𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐄 | 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬²

OLD HABITS

{09} 𖣔᯾ 𝙹𝚊𝚣𝚣𝚢 ᯾𖣔

There was a saying- old habits die hard or something like that.

I wanted to change it.

Old habits have a tendency to annoy the fuck out of you until they weasel their way back into your life like pests.

"Duckling! Yer came and yer brought yer wee little gang. You want 'em to watch our long-overdue reunion." Harry chuckled as he looked over at me, he was stood between the end of the two planks, on each were Ben and- oh my god.

My breath seemed to hitch in my throat as his eyes met mine, dark irises that swallowed whatever was keeping me on the Isle away from him.

"Give him back, Harry." I groaned as I looked at the pirate with an unamused expression.

He only laughed at this, almost cackling, "Aw, duckling, yer adorable when you're annoyed."

That caused me to grit my teeth as Mal came to stand by me.

"Fucking Finally!" Shrimpy (Uma) announced as she made her appearance, stood across a small bridge from us, her crew surrounding her.

"Let's get this party started, shall we?" Shrimpy asked, tilting her head to the side as a smirk decorated her lips.

Ugh you little-

"I swear I- unlike Princess Purple-Hair and little miss Arabian Nights over here- am genuinely cold-hearted, so here are the ship rules: No, you may not have the boys back, and yes, I'm Lizzie Sparrow- pleasure."

The voice came from a brunette girl as she swung down the netting and landed beside Uma, her sword clunking against her leg but it didn't seem to faze her.

"Pleasures all mine." I drawled sarcastically,"Look let's just talk this ou-"

"There's no negotiation, we're not here for debating. Aw, does Jazzy Far need motivation? Just look at Ali's face and ask yourself how long you think we'll remain patient."

I already hated this Lizzie chick, she got on my nerves more than I thought anyone could.

"I'll get Harry to throw him overboard and let him swim with the killer sharks, you either hand over the wand or he'll literally be ripped apart." Uma's words were a threat, and unlike all her other meaningless ones, as Harry wobbled the plank, the pressure of the situation began to dawn on me.

"Okay- let's all just be smart- although for you, Shrimpy, that must be hard. You'll get the stupid wand, Ali and Ben shouldn't have to come to any harm." Mal tried to reason, but Uma wasn't hearing it.

"HARRY!" The girl practically shrieked to her first mate.

The smirk on his face grew as he passed over his watchman duty to another crew member and made his way over.

His hook was trailing my face as my teeth clamped together, his voice a whisper as he spoke, "Don't try anything, duckling... all it takes is one swing from you or yer crew and I'll humiliate 'em both. Matter of fact, make one wrong move and I'll- what was that word yer had meh learn for school last year? Oh right! I'll debilitate 'em. And if they even start to slip, I'll eliminate 'em. All it takes is one wrong swing and ill-"

"Harry she gets it, this isn't a movie, Jesus." Lizzie scoffed as she grabbed his collar and pushed him back to guard duty.

He frowned but reluctantly reassumed his place between the two planks.

I swallowed, "Okay! Shut up!" I yelled, sticking my left arm out for the wand which Mal gave me and I stepped forward.

"Wait!" A voice shouted, Ben. "We don't have to choose this route, we don't have to light a fuse that'll just end badly for everyone! Mal, Jazzy, whatever you do right now is going to be a lose-lose. There's gotta be a better way to go about this! Uma, Lizzie, I'm so sorry, I know I missed it the first time but I'm giving you your chance now, you'll get a say!"

I blinked at him in surprise, was he trying to ruin Auradon.

"Oh, Ben honey, you're so so stupid. Youre gonna give us a chance.... Nah- not a chance." The brunette pirate laughed with Uma as their crew grew impatient.

"Make the trade!" "Give us the wand!" "We'll make 'em walk the plank!" The shouts from Uma's angry pirates stopped abruptly when Uma walked towards us.

"Give me the wand!" The Shrimp demanded.

"Give me Ali!"

When the four of us realised neither were going to give in without the other getting what they want, Uma sighed and turned to Harry.

"Bring them over." She demanded of her first mate who groaned but gripped the rope binding them together and pulled them along to where we stood.

When Ali was within a metre of me, I stepped forward into his arms. He couldn't hug back but he relaxed into me as if he was.

"As touching as this is, you can do it when we get the wand." Lizzie said when tears formed in my eyes. I snapped them up to meet hers and she raised her brow at how angry I looked.

She took a small step back.

"No- too easy." Uma smirked, "Why don't you give it a test drive."

(A/n: Yes I know this is in the wrong order but don't come at me 😭)

"Always were quite the drama queen..." I mumble under my breath as I look back at our group.

And that's when Carlos nods towards a fence, where Dude has blatantly ignored his warnings and sat himself on the wood.

Perfect.

"Um- though it seems absurd, turn his bark into a word." I chanted as convincingly as possible, and when silence filled the air I rolled my eyes.

"Talk- dog."

Dude frowned visibly for a moment before he said, "Does this vest make me look fat?"

The whole ship roared with laughter, Uma chuckling slightly before turning to us both.

"Wand." She demanded, holding her hand out as Harry reluctantly cut the ropes away from Ben and Ali.

Mal reached down for her boyfriends hand while I held out the wand to Uma and hers gripped the "magical" object.

In a swift motion, I let the wand go and pulled Ali up into a hug. It was rushed and over too soon, but if we hesitated any longer we were toast, "Ali- go."

"What?" He asked, confused as I pushed him towards the exit of the ship.

"Go go go..." I replied, not really answering his question as my eyes darted between the pirates and the boy.

Ben was being even more difficult than Ali, protesting that he wanted to get the wand back.

Of course- they didn't know what we knew.

"ITS FAKE!"