The pair both stared at the now blocked off entrance to the cave they'd just entered as water began to flood in, then they ran towards where the tunnel had been blocked off by a huge pile of rocks. They didn't bother speaking as Ajax dived under the increasing pool of water to look for any escape routes underneath. Dan began hitting the rocks with his frying pan, hoping one of them would budge and create an exit for them whilst Buzzy jumped onto the rock wall and began hitting it with his talk. Ajax came back up from under the water for the second time and began jumping at the walls attempting to shove rocks out of their places. His hand slipped on one of them, cutting it open quite badly, he winced in the dim light, trying to make out how bad it was before deciding against it and diving back under the water to look for an escape route. Who cares about an injured hand when they might be about to drown?

The water level was getting extremely high, Dan tried hitting the rocks near the ceiling with his pan but there was no luck, Ajax resurfaced, "It's no use. I can't see anything down there." He admitted, coughing out water. Dan didn't want to believe it, he tried to dive in himself but Ajax quickly pulled him back up, "Hey, stop, there's no point. It's pitch black down there." He told the blond, holding his shoulders.

Tears welled up in Dan's eyes, "This is all my fault... She was right, I never should've done this." He sniffed, "I'm so... I'm so sorry Ajax." He sobbed.

Ajax breathed out a sigh, "Ajit." He corrected.

The older looked over at him, not really able to see much with tears in his eyes and in such a dark cave. "What?"

"My real name is Ajit," He admitted, "Someone might as well know." Ajit told him.

And oh. Yeah, that's right. They're about to die together in this tunnel, there's no point in keeping secrets. Dan smiled slightly despite the situation, "I have magic hair that glows when I sing." He confessed.

"What?" Ajit asked in disbelief.

The idea hit Dan, "I have magic hair that glows when I sing!" The water was still rising but maybe if Dan could just sing the light from his hair would allow them to find an escape? "Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine-" He tried to sing, then both took a deep breath as the water rose too high for either of them to keep their heads above the water.

A golden glow from Dan's hair illuminated the area under the water almost causing Ajit to gasp and lose the only air he had, the two looked around and noticed Dan's hair being pulled towards a crack in a pile of rocks, the pair looked at each other, nodded, then swam over, Buzzy grabbing onto Dan's hair as they did.

Ajit reached the rocks first and began scrambling trying to pull them out of their places, they fell out almost easily, he kept pulling them out of the way and then finally pushed one rock forwards, his hand bursting through the gap as he felt air blow past his hand, he tried pushing the rock next to the one he'd just dislodged and the whole rock wall broke down, shooting the two boys out of the tunnel and into a river.

The two crawled out onto the grassy river bank, Buzzy dropping out of Dan's hair to lie on the grass too. Coughing the water out of their lungs and trying to catch their breath.

"We made it.." Dan sighed happily.

"His hair glows." Ajax murmured.

"We're alive.. We're alive!" Dan cheered, getting up.

"I didn't see that coming."

"Ajit?"

"His hair actually glows."

"Ajit?"

"Why does his hair glow?" He asked the chameleon, who was now giving him a very amused look.

"Ajit!"

"What?" He yelled, only just registering the other addressing him and not even registering at all that he was using his real name.

Dan laughed, pulling his hair out of the river, "It doesn't just glow."

Ajit stared at him confused for a moment, then looked down at the chameleon who was definitely smirking at him in amusement, "Why is he smiling at me?" He asked, honestly scared.

Not too far away in a darker part of the forest, Omnivia stood behind a rock, her dagger held tightly in one hand. Her full attention was on a trapdoor inside a hollow tree marked with a yellow duck symbol. It was where the girl from the Snuggly Duckling had told her the passageway let out, she'd believed the girl was smart enough not to lie when being threatened with a dagger and had made her way to this spot in the forest without going through the tunnel herself to avoid the risk of being seen by the guards, thieves or Dan.

Suddenly she heard footsteps and coughing coming from the tunnel, Omnivia moved around the side of the rock and prepared herself to attack if she had to.

The trapdoor burst open and out climbed one of the two thieves she'd seen escape from the guards earlier. She darted back behind the rock and watched suspiciously as the other thief climbed out behind the first one, both coughing, wheezing and completely drenched for some reason.

"I'll kill him. I'll kill that Ajax." The red haired thief spat once he'd regained his breath from the coughing.

Really, what was all the coughing about?

The blond thief nodded, "We'll cut him off at the Kingdom and get back the crown." He agreed. "Come on."

Omnivia smirked as she sensed an opportunity, not only did these thieves hate Ajax who was currently with Dan but she had the very thing she wanted from him. She could smell this deal from a mile away. She schooled her expression to be less smug and then stepped up onto the rock she'd been hiding behind. "Oh boys!" She called out loudly. The two thieves spun towards her, completely shocked. Good, the element of surprise always helped her make deals and bargains that would benefit her. "Perhaps you'd like to stop acting like wild dogs chasing their tails and think for a moment." She suggested calmly, holding up the satchel she'd found in the tower by one hand. It only took a second for both thieves to grab hold of their swords and to be pointing them up at her from below, she rolled her eyes. Thieves, always so distrusting. "Please, there's no need for that." She said, throwing the satchel down into the blond thief's arms.

The pair of thieves instantly began fighting to get hold of the satchel for themselves, until finally the blond thief managed to open the satchel and pull out the crown. As soon as they saw the ruby encrusted circlet their faces split into huge grins. Proving to Omnivia that this would be easy. "Well, if that's all you desire then be on your way! I was going to offer you something worth one thousand crowns," She couldn't keep the sly smile from spreading across her face as she pretended to study her nails, "It would've made you rich beyond belief and that wasn't even the best part!" She laughed. "Ah well, that's life, enjoy your crown!" The woman called out, turning around as if she was going to walk off. She had no real intention of leaving though, she knew she had these thieves right where she wanted them.

"What's the best part?" One of the thieves asked.

Omnivia turned back around, pretending to be surprised that they'd even ask, "It comes with revenge on Ajax." She replied, taking his wanted poster out of her cloak pocket and waving it at the two thieves. Watching as they turned to each other and grinned menacingly, probably imagining what said revenge on the other thief could be like.

A smirk once again spread across her face too, it was just as easy as she'd thought it would be, maybe even easier...

Either way, her plan would succeed.

A small campfire crackled near where Dan and Ajit sat on a rock in a clearing in the woods. It had gotten quite dark now so they'd decided to set up a camp for the night as best they could without any supplies. Dan had hold of Ajit's wrist, holding it out in front of them as he quietly wrapped his hair around it. Ajit watched, slightly nervous as to what was going to happen, "So..." He tried, "You're being strangely cryptic as you wrap your hair around my injured hand." He winced in pain and let out a strangled "Ow" As a strand of hair pushed into his cut.

"Sorry." Dan apologised, still not explaining anything, "Just... Don't freak out?" He asked. Ajit looked down at his hair covered hand and then back up at Dan who then took a deep breath and began to sing. It sounded like the same words he'd been singing inside the cave just before the water pulled them under but this time as they weren't in a life or death situation it was a lot slower and calmer.

"Flower gleam and glow..."

Ajit's eyes widened as with each word the other boy sang, his hair began to glow, starting from the top of his head at the roots of his hair and slowly spreading downwards through the long length of hair. Although for some reason his red streak of hair stayed the same and didn't begin to glow, which seemed strange.

"Let your power shine."

He couldn't help but turn his head to watch as the light continued to spread through Dan's hair from where it was lying across the ground and on the rock behind him, partly fascinated and partly freaking out.

"Make the clock reverse,
bring back what once was mine..."

Still following the light of Dan's hair, the boy made eye contact with Buzzy who was standing on his back legs on the grass and seemingly pointing at one of his front legs with the other front leg? That confused Ajit momentarily before he was once again distracted by the light still growing throughout the hair.

"Heal what has been hurt,
change the fates' design."

That was when Ajit noticed the hair wrapped around his hand had started to glow too and weirdly enough it had stopped hurting, he looked over to the chameleon for answers, since Dan was still focused completely on singing and didn't even have his eyes open, but the chameleon simply nodded at him nonchalantly. Giving him more questions than answers.

"Save what has been lost,

bring back what once was mine.

What once was mine..."

Finally Dan stopped singing and opened his eyes, looking towards Ajit nervously as the light from his hair faded until it was its normal blond colour again. The younger of the pair moved to lift the hair off his hand and began to hyperventilate slightly as he realised why it had stopped hurting. The cut on his hand had completely healed, not even leaving a scratch on it, it was as if he'd never cut his hand at all. All signs that it had ever been injured were gone.

"Please don't freak out!"

Ajit stopped, having not even realised he was less than a second away from screaming. "I'm.... I'm not freaking out, are you freaking out?" He stammered, trying to be quiet and calm even though he still felt like screaming and his newly healed hand was waving about everywhere, "I'm just... Really confused by your hair and how it somehow has magic powers in it. How long has it been doing that?" He asked, grabbing hold of his hand with the other hand to stop himself from moving it randomly and hoping that if he asked Dan a question and stopped talking then he would be able to regain his ability to not freak out.

"Forever I guess?" The blond shrugged with a laugh, then his face fell. "My mom said when I was a baby people tried to cut it, they wanted to take it for themselves." He explained, solemnly, tugging on his red hair stripe anxiously, "But when it got cut it turned red and lost its power." He explained, Ajit's eyes widened again, now it made sense why the red streak hadn't glowed like the rest of his hair. "My mom said a gift like that had to be protected which is why she never..." Dan cut himself off, breathing out heavily, "That's why I never left and..."

Ajit frowned, "You never left that tower." He finished, looking at Dan with genuine sympathy, "And you're still gonna go back?" He asked.

"No. Yes...? It's complicated." The blond buried his face in his hands, as his chameleon rubbed up against his ankle in an attempt to comfort him. Then he caught Ajit's eyes through his fingers and lifted his head back up, brushing his hair out of his face. "So... Ajit, huh?" He smiled.

The younger of the pair winced, "Ah, well um... Yeah..." He stumbled his words slightly embarrassed that he'd told Dan his real name now that they're not seconds away from death, "I'll uh, spare you the story of Ajit, the orphan, because it's... It's a bit of a downer? To put it nicely..." He explained, nervous.

Dan scooted closer to him on the rock and just kept looking at Ajit and the thief couldn't help himself but to tell a little more about his past because... Well, Dan was right there and genuinely interested to know about him, which was rare. And he had to admit after all they'd been through together today he genuinely cares about and likes the other. Even though they may never see each other again after tomorrow. He wants to be honest with him.

"There was this book, this book I used to read every night to the younger kids at the orphanage. The tales of Ajax!" He waved a hand out in front of him dramatically "He travelled the world fighting villains with his sword, he had all the money he could ever need, saw the most amazing things and had this close group of friends who all genuinely cared about each other." Ajit made eye contact with Dan when saying that, blushing slightly because he was definitely trying to imply that he considered Dan his close friend despite having only met him this morning.

The red streaked boy giggled, definitely understanding what Ajit had been saying with the eye contact, "Was he a thief too?" He asked.

Amber eyes changed their gaze to the floor, "Um, well... No. He actually had enough money to do whatever he wanted to do, he could go anywhere he wanted to go! And... Well, for a kid with nothing. I don't know..." He trailed off and went quiet for a moment... "It just seemed like the better option." He finally admitted.
Dan hummed in understanding, he'd never had any books that told stories of adventure, only ones with facts about plants, painting or sewing but he knew if he'd read stories like that he'd also consider it to be the better option to his life of being confined to his tower.

"You can't tell anyone about this, okay? Ajit added quickly, "It could ruin my whole reputation." He joked.

Rolling his eyes good naturedly, Dan laughed. "Ah, we wouldn't want that." He joked back.

"Of course." The shorter of the pair nodded in mock seriousness, "A reputation like mine is very important to uphold when you're the greatest thief in the kingdom!" He quipped. As the pair both giggled softly, Dan couldn't help but watch Ajit's expression, genuine and happy, he couldn't help but think about how lovely it was. As if only just noticing Dan was watching his expression, Ajit blinked and coughed awkwardly into his hand. "I um... I should uh– I should get some more firewood." He excused himself, tripping over his words.

At first, Dan was just going to let him but then as Ajit started walking away with an awkward thumbs up, he realised there was something he wanted to say first. "Hey," He called out gently, causing Ajit to turn back around to face him. "For the record, I like Ajit much more than Ajax." He told the younger boy, smiling.

A conflicted look of surprise and melancholy washed over Ajit's face, his eyes wide before he looked down, "Well, then you'd be the first." He admitted quietly, his eyes fixed on his previously injured hand. Then he gazed back over at the red streaked blond, "But thank you."

With everything they'd needed to say having been said, Ajit made his way into the trees to look for firewood, Dan still smiling after him.

"Well!" An extremely familiar voice called out, sending chills through Dan's entire body, "I thought he'd never leave."

Dan spun around, shocked by who he saw standing behind him. "Mom...?" He breathed out, his eyes wide as he registered the sight of his mother standing in the woods near him pulling the hood down on her cloak. Fear flooded through him, this was the first time he'd seen her since he'd left the tower; he hoped more than ever that Ajit had been wrong earlier when he'd told him his mother would be heartbroken by him leaving. Any chance there might have been of him returning before she'd even realised he'd been gone was gone and suddenly this whole adventure felt like it had been cut short.

His mom didn't seem to care about or notice Dan's panic, "Hello, dear." She greeted, she was smiling at him but it was cold, false. She stepped closer towards him as Dan automatically stood up, allowing her to pull him into a hug.

"H-how did you find me?" Dan stammered, terrified now that his mother had found him. "I thought... Don't we– How?"

Omnivia hummed, stroking her hands through Dan's hair. "Oh it was easy, really." She answered nonchalantly. "I just listened for the sound of complete betrayal and followed that."

The boy's breath caught in his throat, he hadn't missed the disappointment and annoyance in his mother's tone, it was exceedingly obvious. He'd really messed up... "Mother-"

"We're going home, Dan." His mother stated cooly, pulling away from the hug. "Now." She commanded, her voice stern and like steel as she took hold of his wrist and begun pulling him back in the direction she'd come from.

Dan dug his heels in. Sure he may have messed up, sure he'd disappointed and upset his mom, sure it was definitely safer to simply go home... But he'd come this far and it was not going to be all for nothing.

"Wait! You don't understand, I've been on this amazing journey and I've seen and learned so much." He jumped in. Desperate to bring his mother around to his point of view, grabbing onto her wrist to stop her from continuing to walk. "I even met someone!"

His mother gave him a deadpan look. "Yes, the most wanted thief in the kingdom. I'm so proud." She sneered. "Come on, Dan." She ordered, starting to drag him along again.

"Mom, wait!" Dan pulled his hand away. "I think.. I think he likes me." He told her quietly.

Omnivia turned around, her expression part amused, part in disbelief. "Likes you? Honestly Dan, you're delusional."

"But Mom-" He tried, only to be cut off again.

"This is why you never should've left." Omnivia told him, clearly annoyed by what Dan was trying to tell her. "This whole romance that you've invented just proves you're too naive to be here." She said strictly. Dan blinked, he'd never meant to imply that he'd thought about a potential romance between him and Ajit, the thought hadn't even crossed his mind... His mother cupped his cheek in his hand. "Why would he ever like you? Stop dreaming for one minute now, Dan." She continued to chastise him, her actions becoming harsher. Omnivia grabbed two sections of Dan's hair and pulled it roughly. "Look at you, you think that he's impressed? How ridiculous." She mocked, releasing his hair and stepping away. "Don't be a dummy, come with mummy."

Omnivia took in a breath, opening her arms up and beginning to sing. "Mother~"

This time Dan wasn't having it. "No!" He snapped, glaring at his Mom. He'd never done that before but this was far too important to just go along with whatever his mother said.

His mother's eyes narrowed, "No?" She repeated, sounding unsure she'd heard it correctly but extremely angry about the possibility that she had. "I see how it is." She said, taking a menacing step forwards, back towards Dan.

"Dan knows best.
Dan is so mature now,
So certain he hasn't judged amiss." She sung, patting Dan aggressively on the head in a mocking affectionate gesture.

"Dan knows best,

Fine! If you're so sure now,

Go ahead and give him this!"

Omnivia pulled Ajit's satchel out of one of the inside pockets of her cloak and dangled it in Dan's face, shocking the boy. "How did you-?!"

His mother ignored the question, continuing to sing her berating song. She snatched the crown from inside the satchel and shoved it into Dan's face.

"This is why he's here!
Don't let him deceive you." She ordered, throwing the crown onto the ground. "Give it to him, watch, you'll see."

Dan grabbed the crown from where it had landed on the ground. "I will." He shot back determinedly. He was uncertain about a lot of things right now but the friendship between him and Ajit wasn't one of those, he was entirely certain that, at least, was genuine and was entirely confident in defending their bond to his mother.

"Trust me, my dear," Omnivia snapped her fingers, "that's how fast he'll leave you."
"I won't say I told you so,

No, Dan knows best!"

She leaned in close, hanging the satchel's strap over his head and on top of one of his shoulders.

"So if he's such a dreamboat,

Go and put him to the test!"

"Mom, wait-" Dan tried to interrupt, wanting to clarify he'd never thought of him and Ajit as anything more than friends but he could barely get just those two words in before his mother continued with her song.

"If he's lying, don't come crying." She warned him, "Mother, knows best...!" She loudly sang the last notes before turning on her heel and stalking off into the darkness of the looming trees.

Dan stood still, hardly daring to breathe as he watched his mother's silhouette disappear into the night, clutching the circlet to his chest in one hand. He stared down at it, still unsure what it was... Yet it was the whole reason Ajit was helping him, the only reason he'd been able to convince the known criminal Ajax to help him, the thing his mother thought Ajit would leave him with the second he got a hold of it.

"Hey, uh, Dan! Can I ask you something?" Dan jumped at the sound of Ajit's voice, as he returned into the clearing, turning to glance over his shoulder at the boy returning with his arms full of firewood before returning his attention back to the circlet in his hand.

Ajit stumbled across their makeshift campground, struggling with the weight of the huge pile of sticks he was carrying, "Is there any chance I'll get super strength in my hand? Because, not going to lie here, that would be amazing-" He grinned, then noticed Dan was still staring in the opposite direction silently and not laughing like Ajit was sure he would have. "Hey.. Are you alright?" He asked worriedly.

The red streaked blond turned around, pushing the satchel the rest of the way behind a log with one foot, a smile plastered on his face. "I'm alright. Just... Lost in thought, I guess." He mumbled an excuse.

The thief nodded in understanding, "I get that.. Besides, it's your first night anywhere away from home, that has to be difficult for you." He offered a gentle smile, "I never really had a home but, first night away from the orphanage..." He trailed off awkwardly. "Yeah. It's not the easiest thing."

A pang of guilt hit Dan then, it felt wrong to believe for a second that Ajit would leave him if he were to give him the satchel now. There was no way someone so sweet would ever do that. He glanced down at the satchel, he could just give it to him now..- No, what if his mother was right. He didn't think she was but there was always that small chance... He shook his head slowly. "Yeah... So, what was that about super strength?" He asked, attempting to change the subject to something more comfortable for both of them, stepping over to help with the firewood.

"Oh, right." Ajit laughed, "So here's the thing. Superhuman amazingly excellent humour? I've always had it, born with it. But superhuman strength? Can you imagine the possibilities!" He grinned, beginning to list all the things he could do (most of them being heists) if he had superhuman strength.

Not too far off, in the shadows of a cluster of trees in the woods, Omnivia returned to Everett and McQ. The two thieves began to step forwards but she held out a hand to stop them. "Patience boys." She commanded quietly so as not to be heard, "All good things to those who wait." She smirked, she was certain her plan was flawless... Dan would end up returning to the tower with her.

No matter what.