[POTC Holiday Fic] - KotS companion vignette - Myrrh for the King: Part Two - 3/3 - rated R

[writing_samsara]

~Part Two~

The evening had passed colorfully enough. For his part, Jack had spent the better half of the hour before dinner fetching water for his bloody sister. And so he’d found himself making several trips to the well. He’d grumbled a good deal, but the lime juice that Sara had made with said water rendered the labor nearly worthwhile, the

Comments

[salr323]

So excited to see this posted! Poor Jack, walking that oh so fine line here with madness fluttering around the edges, and so much darkness within. You used, I thought, the multiple Jack's to much better effect than in the movie and I adored the idea of Sara beginning to reunite him in the end.

But it was this section, I think, that really broke my heart:

“The Ranjit I knew. The boy that was so full to brimming with mischief and kindness and the hopes for something better, always.” She edged closer, clasping his hand and tipping his face away from the sea. He saw his mother’s eyes, then - that same calm-water sheen of the garden puddles in the opaque stillness of afternoon. Green and blue and without wave or ripple.

“That boy,” she continued, “was wanting love, was running and running into the typhoon of it, always - even after so much suffering.”

Jack sighed, his eyelids heavy. “Figures. Old life won’t just bugger off and die. You know, don’t you, that I dislike seeing that particular version of myself the most?”There's so much

[tiamary]

Woo! The gatherings of dysfunctional families at the holidays. Truly the ninth circle of hell for many people around the globe. ;)

What a relief it was to see Jack blow up at Elizabeth and his family. (I've been waiting for him to do that since she disappeared all day then laughed at him for being worried and waved away his feelings.) Everyone was patronizing him, deciding for themselves what was best for him and treating him like a child. His sister especially, criticizing him for having a firey tongue when she helped drive him to blow up with her own behavior. Even if Jack doesn't know what is best for himself at this point, she shouldn't presume to know, either.

Looking out for Elizabeth when she was in trouble at the end was the right thing to do, morally, but I wasn't rooting for them as a couple at this point in the story...before I can say "yay, they're together!" Jack needs to have self esteem not to masochistically try to transform himself into Will, and Elizabeth stops talking down to Jack and treating him like a child.

[tiamary]

Umm...make that "Elizabeth needs to stop talking down to Jack".

[writing_samsara]

"The gatherings of dysfunctional families at the holidays. Truly the ninth circle of hell for many people around the globe

[writing_samsara]

"Poor Jack, walking that oh so fine line here with madness fluttering around the edges, and so much darkness within