HOOKED ↝ DESCENDANTS

[21]

As the light of dawn broke through the crisp morning air of Auradon, Rosalie leaned against the hood of the car she'd been allowed to borrow from the school, the trunk of the vehicle open with Rosalie's bags all packed inside and iced coffees from the Candlestick Cafè already sitting in the front seat's cupholders as she scrolled through her phone, waiting for Harry. She pulled the edges of her unzipped hoodie closer as she shivered slightly in the chilled morning air, but was soon interrupted by the sound of the front door of the Auradon Prep dormitories swinging open, revealing Harry with a duffel bag slung around his shoulder, which he soon deposited in the trunk before swiftly slamming it shut.

"Morning," he greeted as Rosalie hopped off the hood of the car, and she settled behind the steering wheel in the driver's seat, shooting the boy a smile as she took a sip of her iced coffee.

"Ready to go?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Mind finally telling me where it is we're going?" he asked, chuckling nervously as he buckled his seatbelt, and she shifted the car into drive, pulling out of the school parking lot and onto the main road, beginning the drive out of Auradon City.

"Well," she explained, "since things are quieting down a bit now, I figured we could both use a weekend away. So, I pulled a few strings and got us a cabin on the Neverland coast, near Hook's Bay. I thought you might want to see where he lived."

Harry's face broke into a smile at the surprise, at the idea of getting to explore the place his father was from, where he'd had his fateful battle with Peter Pan that wound up getting Hook, Smee, and the rest of his crew booted off to the Isle of the Lost. All the places he'd heard stories about from his father, and later from Smee and the rest of the crew as a child, though he never dreamed that one day he'd be there himself.

"This is incredible," Harry said. "Thank you, Rosie."

"Well, get comfortable," she said as they neared the outskirts of Auradon City, the houses disappearing from view, only to be replaced by a smattering of trees as they reached the surrounding forests. "We've got a long drive ahead of us."

The drive took up the rest of their morning and a little bit into their afternoon as well. The snacks Rosalie had packed for the drive only lasted the two of them so long, leading them to stop for lunch at a diner once they neared the Summerlands, packed to the brim with Auradon students spending their summer vacations, and even a few VKs exploring the lands, two of which were introduced to Rosalie as Dizzy's cousin, Anthony Tremaine, and Ginny Gothel, though to Rosalie's relief, Ginny seemed nothing like her mother had always been described by Rosalie's parents.

However, as much of a dream destination to the people of Auradon that the Summerlands was, the excitement of almost reaching Hook's Bay was too much for Harry and Rosalie, who ate their lunch quickly and hopped back in the car for the rest of the drive. By the time their destination finally came into view, Harry nearly left a mark on the window from where his face was pressed up against the glass, trying to take in all of the sights at once.

"Here we are." Rosalie announced as she pulled in the parking lot for the Neverland Ferry, killing the car's engine, and Harry quickly crossed to the trunk, grabbing their bags while she went to get the tickets for the passage. "What do you think?" she asked him once they were finally aboard the boat, the colorful tails of the Neverland mermaids visible in the distance, where they swam near the island's shore.

"I spent so many nights as a kid trying to picture this place." he admitted, the awestruck look never leaving his face as he looked around. "But I never could've pictured it looking as amazing as this."

When the ferry finally docked in Neverland, Harry was the first one off the boat, scrambling past the few other passengers and onto the white sand of the island's shores. Rosalie also couldn't help but notice the difference in the islands between the one Harry had grown up on and the one they were on now. It was much cleaner, for one thing, though Uma's initiative had already come a long way in the past couple weeks, furthering on the work Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos had begun while they were still in school, and the first of the Isle's homes was ready to begin construction as soon as Gil and Jay returned from their trip.

Neverland also was no stranger to clear, sunny skies, something the Isle of the Lost was just beginning to grow used to after twenty years under storm clouds. Harry and the rest of the Isle natives had spent the past couple weeks relishing in the sunlight, a slight red sunburn evident on his cheeks to prove it.

Their cabin wasn't far from the Neverland Ferry, just a short trek down the coast, and they quickly set their things inside, eager to change into their swimsuits and hit the beach. Rosalie grabbed the towels she'd packed inside her bag, tossing one to Harry before they headed back outside, wanting to make the most of the warm and sunny summer day.

"This is amazing," Harry said for what seemed like the hundredth time while the two swam in the cool water, though Rosalie didn't mind. She saw how happy just being here made him, and it made her heart flutter with joy. "I think I feel closer to him, somehow, being here. Does that make sense?"

"It does," Rosalie assured him. "I'm really glad you feel so connected to him out here."

"All thanks to you," he said, stepping forward and splashing her playfully.

"Oh, it's on, Hook," she said, splashing him back, and turning it into an all out water war.

The two continued to splash each other for a few minutes, shrieking at the cold water, before Rosalie managed to run behind Harry, jumping up on his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck, hooking her legs around his waist in an attempt to escape from the splashing.

"Alright, truce!" she exclaimed. "Truce, truce,"

"I don't know about that..." he trailed off, a devilish grin crossing his face, though she realized only a moment too late to jump off his back before he leaned back, free falling down into the water and bringing her along with him.

They both surfaced from under the water, Harry giggling and attempting to shake the water from his hair while Rosalie gave a small huff, playfully pouting as she wiped the saltwater away from her eyes.

"So, you're my girlfriend now, yeah?" Harry asked, breaking the silence between them.

"If you want me to be," she responded with a small smile.

"I'd really like that, yeah." he said, grinning, and she nodded as he swam forward, closing the distance between them and kissing her.

If you'd told Rosalie six months before that she would have fallen for the boy that haunted her nightmares each night, she would've said you were crazy. However, as she studied the boy across from her in the water, she realized she wouldn't have had in any different. How one night full of mistakes that never should have happened, such as Audrey stealing the crown and the scepter had resulted in the barrier coming down forever and Rosalie vacationing in Hook's Bay with Harry, she'd never quite know.

But then again, the girl from Auradon and the boy from the Isle was just another one of the many incidents that showed how, after twenty years, the two communities could be united as one.