𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍:

𝑻 𝑯 𝑬 𝑺 𝑻 𝑶 𝑹 𝑴

           Something Jax Hatter was a pro at was multitasking. He could mix drinks and flirt with Harry any day. You turn around and then he's balancing a pile of books on his head whilst figuring out equations. And just for fun, he could get on hand stands and belt out the Jabberwocky poem as a song.

           For this upcoming battle, he had to have his attention on one thing and one thing only. He couldn't multitask on something this important.And while his heart said: You can do both. You can get the wand and keep an eye on Harry.

           His head said something different:
           The wand is more important.
           Be sure it stays out of Auradon's hands.

           In the end, his head won:
       Harry can take care of himself.

           He double-checked, making sure all his hidden daggers were in their rightful places. Unlike his comrades, he didn't deal with swords. It made the fighting seem much too prolonged, and he'd rather be quick and swift than waste his time on a sword fight. A simple move, and he could hit just the right spot to subdue any opponent.

           Jax was the first to notice they had arrived. It was Mal's usual crew, but with the added member of a Chinese girl with long brown hair. Lonnie Shang, right before his eyes. It might've been years since he's seen her, but Jax never forgets a face. A trait that can be a gift at moments, but sometimes a curse.

           The VK's had scoured the entire opposite position of the ship. Jax took a moment to think to himself, they outnumbered the do-gooders twenty to five easily. Could they really be so stupid? Most definitely, Jax answered himself.

           After Jax, the next to notice them was Harry, whom quickly announced their presence to the entire pirate crew. "Welcome!" He exclaimed aggressively.

           "Finally!" Uma expressed, she started giggling with the excitement of getting the wand.

           While the two leaders insulted each other and kept going back and forth, trying to find a different way to lead to this transaction, ultimately, Uma got her way. She always did.

           "Make the trade!" She yelled at Mal, then continued with a calmer approach. "Make the trade, or watch as I dump your boyfriend into the water for a swim with killer sharks." She threatened.

           Mal tried to go about another way, to not hand over the wand and to change Uma's mind, but it would never work. "Don't listen to her, she'll just screw you over," Jax whispered into Uma's ear. "Just like last time." It didn't go unnoticed by the VK's either, it looked like Carlos was right, he could just be as bad as the rest of the Isle.

           "Wand for the crown, lizard face, that was the deal." The pirate captain reminded.

           It took a while, with intrusions from Ben trying to make peace unsuccessfully. But eventually, Mal realized she only had one move, handing over the wand.

           "Hold up," Uma paused, "Hmph, too easy, why don't you give it a test drive?" The crew laughed in agreement. "We wanna see it work."

            Mal chuckled, "You always were quite the drama queen." She commented.

           "Oh, and nothing too big or else Ben is fish bait." She quickly reminded the ex-villain.

           Mal exchanged worried looks with Ben while he was hanging off the plank. She took a moment to look back at Carlos and then back at Uma. She's stalling, thought Jax.

           "Okay, hm," Mal turned to lean on the bridge, and glanced at a dog that was perched on one of the dock floors. And Jax couldn't help but think that this dog had more fashion sense than the majority of people he knew. "Although it seems absurd, turn your bark into a word." Mal casted a supposed spell with a flick of the wand pointed at the canine. He remained quiet, much like everyone else, waiting for something to happen. Mal looked back at Uma, apologetically and then back at the mutt. "Talk, dog." She ordered.

           Before Jax was about to give up and have some knife throwing practice with Ben's head, the animal actually did speak. "Does this vest make me look fat?" He whispered to the VK's. A few looked shocked for a moment, Uma, Jax and her crew included. "Hey does anyone have some bacon? Cookies?" The dog kept on talking, resulting in great loud laughter between the whole pirate ship crew.

           Even Uma was laughing aloud before giving into her temptations and screaming her demands. "Give me the wand!"

           "Give me Ben!" Mal yelled back, the same ferociousness inside her.

           Uma looked at, seemingly thinking about the current situation before nodding a signal to the Hatter boy. "Harry, bring 'im over." He waved at his boyfriend.

           Gil went up to the departing king and made a few requests before the chaos would begin, "Um, before you go, tell your momma that Gaston says 'Hi', and also tell your dad that my dad wishes that he finished off your dad when he had the chance." He seemed to have recited it from a long work of memorizing, so he finished with a grin

           Harry brought Ben over and shoved him down on the floor aggressively on his knees in front of Mal. The teens in love shared a look of acknowledgment, they knew they were in trouble.

           "Oh," Uma feigns pity at the loud thump that sounded when Ben was dropped.

            Both leaders stretched their hands out, waiting for the other to exchange.  With a nod from Mal, Uma gave Harry a command. "Cut him loose, Harry."

           The pirate looked at his captain with disbelief and then threw a pissed off look at his boyfriend, "I never get to have any fun." He muttered and with his sword, cut the King of Auradon free from his restraints.

           With being let loose, Ben quickly grabs ahold of Mal, and Uma grabs hold of the wand that is still in Mal's hand. With a moment of doubt, she lets Uma take it, and pushed back the now standing Ben behind her. "Ben, go!" She keeps pushing him back whilst Uma began celebrating with the rest of the crew.

           With all the excitement, Jax couldn't contain himself. Now that Uma had the wand, there was nothing stopping him from getting back to his friends and no Fairy Godmother to stop them from returning to Wonderland. "Okay, okay, okay," Uma calmed the yelling pirates, raising the wand, pointed to the sky, she chanted; "By the power of the sea, tear it down and set us free!"

           When nothing happened however, she quickly realized whatever she was holding wasn't the wand. "No!" Uma curses as she snaps the wand in half revealing it's a fake. When the crew looked back at the VK's they saw how they were already trying to escape. "You do not get to win every time!" They saw that they weren't going to leave without a fight, "Get 'em!" Uma ordered with a roar.

           Jax was fuming. For so long, he'd denied having hope, he refused to believe that he would ever get back home. He allowed himself to fall in love with Harry, to try and make something out of the horrid world they lived in. So it was safe to say that he was furious at the moment.

           He ducked and moved swiftly between the colorful stink bombs being thrown at them all. His goal was direct, get to Mal and Ben. If he only got to one of them, the other would surely give him anything he wanted to ensure safe return.

           But who would've thought that of all people to get in his way, it had been Lonnie Shang, daughter of Mulan. While at Auradon, Jax never strayed too far from his group of friends. Ben was the only one he ever got close to from the opposite side. A mistake he wouldn't make again. The Hatter didn't know much about Lonnie, but from what he could tell, she had definitely inherited her mother's talent with swords and determination to never give up.

           Still, he was greatly surprised to see an Auradoner swing their sword so close to his neck, a few more inches forward and he would've been bleeding. He liked this girl. "Whoah there, careful!" He made a fuss. "You could seriously hurt someone with that!" He dramatized, which took the girl out of focus.

           Before she could decide what to do after recovering from the strange randomness, Jax pulled out one of his daggers hidden inside the sleeve of his left arm discreetly. He pressed it against her side, "If you make one wrong move I will puncture the artery located by the center of your left side, do you want that to happen?" He was wearily calm.

           Lonnie knew she was in a difficult situation, nonetheless, she figured that the one thing she had to deliver could help her out in this bind. "I have a message for you," His nose scrunched up, and his eyes narrowed showing he didn't believe her. "From Ruby." With that, his eyes lost the lack of faith, and the amusement in having her hostage. His attention span was full on this girl who mentioned one of the most important people in his life.

           "If this is a trick-"

           "It's not." She promised with a gulp, and then began the rhyme she had memorized,

           "The slithy chialers shall soon gyre and outgrabe.
           We in the tulgey, frumious and no longer mimsy with our snicker-snacks.
          Mome we go to let out the
Bandersnatch."

           She finished with a heavy sigh.

           Jax had listened to every single word carefully. Looking at her intensely, and probably making her uncomfortable until she asked him, "Do you know what it means?"

           The question hung in the air. The battle going on behind them seemed to vanish from their minds, they were in another world. Or at least Jax was. So Ruby had a plan, well, mostly a goal, but it was something.

           If he didn't get to one of those Auradoners, the entire reason for his being here would have been for nothing. He needed that wand, either in his hands or someone from the Isle wielding it, he didn't care, he just needed it to happen. It was a good thing that he actually had an Auradoner still pressed up against one of his daggers.

           Or so he had until Jay came by, and with his sword pointed at Jax's chest, he pushed him back. Making it clear to leave them alone, it seemed that was all Jay planned on doing, he didn't really want to fight Jax. And while Jax was mad enough to take on the marksmen, he had to admit that it was a long-shot if one of them were Lonnie, he had only seen her fight for a bit but knew that she wasn't one to lose. And Jay played dirty, that was a factor too.

           So rather then stand there collecting looks and dust, he bowed to the fighters and retreated back to Uma's side. Once he got there he saw her pulling Harry out from the dock. It appeared he fell in during the chaos. Before he could even get a word out to his beloved, Uma yelled out to catch the Villain Kids that were escaping by the tunnel inside the wall. Just before they could get there, Mal shoved the wooden bridge connecting the tunnel and the docks. She and Uma shared one more final look before she turned her back.

           Jax believed this was the moment that Uma finally snapped. She had been so close, all her plans, all her ideas for her people. She felt like she failed, and it wasn't pretty. Jax understood what she felt. The VK's were long gone by now, and the magic wand would forever stay in the hands of the Fairy Godmother, inside Auradons walls. Just like Uma, he lost the opportunity to make life better for his people. The only difference was that while Uma finally snapped, finally had all the strings inside her break, Jax had snapped a long time ago. And there was no possibility of fixing him.

           Uma seemed to be in a blank state. The pirate crew looked to her for their next course of action, but she didn't have any idea. That was until Gil came barreling at them waving a purple and green book. "Guys! I saw they were headed down the old tunnel, you know the one connected to the Gray's Shadow," He was speaking so quickly it was hard to follow most of it, "The place that all the loners go to cry about how much life sucks. And then I ran there, and they didn't see me and I saw something on the ground and I picked it up and saw that it was Mal's and I brought it here and then I gave it to you guys and then I told you my story which is that I followed them to Gray's Shadow, the place that all-"

           "Gil!" Uma yelled for him to stop talking. "Are you saying that this is Mal's spellbook?" She was grinning maniacally, and because Gil was ordered not to talk, he nodded sheepishly. Uma bursting with laughter, "Yes!"  The whole crew burst with the same laughs as her, but then came the faint glow in the barrier.

           The laughter died out, noticing how the VK's must have opened the barrier and quickly closed it after leaving the island. "Don't fret, lovelies, I've got an idea," Harry smirked at them.

*******

           Harry really did keep his eyes and ears peeled to everything happening on the Isle of the Lost. Apparently, the last time Mal and her crew visited the Isle, they had accidentally dropped the remote control that opened the barrier. Gil had a fit of giggles after learning that, he couldn't stop going on about what idiots they had been. Turns out Jafar had found it, and for the last three months had been trying to fix it. Didn't pan out so well for him by Harry stealing it from his shop.

           The four teens were situated in a circular table inside the ship, the damaged remote button lay in the center. "Harry, if you knew Jafar had this, why didn't you ever mention anything?" Uma wasn't in a great mood, but she was desperate. Desperate enough to question one of her most loyal friends true intentions.

           "I only heard about it two weeks ago," He explained, "And 'e said it was still broken, so what was the point? The only reason I'm bringing it up now is because it might be our only way to Bore-adon. And the only person who might be able to fix it is dear Jaxy."

           All heads turned to the said boy, Jax's eyes widened, "I appreciate the compliment love, but I barely know a thing about electronics, more of a chemist type, sorry guys."

           "No worries, I know exactly who can fix this." Uma grinned and then shoved it into Gil's hands, "Take this to Diego de Vil, tell him I want it by seven o'clock tonight or else." With a strong nod, Gaston's son ran out the door.

           "Carlos' cousin? Isn't 'e in a band? What does 'e know of fixing machinery?" Harry asked with a scrunched face.

           "Exactly, he's Carlos' cousin, they're both too smart for their own good. I saw him fixing his bands speakers on numerous occasions. All the stuff we have is trash or hand-me-downs from the royals out there, those instruments and speakers were useless before he got to them." She stood from her seat, "Now are you done questioning your Captain?" The son of Hook nodded with a sigh, "Good, now, I hate to separate the two of you-"

           "What do you mean 'separate us'?" Harry's eyes bulging.

           "Yeah Uma, what're you talking about?" Jax seemed just as shocked.

           "The Auradoners notice strange disturbances in the barrier, but they still see the barrier, that's why they don't care. But if they see it isn't there for too long, they'll know somethings wrong and our element of surprise is gone." She strategized.

           "And taking the ship will take too long and it's not exactly subtle compared to all the other boats in Auradon." Jax started to understand what she was thinking. Jax looked to his boyfriend lovingly. "That's why she's separating us, we can get out without causing too big a fuss with the barrier, and she needs someone that knows the area, that's me." He finished with a glum look.

           "Then why the hell am I staying behind?!" Harry was fuming and so he stood up to face his Captain. "Two people don't cause too much fuss? Three shouldn't either!"

           "I need you here to lead the crew, do you really want to leave it at the hands of Gil?" She reasoned, "I know you don't like it, I don't like it either but it's the smartest play."

           After a while, Harry spoke up, "Can I say goodbye to Jax alone?" It was his most polite way of telling her to get lost, Uma was one of his best friends.

           "Of course," Muttered Uma as she went out the door.

           They didn't speak at first, instead Jax stood from his seat and Harry sat back down at his. It was like he was finally processing that Jax would be leaving for Auradon, and in only seven hours. Jax walked over to him, and from behind the pirate, wrapped his arms around his neck. "You know you get hot when you're angry," He started to compliment him. He left faint kisses on Harry's neck, beginning at his collar to his earlobe. Harry started to hum in response. "I know how you feel about me going back there. You're scared that I'll want to stay," When Jax felt Harry tense up, he quickly added, "Or maybe you're scared that I'll find someone better looking." He teased.

           Harry's only reply was to swivel back in his chair, grab his boyfriend by the hips and place him on his lap, Jax's legs on either side of Harry's. "Yer hilarious, Jax Hatter." He said, his mouth muffled by Jax's very own.

           "My dear Harry, I have lived a complicated life. I've done things, terrible things, things that I had to do, and the darkest parts of me enjoyed it. And you were never in my plans," Jax shook his head as his hand began to caress Harry's jawline, "You were this pretty face I would see around the Isle." The pirate smiled at that, "I never thought that I would have the privilege of falling in love with another person.A small part of me wondered if I would ever love at all. You changed everything, Harry. I need you to remember that. It might sound like something cheesy and something a fool in love would say in the moment, but it isn't. I want you, I need you to remember that you changed everything for me."

           Harry was at a loss for words. Usually it was him that gave the alchemist bit declarations of love. He only nodded back, understanding and after looking at each other for quite a while, and feeling the sting in their eyes, forcing the tears back, they kissed again.

           Only Jax and Harry knew what was said, and what was not said, inside that room. It was a moment of bliss enjoyed by both of them, it was their calm before the storm. But Jax knew better, earlier that day he decided that his boyfriend could handle himself, and he was right, only it didn't feel right. He didn't care if Harry could survive without him, Jax wanted to be by his side at all times. And this situation made him see things clearer. Something was coming, either from his end of Wonderland, or Mal and her friends are gonna wind up in the middle of the chaos like they always do. Point was, things were gonna change, he could feel it. If only Jax had known that such a moment captured in happiness, their moment, their calm before the storm was a lie.

           Because while it took him a while to figure it out, they had been in a storm for quite some time now.

*******

Fun Facts:

+ you must have noticed that I changed it a bit, I try not to include the musical moments because in a book it's just weird sometimes. So instead I try and reason what they're saying.

+ And I had to have Jax and Harry say goodbye so Uma's story about jumping into the ocean before they closed the barrier had to change, and I remembered from reading Return to the Isle of the Lost that Jafar actually did find the broken pieces of the remote.

+ Diego de Vil is an actual character from the books, and he is Carlos' cousin and also plays in a band. I made him out to be as smart as Carlos because they needed someone to fix the button. And while I was gonna have Jax do it, it didn't fit with him being more of an alchemist and chemistry type.

+ Gray's Shadow is just a name I made up for the place that they kept the limo during the second movie.

+ You have another look as to how messed up Jax's head is. What do you think? And what did you think of his decision in the beginning of this chapter?

+ Lonnie finally delivers Ruby's message. I'm wondering (unintentional pun) have you guys figured it out?

Also, during the sword fight scene, there's a teasing moment between Mal and Uma, and it was perfect for my story, it sounded just like something an ex would say to you to piss you off a little.

So I decided to make a gif of it. Yay.

Also, remember! I am not saying that this 'proves' they were together or something, I'm saying that this moment was perfect for representing my story because in this fan-fiction I made them ex-girlfriends.

no mundanes allowed,
polaroized