Rating: T at the most.
Pairing: Pintel/Ragetti… if you squint.
Disclaimer: I don't own POTC or any of the characters. I'm not making any money out of this.
Warnings: A slightly OC Ragetti in this chapter.
Chapter 7 – PunishmentIt had not been as bad as he thought. He had actually half expected to be beaten to death for what Jack had done and although they had been beaten, they had all been very much alive afterwards. Even better, the new captain, a rather soft faced man named Jones, was still permitting them to become crew members, although it was at a much higher price.
They had been left to the mercy of the black man they called Bo'sun who, at this moment in time was jeeringly testing Pintel's physical capabilities whilst the others worked or watched.
"Swim you sea slug! Swim!" Bo'sun yelled down at the man as he thrashed about in the water from the boat to a bit of reef and back again, occasionally getting whipped if he was not deemed fast enough.
"'ow many 'as 'e done now?" Bo'sun asked one of the watchers, a young, pig faced boy called Marlow.
"One hun'red an' four." The boy replied.
"I knew I 'ad wen' over." Pintel muttered stopping for breath.
Bo'sun laughed cruelly.
"Bet ye were countin' from th' boat to the reef as one. I wanted th' boat te the reef an' back. So 'e has only done fifty-two."
Bo'sun noticed that Pintel had stopped.
"So keep goin'!" He aimed a shot.
Pintel saw it coming and ducked but not fast enough. It hit his foot but, gasping in pain, he resumed swimming.
However his strength was dwindling and with a last gasp effort, his muscles gave up and he went under.
Ragetti, meanwhile, had been paying close attention to the goings on, but for different reasons. Truth be told, he had grown rather attached to the scruffy sea-dog in the time he had known him as the man seemed to be one of two who genuinely cared for him – the other being the former captain. Indeed after his fight with Jack Pintel had been the one who later came in, after recovering from his beating, and had talked to him, comforting him in his time of pain. In some ways losing an eye is worse than losing a leg for, although a leg is bigger and makes a major difference to your physical life, losing an eye is more personal. You can replace a leg with a working prosthetic but you can't do the same with an eye. Ragetti had tried though, helping himself through the ordeal by making himself a new one out of wood. It was crude and splintered easily but with it he felt more normal and didn't have to wear a patch.
Therefore, it was that Ragetti was watching Pintel not to jeer at him or for personal enjoyment but rather to make sure that he didn't get hurt.
As Pintel sunk into the sea Ragetti started, almost popping his new eyeball out of its socket.
"Shit." He muttered, standing and going to the edge before diving in after his new friend. Catching him, Ragetti dragged the heavier man to the boat and hauled him over as Pintel clutched at the wood, spluttering and gasping for breath. He looked up to see Bo'sun's scowling face.
"What'd ye do tha' fer?" Bo'sun snarled at Ragetti.
"Th' Cap'n said te punish no' kill." Ragetti answered, pulling himself up.
"Who cares!" Bo'sun shoved Ragetti back into the water. A sinister smile crossed his studded face.
"Say, since yer such a great friend o' 'is, why don' ye finish his laps fer 'im?"
Ragetti glared at Bo'sun before pulling himself up.
"Yer no' me superior. Ye can' tell me wha' te do." Ragetti limbered away, leaving an astonished Bo'sun to look after him.
That night as Pintel lay and listened to yelp after cry from Ragetti as Bo'sun beat sense into him, he vowed to himself that he would in the future protect Ragetti no matter what the cost.