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

𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡. 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓:

𝑭 𝑶 𝑹 𝑮 𝑰 𝑽 𝑬 
𝒀 𝑶 𝑼 𝑹 𝑺 𝑬 𝑳 𝑭

           Jax and Uma washed up on Auradon's beach, her on her back taking deep breaths and him on his stomach, clinging to a piece of driftwood, they were over twenty feet apart but both oh so exhausted. He was tired and his arms and legs were soared from having to swim. While Uma was a help in the water, she had to keep swimming too, that meant fending for himself without the sea witch's help for a few times. But it wasn't just his body, his own energy felt weakened like an anchor was on top of his soul. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it or if it was real. Whether it had to do with leaving Harry or being this close to his family. But he could have sworn that he felt it once before.

           The first thing that Jax does when he comes back to Auradon is something that he will always regret. Despite his body screaming to lay back down, he gets up and starts walking towards the familiar lights of the kingdom of Auradon. Soon enough he'll spot the castle that contains Auradon Prep, the boarding school for all royalty and the fairytale famous. He keeps walking and doesn't stop, not even when he heard Uma yelling his name.

           Uma swore that the Hatter boy had been close by when she washed up. She just needed a couple of minutes to catch her breath. The ocean isn't her friend, but it's not an enemy either, it's an obstacle. Just because she's the daughter of the most powerful sea witch in existence doesn't mean swimming across the ocean was gonna be a cake walk. She just needed to rest. To just close her eyes. Uma was certain that Jax was there, but now she wasn't. Could she have been hallucinating? Letting her mind believe it was okay to rest? She doesn't know what's real now, whether Jax went to go find supplies or if he was still floating out in the sea. Or worse, if he was lying dead on the ocean floor. She could never live with herself if it was the latter, and just the thought of Harry finding out she lost him made her shiver. She was supposed to be the captain, the leader, the one that was supposed to change everything.

           Not knowing what else to do, she called out his name, "Jax!" She took a deep breath, "Jax, where are you?!" She yelled hopelessly. He wasn't just her alchemist or the guy that knew the area, he was her friend. And she lost him. "Jax!" Her breathing was uneven, she sobbed and gasped. She learned soon enough that she should stop yelling and screaming or else she would draw attention to herself pretty quickly. So she quieted herself, sobbing silently and praying to the underwater gods that he was okay.

*******

           No, he kept walking. He didn't turn back, not even when he heard her sobs through the thick breeze that made him cross his arms to fight back against the cold. He had to get to Auradon Prep, he was finally on the same land as his friends, his people, he couldn't waste any time. If you knew Time as well as I did, you wouldn't talk about wasting it. It's him. As his dad always said, supposedly he was once friends with Time, who resided in Wonderland, though Jax had his suspicions.

           This is what he will always regret, because he actually did have time, to this day, Jax Hatter will never forgive himself for abandoning Uma to fend for herself in one of her most vulnerable of times.