Have you ever heard of the saying, 'You tore my heart out' before? Before today, I never thought I would have taken that literally. I had never felt this type of pain. Cutting out my own heart, hurt way more than Sophia hitting me. I gently placed my beating heart into the chest.

I never felt better. Surprisingly, I was still alive. Closing the chest, I locked it with the fancy key. I wiped the blade on my hoodie's sleeve. Oh, in my haste I had sliced right into the middle, leaving my bare chest open.

"Ahh! Don't look!" I quickly turned away from Calypso who seemed focused on the chest. I'm so stupid. I should have taken off my hoodie and shirt.

"You acts like we is not both female." Calypso said dryly. I blushed softly and looked at her. "I has lived since the beginning of this world, and I shall be here long afta. I have seen many bodies clothed or not." Calypso pulled the key from the keyhole and placed it in my hand. "Guard or hide dis key with your life. You may be immortal-" She poked my already healing scar. "But whoever stabs you through the heart, will kill you." So hide the chest with my heart.

I nodded slowly. She stood up and smiled at me. "Alas, what is a captain without her ship?" Calypso snapped her fingers, and that was when I felt it. A familiar, yet foreign presence. Something erupted from below the water, dowsing us both in surprisingly refreshing seawater. "The Flying Dutchman is yours."

Mom had read me plenty of stories when I was younger, with some of them detailing stories about the famous ghost ship. It looked nothing like I imagined.

The bow of the ship looked like the mouth of a monstrous sea creature, with objects that looked like teeth. It had three main masts, with sails that looked like they were made of seaweed. The sides of the ship had openings for I assumed were cannons, that looked like creatures screaming their battlecry.

It was huge and gorgeous. I stared at the ship in shock. It wasn't just any ship, it was mine now. Calypso stood next to me as I admired it.

"Of course, every captain needs a crew. Your ancestor Henry Turner freed his father William Turner from his curse of being its captain." Calypso said with disgust. "He never shoulda meddled with matters beyond him. Still, a few members of ole Davy Jones and Turner's crew should be on board." She flashed Taylor a grin which made her feel uneasy. "If they haven't become one with da Dutchman of course."

I kept staring at the ship, and angled my head towards Calypso.

"Why does it look so...old?"

Calypso giggled at that. "Don't worry, love. She might look old, but da Dutchman is fasta than any of ya modern ships. It's guns should also be more than a match for any opponent in ya way." She paused to rub the head of a crab that climbed up her dress and onto the chest. "The more souls ya help guide da stronger da Dutchman becomes. She'll adapt to how the world is, and become strongah."

That was...actually helpful to know.

"Come come. Let's see if anyone is home." Calypso cackled.

Yeah...let's do that. Right after I fix the angle of my hoodie.

-*-

The Dutchman felt empty and in need of a crew. It looked like and felt like the sea. Barnacles and other sea creatures covered the ship. I almost tripped over a cannon sadly, which led to Calypso laughing at me for a few minutes.

"Part of the ship, part of the crew." Whispers started to infiltrate my ears.

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"Part of the ship, part of the crew." The whispers remained in the background, repeating the phrase.

"Ooo excellent. Some of them still have not merged." Calypso formed a knowing smirk. Suddenly, humanoid forms appeared around us, coming from the ship's hull. All of them looked like personifications of the sea. One of them had a hammerhead shark for a head, two looked like they were part a coral reef, with one of them only having a single eye, the other had eye holes but only darkness was seen. The fourth one looked like he had animals and sea flora growing on his face, with tendrils sprouting from one eye socket and mandibles in place of a mouth.

The whispers stopped when they formed before us.

"Goddess Calypso-" The Hammerhead shark one gasped as they all bowed their heads in reverence. Calypso waved them off.

"Quiet. Let's see if ah rememba." She pointed at the hammerhead. "Maccus," she pointed at the coral reef figure with one eye, "Ogilvey," this time the other walking coral reef, "Pacifico," and finally the figure with the tendril for an eye, "Crash."

They all turned their attention to the chest in Calypso's hands, and turned to me.

"The Dutchman must always have a captain." The one named Maccus said, flashing a grin with deadly shark teeth.

"The Dutchman must always have a captain." The others repeated, their voices deep and harsh like the sea.

Calypso turned to me and motioned towards the chest. "Find somewhere safe to hide ya heart. Then rebuild ya crew. Then ya can perform ya duties. I'm sure there is many dying peoples out there that would give their arms to stay in da land of da living. Plenty of souls too da would like to return. Though, they is a bit harder. Gather da dying into ya crew until ya used to it, then ya can try da souls." She turned back to the crew. "Only yous four are still here?"

The one Calypso called Pacifico answered, despite not having a visible mouth.

"Yes Great goddess." Calypso nodded while smirking and placed the chest in my arms.

"Keep dis safe love. I'm sure you'll make ya ole Turner proud of ya. Maccus used to be Jones' first mate, so he'll tell ya what to do. He'll know how to get ya out of Davy Jones Locker." With that, Calypso turned into a swarm of white crabs, and disappeared from the ship, leaving me all alone with these four strangers.

"Captin, your orders?" Maccus walked up to me and bowed his large head slightly. The other three gathered around me expectantly.

I stared at where Calypso had been and sighed. What had I gotten myself into? I stared down at my ripped hoodie plus shirt, and turned to Maccus. "I need new clothes." He motioned to Crash. "Take the Captin to her quarters for a change of clothes."

Crash nodded and turned back to me. "Follow me Captin." His gravelly voice said. I followed him when Maccus started shouting at the other two.

"Get the ship ready so we can leave when da Captin is ready!" They scurried off after that, yet I could still tell where they were exactly on the ship?

Crash led me down some dark hallways. The walls were just as covered in sea life as the outside, but even more damp. A few lamps casted long shadows as we walked past them. Eventually, we stopped in front of a door, with a squid carving made on the door.

"Your quarters Captin." Crash pushed the door open for me since I was still carrying the chest with my beating heart in it. It was roomy and felt like home. A large organ sat in the middle of the room, with a bed off to the side. A larger chest sat at the foot of the bed, and a desk covered in barnacles sat on the opposite side. I placed the chest on the desk. "Captin Turner had some of his wife's clothes in da chest along with his own. He left them here when he left." Crash said simply, standing at the door of my new room.

"Thank you. You can uh, go help the others." Crash nodded and closed the door before he left. I almost collapsed on the bed. It felt like seaweed.

This was a lot to take in at the moment. After a few minutes of staring at the roof, I sat up. It was time to see what Great-Grandpa left behind. Opening the chest, a few sea spiders crawled out. Wow, this looked like they haven't aged a day. It took a little bit of digging, but I found some buttoned shirts, along with a red pirate coat that should be able to fit me, it didnt have that many barnacles too! The trousers seemed a bit too big, so my jeans were going to have to do until I got better clothes. I was going to need some boots too.

I pulled my hoodie and shirt off slowly. Yeah, Great-Grandma's bras were definitely not going to fit me, and even if they did, ewwwww.

Great-Grandpa was a freak if he kept some of those in this chest. Getting dressed was rather easy. Good old buttons, don't you ever change. I wished I had a mirror to see how ridiculous I looked. Now all I was missing was a hat. Great-Grandpa didn't seem to like them, but there were a lot of bandanas.

"Part of the ship, part of the crew." The whispering started again. Well, it was time to get a move on I guess. For some reason, I knew that Crash was unfurling the sails, with the others preparing the ship as well.

Following the same dark path that led me to my room, I walked back into the sunlight. Eventually, I made my way to the quarter deck. Maccus was already there.

He turned to me with an unsettling grin. "What's our heading Captain?"

I needed to build up my crew, so from what I've heard, I need dying or close to dead people to join my crew. Souls can come later.

I need a crew before I can become the guide to the undead. Hmmm, I know just the place.

A place where people are on the verge of dying often involves war or disease. Luckily, one continent was full of warlords to my knowledge. A perfect place to start.

I stared into Maccus' beady shark eyes.

"Set sail for the African coast."

Once we got out of the Locker.

And once I find a safe place for my heart. I really needed to get my priorities straight. Wait a minute, why didn't I just hide it here?

Yeah, hide heart here first, then Africa.