Disclaimer: I do not own Descendants.

Chapter 1: In Another Life

The first time Harry saw her, he knew that in another life, he would have followed her to the edges of the world and beyond.

He found it remarkable how such a tiny girl stood out amongst the vibrant and eccentric group of children from the Isle that the prince had brought over. While Ben went on and on, reciting words Harry had heard so many times the days before during his oldest friend's nervous pacing, and while Audrey glared daggers at the daughter of Maleficent, the son of Auradon's most decorated Royal Navy Admiral, Killian Jones (though still fondly known as "Captain Hook" after the devious widely wanted fae-child Pan took one of his hands before his reign of terror on Neverland was put to an end with eternal sleep) was captivated by a scowling girl with braided hair the color of crashing waves who stood apart from the children of Cruella, Jafar, the Evil Queen, and Maleficent, with only the muscled blonde who had been introduced as youngest son of Gaston standing anywhere near her.

All too soon, Ben's introduction speech was over and one hand of Audrey's pink manicured nails were digging into his arms as she locked one of her arms with his and the other with Ben's, expecting to be escorted, as she always had since they were children; escorted by the future High King of the United Stated of Auradon and the future Admiral of the King's Royal Navy. Harry glanced over his shoulder as they led the new transfer students into Auradon Prep, startled when deep brown eyes met with his, pulling him into them, like the moon pulled the tides, promising to drown him in their depths. (And oh how willing he was to drown for her…)

"What are you looking at, Harry?" Audrey hissed pulling his attention back to reality as they passed King Adam's beastly statue and stepped into the school.

"Just the sight of a beautiful lady," he said honestly, giving her a boyish grin that had her both rolling her eyes and blushing before turning her attention back to Ben who seemed to be failing as well to keep his eyes off of a certain daughter of Maleficent. (It wasn't a lie. Audrey, as expected, had just assumed he meant her, harmless flirt that he was.)

As the son of Dopey was introduced, Audrey and the daughter of Maleficent glared daggers back at each other, Ben trying to keep the delicate peace while the other children of the Isle poked and prodded around their new surroundings. Harry tried to be discreet as he watched the daughter of Ursula look around with what appeared to be boredom at everything the son of Gaston excitedly pointed at, her voice low as she murmured something back that the boy listened to, confusion clearly on his face before he chuckled, startling the De Vil boy once again into the arms of Jafar's son. Harry wanted to know what she had said that was so funny, to have her gaze on him once again. To be the one to make her laugh...

Sharp brown eyes once again connected with his and it was then that Harry knew. He knew that in another life, he would have followed her to the edges of the world and beyond. And as Audrey pulled him and Ben away in a huff, leaving Doug to take over the task of giving these children of villains the remaining tour of the school, he caught a glimpse of a wicked little smirk that was quickly hidden by the cover of teal and white braids and that's when he really knew: He would follow Uma of the Isle, daughter of Ursula to the edges of the earth and beyond even in this life as well...

I'M HOOKED ON ALL THESE FEELINGS

She wouldn't lie (for once), he was quite a looker with his sharp jawline and bright blue eyes that were the color that she always imagined the sea to be before she left the Isle: expressive and not to be underestimated.

However, though she usually wouldn't mind (usually would actually enjoy) the way Mal's face twisted into some mix of disgust and constipation every time he came around with some pitiful excuse or another to talk to Ursula's bastard daughter, Uma hated the way he looked at her, hated how he looked like he's actually interested in the words that come from the mouth of a pathetic sea-witch's daughter. (Not even Gil was that attentive to her and they had been friends since Uma saved him from drowning when they were six. His brothers had thought it would be funny to tie cement bricks to his feet before pushing him into the deep water near the docks. "His name is Gil! Shouldn't he be able to swim with the fishes?" they had cackled after the young girl had dragged the slightly bigger boy back onto the docks, seaweed clinging to her hair.)

And most importantly, and this was probably the most crucial reason why Uma of the Isle hated the son of the famous "Captain Hook" so much: the way he says her name, like he's uttering something precious, like it's something that should be remembered and cherished when even her own mother can't remember her only daughter's name half the time…

She hated it. She hated him. And she hated herself because she knows those are all lies she tells herself because she can't imagine...can't allow someone to get that close to her after Mal's betrayal…

"Hey! Stop dreaming about Sailor Pretty Boy and pay attention, Shrimpy!" Mal hissed, bringing Uma crashing back to cruel reality, located in the dorm room that Carlos, Jay, and Gil shared.

Gil gave her a worried look once Mal rolled her eyes returned back to going over the plan of getting the wand. Well...the newest plan. The first attempt had failed at the museum and though Mal had apparently lowered the defensives of Fairy Godmother's painfully shy daughter, not much headway had been made in the two weeks that they had been stuck in Auradon with no wand to show their parents.

"This is ridiculous," Uma sighed softly under her breath.

"I'm sorry," Mal suddenly stopped once again, arms crossed over her chest. "Am I boring you, Shrimpy? Got something better to do, Shrimpy?"

"Yes," she wanted to say but Uma wasn't stupid. Despite the bad blood between her and Mal, there was strength in numbers and here, on the other side of the barrier, she would rather trust the devil she knew than the sparkly pastel colored devils with too bright smiles here. "I was just thinking about that silly little princess that's always clinging onto the prince. How ridiculous it is that she could ever think she be any good at being queen."

Jay's face is unreadable, sizing her up as he stood in his best intimidating pose next to Mal, prepared to move at the girl's order; Carlos head is tilted, nose scrunched up as if Uma's an equation he's not sure what to do with just yet, hands fiddling nervously with a cell phone Jay had stolen for him to take apart and put back together; Evie is biting her lip, still fresh from being Castle-schooled, not completely accustomed to hiding her thoughts, her anxiety, how much she actually likes it here; and Mal is looking down at Uma as if she just stepped into the shit of the dog that now followed Carlos around.

Luckily, even when he was unintentionally trying, Gil always came through for Uma as a loud growling sound was heard. "Uh...is it time for dinner, now?" he asked.

Mal sighed, massaging her temples before making a shooing motion with her hand that was all the permission Uma needed to take Gil's wrist and drag him out of the room as if a dragon was just behind them (and technically, there was).

Once outside of the dorms and outside where the day was slowly bleeding out, Uma let out a relieved sigh, letting go of Gil. "Go on, get your dinner," she nodded towards the dining hall that wasn't too far off.

"You're not coming?" he asked confused, not understanding how anyone could pass up the endless buffet of food that the school provided. "We don't have to sit with Mal and the others if you don't want to," he said partially reading her correctly, something that Uma greatly appreciated though she would never acknowledge it out right to him. But Mal and her crew weren't the only one she was trying to avoid in the dining hall.

"Nah," Uma murmured, shaking her head. "Part of your angle of this stupid plan is to get close to the cheerleaders and the Tourney players with Jay and Carlos to see if they know of a way to get the wand. I'll just put people off with the shrimp smell," she sighed waving her hand in the direction of her braided hair that sometimes, at the most randomest of times, still gave off a shrimpy odor despite how many times she had washed it with any hair products she and Gil could manage to find.

Gil looked as if he was going to try for the umpteenth time to convince her that the smell wasn't bad, that it was honestly hardly noticeable, but the growling of his stomach and the glare that his friend gave him left no room for argument.

"I'll save you something," he gave a little grin over his shoulder as he turned towards the dinning hall. "Meet you later at our spot in the book house?"

Uma bit her lip, trying to hold back a laugh. "You mean our spot in the library? Yeah. I'll be there working on both of our essays."

Gil grinned, walking backwards and giving her a thumbs up before he turned back around and jogged towards where food was.

Uma sighed, shouldering her bag she thankfully remembered to snag as they made their escape from the others and about to turn towards the direction of the library before a taller figure saddled from out of the shadows up close to her, sliding her bag off of her shoulder effortlessly and onto his. Uma didn't even blink. Afterall, he had been doing chivalrous crap like this basically since she stepped foot in Auradon. She should have been upset that he found her so predictable to know that she would try to avoid going to the dining hall just so they wouldn't run into each other. There were a lot of things that Uma should be doing at the moment to get away with him, to not form connections with someone she was going to ultimately betray once they got the wand, but right now, as Harry "Hook" Jones's hand lifted her hand to his lips in a greeting that felt so natural to them both - expressive eyes that held wonder, mischief, and unfounded adoration never leaving hers - all those things were forgotten.

There were no thoughts of Mal or wands or drunk mothers who would never be satisfied. All that was there was a girl and a boy and the storm that was brewing stronger and stronger between them. So strong that Uma thought she would never be able to breathe again...

"What kept ya so long, darlin'?"

(And oddly, Uma was perfectly fine with that.)

And the Huma plot bunnies strike again! Story title from the song "Feelings" by Haley Kiyoko that I've been playing non-stop for days now.

Okay, so this was a prompt originally given to me by an anon on Tumblr (edream93). I really liked the idea and wanted to expand on it and thus...here we are. For those who are patiently waiting for an update for my other Huma story "We'll Light the Fuse", don't worry, that will be updated soon and this little side project should hopefully be done before the end of this year (or so I hope). I'm thinking 2 or 3 more chapters.

Anyway, I would love to know what you think of this story so far! (Also, I know nothing about Navy rankings and just did a quick search for highest Navy ranking so if that's not an Admiral, please let me know.