A/N: Okay, the little contest dealy didn't work out as well as I'd hoped,
or it could just be that I'm impatient. I know that if I slow down I'm
never gonna get around to finishing this, so as of now (about 5:30) I'm really sorry if somebody posts with the answers before this chappie shows
up. By the way, the references were to Captain Geoffrey Thorpe of the Albatross, played by Errol Flynn in "The Seahawk", and Gideon's Pawn Shop
in "The Crow". Big huge thankies to all my faithful reviewrs, tho :)
::hands out Jack Sparrow Action Figures:: And now, on with the show...

Disclaimer: Me: No! You can't have him!! ::almost smothers Jack with hugs:: Disney people: Ahem. Give him back right now or you'll never get to watch
PotC again.
Me: Noooooooo! ::lets go of Jack. Jack: ::huggles Disney people:: Thank ye very much! I owe ye one, savvy?

Ok. NOW on with the show :)

More answers, more surprises, and lots o' rum

//Last chappie//

"We're 'ere." Jack said, snapping her out of her reverie. They were

standing in front of what looked like a fortune-teller's shop. The sign didn't say anything, it simply had a golden eye inside what looked to be a crystal ball. A bell tinkled as Jack pulled her into the shop. He looked

around, and his eyes lit up as someone came out from behind the beaded

curtain.

"Aha! Just who I was looking for!"

//end last chappie//

"Jack!!" the man exclaimed, and the little girl behind his legs peeked
around.

"Uncle Jackie, Uncle Jackie!!!" she yelled, grinning like a maniac and launching herself at Jack. Ariadne quirked an eyebrow. Jack Sparrow did NOT seem like the type of man who would tolerate being called 'Uncle Jackie'. Jack gave her a 'what are ye lookin' at, hmm?' look, and enveloped the girl
in a bear hug, lifting her off the ground.

"Ahh, me favourite little niece! How ye been, Nykolai?"

"Daddy's teaching me to read the cards!" she stated proudly. Ariadne looked at the girl in shock. Was she talking about tarot cards? She couldn't be
more than five!

"Izzat right, Nykki? Good fer ye then!" Jack smiled and ruffled her dark
light hair. "Run along now, I have ta talk ta yer Daddy about grown-up things, savvy?" He said kindly, giving the girl a little push towards the
curtain.

"Go on, love." the man patted the girls head as she headed off to play. The man was tall and lean, with a face that resembled Jack's, but his hair was cut a little above the shoulders and was much lighter than Jack's. When he looked her way, Ariadne could see he and Jack shared the same dark honey
eyes.

"Jack." he said again, his voice cool and a little hard this time. "How long has it been, Jack? How long since you sailed off, without so much as a
goodbye?"

"Paul, I..." Jack tried to defend himself against this sudden barrage, but
he was cut off.

"You didn't show up for Kathrine's funeral. I didn't really expect you too, of course. But then you didn't come for Mother's, either, and we began to think you might have died as well. Tell me, Jack, did you ever even care
for any of us?" Ariadne felt slightly embarrased at witnessing what was obviously a fight between siblings and briefly wondered if she should go outside and wait. Then she remembered the black-cloaked person and changed
her mind.

"Are ye finished?" Jack asked quietly, and the man nodded mutely. Jack continued just as quietly and rather slowly, to make sure the man caught
every word. "Good. Then listen and listen good. I couldn't get ter the funerals because me old crew would 'ave lynched me. Both times I 'ad almost
docked when I saw tha Pearl already berthed 'ere. If I 'ad stayed ye
could've made either one o' them a double funeral, savvy?" the man just
stood there, the fight gone out of him. He nodded again.

"The past is done and over with, I shouldn't have brought it up like that." he brightened a little bit. "You're here now, obviously. What can I do ye
for?" He lapsed slightly into sailor speech and then seemed to catch
himself. "So who is this lovely, and how did she come to be in your
company, hmm?" he asked, gesturing towards Ariadne.

"This is Ariadne Miracle, and that's a long story. A very long story." Jack rolled his eyes a bit. Paul sat down, saying, "I've nowhere to be." Jack
sighed.

"Alright, then." and recounted the whole tale. At the end of it, Paul
looked surprisingly calm.

"May I see the charm, please?" Ariadne handed it over.

"Yes, I thought so..." Paul muttered under his breath.

"Ye though' what, exactly?" Jack asked impatiently. Paul handed the charm
back to Ariadne and leaned back into his chair.

"Have you ever heard of Jantrix gold?" Ariadne's breath caught at the word 'Jantrix'. She hadn't told Jack about what the cloaked person had said to
her.

"Yes. A gold-miner/goldsmith by the name of Alexander Jantrix found a particularly pure vein of gold in some mountains around here about forty or so years ago. He really was a skilled smith, and the pride and joy of his collection was a golden rose. Unfortunately, Alexander got involved with
black magik, the worst kind. He began to collect followers, and one day
they all just disappeared. There have been rumours that they showed up later on the chain of Islands called the Sgen Ti Sws I Mi. It's told that he and his followers began conjuring demons out of hell, using the rose, which they named the Jantrix after it's maker, as a talisman to control and call the demons. This switch..." Paul flipped the switch in emphasis, "was
used to call them."

"After several years of these evil practises, a sea captain by the name of Geoffrey Thorpe heard of the rose and decided it would be a lovely necklace for his wife, and he and his crew set out to the island. They managed to get their hands on the rose and some of the other peices in the collection,
but as they escaped, Alexander cursed them, saying this:

'The flame holds the rose in loving hands
my followers rise to fulfill my demands
follow and capture, bring my rose back to me
not till then shall she be free'

Thorpe paid no attention to what he thought to be the ravings of a madman, but he should have listened. He and his crew his the loot in the Cave of
Shadows on the Isle de Shandemai. When Thorpe arrived home, however, he found his house burned and his wife kidnapped. The people of the town were
no help, saying only that a fiery demon had done it.

Thorpe didn't believe in demons, but he remembered the last line of the curse, 'not till then shall she be free'. He gathered up his crew againand
set sail back to the isle, but as soon as they got there, the crew took
almost all the gold, leaving only the Jantrix pieces, and sealed Thorpe into the cave. When they got back to port, they claimed their captain had gone mad with grief over his lost wife and jumped overboard. No one ever found his wife, but some of the islanders on the Sgen Ti Sws I Mi claim to see a woman dressed only in her nightgown walking along the beach at night,
crying for her lost love."

"Well. Tha' explains what this is, righ' enough. Bu' I dunna like tha part about followin' an' capturin'. It sounds too much like wha 'appened earlier
ta Ariadne, with tha creepy person in tha cloak." Jack stated.

"That next part though, 'bring my rose back to me', that's pretty
straightforward. It means someone won't be free until the Jantrix is
returned to Alexander." Paul mused.

"Well, I dunna know abou' the rest o' ye, bu' I could do wit some rum, eh?" Jack grinned and Paul groaned. Ariadne just looked confused. Paul noticed her confusion and enlightened her as to Jack's drinking problems. Then he
stood up and went back through the curtain, appearing again with three glasses and a large wooden jug, presumably full of rum. Paul poured three glasses worth and handed one to Ariadne before taking one for himself. He was just about to hand the last one to Jack when he realized that Jack had
liberated the jug and was drinking it like water.

//Three hours and four jugs later//

"Oh the night that Patty Murphy died
is a night I'll ne'er forget
Some o' the boys got loaded drunk
and they ain't been sober yet

As long as the bottle was passed around
every man was feelin' gay (A/N: Happy! they mean happy!!)
O'Leary came with the bagpipes
some music for to play!"

All three were dancing and singing their hearts out until Paul tripped over a chair, and Ariadne collapsed in another chair while laughing at Jack's
drunken attempt to help his brother.

"I think.." Jack slurred, "I think i's time fer some sleep.." he trailed off and staggered around the room a bit, waving his hands and the rum jug,
splashing the alcohol everywhere.

"I agree hell-hart...whole-hardely...whole-heartedly!!" Ariadne slurred out. Paul, who was the least drunk of them all, hardly slurring, spoke up.

"Ummm...well, you won't think much of it now but you two are really going
to hate me in the morning...I only have one guest room." he said, still somewhat understandable, and Jack and Ariadne both stared at him in mild
horror.

"But it does have two beds!" he stated proudly with a little bit more
slurring, as he had just finished his glass. At that, Jack and Ariadne looked at each other, shrugged in unison, and looked back to Paul waiting
for him to lead them to their quarters for the night.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: okay, that's all for now, folks :) And before anyone asks, I don't
know if they will or not. If that makes sense. But it probably didn't because I went through two bags of gummi worms and a liter of Cherry Coke while writing this. Anyway, I know it's a bit long, but I couldn't really cut it up. Oh, and the song I used was The Night That Patty Murphy Died, by Great Big Sea. Really good newfie/folk-music-people. Yeah. And I don't even
usually listen to folk music. I'm rambling. Hope you enjoyed, now go review. Flames will be given to my pet dragon along with directions to your
house :)