It's been a couple of days since we set course for wherever Jack's planning to go. During those days, my guess of a feud between James and Jack was confirmed by Jack's treatment of James. It was rather pitiful, and I was curious as to why they treated each other with such malicious.
"Beckett?" Gibbs said. My head snapped up at that name.
"Yes, they're signed." Elizabeth said, holding some parchment. "Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company." Jack made a gagging noise at Beckett's name.
"Will was working for Beckett and never said a word." Gibbs said. "Beckett wants the compass. Only one reason for that."
"Of course." Jack said. "He wants the chest."
"Yes, he did say something about a chest." Elizabeth agreed.
"If the company controls the chest, they control the sea." Gibbs said. What chest? The one with Davy Jones' heart in it? Ew.
"A truly discomfiting notion, love." Jack said.
"And bad." Gibbs added. "Bad for every mother's son what calls himself a pirate. I think there's a bit more speed to be coaxed from these sails. Brace the foreyard!"
All of us stood up, backs aching from bending over for several hours, and hastily moved to fix the sails. I went to James' side to help him.
"Excuse me?" I said.
"Yes?" He gruffly answered.
"Why the rivalry between you and Jack? If I may ask?" James hesitated.
"It was once one of my ambitions to capture Sparrow and have him hanged. I chased him for a few years. I ended up being caught in a hurricane, and that was the end of that. But it's still a goal." James growled.
"Ah." That was the only response I could think of. James shook his head, probably out of misery for himself, and seeing Elizabeth walk away from Jack, took the opportunity to go and talk to her. Hmmm. Why am I so ignored?
It's. so. damn. boring. I spent most of my time attending to some part of the ship and the rest just sitting around. It seemed like a eternality of boredom before Gibbs finally shouted, "Land, ho!" Pulling down the anchors, Jack, Ragetti, Pintel, Elizabeth, and James boarded one boat.
"Wait." Jack said. "You, come with us." He beckoned at me.
"W-why?" I asked.
"Just in case we need another helping hand, and I don't exactly trust you alone on me ship without my supervision." Jack said bluntly. I shrugged, understanding his suspicion, even though I don't think I proved a danger, and got into the boat. We rowed in uncomfortable silence, the sun beating down on us and the rowing a lot of muscle work. Finally reaching shore, they grabbed hold of shovels Jack had prepared and headed on foot.
"Guard the boat. Mind the tide." Jack said to Ragetti, Pintel, and me. I stared at the two; they've also somehow creeped me out, especially with Ragetti's wooden eye. I must say, however, for the next few hours or something, I was entertained, the two argued over the most ridiculous things.
"I can sing." Pintel said.
"No you can't." Ragetti said.
"Yes, I can."
"Well, if you can, then how come I've never heard you sings before?"
"I never said I could sing well!"
"Then why you'd bring it up in the first place?"
"'Cuz I wants you to know that I can make your ears bleeds if I wants to!"
"Mind if I interrupt this lovely conversation?" I interrupted.
"Yes." They answered in unison.
"What's the purpose of our being here?" I continued. Pintel looked thoughtful for a moment, but Ragetti answered me.
"Our purpose…is to find the chest with Davy Jones' heart." He said.
"Ah, the one they need to rescue Will?" I said.
"No. Believe it or not, it goes much deeper than that."
"What ya mean?" Pintel asked.
"Elizabeth may want the chest in order to rescue Will, but Jack also wants it to use as leverage to control Jones and save his own skin, and we shan't be astonished if Will wants it to save his twice- cursed pirate father, and that Norrington, that gleam in his eye when he heard them bringing it up." Ragetti shivered. "I thinks he wants to regain a bit of honor for himself."
"How would he do that with a chest?" I asked.
"I believe Beckett wants it." He replied. I remember now…
"And how does you know this?" Pintel inquired.
"Don't insult my intelligence." Ragetti said indignantly. Pintel stared at Ragetti for a few seconds.
"Oi!" He shouted. Our heads turned over our shoulders to see what he was shouting about, and saw three figures fighting with each other, and Elizabeth standing afar from them, shouting herself. We jumped to our feets and raced over there, tripping in the sand.
"How'd this go all screwy?" Pintel asked, the three of us coming to a stop.
"Well, like I said just a few minutes ago, each wants the chest for hisself."
"Sad." Pintel commented.
"This is madness!" Elizabeth shrieked at the fighting men.
"That chest must be worth more than a shiny penny." Pintel said slyly to Ragetti.
"Terrible temptation." Ragetti said.
"If we was any kind of decent, we'd remove temptation from their path." The two exchanged looks, and hurried off. I just stood there, uncertain of whether to follow them or assist Elizabeth in whatever she was doing. I took the latter since the two were already far away and I did not want to run.
"Enough!" Elizabeth continued shouting. A sudden idea seemed to struck her. "Oh, oh! The heat!" She dramatically fell to the sand. I figured this to be her way of hoping to coax the men, whom I guessed to all have feelings for her, by the way they act around her, to cease fighting and assist her. That idea failed, anyhow. I walked over to her, leaning over her. Noticing the sudden shade, which she ought to thank me for, she turned her head and looked at me.
"That was kind of pathetic." I remarked.
"I had no other choice!" She said, sitting up and crossing her arms over her chest, pouting. I looked around for Ragetti and Pintel, just in time to see them run past with the chest. I poked Elizabeth in the shoulder and gestured at them. Shocked, she got to feet and chased after them. This time, I followed. We chased them into the forestry of the island, and finally able to cut them off. Elizabeth stood in their way, and reached for her cutlass, and found nothing. She slowly looked back at them, and smiled sheepishly. Grinning, Ragetti and Pintel dropped the chest and drew their own swords.
"Ello, poppet." Pintel said, the two advancing towards her.
"Oh, look!" I shouted, pointing to the left. Their heads turned to witness a giant wheel rolling, with what appeared to be James and Will fighting each other on top. I admire their skills. Then, Jack came, running awkwardly with his hand gestures after them. Pintel looked back at Ragetti, and shrugging their shoulders, continued towards Elizabeth.
"I'm sure there's a better way to settle this!" I shouted, and then a swung axe hit the tree next to me. We looked back, and saw a group of those watery monsters heading towards us, shouting and wielding weapons. Elizabeth backed up into Ragetti and Pintel, and for some reason gave their swords to her and ran off. Should I help her? I didn't know how to fight, but what's so difficult about swinging a sword around? I quickly went over to her.
"Can I help?" I asked, not really finding another to ask for permission to help her. Without looking at me, she handed me one of the swords, and then ran with Ragetti and Pintel. I ran after them. The two men ran aside a tree, the trunk they were carrying rebounded and fell to the ground. We paused, looking back, to see that the monsters were already close enough to take the chest. Left with no other choice, even though we could have totally ran away, Ragetti and Pintel and Elizabeth ran back to fight them. Seeing that it was unfair for Ragetti and Pintel to be unarmed, I shouted "Pintel!" and tossed the sword at him, which he caught and began to fight. Elizabeth did likewise and tossed hers to Ragetti. I looked back to check the valuable chest- and found it missing.
"Oi!" I shouted. "The chest's missing!"
"What?" Elizabeth shouted back. She and Pintel and Ragetti turned and ran towards me.
"Oh- I said the chest's-" I repeated, cut off by Elizabeth grabbing me. Turns out they ran to run from the advancing creatures. We ran for our lives, and I've never ever had to run before. Elizabeth stopped and skillfully stabbed four of the things. As we ran, we found the chest, and Pintel and Ragetti both grabbed a side of it and ran. We ran straight for the shore, running into the waters. I grabbed one of the oars of the longboat, Jack somehow being there and holding another, and began fending off the creatures. I swung and swung, and noticing my lack of skills, they laughed and advanced on me, even though if you ask me, I shouldn't even be on their list of problems. I was knocked to the side, one of their strength of their swing knocking me down, and another broght his axe down upon my oar, cutting it cleanly in half, but I was grateful, because just after that the giant wheel rolled back and knocked them down, so technically I was saved from being run over by that. I quickly got to my feet, conscious that the creatures were now being defeated. But I thought that too soon, and we were eventually cornered to the longboat, those creatures surrounding us.
"We're not getting out of this." James said.
"Not with the chest." Elizabeth said.
"Into the boat." James commanded, turning to the boat and heaving the chest out.
"You're mad!" Elizabeth said.
"Don't wait for me." James said, running through the waters, bravely creating a diversion so that the monsters would follow him and the rest of us could go free.
"I say we respect his final wish." Pintel said.
"Aye!" agreed Jack. They all turned to board the boat. I threw my oar onto the boat, and then stopped.
"Wait, you're just going to leave him?" I said.
"Pretty much! Now board or be left behind!" Jack said. "Besides, it's not as if you owe him anything!"
"Respect his final wish!" Pintel repeated.
"But I don't want to feel forever in debt to his memory!" I shouted.
"Throw away your good conscience, you'll find life much more enjoyable!" I hesitated, then suddenly remembered something. Only one of the oars would be useable to row back…I made up my mind, and leaned my weight against the boat and pushed it away. With my pumping adrenaline, the boat glided away, and I stood back, watching Jack and their bewildered expressions.
"Much obliged, lass! We'll be sure to honor your bravery!" Jack said, recovering first and tipping his hat appreciatively at me. I watched them attempt to row away with one oar, though Jack did try to use the broken oar. It took me a while to realize he had called me 'lass'. I gave a small hysterical laugh; was this another one of those destiny things or just my own stupid choice? I stopped abruptly when I heard the splashing of water behind me, and whirled around- and to my relief, saw James.
"Are you daft? Why did you stay?" He shouted, coming closer to me.
"There was no other option!" I said, watching him come to a stop in front of me. We stood in the strangely still waters, watching the longboat become a speck in the horizon. James patted my back and steered us back to shore. As we walked onto the sandy shore, he turned to me.
"No, honestly, why did you stay?" He asked.
"There was only one oar they could use to row back to the ship, and I knew I'd be one less weight…" I said, trailing off.
"That was quite a brave thing."
"Only brave thing I've ever done." I said with a smile, even though I could feel a small wave of panic build up inside me. "And yourself, risking your life to drive those monsters away so we could escape."
"And it would have worked even better if you had left along with them." James said, chuckling.
"What prompted you to make that decision?" I asked.
"What decision?"
"To create a sort of diversion."
"So you all could survive, obviously."
"Ah." I thought there might have been a deeper reason, or maybe he's just that kind of good man. I thought back to Jack, who was good in his own way, and Will, also a good and filial son. It made me wonder if Beckett was a good man also. Pfft
"You know, I truly love her." He said quietly.
"Who? Elizabeth?" I said, thinking of the only girl besides me in the crew.
"Yes."
"I see…She chose Will over you?" I asked, and then slightly regretted it when a pained look flashed on his face. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to bring it up-"
"It's quite alright, its better if I face the reality."
"You know, you deserve so much better."
"Do I? I feel I've been pushed aside; started off with a comfortable reputation and ended up…like this. All because of my determination to capture Jack Sparrow."
"Why were you so set upon arresting him?" I asked curiously.
"Because…" He said, hesitating a little. "Because I thought that if I achieve such a deed, I could maybe win Elizabeth's approval and…heart."
"Oh, so most of the things you do are centered around her…Strong love, you got."
"Yes, foolish love." He said, chuckling.
"Actually, it shows your loyalty, and devotion."
"If only she appreciated it…" He said with a hint of bitterness. I gave him a pat on his shoulder.
"Anyways, now what?" I asked, trying to move the conversation from Elizabeth.
"Fortunately, this island is near a popular trading route, so we'll most likely see a ship soon who can take us back to land."
"Where would we go?"
"Wherever we need to go."
We sat for a good time in silence, watching the waves swim on shore and retreat. It was hypnotizing in its own way. Without warning, James jumped to his feet.
"Look! A ship!" He said, pointing towards a small figure in the distance. I stood and started jumping up and down, waving and yelling at the ship to come over here. James went back into the forest and quickly emerged with a handful of branches. He set them down and began rubbing some of the twigs together.
"Are you trying to create fire?" I asked.
"Yes, do you know how to?" I nodded, it was one of the useful things I've learned to survive from watching people, and squatted down to help him. We struck a fire and the branches immediately caught on. We stood back, watching the flames grew to three times my height, and saved we were.
