Sorry to write a cliff-hanger and then not update for a few days- please don't hate me!
To FencingBabe7: I've been mulling over what you said, about Jack being capable of love, and I've decided I believe you. The thing is, I just don't think that Jack loves Morgan particularly. So I've taken this into account in my new chapter. I might go further with the idea (another prequel, maybe?) I might not. But thanks anyway. You're a constructive critic.
A little side note here:
The name "Catriona" is Gaelic, and can be pronounced either Ka-tree-nah or Ka-tree-on-ah. Your pick.
Review replies are at the end of the chapter.
***
Meryl opened her eyes, glancing at the tired couple and the far-off privateer. Something shiny glinted at the edge of her peripheral vision. She glanced at it.
Jack's dagger was lying buried in the sand.
Unguarded.
She stood up and strode over to it, almost as if in a trance. Her hands found the hilt and directed the weapon so it was angled up to her chest. She closed her eyes and thrust the blade up towards her heart...
...but Jack's hand caught hers just in time.
"Now that would've been an awful mess, Meryl darling." He chided.
She scowled. "Let me be."
"Care to tell me why you're set on killing yourself, luv?" He said, prying the dagger from her grasp.
Meryl's stormy eyes clouded over and she felt as if her heart had been wrenched from her chest. A tear rolled down her cheek, and she shivered. It made her body ache to remember, to explain... "He loved me."
Jack met her gaze questioningly. "Roberts was a bloody pirate, luv. The likes of him aren't hard to come by."
Meryl pulled her hand out of his. "Forget it. I should've known you wouldn't understand." She turned and stalked off along the beach.
He followed her, feeling somewhat slighted at her dismissive assumption that he wasn't able to empathize with love. "What's not to understand?"
She whirled around to face him. "What would you know about love? Why, you've never even been in love yourself!"
He grasped her shoulders to keep her from stalking off again. His face was cold and sober, his eyes meringued with frost. "I've been in love." Meryl had never known his voice to be so... hollow. "Not really something I'd like to repeat. One cardinal rule of love is that you always get hurt before the end. You should know that, Meryl."
Not 'Meryl, luv', not 'Meryl darling.' Meryl. Just Meryl. No flourishes, no outlandish dialects, no affectionate suffixes to her name. Jack, as she knew him, had never been like this. So cold was his demeanour that she felt she almost believed him.
"Who-"
"We should head back. They'll be missing us." He turned and made his way back to their campsite, where the silhouettes of Morgan and Liam (both soundly sleeping) popped up against the warm glow of the fire. Meryl knew she had hit a nerve with Jack, so she remained quiet for a while. She watched placidly as he secured every last weapon he owned onto his belt. "No more trouble, aye?"
She stared into the hypnotic flames that licked at the sides of the firewood, wondering how painful it would be to be burned alive. Deciding that she wasn't brave enough to try it, she resigned herself to slumping down into the sand, letting the tiny after-midnight ripples lap at her toes with their cool, salty tongues.
Jack dropped himself down to sit beside her. Meryl glanced at him oddly. After hearing what he had just said, about being in love once, about getting hurt in the end, she felt a bond of sorts growing between him. He had gone through what she had, or something close to it. It was a silent sort of reverence that she held, knowing and respecting another's pain. In Meryl's mind, they were kindred souls now, so made akin by the spreading poison of a broken heart.
"Did she not return your love?" Meryl asked quietly.
Jack closed his eyes and winced a little, his brow furrowing, tell-tale of pain. "She pretended not to, but I know she did."
"What happened?" Meryl knew she was skating thin ice here, probing the wounds of the past, but it seemed to her something almost necessary.
"It wasn't meant to be." Jack said sagely, though his usual fiery laughter was still absent from his voice.
"Did you leave her?"
Jack's eyes met Meryl's coldly, as if daring her to ask anything more. "We had separate vocations, is that so hard to understand, Volleys?"
Meryl shook her head submissively, and for the next few minutes a thick silence hung between them. Then finally, Meryl glanced at him through the thin veil of hair that had slipped down over her eyes. "What was her name?"
Jack stood up. "It doesn't matter anymore." He held out his hand and pulled Meryl to her feet, resuming his normal flourishing gestures and mischievous grins. "You might want to stay alive just a little bit longer, luv. Morgan and I figure we have a nice little cache of whisky hidden somewhere hereabouts."
Meryl smiled falsely. "Oh yes, Jack," She said sarcastically, "I'll just drown my sorrows in booze. That'll solve everything." She shook her head. "When have you ever known me to drink?"
He shrugged. "Just a suggestion."
Meryl paused to think for a moment. After feeling such a bond build itself up between her and Jack, her need to end this life had lessened. It was as if by being around someone who had suffered like she had, her wounds were beginning to heal. Slowly. "Fine." She said at last. "I'll keep myself going. But it's for the booze, Jack, not for you."
"I would never ask as much, darling." He reassured her.
Meryl felt her previously unanswered question leaping inside of her mind, and curiosity got the better of her. She placed a scrubby hand on his shoulder and met his gaze soberly. "You never answered me."
"Answered you what?"
"What was her name?"
This time Jack avoided her eyes completely. "She called herself Catriona."
***
Review Replies:
divinething-
Yeah, "Rain" was a bit of a spoiler. Oh well. Glad you're into it.
et-spiritus-sancti-
Sorry. But I AM updating now! Please be happy! J I'd like to be a journalist, but also a Dresser, Pilot, Fashion Designer, or Historian. I'll never decide. *shakes head*
Elle-
I didn't kill her! I swear!
Erin Richards-
Hmmm… Jack confuses me. Oh well, glad you're enjoying it. And I would never hurt Meryl. She's cool.
justjess22-
Don't worry! I'm updating now!
PLEASE REVIEW!
-SQ
