Disclaimer: If I owned Captain Jack Sparrow, believe you me, I would be finding much better things to do with my time. Savvy?
Summary: Takes place after Curse of the Black Pearl. Revolves mainly around Captain Jack Sparrow, as I believe the world should.
"Quick Will!" Captain Jack Sparrow shouted. "Do you see that?"
Will Turner straightened his hat then walked over to Jack. He was standing over his helm, leaning upon it slightly, his dark eyes squinting as he stared out at the horizon.
Will looked from Jack to the water then Jack again. "See what?" he asked.
"There," Jack remarked, pointing.
Will followed Jack's finger to the spot he was signaling in the sea. Will squinted through the bright sun, but was still unable to spot whatever Jack was seeing.
"I don't see anything," he said.
Jack scowled, taking of his hat and tossing his guns inside. "No time to wait. Hold these," he says, his eyes still distracted by something in the water.
"Wh…but Jack!" Will began, clutching Jack's possessions tightly. He watched in horror as Jack climbed up onto the railing. "What are you doing? JACK!"
Yet Will's screams were lost as Jack dived off the ship and disappeared into the icy, cold water, propelling swiftly through the weak current. Jack kept his eyes peeled upon the figure that had stolen his attention. He pushed his body forward, at last clutching the small object and dragging it back to the ship.
"A little help!" he called, spurting water out of his mouth as he bobbed up and down in the sea.
"Here!" a sweet, feminine voice called, tossing a rope down to Jack. Jack smiled graciously at Elizabeth and with great stealth climbed back on board of the Black Pearl.
"Get some blankets," Jack coughed. "Quick!"
Elizabeth nodded and scurried away quickly. Ana Maria had taken control of the helm, steering the ship expertly.
"My God!" Will shouted. "It's…it's a child! A girl!"
Jack rolled his eyes. "No kidding," he remarked, tearing the wet clothes off of the child. Jack pressed down firmly upon her chest and within seconds the girl was coughing up gallons of sea water. She choked as she tried desperately to regain her normal breathing pattern. By this point, Elizabeth had slipped back with a few small blankets and began wrapping the child in them. The girl's wild red hair was matted all over her face, and Elizabeth quickly pulled back her hair, allowing her small face to be seen.
Jack squinted for a moment, studying the child, but never really catching a good look at her face.
"I'll take her down to our room," Elizabeth muttered, rushing off with the child.
"I'll go check on Elizabeth," Will stated, handing Jack his items. Jack nodded curtly then placed his guns back in their proper places, and situated his hat upon his dripping wet hair. Ana Maria grinned broadly as she handed the helm back to Jack.
"What?" he insisted, clutching the helm tightly.
"Nothing," Ana Maria said slowly, sitting upon the railing of the ship.
"Ana, I know you better than that," Jack insisted.
"True," Ana Maria said simply. "You also know better than to address me as Ana."
"My apologies," Jack muttered, raising his eyebrows in mockery.
Ana Maria pursed her lips, teasing Jack with her silence.
"Ana Maria, you tell me what you're thinking right now, or I'll make you walk the plank."
"Oh will you now?" Ana Maria laughed. "And then dive in and rescue me as you rescued that girl?"
"Ana!" Jack persisted. "And yes I said 'Ana', no Maria."
Ana Maria scowled, patting Jack playfully on his back as she slipped past him. "I was just thinking that it's rather peculiar. That child bears a strong resemblance to Josephine, does she not?"
With that said, Ana Maria waltzed off and disappeared around the bend. Jack considered her words for a moment, then laughed them off. His eyebrows suddenly rose as he pondered what such news could mean if the child was indeed Josephine.
No, he thought. Impossible. Pushing all of the wild ideas from his head, Jack took a swig of his canteen full of rum, then returned to steering his ship.
Captain Jack Sparrow was rudely awakened that night by a shrill, elfish scream. Prying his eyelids open, he quickly adjusted his eyes to the darkness. Yawning wildly, he forced himself out of his bed, and pushed open the thin, creaky wooden door that led to the starboard side of the ship.
"Oh bloody hell," he mumbled as he stumbled about in the darkness. Ana Maria was steering the ship for the night. "Ana!" he called. "ANA!"
"Aye!" she called through the darkness, her voice faint and raspy.
"Who's that screaming?" Jack asked, making his way over to Ana Maria. She grinned and pointed towards the other side of the ship. "What?" Jack asked.
"That'd be your miniature damsel in distress," Ana Maria remarked.
Jack growled under his breath, vowing to never do another good deed again. However, as he had made that same very vow numerous times before, it didn't hold much weight within him.
"Come here, come here, it will be okay," Elizabeth's voice could be heard, coaxing the girl to calm herself.
"Aiiiiiii!" was the shrill scream that erupted from the young one's mouth.
"Perhaps she knows no English?" Jack inquired.
"Well," Will began. "As she told us to all go to hell earlier, I'd have to disagree."
Jack furrowed a brow and knelt down to the child who was kicking and screaming simultaneously. "She'll wake up everyone aboard my ship," he commented.
"Curse you Jack!" an angry, portly man shouted. "What's the meaning of all this ruckus?"
"Go back to bed Gibbs," Jack hissed. "A few more bottoms up and you won't hear a thing, savvy?"
Gibbs groaned and stumbled back to his cabin.
"She's a monster," Jack remarked, eyeing the screaming girl. "Shoulda' left her to drown."
"Jack!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "That's terrible. She's just frightened and…"
"I am not scared!" the girl shrieked, standing up to face Jack. His eyes widened as he studied her face closely.
"Bloody hell!" Jack screamed, pulling backward. "Josephine Davenport!"
"Yeah, what's it to you?" the girl remarked, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes. She straightened her body and stiffened her face. "Surprised you're not swimmin' with the fishes by now Jack."
Jack made a funny face at Josephine and flicked his hand towards the sea. "Toss 'er back over. Made a mistake picking her up, I sure did."
"Go ahead!" Josephine roared. "You won't do it."
"Where is your sister?" Jack asked, ignoring her efforts to remain tough.
"Oh, right, I should have figured this was all about Rose," she laughed. "Roselyn's dead."
Jack's eyes bore into Josephine's. "Josephine," he demanded.
"All right, all right, and it's Jo. If you call me Josephine one more time I might be sick." Jo muttered. "Rose was taken by Captain Alzandore. His men took over the ship and…"
"Captain Alzandore took over Rose's ship?" Jack repeated, astonished.
Jo nodded.
"Rose?" Jack repeared. "The raging, wild, murderous Rose Red?"
"Seen it myself," Jo said smugly. "She refused to join the Captain's crew. So he made her. They took me too, but couldn't handle me. Dumped me in the ocean yesterday morning. I was fine for an hour or two…next thing I know I'm here aboard your ship."
"Uh, Jack," Will interrupted. "What's going on?"
"Don't tell me you've never heard the stories of Rose Red!" Jack exclaimed, laughing heartily.
"No I can't say I…" Will began.
"Wait a minute," Elizabeth spoke up. "The girl pirate who killed her father and stole the White Rose? I thought that was just a fairy tale."
"Don't fairy tales normally have happy endings, love?" Jack asked, grinning maliciously.
"But why did she kill her father?" Will asked.
"Ah, that's the best part," Jack laughed, taking a generous swig of his rum.
"Because he was going to take her away from her one true love," Jo remarked.
"Oh, so she's a romantic!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "See, it is a fairy tale."
"Hold your tongue love," Jack insisted, prompting Jo to continue.
"Not a man! The sea!" Jo said, laughing at Elizabeth's romantic notions.
"Oh…uh…" Elizabeth began.
"Trust me," Jack said, a grin forming across his face. "If you knew Rose, you'd be laughing too."
"It's just…it seems so extreme," Will began. "To kill your own father…for…the sea?"
"People have been killed for much less," Jack pointed out.
"Well," Jo continued. "It wasn't that simple. He was going to marry a widowed Duchess in France and we were to move there. Well, Rose hated the Duchess and her two prissy children. So, she devised a plan to run away with a band of pirates she had befriended."
"Run away with pirates!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"Don't be so surprised darling," Will whispered. "After all, what do you think we are?"
"Lad has a point," Jack said. "Hurry up Jo!"
"I'm trying!" Jo insisted. "These pirate friends of hers were all members of the League of Adonis, a fearsome band of pirates whose sworn duty was to avenge the death of their former Captain Sinoda, which is Adonis spelled backwards. Captain Sinoda had been brutally and publicly murdered in London. It actually took him twenty-three hours to die! The pirates despised the capturers for this torture and vowed revenge. Well, Rose told them her dilemma and they told her that to prove her faith to them, she must kill her father. Rose loved her father a lot, but the pirates convinced her that he was evil. So, one night, when I was barely three years old, Rose snuck into his room and stabbed him to death. She then grabbed me and returned to the pirates. Well, she discovered them missing and eventually uncovered their trickery. You see, our father had been the descendent of Roman Frierland, the head capturer of Sinoda. The pirates had tricked Rose into killing her father for them and then deserted her. Well, naturally Rose was enraged and a few nights after was forced to flee the country. She had, after all, killed her father and was wanted for murder. She stole one of England's most prized ships, the White Rose."
"Hang on," Will interrupted. "You expect me to believe that a teenaged girl with a toddler in her arms stole one of England's most prized, and most likely, heavily guarded ships?"
"Well, I never said she didn't have help!" Jo exclaimed.
Jack laughed eerily. "Yes, I s'pose she wouldn't have gotten very far without my er…assistance."
"You?" Elizabeth asked. "You helped her?"
"Do you mean to tell me that you haven't noticed by now his thing for damsels in distress?" Ana Maria called.
"Funny Ana! Bloody funny!" Jack yelled back. He turned his attention back to Will and Elizabeth. "Yes, I helped her steal the White Rose."
"But why?" Elizabeth asked. "Pardon me Jack, but you've never done a thing for anybody unless there was something in it for you."
"Are you implying I'm…selfish?" Jack asked, stunned.
"Well, not quite, but…" Elizabeth began.
"Oh but there was something in it for him," Jo piped up.
"No," Jack said firmly, looking down at Jo sternly. "No there wasn't."
Jo laughed. "Oh yes there was!" she said grinning. "He was in love with her!"
"Jack?" Elizabeth asked astonished. "In love?"
"I was not in love!" Jack insisted. "I…I might have been…fond of her a bit. But love! I don't even know…I don't…"
"Oh you know it's true!" Jo shouted. "You were in love with my sister! Every pirate knows it!"
"Uh, no," Jack began, shaking his index finger in the air. "Love…love is such a strong word, and well…"
"Oh, what's this?" Ana Maria called, walking over to the group. "Is the infamous Jack Sparrow denying that he was overpowered by the wild Rose Davenport? C'mon Jack, we all know your one weakness is a woman."
"Weakness?" Jack laughed. "Me? Hardly."
"Ah, he loved her all right," Ana Maria insisted. "First day I met him he told me his sob story. If he didn't love her, then I'd have to deny love exists."
"Enough Ana!" Jack shouted. "All right…so maybe I…err…liked her."
"That's as much as you'll get out of him," Ana Maria insisted.
"Who's steering my ship?" Jack Sparrow asked.
"Aye aye, Captain," Ana Maria agreed in a mocking tone. "Only helping you until I get my ship back." With that said, she drifted away.
"So," Elizabeth began. "You helped Rose steal the White Rose?"
"Commandeer," Jack and Will replied in unison.
Jack grinned. "He's learning." He turned his attention back to Elizabeth. "Yes I helped her, end of story."
"Not quite," Elizabeth said. "There must be more."
"Why would you think that?" Jack asked.
"Well," Elizabeth began, "she's not here with you right now, so something must have broken the two of you up. And, considering the er…less than friendly behavior Josephine's shown towards you, it was most likely something you did that split the two of you up."
"It's Jo," Jo growled. "And of course it was something he did."
"Hey now…" Jack started.
"What happened?" Elizabeth asked, excited and hungering for a good story.
"Well," Jo began. "Rose loved Jack as well. In fact, she let him in on a little secret."
"A secret?" Elizabeth asked.
Jack rolled his eyes. "Just finish the story already so I can get back to bed."
"No one's keeping you," Jo said defiantly. "Well, Rose had managed to steal a map from a pirate by the name of Switney? Switlen?"
"Switler, Jonathon Switler," Jack barked.
"Right, Switler. Now Switler was known to possess a certain map. A map that led to the treasure of the cursed pirate Sinoda."
"The map that Rose stole?" Elizabeth asked.
"Exactly," Jo said. "This map was wanted by pirates everywhere. Rose and Jack decided to sail to the island together and share the treasure. Well, one night, they stopped at a small island. Jack went to investigate, or so he claimed, and didn't return for two days. When he did return, he told Rose not to sail away until the next morning. That night he stole the map from Rose and fled. Another ship was waiting for him…a ship he had been promised."
"The Black Pearl," Will breathed.
Jo nodded.
"So, you left Rose for the Black Pearl?" Elizabeth asked. "I don't understand."
"Jo left a bit out," Jack sighed. "You see I was a member of the League of Adonis before I ever met Rose. I mean, even a pirate needs friends once in a while. Too bad I discovered a little too late that they're not the friendliest bunch… But, they sent me after Rose to er…watch over her. Keep my eye out."
"You betrayed her," Elizabeth remarked.
"So it would seem," Jack replied.
"But…why?" Will asked, puzzled. "I know, you're the great Jack Sparrow and all…but it doesn't seem in your nature."
"Ah, yes, well," Jack mumbled, "that reason is known only to me and one Captain Alzandore."
"The one who has Rose?" Will asked.
"Yes…" Jack trailed off, as if considering something.
"Well, we have to get her back," Jo insisted. "We can't just leave her with him. He'll kill her."
Jack chuckled, amused. "Rose could never be killed by Alzandore. That you have my word on."
"Oh, your word?" Jo laughed. "Well now I'm convinced."
"He wouldn't lie about such a thing," Elizabeth agreed.
"Well, no offense, but I'm not willing to risk my sister's life on his word," Jo remarked.
"Well, why don't we all get some sleep and we'll figure it out in the morning," Elizabeth offered.
Jack laughed. "There's nothing to figure out. We're not going after Alzandore."
"And just why not?" Jo asked haughtily, hands upon her hips.
"You know Jo, you're what nearly eleven?"
"Twelve and a half," she shouted through clenched teeth.
"My next guess," Jack droned. "You ought to be acting like a little lady by now."
Jo's eyes grew wide and then she flung her head back, shrill laughter escaping from her lips. "Tell me that was a joke!" she remarked, once she had regained her composure.
Jack squinted. "Apparently it was. And…the reason we're not going after Rose is simple. There is no need to look for her."
"Maybe not for you, but…" Jo started.
"You can't very well leave her without her sister Jack," Elizabeth started.
"It can't take too long just to…" Will began.
Jack held his left hand up to all of them and then shut it tightly into a fist. "Shhh…" he muttered. "Can't you hear it?" The others remained silent as Jack let out an barbaric howl. His next words were certain and final. His lips curled with excitement. "Alzandore is coming to us!"
TBC…well what do you think? Shall I continue? Please r/r!