THE RISE OF RED: THE QUEEN MUST FALL

3 - I'M GOING WHERE?! 😲🏰

A few days later in Wonderland, the Queen came out into the garden for court, which was basically when she be-headed whoever didn't live up to her absurd expectations.

'Her Grace! Her Excellency! Her magnanimous Majesty! Empress of Wonderland! the Queen of Hearts!'.

A bunch of the Queen's guards were in red, black, blue, and white uniforms, and were kneeling as soon as the Queen was announced. The leader, the Jack of Diamonds was dressed in an orange outfit, and he was also kneeling.

She looked around her garden, noticing the kind of mess it was, but the thing that angered her most was that her portrait was ruined.

'Who is responsible?', she asked in her usual menacing but calm tone.

'We don't know, Your Royal Highness', the Jack Of Diamonds replied, shaking, but his fear multiplied as the Queen stood from her throne.

'I've doubled the guard, tripled the patrol, and personally offered ten diamonds for any information that leads to the capture of the criminal'.

'Her Royal Highness! Princess Red!'.

Red came out of the castle, accompanied by two guards, and when she saw what was going on, she knew in her heart something was about to happen. 

Once the Queen of Hearts saw her daughter, she instantly gave her a look. 'Well, look who's here. How is practice going? Made any significant progress?'.

Red lowered her head and refused to speak, and her mother glared at her. 'A disappointment as always. Anyway, sorry to rouse you out of bed before noon, but while you were sleeping, the Royal Plaza was vandalized, and this sorry excuse for a soldier failed to protect my portrait. So, the question is, what do we do?'.

'Poke thorns in his eyes? Off with his head? Since you'll be Queen one day, I'll let you decide'.

'It's up to me?', she asked, not believing what she was hearing. 

After 16 years, she was FINALLY in charge of something!

'Okay. Well, in that case . . .', she turned to the Jack Of Diamonds {who was the captain of the Queen's guard} who gave her a desperate look.

.' . . . Off with his . . . . . . . . . HAT!'. She playfully put his hat on, only to be met with her mother's glare.

'Ugh!', the Queen groaned, in annoyance. 

'You're such a disappointment'. 

Those were obviously words Red heard often, but it still hurt, and she showed that as she took off the hat, and her goofy smile disappeared.

'You know, I was the same way at your age', the woman continued. 'Not having the guts to punish people the WAY they deserved, but if there's one thing that I've learned, it's that people need to live by the consequences of their actions'.

'NOW TRY AGAIN'.

Red sighed as she turned back to the Jack Of Diamonds, who was desperately pleading for his life, even though he wasn't saying anything. 'For your crime, you are sentenced to . . . . . . . . '.

'Get it right or I'll show you punishment!', her mother screamed, getting impatient. 

At that moment, Max ran in.

'I beg your pardon! Apologies for interrupting court, Your Majesty!'.

He knelt, knowing that the Queen was expecting him to. 'Royal Delivery', he said, and then pulled out a letter from his jacket, as it flew into the air, and opened.

'Dear Queen of Hearts, Empress of Wonderland. 

As the new principal of Auradon Prep, it is my honor to invite your daughter, Red, the Princess of Wonderland, to attend our school. 

I hope you'll join us for the Welcome Day ceremony. If you accept, this invitation shall serve as your key'.

'From pirate to Principal', the Queen whispered to herself as she read the letter. Then, she looked to the side and muttered that another villain had gone soft.

Max stood next to Red as he smiled. 'This garden is a mess'.

'I know. Someone trashed it last night and--'.

She immediately stopped talking when she noticed Max's smug look.

'You did this?'.

'Someone had to step up to your mom'.

She smacked his arm, and gave him a look that screamed, 'Do-that-again-and-I'll-show-you-how-good-I-am-with-a-knife'. 

'Ow, what's the big deal?'.

'You could've been dragged to the dungeons, or worse KILLED!'.

'Big fat hairy deal. Focus on what's really important here. If you go to Auradon Prep, you'll finally get to leave Wonderland. Doesn't that sound AMAZING?'.

That obviously sounded really good to Red, but then she remembered something, and her wishful thinking faded away.

'It doesn't matter. The only thing she hates more than Auradon is the idea of me having a life. So, I'm pretty sure that's gonna be a NO'.

However, her mother surprised her by turning around and announcing, 

'WE ACCEPT!'.

Her daughter was understandably shocked. 

Her mother actually allowing her to leave Wonderland?

In her head she was like, 'I'm sorry  . . WHAT?!'.

'Wait, hold on. Really?'. 

The Queen nodded. 

'But you've always said that Auradon is the worst'.

'Well, with my daughter there, it might not always be'.

She turned around and started walking away back to her throne as her daughter called out to her.

'You're gonna let me go? You?'.

'Pack your bags . . . !', her mother replied.

'Am I hallucinating, or did my mom just grow a heart?', she thought to herself aloud, as Max smiled.

But her mother had one more thing to say to her before she went inside, and that was . . . 

'And for once in your life, DON'T EMBARASS ME!'.

Ouch! 😐

'Okay, half a heart', Red smirked. 'But that's better than nothing'.

She jumped on Max and hugged him and when the two realized they were hugging, they let each other go, embarrassed.

* * *

Back in Cinderellasburg, the Royal Family were getting ready to leave, and Chloe ran down the stairs rocking her new boots, announcing that they fit perfectly. 'I love them!'.

She skipped into the carriage, and thanked her parents for the gift and they both gave her a little compliment as she got in.

'Are you sure you can't come?', Cinderella asked her husband. 'I mean, you can go to that meeting another time'.

'Beast wants to talk to me about something really important, so . . . ', he turned to Chloe. 'Take care of your mom for me'.

'I will'.

'Love you', Cinderella muttered, as she got in the carriage and they took off.

Sorry 4 always editing, I know it can be annoying. And if there's any confusion, Max is still Mad Hatter's son, but he's only a few months older than Red. I thought it weird that in the original movie, Red was friends with a 30-something year old man. It was kinda creepy

Anyway, as usual, thnx SOOOOOOOOOOOO much 4 reading, I REALLYYYYYYYYYYY appreciate it, and I luv u guys SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much.

BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE