(OT: Aw! I'm actually glad that you hate and love me because that means I'm spreading across my message. The next chapter shall skip onto the crew and Jack boarding the Pearl and the TRUST scene. This one is based off of one of the original leaked scripts, and it just screamed "INBETWEEN SCENE" so I decided to keep the conversation, but I did rearrange some of the lines and put my spin on it. Mostly Elizabeth's point of view until the end. The next shall be a mixture again. Thanks to Terry and Ted for the umph for this chapter. As always, I own nothing. Simply borrowing.)
Tia Dalma sashayed around the deck with a tray in hand, the glimmering waves lapping against the ship as they cruised through starry waters. Posing in a similar position, she handed each crew member a mug of chilled rum, and the men grasped the handles greedily, their eyes blazing with the fervor of their past excursions in Tortuga. The captain gripped the cup tenderly, nodding to the bayou women appreciatively as he downed the contents. Gibbs nursed his, savoring every sip, and Will murmured a thank you as he swigged a long dosage. Tia Dalma paused at the only other women on the Hai Peng, who was seated on a mound of crates, and her ink-lined lips parted as she placed the mug in Miss Swann's lap. Elizabeth cupped her hands around the leather mug as if to keep her warm, her eyes level to the ground as Tia Dalma set down the serving tray and glided into a seat.
"We sail into dangerous waters," she announced, her voice raspy and her breath visible in the slight cold. "I wonder which of you are up to de task. Of course, you will survive if your motives are strong." With her eyes narrowed she swiveled in her seat to eye Will, waiting until he found her gaze. She asked inquisitively, "What brings you on dis voyage, William?" An impish smile emerged, as if she already knew the answer, but Will immediately replied, his tone steady, and his eyes glazed over.
"There is what a man can do... And what a man can't do. Jack Sparrow died saving my life. I can't leave it at that."
Elizabeth knew that wasn't true. He had an ulterior motive that no one else knew about, not even she, but the lady stayed silent, finally quenching her thirst with a heady swig. Now was not the time to begin a conversation or an argument. She grimaced as the liquid simmered in her throat, but remembered Jack Sparrow's words oh-so-long-ago when they were marooned on that god-forsaken island.
"The first goes down rough, but the second is easier...And it'll eventually grow on you...Miss Swann."
Back then, Elizabeth had trusted his word and chugged the contents, starting on another contain within thirty minutes of the first and crooning the old pirate song in the happiest nature, enjoying Mr. Sparrow's lovely idea of prancing and drinking the night away.
Elizabeth almost yearned to break at that point when she heard his speech so vividly in her mind, realizing that every time she and Jack were thrust into a tight situation, she twisted his world somehow, whether by an angry rum-burning island or a salacious betrayal. She watched her beloved straighten in his seat as Tia Dalma rose, replenished the contents of his mug, and directed the same question to the scraggily man nearby.
"And you, Master Barbossa? What brings you on de voyage to World's End?" she offered the man a refill, and Hector accepted insatiably.
"To atone for my many and varied sins, ma'am," the captain answered with great conviction, lifting his eyes to the woman's dark complexion. To his right, Gibbs chuckled and nodded, mocking the captain without a care, and Barbossa's face fell, for once appearing visibly wounded that his own crew assumed that he did not have the heart to repent for his past. Clearing his throat and resuming his mean disposition, Barbossa added as Tia Dalma slithered away, "And seeing as you did me the great favor of restoring me life, I am, of course, overcome with gratitude and offer to be of service in any way I can."
"And you want the Pearl," Elizabeth boldly chimed in, snorting at his façade of sincerity.
Ignoring the remark, Gibbs inquired, "I wondered about that. How exactly were you delivered from your ill-fate?" Barbossa grinned as his small monkey scampered over to him with a small pouch and plopped it in his lap. Jack clambered over the man's shoulders, looping his tail around the captain's neck. The elderly man withdrew a brilliantly green apple from the bag and crunched into the fruit, signifying that silence was to be his answer.
Taking notice of the other woman's abrupt interruption, Tia Dalma asked with a singe, her eyes glaring into Elizabeth's soul. "And you, Elizabet'? What lies in your heart on dis trip?"
Miss Swann's head jerked at the word "lies" as the ponderings on Jack's fate broiled to the surface, and she felt Will eyes skimming over her as she considered her answer delicately. As she lowered her the mug from her parched lips replied, "Jack Sparrow was a good man." Her volume swelled as she found her full voice. "And he did not deserve the fate the world gave him."
"And what man does?" Tia Dalma laughed haughtily, tilting back her head as she yanked the corners of her shawl about her shoulders and sat back down.
"To punish the wicked, I leave to God," Elizabeth growled, her eyes squinting in furious anger that had built for Lord Beckett and her own deeds. "But the least we can try to do is to reward the good, don't you agree?" No one dared respond the razor blade tone of her voice. "What about you, Tia Dalma? What makes you risk such a dangerous journey?" She highlighted the words with the rise and fall of her voice, setting the mug aside after emptying it with a final sip. She had not meant for such a vicious message, but it had emerged from her own heart, and she knew she could not deny the weight of her words.
"The world is a lesser place without Jack Sparrow," Tia Dalma responded placidly.
"To be sure," Elizabeth replied tenderly, prepared to question the woman further when Will interjected.
"But that doesn't answer the question, does it?" he inquired lightly, somehow connecting with his loved one for that moment, and a glance passed between them. It was an indisputable bond that they had lost over the past few months. There was now a civilized but resolute barrier between their minds and body language, and Will was suddenly absorbed in hope that perhaps it could be broken in time.
Tia Dalma looked slyly between the tattered couple and answered enigmatically. "I am owned many debts, wit Jack Sparrow not de least among de debtors. I can hardly collect from a man not of dis world."
Elizabeth's head drooped as she skated away from the crew, her feet softly padding against the greenish deck as she reached the side, her hands flopping over the railing. Jack was in another world. Another time and place. He was swimming in a sea of torture and punishment for his broken promise and her lusty intent. What damage would it do to him? And what would the captain say when he saw Elizabeth? It was the first time she had even considered Jack's reaction. Could he ever grow faith in this pirate again? But faith was not what she desired or needed between her and Jack. Faith was what she required in Will.
"How long do we continue not talking?" Will voice boomed behind her, full of stale rum and slipping hope.
She averted eye contact, gazing into the boundless and paranormal sea. "Once we rescue Jack," she responded softly, "everything will be fine."
"When we rescue Jack?" Will questioned, grasping onto the vision of her frail black back. Turn to me, he yearned to scream. Turn and talk to me.
Elizabeth's neck swiveled and she gazed at him for a moment. Did he... Did he know? It felt as though they had returned to Tia Dalma's shack. His eyes were so absorbed in her quandary... Her troubled heart. With hurt bloating behind her eyes, Elizabeth trotted past William, her heart thumping madly as she retreated into the comfort of the crew, plunking onto the crates again.