The Plot

-Alice-

Well after midnight, Uma strut into the small room and flopped on the small mattress with a happy squeak.

Alice turned on the chair in front of the desk where she was scribbling in a small journal.

"Mal showed I take it."

Uma sat up on the mattress.

"Yep and she took the bait! Harry had some of the crew stake out of the limo and it was just seen speeding out of a warehouse on the south side. They should return soon with the wand and then we're out of here. We're so close I can taste it. by tomorrow night the world will know my name."

"Something feels off, it's too easy. This is Mal, we are talking about. Daughter of Maleficent. Once a villain, always a villain. We should have a back up plan, in case Mal flakes out. What about our other escape plan?"

"We still aren't ready. We don't have a way to control it, just an untested theory."

"It's our next best chance. I'll stake out the warehouse. When they return I'll break into the limo and figure out how they open the barrier. "

"It's a long shot. "

"I'll figure it out. Trust me. If the deal with Mal goes south you've got to get to the bridge as fast as you can. They'll have a head start but you can catch them if you swim."

Uma looked at her, nervous.

"You're our best chance at escaping, Uma. With you out there, those goodie two shoes' don't stand a chance.

The young Captain sighed and straightened her back.

"When I take down the barrier I want you standing with me. We are gonna sail out of here together, chase the birds and dance on golden beaches.

"I'll keep an eye on the sky, if the barrier falls I'll run back to the ship. If you have to set sail, swing by the north bluffs where we met. I'll meet you there."

"Okay. I'm not leaving here without you."

"Just promise me, if Mal doesn't hold up her end of the bargain you've got to follow them through. After they hear we kidnapped their king, we won't ever get a chance like this again."

When Uma went back to her room to sleep, Alice closed her journal and tucked in under her bookcase like Nanny used to do with hers. She removed the necklace from around her neck and laid it on the desk.

Uma and the boys were full of confidence and excitement but Alice couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't going to go their way. Alice slipped the ring from the chain and held it in her palm. She had never worn it since her escape from the Jolly Rodger. The gold shined in the lamp light and she studied the white gem, flashing as she turned it with her fingers.

She was taking a big leap and she didn't know what awaited her below. She felt connected to the ring, like she was connected to her friends. When she closed her eyes, she could feel it burning quietly against her chest. The sensation had calmed her before that night. Now it just scared her. There was no telling if the energy she felt in the ring would react to the barrier like Uma thought it would. The anti magic could destroy the ring completely. Then she would be... free. If the ring was destroyed she would have one less promise to keep. One less reason to hide. It was a chance, like a weight being lifted from her shoulders. If it worked, then Uma could escape. She could find a way to bring down the barrier from outside. Then they would all be free. Free to be who ever she wanted to be. Talk to strangers and walk without fear down the street like any normal person.

That is of course, if she could keep the barrier open. Despite what she told Uma, Alice didn't believe the self titled 'VK's' would be dumb enough to leave a magic key to the barrier just laying around. Her fingertips tingled with the memory of the lights she felt when the barrier fell. Part of her knew that what she saw was magic. If she could see it, although seeing was the wrong word, she might be able to control it. Alice had never read about anyone trying to control a spell that was not their own before and the grizzly tales in some of her books proved that most magic experiments ended in catastrophic failure. Like the ring, she could very well be destroyed in the process. Nothing out of the ordinary for her. She had prepared to risk her life for her friends on more than one occasion in the past. For her friends' freedom, she would do anything.

With a new determination about her Alice slipped the ring onto her finger. The gem glinted up at her. She twisted the ring around. Alice looked down at the pocket watch alone on the chain. She traced a finger over the smooth gold edge.

She would do anything.

-Harry-

Harry was walking back from meeting with some of his spies and crew members in town when a small pebble git him in the side of the head.

"Ow!"

He muttered, rubbing at the spot with his hand and looking around for the culprit. A pair of eyes cut through the shadow of an alley Alice stepped out of the shadows with a cautious glance around.

"What are you doing here?"

He growled, he didn't trust her. Not like Uma and Gil, he didn't understand how they could. They knew what she did. From what he saw, that massacre.

"I've got a job from Uma. I won't be back until after the hand off."

"Why should I care?"

"I know you don't like me and that's okay. I don't need you to like me or even trust me, I just need you to promise me something."

"You're crazy if yo-

"Look after Gil and Uma."

"...What?"

"I need you to promise me that no matter what happens, you will look out for Gil and Uma. Watch their backs. Protect them."

"Of course I will, why-"

"Thank you, Harry."

She pulled a small box from her pocket and lightly tossed it to him. Harry caught it out of the air and looked back to Alice, who was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn that witch."

He cursed and continued walking back towards his ship through the empty back streets. He studied the small cardboard box in his hand. It was small but had a little weight to it. It's yellowed paper was tied together with a simple string.

Harry pulled on one of the loose ends and the knot unfurled. He jammed the string into his pocket and pried open the lid curiously. He stopped dead in his tracks.

Inside the box, a familiar gold pocket watch ticked rhythmically at him. This was his watch. He and Uma had stolen matching ones as kids and Harry had never told her that he lost his. It was too embarrassing. Robbed in broad daylight by some hooded thief and led on a wild chase only for them to vanish into thin air. That chase was what led him to Gil. How did she find this?

Her eyes, bright and green flashed in his mind. Those eyes, he dreamt of those eyes many times. Or, was the physicians not a dream at all. Harry looked around in a slow circle, scanning the alleys and rooftops for the outline of a cloak or the flash of blonde hair. He was alone. Alone, with a lot of questions.

-Alice-

Alice waited anxiously behind a large wooden crate close to the limo. The doors were locked but one of the windows was open just a crack and with a twisted wire she scavenged from nearby, pulled open the latch on the door. The lock clicked. There had been nothing of use in the limo but a few incredible tasting snacks laid out in colourful jars. She took the time to sample one of everything in her search and she had no regrets. They were so delicious and strange. Her mouth watered at the memory but she fought the urge to sneak back to the limo and pinch a few more. But there was nothing of use in the long car. All she could do was wait for the VK's to return and either steal the key to the barrier then, or beat them to the gate and wait for Uma. That would be easy for her. She already had a direct route in mind over the low rooftops of the poorer residential districts. The Limo would have to navigate a few winding streets to get to the gate. She pulled her new pocket watch from the neckline of her blouse and checked the time, almost noon.

Before she had left, Alice asked Uma if she had an extra pocket watch and to her surprise Uma gave her a watch identical to the one she had just given away. Uma laughed at her shocked expression.

"Harry and I pinched them from old Frollo's house as kids. He lost his somehow but didn't want to admit it so put mine away. Reputations mean a lot here, I respected that. Plus he brought me back a stray to distract me and then I have two best friends..."

Uma smiled at the memory.

"Three now, which is even better. When I first met you I recognized the watch. When I found out Gil and you were friends back then, I pieced it together. If I'm right, it's not just Harry I have to thank for bringing Gil into my life."

Noon came and went and Alice's anxiety only grew. She busied herself with stretches to keep warm and limber for the climbing and sprinting she would need to do.

A clamour of voices and footsteps thundered down the metal tunnel and Alice peeked out to see Mal and company rushing into the limo with Ben in tow. The barrier was still up. She had been right, Mal screwed them over somehow. Villains never change.

The group of teens- and a dog, piled into the limo. It roared to life and rolled away. Alice was about to start scaling the drain pipe to the slate roof, but something in the clearing where the limo once was caught her eye. It was a book, of all things. Alice sprinted to it and tucked it against her back with her belt and hurried up the drain pipe and over the rooftops.

She made it to the edge of the large clearing and slipped behind some rubble flanking the large striped gates. When the limo didn't speed around the corner in the next few heartbeats, Alice studied the book. To her surprise and glee it was a spell book. Alice flipped through the pages eagerly and skimmed a few interesting spells. Speed reading sounded useful but Alice liked the intimacy and time commitment or reading. There were spells for everything; fear, plague, cooking, love potions and even invisibility. The distant sound of an engine snapped Alice from the pages. She closed the book and laid it on the ground by her feet.

She fiddled nervously with the ring around her finger as she watched the street. The villain kids would be driving towards the barrier at any moment and Uma was still nowhere to be found.

She saw headlights in the distance and her heart thundered. Where was Uma? If she was going to make it she would have to show up in the next few minutes or they would lose this opportunity. The black limo rolled slowly towards her. Alice held still behind the brush beside the large stone pillars of the once bridge.

The barriers magic seemed to hum through the air around her as the car approached. It was now or never. She twirled the ring back to her usual orientation and took a deep breath. As she exhaled, she extended her hand, palm first to the barrier. The ring's small white gem was the first to touch the translucent wall and Alice felt it warm against her fingers. The heat spread from the gem down the band and into her hand. She could hear the car's wheels on the torn up asphalt but her eyes were screwed shut. She didn't need to see. She could feel it. The warmth flooded up her arm and through her body and her mind surged with the magic of the barrier itself. It felt as if she was in the spell itself. It swirled around her, unsure what to make of this new energy. She could feel the will of the caster, shaping the spell with its monstrous strength. The magic suddenly heaved against her, like a deer's hide twitching off a fly. Alice pushed her hand against the barrier and steeled herself against the onslaught. It faded rather suddenly and she gasped as the magic pulled her further in. She could feel the opening beginning to form, a concentration of magical energy swirling in the space beside her. The twin energies of the barrier and a small remote inside the car reached out to each other, twining a connection. The remote, the energy was too small and square to be anything else, burst with a pulse of magic energy that rocketed through the connection. The surge collided with the swirling energy and exploded outwards. Like a wave rippling away from a dropped stone.

A hole in the barrier began to grow. In the distance behind her there was a flicker of energy, cool and soothing like the sea. She recognized it instinctively as Uma's necklace. It's glow was steadily growing as the young sea witch swam towards the old bridge. Alice reached out to her from within the magic and their own magics coiled together over the distance. New magic rushed through the connection and twined with her own. The limo passed through the barrier and the opening began to close. No! Uma was still too far from the opening. She could feel her urgency speeding towards her through the dark water. Alice channeled the twining magic and threw it against the opening. It shivered as the energies crashed together and held. The stream of magic flowing through her began to burn and Alice could feel herself tiring under the tremendous effort. The ring was burning so hot her whole hand screamed in pain but Alice held on. With her free hand Alice groped blindly for the spell book and with a heave threw it over the edge of the cliff toward the opening just as the brilliant light of Uma's necklace arced high out of the water and sailed through. Their connection weakened across the barrier and Uma's magic was ripped away from hers. Alice screamed as the magic tore out of her and sent every inch of her ablaze with pain. She collapsed on the ground.

Her connection to the barrier was gone. The ring burned hot against her skin, she slipped it from her finger and threw it on the ground. The band glowed red with heat and the base of her finger was ringed with a dark red band of flesh where the ring had been. Her fingers and palm were angry red and starting to blister. The burn was tender and painful but felt minor compared to her head. The dim light shining through the clouds was burning bright to her eyes. Her head pounded like a war drum and nausea gripped her in waves. She lay curled up in the shadow of the gate, breathing heavily for a long while. The sun had descended to the horizon by the time she had regained most of her senses. Her head and hand still hurt something awful and she was drained of energy. Groggy, she placed the cooled ring into her pocket with her good hand and staggered her way back to the cove.

She sipped over the edge of the boardwalks and down to the rocks of the small shore line. In the shadow of the great ship, Alice laid on her back with her hand extended into the icy water. She lost feeling in the appendage quickly but paid it no mind. It was pain now to spare greater pain later. As the rocks cooled her aching muscles, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.