Author's Notes: You can blame this one on a morning sans caffeine, and my new "Bootstrap" Bill Turner muse, who has become quite the busy little fella ever since he showed up at the apartment. He hit me with this one this morning at work. I hope everyone will enjoy this little one-shot. As always, when using power tools, please remember to wear safety glasses, and for the love of Pete, don't be pettin' the cursed monkey! He still bites!!
BY
KAHVA
Promise me, Jack.
I suppose those were as good words as any to be my last to you.
Promise me, Jack.
You're a good pirate, Jack. You're a good man too, though you try not to act like it.
Try. Tried. No, try! Damn it, try!
Jack, you have got to still be alive! Get off of that damned island and stay alive, do you hear me? Someone has to stop Barbossa before he goes too far, and that someone has to be you!
Because I sure can't.
Oh God, Jack. I failed you. I've failed my family. I've failed myself.
Worst of all, I've failed my son.
Do you know that he turned ten years old on the day we found that bloody treasure?
Of course not, you weren't there, you were marooned. But you're a smart man, Jack. You knew how long it would take to get from where we left you, to where that accursed treasure was. So you'll know… But will you remember? Will you remember any thing about my son?
Will you remember that, there on that god-forsaken spit of land? Will you remember him at all?
Will you remember that I didn't mutiny against you?
Will you remember your promise?
Will you live to keep your promise?
You have got to stay alive, Jack. You've got to get off of that scrap of land and live, do you hear me? You have to live!
You have to live, because I am just as good as dead now. I'm at the bottom of the sea, chained to a bloody cannon of all things. I can't die, not while the curse affects us all. I don't know that I'll ever make my way free of this underwater graveyard, or how long I'll be here, waiting for the water that has already filled my body to drown me, or for it to finally crush me in its merciless grip. So you have to live, Jack, because I can't.
If you don't live, you can't keep your promise to me.
You swore to me upon pain of death that you would keep your promise.
Promise me, Jack.
I can't keep my promise to my family anymore, Jack, so you have to keep your promise to me. They will hunger for his blood, Jack. They will crave my little William's pain. They will steal every drop of his life if they ever find him. They will slowly drain him dry just because he is my child! That man will leave my boy's body to rot in that blasted cave just because of who his father is! Because of me, because I told him he was wrong for what he did to you.
Don't let Barbossa get his filthy hands on Will. Please, Jack, I beg you! If you ever meet my son, keep him safe, keep him from harm, and hold to your oath. Promise me that my boy will live!
Promise me, Jack.
Promise me that my precious boy won't become a pirate.