♝♗

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗:

𝐼   𝐵  𝐸  𝑇   𝑀  𝑌     𝐿  𝐼  𝐹  𝐸

Jax swore the air was getting colder by the minute. Even as he was running to the rendezvous spot he and Jane set up, he should have been hot and sweaty. But he just felt cold, his nose was runny and goosebumps went through his arms. It seemed like they weren't planning on leaving his body any time soon. Though he was panting once he reached the old tree swing Jane told him about, close by the observatory and the museum for fairytale artifacts.

It was cloudy by the time Jane and Gil (surprisingly) arrived at the spot. They probably had half an hour until sunset. Jax was practically jumping to the moon while Jane had this determined look. Jax had a strange thought as he saw the pair arrived, most people would begin to despise the son of Gaston after five minutes with the pirate, but it hadn't gotten to Jane. Yet. Jax expected her patience to wear thin but was pleasantly surprised at her endurance.

"And then me and Harry jumped off and the bikes flew right into the wall! I expected a bigger kaboom, but it was still pretty fun." Gil had been telling Jane a story of what he was doing earlier today, and Jane was actually paying attention, unlike most people who tend to tune him out. "Hey, look it's Jax!" Gil smiled at the appearance of his friend and ran to hug him.

Jax stood uncomfortably in Gil's strong embrace. The guy was a hugger, what could he do? "It's good to see you, Gil. You know, again." He was finally let go and once the Hatter fixed his shirt, he nodded towards Jane. "You ready?"

Jane only nodded back.

She looked worried, and though he knew that if she began to rethink this, she could end up not helping at all, leading his friends to suffer in this realm. He knew that, but he couldn't help asking her if she was alright, he didn't want to make her do anything she didn't want to. "Okay, you're ready. Now I've got to ask, are you okay?"

Jane gave an awkward chuckle, "I'm terrified," she answered honestly,  "Oh, completely terrified. But that doesn't mean I'm not gonna try." She said when she saw how concerned Jax's face became.

"Thank you for this. You don't know what it means."

"I know a little bit." She softly added.

"Wait, what are we doing?" Gil cut in the moment, not knowing what the two were planning on doing. "Wait a sec, why aren't you with Harry and Uma? They went to track down Audrey at her cottage."

"He's right, and they've got a good lead so we should hurry this up." She insisted as she took the lead and started a course for the museum.

"So, what is it that we're doing? I thought we were gonna look for your mom?" His eyebrows lowered in confusion as he walked alongside Jax.

"It's more like we're going to look for my mom's old wand." She said quickly, keeping her fast pace.

Jax fell behind Jane as he began to explain the situation to his old friend, "Jane has agreed to help me track down my Wonderland friends so we could all leave before the rest of this kingdom wakes up."

"Why would you guys need to leave now?" Gil, while not being the brightest bulb in the bunch, still paid attention and had questions.

"We don't belong here, Gil. We didn't want to be here, we were taken from our homes." He decided to answer as simply as he could.

"Oh! That's the uh, the hostage strategy right? Wonderland won't get back at Auradon because Auradon has you guys."

Jax and Jane simultaneously stopped in their tracks and looked at Gil with surprise before continuing on. "Yes. That's exactly the situation."

Gil nodded, "Yeah, my dad used to talk a lot, and I mean a lot about his old war plans and strategies. I can't believe Ben's dad would steal my dad's tactics and pass them off as his own."

Jax paused at that. "Wait, what? What do you mean steal your father's tactics?"

"Right, so, no one remembers because the king actually ordered for their memories to be wiped again, but my dad and Ben's dad were like best friends before he became the Beast. They used to do everything together and my dad told me that he'd always go to him so he could work out his battle plans. When the curse broke, my dad thought everything would go back to the way it was but then next thing you know he's getting tossed to the Isle and-"

"Hold up," Jax cut him off since the boy just talked way too fast to be properly understood, "King Beast? And Gaston?" He pressed. "Your father?" He specified. "Best friends?"

Gil only nodded exuberantly and told them the rest of what his father says, which was easy to remember since Gaston often ranted about the same thing every time something bad or unfortunate happens to him, which was about every Thursday. The other two stopped altogether to face this new revelation. "Why would Beast keep that a secret?" Jax mumbled loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"Sympathy?" Jane guessed, "Acceptance? If they found out he was just like Gaston and that's what turned him into a beast, he wouldn't have been king. His promise was a world without villains and magic ruining their lives. If they found out the Sorceress only did that to teach him a lesson, they wouldn't be behind him."

♝♗

After that, the three agreed this could wait as they had more pressing matters at hand and left to find what they came for. The wand in the museum was apparently a fake when the villain kids turned to the good side, they supplied the royals with a tip as to store the wand elsewhere. While the Auradonians laughed at the fact that someone there would attempt to steal anything, the Core Four simply used themselves as an example. So, the royals made a decoy and kept the real wand at the bottom of the museum, under lock and key from anyone, even the owner.

But, with everyone asleep, it was easy getting the keys off the slumbering guards, and so Jane quickly found her mother's wand. When she first grabbed hold of it, it shot out some sparks, remembering the first time Jane had grabbed it, during Ben's coronation. It wasn't a happy memory in her books, and apparently neither in the wands. But the fought through her fear and took it gently in her hands. Jane could feel the magic in it, it was like waves flowing. She could feel the power coming up and then settling back down as she herself felt control over the instrument. She was ready.

♝♗

She was walking down the stairs of the building as the boys turned to look at her. "You got it!" Jax exclaimed at the sight of the wand in her hand.

"Yeah, it was pretty easy, magic artifacts like these want to be used so, it wanted me to find it."

"Let's hope it does the trick."

"It will," Jane said quietly, looking at the wand in hand. And so, the three set off to get the Wonderland kids.

They arrived first at the girl's dorm. Jax barged in and went straight to Ruby. He picked her up, his right arm supporting her head as his left arm went under her knees, "Jane," He beckoned. "Grab her shoes would you?" She helped and placed them on the sleeping queen's torso as Jax still held onto her. "And take something of Allie's, anything."

Jane knew that for her to track Allie, she needed something the girl owned, but it was better if the item had a stronger connection. She only hoped she would pick the right thing, and that's when she saw it. Going through her desk drawer and there it was, "What about this?" She held up a silver pocket watch that didn't work, it was broken, so perhaps Allie kept it for more than that?

But when she held it up, Jax's face paled. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and his eyes burned. "That's- uh, that's mine." He cleared his throat. "Where'd you find that?"

Jane approached him slowly, "Allie had it in her desk drawer." She held it clear for him to see, as he couldn't with Ruby in his arms. "I'm sorry but it's broken, it doesn't tell time."

Jax scoffed a little, still overwhelmed by a huge piece of nostalgia thrown in his face. "It never told time, that's not what it's for."

"Then what does it do?"

Jax licked his lips before deciding to not tell her, "Never mind that, it's been in Allie's possession for a while now, what if it works to find her?"

"Uh, I could try it. Give me a moment," Jane knew he was deflecting. But, it wasn't a need-to-know thing, she was helping him wake his friends up, that was more important than some watch.

While Jane attempted the spell on the watch to find Allie, Jax walked up to Gil and instructed him to get to Wyc's dorm on the other side of the building and that they would be there soon.

By the time he was done telling him where the dorm was for the second time, Jane turned to face the boys, "I've got her." She announced. The tracking spell worked.

Jax only nodded and with a shake of his head, motioned for the rest to follow him to the other side of the dormitories to get to Wyc.

Wyc was exactly where Jax left him, on his bed, and still cuddling his welding helmet like a teddy bear. Gil was the one to grab the inventor and throw him over his shoulder. It was times like this that Jax envied the strength that Gil had.

As they were ready to leave, Jane couldn't find a single thing to focus on Binx's location with. "Doesn't he own something that's actually his?"

Jax cleared his throat once more, rearranging how he was holding Ruby as his arms were getting tired. "He tends to hoard things, doesn't mean they're his. I'm also sure he doesn't even sleep on that bed."

"Then I can't find him, Jax."

The Hatter cursed under his breath as he looked around the place, "What about that?" He pointed towards the mountain of clothing.

"His laundry?"

"Yes, he's worn it, wouldn't that work?"

Jane sighed, "I hate this guy," she muttered as she grabbed the first shirt she could find and tried the spell on it. She shut her eyes to concentrate, "Okay, it works, I see him and... he's close by," The fairy was startled with how quick it worked and how close the werecat was. "He's on the third floor, let's go."

Jax followed after her, his own surprised look as well. It was well known that the dormitory building had four floors and each floor ranked as to how royal or powerful your lineage was. The fourth floor had the big ones like Lonnie, Audrey, or Aziz, Jasmine and Aladdin's kid, the same on the third floor. Jax's people were on the second, though it was mainly known for the more magical students like Jordan, the Genie's daughter and yes, Jane. While the first floor had the dregs like Doug, Pin, or the villain kids when they first got to Auradon, though Jax speculated that the royals just didn't want them any closer to their more 'exceptional' students. What could Binx have been doing to be on one of the most exclusive floors in the school?

As they were getting ready to leave the dormitory building, they ran into the first thing that Jax did as last time.

"What about him? You want to take him too?"

Nate. Jax's memory reminded him of all the things Wyc and Binx had told him since getting back. Traitor. "Leave him." Jax didn't think twice this time.

The boys were following after Jane as she finally honed in on where Binx was. Now that they were standing on the other side of a large baby blue door with golden little crowns everywhere, Jax had a feeling as to why Binx was here and he was going to be sick. "This, this is Chad Charming's room, 'innit?" Jax's voice was rough as he tried to shake out his uncomfortableness.

Jane, however, remained more stoic, "Yep,"

They opened the door to see the room still shrouded in darkness, the curtains were closed though it wouldn't matter since it was already dark out. Jax could make out some of the shapes of the furniture in the room from the hallway lights. Chad's room was excessively large, no surprise there and no surprise that he had a single dorm. From what he could make out in the dark, the room was blue, probably the same shade as the door and there were various shelves with trophies and medals on display. But what caught his eye was the shirtless sleeping werecat on the floor, Binx had rolled out of the bed as he was still wrapped in the sheets, and Jax was thankful because he was certain there was nothing else underneath.

"In the name of the bloody queen," Jax mumbled under his breath.

The three stayed silent as they waited for someone to say the dreadful thing that awaited them.

"Is he coming with us or what?" Gil wondered.

"He is my friend," Jax answered rather embarrassed, "The question now is who's to put him in trousers?"

For a second, the boys turned to Jane. "Don't look at me! Faeries can't make clothes, we just alter them. He'd need pants first so I could do something."

"We won't know unless we look." Gil, again, said the dreadful thing they awaited.

And Jax figured that if it were him, he'd rather have a Wonderland look at all his glory than anyone else. "I'm going to regret this," He cleared his throat, "So much," He motioned to go outside and place Ruby on the hallway, knowing it was probably cleaner than that entire room.

♝♗

"Are you sure you don't want any help?" Jax asked the pirate.

Gil had been carrying Wyc over his left shoulder and Binx over his right one, and the boy still hadn't broken a sweat. He merely shook his head, "I'm good," He carried on with a smile.

Jax only nodded, "Are we getting closer?" He called out to Jane.

"Almost," She answered and didn't stop her trail.

They had been walking around the gardens for a little while now since Jane tracked Allie there, but the problem with the gardens is that they were this huge maze that was difficult to maneuver against. "There!" She shouted.

Jax spotted a wave of blonde hair on the ground and followed after the fairy. When he got there, he quickly put Ruby against one of the tall bush walls and fell next to Jane in front of little Allie. This is was his first time seeing her in so long. There were times when he would stay awake until late and morning to try and see if he could spot her. But he never did, she was just too good at sneaking away. Even though she was lying on the grass, she had gotten taller, he could tell. To her left was a tipped over watering can. She had been tending to the flowers, of course.

"Jax? You okay?"

He only smiled and didn't take his eyes off Allie. "Yeah, I think I am. Jane? Would you please start the extraction process?"

"Of course," She nodded and as she pulled out her mothers' wand, he stood and joined Gil in the back as the pirate lay his friends to the ground as well.

"What's an extraction process?" Gil asked.

The Hatter licked his lips, as he kept fidgeting. "Almost two years ago, the Fairy Godmother was asked to place a conscience in her so she wouldn't help but tell the King and Queen every time my friends talked about home or how to get there. Jane believes she can remove it, let's hope it works."

From his perspective, it took Jane over ten minutes to successfully remove the dreadful tattle tailing conscience. Though he would admit that it was beautiful, it was like she was using the wand to attract this grand magnificent blue smoke out of the girl. And the smoke simply wrapped itself around the wand and slowly sunk back into it. "That should do it," She nodded waving her hand over Allie's body as though she were scanning it, "Yeah, it's done, I can feel it." She smiled.

"Perfect, then let's begin with awakening them, shall we?"

♝♗

Another ten minutes past as Jane finally found the right spell and tested it on Ruby, and it was working. She was waking up, her eyes fluttering. "Ruby? Can you hear me?" Jax's voice was soft out of habit when talking with the queen, but knew he had to raise it if he wanted her to snap out of it. "Ruby!"

"Jax?" Her eyes opened disoriented. "What's- what's happening?" She wasted no time in getting up, which failed as she stumbled and Jax went to hold onto her arms.

"Hey, it's a long story but, the entire kingdom of Auradon is asleep. We have a chance of getting out now, I've brought help." He emphasized, hoping she could organize her thoughts to process this.

"Help. Yes, that's- that's what we need, we need help. Go, go get the Bandersnatch, Mama lets me keep him in my room," She acted as though she was instructing him on a big mission, and then started getting sleepy again.

"What? Ruby! Focus!" He tried shaking her a bit to snap her out of it.

"The Knave should be back soon," She mumbles before falling forward only to be caught by the Hatter. "Darling Dot, that skirt looks horrendous on you."

"So, what now? Is the curse broken or loose or what?" Gil was genuinely curious.

"It means we've updated their sleeping curse to narcolepsy." Jax struggled as he placed her gently back to the ground next to Allie.

"What was she talking about?" Jane asked over the rambling of the young queen.

"Nonsense." He answered honestly, "Her thoughts are all over the place, it's like her mind went back to when she was younger. There's no Bandersnatch here or we would've been gone a while ago, and the Knave of Hearts has been dead for years now." Jax answered before shaking his head. "Her head's all scrambled. This won't work."

"We just need to keep trying. We still have-" Jane paused suddenly. Her gaze was lost, but her eyes moved around like she was searching for something. With a small gasp, her knees went weak and she fell to the floor. The boys fell just as quick, worried what had just happened.

"Jane?"

"Are you okay?"

She whimpered as tears formed, "It- it-" She tried to get the words out.

"What? What is it?" Jax was scared, he didn't know whether all the magic was too much or she was seeing something. He didn't know what was wrong with her, and that scared him, he couldn't help her.

Her struggle continued until she could form the words, "It's C-Carlos. I can feel it. Something's wrong, it's- it's like he's muffled. I used to have such a clear picture of him, but now it's all foggy and I can't get through, it's like a wall was put around him."

What Gil said, surprised everyone with his observational skills, "Not a wall, stone. When we got here, if people weren't sleeping, they were turned stone."

"Carlos' turned to stone," Jane's voice was disheveled. "What if they lost, what if Audrey won?"

"Don't think like that, you're not supposed to think like that. I'm supposed to think like that, you're the optimistic one. Try- try to focus on the others, try and feel them."

Jane nodded, a tear still slid down her cheek as she closed her eyes. "Ben's gone too, M-Mal isn't as foggy, I think she's still there, but I can't see beyond that. I-I can't tell anymore, all I keep seeing is Carlos," Her eyes opened with a gasp. "He's still in there, I know he is but, he's stuck like that until Audrey takes him out."

Jax suddenly had a bad thought. Harry was with them. "Jane, I need you to focus on Harry. I need to know if he's stuck like that as well."

Jane only looked at him, scared to actually check and bring bad news and scared about what Jax'll do if it is bad news. "I-"

"Jane! Jane, please," He begged. He wasn't used to begging, and Jane was taken aback, not expecting him to. Jax Hatter wasn't exactly known for being the one to beg, it was the other way around.

With a worried look, she shut her eyes. It lasted a minute. A minute that felt like days until she finally opened them again. She did try. She did. But when Jane tried to set her mind blank and follow the trail that Carlos' soul gave off, there wasn't much around him. It gave her the impression that he was around others much like him. Muffled. Cut off from the world. She felt chills go down her spine whenever she tried to get astrally closer to any of the others. And even if she could go through them, her heart was aching in pain. Jane could sense the empty creeping its way to the statues. It was the consequence of this spell. The longer they spend as stone, the less of them there is that comes back. If they ever do come back that is. And that just made her more anxious and fearful for Carlos and her friends. She paused before turning to him with tears brimming in her eyes, "Jax, I'm sorry but I just can't see anything." She chose not to tell him about the spell, knowing it would just make him worry more.

A chill went through Jax as he stood, his upper arms shaking. Everything just went slow. Like this wasn't actually happening. It was some sort of bad dream. He could feel his heart beating against his chest as though it were ready to pop out, and Jax was tempted to let it because it hurt. It hurt not to know if Harry was out there, suffering as a slab of rock. It hurt that he didn't stay with him, because at least then he could've been with him. It hurt not knowing if Uma was in the same state. It just hurt.

    He was still cold, but he was so numb that it didn't bother him. Was it strange, to feel this dreadful fear but also feel nothing at the same time? It was a feeling of hopelessness. He could sense every bone in his body as he took a step forward. "I-I have to go," His voice shook, along with the rest of his body, but it was still so empty. "Here, take this." He reaches into the inside pocket in his jacket. When Jane took it in her hands, she felt that it was old, but it had meaning. Jax popped it open and it has a black top hat with little stitches of dark colours everywhere. "It's my hat. If you need me, use it to find me."

"When did you-"

"I took it when we went to get Ruby." He swallowed back a tear, "If I don't come back, give it to them and tell them to get the hell out of here."

"Jax," Jane wanted to remind him of what was at stake, but when she grabbed his hand, she was overcome by the powerful emotions he was emitting.

Jax gulped, and like Jane, his eyes burned. "I love him," Was all he said before pulling his arm back and running out of the maze.

♝♗

Jax was gone for twenty minutes or so, Jane really couldn't tell. She tried to wake them up again, but after they ran out of the water, there was really nothing she could do but sit there and wait until somehow, someway, Audrey was beaten. She couldn't really do anything, she felt useless. But the moment passed on just as quickly when she felt a power surge through her. She stood and looked to the skies.

"What is it?" Gil got up when she did, wanting to know what was happening, "Do you feel something?"

Jane waited for a second, "Yes," She smiled. "They're waking up. Auradon's waking up. The ones turned to stone should be dissolving too." She laughed, "I can feel it,"

That was when Ruby gasped awake, she was panting heavily and grabbing at her chest. "Oh, that was horrible." Jane knelt to check on her.

"Hey, Ruby, you're okay. Jax and I-"

"Jane? What are you- wait, did you say Jax and I?"

Jane nodded, knowing they had a few minutes before all this. "You were put to sleep. Audrey stole Maleficent's scepter, she cursed the whole kingdom. Jax was still awake and he went to find help. He found me."

"And I'm Gil, by the way," He waved at Ruby, who was still on the ground. "Hi."

"Ugh, my back is so sore," They heard groans from behind them. Wyc was walking up to them, rubbing his back with his right hand. "It feels like I slept on the hard ground."

"You did," Gil nodded.

Wyc's eyebrows only raised, looked around him and to Ruby and then to the rest of his friends sleeping. He quickly patted himself down, slightly paranoid that while he was out they either took something out of him or implanted something. He should really lay off the thriller novels. "Where am I? Ruby?" He turned to the queen.

"Apparently, the natives went wicked. Audrey did all this."

"And by all this you mean," He prolonged, waiting for someone else to explain more and expecting someone to answer him.

Gil was about to before Jane stopped him, "Let's wait until everyone else is awake so we won't have to explain again and again,"

Wyc shrugged his shoulders, "Fine with me," He glanced at the still sleeping Binx, "Anyone got a marker?"

"Thackery," Ruby warned.

"Geez, here she goes." Wyc cleared his throat and went back to looking at the werecat and then behind him to the patch of flowers, "Forget the marker, I'm throwing him in the daisies. Hey, big guy, grab his head would'ya?" He motioned to Gil as Wyc picked up Binx by the legs.

"Why daisies?" Jane had to ask.

Ruby was the one to answer in a deadpan tone, "He's allergic to them."

Gil went along with it, having fun like he did on the Isle, but as they were ready to drop the redhead onto the patch of flowers, the werecat sprung into action.

Binx was now very awake, his button-up shirt was open as they simply just slipped it on him when they saw he was still wearing boxers when they found him. Jax struggled to get him back into a pair of jeans but was glad that the werecat wasn't completely nude.

Though now, he was heaving and very aware of everything, his face morphed, fangs coming out and claws formed at the end of his fingertips, he was focusing on Gil, seeing as he was the first person he saw when he awoke and he was being carried by him.

And Gil, despite knowing he was a dangerous werecat with claws, only approached him more, "Wow, cool," Binx gets defensive and hisses at him to get back, "Hey! Bad kitty!" Gil backed up to the bush wall.

"Gil, he's not a cat," Jane said.

Wyc, being used to this, just kept trying to be humorous. "He's actually half."

"Binx, stand down," Ruby said as final, and not only did the werecat morph his face back, but everyone stood down as well.

"What the hell happened? Was I roofied?" Binx asked her, looking at his surroundings.

Ruby only looked to the young fairy, "Well, Jane? You wanted to wait 'till we were all awake."

"And now we are," They all heard the soft voice coming from behind Ruby, who was just as surprised when she turned around to see Allie.

"Allie," Wyc said, not knowing what else was there to say.

Instead of looking at any of them, she turned to the queen, "I told you it's dangerous for me to be around you guys." She said in hushed tones.

"Actually," Jane's voice was loud amongst the quiet and everyone turned to her. "There's something you guys should know."

♝♗♝♗♝♗

So this is about 4K+ long, hope you guys liked it.

If you didn't tell me what you didn't like.

Jane's abilities of sensing people and tracking people are different. Sensing is more like feeling like they're out there, if they're okay or sad, or even gone. She can feel them but she can't find them unless she has something of theirs. Carlos is her boyfriend so she's already pretty tuned in on how he is. Plus this scene was happening as Carlos, Evie, Jay, and Ben turned to stone, so I figured, Jane's a fairy, shouldn't she be able to feel someone she loves turn to stone? Someone's in trouble, that kind of thing.

Did you like that?

Do you like that I'm exploring more of Jane's powers as a fairy?

What do you think about the small new things in this chapter?

- Allie's pocket watch?

- Ruby's incoherent mumblings as she was half asleep.

- where can Wyc get a marker to draw on Binx's sleeping face?

- the Bandersnatch

- Why was Binx is Chad's room?

ah heck, I'll answer that one right now.

Binx and Chad have a long going hate-fuck relationship. On this particular day, they got together before Chad left to go to Jane's party and Binx just stayed in the bed [he wasn't going to the party anyway], saying he could use a good nap. Chad just shrugged him off and left him there, he's used to it at this point. Though just a reminder, it's strictly sexual, they don't have any feelings for each other.

as for the Gaston and Beast being best friends thing, a while back I had read The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince by Serena Valentino [it's like a prequel book for the disney movie as to what the Beast/or Adam's life was like before he became the Beast and also a lot from his perspective] anyway, I remember reading about how Gaston was the Prince's best friend and they would go hunting together and at first I was surprised, but as I kept reading it, it made a lot of sense, I mean in their human cases, they're a lot alike. Both egotistical and prideful and just horrible to others, thinking they deserve the prettiest girls and the precious of jewels. When the Prince got cursed and everyone lost their memories, Gaston had no idea he had a best friend or that it was this beast.

Anyway, I wanted to incorporate that into this, it's this subtle thing that tells you everyone has something hidden, and it can be small or big, and this is just more about what I'm making the Beast out to be. I've changed a lot of these characters and I hope you guys like my spin on this.

And yeah, Jax left his one chance at getting home for his boyfriend. I'm so glad I checked my Notes to see if I had anything to add before going halfway into this chapter, because I didn't find that, then it would've been all the WK's going back into the Auradon to find Binx since no one could find him [i was gonna put that Jane couldn't track him either] but then I read the whole 'Jane felt Carlos turn to stone and now Jax is worried because Harry is with them' like that makes sense and I'm so glad I found those notes,

like wow, this is what happens, i have a great idea for like three chapters ahead and i immediately write it down but then when i eventually get there and im stuck there and I'm like 'what to do now' until i come up with something random, organize my notes and then surprise surprise, it was here all along!

wow

no mundanes allowed

- polaroized