Harry glowers down at Jay, his smile so wicked, genuine fear appears in Jay's eyes. Harry considers an abrupt attack, gleaming at the idea of finally taking Jay down, but decides to savor Jay's shock. It wasn't every day one could corner their worst enemy. Jay thought he was seeing things. That his flashbacks had seeped into reality, creating the ultimate nightmare.

Impossible. It was absolutely impossible for Harry to be here. This was a delusion. A way for his mind to confront the ghost of his past. Jay wasn't ready. His fingers, grip the dirt underneath him. Harry laughs, mocking Jay for thinking he won. For thinking, he could ever see the last of Harry Hook. This snaps Jay out of his daze, his hands shoot up, grabbing for Harry's ankles, and he pulls.

Harry resists, but only for a moment, and then he falls. Jay jumps to his feet with ease, spinning around to stare Harry down. Before even thinking of his next move, words sputter out of Jay's mouth.

"How? How are you here, Harry?!"

Harry props himself up, glaring at Jay. Jay pinches himself, double checking this wasn't a memory. It wasn't. Harry notices and lets out an amused chuckle.

"Aww, Jay, didn't you miss me? Don't tell me you thought only you and your crew could leave the Isle? You wish."

Harry waits for Jay's next move, anticipating it even. In Jay's current position, he could easily take Harry out, yet here he was asking Harry questions.

"Never." Jay spat out, and Harry feigns a look of hurt.

Harry stands up, taking his hook off his belt, and starts taunting Jay. "I've been thinking about you, Jay. Thinking about how you threw my hook into the sea. And I've especially thought of how I'm going to pay you back for that."

Jay backs up, eyebrows knitting in confusion. How did Harry manage to get through the barrier? And was he alone? The answer hits him a second later. "Uma released you, didn't she? Of course, she released you."

"What's a captain without her first mate? Uma would never leave me behind."

"That's more than one can say for you, Harry. I guess that could be classified as your specialty." Jay mimicks Harry's accent perfectly.

Harry looks at Jay unimpressed with his impression. "Still bitter? And from something so long ago? Little petty don't you think?"

"Petty? Me? You're the guy still angry because they weren't good enough to get on their own father's crew."

Harry's face twists up in anger. He points his hook in Jay's direction. "You're dead."

Harry launches himself at Jay, and Jay avoids his attack even managing to grab the back of Harry's jacket. He spins Harry around and pushes him to the ground. Harry doesn't fall, steadying himself at the last second.

Harry faces Jay, hatred in his eyes. He wouldn't be defeated by Jay again. He puts his hook back on his belt, unsheathing his cutlass, pointing it in Jay's direction, and motions for Jay to come closer.

"Little unfair don't you think? I don't have a weapon on me."

"Fair? Nothing in life is fair, Jay. You should know that by now." Harry says, trying to get close to Jay, but Jay easily evades him.

"Why are you here? What could Auradon Prep possibly have that you would want? If Uma set you free shouldn't you be with her?"

An unreadable expression passes on Harry's face. Then he remembers. The real reason to why he was here. He needed ingredients for the mermaid potion.

"Where are your pets? Give them to me now!" Harry loudly demands.

"My pets? Lagan and Derelict? They're not here. I had to leave them back on the Isle."

Harry's only ticket to saving Uma was on the Isle? There was no way he could get it if this was true. Uma would truly be lost to him forever. "No! You're lying. You wouldn't leave your precious pets behind. Tell me where they are now?"

"On the Isle. I didn't take them with me. I couldn't."

He's telling the truth. And Harry hates that he knows that. That he could still so easily read Jay after years of hating him.

"Why do you want them? What could you possibly need them for?" Jay continues, his fingertips getting weirdly hot.

Harry embodies his anger and hatred in a way neither Jay nor he has seen before. Losing all reason, all hope, his eyes blaze, a parasitic sun feeding on Jay's soul.

"Well," he drawls," I can't let my visit be a complete waste."

Readying his cutlass, he advances at Jay, sure he would strike. Jay's distracted, his fingertips searing. Instinct tells him to move, but he stays, fingers pointed in Harry's direction. Electric sparks, that shimmered like fire, sprung from his fingertips.

Some sparks circle on Jay's finger shaping a very familiar image. A snake. Not just any snake but a cobra. It was gold, ruby eyed, just like the one on his father's staff. Jay tries to pull it off, but it was impossible. Harry screams, electric sparks circle him like a tornado, capturing him. Jay cautiously touches the winds of electricity around Harry, surprised the touch didn't hurt him at all.

Harry's shoulders sag in defeat, and he loses all resolve. "I've lost her. She's gone. I'm never getting her back."

Tears, actual tears steam down Harry's eyes. Jay moves back, stunned to see Harry cry. Harry breathed the rules of the Isle and to see him so broken...No, it doesn't matter.

Jay needed to tell his friends. Tell them that Harry and his crew were in Auradon. Jay didn't have a phone, preferring to use old-school types of communication but that wouldn't help him now.

He couldn't exactly leave Harry alone. What if someone saw him and alerted Fairy Godmother? Wait, isn't that what Jay wanted to happen? Harry didn't belong in Auradon.

He could never reform. Harry was as much a villain as his father, Captain Hook. But what if he ruined it for all VK's? Harry would verify any Auradonian's expectations of a villain kid. Expectations Jay, Carlos, Evie, and Mal were trying so hard to eliminate.

Jay points his hands at Harry, saying. "Follow me."

Harry's eyes turn red, the tornado of electricity disappearing, and when Jay walks, Harry follows.

Carlos was still in their room. Sitting on their couch in deep discussion with Mal and Evie...and was that Gil? Gil's head perks up, his eyes lightening up when he see's Harry behind Jay. Gil runs over to Harry, begging him for forgiveness. Saying he was doing this for Uma. And praying with every fiber of his being that Harry would forgive him.

Harry doesn't respond, his eyes still red. Gil waves his hand in front of Harry's face, and Harry still doesn't react. Jay pulls Gil away from Harry. Hoping what he did isn't discovered but it was too late.

Gil pulls his arm away, and looks at Jay accusingly, "What did you do?! Bring him back! I can't lose Harry too!"

Jay pays Gil no mind, pretending it Gil was simply overreacting. Jay turns to his friends and asks, "What's going on? Why is he in our room and not in a cell?"

Mal stands up, walking over to Jay. Her eyes linger on Harry's expressionless face. "Gil surrendered. We all promised him that he'll be safe and not locked up." Mal explains.

"We? I don't remember agreeing to this. And why can't he be safe in a cell?"

"Gil is harmless." Evie says from the couch, "Aren't you Gil?"

Jay scoffs, "What is going on here? You can't be protecting Gil of all people."

Before Jay's friends had a chance to respond, Gil says, "Why is Harry acting like this? Undo whatever you did to him now!"

Everyone in the room's focus went on Harry. Evie and Carlos get up and stand beside Mal. All of them eyeing him with suspicion and disappointment.

"Yeah, Jay. Why is Harry acting like that?" Mal asks reiterating Gil's question.

Jay placed his snake ring-wearing hand behind his back. He shrugs, answering, "I don't know."

Mal, Evie, and Carlos eye him with suspicion. "We know you're hiding something." They say simultaneously.

He shows them the hand he was hiding behind his back. Unable to keep up any facade, especially, for the people who knew all his secrets." I didn't do this on purpose. This ring just appeared on my finger, and I've got no clue why or how. And it looks exactly like the cobra on my dad's old staff. You know, the one in the museum."

"What was happening when it appeared?" Mal questions, appearing deep in thought.

"Harry was trying to kill me."

Mal closes her eyes, tapping her finger on her forehead." I've read something like this before. In my mother's spellbook."

She starts pacing around, trying to remember the name. Opening her eyes, she shouts, "Life clause! I think it's called a life clause."

"Uh, a what?"

"A life clause. Basically, your dad tied his life to his staff. Most likely with his blood. It grants the staff a huge power boost and can locate you anywhere. As long as magic is flowing. The staff recognizes you as it's heir, so you probably have the life clause too."

"Will it go away? The ring or am I stuck with it forever?"

"No idea." Mal admits, and then hesitantly says, "But we need your magic."

Evie says Mal's name in a warning tone. And Jay wonders for a brief second if he missed even more than he thought. Mal puts her hands up, her eyes darting in Evie's direction. "Hear me out, E. We can't sit here waiting for your mirror. You know Fairy Godmother isn't going to say yes." Mal turns to Jay, a serious expression on her face. "Jay, I need you to dig deep. Center yourself completely, then summon a blank picture in your head, and project it right here."

"What? Why? What does that even mean? What's even going on here?"

"I'll explain everything later. Promise. But Jay, please, I really need you to do this." Mal begs, knowing somewhere someone had probably written up a four thousand word explanation. And mentally thanking all the gods the person had enough sense not to include it.

Jay nods, closing his eyes. He does exactly as Mal tells him. And summons a blank picture in his mind. Then he imagines projecting it where Mal had told him to.

"Think of Atlantica. Of all the stories you've heard of Queen Ariel."

He does. "Now picture, Uma. Captured and in a cell. Where would she be? What would she be doing?"

The image falters, and Mal begs Jay to focus. But why would Jay think of Uma? He barely knew her. Mal says it doesn't matter. To try. Please just try. So he does. And Uma appears in the image.

Everyone in the room gasps, as they took in the sight of Uma. Jay opens his eyes, surprised to see Uma alone in a cell and in Atlantica? Just how much did he miss?

Uma was still in her cecaelia form and wearing the dress she wore at Cotillion. She looked defeated. Her usual hopeful eyes devoid of all emotion. Mal looks away, unable to handle the guilt. Jay notices Uma's cell wasn't heavily guarded, he voices this and Carlos types something on his phone.

No one in the room notices Harry snapping out of Jay's hypnosis. He sees the projection of Uma and starts analyzing every detail of her face. She still looked the same. It had been weeks since he's seen her last but it felt like it's been a year. A long dragging year, of overdramatic angst written by a writer with no direction.

"Uma?!" Harry shouts, his eyes filled with hope once again.

Harry runs to Jay's projection of Uma, his hand reaching out to touch her. He hears her say his name, and then the image disappears completely. Jay looks down at his ring, finding it gone. Any trace of magic that swirled around him earlier disappeared. He didn't notice, Harry, barreling towards him. Not till he was on the ground.

Carlos and Gil manage to pull Harry off of Jay. Holding him, until Mal's magic creates a purple barrier surrounding Harry.

"Traitor!" Harry screams at Gil.

"I'm doing this for Uma. I'm sorry."

"For Uma? You liar! This isn't for Uma! This is for yourself. You're afraid of me, aren't you Gil?" Harry's words come out tumbled, entangling with every previous one. He tries to break down Mal's barrier, using all his strength but it stays.

"No, I'm not afraid of you, Harry. I think you've lost your way but I don't fear you."

"You should because when I get out of here-"Harry's voice shrivels to a whisper, then he makes no sound at all.

Everyone in the room turns to Mal, who innocently shrugs. "Look, we've got a few days to plan this breakout, and we now finally have a floor plan. Either you help us and save the girl you love. Or you get in our way and make Uma's ending a tragedy. What do you choose Harry?"

Evie, Carlos, and Jay had obvious rejections, but they all held them back, wondering how Harry would respond.

Mal snaps her fingers, and Harry's voice comes back. Harry grunts out,"If anything happens to her, all of you are goners" He stops, his eyes boring into Gil's. " Including you, Gil."

"Well, looks like we have a deal," Mal shakily announces to the room.

A.N. Hey, everyone! I got inspired to write some angst after having my heart ripped out after finishing a game called the long strings club. Next update should be Daddy Issues Rising! See ya next time!