As usual, a piratey thanks to my friend and beta KissMeHardyA113 ;)
"How does the Voodoo Lady know that merman?" Elaine asked the voodoo girl some time later when they were back on the ship and well on their way. The Sea Witch Doctor had graciously given them a spell to fix the damage the leviathan had done, and now the Rabid Monkey was sailing as smoothly as it had done before.
"I don't know all the details but she was quite the adventuress when she was younger, you know, before she settled down. She met the Sea Witch Doctor on one of her adventures so they've known each other for quite a few years."
"Ah. Was she looking for mer-people, or...?"
"Nah it was completely by accident. No one ever finds anything cool by looking for it after all." She joked as Elaine agreed to herself that she had a point. "If you don't mind me asking, Captain, what's the deal with this LeChuck guy? My mom didn't tell me many details about it except that he's been an annoyance to you two ever since he found the treasure of Big Whoop."
"Ha, well 'annoyance' has become something of an understatement." Elaine sighed as she looked out to sea. "He's been hell-bent (literally) on making me his bride ever since I met him, even before he turned undead. He simply can't take no for an answer! You'd think the ring would be proof enough that I'm just not into him," Elaine examined the massive diamond ring on her hand fondly, "and yet he has done nothing but kidnap me and try to remove Guybrush from the picture over the years." A thoughtful pause. "LeChuck's tried so hard to keep us apart. Any other man would've run for the hills and not even attempt to ask me out at the mere thought of what LeChuck would do to them, but not Guybrush."
"True love if I ever saw it." Violet was genuinely smiling at Elaine's story, listening attentively with wide child-like eyes and drinking in the story of the Threepwoods' romance. She had so little experience with relationships herself after all. "It's the most powerful magic in the realm of voodoo, true love."
"Hmm." Elaine smiled to herself as she reflected on the memories of her and Guybrush's adventures together.
"So…" Violet bit her lower lip in excitement, leaning forwards a bit. "Was it love at first sight?"
Elaine couldn't help chuckle at what distinctly felt like a teenager asking her girl friend how a date went.
"Actually, yes." Elaine admitted, earning a little squeak from the other woman to her amusement. "Never thought it was possible but that's exactly what it was! We had a break up not long afterwards but all that did was make me miss him and the next thing I knew, he was proposing and I was saying yes!" She held up her ring hand.
Violet's eyes had gone impossibly wider. "He proposed with that?"
"Well technically it was another cursed version of this ring but Guybrush fixed it like he always does."
Violet blinked at that, not expecting to hear the word 'cursed' in a proposal story, but then shook it off. "So was the whole family at the wedding?"
Elaine smiled a little sadly at that. "It was more spur of the moment, so no family. At the time I didn't know my grandfather was alive, and Guybrush doesn't seem to remember much about his parents except that they abandoned him… and appeared in a couple of his more stranger dreams…" Elaine said thoughtfully. "But after the wedding he told me that it didn't matter, because all he needed was me."
Violet covered her mouth and smiled, touched.
"He's always been such a pathetic romantic, that man. And he has always been there for me when I needed him the most (or when I didn't for that matter)." She was thinking out loud now, talking more to herself. "We've found ourselves separated many times, but we always find each other in the end."
Elaine's smile faded at the thought of the empty shell of her husband wandering around the captain's quarters. It was different this time. It was Guybrush who was the proverbial damsel in distress now, and wherever the real Guybrush was, he was not going anywhere. Not without her help anyway.
Elaine sighed. "He's had it worse than me." Elaine admitted. It was the unfortunate price for being romantically associated with her, she knew. "LeChuck's tried to kill him, make him his undead slave, string him up in traps, torture him with voodoo dolls, play mind games with him, turn him into a ten-year old, the list just goes on."
"Mind games?" Violet asked.
"Yes, LeChuck had him under a spell once that made him think they were brothers."
"Say what?!" Violet was appalled for whatever reason.
"I know." It was funny in retrospect. "They don't even look alike."
Violet faked a cough to conceal a laugh. "Well you'd be surprised – genetics can throw you a wild card sometimes. I don't look anything like my dad." she admitted. "But tricking him into thinking that he was his brother? That's just so... cruel! I mean, making him believe that all this time the guy giving him so much grief was his own flesh and blood!" Elaine raised an eyebrow at the younger woman's passion on this subject. "I'd be crushed to know my brother would do that to me!"
"Oh, you have a brother?" Elaine asked, genuinely interested in the family of the mysterious Voodoo Lady. She literally knew nothing about her after all.
Violet hesitated and sighed. "No." She said with a hint of sorrow. "But if I did I'd give everything for him." she declared.
The tell-tale rocking of the ship was little warning before, yet again, they found themselves in the shadow of the towering Carl the Leviathan.
Elaine automatically jumped back, drawing her sword, mind already formulating a plan to bring down the beast a second time. Violet, however, narrowed her eyes at the creature, glaring daggers at it as she reached into her bag, pulled out the conch shell by the chain and held it high above her head for the whole world to see.
Carl seemed to cringe at this, bowing his gargantuan head as he rumbled out a few leviathan sounds.
Violet folded her arms. "Tell that to my migraine." she said bluntly. The creature lowered its head further and growled out something. Violet raised an eyebrow and clicked something back to it. Then Carl was gone, receding back into the depths from whence he came.
"What was all that about?" Elaine asked, sheathing her sword as she watched the silhouette of the creature fade into nonexistence.
"An apology for before." Violet replied. "And a promise to come whenever we need him, to make up for the trouble. All you have to do is call him with this." She handed the ornately carved conch shell to her captain. "You keep it. Carl understands human speech so he'll get what you tell him."
Elaine cocked an eyebrow. "If he can understand humans why were you talking to him in that fish language the first time?"
"I was trying to make a point." Violet sighed. "Didn't work out the way I'd planned. Obviously I was counting on the guardian to not be such a freaking moron." She threw her hands up in the air at the last word. "Now if you'll allow me, Captain, I have a residual headache I should really sleep off." Elaine nodded her approval and Violet hopped down from where she was sitting and sulked off, clearly peeved at being reminded of the actions of the incompetent Carl.
Elaine inspected the item in her hand carefully. For all intents and purposes it looked like any regular conch shell with its pink and white hues, with the exception of those fascinating markings. They were tattooed like ribbons around the whole shell in a sort of spiral design, which succeeded in making it look appropriately voodoo-y and aesthetically pleasing at the same time. It was also very polished to the point where her hazy reflection could be seen blurred on its shiny surface.
Not having the luxury of the extra-large pockets her husband prides himself in, she settled with tying the chain to the scabbard of her cutlass and letting it hang there. An item like this seemed important enough to keep on her person at all times.
She leaned against the handrail and took out the soul-compass. It was somewhat comforting to see that despite all the setbacks she had suffered so far, she still seemed to be ahead of Largo. Elaine lightly touched the surface of the old heirloom and not for the first time wondered if her husband was okay.
Miles away aboard an intimidating old ship in a small dingy room hanging on a coat hanger next to a bra, a creepy skull lantern hung still. It began to move slightly, rocking with every pulse of blue light.
Hrrr! Guybrush tried again to push against the walls of his unlikely prison. It seemed that every time he did it the thing moved back and forth, like it was hanging from something. Guybrush went with it and pushed against the opposite side with the movement of the container. It swung even more. He repeated pushing his very essence against the rocking sides of the lantern, starting to feel like he was in an amusement park on one of those ship rides that went up and down. Just before the proverbial ride was about to go one-eighty, he felt it stop rocking suddenly. A few moments of the feeling of floating and then clunk! His soul jarred as the lantern hit the floor.
He stopped moving and tried to sense any sound or movement beyond this trap. Nothing. The lantern was undamaged but lay on its side and slowly but surely began to roll in one direction as Guybrush tested the movement. He honestly had no idea what he was doing but if there was even the tiniest chance his shenanigans could get him out of here and back to his body and his wife, then he'd take it. If he was lucky he'd roll off something high enough to break free of this prison. He figured once he was free he'd just get sucked back into his body or something.
The lantern rolled along the floor, conveniently towards the open door. It bounced down the three steps and continued rolling. It was now on the deck and rolling with the movement of the ship. Miraculously, none of the skeletons or other assorted undead noticed the wayward lantern as it rolled away between skeletal feet and crates and barrels as the undead continued carrying out their ship duties.
Guybrush kept going, faster now that he could sense there were others around. Faster and faster it rolled along the deck. The ship hit a particularly strong wave which sent the lantern rolling towards the plank. It rolled right to the edge of the plank and over Guybrush went to certain freedom... until a hand snatched it out of the air in mid-fall.
"Jus' where do ye think ye're going, Sheepgood?"
Largo.
Guybrush's version of a disappointed sigh was expressed by the dimming of his blue essence. "Funny as it was to watch ya do that, we can't have ya rollin' around loose before LeChuck can get a hold of ya!"
Of course Largo noticed.
Guybrush inwardly grumbled as he was taken back to wherever he was being kept before. This sucked. He couldn't even bang his head against the wall in frustration - there was no head to bang! All he could do was stay in here and wait for Elaine to rescue him instead of the other way round. Not that he had any doubt that she could do it – he married the most beautiful and hard-headed woman in the Caribbean – there was nothing his plunder bunny couldn't accomplish, especially when it involved him.
Still though, LeSchmuck had a knack for kidnapping his wife. What if she was already captured? Or hurt? Or dead? Or worse? Guybrush wished he had his captain's log to write this all down.
"Let's see ya get out of that."
The lantern was set down on a flat surface, and no sooner than did Guybrush sense the receding footsteps did he try to topple his cage again, only to find that he couldn't. He could slide it along the surface up to a certain point but was stopped by another barrier on all sides. The thing seemed to be in a box or a drawer or something. Guybrush Threepwood. Trapped in a drawer. It was the second most humiliating situation he's ever been in, even more humiliating than walking around town dressed like a giant chicken.
He stopped trying and sulked. After a moment he noticed he was feeling a little strange, a little more detached than usual. On second thought that feeling had been there a while, gradually increasing until Guybrush was suddenly aware of it. He wondered if that was a bad thing. He wondered about Elaine for the hundredth time. The lantern dimmed.
About time we had Guybrush try something, no?
There *might* be a considerable hiatus before I put up the next chapter as I haven't... quite... written it yet...