Sorry!
Sorry!
Sorry!
It's been a shit-tastic week, my bad guys!
She'd seen it coming.
The Yu's making a move.
Her heart pounds in her chest as a lump steals her ability to shout.
Cages.
They were being loaded into cages.
The soldiers standing guard were shouting-
Shouting something.
Even in her sleep, and she could tell she was asleep by the way things were shifting and changing around her, she couldn't understand what was being said.
There was too much happening at the time.
Harriett saving Harry's life.
T jumping down at her scream, taking a bat to their back that was meant for Harriett's head.
It hurt, but it clearly wasn't meant to do any significant damage.
It was those things.
Those little details that were bothering her.
Why now?
Why target the children of the Isle first?
She couldn't see the whole picture, and that bothered her.
Would have bothered her more, if it weren't for the faint scent of clove in her nose.
"I'm really okay, promise."
Deez-
She curls into Harry's warmth.
The temple had been heart-wrenching.
She still wasn't sure what had been more difficult, watching the way Hades had treated his daughter or walking into their cavern with Deez silently crying by herself.
Hades' actions had been difficult to watch.
Sickening.
She'd never been so disgusted-
-or disappointed-
In the god.
The way he'd acted so childishly. How he'd taken out his hurt by hurting his daughter.
It had been nothing short of cruel.
If it hadn't been for the Imps, T, and herself-
"Still, Baby Girl, I'd feel better if ya let Harry and Gil grab the stuff being dropped off, I'll ask James and Big Murph if they can help too."
Deez would have gotten herself killed in an attempt to please him.
That's what she saw when Deez was trying to remove the cuff.
Something that never got easier to witness.
To watch helplessly as the young girl gave everything she had, despite the excruciating agony that had to come with it.
Watching as her skin peeled only to regenerate and repeat over and over-
And for what?
If fire could get those damned things off-Wouldn't it have done so by now?
Asshole.
"You could get back to work on Yensid's staff," Gil offers, "it might help him with what he's workin' on, right?"
She smiles brightly at the lighter moment of the previous evening as she nuzzles Harry's neck.
She wasn't sure if he was going to be cross with her, but she couldn't help herself once she realized how eager Harry was for a picture with all six of them.
She hoped he liked them.
That they all liked them.
The six of them, sleeping together-
She takes a slow breath before she bites her lip to keep from squealing her delight.
She'd gotten to sleep with her family.
Warmth floods her.
She was included.
Not just in the drawing.
Not just because Harry requested it.
She'd finally gotten to sleep with them.
Like she was normal.
She ducks into Harry's shoulder, laying her hand across his chest as she snuggles against him.
Just as she'd drawn.
And, despite her reservations, she was excited to show Harry, so much so, she had tucked the drawings beneath the fur.
"Morning Faustina," Deez greets, shamelessly diverting the attention off herself.
"Morning." She greets as she pulls away to smile at the rest of their family, only to be pulled back and turned swiftly, so she was on top of Harry's chest.
She giggles as she reaches beneath the fur and pulls out the drawings, hoping it was enough to keep the attention off Deez.
"What ya be ah havin' here?" Harry asks as his hand reaches into her vision.
"Um," she holds up the pages, "I finished, and I know you wanted to see them first. They're just rough sketches, but I had to get them out." She picks her head up to glance at the others, "I'll finish them if you're interested- But I made one for each of you…" Her cheeks burn, "I was curious if you wanted to guess which I made for you… I thought it might be fun? I'm not sure…"
"Really?" Gil perks up with a boyish grin. "I wanna see 'em!"
Harry's eyes narrow, "did ya even be gettin' ta sleep with all this artin' ya be doin'?"
She blinks at him innocently, "I woke in your arms, my Prince."
Gil drops at her feet with Deez giggling in his arms, "she's got you there."
Uma shakes her head, "you're just as bad as your brother sometimes."
She closes her mouth as she hides her burning face in the crook of Harry's neck, peeking at Gil when he chuckles.
The sketch he was holding was indeed the one she'd drawn with him in mind.
She knew how much he missed Book club, how much he missed Carlos.
The scene she created for him was a typical day for book club at the cove.
Deez and Gil together at the anvil, Deez with flames dancing on her fingers as Gil lifted his hammer over his head.
Jay and Harry testing out the latest finished sword.
Carlos with a pile of books, pencil pinched between his upper lip and nose as he worked out a complicated equation.
And then she added.
Uma never visited the cove during book club, but she just knew if she had, she would have been testing swords out with T.
She bites her lip at her own addition. She was beside Carlos, helping him dig through the books as they searched for answers.
It was nowhere close to the beautiful anklet he had made her, but-
It was something she felt like he'd appreciate.
A memory he'd never gotten to experience-
Would never get to experience.
But wasn't that true for each of the drawings?
"Yeah, this one's mine." Gil presses the drawing to his chest, "even if it's not."
"I'm glad you like it." She smiles brightly.
Harry grins as he plucks his from the pile, "ya really be ah doin' it, like it really be ah happenin'." his grin widens as he looks the sketch over, "ya really be ah catchin' all o' us, even T bein' 'ginst the wall on watch."
Her face burns brighter, "you made a good point, so I wanted to make sure T would approve."
"Well, I can be ah settin' 'im ta rights if he be ah fightin' on this." He hovers a finger over the image of her layin', tucked in beside him, with one hand resting on his chest.
Bats flutter in her stomach as she turns away for her gaze to pause on Deez.
She frowns.
Deez's had been-
A whim.
She wasn't sure what had come over her, but once she'd started, she hadn't been able to stop until all ten of them were on the page.
Deez was tucked into Gil's lap as they stared up into the sky. Uma's hands rested on Gil's shoulder as Harry lazed on his back next to them. Each of them had a peaceful, almost serene expression.
On Harry's other side, she had herself and Mal sitting back to back as they curled around their drawing pads, each excitedly capturing the moment.
Almost in the background, she drew Jay as he dragged T back to the group by his hood while Carlos fiddled with a telescope on the blanket he was sharing with Evie.
It was also the only one of her drawings that wasn't set on the Isle-
But since she hadn't been making drawings based on reality-
Might as well give the younger girl a piece of her dream.
Her friends and family safe in Auradon.
Deez looks up with shining eyes as she presses the drawing to her heart. "Thank you," she mouths silently.
She smiles brightly as she nods, just slight enough for only the other girl to notice.
"Well, I know this one is mine, though I gotta say, I love all of them." Uma grins as she holds up her sketch of everyone swimming at the cove, "this one, right?"
"You were the hardest to settle on," she admits, "but in the end I thought you'd enjoy that rendering the most."
"Aye, you do something no camera can," she grins as she runs a finger over the image of T stalking Harry in the pool before she smiles at the way she'd drawn Harry spinning her over his head, "you give us the whole family."
"My Prince has the best ideas." She smiles down at Harry.
"I do be ah havin' mighty fine ideas." Harry grins as he wraps an arm around her shoulders
"These really are great." Deez whispers, her eyes still glued to the picture in her hands.
Her smile softens. "I'm glad you all like them."
She'd been wary about drawing all ten of them when Deez was already so emotionally overwhelmed but-
She was sure that if given the choice, Deez would rather have the sketch, and the emotions that came with it, than not.
That as young as her sister-
Her smile widens.
Sister.
-was, she understood the depth of the drawing.
The understanding that, yes, it was possible-
But it was equally improbable. As surreal as her and T ever spending time with their family together.
She could see the longing in her eyes.
The pain.
But she could also see the hope and love reflecting in them.
"Not ta say this ain'nah bein' fun an' I do be ah lovin' the gifts, but what were I bein' volunteered for, ya know, afore?"
"Oh," Deez blinks as she slowly looks up, "right. Um, Pain and Panic promised me they'd bring the things T picked from the storeroom and some apples from their trees."
Her eyes settle on Deez.
Of course, she was hiding the extent of last night.
Wanting to protect the others from what they had no control of.
"Ya mean he's keepin' his word, even after all that?"
"Of course." Deez nods, their gazes meeting for the briefest moment before she turns back to Gil, "if he goes back on his word, the deal breaks."
She leans against Harry.
If this was the route Deez was opting for-
"He has nothing but his word now," she adds, "he takes his deals seriously. In both our version and Auradon's versions of history. He just likes being intricate in his wording to garner more in his favor."
-she was more than willing to support her in that endeavor.
"He's always been like that. Ever since I can remember anyways," Uma lies on her back, her drawing against her chest as one hand delicately traces a line up her arm and the other twists a strand of Deez's hair around her finger.
They could all feel it.
The tension.
It was in the tentative way they were all speaking.
Afraid to break the moment.
"At least we can trust that, I guess." Gil sighs as he holds Deez to him protectively.
"If nothing else, we can trust that my father will always follow through with his deals, so it's important that we do the same."
"Can we at least agree to wait for Uma ta approve 'em before making anymore?" Gil strains to get out.
She ducks into Harry's chest as her ears catch on fire.
"Angel-"
She was not a fan of that tone.
"Yes, my Lion?" She asks, resigned.
But before he can admonish her-
"To be fair, her deal only affects her and me, and I'm cool with it."
"But she shouldn't have-"
"I'd have done the same." Deez cuts him off, "he offered his store rooms to plunder. Tell me, as pirates, how would you have managed to refuse that?"
"Family shouldn't bargain family."
"I'm cool with it, and since all he wants is his freedom, bargaining with family is kind of the only option. And since it is going to happen one way or another anyway, might as well get shit out of it."
Gil huffs, "still isn't cool."
"No it wasn't, my Lion," she admits with a sigh. "But neither is this situation. I'm sorry I hurt you and gave you pause to trust my judgment and question my concern-" She drops her eyes as heat rushes to her cheeks, "but I knew that Deez would understand. And yes," she shifts, "perhaps there was a bit of hope I was right but- If it were you, and your father, would you not also be willing to make the same sacrifice?"
Gil's brow furrows as he narrows his eyes, "That's-" He closes his mouth.
"I am so proud of you for not finishing that." Deez turns to him with a smile before she wraps her arms around his neck.
Uma snorts as she pats Gil's knee, "great job, Sweet Boy."
She sighs.
She hated using that argument against him but-
She knew Gil.
Knew he'd be willing to sacrifice too much for the good of others.
Everyone in this family would-
Especially now that they could.
If they were ever going to pull this off-
Ever going to succeed, these next few weeks were important for setting up the foundation.
She stills in Harry's arms.
Assuming it was even plausible anymore-
She always knew the Yu's were going to be the main was a given the moment T stepped between Deez and Atilla after they'd practiced at the pool.
He was so ruthless.
Intelligent and attractive.
Quick and engaging.
It was a dangerous combination.
She'd read so many books about the Yu's after that-
And then even more about strategies and philosophies on how one gained advantage.
Best to be prepared than caught unaware.
Then T'd made that first deal to infiltrate the camps-
They were so organized.
Trained.
Prepared.
Ready for the first sign of disquiet.
Maleficent feared Shan Yu's silence; and she'd had every right to do so.
The man was a master tactician and a merciless conqueror.
And his son held the capacity to be even more so.
It was a terrifying concept, and one that often kept her up at night.
"I really, like so much," Uma shakes her head as her stomach growls, "hate this, but I'm starving."
"I should go start on my report," she sighs as she pats Harry's arm.
"Do it have ta be ah endin'?" Harry pouts down at her.
"I could go check the fish traps and come back," Deez offers, "while you grab paper from your work cave."
"Sounds good to me," She places a kiss to the corner of Harry's lips before she turns to Uma, "is it okay to you, Captain?"
"There's a lot of traps," Uma sighs before she stands, "I'll come too."
"Yeah," Gil pulls himself and Deez to their feet.
She smiles at the three of them, not blaming them in the slightest for their need to be near one another.
"I guess I can be gettin' up," Harry teases before he pulls her up with him, "since ya be needin' paper an' all."
"My apologies, my Prince." She squeezes his hand, "though I do appreciate your noble sacrifice." She responds in kind.
"It were bein' right nice ta wake up together like that."
She drops her eyes as a small smile appears on her lips, "It really was."
Sea God's damn it.
She knew it wasn't going to be good after T's report last night-
But this?
She bites her lip.
Atilla took Cora out because she was a leader that would have divided the VKs. Which was clearly the fate he intended for her, since she'd rather die than join him.
And his continued interest in Deez bothered her, even more so since he now knew she was still on the Isle.
She sighs as her eyes continue down the page until she reaches the part about the cages.
T'd seemed surprised and angry when Harry mentioned the cages-
Had he really not noticed them?
Faustina certainly had, though she couldn't remember seeing anyone in them at the time.
But the fact the men in Yu's colors were seemingly sorting them was concerning.
"Faustina?" She turns her Beauty Girl only to find her bent over a notebook as her pen races across the page furiously.
She frowns when Faustina holds a finger up, before she finishes and shuts the notebook, "My apologies, what may I help you with Captain?"
She lifts an eyebrow, "what was that?"
Faustina blinks up at her, "Hades asked a question."
Right. The deal.
The deal they were keeping, because the god was keeping up his end.
"So soon?"
She nods, "he's rather oblivious to, well, most things." She rolls her eyes, "mostly out of willful ignorance."
She narrows her eyes.
That was rather flippant.
Faustina rarely rolled her eyes.
"What kind of relationship do you have with Senior, exactly?"
"A complex one."
This girl.
Had she always been vague like this, or was this new?
She shakes her head.
Faustina had always been a little vague about things, but never had a problem with delving deeper if asked.
"What's complex about it?"
Fautina narrows her eyes, "I suppose the fact he's taken a liking to us would be the start of that very complicated question."
"Well, yes, okay. But you like, you seem to enjoy talking with him at times."
"I do."
"How?"
"He reminds me of T."
"Which is still terrifying to hear," she points out with a frown as she lays her hands flat on the stone table between them.
"Which I completely understand. It is quite disconcerting to hear a member of your family bears any resemblance to Lord Hades but-" She sighs, "I don't know why, but the Lord of Dearth and T share several similarities. For instance, T is constantly asking questions-"
"Well, yeah, but T asks questions 'bout-"
She didn't want to say obvious shit but-
"So does Hades." Faustina continues with a shrug, "a lot of his questions are about frustratingly obvious things."
"Like?"
What kind of question could the god of death ask that would frustrate Faustina, of all people?
"Currently?" Faustina raises an eyebrow, "though he seems completely oblivious to it, we're discussing the finer points of jealousy in its relation to being a completely unnecessary bastard."
"Jealousy?" She raises an eyebrow, "you think it's jealousy that makes him act like that?"
"Most recently? Yes. In general? More than I would probably assume."
Her brow furrows as she taps her fingers across the cool stone surface.
"Suffice to say, he's trying to figure out why Deez considers you all her real family, and not him."
"He did get extremely pissed after she said that." She frowns, "I just thought he was pissed she stood up to him."
"Perhaps fleetingly, but that's not the topic he brought to me."
"So you like, what," she pushes off the table to cross her arms, "just talk about the shit that's bothering him?"
Faustina's lips twitch, "Sometimes. Like everything else with Lord Hades, it varies by his mood."
Fair.
The god was nothing if not whim-filled.
She bites her lip, "and you really believe talking to him and answering his questions will help us with-" she gestures around her, "everything?"
"I think that the only way this can end without massive casualties is with the Lord of Death behind us." She returns solemnly.
Her eyes drop back to the neatly written report.
Waking up as a family that morning had been wonderful.
And the sketches?
She'd known Faustina could draw-
But had never thought about asking for something like that.
Their family.
All of them.
Together.
Laughing.
Playing.
Enjoying each other in moments that could never exist.
It brought tears to her eyes.
Not that anyone would be able to guess from her Beauty Girl's depictions.
It touched her in places she hadn't known were there.
Bitter Sweet.
Deez's drawing especially.
Her eyes drift to Auradon.
To where the Core were.
How were they doing on the outside?
Were they safe?
Sea Gods only knew what Maleficent had done to them-
Was going to do with them?
Fuck, did they even know she escaped?
She pauses when she finds herself feeling worried and sighs.
If she were more willing to worry about the Core than she was about their current situation-
She was beginning to think she was avoiding all thoughts of what was happening on the Isle right now.
It was much easier to hide behind the fact that whatever lie detecting spell Faustina and Yensid cooked up wasn't done.
It was so much.
Too much.
And she was just one person.
One person with more people under her than she ever would have believed possible.
One person desperate to keep her family safe.
"Captain," Faustina sighs as she reaches and takes her hand. "I know this is a great deal-More so than I ever imagined-Falling on you and Beam. But just because there need to be amendments doesn't mean we've lost. It just means we have to adapt. And what are rats best at, if not adapting?"
She smiles as she looks up, "aye. Rats are great at adapting. An' we will." She nods, "we'll figure this out."
"I know we will," Faustina smiles at her, "so, what was your question?"
She frowns, "shouldn't you check to see what he responded?"
Faustina purses her lips, "It's alright, he can think on it longer. I didn't wait long enough last time, and he retained nothing."
"Ah." She shakes her head.
Was Faustina-
Was she giving the god the cold shoulder?
Complicated.
"Yeah, um, my question-" she clears her throat, "Last night T acted like he didn't remember seeing cages, but you wrote about them."
"We wouldn't have come home last night if he'd seen them," Faustina frowns.
"Then how did you see them?"
"T is very situationally aware- but narrowly focused. So, when I'm with him, I tend to take in more details. That being said, when I noticed them, I started redirecting his attention."
So she could partially control T, even when she wasn't the one out?
She frowns, why wasn't that as comforting as it should have been?
"Are you always out with T?"
"No."
"Huh." She tilts her head to the side, "is it something you, or he can control or-"
"I believe I can, for the most part- But T doesn't seem to have figured out how yet."
Her brows narrow, "where are you when you aren't out?"
She grimaces.
Was this how Gil felt?
She hadn't meant to ask, it just popped out.
"Reading or researching. Or, when I'm stressed, working with my bars."
"Bars?"
She nods, "my old room had lots of rafters, and T was insistent I got some means of exercise. We used to chase each other from beam to beam."
Oh.
Beams. Like the beams in the ceiling of the hold. Or the ones at the chip shop.
Her brow furrows as she tries to picture a young T and Faustina chasing each other around.
Sometimes it was easy to forget they were the same person.
So, how did they chase each other?
She shakes her head, afraid to think harder about it.
It was already giving her a headache.
She looks up as Harry, Deez, and Gil walk in.
"There be an anvil in them rooms too, Sweet Boy, but yer Angel were'nah bein' sure how ta transport it." Harry shakes his head, "It really do be ah feelin' like someone-"
"Hephaestus." Deez provides as she walks in with a crate.
"Now that be ah mouthful." Harry snorts as he places down the other crate on a cleared table.
"Most Greek names are." Deez chuckles as she bumps her shoulder into Harry, "Or, I guess most Greek god's names are."
No kidding.
Every time her mother went off about her pedigree, she'd get lost in the line of names.
"Wait-" Gil turns to Faustina, "seriously? There's an anvil that matches?" He pouts.
"Do you want it, my Lion?"
Gil glances between her, Faustina, and the hammer several times before he sighs. "No…"
"Yes." Deez corrects with a glare.
"Understood." Faustina smiles. "I just answered another question, so-"
"Wait-That counted as a question?"
Faustina turns to her, "it had a question mark."
Deez's jaw drops before she grins and claps, "please tell me he had to accept it! I need this!"
Faustina-
Faustina knew how to smirk?
"He's the one who never specified which questions were reward worthy."
"Ha!" Deez dances happily in place before she hops over and wraps her arms around Faustina, "thank you!"
Faustina smiles as she hugs Deez to her tightly, "happy to oblige."
"Where ya'll want these?" Beam questions as he walks in with James, both of them carrying roughly woven baskets filled with small, lumpy apples.
"Oh, Faustina, I was supposed to ask if we could keep them in here until I build another area with an oven."
"As long as the idea doesn't bother anyone, I have no qualms with it."
Her eyes narrow, "and it would bother us because?"
"She makes poison in here, yo. And sometimes it goes boom." Beam eyes Faustina cautiously.
"Ah." She drops her gaze to her feet, ashamed she'd, even briefly, thought Faustina was referring to something more sinister, "yeah, I was there for one of those."
"I can refrain while she makes a new oven," Faustina offers, "I'm not going to be out much longer anyway."
She closes her eyes at the reminder. "We have to wait for whatever Yensid is working on, right?"
Nothing wrong with hoping.
Faustina turns to her curiously, "well, yes, but there's nothing stopping Beam, James, Harry, and T from locating the camps-"
Something told her the four of them were going to remain a team for the foreseeable future.
"It would be ah givin' us more ta be workin' with once the Ol' Man figures that spell out."
Deez sighs, "and it would only be to gather information."
She crosses her arms over her chest again.
This hurt-
Hurt a lot.
She knew it was selfish to want to keep everyone here.
Here and on the ship.
But it was all she wanted right now.
Yet, here she was, about to make the call that would eventually lead them back to the Isle in groups.
Groups searching for where the Yu's had gone.
Where the cages of Isle Borns were.
"We should get ta planning this, shouldn't we?" She asks as she picks her gaze up to look around the room.
At least most of them were on her wave.
Tangling with the Yu's had always, and only, been a good way to get dead.
But they also felt the weight of the kids that were taken.
Or felt the weight of not understanding what the Yu's were up to.
Or both.
She sighs as everyone nods their heads, "let me go get Yensid."
It won't be cheap, but I'm considering getting the pictures of Faustina commissioned- Would any of you be interested in seeing them if I did?
I don't really see the point otherwise…
Oh, and for those of you who don't know, we actually have renderings already drawn of them, even the characters that you already know. (I wanted them congruent with each other for when I made music vidz.
The vidz are located on our face book and you tube page, and it would be super cool for ya'll to let me know what you think. I swear they've gotten better with time…
Anyways-
Who else feels for these kids?
There's just so much going on it's hard to track-
(Which seriously guys, we've rewritten this book so much it's difficult to know what we've already written… T-T writing is hard…)
It was nice for them to just be able to enjoy the moment, wasn't it?
So, in case any of you are curious Tina's relationship with Sr was founded in nothing but empathy and familiarity.
T and Sr are hella similar which made it easier to slide into conversation with him
Hades, albeit by his own doings, is in fact incredibly lonely. And that resonates in Tina's soul.
You ever heard of the saying 'buddies on skid row' because that's pretty much how F views the God. You need me, I don't need you. It isn't a nice opinion but in her mind, and his actions… Yeah, he's aware of it.
Much like with T, she finds his antics to be adorably amusing, like, she was locked in a tower just wanting to be part of shit, so studied how people interacted through T, and caught on- Those 2? Not so much
Not that anyone wants to hear that…
Anyways ← apparently my fave word for these currently.
I personally love the 'meeting' scenes- Are you at least interested to see the nine of them interacting?
Much love and shit
-Twisted