Chapter 10: Chasing Destiny
Sora and Kairi found themselves in a port that Sora immediately recognized as Port Royal. Rain poured from the heavens, drenching what appeared to be a ruined wedding ceremony.
Sure enough, the soaked bride stood hunched over the altar, watching men in bright, red uniforms search the town. Something about the bride seemed familiar to Sora.
"I almost got married, once," Yuna said conversationally.
"Elizabeth!" Sora shouted, ignoring Yuna and running forward.
Elizabeth turned toward him, her downcast face raising hopefully. "Sora, please, you…Will!"
The men in red coats had approached, bringing Will, bound in chains. Yuna wagged a finger at them.
"Yuna, stay out of this," Sora said sharply. She huffed, but retreated to one of Sora's pockets.
"Why is this happening?" Elizabeth breathed.
"That's what I'd like to know," said Sora, pushing through the soldiers with Kairi. Will barely registered them.
"You look beautiful," he told Elizabeth.
She chuckled bitterly. "Isn't it bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding?"
A man, obviously the commander, turned to face them.
"Cutler Beckett?" gasped Elizabeth.
"It's Lord now, actually," Beckett replied smugly.
"Lord or not, you have no reason and no authority to arrest Will," Elizabeth retorted.
"In fact, I do." Beckett pulled out a piece of paper and read, "The warrant for the arrest of one William Turner."
He passed the paper to the person nearest him; Kairi. Nervously, she scanned the page. "This warrant is for Elizabeth Swann," Kairi said, confused.
"Oh, is it? That's annoying. My mistake. Arrest her," said Beckett unconcernedly.
Several men grabbed her and she screeched, "On what charges?"
Ignoring her, Beckett pulled out another piece of paper and handed it to Kairi. "Aha. Here's the one for William Turner. …And I have another one for a Mr. James Norrington."
Elizabeth pierced him with a withering stare. "Commodore Norrington resigned his commission some months ago. Now what are the charges?"
Again ignoring her, Norrington pulled out a fourth sheet of paper. "And a final one for a Sora…ah well, just Sora, then. Arrest him, too."
Two men grabbed Sora, as well, who didn't want to make the situation worse by resisting. Neither did Kairi or Yuna, thankfully.
Beckett surveyed Sora with a satisfied air. "That's what you get for meddling in others' business."
Any retorts Sora had died in his throat. Beckett couldn't know about him, could he?
"Elizabeth and I are under the jurisdiction of the king's governor of Port Royal," began Will tersely, "so we have the right to know what we are charged with. But Sora isn't. You have no authority over him. Let him go."
"Normally, I would agree," Beckett replied, "but he committed the crime in my jurisdiction and therefore submitted himself to it."
Sora scowled, "And the crime…?"
Kairi glanced down at the warrants in her hands. "The charge for all of you is 'conspiring to set free a man convicted of crimes against the Crown and Empire and condemned to death, for which the…" Her voice broke and she couldn't continue.
Beckett finished for her, "For which the punishment, regrettably, is also death."
"Sora!" Kairi cried, burying her head in Sora's chest. Other men tried to pry her away, but she fought them off and clung to Sora more tightly.
"Oh dear," Beckett leered. "We can't have you setting Sora free, not when he's condemned to death. Arrest her, as well."
More men came to try and remove Kairi. "Kairi, let go," Sora murmured. "Don't make this worse."
With a last dry sob, she submitted.
Stepping forward, Beckett said, "Perhaps you remember a certain pirate named Jack Sparrow."
"Captain!" Will, Elizabeth, and Sora spat.
"Captain Jack Sparrow," Elizabeth corrected.
"Captain Jack Sparrow," Beckett repeated scornfully, finally showing emotion amidst his militaristic indifference. "Yes, I thought you might." He jerked his head toward town. "Take them away."
They were taken to the jail and thrown into separate cells for the night. As soon as the last footsteps faded, Sora jumped up, summoning his Keyblade.
"Hmph. Did he actually think he could stop me?" Sora muttered to himself. He unlocked his door and stepped out, watching Kairi do the same.
"We can't just leave, Sora," said Will.
"Why not?" asked Sora, perplexed.
"Where could we go with outstanding warrants over our heads?"
"Then what do you suggest?"
Will replied slowly, as if still thinking his words over, "Beckett wants something. I'll bet he's lording these warrants over our heads to get us to cooperate."
"I hope you're right," Sora sighed as he and Kairi returned to their cells.
Sure enough, in the morning, Will and Sora were taken to Lord Beckett's office.
"Make sure you record this," Sora muttered to Yuna. He could hear her starting up the Commsphere. "And don't let them see you!"
When they arrived, Beckett had their chains removed and began pouring drinks. Sora was sorely tempted by the amber liquid, but as Will wasn't taking the proffered glass, Sora abstained with a sigh.
"The East India Trading Company has need of your services. We wish for you two to act as our agents in a business transaction with our mutual friend Captain Sparrow."
Sora shared a look with Will. "What kind of transaction?"
"I want you to bargain with Sparrow," said Beckett. He moved to a wooden chest and pulled out yet more papers. "Letters of marque. Jack will be free, a privateer in the employ of England."
Sora snorted at this and Will voiced what he was thinking. "Somehow I doubt Jack will consider employment the same as being free."
"Jack Sparrow is a dying breed," Beckett scoffed. "He must find his place in the New World or perish. Not unlike you, Mr. Turner. You and your fiancེe face the hangman's noose, not to mention your friend here and his girlfriend."
Scowling, Sora asked, "And what do you want of Jack's?"
"The item in question is considerably smaller and far more valuable, something Sparrow keeps on his person at all times. A compass?" Some recognition must have shown in their faces, because Beckett continued, "Ah, you know it."
Of course they knew it. With the light show it had put on with the Keyblade, no one was likely to forget it.
"Bring it to me and the four of you will get full pardons."
They returned to the jail to tell Elizabeth and Kairi of Beckett's proposition.
"Jack's compass?" Elizabeth wondered. "What does Beckett want with that?"
"Does it matter?" Will returned. "We're to find Jack and convince him to return to Port Royal. In exchange, the charges against all of us will be dropped."
Kairi pressed herself against the bars of her cell, as if trying to pass through the bars into Sora's arms. "Will this Jack agree?"
"I doubt it," Sora sighed. "But we have to try. I have one other thing to bargain with and, if all else fails, we can always force him.
"Yuna?"
Reluctantly, Yuna poked her head out. "Yes?"
"Please stay with Kairi…and try to stay out of sight."
"Girl time!" Yuna squealed eagerly.
Sora took Kairi's hand in his. "Meet up with us as soon as you can. …Where are we going?" he called over to Will.
"Tortuga," Will replied. "We'll start there and we won't stop searching till we find him."
"Right." Sora nodded.
Will turned to Elizabeth. "And then I intend to return here to marry you."
"Properly?" chuckled Elizabeth.
"Eagerly, if you'll still have me."
"If it weren't for these bars, I'd have you already."
In her eagerness for girl time, Yuna knocked over a candle holder. Elizabeth and Will started at the noise, and Will seemed to realize how long they were taking. He left quickly, as if his resolve would break otherwise. Sora whispered, "Remember, out hearts are always together," and followed Will.
Everyone could tell them about Jack in Tortuga, though none knew his location. They wished they knew, as pretty much everyone had a bone to pick with him. Two prostitutes left Will and Sora messages for Jack; a couple of slaps across the face.
Finally, a dark-skinned man with ratty dreadlocks told them of an island just south of the straits where they could find a ship. A ship with black sails.
The man agreed to give them a lift; he was going there to trade for some delicious long pork, anyway.
Sora heard a soft moan in his ear. Gently, he reached up a hand and cradled Jiminy, who was looking rather seasick.
"Are you alright?" Sora asked, peering concernedly at the cricket.
"I'll be, urp, fine. Don't worry, urg, about me, ugh."
"Here," said Will, procuring a flask, "a little rum will help with that."
Jiminy took a small swig and sighed happily. "Say! That's much better. Thanks!"
"Don't mention it," Will muttered. "Just don't drink too much, or you'll be back where you started." He leaned against the railing, staring vacantly at the horizon, and Sora found himself doing the same thing.
"Would you really give your Keyblade to Jack, even if he could wield it?"
Sora mulled the question over, trying to find the right words. "Not my Keyblade, exactly." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Follow the Wind keychain. "This. Jack gave it to me last time and I'm hoping he might be able to use it. And, anyway…I would do anything for Kairi."
Will smiled at Sora, something Sora had rarely seen and cherished all the more for it. "I always wondered whether you had a special girl. You always watched Elizabeth and me with a dreamy, longing look…. Is she your girlfriend?"
"No," Sora pondered, "'girlfriend' isn't a good word. It's too shallow."
"Your lover?"
Sora flushed and stammered, "That's too strong. We're still kids, you know."
Laughing, Will asked, "What is she then?"
"She's my…," he faltered. What was she? He couldn't think of any word to describe her but, "Princess."
"How old are you again?"
"Fifteen."
Will studied Sora carefully for a moment. "It seems there is more to you than meets the eye."
"You don't know the half of it," Sora sighed.
Shortly, they approached a small island with the Black Pearl beached on shore. The ship captain's brother, unfortunately speaking only French, rowed them as close to shore as possible and they swam the rest of the way.
There was the Pearl, abandoned and moored on the beach. Disheartened, they headed into the jungle, where a brightly colored parrot fluttered down to them.
"Ah. A familiar face," breathed Will.
"Familiar?" asked Sora, completely thrown for a loop.
"This is John Cotton's parrot. Cotton's a member of the Pearl's crew. His tongue was cut out so he trained the bird to talk for him."
"Don't eat me," Cotton's parrot squawked.
Will frowned. "We're not going to eat you."
"Don't eat me," it repeated.
"Come on." Will hurried off into the woods.
They soon came upon a flask dangling from a small plant.
"Gibbs," said Will. He examined it and found a long string leading off the path they were traveling. "I'll follow this. You stay on the path."
Sora did as he was told, though uneasily. The path didn't seem to be leading anywhere and nothing more interesting than Gibbs's flask popped up.
"Come on! Let's go!" Sora heard Will shout a moment later. It sounded like he had a head cold or was hanging upside down. Sora immediately headed in the direction of Will's voice.
"Come on! Who wants it?"
As he drew closer, Sora could pick out metallic clings that surely meant Will was in a scrape.
"I can do this all day!"
Then everything fell abruptly quiet.
Starting to panic, Sora picked up speed and burst into a clearing that showed signs of a recent struggle. Will's sword lay in the middle. Picking it up and stowing it, Sora set about tracking whoever had dragged Will off.
Kairi peered anxiously out of the window in her cell.
"Do you think the coast is clear?" she asked.
"Even if it is, we'll be stuck unless a ship is at the dock ready to sail."
Checking the dock one last time, Kairi began pacing the cell. She knew Sora would be fine and would come back for her, eventually. It was Will and Elizabeth she was worried about. They didn't have the luxury of only being guests of this world and would have to deal with this mess for years to come.
"Don't worry, Sora will be fine," Elizabeth reassured her, misreading Kairi's fretting. "You know, you're lucky to have each other."
"Yeah," Yuna interjected. "At least you know where Sora is. Not where where, but a general where."
Smiling at them, Kairi didn't bother to explain herself. They could believe they were helping her if it made them feel better, which it did,
"I'm sorry about your wedding, Elizabeth," Kairi murmured.
Elizabeth took a deep breath, but otherwise displayed no emotion. "There will be other chances. Why don't you tell me about you and Sora?"
"Like what?" Kairi asked, flushing.
"You're obviously very precious to him. What is he to you?"
"He's…," she began, but stopped. Her mind couldn't find a single term to describe Sora except: "my Prince."
They lapsed into silence, not an uncomfortable silence, but not comfortable, either. It just was, and Kairi didn't like it.
"Do you know anything about swordplay?" Kairi asked abruptly.
"Will's been teaching me," replied Elizabeth. "Why do you ask?"
"Sora and Riku have been trying to give me lessons, but they haven't been going well, and I thought I might learn better from a woman."
"Alright, we'll spar. Nothing better to do."
They found Elizabeth a broken broom handle and sparred for several hours, returning to and relocking their cells if they thought someone was coming. Sometime after sunset, Kairi looked again out the window and broke into a grin.
"A ship is about ready to sail," she said excitedly.
Elizabeth's face set itself in a determined expression. "We have one thing to take care of before we leave."
"No doubt you've discovered that loyalty is no longer the currency of the realm," said Beckett.
Kairi and Elizabeth moved out of the velvet shadows of Beckett's office.
"Then what is?" Elizabeth asked.
"I'm afraid currency is the currency of the realm," Beckett said with a slightly mocking tone.
Elizabeth began walking forward, Kairi trailing behind. "I expect, then, we can come to some sort of understanding. We're here to negotiate."
Kairi knew, as soon as she stepped foot in Port Royal, that this world was darker than the other worlds Sora had told her about. Nevertheless, she was uneasy with what they were about to do.
"I'm listening," Beckett replied. Elizabeth pointed a gun at Beckett's head and Kairi summoned Radiating Garden within his line of sight. "I'm listening intently," he amended.
"These letters of marque" – Kairi held them up – "they are signed by the king."
"Yes and they're not valid until they bear my signature and my seal."
"Or else we would not still be here." Elizabeth lowered the gun. "You sent Will to get you the compass owned by Jack Sparrow. It will do you no good. I have been to the Isla de Muerta. I have seen the treasure myself. There is something you need to know."
"Ah, I see," breathed Beckett. "You think the compass leads only to the Isla de Muerta. Don't worry, I care not for cursed Aztec gold. There's more than one chest of value in these waters."
Kairi was thoroughly confused now. Later, she would have to ask Elizabeth about it.
Continuing, Beckett said, "So perhaps you may wish to enhance your offer."
Elizabeth cocked her gun and placed it under his chin. "Consider into your calculations that you robbed me of my wedding night." She thrust the papers at him.
"So I did." Beginning to sign, he muttered, "A marriage interrupted…or fate intervenes?"
As they made their way out, Beckett called after them, "To ensure your freedom, I'll still want that compass. Consider that in your calculations."
Sora followed the trail with difficulty. Will must have been captured by natives for the trail to be so faint. After an hour or so of walking, he came to two large cliffs with a bridge connecting them. Strung between them were two cages…swinging back and forth?
He watched as, first one, then the other, grabbed a hold of the vines on the cliff. Slowly, they began to climb. With a jolt, he saw that Will was in one.
"Come on, men!" Will shouted. "It'll take all of us to crew the Black Pearl!"
"Actually, you wouldn't need everyone," answered a man from the other cage. "About six would do."
Both cages paused in their assents, then began again with renewed fervor. Sora paced above, wondering what to do. He wanted to help Will, but he couldn't just send six men to their deaths.
Suddenly, both cages froze and Sora saw what could only be a native on the bridge. Finally, something for him to do!
Sora sprinted along the bridge. The native managed to utter one strangled yell before Sora knocked him off the bridge. Immediately feeling very unclean because of his actions, Sora pushed his guilt aside.
"Snake!" Sora heard, and watched as a cage – thankfully, a Will-less one – plummeted to the bottom. Will's cage was almost at the top and Sora helped drag them the rest of the way up.
Looking over his shoulder, Sora saw natives swarming them. "Hold on!" he cried, cutting the cage loose and rolling it like a ball.
Too late, Sora realized he'd pushed it over a hill. The cage rolled away from him and Sora had to half-run, half-tumble after it. A short way ahead, the cage rolled up a tree and crashed to the ground. The men picked it up like a lady's skirt and began running, Sora on their tails, the natives on his.
The cage suddenly dropped out of view and Sora didn't realize what had happened until he, too, had run off the cliff. They plummeted painfully down into a river between cliff faces, the cage breaking open in the process. Frantically, they swam away from the natives, dodging spears in the process.
"Where's Jack?" Sora asked once they were out of harm's way on the beach.
"The Pelegostos made him their chief," Will explained. "They also think he's a god in human form and want to…'free him from his fleshy prison.'"
As the Pearl came into view, they saw that two pirates – Ragetti with his wooden eye and his partner, Pintel – had already gotten the Pearl nearly in the water. "Make ready to sail, boys!" yelled a third pirate.
"What about Jack?" Sora asked persistently. Someone down the beach shouted and they turned to see Jack running toward them, followed by a hoard of Pelegostos.
"Time to go," said Will. The ship had started sailing by the time Jack reached it. He managed to grab some rigging on the side of the ship.
"Alas, my children, this is the day you shall always remember as the day you almost" – a wave crashed over Jack – "Captain Jack Sparrow." He clambered aboard, sopping wet.
"Jack," said Will, coming forward, "Elizabeth is in danger."
"And Kairi, too," added Sora.
Delight spread across Jack's face as he saw Sora. "Ah, the mighty Sora has a bonnie lass he'd do anything for, too, eh?"
"They're locked up in a prison, bound to hand, Elizabeth for helping you, Kairi for trying to help Sora who was arrested for helping you," Will told Jack angrily.
Jack walked away from them, toward the helm. "There comes a time when one must take responsibility for one's mistakes."
Grabbing his sword out of Sora's belt, Will placed it against Jack's neck. "We need that compass of yours, Jack. We must trade it for their freedom."
"Mr. Gibbs," said Jack, ignoring the sword. "We have a need to travel upriver."
"What we need to do is make sail for Port Royal with all haste," Will spat. Sora emphasized the point by summoning his Keyblade and pointing it at Jack.
"William, Sora," began Jack, "I shall trade you the compass if you will help me to find this." He pulled out a cloth with a picture of a key on it.
"A key?" Sora deadpanned. He waved his Keyblade in Jack's face.
"Don't know much in the way of strategy, do you?" Jack taunted. "If I have this, then no one else has it and no one else can use it. Furthermore, in the unfortunate and likely event that you are not around when I have need of that key, I will have a backup."
"So," said Will tersely, "you want us to find this."
"No," Jack replied. "You want you to find this, because the finding of this finds you incapacitorially finding and/or locating in your discovering a way to save your dolly belles, ol' what's-her-face and what's-her-face the second. Savvy?"
"No," Sora said, blinking irritably. He could feel a horrible headache coming on.
Will tried to sum it up. He grabbed the cloth, asking, "This is going to save Elizabeth and Kairi?"
Shifting his feet, Jack asked, "How much do you know about Davy Jones?"
"Who?" Sora's head gave an unpleasant throb.
"Not much," replied Will.
"Yeah, it's going to save Elizabeth and Kairi."
Kairi and Elizabeth stowed away on the ship, disguised as crew members. Kairi had chosen to wear her normal clothes underneath, while Elizabeth discarded her dress.
Unfortunately, a crewman found her dress and two men began arguing over it so fiercely that the captain had to end it.
"What's all this?" the captain bellowed. "If you both fancy the dress, you'll just have to share and wear it one after the other." An appreciative chuckle went around the crew.
"It's not like that, sir," the younger of the contestants hastened to explain. "This ship is haunted."
The captain gazed at him skeptically. "Is it now? And you?" he addressed the older man.
"There's a female presence amongst us here, sir," the older man tried. "All the men, they can feel it."
Another crew member pushed through to speak. "It's the ghost of a lady widowed before her marriage, I figure it, searching for her husband, lost at sea."
"A virgin, too, likely as not," said the older man. "And that bodes ill by all accounts."
Kairi and Elizabeth glanced up from where they were inconspicuously varnishing the railings.
The young man snatched the dress. "I say we throw the dress overboard and we hope the spirit follows it."
"No!" cried another crewman. "That will just anger the spirit, sir. What we need to do is find out what the spirit needs, and then get it back to her."
Sharing a glance, Kairi and Elizabeth had to stifle giggles and even Yuna couldn't help making a smart comment. Highly amusing as it was, though, it could also work to their advantage.
Another quarrel broke out and only stopped when the captain shouted, "Enough! Enough!"
He continued as the noise died, "You're a pair of superstitious goats and it's got the best of you." He grabbed the dress from them. "Now, this appears to be no more as we have a stowaway on board." Kairi and Elizabeth tensed, but didn't look at each other this time. "A young woman, by the look of it. I want you to search the ship and find her. "Oh, and, er…she's probably naked."
All the men suddenly became frenzied and set about searching the ship at once. To keep up appearances, Kairi and Elizabeth "eagerly" joined in.
"Why is Jack afraid of the open ocean?" asked Will as the Pearl's crew paddled up a jungle river.
"Well, if you believe such things," answered a man named Gibbs, "there's a beast does the bidding of Davy Jones – a fearsome creature with giant tentacles that'll suction your face clean off and drag an entire ship down to the crushing darkness." He paused dramatically and Sora had to sigh in amusement. "The kraken."
Everyone in the boat looked toward Gibbs, unease flitting across their faces. But Gibbs's story wasn't over. "They say the stench of its breath is like…" -- he shuddered just imagining it. "Imagine, the last thing you know on God's green earth is the roar of the kraken and the reeking odor of a thousand rotting corpses. …If you believe such things."
"Which Jack does," muttered Sora, more to himself than anyone else.
"And the key will spare him that?" Will asked.
"Well, that's the very question Jack wants answered," said Gibbs. "Bad enough even to go visit…her."
A small, riverside cabin finally came into view and Jack drew the canoes up to a small dock.
"No worries, mates," Jack said, more to convince himself than the men. "Tia Dalma and I go way back. Thick as thieves. Nigh inseparable, we are. Were. Have been. Before."
"I'll watch your back," assured Gibbs.
"It's me front I'm worried about."
"Mind the boat," Gibbs told Will.
"Mind the boat," Will told Sora.
"Mind the boat," Sora told Ragetti.
"Mind the boat," Ragetti told Pintel.
"Mind the boat," Pintel told Cotton's parrot.
"Mind the boat," Cotton's parrot told Cotton. Poor Cotton, with no one to relay the message to and no tongue to relay the message with, was doubly stuck minding the boat.
"I have a bad feeling about this, Sora," Jiminy whispered into Sora's ear as they climbed onto the porch.
Sora bit his lip. "Me, too. But…I have to save Kairi." No more needed to be said on the matter.
Jack slowly crept into the hut, where a decrepit woman sat. She had ratty, black hair and dark skin with several strange markings. Upon seeing Jack, the woman bared her scurvy-ridden teeth in a smile.
"Jack Sparrow," she purred.
"Tia Dalma," he said, adopting his usual swagger once more.
"I always knew the wind was going to blow you back to me one day," Tia crooned with a heavy Caribbean accent. She approached Jack, but stopped as she saw Will enter.
"You…," she said, suddenly serious, drawing Will into the room. "You have a touch of…destiny about you, William Turner."
Will's forehead furrowed. "You know me?"
Tia moved closer to Will, holding his eyes with hers in a flirtatious way. "You want to know me."
Something about Tia didn't sit right with Sora, even without his feeling of unease. He had been content to wait outside with Jiminy taking notes on his shoulder, but this was going too far. Intending to get between the two, Sora hurried forward, barely giving Jiminy a chance to get a handhold. His foot had barely passed the threshold, though, when Tia gasped as if struck by a heavenly revelation.
"You!" she choked, her hand clutching her heaving chest. "Destiny not so much touches as chases you." Her bulging eyes became mysterious once more. "Or perhaps you chase it, Sora of Destiny Islands."
Sora glared at her icily, not at all pleased that Tia knew so much. "Maybe we're both just chasing each other in endless circles," he replied with frosty sarcasm.
"Do not joke of such things, child," said Tia, with dire undertones. "The impossible tends to happen around you." Her lips pursed in a thoughtful frown. "I wonder…"
Without warning, Tia snatched up Sora's right hand in hers and stretched it between them. With her left hand, she ran a finger down his arm. Her touch caused his whole body to tense like it did when enemies appeared and his Keyblade flashed into existence in response.
"The Master of Light," she breathed, sinking into a bow. Sora dismissed his Keyblade, trying to quell this disastrous situation. Somehow, Sora thought he was dangerously toeing the line between helping and meddling.
"Please, get up," he begged. "I don't want this."
"Of course you don't," she said, getting up nevertheless. "The Masters of Light are always humble, which is precisely why you need it." Finally leaving Sora, she looked away and sighed, "So the war is starting again…"
"War?" Sora asked, curious despite himself.
Tia looked back at him, smiling once again. "Now, child, we've pushed the world order far enough." She turned toward Jack again. "Payment before help."
"I brought payment," he said, whistling. A cage was brought in with a monkey inside. "Look." Smiling broadly, Jack took out his gun and shot the poor animal. "An undead monkey. Top that."
"The payment is fair," she said.
Will took out the cloth with the picture of the key on it and laid it on the table. "We're looking for this." Tia looked sharply at it. "And what it goes to."
"Why do you need the key when you have the boy?" she asked slowly, nodding at Sora.
"Insurance," Jack said simply.
"I should have known," she said in amusement. "Jack Sparrow does not even trust the Keyblade Wielder." Her gaze turned to Sora. "Lucky for you. It would not have been good if you had meddled in these affairs."
Sora glared at her, determined not to let the taunt get to him…or, not show that it had. Tia Dalma was starting to get deep under his skin.
"The next question is: Why does Jack need my help when he has my compass?" Tia went on. Jack squirmed at this, which delighted Tia to no end. "Jack Sparrow does not know what he wants. Or do you know, but are loath to claim it as your own?
"Your key go to a chest," – Sora snorted; he could have figured that out – "And it is what lay inside the chest you seek, don't it?"
"What is inside?" Gibbs asked eagerly.
"Gold?" guessed Pintel hopefully. "Jewels? Unclaimed properties of a valuable nature?"
"Nothing bad, I hope?" Ragetti murmured.
Tia leaned forward in her chair. "You know of Davy Jones, yes?" After Gibbs's tale, who didn't? Tales of Davy Jones and his locker were swapped between sailors even on Destiny Islands. More proof that Sora had yet to repair the damaged world borders.
"A man of the sea," she continued. "A great sailor, until he ran afoul of that which vex all men."
"What vexes all men?" asked Will curiously.
"The sea," said Gibbs, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Sums," Pintel said with a shudder.
"The dichotomy of good and evil," offered Ragetti. This last one seemed the closest, Sora thought. It sure vexed him. Not every man was vexed by it, though.
What vexed Sora? What made him worry to no end? What could annoy him to no end? What could drive his temper up like nothing else? What indeed?
"A woman," Sora and Jack said together.
"A woman," confirmed Tia. "He fell in love with a woman as changing and harsh and untamable as the sea. Him never stopped loving her. But the pain it cause him was too much to live with but not enough to cause him to die."
Sora suddenly felt a stab of pity for Davy Jones. He'd felt similarly when Kairi had been kidnapped because of him. The guilt still ate at him somewhat.
Will moved impatiently. "What exactly did he put into the chest?"
"Him heart," Tia replied and Sora balked. That was a bit extreme. "It was not worth feeling what small, fleeting joy life brings." Here, Sora had to disagree with Jones. "And so…him carve out him heart, lock it away in a chest and hide the chest from the world. The key he keep with him at all times."
"So," said Jack, trying to edge away from Sora and Will, who had risen angrily, "all that's left is to climb aboard the Flying Dutchman, grab the key, you two go back to Port Royal and save your bonnie lasses, eh?"
"Let me see your hand," Tia demanded, rising. Reluctantly, Jack held out a bandaged hand. Tia gently removed the cloth…
"The black spot!" Gibbs gasped.
Tia wandered farther back in the hut. "I have just the thing. Now, where did I put it?" She clattered about for a moment, then returned, carrying what looked to be a glass container of sand. "Davy Jones cannot step on land but once every ten years. And so, you will carry land with you." She handed it to Jack.
"Is the jar of dirt going to help?" Jack asked uncertainly.
Piercing Jack with a disdainful stare, Tia snapped, "If you don't want it, give it back."
Jack hugged the jar tighter. "No."
"Then it helps," Tia smiled gently.
"It seems," began Will, "we have a need to find the Flying Dutchman." As much as Sora didn't want to admit it, Will was right. Suddenly, Sora didn't feel like cooperating with destiny.
Tia sat down and swept up several objects on the table. "A touch of destiny," Tia breathed, throwing the objects down. They settled over some navigational pictures, forming a map to the Dutchman.
New Characters:
Elizabeth Swann: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Will Turner: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Lord Cutler Beckett: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
John Cotton's parrot: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Ragetti: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Pintel: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Joshamee Gibbs: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
John Cotton: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Tia Dalma: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)