Drabble: 'Give Him An Inch'

[dwgm]

Here's my entry for the drabble theme of the week, angsty and unbetaed, but exactly a hundred words...



~ Give Him An Inch ~


The blade'd been broken, but it'd been deadly sharp and only an inch away.

Yet the moment was too sweet. He'd had to gloat. "Heady tonic, holding life and death in the palm of one's hand."

"You're a cruel man, Jack Sparrow!"

Lord, that was rich, coming from Jones. "Cruel is a matter of perspective," Jack had replied, with gentle malice.

"Oh, is it now?"

The scene played behind Jack's eyes, over and over, on the way to Tortuga. Almost as bad as the Locker.

One inch to immortality, and happily ever after.

Might as well have been a mile.

~.~

Comments

[honorat.livejournal.com]

You know, that minute of gloating is always one's downfall :D But I like how your last line gives Jones the lie. There are some lines Jack just won't cross. He could have claimed his immortality, but a sense of honour remains a horrible nuisance for that pirate. Nicely done.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

Thank you! You have to wonder if that moment of hesitation that went so terribly wrong haunted him in various ways. Nancy commented at BP Sails that In the end the good man won out over the pirate and he's going to have to square with that someday, and I can totally see Will saying that to him later, can't you?

[tiamary.livejournal.com]

I've always felt a little weird about Jack helping put Will's hand through the heart. Was this what Will really wanted? Was he in any condition to decide? Jack had the best intentions, but I'm not sure it was the right decision for Will.

Then again, I'm very glad he didn't stab it himself. I don't think that deep down it was what he really wanted or he would have done it the second he had it in his hand.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

Jack had the best intentions, but I'm not sure it was the right decision for Will.

Jack was thinking about Elizabeth -- a day every ten years is better than nothing -- and the entire pirate community -- someone had to take over the Dutchman in order for them to win that crucial battle. It was the lesser evil.

[tiamary.livejournal.com]

I'm of a minority opinion (maybe even a minority of one) in that I don't feel he did it for the sake of Will and Elizabeth's love. (Even many fellow J/Er's say he loved Elizabeth so much he wanted to give her Will. I'd have to knock myself out with a blunt instrument if I thought that was the case. lol) But anyway, I think Jack was devastated when Will was slain because he was fond of Will, and he plain ol' didn't want Will to die. Also, it was a way of making up for his betrayal of Will in DMC.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

I think he cared about Will, too, but, as I see it, there's a connection between him and Elizabeth that can't be denied, whether it's romance or simply her relationship to Calypso (with whom Jack was also involved, apparently).