Hades studied his eldest daughter cooly. "Quite a show you put on the other day." Mal, in turn, congratulated his contribution. Grinning, he stood. "I was just coming to see you," he said mockingly, Mal looking at him with a disinterested expression on her face.
"Oh, really," she mocked back, "I thought you were perfectly content letting the sister I didn't know I had visit you." Hades scoffed and Mal felt more hurt than she should have at the notion that he had been there for her sister when he had left her behind. She hadn't seen her father since she was a baby, yet he had taken care of her sister, whoever she was.
Glaring at his daughter, Hades crossed his arms. "Not like she gave me that much of a choice," he defended, meeting her cold gaze with his own, "She showed up and stayed long enough to grow on me." He sunk into his armchair again, the ember still clutched in his grip. "She comes around maybe once a month," he continued, dragging his fingers through his hair, "to keep me company and get away from her loony mother."
"So what," Mal questioned, "She's worth your time and I wasn't?" The more she learned about her mystery sister, the more her resentment grew. She couldn't understand why her sister had been welcome into their father's life while Mal herself had been abandoned. Hades looked furious at her words and she couldn't help but take a step back.
He pointed at her accusingly. "I left your mother, Mali," he stated darkly, "Not you." He stood again, walking toward her. The little Facilier girl had hidden behind a pillar. "Your sister sought me out and asked me why I left rather than believing me capable of leaving a child behind," he told her, watching her rear back, "She understood that I couldn't be trapped with the madness that is her mother and tried to get to know me." Mal looked wounded, but Hades was hurt too. She, if anyone, knew how difficult Maleficent was to live with.
Mal shook her head. "I don't want to hear whatever sob story you prepared," she spat, "I came here for the ember, so if you want to make up for being a terrible dad, give it to me." Something in his eyes softened, though she had no idea why, and he gave her the sapphire and a warning that it wouldn't do everything for her the way it did for him. She could feel his eyes on her as she grabbed Celia and left. "Evie's the only one who knows that he's my dad," she stated, not letting her feelings show, "And as far as I'm concerned, he doesn't even exist." But her sister did. Mal wanted to know who the mysterious relative she could've grown up with was.
Jay could tell that something was up with Mal when she and Celia met them by the bridge but didn't ask. If she wanted to tell him what she was going through, she would. He activated the button and opened the barrier, stepping out onto the conjured bridge as they hadn't managed to get their scooters back. As Evie was admiring Mal's bluer look, Jay saw something in the corner of his eye. He turned to the closing barrier just as Harry and Gil jumped out. Carlos and Jay pushed the pirates back as they tried to pass and Harry's eyes flashed dangerously. The pirates pushed back, knocking Jay into Mal who dropped the ember. She had just managed to catch it when the son of Captain Hook shoved it out of her hand and toward the water. Where a tentacle caught it. Uma rose from the water, still in her half-octopus form, laughing mockingly as she asked if Mal had dropped something.
Harry and Gil stared in fascination as their captain disappeared into the water in a whirlpool. They stared after her for a moment, leaning over the edge of the bridge, turning around when she appeared behind them. Harry grinned at her. "Welcome back" he greeted, glad to see his friend.
"It's good to be back," Uma returned, "How's Quinn, is she okay with you leaving?" The redheaded princess had grown on her, and though they still weren't officially friends, Uma wanted to know how the poor thing was handling her best friend's departure.
Harry sighed, looking back toward the tower. "She practically shoved me out the door and made me promise t' come get 'er when the time is right," he replied, turning to Uma again, "But she's as good as she can be with that messed up mum of 'ers." Uma nodded, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. In his peripheral vision, Harry could see Jay and Evie share a look. Good. Uma turned to Mal, mocking her as the purple-haired girl asked for the ember back. Harry's eyes shot to his hairline when his captain, in a move reminiscent of Quinn's trading techniques, traded the ember for the freedom of the people on the Isle. The three pirates grinned when Mal agreed and Uma tucked the rock away as leverage to ensure that the queen-to-be kept her word.
Evie, finally seeing an opportunity to end the animosity between the groups, though mostly between Jay and Harry for Quinn's sake, placed her hands on her hips and gave each group a serious look "We could try to be friends," she suggested, raising her eyebrows, "Put our history behind us and celebrate our differences." To encourage her skeptical spectators, she pulled a small, mesh pouch from her sleeve and offered them gum. When no one accepted, and Mal demanded control from Uma, Evie sighed and took a gum-ball for herself as they walked past her.
During the walk back to Auradon, Jay kept an eye on Harry. He didn't trust that the pirate wouldn't lash out in a surprise attack. But to his surprise, all three of the intruders were focused on looking around as they walked. Gil, in particular, was absolutely enthralled by everything that crossed his path. He studied the trees, marveling at how green they were and the fact that they had leaves while the bushes had flowers. Jay explained to him that the fruit he was eating was called grapes before rushing to stop Harry from stealing money from a cursed student. "You can't do whatever you want," he stated darkly, "This is Auradon, not the Isle."
"Clearly," Harry cooed, "If we were on the Isle, ye wouldn't be spendin' time with us lowly peasants, would ye?" He saw Evie's eyes widen when he thew a glance over Jay's shoulder, winking at her as he put the money back. He rounded on Jay, hook positioned at his pulse point. "I'm not afraid of ye, Jay," he warned, "If it weren't for her ye'd be dead."
Harry pushed away from him and Jay was relieved. He shook off the strange feeling he got as the pirate's words registered with him, about how Harry would've killed him if it weren't for her, which had two different outcomes depending on who 'her' was. It could be that Harry refused to give Evie a reason to see him as a monster. But it could also mean that Quinn still harbored feelings for Jay and would be cross with her best friend if he killed him, a notion that had Jay's heart beating faster. Again, Jay shook himself and focused on Gil and his fascination with the things they encountered. He could remember being the same when he first arrived.
Unbeknownst to the villain kids in Auradon, Quinn had witnessed the whole exchange on the bridge from her tower. She'd seen the reluctant truce and understood that something was at stake in Auradon that very well could have Harry, Uma and Gil hailed as heroes. Panic seized her. For all she knew, Harry would forget about her, just as Jay had. She couldn't remain trapped under her mother's watchful, sinister eyes any longer. Making a split-second decision, Quinn threw her door open and stormed down the stairs to the dining room, where her mother was seated for dinner. "Mother, might I have a word?" She didn't wait for an answer, slamming her palms down onto the table. Queen of Hearts looked up at her, eyes hard and dangerous. "I fell in love, mother." It was enough. The dark-haired woman had her daughter by the hair and dragged her toward the dungeons as she shouted for the card soldiers to prepare the guillotine. The queen opened the door to one of the cells and her daughter took her chance. Quinn wrenched herself out of her mother's grip and pushed the older woman into the cell, shutting and locking it. "Your reign over me is over, mother," she hissed through the bars in the small window on the door, "There will be no more locking me into my room, no more torturing me into submission." Feeling a weight lift off of her shoulders, Quinn turned to the card soldiers. "You're not to follow her orders anymore," she stated, "House of Cards is mine now and you are under my command." She raised her eyebrows. "Understood?"
They saluted her, standing at attention as she passed them. "Yes, princess."
"Good—" she gestured for them to follow her as she left the dungeons, ignoring her mother's screams— "Now it's about time that I get back to my shop, while you return to the streets of the Isle and make sure that no one bites off more than they can chew." Quinn, for the first time in months, walked down the paths of the Isle in plain view. She didn't have to hide anymore. Throwing a withering glare in the direction of Auradon, she vowed to never fall for the Auradonian charm. She'd lost her friends to the prissy, pink kingdom and she refused to lose herself.
Harry knew, the moment he stepped onto Auradon Prep's grounds, that he preferred the dark grandeur of House of Cards to the sugary-sweet tea party that was Auradon. Walking through the halls, he missed the imposing halls of the place where he had spent half his life. He saw the benefits of Auradon, food, and money, but it didn't compare to what he was used to or comfortable with. Until they saw the claw marks on the walls. That is far more like something he could find in House of Cards. Of course, at Quinn's, it was a very much intentional move, a decorative choice made by a lunatic queen. Even though Carlos asked, there was no need to answer. No, the claw marks had not been there before. They try not to dwell on it and follow the talking dog to a room where the walls are lined with suits of armor. Inspecting a sword, Harry felt the prickly sensation in the back of his neck indicating that he was being watched. "I can feel you looking."
"Good."
His eyes turned skywards as he turned to face Jay. "Ye know, she asked me to save 'er," he taunted, ignoring the urge to hit Gil for his sentimentality as he talked to the dog, "And I find meself wonderin' if maybe she is sick of waitin'." Turning around, he pushed into Jay's personal space and lightly dragging the tip of his hook from just below the former thief's eye to the corner of his mouth. A wicked smirk graced his lips as he saw Jay's throat bob nervously. "Any questions ye might 'ave won't be answered by me," he growled, "As far as I'm concerned, ye ain't part of 'er life anymore."
Before Jay could retaliate, or Harry make good on his threat to make Jay bleed, their attention was drawn to the bickering between Mal and Uma. Harry's focus didn't stay there long though, as it was grabbed by the suspiciously moving suit of armor. "I believe we're being challenged," he said, trying to get Uma's attention. But Uma just continued her hostile discussion with Mal and ignored him, agitating the pirate. It was no secret, in the least, that his captain was not his favorite person in the whole world. That position was taken by his sister in all but blood. Harry had thought though, that he had earned enough resect from Uma not to be ignored. When the armor moved again, he decided he'd had it. "Girls," he snapped, finally getting them to look at him, "We have a situation here."
Evie would have thought beating moving suits of armor was easier than it was. She parried an attack with some ease, remembering the lessons she had been given. Glancing back towards Harry, she couldn't help but think it was the worst possible moment to be sucked into memories of him holding her from behind as he helped her practice her fencing. There was no one better to do it though. His father had drilled him since childhood and once he became the appointed chaperone of Quinn he had practiced with the Army of Cards. Momentarily distracted, Evie didn't notice the sword sweeping in her direction until the sound of it hitting another blade reached her ears. She turned just in time to see Harry maneuver an empty knight away from her. Silently she thanked him. For saving her and for teaching her.
Fighting the knights with Harry had Jay reminiscing as well. He recalled all the times they protected Evie and Quinn, even though they had to do so in the dark more often than not. He worked with Harry, for the first time since leaving the Isle and he silently admitted that he missed the pirate's blunt observations and honest demeanor when it wasn't directed at him. Mal uttered a spell, making the knights dance until they literally dropped. In celebration of their victory, Jay chest-bumped Harry, their first-ever friendly interaction outside the walls of Quinn's shop. It felt good to rekindle some kind of kinship, but it didn't last long. They were harshly reminded of the fact that they weren't supposed to be friends when Mal and Uma lowered their hands after almost high-fiving each other.