A/N. Sorry for the wait!! Laptop is fixed!!!!



Jacob paced up and down his cabin feeling like he was going out of his mind. Something was happening, he knew it. The cannon fire had stopped a while ago, yet there seemed to be no celebration of victory, so that could only mean one thing.

The door to the cabin opened and Pete stepped in quietly then shut the door behind him.

"You've surrendered, haven't you?" Jacob guessed before Pete had even raised his gaze off the floor.

And when his eyes met Jacob's, no further words were needed.

"Shit!" Jacob growled, before swiping his tankard of wine off the table in anger.

"Now, now, there's no need to waste good wine," Pete said, retrieving the tankard and putting it back on the table.

"How bad is it?" Jacob asked, although he wasn't really sure if there were levels of bad when it came to surrendering.

"It's Jinx," Pete replied.

Jacob sighed.

"At least the men should be spared."

Pete nodded.

"And Raephier?" Jacob asked, trying to sound as unaffected as possible at bringing up the Siren's name.

"Blending in with the men so they'll hopefully have no idea what he is."

"Good," Jacob said, keeping his face neutral but feeling a massive sense of relief that Pete was looking out for him.

"You don't have to pretend around me," Pete said softly.

"I'm not pretending," Jacob snapped back.

Pete sighed.

"Look, I know you care for him and I said I would make sure he's alright and I'll keep to my word."

Jacob snorted.

"Forgive me if your word doesn't mean much to me at this moment."

Even as he said it, he knew he was being petulant, but it was hard not to be when your best friend had sided with the mutiny. Sure, he may have given a sensible reason why he did it, but that still didn't take the sting away.

Pete ignored Jacob's comment and got back to the problem at hand.

"If Jinx asks about you, we're going to say you're suffering from some tropical disease and are isolated in your cabin, hoping that's enough to keep him out in fear of catching it."

"And if he doesn't believe you?"

Pete shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to improvise."

Jacob shook his head in defeat.

"Well, they should be boarding any second so I need to get back out there."

"Yeah, sure," Jacob murmured and sat back down on his bed.

"Here, I brought your sword," Pete said, pulling it out of his belt.

Jacob raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Was it wise to give a sword to the Captain that you'd recently overthrown? Probably not. But there was no way Jacob would ever use it against any of his men and Pete knew that.

Pete left, locking the door behind him.

Jacob sighed, feeling absolutely useless. He felt as though he'd let everyone down. His crew, his family, and Raephier. All of them. Everyone that meant anything to him, he had failed.

Jacob's ears pricked up at the unmistakable sound of heavy boots landing on the deck. They'd been here before, so many times. If only this time it would go differently.

At first Jacob pressed his ear to the door trying to work out what was being said, but although he could hear distinct voices, he couldn't make any of it out. But he did hear the unmistakable sound of the ship being unloaded of all its cargo.

It really wasn't fair. All that work. Just gone in the blink of an eye. Because it took them the best part of a year to get enough money to buy what they needed. When you started with very little, you had to build it up. Buy something relatively cheap, like grain, then ship it in bulk for very little reward for a few months, then move on to something a little more valuable, like cloth. It took months of travelling and slowly building up their haul until they had enough to get what they needed for home. All that work only to lose it to someone who hadn't done an honest day's work in their life.

Jacob really hoped that there was such a thing as heaven and hell, because life on this world certainly didn't seem fair. It would be satisfying to know for sure that the likes of Jinx would suffer in the next life.

Jacob was snapped out of his thoughts by sudden shouting. He jumped up off his bed and drew his sword at the ready. He could hear the unmistakable sound of swords colliding, and then a shot from a pistol.

Jacob began to panic. What was going on? Had Jinx gone back on his promise not to harm his men?

"Let me out!" Jacob shouted, pounding at his door. The least he could do was help his men fight for their lives. He didn't need to be their captain to do that.

"Pete!!! Let me out!!" he shouted again, hammering on the door.

Jacob was getting desperate, banging and shoulder charging at the door in the hope that he could break out. When he was too exhausted to try any more, he sank down to the floor in despair.

"Jacob!"

Jacob's head shot up at hearing his name being called from the other side of the door. He knew that voice!

"Raephier?"

Jacob stood up and pressed his ear to the door.

"Jacob!" Raephier said again, and Jacob felt his chest go tight at the pleading tone in Raephier's voice.

"Tell me Raephier, what's going on?" Jacob shouted back.

"They won't listen to me!" Raephier said, and he sounded on the verge of breaking down.

"About what? They won't listen to you about what?" Jacob asked, his hand on the door, willing it to disappear so he could see Raephier's face.

"I want to help! I want to do it. I want to sing, but they won't listen."

"You want to sing?" Jacob replied in shock. Surely he had misheard.

"Yes, but they won't listen!"

"Listen about what?" Jacob asked.

But he never got an answer, as loud voices came over and then there was the unmistakable sound of a brawl as something, or more likely someone was hurled against Jacob's door, the noise making him jump backwards in shock.

Jacob fought back the urge to cry out Raephier's name, to make sure he wasn't hurt.

The noises moved on again to another part of the ship.

Jacob felt the frustration rising inside him like lava, the pressure increasing and intensifying, waiting for the moment it could burst out. And when it did, Jacob knew that whoever stood in his way wouldn't survive.

"What the hell do I do! WHAT CAN I DO?!!" Jacob shouted in frustration.

"Erm, maybe I could offer a suggestion," came a voice from behind him, which had Jacob swinging round with his sword at the ready.

Jacob shook his head and closed his eyes for a few seconds just in case he was imagining things, but no, he was still there.

"Fingers?"

"At your service," Fingers said with an overly exaggerated bow, followed by his signature toothless grin.

"What the hell?" Jacob said, staggering backwards slightly. "How did you get in here?"

Jacob scanned his cabin, half expecting to see a great big hole in the wall, or at the very least an open cupboard door, but it was like Fingers had just appeared out of thin air.

"That don't matter," he said, waving his hand a little, "What matters is 'ow I can get yous out of this mess you've got yourselves into."

"Actually I think it does matter!" Jacob said, still feeling incredibly unsettled at having someone just appear in his room.

Fingers sighed. "Ok. But if I tells ya, ya have to promise not to ask more questions? Deal?"

"Deal," Jacob replied, although he had no intention of sticking to it.

"Ok, well the thing is, I can go invisible. See?" Fingers said, and then just disappeared right in front of Jacob.

"Shit?! What the..where did you go?!"

Jacob spun wildly round, trying to spot where he had gone.

"I'm here," Fingers said, and sure enough, Jacob spun back round and there he was, just standing there like nothing had just happened.

"B-But how?" Jacob asked.

"Uh uh, no questions remember?"

"But you can't expect me to not-"

"Look, do ya really want me to explain, or do ya want to save ya men? Because the seconds are ticking 'ere."

Jacob snapped his mouth shut. Fingers was right. He needed to get his priorities straight. He could deal with Fingers afterwards.

"Ok, then what's your plan?"

"I tell Jinx about the Siren."

"What? No!"

"Just listen. You 'eard 'im. 'e wants to 'elp right? Well this would be 'elping. I could easily get Jinx to agree to spare your men if 'e can take the Siren."

"No way. Not a chance," Jacob said, shaking his head firmly.

"What if we did a deal now then?" Finger asked. "You're gonna be penniless right? Well what if I bought 'im from you now. Then it's not up to you is it?"

"I- I don't understand. You're offering me money to buy Raephier so you can give him to Jinx? Why would you do that? What's in it for you?"

Fingers crumpled his face up, almost as if he could smell something rotten, but Jacob quickly realised that was just his thinking face.

"Let's just say I 'ave a score to settle with that stinkin' pirate."

"And how would giving him Raephier settle that score?"

"Jeez, Raephier this, Raephier that. You 'ave turned soft for the creature ain't you!"

Jacob just grit his teeth together, tired of having to justify his actions when it came to Raephier.

"Look," Fingers said, finally losing that grin and looking serious, "as far as I see it yous got two choices. Either ya let the Siren 'elp, get some money to get more stuff, and stop anymore of ya men getting' 'urt, or ya do nothing, lose most ya men, 'ave no money to buy owt with an' probably lose the Siren anyway cause the longer ya wait, the more likely Jinx is gonna figure it out for 'imself."

Before Jacob could reply, there were more shouts outside and then the door was opened and Pete came in carrying an injured Gabriel.

"Patch him up and keep him here," Pete ordered. "Jinx's men are trying to take him."

And then he was gone, locking the door behind him.

Jacob stood frozen for a few seconds, but the sound of Gabriel groaning in pain snapped him into movement.

"What is it? Where are you hurt?" Jacob asked, dropping down to the floor beside Gabriel.

Gabriel just groaned, clutching his side.

Jacob grabbed hold of Gabriel's hand and moved it away, to see the area stained with red. He quickly ripped the shirt away to see a slash about a foot long down Gabriel's side.

"Keep your hands away! I need to look!" Jacob said, swatting at Gabriel's hands.

"It hurts," he moaned through gritted teeth,

Jacob scanned the wound and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it wasn't too deep. He went over to his cupboard and ripped up an old shirt to use as a temporary bandage.

"There, that should hold it. You alright?" Jacob asked when he noticed Gabriel was shaking.

"Gabriel?" he asked again when he didn't get an answer.

Gabriel just seemed to curl in on himself more and resisted all Jacob's attempts at gently pulling him round so he could see his face.

A small sob escaped, and Jacob realised that Gabriel was crying. Not once had he ever seen Gabriel cry.

"Gabriel," Jacob said again, but much softer this time.

"I just want to go home," he said between hic-cups. "I just want to go home."

Jacob felt a presence behind him and turned to see Fingers looking at him with his eyebrow raised in question.

He tried not to think about it, but he gave Fingers one brief nod. That was all it took. To decide the fate of another.

Jacob looked at Gabriel to try to focus on his reason for making the decision, but he could feel the guilt eating away at him from the inside. He turned back around, debating on whether to go back on his decision. But Fingers had already gone.