RISE OF RED: A TALE OF HEADS AND HEARTS
(Descendants: Rise of Red Fanfiction/Re-imagining)
“She did what?” Mirana asked, whipping her head so fast her shocking white hair whipped with it.
“That’s what Marie told me. Uliana nearly finished off your sister and her little friends,” Drizella said, adjusting the sleeves of her green silk top.
“I’m regretting skipping school to go get our nails done now. We missed the whole thing,” Mirana tutted. “You said ‘nearly’…so she didn’t do anything to my sister?”
“Well, not exactly. After she basically turned into a flamingo she chased your sister and her friends around. She pushed off that fairy and the peasant girl, but Iracebeth was able to escape from her when she fell into the fountain.”
“Pity. Serves that tentacle toter right, anyway.”
They walked into the dining hall and joined the line of students getting their meals.
“And, oh, that’s not all,” Drizella continued, a mischievous glint in her eye as she knew the next bit of information would intrigue Mirana the most.
“What? Your story got boring real fast.”
“Eye witness sources state that after the whole ordeal, Thorne came to your sister’s rescue, and after he cleared the area, they left together.”
Mirana stiffened, but maintained her composure. “Looks like sister dearest needs yet another reminder of how things work around here.”
“Oh this is going to be sooo good,” Drizella giggled. “Right, Ana?”
Anastasia, who was standing behind her twin said, “Yeah”, absentmindedly.
She was distracted by the heavenly smell of freshly baked bread coming from the bakery section.
The aroma was intoxicating, making her stomach growl and her mouth water.
They got this particular bread a couple times a week, and she knew who made it purely by the scent alone; that cute baker boy who mounted the stand and served the students.
“Ugh can someone get that bread stand out of here? It reeks of carbs,” Mirana said, turning up her small nose as she balanced her tray of food.
“I know, right? And that awful server they have. He reminds me of a sheep dog.”
Anastasia frowned as both girls laughed at Drizella’s joke. “That’s not nice, Dee.”
“Uh, yeah….that’s, like, the point. What’s your damage?”
They were about to pass the bread stand when the baker boy smiled widely at them.
He was tall and pleasantly chubby in a way that made him look both strong and cuddly, with shaggy, wheat-coloured hair that flopped in front of soft green eyes. He wore his regular outfit, a green shirt with rolled back sleeves, exposing his forearms, blue pants and a blue apron on top. The cheery smile on his face made his full cheeks go up, and Anastasia found herself drawn to it.
“Care for some bread, ladies? It’s hot and fresh from the oven,” he said, his voice rich and deep, perfect for advertising.
“Gross,” Mirana said out loud, making Drizella snort with laughter.
“Oh look,” the girl in green said. “There’s Philip and the other boys, let’s go join them.”
The two girls left for the other end of the dining hall, while Anastasia, after some mental deliberation, decided to approach the stand.
“One bread roll, please,” she said, her voice soft as she looked down, avoiding his eyes.
The baker boy looked at her, surprised that she had left her friends who weren’t shy in their contempt. For a second, he wondered if this was some sort of setup, but when she looked up for a brief moment he almost gasped.
Before him was the most uniquely beautiful girl he had ever seen, and that was saying something, considering that he worked in a school with all sorts of royalty and magical beings. But there was something about this girl, with her auburn curls, chartreuse green eyes and wide nose that made him want to stare at her for hours on end. Her features were unlike the typical beauty standard; her face was big and round, full in some areas, and more structured in others, her eyes were big and wide-set, her nose was also big, and just a little flat and her lips were small but full and lush, altogether creating a facial juxtaposition that many would find strange, and some would even go as far to say was ‘ugly’.
But to him, this girl who he had never really seen before was like a work of art, and an expensive one at that, decked out in a costly looking magenta two-piece set.
“Sure,” he replied to her order, using a pair of thongs to place one roll on a small plate at the corner of her tray. “Would you like some butter with that?”
“No, thank you,” she said, and he noticed that her voice though soft as she spoke calmly was naturally raspy and lower-pitched.
“Okay. Come back anytime.”
She turned to leave, but he kept his eyes on her, wondering when she would take up his offer.
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“What am I doing? This’ll never work!” Red muttered to herself, pacing up and down the dimly lit corner of the hallway she was currently standing in.
“Look at you,” Cheshire Cat said as he fizzled into appearance. “Only your second day of classes and you’re alreading skipping to meet up with a boy. I’m so proud.”
“Not funny, Chesh. You know I need to talk to Hook, and I heard he always cuts Professor Roger’s class.”
“Already gathering intel on him, how cute,” the cat quipped, checking out his claws as he floated through the air. “Decided what you’re gonna say yet?”
Red blew out her cheeks. “Not really. Chloe was no help at all…she was just like ‘be your usual caustic self and he’ll be eating out of your hands’. What the heck is that supposed to mean? I’m delightful!”
“Yuh-huh.” Cheshire was fluffing up his fur while looking in a mirror now.
Red grabbed the mirror and brought it to her face.
She had asked Cheshire for some lipstick the night before and had applied it as a final touch to her outfit; a red halter top under a chunky, black leather jacket with short, tight-fitting red skirt and her boots.
“Oh relax, red velvet, you look good. He’ll be dumb to not want to grab the booty. Ha-ha..get it?”
“Your pirate jokes aren’t funny, Chesh.”
“Don’t you mean arrrgh-en’t funny? Okay, I’ll stop now. Sheesh.”
Red adjusted her hair again and smacked her blood-red lips together, handing Cheshire back his mirror just as she heard footsteps up the hallway.
With his head low, a cigar between his lips and his hands jammed into his pockets with no fake hook in sight, James Hook walked towards the corner Red was currently in.
She gave a small cough which made him look up, his piercing blue narrowing in on her before he smirked.
“Well, well, look what the tide dragged in. It’s the wee red lass,” he said, his accent thick as he spoke around the cigar.
“And if it isn’t the shipwreck,” Red rebutted immediately.
He approached her, his eyes raking up and down her body unabashedly.
“I’ve never wrecked a ship in my life,” he said. “It would only take something as pretty as you to steer me off course.”
She flipped her hair and raised a brow. “I’m flattered,” she said her tone dripping with sarcasm, although she was inwardly pleased that her outfit seemed to be doing what she had intended for it to do.
“I’ve got nothing better to do.”
He led her up a nearby staircase and then through a door that opened up to a balcony overlooking part of the school grounds.
Red went over to the railing and leaned against it, taking in the fresh air and the sun as it hit her skin.
Hook came in behind her, leaning against the wall. He raised up one of his feet and struck a match against a roughened up part of his boot, then held it against the end of his cigar till it caught.
He took a long drag, letting the warm smoke envelope his insides, his eyes fixed on Red.
He had met several girls since he started attending this school, but she was without a doubt the most interesting, and he was always down for a bit of fun.
“So, where’d you sail in from?” he asked, the smoke making his deep voice even more crackly.
Red turned and met his gaze. “Anywhere. Nowhere. Everywhere.”
He raised an eyebrow and she giggled at him.
“I’m not going to tell a pirate where I’m from, thank you very much.”
“Why not? I won’t come visit ya…unless you want me to.”
“Are you always this flirty?”
“Only with pretty lasses such as yourself.”
She rolled her eyes and turned round again.
“I wouldn’t have pegged you for a truant. Considering the friends you were with.”
“Who said they were my friends?”
“Well you were hanging out with them yesterday, no?”
“And are you friends with everyone you hang out with?”
She was actually being truthful this time; Chloe was most definitely not her friend, and she couldn’t even begin to fathom having anything akin to friendship with her mother, no matter how sugar-spun her younger self was. As for Faye, Ella, and Thorne, they were acquaintances this abrupt trip to the past had caused her to meet, even if Thorne was possibly her actual birth dad.
Hook took a drag and blew it out slowly. “Fair point.”
“No offence to your big, bad gang. Though I’m still pretty pissed I was almost totaled yesterday.”
“What’s that thing the fairies always say? Ah…forgive and forget?”
“Yeah right.” She looked down at the grounds before speaking again. “So what brought you here? I thought pirates weren’t meant to stay in one place at a time.”
Hook got up and joined her on the railing, leaning against it with his back so Red only had to tilt her head a little to look at him.
She had to admit, he was handsome, in a sun-weathered, roguish kind of way. His blue eyes were the exact colour of the sea on a bright day and were accentuated by his tanned skin, dotted with perfectly placed sun-spots that reminded Red of Maddox’s smattering of freckles. His hair was jet-black, with a few light-brown streaks from salt water and sun exposure, and laid wavy and tousled down to his shoulders. He had the beginnings of a moustache and beard showing, adding more definition to his chiseled face. His lips were full and a deep, ruddy pink shade, and now they were spreading into his signature smirk.
“The thing about pirates is we don’t follow anybody’s rules but our own. We do what we want, when we want and how we want.”
“Oh you mean steal, kill and pillage?”
Hook tutted. “Ever asked yourself who is being stolen from? Or what’s being pillaged?”
Red shook her head, wondering what he was getting at.
“Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but I know for mi’self that I only steal from those who deserve it and I pillage what can be shared with others. Plus I’ve never killed anyone- directly, anyway….I usually just chuck ‘em into the sea, let her do her job.”
“That’s….interesting,” Red said, words failing her at the moment.
“Anyhow, I’m only here for a short bit. Came to learn a couple things before I hit the water again and continue, y’know, pillaging and whatnot. You?”
“Same. I am only here for a while. And then I’ll go back where I came from.”
Hopefully. She thought of the pocket watch, placed carefully under her pillow back in her room, and how she wasn’t quite sure if it would take them back to the future or get them stuck in another timeline entirely.
“Ah yes, I’m sure they really miss ya back in Anywhere, Nowhere and Everywhere,” he joked and she genuinely laughed.
Suddenly the bell for the end of that period rang and Hook groaned.
He smushed the end of his cigar against the railing, putting it out before showing it into his pocket.
“I hate to leave ya, lass, but I have to meet up with Hades before the next lecture,” he explained as he wiped his hands off on his jacket.
“That’s fine,” Red simply replied.
“Maybe we could have lunch together sometime? I’ll tell ya how I became the awesome pirate I am today.”
He gave her one last smirk before walking away jauntily.
Red released a deep sigh as she watched his retreating figure.
