A/N I hope you like the way I've sort of changed the past for Bootstrap and Raine… Don't worry, you'll see… in the memory at the end of the chappy! No skipping ahead!!!
Chapter Seven
Will spotted Raine in the middle of the storm and walked over, slipping slightly on the soaking wet deck. She was tying rope to the mast, and she tossed him a rope and then picked up another one and tied it around her own waist. Will tried to do the same thing as her, tying the rope around his waist, and then before she could go anywhere, he grabbed her arm and turned her to face him.
"You knew my father, Raine?" He asked her, shouting over the wind. A sort of saddened look passed over her eyes quickly when he said this, but the next moment it was gone so that Will thought perhaps it had never been there at all.
"I was closer to Bootstrap than anybody else. Even Jack. Don't ask me about knew. I loved the man."
"…loved? You mean, like brother-sister love, like with Jack?" Will say nervously. Raine looked at him for a second, and then shook her head, yes.
"Yeah, Will. Brother-sister."
Will hesitated. "Raine, you said that Jack was captain?"
"Yeah?" She said, pushing her wet hair away from her face. She looked a bit like a drowned rat, at that moment, soaked from head to toe. Her hair looked black from the water, and it was plastered to her face, although the braided parts weren't sticking so well. She wasn't wearing her hat, because it would have blown off, but her bandanna was also soaked. The only thing about her that looked unaffected by the rain was her eyes.
"Well… who was his first mate?"
Raine made a face. "Bloody Barbossa. The captain who took your dear bonny lass."
"Why weren't you or my father first mate?"
Raine shrugged. "Bootstrap didn't want the position."
"Well, why not you?"
For a moment, she seemed to be struggling with finding an answer to his question.
"I mean, you wanted the position, right?" Will asked, trying to sense what she was thinking.
"Aye." She said, turning away from him. The boat rocked and they both slipped on the deck, and the wind whipped harshly as everyone on the ship clung desperately to it, because if they fell in, they would be lost.
"So why…" Will started again, but she cut him off.
"You'll have to ask Jack. I have no bloody idea."
Will drew back a bit at her hostility, but then pressed forward again.
"Shouldn't we stop? This storm is terrible."
"If we stop now, boy, then your pretty little lass could be dead by the time we get there. Jack and I were under the impression that you wanted to rescue her, but if not, hey, we'll just stop right here in the middle of the ocean and wait out this storm." Raine snapped at him. Will turned and looked at Jack, who was standing proudly at his helm, even in the midst of the rain. He looked calm and confident, which was exactly the opposite of all the other crewmembers, even Raine. Even if she knew that they had to continue, it was obviously that she would rather not be sailing in so violent a storm.
"Jack is bloody crazy." Will muttered. Nobody heard because of the storm, but even if they had, it made no difference… everyone already knew that Jack was crazy.
When the storm was over, there was a heavy fog laying caution and mystery over everything. There was tension between the crewmembers, as if they were all waiting for something terrible to happen, but nothing did, so the Interceptor drifted lazily through the fog, bringing them closer and closer to their destination.
Will managed to catch Anamaria in one of the few times when she was not doing something, or scowling in Raine's general direction.
"What did she do in the first place?" Will asked Anamaria, indicating Raine.
"Do?" Ana said, turning toward him and frowning. "Do? I met Jack in a tavern and figured that he was single and I could get a bloody drink or two off him. Then he introduced bloody Raine, who follows him like a puppy, and we all went and had some drinks. They were both pretending to be drunk, until I got drunk too, and then I must have told them where I had my boat. I don't really remember much about that night except that when I woke up, I was still in the tavern, and Jack was gone. I asked Raine where he went, and she said to steal my boat, so I jumped up real fast and went straight for the door. But before I could go anywhere, the bitch pulled a knife on me, and when I reached for my own knife, it was gone. She locked me in the closet, and after she left, I pounded on the thick door for three bloody hours until somebody realized they needed a bloody cloth and opened the bloody closet door! By that time, of course, they were both gone with my ship…" She trailed off and glared angrily and meaningfully at Raine. Will decided to change the subject.
"So what do you know about Jack?"
Anamaria frowned and thought for a moment. "Nothing, really, except what the stories say."
"And what do the stories say?"
"You don't want to know, mate."
***~***
Bootstrap and Jack were at the helm, discussing the course they were on. Their current course was set for the Isle De Muerta, where they had heard of a large hoard of treasure. Unlike Raine, Bootstrap insisted that he always know the plan, so of course, Jack told him. In the middle of their conversation, Raine stepped awkwardly up to the helm, and the talk stopped abruptly, as both men stared at her, assuming she had something she wanted to tell them about. When they stopped talking, she got upset, and turned around angrily to leave, since they obviously had a problem with her listening.
Jack stepped away from the helm to follow her, but the wheel turned slightly and he looked back at it anxiously. He glanced at Bootstrap, who nodded and went after Raine.
She climbed up to ratlines to the crow's nest, and he followed as quickly as he could. She went quickly, and gracefully as usual, which made him wonder how it could be that she could be clumsy on land, but with a catlike grace on the ocean.
When he finally caught up to her at the top, she was waiting for him, grinning at him, all anger long forgotten.
"How sweet of you to join me, Bill." She said. She was sitting on the wooden platform, and she patted the place next to her, so that Bootstrap sat down.
Then the both of them were sitting side by side and watching the sea and the sky, taking in all the hugeness of it next to each other.
"I just feel like sometimes Jack takes advantage of the fact that I'm always there to help him. And that even though I do all of that, he still doesn't trust me, or think I'm capable of doing what he does."
Bootstrap said nothing, not wanting to agree with her and shed a bad light on Jack, or defend Jack and have her mad at him.
Raine suddenly turned to him and said, "Bootstrap, why did you get married?"
"I loved her." He said, surprised that Raine brought this up.
"Do you still love her?" Raine said nervously.
"Yes." Bootstrap said, but he sounded unsure. Suddenly he knew what Raine wanted to say, and what she wanted to know. "Raine, I'm not going to be disloyal to my wife. I don't want you to think that I don't like you at all… I mean… well…"
Raine was watching him as he said this, and she was even grinning, even though it was a nervous sort of grin, sort of a sad, unsure grin.
"And what about Jack?" Bootstrap continued. "He'll be lost with the two of us; left out… it would be strange for all of us."
Raine nodded. "You're right, of course. Just friends. For Jack."