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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟑
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘

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Since the day Crimson was brought to Havoc Hollow, she had barely spoken a word. She kept to herself in the room where she was first brought to and only came out when necessary. The pirates of Havoc Hollow didn't seem to care as long as she treated their injuries when they asked her to. Only Sammy and Russell tried to have conversations with her, but they always ended up being one-sided. The Rose girl didn't want to reveal any new information to the pirates in an attempt to prevent relationships from forming. Crimson didn't want to stay there any longer than she needed to and she knew if she got close to them it would be harder for her to leave.

Not much had changed in the lives of the pirates since they gained their medic. They continued with stealing from the nearby shops and sword fighting with rival crews. There was only one thing that was different since the arrival of Crimson...and he went by the name of Finnic Mullins. Finn joined the pirate crew only a week after the Rose girl arrived. Harriet refused to take him at first, but her father insisted due to the Mullins boy being the son of one of his crew members. From what Crimson could tell, Finn didn't seem happy with his new life. Like her, he would avoid most of the crew and practice his swordsmanship on his own in the field outside their shack.

The Rose girl would watch him from a distance, wondering why he didn't interact with everyone else. However, despite her curiosity, Crimson kept her thoughts to herself as she worked in her room. Unknown to her, Finn was just as interested in her story as she was in his.

It had been a few hours since everyone departed Havoc Hollow to cause chaos on the streets of the Isle. Like every other day, Crimson stayed in her room, knowing that one of Harriet's minions was stationed right outside her door to prevent her from escaping. The Rose girl expected this, especially after she tried to run five times in her first week. What she didn't expect was her door to open. Her whole body froze as she listened to the squeaking hinges then she slowly looked up to see Finn standing in the doorway. A small smile graced his lips while he stared at the blonde girl in front of him before he took a seat in the chairs across from the blonde girl. An awkward silence settled around them as they stared at each other before it became too much to bear for the Mullins boy.

"We haven't properly met yet. I'm Finn," the boy greeted while holding his hand out to the Rose girl, only for her to simply stare at it with an unreadable expression on her face. Another silent moment passed before Finn awkwardly lowered his hand and let out a forced laugh. "Or not."

Crimson kept her eyes glued to him, unsure of what to make of the boy sitting next to her. From what she could tell, he was nothing like the other pirates who lived at Havoc Hollow. While they were always out looking for trouble, Finn stayed at the shack to work on his sword-fighting or he simply sat and stared out at the ocean. He never stole from anyone that lived on the Isle unless one of the others forced him to and he always had a smile on his face. The Mullins boy seemed genuinely happy all the time...unless he was getting ordered around by Harriet.

"I know you're probably not gonna talk to me but the silence is killing me," Finn said, causing Crimson to look back up at him with a hint of curiosity in her eyes that made his smile grow even wider, "I guess I'll have a conversation with myself in the meantime. Hopefully, someone will join in when they're ready."

And that was how the next few hours were spent. Finn just talked about anything he could think of no matter how out of the blue it was. While he talked, Crimson just listened. At first, her face was so unreadable that the Mullins boy thought he should just give up. But slowly her hard outer shell broke down and it wasn't long before a small smile graced her lips. Finn even earned a laugh from her when he talked about how he fell into the ocean while trying to steal a necklace for Harriet. Those small actions made the smile on his face grow even wider simply because he'd only ever seen Crimson frown since he got here...but from what he saw, that wasn't her fault.

Silence surrounded the duo as Finn tried to think of another story to tell to pass the time until she gained enough courage to respond. It wasn't long after that when the Mullins boy jumped and almost fell out of his chair when the blonde girl next to him said two simple words. "I'm Crimson."

The raven-haired boy blinked a few times as he stared at the unsure expression on the Rose girl's face, who was holding her hand out to him like he did with her earlier. Just as she was about to lower it, Finn wrapped his hand around hers and slowly shook it with a smile on his face. "Finn. It's nice to meet you, Crimson."

"I've, uh, I've seen you practice with your sword. You're pretty good," the blonde girl said while looking anywhere but at the boy sitting across from her, "probably the best one here...after Harriet."

If Finn wasn't looking hard enough, he would've missed the slight growth of Crimson's smile. It made the Mullins boy realize just how little the blonde girl actually left the room they were sitting in. And when she did, all the other crew members either ignored her or mocked her for reasons Finn never understood.

"Do you wanna learn how to use a sword?" the raven-haired boy questioned, causing Crimson to look up so fast before she stared at the boy next to her with wide eyes.

Silence surrounded them once again for what felt like an eternity before the shocked expression on the blonde girl's face turned into a huge smile. "I would love to learn how to use a sword."

Finn sent her a matching smile in response as he got to his feet and held a hand out to her. Crimson hesitated for a moment before cautiously accepting it and allowing him to help her to her feet. Without warning, the Mullins boy's grip around her hand tightened before he began leading the Rose girl out of the room. A wave of indescribable emotions flowed through Crimson as she let Finn take her through the shack that was usually occupied by the pirates she never wanted to see. To her surprise, it was completely empty. It was common for the pirates of Havoc Hollow to be out during the day, but not all of them at once. But all Crimson's thoughts soon vanished when they made it outside.

The raven-haired boy finally let go of the blonde girl's hand before he made his way across the small clearing to where their swords were kept. Crimson simply watched from her place close to the shack as Finn grabbed two swords and walked toward her. The Rose girl's eyes slightly widened at the sight of the sword before she carefully took one into her hands. After studying the object for a long moment, she slowly looked back up to meet the Mullins boy's gaze.

"We aren't actually gonna fight with these, are we?" the Rose girl asked, earning a small chuckle from Finn before she watched him sheath his sword in his belt's holster.

"No...at least not until you understand the basics," the raven-haired boy told her as he grabbed her hand once again and led her further out into the field, "first things first, you need to fix how you're holding the sword. If you got into a fight right now, your opponent could easily knock it out of your hands."

Without thinking twice, Finn reached forward and adjusted Crimson's hands so she would have a better handle on her sword. Once he was finished with her grip on the hilt, the Mullins boy talked about the best stance to use during a sword fight. The Rose girl did her best to copy what he was showing her, but she failed drastically. That earned a laugh from Finn before he helped her get into the correct position. Throughout their training session, Crimson watched the raven-haired boy with awe in her eyes, completely blown away by the skills that had become second nature to him.

While they continued to train and have their fun, someone watched them from one of the windows of their hideout. And she was not happy with what she saw.

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Back inside their hideout, Rev searched through the few rooms within in search of Zack. She hadn't seen him in a few hours and, knowing him, his disappearance could only mean trouble. He was a boy who acted before he thought, which led him down holes that Rev would always have to dig him out of. And she wasn't in the mood for that today after taking care of a very whiny Russell. Her brother had been super needy ever since his injury during their brawl with Ginny Gothel and her crew.

As Rev walked down the hall that led to their rooms, her ears picked up on the sound of a hushed discussion. As usual, her curiosity got the better of her as she walked toward the voices. It wasn't long until the Gold girl reached the end of the hallway where a door was just barely open. Rev crouched down near the room out of sight from the occupants inside. As she listened to the conversation, she was surprised to hear an extra female voice mixed with Harriet, Scott, and Sammy's. That could only mean that Shawn Yu was back from her assignment their captain sent her on a few weeks ago.

Inside the room, Harriet, Scott, Sammy, and Shawn sat around a broken table with a torn deck of cards sitting in the middle of them. If anyone walked in on them, it would seem like they were just playing their weekly game of Go Fish. But that's exactly what they wanted you to believe.

"Alright, enough with the small talk," the Hook girl said with a hint of annoyance in her voice as she looked at the girl sitting across from her, "what did you find out while you were away, Shawn?"

"Nothing much. Just that Uma's crew let those princesses escape along with Gabby, Holly, and Skyler," the daughter of Shan Yu explained while glancing over at an angry-looking Scott before her attention went back to Harriet, "I also learned that Ginny and her gang are planning another attack on us. Guess they thought their sword fight with the Golds wasn't enough."

"That's good!" Sammy exclaimed a bit louder than he intended to, earning glares from the pirates sitting at the table with him, "well, not 'good' good but good that we know. Ginny can't ambush us if we know she's coming. As for the princesses, that injures Uma's crew considering they were her backup. Now we can take over their turf if we want."

"As long as Harry's with her, I couldn't care less about Uma," Harriet scoffed before she cast her gaze back to Shawn, "what about the information I asked you to get on Crimson?"

"Why do you want information on Crimson?" Scott asked with a hint of confusion in his voice while Rev leaned even closer to the door in order to better hear their conversation.

"You were right," the Yu girl said, drawing all attention back to her before she continued speaking, "I poked around and asked a few people about her. What you thought was true."

What Rev heard next made a small gasp pass over her lips before she sprinted away from the room. When she got back to her own quarters, she shut the door behind her and placed her back against the door. Her brain was on overdrive as it pieced together all the information she had gathered on Crimson. Despite being irritated at herself for not figuring it out sooner, Rev knew she needed to use what she found out for her own personal gain before Harriet, Scott, Sammy, and Shawn could.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked, causing the daughter of Rumplestiltskin to jump before she turned toward the source of the noise to find Russell staring back at her with concern in his eyes, "why are you so jumpy? You're never jumpy."

"You just startled me, is all," Rev told her brother as she walked across the room to grab her bag and sword, "I'm going out for a bit. Cover for me?"

"Do you even have to ask?" the son of Rumplestiltskin responded with a smirk before he watched his sister climb out the window and sprint across the grass toward the streets of the Isle.

Rev kept her hood up and her head down as she walked through the alleyways of her home and toward her destination. The daughter of Rumplestiltskin knew how valuable information was on the Isle. It was basically their currency. The more you knew about a place and the people who resided there, the more powerful you were considered. If there was one thing she would always remember from her father's teachings, it was that. And despite being a member of Harriet's crew, Rev couldn't allow the eldest child of Captain Hook to have even more power over the Isle. Especially when it came to a secret that could make anyone richer beyond their wildest dreams.

Rev didn't care much about the money, but she did care about power.

As of now, there were only four people on the Isle that had the kind of power Rev craved. Unfortunately, they all came from the same family. While Harriet and Harry held control over their territories with fear and the might of their crews, their younger siblings held a different kind of power. The people of the Isle were terrified of CJ and Caleb for a different reason, their ability to gain information. No one truly understood how they gained what they knew. No one except for those who worked with them.

The Hook twins were a lot smarter than their older siblings, though Harriet and Harry would never admit it. So smart that they came up with the idea of recruiting spies to infiltrate their major rival's gangs. In Ginny's gang, it was Shay Kahn. In Uma's crew, it was Mady Medusa. And in Harriet's crew, it was Rev.

It wasn't long before the daughter of Rumplestiltskin found herself walking along one of the beaches of the Isle. She walked toward a rundown shack with nothing but the ocean's waves to fill the silence. As soon as she reached the small building, Rev brought her fist up to the door and did the secret knock the Hook twins taught her. Not even a moment passed after that when the door slowly opened and the smiling faces of CJ and Caleb greeted her.

"Come on in, Revvy," CJ greeted, causing the raven-haired girl to flinch at the hated nickname as CJ and Caleb stepped aside to allow Rev in before closing the door behind their guest, "what did you find out for us?"

"Something I never expected to hear," the daughter of Rumplestiltskin responded before taking off her hood and glancing between the Hook twins, "I have some very important information for you, but it's gonna cost you."

"We expected nothing less," Caleb said while his smirk grew larger than Rev thought humanly possible as he took out an envelope from his coat and held it up for her to see, "your usual payment, which you'll get after you tell us what you know."

"You two ever hear the story about the lost princess of Auradon? Rose Red's daughter?" the Gold girl questioned, earning synchronized nods from the Hook twins before she continued speaking, "it's Crimson Rose."

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