HOOKED ↝ DESCENDANTS

[12]

"Rosalie?" a voice echoed through the trees as the young princess continued her trek through the woods, still a good mile or so away from the grounds of Auradon Prep. "Rosie, where are you? Rose!" Krissy's voice grew closer as she broke through the cover of the trees behind Rosalie, coming into view as she finally caught up to her cousin, panting heavily and attempting to catch her breath.

"There you are," Krissy said when she'd finally managed to catch her breath, the two princesses having slowed both of their paces to a leisurely stroll through the forest. "Things were getting pretty heated back there between Mal and Evie, so I thought I'd better come see if you were okay."

"Yeah," Rosalie assured her as they walked, looking around for any sign of Harry and Uma, though unfortunately it was to no avail. "Yeah, I'm alright, thanks."

"So what was up with that Harry guy?" Krissy asked. "When you and Lonnie went to the Isle six months ago and got in a fight with the Pirates..." she trailed off. "...that was him you fought, wasn't it? The guy you told me about."

She nodded slowly, the image of Harry studying her with a taunting expression with the point of his sword aimed at her throat flashing briefly in her mind, though she quickly shoved it away. "Yes." Rosalie confirmed. "That was him."

"Rosie, how could you let him get close to you after that?" Krissy asked exasperatedly. "He's an actual villain, not just a VK like Mal and the others. He's dangerous. Him, Uma, their whole little gang. After the spectacle Uma gave at cotillion, I don't trust anyone who'd willingly get close to her."

Even though Rosalie had been witness to the sword fight that had ensued after Uma and the Pirates kidnapped Ben all those months ago, during the events of the night she'd begun having a hard time believing they were still the same cruel monsters they'd been on that fateful day. Maybe it was the way they'd worked together to take down the suits of armor, or the icebreaker games that had followed shortly after, but over the course of the night at some point they'd stopped being enemies, and had almost become acquaintances, if not on track to become friends.

After watching Gil eat fruit from a berry bush and talk about penguins with such a smile on his face, or the way he'd stepped up so quickly to help Jane and Doug find Fairy Godmother, she'd no longer seen the buff, scary exterior he'd inherited from his father, Gaston, but the goofy child within.

Uma was a problem solver, there was no doubt about that. They wouldn't have gotten anywhere near as far as they'd already come to defeating Audrey that night if she hadn't been around to help, even if she'd been the source of all of Auradon's nightmares for the past six months. Say what they wanted to about her, but her plans worked when they all put their heads together to follow them through to the end.

And Harry...

Harry Hook was a scared kid who, since he was a child, had done what it took to survive. He'd been dealt a short hand his entire life, and he made do with what he had, even if Rosalie still wasn't aware of just what exactly that was. He hid that fear behind his usual taunting grins and giggles, but she now saw through him.

She saw through all of them.

"They're not dangerous." Rosalie spoke up, causing Krissy to stare back at her incredulously, eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. "Well, okay, it's not that they're not dangerous." she quickly backtracked. "But there's more to them than just villains. We thought the same thing about Mal and the others when they first arrived last year, but we saw how well they did once everybody gave them a chance, and that's what the Pirates have never had. They've never had a chance to be more than just villains, so how would we ever be able to see them as anything different?"

"You might have a point there." Krissy said reluctantly. "I will say this, I did not expect that to be the reaction to Mal's decree of closing the barrier for good. Especially from Evie, Jay, and Carlos. They usually back each other on everything, it was surprising to see how badly they wanted to keep the two communities together."

"They're really not so bad, once you get to know them." Rosalie informed her, and Krissy smiled softly in response.

Maybe it was her mother's past of being tricked into falling in love with a man who'd only ever wanted to seize power of her kingdom, or the royal cabinet meetings she'd always listened so intently to once they were finally old enough to begin attending at the age of six that had led to Krissy's disdain for anything against the rules, or those who chose to break them. She didn't hate the Villain Kids, exactly, more so that she'd never quite taken the time to get to know them, aside from when they'd been busy saving Auradon from Maleficent and Uma. They'd never quite run in many of the same circles, and, while Rosalie had taken it upon herself to befriend them once Evie started dating Doug, Krissy was perfectly content letting bygones be bygones, and keeping to her own circles.

"They're not so bad." Krissy repeated in agreement. "I don't dislike them, I just don't really know them. Except Jay, I just can not stand his player attitude, or understand how girls fall for it so effortlessly. It was one thing for Chad to do it, but at least he left me alone and spent most of his time pining after Audrey."

"Well, maybe it's because you don't fall at his feet so effortlessly." Rosalie suggested. "He's a really nice guy, once you get to know him. Maybe giving him a chance wouldn't be so bad after all."

"Yeah," Krissy sighed as they continued walking.

"So," Rosalie said, "what was it you were saying about things getting heated between Mal and Evie?"

"So get this," Krissy said. "Turns out closing the barrier was Mal's idea, to keep Auradon safe. But Evie doesn't understand how Mal was able to just turn her back on the Isle so easily, when it was their home. That's when I decided I was probably not the right person to overhear that conversation, and I came to find you."

Rosalie smiled in response as Krissy linked their arms together, leaning her head on her cousin's shoulder as the white castle towers of Auradon Prep came into view as the clusters of trees around them began to grow thinner.

"We will get this Audrey situation figured out, right?" Krissy asked, her voice growing small, and Rosalie nodded adamantly, without hesitation.

"We will," Rosalie said, her attention being pulled away from the woods and to the highest tower of the castle, where a blast of pink lightning shot up into the sky, the same shade as the fog that had spread over the Enchanted Lake earlier that day. 

"Come on," she said, pointing in the direction of the lightning. "Let's go, they might need us."