Disclaimer: I'll sell you this and the small country that I own in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean at a very reasonable price if you believe that I own this . . .
AN: The last chapter was supposed to have a point, but it got lost sometime between falling asleep at the keyboard, waking up to finish the chapter, and posting, but everyone seems to have liked it anyway, so yea! I'm working on the bad guys, too, on getting them and their curse/blessing to be believable, but it's kind of hard for me to get into a bad guy's head. Crazy pirates I can do, heroic blacksmiths I can do, feminist-before-her-time pirate-lover I can do, five year old kid I can do very well, but bad guys are hard, and the story is now almost evolving from the back forward—I know the ending, but the middle is significantly fuzzier. Oh well . . .onward with the plot . . .
Trust Me Still
Part 5
Jack stalked through the back streets of Tortuga, his shoulders hunched. Those who saw him moved as quickly as they could out of his way, both those who recognized him and those few who didn't. An angry pirate captain that didn't appear to be looking for company and obviously wasn't too drunk to draw his sword was something to be avoided.
But Jack had moved beyond angry.
He was furious.
"Bloody bastard should have died a long time ago . . .should have come back sooner so that I could kill him . . .deserves it . . ."
"Yer well on the way to convincin' everyone in Tortuga that ye're really and truly mad, ye know."
"I don't care."
Ana-Maria laughed. "Ye sound like the child."
Jack scowled deeper and then laughed, some of the tension draining out of his body.
"That's better. Wouldn't want you to kill him before he could talk, would we?"
"No, not before he talks." Jack continued walking. "Maybe afterwards?"
"If ye want to kill him for a mistake he made twenty years ago, Jack, be my guest. Just be patient about it, all right?"
"I hardly classify sending someone after cursed gold with a mutinous crew without so much as a 'look out' as a mistake."
"He's a pirate, Jack. Ye shouldn't trust us. What makes you so certain that he knew about the curse?"
"Oh, besides the fact that when I finally got back to Tortuga every other person on this god-forsaken hunk of rock knew everything about the curse and pointed to him as the source of information, nothing much."
"Hmm. And the crew?"
"I was new to the area, love. I knew Jacob vaguely, but that was it. I asked for help in finding a solid crew. He sends me Barbosa."
"Did you ever do anything to make him angry?"
Jack paused and cocked his head to one side. "Not that I can remember."
"Well, then, I suppose ye're justified in killing him. Just wait and see if he knows anything, all right?"
The pirate captain nodded.
He was allowing the crew to rotate off onto a short shore leave on Tortuga while he and Ana-Maria searched for information on Will Turner. Elizabeth and little Jack were both staying on the Pearl. After all the problems the boy had caused on board the ship, the pirate captain didn't even want to guess at what havoc the lad could wreak in Tortuga. Elizabeth had protested slightly until he asked her if she really wanted to leave her son alone with just the pirates to watch—or not watch—him for however long it took to find information.
A few minutes later Jack found the run-down house that he was looking for and flung open door, nearly knocking it off its hinges in the process.
"Jacob Freelight!"
A woman bolted from the bed in the corner of the room, fastening her dress as she flew past the pirate in the doorway. A man sat, dressed only in his pants, his sword out of reach, on the edge of the bed. Brown-eyed and black-haired, with streaks of gray running through the black, his face was a pale ash color beneath the wind-beaten tan.
"Oh, good Lord . . ."
"No, sorry, just Captain Jack Sparrow." Jack stepped further into the room, his sword drawn and pointing directly at the other man's chest. Ana-Maria stepped into the room after her captain, remaining silent and staying out of the way.
"Jack, old friend, you can't still be that angry after eighteen years."
"I'm the one who carried a bullet around in his pistol for ten years and had to always fight with a sword because that bullet was meant for one person and one person only. Tell me again that I can't be that angry anymore, Jacob."
Jacob had paled even more.
"Please, Jack, I really didn't mean anything by it, honestly, just a joke, you know?"
"A joke that should have ended in my dying at my own hand after going steadily mad for want of food and water."
"You're not dead."
"Not dead, no."
"How did you find me?"
"You were never very good at going incognito, Jacob. You should have just stayed out of the Caribbean altogether."
"What do you want from me, Jack Sparrow?"
"I want your life, but I'll settle for information. You're in port a lot more often than I am, and you always seem to know a good deal about the various curses and such on the treasure. Information that you share so very quickly with everyone but your old friends." Jack had paced steadily closer to the other man so that the blade now rested lightly against Jacob's chest.
The man cringed slightly and licked his lips. "What do you want to know?"
"I knew you'd see things my way. The raiders. The one's who've been hitting ports and slaughtering as they plunder. What do you know about them?"
"Why?"
The blade pressed down harder. "I don't believe that's the answer I'm looking for."
Jacob didn't move. "I won't tell you unless you tell me why."
The pressure on the blade eased. "They took one of my men. A good friend."
"Then forget him. He's gone."
Jacob reeled back as Jack punched him. "That's not what I wanted to hear."
Jacob rubbed his jaw, wincing as blood trickled down from a split lip. "It's the truth, though. If the raiders took him alive, he's gone, Jack. Even if you find him, he won't be the man you knew." He stood up so that the two pirates were face to face.
"They took a friend of mine, as well. Daniel Hawk. You probably don't know him. He was the captain of the Redtail, a small ship, and he hadn't gotten a chance to build up much of a reputation yet, but he was a fine swordsman, a good pirate. He was the only one from his ship in port when the raiders attacked. His crew followed the code—they took off with the Redtail."
Jacob paused.
"Daniel's brother Peter was the first mate. Peter thought his brother was dead. Imagine his surprise when he saw him in Tortuga three months later."
"They make port here?"
"The raiders? No. They just needed to have emergency repairs done on their ship so that they could limp home with their loot. It was the first and last time they ever made port in Tortuga."
"What happened to Hawk?"
"Peter recognized his brother and called his name. Daniel turned towards Peter, yelled back at his companions 'family' . . .and proceeded to kill his brother."
Jack shrugged. "So he killed his brother. It's not all that uncommon around here."
"Daniel and Peter were closer than blood. They cared for each other. Peter hadn't wanted to leave Daniel, but he had no choice. For Daniel to kill him without a second thought . . .I was there, Jack Sparrow. I saw his eyes. It wasn't the same man that I had known."
Ana-Maria made a slight hissing sound behind him. It took Jack a moment to understand why.
Ye were there, William Turner. Ye saw 'is eyes. 'Twasn't Jack Sparrow that attacked ye.
"Men change. Being abandoned changes a man."
"Yes, but it doesn't make them inhuman."
"What do you mean?"
"Peter wasn't a coward or a fool. He fought back. He cut Daniel. When the fight was over, there was blood on Daniel's clothes and slashes in the fabric of his shirt, but not a single scratch on his body. Whatever they are, they aren't human, and if they took your friend, Jack Sparrow, then pray that you never meet him again."
Jack stepped back, dropping the sword to his side.
"Why should I believe you?"
"Men change, Jack. We were both young . . .oh, god, so very young. You were a rival. I kept information from you, yes, but you could have found out a great deal about the curse elsewhere, and I really didn't know what Barbosa was going to do. Not that it matters. I've got nothing. No ship, no crew, no bloody chances. I'm lucky to get off this god-forsaken rock and on a ship. You, though, you're the captain of the most well known pirate ship in the Caribbean. Men kill for a chance to crew on the Pearl."
"That's funny, considering that I never take the killers."
Jacob smiled sadly. "Aye, you can pick and choose now, and your men come back for you, code be damned. You won this game, Jack Sparrow. If you want my life, take it. I know you're the better swordsman."
Jack passed his gaze intently between Jacob and the blade. Then, with a deft movement, he replaced the sword in its sheath.
Jacob exhaled wearily and sat down on the edge of the bed. After a moment, he laughed softly.
Jack continued to stare at the man.
"What do you want from me, Jack Sparrow?"
"Where do the raiders make port? Inhuman they might be, but the ship is real, and even inhuman monsters need somewhere to call home."
"Home. What a strange word." The pirate shook himself. "I told you already, you don't want to chase these men. They kill without mercy and without remorse. Your friend is gone. Give it up."
"I can't. Do you know where they make port?" Jack spoke slowly and clearly.
"The Redtail followed the raiders. Only one man made it back alive." Jacob paused. "But yes, he told me where they make port before he died."
"Tell me."
"No. You don't understand what you're doing. It's suicide. Not only that. Anyone you bring with you will die. Why can't you just let it go? They leave us alone and we leave them alone. Look out for yourself first. That's what pirates do."
"I can't just back out of this, Jacob. You owe me. Now tell me where I can find them."
"I warned you this time, Sparrow. If you make it back, don't say I didn't warn you." Jacob stood. "Do you have a map?"
Jack pulled one from his coat pocket and unrolled it. He had brought it in case they got lucky . . .and they had.
Jacob studied the map for a moment and placed a small X on it. "Here. Roughly two and a half days sailing from here in clear weather."
Jack nodded, re-rolled the map, and placed it again in his jacket pocket. "Thank you, Jacob. When I get back, if there's an opening on the Pearl, and your luck hasn't changed, I might look you up."
Jacob nodded.
"Good. Then I'll just be off to find my friend and save the day." Jack turned to leave, pausing in the doorway. "Two things. One, I don't know what you believe about yourself, but I am not getting old."
Jacob smiled. "So even time must bow to the mighty Captain Jack Sparrow."
Jack shrugged. "And two, I'd go find that girl. I really don't think you got your money's worth."
Laughter followed Jack into the street, where Ana-Maria fell in at his side.
"I thought you were going to kill him."
"Beating a dog that's already half-dead isn't much satisfaction. Besides, he's right. I won this game. I have my ship, my rum, my friends, my loot, my crew, and my horizons. He's got nothing."
"Will you honestly let him on the Pearl?"
"I'm a pirate and a dishonest man, love. That makes me predictable, remember? Figure it out."
Ana-Maria laughed and sidestepped a drunken pirate, noting vaguely that the crowd was no longer avoiding Jack like a plague-carrier.
"A pirate, yes, dishonest, to a point, but predictable? Never, Jack."
"Captain, please, love."
"Of course, Jack . . .sorry, Captain Jack . . .What are we going to do now, Jack?"
"What do you think? We're going to go save the day, and in the process save my ship from destruction and what remains of my sanity by returning the little hellion to his rightful place."
Ana-Maria grabbed his arm, spinning him around so that he stood face-to-face with her.
"It won't be that easy, Jack. Even if we rescue Turner, they don't have a home to go back to. And even if you offer them a place on the Pearl, Will could never really accept life as a pirate, and he would never raise his children as pirates. Why do you always have to search him out, Jack? Will respects you, cares for you, but he can't abide by the life you've chosen. That's assuming that he's in any condition to choose anything by the time we find him."
Jack stared at her, his jaw tightening, the motion nearly imperceptible save for the fact that Ana-Maria was watching for it. She was prepared when he pulled himself roughly free of her grip and resumed his march down the street. The crowds again parted quickly to let him pass.
"Jack . . .Jack, please . . .I'm just tryin' t' make sure that ye're prepared for reality, Jack Sparrow!" Jack spun around as Ana-Maria again placed her hand on his arm.
"And who's choice is it t' acknowledge yer reality? Do I get a choice, or do ye make the rules fer me now?"
Ana-Maria stepped back, her own anger rising. "You're no fool, Jack Sparrow. Stop acting like one."
Jack bared his teeth in something that could have been meant as either a smile or a threat. "I'll bring him back, and I'll drop him in any port that he asks for. He's my friend."
"And you were his friend, but that didn't stop what happened with Almorte. That hasn't stopped you from being injured in our raids. Just be prepared, Jack, for whatever we find, and don't throw your life away on a fool's mission. Ye've survived too long for that." Ana-Maria unclenched her hand from its hold on his arm. "Please."
The pirate captain closed his eyes and nodded.
The two pirates continued in silence down the street, the crowds once again closing around them, the collective sense of Tortuga recognizing that there was no more danger . . .
At least not for them.