Red

The Woodlands

It's been a while since I've been here, but it's all still the same. It's the people inside that make the place so different. We used to be so... happy. Now they're empty shells of what they used to be. The bar had the same velvet stools next to it, and the same mundane drinks stood on the shelves. Now I see they've added new enchanted stuff, the strong things that everybody swore they wouldn't touch. Nowadays, you would snatch those bottles off the shelves without a second thought. Same wooden tables and wooden chairs, and light couldn't shine through all the cigarette smoke clouding the air.

Strangely, it still felt like home.

Nobody had noticed me yet, which was the plan. I just wanted to fade away like the rest of them. So, I walked over to the bar and claimed a seat for myself. The bartender, a woman whom I've never seen before, strides over to me. She starts, "What can I... Red?" She stops.

"Lucy?" I questioned her back. She laughed and shook her head, "Lilly."

I smiled, "Sorry. I always got you three confused."

"Doesn't everyone," she said sardonically.

I chuckle, "Nice glamour. Mother Gothal really stepped up her game."

Lilly wasn't human-like, she is a Troll. When we all woke up here our first law to ever be made was that all unusual creatures needed to be glamorized at all times. Some like Hansel and Gretel could pass without a glamour.

Good for us, but it's bad for those who know they will never fit in. The large sum of money being taken from their meager earnings was memory enough.

Lilly let out an amused sound, "And her prices. You'll screech when I tell you how much my sisters and I pay yearly for a two-year interchangeable glamour."

I sigh, "Well if we had more trained witches Upstairs then those prices might drop."

She shook her head, "They aren't interested with taking in possible new seers or witches. I swear the moment those hags got word of Crane's death they started walking around the Affairs Office like they owned the place."

A small pang of pain hit my chest, Lilly seemed to notice by the sour look on my face. Her lips flatlined when she said somberly, "I'm sorry, Red. I didn't mean to upset you, uh, it's just that people have been talking.  I just... thought you knew.

I perk up a bit asking her suddenly, "Who's been talking?" She grins slightly, "Wanna talk about it over a drink?"

I laugh, "One enchanted bourbon, straight." She smirked, "Same Ol' Little Red Riding Hood, huh?"

She turned to make my drink when I muttered, "Yeah... you could say that."

The doorbell jingled and a big, lumberjack-looking man walked in. I gasped, "Woody?!" I jumped up from the barstool, Lilly started to protest but I ignored her. I ran and embraced him, trying to squeeze the life out of him.

Crack! I was tossed into the wall, I hit the ground with a groan. "Woody! Don't!" Lilly screamed, a bottle crashing somewhere in the distance. My whole body was on fire and the back of my head was wet and sticky. Everything was blurred and muffled, the screaming voices in the background felt so far away.  The pain didn't stop there, soon it started to attack my ribs and my stomach, is he kicking me? I couldn't even move to protect myself, I'm paralyzed. Iron starts to rise up in the back of my throat, I sputter and globs of red fall onto the floor. Then it stopped, abruptly, no more pain, no more blood. I could finally move again.

I cough and hold my ribcage fearing it was knocked loose, it could fall out at any moment. Using my other arm I grit my teeth and push myself up, sitting numbly against the wall. I had to get up, but this is how far I could go without screaming. I blinked, trying desperately to clear my eyes. Woody... was on the floor asleep. His face swollen and bleeding, I gasped. Is that Woody, he looks the same but... he's not my Woody. Is he? I sat there and scowled at the man laying on the ground, trying to grasp the fact that my protector had just beaten me senseless.

"Red? Hey! Talk to me," said a man. I looked up and smiled, "Hi Bigby." The man cocked his head to the side, "You bumped your head good, I know that for sure. Hey, Lilly, get Dr. Swineheart over here and make it fast too. She's lost a lot of blood."

I smiled at Bigby, is that even him? He must've lost a lot of weight since I last saw him, His arms used to be way bigger. I laugh, "You' we're always so soft especially when I got hurt... Remember last time? You were apologizing about those claw marks in my side. I still have the scar! See!" I pulled up my shirt slightly and showed him they three large purple marks that wrapped around my torso. I look at my arm and gasp, "Oh, and look at those. That's the day you had me pinned against a bramble thicket, good times..."

"Red..." Bigby looked at me with a dark brown, puppy-dog stare. I smiled at him, "You're eyes were amber, did you change them? I like it, makes you look cuter." I laughed up a bit of blood, I spat it to the side, "Excuse me."

He looked at the blood and back at me, tears welling up in his eyes, "Hold on, Red the Doctor is on his way. Just hang in there, okay?" I smiled a bloody smile, "Don't worry. You haven't killed me yet, lord knows you've tried. Can you ask Lilly to bring me my drink please? I'm parched." He opened his mouth to say something, but I didn't catch it because I had already passed out.

•••

"Who did this!?"  "The Woodsman." "Woody? That son of a-" "Quiet Sheriff, I need to concentrate." "Sorry, Doc, so uh what's the diagnosis?" "She was beaten, several broken ribs, some major internal bleeding, and a concussion from hell." "But... she's okay right?" "She always ends up okay, no matter what you throw at her."

I opened my eyes slowly, allowing the sunlight to properly burn through my skull. I began to realize that moving would cause an immense pain. I didn't need more of an ache than I had now.

The bed I was in wasn't mine, and the room I was in, wasn't mine. So where am I?

"Mornin' Red," A husky voice yawned. I wince as I snap my head the the side. Finding Bigby sitting in a blue, worn down loveseat.

"Good morning," my voice rasps, cracking to and fro. He stands up and makes his way over to the bedside, "Do you remember anything?"

I scowled and said, "Can I sit up?"

He looks down a me warily, concern flashing behind his eyes. I could hear the gears turning in his head as he tries to find the least painful way.

That's a first.

"Okay," he breaths. He moves the duvet off of me, but he pauses when he sees the bandages covering my body. One wrapped around my breasts to the end of my rib cage. The second and third sat above my hips where minor cuts were.

He snaps out of it and grabs the small of my back and slid his other arm under my bare thighs. He looked at me with a rose gold gaze, "One, two, three."

I screamed from the pit of my stomach when he lifted me up, then setting me down softly. Leaving me writhing in pain.

"I'm sorry," he said as he pulled the duvet back over my body.

I gasp in and out trying to extinguish the fire my body was dipped in. "It's okay. What was it you asked me earlier?" I said rubbing my temples.

He scowls slightly, "Do you remember anything about your attack?"

I look down at my hands, frowning, "I remember everything."

"Do you remember when you showed Beast your scars?" He said, his eyebrow quirking slightly.

I narrow my eyes at him, "No..."

He laughs, "I'll spare you the humiliation."

"Which scar?" I asked curiously. His eyes darkened to a tawny hue, "If I may..." my head reeled back a bit when he scooted closer, and when the duvet was removed from my body.

Cold air brushed against my skin, electrifying my blood as it rushed to warm me again. I started softly, "Bigby-"

His claws against my torso froze my body. I locked eyes with him, sending waves of hate into his soul. His deep voice became sultry, velvety, "This one." The claws went away leaving his fingertips brushing against my skin. Following the same path they made all those years ago.

This isn't happening... this isn't happening!

I leaned my head against the wall, and closed my eyes...