AN;
Hello my lovely readers! Just a small Author's Note before we begin this chapter...
On the last chapter, I had a reviewer say that they were kind of unhappy, I guess, with the way this story was going. I'm not trying to force anyone to read my fics, I'm just happy to have people that enjoy it and want to read it, and are lovely enough to leave me a review on what they think of the story. But I'm going to give you guys the basics on this story (without any future chapter spoilers) so that you know what you're in for. I don't want any of you to be happy with the way things are going only to be disappointed as we delve further into things. It's a big waste of your time, and I really don't want to receive any reviews about unhappy readers.
(Please note, if you're completely content with how things are so far, then feel free to skip this AN. But if you're still kind'a not sure if you're into it or not, then stick around, and maybe I can help with that.)
Okay, so, first things first. I should really point out that my stories are my ideas on how things on an Island full of villains would be like. If you want the friendly content with a happy-ending that's actually in the Disney movies, then this isn't for you. This story is T+ for a reason, and I always make extra sure to put warnings at the beginning of a chapter to give my readers a heads-up.
The relationship between Harry and Cassie...well, it's messed up (believe me, I know that). I don't condone this kind of behaviour in real-life, but this is fanfiction, so I can pretty much do what I want with it. The amount of violence between the two so far will tame down eventually, if not soon. Please keep in mind that, in this fanfiction, they live on an Island prison full of villains who've committed, or attempted, pretty unforgivable acts. They've been raised in a dog-eat-dog society. It's a constant fight for survival on the Isle in this story, where even the children are capable of hurting people. And I should point out that the children of the villains have a lot more to prove than the elders, so they're just as - if not more, ruthless and cruel than their parents. Hurting, humiliating and doing so much more to others is how they were raised (Cassie aside, in a way) and it's all they know how to do. It's like a shoot first and ask questions later kind of thing. So, though the start of Cassie and Harry's relationship is brutal, their behaviour is considered (at least to people on the Isle) normal.
As for the Angst/Romance category I've put on it, when I put slow-burn in the summary, I really did mean it. The Romance is an eventual thing. It's not coming through right away, Harry and Cassie still have a lot of development to go through before they reach that target. I'm not trying to mislead anyone by throwing 'Romance' in the story category, it will come into things eventually.
Okay, so, if after all of this ^ you guys still want to carry on reading this story, then that's wonderful. But if you don't then that's perfectly fine too. I don't want to disappoint any of the followers further down the line, so if you have any more questions about this story then feel free to throw me a PM.
Warnings;
. Swearing
. Angst
. A little bit of torture I guess
. Violence
. Suicidal thoughts? (I'm just covering all bases here.)
Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
'This is it,' she thought with a saddened frown: This was how she was going to die. On the hard, cold bedroom floor of a turn-coat. If that wasn't bad enough, it was going to be at the hands... well, hook, of a damned pirate.
'Then again,' the other side of her mind countered: There were worse ways to die. Beaten to death in the middle of an alleyway had always been her most thought-of way to go out, especially considering her nightly routine of 'special-thing-finding'. The idea of dying in her feline form had always disheartened her, and it was one of the many reasons she was so cautious when in her 'other' state. If she was going to go out, she'd do it in the body she was born in, not in the one she was cursed with each and every night. So, in truth, dying in the building she'd always felt the most at peace, and in her normal body, really had to be the best way for her to go.
If only the man about to send her to the other side didn't look so damn pleased about it.
"What's goin' through that pretty little head of yars, love?" he inquired, having noticed the faraway gaze in her eyes and the small twitch of a smile on her lips.
"I'm thinking," she whispered with a shaky voice, the ability to breathe tampered by the overwhelming ache in her side. "You're gonna kill me, and I don't care." She ended her sentence with a light, but not forced, giggle, the simple act of joy enhancing the pain in her middle region.
Harry recoiled, his brows furrowed in thought as he stared down at the little cat. She had to be delirious, the small gash in the centre of her forehead muddling up that strange mind of hers. But he hadn't hit her that hard, had he?
"What're ya blubberin' on about now, little kitty?" he asked, his eyes darting between her own and the wound he'd given her only seconds ago.
Cassie sighed, twitching her head to the side as she looked up at Harry. "I. Don't. Care," she repeated, the innocent-like smile on her lips never fading from her face. "You think dying is the scariest thing, Harry?" It wasn't a question, but even if it was he had absolutely no idea what to reply to it. "It's not. Living in the shadows, no one knowing who you are or that you're even there? Now that's worse."
When she laughed again, Harry wasn't quite sure what to do. Her reaction to him now was only caused by the gash on her head, most likely a lingering after effect of having ones head smashed against a floorboard. There was no way she was ready to die yet, not after the chase she'd given him since they'd met. If she wanted to die, she wouldn't have legged it with his pocket watch. If she wanted to die, she wouldn't have fought back when he caught her in the maze. She wouldn't have challenged him for her freedom, hid for two days afterward, and then knocked him out and tied him up if she didn't have just an ounce of fight left. Cassie didn't want to die, not really.
Harry groaned and put a little more pressure on his hook, the pointed tip lightly piercing her skin. He wanted the fear, the panic, the horror-filled wide eyes of someone who knew there time was up. Hell, even another fight would do it for him. He wanted... no, needed, some kind of reaction from her. Otherwise what was the point?
Cassie gasped when she felt it. The sharp, barely-there sting in the side of her neck. She'd felt it many times over the passing days, and though a breath caught in her throat the exact same way it did all those other times, she knew with certainty that this time was different.
"Do it." She surprised him, and herself, when she obediently raised her chin, the back of her head screaming in protest as she bared her throat to him.
The little voice in the back of Cassie's mind yelled obscenities, screamed at her to stop being such an idiot and just fight back. But unlike the other times where she laid down and listened, she decided to shut it up for once. She'd done her fighting, and running, and hiding. Where had it gotten her? The special things only satisfied her for a day, or two at the most. After that she was hungry again, and roaming around the inner-isle for something else to distract her. She spent her days as a cat, and though it had its good moments, it was far from pleasurable. And her nights were short and uneventful, dark thoughts taunting her with loneliness and a longing for a life she could never have. She ached for another person to share this tragic prison-life with, but was too afraid and insecure to go looking for one. She wanted people to know her name and what she was capable of, but shrank back at the very thought of people knowing exactly who she was. Cassie wanted to live rather than just survive, but that just wasn't an option.
"You need some encouragement?" she voiced her sudden assumption, knowing full well how easy Harry was to push, and that it wouldn't take her long. "Hmm, okay, I can do that," she muttered, more toward herself than him. "Alright, lets see if this does it for you-"
"Shut it, kitty," he murmured, but she ignored him. Either that, or she didn't hear him.
"I stole your daddy's watch," she continued. "Right out from under you. And I kind'a wonder how that felt, y'know? To have something so important to you taken away. And I clawed you right in your pretty face, in front of your little crew. I'll bet your ego took a pretty big hit after that, huh? A little thing like me catching the infamous Harry Hook off guard."
"Cassie," he seethed, louder this time. He knew exactly what she was doing, or trying to do, and it pissed him off that it actually seemed to be working. Cassie was voicing every single thing she'd done to him since they'd met, adding her own little comment on things to rile him up faster. And while he longed for the sight of seeing her little throat sliced open by his hook, Harry still couldn't quite wrap his mind around the idea that she actually wanted him to do it.
"I beat you at a challenge you've never lost, remember? I pushed you right to the edge, and then brought that needle down on your hand. And then..." She was still adamant on bringing him to that edge again, and ridiculously eager to push him over it, apparently. "I nearly walked out with your best friends necklace." Cassie released a taunting laugh, her nose wrinkling in a small grimace as it strained her ribs. "I had you begging me that night. If I really wanted to, I could've had you on your fucking knees."
As if Harry's hand had a mind of it's own, his wrist twisted slowly, a small line of blood flowing down her neck. It would be so easy to do it. He'd done it before. One quick movement of his arm and the little pest was done, and out of his life for good. 'Just a little harder,' his mind sang, conjuring a perfectly clear scene for him in his twisted head.
Cassie groaned and gently shuffled around on the floor, her dark eyes meticulously searching Harry's face. He was hesitating, that much was obvious enough. But why?
"You need more, Harry?" she asked, utterly confused as to why he was dragging this out. He shouldn't be hesitating. Hell, he should've done it already. What the hell was she supposed to do, hold the hook steady for him? Here she was, offering herself up to him on a silver platter and he was hesitating.
"No," the pirate grunted, and Cassie's eyes widened as he pushed himself up straight. "I need ya ta shut tha fuck up for two bloody minutes."
The little cat gaped, unable to do anything except watch and wait for him to come around. Obviously her bewilderment in this situation was understandable. He'd been adamant, and perfectly vocal, on killing her since she'd gone running with his damned pocket watch. So what the hell was taking him so long?
"Seriously," she spat, her eyes narrowed in absolute outrage. "You've been chasing me down since we met, desperate to kill me. So what's the fucking problem?!"
Harry glowered down at the little cat. "I said shut. Up."
Cassie's lips twisted into a displeased frown, and she quickly shoved his hooked hand away from her neck with a quick swipe of her own left hand.
The next move she made wasn't done with a clear mind. In fact, she wondered if his previous attack had left her a little tapped in the head... if she hadn't been already. All she could feel was anger, flowing through her veins and quickening her heart. If he wouldn't do this one simple thing on his own, she'd have to do it herself, before her rational thought clouded her mind with thoughts of fleeing and surviving.
Harry had been in a rather unbalanced position already, with both knees on either side of the little cat and his upper body lightly tilted backwards, and he wasn't planning on her becoming so defensive at the idea of him re-thinking his plans of ending her. So when Cassie growled and - much to the protest of her middle section - leapt up onto him, he went tumbling like a sack of mouldy potatoes.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" she demanded, her smaller body now mirroring how his was only seconds before.
Harry released a pained moan as the back of his head, still a little sore from Cassie's earlier actions, collided with the floor. It took him a moment or two to fully grasp what had just happened, and when he did he couldn't help the chuckle that snuck its way up through his throat.
"I was laying here, giving you a huge opportunity to do me in and you were thinking about it." Cassie shook her head in disbelief, her long hair swaying with the movement. "I won't fight back, and I won't run. You want to kill me, Harry. What's there to think about?!" she yelled, her frustration toward him only growing when she saw how strangely amused he was with her.
"There're lots a things ta think about, love," he replied, carefully adjusting the hook in his hand. She was no threat to him right now, but if things got a little hectic he was ready for her.
Cassie huffed and rolled her eyes. "Like what?" she asked, her fingernails lightly scratching at the wooden floorboards beneath her hands.
A sharp yelp passed through the little cat's lips when, in a swift movement of tangled limbs and distorted vision, she wound up with her back on the floor once again.
"Harry," she groaned, her right hand gently pressed against her forehead as she attempted to fight away the dizzy spell. "I'm not playing games with you. Just get on with it already."
"Aww, little kitty." Harry tutted, his lips forming a mocking pout. "Ya've been so...fun, ta play with up till now. What's changed, love?" It was rather intriguing, really. She'd put up quite the fight since they met, so there had to be a very, very good reason she was being so submissive now. And he couldn't possibly kill her without knowing why.
"I'm just... done," she whispered in reply. "I'm good at running but this is ridiculous." Cassie quickly averted her gaze to the darkness behind him, an exasperated sigh coming through her lips. "Why do you care anyway?" She had to divert the uncomfortable line of questioning before she did something stupid. This wasn't a confession, and he wasn't her friend. He didn't need to know why she was letting him do this, he just had to fucking do it.
Harry rolled his eyes skyward for a moment, before he gave her a small shrug. "Dunno, guess I don'." He looked back down at the little cat, a mischievous grin stretching across his face when he saw the confusion in her dark eyes. "But I'm not so keen on killin' ya anymore."
Cassie frowned as numerous red flags sprung up in the back of her mind. People like Harry didn't bounce between the idea of killing someone that'd hurt them in some way. They either wanted to kill, or they didn't; No in-between. There was a reason he wasn't going to kill her tonight, and despite her anxious mind reassuring her that she didn't need to know what it was, she couldn't help but feel curious.
"Look at yarself right now, Cassie," he began, quickly running his tongue along his bottom lip. "On yar back, beggin' me ta kill ya. No fightin' an' no fussin', jus' ready an' willin' ta accept yar fate. After everythin' ya've done so far, love, it really makes me think 'bout yar sudden...obedience.
"Now, from everythin' ya've told me so far, I can put tha pieces together. Dad up an' leaves ya, decides ta go about on his own an' let his lovely little kitty deal with the curse she got from him on 'er own. Ya got no friends aroun' ya, no one ta talk to. Ya live all alone in this borin' place, nothin' but stolen jewels ta call yar own." Harry immediately raised his hook to Cassie's throat when she growled in warning, her upper body barely making its way off of the floor before he forced her back down again.
"You sound like you're trying to make a point," she said shakily, doing her best to hide the overwhelming hurt and sadness she'd felt with each correct statement he made about her.
"I'm gettin' there," he muttered, absentmindedly smoothing strands of hair away from her face with his hook. "Ya're absolutely miserable with yar life, aren't ya? Makes sense that ya would be, an' I reckon that's why ya wan' me ta kill ya. Ya wan' me ta end it for ya, love?" He hummed, sliding his hook back down toward her neck. "I can take it all away. Tha pain, sufferin', loneliness; All of it."
Cassie bit down on her bottom lip as she felt the familiar sting in the side of her neck, her dark eyes staring at the space above his head as she waited patiently for him to finally do what they both wanted.
"But," he drawled, abruptly withdrawing his hook. "If I do this, I wouldn' be doin' it for me now would I? I'd be doin' it for you. Ya wanna die so bad, love, that I don' wanna kill ya."
Harry watched, and waited, with morbid fascination as Cassie slid the puzzle pieces into place, her facial features twisting from confused, to thoughtful, to worried, and then - much to Harry's sick pleasure - understanding.
When Cassie's wounded mind eventually came to conclusion of why Harry was rather unwilling to kill her, she wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh, cry, or claw his face again. Any normal person would be relieved to know that they would live to see another day, but Cassie was far from normal, and her life was so painfully lonely and repetitive that she couldn't feel relief. And it irritated her more than anything to know she was giving him exactly what he wanted.
"Killin' ya would be doin' ya a favour, Cassie," he told her, gently shaking his head as he gave a sigh of disappointment. "An' as interestin' as it sounds ta play 'hero', I just love bein' the bad guy in this story."
"You're such a..." her muttered voice trailed into a long breath, her mind scrounging for an offensive word big enough to describe Harry right now. But she couldn't find one.
"No need ta thank me, love. I know yar grateful," he taunted, and Cassie gave a scoff of indignation. "Ya should be happy 'bout this. Are ya happy with it, Cassie?" The dangerous glint in his eyes told her more than she needed to know, and his lengthy explanation as to why he wasn't killing her gave Cassie a small insight into Harry's evil mind.
Boring, lonely, painful, and unbearable: Her life summarized in four words. If it stayed that way then she'd stay alive, with Harry getting his kicks at the mere thought of her suffering. But if, in some miraculous way, all of that changed, and Cassie actually started to enjoy her time on the Isle, he'd come straight for her.
When he told her he was going to 'ruin' her, he must've really meant it.
"Get. Out," she hissed, an enormous wave of emotion coming down against her chest. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her devastation. He'd seen enough as it is.
Instead of another hateful comment, or twisted sentence of some kind, Harry gave in and did as she 'asked', moving out from between her legs and rising to his feet. He'd done what he wanted, and though he hadn't killed the little cat as he'd planned, letting her live would be so much more satisfying.
Cassie groaned as she moved up into a seated position, her fingers gently prodding at her forehead. It still hurt, but after the last few days she had to assume her pain-tolerance had kicked up a notch, since the overbearing pounding in her head had now dulled into an uncomfortable ache. She didn't like it, but she could handle it.
'If only everything else worked that way,' she thought, her other hand feeling for a stable surface to help her get up onto her feet.
"Jus' outta simple curiosity, love, why didn' ya kill me?" the pirate asked from his spot near the doorway. "I mean, ya had two chances ta do somethin', so why didn' ya?"
Cassie stumbled her way over to the double-bed in the corner of the room, her left arm wrapped around her ribs and stomach. She perched at the edge of the bed and pulled her hair out of her face and over her right shoulder, a small flicker of pain crossing her features as her side ached.
The idea of telling someone like Harry that she hadn't killed him because she couldn't bring herself to do it was - in the simplest terms - embarrassing as hell. He obviously had no problem following through with the big 'M', if she didn't count tonight anyway, and someone as twisted as him would never understand it. Taking the life of another person was the worst act a villain could commit, and while Harry was clearly pure evil, she didn't quite fall into the same category.
"I don't know," she eventually replied, blankly staring at the space between them. "I just couldn't do it."
After a moment or two of silence, Cassie fidgeted uncomfortably when Harry moved toward her, her hands quickly grasping at the sheets beneath her as she shuffled back onto the bed.
"Calm down, little kitty." Harry huffed as he stood directly in front of her. "I'm not gonna kill ya, ya know that."
"Right," she snapped, the utter distain she felt toward him practically dripping from her tongue. "Because it would be too easy, huh?" A sharp gasp escaped her mouth when his hook came underneath her chin, forcing her head upward.
"Aye, it would be." Harry lifted her head until it could go no further, the sharp point scratching down the length of her neck until it curved into the collar she'd forgotten to remove. "After all tha shite ya've pulled lately, ya deserve ta suffer," he said quietly, using his hold on her collar to slowly pull her onto her feet.
Cassie obediently followed the motion, too exhausted to even think about going another round with him. But that didn't mean she had to stay quiet. "Everything I've pulled? What you give is what you get, Harry. All I've done since meeting you was defend myself, I never made the first swing." So she'd taken his pocket watch, big deal. He'd gotten back at her for that. Everything after was a result of his anger, and she wasn't about to take all of the blame for their feud.
"A man's ego is a fragile thing, Cassie," he told her, lightly shaking his head in reprimand. "One wrong move an' it's blown ta pieces."
"I embarrassed you?!" she cried incredulously. "That's why you're doing this?! If it took one little girl to crack your confidence then maybe you're not as strong as you think you are."
The moment those harsh words left her mouth, Harry's right hand, which Cassie had made the idiotic mistake of forgetting about again, grabbed her left side, directly over the spot he'd brutally kicked earlier. She wasn't sure if he'd broken her ribs all together, though it was highly unlikely since she was still standing. His thumb put pressure on the already sensitive skin, his fingers practically clawing into her back as his grip hardened.
A small whine came from back of Cassie's throat, small tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. With his hook still curved into the collar around her neck, she had no choice but to look up at his face, the unsettling act enhanced by the growing discomfort in her side. He wasn't going to ease up, that much she knew with certainty, and he wanted to see exactly how much it was hurting her.
"Not as strong as I think, eh?" he repeated her earlier words back to her, the subtle outrage in his tone enough to let Cassie know she'd really fucked up just now. "Ya don' think I'm strong, Cassie?" As if to prove a point, which he kind of was, his thumb moved up an inch, constantly keeping the horrible pressure on her already-fragile skin.
Cassie cleared her throat, her lips tightly shut in a poor effort to withhold any sounds to let him know it was working. It hurt more than anything. She was quite thin as it was, and Harry's hand easily stretched from her stomach, across her side, and onto her back. His 'punishment' now was unyielding, the death-grip he had on her side enough to make her re-think her idea of not fighting back.
"C'mon little kitty," he muttered, adjusting his right hand a little further up to do the same thing again. It was basic torture, and so far she was doing better than he thought she would. But she'd cave soon enough. He just had to find the right spot.
The little cat jolted when, instead of simply causing discomfort to her tender flesh, Harry's thumb found one of her ribs. It had to be the area his foot had successfully hit a little earlier, since the very moment his fingers came around that particular spot, an agonizing throb sparked in her side.
"Stop." The word slid from her tongue before she could even think about saying it, the torture he was currently inflicting clouding her mind. She tried to stay strong, to think of something else to avoid focussing on the obvious, but it wasn't working.
"Now why would I do that?" he asked with a raised brow, his lips twitching up at the corners as his eyes curiously flickered down toward his hand.
"I-I'll tell you who spelled my dad," she stuttered, biting down on her bottom lip as his fingers twitched.
"I don' care 'bout that anymore, love," he admitted, his gaze coming back to meet hers. "If ya knew someone on the Isle with magic, ya'd of gone already."
'Damn it,' she thought, releasing the hold she had on her lip when a faint metallic taste dripped onto her tongue. He wasn't wrong: If she had known someone on the Isle with magic she'd have gotten herself out of this prison years ago. But that little secret had been the only thing keeping her alive, and with it gone she had nothing of use left.
"But there's somethin' else I'm curious about," he told her, and Cassie's eyes visibly widened, a small glimmer of hope fluttering through her chest.
"W-what do you wanna know?"
Harry gave a small hum as he thought, his eyes darting about the room before they eventually came back to her. "I wanna know when ya turn back."
At first, Cassie had no idea what he was talking about. But when she soon realised what he wanted to know, her mouth dropped open and her brows furrowed, a furious objection right on the tip of her tongue.
Before the little cat could even attempt to shut him down, which he knew by the look on her face she was about to do, Harry put as much of his force as he could manage into the hold he had on her ribs, Cassie's words falling flat as a loud wail passed through her lips. Her body shook and her instincts finally kicked in, her small hands pushing at his chest as she struggled to move away from his grip.
"W-why do y-you wanna know that?" she cried, her lower lip quivering as the pressure lessened on her side. He didn't remove his hand completely, as she wished he would, and she knew full well that if she even thought about talking back again, he'd do it again.
"Hush now, little kitty," he gently whispered, the sight of her tears spurring him on. "I know it hurts, love. But ya humiliated me, Cassie. An' no one gets ta humiliate me. Yar side o' tha Isle don' know me yet, but they're gonna know my name real soon, love."
Cassie rummaged through her mind in an effort to find some sense in what Harry was saying, and eventually the memory of her talk with Helena came to mind. Uma had tagged the Isle on the night of the riots, laying claim to every store she could. With Maleficent gone, it was time for a new power to run the Isle, and apparently that 'higher power' was Uma.
The pirates were coming inland.
"Looks like ya'll be seein' a lot more o' me, Cassie," the red pirate chuckled. "So, 'bout this curse o' yars…" he trailed off pointedly, and Cassie frowned. "An' don' try an' lie ta me either. If I think ya're lyin'... well." He quickly untangled his hook from her collar and switched hands, the weapon now hovering near her sore ribs. "I got no problem makin' ya a bit more... truthful, as it were."
Cassie cleared her throat and looked down, her dark eyes lingering on his hook. If he could cause that much pain with just his hand, what could he do with the hook?
"When the sun comes up," she begrudgingly admitted, her mouth dry and tongue heavy as she whispered the dreaded revelation. A small part of her wondered if he'd heard her, since she'd said it so quietly, but she knew he did.
"Tha sun comes up, ya turn into a kitty. Sun goes down, an' ya come back to this." Harry used his left hand to gesture toward her body, and Cassie could only nod in confirmation. "Fuck me, no wonder ya're so miserable."
"No shit," she retorted with a mumbled voice, staring down at her hands as she toyed with the edges of her hair.
Harry looked down at the little cat, his tongue caught between his teeth as the cogs in his brain started to turn. "Makes ya wonder though, love. What did yar daddy do that was so bad he had somethin' like that put on 'im?"
As expected, Cassie's head whipped up at his enquiry, her dark eyes frantically darting from his face to the rest of the objects behind him. It was a rather unpleasant thing for him to think about, let alone the daughter of the infamous cat himself. Whatever her father had done, it must've been very, very naughty.
"You should get back to Uma," the little cat suggested, diverting from the unnerving subject of her father's 'actions' before he'd been thrown onto the Isle. "I saw her tonight. She's waiting for you."
"Ya went ta see Uma?" he wondered, and she nodded. "Ah." He gave a slow nod and stepped back, the realisation of why she'd gone to see his Captain sparking his temper. "Ya tried ta make a deal, I'm guessin'?"
With Harry now out of her space, Cassie took the initiative to put her ass back down on the bed, the simple act of standing straight, and without aid, a little difficult. Her head hurt and now, thanks to Harry, so did her side, more than it had before anyway. She just wanted to fall asleep, and the traitors bed seemed like the best place to do so.
"Cassie," he called, and the little cat lifted her head, her eyelids drooping as she fought to stay awake. "Ya ever try ta go to Uma 'bout me again, an' I'll throw ya back in the cells. Got it?" Harry was rather finicky with his morals, but he loathed cowards, and Cassie running straight to Uma to try and make a deal around him just didn't sit well with him.
"Hmm, I'd like to see you try."
Harry opened his mouth to fire back at the little cat, only to halt immediately when he saw she'd somehow fallen asleep. He gave a small scoff of disbelief, lightly shaking his head as he manoeuvred toward the balcony door. His conversation with Cassie wasn't done, and there was no way in hell he was letting her off easy. But he knew her secret now, and he could just as easily track her down tomorrow night.
'First things first,' he thought, jogging down the metal stairs: He had to talk to Uma.
~...~...~
The teal-haired Captain hummed a small tune as she bustled about the shoppe, lifting the remainder of chairs onto the now-clean tables as she set about her 'end-of-work' routine. Her lips twisted downward in a frown as she looked over her shoulder and toward the door, her stomach churning as she strained to hear a set of footsteps outside, only to realise there was nothing.
Though the end of her shift was always a welcome relief, the hours she spent alone afterwards were anything but. Her crew had already gone home after being dismissed, and though he'd offered to stay, Gil too had gone running back to the Gaston household after Uma assured him she'd be fine on her own for a bit.
But that was far from the truth.
For the first ten years of her life on this prison, Uma had spent every moment on her own. Whether it was wiping down tables, causing trouble at school, and even going to fetch the supplies for her mom's shoppe, she was always alone. But then she met Harry.
They were thick as thieves now, but she and her first mate hadn't always seen eye-to-eye. In fact, the very first time they'd met, they'd wound up in some pathetic argument over which of their parents had done the most dastardly deed. Harry had sworn to Davy Jones's Locker that his father was worse, that his father had tormented the people of Neverland for a majority of his life, surrounded by his loyal crew. And Uma had countered his point by letting him know that her mother cast spells, had eight tentacles, and took the souls of merfolk as payment for any 'deals' she happened to make. Looking back on it now, Uma knew with certainty that their argument had been pointless and pathetic. It didn't matter what their parents had done, their poor decisions had gotten them thrown on the Isle and that made them equally as disappointing.
It wasn't until three months later that their strange friendship came around. Uma had been sent to the market, again, to fetch a few things for her mother and had been cornered by a few hostile and drunk pirates. Mal hadn't been around that time to help her fight them off, and Uma could vividly remember it being the first time she was terrified of someone other than her mother. There had just been something unusually dark about the looks those pirates gave her, and even now it sent a shiver of horror down her spine whenever she thought too hard about it. But Harry had come to help her. She didn't know if he'd heard her calls for help, or he'd just come around at the right time. She hadn't ever questioned that part. He'd just come running toward them, holding a sword almost as large as himself, and started swinging.
Safe to say, they never came across those men again, but Uma had found a new friend that day. Harry had helped her develop her sword-fighting skills, which she'd been practicing on her own till they met, and she encouraged him to seek out the confidence she knew he had hiding somewhere deep inside. When her mom came down on her ass for something stupid, he was there. When Mal pulled that cruel prank and dumped shrimp all over her, he'd stayed and helped her clean up. And when she suggested the idea of forming their own pirate crew for children just like them, he'd been all for it. Everything they'd ever done had been with the other, and she still couldn't quite get her head around the fact their friendship had lasted so long.
They'd grown in different ways over the years. He didn't stick around as much as he used to, and Uma's life was now filled with extra shifts and plans to take over the Isle. But they were still just as close as they had been, and no matter what he always came back.
Until now, at least.
Harry was a big boy and he could take care of himself, and Uma tried hard to keep that thought in mind every single time she looked at the door. He could certainly deal with Cassie, anyway. The little cat was a nuisance, but she wasn't violent, and she was certainly no threat to the first-mate. However, the Isle was unpredictable, and the worst-of-the-worst always came out at night. They were travelling further inland now but there was still a lot of ground to cover, and moving around in groups of three or more ensured the pirate's safety. But tonight Harry was out there alone, and without the help of his crew mates. If a larger group decided to fuck with him then he'd surely lose, no matter how skilled or strong he was. And while she hated the idea of admitting it, Uma couldn't help but worry about him.
Uma rubbed at her eyes once she'd finally lifted the last chair, the fatigue she'd fought against all day returning with a vengeance now that all her work was done. There was nothing left for her to do now except go down to her room on the ship, but she couldn't. Not until he came back.
"Uma."
At first she thought she was hearing things, her worn-out mind stressing so hard over whether or not Harry was safe that it was now taunting her as well. But when she turned, and saw him stood in the doorway, her entire form sagged with overwhelming relief.
"Harry," she muttered quietly, warily eyeing him for a moment on the off-chance she'd now started to hallucinate as well. "You're okay?" Uma tried to seem as indifferent as possible, her years of training herself not to show a flicker of weakness when around other pirates firmly rooted in her ways.
"Aye, 'm fine," he reassured, a small smile tugging at his lips. He knew Cassie had been here to see Uma, which must've meant his Captain knew what kind of predicament he'd been in. Uma wasn't showing it now, but he knew she worried about him. Just like he always worried about her.
The Captain nodded slowly, gently rubbing at her chest as she calmed her formerly frazzled nerves. He was here, and he was fine. "So, where'd you go? Last I heard Cassie had you all tied up," she inquired, pulling down two chairs from the table she'd just cleaned.
"Yup, she did," he replied, moving to sit beside her. "Little prick knocked me out with my own hook, tied me ta a bit o' wood." A snort of laughter erupted from his Captain, and Harry glared in response. "It's not funny."
"You're right," she agreed, shamefully pressing her lips together to avoid laughing again. "So what happened?"
Harry inhaled a deep breath, mentally preparing himself to recount the bizarre meeting he'd had with Cassie a little earlier. "I got outta tha ties, climbed down inta another room ta wait for 'er. When she came back I attacked, we 'ad a bit of a fumble; She got tha wors' end."
"Good," the Captain remarked. "Bitch deserved it."
"Hmm, that she did."
Uma's brows furrowed as she saw Harry's eyes glaze over in thought, the pirate absentmindedly scratching his hook into her table as his mind travelled elsewhere. Something had happened, maybe something big.
"Something happened," she voiced her concern, and it brought Harry's attention back to her. "What happened?"
"She... uh." Harry fumbled to find a way to explain everything to Uma, while he himself was still processing Cassie's reaction when she thought he was going to kill her. "I had 'er on tha floor, an' I was ready ta kill 'er, an' she tol' me ta do it." He curiously watched Uma's face as she took in what he was saying, a large part of him hoping he wasn't completely insane for questioning the little cat's motives.
"She...um...what?" Uma scratched at her forehead in contemplation, apparently just as confused as he was.
"She wanted me ta kill 'er." Harry shook his head in disbelief, lightly tapping his hook against the table. "I didn' believe 'er, not at firs'. But she tol' me ta do it, Uma. Even lifted 'er neck ta make it easier. No fightin' or fussin', it was like she completely gave up. She even pushed me ta do it, tried to get my temper goin', an' it nearly worked.
"I jus' don' understan', Uma. The secon' she thought it was happenin' she gave up, an' she even seemed happy about it. She was ready ta accept 'er fate." When he ended his tale, Harry felt significantly better than before. Unloading onto someone else was always a great stress reliever, and Uma would always give him her honest opinion on it, no matter how brutal it was.
Uma frowned, her dark eyes rolling about as she thought. Honestly, it confused her. From what she'd seen in Cassie, she was more than willing to do whatever it took to stay alive. So why the hell had she been so quick to roll over and accept what was coming to her? Something had to have pushed her to that edge. But what?
"What did you do?" she asked, more intrigued to hear the rest of the story than ask what was going on with Cassie.
Harry shrugged. "I didn' do it, obviously. Killin' someone's no fun if it's what they want. I decided ta let 'er live, let 'er suffer in this life."
"I guess," the Captain sighed, resting her right arm on the table, her chin balanced on her hand. "She tell you who has magic on the Isle?" It was highly unlikely Cassie gave him an answer, but she had to cover all bases.
"Now that-" Harry pounded his hooked hand against the table and leaned forward, oddly perking up at the inquiry, "-is a very good question, Uma. I've got a theory, an' ya 'ave ta listen, alright?"
Uma rolled her eyes, but gave a nod. "Okay, go for it."
"Right, so we know tha little kitty 'as a curse, yeah? An' she got it from 'er dad, who bailed after he realised she 'ad it too. I don' reckon anyone on tha Isle cursed 'er dad, I reckon someone from tha other side o' tha pond did." Harry knew his 'theory' wasn't confirmed, but it was the best one he had. And though it didn't help them find a way off the Isle, it was certainly a motivational point for their hatred toward the Auradonian's, and it could push more Isle-dwellers to join their crew.
"You think someone from Auradon cursed Cassie's dad, and then threw him on the Isle?" the Captain clarified, and Harry nodded. "That's crazy. Those assholes are always going on about 'good' and 'peace' and other kinds of bullshit, they don't have the balls to pull something like that."
"I know it's a stretch, Cap', but it's tha best I've got. I mean jus' think about it, no one on this island can use magic. Not even tha dragon lady could do it. If someone 'ad magic on tha Isle, they wouldn' be cursin' people ta turn inta kitties in tha day. They'd o' taken down this bloody barrier an' let us all go by now. An' I hate ta say it, but Cassie's a clever little kitty, don' ya think she'd 'ave somehow tricked someone inta takin' away 'er curse by now? Or would'a convinced 'em ta help 'er off tha Isle? Dyin' isn' an option, Uma. No one wants ta die no matter who they are. But I swear ta ya, that girl was more than 'appy ta die tonight, an' she wouldn' o' done so if she thought she 'ad another option."
Uma groaned with frustration, her head thrown back in utter defeat. She really hated being proven wrong, and it was worse when it was coming from Harry.
"Ya know I'm right." Uma could practically feel the glee in his voice, and it came as no surprise to her when she looked down and found his wide grin mocking her. "I told ya so," he sang, and she retaliated with a swift kick to his shin.
"Shut the hell up," she grumbled, though a small smile wound its way onto her face at the sound of his laughter. He'd been so stressed over the last few days, so it was nice to see him back to normal.
"But, uh, being cursed is bad enough. Throwing someone onto an Island prison with that curse? It's not just a punishment, Harry, it's..." Uma trailed off into a lingering silence, trying to come up with the right word to describe the situation.
"It's evil, Uma," he piped up, the light-heartedness in the air turning sombre with just a few words.
Uma agreed, to a certain extent. Yes, what had happened to the Cheshire Cat was, in the simplest terms, evil. But was it really any different to what had been done their own parents? Most of the original villains had been brought back from the dead before being chucked on the Isle: Half going insane while the other half pushed their plans onto their children. Witches were forced to live without magic, Queens had to make-do without their castles and riches, and pirates couldn't even sail past the border. Every single villain had been stripped of something when the Auradonian's brought them back to life, and even their followers had been given the same punishment. It wasn't fair, but they had to live with it.
However, what Cassie was currently living with pushed the boundaries. The little cat was a bit of a sassy asshole, but did she really deserve what was happening? If Uma guessed right, Cassie was stuck with a curse that transformed her from girl to cat at some point during the day, her father had disappeared when he found out she inherited his 'curse', and as far as they knew she had no friends on the Isle. The V.K.'s on the Isle all deserved better, even Cassie.
"I feel weird, Uma," the first mate admitted, and Uma narrowed her gaze in question. "When I clicked on ta what 'appened ta 'er...I dunno. I still wanna kill 'er, but I feel a bit." He paused abruptly, a small grunt coming from his throat as he shook his head.
"I know what you mean," she admitted, knowing full well what he was experiencing. Neither of them liked Cassie, and they might never like her, but she and Harry had somehow climbed out from underneath their parent's shadow. They didn't answer to them, and they barely saw them anymore. Hell... the only reason Uma even worked in the shoppe was because it actually meant something to her, and it was a great place for her crew to wind down and relax. But Cassie was still trapped in her father's wrong-doings, his curse painfully tormenting her already miserable life on this Isle. In a way, even Uma and Harry could sympathise with it.
"But every villain kid on this Isle has a story, Harry. Her curse doesn't define her actions, or what she did to us. And we can't show mercy," the Captain told him, hoping to bring peace to him and herself. "What are you gonna do about her now?"
Harry gave a small shrug. "I dunno. I left 'er alive 'cause it's a fate worse than death for 'er. She's got no mates, no family, nothin' at all. She's all alone."
"Wicked," she noted with an impressed smile. "I'm proud."
"Thank ya, Captain."
"Anyway," she said with a long-winded sigh, swaying the conversation to a much happier topic. "Tomorrow we start collecting. I don't care what you have to do to get the money, we're not here to play nice, we're here to make a point. The pirates run this Isle now. And everyone needs to know it."
Harry chuckled and leaned back in his seat, his arms crisscrossed behind his head as he lifted his feet onto the table. "We ride with tha tide."
~...~...~
Helena swept up the locks of hair from her floor, gathering the remaining strands in a dustpan. Finally, her shift was over, and she could just clean up and relax for an hour or two before Gilzean woke up again. She adored her little one, but she'd love him more if he actually started sleeping through the night.
It had only been a day since she'd seen Cassie, but the Queen of Heart's mind often strayed toward the little kitty. She wondered if the girl was dead, lying in an alleyway somewhere on the Isle or - judging by the little ones troubles with pirates - at the bottom of the ocean. It was a rather dark line of thinking, but by now Helena was used to such thoughts.
Another part of her wondered if the girl would ever come through the salon door again. It was highly unlikely, since the night before seemed like a one-off, but the Queen couldn't help but hope that she would.
Before settling down and preparing for her beautiful baby boy, Helena had been like the rest of the teenagers on the Isle. She ran around the Isle with Gilzean's father, Gaston Jr, the two wreaking havoc wherever they saw fit. They stole whatever they wanted, often being chased away by the owners of the store they took from, always basking in the come-down of the adrenaline rush when it was over. He took on every single man, and occasional woman, that tried to start an argument, the possibility of proving his dominance always pushing past his rational thought. And Helena had loved every moment of it. The daunting smirk on his face, the way he straightened his back and pushed out his chest before a fight, and how he always made sure to wink subtly in her direction when things took a turn. It had been his way of letting her know he'd be fine, and he'd definitely win the fight. Every second with him was a constant thrill, the worry she'd always had at never knowing what her day would bring changing when she spent more time with him. He'd taught her how to live with the horrible life they'd been given, and Helena would always love him for it.
After she found out she was having a baby, things had changed. Instead of charming her out of her home, he urged her to stay indoors, and begged her to think of their kid before herself. When her stomach started to show, she was almost-always on constant lockdown, her only visitors being Gil and Gaston Jr's twin brother, Gaston Jr-Jr. Most of that time she'd spent down in the salon, working over-time to relieve some of the frustration from not being able to go out, along with added pregnancy hormones. It hadn't been the best time in her life, but Helena had lived with much worse when her mom was alive, so who was she to complain?
Gilzean's dad didn't come around as much anymore. When he did spare enough time to actually show up, he was wonderful with their son, feeding him and playing with him in a way Helena had always wished for before he'd been born. Knowing who Gaston Jr's dad was hadn't helped her think of a happy family life, since Gaston himself was infamous on the Isle for charming women and thinking only of himself. Gilzean's dad had surprised her in the best way, and when he did take a break from the Anti-Heroes club, he reminded her of the reason she fell for him in the first place.
Helena was content with her life now, but a smaller part of her would always yearn for that rush again. She couldn't actively go out and start shit, since the risk of endangering Gilzean always reminded her that things were different now, and she was certainly not going to put her beloved boy in that position. But a little excitement to her life wouldn't be too much trouble, and that's exactly where Cassie came into it.
The events the night before had been rather pleasing. Someone else's drama was always much better than going through her own, and Helena couldn't deny that she'd enjoyed it a little too much. It'd brought some kind of fire to the current routine she was living in, and she liked it.
Helena flinched as a loud knock came from the front door, her eyes cautiously darting to the back room where Gilzean was sleeping. No one came to the salon after dark. Not unless they had threatening intentions anyway.
The Queen of Hearts quickly gripped the sharp knife she always held nearby, slowly manoeuvring toward the door with great carefulness. She kept her movements slow and light, her right hand shaking as she tightened her grip on the handle.
"Who is it?" she called out, her voice loud and confident. She couldn't show a possible-attacker she was afraid, and she had to get her shit together before she opened that door.
Whoever it was on the other side, they didn't give a reply. They didn't even knock again. But when Helena turned to go back into the salon, a hard thud came from the door, and she gave into the curiosity that niggled at the back of her mind.
Helena sucked in a breath of reassurance and pulled on the handle, her knife held high in the air and ready to strike. "I swear to fuckin-" the animosity on her tongue died the moment she looked down, a strained gasp flying through her lips as she inspected the trembling body on her doorstep. "Oh crap."
The Queen of Hearts shoved the knife into her back pocket and bent over, dragging the little cat through the doorway and into the salon. She dropped Cassie's arms unceremoniously to the floor, a little too distracted to feel bad about it as she hastily closed and locked the front door.
"Cassie," she called gently, lowering herself to kneel beside the wounded cat. "Cassie," she repeated the little one's name a bit louder, delivering a few small back-handed taps to the girls cheek in an effort to wake her up. "Wake up, kitty cat."
At the demand, Cassie's dark eyes opened, a gruesome stain of blue-ish green circling her right eye. It wasn't the only obvious attack-wound she had. Helena could clearly spot a red mark on the little one's left cheek, and with the way Cassie was furiously clutching at her stomach, the Queen could safely assume she had a few others.
"Cassie, hey," she muttered, deciding it was best to keep her hands to herself for the time being. "What happened?"
"I-I don't... I can't." Cassie's voice was quiet and scratchy, most likely worn down from whatever the hell had happened to her.
"Did Harry do this?!" the Queen inquired, her thoughts pin-pointing the more obvious suspect for this attack. It would certainly make sense, after all.
The little cat grimaced, a hiss of pain passing through her lips as she attempted to move her head. "I-I don't...he didn't," her words slurred into incoherent mumbles, her dark eyes disappearing as her lids slowly closed.
Helena frowned. "Cassie?" She quickly tapped the girl's cheek again, hoping to get some more answers. "Cassie?!" Nothing. The little cat was completely unconscious now, the horrific wounds on her body most likely driving her into utter exhaustion.
Helena gave a huff of displeasure and got to her feet, her mind taunting her as she rummaged her brain for a solution to this sudden 'problem'.
'Be careful what you wish for,' it sang. She had asked for some excitement, and that seemed to be exactly what she was getting.
"Damn it!"
AN;
Hello my wonderful readers!
Right, this chapter was a bit dark, but all this chaos will die down soon enough. Bit more insight into Helena's and Uma's lives, so I hope you liked it.
Review acknowledgement Time;
Sasha2702; First, thank you for your review! And yes, Helena and Cassie are on their way to becoming allies in a way. I kind of feel like, at this point, Cassie could really use a 'friend', and Helena seems like the better option right now.
Second...yes, the person in the cave at the chip shoppe is Ursula. She appeared for a moment in the movie, and I thought it'd be nice to give her some recognition.
And third, I'm glad you liked the story behind Harry's hook. Uma only told Cassie that story to scare her, I guess, and give her a bit more understanding of exactly how powerful Harry is. There will be more tid-bits on Harry's life in this story, and everyone else's, so I hope you stick around for that.
Shipperandfanficer15; Thank you for the review! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story so far, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Mrs Trunks Brief; Thank you for your review! I'm glad you like the dark themes in this story, I know not everyone enjoys this kind of thing, so it means a lot that someone likes to read about it. And I really hope you enjoy this chapter as well.
Anyway, please leave me a review or PM to let me know what you think about this chapter. And much love to everyone who've favourited and followed this story as well.
Thanks!
(Any typos or misspells will be removed once I've had a proper read through.)