Singapore Enchantment Chapter Two
Title: Singapore Enchantment
Author: Aquaseamage
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: James/Elizabeth
Characters: James, Elizabeth, Chai, Mei,
Genre: Drama/Supernatural/Action
Word Count: 2100 words
Warning: AU
Summary: Set during AWE. After James is stabbed by Bootstrap, Elizabeth manages to rescue him from the Dutchman onto the Empress. But is the weird Singapore magic strong enough to save his life, especially since she is the one who has to use it?
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. They belong to Disney.
“Yes, we help.” The girl on the right replied as she moved closer to Elizabeth, a folded colorful garment in her hands. “First you change.”
“Change?” Elizabeth’s eyes grew wide in shock and she shook her head in denial, cold drops of water spraying off the end of her drenched hair. “No, we don’t have time for that! Can’t you see, James is dying! We need to do something to save him! Do you have a doctor on board, a surgeon? Do you understand, a doctor? A healer?”
But the two Chinese girls reached down and gripped her by the arms and hauled her to her feet. Pulling her away slightly from James, they started to undress her with nimble fingers. Soon the soaking wet outfit was on the floor and they dried her off quickly, even rubbing most of the water out of her hair. Then she was redressed in a soft but colorful robe sporting a floral design and trimmed in sparkling gold threads. The material was quilted and she savored the new warmth that covered her skin. Elizabeth hadn’t wanted to admit it, but she had been freezing in the wet outfit, her teeth on the verge of chattering. Only her worry for James had stopped her from seeking relief from the condition. It seemed paltry to worry about simply feeling cold when James had a sword through him.
And how was she to deal with that? Was it better to pull it out or would he bleed to death if she did that? But surely she couldn’t leave it in, either! He would never heal that way. And the sword looked so dirty, crusted with all sorts of nasty grime and gunk from the Dutchman. The thing is she just didn’t know what to do and she feared that the crew knew little English. Even Tai Huang, who knew more English than the others, spoke in clipped sentences. The stress of the situation was becoming unbearable, yet James’ life rested in her hands. If he was going to survive this, it would be up to her to decide what was to be done and how. It was a lot to rest on her thin shoulders. She would need a level head. Crying and breaking down into an emotional heap would do James little good.
Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth tried to calm her jangled nerves. It helped a little, but not much as she could feel the panic waiting just in the shadows ready to overtake her. Trying to stay in control, she turned to the two girls. “Thank you. I do feel much better now. Do you have a doctor on board? A doc-tor? Do you understand; a healer?”
One of the girls pointed a finger at Elizabeth. “You heal.”
“No, I don’t know how!” Elizabeth cried in anguish, feeling as if she was getting nowhere due to the language barrier. “I don’t know how! You have to help me or I might make it worst!”
“You use magic disk. It heals.” One of the girls replied as she turned to survey the badly damaged room. The back wall was entirely shattered, sharp pieces of jagged boards poking out in dozens of directions. “But first we must find.”
“A magic healing disk?” Elizabeth asked, the first ray of hope starting to fill her gloomy heart. Perhaps that was even better than a doctor? A doctor could make mistakes but surely magic couldn’t, could it? But then her brown eyes swept over the condition of the room and her spirits sunk. It was a shambles! Most of the floor was littered with bits of busted board from where the cannonball had torn its way through to kill Sao Feng. She was surprised that his stiff, cold body was not still propped up against the wall where he had died. Someone apparently had the oversight to have it removed and she was thankful for that small kindness. She didn’t need the dead eyes of a corpse staring at her while she tried to save her old friend from death. Still, if searching through the rubble was what it took, she would gladly do so. “What does it look like?”
“It large stone.” One of the girls replied as she bent to start looking, picking up pieces of busted board to peer underneath. “It was in … box … there.”
Elizabeth looked to where the girl pointed and sighed. Of course it had to have been where the cannonball ripped its way through the rear wall! But she wasted no time and started tossing boards and other bits of rubbish aside, carefully looking at each thing as she picked it up. Had the disk survived in one piece? She could only hope that it had, for apparently the ship had no real physician on board or perhaps he had been killed in the attack as well. There was no way to find out, as the twins seemed set on her healing James herself. The idea made her extremely nervous, as she just didn’t have the knowledge to do that.
She was clearing a large area rapidly, working steadily in a weird bent over position. Many of the pieces were sharp and she had been jabbed several times by being careless, the jagged bits of wood stabbing her in her hands. The wounds were minor, little more than splinters really but each one hurt and she would instinctively jerk her hand away from the offending piece of wood. She didn’t want to think what James must have felt the moment he was run through, for surely it was a thousand times worst than the little pricks she had just suffered. Could he survive until she found the disk? She was searching as quickly as she could, but she couldn’t help feel the sand pouring through the hourglass. Surely he couldn’t have much time left? How long could a person live while pierced by a sword? Did it go all of the way through him? Was blood leaking out from underneath him right now to form an unseen puddle? The thoughts alone were disturbing and Elizabeth tried to stop thinking them, but it wasn’t easy. The fear was right there, a cold thing breathing on the back of her neck. Shivering, she forced her mind to the task at hand.
A particularly large board was right before her and she bent to carefully grab its edge. Straining, she struggled to push it upward, lifting with her knees as Will had once told her. Finally she felt it starting to move and she gave it a mighty heave, shoving it over the other way. The other side was lacquered, smooth and finished. Its appearance reminded her of an expensive piece of furniture, something her father might have had in his house and that gave her hope. Sao Feng would surely have kept his prize possessions in a chest of drawers or something similar. That might have been what the girl had meant by “box”.
Underneath there was a pile of clothing and Elizabeth bent eagerly to dig through the stash. Near the bottom she found a black velvet drawstring bag about the size of her palm. Upon seeing it, a burst of excitement surged through her bloodstream and her heart pounded faster. Eagerly she reached for it, her fingers closing around it securely. Whatever was inside was heavy for its size and felt like a hard oval. Pulling at the drawstrings, she eagerly opened the little bag and spilled the contents into her other hand.
It was a rock, just like the Chinese girl had said.
“Is this it?” Elizabeth quickly asked as she showed the rock to one of the girls.
“Yes, that healing rock. Now you must prepare.” The girl replied.
“And we must prepare him.” The other girl stated as she turned to face James where he lay. “My name is Mei. She is Chai. She will fix tea for you now.”
“I’m Elizabeth…” She stated as a sudden bout of nervousness suddenly overtook her. She could feel it bubbling in the pit of her stomach, like a bunch of pesky flies that wanted out. It was that word “prepare” that she didn’t exactly like somehow, as that suggested dealing with that sword. Now that the time had finally come to deal with it, she wanted to postpone it somehow. The idea of reaching out and grabbing the hilt to pull it out….the very idea made a shiver pass down her spine right into her stomach. She wasn’t normally meek, but what if a great geyser of blood sprayed out? What if removing it killed him?
“Come.” Mei encouraged as she took Elizabeth by the hand and gently tugged her forward. “You help me prepare him now.”
Elizabeth allowed herself to be lead forward until she was once again before James. His face was pale, but not as white as his powdered wig. She could see that his chest was still rising and falling, although a bit shallowly but that little movement gave her hope that he just might survive this after all, especially now that she had the magic rock. She also noted that there were no drops of blood on his lips or around his mouth, not yet anyway. Blood from the mouth was usually fatal, even she knew that. His mouth was open a bit, perhaps from pain or maybe he was breathing that way, she was uncertain.
“Belly wound.” Mei stated as she pointed to the sword. “Slow death, many days.”
For the first time Elizabeth looked to exactly where the sword had stabbed him and she saw that Mei was right: the sword was stuck through James’ stomach. Before she had seen the sword and had been too upset to note the details, but now she felt as if she was in a weird trance and that she could look at it. She could just make out a dark stain against the bright gold of his Navy waistcoat where the sword entered his body.
Blood.
“He … he won’t die right away?” She asked nervously as she clenched her empty hand over and over, unsure of what will happen next. Her other hand tightened around the magic rock until she could feel her tendons straining from the pressure.
“Many days…” Mei held up her hand, showing five fingers.
“Five days…” Elizabeth whispered to herself. Could she heal him in five days? The wound looked so awful and she didn’t even know if she could really use this magic rock. She had experienced magic items before, of course. There had been the cursed Aztec medallion, Jack’s magic compass and she had been to The Locker. But all had not been perfect. The medallion had brought her bad luck, the compass often did not work right or show her what she really wanted and the Locker, well, it had been bad. Would this rock be any different? Still, it was all she had to believe in and so she had to trust it. “What do we need to do?”
“First we do this.” Mei reached out and pulled the sword out with one swift but smooth movement.
A cry escaped from Elizabeth’s lips as the sword was removed and she leaped backward a bit, her hands flying to cover her mouth. She heard James moan and saw his eyelids flutter, but they stayed closed. And to her relief, no great spray of blood burst forth from the now empty hole that went deep into his body. That had been her biggest fear and she was now free of it. Still, she could not help but to stare at the gaping hole. She didn’t want to look at it, yet she could not tear her eyes away, either. It was the most oddest sensation ever and she could feel herself becoming slightly queasy. But she could not afford to be sick, not now, and she swallowed, trying to force the uncomfortable feeling down.
“Now we undress him.” Mei calmly stated. “You help.”
“Undress…?” Elizabeth asked, her face suddenly growing hot. She had never done such a thing before in her life and it was considered improper, indecent. But she knew they needed to treat the wound and for that they needed to see it…
So undress him she would.
Author: Aquaseamage
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: James/Elizabeth
Characters: James, Elizabeth, Chai, Mei,
Genre: Drama/Supernatural/Action
Word Count: 2100 words
Warning: AU
Summary: Set during AWE. After James is stabbed by Bootstrap, Elizabeth manages to rescue him from the Dutchman onto the Empress. But is the weird Singapore magic strong enough to save his life, especially since she is the one who has to use it?
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. They belong to Disney.
“Yes, we help.” The girl on the right replied as she moved closer to Elizabeth, a folded colorful garment in her hands. “First you change.”
“Change?” Elizabeth’s eyes grew wide in shock and she shook her head in denial, cold drops of water spraying off the end of her drenched hair. “No, we don’t have time for that! Can’t you see, James is dying! We need to do something to save him! Do you have a doctor on board, a surgeon? Do you understand, a doctor? A healer?”
But the two Chinese girls reached down and gripped her by the arms and hauled her to her feet. Pulling her away slightly from James, they started to undress her with nimble fingers. Soon the soaking wet outfit was on the floor and they dried her off quickly, even rubbing most of the water out of her hair. Then she was redressed in a soft but colorful robe sporting a floral design and trimmed in sparkling gold threads. The material was quilted and she savored the new warmth that covered her skin. Elizabeth hadn’t wanted to admit it, but she had been freezing in the wet outfit, her teeth on the verge of chattering. Only her worry for James had stopped her from seeking relief from the condition. It seemed paltry to worry about simply feeling cold when James had a sword through him.
And how was she to deal with that? Was it better to pull it out or would he bleed to death if she did that? But surely she couldn’t leave it in, either! He would never heal that way. And the sword looked so dirty, crusted with all sorts of nasty grime and gunk from the Dutchman. The thing is she just didn’t know what to do and she feared that the crew knew little English. Even Tai Huang, who knew more English than the others, spoke in clipped sentences. The stress of the situation was becoming unbearable, yet James’ life rested in her hands. If he was going to survive this, it would be up to her to decide what was to be done and how. It was a lot to rest on her thin shoulders. She would need a level head. Crying and breaking down into an emotional heap would do James little good.
Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth tried to calm her jangled nerves. It helped a little, but not much as she could feel the panic waiting just in the shadows ready to overtake her. Trying to stay in control, she turned to the two girls. “Thank you. I do feel much better now. Do you have a doctor on board? A doc-tor? Do you understand; a healer?”
One of the girls pointed a finger at Elizabeth. “You heal.”
“No, I don’t know how!” Elizabeth cried in anguish, feeling as if she was getting nowhere due to the language barrier. “I don’t know how! You have to help me or I might make it worst!”
“You use magic disk. It heals.” One of the girls replied as she turned to survey the badly damaged room. The back wall was entirely shattered, sharp pieces of jagged boards poking out in dozens of directions. “But first we must find.”
“A magic healing disk?” Elizabeth asked, the first ray of hope starting to fill her gloomy heart. Perhaps that was even better than a doctor? A doctor could make mistakes but surely magic couldn’t, could it? But then her brown eyes swept over the condition of the room and her spirits sunk. It was a shambles! Most of the floor was littered with bits of busted board from where the cannonball had torn its way through to kill Sao Feng. She was surprised that his stiff, cold body was not still propped up against the wall where he had died. Someone apparently had the oversight to have it removed and she was thankful for that small kindness. She didn’t need the dead eyes of a corpse staring at her while she tried to save her old friend from death. Still, if searching through the rubble was what it took, she would gladly do so. “What does it look like?”
“It large stone.” One of the girls replied as she bent to start looking, picking up pieces of busted board to peer underneath. “It was in … box … there.”
Elizabeth looked to where the girl pointed and sighed. Of course it had to have been where the cannonball ripped its way through the rear wall! But she wasted no time and started tossing boards and other bits of rubbish aside, carefully looking at each thing as she picked it up. Had the disk survived in one piece? She could only hope that it had, for apparently the ship had no real physician on board or perhaps he had been killed in the attack as well. There was no way to find out, as the twins seemed set on her healing James herself. The idea made her extremely nervous, as she just didn’t have the knowledge to do that.
She was clearing a large area rapidly, working steadily in a weird bent over position. Many of the pieces were sharp and she had been jabbed several times by being careless, the jagged bits of wood stabbing her in her hands. The wounds were minor, little more than splinters really but each one hurt and she would instinctively jerk her hand away from the offending piece of wood. She didn’t want to think what James must have felt the moment he was run through, for surely it was a thousand times worst than the little pricks she had just suffered. Could he survive until she found the disk? She was searching as quickly as she could, but she couldn’t help feel the sand pouring through the hourglass. Surely he couldn’t have much time left? How long could a person live while pierced by a sword? Did it go all of the way through him? Was blood leaking out from underneath him right now to form an unseen puddle? The thoughts alone were disturbing and Elizabeth tried to stop thinking them, but it wasn’t easy. The fear was right there, a cold thing breathing on the back of her neck. Shivering, she forced her mind to the task at hand.
A particularly large board was right before her and she bent to carefully grab its edge. Straining, she struggled to push it upward, lifting with her knees as Will had once told her. Finally she felt it starting to move and she gave it a mighty heave, shoving it over the other way. The other side was lacquered, smooth and finished. Its appearance reminded her of an expensive piece of furniture, something her father might have had in his house and that gave her hope. Sao Feng would surely have kept his prize possessions in a chest of drawers or something similar. That might have been what the girl had meant by “box”.
Underneath there was a pile of clothing and Elizabeth bent eagerly to dig through the stash. Near the bottom she found a black velvet drawstring bag about the size of her palm. Upon seeing it, a burst of excitement surged through her bloodstream and her heart pounded faster. Eagerly she reached for it, her fingers closing around it securely. Whatever was inside was heavy for its size and felt like a hard oval. Pulling at the drawstrings, she eagerly opened the little bag and spilled the contents into her other hand.
It was a rock, just like the Chinese girl had said.
“Is this it?” Elizabeth quickly asked as she showed the rock to one of the girls.
“Yes, that healing rock. Now you must prepare.” The girl replied.
“And we must prepare him.” The other girl stated as she turned to face James where he lay. “My name is Mei. She is Chai. She will fix tea for you now.”
“I’m Elizabeth…” She stated as a sudden bout of nervousness suddenly overtook her. She could feel it bubbling in the pit of her stomach, like a bunch of pesky flies that wanted out. It was that word “prepare” that she didn’t exactly like somehow, as that suggested dealing with that sword. Now that the time had finally come to deal with it, she wanted to postpone it somehow. The idea of reaching out and grabbing the hilt to pull it out….the very idea made a shiver pass down her spine right into her stomach. She wasn’t normally meek, but what if a great geyser of blood sprayed out? What if removing it killed him?
“Come.” Mei encouraged as she took Elizabeth by the hand and gently tugged her forward. “You help me prepare him now.”
Elizabeth allowed herself to be lead forward until she was once again before James. His face was pale, but not as white as his powdered wig. She could see that his chest was still rising and falling, although a bit shallowly but that little movement gave her hope that he just might survive this after all, especially now that she had the magic rock. She also noted that there were no drops of blood on his lips or around his mouth, not yet anyway. Blood from the mouth was usually fatal, even she knew that. His mouth was open a bit, perhaps from pain or maybe he was breathing that way, she was uncertain.
“Belly wound.” Mei stated as she pointed to the sword. “Slow death, many days.”
For the first time Elizabeth looked to exactly where the sword had stabbed him and she saw that Mei was right: the sword was stuck through James’ stomach. Before she had seen the sword and had been too upset to note the details, but now she felt as if she was in a weird trance and that she could look at it. She could just make out a dark stain against the bright gold of his Navy waistcoat where the sword entered his body.
Blood.
“He … he won’t die right away?” She asked nervously as she clenched her empty hand over and over, unsure of what will happen next. Her other hand tightened around the magic rock until she could feel her tendons straining from the pressure.
“Many days…” Mei held up her hand, showing five fingers.
“Five days…” Elizabeth whispered to herself. Could she heal him in five days? The wound looked so awful and she didn’t even know if she could really use this magic rock. She had experienced magic items before, of course. There had been the cursed Aztec medallion, Jack’s magic compass and she had been to The Locker. But all had not been perfect. The medallion had brought her bad luck, the compass often did not work right or show her what she really wanted and the Locker, well, it had been bad. Would this rock be any different? Still, it was all she had to believe in and so she had to trust it. “What do we need to do?”
“First we do this.” Mei reached out and pulled the sword out with one swift but smooth movement.
A cry escaped from Elizabeth’s lips as the sword was removed and she leaped backward a bit, her hands flying to cover her mouth. She heard James moan and saw his eyelids flutter, but they stayed closed. And to her relief, no great spray of blood burst forth from the now empty hole that went deep into his body. That had been her biggest fear and she was now free of it. Still, she could not help but to stare at the gaping hole. She didn’t want to look at it, yet she could not tear her eyes away, either. It was the most oddest sensation ever and she could feel herself becoming slightly queasy. But she could not afford to be sick, not now, and she swallowed, trying to force the uncomfortable feeling down.
“Now we undress him.” Mei calmly stated. “You help.”
“Undress…?” Elizabeth asked, her face suddenly growing hot. She had never done such a thing before in her life and it was considered improper, indecent. But she knew they needed to treat the wound and for that they needed to see it…
So undress him she would.