REMEMBER!

Jax is English.

Harry is Scottish.

There's a difference, folks. That includes their accents in this book.

Please stop with the comments about Britain and Scotland being part of the United Kingdom.
I already know this.
It is not necessary and they will be deleted.

*******

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄:

𝑯 𝑬 ' 𝑺 
𝑫 𝑰 𝑭 𝑭 𝑬 𝑹 𝑬 𝑵 𝑻

The simple thing about Jax Hatter was that there was no simple thing about him. A usual Wonderlandian stereotype was that they were unpredictable and surprisingly in a happy mood a lot. Well, Jax only fitted one of those stereotypes.

He and Uma were always the brains when it came to plans, and Harry(who was just as intelligent) and Gil were mostly the muscle. Right now they were in a perfect position of controlling Mal. They just needed to figure out how exactly to do just that. How to make her agree to a wager, and how to make sure she'll stick to her word.

Well, the answer was quite simple really. "We use Ben." Spoke the British brunette boy after three minutes of silence. Everyone looked at him to continue. He sighed. "Gil, you saw him on the Isle along with the rest of Mal's wankers, right?"

The blonde nodded his head vigorously. "He was all in leather and dark clothes, I think they were trying to make him blend in."

"So that means he's not here on official duty." Gil giggled at the word 'duty'. Uma still continued. "He's not here with actual guards, just those traitors."

"Which makes him an easier target. We can easily separate them." Jax went on. "It's simple really, we tail the group, and once they've got their guard down, we remove King Ben from the equation." He says mocking the title of King. He turned to his boyfriend. "Harry, you'll deliver the threat because, to be honest, you're very good at threats." The pirate grinned at him. "Once Mal gets here, it's your turn Uma, you gotta make sure you win."

"Honey, it's me your talking to." She smirked at him.

The young Hatter lowered his head for just Uma to hear him. "You and I both have a past with Mal, we can't deny that. But you especially have a bad track record when it comes to her, I just don't want you to make the same mistakes as last time." He whispered.

"Worry about yourself, Jax." Uma gulped lowly. She knew he was right, but as Captain, she wasn't going to appear weak to her crew.

*******

Uma dropped a tray of food to a seated pirate. "Hey! I wanted the fried clams!"

"And I wanted a sea pony. Life ain't fair!" Uma bit back at the angry customer.

At that moment, a newly purple haired Mal walked into the dingy Fish and Chips dramatically. "I'm back." She drawled out.

Uma took a mere second of looking at her ex-girlfriend before going back into bitch mode. "Loser: party of one, right this way please." She retorts sarcastically and motions to the table.

The sea green and blue haired girl shoves a chair at the purple haired one, who catches it abruptly, earning a chuckle from the pirate captain.

Mal, nonetheless, sits back on the chair and looks around. "Place still stinks." She comments.

"Oh I'm sorry, we're down a butler today, princess." Uma has been waiting for this day for ages. She has every possible insult to throw back at her.

"Where is he?" Mal says, getting straight to the point.

"You know I've dreamed of this day? You wanting something from me," She laughs. "And me watching you squirm like a worm on a hook."

"I'm so flattered that you dream of me. I haven't given you a thought since I left." Mal pouted.

"Obviously." She snarled. "You have the perfect little life, don't you? Doesn't she have the perfect little life?! And we're twenty years into a garbage strike."

"Listen if you have some sort of score to settle with me, game on." Her eyes shined with the need to start a battle. And even though they were under a barrier that concealed her magic, Mal swore she could feel the heat in the bottom of her throat. Just itching to be let out and scorch this place to the ground. But the barrier remained it impossible to do so. "I see no need to bring Ben into this."

Uma laughs back. "It may be a little unnecessary, but oh, it is so much fun." She smiles wickedly, "Here's the deal."

"Just like your mother, always a catch," Mal bites back.

Uma slides into the chair opposite of Mal and props her arm on the table, it was an arm wrestling match. "If you win, Ben's free to go," She shrugs.

Mal smirks momentarily and then places her arm on the table, about to grab Uma's. "Don't you wanna know what I get if I win?" Uma asks.

"Still dreaming." Mal retorts back and with that Uma grabs her hand forcefully.

"Last time I checked, your mother thought she had it all sewn up too, huh? How'd that work out for her again?"

Mal ignores her. "On three."

"One." Smiles Uma.

"Two." Mal continues.

"Three." They say together.

"You know, that whole princess act, ugh, never bought it for a second. You can stick a tiara on a villain, but you're still a villain." Uma began to try to throw her off.

"And you can flap a pirate hat on but you'll still be shrimpy." Mal fake gasps as Uma increased her grip. "I mean, wow, Uma, stealing my ex, saying you dream about me, it's almost like you want me back." Mal tried to knock off her focus.

"That was a long time ago, lizard face." She growled.

"Oh, still keeping to our pet names, are we? Yeah, you did have a problem with letting things go." Uma only increased her strength and Mal bit back a laugh.

Mal's eyes began to glow a bright green, her arm pushing down Uma's. She was winning. And she was about to if it weren't for Uma. "If I win, you bring me the wand."

Mal was so shocked at that, that she lost concentration and Uma pushed her hand back and won. She stood up laughing while the whole restaurant cheered.

"Now, if you want beasty boy back, bring me Fairy Godmother's magic wand to my ship tomorrow at twelve noon." She takes a moment to push back her braids. "Sharp." She began to walk away, only to leave the dragon eyed girl with one final threat. "Oh, and if you blab, you can kiss your baby goodbye." She smooches her fingers as a goodbye.

*******

"Ugh!" Mal came out of Ursula's Fish and Chips with a loud yell and forceful push of the doors.

She had just lost an arm wrestling bet to try and get Ben back. And because of her own emotions, she lost. She hasn't been this mad or disappointed in herself before. Mostly because her mom was the one who usually made her feel that way. But this time, she risked either the King of Auradon or the safety of Auradon. If she truly were selfish, she'd leave them both out to fight for themselves. But she wouldn't let that happen, just like how Ben wouldn't of let it happen.

That was when the clapping started. She turned her head to the left and saw a grinning boy dressed in black from head to toe. Funnily enough, Jax just isn't a color wearing kind of person.

"Awful job in there, I expected more from you." He started off mockingly.

"Lay off, Jaxy."

"You don't get to call me that anymore."

"No, that's reserved for the stinky pirate nowadays, isn't it?" She bites back.

Jax clenched his jaw. "Coming back here wasn't a smart move, you know?" He began to critique her plans and walked a circle around her. "I mean, even if your friends and boyfriend respected your choice to stay here," He turned to face her. "You would've been fish bait within a week."

She was about to defend herself, but he kept going. "I mean, the first few months of you defeating your mother led everyone around here to be utterly terrified of you instead. But then, you put on a dress, visited every kingdom in the realm and went to parties. You went from terrifying to hated just like that." He snapped his fingers.

"And then what would've happened if they let you stay here?" Mal frowned as Jax leaned down to her ear. "No one is on your side, Mal. You would've been utterly alone." He whispered to her.

He suddenly pulled back abruptly, which caused Mal to jump slightly. "But no, you're friends care, they want you back to goody-goody Mal. But now that they're here, you've had them risk their safety and sanity by coming back in fear of the unfortunate events that they might see their parents again." He goes on wagging a finger with a Tut tut tut kind of way as if scolding a misbehaving child.

He straightens his posterior and looks her in the eyes. "I thought you were better than that, Mal. Thought you were supposed to be a hero now. You're just as bad as your mother." She only kept staring at him. "Well? Are you gonna speak? Cheshire got your tongue? Nothing? Hm. A few years ago, hearing that would've actually made you grin, just a bit. But today, nothing, hm?"

"Such a tough spot, isn't it? Too much of a bad kid for them, too much of a good guy traitor for us. You just can't seem to find your place in this world. If you're not a villain or a hero, then what exactly are you? C'mon Mal, you know the answer, underneath all that leather, is a brain, somewhere." He sighed in content. "Still not gonna say anything?"

Instead of replying to him, she just stood there, looking around her environment. Last time she hanged out with Jax he was this grinning kid who charmed his way into letting him into her inner circle. He wanted to please her. To get her to like him above all needs. She'd seen him erratically happy but never pissed off. It unnerved her more than she'd like to admit.

He only smirked at her silence. "Next time you know better than to insult my boyfriend." He whispered into her ear and then began to walk backward into the Chip Shoppe. "This was just a taste, you don't want to see me angry, Mal." And with that, he walked back into the restaurant.

*******

Mal, Jay, Evie, and Carlos were all at their old hangout. They were trying to figure out a way out of the situation.

Giving Uma the wand would destroy Auradon, but not giving her the wand ensures the end of the King. It was quite a dilemma.

"What if you talked to that guy, Jax, he runs with Uma now, what if he can talk Uma down?" Supplied Jay.

"Jax Hatter? If he's running around with Uma's crew nowadays then we've all got to watch out." It was Carlos who replied back to him.

Mal stared at him confused. "Wait, you know him?"

"I took a lot of the same classes with him, including Unnatural Biology. Let's just say that he not only managed to bring the iguanas back to life but knock out the teacher and half the class that annoyed him. The guy is not one to be messed with."

"Okay, so he's really smart, but he used to be from Wonderland, right? He can't be all that bad."

"There was a reason why he was brought here, Jay. This place does hold the worst of the worst." Argues Evie.

Carlos decided to finalize their doubts. "Did I mention he made those iguanas do evil deeds for him for two weeks before they began to deteriorate into a type of zombie iguanas? Have you ever tried to keep your lunch to yourself with a zombie iguana biting your ass? The guy took the crazy parts from Wonderland, not the fun ones."

"He's right." Mal nods her head to the De Vil boy. "I used to know him too, and tonight, I don't know, something's different. He's different. It's like he finally chose his side, like he found his place and he was willing to protect it no matter what."

*******

Okay, so first things first:

I know that Mal doesn't have like a humungous dating life, but just look at the information from the books and my fic:

- Anthony Tremaine asked Mal to dance with him at Carlos's party.
What happened was she finally took time to actually look at Anthony and saw that he wasn't hideous. She said no, but that was because she was also told that love was a weakness. So, he ain't so big with her in this.

- Yes, Jax Hatter had a crush on her when they were 14. He's bisexual if you haven't guessed yet.
He was attracted to her, yes, but they were never a thing. And she didn't like him either, while on the Isle, she mainly used him for his crush, and he knew it, but he got to spend time with her, so he was okay with it.

-Uma will have had a relationship with Mal in this book.
Now, I haven't read the third book yet. But I do know that Harry and Mal used to date (why thou? I didn't like that.) And that Uma and she are rivals. I've decided to spin this. Now, Uma and Mal used to date in my book. I just thought it would be more interesting and intense like they had a very stressful and toxic relationship, and even more so a slightly violent breakup that Uma hasn't gotten over.

In other words, the only real relationships Mal has had in this fic are with Uma and with Ben. That's it. So before you start commenting that Mal is as innocent as Carlos, I get that, but they're teenagers, they gonna be this way.

Also, if you're wondering, Mal doesn't label her sexuality. If she had to choose one, probably queer. The thing is that Mal was told that love is a weakness, so she hasn't really understood it yet and is also incredibly emotionally immature. She needs time to grow with her emotions rather than hide from them. So whenever someone pops up and she likes them, then maybe something might happen. Who knows, only Mal will.

As for what Mal said at the end of the chapter, just because she said it, doesn't mean it's true. Or maybe it is. Honestly, you'll find out.

no mundanes allowed
- polaroized