Chapter 78: Crumbling
"That is the last thing I would expect from the crocodile," Killian says.
Ursula and Uma had retreated towards the house, probably to discuss the options given by the Dark One. It was evident that the two cephalopods had created a bond and now the teenager was looking to her "mother" for guidance about what to do next.
The rest of the group is waiting around, not willing to go back to the library without Uma in tow, they just hope it could be done through her own free will.
"Agreed," Emma says. "He never helps anyone unless there's something in it for him,"
"To be fair," Mal says. "He didn't really help us, he just put Uma in her place and basically threatened her unless she helped us."
"That's my dad in a nutshell," Crystal shrugs.
She then notices that Harry is staring off in the direction of the house, separate from the rest of them. She sighs.
Despite how much he'd annoyed her the last few days especially with him breaking boundaries that she never wanted to be broken; she knew deep down that she was growing to care for Hook's son. She had to admit, he's not the worst person out of the Villain kids, and she has had a few sweet moments with him. Every time he looked at her with the genuine blue eyes, her cheeks flushed. She knew that these were the early signs of attraction, she was awfully familiar with them. She'd had similar reactions with others, Mason in particular, but a few of those infamous ex-boyfriends were generally nice; it just all went to hell when she found out that they were weirdos.
She'd accepted long ago that she was a beacon for those oddities, probably due to who she was, the offspring of a dark sorcerer and miller's daughter. While Mason had been the most normal, Harry was closer on the "typical" boyfriend scale than the guy who tried to mug her and then take her out on a date with the money he'd stolen. Or the guy who owned 8 ferrets. Or the guy who collected sculptures of male 70s underwear models…Or the weirdo who wanted a Daredevil 2 movie. She shudders, letting the flashbacks go through her head.
While Harry clearly had some issues to work through, she wasn't exactly perfect either. She had a dark past and regrets she preferred to forget about. Despite the rough exterior, maybe there was something worth looking into with him… maybe…
She goes up to stand next to him.
It takes the pirate a minute to notice that she's standing next to him.
"What's on your mind?" she asks quietly.
"Not much," he shrugs.
"I may not be Emma, but I know that's a lie."
"Ah… I'm jus assumin' that it's now is my time to convince her to help us."
"I guess so, but my dad made it pretty clear that her options were limited."
"I jus tink that Uma shuld help anyways, witout the threats. We all wanna go home."
Crystal shifts uncomfortably and breathes a small sigh of relief. Maybe she won't have to explore the signs of attraction with Harry, especially if they are going to be leaving soon. She ignores the sad and uneasy feeling in her stomach as if she didn't want him to go… yet.
"Well, maybe you should talk to her anyway… tell her the truth and if she won't do it for the other kids, do it for her crew. I assume that she only really cares about them anyways."
"If at all…" Harry says.
"What do you mean?"
"Uma only cares fur one and looks out fur number one."
"We kind of gathered that from our interactions with her, but she must care at least a little. It's a pretty damn lonely life to only look out for yourself."
Harry looks into Crystal's face. When they are locked in a gaze, she can feel her knees go weak and blood flushing to her face. Those blue eyes are hypnotic, and anyone could get lost in them. She takes a step back and gathers herself. She swallows the stupid "schoolgirl" emotions for the time being… especially if it wasn't going to happen anyway.
"Ye speak as if from experience."
The daughter of the Dark One bites her lip and fights the tears. "After my mom died, I tried for a while to isolate myself and only look after me. I was a sixteen-year-old orphan with freakish powers, living on the streets of New York for a time, no one cared about me, so why would I care about them? Of course, it didn't last long when got my life together, and I started working with kids, but when I got back into dating again and when I found my family here... I realized how empty and cold my life had been back then. I try to imagine what life would if I'd just kept that mentality and followed through. It hurts to think about what I would miss out on." She takes out her phone and shows him a picture of everyone at Granny's for Henry's graduation party.
Harry contemplates the girl's words carefully. He could understand what she meant, but it was the way she said it that makes him nervous. She had just opened up to him and shown a more vulnerable side from the sarcasm and annoyance she usually gives him. He becomes afraid that he was going to screw it up in some way. He and Jay had yet to start the process of becoming "dateable" so the poor pirate was at a loss for words. He knows he couldn't be smug, that would sink the chance faster than a ship would go down in the marina.
"A-Aye…" he stammers. "I suppose connections are worth the…" He catches himself, about to say "hassle" and it might make her think he doesn't care. He tries to find another word. "W-Worth the time."
"Yes," Crystal says.
Harry lets out a small sigh of relief before deciding it was time to talk to Uma, get her straightened out on what she needed to do.
"I'll talk to her," he says. "I'll convince her to help."
"Good luck then," she says before watching the pirate head towards the house and the storm that was brewing inside the place.
…
"Uma, you don't have to worry child, I can protect you from him."
Uma sits curled up in a chair, clutching an old pillow to her chest and trying to mask her fear of being threatened by the Dark One. She knew that he meant business since she'd made the stupid decision to try and rob him. And while he had not harmed her in any way, he had used his magic to freeze her and put her jail for the night.
"He's an old crone who is all bark and no bite."
"That's not what I've seen," the teen mutters. "I know he's serious. What choice do I have? I either have my darkest secrets revealed by force or I help them."
"Uma, you have a choice. We can still get you what you want. You don't owe those heroes nor the goody-goodies from Auradon anything."
"But what about my crew?"
"Your crew?" the older sea witch says in surprise.
"You think the pirate hat is just for show? I'm the captain of the Lost Revenge, and then The Jolly Roger when we used it to come to Auradon."
"You take more after Hook than I thought," Ursula hisses through gritted teeth. "But who cares about them… What have they ever done for you?"
"I care," Uma admits, much louder than she intended to. "I mean they may be the lowest of the low, but they'll always have your back no matter what happens."
"Even the one with eyeliner?"
"Harry? He's my first mate, he always has my back no matter what."
"So why is he coming over here to talk you into joining the heroes' side. Plus, I think he has eyes for the Dark One's spawn," Ursula says. She watches as the first mate comes to the door.
The sea witch did not want to admit it to anyone, but she liked Uma and had grown to care for her. After she'd busted her alternate daughter out of the jail cell and went to the scheduled meeting with the other heroes, she could tell that the girl with turquoise braids didn't take flack from anyone and was the queen of her domain. It reminded Ursula of herself, powerful and taking her own destiny into her hands.
Sure, she'd been betrayed by her father and was tricked into losing voice to the mortal hook-handed pirate; but she turned herself into something powerful, she'd survived and made a name for herself as the feared and reviled sea witch. She'd teamed up with Rumpelstiltskin, Cruella and Maleficent to retrieve a curse before being double-crossed by the imp and having to face off against the Chernabog. Then kidnapping the Dark One's precious beauty as revenge and actually helping the Charmings in an attempt to stop the curse. She and Cruella then attempted to blackmail the true love couple after they stole precious Lily from the Mistress of all Evil, and while they ended up in the Land Without Magic, she navigated the world and made a life for herself until the Dark One brought her back to Storybrooke and she helped with his plans to get villains their happy endings. She'd done it all, she didn't need anyone to help her, and it was clear her daughter felt the same way… until now.
The girl was equally strong and knew how to survive, but Ursula could sense her daughter's hesitation and it annoyed her that once again Rumpelstiltskin had been apart of it.
Though she would never admit it aloud, deep down Ursula wanted her daughter to stay… to get to know her better and acquire the bond that she never received with her own mother due to her premature passing. It did hurt a little bit to have this potential bond be ripped away so suddenly and all because of these heroes' need to be noble and "do the right thing." It was sickening and she wanted Uma to use the unintentional power she'd been given to show them all who was in charge. To do this, she just might have to sever her daughter's current connections. A girl should only need and trust her family, no one else.
The cephalopod had sensed her daughter's closeness to the first mate, and while she wasn't sure about it being a romantic connection, the mentioning of his feelings for another could do just what she wanted.
Ursula leaves the room to let the two kids talk in private, hoping that it would turn out that way.
Harry reluctantly opens the door and enters the cabin.
Uma looks up at Harry in annoyance.
"I guess they want you to talk to me now too?"
Harry shoves his hands into his pockets and looks down ashamed.
"Typical. The blonde freak and your daddy already have you under their heroic influence."
"Don't talk about 'em that way!" Harry snaps surprised how quickly he'd come to the defence of people he barely knew.
"I'll talk about them any way I want, they're the ones who threw me in jail."
"You stole from them first an in this land it's bad."
"Do you even hear yourself? You're already talking like them. What's next, you going to start babysitting whatever pops out of the Saviour? Be the big brother you never were to CJ?"
Ursula grins from behind the door, knowing that it was only going to get worse.
"Stop it!" Harry snarls. He stomps his foot and gets closer.
Uma whips the pillow she was holding at him before standing up to hold her ground.
"I am the captain and you obey me."
"I obey whoever I find worthy, and right now, yer not!"
That comment stings and Uma swallows the sadness. They'd only been in this world a few days and her best friend had turned on her completely.
"Yer the one who got us into this mess and as a captain, you get us out of it!"
"You're the one who started the portal in the first place."
"YOU TOLD ME TO!" Harry shouts.
Uma fights off the tears threatening to break through her eyes. She knew it was true, but she couldn't let him know that. She could not take the blame for this and actually admit that her reckless and impulsive behaviour got the best of her. She always had to be right.
"Since when do you listen to me? Because as of recently, you haven't listened to me or done anything to help the crew."
"I got 'em beds for the night. Those heroes, they gave us stuff out of the goodness of their hearts. They didn have to, but they did. And while you've bin out here wit yer Mommy havin' splash fights, te rest of us are tryin' to get everyone home."
"AT LEAST SHE CARES ABOUT ME!"
"My parents do the same."
"Yeah, them and the Dark One's daughter… You've been getting really close to that freak haven't you."
"DON'T TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!"
Uma feels the tears begin spilling from her eyes, not able to hold them back any longer. She feels hurt and she's not entirely sure why. She did love Harry, in whatever way... They two had been through a lot together and always had each other's backs, but now he's dropped everything that their crew stood for to chase after a chick that probably didn't even like him.
"She's got you twisted around her little finger already. You follow her around like she's the queen and you actually think you have a shot with her?" she says in disbelief.
"At least she cares… at least she's willin' te listen and help. She takes her share of te blame is tryin' to fix things When was the last time you did anyting to get us home?"
"Who says I want to go home?" Uma screeches.
"Who says I did?" Harry adds.
Despite the admittance that both pirates had made, their anger, hatred, betrayal, and hurt against one another is preventing them from seeing that they did want the same things and that they could reach a solution.
"Life here is a hell of a lot better than the Isle," the captain says. "But I won't do anything to help those goody-goodies. I do things my way."
"Ye are so damned stubborn!" Harry shouts. "No wunder we could never…"
He stops.
"Never what?"
"Nothing!"
"Never what, what were you going to say Weasel Worm?"
The name stung, but Harry was too frustrated to care.
"That we could never be together. Yer just so selfish that ye couldn't care about anyone else."
Uma is at a loss for words. Seething anger is boiling in the pit of her stomach, but the rest of her emotions are whirling around inside her like a typhoon. She did love, Harry… but as a friend… she did care about him. She never thought about them ever actually becoming anything more… she didn't need anyone… she didn't…
The tears are pouring down both of their faces, emotions so thick and intense that one could cut it with a sword. They were unsure about anything anymore and it felt like what they had was now completely destroyed… and all because of the damned town and those heroes.
"What's my name?" Uma finally says, not able to say anything else.
Harry bites his tongue. He wants to call her "Shrimpy" but can't bring himself to do it. He wasn't that cruel, and he couldn't do it to his best friend. He swallows his venomous retort and steps back.
His blue eyes lock on her brown ones and it's then that Uma realizes what he's about to do.
"WHAT'S MY NAME!" she barks in tears.
He turns and walks out of the cabin, making sure to let the door slam shut behind him. The sound echoes through the empty place… empty like Uma's life
A/N: Here is a new chapter. Hope you enjoy it. I'm not quite thrilled with the chapter title. If anyone can suggest a better one, that would be great, unless of course, you like it.