Petra's POV

          Ben and I were in close pursuit behind Harry, the culprit who had stolen my pixie dust. He seemed to be taking a strange path with a bunch of twists and turns, nevertheless Ben and I followed right behind him.
           Finally, we had cornered Harry in an alley that lead to a dead end. When he saw the brick wall ahead of him, Harry turned around and smirked as if it was Christmas. Had he knew we were behind him the whole time? "Well, well, well!" Harry said, backing up against the wall. "The really awful thief returns! Or should I say;" he took off his hat and bowed. "Petra Pan." I took a step forward and bowed right back at him. It seemed both of us had a knack for dramatics. "The one and only." I said proudly. "Now, hand over the pixie dust. We have you surrounded." I knew that if it came down to it, Ben probably wouldn't be great in a fight. But I didn't intend on Harry knowing that.
           Harry raised an eyebrow and stood back up, putting his hat back on over his dark locks. "Do you?" He said. "Interesting, I was under the impression that it was the other way around." I felt my muscles tense up unintentionally. I furrowed my eyebrows together and took a step closer to him. "What are you on about?" I asked in a voice lower then I intended. From behind me I heard Ben clear his throat, he hadn't spoken the entire time. "Um, Petra?" He said. I sighed and turned around. "What is it-" But my voice went dead when I saw what exactly had kept Ben speechless this entire time.
           Behind us were about 4 or 5 pirates, all about our age. They were all armed with swords and advancing towards us with malicious looks on their faces. I turned back to Harry, his face more smug then I'd ever seen it. "You set us up." I sneered. Harry laughed and walked so close to me, our faces were inches apart. An intimidation tactic I wasn't about to fall for. "That I did, lass." He said. "You see, we were ordered just to bring back the king. But when I saw just how determined you were to get your precious fairy dirt back, I thought I'd hit two birds with one stone." Suddenly, I felt two people grab my arms before I could even try to fly away. Glancing over at Ben I saw they had him in their grasp as well. He looked absolutely terrified, and I'll admit I was too. But I wasn't about to show it. I wanted to apologize to him, but I knew it'd make me look weak in front of Harry. So I simply stared at the ground so I wouldn't make eye contact with him.
           I struggled against the pirates trying to hold me, but they were twice as strong as I would ever be. Harry seemed to be enjoying himself, and eventually sauntered his way over to Ben. "Uma's just been dying to meet you, your majesty." He said, tipping Ben's face up with his hook. "You're going to be the key to getting us off of this dump of an island." Ben didn't move an inch, probably trying to avoid Harry's hook. "Mal and the VKs will come looking for us." Ben said bravely. It was so cheesy I almost gagged, but I had to admire his confidence. Harry snickered and backed away. "That's what we're counting on." He said, tapping Ben's nose with the edge of his hook for good measure. I had a sinking feeling that if Harry was this insane, I couldn't imagine how awful this so called 'Uma' who wanted us captured is. Harry turned on his heel and made his way in front of me, leaning down to my level. "And you-" he stopped and moved my hair behind my ear with his hook. "I'm going to have fun with you." That was the last straw. I wasn't about to let Harry, or anyone for that matter, toy with me as if I was some sort of possession. Before he could say anymore, I promptly spit in Harry's face. The pirates holding me tightened their grip on my forearms and pulled me away from the boy with the red jacket just in case I decided to pull something else. Harry jumped back, his hook that had been resting on my face cutting my cheek when he moved. He wiped the saliva off his face with his sleeve and I could see a fire blazing in his eyes.
          I heard the pirates behind me panicking, muttering things like 'she spit at Harry!' And 'we better get the plank ready, this one is going to pay the price' which definitely brought my sudden surge of confidence down a few notches. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ben with a hint of a smile on his face, but a look of worry in his eye. When Harry looked back at me, his face now held a nasty sneer as opposed to the smug one he had earlier. "You shouldn't have done that, lass." He hissed.
          The last thing I saw was Harry lifting his hook up in the air, then I felt a hard force hit me in the back of the head. My vision began cutting out and I felt my body go limp. All I heard was a faint "Petra!" And the sound of laughter before completely losing consciousness.

Carlos' POV

         "Guys, it's no use." Jay finally said, backing away from the megaphone. "Mal's not changing her mind." I didn't want to believe it, but Jay was right. Mal wasn't coming back. But for some reason, deep down, there was a part of me that wasn't saddened by this. I assumed it was the same part that was still mad at her for bringing Petra into this mess. I backed away from the megaphone as well. "He's right, Evie. She's not coming." I said, leaning against the wall. Evie looked at the megaphone for a moment, as if Mal would somehow speak to us again and change her mind. But when she didn't, Evie too backed away. "Well, I guess now we all have to go home." She said sadly.
        I looked over to where Petra and Ben were to see what they thought, and it took me a moment to register that they weren't there. "Guys, where's Ben and Petra?" I asked, walking to where they had stood to look for any sign of them. Jay followed behind me and looked around. "I don't know, Evie?" "I didn't see anything." Evie replied, slightly panicked. They couldn't have gone far, right?
          Then, down the alley I saw the outline of a boy walking towards us. I immediately assumed it was our missing friend and waited for my girlfriend's silhouette to appear next to him. "Ben!" I shouted, relieved. "Don't scare us like that-" just as I was about to ask about Petra, the person began to speak in a voice I unfortunately knew all too well. "Don't scare you?" They said. This was definitely not Ben. "That's my speciality."
          When they got into the light, the person revealed himself as Harry Hook, the first mate of Uma, the daughter of Ursula's crew. Uma and Mal never got along, and therefore her crew never really took a liking to me or my friends. I had never really had a personal vendetta against them, but if they did anything to Petra that was another story.
"Harry." Evie muttered, trying to step closer to him. But Jay blocked her before she could touch him. "What did you do with Ben and Petra?" Jay asked. Harry pointed to the alley he had walked in from. "Oh, we nicked them! Mhm!" He said, as if he was utterly pleased with himself. This only made my blood boil even more. "And if you want them back, have Mal come to the chip shop tonight. Uma wants a little visit." He paused and looked over at Jay, smirking. "Ooh, Jay. You've lost your touch." This time it was Evie's turn to hold Jay back, but I wish she hadn't. If anyone could teach Harry a lesson, it was Jay. When Harry turned to me to say something, I decided I was going to beat him to it. "If you hurt her, Hook, I swear to Walt Disney I'll-" "Ooh, care for the little ginger do you?" He said, touching my nose with the end of his hook as if I was a kid. Judging from how hot my face was I couldn't imagine how red I must be right now. Then, an idea seemed to hit Harry, making his smirk grow even wider. "Are you her little Wendy Darling?" He laughed and started to back up. "Well that spices things up a bit doesn't it?" Then, without another word Harry walked back down the alley he came whistling a tune I couldn't identify.
          When I turned to face my friends, they both had a strange look on their faces. It was somewhere between shock and pride. "What?" I asked, more forcefully then I meant to. Evie shook her head and began walking towards the stairs to Mal's hideout, passing her confusion on to me. Was it something I had said?
Before I could question myself further, Jay snapped me out of my thoughts. "Great job, lover boy." He said, grabbing me by the arm and walking me to the entrance of Mal's hideout. "Now you just gave Uma twice the amount of leverage then she had before!" Evie opened the gate and Jay and I started climbing the stairs. "By what, defending my girlfriend?" I said. Jay nodded and let go of my arm. "The only way Harry could have known you were dating Petra before, was if she had told him. And considering she has twice the amount of brains as you, I doubt that was the case." Once I reached the top of the stairs I rolled my eyes. "The guy walks around acting like he only has one hand. Do excuse me for not cowering at his feet."
          "Are you serious?" Mal exclaimed after we told her what had happened. "What were you guys even thinking when you brought Ben here?" "What were you thinking when you brought Petra here?" I shot back. Mal glanced over to me, not seeming to have an answer to this. "That was not only unintentional, but not what we're talking about here." She huffed, throwing herself onto the couch in the middle of the room. I knew there was much more to be said on the topic, and I could tell Mal knew that too. But she was right, we had bigger problems to deal with at the moment.
"Well, I guess I have to go see Uma then." Mal said exasperated, crossing her arms. Evie sat down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Let us go with you then." She said. "If Uma's behind this, you're going to need some help." Mal shook her head and pushed Evie's hand away. "You heard what Harry said, I have to go alone." She stood up and picked up here bag from the corner of the room. "I'm not letting anyone else get hurt because of me today. This is my fault and I'm going to fix it." Mal walked towards the entrance and straightened herself out a bit before opening the door. "Stay here, and if you have to leave stay together. I'll be back soon."
Obviously none of us felt comfortable letting Mal leave on her own with the entire island against her. But we also knew that arguing with her would be useless. "If you're not back in an hour, we're coming to get you." Jay said in a serious tone I've only seen him use a couple of times. Mal cracked a small smile and nodded. "Thanks, but I'm a big bad girl. I can take care of myself." Her smile quickly turned to a smirk before she walked out the door, leaving Evie, Jay, and I alone to just wait.

Petra's POV

          The first thing I noticed as I slowly regained consciousness was my aching head. My brain was pounding with endless waves of pain, causing a groan to escape from my lips. My eyelids felt so heavy I couldn't quite open them yet, however my hearing was beginning to return to me. "Petra?" I heard a far away voice say. "Are you awake? Can you open your eyes yet?" I recognized the voice, but my brain couldn't quite put a face to it yet. I was gaining my strength back more quickly now, and I was able to open my eyes and survey my surroundings.
           The first thing I noticed was that the ceiling I was faced with seemed to be made of wooden planks, a strange design choice in my book. The ground beneath me felt hard and uneven, I assumed it was made of wood too just as the wall to my left was. But when I rolled my head to the right expecting to see more wooden planks, I was met with tall, metal bars reaching the ceiling. My jumbled brain finally put two and two together and I shot up from my lying position. I was in a holding cell, a jail cell, a brig. That slimy, one handed wannabe pirate locked me up in a brig.
          Of course once I was in a sitting position I was hit with more pain in my head. I groaned and ran my hand through my hair. "Woah, careful." The voice said again. Only now with the memories of the last few hours returning, I knew it was my temporary partner in crime, the king. Ben was originally sitting on a bench on the far side of the room, but he rushed to my side once I had sat up. "Are you okay? How much do you remember?" Ben asked.
          I lifted myself off the ground just enough to lean my back against the nearest wall. "Everything, I think." I said, going through my recent memories. "We were chasing after Harry, then he caught us and I was-" I stopped myself and quickly put my hands near the edge of my hairline. Sure enough, I felt a ginormous bruise beginning to form. "How long was I out?" Ben looked down at his hands and began counting on his fingers, the higher he went the more I started to panic. "A half an hour? 45 minutes maybe?" He finally replied. "It wasn't long considering how hard Harry- you know." "Hit me with his pirate hook?" I said, settling down a bit now that I knew I hadn't missed too much. "Yeah, sounds even more ridiculous out loud."
             Ben and I both laughed slightly, though it made my head ache even more. "This whole thing is ridiculous." Ben said, sitting back on the bench. "Getting kidnapped by pirates? I mean, I know for you it runs in your blood. But me?" I shot a fake glare at Ben. "So I get bludgeoned by a sea dog and all of a sudden you get to make fun of my mother?" I said with a smirk on my face. "That's not very king like, your majesty."
            After we both had a laugh we quickly got back to business. My head was getting loads better and I could almost properly function. "So no news on why we're here yet?" I asked. Ben shook his head and sighed. "Not a word." He replied. "All they did was take our stuff and leave us here." I absentmindedly reached for my hat to see if Ben was right. Sure enough not only was my hat gone, but so was my flannel, sunglasses, and my bag. I wasn't surprised, they obviously didn't want us escaping. "Glorious." I muttered, crossing my arms. I looked over at Ben, my friend that has stood by me not only while I was on the Isle but ever since I arrived in Auradon. He'd helped me with anything I needed without giving it a second thought, even though he knew it was a bad idea. The whole, 'chasing after a pirate down a dark alley on an island full of villains' thing comes to mind.
           Looking back on it, I haven't made a ton of great decisions ever since I got to the Isle. Trying to pickpocket a professional thief? Bad idea. Chasing after said thief alone? Bad idea. Chasing after said thief with the King of the United Nations of Auradon? Bad idea. Letting a child dye the ends of my hair green? Sure it looks great now, but when my mother sees it she'll remind me that it was a bad idea as well. 8 months ago I would have never seen myself doing anything like this. Having a boyfriend, going on weekly shopping trips, going to sleepovers, getting my hair professionally done, that was all out of my comfort zone. But now I had crossed a line. Trying to steal from someone and corner them in an alley? Sure Harry had stolen from me first, and sure the alley was a trap. But putting that aside, what had I have done to get my pixie dust back? If I spent any longer in that alley with Harry, how far would I have gone to get what I wanted?
          I hated to admit it to myself, but I almost stooped to his level. I guess the saying is true, a villain is a hero in their own eyes. I put aside everything, Ben's safety, my own safety, my morals, who I was, just to get back some stupid sparkly dirt. Maybe it was the Isle, maybe it was the news of the pirates' existence finally reaching me 14 years after I thought they were gone, or maybe it's just the mischievous side I inherited from my father kicking in. Whatever it was, it was going to stop now. My thoughts instantly turn to Evie, who struggled with her dark side constantly and handled it with grace. Or Ben who though scared out of his skin, kept a level head and stayed brave. But especially, Carlos, who had been through so much and yet kept his chin up and stayed strong. All these people, these friends of mine were inspiring and influential in ways I hadn't even thought of yet. One thing was for sure, I wasn't in Neverland anymore. I thought I had learned that months ago, but apparently I hadn't.
          "Ben, I'm sorry I got you into this." I sighed, leaning my head against the wall behind me and staring at the ceiling. "If I had just let Harry go and not acted so drastically we wouldn't even be in this mess." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ben shake his head. "Don't be sorry, I understand why you did it-" "That doesn't make it right!" I cut him off. "I was so caught up in playing hero that I lost track of what was important, getting Mal and going home." It felt strange to call Auradon home, it just kind of slipped out. And yet, it felt right.
          "Let's see, I was the one that drove Mal to leave Auradon, Mal was the one to go back to the Isle of the Lost, Harry was the one to steal your pixie dust, and this 'Uma' is the one who had us captured." Ben listed them all out and leaned his elbows on his knees. "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, you aren't the only one at fault here. Just take a deep breath, we're going to get out of here." I turned to fully face Ben and shot him a smile. One thing about Ben, he gives pretty good pep-talks. "Thanks your highness." I said. "But for future reference, don't mock my mother ever again."
Just then, I heard a pair of footsteps approaching the outside of our cell. It was so dark beneath the deck of this ship I couldn't see much past the metal bars of the brig. Ben and I stood to our feet and backed against the wall as far away from the cell door as possible, preparing for whatever was to come.
The sound of creaking hinges and light flooding below deck drew our attention to a door opening at the top of a flight of stairs that I assumed led to the main deck. Once my eyes adjusted to the sudden change in light, I was finally able to see a boy's head looking down at us from the top of the stairs. "I knew it!" The boy shouted. This boy was extremely well built with blonde hair. I didn't recognize him, but out of the corner of my eye I could see Ben must have by the look on his face. The boy turned his head towards the main deck and shouted even louder. "Uma! She's awake!" Ben and I exchanged looks before quickly turning back to the boy to see what was next.
From above us I could hear someone reply to the boy, but I couldn't make out what they said. "Aye aye, Captain!" The boy replied, then began descending down the stairs towards us. If I could have taken another step back, I would have. Harry may have knocked me out with his hook, but this kid could snap me in half with a single hug. "Captain's a bit busy right now, sorry about that." Said the boy, smiling as if we were old friends. Ben and I quickly shook our heads. "No, no, take your time." Ben said, faster then I expected. "We don't want to rush you or anything." The boy nodded and leaned against the metal bars of our cell. "Thanks, Uma's been really stressed ever since Mal got here. It's hard planning a revenge plot you know-" The boy cut himself off, making my heart stop. "Hold on, I know you." The boy said, looking me up and down. He kept staring at me, until finally he piped up again. "You're the lead singer of The Neverlanders!"
I let out a long breathe I didn't realize I was holding in. I'm not sure what I expected him to say, but this definitely wasn't it. "Yep, that's me." I said nervously. The boy had a huge smile on his face and began searching through his pocket for something. "Can I have your autograph?" He asked, pulling out a pen and taking off the bandanna wrapped around his head. Ok, that really wasn't the way I expected this conversation to go. I glanced over at Ben, who simply shrugged. "Sure." I said, cautiously walking towards the boy and taking the pen and bandanna. "Who do I make this out to?" The boy puffed out his chest in pride. "Gil Gaston." He said confidently. Gaston, that must have been why Ben recognized him when he first came in. I've never seen Gaston myself, but from what I heard him and Gil must share the same workout routine. I laid the bandanna against the wall so I had a flat surface to write on and signed my name with a friendly message like I do with all my fans. Never Grow Up, Gil! Signed Petra M.A. Pan.
I handed the bandanna back to Gil and he tied it around his head. "Thanks, I'm one of your guys' biggest fans!" He paused for a moment before continuing a bit more seriously. "Just, don't tell Harry and Uma."
As if on cue, the door at the top of the stairs slammed open with a bang and another pair of footsteps started walking towards us. "Gil, what did I say about entertaining the hostages?" A female voice called. Gil turned towards the person and scratched his head. "Um, not to?" He replied. The girl finally reached the bottom of the stairs and faced Gil. "That's right, so go make yourself useful and help prepare for our guests arrival before I throw you in there with beastboy and carrot top." Gil quickly saluted and ran back up the steps. "Aye aye Uma. See you guys later at the battle!" Before Ben and I could ask what he meant, Gil had rushed out the door leaving us alone with the infamous Uma.
From her whole get up, I could instantly tell Uma was the captain. She had a powerful and intimidating aura around her. She had long turquoise hair and dark eyes that looked us over intently. She didn't look too impressed, and I wasn't sure whether or not I should've been happy about that. I was standing near the bars of the cell while Ben was still backed against the wall. "You know, for a while there I thought you were a goner." She said, addressing me. "That gash on your cheek didn't help much either, I hate damaged goods you know." There it was again, being addressed as if I was some broken toy. I had completely forgot about when Harry caught my cheek with his hook. I didn't have a mirror obviously, so who knew how bad it was. But I had more important things to deal with at the moment.
"You can't keep us here forever." Ben piped up from the behind me. Uma looked over my shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "You sure? You look pretty comfortable all nestled up in the back there." Ben hesitated for a moment, but eventually he joined my side in front of the captain. "So you're Uma, then?" I asked, crossing my arms. Uma smirked and put her hands on her hips. "That's my name, don't wear it out." She said. "And, let me see if I get this right. Penelope and Bernard?"
Ben and I weren't exactly sure if she was joking, therefore neither of us knew how to react. But Uma seemed to get the hint. "No? Well it doesn't matter." She said, drawing her sword causing Ben and I to step back in alarm. "Because soon, both of you will either be fish food or useless to me." As she brushed off the end of her sword, she pointed the tip of it at Ben. "Except you, I might need you." "Whatever you're planning, you'll never get away with it." Ben declared, keeping his gaze on Uma instead of the sword.
Uma furrowed her eyebrows and put her sword back in it's hilt. "You don't even know why you're here?" She asked. "I thought Gil would have told you. That boy has the biggest mouth I've ever seen." Uma brushed her hair over her shoulder and put her hands on her hips. "The plan is pretty simple, really. We're going to make a trade. If Mal manages to give me Fairy Godmother's wand by noon tomorrow, you two get to live!" Uma smiled, either at the thought of her getting the wand or the thought of Ben and I dying. But Fairy Godmother's wand? That thing is one of the most powerful objects in Auradon. That kind of magic in the wrong hands could lead to who knows what. "Once I have my hands on that wand, I'll finally break the barrier around the Isle and Auradon will be my oyster." "There's just one flaw in your plan." I said, crossing my arms and narrowing my eyes at Uma. "Mal and the VKs will never give the wand to someone like you." Uma laughed and backed away from our cell and towards the stairs. "We'll see, carrot top." Uma said, climbing the stairs and opening the door. "We'll see." Then Uma left and slammed the door behind her.
Both Ben and I were silent for a moment, trying to take all of this in. Obviously Mal couldn't give Uma Fairy Godmother's wand, but if the price for that was our lives it would be a steep one. "You don't think Mal would actually give up the wand, do you?" I said, looking up at Ben. Ben didn't speak for a moment, his eyes fixated on the ground. "I hope not." He finally said. "But she won't even have to make that choice. There has to be a way to make this right." I sighed and sat back on the bench in our cell. "Well, if you haven't noticed we're kind of at a disadvantage at the moment." I said. "Do you have any sort of plan about how we're going to 'make this right'?" Ben turned around and reached into his back pocket. "Not yet. But luckily for us, I have better pick pocketing skills then you do." I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to figure out what he meant. But what he pulled out from his pocket made it all make sense. "Think you can do anything with this?" He asked.