Chapter 10: Confessions
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It was an odd and eerie vision for Elizabeth. She couldn’t look away from the Black Pearl as it continued to solidify, becoming completely opaque and fading out until it was barely more than a mist. When it was in between it reminded her of when she was a child and had seen the Black Pearl for the first time on her way from England to Jamaica.
She only adverted her eyes from the ghostly ship when she felt a warm and comforting hand grab her own, Will’s. She forced herself to smile when she stared deep into his beautiful eyes.
“This wasn’t what we hoped for.” He said softly. “But this is more than what expected. I had almost thought we would return to find nothing, just the Luna Ghost.”
Elizabeth smiled weakly. “It was a bit more than anyone was expecting.”
“Barbossa,” Anamaria glared at the temporary captain of her ship with her hands on her hips. “I thought you said this was gonna work.” She pointed to the fading ship. “We cannot use that ship. We step aboard it and we will fall through. How is Jack supposed to use it?”
Barbossa approached her. “We just need a piece of the Pearl, even if it is no more than a splinter.”
“How are we supposed to get a piece of it?” Elizabeth asked.
“I’ll wait until it’s solid and then I’ll cut a bit off,” the once dead pirate answered before he turned to the rest of the crew. “I want the rest of ye to board the Ghost while I take care of this. We don’t have much time to loose. We need to get to the vortex and back before the week is over.”
“How much further is this vortex?” Will asked.
“Not much further,” Barbossa answered. “On a ship like the Ghost we will be in there in a day and a half.”
“You heard him,” Anamaria said in a loud voice. “Everybody on board. We don’t have much time to loose.”
Elizabeth climbed up the ship, after Anamaria. Her focus was divided on walking up the ships’ boarding plank and watching as Barbossa neared the Pearl. Just as he was about to touch it the ship faded out once more.
“How is it coming along?” Gibbs asked once they had boarded.
“It faded once more before he could grab it,” Elisabeth explained. She approached the stern of the ship; she could not turn her head away from the spectacle of Barbossa waiting for the Pearl to become solid once more.
“Almost there,” Gibbs said once the ship was near its perfect solid form.
Elizabeth only nodded at him. Her doubt faded away when she saw Barbossa scale the bow of the ship. She was surprised to see how spry he was and able to climb the ship. She should have known better. She had seen him in a sword fight against Jack Sparrow.
“What is he doing?” Will joined her side. “I thought he just needed a small piece of the ship.”
“He is going after something specific,” Elizabeth said as Barbossa climbed across the figurehead. The pirate clung to the angel like figure with his legs and one arm while he took a swing of the figure with a sword.
Gibbs sighed. “Jack isn’t going to like that.”
“We will have to get Jack first,” Will told him. “And then ask what is his opinion on it.”
“We can always reattach it later,” Elizabeth said. “The ship seemed to stay solid while Barbossa was on board.”
“Hmm?” Gibbs looked at her.
“It doesn’t even seem to be trying to fade,” Elizabeth explained while Barbossa climbed down as fast as he climbed up. “It hadn’t seem to stay solid this long.”
They continued to watch as Barbossa carefully jumped down onto the dock and ran towards the Ghost. The man clearly did not want to waste any further time. The second his feet came into the wood of the pier the Pearl had begun to fade out again.
“That was odd,” Will stated.
Gibbs shook his head. “Not that odd when ye think about it, Mr. Turner. Barbossa was the captain of the Pearl for ten years. They have been together for a while, but as you seen when he left her she begun to fade again. She needs her true heart.”
“Anamaria,” Barbossa shouted as he raced up the platform. “Take her out to sea.”
“Raise the anchor,” Anamaria commanded as she took the helm.
“What did you take?” Will asked.
“Just a finger,” Barbossa answered as he showed them the fingertip he took from the figurehead.
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The Haven seemed to be going faster than it did before, or at least it appeared that way for Malcolm, but then again he was no longer steering the ship. He watched as his crew, new and old worked together on the ship. Inara and Jarvis were coating some of the more dried out wooden parts with a sealant stain, Gusty, Simon and Horace were maintaining the sails, Kaylee and Whistler were in another part of the ship patching up a few loose ends, Hooky was taking care of more galley tasks, and both Gavin and Terrance were at the helm. That left Jayne with the job of swabbing the deck.
Malcolm sauntered over to where the mercenary was spread out on his hands and knees; a wooden bucket filled with water was next to him. The knees of Jayne’s pants were damp and added more to the grime along with the sweat that clung to Jayne’s face and soaked into his shirt.
Jayne stared up at him when Malcolm’s shadow covered his body. “How come I’m the only one doing this?”
“Because everyone else is busy with other chores,” Mal answered before he placed his fists against his hips. “The deck has to get cleaned someway.”
“But why me?”
“Didn’t I already answer this?”
Jayne dipped his scrub brush back into the bucket. “This aint all that necessary to our main goal, Mal.”
“It isn’t,” Mal shrugged. “But I like to keep a clean and well maintained ship whether her ports are actual docks or other planets.” He made sure to say the last part low enough for only himself and Jayne to hear him. “New folk here also take pride in the ship they serve on, gotta respect that and if I want them to respect me as captain I have to respect them and try to adapt a bit.”
“Your adapting and my fingers are getting wrinkled and damp as my balls.”
That was a little too much for Malcolm. “Jayne, what have we said about saying what you think?”
“I thought the saying goes as thinking before you speak.”
“Yeah,” Mal tipped his new hat back. “But I think we can make a special case for you.”
“Yeah, I’m special.” Jayne sat back. “I think that hat has gone to your head. I still don’t see why I have to clean the deck instead of doing other stuff.”
“I’d explain again, but it would bounce off your head.” He leaned forward and glared into Jayne’s eyes. “Do I need to remind you of who got us into this mess in the first place?”
Jayne’s scowl faded as he dropped down to continue scrubbing. “I overheard Kaylee mention that strange voodoo gal said it aint all my fault.”
“Yeah,” Mal nodded. “She did, but until we find out who else is at fault you are going to do this by yourself.” As far as he was concerned the conversation ended right there and right then. Malcolm had other duties for him to perform and one of them was to speak with Gavin.
Both Gavin and Terrance were at the wheel. Gavin’s weathered hands were fastened around the handles as he continued to steer and Terrance was just behind him, staring at a map.
“How much further is it?” Malcolm asked. He made sure to only ask once a day. He did not want to seem as impatient as Jayne.
“It isn’t much further,” Terrance brought the map closer to him. “You see this area right here?” He tapped a blue section of the map that had great distance from Tortuga. “This is where we are.” He brought his dirty fingernail down a couple of inches and touched an island. “That is Jamaica, where we are headed.”
“At the speed of this ship it will be a less than a day’s time at most.” Gavin said.
Malcolm nodded. It wasn’t as fast as he wanted but it still sounded good. “Not much longer now.”
“This is a fast ship,” Gavin said. “A steady and fast ship at that, but some of the ships of the royal navy are much faster, and I heard a ship like the Intrepid is one of them.”
“They will be at this Port Royal before we will,” Mal frowned.
“Don’t have to worry to much, Captain.” Gavin glanced over at him. “From what I have heard, Norrington had everyone in that tavern arrested, even innocent people. He probably has pardons already all written out for them, including the doctor’s sister. She will be waiting for us.”
“I sure hope that is all she is doing.” Mal stared at the sea ahead of him. Port Royal might be a nicer place than Tortuga, but River would still be in an unfamiliar place and stand out like a sore thumb.
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“Welcome back aboard, Commodore Norrington,” the young lieutenant, a man named Hall, greeted Norrington when he and several officers returned from a meeting with a sister ship. “How did your meeting go with the captain of the Aristotle?”
“It was pleasant,” Norrington answered once the rest of the soldiers had finished boarding “Captain Crane also has a full brig from his scouring of Tortuga and he brought news of The Epic and the Flying Dutchman.”
“What news is that, commodore?” Hall asked.
“The Epic was joined by two other ships and along with Davy Jones were able to sink three more pirate ships including the Dancing Scorpion.”
“The Scorpion?” Hall blinked. “Wouldn’t that be the ship?”
“The same ship that alluded Crane for a few years,” Norrington couldn’t keep from smiling. “The very one captained by No nose Paul.” James felt a new weight being lifted from his chest. “He wasn’t always No nose Paul.”
“I heard it got cut off in a fight over a girl,” Mullroy said.
“It was only half a nose,” Murtogg added. “From what I heard.”
Mullroy blinked. “Then wouldn’t it be Half Nose Paul?”
Murtogg shook his head. “Just doesn’t sound the same, besides he stitched it back on.”
“Then why is he called No Nose?”
Murtogg shrugged. “Because it didn’t heal right, all gray and dead. He’s afraid of pepper, fears he might sneeze it right off.”
Norrington rolled his eyes. “Gentlemen if you please,” he shoved past the two of them and headed straight for his cabin. He remembered No Nose Paul back when he was just Pauly the quartermaster for the Mermaid Skull. James would never forget how when he was first press ganged into the crew how that man loved to push down on James’s back with his boot while he scrubbed the deck.
“Sir,” Murtogg followed. “You still have that girl in there.”
“Her name is River Tam,” James answered.
“Right,” Murtogg nodded. “Why is Miss Tam still with you?”
“You said she frightened you and the other passengers.”
“Well not so much me as him.” Murtogg gestured towards Mullroy with his thumb. “I just was wondering why she is still with you.”
“Miss Tam is a traumatized young woman who doesn’t need to be set off any further.” James spun around to face him. “She is more afraid of you than you are of her.”
“Is that right?”
Norrington nodded. “That is correct.” He pulled the door open to his cabin and walked inside. “Foolish man,” He shook his head before he noticed the state of his cabin. Books and maps were everywhere. They were no longer on the shelves and instead were stacked on the floor. The maps were rolled up but cast in a disorderly array on his desk. “Miss Tam!”
“Many of these books are wrong,” River stood up. She had selected another book from the bottom shelf. “Some of these are supposed to be not true, fiction. They are stories and poems. Entertainment purposes only.”
“Miss Tam, I am glad to see you have taken interest in my bookcase, may I ask why you have taken all the books out?”
“The books of facts are not always right,” she flipped through the pages and stared back at the maps. “They are like the maps. They are wrong, they are right now, but they will be wrong.”
“Perhaps we can discuss this while we clean everything up.” He still couldn’t figure her out. After he had served himself whenever they ate she would use the same level of class and manners a woman of Elizabeth’s status would have. There was the possibility the Tam family was a family of money and high stature and it would explain the education River and her brother received.
“I did not fix things this time,” River said as she walked back to his desk. “Just this.” she placed her finger on an open book, Norrington’s travel journal.
“Miss Tam, what have you done,” he spoke sharply, expressing his anger. “I should force you out of my cabin right now. Why did the idea of writing in my journal enter your head?”
“You were trying to draw, but it was wrong.” She stepped away from him as he approached her, but continued to point at the open journal.
Norrington stared down at the open book. It was the page where his thoughts had wandered and he drew the symbol in his dream over and over again. He noticed a new one at the bottom corner of the page. The writing on the symbol was more accurate to the one in his dream than the others.
“You were having trouble and I helped.”
“You have seen this before?” He had lowered his voice; anger was replaced by curiosity.
“Serenity.”
“Your ship,” He nodded. “I am sorry but we have no word on your stolen ship.”
“That is what it says, what is painted on her.”
“You understand the writing?” He waited for her to nod. “You are quite the enigma, Miss Tam.” Why would the woman in his dream give him the symbol of Serenity? He stared at her face, studying her features. Could she be the woman in his dream? He could easily see her as the woman running through the jungle and asking for his help. “Enigma or not, you are going to help me clean up this mess you made.”
River returned the last book she selected to the bottom shelf. “There needs to be a pattern, a theme a method to put them back. I was thinking alphabetical, but that is too easy.”
“Let us just put them back.” James said as he grabbed a couple of books. “Have you read all of these? I haven’t been gone that long.”
“You have been out of the cabin for four hours, forty two minutes and eighteen seconds.”
Again with the mathematical accuracy. “I am still impressed you were able to read all of these.”
“I only read some,” River said as she placed a few more books back. “Completely. I have read at least ten pages from all of them.”
“I would have only been able to read one or two.” The woman was a genius, a prodigy of the brain, someone like her could be real useful if the could find the right job for her. She could even benefit the Navy in some fashion, possibly even plot out strategy that would be more useful than Jones and his heart.
“No,” River gasped. The book she held had slipped out of her hands. “Not you. You are a good man, don’t listen to the bad voice.” Tears were welling up at the corners of her eyes. “They wanted to use me because of my brain. They lied and took me to where they hurt me, hurt us. They made me into something more, something I never wanted to be.” She slowly backed away from him. “Not you too, James Norrington. You are not like them. You are not like the small man, please don’t think that.”
“River,” He rose to his feet. “Miss Tam. I’m sorry.” How did she know what he was thinking? She knew about other things that she couldn’t have possibly known. ”I would never force you to do anything you were not comfortable with.”
“You say that,” She shook her head slowly as the tears rolled down her cheeks. “Please don’t be like the small man, don’t be the ones who made me like this. They hurt you. You have been hurt. They took your mother and made you join them. The man with no nose stomped on you. ‘Little Jimmy, put your back into it, mate’. They took you all and hurt you with heat and you hurt yourself, trying to make the symbol go away. You don’t want to think of that pain.”
James widened his eyes. She knew he was forced into piracy at a young age and was branded. She knew what No Nose Paul said to him when he stepped on his back. She even knew about his brand and how he tried to remove it years later.
“My god, you can read my thoughts.”
She nodded briefly before she continued crying. “I read all and I don’t want to. I don’t want their memories. They turned the key and I can’t take it back.”
“Who turned the key?” James slowly approached her.
“The ones who made Miranda, made the Reavers. They turned the key when they stripped a piece of me away.”
“What did they strip from you?”
“Amygdala.” She touched the top of her head. “They poked me in here many times, made me hear everything, feel everything, made me into a weapon, please don’t be like them.” She slid down against the wall, still crying.
“Dear lord,” He kneeled by her side. “I never wanted to use you or make you something you are not. I thought you would be a great teacher, or an historian, even be the only woman doctor in the Caribbean.” He reached out to brush away her tears. She knew he was lying. “I’m sorry I thought like that. It would have never been against your will.” That part was the truth.
“Now,” she coughed. “You know and you know what they are like. Don’t be them.”
“I won’t.” He pulled her close and allowed her to sob against his chest. “River Tam, what has the world done to you?”
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