Hey Descendants,
Friday update :)
Last update we witnessed Uma breaking down over the way T always has their best interest at heart. She's got a lot of guilt and anxiety going on right now. We also saw Deez go into a panic when she realized how cold Gil was after waiting outside in the freezing cold until Yensid came back from the ship. I smiled when one of you pointed out that Deez was a little mother hen herself. She does idolize Uma.
At least T has been patched up. He's not out of the woods yet, but thankfully he's being watched over by our favorite Captain and her Number One. Who are now alone in the room for the first time since T was found.
We hope you enjoy Sleep Orders
Lots of Love fellow Descendants!
-Dark-
Uma frowns as she looks over T's head to Harry. He hadn't said a word since the two of them had precariously curled around T's injured body. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen him look so intense. So brooding. He hadn't taken his eyes off T once. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Harry bites his lip as he looks up. A small smile plays across his face as he chuckles, "I guess I can'nah be hidin' anythin' from ya anymore." And he thought he'd been doing so well to hold back his vastly conflicting emotions. He sighs as he curls closer to T.
"Funny you still try." A soft smile curls her lips. "But do you? Want to talk about it, I mean."
"Would ya be ah lettin' me get away with ah no?"
She frowns, that wasn't like her Pretty Boy. "Not forever, no." She admits. "But I can give you a couple of days…"
Harry lightly chuckles as he snakes an arm above T's head, "I be ah needin' yer hand love." He admits softly, "I ain'nah gonna be the ass that be ah makin' ya wait for answers."
She immediately reaches up and laces their fingers together. "Why did you need to go back?" It had been bothering her all night. If she wasn't so exhausted and sore she'd break something in her frustration. She'd never felt so overwhelmed before.
"Aye." Harry sighs as he rubs his thumb along the inside of her wrist, "I be ah needing ta check an' see if I be ah killin' the bastard." His eyes linger on her gaze before he drops them away, "I did. I be ah killin' the sick fuck when I be pullin' 'im off-" He takes a deep, ragged breath.
A stone drops in her stomach, she couldn't imagine walking in on one of her family members being- She swallows hard, her throat suddenly dry. She couldn't even finish the thought.
How the fuck did this happen? How had she missed so much? Her eyes drop to T as her vision blurs and her hand tightens around Harry's.
"There be two others there," He continues as he shakes his head, "One o' them knew me, said we did'nah be ah leavin' on good terms. And I be ah fuckin' knowin' something were off then, but I be ah hearin' T, so I-" He sighs as his fingers curl over her hand, "I be runnin' in blind Uma. Just slashin' an' hookin' on instinct. And that fuckin' bastard was just- and T be ah hangin' from chains."
Her hand grips onto his like a vice. Stromboli and the Coachmen. Her eyes narrow. Those two fucks were still at it? Her stomach twists at the image of Harry facing off against those two men. In any other situation, she was sure he would have had a very different reaction. Sick fucking pricks.
The thought of her Pretty Boy running into that hell, blind with rage scared her to her core. Made her breath catch painfully in her lungs. Tonight could have gone so wrong, so quickly. She swallows as her pulse began to race. Two. She could have lost two of them. "Harry," She breaths with a mix of terror and anger.
"I know." He nods, "I be ah knowin' it were stupid. I should ah been comin' back the moment I thought I be ah knowin' where ta be ah lookin', but I," Fat tears leak from his eyes, "I couldn't just leave and come back. I had to look. When I be ah seein' that sick fuck walkin' back from the red lanterns…"
"Yeah it was fucking stupid, you know better than that Harry-"
"Aye." He nods as his face pinches, though he doesn't try to defend himself.
"This is no different than me... Going to the church." Her heat fizzles out as she lets out a sigh. Damn it. "We both did stupid shit trying to get our brat back." She reluctantly admits.
"Ya be right Cap'in." Harry rolls his lips between his teeth as he holds her hand tightly, shaking slightly in her grip, "I be ah doin' plenty o' stupid."
"Plenty?"
"Aye." Harry nods his head, "I, I ran Frollo through with me sword."
"Good." She squeezes his hand. "Fuck him."
"But is it?" His voice cracks.
Uma furrows her brow, "Yes?"
"T be ah wantin' ta be dealin' with his monster himself. I be ah knowin' that, and still, I be ah seein' not but red and black. I-" He shakes his head, "I would'ah been stabbin' the sick bastard more, I be wantin' ta hook the fuck outta 'im, but the other be comin' for me ah'fore I could."
Her eyes sweep over T before she looks back at Harry. "T'll get over it." She wouldn't give him a choice. "If he walked in on one of us- He wouldn't have hesitated to do the same thing."
"I be ah hopin' so." Harry admits with a frown, "I don'nah be wantin' ta be the reason he don'nah be comin' round ta us. Because I be ah grantin' ah quick death ta the fucker."
She squeezes his hand as she takes a deep breath. "I think we should set sail sooner rather than later. See what this baby can really do."
Harry chuckles lightly, "Ya be thinkin' ah little water be stoppin' T from runnin'?"
"No." She admits. "But the shock from freezing water might make him think twice about it."
He chuckles again before he grasps her hand so tight it hurts, "Ya don'nah be ah thinkin' I be ah fuckin' up?" He pulls in another ragged breath, "Cause I, I did'nah be ah dealin' well with that room. I've been there, I know I have. And I know I be ah survivin' it's horrors. But I can'nah be full rememberin' it."
She bites her cheek, "No Pretty Boy, I don't think you fucked up at all. I hate the idea of you being in that- In that stupid fucking shit hole of hell. More than you know." He might not have remembered it, but she certainly did.
Remembered trying to keep him from returning. Remembered all the fights and tears and frustration. Remembered how he would return, off his ass on whatever drug they were pumping him with.
She swallows. "And some things are best left forgotten. I'm just happy you got out. Got T out." Her voice was thick with emotion. "I never want to lose you to those sick depraved fucks again. Don't want to lose any of you to those monsters." She wanted to go hunt them down though. Gut them like the yellow-bellied codfish they were.
"Aye love, me fuckin' too." He lightly nuzzles his head against T's uninjured shoulder, "I be gettin' 'em all but good. But I be ah knowin' I had ta be gettin' T back ta ya before I could'ah be doin' anythin' else." He takes a deep breath and looks up at her again, "We be ah burnin' the place down."
"Good. Fuck that place."
"I should'ah been makin' him suffer more."
She squeezes his hand. "What matters is you got T home."
Harry nods before he pulls Uma's hand to his mouth and presses his lips to her palm, "Aye, and T be survivin' this or I be ah killin' him for bein' stupid 'nough ta be ah goin' 'lone." He snorts before he kisses her hand again.
"He'll live, whether it's through will or spite, he'll live." She wasn't sure if she was trying to convince Harry or herself. She wasn't sure she'd ever felt someone, who wasn't their Baby Girl, so hot before. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't scared. But saying that out loud wasn't going to help anything. Not when he could feel T's temperature too.
Harry nods again before he settles down and lays their joined hands back above their heads. "Thanks, Cap'in." He runs his thumb over her wrist again.
She squeezes his hand. "I met the girl while you were gone."
"What?!" Harry thankfully releases her hand before he shoots up in the bed, "Ya be ah meetin' her? How? Did she be ah talkin'? What she be ah sayin'?"
"Aye." Uma slowly sits up not wanting to jar T, "She woke up sometime during us suturing her." She bites her lip. "It was…" She shakes her head. "Different." A frown tugs at her lips as her eyes drop to T, and tenderly moves a lock of hair from where it was stuck to her forehead. "I wouldn't call it talking exactly, but she did answer questions." She sighs, "Her name is Faustina. She recognized me. And…" She chews on the corner of her lip, "When I promised her that we would take care of her she said she knew."
Harry furrows his brow as he looks T over, "Faustina?"
Uma can't help her smile at the way he said her name. Like he was tasting it, trying something new for the first time. "Yeah."
"Huh. It be ah soundin' ta ya like Faustina be ah givin' permission ta be ah takin' care o' her?" Harry looks up with a faint, mischievous smile, "Cause that be what it be ah soundin' like ta me."
"She... Didn't really seem the type to argue." She admits hesitantly.
Harry's face pinches in disgust as he looks away, "I suppose that be ah makin' as much sense as it be disturbin'." He sighs as he takes T's closest hand into his.
"It does, and is…" Uma frowns.
"But I will unashamedly be ah usein' it ta be keepin' them here." He warns with a low growl before he tucks T's hand under the blanket.
Her eyes settle on T for a moment. "I've never had a problem with tactics. Just with giving no choice..." She turns back to Harry, "Which T knows." She sighs as her chin drops to her chest. "So, I'm not going to argue. I mean I hope it doesn't come down to that but..." She frowns, "T's part of this family, whether he understands that or not."
"So is she. They both be ah part o' us. And when the time be ah comin' love, don'nah be worryin' none." He reaches across and cups Uma's cheek, "I'll be ah settin' them straight. I be ah feelin' Gil completely on this."
Her hand comes up to cover his. "I know you will." She turns to kiss his palm. "And honestly," She sighs, "I don't blame you. I don't know how he hid her for so long- Unless she was the one hiding but I don't want them on the isle." She sighs. Or any of her family for that matter.
Harry smiles and, for the first time since they heard the rumors of the Rotten Core being taken away, it reaches his eyes, "Well Cap'in," He runs his thumb along her jaw, "If ya be ah teachin' this pirate anythin', it be that no one should be ah hidin' who they are." He leans down and kisses her cheek, "And for now at least, ya be ah gettin' yer wish. T ain'nah goin' anywhere for the time bein'." He slowly pulls his hand back before he settles next to T again, "We just be ah needin' ta keep 'em alive. Aye?"
"Aye." She lays back down and curls carefully around T. "He woke up tonight too." A ghost of a smile on her lips, "Even knockin' on death's door the little brat tried to tell me where I could be. Then passed the fuck out the minute he realized we were on the ship." She shakes her head.
"The contrast is striking… But at least we'll never be confused as ta who we're talking to." Never. After speaking to the girl, to Faustina, and knowing T, it was hard to believe they were the two could share a body. It was confusing, but she knew it wasn't anything they couldn't handle.
"T always be ah special kind o' interestin'." Harry chuckles as he plays with T's hair, frowning at the bad dye job. "We be ah havin' ah lot o' sand bars ta be navigatin'. Keepin' T alive thankfully be ah mite easier with ya securin' the ol' man as an advisor." He smiles as he rolls his shoulder, "He be quick and understandin' of certain expectations."
"Aye." Uma agrees. "Ain't that the truth." She sighs as she stops herself from wrapping an arm around T. That was going to be a hard habit to break, she'd never slept with anyone she couldn't cuddle up to before.
"But ya know we ain'nah gonna be able ta be keepin' our Sweet Boy and Treasure away for long." Harry sighs, "An ah very selfish part o' me be wantin' them back even now."
"Me too…" She takes a deep breath, "But… I don't want either of them to see T until he's had a chance to heal more. Deez is going to panic and withdraw, and Gil is going to flip his shit if he sees them like this. And knowing any part of T is a girl is going to- It's just not going to be good. I know it's going to happen eventually, but even a day or two is better than them finding out this close to you rescuing them."
"Aye." Harry nods, "Ya think Gil be ah mite overprotective now…" He sighs.
"Yeah, no kidding." Uma shivers at the thought. "Deez'll weather through it, but I don't know how T will react if that gets directed at him..." She hangs her head. "I don't know how he's going to handle anything when he gets better." She refused to even think if. "I don't know how much of my protectiveness I can keep anchored myself." Sea Gods knew her boys weren't going to be able too.
"That be ah soundin' like some future problems, an' we be ah havin' enough now ta be seein' to." Harry's brow furrows as he catches T flinch from the corner of his eye.
"Harry, if I didn't think about future problems I wouldn't have any of you. It's like my fish and chips."
Harry tsks his tongue, "Don'nah be hoardin' yer worryin'." He glares, "I be sayin' we be ah havin' enough ta be thinkin' 'bout now, and we can be ah crossin' them planks when we be ah reachin' 'em." His eyes drop to T as he twitches again. Shit. Was T having a nightmare? It wouldn't surprise him, but he was worried about him moving, Sea God's knew he'd be bound to rip any number of stitches. Or open a burn wound. He grimaces
"Aye, we do but-"
"Uma?" Harry's eyes widen as he slips closer and wraps his arm under T's neck, firmly pressing his palm to his forehead.
"What's wrong?"
"Maybe ah terror." Harry shakes his head as he grabs T's hand, "I don'nah be ah knowin' for sure, I ain'nah ever seen 'em have one, but…" Who the fuck wouldn't have a night terror after what T'd experienced.
Her eyes sweep over T in concern, eyes narrowing observantly before she moves closer to T. "Shit." She whispers, clearly struggling to figure out how to hold him without causing him more pain.
"Hey now." Harry whispers into T's ear as he secures his head against his shoulder, being mindful of every nearby injury, "I be ah havin' ya now, ain'nah no one gettin' past me. I be num'ba one aye?"
"Nononononono." T breathes out, "T, please come back- I'm sorry! I can't Ican'tIcan't!"
Harry frowns when he realizes there was no fight in T, just talking. Panicked talking. "Faustina?" He asks as he looks up at Uma.
"Louder than she was earlier." Uma frowns before she reaches for T's hands, and clasps them in her own.
"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry." Tears stream down their face, "Please!" Her body trembles.
"Aye, I be supposing she would be if she were ah beggin' him ta be comin' back." Harry takes a deep breath before he adjusts to whisper in her ear again, "Ya be safe Faustina. Safe with me. Safe with Uma. We be on the ship love. I be ah holdin' ya safe on the ship." They'd been doing this with each other for years, and had learned what worked best when fighting phantoms, "Ya be ah hearin' me Faustina? Ya be safe. I be ah havin' ya, and ya be safe." He wipes his palm up her forehead, sweeping her sweat-soaked hair back.
"Faustina honey, it's going to be okay. We're not going to let anything happen to you. I promise you are safe." Uma coos softly.
He hated this. Hated that she was sick, injured, and having a nightmare. "Aye love, ya be safe with us."
Faustina's whole body tenses as she stills suddenly, her entire body locking.
Uma and Harry watch with wide eyes before they both sit up.
Harry puts a hand near her mouth and nose, feeling for any amount of air movement, "Fuck! She ain'nah breathin'." he panics as he looks up to Uma.
"Oh, fuck that," Uma growls as she rolls to her knees, bringing her hands above T's chest. Before she can bring them down Faustina lets out a soul-rending scream of pure agony and terror.
Uma startles as she falls back in surprise.
Harry quickly muffles the sound with his hand before he half throws himself back to lay near her ear, "Faustina, love, ya be okay. It's Harry. Harry be havin' ya. Please love-" He wipes her hair from her face again, "Please. I ain'nah lettin' anything happen to you or T. We got you both. Ya both be safe. I promise, lass. I promise ya be safe with us." He presses a kiss against her temple, "I be ah havin' ya both now."
"Pleasepleaseplease. I'll-be-good. I'll-be-good. I'm-sorry-father. Please. Iwon'tdoitagain. I promise. Please. No-more." She chokes out, pleading. As she shakes her head. "Please."
Harry closes his eyes against the white-hot rage and sadness that rips through him. He clenches his jaw as tears fall. He gives up on whispering and presses his forehead to hers, leaning over her as if he could shield her from all the pain and suffering the world had already inflicted on her. He tries to breathe slowly, but some of the things she screams and whimpers breaks his rhythm, makes him sob helplessly as he focuses on keeping T from moving and undoing the work they'd done.
"T!" She screams out, the desperation in her voice was palpable. "T come back." She sobs as she attempts to turn. He and Uma react in tandem as they pin either of her shoulders in place.
"Shhhh." Harry whispers as he pets her hair, "Uma's here. Uma's here. Uma's here."
Uma sucks in a shaky breath as she rubs away the goosebumps that had raced across her arms. She takes T's hands back in her own. "You're safe. Feel the rocking. Smell the sea. You're with us. We've got you." She continues to coo softly. Her thumbs gently caress over the back of her hands.
"Please father. Please. I'll-be-a-good-girl. I'll-be-a-good-girl. I-can't-take-this. I-can't-take-this. I'm-sorry-I-strayed! I'm-sorry-father! Mercy! Please-have-mercy!"
Harry shakes his head as he keeps it lightly against her forehead, "Uma," He sobs, unable to stand the ache in his chest. "Uma!" He reaches for her, his hand shaking and tensing with his overwhelming emotions.
"I know." Uma half chokes, freeing one hand to grab his. To stop the shaking. "I'm here." She squeezes his hand tightly.
"Nonononono! Please-father! Please. I'll-be-better. I'll-be-better! Not-that! Please-father. Not-again!"
"I didn't stop this." Harry cries, "I should have stopped this! Uma!" He tightens his grip, "Make it stop. Please Cap'in. I can't-"
Uma squeezes his hand tighter. "None of us did. None of us knew." She coos softly, "You saved them though. Saved them from a living hell. Saved them from their father. You can do this too Pretty Boy because they need you right now. She needs you."
Harry pulls Uma closer as he struggles to catch his breath. "Sorry… I'm sorry." He shakes his head.
T's body seizes again.
"You're okay, Pretty Boy. You're okay. Just breathe. We can get through this. Just breathe."
"Aye aye Cap'in." Harry nods automatically before he covers T's mouth again, bracin' himself for another scream. Uma was right. He had no choice but to endure this. T and Faustina needed them both, and falling apart right now wasn't going to help any of them.
How the fuck had Uma endured this with all of them? Endured it alone? He takes a deep breath as he focuses on how much he respected her. Loved her for being the strength for all of them, every single time they needed her.
He takes another shaky breath. It tore his heart apart when Gil would scream out in the middle of the night, whimpering and fighting to getaway. But he and Uma had always handled those together. Deez had all three of them fussing over her, cooing and holding her through her sheer terror until she could breathe again. Uma's were few and far between and were always centered around losing one of them. But this?
This was a whole new level of torture.
"No-more. Make-it-stop. Make-it-stop. T!? Please. Where-are-you? I-need-you. I-can't. I-can't. I-can't. I-can't. Please-come-back. Don't-leave-me-alone! Please-" She chokes out, her voice raw with despair. "Please, don't-leave-me-alone. Not-with-him. Please! Come-back! I'm-sorry!"
"T's right here Faustina." Harry attempts to assure her as he takes her hand again, "He's right here. He's sleeping with you. You're both okay." He continues to whisper as he backs away, trying to give her more space to see if that would help. The rest of his family responded better to touch. Maybe they just needed to try things a different way for T and Faustina.
"Fuck! Harry!" Uma shouts as T starts tossing and turning in wild desperation, barely dodging a claw down her face, "Stitches!"
Harry immediately grabs T's other hand, "Shhhh, It's okay, it's okay!" He lays beside her, tenderly pulling her back to his shoulder as he wraps his arm under her neck to keep her head secure.
Uma grimaces at the soft defeated whimper that leaves T's lips.
"Faustina, it's Harry. Harry Hook. I be hookin' ya and there ain'nah nothin' ya can be doin'. Aye? I be ah havin' ya now, an' I ain'nah lettin' anyone else ever touch you again!" He growls protectively, "So stop movin' love before ya be ah hurtin' yerself." His voice cracks before he takes another slow, deep breath.
T stills in his arms, his breaths ragged, short, and shallow. "I'm-sorry. I'm-sorry. I'm-sorry."
"Shhhhh." Harry takes another breath, "Ya don'nah be needin' ta be sorry love. Just be ah breathin' for me. Just breathe. You're okay. I promise you're okay." He presses his lips to her temple, "Ain'nah nothing gettin' ya with me here. Me an' Uma ain'nah lettin' anythin' get ya. So just breathe."
T flinches as a whimper leaves her lips.
Harry grimaces, "Uma, I don'nah be ah knowin' what ta be doin'." He tried everything that had sprung into his mind. If T weren't the one in the grip of a night terror and currently at death's door he was certain the kid would be proud of him. T had always been one for trying everything he could think of, for experimenting until something worked.
Uma frowns, "Ride it out." She breathes. "She seems to be calming… She's not lashing out anymore." She reaches over and rubs Harry's shoulder as she chews her lip. "I...I think being stern kinda worked...? She seemed to settle after that..."
"Stern?" Harry blinks up at her.
"Yeah, you were just so firm."
Harry frowns, but takes a deep breath, "Breath T." He orders with a growl, raising an eyebrow when T takes in a deep breath. Great. He didn't even want to think about why being firm with her was working.
He hated this. Hated how helpless he felt. "Aye, ya be right." He lets his head fall back with a groan.
"You and Gil both hated being touched when I first found you." Uma reminds him gently, "You were both like feral cats. Scratching and hissing'."
"Aye, I be ah rememberin'." Harry snorts before he reaches out to her again with the arm supporting T's head. His lips curve into a small smile when she instantly clasps his hand. "I be ah guessin' anytime T be ah gettin' uppity in his sleep I just be ah growlin' orders at 'im." Why was it working? The question made the back of his throat burn.
"If it works, it works." Uma frowns. "Doesn't mean we have to like it, but it gives us something while we work with them on this."
"Good." Harry clears his throat, swallowing the burning back before he continues, "Because the why be ah makin' me sick."
Uma lets out a heavy sigh, "We're already working on the first step, sleeping with them. Then once they're healed a bit we need to pet them. To get them to understand that not all touch hurts…"
Harry nods, "I be ah rememberin' your process." He smiles darkly, "I be ah knowin' we got this love, sorry I be ah losin' it ah'fore."
Uma squeezes his hand tightly. "I know how hard it is Pretty Boy, and that was…" Her eyes sweep over T as her brow furrows, "Disturbing to listen to."
"Aye." Harry agrees easily, "Ya be somethin' else Cap'in. As usual." He takes another deep breath. He never let himself forget everything Uma had done for him, but tonight was the first time he could say he honestly felt like he understood what she put herself through to 'collect' them. And as a wee girl when he first met her. A wee girl carrying around an even more wee brat.
But, the sheer strength she had, sometimes it blindsided him.
It was the biggest reason he laughed in people's faces when they asked why he 'let' her be his captain. Let…
He sighs as he looks down, searching T's face for any further signs of being in the grip of a night terror.
"Aye." Uma grins, "And don't ya be forgettin' it." She teases.
Harry shakes his head earnestly, "Never." He gives her hand a couple of quick squeezes.
They just had to make it through the night. Just had to keep T still through the night until Yensid could make it back with better medicines.
He shakes his head. He never thought he'd find himself relying on an adult for anything, let alone to save someone he loved.
Bitter-Sweet.
That's all I can think about as we edited this particular chapter.
Harry and Uma doing their best to take care of their newest family member(s).
Sorry if the pronouns when they referenced T and Faustina were confusing. But Uma and Harry are both confused as fuck about what to do. The only thing they're absolute on is that both of them are theirs. So we decided to show it more than tell it, but felt you guys deserve an explanation as to the why of it.
That being said…
What did you guys think about this chapter?
Uma and Harry together are fucking adorable. The mother-son, brother-sister, leader-subordinate, lovers relationship is complicated, to say the least. Is it difficult to see?
And that nightmare bro… Did it make your heartache?
Did it make sense?
Was it too extra?
What about Harry and Uma's responses to it? Did we do their characters justice?
Does the thought of why Faustina would respond to orders like that make your throat burn with bile as well?
We're dying to know your thoughts, feelings, and insights on the matter!
With much love, appreciation, and anticipation
-Twisted
PS
So, as antisocial and as socially awkward as we are, we were thinking of starting a Facebook live stream once a week at least till the Corona Virus has been handled… Would any of you be interested? We figured we could do a Q and A and get more in touch with you guys, to keep things positive, light, and keep the community together. We know at least two of you are currently in quarantine- Gods forbid any more of you end up in it, but if you do we just want to give you guys something else to look forward to since we can't post a chapter every day as much as we'd love too. Let us know. We'll do it if five or more of you are interested.