(no subject)

[heartlessknave]

As the Knave carried one last armful of firewood back to the camp site, he had to stop and reflect for a minute. He hadn't really thought they would succeed in getting Cyrus even knowing how determined and capable Alice was - going up against the Red Queen was one thing but going up against her and Jafar was something else. She'd fight to the end, he knew that, and he would be right there with her because he had promised but he knew better than than hope it would turn out well.

Things never turned out well. He knew this from first-hand experience.

But then again, maybe even his luck had to turn all right sometime. Cyrus had broken out, they had found him, held off the Tweedles and Jafar's guards and they now had a bit of breathing room to figure out what to do next.

"Right," he called out loudly as he approached the site. "I'm coming back with the wood so clothes had better be on."

He was probably going to get smacked for that but it was worth it.

Comments

[notinsane]

Alice could hardly believe it herself. Cyrus was here, he was with her again at long last. After searching for him for what felt like forever, he was by her side once more. Understandably, she could hardly take her eyes off him and he her. They were completely inseparable.

Will seemed to have been a little too eager to go off and find some wood for the campfire, but she supposed that was just his way of giving them a little privacy. It was appreciated.

She sat comfortably at Cyrus' side, her hand in his with a dreamy smile on her lips.

Knave's voice caused her to scoff and scold him, "No one's taking off their clothes, Will!"

She knew they had to come up with a plan, but for now a little healthy banter couldn't hurt.

[mywillisthine]

What someone would have called pure luck that Cyrus had stumbled upon Alice and Knave while fleeing from Jafar's dungeon, the genie just called it providence. He and Alice had been so determined to find each other that it was forced to come true.

While he had hated sitting and doing nothing while Jafar's prisoner, he had never been so content as this moment, sitting by Alice's side and just knowing she was there, hand clutched in hers. Whenever their eyes met, he couldn't help himself as he smiled in happiness.

"Besides, from what Alice has told me, that's usually something more up your alley." Cyrus was more then appreciative of everything the Knave had done to help Alice and himself and he hoped the other man knew that. After getting to know the Knave a bit, the teasing just felt natural.

[heartlessknave]

"Oi, you get chased out of an inn without your pants one time and no one lets you forget it," the Knave protested good-naturedly as he sat across from them.

It was nice to see Alice and Cyrus so happy after everything they'd been through. It also made him a little wistful despite the habitual nothingness he felt when it came to things like love but that was nothing, just a little blip. His feelings would go away - they always did.

[notinsane]

Alice made herself busy by grabbing some spare pieces of wood and feeding the fire. Her hand left Cyrus' grasp only for a moment before returning more then a little hurriedly. Sometimes she feared this was all a dream and that she'd wake up and be back in the asylum without Will or Cyrus. She'd be utterly and completely lost without either of them.

Will's protest caused her to laugh and shake her head. "One time? I seem to recall something of that nature happening multiple times, Knave. You also left out the part where you tried to borrow my extra pair of pants and they entirely too tight." She grinned as she embellished the story just a little bit, knowing it would rile him up.

Finally, she decided to voice what they were all thinking. "We need a plan. Jafar won't stop looking for any of us. If anything, he'll be even more driven to get what he wants from Cyrus."

[mywillisthine]

A part of Cyrus was concerned about the Knave feeling like a third wheel while he and Alice were inseparable. But he appreciated the fact the Knave hadn't seemed to mind so far. Neither of them could help themselves after so long apart.

When Alice's hand quickly found his again, he couldn't help a small smile. He knew things had to have been rough for Alice, just from Jafar and the Red Queen taunting him that she thought he was dead. But when he was told of where the Knave and the White Rabbit had found her...he was that much more glad to be reunited. Cyrus squeezed her hand quickly, as if to further prove he was there with her.

"Now this does sound like a story I'd like to hear sometime. All of them." He said with a happy chuckle, before sobering up at Alice's words about Jafar. "I'm afraid Alice is correct. My escaping will only make his determination worse." His thoughts strayed to the old man he'd left behind. "Besides...I have unfinished business with both him and the Queen."

[heartlessknave]

The Knave had been willing to give them a little while longer to enjoy being together but Alice was right. They needed a plan and they needed it now. Jafar was no doubt frothing with rage and the Red Queen - the less said about her, the better.

The less he thought about her, the better too. Even now, there was still a tiny part of him that wondered how he and Anna had ever come to this - but that was besides the point now.

"You're not the only one," he said. "But I don't see how we can stop them. Either of them. We might be better off going somewhere where they can't get at us. Of course, that's also a problem."

[notinsane]

"But there's no where to go. Jafar won't ever give up looking for us." Alice didn't know where they could go that Jafar wouldn't be able to follow. Even finding the means to jump from one world to another was rare enough these days. They couldn't go back to her world either, that would be the first place Jafar would go looking for them.

"Cyrus, isn't there some way we could...trap Jafar or the Red Queen?" She turned her attention towards the genie sitting beside her. It would be utterly impossible to take them both down, but if they could separate one from another then maybe something could be done.

[mywillisthine]

Cyrus sighed in resignation. As much as the thought of finding someplace safe so they could hatch a plan sounded promising, Alice was right. There was no world they could travel to where Jafar would not be able to find them. "Alice is right. He is too powerful to hide from, even in another world."

Alice question led Cyrus to pause and rack his brain for any means he could think of. "I don't know. If I knew the source of their magic, it would be one thing, especially since they use different kinds. It would be difficult to build a trap without knowing."

[heartlessknave]

As much as he hated to admit it, they both had a point. Anna would stay here, he was sure, but Jafar would keep on chasing them no matter where they want.

This was going to be painful to tell and he wasn't even if sure if this would be the kind of thing that would help Cyrus build a trap but he had no choice now. Chalk it up to Alice's influence or that he had finally gone nutters but he was going to do the right thing.

"The Red Queen," he said then stopped for a moment to pull himself together. "She didn't have magic before she got here. You want to know how she got it? She made a deal with the Queen of Hearts. Me heart in exchange for power."

[notinsane]

If Will wasn't sitting so terribly far away, Alice probably would have put her hand on his shoulder. As it was, she could only give him a terribly complicated look. "Will..." That tone of voice seemed to suggest he didn't have to bring up his past with the Red Queen. She knew how complicated things were between the two of them. Or rather, how simple things were on Will's end because he refused to put his broken heart back inside of him.

"And Jafar. I think that snake staff of his is his main source of power. He's never without it."

[mywillisthine]

Things suddenly grew a lot clearer and Cyrus felt a pang in his heart for the Knave. He knew the reputation of the Queen of Hearts and loosing his heart like that must have been painful, on many levels. "The Queen of Hearts must be the source then," he said, not mentioning the Red Queen at all for the Knave's sake, "And since she is no longer in Wonderland, that could pose a problem."

"And as for Jafar..." Cyrus sighed again and gripped Alice's hand a little tighter, "When I was his prisoner, I saw him work magic without his staff. While it does make him more powerful, I don't believe it's the source of his magic."

[heartlessknave]

"The way I hear it, she's dead," the Knave said, determinedly ignoring Alice's expression. She was only being kind, he knew, it was one of the things he admired about her but as far as he was concerned, that was all in the past and done with. Anna'd made her choice and they both had to live with it.

"Though we all thought that before so who knows what the real story is?"

[notinsane]

"If she's dead, then how can the Red Queen still have her powers?" Alice questioned the circumstances surrounding the Queen of Heart's death. It wouldn't be the first time she had cheated death. She was a tricky one.

"Jafar is our main concern, but I don't think he and the Red Queen get along very well. Maybe there's a way to turn them against one another?"

[mywillisthine]

Cyrus was just as doubtful about hearing of the demise of the Queen of Hearts. "I've heard she's not of Wonderland to begin with. Magic can work differently in different worlds so perhaps her magic lingers beyond the grave or was passed to the Red Queen." He was just reciting everything he knew, in hopes it would spur ideas from the other two.

He paused, hating to think on Jafar but forcing himself anyway. "We'd have to out smart him. He's too powerful to try to strip his magic and while he's very intelligent...his arrogance and need for power blinds him sometimes. The Red Queen isn't as powerful...but she suffers the same weaknesses."

[heartlessknave]

"She might not be as powerful but we shouldn't underestimate her," the Knave said. "You back her in a corner, she'll find some way to come out on top. I'm not saying we can't trip her up - or him too, as it happens but whatever we do, it'd have to be good. Really good."

"That or we could just run off and become pirates." He was joking. Mostly.

[notinsane]

Alice heaved a small sigh and dropped her hand from Cyrus' grasp, looking more then a little distressed at their poor prospects.If they couldn't find a way to trap Jafar or the Red Queen and they couldn't turn them against one another, what was left except to do what they had already been doing; run for their lives.

"What if we gave Jafar what he wanted?" An idea was beginning to form in her head, but she could tell from the looks that Knave and Cyrus were sending her way that they thought she had truly lost her mind. "Cyrus, you said previous masters have wished for your freedom and it's never gone well. What if that's because no one was selfless enough to wish to take your place as a genie? What if I used my last wish to force Jafar to take your place? He'd be bound by the same rules you are, wouldn't he? And most importantly, you'd be free. He'd be stuck in a bottle...

[mywillisthine]

The pirates comment earned a look. Cyrus was hoping the Knave was taking this seriously.

Then the look was turned onto Alice at her suggestion. Lost her mind was an understatement. That idea was down right ridiculous. "Alice, while the idea has merit, what price would you pay for the wish? For all we know, the wish could force you take my place." He sighed heavily, "No...for that idea to work, Jafar would have to make the wish to take my place. Then he would pay the price, no matter what happened."

[heartlessknave]

"It's a barking mad idea," the Knave said. "But I don't know.... isn't it all in how you say the wish? If Alice worded it right, would it work? I just... I don't like it any more than you do, Cyrus, but we're running out of options."

He shook his head and sighed. "It's too bad we can't stuff them both in the damn bottle and drop it in the marshmallow marsh. They both deserve it."

[notinsane]

"If we worded it just the right way, it might work. Knave is right and really, Cyrus, do we have any other options at this point?" Besides, even if the wish went badly and she took his place, they'd be right back where they had started.

Will's words force a small laugh from her. "No one is arguing that they deserve that kind of punishment, but can you imagine the two of them cooped up in a bottle for hundreds of years?"

[mywillisthine]

Cyrus was feeling distinctly outnumbered and not even his pleading look seemed likely to change either of their minds. He did not like this idea, not one bit, and he only hopped he wouldn't be blamed if it went disastrously wrong, as big specific wishes like this tended to go.

"It's your wish. I can only grant it." He said with a sigh of defeat. "But I urge you to think hard. Not even I can predict how a wish will turn out, no matter how it's worded. My magic is...funny like that."

[heartlessknave]

"If Alice doesn't wish then what else can we do?" The Knave asked. "Lack of options, remember? We can't get out of here, the caterpillar's right out and the only other possibility I'm not even going to mention because we're already in enough trouble as it is."

He sighed. "I think it has to be wishing."

[notinsane]

"What if I wished that Jafar became the very thing he craves most? Or if I wished that he would get what he deserved?" Those two wishes did sound awfully selfish to her, but there was no easy way to just come out and wish for Jafar to take Cyrus' place.

"Or-" And she seemed a little more confident in this next choice. "We wish for him to have unlimited power. What can be more powerful then a genie? Even if you are bound by the rules of magic."

[mywillisthine]

Yeah, Cyrus still hated this idea and wasn't going to pretend otherwise.

"Even if unlimited power is awfully vague, I fear it might be the best choice. The others are too specific and more likely to be horribly misinterpreted." He only hoped they got the result Alice and the Knave were hoping for.

[heartlessknave]

It was a risk, a huge risk but the Knave kept coming back to the realization they had no other options. All they had on their side was a wish. Still, he was sure that if anyone could do it, phrase a wish so that Jafar would be screwed over he was sure that it was Alice.

"Unlimited power it is," he said, ignoring the fluttering of anxiety in his stomach. This had to work and he had to believe it would because otherwise... Jafar would make what Cora had done look like a tea party.