Author's Note: Finally, I have gotten chapter eleven to you. Exams interfered with my writing schedule so I ended up not posting, but now that school's out for the summer I should be able to write more often. Part of this chapter was inspired by Man Vs. Wild, a show on the Discovery Channel, which I just so happened to watch the island survival episode of about a week ago. Mostly the first bit came from that. I wouldn't have actually written it the same way if not for watching that show. As always reviews are appreciated. Feel free to complain or correct me just review!
It was pitch black. Absolutely no light came down from the heavens which Kat could only assume was caused by clouds above. That might be a bad sign if they were cumulonimbus ones since that could only mean rain which wouldn't be beneficial to their journey.
Kat didn't know what time it was or why she was awake. It was unlike her to wake in the middle of the night. She hadn't had a nightmare and though she was a bit cold it wasn't nearly bad enough to wake her. Suddenly, she noticed an odd feeling, a dread of something coming. This complete darkness was unnerving her. Kat wasn't afraid of the dark, but she had never experienced absolute blackness all around her. She was so alone, so abandoned, so empty. This environment was having terrible psychological effects on her. She was blind. Only the sound of the waves could penetrate such a thick layer of night. It was the water and her. There was no one else. The girl's breathing sped up. She'd never felt such irrational fear or such loneliness. Then, a warm hand found hers. James was there. Someone existed in this endless night.
Tears leaked from the corners of Kat's eyes. Relief flooded over her and she rolled over to grab a hold of her anchor in the night. "James," she whispered as she clutched his jacket tightly.
"We're together, Kat. You're not alone," Norrington assured her. He'd been feeling the same thing and could only assume that they'd both been desperate for human contact. His arms gathered her close and he held her tightly. "I'm not letting you go," he told her. "I won't be left alone."
Kat reached one hand up to find James's face. Her fingers stroked his cheek gently as she spoke. "Don't worry. I won't leave you here." As they clung to one another that strange fear dissipated and they both fell asleep once more.
In the half-light of dawn Kat awoke again. She opened her eyes slowly to see Norrington's naked chest before her. The events of the past night returned to her and she squeezed James gently as she remembered. "Thanks James," she said quietly knowing that he was already awake.
"Thank you, Kat," he replied with his eyes still closed. "You weren't the only one scared last night."
"Admitting fear? I've never known a man to do that," said Kat thoughtfully.
"I'm not just any man."
She paused at this. James had done it again. He'd caused her to ponder their relationship. It wasn't that she wanted to question what was going on, but she felt the need to. Kat always had to know where the line was. Had they crossed it already? We're they toeing it? What were they? What did their relationship amount to? "Dammit," she muttered in frustration.
"Damn what?" asked Norrington.
Kat looked at him quickly noting that his eyes were still unopened which meant he hadn't noticed her thoughtful expression. Perhaps she could get away with saying something simple. "My arm, it's just sore again." That was true though not what she'd been swearing about.
"And you took that pause to think about your arm hurting before cursing it?" he said.
"Crap," thought Kat. He's too observant for his own good. "No, I took it to think about fear," she replied. "Then, I noticed my arm afterwards." A mental sigh flow through her mind as she thought this would be sufficient. James didn't seem to pry too much anyway so he'd probably leave the topic alone. She liked this trait of his since it meant she could get away without having to tell him everything, but it also meant that he didn't know quite so much about her. In fact, no one really knew her here for there was no one to know her. She was the only modern person in this world and so she couldn't tell anyone the truth. That was probably the thing that sucked the most about being in Pirates of the Caribbean. It was the one thing that really made this less of an enjoyment. She did miss her home, but not as much as she would've guessed. She certainly wouldn't have anticipated wanting to tell someone where she was from, but she did. She wanted to so badly.
"Kat are you okay?" asked James. He propped himself up on one elbow and watched her with concern. She'd really gotten lost in thought this time.
"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure," replied Kat. It felt good to be honest. She had no plans to make a habit of telling everyone everything about her, but lies had dominated her conversations here and she needed to change that. She needed to tell James something true about her. Not a made up past or a lie about her feelings, but a simple, perhaps unimportant, truth.
Worry quickly dominated Norrington's brow. He placed his palm against her forehead and checked her pulse with the other hand. "What's wrong? Are you sick," he asked rapidly.
"No, it's not that kind of wrong. It involves my mind more than my body," said Kat honestly.
"But that's even worse! Are you mentally unstable or something? It always just seemed like you were a bit thoughtful, but perhaps you're insane!" James's eyes flicked about as he quickly drew his own conclusions though they were incorrect.
"No, I'm not sick in the mind, just troubled. It's not that big of a deal. I can get over it later. For now let's focus on getting off this island," she replied. Logic had come back to rule her thoughts and so it was survival of the body over sanity of the mind.
He began to speak in a concerned rush. Norrington's worry was taking over. "But if you're having problems then we should take care of them. Because if you're not okay then we have to make sure you're alright and if you're not okay then you can't be alright so we've got to do something—"
A hand covered his mouth. Kat stopped him from saying another word until his breathing slowed to an acceptable level. "I am fine," she enunciated clearly. "We can talk about this later if you'd like, but we need to survive first." It seemed the truth had not been such a good idea. Not now anyway.
Norrington took a deep breath and calmed himself. "You're right. Let's talk later," he said in his usual tone. "Then, shall we head to sea?"
"I'd say so," she replied. "A riptide would help us get away from the island so if you see one of those." She trailed off as something was bothering her. What had they forgotten?
"I thought we were going to talk about this later," said Norrington as Kat dropped into silence again.
"No, that's not it. There's something we've forgotten, something important." After a few more moments of thought she snapped her fingers and ran of into the jungle. Within a minute or so Kat returned to a confused James with two long sticks that widened at their ends. "Oars!" she shouted happily. "That's what it was!"
"Those would be a good idea," replied James thoughtfully. He took an oar and one end of the raft as Kat took the other. She had already grabbed the coconuts so they were all ready to go. Then, with synchronized movements they placed their raft just offshore. Kat got onto the raft and hung onto the oars and food. Then, after wading their vessel into deeper waters Norrington also jumped on. They both took an oar and steered the raft away from the island with the help of a useful riptide. Now it was up to the sea to take them somewhere they could survive.
Hours at sea were not the most enjoyable. As the sun rose it beat down upon the helpless sailors probably causing sunburn. Sadly there was no sunscreen available for use and Kat cursed the fact that they were in the 1700s no matter how much fun it could be. Eventually they got hungry and broke open a few coconuts. They were careful to eat and drink slowly both to conserve their supplies and to get the most out of their only source of nourishment. After hours of monotonous ocean a small bump on the horizon caught Norrington's attention.
"Hey, Kat, do you see that?" he asked as he pointed toward the bump.
"Yeah, there's definitely something out there," she replied. "Hopefully a ship." Her heart swelled with the possibility of meeting a ship so soon. "Do you think we should row toward it?"
"I don't see how it could hurt," James said in reply. The pair took up their oars and eagerly used to them to move toward the ship. After a long period of rowing Kat took a break and set her oar down. It didn't seem like they had gotten much closer as the bump was not much larger.
"Not as easy as it seems," she said as she drank some more coconut water. James grunted in agreement and drank his own water. Soon they were back to rowing and hoping for salvation. More time passed and soon it looked like they were making progress. Luckily the ship was coming in their direction so it couldn't be too difficult to meet with it. They just had to be seen. "We've got to be visible," said Kat verbalizing her fears.
"Well it doesn't seem that we're all that colorful, eh?" commented James. Then, he remembered Kat's coat. "We can use your coat! The ankh is reflective enough for those on the ship to see it."
"Good idea." She pulled off her jacket and flipped it over so the silver ankh was face up. The ship finally drew near and Kat waved the coat in the air as she tried to catch someone's attention.
"Man overboard!" came a shout and soon the pair of pirates were being tossed ropes and pulled onto the ship.
"That didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would," said Kat.
"I wasn't this optimistic either," replied James.
The crew relieved them of their weapons which they gathered and carried off somewhere else. The pair of outsiders were surrounded by an obviously well-oiled Naval crew. Most of the men were fingering their swords or pistols in anticipation of an attack, but Kat and Norrington were far too exhausted to even try somthing like that. Besides which they'd wanted to be picked up.
Both gave in to any demands without complaint. They were taken to the brig which though dirty and somewhat smelly was better than the raft. Hard bread and salt pork were brought to them and they attacked the food greedily. Then, water was also sent and although it wasn't exactly pleasant it was much better than just drinking coconut water. Both pirates fell asleep soon after their meal and it was hours before they awoke.
"Git up," shouted a sailor. Kat opened her eyes just as a booted foot delivered a swift kick to her ribs.
"Ow," she thought as she rubbed her side and got up. James was also standing and both of them were clad in irons to be brought to the captain's quarters. Once there they awaited the arrival of said captain. The door creaked open behind them and they both turned to see none other than Mercer. Kat's mouth dropped open in shock. She knew this was the East India Trading Company's ship, but she hadn't known that Mercer would actually be on it with them.
"What a pleasant surprise," said Beckett's man emotionlessly as he moved to sit at the desk in the room. His eyes moved to Kat as he purposely voiced the opposite of her thoughts. "A very pleasant surprise."
