A/N: Hope you like this. ;D The girls are close to meeting Captain Jack Sparrow now!
Disclaimer: Nothing from the Pirates of the Caribbean series belongs to me. Theoli and I apologise in advance for our bastardisation of this awesometastic series. Isaviel Gale and Theoli Runkle are self-insert original characters who belong to their respective real life counterparts.
So Sue Me: Self-Inserts at World's End
Chapter Seven: Snot Pellets
I.
When Isaviel opened her eyes she was laid flat on the deck, dripping wet, with various familiar faces hovering above her. Unbeknownst to her at that moment Theo was lying right next to her, also wet from having jumped off the ship to grab her friend and stop her from drowning, and beside her was a semi-wet Will, who had dragged the two on board when some trickery with ropes was mastered in order to bring the two back on board. Throughout the ordeal Isa had been unconscious, but thankfully still breathing.
Theo glanced at Isa, finally catching her breath enough to speak. "You okay?"
There was no reply. Instead, Isa gazed up into the darkening dusk sky, eyes glazed over, totally oblivious to anything and everything around her. Her head would lull gently from side to side in time with the rocking of the ship, as if she wasn't really awake at all or that she was in a very deep trance.
Theo sat up, immediately knowing something was up. She leant in as she whispered, "Isa? Isa, speak to me."
Tia Dalma pushed through to the front of the crowd, giving anyone in her way a stern glare as she went. She knelt down on Isa's other side and held her hand out, letting it hover above the girl's face for a few seconds before withdrawing it. "What did you see?"
There was a short silence. Then the girl on the deck began to speak in a hushed voice, so soft that only those closest could really hear her. "Death... the open waters are rife with it, stained with the blood of those the Dutchman claims." She drew a deep, shuddering breath before going on. "It shows no mercy to anyone nor anything, sweeping across the ocean and obliterating anyone and anything in its path, not stopping until all pirates are gone."
She began to claw at the air with her right hand whilst holding neck with the other as if she couldn't breathe. Theo grabbed the flailing hand and held it steady. "Shh, breathe. Deeeeeep breaths. Like they were doing on that yoga DVD we bought just to laugh at." She smiled when Isa responded by slowing her erratic breathing. "There you go. Nobody can get you here, you're safe," she soothed, looking around the crew as if daring them to challenge her word. "Go on... what did you see next?"
Isa's hand uncurled from her neck and rose slightly, clenching rhythmically. "The heart... The heart of Davy Jones is aboard the Dutchman..."
Tia Dalma's eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Control. The East India Trading Company wants the Dutchman and its Captain to do as commanded, when commanded to do it, and the easiest way to do that is to flaunt that which gives them the upper hand." She seemed to want to go on, then hesitated a moment. Then she twitched, confusion becoming apparent in her face. "There was a man... I don't know who he was. He tried to stab the heart when nobody was looking, not knowing what must happen and whose heart must replace that which was lost, not knowing that the Dutchman must have a captain."
"What happened to him?"
"He... he died. Was killed. He saw me."
Theo blinked. "Saw you? How?" Isa shook her head, then closed her eyes. Theo gave a noise of contemplation, wondering how she could snap her friend out of her stupor. "Alright," she said, eventually. "I saw this on TV once, so bear with me... Isa? Can you hear me?" A nod. "Good, focus on the sound of my voice alone, listen to what I'm about to say to you. I'm going to count backwards from 5 and with each number you're going to feel not only more awake, but more awesometastic too-"
Will elbowed her.
"Okay, fine, no more awesometastic, but more awake. You will remember what just happened here, and you will remember what you saw, but the pain and the hurt will have dissipated, some. Okay... 5... 4... starting to wake up now, 3... your eyes are opening-" (which, indeed, they did) "2, wide awake now, 1!"
Isa blinked. She sat up and looked around until her eyes focused on Theo. "...dude, why are you wet? Wait, why am I wet?"
Theo pouted. "So much for remembering."
"Oh. Wait." Isa scratched her head. "I fell overboard."
"Aye, caused a lot of trouble, there," Barbossa said, before turning and stomping back to the helm. Since the drama was apparently over, everyone turned and headed back to their stations, giving Isa the odd nervous glance. They huddled in groups and talked amongst themselves, occasionally looking back at the girls and Will, who was still sat with them. Elizabeth was talking to Tia Dalma, neither of whom were paying any heed to them.
"They seem a little... underwhelmed."
"I'd say they were more wary or scared of you," Will said, helping each of the girls up as he smiled at them. "Unfortunately, what you said doesn't exactly fill any of us with confidence."
"Well, no, that's not very surprising," Isa admitted, shrugging her shoulders a little. "You don't seem scared."
"It's hard to be scared of you when you have a friend who is willing to risk her own life to save yours. You can't be all that bad to have friends like that." Will smiled at the girls as he walked away to talk to Barbossa.
Theo watched him leave, then sighed wistfully once he was out of earshot. "Dayum, he's so dreamy."
Isa rolled her eyes then clicked her fingers in front of Theo's face. "Can we focus on the problem at hand please?"
"Oh, right, yeah." Theo had a thought. "You know you said that the guy you saw could see you?"
"Yeah, it was incredibly strange. Like, he looked right at me, then said, 'help'." She shivered at the memory. "I can only assume it was cause he was dead. It was weird."
"How odd," Theo agreed, deep in thought. "Also, what about Beckett?"
"What about him?"
"Well, you kind of have the hots for a guy who's pure evil. I mean, I'm not judging you on your taste in men, but you may want to reconsider that path you're wanting to get up-close and personal with, if you catch my drift."
Isa stared. "I... I really don't. What the hell?"
"You, and wanting to rub up on Beckett. You need to stop thinking that way like, now."
She gave an exasperated sigh. "Theo, I can't help how I feel."
"Ah ha! So you agree that you have the hots for him?"
Theo waggled her eyebrows suggestively, and once Isa realised her mistake she administered a well-placed slap to the back of her friend's head upon the start of very deliberate kissy-noises from Theo, who was generally acting like a turnip. Isa earned a pout for her efforts. "As I was trying to say, I can't just stop."
"Well, you can if you find someone hotter? Though Will? He's mine."
"Your- Theo, he's engaged to Elizabeth."
She grinned. "For now."
Isa shook her head, grinning as Theo skipped off to 'get further acquainted' with Will. She turned her attention back to the waters, trying to focus on the ripples and waves created by the ship as it sliced through the sea on it's way to World's End but unable to stop her mind from edging back to thoughts of her vision. Theo's words seem to have done the trick to a certain extent, but nobody could see what she had seen and not feel that sickness in the pit of their stomach. The image of the bodies floating lifeless on the water will haunt her for a very long time.
II.
"Oh Jesus, I think my ovaries are gonna freeze off."
The girls were currently huddled together below deck, wearing as many layers as they possibly could without having to be rolled anywhere they wanted to go. Katamari was an awesome game, but not really reality-compatible, especially on a ship. As they had sailed farther and farther towards their destination it had grown steadily colder until even their eyelashes had icicles hanging off them. So the two had retreated to find somewhere slightly warmer than in the open air, where Isa had found a warm looking coat and put it on over the one she was already wearing, whereas Theo looked like she'd managed to find the carcass of some woolly mammoth and had skinned it and wrapped herself up in its pelt.
"Theo, that's not possible," Isa said, shuddering from the freezing temperatures. "Though I'm pretty sure my snot is totally frozen."
Theo laughed. "Dude, gross. Although... we could make a killing holding a 'snot pellet Olympics'."
"...hold a what?"
"Snot pellet Olympics, to see who can shoot theirs the furthest. You know, you can shoot them of you close one nostril with your finger and then-"
"Okay! I get it!" Isa grimaced. "How would you be able to tell whose was whose?"
Theo stopped mid-glee. "...dammit."
"I'm going to go up on deck," Isa said, getting up from the corner where the girls were huddled and trying to keep warm. "I'm going to go insane stuck down here until it gets warmer."
"Oh, thanks," Theo pouted. "You want to freeze like that dude we had to throw into the water?"
"Not really," she replied, already heading up the stairs without offering any explanations.
After a moment Theo scrambled to her feet and followed her. The girls headed over to where Will was sat, turning what looked like some sort of chart with circular rings that you could turn. He glanced up when he finally noticed the girls were either side of him. "Come back up for air?"
"I'd much prefer staying out of the wind, but someone needs to keep an eye on Isa." She ignored Isa's sigh and pointed to the chart, plonking herself onto a large crate. "Whassat?"
"Charts that will take us to World's End. Allegedly."
"Allegedly?"
"Well, this seems to not make any sense whatsoever. 'Over the edge, over again'," he began, then turned one of the rings and pointed to the bottom. "'Sunrise sets, flash of green'."
"Wow, that makes absolutely no sense," Theo said, nodding, as if she'd solved the greatest mystery of our time.
"Thank you for that, Captain Obvious," Isa chuckled, taking a closer look at the map, thanking Will when he stood up to let her do so.
Theo noted that Will, in nothing but a thin looking shirt and some slacks, - not exactly your ideal winter clothing - shivering and patted the space beside her, but Will only gave her a querying look. "Sit and I'll share this with you."
"I'm alright," Will said, trying to put a brave face on things by smiling.
Theo winced at the sight of his red raw cheeks. "Dude, your teeth are actually chattering. C'mon, I'd hate for us to have to throw you overboard because you turned into a Will-sicle." She flapped the fur in a beckoning manner until Will shrugged and sat beside her, letting her throw the fur over his shoulders.
Isa picked up the chart then turned to the huddled couple. "I'm going to ask Barbossa about this. I'll be back in a bit."
After a few steps she very nearly collided with Elizabeth, who was glowering at Will and Theo in a less than pleasant manner... not that there's actually a pleasant way to glower. One hand was on her hip as the other held a cloak around her shoulders and she was tapping her foot against the deck, nervously. "What's your whore of a friend doing?" She demanded, loud enough for practically everyone to hear. Hell, even the penguins probably heard that.
Isa twitched. "What did you say?"
"You heard," she snapped, still glaring at Theo.
"Oh hell no," Isa said, angrily. "You aren't really one to be lecturing anybody on whoredom, Miss I-Made-Out-With-Jack-Sparrow-Before-Feeding-Him-To-The-Kraken Swann!" The crew fell silent, and all eyes turned on Elizabeth, who recoiled as if she'd been slapped.
"How did-"
Quite honestly, she didn't know how she knew that, since she hadn't seen it in a vision or a dream. It had just been like it was knowledge that had always been there. She had no time to be dealing with that particular drama now, though, so she smoothly said, "Psychic, bitch." With that, she pushed past the bewildered woman and headed to the helm, where Barbossa had remained the entire time, though not without listening to the goings on.
"So," he said when Isa approached. "She fed Jack to the Kraken, did she?"
Isa wasn't really in the mood, but she wasn't about to argue with the only guy who could sail the ship properly. "Yeah."
"Would you happen to know if she'd be in love with Jack?"
"None of my business."
"Neither was what you just divulged."
"That was in defence of a friend," Isa said then handed the charts over without waiting for another retort, letting him open it up and have a look before speaking again. "'Over the edge, over again. Sunrise sets, flash of green'. Do you know what it means?"
Barbossa gave a shrewd grin. "Ever a-gazed upon the green flash, Master Gibbs?"
Gibbs climbed the steps behind Isa. "I reckon I seen my fair share. Happens on rare occasion; at the last glimpse of sunset a green flash shoots up into the sky. Some go their whole lives without seeing it, some claim to have seen it and some say-"
"It signals when a soul comes back to this world!"
Isa blinked at the interruption, then averted her attention to the man who spoke.
"From the dead."
There was a silence as his words sank in. Isa chewed her lip in deep contemplation; a soul back from the dead? Would that mean Jack Sparrow would have something to do with this green flash? There was, of course, no way of knowing now since they were currently in the middle of nowhere freezing their butts off, but the tale was curious all the same.
"Trust me, Miss Gale," Barbossa said, handing the charts back to Isa. "It's not getting to the land of the dead that's the problem." He turned and went back to the wheel, a strange gleam in his eye as he looked out towards the horizon. "It's getting back."
