Oh God… what's she talking to Gibbs about?!
I eyed them both suspiciously and sidled up to stand beside them, trying my best to look as casual as possible. Isabelle gave me an odd look. Rude. I narrowed my eyes at her. If you dare tell anyone my secret I swear to God that I'll be the one stabbing you in the eye… I glanced at Gibbs, he was giving me the same odd look, but he didn't look repulsed and he didn't look at my bandaged hand once. I nodded politely to them both and walked slowly past them.
"Anyway…" I heard Isabelle continue. "It was then that James decided that he should probably stop letting me use his sword at all… not even as something to use in one of my games around the house."
Oh… she's not said anything. Thank God.
"Well…" Gibbs said thoughtfully. "I suppose you had just used it to threaten your governess."
Wow, that girl really is rude.
"I was eight and I didn't want to have my hair up… what else was I supposed to do?" I heard her retort and I smiled.
That's a fair point.
I went to the wheel and tried to relax. She's not going to tell anyone. She's not. I trust her.
Do I?
Yes.
Sure?
… Yes.
Remember what happened last time you trusted someone with anything important?
I looked down at my pistol, which was loaded, as it always was, with one single shot. Barbossa. I looked back up at Isabelle and saw her now engrossed in what seemed to be a very serious discussion with Will. I felt immediately panicked again. If she's going to tell anyone it'll be the Eunuch first. They're friends and she'll trust him. He'll probably try and swordfight me again and lecture me on morals. I can't go through that boredom. It'll kill me. I ran quickly down the stairs and back onto the lower deck.
I can't look like I'm suspecting anything… I have to look like I'm stumbling in on their conversation.
Walk backwards and then it will look like an accident.
I turned around and started walking backwards, using the sound of their voices to guide me. When I came within earshot of them I began listening intently, while keeping my expression as passive as possible. I even looked away from the direction they were in so that they knew I was definitely not listening to them. This was a brilliant idea.
"I just need to free her," Will was saying. I rolled my eyes. Oh… it's one of his Elizabeth rambles. "If we can just be together I know that we'll-"
"Ja-aack…" Isabelle said slowly. I froze but still didn't look at them. Keep still and she'll go away. That's the trick with women… or is it bears? "Jack!" she said again. Damn it.
I turned and smiled innocently at her. "Yes, darlin'?" I widened my eyes because everyone knows that wide eyes make you look less guilty. She didn't look like she was falling for it. One of her eyebrows shot up as she scrutinized me.
"What are you doing?"
Is the Eunuch as suspicious as her? I glanced at Will. Nope, hopeless and clueless as ever.
"Nothing," I said quickly. She didn't look like she believed me. Will looked like he didn't care. "Nothing at all."
Then I saw a brief moment of understanding flicker in her eyes and she gave me a reassuring smile. The kind that says, very specifically, 'you can trust me'. For a moment I felt relieved. But then I remembered that I have given that smile to many people, many times and never meant it.
I'm on to you.
I gave her a warning look as I walked away and she looked completely baffled. Don't you play innocent with me, missus! She gave me a look back, which told me that she thought that I was being ridiculous. Me? Ridiculous? Never.
I kept my eye on her as the day progressed, but she didn't even let on to anyone else that she knew something nobody else knew. She's good… what else does she know that nobody else knows?
Maybe I'd never told her in the first place... Maybe it had all been a dream.
No, if it had been a dream there would have been much more rum.
…and far fewer items of clothing.
And we'd-
"Capt'n!" Ahhh! Gibbs's voice made me jump. I blinked and his face came into focus in front of mine. Ahhh! "We're here."
"Ahhh!"
Oh, that one was out loud.
The sunlight strained to reach its rays around the dense maze of branches that intertwined themselves with one another above our small rowing boats. There were places that the sunlight couldn't touch, which left them looking dark and dank and very, very sinister. The kind of place that a Eunuch might lurk and call his home. I turned around and looked at Eunuch in the other boat. He did not look at all relaxed or at home in his current surroundings. Ah well, obviously not the motherland of all Eunuchs then.
I looked up. The silhouette of a small person looked back down at us from high up on the embankment. Get down from there, that can't be safe. The small person didn't move. I shuddered, feeling both watched and judged. The further into the jungle we got, the darker it grew. There was screeching and cawing and howling from all around us. There is so much weirdness out here. A wooden hut loomed out of the jungle mists and I sighed. Not as much weirdness as there is where we're going, though…
I stood up and stepped out of the boat, turning to my crew. "No worries, mates," I told them, sounding as confident as I could manage. "Tia Dalma and I go way back. Thick as thieves. Nigh inseparable we are… were… have been… before…"
She's probably going to put a curse on us all.
"I'll watch your back," Gibbs tried to reassure me. You'll hide behind it more like.
"It's me front I'm worried about." I said honestly and turned to the door of Tia's dwelling. Crouching slightly, I peered through one of the panels on her door. If she looks angry I'll just run away. I pushed the door open slowly, ducking further so that if she threw a curse at me she'd have a smaller target to hit.
"Jack Sparrow," she smiled and I straightened up.
"Tia Dalma," I greeted her, giving her my most charming smile. I strode in, walking towards her in my most confident manner. Aahhh! A jar swung dangerously close to my face. I managed to stop before I hit it. Oh God, she keeps eyes in there… it should have seen me coming then. Rude.
"I always knew the wind was gonna blow you back to me one day," Tia walked over to me. Of course she's not angry with me… with a face like mine how could you stay mad? She's probably thinking th- Hey, what's she looking at? Her eyes moved to the door. "You." She said, pointing. The Eunuch?! "You have a touch of destiny about you… William… Turner."
Don't confuse him any more than he already is.
"You know me?" the Eunuch was, as predicted, completely baffled.
Poor lad spends his whole life in a state of confusion, no need to make it worse.
"You want to know me?" Tia asked. Better save the whelp.
"There will be no knowing here!" I interjected, leading her away from Will. "I thought I knew you," I added, a little hurt that she'd forgotten. As if a Eunuch is more interesting that me!
"Not so well as I'd hoped," she said. She threw a demanding, "Come," over her shoulder to the Eunuch.
"Come," I repeated, directing him where to sit as he was still wallowing in his own stench of confusion.
"What service can I do you?" Tia asked, running her fingers along the Eunuch's chin. She's probably just checking that his sorry excuse of a beard is real and that he's not, in fact, a woman. She looked up at me. "You know I demand payment!" she said sharply.
I presented her with that bloody, screeching undead monkey. "I brought payment," I said, shooting the bloody thing to show her. "An undead monkey," I announced. It's just the kind of weird thing that you love. "Top that!
As if anyone ever could.
She opened the cage and the screeching thing ran free, screeching as it went. I will not miss you.
"You have no idea how long it took us to catch that," said Gibbs miserably. Stop your whining… at least we're rid of the blasted thing for good.
"The payment is fair," she nodded her approval.
The Eunuch produced the piece of cloth I had given him previously. "We're looking for this," he held it out to her. I saw her eyes widen. "And what it leads to."
"The compass you bartered from me," she snapped, looking up at me. "It cannot lead you to this?"
Everyone in the room looked at me. It's rude to stare. "Maybe," I replied. I felt suddenly defensive and secretive although I didn't understand why I felt like this. "Why?"
"Ah, Jack Sparrow does not know what he wants;" Tia was far more amused by this than I was. Then her eyes moved from mine and her smile widened. "Or do you know, but are loathed to claim it for your own?" Izzy… she's looking at Izzy… she thinks it's Izzy… Why would she think that? Does she think that I- No, No that's ridiculous. I would never do something so stupid. Captain Jack Sparrow does not fall in love. That's madness. And it would never work… Izzy has to go back to- No! that's irrelevant because I'm not in lo- Quick! Say something so she doesn't think she's right! Before I could defend myself against what Tia was accusing me of she moved on to answer Will's question. "Your key go to a chest and it's what lay inside the chest you seek, don't it?"
Can't say anything now… it would look funny.
"What is inside?" I heard Gibbs asked. Definitely too late to say anything.
"Gold?" Pintel almost wet himself with excitement. I turned to examine some of Tia's less sinister trinkets and prove to them all that I didn't care about anything. Especially not love. "Jewels? Unclaimed properties of a valuable nature?"
"Nothing bad, I hope."
Tia launched into her story in the way that she always does to draw everyone in. "You know of Davy Jones, yes? A man of the sea, a great sailor. `Till he ran afoul of that which vexes all men."
"What vexes all men?" Will, being the most intellectually challenged was obviously the first to be completely taken in by Tia's story. I bet I get it before you all do.
What vexes me most?
"What indeed?" Tia gave them all a meaningful look. Oooh… this is nice. I think I'll take this.
I looked around to check that nobody had seen me pocket one of Tia's rings. My eyes fell on Isabelle, but she wasn't looking at me. I felt funny.
Izzy… Izzy vexes me most.
"Well," Gibbs struggled to get his brain in motion. "The sea?"
Don't be stupid.
"Sums," Pintel offered. How does one run afoul of a sum?
Tia shook her head.
"The dichotomy of good and evil," Ragetti piped up with one of those suggestions that are often best left piped down.
You really are an idiot.
"A woman," I said to end the madness. I did not appreciate Tia's grin. This does not make you right.
"A woman," she confirmed. "He fell in love."
What a fool.
"No, no, no, I heard it was the sea he fell in love with," Gibbs tried to correct her on her own story. .
"Same story different versions, but all are true," she snapped. "It was a woman, as changing and harsh and untameable as the sea. Him never stopped loving her, but the pain it cause him was too much for him to live with, but not enough to cause him to die."
You see? Foolish thing to do, fall in love… it's for idiots like the Eunuch.
"What exactly did he put in the chest?" Will asked.
"Him heart," she replied and clearly enjoyed the shocked silence that this earned her.
"Literally… or figuratively?" Ragetti asked.
Everything you've said today has been utter bollocks, who let you on my ship?
"He couldn't literally put his hear in a chest!" Pintel didn't sound sure. "Could he?"
Tia leant back and looked at them all. "It wasn't worth feeling what small, fleeting joy life brings so him carve out him heart, lock it away in a chest and hide the chest from the world. The key he keeps with him at all times."
There was a soft,"Aww," from beside me and everyone turned to look at Isabelle, who flushed. It made me smile without me meaning to do so. "Well, it's sort of sweet in a disgusting way," she offered as some kind of defence.
You are so odd, love.
She looked at me and my smile seemed to catch on, although hers was a little more embarrassed than mine. "You knew this!" the Eunuch's voice jolted against the good mood that had been so unexpected and brief that I hadn't realised I was in it until he had so rudely awakened me from it.
"I did not. I didn't know where the key was, but now we do," I said brightly. "So all that's left is for you to climb aboard the Flying Dutchman grab the key and you can go back to Port Royale and save your bonny lass, eh?"
I turned cheerfully away from them and tried to make my escape. If I can leave before Tia puts two and two together, then-
"Let me see your hand!" Tia's tone was sharp.
Damn.
I turned to face her, but found that Isabelle was blocking my way. I looked at the back of her head in surprise. "He doesn't have to show you anything he doesn't want to!" she said fiercely, suddenly protective of me in a way that I'd never really experienced before.
I laid my bandaged hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, love," I said soothingly. I held out my other hand for Tia to look at, but she wasn't having any of it. Slowly, hoping that she would forget in the time it took me to do so; I gave her my other hand to inspect. I looked away as she unravelled the bandages. I couldn't look at anyone. I didn't want to see their disgusted looks. Izzy… she already knows. I sneaked a glance at her. She looked physically pained by the very thought of my Black Spot. I wanted to hug her, but I didn't.
"The black spot!" Gibbs shouted out. Really? I hadn't noticed. He turned in a full circle and spat on the ground. Pintel and Ragetti copied him, although I doubt they understood why. They don't understand much. Everyone in the room except Isabelle took a step away from me.
Thanks for your concern, some crew you are.
"My eyesight's as good as ever, just so you know," I said bitterly as I wrapped my hand back up again. Tia walked away from us all. I couldn't meet anyone's eyes. I was sure they weren't looking at me anyway, in fear of catching my Black Spot or something equally ridiculous. I chanced another glance at Isabelle and saw her glaring at them all. I assumed that my assumptions of their reactions were correct.
Tia appeared in front of me again holding out a large jar in a very serious way. "Davy Jones cannot step on land but once every ten years. Land is where you are safe Jack Sparrow, so you will carry land with you."
I took the jar from her and studied it. "Dirt," I observed. "This is a jar of dirt."
"Yes."
You give very strange and terrible gifts.
"Is the jar of dirt going to help?" Is it magic dirt?
"If you don't want it, give it back," she challenged.
How dare you?!
"No!"
She smiled, "Then it helps."
"It seems we have a need to find the Flying Dutchman," Will stated the obvious as per bloody usual.
Tia shook a handful of crab claws in her hands and stood over the desk she'd been sitting at when I entered. "A touch… of destiny!" she said dramatically and threw them down. I walked over to memorise the exact pattern and shape that they fell into. There was a great silence as everyone watched me do it.
"Right," I looked up at them and only a very tiny per cent of them could meet my eye. "Time to go."
The relief was unanimous. Thank God.
I didn't speak to anyone on the way back. When we arrived I headed straight for my Cabin and shut the door. They could talk amongst themselves. I unrolled all my charts and spread them out over my desk. It didn't take long until I found a small cluster of islands in the same formation that Tia's crab claws had been in. My heart sank. There was a soft knock at my door.
If this is Gibbs he can sod right off.
"Who is it?" I called.
I am not in the mood for a Black Spot story… if it's Gibbs I'll say I'm out.
"It's Izzy," was the reply. I felt myself relax already.
"Come in," I called back. She stepped in and shut the door behind her.
"You all right?" she asked.
"Yeah," I beckoned her over. "Come and look at this, love." I pointed to the cluster of islands I had just found. She looked over my shoulder. "Does that look like the same pattern that the crab claws were in?"
I looked at her as she studied them. "Yes, it looks exactly the same."
I sighed. "I thought you might say that."
"Isn't that a good thing?" her brow creased in confusion. She glanced at me and I looked away.
"It's just… there's a lot of open water between here and there," I admitted, feeling tense as I said it.
Help me.
"We'll make it," she sounded determined. I stared at the maps, a feeling of cold dread washing over me until I felt something warm take my hand. I looked down at it. Isabelle's hand was holding onto mine tightly, protectively. I looked at her, the surprise I felt mirrored in her eyes. And then I felt calm for a moment until she ripped her hand from mine.
"I have to go," she said, suddenly flustered. Without thinking I grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She faced me with wide eyes, her lips parted in surprise. A strand of hair covered her mouth. I brushed it away.
"No you don't," I murmured, as I tucked the stray piece of hair gently behind her ear.
What am I doing?!
I felt funny again. It was a good kind of funny. Almost like being drunk, but not on alcohol. I couldn't really think properly. All I knew was that I liked where I was right now. So close to her.
Just do it, Jack-y. Go on.
This doesn't make Tia right.
My hand moved to hold her tightly to my chest. I noticed her blush deepen. "I do!" she said urgently. "I have to speak to Geor- no! James, Eliza-…." She didn't really look like she knew what she was saying. "No WILL!" she finally shouted his name and tore herself from my arms.
I stood there, my mouth still hanging slightly open and the door slammed behind her.
What the bloody hell just happened to me?
My Compass was staring at me. The one Tia gave me.
Shut up.
You're both wrong.
