"Weigh anchor."
Will glared at the heavily-kohled pirate captain, a little more than annoyed.
"I'm sorry, I thought I heard something."
"You did, lad. Weigh anchor."
"Has the oh-so-great-Captain Sparrow failed to notice that we're in the middle of the open ocean?"
Will was getting more and more frustrated by the second. He had come on this ship to get Elizabeth's freedom-- now, he was God knows where with Jack, still without the compass or a plan and at the moment, preparing to drop anchor; something else that would take time out of getting back to Elizabeth.
"He has. The Oh-So-Great-Captain would like to reiterate his prior request. Weigh the bloody anchor, William." There was a slightly peeved tone creeping into Jack's voice now, and Will knew him well enough to know the breaking point. He left the Captain, muttering.
"What's this about weighing anchor, Jack? There be no land in sight fer a hundred miles!"
Jack just chuckled, stroking his beard.
"If I were you, I'd get on it now and ask questions later, old friend."
Gibbs gave him a strange look, but he did what he was told, hobbling away and yelling at the rest of the crew to help with the dropping.
Jack gave a grin, chuckling under his breath.
"Five... four... three... two..." Suddenly, a shadow loomed over them-- just as the metal dropped out of their hands, a cliff face loomed up above them at an almost impossible rapid pace. Jack shook his head, squaring his shoulders and rooting himself to the deck. "I hate this part." He turned the wheel sharply.
"Hold on everyone!"
Everyone was thrown to the side of the boat as it turned hard away from the wall of rock. Will's heart stopped for a second, ready for impact, for the boat and everything in it to be smashed to pieces all over the unforgiving stone; just in time, the ship slowed to a halt and gently bumped against the small wooden dock that jutted out from the grey.
"Eunuch, you come with me, Gibbs, you stay. Assess the damage, see what we need, and keep them from drinking the rum." With that, the captain tossed a rope over the side and shimmied down it onto the dock, Will close behind with his eyes on the dismally narrow flight of stairs that were carved into the rock face.
"We're climbing up that?"
"Fraid so, mate."
There was silence for a few moments as they walked up the steep steps.
"Jack?"
"Hmm."
"Where are we?"
There was another silence.
"Home."
Will paused. While that was lovely and sentimental, it didn't tell him an awful lot about their.... erm, geographical location.
"Where's home?"
"Recife."
"And...where's that?"
"Pernambuco."
"And... where's that?"
"Brazil."
There was another pause, punctuated only by the click and shuffle of shoe leather on stone.
"Jack?"
"Shut up, William."
"Ah, Boa tarde, Senhor!"
"Senhor Capitão, Senhor Capitão! Are you staying now?"
"Ah, Capitão? Here to see the Senhora? They were just at the house, houve uma grande explosão--"
The people were all around Jack and Will, yelling at the older man with a great, excited vigor. Jack pushed his way through, looking slightly peeved as he attempted to stride through the place untouched.
"Yes, yes, boa tarde and all that, NO, god in heaven I'm not staying, and yes, I am going to see her but no, I don't care about any big explosions. We're going anyway! Adeus."
"Jack?"
"Not the time, boy, not the time."
Jack's determined stride reinforced the edge to his voice-- Will remained silent as they walked through the town, people dropping off as they got farther and farther away from the hubbub where they had first entered.
After a few minutes on a worn, rocky path, a little yellow house began to appear around the corner; Jack began to walk faster, increasing in speed so that he was almost running by the time he got to the door. His hand was shaky, Will noticed, as it lifted towards the knob; it paused midway.
"William?"
"Yes?"
"Do me a favour--please don't speak."
And with that parting note and a deep breath, Jack opened the door only to find...
A dark, empty room. After a moment, Will's eyes adjusted from the bright South American sun and realized it was not empty at all. There was a table, and a kitchen, and a girl-- couldn't have been much older than ten, sitting, eating a banana and looking at the two of them with a mild sort of interest. The Captain brightened.
"Celia, darling, how are you? Been a good girl? I'm Captain Jack, you probably don't kn--"
"I do, Capitão." She looked up at the two men, plainly.
"You're the reason everything bad happens," she said complacently, taking another bite of her banana and giving the men another look. "Is this your evil sidekick?"
"Ah. You've been listening to your mother then. Good girl," he muttered, ignoring her question; Will was suddenly glad for his mandated silence.
"If Mama's who you're looking for, she's in there." She pointed to a door painted bright blue. "But I wouldn't go in if I were you. She's muito angry because something went wrong. Can it not wait, Capitão?"
"No, Cel, love, it can't. Besides, it's alright this way-- she's already mad at me when I go in so it can't be much worse when I get out. Only one way, love."
He grinned widely, winking as he leaped over to the door and thrust it open.
It was like nothing Will had ever seen before. A room entirely of glass, with spidery silver pipes dripping water onto the plants that covered the tables. Cabinets with ampoules and delicately labeled vials towered over him as he followed the Captain, slightly dazed by the strangeness of it all-- a burst of swearing cut through his thoughts, and he swiveled his head to try and find the source.
A blonde head shot up and his eyes met hers. Her face wrinkled for a moment before she turned, presumably to look at the other intruder. Her eyes widened, landing on Jack, and she backed into a table, clutching the edges for a moment. She looked almost frightened, quite honestly, and Will was just about to drag the Captain away by force when she disappeared back under the table, stony-faced.
"Go away."
"Adelaide, I--"
"Adelina."
"Addy, just hear me out for a second before--"
"Go away, Jack." The woman stood up, brushing her hands on her smudged apron; the captain refused to relent.
"Look Addy, love, I know the last person you want to see is me, but--"
"Jonathan Sparrow, I told you to go away. Now please, just... just leave, Jack." The woman was like a sail in a gust of wind-- a sudden intake, a little push... followed by a quick and disappointing deflation. She rubbed her temples, walking towards them for the first time; Will gasped. There was a long scar running up her arm, from the edge of her wrist to what looked like past her dress sleeve. She turned her glance to Will, and he immediately straightened.
"I'm sorry, whoever you are. I can't help you with your task, but I wish you the best of luck. If you'd like to re-stock, Jack, I'll--" she stopped mid sentence, and the two men followed her gaze. The girl from the front room, her daughter, was standing in the door, with the same strange look on her face.
"Yes, Celia?"
"Mama, I... have a question."
"Ask, baixinho."
"He is a bad man, yes?" She gestured towards Jack, and the two older people allowed themselves a grin.
"Of a sort, sim."
"So if it was the Bad Men that took Papai away and now the Bad Men are here, does that mean Papai is here too?"
The awful truth of what she was really asking hit Will after a few minutes, and he blinked in both shock and sympathy. The woman covered her mouth, tears already spilling over her hand. She made to say something, uncovering her mouth; but the girl beat her to it.
"He's not ever going to be here again, is he, Mama."
The barely contained sniffle in her voice broke Will's heart, and he grieved for her, thinking of Elizabeth and her father and the kind of pain...
"No, baixinho. I'm afraid not. I...No."
"Thank you Mama. I'm sorry I... interrupted you." A little falter, there, but a flash of steel from her small face and she closed the door. The woman... (Adelaide, was it?) sniffled a bit, drying her eyes.
Jack's face was inscrutable, and Adelaide stared at him tentatively; after a moment, he finally spoke, quieter and more serious than Will had ever seen.
"And just when, Mrs. Araci, were you planning to tell me he had died?"
"I wasn't. To be honest, I didn't think I was ever going to see you again so that didn't seem like a pressing concern to me--"
"I was his best friend, Addy, and--"
"And you left him! You left him when he needed the most help, you left us! We didn't stand a chance, not for long. Cristóvão knew that, and I warned him, but..." she trailed off angrily, wiping tears fruitlessly from her face. Jack sighed, rubbing his own temples.
"What happened, Adelaide?" She shook her head, walking towards a small table and gesturing to the men to sit down. Will accepted with a grateful nod, but Jack refused, pacing as she sunk into the chair as well.
"There was a war, a clash between the rich and richer, and you know Cristózinho. He was tired of fighting another man's war, and the town agreed. He left on a peaceful mission, whistling; he came back on an ox-cart. They shot him in the back."
There was a semi awkward silence, Jack's constant step providing a sort of rhythm.
"How long ago?"
These were loaded questions, Will could sense it-- one of them would explode or deflate soon, he could feel it.
"Six months, maybe seven. Oh, damn you, Jack, why didn't you just go away when I told you to!" She stomped her foot, and he shrugged a very uncharacteristic shrug.
"It's never been one of my strong points, that," he said with a small grin, and she shook her head, giving an almost incredulous laugh.
So it was the deflate option.
"Please, just... why did you come? What do you want from me?" As she spoke, Will could see the captain glisten back up, grinning slightly.
"Whelp. Up." It was a moment before Will registered that Jack was talking to him, and he shot up out of the chair, narrowly missing the table edge.
"Adelaide, love, may I present to you the fabulous, lovable, lovely Mr. Turner. Along with his many other talents, i.e. rescuing damsels from evil fates, he's also great with pointy dangerous things, aren't you, William."
Her head shot up, eyes brown and unreadable as they roved over the younger man; he flinched, uncomfortable.
"As in..."
"Of course."
She looked from Jack to Will, biting her lip. She finally stood up after a moment, reluctantly shaking her head.
"Let's go into the kitchen. I'll make us a pot of tea and we can talk over this..." she sighed, staring at the closed door. "This.... proposition."
Ah, Boa tarde, Senhor!- Good afternoon Sir!
Senhor Capitão, Senhor Capitão!- Mister Captain, Mister Captain!
houve uma grande explosão-- There was a big explosion--
Adeus- goodbye
muito- very
Adelina- the Portuguese version of Adelaide
Sim- yes
baixinho- a term of endearment for a child or something one takes care of
Cristózinho- an endearing way to say her husband, Cristóvão's name, with the suffix -zinho/sinho. Would have been a nickname used by those close to him.