Dinner was very quick because of how hungry everyone was. The work on the ships was exhaustive not only for the crews, but also for the captains. Uma didn't know how much she needed a break until she sat down to watch the sunset with Gil and Harry. Her guys and Harriet's were playing out at sea, where the waves were beginning to rise. She saw Gonzo and Desiree giggle as they waited for the sea to collide with them, drenched from clothing to hair.
Uma believed that the sunsets would never cease to amaze her. On the Isle of the Lost there was no beauty, only sharp edges, shadows unfolding between the corners… However, the sunset was not soft either. All the beauty of the ocean was filled with fury and a very old yearning. The sun drained in the last minutes of its life and burned the sea and the sky with its fiery hair, as if it could not die peacefully.
The bonfire was still burning on the shore of the beach when the stars appeared in the sky, and Harry leaned close to her ear to suggest that they return to the ship. Harry's soft breath near her neck made her body fill with desire in a second, so Uma got up and they both walked away from the others. Harriet's gaze followed them, though neither noticed.
The surf was uneasy, and Uma thought it reflected how she felt. It was a strange feeling that she had since they arrived at the islet, as if something was trying to crawl from inside her to the surface... maybe she was just overloaded with emotions. It had been two very intense days, in which she had felt free as never in her life. Now, she could feel the thrill of being alone with Harry.
He seemed to feel the same, because his eyes had turned slightly red, and his gaze was filled with reverence and longing. Uma gasped.
It didn't take long for them to reach the captain's cabin, and soon Uma's hungry lips sought Harry's, which were warm and reverent, seeking to quench her hunger for him.
Harry let out a desperate groan and Uma pulled away a bit, smiling petulantly. Until that moment she realized the position they were in, she was pressing Harry against the wall, and he had a hand on her back, lightly caressing the curve of her waist; the other was firmly gripping his hook and his knuckles were white, so she knew he was trying to control himself.
Uma loved the way Harry kissed her, as if she were the only salvation, the last drop of water in a horrible desert; she allowed herself to soak up all his adoration. She also sighed his name and it looked like Harry was going to die at that moment.
"You have no idea what you do to me," he told her, looking at her with bright eyes and flushed cheeks. Uma saw through his clear and honest gaze, and found an excitement that Harry was not trying to hide, and something else, longing and a craving to give himself... Uma knew he wanted to give himself to her, without any pretense and without fear. He moved the hand that was on her waist and took Uma's hand, placed it on his chest, and she felt the strong and erratic beat of his heart. She gave a happy, pleased laugh. "It is yours, Uma, if you accept my offering."
Harry wasn't kidding. Every word, every kiss, he gave it as if he wanted to leave his last breath on her. Her name was uttered like a prayer, a song so sacred that it could only be witnessed by the Pirate Queen and her ship. However, he had that expression again, as when he felt that he did not reach the standards of his father, as if he feared that Uma would reject him.
"You have always been mine and always will be," Uma murmured, pressing her lips very close to his ear. She felt Harry relax under her breath and she couldn't help but laugh again, because there was no happier place than this. The emptiness inside her needed to be filled and there was only someone who could satisfy her and to whom she wanted to give herself as well. Uma wanted Harry to have no doubt that he was worthy, more than worthy, and that if there was one person in the world to whom she wanted to entrust her whole heart, it was him. "Please me."
Harry's troubled gaze disappeared, to give way to the certainty and calm of someone who knows that is loved. He sought her lips again, hungry, and this time he ran down Uma's jaw, down her neck with fleeting strokes that drew unknown whimpers from her throat. She felt him smile against her skin and her inner ocean churned like never had before.
Uma pulled him onto the bed and straddled him, her fingers eager to remove his linen shirt and pants. Everything about him screamed pirate, from his skin sunburned from the sea, giving off a salty smell, to the yearning for adventure she had always sensed in Harry, and Uma was proud to say that he was uniquely hers.
"You're impatient, Captain," Harry observed hoarsely, and he seemed pleased, though not mocking her. She wasn't going to deny it.
"You are too."
He helped her remove his clothes and then began to unbutton her blue vest, then she got up to finish taking off her clothes, not the least bit embarrassed.
Uma felt every pore of her skin twitch as she felt Harry naked against her own skin. Her breasts brushed against Harry's chest, and he stroked her, soft fingers dancing over her skin, running their way down to her belly in amazement.
Harry's fingers caressed the splendid skin of her thighs, athirst for her, and he glared at her as his fingers plunged into her wetness, causing Uma to shiver. Harry exhaled a strangled breath that sounded like a sea breeze. But Uma had no patience for these things, and the desire in her belly needed to be sated, like the hunger of a pagan goddess, so she reached for him with her hand to guide him inside her.
Oh.
Having Harry inside was like seeing the broken beauty of a hurricane. Uma always knew that they had a special connection; this was the missing piece, this closeness, this sweet pain of knowing that they belonged to each other. Harry held onto her as Uma moved her hips, slowly at first, pleased to feel him complete, her Harry, her Harry...
He hid his face in the crook of her neck, muttering incoherently, meeting her in every yearning movement, in every touch. Somehow this was different from the first time, which had been a discovery for both, where each touch was new and strange, yet so right. This time there was some desperation and longing for each other, some surrender and redemption.
Harry was adoring her, and Uma wanted him to know everything she felt for him and that she couldn't name because she didn't think there were enough words in the world to say what Harry meant to her.
This was a feeling that had always been there, growing over the years, constant and pure. Something that they had both been afraid of, because on the Isle of the Lost there was no place for the unpolluted things of the world. And yet it had found a way to emerge.
So much magic cannot remain inhibited for long, Ursula had said, and Uma believed that the same thing happened with her heart. She couldn't have held it down for long, not even had she wanted to. In that moment, Uma realized one thing that was so true and terrifying… She had a big heart. One with whom she could love Harry, and in another way, Gil, and her crew, and that was why she cared about them. And that didn't mean that she didn't want the freedom, and the respect, power, and adoration that she knew she deserved. Somehow the two things complemented each other, they didn't make her weak or fragile. Of course, there was some kind of vulnerability in it and Uma knew it, she wasn't going to fool herself into believing otherwise.
And even with that...
This was not at all like the stories of princesses and princes and happily ever after. This was the fact that Harry and she were always there for each other, from the smallest of things to the most important, and that they trusted each other, in a place where loyalty and caring did not exist. And Uma knew it would always be like this, even if they didn't leave the Isle, even if their lives weren't perfect.
"I love you Harry," she blurted out, her voice cracking, very close to his ear. She never thought she was going to utter that phrase, the words felt strange in her mouth, but not wrong. Never wrong.
Harry's gaze, wide and blue, met hers, and Uma could see the whole truth of her life there. Amplitude, freedom.
"You are the world to me, Captain," he said clearly. Without a doubt. As someone who has seen and knows all the secrets of existence and does not hesitate to jump straight to death. Something deranged and something chaotic, like he was.
That broke her. Uma felt all her emotions fall on her in a second, and the next thing she knew was that her legs were shaking and that she had dropped onto his torso, holding on, unable to grasp another reality, flooded with his scent and the sound of his heart and Harry's certainty in her. He buried himself in her once more, and allowed himself to release, knowing that Uma was satisfied. He filled her skin with kisses and prayers, still in disbelief.
She received each gift, each rigorous offering of words and touches of lips, and all his being dark and luminous at the same time...
Harry didn't know how long they stayed there, but he knew that he loved the way Uma held him, imposing her entire presence on him. He still had this sense of wonder feeling her, even when he knew it was real. That Uma loved him.
His heart was going to leap from his chest at any moment, in the most uncertain second.
Uma had been silent for a long time, something unusual for her. But Harry could sense that she was calm, perhaps a little thoughtful. He couldn't help but smile when her words confirmed what he thought, because he knew her so well.
"What do you think the treasure is?" She asked him. Harry settled into her neck, forgetting how to breathe for a few seconds when Uma ran her fingers through his hair.
He purred over her skin, breathing in the scent of her long braids. He didn't think there was a better smell than that in all the world.
"I don't know. I don't think there has been enough gold on the Isle to make a real treasure, but it has to be something valuable," he replied, then frowned, remembering something. "Uma, we still haven't read what you found in the shipwreck."
She looked at him with eyes full of furious curiosity, impetuous as always. Until moments ago, Uma had been more vulnerable than Harry had ever seen her in her entire life. Her heart almost exposed. Now her doors were closing again, but he didn't worry about it. He knew he could reach her there, wherever she was.
"I forgot," she confessed. Between the adrenaline rush of the storm and the other ships on their heels, Harry had forgotten too. Now, he was also curious. The wound of the loss of his mother had closed a long time ago, although that didn't mean that he did not miss her, after all, he loved her very much, something unusual among the children of villains. "Maybe this is a good time to read it."
Harry nodded in agreement with Uma, but not yet ready to leave her warmth. However, Harry could sense her impatience and knew that she was no longer going to be calm until she had satisfied her curiosity.
"I left it on your desk, in the first drawer."
Uma got out of his arms, got up from the bed and crossed the cabin to her desk. She did not bother to cover herself and Harry admired her without completely believing how beautiful she was, her curves like the waves of the sea, her oceanic braids, her abundant lips and that look of mysterious depth… Uma was a fallen goddess, Auradon had unjustly taken what was rightfully hers, but Harry knew that there would come a time when she would claim her own and even more, everything she wanted in the world.
She returned to him a moment later, holding a crystal lantern with a candle inside, and the roll of sheets.
"Open it," she said, in her captain's voice, handing it to him. Harry took it and ran his fingers over the wax seal. The warm hand of his mother appeared in his memory, and for the first time in several years he remembered her hands, always full of rings with crazy shapes and vibrant colors.
With a tug, Harry broke the seal and unrolled the contents on the bed, where the lamp Uma had brought could illuminate it well.
"They are letters," he said, glancing at the sheets. The wide, playful handwriting of his mother was everywhere, and he couldn't keep his heart from pounding with excitement. There were at least twenty different letters in the pile, some long and some shorter.
"They are all directed at your father," Uma commented, somewhat skeptical. She gave him a confused look that Harry reciprocated. He knew that his parents' relationship had been more cordial than that of many people on the Isle of the Lost. His father even show concern for his mother and Harry knew that she had followed him to the Isle of the Lost, which perhaps meant that she was in love with him when they were locked, but suddenly, looking at the words, he felt that he did not knew nothing about them.
They each took one of the letters and began to read in silence, listening to the ship sway and the wood creak. And as he read, Harry felt like he was entering into another world, because everything he thought he knew was altered. Suddenly, he found himself drinking the words hard.
The two of them read in silence for a long time, completely focused. But as time passed, Harry began to feel uneasy. All the letters had different contents, but there was one in specific that made Harry's heart pound almost in pain, torn between the incoherence of reality that until a moment ago was unknown and the usual reality of the Isle of the Lost and the Jolly Roger and everything he ever thought his family was.
James, the letter said. Regret, like love, can eat you from within until you are left with nothing; the only difference between one and the other is that regret is not worth it. I know you are perfectly aware of what you did in giving the piece to Maleficent. I know that now you regret it, because I have left without telling you where I was going.
You are stubborn and your anger at the world has blinded you. What Maleficent has done is unforgivable, condemn the Island to sink with her curse... but I understand her motives better than anyone. Villains cannot know what love is. But you and I know it well, and you, James, better than anyone, know that love liberates.
Maleficent is not stupid, and although she does not know love, she knows power. She played her cards very well: freedom is a precious and practically non-existent commodity on the Isle of the Lost, and now she has made us all fear the only thing that could set us free. Although love is not capable of breaking the magical barrier that keeps us in our prison, it is capable of breaking any barrier of our spirit. But now... now she has also taken that possibility away from all of you, and she has taken control of the Isle by imposing her own prison of fear on you. Ursula has done well to refuse to give her the piece, even if she did it just because she knew she would be giving up the last of her power.
I followed you to this Isle knowing very well what my life would become. I took a decision, to share your destiny, from the first moment we met, when you saved me from drowning in the sea of Neverland, and I could see in your eyes what even you could not find; a hope of redemption you never wanted to accept, and the bitterest sadness in the world. I am, perhaps, the only truly free person on the Isle, even though I cannot explore the confines of the world with you, as we thought we would when we met.
I chose to come. No one can take that away from me.
I know that Maleficent will one day realize what I have done, and I know that she will fight to defend her twisted magic. The gypsy magic that was still in my veins has been enough just to enchant a treasure that will be able to break the curse if it is ever activated, if someone in this place is brave enough to realize what none of the villains wanted to see.
Sacrifice also has great power if it is pure and honest. I know you think I regret having followed you, now more than ever. Do not become the monster that the Isle wants you to be, do not voluntarily give up your ability to love. I know that for a long time you were not able to feel love, but I also know that you have never feared it.
All arrows hit their target, James Hook, ignite love if they are made of gold and extinguish it if they are made of silver. Isle rot is corrosive because it is designed to destroy you. To destroy us all.
I hope to get back to the Jolly Roger, my home, very soon. It would have been dangerous to tell you about my plans, and there was no time, but as soon as I see you, I will tell you more.
I'll give you the map to find the treasure, I'll sing you the song.
I still believe that there is salvation for all of us.
"This is what my father meant when he said we were in danger, Harry thought aloud, trying to fit all the pieces into place." He looked at Uma, who was somewhat tense, listening carefully; he had read the letter out loud to her. "Somehow, he realized that we loved each other, and then... he must have known, that's why he sent us to look for the treasure."
She crossed her arms, thinking of all the options, every piece of the story she had to make sense of. She looked like she was just as disturbed as Harry, and he understood why. Captain Hook had never openly ranted about how love got them all locked up on the Isle of the Lost; his story had no princes or princesses or true love kisses, so he was unlike many of the villains. But Ursula, Uma's mother, had indeed been overcome by true love, by a kiss. Uma had grown up hearing more often than Harry how love was the worst, how it made you weak and made you give up your will and power.
But Harry understood what his mother meant in her letter, because he always felt free with Uma. Even though all he wanted was to give himself to her, even though he knew he would give his life for Uma's in a second. But that was his decision, his free will. And he knew that she understood it too, he saw it in her eyes and heard it in her stormy voice...
No. Love was not that soft happy thing in the stories of princes and princesses. Love was harder than rock, sharper than a sword, as deadly as the raging tide. A voluntary madness that suddenly releases. Harry understood in a second and was suddenly at peace with it.
"So it seems that we finally managed to get the Isle under our power," Uma said, almost jokingly, shrugging. "Not in the way we intended, but in our power, after all."
Harry could see the concern behind her words. All her life, Uma had wanted to go out into the world, to leave the Isle of the Lost, because she knew that they did not deserve to live in such misery, begging for the crumbs of Auradon. But he also knew that Uma loved every alley, every old establishment, every dark corner of her home, where they had spent more hours than could be counted plotting mischief and evil plans, because even with her big heart, something evil lived in her, the same thing that made Harry find it fascinating to watch a ship burn and sink.
"We'll find a way to break it," Harry promised her, and took her hand to kiss her knuckles, sealing the promise.
"We're almost there anyway," she said, like it didn't matter too much, but Harry noticed her shoulders let go of a bit of tension. "And maybe, you know, if the Isle explodes or something, we might even break down the barrier and we could get revenge on Mal."
Harry smiled, the storm that lay still inside him churning at the knowledge that this was his Uma, as fierce and restless as ever.
"Auradon won't know what hit them," he agreed. And there were many other things that were still on Harry's mind, things that he hadn't know before about his mother, things that he had discovered in the letters, but this was not the time to talk about all that.
Uma got out of bed gracefully. She gave Harry his linen shirt and began looking for her own clothes.
"Get dressed, Harry. We have another questioning to do. If Clay insists on resisting giving us what your father sent us, I'll make him eat whatever is in the bilge."
"You said that I could hook him," Harry reminded her, tying his boots.
Uma rolled her eyes, but then she smiled at him.
"Fine. If he doesn't speak after that, then he will eat dirt."
That pleased Harry. Because there was no way silly Clay's not talking after testing the edge of his hook. He really wanted to make him pay for calling Uma shrimp.
And although many things now made more sense than before, there were still many that neither Harry nor Uma fully understood. At least now they knew that all of this was more important than it appeared at first glance, much deeper than a simple treasure hunt.
When they arrived to the Isle of the Lost, it was noon and there was no sun. Ben, Mal, Jay, Evie, and Carlos had borrowed one of the fastest boats to cross. Ben had thought it would be more difficult to steal one of the controls that opened and closed the magic barrier, but Jay had done it in a second, so easily and quickly that Ben's heart ached at the thought of how many times he had to steal on the Isle.
Evie had made him suitable clothes, telling him that if he was dressed as he usually did, he would surely be the mockery of the Isle. So now he had a leather jacket, and still feel the cold weather on his skin.
They had, more or less, a plan. Before acting and carrying out an action as forceful as an emergency evacuation, they would have to make sure that their suspicions were true, so the first thing they would do would be to go to the docks, watch Uma and her people for a while, trying to know if Maleficent's curse was, in fact, active.
"Don't draw too much attention, we don't want people to know we came back," Evie advised, as she arranged his jacket to make him look less formal. "Don't talk to anyone. Follow us in silence. Don't look at anyone. If someone stares at you for a long time, grunt."
He nodded, trying not to think about her advice and the fact that children, like him, like his friends, lived this way.
"You'll be fine," Mal assured him. "This will be quick."
Jay and Carlos, who had gone to scout the terrain, returned at that moment. They seemed different people, all of them, more like the guys Ben had met the day they arrived in Auradon, and less like the ones they were now.
"Let's just go unnoticed," Jay suggested, a little tense. "There are posters with our faces crossed out."
Mal snorted.
"It does not matter. They will have to respect us a bit, when we lived here we had all the power. That should be enough for no one to mess with us."
Evie looked a bit incredulous, like she wanted to say something. Finally, she sighed and shook her head. Then the five began to walk, entering the Isle, following the path to the docks.
And as they walked, Ben was sure of two things. The first, that these people did not deserve to live like this, no matter what they have done. A couple of kids ran past them, and then some bigger thugs appeared, following them. Ben wanted to help, but Evie stopped him. He saw the sadness and the deep pain in her eyes as she denied, silently telling him that there was nothing he could do. The second thing he knew was that he didn't have to wait for the Isle of the Lost to sink to get them all out of there. He didn't know how he would do it, but he knew that he would.
The alleys led them to the dock, where there were some ships moored. There were also rickety establishments, some old sailors trying to fish, and further on, almost at the end of the walkway, a place whose sign read "Ursula's Fish and Chips. You will take it like I make it!"
"There it is," Carlos commented. "She should be inside; she works for her mom every day of the week."
Ben knew that explanation was just for him. Now, they had to find a way to look inside without being discovered, without attracting so much attention. Clouds in the sky, thick as Ben had never seen them in Auradon, collided, and thunder cracked over their heads; before long, small drops of rain splashed his face.
"It's not safe to go in," Mal said, "She'd recognize any of us."
"That's why," Evie said, pulling a bunch of clothes out of her bag, "that I made these. They are disguises, we will be unrecognizable."
She handed out clothes to each one, telling them how to put e ach thing on. In the end, they were, in fact, unrecognizable. They were wearing sailor clothes that even looked dirty, worn.
"You're a genius, Evie," Ben complimented. Evie smiled pleased. Mal caught his attention at that moment.
"So," she said, "let's visit Shrimpy."
They walked down the walkway to the dock, and Ben couldn't help but marvel when one of the moored ships caught his eye. It seemed to have been splendid in his good times, and although it looked run down and old now, there was something about it that made it look dignified, haughty. A pirate flag fluttered in the wind and voices could be heard from the deck. Jay pulled him by the arm, and until that moment Ben hadn't realized that he had been walking in that direction.
"Is that...?", He started to ask, but Jay answered before he could finish his question.
"The Jolly Roger. Seriously, Ben, don't get too far from us. "
It was one thing to have grown up listening to the stories of heroes and villains, to know that they were all locked up on the Isle of the Lost; but knowing that he was next to the dreaded Captain James Hook's ship made Ben feel overwhelmed. They were like two completely different realities, Auradon and the Isle, even though the people in both places shared the same stories.
They mingled with the people on the dock, and no one seemed to notice anything unusual about them. When they got to Ursula's shop, Ben noticed his friends tense up, and suddenly they seemed like cats, expecting a fight, a confrontation at any moment.
The place was full of marine decoration, shells, blue streamers… there was an organ on a makeshift stage, and graffiti on the walls. We ride with the tide. Everywhere, like a motto. Ben thought he remembered that he had seen the same graffiti on the walls of the alleys, on the docks.
"Where is she?" Evie asked quietly. Only two of the tables that were there were occupied, and the place seemed almost abandoned. An unkempt cook had just walked in to where Ben guessed the kitchen would be.
"I hate the smell of fish," Jay commented.
They waited a moment, surveying the place, but the only person who seemed to be attending was the cook. The next time she came out of the kitchen, a couple of jars in hand, Mal stopped her.
"Where's Uma?" She asked, her voice lacking a hint of cordiality. The cook didn't stop, she made a face of disbelief and set the plates down with a bang in front of a couple of customers.
"But everyone knows," she replied. "She left three days ago, she sailed on the Lost Revenge. If you owe her something, you can leave it to me here, I'll give it to her when she returns."
But as Mal hesitated, the cook made an exasperated gesture and snorted, entering the kitchen again.
"Let's go out," Carlos said in a low voice, seeing that the customers at one of the tables were looking at them with curiosity. "Now."
Once outside the establishment, they began to walk along the dock while talking.
"Now what do we do?" Evie asked. Mal was going to say something, but a commotion on the dock caught not only their attention, but the attention of everyone near them. A boat was coming ashore, with about six or seven people on board. They looked exhausted to the point of death and were drenched, shaking uncontrollably. When they moored the boat to the dock, many people approached.
"Did you find the treasure? Did you see Uma?" Asked some of them, and other things that Ben could not understand. That got he and his friend's attention, so they looked at each other and quickly agreed to mingle with the onlookers.
The crew of the boat dropped to the ground, completely exhausted, shaking from the cold that must have seeped into their bones, breathing heavily. A couple of them even burst into tears and Ben knew from Mal's incredulous expression that this was not at all common on the Isle. They were guys about his age, but they looked tremendously old at the time.
"Uma sank our ship. She took Clay and Rick and the others hostage and sent us back in this boat," one of them gasped, staring at the crowd, trembling. He seemed deeply disturbed, and suddenly it even seemed that he was far away, somewhere else. "I can't stop seeing her in my mind. She is beautiful and terrible, the one whose ship dominates the storms."
Ben frowned. From the way the boy spoke about Uma, it seemed that he was talking about a goddess, a queen... Exhausted, the boy fell completely on the floor, and although his eyes were closed, he repeated the same word, like a strange song, maddened.
Uma. Uma. Uma. Uma.
A/N: Hello! Wow, this story just reached the 1000 readings, and at the same time I got the first review. I can´t answer you in private, so I'll leave here what I think:
First of all: THANK YOU SO MUCH! Know what you, my readers, think about the story really, really encourages me to keep writing. And I think your review is very interisting because Hook's character seems very intriguing to me, I think he has many nuances, he is not completely black or white, "I hate love" type or he is completely capable of loving. I think he has that capacity but he doesn't know how to do it healthily, and somehow he wants to take care of his children because they are his legacy, because they are part of his wife and she loved her. I also think he has a soft spot for Harry because he sees more of his wife in him than in his daughters. What I'm trying to do is, a bit, make it clear that love doesn't always make you a good person, sometimes it makes you cruel and selfish, sometimes it just makes you human, with equal parts good and bad. He still has a role in this story, I promise!