Strangers in a Heroes' Land

Maleficent's Miracle

Deceit

Deceit woke up from his nap to a pair of lips, eyes snapping open to see Remus' playful dark brown's gazing down at him. Immediately he pulled away from the kiss, glaring at the other boy suspiciously.
"What's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong, Dee! Can't a boyfriend kiss his boyfriend at midnight?"

He simply narrowed his eyes, unimpressed. Remus shrugged with a dramatic sigh.

"Ok fi-ine! I wanted to distract you from the fact that we're about to reach land. Oh and I think we're also about to get caught, just thought I'd let ya know." He informed casually (though Deceit knew better, he could see right through that blasé act—Remus was tense, nervous).

Immediately he snapped his gaze to where Remus had been looking, taking in the closeness of Auradon with a wide-eyed gape. Had they really gotten here so fast?

With an icy dread, he also finally saw the barricade of figures half-submerged in the water about three miles away from the boat, the bright moon (and wasn't that a novice? He could actually see the moon!) illuminating their armor against the dark night.

Deceit had vaguely heard about this; about a royal guard of mer-folk that patrolled Auradon's borders looking for any suspicious persons. He just hadn't believed it was true (though in all fairness, the knowledge had come from a drunken bar-keep so Deceit hadn't put much stock into such claims at the time).

"Wonderful! This is just perfect!" He hissed, ducking back down lower into the boat.

If the guard hadn't seen them yet, they sure would soon. Even with the cover of darkness, it would be impossible to slip past the solid line of mer-people. Was this really it? All that work and planning and desperate hope just wasted before they could even reach the freaking shore?

"We could try to fight our way through?" Remus whispered as he slid down next to him, clutching the satchel holding Logan's journal tightly.
They both knew that wouldn't work.

Deceit's heart was hammering, the soft whisper of the ocean growing deafening as his senses heightened in adrenaline. There had to be a way, any way, to slip through!
Distantly he heard the tell-tale sounds of voices as the guards seemingly noticed the boat.

Remus cursed softly.

Deceit closed his eyes tightly, grounding the heels of his palms painfully into his temples. Think, damnit! They could jump? No, they would never out swim the mer-guard. Could he fib his way past? (If Deceit were any less panicked he wold have snorted at that thought—no way would they believe anything he said, not with his discolored left-side of his face acting as a blaring sign that he wasn't one of their perfect Auradon citizens.)

"Babe?" Remus prodded apprehensively.

"I know, I know! We're definitely not fucked just let me think for one damn sec-"

"No, Dee, there's something moving in the nerd's bag!"

That got his attention. He looked in curious alarm at Remus' arms—the satchel in was jerking around as something rustled within it, the coarse fabric stretching as something pressed against it from the inside. With the voices of the guard coming closer, Deceit didn't have any time to be cautious as he gingerly opened the flap and peered inside.

Immediately a journal flew out, making him rear back in (undignified) surprise, before it landed on the damp floor of the canoe with a (seemingly deafening) wet thump. It's cover flung itself open, pages fluttering as if disturbed by a strong wind until—finally—it opened to a yellowing page with the words 'DECEIVE VIEWER' scrawled in large, blocky Renaissance-looking letters at the top.