AN:/ HAPPY NEW YEAR, ALL! What a wonderful feeling it is to be back! How are my poppets?! :D
As I penned the last chapter, trying to resolve how extensively what I had planned for the previous chapter would conflict with canon (even though MOIAL is a Slight AU), I had an epiphany: something struck me that I hadn't noticed before in the PotC trilogy! Norrington and Barbossa never met once! I found that rather fascinating, and I'm stunned that I had never noticed that before, haha.
Anyway, dear readers, I hope you enjoy this next chapter! Also, if you don't currently follow this story, please subscribe so you can be ensured to get the latest updates right when they are released!
~ Silvertongued Dreams
Chapter Forty-Four: The Dancing Pirate
As Barbossa's thunderous voice filled the crisp, chilled air of the beach surrounding us, I felt the hairs on my arm stand on edge. I didn't even dare to look at James. Fiddler's Green. Fiddler's Green. We had entered a pirate's paradise. But, why?
Before I could even gather my thoughts to question the plumed pirate captain standing before me, Norrington's stern and commanding voice broke the silence.
"Under normal circumstances, I'd have already commanded you to be drawn and quartered, but seeing as you appear to be the only one who knows where we are and why we are here, I shall let you tarry for now, pirate," Norrington proclaimed, crossing his arms. "Given our situation, I suppose that I should ask your name, as you, by some miracle, already seem to know mine and my female companion's."
At the word 'companion', I smiled warmly. Oh, my loving James….
But, would he prove to be so loving and doting once he discovered the truth of who I really was, and what my destiny entailed? Would Captain Barbossa overwhelm Norrington's senses with the seemingly impossible stories that shrouded my heritage, and, in turn, would that lead to the most horrible fate I could imagine for myself… turning from an object of pure admiration to someone he revolted above all else?
Before I had a chance to ponder any of the avenues of possibility that lay before me, Barbossa began to speak.
Finally! Some answers….
"—Well, well! Ye certainly aren't shy with yer airs and graces, Captain," he smirked. "But, I'm afraid ye be askin' the wrong person as to the exact nature of our meeting," Barbossa finished, directing his yellowed gaze towards me.
Inwardly, I cursed. In all the time since Captain Barbossa had invaded my perfectly ordinary life, nothing about him had been straightforward, or explained in great detail, save for my previously concealed ancestry. My guess was that the reason he'd been so free with me about who I truly was was because he intended to use my powers to his advantage. And given my new set of circumstances—my adoptive family's scandal and an imminent marriage to the sadistic Lord Cutler Beckett—I wasn't about to let a stranger dictate the last portion of my life that I had control over: my heart… and how I revealed the deepest truths about myself to the one who mattered most to me in the whole world.
But, yet, how was I to even begin explaining why or how we were here, when I scarcely had any idea myself… only vague, vague theories?
My mouth moved to speak, but no words came. I'd hoped that James wouldn't have noticed, but alas… his soft hazel brown gaze wandered longingly over my frame, and settled on my lips. It was then that his look shifted to one of concern. "Ariana… what does he mean by that? Do you know this place? How did we get here? And… how do you know this pirate?"
I inhaled deeply, looking away for a moment, down into the sand. In silence, I reflected how I might broach the subject, but none of the alternatives flooding to mind would be anywhere near subtle.
"Ariana?" Norrington's gentle voice called out to me once again.
"James," I began, my voice low as I ventured a step closer to him: "Do you remember the day we met?"
"How could I not?" he returned: a radiant smile dawning on his face. "It was the most wondrous of days. It changed my life."
"As it did mine," I mustered in a choked voice: touched by his words as he clasped his hands in mine. "But… that day… before you found me on that beach, was a very difficult one for me."
"Of course. Being attacked by pirates, especially as a female, would be traumatizing," he remarked. Mid-sentence, he looked to the side, where Barbossa stood… and that's when it hit him like a sack of bricks. "Wait a minute…." He growled: tightening his grip on my hand. "Is he responsible for conditions under which I found you?"
In the background, Barbossa laughed uproariously.
"Yes, my darling… but there is far more to how I wound up on that beach that meets the eye," I finished in whisper as I subconsciously pulled James in closer to my body. Looking over his uniformed shoulder, I peered into Barbossa's eyes with a beseeching gaze. "Captain Barbossa, is there somewhere I might converse with James privately? After I shed some light on the reasons I suspect we are here, perhaps you would be so kind as to enlighten us further."
"Aye, lassie, that can be arranged," he replied: snapping his fingers. For a moment, I was confused as to why he did this, but it became apparent a moment later that the island was as bizarre and ethereal as how Norrington and I had arrived there. As we had been conversing, a thin veil of fog had surrounded the beach, cradling it like a blanket. But now, at the sound of Barbossa's command, a handful of scrambling pirates—two lugging a treasure chest with great difficulty, one drinking rum from a large bottle and ambling like a penguin, and another, twirling keys around his pointing finger—emerged from the midst, adding a lively din to the formerly silent strand of beach.
When the fog cleared, my eyes rested upon what appeared to be a pub, and a little further in the distance, a small cabin with smoke coming from the chimney. I could have sworn that neither had been there a moment previous, and I was most likely right. Nothing was making sense, and that was, in truth, not half so worrisome to me as what I soon had to reveal to the man I so desperately craved to claim as my own. Ever since I'd stayed at Lordthorne Hall, there was nothing I'd wanted more than to stay with Captain James Norrington for the rest of my life.
But the closer we became, the further away that future was being pulled away from me. Slipping through my fingers was the single most important person I'd ever let into my life. Why did life have to make things so difficult?!
Because life is both beautiful and cruel. A truth that would come sharply to my attention in the months and years to follow.
But for now, oh, for now… it was my duty to bask and revel in the warmth of all he made me feel.
I only hoped that that feeling would not shatter as soon as the uncomfortable truth came out.
"—What sort of vile magic is this?" James exclaimed: tearing me from my reflective state. "Ariana, there is no way all of this was here a moment ago."
" 'Tis part of the mystique, or so I've been told," Barbossa roared with laughter: mockingly stepping aside as he took off his extravagantly plumed hat and bowed with flourish. "But what appears before yer eyes has not been seen before, nor, dare I say, will be seen again after ye depart. The Supernatural has a habit of bein' that way, I'm afraid. She's got a mind of her own, and her moods shift just as readily as any lass. But, of this I can assure ye… she will reveal to ye all ye need to know, in her own good time."
I nodded to Barbossa, and clutched onto a very confused Norrington's arm. As we stepped forward, paying heed not to collide with any of the drunken sailors all about us, he pulled me closer and whispered: "What is that pirate on about? He's absolutely raving mad."
"Not as mad as one might think," I whispered back in a hushed tone as we made our way towards the pub. The rowdy din of many celebrating scallywags overwhelmed our senses, and I began to wonder how long we would be doomed to remain here.
Looming above the door of the meager pub was a dilapidated sign, painted in gold and faded crimson calligraphic text, spelling out "The Dancing Pirate".
The closer we came to the entrance, the more our ears became assaulted by the energetic, frenzied violin playing of a pirate with a tricorne hat, loitering about the place. Despite myself, I had to smirk. 'Tis Fiddler's Green, after all, I noted with contentment as the fiddler danced with flight foot to his merry jig, only to disappear out of sight as we finally approached our intended destination.
" —'The Dancing Pirate'? Oh, Lord. My feelings about this place grow all the more complicated by the moment," James remarked as he cautiously swung open the doors: stepping in first so he might shield me from the renegade pirate scum that surrounded us. Being the only woman in the establishment save the bartender, I could tell that he feared I'd become a target of the drunken sailors' lusts.
"Something tells me that they won't lay a finger on us, so long as this is visible," I said, gesturing to the scar on my forehead.
"Your words puzzle me greatly, my dear Miss Perrin."
"Apparently, so much so that you are slipping into old habits, my darling captain," I smirked back: taking a seat at a table near the back. "But, I promise that my words shall not remain so elusive for long. Captain Barbossa indicated that my train of thought is certainly on the right track… and that is most likely our key to getting out of here."
For a moment, James was silent, and as he took a seat across from me, he stared down at the table and fiddled with the dinner knife placed before him. "You know… all of a sudden, I feel as though I hardly know you."
Ouch. His words stung my soul… but I realized he was right. What I had been showing James was only a pale reflection of my true self. But how could I be blamed for that, really? Circumstance had not allowed for me to be completely honest with him, nor had I known the dark secrets that shrouded my past until a mere few hours previous.
He studied me then as though he beheld a stranger—a look in his eyes that both saddened and terrified me, as though I were some wretched beast he had to analyze from a distance. I longed for the tenderness and familiarity I'd become so fond of… and with a bitter taste in my mouth, I realized that the combined efforts of Lord Cutler Beckett, my father, Captain Barbossa, and Hernán Cortés himself had dictated the path that led me to where I was now.
"Why do you seem so unafraid?" James interjected: breaking our awkward silence as he reached across the table and clasped my hands into a firm grip. "Given your delicate fortitude, I would have presumed that such an ordeal as this would have wrecked you completely. Yet, you seem so unaffected."
"I would pray you not confuse my sense of calm with placidity, my dear James," I returned. "But, I have merely come to the realization that this situation may not be so dire as it appears at first glance. Not to mention the fact that, for the very first time in our acquaintance, we are truly alone, with nothing competing for our attention."
Undivided attention… such a delicious thought… but alas, the time for reveling in the pure pleasure of Captain James Norrington's company could not be what was at the forefront of my mind.
There was a truth I had to tell.
And with a deep, unladylike sigh, I started from the beginning.
Oooh! Cliffie! So sorry about that. The next chapter will be up shortly.
How do you all think Norrington will react to Ariana's revelations? Please let me know your theories in the reviews!
Thank you again for reading, and please don't forget to R&R/subscribe, and all that jazz! You can count on regular postings from here on out. However, I will be updating my stories by the order of reviews received, so please, do review. By reviewing, you are casting a vote for which story gets updated next! Thanks again for your love and support. :o)
