Cass felt nothing. As she fled, she had no time to reflect on this, but the fact remained. Her chest felt empty, but that was all she felt. She did not feel the pain that must have been shooting through her body from the sudden exertion. She didn't feel the sudden rush of sea air as she returned abovedecks.
The crew had done as she said, and had left the ship in the direction that land must be. There was one last lifeboat on board, and it was nearly full.
Cass suddenly felt as if something was burning her about the neck, and reached to touch the chain she always wore. She tore it from herself, not bothering with the pain. The chain was dropped to the deck where it was promptly forgotten.
Silently she clambered into the lifeboat, not looking at any of the others she accompanied.
She did not speak as the boat was lowered to the sea.
She did not speak as the boat was rowed to shore.
Calypso had won. Perhaps it was time she found her way ashore.
/
Davy Jones did not know what to make of the empty ship. He had had a good long shout at Calypso for trying to kiss him again. She knew he no longer wanted her, and she had done too much to the woman he did want for him to ever even consider coming back to her.
He had decided it was time to check on Cass again, and had ventured abovedecks, the rage still flowing through his veins. Perhaps she had woken again, and knew where she was. Perhaps she would recognize him this time.
He looked nothing like he did when they first met, and she had not been conscious much of the time he had been around, so he had no means to know what she thought. Now that he no longer looked like a monster of the seas, he hoped to truly win her affections. But they had been monsters together, so maybe it did not make much difference.
It was the silence that alerted him first. Gone were the sounds of the crew laboring to keep the ship on course. All that remained was the sound of the masts creaking in the wind and the sea below.
Then he noticed that the lack of sound was because there were no men aboard. His stride lengthened as he rushed to the captain's cabin, only to find it empty.
Cass was gone.
And Davy Jones was alone on a ship in the middle of the ocean, at the mercy of a goddess he had once loved.
/
When they finally reached land, Cass was still silent. She did not know where she was. It was land, and that was good enough for her. She did not think beyond formulating a plan. Instinctively her hands reached for the locket about her neck, only to come away empty. But Cass would not think about that.
She would not think of anything.
She instead would find a nice brothel a good distance ashore and consume as much rum as she could. That would do the trick.
The crew of the ship she had captained for a time grouped together, leaving her behind as they marched inland. Cass stayed a moment, looking out over the sea. Somewhere far away her ship floated. With no other lifeboats there was no way for them to be followed.
She would be safe.
With a final look at the sea, she turned and left her home behind. Perhaps Elizabeth was right to be against her mission. It was certainly too late now, though.
/
"Whoa, whoa, hang on a minute!" The fighting around the man who spoke stopped suddenly at his command. "I just… I need to understand something." A few of the men turn to face him, weapons lowered slightly. "Right. So. You," he pointed at the man with the wig. "Will fight against them, they will fight against you," he pointed this time to the other man. "All on account of him wanting to kill him? Where is the sense?"
One man seemed to agree with him and nods slightly.
"Exactly. I say, let them fight each other! While we lay back, watch, and have a drink." The man was always for a drink." There was nothing rum could not fix. The quantity was the important part.
The same man who had nodded originally lowered his weapon all the way, agreeing with the other man's logic. However, the man who wanted to kill the other man, who in turn wanted to kill the man who wanted to kill him did not agree, and yelled for the battle to begin again.
Jack Sparrow narrowly avoided being shot and stabbed as he tried to run from the fight. It worked for the most part. The fighting around him reminded him of another battle not so long ago, and of a friend that was out there somewhere, doing something she shouldn't be.
He grinned at the thought, and joined the fight. Cassandra would have enjoyed all the unnecessary bloodshed. He almost missed her insanity.
/
Davy Jones walked about the deck, searching for any sort of message Cass might have left him. Had she been taken against her will? Likely not. She would have caused a fuss that he would not be able to help but hear. But that would mean she had left of her own volition. She wouldn't do that, though. She was loyal to a fault, that one.
"Looking for the whelp? She ain't here no more." The voice of Calypso sounded behind him, and he fought the urge to turn and face her.
"What have you done," he asked, his voice low with anger barely contained. "Where is she?"
"Far out of either of our grasps. By choice," she added in a singsong tone. "She woke today and knew the world she saw. She came a-lookin' for you, and didn' like what she saw." And it suddenly made sense why the goddess had showed up when she did.
Calypso was clever, he would give her that. "She saw what yeh did. She saw and she left. Do you not know the state of her mind? The way the madness drives her? She expects to be left behind. She gave what little love she had to me, and you took even that away! She could die, die from all the hell she's seen and suffered!" He had finally faced her, looming tall above her and commanding her full attention as he shouted at her.
"And all the better too. She learnt not to touch whas mine." A slender hand cupped his face, then fell away as she disappeared.
Davy Jones howled in rage before striding towards the helm. Cass could only have gotten so far.
/
Cass did not speak save to procure a bottle of rum and transport as far as what little coin she had could take her. They had been spit out of the locker somewhere near Tortuga, and it was a short trip away, or so she had been told. She did not have any particular interest in returning to the place of her childhood, but she needed to stay on land as much as possible. In Tortuga she could procure enough coin to keep surviving and keep the rum flowing.
She would be a fool to think that anyone she had known before would recognize her now. She was covered in scars and disfigurements, and though she had not seen her face in some time, she expected she looked much more worn than she had before her adventure.
A lot had happened since she had last been there.
But Tortuga did have a very good quality: she could disappear. No one would recognize her, and no one would know who she was. So if Jones did come looking, he would not be able to locate her. There were too many pubs in Tortuga for him to search them all, and she blended in perfectly with the crowds.
Calypso would inevitably get bored waiting for her and would loose interest. Perhaps then she could go see the colonies, or find some other adventure to keep her occupied.
For the time being, Cass would stay hunched over in her chair with her rum, remembering nothing and saying even less.