The crew of the Queen Anne's Revenge walk silently around the shoreline, clambering over steep rocks and uneven ground.
Blackbeard leads the motley crew, ahead of the head as he is followed closely behind by a zombified officer who is physically dragging a blindfolded Jack along with him. The crew pause upon Blackbeard's command and the landing party all throw down their wares, tired and dripping with sweet from the heat of the sun.
The gunner, quartermaster and other members of Blackbeard's crew carefully set down the heavy glass coffin that contains the captured mermaid, the quartermaster taking it upon himself to guard her, never once taking his glazed eyes off the coffin.
Blackbeard turns to Jack and yanks off the blindfold causing the younger captain to squint, frowning at the invasion of light which had been concealed by the dark blindfold. His eyes adjusted slowly to the brightness of the sun as he takes in his surroundings, though bleary at first, he realises he doesn't have a clue where he is.
"It's to you now, Sparrow," Blackbeard states, looking upon the man.
"Was that necessary?" Jack grumbles.
"Best you not know the exact whereabouts of my ship. I am a cautious man," Blackbeard replies with honesty, pocketing the blindfold.
Jack shrugs slightly in reply, "so be I." He then steps forward and pulls out his compass, glancing at it with fading hope, knowing that it wouldn't point in the fright direction.
"What I want first is Ponce de Leon's ship," he mutters to himself, glancing down at the compass which remains unmoved. He sighs gently and looks back towards Blackbeard with a shy smile, to which the captain stands stone faced, his hand moving to his pistol at his waist. Jack closes the compass, squeezes his eyes shut and opens it again, praying that the fear of death would be enough to adjust his priorities. Sure enough for the first time since Tortuga, his compass gives him a direction.
He smirks to himself and sets forth, the crew trailing behind him as he sets to his heading, hoping with all his might for the first time since losing Lily, it wasn't pointing at her, for both their sakes.
Their journey to La Santiago is not plain sailing as the islands opens up to a bountiful jungle, dense and dangerous with uneven paths and murky rivers.
The group wade through the cloudy river like a funeral procession with the glass coffin following behind, aided by numerous men as they attempt to keep the coffin above the water in fear that the mermaid could escape.
Scrum and a number of the secondary crew helps maneuver the aquarium beneath a fallen tree, taking the place of the quartermaster as he supervises the procession, Scrum himself nearly falling into the river as the rocky footing suddenly dips, the river much deeper than anticipated.
"Why is it we got to bring her along?" Scrum asks, his face scrunching in discomfort as he sinks into the water to near neck height.
"Tears don't keep. We need them fresh," Blackbeard states up ahead, his tone dark and ominous. Scrum doesn't follow up with any further questions, scared stiff of the villainous pirate. Jack also doesn't question further, himself also apprehensive of the captain and his plan, knowing from the conversation he overhead that he was to be used as a sacrifice.
A little later in a small clearing beside the cliffs edge, the group pauses to drink, re-fill canteens and rest. The glass coffin is lifted and set on an outcropping, the men taking the opportunity to rest their sore hands from carrying the heavy weight of the coffin,
Seeing Philip off to the side, Jack slinks over to join him, suddenly overcome with a sense of doom at his prospects as the sacrifice.
"Clergyman," Jack whispers to get his attention, "on the off chance this does not go well for me, I want it noted that I will believe in whatever I must to get into heaven," he babbles, his hands wringing at the fabric tided around his waist.
"We have a word for that, Jack. You can convert," Philip states causing Jack to shake his head slightly as he frowns.
"No, no. I was thinking more of ... on an as-needed basis."
Philip doesn't answer; his attention has been pulled away to the mermaid within the glass coffin, resting not too far away from where he stands. He immediately notices that she is struggling, curled up against the glass, her neck and arms reaching up to the lid, desperately trying to suck more oxygen. Her skin is pale and her breathing is growing increasingly laboured, prompting him to race forward and call out for the quartermaster.
"Quartermaster! She cannot breathe!"
"She has water," the quartermaster dismisses, his arms tucked tightly folded across his chest.
"She needs air. Open this!" Philip pleads, desperately scrabbling at the chain which hold the lid to the coffin closed.
"She will escape."
"You are killing her!" His hands fumble on the locks, trying to pry open the lid but it doesn't move even an inch, much to strong for his hands alone.
"I support the missionary's position!" Jack exclaims, casting a glance at the struggling mermaid.
The Quartermaster laughs and Philip takes the opportunity to grab the Quartermaster's sword before he wedges up the cover, breaking the seal. Syrena instantly fights to press her mouth to the crack and breathes the air in hungrily, her body calming as she fight to breathe in as much air as she can.
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Fathoms Below: Captain Jack Sparrow
Fanfiction"Jack was like a Chinese finger trap most of the time, you had to carry on playing, delve a little further and accept your fate before you were able to pry yourself away." Jack/ OC reader pairing, following the course of the movies with mini-inserts...
