Summary: The isle of the lost, the land of the forgotten, and damned. A place for villains and ''evil-doers' to live out their days in the bed they made. They claim the kids would be better off with their parents, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, or does it?
Dark AU, Mature themes, rewrite of Disney Descendents. Oc! Isle centric
A/N: In honor of Descendants 3 and the unfortunate and heartbreaking death of Cameron Boyce, rest in peace, I have returned to this fic.
D3 does not fit exactly with this fic, though neither does D2 (as we'll see later) so I am not sure if I will keep much of D3. With Mals parentage (which wasn't hard to guess) I will most likely keep it, however, things will be different as in a previous chapter I had stated that Hades had a child and was on the Isle. Sooooooo whoops. Plot hole I've gotta fix!
Warnings: Abuse/child neglect, emotional/mental abuse, cussing, etc. Dark themes below.
Disclaimer: I do not own Disney Descendants
That following afternoon, Dame found herself by the piers once more. Except for
this time, she was in the company of both CJ, Harriet, Harry, and Uma.
On the latter two's boat, which was very small in comparison to Harriet's and CJ's, it was spacious enough for their crew though, she was situated between the Hook sisters as she sat across from the ship's captain and first mate.
Uma, sat slouched in a chair far too big for her child-like size, but no doubt by the time she was in her late teens it would fit her perfectly if the chair survived that long. Beside her, Harry was sprawled over the side of it, lower body dangling from a stool as he paid very little mind to everything happening.
"Why did you call this meeting," the sea witch's daughter asked, head titled sideways as her hat slipped down her forehead, "You brought back up."
Dame didn't dare look to the two blondes beside herself instead keeping her head up as she replied coolly, "I was hoping we could come to some sort of arrangement Uma."
"Don't use big words Dame," Harry intervened, "Makes you sound all posh like some wannabe hero."
His oldest sister was able to maintain a straight face, only slightly twitching by his words while his younger one let out a set of giggles which soon developed into a fit of laughter much to his anger. "What's so funny CJ? Shudapp would ya? If you don't stop I'll"
"Harry!" Uma commanded loudly, "Enough, the sooner we're done the faster we can kick them out got it?" The pirate huffed but stood down despite the death glare he was throwing at them, he was going to be bitter for the rest of the week.
"Speak we haven't got all day."
She rolled her eyes, "I have already brought it up with Mal-" the blue-haired girl growled at the name but said nothing as Dame continued, "-and many of the others have already agreed to it leaving you to be the final one to agree-"
"Just spit it out already I'm getting bored!"
"Fine then Uma," she wasn't in much of a mood to deal with the young pirate, "My land, the tower to be precise, I want it to be neutral."
There was a moment of silence that passed through the cramped captain's cabin before Harry let out a confused laugh, "That's a funny joke Dame, didn't know you were such a kidder ha." But there was no smile or look of amusement on her face causing him to quiet down as he realized she meant it, "You can't be serious that's the most stupidest thing-"
"What would that mean exactly huh? And why is it worthwhile for us?"
She had been prepared for Uma's questions as she smiled widely at the girl. Uma was intelligent, perhaps not as much so as Hanna or Freddie, but she could use her brain. However, at times though, the girl often acted on her emotions, a common trait among all kids on the Isle it seemed, if Harry, Zevon, and even Jay demonstrated.
"Medical care, no questions asked. I will be at your beck and call, if you need me I'll be there." The blue-haired girl tilted her head, "How is that different from now?"
"You will take priority this time, if you need me, I will drop anything I am doing to come. I am at your disposable."
There was a hushed silence that passed by them, "What did you offer Mal then?" she hissed out, spite filling ever letter of her rivals name, "You can't offer her the same thing."
Dame nodded her head, "I didn't offer her anything, she didn't want anything," which was true. Mal had no reason to want her, the girl's small crew didn't fight others or getting into danger like Uma's they had no need of her services. "She'll go through with it if you say yes."
Uma scoffed, "You expect me to believe that?" she laughed along with Harry, "So it all lies with me, what power I hold ha!" Dame tried not to roll her eyes although CJ did in her stead, "And what of the other territories hmm? Freddie? Shan Yu's kids? Do they agree as well?"
"You and Mal hold the most power on the Isle, if you both fall so will they, it truly does all rest in your hands Uma." She replied, knowing full well how her words filled the young girl up with such pride and egotism.
"I will give you my answer later today then," Uma finally said before standing up, much to Harry's surprise who no doubt believed that she was going to turn her offer down, "Now the leave before I force you."
Smiling ever so slightly she made her way out oft he captain's cabin followed closely by CJ and Harriet who escorted her back to the pier. The pair bid her their goodbyes and good luck in regards to Uma's decision before taking their leave back to their crews who were awaiting their return.
Having not much else planned that afternoon, Dame made her way as usual to the bazaar to see what, if anything there was to trade, Of course, there was nothing good, but she still made her daily route through the stores and stalls with not much in mind. Deciding to go back home she made her way back up the gravel travel towards the tower.
And then someone called out to her.
At first, she thought she had merely misheard or perhaps it was the wind yet when she heard her name once more she turned to find the owner of the voice. It was like a wave of deja vu, having a similar experience with a certain thief the day before however, this was different. Much different.
Before her, leaning on a wall to stable himself, hobbling on one leg was Gil, Gaston's son.
Although his real name was Gaston the Third, or it would be if his father had deemed him responsible or good enough to carry the name. Left nameless and without anything to call his own he had been quickly taken under Uma and Harry's wing, considered the third in command, their little puppy of muscle and size.
They had named him Gil, a nickname that he took for his own. Soon enough even his own family, his brothers, and stepmothers used it too. The only one she wasn't too sure who used the name was his father, although it wasn't as if that information affected her too greatly so she never reached out to know it.
"Dame wait!" He called out to her, breaths sporadic and crazy, eyes filled with emotion, "Please wait I-" He stumbled on the gravel path falling towards the ground although never making an impact.
Her hands wrapped around his shoulders, pushing him back up onto his feet as he stabled himself, "Thank you." Gil was one of the only kids on the Isle whoever said 'please' or 'thank you'. Perhaps him and young Dizzy, who was barely four years in age, just over a decade younger then Dame, were the only kids to say those words. However, Diizyy was the only one to say sorry, something that gave her lots of grief from the other kids and her own cousins.
Well until Mal and Evie swooped her up, bringing the young child under their fold.
"What do you want Gil, does Harry or Uma need me?" She asked confused given she had just seen the pair just a few minutes before.
While she had her own experiences with the large boy, she never was left in the same room with him. He was strong and big, but not too bright, having gained the brawn of his father, much like Gaston Jr. and Gaston the Second, but not much of a brain. She didn't mind the boy but she always didn't hold many emotions towards him in the first place, he seemed like a background character.
"Actually," he began, "I need your help. You can do that healing stuff right?" Dame nodded until he gestured downwards to his leg.
Before her, she was met with a large stain of red. Blood had gushed and soaked the pants of his leg, and the limb appeared crooked and if she could guess, completely broken. "How on earth-?" she asked, the words flooding out unconsciously as she bent down to touch it only to lean away in horror.
"I had a fight with my dad. No big deal, I was being my stupid self," he replied with a pained grin, "He's a great dad you know. No one's as great as Gaston-"
"Shush," she told him, cutting him off, not wanting to hear the 'reasonings' for such an injury as she reached into her satchel to pull out some wrappings to bandage his leg. He jolted forward from the pressure, his hands grasping her shoulders to stabilize himself as he bent over her in pain.
Dame knew she had to take him somewhere. The streets were no place to take a look at such an injury. They were too far away from the docks to go back to Uma's ship and she didn't feel comfortable to go get help when Gil was in such a weakened state.
Checking around to see if they were alone, which they were, Dame stood up, taking the boys arm under her shoulder, "Come, I'll take a better look at you at my place, it's just up this path, think you can do that for me?" Replying with a yes the pair slowly made their way to the tower, a walk that would've taken no more than seven or eight minutes having been stretched out to almost thirty.
Once they make it to the broken down tower she helped him inside, physically moving several of the large brick tones that had fallen from one of the tower walls.
The trek up the tower stairs was horrible.
Gil had tried to ease his weight on her shoulder by leaning against the rickety railings, although when there was no more rail it wasn't a pretty sight. Blood trickled out from her makeshift wrappings around his calf although none seemingly spilled onto the cold stone, saving her from having to clean it up later.
When they finally made it to her room, they were met with the shocked and confused faces of Carlos and Jay. She had partially forgotten that they were both still in her 'home'.
"What's he doing here?" Jay sneered, eyeing the boy with disgust as he took a protective stance over Carlos who looked scared by Gil's presence.
Dame tried not to roll her eyes, without saying a word she gestured to the pool of blood gathering beneath them, looking down at Gil's leg.
The two boys followed her gaze as they too saw what she saw, albeit slower. The boy's leg wad completely busted. After that there wasn't much more complaining from Jay's mouth nor did Carlos look as fearful now realizing Gastons son too was badly injured.
What did surprise her, however, was when she had struggled to set him on her nest of blankets, Jay had moved and went over to help. "I'm not heartless," he told her when she gave him a look.
"Never thought you didn't have one," she replied in earnest as he moved away from the two, back over to Carlos where he proceeded to wrap his arm around.
"This is going to hurt," she told Gil who tried to smile through the pain although his eyes betrayed him, "It's all good if Harry trusts you, so do I."
She fought the urge to look away, but still hesitated ever slightly when she pulled the fabric away from his leg. Red and crookedness met her, making her pull away ever so slightly. The skin had been ripped, pulled back in a grotesque kind of way, the blood seeping out like a waterfall, it didn't even look real, like running paint. Dame had half a mind to turn around yet there was an odd intrigue with the wound too, watching it pulse hot and fiery.
Tracing her fingers ever so slightly against the torn parts of his skin, she heard a pained hiss. Eyes darting over to Gil, who throughout it all, staring at the wound that encompassed his leg, did not a tear was fall from his face, "Is it bad?" he asked her as he let out another groan when she brushed the pads of her fingers against the under part of his knees.
"It's-" she caught herself off, unsure how to respond. Dame had never seen an injury so bad. It didn't help that he had walked on the leg which only prompted to make it worse. The closest injury she had seen was when Hans Westergard had gutted a man in the middle of the street for insulting him. It was a horrific sight, scaring everyone around, including his own daughter Hanna in the process.
Luckily for herself, she hadn't been there to witness the event. Instead, only seeing the aftermath. There was a permanent bloodstain where the fight had occurred. The man, well, he lived, although it is not much of a life to live given the man was paralyzed, had half his stomach missing, and had a permanent tremble no matter what.
The consequences of his poorly treated wounds were grave. And Dame had no intention to let Gil be the same.
But she wasn't a doctor nor had magic. There was no way she could treat such an injury, she didn't have the right equipment and what little she had scraped together were dull or almost broken. There was no point for her to go to Ursula or Dr. Facilier's, she knew they wouldn't be able to do much better than herself and considering their steep prices, it wouldn't be useful.
"It's not good," she replied finally catching the soft-sounding sigh from Carlos and the scoff from Jay who both were watching them intently.
The boy nodded slowly as he processed what she said before asking a minute later, "Will I lose the leg?"
Almost stumbling to her feet, taken aback by his words she quickly shook her head, "No! Definitely not!" There was no way she could perform such a surgery and in truth, even thinking about it scared her. "I think I can handle it but-" Her voice trailed off, gazing landing again to his leg, "-we'll see what I can do alright?"
Walking over to her stash of medical supplies, or at least what she deemed were decent enough to use she tried to think about what to do. In most circumstances she could shuffle people in and out within an hour, never having to worry about it later however in cases like this she had no idea. Given the severity and the time between treatment, she knew the risks and consequences.
One one side, if all goes alright, she manages to low the inflammation, keep the infection from spreading and suture his leg up, he will be walking and good as new in six months. But on the other side, he could grow to have a limp, become trapped in constant pain especially if one of his nerves were pinched, or on the worse side, he could lose all movement in that limb and never walk again.
It was terrifying, the unknown future as it were.
Dame hadn't even noticed Jay stalk up behind her, blocking her between her makeshift broken dresser, "How bad?" he asked causing her to raise her brow in surprise as he shrugged slightly, "Can you fix him?"
She shook her head ever so slightly, eyes gazing away, "I don't know," she responded truthfully, "it's bad Jay, really bad. I don't know if I can do it. There are too many factors what if I-"
"What happens to happen," he reassured her, taking her shaky hands in his, "You are amazing just look at what you did with Carlos or the Tremaine daughters, you save lives."
"But what if-"
"Just shut up Dame, everything will be fine I believe in you, that kid, no matter what stupid side he chose to be on, he trusts you too. Why else did he seek you out rather than Ursula, his so-called leader's own mother, you know why? It's because you are the best on the Isle."
She felt her cheeks heat up as she pulled her hands out from his, "Even still, he may never walk again and I don't want to destroy his life because of my inability."
The boy sighed rolling his eyes, "You can at least attempt to do something, us standing here won't do anything." He glanced over at Carlos and then at Gil, his eyes softening slightly, "Use me."
"What did you just say?"
"I said use me. I'll give you backup on this alright? Anything you need me to do, I got you," He gave her a determined look, "Hand you things, get water, tools, food, even holding him done, I got your back Dame. Just say the word your wish is my command."
A smile tugged at her lips, "Alright then I need you to go set the fireplace and take these tools and that jar of water," she handed him the equipment, "They need to be sterilized first if you would." He nodded before making his way to the hovel of the broken down the fireplace.
Grabbing a few bandages she trekked back to Gil who had a dazed look in his eyes, watching the blood that was still seeping out although more slowly than before, "You there?" he perked up at her voice head jerking to meet her gaze as he gave her a goofy grin, "I'm right where you left me!"
She forced a smile on her face, "I can see that" she knelt down onto the pile of pillows and blankets as she set her basket of bandages down too. "This may hurt a little, can you bear with me Gil?" with a squeak of a yes she proceeded to carefully left his injured leg up, moving more of the pillows and blankets underneath it so he would be elevated upwards.
To his credit, he didn't pull away, only whimpering slightly when her fingers touched him and as she raised it. "What's going to happen now?" he asked her while she began cleaning the leg, causing waves of shivers to cascade through him every other second, "What are ya gonna do?"
As she cleaned she hummed softly, "Well I'm going to clean your leg up a bit alright and then I'm going to have sew it up along here so it doesn't get infected," she paused when Jay came over with her now sterile tools and boiling water, "Your leg will be put into a makeshift split for a little while so it heals properly."
He nodded at each word, 'Is it going to hurt?"
She hesitatned a moment before nodding, "It will be extremely painful," his pale face seemed to drain even move as he gulped, "Luckily," she continued, "I have something for you to take."
Grabbing the bottle of old sedatives she had found lying by the shore a year or two back she handed him one of the few pills still left, "This will help you sleep alright, you won't feel a thing."
To his credit, he didn't bolt away or shove that out of her hands instead of taking it, along with the small flask of alcohol she always carried for certain patients and downed it. It didn't take long before he was out cold, slipping into a peaceful sleep, his chest lowering steadily with each intake despite the continuous twitching of his leg.
Giving a nod to Jay, the two proceeded to work on the boy's leg. Finishing cleaning and then prepping it before Dame began to sew it back together. Halfway through it though, Jay had to turn away, gagging at both the sight and smell where some of the skin had already begun to be infected, having to excuse himself to go sit with Carlos and Othello by the gaping hole of a window in the tower.
The surgery itself lasts almost an hour, mostly due to her hesitance to actually puncture the skin. Thankfully she had some prior knowledge in what she was doing, having had one of her odd visions a few weeks prior where she had seen a kidney transplant occur before her very eyes or well mind.
Once it was all done and cleaned up Dame washed herself up with the now lukewarm water before tossing it out the window much to the grins of the boys who sat watching her. Heating up a small pot of soup with slightly stale bread and splitting a banana in fourths she handed Carlos and Jay some dinner while she hand feed their birdy companion.
Eating was mostly silent give or take a few words that were the equilivant to 'thank you' and 'yum'.
It was still too early to safely return Carlos, and given that Cruella hadn't seemed to notice her son was no longer in her hellish place she called a closet, neither her nor Jay was in any rush. And while Jay had to 'work' for his dad, Jafar didn't care much, as long as he brought home goodies here and there that they could resell. Othello was one of several siblings that Iago had truthfully cared for, a rarity among villain parents, but wasn't too worried if his children were around Jafar or Jay.
As for Dame herself, Gothel could've cared less.
That woman barely even realized or acknowledged she had a daughter let alone if she had her own company over. If Dame stayed away from her so-called mother, then she would stay away from her side of the tower, enough said.
After clearing away the bowls and food scraps, they all tucked into the other side of her blanket nest. Jay on one side of Carlos while she laid on the other with Othello between the boy's arms. Saying their goodnights and evil dreams to one another they all fell into sleep.
For the first time in a long time, Dame felt content falling asleep but she knew dark times were on the horizon, she could feel them lurking beyond the darkness.
Ages-
Dizzy-4
Carlos -9
Dame and Gil-11
Harry and Jay-12
Uma and Mal-10