Ashley was dragged to the captain's quarters, unconscious. Roughly thrown onto the bed, Wesset sat beside her, pulled out his sword, and began lazily slicing a line down her arm. She awoke at the sudden, searing pain, and looked up at the man's leering face.
"Ah, yer awake then." His smile was twisted, and had no joy in it. "How was life aboard the Black Pearl?"
"Although the crew was slightly mindless, could have been worse I s'pose." She knew where this conversation was going to lead.
"So, how did yeh escape then?"
"Magic, Wesset, magic." Her face was stony, but he grinned all the more.
"Always thought yeh were a witch, Miss. Caroline, or do yeh still prefer Ashley?"
"Coming from your lips, I'd prefer neither."
"Still spirited, even in the face of death . . . yeh woulda made an excellent pirate had yeh not let emotion stand in yer way."
"Emotion, Wesset, I'd hardly call myself an emotional person of sorts."
"But yeh are, lass, yeh didn't kill yehself to save a bloody captain, who mos' likely, will never return the favor."
"I threw down my pistol so that when I die, I'd die happy knowing you died at my mercy." Not even a trace of anger was in her voice as she gently spoke the words. Wesset laughed heartily at this, and then stopped when she continued,
"Why are you keeping the crew alive, Wesset. You've never let a crew live long enough to see the inside of your ship before."
"I'll be frank with yeh, my dear, I need some help from yeh."
"Help from me? I'm intrigued Wesset, go on."
"Yer mother gave yeh something that doesn't belong to yeh. An' I want it back." Smiling, he began rolling up her pant leg, and began fingering the silver and gold anklet. She did not pull back, she allowed him to play with the jewelry.
"So, go ahead, take it." It was a challenge. A challenge Wesset did not accept. Grabbing her chin in his hands, he whispered,
"I can see yer gonna need some . . . motivation?" Wesset laughed and then proceeded, "Tha's why I need the crew an' captain. I trust they'll provide enough 'motivation' for yeh, won't they? Tha's yer problem Miss. Ashley, yeh care 'bout people. Yer too bloody heroic to be a pirate."
Not understanding what Wesset meant, Ashley stood up, and began walking to the door. Just as she reached the handle, Wesset's face fell as he said, "I wouldn't be doin' that if I were yeh."
Not really caring, Ashley opened the door to find two guards waiting for her. She was tired of running and tired of fighting. "Go ahead, boys. Do what yeh must." Not even flinching as the sword came within an inch of her eye, the two men then grabbed her, and forced down below.
~~**~~
Jack Sparrow was more depressed than he had ever been in his life. The Black Pearl was gone. She was sinking to oblivion, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. He was sulking in the corner of his cell, when Will tried to talk to him, a cell away.
"Jack . . . are you awake."
"Unfortunately, yes." The brooding former captain did not want to talk.
"Jack, we've got to find a way out of here."
"What does it matter?" Jack turned away from Will and muttered, "Go to sleep, boy." Will was angry at first, and tried to keep his exhausted mind from failing. But soon enough, the gentle snoring in the brig informed Jack that everyone, save for himself, was asleep. ~*I shoulda listened to that damn gel, she was right all along. Now I got nothing. The Pearl's gone, me crew's doomed.*~
A loud crash broke Jack from his thoughts. Ashley was being shoved down the stairs by two men. The first thing Jack noticed was that she was bleeding a lot. There seemed to be many fresh cuts on her. Just as she was about to be shoved in one of the cells where most of the crew was the other man stopped him.
"Captain says she needs to be alone in a cell."
"Well there aren't anymore, he wanted the captain alone in one, too!"
"Jus' put 'em together mate." And roughly pushing her into Jack's cell, they locked the door and left.
Jack watched her teeter dangerously as she tried to make her way to the back of the cell. Slowly she allowed herself to fall back against the wall, and slide down. Curling her knees to her chest, she sat in the darkness, and began inspecting her wounds.
"I assume yeh know how to fix this." Hanging her limp wrist in front of the moping captain Ashley waited for a reply. When she got none, she drew her arm back.
"What's the matter with yeh?"
No response.
"Out with it, *former* captain of the Black Pearl." Instantly she knew she had struck a nerve. Jack rolled over to her and grabbed her injured wrist. The shock of the movement caused her to wince in pain. She didn't fight his grip, only continued, "Oh, I'm sorry . . . yeh liked that ship right?" Fighting the urge to cry out, Jack began twisting the dislocated wrist into more uncomfortable positions. "Yeh know, by now i's probably starting to rot, perhaps a few of the splinters have settled?" This time the pain was like hot fire, running up her entire left arm. Trying to keep her cry low, she yelped in distress as the wrist gave a sickening crack.
"Don't . . . ever . . . talk . . . that . . . way . . .about . . .me . . . ship." Jack wrenched her injury harder with every word.
"If . . . you . . . are . . . more . . . worried . . . about . . . a damn . . . sunken . . . pile . . . of . . . wood. Then you aren't the captain I thought you were." She spat out the last sentence as the twists of hellish agony continued, then suddenly stopped.
Jack looked at the woman sitting before him, her face contorted in pain. ~*'Then you aren't the captain I thought you were . . .'*~ Jack watched as Ashley drew back her wrist, and began to speak again.
"Now . . . I'll ask a second time . . . Can you fix my wrist?" She held it in front of him. It was at least twice as large as her other one, and Jack guessed it was most likely an odd shade of color. He held it gently in his hand, slowly tracing the bones that were beneath her skin. She drew back from the touch, but Jack's hand held it in place. With a few rapid movements, Jack had succeeded in putting most of the bones back in place. Ashley had not made a sound during it all, and when he was finished, she pulled her hand back, and began sliding away from him.
"Thank you." Ashley was now sitting in the opposite corner and staring at the bars of the cell. Jack did not reply, the silence was only broken by an occasional snore from a crew member.
"Yeh should spend less time brooding, Sparrow, and more time planning. 'Cause unless yeh think of something, yeh'll be the one suffering the most." When she received silence yet again, she sighed and hugged her knees tighter to her chest.
"I know what it's like to lose a ship, Sparrow. I understand the feeling yeh've got right now. But . . . if the loss of the Black Pearl makes yeh curl up an' not want to fight anymore, then yeh ain't a pirate. Yur a bloody coward. Yur supposed to be Captain Jack Sparrow, the one and only. An' if yeh can't take care of yer own crew, then yer not worthy of that brand." Finishing, Ashley gave a slight yawn, curled into a ball, and tried to sleep. Jack watched her body go limp as she was overtaken by sleep. But Jack could not sleep, her words kept playing over and over again in his head . . . ~*'yur supposed to be Captain Jack Sparrow . . . yer not worthy of that brand.'*~
Well??? What do you think? Please Please PLEase PLEAse PLEASe PLEASE!!!! PLEASE REVIEW!!! I took the time to write this the LEAST you could do is review it for me. I don't care if you even leave a two worded one stating: Good Job. PLEASE REVIEW or I will have to stop. Thanks!!!
