A/N: ...I may be a just a bit obsessed with this fic and the characters, but that helps a lot with writing, as does knowing that people are interested in reading more, so here's another chapter!
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The cost of continuing on after death and being cursed appeared to involve being forced to endure long stretches of time where no one, living or dead, came into the sight of the Silent Mary's crew.
Salazar, for one, despised these dry spells, for he could do nothing but dwell on what could have been. To think back on the dead Sparrow, and how Salazar longed to be able to stab the damned pirate again, to make him die a second time. To make the Sparrow pay again for all of the agony that the cursed Spanish captain continued to endure.
None of the crew dared to engage their captain during these quiet times, apart from Lesaro and a few other brave souls, who could stand to get close to their pacing captain. Careful tact was taken, because Salazar would occasionally dig and dig the tip of his rapier hard into the deck, apparently unaware that he was further damaging his own ship, as lost as the cursed man was in his mind. But from the hatred that crossed Salazar's face, none dared point out the marks that littered the deck where their captain drove his blade down.
-x-x-x-
Salazar found the early morning to be like any other, although the storm clouds overhead that followed his ship blocked out the sun, indicating the cursed man's mood.
Dark and pained. Frustrated beyond belief.
Tap. Tap. Thunk!
Salazar drove the tip of his blade into the deck beside him. With narrowed eyes on the horizon, the cursed Spanish captain irritably jerked his head to get his hair to stop floating in his line of sight. What looked at first to be the sight of a pirate ship to run down turned out to be a rock instead.
A rock.
A blood filled wheeze of disappointment escaped Salazar's lips as his hands wrapped tightly about the hilt of his blade and the wheel of the ship.
It was one thing to be trapped in the Devil's Triangle, unable to escape. It was another thing entirely to have the whole sea be open to exploration, and yet find nothing.
-x-x-x-
Another week passed by at a crawl, as no Jolly Rogers had been sighted, and therefore, there was nothing for the crew of the Silent Mary to do. The most that had been found in the past week were shipwrecks and only the fully dead or bones were ever located upon those discoveries. This meant that the Silent Mary and her crew continued to sail onward, no real destination in mind apart from locating clues to reverse their curse.
A sense of sadness and pain seemed to settle in on those aboard the battered ship as the days went by. The mood always became bleak when they were not actively engaged, whether it be running down pirates, or pouring over sea charts. There was no one in sight, living or dead, and Salazar and his men could do nothing but converse with one another, wander the decks of the Mary, or stare out to sea silently. The tales the ghosts had to tell had been told so many times that they no longer drew as much entertainment as they once had. As such, a few of the lower rung cursed ghosts, as well as some of the officers, took it into their dead hands to find their own forms of amusement, lest they suffocate in the gloomy mood of their ship.
Officer Moss was admonished quite a few times by Lesaro for sneaking up on unsuspecting fellow officers, and popping up out of the deck of the ship or through a wall, startling the intended target. A good deal of surprise and a few oaths emitted from those affected, but then all who were involved shared a laugh over the absurdity of dead men being able to be frightened.
No one dared do anything so improper in front of their captain, lest the limping ghost catch sight of them, and decide to try and do something about it. Not that much could be done to them in this state, much to their captain's ire, though mainly it was because the crew could not tidy themselves or the ship up, no matter how hard they tried.
Lesaro pretended not to notice the antics of the men most of the time, as the one-eyed ghost figured anything to keep their, well, spirits, up was a good, whether or not it was a proper thing to do.
In fact, the lieutenant had just now witnessed Officer Moss phase out from a cabin in the gloom of the night, and dragged one of the other officers through it, which resulted in a startled cry from the other ghost, accompanied by a hollow laugh. Lesaro noted that his captain's head had turned sharply to one side, as if hearing the scream, and the telltale thump of cane against deck meant that he was going to investigate the matter. Knowing that his captain's mood was likely to be poor after days of nothing to occupy him, Lesaro was almost relieved when a shout came from the stern of the ship.
"Capitan! There is a ship to starboard. She just rose out of the waters, sir!" A pause. "She is sailing toward us."
At the sight of the other ship making as if to collide with them, Lesaro frantically turned the wheel over and over, so as to avoid said collision. Lesaro knew full well that the Mary could take the strike and still sail, but the lieutenant also knew that Salazar would go further mad if the Silent Mary took any more damage than her already battered hull had taken. The one-eyed ghost kept the Silent Mary carefully parallel to the other ship, and awaited his captain's orders, as did the rest of the crew, who were eyeing the ship that had risen out of the waters with expressions ranging from worry to hope to fear.
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There were no colors being flown that night, none that he could see, anyway, but Salazar was no fool. Even he had heard tales of the Flying Dutchman, and how it ferried the souls of dead sailors from this life to the next. Salazar rasped out a chuckle at the very thought; no one was taking him anywhere. He might be dead, but he still wasn't ready to give up the hope of reversing his curse and becoming a living man once more.
Salazar caught sight of movement on the deck of the ship, but first chose to run a critical eye over the ship. It was displeasing to see such a ship covered in what appeared to be seaweed and other manner of sea life, and no part of the ship appeared to have escaped the seas watery touch. Even the rigging was covered in mussels and other sea life. Salazar grimaced at the offensive sight, and even if the ship had come from underwater, it didn't look like anyone bothered to keep the ship clean in years, and instead had chosen to let the sea have its way with it.
"Sir, there is someone there."
Salazar saw the man in question even as one of his crew had spoken up. Salazar looked the man over, and found him to be as equally unkempt as the ship he stood on. Upon even closer inspection, the man appeared to be grief stricken, for whatever reason, and it showed in his haggard appearance. His posture was slumped, and his expression looked worn out beneath the cloth tied over his brow, long unkempt hair rolling down to his shoulders. Black blood oozed from the corner of Salazar's lips as he peeled it back in distaste at the sight of what looked like barnacles on the side of the man's face. Salazar's own horrific appearance he chose to not contemplate at this point in time. Salazar cast a brief glance around for other people on board, before the cursed Spanish captain decided that perhaps the man that stood before him on the other ship had ordered any others to stay back.
"Are you responsible for killing Jack and sinking the Black Pearl?" Hard eyes bored into Salazar's dead ones as the rough voice rose from the man.
"Si, it was I." Salazar tapped his cane on the deck as a ragged wheeze rose from his lips. He would never deny killing a pirate for any reason. "I had my men sink the pirate's ship, after I got my revenge on the Sparrow, who had condemned us to this hell that we are forced to live. Revenge for being trapped in the Devil's Triangle for decades."
"My name is Will Turner, and I am cursed to be the captain of the Flying Dutchman." The man said, seeming to ignore Salazar's justification for his actions. The Dutchman's captain's voice was rough with pain and sadness, yet an underlying anger seeped in as he continued. "When you sunk that ship, you took the life of my son, who had gone to sea in search of a way to free me from my curse."
"The Flying Dutchman is a pirate vessel, is it not?"
"There could be arguments made for either way." Will responded, but before he could get another word in, a defiant shout echoed from the depths of the Flying Dutchman.
"We're pirates, you navy bastard! Go crawl into another dark hole and stay there!"
Lesaro, standing a few paces away from his captain, shifted and let out an inaudible sigh as he covered his face with a hand, knowing what was going to happen. Already he knew that if he looked upon Salazar, that his captain would have gone rigid from the insult, and was no doubt, from the audible grinding of teeth and various wheezes, working himself up over the words. Lesaro dropped his hand to his side and looked up to the heavens when his captain started to speak again. The longer Salazar spoke, the more Lesaro believed his captain to be digging a deeper hole for all aboard the Silent Mary as he became careless with his words, spurred on by the impertinent insult shouted at him.
"The son of a pirate is of no loss then. All pirates will all be eradicated from the sea, sooner or later." Salazar said cruelly, even as he coughed up some blood. With a hiss of annoyance at the unfortunate timing, and at the disgust that rose within him over the blood running down to his chin, Salazar paced the side of his ship, cane tapping against the deck, his eyes on Will, "Any man who would willingly sail with a pirate and not kill him deserves to die. Especially one who would associate with that Sparrow."
"Capitan..." Lesaro interjected urgently, breaking from his post to stand in his captain's path. The surprised murmurs of the rest of the crew the lieutenant ignored, his focus on his captain. Lesaro could remain quiet no longer, knowing what was likely going to come of his captain's words to the Flying Dutchman's captain. When Salazar came to an abrupt halt, and scowled at him, Lesaro forged on, his words whispered and hurried. "Please, captian, think what it is that you are saying. That man's son is dead by our doing, and yet he holds the power to let us be rid of this curse of ours. To let us be at rest, no longer forced to roam the seas with no end in sight."
"You would seek help from a pirate, lieutenant?" Salazar grated harshly, not bothering to keep his words quiet in return. Salazar did not count travelling with the pirate Barbossa on his ship an alliance, but merely a means to an end to locate Jack. Salazar would have killed them all, and only left the captain alive, as Salazar was a man of his word, and would have left Barbossa to live to tell the tale.
"Not all of the men will last, sir. Some of them despair that they will be forever locked into these dead bodies of ours. Forced to be in pain at all times, missing limbs as even more pieces start to crumble away." Lesaro caught sight of Will staring at them, and had a sinking feeling that his captain's words had sealed whatever mercy the captain of the Flying Dutchman might have given them. "You would deny rest to those of us who are weary of this existence?"
"They wish to be dead, instead of finding a way to live again?" Salazar rasped, taking one step forward to be within a foot of Lesaro, anger coursing through him at his lieutenant stepping out of line to scold him. "And what of yourself, lieutenant? Do you wish to die as well?"
"No, capitan. " Lesaro met Salazar's furious stare with a calm one of his own. "You know that I will follow you anywhere, sir. I was merely expressing what others can not. Not every man aboard the Silent Mary can handle this kind of life we are living."
"They doubt me?" Salazar asked, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper, blood freely dripping out of his mouth as he glowered at the cursed man before him. "Doubt that we will find a way to be free of this hell?"
"We all have out doubts, sir, but it is the hope of living and stepping foot on land once more that keeps many going." Lesaro did not move from where he stood, even as his captain's face came within an inch of his own. "But you must know, capitan, that not every man aboard this vessel has as strong a will as yours, to push past the pain and continue onward." That seemed to placate the other man, and Lesaro was relieved when Salazar took a step back and looked away, leaning heavily on his cane as if in thought. The lieutenant couldn't always be sure when his captain would chose to listen to his words, but it appeared to have worked this time around. Lesaro chanced a glance over at Will, but unfortunately, from the expression on the other man's face, Lesaro knew that no mercy would be extended to the few men aboard the Mary who were stretched to their limits.
"I didn't come here to ferry your souls." Will Turner confirmed Lesaro's assumptions. "I merely came to confirm what I felt was true. I will take no pity on a man who will blindly kill. One who kills even those who are not pirates." Will turned away from the Silent Mary. "I cannot stand the number of children I've had to help cross over. Those ships you carelessly sunk in the Devil's Triangle were more than just pirate vessels. Many souls were trapped within the Triangle until you were released, and the influx of those coming to me for aid...the number of children..."
Salazar frowned at this, not recalling ever having found any indication of children while in the Triangle. It had been very dark, however, so it could have been feasible that when destroying ships with the Mary's hull, instead of invading the ship and killing its occupants, that there could very well have been children within its cabins. A brief feeling of despair and white hot rage washed over the cursed Spanish captain, because Salazar hunted pirates. Destroyed those that tainted the seas. He never would have allowed children to be killed. He would have sent them on their way out of the Devil's Triangle, to be out of cursed waters before they themselves became cursed, and trapped to the same fate as Salazar and his men...
"Capitan...the ship..." Santos called out, pointing. The rest of the crew watched as the Flying Dutchman began to submerge beneath the waves.
Salazar raised his head, leaving behind troubling thoughts of those he and his men had killed over the decades within the Devil's Triangle, to meet the Dutchman's captain's eyes.
"You may some day be free of your curse, but until then, do not expect me to ferry you or your men from this world while you are dead. " The water was up to Will's waist now, yet as he turned to look away, Will never looked back on the man responsible for his son's death. "You might never be free of the curse either, and so you will never rest. Nor will I, carrying the pain of knowing that my only son is dead."
The Flying Dutchman submerged the rest of the way beneath the water, and Salazar shook his head at he sudden sound of splashes. Again, Salazar found that his lieutenant's words rang true; some of the men aboard the Silent Mary were reaching their breaking point. Free of the Devil's Triangle's darkness, yet unable to step foot on land. Salazar limped away from the side of the ship, highly doubting that the captain of the Flying Dutchman would do anything for the men who had just jumped ship, crying out for mercy to be taken on them.
"...Adios." Salazar muttered under his breath, his voice now quiet. He knew that the three men who had jumped ship and disappeared beneath the waves were going to try and seek mercy from the Flying Dutchman's captain. They were unlikely to find it, and would no doubt go the way a few others of the crew had gone these past three years and counting.
To land.
To a painful second death, but one that carried the promise of release from their cursed existence.
With an aggravated strike of cane against the deck Salazar could tell that while those faithful to his command remained, there was little doubt that this encounter had seriously demoralized them all. To be forced to continue to endure their curse, and have no way to end it, apart from committing suicide by going onto dry land. It was their only option now, as the captain of the Flying Dutchman had made it clear that he would not ferry their souls to the afterlife.
They were trapped, not living yet not entirely dead.
Trapped, and yet free, free to sail wherever they wished, though unable to make port.
As Salazar took the helm, he did not look to where his lieutenant went to stand. No one spoke as the cursed Spanish captain steered the ship back in the direction they had been headed. There was nothing to say. Not after that exchange. Salazar had nothing to offer his men but empty repeated assurances that they would eventually be rewarded for all that they had done to rid the world of pirates.
On that night, the crew of the Silent Mary knew that they had lost the one surefire way to be rescued from the hell they were living. But they would press on, still loyal to their captain as they clung to the hope that there was something else in that world that would be able to either end their curse, and them in the process. Or better yet, free them from the curse entirely so that they could live again.
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There was a brief break in the melancholic atmosphere that came some two days later, in the form of dolphins. These dolphins were living ones, and their playful leaps from the water near the Silent Mary drew the crew to one side of the ship. Unlike the mermaids, the playful mammals didn't seem to care about the appearance of the ghosts on the ship who were watching them.
Had Salazar a beating heart, it may have ached at the sight of his crew laughing and smiling at the antics of the dolphins. They had very little to be happy about these days, so it was a rare sight to be witness to. Salazar remained at the helm, looking away from his crew to the endless sea before him, lost in thought until his shoulder was lightly tapped by a hesitant hand. Salazar half turned to regard his lieutenant, who held his cane up against his chest. It was the first time since the Flying Dutchman had vanished beneath the waves that Lesaro had engaged with him.
"There has to be a way to lift this curse." Salazar said at length, staring at the cane his lieutenant held. "A way that does not involve us departing from this world. We do not need some pirate's assistance to be freed of this curse."
"It seemed like that man may have already made up his mind before coming to us." Lesaro hedged, holding out the cane in his captain's direction.
"I am not going to lose faith in being alive once more. I would not have departed this life, even if that pirate had offered it." Salazar said, glancing down at the wheel he had his hands clasped around.
"We will have to find a way, capitan. It is all we have left now that the Dutchman's captain refuses to aid us."
Salazar slipped into a series of indecipherable Spanish, knowing that the other man wanted him to acknowledge that it was his own words that had made things worse. But he couldn't. Wouldn't. Salazar didn't want to think that he had denied rest to those who truly couldn't continue on, yet couldn't bring themselves to take their own lives on dry land. It irked Salazar to no end that Lesaro merely waited until he had no more words to say and visibly deflated, the anger leaving him for the time being. Salazar briefly glanced Lesaro's way, before he lowered his head, and allowed his hair to float across his face as he spoke, "Perhaps we will speak of these things later?
"And while speaking of those things, perhaps include a discussion on tact, sir?" Lesaro kept a smile hidden when he caught an angry eye peering through the floating hair and continued on. "I know you wish all pirates to be gone, but don't let that get in the way of allowing the men on this ship to find a way to be at peace." Lesaro pressed his captain's cane into his hand, and gently nudged Salazar away from the wheel, when the cursed man said nothing in return. "Try to find some pleasure in this existence of ours, capitan, apart from hunting pirates, or you'll only despair more."
Salazar moodily tapped his cane against the deck, but merely nodded to his lieutenant, and limped across the deck to join his men lined along the starboard railing, watching the dolphins frolic. Salazar thought the display would only anger him, but instead, a kind of calm washed over him. These creatures had not a care in the world, and only seemed to be leaping out of the water for the benefit of Salazar and his men. There didn't seem to be any other explanation for the behavior, nor the curious whistles and clicks that came from the dolphins as they leapt in and out of the water very close to the broken hull of the Mary. Even after the dolphins had moved on, further away from the ship, Salazar tracked them, a kind of longing making itself known to him. He didn't look away even as Lesaro came to stand alongside him, Officer Magda having taken over standing at the helm.
"Not a bad sight, is it, sir?" Lesaro chanced, tracking the dolphins' departure as well. "Not every being in the sea has so much joy in life than those dolphins do."
"No, mi amigo, it is not a bad sight at all." Salazar turned away from the sea once the dolphins had swam out of sight. The cursed Spanish captain briefly clapped his lieutenant on the left shoulder before Salazar limped back toward the helm, his voice echoing something close to wistfulness, "Maybe we will see them again, eh?"
"Perhaps, sir."
Salazar didn't doubt that he and his crew would continue to come across various sea-life, but to come across something that would help them be rid of their curse? It remained to be seen if such a thing existed.
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A/N:There's quite a lot of Lesaro and Salazar exchange, but I like to think that they discuss things a lot, and that Lesaro is the only one who can call out his captain and not get into too much trouble for it. Especially after they are dead (and dolphins are around in the western seas, aren't they? I just wanted the Silent Mary crew to have a bit of a break from being depressed about being cursed).
(Also, from the few appearances of Officer Moss, I got the feeling that he was a trouble maker just from his expressions but otherwise did his job so he could get away with it. Someone's got to lighten up the atmosphere and what better way than to scare your crewmates even though you're all dead? Also, despite appearances, I feel that Lesaro would be better at negotiations than Salazar, and be less apt to have people killed or insulting and/or angering those who could help you while doing said negotiations. I suppose it depends on the situation-Salazar probably would have an easier time with fellow Spaniards and not pirates).