For this chapter, you should be familiar with "Le Jour D'Amour" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, "Love Doesn't Stand a Chance" from Once Upon a Time, and "My Jolly Sailor Bold" from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. I'd also recommend being familiar with Davy Jones's theme from Pirates of the Caribbean.
Blackheart and Ardyn strolled through the streets of Le Cite des Cloches, arm in arm. They'd scarcely had a moment alone together since their first kiss, and when Blackheart had suggested they spend some quality time together, Ardyn had expected something more carnal. He hadn't expected to be walking through the streets of Paris with the demon prince, albeit it was a welcome surprise.
"I'm fond of the sin on this world," Blackheart explained. "This place used to have this über religious judge who was trying to murder off all the gypsies to purge the world of sin, not even realizing that his sins were the ones spreading the darkness. What a crazy old coot! Great musical numbers, though."
"It is amusing that those who deem themselves to be the most pure are often the worst of them all," Ardyn mused. "Almost makes the likes of us look like honest gentlemen."
"Let's not get crazy there," Blackheart said with a laugh.
Ardyn stopped short when he saw it.
"What's wrong?" Blackheart asked, a puzzled look washing over his face.
"Did you not say this city was a hive of sin?" Ardyn asked.
"Yeah, why?" Blackheart asked.
"We seem to have come at a bad time," Ardyn said, pointing at what he saw.
Blackheart turned around, and the sight that greeted him was sickening. Colorful banners and floral arrangements adorned the square. Flower hearts and altogether too adorable couples filled the streets.
"No," Blackheart said through clenched teeth. "I thought it was the Feast of Fools! A drunken debauchery of vices and upside down morality. This is... a love festival?"
"Utterly sickening," Ardyn said.
"I'm glad we're on the same page," Blackheart said. "I was worried there for a minute that you'd misunderstood our relationship."
"Oh certainly not," Ardyn said. "I fell in love once long ago. The outcome was not to my liking. I would much prefer to be done with the whole wretched thing. Not that I'm not fond of you, of course."
"Right, of course," Blackheart said. "Friends with benefits only. We fuck like kings and torment the populace together, but no one catches..." Blackheart shuddered. "Feelings."
"Sounds perfect to me," Ardyn said. "Though we should do something about-"
"There's music in the marketplace, the streets have come alive," a troubadour began to sing. "The town is in a tizzy. It's a busy, buzzing hive!"
"Oh fuck," Blackheart cursed. "They're singing."
"There's cause for this commotion and emotional display," he continued. "We just can't wait to celebrate our favorite holiday!"
By this point, the rest of the citizenry seemed to catch onto the song and began to join in with the singing and dancing.
"Le Jour D'Amour
Your song is in the air
What magic will you make for us
Whose name shall I declare? "
"This is something we should rectify, yes?" Ardyn asked.
Blackheart smiled deviously and nodded.
"That golden bell, sweet La Fidele, will soon be ringing clear
The best of all the festivals
Le Jour D'Amour is-"
"ENOUGH!" Blackheart shouted.
Silence descended upon the entire square, and all eyes fell on the two Overtakers. Blackheart smiled devilishly as a different type of music began to ring in the streets, a heavy rock sound that the citizenry of Paris was largely unaccustomed to.
"So, you think your love is strong enough to defeat to me?" Blackheart asked the crowd. "Well, there's one thing you don't know!"
Blackheart made a gesture with his hands, and, to the horror of all watching, the young couple closest to the demon prince had their necks snapped by some invisible force.
"Mirror mirror could not be clearer," Ardyn began to sang as he admired his reflection in a booth selling ornate mirrors. "That love is a waste of time."
Ardyn unleashed a wave of energy that shattered all the mirrors in the shop.
"I'm here to tell you with love's magic spell," Blackheart sang as he strolled ever closer to the crowd. "You cannot match the power of miiiiiiine!"
Blackheart spun around, unleashing dark energy in every direction, gripping all in the vicinity with crippling fear and pain.
"Once I loved and once I learned," Ardyn sang in mock sympathy as he approached a young couple where the woman resembled Aera, his long lost love.
"Love is weakness!" Ardyn said as he sliced the woman's throat, causing the man to cry out in despair.
"Love will leave you BUUUUURRRRRNED!" Blackheart sang as he unleashed pillars of fire exploding around him.
The square had devolved into utter pandemonium with people running and screaming.
"Down with love!" Ardyn declared.
"Down with hope!" Blackheart added.
"Don't need blind faith to cope," Ardyn sang as he sliced the throat of a young man trying to hide and pray.
"Or inspiring songs in my heart!" Blackheart added as he tore out the heart of the troubadour from earlier.
"Got the magic I need for my darkest of deeds," Ardyn said as he produced a black box from the inside of his coat.
Blackheart grinned wickedly in recognition. "Love in times may entrance, but-"
"Love doesn't stand a chance!" they sang together in unison. "No, no, love doesn't stand a chance!"
"One more chorus?" Blackheart asked.
"Oh you truly know how to treat a boy right," Ardyn said with a laugh.
"Down with love!" Blackheart shouted as he erected an invisible barrier to trap to citizenry in the square.
"Down with dreams!" Ardyn added as he began to tear apart the decorations.
"Down with goodness's schemes," Blackheart said as he knocked over a floral cross in disgust.
"Gonna RIP the song right from their hearts," Ardyn threatened, causing the peasants to recoil in terror.
"Got the magic we need for our darkest of deeds!" Blackheart said, drumming his fingers on the lid of the box.
"Watch our curse kill romance," Ardyn announced.
"Oh love doesn't stand a chance!" Blackheart belted.
"Oh no!" Ardyn said in mock embarrassment as he opened the box.
"LOVE DOESN'T STAND A CHANCE!" they sang together as the wave of darkness poured from the box.
As the darkness washed over the crowd, the Starscourge began to infect the peasants. Their forms grew dark and monstrous, and they one by one transformed into horrific daemons. Ardyn and Blackheart laughed maniacally as they looked over the horrific scene.
"I love this!" Blackheart declared.
"Now don't you start too," Ardyn teased.
Hook tied the lifeboat to the stalagmite protruding from the edge of the rock face and then took Jafar's hand to help him out of the boat.
"Skull Rock, as promised," Hook announced.
"There are dark magics here," Jafar remarked as he studied the surrounding area.
"Aye, Pan used these caverns as something of hermitage away from the Lost Boys and me crew," Hook explained. "He took great care to ward against intruders."
Jafar scoffed. "His magic is nothing compared to mine."
Jafar began to proceed up the path to the main chamber of the cave, and Hook followed.
"Almost hard to believe that the lamp is in such close proximity," Hook remarked. "I feel as though we've been hunting this treasure for months now."
"It could have been mine far sooner if you hadn't withheld it from me," Jafar spat venomously.
"I thought we'd moved past that," Hook said with a sigh. "Your hands weren't exactly clean of malfeasance in that little drama."
"True enough," Jafar agreed. "Stay on your guard. I doubt your little friend will have left a guard given that the location was a secret, but I would prefer to be cautious rather than to have to resurrect you. Far too much of a hassle, after all."
"Well that was almost a magnanimous sentiment," Hook remarked.
The two made their way into the main chamber of Skull Rock where a giant hourglass sat in the center. The sand completely filled the base of the glass now. Jafar admired the hourglass and briefly indulged pleasant memories of the time he'd trapped Princess Jasmine in a similar contraption.
"What's that?" Hook asked, gesturing to a scrap of parchment on the floor.
Hook walked over to retrieve the note. Jafar simply rolled his eyes and summoned it to his hands just as Hook had reached it.
"Yes, well, that's one way to do that," Hook said.
Jafar unraveled the parchment and began to read aloud. "Dear Hook, I assume you're searching for your precious lamp. Good job figuring out this place. Alas, the lamp is not here, but do not fear. You will have it soon enough, for I left it for you in the Echo Cave. Have fun playing my game. Your friend who never fails, Peter Pan."
"He's been toying with us," Hook remarked. "And it appears he's not done."
"Where is this Echo Cave?" Jafar asked.
"The main land of the island," Hook said. "Though there's something you should-"
Jafar whisked them away in a Corridor of Darkness and transported them into the lush jungle just outside the entrance to the Echo Cave.
"-know," Hook said with a sigh. "Perhaps a warning before you do that? I was trying to tell you something."
"We're going to find the lamp," Jafar said. "If it's in there, then that is where we shall go."
"Aye, but I warn you that I lost half of my crew in that cave," Hook said. "They-"
"I am not some simple pirate fool," Jafar said, pushing past Hook and entering the cave.
Hook sighed and cursed and continued after his lover. Inside the cave, the lamp sat on a rocky pedestal in the center of the chamber with no walkway over to it and nothing but a pitch black chasm surrounding it. Jafar and Hook stood on the ledge directly across from it. Jafar lifted his staff and attempted to summon the lamp, but his magic was blasted back, knocking Jafar backwards into Hook.
"That's not the way things work in this cave," Hook said as he helped Jafar to his feet.
"No matter," Jafar said. "I'll simply fly over to it."
Jafar began to levitate, but Hook pulled him back to the ground.
"Bloody Hell, Jafar, will you listen to me?" Hook said. "This cave has a powerful enchantment, and it has rules. The only way we're going to get to the lamp is by revealing a secret."
"A secret?" Jafar asked with a scoff.
"The darkest secret," Hook clarified. "The Echo Cave derives its name from an old saying: the deeper the lie, the more truth in its echo. The cave demands that you reveal a truth about yourself, one that you'd never reveal to anyone."
"This is ridiculous," Jafar sneered.
"Don't shoot the messenger," Hook said. "There's two of us here, so that's two secrets we owe the cave... and each other."
"Then, by all means, you first," Jafar said as he crossed his arms.
Hook sighed and glanced across the way at the lamp. He knew right away what secret he had to tell, though he didn't know how well Jafar would take it. However, there was no turning back now.
"Fine," Hook said. "So, as you know, women used to fall at my feet. Milah, Emma, you name it. I was always rather good at seducing lasses. It came naturally to me. Then you came along, and none of my tricks worked on you. You made me want you so badly by being immune to my charms. That's part of why I value what we have so much, yet it comes at a price: I never truly feel secure that'll I'll always be what you want. So my secret is that I was hoping we'd never find the bloody lamp because I didn't want to face the possibility that you could get something that you wanted more than me."
The entire cave shook and half of a stone bridge protruded out from the lamp's platform. Another secret, and it would be complete enough to walk across.
"Intriguing," Jafar remarked, stroking his beard. "So that's why you withheld the lamp from me."
"Aye, that it is," Hook said with a nod.
"No matter," Jafar said. "The lamp is within my grasp now, and your attempts to block my path to power have failed."
"Is that the only response I get?" Hook asked.
"Would you prefer my rage?" Jafar asked. "Now hurry! Reveal another secret so that the bridge can be completed!"
"Sorry mate, that's not how this works," Hook replied. "The second secret has to come from you."
"Oh very well," Jafar said with a sigh. "I... killed the Sultana. She was getting in the way of my control over the Sultan, so I mesmerized her into throwing herself off the guard tower. Her daughter Jasmine saw me, but I convinced the girl into believing that she'd only had a bad dream."
A devilish smirk cracked onto Jafar's face as he indulged the memory. Jafar waited for the second half of the bridge to fill in, but nothing happened.
"Why isn't it working?" Jafar asked angrily.
"I told you already," Hook said. "Your secret has to be one that you'd never tell to anyone."
"I'll have you know that that secret would have gotten me beheaded back in Agrabah," Jafar argued.
"Aye, that may be, but it's not something you'd hide from me or any of the Overtakers," Hook pointed out. "That's not a dark secret you keep locked away. That's the type of gruesomely macabre story that you'd overshare during a night of drinking with your villainous friends."
"Well perhaps I don't want to reveal a darker secret," Jafar said.
"Then we'll never get the lamp," Hook replied.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Jafar sneered.
"I brought you here, and I told you what you had to do," Hook said. "I also did my part in getting us half-way there. I think I've proven my commitment to getting you what you want. Now the only thing standing between you and the power you seek is making yourself vulnerable."
Jafar grunted and turned his back to Hook. He faced the lamp and weighed his options. On one hand, only a few simple words stood between him and the power of that lamp. It should be nothing, as easy as carrying on a conversation. And how could a secret compare to ultimate power? Yet Jafar knew the secret he had to tell, and the price of revealing it was high indeed. There was nothing stopping them from turning around now. Hook would prefer it, and there were other routes to power, after all. But Jafar knew he could never face himself if he allowed such weakness to hold him back. Jafar could feel his hands shaking as he realized what he must do.
"I am... not a sentimental fool," Jafar said without turning around to face Hook. "I don't care for emotional sincerity or tender moments, and I swear to you if anything I am about to say changes ANY of that, I will have you thrown into the sea."
"Understood," Hook nodded.
Jafar took a deep breath and focused his attention on the lamp.
"For years, I positioned myself as an enemy of love," Jafar explained. "I had not the time nor the patience for it. In truth, I never felt it for anyone. I don't even know how it's supposed to feel. It was a feeling that I deemed lesser and beneath me... until I met you."
Hook was silent for a minute. "Wait... are you saying that you love me?"
"I'm saying that I don't know," Jafar said as he turned to face Hook. "I don't know if what I feel is truly love, but you are the only one I've felt anything like this for. Perhaps it is love; perhaps it isn't. All I know is that you make me feel a way that I've never felt before. That is my secret."
The cave began to shake again, and the other half of the stone bridge pilled itself in. There was now a clear path to the lamp.
"We never speak of this again," Jafar said as he and Hook locked eyes.
Hook nodded in agreement. Jafar practically ran across the stone bridge and snatched up the lamp with his bony fingers. The old sorcerer let out a triumphant laugh.
"At last!" Jafar declared. "It's mine!"
Jafar greedily began to rub the lamp until violet smoke began to billow out of the lamp. The smoke began to shift and swirl until it took the form of a woman with long and billowing black hair, skin with a bluish tint, and a purple dress that faded into a cloud of fog of the same shade. Jafar's face contorted into a confused expression.
"You're not a genie," Jafar said as he looked the woman over.
"Not quite," she answered. "I'm a goddess, the goddess of discord, actually."
"Eris," Hook said, recognizing her likeness from temple walls.
"Good catch, captain," Eris said as she shifted over to him and rubbed her hands over his shoulders. "A black hearted liar pretending to be sanctimonious trapped me in that lamp to put a stop to my fun." Eris shifted back over to Jafar. "So I have to thank you for finally letting me out. Took you long enough, though."
"You were aware of everything?" Jafar asked.
"Oh, of course," Eris taunted. "I even heard your little deepest darkest secret exchange just now. The narcissist and the sociopath navigate dating. It's cute."
"And what of my wishes?" Jafar asked.
"Yeah, I don't do wishes," Eris said. "Not a slave to the lamp like you used to be, just stuck there by unfortunate circumstances."
"I think we're owed something for setting you free," Hook chimed in as he stood by his lover's side.
Eris cocked an eyebrow. "You're really gonna try to extort a goddess? You wanna rethink things for minute?"
"I could trap you back in this lamp," Jafar threatened, picking up on Hook's lead. "After all, no one knows more about the magic of lamps than I do."
Eris looked over the two men, unsure of what to make of them. "Okay. One request. Tell me what you want. If I can do it, I'll consider it."
Hook gave Jafar a nudge. "Go ahead. Get whatever you want."
Jafar thought about it for a moment. He'd had his wishes for a genie all planned out: to rule all worlds, for all of his competitors to be banished to the Realm of Darkness for all eternity, and for his third wish to go to any unforeseen developments. Eris couldn't give that to him any more than Hades could give that to Maleficent. Jafar had no idea what he could get out of Eris at the moment. There was really only one thing he could get.
"I want a favor," Jafar said. "At any point in the future when either Hook or I call upon you, you will come, and you will grant us our request."
"One favor," Eris replied. "Not one each. One between the two of you. Say my name three times, and I'll come. You have my word as a goddess."
Eris ran her pinkie finger over her shoulder and drew an 'X' that flashed white before disappearing.
"Very well, you may go," Jafar said as he waved her away.
Eris shrugged and vanished into the aether.
"You included me in your request?" Hook asked.
"Yes, well, who knows what the future holds," Jafar said. "Having Eris in our debt would have come in handy when you were held hostage by Cronus, after all."
Hook smiled knowingly at that. Jafar scowled.
"I will have you thrown into the sea if you don't stop that at once!" Jafar threatened.
Yet there was a certain playfulness to Jafar's words that conveyed that he wasn't truly serious.
"Come, Hook," Jafar said as he proceeded towards the mouth of the cave. "We have new horizons to pursue."
"The castle and the Overtaken Kingdom are yours to explore," Maleficent explained as she walked Davy Jones through the corridors of the Eminence Palace. "There's a portal to Villain's Vale on the main floor. Use it as you like, though do not venture far into Radiant Garden without express permission from Reverend Newlin. The situation there is... delicate."
"So, let us call a spade a spade," Davy Jones said. "I am a prisoner of your fortress."
Maleficent smirked at that. "I treat my prisoners far less nicely than I have treated you. I could arrange for you to be kept in my dungeon, and I'm certain your son would be overjoyed at my decision. I'd rather keep you as a potential ally, yet the decision is yours."
Davy scoffed. "Lord Beckett kept me as an 'ally' too... at constant threat to my heart. We'll see if this arrangement proves to be any better."
"Your reputation and powers are fearsome," Maleficent acknowledged. "But they are nothing compared to mine. Do not forget that."
With her warning issued, Maleficent took her leave. Davy wandered the corridors aimlessly, getting a feel for the castle's seemingly endless layout. He passed through the Hall of Empty Melodies, a room that seemed to serve no other purpose but taking up space. Davy found that to be quite absurd. Several vents protruded from the walls, and they only seemed to be coming from one side of the room. Davy's interest was piqued when he noticed a door that he'd overlooked on the side of the wall that had the pipes.
Figuring that it couldn't hurt to explore a bit, Davy opened the door and entered the adjacent room. He practically gasped with delight at what he found there. It was easy enough to piece together that the Hall of Empty Melodies was meant as a ballroom once he found what was in the connecting room. There, right before him, sat a large pipe organ whose pipes curled out and funneled into the main ballroom.
Davy Jones sat on the bench in front of the keyboard and ran his fingers over the ivories. It had been so long since he'd played with his hands that he half expected his beard to begin to play the organ on its own. He started off on the high keys, slowly picking out the song from his music box... his and Calypso's song. A single tear slid down his cheek. He hastily wiped it away and stopped playing the depressing song.
Davy cracked his knuckles and began to play again, this time the loud, lower and more haunting song that he'd written himself based on the music box's tune. He'd poured all of his pain and anger into that song, and playing it again felt like catharsis to the old pirate. Soon, the music became Davy's entire world. Nothing else around him was even remotely on his radar. He felt only the energy and emotions of the song, so much so that he didn't notice that someone else had entered the room.
"I didn't even know this was here," Winnie remarked, causing Davy to stop playing abruptly.
"A fine instrument," Davy remarked. "It was kept impeccably in tune. Who amongst your Overtakers plays?"
"I do not think anyone does," Winnie answered. "No one around here is particularly musical... as far as instruments are concerned. I, myself, do a bit of singing. The organ must have belonged to the previous occupants of this castle."
"I suppose then there's no harm in my playing it," Davy said.
"Thy playing is truly brilliant," Winnie remarked. "The music was powerful and haunting. I was drawn to it! However didst a lowly pirate learn to play so well?"
"My... former ship, the Dutchman, had scarce opportunities for recreation," Davy said. "When I became captain, the only thing there was a pipe organ. Ten years at sea affords one considerable time to spare. I taught myself over the years how to play."
"Remarkable indeed...," Winnie said as she began to indulge a certain thought. "Wouldst thou be amenable to playing whilst I sing?"
"Do you know 'My Jolly Sailor Bold'?" Davy asked.
Winnie smirked. "Name thy key."
Davy began to play and soon Winnie joined in with the vocals.
"Upon one summer's morning, I carefully did stray," she sang. "Down by the Walls of Wapping, Where I met a sailor gay."
Winnie rested her hand on Davy's shoulders, and he suddenly found it more difficult to concentrate on his playing.
"Conversing with a young lass who seemed to be in pain," Winnie continued. "Saying, William, when you go, I fear you'll ne'er return again."
With the chorus at hand, Davy began to sang in harmony with Winnie. "My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold. There is nothing can console me..."
"But my jolly sailor bold," Winnie finished the verse solo.
Davy riffed a bit on the keyboard before finishing the song. Winnie clapped gleefully.
"Wonderful! Wonderful!" Winnie declared.
"You sing beautifully," Davy remarked.
"Of course I do," Winnie said. "I do everything beautifully."
Winnie cackled at that, and Davy joined in the chuckle as well. However, as they finished laughing, their eyes locked and remained focused on one another for a moment. Winnie noticed just how blue the old pirate's eyes were. They were as deep and powerful as the ocean itself, and she felt a certain draw to them.
"Well," Winnie said, drawing back and breaking eye contact. "I have other matters with which to attend. Perhaps I can sing with thee again sometime?"
"I would like that very much," Davy replied with a smile.
Winnie waved good-bye as she left the room. Davy couldn't help but smile to himself. He began to pick out Calypso's music box song on the keyboard again, and this time, it hurt just a little bit less.