The early morning appeared to be just another bleak, windy day at Pirate's Cove.

At the bottom of the decaying, multilevel pier, an old ship was forever docked since it was beyond repair. Young pirates patrolled the deck as ordered by their captain. The last thing anyone wanted was a surprise attack from the Core Four to save their captive king.

King Ben was poorly tied to the mainmast of the ship. The rope to restrain him was rotted from the sea breeze and frayed until it was nearly unusable. If Ben wanted—or rather, if his Beast wanted—he could escape at any moment.

However, Ben decided to wait a while longer. He was suspicious about a certain pirate and wanted to confirm it was true.

Speaking of the devil . . .

Harry Hook jumped on the main deck like a senile maniac that didn't know the word 'no'. As the pirate approached the king, Ben couldn't help snarling his nose at the pirate's psychotic smile.

"Coochy coochy coooo," Harry pestered, grazing Ben's chin with the curve of his hook sadistically, threatening to cut the king at any moment.

Harry laughed when his victim jerked away from him. The pirate clutched the king's neck to keep his gaze on him. "How's it feel to be king now, eh?"

Ben gritted his teeth to keep his temper under control. "Let. Go. Of. My. Neck."

The pirate snickered though he obeyed the command. "Your girlfriend didn't say you had a temper," he baited, limping away while turning his back to the royal. "You must not show your true colors in front of her."

Scoffing at the accusation, Ben leaned his head against the wooden mast. "So . . . you are Mallory's father."

Whirling around, Harry's eyes were wide. "Mal told you?" the pirate rhetorically questioned as he shook his head in denial. "I thought she didn't tell you about our daughter."

"She didn't," Ben agreed condescendingly. "You did, just now."

"How do you—"

"A few things, really," Ben purposely interrupted, unconsciously struggling against his restraints. "Mal's first rule in our relationship is that I never touch her neck, which is the first thing you did to me. Second, you have a bruise on your wrist and are limping like you recently fell. She said she threw her abuser over a counter, something she's capable of since she's the daughter of Hades."

"How do you know about Lory?" Harry interrogated forcefully. "I know Mal wanted to keep her secret. She wouldn't go around telling people."

Ben hesitated. Either tell the truth about his dreams or create a convincing lie. Not wanting to take the risk, he chose the latter.

"I was worried about Mal when she first arrived in Auradon, so I eavesdropped on her conversation with Jay," Ben slightly fibbed since there was truth in his words. "In that conversation, I learned nearly everything she told me yesterday, from her father, Hades, and her daughter, Mallory. I'm guessing . . . Mal named her that to spite you about keeping her?"

Harry scoffed at the king's words. "You don't know anything. You're just trying to get a rise out of me."

"You raped Mal Halloween night after you got her drunk so she couldn't defend herself," Ben abruptly declared, though his blood boiled in anger from having to say that out loud. "Mal went to her father for help because she feared her mother would do something to her and her baby. Mal chose to keep Mallory, though you told her time and time again to get rid of her. Because her mother wanted Fairy Godmother's wand, Mal left Mallory behind so her daughter wouldn't be used as a punishment for her crimes if she succeeded."

While the pirate gawked, Ben raised an eyebrow in mock amusement. "Still think I don't know anything?"

"I think you know too much," Harry corrected, making the idiotic choice of moving closer to the temperamental king. "More than Mal would've told you. And more than I know. How is that possible, considering Mallory is my daughter?"

"Your daughter?" Ben repeated incredulously, clenching his fists to keep something hidden for the time being. "So, you only claim her when her mother, uncle, and grandfather aren't around? You're the one that didn't want her!"

"What do you expect!" Harry quietly shouted back so his fellow pirates couldn't hear their scuffle. "I was fifteen when Mal became pregnant and sixteen when she had the baby."

"And she was fourteen and had her daughter at fifteen!" Ben argued, a growl emerging in his tone. "You were the one that took advantage of her, remember? I can't show my queen how much I love her because she is so traumatized by what you fucking did!"

"Is there a point you're trying to make, or are you trying to guilt trip?"

"Why didn't you step up?" Ben finally interrogated, as that was the one question he'd been wondering. "Mallory is such a beautiful little girl. What the hell did she ever do to you that made you want to abandon her?"

"She existed," Harry obnoxiously claimed. "I don't know if whoever told you, but I never wanted kids."

"Then why say she is your daughter—?"

"I don't know!" Harry shouted over the king. "I do know I don't want my captain and my best friend to know I fathered a child. The last thing I want is for Mallory to know I'm her father. Hell, I lost the best friendship I ever had over this. I thought we were close to being something . . ."

Ben raised an eyebrow at the pirate trailing off. "More?" the king assumed mockingly. "I hate to break it to you, but Jay's in a relationship with the best thief in Auradon. He plans on proposing to Jay soon. You need to stop blaming everyone else when this happened because of you!"

Once again, Harry scoffed at the accusation. "I beg to differ. This wouldn't have happened if your precious queen wasn't such a whor—"

BAM!

For the second time in two days, Harry lost his breath by an immense brute force.

Ben broke loose of his shoddy bounds due to his beast-like strength, not that it was needed. Once he did, the king lunged for the pirate, not caring who got in his way. The only thing on Ben's mind was making the abuser pay for what he did to his queen and for abandoning his princess.

After all, the Beast has been waiting for this moment.

Once he knocked the arrogant pirate on his back—creating a loud boom that caught everyone's attention—Ben punched his victim repeatedly, each connection growing more assertive with his billowing rage. He wasn't aiming anywhere specific, but soon, he felt a warm liquid cover his fists. His vision glazed over with the desire to inflict as much pain as possible. With his yearning to hurt Harry, Ben didn't register the voices shouting around him. Some tried dragging the king off his victim, but Ben wasn't ready to let go.

Meanwhile, the panic-stricken pirate desperately tried knocking the king away. The familiar taste of bitter iron filled Harry's mouth as more and more blood oozed from his face. The king had given him two black eyes and broken his nose, but that didn't satisfy him. Harry genuinely feared the king would take his life if something didn't happen.

Finally, Gil—the son of Gaston—slowly managed to pry the king off his friend. Determined to make the bastard suffer, Ben dug his claws into the pirate—starting from the side of Harry's neck and down his chest—as he was being dragged away. The king couldn't help relishing in screams of agony as the claws ripped through clothing and into the skin. His entire body was covered in blood in a few short seconds, but that still wasn't enough for the Beast.

Before Ben could do anything more, something hard struck him on the back of his head—

Knocking him out cold.

A few minutes before noon, Mal and Evie waited impatiently outside the rusty pipe tunnel leading to the Pirate's Wharf. The girls hoped the boys would be waiting on them, but that wasn't the case. Instead, they were left wondering what could be taking them so long.

Soon enough, they got their answer when the limo pulled up with just minutes to spare. When the vehicle stopped, Jay emerged from the driver's seat while Carlos came from the back. The passenger door swung open, revealing Aziz dressed in Jay's old clothing so he could blend in. The only thing that stood out was his grandmother's gold bracelet, which he refused to leave in his dorm room.

"I'll grab the swords," Jay informed as his beloved came around the vehicle.

Sparing a moment to kiss his significant other, Aziz casually strolled over to the astonished girls. "Surprised?" he teased at seeing the girls' expression.

"Daaamn!" Mal blatantly praised, checking out the AK's new VK look. "You look sexy as hell!"

"Hey, watch it!" Jay shouted from the back of the limousine, where Carlos grabbed a quiver of swords from the open trunk. "You have your king. Leave my prince alone!"

Snickering at his beloved's possessiveness, Aziz informed the girls, "I had them bring me. If Ben lost his temper, you need me to calm him."

"I thought you wouldn't be in Auradon until tonight," Evie recalled from hearing various rumors.

"I missed Jay too much to wait any longer," Aziz insisted with a light shrug. "If I had arrived sooner, I could have gone with you guys to the Isle the first time." The Auradon thief adverted his attention to the fairy with a raised eyebrow. "How are you feeling? Jay said you left because you needed to think."

"I'm better," Mal reassured. Her eyes shined with mischief as she teased, "But now I know why you're late. You couldn't have waited a while longer?"

"I suffered two weeks without seeing my albi," Aziz reminded good-naturedly. "Trust me, you would feel the same. Besides, what else were we supposed to do while waiting for the wand?"

"Where is the wand?"

The next moment, Carlos produced the fake wand after slamming the trunk shut. Once in her possession, Mal inspected it closely to find it identical to the real wand. "Wow," she admired, twirling it in her hands. "What a beauty. This will definitely fool them."

The fairy changed her gaze to her friend. "Are we ready?" When they nodded in agreement, Mal announced, "Then let's go save my king."

The group noticed a few things when they emerged from the pipe tunnel.

On the bridge a foot away from the ship's deck, Uma stood pissed on one side of a kneeling Ben, who didn't have a happy expression either. In fact, his green-blue eyes were slits like an animal, his teeth resembled fangs set in a semi-permanent snarl, and his hands—which were tied behind his back—were now claws. It should have concerned the Core Four and the Auradon thief that the king's temper was over the scale.

But they were more worried about the blood covering him.

However, the group deduced it wasn't the king's blood, considering the pirate standing on the other side.

To summarize: Harry looked like shit!

Starting with his face, the pirate had two black eyes with tape pressed against the bridge of his broken nose. Trailing down his body, an enormous bandage covered half of his neck from a possible injury. From the bulkiness of his undershirt, the group suspected that more bandages covered his entire stomach, making them wonder what happened.

Although she preached not wanting revenge, Mal couldn't help feeling . . . satisfied. Abusing her, abandoning the child he created, having the audacity to claim he wasn't at fault . . . this was exactly what Harry needed to knock him down a peg or two. Mal maintained a calm composure as she walked further through the pier, but she couldn't help wondering . . .

What did Harry do to make Ben go 'Beast'?

Before long, Mal reached the bridge as her friends supportively stood behind him. Almost like it was rehearsed, the feuding cousins walked across to meet in the middle for the exchange—Uma with a tight hold on Ben's arm and Mal with the sparkly wand gripped in her closed fist. Since Harry was following his captain, Jay followed the fairy on one side with Aziz on the other.

As Mal tried handing over the wand, Uma held up her hand to stop the exchange. "Hold up," she demanded stubbornly. "I need something more."

Mal raised a suspicious eyebrow. "The deal was—"

"I know what the deal was," Uma barked quite rudely. "That was before your precious king nearly killed my first mate. It took hitting King Ben with a metal pipe on the head for him to stop."

"He deserved it," Ben growled, failing to contain his anger. "He hurt my queen!"

Mal couldn't help perking up at his words, but also tensed up. Somehow, Ben knew . . . Harry—

"And who the hell are you?" Uma interrogated, interrupting the fairy's thoughts.

"Aziz," Aziz introduced, nodding to the king. "I'm his best friend and Jay's significant other."

"I can tell by the clothes." Uma took a moment to examine him, probably thinking the same thing Mal had when she saw him in the outfit. Her eyes trailed to a stop, glinting greedily at a shiny object on the teenager's forearm. "Nice bracelet," she complimented. "Real gold?"

Aziz hid that arm behind his back, keeping it out of the pirate captain's gaze. "Maybe. Who wants to know?"

"Someone who wants to bargain with your 'best friend's' life," Uma retorted snidely. "Throw in the bracelet, and he will be spared."

Aziz glanced quickly at the king, who gave his friend a subtle, confident nod. Adverting his gaze back to Uma, the Auradon thief declared, "Deal."

"No deal!" Jay intervened, taking a protective step forward. "That bracelet has been in his family for years—"

"Which makes it more valuable," Uma interrupted with a mischievous smile. "Valuable enough to save a king."

"Just take it already," Aziz barked rudely. "There's no point dragging this on when we don't need to."

Unclasping the gold bracelet, the Auradon thief handed over the bracelet while Harry freed the captive king. Placing the bracelet in her jacket pocket, Uma put a hand on Ben's shoulder before he could move, warning him not to stand so quickly.

The sea witch held her free hand out expectantly. "The wand, Mali."

Glaring at her relative, Mal gave the counterfeit wand to Uma and held her other hand to Ben, who grasped it gingerly. With that simple touch, his monster-like claws reverted to normal and his fangs to regular teeth.

Either Uma didn't notice or didn't care. She was too focused, grinning like a mad woman with the wand. As the pirate captain retreated to her ship, Ben quickly leaped up beside Mal, who dragged the king off the bridge for a head-start.

With her pirate posse swarmed around her, Uma pointed the replica overhead to the sky, chanting, "By the power of the sea, tear it down and set us free!"

Thrusting the wand at the magical barrier, nothing happened. Uma's smile faded away, realizing she had been duped. "No!" She screamed as she slammed the phony wand over her knee, breaking it in two.

When she raised her head, Uma noticed Mal and her friends halfway through the pier. "You do not get to win every time!" She regarded her crew. "Get them!"

Before that could happen, Carlos launched a smoke bomb, exploding in a thick color cloud that bought him and his friend some time to escape. The pirates roared in anger, swarming past their spiteful sea captain. The friends took strong stances and braced themselves for the clash against the pirates.

Harry focused all his attention on Jay and Aziz. "Hello, Jay," he greeted as he removed his pirate hat, keeping it from obscuring his vision.

"Haven't you learned your lesson yet?" Jay interrogated, gripping his sword tightly. "Do I need to kick your ass in front of my fiancé too?"

Harry raised an annoyed eyebrow at the new information. "Fiancé?"

"Proposed a few hours ago," Aziz acknowledged, casually leaning against a nearby wall while the rest of his friends were busy fighting for their lives. "But if I were you, I'd focus more on this sparing match."

With frustration running through his veins, Harry unsheathed his sword and abruptly swung it and his hook at Jay, who easily dodged the blades. However, as blades hit blades, Harry managed to pin Jay against a rail with his hook and sword locked on Jay's sword.

In a few snake-like moves Aziz found quite entertaining, Jay freed himself from the tangle, knocking Harry down while yanking his hook out of his hand.

"Lookie, lookie," Aziz teased as Jay dangled the hook from his blade and held it over the boardwalk's edge. "My albi's got hookie."

Ignoring the Auradonian's taunts, Harry surrendered his sword before extending his hand for the precious object. Instead, Jay let the hook slide off his blade, falling deep into the sea. Harry pushed passed him, ducking under the rail to dive after it.

Carlos yelled from the top of the pier, "Jay! Aziz! Start the car!"

Jay ran across the bridge with Aziz following, vanishing into the pipe tunnel. Mal bolted the multi-level pier, reaching the top when she came face-to-face with her king. "Ben!" she cried. "We need to go!"

A drenched Harry climbed onto the platform and swung his sword at Ben again. Ducking behind a ladder, Ben grabbed Harry's arm to keep him in place, tickling him under his chin. "Coochy coochy coo," Ben mockingly recited. "How's it feel to be a pirate now, eh?"

Harry lunged at the king with his hook, but Ben moved out of the way just as a purple cloud exploded. Every pirate backed away, sputtering and coughing on the smoke. It was just the diversion the friends needed.

The fairy paused momentarily as her other two friends and her beloved ran into the pipe tunnel. Mal spun around just as Uma ran up the hill toward the bridge. With a strong kick, Mal broke the bridge connecting to the pipe tunnel, which dangled uselessly from an old chain. Mal smirked triumphantly, vanishing into the tunnel's darkness to join her friend.

Out of breath, Gil commented positively, "At least you still have the bracelet."

At the reminder, Uma reached into her pocket to retrieve the priceless jewelry, to marvel at its beauty more.

But it wasn't there!