"Iᴛ ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ᴍɪᴅᴅʟᴇ ɢʀᴏᴜɴᴅ ʙᴇᴛᴡᴇᴇɴ ʟɪɢʜᴛ ᴀɴᴅ sʜᴀᴅᴏᴡ, ʙᴇᴛᴡᴇᴇɴ sᴄɪᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴀɴᴅ sᴜᴘᴇʀsᴛɪᴛɪᴏɴ, ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛ ʟɪᴇs ʙᴇᴛᴡᴇᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘɪᴛ ᴏғ ᴍᴀɴ's ғᴇᴀʀs ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ sᴜᴍᴍɪᴛ ᴏғ ʜɪs ᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ. Tʜɪs ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ᴅɪᴍᴇɴsɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ɪᴍᴀɢɪɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴ. Iᴛ ɪs ᴀɴ ᴀʀᴇᴀ ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ Tᴡɪʟɪɢʜᴛ Zᴏɴᴇ." ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Pumpkins carved in various patterns were placed in most shop window, each one taking his interest as he passed them. Some had more decoration, bearing tinsel and plastic toys of spiders and rats. Cobwebs were spread around the corners of them, and some even went as far as having plastic skulls in them. However, it was hardly the decoration he was truly interested in. The time of year, however... That peaked his interest. Halloween. Even this world had the tradition. In a way, it almost mirrored his own world with the way they welcomed the holiday. Even the tradition of placing Pumpkins in windows was one shared by both worlds, although they didn't undergo a carving in the Enchanted Forest. They were watchers through the glass; warding away spirits and the demons that came to play out for one night out of the year. Even now, a harsh shudder ran down the Hatter's spine at the thought of the demonic creatures he knew all too well existed. Rough hands turned up the collar of his coat, hiding the patterned fabric of the ascot that hid his own work of horror. It was supposed to be a quick visit to town, there and back within the hour. Trying to shake himself from the memories that threatened to creep in and take over his mind, he took the closest turn onto another street, where he knew there would be no Halloween decorations. If his memories took over, he would be on his warped version of autopilot. For all he knew, he could wander right over the town line and walk for hours with no sense of where he was going, or even that he had put so much distance between himself and Storybrooke. With his cellphone at home, Alice, nor anyone else for that matter, would be able to contact him if he did start to stray from his path. Unfortunately, it wasn't entirely empty of decoration. At the end of the street lay the beginning of the forest - and it was there that he stopped himself. Breath caught in his throat the moment he saw the giant of a scarecrow, its post fixed to near the opening of the mouth of the forest. It seemed that a walk through the trees wouldn't clear his mind at all. Not when it was guarded so, by a gangly scarecrow with a pumpkin as its head. The sharp-toothed grin made him freeze, and his mouth ever so slightly opened. Almost like a memory - or a dream, he wasn't entirely sure of himself - a lock turned in his mind and something came racing through his thoughts faster than he had a chance to get a handle on himself. "Take him to the Pumpkin King..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Goodnight, little lamb." "'M not a lamb, mama." A small voice answered the woman, who was then leaning down to press a gentle kiss to the messy brown locks of her son's head. "Alright. You're not a lamb. You're my little Hatter." The boy turned over to look up at her, with a hat that was far too large for his head clutched between his small hands. Blue eyes locked on hers, with the expression in them flat. "I'm not little anymore, mama. I'm nine now." "Stop arguing with your mother and go to sleep, Jefferson." The little Hatter snuggled further under the thin blankets at the sound of his father's voice. Little fingers tightened their hold on the velvet hat, though his father was still standing in the doorway. "Yes, papa." The dark hair that had flopped into his eyes was brushed back by his mother's hand. Her lips pressed another kiss, this time to his forehead, before she was rising and blowing out the candle that had been providing his light. The darkness engulfed the room, with only the light from behind his father helping him see the silhouettes of his parents. "Goodnight..." Jefferson's hold eased on his hat now that he was certain his father wasn't going to come forward. He could see the door shutting as both his parents left, closing out the last shred of light. Barely minutes had passed and the little Hatter was drifting in and out of sleep, becoming more vulnerable with each time his eyes closed for longer than a few seconds. Each time blue eyes slid closed, the Hatter curled up more onto his side, and the more his grip went slack around his hat. The more loose his grip went... The easier it was for the hat to slip from his fingertips. It rolled onto the floor, still spinning as its top met the hard wood. Yet, instead of slowing down, the spinning only grew faster... Faster... Faster. Purple smoke began to fill the room, but Jefferson remained blissfully unaware. The hat grew in size, making it easily big enough for Jefferson to fall right into - and the smoke helped him along right into the spinning top that had once been the hat the little boy wore on his head. Jefferson, tangled in the blankets, was pulled right into the thick of the smoke. A loud snap echoed around the small room and throughout the house. The hat started to reverse itself, spinning in the opposite direction. By the time Jefferson's parents came rushing back to the room, everything was back as it was as they left. Except, there was no Jefferson left in the bed. Only the hat remained, perfectly sized, upon the dark wood of the floor. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The Hatter's first thought was that it was cold. The second was that his hat was no longer in his grasp. Worried blue eyes immediately shot open and hands scrambled to untangle himself from the sheets that were wrapped around him. As he wrestled himself free, getting ready to jump off the side of the bed - and then realised there was no bed from him to jump from at all. Dirt sank around his feet, covering his toes. Jefferson flinched, whipping around to look for a sign of his parents. "Mama?" Only the whisper of the wind answered. His hair moved as if a hand were brushing it, forcing a little squeak to come from the Hatter. "Who's there?" A soft laugh answered him. Jefferson's fingers clutched the blanket he had since picked up so tightly that his little knuckles had turned white. Gulping, he stepped forward, feet dragging along in the dirt. This was a bad dream. It had to be. He was still asleep in his bed, all tucked in by his mama. She was only in the next room, and if he could only wake up, he could find her. In the moonlight, he started to make out dark shapes in the direction he was walking. Thick stones were rising out of the dirt, covering the ground in mismatched places. He stopped at one, tilting his head curiously to try and make out the words carved into it. "R...Rest... In... Pea... Peace." As soon as the words had been formed, a dark shape appeared on the stone. Jefferson yelped, drawing back from it as if his hand had been burnt from tracing the letters. His reaction soon drew attention - more shadows began to form on the stones surrounding him. Goosebumps erupted across his skin, leaving him with little more than wanting to curl up into a ball and cry until he woke himself up from his nightmare. A hand came down on his shoulder. He shrieked, not even giving a glance to who - or what - had touched him, and ran through the stones to where he could see tall gates. He shoved them open and hurried down the cobbled path, ignoring the way his feet hurt as they hit the stone. A second set of gates was then flung open, with Jefferson still running with no sense of direction. Little eyes failed to notice the pumpkins impaled on the spikes of the fence surrounding the town he had darted into, only looking forward. Unfortunately, he wasn't paying enough attention. In his panic, Jefferson was unaware of the large, odd-shaped man that was walking along. He ran straight into him, ending in a heap on the floor while the man wobbled. "Careful now!" As Jefferson focused on exactly who he had sent wobbling, his little face paled. The face he had was pure white, with blue lips and sharp pointed teeth protruding from behind them. A scream caught in Jefferson's throat as the fat arms of the man waved, and colourless eyes - save for the pupils - were cast down on him. "... Human?!" Jefferson couldn't have scrambled up any quicker. The man had made to reach fat fingers for him, but the Hatter hurried to stand. Jefferson ran straight around the wide man - or thing, he wasn't entirely sure what it had been - and charged off into the town. His heartbeat raced as he moved, getting more and more upset with each step. He wanted to wake up now. He needed to wake up. The sound of his feet echoed off the cobbles, and no sooner had he ran to the water fountain in the middle of town, the town seemed to burst with life. Almost. Creatures that Jefferson had only seen in storybooks and heard of in children's tales were starting to work their way out of the shadows. Grotesque figures, animalistic monsters - and they were all starting to notice him. "Human! Human boy!" A trio of witches on their broomsticks whizzed over Jefferson's head. A loud sob ripped itself from his throat, and the water he was stood in front of started to bubble. Fearful blue eyes looked down to see the top of a green, scaly head starting to rise up. Jefferson jumped backward, and right into the monster he had almost knocked over first. All at once, he seemed to be surrounded. Turning in a circle, he found there was nowhere that he could escape from. The monsters were drawing closer, talking amongst themselves. "How did he -" "But it's not Halloween -" "Catch him! Take him to the Pumpkin King!" "No!" Jefferson ducked and dodged the long fingers and sets of claws that tried to catch him, shoving the wide man with the white face over so that he could cut through the crowd. He could already hear the monsters following him as he slipped down an empty street. Hot tears ran down his face, making his vision blurred enough that he couldn't quite see. A cat ran out in front of him and Jefferson tripped over his own feet, trying to avoid it. He could feel the blood begin to trickle as his knee connected with the floor. He cried out in pain, curling into himself as tight as he possibly could. Fingers squeezed the blanket that was now torn and tatty, trying to stop himself from crying. "Have'ta... Have'ta wake up, Jefferson... S'only a bad d-dream..." "You're who they're looking for, aren't you?" The soft voice caught him off guard. His little hands quickly wiped his tears away as he moved to sit up. Maybe this was how he woke up from the nightmare. Whoever the lady was - it was definitely a lady, she used the same kind of tone his own mother used when he was upset - was here to take him away and help him wake up. Jefferson turned to look at her, only to gasp and clutch his blanket in fear again. She was a woman, that much he knew. Everything else, he hadn't expected. Her skin was blue, and the parts of her body seemed to be connected by big stitches that he had seen his mother use once or twice when she was trying to work out how different fabrics would work together. The woman's hair was straight, red, and hanging down around her shoulders. As she knelt down beside him, Jefferson shied away. "You're gonna take me to them, aren't you? I only wanna wake up! S'just a bad dream, an' - an' my mama's gonna --" Her gentle fingertips brushed the skin under one of his eyes, then the other. His bottom lip began to quiver at the touch, feeling his tears start to fall again. "What's your name? My name is Sally." "... Jefferson..." "I'm not going to take you to them, Jefferson. I'm going to take you to someone who I think can help... Wake you up." A smile was on her red lips as she offered him her hand. "It's only a bad dream, isn't it?" "Yeah..." "Would you come with me? My friend, Jack, he'll be at his special place, you see. We'll have to find him." "... 'Kay." Despite the way his body trembled, the little Hatter's hand still reached out for Sally's. Her skin was cold to the touch, but in that current moment, he couldn't truly feel it. Blanket in his free hand, Jefferson followed Sally through the dark streets of the town. The further they drew from it, the less he could hear the frantic voices of the townsfolk. His bottom lip still wobbled, but Sally kept him calm enough that his tears had long since stopped. The hill was in such an odd shape that Jefferson tilted his head. The yawn that he had been partway through stopped abruptly as he looked, earning Sally's attention. "Why's it look so funny?" "It's always looked like that." "What's that on top of it?" "That's Jack." "But he's..." Another yawn formed, stopping his words for a moment. "Taller than... Than even you. Is he a mon- not a human, too?" As the two spoke and drew closer, the figure was climbing down from the hill. Jefferson could see from where he was how thin the man seemed to be - or, not quite a man at all, as it turned out. His eyes widened as soon as Jack grew close enough for Jefferson to see that he didn't have the face of a human at all, and he dropped Sally's hand in favour of hiding behind her. "Sally...?" "It's a human boy." Jefferson didn't dare glance around her as she spoke to Jack. His fingers continued to twitch in his blanket. His heart began to hammer against his chest again, listening to the two of them. Jack was supposed to be helping him wake up, not scaring him further. Worried blue eyes closed tight, while teeth sank into his bottom lip. He was never going to wake up. He was going to be stuck in this nightmare forever, with Sally as his -- "Jefferson, isn't it?" His eyes sprang open and locked immediately on the empty sockets of the skeleton in front of him. Sally was standing at the side of him, her hand now coming to rest in the messy dark locks on Jefferson's head. "Y-yessir." "Jack, my dear boy. My Sally tells me that you're having a bad dream, and want to go home." "I want my mama," Jefferson whispered. "An' my papa, an' my hat." "Do you know the very best way to get home from a nightmare, Jefferson?" "Nuhuh." "To fall asleep. Come, walking will help you." Jack held out a hand for Sally to hold and in turn, she held one out for Jefferson. He took it, allowing the two to lead him away from the strange shaped hill - and into the dark forest toward the west. The further they walked, the heavier Jefferson's feet felt. He had begun stumbling over himself, trying to stay awake. In moments of his sixth stumble, thin hands had lifted him, and he found himself resting against Jack's bony chest while his head lolled on Jack's shoulder. In his sleepiness, Jefferson didn't have it in him to be scared. Sally brushed his hair back, stroking cold fingers through the thick locks. "...'M gonna wake up at home?" "Yes. You'll wake up with your parents, in your home, Jefferson." Jack's voice wasn't quite as soothing as Sally's, but it drew a little smile to the Hatter's lips. "You're not so scary. Maybe next time I dream about you, it'll be a good dream..." "Sleep for now, little one." From beneath dark lashes of eyelids that were threatening to close and stay closed, Jefferson caught a glimpse of Sally's red-lipped smile. "Goodnight Jack... Goodnight Sally..." Jefferson's eyes slipped closed properly this time, and sleep once again took him under its wing. ............................................................................................................................................... The Hatter began to snore against Jack's shoulder, just as the skeleton came to a halt. The doors that were carved into the trees they were now stood in looked as inviting as the next, which led Sally to place a soft hand against Jack's elbow. "Which one does he belong in?" Jack didn't need to answer Sally's question. A tree, not far from the set they were stood in, started to ooze purple smoke. The tree itself wasn't anything special at a first glance, but with another, they saw the outline of a door carved into the wood. The door was beginning to shake as more purple smoke crept out of the cracks. "I think it's telling us, Sally." Jack carried the sleeping boy toward the tree with Sally faithfully following. The handle of the door rattled violently as they drew close, and when Jack's bony hand reached for it, the door swung itself open and the smoke covered them. No sooner had it opened was it closing, taking the purple haze with them. Jack's arms were empty as the door locked itself, vanishing entirely into the wood until it looked once again like a withered tree. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Mama..." Jefferson scrunched his nose up, feeling a hand touching his cheek. Bleary eyes opened slowly, trying to make out the figure above him. "Mama?" "Good morning, little lamb." "Mama!" The blanket was thrown off of himself and he was scrambling into his mother's arms before she even knew it. A gentle laugh escaped her lips before she started to pepper kisses across his face, holding him tightly. "I had a nightmare - an' there were all these monsters and one was even taller than papa but he was really nice and there was a lady who -" "A nightmare?" "Yeah!" Jefferson nodded, pulling back enough to look at his mother. "A real bad one. I was in a really scary place and I thought I was never coming home but Jack and Sally helped me -" "It was only a nightmare, Jefferson. Let's not talk about it now, shall we? I think your papa is waiting for us so that we can have breakfast together. Go and wash your face before you go to the kitchen, love." "Okay, but -" "Quickly now, it'll still be hot." Jefferson silenced, instead opting to kiss his mother's cheek. He helped himself off of his bed, hat clutched in one hand, and hurried off to wash his face. Once he was clear of the room, Jefferson's father stepped into it, looking at his wife. "You're not going to tell him, are you?" "He thinks it was a nightmare. He doesn't need to know." "What if he does it again? Portal jumping isn't exactly something he can control." "He won't do it again. He's too scared." "Charlotte..." "We're not telling him." Her tone was cold. Jefferson's mother rose to stand, smoothing out the skirt of her dress. Her husband pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head softly. Before he could open his mouth to speak, Jefferson's little voice was calling out. "Mama! Papa! S'getting cold!" ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Dinner had long since been eaten and everyone had wandered off to their respective rooms - Mally and Thackery to Abby's room , where Jefferson could hear soft playing of the three's instruments; Hayley, Alice, Amalthea Grace to the sitting room to watch a movie; and Jack upstairs with Johanna, entertaining the baby. With everyone busy enough, Jefferson sat himself down at the kitchen table with a knife in hand and a large pumpkin in front of him, waiting to be carved. "Let's hope memory serves me well enough, shall we?" It became tiring, working out the details, but by the time he had finished, pride was washing over him. Eyes gazed over his creation, taking it all in. The strange Spiral Hill, with the skeletal man and the patchwork woman standing on top of it. They looked to be holding hands, and as Jefferson placed a lit candle inside the pumpkin, the pride only began to grow. "Maybe one day, I'll see you again."

Useless. Jefferson turned, and he twisted, and turned again. Nothing had worked for the last three hours, and that was exactly what was working now – nothing.