Summary: "He wasn't much different back then than he was when ye knew him. Reckless, mischievous, and the bossiest captain around." After the death of Jack Sparrow, Arabella Smith and Elizabeth exchange stories about him. One-shot. Sparrabeth. Four years post AWE AU. References to Rob Kidd's books and my Deception series.

Prompt: It's the children whom the world almost breaks, who grow up to save it.

A/N: I have no idea where this was going, I just needed to write something to pass the time.

Remembering The Fallen

When she found him, he was writhing in agony beneath the fallen mainmast, blood pooling around him. His hands pushed desperately against the beam that crushed his abdomen, coughing and struggling to breathe with the effort he was putting into trying to free himself.

His wild eyes calmed upon the sight of her and he slowly relaxed, his arms sliding back to the deck as he panted weakly.

"Everyone else alright?" He choked out.

"Yes." She nodded quickly.

"Good." He murmured.

She knelt beside him, reaching for one of his hands. "Oh, Jack..."

He coughed again, his hand squeezing hers rightly as his body spasmed beneath the mast. Blood sprayed from the back of his throat. He tried to lighten the situation. "'M not sure whether I want ye or Gibbs to take over as captain."

"You're not going to die." She insisted. "You can't."

Jack's lips quirked upward fondly. "Still in denial that it's possible, then? At best, I'll live an' be stuck in bed 'til a raid an' I get stabbed by an intruder. Lizzie, my run's come to an end."

"What will I do without you?"

"Remember me. Spread my legacy." His blood-stained teeth showed as he smirked at the last remark. "Make 'em think I'm still alive an' kickin'."

"You said you knew Jack?" Elizabeth Swann asked her companion.

The auburn-haired woman named Arabella nodded. "He showed up in Tortuga running away from home when we were fifteen. I saved him from a brawl in my father's tavern- a brawl he started, mind ye. Trouble was always one thing that always followed him."

"What was he like?"

"He wasn't much different back then than he was when ye knew him. Reckless, mischievous, and the bossiest captain around. But he cared about our well-being, even if he'd never have admitted to it. He always looked out for us, even if he was pushing his face into matters he had no business in.

"Even after everyone joined me mum's crew and left him almost alone, he still popped up with our best interests in mind. He never got along with me mum. He did, once, after he was marooned on an island, but he was on the verge of death and had no choice."

Elizabeth knew instantly which event she was talking about- the mutiny that Barbossa had led against Jack fifteen years prior. "On the verge of death?"

"He'd been shot twice and his arm was cut pretty bad. I'd never seen him so relieved to see anyone." The other woman told her. She hesitated. "When he...When he died, was he happy?"

"As happy as he could be." She nodded, her burning eye holding back tears at the recollection of the event. "He was in so much pain..."

Arabella nodded sadly. "Painless deaths aren't a luxury out here. He knew that. But the bloody dolt never let it worry him."

"Can you tell me more about him?"

"One of our crewmates, his sister was turned into a cat. Jack hated that cat. He almost let her drown because he didn't like her. Another time, he brought it back for the clutches of death just because he knew her brother would never forgive him."

"He didn't like monkeys either." Elizabeth murmured with a small smile. "He told me once that Barbossa's threw his hat overboard."

"He was always possessive." Arabella agreed. "The brawl he started when I met him was because someone stole his bag and he tried to steal it back. Not that he grabbed the right one."

The younger woman chuckled softly at the image of a younger Jack Sparrow learning that the bag he'd stolen wasn't his after all. "I can't imagine he was happy about that."

"No, he wasn't. But it sparked the first of our adventures. It's the children whom the world almost breaks who grow up to save it."

"Yes, he seemed to have a habit of that. He gave up one of his own goals in order to save a man I was once betrothed to."

"That sounds like him, alright. He tried to be selfish, but his morals always won out when the time came. That's one thing we could always count on."