YAY! Another chappie! Thanks once again to Johnny'shumiliatedgrape! ENJOY!
Chapter 6: The Reveal
The next day, they went out to find the next clue. They scoured the belfry and finally found it. Celeste read it aloud:
"'Sparrows, as much as I love making you all run around like my little puppy dogs, I must end this. In five days, a letter will be sent to the Black Pearl by one of my good archer friends. I know about Ottoman, and this will be one day after his scheduled hanging. From what I hear, unless you find the real murderer by the hang-date, he will be hung. Poor man. You Sparrows are so dense. Well, of course, I can't tell you anything about the murderer until five days from now. As you know, I watch ceaselessly. I know all that you do. How nice of you, Captain to give her a black pearl bracelet. And what a show afterwards - goodness sake.'" Celeste looked up at Jack, frightened. "This man is so sick… How could he know…?" She trailed off and started reading again. "'Well, anyway, five days from now, expect the meet the murderer you've all been searching so hard for. Is it really that hard? Well, I'll see you in five days, then. Sincerely, 2 (the murderer who can't wait to meet you).'"
"This is horrible…" Flynn muttered. "He's the murderer… and he's obviously not going to turn himself in until after Ottoman's hanging…"
"Yeah, the murderer an' all," Jack piped in, disgusted, "but… the man's spyin' on me an' me wife! That's disgustin'!" Celeste looked horrified.
"How on earth does he know…?" Flynn muttered. "Where is he watching from? Doesn't your room face the ocean?" Jack nodded. "Then… hmm… did you see any ships outside the window?"
"Well, there's always ships passin' by - we live in a harbor, you know - but I didn' notice anythin'… Well… truth be told, we didn' notice a lot goin' on outside…" Jack said with a smirk.
Flynn sighed in annoyance. "You didn't look outside once?"
"There wasn' anythin' more interestin' than what was inside…" Jack replied, still smirking. "Well, can you blame us? Goodness sake, it was our two year anniversary. We feel no guilt."
Flynn sighed in annoyance once again. "Well, there's nothing we can do until then. We just have to try to find some hard evidence saying that Ottoman is innocent…"
"Seriously, though, 'ow does this man know what we're doin'…?" Jack asked, confused. "'e's not part o' me crew… I know them too well…" Jack looked up. "We don' know you that well, Flynn."
"Oh, Jack, don't be silly. Don't accuse him of being a spy or something." Celeste scolded.
"Well, 'ow do we know?" Jack asked. "'ow else could '2' know about all that?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure Mr. Flynn is not affiliated with him." Celeste defended.
"Honestly, Mr. Sparrow, I'm an investigator on the case - you know that." Flynn said. "Don't be ignorant."
"Ignorant!" Jack exclaimed angrily. "I'm bein' careful is what I'm bein'! I don' want a murderer's minion on my ship with my wife aboard! I'm keepin' my eye on you, Flynn. I see one thing that makes me suspect you in any way, an' you're dead. Watch it."
"Jack!" Celeste cried. "That's rude! He's not a minion or anything like that! You're just being paranoid! Don't judge people!"
"I'm jus' bein' careful, love." Jack replied. "I care too much about you to not be careful."
"I know, sweetheart, but you can't just accuse people." she reasoned, taking his hand. "Especially people who have done nothing but helped us the entire time we've known them. …You apologize to Mr. Flynn."
"Do I 'ave to?" Jack asked exasperatedly.
"Do I have to treat you like a child… again…?" she asked staunchly. "Now, you apologize or no dessert tonight."
Jack wasn't sure which dessert Celeste was talking about. The food or the… well, never mind… but he wasn't about to run the risk of losing either one. He looked at Flynn. "Alrigh'… I'm sorry…"
"Apology accepted." Flynn replied.
"Good." Celeste stated. "Honestly, Jack, you act like such a child sometimes…"
Later, they went to Gillette and asked him a few questions. He said he knew Ottoman was guilty.
"I can see it now…" Gillette said. "Ottoman went in to give James his breakfast, casually set down the food tray on his desk, went to let in more light, pulled out a knife and slit my best friend's throat! He's as guilty as sin!"
Their attempts of convincing Gillette of Ottoman's innocence was still fruitless and they still didn't know anything more.
Later that day, they'd gone back to the Pearl and Celeste made a huge dinner for Jack like she'd promised. Jack thoroughly enjoyed the small feast as he was quite fond of food. After dinner, Celeste and Jack went to bed.
"That was some dinner, love, I'm absolutely stuffed." he told her.
"I'm glad you liked it." she replied, as they both got into bed. They put their arms around each other and she kissed him.
"Good nigh', darling." he bid her.
"…Good night?" she asked. "So soon…?"
"I'm so stuffed… I want to go to sleep." he said.
"Alright." she sighed. "Well, I'm happy you enjoyed it." She gave him a short kiss. "Good night, Jack."
The next day, Flynn, Jack, and Celeste went down to the jail and spoke with Ottoman. The poor man was hysterical - he was innocent and did not want to be hanged (come on, who does?). Celeste decided that she should talk to him since she was a bit more comforting than Flynn or Jack.
"Mr. Ottoman…" Celeste began calmly.
"Don't let them hang me!" he exclaimed, coming up to the bars of his cell. "I didn't do it!"
"We know, sir, we're doing all we can to help you - we really are." Celeste assured.
"Thank you! Thank you!" he cried. "I really didn't do it! It was just a normal day! I was going out to get some fruit for Commodore Norrington! I didn't see anyone at the house or anything at all, but I really didn't do it!"
"Mr. Ottoman, we know you didn't do it." Celeste told him. "We're trying to figure out who it was, but we wanted to come and ask you if you'd seen anything that day."
"Nothing! Nothing at all! And that's the truth!" Ottoman cried and went off into inane babble about his innocence. Celeste comfortingly placed her hand on Ottoman's in attempt to calm him some. Jack glared.
"Mr. Ottoman, we are going to do all we can to prove your innocence." Celeste assured. He looked up at her, tears in his eyes.
"Thank you, madam - and sirs!" Ottoman cried.
They left the jail in no better shape information-wise than when they had entered. Except now they were going to feel horribly guilty if they couldn't save him. Jack didn't say much to Celeste on the way back to the Pearl and she noticed it.
"Jack, is there something wrong?" Celeste asked him when they got back to the Pearl.
"No, nothin's wrong." he replied sharply.
"There is to something wrong." Celeste told him. "Now, what is it?"
He looked at her, fairly angry. "You touched 'im."
"What?" she asked, confused.
"Ottoman." Jack stated. She looked at him incredulously.
"The poor man was hysterical - what was I supposed to do?" Celeste asked. "He had to calm down." Jack glared suspiciously. "My goodness, Jack, I just touched his hand!" Flynn heard this entire conversation and was eavesdropping with interest, fascinated with Jack's odd behavior. Jack still glared suspiciously at Celeste. Flynn was surprised when Celeste suddenly smiled.
"What's funny?" Jack asked, irritated. She put her arms around his neck.
"You're so cute when you get jealous." she told him. He still glared suspiciously and she laughed. "You are honestly as daft as a melted banana, you know that?"
"What's your point?" he asked.
"My point is that I love it." she replied, smiling. "I don't know how I lived without your daftness in my life. Honestly, why are you getting jealous over something like that?"
"Well… I have a very beautiful and attractive wife - I got to be careful."
"Careful of what?"
"I don' want anyone stealin' you away." Jack told her, putting his arms around her.
"No chance, my Jack, no chance." she replied and kissed him.
"Human behavior is so odd…" Flynn muttered to himself.
The next few days were spent studying hard about what could save Ottoman. Nothing was discovered - Flynn needed more time. The day of the hanging, Flynn, Jack, and Celeste went down to the center of town where it was to be held. Maybe they could persuade Governor Swann to postpone this. Unfortunately, when they got there, Gillette was standing next to Governor Swann and shot down all of their pleads for postponement.
"Mr. Gillette, I know you're angry about Commodore Norrington's death, but you don't understand - we all are." Celeste pressed. "You can't just hang this man on circumstantial evidence." But no matter what they said, they were going to proceed with the hanging.
Celeste, Jack, and Flynn watched as they put the noose around Ottoman's neck. They read his charges and proceeded with the hanging. They pushed through the crowd to get closer. The lever on the trap door was about to be pulled, when…
"NO!" Celeste screamed, lunging forward to stop them, but someone tripped her and she fell over. She looked around and didn't see anyone who looked like they tripped her… Jack rushed over. They both looked up and the lever was pulled. "NO!"
Ottoman had been hanged.
Celeste looked shocked. Tears welled in her eyes; Jack helped her up from her fall and held her, keeping her from looking at the hanging Ottoman.
"I can't believe they did it, Jack!" Celeste cried. "They hung a completely innocent man!"
"There's no proof of that innocence." Gillette chimed in, approaching them.
"There was so much proof, you closed-minded fool!" Celeste screamed.
Gillette raised an eyebrow at the fact that she would yell at the man who was to succeed Commodore Norrington. Jack realized what was going through Gillette's mind and spoke up.
"She didn' mean that - she's grievin'. Doesn' know what she's sayin'." Jack told him.
"I do to, Jack!" she yelled.
"No, you don', darling." he stated.
"Don't you dare say that!" Celeste cried, trying to get away from Jack.
"Sweetheart, you're hysterical." he told her in a "be careful" voice. Jack, of course, couldn't bring himself to apologize to Gillette, but knew it was unwise to let Celeste stay around any longer. She struggled, but Jack held onto her wrists. "We're leavin'." he stated, dragging Celeste away; Flynn followed. They got back to the Pearl, Celeste furious at Jack.
"HOW DARE YOU TREAT ME LIKE THAT!" she screamed as he let her go.
"You were goin' to get us in a lot of trouble yellin' at Gillette like that!" he pressed. "The man is succeedin' Commodore Norrington! He's goin' to look for any reason to kick us out o' Port Royal, don' you see that!"
Celeste calmed down, seeing Jack's reasoning. "That stupid Gillette - he's going to be a horrible commodore. He's closed-minded and stupid."
"I know, love, but we still 'ave to act like we respect 'im if we want to stay in this port." he told her. "Don' want to live in the Tortuga port, do you?"
"No!" Celeste exclaimed, alarmed at the thought. She sighed. "We're going to meet the murderer tomorrow… Finally… I'm going to kill him."
"You mean we're goin' to capture 'im an' turn 'im in so 'e can be legally executed an' no blame is laid at our doorstep." Jack corrected.
She sighed in annoyance. "If I had my way… oh, never mind. I need to lie down."
"Doesn't sound much like a pirate." Flynn said to Jack as Celeste went to lie down below deck. "Much less the Captain Jack Sparrow I've heard about."
"Well, I got to make sure we don' break any laws 'ere - 'specially if Celeste an' I are goin' to 'ave a family 'ere." Jack explained. "I want my children to be raised righ'. Best way is at least near a town… Tha's my top priority."
The next day, there was a note stuck to the mast with an arrow as promised by '2'. Celeste read it aloud:
"'Sparrows, my condolences to your friend Ottoman. Poor man. You couldn't save him. Anyway, won't it be great for you to meet the illustrious me? Yes, I thought so. Remember the abandoned house at the edge of town? Meet me there tonight. Alone. Just Sparrow and Sparrowess. If you bring anyone else, I shall know - I watch ceaselessly, remember? My friends carry guns and I will shoot whomever you bring with you. Don't draw attention to yourself. Dress nicely, Mrs. Sparrow - wear a pretty dress.
See you tonight, then. Sincerely, 2.'"
They decided that they had no choice but to go alone - but well armed. They were going to catch this man. They knew it would be dangerous to walk into his trap, but they had no choice.
That night, Jack and Celeste set out to the abandoned house. Celeste had strapped a pistol to her leg in case she needed it and they both had their swords. She hated walking into a fight wearing a dress, but they had to do what the note said. They wanted to catch him no matter what.
They reached the house and went inside. The floorboards creaked as they tread on them and the wind howled eerily through the windows. They continued through the house until they got to a large living room - there was no furniture… just a note on the ground. Celeste picked it up and read it.
"'Wait.' …Wait for what?" Celeste asked.
"Greetings, Sparrows." a voice said from the shadows. "So glad you could join me." He stepped out from the shadows and they laid eyes on the murderer.
"You!" Celeste exclaimed.
"Gillette…?" Jack asked incredulously.
Gillette laughed. "Told you - right under your noses the whole time. Pathetic. …Men!" Suddenly, five men emerged from various doors and grabbed Jack and Celeste. "Disarm them." They obeyed.
"No!" Celeste screamed. "Let go! Help!"
Gillette strolled over to a wall that harbored a painting of a man in uniform and a woman in a dress. He lifted up the painting and there was an indentation. Inside the indentation was a doorknob; Gillette turned it and the wall opened as a door. The guards disarmed Jack and Celeste as they struggled.
"Go." Gillette ordered and his men hauled Jack and Celeste through the doorway and down a set of stairs to who-knows-where; they were struggling like mad. When they finally reached their destination, Celeste's heart skipped a beat. It was a huge torture chamber.
"What on earth is this doing here!" she screamed. "It's not civilized-" Just then, one of the guards hit her hard in the stomach and she yelled. They chained her to a wall. Gillette's men removed Jack's coat and shirt and chained him to the opposite wall.
"Well," Gillette began, "I can't believe you couldn't figure it out."
"Why would you kill Commodore Norrington!" Celeste exclaimed. "He was a wonderful commodore!"
"Because you filthy lawbreaking pirates could just walk right in and live here completely free of punishment!" Gillette yelled. "What kind of commodore would pardon one of the most infamous outlaws in the Caribbean!"
"A good one!" Celeste cried. "We do good things for people! We've rid the world of two horrible, notorious murderers!"
"Be a dear and shut up, Mrs. Sparrow." Gillette barked. "You have no idea what you're talking about. One more word and you'll be sorry." He laughed. "That fool Governor Swann - believes whatever I tell him. …I'm going to make a much better commodore than James."
"Of course, murder is a great way to start." Celeste snarled. Gillette looked at her.
"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Gillette asked, crossing to her. "I said you'd be sorry if you didn't." She spat in his face; he wiped it away in disgust. "That was very disgusting. And you'll be sorry for it." He walked over to a fireplace and picked up a red hot poker. He went back to Celeste and held the poker close to her face; she trembled. "So beautiful." He looked her up and down. "You'll suffer another way." He walked over to Jack and held the poker up so Jack could see it. "Doesn't this look interesting?"
"No!" Celeste screamed. "Resorting to medieval devices of torture is purely barbaric and disgusting! Have you learned nothing from the past! Our ancestors from the 13 and 1400's realized it didn't work! It was sick and barbaric and - absolute heathenism!"
"But a hell of a lot of fun." Gillette added casually. He placed the end of the poker on Jack's lower back, ran it across, and seared the skin; Jack yelled in pain.
Celeste screamed and struggled violently to get free from her shackles, but they only cut into her hands.
After Gillette seared a few more places on Jack's skin, when he got tired of it. "Eh, it's lost its fun. Let's see what else is interesting here… You know, I think we'll draw and quarter you later."
"YOU CAN'T DO THAT! THAT'S AGAINST EVERY MORAL CODE IN THE BOOK!" Celeste screamed. "AND YOU CERTAINLY CAN'T DO IT LEGALLY AND GET AWAY WITH IT BY ANY MEANS!"
"Well, that's too bad because it sounds so fun." Gillette said. He turned to Jack. "Sound fun, Sparrow? Getting your intestines pulled out inch by inch whilst still being alive? Hm…" Jack didn't look at him, just kept his eyes closed. "Yeah, that sounds fun."
"YOU'LL NEVER GET AWAY WITH IT!" Celeste cried.
"Well, I'm going to kill you both, so no one will know." Gillette told her.
"No!" Jack gasped, in pain. "Kill me, not 'er! She's got nothin' to do with this!"
"But she knows what happened." Gillette said. "And - oh, just shut up. Both of you." He picked up a whip on the other side of the room and crossed back to Jack. "These are fun." Celeste cringed at the memory of her own whip experience. Jack just gritted his teeth, ready for whatever Gillette was going to dish out. "Now, if I use this, will you beg for mercy? Because that would be entertaining." Jack remained silent. Gillette shrugged and cracked the whip, lashing Jack many times. Celeste screamed and struggled for freedom the entire time. Gillette laughed. "This is so pathetic." He threw the whip to the other side of the room and unlocked Jack's shackles. Jack fell to the floor and Celeste, unable to fight it off, was sobbing.
Jack got up and staggered a little, trying to get away from Gillette. Suddenly, Gillette kicked Jack and sent him falling over backwards, shoulder-first into a chair with short spikes sticking out of it.
Gillette laughed. "You just keep moving around - you have to stop that. Ugh." He motioned for his men to chain Jack back up. While they did this, Gillette strolled over to Celeste. "It really is such a shame to waste something as pretty as you… maybe we can just keep you here. No one knows about this place."
With that, Jack struggled as much as he could and exerted the last of his energy, but to no avail. They chained him back to the wall.
"I'll deal with you later." Gillette said to Celeste, and went back to Jack. "Well, before I kill you, I want to make sure you get a lot of pain… so… hmm…" He pulled out a knife and put it to Jack's waist. He sliced a long cut from Jack's waist to his hip. But of course, these cuts weren't deep enough to cause any extreme results or prominent scarring, just pain. By the time Gillette finished with the knife, he'd cut Jack a great deal of times. Celeste was still screaming, sobbing, and struggling.
"Alright," Gillette began, "well, we might as well get on with the drawing and quartering thing. Just put him on the floor - it'll be easier. He can't struggle much more." They unchained Jack and threw him on the floor near Celeste. She'd cut up her hands terribly, but was finally able to free her hands from her shackles (they were primarily designed for men, so her wrists were smaller than the usual victim). She quickly went to Jack.
"Hey!" Gillette yelled. "How did you get out!"
She helped Jack sit up and pulled him close to her. She looked up at Gillette and scowled with tears running down her cheeks. "You barbaric animals!" she screamed. "This isn't retribution, this is disgusting madness! How could anyone do something so cruel! Why is it that human beings are the most inhumane creatures on this planet!" They started towards her and she realized something. She reached under the skirt of her dress and pulled out the pistol she'd strapped to her leg earlier. The guards had missed it.
"What are you going to do with that?" Gillette asked. "Shoot us? There's so many of us it won't matter."
Celeste glanced around. "No, but… I won't let you torture my husband to death! It would be better if he went quickly! I'm not giving you the chance to take him from me like this!" She put the pistol to Jack's head. "If I can ease his pain, then, so help me, I will."
Gillette froze. This wasn't part of the plan. He was going to kill Sparrow if it meant the death of one of his own men.
"Alright." Gillette said. "We'll make a deal."
"A deal?" Celeste asked, not moving the pistol from its spot.
"Yes." Gillette replied. "We'll let you go, completely free of all torture and probable rape, and you leave him here for us to take care of."
"Of course not." Celeste growled. "He means more to me than anything else, and if I have to suffer so I can ease his pain, then so be it!" She released the safety on the gun, ready to pull the trigger. Gillette panicked, but didn't move, for fear she would shoot Jack. Jack weakly squeezed Celeste's hand to get her attention. She looked down at him, tears still streaming down her face.
"Don' give up… darling…" he whispered, blood trickling out of the side of his mouth from being hit so much. She pulled him closer, his blood spilling over her.
"Don't worry, Jack, it'll all be over soon." she said. Gillette was rapidly trying to think of something to solve this situation, but coming to a blank.
"I… love you, Celeste…" Jack whispered.
"I love you, too, Jack." she replied emptily.
BANG!
THIS WAS SO TERRIFYING! Eek! I'm watching Signs (my personal favorite M. Night movie)! Im at the part where Merril is watching the news and they show the footage from the kids birthday thing where the alien just walks by the allyway. Yeesh, I have seen this movie a hundred times and I still get chills from that part. Huggles M. Night for his superb filmmaking skills WA!
"The police are here! I am with them! ...I am a police officer! ...We know about the hoax. We just want to talk to you. We already caught some of your friends. We took them downtownin a paddywagon! ... ..." I LOVE THIS MOVIE! so funny
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter! CLIFFHANGER! Yes, I know! VERY cliffhanger. Dont forget to read the next chapter! It's the last one! PLEASE REVIEW! ;