Archive of Our Own

Uma remembered a time when she and Harry could run around the Jolly Roger without a care in the world. Before his father and his fathers crew started to make life miserable for them. Before his mother died.

They were ten. Uma was playing hide and shriek with Harry on his father ship. She was hiding on top of CJ’s and Harriet’s bunk bed, waiting for the right time to scare Harry as he searched for her beside the bed.

“Harry, my boy, we need to talk...” Captain Hook took long strides in to the room. “It’s your mum.” Uma tried to make her self smaller and breathe as quiet as possible. From her position she could see the solemn look on the captains face. She hadn’t noticed how ragged and torn he looked before that moment.

“She’s…” He cleared his throat and Uma swore she could see tears in his eyes. “She’s sick. It’s bad. She doesn’t have much more time to live” and then he just walked out.

Harry slumped down on to the floor and started rocking back and forth. Hastily, Uma came down from her hiding place and held him. They didn’t say anything, they just sat there for what felt like hours. At that moment Harry’s entire world had changed. His mother was dying. His father was growing more and more distant. Captain Hook hadn’t been the best father before but at least he had cared enough to try.

Everyone on the Isle dealt with loss differently. James Hook started to drink, neglect his children, not paying them any mind unless he was angry or drunk or both. Time after time his children, especially Harry tried to reach out, tried to get their father back but nothing helped, not even his dying wife’s last wish for him to look after them.

Uma was there when Harry’s mother died. Not in the room, but on the ship. It was a cold and rainy day. They were thirteen. Harry, Harriet, CJ and their father had been sitting by her bedside when she quietly passed. Uma was on her way to visit Harry and had just stepped on to the ship when she could feel that something was wrong with Harry. She couldn't explain it, she just knew that he needed her. Soon after, he came running out from below deck. Uma got in his way and caught him in her arms. He was sobbing uncontrollably and the impact had made them sink down on to the deck. Uma held him as tightly as she possibly could, trying to hold both him and his pain. The rain was falling hard over them as Harry let out a scream far to big and far to loud for a thirteen your old boy to be able to make. Uma knew there was nothing in the world she could do or say right now to make it better. No matter how much she wanted to. And by gods she wanted to. Harry had always been there for her, always been able to make her feel better and now that he needed her she didn't know what to do. So all she did was hold him until he stopped crying. And then she looked up around them to see people staring, some with pity, some with mocking expressions, and made a decision then and there; from now on she would always protect Harry in what little ways she could, to not let his young heart grow cold. She snarled at the people around them and threatened them until they went away. Then she took Harry’s hand and led him home to her. Even though her mother protested and made life hell for Uma, she let him stay with them for a while. Not until he was better, you're never truly better after a loss like that, both Uma and Ursula knew that, but until Uma was certain he was enough of himself to face the rest of his family again.

Harry had a knack for offending people and for getting in to trouble. Uma remembered her decision and made sure she was right there with him, backing him up whenever he needed her too. But more than that, she made sure to always be kind to him. In her own little ways. Making sure there was always a warm tray of his favourite meal ready in her mothers shop for him. Stealing a pipe-organ with Gil to put in the shop so Harry could still play those days his father kicked him off the Jolly Roger. Not shy away to the fact that he loved physical affection. That one took a while for her to learn, everything in her Isle raised body said it was wrong and dangerous. But after some time she realized she loved it too, and even started to ruffle Gils hair on days she felt happy.

Uma knew of the constant rejection Harry got from his father every time he wanted approval. So she was patient with him and always took his ideas in to consideration. And after a prolonged period of time, she noticed that that light Harry had had burning in his eyes when he was younger was slowly returning. He no longer got in trouble because he was angry or sad and acting out. Now he just got in trouble because he loved causing mischief. For most people on the Isle it didn’t make a difference, but for Uma it meant the world. It had taken years but he was finally acting as if the weight of the world wasn’t on his shoulder any more. There was now a certain swagger in his step, and an air of lightheartedness to his evil threats. She could even see that wicked smile on Harry face truly reach his eyes, which made her happy. Sometimes it even gave her butterflies in her stomach, especially those times he smiled or laughed thanks to something Uma had said or did.

Even though it seemed to the rest of the world as if the mad pirate boy now was as though as nails and immune to feelings Uma knew better. Harry was still a work in progress. She was there in his darkest moments. Those nights his chest ached so much for his mother he felt like he would die. They day his father threw him off the Jolly Roger once and for all, saying he was too weak to live on the Isle, just like his mother. That one was particularly rough on him. The time he lost the only photograph he had of his mother and couldn’t help but cry. Uma was there for it all. Guiding him through it. She had seen just how brittle his heart was and Uma knew Harry better than she knew anyone, better than she knew her self. So when he had flirted with her the first time she wasn’t surprised. She had seen the signs. She knew he had gotten a stupid crush on her. Umas first instinct had been to stab him, like she did with anybody trying to flirt with her, but she had promised herself to guard his heart. That meant even against herself. Instead she just gave a snarky retort and rolled her eyes. Thus their game of question and rejection was started. And even though Uma acted as if she was annoyed by it she couldn’t help but smile to her self late at night, thinking of the way Harrys eyes had been full of hope and adoration, and how his nose had crinkled in that cute way she liked.

As time moved on, life moved on. They moved on. Not only had they gotten used to their uneven odds but they had bet on them. Knowing that the worst outcome was always the most likely to happen, but they didn’t care as long as they had each other. Maybe one day Uma would love Harry the same way he loved her, maybe they would get off the Isle and be free from every single burden. They knew the chances of their wildest dreams coming true was next to none and they knew they lived on the most wretched place on earth. They had counted on the odds time and time again. Still, they were both young and alive, and at least one of them was in love, and as such they had hope. Hope that despite the uneven odds, some sort of beauty lifts from the earth.