(Disclaimer: Pintel, Ragetti, and POTC don't belong to me.)
Just the Way it Should Be
The flashback ended.
Pintel was back in his cell, once again a prisoner locked in the Port Royal jail. Once again sitting alone on the moonlit stone floor, not caring that he'd regained his mortality. His mind was returning to the horrible present, but still he clung desperately to the chain of memories that were growing faster and faster as they flooded past him.
They hadn't gotten so much as a penny for that medallion. Another pirate vessel called the Spanish Doubloon had overtaken them shortly after their escape from Pellinore, and the wayward pair had been seized and hauled on board. They'd both been forced to empty their pockets in front of the crew, and once that blazing red ruby appeared, there was no chance that they'd be keeping it. The Doubloon's captain had given them an ultimatum: they could either give him the medallion willingly and be made part of his crew, or be shot and have it confiscated anyway. Their fortune would be useless whether or not they were around to spend it, and so Pintel had reluctantly handed over the stolen trinket to their new commander. It was a dejecting loss, but they were both alive, and Ragetti'd certainly been content enough with that; eventually, his older companion had also been able to don a bit of that same optimism and move on.
But the memory of it couldn't be erased. For at least a few brief hours, Pintel and Ragetti had both experienced what it was like to be unimaginably wealthy, and the maddening desire to have those kinds of riches again had never left them. They'd spent the next eight years combing the entire Caribbean for more "golden opportunities," and after countless adventures—including a rather embarrassing year of press-ganged service in the British Navy—the two of them came to join the crew of a pirate named Jack Sparrow.
At first, they'd seen the eccentric captain as a promising leader; an invaluable key to helping them find that wealth they so greedily sought. They'd felt the same way about Barbossa after the Black Pearl's crew had betrayed and marooned Sparrow. In the end though, their greed had cost them dearly, and right as their luck was beginning to return and they were at last rid of that horrible decade-long curse, cruel fate had intervened one more time.
And now, ten months later, they were prisoners.
Pintel swallowed back a lump in his throat and finally looked up at his cellmate again.
He'd never really forgotten that Ragetti was his nephew. He hadn't forgotten it when he'd given up that medallion twenty years ago, or when the curse had been lifted and they'd been taken as prisoners on the Dauntless. And he certainly hadn't forgotten it when those three filthy soldiers had beaten a sobbing Ragetti into the prison floor with their rifle butts.
But it made no difference now whether or not Pintel remembered their family bonds, because he knew in the pit of his heavy heart that the miserable man slumped on that bench was no longer his silly little Rags. There wasn't the tiniest trace of happiness or hope left inside that empty husk now; only bitterness and hatred for everything around him. Ragetti's optimism had been completely beaten out of him, and Pintel silently cursed himself as he realized just how much of a part he might have played in that destruction.
How many times had he hurt him? How many times had he lost his temper and snarled at that daft little idiot to shut his blabbering mouth, and then struck him or worse when that hadn't worked? How long had he taken Ragetti for granted? Pintel lowered his head, drearily knowing. He always had. Even when they'd first met, he'd seen the boy as nothing but a burden, and had gladly forgotten about him as often as he could. It sparked a guilt inside Pintel that made him sick to his stomach, and the pain increased tenfold when he remembered just how trusting and loyal that child had remained to him, despite it all. The soldiers of Port Royal hadn't driven Rags away all by themselves—his own uncle had helped them do it with twenty years of abuse.
Pintel hung his head and sent Ragetti a second cheerless glance, but just as he did so, another thought came into his mind, and he stumbled away from his gloomy trance.
He hadn't entirely forgotten the boy. Yes, he'd tried to ignore Rags at first, but now that Pintel thought back to that first meeting, he also remembered the words they'd exchanged on that fateful evening. He had felt sorry for the pathetic child, and in that single moment of pity, he'd chosen to enlighten Ragetti. Advice and a name, wisdom and dignity; that was what Pintel had given him. He hadn't dangled that fulfillment on a string over his little head and made false promises—he'd given the lad what he wanted. And Rags had instantly taken to him like an enamored puppy.
That thought at least earned a small smirk from Pintel. Whether Rags was growling at enemies or prodding and sniffing at dead pelicans, the crazy lank had always been like a dog…
And that was when a second, even more startling idea flashed into Robert Pintel's head.
The old pirate immediately sprang back to life like he'd been shocked, and his wide eyes flew over to the lone figure that'd been the bane of his existence for ten months: the prison dog. Pintel stared at the silent animal with awe.
Of course. How could he not have realized it before? This creature thought the exact same way that Ragetti once had—who was to say that the exact same method wouldn't win this pooch over as well? The grizzled man spotted his abandoned piece of bread lying just off to the side, perfectly intact and in reach…
He looked up at Ragetti one more time. His young friend had always felt the need to roam free and explore, but the fear of loneliness had always slowed him down—perhaps their confinement had simply chased him out of the room, and not out of existence. Maybe that giddy, hopeful little boy wasn't completely dead after all, but in fact standing just outside these very prison doors, waiting for them. Maybe…just maybe…that child really could be brought back.
Pintel was decided. Determination glared firmly in his eyes, and lifting his shoulders, he reached out and snatched up that crusty morsel once again. He was going to see if prison had taught him patience.
The pirate turned his attention back to the dog and came to crouch in front of the bars for the second time that night. He stared at the hairy little beast for a moment, trying to read whatever thoughts lurked behind its furry face, then finally launched his plan. Pintel calmly held up the piece of bread, reached through the prison bars…and threw it to Port Royal's key keeper.
The dog jumped with another jangle of the keys as the moldy scrap landed on the floor beside it. There was a nervous pause as the mongrel sniffed at this strange white object, then it finally stepped forward and lowered its head for a closer study. A look of content appeared on Pintel's face, and with that, he turned and went over to squat beside Ragetti's bench.
He looked up at his friend patronizingly. "Yeh still fink we deserves to be strung up like the mutinous rats we are?"
Ragetti didn't even look at him when he gave his blunt response. "Aye, I knows so."
Pintel humored him, nodding with mock understanding. "That a fact?" Then he leaned closer with a confident smirk. "Well wot would you say if I told you I had a plan to get us out of 'ere?"
Something in his voice made Ragetti turn his head slightly, just enough so he could peer at the older man through the corner of his good eye. At first, he seemed to consider the unlikely scenario, but then all of a sudden, the puzzled light in his stare gave way to a nasty scowl.
"I'd say you was a stupid blighter."
Pintel stopped, and the full impact of these words suddenly sank in. The smirk fell from his lips an instant later. A stupid blighter? A stupid blighter? The name stung, surprisingly so, and Pintel found he didn't have the power to hide his hurt expression.
Stupid blighter. It was one of the deepest, gravest insults that the young man had to offer, and he'd just all but thrown it in the old pirate's face without a hint of regret. True, Ragetti had said it indirectly, but the situation that the scrawny wretch had meant his slur for wasn't nearly as hypothetical anymore as it might have seemed. Pintel bit back his sadness. A stupid blighter. So that was what Ragetti really thought of him after all this.
Still, the older man tried to put up a fierce front. A dark cloud passed over his face, and he warningly raised his scraggly eyebrows as he fought to maintain that condescending tone.
"Would yeh now? Well we'll just see who's the stupid blighter, you ugly maggot."
With that, Pintel lowered his gaze and sat back against his wall in silence, grudgingly nursing his emotional wound. He'd meant to call him a one-eyed maggot—that would've definitely had the right impact. But even after Ragetti's harsh words, the single haunting memory of that horrible, piercing scream remained deeply engraved in Pintel's mind, and he was still unwilling to take such a cheap shot.
Ragetti turned his head all the way around to glare oddly at Pintel then. The lanky prisoner got no look in return; the only thing his cellmate wanted to stare at now seemed to be completely internal. Ragetti wrinkled his nose at this strange behavior and turned back around to sit his chin on his knees again. But just as he was doing this, the jittering outline of the little gray dog caught his eye, and he paused to look at it. And then the scrawny figure froze.
The mutt wasn't holding its keys. They were lying on the stone floor right between its front paws, where they'd been placed to free their keeper's mouth. Ragetti squinted through the faint moonlight and saw, with surprise, that the hairy animal was gulping down a stale piece of bread. Pinters had been trying to lure it over to their cell with a piece of bread an hour ago…
Ragetti's head immediately snapped around again to gawk at the sullen older man in shock. It hadn't been a taunting joke after all. There really was a plan.
A sick feeling of dread began bubbling up inside him, and then Rags suddenly realized what a horrible thing he'd just said.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One more chapter to go...
