Disclaimer: I own nothing dealing with Pirates of the Caribbean, however I did create the new co-starring character that will become responsible for a good portion of this story.
Author's Note: This is intended to be a rather long story, so there's lots more where it came from. Please read and review! I love reviews as well as constructive criticism. So, don't hold back!
---
He stood, wistfully gazing through the glass panes of the window that he was leaning against. He could see the docks from his position, and he watched the waves of the all too familiar sea crash up against them. Though it appeared faint, he could just make out the foam curling atop each mound of water before it became immensely clearer as the wave broke. The sea was mesmerizing, a mysterious beauty that was always up for an adventure. He never thought it possible, but he didn't just miss the feeling of the wind rushing past him and the scent of the salted ocean; he longed for it.
"At it again, are you?" The voice at the doorway startled him. It was soft, yet almost edgy, a voice he had loved since the first time he heard it. The question which seemed more like a statement, emerging from the perfect lips that he had kissed an uncountable number of times, was followed by footsteps and a tender hand placed on his shoulder. In slow response, he dragged his eyes away from the calling sea and turned to face Elizabeth. He tried to smile, but the result was more of a haphazard contortion of pain.
"At what?" he whispered at a volume much quieter than he had originally intended upon. He pretended not to, but he knew very well what his fiancé was speaking of. Inside he knew what ran in his blood, as did she, and even though they both were aware of it, she was certain that he'd be hesitant in admitting what it meant.
"I wouldn't play the part of an ignorant fool if I were you," she told him, reaching up with her free hand and tucking a loose strand of dark hair behind Will's ear. At the action, her vision fell upon her finger, which was adorned with a stunning gold ring. It didn't have a sparkling gem, and it wasn't all that extravagant. It was, on the other hand, rather plain. But she loved it anyhow, if only because Will had made it himself. "I know that you miss it," she paused and cast her gaze away from her ring, bringing it back to Will with a mischievous expression playing across her features, "miss him."
Unable to hold it back, Will emitted a small laugh from his mouth, as he reminisced for a moment, the captain. "Whom? Jack?"
She smiled and nodded. "Precisely," she quipped, "you miss the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, and I know for a fact that you miss the high seas. You're just itching to set sail, are you not?"
"Well, someone in this room certainly is, but, Miss Swann, if I may be frank, I think it's more you than me." This comment roused a playful shove from the feisty Miss Swann.
"Will, how many times must I tell you? My name is no longer Swann. It's Turner."
"At least once more, Miss Swann," he added with a toothy grin. "We aren't wed yet."
She shook her head but did not neglect to return the smile. The two lovers embraced, and she rested her head on his chest while he pulled her tightly to him, his arms tenderly wrapped around her narrow waist. She inhaled deeply, taking in his rather pleasant scent.
"Well, I want to go," she said quietly, "and if I leave, you must also, if only because you love me."
"If you say it in that manner…" His voice trailed, but picked up again. "Then, I guess I have no choice."
Becoming excited, Elizabeth pulled herself away and stared at him with her face beaming. "All we have to do is gather a crew, steal a ship-"
Will interrupted her with a click of his tongue. "Commandeer, not steal, the word is commandeer, and I don't believe that your father or Commodore Norrington is ready to hand out any more pardons to us."
Her eyebrows flared, and then her shoulders sagged. "I suppose you're correct."
Will looked at her with a tender expression. He hadn't meant to disappoint her.
"No, Will, I'm fine." She bit down gently on her bottom lip, grazing her teeth against it. It seemed to her that nowadays one of the only things he cared for was making her happy. "Honestly, I don't want you to think that I'm not happy with the life we have. I just – I just would like to take it back out to the sea, at least once before we're married and starting a family. Is that so much to ask for?"
"Actually, it isn't," Will admitted with a hint of underlying desire in his voice, and he took her hands, holding them in his own.
As they dreamed of a new venture together, neither Will nor Elizabeth had any idea whatsoever that the next exciting chapter of their own personal history was waiting right around the corner, literally. The moment Will had turned his attention away from the crystal clear waters, a quick ship with eerie black sails appeared on the horizon, making it's way towards the unsuspecting town. The skull and crossbones that had once waved proudly from the ship's very top post were no where to be seen. This fact only came about because the ship's captain, although aware that before sailing away again from Port Royal the crew would eventually be recognized as pirates, wanted to delay the discovery as much as possible.
Jack Sparrow meandered across the deck of the Black Pearl in the familiar and unique way that was his own. His hands wavered about as he announced to everyone and anyone who would listen that they were approaching Port Royal, the home of William Turner and Elizabeth Swann. Now, of course the crew already knew this, and they rolled their eyes, but what Captain Jack hadn't told them was why they were seeking the couple.
While drinking one night in one of Tortuga's many taverns, Jack was leaning back into his chair with his feet propped up on the table in front of him, and his mug was waving tipsily about in his right hand while his left conducted an invisible, silent orchestra. It was then that Jack happened to casually overhear a conversation taking place at the next table over.
"You arn't gointa believe this, Thompson," a man with a dark, husky voice had said, which made Jack's ears perk up. Treasure? he thought, Plunder, loot, and riches that would soothe the heart of even the hungriest of pirates? Becoming excited, Jack tossed his mug back and took into his mouth a large amount of rum, but at the time, Jack had no idea how surprised he'd be at what the man had to say.
"Oh yea'r?" Thompson, a youth by the sound of his voice, challenged the man.
"I 'ear that Bootstrap Bill is roamin' the earth again."
The rum came spattering out of Jack's mouth, raining down on his chest, legs, and boots. If that wasn't enough, the greatest pirate ever to grace the sea toppled off his chair and onto the floor, but it seemed as if Thompson and the older man were too wrapped up in their discussion to care, or even notice.
"Nah, Old Jones, yer jestin'. Since me 'eard that Bill was a gallant pirate who many would kill to work under, he died years ago. He's sunk to the bottom o' the deep blue sea. How can you expect me to believe such a blasted thing?" Jack had begun to regain his composure as he listened to Thompson's answer.
"No, I tell ye the truth if I ever knew it!" Old Jones protested.
Thompson was set in his beliefs against the old man, but Jack, on the other hand, was more than willing to believe the tale. It would have pleased him much to see his old friend again, and he had found it hard to believe that William "Bootstrap" Turner would have surrendered to death in such a way. True, it didn't seem as if he'd had much of a choice, and that was the reason Jack had succumbed to the conclusion that Bill really was dead. But this tidbit of information instilled a new hope within him.
Old Jones had continued to back up his story with various accounts from various people, which after some time bored Sparrow. That night, which was now about a half of a month behind the captain, Jack had walked out of the tavern, deciding to redirect the Pearl's from its intended destination of a Caribbean Island called Trinidad to Port Royal.
"Cap'n!" A shrill voice was demandingly shouting in Jack's ear. He jumped, startled from a deep slumber. Apparently, he had fallen asleep at the wheel and had been dreamily remembering the events that led him to his current position. He opened his eyes and immediately jerked his head backwards, reacting to both the bright afternoon sunlight and the evil glare on Ana Maria's face, which was inches from his own, but mainly from the evil glare.
"Well, what?" he asked her, rubbing his eyes and further smearing the kohl that circled them. It had already been slightly smudged from his nap. Upon his cheek, there was also an imprint from his leaning on the wood of the ship.
"We're 'ere."
Glowing, Jack's chin tipped up, jutting out, and his eyes widened. "Oh, perfect then!" He pushed himself off of the ground and walked past Ana Maria, making his way off of the ship. Gibbs was standing in front of him. The old fool pointed at Jack's eyes, making a motion indicating that his "make-up" was a bit off. Jack looked at him with an impatient gaze and shook his head, clearly not understanding. Gibbs, who happened to be carrying a silver tray, thrust it in his face. Now, Jack saw what the matter was, and he quickly fixed it with the tip of his tongue on his finger and a few swipes of that finger under his eyes. "I thank you," he told Gibbs and hopped off of the ship.
Basking in the midday golden sun, there were fishermen surrounding the beaches, sailors docking their boats, and even a few scattered red coats on patrol. The smirking pirate who seemed slightly out of place was stopped, as once before, and gave up a few shillings without a name to the docksman. As he walked past small crowds of people, Jack lacked any interest in and paid little attention to their faces and hoped they did the same for him. For some reason, which was still uncertain to Jack, it seemed as if his image just screamed pirate. He was nearing the end of the docks when a sweet lass with a couple of shillings lying at her feet caught his eye. She was attempting to pull in a wooden barrel from the water without getting wet. The act was quite peculiar, but the mst peculiar thing about it was that she was wearing a dress which, by the looks of her nature (most likely that of poverty), was her best one. Her long hair was raven colored and heavily tousled. She was a sight to behold and a beauty at that.
Jack's eyes darted from her backside to the shillings at her feet and back again. Girl… or money…he wondered, knowing very well that it wasn't likely he'd get both. He eventually reasoned that he wasn't going to be located at Port Royal long enough to waste time gallivanting with a girl (no matter how fine she was), and he could always use some extra spending money.
He bent down, reaching for the shillings, but apparently his quick hands were not a match for her keen reflexes. Caught off guard as he was tightly grabbed around the wrist, three shillings in hand, Jack smiled sheepishly at the bright green eyes which were now piercing his own, almost-black pair. "Drop these?" he asked her, admitting a nervous laugh.
"Why, yes." She released his arm, but her glare remained fixed. She seemed as one uneager to trust. She pried his fingers away from the gold pieces and placed them in the pocket of her dress.
Jack rubbed his wrist because it had become somewhat sore from being so roughly handled. "The ground isn't a good place to be keepin' your money, love." He unbent at the waist and stood straight, towering over the girl by at least half a foot. "You're lucky that I'm not a thief who'd have simply stolen it." He nodded with a grin, proud of his own lie.
The girl placed her hand on her hip. "Oh? And who might you be to decide that?
Astonished at the question, Jack gasped, "Why, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow!" He thought for a moment, knowing he'd said something wrong but unsure of what. "Damn," he cursed upon remembering, "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that until after I was escaping, safely sailing away on the Pearl." He slapped himself in the head for mentioning the name of his ship. "Damn it to hell! By Pearl, I meant the White Pearl, a ship no one's ever heard of before, savvy?"
"Excuse me?" The girl eyed Jack as if he were a crazy man, which she, no doubt, thought he was. Staring at him, she pondered upon something unbeknownst to us at this point in time. Suddenly remembering the task she had been performing before Jack showed up, her gaze darted to the water. The barrel was now far out of reach. "Damn you," she hissed at Jack, "you scallywag! Look at what you've done!" She pointed out to sea, but Jack neglected to look. Instead, he remained surprised (in a good way) at the language of the girl. She broke that, though, with a question. "Do you have any idea how important that was?"
"Um…" Jack felt that he had to be frank. "No?"
"Argh!" she grunted. "Go! Leave me to my misery. Without the contents of that barrel I'll simply rot away, and it's entirely your fault!" Jack concluded that she was obviously overreacting.
"So, no worries then," he quipped and gave her a polite nod before complying with her wishes and walking away. He realized, however, that he was walking away without the girl and without the money, but for some reason he knew that this wasn't the end.
Author's Note: This is intended to be a rather long story, so there's lots more where it came from. Please read and review! I love reviews as well as constructive criticism. So, don't hold back!
---
He stood, wistfully gazing through the glass panes of the window that he was leaning against. He could see the docks from his position, and he watched the waves of the all too familiar sea crash up against them. Though it appeared faint, he could just make out the foam curling atop each mound of water before it became immensely clearer as the wave broke. The sea was mesmerizing, a mysterious beauty that was always up for an adventure. He never thought it possible, but he didn't just miss the feeling of the wind rushing past him and the scent of the salted ocean; he longed for it.
"At it again, are you?" The voice at the doorway startled him. It was soft, yet almost edgy, a voice he had loved since the first time he heard it. The question which seemed more like a statement, emerging from the perfect lips that he had kissed an uncountable number of times, was followed by footsteps and a tender hand placed on his shoulder. In slow response, he dragged his eyes away from the calling sea and turned to face Elizabeth. He tried to smile, but the result was more of a haphazard contortion of pain.
"At what?" he whispered at a volume much quieter than he had originally intended upon. He pretended not to, but he knew very well what his fiancé was speaking of. Inside he knew what ran in his blood, as did she, and even though they both were aware of it, she was certain that he'd be hesitant in admitting what it meant.
"I wouldn't play the part of an ignorant fool if I were you," she told him, reaching up with her free hand and tucking a loose strand of dark hair behind Will's ear. At the action, her vision fell upon her finger, which was adorned with a stunning gold ring. It didn't have a sparkling gem, and it wasn't all that extravagant. It was, on the other hand, rather plain. But she loved it anyhow, if only because Will had made it himself. "I know that you miss it," she paused and cast her gaze away from her ring, bringing it back to Will with a mischievous expression playing across her features, "miss him."
Unable to hold it back, Will emitted a small laugh from his mouth, as he reminisced for a moment, the captain. "Whom? Jack?"
She smiled and nodded. "Precisely," she quipped, "you miss the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, and I know for a fact that you miss the high seas. You're just itching to set sail, are you not?"
"Well, someone in this room certainly is, but, Miss Swann, if I may be frank, I think it's more you than me." This comment roused a playful shove from the feisty Miss Swann.
"Will, how many times must I tell you? My name is no longer Swann. It's Turner."
"At least once more, Miss Swann," he added with a toothy grin. "We aren't wed yet."
She shook her head but did not neglect to return the smile. The two lovers embraced, and she rested her head on his chest while he pulled her tightly to him, his arms tenderly wrapped around her narrow waist. She inhaled deeply, taking in his rather pleasant scent.
"Well, I want to go," she said quietly, "and if I leave, you must also, if only because you love me."
"If you say it in that manner…" His voice trailed, but picked up again. "Then, I guess I have no choice."
Becoming excited, Elizabeth pulled herself away and stared at him with her face beaming. "All we have to do is gather a crew, steal a ship-"
Will interrupted her with a click of his tongue. "Commandeer, not steal, the word is commandeer, and I don't believe that your father or Commodore Norrington is ready to hand out any more pardons to us."
Her eyebrows flared, and then her shoulders sagged. "I suppose you're correct."
Will looked at her with a tender expression. He hadn't meant to disappoint her.
"No, Will, I'm fine." She bit down gently on her bottom lip, grazing her teeth against it. It seemed to her that nowadays one of the only things he cared for was making her happy. "Honestly, I don't want you to think that I'm not happy with the life we have. I just – I just would like to take it back out to the sea, at least once before we're married and starting a family. Is that so much to ask for?"
"Actually, it isn't," Will admitted with a hint of underlying desire in his voice, and he took her hands, holding them in his own.
As they dreamed of a new venture together, neither Will nor Elizabeth had any idea whatsoever that the next exciting chapter of their own personal history was waiting right around the corner, literally. The moment Will had turned his attention away from the crystal clear waters, a quick ship with eerie black sails appeared on the horizon, making it's way towards the unsuspecting town. The skull and crossbones that had once waved proudly from the ship's very top post were no where to be seen. This fact only came about because the ship's captain, although aware that before sailing away again from Port Royal the crew would eventually be recognized as pirates, wanted to delay the discovery as much as possible.
Jack Sparrow meandered across the deck of the Black Pearl in the familiar and unique way that was his own. His hands wavered about as he announced to everyone and anyone who would listen that they were approaching Port Royal, the home of William Turner and Elizabeth Swann. Now, of course the crew already knew this, and they rolled their eyes, but what Captain Jack hadn't told them was why they were seeking the couple.
While drinking one night in one of Tortuga's many taverns, Jack was leaning back into his chair with his feet propped up on the table in front of him, and his mug was waving tipsily about in his right hand while his left conducted an invisible, silent orchestra. It was then that Jack happened to casually overhear a conversation taking place at the next table over.
"You arn't gointa believe this, Thompson," a man with a dark, husky voice had said, which made Jack's ears perk up. Treasure? he thought, Plunder, loot, and riches that would soothe the heart of even the hungriest of pirates? Becoming excited, Jack tossed his mug back and took into his mouth a large amount of rum, but at the time, Jack had no idea how surprised he'd be at what the man had to say.
"Oh yea'r?" Thompson, a youth by the sound of his voice, challenged the man.
"I 'ear that Bootstrap Bill is roamin' the earth again."
The rum came spattering out of Jack's mouth, raining down on his chest, legs, and boots. If that wasn't enough, the greatest pirate ever to grace the sea toppled off his chair and onto the floor, but it seemed as if Thompson and the older man were too wrapped up in their discussion to care, or even notice.
"Nah, Old Jones, yer jestin'. Since me 'eard that Bill was a gallant pirate who many would kill to work under, he died years ago. He's sunk to the bottom o' the deep blue sea. How can you expect me to believe such a blasted thing?" Jack had begun to regain his composure as he listened to Thompson's answer.
"No, I tell ye the truth if I ever knew it!" Old Jones protested.
Thompson was set in his beliefs against the old man, but Jack, on the other hand, was more than willing to believe the tale. It would have pleased him much to see his old friend again, and he had found it hard to believe that William "Bootstrap" Turner would have surrendered to death in such a way. True, it didn't seem as if he'd had much of a choice, and that was the reason Jack had succumbed to the conclusion that Bill really was dead. But this tidbit of information instilled a new hope within him.
Old Jones had continued to back up his story with various accounts from various people, which after some time bored Sparrow. That night, which was now about a half of a month behind the captain, Jack had walked out of the tavern, deciding to redirect the Pearl's from its intended destination of a Caribbean Island called Trinidad to Port Royal.
"Cap'n!" A shrill voice was demandingly shouting in Jack's ear. He jumped, startled from a deep slumber. Apparently, he had fallen asleep at the wheel and had been dreamily remembering the events that led him to his current position. He opened his eyes and immediately jerked his head backwards, reacting to both the bright afternoon sunlight and the evil glare on Ana Maria's face, which was inches from his own, but mainly from the evil glare.
"Well, what?" he asked her, rubbing his eyes and further smearing the kohl that circled them. It had already been slightly smudged from his nap. Upon his cheek, there was also an imprint from his leaning on the wood of the ship.
"We're 'ere."
Glowing, Jack's chin tipped up, jutting out, and his eyes widened. "Oh, perfect then!" He pushed himself off of the ground and walked past Ana Maria, making his way off of the ship. Gibbs was standing in front of him. The old fool pointed at Jack's eyes, making a motion indicating that his "make-up" was a bit off. Jack looked at him with an impatient gaze and shook his head, clearly not understanding. Gibbs, who happened to be carrying a silver tray, thrust it in his face. Now, Jack saw what the matter was, and he quickly fixed it with the tip of his tongue on his finger and a few swipes of that finger under his eyes. "I thank you," he told Gibbs and hopped off of the ship.
Basking in the midday golden sun, there were fishermen surrounding the beaches, sailors docking their boats, and even a few scattered red coats on patrol. The smirking pirate who seemed slightly out of place was stopped, as once before, and gave up a few shillings without a name to the docksman. As he walked past small crowds of people, Jack lacked any interest in and paid little attention to their faces and hoped they did the same for him. For some reason, which was still uncertain to Jack, it seemed as if his image just screamed pirate. He was nearing the end of the docks when a sweet lass with a couple of shillings lying at her feet caught his eye. She was attempting to pull in a wooden barrel from the water without getting wet. The act was quite peculiar, but the mst peculiar thing about it was that she was wearing a dress which, by the looks of her nature (most likely that of poverty), was her best one. Her long hair was raven colored and heavily tousled. She was a sight to behold and a beauty at that.
Jack's eyes darted from her backside to the shillings at her feet and back again. Girl… or money…he wondered, knowing very well that it wasn't likely he'd get both. He eventually reasoned that he wasn't going to be located at Port Royal long enough to waste time gallivanting with a girl (no matter how fine she was), and he could always use some extra spending money.
He bent down, reaching for the shillings, but apparently his quick hands were not a match for her keen reflexes. Caught off guard as he was tightly grabbed around the wrist, three shillings in hand, Jack smiled sheepishly at the bright green eyes which were now piercing his own, almost-black pair. "Drop these?" he asked her, admitting a nervous laugh.
"Why, yes." She released his arm, but her glare remained fixed. She seemed as one uneager to trust. She pried his fingers away from the gold pieces and placed them in the pocket of her dress.
Jack rubbed his wrist because it had become somewhat sore from being so roughly handled. "The ground isn't a good place to be keepin' your money, love." He unbent at the waist and stood straight, towering over the girl by at least half a foot. "You're lucky that I'm not a thief who'd have simply stolen it." He nodded with a grin, proud of his own lie.
The girl placed her hand on her hip. "Oh? And who might you be to decide that?
Astonished at the question, Jack gasped, "Why, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow!" He thought for a moment, knowing he'd said something wrong but unsure of what. "Damn," he cursed upon remembering, "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that until after I was escaping, safely sailing away on the Pearl." He slapped himself in the head for mentioning the name of his ship. "Damn it to hell! By Pearl, I meant the White Pearl, a ship no one's ever heard of before, savvy?"
"Excuse me?" The girl eyed Jack as if he were a crazy man, which she, no doubt, thought he was. Staring at him, she pondered upon something unbeknownst to us at this point in time. Suddenly remembering the task she had been performing before Jack showed up, her gaze darted to the water. The barrel was now far out of reach. "Damn you," she hissed at Jack, "you scallywag! Look at what you've done!" She pointed out to sea, but Jack neglected to look. Instead, he remained surprised (in a good way) at the language of the girl. She broke that, though, with a question. "Do you have any idea how important that was?"
"Um…" Jack felt that he had to be frank. "No?"
"Argh!" she grunted. "Go! Leave me to my misery. Without the contents of that barrel I'll simply rot away, and it's entirely your fault!" Jack concluded that she was obviously overreacting.
"So, no worries then," he quipped and gave her a polite nod before complying with her wishes and walking away. He realized, however, that he was walking away without the girl and without the money, but for some reason he knew that this wasn't the end.