The Deck of Destiny - A Caraval Oneshot Collection

Broken Glass & Bloody Hands

Setting: Post-Finale - the night of Scarlett's coronation.

Scarlett Marie Dragna was officially the Empress of The Meridian Empire.

A new weight rested on her shoulders, but she knew Julian would be by her side every step of the way. She was going to meet him in the gardens for champagne in thirty minutes after she finished refreshing herself from the celebrations. Tired navy and excited amber swirled around her as she found her room.

Scarlett walked into her empress chambers, gently clicking the door shut behind her. The ruby crown that rested on her head felt slightly heavy, and she took a look at herself in the mirror.

An elegant queen looked back at her with a slightly crooked diadem that looked as if it were about to fall off her head. A small laugh passed her lips until her eye caught on a piece of paper that laid on the floor.

She didn't remember leaving or taking any papers from anywhere, but when she picked it up, her heart beat in her throat.

It was her mother's Wanted poster.

She looked back into the mirror and studied herself. There were rarely any differences between her and her mother. Scarlett tried to pick apart every piece of herself that might have belonged to her, but she felt like an exact carbon copy of Paradise.

A tear fell down her face that didn't feel like hers. She wondered if she hadn't gone to see Nicolas, if she had stayed and watched over her mother like Tella had asked, maybe she wouldn't have gone to see The Fallen Star. Maybe her mother would still be alive and maybe she would be standing next to Scarlett right now.

Hickory brown and coal sorrow burned the navy and amber to a crisp, leaving Scarlett feeling vulnerable and utterly alone.

She choked out a sob as she fell to her knees, the crown falling off of her head and crashing on the floor. Her mother hadn't even spoken to her before she left - she ran headfirst into action. Scarlett couldn't help but believe that she was a big part of why Paradise had gone into the Deck of Destiny - why she had suffered for seven years.

Scarlett wondered if her mother had ever worn the same crown that laid abandoned on the floor; if she was really Elantine's heir.

She tried to hold onto her mother's smirk, her kind words, her voice, but it all slipped through her fingers like liquid. All her mind could come up with was a sleeping Paradise, helpless in her bed.

Scarlett didn't want to remember her that way, but it was all that Scarlett knew. She willed a simple laugh or bedtime story or crinkling eyes from her memory, but all she saw was herself looking disappointingly at her mother while she slept. Sage guilt sparked around her, flooding the other shades.

She spared another glance in the mirror; Paradise stared back at her.

Scarlett grabbed the symbolic crown and threw it at the mirror, cracking the glass and distorting the image of herself - of Paradise.

She didn't know how long she sat there and stared at the broken mirror, feeling empty and not at all like her usual self.

She heard a drowned-out voice, but she felt as if her head was underwater. A pair of strong arms lifted her off of the floor, carrying her into her private bathroom. Everything seemed blurry and surreal as the sound of a running bath faucet mixed with a ringing in her ears.

"Scarlett."

Scarlett snapped her head to Julian and her lip quivered.

"Can you give me your hands, Crimson?"

Scarlett looked down at her bloody hands littered with shattered glass from the mirror. She hadn't remembered the sting of the broken glass, or even going near it. Her hands shakily extended towards Julian, and he carefully picked through the shallow cuts with a pair of tweezers as they sat on the edge of the tub.

He didn't say anything as he concentrated on removing the glass, placing each shard on a small handkerchief to be thrown out later. Scarlett's hands only throbbed as he worked, not feeling nearly as much pain as she should have.

He lowered her hands in the tub, and the clear water immediately turned a light shade of red. Scarlet red.

She sniffled as she focused on not trying to cry, staring intently at the blood-stained tub water.

"My mother was taken away far too soon," Scarlett whispered as Julian wrapped bandage gauze around her hands.

He paused and looked at her through his dark, thick lashes. "I'm..." sorry was what Scarlett assumed he was going to say, but then realized it wasn't the best thing to offer in this situation. "Do you want to talk about her?" He said instead.

"I can't," she choked, "I barely remember her. The only time I do remember her is when she's staring back at me in the mirror, and even then she's nothing more than a ghost."

As he finished securing the gauze around her wounds, Julian pulled her into his arms and let her tears pour into his shirt. His wet hands rubbed small circles on her bare back, avoiding the fabric of her backless dress as she sunk into him.

"That explains the broken glass," Julian mumbled into her hair as she tried to even her breathing. 

"I didn't get a chance to say goodbye," Scarlett's voice cracked, "I didn't even get to say hello."

Julian's hand trailed up from her back and into her hair, smoothing over it and gently stroking the soft brown locks.

"She'll always be with you, Crimson. Even if your memory fails you, she's always in your heart."

"I appreciate you so much, Julian." Scarlett pulled back enough to look him in his eyes. "I love you, and I don't tell you enough."

"You're not going to lose me, Crimson." Julian kissed her head, knowing the true meaning of her words. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

She thought the same thing of her mother, and the next day she was gone.

Scarlett let out a tired sigh as Julian helped her onto his lap so that she was straddling him.

"I'm sorry I ruined our plans."

"Don't say that." Julian's hands rested on her waist as her arms slung around his neck. "You didn't ruin anything. It's good to let it all out sometimes."

"You're awful wise tonight." Scarlett leaned her forehead against Julian's, their noses brushing slightly.

"I know, I'm kind of like a tree. Old, wise, in a lot of stories, and you have that urge to climb me."

Heat rose to Scarlett's cheeks as their lips met, and she came to the realization that Julian was her strength. She, of course, could be independent, but he was always there to catch her when she fell. His hand was always there to hold; his shoulder always there to lean on; his ear always out to listen. Though that night was a mix of contrasting emotions, she couldn't have been happier that he was the man that she would marry.

A/N
I cried a lot writing this oneshot, but I love the way it turned out. We didn't get to see much of a reaction from Scarlett when Paradise died, so I felt the need to write about it.