While Marina was deep in thought, I took several deep breaths. Give her her father back? That was impossible unless Great-Grandpa or Jones had decided to bound his soul to the Dutchman. If he had been taken to the otherside, Marina's Father was long gone by now. Only death would allow her to see her father again and I doubt that Marina would be willing to leave her Mother alone in this life. Still, it seemed that she was taking out her anger from her Father's passing onto myself. I could understand that considering that I had been acting like Marina was Emma reborn. Lowering my sword, I took another deep breath.

"Whatever happened to your Dad, it had nothing to do with me." My eyes met her own. "Death is a natural part of life, and it will not be denied." I turned my eyes to the crowd that had gathered around us. "Our job is to guide the souls of all those who had died at sea. You will serve until your sentence has been completed, and then and only then will you be released from your bonds." Several crew members nodded their head as I turned my attention back to the Princess, the storm above the surface slowly calming.

"I don't care if you're some magical, immortal mermaid princess, but aboard the Dutchman, my word is law." The Dutchman groaned in approval. "You may be the future ruler of your people, but aboard my ship, I am your king, queen, and president." Marina nodded slowly as she cradled her bruised forehead. "Do you understand?"

"Y-Yes." Marina said as she slowly started to get up. Now I felt like an ass.

"Get back to work." I said bluntly to the crowd as they slowly started to disperse. Some of the newer recruits stumbled on their way back to their post. Where were my officers? Soon, I was left alone with the Emm-

No, I needed to stop calling her that. Soon I was left alone with Marina as my crew scrambled around to do their jobs. We had to get to Japan as soon as possible. Souls needed to rest.

"You should probably go and get that checked out." At least the bleeding had stopped by now. Marina gave me a glare, but paused. Softening her gaze, she looked away. She swam away soon after without giving me another look. What happened to her Dad? Well, aside from dying tragically. There was a story there, but it wasn't mine to tell or ask. We weren't even friends. Still, it wasn't any of my business as long as she didn't interfere with my duties. Heh, duty. Sensing someone looking at me, I turned my head slightly to the right. Staring straight at me was a ugly octopus.

"Who are you looking at?"

DYFD? DYFD? DYFD?

I decided to spend the rest of the day in my quarters. Staring at my reflection in a mirror, I closed my eyes. I looked like a monster that came out of the nightmares of children. The Dutchman has been doing things to mind. I am it's master! I am my own master, not the Dutchman. I am your captain! Pain struck the back of my head, but I balled my clawed hand into a fist. I won't be tossed around like a rowboat in the middle of a hurricane.

The Dutchman groaned, but I ignored it. You obeyed Davy Jones! You obeyed Great-Grandpa! Calypso gave you to me. I am your captain now and I won't let you continue this mess. Grabbing my forehead as I fell to my knees, I felt my mind battle the presence of the Dutchman.

Imagine if your brain was engaged in a battle of tug of war. My fate was mine to command! The Dutchman groaned even louder in disapproval as I bit my armored hand to keep myself from screaming. The pain I felt when I was locked in that box felt nothing like this.

I am Taylor Hebert, I am the Captain of the Flying Dutchman, and I am YOUR MASTER.

The floor rushed to meet me soon after.

DYFD? DYFD? DYFD?

When I woke up I was alone, not that that was unusual and the Dutchman was silent. I was used to coming home from school to find the house empty, or to get a call from the office that Dad was going to be home late that night. He was too busy drowning himself in his own sorrow, and dedicating the rest of his free time into finding jobs for the Dockworkers. Work, what was the point of work? Why work a job that could barely pay your bills while burning yourself out? We don't take anything with us when we die, so what was the point of amassing wealth and working hard? Working hard wasn't going to stop death from claiming you.

Death could not be denied, only slightly delayed by serving upon the Dutchman. There were punishments far worse than death. Adroa could attest to that fact now that he was stuck in the Locker. Once my current crew has completed their sentences, I should go and recruit some of the unsavory sort. The world didn't have a lack of criminals or those who needed to atone for their sins. Heh, the Birdcage was full of potential candidates. I was still interested in binding souls and parahumans to my crew.

Would the bound soul have any memories of what happened to them? Would capes still be able to use their powers? What about the souls of dead capes? Japan certainly didn't lack capes with the presence of the Sentai Elite, the various yakuza, and China was closeby. Maybe I could pay the Chinese coast a visit and bind a Yangban or two? Kyushu was the perfect place to experiment with souls. Millions had died when the island sank, with hundreds of heroes trying to fight off Leviathan. I'm sure most of them would like a chance at getting revenge or avenging their home.

I wasn't going to bind any souls that were normal, I already had a decent amount of normal crew members. I just needed some practice. Slowly sitting up, I only felt a faint presence in the back of my mind.

Suddenly, I heard someone knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door creaked open slowly, revealing Norrington in his barnacle covered glory. He better have a good excuse!

"Captain, we're here."

Well, good enough!

A/N

The second half of the flashback will be revealed later when I feel like it.

Also, Chimera's remake Chimaera is out now so feel free to check it out.

I decided to try and come up with a schedule as I balance five stories right now. Ill work/publish a chapter for one story, then move onto the next. Next will either be Lore Khepri or Smoker the White Hunter.

I want to see how much more before writer's block kills all of my stories. I already feel it creeping in. Hopefully my hiatus won't be a year long this time, but you never know.

I wrote a lot since my return back in March. I wrote STWH up to about 50k in a month. Then I started on this story. Then LK came about and now Bangtan Taylor and Chimaera have been released.

I'm not a good writer.