Disclaimer: I do not own the gorgeous William Turner, the surly Barbossa or the jovial Mr. Gibbs, nor any of the rest of the crew included here. Now that we've got that over with,
This fic is the companion/ pre-quel to "The Sparrow and the Swan", which deals with Elizabeth and Jack. Sequels to this and "S &S" are "Love for the Sea" continuing the adventures of J and E, "Desperate Men", dealing with Jones himself, Beckett and Norrington. Sequel to all three is called "All Good Things Must Come to an End".
To simplify; S&S+LBDM+LftSAll Good Things… End.
Reviews with some criticism are welcome, so long as it comes with advice.
Enjoy!
Chapter One
William Turner was quite at odds with himself. He had spent his entire life living up to one dream. And now, she was gone.
"Ahoy, Turner! Will yea be tying off that line?"
Gibbs; always a man of the sea. This brought Will out of his thoughts, momentarily. He nodded to the man, and to prove it, began an intricate looping of the rope.
But it wasn't long until his mind returned to its fitful thoughts. He had left her- it had seemed the only logical thing to do at the time. Her betrayal made it too difficult for him to even look her in the eye. Elizabeth, or Lizzie, as Jack had come to call her. No, it wasn't betrayal. Sparrow had taken advantage of his lady, his love, Elizabeth had been cornered into the situation. Turner yanked harder than necessary on the line, and the rope sliced into his flesh. He bit his lip with anger until the blood came. Swallowing the briny warmth, he looked at his palm.
"Yet another callous. One for my hand, two for my heart..."
"And three for your head!"
Barbossa had come up, expecting to frighten Will. But the young man was cold, nothing scared him. If before he'd been willing to die for her, he now wanted to die because of her.
"Yea know, lad, sobbin' bout these decks doesn't do anything for ye."
Turner turned to look at him with hard eyes, and firmer jaw, but this captain was not jaunted
"Or the crew for that matter. Is it still the young lady yer missin'? Her touch cannot be that warm to the flesh. If it was that, Singapore is our next port after this. Know a few willing geishas who still owe me some favors."
He smiled as congenially as possible, but it was lost on Turner. What he felt for Elizabeth was not the slow burn of lust. It was flaming heat of unrequited love.
"That won't be necessary, captain."
Will nearly spit the last word.
"I thank you for the offer nonetheless."
He walked away, and spat the blood from his bit lip onto the deck.
Barbossa stood watching the tortured young man. A monkey came down from the jig lines, and lighted on his owner's shoulder.
"The strongest never break easy, do they Jack?"
The primate chirruped back, and began a combing of Barbossa's hair. Finding no fleas, he screamed in anger.
The man laughed at his small companion's frustration,
"You know that finding one wouldn't fill the hole in your belly, any ways! Undead monkeys can't eat!"
He roared even louder with candid joy. The creature howled its sorrow: together they made a disturbing duet.
From the helm, Gibbs looked out on the scene before him. Cotton was checking the sails for any tears, well, Mr. Cotton's parrot was. Cotton went to fix any discrepancies the bird found. The weathered sailor was glad to see that there were in fact few holes for the man to repair. That reflected on the quality of the rest of the ship. Gibbs smiled proudly to no one in particular. It had been he who had spotted this particular vessel in its port at Tortuga and made a case for it to be what they set their sights on. Aye, and set their sights on it they did. The name on the side planks read Bella Muerte, perfect for their destination. Although, he had to admit, he was a bit partial to the smaller sloops. It didn't have as much cannon fire as he was used to, but he hoped they wouldn't require it. He knocked on the wood, to counter the jinx-full thought as it went through his mind. One of the only let downs of this ship was the shortness of the bowspirit. This inequity had quickly been forgiven upon seeing the stores. Full provisions for a four month expedition, feeding a crew of 75, were present in hold. The men had reveled for the first three days out of port. But Barbossa had put an end to that. Gibbs could see why Jack had been ousted by this man. He was a devilish scoundrel with evil intent, to be sure. But he knew how to keep a crew in line. This made him an excellent leader- no man desired to oppose him. Gibbs was just happy he had been allowed to remain as a boatswain, he and the others had been just a little afraid their new 'captain' would want a different crew. But that witch woman had instructed the resurrected pirate,
"Those thad be a journeying to da ends ub de earth must be of a great desire to be a going dere. There ain't no man that would be a goin on dis journey if he 'ad no great love for Captain Jack Sparrow."
For some reason, the whelp had been appointed as quartermaster. He had no great experience on the sea. In fact, of all those onboard, he had the least. Even that Dalma woman had greater sailor legs than he. But his disposition complemented that of Barbossa in a way that Gibbs himself had to admire. Both were cynical in a way that reminded all of the crew of their dire mission. No one entirely understood what they were approaching. Barnacles, they didn't have the foggiest idea of the danger they were headed for! But none of them had any desire to turn around. Gibbs sighed. The world just wasn't the same without Jack Sparrow.
Pintel and Ragetti were, as always, joyful to be on the sea again.
"Do you think we's really going to the ends of the earth?"
Ragetti stared at his one-eyed companion for a moment before answering,
"Do you?"
"I don't much know. I never thought that I would be one so...chosen for such journey in life. It's almost as though we was goin' to save Jonah. Ordained by God, or somewhat..."
"Gar, you fool! We wasn't 'ordained'! We volunteered for this!"
Pintel recieved a sharp smack upside his head.
"Hey, no reason to go be getting violent!"
"And since when is you opposed to bein violent?"
To this, Pintel pulled out a torn bible and held it over his heart,
"Since I began to seek salvation."
He said this to his mate with such redeeming grace and poignancy, that Ragetti was awed for a moment. But only for a moment. He shook his head of grisly hair in disapproval.
The two were quiet for a few minutes, staring at the sunset on the horizon.
"What do you suppose is awaiting for us at the End?"
Ragetti chewed the insides of his cheeks in concentration. It was the adverse effect of his mind attempting to recall the details of a particular rhyme he'd heard as a child.
"The water's will run on and on,
For all of eternity,
Over the edge, each drop a pawn,
Of the endless sea"
Pintel brought his hand up to stroke his chin in deep thought,
"Now what do you fancy that means? Its awfully purdy sounding."
"Well, it makes a picture in me head of a big, thundering waterfall. I suppose all the water in the world would have to pour out the sides, like gravy on a plate."
Ragetti illustrated the image with his hands, as elegantly as his skills allowed. Pintel squinted his one eye in consideration.
"Well, what about the world not being flat? What if it were round, like me eye?"
Here he grotesquely produced the wooden implement from its socket.
"The world can't be round! How would all the people stay put? And the water? Wouldn't it just all fall off till there was nothin' left?"
Again, the one-eyed man brought a hand up to his chin, using the other to replace his fake eye. He stuck his tongue out in the effort to think,
"One must assume that there is a deep, natural force holding everything down. Yes, that makes since, else, why would things fall to the ground when you drop them?"
"That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard- 'deep, natural force'. What sort of rubbish is that? Sometimes I wonder about you, mate. Maybe you been too long in the sun."
Thoroughly disheartened by his friend's lack of faith, Pintel hung his head.
"It was just an idea..."
"Thinking is not what we do"
To prove this, he held aloft carpentry tools. They were in fact in hire for the sake of repairing the various holes in the ship. Carpentry was a fairly safe vocation onboard a ship, and most surely a secure one, so both men were comfortable among their crew mates. It was in the company of that witch that made them eschewed.