Upon A Painted Ocean - 20
Author: Daisy Sparrow
Pairing: Jack/Will, Will/Elizabeth
Rating: PG-13 and rising
Summary:
When a mysterious plague hits Port Royal Will and Elizabeth go with Captain Jack Sparrow to find a cure. But when Will is captured by the man who unleashed the plague and infected with a strange new disease that feeds on love things start to get complicated. Slashiness!
Archive:
fanfiction.net, PotC mailing list, and one story in the archive "Parley!". OK for the others, as long as you ask me first.
Disclaimer:
Pirates of the Caribbean and all its characters are not mine. I am making no money off this. Don't sue the college kid who are already broke.
Credit for the title goes to Coleridge's poem and P.Speare who wrote the most wonderful Weiss Kreuz fic. Also special thanks to Darkdancer for the betaing.
Warning:
Same as always, first fic ever and English not my first language.
Massive OOC ahead! As for Vann's intention....well, what would anyone want from Jack ^_~
Read and Review please ^_^
" " speech
// // thoughts
*** *** memory/flashback
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ursella's scarf flew upward like tendrils of willow, as Zeke's body grew slack and fell backward. The semitransparent textile twisted around the slender waist, upheld the redhead for one moment before lowed him gently onto the ground.
Jack's eyes had harden with shredding sharpness, although his facial _expression remained unchanged. He might not be the most caring captain in the world, but he really did not take kindly to people who beat on his crew. Besides, if there was one person here who was going to stir up confusion and wreck some havoc, he would prefer the person to be himself.
"What did ye do to the boy?" He asked casually, trying not to show his concern.
"Nothing." She glanced at him briefly before turning her attention back to the unmoving redhead.
He took a calculated step forward and met no interference from Vann's men. His crews were astonished, and disturbed at the same time by the event. His own appreciation for her beauty was overruled by the looming foreshadow emanating in his guts.
Slowly, she rested her knees beside the fallen form, and tenderly pulled the boy's head onto her lap. Zeke stayed motionless as she swept away a few wayward fringes from his eyes leisurely. Jack's eyebrows drew together at the visible display of affection.
"Ezekiel is allergic to... certain rubies." She said softly, almost to herself.
"Care to clarify?"
"You should have listened to me." She paid him no mind and continued to breathed down the pale cheeks, "you don't belong here."
Jack frowned. Her manner was unsettling to say the least, and he did not like to be ignored.
"The ninth ring is your home, and always will be.... our most precious treasure." She pressed a small kiss on one of the boy's eye lids. The gesture was surprisingly chaste and devoid of any lecherous undercurrents.
Still her perplexing behavior was seriously creeping him out, and dispelled the last shed of her sirenly allurement. His patience had long grown past the point of tolerance, and straight towards the boiling temperature. He wanted some answers, even if he had to throttle some necks and squeeze them like lemons.
Full of concern, he shot a look at Will, who was leaning against the stone wall for support. He had no time to neither unfold or follow some melodramatic and no doubt devious plot in the other's scheme. If Will's face got any paler, he was going to start hurting people.
He breached the distance between himself and the entrance of the cave with small increments. The stream of scarlet light washed over his body, and painted his tanned skin with a layer of amber.
The air in front of him quivered with an anguish and stifling trumpeting. He looked around, but no one else had detected the shift of atmosphere. He inched a little closer. The sound amplified and the shrilling air lashed against his face.
The empty space before him moved in the rhythm of heartbeat at his closeness. Suddenly the air materialized to the shade and texture of mercury before burst toward him. He jumped back just in time to avoid the sharp whips. A small sting emerged on his right cheek. He smoothed over the area with two fingers, they came back red.
"Interesting. That's very interesting."
He took a few more cautious steps back, which put him back to the relative safety with his own people. Soft murmuring and gasps surrounded him, genuine and poorly concealed. The distortion of the ventilation beside her at last grabbed Ursella's attention. She stood up and turned to look at the entrance and then at Jack.
"You can sense it?" She grimaced, yet her body language was laden with obvious interest.
He pretended not to hear her question, and went on glaring openly at the cave and in her general direction. She smirked at the silent, yet spiky retort and started approaching them with a graceful sway of hips.
He watched solemnly as the mercury substance guarding the entrance first engulfed her from head to toe. Then with a inaudible popping sound, the swirl of silver flowed outward like water ripples, allowed her to pass and faded to a colorless void behind her back.
She stopped in front of him, "You are full of surprises, nothing like what I imagined."
"I must say that I bear no regret in disappointing ye."
"On the contrary, captain. You have exceeded all my expectations."
Jack forced the corner of his mouth to twitched up in his customary smirk. The air around him was saturated with an almost metallic coppery taste, and transfused with a nameless sour smell. Her shoulder shook slightly with repressed laughter.
"Ezekiel was most determined about you." She pressed on, and he edged back in response. "And so was he. They were certainly after different things, but I must admit I can see your... appeal."
She was getting uncomfortably close, and he desperately wanted to redirect her attention. Or else, he might took after Will and do something rash, like wipe that insufferable grin off her face with a left hook.
He had always taken great care not to harm women, who were physically weaker by nature, and in his opinion, should be showered with love, not fists. But for this particular one, he might just make an exception. However, that action would most certainly help nothing, other than worsen his already grim situation.
"Who are ye?"
"Ursella." She crooned with a small bow.
She was provoking him, and playing with him like a cat to a mouse. He did not relish the idea of being looked down upon as some inferior being, but decided that he should take advantage of this opportunity and collect as much information as possible.
"And what are ye?"
"Couldn't you tell?"
"Not human obviously."
"Obviously. ....I am a cousin of Ezekiel over there, a very _very_ distanced cousin. Did... Zekie ever mention me?"
"If he did, I don't remember it."
She was still urging him backward. The crowd around them parted voluntarily without instruction as he was steered towards the beach outside.
His frantically searching gaze connected tentative with Will's for a few seconds. An almost invigorating heat passed between them. The youth's expressive eyes were overflowed with intensity and desolation. His heart sprinted, and pounded uncontrollably against his ribcage at the quite determination.
//Will. Please, please don't do anything stupid.//
He tried to communicate through the pleading in his eyes. A twinge of pain brought him back to Userlla's displeased face. She was gripping his bottom jaw firmly.
"Witch." He spited out.
"Wrong guess. You judged too harshly on those poor, poor participant of the black craft, I don't believe that they have succumbed to my level."
"Demon then."
"Wrong again, but very close. Ezekiel is a demon though, did you know that? He is a wish master, one of the most ancient races of the underworld."
She giggled again and he failed to find any humor in their discussion. He was busy assimilating the knowledge of Zeke's true heritage. The truth did not anger him with its brutality, and he could find no sense of betrayal anywhere. It was very strange indeed, as if he'd already known in some deep down subconscious level.
Then again, he mused, the boy had always been weird. Zeke was wicked in a clueless, boyish and harmless as long as you-don't-pick-on-me-first kind of way, if that actually made any sense.
He stared back toward Ursella, who had seized advancing on him. Her head ducked slightly, and she was recounting softly to herself again.
"He is one of the few pure breeds left, the only one escaped intact because of his imprisonment. Unlike the rest of us, he was born. Do you know what that means? Do you have any idea what that signifies?!"
Her head snapped up, and the indigo gaze immobilized him with the whirlpool of emotion in them, joyous and hateful at the same time. His right hand went automatically to his sword, and remembered at the last moment that it was confiscated earlier.
"BORN! Not created from the abyss and through *his* will. But born. Born with the power to rival the strongest of us, and the free will that *he* only bestowed upon the humans. ....our most prized treasure and the subject to all our envy."
Her eyes were beginning to glow, but unlike Zeke, the pupils remained as rounded dots. He swallowed uneasily and she continued on.
"...one of the few original inhabitants from the land of our exile. He has always been what he is, thus never punished, never discarded, and never tasted the acidic unfairness which was forced upon the fallen."
With each words, he kept on backing away from her. A bump on the ground caught the back of his heel, and he stumbled out onto the beach.
A pair of muscular arms intercepted his fall and twisted themselves around his mid section. He froze as they pulled him back against a hard chest. Ursella paused in her fierce raving, and instantly composed herself. She raised one eyebrow at the new comer.
"You are late. I had to entertain *your* guest all by myself." She said with a pout.
"A very fine job you did." An emotionless voice said above his head, "but I arrived precisely on time."
He recognized that voice.
"Jack."
His face bleached.
~~~*~~~
His heart was heavy and his body worn down by fatigue. His steps teetered and he had to lean against the rock wall for support. Jack's gaze wheeled around towards him with concern. He bit the inside of his mouth at the sudden spasm of desire traveled through his spine.
His hormone had halted momentary from the constant demand to jump the other, yet the rest of his body still felt the undeniable attraction between them. The craving was no longer consuming, and was slowly settling down to a more subtle anticipation, sank into the very cores of his bones.
Ursella moved a little closer, and neatly plastered herself against Jack. Her advances went unnoticed as Jack was still locking gaze with him, but he saw red. A deep down rage was revoked within him at her flirtatious antic.
//DON'T touch him!//
Jack's gaze turned apprehensive and warned him off from any reckless attempts at retribution. He nodded once, curtly albeit reluctantly.
Ursella continued to whisper feverishly, but Will could not make out anything other than a few hushed sentences. Jack was listening attentively while in the process of discretely backing away from her. His fist unclenched and he kept his sight trailed on the pirate captain.
//If Jack isn't worried, it can't be anything too bad.//
Jack tripped and stumbled backward. His heart leaped and he pushed against the masses around him in order to get to the other. He observed what happened next through the anxious vexation covered his mind.
A man appeared from some unseeing corner and caught Jack's unsteady form. The man exchanged a few words with Ursella, and she chuckled mirthlessly. With a flourish wave of hand, she vanished in a bright flash.
He watched Jack's face first froze with some intangible emotion. Then the hard lines around that bow shaped mouth rearranged themselves into a haphazard slop. The relaxed _expression was forced and the fury behind them poorly concealed.
The other man was of indeterminable age and was very handsome in a cold, cruel kind of way. Medium length auburn locks fell freely below the ears, forest green eyes focused sorely on the trapped pirate captain.
Jack stood straight and rigid within the iron cage of those arms. His heartbeat sped up with palpitation, caused by some unknown fear and forewarning. The other man brought his face lower and sniffed the air beside Jack's ear. Jack visibly shrank back. His hands itched. He had the most insane urge to charge the man and hack those trespassing arms off.
//Don't touch him!//
Jack must had sensed his skittish discomfort because the pirate cast a furtive glance at him. He deciphered the messages inside the ebony eyes with ease.
Don't do anything stupid.
He answered Jack's silent request with a wan smile. He was still of the mind set that he must offer some kind of amends for the offenses he committed against the other. In order to redeem himself in the pirate captain's eyes, he had to first regain the man's trust. He wanted Jack to be able to count on him again.
//I am cool. I am calm. I can do whatever Jack wants.//
With a firm set of jaws, Jack turned to face his captor. The simple change of pose had put the two into a even more compromising position. The rogue pirate had probably miscalculate the closeness between the two. At least that was what Will hoped, he refused to think that any deliberation was involved.
"Vann."
Jack's voice was plain, yet washed with an open loathing at the same time. Will was taken back by the maliciousness in that normally light hearted voice. He had never heard the pirate used that particular tone, not even when addressing Barbossa.
"Jack."
Will shuddered from the possessiveness in that single word. He was hauntingly reminded of his own selfish declaration a few days ago. The startling similarity in Vann's demeanor and his own in the pivot of madness was most distressful and disarming.
A short silence followed before Vann raised one hand and ran his thumb gingerly across Jack's cheek. Jack stiffened further.
"You have changed so much."
"....ye are still the same."
"Alive, you mean." Vann's eyes were twinkled with amusement, "Are you disappointed?"
"Very."
"Do you wish to remedy the situation?"
"At the first opportunate moment."
"I am glad you haven't lost your spunk. You have made quite a name for yourself. I am... very proud."
"I haven't archived the status of mass murderer yet. Would ye like to contribute?"
Vann laughed, the sound was crystal clear and echoed across the sudden hushness that befell the cave. Jack's choice of language and the unusual show of sobriety, no matter how obviously and forcefully induced, was perilously daunting.
"I will have to pass on any personal involvement, but I am more than willing to help... in other aspects."
"Thanks, but no thanks."
"Are you sure?"
Vann moved both arms from Jack's back to just below the pirate's waist. Jack twisted within that grip to no avail and fell back on glaring defiantly up at the other.
"Ursella had informed me that one of your companion is deathly ill."
The man spit out the word 'companion' like it was a disease, and the word 'deathly' succeeded the former like a promise. Will steeled himself against the piercing glare that came next to the question.
"You wouldn't want him to get worse, would you?"
"What do ye what?" Jack asked sternly and quickly, as if the pirate already knew the answer.
"What I have always wanted."
Will did not like the direction this confrontation was going. It was as if the two of them were having one conversation on the surface, and another underneath the layers of false courtesy. One that was unfathomed by those surrounded them, and impossible to interrupt.
"Yer terms?"
Jack's replies were getting shorter, as if the rogue pirate did not want to waste any more breath on the man before him. Vann leveled his face and whispered something beside Jack's ear.
To emphasis whatever point he was making, Vann motioned his men to redirect some of their weapons and aimed them at Will. He could feel the jabbing of hard steel against his back, precisely where his heart was. The corner of Jack's mouth twitched and the paling in the cheeks was perceptible even under the tan.
"Will ye keep yer words?"
The dawning of despair in that voice contrasted against the pirate's cunning personality and that did not sit well with Will. Faint warning danced elusively on the outskirts of Will's consciousness, like the foreshadowing of doom. It was cloaked with the illusion of distance, yet unmistakably approaching. Will's anxiety was magnified by the nervousness of those around him.
"To you, always."
"...very well."
No. Will wanted to shout, but he could not get the word pass his suddenly dry throat. Those tenacious arms loosened, and Jack shook off the embrace. The pirate captain walked towards them, his posture serious without any of the usual swaggering.
"Captain?"
"Jack?"
Gibbs and Anamarie asked in unison.
"Go back to the Pearl, and... follow the code."
Will knew he was not the only one wearing the incredulous _expression. He stepped forward but Anamarie beat him to the protest.
"What about you!"
"Vann and I have some... unfinished business."
"But..."
"That's enough." Jack cut her off, "Gibbs, ye are in charge."
The order was final and irrefutable. Gibbs and Anamarie both stared hard at Jack, then sighed with submission.
"Aye, captain." Gibbs obeyed resignedly.
Jack turned and looked straight at him. His chest constricted sharply at the muted pain in those guileless eyes.
"I know it's difficult, whelp. But go with them, and try not to do anything... stupid."
"No." He didn't even need to think before answering it.
"No?"
"No, I am not leaving you."
"...listen to me, Will. For once, just this once. Do as I say... please."
He would not allow that single 'please' to undo him. He would not. Unyielding determination shone through his plaintively tone.
"I am not leaving you."
"...I swear that I'll knocked ye unconscious."
"You can. But I will fight back."
"I'll tie ye to the boat!"
"Then I will just have to bite through the ropes."
"Ye... ye stubborn brat!"
"Yes. Yes I am."
The tremor inside him was eating him alive. He would not leave Jack alone to face whatever danger or torture the enemy had designed.
//I will not be cool. I will not be calm. I will not allow Jack to do this!//
He would especially not leave Jack alone with... that man. His resolve was set and nothing, but death could break it now.
"Damm ye."
Jack cursed before grabbed the back of his head and brought his face upward. He braced himself against any possible assault, not that he thought that Jack would ever really hurt him. He was, however, prepared and no sudden move from Jack was going to unbalance him.
A velvet heat crushed against his lips. He stilled and blinked rapidly, as long black lashes laid softly with in such close sight.
//Oh, my god.//
Jack was kissing him with a desperate urgency. His lips parted without any guidance. A scorching wetness thrust inside, cycled the roof of his mouth once, and retreated just as quickly. Jack pulled his mouth away before he could completely grasp the situation.
"Wha..? Jack?"
His voice was hoarse and raw. They were both breathing heavily as Jack gently brought their foreheads together. The pirate peeked at him through half hooded eyes, and breathed out against his trembling lips.
"I love ye."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pointless musing about names part 2:
Zeke's last name Black is in honour of Sirius Black from HP. I am still only half way through the Order of the Phoenix, kinda figured that as long as I don't finish it, Sirius will keep on living. _ Damn you, J.K.Rowling, I SO hate you now!!!!!
Tisha, I got from some wedding announcemnt on the local newspaper. So there is actually a girl, whose name is Tisha ^_^
Ursella is the name of one of my classmates. We worked on some project together, and she is tall, blond, and I think she had violet eyes, too.....but they could just be contacts.
Vann is from the vision of escaflowne, minus the wings and all that. I added the extra n, just because....just because I could.
Please Review and tell me what you think!
*
Author: Daisy Sparrow
Pairing: Jack/Will, Will/Elizabeth
Rating: PG-13 and rising
Summary:
When a mysterious plague hits Port Royal Will and Elizabeth go with Captain Jack Sparrow to find a cure. But when Will is captured by the man who unleashed the plague and infected with a strange new disease that feeds on love things start to get complicated. Slashiness!
Archive:
fanfiction.net, PotC mailing list, and one story in the archive "Parley!". OK for the others, as long as you ask me first.
Disclaimer:
Pirates of the Caribbean and all its characters are not mine. I am making no money off this. Don't sue the college kid who are already broke.
Credit for the title goes to Coleridge's poem and P.Speare who wrote the most wonderful Weiss Kreuz fic. Also special thanks to Darkdancer for the betaing.
Warning:
Same as always, first fic ever and English not my first language.
Massive OOC ahead! As for Vann's intention....well, what would anyone want from Jack ^_~
Read and Review please ^_^
" " speech
// // thoughts
*** *** memory/flashback
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ursella's scarf flew upward like tendrils of willow, as Zeke's body grew slack and fell backward. The semitransparent textile twisted around the slender waist, upheld the redhead for one moment before lowed him gently onto the ground.
Jack's eyes had harden with shredding sharpness, although his facial _expression remained unchanged. He might not be the most caring captain in the world, but he really did not take kindly to people who beat on his crew. Besides, if there was one person here who was going to stir up confusion and wreck some havoc, he would prefer the person to be himself.
"What did ye do to the boy?" He asked casually, trying not to show his concern.
"Nothing." She glanced at him briefly before turning her attention back to the unmoving redhead.
He took a calculated step forward and met no interference from Vann's men. His crews were astonished, and disturbed at the same time by the event. His own appreciation for her beauty was overruled by the looming foreshadow emanating in his guts.
Slowly, she rested her knees beside the fallen form, and tenderly pulled the boy's head onto her lap. Zeke stayed motionless as she swept away a few wayward fringes from his eyes leisurely. Jack's eyebrows drew together at the visible display of affection.
"Ezekiel is allergic to... certain rubies." She said softly, almost to herself.
"Care to clarify?"
"You should have listened to me." She paid him no mind and continued to breathed down the pale cheeks, "you don't belong here."
Jack frowned. Her manner was unsettling to say the least, and he did not like to be ignored.
"The ninth ring is your home, and always will be.... our most precious treasure." She pressed a small kiss on one of the boy's eye lids. The gesture was surprisingly chaste and devoid of any lecherous undercurrents.
Still her perplexing behavior was seriously creeping him out, and dispelled the last shed of her sirenly allurement. His patience had long grown past the point of tolerance, and straight towards the boiling temperature. He wanted some answers, even if he had to throttle some necks and squeeze them like lemons.
Full of concern, he shot a look at Will, who was leaning against the stone wall for support. He had no time to neither unfold or follow some melodramatic and no doubt devious plot in the other's scheme. If Will's face got any paler, he was going to start hurting people.
He breached the distance between himself and the entrance of the cave with small increments. The stream of scarlet light washed over his body, and painted his tanned skin with a layer of amber.
The air in front of him quivered with an anguish and stifling trumpeting. He looked around, but no one else had detected the shift of atmosphere. He inched a little closer. The sound amplified and the shrilling air lashed against his face.
The empty space before him moved in the rhythm of heartbeat at his closeness. Suddenly the air materialized to the shade and texture of mercury before burst toward him. He jumped back just in time to avoid the sharp whips. A small sting emerged on his right cheek. He smoothed over the area with two fingers, they came back red.
"Interesting. That's very interesting."
He took a few more cautious steps back, which put him back to the relative safety with his own people. Soft murmuring and gasps surrounded him, genuine and poorly concealed. The distortion of the ventilation beside her at last grabbed Ursella's attention. She stood up and turned to look at the entrance and then at Jack.
"You can sense it?" She grimaced, yet her body language was laden with obvious interest.
He pretended not to hear her question, and went on glaring openly at the cave and in her general direction. She smirked at the silent, yet spiky retort and started approaching them with a graceful sway of hips.
He watched solemnly as the mercury substance guarding the entrance first engulfed her from head to toe. Then with a inaudible popping sound, the swirl of silver flowed outward like water ripples, allowed her to pass and faded to a colorless void behind her back.
She stopped in front of him, "You are full of surprises, nothing like what I imagined."
"I must say that I bear no regret in disappointing ye."
"On the contrary, captain. You have exceeded all my expectations."
Jack forced the corner of his mouth to twitched up in his customary smirk. The air around him was saturated with an almost metallic coppery taste, and transfused with a nameless sour smell. Her shoulder shook slightly with repressed laughter.
"Ezekiel was most determined about you." She pressed on, and he edged back in response. "And so was he. They were certainly after different things, but I must admit I can see your... appeal."
She was getting uncomfortably close, and he desperately wanted to redirect her attention. Or else, he might took after Will and do something rash, like wipe that insufferable grin off her face with a left hook.
He had always taken great care not to harm women, who were physically weaker by nature, and in his opinion, should be showered with love, not fists. But for this particular one, he might just make an exception. However, that action would most certainly help nothing, other than worsen his already grim situation.
"Who are ye?"
"Ursella." She crooned with a small bow.
She was provoking him, and playing with him like a cat to a mouse. He did not relish the idea of being looked down upon as some inferior being, but decided that he should take advantage of this opportunity and collect as much information as possible.
"And what are ye?"
"Couldn't you tell?"
"Not human obviously."
"Obviously. ....I am a cousin of Ezekiel over there, a very _very_ distanced cousin. Did... Zekie ever mention me?"
"If he did, I don't remember it."
She was still urging him backward. The crowd around them parted voluntarily without instruction as he was steered towards the beach outside.
His frantically searching gaze connected tentative with Will's for a few seconds. An almost invigorating heat passed between them. The youth's expressive eyes were overflowed with intensity and desolation. His heart sprinted, and pounded uncontrollably against his ribcage at the quite determination.
//Will. Please, please don't do anything stupid.//
He tried to communicate through the pleading in his eyes. A twinge of pain brought him back to Userlla's displeased face. She was gripping his bottom jaw firmly.
"Witch." He spited out.
"Wrong guess. You judged too harshly on those poor, poor participant of the black craft, I don't believe that they have succumbed to my level."
"Demon then."
"Wrong again, but very close. Ezekiel is a demon though, did you know that? He is a wish master, one of the most ancient races of the underworld."
She giggled again and he failed to find any humor in their discussion. He was busy assimilating the knowledge of Zeke's true heritage. The truth did not anger him with its brutality, and he could find no sense of betrayal anywhere. It was very strange indeed, as if he'd already known in some deep down subconscious level.
Then again, he mused, the boy had always been weird. Zeke was wicked in a clueless, boyish and harmless as long as you-don't-pick-on-me-first kind of way, if that actually made any sense.
He stared back toward Ursella, who had seized advancing on him. Her head ducked slightly, and she was recounting softly to herself again.
"He is one of the few pure breeds left, the only one escaped intact because of his imprisonment. Unlike the rest of us, he was born. Do you know what that means? Do you have any idea what that signifies?!"
Her head snapped up, and the indigo gaze immobilized him with the whirlpool of emotion in them, joyous and hateful at the same time. His right hand went automatically to his sword, and remembered at the last moment that it was confiscated earlier.
"BORN! Not created from the abyss and through *his* will. But born. Born with the power to rival the strongest of us, and the free will that *he* only bestowed upon the humans. ....our most prized treasure and the subject to all our envy."
Her eyes were beginning to glow, but unlike Zeke, the pupils remained as rounded dots. He swallowed uneasily and she continued on.
"...one of the few original inhabitants from the land of our exile. He has always been what he is, thus never punished, never discarded, and never tasted the acidic unfairness which was forced upon the fallen."
With each words, he kept on backing away from her. A bump on the ground caught the back of his heel, and he stumbled out onto the beach.
A pair of muscular arms intercepted his fall and twisted themselves around his mid section. He froze as they pulled him back against a hard chest. Ursella paused in her fierce raving, and instantly composed herself. She raised one eyebrow at the new comer.
"You are late. I had to entertain *your* guest all by myself." She said with a pout.
"A very fine job you did." An emotionless voice said above his head, "but I arrived precisely on time."
He recognized that voice.
"Jack."
His face bleached.
~~~*~~~
His heart was heavy and his body worn down by fatigue. His steps teetered and he had to lean against the rock wall for support. Jack's gaze wheeled around towards him with concern. He bit the inside of his mouth at the sudden spasm of desire traveled through his spine.
His hormone had halted momentary from the constant demand to jump the other, yet the rest of his body still felt the undeniable attraction between them. The craving was no longer consuming, and was slowly settling down to a more subtle anticipation, sank into the very cores of his bones.
Ursella moved a little closer, and neatly plastered herself against Jack. Her advances went unnoticed as Jack was still locking gaze with him, but he saw red. A deep down rage was revoked within him at her flirtatious antic.
//DON'T touch him!//
Jack's gaze turned apprehensive and warned him off from any reckless attempts at retribution. He nodded once, curtly albeit reluctantly.
Ursella continued to whisper feverishly, but Will could not make out anything other than a few hushed sentences. Jack was listening attentively while in the process of discretely backing away from her. His fist unclenched and he kept his sight trailed on the pirate captain.
//If Jack isn't worried, it can't be anything too bad.//
Jack tripped and stumbled backward. His heart leaped and he pushed against the masses around him in order to get to the other. He observed what happened next through the anxious vexation covered his mind.
A man appeared from some unseeing corner and caught Jack's unsteady form. The man exchanged a few words with Ursella, and she chuckled mirthlessly. With a flourish wave of hand, she vanished in a bright flash.
He watched Jack's face first froze with some intangible emotion. Then the hard lines around that bow shaped mouth rearranged themselves into a haphazard slop. The relaxed _expression was forced and the fury behind them poorly concealed.
The other man was of indeterminable age and was very handsome in a cold, cruel kind of way. Medium length auburn locks fell freely below the ears, forest green eyes focused sorely on the trapped pirate captain.
Jack stood straight and rigid within the iron cage of those arms. His heartbeat sped up with palpitation, caused by some unknown fear and forewarning. The other man brought his face lower and sniffed the air beside Jack's ear. Jack visibly shrank back. His hands itched. He had the most insane urge to charge the man and hack those trespassing arms off.
//Don't touch him!//
Jack must had sensed his skittish discomfort because the pirate cast a furtive glance at him. He deciphered the messages inside the ebony eyes with ease.
Don't do anything stupid.
He answered Jack's silent request with a wan smile. He was still of the mind set that he must offer some kind of amends for the offenses he committed against the other. In order to redeem himself in the pirate captain's eyes, he had to first regain the man's trust. He wanted Jack to be able to count on him again.
//I am cool. I am calm. I can do whatever Jack wants.//
With a firm set of jaws, Jack turned to face his captor. The simple change of pose had put the two into a even more compromising position. The rogue pirate had probably miscalculate the closeness between the two. At least that was what Will hoped, he refused to think that any deliberation was involved.
"Vann."
Jack's voice was plain, yet washed with an open loathing at the same time. Will was taken back by the maliciousness in that normally light hearted voice. He had never heard the pirate used that particular tone, not even when addressing Barbossa.
"Jack."
Will shuddered from the possessiveness in that single word. He was hauntingly reminded of his own selfish declaration a few days ago. The startling similarity in Vann's demeanor and his own in the pivot of madness was most distressful and disarming.
A short silence followed before Vann raised one hand and ran his thumb gingerly across Jack's cheek. Jack stiffened further.
"You have changed so much."
"....ye are still the same."
"Alive, you mean." Vann's eyes were twinkled with amusement, "Are you disappointed?"
"Very."
"Do you wish to remedy the situation?"
"At the first opportunate moment."
"I am glad you haven't lost your spunk. You have made quite a name for yourself. I am... very proud."
"I haven't archived the status of mass murderer yet. Would ye like to contribute?"
Vann laughed, the sound was crystal clear and echoed across the sudden hushness that befell the cave. Jack's choice of language and the unusual show of sobriety, no matter how obviously and forcefully induced, was perilously daunting.
"I will have to pass on any personal involvement, but I am more than willing to help... in other aspects."
"Thanks, but no thanks."
"Are you sure?"
Vann moved both arms from Jack's back to just below the pirate's waist. Jack twisted within that grip to no avail and fell back on glaring defiantly up at the other.
"Ursella had informed me that one of your companion is deathly ill."
The man spit out the word 'companion' like it was a disease, and the word 'deathly' succeeded the former like a promise. Will steeled himself against the piercing glare that came next to the question.
"You wouldn't want him to get worse, would you?"
"What do ye what?" Jack asked sternly and quickly, as if the pirate already knew the answer.
"What I have always wanted."
Will did not like the direction this confrontation was going. It was as if the two of them were having one conversation on the surface, and another underneath the layers of false courtesy. One that was unfathomed by those surrounded them, and impossible to interrupt.
"Yer terms?"
Jack's replies were getting shorter, as if the rogue pirate did not want to waste any more breath on the man before him. Vann leveled his face and whispered something beside Jack's ear.
To emphasis whatever point he was making, Vann motioned his men to redirect some of their weapons and aimed them at Will. He could feel the jabbing of hard steel against his back, precisely where his heart was. The corner of Jack's mouth twitched and the paling in the cheeks was perceptible even under the tan.
"Will ye keep yer words?"
The dawning of despair in that voice contrasted against the pirate's cunning personality and that did not sit well with Will. Faint warning danced elusively on the outskirts of Will's consciousness, like the foreshadowing of doom. It was cloaked with the illusion of distance, yet unmistakably approaching. Will's anxiety was magnified by the nervousness of those around him.
"To you, always."
"...very well."
No. Will wanted to shout, but he could not get the word pass his suddenly dry throat. Those tenacious arms loosened, and Jack shook off the embrace. The pirate captain walked towards them, his posture serious without any of the usual swaggering.
"Captain?"
"Jack?"
Gibbs and Anamarie asked in unison.
"Go back to the Pearl, and... follow the code."
Will knew he was not the only one wearing the incredulous _expression. He stepped forward but Anamarie beat him to the protest.
"What about you!"
"Vann and I have some... unfinished business."
"But..."
"That's enough." Jack cut her off, "Gibbs, ye are in charge."
The order was final and irrefutable. Gibbs and Anamarie both stared hard at Jack, then sighed with submission.
"Aye, captain." Gibbs obeyed resignedly.
Jack turned and looked straight at him. His chest constricted sharply at the muted pain in those guileless eyes.
"I know it's difficult, whelp. But go with them, and try not to do anything... stupid."
"No." He didn't even need to think before answering it.
"No?"
"No, I am not leaving you."
"...listen to me, Will. For once, just this once. Do as I say... please."
He would not allow that single 'please' to undo him. He would not. Unyielding determination shone through his plaintively tone.
"I am not leaving you."
"...I swear that I'll knocked ye unconscious."
"You can. But I will fight back."
"I'll tie ye to the boat!"
"Then I will just have to bite through the ropes."
"Ye... ye stubborn brat!"
"Yes. Yes I am."
The tremor inside him was eating him alive. He would not leave Jack alone to face whatever danger or torture the enemy had designed.
//I will not be cool. I will not be calm. I will not allow Jack to do this!//
He would especially not leave Jack alone with... that man. His resolve was set and nothing, but death could break it now.
"Damm ye."
Jack cursed before grabbed the back of his head and brought his face upward. He braced himself against any possible assault, not that he thought that Jack would ever really hurt him. He was, however, prepared and no sudden move from Jack was going to unbalance him.
A velvet heat crushed against his lips. He stilled and blinked rapidly, as long black lashes laid softly with in such close sight.
//Oh, my god.//
Jack was kissing him with a desperate urgency. His lips parted without any guidance. A scorching wetness thrust inside, cycled the roof of his mouth once, and retreated just as quickly. Jack pulled his mouth away before he could completely grasp the situation.
"Wha..? Jack?"
His voice was hoarse and raw. They were both breathing heavily as Jack gently brought their foreheads together. The pirate peeked at him through half hooded eyes, and breathed out against his trembling lips.
"I love ye."
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Pointless musing about names part 2:
Zeke's last name Black is in honour of Sirius Black from HP. I am still only half way through the Order of the Phoenix, kinda figured that as long as I don't finish it, Sirius will keep on living. _ Damn you, J.K.Rowling, I SO hate you now!!!!!
Tisha, I got from some wedding announcemnt on the local newspaper. So there is actually a girl, whose name is Tisha ^_^
Ursella is the name of one of my classmates. We worked on some project together, and she is tall, blond, and I think she had violet eyes, too.....but they could just be contacts.
Vann is from the vision of escaflowne, minus the wings and all that. I added the extra n, just because....just because I could.
Please Review and tell me what you think!
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