Ch 8 (Still 2014)

"So, I was thinking cheese sandwiches for dinner. Unless you can grab something to add to them between here and the shop." Gabby suggested as her and Jay walked back to the Junk Shop.

"Great. Cheese sandwiches. Are you going to cook them in the frying pan?" Jay asked.

"I might." Gabby answered teasingly. "Why? Would you prefer it if I cooked them?"

"Yep." Jay smirked, glancing at her briefly.

Gabby sighed heavily. "Oh, I suppose I could do that, then."

They rounded the last corner that would take them to the shop when Jay suddenly stuck his arm out to stop Gabby. She bumped into his elbow and looked up at him curiously. He was glaring straight ahead through narrowed eyes. When Gabby followed his gaze, she saw what was making him so angry.

Harry Hook was wandering around near the Junk Shop, looking as if he didn't have a particular destination or goal in mind. He was just sauntering about down the lane, looking into the windows of any shop or building he passed.

Jay growled under his breath for a moment. "Come on." he ordered quietly before he stormed down the lane toward the shop.

"Hook!" Jay called. Harry stopped and looked casually over his shoulder at them. He instantly grinned and turned to face them. Gabby followed Jay cautiously, keeping a wary eye on Harry the whole time.

"Ah, Jay. Gabrielle. What can I do for you?" Harry asked sarcastically, waving his fake hook with a flourish.

"I was about to ask you the same." Jay countered harshly, crossing his arms over his chest. "What are you doing here? Outside my dad's shop?" Gabby couldn't help glancing sideways at Jay's arms. The muscles of his arms were firm and bulging in his leather vest, and he looked very intimidating. Of course, Harry wasn't as easily intimidated as Gabby was.

"Oh, just…exploring." Harry answered vaguely.

"Exploring what?" Jay asked suspiciously. "What could you possibly be exploring around here?"

"Well, me and Uma are in need of our own territory." Harry explained. "So, I was just lookin' to see if there's anything around here we'd be interested in."

"You're not finding a damn thing here." Jay snapped. "If anyone's claiming this area as part of their territory, it's us. Mal and I have already discussed that."

"Ah, yes. I forgot about your little…adventure." Harry agreed mockingly. "And now you're forming your own gang? I suppose your next adventure will be in Bore-adon with all the other little goodie-goodies."

"Go ahead, mock us. At least I'm not Uma's little sidekick." Jay taunted with a small smirk.

Harry's own smirk fell as he glared at Jay. "I'm not her sidekick. I'm her first mate." he argued.

"Yeah, I can totally see the difference between the two." Jay agreed sarcastically. "Can't you, Gabby? He might as well be her henchman. Then, she'd be just like her mom. He looks about as ugly as an eel."

Harry narrowed his eyes angrily. "Considering who you call your henchman, I can easily say I'm not in the same category. Your little henchman's scared of her own shadow." he sneered, glancing at Gabby.

Gabby instantly looked down at her feet, taking a small step back.

"Get the hell out of here." Jay snapped, taking a threatening step forward as his fists clenched at his sides. "Before I spear you with your own hook."

Harry held up his hand and hook in a symbol of mock surrender, smirking at Jay as he walked around him and headed back toward the main part of the Isle. Jay watched him until he disappeared from view, then he hurried into the shop with Gabby on his heels. The moment they entered the shop, Gingersnap swooped in and perched on Gabby's shoulder.

Jay quickly emptied his pockets of the things he'd managed to steal throughout the day, placing them on the front counter. Jafar must have been in the back or kitchen, because Gabby could hear a couple voices in the kitchen.

"I'm going to track down Mal." Jay told Gabby as she approached the counter to empty her own pockets. "I need to tell her Harry and Uma are looking into territory around here. We need to have a meeting with Carlos and Evie about where we want to set up our territory."

Gabby nodded. "Go ahead. I'll put this stuff on shelves and start on dinner. Just keep me posted on any meetings and things."

"Sure thing." Jay agreed with a nod, turning on his heel and leaving the store again.

*~0~*

Gabby warily peaked around the corner when she heard the shop's front door slam shut. Jay was stomping toward the back of the shop, and after a moments hesitation, Gabby slowly followed him. She found him in the kitchen, searching the empty cabinets and slamming them shut.

"What happened?" she asked hesitantly.

Jay shot her a sharp look over his shoulder before going back to searching. After a moment, he asked, "What's for dinner?"

"I-I haven't started it yet. I was-I can start now." she cut off her explanation, knowing Jay was too irritated to listen to excuses. She grabbed a pan and the ingredients and began cooking. Jay hopped up onto the counter next to the stove to watch her stirring the food in the pan. Glancing up at him, she realized what she might have mistaken as a shadow on his face earlier was the beginnings of a bruise around his eye. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

Jay sighed. "Just a…minor scuffle with some of Uma's crew."

Gabby fixed her eyes on the food, biting her lip nervously. "Who was involved?"

"Me, Mal, and Carlos against Harry and a couple of his pirates." Jay explained like it was nothing.

That made Gabby a bit more nervous. Nearly everyone in Uma's crew was physically competitive; good at fighting and handling swords. Mal's gang wasn't quite as evenly matched. Jay and Mal could hold their own easily in a fight. Evie could if she was motivated and had things to use in the fight. Carlos and Gabby weren't nearly as good, though Carlos was smart enough to outwit his opponent most times. Gabby was too cowardly to be able to do anything useful most times. She just froze up and waited for the beating; a habit from growing up with her father she still couldn't seem to shake.

Gangs had been popping up a lot lately. Other than Mal and Uma's gangs, there were a few others, as well. Harry's older sister, Harriet Hook, had started her own pirate crew made of the children of Captain Hook's crew, including a couple people called Sammy Smee and Big Murph. Jay didn't consider them much of a threat, since Harriet was the oldest member at 15, and it's youngest members were only 10. Gabby had also heard from Jay that two of her brothers, the twins, had joined a gang with some girl named Mad Maddy, along with Anthony Tremaine and Ginny Gothel.

Because of all these gangs suddenly fighting for their own territories, there had been quite a few "scuffles", as Jay called them. Some of them were a bit more serious than scuffles, in Gabby's opinion, but at least no one had been stabbed. Yet.

Gabby glanced over at Jay again.

"Has Mal maybe considered…bringing more people in?" she asked hesitantly.

Jay's eyes moved from the pan to her face. "Like who?"

Gabby shrugged, her eyes fixed on the sizzling food in the pan. "No one specific. It's just…we're at a bit of a disadvantage, aren't we? Most of the other gangs are bigger than ours, and some have strong fighters. You and Mal are the only real fighters in the gang."

Jay stared at her for a moment. "Most of the gangs aren't that much bigger than us. Mad Maddy's gang only has five members, like us. Harriet has a few more, but most of them are kids. They're hardly a threat. And Uma's gang only has a few more members than us."

"Yeah, but she's accepting new members all the time. And they can all fight." Gabby pointed out quietly.

"So what? Yeah, me and Mal are the only ones who can fistfight, and we're the most skilled with swords, but the rest of you have your own strengths that come in handy. You and Carlos rigged the hideout's secret entrance." Jay pointed out. "Mal's smart in forming a gang that has a collection of skills instead of just one. It comes in handy in the long run. We're smarter and stronger than the other gangs."

Gabby nodded slowly in agreement. "I suppose you have a point…Can I suggest something, though?"

"Depends what it is." Jay told her, leaning over and snatching some food from the pan before she could swat his hand away.

"Can we push our borders out a bit to include Curl Up & Dye in our territory?" she asked quietly, still looking at the pan.

Jay was quiet as he chewed thoughtfully. "That's Tremaine's hair place, right?" he asked, to which Gabby nodded. "I think Evie mentioned that. I suppose I could mention it to Mal."

Gabby relaxed slightly with a sigh of relief. Nodding, she turned off the stove and began getting plates from the cupboard above her head.

*~0~*

Gabby hurried up the steps, her brown, knee-high boots clomping on the metal stairs. As soon as she reached the top and hurried into the hideout, Gingersnap swooped off her shoulder and disappeared into one of the rooms while Gabby headed toward her corner.

She heard a quiet scuffle, which she figured was Gingersnap. Then, suddenly, her parrot's familiar voice shrieked, "Blood!"

Gabby paused before hurrying into the room it sounded like it was coming from. Before she entered the room she heard another familiar voice.

"Shut up, you birdbrain! I'm fine!"

There was a moment of silence before a dog bark came from the same room, then Gingersnap shrieked, "Dog!"

"Where?" the same familiar voice yelped.

Gingersnap started laughing just as Gabby entered the room. Gingersnap swooped over and landed on her shoulder, still laughing, while Gabby stared at Carlos. The boy was sitting on the floor across the room, looking around frantically for a dog that didn't exist. When he saw her standing in the doorway, he quickly pulled a blanket over one of his legs.

"Um, what's going on?" Gabby asked hesitantly.

"Uh, nothing aside from your parrot being a jerk." Carlos stuttered slightly, glaring at the parrot on Gabby's shoulder.

Gabby glanced at her faithful parrot, remembering what had urged her to enter the room. Gingersnap had screamed something about blood. Looking back over at Carlos, she saw a rag covered in blood. "Are you hurt?"

Carlos looked up at her and sighed in defeat. "It's just a scratch." he assured her, though his voice caught in his throat. "I'm fine."

Gabby's eyes traveled over the many blood-stained rags. "That's a lot of blood for just a scratch. Can I see it?"

Carlos looked away. "I'm fine, really. Just let it go, Gabby."

"I patch Jay up all the time." she pointed out. "Why can't I help you?"

Carlos glanced over at her out of the corner of his eyes. "Villains don't help each other."

Gabby stared at him for a long moment, unsure why it felt like someone had punched her in the gut. "I won't tell if you won't." she finally said.

Carlos stared down at his lap for a long, silent moment before he finally sighed and nodded once. Gabby took that as her okay and slowly approached him. She knelt on the ground next to him and pulled the blanket off his lap. What she saw made her stomach clench with disgust and horror.

On either side of Carlos's calf were two bloody lines of torn flesh. Dried blood was smeared over Carlos's leg, pants, socks, and shoes, and more blood continued to trickle from the wounds.

"What happened?" Gabby breathed in horror, already grabbing one of the cleaner rags to gently dab at the fresh blood.

"My mom has fur traps in her fur coat closet." Carlos explained. Gabby almost gagged in disgust. With a hunter for a father, Gabby had seen a couple fur traps in her life, and she'd seen what they do to animals.

"And you got caught in one?" she whispered, already feeling like she knew the answer.

Carlos nodded silently.

"And your mom didn't help at all?" Gabby checked, almost but not quite surprised. She grabbed a spare piece of fabric on the floor nearby and carefully began wrapping it around Carlos's injured leg.

Carlos rolled his eyes slightly. "After she checked I hadn't stained her precious fur coats, she helped me out of the trap. There wasn't much I could do to take care of it at home, so I came here. Didn't expect anyone else to be here."

"Well, sorry I bothered you." Gabby told him quietly. "I'll leave you alone after I've finished."

"You don't have to." Carlos said quietly after a few moments of silence. "Leave, I mean. I just don't want the others to think I'm weak."

Gabby looked up and stared at Carlos's face. At thirteen years old, Carlos was the youngest in their gang. And he looked it. With the short, almost scrawny stature, baby-like face, big brown eyes, and freckles he looked like an innocent child. It was hard to tell who was the weakest, physically, between him and Gabby. But on the Isle, you can't be weak. If you're weak, people hurt you or take advantage of you. You won't survive if you're weak. Gabby was amazed she'd survived this long, though she accredited it to Jay, and the others.

"I know."

*~0~*

Gabby shifted slightly in her seat, leaning back more into the uncomfortable metal back of the rusty old fold up chair. She had one leg curled under her with her other leg bent up with her heel resting on the edge of the seat. She was lost in her thoughts, hardly noticing the chill in the air as she stared out into the distance.

The sun was setting behind the distant land that is Auradon, the sky a dark reddish-orange illuminating the dark navy and black mountain peaks. She could barely see the dark outlines of the many lands, castles, and towns; which had just minutes before been outlined by the sun's light.

It didn't look very far away; maybe ten miles between the shores of the Isle of the Lost and Auradon. But it may as well be another world given they were separated by an ocean that very few could swim, even if the barrier would miraculously disappear.

Gabby sighed, leaning forward and resting her chin on her knee. Her vision wavered slightly as her mind went crazy with daydreams and imaginations. She imagined herself as a young girl, black hair in a braid, running around a yard that was bordered by a small cabin and an endless forest. Unlike the forest on the Isle, which was dark, dreary, and creepy; the forest she was imagining was bright and filled with towering, green trees with little animals scurrying about.

Little Gabby in her imagination spun around and looked toward the backdoor of the cabin. Standing in the doorway was a beautiful woman with long, blonde hair blowing in the breeze and warm brown eyes. She was smiling at Gabby in a way that was only a distant memory in Gabby's life.

A clang made Gabby jump, her mind jerking back into the present. She took a deep breath to compose herself as she glanced over at Jay, who had just appeared at her side, probably climbing the flight of stairs to the highest landing where Gabby was sitting.

"What are you doing?" Jay asked, taking a bite out of a bruised apple while tossing a second one at Gabby. She barely brought her hands up in time to stop it from smashing into her face.

She was quiet for a few moments, clinging to her daydream before looking down at the bruised, slightly squishy apple in her lap. "Nothing. Just hanging out." she answered quietly.

"Out here? Why not go inside?" Jay asked, nodding toward the door into their hideout.

Gabby shrugged, slowly spinning the apple in her hands. Like a magnet, her eyes slowly lifted until she was once again staring out across the ocean at Auradon.

"You like it out here, don't you?" Jay guessed, leaning forward with his elbows on the railing in front of them.

"What makes you say that?" Gabby asked.

"You're out here a lot. One time I came here and you were asleep in that chair." Jay explained, also staring out at Auradon.

Gabby blushed and lowered her eyes again. She didn't respond to his comment. There was no need to.

"What do you think it's like over there?" Jay asked after a few minutes of silence.

Gabby once again looked out toward Auradon. She thought back to her daydream. She thought about everything she'd ever been told about Auradon. She thought about the TV stations they got from Auradon.

"Good." she finally answered distractedly. "Nice." To Jay, it would be an insult, a bad thing. But to her, it wasn't.

Jay glanced over his shoulder at Gabby, noticing her staring out at Auradon. He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully for a moment before glancing at Auradon and then back at her.

"Wait a minute-do you want to live over there?" Jay suddenly demanded, turning to face her in shock.

Gabby's blue eyes widened and shot to his face, staring at him in almost horror. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Her eyes returned to normal as she once again looked out into the distance. Finally, she sighed.

"Yes and no." she finally answered quietly.

Jay eyed her curiously. "Why "yes"?"

Gabby was still staring at the mainland. "I guess…maybe I'd fit in more over there."

"Fit in?" Jay repeated in disgust. "Over there? Where everyone's a goody-goody? But that would be so boring!"

"For you." Gabby countered, looking at him. "In case you haven't noticed, Jay, I don't belong here. I hate it here. I'm not a villain. I hate fighting, and stealing. I'm almost always scared, so much so I can never fight back when someone picks on me." she paused to take a breath before adding quietly, "I wouldn't have to worry about that over in Auradon." Then she scoffed. "Of course, I still probably wouldn't fit in over there."

Jay tilted his head. From everything she'd just said, he would've thought she'd fit in perfectly in Auradon. "How do you figure?"

Gabby shrugged. "I may not like stealing, but I do it because I need to in order to survive. Even if my intentions are good, if I stole something over in Auradon I'd get shipped back over here. Stupid hypocrites." she grumbled more to herself.

Jay smiled slightly. An angry Gabby was mildly entertaining. At least to him. "Are the "stupid hypocrites" the reason behind your "no" answer?" he asked jokingly.

Surprisingly, Gabby didn't smile. She looked back down at her lap. "Pretty much."

Jay leaned back against the railing, crossing his arms casually over his chest. "What do you find so hypocritical about the people in Auradon?" he asked curiously. As much as he hated the good guys across the ocean, being hypocritical was not one of the traits he'd label them with.

Gabby stared down at her apple, flicking the stem with her thumb. "My mom should never have been on the Isle." she finally whispered.

Jay's smile fell from his face. Apart from the occasional comment, Gabby rarely talked about her mom. All he knew about her was the role she played in Gabby's education. "You don't talk about your mom. She died, right?" he asked, trying not to care about the fact that it was probably a painful subject. Villains don't care about causing pain.

Gabby swallowed thickly. "My mom wasn't a villain." she told him. "She shouldn't have been put here." Looking up, blue eyes met brown. "My mom, Rosalie, was arrested for stealing. Back when she was an orphaned teenager, living on the streets and starving. She stole food to eat. And when the Isle was created some twenty years ago, she was thrown here with criminals and murderers. Why did my mom get thrown here and Aladdin didn't? He did the same thing. He was poor, living on the streets, and he stole to survive, yet he becomes Sultan of Agrabah. How is that fair?"

Jay stared at her silently for a moment, his eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of his father's enemy. "It's not. But life isn't fair, in case you hadn't noticed."

Gabby nodded slightly, silently agreeing.

"So, if you're mom's not really a villain, what was she doing shacking up with Gaston?" Jay asked curiously, still leaning back against the railing.

Gabby looked up, gazing distractedly across the ocean as her mind's eye traveled back through her memories. Memories of a happier time. "She didn't belong here. She was kind and warm. She didn't fit in. She couldn't have survived. Gaston…offered a better life. He could keep her safe, give her a decent home, and she only had to bear him children and take care of the house; something she actually loved doing. It was the best situation she could've hoped for given the circumstances."

"I'm guessing she was good-looking if Gaston showed an interest." Jay guessed.

Gabby nodded. "Oh, yes. She was beautiful. Long, wavy, blonde hair; tan skin; and chocolate brown eyes. I wished over and over that I could look like her. Instead, I look more like my dad than my brothers do."

"So, the reason you partially don't want to live in Bore-adon is because you feel they wronged your mother by throwing her here." Jay summed up, watching her. She didn't answer, but he saw her eyes narrow slightly as she stared ahead. Being a thief, Jay knew how to read people pretty well, and could easily tell there was more to the story. "Or there's more to it than that." he urged curiously.

Gabby looked down. "Why should I tell you anything?" she asked quietly. "I've probably already told you too much. You already think I'm a weakling."

Jay chewed on her words for a moment, his arms crossed casually over his chest as he looked over at her. "I think your physical strength could use some work." he admitted slowly. "But that doesn't make you weak. You have basic medical knowledge, you know how to make whole meals out of rotten food, you design and sew clothes like Evie, and you've helped Carlos set this place up."

Gabby looked over at him curiously. "You really believe all that?" she asked dubiously.

"Well, I don't just hand out compliments." Jay pointed out with a disgusted expression, making Gabby crack a smile.

"Fair enough." she agreed.

"So? What else is it?"

Gabby sighed, looking down at the floor. "My mom…got really sick about six years ago. I'm not sure what it was, I just know it was bad. I did what I could, but I was only eight years old. I tried to take care of her, help her. I made her soup and kept her warm and tried to bring down her fever. I didn't know what to do, though. And my father," Gabby scoffed a short, harsh laugh, "he didn't do a thing. He was just mad at how inconvenient it was for him. With Mom sick, Gaston had no one to cook and clean for him. So he'd make me do it. Kept telling me to leave my mother to either get better on her own or die. Obviously, you know which one eventually happened."

Jay nodded slowly, trying to force down the weak feelings of pity in his gut. "But what does that have to do with Auradon?"

"There's no one on this stupid island to help people." Gabby pointed out. "I couldn't find anyone to help me. There's no doctors or anyone who has medicine, or anyone that would've willingly helped me without expecting something in return. Auradon probably has doctors; medicine. If there was a way for us to…just call for help or something. If I could've contacted Auradon, maybe I could have gotten someone to help my mom. But I couldn't. They've isolated us. And a small part of me hates them for it."

"Then why don't you use that hate?" Jay asked. "Not only did they trap us all here, they're the reason your mother's dead. Especially the Beast. The Beast stole Belle from your dad, killed your dad, then brought him back to life just to throw him on this island with the other villains. And they threw your mom here to die. Why don't you use that anger to become a villain?"

Gabby blinked thoughtfully. "Well,…for starters, I don't care what happened to my dad. My dad's a jerk and he got what he deserved, why should I care what happened to him? He sold me to the highest bidder. But yes, I do feel resentment toward the King for throwing people like my mom here. And then making us kids grow up here, being punished for things that happened before we were born. I don't know, though. I don't want to be evil. I don't want to be a villain. I want…I want to be like my mom. She didn't hate anyone for being thrown here. She took the life she was given and made the best of it. I want to be like that."

Jay stared at Gabby for a long moment. He thought about what to say in response. 'You're already like that'? 'How can you not hate the people who did this to your family?'? 'I'm glad you're not a villain'?

Instead, Jay just shook his head. "You're something else, Gabby."

AN: So, we learn a bit more about Gabby's past and her mom, and we get some JayXGabby bonding. Can I just say 'aw'? They're so cute! That's got to earn me some reviews, right? Speaking of which, thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far! I appreciate it more than you can imagine! They make me smile!

Also, with the end of this chapter, we bring 2014 to an end. The next chapter officially begins 2015, and with it the beginning of Descendants 1. I'm SO EXCITED!