SEVEN: DAY OF STORMS
"There's the Empress!" Jack said at last; and he was really quite glad. Not only had the journey through the air become uncomfortable and cold, but his hair was now decidedly windswept. "Plonk me down there in a heroic manner, eh?" Jack asked Beckett, with a grin.
"Of course, Jack," Beckett said brightly, before literally throwing him on board, causing him to land face-first in a pile of ropes. Jack struggled to his feet, kicking ropes off of his legs, and glared at Beckett—before addressing the rather stunned Chinese pirates who had all stopped working, and were all blinking at him. As Jack talked with the pirates, Beckett looked out at the sun, which was rising—they'd been travelling all night, and now day three of his mission was dawning. The halfway line had been crossed.
"Jack?" King Elizabeth stepped out from her cabin, dressed in intricate Chinese garb, her arms folded, her back straight—looking as bossy and kinglike as possible. Jack grinned and swept a huge bow to the Pirate King.
"Hey there, Lizzie!" Jack grinned his usual easy grin at her, "I need your help. Do you mind if we discuss this in your cabin a moment?"
"I—certainly," Elizabeth nodded, "But may I ask how you got here?"
"All shall be explained," Jack said, beginning to steer her towards her cabin, "We must talk, my liege," Jack turned and beckoned to Beckett, before stepping into the cabin with Elizabeth, holding the door open for Beckett. Elizabeth was giving him a strange look, now.
"What's this about, Jack?" she asked, somewhat warily, as Jack closed the door behind Beckett. Jack gestured to the thin air where Beckett was.
"She can't see me, Jack," Beckett said in an amused tone.
"So show yourself to her!" Jack rolled his eyes. Elizabeth blinked, and looked around, as if wondering if he was talking to her. And then, suddenly—Beckett appeared in the air that Jack had been addressing. She had whipped a sword out in a matter of seconds.
"Very quick, Miss Swann," Beckett said with a faint smile, "Or should I say, Mrs Turner. You have no need to worry. I can't cause any physical harm to you."
"What're you doing here?" she asked in venomous tones, "And more importantly, what are you doing with Jack?" she turned her sword to Jack for a moment, who raised his hands, imploringly.
"Listen, Lizzie," Jack said, wagging a finger, "Beckett's in trouble. Allow him to explain." Elizabeth turned back to Beckett, and finally nodded.
"You have a minute," she hissed.
"And what, exactly, are you going to do if this takes more then a minute?" Beckett asked in an amused tone, "Kill me, perhaps?" Elizabeth swished the sword through the air where Beckett was—it had no effect whatsoever. He fiddled with a cuff. "Alright, I'm getting on with it," he sighed, as Elizabeth looked in despair at her sword, as if it had let her down.
After his long explanation, Elizabeth folded her arms and looked at him closely. She didn't look certain whether to believe him or not. She looked to Jack, and then decided that insanity couldn't possibly be infectious, so this must be real.
"So you have to do something to make me happy?" she asked, slowly. Beckett nodded.
"I've already done it for Jack, which brings me here," Beckett jerked his head towards the captain, shooting him a smirk, which worried Elizabeth slightly, and made Jack's broken innuend-o-meter make a small, chugging noise. "He's off of my list now. You, however, are still on there. So what can I do for you?"
"You could have had the good grace to stay dead," Elizabeth spat.
"Mrs Turner. I am dead," he gestured to his ghostly body—referring to his transparentness, no doubt. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, distrustingly.
"Look, Lizzie," Jack shrugged, "Don't hold a grudge. Use him. He has ghostly powers and whatnot—he's a useful addition." Elizabeth glared at Beckett for another moment, and then nodded in agreement to Jack, sheathing her curved sword.
"First of all, apologize to me," she said, poisonously, "Apologize for killing my father." She folded her arms after this, waiting. Jack looked from Elizabeth to Beckett, and then shrugged. Beckett sighed—oh, how this was going to hurt his pride. Nevertheless, for once he had to put his ego second; then again, eternal happiness was probably only a tad more important then self-esteem.
"I am sorry, Mrs. Turner," he said, beginning slowly; one green spark wandered lazily from Elizabeth, but he knew that he would have to up the dramatics if he wanted any more, "What I did was a cruel, selfish and overall evil thing. I'm regretting it now—I'm regretting every sin I've ever committed." As Elizabeth became more convinced of his apology, more green sparks wandered towards him, "I hope you'll forgive me for my crimes against you and your family. Dear."
There was a pause. Then, the bubble popped (figuratively).
"Alright, I'll accept that," Elizabeth said at last, and Beckett watched in delight as more sparklies shot towards him, filling up the orb even more. "Now, Jack, what did you want?"
"I'm after something else, now—something new," Jack grinned and pulled a rolled-up something from the inner lining of his outer jacket; Sao Feng's map. "Aqua de Vida. In the swamps of Florida. A way to live forever. And ever and ever and ever," he grinned and waved the map in Elizabeth's face, "Come with me."
"What?" Elizabeth stared at Jack as if he were mad.
"Aw, Lizzie," Jack put an arm around Elizabeth's shoulder as Beckett looked on derisively, and waved an am in front of her face, "Imagine it! You know that you're getting bored of doin' nothing! This is a time for some real swashbuckling!"
"So you need a vessel, I'm guessing. Where's the Pearl?" Elizabeth sighed.
"Well, it was plundered away by that belligerent, ink-bellied, bestial oaf Barbossa; but this isn't about that!" Jack gave her a charming smile, slurring impressively, "This is because I think you deserve the prize of immortality... and perhaps it's even a way to become one with your dear William."
"How would that work?" Beckett chipped in, disdainfully. Jack shot him an unappreciative look.
"Once you're immortal, going through worlds is a doddle!" Jack spread his arms out, "You can go here, there, everywhere. Once Will comes off duty, you can give him some of the stuff too. Together—forever! Imagine that. Or you can never break the curse he's under; you two can guide souls, together. Doesn't that sound lovely?"
"Jack," Elizabeth sighed and shook her head, "Once you become immortal, there's no going back. You understand this, don't you?"
"Sure I do," Jack grinned.
"Alright... I'll think about helping you, but I wont drink any, thank you," Elizabeth sighed and waved an arm, "It would probably be simpler to help you get the Pearl back, eh?"
"Could you?" Jack asked, smiling widely, "I was 'anging around Tortuga, that being the place Barbossa is most likely to 'ead to."
"Fine," Elizabeth snapped, "You can have your own cabin, too. I'll have it prepared," she sighed and shook her head. Beckett looked around.
"What about me?" he asked.
"What about you?" Elizabeth snapped, before stalking out of the cabin. Beckett shot a dour look to Jack that said, 'women!' and then trailed after her, following onto the deck.
"What can I do to make you happy?" Beckett pressed, "I don't have all day! I have a deadline, you know!"
"I can't think of anything right now," Elizabeth hissed, "Help out on board the vessel for a bit. Do whatever you want." Beckett folded his arms, annoyed.
"I don't have time to waste," he said, rebelliously. "I have joy and laughter to spread!" Elizabeth laughed scornfully.
"All you've ever spread is misery and death," she replied, though she seemed slightly amused, "Go and do some good deeds. Come back when you must. I'm sure that I'll think of something for you to do."
"You'd better," Beckett said, and then swooped away into the sky.
Shaking her head, Elizabeth made her way to the stern of the ship. Jack Sparrow popped his head around her cabin door, and watched Beckett vanishing from sight. Any normal man would have thought about how incredibly strange this whole thing was. But he was wondering faintly if there was any way to keep Beckett, and his ghostly powers, forever. They would be a most wonderful asset...
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Beckett swirled through the air, a while later. A long while later. It was the nearing the end of the fourth day—time was running out. Yet, at the same time, so were the uncrossed names on his list. He was doing well. Drifting above a large city, he opened up the list and looked through all of the names. Repent, repent, and repent even more. He'd done nothing but repent.
Ugh! Chores, reuniting, even matchmaking at one point. Stick two love-struck idiots in a room, watch them stammer out sappy words, and the sparklies literally come flying towards you! He'd also discovered about profiting—he stole money from someone rich, and had a sparkly knocked off of his conscience. Then, he gave it to a beggar, and gained about ten sparklies! It was good going. And now... and now...
His list was almost complete. There were only about ten names left on it, out of thousands and thousands. He smiled to himself, feeling that he had done well. His orb was glowing a bright green now; but there were still speckles of dullness in there. He had to do more good.
Of the remaining names, only one was alive; that was Elizabeth. So. Nine generally good deeds, one deed for Elizabeth, and he would be fine! Unfortunately, he didn't notice the small curl in the bottom of the parchment; he didn't notice that he couldn't see the complete list. He was too busy celebrating his own genius as he whizzed through the air; closing his eyes, he decided to 'teleport' to the Black Pearl.
As arrived over the ocean, winds suddenly began picking up, pushing him backwards. He grabbed a hold of his wig and fought against the impossibly strong winds, wondering what on earth was happening. The wind had gone through him, before. Using all of his strength, he forced himself through the terrible gale, gusts making his spectral frockcoat flap and flutter, his cravat slipping from his waistcoat and into his face. He shoved it back into place, and fought against the wind ever harder.
Arms pinwheeling, he finally gave in to childish instinct and forgot the fact that ghostly movement was mental, thrashing around and kicking his legs out. With a scowl, he pointed his head downwards, put his hands over his head, and then bombed into the restless ocean.
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Calypso knew that Beckett was getting on with his quest.
Perhaps, if he really possessed the ability to spread so much happiness so quickly, he should be allowed into the afterlife. However, it also made it worse in a way—he always had the capacity to do good, but he never bothered, as he cared much more about money and power. Hmmph.
She wanted to throw a couple of obstacles into his path, that was all. Nothing too serious. Just a gale-force gust of wind or two—she was having fun. Even if he succeeded, adding to the difficulty of his task was something she was enjoying immensely. She was still in her manatee form; though this manatee certainly wasn't very natural. Huge, sharp-toothed, fast and fairly deadly. And just un-manatee-like in general.
As Beckett's ghostly form dived down into the waters, Calypso felt his presence. And she plummeted towards him. He may have been a ghost, yes—but she could certainly see him, and she could certainly hurt him. Perhaps enough to put a stopper on his quest; or at least, make it harder.
He was finding this far too easy for her liking. Calypso always did like a bit of a challenge.
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The Company vessel was streaming towards them now, cannons loaded; as soon as the two vessels had recognized each other and their allegiances, the other vessel had immediately advanced. To take the Pirate King—dead or alive. The Empress was the vessel that had been standing prominent at the head of the pirate fleet, after the Pearl and Dutchman, of course.
Elizabeth shouted orders to her crew, walking along the middle deck, as Jack trotted behind her; trying to change her mind about going into battle. She was always a little hotheaded.
"Listen, love, the last thing we need right now is a battle," Jack shrugged, "The Empress is a junk by Chinese design. One of the fastest types of ship in these waters," Though not faster than the Pearl, of course, "It would be easy to get away." Elizabeth turned to face him, and Jack shrugged. "Run."
"I will not cower away from a vessel who feels the need to lord it over us on account of being legal," she spat, pointing a finger to the oncoming Company ship, "Now get to work! You're experienced in battle, are you not?"
"I'm the best there is," Jack grinned, and then seemed to realize his mistake. Elizabeth was already off across the deck, yelling more orders. "Mind the edge, Lizzie!" Jack called after her.
Advice that she would have done well to listen to.
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As soon as he was out of the winds, Beckett sighed in relief. For reasons unknown to him, the wind had affected him that time round—he wasn't too sure why, but it had, and he hadn't liked it. There was something supernatural about it. He tumbled through the ocean, and endless amount of space, still dry, yet surrounded by water. He could faintly feel its presence—but nothing more.
Seeing the black, barnacle-encrusted shape that was the hull of the Pearl in the distance, he began making his way towards it, deciding to enter through the brig, rise to the captain's cabin, check the charts for where the vessel was heading, and then getting back to Elizabeth and Jack on the Empress and telling them which way to head. Hopefully, that would count as a good deed.
Then, he saw something that made his blood freeze in pure and complete terror.
There was just something about that manatee... he was certain it was the same one. It came plummeting up from the depths, and Beckett waited for it to pass through him—but it didn't.
It went into him, winding him, sending them both spinning through the black waters.
NB: Gah. I can't live without putting some action into my stories... bleh! Nothing I write can ever just be a simple piece of drama, eh?
Anyhow! Sorry for the reeeaally slow updates and so on. Exams are now beginning the gradual process of taking over my whole entire life. So, I've put in some more OCs and some good, old-fashioned Calypsoey goodness. We're on chapter seven of nine!