A Tribble: Answered Prayer

[honorat]

By Honorat
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Dead men tell no tales.
Summary: A triple drabble for the “Misery” challenge at Black Pearl Sails. This one is pretty gruesome for me. Starring a younger Mr. Cotton.

* * * * *



He is not dead yet—although surely it is only a matter of time. They cannot mean to let him escape.

The pain is like the bright strike of a sword against his wrists where the cords cut as he fought them in mindless terror. But the fire that burns and burns in his mouth. Oh God, he cannot endure it!

Still he runs, fighting through thick jungle stench, hot and sweat-slicked, coated with biting flies. No man any more—just a panicked animal.

Suddenly the twisting vines and clutching thorns release him, and he stumbles to his knees on hot white sand. He lifts a tear- and blood-stained face to the sea. The sweet, salt sea. The sun-bronzed, shining sea.

He holds out his hands to her. Mother and lover. Home and sanctuary. But he cannot rise. He has been able to eat no food for days, to bear to drink only a little water. He has lost too much blood. His sight blurs, and he crumples in a knot of helpless misery.

Why should he even try to live? They have stolen his only gift—those precious, liquid, golden words. They have ripped away his language, his song, his communion with the human world and left him with only a meaningless scream. One of God’s dumb beasts.

What hope is there for him?

He lies on the sand, praying for death, staring into the pitiless blue heavens until he is sure he sees the angels’ wings. They are blue and gold, a richer hue than any of earth.

“Mercy!” he begs silently, although he can only whimper now. He holds out a shaking arm.

And a voice answers him, “Wind in the sails.”

Comments

[rennie1265.livejournal.com]

Amazing how hope can be reborn. I have to wonder about Parrot's back story, though. Glad to see more of this pairing.

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Parrot definitely had to have a back story, because Cotton certainly couldn't have taught him to speak. Well, I suppose he could have been Cotton's Parrot before the incident with the tongue. Either way works here--though I'm a little fond of the miraculous idea--goes well with cursed gold. Since I can't pull out of my novelization for any of the regular characters, I had to go farther afield for this challenge. I do like Cotton and Parrot.

[sparky-darky.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether I've just not looked hard enough, but I think you are the only person to have ever written what happened to Cotton. Thank you.

There was a lovely conflict of descriptions here: the pain against the sea-- and the sibilance in the sea's description was just so soothing! And the description of words, as well: it just adds to Cotton's mental torture that he loved words and had them taken away.

It's amazing what forms hope can take. I'm very curious now as to how Parrot came to be: after all, Gibbs said, 'we trained the parrot to talk for him... no one's yet figured how.' Intriguing!

I'm very sorry I've not been reviewing lately-- I have a week's break from college now though, so I'll get around to reviewing all the stuff I've missed :)

[jenthegypsy.livejournal.com]

Look a little harder - hereswith posted an amazing Cotton/Parrot drabble titled Voice a few months ago. Here is the link

http://www.livejournal.com/users/hereswith/14335.html#cutid1

Oh, and Mister Gibbs says "He's trained the parrot to talk for him.... No one's yet figured how.", which makes the mystery of Parrot all the more intriguing, since it implies that Cotton trained Parrot after the loss of his tongue.

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to hereswith's lovely drabble. I'd never seen it before. It's always wonderful to see other's visions of similar scenes.

Gibbs does imply that Cotton trained Parrot to talk for him after his loss, but Gibbs also says they have no idea how it happened. That leaves a lot of leeway for interpretation. Had Cotton already been partnered with Parrot before his injury? Did he acquire his friend after he couldn't speak? As you can see, I'm going with the idea that Parrot could speak before he had to learn to speak "for" Cotton. But I'm not saying whether he already knew Cotton or not. And I've left the "how" he learned to speak for Cotton for a later time.

[sparky-darky.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks for the link!

I must have been mishearing Gibbs for ages then. Ah well, that just adds to the mystery :)

[honorat.livejournal.com]

It's lovely to have you back. As you can see from Jen's comment there is nothing new under the sun, but my picture is a bit different from hereswith's.

I've alway's thought of the sea as being very important to Cotton. He's the one who is so fascinated by Jack's compass. So I think of him as a bit of a kindred spirit to Jack--who also loves words and the play of them. Think of someone like Jack without his tongue--that was how I saw Cotton. Truly tragic.

As Jen says Gibbs does use the words "He trained" but I'm concentrating on the "No one's yet figured how" part. That implies that the training of Parrot is really a mystery to the rest of the Interceptor's crew. And Cotton can't very well tell them what happened. Also the fact that Parrot talks "for him", does not meant that Parrot didn't talk at all before he met Cotton. I haven't yet figured how either, as you can see.

[linaelyn.livejournal.com]

Wow. This is FABULOUS. I very much enjoyed your take on Cotton, here.

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. Excellent icon! Cotton is a wonderful character, and so intriguing since we can't find out anything about him from his words.

[kellan_the_tabby]

Oh, beautiful.

Cotton's desperation, and the sea, the _sea_...

And parrot as angel. I don't know a lot of people who could have sold me on that.

Again, verging on the edge of 'magic' without being outright fantasy-world stuff...

[honorat.livejournal.com]

So pleased you liked this. The point at which Cotton was mutilated must have been a desperate one. And his fascination with Jack and that compass led me to think that ships and the sea were very important to him. Parrot I left very ambiguous here. Is it only Cotton's fevered imagination that sees the winged visitor as an angel? Is the answer to prayer merely that help is sent? Is it all a coincidence? Questions are more fun than answers. I do like that touch of "seeing further through a stone wall" in stories. Thank you for the lovely feedback.

[hendercats.livejournal.com]

Oh yes - Parrot had to have come to him (nothing so mundane and vulgar as money changing hands for those two). And for the meeting to be what gives Cotton reason to go on is inspired. *applause*

[honorat.livejournal.com]

I'm so please you liked my angsty little tale. Certainly the idea that Cotton could have said, "Hmmm, I don't have a tongue. I guess I'll buy me a parrot and teach it to talk for me," is quite impossible. *G* Thank you so much for commenting.