Jay sat straight in the wooden chair, his arms crossed firmly against his chest. He took a quick glance at the clock on the wall and sighed impatiently, tapping his boot-clad food against the well-polished floor. He'd gotten up an hour early just to talk to the headmistress, her assistant had reassured him that she wouldn't be any longer than ten minutes, and even though she still had two minutes left he felt the time was dragging painfully slow.
The former thief shuffled, becoming uncomfortable as the time went by. His talk with Harry hadn't flown from his mind, if anything it'd kept him awake all damn night. An overwhelming sensation of guilt had started in his chest and it just wouldn't go away. The thought that Queenie had really been in love with Harry when she came to him for help had him reeling, more so the fact that he'd completely failed as a friend when he'd promised to keep her safe. Jay didn't know Harry all that well, he only even knew of the pirate because of Mal's reigning feud with Uma during their time on the Isle, otherwise he was sure he'd have never spoken to the teen before that. All he really knew was that Harry was possessive, violent and slightly sadistic. After all, the first-mate had never shown himself to be anything other than all of those things. But maybe, and it was a very small maybe, Harry could also be something other than that. There was a very small chance that behind closed doors, Harry was a completely different person. He had to be.
"Good morning, Jay!" A feminine voice greeted cheerfully.
Jay jumped up and looked over his shoulder. His thoughts of Queenie and Harry had completely taken him somewhere else, he'd been thinking so hard he'd actually forgotten where he was. "Uh...hey." He waved awkwardly, fighting the urge to face-palm himself.
"Oh my goodness." The fairy gasped, both hands against her cheeks as she settled behind her desk. "What happened?"
"I got a little rough at Tourney practice." Jay shrugged with a small chuckle. His little argument with Harry had left him with a large and purple bruise across his forehead. He'd kept an ice-pack on it the night before in the hopes it would settle, but from the fairy's reaction he now knew it hadn't helped one bit.
"Well, I advise you to see the nurse after this." F.G. said firmly, and Jay nodded. "Now, why are you here?"
"It's about Queenie."
Fairy Godmother nodded slowly, though Jay could see her form change. Before she'd been rather light on her feet, and when she sat she practically melted into the leather chair. Now she sat as straight as he did, her form tense and her lips pursed. "Is the little dear all right?" She asked.
"No, I don't think so. She's been spending time with Harry. I mean...I haven't seen them together, but I just know. Harry came to see me yesterday, he wants to know why Q' doesn't remember him. He's mad." Jay explained.
"Well, this was expected. Mr. Hook is quite like a young, ill-tempered child. In his mind we've taken his toy away, so to speak. He's not very happy now but, in time, he'll forget all about her. Is there anything else?" F.G. inquired.
Jay swallowed and lightly scratched his cheek. This conversation was going to be much harder than he originally thought. "Yeah. I think Harry loves her." He said his words carefully, allowing the fairy some time to digest. "And I think she loves him too. Or she did, I don't know how this whole thing works."
"We've had this discussion, Jay." F.G. finally spoke, her tone light and cheery thought her eyes told him different. "It was not love, it was infatuation."
"I know, I know. But I think you're wrong." He admitted, his stomach churning as he saw the woman's expression change. Clearly she'd never been wrong, or been told she was, and he now realised just how dangerous this entire situation could become. He was sure F.G. would give Queenie her memories back if he told her the princess had been in love with Harry, but now he wasn't so sure. "She left him a note when I brought her here, saying that as soon as she was better she was going back to the Isle. Why would she do that if she was scared of him?" He continued, hoping to get through to the headmistress.
"We'll never understand why someone does silly things. Clearly she was so scared that the thought of not going back was too much of a risk. She didn't know we could keep her safe. It wasn't love, Jay, it couldn't have been." The woman was clearly struggling with what he was telling her, and Jay found himself utterly baffled. Was it really so hard for her to accept that she was wrong about this?
"But what if they were? Are you telling me that two teenagers, both brought up in an abusive and fight-or-flight world, can't love each other?" Jay wondered, leaning forward in his chair as he eagerly awaited the fairy's reply. People in Auradon had their judgements about the Isle and that was fine, but no one could say that certain important things couldn't happen over there. All of the stories of peoples parents in Auradon had all been impossible situations, filled with magic and complete idiocy at times, and now F.G. was trying to insinuate that Isle children couldn't fall in love. He'd heard some ridiculous things since arriving, but this had to be the worst.
"What are Queenie's thoughts on this matter?" Fairy Godmother demanded, too eager to change the subject. "Does she want her memories back? If she doesn't come to me and demand answers herself, then I'll hear no more of this."
Jay's brows immediately furrowed, his arms moving to his sides as he clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly. He had no idea what Queenie was doing, or if she even thought anything was wrong. He liked to think that if something was going on, then she'd have come to him first, but if Harry was right and she had a small idea that he was a part of this, then there was no way she'd trust him again. "You're kidding, right? Queenie knows you've been going through her head, and I've been there every damn time. If she does want to remember, there's no way she's coming to either of us for help." He said firmly.
"I'll hold a council meeting, if they decide that having her memories restored is the best option, then I'll do it." Fairy Godmother sighed, her hands fiddling with random objects on the desk. She was either agitated, or worried.
"And what if they say otherwise?" He asked, albeit with some hesitation. He was terrified of the answer.
"Then I won't do it. That young girl has been through enough, and she deserves a wonderful prince to fall in love with. Not Mr. Hook."
~...~...~
"I don't mean to sound like an ass, but what the hell am I doing here?" Queenie demanded, sternly placing both hands on her hips.
"You want your memories back, don't you?" Uma countered with a shrug, and the young princess rolled her eyes. "That's why we're here."
Queenie took a deep, hard breath and released it slowly, turning to better see their surroundings. They were supposed to be in class, but Uma had shown up at least twenty minutes before the day started and told Queenie she had a plan, and that it in no way involved going to their lesson. At first the girl had been intrigued, but now she was just plain irritated. Uma had been very quiet on their way, apparently she wasn't too eager to divulge the reason for their journey, or even what they'd be doing when they arrived. Queenie hated it immensely. Her nerves were frazzled enough, what with her forgetting six months of her time in Auradon and sudden inability to trust any of her friends. She didn't trust Uma completely, and the teal-haired girl's silence and mysterious ways were not helping. Queenie had to remind herself that while she considered Uma a friend, she had absolutely no idea what the girl had been like back on the Isle. Uma was the Captain of a terrifying pirate crew, and she was the daughter of a very sneaky sea witch, so Queenie felt she was justified in having her doubts.
"How is dragging me into the Enchanted Woods going to help? What, do you expect me to take a swim in the lake and wash everything away?" Queenie asked with obvious sarcasm.
"You asked for my help, so I'm helping. But we have to do this first." Uma replied, leaning against the broken, stone pillar.
Queenie took a step back, her arms moving across her stomach. "Do what first?" She wondered, her right hand fiddling with her pendant.
"I'm not telling you anything, not until he gets here." Uma said firmly, her eyes flickering to the surrounding woods.
"Until who gets here?" Queenie asked with furrowed brows. Uma didn't answer, her attentions apparently elsewhere. "Uma." The princess seethed.
When Uma smiled and her eyes moved to something behind Queenie, the young princess felt a sudden twist in her stomach. She moved to turn around and see whoever it was that was making the Captain look so smug, but she barely had a chance. In a matter of seconds, Queenie was yanked back so fast she had to take a gasp of air, a small force knocking into her back and startling the young princess. A sharp, uncomfortable and unknown object poked her ribs, and she felt a cold steel against her jugular. Queenie held her breath for a moment, completely confused as to who was behind her. It wasn't until the person made no attempt to move and she felt herself resolve just a fraction did she fully attempt to suss out who had decided to invade her personal space.
"Harry." Queenie muttered with realisation. She had no idea how she even knew it was him, it could have been Gil or even Jonas. All three pirates were quite tall in stature and muscled, so she knew full well it wouldn't have been one of the girls on Uma's crew. Her shoulders were firmly pressed against a hard chest, and that had been enough to let her know it was one of the boys. It wasn't any kind of physical tell for her to know it was the first-mate, in this scenario she'd relied mainly on her emotional state. Queenie had been anxious enough when arriving, having a large fear of drowning and the lake was no help, but now it had peaked. Her palms were clammy, a shiver took over her small form and she wanted to be sick. All good things when faced with a dangerous and unpredictable moment. What gave him away, however, was the strange pull she felt in her chest, the weirdest thing only he had seemed to bring out in her since arriving, but it helped her now.
"Princess." The first-mate greeted with a chuckle, his chest rumbling behind her.
Queenie let herself suck in a breath, a wave of relief taking hold as she felt him move away. She wasn't too sure what it was, but there was something inside of her that really couldn't stand the thought of him being behind her, or out of her sight. As if the very idea of him being near, but not close enough for her to keep an eye on him, set her on edge. For now she'd assume it was because of everything he'd made her feel since coming to Auradon, or simply because she had an idea that they'd met before but she had no inkling as to why or how it had gone down. After all, what other reason would there be?
"Captain." Harry nodded towards the teal-haired girl, moving to stand closer to Uma. In Queenie's opinion it was strangely close, and just a little protective.
"Are you going to tell me why I'm here now?" Queenie asked once more, hoping there would be no more surprises from her friend.
"You want your memories back, I get that. But you can't let us help you if you don't trust us." Uma explained.
Queenie let out a small, and slightly forced, giggle of amusement. "Uma, you're my friend. I've told you things no one else knows. How can you think that I don't trust you?" She asked.
"You're right." Uma shrugged, dragging herself away from the pillar, Harry coming in close behind. "You have told me things...in the moment. I could have been anyone, as long as I got to you when you were tipping right over the edge, you would have told me. That doesn't mean trust, Q'. If you can't trust me, or Harry, with everything then we can't help you. You can't just be half-in, not with this, this is something big. Your memories, Q'. If you can stand there and tell me that you trust us completely, we'll go back to school. Don't lie to me either, I can tell if you're lying too y'know."
Queenie swallowed, her throat suddenly becoming increasingly dry. On instinct her hand reached for her pendant, her fingers soothingly moving across the red gem in the hopes it would make her find some strength. She knew the answer to Uma's question already, it was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.
"Q', it's okay if you don't. I won't hurt you if you don't trust us, hell, I'd really judge you if you did. We knew each other back on the Isle, but we weren't friends, not even close. The girl we know," Uma gestured between herself and Harry. "Is in there somewhere. We need her to answer."
"I," Queenie paused. She looked at Uma, then Harry, then back to her friend. The girl was right, Queenie would have broken down and told anyone her personal problems if they'd come to her at the right time. It was a stupid move back on the Isle, but here in Auradon people were easier to trust. She had to remind herself, though, that not everyone in Auradon were good people. Some were just nasty, born to two wonderful people but raised in a privileged world where their opinion was the right one and no one else stood a chance. Auradon really had to re-define their specifics on what was good, and what was evil.
"Love." Queenie turned her attention back to the first-mate. "Do you trus' me?" He asked, loud and clear.
Queenie squinted, her hazel eyes searching his face and movements. His smile was kind and his form relaxed, the hook he held so dear to him hanging down near his thigh. A sword, she'd now realised he'd had pressed against her side only moments ago, had been sheathed around his waist, and she now saw that he had another on the opposite side. The body spoke volumes when the voice was silent, and though Harry's demeanour was calm, and he looked like someone she could easily trust herself to be around, there was something else there. Queenie tilted her head slightly, attempting to focus more on the less obvious. In the end, it was his eyes that told the truth. The way they crinkled around the edges showed that he was looking at her in much the same way, with suspicion and slight curiousness. When she looked harder, she could see the way his jaw moved as he smiled, as if the way he did so now was not comfortable for him. With each passing second Queenie noted more tells, the way his hooked hand twitched ever so slightly, how his other hand moved to the grip of his sword.
Queenie giggled once more, a nervous reaction to what she'd come to realise. Harry was playing pretend with her. He was very good at putting the veil up, apparently, since she wouldn't have noticed if he'd been anyone else, or she hadn't taken the time to nit-pic. She'd only known the pirate for a few days, not long enough to truly get to know someone. In the back of her mind, however, she knew full well that this wasn't the 'real' Harry. Uma had said that inside her was the girl they knew, and even if Queenie didn't know what that girl knew, she could feel what that part of her felt now.
"I'm not sure." Queenie finally said, crossing her arms across her chest. "But she," Queenie lifted a finger, lightly tapping her temple. "Definitely doesn't."
Harry laughed loudly and dropped the act almost immediately. He slowly skipped backwards and took up the space Uma had previously resided in, his back slouched against the pillar with his legs stretched out in front of him. He was still smiling now, but it wasn't as it had been before. Now it seemed to be a smirk, the corners of his mouth twitched up as if the whole occasion was a complete joke to him.
"I'm impressed." Uma admitted, giving a light chuckle. "I didn't think you'd be able to tell us that. But it was a good thing, Q'. You took that first step."
"Thanks." Queenie uttered shyly. It would definitely take some getting used to, having to rely on the emotions and warnings of someone else whenever she was around people from the Isle. Her mind was still muddled, overwhelmed at the thought of losing some very valuable memories, but for the time being she had to rely on herself. She knew well enough that, whenever she did get her memories back, they'd begin to counteract with the ones she currently held. It would be messy and terrifying and it would go a lot smoother if she didn't try to fight that hidden Isle girl inside of her. If she was going to go all the way with this, then she had to let her in.
"Don't get too excited, we're not done yet." Uma warned, and Queenie stiffened slightly.
"What?"
"You don't trust me, and that's fine. I have to admit, you're a good person to have around, but all I've really been doing is holding the fort until Harry came. You two knew each other better, and I have enough going on. I can't help all the time, but he can. Besides, he only came to Auradon to get you." The sea-witch's daughter explained.
The young princess chewed her bottom lip in thought. She was obviously confused, she had no idea why Harry would come all this way for her. The person inside her was saying differently. She was absolutely elated, and it aggravated Queenie in a way nothing else had before. "Great." She said with feigned enthusiasm.
"Well I'm not exactly jumpin' ta spend time with ye either, princess." Harry fired. "I came here for my princess, an' instead I get ye."
"Harry!" Uma reprimanded.
"No, no I get it." Queenie said clearly. She was a little hurt by Harry's words, but she was also incredibly angry. She didn't know if it was the girl inside her that was so annoyed with him, or if it was just her. It very well may have been because her temper had been spiking lately and now Harry was taking shots. Queenie was frustrated beyond belief, she couldn't remember six months of her life and now she was trying to feel the emotions of, in her own opinion, two different girls. She had no idea what she'd been like on the Isle, but she was in no way ready to let Harry think this was worse for him than it was for her. "You're frustrated, I get that."
"Oh, ye have no bloody idea how frustrated I am!" Harry exclaimed, tilting his head to the left. "I come all this way to get my little one back, an' instead I fin' ye, some prissy little girl on some stupid quest to get her noggin back together."
"Are you always this much of an asshole?!" Queenie yelled with slight astonishment. She hadn't ever had to yell at someone before, at least not like this. She felt outraged. He was treating her as if she was some stranger he had to deal with until he could get his 'girlfriend' back and she was not having it.
"Q' you need to calm down." Uma soothed with a tone Queenie hadn't ever really heard her use.
"Oh no, let 'er continue." Harry mocked, moving away from the pillar to approach the princess. "I've been waitin' ta see somethin' other than a little sheep who follows everyone aroun'. I mean, really? Don' ye have anythin' better ta do?"
That was it. The straw that broke the camels back. In a matter of minutes Queenie didn't quite feel like herself anymore. She was seething, utterly overwhelmed with so much sadness, annoyance and complete anger towards the stuck-up pirate. "That's it!" Queenie shouted. With a strange, growing strength she hadn't ever realised she had, she pushed Harry right back into the pillar he seemed to like leaning against so much.
"Q'!"
"No!" Queenie said back, staring up and into Harry's eyes. "I'm only gonna say this once, Hook. You want her, I get that, but if you don't want me then you can't have her either, understand?! This is my body too. When my memories come back, and they will, I'm still going to be here and if you keep treating me like crap then I'm going to keep her far away from you. I don't know what we had on the Isle, I can't even understand how we had anything with you acting like such an asshole. I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing this for me and her. We want you here...god, we really want you here. But we don't need you here. I can do this shit on my own if I have to, I'm not going to kiss your ass just to keep you around. Got it?!" By the time she finished her rant, Queenie felt somewhat content. It was if a huge weight had been lifted, and if anything her reigning feelings of sadness and anxiousness had calmed down just a little.
"Well shit." Queenie heard Uma laugh from behind her.
Harry threw his head back and Queenie finally released the harsh grip she'd had on his t-shirt. Her hands were shaking, her heart practically pounding out of her chest as she came down from the anger-fuelled high she'd just endured. Something else gripped at her chest, something worse than anger. Complete and utter fear. Fear of whatever she'd just felt, as she'd never felt that bad before, but mostly it was fear over what she'd done to Harry. For the first time both she and the girl inside of her were going through the exact same thing, only now it was heightened more than ever. The first-mate towered over her and he could easily take her down, he also had both his sword and hook at hand if he did decide to turn on her.
Queenie ran her fingers through her hair, having left it down during her rush to leave with Uma, and lightly tugged. She felt like such an idiot. "Oh my god." She whined. She'd thought her small snap at Uma the night before was bad, but compared to this that moment was nothing more than a back-handed remark. "Oh my god." She said again, more of a whisper than anything else.
"Oh I missed that sneaky little temper of yers."
Queenie turned back to Harry, completely befuddled at his reaction. He wasn't mad, as she'd originally thought he'd be. If anything he looked rather excited by it all. Maybe he was crazy. "Huh?" She muttered.
"I really wasn' sure if ye'd take the bait or not, but I'm glad ye did."
Queenie gaped, her mouth opening and closing as if she were a very confused fish. "You knew I'd fight back!" She exclaimed in realisation and slight annoyance.
"I was hopin' ye would, love." Harry grinned. He slowly ran his gaze over Queenie's form as he came closer, and the young princess struggled to stay rooted in her spot. "I always did like the feisty ones." He muttered, dragging his hook through her hair.
"Is that why you brought me here?" Queenie asked Uma, ignoring the first-mates hungry gaze to turn to her 'friend'. "So Harry could get a rise? If that's why I'm here, then I'm leaving." She stated.
"I didn't bring you here for that, Q'." Uma said loudly, and the princess halted in her tracks. "You and Harry have some unresolved issues." She continued, and Queenie finally turned to face her again. "That needs fixing first."
"I need my memories back, Uma. I'm going crazy, okay? And it won't stop either." Queenie sighed despairingly, lightly rubbing her arms as a breeze came through the forest.
"Q', you're not listening to me. You can't trust him and I don't blame you, I only know half of what you two were like and honestly I'm surprised you didn't run." Uma confessed, and Queenie shuffled her feet. "I'm asking you to get to know him now, as you. When we get your memories back I don't know what'll happen, but what do you think you'll be like if part of you can't stand to be around him, and another part of you wants him around all the time? I don't know about you but that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. He's only asking for a chance, Q'. Can you do that?"
Queenie took a moment to gather her thoughts. Uma was asking a lot of her, but wasn't she herself doing the same thing? She'd broken down and told Uma almost everything that was wrong and more, and had even gone as far as to ask the sea witch's daughter for help in getting her memories back. The princess liked to pay attention to detail and, if she was right, then she and Uma hadn't exactly been friends back on the Isle. So while Queenie was a little hurt by the girls admission that she had only done most, if not all, of this for Harry, it really made Queenie think. Harry may have had his own reasons for helping her, and maybe they were a little twisted, but Uma was being a wonderful friend to him for even attempting a friendship with Queenie. Two people that she barely knew were going out of their way to help her, and she was fighting it. Whoever they knew, whoever she had been back on the Isle, must have been a wonderful kind of girl to have two pirates helping her out, and the least she could do was accept it.
"Okay, I'll do it." Queenie relented with a nod.
"Good." Uma smiled with some relief, then glancing back at her first mate with mischief in her eyes. "Training starts now."
"Uh...what?" Queenie asked, staring awkwardly at her friend.
"Harry here, is gonna teach you how to sword-fight." Uma declared proudly.
Queenie widened her eyes with disbelief and looked back at the first-mate. He stepped away from the pillar with an excited smile, biting into his bottom lip as he withdrew his sword. He swung it in his hands gracefully as he stared her down, and Queenie shook her head. "Oh hell no." She muttered.
"Think of it as a bonding exercise." Uma spoke. "He'll go easy on you. Won't you Harry?"
"Of course." He replied light-heartedly, as if his tone was a soothing one.
"Uma, he looks way too excited to hurt me." Queenie pointed out, her anxiety peaking at the thought of having to fight with Harry. It may have just been training, but even she could see that he was way too eager to do all of this.
"Of course he is! You left him on the Isle." Uma shrugged, moving a few feet away to sit down on a nearby tree stump. "I'll be right here, so if he gets too...'Harry', I'll come to your rescue."
"Fine." Queenie spat, reluctantly walking towards the overly-enthusiastic pirate. "If he tries to kill me it's on you." She said back to Uma, pushing all of her worrying thoughts to the back of her mind. She hoped that by doing this, Harry would treat her with just a shred of dignity, and maybe stop fucking with her. Though she also knew that it was just wishful thinking.
"As temptin' as that sounds, seein' ye with a sword has always been a little fantasy of mine." Harry said simply, handing her the other sword he'd brought with him.
Queenie took it and just about managed to keep a tight enough grip. The weight was strange, a little heavier than anything she was used to, but maybe she'd adjust to it. "You flirt like that with everyone, or am I just a special?" She remarked, moving the sword from one hand to the other.
Harry chuckled and moved back. "Oh love, ye've got a lot ta learn about me."
Queenie rolled her eyes. She may have wanted to kiss him once, but now she was determined. She was going to kick his ass.
~...~...~
Ava hummed a small tune to herself as she skipped towards her locker, rolling the dial until she heard that satisfying 'click'. She tucked a long, curled strand of red hair behind her ear and set on switching her books, eager to get to her next class.
"So," An irritating, familiar voice sang from close by. "Where's your girlfriend?"
"I don't know who you're talking about." Ava replied, hurrying her movements even more now that the pestering fairy had made an appearance.
"You know exactly who I'm talking about." Thalia shrugged, leaning against the closed locker right next to Ava's.
"I have two friends that are girls, Uma and Queenie. Take your pick." Ava sighed, gently closing and re-locking her locker when she finished her switch. She held the book close to her chest, as if it would protect her from the daughter of Tinkerbell.
"Oh, I'm not worried about Queenie. She's good, like the rest of us. Your little pirate friend is the one I'm talking about. I heard she hasn't been in classes all morning." Thalia said with a small, smug smirk.
Ava swallowed nervously and averted her eyes. She moved to the left and walked by the fairy, attempting to ignore whatever it was the girl was trying to start. Talking to her wouldn't settle anything, and Ava knew that when faced with a fight or argument, it was best to simply avoid confrontation. At least, that was what the Goodness book instructed them to do.
"You wanna avoid that question? Okay, how about another one?" Thalia continued, following close behind the little mermaid. "How would your mom feel if she knew you were hanging out with Ursula's daughter? I mean, talk about betrayal."
"I don't think she'd mind." Ava said meekly, wishing as hard as she could that the fairy would just let her be. It was hard enough to deal with her in 'Therapy', and Ava knew that it would be a whole different ball game if she was harassing her outside of that class. Especially when there were no teachers to overhear.
"Really?" Thalia gasped with anger, hushing her tone. "If it was my mom, and Harry Hook tried to be friends, I'd tell him exactly where to go. You're not being a very good daughter, are you?"
Ava lifted her gaze from the floor and looked around. There were a lot of students heading towards their next class, but none seemed too concerned about what was going on with her. She hadn't seen Queenie or Uma all morning, and without them she knew she had no one to run to, and no one to help her.
"I've seen the way she looks at you, y'know." Thalia suddenly said, and Ava furrowed her brows in confusion. The fairy was clearly trying to get a rise out of her in some way, trying to make her bite back. But Ava wouldn't. She wouldn't give her the satisfaction, but it was also from fear that she didn't reply.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Ava said back, a part of her hoping her naivety would get her out of this mess. She knew Thalia was talking about Uma, and though she was a little confused on where the fairy was trying to take their conversation, she didn't want to dig herself into an even deeper hole.
Thalia laughed. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. She looks at you like Jay looks at every girl here. It's not normal." The fairy said firmly.
Ava nodded and attempted to ignore the small flutter in her stomach. Uma was a wonderful friend, and even though it took a little stalking and pestering to get them there, they now seemed to get on like a house on fire. What worried Ava more was that small, nervous tingling she felt whenever the VK made an appearance. Ava knew she was sometimes a little overbearing when it came to people she liked, but she couldn't help it, it was just the way she was. When she was around Uma, however, things were a little...different. The VK was dry with her humour, a little too honest at times and completely careless of what anyone else was doing, but it was all a part of what made her amazing. She was herself and she wasn't trying to be anyone else. She stayed true to herself, so whatever dress she wore or how she did her hair in the morning had to effect whatsoever, it was her personality that mattered, and Ava was in complete awe at the pirate's strength, especially after everything that had happened at the Cotillion. Ava didn't completely know what she felt when she was around Uma, she'd never felt it before, so how on earth could she try and understand it? It couldn't have been a crush, girls didn't crush on girls and everyone in Auradon knew that. But Ava had overheard a few girls gushing about Jay, and how he made them feel when he talked to them, and the end-game was all too similar for Ava not to be a little concerned about it.
"Then again," Thalia continued, her lips pursed as she thought. "Things are a little messed up over on the Isle, maybe they think that stuff's normal."
"Why are you so against the transfers being here?" Ava wondered. She knew she should have kept her mouth shut, but the fairy was really starting to irritate her, and the last thing Ava needed was Thalia spreading rumours about her that simply weren't true.
"They're changing everything, Ava. That doesn't worry you? I know it scares the hell out of me. Union Day is coming up soon, and what are we gonna do? Do we have to stop celebrating just because the Villains might get hurt by it? It's so stupid." The fairy ranted, waving her hands about. "Pirates are the worst. They're greedy and selfish and all they want is power."
"Mal changed, and so did the others. What makes you think pirates can't?" Ava pointed out, hurrying her steps slightly in an effort to end this conversation as soon as possible.
"You're such an idiot, Ava. Pirate's don't change. My mother taught me that, and she's dealt with them first-hand."
"One." Ava muttered quietly, though somehow through the loud talking of others, Thalia heard.
"What?!" She demanded, gripping the mermaid's arm.
Ava stopped, albeit with some reluctance, and turned. "Your mom had an issue with one pirate. That doesn't mean they're all the same." She explained, moving to continue her walk...again.
"You're so stupid." Thalia groaned. Ava ignored the sting she felt at the fairy's words, having heard them one too many times for it to effect her in such a drastic way anymore. "You saw what happened at Cotillion, are you really telling me that Uma's good?" She inquired with utter surprise.
"I'm not saying they're good, Thalia." Ava sighed, attempting to keep the peace. "Maybe they're somewhere in the middle." She offered, only to be replied with a loud scoff.
"There is no 'in-the-middle'. You're either good or bad, no in between."
Ava stayed quiet, feeling rather elated as she spotted her classroom door. All she had to do was get a few more steps ahead, and the conversation would be over. Maybe afterwards she could find Uma or Queenie.
"Ava!" Thalia called. The little mermaid's shoulders sagged, and she turned around. "You're either with us, or against us. If you're with us, you'll stop hanging out with those stupid pirates. But if you're against us...well, you know how much power fairies have." And with that, Thalia strutted her way down the hall, heading wherever it was she had to go.
Ava sniffled and walked into the class, taking her place in her usual seat. She stared out the window with her chin resting in her hand, feeling slightly nauseous at the threat the fairy had left her with. She had to make her mind up. She couldn't bother Uma with this, and Queenie seemed to be having her own problems. All she could do was deal with it herself, and hope the consequences weren't too severe.
AN
Hello my wonderful readers! Big thank you to all who've reviewed, followed, and favourited. I really hope you guys had a good Christmas and New Year!
Anyway, I thought it important to have a little POV from Ava, since we know how Uma feels about her, but not how Ava feels about Uma. Obviously she's been brought up in a certain world, so things are going to be a little confusing for her in regards to the Captain. Also, Queenie's training with Harry will have a bigger plan involved, so I hope you guys stick around for that.
Anyway, remember to review or PM to let me know what you think about this chapter. Thanks! Any typo's will be fixed once I've re-read through the chapter.