Chapter Text
As they went away from Auradon, Uma had to take a deep breath to calm herself. Harry's fingers gripping one of her hands, Gil's the other. It was no return. They were outside of Auradon, and soon they would be inside the isle. And she felt that her heart might leap from her throat, that she might scream and beg to be set free. For a chance to live.
But Uma didn't.
She couldn't… they couldn't live knowing they had betrayed their home, their roots. It would have been betraying themselves.
The barrier had just closed behind them, and at that moment Celia began to cry. She was scared, and Uma had to bite her lower lip to keep from crying too. She leaned closer to Harry on the seat, holding one of his hands tightly, but not looking at him. She could not. If she caught a glimpse of hopelessness in his blue eyes, Uma believed that she could break for good.
So she focused on Celia. She motioned for her to sit in the empty space between her and Gil, and the girl didn’t hesitate for a second. She hid her face in Uma’s chest, who put an arm around her. She said nothing as she felt each of her sobs. She just held her against herself, steady, always steady.
The night was warm and humid, and Uma wanted to cry out in relief when she saw her ship in the distance, as she walked along the docks with Harry and Gil. She couldn’t help but stop for a moment, stunned, unable to believe that she was really there, after so long…
It had been the right decision, she tought. Going back home. How many times did she yearn to feel that rough wood, those old ropes, while she was outside the isle? There had been nights when she fell asleep lulled by her own sobs, her chest so sore that it seemed impossible, alone, completely alone in the world.
Maybe it was the hit of emotion, or maybe it was just an impulse filled with need, but she threw herself into Harry and Gil’s arms, who had stopped the moment they felt her stop walking. She felt Gil being surprised, but Harry held her up immediately. His grip filled her with certainty, and she realized he was there, real. Harry.
She decided that she couldn’t avoid him anymore, because if she found hopelessness in his eyes, she would share it with him. Just as they always shared anger and hunger.
And the blue was just how Uma remembered it. Whenever she saw him, she thought of amplitude. On freedom. And Uma did not know why she had thought that she would find there something other than devotion. And love, even after all this time…
“It is real”.
Her ship, her home. Her people.
She didn’t know how she managed to make her voice so firm. And it was just one more of the sharp edges in the silent night, on the lonely dock.
“You’re home, Captain,” Harry said, tossing one of her strands of hair. Uma allowed herself to enjoy the touch of his fingers for a moment, knowing that things would change in the morning. Because if they had returned to the isle, they would have to survive. However, at the time there were no pretenses between the three of them, no facade to maintain.
“We miss you,” Gil admitted, a little unsure. “I thought you just decided to leave us”.
And Uma didn’t blame him. No one on the Isle of the Lost knew loyalty as well as they did, but it was a precious commodity and easy to lose. She reached up and put a hand on his shoulder, applying a little pressure, and Gil looked at her apologetically.
“I couldn’t come back,” she said, because if there was anyone who deserved an explanation, it was Gil and Harry. “But I wanted. I wanted to come back more than I ever wanted to leave”.
It was strange, even if she knew there was no danger, to speak so openly about her feelings. She allowed herself to be embraced by Harry again, his heartbeat echoing in her ears. Familiar, safe.
“I know,” he assured her. Uma looked at Gil and he surrendered to her gaze, his expression changed, filling with affection, and he joined the hug. Only a moment. Only this night when the moon shone insistently on the loose glass of the broken bottles.
Uma closed her cabin door and couldn’t help feeling a wave of nostalgia hit her. Here, finally, was her place. This was where she should be. She felt Harry behind her, keeping a safe distance, waiting for her to tell him how far he should continue, if he should continue.
Uma took off her boots and lay down on the bed, gesturing for Harry to accompany her. Silently, he removed his harness, vest, and boots, and lay down next to her. The ship creaked in its rocking, the wild tide crashed against the wood, and the wind howled in pain. And in the dead of night, Uma searched, hungry and a little desperate, for Harry’s lips. It was not the first kiss they shared, it was far from it, but it was the first that meant something beyond desire and affection. It was a promise, and unmistakable loyalty, and the certainty that no matter how much pain there was, if they could share one more moment together, one more minute, it would have been worth it.
God. She had missed him so much. It had been like an eternal moment without breathing.
It was when she felt his taste again that Uma couldn’t take it anymore. They had had freedom in their hands, a promise that finally came true, and now they had nothing but the certainty of dying. No effort had been enough in the end. She had endured so long, but now she broke. She sobbed against Harry’s chest, and he held her. The smell of him, so familiar to her, and his arms remembered exactly how to hold her, they adapted to her as if they were made for it.
“Shh. It’s over, Uma. You are here. I’m here,” Harry tried to reassure her, even as his voice cracked slightly through the pain.
“What have I done?” She wondered. “We’re going to die here, Harry. We’re going to die”.
She felt him nod. Again that calm, that storm about to break. Uma knew she was soaking him, that she should stop, but she just couldn’t.
“But we are together”.
He said it like it was the only thing that mattered, and Uma knew suddenly; really, it was the only thing that mattered. Because there were no longer plans to escape, there were no dreams of seeing the world. She also knew that, on the Isle or in freedom, she was grateful that he was there until the last moment.
“Will you tell me what it is like there?”
She smiled. And she talked to him about the outside world throughout the night. As she spoke, Uma stopped feeling that everything was like a dream. The ship became real.
Neither Harry nor Uma could sleep. There was a moment when they just fell silent, just feeling the mutual warmth.
And the sun came out, but it did not shine on the isle. The clouds darkened the sky. In Auradon, the welfare of Princess Audrey, and King Ben’s engagement with Lady Mal were celebrated. But the magical barrier, on the Isle of the Lost, remained immovable.