SIX: Like a Flambé
Elizabeth was correct. If Cutler Beckett was to realize exactly what was being planned, his course of action would quite probably be to promptly explode. That would be a bit of a shame, because not only did spontaneous explosions cause quite a mess, but it wouldn't really do much for his height, if he were to revert to two pairs of gently steaming boots (oh yes, he had those boots of his back, stolen from his manor).
She walked into Beckett's cabin once more, William in her arms. She scanned the room for him, and noticed him lying face down on the bed, his face in his arms. Was he sleeping? Noticing his hand moving slightly, she decided that he wasn't.
"Beckett," Elizabeth said in her bossy voice, striding up between the beds briskly. She looked at him for a moment, and then kicked one leg of the bunk. No response. "Cutler," she finally sighed, "Stop being a tit. Sulking and being a big baby about this isn't going to get you anywhere; you're annoyed with me... I understand, somewhat. But we've..." she shrugged, "We've been through a lot together, you and I. We have to stick together, surely?" It came out hurried and embarrassed. "Beckett?"
Still no response. Frowning, Elizabeth prodded him in the shoulder. Beckett's head moved slightly, and then he raised his head with an incoherent murmur, looking at her blearily. Elizabeth stared at him in shock.
"What?" he asked her, somewhat drowsily, trying to focus his eyes on her with a small frown.
"You were really asleep?" Elizabeth questioned, dumbstruck for a moment before converting to an angry glare. She was also slightly embarrassed about her little monologue. Beckett looked around, as if unsure whether she was talking to him or not. And then he turned back to her.
"What did you think I was doing?" Beckett asked, "Examining my pillow extremely closely?"
"No... I thought you were sulking!" Elizabeth exclaimed. Beckett blinked, as if suddenly realizing something.
"Oh yes. I'm not talking to you," Beckett said, and immediately dropped his head back to the bed. Elizabeth grabbed him by the shoulder and wrenched him upwards, supporting William in one arm, who seemed to be finding the entire ordeal very funny.
"Co!" he exclaimed.
"Beckett!" Elizabeth couldn't be bothered to go through her previous speech again, "Stop being a big baby and grow up! We have to work together, and that's all there is to it." Not quite as touching, but Elizabeth's weary frustration had been welling up inside of her for long enough and she knew that there wasn't a lot she could do right now to make Beckett like her any less. Beckett didn't respond, simply pouted.
William made another unintelligible noise and began sucking on a finger. Other then that, silence.
"Well, seeing as you're not going to grace me with a reply," Elizabeth forced a smile, talking rather breathlessly, "I'm going to tell you all about our plan, and you're not going to say anything... am I right?" Beckett simply looked at her, and then away again, expression one of boredom. "Basically, we are going to follow Jack Sparrow's plan into complete danger and uncertainty, with no real strategy, looking for the Fountain of Youth, and a book from the Black Pearl, being used for his own means. And you're going to be dragged along for the whole thing!" Beckett's expression could be seen moving across his face like the sun dawning over the curve of the globe, an expression that mingled shock and disbelief. "Not only that, but I have hired a physician, and he is going to be seeing to you now, you crazy old bugger, you!"
There was a moment of silence as Beckett stared at her. And then...
Boom!
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So, Beckett was with a lady, eh? A lady with a baby. How... interesting. Did he care about this lady in particular? Well, he must, surely, if he was with her. And the baby was also most intriguing. So was the baby his? If so... well... instant blackmail material. Also, holding his lady friend and baby hostage should make Beckett jump through hoops.
The search was narrowing; now for Beckett, accompanied by a woman, a baby, and a well-known pirate. Apparently, someone had seen people of the same description landing one evening in Cuba; and that very day, a junk had set sail, eastwards. A junk that could be traced to Singapore, or China. Leonard smiled mirthlessly. A trail. A chase.
All he had to do was follow.
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Now, obviously, when I say that Cutler Beckett exploded, I don't mean that he quite literally combusted from the inside and splattered over half of the cabin, thus mentally scarring Elizabeth (and probably young William) forever. His explosion was more of an internal explosion; but it was just as powerful nevertheless. He exploded—figuratively—like a flambé.
For those of you not in the know, flambéing is a procedure in which rich food is set alight using alcohol and it results in a fiery (but tasty) inferno, and a large 'whoomph!' of flames, though the fire quickly consumes the alcohol and is over quite quickly. It was discovered by Henri Carpentier in Monte Carlo, in 1895 (so Beckett would never have heard of the flambé that he metaphorically represented), when he accidentally set fire to a pan of crêpes. It is thought that he said something along the lines of, "Burning the sauce affected the flavour in a way that I could not have anticipated!" (translated from French), but what he really said was probably something along the lines of, "Aaauuugh!" (not translated from French.)
Anyway, now that you have a little background information on the birth of the flambé (and, if you did not know before, probably how it can be compared to Beckett's brain explosion), let's move on with the story.
Beckett could only stare at Elizabeth in horror for a moment, before he caught a hold of her by one wrist, and dragged her to the door of the cabin. Elizabeth thought for a moment that he was throwing her out, but instead they ran into a certain Jack Sparrow who had been looking for someone to tease (see: Beckett) and had ended up outside the cabin.
"Sparrow," Beckett spoke in tones of barely suppressed loathing, "Please tell Captain Turner that she is an utter fool and I hate her."
"Er, no problem." Jack looked to Elizabeth. "You're an utter fool and Beckett hates you."
"Tell him that he's being stupid," Elizabeth said, shooting a disapproving look at Beckett, who scowled back at her.
"Beckett, you're being-,"
"Ask Turner if she is completely, utterly and unashamedly insane, will you? Because I have this feeling that she just might be!" Beckett didn't wait for Jack to finish his dutiful incanting of Beckett's words, and Jack shot him a tut-tutting look. "Hypocrite," Beckett muttered, as an afterthought.
"Elizabeth. Are you completely, utter and unashamedly ins-?"
"Well, Jack," Elizabeth wrenched her arm out of Beckett's grasp and used it to support William more thoroughly, "Could you please tell Beckett that he's acting like a little prat and that he should get his head out of his backside?" Jack spun to face Beckett, steeping his fingers.
"You're acting like a little prat and you should get your head out of your backside," Jack said in a tone that suggested he was enjoying himself. Beckett turned around to walk off, and Elizabeth caught him by one shoulder.
"Oh no. You are going to see the physician. Now," she steered him towards the sick bay of the ship. Beckett was forced along, backwards.
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Guan Do was the ship's surgeon. He didn't only do surgery, however—he had been selected by Elizabeth for his knowledge on the brain. And now it was time for him to examine this 'friend' of hers; though he seemed incredibly unwilling. Beckett was thrust down onto the sick-bay's bunk, and Captain Turner turned to Guan, heaving a massive sigh, her baby on one hip.
"Do what you must," she sighed, nodding at Beckett, before shooting him a spiteful look. He merely pursed his lips. Guan nodded, and turned to Beckett.
NB: I'm just fine-tuning Chapter 22, and the hardest part is beginning to become finding relevant food-based chapter titles. Looking back through the original text, I'm starting to realize that my writing style has changed a little (hopefully for the better), but I am generally leaving the chapters I wrote back then as they were. Might as well, I suppose. I'm apalled at my past self for just how long I waited before beginning the actual adventure, but I don't think it's too far off now. Bear with me! And I'm glad to have people reading... I'm surprised, but pleasantly so, of course!