Seventeen Years After The Barrier (18 AB)

Jay paused as he spotted a silver bracelet on the wrist of the girl the just walked past him. It looked like one of those Auradon charm bracelets that the princesses were always wearing on TV, which meant it was probably real silver with actual gems in it. How had it ended up on the isle? He reached for the bracelet and the girl twisted, shoving him. His back hit the wall and there was a knife at his throat as he was faced with the signature black and white hair of a De Vil and that particular style of black with white streaks could only belong to one person.

Charlie Devil.

The girl who left bear traps lying around for people to walk into for the fun of it. Who stabbed people for no other reason than because she wanted to. Who carved up faces and cut off hands just because she could. Cruella De Vil's psycho daughter who'd probably quite happily hill him if she felt like it. He'd heard that she'd died months ago, but apparently not.

"Well, what do we have here?" She asked, pressing the knife into his throat a little more "Mal's little pet. What are you doing straying so far from your master, huh? And trying to steal from me?"

"I didn't realise it was you." Jay stated. A known psycho had a knife at his throat. He could be snarky later.

"Lottie!" Charlie sighed

"What do you want Gil?" Gaston's youngest son. Not the smartest, but pretty strong.

"Uh, you're wanted at the Chip Shoppe."

"I am, am I? Well. Guess it really isn't your lucky day. Gil, help me tie him up. The Captains will want to know about this development." Jay kept his mouth shut as he was dragged down the street by a psycho and an idiot. A psycho and an idiot who apparently had an alliance. Hopefully, it was just the two of them either being a bit rebellious or not being there enough mentally to realise their leaders hated each other. Jay didn't really want to know who the Captains were, but he had a feeling he'd be finding out pretty soon. And, if his suspicions were correct, and they probably were going by the presence and amicable nature of both Charlie and Gil, he was screwed.

Charlie kicked the door to Ursula's Fish And Chip Shoppe open.

"Guess what we found!" She called in a sing-song voice, practically skipping through the swinging doors as Gil shoved Jay in. He landed on his knees, Gil's hand keeping him there.

"Lottie. Gilly." Someone came to a stop in front of him, but all Jay could see were black boots and the end of a red coat. A Hook. "Well done. Uma and Harriet are gonna like this." Well, the voice sounded male and there was only one Hook boy, meaning the person in front of him was Harry. There was a hook under his chin and his head got tilted back to see the only and only Harry Hook. He'd been right. Another psycho. Great. "Coochie coochie coo." Harry laughed. He was bad news, that meant Charlie and Gil wasn't just a small alliance between individual members of gangs. For Uma's First Mate to be involved, this went a lot deeper than he'd thought. The mention of Uma and Harriet though... Mal's informants had told her that the two girls were currently fighting with each other the popular theory being it was over the boy in front of him. To know that they were working together? That could only spell disaster for Mal's domain. Uma and Harriet were both pains on their own. Working together? Well, the docks might just stand a chance at getting more territory.

"What the fuck have you three done now?" Jay knew that voice. That was Uma. He was screwed. Uma still hated Mal and all who followed her.

"Uma! Harriet!" Charlie greeted. So, the Lost Revenge and the Forgotten Treasure were working together. Fuck. "Guess what we found! Well, I found."

"Is that Jay?" Harriet demanded, walking round to see his face.

"Keep boastin' an' I'll gut ya Lottie." Harry growled, completely ignoring his sister.

"Yep." Gil confirmed.

"Yeah? You and what Hook?" Charlie taunted, also ignoring Harriet and Uma. She waved Harry's hook in the air, a mocking smirk on her face.

"Give that back!" Harry lunged for her and they tumbled out of Jay's line of sight.

"Nope!" Charlie laughed "Uma!" Presumably, Uma had taken the hook off Charlie. Well, if she wanted to get herself killed by a psycho she was welcome to, though that was unlikely seeing as she had her own psycho on a leash.

"Shut up! Both of you. In fact, all three of you can get lost." The Sea Witch snarled. "We'll take it from here." Silence fell as the other three left the Shoppe, leaving Jay alone with Uma and Harriet. He was screwed.

"So. Jafar's son." Harriet stated after a long moment. "What brings you into our territory? You know we don't take kindly to intruders."

"And don't even think about lying," Uma called, twirling a knife between her fingers. "we'll know." And they could call the psycho duo back in at any moment.

"Well, you see, Mal-"

Gil relaxed slightly as Harry and Lottie both stopped acting like mad things the moment they left the Shoppe. He hated seeing them like that, hated the mask they both put up for their own protection. The Isle didn't mess with mad people. After all, it could be infectious. He hated seeing them put up masks to the world, but he especially hated seeing them do it in the Shoppe. It was supposed to be safe, somewhere where they didn't have to hide from the world.

Contrary to popular belief, Gil wasn't stupid. Yeah, it took him a while to understand things, and he made connections and came to conclusions a little differently compared to most people, and yeah, maybe he forgot stuff and put his foot in his mouth a lot, but he wasn't stupid. He'd hated the mask Harry put up from the moment he first saw it, when Harry realised that the Isle saw his father as mad—he was—and realised that if he pretended to be mad too, people would bother him less. He'd known from the beginning that the Harry that sat with him for hours as they both learned how to read and count and the Harry that cooed mockingly and begged Uma to let him hook people were the same person. He knew that Uma hated that Harry thought he had to act like that too, and he knew that despite how much she hated it Uma thought it was a good thing, that people would fear her more if she had someone they thought was insane at her beck and call. He also knew that there were times when it wasn't just a mask, times when Harry really did want to burn the world down and dance on the ashes, but those times were few and far between.

He didn't know what Lottie had done to earn her moniker of Cruella's Psycho Daughter, or Charlie Devil, but he'd heard the rumours. Heard how she supposedly took someone's eye out with a knife, that she set bear traps and laughed as people got hurt. Then he'd met her, and she'd introduced herself as Lottie, and she was so different compared to what he'd heard that it took him a while to connect Lottie—who 'borrowed' hats that were too big for her head, who just sat and talked with him for hours, who'd explained how different things worked until he'd understood—to Charlie Devil—who laughed as she cut people up, who held knives to throats and made people chose between walking into a bear trap and walking the plank, who looked and acted like she was one bad day from killing them all—and realise that they too were the same person. He didn't know if Charlie Devil was completely a mask, or if there was some truth in her too, but he did know that she had moments where she needed to be grounded, that there were days when her head was too loud and that Jaz was the best at keeping her steady, just like how Uma kept Harry anchored.

"Harry! Give me my knife back!" Gil was drawn out of his thought by Lottie's shout. Harry had taken her knife—the one knife she always had on her and looked after about as much as Harry looked after his hook—and was holding it up above her head, laughing. He was taller than her, by quite a bit. Lottie was jumping and she still couldn't reach the knife. It was probably payback for her nicking his hook in the shop. He hoped the alliance Uma and Harriet were talking over went through, it'd mean he'd see more of Lottie and he liked having her around. Plus it meant people were less likely to set Harry off with the P-word. Nobody was stupid enough to say it when they were both around. One, most people thought they could handle, two? Only the most fearsome villains thought they could handle two at once.

There was a shout, and Harry was chasing after Lottie, both of them holding the other's signature weapon. He grabbed her and they both plunged over the side of the docks, into the water. Unconcerned, Gil ambled over, waiting for them to resurface. They always did. Harry liked throwing people overboard and Lottie always took people down with her, so more often than not, their little arguments ended with them both soaking wet. Right on time, two heads popped up, gasping for air. As they climbed back up out of the water, Gil noted that they'd taken their own weapons back.

"You two done for today?" Harry shook his head wildly, sending water flying everywhere like a wet dog. Lottie shrieked and covered her face, despite the fact that she was already soaking, before undoing her hair and pulling the wire out so she could wring it out.

"Did you have to throw us in the water again?" She complained, doing it back up.

"Relax. A little water ain't gonna kill ya." Harry shot back. "Besides, you started it."