Title: Across the Sea and to the Horizon
Author: PwnedByPineapple
Summary: Maybe he's mad. Or maybe he can see what others can't. The answer doesn't change a thing for Jack and his Pearl.
Rating/Warning(s): K; none
Notes: Companion to the Supernatural fic "On the Road and to the Horizon" and the Firefly fic "In the Sky and to the Horizon". Inspired by the series Axis Powers Hetalia, which has given me an unhealthy obsession with personifying things.
Disclaimer: This fangirl owns nothing.
For as long as Jack has known the Pearl, she has never been just a ship or a means, never just what any other sees her as. There is a hull and a deck and sails and lines and the things that make her a ship, but that is it... not her.
The night is young, quiet. The ship arches through the black water, so sleek, so swift as she carries them far from all pursuit, and her familiar creaks are music to Jack's ears. There is a moon on this cloudy night, newly risen, and its light paints his ship in a thousand shades of black and silver, punctuated by the distorted silhouettes of the clouds high above. Jack admires this shifting pattern of light and shadow as his feet carry him to the bow, to where he often finds himself wandering.
"Mr. Pintel, you are hereby relieved of your watch duty."
The man in question jumps at Jack's approach; clearly not the most attentive soul to have ever watched over the Pearl. Pintel turns on his heels, and his brows draw together as he blinks in confusion. "Captain!" he says. "But... my orders are to stand guard 'til the moon reached its zenith."
Jack sighs. "Mr. Pintel, would you kindly remind me who gave you such orders?"
"Well... it were you, sir."
"And if I am giving you an order in direct contradiction of said previous orders?"
"Then... I'm to follow it?"
"Very good, Mr. Pintel. We may make a scholar out of you yet." Jack steps aside with a flourish of his arms, gesturing pointedly for the sailor to take his leave. Pintel slowly edges past him, appearing rather mystified... and who could blame him? A captain does not take on such a mundane activity as watch duty.
But Jack is a jealous man. He shoos Pintel away with another wave of his hands and waits until the man is out of sight, the bow devoid of any other life. The wind of passage suddenly lifts as a cloud passes over the moon, plunging the illuminated sea into darkness... and Jack smiles to know that he is not alone.
"They're far behind," she tells him, her voice drifting from the very forefront of the ship.
He turns and sees her perched on the utmost tip of the ship, a precarious position that she has complete mastery over. She has her back to the sea, facing him, and she smiles, patting the dark wood in invitation. He gladly takes it, leaning on the edge and looking out over the vast expanse of ocean that sprawls before him; the gentle rise and fall of the ship draws him even further into a sense of peace, and he feels himself relaxing such as he never does.
"They won't be catching up," she says. "I'm faster." These words are not without a hint of pride, and Jack smirks to hear it.
"You are indeed," he agrees. "The fastest and most beautiful creature to ever grace the seven seas."
He feels, rather than sees, the gentle roll of her eyes. "If you were anyone else," she says, amused, "I might accuse you of insincerity."
Jack gives her a sideways glance, raising a hand to his heart and taking mock offense at her words. "My dear, I am the most sincerely truthful person you will ever have the great fortune to meet."
"Yes, and I'm human," is the dry response, and the spirit of the Black Pearl gives him a smile, just as the moon emerges from behind the clouds that had temporarily confined its radiance.
Jack is treated to a spectacular view of the suddenly luminous sea, which morphs from a black mass to an intricate and pulsing pattern of the same black and silver that dots the ship. The ocean is a great living creature, a beautiful and merciless beast that no man can control, and yet he rides it without fear. Because of the girl who sits beside him, who carries him, he has a small measure of mastery over such an immense thing, and the intoxicating thrill of such a concept often gets to him on nights like these.
The two of them do not exchange many words as they sit there, his gaze turned forward, appreciative, and hers turned back, watchful. They never need to.
But eventually, as the moon climbs ever closer to its zenith, the girl casts a glance over him, her eyes thoughtful. "Thank you," she says suddenly, and he looks up at her, wondering. "For coming out here, with me, like you do. It... gets rather lonely, sometimes."
The words give Jack a pause. He looks away for a moment, back at the sea, but he no longer sees it, his thoughts turning inward. "Why don't you show yourself to anyone else?" he asks after a moment. "Or am I just mad?"
Her lips quirk upward. "I am sure that anyone who met you would describe you as mad," is her reply. "But no - I don't think you've lost your mind. I'd like to believe that I am real."
Jack would like to believe it, too. "You didn't answer my first question."
The moonlight adds a silvery tint to her black hair as she cocks her head, as if the reason is the most obvious thing in the world. "Why should I show myself to anyone but my captain?"
Jack likes that answer. He is still wondering, of course, if there's some element of madness in him that causes him to see things that shouldn't exist, but here, under the night sky, beside this creature whose presence he's come to look forward to on these nights like these, he believes that there isn't. That she's real. That the Pearl is his and his alone because of it.
"Captain?"
He notices that the moon has at last reached its highest point among the stars, and he glances back. One of the crewmembers has come to relieve Pintel of his watch duty, only to find the captain in Pintel's stead. Jack looks to his left, but the girl is no longer there. He sighs. "Carry on, sailor," is all he offers by way of explanation, stepping down and past the bemused crewmember. "I don't think we'll see pursuit tonight!"
She had told him as much, and he trusts her.
And as he crosses the empty deck to return to his cabin, he feels a presence sweep past him, sending a warm chill down his spine. The hull creaks, and in it he hears her words: "Thank you, my captain."
He smiles. He likes it when she calls him that.