Two Jacks are Better Than One
Disclaimer: I do not own POTC, any of the characters or storylines. I DO own my own characters and plots. This story takes place post AWE
1. Hello John Beckwith
The air was thick that August morning—especially for an August in England. The mist was just beginning to clear the cemetery as they lowered John's body into the cool English dirt.
Jacqueline stood alone watching through glossy eyes as they lowered his brother's body into the earth, never to be seen again.
Not able to take much more, Jacqueline turned from the sight before her and walked away from the gravesite. Hoisting her dress high, she trekked through the cemetery to the carriage that awaited her.
Inside the carriage, Jacqueline kept herself from crying, not wanting anyone else to hear her, and yet, this death was just like all the other deaths in her family—her mother's, which she never got to experience, since it was while giving birth to her she passed away; the untimely death of her older sister Meg, when she Jacqueline was just thirteen of smallpox; her father not too long ago, when she was nineteen, and now her brother John, killed in a fight with a beggar in an attempt to protect Jacqueline.
Enough death had plagued the life of Jacqueline Beckwith, enough death of loved ones so to almost eradicate any feeling of loss—and yet the death of her beloved brother cut her the deepest, mostly because he had died because of her—trying to save her honor.
Poor John—he was so young—just eighteen when he was robbed of his life by, ironically enough, a thief. Jacqueline, at the fine age of twenty-one had to now bear the pain and guilt of her brother's death.
He had always spoken of leaving for a life at sea—join the Royal Navy and travel the world, was what he consistently told her after their father had died. It was just the two of them making it on their own.
John promised Jacqueline that he would support them both with a naval salary because he had hoped to highly rank someday.
When the carriage reached the Beckwith home, Jacqueline was escorted inside and left to a completely empty home with absolutely nothing there for her.
She ran up to her room and finally let out a much anticipated sob in the name of her brother.
"John! Oh John, I'm so sorry! If only it could have been me that died instead of you!" Jacqueline cried out loud through gasps of air as she bawled.
In a crying fit, Jacqueline eventually falls asleep at the foot of her bed, remaining unconscious to the world until the sun no longer lit the hazy August sky.
At dusk, she finally awoke to find the darkening sky eating away at her empty house. She quickly ran through her home lighting candles and lanterns so to avoid total darkness in her own darkest hour.
Finally, grabbing a lantern, she ventured through a familiar doorway as tears re-moistened her dry cheeks.
John's room was neat, his bed made and his desk clear. Sitting at his desk, Jacqueline lit a lamp and sat idly, just taking in her brother's room, imagining that he would be home soon, rather than lying dead beneath the earth.
The thought of him dead made more tears roll down her face. She slammed her head down on the desk, slamming a fist on the hard wood as well, but her hand suddenly slipped on top of a piece of paper.
Curious, Jacqueline picked up her head and, drying her tears from her eyes with one hand, picked up the envelope before her.
It was addressed to her brother, Jonathan C. Beckwith III from the Royal Navy of his Majesty Himself—the King. Astonished, Jacqueline picked up the envelope and broke the seal, eager to read the letter inside.
She scanned her eyes down the fine print, and then re-read the letter over again. It was John's acceptance into the Royal Navy!
A sudden burst of though broke loose through her entire body. Rather than weep for John's loss at his chance in the Navy, Jacqueline got the strangest and yet boldest idea yet.
"I'll join the Navy in his stead," she said aloud, "I have yet to file his death certificate—I just won't do it. John, darling, I'll live the life you should have lived," she said aloud, getting up from the desk and walking over to his wardrobe.
Opening the doors, she took out some of his clothes to try on. Jacqueline was a tall height for a woman—nearly five foot eight. Both she and her brother shared the same hair and eye color—dark brown hair with a somewhat reddish/auburn undertone, and stunning green eyes they had both inherited from their mother.
Jacqueline quickly undressed herself and slipped on her brother's white shirt and pulled a vest on over it. She then found a clean pair of pants that he had just bought and pulled them on as well, followed by his boots. She added his belt around her waist—a bit too big for her slender shape, but would have to do for now, and then lastly, her brother's tri-cornered hat atop her head.
Taking a long good look at herself in the mirror, Jacqueline cast herself aside.
"Jacqueline Beckwith, you are no longer. Hello John Beckwith," she said with a sad smile.