Hidden Past

Chapter 8: Change of Heart

There was a sharp growl, one that rocked the sea and made the creatures under it's rule shiver. "Did he think I would not know?" Davy Jones snarled angrily.

An officer under the flag of the Flying Dutchman hesitantly knocked. "Sir, we are coming into range of the Empress." 

A nasty smirk appeared on Jones' face, showing a complete lack of intent to show any form of mercy to the ship's captain. "I want the ship, I want Sao Feng to die a slow and painful death." 

Elizabeth watched the captain worriedly as he slowly approached her. "By this time tomorrow we will arrive at Shipwreck Cove, and you will be free. Calypso." 

The man was disgusting, confusing, and frightening all at once, it was truthfully giving Elizabeth a headache trying to keep up with him. "Excuse me?" 

His hair covered lips quirked into a smile. "Not the name you fancy, I imagine, out of the many that you have. But it is what we call you."

"We being who?" The former Lady questioned. 

"You confirm it." Sao Feng said, his smile growing at the information that Elizabeth had supposedly shared.

Bewildered, Elizabeth looked at Sao Feng in shock. "Confirm what? You've told me nothing."

The Brethren Court, not I, the first Brethren Court - whose position I would have opposed - bound you to human form and changed your daughter from her natural form, so the rule of the seas would belong to men and not... "

"...me." Elizabeth concluded, having made the connection that this goddess is who Sao Feng thought she was.  But who was this daughter that the goddess supposedly had?

"But one such as you should never be anything less that what you are." 

Elizabeth was unimpressed by his flattery, which was creepy at best, and voiced her lack of interest in a more diplomatic way, like she had been raised to do. "Pretty speech from a captor. But words whispered through prison bars lose their charm."

"Can I be blamed for my efforts? All men are drawn to the sea, perilous though it may be."

"And some men offer desire as justification for their crimes." As a Lady who was well sought after to be a wife, Elizabeth understood this fact well. 

Sao Feng smiled at her and came closer, Elizabeth backed away. "I offer simply my desire."

"And in return?"

"I would have your gifts, should you choose to give them." 

It was a shock to the woman that she managed to disguise her disgust at the sentiment. "And if I should choose not?"

A spark lit in Sao Feng's eyes, he was hoping for that answer, he wanted her to refuse. "Then I will take your fury!" His hands grabbed her roughly and he kissed her. 

His mouth was slimy and tasted horrible, and his hands held on too tight. He was nothing like Will - soft, gentle, and passionate - instead he was demanding and disgusting. With all of her strength, she pushed him away and guilt ebbed at her stomach. She knew that Victoria, despite having lied to her, had always taken care of her and prevented men from doing things like that. If she ever saw the woman again, she would be sure to beg for forgiveness. 

A cannonball chose that moment to fly through the captains quarters, pushing the point as to how little time she might actually have to mend her relationship with Victoria. A splinter of wood embedded itself into the Captain's chest and even with all that he had done and his pig like behavior, Elizabeth worried. "Sao Feng!"

Sao Feng looked at the Goddess as she knelt by his side, caring for him in what he knew to be his last moments, and he suddenly knew what to do. "Here... please. With all nine pieces of eight, you will be free. Take it! You are captain now. Go in my place to Shipwreck Cove."

"Me?" This was not what she had signed up for when she started this voyage. The whole goal was to save Jack and to ease her guilt, now she became a Captain and a Pirate Lord all in one day when she could barely be a deckhand properly. 

"Captain the ship is taken we cannot..." Tai Haung trailed off when he saw his Captain dying on the floor. 

"Forgive me, Calypso." 

And so he was gone. Elizabeth had watched him die and it was somehow different than seeing men die in battle or killing one herself. Because he had a last moment that she was apart of, she watched his life slip away slowly, it was terrifying and she hated it. 

"What did he tell you?" Tai Haung demanded as he raced forward. 

Still pale, Elizabeth shakily answered, unsure of what had actually just occurred. "He made me captain."

"You are not my captain." He spat. The two ran onto deck where they were met by two guards and dragged to the crew.  

"Elizabeth?" The woman's head shot up in shock. The last voice she ever expected to hear again was that of her former fiance and suitor James Norrington. 

"James!" She said in relief, running to him and accepting his hug. 

James smiled, though it was as a friend, not in the manner he would have liked, the ability to hold her was always a blessing. "Thank God you're alive! Your father will be overjoyed to know you're safe."

This caused her to real back, her face going emotionless. "My father's dead."

"No, that can't be true, he returned to England." James said, remembering Lord Beckett's assurance to him of the fact earlier. 

Elizabeth seemed to have read his mind exactly. "Did Lord Beckett tell you that?"

Before James could respond, Davy Jones stormed onto deck, he was absolutely furious that Sao Feng had died but he made sure to trap him in the Locker, not allowing the man passage to the afterlife for what he had done. 

It was the agreement that Davy Jones would protect the seas and those who traveled it, and the Brethren Court would protect his daughter. Sao Feng had blatantly ignored that on multiple occasions, assuming Jones had not seen. 

"Who among you do you name as captain?" He asked, obviously agitated. 

Tai Haung didn't miss a beat as he pointed at Elizabeth. "Captain? Her!"

The woman glared at Tai Haung but didn't deny the claim. Elizabeth Swan, Jones had heard of her. He had watched his daughter take care of the woman and go through hell for her. She had little experience on the sea and was the last person Jones would ever think to be captain. So, naturally, he had to clarify. "Captain?" 

James jumped into action, working to protect the woman. "Tow the ship. Put the prisoners in the brig, and the captain shall have my quarters." 

"Thank you, but I prefer to remain with my crew." Elizabeth denied, obviously less than pleased with Norrington at the moment. 

Why couldn't she see that all he was trying to do, and all he had been trying to do for a long time was protect her? "Elizabeth, I swear I did not know."

"Know what? Which side you chose?"

Calypso's eyes snapped open and she looked at Victoria, who approached on the much older woman's right. "Tai Haung is ded." 

"Oh? And where was he sent?" 

"The Lockar Room."