NEWSFLASH: I completely congratulate the crew of Pirates of the Caribbean for their successful movie that reached up to 236 MILLION (!!) dollars in the box office; especially to the actors and the writers and the director who have done such a brilliant job on it! *Does the Snoopy dance* Well, anyways, just wanted to say that and here's the story:
Chapter Five, Pandora's Box
Buffy and Peter were the only once who were at the ship when they arrived. She pushed the vampire towards Jack's cabin and started to lay down the rules when they question him.
"Numero Uno, Pete, no mentions of me being a Slayer. You don't follow, and you'll find yourself fitting an ashtray," Peter audibly gulped, not liking the sound of it at all. Buffy really didn't mean sound so harsh, but she couldn't risk getting her identity found out by the crew sooner than she intended too.
"Sure, sure uh…. What's your name by the way?"
"Just call me Buffy," her eyes daring him to make a comment about her name, which he didn't. "Second, try to avoid any topics that will concern demons and the underworld. Just tell us what you heard and start translating the book. Dunno really where Sparrow keeps his papers and pens, so I'll just have to ask him later."
"Sure thing, Sl- Buffy," he placed his curious gaze at the book and started to examine it. A sudden loud, singing, and raucous voice came outside the door, taking them both by surprise. Buffy swung it open, revealing Jack who was sashaying his way towards them while still drinking his rum greedily.
"'Ello, luv. Not startin' without me I 'ope?" he raised his eyebrows once more, adding more meaning to his words than there's actually is. Ignoring his 'raising of the eyebrow', Buffy went straight to the point.
"Peter here knows a little bit about the Idiot Island, and can translate the book. By the way, do you even keep some paper here?" she asked as she started to rummage through his pile. Looking at Peter who was reading the Greek book with interest, Jack sat down and started to fire questions at him.
"So Peter, eh? Tell us wha' ye know 'bout tha island," Buffy finally stopped looking for any paper. Instead of sitting down on one of the chairs, she stood and looked at him intently.
"Well, the thing is, I over heard this group of va-people and they were talking something about Ithaki. Normally, I wouldn't have listened cause I think its impolite…," he trailed off, forgetting that morals didn't come in these situations.
'A vamp that has morals, that's a first,' Buffy chuckled to herself as she thought of every vampire being ever so polite, which made her snort out of amusement.
"Just get to tha point, savvy?" Jack rolled his eyes annoyingly when he heard Buffy snort. "R-right. Anyway, they said something about a girl named Syrinx and about this Box in that island."
"A Box? Wha' will this box be, boy?" Sparrow leaned forward as if he didn't want to miss any words.
"They said it's called the 'Pandora's Box'. Being a scholar as I am, I have come across it during my studies a long time ago and recognized it for what it was. I found that it was a mere myth by the Greeks and against my professor's wishes, I studied it more.
"The Greeks believed that at the beginning of time, Gaia, an ancient Goddess, created the Earth. She was also said to be the mother of all gods with Uranus as their father. Together, they sent out good to all things, from air to water and land to whatever comes to that.
"Now, like everything, good has an opposite. Reminiscent of life is to death and night is to day. So they placed all of that evil into a box and gave it to the first woman, naturally called Pandora who was banished to Earth by Zeus, saying that she must never open it. And like the saying goes, 'curiosity killed the cat', she opened it, sending out plagues, death, diseases, and other things that was contained. But the one thing that stayed there is hope," before he can continue, Buffy asked him with a confused tone.
"But isn't hope like, one of the good?" frowning at her weird statement, Jack explained to Peter what she meant.
"She asked why hope is in tha box, when its supposed tah be good," he waved his hands, and Peter took this as a cue to explain. "An' why tha hell did this Zeus god banish Pandora?"
"She was banished because of her discovery of fire. Anyway, hope can also be evil. Think about it. Even at the worst situations, people can still 'hope' that all will be well at the end. And most times they to turn out like that.
"But for the rest, it is no more that a fool's hope that they trust on, later turning out badly, and eventually the situations will just over take them, sending them to their deaths," he said this so theatrical, that they couldn't help shudder at his explanation.
"So tha's answered, who is this Syrinx ye told us 'bout?" Jack bluntly pointed out, breaking the uncomfortable silence that Peter has dropped on them.
"All I heard that she was some sort of their leader, and that she has found the box, which is impossible for like I said, it is only a mere myth. But if she has found it and she opens Pandora's Box, all hell will break loose… quite literally," Peter looked at the Slayer seriously. Buffy took this new revelation as a serious threat, and was now ever more anxious to go to that island. She didn't need to get the look Peter gave her to take it seriously. Even though there was a huge chance that the vampire in front of her was lying just to save his own hide, she was still going to the island either way, so it'll be better to come prepared.
"An' this book?" Jack ignored the look that got onto Buffy's face, plus Peter's opinion about Pandora's Box, and asked about the book. Peter flipped it open and started to read the translated paragraph first.
"The translation says that there's treasure in the island of Ithaki, the island where Syrinx is supposed to be," he read the rest of the book, finishing it in fifteen minutes because of its size. "And the rest just says almost the same things I've heard. The 'Box of Death' which I presume is the same as Pandora's Box is located there. And it just all fits with translated ones on exiled Gods saying that they are protecting the treasure," he paused for a minute before asking. "Can I go now?"
After swearing his secrecy on never telling anyone about what he heard or where he had been, Peter left the boat with such haste, that he was quickly dusted when he accidentally ran into a pile of wooden crates, effectively turning him into a pile of dust. Not seeing this peculiar and very idiotic scene, Jack went towards Buffy who was on the deck, looking out at the sea. Joining her, Jack found out that the pale light of the full moon, made her look so innocent, yet it brought out something of great strength no one can resist to respect.
"Beautiful, ain't it?" Buffy finally spoke as she stared off to the shining stars that the calm sea reflected. The soft breeze played with her hair, getting slightly tangled.
"I know," Jack smirked as Buffy turned to look at him, and found out that he was looking at her. She blushed at the comment and inhaled the sea breeze that came towards them, pushing back the smell that came off of Tortuga and went back to staring at the peaceful waves that lapped at the side of the Pearl.
"Do you think it's true? Whatever Peter said about the island?" Buffy looked at him. Her voice demanding to know the answer, but wasn't harsh. Jack sighed, knowing that now is not a good time to make another sarcastic remark.
"I've 'eard a lo' o' nonsense 'bout treasures like this in me time, luv. And most of tha times, its jus' loads o' rubbish," replied Jack off-handedly.
"And what about the other times?" Buffy asked him curiously. He told her the story about the Aztec gold coins and Barbossa. Jack explained about the curse and how they turn into living corpse when the light of the full moon touches their skin. He was surprised that Buffy believed him, unlike most people who will just throw the ridiculousness of his story out of their heads and never talk about it again.
"Well I guess anything can happen. Tell me Sparrow, did you believe in those curses and the monsters that they said were under your bed when you were just a little boy before all of that happened? Now, can you really tell me that there isn't going to be a Pandora's Box, that there isn't going to be some exiled Gods that are protecting the treasure you want to find after that Curse?" Buffy pressed on.
"Tha answer to tha first question luv, is tha' yes I did, an' I was jus' a little lad, bu' I grew over it. Two, no I can't tell ye that there isn't going to be any o' those things ye said before, cause like ye said, anything can happen," satisfied with the answer she got, Buffy said goodnight and started her walk towards her cabin. Looking at where she has gone to, Jack took a swig from his bottle of rum, and planned on waiting for the rest of the crew to come with the goods.
A/N: Okay, to all those people who think this is short, sorry 'bout that. But I do hope that it answered some of your questions, and at the same time arose some also. Thanks for the review last time guys, it was very, very, very much appreciated. Look out for the next update!