Bonus Chapter [2] - 320 Power Stones
A/N: Just to let you know, we're 20 chapters ahead on P_treon, I'll let you know again when we reach 30.
P_treon: March_Rain
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Dalma blinked, looking deeply into Rigel's dark eyes. "Interesting, I see your curiosity and struggle, but deep down, a cry for help? What do you fear, young wizard?"
Rigel suddenly pulled away, snapping out of his trance. He quickly and forcefully cleared his mind, though Dalma didn't seem to have seen his memories, but being able to 'see' him so deeply still frightened him.
Dalma smiled, straightening her body, unconcerned by Rigel's reaction, she turned and began to walk away.
"Tea?" She asked as she walked away.
Rigel just stared at her for a long moment, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Startled, he quickly grabbed his flintlock and pointed it behind him, only to see Will's frightened face.
"Hey, calm down, I just wanted to see if you were okay." Will said hurriedly.
Rigel, who looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, took a deep breath, ignoring Will and the group behind him. He put away his weapon, turned to Dalma, who was sitting at her table making tea, still looking at him and smiling.
Rigel walked over and sat down in the chair, his crew quickly entered, standing behind him. Jack, perched on Rigel's shoulder, looked restless, shouting around.
Rigel listened to him and soon seemed to begin connecting the dots.
While Dalma focused on pouring the tea, Rigel chuckled softly, drawing the attention of her and his crew.
"I understand, from the beginning you played the mysterious card, as if you knew everything, but now I understand." Rigel sighed, drawing Dalma's attention, her eyes looking curiously at him.
Rigel looked directly into her eyes. "You never saw me coming, you saw me through the eyes of the zombies outside."
Tia Dalma blinked, curious. "Continue."
"You never saw me or my destiny, you only saw me through someone else's words, the words of a dead man." Rigel finished, looking at the boa constrictor Dalma was dancing with.
"Go get him." Rigel said in Parseltongue, making Dalma's eyes widen. She understood what Rigel had said, but what surprised her was the authority in his voice. She felt that if she herself were a snake, even she could obey that command.
The boa constrictor moved instantly, advancing towards the stairs, and soon a scream came from above.
Dalma didn't seem bothered by it in the slightest, instead, she viewed it all with curiosity.
Then Barbossa appeared, screaming as he tried to remove the snake from himself. "Hell! Get that snake off me, you witch!"
Rigel smiled, turning his face to Dalma, she smiled back and spoke. "Could you release my guest?"
Rigel blinked and spoke. "Let him go."
The boa constrictor stopped fighting with Barbossa, releasing him and crawled away. Barbossa, furious, grabbed his sword, ready to cut the boa constrictor.
"Hector." Dalma's smile faded as she looked at the man with indifferent eyes.
Barbossa snorted, but eventually sheathed his sword, glancing at Rigel and those behind him with clear murderous intent.
Ragetti and Pintel, having followed Barbossa for years, were very afraid of the man, so they hid behind Will and Elizabeth.
Elizabeth looked at Barbossa, confused. "I thought you were dead."
"And I died!" Barbossa said, irritated. "But it seems death keeps passing by me."
"Don't say that as if you really disliked it." Dalma said suggestively.
Seeing this, Rigel finally lost the last trace of attraction he had for Dalma, this type of seductive, free-spirited, and fickle woman was not the kind Rigel wanted.
Dalma seemed to notice the change in Rigel's eyes, her smile faded slightly. "It seems you're the possessive type, darling."
Rigel narrowed his eyes, deepening his occlumency. "Get out of my mind."
Dalma laughed, unconcerned. "I'm not in your mind, I've just seen too many men..."
Dalma didn't finish her sentence, probably wanting to hide who she truly is.
"Have you seen too many men throughout the ages? I wonder how much of your myth is true. Did you really fall in love with Odysseus?" Rigel asked curiously.
Dalma's face completely lost its smile, becoming serious, with contained fury on her face. Barbossa swallowed hard and took a step back.
"You know too much, little wizard." Dalma said.
Rigel didn't answer, instead he continued. "Perhaps that's why you keep breaking the hearts of everyone who loves you, is it some kind of revenge against fate?"
"Shut up!" She yelled, the candles trembling slightly at her roar. Jack ran to hide behind Will, and Ragetti and Pintel were already trembling.
Rigel just stared at her. He knew it was foolish, that acting this way could have repercussions in the future, but... the way the woman seemed to be getting inside his head irritated him enough.
"Or what? Are you going to summon a storm to drown me at sea? Oh, really, you can't." Rigel mocked her.
Dalma breathed heavily, glaring at Rigel with undisguised hatred. Rigel didn't care, looking directly at her and speaking. "Like the sea, completely uncontrollable, sometimes calm, sometimes furious, Davy Jones at least had a heart, you don't even have that."
For a moment, Rigel stared at Dalma, his eyes irritated and his face cold, while she looked furious, ready to explode at any moment.
All the other occupants of the room froze, clearly afraid of the consequences of this confrontation.
Dalma was the first to move, but she didn't attack, no, far from it, she started laughing, laughing so hard that she clutched her stomach and doubled over.
"Ah, Rigel, you're so different from him, but at the same time so similar." Dalma finally stopped laughing, breathing heavily, and spoke to him, looking at him with renewed affection.
"You know, no man has ever refused me, even in this form, though they've tried, none of them resisted me, only two, one was that idiot Odysseus, the second was you." Dalma spoke as she approached, looking at him with evident curiosity.
Rigel rolled his eyes. "I'm not a man yet, wait a few more years and try again."
This made Dalma laugh even more, she shook her head and approached Rigel, placing her hand on his face. Rigel was astonished, his body was growing!
Growing taller than Dalma, until she had to look up, the woman gazed at Rigel in his adult form with a smile. Before Rigel could understand what was really happening, Dalma kissed him.
Rigel's eyes widened, not that he'd never been with a woman before, but not in this life, and besides, the whole situation was even more bewildering.
When he came to, the woman had already separated herself from him, withdrawing her hand, and Rigel quickly shrunk back to his childlike form.
Rigel blinked, blinked again, for a moment he didn't know what to say, Dalma was lucky that pedophilia wasn't a crime yet, Rigel looked at Dalma's dirty door, expecting the NCA to kick the door open to get in.
[A/N: This plot with Dalma was conceived with readers in mind who suggested her as the female protagonist. I created it as a possible prelude to that, with Rigel taking her away. But at the same time, you can tell me what you think about it. Since I haven't yet decided if this will be a romance with a single Female lead or a harem, Dalma remains a possible option, at least until Rigel leaves the world of Pirates of the Caribbean. Of course, even if she is an option for the Female lead, the real romance won't happen anytime soon. Her relationship with Rigel will be maintained on a thin line where a goddess who doesn't care about things like age and a precocious boy who distrusts the goddess interact with each other.]
[A/N²: I initially thought of writing FBI in the last paragraph, but then I realized Rigel is now English, so I thought it was funny to use NCA. I hope the comedic tone was maintained nonetheless. lmao]