Nothing I love more than a chapter update.

Ursula's Fish & Chip shop is one of the many landmarks that dots the Isle. What's more significant is the girl who works there like a slave. Uma has known no other life. The place was still and quiet most of the time now, only when her crew came around would anything pick up. The shop looked terrible, reflecting on the value of the food, and has fallen into disrepair. There have been several instances where Uma has fallen into a break in the floor while sweeping or serving. The plumbing never worked, and even when it did the water would always come out brown or mushy, most of the time the water came from the sea. Unsanitary but nothing out of the ordinary. The roof had a number of different holes and damages to it. Either from crazy kids running across it or sword fights that got way out of hand. A cloud of dust always seemed to remain in the building, remaining still and dormant until someone would eventually walk through.

When the crew did come around, it was a much different story. Rowdy, ruff pirates fill the tables and the whole place dominated with noise. The only reason they don't get thrown out by Ursula is because they always say they're going to buy something, and never do. As much as they shout and fight, Uma still preferred it when they were around. She hated working the quiet night shift with no one but her mother. She loved the liveliness they bring and the adventure, much like the great open seas. She would die before admitting it, but she wouldn't know how she would cope without her crew.

Or at least, most days. Some days were like today where all she wanted was the quiet to think. She sat silently on the bar, zoned out in a daze, legs crossed and a brooding look on her face, she was carefully analyzing the opportunity she's been given. An alliance with the Queen of the Isle. It was something she never thought she would have in any lifetime.

"Uma!" A whiny voice came from one of the tables, she quickly looked up to see who was calling her name, "can we please have something to eat! We're starving here."

"Not unless you buy it." Uma told him sternly crossing her arms.

The blonde boy groaned, "ugh! But I don't got anything, you never take us out to steal anymore."

"Gil... I would take you out to steal stuff if I knew I was watching a bunch of four year olds!" her volume got louder as her sentence went on, Gil and the other pirates at his table lean back in fear of Uma's wrath.

"Uma! Darling, don't get so wound up," a Scottish accent came from behind the bar, the boy draped his arm over her shoulder, "I'm sure they meant no disrespect."

"Get off me, Harry." She mumbled, the scowl never leaving her face, as she pushed his arm off.

"None with the will to live would ever dare to disrespect our captain!" He declared to the rest of the fish shop, a series of cheers and hoots followed his decree.

Uma only rolled her eyes knowing it was bullshit, and besides, she was still preoccupied with her thoughts. Harry noticed how distant she was being today. He always noticed.

"What's got me captain so down in the dirt?" He jumped over the bar flawlessly to land in front of her, so he could look her in the eyes.

"Nothing, get away from me." Uma was in no mood for his games today.

He stepped forward, his head cocked to the side, and placed a hand on her thigh. She quickly looked down at his hand as it began to soothingly rub up and down.

"You know," Harry began, his voice low, "I can always tell when's something's got you."

"Stop, I'm not playing these games with you." Uma tried to play it cool but she couldn't deny the pleasure she received from the contact.

"Is it perhaps about... the violet hag that stopped by for a lit'l visit?" Harry asked, bending his knees and talking into her neck.

I'm sure Harry wouldn't mind if we played around for just a bit. After all, he's nothing compared to me, right?

She gulped hard at the mention of one of her major weaknesses. Of course Uma was hung up about that but she could deal with her feelings. Feelings were easy.

"No, it's not that." Uma said as she tried to look anywhere except Harry.

"Excellent, I wouldn't want ta lose you to that wannabe queen anyways." He said with a playful smile on his lips.

Uma then cracked a smile, "who say's you got me?"

"A pirate takes what he wants, don't he?" he chuckled and caressed her blue braids gently.

Uma trusted Harry, even if he was a bit crazy, she trusted him all the same. Trust was a hard thing to come by on this island. If you got your hands on it then you better not let go for the life of you. Uma, more importantly, trusted Harry with the business of her crew and information about her personal life.

She took a deep breath, "the Queen of the Isle wants to create an alliance with us; provide us with protection and stability while we work for her."

Harry immediately stopped his playful actions and stood up straight to look her dead in the eye, "what did ye say?"

She hesitated to respond and that's all Harry needed to know the answer.

"Oh bloody hell!" He exclaimed but Uma quickly put a had over his mouth, not wanting to attract the attention of everyone else.

"Keep it down!" She whispered through her teeth, "I didn't say yes either."

"We don't need her pity," he said to her after gently removing her hand, "we're doing just fine."

"Harry, look at this place," Uma gestured to the shop that was falling apart, "how much longer do you think we'll hold up?"

He looked around seeing the peeling walls, rotting floorboards, and wrecked roof. There was no doubt that the shop wasn't doing so well.

Uma spoke up again, "Evie seems different from Mal... you know, like, actually royal and respectable. And she doesn't have any reason to betray us."

"Yes and I bet that's exactly what our lovely dragon queen thought when she was sitting up on that mighty throne." Harry told her.

"I'm not like Mal," Uma said with fire in her eyes, "I've got my head out of my ass and not blinded by royalty."

Harry looked around the shop one last time and his eyes landed on Gil, his dumb face was locked in a heated glare as he arm wrestled another pirate, and a warm smile found its way on his lips while he watched. He twirled back around to looks at Uma once more.

"As always, my captain, I follow yer command," he removed his signature hat and placed it on his chest, "whatever ye may decide I shall ride the tide with you though smooth or rough waters."

Uma went into a deep though again, adjusting her tri fold hat, she licked her lips and looked back at Harry.

"Bring me Gil." She ordered.

Without hesitation Harry nodded, placing his hat back on his head, and marched over to interrupt Gil's arm wrestling, dragged him away with his shining, silver hook by the shirt collar. Gil whined and complained as he was led to Uma on the bar. Harry shoved him towards Uma, with a smirk and a tip of the hat, Harry had done his purpose. Gil adjusted his already ragged clothes and waited for what his captain wanted.

"What is it?" Gil asked, slightly frustrated with having to leave his game.

"Go tell the Queen of the Isle that I accept her offer and wish to form an alliance," Uma commanded, she grabbed a hold of his leather jacket and pulled him in to her face just inches away, "got that?"

He quickly nodded, in both fear and excitement, "yes, ma'am!"

"Good, be back here before dark." Uma pushed him towards the door. He ran out of the shop and out into the island with one purpose in front of him.

Uma then noticed every single pirate in her crew was looking at her with great intrigue. There was no doubt they heard what she told Gil. The last thing she wanted was her own crew turning on her. She then climbed up to stand on top of the bar.

"Who wants a drink!?" She shouts and almost instantly everyone in the shop cheered and celebrated, finally getting some sort of substance. That would keep them distracted for the time being.

Harry pulled up bottles of booze from behind the bar, flipping them and doing all sorts of crazy tricks before handing them out the everyone. Things were sure to get wild now that the crew was to be drunk in sheer minutes. Ursula would freak but that didn't bother Uma too much. She only wished to know if she made the right decision. Suddenly she felt someone grab onto her hand, quickly looking down she saw Harry with a comforting look on his face as he held onto her. She squeezed his hand tightly, as if it would relieve any stress.

The room was dark and cold, only faint sunlight could break through the holes in the curtains that were drawn over the windows. There were papers and books spread everywhere, various pieces of furniture has been flipped over or tossed about, an untouched tray of food sat in the table, and she sat on the windowsill, looking through the holes in the curtains to see what the outside world was doing. The light dotted her pale face, the only light that touched her body. Another cold shiver went up her spine and she put a hand on her arm for comfort in vain.

Mal hated the way the Isle went about its business without any sort of complications. Like nothing happened. It makes her sick to think about how that spoiled princess had secured her position with the people so easily. It made her skin crawl knowing that brat was sleeping her her bed chambers. She tightened the grip on the small item in her hand that she was holding. A small, handheld mirror that once served the purpose of seeing over all the land and knowing things no one else did. The Evil Queen's magic mirror does not work under the barrier but a year ago Carlos used his expert mind to create a communications line with it. To the Queen's Castle. It was a closely held secret that the magic mirror could hear and project anything that was going on in the castle. A closely held secret that Mal knew. Getting the mirror was only the first part of her plan; she felt no remorse tearing it from Carlos' hands the other day.

She spend all her time listening to the little device, plotting her scheme and plans around it. It was like torture listening to that poser and her once trusted allies. She didn't care how much it hurt though; all that mattered is that she will have her revenge eventually. She just had to be patient and wait for the right moment to strike.

"Mistress?" A voice came from the doorway, Mal recognized it as one of her mother's henchmen. More specifically the one that brought her meals that she refused to eat.

She didn't move, "what?"

"You have a visitor." He said and that's when she turned to look at him with surprise.

"Visitor?" She asked, confused. She hasn't had a visitor since she was overthrown.

The henchmen nodded and from behind him, a cheerful and out of breath boy came out to greet her.

"Hey there, Mal!" He smiled, still trying to catch his breath. Did he run all the way here?

"Gil? What are you doing here?" She asked cautiously, her trust issues started showing through as she put a hand on the knife she now kept in a holster on her belt.

"Uma says that she'll accept your offer and would like to form an alliance." Gil told her, pretending to be like some kind of Auradon messenger, not noticing her discontent with him being there.

Mal became even more confused. She remembered specifically the pirate told her to fuck off and go to hell when she purposed working together. Perhaps she had a change of heart? That seems awfully out of character for that sea monkey. Though there was one word that stuck out from the rest of them. Alliance. No villain kid would ever say something like that, well unless they wanted to be called a prissy Auradon kiss ass, there was only one person she could think of to say something like that. The only child of a villain who had any knowledge of how royalty worked. Evie. That fucking bitch can't seem to learn her place, can she? How dare she try to form alliances with someone like Uma.

Instead of correcting Gil for his mistake, it probably left his mind that Mal was no longer queen, she decided to use this opportunity to her advantage.

"Yes," she began, trying to figure out how to trick him, "I'm glad Uma came around."

"Uh... yeah!" Gil really didn't know what else he had to say. He was given no other instructions.

"I'll contact Uma tomorrow with the details," Mal smiled wickedly as was starting for form her devious plan, "in the meantime, you can tell her that she will not regret this decision. I'll have my servants show you out."

She nodded to her mother's henchmen and he obliged, pulling Gil outside the room with ease.

"Okay, will do! See you soon!" Gil quickly said as he was dragged away. The door was shut yet again and Mal laughed quietly at his idiocy.

The laughing stopped when she looked down at the magic mirror. It was strange, she never heard anything about an alliance with it. And now that she thought about it, retrieving it was fairly easy.

Suddenly she realized what happened. Her eyes widen as she discovers the mirror has been nothing more than a ruse to throw her off her plans. Shame filled her body. She felt like such a fool. This whole times she's been played and deceived yet again. She grit her teeth in rage and fury, the nerve of that bitch! All of a sudden, getting her revenge didn't seem so easy anymore. She didn't care, nothing would stop her.

Mal quickly picked up the mirror, rage filling her body and her hands shook uncontrollably. A cry of anger escaped her lips as she crushed the small instrument into pieces. The glass shattered and the frame bent deliciously. Then Mal threw it at the wall, causing it to break in half. Her anger still wasn't satisfied; she threw a wooden chair across the room. It tumbled and crashed onto the floor, tilted and upside down. Mal kicked the table with all of her plans drawn out on it. The papers flew everywhere and she put a hand on her head in frustration.

"That fucking bitch!" Mal shouted. These outbursts weren't uncommon anymore.

The first time she lost it was only a couple weeks ago when she returned home, ashamed and defeated, she threw around everything she could get her hands on. The henchmen tried to restrain her but it was no use. She was out of control and had nothing left to lose. It was at that moment, Maleficent felt pride in her daughter for the very first time. After all, a villain isn't born; they are made. Maleficent had no interest in calming down her own daughter, in fact, she encouraged the behavior.

"Keep it down up there!" Mal heard from downstairs. It was her mother, of course. As much as she enjoyed her daughters ruthless acts now, she still needed to concentrate on finding a way of this wretched Isle.

In this desperate time Mal no longer felt compelled to bend to her mother's every whim. She then performed an act of defiance as she grabbed onto the bookcase in her room and used her strength to tip it over. It was a very impulsive decision, obviously, but all Mal wanted to do was prove everyone wrong. She won't listen to anyone but herself from this moment on. Not even her mother. No, Maleficent was going to wish she had a hold on her daughter again. She was going to wish she never let Mal out of her sight.