Written by: mamazano and danglingdingle
Title: Walk With Me - Day 1
Rating: G
Characters: Jack Sparrow, Will Turner (J/W)
Disclaimer: Disney owns them, we just like playing with them.
Summary: Jack takes Will for a stroll down memory lane. Who knows where their path will lead.
****
On the morning of December the first, Will drowsily slouched himself toward the kitchen, giving himself a small laugh as the floor seemed to dip under his feet still, even when Jack had graciously spent the past two days easing the withdrawals of the sea with the lull of his own.
Rubbing his eyes with one, and getting a glass out of the cupboard with his other hand, running water from the tap until cold enough, Will paused to double-take on what hadn't fully registered on the first glance.
On the kitchen table sat what seemed to be a bundle of cloth wrapped into a roll, about a cubit wide, a bright fir-green ribbon tied in a bow around it, against which leaned a simple, white card.
Chucking down his drink of water, Will deposited the glass on the counter and approach the roll with increasing curiosity.
The card bore his name, written by Jack's hand, and inside the folded cardboard, there were a few lines introducing Will to what to expect of the packet;
'Within there lies histories, lived and re-lived, some of them remembered, some forgotten, some, mayhaps, even better to be left there, which we cannot know, before we find out on our own.
Will you, Will Turner, do me the honour of allowing me to take you a stroll down the memory lane?
Yours,
Jack'
Tugging open the bow, Will found the wrap of cloth heavier than he'd anticipated, and carefully unraveled it, revealing rows of pockets, each neatly stitched to the canvas wrap, each closed with an assortment of buttons, some of which Will instantly found familiar.
On each pocket, there was an embroidered number, all twenty-four of them, and although the stitches of the pockets themselves proved Jack still knowing how to mend a main sail, the numbers were iron-on patches.
Straightening his personal Christmas calendar out, Will patted some of the bumps, then, intrigued, unbuttoned the pocket declaring this day.
Will fingered the red beads of the rosary, each with its distinctive black cap. Rosary beans, found all over the islands, beautiful and deadly.
****
"Ironic, isn't it?" Jack had said the day they'd picked up the souvenir at the local market stall. "How many paternosters were mumbled over these deadly beads, I wonder."
"Deadly?" Will ran the smooth beads through his fingers, each one identical to the next.
Jack nodded. "Aye, beautiful and deadly." He took the rosary from Will and held it up in the sunlight. "There is enough poison in just one of these bright beauties to kill a grown man." He turned the beads over and mused, "Remember seeing a mate of mine, on one of me first ships, die a dreadful way after eating just two of these, on a dare." He shuddered. "Took him three days to die, weren't nothing any of us could do."
"That's terrible!" Will looked at the assortment of necklaces and bracelets on display, like so many drops of blood on the table's cloth. "How can they sell them if they are so poisonous?"
Jack forked his fingers and said in an ominous voice, "Because they ward off the evil eye." He picked up a bracelet and added, "The locals call them 'jumbie beans' for that very reason."
Turning to the wizened old woman running the booth, Jack held up the rosary and asked, "How much?" before delving into his pocket for the coins. Then, with a flourish, he placed the red beads around Will's neck. Patting them gently to Will's chest, Jack smiled. "No evil spirit shall haunt you now, dear Will." He let his fingers linger on the beads before snapping his fingers and saying brightly, "Just…try to keep them out of your mouth, love."
"Promise," Will smiled as the two resumed their stroll through the marketplace.