A/N: Sorry for such a long wait this time. Research papers are not fun, that's all I have to say. So, enjoy!
Chapter 7:
She found herself in a cave full of treasure and a single beam of light shined down at the center of the room. In the middle of the pool of light stood a chest overflowing with blood. The red liquid etched down the sides and flowed like lava down the hill of treasure; all the way down to her. Buffy stepped in it as if it weren't what it was and moved slowly towards the chest. She could still hear the constant, rasping breath accompanied by a thrumming in her ears. It seemed to come from everywhere and yet she could nearly feel it on the back of her neck.
As she moved towards the blood filled chest, the liquid bubbled and churned. Her eyes were fixed to the patterns it made. The light shining on it made the blood reflective and slowly, she looked into it like she would a pool of water. Her own face looked back at her, impassive and calm. And then it smiled. She stared at it, knowing she hadn't done the same with her face. Instead she frowned but the reflection only smiled even more. She realized with horror that it was no longer her face but that of a skeletons, rotting flesh hanging off of the bone and grinning a lipless grin.
Buffy pulled sharply away from the reflection and nearly fell. The breathing was harder, louder in her ears. It was joined by the thrumming and she finally recognized it as her own blood pumping through her body at an increasing rate. She backed up from the chest with a confusing horror filling up her lungs, brimming over much like the blood and seeping into the rest of her body. She felt suffocated and desperate.
And then it stopped, all of it. No sounds, no blood, no light. She heard and saw nothing. Slowly the sound of her own deep breathes reached her ears.
"Hello?" Her voiced pierced through the darkness but either there was nothing to reverberate off of or she was in an extremely large area. She heard no echo. Something suddenly glowed to life near by her and she stared intently at the only source of light. It took awhile for her eyes to recognize what it was. A cloaked figure stood a little away from her, hood hiding any identifiable features of the face and the fabric falling just right that she had no idea of the gender. Whoever it was seemed to be the resource of the glow rather than a light shining on them. Buffy watched the entity warily. It slowly raised its head to look at her through the shadows.
"Who are you?" She had the feeling of being smiled at, causing her to shift a little on her feet. It made her nervous to think that this being was happy about something and she had no idea what it was. It lifted its head higher, as if considering her for a moment.
"Not yet, Buffy." The three words shattered the dark world before Buffy had any chance to process them. When she came back to herself, it was to open her eyes to a wooden ceiling above her and a thin mattress over another plank of wood beneath her. She shot up to glanced about the room. When the slow rock of the waters sunk into her mind she finally remembered where she was. It was the Interceptor and more specifically the sleeping quarters for the crew. She had taken a bunk near the doorway and, after a warning glare directed towards Jack, the two men had taken beds on the other side of the room. None of them had taken what would have been the commodore's quarters the entire trip. Jack had muttered something about it being too stuffy while Buffy and Will didn't want to take the nicer room over the other.
Buffy looked around the room to find the sleeping figure of Will, but where Jack had slept there was only an indentation in the mattress. She listened for a moment before picking up the soft scuff of leather boots against wood coming from above her. She rose from her bed, feeling that sleep was beyond her by now and headed up. The sky was grey with the morning light when she came above deck. She took the view in for a moment, smelling the salt in the air and enjoying the refreshing breeze before turning to look for Jack. He was leaning against the railing when she found him, hands clasped under his chin and eyes closed. The posture gave him the image of a man in prayer and Buffy would have found this ironic if it weren't for the fact that she had the impression that he actually was praying. He hummed some unrecognizable song, much like a child's lullaby, deep in his chest. Jack swayed easily with the rocking of the ship as he took deep breathes of the salty air. She considered making her presence known but the peacefulness of the scene before her kept her from moving. It almost had the air of a hallowed moment in a church except it was a ship beneath their feet, but Buffy felt in a way that it was this fact that made it such a sacred moment for Jack.
"Are you going to just stand there?" Jack's voice broke her out of her thoughts with a shock. He hadn't moved to look at her but his eyes were now open and the meditative air of the previous moment was gone. His posture suggested anticipation, as all the muscles in his shoulders tensed and his clasped hands tightened in their embrace.
"You're up early." She couldn't think of anything else to say but the words seemed to be a good choice. Jack's shoulder's relaxed and his hands went limp, hanging over the railing casually.
"Bad dream," he said. He looked up at her with a wistful smile, the look in his eyes suggesting that he wasn't entirely in the moment. Buffy wondered where the rest of him was. She joined him at the railing as she took a deep breathe of the morning air and then let it out in a hurried gust. Her chin rested on her hands, much in the fashion that Jack's had been previously, and she pouted slightly.
"Join the club," she mumbled pathetically.
"Anything to do with your… expertise?" Her eyes darted to her left to glare at Jack. He only grinned, like the cat that ate the canary. Buffy had the urge to throttle him, along with the cat.
"What was your dream about?" She said it as if daring him to push the issue, and she expected him to back down if he had any sense about what a slayer could do when angry. Instead, his reaction was something she hadn't expected from the crazy pirate. He became restless and shifted on his feet nervously. He looked out at the water as if searching for something, possibly an escape from the question, but didn't seem to find what he was looking for because he grimaced.
"We should wake the lad, don't you think?" He spun on the spot and trudged down to where Will still slept. Buffy watched him as he went, her brow furrowed.
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Buffy stared quizzically at the row of pirates on the deck. This was Jack's crew? She stood off to the side, surveying the dirty men as Jack moved down the ranks with Will and another man she'd never met. When he began talking to the parrot on one man's shoulder she had to hold back a laugh as she turned away from the scene. If these men were really mad, they were definitely in the right place. She turned back to the strange scene when the sound of a strong slap reached her ears. Jack was slightly turned from one of the figures, grimacing. Buffy closed the space between herself and the group and nearly laughed as she saw the furious woman Jack now turned back to face.
"You stole my boat," The woman exclaimed. She was dressed similarly to the other pirates, the sleeve of her shirt too long on her suggesting they had been meant for a larger figure of a man. She wore trousers too, along with an overcoat that almost completely hid her figure. She was the first woman Buffy had seen in Tortuga that didn't have her breasts hanging half-way out a tight bodice.
"Actually," Jack tried to reply but the girl's swinging hand connecting with his face once more cut him off as the upper half of his body swung around again. The movement caused him to face Buffy, who had moved into the previously empty space. He grimaced again and Buffy smirked.
"I think I like this girl," she said, trying to hold back a laugh but the shaking of her voice betraying her. Jack scowled and straightened back up to face the still furious woman.
"Borrowed, borrowed without permission. But with every intention of bringing it back to you."
"But you didn't!"
"You'll get another one," Jack replied desperately. The saying "hell hath no wrath…" ran through Buffy's mind as she stared at the scene.
"A better one."
"A better one!" Jack grasped onto Will's helpful words, which seemed to be working as the anger burned away from the woman.
"That one," Will said again, pointing out towards where the ship was anchored. Jack stared at Will incredulously before agreeing and they somehow made a pact that appeased the woman. She would get the Interceptor and they would get her as a crew member. Buffy smiled as she watched Jack flinch as the girl grabbed her hat from him. As she left, Buffy joined in the group that remained. The man she didn't know spoke up.
"It's frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard, sir." Buffy scowled at this and cleared her throat indignantly. This brought the attention of the man to her. His eyes widened as he took in her long blonde hair falling past her shoulders from its leather tie and her obvious feminine physic under the men's clothing. He looked back at Jack.
"Two women, sir? Have you gone mad?" Buffy arched a brow at the man.
"Does this man know who he's talking to?" The man scowled and Will hid a smile behind his hand. Jack seemed unconcerned by Buffy's comment as he squinted up at the sky.
"It would be far worse without them," he finally replied, still staring up at the sky. He then turned, heading towards the crew. Will and the man moved to look up at the sky, staring up at the area that Jack had been contemplating with confusion. Buffy stared at them for a moment before shaking her head and heading in the same direction as Jack.
"We're all mad here," she mumbled under her breath. Buffy looked up as she neared the end of the docks to catch the eye of the woman from earlier. She smiled and moved up to her as she offered her hand.
"I'm Buffy." After a moment of hesitation, the girl clasped hands with her. Her grip was strong, Buffy noticed.
"Anamaria," she answered shortly. After releasing her grip she shifted on her feet and considered Buffy for a moment. "Are you a friend of Jacks?"
"No," she answered quickly. "Well, yes, sort of. We're not friend friends or anything like that. I really don't need that drama right now…" Buffy trailed off as she noticed the confused look on Anamaria's face.
"Sorry," she said, embarrassment leaking through her apology. Anamaria considered her for a moment.
"You better have more intelligence than you show, Buffy," Buffy frowned at this before Anamaria continued. "Come help with the supplies and make yourself useful."
With that, the woman walked off to hoist some extra rope onto her shoulder. Buffy just stared, feeling an extreme urge to pout but resisting. Anamaria's attitude reminded her vaguely of Cordelia, sans the fashion sense and self-righteousness. Cordelia had eventually come around though, and the thought of that made Buffy smile again. She went to grab some of the supplies, noticing the crew eyeing her as she opted for one of the larger crates to carry. She could have gone for a much heavier box but, she decided, if these were to be her crew mates for a while she had no intention of having them wig out on her. After a moment of feeling the men's eyes boring into her, she eventually turned to glare at all of them.
"Get back to work." They immediately jumped to their forgotten tasks, nearly colliding with each other in the process. Buffy smiled. Well, it would be all right to frighten them a little, she thought and then continued her job.
A/N: blah, these past few weeks haven't been the best for me so that's all I can manage for now. Review please, maybe it will brighten my spirits and I'll want to write more.