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Familiar Ground
Laura's eyebrows rose higher and higher as Tia traced her finger along Will's chin.
"So what service may I do you?" the woman asked Laura's brother before turning to Jack. "You know I demand payment."
"Ah," Jack replied as he motioned to one of the sailors carrying a covered cage, "I brought payment."
Grabbing and uncovering the cage, revealing Jack the monkey, Jack shot the undead creature.
"Look! An undead monkey! Top that."
Tia let the monkey out of its cage.
"No!" Gibbs cried out. "You've no idea how long it took us to catch that."
Laura peered at the corner the animal had gone around. A pair of black boots could be seen.
"The payment is fair," Tia confirmed.
"We're looking for this," Will said, spreading the cloth with the printed key out on the table. "And what it goes to."
Looking at the captain, Tia demanded,
"The compass you bartered from me. It cannot lead you to this?"
"Maybe, why?" Jack uncomfortably asked.
"Ah," the woman responded, "Jack Sparrow does not know what he wants! Or do you know, but are loathe to claim it as your own? Your key go to a chest. And it's what lay inside the chest you seek. Don't it?"
"What is inside?" Gibbs asked.
"Gold?" Pintel hopefully put in. "Jewels? Unclaimed properties of a valuable nature?"
"Nothing bad I hope," the one-eyed Ragetti fretted, looking at a jar full of eyeballs hanging from the ceiling.
"You know of Davy Jones, yes?" Tia questioned. When she saw the look of true recognition in only the eyes of Jack and Laura, she continued. "A man of the sea, a great sailor. Till he run afoul of that which vex all men."
"What vexes all men?" Will asked.
"What indeed?" Tia asked in turn.
"Well, the sea," Gibbs assumed.
"Sums," Pintel guessed, followed by Ragetti.
"The dichotomy of good and evil."
"A woman," Jack and Laura said at the same time, acquiring several odd looks from the crew.
"A woman," Tia validated. "He fell in love."
"No, no, no, no," Gibbs argued, "I heard it was the sea he fell in love with."
"Same story, different versions," Tia flippantly stated, "and all are true. It was a woman as changing and harsh and untamable as the sea. Him never stop loving her. But the pain it cause him was too much to live with, but not enough to cause him to die."
"What exactly did he put into the chest?" Will pointedly asked.
"Him heart," the woman answered.
"Literally, or figuratively?" Ragetti idiotically queried, followed by Pintel's retort.
"He couldn't literally put his heart in a chest. Could he?"
"It was not worth feeling what small, fleeting joy life brings," Tia continued, "and so him carve him heart, lock it away in a chest, and hide the chest from the world. The key, he keep with him at all times."
"You knew this," Will accused Jack.
"I did not," the captain defended. "I didn't know where the key was, but now we do. So all that's left is to climb aboard the Flying Dutchman, grab the key, you go back to Port Royal and save your bonnie lass, eh?"
As he turned to leave, Tia stood and addressed him.
"Let me see your hand."
Jack reluctantly let her unwrap the cloth around his hand.
As soon as the Black Spot was revealed, Gibbs, followed by Pintel and Ragetti, began turning in circles and spitting on the floor.
"The black spot!" Gibbs yelped.
"Black spot!" Pintel and Ragetti cried almost in unison.
"My eyesight's good as ever, just so you know," Jack encouraged them as Tia went into a back room, muttering. A few seconds later, she emerged with a large jar of dirt in her hands.
"Davy Jones cannot make port, cannot step on land but once every ten years," the woman stated, handing the jar to Jack. "Land is where you are safe, Jack Sparrow, so you will carry land with you."
"Dirt," Jack said. "This is a jar of dirt."
"Yes."
"Is the jar of dirt going to help?"
"If you don't want it, give it back."
"No!"
"Then it helps," Tia Dalma finalized.
"It seems," Will stated, "we have a need to find the Flying Dutchman."
"A touch of destiny…" Tia chanted, throwing a handful of crab claws onto the table.
The legs oddly landed in the shape of a formation in the ocean which Jack was familiar with.
Everyone then turned to leave, with Laura last after her captain.
The door had automatically shut behind the not-so-chivalrous Jack, and as the girl reached for the doorknob, Tia stopped her.
"You hide who you are from your friends quite well, Laura Turner. It seems we both have that in common."
"Why didn't you say my true name in front of my friends? I know that you're an ally, but you just met me," Laura said in response.
"There are some secrets that should not be revealed until a time of their owner's choosing," Tia answered.
The pirate sighed before reaching for the door again.
"Thank you," she said.
As she turned the handle, Tia stated from behind her,
"You are more like your brother than you know."
Opening the door, Laura had quite a sight to welcome.
While the rest of the crew were in the boats and casually chatting amongst themselves, Jack, who had apparently been listening at the door, was still on his knees on the porch, looking very much like a child caught by his parents with a hand in the cookie jar.
He was clearly a little afraid that Laura would go back into her foul mood from before Cannibal Island, however all she said to him as she walked to Will's boat was,
"Don't even think about spreading that secret, Jack."
Laura would be able to do explanations later…hopefully.
--
A few hours later, they had managed to navigate the Pearl to where the Flying Dutchman would supposedly be.
Gibbs, Jack, Will, and Laura were lined up along the railing in the pouring rain, viewing the wrecked ship on the rocks.
-That doesn't look at all like it-
"That's the Flying Dutchman?" Will asked with as much doubt as Laura felt, before continuing.
"She doesn't look like much."
"Neither do you," Jack replied, "do not underestimate her."
"Musta run afoul of the reef," Gibbs forcefully suggested.
"So what's your plan then?" Jack asked Will.
"I row over," the boy answered, "search the ship until I find your bloody key."
"And if there are crewmen?" the captain further questioned.
"I cut down anyone in my path," was the reply.
"I like it," Jack stated, looking at Laura as Will climbed into the lowered boat. "Simple, easy to remember."
"Your chariot awaits you, sire!" Ragetti was calling out to Will while cackling.
-Wait, I no there's something different about the crewman of that ship, if only I could remember what. Well, since Jack isn't honest with me, I might as well be with the brother that doesn't remember me-
"Oh," Jack was saying to Will. "If you do happen to get captured, just say Jack Sparrow sent you to settle his debt. Might save your life."
Laura quickly climbed down into Will's boat just as he was casting off.
"What are you doing?" Will questioned over the rain.
"Let me just say that I don't trust Jack like I used to," Laura answered.
A minute later, they had climbed onto the pitiful vessel.
"Something's not right," Laura stated as she noticed that ship was split completely in half.
Will was looking at the frightened and hiding crewmembers when they both heard a large splash.
The older Turner ran to source of the splash, a man who was crawling towards them, whimpering.
As Will turned the man over, it was revealed that the man's face had been sucked off somehow, giving evidence of the Kraken.
Laura shivered at the memory of how she met Jones the last time: the ship she was on had been attacked by the fearful monster of legend.
"Will," she began, only to be cut off as the crew of Davy Jones came out of nowhere.
Both she and Will began fighting for their lives.
-Sure, now I remember that these men don't die-
Soon, they were cornered. Will had somehow managed to set his sword blade on fire and was threatening the crew with it, until he was knocked unconscious.
As Laura bent down to see if he was alright, the real Flying Dutchman burst out of the sea.
It was just as grand as the girl remembered, if not more covered with plant life.
She soon found herself kneeling next to a just conscious Will along with four surviving crewmembers of the other ship.
The fish/man with the head of a hammerhead shark spoke to someone about ten feet away. Though the person's face was distorted from the pouring rain, Laura could recognize him as Davy.
Bending down to one of the kneeling sailors, the captain questioned,
"Do you fear death? Do you fear that dark abyss? All your deeds laid bare, all your sins punished? I can off you an escape."
"Don't listen to him," another sailor warned.
Laura almost gasped. She knew what lay ahead for the poor soul.
"Do you not fear death?" Jones asked the man.
"I'll take my chances, sir," the poor man replied.
"To the depths," Jones ordered.
The orders were carried out as the man's throat was slit and he was thrown overboard.
"Cruel blighter!" a third sailor accused.
"Life is cruel. Why should the afterlife be any different?" Jones responded prior to turning once again to the first sailor.
While the captain was asking the man to serve a hundred years on the ship, Laura whispered to Will,
"Just a little piece of advice: avoid agreeing to serve whatever you do."
"I will serve," the sailor had answered.
All of the crew began laughing with glee.
In mid-laugh, Jones caught eye of Laura, causing him to cut short.
Luckily for her, Will diverted his attention.
"You are neither dead nor dying," the captain said, half to Will and half to Laura. "What is your purpose here?"
"Jack Sparrow sent us to settle his debt," Will answered as quickly as possible.
"What is your purpose?" Davy questioned again, not wanting to believe his ears.
"Jack Sparrow," Will quickly and hesitantly said again, "sent us to settle his debt."
"You mean you and the little lady?" Jones tauntingly asked. "Did he now? I'm sorely tempted to accept that offer."
Suddenly, Davy and about a dozen of the crewmembers disappeared. Once again from experience, Laura guessed that they were aboard the Pearl.
A few minutes later, Jones and his companions returned.
Suspiciously, no one from Jack's ship was with them.
Eyeballing the two Turner's, Jones addressed them.
"Well, it seems that you get to have a little time to get acquainted with my vessel. Put them to work," he ordered. Just as Laura was about to be herded along with the other newcomers, Jones grabbed her arm with his giant crab claw, stopping her in her tracks.
"You ought to be more careful with that, mate," she said, nodding at the claw.
"Did ye think I wouldn't recognize ye," he began, "you treacherous little…"
"Pirate? Girl? Woman? Piratess? Oh, or better yet, rabbit!" the girl interrupted.
After getting a confused look due to the last comment, she continued,
"Well, rabbits are rather skittish. Move an inch or step on a stick and there's a good chance they just might bolt. And if I may be so bold as…"
Her words were lost as Jones cut her short.
"Don't play games with me, "partner of Captain Jack Sparrow"" he quoted.
"Oh, so I'm that famous now, eh?"
"You won't be gettin' away so easily this time," he threatened as he let her go.
Thanks for reading! Please, R&R.