Title: Rehabilitating Will
Author: Faline
Rated: R
Summary: Jack returns to Port Royale to see Will and Elizabeth. What he finds is a broken man.
Chapter One: The Return
The letters from Will had dwindled in the last year or so.
At first, there was always a missive for Jack Smith at the general store the next island over. It was almost ritual for the blacksmith to write his friend at least once a month. But, since the last letter carrying the sad news that Elizabeth had fallen sick, Jack hadn't received a note. No letters, no notes, no signal fires. He chuckled slightly, then frowned. A large amount of rum was no way to start a signal fire.
One of his crewmembers shouted from below. Jack looked down. 50 feet below him, his sailors scurried around like mice, looking for some cheese. The swabby pointed to the south. Jack knew what he'd find there.
Port Royale.
It had been years since he'd been there. Since the day he'd escaped and finally gotten his ship back. In a moment of panic, he pulled off his hat and ran a hand throughhis hair in a gesture he'd picked up not too long ago.
He wondered how Will Turner would react to his appearance. At that moment, Jack was just hoping to find Will.
He gave the signal and the shipmates prepared to send a boat to shore.
They pulled into dock just as the sun was setting. The citizens who saw the ship almost instantly recognized the black sails as the ship that'd attacked their homes less than three years before. However, they were not expecting the man who the ship's crew called captain.
Jack Sparrow looked, for all intents and purposes, like a different man. His goatee was well groomed and trimmed close to his face. The hair most had called trademark was free of the trinkets but not the braids. It had been re-braided, this time well kept and tied back. Aside from the braids, his head was bare for a second before he jammed his hat back on. It was a deep caramel color that had hidden under the bandana for fifteen years. The hair itself was subjected to bleaching by the sun, yet never lost the shine.
As he stepped onto the dock, a man stopped him and asked his name. "Smith." He gave the old man a charming smile and Jack knew without a doubt that this was the same man he'd bribed with three monies to forget he'd ever been there. Digging five pieces out, he placed it on the man's book.
"We won't be here long mate. I trust you can wait until tomorrow morning to record our presence."
The man laughed. "Your ship is easy to spot my friend. Chances are, your presence here has already been recorded by those up at the fort."
Jack smiled and looked back at his ship, which was now invisible in the mist that had swept into the harbor following at their rudder. "You were saying?"
He turned back to the man, who's mouth sagged as he stared at the now completely white harbor. "No worries. We'll be back in the morning."
Jack called for the men in the rowboat, all of whom, save two, joined him. The other two pulled away from the dock. "Be back here at sun-up, no exceptions." They nodded at him.
"Gentlemen, we have a blacksmith to find."
His men grunted and they set out into the city.
