Into the Dark, part 23 (after battle)

Do you see it? This... is the heart.

An amalgamation of all that the Pallid Whale has ever devoured.

This makes the Pallid Whale breathe, this makes its heart pound, and from here its evil spouts! Behold! It spews evil again! Again! Again! And again!

Stop laughing like you're happy when your path here was paved with the lives of your own crew.

I suffered my whole life. Everything, my dreams, my friends, all of them… sank right before my eyes. You… it was you. You did that to me. You…!

Indeed, That was I! I led my crew to their deaths.

And what of it?

Their fates were sealed the moment the Whale swallowed them. Fated to become Mermaids, fated to wander the Whale's belly until they keeled over and died. I saved them!

I merely reap my recompense for extending their lives, even for a fleeting moment!

I looked after them, watched over them, and led them to this place... And for that, I have been rightly rewarded.

I was the one who sparked the proverbial fire in their meaningless, pathetic lives. It has always been me!

I still remember the day you lot boarded my ship, not even a spark of light manifest in your aimless eyes. What a pathetic display that was, nothing more than flotsam bobbing up and down without cause!

I gave your worthless lives a reason to go on. And on the Pequod, you sailed with conviction!

No… You devoured the crew whole. You painted over their wills, just like the Whales - no! Just like the Pallid Whale! Molding them and shaping them to fit your wants and needs.

We didn't board your ship solely to hunt some stupid Whale. And you knew that.

I didn't. In truth, I could not care less about your reasons. The moment they set foot upon MY ship, their sights should have rightly been set upon the Pallid Whale!

In fact... You must know better than anyone that their hearts were flimsy. That they let themselves be swallowed because they were shallow; that they let themselves be molded because they were weak.

I am the only one who matters. What matters is that I have declared this beast evil - and that is my commandment, my belief, my religion, and my creed.

When I perish, this world shall perish as well. So my very life, my very existence itself, is then the world! And I have deemed it so! No one will be the helmsman of my life but myself!!! No one shall live my life in my stead!!!

What do you, all of you, believe in? Tell me. Is your belief unbreakable? Is it absolute?

My beliefs are absolute! My definitions of good and evil are clear-cut! Thus my beliefs are unclouded, unassailable. Because I have made it so.

That is why I will never be broken. That is why I stand tall, unshakable, as a missionary of my own faith.

I have blessed you with my absolute definitions of good and evil! So that you may live your life with unhesitating, unwavering tenacity!!!

…….

Starbuck stands next to Ahab. He wears a wide smile, as though a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

…….

Queequeg also slowly positions herself next to Ahab. I could not read her expression through the mask, but her shoulders appeared... laden.

…….

Then you are my definition of evil.

All of my hatred, all of my goals, all of my failures, all of my past, all of my... losses!

They all came from you, Ahab!

Very well! Then crash unto me like the Waves! Let your world and mine clash!

Let us see whose evil is the more tenacious, the more overwhelming!!!