Little Sparrow
Summary: "Now up is down," was the last thing any of them heard before the rush of water drowned everything else out. Later, waking up on a random, deserted island, they almost immediately notice that something was not right with their Captain. Sparrington, Salazak, Willabeth, maybe others mentioned.
It was madness, all of them agreed. Rocking the ship, so it would turn over? A sailor's nightmare, for once she was good and truly overturned, no vessel can be rightened again without serious damage to the sails or any machinery working the helm. And yet they had followed his lead, first unconsciously, for he had tricked them, and then with clear intent. They rocked and rocked and rocked the ship, releasing the cannons and cargo below deck, swaying the ship until she finally could no longer stay above the waves and just ... rolled over, as though a trained, faithful dog at her master's command. Hanging from the rail or the rigging or whatever else they had managed to get their hands on so they stay 'aboard' the ship, they had watched with fear and uncertainty as a madman's plan took place.
"Now up," he had said, hanging on just like them, no panic or worry in his voice whatsoever, confident in his escape artist skills, luck and wit, like always, to help him escape from this realm meant to never be escaped from. "Is down." That was the last thing they heard before the rushing water drowned out everything else, the Black Pearl's deck submerged under the waves, floating upside down, her hull greeting the sunset. They all waited with bathed breath - quite literally - under the water, holding on, exchanging uncertain, nervous looks, looking to the floating away barrels of cargo, rum and gun powder then to the Captain, who was holding on with only one hand, the other right next to it, seemingly petting the rail of the black ship in comfort and encouragement.
They didn't have the time to truly start questioning their own sanity for following through with such an insane plan or question whatever was left if the Captain's mind after his year long stint in his personal hell when the sun set and, even under the water and the Black Pearl, the Green Flash reached them before the water was rushing upwards, spinning, sucking, pushing, churning and who knows what else, seemingly rightening the Black Pearl back into the world of the living before everything went black.
Hours later, brown eyes opened to greet the early morning sun with a groan, a sea and hard work calloused hand reaching up to rub at an aching forehead as one William Turner Junior found himself waking up on warm sand, near the water edge, half soaked still from where he had been washed out with the morning tide, the love of his life, Elizabeth Swann, in much the same condition as him rousing next to him. He blinked several times, not understanding what was going on at all, memory gone and mind blank until he heard other groans, saw other people doing the same as he and Elizabeth were and witnessing an ever proud man already trying to get to his unsteady feet and a strangely, wildly dressed woman already staggering around the beach. Why did everyone else look like pirates?
And then it came back to him, the last four or so years of life, from the moment he had first laid eyes on Captain Jack Sparrow to the man's death at the hands-er tentacles of the Kraken - although recent events point all accusatory fingers at his fiancée since she had shackled him to his ship and left him to die - to the last year of sailing around the world, chasing rumors of a unique map that can take them to World's End and Davy Jones Locker with Captain Hector Barbossa, who had previously tried to kill them all. He remembered what had happened in Singapore and the unexpected meeting with James Norrington, ex Commodore turned pirate then reinstated and pardoned as Admiral of his Majesty's Royal Navy and the East India Trading Company under Lord Cutler Beckett after stealing the heart of Davy Jones from Sparrow on Isla Cruces and running off, who had ended up helping them escape Singapore by telling them the route plans. He remembered Ragetti and Pintel knocking him out at Barbossa's signal and having to drag the man all the way to the ship he had bargained with Sao Feng, the Pirate Lord of Singapore and South China Sea, for, glaring at the old pirate all the way. He remembered meeting his two Lieutenants along the way and handing him off to them while they silently followed them to above mentioned ship. He also remembered having to help restrain the Admiral when he woke up from killing the two miscreants of Barbossa himself. By God, that man had anger management issues!
Will also remembered the strange and deadly path they took, falling off of the edge of the Earth and into the magical dimension of bellow, washing up on desert land, where they all then watched, stunned, as the Black Pearl with her Captain proudly standing on the main mast and looking off into the distance sailed through sand and into the water, both she and Jack completely ignoring the fact that what they had just done should have been impossible. Even for Captain Jack Sparrow. The following conversation had been interesting, awkward and very ... informative, to say the least. They found out about Elizabeth's betrayal and how the three Navy officers had decided to help them out - a combination of Norrington's guilt and Governor Swann's begging for him to get his daughter to safety and away from Beckett. A high demand, it had turned out. Will recalled how unnerved they were all with Jack's new strange behavior - he almost hadn't let them sail with him! Only Marty, Mr Cotton and his parrot, Tia Dalma and Tai Hung and his men. The rest of them ... Had Barbossa not had the Map, they'd all still be in the Locker.
The creepy journey through the world between life and death was, well, creepy. There was no wind, the sea under the Pearl barely moved yet they had sailed. For hours and days on end. Barbossa had all but given up on trying to figure out the Map, as had everyone else - Norrington went as far to call it as broken as Jack's Compass. Everyone, except Jack. Jack had sat down, played with the Map and its wheels for maybe an hour before he was on to it and they were rocking the ship.
Turner gave a start as he realized just what had happened, startling Elizabeth into reaching for her gun but she stopped herself before she fired, at the very last moment, Will staring down the barrel of her pistol. She hastily put it away, shakily got to her feet and walked over to where Barbossa was digging out his stuck monkey from the sand. "Where are we, Barbossa?"
"Did we make it?" Lieutenant Groves asked as he discarded his ruined blue coat, taking off his stocking as well now that they no longer had the fear of the arctic cold they had sailed through on their journey towards World's End.
"Or are we still stuck in the Locker?" The other Lieutenant, Gillete, asked, still trying to save what was left of his white wig. Dear god, he was more of a stuck up than Norrington! Then again, Norrington had changed clothes as they sailed the seas between the living and the world of the dead, staying only in his Admiral's coat and expensive shirt, everything else giving way to worn, tan breeches and leather boots.
"Ya mean ta say all that was fer nothin'?!" Pintel thundered but shrunk away from the ex Commodore's glare. "Sorry." He mumbled sheepishly and tried to hide behind Ragetti, who was trying to put his wooden eye back in. The rest turned back to Barbossa.
The pirate captain huffed, standing up as Jack the monkey shook off the sand from his fur and settled on his shoulder. "How should bloody well I know? I'm not a map!"
"We're obviously no longer in the Locker." James pointed out with a gesture at their surroundings, a small beach surrounded by palm trees and a thick forest, a light breeze tickling their skin pleasantly. "This doesn't look like the desert we saved Sparrow from and there is wind, the sun is actually warm and the sea isn't still as death."
"Navy man be right," Tia Dalma, as surprising an addition to this quest as the three Navy officers, said in her exotic accented voice. They had mostly gotten used to her but no one seemed as at ease in her presence as Jack was. She still had the ability to freak them out with how silent she can be, her sharp grins or how she knew what they were thinking without they ever even hinting at it. Gillete was so unnerved by her that he avoided her. Barbossa did, too, but that seemed ... almost personal. Jack had never shied away from her since they'd met up. "Dis ain't de Locker. We be back. We be in de Caribbean."
"Course we'd end up in that blighter's territory." Barbossa grumbled as the rest of the crew assembled and they counted heads. The Black Pearl's core crew had survived, but three of Tai Hung's men. Barbossa frowned. "Where be Jack Sparrow?"
"He's not here?" Elizabeth asked, half panicked already, looking around as Gibbs and Marty started calling out the eccentric man's name.
"He got through with us, right?" Will asked, not understanding what was going on. Jack had been on the ship along with everyone else when the Pearl had crashed back into the world of the living. Or ... "Did anyone see the Black Pearl?" Damn it! All of that, for nothing! The only ship that could catch the Flying Dutchman and help him free his father was lost again.
Norrington glared at him, affronted on the pirate Captain's behalf. "Your friend is possibly lost to a hellish world under the sea or beyond this world or wherever, and the only thing you care about is his ship?" He sniffed, looking down his nose at the shorter man. "I thought you a better man, Mr Turner."
"Why are you even here, Mr Norrington?" William snapped back, hand itching for his sword, Norrington's twitching in turn, as though he could sense him wanting to pounce. "Didn't you want to see Jack dead? You sure were eager to cut him down last time we saw you."
"You were no better." The Admiral hissed, hand settling on his weapon, ready to draw it when Gibbs got in front of the two, glaring at them with fatherly disappointment.
"That's enough outta ye both! Findin' Jack be more important than your little squabble! You," he rounded on Barbossa, who had been just watching with interest, arching a brow at the old sailor before the man turned to point to Elizabeth and Tia Dalma, too. Elizabeth gawked at him while Tia Dalma raised a challenging brow. For once, Joshamee Gibbs wasn't weary of the voodoo witch, too fired up he was. "And ye two! Ya want us ta sail to Shipwreck Cove! Well I fer one ain't gonna go to my possible death, which is all that awaits us should we return without Jack! So you two," he turned back to the two startled and chastised young men. "Stop yer cat fight an' start searchin' fer the Capt'n!"
He was panting by the time he was done, even a single trail of sweat sliding down the side of his face. The rest just gaped at him as though he had grown two heads and several more limbs. James at least looked properly chastised but Gibbs was wary of the glint in the young Turner's eyes. Will had not been the same since the day of the Kraken attack and not even getting Jack back had been enough to get him back to his old self. Oh, Gibbs knew he will never be the same 'whelp', Jack's whelp, that he'd been the first time they met or during their search for Davy Jones' heart and fleeing the Kraken. But William had become ... cold. To everyone. Even to Elizabeth. Scurfy, bitter, hungover ex Commodore Norrington seemed like a ray of sunshine to Will's current state, though the boy was doing his best to hide it. The best indicative that Will had changed was the way Jack had avoided him during their sail through the still sea. The Captain had an animal level instinct, not even needing his incredible intelligence to tell him that there was something ... off about a person. If Jack was keeping his distance, then young William was truly a danger.
"Let's go in search of our Captain, then." Norrington finally conceded, breaking the silence and choosing a seemingly random direction to start his search in. "Break off in pairs, search systematically and throughly. If Sparrow has indeed crossed over with us, he can't be far. And where he is, so is the Black Pearl. Mr Cotton, if you don't mind ... " Said man scrambled after the tall ex Commodore's long strides, understanding the man needed silence and a little peace from everyone and everything before he had to deal with Sparrow. Gibbs nodded to confirm the order, taking Marty with him and heading in the opposite direction. Will stormed off as far away from the now no doubt once again disgraced Admiral, Tia Dalma hurrying after him, leaving a scowling Barbossa and Elizabeth. Groves and Gillete as well as Ragetti and Pintel were obvious teams and they went their own directions while Tai Hung divided his men in various directions.
The search didn't really last all that long, but it had still been an entire hours before any signs of Jack were to be found. Norrington had been storming through the jungle like forest in a fit, cutting down innocent plants on his way with Mr Cotton silently following, watching with weary awe as the foliage bent to the Admiral's will and sword. How dare that Turner!? He ended up being worse than Sparrow! Sparrow at least went back or waited for his men, even if said men tried to kill him or did something stupid. He always insisted on that falling behind rule when there was a chance they'd have to wait for him, yet he never supported his own words with action. He always waited and then made it up as he went. Turner had obviously only come because he wanted the Black Pearl for his own agenda.
'Well, not on my watch, Mr Turner.' He thought, swinging his sword hard enough for a branch to fly off and scare Mr Cotton's parrot into flying away in a panic. "Damn." He cursed, rubbing at his sweaty brow. "I apologize, Mr Cotton. It was not my intention to scare your parrot away." The mute man just shrugged and waved him off with half a grin. James felt guilt rising in him. "I am sure we can spare a moment to search for it before looking for Sparrow again." And wasn't that just ironic, searching for two birds at the same time. The twinkle in Cotton's eyes told the Admiral that he had seen the irony as well. He sighed and made to go in the direction the bird had flown off when it returned, fluttering around their heads and screeching for all that it was worth.
"Arrrgh! Captain on the deck! Captain on the deck! Arrrgh!" The bird repeated this for three or four more circles before flying off in the same direction, returning only when it realized they were not following it. "Arrrrrgh! Tremble me timbers! Arrrgh! Captain on the deck! Arrrgh! Captain on the deck!"
"I do believe we should follow?" James offered and started in the direction the parrot had come from, the bird quickly fluttering up ahead of him. Mr Cotton nodded and they spent the next few minutes trailing the bird while it screeched things like "Follow the wind!", "Shiver me timbers!" and "Captain on the deck." When it finally landed on a branch above a bush, Barbossa and Elizabeth appeared from another, Jack the monkey screeching and tittering as it climbed up the same tree Mr Cotton's parrot was sitting on. He was pointing down at the bush and jumping up and down on the branch he had chosen, making faces and trying to draw Barbossa's attention.
"What ye be doin' 'ere?" The pirate demanded, crossing his arms and glaring at the two men, Norrington returning it tenfold.
"This is our direction. How did you get here?"
"Jack started screechin' and ran off this way. We followed.'' Hector answered nonchalantly, not really in a hurry to see what Jack was pointing at since it could very well be another Jack and he wasn't very fond of a just waking Sparrow. The man tended to either blabber out the strangest things or reach for his gun and Hector hated to admit it, but he wasn't fast enough to react properly to Jack's draw. And he no longer had the security of Jack never harming him to protect him, since Sparrow was more likely to do it deliberately than spare him.
''Mr Cotton's parrot led us here, as well,'' James admitted as he slowly walked over with the mute on his side to whatever had the two animals so spooked or excited. Just as he came up to the bush, the other teams arrived, led by Tia Dalma and Turner.
"How did you guys get here?" James heard Elizabeth asking and Will explaining how all other routes led to steep cliffs or too thick forests to cross properly pretty soon after entering the forest, so everyone just returned to the beach and followed a path Tia Dalma chose at seemingly random. He stiffened when there was a groan from the shrubbery and the leaves and branches rustled with movement, his hand falling on his sword. The rest have gone quiet now, aware that there was something - or more likely someone - there as well and since some of the crew had had a very close encounter with cannibals, they weren't exactly eager to find out if this was another man eater's island by falling into the same trap they had last time. They were perfectly content to let brave ol' Commodore check it out first and if he survived, then great! If not ... Well, he was a good man and there would be a moment of silence to honor his noble sacrifice.
As he got closer, Norrington drew his sword slowly out of its scabbard, trying to make as little noise as he can. The two animals on the tree were watching him in a curious manner, looking between him and whatever the bush hide. The Admiral carefully grabbed some branches, making sure he didn't rustle the bush and, fast as lightning, swiftly drew them aside, sword pointing at whatever was on the other side. He nearly dropped it when big, confused and startled black eyes looked up at him. Familiar, enchanting black eyes but ... not the same.
James Norrington gawked.
"Parlay?"