Chapter 6: On to Another Destination
They spent the next few days doing whatever they wanted and preparing for the new journey. They'd given Angelina a room with a 'big ship' remark from her.
"Oh, I'm so exited." Celeste exclaimed, coming up on deck. "I get my new outfit today! Took that darn tailor long enough." Yeah, considering they did it in half the time (for double the price). Jack was on deck and Angelina was still asleep.
"I think I'll head out now. Come with me?" she asked Jack.
"I 'aven' eaten yet." Jack responded. "'ave you?"
"Yes, I grabbed something." she replied. "I suppose I'll just head on out then. Good day, Jack." He nodded to her and she left the ship.
About an hour later, she came back clad in her new outfit. Roughly, it was very typical pirate garb. She had her hair down under her red tri- corner hat. She actually looked very pretty (for being clad in pirate garb).
"Jack!" Celeste called. "Jack? Where are you? I'm back!" Jack walked out on deck from the door to the stairwell and walked towards her, preoccupied by a map he was studying.
"'ello, darling." he greeted absently.
"Well?" she asked. "What do you think about my new outfit? Do I look like a pirate?" he glanced up at her and then back to his map. He did a double take; he was speechless.
"Er, yes." he stuttered. "Pirate. Yes. No, I mean, no, you can't be a pirate with clothes alone, but... er..."
"Yay! I look like a pirate!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Is Angelina up yet?"
"Er," he stuttered, "erm, who?" she looked at him inquisitively. "Er, Angelina. Yes, I-I'm sure she is."
Celeste chuckled. "Okay, I'll go find her, then." she walked to the door to the dining room. Jack watched her until she disappeared through the doorway.
"Morning, Angelina. My, how you do sleep forever." Celeste joked, taking a seat next to Angelina in the dining room. "Like my new outfit? Do I look like a pirate?"
"Aye, it's grea'!" Angelina smiled. "Look jus' like a pirate, ya do!"
"That's the look I'm going for." Celeste grabbed a banana from a bowl on the table. "Is it me, or is Jack acting rather strange?"
"Strange?" Angelina asked. "Well, o' course 'e's actin' strange, 'e's Jack."
"No, I mean more so than usual."
"The very thought jus' makes me wanna crack up." Angelina told her.
"No, I'm serious. He was acting all weird..." she trailed off. "Oh, forget it." she unpeeled the banana and took a bite. "Mm. Best fruit. Right here."
* * *
Jack watched Celeste disappear through the doorway. He stood, still staring. Just then, Audra walked up on deck carrying five bags of luggage.
"Ah, Mr. Sparrow." Audra greeted. "Good day. A little help?" she struggled to hold all five bags. She staggered towards him. He stood, still staring at the doorway. "Mr. Sparrow? Mr. Sparrow?" she dropped tow of her large bags in attempt to juggle them all. At this noise, Jack came back to reality. He wheeled around and yelled:
"Stop blowin' 'oles in my ship!" Audra stood in confusion.
"Are you alright, Mr. Sparrow?" Audra asked, seriously concerned.
"Yes, yes. Sorry. I was, erm, distracted." he dismissed. "In, er, deep thought..." he walked over and picked up two of her largest bags and turned around. "Er, your room is this way..." he led her downstairs to a room to the right of Celeste's.
"Wow. This is a big ship!" Audra exclaimed.
"Popular belief." Jack mumbled. "The dining room is up the stairs to the right. Please join us."
"Thank you." Audra told him. Jack went back upstairs while Audra opened the door in front of her to a shabby, old, sparsely furnished room with one window overlooking the ocean. These ship cabins don't have much variety, do they? Audra started unpacking.
* * *
Jack walked into the dining room and shut the door.
"Hello, Jack." Celeste greeted.
"Good day, Cap'n Sparrow." Angelina greeted.
"Captain Sparrow?" Celeste asked. "Call him Jack. That's his name. You're 'savvy' with that, aren't you?" she looked at Jack.
"Erm, yes, sure." he replied absentmindedly.
"So, are we leaving today, Jack?" Celeste asked.
"Erm, I--I'll 'ave to see..." he still seemed a little nervous or something. He decided to sit down, to at least look relaxed; however, he missed the chair and fell to the floor with a thud. Celeste laughed while Angelina looked slightly concerned. He quickly got up.
"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Jack excused, rather embarrassed. "I-I just thought I dropped something..." he trailed off and sat down in a chair. Celeste laughed quietly.
"Are you alright?" Celeste faked concern.
"Yes, I'm fine!" Jack brushed off. "By the way, your friend got here."
"Audra?" Celeste asked. "Good."
"Any port in the storm!" Mr. Cotton's Parrot squawked from outside the door. Just then, Audra walked in.
"Er, who was that?" Audra asked in confusion. "The man with the bird..."
"It's Mr. Cotton." Celeste explained, slightly impatiently, having explained Mr. Cotton to Angelina a few days before. "He's a mute. His bird talks for him. We have no idea how."
"Oh..." Audra was utterly confused.
"Oh, well." Celeste sighed. "You'll get to know them in time."
"By the way, Mr. Sparrow, I apologize for the fright earlier." Audra said.
"Fright?" Celeste asked.
"Er, nothing, nothing!" Jack evaded. "All's well, love."
"Captain!" Anamaria called. She burst into the room. "Captain, come quickly! There are some guards aboard! They suspect that we are pirates!"
"Oh, bloody--" Jack started. "Stay here." he commanded Celeste, Angelina, and Audra. He left the room.
"Not a chance." Celeste said defiantly and rushed out the door.
"Well, what do we do?" Audra asked.
"I don't know..." Angelina replied. "Want a banana?"
Celeste hurried to where Jack was. He was standing in front of two guards; about ten other guards stood down on the docks. Just before Celeste caught up to Jack, Anamaria grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Let him handle this." Anamaria whispered harshly.
"Listen," Celeste explained in a forced-calm whisper, "these guards know what they're doing. If they even suspect that we're pirates, then they'll prosecute us! Trust me! Piracy is certainly not welcome here! Now, set sail! Quickly and quietly, but do it now!"
"I take orders from the Captain, lady." Anamaria angrily whispered.
"Well, pardon me, but the Captain is busy." Celeste retorted in a whisper. "So you'll take orders from me instead." Anamaria opened her mouth to protest, but shut it again. She sighed.
"Aye." she whispered, defeated. Celeste walked over to Jack and the guards.
"...and we have reason to believe that you are pirates." the guard told Jack. "Therefore, we must detain you." Jack began to protest, but Celeste put her hand on his shoulder to stop him. She shot a 'hang on a second' look at him and began to speak to the guards, her hand still rested on Jack's shoulder so he wouldn't interrupt her.
"Sir, I can fully assure you that we are not pirates." Celeste informed. "We are, in fact, searching for some pirates ourselves at the moment. The scum." The sails of the ship went up, the guards looked around.
"Our apologies, miss, but we must detain the crew--" the ship started moving and the gangplank slipped off the ship and fell into the water.
"Hey!" the other guard cried. "What's going on?!"
"What is going on?" Jack asked, confused. The ship began to pick up a little speed.
'Wow, this is a fast ship.' Celeste thought.
"Halt!" the first guard commanded. The ship moved away from the dock. "Stop this ship!" the guards on the dock were panicking and yelling for the guards on the ship to give them orders.
"Excuse me, sir, but we tried to tell you we're not pirates!" she charged forward and pushed the two guards off the ship; they fell into the water with a splash. They surfaced and scowled up at Celeste. "We're just really bad eggs!" she yelled to them and
smiled innocently. She turned to Jack.
"What's happening?" he asked. "Why are we leaving?"
"I told Anamaria to set sail." she explained confidently. "I know these guards. They will not stand for even suspected pirates. Many innocent people have been killed because of their mad laws." Jack opened his mouth to speak, but Celeste cut him off. "And don't you yell at me, Jack Sparrow! I was right and you know it! I was just trying to help!"
"And a wise decision it was, darling." he told her, smiling.
"I said I was just trying to -- huh?"
"When I couldn' conjure a good escape, you did." he told her. "You probably saved us all. I am grateful." he put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him in awe; she was sure he was going to yell at her. She cleared her throat and straightened up.
"Well," Celeste started, a little more confidently. "That's more like it. Anytime, Jack, anytime!" she announced confidently. She strode over to the dining room. "If you need my council, I shall be in here." she entered the dining room and shut the door.
After about twenty minutes, Anamaria burst into the room.
"Another ship!" she cried. "Another ship is approaching!"
"Another ship?" Celeste asked.
"Yes! I believe they are from Port Royal!" Anamaria replied.
"Port Royal?!" Celeste exclaimed. "They've got the best military in the Caribbean! They're up on everything!" she dashed to the door and left the room with Anamaria. Angelina and Audra just sat at the table.
"Another banana?" Angelina asked.
"Drop the anchor! We must talk to them!" Celeste ordered. Jack loudly cleared his throat at her. "Right. Captain. You give the orders."
"Aye. 's more like it." he cleared his throat again. "Drop the anchor! We must talk to them!" Celeste chuckled. He quickly looked away from her.
"Yell to them! Tell them to drop their anchor as well!" Celeste yelled, pointing to the other ship. Jack nodded.
"GREETINGS!" Jack yelled at the top of his lungs, waving like mad to the ship. "WE SEEK A PEACEFUL WORD! PLEASE DROP ANCHOR!"
"Arg!" Celeste cried.
"That's 'arr.'" Jack corrected.
"No, that's not what I mean." Celeste explained seriously. "They can't see me like this! They'll get suspicious! Hang on!" she ran off to her room.
Five minutes later, she came back up on deck wearing a pretty pink dress.
"Tha' was fast." Jack told her, surprised.
"I'm a quick change artist." Celeste answered quickly. "Are we ready? I'd better talk to them."
"Yes, sure." Jack agreed. The crew of both ships helped heave a plank on the rails of the ship so that she could cross.
"Lift me up." Celeste said to Jack. He obeyed. He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up onto a box from which she stepped up onto the plank. The plank was fairly
wide, so she had no trouble getting across.
She hopped down onto the other ship and smoothed out her dress. She cleared her throat.
"Greetings." Celeste greeted.
"Greetings." the captain of the ship said to her. He was dressed in a military outfit. "Your ship looks quite familiar. What is its name?"
'Uh, oh...' Celeste thought. 'Port Royal must be looking for Jack and the Pearl!'
"Its name is... the, er," she stuttered, "the, er, Royal Midnight..."
'How bad at coming up with names can I be?!' she thought, panicking, but showed no sign of hesitation.
"She is brand new, sir." Celeste lied. "A real beaut', is she not?"
"Looks a bit run down..." the captain added, looking at the patched up side of the Pearl.
"Oh... yes, we-we had a run-in with some pirates." she lied coolly. "Evil pirates! Pure scum! Disgusting gits. We just happen to be out looking for Bartholomeu Santara. Have you any information on his whereabouts?"
"Santara..." the captain recalled. "Yes... Santara... Actually, we heard from a passing ship that he was headed straight for Quill Isle. We are after pirates ourselves, actually, and couldn't bother with Santara. When we return to Port Royal, we shall see if Commodore Norrington wishes to go after him. He is currently after the Black Pearl and Jack Sparrow. We are one of the ships sent out after him." Celeste could almost hear Jack in her head saying 'Captain! Captain Jack Sparrow!'
"Hm... have you seen this Jack Sparrow before?" Celeste asked.
"Well, er, not exactly. We haven't. Other parts of the fleet have, but..." the captain trailed off.
"So how is it that you expect to catch him?" Celeste asked.
"Well... sort of by... word of mouth, actually." the captain explained. "Anything that looks suspicious we'll investigate."
"Aha. I see." Celeste said, holding back a laugh. "Well, er, I believe we may have passed the Black Pearl on our way here."
"Oh?"
"Yes. It sailed off that way." she told him, pointing him away from the way the Pearl was actually headed, and making sure not to point to Rosalia.
"Thank you, miss!" the fairly dense captain said. "We both have benefited from this meeting."
"Aye. Thank you, sir. Good day. And good luck in your search for those pirates."
"The same. Good day." the captain said. Celeste climbed back up onto the plank and crossed back to the Pearl.
"Santara is headed for Quill Isle!" she told Jack triumphantly.
"Good work, love." Jack congratulated. "Couldn' 'ave done it better myself."
"Really?"
"No, not really." Jack chuckled. He went up to the helm.
"You're in denial, Jack!" Celeste called to him.
After pulling the plank back onto the ship, they pulled the anchor back up and the ship began to move.
"Set a course for Quill Isle!" Jack ordered. Celeste went up to him at the helm.
"I've never been to Quill Isle before, Jack." she told him. "What's it like?"
"A lot o' rich people." Jack explained. "Stuck up, snobbish, rude. Your kind of people, you'll like them" Celeste smacked Jack in the arm
"What?" he asked innocently.
* * *
The next day, they docked in Quill Isle. There was pandemonium everywhere! Jack, Celeste, Angelina, and Audra stepped out onto the docks and made their way to a sidewalk. Suddenly, a man came running towards them.
"Sir!" the man yelled. "Sir and misses, you must get your ship out! Santara! Santara is here! Leave while you still have time!" the man ran off and boarded a large white ship.
"So he is here!" Celeste asked excitedly. "Yes!" Angelina and Audra had found some old pirate-like clothes and were clad in them. Angelina had borrowed some from Audra, who had taken some from her brother's room before she left (she left him ten shillings and an I.O.U.). Audra also had a pair of long swords (of which she lent one to Angelina) and a pair of daggers. They knew a little about sword fighting, but they weren't as good as Jack or Celeste.
Celeste began to charge into the city in search of Santara. Jack grabbed her arm to stop her.
"These aren' just pirates, darling." he said. "This is Bartholomeu Santara. He's escaped every capture attempt that he's come up against."
"Well, they've never run into me before, have they?" Celeste pried Jack's hand off her arm and began to charge into the city once more. Jack got a panicked look on his face as he spotted five large, mean-looking pirates coming their way; the one in the middle was none other than the Santara.
"Let's jus' do this later after 'e's away from 'is minions." Jack tried to persuade her. "'e'll be a lot less trouble that way. Or we coul' get some 'elp from the crew--"
"No. I want to kill him now." she stubbornly told him, still trudging toward Santara. Jack looked even more panicked. He ran to catch up to her. "Jack, I'm going to do this." she stated. He still looked panicked. Suddenly, he leapt in front of her.
"Can't let you do this, love."
"Jack, I-" Suddenly, Jack leaned over, picked her up, and swung her onto his shoulder. "Jack!" she cried. "What are you doing?! Put me down!" He turned around and hurried back towards the ship, hoping to get more crew members, to help take on Santara. "Put me down, Jack! Put me down!" Celeste yelled, squirming around violently. "Let go! Let go! I have to do this! I don't want to lose my chance!" she pounded on his back with her fists. "Jaaaaaaack!" she screamed.
"'s no way ta treat a lady." sneered a harsh, deep voice behind them. Jack froze. "What say ye put 'er down, eh, mate?" The man took out his sword and pointed it at
Jack, who looked back at him. He turned around and set Celeste down.
"Thank you." she said resentfully to Jack. As she smoothed out her pant legs, Jack just stared at the man. He grabbed onto Celeste's shoulders, holding her back; she was so busy smoothing out her clothes that Jack had so rudely messed up. The man who stood before them had a curly, short, black beard and mustache, and shoulder-length, wavy black hair. He wore black pants that tucked into his tall black boots. He had on a loose, black, long-sleeved shirt whose cuffs stuck out of the end of the sleeves of his red jacket. On his head resided a big black hat with a red feather sticking out of it.
Celeste looked up at Jack confusedly and then looked at what Jack was staring at.
She gasped. "Santara!"
"At yer service, miss." Santara said, bowing. "Do I know ye?" he asked.
"Oh, I suppose not. I mean, you just sort of stole, burned, killed, and ran." Celeste told him bitterly. He smirked. "You also took something very important from me which you could never repay in a hundred of your worthless lives." She sounded calm, but she was filled with anger. Jack, his hands still on her shoulders, could feel her trembling with rage. She pulled out her swords. "And I'm going to rip your throat out." she still sounded fairly calm. Jack raised his eyebrows at her remark, it was rather strange hearing her say something so violent. She stepped forward, out of Jack's grasp. Santara glanced from Celeste to Jack.
"Why, Jack Sparrow, what a surprise." Santara sneered. "It's been years." Jack shot him a disgusted look.
"Oh, go--" Jack stopped himself as he glanced at Celeste; he knew better than to use such language in front of a lady. "Oh, shut up."
"Always were famous fer yer painstakin' insults." Santara chuckled. His cronies laughed as well.
"Well, if you're so keen on conversation, maybe you should go back to your ship and knit and chat with your bloody cowardly crew." Celeste taunted. Jack looked shocked that she would say something like that to a vicious murderer. He would use tact so as not to rile him too much.
"I used me manners before," Santara scowled at her, "but I see that yer no lady ta waste 'em on."
"Well then, why don't you fight me. Without your friends here. If you're not frightened, of course." she egged.
"Alright then. Boys," he addressed his crew, "kill 'er friends. Sorry 'bout this, Jack. Ol' buds an' all." Jack snickered. With that, Santara's four cronies charged at Jack, Angelina, and Audra. Jack confronted two of them; he took out his sword. He impatiently slayed one of them and glanced around for the other. The other was sneaking up behind Celeste, ready to attack her.
"'ey!" Jack yelled at him. The pirate turned around. "That's not very nice." He punched the pirate in the face, knocked him over, and quickly impaled him in the stomach.
Angelina saw the pirates stalking towards her and Audra.
"Okay, I'll take on, you take the other." Audra suggested, readying her sword.
"O-Okay..." Angelina hesitated. Audra strafed to her right, away from Angelina.
Angelina held her sword out at the approaching pirate. As he neared, she panicked. She closed her eyes and waved the sword wildly in front of her.
"Ahhhhh!" she screamed, waving the sword around and completely missing the pirate. He stood and laughed at her.
Audra knew a bit about fencing, so she began fighting.
"Okay, then, Mr. Pirate, no more organized fighting!" Audra stated. "You asked for it!" she swung her sword high and slashed at the pirate's shoulder; he blocked it.
"Ye'll 'ave ter do better 'n' 'at!" he sneered.
"Okay." and she kicked the pirate where it counts! He fell over and writhed in pain. He scrambled to get away, having dropped his weapon. He got up and ran away! That coward!
Jack snuck up behind the pirate that was laughing at Angelina -- and about to strike at her -- and impaled him from behind.
While Jack, Angelina, and Audra fought their own battles, Celeste and Santara fenced back and forth along the docks.
'If I'm going to beat this guy, I have to be better than Jack...' Celeste thought. "Not just equal... What would Jack do in my place...?'
"Arr!" Santara growled as he swung a vicious swipe with his sword at her, she used both her swords to block it. Celeste thought about what Jack would do.
"Cheat!" Celeste cried out loud.
"Wha--" Santara started, but she cut him off by using her old routine. She swung at his shoulder with one sword (being quicker than using two) and kicked at his ankles, sending him falling to the wooden planks of the dock. He fell on his back.
She thought she had it made as she raised her swords to his face, but Santara was too quick. He swiped at her leg and, being a little disoriented and off target from the fall, nearly missed her. Nearly. He cut a large horizontal gash, fairly deep, into her calf. She yelled and dropped her weapons. Jack was busy with the other pirates and couldn't come to help.
Santara took the opportune moment. While Celeste clutched at her leg, he quickly got up and kicked her in the hip and she flew off the dock.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!" she screamed as she flew, and then fell in the water with a splash.
"Ah! Not good!" Jack exclaimed as Santara ran off at top speed. Jack had just killed the pirate that Angelina had been up against and he started to run for Santara, but decided to jump in the water after Celeste (after all, her leg had just been gashed open, she couldn't swim in that condition).
"'old these!" Jack commanded Angelina and Audra as he removed his jacket, belt, gun, sword, and hat and handed them to them. "Be careful with them!"
"Goodness sakes! An' they say women 'ave a lot o' stuff!" Angelina exclaimed with sarcasm. Jack jumped into the water. He swam over to Celeste, grabbed her around the waist with one arm and kept them afloat with the other. She was far too exhausted to help propel them with her arms and in far too much pain to use even her good leg.
"Go get a rope! Get a pllrrg!" Jack yelled at Angelina and Audra as his face sunk into the water. They obeyed and ran back onto the Pearl. The dock was a large ship
dock, after all, meaning that it was at least ten feet above the surface of the water.
Jack's face emerged from the water; he tried to keep himself from drowning at the same time as keeping Celeste from drowning. She wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging for dear life. Jack was kicking his legs violently and flapping his arm in the water, splashing.
"Glug--" Celeste choked, swallowing some water. "Thnx, Jack... I'm -- kleff -- srry..." (translation: Thanks, Jack... I'm sorry...).
"Don't mnshn ip, arbling." Jack struggled to say, swallowing water (translation: Don't mention it, darling). Jack glanced around at the water. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he went pale. "Oh--" his face sunk in the water, luckily cutting him off from cursing. The reason he went pale was headed straight for them. Two gray fins stuck out of the water and were gliding towards them. Sharks. The blood that was seeping from Celeste's wound was attracting them. Jack's heart jumped into his throat. He made sure that Celeste wasn't looking in the direction of the fins; he didn't want to make matters worse for her.
Just then, Angelina, Audra, Gibbs, and Mr.Cotton ran out carrying a rope.
"Grab hold 'a' this!" Gibbs called to them and tossed one end of the rope into the water. Jack grabbed it and twisted it around his hand a few times.
"'old on tight, love, I 'ave to use both 'ands to pull us up!" Jack rushed. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tightly and he let go of her. She began to slip, so she used the help of her legs to cling onto him too. "BLOODY HURRY AN' PULL US UP!!" Jack yelled at Gibbs and Mr. Cotton as they hoisted them up out of the water. The sharks neared. "HURRY! HURRY! HURRY!" he yelled urgently. Gibbs and Mr. Cotton pulled Jack and Celeste onto the dock just as a shark jumped out of the water and chomped at them, barely missing Jack's foot.
Celeste rolled onto her back and let herself lie limp on the dock. Jack lied on his back as well; they were both sputtering water out of their mouths.
"Ahh!" Celeste moaned, her leg in more pain than she'd ever felt in her entire life. Jack coughed up some water as he struggled to stand up. He leaned over and quickly scooped up Celeste.
"Thanks so much, all." Jack thanked Gibbs, Mr. Cotton, Angelina, and Audra sincerely. He dashed onto the ship carrying Celeste.
"Ah..." Celeste groaned in pain. "Th-thanks, Jack."
"As I said, don't mention it, darling." he replied. He dashed down the stair into Celeste's room and set her down on her bed.
"Have you some kind of cloth? A-a shirt or something?" he asked quickly, knowing he didn't have time to go and get a bandage.
"I-in the bottom drawer." she told him in pain. Jack quickly moved to the dresser, pulled out a large white shirt and ripped it in half. He sat down next to Celeste.
"Here." he took her leg and put it in his lap so he could bandage it. "Really did some damage." Jack said, carefully removing her boot which Santara ha cut right through and dropped it on the floor. He pushed up her blood-soaked pant leg and began to clean off her wound with one half of the shirt.
"Mnn.." she grunted in pain.
"Stings?" Jack asked, still cleaning the wound.
"Well, yeah!" Celeste replied bitterly.
"I'm sorry."
"Oh, I'm not a child, Jack, don't baby me."
"Alrigh' then, you were careless." Jack stated as he began to wrap up the wound. "This is what 'appens when you don' pay perfect attention. You were lucky to come out with only this. A real pirate--"
"Well, I don't want you to be mean either!" Celeste protested. "Besides, I know what I'm doing! In fact, that was my plan! I meant for that... to..." he gave her an inquisitive look. "Okay, fine, but I'm just a beginner at all this! And I did well for being a beginner, didn't I?" she pouted.
"That's not the point!" Jack scolded as he tied a tight knot in the shirt.
"OW!"
He set her leg down. "What if somethin' worse 'ad 'appened to you?!"
"Well, that was my risk!" Celeste retorted. "I really wanted to kill him--"
"What would I do if you got killed?!" he scolded. Celeste looked up at him in frustration.
"Well, it's not your responsibility to protect me or anything!"
"Yes, it is!" Jack yelled. "If I 'adn't 'elped you, Gibbs, Cotton, and them too, when we did, you'd 'ave been eaten by those sharks!"
"There were sharks?" Celeste asked, color draining out of her face.
"Yes, there were!" Jack cried. He grabbed her shoulders. "I can't let anythin' 'appen to you!" he pulled her close to him in a hug. He suddenly realized what he'd just done and quickly released her. She looked up at him and then realized another awkward moment. Their faces were only about an inch apart. She looked into his dark brown eyes unsure of her feelings and he looked into her blue-green ones unsure of his. It was a sure bet that they were going to kiss (hey, I would've put money on it), when...
"Why is it that you care, Jack?" she asked.
"I-I don't know... You're... just... a girl an' so I feel like I should--"
"I'm not a weakling." she stated angrily, neither one of them moved from where they were. "Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean that I can't survive without someone else's help. This was my first time in an actual fight. Next time," she said through gritted teeth, "Santara won't be so lucky. Don't underestimate what I can do, Jack."
"I didn' say that you couldn' protect yourself, I just don't want you to get killed." Jack said.
"Neither do I." Celeste stated. Jack began to say something, but she cut him off. "You have a ship to captain, do you not?" Jack looked at her for a moment and then:
"Er, yes. Yes I do..." he said. Celeste moved away from him. He got up and headed for the door. She suddenly felt guilt rushing into her.
"Jack." she said. He turned around. "Thanks. Really. And I'm sorry I--"
"Anytime." he nodded to her and left, shutting the door. She stressfully ran her fingers through her hair and lied back down on her bed, painfully staring at the ceiling. Stressful tears formed in her eyes and she shut them tightly.
Wow. That was a really long chapter! Anyway, I had like three other versions of this chapter before I finally settled on this one! The others were too "perfect world," so I decided on this version! I hope you think I chose wisely and liked the chapter! Anyway, please review! Hannon le!
They spent the next few days doing whatever they wanted and preparing for the new journey. They'd given Angelina a room with a 'big ship' remark from her.
"Oh, I'm so exited." Celeste exclaimed, coming up on deck. "I get my new outfit today! Took that darn tailor long enough." Yeah, considering they did it in half the time (for double the price). Jack was on deck and Angelina was still asleep.
"I think I'll head out now. Come with me?" she asked Jack.
"I 'aven' eaten yet." Jack responded. "'ave you?"
"Yes, I grabbed something." she replied. "I suppose I'll just head on out then. Good day, Jack." He nodded to her and she left the ship.
About an hour later, she came back clad in her new outfit. Roughly, it was very typical pirate garb. She had her hair down under her red tri- corner hat. She actually looked very pretty (for being clad in pirate garb).
"Jack!" Celeste called. "Jack? Where are you? I'm back!" Jack walked out on deck from the door to the stairwell and walked towards her, preoccupied by a map he was studying.
"'ello, darling." he greeted absently.
"Well?" she asked. "What do you think about my new outfit? Do I look like a pirate?" he glanced up at her and then back to his map. He did a double take; he was speechless.
"Er, yes." he stuttered. "Pirate. Yes. No, I mean, no, you can't be a pirate with clothes alone, but... er..."
"Yay! I look like a pirate!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Is Angelina up yet?"
"Er," he stuttered, "erm, who?" she looked at him inquisitively. "Er, Angelina. Yes, I-I'm sure she is."
Celeste chuckled. "Okay, I'll go find her, then." she walked to the door to the dining room. Jack watched her until she disappeared through the doorway.
"Morning, Angelina. My, how you do sleep forever." Celeste joked, taking a seat next to Angelina in the dining room. "Like my new outfit? Do I look like a pirate?"
"Aye, it's grea'!" Angelina smiled. "Look jus' like a pirate, ya do!"
"That's the look I'm going for." Celeste grabbed a banana from a bowl on the table. "Is it me, or is Jack acting rather strange?"
"Strange?" Angelina asked. "Well, o' course 'e's actin' strange, 'e's Jack."
"No, I mean more so than usual."
"The very thought jus' makes me wanna crack up." Angelina told her.
"No, I'm serious. He was acting all weird..." she trailed off. "Oh, forget it." she unpeeled the banana and took a bite. "Mm. Best fruit. Right here."
* * *
Jack watched Celeste disappear through the doorway. He stood, still staring. Just then, Audra walked up on deck carrying five bags of luggage.
"Ah, Mr. Sparrow." Audra greeted. "Good day. A little help?" she struggled to hold all five bags. She staggered towards him. He stood, still staring at the doorway. "Mr. Sparrow? Mr. Sparrow?" she dropped tow of her large bags in attempt to juggle them all. At this noise, Jack came back to reality. He wheeled around and yelled:
"Stop blowin' 'oles in my ship!" Audra stood in confusion.
"Are you alright, Mr. Sparrow?" Audra asked, seriously concerned.
"Yes, yes. Sorry. I was, erm, distracted." he dismissed. "In, er, deep thought..." he walked over and picked up two of her largest bags and turned around. "Er, your room is this way..." he led her downstairs to a room to the right of Celeste's.
"Wow. This is a big ship!" Audra exclaimed.
"Popular belief." Jack mumbled. "The dining room is up the stairs to the right. Please join us."
"Thank you." Audra told him. Jack went back upstairs while Audra opened the door in front of her to a shabby, old, sparsely furnished room with one window overlooking the ocean. These ship cabins don't have much variety, do they? Audra started unpacking.
* * *
Jack walked into the dining room and shut the door.
"Hello, Jack." Celeste greeted.
"Good day, Cap'n Sparrow." Angelina greeted.
"Captain Sparrow?" Celeste asked. "Call him Jack. That's his name. You're 'savvy' with that, aren't you?" she looked at Jack.
"Erm, yes, sure." he replied absentmindedly.
"So, are we leaving today, Jack?" Celeste asked.
"Erm, I--I'll 'ave to see..." he still seemed a little nervous or something. He decided to sit down, to at least look relaxed; however, he missed the chair and fell to the floor with a thud. Celeste laughed while Angelina looked slightly concerned. He quickly got up.
"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Jack excused, rather embarrassed. "I-I just thought I dropped something..." he trailed off and sat down in a chair. Celeste laughed quietly.
"Are you alright?" Celeste faked concern.
"Yes, I'm fine!" Jack brushed off. "By the way, your friend got here."
"Audra?" Celeste asked. "Good."
"Any port in the storm!" Mr. Cotton's Parrot squawked from outside the door. Just then, Audra walked in.
"Er, who was that?" Audra asked in confusion. "The man with the bird..."
"It's Mr. Cotton." Celeste explained, slightly impatiently, having explained Mr. Cotton to Angelina a few days before. "He's a mute. His bird talks for him. We have no idea how."
"Oh..." Audra was utterly confused.
"Oh, well." Celeste sighed. "You'll get to know them in time."
"By the way, Mr. Sparrow, I apologize for the fright earlier." Audra said.
"Fright?" Celeste asked.
"Er, nothing, nothing!" Jack evaded. "All's well, love."
"Captain!" Anamaria called. She burst into the room. "Captain, come quickly! There are some guards aboard! They suspect that we are pirates!"
"Oh, bloody--" Jack started. "Stay here." he commanded Celeste, Angelina, and Audra. He left the room.
"Not a chance." Celeste said defiantly and rushed out the door.
"Well, what do we do?" Audra asked.
"I don't know..." Angelina replied. "Want a banana?"
Celeste hurried to where Jack was. He was standing in front of two guards; about ten other guards stood down on the docks. Just before Celeste caught up to Jack, Anamaria grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Let him handle this." Anamaria whispered harshly.
"Listen," Celeste explained in a forced-calm whisper, "these guards know what they're doing. If they even suspect that we're pirates, then they'll prosecute us! Trust me! Piracy is certainly not welcome here! Now, set sail! Quickly and quietly, but do it now!"
"I take orders from the Captain, lady." Anamaria angrily whispered.
"Well, pardon me, but the Captain is busy." Celeste retorted in a whisper. "So you'll take orders from me instead." Anamaria opened her mouth to protest, but shut it again. She sighed.
"Aye." she whispered, defeated. Celeste walked over to Jack and the guards.
"...and we have reason to believe that you are pirates." the guard told Jack. "Therefore, we must detain you." Jack began to protest, but Celeste put her hand on his shoulder to stop him. She shot a 'hang on a second' look at him and began to speak to the guards, her hand still rested on Jack's shoulder so he wouldn't interrupt her.
"Sir, I can fully assure you that we are not pirates." Celeste informed. "We are, in fact, searching for some pirates ourselves at the moment. The scum." The sails of the ship went up, the guards looked around.
"Our apologies, miss, but we must detain the crew--" the ship started moving and the gangplank slipped off the ship and fell into the water.
"Hey!" the other guard cried. "What's going on?!"
"What is going on?" Jack asked, confused. The ship began to pick up a little speed.
'Wow, this is a fast ship.' Celeste thought.
"Halt!" the first guard commanded. The ship moved away from the dock. "Stop this ship!" the guards on the dock were panicking and yelling for the guards on the ship to give them orders.
"Excuse me, sir, but we tried to tell you we're not pirates!" she charged forward and pushed the two guards off the ship; they fell into the water with a splash. They surfaced and scowled up at Celeste. "We're just really bad eggs!" she yelled to them and
smiled innocently. She turned to Jack.
"What's happening?" he asked. "Why are we leaving?"
"I told Anamaria to set sail." she explained confidently. "I know these guards. They will not stand for even suspected pirates. Many innocent people have been killed because of their mad laws." Jack opened his mouth to speak, but Celeste cut him off. "And don't you yell at me, Jack Sparrow! I was right and you know it! I was just trying to help!"
"And a wise decision it was, darling." he told her, smiling.
"I said I was just trying to -- huh?"
"When I couldn' conjure a good escape, you did." he told her. "You probably saved us all. I am grateful." he put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him in awe; she was sure he was going to yell at her. She cleared her throat and straightened up.
"Well," Celeste started, a little more confidently. "That's more like it. Anytime, Jack, anytime!" she announced confidently. She strode over to the dining room. "If you need my council, I shall be in here." she entered the dining room and shut the door.
After about twenty minutes, Anamaria burst into the room.
"Another ship!" she cried. "Another ship is approaching!"
"Another ship?" Celeste asked.
"Yes! I believe they are from Port Royal!" Anamaria replied.
"Port Royal?!" Celeste exclaimed. "They've got the best military in the Caribbean! They're up on everything!" she dashed to the door and left the room with Anamaria. Angelina and Audra just sat at the table.
"Another banana?" Angelina asked.
"Drop the anchor! We must talk to them!" Celeste ordered. Jack loudly cleared his throat at her. "Right. Captain. You give the orders."
"Aye. 's more like it." he cleared his throat again. "Drop the anchor! We must talk to them!" Celeste chuckled. He quickly looked away from her.
"Yell to them! Tell them to drop their anchor as well!" Celeste yelled, pointing to the other ship. Jack nodded.
"GREETINGS!" Jack yelled at the top of his lungs, waving like mad to the ship. "WE SEEK A PEACEFUL WORD! PLEASE DROP ANCHOR!"
"Arg!" Celeste cried.
"That's 'arr.'" Jack corrected.
"No, that's not what I mean." Celeste explained seriously. "They can't see me like this! They'll get suspicious! Hang on!" she ran off to her room.
Five minutes later, she came back up on deck wearing a pretty pink dress.
"Tha' was fast." Jack told her, surprised.
"I'm a quick change artist." Celeste answered quickly. "Are we ready? I'd better talk to them."
"Yes, sure." Jack agreed. The crew of both ships helped heave a plank on the rails of the ship so that she could cross.
"Lift me up." Celeste said to Jack. He obeyed. He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up onto a box from which she stepped up onto the plank. The plank was fairly
wide, so she had no trouble getting across.
She hopped down onto the other ship and smoothed out her dress. She cleared her throat.
"Greetings." Celeste greeted.
"Greetings." the captain of the ship said to her. He was dressed in a military outfit. "Your ship looks quite familiar. What is its name?"
'Uh, oh...' Celeste thought. 'Port Royal must be looking for Jack and the Pearl!'
"Its name is... the, er," she stuttered, "the, er, Royal Midnight..."
'How bad at coming up with names can I be?!' she thought, panicking, but showed no sign of hesitation.
"She is brand new, sir." Celeste lied. "A real beaut', is she not?"
"Looks a bit run down..." the captain added, looking at the patched up side of the Pearl.
"Oh... yes, we-we had a run-in with some pirates." she lied coolly. "Evil pirates! Pure scum! Disgusting gits. We just happen to be out looking for Bartholomeu Santara. Have you any information on his whereabouts?"
"Santara..." the captain recalled. "Yes... Santara... Actually, we heard from a passing ship that he was headed straight for Quill Isle. We are after pirates ourselves, actually, and couldn't bother with Santara. When we return to Port Royal, we shall see if Commodore Norrington wishes to go after him. He is currently after the Black Pearl and Jack Sparrow. We are one of the ships sent out after him." Celeste could almost hear Jack in her head saying 'Captain! Captain Jack Sparrow!'
"Hm... have you seen this Jack Sparrow before?" Celeste asked.
"Well, er, not exactly. We haven't. Other parts of the fleet have, but..." the captain trailed off.
"So how is it that you expect to catch him?" Celeste asked.
"Well... sort of by... word of mouth, actually." the captain explained. "Anything that looks suspicious we'll investigate."
"Aha. I see." Celeste said, holding back a laugh. "Well, er, I believe we may have passed the Black Pearl on our way here."
"Oh?"
"Yes. It sailed off that way." she told him, pointing him away from the way the Pearl was actually headed, and making sure not to point to Rosalia.
"Thank you, miss!" the fairly dense captain said. "We both have benefited from this meeting."
"Aye. Thank you, sir. Good day. And good luck in your search for those pirates."
"The same. Good day." the captain said. Celeste climbed back up onto the plank and crossed back to the Pearl.
"Santara is headed for Quill Isle!" she told Jack triumphantly.
"Good work, love." Jack congratulated. "Couldn' 'ave done it better myself."
"Really?"
"No, not really." Jack chuckled. He went up to the helm.
"You're in denial, Jack!" Celeste called to him.
After pulling the plank back onto the ship, they pulled the anchor back up and the ship began to move.
"Set a course for Quill Isle!" Jack ordered. Celeste went up to him at the helm.
"I've never been to Quill Isle before, Jack." she told him. "What's it like?"
"A lot o' rich people." Jack explained. "Stuck up, snobbish, rude. Your kind of people, you'll like them" Celeste smacked Jack in the arm
"What?" he asked innocently.
* * *
The next day, they docked in Quill Isle. There was pandemonium everywhere! Jack, Celeste, Angelina, and Audra stepped out onto the docks and made their way to a sidewalk. Suddenly, a man came running towards them.
"Sir!" the man yelled. "Sir and misses, you must get your ship out! Santara! Santara is here! Leave while you still have time!" the man ran off and boarded a large white ship.
"So he is here!" Celeste asked excitedly. "Yes!" Angelina and Audra had found some old pirate-like clothes and were clad in them. Angelina had borrowed some from Audra, who had taken some from her brother's room before she left (she left him ten shillings and an I.O.U.). Audra also had a pair of long swords (of which she lent one to Angelina) and a pair of daggers. They knew a little about sword fighting, but they weren't as good as Jack or Celeste.
Celeste began to charge into the city in search of Santara. Jack grabbed her arm to stop her.
"These aren' just pirates, darling." he said. "This is Bartholomeu Santara. He's escaped every capture attempt that he's come up against."
"Well, they've never run into me before, have they?" Celeste pried Jack's hand off her arm and began to charge into the city once more. Jack got a panicked look on his face as he spotted five large, mean-looking pirates coming their way; the one in the middle was none other than the Santara.
"Let's jus' do this later after 'e's away from 'is minions." Jack tried to persuade her. "'e'll be a lot less trouble that way. Or we coul' get some 'elp from the crew--"
"No. I want to kill him now." she stubbornly told him, still trudging toward Santara. Jack looked even more panicked. He ran to catch up to her. "Jack, I'm going to do this." she stated. He still looked panicked. Suddenly, he leapt in front of her.
"Can't let you do this, love."
"Jack, I-" Suddenly, Jack leaned over, picked her up, and swung her onto his shoulder. "Jack!" she cried. "What are you doing?! Put me down!" He turned around and hurried back towards the ship, hoping to get more crew members, to help take on Santara. "Put me down, Jack! Put me down!" Celeste yelled, squirming around violently. "Let go! Let go! I have to do this! I don't want to lose my chance!" she pounded on his back with her fists. "Jaaaaaaack!" she screamed.
"'s no way ta treat a lady." sneered a harsh, deep voice behind them. Jack froze. "What say ye put 'er down, eh, mate?" The man took out his sword and pointed it at
Jack, who looked back at him. He turned around and set Celeste down.
"Thank you." she said resentfully to Jack. As she smoothed out her pant legs, Jack just stared at the man. He grabbed onto Celeste's shoulders, holding her back; she was so busy smoothing out her clothes that Jack had so rudely messed up. The man who stood before them had a curly, short, black beard and mustache, and shoulder-length, wavy black hair. He wore black pants that tucked into his tall black boots. He had on a loose, black, long-sleeved shirt whose cuffs stuck out of the end of the sleeves of his red jacket. On his head resided a big black hat with a red feather sticking out of it.
Celeste looked up at Jack confusedly and then looked at what Jack was staring at.
She gasped. "Santara!"
"At yer service, miss." Santara said, bowing. "Do I know ye?" he asked.
"Oh, I suppose not. I mean, you just sort of stole, burned, killed, and ran." Celeste told him bitterly. He smirked. "You also took something very important from me which you could never repay in a hundred of your worthless lives." She sounded calm, but she was filled with anger. Jack, his hands still on her shoulders, could feel her trembling with rage. She pulled out her swords. "And I'm going to rip your throat out." she still sounded fairly calm. Jack raised his eyebrows at her remark, it was rather strange hearing her say something so violent. She stepped forward, out of Jack's grasp. Santara glanced from Celeste to Jack.
"Why, Jack Sparrow, what a surprise." Santara sneered. "It's been years." Jack shot him a disgusted look.
"Oh, go--" Jack stopped himself as he glanced at Celeste; he knew better than to use such language in front of a lady. "Oh, shut up."
"Always were famous fer yer painstakin' insults." Santara chuckled. His cronies laughed as well.
"Well, if you're so keen on conversation, maybe you should go back to your ship and knit and chat with your bloody cowardly crew." Celeste taunted. Jack looked shocked that she would say something like that to a vicious murderer. He would use tact so as not to rile him too much.
"I used me manners before," Santara scowled at her, "but I see that yer no lady ta waste 'em on."
"Well then, why don't you fight me. Without your friends here. If you're not frightened, of course." she egged.
"Alright then. Boys," he addressed his crew, "kill 'er friends. Sorry 'bout this, Jack. Ol' buds an' all." Jack snickered. With that, Santara's four cronies charged at Jack, Angelina, and Audra. Jack confronted two of them; he took out his sword. He impatiently slayed one of them and glanced around for the other. The other was sneaking up behind Celeste, ready to attack her.
"'ey!" Jack yelled at him. The pirate turned around. "That's not very nice." He punched the pirate in the face, knocked him over, and quickly impaled him in the stomach.
Angelina saw the pirates stalking towards her and Audra.
"Okay, I'll take on, you take the other." Audra suggested, readying her sword.
"O-Okay..." Angelina hesitated. Audra strafed to her right, away from Angelina.
Angelina held her sword out at the approaching pirate. As he neared, she panicked. She closed her eyes and waved the sword wildly in front of her.
"Ahhhhh!" she screamed, waving the sword around and completely missing the pirate. He stood and laughed at her.
Audra knew a bit about fencing, so she began fighting.
"Okay, then, Mr. Pirate, no more organized fighting!" Audra stated. "You asked for it!" she swung her sword high and slashed at the pirate's shoulder; he blocked it.
"Ye'll 'ave ter do better 'n' 'at!" he sneered.
"Okay." and she kicked the pirate where it counts! He fell over and writhed in pain. He scrambled to get away, having dropped his weapon. He got up and ran away! That coward!
Jack snuck up behind the pirate that was laughing at Angelina -- and about to strike at her -- and impaled him from behind.
While Jack, Angelina, and Audra fought their own battles, Celeste and Santara fenced back and forth along the docks.
'If I'm going to beat this guy, I have to be better than Jack...' Celeste thought. "Not just equal... What would Jack do in my place...?'
"Arr!" Santara growled as he swung a vicious swipe with his sword at her, she used both her swords to block it. Celeste thought about what Jack would do.
"Cheat!" Celeste cried out loud.
"Wha--" Santara started, but she cut him off by using her old routine. She swung at his shoulder with one sword (being quicker than using two) and kicked at his ankles, sending him falling to the wooden planks of the dock. He fell on his back.
She thought she had it made as she raised her swords to his face, but Santara was too quick. He swiped at her leg and, being a little disoriented and off target from the fall, nearly missed her. Nearly. He cut a large horizontal gash, fairly deep, into her calf. She yelled and dropped her weapons. Jack was busy with the other pirates and couldn't come to help.
Santara took the opportune moment. While Celeste clutched at her leg, he quickly got up and kicked her in the hip and she flew off the dock.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!" she screamed as she flew, and then fell in the water with a splash.
"Ah! Not good!" Jack exclaimed as Santara ran off at top speed. Jack had just killed the pirate that Angelina had been up against and he started to run for Santara, but decided to jump in the water after Celeste (after all, her leg had just been gashed open, she couldn't swim in that condition).
"'old these!" Jack commanded Angelina and Audra as he removed his jacket, belt, gun, sword, and hat and handed them to them. "Be careful with them!"
"Goodness sakes! An' they say women 'ave a lot o' stuff!" Angelina exclaimed with sarcasm. Jack jumped into the water. He swam over to Celeste, grabbed her around the waist with one arm and kept them afloat with the other. She was far too exhausted to help propel them with her arms and in far too much pain to use even her good leg.
"Go get a rope! Get a pllrrg!" Jack yelled at Angelina and Audra as his face sunk into the water. They obeyed and ran back onto the Pearl. The dock was a large ship
dock, after all, meaning that it was at least ten feet above the surface of the water.
Jack's face emerged from the water; he tried to keep himself from drowning at the same time as keeping Celeste from drowning. She wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging for dear life. Jack was kicking his legs violently and flapping his arm in the water, splashing.
"Glug--" Celeste choked, swallowing some water. "Thnx, Jack... I'm -- kleff -- srry..." (translation: Thanks, Jack... I'm sorry...).
"Don't mnshn ip, arbling." Jack struggled to say, swallowing water (translation: Don't mention it, darling). Jack glanced around at the water. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he went pale. "Oh--" his face sunk in the water, luckily cutting him off from cursing. The reason he went pale was headed straight for them. Two gray fins stuck out of the water and were gliding towards them. Sharks. The blood that was seeping from Celeste's wound was attracting them. Jack's heart jumped into his throat. He made sure that Celeste wasn't looking in the direction of the fins; he didn't want to make matters worse for her.
Just then, Angelina, Audra, Gibbs, and Mr.Cotton ran out carrying a rope.
"Grab hold 'a' this!" Gibbs called to them and tossed one end of the rope into the water. Jack grabbed it and twisted it around his hand a few times.
"'old on tight, love, I 'ave to use both 'ands to pull us up!" Jack rushed. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tightly and he let go of her. She began to slip, so she used the help of her legs to cling onto him too. "BLOODY HURRY AN' PULL US UP!!" Jack yelled at Gibbs and Mr. Cotton as they hoisted them up out of the water. The sharks neared. "HURRY! HURRY! HURRY!" he yelled urgently. Gibbs and Mr. Cotton pulled Jack and Celeste onto the dock just as a shark jumped out of the water and chomped at them, barely missing Jack's foot.
Celeste rolled onto her back and let herself lie limp on the dock. Jack lied on his back as well; they were both sputtering water out of their mouths.
"Ahh!" Celeste moaned, her leg in more pain than she'd ever felt in her entire life. Jack coughed up some water as he struggled to stand up. He leaned over and quickly scooped up Celeste.
"Thanks so much, all." Jack thanked Gibbs, Mr. Cotton, Angelina, and Audra sincerely. He dashed onto the ship carrying Celeste.
"Ah..." Celeste groaned in pain. "Th-thanks, Jack."
"As I said, don't mention it, darling." he replied. He dashed down the stair into Celeste's room and set her down on her bed.
"Have you some kind of cloth? A-a shirt or something?" he asked quickly, knowing he didn't have time to go and get a bandage.
"I-in the bottom drawer." she told him in pain. Jack quickly moved to the dresser, pulled out a large white shirt and ripped it in half. He sat down next to Celeste.
"Here." he took her leg and put it in his lap so he could bandage it. "Really did some damage." Jack said, carefully removing her boot which Santara ha cut right through and dropped it on the floor. He pushed up her blood-soaked pant leg and began to clean off her wound with one half of the shirt.
"Mnn.." she grunted in pain.
"Stings?" Jack asked, still cleaning the wound.
"Well, yeah!" Celeste replied bitterly.
"I'm sorry."
"Oh, I'm not a child, Jack, don't baby me."
"Alrigh' then, you were careless." Jack stated as he began to wrap up the wound. "This is what 'appens when you don' pay perfect attention. You were lucky to come out with only this. A real pirate--"
"Well, I don't want you to be mean either!" Celeste protested. "Besides, I know what I'm doing! In fact, that was my plan! I meant for that... to..." he gave her an inquisitive look. "Okay, fine, but I'm just a beginner at all this! And I did well for being a beginner, didn't I?" she pouted.
"That's not the point!" Jack scolded as he tied a tight knot in the shirt.
"OW!"
He set her leg down. "What if somethin' worse 'ad 'appened to you?!"
"Well, that was my risk!" Celeste retorted. "I really wanted to kill him--"
"What would I do if you got killed?!" he scolded. Celeste looked up at him in frustration.
"Well, it's not your responsibility to protect me or anything!"
"Yes, it is!" Jack yelled. "If I 'adn't 'elped you, Gibbs, Cotton, and them too, when we did, you'd 'ave been eaten by those sharks!"
"There were sharks?" Celeste asked, color draining out of her face.
"Yes, there were!" Jack cried. He grabbed her shoulders. "I can't let anythin' 'appen to you!" he pulled her close to him in a hug. He suddenly realized what he'd just done and quickly released her. She looked up at him and then realized another awkward moment. Their faces were only about an inch apart. She looked into his dark brown eyes unsure of her feelings and he looked into her blue-green ones unsure of his. It was a sure bet that they were going to kiss (hey, I would've put money on it), when...
"Why is it that you care, Jack?" she asked.
"I-I don't know... You're... just... a girl an' so I feel like I should--"
"I'm not a weakling." she stated angrily, neither one of them moved from where they were. "Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean that I can't survive without someone else's help. This was my first time in an actual fight. Next time," she said through gritted teeth, "Santara won't be so lucky. Don't underestimate what I can do, Jack."
"I didn' say that you couldn' protect yourself, I just don't want you to get killed." Jack said.
"Neither do I." Celeste stated. Jack began to say something, but she cut him off. "You have a ship to captain, do you not?" Jack looked at her for a moment and then:
"Er, yes. Yes I do..." he said. Celeste moved away from him. He got up and headed for the door. She suddenly felt guilt rushing into her.
"Jack." she said. He turned around. "Thanks. Really. And I'm sorry I--"
"Anytime." he nodded to her and left, shutting the door. She stressfully ran her fingers through her hair and lied back down on her bed, painfully staring at the ceiling. Stressful tears formed in her eyes and she shut them tightly.
Wow. That was a really long chapter! Anyway, I had like three other versions of this chapter before I finally settled on this one! The others were too "perfect world," so I decided on this version! I hope you think I chose wisely and liked the chapter! Anyway, please review! Hannon le!