Ghosts of the Past

Prompt: Could you write a story about something happening that makes cruella remember her past and upsets her and Ursula asks for her to tell her what happened to Cruella as a child? Thank you :)

The De Vils were a pretty little family indeed; it was a bit strange of course and some time before, no one would have bet a single coin on it, but now everyone couldn't helpt but smile approvingly when they saw the two women walk hand in hand with their lively son.

No longer after they had arrived in town, they had both realized that, as everyone else, their happy ending should have been about love; luckily for them, they didn't have to search very far for it. They suddenly got married and Cruella unexpectedly got pregnant, but those unpredictable changes proved to be the keys of their happiness – because yes, now they were very happy. And how was it possible the contrary with the hurricane of joy that the little Samuel De Vil was?

"Moms, can you take me to the park?"

The usual question of the Friday afternoon didn't come late and the two women – Ursula sitting on the sofa watching tv and Cruella by her side reading a book – exchanged a quick look of complicit exasperation.

"No, Sam, it's too hot today and moms are tired…" the sea witch answered, caring to change the look into a sweet one.

But Samuel – who had taken all Ursula's stubborness and all Cruella's love for drama – approached more the sofa with the arms crossed at his chest and a terribly begging look.

"No, darling, you know that puppy eyes don't work on me…". This time it was Cruella to intervene. "Why don't you do your homework today? We'll take you to the park tomorrow…"

"But Neal and Alexandra go now!" the child immediately replied, unavoidably angrier for the mention of homework. "And you promised it!" added then, pointing his little finger to the sea witch.

"Hey, calm down honey… You are not Rumplestiltskin's son after all!" she exclaimed ironically and then she looked back to the tv – sign that the conversation for her was over.

But evidently for him it was not. His look from begging became furious and - hurt by the ruin of his afternoon plan and maybe mostly by the lack of attention - didn't hide his protest.

"You are a liar!" he yelled as a little devil. But it was his next sentece to reveal an almost diabolic side. "I'm so angry now… I'm so angry that I could kill you!"

A perfect astonished silence followed those words, but it didn't last long. In fact, Ursula was quick to grab her son by one arm, starting to reproaching as better as she could, even threatening him not to take him to the park ever again. And yet in that reaction she didn't see anything more than an excess of rage, stubborness and tantrum; after all what could have they expected from him being the son of two villains? But that was exactly what hit and hurt Cruella instead, even if she didn't give voice to her upset. She didn't yell, she didn't threaten and didn't even give punishments; Ursula just watched her standing up slowly from the sofa and after some seconds heard the sound of the bathroom door being locked.

It took more than five minutes and at least twenty knocks on the door, before Ursula's intensive strategy finally worked. At some point between the "Cru, open the door" and the not so empty threat of "Otherwise I'll shoot it down with my tentacles", the lock was opened. Behind the door, Cruella was sitting on the floor, holding her kness to her chest and with an empty expression on her face. Clearly there was something wrong and it was something that concerned her past; actually, she didn't talk much about it, but Ursula knew her enough to understand that when she did talk about it, everything was bound to end in tragedy.

"Cru, what's up?" the sea witch asked, approaching cautiously, until she kneeled beside her wife. This time she had chosen the soft method.

"Samuel wanted to kill you"

The icy and unnaturally impassive hiss really sounded diabolic, as if it was a far voice coming straightly from Hell; that was exactly the reason why Ursula tried her best to make a laugh.

"He's just a child and he was angry. He didn't really mean that"

"But I did"

While saying that blunt answer, Cruella finally looked up and made herself be seen. Now Ursula could notice in her blue eyes a trace of fear and also a trace of humanity.

"I was only a child too, and yet I killed – I killed my father and my mother and her husbands…" she admitted without shame but with a sort of sorrow. "You shouldn't have married me, Urs"

"What? Are you saying that-"

"I mean it" she insisted, not rejecting the unusual mea culpa. "If I won't destroy this family, it will be Sam the one to do that. Because he is my son and he will become exactly like me… And I don't want this"

Here it was the essence of her suffering. She didn't give a damn about mea culpa after all; at stake there was something bigger and more intrinsically human than remorse: mother love. In that moment she would have given anything to prevent her child from living her own fate, but this simply because she didn't want to see him angry, lonely and un happy as she had been for so long. She didn't give a damn about morality.

"I want to stop living with ghosts of the past, I want something better for the three of us"

Memory had left room for the implicit confession of love and in all of this Ursula had just kept staring at her in understanding. Only in that moment she allowed the understanding to be replaced by solace and instinctively she took her in her arms.

"It will be okay, Cru. I know you're afraid, but I promise that our Sam will grow up in the best way possible"

"You can't promise such a thing" Cruella whispered back, but didn't refuse the embrace anyway.

The sea witch didn't lie and remained silent, simply continuing to offer his comfort until that moment would have passed. But Cruella's relief came only later and it was no thanks to her. In fact, suddenly Samuel showed up with the head down and the eyes full of tears.

"Moms… I'm- I'm so sorry, I didn't mean that… I love you both so much…"

He had a broken voice and the tears started to fall on his face. It was then that Cruella smiled authentically: she had never succeeded to cry, not even once; she had never felt any kind of regret for all the terrible things she had said – let alone for what she had done.

But instead Samuel De Vil was now crying and in those tears Cruella had the certainty that everything would have gone well, after all.

Hello!:) I know, it's been so so long since I last updated, but I had total lack of inspiration about the ship. Now, I hope to write more and also hope that you are still interested in this collection:)