𝟏 | 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐌𝐀𝐃? | 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 | 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐇𝐨𝐨𝐤 ✔️

𝑠𝑖𝑥. 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑚

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗:

𝑻 𝑯 𝑬 𝑪 𝑨 𝑳 𝑴

Jax was leaning on one of the ships pillars, sharpening his shortsword. While he preferred to use poisons and explosions to fight, that would be much more difficult in hand-to-hand combat. And he doesn't take chances.

"Jax, listen to me, it's not too late to stop this." Ben had been pleading for help from the Hatter for quite a while now. "We can go back to Auradon, together, and help the kids here on the Isle as well as your own." The second he mentioned the Wonderland kids, his friends, his people, well, Jax didn't like it.

The next thing Ben knew, he had a sword against his throat. He never thought he'd have a sword against his throat in all his life. Maleficent attacking them at his coronation was one thing, it was terrifying, he promises that, but this, this was much more raw and violent. All his life, he'd been fighting with swords, fencing, he'd been one of the best of his class, but, that was just class. Here on the Isle, a sword against your throat was meant to shut you up or put you down. There was no coach or referee or 'you've bested me, congratulations' and a trophy afterward, no, he hated to say it, to think it, but while the Isle was much more difficult than Auradon, it felt real. It felt like this was actually happening, Auradon felt like a fairytale, like he was meant to play a part, sometimes he loved it, he made people happy and safe, but it so incredibly boring. And while he'd rather not get pushed into shark-infested waters, he had to admit, this was the most alive he'd felt in years.

"You don't talk about them," He warned furiously. He was calm, but it was an angry calm, a scary one. "Yes, they are my own, but not yours, you don't get to talk about them. You don't get to talk about what they need or deserve. No, you're not their king, and you aren't mine."

"That's true." Ben gave in quickly. He figured, maybe the more he talked, the more he would lead on about his plans. Ben hadn't seen Jax for six years, and while he changed savagely, he still had the same secretive plan input in everything he did. Each and every time they did something together, there was always a hidden meaning behind it, it was the way Jax operated. And Ben knew, this wasn't Jax's entire plan, there was something else going on. "I'm not their ruler. No, Wonderland's ruled by queens, isn't it?"

Jax only seemed to get angrier the more the boy talked his home, but nonetheless, still answered him. "Yeah it is, we have this thing where we're smart enough to recognize that women are just better leaders." He scoffed with a grin, "They don't repeat the mistakes we've made, they say it's men that are stronger, but it's women who endure. I say that fully accepting that our gender are a bunch of wankers." He said amused.

"So, you don't really follow Uma then, huh? You follow Ruby? Ruby Queen?" He struggled with his words, the sword was pressing down his Adam's apple a lot stronger now, probably because he made the English boy angrier.

"That name, you shortened it for her. You changed it, said it would be easier to keep track of." He scoffed again, irritated this time. "That is not her full title, and you know it." Jax got closer to whisper in the king's ear. "How does it feel, being king of an entire realm? Do your friends ever resent you? That they can't rule, or their rule isn't as powerful or influential as yours? Well, lucky for us, Ruby's got an entire other world waiting for her to lead, so she isn't at all worried over you."

"How do you know what's going through Ruby's mind?" He decided to ask.

Jax chuckled. "I know this because I asked her this question before she let me become friends with you. I wanted to be sure that my queen knew I wasn't betraying her. I would never."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"You were the one that asked." He finally took the sword off his throat, letting the beastie boy breathe at last.

His demeanor changed, like as though they were two old friends catching up. "What? Don't like hearing the truth? I thought that was all that you were about!" He laughed loudly. "Selfless, brave and true and all that shmuck, am I right? What a load of crap." He muttered.

"Don't call it that! The world is better now, it's safer." Ben defended.

"It's fake." He reprimanded. "Humans, from my world or yours, we can't be those things, no one is completely good or completely bad. Just ask your girlfriend, oops, sorry, ex-girlfriend." He teased.

"Okay, what's your plan, Jax? Hm? What, use the wand to try and get back to Wonderland like before?" Ben tried, but Jax only made a fake confused face meant to annoy the boy more. "Or are you going to have Uma do it? Maybe trade me for your people? What's the plan?"

Jax got close enough to be at the same eye level as the king. "Now," He paused. "Why would I tell you, when it would be so much more fun for you to wait and find out? Hm?" He clenched his jaw and backed away nonchalantly. He was heading back to the front of the ship, but not before calling out Ben one last time. "And Ben? This is the last time you try and use my people against me, it didn't work six years ago, and it didn't work now. Learn from your mistakes, you clotpole."

*******

Okay, so as you can see, Ben and Jax have some very unresolved history between them. It's intense.

I don't know if you can tell, but they are very similar in how they think. It's weird, they just believe in a lot of the same stuff, it's just that because of influence, they both went down different paths. But they seem to keep that dynamic, they think like the other, they remember things from the past, and they aren't afraid to get a little dirty with the difficult questions.

Also, notice how I keep bringing back Ruby to this. I just really love her. You will too. She effing deserves the world, I swear.

If you have any questions on Jax and Ben's past, leave a comment, I'll try and answer with as little spoilers as possible. Although, the only spoilers I consider big are to do with the plot, character plotline and the future with my O/C's. So everything else would be considered extras you might say.

no mundanes allowed
-polaroized