Waki 10

Note- from this point on, everything will be from Will, Elizabeth or Anamaria's point of view.

Coming back to the sea was like coming home. The steady, unmoving ground of Port Royal had never really felt right to him. He felt unsteady and unsure, as out of place among the sturdy people of the colony as a fish among turtles. He didn't belong.

And now he did. The deck surged under him, pushing him up into the endless blue sky before sinking down into the deep trough of the waves, sending his heart soaring. The cool, salty mist ran along his face like a lover's touch, welcoming him back into their arms.

And that made him think of Jack.

Had Jack been there, the trip would have been perfect. But he was not. Instead of his dark and mysterious pirate captain, he had Elizabeth. She had once again donned the britches and was waltzing around like a young version of Anamaria, bossing the sailors around. It was incredibly entertaining, and probably the only thing that kept him from going mad.

In fact, besides the welcoming arms of the sea, she was the only good point on the voyage.

It wasn't that the sailors were unkind to them. They had had ample warning as to the rank of their passengers. They simply had no use for a 'silly little girl' and a 'landlubbing blacksmith'. No matter how many times they told the story of Isla De Muerta, the sailors still treated them like children. He could understand it, he supposed. This was a finely oiled team of men, who had been together on board this ship for over half a decade. They knew what they were doing, far better than either of them ever could. Still, it was incredibly irritating being forced to just sit and watch while he knew he could help, at least in some small way.

Each night, the dreams got worse and worse. He had thought that, once he had made his decision, the person whom he had chosen would be the sole inhabitant of his dreams. But the closer they got to Tortuga, the more confused they became. He could no longer tell if his dream lover was Jack of Elizabeth. Sometimes, it seemed as if it was both. At the same time.

Elizabeth knew. Half the damn ship knew. He had developed the habit of crying out in his sleep, apparently leaving nothing to the imagination. The two of them had been forced to drop the 'happily engaged' façade and resort to the truth after the first night out. No one seemed to mind, however. At least not outwardly. And judging by the voices which accompanied his own at night, he wasn't the only 'confused' man on board.

In any case, Elizabeth knew full well what was happening to him. And she seemed absolutely determined to make him worse. She would taunt him, flirt absolutely outrageously with him, make him into a giggling blob of desire for her, and then casually bring up Jack. She twisted his every word until al he could think about was the pirate, and then up and walk away, leaving him all alone and very, very confused.

And then, finally, Tortuga was in sight. The ship pulled into dock, and Will found himself standing at the top of the gangway, about to leave behind the beautiful sea and return to the one place he had never wanted to go again.

After he stepped foot upon that drunken island, he wasn't going to leave.

Not until he found him.

Perhaps Tortuga wasn't as bad as he'd thought. It held a certain appeal to him now, an appeal that had fully escaped him before. There was just something about its complete lack of anything in the least bit respectable. The little spit of rock took all that was supposed to be good and proper and acceptable and pissed on it. It gave him a strange kind of childish pleasure. He had never been the type of child to go running about breaking every rule they could come up with, but he imagined it was the same kind of feeling.

And besides, no one would look at him twice if he were to walk around with a tankard of ale strapped to his head. He could bed Elizabeth right there in the street and no one would care. He could take Jack, if he wanted to. If he ever found the damnable man.

Elizabeth seemed to find the place utterly fascinating, like a child at the zoo. She clung to his arm, staring with wide eyes at the unabashed revelry all about her. She had never seen this kind of all-out decadence before, and it startled her. Her naiveté, while amusing, was also rather dangerous. Although the people of Tortuga were not highly observant, they were easily offended, and if they happened to notice her awed observation, they would be in quite a lot of trouble.

"Look, Will! That woman has a beard! Just like in the carnival!" Elizabeth squealed delightedly, yanking on his arm and pointing towards one of the many balconies.

"Elizabeth, that's a man." He sighed, pushing his hand through his hair. He was going to need to repair his sleeve at this rate.

"But she's in a dress. Men don't wear dresses." Elizabeth scoffed. It was rather amusing to think that she believed she knew more about the world of Tortuga than he did.

"Some do." He frowned, looking at the character more closely. "Don't you remember the decoys Barbossa sent out? They were in dresses."

"That's different." Elizabeth pouted. "They didn't wear dresses normally. It was for a trick. It doesn't count if it's for a trick."

"Well, maybe he's tricking someone. You never know." He frowned. There was something oddly familiar about the man in the dress. Something about the body type and stature.

And then a parrot flew over and landed on the man's shoulder.

"JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH!" Will slapped his hands over his eyes, shuddering violently. "That is SO wrong!"

"What! What?!? Will, what's wrong?!" Elizabeth tugged on his arm again, obviously distressed.

"The man… In the dress… Is Cotton."

Elizabeth paused. He could almost feel her frowning, hear the gears turning inside her head as she struggled to recognize the elderly pirate.

"My God… You're right. So it is. You know what? I bet he knows where Jack is." And then she was gone, undoubtedly skipping off towards the cross-dressing mute.

As it turned out, Cotton wasn't the only one hanging about that particular establishment. Gibbs was there as well, along with the midget who's name Will had never really learned. Only Cotton was in a dress, thank God. As to why Cotton was in a dress, the others didn't say. Will was fairly sure he didn't want to know.

"Jack? Ah, Jack'd be back on th' ship, I imagine." Gibbs nodded thoughtfully. "We're makin' sail in the mornin'. It's a good thing you made it when ye did. The cap'n's been pine'n for ye, to be sure."

"Aye." The midget pirate said. "He ain't been the same since ye left. He bin like a dead man, Jack has."

"Aye, aye, climb the mizzen." Cotton's parrot chimed in.

"Cotton agrees." Gibbs translated.

"Uh… all right…" Will blinked. "So… to the ship!"

Apparently, the three drunken pirates interpreted that to be a toast.

"Aye! To the ship!" Three glasses clinked together, and before the grog even hit thirsty lips, Will was off and running.

Will: To the ship?! I sound like some sort of super hero.

Jiia: Well, maybe you are. In secret. Like Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne.

Will: Sure. Right then.

I apologize to everyone for the mental imagery of Cotton in a dress. I couldn't help it. It was too funny to pass up. And it also gave meaning to the random comment.

Next chapter! Will Will and Jack finally meet again? And what happened between Jack and Davy Jones? Can there FINALLY be some action!?!? Find out next time in the aptly named... WAKI!