All her life, Mal had been used to people doing what she wanted. She said jump, whoever got the order did it. If Mal wanted someone to make a fool of himself just for her fun, there was always some victim within her grasp. She believed that was what it meant to be a leader.

But she wasn't prepared to make decisions that would involve the welfare of others. She didn't know how to do it. And when she heard that her mother had the fault of what was happening on the isle, Mal couldn't do anything. She just stood there, waiting.

"If the isle has started to sink, we have to do something, Ben," Evie said, her voice full of anguish, "we can't just leave all those people there. I know that many are guilty of terrible things, but there are innocents."

Ben exhaled, not knowing exactly what to do, leaning back on his desk.

"I know," he replied. "That is why I was thinking a lot about a solution. And I need the help of all of you. I want you to go with me to the Isle of the Lost to begin an emergency evacuation."

Jay whistled, surprised.

"An evacuation? And where will we take everyone?"

"Here, Auradon" Ben replied, without hesitation. How, that was something he didn't know.

Evie nodded in agreement with the king.

"Then we'll have to structure a plan."

"Without the Fairy Godmother finding out, of course," Carlos added, and although he sounded a bit scared, he also seemed determined.

"I have been writing proclamations and propositions because we'll need an endorsement when the Council finds about this. However, I think this time I had to take a decision as king, and they are practically obliged to back me up." Ben sought Mal's support, trying to meet her eyes, but she avoided his gaze. A little disappointed, Ben looked back at his friends. "So, am I counting on you?"

Evie, Jay and Carlos answered yes without hesitation. This time, Mal smiled, although she seemed somewhat tense, and she said yes just like the others.

She always believed that she was a leader. Now, she wasn't sure.


Uma was checking the charts when Gil entered her cabin. He had that look that clouded his eyes every time he believed that he had done something wrong, and that Uma was going to scold him, full of open innocence, and she couldn't help but grimace in exasperation. She knew that Gil lived with the constant feeling of being wrong in everything and although sometimes Uma herself could not bear his unwise mouth (like when he called her shrimpy), she still hated to think that Gil felt that way. He was full of naivety, something pure that neither Harry nor Uma had anymore. It was a curious mix because, despite that, Gil wasn't weak.

"Jonas told me you want to talk to me," he said, sitting on the edge of Uma's bed. "I came as soon as I got to the ship. What are you doing?"

Uma made a nonchalant gesture with her hand, to dismiss the maps.

"I was just checking the navigation charts. We must get to an islet soon, so we'll rest there and have the crew clean the hull. Are you okay?" She couldn't help her voice sounding harsh. Uma had learned that her voice sounded soft only to Harry, only sometimes. It was unusual and usually happened when her walls were low, although that had happened a lot with him lately.

Gil smiled, more relieved to see that Uma was in a good mood.

"Yes. It was fun to see the cannons. Harriet was angry." He seemed to consider something. "CJ said that she admires you, although I probably shouldn't be telling you."

Uma giggled and sat next to him, silently assessing if there was any visible damage. It was a habit ingrained deep within her. Gil was hers too, as was her crew, and she would not allow anything bad to happen to him.

"I'm sure she would threaten to beat you to death if she finds you told me." She told him. "But seriously, Gil, are you okay?"

She wouldn't insist if he were someone else. With Harry, Uma trusted that he would always tell her the truth, an extra advantage was that a look into his eyes made him impossible to hide something from her. But Gil was used to pretend that everything was fine, even when he seriously needed help. It was hard going back to being the three of them when they had just been Harry and Uma for a long time, and sometimes he felt like they were displacing him. It was never their intention.

It was just that Gil was used to everyone pushing him aside. The idiots of his brothers, his father. People on the isle considered him foolish, when Uma and Harry knew that was a lie. He was just different.

"I'm fine, Uma," he promised her, pulling her into a hug of pure muscle. She allowed it, breathing in the scent of leather from her friend. Leal Gil. "I haven't had a chance to tell you that I'm happy for you and Harry."

That was where she wanted to go. She didn't want Gil to think that, just because she and Harry had this new kind of relationship, they would leave him behind. The problem was that the last two days they had barely time to rest, and Uma hadn't found a moment to speak with Gil.

"You already know that the word... love, does not exist in this place more cursed than hell," Uma began, not quite sure how to express what she felt. Gil knew that she cared for him and that if Harry was her first mate, Gil was the second. They were her boys, whatever happened. But Uma never had to say "I love you" to anyone other than Harry and this was difficult, even when the meaning in the words was so different. "What I want to say is that it is good that you are back. You know, after all those years."

Gil smiled, a little innocent and a little mischievous.

"Are you telling me that you love me?"

So, she sulked.

"Of course not," she said, crossing her arms. "You know I don't have... those things, feelings."

But that sounded so untrue, and Uma was aware of that. Not only because she always had this rage coming out of every pore of her being, screaming how furious she felt. Not just because she knew she was so obvious about how she felt for Harry. So, she couldn't help but blurt out her bravado and laugh. Gil started to make a mocking mime of Uma and Harry declaring their love for each other and she dragged him out of the cabin hitting him with the map.

That was it.

But her heart was calmer. She knew that her family was complete.


When Uma came up on deck, they were very close to reach the islet where they planned to maintain the ships and rest. Even with her well-organized crew, Uma knew that they had to relax for a moment to be able to continue the last part of the trip, so she believed that it would be best if they stayed there until dawn the next day. They were very close to reaching their destination, and the wind had been favorable practically the entire journey.

She couldn't help but laugh when she saw the new crew members, who could barely keep up with the work. Clay was tied to the mast, and it seemed that he would rather die than be there. Uma wasn't going to deny it, sometimes being a captain wasn't just useful, but a lot of fun.

"Someone bring him down," she ordered. "And I want everyone to prepare to disembark."

She wondered if she would ever stop feeling pleased that her orders were being carried out so quickly. The Revenge and the Tempest gradually slowed down until they came to a stop in the small bay and Harry made sure everything was in order to disembark.

And that was, definitely, the most beautiful place Uma had ever seen. It was not like the islet they had been on before, with silver sand and green palm trees. This bay had rather some sort of smaller shrubbery, and tall craggy rocks, which for many would be a shame. But Uma could hear the foam crashing against the stone, constant and firm, and she saw the water of the coast, an almost transparent blue, and she was mesmerized by the sad and melancholic beauty of that. There was some familiarity that made her feel like she had just come home, even if it was the first time she was there. Only later did she realize that the colors of the bay, gray and blue, were exactly the colors she found in Harry's eyes.

They disembarked and immediately began to set up the ropes to get the Revenge ready to be cleaned, following Harry's directions very carefully. The process was complicated: the ship had to be tilted until one side was completely off the ground, then they had to clean the hull of algae, sargassum and other marine debris, and cover any visible holes with rags and tar. The same had to be done on the other side.

Uma expected Harriet to want a fight, but the older Hook just stared at her, arms crossed, giving her an angry look that eventually turned into a resigned grimace.

Behind Harriet, CJ gestured the words "she's jealous!" in Uma's direction and she raised an eyebrow.

Despite the clumsiness of the new crew, it was only a few hours before both ships were clean and ready to return to sea; but the next thing they did was find some dry branches to make fire and cook something.

Harry and Uma were finishing checking that the job was done right when Gil joined them. Satisfied with the result, Uma nodded and let her crew stop working. Then, they started walking towards the sea.

"Why would Clay Clayton want to become a pirate?" Gil wondered aloud. Uma and Harry glanced over at the boy; he and the others had been stripped of their weapons, but Uma didn't trust them, so she had Bonny and Jonas tie their hands with ropes after they worked. Rick Ratcliffe kept complaining, but Clay looked just sulky.

"Just to hunt for treasure, to have riches, I suppose," Harry speculated. "Clay has always done what his father tells him to do, so he may have sent him to fetch loot."

It was not unknown that, even on the Isle, Clayton only sought to gain wealth. Since there weren't many animals to hunt there, he sometimes traded weapons. He hung out with Gil's dad a lot, but he and Clay never got along. Clay was a jerk, and even though the Isle of the Lost was full of his kind, he was one of the nastiest, just like Rick.

"We'll have to interrogate them," Uma decided.

"I'd be happy to pierce his neck with my hook, if you wish, Uma, darling," Harry said, his voice tinged with danger. He always hated when someone called Uma shrimpy. Maybe he just hated one thing more fervor and that was Mal.

The only one in the whole world who was excused from calling Uma shrimpy was Gil, and that was just because she and Harry knew he never did it on purpose.

"Maybe," Uma agreed. "For now, I want you two to scare them a bit."

"A pleasure", said Gil.

She strode steadily toward their prisoners.

"Hey, Clayton! Why were you captain of a ship, anyway?" She asked, making sure to look at him contemptuously. During the journey, with her boys and Harriet and her crew, Uma could swear that her defenses had been lowered. That didn't mean that she stopped being tough and stubborn and all that she was, but it did mean that she didn't have to look down on anyone. Now, with the isle breaking into her wonderful dream again, Uma had to demonstrate complete and total power.

Clay looked at Harry and Gil fearfully, but Uma's presence overcame anything else, and he suddenly could only see her.

"Old Hook paid us," he confessed, glaring at Harry.

Harry frowned, and CJ and Harriet leaned closer, bewildered.

"Our father?" Harriet asked, looking at her siblings. "Why…?"

"He wanted us to give you something," Rick replied, Gil's cutlass firmly against his neck. Clay glared at him, as if telling him to shut up, but Rick ignored him. On the Isle of the Lost there was no loyalty. "Clay has it."

The boy denied, and then looked at Uma cheekily.

"But I'll only give it to you if you set me free," he tried to threaten her. Just as everything was on the Isle: one thing for another.

Harry used his hook again to make Clay shiver in fear, placing it no longer on the edge of his throat but close to his face.

"Do you think you're in a position to negotiate?" He sneered at him. Clay swallowed hard.

Uma giggled, honestly amused at her prisoner's try. She pushed her braids back and got dangerously close to Clay.

"Harry would be very pleased to use his hook on your face. He would do it for me, right Harry?" She said, walking over to Harry and running her hand through his hair. The boy completely melted under her touch, and he even let out a low, almost silent, groan. When he looked at her, there was that crazy adoration. And Uma knew that this was not part of any demonstration. "All I have to do is ask him to do it. You don't want to believe that you can blackmail me, Clayton."

The boy resisted. He was shaking as if he was drenched and Uma could see how hard he was trying to keep it from showing, but it was impossible not to see it. She heard Harriet sigh, exasperated.

"Let him be brave for a bit, Uma." Harriet said, with her special kind of dangerousness. "Later someone will have to clean the bilge of the two ships."

Clay paled. The bilge was the part of the ship where all the dirt accumulated. Any type of waste. The sailor who was assigned this task was practically being sentenced to torture, since on many occasions the smell was literally unbearable.

"Fine," Uma agreed. "After that, he won't do us any good. And I think I'll let Harry have his fun."

"Finally," Harry celebrated, and his eyes had turned red. He moved his hook over Clay's face, just enough to leave a thin red line across his forehead, and Clay couldn't help hissing in pain. Harry laughed.

"Let's go, Harry. I want to see what Gonzo made for dinner," Uma said, as if the whole thing of Clay suddenly bored her tremendously. Harry walked beside her with a carefree gait and Uma put an arm around his hip, trapping her fingers in the waistband of his jeans.

Gil, Harriet and CJ followed them to where the crews of both girls were. Neither Harriet nor Gil seemed surprised by the demonstration moments before.

"Sometimes those two perturb me," CJ blurted out, glancing at Harry and Uma.

"They're intense," agreed Harriet. "But effective."

She looked back, where Clay looked like he was about to pass out.

Now, why Hook had sent those inept ones to give them whatever they had to give them… there was no explanation for that. Harriet made a mental recount of the information she had:

She knew the curse had been activated by Harry and Uma, she knew they were in love. Also, that the Isle of the Lost would sink, and everyone would suffer a terrible fate unless one of them died; and Uma would have to be the sacrifice. The dagger Harriet kept in the inside right pocket of her coat was a key part of breaking the curse. She did not know what their father intended by sending his ships and these people to them.

But she had a hunch that she would find out in less time than expected.