Disclaimer: I do not own Descendants. Also, special thanks to my new beta: elphaba_swan

Chapter 7: Playing a New Hand

"No doctors!?" Ben roared once he and Evie were in the privacy of their office. (He might as well recognize it as "their" office since even Doug had started coming to this place first when he needed to speak with Evie.)

Evie watched patiently as her friend let off some steam with his pacing. Seeing Ben in such a state would have startled and maybe even frightened most but Evie had been trapped in her mother's castle for ten years and had been witness to the woman's fits and disorientating ramblings in that dreaded mirror voice of hers. She had seen Mal when she was snarling threats with her eyes glowing a dangerous shade of poison-green. She had seen Jay's cold and silent brooding followed by fist sized holes in the wall. She'd seen Carlos's emotionless eyes and sharp remarks that always managed to cut deep. These all made what Ben was doing look like a two year-old's tantrum.

So she just sat and waited.

Finally, the King plopped himself tiredly on the other end of the couch. "I'm already failing as a ruler," he said so softly that Evie wasn't even sure if he remembered that she was still in the room. "I don't even know what to do to help one person let alone an island," he said with the same look of hopeless despair he wore when Uma's demands revealed the poor quality of food and supplies the Isle received. The same look of hopeless despair that she had seen on his face while Carlos spoke in front of the council, revealing the mental and physical abuse that every child on the Isle grew up in. (It was a familiar look, one she had seen in her own mirror after she returned from going through a draft list of Isle kids with Uma weeks ago, crossing out names that would never be given a chance in Auradon because Evie was months, weeks, days, hours too late.)

Standing up, Evie stood before him, arms crossed. "Okay, put away the pout, Ben." she said sternly. "We don't have time for pity parties. Nothing gets solved that way and neither does a king help his subjects that way."

"How can you have so much trust in me? I'm obviously so out of my depth. I think I'm making some head way with things and then...just…" he sighed, running his hands through his hair tiredly before looking at her with vulnerable eyes. In that moment, Ben seemed unbearably young; too young to be having the weight of thousands of lives on his shoulders.

Evie's heart clenched before she knelt before him and gently removed his hands from his hair. She tilted his head up until he looked at her. "Because Ben, you're the only one good enough to have even thought of giving a bunch of jaded, abused, and unfairly viewed kids a chance. You started this. You brought us here when everyone else in Auradon was glad to no longer be burdened by us, and for that, I'm grateful." she smiled softly. "Ben, you welcomed me into your home when you could have turned your back on a disgraced and titleless princess. You gave me your friendship. You love my sister and look after my brothers. You gave me the opportunity to find someone to love who loves me back and thinks that I'm more than just a pretty face," she said, her chest warming fondly at the thought of Doug. "And you helped me find my purpose outside of being the Evil Queen's daughter. Something that lets me help those who I wasn't able to help before," Evie squeezed his hands, tears starting to run down her cheeks. She could feel her makeup starting to run, but she continued to smile nonetheless. On the Isle, crying like this would have been seen as weakness but Evie knew that Ben wouldn't think any less of her.

"Evie…" Ben began, his own eyes beginning to tear up. There was no denying in his heart that he was madly in love with Mal but he loved Evie too - albeit in a different, familial, way - and seeing her like this, anything but bright confident smiles and sassy hair flips, tugged uncomfortably at his heart. He didn't want to let her down.

The girl quickly wiped away her tears, holding up her hands to stop him as he tried to comfort her. "No. Let me finish, please. You're human. You're going to make mistakes. But Ben, I trust you. Mal, Carlos, Jay, we all trust you. And we have your back too. You're not doing this alone. You're one of us, even if the only thing rotten about you is that you're too darn nice for your own good."

Ben chuckled wetly, unashamed of his own tears as he embraced the blue haired girl in front of him. "I never had a sister, but if I did, I hope she'd be like you Eve," the young king sighed.

The girl sighed, pulling away from him slightly. "Well, now you do. And your sister is telling you to get your butt up and do what you do best," she said lightly, taking his face into her hands and placing a light kiss on his forehead. "Being good."

She watched as the boy took a deep breath, nodding as he wiped his eyes. When he stood, she saw the king she was willing to follow with a plan beginning to form. He pulled her to her feet, with a grin starting to grow on his face. "Evie, we need to make some calls."

The Lost Revenge was probably Uma's most prized possession. She and Harry had worked hard to get it and then fix it up. Her acquiring it reinforced her position of power on the Isle, especially after Mal and her crew left. So, she had a lair, a place to be the headquarters for her growing turf, and something to call her own that her mother couldn't ruin.

Despite all that, there was a reason why she and her crew spent so much time at her mother's chip shop: the boat lacked room for any personal space below deck. It wasn't uncommon for the members of her crew that decided to sleep on the ship to share the old, creaking beds and mildew smelling hammocks. A tired pirate was a tired pirate and on cold nights a warm body was always welcomed on the drafty old ship. So Uma barely blinked an eye when she woke up with her back resting against pillows propped against the headboard of a bed, Harry's head in her lap, with the hand he usually held his hook in holding hers. Her feet were currently resting on Gil's back at the foot of the bed, since he was sprawled on his stomach and snoring slightly. After Ben and Evie had left, the exhaustion of the morning - dealing with Harriet, talking to her mother, worrying over Harry, and just being in a new strange place - overtook the captain and the two members of her crew to the point where they had slept the rest of the day away.

She took a moment to just observe the two boys, re-orientating herself to their current situation. Watching the two of them sleeping peacefully helped to push down the desire to blindly fall into chaos and inflict the revenge that always whispered in the back of her head. ("Burn the place down. Make them scream your name.") Chaos and revenge was the path her mother chose. Ursula had gotten too greedy and so cocky that she wound up putting all her clams in one basket and getting impaled by a ship before she could even really do anything with that trident that she had for all of three minutes. No. That wasn't how it was gonna go down for Uma. Not this time.

She was Uma of the Isle, Captain of The Lost Revenge and she would get her way. But she wasn't her mother. Yes, revenge and the horrid living circumstances of the Isle fueled her ambition but...she glanced again at the two sleeping boys, her left and right hands. She couldn't forget that she wasn't just doing this for herself but for all the lost boys and girls of the Isle. She had a purpose, and she wouldn't forget those who got her to this point. They would be her anchors when the storm inside of her roared with revenge against Auradon and all those who forgotten about or didn't care about the children they sentenced to death even before they were conceived.

For a moment, images of King Beast on his knees flashed through her mind, but then Ben's too-trusting smile appeared and the storm inside her stuttered. Oh, how she hated him for that. Hated how genuine concern had etched itself on his face when she could do nothing but attempt to hold Harry together when this too new, too bright, too perfect place overstimulated him. She hated how she could read him easily and see nothing but genuineness and goodness in him. Hated how he didn't hesitate to take the word of a bitter and jaded girl of the Isle, who had not only kidnapped him but who also put a spell on him, and taken her demands seriously and placed her on his council.

But most of all, she hated how she knew she would never be able to go through with killing him because he was just too good. Even for an Auradonian, he was such an insufferable do-gooder and any plans to really shake things up would require her to think outside of the usual villain box.

Uma would never be a hero or a pastel princess or lady. She would never be so willing to forget and pretend that she hadn't been mentally and physically beaten and broken on the Isle of the Lost and put back together into something darker and wicked. But she wouldn't use the old love spells of witches and dark fairies who had been failed by them time and time again but still hoped that this time things would be different. No, she would play the game Auradon had forced her into, whether she wanted to play or not. (But she did want to play and she wanted to win. Losing wasn't an option.) She would never be a hero, but if being a villain meant she would always lose, she wouldn't be that either. She would be something different…

Glancing over at the clock, Uma growled out a curse as she shoved Harry off of her and kicked Gil until he fell off the bed.

"Get up you two!" she ordered, already out of the bed. "Classes start in half-an-hour and I don't want that too good to shit Fairy Godmother looking for an excuse to kick us out on our first day!"

Harry seemed to perk up at the mention of the Headmistress, remembering that he was promised his hook back. He grinned giddily, pulling Gil's sleepy figure from off the floor and shoving him into the bathroom, blowing a kiss at Uma before closing the bathroom door behind them.

Uma merely rolled her eyes, as she began digging through Harry's bag for a shirt she could steal for today. She didn't have time to wander the halls looking for the room number Evie had scrawled on a note for her, so she continued digging and didn't even blink a few minutes later when she heard the surprised shout from within the bathroom. ("Harry! You have the water too hot!" followed by, "Sorry that you're a weakling, Gilly-boy. And Davy Jones! Brush your teeth! The toothpaste is there for a reason, ya know!")

Uma sighed, and wondered briefly how she had gotten stuck with those two idiots. She switched her teal and purple mesh top for one of Harry's less ripped ones. (And her first mate wondered why the crew called him a stripper pirate.) She had already taken one of Gil's extra belts to tie around her waist and was putting on her usual teal jacket when the boys stepped out of the bathroom. A smidge of toothpaste was drying on the corner of Gil's mouth and the kohl lining Harry's eyes wasn't too thick (though knowing the boy, he would have smudged it to raccoon proportions by the end of the day).

She quickly made her way to the bathroom, a small grin on her lips forming at the double take Harry did at her attire. He grinned, following her into the bathroom, standing behind her and placing his chin on the top of her head as she brushed her teeth.

"Yer wearing me shirt, darling" he stated, looking entirely too smug.

Uma spat out the toothpaste, wiping the excess from around her mouth with a towel Harry held out for her. "Have a problem with that, Hook?"

Instead of answering, he bit his lip, grinning as he pulled away, whistling an old sailor's tune along the way. Uma allowed some of the tension she was holding to be released. Harry was in a better mood so that put her in a better mood as well. A captain needed her first mate after all.

On the Isle, Diego never really had a gang. Sure, he was the lead singer in the Bad Apples but he never really felt that strong of a connection with his band mates. To be perfectly honest, he didn't really feel a connection to anyone on the Isle and that worked out fine for him.

He was the smooth crooner, the bad boy lead singer of the only decent band on the Isle. He was the guy dads told their daughters not to date only to do so anyway and then get their hearts broken when they saw a new girl or guy on his arm. (He was definitely no Jay, but he did pretty alright for himself.)

Despite all the attention, it hadn't been satisfying. But what else was there to do on the Isle but just look out for yourself and surviving from day to day before inevitably falling into the same pit of despair and insanity he had seen both his father and aunt fall into?

Obviously, he should have asked Carlos. (He really should have known that Carlos was too good for the mediocrity that was the De Vil name).

Everyone on the Isle had seen the Royal Coronation, Carlos's and his gang's (No, they're called friends here, a voice that sounded a lot like Yen Sid's reminded him in the back of his head) declaration to step out of their parents' shadows and not be villains, but be good. At first, like everyone else on the Isle, he had expected it to be a ruse; for Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay to turn around and say "PSYCH!" before grabbing the wand and wreaking chaos all throughout Auradon. But they weren't joking. They were for real. And as the news clips kept showing the four's journey into breaking away from what some would call their unfortunate fate and the horrible Isle they were born upon, Diego found himself wishing he could escape as well.

However, he never told anyone those thoughts. He never took a break from breaking girls' and a few guys' hearts during the day before doing the few gigs available at night or just avoiding going back to the trash pit that was his home. (He guessed he should be thankful that all his dad did was just waste away and gamble the few things he owned. He could have had Cruella for a mother.) So it had been with more than a little surprise when he found an invitation to the Anti-Heroes club in his locker. He had been curious (worried) about what these sons and daughters of some of the wickedest villains on the Isle had to say about his cousin and his friends. He was amazed to find kids like him who wanted something different. Something like what they seen happening with Mal and her gang. Something good. Not rotten. Something that made him feel connected.

Despite the desire to be something more than just a villain, Diego had never really hoped for any big change occurring, or at least, not in his lifetime. And yet, here he was, at Auradon Prep waiting in the classroom with the other members of the Anti-Heroes club and Dizzy.

Everyone else was asking Dizzy questions about the class, the school, the people, the food, designing with Evie and the youngest Isle transfer student was doing her best to answer all their questions as thoroughly as possible. In the back of his mind, the part that would always be connected to the Isle, he thought that Dizzy should have been more selective with the information she chose to share, find some way to get something out of the exchange of information, make a profit. But this was Dizzy and they were in Auradon so Diego merely watched in amusement as the girl got the attention Diego knew they all craved for but never really got on the Isle.

Movement at the door caught his eye and he grinned when he saw a new but familiar face peeking in. "Well good morning, Janey. How's it hanging?"

The girl blushed prettily and not for the first time, Diego could see how Carlos could fall for a girl like her. "Hi Diego," she smiled, seemingly a bit more comfortable around him today than she initially was yesterday. "I just came to bring all of your updated schedules to my mother. Though I see she's not here yet. Can I give them to you?"

"Sure," Diego shrugged, taking the small stack of papers. Jane smiled before quickly saying goodbye and rushing to her own class.

"Isn't she a bit too powder sugar sweet for your usual taste, De Vil?"

Diego turned, his usual confident smirk on his face, deciding to quickly change the topic from Carlos's girl. "Well, if it isn't the girl of the hour. Our Queen of the Lost and Misfit." The room instantly quieted and Diego could feel the others' eyes on him as Uma's and her two followers' presence were known.

Uma snorted, an amused look in her eyes as she pushed past him, taking the schedules that Jane had just given him and sitting on a nearby desk. Gil followed to stand next to her but Harry crowded Diego's personal space, a scowl on the pirate's face. Diego raised his hands defensively, choosing not to comment on how rougher than usual he looked (and not in a good way).

"Harry," Uma called, allowing Diego to relax as the pirate instantly turned away, taking one of the seats near the sea witch and sitting in it backwards, his head resting on its back.

Uma began calling out names to receive them. It was quick, almost so quick that Diego wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been looking. As Uma called each person up to get their schedule, her eyes quickly scanned over everyone from head to toe before giving them the piece of paper. Sometimes Harry or Gil would mutter something lowly to her and for those students there was a moment of panic before they were dismissed. She even called Dizzy who already had her schedule set since she arrived weeks earlier. Dizzy tensed as Uma's hands pushed up her sleeves and patted the younger girl's sides almost gently.

"You gained weight," Uma murmured softly. "Good," she said dismissively before calling Diego up and that's when he realized what she was doing.

"So I take it we've been pulled into an agreement with ya, Queenie?" he grinned as he was handed his schedule. An agreement was as close to a promise as someone would get on the Isle and depending on who you had it with, it could provide necessary protection. Uma had a reputation on the Isle. She didn't have minions. She had a crew that were deeply loyal to her (it wasn't just Harry that you had to be careful around when talking about the pirate captain) and everyone knew that she was to thank for the recent rise in quality of the Isle food. If she could make that happen on the Isle, there was no telling what she would accomplish on this side of the barrier. Again, despite being in Auradon, there were just certain habits of the Isle that weren't easy to break and making sure you had someone powerful covering your back was one of them.

"Do you accept it?" Uma asked looking at Diego but addressing everyone including Dizzy who looked unsure. It wouldn't be surprising if Evie had already claimed her but as the oldest of the group it was unsaid that Diego spoke for them.

"Well, you got us this far, Queenie," he chuckled, giving a slight bow before leaning against the table behind him in a well-practiced casual slouch.

Ursula's daughter merely smirked before calling the next name.

Uma continued calling names and checking over those she had claimed as hers, passing the schedules that belonged to her, Harry, and Gil to the first mate ("What the bloody hell is Basic Chivalry and why do I have it for two hours while Gil only has it for half an hour?") Finally, there was only one schedule left and Diego watched closely as Uma did a double take, glancing quickly at Harry before she said, "Freddie Facilier."

Instantly, the room quieted down, and Harry Hook tensed up, snatching the schedule out of Uma's hands to read it. Uma cast a dark stare around the room. "Freddie Facilier?"

"That's my name, don't wear it out, Shrimpy," the daughter of the Shadow Man himself said, grinning her signature Cheshire smile as she leaned against the door frame.

Well, Diego thought, taking in the way the son of Hook stared daggers at the girl who was supposedly the last person seen with his sister, CJ Hook. This just got interesting.

Once again, thank you so much for the reviews, likes, subscriptions, etc. I seriously hope you all know I'm not kidding when I say I appreciate them. Also, special thanks to the wonderful elphaba_swan who volunteered to beta this story for me. You're all amazing and thanks for being patient.

Um...not much else to say. I am really enjoying the comments on who you think Uma's roommate is. Some even were ones that I hadn't thought about before. I'll give you a hint though: none of you have guessed the right person yet.

Anyway, until next time.