Disclaimer: No profit is being made from this story, nor are any of the PoTC characters mine. Since Juno is not an original PoTC character, and since she is from that deep space known as my brain, she's mine! )

Chapter 7: Heartless

"Sir! We're ready to sail. But…" Maccus trailed off.

"But? But what?" snapped Davy.

"Uh, sir, the girl, Juno. She's not on board. She didn't come back last night."

"What!? And you thought to tell me this NOW??" The captain snapped his scope back into place and turned to face Maccus, his eyes stormy.

"Well, I figured she was with you…"

"Well you assumed wrong then!" Jones shoved the scope into Maccus' hands, shoving him away.

"Should we look for her?"

"Never mind that, I already know where she is. Koleniko! Make ready that longboat, and row it over there," Davy pointed. "You'll be rowing Miss Alex back to the ship." And with that, the Captain disappeared into one of the walls, only to reappear close to the shallows of the beach. He expected to find Juno at the same lagoon from the night before. But she was nowhere to be found. Jones growled, angry that now that she wasn't where he had expected her to be. He spotted her clothes lying on the grass, above the beach, but the girl herself was gone. Just as he was about to turn around and head back to ship, she came over the rise. She stopped when she saw him. Jones just waited there, not wanting to say anything. When Juno realized that her Captain was not about to move, she slowly walked toward him, only stopping when she was a few feet away.

"Why didn't you come back to the ship last night? Or at least report to the crew that you'd be out here?" Jones' voice was eerily calm. Juno just stood in front of him, her eyes darting around. "Miss Alex! You are forcing me to remind you that I am the Captain, and I just asked you a ques-" he was cut off by a question.

"Why did you push me away?" In a small voice, Juno had asked her Captain the question that had been in her mind all night.

Davy Jones was a broken man. Anyone who knew his legend knew it. And now here, standing in a lonely lagoon, was a girl asking from him something he felt he could never give again. It made him angry. It was as if she was taunting him with everything he lost and could never regain. He snarled at her and took two steps, closing the distance between them. His claw reached out to grab her by the neck.

"Why? You ask why I pushed you away? Because I'm a heartless Devil, that's why! I cut it out of me so I wouldn't have to feel anymore! Because a stupid wench like you threw away everything I gave! She betrayed me! That's why!!" When he had finished yelling, he noticed Juno was turning blue. He was cutting off her air flow. He released his grip, and she fell into the water.

"Did it work?" Juno asked, as she tried to regain her breath.

"What?" Jones looked at Juno in disbelief. Why doesn't she just shut up and go back to the ship?

"You said you did it so you wouldn't have to feel anymore." Looking up at Davy Jones, her eyes were sad. "Did it work?"

"Why don't you judge for yourself! Get up! Get your clothes and get back to the ship. There's a longboat waiting for you," Jones snapped. He glared at her until she turned around to get her clothes. When she turned back, he was already gone.

…..

As Juno walked around back to the drop-off point, her mind was busy thinking. Did he really cut out his own heart? He must have loved that other girl. Wait. Love? What am I even talking about?? I don't even know what that is. But sometimes the way he looks at me…

"Hey, Juno! I'm over here! Let's go!" Koleniko shouted.

Juno gave a weak half smile, wiped away any remaining tears she had, and ran to the longboat.

"So you spent the night on the island alone? Wasn't it lonely?" Koleniko asked. He was trying to make conversation. In fact, Juno didn't know it, but he had been trying to get up the courage to talk to her for some time now.

"Well, even if I spent it on the ship, I'd probably be alone there, too."

"No way! You'd have been able to come down with the crew and stuff. We had a good time. Old Maccus had too much Rum too drink…hey. You're not listening to me!"

Juno turned to him, "Sorry, Koleniko. My mind is somewhere else. Tell me, and I really need to know. What is in that chest the Captain is always searching for?"

Koleniko was quiet all of a sudden. "Well, don't tell no one that I told you. But it's his…." And he whispered this last word: "heart."

"He cut it out because of a woman, didn't he? What do will he do when he gets it back?"

"Probably hide it again. He hates that thing, but he doesn't like no one to control it, either. It's strange. I'd'a thought that whoever has it woulda come forward by now and tried to get the Cap'n to do whatever they wanted him to do." Koleniko looked at Juno. Her eyes were a little red. "Do you like the Cap'n?"

"What? Like?" Juno became a little embarrassed, and her cheeks went a slight pink. "It doesn't matter. I don't think he likes me very much."

"Is that why you were crying?" Koleniko asked, as they arrived back at the Dutchman. When Juno didn't answer, he said, "Don't worry. He wouldn't keep a woman on board if he didn't like you. Anyway, you fight pretty good, and a lot of us like you!" He smiled as he helped her up the ladder, back onto the ship.

…..

As the Dutchman got under way, Juno sat in her room alone. She didn't feel like socializing very much. What does it matter if he has a heart or not? He can still feel. He feels angry, he feels sad, he feels happy…is he ever happy? She picked up her little Whale plush toy. "I wish I could be like you. You're just here. You don't do anything, and I pet you and keep you company. You're probably happy for a toy, aren't you?"

"What did you do?" Maccus appeared instantly at her door. Juno was startled as she didn't hear anyone come down the stairs.

"Pardon me?"

"To the Captain. What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! What are you talking about?" Juno exclaimed. She wasn't in the mood for this right now.

"Don't tell me that, Juno! You did something. He played his organ last night. Did you hear it? He hasn't played like that in years now. Always sad, always melancholy, but never violent. And then this morning, he was livid you weren't here, and ever since then he's been outright bitching about things just for the sake of bitching. So don't you sit there and tell me you didn't do anything!" Maccus entered Juno's room, shut the canvas, and shut the bars. He quieted his voice. "I've been watching you since you first came on board. I agreed with the decision to keep you. I didn't think that you would ever…think of the Captain in that way. But I've seen the way you look at him, and I saw the way you touched him after that first battle you were in. I even warned you: Don't hurt him-"

"I didn't hurt him! I didn't mean for any of it to happen. It just did."

"What exactly happened?"

Juno fidgeted with her hands, and was biting her bottom lip again. Maccus was burning holes into her forehead. "I kissed him." She looked up at Maccus, whose eye was wide as a saucer. "He kissed back. Until I stuck my tongue in his-"

"I don't need to know all the details, alright?" Maccus was shaking his head, and had his arm out in front of him with his hand in Juno's face. The gesture was clear: STOP.

"But you said-"

"I know what I said, but that was before you told me what happened."

"Wait a second…you thought…you thought it was me who rejected him??" asked Juno in disbelief.

"Well, he did seem really angry…"

"Yeah well it was the other way around. So you can bugger off now. Besides, it's not like he wasn't asking for it. He's always towering over me, and he always gets so close when he speaks, and his face never seems to stop squirming, I wanted to touch it."

"Well forget what I said then," Maccus turned to leave. "By the way, the Captain wants to see you up on deck."

"You're kidding! I can't face him right now!" Juno shrank into the wall of her room.

Maccus shrugged. "Captain said he wanted to see you, and since you were the rejectee, not him, there's less chance if him killing you. That's all I was really worried about. I'd get up there soon if I were you."

Juno watched as Maccus opened the canvas, and the bars again. He gave her a nod, and left.

…..

Author's note: I'm not sure if it's showing through, but I want Juno's personality to get more and more distinct. When she first arrived on the Dutchman, she really was like a robot. She just wanted to follow orders. It was all she knew. But now, with no one restraining her emotions, she's free to experience them all! I like her. She's kinda dumb…but only about some things. If she wanted to kill you, she wouldn't even have to think about it. Lol!