Stabbing the Heart

[bringmethatnpc]

He'd almost made it. Jack had been sneaking across the Dutchman's deck, chest secure in hand, when Jones and his crew had spotted him.

"Looky here, boys -- a lost bird that never learned to fly!"

As they advance on him, Jack backs up against the edge of the deck -- then leaps up on the rail and wraps one hand in a particular lanyard. His sudden grin is filled with manic amusement.

"Never too late to learn, aye?" With no more warning than that, he slams the chest against the half-rotten wood brace securing the line and is promptly yanked aloft.

Unfortunately, Jones doesn't need any such trick to go wherever he wishes to on this particular ship, and as Jack turns to make his swaying way toward the tenuous safety of the mainmast, he finds himself facing the Dutchman's furious captain over the point of a sword.

"The chest-- hand it over!"

Jack backs up a step, drawing his own sword, and there's something strangely knowing in the black eyes.

"I can set you free, mate."

"My freedom was forfeit long ago!" Jones snarls, and strikes.

Now, as one battle rages on the decks below, another takes place on the yardarm of the Flying Dutchman. With a wild slash, Jack sends several wiggling tentacles from Jones's beard falling to the deck below -- one of them still clutching the key to the chest. He receives a blow in return that sends him staggering backward, and as he brings his sword up in defense Jones snaps it in two with his claw.

Having no other defense left, Jack counters the next strike by using the chest itself as club, which in turn brings it within reach of Jones, who promptly grabs it. As Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones engage in a strange tug-of-war over the chest that contains Jones's heart, Jack can't help but grin.

Bloody ridiculous, is what this is.

Evidently Jones agrees, for with a particularly harsh, violent swing, he manages to yank Jack from his perch and send him flying through the air in truth.

It's a stroke of fortune that the air's so full of invading fishy pirates, however, and as he falls Jack collides with one swinging across on a rope. In the ensuing scramble for a good grip, Jack notices a pistol shoved in the other man's belt. Black eyes widen in shock.

I know that gun!

On the instant, Jack snatches Mal's pistol free and delivers a hard blow to Clanker's head with the butt of the gun.

"Oi! My pistol!"

As the stunned pirate falls, Jack swings himself around, searching for Jones--

--there!

BANG!

Jack's a good shot, and as Mal Reynolds could tell anyone who asked, it's a good gun. The bullet goes true, knocking the chest from Davy Jones's hands and into the chaos below.

Comments

[turned_captain]

Will parries again and again, effort only required in holding back. His father's technique is non-existent, but his determination makes him formidable.

However, Will have the advantage of being in full command of his mental capacities. If this were anyone else, he could run him through in a second.

But it isnt anyone else.

Will forces his father's hand down onto the railing of the Dutchman and brings the hilt of his sword hand down hard on the prone wrist, knocking Bootstrap's sword to the ground. It's the same movement that snaps Will's own sowrd up and holds it to his father's neck. A threat, and a show of what he can do.

Then a feminine gasp behind him catches his attention. Will looksover his shoulder to see Elizabeth -

- His wife. On the Dutchman, come after him -

- knocked flying, and sprawled on the steps to the upper deck, where a blow to the head leaves her unconscious, and at Jones' mercy.

Turning back to his father, Will draws the knifehis father once gave him, on which he made a vow.

"I'm not going to kill you. I made you a promise."

The knife goes down hard in the railing beside his fallen father, and Will turns away to his bride.

[byhisbootstraps]

part of the --

His eyes fix on the scarred knife handle, and everything else goes away.

must always have a captain / he's coming / part of the / never shall we

Bootstrap's eyes widen.

I made you a promise.

[turned_captain]

Turning away from his father, a fog draws over Will's eyes.

He doesn't have time to think what kindof monster would advance on and kill an unconscious woman as she lies. Nor does he bother to think who it is he's against, or where the important parts of their anatomy lie.

He turns and sees someone about to kill his Elizabeth, and he acts without thinking.

He thrusts his sword straight through Jones' back, into his chest from behind.

[doyoufeardeath.livejournal.com]

If Jones notices beyond a brief and minor irritation, it -- only shows in the fact that Elizabeth gets a break from his assault. He looks at the tip of the blade, jutting from his breast.

"Did ye forget? I'm a heartless wretch!"

His claw clinches the blade, twisting it -- making it impossible to draw from his damned flesh.

[turned_captain]

Oh. Not good.

Will tugs on his sword, again and again yanking hard on it,only to have it catch each time on Jones' body.

Of all of Will's ideas. he suddenly can't help thinking that using his only sword to stab someone without a heart is perhaps one of the stupidest.

Still, it's drawn his attention away from Elizabeth.

[doyoufeardeath.livejournal.com]

Which will only bring his full attention to the beat down at hand.

OR at claw. Take your pick. >

With Will's refusal to release the sword, Jones has him at a disadvantage. HE can't hurt Jones, but Jones can twirl him about and smack at him rather fiercely, using his great claw as a rather effective bludgeon.

Not a good say for someone who relies on the sword to fix all problems, is it?

[turned_captain]

Sometimes Will uses a pistol.

He doesn't have one on him now, though, and he's lost his sword, so he has no way of stopping the blow to the head, which sends him flying across the deck, where he falls against the railing.

He doesn't try to get up yet, but glances over to Elizabeth,just to make sure she's unharmed.

[try_corsets]

The fight with Jones hadn't been going well. Gasping for breath, she'd failed to block a blow and gone flying; it's the last thing she remembers. Now she's lying on a hard, wet surface, body twisted and completely vulnerable.

Elizabeth surfaces with a start, pushing damp, lank hair out of her face. Her head is pounding and her legs refuse to cooperate, but she's aware enough to seek out her husband, to make sure he's all right.

He's not. Will is lying on the deck in a similarly awkward fashion, staring at her, and Jones looms between them.

Instantly alert, Elizabeth swallows hard.

[doyoufeardeath.livejournal.com]

The Look is seen -- Jones knows it all too well.

"Love," he sneers. "A dreadful bond. And yet..." His lips curl. "So easily severed."

His blade finds Will's throat, but does not pierce it. He merely lets the boy know it's there, the power of it known to the smith. "Tell me, Will Turner. Do ye fear death?"

[pirate_jack]

From behind Jones comes a cry, strident and harsh and easily cutting through the chaos on deck.

"Do you?"

[turned_captain]

What surprised Will was that he was prepared to answer no. The only death he actually feared was Elizabeth's, and he's happily diverted the blade to his throat without regrets. That doesn't mean he isn't delighted to hear the interruption, and to look up to see the beating heart in Jack's hand, a broken sword held above it.

(No sword turned by Will's hand would break so irregularly.)

His panting breath turns into sighs of relief, and he looks once again over at Elizabeth.

This is it. This is what he and Jack planned all along. Now all Jack has to do is stab the heart and it'll all be over. They've won.

[try_corsets]

Stab the heart, Jack.

Elizabeth steals a glance at Will and nearly smiles. Their gamble -- all the secrecy and scheming and foolish risk taking -- is about to pay off. This is the best possible end: Jones will die; without the Dutchman's protection, Beckett will follow; Jack will be immortal (and possibly, as a result, more forgiving); and Will and Elizabeth can finally be together.

But Jack hasn't stabbed the heart yet. Jones wouldn't hesitate, Elizabeth wants to yell.

Stab it!

[pirate_jack]

Never again, mate. You'll never have me in your damned Locker again.

His knuckles are white where his fist is clenched around the hilt of his broken blade, which is no less sharp or steely than his tone.

"Heady tonic, holding life and death in the palm of one's hand."

[doyoufeardeath.livejournal.com]

Looking away -- buying Will Turner moments to live -- Jones finds his heart in another man's hand.

"You're a cruel man, Jack Sparra'!" he snarls back. This is something like what they'll some day call a Mexican Standoff.

[pirate_jack]

Jack doesn't flinch, nor does he look away as he flatly informs the Dutchman's cursed captain,

"Cruel is a matter of perspective."

[doyoufeardeath.livejournal.com]

"Is it?"

How's this? A sword into the breast of a young man, while his lover-turned-wife looks on? A twist of the blade, to make him scream...

Jack shouldn't try an educate a master on what cruelty is. Jones will teach them better!

[turned_captain]

Wait, that wasn't...

Will cries out and his back arches involuntarily, which only serves to thrust his chest deeper against the sword.

The blade twists, and all other thoughts vanish completely in a wave of hot blackness.

[try_corsets]

No.

A strangled gasp escapes the sudden constriction in Elizabeth's throat. She can't breathe, can't organize her limbs to throw Jones aside and hurry to Will, but her body jerks as if she feels the blade plunge into her own flesh.

She gapes at Will with wide, horrified eyes, seconds away from shaking her head in denial.

[pirate_jack]

The heart gives a leap in his hand as his fingers inadvertently tighten on it, then continues its steady beat. Jones is laughing at him, but Jack only notices it at an odd distance as he stares at the lad lying so still on the deck.

William.

[turned_captain]

Something's gone wrong, and Will's not sure he knows what. They'd won - hadn't they? He had Elizabeth, Jack had the Heart. And now...

His breath catches in his chest, seering his lungs as he gasps for air. (Looking up, he sees the handle of a sword which he's sure he recognises - did he make that?)

...now the situation is completely out of his control.

[try_corsets]

As soon as Jones moves, Elizabeth stumbles to Will's side, drops to her knees and cups his face in her shaking hands.

"Will," she croaks. "Look at me... stay with me! You're all right."

He has to be.

[byhisbootstraps]

He stands there for several seconds, staring at the knife, his motionless form giving no sign of the struggle going on behind his eyes.

The voice of the ship is still there, everywhere; not like fog now but like the sea itself, filling his mind like water filling his lungs. But it's no longer the only voice in him.

"William."

Bootstrap Bill Turner straightens, and turns. And sees.

"My son!"

And lunges forward, broken sword and borrowed knife both forgotten, to attack Davy Jones with his bare hands.

[pirate_jack]

As Jones and Bootstrap go staggering across the deck, locked together in wild struggle, Jack finds that it's suddenly difficult to breathe.

(to be free forever)

The hand holding the blade twitches as he looks down at the heart in something like desperation--

(free from death itself)

--and then back up at Will Turner, with Elizabeth now frantic at his side.

[turned_captain]

Elizabeth.

I love you.

Will's finding it harder to keep his eyes open, but when he does manage, all he can see is her. She's upset: scared. The last time he saw her this distraught was when her father sailed off.

I'm proud of you.

He wants to tell her how much he loves her, and how the pain isn't so much, and that he'll tell that she made it through, but his throat is full of something wet and he can't find the breath.

I chose you.

The worst thing is not being able to console her.

[try_corsets]

Elizabeth is aware of nothing but Will.

"Will! Will! Look at me," she demands, willing him to open his eyes when they slip closed. "Look at me!"

If he sees her face, he won't leave. He wouldn't do that to her. Even as she thinks it she knows it's not rational, but his skin is so pale and he's dying.