Yay. So… more people are reviewing - woot woot. Welcome to the party: mysteriously hidden guest reviewers, Brightest jewel evening star, ShadowPhoenix34 and Mimzy94. Tell me, was it the Calypso Stare reference coupled in with the speed I had updated with those precious reviews? It was, wasn't it? Even if it wasn't, I just gonna say that it was and move on, okay? Good. This was the perfect time to start the bridging connection/voice of Poseidon hearing thing so that's in here. And yes, Axilia is seriously thinking about making off with that monkey. She wouldn't joke about making off with an immortal murder monkey that actually has his own little gun. Seriously, I kinda want one too. Ha!
The sun shone high with heat above them as they all busied to get coming, her mother off somewhere else while Axilia sat on a sturdy wooden crate to take off her shoes. The threshold for her soggy socks finally coming to a close. It also gave her an excuse to do nothing aside from hear Barbossa and Sparrow bicker back and forth, the later echoing everything that the former said to the crew. And when Barbossa finally had enough, he twisted annoyed at Jack and asked him heatedly, "What ARE you doing?"
"What are YOU doing?" Jack fired back just as sharply and this went on back and forth, making Axilia grow bored quickly. The monkey jumped onto her, clinging to the back of her clothing in ways he didn't at the hut because of her snake… for obvious reasons, and this action made her grin once more.
"What are YOU doing?" Jack responded once more before he too realized that this was going to continue to go nowhere unless either one of them broke the cycle. And if Jack had it his way, it was going to be him. "Captain gives orders on the ship!"
Barbossa did that creepy glance of his that made Axilia throw him out of their hut more than once, you know if her mother would have even allowed that, "The captain of this ship is giving orders!"
Jack stalled for only a moment before uttering, "My ship… makes me captain."
Barbossa leaned forward almost violently and shook the rolled up contents in his hand under Jack's nose, "They be my charts."
Jack shrugged his shoulders in indecision but stood his ground all the same, "That makes you… chart man! Not captain."
One random crew member walked up to the pair of them boldly, "Stow it! The both of you! That's an order! Understand?!" Axilia raised both of her eyebrows in surprise, and under the twin hard gazes of the captains, the man quickly backed down, "...Sorry. I just thought with the captain issue being in doubt, I'd throw my name in for consideration… sorry." He scuffled away from them, trying and failing to get out of their line of sight.
Axilia watched as both Jack and Barbossa shuffled off up the stairs, as if it were competition, surprised that they didn't do something and was going to keep silent until one of the few that Jack wasn't going to take said, "I'd vote for ya."
The man looked at him in consideration as she pulled back on her boots, leaving the soggy socks on the crate as she hopped off, "Yeah?"
She rolled her eyes, finally having enough and moved to stand tall before them… yes, all five foot two inches of her. Her eyes flashed though, making the pair before her gulp after laying eyes upon her and she eyed the one that had spoken up to the arguing captains, "And what would your name be?"
"...Pintel." He nervously introduced after sharing a look with his friend.
"Well, Pintel…" Axilia voice grew softer, almost innocent, taking on an softer accent then her mother, "You should be damn lucky to have your head after that stunt." He gulped in response, before she turned to his friend who straightened up, "And you... were you not one of the ones… actually yes, I think you - tall, skinny and scared - were the very first one on the list that Jack Sparrow said weren't going to come. Your vote doesn't matter… in fact, you should be lucky you haven't been kicked off of the boat - yet."
He too gulped in response, looking anywhere but her. She smiled calmly at them both, as if she didn't just put them in their place, before giving them a mock curtsy in response. "...Gentlemen."
She turned to move on from them, but as soon as she did she caught her mother's eyes that were glittering with approval. She stepped in her mother's direction, shrugging her shoulders in response before changing direction to help out the crew. Whilst she did so, she caught sight of Barbossa pulling out his large spyglass to look out towards the front of the boat… making Jack pull out his, trying to yank it open further than it would allow. He looked through it only for Sparrow to frown and put it away, for it was too small.
Barbossa saw this and smirked tauntingly.
Axilia shook her head, Men. It all boils down to who had the bigger spyglass in the end, eh? She huffed, blowing a stray piece of dark hair out of her face before she got to work.
Sometime later, Axilia noticed that Elizabeth came running up from below deck like the hounds of hell were on her heels with an expression of utter sadness etched upon her face.
And that shipwreck is none of my business.
Axilia worked until nightfall and her hands were sore, choosing then to go below deck for the night. She had just started to drift off to sleep, before there was a commotion above her making her eyes shoot open in fury. I am not my mother but I know enough of the craft to turn most of them all into slugs. I am sure we have some salt somewhere on the ship. She breathed through her nose, trying to calm herself but for the most part too exhausted to really think straight.
She put on her boots and went up the stairs to see Gibbs beginning to load up his gun, only for Will to stop him and look to her mother. "They're not a threat to us, am I right?"
They? Axilia wondered before stepping forward a little more, catching sight the people in question. Each one in a small rowboat of their own, an invisible string pulling them forward with only a little lantern to guide their eyes. She heard a familiar accented voice speak, "We are nothing but ghosts to them."
Barbossa inputted a, "Is best just let them be."
Elizabeth's face brightened considerably at seeing a familiar face and called to him loudly to get his attention, "It's my father, we've made it back. Father here, look here!"
"Elizabeth…" Jack whispered to her, snapping her out of whatever she was thinking, making the blond look back at him and as much as he didn't want to dim her smile… he knew someone needed to tell her, "We're not back."
"Father!" The word stretched louder in her panic, making him look up at her then. Axilia tried to find the similarities but other than the eyes, she failed to do so.
"Elizabeth... are you dead?" He questioned in surprise, and watched as his daughter could only shake her head in response. "...I think I am."
"No. No... you can't be!" Her protest of it went unheard by him as he went on.
"There was this chest, you see… and a heart. At the time it seemed so important." He spoke, ignoring his daughter urging him to come aboard, "I learned that if you stab the heart, yours must take its place. Sail the seas for eternity. The Dutchman must always have a captain. Such a silly thing to die for."
"Someone cast a line!" She demanded of anyone to help her, and a man grabbed the rope but apparently didn't move quickly enough, making Elizabeth rush over to snatch it away. She threw in overboard, crossing it perfectly over the boat he was in. "Take the line!"
Her mother leaned into Will, uttering slowly to him, "A touch of destiny."
"Elizabeth, I'm so proud of you." He smiled up at her, and it was clear that he was happy that these would probably be his last words to her. That she knew he was proud of the woman she had become.
"Father, the line, take the line!" Elizabeth's voice carried louder in her fear as she took off toward stern of ship.
Axilia snapped into action after her even before her mother yelled that, "She must not leave the ship!" Grabbing her arms to pull Elizabeth down from where she was positioned to jump, the blond elbowed Axilia's left cheek hard. Literally fighting to get to her father, and the older woman would have let her go to rot with the dead in a watery grave if Will hadn't reacted in time to help grab Elizabeth.
"Father, come back with us! I won't leave you!"
"Elizabeth." Will whispered her name in that soothing voice of his.
"I'll give your love to your mother, shall I?" Was the rhetorical question that Elizabeth's father aimed at her before going deeper into the fog.
With Elizabeth in his arms, he steadied her and proceeded to rock her back and forth. His eyes bore into her mother's before questioning, "...Is there a way?"
And in response, her mother gazed at him pitifully for just a few moments before shaking her head, "Him at peace."
"Right… well, I'm going back to bed." Axilia chose that moment to break any silence that might settle upon then that wasn't her doing, and when all besides her mother gave her an incredulous expression. She made a move to walk away but paused to look back at Elizabeth's tearful eyes that were aimed her way with shock and betrayal.
"Oh… and Elizabeth?" She questioned and said one parting statement before she turned away to put action to what she just casually uttered she was going to do, "I understand grief but if you ever hit me again? You may just see your father again long before your due time."
The next day, Axilia awoke refreshed but refused to get out of bed. Her cheek hurt too much and there was still anger in her soul for the female that she once thought of as a friend. The last thing she needed was to go into the blazing sun and deal with the side looks that would be aimed her way… as well as a mopey Elizabeth. She wanted to feel sympathy for the other woman but there was too much fury inside of her. So she didn't move from her room until almost sundown, which was when she pulled on her shoes and started up the stairs only to pause at the top to hear her mother speak.
"If we cannot escape these doldrums by nightfall, I fear we will sail trackless seas, doomed to roam the reach between worlds... forever."
Gibbs moved beside her, his stance tense, "With no water, forever seems to be arriving a mite too soon."
Axilia heard enough, and so she turned away from them and the sight of Elizabeth sulking in the corner to figure out what to do. As she grew closer to where Jack sat studying and spinning the charts at a nearby table, she heard him utter to himself, "UP IS DOWN... Well that's just maddeningly unhelpful. Why are these things neverclear?"
Up is down…?
Up is down…
What could that mean? She pondered it before a male voice whispered in her head, unknown to who it belonged to, Axilia stiffened.
Rock the ship.
She echoed the words as a question in her mind, wondering about who it was that wanted her to do this… because she wasn't good at taking orders. Especially to people that weren't even there. How crazy was she anyway and is it too late to fix it?
Rock the ship.
The voice uttered again patiently, before she finally got it and once more she wondered who it was that was helping her… but was thankful for it all the same. "Mother!" She screamed making Calypso push away from the side, pick up her dress and run towards her daughter.
When she saw her daughter was alright, "Tia" looked at her childe with wide eyes, angry for the fright that coursed through her over nothing. But she also took pause at the sight of the grin that curved her daughter's lips, "Axi-"
"Up is down, mother!" Axilia cut in, not caring that her mother would probably be pissed that she cut her off. "Rock the ship!" Her mother's eyes widened, disregarding Jack's exclamation of how he almost figured it out first and how everyone else was uttering the last sentence with full understanding. Barbossa was quick with calling out actions.
"Loose the cannons, you stinking bilge rats! Unstow the cargo, let it shift!"
"How did you figure this out, my dear?" And with watchful eyes, she moved closer to her daughter to hear the response.
Axilia's eyes clouded as she looked down for a moment then back at her mother, willing her mother to understand the very things that she could not. If only one Dalma woman could understand it, then maybe it was worth thinking she was crazy after all. "I didn't. A male voice... patient… and strong, told me."
As she looked at her mother's gaze that held wonder and tears, Axilia knew that something clicked and she turned away from her mother to join the crew in running back and forth on the deck of the ship. Her mother gazed upwards, and with curving lips mouthing a "thank you" to a certain someone for their help. With a spell upon her lips, commanding the sea with the dark arts, the dread haired woman ran beside her daughter. Back and forth, until slowly, the Pearl tilts on it's side so they needed to hold onto the edge. One man, unknown to her, fell and got crushed by a cannon. Elizabeth's gasp caught her ear but Axilia chose to think nothing of it, they hung there until… finally, the ship was upside down in the water.
With puffed out cheeks and blurred vision, Axilia found she never missed her true form until this moment. Water burned her nose but even as the sun that leaked their the water darkened, she still hung there beside her mother and Barbossa. She felt a shifting of gravity that curled his stomach and looked down to see that… something rose to meet them above the sails that waved in the water.
The force when it hit them was mighty and it pulled them into the safety on the deck, coughing and gagging up sea water as they sat soaked to the bone. Ocean sprayed them from overhead, and some had to attempt to pick up their faces from the powerful waves that followed them.
Axilia eyed the area to her left and saw that even the adorable little monkey and parrot survived. She heard her name and on shaky feet, tried to pick herself up to comfort her mother. Now, I think I know what they mean by 'sea legs'... She huffed and forced herself up once more, stumbling to her mother with a smile and welcoming the warmth that she was gifted with.
"Blessed sweet westerlies, we're back!" Gibbs exclaimed loudly making Axilia look at her mother with a curious look at mouth the question of 'Westerlies?'
"It's the sunrise." Elizabeth murmured delicately and it took all Axilia had in her not to say something about that obvious statement. She blinked a few times as one thing quickly led to another and Jack, Will, Elizabeth, and Barbossa all pull guns on each other.
In watching this, somehow the little monkey pulled out a gun and aimed it at the parrot close to him.
The parrot seemed to overlook him with as much unease as the animal could and offered up a, "Parlay?"
She couldn't help but laugh softly, and made a mental note to steal the monkey when all of this had come to close. For Axilia certainly felt as if Barbossa didn't deserve him. She watched as they stupidly make a act of laughing and lowering their guns before pointing them back at each other.
"All right, then. The Brethren Court's a-gatherin' at Shipwreck Cove. And Jack, you and I are a-goin', and there'll be no arguin' that point." Barbossa started calmly.
"I is arguin' the point. If there's pirates a-gatherin', I'm pointing my ship the other way." Jack responded.
They all go back and forth, pointing their guns at each other, until Jack uttered to Barbossa that he wasn't going back to The Locker and fires his gun… And is somehow surprised when it doesn't go off. In return they all fire both guns in their hands and their expressions looked surprised that it didn't work.
"Wet powder." Axilia called out, unable to watch this stupidity anymore. "Geniuses." Their audience watched as the four grumbled and left in different corners, obviously put out that they couldn't actually shoot each other. To which, Axilia once again decided that it was yet another subject that she'd just save her breath on.
Shortly afterward, all of them gathered around Will, looking at chart. Why he was the one sitting was beyond Axilia but she didn't ask, especially when he offered up information, "There's a freshwater spring on this island. We can resupply there, and get back to shooting each other later." He shrugged gently.
"You can lead the shore party, and I'll stay with my ship." Jack directed at Barbossa who looked almost afronted at such a statement.
"I'll not be leaving my ship in your command!"
"Why don't you both go ashore and leave the ship in my command?" Will suggested lightly and spoke again when he could feel the full weight of their gazes on him, "Temporarily."
Barbossa growled after a few moments of silence, "Fine." He stormed off with Jack once more copying him. Axilia gave her mother a look and rolled her eyes in amusement, though it had nothing on when she saw Jack emerge beside Barbossa and his spyglass with one so long that he couldn't even hold it straight.
Again with the freaking spy glasses!
"Mind the boat." The parrot offered before going with his master to scope the island and there was a stirring in Axilia's stomach as she watched them row to shore. Telling her to be ready for what happened next.
Something was coming for them, and for once Axilia was sure it wasn't Davy Jones. It didn't feel sinister to her, yet still dangerous. She looked toward her mother once more, this time for guidance, and was met with a knowing gaze.
She felt it too.
So… yeah… Elizabeth messed up, putting this mildly. I don't care. I don't really like her. I think that she got caught up in her fear and anger, letting it out accidentally on one of the last people on that ship she should ever hit. Especially when Axilia would and has literally ran into battle to help her. May have burned that bridge. It may have worked in her favor if she said sorry but… then again, Axilia was too pissed off to hear it even if she did so… Yeah.
Okay, people. Let's see what you think! Ready, steady, GO Review! :D