Look Out!
Contains DMC spoilers, if there's anyone left who hasn't seen it yet. *g*
Wil's walking past a door and a knife whistles past his head. He immediately ducks, barely avoiding the fork that soon follows it.
Why have they loaded the cutlery into the cannons again? he thinks for a moment, before realizing this isn't the case. He hasn't heard any cannonfire, just the muffled sound of a frustrated and messy search in the room beyond the darkened doorway. Not to mention the fact that they're on land. Curious, but also afraid there might be more sharp projectiles ejected his way, he peers slowly around the door frame.
"I know plundering's part of the whole pirate lifestyle, but why are you robbing this place? It doesn't look like there's much treasure to be found in all this junk."
A grizzled, sea-worn face pops up from behind a dusty chair and grins at him. "Aye, but what ye might see as junk may just be treasure to another."
Assured that, for the moment, there wouldn't be any more utensils flying at him, Will comes further into the room. He's still wary of danger, but also curious to see what has Gibbs so interested in what appears to be no more than a moldy old shack on the outskirts of a deserted town that was rumored to once be a popular pirate's den.
"I've heard that before. So what is this place?"
Gibbs disappears behind the chair again and within seconds the clatter of his frenzied search is renewed. "Damn, lad, didn't ye know? This is Jack's place." He pauses then and everything gets quiet. "Was."
Will feels the familiar stab of pain that always accompanies any reminder of Jack's death. It's a strange sort of pain, a confused mixture of sorrow, guilt, anger and jealousy. And as always, he's plagued by that flash of memory, the last scene he beheld on the deck of the Black Pearl. A scene that will plague him forever.
But there's work to be done, and he can't afford to wallow in such depressing thoughts, so he quickly shakes himself back to his senses and clears his throat. The idea that Jack had a home on land is a strange one, one that doesn't fit with the rest of his vision of the man. But then, did he ever really know Jack at all?
"What are you looking for?" he asks Gibbs before the dark thoughts can overwhelm him again.
The old pirate stops his search again and sits back on his heels to look up at Will. "Well, there's always been this story, see, about Jack. More of a rumor, really." He leans over a little, his expression serious, voice lowered. It's a mannerism he has that Will is coming to recognize as his storytelling stance. He crouches down beside him and mirrors him, giving him his full attention.
"Anyway," Gibbs continues now that he can see he has the lad's interest, "they say Jack's a charmed man. It's why he can always do such crazy things and never end up the worse for it. How he's always managed to avoid the noose, how he always stays one step ahead of the Navy or whoever else happens t' be after him... you know what I mean, aye? Nigh invincible, Jack is. Was."
There's another of those heavy pauses, as though Gibbs has to observe a moment of silence every time he mentions Jack's death. Will waits quietly until he's ready to go on, fighting to keep his own thoughts from straying too far.
"Course, no one's really invincible." He lets out a short laugh and shrugs. "But ye sail with Jack long enough, ye start to think maybe the rules don't work for him like they do for the rest of us. And that's when the stories start to seem a little more possible."
"So... you believe Jack's charmed?" Will asks with no small amount of skepticism.
"Didn't used to. But then I didn't use t' believe in curses now, did I?" Another short laugh. "So I started thinkin' to myself, if the stories of that cursed gold were real, why not this one, too? And then I started thinkin' that if Jack was to be hidin' it anywhere other than the Pearl, this would be the place."
"But what is the story?" Will's tried to be indifferent about the others' quest to bring Jack back from the dead, but he's having a hard time pulling it off. It's too important to Elizabeth, and no matter how that might break his own heart, he would do anything to heal hers. Besides, despite his newfound jealousy towards the man, Jack has always intrigued him in a way no one else has. Even now, he's too curious to hear another of Gibbs' stories to feign the cool disinterest he'd prefer to show.
"Oh! I never got to that, did I? Well, they say as when Jack was sailin' in the East, he ran afoul of this group of warriors. Real vicious, they was, with weapons like ye've never imagined before, and a way of fightin' that'd bring civilized men like you an' me to our knees. Now, Jack's never been much of a fighter himself - more of a lover, he'd say - " Will winces slightly at this, but Gibbs is too caught up in his tale to notice, "so he was no match for 'em. Shoulda been done for right there, but of course he wasn't. No one can say for sure how he got away, since no one 'round here was there, but the story is that Jack slayed some beast that was terrorizing their villiage, and they were so grateful, they made him an honorary tribe chieftan."
Will can't help the soft snort that escapes him. "That happens to him a lot, doesn't it?"
Gibbs nods. "Aye. Always finds his way to the top, Jack does. But that's not the end of the story. See, these warriors, they dabbled a bit in the magical arts. And they believed their chieftans had to be immortal, so as part of the ceremony to crown Jack, they said a spell over him that would keep death away from his door. There was a catch, though. He would only be safe from harm as long as he had a talisman they made for him. As long as it was intact, he would live."
"So that's why he's survived so much? Because he has some kind of talisman against death?"
"Aye, that's what the stories say. Some think he keeps it with him, like his compass. They've even tried to say it's that bone he wears in his hair. You know the one?" Will nods. "Well, I can tell you, lad, that's no talisman. Some say it's a bone from the beast he killed, but I was there when he got it, and it wasn't from killin' no monster. He just found it lyin' on the beach one day and liked how it looked."
They both laugh at that, and Will finds himself thinking that's something he would expect from Jack. To take a bit of rubbish and make it such a part of him that everyone that sees it is convinced there's some dramatic tale behind his keeping of it.
"i still don't understand what you're searching for."
"Why, the talisman, of course!" Gibbs sits forward now and reaches for a nearby chest. "I never believed he would risk keepin' it on his person. There's a lot can be said about Jack, but he was always a practical man, aye? So why, if he had such a bit of magic, would he put it in danger of bein' destroyed when he didn't have to? So I started thinking, if I were Jack, what place would I think was safest? And here I came."
He flips open the lid of the chest and coughs as a cloud of dust billows up, then peers inside. "Blasted thing's empty." He slams the lid shut again and looks around in frustration. "It's got to be here somewhere."
"If it exists," Will says, still not sure he believes the story. After all, this is the same man that told him the tale of Jack using sea turtles to escape Barbossa's banishment. He gets to his feet again and reaches for a stack of old papers on the table behind him. "Do you know what it looks like?"
"No," Gibbs admits with a sigh, then another cough as more dust is kicked up. "Can't say as I do. I'm hoping something like that, I'll know when I see it."
"And if you find it, then what?"
"Don't know that one, either. But if it's still in one piece, then I figure that means Jack's not gone forever. And at least then, we can all have a bit of hope."
Hope. That wasn't something Will's felt in a long time. He doesn't quite feel it now, either, but if it will help the others, then it's worth finding. If there was anyone out there that could be devoured by the Krakken and still manage to survive, it would be Jack. Talisman or not, the man seemed to have more lives than a cat.
"All right. Tell me where to search, and I'll help you look. Just watch where you throw things? That knife almost took out my eye before."
Gibbs gives him a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Though if it had, Ragetti could fix you up with a new one. Long as ye don't mind a little splinterin' from time to time." He rubs his eye and grimaces in a perfect imitation of the once-cursed pirate, and both men share a hearty laugh before turning back to their searches and their respective thoughts.
Of all the wild tales Will's heard about Captain Jack Sparrow, the idea that the pirate had a magical charm keeping him alive isn't nearly as far-fetched as it should be. In fact, it would explain a lot. And while there's always going to be that small, jealous part of him that would rather Jack stay dead, he's too good a man - and friend - to not try everything in his power to save him.
Wil's walking past a door and a knife whistles past his head. He immediately ducks, barely avoiding the fork that soon follows it.
Why have they loaded the cutlery into the cannons again? he thinks for a moment, before realizing this isn't the case. He hasn't heard any cannonfire, just the muffled sound of a frustrated and messy search in the room beyond the darkened doorway. Not to mention the fact that they're on land. Curious, but also afraid there might be more sharp projectiles ejected his way, he peers slowly around the door frame.
"I know plundering's part of the whole pirate lifestyle, but why are you robbing this place? It doesn't look like there's much treasure to be found in all this junk."
A grizzled, sea-worn face pops up from behind a dusty chair and grins at him. "Aye, but what ye might see as junk may just be treasure to another."
Assured that, for the moment, there wouldn't be any more utensils flying at him, Will comes further into the room. He's still wary of danger, but also curious to see what has Gibbs so interested in what appears to be no more than a moldy old shack on the outskirts of a deserted town that was rumored to once be a popular pirate's den.
"I've heard that before. So what is this place?"
Gibbs disappears behind the chair again and within seconds the clatter of his frenzied search is renewed. "Damn, lad, didn't ye know? This is Jack's place." He pauses then and everything gets quiet. "Was."
Will feels the familiar stab of pain that always accompanies any reminder of Jack's death. It's a strange sort of pain, a confused mixture of sorrow, guilt, anger and jealousy. And as always, he's plagued by that flash of memory, the last scene he beheld on the deck of the Black Pearl. A scene that will plague him forever.
But there's work to be done, and he can't afford to wallow in such depressing thoughts, so he quickly shakes himself back to his senses and clears his throat. The idea that Jack had a home on land is a strange one, one that doesn't fit with the rest of his vision of the man. But then, did he ever really know Jack at all?
"What are you looking for?" he asks Gibbs before the dark thoughts can overwhelm him again.
The old pirate stops his search again and sits back on his heels to look up at Will. "Well, there's always been this story, see, about Jack. More of a rumor, really." He leans over a little, his expression serious, voice lowered. It's a mannerism he has that Will is coming to recognize as his storytelling stance. He crouches down beside him and mirrors him, giving him his full attention.
"Anyway," Gibbs continues now that he can see he has the lad's interest, "they say Jack's a charmed man. It's why he can always do such crazy things and never end up the worse for it. How he's always managed to avoid the noose, how he always stays one step ahead of the Navy or whoever else happens t' be after him... you know what I mean, aye? Nigh invincible, Jack is. Was."
There's another of those heavy pauses, as though Gibbs has to observe a moment of silence every time he mentions Jack's death. Will waits quietly until he's ready to go on, fighting to keep his own thoughts from straying too far.
"Course, no one's really invincible." He lets out a short laugh and shrugs. "But ye sail with Jack long enough, ye start to think maybe the rules don't work for him like they do for the rest of us. And that's when the stories start to seem a little more possible."
"So... you believe Jack's charmed?" Will asks with no small amount of skepticism.
"Didn't used to. But then I didn't use t' believe in curses now, did I?" Another short laugh. "So I started thinkin' to myself, if the stories of that cursed gold were real, why not this one, too? And then I started thinkin' that if Jack was to be hidin' it anywhere other than the Pearl, this would be the place."
"But what is the story?" Will's tried to be indifferent about the others' quest to bring Jack back from the dead, but he's having a hard time pulling it off. It's too important to Elizabeth, and no matter how that might break his own heart, he would do anything to heal hers. Besides, despite his newfound jealousy towards the man, Jack has always intrigued him in a way no one else has. Even now, he's too curious to hear another of Gibbs' stories to feign the cool disinterest he'd prefer to show.
"Oh! I never got to that, did I? Well, they say as when Jack was sailin' in the East, he ran afoul of this group of warriors. Real vicious, they was, with weapons like ye've never imagined before, and a way of fightin' that'd bring civilized men like you an' me to our knees. Now, Jack's never been much of a fighter himself - more of a lover, he'd say - " Will winces slightly at this, but Gibbs is too caught up in his tale to notice, "so he was no match for 'em. Shoulda been done for right there, but of course he wasn't. No one can say for sure how he got away, since no one 'round here was there, but the story is that Jack slayed some beast that was terrorizing their villiage, and they were so grateful, they made him an honorary tribe chieftan."
Will can't help the soft snort that escapes him. "That happens to him a lot, doesn't it?"
Gibbs nods. "Aye. Always finds his way to the top, Jack does. But that's not the end of the story. See, these warriors, they dabbled a bit in the magical arts. And they believed their chieftans had to be immortal, so as part of the ceremony to crown Jack, they said a spell over him that would keep death away from his door. There was a catch, though. He would only be safe from harm as long as he had a talisman they made for him. As long as it was intact, he would live."
"So that's why he's survived so much? Because he has some kind of talisman against death?"
"Aye, that's what the stories say. Some think he keeps it with him, like his compass. They've even tried to say it's that bone he wears in his hair. You know the one?" Will nods. "Well, I can tell you, lad, that's no talisman. Some say it's a bone from the beast he killed, but I was there when he got it, and it wasn't from killin' no monster. He just found it lyin' on the beach one day and liked how it looked."
They both laugh at that, and Will finds himself thinking that's something he would expect from Jack. To take a bit of rubbish and make it such a part of him that everyone that sees it is convinced there's some dramatic tale behind his keeping of it.
"i still don't understand what you're searching for."
"Why, the talisman, of course!" Gibbs sits forward now and reaches for a nearby chest. "I never believed he would risk keepin' it on his person. There's a lot can be said about Jack, but he was always a practical man, aye? So why, if he had such a bit of magic, would he put it in danger of bein' destroyed when he didn't have to? So I started thinking, if I were Jack, what place would I think was safest? And here I came."
He flips open the lid of the chest and coughs as a cloud of dust billows up, then peers inside. "Blasted thing's empty." He slams the lid shut again and looks around in frustration. "It's got to be here somewhere."
"If it exists," Will says, still not sure he believes the story. After all, this is the same man that told him the tale of Jack using sea turtles to escape Barbossa's banishment. He gets to his feet again and reaches for a stack of old papers on the table behind him. "Do you know what it looks like?"
"No," Gibbs admits with a sigh, then another cough as more dust is kicked up. "Can't say as I do. I'm hoping something like that, I'll know when I see it."
"And if you find it, then what?"
"Don't know that one, either. But if it's still in one piece, then I figure that means Jack's not gone forever. And at least then, we can all have a bit of hope."
Hope. That wasn't something Will's felt in a long time. He doesn't quite feel it now, either, but if it will help the others, then it's worth finding. If there was anyone out there that could be devoured by the Krakken and still manage to survive, it would be Jack. Talisman or not, the man seemed to have more lives than a cat.
"All right. Tell me where to search, and I'll help you look. Just watch where you throw things? That knife almost took out my eye before."
Gibbs gives him a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Though if it had, Ragetti could fix you up with a new one. Long as ye don't mind a little splinterin' from time to time." He rubs his eye and grimaces in a perfect imitation of the once-cursed pirate, and both men share a hearty laugh before turning back to their searches and their respective thoughts.
Of all the wild tales Will's heard about Captain Jack Sparrow, the idea that the pirate had a magical charm keeping him alive isn't nearly as far-fetched as it should be. In fact, it would explain a lot. And while there's always going to be that small, jealous part of him that would rather Jack stay dead, he's too good a man - and friend - to not try everything in his power to save him.