13.
Jack's walk felt different to himself due to a strengthened confidence from his new appearance and, of course, how he got such helped too. He toyed with a lock of twisted hair for a moment, recalling the feeling of three sets of hands on him at once. What a fulfilling experience. The only problem with those was when the need for filling would return.
He breathed in the sight of Tortuga, all of her sense of opportunity, even in her ruggedness. Truly the only land he was fond of. In particular, he was most fond of the land where the tavern most familiar to him stood, always sure to house a good time. Jack opened both tavern doors in the same instance then walked through the passageway with a purpose and one purpose only. He ignored the rousing atmosphere, full of fiddle music and guests red in the face from the typical reactions to follow that came with mixing a crowd of pirates and the like with drink: laughing and fighting. Jack's eyes scanned for that familiar electrifying moment of realization, sure he would find it. This tavern never let him down yet, always sure to hold a beautiful lonely woman. And there she was, his purpose easily found, all long dark hair hanging over a chairback. He swiftly made his way towards her, studying her from afar for a moment. The woman was nursing a drink, dark eyes watching others, a curious expression coloring her features. She probably had a handful of years on him, and this only made her that much more appealing, sure to know what she was doing.
Jack sauntered over then leaned in close to her ear, surpassing introductions for the time being. "Taverns are made for interactions, you know."
He waved a drink forward while looking the woman over, satisfied with his choice. His eyes were unwavering from her tan skin and high cheekbones even as the barmaid sat down a mug of spiced liquor onto the counter with more force than necessary. Probably still in a sour mood with him for leaving her with a cold bed, Jack's mind supplied. He tried to remember her name, but couldn't place it. He could, however, remember her satin sheets. No matter, there was a new name to learn with the intent of forgetting.
"Made for interactions, yes," she murmured, her gaze still on a man and woman in the corner of the room. "Only I like watching them rather than participating."
After taking a long drink, Jack wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt then watched the same couple. It was an interesting sight, he had to agree, witnessing how much control the woman seemed to have over the man.
Poor, pathetic fellow, he thought.
"We all should be watching you," Jack countered, a smile pulling at his lips which rested at the rim of the mug.
"One day, people will," she murmured and something about the weight of which she spoke the statement was dark and captivating. "For now, I watch." She slowly pulled her gaze over him. "What is your name?"
"A common one."
"A common name for a seemingly uncommon man," she said, more to herself than Jack, reaching forward to play with his hair. The corners of his mouth pulled up at her fascination. She hummed thoughtfully for a moment then spoke in a sure voice. "John."
"Jack," he corrected flatly, refusing to use the name his father gave him, the irritation diverting his attention away from her correct guess. "And yours must be…"
"Esmeralda," she answered, and he had to admit that the way she spoke power into her own name was attractive. He would have to try doing so himself during his next introduction. There was a power to be found in names.
"Of course! It had to be Es! Was just on the tip of my tongue."
"What is it you seek, stranger?" Esmeralda asked, tilting her head to the side as she studied him further. "Luck? Love? Money?"
"What do I seek?" Jack echoed, feigning thoughtfulness for a moment before smiling down at Esmeralda. "I'm looking at what I seek."
"Mm, somewhat a mixture of the first two then," she reasoned, pushing strands of raven hair from her eyes before standing. "I'll warn you, Jack," Esmeralda whispered, "I'm dangerous," she finished close to his ear before drawing back, her red nails toying at his beard. "Or so I hear these days."
Jack grinned widely, sure to show his gold teeth. He always did like the way older women got right to it, no blushing or shyness just right into desire. "I like the sound of that."
It didn't take much more before Jack had Esmeralda at an inn and he was content with the turnout of events, that is, until what came to follow. Esmeralda handed Jack her card, asking him to come see her sometime then left without another word, the sound of a lone pan flute player reaching inside the room for a moment before she shut the door, on her way to become memory of long swinging black hair.
Jack looked at the front of the card, reading, "The Great Esmeralda knows all" then turned it over, the back stating, "Seeking luck? Love? Money? Root worker and spellcaster for all human desires." In lieu of any directions, there was just a cryptic message in smaller print at the bottom: "You will find me."
A fortune teller. Jack groaned internally, not realizing he had a thing for intermediaries. The last one he was mixed up nearly killed him. At least he got his compass from the near-death experience, he reasoned, his fingers drumming at his mouth. But this was trouble as he knew fortune tellers were perfidious, having a way of playing off of human desires as far as they would go until the desires nearly tipped the one doing the desiring over the edge, too far gone. But the solution was simple. He would just never seek the woman out again.
Jack returned to his vessel, feeling somewhat ridiculous with a smile plastered on his face, but he allowed himself to relish in the simple joy. If Esmeralda was half as good at fortune-telling as she was with other matters, well, he figured she must have quite the business. Jack's mouth pulled down at recalling her name so easily. He would never seek Esmeralda out again, so he would never think of Esmeralda again. The woman, he was sure to correct.
However, Jack was ignorant to the notion that a woman could be the one to do the seeking. He didn't stand a chance in evading Esmeralda, going up against a woman with divine connections, ill-intent, and more than enough experience in how a young man's heart is eager to trust.
.
"Care for a fortune, dear?" Esmeralda offered Elizabeth, her dark eyes narrowed, challenging.
Elizabeth met Esmeralda's dark gaze with a glare of her own. "I care for nothing from you."
"Don't be so difficult. It's just us now, woman-to-woman." Esmeralda took Elizabeth by the wrists and pulled her towards the pit where she cast her black magic. "Don't you want to know what your future could hold? A future with," Esmeralda paused, a knowing smile playing on her lips, "Jack?"
Elizabeth remained silent. She reached up to hold the pendant which was radiating a dulled heat.
"Yes," she admitted, her voice rushed and distant.
Esmeralda cradled Elizabeth's hand with her own, studying her palm. Her long fingernails traced Elizabeth's love and life lines. Esmeralda used her staff's magic to draw a small carved wooden figurine from a shelf on the wall and then formed a rotating sphere of ocean water glowing with white light out of thin air.
"I thought a fortune teller would use a crystal ball," Elizabeth whispered, hating that she marveled at the sight. It was, admittedly, rather beautiful, all shimmering and sea.
"That's a lot easier for the English, a people with a lack of imagination, to understand, isn't it?" Esmeralda replied, pricking Elizabeth's index finger with the miniature wooden statue of a crow. Elizabeth exhaled sharply then tore her hand away from Esmeralda's hold. She watched as her droplet of blood trickled into the circling sphere of water.
"I'm surprised you don't remember me, dear," Esmeralda murmured, her eyes alight as the water colored a reddish hue before the blood fully diffused into the circling magic. "I foretold you would bear a child—a boy. A boy with big brown eyes, a love for adventure, and—"
"A crowing laugh that could be heard a town away," Elizabeth finished in a whisper. "You?" She studied Esmeralda's face, imagining her striking features dirty and shadowed. Elizabeth regained her composure following the realization, jutting her chin forward and avoiding Esmeralda's careful gaze as she reflected upon her miscarriage. "Not a town away, but a life away," Elizabeth corrected. "The child was lost."
"Yes, that child was called on, but there is still possibility, hope for a boy with a crowing laugh like that of," Esmeralda's voice trailed off as she placed the water sphere into Elizabeth's hands, "birdsong."
Elizabeth peered into the water, awed by the white magic taking shape within the water. Elizabeth recognized herself on a vessel much like the sloop she shared with Jack this past voyage if not the same one with renovations. She looked comfortable. At home. Fulfilled. Then there was Jack, new talismans and beard grown anew, looking every bit the echo of his former self before he reunited with her, yet different still—all in the eyes, a little softer, a little revealed. Jack turned, his features softening further when a boy ran to him. Jack lifted the child onto his shoulders then started speaking, probably the beginnings of a story, Elizabeth reasoned, and his hand swept out towards the horizon, ever-smiling. He lowered the boy from his shoulders then took his hat off to place it on the child's head. Jack threw his head back in laughter when the hat dipped over the boy's eyes for a moment. Little hands tipped the hat back and the boy looked up, all wide eyes and wide smile just as Jack drew Elizabeth close into his side for a chaste kiss.
"Like that of a Sparrow."
"A boy with big brown eyes, a love for adventure, and a crowing laugh that could be heard a town away," Elizabeth softly repeated Esmeralda as she held the pendant once more. She thumbed over the stone then stepped back, shaking her head, disbelieving. She dropped the spinning sphere. "Impossible."
Esmeralda swung her staff forward and the glowing droplets of sea and magic ignited into flames licking at the cavern floor before the fiery magic dwindled out. Fire hands, Elizabeth recalled Jack mentioning.
"It is a fortune—a matter of choice. Not fate but choice. What will you choose for your lifeline, Elizabeth Turner?" The way Esmeralda spoke her name sent a chill down her spine, but Elizabeth straightened her shoulders, standing tall.
"I have a husband," Elizabeth said, her voice weighted and clipped as if rehearsed. "He loves me. At all times, through anything."
Elizabeth turned the pendant over and, although she was wondering where Will was at that very moment, a more pressing thought wondered where Esmeralda sent Jack.
"An honorable choice. Your careful love," Esmeralda murmured, a knowing smile on her mouth as he swept Elizabeth's hair behind her shoulders.
Elizabeth started at Esmeralda's touch and her words. Of course she already knew of—
"William Turner, the keeper of lost souls," Esmeralda quietly spoke, her hand brushing up from Elizabeth's hair to her shoulder.
Elizabeth felt her heart race as she wondered exactly how much she knew. She hoped Esmeralda was unaware of her and Jack's plans to have him take Will's place. Although, now Elizabeth was unsure if she could let Jack go through with their intention now.
"Only comes around if a poor soul is about to pass on at sea," she reminded, and Elizabeth's breathing wavered, understanding. "Live out your chosen life line, Elizabeth," Esmeralda finished just before snatching the pendant from around her neck. "What's left of it, anyway."
Elizabeth drew her sword a moment too late just as Esmeralda's her arms propelled forward to shove Elizabeth into the pit, sending her into the ocean. In that instant, Elizabeth had no choice but to acknowledge her concealed truth, her true decision, because the name she called out in a gasp just before the ocean water pulled her under was not that of her husband.
.
"Someone's nearly at the end of their tale." Will sensed the intuition in his vacant chest, but it wasn't as strong as if the soul was already stone cold. They would watch and wait, the more difficult circumstance to witness. "Eastward. As fast as she'll go," Will instructed, trying to swallow down his initial feeling, his initial thought, but he couldn't shake it.
"Are you alright, Captain?" Bill Turner asked. "Son?" he prompted again, a hand on Will's shoulder.
"I might be once we see the poor soul."
Certainly not. There was no way. Elizabeth was somewhere safe on land, Will attempted to assure himself. Certainly not.
.
Jack was pacing in the forest still, impatient. He remembered Will and Elizabeth and the plan at hand, yet he remained trapped in his own mind, unsure how to crack the black magic.
"Esmeralda!" Jack yelled up at the sky. "The Great Esmeralda!" he amended, but the correction was futile. She did not answer.
He played and won his game with his shadowed self and now he had to return to ensure Elizabeth's safety. Jack felt called to, ever-called to the woman he swore he was never intended to meet by the natural world but perhaps fated to meet by an unknown force.
"Release me from this place!" Jack continued pacing, each step heavy as if trying to stomp out the existence of land itself. "You wretch, you wrecker of all that's kind and good—release me from this place—"
In that moment, Jack heard Elizabeth's voice call to him and, with his next step, walked into a portal, a pit. His balance nearly faltered as he seemingly stepped right into Shipwreck Cove once again. Jack's eyes darted from side-to-side but he adjusted his stance a moment later, schooling his expression and straightening his shirtfront. He ignored the weirdness, the sensation of standing on the world sideways for a blink of a moment.
Jack glanced down, noticing the ring on his finger that matched the pendant glowing hot. He turned, narrowing his eyes at Esmeralda, about to curse her to her face when she blew out smoke that swirled past him on either side. Jack blinked his eyes shut, letting the smoke wash over him for a moment before facing the other direction towards the sound of his own voice, met with apparitions of himself from the Locker made from Esmeralda's black magic.
"But, perhaps if you gave a man another chance," one Jack offered hopefully.
"Shall I? That sort of thinking got us into this mess."
Jack remembered his arm chained to the Black Pearl by Elizabeth. Her kiss. The sharp feeling of a pirate brand burning into his skin by Beckett's hand. Esmeralda's kiss.
Bathed in smoke, a vision of Elizabeth ran a hand through Esmeralda's waist-length hair, sharing a secret close to her ear then the pair of phantasms' lips met in a slow, open kiss. Afterward, Elizabeth gestured Jack forward with a nod of her head and a girlish smile moments before both smoke illusions vanished. Tia Dalma's words met Jack's ears in the same instant in a distant, silvery whisper.
"Jack Sparrow does not know what he wants…" Jack watched the black magic take the form of Tia Dalma. "Or do know, but are loath to claim it for your own," she finished, a hazy hand caressing his chin before transfiguring into a snake, slinking across his shoulders until he tried to pry the snake off, no longer distracted by the illusions.
The beast slinked through the air then around Esmeralda's neck. She stroked the snake's form which seemed to materialize from smoke apparition to reality at her touch.
"The whole time I thought Tia Dalma spoke of the chest," Jack muttered, his eyebrows drawing together in realization, "but she spoke of…"
Esmeralda withdrew the snake from her arms, smoke-like once again. She threw forward the burst of magic towards Jack which he reached out to catch instinctively, without question, when it took an entirely different form, that of—
.
"Elizabeth?" Will uttered after using his telescope to see her coughing up seawater, fighting for air. He called out his wife's name again, his voice filled with disbelief and desperation.
Elizabeth swam, going against the current of the whirlpool with the tell-tale smoke of black magic hovering over the circling water. The pull of the current strengthened in force with each passing minute. Elizabeth reached to her neck for the pendant, forgetting Esmeralda took it from her. Even if she still had it, she would have no use for it. A pair must be "truly linked" for the magic to work so they all said. She would have no way of using it, Elizabeth reiterated the lie to herself then wondered if her last rushed, tangled thoughts would those of stubbornness.
.
The phantasm of Elizabeth disappeared into thin air before Jack's arms could wrap around her. His eyes fell to the pendant dangling in Esmeralda's hand, hyperaware of Elizabeth's absence.
"What have you done to her?" When the question went unanswered, he followed it with a command. "Give me the pendant, Esmeralda. Now."
"Only if after saving the girl, we can arrange an exchange."
Jack took a backward step as Esmeralda slinked forward, close enough to kiss him once more. "What could you possibly want from me? You took everything already."
"I didn't say I wanted to take something from you." Esmeralda shook her head, looking up to Jack. She drew a hand up his chest. "I want you to give something to me."
"And what is that?"
She looked up at him through her eyelashes. "You."
"Of course. Forcing me headlong into piracy and causing me to believe I could never trust again couldn't possibly be enough. You'll grow even stronger with your ultimately betrayed as a servant, won't you?"
"Always so clever, Jack." Esmeralda brushed a hand through Jack's hair which he deflected. She drew her hands up in defense. "This place could use a man's touch is all," she assured, unconvincing. "And I know you missed me, in your way."
"You can't miss someone who is no longer a person at all but a twisted manifestation of their dark ambition."
"Boo." Esmeralda narrowed her eyes at Jack. "Alright. Yes, I will grow stronger with a servant, but not merely a servant, but a devoted follower. You will worship me, Jack Sparrow," she whispered, drawing in close and taking his chin in her hand. "The first of many. Until I'm not merely a woman, but a renowned spirit."
It was as if her motivations spanning years clicked into place. They were all landlocked in their own way, weren't they? And what better way to best being a human condemned to land than to surpass humanness all together? It was a noble try, if not completely delusional.
"You fancy yourself a god?"
"You would call me anything other than such?" Esmeralda snapped her fingers, sparking a flame. "I can harness the elements at my will—The storm that brought you and the moon-eyed girl to Teague was by my hand, directing you to me. I can foretell possible futures. Produce life from thin air. I am finally at a strength worth worship."
"Why keep your soul bound to your body then?" Jack asked, his wit sharp and words inviting. "Why not join the sea with the other spirits?"
Esmeralda shook her head at him. "Can't get rid of me that easy, Jack. I'm not that strong. Yet."
"Come now, Es," Jack murmured, changing tactics, "even you have to admit it's a ridiculous notion. Me? Worship you? Esmeralda, nothing could ever make me—"
With a wave of her staff, the dome of black magic appeared once again along with the image of Elizabeth bathed in white light. Jack stepped forward, his hand just barely dipping into the black magic, the smoke swirling over his fingertips.
"She's drowning, Jack," Esmeralda whispered, studying her erstwhile lover carefully. She took Jack's hand out of the smoke and into hers, offering her proposition quickly. "A blood oath so you—and I—must keep to our word. I know how you pirates are fond of tricks. Go on, save the girl, in exchange for servitude and worship for as long as you shall live."
Jack looked at Elizabeth illustrated in bright light.
"For as long as you shall live," Esmeralda had said. Jack nearly smiled weakly. Esmeralda must have sensed they were after her, but not clued into why, her vain nature giving him and Elizabeth the upper-hand. She may have pieced together that Jack thought her the perfect bait of vengeance for Will, but she seemed nescient to the reality that he was planning to die, making peace with his impending death for days with the purpose of saving Will. In this case, "for as long as you shall live" was exactly what he hoped to hear—a loophole.
Jack wordlessly nodded, pressing his hand further into Esmeralda's grasp. She pricked his finger with a carved wooden crow, dropping the blood into the dome of black magic. Her eyes looked on, hungrily and unwaveringly as the smoke took on a reddish hue. Satisfied, Esmeralda extended the pendant forward which Jack took in a rush. He looped the pendant around his neck and made to step towards the pit, only to stop in his tracks.
Jack met Esmeralda's black-rimmed eyes with his own in a challenging gaze.
"I will be free of you," Jack said, his voice low. Unable to leave on that note alone, he continued with the less noble, "Wench," then stuck his tongue out at Esmeralda.
He removed his weapons that would weigh him down in haste then dove through the dome of magic, into the pit which would lead out to sea.
Jack couldn't help but recall diving after Elizabeth on their first meeting, the memory of him successfully saving her once before propelling him forward as well as the knowledge Esmeralda wouldn't drown Elizabeth if she planned to keep Jack in servitude. With a blood oath, she must uphold her side of the bargain. He swam on, ignoring the pain in his chest as he pushed himself forward underneath the seemingly endless hulls of wrecked ships above him, not allowing for any breaks for air. Jack hoped Elizabeth held out long enough, able to break for air at the surface.
Once out to open sea, Jack swam above the sea line, initially taking rushed, desperate breaths of air that he managed to ease into controlled, purposeful breaths. His eyes landed on the whirlpool raging unabated, just as the circling water engulfed Elizabeth and didn't let up.
"Elizabeth!" he shouted, hearing a strange echo. He looked up, straining his eyes to see the Flying Dutchman. William. The vessel wouldn't make it in time. Even so, the crew was lowering a longboat that would make it sooner.
Jack swam back into the sea, following Elizabeth's form, drug down by the merciless sea. The matching ring to the pendant drifted away just as he nearly reached her. Jack's eyebrows drew together as he strained his eyes, shifting between Elizabeth and the ring. The glow of the band was flickering, the white light about to dim out. Jack backtracked, slipped the ring back onto his finger, then doubled his efforts to save Elizabeth.
Once reaching her, he wrestled the coat off of Elizabeth then wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her sinking form up to the surface. He gasped for air above sea line again, his thoughts trained on saving Elizabeth. Jack's eyes landed on the longboat that was fatefully floating towards them. Jack looked up, remembering the Dutchman, his eyes wide and grateful.
Jack clambered aboard the boat then lowered Elizabeth from his shoulder. He instantly pressed his ear against her chest, checking for a heartbeat—there but wavering.
No matter what, he would ensure Elizabeth's safety and love, once again, he promised himself, so he would make it so.
"Should a pair truly linked, whatever, whatever," Jack muttered, his hands fumbling at the matching ring, circling it although the light continued to dim. "Work, work, bloody work." He grasped Elizabeth by the shoulders, his voice shaking with desperation as he tightened his grip. "Don't leave me, Swann."
Jack squinted at the flash of white light and he eventually had to relent and shut them completely. He felt the sensation of water filling his lungs instantly and tried to cough up the seawater. Instead only the smoke of Esmeralda's black magic fell from his lips.
Elizabeth gasped, her hand reaching to her throat instinctively as she choked and sputtered out black smoke as well. Once coming to, she drew upright, rushing forward to where Jack rested against the side of the boat. Her hands found Jack's chest first then flitted over his forehead, his arms, his shoulders, then finally cradled his face. Elizabeth felt tears welling in her eyes as a crow soared overhead.
"Never a good sign. Crows," Jack said, repeating his statement from before the ball with a distant smile pulling at his lips.
"Jack," Elizabeth whispered through tears. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. I… We deserve a proper goodbye."
"Goodbye. There. Now hurry us over to William to swap our places." Jack brushed wet hair from Elizabeth's eyes. Her mind was racing and yet she couldn't do anything but hold Jack, crying over him, watching him slowly slip away. "Stay with me, Swann."
She choked out something unintelligible, nodding, acknowledging how ironic it was Jack spoke those words to her instead of her to him. Elizabeth pleaded with her mind to stay strong, focused.
"Esmeralda only has power as long as a heart is weighed down by her betrayal," she spoke in haste, trying to make sense of how to right matters. "How do we make your heart not be weighed down?"
After meeting Jack's eyes, Elizabeth knew the answer without needing words spoken.
By making it feel again.
Elizabeth looked at Will atop the Dutchman, a telescope to his eye. He lowered the instrument and motioned to his crew towards the longboat. Elizabeth forced her gaze away. This was all happening so fast. Her breathing was rushed and unstable as she shook from her sobs.
"Stay with me, Swann, stay with me," Jack repeated. "You gave me a story worthy of legend. Now get us to the Dutchman."
Elizabeth grabbed for an oar and she started steering them towards the Flying Dutchman only to still a moment later, remembering a far-off promise, what Jack mentioned he wouldn't forget, only he had.
"Your story," she recalled. "I never gave you your story."
"Well, let's hear it. Your Swann song."
Elizabeth glanced over and the sight of Jack looking wistful, so near his end, forced her to look back to the sea as she spoke.
"As a little girl, I would look at the moon and wish to be a pirate. I wondered if a true pirate was doing the same. A maddening, clever, caring man once told me he wished for a crew. But what he didn't know was the moon sent someone else instead." Elizabeth stilled, feeling called to let the truth be known.
Elizabeth set the oar back inside the longboat with trembling hands. She met his eyes for a moment, breathless from how captivated they looked, wide and childlike, hanging onto her every word. He reached for her hand and she sunk forward, embracing him instead. Then, Elizabeth removed Jack's hat from his head and pressed a kiss into the bandana covering his forehead before leaning down.
"The moon wanted us to be together, Jack," Elizabeth whispered into his neck, nestled in close to his chest like the night they fell asleep together under a sky full of stars, feeling as if they were the only two left in the world. "Like you said, our best stories have each other in them. Always."
With an unsteady hand, she pressed her palm to Jack's and felt the pendant grow hot at their touching palms, their touching life lines sealing not her fate but her choice. Elizabeth leaned back, tears sliding down her face when she looked upon Jack's, his eyes now closed, expressionless.
She was too late. To tell him clearly and shamelessly that she loved him, to save him while simultaneously saving Will. She let Jack die in vain.
Elizabeth hid her face in her hands, her fingers clawing into her skin as she damned those very palms, her love line, her life line—all of it. Her throat felt tight as she choked out more sobs, feeling nearly on fire as the pendant grew hotter still then flickered out, as helpless as she.
