Hidden Plans

Chapter 6: Death of a Companion

Jack and Victoria walked down to the dock once they made port in Tortuga. Starting for a pub in which he could find souls for Davy Jones. He stopped when he noticed that Victoria wasn't following him.

"Where are you going?" He asked as he walked back towards her.

"Don't worry Jack, I'll be back in an hour and a half, I just wantto see a few friends." Victoria assured before walking off through the streets of Tortuga.

She came before a cathouse, it was crowded with drunk men, alluring women, and even a few cats running around of the feline type. "Is Madame Noir around?" She asked one girl who nodded.

"She's in 'er room tonight. Night off." She told Victoria with a pointed finger towards a set of doors with a little grandeur to them.

With hesitance, Victoria rapped three times on the door. Rustling sounded from the other side until it flew open.

The woman standing there was plump and short. Her hair was wirey and hung in limp curls. Her skin was wrinkled from age but on display from the scandalously low cut dress barely hanging onto her sagging breast. A smile lit up her face at the sight of the young woman standing in the door.

"Victoria!" She greeted with a sly grin. "Come in my friend."

Vicotria moved into the dimly lit room, candles were lit, casting shadows that danced seductively across the walls. Multiple insenses from Singapore were slowly burning, creating a smoke screen in the room. Victoria had to hold back a cough.

"You know, you haven't changed a bit since I gave you this place." Victoria commented, slowly sinking into a chair that sat adjacent to another with a small table in between. "Gelda."

The woman snorted as she moved about, gathering a tea kettle, her sugar jar, cream bassin, and two tea cups. "Please, I'm old now. But I reckon I've still got it. Some times, skill over takes beauty." The woman explained putting the tray down as she sat down in the open chair. "You haven't changed a bit now have you. At least not in body."

Victoria humorously chuckled as she moved to pour the tea, making it just how she remembered the woman took it. "In body, no. I may have gained a scar or two more though. In mind, I feel like Im twenty again."

"You look like you're twenty. And scars are no bad thing, not with the men you are with anyway. Speaking of, what man has the oldest woman I know feeling like a twenty year old?" Gelda asked, taking a sip of her tea.

Victoria sucked in a breath as she looked at her old friend. "What do you know of Captain Jack Sparrow?" Victoria asked, watching as Gelda laughed boisterously.

"Cap'n Jack Sparrow has captured the sea bird. Does he know just how much of a sea bird you are?" Gelda asked, avoiding the question.

"Sparrow knows that my father is Davy Jones and that he made a deal with Calypso for my immortality. That is all he needs to know." Victoria responded in a clipped tone, not liking the course of conversation. "Gelda. What do you know of Captain Jack Sparrow?"

"Not much, he is a regular here. Or was until his escapade to the dreaded Isle De Muerta with a gorgeous maid named Samantha Vida and a smith named William Turner. Did you know in spanish, Vida means Lifetime? Ironic isn't it, to be the last name of a girl who has cheated death of the normal lifetime." Gelda stated with a toothy grin and a raspy chuckle. "I know he is a Pirate Lord with a strange compass. He is rather a closed book. A fuck and run." The woman explained with a pointed stare at Victoria.

The girl laughed with an infectious smile. "That he is. A closed book that is. I was hoping you knew more but I think that outside of his father I might know the most about Jack Sparrow." Victoria sighed. "What about Lord Cutler Beckett?" She asked, watching as Gelda paled at the name.

"What have you gotten yourself into?" The woman harshly whispered.

"It seems that in order for my friends and Sparrow to live I need to bring the Lord my fathers heart." Victoria started to explain. Gelda seemed to grow more pale. "And I need to marry him." She finished.

Gelda had to muffle a sob as she moved to embrace Victoria. "My poor, poor girl! Oh no! No!" She cried into Victoria's shoulder. "He must think he has a barganing chip with you, that your father would stay in line if both his daughter and his life were threatened." Gelda cried softly, tightening her hold on Victoria.

Victoria awkwardly patted the woman's back. "It's okay." She mumbled softly.

"No, he is a horrible, sadistic, rapist, power-hungry noble man! He'll beat you until there is nothing left." Gelda sobbed patting the younger girls soft hair.

"I've been through such things before and have gotten out of it. I don't worry all that much." Victoria soothed the woman, who was hiccuping slightly. "I need to go or they'll leave me behind." She explained, standing slightly. "Stay safe."

Silently, Victoria slipped back into the night, unaware of the man watching her as she left.

He smirked evilly, pushing through the crowd as he silently entered the old woman's room.

She was crying softly, he head bowed over a small locket that was gifted to her along with the building in her youth.

Gelda couldn't believe the woman who practically raised her, later becoming her friend rather than her mother figure. The same woman who gave her all she would need to live her life to the fullest before she left to sail the seas once more was going to fall into Beckett's hands as his wife. The thought was almost too much to bear.

The man silently crept behind the woman. Then, in a second, the floorboard creaked. The woman whipped around, getting ready to scream but it was too late. With a quickl slash, her vocal cords were damaged and her artery was severed, blood raced from her neck, painting her skin red as her eyes widened in shock. On instinct, her hands fluttered to her neck in attempts to stop the bleeding. She collasped just before her last breath was released into the world.