A nice long chapter for you guys. Hope you like it!

Chapter 9 - Music, the Sea's Weakness

"DOWN!" Dezeray heard the explanation and prepared herself. She looked around, noticing how the crew all seemed to be clinging to certain parts of the ship.

"You best hold onto something," she turned toward the man who had given her the advice, noting that it was Koleniko.

"Oh, right," she replied, looking around and hurriedly going over to grab a set of the ships shrouds. She braced herself, almost falling forward as the ship tilted down toward the ocean. She watched as the sea engulfed the first half of the ship, preparing herself. The water hit her with a ton of force, and she almost let go of the shrouds. She was briefly lifted off the deck and into the air-or, rather the water-however through much effort, managed to get her footing back.

Now, it wasn't that she had forgotten that she had gills, though was holding her breath as she was not quite sure how they worked. Thirty seconds later, she was still holding her breath. 'I must be doing it wrong,' she thought to herself, though was unsure of how to properly make use of her new under water breathing device. She wanted to open her mouth, however was rather hesitant about it.

Finally, she could no longer hold her breath, and she opened her mouth wide, gulping in a mouth-full of salt water. She did not end up swallowing the water though, and could feel it being breathed out through her gills. It took her a few tries to get the hang of breathing underwater, though after a number of breathing experiments, she managed to get it right. All she had to do was let her mouth hang open ever so slightly and breath in through her mouth, making sure not to breath through her nose.

It wasn't until after she finally got breathing down that she realized how quiet it was. She looked around her noticing how some of the crew were able to walk around on deck, while others continued to hold on to various supports. She thought about letting go, however quickly decided against it. Instead, she decided to admire her surroundings. She watched as schools of colorful fish swam by, giggling as she watched various crew members snatch fish out of the water and swallow them whole.

A large pod of dolphins swam by, some of the younger ones swimming over to investigate the ship. Most of the crew members shooed them away, though Dezeray reached out, trying to touch one of them. It darted away at first though swam back a few moments later. Dezeray put her hand out, letting it hover in the water. The dolphin pushed it's round head against her hand after a few moments, letting out a playful chirp and circling around her before it made it's way back to the pod. She grinned, amazed at the unique flora and fauna the ocean had to offer.

The ship went by a large coral reef, and she observed some more colorful fish. The smile faded from her face however when a dark shadow swam up next to her. She managed to gulp in fear as a huge great white shark swam by the ship, only meters away from her.

It eyed her hungrily, and her grip around the shrouds tightened. There was suddenly some one standing beside her and she jumped when she saw it was Maccus. He opened his mouth, reveling his jagged and pointed teeth and snarled menacingly at the shark. Dezeray thought she actually saw the shark flinch as it veered off to the side and swam away, its tail swaying back and forth lazily.

She looked over at Maccus, relief in her eyes, and he nodded.

She suddenly noticed that she seemed to be leaning back and looked up, noticing how the ship was now tilting upward. She realized that they were about to surface and again, her grip tightened on the ropes. The ship burst through the surface and Dezeray was thrown back. She managed to keep a hold on the ropes, though as soon as the ship was fully out of the water, she fell to the deck. She coughed and wheezed, forgetting that she had to make the transition from gills back to lungs. No sooner had the ship surfaced, the exclamation of fire was heard from someone aboard the ship. The Flying Dutchman pitched slightly as canons began to fire at the off guard ship the captain had pointed out to her earlier.

Anyone still above deck now swung over to the other ship from various ropes. They yelled and waved their swords and pistols in the air, trying to intimidate anyone on the ship who was not already frozen in fear. Dezeray almost subconsciously began to make her way toward the ships rails, though was stopped by a tight grip on her shoulder. She turned and saw that it was the lobster claw of the captain. He pulled her back and she almost fell over.

"You will be staying put in my cabin," he told her turning her around and pushing her toward his cabin.

"But, Captain-"

"Can't have you getting yourself killed now can we?" he replied, in an almost frustrated tone, "It would ruin my plans." He nudged her in the back with his claw and she stumbled forward. He opened his cabin doors and let her in, slamming the doors behind her. She scowled at the now closed doors behind her. 'He's so pushy,' she thought to herself, but then again, he was the captain. 'I guess he's allowed to be pushy.' She began forward, examining the room. She had only been in the captain's cabin once, and she hadn't had much time to really look around.

She walked toward one of his bookshelves, reading various titles along the sides of the books and wondering if he had anything interesting to read. Most of the books contained only maps and navigational charts. She steered away from the bookshelf and her attention fell on the large pipe organ at the end of the room. 'I wonder would it be like to play it,' she thought curiously, and before she knew it, she was walking toward it. She stood in front of it, staring at it for a time until she finally turned away from it. 'He would kill me.....literally,' she thought, remembering that she was in the Captain's cabin. Yet, against her better judgement, she turned back toward it and sat down on the large bench.

She hesitantly placed a finger over one of the keys, though quickly drew her hand back. She was still rather unsure about this, though a few moments later, stuck her hand out again. She pushed a finger down on one of the keys, and the note blasted loudly. She jumped, not expecting it to be as loud as it was, though with the current racket outside, she was unsure anyone would have noticed. She played another few notes, though now specific song in particular. Minutes went by and she soon noticed a small silver trinket sitting nearby.

She reached out and picked it up, examining it. It looked to be a small locket with an intricate face craved into it. She opened it, and was both surprised and delighted by the little melody it played. She put it back down, trying to replicate the melody on the organ. It took her a number of tries to get it right, though she somehow managed to play half of the melody on the organ. Of course, her playing was not very skilled and she didn't play any of the right chords. She played using only one hand, and did manage to get the basics of the tune down.

She was forgetting where she was, and all of her attention was now aimed at getting the tune right. She no longer seemed to care that she was playing on the captain's organ without permission, she just needed to get that damn melody right. 'It's this key first, then this one,' she thought to herself, 'no wait...first it's this key, then this one.'

She did not even notice when the captain entered his room. Then again, he didn't enter through the conventional means. He thought he had heard the sound of his organ being played and, though he had first thought that he was imagining things, quickly realized that the sounds coming from his cabin really were his organ.

Knowing that Dezeray was the only person in his room, rage welled up inside him. No one had ever been allowed in his cabin before she had arrived, and he had expected that she would know well enough not to touch anything. He would certainly make it clear to her that she was never allowed to play his organ.

He slipped through his cabin doors without opening them, prepared to give young Miss Garder the lashing of her life. However as he entered his room and heard the song she was playing, not only did he realize what it was she was playing, but that she was actually doing a moderately good job of playing it. He approached her slowly, and she did not notice the soft thud of his crab leg against the floor. She only continued to play, humming as she went along. The captain stood behind her, far enough away that he wasn't looking over her shoulder, though close enough to watch as her hands moved, clumsily over the keys.

After a few moments he decided to let her know he was behind her.

"What exactly do ye think ye're doing?" he asked, watching as the girl in front of him almost jumped out of her skin in fright. She flew off the bench, turning to him and trying to step over the bench at the same time. In her excitement however, her foot caught on the edge of the bench and she toppled over, landing flat on her face and bringing the bench down with her.

She laid on the floor for a few seconds, unsure she would be able to look the captain in the face after that disgraceful display. She quickly stood up, unsure of what to do. She slowly raised her head, trying to make eye contact with the captain. His face displayed and expression that meant he was either going to murder her, or that he was trying to contain his laughter. Her face went bright red and she looked down at her feet. He could no longer hold it in, and finally, the Captain let out a bout of loud, amused laughter that filled the whole cabin.

'What a show that was,' he thought comically to himself. He had had a hunch that this girl would be entertaining, but he never would have expected this. He took a deep breath, finally having regained his composure. 'That embarrassing display was punishment enough, I think,' he thought.

He stared down at the girl in front of him, any of the anger he had previously been harboring toward her now having dissipated. Music was his weakness, and after having heard Dezeray play, he no longer wanted to punish her.

"Why were ye playing my organ?" he asked her, serious now. She didn't look up at him, but continued to stare at her feet.

"I....I just wanted, to....to try and, see if I could, p-play," she answered quietly.

He continued to stare down at her, unsure of what to do with her.

"I hear you play at night sometimes," she said suddenly, "you're amazing, and I just wanted to see how hard it was."

That comment peeked Jones' curiosity, and he waited for the girl to say more. When she stayed quiet, he raised an eyebrow.

"And?" he questioned, startling the girl.

"Sir?" She replied, confused.

"Did ye find it easy to play?"

She managed a small smile.

"I'm not sure how you manage to make such beautiful music," she replied, still smiling.

"Flattery won't help you Miss Garder," he told her, causing the smile to fade. "Much," he added with a smirk, and the smile returned.

He motioned with his hand for her to leave, and she quickly made her way out of the room. She opened the door, turning to and watch as the captain picked up the small silver locket before she left him alone.

What'd ya think? I thought it was one of my better chapters but, that's just me ;3 Review and tell me what ya think!