When Jack gasped awake with the sensation of a needle stabbing his chest, nighttime had long fallen. A rocking feeling swirled within the constraints of his soul—it made him feel light in a way he'd never experienced before. He rubbed at his chest with a groan. It felt dry, like sand had clawed down his throat to enter his lungs. He coughed hard, though it did not seem to help one bit.

A whimper of relief sounded from his sweater. Baby Tooth. She must've been the one to prick him awake.

Jack struggled to push himself up from where he'd been propped in the crook between the wall and a shelf. He was standing in the same room he'd been in when... What had happened? His memories came back slowly. They were a small trickle of ice cold water pushing through a narrow nook in the snow.

Evanora Hailwell's reading. Her lifeless body laying face first against the table—the one that was no longer there now. Rapunzel. Rapunzel being taken and—

The scuff of a boot against wood brought Jack's attention over to his right. Flynn Rider's face brightened when he saw Jack awake and standing, though somewhat groggily.

"Ice Man! You're awake!" He exclaimed with a flash of his teeth. Cold fury ignited through Jack in response to the beaming grin aimed his way. To the rest of the memories that quickly finished trickling through. This guy—he'd been the reason behind Rapunzel's capture. They would have stood a chance at escape if it hadn't been for him.

Jack flicked Twinetender up from the ground with his foot as he charged forward, pressing its hooked tip against Flynn's chest, pushing him back back back until he was pressed against the wall.

"Where did he take her?" Jack hissed in demand.

Flynn's palms shot up in ceasefire on either side of Twinetender. As if he actually believed Jack would agree to it. "How about we take a moment to just breathe." The hint of a waver in Flynn's voice betrayed his cool demeanour. He glanced down to where Twinetender met his chest. "Calm ourselves down a little bit..."

Dozens of very colourful curses flashed through Jack's mind. He moved closer to Flynn, tipping his chin down to glare straight through the betrayer. "I'll calm myself," he bit out, "when you stop being a lying, goatee-sporting gorilla."

Flynn narrowed his eyes. "Hey, now. Don't attack the goatee, smooth skin. I don't control what grows on you."

Jack scowled, about to reply when he noticed the golden glow at the edge of his vision. His heart sped up with a growing hope. He must have missed it in his rage.

A thread, only a few hours old.

Rapunzel must have tried to pray to him while he was out, which meant she was okay—okay enough to get this through to him, at least. Relief flooded through his body, meshed with a newfound rush of adrenaline. He needed to go. Now.

Jack pulled his staff away and lunged for the ladder—

"Wait!"

Jack didn't.

"I know where they're going!"

Jack huffed in annoyance, wooden steps thudding against his fingers as he slid down its length. "So do I," he called.

Flynn popped up at the head of the ladder. "No, you don't!" He drawled. "Not in the bigger scheme of things, at least. I found some pre-tty interesting things around here while you were busy sleeping."

"No time," Jack grunted, turning to walk toward an irritated Maximus.

"Ah-ah, here's where you're wrong." Flynn stepped off the ladder, hurrying after him. "You really think they'll hurt her after bothering to hunt her down so fast? Trust me, when it comes to greed you might as well call me the second sin—I know it when I see it, and Dame Gothel radiated of it."

"You haven't seen evil like I have."

"Maybe not," Flynn shrugged. "But evil's more than a humanoid ball of darkness, Ice Man. Come on."

Ignoring Flynn's beckoning, Jack untied Maximus and tugged him back toward where they'd come from. He'd bring the horse with him until he could return him to his guard. He would go faster on his own, but he hated the thought of leaving this creature wandering on his own, especially when they were this far from its home. And though Flynn had promised Rapunzel he'd bring Maximus back, Jack doubted he'd ever had the intention of upholding that promise.

"Where are you going?" Flynn asked.

Maximus neighed, confused as Jack continued pulling at his reigns. He didn't bother looking at Flynn as he bit out, "As if I'd tell anyone working with Pitch. You ready to run, boy?" Though Maximus seemed to brighten with approval at the words, Jack could feel the reluctance echoing through his reigns. "She's not coming," he answered quietly. A hollow pit settled in his chest quite suddenly, though Jack did not have much time to question it. The sound of boots pounding against the grass came from behind, forcing Jack to restrain himself from using his powers in dangerous ways.

Betrayer. The word pulsed through him. Rapunzel. Betrayed.

Gone.

"I did everything they asked and they left me here," Flynn admitted at once. "I have no reason to side with them. Not anymore."

It was the hint of raw hurt in his voice, the one he felt stretched far deeper than mere surface, that made Jack move away from Maximus so that Flynn could mount him. Rapunzel would give him a chance. She wouldn't hold this deep of a grudge.

"Thank you," Flynn said. Though Maximus neighed a brief complaint when Flynn swung onto his saddle, he said nothing more as the three began their quick travels. Jack didn't need to bring him all the way. But having him along would permit him to keep an eye on the guy—to get some information on Pitch's plans, if he knew anything.

Except there was no time to speak between the whoosh of the wind and the pit now twisting tightly within Jack's gut. If Flynn betrayed him once more... He would keep him away from Rapunzel. He would find a way to keep him away from the castle long enough for them to escape and make their way to North's Workshop.

He would find a way to get them both out and—

Jack's restless thinking came to halt as Flynn suddenly pulled on Maximus's reigns. The horse pulled his head back in irritation as he came to a still, letting Flynn lead him to a spot along the edge of the road. Maximus lowered his head to chomp at a patch of bright green grass. The trickle of a stream sounded from somewhere nearby.

"What are you doing?" Jack demanded.

"It's been four hours," Flynn scowled. "Unless you want our horse here's heart to explode from exertion, he needs to take a few breaks. Plus," he added. "I'm hungry, too, and I happen to know—"

Jack caught something in the periphery of his vision. Power welled in his fingertips. He aimed it toward the rabbit standing still by a tree. "There," he stated, nodding toward the motionless creature. "Food."

Flynn threw his hands up in complaint. "It has frostbite!"

"And we need to go."

"Okay, lover boy," Flynn rose a brow, shifting on his saddle. "If that lady and Mitch—

"Pitch."

"—If that lady and Pitch really wanted to use Rapunzel's... Powers for themselves, don't you think they'd be smart enough to realize she's more useful alive and sane than not? We can spare a few hours. She'll be fine."

"But—"

"As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me, I just happen to know a place not too far from here—The Hare's Hair, greatest food across Linie Road. I'll grab something there to eat on the way. Hey," he cocked his head. "Do immortals have eat? You don't think to ask."

Jack swayed impatiently on his feet, unable to rip his gaze away from the thread glowing just within the burrows of the forest. "We can," he answered somewhat distantly. "But we don't have to do it to survive."

Flynn pulled on the reigns, but Jack caught the edge of a smirk on the guy's lips as he glanced back. He recalled what he'd said earlier with newfound suspicion.

"What did he promise you in return?" Jack asked as he flew after Maximus. "For Rapunzel. What did he promise you?"

"What?" Flynn yelled before shaking his head in apparent defeat. "Too loud can't hear."

His lack of answer told Jack everything he needed to know. Rapunzel. Pitch had promised him her power. He'd promised him the immortality Rapunzel so willingly gifted her mother. How much would that take out of her? How fast would it be before she drained herself with the greed of others? Before she became nothing more than a wisp of her old self? Anger boiled his bones at the thought. Anger, and...

She would be okay. She had to be okay.

"With all your immortal-ness," Flynn began again only minutes later as he swung out the creaky, wooden door of the Hare's Hair. "I don't suppose you happen to know what the word ellevte means?"

"Eleventh," Jack answered without much pause, "In Danish or Norwegian. Why?"

Flynn shrugged, placing a hand on Maximus's saddle. But instead of hopping onto it, he turned to Jack, dark brows knit tightly together. With the quick brush of a hand, (and a bite of burger in his mouth), he pulled a small box out of the miniature satchel at his hip. It was made out of a thick wood, nearly identical in size to that of a typical ring box. Though the entirety of it was plain and smooth, the latch holding it shut at the front was dark and meticulously ornate. Just under it was that single word carved in deep bends: ELLEVTE.

"Where did you get this?" Jack asked, briefly pulling his focus away from the box to meet Flynn's gaze.

"The witch's treehouse while you were under."

"What else did you take?"

"Nothing she'll miss—sorry," Flynn cringed. "Nothing of importance. This thing was on a sundial beside a bunch of other replicas. Looked interesting at the time, but now... Here,"

Jack reluctantly held out his palm when Flynn extended the box to him. It was heavier than he'd assumed, the wood like a small weight in his hand, and he felt—there. The tiniest of vibrations echoing through its body, so faint that Jack wondered if even Flynn had felt it. He knew without doubt that this had been crafted by magic. It felt as alive as Twinetender did—but it was the kind of alive that repulsed Jack instead of attracting him. He felt constrained, quite suddenly, like a cage was threatening to shut itself around him and hold him forever. It was different from what Gothel had done to him, different from the fear Pitch had once pulsed through him. He did not like the box, and though he could feel its phantom claws pulling at his palm, he knew that the box did not like him either.

The feelings vanished completely as soon as Jack handed it back to Flynn. He felt Baby Tooth shiver in the neck of his sweater in response. "Could you feel it?" Jack asked, both to her and Flynn.

While Baby Tooth only pressed her feathers against him, Flynn shook his hand as he tucked the magic box back into his satchel. "No," he said curiously. "But I am aware of it. It's like it wants attention, and I can safely declare that I've never encountered a needy object in my entire twenty-four years before. Then again, I've never encountered anything like you until about a week ago, so I suppose anything has to be possible now. Do you think I hit my head? I've pondered that about a hundred times already. A coma seems like a reasonable explanation. Pretty girls with glowing hair, a needy, inanimate box, demons that want to take over the world... It all just seems a little—"

"You're right," Jack interrupted, glancing once more at the thread. "We should go."

Flynn took another bite of his food before pulling himself back onto Maximus. He brought him to a steady trot. "It's not dangerous, is it?"

"I don't know," Jack answered as he flew. The memory of it in his hands returned. "It felt like both. Safety and danger."

"Good way to clarify things."

Jack thought of Katherine, with her book and her stories. She might have been able to help if she'd had her book with her. She might still be, but finding her proved difficult, and he didn't exactly have the time for it what with Rapunzel's capture. But the others—the Guardians were older than he was. They might have seen such magic in their lifetimes.

And so Jack turned down to Baby Tooth.

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*Edited, (April 5th, 2021).