Author's Note: A huge thanks, firstly, to all those who reviewed. You really encouraged me to get this chapter out quite quickly. Not to mention encouraged me to make this story quite a bit longer than what I originally intended! :) It was meant really, to be no more than two chapters, but seeing as people have enjoyed it, I'll extend it a bit. Review responses are at the bottom. Secondly, I have found a site that has the script on it, so the dialogue taken from the movie should be close to correct. I hope you all enjoy! And please let me know if I'm still doing all right in a review. I'd much appreciate it!
Disclaimer – I own nothing of Pirates of the Caribbean. If I did, do you honestly think that I would be sitting around writing fan-fiction about it? *pause* Okay, so I probably would, but that's defeating my point. The day that I own Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, you will probably hear my shouts of glee all the way in Siberia. Point taken? Good.
Failing Hope
Chapter Three
Staring blankly ahead, Will numbly absorbed his surroundings with an ethereal detachment. The soft, but still harshly rough whispers of the Black Pearl's crew were the only sounds breaking the silence of the menacing depths of the cavern entrance. The young blacksmith noted dully that the cave's mouth looked somewhat like a yawning beast, ready to devour whatever came its way.
Will Turner sat in a small rowboat, surrounded by several of the cursed pirates and Barbossa, who was stationed at the small vessel's front. Other boats followed behind in a shadowy procession. The dark-haired young man glanced down into the black waters and could once again see the brief glimmers of the sunken gold that lay on the water's bottom, accented by the flickering light of the occasional torches carried by Barbossa's crew. He could still remember Jack's words the last time they had come through this cave.
"…and you're completely obsessed with treasure." Jack commented coolly, noting how Will's eyes had widened at the sight of the glittering gold that littered the bottom of the canal.
"That's not true. I'm not obsessed with treasure." The younger man had spoken with a quick tongue in defense of himself. He was not desperate for the hoard that lay in these caves. The large amount of sparkling gold and silver had simply caught him off his guard.
Jack hopped from their small boat onto the shoreline and continued moving ahead, not stopping to comment on Will's defense. The blacksmith had scrambled along, trying to keep up with the pirate's quick pace. He was surprised that Jack had not even replied, but he continued onward, following him as he crawled up along a stone crevice that allowed sight further into the cave. Once he peered through the narrow space, he felt his jaw go slack when he took in the sight below. They had Elizabeth.
It was now that Jack chose to look back at Will, and a small smirk grew on his face. "Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate." The words, unlike most of what Jack spoke, were surprisingly sincere, and Will simply looked at the pirate with mystification, unsure of how to respond to such an observation. Perhaps there was far more to Jack Sparrow than most cared to see.
In an attempt to suppress the self-loathing that was threatening to surface, Will roughly ground his teeth together. He could not even save his own treasure, even though it was neither gold nor silver. Bloody good pirate he would make. If it were not for the fact that his hands were tightly bound behind his back, Will would have been tempted to whack himself alongside the head several times.
The oars that had been slicing smoothly through the murky waters were quickly abandoned with a hollow clatter as they struck the hard surface of the damp rocks that indicated the shoreline. Will snapped his head up, realizing that they had made it inside the depths of the cavern and were nearing Cortez's gold. They neared where his life would end, where everything he had worked for in his life would prove in vain.
"C'mon ya dogs, t'hour is upon us!" Barbossa stood up, climbing onto the stony foundations of the ground. His intimidating form was silhouetted by the dim gleam of gold that came from deeper within the cavern. Will stared up at him, refusing to move until he was forcible removed. His extraordinarily obstinate trait kicked in at this point and he settled himself deeply as possible onto the wooden plank that served as his seat.
Noticing that the blacksmith was not attempting to move, Barbossa's hulking first mate turned back and looked at him menacingly. "Move, boy." The deep, gravelly voice of Bo'sun gave no room for options, but Will chose to ignore the threatening timbre of the large man's command. Instead, he lowered his head slightly, setting his chin firmly. He would show them no fear – they would not have the pleasure of seeing his dread.
The dark-skinned man's eyes widened and his nostrils flared in indignation when he realized that the Turner boy was purposely defying him. Nobody took his commands as requests. Nobody. He lowered himself back down into the boat, coming face to face with the blacksmith who still sat resolutely in the small craft. Without warning, he reached forward, tightly seizing the light-skinned youth's face in one large hand. He rigidly squeezed his fingers together and lifted up, forcing the young Turner to look him eye to eye.
Will nearly gasped when Bo'sun took his face into a vice-like grip. He could almost feel the bruises forming on his face where the large fingers were digging into the tender skin. Will stared into the cold void of the massive pirate's eyes, an involuntary shiver racing down his spine. There was nothing in his eyes. In Elizabeth's eyes, he could always see the bright spark of life. Even Jack held a certain gleam in his eyes. It shocked him to discover that there was nothing of the sort in Bo'sun's eyes. It felt as though Will was staring into an endless chasm that eagerly devoured any light that dared wander near.
"Ya don' want me ta get violent, brat. Get up." A frigid edge frosted his words. After staring Will down for several more seconds, he released his face and straightened up. "Now."
Slowly, Will rose to his feet in a robotic motion. He was still startled with the emptiness that he had seen in the large pirate's eyes. The blacksmith's own mahogany eyes darted about, looking at all those who surrounded him. Nothing but desperation and hollowness was all around him and its total control threatened to overwhelm his own soul.
Finally, Will's gaze ended at Barbossa, who stood watching the interaction between Bo'sun and him. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, clearly indicating that he had been entertained by the interaction. "I'm please t'see that ya understand us now, Turner. We 'ave nothin' to lose – ya can't win."
Keeping his firm glare, Will dared to answer the captain of the Black Pearl. "You should know by now, Barbossa, that I have nothing to loose anymore either."
The small smirk wavered on the weathered face of the determined Barbossa. His eyes narrowed at the contemptuous remark of Bootstrap's son. "Ya never had nothin' to gain, lad. Yer destiny was sealed th'day your father sent ya the gold."
Fire coursed through Will's veins at that comment. "He did it to make sure you all remained cursed, as you deserved! He never did it to hurt me – he wouldn't do that." His voice lowered to an insulted hiss by the time he finished speaking.
As Will's voice rang through the caverns, Barbossa's increased amusement was evident on his face. He could see that he had struck a rather raw nerve on Turner's son. "There's a lot you don' know about yer father, boy. I wouldn't place so much hope in 'im." Without allowing Will a chance to process this information, Barbossa quickly barked out orders. "Let's go. Bring the boy."
All the crew quickly hopped into action at their captain's command. Will was hastily hustled through the dark, damp caverns. Footsteps echoed through the dank emptiness and the pirates' voices resonated like the whispers of wraiths in the blackness. Several times, he stumbled, unable to see where he was walking, only to be immediately righted by the overpowering hand of Bo'sun, who followed directly behind him.
A defeated sigh escaped the young blacksmith's lips as he trudged along the dim pathways. At least Elizabeth will have a chance. A small voice in his mind seemed to be attempting to pull the rest of him out of the threatening despair that loomed. You did say that you would die for her after all. Intrigued by that point, Will pondered it for a minute. Yes, he had said that, hadn't he?
"And I still mean it." This time, the dark-haired smithy spoke aloud, unsure himself whether the words that he said out loud were purposely spoken. The beginnings of a smile lifted some of the darkness from his face. She's worth it. She always was.
"What'd you say, brat?" The deep, gruff voice of Bo'sun barked from behind him. Will had spoken loud enough to be heard, but not quite at a volume where it was understandable.
Filled with a new sense of meaning and realization, Will boldly stopped and turned around to face the large black man that towered over him. "I said," He spoke crisply, staring up at the substantially larger pirate, "I hope you go to hell."
Unfortunately, Will had very little time to relish the sense of satisfaction that came with speaking the words. Seconds later, he found himself on his knees, gasping for his breath and somewhat at a loss as to how he came into this particular situation. When the sound of loudly cracking knuckles echoed through the spacious caverns, the blacksmith quickly concluded that he had been leveled by Bo'sun's fist, which would also explain the extraordinarily difficult time he was having with breathing.
"Ya know, young Will Turner, you could save yerself much of this pain if ye didn't resist so much." The sound of Barbossa's voice encouraged Will to lift his head. The dark locks of hair covered some of his vision, but he could see the Black Pearl's captain looking down at him.
Will pushed himself off his hands, not liking the feeling of vulnerability that the position exposed. His wrists ached with the tension of the tight rope that bound them together. He shook his head quickly, tossing his hair away from his eyes. His breath still came in shallow gasps as his stomach rebelled against the rough treatment that it had gone through. "I would go through the pain one hundred times over if it would mean making your lives miserable." The words had a sharp bite to them, and the previously amused pirates began to grow more agitated with the amount of derision that their blood debt was providing.
A silence overtook the caverns, interrupted only by the melodic water that dripped sporadically onto the wet stone ground. Several of the cursed pirates glanced back and forth between one another, waiting anxiously to see what Barbossa would do in response to Bootstrap's son's comments. Ragetti and Pintel shuffled quietly up the line of pirates, curious to see what would take place.
"Barbossa's goin'ta kill 'im." Ragetti whispered to his counterpart, seeming to be caught somewhere between pity and complete amusement.
At his friend's prediction, Pintel rolled his eyes, wondering to the heathen gods why he continued to stay around his slow-witted friend. "Now that wouldn't make much sense, would it? If we kill 'im now, the curse'll never be lifted." His voice was just as low as the other pirate's was, but the sarcasm remained remarkably strong.
"Well, I was jus' sayin'." The lighter haired brigand muttered, quickly catching onto his friend's cynicism. "No need t'get agitated." He rubbed his wooden eye, a nervous habit that had existed for long before the curse was ever laid upon them.
"Shut up, Barbossa's talkin'!" Pintel growled, glaring at Ragetti, who still looked highly insulted.
Will stared up at Barbossa's face, a sneer threatening to appear as built up frustration grew close to bursting through the internal dam that he had built to hold it back. Surprisingly, the mutinous first mate of Jack Sparrow remained calm and he simply looked at the blacksmith on the cavern floor for several moments. Then, to everyone's surprise, he began to laugh. It began as a soft chuckle, but soon grew into a full-throated laugh.
Barbossa shook his head with amusement. "Will, ye shouldn't make pledges that ye can't keep." Will narrowed his eyes, unsure as to where this was going to go. "I would gladly make ya go through the pain one hundred times, but unfortunately, we haven't the time fer such trivialities. I would much rather spill yer blood and break this damned curse."
A glance was thrown to Bo'sun and he pulled the still-kneeling Turner to his feet. "There'll be no more interruptions. Bo'sun will make sure of that." Barbossa had started moving further into the caves even as he spoke. "Walk quickly, hearties."
Will tensed as he heard a low chuckle behind him. His stomach instantly disputed the thought of having to endure another round of usage as the pirate's punching bag. Slowly, the adrenaline that had sustained the blacksmith for the past fifteen minutes began to drain from his body, leaving him feeling empty and cold.
I imagine that Jack would have classified that as doing something stupid. Will considered what he had just done. What exactly had he accomplished? Entertaining Barbossa? He let his head drop to his chest and his hair fell into his eyes again. Why can't I do anything right?
Both Ragetti and Pintel had moved alongside Will at this point, and Pintel saw the hopelessness in the younger man's eyes. "No reason to fret, it's just a prick of the finger and a few drops of blood."
Will lifted his head and stared at the curly-haired pirate blankly for a second before being hurried along, leaving both of Ragetti and Pintel behind.
Another pirate followed closely behind Will Turner and he glanced at Pintel. "No mistakes this time. He's only half-Turner. We spill it all."
Shrugging, Pintel turned to Ragetti. "Guess there is reason to fret."
The other pirate chortled appreciatively as they continued to make their way to where the cursed Aztec gold lay. The place where Will's blood would soon be spilt.
TBC
Reviewer Responses:
Sseatle – Huzzah! FF.net didn't eat your review this time! I'm glad you like the story and I really appreciate the time you took to review. Hopefully this chapter works out for you! =)
Stephanie – Lou – I hope this counts as updating soon enough for you! I really pounded away at this chapter, lol.
Toria – I always thought Will would have the most interesting inner-turmoil. (Outside of Jack, of course, but I'd have to be bloody crazy to try and figure out how his mind would work!) Thanks!
Ildera – Can *I* say wow for the fantastic review? I absolutely love getting long reviews like that and I'm really pleased to hear that everyone in your house liked the story! As for right now, I have no idea exactly how long I plan on making this…we'll see how long it takes before my inspiration runs out! :P Thanks!
Missy – Yay, I'm happy you liked it! I've noticed that there aren't an abundance of fics out there that *really* focus on Will. They have a tendency to be shallow sometimes if they are, so I thought to give it a try myself. I think Will is a fascinating character, really!
Poetry in Motion – Heh. I always wonder what happens in-between scenes too, so I guess what else could I do but figure it out for myself? They could have turned it into a four and a half hour movie if they had really wanted to…there was so much that was left unsaid. Thanks for reading!
Emerald Dragon4 – Thanks. Is this update quick enough for you? =)
Leolyn Greenleaf – Aww, thanks a lot! I plan on keeping writing, lol, so don't worry!
Carrie5 – Thank you a million for the energetic review! I really tried to get this out as fast as I could, so I hope it continues to have the depth that you liked before! And I am rooting for Will too, even though it doesn't seem like it sometimes! ;) LOL!
One more big thank you to everyone! Gracias!