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INT. TENT
Hands wring a flannel over a bowl,
And places it on JAMES’ head.
FRANCIS looks down at him sadly.
FRANCIS
Rest, James.
JAMES
All I’ve been doing is resting…
Francis takes James’ hand and kisses his knuckles.
FRANCIS
Hush now.
James closes his eyes.
He slowly, slowly drifts off into a slumber.
[[[He sees a gull, then, the sea, its waves tall and dark and violent.
They crash gently on the shore, his feet are in the water. His toes dig into the soft sand. He looks up at the sea, green under the moonlight. The moonlight rims Jame’s silhouette like a halo. Terror and Erebus sail crookedly on tall waves.
Suddenly, someone yells in the distance.
EDWARD (O.S.)
CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN!
James turns around.
EDWARD runs into the tent.
Francis whips around.
Edward is smiling ear to ear.
EDWARD
Captain, It’s Ross! Our rescue. We’re saved! We’re saved!
EXT. SHALE
Francis carries James, who is limp in his arms.
FRANCIS
I’ve got you, James… I’ve got you… I’ve got you…
Francis’ voice trails off, echoing
James suddenly slips from Francis’ arms.
His back hits the hard stones with a THUD.
[[[He winces and rolls over, lifting himself to his knees.
There is no one in sight, just the shale blanketed in a thick white fog. Shallow waves roll in and out from the fog to James’ knees.
James touches his side. His shirt is drenched in blood from the scar on his ribs. He looks up.
JAMES
Francis?
James looks left and right.
JAMES
Francis?
A beat.
A gull quietly glides into view.
It lands in front of him and squawks.
James reaches for it, and it flies away, disappearing into the fog. James is left alone in the deafening quiet.
JAMES
Wait-
He stands, meaning to follow the bird, but...
There’s a breath on his neck, and like a strong wind, it pushes his hair forward.
He freezes.
Something behind him growls.
He clenches his jaw.
He whips around and is face to face with the TUUNBAQ.
The creature roars.
James bolts into the fog, struggling to run through the rising tide. He falls into the water as it drops off into the deep ocean just as the creature is upon him. James breaks back through surface and gasps for air.
A towering wave crashes over him, and he goes under again, seeing the creature swimming toward him in the dark water.
A familiar arm suddenly wraps around James, pulling him out of the water and--]]]
INT. TENT
James startles awake. He’s back in the cot, in the tent and Francis pulls away from him, having had his cheek pressed to his and an arm gently coiled around his waist.
JAMES
Francis-
FRANCIS
James... I’m sorry- if I-
JAMES
Don’t be sorry.
James pats his hand next to his head on the pillow. Francis gets on his knees next to the cot and rests his head there. James wraps an arm around his head and pets his hair with his bandaged hand.
JAMES
Comfortable?
FRANCIS
Hmm... as much as I can be.
James looks up at the roof of the tent. It billows in the wind.
Francis looks up with him.
JAMES
When we were boys, my brother and I would lay under the bedsheets the maid would hang to dry in the garden.
James’ hair gently blows in the wind, slowly transitioning into an adolescent James laying in a bed of grass. A young William lays next to him. They Watch the sheets billowing in the wind above them.
JAMES (V.O.)
They’d be like sails above us, and the wind in the trees... sounded like the sea.
James smiles sadly. He turns his head to press his temple to Francis’ forehead, still caressing his hair.
JAMES (CONT’D)
I could almost smell the salted air...
James closes his eyes.
[[[James dreams he’s flying high in the air, his wings sharp as he cuts through the wind. He is a gull. As he glides he looks down and sees the men hauling, but he does not see himself among them.
As he flies ahead of them, into a snowy, white landscape, he spots a single man, Netsilik, judging by his clothing, kneeling in the snow. Curious, James lands in front of him. He looks into the hole in the ice between them, the ocean water black. The man moves.
James looks up.
The man lifts back the fur hood of his parka, revealing the person underneath. It’s Francis. Though he looks much older and more sad.
James cocks his little feathered head.
Francis blinks up at James.
A warm smile spreads across Francis’ face.
FRANCIS
James.
]]]
James phases back into reality, back in his cot, Francis is sleeping lightly next to him still, sat on a blanket on the floor next to his stool. His hand rests gingerly on James’ chest.
JAMES
Francis?
Francis murmurs, eyes still closed.
FRANCIS
Mm?
James slides his hand, weakly feels for Francis’ hand. Francis gives it to him, and James firmly grasps it. He closes his eyes again, whispers gently.
JAMES
A crew needs their captain, you know.
Francis opens his eyes, puzzled. James can almost feel his that brow lift.
JAMES (CONT’D)
You haven’t left my side.
FRANCIS
I won’t leave you, James. Not til your strength returns.
JAMES
Francis-
Francis sits up, still clutching James’ hand.
FRANCIS
I will not leave this place without you.
James looks at him warmly.
FRANCIS (CONT’D)
I won’t...
Francis sighs, turns away from James.
JAMES
I know.
Francis looks back at him, tears in his eyes. James grips his hand harder.
Francis leans in and kisses him firmly on the mouth.
FRANCIS
*I love you.*
JAMES
*Francis...*
FRANCIS
*I love you.*
Darkness.
JAMES
Francis. God wants you to live. He wants you to live.
A faint orange light starts to fill in the black.
Francis weeps, his head bowed over James’ chest clutching his hand, surrounded by darkness save for the warm glow of the lamp at bedside. We don’t see James’ face.
Francis, now old and worn, wanders across the ice, hauling a sled. His hunting companion, a young man, (remember the little boy hunting with him at the end of the show?) gestures to him.
YOUNG HUNTER
(in Inuktitut) I’m checking the seal hole down there.
He points to the horizon. Francis nods to him and he watches the him leave.
Now he is alone. He approaches his seal hole, gets on his knees, spear in hand, and looks down at the hole, his face reflecting in the water.
A long time passes, and still no seal. Snow and frost has gathered on Francis’ face. His eyes had closed at some point.
Footsteps crunch in the snow and stop just in front of him.
He slowly opens his eyes, looking into the water again.
Another face is reflected across from him in the water. It’s not the young man.
Francis looks up, startled.
A silhouette of a tall man is posed against a sundog, a white halo around his head.
A beat.
Realization seeps onto Francis’ face. Tears start to fall from his eyes as he smiles.
FRANCIS
James.
A warm smile spreads across James’ face. He reaches out his hand to him.
Francis gently puts down his spear and takes James’ hand.
James pulls him up on his feet.
They walk, hand in hand, toward the sun-dog, fading into the white horizon until
there’s nothing
but an empty landscape.