A/N: Well, here it is! This is one of my absolute favourites, and I hope you all like it! Please review nicely, any flames will be used to torch Davy Jones and Elizabeth, of course.
Disclaimer: If I owned Pirates of the Caribbean or anyone in it, I would be filthy rich and hanging out with the producers, not sitting here and writing fanfics.
Dedication: To my best friend Jocelyn, thanks for everything. You're the world to me.
It seemed as though it had happened a lifetime ago.
A single figure was leaning over the side of a huge black ship, outlined by the dying rays of the sun. He had stood here once before, but he had not been alone then.
Captain Jack Sparrow was oblivious to the bustling of his crew behind him, as his eyes traced the bloody horizon with a distant look in them. Anamaria stopped shouting orders for a moment and her face softened as she caught sight of him.
She made to move towards him and perhaps offer a comforting word or two, but she was impeded by a strong hand on her shoulder. "Leave him be," Mr. Gibbs said gruffly, glancing at Jack for a moment and shaking his head. The woman nodded, and turned around to check the rigging.
So it had come down to this? He had let himself become reduced until he was a mere shadow of his former self. Captain Jack Sparrow. His lips twisted into a wry smile; was he even capable of holding his once-mighty title? His fists clenched over his well-worn hat.
"What do you think you're doing?" Jack asked, struggling to uphold an indignant expression.
Arabella shook her head, her big blue eyes meeting his and shining with laughter. Clutched in her small hands was a battered, tri-cornered hat, and every time the pirate made a half-hearted lunge for it, she held it just out of his grasp.
They had played this game a thousand times, but neither tired of it. Mr. Gibbs watched from the wheel, shaking his head with a smile of his own as he watched their antics. Jack moved a step closer; she took another step back.
He narrowed his kohl-rimmed eyes. "Don't make me tickle you, love."
The dark-haired woman shook her head vigorously, her face scrunched up at the thought. That was how he always won. Flashing him her winning smile, Arabella placed the hat atop her head gingerly and went cross-eyed looking up at it.
Jack would then walk over to the side of the Black Pearl, pretending to be sorely upset at her, and she would follow like a puppy. He tried his best to focus on the water, and that was when she would reach over and place the hat back atop his head.
They stood in silence together, after that, hands clasped on the gleaming wood of the ship. There was nothing to be said, because Jack loved to stand there and meet her gaze. Her eyes were always filled with silent adoration.
Was that the thing that he missed? Her silent adoration?
Never in his life, did Jack Sparrow think that he would become so attached to anything other than the sea and his ship. Mr. Gibbs had found the young woman, a stowaway, and both men just didn't have the heart to dump her at the next port.
Arabella always did her best to help around the ship even though she knew nothing of nautical affairs, always had a cheery smile for everyone on the crew. It was that never-failing grin that won them over, the flash of white teeth and the matching light in her large blue eyes.
Jack had been quite surprised when Mr. Gibbs informed him that she was a mute, and at first communication seemed as though it would present a problem. They developed their own method over time; he said something to her and she would write her response down on parchment for him to read.
Most days, Jack just spoke to her. Something about her silence was comforting; perhaps it was the fact that he knew he could say anything he wanted to her without the fear of it being repeated. He'd always loved the way she sat and listened to him, or trailed him around with the utmost attention when the rest of the crew had long grown sick of his ranting.
"Cap'n Sparrow!" A strong masculine voice called, one of the newer crew-members. "We're reaching port!"
The pirate seemed to flinch visibly at the sound of his name.
It really did feel as if they were the only two people in the world.
Jack sifted the white sand between his nimble fingers, watching the sunset reflect on the crystalline waters of the Caribbean. Sitting besides him was Arabella, the tip of her quill pen in her mouth. "Do you have anything?" he asked, looking over at her.
She shook her head. They had both decided to come up with a pirate name for him, something grand that would strike fear into the hearts of all who heard it. A bird flew by, into the sunset, but Jack paid it no mind as he racked his own brains for an idea.
Arabella's face brightened. Pulling the writing utensil from her mouth, she wrote something neatly down onto the parchment.
Jack Sparrow.
The pirate stared at her incredulously. "That's ridiculous," he scoffed, raising an eyebrow at the two words on the yellowed sheet of paper. "I'll be the laughing stock of Tortuga!"
Making a face at him, she turned back to writing.
I chose the name for a reason, you know.
"Oh, really? Care to share it with me then?" Jack couldn't think of anything more embarrassing or humiliating than being named after a sparrow. He tilted his head up at the sky and muttered, "Couldn't it have been an eagle or something?"
She smiled again and her hand moved back and forth on the paper, leaving a trail of wet, dark letters. Jack peered over her shoulder, but she hid them from view as if it was a secret.
Sparrows are braver than you give them credit for. They're also very fast, nigh uncatchable...and they always fly into the horizon.
Jack's dark brown eyes smiled as they read over the words and he reached over to ruffle Arabella's hair. "Now that you mention it, it does have a certain ring."
Jack Sparrow.
"Cap'n Sparrow?"
Jack turned around slightly, squaring his shoulders. For a moment, he had been back on that beach, laughing with her. For a moment, she had been in his grasp. Placing his hat back on his head, he nodded at the youth to acknowledge his words.
He didn't want to let go, not yet. Perhaps he was jealous, but he wanted this more than anything else. The pirate returned to his previous position, memories flashing through his mind faster than he could interpret them.
Arabella and Jack. They had been inseparable, until the very moment that death wrenched her away.
It was his fault. The crew told him so many times that he couldn't have helped her death, but it was his fault. If only he hadn't left her on the ship…Jack's fist clenched and he closed his eyes.
Maybe it would have been easier if they had never met, if he had never let her stay aboard the Black Pearl. It was enough that she had to leave him, but everything on the ship reminded him of her. He knew he could let go of her, of what they had, if not for the fact that the very wood he stood on was overflowing with memories.
A single tear fell onto his hands.
The Captain turned around, no trace of grief on his impassive face. Barking a few commands, he walked to the wheel and took it from Mr. Gibbs's hands. Yes, that was the one thing he missed the most.
Jack Sparrow looked to his side, half-expecting to see big blue eyes filled with silent adoration.