Bootstrap Bill was confused.
He had just been having a meaningful conversation with his son, and when Bootstrap sneezed, he had lifted his head to find William gone.
Nothing left at all, except a bit of glittering silver powder that smelled of flowers.
Now Bootstrap sauntered out of his son's cabin, onto the deck, trying to look calm.
"Have you seen William?" he asked Stella, who was once again scrubbing the floor.
An unwise move.
Stella stopped scrubbing and slowly looked up.
"The captain's gone?" she asked, cleverly disguising the greed in her voice.
Bootstrap nodded, noticing that Stella's eyes shone with excitement. Uneasy, he offered the explanation.
"I was just speaking to him, and he vanished," Bootstrap told her.
"That's such a shame," Stella said, faking a forlorn expression. "Because I know exactly what's happened."
Stella wasn't lying.
"You do?"
"Yes," she said. "Captain Turner has been released from servitude of his duty."
Bootstrap's face unexpectedly lit up. "William? He got away?"
"Yes," Stella said again.
Bootstrap looked momentarily overjoyed, then his face fell. He narrowed his eyes at Stella. "How are you so sure of this?"
Stella sighed.
"Magic," she admitted. This was perfectly true. Fantine Zheng was not the only witch in the pirate world.
Stella smiled inwardly at the suspicion and fright now evident on Bootstrap's face.
"Who will be captain?" she asked him.
"Whoever is fittest," Bootstrap replied, edging away from her.
"Have a vote," Stella suggested.
"That's the rules," Bootstrap told her. "Go ahead – place yourself on the ballot."
Bootstrap broke into a run and dashed away.
Stella smirked and went off to find Tommi, who was in the kitchens, washing pots.
"Good news, Tommi," she said, twirling a piece of her hair and giving him a satisfied smile.
-------
Jack was feeling rather embarrassed, as Elizabeth threw her arms around Will once more, shedding tears of joy. He found himself wondering whether a woman would ever cry from happiness at sight of him, and if that woman might be Fantine, but he quickly corrected these thoughts.
The sea, he reminded himself. I love the sea.
"Oh, Will," sobbed Elizabeth, "ten years is certainly too long! I could barely last eight months!"
"It's over now, Elizabeth," Will comforted.
Jack looked around nervously, trying to find a way to distract the lovers from the teary reunion.
"Don't you think those Fates girls are going to be a tad bit upset?" he asked the group at large, still looking around. He paused. Someone was missing. "My lady?"
But Takimageya had disappeared.
Jack raised his eyebrows. "So the Fountain is unguarded?" He glanced around furtively, and when no one protested, walked up to the Agua de Vida.
Floating on the surface of the water was a roughly hewn wooden goblet. Jack grasped it, cautiously scooped up a gobletful of the shining, clear water, and raised it to his mouth.
"Cheers," he said, toasting the cupless Barbossa, who was eagerly watching, obviously to see if the water worked before he tried it.
Jack downed the goblet of water.
"How is it?" Fantine asked, as though skeptical of the water's power.
Jack did not answer right away. He felt as though ice was traveling through his system. Then, as the cold flowing through his veins slowly disappeared, he felt as though his opportunities were endless.
"Excellent!" he exclaimed, beaming. He tossed the empty goblet back into the water and examined his arms. They looked no younger than they had before. "Hmm. I don't seem to look much younger, do I?"
"You didn't want to look younger," Fantine explained. "The water can do two things: make you young once more, or make you deadless."
Barbossa grinned. "My turn," he said happily, stepping forward and also helping himself to a gobletful of water, but he promptly spat it back out, onto the ground.
"What --!" he said in surprise, spluttering. "This isn't water!"
For some reason, Fantine was smirking.
"What nonsense is this?" Jack demanded. "Of course it is."
He strode over to the Fountain and looked down at the water. To his immense surprise, the once clear water had become a murky brown liquid.
Jack's face showed genuine astonishment as he looked up at Barbossa.
"Oh, I must have forgotten to mention," Fantine spoke up suddenly. Barbossa gave her a threatening look, but she continued nevertheless. "Only one person can drink from the Fountain. Per visit. And those who come with the drinker can never visit again, without Takimageya's permission."
She gave an even broader smirk. Barbossa's face turned bright red as he turned to Jack, furious.
"You knew this, you – you—"
"Gotta go," Jack said quickly, grabbing his compass from where Elizabeth had left it on her chair and tearing out of the clearing, into the dim-lighted forest.
Jack saw it was sunrise when he reached the exit of the thick trees, but that would help him – it would make him easier to spot.
"Wait—Captain!"
That sounded nothing like Barbossa's thick voice, but Jack ignored it and continued to run, unsheathing his sword as he did so just in case.
He reached the white sanded beach, found the longboat in which Barbossa had arrived, and jumped in. He grabbed the oars and began to row, but had gone barely two feet when Gibbs appeared, clutching the stitch in his chest. He, too, leapt into a longboat, shortly followed by Pintel, Ragetti, and a heavily panting Marty.
Gibbs seized the other pair of orbs and, together with Jack's furious rowing, the boat reached Jack's long lost Pearl.
Jack eagerly climbed up onto his beloved ship, grinning even as he ordered the crew to prepare for leave at top speed.
There were, however, new members of the crew, no doubt appointed by Barbossa. They looked skeptically at Jack.
"It's all right!" Gibbs announced, jumping up onto the ship as well. "This is Captain Jack Sparrow. Forget Barbossa. He fell behind."
That was good enough for the crew, and so they quickly set to work.
Jack beamed as the ship set sail and began to move; he had spotted Barbossa on the shore, shouting.
"That's my ship!" Barbossa yelled.
Jack waved at him.
"Where?" he yelled back. "I don't see it! What ship?"
Barbossa began to jump up and down in anger. It was quite entertaining indeed.
Jack whirled around and found himself almost face-to-face with Fantine.
"What—" he began.
Fantine was smirking again.
"Witch," she reminded him. "How do you feel? Immortal?"
"No," Jack admitted. "I feel giddy and optimistic."
"Those are aftereffects of becoming immortal," Fantine said in a warning voice.
She swept her overgrown bangs out of her eyes.
"Captain Barbossa is very upset," she told him.
Jack shrugged. "No matter," he said carelessly. "The old fool isn't a captain anymore, now, is he?"
Gibbs spoke up. "Sir, Barbossa did mention he would have willingly given you the Pearl back if you had a ship just as good."
Jack swore. "Your stepbrother is going to be in for it, love, for taking the Dynasty Warrior."
"Of course he is," Fantine said lightly, but at the mention of her stepbrother, she looked stricken and almost ill.
Jack felt a strong urge to kiss her, but resisted.
"You look odd," Fantine said, giving him a look that plainly said she was concerned about his sanity.
The girl's comment did it. Before he could control himself, Jack pulled Fantine into his arms and kissed her.
What are you doing, Jacky?!
Kissing her, of course.
Stop it!
No. I'm enjoying myself.
STOP IT!
Jack released her, his feelings at war again. She looked vaguely surprised as he let her go, but she did not slap him. How unexpected.
"What was that for?" she finally said, looking baffled.
"I…" Jack tried to find a reason for his unpredicted action. "I was lacking anything else to do."
The corners of Fantine's mouth twitched.
"You kissed me!" she said accusingly.
"You kissed me back," Jack pointed out.
"But—I—" Fantine trailed off. "All right, fine. I enjoyed it. You started it, though. You know you started it."
"I'm quite aware of that, love," Jack told her. "I'm not sure why I …"
He, too, trailed off, uncharacteristically inarticulate.
"Captain!"
Gibbs' shout saved Jack from the trouble of explaining.
"Yes, Mr. Gibbs?"
"The Flying Dutchman!"
Gibbs pointed eastward.
There, on the horizon, was a familiar ship. Its sails were thin and torn, like cobwebs, but still flapped willfully in the strong wind.
Fantine gave Jack a questioning look.
"Wasn't that … the ship Will captained?"
Jack made no answer, staring at the ship with a hard to read expression. Fantine tried again.
"Who's captaining it now?"
Again, Jack had no answer. He looked distressed, and turned around abruptly.
"Mr. Gibbs!"
"Cap'n?" Gibbs responded, sharing Jack's appearance of anxiety.
"Adjust the main mast sails to face two degrees starboard," Jack said quickly. "Sail away as quickly as possible."
"Aye aye, Captain."
The harassed looking first mate set to work immediately, assisted by other willing members of the crew, all appearing quite nervous.
"What's wrong?" Fantine demanded.
"The Flying Dutchman," Jack said rapidly, "should have no captain, unless the crew chose one."
"Is that so bad?" Fantine asked.
"A truly unsettling idea, love," Jack said, "that the crew of the Flying Dutchman would vote for a captain. Like the Pirate Lords of the Brethren, each member of the crew votes for no one but himself. Have you seen my spyglass?"
Fantine handed Jack his spyglass. He raised it to his eye and squinted, then slowly lowered it, looking disgusted.
"Beckett," he said shortly. "Wait, what? No, Beckett's dead. Calypso, the maelstrom, the old bloke walking through debris before his ship blew up … yes, I remember. That can't be Beckett."
"Who's Beckett?" Fantine questioned.
Jack gave the spyglass back to Fantine, who reluctantly took it and looked through.
"Which one is he?"
"The ice cream man, love," Jack said. Seeing her confused expression, he added. "He's got a white wig, makes him look like a delicious dessert."
"Oh," Fantine said.
There was, no doubt, a man in a perfectly coifed white wig strolling across the deck of the Flying Dutchman, dressed impeccably in a neat suit of the finest material.
