Disclaimer: I don't own Descendants.
Harry Hook gave up taunting him almost as soon as Uma walked away. The pirate boy swung around the mast and Ben, took two great steps and dropped himself into a lounge on the deck. His expressions softened when no one was looking, the king realized. Relaxing when there was no one to flash those mad smiles at.
He kept his eye on the busy deck, watching the crew move about behind Ben. The king couldn't see them himself, only hear them laughing and rough housing. Harry's gaze was following someone, he realized, slowly moving from one side of the ship to the other. And then he heard Uma's voice over there, in the direction of Harry's attention.
"What is it with you and her?" Ben asked, voice low to keep the conversation between them. Those predatory eyes snapped to him, mouth pulling into another mad grin as he remembered the king and realized who he was asking about all at once.
"She gave us something to believe in," Harry answered easily. "Hope is a wildly powerful thing in a place like our Isle. She'd have us sing her name like a prayer and a curse until we believed in it. She wanted more than to climb to the top of that stinking prison-she wanted freedom and she promised to take us with her. And until then, she kept us together. She can be cruel, everyone that angry can be, but I've never seen her leave anyone behind. We were children, lost and afraid and hurt. We came to her broken and crying and she would bundle us up, tuck us into her bed, and promise to hide us from anyone that might chase. Eventually our own parents stopped trying, leaving us to her."
"Is that what happened with you? Did Hook leave you with her?" Ben asked carefully, studying his reaction in case he pressed too far. He wasn't so worried about more threats of violence, or even actual violence, so much as he worried about causing these kids more pain. They seemed like pincushions with too many holes.
Harry spun the silver hook in front of his face. "It's his, you know. We took it from him."
Ben looked at the weapon with new wonder. Not a replica but the real thing—the thing of nightmares.
"He used to cut me with it." Harry sat up, leaning forward and striking the hook down into the planks between them, dragging it back toward himself and carving up the wood in a jagged line. At the same time, the front of his tattered shirt hung in such a way that Ben could see a matching scar on Harry's chest, running long and thick over his heart. He smiled, that cold smile of his.
"Then why did you turn down the invitation to Auradon?" Ben asked, voice hushed now.
Harry's smile vanished in a flash and he shot to his feet. "Shut up."
Ben pressed his lips, pushing his chin up to stare back at the other teen. "I won't tell anyone. I haven't. But you were invited with the others. You turned it down to stay with her, didn't you?" It hurt him to know it, to see how hard their lives were and know that he hadn't helped as many as he could have. If he'd understood their dynamics, maybe he would have known.
Harry was close to him now, face near his, and he could see the wild panic and pain in those eyes. "Shut. Up," he ground the words between them. "Name your price. Just shut it."
Ben stared at him, realizing then that he could use this information as a threat. He could demand Harry free him—take him to the VKs even. "No."
"Harry?" Uma sang, her boots clicking across the planks on her way back to them. "What are you boys up to?" she grinned but the question was very real.
Harry had gone too still, staring back at him, not sure what move to make.
"Nothing," Ben said, turning his head to look coolly at the captain. "I was thinking when you and your crew come to Auradon, we should start a yacht club for you."
Uma let out a laugh and swung an arm over Harry's shoulders. Her head leaned against his, looking at Ben. "Oh, king, you're getting ahead of yourself. You might not even make it back."
Ben gave a little shrug, as though anything were possible and he wasn't worried.
Ben had almost fallen asleep, on his feet and tight to that mast, when the ropes went slack around his shoulders. Firm hands held his arms, still bound behind his back, and steered him across the deck. He blinked, surprised to see that it was still night.
"Shhh…" a voice sang.
For a second he thought he was being rescued—snuck off the boat in the dark—but when he looked up, it was Harry Hook pushing him and they didn't leave the boat. He turned him and guided him down the stairs, deeper into the ship and out of sight. Ben stayed quiet until they were down in a storage room. Harry gave him a little shove and Ben stumbled in the dark, landing on a pile of ropes and kicking to turn around, his back to a wall. "What's going on?"
"You'll be fine," Harry said.
Ben raised a brow. "I'm kidnapped."
Harry laughed under his breath, lighting a lamp. "Yeah, well, there are worse things."
The boat rocked suddenly, creaking and groaning as though something slapped the sides and pulled at it. "Where is he, girl?" came a booming voice. It sounded like it came from the ocean beneath them.
Harry held up a hand, one finger to his lips and deadly gaze piercing Ben.
Ben didn't speak. There was a ruckus on deck. Uma was shouting at the irate voice with the same level of annoyance. She claimed not to know what the booming monster wanted—who she was talking about—where to find a king or why would ever come to this awful island. "It's a rumor, you hag!"
The ship rocked again and things on deck went crashing. A girl screamed and Harry flinched, eyes closing and jaw flexing.
When the ship settled and silence returned in long drawn seconds, Ben could hear his own heart hammering. "Was that Uma?"
Harry leaned against the wall by the door but didn't answer.
"Is she okay?"
Harry smirked then. "Always." His belief was startling.
"Why would you hide me if it gets you in trouble? You want to mess with Mal that bad?" He kept his voice low.
Harry shook his head, as though Ben were missing something so obvious. "We took you and until we trade you back to Mal, you're ours. We never leave our own behind."
Ben wasn't sure that logic held up, but he certainly wasn't going to argue it.
"There's a difference between first generation and second generation on the Isle, King," he went on. "They did the crime and we were born in the prison. We might have street wars with other second generations, but we never betray them to the original villains… Kids don't always survive that and sometimes even when they do…" Harry shook his head and Ben's stomach knotted.
"I'm sorry," Ben said, knowing he would always be somehow responsible. "Why did you do it? Why did you stay here even when I'd sent you the invitation to Auradon?"
"You came for Mal, didn't you? Knowing what this place is really like, if you could leave tomorrow but she would have to stay—would you leave?" Harry asked, sounding honestly curious rather than like he was leading him to an explanation.
Ben didn't have to think long. Yes, she'd chosen to come back and she was better equipped to survive the Isle than he was—but no, he wouldn't be able to leave her to that fate. "I want us to have the same fate, whatever it is, wherever it is. I want us to leave together."
Harry smiled slowly. "And you will, no worries there, King. My Captain and your evil fairy play this game often. Mal will make the trade and you'll be on your way."
"I will get you off this island, Harry. Whatever happens, I'll make sure you get your chance in Auradon. You and Uma."
Harry laughed shortly and nodded like it was a bad joke.
"Why don't you want her to know that you stayed for her?" Ben asked.
Harry was quiet for so long that Ben wondered if he'd answer. "She would have wanted me to go. She would have ordered it if she'd known. And the year since you took the VKs has been…worse. The villains have been angrier, almost getting free does that I guess?"
Ben nodded slowly, realizing there were events there he wouldn't give him in details. "Okay. I won't tell her. But next time… you should come to Auradon."
A thumping of heels came down the hall outside the door. They both went quiet, waiting. Hook opened the door when the steps reached it, recognizing the sound of her by her walk. Uma leaned in, blood dribbling from one corner of her mouth and cheek bruised.
"Are you okay?" Ben asked, honestly worried. These kids were playing at being villains in a truly dangerous place. He couldn't blame them. These had been the only role models they were given, raised in a place where nothing else had been possible. And he'd left them here.
She raised a brow, looking at the king skeptically.
Harry touched the curve of his hook under her chin gently, tipping her face up to look at it before leaning in to lick the blood from her face, kissing the wound gently until she deepened it and bit at his lip. He was laughing in that mad way of his when she shoved him back. "Tomorrow morning, King," she said before nodding to Harry. "Leave him down here until dawn. We have an escape to pull off tomorrow."
Ben watched them go, leaning back onto his pile of ropes and considering everything he'd learned today. Mal would save him tomorrow, he was sure of it. But he was also sure that he wasn't in as much danger from these teens as he had thought before. In fact, he was quietly deciding to save them all just as soon as he got home.
Might continue this to become Harry and Uma adapting to life outside the Isle... Thanks for reading!
