Yep, another long period of time before I posted this. Err…WARNING!!!!...Tsau officially drops the F-bomb in this chapter. You'll see. Enjoy.
Chapter 26: The Dividing Line
"The Necromortalis is engaging Tsau, sir," a soldier said.
Blackwell sipped lightly on his tea. "I'm not worried."
"If Tsau dies, then how will you explain it to—"
"Tsau is a survivor," Blackwell insisted. "Don't raise your voice on this issue again."
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Tsau stumbled backwards and tried to catch his breath. Why wasn't the dagger working? The Necromortalis drew its serpent-like tentacles back into its dark base, and the burning dagger wounds healed slowly. It looked up to the sky and roared loudly through the pouring rain, and its dark, serpent-like tentacles tingled in the air, as if they had a life of their own. Dodging and evading, Tsau managed to avoid every blow his opponent sent at him. The cuts with the dagger seemed to hurt, but not enough to kill. The two serpents that slithered into the air from each shoulder struck like bees, stinging and waiting for Tsau's move. Tsau was knocked off his feet when his feet caught the end of a net.
Standing up, cursing his clumsiness, Tsau looked carefully into his enemy. The same one that used Tsau's own fear against him, but this time, there was no fear. The confrontations in the past have wiped away every sense of fear left in him. Trying to think of a plan, Tsau knew that he still had a job to do. The serpents knocked him backwards and he smashed into several crates. Rain still poured and the fight still raged, but there was no victory here. Tsau spat out some blood and tried to regain his vision.
The Falcon stood up and sheathed the dagger. There was no way that he could win, because he obviously calculated something wrong. He had to run again.
And there was fear.
The fear of no salvation seared the air, and the Necromortalis let out another roar, for the trepidation that could be felt everywhere fueled its motivation. Tsau rushed past the navy men quickly and efficiently, shoving away those who were in his path in an attempt to head back to the Pearl, because the enemy was overwhelming. Flying past the chaos, Tsau grabbed the rope along the way and swung back towards the other ships, only to find out that they were already heading out to sea, but why? Didn't they want the dagger? He knew that he could still make it, and the two ships were the only safe place at the moment, although potential confrontations will definitely arise amongst him and the captains. Jack and Barbossa were still dueling.
Releasing the rope at the perfect angle, Tsau launched himself far over the wild, untamed water and barely made it onto the Pearl with a rough landing. Skidding along the damp wood and smashing into a few crates, Tsau's mind went blank as the rough collision managed to knock the air out of him. Getting up to regain his vision, he examined his body to see if any wood stakes had pierced him then brushed himself clean. He was suddenly struck in the back of the head by the butt of a pistol. After Zi pistol-whipped him, he finally collapsed to the wood floor, his body lifeless and inert. She inspected him for the dagger, noticed that he was still in possession of it, and snatched it from him. She also saw that he was suffering from a deep wound around the abdomen, possibly from the Necromortalis. Zi was finally forced to make a decision. Should she help him or not?
The Necromortalis stared at the escaping ship as the rest of its undead legion murdered off the navy men. There was no way it would return back to Nesirus. It defied an order, and now it is on its own.
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Elizabeth kindled the candle which released a soft glow inside the ship's cabin, revealing the darkness of the hard, seemingly damp wood floors. A day had already passed. Tsau had been shivering all night in his cell from the day they captured him, so she decided to bring him a blanket; it was the least she could do for him. After all, he's already done so much for them…or was it for himself? Everything known about Tsau was now ambiguous, she thought. Lightly inserting the metal key into the lock, she twisted it slowly and opened the creaking metal door. Shutting it discreetly, she made her way over to him and wrapped the blanket over his shirtless body, since Jack and the others made sure he didn't have his wristblade or any other weapon. She sat by him and stared at him for a moment, first with a sense of sorrow and relation with him, but her feelings soon turned to pity.
"There is no why," he spoke. "But why…why are you doing this for me?"
"Because…" she found it difficult to reply. "You helped us…"
Tsau could already tell that she didn't really mean to say that, but he didn't care, and in fact, he honestly did not know what to think right now. "Sounds valid enough."
Elizabeth waited a few more moments, taking his slight openness with caution. "And there has to be a reason why you are fighting, right? For the dagger, I mean. You didn't kill Will."
A reason why you're fighting…a simple question that requests so much personal response. Tsau gave it a hard thought, but after that waste of mind energy, he concluded that he never really had one.
"I…I don't know," he finally confessed sincerely. "I never really knew why I was fighting. There was no reason. All I know is that I'm good at it, and people can use me as a tool however they please. From this perspective, Zhao should be considered a hero…he was my mentor. He taught me to fight against the control—the shady business of the government. I've become everything I've been taught to fight against."
He sat up and looked forward, listening to the sound of the ocean waves.
"And that's why you could never answer us," she said. "Who are you then, Tsau?"
Tsau put on a bitter smile and swallowed that question with trouble. "I'm no one. Tsau…the Reaper…The Legendary White Falcon...nothing. There is an idea of a Tsau, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real Tsau. All there is left is the motivation to strive towards my ultimate goal."
"You're willing to go far, aren't you?"
He looked like he shut his eyes. "I don't even know if it is real anymore."
"Zi is right, however," Elizabeth said cautiously, hoping not to anger him. "You have a choice."
"No," Tsau said. "My conscience denies choice. Not only am I going to have to seal the Necromortalis…I have to finish off Zhao, too."
"Why must you resort to murder?"
Tsau looked out the small window across from them and watched the small bit of evening sky he could see. "I am a killer…always have been. Once you taste blood, it changes you forever. It's been a part of my diet since day one as a murderer. You might ask me what killing is worth. I wouldn't know, because I never had any other choice. I was bred to kill, to murder since birth…and I just didn't know it. Taking a man's life…all I can say is that it is so easy, but so much more difficult than one might imagine."
She listened intently to him, taking in his words with growing emotions behind them. Somehow, she didn't feel like talking much, because he seemed to have a lot to say, and she wanted to know. "I'm very sorry…"
As they conversed, Zi had already snuck up from behind the doorway and eavesdropped on their conversation, listening intently to Tsau's words.
"I don't need your pity," Tsau spoke. "My purpose is why I cannot function. Why I cannot make lasting friendships. Why I cannot survive on money alone. Why I am always used to do the dirty work. Why I cannot return Zi's love."
From the doorway, Zi put her hand to her mouth in faint emotional shock. She tried to absorb the latter of his statement. Her eyes started to water as she sat down against the wall.
"And sharing your feelings for her in bed meant nothing?" she asked him in slight anger. "Why did you do it in the first place if you were not supposed to love her?"
Tsau looked away. "I was…uncontrollable. I shouldn't have allowed myself to do that."
"...but you do love her, don't you?"
"I am chained to this life," he stated emotionlessly, looking at her deeply. "This is a path that I find I cannot veer away from."
Elizabeth shook her head. "No. What about all that talk with controlling your destiny and fate? You…you can't just throw it away."
"I wish I could believe that."
"Don't be foolish, Tsau," she firmly countered. "You're not all bad."
"—yes I am," he retorted. "I wouldn't last a day in my line of work if I wasn't all bad."
The Pirate King wished she could have said something to affect him, but found nothing. She stood up, said a quick meaningful goodbye, and walked out the door, missing Zi along the way. She forgot to lock the prison cell.
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"Now that we have Tsau, what shall the plan be?" Will asked the next morning. "He's working with them now, is he not?"
Elizabeth shook her head, setting a hand on the captain's table. The room was filled with all of the captains and important figures from nearby vicinities. Shipwreck Cove was quiet this morning, but were they ready for a small war? "He stated confidently that he was not working for them. Perhaps a temporary mutual agreement?"
"No matter," Jack replied, standing up on the floor of the Dutchman. "At least they no longer have him."
"I propose war," one of the captains stated.
"Shut up," Sparrow responded.
Elizabeth looked at the captain. "What other way is there to obtain the chest, then?"
"I propose, considering the situation with our assassin and his former mentor, that we trade him for the chest," Jack answered.
"They don't want Tsau," Will informed.
Jack sauntered past the captains and thought for a moment, playing with his dreadlocks. "Is he not a valuable commodity to them?"
"They don't want Tsau," the Dutchman's captain repeated. "I'm sure their situation did not change with him."
"They'll be far worse off without him," Jack countered, leaning lazily against the wall.
Barbossa grunted. "I am still waitin' for a suggestion."
"I'm not the one betraying co-conspirators, Hector," he wittingly replied. Jack was starting to get impatient, however, and wanted to come up with a plan, fast.
"Enough," the Pirate King ordered. "I suppose we have enough in numbers to distract Nesirus's small army. During the battle, the dagger must be used to its reason."
Jack shook his head almost bitterly. "I'm not sure you understand, love. I want this ship."
"Have it," Will said, causing others to be taken aback. "I just want my life back."
The immortal captain of the Black Pearl gave off a cocky smirk. "Then we shall prepare."
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Tsau threw on his Falcon coat and strapped on the remainder of his equipment. That foolish Elizabeth left the door unlocked, and even worse, ajar. Almost smirking, the assassin knew that she would do something idiotic if he applied the appropriate amount of emotional tension. Throwing his hood over his head, a small pause ensued as he thought about what he said to her. He found it odd that she just listened to him, not caring about anything else for the moment. Few people do that. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he carried his knapsack and stormed out the holds, heading up to the main deck.
Oddly enough, he discovered that he was in some sort of a cove, with extremely high walls. Amazingly, it seemed like a very large fortress. Pirates from all over the world traveled within the fortress structure. Gazing at the scenery for another few moments, he began to walk towards the escape boats. Hopefully, no one cared if you left or came through.
"Running off again?" Zi's voice said from behind. She was mopping the top deck with her hat hung low. "Without the dagger?"
Tsau did not turn around. "I have other methods."
Zi gave a bittersweet grin under her hat, but it was invisible to everything. "Go ahead. I won't stop you."
Hastily, he began to work the rope that held the boat up. Tsau awkwardly found himself waiting for her to tell him to stay, or at least stop him.
"…and why is that?" he found himself asking. Tsau mentally slapped himself for being inclined to reply to her statement.
"It is obvious," she said. "Even if I tried to stop you, I'd be dead in a few seconds."
"You don't know that," he told her.
Zi continued to mop. "You don't have the heart to spare anyone."
Tsau took her comment bitterly. She didn't care about him anymore. It is definitely the way Tsau's mind wanted it, but somewhere inside he ached; some sort of invisible, irritable pain that the assassin couldn't quite put his finger on.
"Perhaps," he said. "It would be imperative that I leave no witnesses."
"Then maybe you should kill me," said Zi.
Tsau untied a few knots on the rowboat. "I don't waste bullets."
"Or you're afraid," she suggested.
He scoffed under his breath. "What the hell would I be afraid of?"
"Being human," she simply stated. "You're afraid of life, of failing, of love…most of all, yourself."
"I wouldn't know," he replied.
A moment passed as Tsau continued to untie the boat and place his belongings in there. Zi was thinking deeply about him, and forgot that she mopped the same spot for another few minutes. The fear of asking him the wrong question spawned butterflies in her stomach, but she decided to spew it out anyway.
"…what is your problem, Tsau?" Zi finally asked. "What's with you?"
Tsau looked over his shoulder callously, still keeping his back to her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean if someone had a gun to your head and asked you to tell them what this person was thinking…what…what would you do?" she clarified, trying to find the appropriate words. "They would have to kill you because you wouldn't care…you wouldn't know what anyone else was feeling or thinking. I mean, you can't even provide a valid reason why you kill. You can't even support, or like something, or even hate something. You are only driven by your duty—so driven by your loyalty to your work, not yourself or what you feel. The Psychosis was right about you; people like you are the true evil in this world. Only insipid beings like you could ever be considered to do the dirty work."
The White Falcon lowered the boat down into the water slowly, seemingly unaffected by her piercing comments. Another moment passed. Inside, Tsau felt completely cornered to where his deepest fears lie. He walked up to her, but she didn't look up.
"Look at me," he demanded discreetly. She finally managed to look at him. "Simple pirate outfit, a cutlass, and a hat. Tell me, what are you planning to do here? Someday? Someday you might find it? Perhaps you could've saved your parents, but you didn't, and now you're on this ship, looking for some form of liberation from your personal issues…but to what avail? Then I come along, and maybe, just maybe you could bring me to love you, but I have changed, and no matter how hard you tried, you could never bring me back. Somewhere, 10 years later, you'll have pushed your failures so far back into your memory that you decide that you couldn't have changed me anyway—until you completely zone out into your Fountain of Youth immortality…and you'll have nothing. Don't you dare talk to me about goals and murder. This whole time you're trying to help others, but you can't even help yourself…so what the fuck are you still doing here?"
She stared at him speechlessly.
Tsau turned around and hopped down the ship to the small boat, immediately rowing away. No visual emotion lay under the hood that covered his expressionless face. At certain points, Zi thought that a relationship could work between them, and that their paths crossing would eventually intertwine. She was wrong. Tsau cannot change, and will not change. This was the dividing line…the point of no return. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she continued to mop the floor.
So sad…so sad…but this is how it has to be. What'll happen next?