The Sacrifice of Love

~15~

"Do you fear death? Do you fear that dark abyss? All your deeds laid bare - all your sins punished?" Captain Jones demanded with a snort. Enid stood at the front of the crowd on an incapacitated ship as Davy Jones paced in front of a row of kneeling men.

Months now after the binding of Calypso, Jones' form had almost completely transformed into a humanoid sea creature. The dreadlock beard had come alive as tentacles, Jones' face had flattened and turned wet to the touch, and his deformed left arm had turned into a large crab claw.

His walk had also been affected by the transformation, and he walked with a very obvious limp and loud thud to his step. Most of the crewmen had transformed into humanoid sea creatures as well, and this had not been the first ship that Davy Jones had willingly plundered.

Enid did not leave his side, however, and the longing feeling towards the captain did not subside, either. "Y-yes...yes, I do..." one poor soul whimpered, his entire body trembling fiercely. Davy Jones chuckled menacingly as he approached the terrified sailor.

"I offer you a choice - join my crew and postpone that judgement. 100 years before the mast...will ye serve?" he asked, kneeling down in front of the man. "Y-yes...I will," he stuttered out without hesitation, nodding furiously.

Davy Jones cackled and looked back at his crew, who joined him in his chuckling, which only made the sailors tremble more. Jones glanced back at Enid, who sent him a curious gaze, and his expression immediately softened.

Enid found herself singing to the captain almost every night, soothing the troubled man into slumber. It was the only thing that could even begin to satisfy the urge within her, when the captain would relax in the safety of his cabin with her at his side.

"Enid, my dear...should we allow these ill-fated souls to join our crew?" he asked her, limping over to her side. Enid glanced back at the four sailors, and each of them looked up at her with a glimmer of hope in their eyes, as well as fear.

She moved past Davy Jones and approached the row of men herself, giving each man a critical look. "All..." she said as she walked down the line. She then stopped at the last man, whose gaze looked too dark and too sinister when he looked at her with a scoff.

"...except him." The man straightened out in alarm at her words, and Davy Jones was at her side instantly. "And why not this man, hm?" he asked, his head appearing right next to hers. Enid glared down at the suspicious sailor, whose dark gaze did not waver despite his fear.

"He is not to be trusted," she told Jones. The sailor opened his mouth to protest, but Davy Jones was quick to act. "Then to the depths!" he declared without hesitation. Two men went up behind the sailor and slit his throat before tossing him overboard without a moment's hesitation.

Enid breathed a sigh of relief when the tension within her disappeared, and she sent a smile towards the captain. "That's much better." With that, the three remaining sailors were carried off of the plundered ship and dragged off to the Flying Dutchman.

The rest of the crew followed after them, leaving Enid and Davy Jones to follow at their own pace. "I'm glad you chose to stay after all, my dear," he told her. Enid chuckled quietly and looked up at the captain with an arched brow.

"If I recall, you did not make that easy. Always rushing me off for one reason or another - gods, was that dreadful," she said with a playful eye roll. Davy Jones pursed his thin lips and let out a grunt, stopping at the railing of the ship. 

"Would you be so kind as to bring us back to the Dutchman?" he asked her, obviously feigning politeness. "Well, when you put it that way..." Enid's wings then fanned out, and she stepped closer to the captain. "You might want to hang on," she advised, opening her arms.