SUMMARY: Harry doesn't know how to lift Uma's spirits

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of Descendants.

RATING: T

PAIRING: Harry/Uma

A/N: And another chapter came to mind.

BEATEN NOT BROKEN:

Uma knew she had been gone for nearly two weeks. The chip shop – as Harry called it—was dirtier than ever, and dishes were piled nearly to the ceiling. For the first time in her life, she didn't care. Harry had needed her. He was still healing from the violent attack by his father. As for Captain Hook, none on the Isle had seen him. Uma smirked at that. The drunkard was more than likely holed up somewhere, licking his wounds like the coward he was.

Uma sighed, and set to work on the dishes. While she was at the sink, she let herself feel sad. The King had called her a leader. Right now, she didn't feel much like one. She couldn't protect anyone she cared for. She couldn't protect Harry. In a fit of anger, she hurled a cast iron skillet across the room. It collided with the wall, plaster and paint cracked. She screamed and kicked the bottom cupboard until her foot throbbed in pain, and then she kicked it a few more times.

Just then a tentacle wrapped around Uma's waist, shaking her violently, constricting her to the point she could hardly draw a deep breath. "Knock it off!" She was flung against the same cabinets she had been kicking. A cry of pain filled the air of the kitchen. Uma coughed and her back howled in pain. When she could pick her head up, she saw her mother walking out of the back room. She coughed again, her eyes closing, and her head lowering.

Ursula, the infamous Sea Witch, looked down on her daughter with intense disapproval. Uma had had a chance to bring down the barrier, and she even had a chance to kill the King. Instead, the little urchin had decided to return to the Isle. "You have the nerve to be angry?" she spat, stalking closer to the little wretch on the floor. "You failed on your own."

Uma looked up again, pushing herself to her knee's, and then using the counter, she pulled herself up to stand face to face with her mother. "You're right, I failed… just like you." It felt good to throw that in her mother's face. Prince Eric and Princess Ariel had defeated the mighty Ursula years ago. Uma had been paying the price for it all her life. A tentacle shot out, slapping her across the mouth. The hit was hard enough that she tasted blood. She wouldn't allow it to break her, not like it had so many other times.

"Why, I ought to…" Ursula raised her tentacle again, preparing to strike Uma again.

"Go ahead," Uma sneered, and then spat a mouthful of blood on the floor. "It won't change the fact I loathe you."

Ursula was frozen on the spot. That was the first time her child had said such words to her.

Uma kept on, "You have been blaming me for your failure ever since I was old enough to understand you. I'm not the reason you couldn't de-scale one pathetic princess. That was all you. You went too far, too fast, and you have no one to blame but yourself." Uma ripped off her apron and threw it at her mother. "I'm done being your punching bag."

While he mother stood there digesting her venomous words, Uma made quick work of getting away from her. She was at the sword check, reclaiming her cutlass when instinct told her to duck. A tentacle shot over her head, but didn't recoil. She looked up to find Harry standing there, with the offending appendage in his grasp.

"Harry?" Uma asked, standing up. She had to get out of the way, when her mother struggled to get free.

"Come on, love," Harry jerked his head, signaling Uma should stand behind him. She had saved him from his father. It was his turn to save her from the sea witch.

Uma tried not to let her love for Harry show on her face. Everything was a weapon someone could use against them. "Harry, it's done…" she said resting her hand against his arm.

"Not quite yet, it's not," Harry winked at her as he freed his sword. In much the same was Uma had mutilated his father's face, he would get his pound of flesh from Ursula. "You ever hurt her again, and next time I won't stop…" Harry brought the blade down, severing a good chunk of tentacle. Ursula howled, and Harry dropped the freshly cut meat to the floor here it flopped around. He reached behind him, touching Uma's side, urging her to walk back through the swinging doors. "Let's get out of here."

Uma was stunned by the sight of her mother retreating, and of the severed tentacle flipping about like a fish out of water on a dock. She was even more surprised that Harry had done that… for her. Once they were outside, she pulled him to a stop. His face was still black and blue, with the edges a sickly yellow that told her his wounds were healing. "Why did you do that?"

"Because I can't stand the way she treats you," Harry answered. He'd asked her the very same question the first time she faced off against his father. "You mutilated my father's face. I thought it only fitting I do the same to her."

Mindful of his injuries, Uma threw her arms over his shoulders, and held him close. She never expected him to come to her rescue. She believed she wasn't worth saving. But Harry had saved her. He showed her that she was worthy. Then she said words that she had only ever thought, "I love you, Harry." It was the single reason the spell she put on Ben hadn't been strong enough. She was in love – honest, true love – with another. Harry Hook had her heart. He made her believe that today.

Harry lifted Uma against him, spinning her around. He didn't care that the pressure he was putting on his ribs was making it impossible for him to breathe. She had just said she loved him. She, who was the single brightest ray of sunlight in his life. Setting her down, he rested his brow to hers, "I love you too!" He didn't care that people on the dock were staring at them. All that mattered to him was Uma. She was the only thing in his life that he wanted to protect.

Uma felt every good emotion she had swelling inside her, tightening her chest, and making her heart pound. "We can't stay on the Isle," she said and he nodded in confirmation. They were in love and this was no place for them. Here, love was a weakness. Love would get them killed, or worse.

Harry looked around again, people were starting to pay more attention to them. Leaning down, placing his lips close to her ear he whispered, "Then let's go pack a bag and escape." He took her hand, pulling her with him as he set off towards their home.

At their house, Uma shoved clothes and a few mementos into a large duffle while Harry did the same thing. She zipped her bag and set it on the bed to wait while he finished his packing. They were only taking one bag, and soon enough he was finished. Harry took a seat next to her and took her hand again.

"What about Gil?" Harry asked.

"You wanna take him with us?" Uma looked at him, slightly surprised by his sudden sentiment. Actually, she had been thinking about how to broach the subject with him.

"If we can't stay, then neither can he," Harry replied.

"I know…" Uma sighed.

"Then let's go get him." Harry stood up, pulling her from the bed. It was time their fortunes changed, and he knew how to make that happen. No one but he knew where a small chest of gold was buried on this island. His father had buried it, and Harry was going to steal it. Then, he was going to take Uma to small, out of the way cove where he had a boat, and knew a way off the island. It had taken him time to violently persuade Smee to give him the location of the fissure in the magical barrier that his father had been using. It would be their escape.

TWO HOURS LATER:

Gil had gotten word from one of the other wharf rats that harry and Uma wanted him to pack and bag and meet him on the far side of the island where a small little cove was. When he set foot on the sand, he didn't see Uma or Harry. "Hey guys! I'm here!" he called out. "Guys!" Gill shouted again. Hefting his bag, he walked further out and just like that the scenery changed. A sloop was tethered to a rock protruding from the water. "What the…?"

"Gil, stop gawking and get over here!" Uma stepped out of a small cave with her bag, and Harry right behind her. "We gotta go right now." She started to walk into the water towards the boat.

Harry went over to Gil, "This is our chance at freedom, mate, and we're going to take it."

"Ok, but what about the barrier?" Gil asked following Harry into the water after Uma.

"Don't worry about that," Harry answered. When he got to the small life boat, he tossed his bag in, and used his good hand to heft himself over the side.

Gil followed suit, getting over the side easier than Harry had because both of his hands were unhurt. "So… where are we going?"

AURADON:

Ben was taking a day off, spending time using a telescope that had been a gift. Mal was sitting close by reading a book. They were just enjoying life and the beautiful day. He was scanning the water between Auradon and the Isle when something caught his eye. "Hey, Mal, can you come here for a minute?"

"Sure," Mal said, setting her book aside before she got up to go to him. "What's up?"

Ben pointed in the general direction of what he'd seen, "What does that look like to you?"

Mal looked in the telescope, and used her enhanced dragon vision to see better. "It Uma, Harry, and Gil."

"Are you sure?" Ben asked.

Mal pulled back, letting him see her dragon eyes, "Pretty sure, yeah…."

BEACH:

Gil jumped into the water, taking the line to haul the boat to the shore. Out of the three of them, he was the only one not injured, and getting a little wet wasn't much to him. Gil's boots dug into the sand, giving him traction but he stopped when he saw King Ben and Mal. "Uma…"

Uma sat up, her body aching from the constrictor hold her mother had given her earlier. Drawing on her strength of will, she stepped over the side, holding Gil's offered her hand. It was taking all she had to remain upright and not succumb to the days punishment. Her head was ringing like a bell still.

Harry was the last to get out, and like Uma, he did his best to look strong but non-threatening. Then again, it was hard to look threatening when most of his face was bruised and littered with cuts. It had been two weeks since his father's brutal beating, but he wasn't completely healed. "Are we sure about this?" he asked lightly.

"We can't go back," Uma replied. "Our parents will retaliate and we won't survive." She stayed in the water with Harry, and lowered her voice even more. "Harry, we don't have to stay in Auradon. We can go anywhere…"

"I'll follow you anywhere," Harry replied.

Mal couldn't wait any longer, "How did you three get off the Isle?"

Uma turned her attention to Mal, with Harry holding her hand, but when she answered, she was looking at King Ben. "Don't send us back…" then gritting her teeth, she added, "… please." She and Harry left the water and stood next to Gil. The day light highlighted all the bruises Harry had, and the one that was starting to show on her.

Ben couldn't believe what he was seeing. Both Harry and Uma were injured; the son of Hook seemingly more so. This was not the Uma he had met a few months ago, and neither was Harry. Gil, unfortunately, still seemed the same. The truth of the Isle finally hit him. He looked to Mal, and the pain he saw in her eyes told him all he needed to know. Even when she glanced away from him.

Mal took this time to set aside all that had transpired between her and Uma. She stood in front of her foe, seeing just what she had been so desperate to get away from. "I had no idea, Uma…"

Uma scoffed, the action made her ribs hurt. "Yeah, you did."

"I didn't know how bad it had gotten," Mal tried again. Her mother certainly hadn't been a barrel of laughs, but she never had to fear her mother would strike her out of anger. It was only her disappointment and verbal put downs she had to contend with.

"If you have to send me back, fine, but let Harry and Gil stay." Uma would pay the price if only they could stay safe.

"Uma! No!" Gil and Harry shouted at the same time.

Ben stepped in then, "You don't have to go back." He touched Mal on the shoulder, and then he continued on, "We'll get you a place to stay, and get your injuries looked at." If he was going to be a good, fair King, then he needed to take care of his people, and not just those in Auradon, but the ones from the Isle. It was a lesson he never knew he needed to learn until it almost cost him Mal; the love of his life.

AURADON PREP:

INFIRMARY:

Uma sat on a gurney, gritting her teeth as she was poked and prodded. Her eye kept flitting over to Harry, watching as his mangled hand was getting tended to. The fair-haired girl tending to her, poked too hard making her yelp.

"How you've managed to stay conscious is beyond me. You've got multiple fractures to your ribs, almost as if you were wrapped up by a boa constrictor. And you've got a nasty bump on the back of your head."

"Yeah, funny that…" Uma scoffed. She looked over at the fairy godmother as she was tending harry. "How's his hand?"

The Fairy Godmother shook her head, grumbling, as she re-opened the wound on Harry Hook's hand. To his credit, he didn't so much as flinch. It made her heart ache to know he had built up such a tolerance to pain. "What was used to clean this wound in the first place?" she asked.

"Rum," Harry shrugged his left shoulder. "It was all she could get her hands on."

"Medicine isn't all it's cracked up to be on the Isle," Uma added as she shooed away the one fussing about her. She got off the bed so she could go and sit next to Harry. It made her fidgety when there was space between them.

Out in the corridor, Ben stood with Mal when his parents came striding towards them. He stepped away, his hands held up to forestall any protests they could give. "Let's not do this here," he said gently. There was no need to cause an alarm, and risk Uma doing something drastic to protect Harry.

"So, it's true then," Belle spoke to her son, but she was looking at Mal. There was a sadness in the girl's eyes that she didn't understand. Then Belle went to the partially closed door where she saw a young man, his face battered and bruised. The sight of it had her backing up into the arms of her husband. "Oh, that poor young man. Who is he?"

"That's Harry, son of Hook," Mal answered. There had always been rumors on the Isle that Hook beat his son, but until today she always thought they were idle gossip. Then there was Uma, and the bruise darkening her jaw. The weight of that knowledge settled inside her, ramping up her guilt. She felt sorry for the cruelty she had visited upon Uma when they'd been kids. That had been Mal lashing out, trying to make herself feel powerful.

"His father beat him?" Beast asked.

"We think so," Ben answered. "We haven't had the nerve to ask, and they haven't said much beyond asking not to be sent back. That pretty much confirms our suspicions though."

Belle made a move towards the door, but her son shook his head. She had no idea that such horrors could have happened on the Isle. At the time, all Beast had wanted to do was make Auradon safe for them, for their children. She never thought about the children of the villains suffering in such a manner.

"I've agreed to let Uma, Harry, and Gil stay." Ben informed his parents. He was King now, and he had the ability to take care of people. That's what he was going to do. The other children he had brought over from the Isle, the ones from Evie's list, all of them were assimilating better than he thought they would. If anything, they breathed new life into Auradon.

"Son…" Beast began.

Belle interrupted, "If you think this is the right course, then we won't oppose it." She cast a sidelong pain filled glance to her husband. He took her hand and nodded.

"Excuse me," Mal said, and headed back into the room. This time she shut the door.

Uma looked over at Mal, and resisted an urge to sneer. She knew what she was giving up to come to Auradon, to make sure Harry would never be hurt again, or to ensure Gil was never left alone.

Fairy Godmother taped the bandage down on the young man's hand. "You'll want to keep it dry for the next couple of days. Then come back here, and we'll have another look. If all goes well, there won't even be a scar."

"It wouldn't matter if there was," Harry shrugged his left shoulder, resigned to the fact that there would be yet another mark left from his father's abusive hand. With his left hand, he reached over to take Uma's. The one good thing about being in Auradon was that he didn't have to hide how he felt about her. He could freely take her hand, or smile at her, or kiss her cheek when he wanted.

"Alrighty then," Fair Godmother smiled, changing the topic. "We'll get you and the other boy settled in the dorm, and…"

"No," Uma snapped. "I'm not staying anywhere that isn't with Harry and Gil." She wasn't prepared to be without them at least sleeping in the same room with her. She needed to hear them breathing, feel the presence of them in the same room with her.

"That's not how we do things here," Fairy Godmother stated in a huff.

Mal jumped in, "Let me take care of this, Fairy Godmother. I'll see everything is sorted out, and they know the rules." Then she cast a warning glance to Uma, and shook her head slightly, signaling her to be silent for a few seconds.

"Very well dear," Fairy Godmother patted Mal on the shoulder, trusting her. She went to the door, and left.

Uma stood up, her hand still in Harry, "I'll tell you, like I told her…"

Mal turned, "Stop." She could see Uma was winding herself up for a fight. "You won't be separated from them. I know how important that is. When I came here, I had Evie to share a room with. They don't understand the bond we Isle kids have to forge with others. That's why, I'm having Gil take your things to a cottage on the school grounds. There's enough room for all three of you."

"Why are you doing this?" Harry asked. "You could go back on your word and send us back to the Isle. It's what you should do."

"You're right Harry, it's what I should do, but Ben made a promise to Uma. You're here to stay." Mal said. It pained her to see him in such a state. When they had been kids, he'd been the roughest, toughest wharf rat. The truth was never easy to deal with.

SIX MONTHS LATER:

Ben and Mal walked the grounds of Auradon Prep, reveling in their time together. Others ran about to and fro, going from activity to the next. The flurry of motion was a comfort to Mal. It was a different type of madness than what she had experienced on the Isle. Being in Auradon was better, life changing. She had Ben, and she had Evie, Carlos, and Jay. This was home now.

As the continued on their way, Mal saw Uma and Harry lightly dozing under an oak tree. In the six months since they'd been here, they hadn't caused trouble, or broken any rules. But they hadn't gone out of their way to make friends with others. Gil was the only one of the trio that accepted being in Auradon Prep to the fullest extent he could. He took to sports like Jay had.

Ben looked in the same direction Mal was, seeing what shew as seeing. "Do you think they'll ever come around?"

"It's not that simple Ben," Mal said. "Uma and Harry, they have this bond that was forged out of mutual pain and terror. Without knowing it, I played a part in bringing them together. I was so cruel to her when we were kids. It was the only way I knew to be..." If she thought it would change things, Mal would apologize to Uma, but there was too much hurt between them for that to ever work.

"It's all different now. They can be whatever they want to be." Ben said. "They don't have isolate themselves from everyone here." More than a few times he'd tried to engage Uma in friendly conversation, but she wouldn't talk to him, and neither would Harry. He was at a loss as how to incorporate them into the life that was here.

"That's how they feel safe, Ben," Mal stopped, turning to face him. "On the Isle, they had to appear cold and indifferent – evil – to survive. Weakness was exploited, and love on the Isle is the greatest weakness of all. They would have been at the mercy of anyone who had the guts to use their relationship against them."

"So, why has Gil flourished here?" Ben asked gently. He was actually friendly with the Son of Gaston, which surprised him greatly.

"Gil hates being alone. Being here is the best thing that could have happened to him. It's true Gaston never beat his son, never verbally abused him. Gil was fed, and clothed, but Gaston would leave him on his own for weeks at a time. During one of these long absences, Gil followed Harry and Uma to a beach cottage they lived in. After she let him sleep on the couch, he never left them." Mal had tasked Evie with finding out all she could about Uma, Harry, and Gil. Evie was better at getting others to talk than she was.

"So, what do I do?" Ben asked, genuinely interested in the answers Mal could give him. She lived that life, knew what it meant to be cruel, and she knew the toll it took on the human spirit.

"Give them time. They're battling demons that were inflicted on them by their parents," Mal replied. "Believe me, I know how they feel, but I have you to help me heal." She glanced over at the pair of pirates and said, "When they're ready, they'll open up, but only when they're ready."

THE END:

A/N: I know I said the last couple of times, that this story was over and done with. Well, this time I absolutely mean it. I wanted Uma and Harry to be safe and together and in Auradon, but only on their terms. Thanks for reading!