Into the Dark, part 21 (after battle)

Oh, you are doing much better than I expected.

Hey, you... Don't tell me you've just been twiddling your thumbs, watching us fight?

I would have just gotten in your way.

It appeared that Ahab lost most of her crew on her way here.

…….

Rest of crew not here. Only five now. Why?

You dare question me now, eh? Your present company must've rubbed off on you.

I have enough men left. The rest were... disposable. They must have left you quite the impression, Queequeg.

Say it. Why.

Before I do... Queequeg, where's your greeting for your Captain? For your surviving compatriots?

Especially when... the heart presents itself before us! We are THIS close to killing the Whale!

Pip hates Mermaids!!! W-want to! Now! Want to get out of here!!!

But the pale keeps trying to eat Pip. This. Ugh, ughh. It won't come off.

The Pallidification is progressing, the closer we get to the heart. It is starting to get rather... bothersome.

The Pallidification effect was intensifying, indeed.

But you. All of you are somehow completely unaffected.

And... this ticking sound! It has been getting on my nerves!

Ahab strode toward me.

Tell me. What will I find in your clock-head?

<…!>

Ahab looks into my head.

And I, in turn, raise my head to return the gaze.

<This is...!>

Ahab's journey through the pancreas plays right before my eyes.

Cap'n... You said... you won't let me be... a Mermaid...

Well, then... this was not the right method indeed.

Huh...? No...! Don't cut that! Everyone behind you will...!

Captain! That was Pip! Pip cut the vein!

Wonderful! Imagine how overjoyed Stubb would be, were he to witness your exploits!

Think he's watching over Pip? Can we kill the hateful Whale?! Heheh! Ahahahaha!

Huh... Huuh? Aaaaaahhhh!

C-Captain... What did you just...?

I kicked the lad in there. Looks like that wasn't the right path.

You dare beg for your life?

C-Captain. That's not it. It's...

With every moment, every second we waste, the end of days grows near! Every beating of that Pallid Whale's heart is a bell tolling for the end of the world!

We can stop the apocalypse with our own two hands! Yet you kneel here and dare to grovel for your life?!

You mean to make your crew's sacrifices to have been for naught?! Unbelievable!

N-no, Captain...

I can die, for this cause I will...!

Nay, not death! I have never, and will never order my men to their deaths.

I send them to greatness, not death.