Upon A Painted Ocean - 22
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 some archives. 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. But Zeke is mine, so kindly keep your paws away.... unless you ask really nicely, begging also helps. ^_^
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 and the summary.
Warning:
Same as always, first fic ever and English not my first language. I am a Canadian, but my computer has American spellcheck. So my apologizes in advance if some of the spellings are screwed up. It's hard to keep it consistent.
This is the longest chapter ever, I am too lazy and tired to divide it up, so there! This story is getting so dark and depressing without Zeke's ever pestering smartass comments. Oh, well, he will be back...eh...some time later. And the server still hates me, or maybe it's just my antique computer. Damnn you, stupid machine, just let me log on!
There are almost a hundred reviews for this story! I am so happy! You guys are the best ^_^ Thanks you so much for all your support and encouragement. I am going to end this in two more chapters, even if it kills me!
Read and Review please ^_^
" " speech
// // thoughts
*** *** memory/flashback
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was time like this, that she wished she had legs.
Tisha sighed softly against the steel chain which she had her left arm around, and stared into the horizon with dull eyes. Disappointment was swelling inside her chest. Will had gone to shore with that funny man who wore the black eyeliner, before she could steal more than a few glimpses.
The exhausting journey had taken a lot out of her. It wasn't easy chasing after a ship with both sails and oars. It was even harder tailing after the infamous Black Pearl. Tisha's favorite pastime was spying on passing vessels and she had heard about the ship's reputation of being the fastest in the Caribbean.
It wasn't all fabricated after all, she groaned internally.
Well, she mused in an attempt to lift her grumpy mood, at least that stupid demon, who shall remain unnamed, was gone as well. She didn't think that she could keep her temper in check if that ugly face smirked at her one more time. Just what crime did she commit in a previous life, to earn her the pleasure of such pestering and intolerable company.
Not a previous life, she reminded herself, it was probably what she did in this one. Mermaids didn't have souls, thus could not reincarnate. When they die, they were just... gone. Puff, without a trace.
Her kind were born from pearls; it would take them thousands of years to mature and emerge from the white shells, but their life spans were very short compared to other magical creatures. A few hundred years, never more than a thousand. It had always occurred to her how ironic it was, a fraction of the millennias of being bred inside the darkness. To wait that long, only to live for a little while and disappear as if one had never exited. Their ranking was growing thin with each progressive century. She hadn't met another mermaid since her mentor vanished in a string of bubbles.
The memory stirred up the uneasiness within her. Absently, Tisha caressed the shell that held part of her hair back. Her finger tip slide pass the smooth curve toward the sharp tip. She had carved the white shell and made it into a hair clip of sort. It was the only thing that she had gotten out of that whole infuriating ordeal in Tortuga.
They were going to die out, she had realized that a long time ago. Just like the fairies, and the nymphs, and the sirens, and all the others. People would soon forget them and brush their presence aside as nothing more than fair tales. There was a strange comfort in being forgotten. If one didn't exist, then gone was all the worries of mortality, or immortality, whatever suited the case.
It wouldn't have unsettled her if her mentor had never told her the story of another little mermaid, who had striven for more. A soul born from the love of a human heart, was what she had been told. She blamed her restlessness on the story, because now she didn't think that she could ever be satisfied with just fading away to nothing.
She believed in true love, or at least, she wanted to believe in true love. When she first saw Will, it was like a splash of warmth had been injected into her body. Will, who was so handsome, with brown eyes so warm and entrancing, that they bewitched her more effective than any siren's songs. The ocean could be very cold, and she had been alone for so long. She always figured that love was a spontaneous kind of thing, that both parties would just know and click as soon as their eyes met. In reality, it was a lot more work than she previously thought.
It just wasn't fair. Just what did that girl have that she didn't? Beside the obvious, of course. She thought that she was rather pretty, even by mermaid standard. She also had experience and wisdom, of some sort. She could sing beautifully and swim really fast. If there was a sea witch, she would also have gladly trade her voice for a pair of legs.
It really wasn't fair. But speaking of Elizabeth. That girl had been acting oddly ever since the Black Pearl dropped anchor. The ship was surprisingly deserted, the weird looking captain had taken most of the crew to the island, leaving just a few watchmen behind. Not a smart decision, but then again, she reasoned that the pirate ship's notorious reputation should be able to keep all the other ships at bay.
She climbed via the iron chain of the anchor and propped herself up. The top of her head could barely reached the rails and she peeked through the gaps between the wooden bars. The top deck was completely empty, and all of the doors seemed to be shut tight.
There was some kind of pounding and shouting from below the deck, but she couldn't make out the muffled words. Elizabeth was standing by the other side and waving her hands around. That was when Tisha finally noticed the white sails approaching them. She gasped and her grips loosened.
//Damnit, I need to stop doing that.// She thought as she hit the water.
When her head broke through the surface again, the Black Pearl was already boarded with men in red uniforms. She pressed her ears against the side of the ship, noises vibrated and traveled through the wooden boards. Elizabeth was conversing with some man, there were also a few curses from the remaining pirates and the sound of metal hitting flesh.
She swallowed. This was not good. She had to warn Will, but there was no way that she could get far on the land. A couple of long boats were lowed into the water from the other ship, she ducked under the sea in a haste.
If she couldn't warn Will, she would just have to make sure the other ship wouldn't be in the shape to do any pursuing or fighting, once Will came back. With that decision made, she dived deeper and began swim towards the other ship.
~~~*~~~
The almost deafening gunshot was followed by stark silence.
He thought that he had screamed, but what came out of his mouth was a strangled gasp. His chest was burning. His knees hit the ground, body folded, reeling from the agony that flooded over all his senses. A body crouched in front of him, hands pulled at him and a resounding voice boomed into his ears.
"Will!"
Jack's voice was the only beacon in the falling darkness, and he held on to it with teeth and nails. Icy coldness was spreading from where the fire was, sinking slowly into his toes like winter morning air.
"C, cold." He stuttered out.
Strong arms crossed over his waist, lifted him slightly until his cheek was pressing against warm skin. He breathed out against the curtain of black hair, and nuzzled into the junction connecting neck and shoulder. It was warm there. It was always warm there.
"Shhhhh....it's all right, Will."
The calming voice washed over him. His eyes fluttered open and met dark orbs. He never realized before, but Jack's eyes weren't all black. It was mixed with all shades of brown and gold, dark like the starless night sky, yet clear like a pool of spring water with shifting rocks at the bottom. A roughen thumb caressed his cheek softly, he shivered and almost purred against the sensation.
Too soon, the touch left him. Jack was staring at some point above. The pirate's gaze smoldered, the quite seething was threatening to become a blaze.
"What did you do?" Jack demanded in a harsh tone.
"I cured the boy, like I promised." Vann was unfazed.
Will shuddered, then turned his head slight and was instantly paralyzed by the sight before him. Vann was lying face up, eyes opened yet unseeing, mouth parted like some autumn leaves. The sand around the body was coated in blood, dark and rapidly drying.
"Cure? By killing the priest? How?!"
"He cast the spell. Most curses can be broken by killing the caster."
Jack's arms tightened around him. He could feel the tense of muscle beneath his fingertips and the thundering of heart beside his ears.
"What's happening to Will then?"
"The boy is mere feeling the... after shock."
His breathing had eased from the frenzied panting to a more moderate level. The burning was slowly subsiding, heralded the ending of the pain and confirmed the truthfulness of Vann's words. Was it over? The wilting agony stripped away the despair fenced around him and granted him new hope among the oppressing bleakness.
However, his relief was short lived, because in the next instant, Vann had ripped away Jack's grip on him and hurled the pirate upward. Jack hit the other man's chest with a muffled gasp, eyes shut by the impact, then opened into another glare.
He almost cried out at the lost of that warmth, the coldness crept through his spine once again. It was close to sundown, the sky was getting darker as the daylight was chased away by dusk. A strong wind blow almost brutally from the ocean, and carried with it the dampness and chilliness of a gathering storm. He shivered against the ever-changing weather; he didn't want to be cold again.
"Remember what you promised me."
The referral to their bargain earlier brought a pang of misery and guilty to his heart. Why was he always so useless? Why could he never do anything right? Why did he always need rescuing? It just wasn't fair. Was he not strong enough? Would he never be strong enough?
Vann's voice was no more than a whisper, but Will had caught each words as if they were shouted right at him. Jack stood aloof, not a measure of the pirate's usual clownish self could be detected. The dreadful atmosphere was articulated by the stalling air, which felt hampered down even under the open sky, and intensified by the waiting silence.
"I'll keep my word."
That serious tone was unnerving. He ruminated over this situation. This wasn't like the encounters with Barbossa, with Jack bound, held at gunpoint and secretly in control the whole time. For whatever reason that Jack felt compelled to honour his words, Will knew that this time he couldn't expect the pirate to pull another rabbit out of his hat and miraculously save the day.
"Will."
Jack was looking at him now, pleading one last time for him to return to his senses. He met that discerning gaze head on, clenched his jaws shut and held his chin high. Suddenly Jack's head was turned forcibly by Vann, whose hand was clamping beneath the black locks, and evidently wanted to be the object of the pirate's undivided attention.
"I take it the boy will be coming as well?"
"Yes."
"You are pushing it, little one."
"He is going to come with me, whether ye allow it or not."
"I can still kill him." Vann smiled sardonically.
"True, and I will die with him."
Vann seemed to be considered that, and then deemed the declaration to be genuine. Long fingers skimmed passed the coastline of the tanned jaw, and skated down toward the dip between the end of the neck and shoulder with scarcely any force.
Almost tenderly, Vann whispered, "would I ever inspire such devotion from you?"
"Neither in this life time nor the next."
"Is that so... I will have to settle for what I can get then."
With that said, the man swoop down and covered Jack's mouth in a bruising kiss. Jack's arms were scissored behind his back, and immobilized by a large hand. The pirate's eyes were open, lips pressed tightly together, refusing entrance to that probing tongue. Vann glanced toward Will for a fraction of a second. Furious emerald eye peered at him under the screen of dark bangs, piercing and.... what?
Warning? Challenging? Paroling his ownership to the world? Will almost laughed out aloud. There was nothing, no kiss, no mark, and no insignia, which could brand Jack as the property of anyone. To Will, Jack would always be the epitome of freedom, the eagle which soared high above the sky. He didn't believe that he would have the strength to keep up, but perhaps, just perhaps that Jack would be willing to fold his wings, to rest, even just occasionally, against Will.
Jack had said that he loved Will after all. Their mutual admissions earlier was instantly inflaming and their intensity would be forever etched in his memory. Heat raised in his cheeks, yet he felt calmed somehow. The raging jealousy gnawing at his intestine was quenched by that sweet remembrance. Jack loved him. Him. If they were anywhere but here, he would probably be jumping up and down while giggling like a schoolgirl.
A hard shove from Jack finally broke that intimate contact. Jack, enraged, scrapped his mouth with the back of one sleeve furiously, while Vann licked his bottom lip, eyes half lidded as if savoring the taste. An angry, and almost primal growl was spurring from the back of his throat, at the superior look Vann cast him. He had never wanted to kill someone so much in his entire life.
Vann paid him no mind, instead shouted toward some of his men. "You lot, escort the rest of them back to their boats." A pause and a crack of head, like the man was listening to something in the wind. "Take the other route, we are expecting company."
The next sentence was directed toward Gibbs and Anamarie, who both gave the man extremely dirty looks, "Stay away from the island here fore, if you wish to live."
Then Vann began steering Jack away, and crooned softly. "Come. There is something I wanted to show you."
Will almost panicked, he wasn't going to let Jack out of his sight. A couple of Vann's men stooped over him, and motioned for him to get up. His legs stumbled a little, and he struggled to stand in order to follow Jack.
The cool length of steel, which pressed against the inside of his wrist, caught his attention as he braced both palms against the sandy ground. His eyes narrowed. That's right, he still had Zeke's dagger.
The ghost of a smirk flicked across his eyes, and he glared at that bulky form which shadowed Jack's every step. If those hands wouldn't remove themselves, he would just have to remove them himself.
~~~*~~~
The hideout for the most vicious pirate gang in the Caribbean wasn't as impressive as he'd thought. He was half expecting something like Isle de Muerta, with its skull shaped mountain, roaring of the volcanoes and the general foreboding sense that a pirate island should project. He suspected that Elizabeth's tendency to romanticize the pirates was beginning to rub off on him.
Isle de Aves, in all senses, appeared to be better suited as a vacation resort for the wealthy and the privileged. The island consisted of mostly white sands, the stone caves to the north and a small stretch of tropical forest, that inconveniently obscured the southern part of island from the view.
A muddy hill rose from the center of the greenish vegetarians, he could distinctly make out small trails of smoke. It didn't look intimidating at all, in fact, it looked more like a mound. For this, he was grateful. He adjusted the bandages around his neck with irritation, he didn't think that he was in the condition to hike up any kind of steep slope.
They had followed the same track from the beach all the way to this cave. Elizabeth was half running most of the time, while he tagged behind her pensively along with the rest of the soldiers he'd brought. The footprints were muddled and distorted all around and some way inside the caves. There must had been some kind of commotion.
He watched her lithe form search the caves frenetically, locks of dark blond hair swing wildly around her with each twisted of her head. They had both been shocked when they found the body of Cane, for the man was well known through out both Britain and her colonies. Elizabeth, usually being the first one to recover and spring back from peril, was now foamed with worry. He shook his head tiredly, his mood was subdued and his posture docile.
This was the most exercise he has had in the last couple of days. The doctor had strictly ordered him to be confined to the bed, and had enlisted the help of his first officer to enforce the order. But being the highest-ranking officer on the ship did have its advantages, he'd simply given Gillette a stern glare, which had effectively silenced any protest from the lieutenant's mouth.
Frankly, he did not understand what had made him agreed to help her. He really didn't give a damn about the blacksmith, other than the occasional pinch in his chest, which reminded him of the grudge between them. He had more or less accepted the fact that Elizabeth would never be his. His actions in Tortuga were a last attempt at convincing himself otherwise, and Elizabeth's reaction had diminished his hope wholly. If young Mr. Turner was what she wanted, then he would just have to respect her decision.
Yet he still found himself yielding to her whim. He was accustomed to spoiling her and old habits died hard. Although it was still inexcusable to put his career, and not to mention the lives of his men in jeopardy for his own personal cause.
He was disturbed further by the fact that all his uncertainty and dread were suffered over his archenemy, or someone resembled his archenemy. The Black Pearl was the last true pirate ship in the Caribbean, the rest he had send down to the bottom of the sea without much trouble. The brotherhood of then hawks paled in comparison, they were nothing more than contract killers. Norrington would be more than happy to see all of them hanged and would jump at the first opportunity to bring them to justice, even though this time his motivation had been anything but pure and just.
As for Jack Sparrow, most of the times, he didn't know what to make of the rogue pirate. He had secretly admired the man's clever strategy when the pirate had commandeered the Interceptor, although the admiration came with no small amount of fury towards both the pirate and himself. Nevertheless, he wholeheartedly wished that whatever trouble the infamous Jack Sparrow had got himself into this time, it would finally finish the pirate off, or at the very least incapacitate the man from any more criminal activities. And if both parties of pirates ended up killing each other, well, he wasn't going to complain.
"There is someone in there!"
His attention was drawn back by Elizabeth's excited exclaim. She tilted her head and waved him toward her.
He obliged and took a few step forward until a most horrid sound reached him. He hastily covered his ears, but the wailing like clattering slipped between his fingers and drummed painfully into his mind. It was like the cry of a Banshee, or what he would image a Banshee would sounded like. The racket was getting louder and vibrated through more violently, the closer he was to her.
It was a warning, he realized dimly. He didn't know how he knew. It was a deep down intuition inside his guts, some kind of instinct, unquestionable and came naturally to him like breathing. He raised his face toward her.
"Elizabeth! Get away from there!"
She hesitated, unsure by his distress. The air behind her flowed in a circular spiral and reformed into some kind of silvery solid substances. A silver spike thrust from behind her, and missed her left cheek by no more than a inch. She turned and gasped. Her confused _expression melted away to be replaced by fear.
She dodged swiftly, but not in time to avoid the silvery tendrils that rushed at her. She hissed in pain, while blood dripped down from the vertical slash on her left shoulder. He rushed to her side and pulled her behind him. The soldiers around them yelled in panic.
"What? What was that?"
She was shaking. He inspected the wound carefully. It looked worse than it actually was. The cut was very shallow, and managed to avoid any main veins. He took off his coat and wrapped it around her.
"It's all right, Elizabeth."
"What was that?"
"I don't think I want to know."
He really didn't want to know, but his curiosity was peeked regardless. When he was dragging her out of harm's way, the spikes had touched him also. Instead of delivered pain, they had simply brushed off his clothes with a feathery pressure.
He looked around, his soldiers were scurrying around like mindless rats. He sighed. The qualities of men nowadays were simply not as upstanding as they used to be.
"Calm Down!" He commanded.
His voice was quiet, but it carried a unbreakable authority that instantly simmered down the chaos around him. The soldiers quickly composed themselves and rearranged into a linear group in front of him. At least they were good at following orders, he thought solemnly.
"Stay here, Elizabeth."
He drew out his sword and held it in front of him. Whatever had attacked Elizabeth had disappeared and the small cave looked as normal as any other. He paused a short distance before the entrance, and extended his sword arm. The steel blade encountered no resistance whatsoever. He took a small step forward and tested the empty space with a wave of his sword. Still nothing. He went closer. Then the sound returned. However, instead of the random chirping he had heard, it was softer this time around.
"Did you hear that?" He glanced back.
Blank faces answered him. Was he the only one who could hear it, he wondered.
It was almost like... a song, some long forgotten melody. Something stirred inside of him, a hidden feeling or perhaps a flash of memory, wafted up from the deepest corner of his soul. The soft humming was like an ancient ballad, whispered the secrets between grains of sands inside the hourglass.
A little girl's voice, laughing, crying, calling out.
*** I wanted to be forgotten.***
His poise faltered, but he caught himself at the last moment and stood straighter. He blinked and narrowed his eyes against the bright interior of the cave. He had walked inside without any conscious knowledge.
"Commodore! Commodore!"
Elizabeth was standing on tiptoes, and a safe distance from the entrance. He looked down on the limp body before him, and back toward her. He could still see tiny straits of silver, lurking around the edges of the rock walls.
He shouted back at her, "stay there!"
He jabbed the redhead with the tip of his boot. No reaction. He tried again, this time with the hilt of his sword, and harder. Still nothing.
He kneeled down and turned the boy slightly toward the light. Then he touched the pale neck with two fingers. There was a pulse, faint and unnaturally slow. The boy's face was smooth and cool like marble. It was the same pirate from Tortuga, the one who had impersonated Jack Sparrow, the one who tricked him into defeat, and the one who mocked him mercilessly.
The one who gave him those wounds, that were refusing to heal.
"Zeke!"
Elizabeth yelled. She had caught the boy's face when he turned those bony shoulders.
"Zeke? Yes, this is the one I met in Tortuga."
Norrington replied flatly. His right hand hovered above the youth lying on the ground, clenched and unclenched almost reflexively, as if fighting for some invisible control. He didn't know whether he was going to pick the boy up or just strangle him on the spot. He didn't even knew why he was having this internal debate with himself. The boy was a pirate, an occupation that guaranteed a death sentence under any flags.
He poked the boy hard on the shoulder. The prone form did not even twitch. He looked around the small cave distractedly. There were some sorts of reddish glimmerings scattered around on the ground.
He bend down and picked up a small piece of ruby beside him. The glowing faded as soon as his skin made contact with its smooth surface, but the gem was warm to his touch.
This was definitely not natural and getting increasingly weird. Hopefully it wouldn't turned out like the last time, when Jack Sparrow and several other supernatural occurrences were also involved. He could detect a headache in the making. Absent-mindedly he rubbed the bridge of his nose. Almost in a childish whine, he wished that all this strangeness would just disappear so that he could lay down and rest a little.
As if on cue, the rubies flashed brightly one last time and dimmed in the next instant.
He blinked owlishly. The cave had darkened when the luminous glow left it. Now it loomed over him like some monstrous jaws with its teeth like stone pillars hanged above, threatened to fall at any moment.
The air was clearer, like a mist had been lift. There was some kind of strange force radiating from the motionless boy beside him. It felt light weighted and heavily dark at the same time, and he could almost hear the steady pulsing of the other's heart like it was his own. It reminded him of their first encounter inside that dirty bar, when the youth had smirked down on him. It was the same sense of familiarity, the same sense of.... finality, like a long wait had came to an end.
"Commodore!"
Elizabeth's high-pitched squeak brought him out of his trance. He swirled around to meet her gaze, afraid that she was in danger.
"The barrier is gone!"
Indeed it was. The silver substance enclosed the entrance had somehow evaporated without a trace. Elizabeth bounced toward him with large strides, while his soldiers lingered behind with caution and tentativeness.
"Commodore?"
She kneeled down in front of him. He stared at her vacuously before realized that his hand was stoking something silky. He looked down, where his fingers had ended up between waves of soft red mane. He blinked and retracted back the hand as if he was burnt.
The boy stirred from his sudden movement, but did not awake. Elizabeth placed one palm gently on the boy's back.
"Zeke?"
There was no response.
"Zeke?"
"He's alive, just unconscious."
He signaled two soldiers forward, who then supported the boy from both sides.
"Elizabeth, you will go back to the Dauntless, along with the prisoner. Your wounded needed to be treated properly."
"But..."
"You will go back, and don't try to sneak out."
"I must defer, it is my fiancé that's..."
"I will find your fiancé.... along with his pirate friends, IF they are still alive."
"But, I want to..."
"That's enough, Elizabeth. You are hurt, and your presence here would only be a nuisance."
He knew it was harsh and unfair of him to dismiss her like that, she could more than hold her own. But the circumstances were pressing and they could not afford any diversions. He didn't want to admit it, but in his current condition, he was not sure whether he could fully protect her.
".... Fine." She nodded meekly.
He assigned a small group of soldiers to go with her. He wanted to utter a few words of consolation, but she had turned away from him. He sighed, but bid her a safe journey back nonetheless.
He watched the small group moved further and further away, then looked down on his left hand. The bandages were secured firmly around his wrist, white and clean. He bit down on his bottom lip against the undulating burning.
The crisp rustle of leaves displaced the silence brought on by the absence of Elizabeth's energetic presence. Nightfall was almost upon them and his men were still waiting obediently for his next instruction.
"Let's go." He ordered and led the way.
~~~*~~~
The last ray of twilight had sank into the horizon. The sky was dark, covered with rain clouds, gray and bleak. The seagulls shrieked loudly against the howling of the wind, as they glided together within small groups and prepared to return to their nests.
The sand and stones creaked noisily beneath her feet, the sound added to the already accelerated turmoil within her troubled mind. Guilt, doubt and regret were embedded deeper into her chest with each step.
The events within the last couple of hours fluttered across her vision, clear and accusing even when she shut her eyes. Elizabeth didn't knew what had possessed her to act so rashly. Tricked the watchmen and locked them into the lower deck. Sold out the Black Pearl to the navy and ranted out everything that she should have kept secret. All those irrational actions just in a pathetic attempt to get Jack away from Will.
She searched hard and deep for some plausible excuse to justified her actions. It was for love, she argued. She just wanted Will back, and everything returned to the way they were. She was the one who was wronged. She was the one whose finance had been snatched away by a pirate. No one should have expected her to just stand by and played the helpless victim.
She was simply... countering piracy with piracy. If Jack had stolen her beloved, then she would just have to repay the man by stealing what was most precious to him. Even if it was a crime, it was a crime of passion, thus should be pardoned.
But be pardoned by whom? Herself? Will? Jack? Or the pirates from the Black Pearl who were currently in the custody of the navy? It was useless, she realized. Her conscious would not allowed the matter to drop and the guilt to fade.
And what about what Will wanted? Didn't Will love her and want her? Hadn't they exchanged promises to stay faithful to one another? The sapphire ring on her middle finger was soon covered by a shaking palm. They were engaged! Engaged! Didn't that at least mean anything? At all?
It was true that after their adventure with Jack Sparrow, their passion for one another had cooled down somewhat. Other than a few stolen kisses and a few quick gropes within the dark, they had interacted more like friends. But Elizabeth had thought that it was because they had all matured, and their affection for each other had grown past the stage of childish infatuation, and settled into a more stable and everlasting state.
Was true love not often bred from friendship? Or had she been mistaken? She had always felt safe with Will around, safe and at home. With Will, she did not have to put up the guise of the perfect lady, and she could always just be free, to act however she liked, and be who she truly was. Will accepted her, all of her, the good alongside with all her flaws.
Will was such a treasure, noble, gentle and kind. And Will wanted Jack. She wasn't blind. She knew, perhaps had known all along. But it was never anything serious, and she had always just filed it away as a case of severe hero worshipping. After all, who wouldn't want Jack Sparrow? She herself was not immune to those deviously charming eyes. Jack was, however, never interested in her, those clumsy attempts when they were marooned together were clearly pretentious.
Jack hadn't been lying then, when the pirate told Norrington that he had been rooting for the commodore. So it wasn't the dimel in distress the pirate desired as a reward. The hero, or anti-hero in this case, didn't want the girl, but the girl's boyfriend. Well, wasn't that just peachy!
Even though it wasn't unheard of. Two men together. She had been very well read in all kind of pirate literature after all.
What did that leave her then? Abandoned? Discarded without a backward glance? She was never one to just idly accept her fate, so she had taken matters into her own hands, which led back to her currently conflicts. Was it too late? Had she already thrown everything away? Had her worst nightmare come true and become irreversible?
//You will be lucky if either of them ever talk to you again, much less trust you.//
They had cleared through the forest, and the beach spread in front of them like a blanket of sand. Elizabeth sighed, wasn't exactly looking forward to return to the Dauntless. But her shoulder ached and fatigue was gaining on her body.
A just punishment, she contemplated humorlessly. She watched as one of the soldiers shoved Zeke unceremoniously to the end of one of the boat, and felt guilt reared its ugly head once again.
She was lost, and no longer knew what to do or think.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi all.
For those of you who wanted to see what Zeke looked like. I've drawn a picture of him, it's in the PotC slash mailing list, in the Photo album, under Daisy Sparrow, but you can only see it if you are a member. _
The URL is: http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/piratesofthecaribbean_slash/lst?.
And if it doesn't work. Well, leave me a message or e-mail me, I'll e-mail the picture to you as long as you promise not to use it on the web without my permission.
So tell me what you think. Do I write better or draw better?
Zeke: You suck at both.
Me: Shut up!
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 some archives. 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. But Zeke is mine, so kindly keep your paws away.... unless you ask really nicely, begging also helps. ^_^
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 and the summary.
Warning:
Same as always, first fic ever and English not my first language. I am a Canadian, but my computer has American spellcheck. So my apologizes in advance if some of the spellings are screwed up. It's hard to keep it consistent.
This is the longest chapter ever, I am too lazy and tired to divide it up, so there! This story is getting so dark and depressing without Zeke's ever pestering smartass comments. Oh, well, he will be back...eh...some time later. And the server still hates me, or maybe it's just my antique computer. Damnn you, stupid machine, just let me log on!
There are almost a hundred reviews for this story! I am so happy! You guys are the best ^_^ Thanks you so much for all your support and encouragement. I am going to end this in two more chapters, even if it kills me!
Read and Review please ^_^
" " speech
// // thoughts
*** *** memory/flashback
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It was time like this, that she wished she had legs.
Tisha sighed softly against the steel chain which she had her left arm around, and stared into the horizon with dull eyes. Disappointment was swelling inside her chest. Will had gone to shore with that funny man who wore the black eyeliner, before she could steal more than a few glimpses.
The exhausting journey had taken a lot out of her. It wasn't easy chasing after a ship with both sails and oars. It was even harder tailing after the infamous Black Pearl. Tisha's favorite pastime was spying on passing vessels and she had heard about the ship's reputation of being the fastest in the Caribbean.
It wasn't all fabricated after all, she groaned internally.
Well, she mused in an attempt to lift her grumpy mood, at least that stupid demon, who shall remain unnamed, was gone as well. She didn't think that she could keep her temper in check if that ugly face smirked at her one more time. Just what crime did she commit in a previous life, to earn her the pleasure of such pestering and intolerable company.
Not a previous life, she reminded herself, it was probably what she did in this one. Mermaids didn't have souls, thus could not reincarnate. When they die, they were just... gone. Puff, without a trace.
Her kind were born from pearls; it would take them thousands of years to mature and emerge from the white shells, but their life spans were very short compared to other magical creatures. A few hundred years, never more than a thousand. It had always occurred to her how ironic it was, a fraction of the millennias of being bred inside the darkness. To wait that long, only to live for a little while and disappear as if one had never exited. Their ranking was growing thin with each progressive century. She hadn't met another mermaid since her mentor vanished in a string of bubbles.
The memory stirred up the uneasiness within her. Absently, Tisha caressed the shell that held part of her hair back. Her finger tip slide pass the smooth curve toward the sharp tip. She had carved the white shell and made it into a hair clip of sort. It was the only thing that she had gotten out of that whole infuriating ordeal in Tortuga.
They were going to die out, she had realized that a long time ago. Just like the fairies, and the nymphs, and the sirens, and all the others. People would soon forget them and brush their presence aside as nothing more than fair tales. There was a strange comfort in being forgotten. If one didn't exist, then gone was all the worries of mortality, or immortality, whatever suited the case.
It wouldn't have unsettled her if her mentor had never told her the story of another little mermaid, who had striven for more. A soul born from the love of a human heart, was what she had been told. She blamed her restlessness on the story, because now she didn't think that she could ever be satisfied with just fading away to nothing.
She believed in true love, or at least, she wanted to believe in true love. When she first saw Will, it was like a splash of warmth had been injected into her body. Will, who was so handsome, with brown eyes so warm and entrancing, that they bewitched her more effective than any siren's songs. The ocean could be very cold, and she had been alone for so long. She always figured that love was a spontaneous kind of thing, that both parties would just know and click as soon as their eyes met. In reality, it was a lot more work than she previously thought.
It just wasn't fair. Just what did that girl have that she didn't? Beside the obvious, of course. She thought that she was rather pretty, even by mermaid standard. She also had experience and wisdom, of some sort. She could sing beautifully and swim really fast. If there was a sea witch, she would also have gladly trade her voice for a pair of legs.
It really wasn't fair. But speaking of Elizabeth. That girl had been acting oddly ever since the Black Pearl dropped anchor. The ship was surprisingly deserted, the weird looking captain had taken most of the crew to the island, leaving just a few watchmen behind. Not a smart decision, but then again, she reasoned that the pirate ship's notorious reputation should be able to keep all the other ships at bay.
She climbed via the iron chain of the anchor and propped herself up. The top of her head could barely reached the rails and she peeked through the gaps between the wooden bars. The top deck was completely empty, and all of the doors seemed to be shut tight.
There was some kind of pounding and shouting from below the deck, but she couldn't make out the muffled words. Elizabeth was standing by the other side and waving her hands around. That was when Tisha finally noticed the white sails approaching them. She gasped and her grips loosened.
//Damnit, I need to stop doing that.// She thought as she hit the water.
When her head broke through the surface again, the Black Pearl was already boarded with men in red uniforms. She pressed her ears against the side of the ship, noises vibrated and traveled through the wooden boards. Elizabeth was conversing with some man, there were also a few curses from the remaining pirates and the sound of metal hitting flesh.
She swallowed. This was not good. She had to warn Will, but there was no way that she could get far on the land. A couple of long boats were lowed into the water from the other ship, she ducked under the sea in a haste.
If she couldn't warn Will, she would just have to make sure the other ship wouldn't be in the shape to do any pursuing or fighting, once Will came back. With that decision made, she dived deeper and began swim towards the other ship.
~~~*~~~
The almost deafening gunshot was followed by stark silence.
He thought that he had screamed, but what came out of his mouth was a strangled gasp. His chest was burning. His knees hit the ground, body folded, reeling from the agony that flooded over all his senses. A body crouched in front of him, hands pulled at him and a resounding voice boomed into his ears.
"Will!"
Jack's voice was the only beacon in the falling darkness, and he held on to it with teeth and nails. Icy coldness was spreading from where the fire was, sinking slowly into his toes like winter morning air.
"C, cold." He stuttered out.
Strong arms crossed over his waist, lifted him slightly until his cheek was pressing against warm skin. He breathed out against the curtain of black hair, and nuzzled into the junction connecting neck and shoulder. It was warm there. It was always warm there.
"Shhhhh....it's all right, Will."
The calming voice washed over him. His eyes fluttered open and met dark orbs. He never realized before, but Jack's eyes weren't all black. It was mixed with all shades of brown and gold, dark like the starless night sky, yet clear like a pool of spring water with shifting rocks at the bottom. A roughen thumb caressed his cheek softly, he shivered and almost purred against the sensation.
Too soon, the touch left him. Jack was staring at some point above. The pirate's gaze smoldered, the quite seething was threatening to become a blaze.
"What did you do?" Jack demanded in a harsh tone.
"I cured the boy, like I promised." Vann was unfazed.
Will shuddered, then turned his head slight and was instantly paralyzed by the sight before him. Vann was lying face up, eyes opened yet unseeing, mouth parted like some autumn leaves. The sand around the body was coated in blood, dark and rapidly drying.
"Cure? By killing the priest? How?!"
"He cast the spell. Most curses can be broken by killing the caster."
Jack's arms tightened around him. He could feel the tense of muscle beneath his fingertips and the thundering of heart beside his ears.
"What's happening to Will then?"
"The boy is mere feeling the... after shock."
His breathing had eased from the frenzied panting to a more moderate level. The burning was slowly subsiding, heralded the ending of the pain and confirmed the truthfulness of Vann's words. Was it over? The wilting agony stripped away the despair fenced around him and granted him new hope among the oppressing bleakness.
However, his relief was short lived, because in the next instant, Vann had ripped away Jack's grip on him and hurled the pirate upward. Jack hit the other man's chest with a muffled gasp, eyes shut by the impact, then opened into another glare.
He almost cried out at the lost of that warmth, the coldness crept through his spine once again. It was close to sundown, the sky was getting darker as the daylight was chased away by dusk. A strong wind blow almost brutally from the ocean, and carried with it the dampness and chilliness of a gathering storm. He shivered against the ever-changing weather; he didn't want to be cold again.
"Remember what you promised me."
The referral to their bargain earlier brought a pang of misery and guilty to his heart. Why was he always so useless? Why could he never do anything right? Why did he always need rescuing? It just wasn't fair. Was he not strong enough? Would he never be strong enough?
Vann's voice was no more than a whisper, but Will had caught each words as if they were shouted right at him. Jack stood aloof, not a measure of the pirate's usual clownish self could be detected. The dreadful atmosphere was articulated by the stalling air, which felt hampered down even under the open sky, and intensified by the waiting silence.
"I'll keep my word."
That serious tone was unnerving. He ruminated over this situation. This wasn't like the encounters with Barbossa, with Jack bound, held at gunpoint and secretly in control the whole time. For whatever reason that Jack felt compelled to honour his words, Will knew that this time he couldn't expect the pirate to pull another rabbit out of his hat and miraculously save the day.
"Will."
Jack was looking at him now, pleading one last time for him to return to his senses. He met that discerning gaze head on, clenched his jaws shut and held his chin high. Suddenly Jack's head was turned forcibly by Vann, whose hand was clamping beneath the black locks, and evidently wanted to be the object of the pirate's undivided attention.
"I take it the boy will be coming as well?"
"Yes."
"You are pushing it, little one."
"He is going to come with me, whether ye allow it or not."
"I can still kill him." Vann smiled sardonically.
"True, and I will die with him."
Vann seemed to be considered that, and then deemed the declaration to be genuine. Long fingers skimmed passed the coastline of the tanned jaw, and skated down toward the dip between the end of the neck and shoulder with scarcely any force.
Almost tenderly, Vann whispered, "would I ever inspire such devotion from you?"
"Neither in this life time nor the next."
"Is that so... I will have to settle for what I can get then."
With that said, the man swoop down and covered Jack's mouth in a bruising kiss. Jack's arms were scissored behind his back, and immobilized by a large hand. The pirate's eyes were open, lips pressed tightly together, refusing entrance to that probing tongue. Vann glanced toward Will for a fraction of a second. Furious emerald eye peered at him under the screen of dark bangs, piercing and.... what?
Warning? Challenging? Paroling his ownership to the world? Will almost laughed out aloud. There was nothing, no kiss, no mark, and no insignia, which could brand Jack as the property of anyone. To Will, Jack would always be the epitome of freedom, the eagle which soared high above the sky. He didn't believe that he would have the strength to keep up, but perhaps, just perhaps that Jack would be willing to fold his wings, to rest, even just occasionally, against Will.
Jack had said that he loved Will after all. Their mutual admissions earlier was instantly inflaming and their intensity would be forever etched in his memory. Heat raised in his cheeks, yet he felt calmed somehow. The raging jealousy gnawing at his intestine was quenched by that sweet remembrance. Jack loved him. Him. If they were anywhere but here, he would probably be jumping up and down while giggling like a schoolgirl.
A hard shove from Jack finally broke that intimate contact. Jack, enraged, scrapped his mouth with the back of one sleeve furiously, while Vann licked his bottom lip, eyes half lidded as if savoring the taste. An angry, and almost primal growl was spurring from the back of his throat, at the superior look Vann cast him. He had never wanted to kill someone so much in his entire life.
Vann paid him no mind, instead shouted toward some of his men. "You lot, escort the rest of them back to their boats." A pause and a crack of head, like the man was listening to something in the wind. "Take the other route, we are expecting company."
The next sentence was directed toward Gibbs and Anamarie, who both gave the man extremely dirty looks, "Stay away from the island here fore, if you wish to live."
Then Vann began steering Jack away, and crooned softly. "Come. There is something I wanted to show you."
Will almost panicked, he wasn't going to let Jack out of his sight. A couple of Vann's men stooped over him, and motioned for him to get up. His legs stumbled a little, and he struggled to stand in order to follow Jack.
The cool length of steel, which pressed against the inside of his wrist, caught his attention as he braced both palms against the sandy ground. His eyes narrowed. That's right, he still had Zeke's dagger.
The ghost of a smirk flicked across his eyes, and he glared at that bulky form which shadowed Jack's every step. If those hands wouldn't remove themselves, he would just have to remove them himself.
~~~*~~~
The hideout for the most vicious pirate gang in the Caribbean wasn't as impressive as he'd thought. He was half expecting something like Isle de Muerta, with its skull shaped mountain, roaring of the volcanoes and the general foreboding sense that a pirate island should project. He suspected that Elizabeth's tendency to romanticize the pirates was beginning to rub off on him.
Isle de Aves, in all senses, appeared to be better suited as a vacation resort for the wealthy and the privileged. The island consisted of mostly white sands, the stone caves to the north and a small stretch of tropical forest, that inconveniently obscured the southern part of island from the view.
A muddy hill rose from the center of the greenish vegetarians, he could distinctly make out small trails of smoke. It didn't look intimidating at all, in fact, it looked more like a mound. For this, he was grateful. He adjusted the bandages around his neck with irritation, he didn't think that he was in the condition to hike up any kind of steep slope.
They had followed the same track from the beach all the way to this cave. Elizabeth was half running most of the time, while he tagged behind her pensively along with the rest of the soldiers he'd brought. The footprints were muddled and distorted all around and some way inside the caves. There must had been some kind of commotion.
He watched her lithe form search the caves frenetically, locks of dark blond hair swing wildly around her with each twisted of her head. They had both been shocked when they found the body of Cane, for the man was well known through out both Britain and her colonies. Elizabeth, usually being the first one to recover and spring back from peril, was now foamed with worry. He shook his head tiredly, his mood was subdued and his posture docile.
This was the most exercise he has had in the last couple of days. The doctor had strictly ordered him to be confined to the bed, and had enlisted the help of his first officer to enforce the order. But being the highest-ranking officer on the ship did have its advantages, he'd simply given Gillette a stern glare, which had effectively silenced any protest from the lieutenant's mouth.
Frankly, he did not understand what had made him agreed to help her. He really didn't give a damn about the blacksmith, other than the occasional pinch in his chest, which reminded him of the grudge between them. He had more or less accepted the fact that Elizabeth would never be his. His actions in Tortuga were a last attempt at convincing himself otherwise, and Elizabeth's reaction had diminished his hope wholly. If young Mr. Turner was what she wanted, then he would just have to respect her decision.
Yet he still found himself yielding to her whim. He was accustomed to spoiling her and old habits died hard. Although it was still inexcusable to put his career, and not to mention the lives of his men in jeopardy for his own personal cause.
He was disturbed further by the fact that all his uncertainty and dread were suffered over his archenemy, or someone resembled his archenemy. The Black Pearl was the last true pirate ship in the Caribbean, the rest he had send down to the bottom of the sea without much trouble. The brotherhood of then hawks paled in comparison, they were nothing more than contract killers. Norrington would be more than happy to see all of them hanged and would jump at the first opportunity to bring them to justice, even though this time his motivation had been anything but pure and just.
As for Jack Sparrow, most of the times, he didn't know what to make of the rogue pirate. He had secretly admired the man's clever strategy when the pirate had commandeered the Interceptor, although the admiration came with no small amount of fury towards both the pirate and himself. Nevertheless, he wholeheartedly wished that whatever trouble the infamous Jack Sparrow had got himself into this time, it would finally finish the pirate off, or at the very least incapacitate the man from any more criminal activities. And if both parties of pirates ended up killing each other, well, he wasn't going to complain.
"There is someone in there!"
His attention was drawn back by Elizabeth's excited exclaim. She tilted her head and waved him toward her.
He obliged and took a few step forward until a most horrid sound reached him. He hastily covered his ears, but the wailing like clattering slipped between his fingers and drummed painfully into his mind. It was like the cry of a Banshee, or what he would image a Banshee would sounded like. The racket was getting louder and vibrated through more violently, the closer he was to her.
It was a warning, he realized dimly. He didn't know how he knew. It was a deep down intuition inside his guts, some kind of instinct, unquestionable and came naturally to him like breathing. He raised his face toward her.
"Elizabeth! Get away from there!"
She hesitated, unsure by his distress. The air behind her flowed in a circular spiral and reformed into some kind of silvery solid substances. A silver spike thrust from behind her, and missed her left cheek by no more than a inch. She turned and gasped. Her confused _expression melted away to be replaced by fear.
She dodged swiftly, but not in time to avoid the silvery tendrils that rushed at her. She hissed in pain, while blood dripped down from the vertical slash on her left shoulder. He rushed to her side and pulled her behind him. The soldiers around them yelled in panic.
"What? What was that?"
She was shaking. He inspected the wound carefully. It looked worse than it actually was. The cut was very shallow, and managed to avoid any main veins. He took off his coat and wrapped it around her.
"It's all right, Elizabeth."
"What was that?"
"I don't think I want to know."
He really didn't want to know, but his curiosity was peeked regardless. When he was dragging her out of harm's way, the spikes had touched him also. Instead of delivered pain, they had simply brushed off his clothes with a feathery pressure.
He looked around, his soldiers were scurrying around like mindless rats. He sighed. The qualities of men nowadays were simply not as upstanding as they used to be.
"Calm Down!" He commanded.
His voice was quiet, but it carried a unbreakable authority that instantly simmered down the chaos around him. The soldiers quickly composed themselves and rearranged into a linear group in front of him. At least they were good at following orders, he thought solemnly.
"Stay here, Elizabeth."
He drew out his sword and held it in front of him. Whatever had attacked Elizabeth had disappeared and the small cave looked as normal as any other. He paused a short distance before the entrance, and extended his sword arm. The steel blade encountered no resistance whatsoever. He took a small step forward and tested the empty space with a wave of his sword. Still nothing. He went closer. Then the sound returned. However, instead of the random chirping he had heard, it was softer this time around.
"Did you hear that?" He glanced back.
Blank faces answered him. Was he the only one who could hear it, he wondered.
It was almost like... a song, some long forgotten melody. Something stirred inside of him, a hidden feeling or perhaps a flash of memory, wafted up from the deepest corner of his soul. The soft humming was like an ancient ballad, whispered the secrets between grains of sands inside the hourglass.
A little girl's voice, laughing, crying, calling out.
*** I wanted to be forgotten.***
His poise faltered, but he caught himself at the last moment and stood straighter. He blinked and narrowed his eyes against the bright interior of the cave. He had walked inside without any conscious knowledge.
"Commodore! Commodore!"
Elizabeth was standing on tiptoes, and a safe distance from the entrance. He looked down on the limp body before him, and back toward her. He could still see tiny straits of silver, lurking around the edges of the rock walls.
He shouted back at her, "stay there!"
He jabbed the redhead with the tip of his boot. No reaction. He tried again, this time with the hilt of his sword, and harder. Still nothing.
He kneeled down and turned the boy slightly toward the light. Then he touched the pale neck with two fingers. There was a pulse, faint and unnaturally slow. The boy's face was smooth and cool like marble. It was the same pirate from Tortuga, the one who had impersonated Jack Sparrow, the one who tricked him into defeat, and the one who mocked him mercilessly.
The one who gave him those wounds, that were refusing to heal.
"Zeke!"
Elizabeth yelled. She had caught the boy's face when he turned those bony shoulders.
"Zeke? Yes, this is the one I met in Tortuga."
Norrington replied flatly. His right hand hovered above the youth lying on the ground, clenched and unclenched almost reflexively, as if fighting for some invisible control. He didn't know whether he was going to pick the boy up or just strangle him on the spot. He didn't even knew why he was having this internal debate with himself. The boy was a pirate, an occupation that guaranteed a death sentence under any flags.
He poked the boy hard on the shoulder. The prone form did not even twitch. He looked around the small cave distractedly. There were some sorts of reddish glimmerings scattered around on the ground.
He bend down and picked up a small piece of ruby beside him. The glowing faded as soon as his skin made contact with its smooth surface, but the gem was warm to his touch.
This was definitely not natural and getting increasingly weird. Hopefully it wouldn't turned out like the last time, when Jack Sparrow and several other supernatural occurrences were also involved. He could detect a headache in the making. Absent-mindedly he rubbed the bridge of his nose. Almost in a childish whine, he wished that all this strangeness would just disappear so that he could lay down and rest a little.
As if on cue, the rubies flashed brightly one last time and dimmed in the next instant.
He blinked owlishly. The cave had darkened when the luminous glow left it. Now it loomed over him like some monstrous jaws with its teeth like stone pillars hanged above, threatened to fall at any moment.
The air was clearer, like a mist had been lift. There was some kind of strange force radiating from the motionless boy beside him. It felt light weighted and heavily dark at the same time, and he could almost hear the steady pulsing of the other's heart like it was his own. It reminded him of their first encounter inside that dirty bar, when the youth had smirked down on him. It was the same sense of familiarity, the same sense of.... finality, like a long wait had came to an end.
"Commodore!"
Elizabeth's high-pitched squeak brought him out of his trance. He swirled around to meet her gaze, afraid that she was in danger.
"The barrier is gone!"
Indeed it was. The silver substance enclosed the entrance had somehow evaporated without a trace. Elizabeth bounced toward him with large strides, while his soldiers lingered behind with caution and tentativeness.
"Commodore?"
She kneeled down in front of him. He stared at her vacuously before realized that his hand was stoking something silky. He looked down, where his fingers had ended up between waves of soft red mane. He blinked and retracted back the hand as if he was burnt.
The boy stirred from his sudden movement, but did not awake. Elizabeth placed one palm gently on the boy's back.
"Zeke?"
There was no response.
"Zeke?"
"He's alive, just unconscious."
He signaled two soldiers forward, who then supported the boy from both sides.
"Elizabeth, you will go back to the Dauntless, along with the prisoner. Your wounded needed to be treated properly."
"But..."
"You will go back, and don't try to sneak out."
"I must defer, it is my fiancé that's..."
"I will find your fiancé.... along with his pirate friends, IF they are still alive."
"But, I want to..."
"That's enough, Elizabeth. You are hurt, and your presence here would only be a nuisance."
He knew it was harsh and unfair of him to dismiss her like that, she could more than hold her own. But the circumstances were pressing and they could not afford any diversions. He didn't want to admit it, but in his current condition, he was not sure whether he could fully protect her.
".... Fine." She nodded meekly.
He assigned a small group of soldiers to go with her. He wanted to utter a few words of consolation, but she had turned away from him. He sighed, but bid her a safe journey back nonetheless.
He watched the small group moved further and further away, then looked down on his left hand. The bandages were secured firmly around his wrist, white and clean. He bit down on his bottom lip against the undulating burning.
The crisp rustle of leaves displaced the silence brought on by the absence of Elizabeth's energetic presence. Nightfall was almost upon them and his men were still waiting obediently for his next instruction.
"Let's go." He ordered and led the way.
~~~*~~~
The last ray of twilight had sank into the horizon. The sky was dark, covered with rain clouds, gray and bleak. The seagulls shrieked loudly against the howling of the wind, as they glided together within small groups and prepared to return to their nests.
The sand and stones creaked noisily beneath her feet, the sound added to the already accelerated turmoil within her troubled mind. Guilt, doubt and regret were embedded deeper into her chest with each step.
The events within the last couple of hours fluttered across her vision, clear and accusing even when she shut her eyes. Elizabeth didn't knew what had possessed her to act so rashly. Tricked the watchmen and locked them into the lower deck. Sold out the Black Pearl to the navy and ranted out everything that she should have kept secret. All those irrational actions just in a pathetic attempt to get Jack away from Will.
She searched hard and deep for some plausible excuse to justified her actions. It was for love, she argued. She just wanted Will back, and everything returned to the way they were. She was the one who was wronged. She was the one whose finance had been snatched away by a pirate. No one should have expected her to just stand by and played the helpless victim.
She was simply... countering piracy with piracy. If Jack had stolen her beloved, then she would just have to repay the man by stealing what was most precious to him. Even if it was a crime, it was a crime of passion, thus should be pardoned.
But be pardoned by whom? Herself? Will? Jack? Or the pirates from the Black Pearl who were currently in the custody of the navy? It was useless, she realized. Her conscious would not allowed the matter to drop and the guilt to fade.
And what about what Will wanted? Didn't Will love her and want her? Hadn't they exchanged promises to stay faithful to one another? The sapphire ring on her middle finger was soon covered by a shaking palm. They were engaged! Engaged! Didn't that at least mean anything? At all?
It was true that after their adventure with Jack Sparrow, their passion for one another had cooled down somewhat. Other than a few stolen kisses and a few quick gropes within the dark, they had interacted more like friends. But Elizabeth had thought that it was because they had all matured, and their affection for each other had grown past the stage of childish infatuation, and settled into a more stable and everlasting state.
Was true love not often bred from friendship? Or had she been mistaken? She had always felt safe with Will around, safe and at home. With Will, she did not have to put up the guise of the perfect lady, and she could always just be free, to act however she liked, and be who she truly was. Will accepted her, all of her, the good alongside with all her flaws.
Will was such a treasure, noble, gentle and kind. And Will wanted Jack. She wasn't blind. She knew, perhaps had known all along. But it was never anything serious, and she had always just filed it away as a case of severe hero worshipping. After all, who wouldn't want Jack Sparrow? She herself was not immune to those deviously charming eyes. Jack was, however, never interested in her, those clumsy attempts when they were marooned together were clearly pretentious.
Jack hadn't been lying then, when the pirate told Norrington that he had been rooting for the commodore. So it wasn't the dimel in distress the pirate desired as a reward. The hero, or anti-hero in this case, didn't want the girl, but the girl's boyfriend. Well, wasn't that just peachy!
Even though it wasn't unheard of. Two men together. She had been very well read in all kind of pirate literature after all.
What did that leave her then? Abandoned? Discarded without a backward glance? She was never one to just idly accept her fate, so she had taken matters into her own hands, which led back to her currently conflicts. Was it too late? Had she already thrown everything away? Had her worst nightmare come true and become irreversible?
//You will be lucky if either of them ever talk to you again, much less trust you.//
They had cleared through the forest, and the beach spread in front of them like a blanket of sand. Elizabeth sighed, wasn't exactly looking forward to return to the Dauntless. But her shoulder ached and fatigue was gaining on her body.
A just punishment, she contemplated humorlessly. She watched as one of the soldiers shoved Zeke unceremoniously to the end of one of the boat, and felt guilt reared its ugly head once again.
She was lost, and no longer knew what to do or think.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi all.
For those of you who wanted to see what Zeke looked like. I've drawn a picture of him, it's in the PotC slash mailing list, in the Photo album, under Daisy Sparrow, but you can only see it if you are a member. _
The URL is: http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/piratesofthecaribbean_slash/lst?.
And if it doesn't work. Well, leave me a message or e-mail me, I'll e-mail the picture to you as long as you promise not to use it on the web without my permission.
So tell me what you think. Do I write better or draw better?
Zeke: You suck at both.
Me: Shut up!