A/N: Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" somehow fueled this one…go figure.
Summary: "Upset by their union, then, are ye?" Jack shot his former first mate a glance that could have killed. "Not in the slightest."
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own them, lovelies, though I seriously wish I did.
Of Broken Pasts and Dolly Belles
They sat across from each other, as they had so many times before. Both clutched a bottle of rum possessively, eyeing the other as if he would jump up any moment, pistol in hand.
"As captain, I say we-" Barbossa finally broke the silence but Jack interrupted him with one of his familiar gestures. "I'm captain, mate," The younger man stated.
"Some captain you are," Barbossa growled in reply. "Can't keep a ship for a year solid."
Jack frowned, his mind working to find a time when he had kept the Pearl for a time longer than a year. "Have too!" He finally piped up. "Back when she wasn't the Pearl. Back when she was the Wicked Wench."
"Ay, and you were under protection of the king himself, damn him," His old friend, if you could call him that, retorted. "'Sides, you lost her to the sea when you rebelled." Jack's mustache twitched as his finger glided uneasily over the skin of his wrist. "'Spose things were just as bad when I was less rebellious like. Less pain, more anger. Same amount of betrayal. It's a trade off, really."
Without a comment, Barbossa blinked and glanced at his reflection the shiny green skin of the apple he'd selected moments before. Gingerly, he ran a hand down the side of his face and over his moon-shaped scar. It was a moment of reflection for both of them, he thought. He remembered when he had been handsome and ambitious and green in the area of pirating. He remembered Jack in such ways as well.
"Narcissistic Hector Barbossa," Jack taunted, breaking into the man's thoughts. "See something you like?" Barbossa's gave flicked upwards and onto the other, squinting at him.
"I'm old, Jack."
The statement rendered both silent for a time, but Jack found his voice after gulping down some of his precious rum.
"I'm not exactly a young man myself," He pointed out softly. "You're younger than me," Barbossa shot back. "Is everything a competition to you?" Jack snapped, tracing the damp rim of his rum bottle with his finger. "No," Barbossa decided. "But I'm not the only one who has a skill meant for competing for things...or temptresses."
"I didn't compete for anyone," Jack grunted. "Not like the newly wed captain of the Dutchman. He widdled her down and baffled her till she had to cling to someone or she'd fall. I just wasn't there to push her in the right direction," Jack scoffed, setting the bottle down on the table with more force than expected. Barbossa squinted at Jack in amusement. "Upset by their union, then, are ye?" Jack shot his former first mate a glance that could have killed. "Not in the slightest."
"'Course ye are, Jack, but I won't push the matter," Barbossa mumbled before taking a bite of his apple, obscuring his glossy likeness forever. "I am not upset. I'm happy for them. Elizabeth was eager to be married and Will wanted to glimpse what was beneath that pretty petticoat. Everyone got what they desired," Jack protested. "Except for ye, like always," The older man pointed out, stroking his chin in thought. "What exactly do ye desire, Jack?"
As if he had been cued to do so, Jack placed his compass in the center of the table. "At the moment? Immortality," He answered, fingers drumming the wooden lid. "And what of you, Chartman Barbossa?"
"Captain," Barbossa corrected with a smirk at Jack's diligence. "Steer clear of me charts." Jack grinned and leaned back in his chair. Too late for that warning, the dirty deed was already done. "And I don't see fit to divulge my inner most thoughts to the likes of ye."
"Aw, come on, Hector! We're friends!" Jack pleaded. "Were friends, as it were. We used to tell each other everything." Barbossa snorted. "That's what got ye in trouble in the first place," He reminded the man. "That and yer foolish loyalties." Jack shifted. "I'm not loyal and you know it," He snapped. "I've betrayed loads of people, same as you."
"Aye, I know this. But unlike me, ye do hold loyalties to some," Barbossa countered. Jack's brows rose slightly in interest. "And who, pray tell, would this "some" be?" He inquired. Barbossa looked, in dismay, at the apple core. "For one, Miss Turner," The pirate answered as he set the thing on the table. A glimpse of a smirk flickered past Jack's lips. "What makes you think that?" He asked.
"From what I gather, ye practically skipped as she led ye to yer grave," Barbossa stated, eyeing a bottle of rum held by a snoring pirate beside him. "I did not skip," Jack objected. "I accepted her kiss, that's all." Barbossa rolled his eyes and finally made his move on the rum before wiping the rim off with an equally dirty cloth.
"O' course you accepted it. Any man with half a mind would accept a kiss from her if she'd give it to him," The older man stated bluntly. "What I'm talking about is the part after the afore mentioned." Jack eyed Barbossa curiously.
"Ye have two arms, two hands, ye bloody idiot. She only bound one of them. If she'd sentenced me to death, I would have snatched her by that beautiful neck and killed her first with my free hand. Alls fair in love and war. He, (or she), who gives shall receive. Shall I go on?"
If Jack's eyes had gotten any wider, they would have been in danger of rolling out of his head and onto the table. "That's going just a bit far," He said, something of angry and defense rising up in his voice. "She means well, even if her ideas are all half-baked."
"Ay, I always liked a lass who'd kill ye before ye were able to mount her," Barbossa sneered. Jack's jaw set indignantly. "Personally I have no time for such posh things. I stick to the woman who are easily charmed and who are easily done away with."
"The whores, you mean," Jack spat. "Ay, if you want to put it that way," Barbossa agreed with a nod. Jack leaned back in his chair, arms crossed on his chest. "At least I got to enjoy a simple conversation with my lady of choice," He retorted.
"Simple conversations don't hold any satisfaction, last time I checked. I'm not really aroused at the moment, unless this isn't a simple conversation," Barbossa snapped. "Maybe it wasn't satisfaction that I wanted most," Jack growled, disgusted by the images now haunting his mind. "Maybe I wanted to know how she was or what she wanted in life. Perhaps, condemn me for it, I cared about her."
Jack slammed his rum down on the table as he stood. Glowering once more at Barbossa, he turned on his heel and marched away. "Set sail for Tortuga!" He roared.
Barbossa chuckled and shook his head. "So he's in pain," He muttered under his breath as he traded Jack's rum for the unknown man's, thinking it safer. "And it's because he's in love."