Scratched Glass
Chapter 9
Disclaimer: I don't own Pirates of the Caribbean! It all belongs to Disney, I swear! Even Jack:sniffles dejectedly:
A/N: Sry for the small delay but I was helping my parents look around for stuff since my dad's going overseas this Monday. Anywho, here' the chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it!
The crew rushed hurriedly past the worn cobblestone streets as the heavens let free their rainfall. They had barely managed to land the Pearl safely in an average sized cove. There were many shouts as they hurried to a nearby inn, desperate to find shelter from the cruel downpour.
Jack swung the wooden door open and everyone tried their best to get in, with the unlucky ones having to wait outside with the rain and their disconsolate, grim expressions for company. A lull fell over the once noisy inn and everyone turned to stare at the newcomers. Jack was the first to speak.
"We just landed here to save our ship from the storm and need a place to stay."
A thin, young man who was standing behind the counter whilst swiping a glass mug clean with an old rag, inquired, "And who would you be?"
"Jack Sparrow, Captain of the Black Pearl." A soft murmur spread amongst the people as they received the piece of information. The Black Pearl? The almighty ship and its captain? Here? Impossible. "And this is my crew," Jack finished, a certain air of pride emanating from him as he relished in the hushed voices that were obviously discussing his ship.
"You can stay here, but we don't have enough rooms for all of you," the young man, apparently the owner of the tavern, said with a solemn expression etched into his features. At his words, discontent rang amongst the pirates that were waiting outside.
"Shut up, ye scallywags," Jack growled menacingly and they reluctantly obeyed. "You're bound to find places and can find rooms elsewhere. How many rooms do you have?" the last question was directed at the bartender, and apparent manager.
"Four," was the reply. "Each with two beds."
"All right then, Alina and Eleonora can share a room," Jack said, using Karyane, Alina, and Zenakabee's, Eleonora, fake names. The entire crew, including their 'captives', had agreed to say, if asked, that the two girls had come to the crew of the infamous Pearl for help. Their brother, Thomas Palmer, had been kidnapped by pirates and they had paid the pirates of the legendary Pearl a large amount to assist them in finding their brother. "Me, Anamaria, and Gibbs can share another."
Here, the ostentatious Zenakabee (not to mention condescending) whispered to Karyane, "Anamaria, Gibbs, and I. And I." A small smile appeared on Karyane's face as she remembered Zenakabee's ability to catch even the slightest grammar mistake in someone's speech. After all, she, Karyane, had been that someone for the past…what? Twelve years? Yes, she had been eight when she was officially Zenakabee's step sister.
"And you six can share the other two rooms," Jack ordered, pointing to six different crew members, leaving the remaining fifteen or so pirates to find rooms on their own.
II – II – II
"This is…" Zenakabee looked around their room, her eyes roaming the lengths of the walls, floor, ceiling – heck, every inch of the room.
"Nice?" Karyane offered. It was true. The two neatly made beds with their snow white sheets and sturdy wooden headboards, the clean windowpanes looking out onto the wet streets of the city, the coaxing fire that emitted the occasional crackle as firewood burned – releasing warm – and the single crimson colored couch with its miniature black pillows.
"Yes. Nice seems to be fitting," Zenakabee agreed, turning around to smile at her sister, her first smile in a very, very long time. Karyane returned the smile, which in turn provoked a girlish giggle from Zenakabee as she twirled around in her tattered silk gown. Grinning like an ecstatic child on Christmas Day, she fell back onto the couch, the fluffy black pillows cushioning her fall.
"You're probably used to this, true?" Zenakabee asked after awhile, her eyes turning to Karyane's face. Karyane, however, was quiet. At her silence, Zenakabee added in with a longing sigh, "You're so lucky. You're practically perfect and have everything at your feet."
"Notice the practically, Zenakabee," Karyane replied in a soft, pensive voice.
"Oh, it's not like either of us cares about the proprieties of language," but she was cut off.
"You're the one that's always correcting my grammar," Karyane retorted, anger slowly edging itself into her voice.
"Yes, but that…"Zenakabee started, but was interrupted once more. This time by a furious Karyane.
"Yes, but what? What, huh? I'm not perfect! Bloody hell, look at me, Zenakabee! Tell me one thing that's so great about me! Tell me!" Karyane exploded, tears springing to her eyes. Slowly, the tears that Karyane once barred from leaving her eyes now fell freely in front of an audience – Zenakabee.
At first, Zenakabee was confused by her sister's outburst. Who had said that she was….oh wait, my last statement. But after the initial confusion had worn off, it was replaced by shock, for Karyane had never publicly denied being 'perfect'. At least, not for all the years that Zenakabee had known her. "Why deny it now?" Zenakabee asked her step, quirking a disbelieving eyebrow.
This caused Karyane to stutter and her eyes looked desperately from one object in the room to another, as if she was looking to these inanimate objects for the right answer. "Because," she finished lamely.
"Because what?"
"Because I'm not perfect! Can't you understand that!" and the tears began to flow once more.
"Yes, but why are you denying it now? Hmm?" Zenakabee asked, all too tired of what she presumed was her pompous sister. "Now that no one important is here to witness the confession? Tell me, Karyane, were you not born perfect or are you not perfect while you're with society lower than the one that you're accustomed to?" she asked snidely, her words piercing her sister's heart like a knife. Slowly, the knife twisted itself. "Answer me, godamnit! Face it, you are perfect. You always have been and you always will be. You're so perfect that you're not even capable of emotions!"
"How can you say that?" Karyane hissed, her voice hoarse from her silent tears.
"Because only humans, flawed creatures, are capable of emotions. Not perfect gods like yourself." These words blew a fuse and suddenly, Karyane was no longer feeling melancholic, but full of rage.
"What the hell do you think I am? I'm human, for God's sake! Human!" and suddenly, she flung one of the pillows on her bed at the stationary Zenakabee - who happened to be sitting on the couch.
Blocking the pillow with her forearm, Zenakabee threw it aside. "Forgive me, but I doubt that. Do you remember that time when we were little, I was twelve and you were ten, and you're evil mother decided to humiliate me in front of all of my friends? Where were your human instincts then? And what about the time that Charles asked me to marry him? You're mother wrenched my heart from me by telling me that I couldn't marry the man that I had loved! Where were you're godforsaken emotions, you're bloody flaws then, Karyane!" Zenakabee had gotten up as well and as she continued to talk, Karyane was forced to remember the times that Zenakabee was talking about.
/Flashback/
"Karyane, do you think I could borrow that lilac gown that you wore the other day? It's absolutely beautiful," Zenakabee gushed, asking her sibling if she could borrow a certain awe-inspiring gown. Zenakabee, Karyane, and ten or so other girls of their status were all sitting on the plush couches of the Reule mansion.
"Of course you can. You'll probably look ten times better than me in that dress. You're so much prettier," Karyane said amiably. Or at least, that's what she would've said but she only got to 'of…' before she was interrupted by her mother.
"Zenakabee, don't be foolish. You and wearing Karyane's dress?" came the condescending tone of Adelaide, as she walked down the spiral staircase. "You would hardly be able to fit into it, what with your…large figure let's just say. You'd break the seams, silly girl." It was untrue, Zenakabee was a slim young girl – maybe a little heavier than Karyane, but then again, who wasn't heavier than the stick of a girl – but Adelaide still said it. And with those few sentences, the wealthy lady crushed both Zenakabee's and her own daughter's hearts. Zenakabee, because she was utterly humiliated as she blushed crimson and a few of her 'acquaintances' tried stifling giggles. Karyane, because she knew that if she were to take Zenakabee's side, then she would be punished horribly with slaps marking every inch of her skin. On the other hand, if she were to take her mother's side, then Zenakabee would never forgive her. Either way, she would lose and as she quietly accepted her mother's words as her own, she severed whatever ties she had with her step-sister.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
"Mrs. Reule, I came to you to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage," Charles Witherstand asked. He was an amiable and prosperous young man with pale skin, rosy cheeks, blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes.
"Karyane?" Adelaide asked, as her eyes glittered at the prospect of her beloved daughter marrying such an affluent young man. "Why…"
But she was cut off by Charles, who was embarrassed for not being specific enough. "No, I meant Zenakabee," he told her, as a loving expression came over his eyes at the mention of the girl that he was desperately falling for.
Suddenly, Adelaide's face took on a cold countenance. "No. You certainly may not." All Charles was able to do was gape at her in disbelief as the woman in front of him crushed his precious dreams. "And don't even consider going to my husband. Make that mistake and I'll make the mistake of making your life a living hell. You may leave." All Charles could do was nod, head hung low. He cast one last glance at Zenakabee, who was hiding behind the slightly ajar door. The light in his eyes had been extinguished. As he witnessed the maiden that he wanted so desperately to be his own begin to cry, his heart was wrenched from him once more. He mouthed 'sorry' and left, feeling as low as the beggar who sat on the other end of the street, imploring the wealthy passerby for change.
Karyane, unaware of what had just happened, stepped into the scene and noticed Zenakabee, sitting pathetically by the slightly open door, hunched over as sobs overwhelmed her already frail heart. A feeling of sorrow swept over her as she saw her crying step. Yes, Zenakabee despised her and constantly rejected Karyane's offers of friendship, but she still had a heart. She still felt and cared for her sister. Karyane rushed over and enveloped Zenakabee in a hug. But a minute later, Adelaide opened the door that the two sisters were leaning against and both fell to the floor, in front of their mother's feet.
"Karyane, please leave," she said in an unfeeling tone. "Zenakabee, get your pitiful form off of the floor."
"How could you?" Zenakabee cried out in a disbelieving, raspy voice.
"It's for your own good, Zenakabee. I'm your mother and I have decided that..." Adelaide began in the same cold, distant tone, unwilling to sympathize with the step-daughter that she loathed.
"It's not for my own good! You just don't want me to be unhappy! Why do you hate me so much! Why did you do it!" Zenakabee shouted whilst her once cold exterior shattered. A ringing noise echoed throughout the halls and rooms of the rather quiet manor as Adelaide's hand met with Zenakabee's cheek.
"Don't you dare use such dirty language under my roof, you pathetic creature!" she yelled, her bitter eyes glaring at Zenakabee. She hated the girl for her mere existence. And Zenakabee's existence made it that much more difficult for Karyane to find a suitable man.
"Mother!" Karyane shouted, her eyes widening as the scene unfolded before her.
"Don't you dare question my authority, Karyane. I'm warning you. One more toe out of line and I will make sure that your face meets the muddy cobblestones that the beggars in the street see everyday." Karyane glared heatedly at her mother and bit down on her tongue. Her mother had threatened to throw her out on the streets before. Adelaide had even gone as far as forcing Karyane to sleep outside in the freezing gusts of wind and rain for not obeying her; all to prove the credibility of her threat.
"Go up to your room this instant Karyane," Adelaide ordered, her tone of voice leaving no room for objections.
"Yes mother," Karyane nodded, her head hung as low as Charles's had when he exited the manor, trudging up the stairs and to her room. And once again, a dose of hatred was injected into Zenakabee's heart as she assumed that Karyane cared as little as Adelaide did for her, Zenakabee's, happiness.
/Flashback/
Feeling the onslaught of the painful memories, Karyane bit back angry tears. "You think I enjoyed that? You think I enjoyed watching you suffer?" she hissed, her voice low and raspy. Zenakabee merely stood there, a defiant expression on her face. "Is that why you always hated me? Always blamed me for what Adelaide did to you?"
"You always sided with her! Bloody hell, was there ever a time when you didn't pick her over me! Answer that, Karyane!" Zenakabee shouted, a few specks of spit flying out of her mouth in her anger.
"I never wanted to!" Karyane shouted, feeling more and more miserable as each word came spilling out of Zenakabee's mouth. Then, doing her best to control her anger, she spoke in a controlled voice, "I never wanted to. What do I have to do to make you understand? Every time I even said a word in your defense, I was punished. You might think that you're the one who was hurt, that you're the one who was treated unfairly, but I was hurt just as much as you were."
A single, short laugh came out of Zenakabee's mouth. "I refuse to believe that. I want proof."
Anger blazing inside of her once more, Karyane got up from her now sitting position on the bed and stalked up to her sister. "Proof, huh? You want proof? I'll show you proof!" And she yanked up the long cerulean colored sleeve of her current gown. "See these marks?" There were dull, barely visible circles on the underside of her arm. "Remember when you wanted that gown so desperately three months ago? Remember how Adelaide bought it for me instead?"
"So?" Zenakabee asked, although the vindictiveness that was in her voice before was not so confident now.
"So I fought to get you that dress! I fought with my own blood, my own mother to get you a godforsaken gown! I argued with her for days on end while you stayed with father and I was beaten. Just to get you that bloody dress! And when you got that gown, the only thing that probably crossed your mind was how you finally got something that I had wanted for once."
Zenakabee remained quiet.
"Not enough proof!" Karyane asked, her face still maintaining an enraged expression. Stumbling with the zipper at the back of her gown, she unzipped her dress to reveal her back. Her pale skin was littered with long red lines that looked as if though they were just beginning to heal. With her back still to Zenakabee, she forced her sister to touch the marks. "This is the beating that I got so that you could go to that stupid ball! You didn't know it, but Adelaide wasn't even going to let you go to that. She was going to give you extra work that day so that even if you were finished, you'd be too exhausted to go. I argued and argued and after I finally threatened to tell Edward everything, she agreed. But not before she ordered Norse to whip me." Slowly zipping up her dress again, she whipped around to face Zenakabee once more.
"Still not enough proof? Remember that night two years ago when you went to that ball with Charles? Remember!" she shouted.
"Yes," was Zenakabee's soft reply.
"Where was I!" Karyane demanded, fury still lining her voice.
"I…I don't know."
"Exactly, I wasn't there. I wasn't there! I was the one who struggled with Adelaide so you could go. And did I go to that ball! No! I was the one who suffered and was forced to sleep outside in the rain. I was the one who woke up the next morning, freezing, starving to death, soaked to the bone, and covered in mud. Why! Just so you could go to some godamned ball!" Breathing heavily, having said her words, Karyane stared at Zenakabee with angry eyes.
"Now do you understand?" Karyane asked, her voice a low whisper, tears threatening to fall once more.
Zenakabee looked up; when Karyane noticed the tears spilling down the other female's face, her icy look melted. "I'm sorry," Zenakabee murmured and the two long-time rivals and sisters hugged, for once forgetting about the spiteful feelings that they harbored for each other.
Meanwhile, a certain captain straightened himself, after conveniently 'hearing' the conversation. "Well, that sure was bloody enlightening. At least now I know why they argue so much." Slowly, he walked away and to his own room. Pushing his key into the lock, he grumbled, "But still, it was a waste of my bloody precious time."
A/N: I'm thinking about posting some Pirates of the Caribbean oneshots between Christmas and next week. So if you guys would like to see those, tell me and I'll e-mail or send you a message when I have them up. Merry (early) Christmas and don't forget to review!