summary: Once, there was a time when most of the villain kids did get along — or, well, they could stand each other slightly more to be able to come together to try and best each other in competitions.
pairing: Harry/Evie; a bit younger
style: one-shot; canon-divergence — pre Uma & Mal rivalry, no banishment
other characters mentioned: Gil, Uma, Mal, Jay, Carlos, Anthony Tremaine, Rick Radcliffe, Yzla
Once, there was a time when most of the villain kids did get along — or, well, they could stand each other slightly more to be able to come together to try and best each other in competitions.
It was officially the anniversary of the villains' banishment to the Isle of the Lost, since King Beast locked them all away, and the children of the Isle spent that week together in a show of whatever solidarity they could muster. They wanted to show Auradon that they wouldn't be broken.
And what better way to do so than to compete with each other?
It was the day of the competition that Harry had been waiting for: a scavenger-hunt style treasure hunt.
For every day, a different person ran the event, and this year's treasure hunt would be run by Rick Ratcliffe, who was bound to have some...explosive ideas.
Harry was ecstatic as he slapped his hat on and nearly ran to the agreed-upon meeting place, finding his way to Uma and Gil. Uma nodded to him in greeting, too caught up in a conversation with Mal, while Gil nearly threw his arms around the pirate.
"Harry! Got a partner yet?" It was hard to kill the optimistic look in his friend's eyes, but he knew he'd have to do it.
"Aye," Gil's eyes fell, and the boy looked ready to tear up, "The Capt'n doesn't." Immediately Gil's eyes lit up again.
"She's not your partner?" There was a degree of confusion that, for once, made sense coming from the dense boy.
"A twist, isn't it?" He grinned, lifting up his hook so it could shine in the sunlight, purely for dramatic effect. "I found someone better at readin' maps."
Gil furrowed his brow, not paying the hook any attention. "Really? Who?"
"Someone ye'd least expect."
Harry grinned. "Ye'll see."
Rick Ratcliffe was one of the oldest of the children, and as an older teen he easily stood over the rest of the children. Even without his height, he was still fairly intimidating to look at, and as he scanned the crowd of young villains, he was daring any of them to break their truce in his presence.
He finally spoke after a few minutes of his cool stare. "This is our starting point. Goblin Wharf. If you or your partner are unable to continue for any reason, one of you must report back to me here. If you are stuck and wish to quit, you must report back to me here. You cannot switch partners, so if you need to, do it before you grab your map."
A few kids began to whisper, and Rick cleared his throat, sending them sharp glares to shut them up.
"There are maps hidden all along the wharf. There is only one in each spot, but there are enough maps for each pair. They're all different, but the end is the same. First to the finish gets their choice of a prize. Begin."
"Good luck Ha-" Gil was tugged away by Uma, and Gil could only wave as the short girl was dragging him on the opposite direction.
Harry just stood admiring his hook as the pairs scrambled away, everyone frantically looking for one of the maps.
"I'm not doing everything, you know." A soft voice spoke from behind him. He grinned, turning around to find the speaker. She was all neatly curled hair and smooth skin, and one of the few on the Isle who could keep up such an appearance. "I know the first place, and can guess at the next two."
"Ah know," He made a sweeping motion with his hand, allowing her to lead. "If we need ta do anything, it'll be me time to shine."
"But you need someone with an actual brain to figure out the rest." Though she was now in front of him, he could tell she was smiling.
"Exactly. An' sewing is directions and patterns and all that, so I thought this might be a hidden talent ah yers."
"I appreciate it." She turned on her heel, with a grin on her face that didn't quite reach her eyes and the rolled-up map pointed at him in a mock-threatening manner. "Still, if we don't win, you get to be my guinea pig."
"I'll wear yer fashion proudly."
She walked beside him, hand at the cuff of his jacket, lifting up the hand that held his hook. He let her, wondering what she was thinking with an amused smile.
He was still rather protective of his hook — even Uma and Gil could scarcely touch it without Harry recoiling immediately — but the inquisitive look she was giving it seemed rather harmless.
"This could use some glitter."
He instantly regretted that train of thought, yanking his hand from her grasp. She pouted.
"What? Everything can use glitter!"
"Not me hook."
"How about a ribbon?"
"No."
"But you can remove it!"
"Still no."
"How about-"
"There's nothing ta argue about." Harry pointed his hook in the general direction of where Evie was leading them. "We'll win this, and ye won't be dressing me up."
"You were fine with it a minute ago." She pointed out, gently hitting his shoulder with the map. "And what if that's what I want as my prize?"
Harry stopped in his tracks and stared at her, mouth ajar. "Wha...Why would ye do that?"
Evie tapped his shoulder. "Maybe now I like the idea of you being my fashion model." With him still frozen in his place, she reached up and ruffled his hair. "Okay, I won't touch your hook if I can try putting eyeliner on you."
His jaw still hung open as she tapped her chin in thought. "Don't worry, just black though. It'll give you just the edge-"
"Are we at the first spot yet?" His voice went high and Evie couldn't help but laugh.
"Almost, it's right behind Frollo's."
In true Isle fashion, Rick had set quite a few traps along the way. Not only had the pair witnessed someone actually be set on fire by accident — their partner had laughed hysterically while one of Rick's aides threw water on the poor kid — but Evie had lost a few hairs from a swinging scythe that came uncomfortably close, and Harry almost had a hand crushed under a dumpster he had to lift on his own as Evie had been examining her nails, reminding him he agreed to do all the heavy lifting — literally.
There was also an explosion of what they believed to be fireworks, as they'd only ever seen them sparkly over Auradon, that scared them so much that Evie threw herself at Harry for some kind of protection, and all of her accessories ended up getting caught in his shirt, ripping it in the process when she tried to disentangle herself.
Harry gave her an exasperated look — because really, he had few good shirts in this world, and now one of them was shredded.
She took a step back and looked at him experimentally. "Actually…" She tugged at his too-large jacket, trying to see more of the shirts. "I think it suits you."
The last puzzle had been the hardest, but Evie figured out that the end point was Yzma's finery shop, and so they were running as fast as they could. So far, they couldn't see anyone else, but they were also weary of other traps Rick might've set, especially now that they were so close to the finish.
Yzma's was more remotely located, set behind a line of trees that prevented her from remembering just what kind of hovel they actually lived in.
They reached the trees with no resistance, but with how easy it was becoming, they were growing even more cautious.
Evie had a firm grip on Harry's bicep, blue hair whirling around her as she kept checking her surroundings.
There was a quiet rustling of leaves above them, and then the sound of a twig snapping. They both looked up to see Mal and Jay, who were trying to creep through the trees, with Jay holding a broken twig and Mal glaring at him.
The friends locked eyes for a split second before Evie threw them a wink and proceeded to make a run for it, still holding onto Harry, who laughed at the other pair's expression.
Their lead didn't last long, as Jay was jumping from tree to tree with the grace only a thief could have, and Mal abandoned all hope of being quiet, stomping through the branches with her heavy boots, letting them make all the noise in the world.
Evie hadn't been watching the ground, instead keeping her eyes on her fellow VKs, and didn't see the hidden bear trap on the ground until Harry yanked her away.
She was about to say her thanks when, at the same time, a large net captured both Jay and Mal, leaving them hanging in the tree.
Harry and Evie waved to them, enjoying the evil looks sent their way.
Yzma's daughter, Yzla, was waiting for them. She was sitting on the patio beside the shop, looking for all intents and purposes to be relaxing and enjoying the not-so-terrible day, but when Evie and Harry reached her, all sweaty and bent over to catch their breaths, she grinned in a way that was terribly reminiscent of her mother.
"Congratulations," She drawled, before she used her thumb to point behind her, "you came in second place."
For the second time that day, Harry's jaw dropped.
"Second?!"
"Hey Evie!" Both their heads snapped to the source. Carlos and Anthony Tremaine were grinning, sitting in the shade. "What took you so long?"
"What do you mean?!" Evie spluttered, eyes darting wildly between the two, utterly confused as to how they got here first. Sure, Carlos was an easy guess, but paired with Anthony?!
"They got here twenty minutes ago." Yzla sipped her drink, the ice cubes clinking pleasantly within her glass.
"Must've been the traps." Carlos tapped his chin thoughtfully. "We avoided them easily."
"Ye don't say." Harry looked down to the hand he'd almost lost from the stupid dumpster — definitely wouldn't have been as cool as a crocodile.
Evie sighed, taking out the crumpled map and dropping it to the floor.
"Well, that's enough for today." Carlos gave her a good-natured wave as she spun on her heel. "I'll meet you at Ursula's in three hours."
Harry tilted his head, brows furrowing in confusion.
She gave him a devilish smile. "I need to get your measurements, after all."