A Prince of Pirates
(Or DMTNT as it should have been, in 5 short parts…)
I.
"We can't do this."
She always said that, but they always did it anyway.
This thing that burned between them was stronger than words, stronger than vows made in haste during a battle on a pirate ship.
He visited her in the royal chambers often, a galleon suspended above the Cove in an inexplicable defiance of gravity. Perhaps he had little self-control these days, but her body was his truth. Her lips, his salvation. In her eyes he saw a man who he might actually like to be someday. Not all treasure is silver and gold, and the greatest treasure Jack had ever found lay between these sheets, her hallowed skin pressed against his in a sacred embrace.
I love you.
She'd said it once in the throes of passion, a breathless oath torn from kiss-swollen lips, their bodies so entwined neither could tell where one stopped and the other began.
He did not say it back, could not say it back, but he'd kissed her hard and prayed she could taste the truth on his tongue.
She was the only woman for him.
They did it anyway, until the day Elizabeth said no and meant it. They were hurting Will, she said, dark circles under her eyes. He could feel it. She could feel it. That heart beat within its chest like an angry drum, sitting on her desk in her study. She no longer slept for the nightmares of her childhood love covered in barnacles, become another terrible abomination of the sea.
Jack had been shot in the chest once. Well, twice, to be exact. Neither time hurt as much as this.
She told him not to come back, so he didn't. Not even when he heard through the Caribbean grape vine that the pirate king was ripe with child, big as a frigate and ready to burst. Not even when he heard she had borne a son, and named him Henry Turner.
Perhaps Jack had smiled a little at that. Henry, after Henry Morgan, no doubt, her favorite pirate. She had told him so once on a deserted island, when the fire had burned low and they were full to the gills with rum. A man who brought the Spanish empire to its knees, sacking port after port in multiple acts of daring and cunning, and brought mountains of gold back to Port Royal.
A fitting name for a prince of pirates.
Jack lifted his rum bottle and drank a toast to the son he would never know. He did not stop drinking until the blackness of a merciful oblivion embraced him.
There's only so much a man can take.
II.
This boy stood before him now, strong and determined, dark eyed and in possession of a bone structure so fine it could have come from his mother alone, had he sprung from her skull fully formed. But no. This lad was conceived in a more pedestrian way, though no less glorious, considering. It was a different kind of magic, which Jack remembered conjuring all too well.
The lad wanted to save his father, yet Jack found he did not have the courage to tell the boy that all he needed to do so was help Jack Sparrow escape this cell.
No, let him have Will Turner for a father. A far better man than a rum-pot washed up pirate like him.
Still, the words left his treacherous mouth before he could swallow them. "Does Mummy ever speak of me? Call me name in her sleep, p'rhaps?"
The boy frowned with disapproval, and the expression was so much like his mother's Jack count have laughed, if his heart had not been tied up in such a tight knot. "No."
"Are ye sure we're speaking of the same woman? Hair like heathen gold, eyes like a warm pot o' chocolate...a waistline to show an hourglass what shape to strive for?"
Henry sighed, rolling coal-black eyes he did not receive from Will Turner. "Yes, that's her. Though...her hair is dark now. She doesn't go out much anymore."
This struck Jack hard, harder than it should have. His Lizzy, his indomitable Pirate King, did not get out to terrorize the seas, the sun on her face and the wind at her back?
But then he had acquired a few new bad habits of his own, he supposed. He drank too much, even for him, and he fucked governor's wives who reminded him of a saucy young debutante he once knew.
Perhaps time had a way of making them all into shadows of the selves they had been.
"My name is actually John Henry Turner," said the boy, for no apparent reason but for the searching look he paid Jack Sparrow, the legend he'd been weaned upon as s boy reduced to this strange man in a jail cell—who inexplicably was wearing no pants. "But everyone calls me Henry."
Jack nodded, unable to speak because he felt as though an eighteen pound canon ball just struck him between the eyes.
If he did not hang on the morrow, Jack knew he would help this boy find the trident to save Will Turner, a man he'd done more than his fair share to help curse.
This boy.
This boy, his son.
III.
The Dutchman docked in the deep water moorage of the Cove, William Turner able to set foot on land at last, freed of all crustaceous blemish. Henry met him first on the docks, and then not far behind him, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth.
She looked different than he remembered, her hair dark and skin pale. He wondered what ravages time left she would see in him.
The words left her lips not a moment after separating from the embrace of her long lost husband. "Where's Jack?"
A bitter smile pulled at the corner of Will's mouth. He might have anticipated this. Ruefully his eyes cast out over the harbor, and Elizabeth beheld the aft end of the Pearl, hauling for the horizon.
Come back.
The words turned to ash on her tongue.
She ran to the end of the dock, jumped up and down waving, screaming, begging. Don't go. Please don't go. You don't have to go, now.
She saw it all in her mind's eye, but she did not move a muscle. This was the woman she had become; a woman of wishful thoughts, not actions.
She turned back to Will, and was ashamed of herself. Her husband was here, and she should be happy. "Come inside," she urged him, taking his hand in hers.
"Elizabeth..." There was a note of protest in her name, and there was so much he wanted to say. That he did not blame her. That he never wanted her to live her life alone. That he always knew it would be Jack Sparrow.
But she pulled him harder, refusing to acknowledge the awkwardness between them. "Come inside," she demanded again, sounding like a king for the first time in ages. "And I will show you how much I've missed you."
Will gave in. When a woman like that tells you to follow her...well. A man doesn't argue, and he had been alone for so long.
IV.
Weeks went by. Days and days on end filled with a tension no one had the courage to name, until William finally worked up the pluck to speak his mind. In the quiet only the hours of the very early morning can bring, Will touched Elizabeth's hair, calling her up from slumber. "Elizabeth," he whispered.
My love.
He dared not say it aloud.
"Will?" Her voice was clear—she'd not been sleeping at all.
"You must go to him."
The look on her face may have felled a lesser man. "Are you out of your mind?"
"And you must tell Henry the truth. He's a man and it's time he knows who his father is."
"You are his father, William."
The Captain of the Dutchman paid her a look she did not know on William Turner's face. World wizened. Weary. But there was so much they did not know about each other now.
She tried again, desperate to not have ruined this—whatever this could be called—so soon. She ruined everything eventually, it seemed.
"You've finally been set free of this curse, Will."
"So have you, Elizabeth."
The look on her face—Will never wanted to be the cause of such anguish to the woman he loved.
"We both know you are my wife in name only. You have never truly belonged to me. You have not failed, Elizabeth. Our fates were cruel. But Henry is a fine boy and I love him."
For the first time since his return she began to cry, and Will held her, feeling that perhaps this was the only true thing that had passed between them these long weeks.
V.
For the first time in a long time, Henry felt as though he recognized his mother, the fearsome King of the Brethren Court. He was so proud to walk beside her in this pirate port, her stride long, her chin held high, kohl-lined gaze sharp as the sword upon whose pommel she rested her hand as they negotiated the filthy streets of Tortuga. All around men gawped for the sight of her, whispering excitedly to their mates, "The King!"—for it was rumored Elizabeth Swann had not left her galleon in the Cove for years. Many even bowed, and Elizabeth acknowledged them with a regal nod before continuing on their way.
They found Jack drinking with his crew at the Faithful Bryde, and Elizabeth couldn't help but think there was some strange irony in the setting for the final act of this play. Somewhere, the Gods were laughing.
Jack sat at the bar, nursing a flagon and telling an outlandish tale to the bartender One-Eyed Tom. "And then they made me their chief!"
For a man with only one ocular appendage, Tom gave a spectacular eye roll, having heard this story nigh over a thousand times before.
It took a few moments for Jack to notice them standing there. Elizabeth, Henry, and Carina too. It began with a sideways slide of those dark eyes, then the rest of him followed in that liquid feline way Jack Sparrow moved when he was not completely sauced. It was new to Henry, and he looked upon the pirate with an eager curiosity.
Elizabeth could not help but smile, a tired curl of lips that betrayed her weariness. It was hard to imagine Jack could receive her well after…everything—but she was here, a small flame of hope burning in her heart she'd dared kindle after William's decree.
"Hello Jack."
Kohl-lined eyes went wide, and for once it seemed Jack was rendered speechless.
Henry beat him to it, crowing indignantly, "Why didn't you tell me?!"
Jack afforded a small grimace, gold teeth flashing in the low light of the tavern. "Didn't think it was my secret to tell, son."
Son.
Henry pounced on the pirate captain. There really was no other word, the boy's arms locked around Jack's neck in a fierce embrace. For a moment Jack made a comical face, eyes bugging out through a strangled aaawwwk of surprise. But then something clicked, reminding him that here there was no one here for whom he needed to perform. And so he allowed himself to return the boy's embrace, hugging him hard.
His son.
Elizabeth looked upon this moment between the two men she loved most, certain her heart might burst. She felt dizzy, her knees weak. So much time gone. Wasted, it seemed now. What a fool she'd been.
Her gut flipped when she realized Jack was looking at her from over Henry's shoulder; midnight eyes that could steal a woman's very soul. They still pulled at her, and when he lifted an arm in invitation she was drawn to him like the moon pulls the tide. As she buried her face in the bend of his neck, his and Henry's strong arms wrapped around her—for the first time in years she felt complete.
"I am so sorry." She did not know if it came out as a whisper or a sob, but Jack only held her closer.
"Hush, love. You did what you thought you had to do. Pirate."
The fact that he could tease her still nearly broke her heart all over again. "But I—"
This time it was Henry who squeezed her harder. "Mum, it's alright."
Was it? Wrapped up in this embrace, Elizabeth thought that just maybe the boy could be right.
It was Jack who pulled back first, noting Carina standing on the sidelines. "Ye look lonely dearie, come on. You're one of us now too."
The young lady paid the pirate a small twist of a smile, lighting closer. "I suppose I do find myself puzzled as to whether my name shall be Barbossa, Turner or Sparrow."
Henry looped an arm around her shoulders, and with that youthful grin seemed to be asking Jack a question. Jack raised his eyebrows, quite flummoxed to find himself in this unexpected situation. Usually such a quandary would have him reaching for the bottle, but now…he found he didn't want it, and the freedom in that made his head spin all over again. "Tis a fine name, lad, you're welcome to it if ye like."
Somehow, the boy managed to grin even wider, and Jack reached out to pat the lad's cheek, something fierce and hot expanding in his chest. Pride, he supposed, and…love? How strange to feel so acutely after chasing oblivion for so long.
Throughout all of this Jack's hold did not relinquish from Elizabeth's waist, and as Henry and Carina wandered cautiously through the melee that was the Bryde at this hour to find a table of their own, Jack pulled her closer still.
"Jack…" she breathed, a staying hand placed on his chest. "Perhaps we should…talk?"
The pirate captain made a face at that, the fine lines of his kohl-lined eyes crinkling. "I've a better suggestion. Let us skip straight to the forgiveness part and put it all behind us."
"But…aren't you angry?"
Jack shrugged, his gaze fixing on Henry and his sweetheart, before turning back to Elizabeth. His eyes scanned her face adoringly, beloved features he had not gazed upon in far too long. "You haven't aged a day, love. Beautiful as the day is long."
"Jack!" she scolded, recognizing his old habit of changing the subject by playing on her vanity. It would not work this time, she resolved, willing the butterflies in her belly dead. But ah, they were a persistent lot, and a thrill marched down her spine as he pulled her to stand between his thighs.
He sighed, knowing that look all too well. "I was angry," he admitted. "But now…you're here, and I'm here, miraculously neither of us are dead, and I…still…love you." The latter was quickly forced out, so that it more resembled a sneeze more than a declaration of affection. But Elizabeth made out the words perfectly well, and she could not hold back a smile, nor the impulse to kiss him, pressing her lips to his. It began sweetly but soon spiraled into a hungry, torrid thing. It was Jack who pulled back first with a theatrical gasp, his be-ringed hand tangled in her hair.
"On second thought, love, I think we do need to have a discussion. A lengthy, heated...debate—in my cabin. Did you hear I regained the Pearl?"
Elizabeth laughed, fingering a trinket in Jack's hair. The blue beads were new. "I have heard, perhaps a thousand times, all about your adventures since Henry returned."
"He is an exuberant young man, inne? Where did he get that, d'you s'pose?" Elizabeth raised one dark eyebrow, as though the answer to that should be obvious. "Thank you, by the way."
"For what?"
"For raising such a fine young man."
"He did turn out rather well, didn't he?" she said cheekily, smirking at Jack.
He paid her a sideways look, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Yet so many unsaid regrets hovered between them. He wished he'd been there. She wished she'd allowed it. How many times she'd hovered on the verge of having him fetched back to her, only to lose her nerve after a dream of Wills curse.
Understanding all too well, Elizabeth pressed her lips to his forehead. "I believe you mentioned the cabin of the Pearl?" she prompted.
"Ahh, I like your thinking, love." Jack tossed a coin onto the bar and snaked an arm about her waist, tugging her towards the door. Yet he couldn't help but look over his shoulder at Henry and Carina, who did seem to be enjoying themselves in a dark corner over tankards of grog. "Will they be alright ye think?"
Elizabeth laughed. "It's a bit late to fuss, Captain Sparrow. He is a grown man now. And she is perfectly capable of taking care of them both. I like her."
"Aye, I do too."
Still, he seemed unable to budge.
"I was their age, you know, when you saved me that first time."
Jack looked up at her from beneath his lashes. "You still think of it that way?" he asked, and the vulnerability in those words struck her as surely as a dagger to the chest. She squeezed his hand in hers, determined that she would never let go of him again. "I always have," she assured him. "And I always will."
Jack made a small pained sound deep in his throat, throwing one last glance Henry's way. But in the end his need for this woman at his side won out. With a renewed vigor he pulled his King close, and together they sauntered out the door into the warm Tortuga night.
The End
(Which of course, like any good ending, is really only another beginning…)
A/N: This was originally posted in 5 parts on tumblr but I'm laaazy AF here, its too annoying to post. Lol. But dang look at all this new blood in the fandom, DMTNT stirred it up! So happy to see so much life here again! Thank you for reading! Leave me a review and I'll tell you a secret. ;)