This short story is meant to connect Everything Has Changed with my next pirates story. This and the next one are original fan-fictions, the plots are solely from my own mind, not following any movies.
However, I do not own any of the characters from the movies, only my own.
About six months after the fountain of youth.
The Caribbean Sea was calm today, gently rocking the Queen Anne's Revenge as she sailed.
The Captain and his wife were in their cabin, and the crew was going about their business.
And then, the sailor in the crow's nest spotted a shape on the horizon. "Ship ahoy!" He called down.
Hearing the shout, Sylvia Barbossa emerged from the Captain's cabin. Her vest flapped in the slight breeze, unbuttoned to accommodate the baby growing inside her. She placed a supporting hand on her lower back and called up to the sailor in the crow's nest. "What nature of ship!?"
"Pirate, I think!"
"And the color of the sails!?"
"Black!"
Sylvia's face split into a grin. "We've done it boys! We've found the Black Pearl!"
A roaring cheer went up from the men. For the past several months all they had done was look for the ship with black sails, and they were quite happy to have finally accomplished their mission.
Sylvia turned to Scrum, who was at the helm. "Keep a steady course and catch up to that ship."
Scrum dipped his head. "Aye, Missus Cap'n."
Feeling confident, Sylvia went back into the Captain's cabin to tell her husband the good news.
Captain Hector Barbossa was sitting at the table, hunched over his maps. He was leaning so close that his graying, shoulder-length auburn hair touched the parchment.
Sylvia shook her head and smiled fondly. Every time she mentioned that it might be time for Barbossa to get glasses, he would get mad and say that only old men needed those 'damned things'. And, wanting to avoid an argument, Sylvia would always refrain from pointing out that Barbossa wasn't as young as he used to be.
Sylvia of course knew that she wouldn't be young forever either. But she took smug pleasure in the fact that no one would know when she went gray, because she was already a platinum blonde.
Now, Sylvia laid a hand on her husband's shoulder and waited until his blue eyes looked up into her green. "We've got the Pearl in our sights." She smiled.
Barbossa's eyes lit up. "Finally." He reached his hand up and around to the back of Sylvia's head, pulling her down for a quick kiss. After they pulled apart, Barbossa became serious. "Now, as we're approachin' the Pearl, I think it might be a good idea for ye ta stay in the cabin."
Sylvia's eyelids dropped into a frown. "Why?"
"If Jack fer some reason decides ta open fire, I don't want ye, or the little one ta get hurt." Barbossa laid a hand on his wife's stomach.
Sylvia heaved a sigh. "I really don't think Jack will shoot at us."
"Please, Sylvia?" Barbossa held her hand.
After a few moments Sylvia reluctantly nodded.
Barbossa kissed her hand. "Good girl."
"But once we catch up, I'm going over to the Pearl."
The Queen Anne's Revenge soon pulled up alongside the Black Pearl without exchanging cannon-fire, and the crew of the Revenge busied themselves with laying the gangplank to connect the two ships.
Immediately, Sylvia flung open the cabin door and marched across to her husband's former command.
"Sylvia!" Jack held out his arms and grinned. "Good to see you!"
Instead of returning the greeting, Sylvia looked Jack straight in the eye and demanded. "Where is Hector's leg?"
"Thanks, luv, I'm fine. And how are you?"
Sylvia grabbed Jack's shirt collar and growled. "Tell me you didn't throw it overboard!"
"Easy, luv." Jack glanced down at Sylvia's stomach. "Don't excite yourself."
"Have you seen it!?" Sylvia snapped.
Jack held up his hands. "I swear on pain of death, I have not."
Sylvia reluctantly released her grip and yelled over her shoulder at Scrum. "Search below decks!"
"Aye Missus Cap'n!" Scrum hurried away.
"Sylvia?" Someone inquired from behind her.
Sylvia turned around to find Pintel and Ragetti standing there.
Their eyes immediately flew to her stomach. "Crikey!" Ragetti exclaimed.
"Put on some weight 'ave you?" Pintel asked.
Sylvia glared at the two pirates. "I'm with child, you imbeciles."
"Oh!" Ragetti grinned happily. "Who's the father?"
Pintel smacked him upside the head. "The Captain o'course!"
"Jack?" Ragetti looked confused. "But I thought she married Barbossa?"
"Then why were ya askin' about the father!?"
"I thought it was polite!"
Sylvia rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but smile at their ridiculous argument. The two of them would never change, and she was just fine with that.
Just then Barbossa stepped on board, and there was a sudden excited screeching from the rigging.
Jack the monkey, who had been in the crow's nest, came scrambling down the rigging, practically flying from rope to rope. He finally landed on Barbossa's shoulder, causing the one-legged pirate to stagger a bit, and nuzzled his face.
Barbossa chuckled and scratched the monkey's head. "I've missed ye too, Jack."
Out of the corner of her eye Sylvia saw Jack, the human, open his mouth to say something. "You know he's talking to the monkey." She said sternly, knowing he had been about to make some stupid comment.
Jack blinked. "Oh."
Sylvia rolled her eyes. And then a thought struck her. "Jack?" She asked tensely. "Where's Angelica?"
"Left her on an island."
"You did!?" Sylvia asked in shocked glee.
Jack nodded and Sylvia laughed out loud, picturing the Spanish witch sitting on a lonely spit of sand with only a palm tree for company.
Sylvia laid her hand on Jack's shoulder and squeezed, smiling. "I'm proud of you, Jack. I was afraid she had you under her spell."
Jack shook his head. "Back at the fountain, I saw 'er for what she really was."
"Aye. I'm glad."
They were silent for several minutes, and then Jack looked at Sylvia with a curious expression. "Just what is it you want with Barbossa's leg?"
"We're going to reattach it."
"Oh?"
"I found it!" Scrum's muffled voice came from below, followed shortly by Scrum himself.
Using as few fingers as possible, he was holding a large black boot at arms length. The knob of a bone was sticking out, and there was a faint smell of decaying flesh.
Jack's eyebrows went up. "Good luck with that." He said, sounding less than confident.
Sylvia rolled her eyes. "We're going to Isla de Muerta. Hector will re-curse himself, put the leg back on, lift the curse, and he'll be back to normal." Jack coughed, and Sylvia glared at him. "You know what I mean."
"Your plan is all very well and good, luv. But you do remember that Isla de Muerta sank, do you not?"
Sylvia smirked. "Of course, Jack. But do you know that it's going to resurface because of the blue moon?"
"What?" Jack looked confused.
"That's right. Don't ask me how I found out because it's a bit of a long story. But tomorrow night when the moon is full for the second time this month, the island will rise out of the sea, and the Aztec gold with it."
After saying goodbye to Jack, Barbossa and Sylvia sailed away, following the coordinates that Sylvia had obtained from Jack's compass. And, Pintel and Ragetti having opted to go with their former Captain, the Queen Anne's Revenge gained two new crew members.
Nearly three hours of sailing were completed before the big ship dropped anchor for the night. And when all was secure, the crew crawled happily into their hammocks below deck, and one and all began to snore very very loudly.
Two decks above, in the Captain's cabin, Barbossa and Sylvia lay in bed discussing names for their offspring.
"I like Jacqueline for a girl. And the middle name Jack for a boy." Sylvia said, resting her head on her husband's chest.
"Ye want ta name our child after Jack?" Barbossa asked, sounding nonplussed.
"He did save my life and the child's, lets not forget that."
"Aye." Barbossa nodded. "Yer right."
"But the name Jacqueline I also like because of my best friend back in England. I lost contact with her after my family moved to Port Royal."
Barbossa kissed his wife's head. "It be a good name."
"And I'd like her middle name to be Elizabeth. She was a good friend of ours too."
"Aye. And what about a boy's first name?"
Sylvia tipped her head back to look at Barbossa and smiled. "Don't you want any say in this? So far you've just been agreeing with me."
Barbossa chuckled. "I'm just tryin' ta be a good husband."
Sylvia shook her head, still smiling. "And I'm just trying to be a good wife. Now tell me what names you like."
Barbossa thought for a moment. "James. Fer the Admiral. He did try ta help us in the end."
Sylvia yawned and nodded. "I like that name."
Barbossa patted Sylvia's shoulder affectionately and pulled the covers up around them. "Rest now."
Sylvia mumbled a goodnight as her eyelids sank into sleepy submission.
The next morning, Sylvia was awakened by sunlight playing over her face. Once she had blinked several times and gotten her bearings, she realized that Barbossa wasn't with her and the ship was in motion.
After getting up as quickly as any pregnant woman could hope to, Sylvia got dressed, thankful that this particular day didn't involve morning sickness.
Sylvia left the cabin and found her husband at the helm.
Barbossa smiled when he laid eyes on his wife. "Did ye rest well?"
"Aye. How long have we been sailing?" Sylvia asked, getting right down to business.
"A couple hours I'd say."
"Are we close?"
Barbossa surveyed their surroundings and shook his head. "Nay. Not yet."
Sylvia sighed and leaned on the railing, looking out at the crystal blue waves.
The baby kicked and Sylvia placed her hand on her stomach, feeling the tiny foot. "We must all be patient." She murmured.
The next few hours dragged by so slowly that Sylvia could've sworn that there was no wind in the sky, nor current in the sea.
And then, suddenly, Barbossa ordered that the anchor be dropped. "We be here." He said solemnly.
Sylvia looked around skeptically. "How can you tell?"
"Believe me, I know these waters well." Barbossa replied with a hint of bitterness.
Sylvia immediately felt bad and placed a comforting hand on her husband's shoulder. "Aye. That you would." She said softly.
"But we should still send someone down ta check an' make sure we not be sittin' right on top of it."
"And who's the lucky chap?"
Barbossa just smirked.
"Oi!" Pintel barked at Ragetti. "Not so tight!"
Ragetti loosened the rope that he had cinched around his friend's middle. "Sorry, but you don' wanna slip out do ya?"
"Why does the Cap'n want me ta do this? You swim bet'er 'n I do."
"That's what the rope's for, so you don' 'ave ta swim."
"That doesn' answer my question." Pintel growled.
"Well, I don' know!"
"Pintel!" Barbossa called from the helm. "Ya ready!?"
"Aye, Cap'n!" Pintel yelled back.
"Lower 'im over!" Barbossa yelled to the crew members tasked with handling the rope.
Pintel climbed gingerly over the railing as the other men kept tension on the rope. The whole operation went fairly smoothly, with Pintel only bumping into the side of the ship twice. Face first.
After only about a minute underwater, Pintel tugged on the rope, signaling that he needed to come back up. The men hauled back on the rope and soon deposited the soggy pirate on deck.
Barbossa pushed through the crowd, hobbling up to his dripping crew member and asking if he had seen the submerged island.
"Aye. Over that way." Pintel waved vaguely off the port side.
"Will it hit the ship when it surfaces?"
"I don' think so."
It was then that Sylvia spoke up from the back of the crowd . "Well then, I guess we just wait for nightfall."
Several hours later, it had finally gotten dark and the moon was beginning to rise into the sky.
Barbossa looked up into the night sky and grinned. "She'll be surfacin' any time now."
"Aye." Sylvia smiled.
Suddenly there was a great rumbling as the island of death began to rise from the sea floor. Several yards from the Queen Anne's Revenge, a huge bubble of water was formed as the island pushed up through the waves. When the surface was finally broken, water was sent cascading down the rocks, forming little waterfalls over the entrance to the cave.
"Isla de Muerta." Sylvia whispered. "Who would've thought that we'd so glad to see it again?"