(no subject)

[bringmethatnpc]

The longboat moves slowly upriver, burdened with more than the weight of its passengers.

All around them, standing waist-deep in the water and amidst the trees, the people of Tia Dalma's swamp have gathered to mark this passing. Each of them carries a candle whose flickering flame reflects from the surface of the water.

In the dimness, the marks of tears show brightly in the candlelight.

Even the natural sounds of the swamp are muted, this evening, buried beneath the low moaning chant that echoes eerily through the air. As the boat approaches, the mourners let it pass, and then draw together once more as they turn to watch its path.

Comments

[try_corsets]

Thunk.

Each drop of the knife, each splinter of wood, sets Elizabeth's teeth on edge. In the seconds between, she hears the sound of the manacle closing around Jack's wrist, and the two play around and around each other in her mind, forming a disturbing rhythm.

Drink is neither wanted nor deserved, but the woman -- this strange, unnerving woman -- insists. Dragging her gaze away from a silent contemplation of the floor, Elizabeth takes a mug, eyes bright and wet though no tears fall.

Their eyes meet. Elizabeth looks at Tia Dalma and thinks, she knows.

Dirty fingers curling around the mug, Elizabeth starts to take a sip and changes her mind. It is unlikely she could swallow around the lump in her throat.

[touch-destiny.livejournal.com]

Impossible to say what might be known, or unknown, but Tia Dalma fixes her gaze intently on Elizabeth and says nothing, even when the girl lowers the mug again without a single taste. Candles flicker, and reflect a gleam on her skin and in her eyes as she turns away.

Towards Will.

The material of her dress--silk, or something like it--rustles softly as she sinks down beside him. Her face, when she looks up into his, is young in its grief. There is no more coyness, and her smiles are faded away. This sorrow is for Will, for what he has lost, what he has left, and what has left him.

"It's a shame," she says, softly, and only to him, offering him the tray. "I know you're thinking that with the Pearl, you could have captured the devil and set free your father's soul."

[turned_captain]

That... wasn't what he was thinking at all. Will's first reaction is to tell her she's wrong. She has not idea what he's thinking, what he's going through. But he hasnt' got it in him to say it.

And it is an idea, actually. If any ship could help him free his father, it would have been the Pearl.

"Doesn't matter now," he says, nursing the cup, and dismissing the thought. "The Pearl’s gone. Along with its captain."

[bringmethatnpc]

"Aye." Gibbs' voice is a bit of an echo as he stands outside for a moment. He turns, steps under the doorframe, and faces his fellow pirates.

"And already the world seems a bit less bright." Seeing that Ragetti is taking a mug, Gibbs steps into the room and does likewise.

"He fooled us all, right ‘til the end. But I guess that honest streak finally won out."

Gibbs always wondered about that, about the pieces of Jack that the captain always hid under his hat and his swagger and his scars. And while he's heard stories apelnty from others, he never did hear them from Jack. And now, he never will.

[try_corsets]

It's not entirely true, nor is it entirely wrong. Jack had come back to his ship before it was too late. He'd checked the impulse to run, made a choice and done the right thing.

Elizabeth had known he had it in him.

She hadn't, however, anticipated that she would have to make a very different choice.

Pirate.

Still blinking back tears, she deliberately looks away in order to avoid meeting eyes with anyone. She's worried about what they might be able to read in hers.

[bringmethatnpc]

Gibbs raises his mug.

"To Jack Sparrow."

[gotmy-eye.livejournal.com]

There's a tear in his... eye as Ragetti also raises his mug.

"Never another like Captain Jack," he says sorrowfully.

[cleverparasol.livejournal.com]

"'E was a gentleman of fortune, 'e was," agrees Pintel, by the door, and raises his mug.

[try_corsets]

Elizabeth raises her mug in turn; it's expected, for all it feels a little like a lie just to be sitting here.

"He was a good man," she rasps, quickly and firmly. She still doesn't drink.

[turned_captain]

Will raises his mug as well. Not a toast. He'd never toast that man right now. But he's also loathe to avoid questions about why. But he does drink.

And then, then he looks over at her, and discovers that his heart did, in fact, have a little more to break.

She looks so broken. He daren't wander if his death would ever do that for her. But Will, poor lovestruck fool that he is, just can't bear to see her like that.

"If there was anything that could be done, to bring him back..." he starts.

He'd do anything, anything, to see her smile again. Even if it wasn't for his sake. He realises now that he doesn't care. After what he saw, he still loves her.

Will stands, still looking at her. "Elizabeth..."

[touch-destiny.livejournal.com]

"Would you do it? Hm?"

Quick as a flash--and how does she move so silently, with those heavy skirts and beads?--Tia Dalma steps in front of him, between Will and Elizabeth, and takes his gaze with her own dark one,

Elizabeth has no chance to answer, but before Will can step around her to move to his fiancé, Tia Dalma spins, and her piercing gaze lands on Elizabeth, her eyes intent and sparkling with some inner fire.

"What would you do?" she asks, directly. "Hm?"

As the other woman works for a response, she turns, impatient, laying her glance on each of the crew members scattered morosely about her dwelling, and her voice rises steadily, growing stronger as she addresses them all, crew and mate alike.

"What would any of you be willing to do? Hm?" She takes a few steps towards the huddled crew, a tiny smile growing on her dark lips.

"Would you sail to the ends of the Earth, and beyond, to fetch back wicked Jack, and him precious Pearl?"

[bringmethatnpc]

There is silence. They all know she means it. Such things are possible in a world such as theirs. But to defy death itself?

But then, that is what Jack would do, isn't it?

Gibbs steps forward. He looks around at the rest, then at the witch.

"Aye!"

[cleverparasol.livejournal.com]

Well . . .

He's their captain, and what's a pirate without a captain?

Pintel stands. "Aye!"

[gotmy-eye.livejournal.com]

Ragetti stands, as well.

"Aye!" he echoes.

Might as well see what this is about.

[bringmethatnpc]

In the corner, Cotton raises his mug and nods. The parrot on his shoulder gives voice to their agreement.

"Aye-aye!" he squawks.

[try_corsets]

Feeling Tia Dalma's gaze, Elizabeth looks up and nods slowly.

"Yes."

She glances at Will.

What would she do? Whatever it takes.

[turned_captain]

Will is also nodding. He needs the Pearl to save his father.

He also wants Elizabeth to be happy again.

"Yes."

[touch-destiny.livejournal.com]

The smile that begins to grow slowly across Tia Dalma's lips is one they haven't yet seen. There is not coyness to it, no wickedness, no secret she is laughing about behind those dark markings and eyes.

"All right," she agrees, and as she turns her gaze upon them all once more, her eyes gleam, red-rimmed and bright.

"But if ye gwine brave the weird and haunted shores at World's End, then you will need a captain who knows these waters."

So saying, she turns to cast her eyes at the staircase, her posture expectant and that odd smile odder than ever.

[bringmethatnpc]

The atmosphere, swamp-muggy and oppressive, makes it hard to breathe sometimes; that hasn't changed. It is simply and suddenly more. Suddenly thick, suddenly... breathless.

Thunk.

There's that wooden sound again, loud as Will's knife was in the silence - louder. But creaking, heavier.

And overhead.

Thunk.

[cleverparasol.livejournal.com]

Pintel follows her gaze.




Oh bloody hell.

[gotmy-eye.livejournal.com]

Ragetti's eye slides over


- it can't be, but-


... start believing in ghost stories.

[bringmethatnpc]

No ghost - not quite. But he would know. No? Know that tread, know that measured pace on wooden boards above his head. Know the gleam of - not moonlight, this time, but candlelight - on the pair of black leather boots that appear on the stairs.

Thunk.

Thunk.

No ghost.

But the stories have to come from somewhere.

Thunk.

[bringmethatnpc]

Gibbs utters a silent and fearful prayer.

What kind of deal with the devil have they made?

[bringmethatnpc]

Oh, now. Such harsh words.

After all.

Isn't this a sight for sore eyes?

[try_corsets]

A captain?

Staring at her mug, Elizabeth hears a thunk, thunk -- not a knife this time, but boots on stairs.

(A captain. After all, what's a crew without a captain?)

Uncertainty wrestles with curiosity as Elizabeth stands and moves closer to Will for a better look.

One last thunk, and black leather boots come to rest on the dusty wooden floor.

Her mouth drops open.

A captain indeed, but certainly not a captain she ever expected to see again, sore eyes or not.

But...

Impossible.

And yet, it seems nothing is impossible anymore.

[turned_captain]

Will doesn't even think as he moves part way in front of Elizabeth, almost protectively.

This really is impossible. And the last thing he'd ever want.

[bringmethatnpc]

Perhaps not, but it's done now - for better or worse. And it's hardly impossible. Young Master Turner, after all, though a fine upstanding gentleman he be, can't but have heard the stories by now.

(And the stories have to come from somewhere.)

A ship, they whisper fearfully, with black sails - crewed by the damned. And captained, as they can't help but look over their shoulders, by a man so evil that Hell itself spat him back out.

Stained teeth, and a filthy smile - the word it brings to mind is shark.

"So tell me," says Captain Barbossa, as he lifts a vivid green apple to his mouth. "What's become of my ship?"

---

FIN