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The sound of Jackson's voice snaps him back into reality. The captain looks past the fog and settles his eyes on his subordinate. With a shattered voice, he whispered, "...Jackson?". Again, he shouts, " Jackson, my boy, what are you doing here!". The previous listlessness was gone, replaced by unfathomable joy. Jackson extends an arm to his captain, and everyone stands to eye level.
Jackson's eyes dart around with a smile, "where's Peter, James, Edwin, and Lenny?". At the mention of their names, the captain looks down, " my boy... They're... gone...and so is everyone else". Slowly Jackson's pupils widen, "that can't be! They can't be dead too". The captain swallowed his regret and muttered, " I'm afraid they are". A cry so filled with desperation fills the air and reaches the ears of Tristan emerging downstairs with a pile of wood.
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With a smile, Tristan beams, " I got the wood!". However, it was too late. Elizabeth and Jason grabbed both of his arms and pulled him back upstairs. I turns his head between the two and stammers, "what's going on, why'd you do that?". Without explaining, Elizabeth steals the wood from his hand. Together, Jason and Elizabeth hastily create a plank capable of supporting a large number of people. Once they finish, she orders Tristan to lean the plank against the other ship.
While he does that, she addresses the crowd. " anyone who doesn't want to die, walk the plank!". While Elizabeth and Tristan hold the plank, people pull each other back, preventing anyone from reaching past the middle of it. Jason rushed to aid a crying orphan, but his gentle voice was snuffed out by the bickering of the drunken fathers. There was hardly a moment to spare, everyone was thrown off their balance by the ships tilting.
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The moment they regained their balance, the grown men threw a continuous string of insults at each other their wived followed suit. It was about to turn into a rumble, but before anyone could throw a punch. Jason yelled out, " I've had enough! we don't have one for this! Children go first, then women than men!".
Everyone was stunned into silence. Save for a few, no one had heard Jason speak, let alone this loudly before. Without thinking, everyone followed his commands, everyone was able to safely board the other boat. Finally, the water reached above deck. With their safety assured, everyone watched the ship go under.
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As the team celebrates their success, Elizabeth wraps her arms around Jason. He copies her action and they twirl in a circle. As they twirl, Elizabeth and Jason pull Tristan into the spin and they laugh wildly into the foggy sky.
Sadly, their celebration is short-lived. Broken, Jackson calls out to his brother, "...Jason, is that you?". The fog acts as a curtain between the two, but Jason instantly recognizes his brother's voice. "Yeah it's me, the ship went-", before Jason could finish his sentence, Jackson runs into hug his brother. Silently sobbing, Jackson mutters, " don't die... Please". Instead of saying any words, he accepted his brother's hug and let him cry into his shoulder.
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While the Jackson grieved his fallen comrades, everyone else settled into their new boat. The crew silently watched over Jackson, and everyone else fell onto their new spots. It was if it was the same boat; Is what I would say, but the new captain made it so that no one could fall back into the same routine.
While Jackson cried, the captain clapped everyone's attention onto him. He started, " you bunch of lazy beggars are going to start doing work, anyone who doesn't, will walk the plank!". Instead of inciting fear into the group, a drunkard scoffs, "you're not our boss. Besides, it's a little too convenient that we just so happen to find Jackson's former captain". Everyone murmurs to themselves, the drunk brought up a good point.
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It was all too convenient, but while they speculated his true origin, Jackson stopped crying. " don't you dare question my captain". It was a good thing the fog prevented them from seeing Jackson's face, otherwise, they'd see the mess of tears left behind by his sorrow. As he wiped away his snot, he revealed, " he's captain Jerald the explorer". The drunkard barked, "I know that name, why do I know it?".
Jerald's laugh shook the ship, " I'm the best captain in the world, or maybe it's because the regime leader sent me and my crew to explore the world's edge". Everyone went silent. Joshua stammered, "y-you mean... We're at the world's edge". An orphan's anguish filled the air, and that was enough of an answer for everyone.
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ns 15.158.61.5da2
