Rope and Whiskey/
Jim x Ariel AU where our heroes are pirates helping fight in the Great Northern War (1700-1721). They fight for Denmark, Russia, Britain (I can assume that if Jim was from Earth, he'd be from Scotland as a nod to his creator so it makes sense that Jim would fight alongside Ariel, who is a Dane technically, and still be against Sweden, one of the enemies.) The current year is 1717 exactly.
Anyways, I hope I don't bore you with that short history lesson. On with the story.
"FIRE!"
A cannon ball erupted near Jim's head, blasting gunpowder and stray embers all over his left cheek. He winced but commanded another release, pointing his baronet in the direction of the enemy.
More cannons fired, ripping into the belly of the other ship, and this made Jim's crew cheer. The young captain thrust his bayonet into the air and shouted, "Victory for King Frederick! Victory for Denmark!"
The crew whooped and cheered along with him, until something slammed into the ship, knocking the wind out of everyone on it. Dozens of bodies dropped into the deck, bayonets clanging together. The weight on the boat shifted slightly. Wood creaking and the sea sloshing under the ship were the only sounds anyone could hear for a few moments.
When Jim got back on his feet, he glanced up and gasped.
Blue coats. There were blue coats everywhere. Climbing onto the deck, kicking dust into the faces of the fallen, wielding bayonets and daggers of their own.
"Swedes," one of the crewmen snarled, slowly rising from the floor. She gripped her sabre tight and spit at one of the Swedish soldiers' shoes.
The captain shook his head at her and muttered, "At ease, Ariel."
A navy officer, their leader, turned to Jim, inquiring, "Are you Captain James Hawkins?"
The captain squared his shoulders and crossed his arms, retorting, "Why does Sweden want to know?"
One of the blue coats thrust the blade of his pistol sword at Jim's chest, narrowly missing the captain's heart. Jim jumped back and swiftly countered with a round house kick to knock the weapon from the soldier's hand. This caused the tensions between the crewmen and the Swedish navy to explode. A gunshot here, a dead body there. Sword blades slicing through muscle and sinew, blood spurting everywhere. The screams of the fighting, and the dying, echoed in Jim's ears.
He saw his crewmen, many of whom were good friends whom he'd shared close quarters with for years, go down or off the side of the ship. He saw the enemy viciously slaughter them. He saw his father being hung from the figurehead on his ship three years ago. He saw despair wherever he turned.
What he didn't see was Ariel swinging down from the watch tower on a thick lock of rope, swooping her legs into the side of a Swede who was about to impale Jim with his bayonet.
The blue coat fell, and was instantly cut down by the red headed pirate. Jim blinked a few times before focusing on Ariel, who wiped the fresh blood from her sabre onto her skirts.
"Well down, love," he commented, still surprised that he almost died.
She batted her sky blue eyes at him before returning to the battle, swiping at the blue coats with the same vigor as what she was met with.
Jim picked up a pistol and fired into a crowd of Swedes, before charging into it head on. The captain was sure he'd shot at least four people in ten seconds. He pressed the barrel of his gun into a blue jacket and pulled the switch, when he felt something sharp dig into his throat. He glared up into the harsh stare of the navy leader.
"Ready to die, trash bag?" The young man affronted, digging the barrel into the Swede's heart.
"As long as you're going down with me, coward" the soldier spat, slicing into the flesh of Jim's neck, drawing blood.
Captain Hawkins could feel the blood trickling down his throat, biting down on his lip to endure the pain. "Coward, eh? Would a coward do this?"
He pulled the trigger before the officer could react, but there was no sound, no bullet exiting, no smokescreen of gunpowder. To his horror, Jim watched the officer drive a dagger through his shoulder. Fiery torment shot through his body like lightning. The pirate roared in agony, clutching his injured shoulder. "Dammit!" He screamed.
The Swede took advantage of this and took Jim in a headlock, before picking up a pistol and shooting into the air four consecutive times, signaling a temporary ceasefire.
Everyone on deck (the alive, anyhow) swiveled around. The officer tightened his grip on the captain and proclaimed, "Captain James Hawkins is now in the custody of King Charles the Twelfth's navy! If you will your captain to live, you will drop your weapons and surrender, otherwise, you will die on this ship, which is now under my command!"
Jim's blue eyes scanned the scene. The crewmen who were still alive, though very little of them, watched him uneasily. They were awaiting an order from him, waiting for him to pull a trick form his sleeve and somehow save them from ruin. The Swedes, they called them cowardly, dirty pirates. But that's not what Jim saw. He saw brave, stubborn, salty warriors defending their king and country. How loyal they were. If only they could save him the guilt.
His eyes locked with Ariel's. She wasn't supposed to be here. She was supposed to be with her family, safe and sound. But they were at war, and no one could escape the barbarity of war, not even the creatures skimming the ocean floor could escape it.
Whether it was indignation, fear of defeat, or something else, Jim wasn't entirely sure. He simply declared, "Be brave, my fellow men and dear women!"
The officer shoved him to the deck then, the dagger digging deeper into his muscle tissue. Colors exploded in the back of his eyes as ungodly pain tore through him. Dear Triton, make it stop.
"Captain!" A voice screamed, before the discord began again.
From the deck, the wretched captain watched as his men fought to their deaths, all except one. He floated in and out of consciousness, before finally succumbing to the darkness.
Tired, bleary, dull eyes bore into the mirror. Jim Hawkins pressed the pads of his fingertips into his jaw, watching as they left a subtle imprint in the skin.
It wouldn't be long, now.
Jim stood back then, straightened out his dusty sailing shirt, before heaving a coil of thick, prickly rope over his right shoulder, his left being unresponsive and overall a total nuisance. He started up the stairs when he glanced back and rushed over to the closet. He threw its doors open and dug out a tin of whiskey. He would need it.
When he got to the deck, Jim swiftly made his way to the front of the ship, and made use of his trapeze skills, carefully treading the bowsprit with the rope still around his shoulder and the whiskey in between his teeth. Maybe it would be easier to just fall in the water and drown, but there had to be an art to this. A point.
Straddling the bowsprit, the man tied one end of the rope to the frame and made a noose out of the other. He slipped it over his head and tightened it accordingly before taking a long, luxurious swig of whiskey. He grimaced at the taste and stood on his toes, ready to dive. With his nerves on edge, Jim delivered a final prayer to his memories and finally jumped.
In the cold dungeon of Charles's castle, Jim grasped his rapidly numbing left arm and squeezed repeatedly, trying to revive the feeling in it. He cursed the officer who hurt it and he cursed this ugly war. He was dragged to Sweden for one reason or another, though he couldn't understand why.
Jim and his crew weren't official soldiers of the Danish army, weren't naval officers. They were just pirates who loved their homeland.
But they certainly paid the ultimate price.
In the few short days Jim spent in the dungeon, he'd overheard the guards gossiping about the fates of the pirates. Most of his crewmen had been killed in the battle on the ship, some had been captured and were immediately imprisoned, in a prison somewhere in southern Stockholm. Apparently, they were to be executed, like him.
But Ariel's fate had escaped him. He eavesdropped and attempted to bribe them and even begged one of the guards for information, but nothing came of it.
One freezing morning, the sound of keys jingled in his ears. The dungeon door was thrown open and light flooded in. Jim squinted at the shadowed silhouettes approaching him.
"Kapten Jakob Howekennes," came a thick, masculine voice, heavily laced by a Swedish accent. "You have been summoned to the king's court, where you will be questioned."
Jim rolled his eyes despite his shivering, sarcastically replying, "The king? Whatever did I do?"
That got him a punch in the jaw. He was chained, punched again, then yanked by the hair all the way up to the courtroom, where he was thrown at the feet of Charles, King of Sweden.
They wasted no time. The pale skinned monarch glowered at the captain and asked, "You're a Scotsman, aren't you?"
Lolling his tongue at Charles, Jim shrugged.
This seemed to amuse the king, who said, "I find it strange that a Scotsman would be fighting in a Dane's uniform. You're the escaped convict James Hawkins of Edinburgh, aren't you? That explains why you're out in Swedish waters, thinking you can escape your sentence. Well, don't worry, Captain. The Swedish Empire and England are enemies as of late, so you don't have to worry about going back. What I want to know is your link to the sea."
Jim had gotten good at hiding his feelings. He feigned confusion, though inside a seed of worry planted itself in his gut.
King Charles grew impatient quickly, shouting, "I wish to conquer my enemies and to do that I need the sea!" He charged at Jim and bunched up the man's shirt in one fist. "I know there is a kingdom of sea creatures in Danish waters. I want names. I want locations. I know you were harboring one on your ship."
Chuckling dryly, Jim responded, "And how could I have done that? All of my crewmen had legs, not fins or scales. They were all human."
"Not true," one of the guards spoke up, standing proudly at the doorway. "Your Majesty, Captain Hawkins' ship was indeed inhabited by humans, but once your navy seized it, the lone female jumped overboard and witnesses swear they saw a tail fin flash them on her way down."
A mixture of relief and fear hit Jim. Mostly relief, though. Ariel made it out alive. Thank God.
Charles grinned and stroked his chin. "So you had a mer-whore with you, eh, Hawkins?"
Seething, Jim resisted his chains and yelled, "Don't you dare speak of her like that!"
The king laughed, and the guards began laughing too. "Looks like I've struck a nerve!"
His breath heavy, the young captain did everything he could to restrain himself from beating the life out of the snobbish king. Instead, he had an idea.
"If I tell you where I found that fish maiden, will you set me free?" He asked.
The king halted his laughing and quirked an eyebrow at him. Jim grinned. They had a deal.
The rope clenched around Jim's throat as he fell. After a few feet, the rope went taut, and the man's throat was crushed as he struggled to breathe. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he gasped, wheezed and clawed at his neck. The cool, autumn air blew briskly in the ship's direction, sashaying Jim's body back and forth gently, rocking him as though he were asleep. A few seagulls drifted nearby and found their perch on the bowsprit. They didn't seem to mind the dead man hanging below them. there were at least twenty five large ones sitting there, squawking incessantly.
Due to the aging wood of the ship, and the sheer number of birds there, the bowsprit's base started to crack. In seconds, the structure snapped and plummeted into the water.
With a heavy splash, Jim's body was submerged, and the stronghold that rope had on him was released as it floated over his head and down to the depths of the sea. Back on the ship, one seagull in particular stared at the ripples intently. In a few moments, he saw bubbles ascending to the water's surface.
Triumphantly, he squawked, "We did it!"
The rest of the seagulls shrieked in victory.
Below the water, Jim's eyes gradually opened to blue green surroundings, wet and pressurized and everywhere. He gasped, watching as bubbles escaped his lips. He covered his mouth in shock and realized that he'd breathed in water. Panicking, he quickly tried to undo the noose, but realized that it was no longer there. It took him another few minutes to fully realize that he wasn't drowning, and that his left arm was moving again.
Jim looked down and inhaled sharply.
A gloriously long, sharp finned, grayish brown tail extended from his torso downwards, his entire body as one fluid unit. He took an experimental flap of his tail, and laughed when his body jerked backwards as a result.
"It worked," a delicate voice breathed behind him.
He spun around, accidentally slapping himself with his new tail. What he saw took his breath away, if he had any. Light filtering down from above the water surface shone on her smiling face.
Jim couldn't believe his eyes. "Ariel."
"Hi, Jim," she replied, so loving, so forgiving.
He was surprised that she swum over and took his hand in hers, saying, "I'm so glad to see you."
Stuttering, he replied, "Y-y-you're not mad?"
Ariel shook her head, smiling. "No," she said. Then she tugged playfully on his arm. The one that was supposed to be useless.
"Where are we going?" He asked, allowing himself to be pulled into the depths of the ocean.
A giggle, a quick peck to the cheek, and, "To your new life, silly."
Author's Note: Wow, it's been more than a year since I wrote my last Jariel fic. I think I can say that my writing has become sufficiently better, too. It's hard for me to write fics like this because I feel like I overplay the sadness and the description and maybe I shouldn't but I like it anyways.
So in regards to what actually happened to Jim, he didn't necessarily give up Atlantica's location, because he loves Ariel and he respects the merfolk. I'm not really sure what he did actually, that's the beauty of writing, sometimes you can just leave it up to the reader. All we know is that Jim made a mistake and he decided to pay the ultimate price for it. Ariel knew what was going to happen so she sent Scuttle and his feathery army to stop Jim from dying. I mean, he did die. He drowned, but the magic of the sea gave him life again, and now he's a merman and now he and Ariel are gonna be together and have merbabies and they're gonna be happy in fanon-land *sobs grossly*
Anyways please review and thanks for reading!