Archive of Our Own ^beta

It had been a good idea to go to the beach that day. As Evie said, she thought that everyone deserved a break from all of the hard study that each of them (apart from Harry and Gil and Uma and Carlos and Jay) had been doing for past couple of weeks since the Sea 3 arrived at Auradon Prep. Evidently, after a flurry of sleepless nights and cans of energy drinks littering their bedrooms, it was beneficial to go away for the weekend. Ben had kindly sorted them a villa by the beach by the weekend and so one early morning, they groggily set off on their trip.

Their eyes were drawn to the white-crystal beach that spurned the length of the cove, contrasting to the deep blue waters that wavered on the coastline. In the water, sunlight glimmered with a faint twinkle which made it look even more beautiful. The heat was steadily rising by the hour and the sand and sea would be warming up as well. Without waiting to go to the villa, the lovers all simply grabbed their towels and swimming clothes and ran down to the beach. The sand was tepid and stung as Jay kicked off the top layer at Carlos, whilst Evie and Mal yelled and diverted their path as to not be covered in sand. Soon enough, their feet began to sink into the pale sand and grit began to stick to their skin. Fresh cold bursts of water hit their legs as they ran in between the rolling waves, kicking up water as they went, and getting wet and shiny. All the shrieks calmed down to a cheerful chatter as the excitement of the sea calmed down a little and everyone descended into their groups of whether they were on sea or land.

Harry and Uma were the only ones in the water at this point; Uma adored the sea and Harry just wanted do be by her side. Despite all eight of them being in a relationship together, Harry and Uma still had that unbreakable connection that meant that the two of them were the closest to each other within the relationship. Harry was tall enough to be standing on the seabed and Uma was treadwatering to keep her head above the surface.

“This is beautiful...” Uma murmured, her eyes darting about in awe before squinting at the sunlight.

Harry nodded, leaning back until the water supported his body and carried him across the surface “I miss being at sea.” He said, letting his fingers linger beneath the blue surface and being entranced by the way that the clear water dropped off of his fingers when he brought his hand into the air.

“I know... It is really different to being on the Isle... but at least we can say that we were the ones who actually got all the kids off the Isle.” Although Uma tried to repress her feelings under a harsh and brutal personality, she really did care about the Isle’s kids. Harry shrugged, letting his head fall back into the calm waters. As he did so, he began to feel minuscule drops of water like cutting diamonds splattered onto his pale skin and he stood up, looking around and looking up at the sky.

“Oh shit...” He muttered, holding up his hand to meet the little splashes of water against his palm. He rolled his eyes “We have only been here for about an hour and it’s already raining?”

“I guess so.” Uma said and began to slowly swim back to the surface “Let’s go back to the beach.”

Harry agreed and picked up his feet to also swim back to the sand. They had been drifting quite far away from the beach since they had swam into the water, but they were used to the ways of the ocean and were perfectly comfortable. The greying waters deflected them as they swam back and even as the waters began to become a little more rough, they kept calm and held their strength. Uma made it back to the beach quicker than Harry because she was clearly a little more experience and ran up the beach to the girls who were huddling under a parasol.

Harry’s sleek swim was soon interrupted by a familiar click that caused his blood to freeze in his veins and his eyes grow wide. He knew that sound - the one that haunted him so often - the one that even frightened his idol father - the sound of a crocodile. He started to tread water in the grey mist, his face draining of its colour and his eyes wide. The ticking pursued him, drilling its rhythm into his mind, bringing his mind and body to a complete standstill. He sunk beneath the sea, his eyes wide and terrified and thrashing about to see where the crocodile was. However, his sight was obscured by the opaque greyness that had overwhelmed the previously calm and blue waters. His heartbeat was defeating beneath the waves and this only amplified his fears. No, no this couldn’t be happening. Not now... He was meant to be with his lovers right now rather than being scared of a silly little crocodile. Even so, the growing pain in his chest and legs completely overwhelmed his confidence, reducing him down to that same little boy who was sobbing when he banged his foot on a rock when he was learning to swim on the Isle.

He swam to the surface, taking an elongated, helpless breath, whipping around drops of seawater around himself. Harry’s feet lost their strength and he was now flailing around in the water, constantly dipping above and below the surface. Through his sore and blurred vision, he could see fragments of his partners’ bodies trying to hurriedly pack up their things in the rain. No, they couldn’t forget about him! That bloody ticking sound was so close to him that he thought that he could feel the crocodile swimming around him, lingering, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike and attack the son of Hook. Harry felt the sticky tears beginning to slide down his face, heating up his wet face before drifting into his cold surroundings.

He swerved suddenly, swearing as if he felt the flick of a tail against his hands, the starving yellow eyes burning into his soul through the murky grey, and that ticking sound as the crocodile began to circle him. Harry dipped below the surface, his open mouth filling with salty water and his eyes stinging at the amount of water entering them. His arms and legs acted as if they were seperated from the rest of his body as he began to thrash about , sending splashes of water above the surface and a helpless gurgling sound that was useless in his attempts to get the others attention. He was losing control of himself: the ticking being the only thing that he answered to now. In a sudden moment, his foot struck a rock. The white-hot pain seered up his leg from his foot and causing him to scream out in agony. All of his energy had been drained from trying to keep above the surface and the bleeding only made it worse. It felt as if he had just let go from the world and was encapsulated in a suddenly calm ocean, where he could sink to the seabed and stay there forever. One last thrash to get someone’s - anyone’s - attention was brought to an immediate half when his head, rolling about, hit the same rock his foot had been caught on.

Everything immediately faded to a darkness as Harry slowly closed his eyes at the warm blood that seeped from his head and down his face. All of Harry’s pain soon vanished, leaving him to bleed out calmly and sink to the seabed in peace. He felt safe, comfortable and rejunivated now.

It was the lack of noise that first alarmed Evie. Whilst the others began to pack the car at the first touch of rain onto their books or magazines or faces, everyone had yet to count all the people who were there. Her eyes scanned across the six other people who were rushing to prevent their bags from being ruined by the showering rain. Her big bright eyes widened as it clicked in her mind and she swiftly spun down to the beach. When she could see that she was the one on the beach, a regurgitated scream forced everyone else to look at her in worry and shock.

“Evie? Evie ? What’s the matter?” Mal ran onto the sand and looped am and round her girlfriend. Slowly, everyone trickled down to join them when they realised that Evie was staying silent in fright.

“Evie?” Ben asked, the anxiety causing miniture beads of sweat to form on the epidermis of his skin “Is everything okay?”

Evie shook her head, keeping her eyes fixated on the rolling waves “Harry...” She pursed her lips, looking round at everyone’s confused faces “Where the hell is Harry?” At those words, they all began to look around and notice that the pirate truly was not with them.

Uma began to panic, her eyes filling with water “Oh shit - I didn’t see him come in when we were out swimming...” She tailed off, feeling her heartbeat starting to race inside of her chest.

No one had to wait for Ben to finish her sentence. He said what they all knew “He’s still in the water.” He gasped and immediately undressed his shirt as did everyone else and spring into the water. The weather has began to clear up, returning to its ethereal calmness by the minute. Even still, violent sprays of water was flung about as all of fhe teenagers ran into the water, screaming and kicking about with their feet. The boys headed into the area where Uma and Harry had been previously but their efforts were fruitless. Uma was kicking about on the shoreline, the tears in her eyes starting to fall down her cheeks silently. Evie stood by her, watching petrified as the other boys swam through the water.

Jay swam into the rocky area, his head hurriedly looking about and screaming out Harry’s name, as if the boy below the waters surface could hear him shout for him. Before looking, Jay’s flickering foot kicked into something that remarkably resembled a ribcage. He shot upwards, screaming out at the others that he had found Harry before kicking and swimming down to the seabed. All was dark and the only thing Jay had to help him was his sense of touch. Unseen bubbles escaped from Jay’s mouth as he wriggled around under the water and grabbing out at anything and everything. His nails nipped skin as he did so and with one last ebullient stretch before he had to perpetually go back to the surface for his own safety, he managed to grasp at Harry’s limp arm and pull him to the surface. Up above, Jay pulled Harry’s body out of the water and breathed a breath of fresh, cold air.

The swim back to land was agonising as everyone felt the pain spurt through their legs as their energy was quickly used up. The sun beat down upon them, glaring rays onto their sticky backs when they reached the shore. Harry’s shimmering skin slapped brutally down against the dampened sand and immediately everyone kicked into action, either crying or catching their breath. His head lolled about on the sand, blood dripping onto the white sand whilst grit mixed in with the wounds on his foot and head.

Jay dropped to his knees and pressed his hands against Harry’s chest, pumping his head and listening out for any signs of a pulse. When he couldn’t, he smashed his lips against Harry’s plump, peachy own and breathed in, repeating the process.

Gil and Uma held each other tightly. Her fingernails dug into his pale arm and created sore, red, crescent shaped welts into his skin, marking his skin clearly. He held her, purring an arm round her shoulders and pulling her into his chest for protection. Even so, he couldn’t stop the tears from falling down his face as their boyfriend’s chances of survival became slimmer by the minute.

Jay’s tears began to slash Harry’s eyeliner, causing the makeup to stream down his face in diluted black and grey trails, and slandering his skin with flicks of eyelashes. With each push on his chest, Jay’s anguished yelps terrifies everyone there, who gathered around, watching in fear. Jay was so close to giving up, but he kept pushing, kept pursuing the lifeless boy’s life. His fate was dimming by the minute and everyone knew that if they didn’t catch him soon, then they would have to let him go.

Harry felt sick; his head was ringing, his eyes were pricked with grains of sand and tears and his whole body felt so heavy. Jay was still pumping on his chest, not wanting to give up saving his lover anytime soon.

“I...can’t... go...” Jay breathed heavily, startling everyone who already knew that the chances were slim now.

“Don’t you dare stop!” Uma screamed, dropping to her knees and grabbing at Harry’s arm, holding to her neck and allowing her tears to fall onto his skin. As the pearly drops fell, her skin morphed into a reddened, raw mess. The emotions were like a rapid hurricane through her mind and as she realised how low the chances were of saving Harry, her walls were torn down and she made no attempt to hide her feelings.

Harry’s eyes seeped out more tears as his eyes slithered into tiny white slits. His eyes widened as a shocked scream alarmed everyone. Jay stopped , breathing very heavily over the awake boy’s lying body. Everyone spread back to give him room as his eyes opened fully. Silence surrounded them, filling the once happy air with rocketing tension. Uma knew the lost, mystified gaze in Harry’s gaze towards the sky could mean nothing good. She stroked his shoulder, whispering in a fragile tone

“It was him, wasn’t it? It was Tick-Tock, wasn’t it?” She muttered, her face crumpling. Uma knew that Harry was deteriorating and deteriorating quickly. It broke her inside for her to even come to that revelation.

Harry didn’t reply. He stared up at the sky. He nodded, letting the tears flow into the sand. Everyone else was on the flor, watching him in agony and sobbing.

After a minute, he spoke.

“ Help me.” He whispered, his eyes wide and petrified.