Silver Spirits

Scarlett's heart skipped a beat when she saw the amulet before her, on top of a massive pile of gold and gems. The crew scrambled to get back up on their feet, but Scarlett remained stunned on the ground, mouth agape. She'd made it. After years of desperately trying to get there, she'd finally found it. Why weren't the angel's singing, like she expected them to? For some reason, she was sad and uninterested. She looked up as Ben offered her a hand to help her up, with a reassuring half smile. She took it and slowly stood, though she paid little attention to the treasure behind him, still holding his hand.

"You finally found it," Ben said quietly, while everyone else was distracted by all of the beautiful things piled below the amulet.

"Nosebleed found it," Scarlett muttered, looking down at her feet.

"Why aren't you excited?" Ben frowned. "You went through a lot of trouble to get here. I'd imagine you'd be a little bit happier."

Scarlett just shrugged lightly. Ben furrowed his brow and tilted her chin up to get a good look at her face, looking for a sign of what was wrong. Scarlett glanced over his shoulder again and caught that Percy was the only one who'd noticed them, giving her a reassuring nod. There wasn't much other time to do it, anyways. Scarlett took Ben's hand and pulled him aside, out of sight of everyone else before telling him the truth. She didn't want to cause a panic with the rest of the crew, after all.

"What's gotten into you?" Ben said quietly, taking hold of Scarlett's arm to stop her from getting too far away. "I've never seen you so dispirited."

"I'm having second thoughts," she said hesitantly.

"Second thoughts?" Ben muttered, blinking. "Scarlett, you just faced something no one has ever survived before. Now you're having second thoughts? My dear girl, forgive me for being so bold, but your timing might just be worse than I've ever seen in any person."

"I've had second thoughts for some time now," Scarlett said. "Ever since you and I were spending more time alone together, really. At this point I'm just continuing because I promised my crew that I would, but now that I'm here, I don't care anymore. Really, I don't. I promised them that we'd be the most respected ship and crew on the seas because no one would dare try and think otherwise, but now I'm not so sure I care what other people think of me. From the very start, you made your own name for me, uninfluenced from what you'd heard in the past."

"What are-"

"Will you shut up?" Scarlett snapped. "I'm trying to talk, and I'm this close to running away without saying what I'm trying to say."

"Sincerest apologies. Continue."

"I want to stay with you, Ben," Scarlett finally admitted, after taking a deep breath. "If that means living a happy life that ultimately does come to an end, and if it means giving up the Spirit forever, then that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I love you, Ben. And the only thing I can do now is tell you that and pray that you'll love me back, even after everything I put you through."

On that note, Scarlett bit her lip and waited nervously for Ben to react. He was speechless, still holding her hands and staring at her. At the same time, he looked a bit relieved. He just pulled her into a tight embrace, which she gladly returned, fighting back the urge to let out anxious tears. Ben leaned back a bit to look at her, and kissed her forehead, then her lips.

"I love you, too. You go get your amulet. Then we'll discuss what to do with it. Alright?" he said.

Scarlett sniffed and nodded, letting Ben loose from the slight chokehold she had him in. When she returned to the pit with the treasure in it, she found that not one member of her crew had touched the amulet itself. Like they'd promised, the ones who remained were absolutely loyal to their captain. Perhaps that's why they survived in the first place From what Scarlett had heard, the island only took kindly to those true of heart. More likely than not, those who'd died within the island had other things on their mind.

Scarlett stepped towards the pile and reached up to snatch the gold trinket from where it was. She could feel an odd aura radiating from it, and wiped a bit of dust from the massive ruby in the center. Tracing her thumb over it, she noticed that a part of it was missing. While it was covered in rubies, one gem was missing from it. Scarlett quickly remembered the one that she'd found in the dirt earlier, reaching to fish it out of the hidden pocket within her boot, but before she could she heard a cracking sound come from the wall in front of her. She watched with caution as the crack slithered up the side of the wall, until the whole thing caved in and bright sunlight poured into the cave they were in. When her eyes finally adjusted, she could see the beach, and the waves licking the sand.

"The island wants us to take it," Ben said.

"Did the island tell you that?" Scarlett asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, it's obvious. Why else would it just let us out?"

Scarlett shrugged as Emily poked her head out and stepped back onto the beach curling her toes in the sand. No one was too concerned, until she yelped softly, catching everyone's attention.

"I think I know why the island wants us to take it!" she called out nervously.

Scarlett frowned and tightly held on to the amulet as she ran out the hole in the wall, freezing in her tracks when she saw who was with Emily, tightly holding on to her arm with a smug grin on his face.

"I barely even had to step foot on the damn island," Abram laughed, tugging Emily along with him as he made his way towards Scarlett, holding his hand out. "Alright, pigeon, enough fun and games. Hand it over."

"The reason I'm able to hold it in the first place is because the island doesn't want you to have it," Scarlett realized.

"The island?" Abram smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Scarlett, it's a pile of dirt with some trees on it. It doesn't have an opinion. Now give it to me before more people die at your hands."

Scarlett shook her head, much to Abrams disappointment. He sighed and yanked Emily towards him, pinning her hands behind her back, pulling a pistol from his belt and holding it to her head. He laughed when he saw everyone suddenly tense up.

"Oh, tell me this isn't true," he laughed. "You've all grown an attachment to this one, haven't you? This is too perfect."

"If she's truly that special, we may just have to keep her," another voice said from Abram's crew.

Nathaniel emerged from the crowd, twirling a knife in his hand and inspecting Emily in a way that made every muscle in Percy's body tense. Nathaniel noticed this right away, looking at his son with a sly half smile. He knew in an instant that he had found Percy's newest weakness, but to Scarlett's surprise, he didn't bring it to anyone's attention. Perhaps that was one battle he intended on fighting for himself.

"Let go of the girl, we'll fight you for it," Scarlett blurted, without thinking too much of it. "Fair and square. Phineas's rules."

Abram raised an eyebrow, though he didn't let go of Emily. "Since when do you care for Phineas's rules? You were always a filthy little cheat, Scarlett. If you played by his rules, I'd be captaining the Silver Spirit. Not you. You just had to go on and cheat."

"Phineas's rules," Scarlett insisted, crossing her heart. "You have my word that I wouldn't dream of cheating."

"That sounds familiar," Abram grumbled, though he lowered the gun held to Emily's head. "Fine. Phineas's rules. No firearms, just steel. The old-fashioned way, just as he liked it. Get the amulet, get back to the ship. Once the winner sets sail, it's all over."

"Last captain on her feet gets the amulet," Scarlett corrected, agreeing. "No firearms. This includes your entire crew."

Abram rolled his eyes, but clicked the safety of his pistol back on and tossed it in the sand between them. He tossed his second one on top of that, then a third he had hidden in his boot on top of both of those, leaving him only armed with a sword. Scarlett did the same, tossing her firearms in the pile, followed by the rest of her crew. Abram's crew was reluctant, but they feared him, and added their firearms to the pile.

Abram narrowed his eyes at Scarlett, letting go of Emily and shoving her into Nathaniel's grip before walking towards her, taking a handful of her skirt and lifting it up to reveal the small, hidden pistol she had strapped to her thigh and was reluctantly to give up. He pulled that away from her and tossed it on top of the pile, though he lingered unnecessarily close to her, causing Ben to tense up a bit defensively. Abram noticed this, chuckling and lowering his voice.

"Oh, I remember him. Have him caught in your spell, do you?" he teased.

"Let go of me and get back to your side before I change my mind," she said, through clenched teeth.

Abram rolled his eyes and did so, only because they were playing by Phineas's rules, and because Phineas may just have been the only person in the world he'd ever had respect for. Scarlett held up the amulet in her hand and walked about twenty feet away from everyone, gently setting it down on a rock. She noticed the empty spot where the gem she had was supposed to be, but decided not to bring attention to it, just keeping the gemstone in that hidden pocket of hers. She walked back to the side her crew was on, not once taking her eyes of Abram, in case he decided to do anything funny.

"On three, then."

It felt like the longest count of Scarlett's life, but they all played along. The adrenaline didn't truly kick in until the third count, when every person on that island suddenly started a mad dash towards the gold trinket just twenty feet away.