☠️Harry☠️
I look down at the princess in my arms, still in the crow's nest with the night sky above us. Even though a stormy cloud usually hangs over the Isle from the crow's nest its easy to see the sky beyond it. Her eyes are closed and I know she's beginning to doze off and as much as I don't want to disturb her I know we couldn't sleep here.
As the night stretches on the temperature will drop and I can't have my little vixen be freezing. "Rosa," I whisper to her and she makes a noise to show she heard. "Come on, love, we can't sleep here."
"Okay," she murmurs sleepily and I find it to be extremely adorable. What did I do to deserve this girl? Whenever I'm around her I can't contain my happiness or the need to hold onto her and never let go. It kills me every time I have to watch her go back over that bridge.
But I understand that Bore-adon is her home and that it's where she belongs. Besides, she definitely doesn't deserve to live in the slums we call home freak home. She pulls away from me and rubs at her tired eyes. I climb down first and wait for the sleepy princess, ready to catch her if she slipped.
We head below deck and into my room. I take off my sleeveless leather coat, tossing it across my room where it lands on my wooden chest. I do the same with my hat, hook, and boots. I unbuckle my skull belt and slide it free from my pant loops, setting it down alongside my hook and hat.
"Harry?" I look up from my side of the bed at the enchanting girl who's looking a tad bit shy. I love how even after all this time we've spent together she can still be timid. "Yes, princess?"
"Can I borrow a shirt to sleep in?" I can't help smirking and give her a nod, I wasn't planning on sleeping in mine anyway. Besides like I said last time, I like when she wears my clothes, I don't know why, but I do. I pull my shredded sleeveless hooded shirt over my head and once it's free I toss it to her.
I lower myself into bed, careful to make sure my back stays facing away from her when suddenly she blows out the lantern, which is the only source of light for my cabin. I make a noise of protest and she chuckles in response. "I'm tired and I don't need you getting riled up, okay."
I heard her shuffling in the darkness and chuckle with amusement, imagining her curves in my minds eye. "You're forgetting that I've seen it before. I don't need to now to invision it."
"Later, Harry. Sleep time." A few moments later and she's crawling into bed beside me. I roll onto my side as she snuggles into my chest making me smile. I have one arm under my head and the other I wrap around my princess. I realize that she had pulled the hood of my shirt over her head and laugh as I imagine how it looks.
"What?"
"Nothin, duckling, just go ta sleep." She slips her arm over my waist and I listen to her breathing as it gradually gets slower and slower until I'm sure she's sound asleep. I'm not usually a sleeper, but when she's with me I'm almost relaxed enough to try even though I don't want to. There's a reason I moved into this cabin as soon as I was physically able.
But I quickly discovered that even when he wasn't around he still haunted me, abused me. Even though he's older now and I was able to claim what was rightfully mine, what he no longer deserved to hold, there's still a part of me, the child, that is still cowering in the shadow of his father.
I look down at where I could hear her gentle breathing my eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness, but only a tad. I blindly bring my hand up and gently trail my fingers down her cheek, imagining her peaceful face as she sleeps. Though I had grown up with siblings, things are different on the Isle, and I don't really know what love feels like.
But I feel like Rosabella is as close as I'll ever get. I've been with other girls before, of course, but there's something special about her, something that pales in comparison to any other female on the Isle. I twirl a strand of her beautiful brown and red hair around my finger as I smile to myself.
“There are times
When I just want to look at your face
With the stars in the night
There are times
When I just want to feel your embrace
In the cold of the night
I just can't believe you're mine now
You were just a dream that I once knew
I never thought I would be right for you
I just can't compare you with
Anything in this world
You're all I need to be here with forevermore”
She shifts in her sleep, pressing her forehead to my chest and a foreign feeling fills my chest, one that got stronger with each passing month that we spent together. A feeling that, honestly, terrified me almost more than my father did. But I also knew it was a good thing, I asked Harriet just to make sure and after she finished teasing me she told me what it meant.
"You're in love with her, idiot."
I cup Rosabella's face, brushing my thumb over her cheekbone fondly. In love with an Auradonian princess, how ironic.
“All those days I've longed to hold you in my arms
I've been dreaming of you
Every night
I've been watching all the stars that fall down
Wishing you would be mine
I just can't believe you're mine now
You were just a dream that I once knew
I never thought I would be right for you
I just can't compare you with
Anything in this world
You're all I need to be here with forevermore”
I lean down and press my lips against the top of her head in a gentle kiss. I pull back and wrap my arm around her, holding her protectively.
“Time and again
There are these changes that we can't end
Sure a star that keeps going on and on
My love for you will be forevermore
I just can't believe that you're mine now
You were just a dream that I once knew
I never thought I would be right for you
I just can't compare you with
Anything in this world
As endless as forever
Our love will stay together
You're all I need to be here with forevermore
Ohh...
You're all I need
To be here with forevermore”
I close my eyes and allow her steady breathing to lull me to sleep.
The feeling of ice cold water shot through me, setting my skin on fire and making my limbs feel numb. I flail my arms and legs wildly, trying to force my body to the surface, but a crushing weight on my chest kept me pinned down, inches away from the surface of the water.
A shadow loomed over me causing darkness to engulf me as I refuse to open my mouth, to keep the ice cold water from scorching my lungs and signing my death warrant. But the more I tried to hold it in the worse my lungs began to burn, screaming for oxygen. I grab and claw at the hand holding my small body under water, kicking wildly with my legs, trying desperately to strike him in the chest, but in vain.
Pain and panic claw viciously at my chest as the darkness encroaches on my vision. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and my mouth opens, desperately calling for air, but all it got was freezing water.
I feel my body being jerked to and fro until finally I jolt upright, frantically gulping in air as if I'll die if I don't, my limbs flailing about in my delirium. Hands, small hands, grab onto my arms, pushing me back down. In my crazed state I feared that it wasn't a dream that I was still eight years old and he was really pushing me back under the water, over and over again.
Never giving me a chance to catch my breath before forcing me back under. "Harry! Harry!" My body goes weak with relief when I realize it was Rosa's voice speaking, it was her gentle hands that were holding me still. My body shudders with each deep breath I take and tears burn my eyes.
"Shh, it's okay. You're safe. It was only a dream." I bury my face into the crook of her neck as sobs rack my frame, shaking my head frantically, unable to control myself. "notadream...notadream," I cry, my voice muffled by her throat and my accent so thick that I doubt she even understood me.
She combs her fingers through my hair, but even that couldn't bring me comfort at this moment. I feel her other hand brush against my back, where the worst of my scars are and feel my body flinch involuntarily. They no longer hurt, but still to this day I remember what each flick of the whip felt like on my skin.
How agony burned through my muscles as each strike split open my skin, painting my back crimson. My shaking became violent as two traumatic memories played through my mind on repeat causing Rosabella to hold me tighter. "It's alright, Harry. You're here with me. He's not around. You're safe."
Will I ever be free of that monster? The man who tried every cruel and abusive thing he could think of to try and twist me up into being just like him.
🌹Rosabella🌹
I hold this trembling boy close to me as my heart aches with each whimper and sob that came from him. This is worse than any mania episode I've had to watch him endure. This isn't him committing violence while in a haze. This is him being visibly broken and reliving traumatic childhood memories that have him shaking in pure terror.
I whisper soothing words into his ear while I comb my fingers through his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp to try and calm him down. Gradually his body began to stop trembling and his cries became softer. Eventually, he passed out probably too exhausted to keep himself awake.
I decide to stay awake and be there for him in case he has another nightmare. I carefully, wiggle out of the bed, careful not to wake the poor boy. I expertly navigate the dark cabin and grab the matches from the small table that's bolted into the floor to keep it stationary in case of rough seas.
I strike the match watching the flame appear, flickering softly. I use it to light the lantern and then blow the match out before rejoining the traumatized VK. I lay back down beside him and push his wild hair out of his face. I remember how Harry flinched when my hand brushed his back. I got a glimpse of it once before and what I saw broke my heart.
Nearly a dozen five or six inch slash scars litter his upper back. This boy, no wonder he's so crazy. I cup his face and stare at him with sadness. Poor, Harry. I find it harder and harder to look up to my dad when I have to see what these VKs have to go through. My father had no intention of rescuing this poor kids, just plastered posters all over the place, urging them to be good.
I'm sorry, but how could they choose good when they know it's not going to get them anywhere. When they know that the outside world has abandoned them, left them to the mercy of their cruel parents. It's horrible. They've done nothing to deserve this whatever evil acts they commit on the Isle is them desperately trying to survive.
Whether it be the harsh conditions or to survive being raised by their parents. I only wish Ben had become king years ago and I wish we could let every kid that wanted a second chance to leave the Isle for good. Soft knocking draws me from my thoughts and I twist my body slightly so I could see the door.
"Yeah?" I call in a whisper and the door opens to reveal Gil in the doorway. He takes one look at Harry and sympathy fills his eyes. "Harry have a bad dream?" I nod and give him a kind smile.
"Did you have one too?" He nods timidly and I fight back a laugh. "Could I stay in here with you guys tonight?" I sigh playfully and gesture him to come in. I soon found out that it wasn't uncommon for Gil to spend the night with Harry after a bad dream.
Harry always pretends to be annoyed, but lets him stay anyway. One morning when I came to visit him he had accidentally slept in and I found him and Gil fast asleep, backs facing each other. He's sometimes hard on the boy, but I know how much they care about each other.
Gil's been friends with him and Uma for a long time. The broad shouldered boy gives a grateful smile and closes the door behind him. He comes over and even though there's barely enough room for me and Harry he still manages to find space. Which is at the end of the bed, I pull my knees up towards my chest so we could both be comfortable.
He lays across the mattress, curling in a ball so only his feet hang off the edge. "Good night, Rosabella."
"Good night, Gil."