Author's Note: forgive me for any grammatical mistakes or small errors i may have made, I know I promised to have this out sooner and I'm sorry I didn't but I went through a bit of a writer's block with this chapter, but lo and behold inspiration strikes at 2 in the morning and it's now 4 in the morning as I post this so I really hope my readers appreciate this chapter getting up. As always thanks to my reviewers Pup-of-Power, XJacksPiratePrincessX (cute name btw), johnnydeppluver89, QueenOfWeird1995, and of course her name is probably memorized by now and you all probably know who'll be mentioned next but thanks to ThePurpleness for listening to the random babbles that is sadly my thought process. (yawns) Well I'm gonna finally hit the sack now so I hope you enjoy and I'm expecting a few extra reviews for actually lisenting to that nagging voice telling me to write this early! Really, it's not too much to ask ^^.
As soon as Jack and Alina left the comfort of the cabin, the darkness of the night sky enveloped them. Selecting a few members of the crew to accompany them, Brandy included as she refused to be left alone with a bunch of 'buggy-eyed men who can't keep it in their pants', they entered the dinghy and began making the trip up the narrow river and to the home of the woman Alina despised. As Jack left the dinghy he turned to give a helping hand to Alina , leaving Brandy to scramble about herself.
"No worries, mates. Tia Dalma and I go way back." Jack chuckled nervously as he saw the not only skeptical but also menacing face Alina wore. "Thick as thieves. Nigh inseparable we are," then, rethinking his statement he rectified, "were...have been...before." His face became down trodden as he realized he held no promise he could keep. His previous business with Tia Dalma had ended quite some time before. Though the priestess knew Jack would come back some day, many days had indeed passed between them.
"I'll watch your back." Gibbs reassured, only to have Jack respond, "It's me front I'm worried about." Alina made a note to herself in her mind that she' d be watching his front like a hawk and any sign that the despicable wench was moving in on him and she'd be pouncing like a jungle cat.
"Mind the boat." Gibbs said to Will, who passed the buck to Brandy, who then passed it to Ragetti, who tagged Pintel, who told Marty, who told the parrot, who left Cotton sitting all alone with the order.
"Jack Sparrow." The woman hunched over at the table purred with a grin adorning her face.
"Tia Dalma." Jack replied with a nervous quiver that Alina managed to catch and internally smirk. She turned her head slightly toward the door as the two exchanged greetings and watched the others pile in, then successfully managed to hold in her chuckle when she saw Brandy walk in, become wide-eyed, and then walk right back out to watch the dinghy with Cotton.
"I always knew the wind was going to blow you back to me one day." Tia's face then momentarily registered shock before returning to her cool demeanor as she turned to Will, "You, you have touch of...destiny about you, William Turner."
"You know me?" Will asked confused, and Alina hid her amused smile behind her hand as she realized it wouldn't be Jack she'd need to watch when Tia Dalma's face turned coy and asked, "You want to know me?"
"There'll be no knowing here." Jack interrupted before pulling her away and whispering, "I thought I knew you."
"Not so well as I had hoped." Tia Dalma replied, "Come." She sat contentedly at the round table in the center of the room as the rest of the group half-circled around it. "So what service may I do you?" She asked invitingly before snapping harshly, "You know I demand payment."
"I brought payment." Jack replied motioning for the monkey to be brought forth, "Look!" He proceeded to shoot the antsy creature and explained, "An undead monkey! Top that!" He half turned to Alina while Tia briefly observed the monkey and muttered, "Two birds with one stone aye?" Alina smirked and chuckled at Jack's usual attitude. It was then that she noticed Tia Dalma opening the cage and letting the monkey free.
Alina assumed it would immediately run to either bother Jack or come near herself as next to Hector, she was his favorite. Instead however, little Jack ran to a back room where she briefly noted a pair of black boots lying down on the bed and little Jack nudging the owner of said pair of boots. For the time being, she simply passed it off as one of Tia's 'special friends', later she'd ponder on what exactly it could mean but at the moment she needed to make sure Jack didn't get in over his head as Will was bound to find out his scheme sooner or later.
Alina figured it out as soon as the drawing of a key hit the table. At that moment, shock registered in her mind and a thousand sinarios ran through at lightning speed. She would definitely have to have another talk with Jack...and soon.
"The compass you bartered from me. It cannot lead you to this?" Tia Dalma asked skeptically, although Alina caught a hint of disdain creep into her voice.
"Maybe, why?" Jack eyes could not meet Tia's, instead they wandered to the many trinkets and voodoo objects hanging about the room, to Alina's face, to his crew, to the floor, and back to Alina, before settling on the priestess once more.
"Ah, Jack Sparrow does not know what he wants!" Tia Dalma proclaimed jubilantly at the thought of capturing him in a corner, much like a very large and very pompous cat would when corning a tiny field mouse who dared scurry through her halls, "Or do you know," she continued, "but are loathe to claim it as your own?" Tia briefly glanced at Alina's face before returning back to the object on the table, "Your key go to a chest. And it's what lay inside the chest you seek. Don't it?"
"What is inside?" Gibbs questioned.
"Gold? Jewels? Unclaimed properties of a valuable nature?" Pintel inquired.
"Nothing bad, I hope." Ragetti, ever the careful, one gulped. Alina rolled her eyes.
"You know of Davy Jones, yes? A man of the sea, a great sailor. Till he run afoul of that which vex all men."
"What vexes all men?" Will, ever the clueless one, asked.
"What indeed?" Tia probed, looking for them to answer the question themselves, she hinted at herself with a hand near her bosom. The men took turns guessing.
"The sea." Ever the sailor.
"Sums." Ever the looter.
"The dichotomy of good and evil." At this Jack and Alina had heard enough and both answered back, "A woman!"
"And they call themselves men." Alina muttered, crossing her arms and waiting to hear how the rest of the tale spun out even though she well knew the ending and how Will would possibly play into it.
"A woman. He fell in love." Tia Dalma purred once more as she attempted to continue her story before Gibbs interrupted.
"No, no, no, no, I heard it was the sea he fell in love with."
"Same story, different versions, and all are true." Tia snapped, appalled that someone would have the nerve to not only interrupt her but attempt to call her wrong, "It was a woman, as changing, 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 asked, becoming more engrossed, yet at the same time slightly disturbed and highly suspicious.
"Him heart." She replied truthfully. Ragetti and the crew began questioning whether this was physically possible of if it was a matter of speaking figuratively. Alina swallowed a hard lump in her throat as she knew where this was going and what Will was more than likely going to end up doing. She had unconsciously moved closer to Jack who discreetly put a hand on her lower back and out of Tia Dalma's line of vision. The old hag however noticed the movement of their bodies and smirked at their closeness. Jack mentally cursed her perception, he should have known that nothing gets past the old bat.
"It was not worth feeling what small, fleeting joy life brings," Tia's gaze seemed to penetrate Alina and Jack both at the same time, "and so, him carve out him heart, lock it away in a chest, and hide the chest from the world." Her gaze then became softer as she turned away and finished, "The key, he keep with him at all times."
"You knew this." Will accused, throwing a disgusted look Jack's way.
"I did not." Jack's voice seemed appalled at the idea and Alina rolled her eyes once more.
"Jack." She murmured, trying to convey to him that she knew his ploy and it wasn't going to work.
"I didn't know where the key was," he rectified, "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 bonny lass, eh?" At this point there was not a soul in the room who didn't realize something was amiss with the captain as he was unusually nervous and a little bit jumpy.
"Let me see your hand." Tia commanded. It was now Alina's turn to comfort him as she placed a hand on his left shoulder. Jack reluctantly brought the respective hand up and allowed Alina to unwrap the cloth he had used to cover,
"The Black Spot!" Gibbs gasped as soon as he saw it. He then went through a crazy superstitious turn about to keep the dreaded curse away from himself.
"Black Spot!"
"Black Spot!" Ragetti and Pintel followed Gibbs's example.
"My eyesight's as good as ever, just so you know." Jack told them, annoyed at not only their stupidity but at hearing the cursed mark repeated.
Tia Dalma rushed into a back room to collect something and Alina watched as Jack pocketed a ring with a shining emerald that was sitting next to a curious looking locket. Tia returned with a jar in her hands and explained herself.
"Davy Jones cannot make port, cannot step on land but once every ten years. Land is where you are safe, Jack Sparrow, so you will carry land with you." She handed the jar to him and both he and Alina glanced at it with a single cocked brow.
"Dirt?" Alina asked.
"Dirt." Jack confirmed, "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!" Jack hugged the jar to his body causing a chuckle to emit from Alina as she took in his child-like pout.
"Then it helps."
"It seems we have a need to find the Flying Dutchman." Will proclaimed before heading out the door. Alina was soon following the others before Tia Dalma called her back.
"You, come here Carter."
Alina glanced at Jack who gave her a reassuring nod before exiting the room to wait for her by the dinghy with the rest.
"What?" Alina asked slightly annoyed.
Tia Dalma seemed to be in a far off place as she replied. Her eyes were dilated and she swayed lightly, she seemed dazed and airy as she prophesied Alina's near future, "You have a great decision ahead of you young Carter. You can make the choice to follow what your body tells you is perfect, simple, is wonderful, or what your mind tells you is right, smart, safe, or you may choose to follow the harder path, the path the heart lead you. But be warned. Either way leads to great peril for you. Follow your mind, and your heart die. Follow your heart and your body die. Follow your body, and your mind die. Yet only through the deaths can your happiness come through, for things must always become so much worse, before they have hope of becoming better. Choose wisely when your time comes. Choose wisely." Tia's gaze snapped back and she shook her head as if awakening from sleep, "What are you still doing here?" She asked harshly, "Go!"
Alina left the ratty shack wondering what in the world could she possibly have been talking about. What had the priestess seen in her future? What was all the talk of death? And what choice was she to make? How would she know which was the right way to go? As she pondered these thoughts and walked down to the awaiting dinghy, Tia sat back at her table shaking the crab claws in her hand and muttering.
"A touch...of destiny."