A/N: I'm back! Mostly! It's been a rough few weeks, but I'm currently set up in a good friend's spare room and slowly putting the pieces in place to get back on my feet. The important thing is, things have slowed down enough in the day-to-day for me to write a bit more regularly again! I'm sorry if I didn't get back to reviewers with previews for the last chapter, but things should be a bit more business as usual for the time being! Thank you for your understanding and your patience.
Sparrow, James noted, was far too pleased with himself. Anybody might've thought that there was little in life that he took greater pleasure in than being taken into custody by the armed forces from the way he swaggered around with a pleased grin on his face. Even the most withering glare he could muster didn't succeed in dampening the sparkle in the man's eyes - which only infuriated James all the more, and that made Sparrow all the happier. A vicious cycle, indeed. So James took to ignoring him. And that, unfortunately, had very little effect.
"I don't care for the situation. Any attempt to storm the caves could turn into an ambush," he spoke as they sat in a boat with a platoon of his men, which necessitated quarters that were far too close, with how the pirate insisted on leaning on him and offering little to no personal space at all.
"Not if you're the one doing the ambushing," he leaned an arm lazily on James' shoulder, leaning in to speak as though letting him in on some fantastic secret "I go in and convince Barbossa to sail his men out with their little boats. You and your mates return to The Dauntless and blast the bejesus out of them with your little cannons. What do you have to lose?"
James grimaced "Nothing I'd lament being rid of."
"Now," Sparrow continued, entirely unbothered "To be quite honest with you, there's still a risk to those aboard The Dauntless...which includes the future Mrs Commodore."
James stilled. Turning, he chanced a glance over the misty waters to The Dauntless. The order had been given for lighting to be kept at a minimum to reduce their visibility as much as possible, but if he squinted he almost fancied that he could see Theodora's crimson hair above deck, glinting in the moonlight. But, as if sensing the direction of his thoughts, Sparrow wasn't done.
"...And her fiery redheaded bridesmaid," he grinned "Your ward, isn't she? Good ol' Dora? Funny one, her. Pretty one - y'know, beneath the…"
Rather than voice what he meant, he gestured vaguely to his eyebrow and his lip to indicate the injuries she'd obtained during the attack on Port Royal.
It was best not to react - that was a good general rule of thumb whenever Sparrow was in the vicinity, to be fair. It was also, however, easier said than done. His ability to get a rise out of somebody was second only to Theodora's, but the pirate's particular brand of it was much less charming. Ordinarily it mightn't have bothered James much, but when paired with the ease in which they spoke to one another on the short boat journey back to The Dauntless, it was discomfiting…to say the very, very least.
The more he tried not to think about the matter, the more it plagued him. Sparrow's vile nature aside, his "humour" paired with his inability to take anything seriously made it disturbingly plain to see how he might have developed a good rapport with Theodora. It was something James would have to delve into more deeply - solely out of good-natured concern, of course, for the woman in his charge. For a woman who had become his dear, dear…friend. Theodora was strange at times - more worldly than he expected in some things, and then oddly naïve and uninformed about the most basic daily proceedings in others. According to Hattie, the first time she'd stumbled across the aftermath of a hanging in the town square, she turned white as a sheet and almost swooned - something entirely unexpected from a woman who could drink him under the table and swore in a manner that he'd reprimand even the most senior of his men for.
She might not have known quite the level of depravity in which she was dealing with when she talked to Sparrow, or any pirate for that matter. He hoped that she didn't, in a way. The idea of her knowingly choosing to cavort with the likes of such people was even worse than her doing so out of sheer ignorance. It was a discussion he had not yet had a chance to have with her, but have it he very much would once where she was back where she belonged. Once they were home. Sparrow continued to smirk at him, and memories of his awkward, stilted conversation with Elizabeth came to the forefront of his mind unbidden, and he shook it away with a grimace for this. There was no time for this - no room for this in his mind. Not now.
Instead, he turned to one of the boats standing by, and gave his order.
"See to it that Miss Swann and Miss Byrne are confined to the captain's quarters for their own safety."
Ordinarily, Theo might've thought that upon watching the man that she fancied herself in love with propose to another woman, she'd have retreated to a quiet room and proceeded to rattle through her body weight in a lethal combination of chocolate, vodka, and ice cream. Of course, ordinarily she wouldn't have had to worry bout an upcoming battle with undead pirates. A phrase Jack had uttered a day prior sprang to mind - 'funny ol' world, innit?'. At the moment, she was struggling to find the humour in it. Maybe one day she would. If she survived.
Luckily (or perhaps unluckily) considering she was on a ship with people who seemed to know the source and the depth of her sorrow both before she even had even acknowledged that it existed at all. While it didn't seem a good thing on the surface, it drove her decidedly away from any temptation that she might have had to wallow, for she couldn't cope with any more sympathetic looks or knowing 'are you well?'s for the time being. Elizabeth, bless her soul, seemed to have absolutely no idea how to behave around her at all, and had apparently resolved mainly to stick to sad doe-eyed looks and consoling arm-pats whenever they crossed paths on the ship. She meant well, but it only made Theo feel worse.
In the end, she retreated into their shiny new quarters, which only made her feel worse for how much of James they had stamped all over them despite his short time spent making use of them. It spoke of the respect he had earned for himself, she supposed, for no doubt he'd had offered them to the Governor first and must've been refused. For all of his cluelessness at times, Governor Swann seemed a decent enough man - certainly not one who would demand the finest quarters if he thought another would make better use of them.
Her discomfort mattered little, though, for she knew Elizabeth would soon be confined to these quarters anyway for the sake of her safety, and Theo couldn't think of any other place for herself that would be more fitting for now. She could always slip out onto the deck when the fighting began, anyway. The soldiers would be a bit too occupied to send her back to her room.
Pushing aside heart ache and self pity, she squared her shoulders and set about a task that was far more useful - looking for weapons. James was nothing if not practical, there was no way he'd go chasing pirates with only the weapons he had on his person. Not when it was so easy to be disarmed. She found what she was looking for very quickly, in a weapon rack housed within a grand wooden dresser - his old sword. Recognising it immediately as the one he'd used before Will had crafted the new one he'd been given upon promotion, she reached for it but stopped immediately when Elizabeth's protests began to ring throughout the ship.
Stepping back quickly, she closed the doors and tried to look natural - which mostly involved casually leaning against the wardrobe like it was the comfiest spot in the entire room. It was fine, though. Most here already considered her mad.
"The commodore — there's something I have to tell him!" She was protesting as she was bodily dragged towards the quarters.
It took two soldiers to do it, too, something that was rather impressive in itself.
"The pirates! They're cursed - they can't be killed!"
"Don't worry, miss, he's informed of that. A mermaid flopped up on deck and told him the whole story."
It was Gillette who said it - an insufferably smug little arse of a man who Theo had never liked in her few encounters with him. Definitely the opposite of Groves. Offering a smarmy smile, he turned, swiftly slamming the doors shut behind him, narrowly avoiding catching Elizabeth in them.
"This is Jack Sparrow's doing!" She called desperately after them.
It was easy to hear the men laughing among themselves outside the door. Would they do so under James' watchful eye? Theo highly doubted it. Elizabeth spun and leaned against the doors giving a ragged sigh of annoyance.
"You and I," she explained slowly, jaw ticking in anger "Are to be confined to these quarters for the sake of our own safety."
"…You and me?" Theo echoed, vaguely surprised.
Why, she wasn't sure - of her surprise, not of the reasoning. She was a woman. That was enough of a reason to be derided or coddled both in these times, largely depending on the mood and the temperament of whatever man was in charge at any given time. What else was James to do? Lock up Elizabeth but shrug and announce "Good luck, Theo!" when it came to the other woman who had fallen into his care? Not only would such a move not look particularly good, he was far too honourable to do such a thing anyway.
Elizabeth simply nodded in response to her question, eyes already scanning the quarters desperately for some sort of inspiration.
"What do we do?" She approached quietly to ask "Tell me we don't stay here while Will is in so much danger - while James is in so much danger. Theo, you know Jack will betray him. He will, won't he?"
Theo made a face - it was a low blow on Elizabeth's part. An understandable one, yes, but a low one all the same. It did nothing to help her foul mood. Turning back to the wardrobe, she opened the door and retrieved the sword, the belted scabbard that it was in and all. It was much too big for her - the belt and the sword both, in truth - but she'd have to make do. Wrapping the leather around her waist, she made a face when she discovered that even the smallest notch in the belt would leave it in danger of slipping down over her hips. Taking her find over to the desk, she found a drawing compass atop it easily and thanked James' organisational skills as she lifted it and began to use the pointy end to dig out a new hole in the belt.
"Theodora," Elizabeth pressed.
"I can't tell you anything, Elizabeth, that's not how this works. I will say that what you're going to do isn't necessarily what I'm going to do, and that you'd have come to your own conclusion whether or not I was here," she could hear the sourness creeping into her tone as she spoke "So I suppose that's how things have to happen."
She had no quarrel with Elizabeth - truly, she did not. She wasn't delighted over how things had shaken out, but she was trying her best to be a mature and responsible adult about all of this…something, she might add, she struggled with at the best of times. And while she liked to think she would succeed in doing so in the long run, once the sting wore off, it was rather difficult to do with Elizabeth throwing out his name as a weapon. She was desperate, yes, and it was all rather understandable. But still, Theodora's ability to be reasonable had its limits.
"I could…" Elizabeth's eyes continued to roam around the room "…I could tie the sheets together! Lower myself down into one of the boats below and row to the caves!"
Theo glanced up in the short silence that followed, realising that Elizabeth was waiting for confirmation that this was the right move. She offered a small nod, sighing as she continued to cling to any shred of serenity that remained within her body.
"Yep," she forced her tone into a lighter one "That'll do it."
Although, truth be told, she had a feeling that Elizabeth would have tried it even if Theo had insisted she remain on the ship. With a nod, the blonde began furiously divesting the bed of its sheet, then of its bedding and pillow cases. Theo made no move to help - even if she wasn't busy, she knew the timing here was important. The finely polished surface of the leather belt was beginning to wear and give way to her furious hacking, beginning to peel back as she single-mindedly dug a groove into it. It was unlikely she'd have much cause to sheath the blade once the carnage started, but the belt would help her keep it close.
Once she was tying her knots, Elizabeth returned her attention to her. Theo stayed silent as her gaze burned into the side of her face.
"You're not coming with me?" She asked quietly.
"I need to stay here. We'll have our share of problems aboard the ship. I want to help. Maybe when the fighting starts I can warn James, or…or…" or get in the way and cause him to lose his life even more prematurely.
But much in the same way Elizabeth could not remain in this room for Will's sake, Theo could not stay here with the fighting out there. Not least because she had less than no desire to be stuck in here with Governor Swann when it all went down. She'd once dubbed James the most English man to ever English, and she stood by that, but the governor came in second place for that particular contest - and he didn't manage it quite so endearingly, nor charmingly. Not in Theo's opinion, anyway.
"…Or something," she finished lamely finally.
Elizabeth's nod was understanding, and just slightly sympathetic. The belt gave way beneath Theo's efforts, and she managed to stop just short of stabbing the desk beneath, taking her attention away from the sad frown on Elizabeth's face. And that was when Governor Swann knocked on the door.
"Elizabeth?" He called through the door "I just want you to know I, er….I believe you made a very good decision today."
Theo suppressed a groan, and only just managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes when she remembered that Elizabeth mightn't take kindly to an insult to her father.
"I couldn't be more proud of you," he added softly.
And that was when the guilt kicked in. Not just because of her own cynicism, but because of how his words sent a fresh wave of homesickness over her that threatened to drown her outright. Christ, she missed her own dad. While she might've mocked the Governor for who he was, he was ultimately harmless. Or well-meaning, at least. A little bumbling and clueless every now and then, perhaps, but there were worse crimes. For the times, the fact that he was here to potentially talk Elizabeth out of a good match spoke volumes of how he cared for her. His close relationship with Elizabeth also couldn't help but remind her of home, and his earnest but just slightly self-conscious admittance of his pride in her was the icing on the cake.
Inhaling sharply, she tried to shake off the wave of emotion. How long was there between Elizabeth's escape and the pirates attacking the ship? She couldn't remember, she only knew that one came before the other. It had to be quick, though, didn't it? If the soldiers failed to have much of a reaction to Elizabeth's disappearance? Theo certainly had no recollection of any sort of alarm being raised, or a search taking place.
"But you know, even a good decision if made for the wrong reasons, can be a wrong decision," he continued.
Theo wasn't the only one affected by the speech - for Elizabeth shot a sad look in the direction of the door before turning her gaze back to Theo, and fixing her with a look that could only say 'cover for me'. And then she was flinging her makeshift rope out of the window as Theo stood and tied the belt about her waist. They shared a determined nod, both very different women on all too similar missions, and then Elizabeth made a swift exit to begin her climb, and Theo was left to contend with the empty room around her. The true calm before the storm.
A/N: Apologies for the shortness! Was torn between making this longer and therefore taking more time to update, and uploading as is and finally getting something up. This felt like a good place to end, though, and the next one should be very action packed…and a bit more quick in being uploaded!