@itscaptainactually
The blue-tail queens had just ended their business with Jack, receiving the Stoney Eye of Stoned-Eyed Sam and in exchange they’d let him and his friends leave the island unharmed, but if Jack ever returned to Isla Sirena he would have to give the mermaids that which he wanted most. They never specified what that thing was, even if they knew exactly what it was. Marina didn’t think the boy knew what he had really signed up for. If he thought the mermaids wanted the magic sword he was currently seeking, he was surely mistaken.
Regardless, it seemed like a good deal – afterall why would Jack ever even want to come back to Isla Sirena? Jack may not have known it yet, but his quest for the Sword of Cortes would require the Stoney Eye he’d just given the mermaids, which meant sooner or later he’d have to come back for it. Mermaids were deceptive in that way, yet this mermaid felt the need to warn him for some reason, just how she felt the need to bring Jack to the blue-tails in the first place rather than have her sisters devour him and his crew when they found them. It wasn’t because she was particularly soft-hearted towards the humans– they had only ever given her a reason to despise them.
No, it wasn’t fondness that coaxed her to protect Jack, but her mermaid’s intuition. Something was different about this young pirate, something was important about him, yet she couldn’t see why just yet. He didn’t fall victim to the Siren’s song like the others did, and in the hundreds of years that Marina had lived she’d never come across someone like that. It made her curious.
Curious enough to want to keep him alive.
❝ Wipe that smirk off your face, human, ❞ she said after safely escorting him back to the Barnacle. ❝ That kiss was so you wouldn’t drown, and I can assure you it’ll be the last. – – Next time, you’ll hold your breath. ❞
What a bleedin’ mess, he’d think as these beasties swam around him with their hideous faces, their siren song nothing more than a sharp screech that nearly left his ears bleeding. What a terribly grand hideous mess this is, he’d laugh, excitement riling up in him at the sight of these creatures. It put a hindrance on his journey, no doubt, and Arabella was practically shivering from head to toe, but they were all otherwise unharmed, save for the fact that most of the small crew were out of their wits from whatever spell these sea-things put them under. Bloody mermaids.
Jack had always wondered when he’d meet these fanciful, monstrous things. The ‘here be monsters’ on the hand drawn maps weren’t just a poetic way of saying ‘stay away from the edge of the world’ like most thought it was; there were monsters that lurked in these depths, and young Jack was surrounded by them — had even been kissed by one of them — the very one who led him beneath the waves to the others.
‘Next time, you’ll hold your breath.’
His smirk is trademarked, unique and wielded like a weapon. How many situations had he escaped from with his words and smile alone? He was more a witch than sailor, more a snake than man. He would find a way out of this unlikely situation, just like every other he managed to get himself in.
“Aye, love,” he agrees, taunting, provoking rather foolishly this beast; “We’ll keep up the pretenses around your other fishy-mates. The secret’ll be locked away to the depths of Davy Jones, yeah?”
The others are kept from him, but he needs them to keep going, to get to the sword before Torrents did. If he had to scourge up his wily powers over the feminine form (even if this particular lady didn’t have legs like he was used to), then he’d damn well do it.
