Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time does not belong to me! All characters and references to the show belong to ABC and Channel 5

Urban Legends: Fairytale Style-Chapter 14

Pop Rocks and Soda

It was rare for Jefferson-the former Mad Hatter-to leave his huge house in the woods. In this cursed land of Storybrooke he had no friends, and his only family was living with a completely different mother and...father, and had no memory of him, so he never had a reason to leave the stupidly massive building where he obsessively made his hats.

But...sometimes, it all got too much. The seclusion, the silence...the loneliness, and he would just have to get out of the house for fear of truly going mad like he had done in the Queen of Heart's hat room. On those days he would go to Granny's Diner and have something to drink. A beverage that he would always drink to remind him of his daughter.

"Here's your tea, Mister" said Ruby the waitress, smiling flirtatiously at the handsome man as she put his cup of tea in front of him. Jefferson nodded his thanks and the young girl walked away, swaying her hips as she did so (which caught more of Dr Whale's attention than it did Jefferson's)

Chuckling softly to himself, Jefferson raised the white cup to his lips, and it was while he was taking his first sip of tea that he overheard a very interesting conversation:

"...No, really! Ava told me that this kid from Boston tried it, and it worked!" said a young, male voice from the table behind him.

"Nicholas, you can't honestly tell me you believe that stuff!" came another boyish scoff which also sounded young, the voice higher than his friends.

"Henry-" Jefferson stiffened. Henry Mills? Regina's adopted son? Putting down his cup, he paid more attention to the conversation "-I swear! Ava told me that if you eat these Pop Rocks-" Jefferson heard the sound of something that sounded like sugar being shaken in a small bag "-with some soda, then the they'll mix together in your stomach, and it'll explode!"

Jefferson coughed into his cup. Oh, the things these kids believed...

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" he heard Henry challenge, along with Nicholas' nervous swallow.

"W-what?"

"You heard me! Drink some soda-" there was the sound of metal scraping on metal, and Jefferson was pretty sure Henry had just passed his soda can to his friend "-and eat some Pop Rocks, and we'll see if you're right!"

Jefferson lowered his cup, curious to see if the boy would really take the challenge. There was a long pause.

"I, uh, I d-don't-"

"What's the matter? Are you too afwaid?" Henry mocked

"Hey! I'm not scared of anything!"

The evidence would suggest otherwise, Jefferson thought as Henry spoke again, a sadistic sort of glee colouring his voice:

"Then prove it! Drink the soda and Rocks and see if your stomach explodes!" he said, and there was no sound from Nicholas. Henry laughed "Unless you want someone else in here to do it for you!"

At those words, a sudden, reckless idea came into Jefferson's head. He would never have thought of doing anything like this before, usually he would just drink his tea and go back to his empty house. But then again he'd never eavesdropped on a conversation between two small boys before, and if he was being completely honest, he was curious to see if their theory actually worked.

Ah hell, they hadn't called him the Mad Hatter for nothing.

"I'll do it" he said, turning around to face the two boys. The one Jefferson had recognised as Henry Mills was facing him, and staring him full in the face from his seat, while the other boy was sat to his back to him-though he had twisted his neck when Jefferson had spoken. He was shorter than Henry, and had neatly cut brown hair with light brown eyes. Both boys were wearing their school uniforms-clearly having just come from there-and were staring at him with equal looks of surprise on their young faces.

Jefferson grinned "Sorry. I couldn't help but overhear your conversation and uh, if your friend-" he pointed to Nicholas "-doesn't want to try the 'Pop Rocks/Soda thing'" he said this with exaggerated hand movements, as though mocking it "I'll give it a shot"

Henry blinked, glancing his friend "Uh...O.k" he said uneasily, and Nicholas snapped his head to him:

"Henry!" he hissed, and Henry looked at him in a way that said "What?" as he picked up his can of soda and plucked the Pop Rocks out of the other child's hand.

"What's your problem, Nicholas? He's not too scared to do it!" he said, and passed the candy and drink to Jefferson, who took them with a wolfish grin.

Seconds later, he had ripped open the packet of Pop Rocks and, with the children's eyes-and the eyes of several diners who had also overheard the conversation-fixed on him, he tilted his head back and tipped half of the packets contents into his mouth, where it popped and crackled on his tongue.

When he picked up the soda can, it appeared that both boys went into a state of suspense. They both eagerly and fearfully watched as Jefferson slowly lifted the metal can to his lips and swigged the fizzing liquid down his throat.

Henry's eyes popped, and Nicholas gasped as Jefferson swallowed the concoction "Oh my God!"

For a few tense seconds, they waited. Waited for the expression of discomfort and confusion, waited for the retching, waited for the eventual explosion. But, as the seconds turned into minuets, Jefferson gave a bemused smile and spread his hands out to his sides. Henry sighed, taking back his soda.

"See?" he said to Nicholas, who was staring at Jefferson with an look of astounded relief "I told you it was just a myth! There's no way Pop Rocks and soda could actually-"

"Argh!" out of nowhere, Jefferson suddenly screamed in pain, one hand gripping the edge of the table while another wrapped around his stomach. He bent over, a sudden pain filling him like nothing he had ever felt before, and he was briefly aware of Henry's face turning as white as a sheet as he continued to shriek:

"What the he-Oh my God!" he screamed again, his whole body suddenly lurching forwards from the stomach as though something from the inside of it had pushed him forward, he roared in pain, feeling something expand and then break within him, and he heard Henry scream in horror as he opened his mouth to let a torrent of blood come forth from his lips and cover the surface of his table and fall into his teacup.

"His stomach is exploding!" Henry screamed, while Nicholas-and everyone else-looked on his horror "His stomach is exploding!"

"Henry! Don't look!" Jefferson's pain-deafened ears heard the scream of the young waitress as she grabbed the traumatized youngsters and led them out of the diner, screaming for someone to call 911.

But, as another explosion from within him tore apart his insides and forced more of his blood-and something lumpy that he was far to scared to look at-from his throat, Jefferson knew that it was too late for that. His forehead fell against the tables surface, and with another pained groan and cry he let forth another pool of his life-blood into his lap before blacking out.

By the time the paramedics arrived, the Mad Hatter was already dead.

Just for the record, I've done the Pop-Rocks/Coke thing, and it DOESN'T WORK, I just thought I'd include this because I saw it on a website and I still can't believe I'm only including it now.

O.k! Whose up for a little competition? Let me explain: as I want to move on to other fics soon, I've decided that the next chapter of this is going to be the last, and for the final legend I'm going to do Slenderman, but I cannot for the life of me think of a question for him to ask his victim! (read the original legend if you don't know what I'm on about) So, I've decided to put it to you guys: What do you think Slenderman should ask? The chapters gonna feature Hook and I'm gonna put it up next week, and whichever question I like best will be used. The writer will get full credit for the question and the chapter will be dedicated to them, so good luck to you!

And, as per usual, don't forget to review. Especially if you've got an entry!