A.N. I recently watched the Nautilus on Amazon and I thought it was fantastic! But I really hated the fact that they left Humility and Loti behind. Both of them just helped to very publicly bring down the company and Humility kissed Nemo in public. Does he really think they won't also be 'convicted criminals' now like the rest of the Nautilus crew? And Lord Pitt doesn't seem like he'd just roll over and let his public humiliation go, either.
Also it's kind of sad that Jiacamo isn't there anymore so I'm ignoring it and writing him back in as though nothing happened.
Stowaways
Once the Nautilus reached open ocean, her crew could breathe a sigh of relief. Nemo had returned to the bridge, clutching the previously glowing stone in his hands and explaining everything he'd just seen to them.
"We're going to need a heading, Captain," Boniface remarked. "Do we return to Atlantis?"
"If it even was Atlantis," Suyin muttered.
"We have to try," Nemo said. "If there is even a chance that Benoit is alive, we should not pass it by. Agreed?"
Sounds of agreement swept the bridge and Nemo nodded, relieved. "Then we return to Atlantis," he said.
"And what do we do about those…things that attacked us?" Jiacomo asked, in how own language and made crawling motions with his hands to signify the creatures.
"The creatures there…we shall concern ourselves with those later. One problem at a time," Nemo shook his head. "I will try to think of something," he said.
"That is comforting," Boniface sighed.
"I had no plan beyond destroying the company. My life was to end after that," Nemo told them, with grim honestly. "I certainly did not account for these…creatures. They seemed to fear the light, perhaps Benoit's flares can be modified," he mused.
"I should say they can be and should be modified. I don't fancy them failing half way through running from those ghastly phylum Echinodermata again," Humility said, startling them all. Evidently she had heard everything they had so far said.
She and Loti walked in as though they hadn't been left behind. Both women stood there smirking proudly at their stunned expressions.
"Humility!" Blaster exclaimed happily and ran over to hug her.
"I missed you too," she smiled down at him, wrapping her arms around the boy.
"We were gone only for a few hours," Loti remarked, dryly, but Humility ignored her.
"Looks like we've got some stowaways, Captain," Suyin smirked at Humility.
"Hah," Boniface laughed and hugged both of them, smiling.
While the rest of them hugged and laughed happily, Nemo stood there too shocked to move.
"Did you really think I'd let you have all the fun without me?" Humility smiled across at Nemo.
"Fun?!" Nemo reiterated, stunned.
"Indeed. Fun, Captain," she nodded.
"We are fugitives!" Nemo retorted.
"I know. Isn't it jolly exciting?" she laughed.
"You could have lived your life free of the fear from being a convicted criminal…"
"Don't be foolish, Nemo. They're not going to just let us go. Loti or myself. We were rather public in helping you and I tricked my supposed fiancé. I humiliated him rather spectacularly…in public. If nothing else, he'll never let it go," she waved a dismissive hand and grimaced at the mere thought of the odious man.
"He'll probably have her locked away in an asylum for life if only because she kissed you. Perhaps if she agreed to marry him he would have her released, but I doubt that he would forgive," Loti remarked casually.
"Exactly!" Humility nodded, flushing a little at the mention of their very public kiss. "And an asylum may not be technically a prison, but it might as well be for a woman. I'd either be his property or a mad woman locked away in an asylum," she explained.
"Neither option is preferable, however, here you would be…" Nemo began to protest.
"So, you'd rather I be treated as a hysterical woman? With hydro shock therapy and avoidance of all things intellectual and god only knows what else?!"
"Hydro what?" Turan asked, raised an eyebrow. He got no answer though.
"Do you know, in Canada, recently, a doctor thought that it would be a marvellous idea to forcibly remove a poor woman's uterus because he thought it might cure her hysteria?! She died from an infection, incidentally, but at least she was cured for the few moments of agony before her death!" she paced around in agitation.
"That's barbaric," Suyin grimaced.
"Why would anyone do something like that?" Blaster asked, clearly very disturbed.
"Because the treatments for 'female hysteria' are all insane as are the so called doctors who envision those treatments. They believe that hysteria in women is caused by…" Humility explained but stoped when Loti elbowed her. "Well, it doesn't matter. The point is, it's beyond ludicrous and it simply tortures innocent women," she then added.
"Would they really…do that…to you?" Blaster asked, looking up at her.
"Maybe," she shrugged.
"We can't leave them behind, Captain! We can't let them die of an infection like that!" the boy cried and the ever present dog Archie, barked in agreement.
"Agreed," Boniface nodded.
"Here here," Kai said.
"Excellent. Vox populi, vox dei," Humility declared happily.
"This is not a court of law," Nemo pursed his lip.
"So you'd leave me to such a fate rather than have me stay here with you? How wonderful," Humility scoffed.
"That is not what I said," he snapped, exasperated.
"It might as well be."
"Not so very long ago, nothing I said or did would convince you to stay. You wanted to leave and now that I tell you to leave you wish to stay," he threw up his hands in frustration.
"Circumstances change as you well know," she shrugged. "And let me make one thing absolutely clear. You don't ever 'allow' me to do anything. I don't require your permission to be here or to return to England or anything of the sort," she said, glared at Nemo.
"Well…technically, he is the captain and the ship is…" Turan muttered.
"Not the time," Humility snapped.
"Right…" Turan nodded. He took a step back and Ranbir patted him on the shoulder.
"Stay here then! And we can all be fugitives together! What a happy time we shall have running from the British!" Nemo mocked.
"Splendid. My thoughts precisely," Humility nodded.
"Wonderful," he said sarcastically.
"Isn't it?!"
"And when our enemies find us, it shall be even more so," Nemo retorted.
"Oh, I agree."
"Now, of all times, you agree with me?!"
"Yes!"
"Then you should know, it is not only the British we have to fear. The man responsible for the deaths of my wife and daughter is still alive. It was Billy, his name was in the document…"
"What? Billy?!" Humility frowned. "The same Billy you told me about! Your friend Billy from school?!"
"Captain Billy Millais," he ground out the name as though it were a curse. "His signature was on the document that signed their deaths. He came upon me in the vault after you all were gone. And we fought in the fire," he said.
"What happened?" Humility asked, stunned.
"I did not kill him, if that is what you wish to know. I pulled the documents from the fire and read it. And now I know. And I wanted to kill him for it. I know why he did what he did now. I understand his actions. But forgiving them is impossible."
"Why would he…"
"Our antics as school children lead to his expulsion…he had no one to protect him. And all of his dreams of a better life were obliterated. His family died in poverty…he was alone. I did not know this at the time. I was told that he had moved. I looked for him but none would help me. I tried to write to him but my letters were returned unopened because I had no address," he told them, all but begging them to believe him. "When we met again atop the ice I begged him to join us. I thought for one moment that I had my friend back…he told me about his family…but the rest…I discovered only just. His vengeance upon me for ruining his life was to deprive me of my family as he had been deprived of his. Vengeance upon vengeance. If he had sought out his revenge upon me alone I could have forgiven it even from beyond the grave. But my wife and daughter were innocent…Had I not persuaded him…had I behaved and not caused trouble then his life would have been different and we would still be brothers."
"Children misbehave. That is the only thing they know how to do well," Suyin said to him kindly.
"I was not punished…he was. I was a prince, I was protected. He had no money and no connections. Had I known, I would have done something. Now he believes that I cared nothing for him. And…perhaps he is right…how else could I have come so close to killing him? I once called him my brother and now I…" he sighed and closed his eyes, lowering his head.
"None here would protest if you had killed him," Boniface remarked.
"We would have helped," Kai nodded.
"Or stood there supportively," Turan added. "What?" he demanded when the crew all turned to stare at him.
"I think…that I have had my fill of death…and of vengeance," Nemo sighed and then bit his lip as though he wasn't quite sure of that statement. "Perhaps three years is enough…My purpose was to destroy the company and I have done that. Now I have no purpose," he said, his expression devoid of all emotion except a deep, numbing sorrow.
"I think keeping the crew alive is a very good purpose. We would very much appreciate it, Nemo," Boniface gave him a small smile and a murmur of agreement soon followed from said crew.
"And finding Benoit," Humility added, hopefully.
"If he is even still alive," Loti scoffed.
"He has to be," Humility insisted.
"If he is….and the British discover it, then they will be hunting for him too as well as us," Nemo remarked. "If it was Atlantis that Benoit discovered, then in the hands of the British, who knows what damage could be wrought."
"Don't even say it," she rolled her eyes at him.
"Say what?"
"'You should return to England. You are British and they will pardon you'," Humility said in a poor imitation of his voice.
"I sound nothing like that," Nemo frowned and the crew tried not to laugh at his insulted expression, most failed.
"My point was perfectly clear!"
"The point is…"
"The point is, I'm staying. And we're going to find Benoit! Understand?" she crossed her arms.
"But we will be hunted like animals by both the British and by captain Millais. I doubt he wants it known that he murdered my family. He will do everything he can to keep his secret. They will never let us live…"
"Because that would really make a change from what we've experienced thus far!"
"This will be worse!"
"How could it be worse?" she shrugged. "So, I'm a fugitive now? Well, hurrah! So we shall be on the run, hiding from the British at every turn. Oh, won't that be a change?!"
Nemo stood and paced around in frustration, eventually settling with his back in front of the large round window and leaning over the railings, clutching at them with taught knuckles.
"You are unbearably stubborn!" he glared at her in frustration.
"Says the most stubborn man to ever live," she retorted.
"She's got a point," Ranbir muttered to Turan who nodded.
"They will kill you! I am trying to save your life! You still have a choice that none of us had!" Nemo said to Humility.
"Some choice, as I've already explained to you. And my appreciation for your efforts are long since gone. It is my life to risk however I choose, not yours. And as I've already told you, killing me would be the far more preferable option. I'll likely be forced to marry the imbecile Lord Pitt and live out the remainder of my days forever reminded that I am his property, locked within a gilded prison!Do you know that it's perfectly legal in England for a man to rape his wife?! Lord Pitt…" she said his name in a mockingly haughty tone. "Could do whatever he wanted and I'd have no legal grounds to stop him. You think I'd rather endure that than be here with you?!"
"He wouldn't…" Nemo grimaced.
"You met him! You know that he would! You know that he's a vindictive, cruel, pompous oaf! Can you honestly stand there and tell me that you'd rather I leave to be his property?! Do you believe that he would treat me with kindness and respect and see me as an equal? Do you?!" she demanded, her voice breaking at the thought of her life if she married Lord Pitt.
"…No, I don't," he shook his head and turned away.
"And yet you still call me stubborn for leaving to come after you!" Humility threw up her hands.
With a growl of frustration, Nemo turned his back and muttered to himself in Hindi.
"What's he saying?" she asked Ranbir.
"I don't know…I…I can't hear him…" Ranbir lied quickly and poorly.
"Is he calling me stubborn again"? Humility pressed.
"I don't…"
"He is isn't he?!" she frowned and looked back at Nemo. "You're calling me stubborn, aren't you?! Nemo?" she yelled.
"Yes, I am!" Nemo yelled, wide eyed as he spun around to glare at her again.
"Oh, I knew it…" she hissed and held up her hands, strangling the air in front of her at eye level as though strangling him. "Just you wait! I'll learn Hindi and then I'll know every little thing you mutter about me! Ranbir, teach me to speak Hindi!" she snapped her attention over to Ranbir.
"Ranbir, do not!" Nemo countered.
"Erm…I'd rather not take sides," Ranbir muttered and hid behind Boniface.
"Coward," Turan chuckled at him.
"You are being infuriating on purpose! And I will not have such childish behaviour on board the Nautilus!" Nemo said to Humility.
"Fortunately, I already made my feelings on the matter of you 'allowing' certain things, perfectly clear."
"I am the captain!"
"And I am the engineer!"
"That is a good point, Nemo. You and Humility are the only ones who know the innermost workings of the ship. We need you both here if we are to survive," Boniface said placatingly. "Do we not?" he turned to the crew for support and there was raucous agreement.
"There. It's unanimous. Again," Humility smiled.
"Yes, wonderful. I am outvoted on my own ship. Then stay, and god help us all when the British find us because they will show you no mercy, just as the rest of us."
"You mean 'if' they find us, and if they catch us. Some of us aren't quite so defeatist as you," she replied.
"There is nothing 'defeatist' in admitting the facts," Nemo said. "Facing the company was one thing but the entire British Empire is quite another! Need I remind you that they occupy a quarter of the globe! We have nothing to fight that with! We have no money, no power, nothing but our wits to survive on…"
"That hasn't stopped you yet," Humility scoffed.
"That was different."
"It really isn't," she scoffed.
"I had a plan for the company's downfall!"
"Then come up with a new plan now."
"Your faith in me is truly encouraging but I cannot fell an empire! Had I even succeeded to my father's position as the Maharaja of Bundelkund, I would not have stood a chance."
"We don't have to bring down the British empire, we just have to evade it," Humility said much more calmly.
"Oh, is that all?" Nemo breathed out a shuddering sigh.
At the same time, Humility cautiously made her way over to him as though approaching a wounded animal. She stood beside him, her shoulder almost close enough to touch his and she rested a hand on the railing beside his.
"We have some time. They're gone…for now. And we need to find Benoit, or at least try to. I'm here to stay. It's not as though you can simply turn the ship around to simply drop me off in England, either. You could try to throw me out of course, but I'll shall simply come back and you might be risking another mutiny if you did attempt it," Humility ventured. "Although I'd much rather you didn't throw me out…since we are under the ocean at present…I'd very much appreciate it," she gave him a genuine smile.
"I should."
"You can't possibly mean that. It's not civilised at all to toss a woman into the open ocean," she said with mock horror.
"In such matters as these, I hardly think civility matters."
"Now I know you're lying. Civility always matters and you are a gentleman."
"So is demeaning the Captain and a gentleman the act of a civilised woman?"
"Yes, if she's choosing life over death," Humility replied.
"We do not know that they would…"
"The fact that it is a mere possibility is reason enough to be here, in my opinion. And yours as well, you're merely choosing to be contrary in the subject because the alternative is admitting that you were wrong."
"Am I indeed?"
"Utterly and completely. But don't worry, I can wait for an apology. But not for too long."
"Fine! Fine. Do as you wish, you shall do so regardless of what I say! So go and…fix something," Nemo said, exasperated.
"I will."
"Good."
"But not because you ordered it!" she added, petulantly. With a grin she nudged his arm with her shoulder.
He ground out another hiss of annoyance and looked up towards the ceiling, as if begging for patience. "Heaven forbid," he grumbled.
"We're probably in need of repairs anyway after the escape from the harbour. And I'll take a look at those flares too. Benoit must have left plans for them somewhere."
"Then do so."
"I going! Right now!" Humility said and began to saunter back over towards the open door. "This is me…leaving the room. See!"
"I've had more mature arguments after a bottle of scotch…against children," Loti muttered to Kai, and he scoffed.
"I'm quite sure it will be an interesting problem to work on! Ground breaking, even," Humility tried overtly to tempt him into helping her.
"No doubt."
"One might even say, only the finest minds could solve the problem."
"You have a high opinion of yourself, I am certain that you feel up to the task," Nemo replied dryly.
With another growl of irritation that mirrored his own, Humility stared at him and ran a hand through her hair. "My god, I do love you but sometimes I just want to punch you in right in your beautiful, stupidly annoying face! Kai and Jiacamo showed me how to punch someone properly, incidentally!" she said.
"That's true, we did," Kai smirked, proudly and Jiacamo nodded, hitting the end of his elbow with his opposing fist for emphasis.
"See! I'd do a really good job of it too! Your jaw wouldn't know what hit it, trust me!" Humilty held up a fist. "What?" she asked, suddenly thrown by his absolutely stunned expression. "What?!" she asked again when she spun and saw the same look on the faces of the rest of the crew as well as several smiles. "What did I say?! I wouldn't actually punch him…" she trailed off.
"That's good to know. You wouldn't want to ruin the captains' 'beautiful face'," Loti mocked with a smirk.
"His…his what?! Oh my god, I just said that out loud…in front of everyone, didn't I?!" Humility's eyes widened to comical proportions and she took a faltering step back.
"You did," her friend nodded.
"I don't think the captain is that beautiful, do you?" Turan muttered to the others.
"Eh?" Suyin shrugged.
"You agree with her?!" Ranbir yelled.
"I was happily married to a beautiful man myself, once. I'm not blind," Suyin rolled her eyes.
"Not my type. But…" Loti also shrugged. "I advise you to leave down your hair. Much better for you," she said aloud to the Captain.
"Will you shut up?!" Humility yelled at her.
"Humility seems to agree," Loti added and there was rather a lot of laughter after that.
"Oh and Humilty, you said something else too," Blaster giggled.
"What else did I…oh, good lord almighty," Humility blanched. "I am so sorry," she said to Nemo, all trace of her easier teasing and annoyance was long gone. In its place was embarrassment, mortification and sorrow. "I'll…I'll be in my room…hiding," she blinked and pointed back towards the open door.
"You are welcome to do so. However, I am going back to our room first. I am bored of your little tiff here," Loti grabbed Kai's arm. "We are going to play backgammon instead," she declared.
"Backgammon…right," Kai nodded.
"And we all know what they mean by that," Turan grinned.
"What?" Blaster asked.
"Don't think of it," Suyin said to him, maternally.
"But I can't…I can't go back there if you're…" Humility flushed.
"We require only my side of the room," Loti replied, dryly and walked off, dragging Kai with her. He at least gave Humility an apologetic glance.
"Fine!" Humility yelled after them. "I'll go to the mess instead!"
"What about the flares?" Boniface asked.
"Then…then I'll go and work on those!"
"In your quarters? With Loti and Kai?" Boniface asked, amused.
"In…in the engine room," Humility flushed and then she scurried off, her hurried footsteps echoing down the corridor.
After a moment of heavy silence, and with his crew staring at him, Nemo flittered his eyes across all of them and back to the door. He let out a cough of embarrassment and sighed.
"Speaking as a ladies' man…that could have been handled better," Turan remarked, finally breaking the silence.
"Turan…" Nemo growled in a scolding tone.
"But she did at least declare her love, so not all is lost. I know this wonderful poem, and if you recite it to her then…"
"Turan," Nemo said again and rubbed at his eyes.
"Another time?" Turan sighed.
"I will…chart our course for Atlantis," Nemo declared and stormed out.
"I'd keep that poem in mind. He might be needing it soon," Boniface said when Nemo was gone, much to their amusement. He laughed to himself as he made his way over to the helm and gently took the wheel.
Much later, as she muttered to herself in the otherwise silent engine room, Humility was tinkering with the flares. She had pieces of paper, plans and documents strewn around her and her hair was tied back into a messy yet beautiful plait down her back. Her shirt sleeves were rolled up and she had grease stains on her hands and forearms as well as pencil smudges on the backs of her hands.
She was so engrossed in her work that it took some time for her to notice that she was no longer alone.
Nemo had been standing at the top of the stairs for a few minutes and he eventually began to descend the spiral stair case, slowly. As he reached the foot of the staircase he clung to the railings like a lifeline and took a deep breath.
"I am sorry," he whispered, quietly.
"For what?" Humility asked, not looking over at him yet. "For telling me to leave you behind like a coward? For implying that I need your permission to go wherever I please? Or for kissing me? Or that I kissed you? Or…"
"No, no not for that," Nemo stopped her before she could continue. "I am not sorry that I kissed you, or that you kissed me or however you wish to describe it. For the rest, yes, but never for that."
"…Good, then…that's good," she said and put down the small piece of machinery she held. Then she wiped her hands on a rag and finally turned to look at him. "You made me wait for a quite a while for that apology," she remarked as she tugged a pencil out from where it rested behind her ear and tossed it onto the workbench.
"Then I apologise for that also," Nemo replied. "I did not truly think that you would be hurt by the British if I left you behind. Truly. But perhaps that was foolish of me to think so. I wanted only your safety. I swear to you," Nemo said to her, clearly genuine.
"I know. And that's the only reason that I'm not punching you right now," Humility began seriously but ended in humour.
"I am grateful for your restraint," he managed a small smile.
"You should be. So don't push your luck and try it again."
"I shall not."
"Good," she smiled at him again. Then, quickly her smile faded and she spoke again. "I…apologise too," Humility sighed.
"For what?" he asked. "For kissing me?" he reiterated her earlier words in good humour.
"No. Not that. Well…maybe that. I just…I shouldn't have…I said that I…regardless, I shouldn't have said it…" she said, falteringly.
"Saying what? That you love me?" he asked and she nodded, sheepishly. "Why are you apologising for that? Was it not genuine?"
"What?! Of course it was genuine!"
"Then why apologise? I care for you, deeply, and I am not sorry for it. It confuses me…" he said slowly and looked down. His eyes flitted from one side to the other as though searching for the right words to say. "That I came to care for the crew was enough of a surprise to me but what I feel for you was even more so. I thought it was impossible for me to feel anything but hate again. But I do."
"But that's precisely why I…" she trailed off, unable to say it. But he knew well enough what she meant. He was still mourning the loss of his wife. Nemo's affection for her, affection that he thought long buried and gone, confused him, as he'd said, but it was really.
"Ah," Nemo raised an eyebrow as he hummed. He sat on the foot of the stairs and smiled ruefully.
"Yes, 'ah'," she nodded. "So…I'm sorry. I truly am."
"Don't be. A person cannot help what they feel, and these things are better off said," he mused and leaned his head back against the railings.
"All the same…"
"I loved my wife…" he muttered.
"I know."
"And she is gone…she will not return. Benoit told me more than one to stop looking to the past. That I should look ahead. But I never thought it possible. Looking ahead, I thought, meant forgetting them and I cannot do that. But the company is gone and both Renouka and Mya are avenged. I can only hope that they rest a little easier now. And I cannot help wonder what they would make of the person I have become in their absence. I am not the same man that I once was. I do not think they would know me know if they saw me, certainly they would not be proud of me," he lamented.
"They would," Humility assured him and walked over to him. She knelt by his side and gently put a hand over his arm which was still clinging onto the railing. "They would," she said again.
"That is kind of you to say…but I cannot agree…"
"Of course you can't. Heaven forbid that we agree on something," Humility smiled.
He smiled back a little. "Did I tell you how I first met Renouka?" Nemo asked suddenly.
"No," she shook her head.
"It was an arranged marriage," he uttered quietly.
"What?"
"I met her for the first time, the day before our wedding. It was my father's idea. He wrote to me while I was in Oxford and he so rarely communicated with me, that a simple letter, with no explanation was enough to send me running. Now perhaps I wonder if his letters to me were intercepted…regardless, I returned home and he told me that he had found a wife for me. Arranged marriages are perfectly common so I saw no reason to object and we did become very fond of each other very quickly."
"What was she like?" she asked, intrigued.
"She was…fierce," Nemo smiled for the first time as he recalled the memory of his wife. "I don't know why my father forced me to return to England every year…perhaps he was forced to. But more than once Renouka pleaded with him to allow me to remain in India. Every time he dismissed her and every time she tried again. She never took 'no' for an answer, and neither did I, so you can imagine the arguments," he laughed. "But I could never remain angry with her for long, and she knew it. For many years I was…disillusioned with my life. I was forced continually to live in a country which I hated and which hated me in return. I missed my home, but a letter from her was enough to brighten my day. She sent me poems and books, she read more than I," he said.
"She sounds wonderful," Humility remarked, filled with sorrow that she would never get to meet this remarkable woman.
"She was. And yet I could not even be there with her as she fought for her life," he lamented.
"That wasn't your fault," Humility said kindly.
"No…perhaps not. But I should have been there all the same," he said as silent tears still fell from his eyes. "I could have killed Billy then and there and saved them…"
"M…maybe one day we'll see him again…and…" she stammered.
"No…I don't wish to. The boy that he once was is dead, and the same is true of me. Dakkar and Billy no longer exist. It is finished," he said.
"No, no you're right," Humility sighed. She gently squeezed her hand over his arm in an attempt to comfort him.
"I think…Benoit was right…about my vengeance. I should have listened," he muttered, the tears only now just starting to fall from his eyes. "Revenge was all that I lived for these past three years. Now that I see it brought to life and the damage it has wrought…I want no more of it. But I have no sense of who I am without it."
"Well…you've plenty of time to learn that," Humility told him, sniffing a little. "But whatever you think of yourself, you are a good man. You are honourable, and brave…"
"Now you flatter me," Nemo managed a quiet scoff.
"Me? Do you honestly believe I'd flatter anyone? I've had no qualms telling you precisely what I think at any time," she smiled.
"And I recall every instance, particularly after our first meeting."
"In my defence, I was kidnapped," she said a little sheepishly.
"Yes. Such an honourable man, aren't I? Kidnapping young society ladies and their pet dogs for my own amusement," he joked back.
"Oh, terribly," Humility pulled a mockingly serious face and shuddered. "Still, it was well worth the look on Pitt's face when I told him that you were far more honourable than him. He was absolutely furious…another reason why he will never forgive me," she pointed out.
"Point well taken," Nemo drawled.
"Which one?"
"Whichever you like."
"A good answer."
"I won't lie to you; I am glad that you are here. But you deserve a much better life than this," he said, glancing around the engine room.
"So do you. So does everyone on board the Nautilus," Humility spoke quietly but with confidence. "But we have something here that all of us thought we'd lost. We are a family here, and we can be happy…even if we are on the run. Even if it ends…as you predicted, at least for a time we'll have been content," she smiled and shuffled a little closer to him.
"So be it," Nemo sighed heavily.
His other hand came to rest over hers and he held it gently. "Then may I ask you for one thing?" he asked.
"What?" Humility asked a little warily.
Her caution must have been obvious because he laughed a little at her expression.
"Be patient for me, please. So many years of hate are not so easily cast aside, despite my words, if it is at all possible," Nemo explained. He softly squeezed his hand over hers for emphasis.
"I can…I can be patient…" she managed to say, after a moment.
"You are sure of that?" he asked dryly.
"Quite sure."
"I ask only because I have yet to see evidence of this."
"Hmmm," she glared at him. "I was perfectly patient in allowing you time to apologise, wasnt I?"
"It was most gracious of you," he said and she couldn't help but laugh.
For a brief moment then, neither spoke, they sat there in contented silence, side by side amidst the occasional rumble of the pipes and the hum of the engine.
"I've erm…been looking at the flares Benoit made," Humilty began sounding a little nervous. "I…don't understand them well enough yet, but I will."
"Of that I have no doubt."
"Because I have a high opinion of myself?" she asked dryly, recalling his earlier words.
"No. Because I have a high opinion of you," he corrected her simply. Then he continued. "I do not know what to expect should we venture back into those caves in search of Benoit. But we shall need all the help we can get. Those flares would be a good start."
"Agreed, but we need some way to fight those little terrors, too. I was thinking…if they despise the light then perhaps fire would work."
"Perhaps," he mused.
"It's how we get the fire into the cave and to make it fight for us in such a damp environment that puzzles me," Humility said, her brow furrowing.
"As you said, we have time. We will think of something," he said calmly. Then, a small flash of white in her hair caught his eye. He frowned when he found small scraps of torn paper, no bigger than a fingernail, in her hair and even one on her shoulder. "There is…a fragment of paper in your hair," he remarked, stunned.
"What? Oh…I had a disagreement with some notes I was making. They infuriated me so…I tore them up…then I might've have thrown them into the air," she flushed.
"It is good to know there there are things other than myself which infuriate you," Nemo said and plucked the scrap of paper from the wild curls of her hair. Then he dusted off the one from her shoulder and tossed it aside.
"Thanks," Humility smiled.
"Benoit used to do the same when he was particularly annoyed. He tore up enough paper at times to destroy entire forests."
"I thought he was far more level headed than me," she laughed.
"Usually, yes. It happened only rarely….I miss him," Nemo admitted.
"Me too."
"The vision that I saw from the stone…Benoit held it as those creatures dragged him away from me. Perhaps it is foolish hope to believe that he could still be alive. It was his hope of discovering Atlantis that brought us to that dreadful place. Hope, will not bring him back," he lamented.
"It might," she smiled kindly at him.
"And is that enough? You all saw nothing of the vision this stone showed to me. I begin to doubt that it was even real myself."
"If you say that you saw it, then it's enough. Everyone else clearly agreed," Humility assured him. "So, to Atlantis…if it was Atlantis…we shall go," she said with confidence and he gave an apathetic nod.
"Our course is plotted already. Avoiding all British bases, it will make the journey a little longer, though," he told her, heavily.
"Come…take a look at this and tell me what you think," Humilty stood and gently helped him up to his feet.
She guided him over to the bench where she'd been working and gave him large piece of paper absolutely covered with scrawled notes and ink strains.
"I had Blaster helping me with these earlier. He really is the best at explosives out of all of us," she remarked. "It's probably a good idea not to get on his bad side," she added slyly.
"Hmmm. That was my thinking also," Nemo smiled back as he looked down at the plans with interest.
Hours passed them by as they worked together, tossing out ideas and tinkering with theories, smiling happily.