rosenrot, oh rosenrot

“ As palavras ’deusa’ e ‘discordia’ na mesma frase não dizem nada pra você?”

“.......”

“ I’ll just go over there and help myself then.”

….

“Rose…Hi. Didn’t expect to see you in my office.”

Still, she makes her way in, not even bothering to pull the chair. Instead, she half-sits on the desk, arms folded.

“What?” The ridiculous accent, the words, the way she was angling her body… of course he recognized that, how could he not? He did remember of another life when he was a boy eager to show his girl the most awesome movie ever. He did remember the laughter and the pure happiness, but if felt so distant, on another life, with another Blue. Yet, the shock was enough to stop his ugly sobbing with a hiccup and the confusion made him stop and stare at her for the first time.

She was so beautiful it almost burned his eyes. She was so small, enveloped on his cloack, blue against red, he felt a monster for shouting ah her. He also felt so so stupid for wanting nothing more than to hug her and never let her go but, instead, shout for her to leave.

A familiar face among the many others drew his attention. After all, she could had been the fairest of all. Her hair was red and bright as the morning sun , skin as pure as porcelain and fierce thorns like the wild roses growing in the woods - Rose Red.

“ 'Evening, Rose.” the wolf greeted her “ Lovely day, isn’t it? How have you been?”

In all honesty, Rose couldn’t give a damn to most of the people in Fabletown, but sometimes she felt sorta sorry for the sheriff — then again, she was the one who thought rescuing Frau Totenkinder was the right thing to do. Maybe vicious predators had this secret code that said they should look out for each other. Or at least have the slightest hint of sympathy.

It must suck, having to protect people who don’t even want you around anyway.

“Depends”, she replied matter-of-factly, the faintest smirk playing on the corner of her lips. “If by ‘how have you been’ you actually mean ‘what you and Jack have been up to’, I’ll let you know I haven’t seen the bastard for weeks. Now, if you really wanna know how I’ve been... Yeah, I’m good, thanks”, she added with a dismissive shrug.

He recoiled from her eyes, but there wasn’t any place he could shield himself from her gaze. If she wanted to see, she was gonna see the half man he was now. She deserved more, but he deserved at least to be left in peace. 

His bright blue eyes, burning with rage and all the feelings he was repressing all that time filled with tears and this made him feel yet more outraged. He didn’t want to cry in front of her, he didn’t want Rose to see him crying on top of everything.

“I am sorry if I thought I was doing everyone a favor! You wouldn’t need to babysit that poor disabled boy! You… you shoul–” 

But then he couldn’t hold the cry anymore. It teared him, like a thunder, like the arrow that pierced through his skin. And like a crow, cawing his pain for everyone to hear, his voice sounded just like his horn. He didn’t even had that danmed cloak to hide anymore, she was wearing the blasted thing.

No one but herself.

It was almost funny, really, seeing how far they had made even if she spent most of their time together trying to avoid it, trying to keep the distance. And when she finally seemed to have learned something, it was his turn to shun her. Talk about karma.

“Hey.” Anger lingered still, but she did her best to swallow it, a plea in her voice.  She wanted to reach for him, yet her hands refused to obey, fingers clinging instead to the cloak, wrapping it around her body like a comfort blanket. What good could she do to him now, when her toxic attitude had systematically ruined things for years? It felt as there were no words left to say now, no gesture to close the abysmal gap keeping them apart.

And still, instead of keeping her big mouth shut, she heard herself saying in what was possibly the most pathetic attempt at a British accent she’d ever done.