Author's Note: To my readers, I want to just let you all know that much of what is in this story is a deeper look into what the Isle really is like. This chapter and the one before it deals with things that are of a sensitive subject. Drugs and the like I feel like are a part of the Isle's culture. If you disagree, oh well. Best not forget that this is fanfiction. –Delta.
"I can't believe the blue pixie demon is actually going to our school," Harry groaned in their first hour class that day with Ms. Anastasia. It was supposed to be arithmetic, but it was more of watching Ms. Anastasia painting her nails with lead paint. "And the excuse of why she's suddenly here? Socialization? She has less of a personality than a tea kettle."
"Do you think she's always has been such a ditz?" Georgia asked her brother. Gil and Georgia shared all of their classes because they were so close in age to each other. Harry snorted a bit at the question.
"Who, Evie? Or do you mean Ms. Anastasia?" he asked, a bit confused. Harry was starting to doze off on his shoulder. Gil pulled a thread off his fraying yellow pirate's jacket. A gift from Harry and Uma for his fourteenth birthday. It suited two needs, his gang affiliation and his significant parent color.
"The princess, dumbass. We already knew that Anastasia was a ditz," Georgia rolled her eyes.
"If her mother is anything to go off of, I would say yes," Gil responded staring at the girl in front of him. He knew better, and knew that Evie was a very smart girl. She was a wiz at potions, and the last few weeks she had become a great mother. She wore lots of makeup that day to hide the dark circles under her eyes. It pained him to hear his sister and his best friend talk about Evie that way, but the politics on the Isle dictated he say nothing. Evie would understand, just how she would understand why Maverick would ignore her in public. "But who knows. How much are we like our father?"
"You may not be much like Dad, but you are extremely similar to Ms. Snow," Georgia said. "So maybe you have something about her intelligence."
Gil didn't let the comment pass through his head. Harry had fallen completely asleep and all of his weight was now on Gil.
"Harry, get off," Gil said, shoving the taller boy off of him. Harry fell to the ground, sending his ridiculous hook clattering to across the floor. Harry went flying after it.
"Should I try to recruit her?" Georgia asked. She was taking a break from the crew for a bit, and trying to get traction on her own gang. It was failing miserably.
"You can try," Harry said, rubbing his eyes. "But I wish you luck, lassie. Stacy and Dizzy looked like they were going to lock her away in the Curl Up and Dye and never let her go for her fashion traits alone. Mal was also eyeing her earlier today."
"Who knows?" Gil said, trying to make it seem like he hadn't grown up with the girl. He knew that Georgia knew Ritchie had a newborn kid, but she didn't know who the mother was, so she wouldn't be asking him about it. "Her mother was powerful. It is quite possible that Mal, Jay and their puppy will drag the princess into their exclusive gang."
"Mal would eat her alive, Gil, and Jay would get annoyed with her before too long," Harry replied.
"Some princesses are strong," Gil said, feeling the need to defend his aunt and her fellow rulers.
"Not that one," Georgia remarked. "That one was raised to look at herself in a mirror."
"I guess you're right," Gil said getting up. "I'm ditching. Another minute in this place, and I might explode. You coming, Harry?"
"I'm out of here, if you are," Harry said. "I need to see the ocean. I've been slacking on my duties and Uma is about ready to make me walk the plank."
Harry was the first one out of the classroom. Georgia was up trying to talk to Evie before they'd even left the classroom.
"What's going on with you?" Gil asked Harry after they had left the school building. "You are anxious today."
"Nothing."
"Really."
"Yep."
"Funny how I don't believe you."
"It is nothing, Gil. I just thought of something, and now I feel ridiculous even pondering it." Harry responded, pulling a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it as he walked towards the wharf. He took a drag and passed it to Gil.
"This is my only one today, Harry. Mama expects me home, and she'll kill me if she finds out I've been smoking," Gil mentioned.
"Whatever, Mama's boy," Harry laughed. "Speaking of your mom."
"Yeah?"
"If she's a queen, does that make you a prince?" Harry asked. Gill started choking on smoke. "Suck it up, Gil. It's only smoke."
Gil stood their wheezing for a few seconds. He then punched Harry in the shoulder.
"Two years you have known who my mother is, and you ask that out of the blue now?" Gil yelled. "And in public, too. Sometimes I wonder about you."
"Just asking," Harry shrugged. Sometimes Gil really questioned his friend's intelligence. "Are you going to answer, or not?"
Gil glared, and whispered to his friend, "I'm the Crown Prince of Arendelle."
"The crown-" Harry began to shout before Gil covered his mouth and flipped him over his shoulder hard to the ground.
"Yes, Harry. Could you say it louder? My Aunt could hear you across the ocean," Gil hissed. "Yes. I'm the heir to the White Witch. It is my birthright."
"I thought you didn't want people knowing who your mother was?"
"Yes, Harry. I also don't have a friend who asks me if I am a fucking royal in the middle of a public place filled to the brink with the scum of the earth and their offspring," Gil seethed, putting a knee to the pirate's chest and a knife to his throat. "This conversation is over. If I hear one more bit of this topic I will not think twice about slitting your throat."
"I yield, Gil," Harry said. "Didn't mean to bring the pirate out of you."
"Good. Now give me a cigarette. My heart's racing, and I can't handle another stupid scare like that regarding my heritage." At this point it did not matter if his mother killed him later, he shaking like nothing else right then.
Not too long after Evie's school debut, Gil's life changed.
Harry kissed Gil. Gil took the opportunity and ran with it. He wondered if it would last. He was elated for a few weeks. Gil was high on the happiness that Harry had given him by giving him the affection he'd wanted the most from his best friend. The one thing he had longed to have from Harry for the longest time.
It was a while before he realized what the implication of him falling in love with his best friend. Gil wondered if he was letting his country down.
Who said he couldn't get married twice? Most kids had nightmares about their parents or others who had hurt them or tortured on the Isle. Gil was no exception. His father as well as his mother had terrifying mental breakdowns in which they had harmed him or each other, but he trusted them more than most, even with the moments of harm. It was just that he had bigger fears than his parents. He dreamt that he failed his country before he had even stepped foot on its soil.
There were other nightmares that didn't revolve around how much of a disappointment to his country. Gil would have nightmares that his father would beat him black and blue when he found out that he was a sodomite. Gil didn't get any sleep for months after that first kiss. There was no way he would call what he had with Harry innocent, it was hardly that. Even in the moments when he was happy with Harry, he was depressed the rest of the time. Cigarettes weren't cutting it anymore. It didn't take him very long to go to Junior for stronger narcotics to make the choices and fears fade away from his conscious thoughts.
Before, Gil never avoided who he was. Gillian used to embrace his royal side. He used to wear his crown anytime he needed to feel closer to his heritage at home. So that he wouldn't forget about Prince Gillian of Arendelle. Once he started in on the drugs, he stopped going to his mother's house. If his mother knew, she would put in for a world of hurt. A frostbite worse than anything she'd given him before in his life.
It was months before the next time he went back to her house. The next time he was brave enough to step foot on her property was not long after the first time he'd slept with Harry. The only reason why he went was because he was too afraid to cry anywhere else on the Isle and not be killed for it. Gil really wasn't sure what he had been thinking, and went straight to his room, higher than an airplane and looking worse for wear than he ever had in his life. What he hadn't realized was he breezed right past his mother, who'd barely seen him come in before he'd slammed the door to his room.
Gil cried and cried as no fifteen year old could on the Isle. This wasn't how he was supposed to live his life. He wasn't good enough for anyone. He wouldn't ever be.
"Gillian," Elsa said softly. There were no locks in his room or in their building other than the main entrance. "I'm coming in."
Elsa hadn't seen him in weeks. She had been a few days away from tracking him down because Gillian had her so worried.
"Oh, darling, what's wrong?"
"If I tell you, Mama, you won't love me anymore," Gil said. "You'll disown me. I'm not worthy of being a prince."
Elsa gathered her son in her arms, and rubbed his back. She took his jacket off to make sure that he didn't overheat while he was sobbing into her shoulder. She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw his arms. She feared this years ago, but never thought he would do it.
"Gillian, have you been doing drugs?" she asked calmly. He nodded knowing that it was futile to deny it. "Why?"
"Because I failed my country," he whispered.
"Oh, honey. You haven't failed anyone, not me nor Arendelle," Elsa said. "Why do you think that, sweetheart? Please talk to me?"
Gil had never once acted like this. Maybe it was the drugs, but she had an inclination that the drugs were effect not the cause of how he was acting. Mother's intuition.
"I can't."
"But you can. Remember, I am not an evil villain. I am your mother. I won't hurt you. I am not like the rest," Elsa told him. She could not call herself evil, because it was not true, but Elsa conceded she was a villain. There was no way around that, she had spent too much time on the Isle to call herself a hero. "Please, don't forget that."
Gil stiffened. "I fell in love."
"That is wonderful, Gillian," she responded. It was something that she had never experienced herself.
"And we had sex."
Something that she could live with her son doing. She could live with that as a mother as long as they timed it out. There was not many medical supplies on the Isle, let alone to protect from mistakes. She loved Gil, but didn't think he was ready for kids like Evelyn quite yet.
"Okay. You are fifteen and can make your own decisions."
But Gillian wasn't done talking yet. She should have seen some of the signs, but Gillian was good a blending in and hiding things from others. Another horrible side effect from the Isle.
"With Harry."
"Oh."
That was what Gil had been afraid of. Sodomy on the Isle was condemnable. Elsa had never talked about it with Gil before, mostly because it had never come up in conversation before. His fear of failing his country now made a lot more sense to her. His belief was born of the trash on the Isle. Arendelle was accepting of most things, and that was mostly because of Elsa herself. He was scared she wouldn't accept him, and maybe that he wouldn't be able to provide an heir for his country. He felt like he failed his family, because he loved Harry.
"Gil, you do know that I am unmarried," Elsa said. Her son nodded. "You are my child and the only person I would trust with my kingdom, the one I still rule even with this unlawful imprisonment."
"Yes, but if you hadn't been sent here, you would have been married and had a true heir."
"You are very silly, Gillian. I never would have married. I may not have wanted to be locked away here, but I wouldn't give you up for the world."
Gillian blinked up at her. "Really?"
"Yes, really. I also never want you to believe I would disown you for something as silly as loving someone, regardless of who they are. I love you, and Anna and her family, and your father to a fair extent," Elsa laughed. "He has helped me to raise a wonderful son."
"Okay."
"Good. Now that you are no longer scared of me disowning you, we have something else to discuss," Elsa said. Gil blinked up at her through glazed eyes a bit lost at her words. "You are grounded, and under house arrest here until you are off drugs entirely. You will not leave here until I am sure you are completely clean, and until I know that your dealer will not ever think to provide you something as dangerous as this again. And that the boy who defiled my son knows where his place is in your life."
"Mama, please-"
"You do not get a choice in it. Who's the one that has been giving you drugs," Elsa demanded. Gil refused to answer. "Now, Gillian."
He murmured a name.
"What was that?" He said it again. "Junior. Should have known. Get some sleep. You are in for a rough few weeks, my prince." She kissed his head as she made her way out of the warehouse.