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They both grow up on the Isle.
His father keeps to himself in an old house at the edge of town, one where the blinds creak with the wind and the old boards keep breaking off the roof. When school is over, he comes straight home. He's greeted by the clanking of metal and the hissing of a soldering iron. He always calls, "Hi Dad", he never gets an answer, but he does it anyway. Then he goes to his room. Usually, he lies on his back, staring at the ceiling, until the day ends. There's no love in the house he calls his, no warmth, only dirt and darkness.
He spends his afternoons wondering what it's like to have a family.
The docks are her realm. Being the last of four sea-loving children, she learned to sail, swim and hold a sword before she could walk. She was quick to understand that a toddler brandishing a hook, little fist curled on her hip, is a sight few can resist, and she's learned to use it. By age five, she's everyone's favorite. Her siblings adore her, and Uma herself has made it clear that no one is to go against the little curly-haired terror. She calls her Starfish, because she says she's a star. She even lets her climb the railing or help hoist the sails of her ship after school.
She's loved and raised by her community and she knows that she's never alone.
***
Uma leaves her. She never thought it possible.
For a while, she stops going to the docks after school.
Then Harry drags her back. She lets him. He continues to teach her sailing and swimming and fighting. She can swing from the railing now, Gil showed her how. The crew doesn't know if they're amazed or terrified. The looks on their faces make her squeal with laughter.
***
Harry and Gil leave her too.
She cries, though she's ashamed to admit it.
Her father holds her. He says, "they'll be back". He says, "they don't love you any less".
He also says "the only person that will never let you down is yourself".
It's the only thing that makes sense.
***
The barrier is taken down.
He watches from his window, in the little house on the outskirts of the town. It's beautiful and golden and shiny. It's the first time he's ever seen the sun.
He can hear the sounds of song and celebration from the newly-built bridge. They make him feel like his heart could burst with joy. He watches and listens until he can't take it anymore, and then he rushes downstairs, squealing about the barrier and the blue sky and the open ocean.
His only answer is the clanking of metal.
***
The fall of the barrier has lit a fire inside him. It's not painful and glowing like the embers of his father's forge; it's warm and bright and cozy, like the sun.
Oh, how he loves the sun.
It gives him hope. For the first time in his life, he thinks maybe he can be more. More than the boy who lives in the room above the workshop, above the clanking of metal and the hissing of the soldering iron. He thinks maybe, just maybe, there's a life for him beyond the Isle.
***
They both enter Auradon Primary School at the same time.
He's eight, bright-eyed and hopeful — naive, he'll call himself later. It's the start of a new life for him, one where he'll be more than he'd ever hoped to be on the Isle.
She's eight, and she repeats "rely only on yourself" in her mind, over and over, like a mantra. She's ready for this year. She's going to take on this school and make a name for herself.
But in Auradon, your name is never yours alone.
***
They meet at the end of the first week. She rushes, crying, into the bushes behind the garden pavilion, and slams right into him. She hurriedly dries her tears before she notices his own. A flash of recognition passes between them, the kind of look shared by kindred souls who know each other's pain. She doesn't even have to ask.
"Everyone thinks I'm like my father", he says.
"Everyone thinks I'm like my brother", she answers.
They look at each other, eyes still wet. There's a beat, before she offers a tentative smile.
"I'm Hazel."
"I'm Max."
***
"All he thinks about is that pocket watch thing. He loves it more than me."
He's ten when he makes the confession, curled up against Hazel on a windowsill, watching the snow fall. His voice feels tiny and fragile. She says nothing, she just nods.
"I thought it would be different once we left the Isle. He always said Wonderland was home, and I thought if I had a home, I might finally have a dad, too. But… It's just gotten worse."
His voice breaks. He presses his face to her shoulder and hides his tears in her shirt.
Her hand lands on his back.
***
For her, it takes much longer.
Oh, there are brief allusions, under-her-breath comments, meaningful looks that give him a good overview of the whole picture, but it's not until they're fourteen that she finally puts it into words.
"I'm not him", Max complains, again, as they're sitting together at lunch with Felix and the Smees, enduring dirty look after dirty look from Chloe, Red, Luis and Robbie. "It's not fair. You guys are VKs too. Why am I the only one getting this kind of treatment?"
"Well, me and Haze have siblings who helped save the day", Felix points out.
And Hazel, without a word, gets up and leaves the table.
He finds her in the gym, throwing her hook over and over at a mannequin. He says nothing, but sits down on a bench, twirling his hat in his hands, watching her. He waits. It takes a while, but eventually, she comes to sit beside him.
"I just want to be me."
"I know."
"No, you don't. You never had a good relationship with him — no offense", she adds, and he just shrugs. "But Harry? When I was a kid, he was my hero. He taught me all I know. And then he abandoned me, and went on to save the world, and now to everyone else he's Harry Hook, the VK who saved the day."
The bitterness in her tone makes him wince in sympathy. He doesn't touch her — he knows she hates to be comforted — but he nods her on.
"I'm just sick of being reminded that my brother saved Auradon, when all he is to me is the guy who left me behind."
"Haze."
"What?"
He seeks her gaze. She avoids it.
"I don't think that's true."
The bell goes at that moment, and she feels — cowardly — relieved.
***
He keeps trying. Day after day, he works to prove he's not his father. He comes out top of the class in Remedial Goodness, that the VKs are still required to take every year. He works on his persona. He's charming, pleasant, orderly, nothing like the obsessive and messy Mad Hatter. He pushes down his pride, and he keeps smiling at the princesses and their sidekicks, being helpful, being kind.
And they keep pushing him aside.
***
Uma is named principal.
On the first day of school that year, Max drags Hazel to the gym. She glares at him with her arms crossed.
"Go on", he insists. "Let it out."
She does. And when she's done, there's not much left of the mannequin. He doesn't comment; he just cleans her mess, then lets her sit next to him on the bench, in silence.
***
Red has changed.
All of a sudden, she starts dressing differently. She looks at him differently, too. With a mixture of confusion, pain, and understanding. Like she knows — really knows.
So when he hears the Queen of Hearts has been captured by his father, he makes his decision.
***
He's always known it wouldn't be easy, so he's not surprised when Chloe looks him up and down and states:
"I don't think so. Our interests don't exactly align."
It would hurt, because it always does despite how long it's been, were it not for Red's eyes on him, even as she rests a hand on Chloe's to hold her back. He pushes through, Hazel's presence at his back quietly giving him strength.
"You need someone that knows how to beat my father at his own game. I can help with that."
"You'd sell out your dad? It's not so easy."
Your dad, she says, like he's ever been that. He scoffs.
"Well, good news, princess. Not much of my life has been easy, and I have my dad to thank for that. But I'm not him. And I never wanna be."
It feels good to say it out loud.
***
Wonderland has never been home for him. At most, it's just one huge trap to navigate. So much so, that he's forgotten it could be more that for anyone. So seeing Pink this comfortable with the butterflies, the flowers and the mushrooms is… Unnerving.
Hazel sticks close to him through it all. The evil flamingos, the mad house, the dodos. The accusations of trickery, too.
"Remind me why I'm doing this", he sighs, as Luis doesn't even bother to lower his voice as he tells Red they should leave the VKs behind.
"What, giving up already? No one said breaking free would be easy, pretty face. That's not how the world works."
Then she pushes off the mushroom they've been sitting on and gets right into Luis' face.
"Not so fast, Senor Hero. You're gonna need a lot more than good hair and a nice smile to get this done. So why don't you leave the real wort to us villains."
And Max smirks. Because despite the harsh words, Hazel always has his back.
Things get out of hand after that. Luis doesn't respond well to Hazel's provocation, and Red doesn't make anything better by challenging the two of them to show what they really can do. Villains and Heroes immediately start arguing which one of their leaders has the most heroic feats to their name, and Max easily falls behind Hazel as she challenges Luis to a duel, and it feels good. It feels easy and familiar.
And that's the first time he realizes that not everyone has to see it for him to be something else than his father's son.
He can be a friend. He can have fun. He can belong to a group, as mismatched as their little group is. Hazel wins the face-off, of course, but she pulls Luis back to his feet herself, and they all laugh and congratulate her, and even the Heroes don't sound like they fully mean it when they mutter something about cheating.
"Can't argue that", Red states, chuckling. "VKs got it!"
She can see it, Max thinks with a jolt. Finally, after all those years, Red can see that VKs aren't defined by what their parents did, and if she can—
"Are you kidding me?"
There's a look of disdain, bitterness, pain on Pink's face, that hits him in the guts and brings him right back down to earth, before she can even finish her sentence. He knows what's coming.
"You're siding with them? With him? He could be in on this with his dad for all we know! Look, I may be the little sister, but at least I'm brave enough to say what everyone's thinking."
"Okay", Hazel begins, stepping forward, but Max holds her back, shaking his head briefly at her. Not today, not tonight, not anymore.
"I think that's my cue", he manages.
And he pushes past his friends.
***
It's the first time he's ever refused her help.
She's not naive. She knows when she's not wanted. And she knows Max well enough to read him.
Right now, and for the first time of their lives, she's not the person he needs.
So she stays there.
But his pain hits him like a bullet.
She's never hated someone as much as she hates Pink right now.
***
"For what it's worth, I'm still investigating if Pink and I are related."
Max tries to smile as Red comes up to him, but he knows it's weak.
"She doesn't trust me. It's kind of a common theme in my life."
He wishes it didn't make him sound so bitter. He runs his fingers along the rim of his hat, holding back tears as best he can. Not in front of her.
"I trust you."
His head snaps up before he can control his reaction. Red? Princess Red is telling him that she trusts him?
"You didn't have to come here in the first place. And… If we can save my mom, maybe it's not too late to help your dad."
"Why would you want to do that?"
"Because I still believe there's good in him."
The idea sounds ludicrous.
"Well my whole life, everyone else has said the opposite, so…"
"I'm sorry, Max."
The worst part is she really sounds like it.
"It's his own fault", he states, the words coming out harsher than he'd like. "His complete obsession with finding this thing he saw in high school… All he ever talked about. Like time travel is even a thing."
"Time travel?"
Oh, how he hates the disbelief in her tone. Matching his own, the one he's grown to develop over years of coming second to the pocket watch.
"Yeah. That's why everyone thinks he's a madman."
Red's gaze doesn't leave him, but he refuses to meet it. He can't afford to let himself hope again. He's had more than enough proof that nothing will ever change, no matter what he does.
Even though her look suggests differently.
***
The comments keep coming.
When Red uses Chloe as live bait, he's the only one to notice she's upset. He tries to be supportive, but she brushes him off.
When they stop for lunch, Pink offers snacks to everyone but him. He can't even find it in himself to point it out. Hazel shoves him her cupcake.
When Pink suggests they spend the night at the White Rabbit's cottage, Luis mumbles he's okay with anything, as long as Max isn't the one suggesting it. All he can do is hold out a hand to prevent Hazel from getting mad on his behalf again.
He doesn't think he can take it anymore.
It's no use fighting, a voice in his mind whispers. They'll never see you as anything else, so why not just give up?
"I ain't friends with a quitter, aren't I?" Hazel snaps when he comes up next to her, defeated.
"No", he responds. "No, I'm fine."
He's not. They both know it. But she also has a point, he realizes, and slowly, an idea forms in his mind.
"Look, I need you to cover for me", he says quickly, before he can change his mind. "I'm gonna go to my father's cottage."
Hazel's eyes widen.
"Now? Alone?" she hisses.
"If we all go and something happens, they'll assume I led them into a trap. But If I come back with the Oraculum, they'll know that—"
He sees the understanding on her face before he can finish his sentence.
"Yeah, I get it, that you're on their side and all that junk."
He holds her gaze. She sighs.
"Okay, I'll cover for you."
He offers her a small, grateful smile, then steps away. He hears her suck in air behind him, as if she were about to say something. He pauses, glancing back at her, but she says nothing. She just catches his eye for the briefest moment, concern etched across her features. Then she looks away, and he turns back to the door, to the forest, to his goal.
He's not his father. And if the others won't believe it when he tells them, well, they do say actions speak louder than words.
***
It's ironic, really, that after years and years of hatred, defiance, spite, exclusion, the one thing that finally breaks him is not being compared to his father — it's what happens when he tries to stop him.
***
Of all the things the Oraculum shows him, the most painful are the words "I'm proud of you, son".
He's never heard them in his father's voice.
***
He should have known, he thinks to himself, over and over. He should have seen the signs. It all makes so much sense now. Red didn't change overnight — the Red they knew was replaced by a Red from a different timeline, one that experienced a different life. She looked like she understood him because she did. She knows what it's like to be seen as nothing but the child of a heartless villain.
But she freed herself of that fate, not caring if he was the one she gave it to.
Oh, how she played him. How naive he was — again. And to think he saw her as a friend, or at the very least an ally. It wasn't disbelief that he heard in her voice when he told her about time travel, it was fear. Fear that she'd be discovered.
And she wouldn't have been, had he not decided to come to the cottage alone.
But now he knows. He'll make her pay for what she did.
***
There's so much anger inside of him. So much hatred. So much betrayal and disbelief and pain. And it all has to find a target, so he turns it towards Red.
Because it's either her, or himself.
***
It's laughably easy to manipulate Chloe into putting on the artifact. What's even better, though, is seeing the look on Red's face as Chloe confronts her. And when she turns to him, Max chooses his words very carefully, making sure she knows exactly what he's talking about.
"How quickly someone's life can change, right? Hero to villain. A simple flick of a switch, or… the wind of a watch."
He can see the exact moment when it hits her. He relishes it.
He should have given in sooner, he thinks. Should have accepted from the start his role as a villain. It's so much more fun, having this kind of power over others. It's exhilarating.
***
He doesn't think about what might happen to the other two in a moving maze that only Chloe has the power to control. He doesn't linger on Red's cry of distress as she calls for Luis. He doesn't care about the boy, anyway. Why would he? Luis never trusted him, he made that much clear.
No, he doesn't think about what the others would have to say about this. He doesn't think about how Chloe will feel once she's free of the power that has a hold on her. He doesn't care who he hurts in his wake, because he's a villain, and that's what villains do.
And he's definitely not thinking about what Hazel would have to say about it.
***
He's got his hands on the pocket watch.
He'll have his revenge.
That's all that matters.
That's all he's ever been.
Right?
***
If he were being fully honest with himself, he would know it's all over the moment Red tells Pink to go get the others. If he were able to think straight, he'd think of Hazel, of Felix and the Smees, even of Luis, and he'd realize that's not who he is. His friends know him, and the moment they get there, everything will go down.
But his thoughts are a haze of despair and revenge, and all he can think about is the pocket watch.
So he doesn't back down.
Chloe finds the pocket watch, and he encourages her to press it. To bring their lives back the way they were.
So what if that means Chloe's mom dies? What if that means he never gets to meet his friends? Who cares about the consequences?
As long as Red pays for what she did.
But everything slips out of control. Chloe breaks free of his authority, turns against him, and before he can even think of how to recover from that twist, Red manages to bring her back, convincing her to tear off the artifact.
And then the world explodes, the grotto shattering under the force of his father's magic.
But the girls lose the pocket watch, and he manages to grab hold of it, and he's got it, his revenge is at the tip of his fingers, he'll finally be who he's meant to be, he can make his father proud, he—
Raw, white-hot pain shoots through his leg. He groans, biting back tears as he tries to break free of the stone wing that has collapsed onto him, trapping him under its weight, while right above him, the rest of the statue topples, slowly but surely, right towards him. He pulls with all the weight of his body, a scream escaping his lips from the sheer pain that spreads from his wounded leg, blinding him, threatening to erase everything. He hears the sound of a rush, then grunts as Chloe and Red strain to pull of the broken wing.
"Don't move, you're making it worse!" Red urges him, and he complies, not because he trusts her, but because the pain in his leg is so unbearable he doesn't have the strength for anything anymore.
"It's too heavy!"
"I'm not leaving him!"
But Chloe's right, Max suddenly realizes — the wing is way too heavy for the two girls to lift, and the ceiling and the statues are collapsing all around them, and he knows even if they could get it off him, with his leg, he wouldn't be able to get out. There's only one right call, and it's the one he should have made from the beginning, instead of letting his pain get the better of him. He closes his eyes and lets his head roll back.
Red sees the moment he gives up. He can tell from the way her pleas become more urgent, and when he opens his eyes again, he sees hers darting towards him even as she continues to strain against the broken statue. But it's not her gaze he's seeking.
"Go", he breathes, wincing under the effort of the word.
"No! Max, we're not leaving you!" Red protests.
Chloe's eyes have snapped to him, but she doesn't say anything. Max nods once.
"You have to go. I'm sorry. Go."
After what he did to her, he knows she's more likely to accept it. Yet when he speaks, there's pain in her eyes, of an intensity that takes him by surprise. He holds her gaze, silently begging for her to see reason. After a fraction of a second — that feels like an eternity —, she tears her gaze away.
"Red, he's right."
"What?!"
"It's gonna collapse any second. If we stay, none of us will make it."
"Go."
Red tries one last time to lift the wing, but to no avail. Under a shower of rubble, she and Chloe rush to the safety of a nearby tunnel.
And then two things happen at once.
First, there's a shout. A devastating, heart-wrenching cry, from the one person he's been praying wouldn't show up, wouldn't be there, wouldn't have to see it.
Second, the rest of the statue finally loses its precarious balance, and falls right towards him.
The last thing Max can do, as he curls up on himself in a futile attempt at protection, is shout his best friend's name.
***
"Max!"
Hazel kneels at the edge of the collapsing abyss, and sobs.
***
"Move."
The dust hasn't even settled. She doesn't want to, but a huge Pink picks her up and, with surprising gentleness for her current size, sets her down a bit further, out of the way. Moving like an automaton, she runs back towards the gaping hole and the pile of rubble that just swallowed her best friend. But Pink is already there, leaning over, one hand in the hole. The opening is just large enough for her wrist, but she's pulling out handful after handful of rubble, throwing it aside, until finally—
"Max!"
"He's breathing", Pink informs her as she gently sets down the boy at her feet, before returning to digging Chloe and Red out of the hole.
And it's true, Hazel realizes with another sob of relief. He's injured, covered in scrapes and bruises, blood smearing his skin and clothes, one leg resting at a weird angle, but he's breathing. He's alive.
"Give him to me."
Luis appears behind her. Hazel flashes her hook, glaring. But he raises his hands in an appeasing gesture.
"He needs help. I can carry him to safety."
He's right. He's right, and she needs to accept it, she can't let her emotions get the better of her, she needs to think rationally.
For Max.
She wipes her tears and nods at Luis.
***
The door opens.
She doesn't look up, expecting Felix, one of the Smees, or one of their new friends. All of them have been visiting a lot, in the five days that Max has been unconscious. At first, they tried to convince her to leave his side, to get some rest, assuring her that they'd look over him in the meantime. They soon realized it was a lost cause, though, so now they stick to keeping her company, bringing her food, and waiting, with her, for Max to wake up.
Because he will wake up. He has to.
"Hazel?"
She jumps — how tired does she have to be that she lets herself jump? — at the unusual, yet oh-so-familiar voice. Uma is standing in the doorway, arms crossed, leaning against the frame. Hazel reaches for her hook, that was resting on the bedside table. Behind the principal, she can make out other silhouettes.
"Max' father wants to see him."
"Does he, now?"
Uma gives her a look at the sarcasm in her tone, but says nothing, merely stepping aside. Into the room comes Maddox, hands chained together, surrounded by two guards. Hazel gives him a hard look.
"What do you think you're doing here?" she spits out.
"Hazel", Uma says, a hint of warning in her tone.
Maddox shakes his head softly at the principal, his gaze still on Hazel. There's a sadness in his eyes, but she doesn't stop at that.
"It's your fault. Not just because you caused the grotto to collapse. You've made his whole life so miserable, he felt like he had to prove himself. He's struggled his whole life and when he finally snapped, he did it all for you! None of this would have happened if you didn't love your fucking pocket watch more than your own kid!"
She's standing now, shouting, her hook glittering in her hand. Maddox nods softly. His eyes dart between the floor in front of him and his son, but he seems unable to meet Hazel's furious glare.
"I know", he manages, his voice strained. "You're right. I know."
That takes the wind out of her sails. There's so much she's wanted to say to him, so much resentment gathered over years of having to comfort her best friend over and over again, but she expected him to put up a fight, to dismiss her, to shut down and refuse to hear it. This? The quiet admission, the guilt, the vulnerability in his voice? This is not something she prepared for. She doesn't know how to deal with it.
"C'mon, Hazel. Let's give them some space."
She doesn't want to. She hates the idea of leaving her best friend's side when he's like this, not to mention leaving him alone with his father. But it's an order from her principal, so what can she say?
She lets herself be guided into the corridor, says nothing as Uma closes the door behind them, but leans against the wall, right next to the doorframe, her hook running down her curls. She resolutely avoids Uma's gaze, which she can feel, heavy, on her. She doesn't want to talk. Not now, not when Max is hurt. What do her own problems matter? How could she ever complain about being in Harry and Uma's shadow? All that counts is that Max wakes up.
But Uma, it seems, has other plans.
"Hazel. Haze."
"No."
"Hazel", the sea witch insists, grabbing her wrist and forcing her to meet her eyes. "I'm proud of you."
Her face, her eyes, her tone are all so earnest, that Hazel has to fight back the urge to cry. No tears, she reminds herself. Not for her.
She snaps out of her grasp.
"Oh, really?"
"Yes. You did good, out there. I always said you were the best of my crew", she adds, the corners of her lips twitching.
The attempt at a joke is what makes her snap.
"No, Uma! You don't get to bring that up now! Oh, it's so convenient, isn't it? For years you let me live in yours and Harry's shadow, and now that I finally save the day myself, suddenly I'm part of your crew again? You abandoned me! I looked up to you, but you left me! I kept hoping, d'you know? I kept thinking you'd come back, but when you did, it wasn't for me— it was to take away my brother and his best friend, the only two people I had left in the world! So no, you don't get to come back and play nice now, when I've spent all those years learning not to rely on anyone! I've become my own person, and YOU'RE TOO LATE!"
She means it, at least she thinks she does. She almost has herself fooled, that is, until her own voice betrays her and all of a sudden she's crying.
Again.
"C'mere, Starfish."
She wishes she could say she resists. She wants to, to be the independent person she raised herself to be, to refuse Uma's comfort, to stay true to her pride. Instead, she sinks into Uma's embrace, and cries on her shoulder.
***
"He's gonna be okay, Uma? Tell me he's gonna be okay."
She's stopped caring about how small her voice sounds. It's been too long, it's all too much. All that matters now is Max, and the feeling of her shoulder against Uma's.
"He will, Starfish."
***
"I'm sorry, Max. I love you, son."
***
The two pirates scramble to their feet as the door opens. The guards exchange a few words with Uma, but Hazel can't take her eyes off Maddox. The Hatter catches her gaze.
"Tell him, will you? When he wakes up, tell him… Tell him I'm proud of him."
She studies him for a while, then nods.
"I'll tell him. But he needs to hear it from you."
Maddox nods gravely as the guards take him away.
***
…
***
…
***
…
***
The first thing that comes into his still blurry sight is a golden hook. He lets his eyes drift upwards. Sure enough, next to the hook is a familiar cascade of brown curls, and underneath the curls, Hazel, fast asleep in an armchair. His first instinct is to poke her awake, and he doesn't bother resisting the impulse. His finger collides with her ribs, and she opens her eyes with a yelp.
"Wha— Max!"
She throws himself at him, and automatically, his arms come up to hold her, wrapping themselves around her waist. He feels her relax into his embrace. It takes a long time for her to let go, but he doesn't complain — he doesn't want to let her go, either.
"How are you feeling?" she asks, eventually breaking the embrace to look him up and down inquiringly.
Everything hurts. His entire body aches, his leg, though it has been bandaged, is still sending waves of pain all the way up to his torso, and even breathing feels painful.
"Not too bad, considering I thought I was gonna die", he tries to joke, but his smile turns into a wince.
Hazel frowns, too.
"Never do that again, you idiot! How dare you?"
He does his best to raise his arms in surrender, despite the protest of his muscles.
"Sorry, Haze."
"Sorry's not gonna cut it. What in the world got into you? Red said you basically forced her and Chloe to leave you!"
"It was too heavy, anyway. I figured there was no point in all three of us dying."
Hazel shakes her head, but there's a fondness in her eyes.
"Never thought the hero act would suit you."
***
There are conversations to be had, explanations to be given, apologies to be made. At first, he doesn't know how he'll ever get through it. The mere thought of looking Chloe in the eye after what he did makes him want to throw up. But he doesn't back out of it, refuses to let himself escape the consequences of his actions, and Chloe understands. So does Red. They both apologize to him, too, for stealing away the life he could have had, but he waves them off.
"There were lives at stake. And… I probably would have done the same thing, given the chance. You didn't know it would fall back on me. I can't blame you."
"Still. I'm sorry for lying to you about it."
"Well… Guess that's how we know you're still a VK at heart, huh?"
The others visit, too. Pink brings cupcakes, and Luis apologizes for not believing in him. Hazel also explains everything he's missed. His father is serving a sentence in Wonderland, but thanks to Red's intervention, Max will be able to visit him whenever he wants, once he's back on his feet. And it's only for a few years. And…
"He came to visit me?"
Hazel nods.
"I, uh, may or may not have yelled at him that it was all his fault you were hurt. He just stood there, said he knew, that I was right. And he also said to tell you that he's proud of you."
Max closes his eyes and lets the words wash over him. It's not the same as hearing it in his father's voice, the way he did in the Oraculum. But it's a start.
"Oh, also… I made up with Uma."
"And you're only telling me now?"
"Yes, well, it didn't seem like a priority."
"Are you kidding me? I've been waiting half our lives for you to get your head out of your ass and stop being mad at her!"
"Oh, shut up", Hazel groans, hitting him with his own pillow.
Max laughs, but the grin on his friend's face is so genuine he doesn't even have the heart to tease her any further.
***
"Max?"
"Hm?"
They're lying side by side on the grass, staring into the canopy. For Max' first outing after his recovery, his friends have decided to throw a picnic. And really, they put together a feast, topped, of course, with Pink's signature cupcakes. They've all eaten until they were about to burst, and now Chloe is letting Pink braid her hair while Red, Luis and Felix are throwing a ball at one another. Robbie, bless his heart, has endeavored to teach the Smees archery. Which leaves Max and Hazel laying down together, listening to the sounds of their friends having fun.
Hazel opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. Max turns his head to look at her. She's not looking at him, eyes fixed upon the leaves above them, but her face says it all. He takes her hand, squeezes it, and lets his eyes drift back to the sky as well.
"I know, Haze. Me too."