Title: the magician played me tricks of the blood
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Anne Sexton
Warnings: AUish – written with only knowledge of season 2
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 740
Point of view: third
Prompt: Any, any/any, When you get that look nobody is safe / it's why I first fell in love with you
When Jefferson first met the Dark One, he was apprehensive, of course. The most powerful creature of darkness in all the lands, summoning Jefferson for a contract?
To be utterly honestly, Jefferson was a little disappointed to meet the Dark One. Rumplestiltskin was dangerous, yes, but easy enough to deal with – even when making deals.
"There is more to you than meets the eye, portal-jumping thief," Rumplestiltskin mused once.
Jefferson had laughed.
.
Rumplestiltskin arranged for the heartbreak of the young, magic-learning queen. Jefferson played his part dutifully because the pay was good.
Not long after, he heard that the young queen had become a terrifying force of darkness, and he smiled.
.
"Do you know what you're doing?" his mother asks from the other side of the mirror.
"Exactly what you wanted me to," he says, smirking at her.
She shakes her head. "I have everything under control. Cease this madness at once."
He laughs, loud and long, and turns away from the mirror, and said, "Should have thought of that years ago."
.
Jefferson has a daughter. No one ever met her mother. He moved into the cottage with an infant and told everyone the mother had died suddenly.
She died, but it wasn't sudden. It was the price she paid for the deal.
He does love the girl. He named her Grace for an old saying: there but for the grace go I.
.
When the queen traps him in Wonderland, Jefferson knows it is his punishment. He'd always known it was coming.
When the queen cuts off his head and orders him to make a portal, he knows that is his punishment, too.
.
"You can end this," his mother says from the other side of the mirror. "You know that you can."
The hatter is mad. The portal jumper is broken.
It is his mother's son who raises his head and bares his teeth and turns away and away and away.
.
In Storybrooke, he sleeps for years. His mind was never at rest in Wonderland. But in Storybrooke, there is nothing to do but rest and study.
There is no ambient magic in Storybrooke, only that which resides in skin and blood. His third and final punishment is that he remembers when no one else does, not even the queen or the imp. Only the mad, portal-jumping hatter.
He knows his mother. This is not only his punishment.
.
The miller's daughter is named Regina. Her mother's plan is to ensure her name comes true.
What only the mother knows is that she carried twin children to term and bore them both unto the world on a night of no moon.
.
The Curse breaks. Everyone remembers. Magic fills the air.
"You arrogant child," his mother hisses from the mirror.
He spins the hat and smiles.
.
"Jefferson," Regina says, before her heart breaks, before she is queen, before she is anything but a girl who dreams of happiness. "I cannot trust my mother."
"No," he agrees, "you can't."
.
Jefferson is an orphan who raises himself after escaping the orphanage. He begins as a pickpocket and graduates to magic with ease. He dreams of his mother; none of the dreams come true. His mother is a monster who watches him from mirrors, when she chooses to. He can never contact her first.
He knows he has a sister. She is kind-hearted. Soft. It'd break her to know her brother was cast out to find his own way at barely a day old.
He chooses the name Jefferson because it sounds strong and the name on his blanket is foolish.
.
The miller's granddaughter is named Regina and she does, indeed, become queen.
The miller's grandson is named Rex and nobody even knows he exists.
.
The mad portal-jumping hatter watches a ship draw close to shore. He has his darling Grace again.
His mother's plans were always so intricate, webs of lies woven together until nothing at all was clear. Rumplestiltskin and Regina's plots weren't quite as cluttered, but all of three meshed quite nicely together.
The funniest bit of all is that each of them needed a portal and someone daring (mad) enough to jump through.
.
Rex wasn't born with Regina's aptitude for magic but he did have a small talent of his own, and, honestly... a hat is a hat is a hat.
The Queen of Hearts has come to Storybrooke. The Dark One and the Evil Queen are already present.
The board is set.