First of all: thank you for commenting, bookmarking or following this story. It really means a lot to me and it gives me a lot of motivation to continue it. Second, I try to translate it from Spanish, which is my language, to English, so I apologize for any errors that may occur. I want to thank Kenyata Trabris and Dance Love 2007 for their comments. I hope you like this chapter very much.

Shadows in the night

The night was clear, and the school cafeteria was full of laughter, Uma's stomach full and her eyes heavy with sleep. She never imagined that she could go to bed with a sense of calm and satisfaction in her chest. Not that there was any bed she would go to overnight on the Island. Mattresses came infrequently from Auradon, and although they were in poor condition, the fights over them were often brutal. There were four in Gaston's house, and she knew Mal slept in one, but for her there had always been a pile of cloth scattered on the floor and a pillow that Harry had gotten for her when they were twelve, or her hammock in Lost Revenge.

Dinner was over and the most anticipated moment of that day was approaching, when she would see Harry so he could show her whatever it was he wanted to show her, and then they would go to sleep, ignoring Auradon with his absurd rules of not having boys. and girls in the same bedroom. She had already passed the key to her room to Gil; luckily, Desiree didn't care that he stayed there.

Uma allowed herself to enjoy the gentle evening breeze on her face, the weather was mild, and she longed to feel some freedom against her skin. At times, she missed the heavy winds that shook her braids as she held on to the ropes of Lost Revange, though she didn't miss the stench in the air.

A familiar and agile figure approached from across the field at a careless jog. Harry reached her in a heartbeat, hugging her. Her muscles tensed for a second automatically, but then she relaxed and threw her arms around his neck, inhaling deeply the scent of his so familiar to her. The smell of the Lost Revange hadn't left him: wood, a hint of rum. She wondered if her own scent had changed.

"How was practice?" Uma asked her first mate, who had agreed to try the tourney to fit in with the school.

"Well, I think so. Although not as intense as the ones we used to have on the Island. Bestie Ben says we could go practice swords whenever we want, you know? You, me, the crew." Harry replied, unusually pleased. His hair was damp from the shower he had just taken, and Uma resisted the urge to run her fingers through his strands. She frowned. That had never bothered her before, she wasn't sure why it did it now. Harry melted at her touch, although she didn't want to think about it too much.

They had already made quite a few exceptions on the Island by allowing mutual physical contact like hugging, Uma's touch on Harry's hair… in Auradon all of that was allowed. It was just that the gestures she and Harry had were too intimate, too intense. She had seen how the students looked at them strangely every time he offered her his hand to help her down from somewhere, or when she hooked her little finger on his hook (before he was forbidden to use it), when they looked into each other's eyes for a long time. That made her feel strange, as if it were the same as on the Island and they were looking for any weakness.

"It would be good," she commented. "I don't want my boys to rust. Who knows, if Ben fucks up, we might still give him a pretty good scare."

Harry laughed. Uma's words were empty, but she still laughed to see the scared expression of some Auradon guys when they saw the pirate crew that had kidnapped the king.

"Anyway, there is something I want to show you." Harry pointed to the sky. There were stars, not a gigantic cloud of smoke and pollution. Uma looked in the direction of Harry's finger, to find a star that stood out above all the others in the sky. "It's there, Uma. That's where I come from."

Neverland. When they were children, Harry had been obsessed with finding the star, always disappointed when the only thing he could see of the sky from anywhere on the Island was gray. His sisters used to tease him out of obsession, so he stopped doing it. Uma knew that as a child, when Captain Hook still considered him worthy of being his heir, Harry had heard hundreds of magnificent stories about Neverland. He knew that his mother's family was still there, somewhere.

"It's so bright," Uma said, smiling. She thought that Harry seemed to have carried the image of the star etched in his eyes, in that bright look of madness that was only his. The idea made her shudder with pleasure.

They were silent for a moment, admiring the star, until Uma felt Harry look at her, then she forced herself to look up at the sky and her attention focused on him.

"Do you miss him, Harry?" Asked Uma. "The Island, the ship..."

Harry vigorously denied.

"Everything I could miss about the Island is here, Uma. You, the crew…. Also, Ben promised that he would bring Lost Revenge to the dock, remember? And I won't let it be an empty promise. Our captain must have a ship. Or else…"

"You won't hook anyone, Harry."

Harry blatantly feigned surprise.

"I hadn't even thought about it."

"Yeah right. I know you better than you do, Hook."

Harry seemed satisfied with that. He and Uma started walking to the bedrooms and as they did so, Uma wondered if she should tell Harry about her nightmares. She hadn't wanted to do it in the cafeteria, because sure Auradon already thought she was crazy enough. Not everyone was really convinced that she and her boys had been helpful in saving Audrey. Uma felt suspicious looks on the back of her neck, but she tried to forget about it so as not to generate more conflicts. Not when the barrier had fallen relatively recently. Definitely, not when her crew was so happy studying. So maybe she shouldn't worry Harry.

Ursula's cave was dark. Uma couldn't see anything, she could only hear the continuous splashing of the water droplets that fell from the ceiling to the ground, forming puddles. Deprived of sight and voice, Uma felt as if she was just waiting for the moment when it was all over. She heard something heavy crawl a few feet away and saw, through the blackness, her mother's necklace gleaming from her. She wondered if she had come to free her already, bored that Uma wouldn't give her the pleasure of flinching or trying to run away from her.

"Drink this, you ungrateful brat."

Uma's heart began to pound. Ursula had been trying to make potions for the past two months or so, maddened at the idea of getting her magic back. She had also been forcing Uma to drink some of her so that she could finally convert to her marine form, because Ursula was deeply ashamed that she had two human legs. After all, two stupid human legs had been the reason she had ended up in this hole, she thought.

When he made her drink the potions, strange things happened to Uma. She lost the strength in her legs, so that she could not walk without excruciating pain coursing through her body for days. She was finding it difficult to breathe, something Harry had brilliantly solved by suggesting that she swim and let the seawater enter her lungs. Harry. Would he have realized that she was nowhere to be found? Would he be looking for her?

"Don't resist, mollusk. That stupid son of a pirate won't come for you this time."

Úrsula laughed, a hideous sound that echoed through the cave and made Uma wince.

"Come on, drink, drink! Do what I tell you, girl!"

Uma felt the cold of the bottle against her lips and the grimy liquid slide down her throat, causing her to gag immediately. She needed to know what her mother had done with Harry, her crew, Gil, would they be okay?

Darkness enveloped her again, only the weak light from Ursula's necklace flickering, and the echo of her laughter among the rocks of the cave.

"Uma! You will never be enough, Uma, you can't even have a marine form! You are a disappointment!"

"Uma!"

"Uma!"

"Uma! Wake up!"

It was dark, but it wasn't the crushing darkness of her mother's cave. For a second, Uma wondered what was happening. She looked around frantically, searching for her golden necklace until she saw it on her neck. She had stolen it from her, she stolen it from her, and she didn't have to fear. Two hands held her face.

Harry.

She rose from the bed on shaky legs, wondering if the potion had somehow been real. Harry held her down as her legs gave out. How weak, how vulnerable. If crying hadn't been a weakness, she would have done it then.

"What's going on?" He asked her, easily carrying her to the bed. Uma took several deep breaths, too fast, too shaken, until Harry took her by the shoulders and forced her to look him directly in the eyes. Uma felt her heart slowly calm down, she reminded herself that she was in Auradon, that old memories were just that, old memories. "Uma, tell me what's wrong."

She sighed.

"I've been having nightmares," she confessed, trying to ignore how weak her words sounded. "About my mother."

Harry seemed to understand immediately. His eyes began to acquire the reddish hue that he had inherited from his father, without changing completely. He was also trying to control himself.

"She can't reach you here, Uma," he reassured her. "You are far, very far. You are here with me."

"I know," she dropped into his arms, grateful. The constant pounding of Harry's heart reassured her completely. They were silent for a moment, sitting on the bed and leaning against the wall, not sleeping. The cool night breeze coming through the window, the moonlight like a precious silver ray. And far off in the sky, the star that Harry had shown her was shining high in the sky. "Harry".

He made a sound to let her know he was listening.

"Do you love me?"

She asked the question directly, letting her words slip from her mouth before she could stop them, her voice infused with the force with which she commanded the crew. In some part, she was demanding an equally direct answer from him, afraid that Harry would run away from the answer, but he answered immediately, without a bit of hesitation, without thinking, as if the answer was so obvious.

-Yes, I love you. I always have and always will.

Uma closed her eyes for a second, enjoying the feeling of knowing. The Island accepted loyalty as the ultimate show of love, even without being entirely well seen, something in which the two of them had excelled since they were children. But love… Uma knew that Harry would do anything she asked him, everything, and she knew that she would protect him at any cost. Love was a great word, new and at the same time so simple and natural. How had she not seen it before? Had they been so blinded, so obsessed with their parents' prejudice? Maybe they had loved each other from the first moment they saw each other, from the first time they stole some food together and shared it.

"Uma?" Why do you ask that? If it's because of the attempted kiss the other day…" He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I'm sorry I bothered you. You don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine as long as you allow me to still being your first mate."

He thought she didn't love him. He thought that Uma had rejected him and that she was still rejecting him right now. As if she could resist one more moment. As if she could keep pretending. Uma moved to straddle him, making him jump in surprise, blue eyes shining between adoration and disbelief. Suddenly, it occurred to her that her body belonged there, in Harry's arms, because she felt the same freedom she felt when she was at sea.

"Uma?"

She shook her head, cupping his face carefully, tangling her fingers in Harry's hair. As Uma expected, he melted at her touch, so she caught him off guard when she pressed her lips to his. It was as if an electric eel had touched her, her entire body seemed to respond to the timid touch and the next thing she knew was that she was kissing him fiercely, and that Harry was holding her by the waist as if she were better than any pirate treasure hidden in the sea.

As if she were a goddess.

He made her feel powerful and loved, and it hurt her heart to imagine how long she had been missing this. Harry kissed the corner of her lips, her cheek, the spot below her ear and a path that went to the middle of her neck, where Uma let out a sigh of pleasure that made him smile. Trying to regulate her breathing, she settled into Harry's chest, holding onto him tightly. She felt his happy laugh shake her body.

"Does that mean you love me too, Uma?"

She took a playful bite on her neck and Harry groaned in satisfaction.

"It means you're mine, Hook. And ... that I love you too."

Harry seemed so vulnerable in that moment, as if he believed that she was going to disappear as suddenly as a dream. So Uma kissed him again, her body demanding more closeness, more of Harry. Because she would never have enough of him, she thought with delight. Uma would never get tire of the taste of Harry's lips, the touch of his skin, she would never get tire of him being her first mate. For a moment, she forgot about the nightmares, she forgot about her mother, she forgot that she was in Auradon, because it seemed that everything Uma had always wanted was right there.