How To Be Brave [Red&Snow, 1/??]
CHAPTER ONE - Recovery
Word Count: 2269
“Gran, Gran, she’s awake! Come quickly!”
Red’s head swings back to focus on the weak figure lying stiffly on their extra bed, eager eyes searching the invalid for further signs of life. A flicker of the eyelids had been her first sign, then a wrinkle of the nose and, further, a pinch of the lips. Now the young woman lying on the bed inhales sharply and her eyes flutter open, blearily focusing on the flushed, pert face hovering over hers.
For a moment the two hold each other’s gaze: the one, waiting for her sore eyes to adjust to the sudden light, and the other, curiously captivated by this strange figure who wandered into her life (quite literally) just a week before. A thousand questions bubble behind her lips but before any can spill out, Gran waddles into the room with some fresh broth and a warm washrag.
>The girl, pale and taxed from her week in bed, struggles to rise to a more decent position, but upon doing so fully realizes the effects of her journey on her limbs, and falls back with a frustrated puff of air. Red reaches out to take the girl’s hand, and with a comforting pat she says, “You shouldn’t try to move just yet. You’ve been sleeping for quite a while.”
Gran pulls up a chair beside the bed and hands the bowl of soup to her granddaughter, who begins to ladle it into their guest’s surprised mouth. She chokes on it briefly and it trickles sloppily down the sides of her face. “Wait,” the girl croaks, voice unused to speaking after a week’s worth of sleep, “I - who are you?” Her eyes knit with trepidation and wariness in equal measure, eyes flicking quickly between her two apparent nurses.
“We might ask you the same question,” Gran says rather crossly, before Red can interject.
“You were collapsed in the snow,” her granddaughter blurts anyway, quite anxious to speed through the introductions. “We found you while collecting firewood, and we couldn’t just leave you to die out there. We carried you back and got you warmed up with a hot fire and a nice bath, but you didn’t wake. We thought you might be dead, but - ”
“Hush, child!” Gran silences Red with a look so severe it could cut through diamond. With this same look she turns her head to the bedridden girl and presses her lips together in a flat line. “There is a royal insignia stitched to your cloak. Are you aware of this?”
The girl shivers visibly and gives a sullen nod in defeat. There is no use trying to hide it from this old woman, for clearly she has already learned the truth - she can see it in her eyes.
“Hair as black as night, skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood,” Gran recites, coldly. “Wanted in every land. An escaped captive of the Queen Regina,” she continues, voice steeled with unhappy confidence. “Your reputation precedes you, my dear Snow White.”
Red’s breath hitches in her throat and she gapes open-mouthed at this revelation. Gran, as usual, had kept this from her.
“Snow White?” The words tumble out of her before she can stop them. “Princess Snow White?”
“Quiet!” Gran orders tersely, pulling her suddenly prostrate granddaughter up off the ground. “We do not bow to traitors.”
Tears fill the princess’s eyes and she feels a great panic surge in her chest. Wanted? Escaped captive? Traitor? None of this is true and the injustice of it all swells hotly inside of her and is expressed in red-faced, desperate sobs. “Please - ” she cries, “She’ll hurt me! I’ll leave as soon as I can, I’ll leave now!” She fights to get out of bed but succeeds only in rolling out of it and onto the floor.
Red looks to her Gran and the two silently agree to pull the girl back onto the bed, though Gran does it grudgingly.
“You will remove yourself from this village as soon as you are able,” Gran declares, harshly. “I will not have you put my granddaughter in danger, nor the rest of the town. You are not welcome here.”
With that, she hobbles out of the room, dragging Red with her by the wrist. Before they leave, Snow White can hear the old woman whisper carefully, “You are not to become her friend, Red. She is dangerous. Do you understand?”
Red glances back at the sick room dolefully and nods, but that isn’t good enough for Gran. She takes her granddaughter by the chin and whips her face back round, so that it is but inches from her own. “I need you to answer me with a yes or a no.”
Red is momentarily paralyzed with fear - but not shock. She gulps thickly and whispers, biting down hard on her lip to stop from sniveling, “Yes. I promise.”
“Good girl.”
The door is slammed shut, and then the girl called Snow White is left alone.
. . .
Through the tiny cabin’s windows, the moon shines knowingly on the tiptoeing figure of Little Red.
Many a night has the moon witnessed Red’s various misadventures, and tonight is no exception. She hardly ever does as she’s bid and indeed takes private joy in her firm determination to do the exact opposite of whatever Gran tells her, but, to her credit, she’s been planning this particular mission for the past week, in anticipation of their guest’s awakening. And her resolve to go through with it only increased today when she saw the princess’s terror and sadness; in her mind, there is no way the allegations against Snow White are true. The queen has never been one of spotless integrity.
Even so, Red’s hand hesitates momentarily over the doorknob once she reaches it. She cringes at the thought of the lashes she’d get for disobeying Gran, being that the last time is still fresh in her memory since the wounds have not yet healed. But. This is a princess, in their very home! And Red is always bested by her curiosity.
“Princess?” she whispers, sliding the door open.
Not receiving an answer, Red is careful to close the door softly behind her and walk lightly up to the bed, where she sees the princess swaddled up in her blankets, fast asleep. The sight warms her heart, tugging at something within her that has hitherto remained untouched. That same something is what then compels her to crawl up onto the bed and lay on the other side of Snow White, propping her head up on her upturned palm so she can watch the girl resting, like she has for the past five days.
The starlight seeps in through the curtains and twinkles upon Snow’s skin, fascinating to Red in its smoothness. Her face is quite like the moon, Red thinks to herself. Round, and white, and clear, and magical. She’s never seen anything like it, and she supposes that’s why they call her the fairest of them all.
Before she knows it Red’s hand is halfway to Snow White’s face, finger extended gingerly until it collides with flesh softer than Red could have ever dreamed.
But unfortunately the fleeting gesture awakens the slumbering princess and she gives out a little gasp to see Red’s face so near hers.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I was just - well, you’re a princess and I’ve never met one of those before, and I - I’m sorry, I’ll leave you now,” Red stammers, words tumbling out one after the other so that they nearly overlap. She’s all too aware now of how foolish this foray of hers had been, and the humiliation and shame beats hotly on her face.
“No, it’s okay,” Snow insists, a flattered smile creeping warily onto her face. “You just startled me, that’s all.” After a pause, she manages to reach a sitting position and offers the girl her hand. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Snow White.”
Red stares down at the hand she’s been offered and for a second looks incredibly stricken with some uneven combination of fear and awe. Unsurely, she lowers her face to the princess’s hand and kisses it lightly, believing that is what is expected of her. But she realizes she’s wrong when Snow chuckles and swings her head side to side.
“Shake it, silly,” she corrects, once again offering her hand. This time Red takes it and gives it a gentle tug, thickly swallowing her embarrassment.
“I’m - well, everyone calls me Red,” she explains, lowering her eyes. She looks as if she’s about to launch into something when just then, rapidly and quite without precedent, she switches gears. “I’m so sorry about how my grandmother acted earlier. She can be very… old fashioned, I guess. I promise she won’t throw you out. Not at least until we find somewhere safe for you to go.”
“She’s right,” Snow admits with a tired shrug. “I’m endangering your entire village just by lying in this bed all day. It would be better if I didn’t stay in one place, make it harder for her to track me. This battle is between the queen and I,” she says with a sigh, “And not anyone else.” The matter clearly troubles the princess, for Red takes immediate note of the change in her features - suddenly whiter, and older, if possible, whether with horror or with exhaustion Red cannot discern.
So she’s quiet for a bit, nibbling indecisively on her lower lip as she searches her mind for something to say. “Did you really commit treason?” Is the best response she can come up with, though she’s not entirely sure it’s her place to ask.
The question strikes a nerve and Snow’s face shows it. Seeing this, Red prepares to apologize profusely and retract it but just then, Snow fumbles to reply. “It depends on who you ask,” is what she manages to say, albeit unsurely.
“Well, I’m asking you.”
Snow absorbs this thoughtfully. She looks at Red’s face, resplendent in its innocent curiosity, and she wonders - what should she say, what information should she dare impart to this girl who has nothing to do and should never have anything to do with she and the queen’s business? “Yes,” she answers simply, eyes downcast.
A static lull settles in over the two, thickening the air between them like heady smog. Red looks over the woman before her and cannot find it in herself to believe her confession - she’s always been skilled at reading people and Snow’s face betrays her with a flicker of uncertainty barely visible behind her eyes.
“You’ve only known me for a few hours and you’re lying to me already,” Red chides, lips twisting into a cynical half-smile. “A new record.”
She’s smarter than Snow originally credited her. No - not smarter, perhaps, but more perceptive. The princess is used to getting away with her half-truths, for around the court she was widely loved and went unquestioned by default. She’s not spent a lot of time around peasants or common villagers; she tells herself that it shouldn’t surprise her to learn they do not play by the same courtly rules of flattery and ignorance. How utterly refreshing and terrifying.
“It’s… a partial truth,” Snow admits defensively, raising her eyes timidly to Red’s. “I haven’t endangered the kingdom, but I have - done something to upset the queen, in the past. And rightly so.” She’s constantly defending Regina, in her mind and in her conversation; it’s a curious phenomenon to her and those who know her, but it’s something she can’t stop. Perhaps it is penance. Perhaps it is guilt. At any rate, Snow White gives a lame shrug and takes to knotting her fingers. Nervous habit. Talking about Regina always ignites her nerves.
“Whatever it is you’ve done, I’m sure it couldn’t have been so bad as to earn this punishment. She wants you dead - doesn’t she? That’s a bit… excessive, if you ask me.” Red senses that the princess is uncomfortable but can’t stop herself from probing; Gran always said her curiosity (or nosiness, more like) would be her ruin.
Snow’s eyebrows raise and she’s quick to clarify, “Dead? I’d be no use to her dead.” Her eyes stare forward into nothingness as the canvas of her mind expands into a vividly painted picture, one of Regina’s menacing face as magic pools between her hands. Magic intended to inflict great pain and misery. Dark magic. The only kind Regina has ever known.
“What does that mean?” Red asks softly, though she’s fairly certain she can guess at the insinuation.
But Snow White falls silent, a visible stoniness passing over her features. Red can almost see the walls coming up, separating them with a will stronger than any iron or mortar.
“I’m tired,” Snow fibs, sinking back into her pillow, back turned from Red.
“Oh - right, of course you are,” Red stammers apologetically. “I’m sorry for waking you.”
“It’s okay. Really. It’s nice to have someone to talk to.”
Snow is silent when Red slinks out the door.
On the other side of it, Gran’s words echo in Red’s head: “You are not to become her friend, Red. She is dangerous. Do you understand?”
The ghost of a smile dances on her lips.