hey all! here's the next chapter! I'm gonna try to add pictures to each of the chapters next so go check them out!
E N J O Y !
Davy Jones’ Locker
As the ship sailed through the ocean, Serenity found herself becoming bored. She had jobs to do aboard the ship, but they were mostly mindless jobs that did nothing to distract her from her boredom.
During one of her breaks that were far too long and came far too often, Serenity stared down at her tattooless arms, thinking of her father and the innumerous pirate tattoos he had. It was then that she decided she wanted a tattoo of her own.
She approached the dark-skinned woman known as Tia Dalma, who seemed to know everything about everything, intending to ask that she give Serenity a tattoo.
“Yes, chil’, I do give tattoos. And no, I do not do it for free,” Tia Dalma said before Serenity could even open her mouth.
“Do you read minds?” Serenity asked. “Never mind, that’s not important. What’s important is, I haven’t got anything to pay you with.”
“One of your scales will suffice,” said Tia Dalma, giving Serenity a grin of mostly blackened teeth.
As she really wanted those tattoos, Serenity agreed to the exchange and soon found herself being plunged into a tub of sea water.
As soon as her legs turned to tail, Tia Dalma swooped down and yanked one of the scales off and put it in a small jar. She planned to use the scale for one of her potions. It was the only ingredient she still needed.
The deed done, Serenity dried herself off and put her clothes back on.
"I want a raven on my left shoulder and a skull and crossbones on my right,” she said, rolling up her sleeves.
Tia Dalma gazed intently at her. This girl surprised her more and more every day. Why would she want a raven? The raven did not symbolize anything that Tia Dalma was aware of.
“An interesting choice,” she said. “May I ask why?”
“My father’s symbol was the raven,” Serenity explained. “He named his ship after it. And the skull and crossbones will identify me as a pirate, something I feel obliged to do now that my father is no longer around. Besides, the pirates are going up against Beckett, and I want in on that.”
Tia Dalma smiled in understanding. The girl had cared more for her father than Tia Dalma anticipated. Perhaps this girl was more different from herself than Tia Dalma had originally thought.
~
Several hours of what had to be the most pain Serenity had ever experienced later, she found herself sitting topside, her upper arms wrapped in bandages to keep her from scratching at them and getting them infected. The only good thing about the pain was it distracted her from the bitter cold that had settled over the ship in the past few hours.
“Why don’t that obe woman bring back Jack, the same way she brought back Barbossa?” asked Pintel, shivering with cold and covered in snow and ice.
“Because Barbossa was only dead,” said Tia Dalma. “Jack Sparrow is taken, body and soul, to a place not of death, but punishment. The worst fate a person can bring upon himself. Stretching on forever. That’s what awaits at Davy Jones’ Locker.”
‘Sounds like such a pleasant place,’ Serenity thought sarcastically.
“I knew there was a good reason,” said Ragetti to Pintel.
Serenity moved away, towards Will, who was leaning over a large map with circles that turned and changed it. It was very confusing, and Serenity knew she would never figure out how to read it.
“Nothing here is set,” said Will, sounding frustrated. Apparently he, too, was having trouble reading the charts. “These can’t be as accurate as modern charts.”
“No, but it leads to more places,” said Tai Huang.
“Over the edge, over again. Sunrise sets, flash of green,” Will read from the charts. “Do you care to interpret, Captain Barbossa?”
“Ever gazed upon the green flash, Master Gibbs?” Barbossa called.
“I reckon I seen my fair share,” Gibbs replied. “It happens on rare occasion. At the last glimpse of sunset, a green flash of light shoots up into the sky. Some go their whole lives without seeing it, some claim to have seen it that ain’t. Some say--”
“It signals when a soul comes back to this world, from the dead!” Pintel interrupted.
Gibbs glared at him.
“Sorry,” said Pintel.
“Trust me, young Master Turner,” said Barbossa, “it’s not getting to the land of the dead that’s the problem. It’s gettin’ back.”
Serenity didn’t like the sound of that.
As they sailed through two huge walls of snow and ice, darkness and silence fell over the ship like a thick blanket.
~
That night, the stars were so bright, and the sky was so black, that the star’s reflections in the water made it look as though the Hai Peng was sailing in the night sky.
As Serenity lay on the deck, gazing at the stars, she became aware of the sound of white noise. It was soft yet, but swiftly getting louder by the second. It sounded like water rushing off a cliff.
She moved to the front of the ship and, sure enough, there was a huge waterfall. And they were headed straight for it! There was no way they would survive if they went over.
Barbossa was steering the ship.
“Barbossa!” Serenity called to him. “Ahead!”
“Aye, we’re good and lost now,” said Barbossa, sounding perfectly calm despite the situation.
“Lost?!” cried Elizabeth.
“For certain you have to be lost to find the places can’t be found,” said Barbossa. “Elseways, everyone would know where it was.”
Serenity couldn’t deny the logic behind his words, but that did nothing to comfort her.
“We’re gaining speed!” called Gibbs.
“Aye,” said Barbossa.
“To stations!” called Will. “All hands to stations! Hold to port, gather way!”
“Nay! Belay that! Let her run straight and true!” Barbossa cried with a maniacal gleam in his eye.
“You’re mad!” Serenity screamed.
“You’ve doomed us all!” Elizabeth cried.
“Don’t be so unkind,” said Barbossa. “You may not survive to pass this way again, and these be the last friendly words you’ll hear.”
“Tie her off!” Will cried desperately.
Tia Dalma was whispering something to the crab’s claws that she shook gently in her hands. She was trying to find out if they truly would land in Davy Jones’ locker. The claws replied with an affirmative answer.
“Hard to port!” screamed Elizabeth, still panicking at the thought of going over the waterfall.
“Hold on!” yelled Will.
“We’re gonna die!” Pintel and Ragetti screamed in unison.
Barbossa only laughed as he steered them over the edge of the world.
~
The Black Pearl floated peacefully on the ocean. There was a peanut on the railing. Using his nose, Jack sniffed out the peanut. When he found it, he put it on a plate, and prepared to eat it.
Suddenly, he felt the sharp sting of a sword piercing through his skin. In a matter of seconds, he was dead.
The real Jack picked up the peanut and popped it in his mouth, saying, “My peanut.”
He then turned and yelled, “All hands slackened braces!”
“Aye captain,” said another Jack. “Slackened braces!”
“Step lively!” yelled another Jack. “With a will!”
“Help!” cried another Jack as his leg got tangled in the rigging and he was pulled up into the sky.
“Man the yards, you filthy toads!”
Another Jack laid an egg, then began to cluck like a chicken.
Six other Jack’s a top the mast laughed.
“Haul the sheets, sensibly boys!” ordered another Jack.
“Aye captain,” said another Jack.
“Mr. Sparrow,” said the real Jack, walking up to one of the other Jack’s.
“Aye captain,” said the other Jack.
“What say you about the condition of this tack line?”
“It be proper in my eye, sir.”
“Proper?” said the real Jack. “It is neither proper nor suitable, sir, it is neither acceptable nor adequate. It is, in obvious fact, an abomination.”
“Beggin’ your pardon, sir, but perhaps if you gave the men another chance,” said another Jack.
“Shall I?” asked the real Jack.
He stabbed the other Jack.
“That sort of thinking got us into this mess,” the real Jack continued. “Gentlemen, we have lost speed and therefore time, precious time, which cannot be regained once lost. Do you understand?”
“Aye-aye, captain!” chorused the other Jack’s.
“It will all have to be redone, all of it!” said the real Jack. “And let that serve as a lesson to the lot of you! Doldrums sir, has the whole crew on edge. I have absolutely no sympathy for any of you feculent maggots. And no patience to pretend otherwise. Gentlemen, I wash my hands of this weirdness!”
With that, the real Jack grabbed a rope and jumped off the ship.
None of the other Jack’s were really there, Jack knew that. They were all hallucinations… figments of his delirious imagination. Jack was all alone in this godforsaken place, and so he had created other versions of himself to keep him company. However, it was all too weird sometimes, and he had to get away.
Jack landed on the sand and walked a little ways away from the ship. He licked his finger and held it out to test the wind.
“No wind, of course there’s no bloody wind,” Jack grumbled. “On my soul I do swear, not a gust, a whisper, a tiny miniature lick. Yes, I know, but why would he do that? Well, because he’s a lummox, isn’t he? And we’ll have a magnificent garden party and you’re not invited.”
Jack giggled.
He saw a rock at his feet.
He picked it up.
“A rock.”
He threw the rock as far as he could and began walking back towards the Pearl.
When he turned around again, the rock was back.
Jack picked it up again.
He inspected it.
He licked it.
He cocked back his arm and threw it as far as he could again.
“Now we’re being followed by rocks, never had that before,” Jack grumbled.
“Oh, a rope!”
He pulled on it and fell down.
Jack got an idea and tied the rope to the front of the Pearl, and began to try and pull the ship.
It wouldn’t budge.
Jack felt as though he was being watched.
He looked up and saw that where there had previously been only sand, there was now thousands and thousands of rocks.
Jack fainted…
When he came to, it was to find a shadow of the Pearl looming over him.
Jack scrambled to his feet and watched as the ship sailed slowly past him.
Then, realizing that he was being left behind, Jack ran to catch up with it.
~
Serenity woke up on the beach with her pants split from her tail and her boots missing. The ship was destroyed and the men were slowly pulling themselves on shore.
Using a few strands of seaweed, Tia Dalma helped Serenity sew her pants into a makeshift skirt until she could get a new pair.
“This truly is a Godforsaken place,” said Gibbs, sloshing onto the beach.
“I don’t see Jack,” said Elizabeth. “I don’t see anyone.”
“He’s here,” Barbossa assured her. “Davy Jones never once gave up that what he took.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Will said angrily. “We’re trapped here by your doing, no different than Jack.”
Tia Dalma picked up a crab off the beach and stroked it gently, smiling wickedly as she listened to its soft words that no one else could hear.
“Witty Jack is closer than you think,” she said.
As she spoke, the Black Pearl burst forth over the sand dunes and sailed into the ocean. A top the mast, a lone figure was visible; his head held high and proud, his black dreadlocks blowing in the gentle wind, one hand on the mast and the other on his hip, where it grasped the hilt of his sword.
“Impossible,” said Tai Huang.
“Boat…” said Ragetti, shocked.
“Slap me thrice and hand me to momma! Its Jack!” cried Gibbs.
“It’s the Captain!” Pintel rejoiced as Jack sauntered down the beach towards them.
“A sight for sore eyes! Jack!” Gibbs exclaimed.
“Mr. Gibbs!” said Jack and Serenity almost swooned at the sound of his voice. It was so undeniably sexy that she had to mentally shake herself to keep from drooling over him.
Serenity took a moment to look Jack over, and found that she wasn’t disappointed. He was scruffy and dirty with black dreadlocks that were held out of his face by a red bandana. He had on a long, dirty black coat and a black pirate’s hat. His skin was dark from the sun and his dark brown eyes were outlined with black.
“...I expect you can account for your actions, then?” Jack was saying when Serenity finally pulled herself back to reality.
“Sir?” Gibbs asked looking highly confused.
“There has been a perpetual and virulent lack of discipline aboard my vessel! Why is that, sir?”
Gibbs lowered his voice and said, “You’re in Davy Jones’ Locker, Captain.”
“I know that. I know where I am, and don’t think I don’t,” Jack said quickly. He didn’t want his crew to think he had completely lost it.
Serenity was beginning to wonder if the man was slightly insane.
“Jack Sparrow,” said Barbossa, drawing Jack’s attention away from Gibbs.
“Ah, Hector,” said Jack as if he had only just noticed Barbossa. “It’s been too long hasn’t it?”
“Aye, Isle de Muerta, remember?” said Barbossa. “You shot me.”
“No I didn’t,” Jack denied and moved on, leaving Barbossa looking confused. “Ah, Tia Dalma, out and about, eh? You lend an agreeable sense of macabre to any delerium.”
“Is he always like this?” Serenity asked, slightly concerned about Jack’s well being.
Her words drew Jack’s eyes to her, and she felt her heart quicken as their eyes met. Hell, the whole world could have been exploding and she wouldn’t have noticed. She was hopelessly lost in his eyes.
‘What is this feeling?’ Serenity wondered.
Jack frowned as he looked at this strange girl he didn’t know, but quickly forgot her as Will said, “He thinks we’re a hallucination.”
“William, tell me something,” said Jack, transferring his attention to Will, leaving Serenity feeling breathless and weak in the knees. “Have you come because you need my help to rescue a certain distressing damsel? Or rather a damsel in distress? Either one."
Will looked perplexed.
“No.”
“Then you wouldn’t be here,” said Jack. “So you can’t be here. Q.E.D., you’re not really here.”
“Jack, this is real, we’re here,” said Elizabeth in a soothing, yet somewhat cautious tone, as if she were speaking to a frightened child.
Jack looked at Elizabeth, and all of his memories came rushing back. He quickly scuttled back to Gibbs.
“The locker, you say?” he asked Gibbs in a hushed tone, and Serenity was relieved to hear him speaking more like a sane person.
“Aye,” said Gibbs.
“We’ve come to rescue you,” said Elizabeth, boldly stepping forward.
“Have you now?” said Jack. “That’s very kind of you. But seeing as I possess a ship and you don’t, it seems as though you’re the ones in need of rescuing and I’m not sure as I’m in the mood.”
Suddenly, the jolly, if not slightly deranged man was gone. He had been replaced by an angry pirate who would happily leave them here to die. Well, maybe not all of them. Jack thought he might take the pretty girl he’d never met before along. She would certainly be a good distraction for him.
Serenity, having no idea what Jack was thinking, felt slightly nervous. She hadn’t come on this mission to be left behind in Davy Jones’ Locker. She had come because she wanted revenge on Beckett, and throwing her lot with the pirates seemed to be the best course of action.
“I see my ship right there,” said Barbossa, gesturing to the Pearl.
“Can’t spot it,” said Jack, “must be a tiny little thing hiding somewhere behind the Pearl.”
Apparently, the question of who was really Captain of the Black Pearl was being debated.
“Jack,” Will said, getting his attention. “Cutler Beckett has the Heart of Davy Jones. He controls the Flying Dutchman.”
“He’s taking over the seas,” Elizabeth added.
“The song has already been sung,” said Tia Dalma. “The Brethren Court is called.”
Jack looked surprised and slightly miffed at these words.
“Leave you people alone for a minute and look what’s happened! Everything’s gone to pot.”
“Aye, Jack,” said Gibbs. “The world needs you back something fierce.”
“And you need a crew,” Will added.
“Why should I sail with any of you?” Jack asked, getting angry again. “Four of you have tried to kill me in the past, one of you succeeded.”
Will glanced at Elizabeth, surprised, and she looked guiltily down at the ground. Serenity put two and two together and felt a surprising amount of burning hatred directed towards Elizabeth. Where had that come from?
Jack looked from Will to Elizabeth and realized that they had been harboring secrets from each other. The world really had gone to pot.
“Oh, she’s not told you?” asked Jack. “You’ll have loads to talk about while you’re here.” He turned to Tia Dalma. “As for you…”
“Now, don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it, at the time,” Tia Dalma said with a sly smile that had jealousy pouring through Serenity’s veins as she wondered what had happened between them.
Everyone here seemed to have some sort of history with Jack, but she didn’t even know him. And, oh, how she wanted to.
“All right, fair enough, you’re in,” said Jack. He then turned to Ragetti and began moving down the line. “Don’t need you, you scare me. Gibbs, you can come. Marty. Cotton. Cotton’s parrot, I’m a little iffy, but at least I’ll have someone to talk to.”
He stopped in front of Serenity and gazed down at her intently.
“I don’t know you,” he said.
She wanted to look at the ground so he wouldn’t see her desire in her eyes, but she forced herself to hold her head high and look directly into his eyes.
“Do you want to know me?” she asked, surprising herself with her boldness.
Jack blinked and Serenity thought she saw desire flash in his eyes. But it was gone and she thought she must have imagined it.
Of course, she had not imagined it. Jack didn’t know it yet, but this girl was a part of the ocean, his one true love. Her beauty and wit would draw him in, just as the beauty and wit of the sea had done when he was a child. For now however, he desired Serenity only for her beauty.
Jack shook his head as though to clear it and said, “There’ll be more time for knowing, later. You can come, but don’t expect me to rush to your rescue when you need it.”
“I don’t expect to be needing rescuing,” Serenity said harshly, her pride slightly wounded by his words. In only two sentences, he had managed to reject her and call her weak.
Tia Dalma’s gaze was bearing into her, but Serenity avoided it. She didn’t want her pity.
However, Tia Dalma’s gaze was not pitying, but worried. She had witnessed the exchange, and the desire between Jack and Serenity was mutual. If Serenity was not like herself, Tia Dalma worried that Jack might hurt the poor girl.
Jack had moved further down the line and was now staring down Tai Huang.
“Who are you?” Jack asked.
“Tia Huang. These are my men.”
“Where do your allegiances lie?” asked Jack.
“With the highest bidder,” said Tai Huang.
“I have a ship.”
“You’re the highest bidder.”
“Good man. Weigh anchor, all hands, prepare to make sail!” Jack yelled, turning back towards the Pearl.
He took out a compass and frowned at it, for it was spinning every which way. Clearly, his compass wouldn’t work in the locker.
Barbossa smiled evily and held up the charts.
“Jack, which way ya goin’, Jack?”
what do you guys think? what about Serenity's first impression of Jack? think she's gonna get hurt by him? think they're gonna get together? predictions for the next chapter?
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