Ben hadn't felt this nervous in a long, long time. Perhaps the last time he had been so afraid of spoiling something had been when the first group of villain children came to Auradon, when he met Mal, and this was a lot like that. He had to admit that he was extremely curious. From what he had heard and seen, Ursula's daughter was fierce and strong. Ben couldn't help but remember their brief encounter, when they reached Auradon… the way she had protected Hook's son, still about to die. As if she was holding on to the most valuable thing in the world.
But he also remembered that the love he saw in her eyes and that came out in her voice was not a soft love, like the one Ben knew. It was hard, rough, and full of fire. If Ben had to be honest, it took his breath away. Of course, that was not something he had to share with others.
Mal would go crazy. When Ben told her about the solution he and Evie had come up with, she was upset. She assured Ben that Uma and Harry were crazy and that, in love or not, they were still a danger to Auradon. And Ben believed it, really, but he also knew Mal was wrong, even if he wouldn't tell her.
They could definitely be a danger to Auradon, Ben had no doubt. But he didn't think that was their intention.
So, standing in front of the door to the room where Uma was, Ben took a deep breath once, twice, to calm himself. He adjusted his shirt and vest, and decided that a bright and friendly smile might be a good start. He turned the door handle and stepped inside.
A bunch of wet seaweed flew near his face and crashed into the wall next to him. Ben drowned out a sound of surprise and ducked, waiting for more projectiles to fly, but a moment later he sat back, stunned by the sound of laughter, and saw Gil and a caramel-haired girl, half recharged, half seated, holding their stomachs in a fit of laughter.
Ben blushed when he looked on the stretchers, and there were Harry and Uma, awake, and Harry looked like he was having a lot of fun while Uma, stifling a laugh, had an expression of fond exasperation. When she realized that Ben was there, standing in the doorway, she raised an eyebrow in surprise and her expression changed.
Ben noticed that her posture shifted, her shoulders tensed, and she tried to sit up straighter. And Harry's crazy blue gaze intimidated him so much that he couldn't meet his gaze. He found himself looking elsewhere, at Gil, at the hospital machines, except directly at them.
Ben's heart was beating fast. When was the last time he felt so out of place? He tried to compose himself and cleared his throat.
"This… hi guys. I hope you are feeling better," he began. "I didn't get a chance to formally welcome you to Auradon, so I thought it might be nice to pay a little visit".
"Mal sent you?" Uma asked sharply.
Ben quickly shook his head. He knew that this girl and Mal had a difficult and spiteful history, and he didn't think it was a good idea to mention his girlfriend in the conversation with Uma.
"No," he was quick to assure. "It's just me. Well, Evie has been a great help with the logistics now that we have to make sure we make good decisions for everyone. In fact, that's why I'm here. To talk".
Harry frowned and looked at Uma, and it seemed to Ben somehow that, still lying on a stretch, he managed to get a little smaller than her. Maybe it was the way he looked at her, as if he were looking at something immense and wide. The kind of crazy look a believer gives a goddess.
Uma rocked her waterfall of turquoise braids.
"There is nothing to talk about," she said. "We will leave here soon".
Ben frowned.
"Leave…?" Then he remembered what she had told him when they arrived, when she asked him to have some doctor attend to Harry. That she didn't care if he kicked them out later, she just wanted someone to heal Harry. Ben was quick to clear things up, because he understood that Uma had believed they had made some kind of a deal, that they had saved Harry in exchange for them leaving. "No, no. You don't have to leave, if you don't want to. The Isle of the Lost sank and that's why I'm here. Uma, King Triton has offered to bring it to the surface again from the bottom of the sea".
Uma's big brown eyes flared with fury, and Harry clenched his fist. Ursula's daughter groaned, and Ben unconsciously took a step back. Only a moment later he realized that his words could be misinterpreted, but it was too late.
"Are you going to put us back there, just for the sake of it?" She roared, "that Isle is a prison".
Ben made a soothing gesture with his hands.
"I know. You won't be locked up again, I promise. I went there and saw everything… it's not fair, you're right. Nobody ever did anything to make things good there, but the children of villains with whom I have spoken say that you were a fair and strong leader".
"So, you had to wait until you go there, and see everything, King Ben," said Harry, "because your dear girlfriend chose to betray us, right? She chose to forget about evil".
"Mal has nothing to do with this," Ben said. "I know that things on the Isle were bad. But now I want to find a solution, and I think we could do it together. As far as I know, the people of the Isle regard Uma as their rightful leader, and I intend to respect that. So, the Isle will be brought to the surface again, but there will be no magic barrier. They will have the freedom to come and go wherever you want. And Uma would be officially named Queen of the Isle of the Lost".
What Ben expected… he didn't really know what he expected, but it was definitely not the mocking laugh that escaped like a breath from Harry's lips. Not Gil's mocking look. Uma looked at him calculatingly, as if she was measuring him.
"So, you plan to give me the title of queen, right?" She asked, frowning. "But I don't need no fake crown. And nobody will want to return to your isle, not after the hell that we all live there".
And Ben knew she was right. There was no way someone would want to voluntarily return to the Isle, so he had thought of proposing an exchange program. There were Auradonians who could live there for a few months, come back and attest that the conditions were optimal and worthy for all. He thought maybe that way people would trust him, but deep down he felt like he had to keep looking for options.
"Listen, Uma, Harry. I know that the children of villains respect you, I know that even among pirates you have made a name and a reputation for yourselves. I also know that you think Mal betrayed you and that Auradon has been unfair. And the last thing is true. But things have changed and I need your help. Please. You can be part of a change, something better for everyone. There are many children and people who need your help. Just… think about it, okay?"
And even though they didn't say anything, Ben could see that Uma's expression had lightened a bit, just for a moment, but it was enough hope, so when he left the room, he felt satisfied.
The days passed, and in Auradon clean air could be breathed, they had at least three meals a day, and drinking water. Neither Harry nor Uma could get used to the softness of the hospital stretches, and Gil, CJ or whoever was staying at night used to sleep on the floor, with only one pillow.
After the second day in the hospital, Uma began to feel impatient. The way everything was so alien to her, so full of Auradon, caused her to start having anxiety attacks. It helped that Harry was with her, getting healthier, but it didn't help to know that she was in the same place as Mal, so Uma's body and mind felt tense and alert most of the time.
So, the crew spent most of the day with them, and Uma did not forget the request that Gonzo had made to her a few days ago. Because no matter how many amenities there were in Auradon, something in them was no longer made for that. Uma thought of the days spent aboard the Lost Revenge; in the thirst for adventure, and in the red tones of the sunset slipping over the blue sea. She thought of the way Harry looked alive and happy, a bit evil, with the sea breeze wind blowing his face, his back reddish from the sun, and the way he seemed free for the first time.
But… she couldn't ignore Ben. One thing was certain, and it was that Uma never needed a crown to know that she was a leader, respected and feared, and it was because her crew was always there. And beyond the crew, the people on the docks, her people. The crown did not make her queen, but the power she had earned with effort did.
Because even if the Isle was a terrible place, it was still her home. With its hard, sharp edges, with its old wooden stairs that Uma had learned to love.
How could she decide between the freedom she owed to the crew and the responsibility she had to the people of the Isle? Uma wasn't going to betray them. She would not turn her back, leaving everything behind at the slightest chance of escape.
But as the days passed and that question settled more in her mind, a little calm also came to her heart, perhaps for the first time in her life. On the Isle, everything was always about survival. Even in the relaxed moments, where it was just Harry and her, Gil sometimes, they were always watching their back. It seemed unthinkable to think about the reality of having a world for themselves, to claim it as their own. With that thought, it became easier to enjoy the sound of Harry's mad laugh, even to joke around with Gil. It became easier to show a little affection, just a hint, to the crew; to Desiree, who had reassured her after being hurt; Bonny, who had killed for loyalty to her.
Even to Gonzo and Jonas, fierce as they were.
And it happened that the afternoons, when they came to visit them, became moments full of happiness. Uma heard the distant call of the sea when she saw their faces.
A few days after they arrived to Auradon, a doctor determined that Harry and Uma were healthy, and that they could leave the hospital. Harriet showed Uma where the Revenge was, tied to the dock, and she could swear her heart almost leapt out of her chest when she saw the familiar black sails, figurehead and rudder, as if her hands belonged there... it was a feeling too similar to what she felt when she touched Harry, even imperceptible.
Harry… Uma had to be honest; her heart stopped beating for a moment when she saw him there, standing on the deck, leaning against the mast with his usual impudence. Her partner, the one she had chosen. It was afternoon and the sun was closing over the horizon, giving his pale skin a reddish color. But he seemed thoughtful. The rest of the crew were celebrating that they had returned to the Revenge, and they were distracted, so Uma approached him.
When Harry looked at her, it was with that surrender, that willing giving that always took Uma's breath away, even if she never let it notice.
Uma touched his arm and Harry took her wrist with reverence, brought the back of her hand to his lips and kissed her, looking into her eyes the whole time. If Uma had been able to see herself through Harry's gaze, she would have seen the way her braids moved in the dance of the wind, the same one that shook the sails of the Revenge, and that her tobacco skin was illuminated by the sun so that she was almost shining.
"Where are we going now?" He asked her. And it was a lot like another question, asked just a few days ago, but that seemed submerged in time. What are you going to do with it? Harry had asked, and it seemed so much that he wanted to say "what are you going to do with me?" like now. Because in that question, where are we going, it was implicit that he would follow her, wherever Uma wanted to go. Even back to the Isle of the Lost.
But Uma couldn't do that to him.
She released herself from his grasp without so much abruptness. She walked to the board, wanting to feel the rope of her ship again between her fingers. Safety. The soft rocking of the sea, her home...
The ocean called to her blood, wanting to drag her into its stormy surf. And Uma really wanted to go there.
But not alone. Never alone. Because even when they had been taught that love was ridiculous and a weakness, Uma had handed out pieces of her heart to her people and to her ship. Her whole heart to Harry.
It was a bit strange to think that.
"Uma?" Harry inquired, pulling back a braid with his fingers. His hook had come loose when he fell into the sea, and now it was lost.
She looked him straight in the eye and composed a mischievous smile that lit up Harry's gaze immediately.
"We have to find your hook," she told him, giving him a playful nudge with her hip. Harry gave a mad laugh. "But I will not betray the Isle. They chose to follow a Pirate Queen, after all".
"Your first mate is ready to follow orders, my queen".
That devotion. That longing to give himself to her, so close to madness. Harry's hand stroked the curve from her shoulder to her neck, creeping up to her cheek. He held her there, for a moment, just looking at her, but it was Uma who pulled him by the neck of his coat to catch his lips with hers. And it was not a sweet or soft kiss. Uma bit his lower lip and Harry looked immensely pleased, drawn on her. Her personal castaway, by his own will.
And Uma felt powerful. An ocean goddess in all her splendor. She always knew, that she didn't need a crown to be queen.
"Tell Gil to weigh anchor. We're going on a little travel".
And as she watched him go, giving orders to the crew, who seemed ecstatic, Uma looked towards the port of Auradon for a moment. The trip would be short, she decided. King Ben could survive a few days without knowing Uma's decision. The immense sea, vast of treasures, stretched out in front of them. And Uma was ready to dive into it.
