thank you libby
ooc Davy Jones fearful Jaz and Jaz in pain
I don't know how long it has been since he left. All I know is I was drifting in and out of consciousness, hanging limply from the shackles I am in. Once my father had left, I let my tired, bleeding, battered body drop from being held up. I would not do it before that, otherwise I was showing my father a weakness I would not allow. It hurt to even hang; I had lacerations all over my body, and any other bruises or cuts I had been given stung in a pain I didn't want. A few crew members had been down to look at the famous Jasmine Pearl beaten and scared to death. Something thumped against the back wall of the ship and there was only one crew member with a peg leg. The captain.
"What the hell do you want? Please just leave me alone," I whisper in defeat.
Davy Jones walks out of the shadows and his face seems to soften as I bow my head.
"Why?" he asks in a growl.
"Why what? Why does he do this to me? Why do I look so defeated? Why what?" I ask.
"Both," he snarls.
"Because… because I'm my mother. I should have the gift of magic and when I told him I don't, he did this anyway. Why do I look so defeated? Why should you care? This is what you wanted: the great Captain Jasmine Pearl, dead and defeated," I snarl toward the end - why does he expect my story?
He walks through the door to my cell, and I flinch. He carries on, and I stare into his cold blue eyes as he lifts his claw. Suddenly, it's around my throat. He begins to close his claw and my eyes widen as he chokes me. I try to struggle but with the shackles I can't move far.
"Whilst aboard my ship, you will follow every order I, Marcus or Ellis give you, do you understand? And I order you to tell me," he snarls, his claw tightening until tears run down my cheeks.
He seems to realize that I'm choking and in pain. As he lets go, I take sharp gasps of breath and my tears are of pain, since every wound on my body is hurts. Jones looks at my arms where the shackles rub at my skin as fresh blood begins to run down them. He doesn't do anything but observe.
"You don't understand. He's beaten and attacked me since I was four. I grew up scared and in fear of my father. I took a risk when I blew up the house with him inside. If he got away, I… I would have been killed on site by him. And you want to know why I look so defeated? I finally find out he's alive and I know… I know I'm going to pay for what I've done," I whisper.
Jones walks back toward me, lifting my chin and looking into my eyes. I flinch. He lets go.
"And Emmeline?" he asks.
"Why do you care for my mother?" I retort.
He raises a claw threateningly. I glare at him.
"Why do you get to ask all the questions?" I snap.
He just glares at me and takes a step forward. I hiss slightly as I shift to control my emotions.
"Every day, same as me. Sometimes twice if she took a beating for me," I whisper in a hushed tone.
Footsteps thunder down the staircase.
"Go," I snarl.
Jones doesn't move.
"Leave!" I scream. Thunder claps from above and rain begins to pour down.
I look at Jones and see anger flashing in his eyes.
"Move! Leave! Go, you don't need to see this!" I yell at him.
He backs in to the shadows again but I can't tell if he leaves or not. My father walks down the stairs and opens the door to my cell, pulling out a key from his pocket. I hold my head high and support myself instead of hanging limp. Fresh blood begins to bubble as all my wounds are pulled, and I hiss out in pain.
"You're in luck, Jasmine, we've got a job for you up on deck. You get to see the last sky you will ever see," he whispers into my ear and I flinch away from him.
With a click, the shackles fall from my wrists, and I fall to the ground, unable to catch myself and unable to stop a scream of pain coming my mouth. My father just laughs and leaves me to stand by myself. It takes me a while; not being allowed to use my legs for most of last night and all of today has really took its toll on my body. Once up, I turn and face where I was hung from. There are blood stains on the shackles and blood stains on the walls. My blood. Slowly, I follow my father up onto deck where the rain is falling.
"Sail is stuck. Unhook it," my father tells me simply.
Looking up, I notice it's going to be a hard climb, especially in this weather. I make my way to tto the rigging and begin to climb, hissing or yelling in pain every time a wound is pulled or brushed. Once I get high enough, I reach out to tug the sail, ignoring any pain. Giving it a huge tug, the sail comes free and a huge gust of winds strikes down upon me. I stumble and topple over the side of rigging. Reaching out for anything, I catch a rope swinging in the breeze. Wrapping my hands around it, I begin sliding down, successfully giving myself rope burn but stopping the fall. I drop silently to the deck and notice everyone gathering round some of the rigging. I notice that whilst I'd been tackling the sail, the cannon the crew were pulling had been dropped. Moving my way over, I see Will. His shirt's off, and the cat'o'nines is in Bo'suns hands. I flinch as he raises his arm for the first strike.
Bootstrap grabs his arm. Many intakes of breath are heard, and I wonder why he's doing this, when I remember: Will is Bootstrap's son. I curse myself silently for not realising sooner and then put that down to my beating; it will be slowing my whole body down.
"Impeding me of my duties, are we? You'll share the punishment!" the Bo' sun snarls.
"I'll take it all," Bootstrap says strongly.
"Will you, now? And what would prompt such an act of charity?" Jones' voice rings out from the back and he comes toward the front of the pack.
"He's my son," Bootstrap says softly. He repeats this louder so everyone can hear. Will looks behind in shock before turning back around again.
"Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha! What fortuitous circumstance be this! Five lashes be owed. I believe it is." Jones laughs.
Jones pulls to the whip from the bo'suns hand and holds it out for Bootstrap to take. No, he can't do that! He wouldn't do that. After everything he made me admit, and now he wants to do this to Bootstrap?
"No, no, I won't!" Bootstrap cries out. I'm glad he's mirroring my thoughts to a certain extent.
"The cat's out of the bag, Mister Turner. Your issue. Will feels its string by the bo'sun's hand, or by your own!" Jones yells.
Bootstrap stands, thinking for a while. Seconds must have passed - or maybe minutes, I wasn't sure – and Jones must have gotten sick of waiting.
"Bo'sun!" Jones calls and thrusts the whip out to him. He steps forward to collect it.
"No!" Bootstrap yells. I take a sharp intake of breath.
Bootstrap raises the whip. I can't do this! I can't let it happen. How can I? Will finally finds his father, only to have him beat him? He brings the whip down.
"No!" I yell, lunging out and standing between them. "I'll take it all and by anyone's hand."
"Jaz, no! Will calls before he's silenced.
"What is the meaning of this, Pearl?" Jones growls out.
"I thought it was obvious. I take the punishment. You can let him go," I say, gesturing to Will.
My father glares at me. I wince but that's all Jones is thinking.
"Pearl takes the punishment!" he yells.
Bootstrap drops the whip like it had burnt him. The two holding Will down push him to the floor and grab my arms, pulling my back. My father steps forward, as does the bo'sun.
"Jaz!" Will yells. I'm turned to face the rigging with my back facing the crew.
The two crew members rip my shirt open and lacerations cover my back, each one freshly scabbed over. Many sharp intakes of breath are heard. I hear footsteps behind me and I begin to tense up. A hand and a claw grip my shoulders. I flinch as I realise it's my father.
"Count," he hisses in my ear.
"What?" I say in disbelief.
"Count every lash that hits your skin," he whispers.
"No," I hiss back to him.
"Then ten lashes it is," he says.
"No, I'll count," I mumble.
"There's a good daughter!" he shouts.
Will takes an intake of breath.
Lightning strikes and I hear the whip rise into the sky…
Will's POV
What the hell did Jaz think she's doing, taking the lashes for me? Is she crazy? But then again, she must be. After all, she didn't mention my father was aboard the Dutchman, as well as her own. I think the man's name is Grey but I can't be sure. What shocks me most is her back. It's covered in fresh lacerations, and I can only think of one time she was screaming loud enough to cause that amount of pain; the first time I was on the ship, my first day, after the man I now think is her father pushed her below deck. Under all the lacerations, I notice some scarring then something hits me. Jaz was abused, abused by her father. It's why she hated her back being touched; she didn't want people to realise and use it against her. She keeps flinching and seems to shrink when he's around, and I work that out as well. She's scared. She grew up in an abusive home, automatically becoming scared of the abuser. Everything falls into place. The whip rises and I move forward slightly. I have to stop this. It's my punishment. A crew member grabs my arm, and I look to see who. My father stands there, shaking his head slightly. I jerk my arm from his grip but don't move forward.
The whip flies through the air with a hiss, and I flinch as it strikes Jaz's back. She jerks forward with a hiss similar to the sound of the whip and through her hisses she mumbles something.
"What was that, Jasmine?" Grey shouts to her from beside the bo'sun.
"One," she grits out, a lot louder. Jesus Christ, he's making her count! The sadistic bastard!
"That's better," he shouts, grinning wickedly.
The whip is raised again and the bo'sun seems to pause, looking at Jaz's back and then at Grey. Whispering something into his ear, Grey grins evilly and nods. The bo'suns whip lashes down again and he hits the exact same spot, only he twists his whip slightly, causing Jasmine to scream out in pain as blood drips down her back.
"Two," she spits out again.
The bo'sun raises the whip again and does the same thing, same spot. She screams yet again and. when the whip pulls away. I see a faint line of white. Her bone. I take a sharp intake of breath. The bo'sun and Grey look at each other before Grey nods.
"Three!" she yells in pain. I hear her voice and it sounds like it's about to break.
"Bo'sun," Jones voice rings out. We all turn.
"No more to the same spot. I have allowed you to clean flesh from the bone. I do not want a cripple aboard my ship," he commands, and the bo'sun nods.
He raises the whip and I turn away. I can't watch this anymore. From behind me, Jaz screams again and I can only assume that he had hit a laceration from her first night, but even through the pain she manages to grit out four and I can only feel respect for the woman. The last one is the same: the whip falls onto her skin, she screams and gives the number five. I turn back round, ready to face her but all I see is her back. She hasn't turned in favour of latching onto the rigging and taking short, sharp, heavy breaths. The crew seem to disperse, including her father, all except the captain, my father and me. Her back has blood running down it and she doesn't seem bothered. I take a step forward but am intercepted by my father.
"Come, she will talk to no one in this state," he tells me, and leads me away. I manage to turn and look back, only to see Jones leading her to his cabin.
Jaz POV
Pain. That is all I feel as I breathe heavily. Everywhere hurts. My back is in the worst pain imaginable. I couldn't turn around and face them all, not Will. He wouldn't look at me the same way. Someone touch my shoulder.
"Please, no more. Please," I mumble weakly.
I'm turned slowly and I face Jones. He looks at me with something other than hate in in his eyes and begins to lead me away. I don't care where so long as it's not the brig. I hiss as Jones' claw scraps against my wounds. He grunts and swings a door open. Looking round, I realise it's his cabin. There's a desk in the corner and a bed beside it and in the middle is a giant organ.
"Why are you doing this?" I ask in a whisper.
"Would you rather die of blood loss?" he growls.
I realise he is holding me up with his claw and that I wouldn't be walking without
"If it would make my father leave me alone, maybe," I snap, my vision beginning to blur.
Jones lets go and my vision blacks at the edges. I stumble, hitting the side of his desk, and fall. He catches me before I hit the floor, his claw grabbing my arm and pulling me into the chair by his desk. I hiss as I'm forced back into it and more blood flows from my back. I pull away. Sitting tense, I watch Jones' face. He looks smug. I glare. He moves away towards his organ and I feel myself grow extremely weak, my vision clouding over completely.
"Jones," I manage to choke out before the darkness pulls me under.
I wake up and am facing downward on something soft. I panic instantly. What happened? I move and feel a pain all down my back, especially in the middle, and then I remember. I was whipped. I took Will's punishment. I begin to move upward and noticed my shirt isn't around. A hand begins to spread something onto my back and I flinch and hiss at the pain, moving away.
"Pearl, stop moving," Jones growls out.
His tentacles begin spreading something on my back again. I notice he stays away from the deep laceration which hits the bone in the middle of my back.
"What… what are you putting on them?" I ask as each one begins to numb.
"A mix of rum and seawater," he informs me.
He hits the middle of my back, and I let out a muffled scream of pain.
"You were foolish to allow it by anyone's hand. Those who know the bo'sun know he prides himself in cleaning flesh from bone," Jones tells me in a stern voice.
"How bad is it?" I ask.
"Bad, Pearl. You can see your spine, more than 15cm of it," he says.
"Why are you helping me?" I ask, confused.
"There is one thing in the world that I will not stand for. It is abuse. Any man who comes onto my ship and has abused a woman or child will go to the depths immediately," Jones says very loudly.
"You allowed me to be beaten, you allowed him onto your ship when he died!" I hiss as he hits my spine again.
"You took that as punishment. If I had known it was as bad as that, I would not have allowed it, and I met your father, you, and your mother when you were on a ship. I had no reason to believe he was an abusive man. As far as I could see, he didn't like your mother, but he didn't hate her or you when you were a baby," he snarls.
"You didn't stop it," I snap accusingly at the fact that he had allowed me to be beaten.
"What kind of captain would I have been?" he snarls back, putting pressure on the wound he was tending to. I hiss and pull away from him in pain. He pulls me back.
"A better one," I snap.
Pulling myself up, I grab some bandages from his desk and begin to wrap them round my body. Jones turns away as I begin to wrap them over myself. He moves over to the other side of the room and by the organ. I notice that's where a new shirt lies.
"We had a female crew member once and this is the shirt she wouldn't wear. Kept it in case she ever needed it," he tells me, throwing the shirt at me.
"Thanks," I mumble as it falls at my feet. I tie the bandage and throw the shirt over my head.
I walk over to the door and open it.
"Jones, thank you," I say softly. He only nods and sits in front of his organ.
Walking out, I hear laughter from below deck and decide to investigate. The crew members are playing liars' dice. I smirk slightly - time to get my own back. But before I can, Will steps in front of me.
"Jaz," he whispers in something of disbelief, and I sense some pity.
"I do not care for your pity, nor do I want it," I tell him.
"Then what do you want?" he asks.
"To drink myself silly and gamble," I murmur, pushing past him.
I walk over to the game being held and notice Marcus playing my father. My father loses and a new set begins. I watch most of the crew members play and understand their techniques and the game they play. Every one of them plays averagely. I begin to play a game in my head.
"I hope you do not hate me for my actions," I whisper to Will.
"What…" he says softly.
"I challenge Jones!" I yell, interrupting Will and the game that had just finished.
"I accept," Jones says, coming down the stairs. "Stakes?"
"If I win, I want protection and no harm is to come to me physically by anybody on this ship, and I want a passage to Tortuga when I choose it," I tell him as he comes by the table.
"And when you lose?" Jones asks.
"You have my soul eternity on this ship, and you can choose what you will do with me. You can beat me when you want, have me take another crew member's punishment and above all I will be..." I take a breath, finding it hard to bring the words from my mouth. "I will be a plaything a… a whore for the crew should you need it," I finish shakily.
I knew I was gambling away a lot. If I messed this up, I would be broken completely. I feel the crew members' eyes on me trailing the length of my body, and I couldn't stop a shudder of disgust. Even Jones himself rakes my body over with his eyes. But this is my only way off the ship with protection.
"I accept, but when you lose, you let me have 3 days with you before you offer your services to anyone else," he says.
I nod stiffly. We shake hands as best we can and sit down. Our dice are cast.
"Two twos," I start.
"Four fours."
"Four fives," I say, nervously glancing at my die.
"Six fives."
"Seven fives," I say, only upping the bet slightly. Now is the time for playing safe. Studying Jones' face, I see that one of the tentacles on the right side of his face was wiggling furiously while the others were not.
"Three sixes," he says and his tentacle stops wiggling.
I take a risk and think about my die. I didn't have a six, so that meant he had to have three. But rolling a six was rare.
"Liar," I say softly and begin to wince as Jones smirks.
What have I done? I just said the captain of the Flying Dutchman was a liar. How stupid can I be? I've just doomed myself to a lifetime of horror and misery. I lift my cup and Jones does the same. I hear all the crews' intakes of breath and I look from my dice to Jones'. His face turns his own shade of horror, and mine of shock. Jones had two sixes and I none. Jones stands in anger.
"Take me to Tortuga now," I say as he walks upstairs.
"Down," he calls to the crew harshly.
They all rush onto deck and Jones comes down the stairs to where Will and I stand. He grabs our arms and begins dragging us to his cabin. Will struggles so much that Jones knocks him out with his claw. Throwing us into the cabin, he slams the door, locking it shut. The ship suddenly tips to one side and I fall sideways, knocking my head on the organ. I feel the blackness cascade over me and I can't help but think why does this keep happening to me?
I have only just noticed that I must have a problem with the number 8 because in any chapter 8 Jaz has had a bad experience. oops