They reappear in Hayden's basement, the staircase entrance to the Underworld a few feet behind them.
"Alright," Hayden says, tucking his necklace back under his collar as everybody else takes a second to reorient themselves. "So, what exactly is the plan now?"
"Right," Mal mutters, shaking off the odd so-hot-it's-actually-cold feeling the hellfire left. "We need a replica of Fairy Godmother's wand just in case and we probably need some kind of diversion for the pirates," she says as they make their way up the basement stairs.
"Smoke bombs!" Jay suggests.
"That's perfect! I can get the chemicals I need at Lady Tremaine's," Evie tells them.
"That could work," Mal says with a point.
"By the way, Hayden?" Carlos says, glancing up once again at the bone chandelier.
"Hm?" he hums in question.
"I really don't like your house, man," Carlos tells him honestly.
"Why's that?" he asks with an innocent look that fools absolutely none of them. He snickers at the unamused look Carlos gives him as they tune in to the conversation the girls are having.
"Dizzy did this," Mal is saying, gesturing at her hair.
"Little Dizzy? Shut up!" Evie exclaims.
"I know. I'm, like, loving it," Mal says as she runs her fingers through her hair. "It's a lot lighter."
"I'm so proud of her," Evie says.
The boys all exchange looks. Jay pointedly clears his throat to get Evie and Mal's attention.
"Hello?" Carlos calls. They both look over and he tosses his hand up in a 'seriously?' way.
"Right," Evie mutters.
"Carlos, Jay," Mal says, clapping her hands together, "you guys get the fake wand and meet us at Pirate's Bay no later than noon. You guys, losing is not an option," she reminds them.
"Hopefully it won't even come down to a real fight," Evie adds with a pointed look at Hayden.
He shrugs. "I'll do what I can but once Uma's got an idea in her head..."
"She's stubborn," Mal agrees with a roll of her eyes.
Jay reaches out and shoves lightly at Hayden's shoulder. "And just what are you gonna be doing while we're gathering supplies?" he asks with a knowing smirk.
Hayden ducks his head for a second before he looks up with his own smirk and blushing cheeks. "Me? I have a pirate to go see," he tells them. He turns on his heel and starts toward the front door, ignoring the small squeal he hears from Evie. "Close my door when you leave," he calls over his shoulder.
Hayden makes his way through the Isle, enjoying the abundance of shadows he can stick to, so different from the brightness of Auradon. He expects things to go the same as they always had before he left the first time but, well, it's a bit different.
As he walks through the Isle streets and alleyways, Hayden notices something odd. The last time he was on the Isle and the entire time he lived there, almost everyone he came across would either actively try to avoid him or, at the least, shy away from him.
It's different now.
Sure, people still seem to instinctually draw back from him and the general Underworld aura he carries but... They also tip their hats as he passes. They nod their heads and offer loose salutes.
A small group of younger kids he passes by nudge at each other and start talking in excited whispers, wide eyes and smiles lighting up their grubby little faces as they point first at Hayden then at a skull and roses painted on an alley wall.
It's not the first tag he's noticed. His symbol seems to be all over the Isle now. He stops briefly in front of an alley wall where it's painted right next to a bright red hook.
Hayden smiles and reaches out to trail his fingers over the hook. There's no doubt in his mind who was behind this particular tag. He sighs at the thought of his pirate and grabs the rungs of a rusted ladder attached to the wall, swiftly climbing it to reach a familiar rooftop.
He crosses over to a busted up crate and pulls out the blankets folded in the bottom, the same blankets he and Harry always used when they would lay on the roof for hours, sharing a rum bottle as they talked about everything and nothing.
Hayden spreads them out in their usual spot then goes to stand at the roof's edge, hands in his jacket pockets. He looks out over the water and waits patiently. Enough people saw him back on the Isle that he knows it won't be long before word gets to Harry.
He'll know where to look for him first.
Sure enough, barely ten minutes pass before he hears the sound of someone climbing the ladder behind him. His boots are loud on the rungs like he can't be bothered for his usual stealth, like speed is infinitely more important.
Hayden turns around just as he gets on the roof and gets his first glimpse of Harry Hook in six months.
He looks the same, still all messy black hair and kohl-lined blue eyes. He's not wearing his hat and his hook is hanging on his belt. There are slight circles under his eyes, even with the liner, like he hasn't been getting enough sleep and he seems a bit unsteady on his feet, making Hayden bite his lip as he remembers what the others said when he asked about him.
Harry, on his part, looks at Hayden like a stranded man finally seeing a ship approach. He lets himself drink him in, so different in person than the television screens he's had to use for months. He takes in the black curls and golden eyes that are more precious to him than any treasure or gold coin.
He opens his mouth, not even sure yet what he might say, when-
"I think we need to rethink our plans to sail for half the year," Hayden tells him seriously.
Harry thinks for a second that his heart might actually stop as a feeling like nothing he's ever experienced before grips him. For the first time in his life he's well and truly terrified.
"Wh-wha' do yeh mean?" he asks quietly, hoping with all of his black pirate's soul that he hasn't lost his godling. He doesn't think he could take it.
"I just spent six months away from you," Hayden explains, "and I hated it. We did it, we managed, but I don't think I ever really wanna do that again."
Harry suddenly feels like he can breathe again as he smiles wide.
"Aye," he agrees. "Mind yeh, spendin' tha' time in the Underworld 'stead of Bore-adon migh' make a diff'rence."
"It might," Hayden says with a smile of his own, enjoying the familiar sound of his rough Scottish accent. "Still wouldn't be the same as being anywhere with you."
They move at the same time, meeting in the middle and arms wrapping around one another in a sincere embrace that shouldn't be able to exist somewhere like the Isle.
They stay that way for a long moment before Hayden pulls back, both hands lightly pushing at Harry's chest as his nose crinkles. "You smell like a bar," he tells him.
Harry can't help but duck his head a bit, one hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck. "Ah, well, tha's no' so odd," he deflects. "Don' tell me Bore-adon has made yeh forge' tha' much?"
Hayden just gives him a look. "This level is a bit odd." He lets his eyes rove over the pirate's form, noticing the way he sways just slightly even as he stands still. Hayden doesn't doubt that his reflexes are still as quick as ever but... "How much have you been drinking?" he asks quietly.
Harry sighs. "Never enough," he admits. "I don' think it ever really helped. Ev'ry bottle I finished an' yeh were still gone."
"Harry..."
"I kep' thinkin' maybe yeh'd come back," he continues. "Then I'd wake up ev'ry mornin' an'- an' remember yeh were gone."
Hayden reaches out and runs his fingers through his pirate's hair. Harry wraps one arm around his waist and pulls him closer, blue eyes meeting golden.
"I didn' wanna remember," Harry whispers.
"I hate that I ever had to leave," Hayden tells him, free hand toying with the collar of his red coat. "I'd have come back but, well, I'm sure you've seen just how eager they are to open the barrier."
"I know yeh would have," Harry assures him. He frowns. "An' don' say it like tha'."
"Like what?"
"Like there's no chance of gettin' tha' barrier open. Yer gonna win this, Hayden, fer all of us."
"I don't see how," Hayden sighs as he pulls away, walking back to the edge of the rooftop and looking across at Auradon. "They're all so happy to just keep living in their own little fairy tale lives, never mind the fact that those words don't even exist on the Isle."
He turns back around, gesturing over his shoulder at the distant land.
"I'm doing my best to make them see sense but I just..." He sighs tiredly. "I don't think I can keep doing this on my own," he admits.
"Yer no' on yer own," Harry tells him. "Yeh've gotta whole island behind yeh an' even if yeh didn'... yeh've got me. Yeh've always got me."
Hayden laughs weakly, looking as close to defeated as Harry's ever seen him. "I don't think even the two of us could do it, Harry." He looks around the rooftop. "You know, sometimes I wish I could just- just forget it all. Go back to the way things were before we ever went to Auradon."
Harry watches him for a moment. "Yeh don' mean tha'," he says.
"I don't," Hayden agrees softly. "I just- sometimes it would be nice to just... forget the rest of the world."
Quiet music starts to play, apparently coming from nowhere and everywhere all at once. They lock eyes and know exactly what's about to happen.
It's Harry that opens his mouth first.
"We'll do it all, everything, on our own."
He walks a little closer to Hayden, never looking away from his golden eyes.
"We don't need anything or anyone."
He sweeps one arm out to gesture at the old blankets they always used during their nights on the rooftop.
"If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?"
Hayden stares at him for a couple of beats, letting the music fill the silence, before he opens his own mouth.
"I don't quite know how to say how I feel."
He turns to look over the water at Auradon.
"Those three words are said too much. They're not enough."
He turns back to Harry, stepping even closer and waving his own arm at the blankets.
"If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?"
Harry moves closer.
"Forget what we're told before we get too old."
"Show me a garden that's bursting into life."
Harry grabs one of Hayden's hands, both of them callused from years of sword fighting.
"Let's waste time chasing cars around our heads."
Hayden grabs Harry's other hand, rubbing his thumb lightly across the nicks and scars caused by life on a ship.
"I need your grace to remind me to find my own."
Their eyes stay on each other as they sing together, a perfect harmony.
"If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?"
Harry pulls him just that bit closer.
"Forget what we're told before we get too old."
Hayden can't help but smile a little, intertwining their fingers.
"Show me a garden that's bursting into life."
Harry smiles back, small and genuine as his rings click against Hayden's.
"All that I am, all that I ever was, is here in your perfect eyes. They're all I can see."
"I don't know where, confused about how as well, just know that these things will never change for us at all."
They can both feel as the song comes to an end.
"If I lay here,"
"If I just lay here,"
"Would you lie with me and just forget the world?"
They stand in silence while the music fades. Kohl-lined blue eyes never leave bright golden as Harry smirks.
"Why do we always end up singin'?" he asks.
Hayden grins back at him. "I haven't figured it out yet," he says softly.
They both lean in and their lips meet, and, for a moment, they can forget the world outside of their rooftop.