First, I would like to apologize for the unexpected hiatus. I've just had so much on my plate recently, that it's been hard for me to really spend time working on this. Secondly, this part for some reason, was especially hard for me to write. I don't know why, but I just couldn't find motivation to write it until I sat my ass down and wrote it.
Thank you for being patient, now onto our regularly scheduled program:
So you say… But I know dat look in your eyes." She smirked. "You desire much from dis world, so be careful of where de arrow points." And with that, she turned back into the shack, leaving Jack alone on the landing.
"Cap'n?" Gibbs called up, snapping Jack into motion, and he climbed down the ladder, Tia Dalma's words heavy in his mind. "What did she say?" Gibbs asked, and Jack waved him off.
"Nothing of importance."
- Night, Main Deck, The Black Pearl -
The sea raged around them, and lightening flashed and thunder crashed. Victoria shivered as she stared at the barely visible wreck that had broken against the rocks. The rain had soaked her to the bone, and James wasn't looking much better.
"This reminds me of the hurricane I chased you through." He said to Jack, who stared at him incredulously
"You sailed through it!" Jack exclaimed, and James grimaced.
"Not one of my best decisions…"
"Roxanne was furious." Victoria smirked, and Jack straightened, looking slightly pleased.
"That's the Flying Dutchman?" James said, quick to change the subject. "She doesn't look like much."
"Neither do either of you. Do not underestimate her." Jack warned, and elbowed Gibbs
"Must've run afoul of the reef!" Gibbs offered hastily.
"So what's your plan, then?" Jack asked.
"We row over, search the ship until we find your bloody key." James supplied, and Jack nodded.
"And if there are crewmen?" He asked.
"We cut down anyone in our path." Victoria said, walking down the rail towards where they would depart for the wrecked ship. Jack nodded, following behind James.
"I like it. Simple, easy to remember." Victoria started down the rope ladder, which whipped wildly in the wind.
"Your chariot awaits you, your majesties!" Ragetti cackled as they clambered into the small boat they would use to get to the wrecked ship.
"Hey!" They looked back up at Jack. "If you do happen to get captured, just say Jack Sparrow sent you to settle his debt! Might save your life!" Victoria and James shared a look.
"Bon voyage!" Ragetti cackled once more before throwing them the rope that tied them to the Pearl.
Jack watched as they rowed towards the ship, He knew just how many ways this could go wrong, but did he have many other choices?
"Douse the lamps." He ordered, and his crew raced to follow his orders. But his eyes remained on Victoria and James as they headed towards toward the ship.
- Night, Scuttled Ship -
Victoria held the lantern in one hand, and used her other one to stabilize herself on the tossing boat. Behind her, James guided the rowboat towards the wrecked ship.
When they finally got to the ship, Victoria tied the rowboat to a broken piece of the ship, and as soon as she looked around boarded, Victoria knew this was a bad idea. The dead crewman propped up behind net-like rigging told her that much. Stealing herself, Victoria continued forward.
"Ghastly…" James grimaced, and Victoria grunted in agreement, not finding the will nor stomach to speak as movement caught her eye. James crossed the deck, having spotted the wounded sailor before she did. The man was in a state of shock, pulling on a pulley desperately while muttering to himself.
"...up the…" Victoria couldn't make out whatever he said next.
"Sailor!" James barked, using his Commodore voice as Victoria called it.
"...the stench...capsized…"
"Sailor!" James ordered again, only with the same effect of incoherent muttering.
"...bring a…"
"There's no use. You've run aground." Victoria said, and that seemed to briefly capture the sailor's attention.
"No! Beneath us! Foul breath!" He rasped, a loud thud and a splash behind them made them jump, and James drew his sword on instinct as he followed Victoria over to investigate.
"Hey! Hey!" She crouched down next to the man, and carefully flipped him over while James stood behind her, sword at the ready. As the man flopped onto his back, Victoria lurched back in shock.
"Oh my god…" James said in disgust. The man's face, if you could even call it that, was just a puckered piece of skin, which bulges outward, and only a single eye was visible. Victoria scrambled up, feeling sick.
"What happened here." Victoria breathed in horror, before James could reply, a ship suddenly erupted from the ocean, and Victoria felt the chill of the rain settle deeper into her bones.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me." She shuddered. The only things drawing her away from the ship's haunting beauty, was the sudden emergence of sea creature-like crew that materialized from the ship itself.
"Down on your marrow bones, and pray!" One roared at them, holding a bolas. Victoria drew her sword as the creature charged them. Victoria blocked the first attack while James quickly became engaged with another one of these monstrosities.
After finally landing a blow on him, Victoria pushed forward, stabbing him through the stomach before shoving him off to fight another.
This one was covered in red coral like structures protruding from it's face and arms, and pretty much everywhere. Swinging her sword, Victoria realized he wasn't as slow as the last one, and she quickly found herself pinned against the mast.
The only potentially useful things around her was a barrel full of oil and the lantern… Oil and a lantern! God was she stupid! But at least now she had a plan worthy of Roxanne. Quickly, Victoria dipped her sword in the oil, and with a few more poorly aimed slashes, she swung her sword up, and crashed it through the lantern, causing the sword to light up with a wicked flame.
With a mad grin, Victoria waved her flaming sword at the creates, taking cautious steps back until she bumped into someone, and with a quick glance behind her, she confirmed it was James. She turned her attention back to the creatures, waving her sword wildly at them.
"Get back! Back!" She ordered, as if they would listen to her. She slashed at the closest one to her, a barnacle encrusted… Thing, with a hook for a hand, and sliced his stomach open, and out spilled the slimiest looking fish Victoria had ever had the displeasure of seeing.
"Good god that looks disgusting." James said behind her, followed by a loud thunk. Spinning around, she saw his crumpled body on the floor, and sparing a moment to look up just as a club came down across her head.
'Why must it always be this way.' Was her last thought before she slipped into the familiar darkness that was unconsciousness…
- Night, Scuttled Ship -
When Victoria awoke, it was no longer raining, and she was positioned next to a sour looking James, lined up in a row against the rail with the other prisoners, five in total, who were cowering and visibly shaking.
The creatures around her looked more like a crew, now that the adrenaline in her had slowed and she could see them clearly. They were all muttering amonst themselves, as if waiting for something.
Or someone.
A thunking sound of wood against wood had Victoria turning her head to see a figure emerging from the water. He was tall, taller than there former governesses fiance, who'd been the tallest man Victoria had ever seen up until this point.
His face was partially shrouded by his captain's hat, but she could see that pale fleshy tentacles replaced where a beard should have been. He had no nose, or eyebrows, and his eyes were small, beady, and the clearest shade of blue she'd ever seen. He looked wrong. The way he walked, his crab claw hand, his face in general. It was all wrong, like a bastardization of what a human should look like.
Stalking up to the deck, the Hammerhead Shark crew member turned to him.
"Five men still alive. The rest have moved on." He reported, and her heart almost stopped.
So this was Davy Jones…
With a grunt, Davy Jones moved down the row of prisoners, stopping in front of a man shaking so badly, Victoria thought he was going to faint. Leaning down, Jones pulled out a pipe, and lit it, letting the smoke blow into the prisoner's face.
"Do you fear death?" He spoke in a raspy voice that sent chills down Victoria's spine. "Do you fear that dark abyss? All your deeds laid bare. All your sins punished. I can offer you... an escape." The man stopped shaking, eyes blown wide as he stared at Jones in horrified awe.
"Don't listen to him!" A prisoner called from the other end of the row, and Victoria peeked over James's head to get a good look at what was going on. Jones stood, and stomped over to the man, grabbing his neck with his crab claw.
"Do you not fear death?" Jones rasped out.
"I'll take my chances, Sir." The man said in a shaking voice. Victoria could see the fear in his eyes from where she was.
"To the depths." Davy Jones ordered. With a grin, a member of Jones's crew, this one was covered in seaweed, grabbed the man's face, tilting his head back. Victoria ducked back down in time to avoid the sight of the man's throat being slit. But she could still hear his gargled dying breaths before two crewmembers tossed him overboard where she heard his body hit the sea with a splash.
The crew let out a malicious laugh, and Victoria could feel James shaking next to her.
"Cold blooded!" One of the prisoners spat, and Jones stopped in front of him, a scowl on his face.
"Life is cruel. Why should the afterlife be any different?" His tone was almost mocking as he made his way down the row. "I offer you a choice. Join my crew, and postpone the judgment." Leaning down to one sailor in particular. "One hundred years before the mast. Will ye serve?"
"I- I will, serve." The sailor rasped out.
"Grand!" Jones rasped out, as if reveling in the sailors acceptance of his deal. Stepping forward, his attention turned on her and James, beady eyes narrowing.
"Neither of you are dead nor dying. What is your purpose here?" James took a deep, shaky breath before replying.
"Jack Sparrow sent us to settle his debt." Jones pulled a face, and tilted his head, and Victoria was reminded of a very scary dog.
"What is your purpose here?" He asked again.
"Jack Sparrow. He sent us to settle his debt." Victoria's voice sounded to high for her liking.
"Huh! Did he, now?" Jones sounded amused. "I'm sorely tempted to accept that offer." He turned hi head to face the darkness, where somewhere off in the distance, Victoria knew the Black Pearl was waiting for them in the darkness. Jones dissolved into the ship, vanishing before their eyes.
- Night, Main Deck, The Black Pearl -
Jack watched the exchange closely through his spyglass. He'd been on edge since they'd gone aboard, and the already tense air aboard the Black Pearl had nothing to take off that edge. But when Davy Jones turned his head to face him, Jack could just feel those eyes stare into his soul...
The air grew colder around him, and Jack lowered hs spyglass, taking a cautious step back. The rest of the crew scrambled away, only to be stopped by Davy Jones's crew who had emerged from the ship.
"Oh…"
"You have a debt to pay." Davy Jones growled, and with each step forward, Jack took one back. "You've been captain of the Black Pearl for thirteen years. That was our agreement."
"Technically, I was only captain for two years, then I was viciously mutinied upon." He said with a strained voice.
"Then you were a poor captain, but a captain nonetheless!" Jones spat. "Have you not introduced yourself all these years as Captain Jack Sparrow?" He mocked, stepping around Jack in a proud manor.
"You have my payment and a little extra! Not one, but two souls to serve you on your ship that are already over there." Jack said.
"One soul is not equal to another." Day Jones growled.
"Aha!" Jack grinned. "So we've established my proposal is sound in principle, now we're just haggling over price." He was practically beaming.
"Price?" Jones scoffed, raising a non-existent eyebrow.
"Just how many souls do you think my soul is worth?" Jack said in a low, almost challenging tone. Jones gave him a thoughtful look.
"One hundred souls, three days." Jones said, voicing his challenge.
"You're a diamond, mate." Jack turned. "Send me back the pair, I'll get started right off." The Hammerhead crewmember, Maccus, Jack recalled from their previous encounter, blocked his path, growling low.
"I keep the two. A good-faith payment." Jones said, and some of his crew cackled. "That leaves you only ninety-eight more to go!" He laughed, Jack turned, stepping towards Davy Jones.
"Have you not met James Norrington? He's noble, heroic, terrific soprano. And Victoria Turner! Fiesty, a great swordswoman, one of the most resourceful people I've ever met! Both are worth at least four... maybe three and a half each." Jack said smoothly. "And did I happen to mention... They're both in love? Not with each other of course, but poor Jamsie, he's due to be married. Betrothed." His chest burned at the mention of it as he circled around Jones, but he would worry about that later. "Dividing him from her and her from him... Would only be half as cruel as actually allowing them be joined in holy matrimony. Aye?"
"I keep them -eight souls." Jones turned to Jack, a scowl on his face. "But I wonder, Sparrow, can you live with this?" Jack frowned. "Can you condemn an innocent man and woman - friends - to a lifetime of servitude, in your name while you roam free?"
"Yep!" Jack smiled after thinking about it for a second. "I'm good with it. Should we seal it in blood? I mean... ink?" Jones grabbed Jack's, and Jack jolted in surprise. His hand was freezing, and the tentacles sliding up and down his arm certainly didn't help.
"Three days." Jones warned, before jerking away his hand, and storming off this ship in a cloud of mist while his crew dissolved back into the ship.
Three days
Jack ignored the sounds of his distressed crew, instead focusing on his now very slimy hand. To his amazement, the black spot disappears, bubbling away under his skin once again. He felt different, not necessarily a good different, but probably not a bad different.
"Oh, Mr. Gibbs." Jack said to his approaching first mate.
"Aye?"
"Uh, I feel sullied and unusual." Jack grimaced.
"And how do you intend to harvest these ninety-eight souls in three days?" Gibbs asked tiredly.
"Fortunately, he was mum as the condition in which these souls need be." Jack said, still studying his hand.
"Ah... Tortuga!" Gibbs said, a wistful smile on his face.
"Tortuga." Jack grinned, wiping the slime off on Gibbs' shirt, effectively wiping his smile away as well.