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honoratBy Honorat
Rating: PG
Warning: SPOILERS. Character death implied.
Disclaimer: Here mousie, mousie! Have some nice rat poison if you aren’t very good to these characters.
Summary: My second take on the ending of PotC2. Don’t read if you don’t want to know. Jack’s POV. I went with the dialogue from the junior novelization, rather than from the leaked script, so one line is missing. I’m betting it won’t be in the movie either. Have fun with the literary allusions. Cookies for the fellow geek who recognizes the Shakespeare reference. Milton and Marlowe are obvious. This could be construed as fitting the “Trial” Challenge at BPS.
Thank you for the beta and Happy Birthday to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
geek_mama_2. Your Young!Jack portrait will be on the way as soon as I shade the background.
* * * * *
The horizon, which had always shone with limitless freedom, was closing in on him. The sea itself had become his prison—the ultimate betrayal. Jack Sparrow knew the desperate terror of the diver who has plunged too deep, and fight how he will, cannot regain the surface. He was drowning within sight of air.
The coils of Davy Jones’s kraken had wrapped themselves with crushing force around his chest long before he’d finally faced the creature. Like Faust, he’d learned too late that the devil always cheats and that no amount of time would ever be enough, no escape ever possible. He’d hoped his luck would hold—every noose always another loophole—but this time there would be no space between the raindrops into which he could dodge. This time the ocean itself would descend on his head.
He’d fought himself to a standstill. Betrayed every trust. Sacrificed everyone who might have cared about him—everyone for whom he cared. The tackle of his heart was cracked and burned, and all the shrouds by which he’d sailed his life were reduced to a single line. If he succeeded in his plan, he might gain his life, but he would lose his soul to Davy Jones as surely as if he had consented to abide by their accord from the beginning.
In the end, he couldn’t do it. He’d come back. To his ship. To his friends. To his crew. He would have loved to wave this moment on by, but Elizabeth had been right: some moments lived under one’s skin and could not be carved out of one’s flesh by any morally evasive knives. This moment was his.
Even so, when he allowed his ransom to depart, unhindered, the urge to flee with them was unbearable. Without his volition, his steps followed them. His entire soul revolted at deliberate consent to slavery. There was nowhere to which he could run, but the habit of dashing out from under the executioner’s blade was too strong.
However, one person remained on deck with him as the lifeboats filled. One person resisted the panicked current, drove against the tide of fear and scorned safety.
Elizabeth.
“Thank you, Jack,” she said softly, moving closer towards him. “You came back – I always knew you were a good man.”
He should have known. She had always believed in him. Bloody inconvenient that was at times. Always recreating him in the mirror of her eyes as something better than he wanted to be. Like the best of pirates, she was ruthless and cunning and highly desirable. Unfortunately she was also as true to her ideals as a needle to the pole, which hadn’t left much scope for seduction or corruption. But a pirate had to try.
This time, though, he saw the barriers go down. She came to him, as willing as she had before been resistant. Jack never resisted an opportune moment. He raised a hand to cradle her head, feeling again the silk of her hair. She met his gaze with one of fire. There were unshed tears in her eyes.
One does not weep for the living.
Ah. So this was it, then. A final and fitting farewell. Jack bowed his head and brushed her waiting lips with his.
Perhaps no kiss is ever exactly like another. This one was a war and a benediction, painful and comforting, fierce and tender, full of heated life and the chill of death. This was a final kiss good-bye. Jack returned it with enthusiasm. Captain Sparrow always took what he could, and this was a gift he was not planning on refusing.
He let the emotion of the moment overwhelm him like a tidal wave, bearing him back and down into the waiting darkness. Part of him still wanted to fight, but somehow that shared connection between him and this valiant, honourable girl strengthened the part of him that was willing to sacrifice.
He felt the mainmast of his Black Pearl stalwart against his back, and that link further solidified his determination.
He wondered if Elizabeth still thought he did not know. Somehow, he doubted it. The anguished look in her eyes could have lacerated steel as the cold manacle pinned his wrist to his ship.
“It’s after you – not the ship – not us. It’s the only way.” Her voice was pleading, asking for his understanding.
Jack did understand. He admired a person who could do what was necessary, who could pay the most appalling price for a worthy prize. He was relieved to have the decision made, irrevocable, no longer subject to the caprice of his will to survive.
Betrayed by a kiss. Now that was an ending worthy of the legend.
If it had to be anyone, he was glad it was Elizabeth.
She reminded him of him.
“Pirate!” he informed her gently, teasing. His free hand brushed her hair one last time. It’s all right, lass. You did what you had to do. Now I’ll be doing what I have to.
He would go down with his ship, together as he had sworn they always would be—no longer man and ship, but one creature. With his bound hand, he soothed the smooth warm wood of her mast, feeling her quiver beneath him. Aye, love. You know I wouldn’t have left you alone to this beastie.
His eyes followed Elizabeth as she made her forlorn way to the ladder to the boats, then turned outward to face his fate. In the end it was better to meet one’s doom than be overtaken by it. He drew his sword and set himself to cross his final bar fighting. This would be a combat no witness would forget. He’d give them a story to sing about.
And when he had lost this final battle and gone to that pestilential Locker, he would make hell so hot for the devil that the old bastard would beg for fire and brimstone to quench his thirst. Davy Jones was going to rue the day he captured Captain Jack Sparrow.
Rating: PG
Warning: SPOILERS. Character death implied.
Disclaimer: Here mousie, mousie! Have some nice rat poison if you aren’t very good to these characters.
Summary: My second take on the ending of PotC2. Don’t read if you don’t want to know. Jack’s POV. I went with the dialogue from the junior novelization, rather than from the leaked script, so one line is missing. I’m betting it won’t be in the movie either. Have fun with the literary allusions. Cookies for the fellow geek who recognizes the Shakespeare reference. Milton and Marlowe are obvious. This could be construed as fitting the “Trial” Challenge at BPS.
Thank you for the beta and Happy Birthday to
geek_mama_2. Your Young!Jack portrait will be on the way as soon as I shade the background.* * * * *
The horizon, which had always shone with limitless freedom, was closing in on him. The sea itself had become his prison—the ultimate betrayal. Jack Sparrow knew the desperate terror of the diver who has plunged too deep, and fight how he will, cannot regain the surface. He was drowning within sight of air.
The coils of Davy Jones’s kraken had wrapped themselves with crushing force around his chest long before he’d finally faced the creature. Like Faust, he’d learned too late that the devil always cheats and that no amount of time would ever be enough, no escape ever possible. He’d hoped his luck would hold—every noose always another loophole—but this time there would be no space between the raindrops into which he could dodge. This time the ocean itself would descend on his head.
He’d fought himself to a standstill. Betrayed every trust. Sacrificed everyone who might have cared about him—everyone for whom he cared. The tackle of his heart was cracked and burned, and all the shrouds by which he’d sailed his life were reduced to a single line. If he succeeded in his plan, he might gain his life, but he would lose his soul to Davy Jones as surely as if he had consented to abide by their accord from the beginning.
In the end, he couldn’t do it. He’d come back. To his ship. To his friends. To his crew. He would have loved to wave this moment on by, but Elizabeth had been right: some moments lived under one’s skin and could not be carved out of one’s flesh by any morally evasive knives. This moment was his.
Even so, when he allowed his ransom to depart, unhindered, the urge to flee with them was unbearable. Without his volition, his steps followed them. His entire soul revolted at deliberate consent to slavery. There was nowhere to which he could run, but the habit of dashing out from under the executioner’s blade was too strong.
However, one person remained on deck with him as the lifeboats filled. One person resisted the panicked current, drove against the tide of fear and scorned safety.
Elizabeth.
“Thank you, Jack,” she said softly, moving closer towards him. “You came back – I always knew you were a good man.”
He should have known. She had always believed in him. Bloody inconvenient that was at times. Always recreating him in the mirror of her eyes as something better than he wanted to be. Like the best of pirates, she was ruthless and cunning and highly desirable. Unfortunately she was also as true to her ideals as a needle to the pole, which hadn’t left much scope for seduction or corruption. But a pirate had to try.
This time, though, he saw the barriers go down. She came to him, as willing as she had before been resistant. Jack never resisted an opportune moment. He raised a hand to cradle her head, feeling again the silk of her hair. She met his gaze with one of fire. There were unshed tears in her eyes.
One does not weep for the living.
Ah. So this was it, then. A final and fitting farewell. Jack bowed his head and brushed her waiting lips with his.
Perhaps no kiss is ever exactly like another. This one was a war and a benediction, painful and comforting, fierce and tender, full of heated life and the chill of death. This was a final kiss good-bye. Jack returned it with enthusiasm. Captain Sparrow always took what he could, and this was a gift he was not planning on refusing.
He let the emotion of the moment overwhelm him like a tidal wave, bearing him back and down into the waiting darkness. Part of him still wanted to fight, but somehow that shared connection between him and this valiant, honourable girl strengthened the part of him that was willing to sacrifice.
He felt the mainmast of his Black Pearl stalwart against his back, and that link further solidified his determination.
He wondered if Elizabeth still thought he did not know. Somehow, he doubted it. The anguished look in her eyes could have lacerated steel as the cold manacle pinned his wrist to his ship.
“It’s after you – not the ship – not us. It’s the only way.” Her voice was pleading, asking for his understanding.
Jack did understand. He admired a person who could do what was necessary, who could pay the most appalling price for a worthy prize. He was relieved to have the decision made, irrevocable, no longer subject to the caprice of his will to survive.
Betrayed by a kiss. Now that was an ending worthy of the legend.
If it had to be anyone, he was glad it was Elizabeth.
She reminded him of him.
“Pirate!” he informed her gently, teasing. His free hand brushed her hair one last time. It’s all right, lass. You did what you had to do. Now I’ll be doing what I have to.
He would go down with his ship, together as he had sworn they always would be—no longer man and ship, but one creature. With his bound hand, he soothed the smooth warm wood of her mast, feeling her quiver beneath him. Aye, love. You know I wouldn’t have left you alone to this beastie.
His eyes followed Elizabeth as she made her forlorn way to the ladder to the boats, then turned outward to face his fate. In the end it was better to meet one’s doom than be overtaken by it. He drew his sword and set himself to cross his final bar fighting. This would be a combat no witness would forget. He’d give them a story to sing about.
And when he had lost this final battle and gone to that pestilential Locker, he would make hell so hot for the devil that the old bastard would beg for fire and brimstone to quench his thirst. Davy Jones was going to rue the day he captured Captain Jack Sparrow.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 12:36 am (UTC)Yes, Jack would see it that way, wouldn't he.
I love the ending, with Jack still defiant and vowing to fight beyond death. And I love the dynamic you have drawn between him and Elizabeth.
Ooh, and this bit was especially lovely for its sailing metaphors:
The tackle of his heart was cracked and burned, and all the shrouds by which he'd sailed his life were reduced to a single line.
I'm so glad you and
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 12:58 am (UTC)Yes, Jack would see it that way, wouldn't he.
Always has an eye out for an audience, does our Jack.
Jack's refusal to actually be a tragic hero is one of the most endearing things about him. I couldn't see him being anything other than determined to keep playing the game on this new stage he's about to embark upon.
I'm glad our little stories are easing the pain while we wait. Then we have to survive until May 2007. Aaaahhhh! *combusts*
Thank you so much for the lovely comments.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 04:01 am (UTC)but Elizabeth had been right.: some moments lived under one’s skin ... no period, I think.
Love the whole thing. I need to get my hands on that junior novelization. Tell me, was there one for the first one as well? I could never find it if there was.
Love Jack, how he plans on making even the devil miserable. He would do that, the eternal trouble maker.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 04:32 am (UTC)There was a junior novelization of PotC1, which is available on any online bookstore. There are only a few of the PotC2 one accidentally floating around. Check out the News (http://wherestherum.com/news.html) on Where's the Rum for some copies on e-bay. Also the complete summary of the novelization is on that site.
Yes, Jack is the sort to stir up the afterlife to new heights of weirdness. He did pretty good making Barbossa miserable. LOL.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 06:00 am (UTC)btw - got a chuckle out of that disclaimer you used here.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 06:21 am (UTC)I give my general serious disclaimer on my userinfo page, so I feel free to roam quite far abroad in my individual disclaimers. *Brandishes stick at the mouse* And I mean that quite sincerely!
Thank you so much for surfacing in my corner of the sea.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-10 12:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-10 02:52 pm (UTC)letting go must be the most difficult thing
That has struck me as the most important idea for why this scene becomes necessary. The only way I can reconcile what Jack does in this movie with the fact that he is a good man is to realize how much survival is reflexive with him and how absolutely pinned in a corner he must feel. This fate does indeed have Jack spooked--but in the end he has to be glad no one else had to pay the price of his rash bargain.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-10 09:57 pm (UTC)And you can't really blame him for wanting to live, though he must know all hope is lost, however good a man he is, because there surely must be some small part of you that refuse to give up, in such a situation. And especially when the consequences are as terrible as they are for Jack, here. You did a good job of conveying that. But the Pearl, after everything, he wouldn't leave her, I don't think so either (and if they don't bring her back too for PotC3 I'm going to be really angry). It will be very interesting to see how they will play out the relationships between the characters in the third part, though, in the aftermath of all of this... many opportunities for angst, I suspect.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-12 03:10 pm (UTC)Oh do I ever agree with you about the Pearl! I love that ship. As a huge fan of tension and angst--probably due to the fact that I have so little of it in my real life--I am so looking forward to what will happen in the relationships in PotC3!
no subject
Date: 2006-05-12 05:08 pm (UTC)The sea itself had become his prison-the ultimate betrayal.
Right at the outset you're shredding my heart! This phrase is so beautiful at the same time that it's so painful.
She had always believed in him. Bloody inconvenient that was at times. Always recreating him in the mirror of her eyes as something better than he wanted to be.
Beautiful – all the echoes, the reminders here.
Virtually impossible to pick out favorite bits after that - would quote the whole thing back to you, but please, please! get out your superglue again for I'm in pieces all over the floor. Love the look, the understanding, and his fierce determination to not to go easy. And this:
The anguished look in her eyes could have lacerated steel as the cold manacle pinned his wrist to his ship.
*cries*
I see you've posted the next chapter of Crossing the Bar. Would bounce, but the chapter title has me really worried!
no subject
Date: 2006-05-12 05:37 pm (UTC)The fact that it is now the sea, in the person of Davy Jones, that represents slavery to Jack must sicken him. That has to be the worst thing of all. There is no escape, no more freedom to be had anywhere.
I'm glad you like my portrayal of the relationship of Jack and Elizabeth at this point. Both of them are such fierce fighters and I can't imagine this moment as anything other than an understanding one. Elizabeth knowing what she's doing, but having to do it any way--for them all, even for Jack. And Jack knowing she's right and appreciating her tactics. And hey! He finally got that kiss he's been after!
*tosses the epoxy* You're gonna need it. The title of Ch. 8 of Crossing will be followed by the equally literary title of Ch. 9: "For Where We Are is Hell." *evil maniacal author laughter*
no subject
Date: 2006-05-13 12:41 pm (UTC)Am thinking that the end of DMC is likely to leave the same punched in the gut, how-can-we-have-any-hope feeling I had when leaving the theater after seeing The Empire Strikes Back all those years ago. I know you and
*cowers from scary titles*