1Pirates of the Carribean: Heart of the Ocean

A heavy sigh escaped me as I dropped down onto my chair. I had been poring over many maps looking for where the location in which I would meet Will Turner when he arrived back to the world of the living for a single day. My head hurt with the stress from the coordinates that I allowed myself to slam my head against the hard oak desk that stood before me. I didn't even leave my stateroom to stretch my legs. I was too frustrated over the past two weeks that I refused to allow ANY entrance to my cavern; not even Gem.

//Bethany.// I lifted my head at the mention of my name. //Bethany...// I looked around to see that I was the only one in the stateroom. I looked over at my organ.

"What do you want?" I whispered.

//To warn you about the man that you love....// I furrowed my brow with confusion.

"Who are you? And why do you speak of Will Turner?" I whispered again. There was no reply; I got to my feet and paced. "Who are you!" I hissed as I looked back at my organ. Still there was no reply. I gritted my teeth and flipped my wooden chair. At the sound of a loud crash Gem called through the stateroom door.

"Are you alright, Captain?" I heard her mumbled question.

"LEAVE ME ALONE! GET BACK TO WORK!" I screamed. I heard her run away from the door and go back to steering the ship. I looked around my stateroom as I panted out the rest of my frustrations. "Who are you!?" I growled.

//Your mother..... Calypso.// I held my breath and looked around.

"What?" I whispered, "That can't be! My mother died years ago in England-"

//No...I am your mother. Look deep inside your heart; remember when the woman you called 'Mother' died? Did you cry or feel any kind of sorrow?// I fell silent when the voice of Calypso spoke. I lowered my gaze and allowed my past memories to drift me all the way back to my early childhood of when my 'mother' was dying in front of me.

"Ma, wa's wong?" I asked. I was three years old and could hardly put sentences together. I stood next to my mother's bed and looked at her with a twinge of curiosity on why she was acting so strangely. Her whole face was drenched in sweat and was as pale as the white clouds in the afternoon sky. She had been sick for a week and her condition had progressively gotten worse. But this was different; she was different than what she was like yesterday.

"Bethany. I want...I want to tell you something that is very important." She seemed to choke out her words as if it now became a chore to speak. I nodded and blinked before leaning forward and allowing myself to teeter my abdomen on the edge of the soft mattress. She then touched my face before clearing her throat; which caused her to go into a coughing fit. After several moments she got control over her breathing once more and turned to me once again. "I am dying, honey. I need you to pay very close attention to what I am telling you. You need to remember this. You're father is....is still alive. He is a sailor. He lives on a ship-" She was interrupted by another fit of coughs. "The ship is called the Black Pearl."

"Bwack Perl." I repeated. She smiled softly and touched my forehead.

"That's right. Black Pearl." She swallowed hard and drew in a ragged breath. "I want you to be a big girl and stay strong no matter what. Try and find your father and he will take care of you. Will you do that for me?"

"Yesh. Ma." I whispered.

"Good girl. Remember that I love you." Then she was over taken with another spasm and this time never recovered; and died right before my very eyes. I just stood there staring at the now dead corpse of my mother.

"Bwack Perl." I said once more and then pushed away from the bed and walked out of the small house in which we stayed in; and went in search for the ship named the Black Pearl.

I lifted my gaze when I heard my stateroom door creak open. Gem poked her head in and smiled weakly at me. "What is it, Gem." I spoke flatly.

"Well...Captain. We have arrived at the island in which you requested." I smiled and gave a curt nod. "Can I ask you a question, Captain?"

"Yeah, you can. What is it." I turned to walk over to the large window at the back of the ship and room.

"Well, why did you pick this particular island? I mean it is kinda an odd place of all places to meet Captain Turner don't ya think? It gets swamp like the more you go in land and there is the old hut of Tia Dalma there." I stopped at the window and gazed out at the island with a slight feeling of weight on my heart. Then I turned to my second in command, and smiled as I shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess I was attracted to the faint magic that still remains here from Tia." I sighed and plopped down in my chair and propped my boots on my desk.

"What will you be wearing to meet Captain Turner?" Gem asked as she stepped into the stateroom and closed the door behind her. I looked up at her and opened my arms and looked at my attire.

"What's wrong with this?"

"Oh no. You can not meet Captain Turner in those clothes. You will have to change." Gem walked over to an old chest that stood near two crossed scabbard swords that hung from the wall.

"What! I am not wearing anything that is in that chest!" I quickly got to my feet and stormed up to her and slammed the chest lid down. Gem stood straight and didn't cower back from my slight irritation.

"Riley, you have to look nice and presentable like if you wanna get yer way with the man-"

"What have you been putting in yer drink?! What do you think I am! A whore?! I don't think so! I am NOT wearing any of those clothes that are in the chest!"

"What are you afraid of?"

"What?" Gem crossed her arms and gave me a skeptical glare.

"You heard me. What is it that you fear?" I looked down at my feet and shifted slightly; then I glanced at the ceiling before sighing heavily. "What is it?" Gem now sounded concerned and touched my shoulder. I put my hands on my hips and looked at her; she was taken aback when she saw that I was close to tears. "What happened?"

"You know when I had you sail to Port Royal about 10 years ago? It was shortly after Will Turner went back to the locker; well, I went to the Swan mansion and I murdered Elizabeth." I could feel my voice start to waver. "That isn't the part that worries me. It is the fact that I feel obligated to tell Will. I know he will ask; she was a friend before all the crap with falling in love." I wiped away a small stray tear. "I am afraid he will refuse me and will never find and forgiveness for me. That is why I am and have been so upset." I pulled away from Gem and walked back to the window and glared out at the blue sky with a twinge of hate. "Mark me. I have no regrets of killing her. I only fear of Will leaving me for good, over the fact of her!" I turned around and slapped over a vase that stood on a stand nearby. It flew into the wall and shattered upon contact. Gem shook her head and walked over to me.

"Riley. You know that I have known you for a long time. We have been friends for a long time and we are so close that we are like sisters. You must trust me when I say this; you can't let that type of fear drive you into a frenzy of anger. That is what will make you lose him for sure. Now come. Let me help you get ready." She lead me over to the chest and opened it once more. I looked at the contents with much distaste. Gem grabbed a hold of a long white dress and held it up to me. "This will look great on you! Let's see it on you!" I grabbed the dress and threw it back in the chest.

"I don't think so." I crossed my arms and tilted my head up and glared at her. Gem grabbed the dress again and held it in her arms.

"Oh, I think so." Gem set the dress on my desk and started fussing through things. I just stood there and stood my ground.

"Gem. I am NOT going to get in that dress!" I looked around, "Gem. WHAT are you doing?" I then got my answer when Gem pushed me over to a metal washtub full of water. "WHAT! NO! GEM!" Next thing I knew my hat was thrown off as well as my clothes. Then I was roughly pushed and I fell into the full washtub. "AHHH! IT'S COLD!" I screamed. "I swear Gem, when I am able to get my hands on you....I'm going to kill you!" I stuttered as I shivered and kept my arms close to my chest. Gem began to douse my head with soaps and oils as she scrubbed my hair clean. The she soaked a rag and lathered it in soap. "You are not-" I had my arm roughly pulled away from my body and scrubbed as well as the rest of my body. Before rinsing me, she took a dagger and used the blade to shave my arm pits and legs. "Gem I order you to leave me in peace!" I then was dunked into the tub and then had my head pulled back out of the water long enough to have me spit and sputter. After another dunking I came up out of the water screaming, "GET ME OUT OF HERE!" I tried to pull myself out of the tub but Gem grabbed my hair and pulled me screaming back under the water. Once I was done with my bath; Gem threw me a towel and tossed out the water through an open window in the back. I had wrapped myself up trying to not only cover myself but to also keep warm. Gem grabbed another towel and threw it over my head. I went to throw it off, when I felt her hands grasp the cloth and begin rubbing my hair dry. When she removed the towel; my hair fluffed out and she smiled as she began to dry the rest of my limbs.

"There. All dry. Now don't you feel better?" Gem chirped and threw the towel. "Now, get into the dress."

"No."

"You have to."

"No I don't. I am the Captain of this ship and what I say is law. And I say that I refuse to wear that dress!" Gem didn't look fazed.

"Well. I guess we have to do this the hard way as well, huh. Captain or not, you have to look nice for the man that you love. And to impress him you have to wear this dress. Now put it on!" Gem held out the dress. I glared at her and held up my pistol that I had grabbed from my desk. I cocked back the hammer and glared at her.

"I am NOT wearing that sorry excuse of clothing." I hissed.

"Yes. You are." And then Gem quickly grabbed my wrist and tried to wrestle the gun out of my hand. My finger slipped during our struggle and pulled back on the trigger. The gun went off and I ended up shooting out a lamp that was near the stateroom door. I screamed with rage as Gem tackled me to the floor and wrestled the dress on me. "Hold still! I just need to tie this around your waist....and....there!" Gem got up and watched as I got to my feet. She pushed me in front of my full sized mirror and pulled away the sheet to reveal what I looked like. I gawked at my reflection as Gem began to brush out my hair. I looked like a young woman. I actually looked feminine. I touched my cheek and was amazed at how soft my skin was, not to mention how fair skinned I was. I was slightly transfixed at the deep blue of my eyes, how they seemed to swallow everything and show their true feeling. My hair was beginning to dry and show the color of a deep gold that showed signs of slowly turning brown. I really didn't have much time to gaze into the mirror before; whenever I did, it would only reveal to me a hard core pirate that had empty eyes and no mercy for a living soul. But now that I looked in the same mirror, I saw someone totally different. Someone that looked quite a sight for a pair of eyes and seemed to have a softer side and possibly have a caring soul. Then I noticed that I had aged very little through the 10 years of waiting for Will. Come to think of it; none of my crew aged either.