheered. When Solomon would hang someone by their legs above the entrance to his den, people cowered in fear. When Red would go beyond what any of those three did, people would scoff and turn their backs.

She was Red, that weird girl from the slumps. That fact alone meant that no one would ever take her seriously or want to associate with her.

Dejected, Red had eventually given up on trying to connect with anyone and instead resumed keeping to herself most of the time. She still visited the other parts of the Isle from time to time, so much so that some Islanders would be able to anticipate when she would arrive and have fresh batches of rocks or rotten vegetables at the ready to throw at her.

Slowly, but surely, most people grew bored of constantly tormenting her. Soon enough, Red's dejection and indifference towards their abuse seemed to rub off on them, and they soon switched from actively tormenting her to mostly ignoring her.

It got to the point where Red was able to simply hang out on street corners or strut past the Big Market without being harassed. Some of the villain kids who weren't associated with any gangs, like CJ Hook or the Facilier sisters, would even sometimes cautiously tolerate her presence.

It was no surprise that Red's slight upturn in luck coincided with the departures of Mal, Uma and Solomon – all three of the Isle's primary gang leaders. With those three gone, there was less of an active effort being taken to make the lives of the general public miserable, and Red enjoyed even more freedom during their absence.

When a host of Auradon officials arrived one day to bring a large number of the villain kids to Auradon, Red had both been bummed out and not really surprised to learn that she was not among those chosen to leave. No one from the slumps got to leave. The villain kids who remained on the Isle were the worst of the worst, meaning that the Isle really got the short end of the stick with that deal.

Then the war happened, and chaos reigned on the Isle for months on end. First, everyone had geared up. Solomon and Uma had worked together to get as many inhabitants on board with their invasion plan, and many indeed began following them. Then they all left, cheering and waving their weapons about as they crammed onto the many ships and boats that would serve as the invasion fleet.

Red was left behind, naturally, again.

No one had bothered to ask her or any of her fellow slump inhabitants to join the 'real villains' in their attempt at conquering Auradon. Red did not really mind. She never really possessed a desire to conquer or pillage.

For a few months, the Isle was eerily empty. Only the people in the slumps and some of the elderly and sickly Isle inhabitants remained behind. Red would walk along the coast and gaze towards Auradon every day, wondering what was happening on the mainland.

No news reached her during that time, so it was an incredible shock when a whole convoy of trucks returned all the defeated villains back to the Isle one day. Those who had gone off to war barely spoke about their time in Auradon, and would of course start throwing stuff at Red if she would dare to ask.

It was following the return of all the villains that the Isle changed. Spearheaded by a determined Harry Hook, people suddenly started to ask nice towards each other. Well, not nice, but nicer… At least… Buildings and roads were fixed. People were cared for. Food and other goods were actively being distributed among the public.

The Isle became a better place.

Well, not all of the Isle. The slumps, as befit its name, was still a slump. The Queen of Hearts did not care for all of the 'weak-willed do-goodery' as she called it. For a hot minute, with all the other villains warring in Auradon, she had even planned on expanding her influence to the entire Isle. Barely any of her subjects actively supported her, however, so nothing came of this. Her mother was furious, but Red was glad. The biggest reason she liked to escape into different parts of the Isle was to get away from her mother. If her mother would somehow be able to take control of the whole Isle, then Red would never get a moment alone anymore.

Even with the notable upturn in good behavior, no one still really paid any attention to the slumps. There was simply too much bad blood. Most people of the slumps did not dare to venture out into the rest of the Isle, and there was nothing of any sort of value for everyone else to be gathered in the slumps. Red's mother, still incensed at her failed attempt to conquer the whole Isle, furthermore started actively barring the borders of her crappy kingdom, forbidding everyone from leaving or entering. This did not bother Red all that much, since she had already established numerous secret ways out of the slumps that her mother knew nothing about.

The Queen of Hearts had summoned Red for an extensive dress fitting session today, which was why she had run off at the earliest opportunity and decided to visit the Big Market. Now, overlooking the crowd of people chattering and bartering, Red pondered her predicament.

She found herself considering, not for the first time, what exactly she could make of her life. First and foremost, she wanted to get away from her mother, so that meant she could not stay in the slumps. The rest of the Isle was a different matter entirely, with no place to call home where people would not scowl and sneer at the mere sight of her. Red just wanted to be left alone and be able to do things for herself, but the Isle could not offer her that.

About a year ago, shortly after the villains' defeat in Auradon, Red had felt a slight shiver of hope. CJ Hook, one of the few villain kids who never actively tormented her, had returned to the Isle after having been allowed into Auradon. Red had hoped that, if even someone like CJ Hook had gotten a chance, then maybe she would get one too. CJ herself had burned those hopes down to ashes. Red let out a muttered scoff as she remembered all the less than savory things CJ had said to her that day. Even CJ, someone who Red got along with fairly well for her standards, wanted nothing to do with her. No 'getting allowed into Auradon' for Red.

It was that encounter that really led Red into a spiral of seemingly endless depression. She spent her days aimlessly walking around the Isle, paying attention to nothing and with no one paying attention to her. Today was no different.

It was a cloudy day, but none of the Isle inhabitants seemed to mind. They were used to dreary surroundings, after all. Red saw Shan Yu angrily bark at some goblins about the price of the meat they were selling. Gil, son of Gaston, was overseeing the newly established garden beds, yelling instructions from a taped-together notepad.

Red felt herself slowly doze off. Her little nook on the rooftop was cozy enough, and she could easily take a nap here as long as it wouldn't start raining.

That's when a distant flash caught her eye.

Red straightened up and looked off into the distance. She was up high enough to be able to see the Isle's unimpressive skyline, and the far away sky above Auradon. Clouds, darker than the ones already present, began rolling closer and closer to the Isle. Flashes of lightning, hundreds of them, bathed the scene in an eerie, flickering light. What was happening? They'd had storms on the Isle, but nothing like this.

Many people below on the market started noticing as well. The flashes of lightning reflected off the buildings and the windows. Panic quickly spread. People started screaming and running off in all directions, trampling market stalls and each other. The villains might have started acting nicer to one another, but they were still severely lacking in organizational skills or courage.

Red felt her breathing quicken as the distant flashes of lightning creeped closer every second. She could now also hear the crashing sounds of thunder. Looking around, she debated clambering down and finding a place to take cover, but her body refused to obey.

Loud screams echoed through the air. Almost everyone below had hidden inside the nearest building or underneath the remaining market stalls or sheds.

The lightning kept coming closer at a relentless pace. Red saw how numerous buildings were struck, after which the screams of terror lessened.

With nothing else to do, and panic overriding all logic in her brain, Red simply threw herself flat on the roof with her hands over her head. The crashing of the thunder was deafening as the lightning made the ground shake with every strike. Red squeezed her eyes shut, fully believing that this would be the end of her. Here she was. About to die. Having accomplished absolutely nothing in her life.

A thunderbolt crashed right into her. She felt it. A strange and thoroughly unpleasant situation – like every nerve in her body was temporarily set on fire. She went rigid, her hands balled into fists so tightly that her nails cut into her palm. Everything went black for a second, and Red felt as though she was floating in a sea of nothingness.

Then everything came back. Slowly. She blinked, and the cobwebs in her brain gradually dissipated. The sound of crashing thunder still battered her eardrums, but it grew softer as it moved further and further away. Red let out a shaky breath as she unclenched her fists. She was alright.

She slowly got to her knees and looked around.

A thick fog had emerged, clouding her surroundings from sight. She could barely even see the edge of her rooftop, let alone anything down on the ground below. It was dead silent.

"H-Hello?" Red called out, her voice shaking. She had expected the screaming and hurrying around to resume now that the threat of the thunder had passed. She cracked her shoulders and let out a loud grunt as she approached the edge of the building. That lightning strike had left her body strangely stiff and tingly. The other Isle inhabitants must have still been struck by confusion and disorientation, which was probably why everything was so quiet.

The mist dissipated, but only very slowly. Red gradually got all the feeling back in her fingers, but her thoughts remained jumbled and incoherent. She had no idea what had happened, or what that lightning strike had done to her. Was this some sort of Auradonian spell? It couldn't be, right? Magic didn't work within the barrier – everyone knew that. Still, it couldn't be anything else than magic, right? That was no ordinary lightning.

There was still no sound from down below, and Red started getting a little suspicious. She peered over the edge of the roof, but the fog was still too thick for her to distinguish anything other than vague shapes. "Hello!?" She repeated.

Still, no answer.

The Isle inhabitants never let an opportunity go to waste to yell at her or make obscene hand gestures when they noticed her. Something was wrong.

Using the agility she had developed from years of evading the people down below, Red grabbed onto the nearest drainpipe and used it to glide down the side of the building. Her boots landed on the muddy ground with a thud, and her long red hair swayed as she turned her head from left to right.

She could still not see far due to the fog, but the shapes that had been so vague from above were a little more distinguishable at least. Carefully breathing in and out, Red made her way to the nearest silhouette.

It was only when she stood barely two feet away that she let out a gasp. This person, a middle-aged man wearing a bright green coat, stood stock-still in a very strange position – bent over backwards with his arms outstretched to the sky. His eyes were a dull grey, like they were made of stone.

Red, letting out a creeped out groan, tentatively poked the man in his side. The fabric of his coat felt strangely hardened, like plastic or something. He wobbled unsteadily for a few seconds, and Red did nothing when he promptly fell sideways, hitting the dirty pavement with a loud thump.

"What the hell?" Red audibly muttered. She whipped her head around. The fog was clearing up, and more and more strangely petrified Isle inhabitants became visible. Some, like the first man, were stuck with their arms up. Others were crawling or had tried to take cover on their hands and knees. She saw how Jafar had tried to shield the worthless trinkets on his cart with his body. Everyone she could see – man, woman or child – stood frozen with the same expressionless, grey eyes.

It took almost a full minute of Red just standing there, her thoughts moving agonizingly slowly, before she considered what to do next. She ran off, back towards her home. She needed to make sure if there was anyone on the Isle who was still moving around. Someone who could maybe tell her what the hell was happening!

On her way to Wonderland, every Isle inhabitant she came across was frozen, just like the people back in the market – all with motionless, grey eyes. Red's breathing quickened as she started running faster, her mind reeling from a mix of fear, confusion and, strangely, amusement.

The rickety bridge that headed towards her mother's run-down kingdom creaked under her heavy footsteps as she ran across it. Every Wonderlandian she could see – all her mother's people – was frozen as well.

Red burst into what her mother called her 'palace', but what was really nothing more than a larger-than-average barn with some amateurish wooden or stone rooms, towers and parapets haphazardly added onto it. Her mother sat where she always sat – on her 'throne', which was nothing more than a slightly-better-than-average chair with red velvet cushions.

Red skidded to a halt in her mother's 'great hall'. The floors were admittedly cleaned and polished to the point where they sparkled. Her mother would always berate Red for dragging mud in, only this time her voice did not crack like a whip through the oppressive silence. No, the Queen of Hearts, just like everyone else, it seemed, sat still like a statue.

"Mom?" Red whispered. She didn't know for sure what would be worse – her mother being frozen, or her regular self.

The Queen of Hearts did not move. Her face was partly hidden in the shadows, but Red already had her answer. In no universe would her mother ever stay silent if her insolent daughter were to approach her unannounced. And indeed, as Red got even closer, she saw that her mother now possessed the same empty, grey eyes as everyone else.

Red breathed a sigh of relief, and then felt a rush of both disgust at herself and anger at her mother. It was really telling of their troubled relationship that Red was actually glad to find her mother frozen like this.

This issue also did not answer any of Red's questions. If anything, it only raised more of them. What had happened? Was everyone on the Isle frozen? Was everyone in the world frozen? Why wasn't Red frozen?

What could she do? Should she try to fix this? How could she fix this? Red knew nothing about magic – something she had always believed she would never see within the barrier anyway. Then again, why would she want to fix this? Considering the situation more thoughtfully, why would Red try to stick her neck for anyone on the Isle? Either they hated her or she hated them. If everyone on the Isle really was frozen, then why should she care? What if this was the opportunity Red had always wished for? If there was really no one on the Isle left to bother her, then she could finally freely be herself all over the Isle!

Red paced around in her mother's great hall. The first thing she needed to do was make sure there was actually no one around on the Isle anymore. If, by some miracle, some individual villains or even entire gangs had survived, then she would have to make sure to stay far away from them. She had to comb the entire Isle!

Thinking quickly, Red headed upstairs to her room to gather some things. She wasn't spoiled for possessions – other than the gruesome red and heart-shaped trinkets her mother always commanded her to wear. Still, she gathered some of her most valuable or useful stuff in a bag before heading out again. She put on her favorite red-and-black leather jacket, black leather pants and matching combat boots. She also brought along her dagger, which she kept hidden underneath some loose floorboards in her room, since her mom always deemed it unseemly for a princess like her to actually fight her own battles.

Stepping outside, the sun still hidden behind the clouds, Red wondered where to go first. Wonderland was a dump, so she knew there was nothing and no one worth checking up on here. She had already visited the market, so she could cross that off her list. Where else would she be most likely to find everyone?

First and foremost, she needed to visit Uma's former territory to try to find Harry Hook. If there was anyone on the Isle capable of rallying any possible survivors, then it'd be him. And so, Red made her way to the coast. She passed Solomon's old territory, with its bleak colors and crossed-out skull emblems, and did not find anyone still able to move around or produce even the slightest flicker of noise. The Isle had never, ever been this quiet. Even when most of the villains had headed out to war, there had still been a sufficient number of them left to keep up the illusion of the admittedly lackluster society they had going on. It creeped Red out to just hear nothing. No yelling. No running. No sounds of breaking glass or slamming doors.

Uma's Corner, as her territory was called, was similarly dead silent and completely devoid of any moving individuals. The people here appeared to have been caught more off guard than those in other parts of the Isle. A lot of the pirates and hoodlums that frequented this territory had been frozen mid-laugh, sitting at the coast holding a fishing pole, transporting goods in heavy crates or chasing one another down the narrow alleyways in between the wooden cabins. It was a stark contrast to the people at the market, for instance, who were all permanently cowering in fear or ducking for cover.

Red stealthily creeped further and further towards the coast, often using the rooftops to pass by even more unnoticed. She did this more out of habit than anything else. Her past trips to Uma's territory had always ended disastrously, often including plenty of cuts, bruises and getting doused with sea water.

These dangers were nowhere to be seen now. The further Red infiltrated the territory, the more she started to believe that she genuinely was the only one still moving around on the Isle. Even Ursula's Fish & Chips, normally a hub of activity for all pirates and miscreants who resided here, was as silent as the grave. Red, not taking any chances, first peered through one of the porthole windows. The inside was packed, yes, but no one moved or spoke.

Red really did not feel the need to head inside and be confronted by more grey-eyed frozen individuals. She had spotted Harry Hook, unmoving, which was basically all she needed to know. Everyone of note in Uma's Corner was frozen as well.

Taking a deep breath, Red hoisted her bag more confidently over her shoulders before setting out again. The Isle was a big place, with plenty of territories, nooks and crannies she hadn't examined yet. She listed them off in her mind as she passed by each.

Goblin's Wharf – Everyone frozen.

The Rotten's Territory – Everyone frozen.

The Slop Shop - Everyone frozen.

Dr. Facilier's Voodoo Shop – Everyone frozen.

The Curl Up & Dye – Everyone frozen.

The Witch School… Dragon Hall… Hell Hall… The Castle Across the Way… Hell, she even scouted the Forest of Misery… Everywhere… Everyone was frozen…

It was only near midnight that Red finally sat back down, once again on one of the rooftops surrounding the Big Market. Her feet hurt, and she was exhausted. The Isle was pitch black, since there were no inhabitants to turn on any lights inside their crappy houses. The only sounds were the chirping of crickets and the scurrying of rats and alley cats, all seemingly amplified in loudness due to the absence of any human noises.

It was starting to rain.

Red put on her hood and shivered slightly. The rooftop did not protect her from the elements very well. Her stomach rumbled. She had only had scraps of moldy bread and crackers to eat throughout the day. Normally, she would return home for dinner, since her mother's cooks usually managed to prepare something respectable, even with their limited resources. This sadly wasn't an option now, so there was no real reason for her to return to her mother's palace.

That did open up a bunch of questions for Red as to what she should do now. The weather was getting worse, so she could hardly stay on this rooftop the entire night. She needed food and shelter. But where could she go? Everyone was frozen…

Then it hit her.

Everyone was frozen. Everyone. On the entire Isle. There was no one left to scoff at her or throw things at her head. No one to chase her out of their homes or reprimand her for stealing their things.

She could go wherever she wanted. She could take everyone's stuff – their food, clothes and weapons – with them not being able to do anything about it.

Reinvigorated, Red immediately set off. She grabbed a bag full of food from the market – everything, ranging from bread, cheese, vegetables and roasted rat on a stick – and headed towards what was almost unanimously agreed to be the nicest building on the Isle – Tremaine Manor.

In all honesty, the manor was still quite a dump. Still, compared to what the rest of the Isle had to work with, it practically rivaled an Auradonian palace. Lady Tremaine and the rest of the family sat frozen in the living room, their antique television set showing nothing but static. Humming to herself, Red casually threw them out onto the street – their stiff bodies making dull thumping sounds as they hit the pavement. Red did not feel bad. The Tremaines had never shown her any kindness.

Satisfied, she dusted off her hands and locked the door. She had never had a house to herself, let alone one as big and luxurious as this one. The kitchen and pantry were stocked with food, the couch in the living room was soft and comfortable, and an enormous four-poster bed waited for her in Lady Tremaine's personal bedroom.

Red spent that night munching on all the food she brought while splayed out on the living room couch and watching some of the Tremaine family's old movies they had on VHS.

It was, inarguably, the best night of her life.

No overbearing mother yelling at her. No other people yelling at her. Just Red – getting to enjoy herself in solitude for the first time in her life.

She had no idea who or what was responsible for freezing everyone, and why she had been spared a similar fate, but she could not help but be grateful for them. Whoever they were, they had, probably unknowingly, fulfilled one of her deepest wishes.

The sun was already rising by the time Red finally went to bed. She plopped down on the soft mattress with its many ragged and moldy blankets, and let out a content groan. If this was a dream, she thought to herself, then she did not want to wake up.

'Back to the present'

The Queen of Hearts had never allowed Red to become a slob. Back home, in Wonderland, Red was expected to always finish her food, keep her room tidy and never get any stains on her clothes. After a week or so with only frozen Isle inhabitants as companions, Red had almost forgotten all those fancy lessons her mother had tried to teach her.

Tremaine Manor, Red's humble abode for the past few days, had become a complete pigsty. Red slept in every morning, not getting out of bed until well past midday. She would spend her days either lying back on the Tremaines' comfortable couch and rifling through their VHS collection, or happily scouting every outskirt of the Isle for whatever items or food she desired.

There was no one to stop her.

No one to tell her no.

She had raided the Goblin Wharf for all the latest food that had arrived. Now, the food that was sent to the Isle from Auradon had never been top tier, but it was acceptable, especially when it came fresh off the boat. Luckily for Red, she was able to bring along a whole crate of frozen pizzas that were only slightly out of date, some boxes filled with some discontinued soda and a somewhat fresh batch of fruit, including apples, oranges and bananas.

Aside from the food, Red had also decked out her new living quarters with some carefully selected items from all around the Isle. She had brought over her favorite arcade machine from Dr. Facilier's Voodoo shop, which she had been allowed to play a few times by the Facilier sisters. She also stole a banged up old microwave and coffee maker, which the Tremaines did not possess, from the Slop Shop. She took some fancy leather clothes from Hook's Inlet, as well as a wide array of swords and daggers. She had even grown ballsy enough to sneak into Ursula's Fish & Chips and carefully steal Uma's richly decorated and widely renowned sword right out of her scabbard.

There was of course always the possibility that the frozen people on the Isle would magically become unfrozen all of a sudden, catching her in the act of taking their preciously coveted possessions, but Red decided that the risk was worth it.

Anyway, with all her constant escapades, she did not find the time to clean after herself. The ground floor of Tremaine manner was now covered with empty pizza boxes, crushed soda cans, apple cores, worn out clothes and a lot of dirt. Many rats had been attracted by the smell, and Red couldn't even be bothered to chase them off anymore.

Red had always wondered what it would be like to simply live peacefully by herself, and now she knew that she very much enjoyed it. Only the rats, alley cats and crows would occasionally disturb her peace with their noise, which kept unwillingly unnerving her. Every time they knocked over a trash can or tiptoed across the roof, Red became afraid that her days of bliss would be over. There were also a couple of instances where Red had sworn she had heard heavy, dragging footsteps echoing through the streets, but she hadn't found anything whenever she had gone out to investigate.

It was already afternoon by the time Red finally decided to get out of the house. The smell was truly starting to get to her. It wasn't a very sunny day, but it was quite warm, so Red figured she could simply spend a few hours chilling on her favorite rooftop.

This is what she did – lying back on a lawn chair she had personally dragged up the roof. She twirled Uma's sword in her hand, smirking at the thought of what the sea witch would say or do if she ever were to find out that she had taken it. Red was a pretty good swordfighter, and she had practiced with Uma's blade for the past few days.

Looking over the edge of the roof, Red spotted all the frozen people in the Big Market. She had spent such a long amount of time gazing over them all that she had practically memorized all their locations and poses. They all looked so peaceful – unmoving and completely silent. Red wondered if the Isle would ever be this peaceful again. No one to bother her. No one to make a sound.

Except…

There was a sound.

Red shot up straight and listened.

There it was. Someone was speaking.

The Isle was so devoid of any other noise, that even a single person raising their voice was clearly audible from a distance.

Red felt as though she was getting tazed as she hastily dropped flat on the roof and crawled over to the edge. Her eyes were wide as she looked over the Big Market, looking for the source of the voice.

A movement caught her eye, which was not a difficult feat since literally nothing else was moving on the large square. Three people emerged on the other side of the market, leisurely strolling down the right hand side of it.

Their voices were clearly audible, but Red could not distinguish what they were saying. Even from this distance, she was easily able to identify the two people in front.

A blonde girl with a red leather coat – CJ Hook.

A young guy with black-and-white hair and matching leather clothes – Carlos De Vil.

They were closely followed by a pretty girl with long, blue curls and matching attire. Red had never seen her before, but could instantly tell that this girl was from Auradon, purely by the way she carried herself.

More questions whirled through Red's head. What were they doing here? How were they able to move around? Should Red try to confront them or make her presence known?

After debating with herself for a quick second, Red decided to stay put. There were three of them, all carrying swords, and they most likely hated her guts. If she were to make herself known, they would most likely try to apprehend her or something. A nagging feeling of resentment and annoyance bubbled up in Red as she kept watching the trio make their way across the market. She had no idea what their plans were, but she knew for damn sure that they would not make her predicament any better. If anything, their interference would probably lead to everyone becoming unfrozen once more, thus forcing her to resume her life of misery.

Stealthy as a cat, Red kept creeping after them, sticking to the rooftops and keeping an eye on the narrow, weed-ridden streets of the Isle. She tried to figure out what to do. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could ambush the three people and somehow overpower and restrain them. Then she could force them to tell her why they were here.

There were of course a couple of issues with that plan, most notably that they were with three and Red was alone. Adding to that, CJ was the best swordfighter Red had ever seen. Red nevertheless had surprise on her side, so she would have to use that to take CJ out of the fight early. Carlos had always been somewhat of a geek, so she did not rate him all that much, and the girl was from Auradon, so what could she ever hope to accomplish against a genuine Isle threat like Red?

The trio headed towards Wonderland, which surprised Red. There was nothing in her mother's crappy kingdom worth stealing or searching for. A thought creeped into Red's mind that maybe – just maybe – they actually were there for her because they had somehow found out that she was still walking around.

These musings were quickly proven wrong when CJ led the other two down below one of the battered old bridges that led to Wonderland. Red pulled up her eyebrows as they headed into a tunnel below the bridge. Red had always known it was there, but both her mother and all the Wonderlandians spoke with such a manner of fear and disgust about the tunnel that she had never bothered to investigate it. The sounds of the trio's voices and footsteps quickly died away, and Red debated if she should try to follow them. She quickly decided against it, since she had absolutely no knowledge about what she might find inside.

Instead, Red made herself comfortable on her rooftop and waited. The three adventurers would have to return sooner or later, and that's when Red would spring her trap. Here, close to Wonderland, was her territory. She knew every road and alleyway by heart, and knew how and where to plan an ambush. She would just have to wait and see which path they would choose, and pick her moment to jump them.

The minutes stretched on, and Red quickly became bored out of her mind. She lazily sharped Uma's sword or twirled her dagger in her hands as she kept gazing at the tunnel's entrance. She was pretty damn sure that that tunnel did not have an exit anywhere nearby, so the trio would have to come out through this end again eventually. Still, she had no idea how long their little trip underground might take.

Right when Red actually started to doze off, the sounds of voices and footsteps became audible again. Red watched as CJ, Carlos and the blue-haired girl exited the tunnel and made their way back towards the center of the Isle. Red wondered what they had been doing down in the tunnel. There wasn't anyone else with them and they didn't appear to have brought anything along either.

That all didn't matter. The trio made their way back exactly the way they came. Red remembered a narrow alleyway they had passed. If she could get there first, she could easily jump them. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as Red jumped from rooftop to rooftop, eager to make as little noise as possible. The last thing she needed was for the people down below to hear her and do away with her element of surprise.

Red's eyes sparkled as the trio lazily strutted through the alleyway below her. It was now or never. Red pulled her hood over her head before jumping down.

It all happened so quickly. Red crashed into CJ from above – knees first – and caused the blonde pirate to crash against the wall with a rough smack. Carlos called out and reached for his sword, so Red quickly jumped off the wall and towards him, sending a kick to his leg. To her surprise, Red felt her boot come into contact with something metallic, and she heard a loud 'click' as Carlos shrieked in pain and fell backwards.

Red turned to her final opponent. The blue-haired girl really was very pretty, which Red admitted to herself as she pulled out her sword. The girl had done the same, but her arms were shaking like twigs in the wind. Red smirked. This would be over quickly.