Shadows Over the Sea
By Illoria
A/N: I'm sorry it took me such a long time to get this chapter up. :\ I was on vacation for 4 days and other than that I found it a hard chapter to write. Sorry again!
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Chapter Eight
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Jack didn't have to undertake any more endeavors of the priestly sort as more months passed by, and he turned seventeen. Things passed pretty much the same way they had been for him; helping out various pirate crews when they were a man short, or just in need of assistance of some kind. One night, in the Faithful Bride, another messenger came for him, this time with a note from William saying that his son, Will Jr., had been born.
Jack pictured William with a son, and the image came easily to him. He was funny, William. He could be as despicable as the dreads of society got, but he could also be more noble than any high-society man. The remarkable thing was that neither aspect of him was a guise, and somehow it all blended together seamlessly.
Jack wanted to meet William's child, but he didn't like the idea of a visit to Port Royal. He was, after all, a wanted man there now that the navy had discovered his name in the midst of the whole "priest" incident.. So, he told the messenger to hold and he quickly composed a reply to William, inviting him to Tortuga for the "proper reception" he'd promised William at his wedding.
Another month passed until Jack got any response. The response was that William would come to Tortuga in a year's time, because he didn't want to leave the baby so soon.
Six months passed. Then, luck decided to play a game with Jack again.
There was a fire at the smithy, and it burned down while the blacksmith and Jack were out, leaving Jack with no place to stay. He only had one choice – he went to the docks, spotting a pirate ship on which he'd had temporary places on the crew various times when the ship was a crew member short. The ship was called the Odyssey.
Jack alerted the captain of the Odyssey, Ascott. Ascott quickly stepped onto the docks upon seeing Jack, greeting him heartily. Jack had been very useful once in a swordfight upon the Odyssey, having disarmed the enemy ship's captain so that he was forced to surrender.
Jack explained his situation to Captain Ascott, treating him to a drink at the Faithful Bride. Ascott was quite a bit indebted to Jack, so he agreed to give him a position on the crew for their next voyage.
So Jack and the Odyssey's crew set off to Singapore. It was a long voyage that resulted in many spoils well worth their long journey, and the crew divided the treasures amongst themselves. However, a week before they were to dock in Tortuga, something very unexpected happened.
Jack was jolted awake by the booming sound of cannon fire. Panic seized him as he hurriedly jumped out of his bed and dressed. The other crew members were behaving in the same hurried fashion, as they had all been sleeping until the cannon awoke them.
The crew hurried out on deck. The Odyssey's Captain Ascott was at the helm, using a spyglass to zoom in on a rapidly approaching ship. Another boom from the approaching ship's cannons shook the Odyssey.
The Captain turned and addressed his crew. "Swords ready!" He yelled out several crew members' names, telling them to man the cannons. The rest of them were to stay on deck and fight.
Jack's hand immediately darted to the hilt of his sword. He unsheathed it at the same time the other crew members unsheathed their swords, ready and waiting.
The attacking ship, which had the word "Spirit" painted at the bow, was right by the Odyssey in a matter of minutes. The Spirit's crew wasted no time boarding the Odyssey, and the Odyssey's crew wasted no time fighting the invaders.
The man that Jack was dueling was good with a cutlass, but Jack was better. It wasn't long before Jack managed to disarm the man. He quickly turned as another of the Spirit's crew members advanced on him.
Suddenly he spotted Captain Ascott struggling to fight three men who were advancing on him. Jack quickly dodged a sword that was being swung at him and dashed to the upper deck. He and the Captain started fighting back-to-back.
Jack was dueling two men at the same time, and having some difficulty. As he blocked one man's attack, the other lunged. Luckily he stepped out of the way before the man's sword could fatally wound him like it had been intended to, but instead he received a large gash on his arm.
He was bleeding and his arm was in very much pain, but he kept fighting to the best of his ability. He disarmed one of the men he was dueling, and as the other man lunged he separated from the Captain. Only when Jack and the other man had dueled all the way across the Odyssey's main deck did he realize that he'd been tricked. The man he was currently dueling, Jack realized, had led him away from Captain Ascott on purpose, so that Ascott would have no backup as the Spirit's captain advanced on him along with the man he'd been dueling before. Jack had no time to marvel at his stupidity, however, as he glanced quickly over at Captain Ascott, who looked to be in a lot of trouble dueling both the skilled Spirit's captain and the other man. Jack knew that his captain needed his help, but how in the world could he get over there?
Jack and the other man parried, and Jack eventually managed to get a disarming attack in, sending the other man's sword clattering to the deck. Without a second thought, Jack rushed off to the Captain's assistance. Jack took his stance beside Ascott, dueling one of the men, leaving only the two captains locked in a duel. Suddenly the man Jack was dueling lunged. Again Jack sidestepped the attack, only to receive another gash on his arm. The pain pulsated through his arm, and unbidden a small moan escaped his mouth. He was having trouble holding his sword steady now as both gashes on his right arm were bleeding heavily and the pain just kept getting stronger. His counterattacks were weakening steadily and he felt a wave of panic course through him.
Suddenly, the Spirit's captain disarmed Ascott and lunged at him. Jack didn't even completely realize what he was doing as he disarmed the man he was dueling and was in a flash in front of Ascott, blocking the attack of the Spirit's captain that would've killed Ascott. The Spirit's captain scowled and sidestepped Jack, trying again to attack Ascott, but Jack was quick and used his sword to save Ascott again. Both the captain of the Spirit and Jack were getting angrier by the moment, as the Spirit's captain moved in on the defenseless captain Ascott again.
Jack lunged. Taken by surprise, the Spirit's captain failed to block Jack's attack, and he stumbled backward a step before falling to the ground, a look of disbelief etched on his face.
Jack's heart was pounding hard, his breathing getting heavier. His sword was tipped in red, and the same red was on his hands. The blood of the Spirit's captain… was on his hands. He took two steps backward, disbelieving. What had just happened was all hazy, and all he remembered was the anger stronger than any anger he'd ever felt in his life.
...It frightened him.
Ascott was by his side, his eyes passing slowly over the captain of the Spirit lying motionless on deck and up to the blood on Jack's sword.
Jack's hands were shaking, from shock and, in the case of his violently trembling right hand, from the two deep gashes on his arm. He dropped his sword, and it clattered to the ground.
Ascott clamped a hand down on Jack's shoulder. He barely felt it, as a haze had settled over his mind, dulling the throbbing anger and leaving only numbness.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Odyssey's crew had the crew of the Spirit backed in a circle around the mainmast, holding their hands up in surrender.
**
That night, there was great celebration on the Odyssey over the Spirit's defeat. They had quickly boarded the ship and taken all they could. Jack, however, wasn't celebrating. He was just sitting on his bunk, staring at the ground.
The door opened, and Ascott came in and sat beside him. Jack heard him talking from somewhere far-off. Eventually, the words reigned him in and he could decipher their meanings again.
"…just going to disinfect those cuts…"
Jack nodded vaguely as Ascott raised a bottle of rum and poured some into the two deep gashes in Jack's arm. Jack gritted his teeth as the wounds started to sting, all the pain returning twofold.
Ascott lowered the bottle, but Jack reached for it. Ascott gave it to him, and he took a huge gulp. He had downed half the bottle by the time he spoke again.
And even then the only thing he said was a string of mumbles, an intelligible word now and then.
Ascott knew that he meant, though. "You're a pirate, Jack," he said. "And ye saved me life so I s'pose I owe ye fer that, mate. But what do ye expect?"
Jack shook his head and clutched the bottle of rum angrily. He squeezed his eyes shut, seeing red. He realized he had a vice grip on the rum bottle, and he loosened it considerably, opening his eyes and taking another gulp.
Eventually, Ascott left. Jack didn't fall asleep until late into the night, and only after he'd finished off the bottle of rum.
**
The Odyssey docked back in Tortuga, followed closely behind by the overtaken Spirit. It was a week before William was set to arrive.
Jack spent some of his small share of the treasure from Singapore on a room in an inn for the week, and while William was staying. The week passed quickly, and so it was that on a September evening in Tortuga, William arrived at the docks, where Jack was already waiting.
Jack felt a smile come to his face for the first time in months at the sight of William. As soon as they were off of the docks, William thrust a small package into Jack's hands.
"Happy eighteenth," William said.
Jack stared skeptically at the passage, suddenly realizing something. He started muttering under his breath.
"What?" William said.
Jack shook his head, chuckling softly. "I forgot it was my birthday."
**
They immediately went to the Faithful Bride, where the two got a table away from all the commotion. William ushered a barmaid over and ordered two mugs of rum, and they didn't start talking until the drinks came.
"You've done a lot of growing up, that's for sure," William remarked.
Jack smirked. He hadn't seen William in two years. His hair was now down to his shoulders and more strands of it were strung with trade jewelry and various items of importance to him. Also, in the past year he'd gotten a tattoo on his forearm of a sparrow flying across the sun setting over the ocean, to represent himself.
But he hadn't only changed physically. In addition to this, he had a somewhat distant, detached sort of air about him that he could tell worried William.
William paused, awkwardly shuffling his mug of rum from hand to hand. "Jack," he began cautiously, pausing again. "Are you all right?" he finally asked.
"Don't worry about me, William," Jack said, glaring up at William.
"What happened?"
"What do you mean what happened?" Jack snapped back.
William sighed. "I know you, Jack," he said, "and I know that something's happened. Now what is it?"
Jack looked down into his rum. He took a long gulp before he even tried to speak again.
"Have you heard of the Spirit?"
William nodded. "I've seen her… a real beauty, that."
"Her captain is dead. I… I killed him, William."
Jack felt the familiar numbness wash over him, the throbbing anger that had receded to the back of his mind. He felt obligated somehow to explain to William, so, in a mumbling, sometimes inaudible or unintelligible voice, he told William the whole story about the battle aboard the Odyssey and his defense of her captain.
And William said the same thing that Ascott had told Jack that night, but in a different tone. "You're a pirate, Jack. What do you expect?"
"I just… " He mumbled a few words, gesturing vaguely with one hand to something only he could see. "…Could've disarmed him…" More mumbling. "I couldn't think, mate." Mumble, mumble.
"Every man feels that way… the first time another man's blood is on his hands," William began slowly. "But you're a pirate, Jack, and-"
"But that's not why..." Jack shook his head, unable to think of any words to explain.
"It's a tough bargain sometimes," William said roughly.
"William, I… I guess I never realized how angry I was," he murmured.
William placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. "I s'pose you have every reason to be," he said.
Jack looked up at William.
"But you're a man now, Jack," William finished, withdrawing his hand.
Jack finished off his mug of rum.
"So," Jack said, the numbness retreating. "How's Caroline? And Will?"
William sighed and took a long swig of rum. "I can't stay…" he said, his voice sounding troubled. "I love Caroline. And Will. But I have to get back to the sea."
Jack looked at William inquisitively.
"I'm staying in Port Royal till spring," William said. "I've got a deal to join the crew on the Renegade. I've already talked about it with Caroline."
"She… She doesn't mind?"
William looked down and shook his head. "I won't stay away forever," he mumbled. "Just…"
Jack understood. He certainly couldn't picture himself ever "settling down" with a family; the notion was actually hilarious to him, considering how much it just didn't fit. Not only was he fiercely independent; he could never stay away from his one true love, the sea. Jack Sparrow would do about as well as a fish on dry land.
It wasn't that William's affinity to the sea wasn't as extreme as Jack's. It was that William's affinity to his relationships was stronger. Jack generally shunned relationships and wanted to avoid any commitments at all costs. See, William could survive in a house in a nice town with a wife and kids – he would just be restless. Which he was... Jack saw it in his eyes: William wanted desperately to get back to the ocean.
"I'll come back to them," William said, looking up.
"I know," Jack said, trying to sound reassuring.
"I just can't stay away…" William mumbled.
"Listen mate," Jack said. "You don't have to explain."
William chuckled. "I s'pose not," he admitted.
**
It wasn't until that night, when Jack was in his room at the inn, that he remembered his birthday present.
He pulled the small package out from his pocket and removed the lid. Inside was a medallion of sorts, and an explanation from William.
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This belonged to Captain Landers, of the Spirit. I knew him, and he gave this to me once. I heard about what happened on the Odyssey and figured you might want this, to remember him by.
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Jack shook his head, staring down at William's note in awe. So he'd known all along.
Jack wove the medallion into his hair, finishing off a string of beads.
**
William stayed in Tortuga for a little while, and then he left for Port Royal. After that, Jack went back to assisting the crews of pirate ships whose captains he'd gained favor with, getting a small slice of those ships' treasures in return.
The brief times when he wasn't sailing, he had no place to stay back in Tortuga. He pretty much stole whatever he needed (it was pretty much overlooked in Tortuga anyway), and not having a place to stay at night in Tortuga he had to watch his back. He learned to rely on his wit to get out of various compromising situations.
Sometimes he would just lie out on the docks at night, gazing up at the stars, which were always lurching about in his vision whether he was on a swaying ship or steady land… Because for Jack Sparrow, there really was no steady land. And that was the way he wanted it.
********
That was what Captain Jack Sparrow was doing the night before the Pearl would arrive in Tortuga. He was stretched out on her deck, looking up at the stars, and thinking back to the times when he was eighteen, nineteen, alone on the island of Tortuga. But not really alone… he'd always be accompanied by the knowledge that if he wanted company, he could just step into any of the various taverns strewn about the place, have a mug of rum and call over one of the barmaids.
He got to doing that somewhat often by the time he was twenty. By the time Jack was twenty, he had the two long scars on his upper right arm and various strands of his hair completely covered in various trinkets. Trade jewelry. The last piece of treasure from the Voyager. A bead from a girl named Reggie. The medallion that had belonged to the Spirit's captain. The dice weren't there yet, and neither was the long, skinny bone.
By the time he was twenty, he had figured out the trick with the kohl, lining his eyes to cut down on the glare of the sun. One of the barmaids in Tortuga had once said that it made his eyes look intense, and after that… well. He smirked at the memory and fingered a bead in his hair that came from her bracelet.
There had been many women like her in Tortuga. Sleeping with men was their trade, but they were by no means after Jack's money. Each and every one of them thought in her own way that he would love her, because they would claim to have fallen in love with him. And he would just tell them, "You don't want to be saying that." And by dawn he was gone. No, he didn't love any of those women; he lusted after them, true, and there was the matter of him always being drunk upon his encounters with them to consider...
Captain Jack Sparrow let out a long sigh as lay on the Pearl's deck. He loved that ship; exactly like her namesake, she was rare and beautiful. It was like the Pearl was one with the sea, not like the other ships whose hulls seemed to interrupt the flow of the ocean. The Pearl moved with the sea, not against her.
Yes, Jack was madly in love with his ship and the boundless sea. There was always more treasure to go in search of, more adventures to go after and more chances to risk his life for the thrill of it.
Jack was waving his hand limply about in the air, pointing at various stars and mumbling to himself occasionally, drawing invisible lines in the sky and forming shapes with the stars. There was a cluster of stars that looked remarkably like his compass… a bird in flight… a fish… a ship's sails…
Having located all the shapes in the sky that he wanted to, he lowered his hand, stretching his arms out above his head. He yawned slightly, closing his eyes. The Black Pearl swayed gently. A sea breeze brushed across his face.
His mind was straying to the ladies of Tortuga. When they docked, he would have to pay Scarlett a visit. And Giselle. They hadn't given him time to sort out that whole matter upon his last visit. He sighed rather heavily. Yes, he'd have to visit Scarlett, and Giselle. He'd probably run into Francie. Maybe Iris…
But he found himself just a little reluctant.
His eyes snapped open. This was odd. Perhaps he'd spent too much time with Will Turner and was thus turning into a whelp like the boy. Disturbed, he shook that notion off quickly. Perhaps he was going crazy. 'Mate', he thought to himself, chuckling softly, 'you've already gone crazy.' Well, perhaps he was going sane. He couldn't let that happen… If it was, then pretty soon he'd just be a… sane… whelp.
Or maybe he was… (he closed his eyes again)… losing his edge.
He said a colorful oath, sitting upright. He shook his head and was rid of that insufficient explanation. Captain Jack Sparrow would NEVER lose his edge.
Jack lay back down on deck.
Then what was wrong with him lately?! Just the other night, he had turned down rum. And he'd turned down a woman's company. Just last week, he had bloody turned down Tortuga.
It WAS the whelp's fault, Jack concluded. Ever since meeting Bootstrap's son, he couldn't shake the images of Bootstrap that kept coming unbidden to his mind. He was completely unable to erase from his mind what he knew had happened. William Turner had been cursed for all those ten years after taking the Aztec gold along with Barbossa and his men, only to be sent down to the bottom of the ocean. William would've been drowning for all those ten years, but now he would have finally… died.
"Why in BLOODY HELL did you take that gold, William?" Jack mumbled up to the sky.
Of course, William hadn't known the gold was cursed. None of them had known. Jack hadn't known, when he'd set off to find it. He'd been left to die on an island and tortured by the sight of his Pearl sailing off under Barbossa's command, but he had escaped the curse. And he had gotten his ship back, and his revenge, and it was worth those ten years he spent, say, waiting for the opportune moment.
But William had taken the gold. And he had been cursed.
William had been the best man that Jack had ever known, and the thing of it was, it wasn't an act. William was a pirate, and a very good pirate, and he was also a very good friend who would make any sort of sacrifice for those close to him. In Jack's case it had been his life William sacrificed, however inadvertently. William wouldn't have been strapped to a cannon and sent to the bottom of the sea, after all, if he hadn't protested the mutiny against Jack.
And that left Jack feeling…
…cold.
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A/N: This chapter was very sad, I know. :'\ I assure you that it will get better. :)
Also I have a favor to ask you! Does anybody have any ideas for where Jack got that bone... thing... in his hair? I've thought of backstories for all the other trinkets but I can't think of anything for that one. So if anybody has a suggestion I'd appreciate it very much. :)
This story is also close to the end, methinks! I think there's only gonna be like 2 chapters left. =0 After this I'm thinking of writing a humor-Jack-POV piece. Or a story about Giselle. Or both. :)
Anyway - Next chapter, Jack gets the Pearl!! whoo! :)
psst... review :)
By Illoria
A/N: I'm sorry it took me such a long time to get this chapter up. :\ I was on vacation for 4 days and other than that I found it a hard chapter to write. Sorry again!
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Chapter Eight
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Jack didn't have to undertake any more endeavors of the priestly sort as more months passed by, and he turned seventeen. Things passed pretty much the same way they had been for him; helping out various pirate crews when they were a man short, or just in need of assistance of some kind. One night, in the Faithful Bride, another messenger came for him, this time with a note from William saying that his son, Will Jr., had been born.
Jack pictured William with a son, and the image came easily to him. He was funny, William. He could be as despicable as the dreads of society got, but he could also be more noble than any high-society man. The remarkable thing was that neither aspect of him was a guise, and somehow it all blended together seamlessly.
Jack wanted to meet William's child, but he didn't like the idea of a visit to Port Royal. He was, after all, a wanted man there now that the navy had discovered his name in the midst of the whole "priest" incident.. So, he told the messenger to hold and he quickly composed a reply to William, inviting him to Tortuga for the "proper reception" he'd promised William at his wedding.
Another month passed until Jack got any response. The response was that William would come to Tortuga in a year's time, because he didn't want to leave the baby so soon.
Six months passed. Then, luck decided to play a game with Jack again.
There was a fire at the smithy, and it burned down while the blacksmith and Jack were out, leaving Jack with no place to stay. He only had one choice – he went to the docks, spotting a pirate ship on which he'd had temporary places on the crew various times when the ship was a crew member short. The ship was called the Odyssey.
Jack alerted the captain of the Odyssey, Ascott. Ascott quickly stepped onto the docks upon seeing Jack, greeting him heartily. Jack had been very useful once in a swordfight upon the Odyssey, having disarmed the enemy ship's captain so that he was forced to surrender.
Jack explained his situation to Captain Ascott, treating him to a drink at the Faithful Bride. Ascott was quite a bit indebted to Jack, so he agreed to give him a position on the crew for their next voyage.
So Jack and the Odyssey's crew set off to Singapore. It was a long voyage that resulted in many spoils well worth their long journey, and the crew divided the treasures amongst themselves. However, a week before they were to dock in Tortuga, something very unexpected happened.
Jack was jolted awake by the booming sound of cannon fire. Panic seized him as he hurriedly jumped out of his bed and dressed. The other crew members were behaving in the same hurried fashion, as they had all been sleeping until the cannon awoke them.
The crew hurried out on deck. The Odyssey's Captain Ascott was at the helm, using a spyglass to zoom in on a rapidly approaching ship. Another boom from the approaching ship's cannons shook the Odyssey.
The Captain turned and addressed his crew. "Swords ready!" He yelled out several crew members' names, telling them to man the cannons. The rest of them were to stay on deck and fight.
Jack's hand immediately darted to the hilt of his sword. He unsheathed it at the same time the other crew members unsheathed their swords, ready and waiting.
The attacking ship, which had the word "Spirit" painted at the bow, was right by the Odyssey in a matter of minutes. The Spirit's crew wasted no time boarding the Odyssey, and the Odyssey's crew wasted no time fighting the invaders.
The man that Jack was dueling was good with a cutlass, but Jack was better. It wasn't long before Jack managed to disarm the man. He quickly turned as another of the Spirit's crew members advanced on him.
Suddenly he spotted Captain Ascott struggling to fight three men who were advancing on him. Jack quickly dodged a sword that was being swung at him and dashed to the upper deck. He and the Captain started fighting back-to-back.
Jack was dueling two men at the same time, and having some difficulty. As he blocked one man's attack, the other lunged. Luckily he stepped out of the way before the man's sword could fatally wound him like it had been intended to, but instead he received a large gash on his arm.
He was bleeding and his arm was in very much pain, but he kept fighting to the best of his ability. He disarmed one of the men he was dueling, and as the other man lunged he separated from the Captain. Only when Jack and the other man had dueled all the way across the Odyssey's main deck did he realize that he'd been tricked. The man he was currently dueling, Jack realized, had led him away from Captain Ascott on purpose, so that Ascott would have no backup as the Spirit's captain advanced on him along with the man he'd been dueling before. Jack had no time to marvel at his stupidity, however, as he glanced quickly over at Captain Ascott, who looked to be in a lot of trouble dueling both the skilled Spirit's captain and the other man. Jack knew that his captain needed his help, but how in the world could he get over there?
Jack and the other man parried, and Jack eventually managed to get a disarming attack in, sending the other man's sword clattering to the deck. Without a second thought, Jack rushed off to the Captain's assistance. Jack took his stance beside Ascott, dueling one of the men, leaving only the two captains locked in a duel. Suddenly the man Jack was dueling lunged. Again Jack sidestepped the attack, only to receive another gash on his arm. The pain pulsated through his arm, and unbidden a small moan escaped his mouth. He was having trouble holding his sword steady now as both gashes on his right arm were bleeding heavily and the pain just kept getting stronger. His counterattacks were weakening steadily and he felt a wave of panic course through him.
Suddenly, the Spirit's captain disarmed Ascott and lunged at him. Jack didn't even completely realize what he was doing as he disarmed the man he was dueling and was in a flash in front of Ascott, blocking the attack of the Spirit's captain that would've killed Ascott. The Spirit's captain scowled and sidestepped Jack, trying again to attack Ascott, but Jack was quick and used his sword to save Ascott again. Both the captain of the Spirit and Jack were getting angrier by the moment, as the Spirit's captain moved in on the defenseless captain Ascott again.
Jack lunged. Taken by surprise, the Spirit's captain failed to block Jack's attack, and he stumbled backward a step before falling to the ground, a look of disbelief etched on his face.
Jack's heart was pounding hard, his breathing getting heavier. His sword was tipped in red, and the same red was on his hands. The blood of the Spirit's captain… was on his hands. He took two steps backward, disbelieving. What had just happened was all hazy, and all he remembered was the anger stronger than any anger he'd ever felt in his life.
...It frightened him.
Ascott was by his side, his eyes passing slowly over the captain of the Spirit lying motionless on deck and up to the blood on Jack's sword.
Jack's hands were shaking, from shock and, in the case of his violently trembling right hand, from the two deep gashes on his arm. He dropped his sword, and it clattered to the ground.
Ascott clamped a hand down on Jack's shoulder. He barely felt it, as a haze had settled over his mind, dulling the throbbing anger and leaving only numbness.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Odyssey's crew had the crew of the Spirit backed in a circle around the mainmast, holding their hands up in surrender.
**
That night, there was great celebration on the Odyssey over the Spirit's defeat. They had quickly boarded the ship and taken all they could. Jack, however, wasn't celebrating. He was just sitting on his bunk, staring at the ground.
The door opened, and Ascott came in and sat beside him. Jack heard him talking from somewhere far-off. Eventually, the words reigned him in and he could decipher their meanings again.
"…just going to disinfect those cuts…"
Jack nodded vaguely as Ascott raised a bottle of rum and poured some into the two deep gashes in Jack's arm. Jack gritted his teeth as the wounds started to sting, all the pain returning twofold.
Ascott lowered the bottle, but Jack reached for it. Ascott gave it to him, and he took a huge gulp. He had downed half the bottle by the time he spoke again.
And even then the only thing he said was a string of mumbles, an intelligible word now and then.
Ascott knew that he meant, though. "You're a pirate, Jack," he said. "And ye saved me life so I s'pose I owe ye fer that, mate. But what do ye expect?"
Jack shook his head and clutched the bottle of rum angrily. He squeezed his eyes shut, seeing red. He realized he had a vice grip on the rum bottle, and he loosened it considerably, opening his eyes and taking another gulp.
Eventually, Ascott left. Jack didn't fall asleep until late into the night, and only after he'd finished off the bottle of rum.
**
The Odyssey docked back in Tortuga, followed closely behind by the overtaken Spirit. It was a week before William was set to arrive.
Jack spent some of his small share of the treasure from Singapore on a room in an inn for the week, and while William was staying. The week passed quickly, and so it was that on a September evening in Tortuga, William arrived at the docks, where Jack was already waiting.
Jack felt a smile come to his face for the first time in months at the sight of William. As soon as they were off of the docks, William thrust a small package into Jack's hands.
"Happy eighteenth," William said.
Jack stared skeptically at the passage, suddenly realizing something. He started muttering under his breath.
"What?" William said.
Jack shook his head, chuckling softly. "I forgot it was my birthday."
**
They immediately went to the Faithful Bride, where the two got a table away from all the commotion. William ushered a barmaid over and ordered two mugs of rum, and they didn't start talking until the drinks came.
"You've done a lot of growing up, that's for sure," William remarked.
Jack smirked. He hadn't seen William in two years. His hair was now down to his shoulders and more strands of it were strung with trade jewelry and various items of importance to him. Also, in the past year he'd gotten a tattoo on his forearm of a sparrow flying across the sun setting over the ocean, to represent himself.
But he hadn't only changed physically. In addition to this, he had a somewhat distant, detached sort of air about him that he could tell worried William.
William paused, awkwardly shuffling his mug of rum from hand to hand. "Jack," he began cautiously, pausing again. "Are you all right?" he finally asked.
"Don't worry about me, William," Jack said, glaring up at William.
"What happened?"
"What do you mean what happened?" Jack snapped back.
William sighed. "I know you, Jack," he said, "and I know that something's happened. Now what is it?"
Jack looked down into his rum. He took a long gulp before he even tried to speak again.
"Have you heard of the Spirit?"
William nodded. "I've seen her… a real beauty, that."
"Her captain is dead. I… I killed him, William."
Jack felt the familiar numbness wash over him, the throbbing anger that had receded to the back of his mind. He felt obligated somehow to explain to William, so, in a mumbling, sometimes inaudible or unintelligible voice, he told William the whole story about the battle aboard the Odyssey and his defense of her captain.
And William said the same thing that Ascott had told Jack that night, but in a different tone. "You're a pirate, Jack. What do you expect?"
"I just… " He mumbled a few words, gesturing vaguely with one hand to something only he could see. "…Could've disarmed him…" More mumbling. "I couldn't think, mate." Mumble, mumble.
"Every man feels that way… the first time another man's blood is on his hands," William began slowly. "But you're a pirate, Jack, and-"
"But that's not why..." Jack shook his head, unable to think of any words to explain.
"It's a tough bargain sometimes," William said roughly.
"William, I… I guess I never realized how angry I was," he murmured.
William placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. "I s'pose you have every reason to be," he said.
Jack looked up at William.
"But you're a man now, Jack," William finished, withdrawing his hand.
Jack finished off his mug of rum.
"So," Jack said, the numbness retreating. "How's Caroline? And Will?"
William sighed and took a long swig of rum. "I can't stay…" he said, his voice sounding troubled. "I love Caroline. And Will. But I have to get back to the sea."
Jack looked at William inquisitively.
"I'm staying in Port Royal till spring," William said. "I've got a deal to join the crew on the Renegade. I've already talked about it with Caroline."
"She… She doesn't mind?"
William looked down and shook his head. "I won't stay away forever," he mumbled. "Just…"
Jack understood. He certainly couldn't picture himself ever "settling down" with a family; the notion was actually hilarious to him, considering how much it just didn't fit. Not only was he fiercely independent; he could never stay away from his one true love, the sea. Jack Sparrow would do about as well as a fish on dry land.
It wasn't that William's affinity to the sea wasn't as extreme as Jack's. It was that William's affinity to his relationships was stronger. Jack generally shunned relationships and wanted to avoid any commitments at all costs. See, William could survive in a house in a nice town with a wife and kids – he would just be restless. Which he was... Jack saw it in his eyes: William wanted desperately to get back to the ocean.
"I'll come back to them," William said, looking up.
"I know," Jack said, trying to sound reassuring.
"I just can't stay away…" William mumbled.
"Listen mate," Jack said. "You don't have to explain."
William chuckled. "I s'pose not," he admitted.
**
It wasn't until that night, when Jack was in his room at the inn, that he remembered his birthday present.
He pulled the small package out from his pocket and removed the lid. Inside was a medallion of sorts, and an explanation from William.
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This belonged to Captain Landers, of the Spirit. I knew him, and he gave this to me once. I heard about what happened on the Odyssey and figured you might want this, to remember him by.
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Jack shook his head, staring down at William's note in awe. So he'd known all along.
Jack wove the medallion into his hair, finishing off a string of beads.
**
William stayed in Tortuga for a little while, and then he left for Port Royal. After that, Jack went back to assisting the crews of pirate ships whose captains he'd gained favor with, getting a small slice of those ships' treasures in return.
The brief times when he wasn't sailing, he had no place to stay back in Tortuga. He pretty much stole whatever he needed (it was pretty much overlooked in Tortuga anyway), and not having a place to stay at night in Tortuga he had to watch his back. He learned to rely on his wit to get out of various compromising situations.
Sometimes he would just lie out on the docks at night, gazing up at the stars, which were always lurching about in his vision whether he was on a swaying ship or steady land… Because for Jack Sparrow, there really was no steady land. And that was the way he wanted it.
********
That was what Captain Jack Sparrow was doing the night before the Pearl would arrive in Tortuga. He was stretched out on her deck, looking up at the stars, and thinking back to the times when he was eighteen, nineteen, alone on the island of Tortuga. But not really alone… he'd always be accompanied by the knowledge that if he wanted company, he could just step into any of the various taverns strewn about the place, have a mug of rum and call over one of the barmaids.
He got to doing that somewhat often by the time he was twenty. By the time Jack was twenty, he had the two long scars on his upper right arm and various strands of his hair completely covered in various trinkets. Trade jewelry. The last piece of treasure from the Voyager. A bead from a girl named Reggie. The medallion that had belonged to the Spirit's captain. The dice weren't there yet, and neither was the long, skinny bone.
By the time he was twenty, he had figured out the trick with the kohl, lining his eyes to cut down on the glare of the sun. One of the barmaids in Tortuga had once said that it made his eyes look intense, and after that… well. He smirked at the memory and fingered a bead in his hair that came from her bracelet.
There had been many women like her in Tortuga. Sleeping with men was their trade, but they were by no means after Jack's money. Each and every one of them thought in her own way that he would love her, because they would claim to have fallen in love with him. And he would just tell them, "You don't want to be saying that." And by dawn he was gone. No, he didn't love any of those women; he lusted after them, true, and there was the matter of him always being drunk upon his encounters with them to consider...
Captain Jack Sparrow let out a long sigh as lay on the Pearl's deck. He loved that ship; exactly like her namesake, she was rare and beautiful. It was like the Pearl was one with the sea, not like the other ships whose hulls seemed to interrupt the flow of the ocean. The Pearl moved with the sea, not against her.
Yes, Jack was madly in love with his ship and the boundless sea. There was always more treasure to go in search of, more adventures to go after and more chances to risk his life for the thrill of it.
Jack was waving his hand limply about in the air, pointing at various stars and mumbling to himself occasionally, drawing invisible lines in the sky and forming shapes with the stars. There was a cluster of stars that looked remarkably like his compass… a bird in flight… a fish… a ship's sails…
Having located all the shapes in the sky that he wanted to, he lowered his hand, stretching his arms out above his head. He yawned slightly, closing his eyes. The Black Pearl swayed gently. A sea breeze brushed across his face.
His mind was straying to the ladies of Tortuga. When they docked, he would have to pay Scarlett a visit. And Giselle. They hadn't given him time to sort out that whole matter upon his last visit. He sighed rather heavily. Yes, he'd have to visit Scarlett, and Giselle. He'd probably run into Francie. Maybe Iris…
But he found himself just a little reluctant.
His eyes snapped open. This was odd. Perhaps he'd spent too much time with Will Turner and was thus turning into a whelp like the boy. Disturbed, he shook that notion off quickly. Perhaps he was going crazy. 'Mate', he thought to himself, chuckling softly, 'you've already gone crazy.' Well, perhaps he was going sane. He couldn't let that happen… If it was, then pretty soon he'd just be a… sane… whelp.
Or maybe he was… (he closed his eyes again)… losing his edge.
He said a colorful oath, sitting upright. He shook his head and was rid of that insufficient explanation. Captain Jack Sparrow would NEVER lose his edge.
Jack lay back down on deck.
Then what was wrong with him lately?! Just the other night, he had turned down rum. And he'd turned down a woman's company. Just last week, he had bloody turned down Tortuga.
It WAS the whelp's fault, Jack concluded. Ever since meeting Bootstrap's son, he couldn't shake the images of Bootstrap that kept coming unbidden to his mind. He was completely unable to erase from his mind what he knew had happened. William Turner had been cursed for all those ten years after taking the Aztec gold along with Barbossa and his men, only to be sent down to the bottom of the ocean. William would've been drowning for all those ten years, but now he would have finally… died.
"Why in BLOODY HELL did you take that gold, William?" Jack mumbled up to the sky.
Of course, William hadn't known the gold was cursed. None of them had known. Jack hadn't known, when he'd set off to find it. He'd been left to die on an island and tortured by the sight of his Pearl sailing off under Barbossa's command, but he had escaped the curse. And he had gotten his ship back, and his revenge, and it was worth those ten years he spent, say, waiting for the opportune moment.
But William had taken the gold. And he had been cursed.
William had been the best man that Jack had ever known, and the thing of it was, it wasn't an act. William was a pirate, and a very good pirate, and he was also a very good friend who would make any sort of sacrifice for those close to him. In Jack's case it had been his life William sacrificed, however inadvertently. William wouldn't have been strapped to a cannon and sent to the bottom of the sea, after all, if he hadn't protested the mutiny against Jack.
And that left Jack feeling…
…cold.
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A/N: This chapter was very sad, I know. :'\ I assure you that it will get better. :)
Also I have a favor to ask you! Does anybody have any ideas for where Jack got that bone... thing... in his hair? I've thought of backstories for all the other trinkets but I can't think of anything for that one. So if anybody has a suggestion I'd appreciate it very much. :)
This story is also close to the end, methinks! I think there's only gonna be like 2 chapters left. =0 After this I'm thinking of writing a humor-Jack-POV piece. Or a story about Giselle. Or both. :)
Anyway - Next chapter, Jack gets the Pearl!! whoo! :)
psst... review :)