Title: Swimming Above The Sharks

Disclaimer: I'm only borrowing these two characters. Technically, they're Disney's property…which sucks. But because they're sub-canon characters, Disney wont notice if I steal them for a while…Mwa ha ha ha…!

ANY OTHER CHARACTER IS MINE! EXCEPT for those in the movie, such as Koehler, and Barbossa.

Summary: Mallot and Grapple discover themselves stranded, accidentally marooned, and with a hell of a lot of gold. That and Mallot intelligently points out they're not cursed any more.

Notes:  BWA HA HA HA! I bet you were all so SHOCKED to discover Grapple is DEAD! MWA  HAHAHA-*hack cough choke gag*-HA…hehehe…ha ha…heh…Ahem. Well, at least I hope you all were. Naw, I know these things. I'm psychotic. I mean psychic, I'm psychic!

Mallot: *randomly jumps out from nowhere* Es-Cop-Eh! ;)

Chapter Nine: Glow

"He can't be dead…If I'm alive, he's surely alive. He's…stronger then me! Look at him!"

"He doesn't glow like you, though," Luna said innocently, like a child asking why the sky was blue.
"I don't glow, damn it!" Mallot snapped, looking at himself to make sure. Indeed, there was nothing odd about him. Luna recoiled quickly, drawing back from him. Zira gave Mallot a smack across the face and he blinked, his cheek stinging with pain.

"Don't do that," he said slowly, frowning.
"Zira is the chief elder here at Rudagull. She's the one that found you, with another man…He wasn't an elder, but was smart enough to be one. He is new to the island though."

"What…who? Aug," Jonathan groaned, his head throbbing and his mind confused.

"Rudagull is the island where the dead go to if they haven't been placed. Most don't believe they're dead at first, but they realize it after a while. The man knew right away…" Luna explained, smiling slightly and gently caressing his cheek.

"We are all dead here. Zira, me, Rifktump, Jorrick…All of us. We are the elders, the leaders. It is our job to help the dead realize they're dead."

"You don't look old," Mallot commented, and Luna smiled.
"I was young when I died. Over a thousand years ago."

Mallot's breath caught in his throat and he choked at the information. Luna smiled, patted his chest lightly, and he realized how cold her touch was. Shivering, he tried to shuffle away from the offending graze, but couldn't muster the strength to.

"You glow because you are not dead. Your life is still with you. Yet the glow isn't as bright as some I've seen. Occasionally, the living make it to this island, washed upon the shores by a storm, or marooned and left to die…"

She gave him a thoughtful look.
"Grapple, you called the other man, he glowed for a while as well, but it faded away. He died," she told him softly, consolingly.

"No, no he's alive," Mallot chuckled, disbelieving. He coughed, his throat to dry to laugh anymore.

"The living can not linger where the dead live. What's your name?"

"My…my name?" he thought for a moment. "Mallot," he answered after a while, conditioned to be suspicious of people who asked his name.

She lifted her chin to look at him and he cringed. What she said had to be true. Everybody here was dead. Her throat had been slit…the scar was red and looked raw, yet she was dead, and so cold…

"No!" he yelled, trying to sit up but crying out in pain from his back and falling back to the ground. Zira smacked him across the face again but he didn't care. He was going to die. Grapple was already dead; Luna had said…He was going to die…

"Yats!"
"She says stay, stay still, Mallot," Luna translated.

Slowly, he rolled onto his stomach. Luna backed away, almost fearfully. Zira watched from the doorway where she had backed up to, arms crossed over her chest, the pirate's hat dangling loosely on a coiled finger. He propped himself up onto his arms, grimacing at the pain in his left arm, until he was doing a sit-up. He bent his knees carefully, and quickly swung himself up so he was kneeling. Slowly, he crouched and rose up into a standing position.
"I am not…staying…still," he wheezed through clenched teeth. Swaying from side to side slightly, he made for the doorway. Zira stood still, directly in his way.
"Move," he ordered weakly, and she, surprisingly, moved to the side to let him pass, casting sad eyes upon him.


Hesitatingly, he grabbed his hat and walked through the threshold. Shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight, he stumbled on the hard, compacted mud ground. His eyes adjusted and came to meet a small village, where the old, young, and prime aged dead settled together like families. A few gave him scared looks, as though expecting him to lunge and attack them. Another bunch scurried away, while some pointed and whispered excitedly to him.
"…the glow…"

"…Mahadevi…"
"…he's shimmering…"

"…I don't know…"

"…moonlight, he does…"

Confused and angry at the whispers, he glared at everybody who looked at him, slamming his hat on his head. Yet his threatening look was ignored, and they continued to point and whisper as though he was blind and deaf. He growled in the same animal-like way from before, causing more then a few to give him terrified looks and back away, muttering as they were frightened. Except one.

The tackle was unexpected and caught Mallot completely by surprise. He was easily put to the ground and the wind was knocked out of him. His eyes rolled with the blow, and when he finally focused on his attacker, he nearly cried out in surprise.



A brightly painted face with a worn, orange X going across it, black dreadlocks and a worn, blue coat with large sleeves. Rancid breath and a powerful grip…

"Koehler?!" Mallot exclaimed, starring up at his old crewmate.

"How do you know my name?" Koehler growled, his right hand suddenly flying to the living pirate's throat and gripping it in a chokehold.

"I…We sailed…together!" Jonathan choked out, gasping for breath.

"I know you…" Koehler said after a moment, yet bared his teeth in anger and his grip tightened.

"NEIN!" Luna's voice suddenly screamed and Mallot felt something lift from him. A silver mist, sparse yet bright, started lifting from him. Koehler suddenly leaped off of Mallot, yelling in a tribal language at Luna, threatening her, yet backing away. The mist settled over Mallot, before sinking into him. The weight returned.

Luna knelt at Mallot's side, still screaming at Koehler, who decided enough was enough and scampered away. Mallot gingerly rubbed the front of his neck, which was turning red from the force of the dead pirate's hold.

"He…tried to kill me! He knows me!" Mallot said shakily, hysterically, laughing and shaking at the same time.
"There are some dead…who want their life back. They realized they were dead and didn't accept it. When a living one makes it to Rudagull, they will try to steal the life, the glow…Koehler is new, you know…If you knew him, you probably helped him remember more…"

"Is everybody going to attack me?!" Mallot barked, and Luna winced, shaking her head from side to side.

"What's goin' on 'ere?" a cracked voice, aged by time, raspy and rattling, demanded from behind Luna. Mallot looked around her form to glimpse a feathered hat with a large, rounded brim that had seen better days.

"Mallot, this is the man that found Grapple."

"Mallot…?" the man asked quietly, stepping to the side and starring at Jonathan.

"Captain!" Jonathan squeaked, blinking owlishly at Hector Barbossa.

"Jonathan!" a familiar, deep voice resounded beside the dead pirate captain, strained as though pained, and Grapple threw himself on the other side of Mallot, kneeling over him protectively and checking for damage.
"Grapple…" Mallot muttered, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

~*~