She drums her fingers across her lap for what felt like the hundredth time.

How had everything gone so wrong?

She'd been careful. She'd planned out every last detail.

She'd calculated risks. Negated them as much as she could.

Accepted responsibility when she couldn't.

Deez.

Her Baby Girl.

Hurt.

Bleeding…

How?

Her eyes narrow.

Magic.

The bane of the isle's existence, and the savior.

She bounces to her feet and starts pacing, anything to stop her mind from being overactive. From showing her debilitating images.

She could feel Yensid's eyes following her.

"Captain, they have her." He reminds her lightly. "Harry and Gil are returning her home to you. James and Beam are going to meet them. They'll be back soon enough." He reminds her, though the grim expression etched in his face is far from comforting. "She's alive," His tone sends a shiver down her spine, "that's what we should be focusing on."

"I know that!" She snaps before she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

Snapping at the old man was not a solution to her problem.

Yensid nods, as always unperturbed by her temper. "I know you do." He sighs as he stands up and walks over to her, his warm hand squeezing her shoulder gently, "but reminders never hurt."

"I do appreciate it." She takes another deep breath, "I do."

He squeezes her shoulder again, "I know how difficult, how painful this waiting is. I really do think it might be best for you to drink some tea to calm your frayed nerves. But I also understand it would be hard to keep down."

"I can calm down after I see her." She bites her lip as her hands form into fists.

He nods sagely with a deep frown, "as you wish Captain."

She replays the night in her head, unable to help the self torment.

"How did this happen?" She covers her face with her open hands as she shakes her head, "She was fine. Just fine. And then-" She closes her eyes tightly.

Anything to keep the tears at bay.

"She was gone-" her voice cracks as she fights the tears. "Just gone. And now she's hurt. So hurt, T's scared!"

T never admitted when he was scared. That one thing, one line in a hasty letter, had her more worried than anything else.

"What do we do if Mim survives?" She asks.

That seemed like a concern she should have, and one she'd rather think about right now.

His face darkens, "then I will take my leave and deal with her."

Her hands close around his wrists, "No!"

They couldn't lose him.

He was the only adult any of them ever trusted.

The only reason the ship was still afloat after the isle tried to kill them all.

She needed him to help her save everyone.

His lips twitch into the smallest of smiles, "it touches me greatly, your concern for me. However for the good of the family, for the good of the children you saved, I would. You have all sacrificed so much. I would not be able to live with myself if I did not see to this matter. I know I am old, but I am still more knowledgeable in the art of magic. And as much as it might seem unbelievable to you, especially under these circumstances, I assure you in the end good always triumphs over evil."

She takes a deep breath before she slowly releases her grip on him.

Good always triumphed against evil?

She swallows the dark laugh threatening to pass her lips.

Did he not remember where they were?

Who they were surrounded by?

There was no good on the Isle.

Her brow furrows.

Except Deez.

T.

Gil.

Harry.

Faustina.

Yensid.

James.

Beam.

Dizzy.

Freddie.

Celia.

Kat-

Okay, so maybe there were a few.

She sighs.

But it certainly didn't feel like it.

She shakes her head. "I want to believe that."

She didn't have the time or luxury to fall apart right now. Her family was going to need her.

The two settle into silence, her eyes glued to the map with the group of dots moving steadily closer to the cove, Yensid pouring over a book she'd never seen before.

She's not sure how long they sit in silence before she hears her name called out.

James!

She shakes her head as she jumps to her feet.

Fuck, she must have dozed off.

"I've got her," James rushes to her, cradling a black bundle to his chest, "Beam stayed back with the boys, but we didn't want to mess with the bandages they gave her until you had her."

"Bring her here, if you would please." Yensid taps the table.

James instantly, but gently, lays Deez down, cradling her head until Yensid slips a jacket under it. "She's been stabbed, and it went all the way through her."

Her eyes widen as she looks down at Deez's sleeping face.

Her translucent, far too pale face.

She hadn't known her Baby Girl could get paler. Her usual tone was bright. A pristine, pure white.

This was-

What the hell had Mim stabbed her with?

"And her hands are burnt." James adds before he steps back from the table, his worried eyes on the two of them. "What can I be doin' ta help?'

"Gather more water," Yensid frowns as he helps her get the hoodie off Deez.

She gasps at the amount of red-amount of blood.

Not so long ago, she'd told her she didn't care for the color on her.

She still wasn't a fan.

Her breath hitches in her throat at the bandages tied tightly on her small frame.

"Let's start with the one on her waist." Yensid calmly instructs.

She blinks. "Right." Her eyes harden as she turns to the neatly arranged supplies and starts grabbing things she knew Yensid would need.

To clean.

To check.

To soak up the blood still sluggishly pooling.

"Nothing vital." Yensid breathes in relief. "The morphine first."

"Will it work?" She questions before she can stop herself.

"Unfortunately, I believe it will." Yensid nods.

She bites her lip against her anguished cry as she grabs the bottle and a needle.

"How much should-" Her hands shake as her vision blurs.

"Double what T needed."

She nods, pulling the liquid into the syringe. She loses the battle of will when her tears fall as she watches the needle easily slip under Deez's skin.

Her Baby Girl was hurt.

Hurt more than she'd ever been before.

More than she ever believed possible.

"Be ready to apply pressure," Yensid states grimly as he pours alcohol onto a clean strip of gauze.

"Uma?"

Her heart skips a beat at the soft cry, "Baby Girl," she reaches out and squeezes her hand, "I'm right here."

"Try not to move, young one, we're taking care of you."

Deez opens her eyes, looking around the room as if she were having a hard time focusing.

"This is going to sting, I'm afraid," Yensid warns before he starts cleaning the wound.

She squeezes her hand hard at the hiss and her pinched face, "It's okay, you're okay."

"Uma." Deez whimpers as her hand tightens before going limp.

"Pressure." Yensid prompts.

"Sorry," She breathes out as she turns to place her hands over the puncture.

Deez's breath hitches before it becomes shallow.

Yensid turns, picking up Faustina's tincture, before he nods to her and applies a liberal amount.

She holds the pressure, but she can't help the way her eye flicks back to hold Deez's wavering blue gaze. "I love you, Baby Girl."

"Hold the skin together," Yensid instructs as he threads the needle.

"Love too." Deez nods once before her eyes close again.

She carefully pinches the pale skin together, grateful Deez had fallen back asleep.

Yensid nods in approval before he begins the painstaking process of stitching Deez closed.

The two of them work in tandem to make sure the stitches are as tight as they were secure.

She was going to be okay.

She had to be okay.

They were nearly finished when she hears the echo of Deez's name.

She closes her eyes. Gil.

Her Sweet Boy had to be beside himself with worry and panic.

"DEEZ!"

"Sweet Boy, James be getting her to Uma. Be giving her an' Yensid ah moment ta be fixin' her."

"Over here," she calls out. "We're at the table."

She refuses to look up as the storm breaks into the room. She had to help stop the bleeding. Deez was so-

She couldn't let herself think about it. She just had to focus on this task.

The one right in front of her.

She feels hovering over her shoulder as they gather on either side of her.

"You said it went all the way through?" Yensid questions as he separates the needle from the final stitch.

"Aye," Harry breathes out laboriously before he helps her turn Deez to her side.

It was small, only half the length of the one on her front, but the knife or whatever had been used went completely through her.

How Mim missed vital things, she'd never know.

Gil's hand wraps around Deez's wrist as he watches on silently.

Beam walks over with two sloshing buckets of steaming water and places them on the table. He glances around them with a concerned frown before he steps back.

She was grateful for the silence.

It helped her focus. She was able to help Yensid rinse the wounds before sewing them up.

It stung her soul each time the needle pierced Deez's skin.

Made her heart ache every time she had to dab fresh blood away.

And when it came time to move on to her hands, she felt her blood boil.

What could burn her? The girl who could melt a cavernous network of rooms in the side of a cliff?

The girl who could control fire so well, she acted as a forge for Gil to make swords and weapons.

She only knew of one way.

Hades.

This was why T mentioned that Hades had a cuff successfully removed. It was to explain this.

Yensid sighs as he ties off the last bandage before he looks up to the rest of them. "It might take some time for her to heal, but she will heal."

A collective whoosh leaves her and her boys.

"Let's get her more comfortable." Yensid steps back.

"She's cold," Gil says as he carefully, so tenderly, picks her up from the table to hold delicately to his chest.

She looks around the room.

"Got em already, Cap'n." James offers. "I set them up where ya've been sleepin'."

"Thank you." She breathes out slowly before she turns to Gil, "Sweet Boy, get both of your asses in bed."

Gil nods before he lumbers towards the room they'd claimed as theirs.

She turns to Harry, "you too."

"Aye, ya don'ah be needin' ta tell me twice." Harry easily agrees as he follows after Gil.

She holds her head high as she watches them leave. Refusing to look down at her blood-soaked hands, or the table.

Or anyone else in the room.

"I can clean up Captain, why don't you go for a swim before joining them."

"Seconded. Call if ya need anything." Beam offers as he looks her over in concern.

"I want everyone to stay on the ship for now, or mostly everyone," She slowly shakes her head, "We can't do raids anymore. At least not now. Witches can fucking summon us against our wills and block out the fucking moon. Who knows what the fuck else they can do."

"Heard," Beam nods.

"James," she turns to him.

"Already plannin' on it, Captain," James assures her, the two saluting her before they head out.

She turns on her heels, pulling the hem of her hoodie over her head as she heads to the ocean.

Cold. Dark. Numb.

She needed something else to think about.

Or maybe she needed to be able to scream where no one could hear her.

"Thank you." She whispers tightly as she passes Yensid.

"Of course." Yensid nods.

I've said it before, fuck knows I'll say it again-

Poor fucking Uma.

She's constantly got so much on her shoulders and then without warning everything is ripped out from under her.

There's just so much on her fucking plate, man.

Then Mim goes and pulls this shit.

And D, her poor Baby Girl-

She doesn't know what to do. She's just 16.

I'd be a fucking mess.

How well do you guys think Uma is faring against this barrage?

Are we balancing her being a leader and a teenager well?

A captain and a worried mom.

Yeah, I know.

It's weird that the sea fam views Uma as their mom, especially because two-ish of them are older.

But on the Isle, there wasn't much mothering and nurturing to be given.

Uma definitely broke a mold here.

Every bit the rebel D and T are.

Much love and appreciation

-Twisted