Part 7
"Poseidon, oh great god of the seas, I call to you in my hour of need. Dark-haired Poseidon, to you the waters of the world obey, those briny depths that brought us all into life. Poseidon, maker and master of horses, trident-bearer, I beseech you: Hasten the winds about us. Lord of the black sea depths, roil the waves until they swirl and crash enhancing our speed and flight. Hail to you Mighty Poseidon Lord of all the waters and Oceans of Gaia, may your mercy be granted on these sailors that serve you dutifully. Aid us, dark-haired Poseidon, that is all I ask. May your mercy be swift and grant us a storm that will carry us from the one that searches to strike at us," calls out Davy Jones from the bow of the ship.
Moments pass as the Captain's eyes rove over the gently swaying dark ocean and the horizon that holds but a few cotton ball-like clouds. White and fluffy against the light blue sky of a pleasant afternoon and with but a mild wind. Davy grits his teeth and his hands clench around the wooden railing before him, his knuckles turning white. Behind him his sailors remain in organised chaos; preparing for the fight they cannot outrun and for the hope that they will be able to flee the secondary enemy undoubtedly headed their way also. Davy swears profusely as his prayer continues to go unanswered and turns away to do what he can with aiding in preparing for the oncoming battle, but Athena's voice breaks him from his sudden melancholy that Poseidon had abandoned them.
"Batten down the hatches!" cries out Thé as the wind roars around them and the previously idyllic blue sky broils grey with an angry storm.
The crew rush to her command and secure the ship's tarpaulins, ensuring the stocks in the cargo hold remain secure and dry should the heavens open and the rain come teaming down. But with the darkening sky their visibility of the water diminishes. The sailors finish their preparations and man their various posts: some stand before cannons - both above and below decks; some stand at the ready with muskets and rifles, harpoons and swords; others guard the masts and lines holding the sails ready so that they need only be unfurled and they can flee; the rest take care of the powder in the cargo hold, ensuring the only thing that might ensure their survival remains dry.
"Cap'n!" calls down Smythe from his post up in the crow's nest, one arm extended and pointing to the port side.
Davy pulls out and extends his spyglass. Barely visible a large dark shadow swims swiftly below the surface of the stormy sea.
"Hold. Steady lads. Hold," he commands, thankful that his 'guests' also listen to his orders as it would do no good to fire upon the creature so soon. "Hello Beastie," he mutters, a part of him relishing the fight with the sea creature.
They all watch with bated breath as the animal takes very little time to reach them. And then they feel it as the dark shadow hits the bilges of the ship. A shudder goes through the wooden frame and The Dutchman is brought to a jarring halt in the middle of the choppy ocean. Tentacles, each at least ten inches thick and the gods know how long, begin to rise up the sides of the ship. The suckers are each as large as a man's face. Water streams down from the wet skin, crashing to the deck of the ship. The noise of the water hitting the wood is lost however when the sky suddenly opens and the sound of thunder echoes across the skies and seas. Rain pelts down on the sailors adjusting their aim on the creature's arms as they rise ever higher.
"Fire. Fire all. Hit it with everything you've got!" yells Davy Jones over the storm crashing all around them.
Cannon fire and the sounds of iron cast bullets ripping through flesh fill the air. The sounds of an animal's pitiful cry of pain rents through the air just as Thé calls the attack off. The bloodied and wounded tentacles - some having been blasted clean off and one with a particularly wicked-looking harpoon still stuck through it - slither back into the sea and the Kraken disappears back into it's own domain in the far depths of the ocean. All the deckhands and the Storybrooke lot burst into cheers and smiles, but one look at their Captain and Thé's dark faces halts them.
"Hard to starboard!" bellows Thé when she turns to speak with David, Mary Margaret, Regina, Robin and Emma (the other three remaining below decks to help with the movement of powder for the mass of cannons).
The creature had attacked them from the North whilst Echidna planned to hit them from the South. The Dutchman's crew move swiftly and efficiently, managing to turn the ship in time to avoid the Mother of all Monsters hitting the starboard side of the ship dead centre. With the wind on their side they manage to move into position to fire on the half-woman half-snake that emerges snarling from the foamy sea. But she is quick too, even against the choppy waves. She slithers across the ocean towards the bow of the ship in a frantic attempt to avoid the starboard cannons.
"Bow cannons!" calls out Davy Jones.
Thé stops the others from racing towards the bow by throwing out her arm. She watches intently as the canons bang on and on. An angry snarl is all they hear before a more miniature form of the black matted haired woman appears in a swirl on the main deck of The Dutchman. Guns are dropped and swords picked up. But the pale-skinned woman has weapons of her own. Some of the sailors glance into her gorgonian amber eyes, freezing them where they stand. It takes no more than a simply flick of her dark green tail to send the members of Davy's crew overboard. Others manage to duck their eyes, and then their heads when the tail whips out at them. In front of Thé, Emma and Regina begin launching fireball after fireball at the snake-lady, all in an attempt to make her back up some into an awaiting net. The Mother of all Monsters however is not an idiot. Thé manages to avoid the sweeping curve of her tail by dropping hard on to the wooden floor of the deck, but Emma and Regina quickly find themselves with the scaly skin wrapped around their throats. Echidna grins gleefully, the lightning above glinting of her razor sharp fangs that drip with clear venom.
"Make ready to get to the doorway," Thé whispers to Davy as she rises to her feet. "Looking for me?" she calls out jauntily to the sea bitch happily choking the two witches.
"Athena," she hisses, her amber eyes slitting as her gleeful grin turns into a hateful snarl.
But before the half-woman half-serpent can attack, Thé is wrapped in a warm golden light that forces Echidna to look away from her prey. It means she sees and defends against Charming and Robin's attempt at attacking her from behind, but that leaves her tail free for Thé to attack once she's clad in her golden armour and clutching her beloved spear. Echidna screams out, dropping her hold on the two women after Thé stabs her spear into the two sections wrapped around Regina and Emma's necks. Now freed, and with Thé at their side, Regina and Emma launch their attack once more. In synch the two women pelt the snake woman with fire as Thé jabs at her torso with her glinting spear. Again and again they fight against her attempts to hurt them or freeze them with her gaze.
"Best jump off now sweetie," grins Thé gesturing to the translucent shimmer up ahead where an abysmal fog is beginning to form as The Dutchman grows closer.
Echidna screeches when she sees the ship's course. Her fangs lengthen as she glares with more hatred than before (something Thé hadn't thought possible) at the ex-goddess. With a hissed snarl she slithers away from her attackers and the Mother of all Monsters flings herself overboard to return to her own domain. The bodies of the lost sailors she threw overboard drag behind her, her prize, or rather payment, for the fight and letting The Dutchman and all her passengers travel onwards on their journey.
Finally they can all cheer and celebrate. The unfurled sails continue to billow high above them - Echidna not seeing the crew loosen the lines at their Captain's command as she was being distracted by the three women - and in no time they reach the shimmering doorway; the hole in the realm that only the damned members of Davy's crew, Davy Jones and Thé can see. On their approach abysmal fog had slithered and thickened around the area. It wraps around the ship, and with a flash like lightning they get pulled through and into The Locker.
Days of calm endless seas pass as The Dutchman slowly drifts through The Locker, that seemingly goes on and on and on. The only change is the sun suddenly turning into a moon. Here there is no sunrise, nor a sunset. Simply day and then night. The passage of time, and the sedate travel begins to wear on the Storybrooke passengers. Regina and Robin attempt to keep themselves occupied in their cabin. Belle seeks freedom from the boredom by reading through Davy's book collection. Rumplestiltskin and Zelena are put to work alongside the crew after the Bosun has enough of their individual complaints. David manages to hold off his own boredom by practising sword play with the crew. Thé keeps mostly to herself, the passage of time having little effect on her, but the close quarters with the Captain do and so at least once a day she becomes extremely irritated with him and they break into a yelling match at one another. For Snow, she worries about her daughter who since arriving in The Locker has shut herself away in the Captain's cabin and barely spoken a word to anyone or eaten anything. Her grief for Killian is tearing her apart from the inside, and so Snow spends her days by her daughter's side trying to provide silent comfort. For now everything is quiet, but Snow knows that everything isn't okay. And that becomes more apparent when one day - Snow has lost count how many days have passed since they entered The Locker - Emma breaks down and begins crying once Snow greets her with her usual 'Good morning, sweetheart.' and Regina, who has joined her today along with Belle, asks 'How're you feeling today?'
"He said with him it was different. It took us so long because he was proving to me he wasn't going to leave and that I wouldn't be alone. He promised he'd survive. But he didn't. He went and died instead. Killian's dead. Killian is gone and I'm left alone. Once again," she wails, the tears gathered in her verdigris eyes threatening to fall.
"Sweetheart, we'll get him back," encourages Snow.
"You don't get it. He willingly came up with a plan that meant he'd be gone. None of this is supposed to happen," she continues to cry, blindly waving a hand around her luscious surroundings in the Captain's quarters.
"Emma, he did it for you. For all of us. You helped shape him into the hero he became, and he did just what one was supposed to," Regina tries to explain to the blonde gently; feeling greatly for Henry's other Mom because she knows that dark pit of despair when our lover dies...is murdered, especially right in front of your eyes.
"I am so sorry, Emma. Truly," adds Belle, the guilt that it was her love who actually stole Emma's from her.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Emma murmurs staring up at the beautiful brunette from her seat on the floor next to Killian's body on the raised stretcher, the crystal of memories clutched to her chest. "I'm the one who should apologise. I've no idea where that came from," she says as she tries to wipe the tear tracks from her face without letting go of the crystal.
"It's your grief. It builds inside of you. At least you have all of us here with you. I turned to magic, the dark kind, because I didn't have anyone to help me through it. You'll get through this Emma."
"Begging your pardon, miladies," mumbles Mr Branigan from the entrance, worrying his soft cap between his hands. "Would you mind help me out with the Captain and Lady Athena? They're going at it again. Also if you don't mind my saying Princess Emma, regarding your grief: it's completely natural to feel it even whilst on such an expedition. It's hard to believe you can get young Killian back when his soulless body lies frozen in time beside you. You'll see though. Lady Athena, she'll make it all happen," imparts the quirky and kindly First Mate before gesturing to follow him and towards the sounds travelling down from the main deck that are getting louder and louder the longer they wait around.
"Look enough of this!" shouts Regina, cutting off the sniping and biting remarks Thé and Davy are firing at each other. Again. "The two of you are acting like children. If you spent more time considering ways to make this blasted ship go faster than having childish tiffs with each other we'd be in the Underworld by now!"
"Regina," murmurs Robin, attempting to pacify his love.
"You think my shouting at him and my anger with him is 'childish'?" retorts Thé bitingly, her eyes momentarily flashing silver. "You have no idea what he put me through, the hurt I have because of him."
"Athena," says Davy, his gaze pained as he holds out a hand to comfort her.
Thé bats the hand away and snarls at him, "It's not just about Aethyia," her voice trembling over the name. "I was kicked out of Olympus because of you. Ares imprisoned me and took my gorgonian - the very amulet that proclaimed me as royalty, as a beloved daughter of Zeus - all because I was a daft woman. And then Aethyia too was punished for my sins."
"A sin? That's what you call what we had. I loved you," Davy shouts in her face, but the ex-goddess barely blinks at the information that makes their suddenly unwilling audience uncomfortable. "And as a result your bloody uncle cursed me to be as I am."
"And yet I continued to love you even after Poseidon cursed you so. But as you said: loved, past tense. You turned me away when I needed you most. So yes, you were my sin. My love for you darkened me and my heart. But I learnt never to entrust that part of me to anyone ever again. So for that I do thank you," she speaks in a soft voice, her entire face emotionless, before walking away from the man that was once her lover.
The atmosphere on The Dutchman is loaded for days afterwards, but Davy and Thé took Regina's words to heart and managed to find a way to quicken their pace. It takes them only another few days to reach the Sea of Stars. When they do Thé brings all the Storybrooke group up on to the main deck and takes delight in seeing the look of awe on their faces. The sight of the ship carving a path through still water that easily reflects the ebony sky above washes away all their irritation and annoyances that have built up in the week and a half since they entered The Locker.
"Here in the Sea of Stars it is always night," murmurs Mr Branigan in a calming ethereal tone, so unlike his usual brusque one. "And should you see a star from above shooting across the sky in the sea, make a wish for it will come true."
Emma sighs in contentment - the first she's felt in far too long - as she gazes down into the still water beneath them. She leans on the railing of the ship, her arms supporting her head, as she watches the inky sky; the black swirling with the blue - both dark and light - and the subtle hint of royal purple. The stars, so high above them, twinkle like diamonds and seem so close that she could simply reach out and touch one of them. The idyllic view is a real treat that seems to ease the very soul of a person.
"It has wondrous healing properties on a person," Davy tells her when he joins her. "It helps you forget your pain without forgetting the reason for it."
"Who is Aethyia?"
Davy flinches but replies nonetheless. "Zeus' mortal daughter."
"From what I recall of what I learned about him, he had a lot of those," smirks Emma.
"Very true. But Aethyia was the one that Thé accepted as her half-sister. She loved the lass very deeply. Aethyia was also Megara's half-sister on her mother's side," adds Davy, his gaze flickering to where Thé was standing watching Megara - dressed in leather trousers and a billowy white blouse (that flutters in the slight breeze) and a corset of red ocher and black - stare peacefully out across the Sea of Stars. "Megara looks very like Aethyia, just she had Zeus' eyes like Athena does."
"The silver or the hazel?"
"Both. She was a demi-god after all."
"How is it she knows Killian?"
Davy's open face shutters closed at her query and he gives Emma only a slight bow before taking his leave of her.
"Maelstrom, Cap'n!" Smythe calls down excitedly, breaking the momentary tranquility.
"Into the abyss we go," grins Davy manically as he races to the helm and steers The Dutchman straight into the whirling maelstrom to the angered and fearful shouts of many of the Storybrooke group.
A/N: Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had a good Christmas and enjoyed celebrating New Year (I slept through the latter as my sleep is well and truly fucked up right now, hence the wait for this chapter). Again this chapter ended up going much longer than planned so I'm splitting it in two but will post both chapters today. The next one I'll post later on tonight.
In regards to the three film series I referenced/quoted in the last chapter (which no one managed to get all three) they were: Pirates of the Caribbean (I got a lot of the commands Davy gave his crew from PotC); Harry Potter (Basilisk); Avengers Assemble (probably the hardest of the bunch to find: "The Captain here made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision" is my referencing Director Fury's fantastic quote: "I recognise the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it.")
Would you like to give me a gift of a review? Can also be a belated birthday/Christmas present. Yes, I know, I'm shameless. Thanks for reading!
Due to my illness I do sometimes have issues being able to write on a regular basis. I don't know when I'll get this next updated but I just ask for your patience. Many thanks!
~Anna-Margaret
xx