Yeah yeah, you know the story... *********************************************************************** Alrighty, yeah, Jack is kinda out of character...now that I think about it, his language is fairly decent for a pirate, he doesn't cut words all that often...Thank you very much, Time Bomb 87! And thanks again to the readers that have reviewed, I very much appreciate it!!!!! ***********************************************************************

Chapter 6: Merciful Oblivion

"Jack Sparrow!" a woman called out to Jack, bearing down on him, and he groaned, recognizing her. Mentally smacking himself for whatever it was he had done, he nonetheless conjured up a charming smile.
"Why, Eloise! How lovely it is to see you darling!" When she slapped him, it came as no surprise. In fact, the slapping seemed to happen in every town he stopped in...he wondered why. Then, remembering what he had been doing in the first place, he looked around anxiously, unceremoniously shoving Eloise out of the way. "Damn, woman! You made me lose him!" he scoffed at her with a scowl on his face. Then he ran to find Amos, hoping he hadn't taken any complicated turns.

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Amos' eyes glittered with what was most likely a joyful fury. He knew she was supposed to be at home. And from the look of her, their father didn't know she had escaped, either. His twisted and sadistic mind roiled and he imagined the most wonderful beating he would give her...

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"...Oh dear, what on earth is that girl up to?" queried Mr. Bailey around the time Jack became waylaid. Approximately 45 minutes after Arianne's escape.
Sir James just smiled and said, "Oh, no doubt she's just a bit nervous about being married soon. So, about this..."
Their planning continued on, neither having the slightest clue that Arianne was nowhere near the house, nor was she nervous about the wedding...

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No, Arianne had something much more important on her mind now than a wedding to some old codger. She stared at Amos, almost seeing the wheels in his mind turning. What seemed like years passed by as they stared at each other (which was in actuality only a few seconds) before Amos finally smiled that terrifying sugary smile that no one but her ever seemed to see for what it really meant. She was fighting hard to keep a straight face, frantically trying to find a way to escape. He knew she wasn't out on any errand, he KNEW.
As Amos finally walked towards her, that smile pasted on his face and his eyes dancing with pleasure, a familiar mindless fear took over her. Her eyes widened, finally showing the fear she felt, and in her mind, she saw past beatings clearly, from the first one all the way to this morning's.
He took her arm in a seemingly brotherly fashion, and dragged her over to a deep dead-end alley. She tried to struggle, but he tightened his grip so much it hurt, and she tried to get away all the more, but he was too strong. Tears slid down her cheeks unbidden as she was dragged into the alley, but she knew that to make noise was to ensure even more torture.

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If Will had stepped outside for a moment, he would have seen Arianne being dragged into the dead-end alley between his shop and the other shop that did horseshoes. But he didn't, so he missed it. Instead, he was sitting in the chair his former master occupied nearly constantly in a drunken stupor. Of course, he was thinking of her. He wondered if maybe he should have taken a bit more notice of her, in fact. Maybe then she would want him instead of Jack. This conviction had become more and more set in his mind since he first started thinking it, and he just knew it to be truth. She loved Jack Sparrow. It wasn't that he loved Arianne. He just suddenly seemed to be thinking of her constantly when a couple days ago she may have crossed his mind once or twice and then vanished like a wisp of smoke.
He sighed. He was never going to get any work done today. Knowing this, he decided to put out the fires of the forge and take a day of vacation. Yes, a day of vacation. It had been a while since he'd had one. He had been all too anxious to get out of the house before Elizabeth woke up for the past few months, and the only place he really had to go was to work. So, he went about putting out the fires and quieting the shop.
Realizing he didn't have anything else to do, he sat back in the chair again in relative darkness, watching beams of sunlight come in through the single window set high enough in the wall that the only way he could look out of it would be to climb up into the rafters where he and Jack had fought about a year or so ago.

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Her fear intensified when he threw her up against the back wall of the alley. Dark spots swam before her eyes and the dizzy buzzing crescendoed again. He didn't even have to speak. They both knew that. So, instead of making her wait for him to come after her as he usually did, he went straight in, hitting her as hard as he could about the ribs and stomach, knowing this would hurt her more than anything else he did.

Oh God, she begged silently, Oh dear sweet Lord, why did You let him find me? ran over and over and over in her head. She wanted to scream, this hurt so badly. Oh God it hurt! A sob escaped her, enraging Amos even more.

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Jack ran right by the alley, still in search of Amos. Knowing that he couldn't have gone very far, he ran a little more, and then turned around to backtrack.

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He slapped her across the face. She fell to the ground and raised a hand to her cheek, tears flowing more than ever now. She looked up at him with wet eyes, her vision of him obscured by those ominous black dots. He went back to beating her senseless, this time using those perfect boots. Those very heavy boots that hurt incredibly. Luckily for her, he was aiming more along her stomach and legs rather than her ribs. Had he hit them, they most likely would have shattered. This was a small mercy, however. She almost wished he would cave in her ribs, so they would puncture her lungs and kill her. Death would be wonderful. Sobs now racked her body regularly, and occasionally, she would make more noise than he liked. He would begin anew with even harder kicks, the occasional smack of his fist.
At last, she could handle no more in silence. Pain was her entire world. She couldn't even see anymore, the black dots had all come together to bind her in darkness. She tried to scream the first time and couldn't, she didn't get quite enough air. The corset had somehow seemed to tighten around her even more, she could hardly breathe. She let out instead a breathy sort of squeaking. The sobs kept coming and she made what little noise she could, hoping and praying someone--anyone--would hear her.

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Will, in the new silence of his shop, began to hear odd noises drifting in through the window. He couldn't quite make out what they were. Wondering if it was some animal hurting, he picked up a hammer, opened the door and went outside, walking towards the alley.

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Jack, also hearing these noises, but realizing they were that of a human being, he followed the noise to the alley, forgetting about finding Amos and instead wishing to help whomever it was in there that was in such torture. Seeing Will, he motioned him to silence. Will nodded, and they moved into the alleyway silently. Jack, seeing that Will had a hammer, mentally smacked himself for what seemed like the millionth time today and drew a dagger as silently as he could.
Moving deeper into the dark alley, they saw a shape that appeared to be kicking away at another shape, from which the pitiful noises were coming. The prone shape tried to curl into a ball, but the kicking one wouldn't let it.
Coming up right behind the person, Jack grabbed him and held the dagger to the man's neck. "Make another move and ye'll have another hole to breathe out of," he said menacingly. The man growled like an animal and pulled away, turning to face Jack, Will had moved to the side. It was Amos, Jack saw. Jack blinked somewhat in surprise.
Amos tensed, ready to rush Jack and likely kill him, Jack thought bemusedly. Before he got the chance, however, Will knocked him on the back of the head with the hammer. A feral grimace still on Amos' face, he fell over and lay face-down on the ground.

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Arianne didn't even notice that the beating had finally stopped. She was on a level where she could feel nothing but pain. Finally, a merciful oblivion took her into its embrace, and she knew no more.

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