Nautilus

Disclaimer: Don't own DJ/crew and everything is owned by Disney and crew. I own Selene any OC I make.


Author's Note: Since italics doesn't work for me, I'll be using ' ' for thought speech and to signify the name of a ship, etc.

Captain_Davy_Jones_Lover: Thank you very much :D It'll get romantic that's why it's rated "M"

Shadow: I'm trying my best with the grammar and other errors :D Thanks for the review and comment :D

captmorgan: Thanks too :D And here's the next chapter :D

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Chapter 5-The Gift


A slow and repeated vibration stemmed from her chest. It caused thrill and concern since she learned a heart beat inside her. It was not a habitual affair, at least not according to her knowledge. That lack of knowledge frustrated her for the more time passed the more aware she became of what she lacked. She was close to it yet so far from it.
She slipped down into one of the prisons below. All she had for comfort was the rusted bars of the prison and another poor soul huddled in front of her. What was it she felt? What had caused the change?
First, she was dumped into the ocean, dragged onto a haunted ship with cursed men, then a mortal heart. What was fate up to?
This caused concern simply for the nature of the mortal heart. She never had one. She was immortal and an instrument of God’s power. The only ones with free will were humans and other earthbound creatures. She had no such right. It was God who had created her into His form. He had an image of her and that was the purpose of her and her kind. They held no earthbound form; they had neither parents nor siblings. From her time of creation to her current position she never experienced anything like she now. She learned from others about the mortal realm, but she never pictured anything such as feeling it. It was a rare event, according to her knowledge, for her kind to engage in the human world. Bounded by higher laws prevented the two from mixing. Angels could not sin for they had no free will. The only angel ever given the gift of free will remained in hell.
After all the possibilities she went over, there was no reason that explained the thumping from her chest. If someone had sent her here for a reason, why had that person chosen to make her weaker? Was it a test?
Confused, it made her even more depressed and hurt. She had more questions than answers and nothing within her power helped relieve some of the feelings. Inexperienced and in a world alone, she was for now.
She leaned back against her “quarters” and leaned her head on her knees. Strange as it was, it was even stranger to why the crew of “this” ship found her. She was no stranger to the legends and tales of the Flying Dutchman and her crew. The captain, infamous to all, had been a favorite of hers.
The more agitated she became, the more object thrummed against her chest. Selene took one hand and laid it against her chest. A cough from a nearby cell interrupted her. A person more man than creature had huddled in a corner and for the first time, she felt relieved. He had not fully succumbed to the curse. He had held onto the last shred of humanity which had prevented the full transformation. Selene tucked her legs under, leaned forward, and grasped onto one of the rusted bars.
Bootstrap had known he was not alone, but he had expected someone different to the woman who watched him now. Surprised was an understatement. A woman onboard a ship and this ship out of all others? What had the captain done now? Had he bartered another hundred years of service out of this gentle soul? Blue eyes met silver as he glimpsed at her. She looked a few years older than his son, William, but not by much.
“What are you doing here?”
Selene leaned back against the wall. Head turned, she sighed. “How am I supposed to answer that?”
Even though Bill felt miserable, angered, and saddened being by the loss of his son, he was not like the rest of the hardened crew. “You had no trouble before when you answered me.”
“It’s complicated.”
Bill laughed. “I have an eternity to spend on this ship. Surely you could spare some of your own time with me?” 'I have all the time in the world'


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Sometime later, Selene had explained her story to Bill, and he had in turn told his story to her. From what she had told him, it was unbelievable if it were not for the least if they were not already aboard an infamous ship. Compared to that, anything was believable. It was good that she trusted him for he already knew about her from the mumblings of his crewmates about the fallen angel that God himself cast from his grace. Enriched the tale was it rang with some truth as soon as he. He felt sorry for her. Already ill-equipped to deal with the world, she was even more out of place here.
She brought him comfort and the knowledge of the afterlife; there existed an escape for him. He existed, not lived at the moment, and served a hellish captain and crew. That was not living and she proved the afterlife was not as cruel as some folk said it to be. It comforted him to know there was such a place. Bill knew there was not much more to live for. His son had grown into a fine and capable young man who needed him no more which left him nothing more left to finish.
From her story he sensed she skipped over some parts, but he felt she had a good reason to leave out some pieces so he left it alone. In the end, he gained much more than some hope; he gained a friend. For the first time since his son’s hasty departure, Bill smiled. Selene had finished her story and when she made eye contact with him and noticed her sad expression, he smiled wider and assured her he would help her. She shook her head softly.
“I have to do this alone.”
He left the offer open to her and settled in against his own damp prison. He nodded off asleep a bit later and she settled against bars.
The night passed by slowly and only the odd creaking of the ship and the odd wave breaking against the side, it was eerily quiet. A small red crab scuttled across her cell floor and climbed onto her upper leg. It continued up her arm and it settled into her hair.
Soon, all sorts of sea-life bloomed as she watched. A sea anemone here and a hermit crab there. The entire cell sprouted into an array of a mixture of sea-life and ship. Barnacles, mussels, and starfish formed from the floor as did the other creatures that lived around them. A small group of hermit crabs crawled over to her and were now clinging to her shirt and trousers. One crab had made a home in the lower part of her leg while a starfish had suctioned on her hand.
Looking at Bill, she wished she needed to sleep. She could go above deck, but in away she felt that would not go well with the captain and only a couple of hours left until dawn broke and she had nothing to do until then. She had expected the pipe organ to be going off, but surprisingly nothing had come out of it.
Time passed and a few more sea creatures moped about her and she played with a hermit crab that pinched her clothing a bit too tight. The heart in her chest had settled into a rhythm and it no longer occupied her mind.


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Above, the crew had awoken and was working about as usual. Their footsteps jarred Selene from her mental lapse and she figured it was time she appeared. She managed to pry the sea creatures from her, save for the crab, and headed on deck. She gave one last look to Bill, and opened the cell door.
On deck, the shark or “Maccus” had ordered her to stay away and to play a minor role in the background. The Captain had not yet appeared. As she made her way to the back of the ship, she had picked up the nervousness of the crew once again and heard between jobs the whispers shot between the crewmembers of the rumors. “The heart be missing for too long” and “how much longer do we have at search”. His heart? She had known the crew had been looking for it and to her own knowledge, were trying to get it back. The question was who had it and where it was.
It was midday and the Captain had yet to come on deck. Without him, the crew was still too wary of her, though most tolerated her. To her, their judgment mattered not for as long as they gave her no trouble she tolerated them. Something she had done must have been the source of a scene she witnessed. Seemingly she had a crab still crawling around her hair and she had been the cause of it. “She has crabs now, eh?”
'Crabs?' She cast the crewmember a look and the laughter stopped.
With nothing to do, she climbed up the mast and took a seat. A shout from below her caused her to down and see the creatures scurry about. Finally, a cabin door opened then slammed shut and the very man she had thought about his appeared. The captain looked more bedraggled then usual made even more obvious for he strutted about on and began barking orders left and right. The Captain moved his head sharply in her direction and while still keeping eye contact, shouted the words “down”.
Shouts and the quick scattering of the men directed her to look ahead, slightly off the starboard side, where a ship bobbed up and down in the waves. The Flying Dutchman made her approach and knew then what he planned to do. Someone had remembered her and shouted up with a feral grin “We’re going down. Hope you can swim!”
Selene looked puzzled. 'Down?' The ship lurched forward and more crew rushed around. The ship leaped again and with one final movement, headed under the waves. She had hardly any time to react as the water quickly made up to where she sat and with no choice, she took to the sky.
Davy had hoped she would remain on the mast and the ship dragged her under with the rest of them. He had been absent for most of the day and had recently come above to find the woman nowhere in sight. Feeling free from her scrutiny, he remained above only to find a ship in the distance. She flew the British colors and was a decent sized vessel. He was not someone to pass a good opportunity when it came. With an order to go down, he would surprise them and take them down. He needed not the Kraken today. Somehow the sight of spilled blood eased the bubbling rage he felt and perhaps someone would know something of his heart. The rumors had spread to him that someone within the British army controlled the heart and he merely was seeking the lead.
Selene watched as the 'Dutchman' leaped to the surface and attacked the helpless ship. In a morbid sense of fascination, she watched and experienced firsthand what made the ship and her crew so legendary.

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End of Chapter 5