Tribble: Do Not Go Gentle SPOILERIFIC

[honorat]

By Honorat
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Hey Mouse! It had better be better than this if you do it!
Warning: Character death implied.

Summary: My take on the possible ending for PotC2. Do not read if you don’t want to know. For the “Wish” challenge at Black Pearl Sails. *Waves from under a stack of papers and tests!* I have no time for the BFM, but the #%^*&%#$%&* thing won't leave me alone. I finally decided I'd get more done if I just wrote it. Inspired by the new Trailer and the spoiler conversations we've been having at BPS.

Thanks to geek_mama_2 for suffering through beta reading this.

* * * * *

He had that look about him that she remembered her mother having. She had never forgotten it. That coiled and snarling fight against the inevitable. No weapon, no ardent wish, no prayer, no subterfuge, no swift flight could avert what must be. She could tell he knew it. Beneath the surface, the light of it almost shone through his skin.

To surrender was not in him. Neither was to run. He had returned to his ship, to them.

And so she would give him this gift.

One hundred souls would live—and one would die.

They outnumbered him. It could have been a matter of their swords against his. But she let them leave without urging a last mutiny. It should not be an act of hate.

It could have been some petty deception. An exclamation. An appeal to that insatiable curiousity. But she could not treat his life so lightly. It should not be a trivial act.

Such an end should be an act of love. Terrible and beautiful. Not the kind of love she shared with Will, but the strong seal of friendship. A farewell worthy of such a man. A betrayal fit for a god and a sacrifice.

The moment stretched out as tight as unshed tears. The last touch of his hand on her hair. The conflagration of life where their lips touched. She wanted him to taste it, to exult in it, to take comfort in it. She did not fool him. They were too much alike. She could feel him giving way like the ebb of a tide—could see the knowledge and the renunciation darken his eyes.

Steel clicked coldly. He would go down with his Black Pearl. Even death should not part them again. Pulling back, she met his eyes once. His voice was soft, understanding, even, perhaps, grateful, absolving her —acknowledging the rightness of this time and this place.

“Pirate.”

Comments

[felaine.livejournal.com]

Elegant and graceful, doing justice to them both.
I suspect your presentation here will surpass the Mouse's offering, as does your artwork.
Felaine

[honorat.livejournal.com]

I still have faith that Johnny can pull it off. A lot of this was inspired by what I saw in the trailer. I'm so glad you felt this worked for both Jack and Elizabeth. I was getting abraded too much by people who were ready to toss the whole movie over for the way the characters seemed in this scene. I wanted to show it could be done in character. Thank you so much for commenting.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

If anybody can save it, it's Johnny.

Suffering through beta reading this, indeed! This was beautifully written from beginning to end -- didn't highlight anything because the whole thing would be highlighted. Although I still love that phrase, "The moment stretched out tight as unshed tears." That about sums it up.

Great work and, as always, it was my privilege to beta read for you.

[honorat.livejournal.com]

I was referring not so much suffering through the writing as suffering through the topic. I've been writing a lot of beautiful angst lately. As an antidote, I've been doing some Jack vs. Mrs. FP on the side, but that probably won't be ready until next fall. I'm glad you enjoyed this. Thank you so much for the editing.

[hereswith.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of torn in half about this moment, and I'm really worried about how it might be played out on screen, because it could go all kinds of wrong, in so many ways, and I'm ever the pessimist, so... But your take on it is beautiful, and poignant, and of the many good lines here, I have to say that the ones that moved me most were these: He had that look about him that she remembered her mother having. She had never forgotten it. That coiled and snarling fight against the inevitable. Because that just plain hurts.

If you get two of these, ignore the first...

[honorat.livejournal.com]

As I've said before, I did get the vibrations for this from the trailer--it's not entirely my imagination. The trailer is a collage of moments in the movie, all of them wildly out of order, but if you look at the lighting and the background, it is possible to guess which scenes belong together, and the one with that almost kiss is in the same light as the much earlier one in which they practically halo Jack. I really trust Johnny, the man who came up with that "Bring me that horizon" line, with this character. I've actually read the summary of the junior novelization, and that line you liked grew from thinking how "spooked" Jack is with this fate. I felt Elizabeth would recognize that refusal to give in to death even when there was no other option. I hope it's a good hurt!

Dylan Thomas's poem came very much to mind:

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Thank you so much for commenting.

[gelsey.livejournal.com]

Beautiful. Has me scared over what might happen in the movie though. It makes sense, in a way ... but I don't want that to happen. *le sigh*

The best line? The moment stretched out as tight as unshed tears. Love it, beautiful. The whole piece is beautiful. And believable. And so sad! :(

[hereswith.livejournal.com]

You've studied it in detail, I hear ;-) I'm trying, but almost completely failing, to avoid more information about the sequel at this point, because I've a fic I'd like to finish before, if I possibly can, and the spoilers distract me so. Well, yes, I think Johnny can pull it off, I'm more uncertain about Keira, and since Elizabeth is a favourite character of mine I'm a bit concerned about that. But, we'll just have to wait and see, I guess, as usual. I can understand he's "spooked", who wouldn't be, considering... *shivers* And I liked that you have Elizabeth recognising that, hopefully it'll come through that way in the movie too.

That's a lovely poem, thanks for reminding me of it :-)

[honorat.livejournal.com]

This was certainly my way of dealing with what might happen in the movie! I'm afraid I'm such a fan of glorious fatality that I rather look forward to this movie, since we all know Jack is back in PotC3.

Thank you so much for commenting on this traumatic little piece. I'm glad you found it believable and sad. I was going for beautiful angst :)

[gelsey.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was wondering about that ... I was sure he was in the next one, so how could he die? (If you can't tell, I don't follow the rumors very closely. I'm involved more through friends than anything, though I'm starting to gain more of an interest.)

Beautiful angst was what it was. Definitely. :)

[honorat.livejournal.com]

I don't know how they're going to manage to bring Jack back, but death does seem to be a highly impermanent condition in the PotC universe--witness the return of Bootstrap Bill and Barbossa!

[gelsey.livejournal.com]

True. But somehow I can't see Jack as one of the undead legions or something. It was odd enough seeing him in the first one after he stole that coin. I can't (or rather, don't) want to imagine him as a zombie or a dancing skeleton or something :)

Especially if that weird voodoo lady is in charge. She looks freaky.

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Kiera did a fantastic job with Elizabeth Bennett, so I'm willing to trust her with Elizabeth Swann, too. I imagine that a lot of thought would go into just how such a scene should be done. I'm reminded of how Kiera and Johnny did a lot of rehearsing for the scene on the island in PotC1band how script that would show badly for Kiera was cut by the writers and director. Can you tell I'm an optimist? :D Since the basic premise of PotC3 seems to be rescue, there can't have been much animosity in this moment.

[honorat.livejournal.com]

So far the PotC3 spoiler pics have Jack looking like himself--no CG suits or anything. So he shouldn't be too wierd (or any wierder than he's always been. LOL) Tia Dalma is certainly an intriguing character. She's supposed to be important in PotC3, too, so I'm interested in what kind of character she'll be.

[gelsey.livejournal.com]

Oh good. Regular, yummy, wonderful Jack :)

From what I've seen of her, she kinda freaks me out. But I'm willing to give her the chance, I suppose. I've not really heard anything about PotC3, but then, I haven't been much involved the fandom/whatever. I lurk, lol :)

[hereswith.livejournal.com]

Being a optimist is a good thing! I wish I was more like that myself :-) I'm always thinking about Matrix, you see, good first movie, the same people doing the sequels, and it still didn't work. But yes, there's always PotC3, and the chance things will be made right there, if they mess it up here.

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Gore talked about the "Matrix" so I'm hoping he managed to avoid similar problems. Also the "Matrix" was lacking that wildcard, Jack Sparrow. And Ted and Terry did well on "Shrek II" so they can write an entertaining, poignant, and funny sequel. Hopefully, that means they've done so for PotC2. The lines we've heard for Jack so far have me in stitches, so it can't all be bad.

[honorat.livejournal.com]

This at least sounds somewhat hopeful:

Comments by Terry Rossio on PotC 1 and 2

We have a huge problem with high expectations. The first film, in retrospect, was really good. Great moments, great lines of dialogue, a sort of giddy rollicking charm. Added to that, nobody knew it was coming. Now people want that same feeling but they want it with familiar characters and familiar settings.
Having said that -- we do have a good film. It essentially works. What remains to be seen is whether we get any of that magic fairy film dust sprinkled on, the way the first film had.
Dead Man's Chest really does represent the best of what everyone could do. Acting. Writing. Directing. Effects. Costume. Set design. Everything we could come up with, every joke, line, moment, plot turn, visual, character relationship ... from the Flying Dutchman to the black spot, it's all in there.

http://www.wordplayer.com/forums/movies/index.cgi?read=83901

[hendercats.livejournal.com]

Aaaaarrgh!

(I have no willpower.) This is beautiful and painful and sniffle-inducing. How are we going to manage getting from this July to next summer?

[honorat.livejournal.com]

As you can see, I have no willpower either. But since I had seen all the screencaps for PotC1 before I ever saw the movie, I don't mind being spoiled for PotC2 either.

I'm glad you found my take on this controversial scene moving. Thanks for commenting.

How are we going to manage getting from this July to next summer?
As virgo_79 says, we're going to be mainlining fanfiction!

[copper-rose.livejournal.com]

I've read the spoilers and seen the pics and all I can say for this fic is...thank you.

Have been having a hard time dealing with what the movie seems to have in store for us. I know they will do a good job (Johnny can pull almost anything off well), but...I also know it will hurt.

(sigh)

CR

[copper-rose.livejournal.com]

The other freaky thing is that the spoilers remind me in an odd way of the long Pirates story I wrote in 2004-2005. The whole second half of the story involved a "rescue" of Jack's soul from the Underworld (the Aztec one that time). It was a hard story to write and effected me a lot...so seeing anything at all similar onscreen is liable to be...hard to watch, even if wonderful at the same time.

CR

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Oh, but it's going to be a GOOD Hurt! My angst and tension loving bunnies are multiplying like rabbits. Since we know Jack'll be back next summer, I'm actually looking forward to an excruciating bit of catharsis this summer. Oooooh! Greek tragedy Disney style. Excuse me while I drool.

I'm glad you liked what I did with this. This was for everyone who was nervous that this scene couldn't be pulled off with both characters likeable and in character. I'm starting to get a plot bunny for the same scene from Jack's POV.