Broken Wings
A Pirates of the Caribbean story by Merrie
Disclaimer: The Voice told me that Jack and everything POTC related is mine. Or at least, it will be after I kill......I mean, thank a few people first. Yeah, thank.......
Summary: Captain Jack has lost his ship, his crew, and nearly his life to a horrible new curse. Will this Sparrow be able soar again after his wings have been broken?
Characters: Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Commodore Norrington, and all the wonderful cast of POTC.
Author's Note: Thank you so much to those of you who reviewed! And a special thanks to Miss Becky for betaing!!! You're the best, Miss B.
Rating: This story is rated PG-13 for violence and language. The fun stuff, right?
Chapter 4: Rescues? And Revenge
Jack nearly groaned in relief at the absolute silence that surrounded him. The voice that had plagued his thoughts the last few......hours.....days.....Jack wasn't sure anymore, seemed to finally have left him alone for at least a little while. He used this time alone to collect himself and his thoughts. Some part of his brain knew that the voice was just prolonging his torment by allowing this brief period of rest, but Jack didn't care. The effects of a mixture of blood loss, thirst and hunger were beginning to get to him, and he needed the rest. Fortunately enough, there seemed to be plenty of rum left to drink even if there wasn't any food, and after a gentle inspection of whatever wound plagued him at the back of his head, he was relieved to find that it had stopped bleeding. He wasn't too worried about the lack of food either. He had eaten a relatively large meal before coming to this accursed island, and even with all that happened he was still optimistic enough to believe that he would either be rescued or escape on his own before starvation became an issue.
Rising slowly to his feet, he cursed aloud his restless nature. He knew he should have been resting, but he couldn't stand to stay still for long periods of time. He never had been. So, finally giving into the restlessness that had been picking at his brain for quite a while now, he got up slowly and for the first time made his way over to the bodies of his crew. Immediately, his eyes set upon Gibbs and he felt his heart drop into his stomach. The man had died with a smile on his face, a hand still clenched around a fistful of treasure. Jack wanted to stay and watch over the body of his friend and shipmate, one of the only people who had remained at his side while he sought to reclaim the Pearl, but he knew he didn't have the time. He didn't want to think on such grim thoughts, especially now that he was haunted by the source of these thoughts, but he would most likely not be able to look on his crew's faces for very much longer. He had seen many dead men in his long years as a pirate, and he knew what happened to the bodies of the long dead. Decay would eventually set in, and the bodies of his friends would rot away into nothing but bones. And the dampness of the oceanside cave would more than likely speed up this dreadful process as well. Jack prayed fervently to a God he was no longer sure he believed in that he wouldn't have to witness such a horrid sight; that he would be able to set his mates to rest long before such an event could take place.
'Your *prayers*,' the word was sneered obscenely, 'are useless. You will live to see your friends and lover rot and decay around you as I promised.'
"Leave me alone, ye curse'd specter. I want nothing more ta do with ye." Jack said sternly, although he knew it was folly to think that this thing, whatever it was, would acquiesce to his demands.
'But I'm no specter, Jack. Well, maybe I am, but then again, maybe I'm not. You know, there's still a chance that all of this is in your head. Who knows? Maybe you're still on that island, near death from thirst and starvation, and you've been imagining all of this. All these people you've met and loved are merely figments of a dying man's last dreams. Or maybe you're locked up somewhere, and all of this is the ravings of a mad man,'
For an instant-Jack later thanked God that it was at least mercifully short- the world around him changed. The bodies disappeared, the cave walls melted and faded away, and Jack found himself in the very places the specter had mentioned. He struggled with the feelings that accompanied these images, an insanity of the likes he had never seen before; a mad desire to get someone, anyone, to believe that his stories, that his life was real. That Will and Elizabeth were real. That Ana was real. But it was to no avail. No one cared to listen to the unintelligible rantings of a madman.
"This......is.......not......real!!" Jack shouted with all his might. In the instant the last syllable passed his lips, the scene before him dissolved, and he found himself once more in the tomb-like cave. It was hell, that was true, but it was a far preferred hell than the ones the specter had shown him.
'Are you so sure about that?' the voice asked tauntingly. Before Jack could reply, he could sense that the specter had once more left him to his own thoughts. He in no way thought the voice had left for good, no, it had too much for in store for him to leave him be just yet. What the voice had in store for him Jack could only fear would be his eventual loss of anything resembling sanity, leaving him just as mad as everyone seemed to think he was.
At one time he might have still been a little relieved to be left alone with his thoughts at least. That is, if the thoughts that were currently running through his brain were not filled with the images he had just witnessed, he might have been. He should have been able to dismiss them easily from his brain however, because they weren't real. What he had seen couldn't be real. Could it? An ever so small part of his brain that was being well cultivated by the voice began to doubt.
***
"Are you going to tell me why you woke me up in the middle of the night and forced me to sneak out of my own house now, Will? James?" Elizabeth asked the two men when they were out beyond the point where someone might have heard them in the mansion. She gave each of them a stern look when neither man answered. "Listen here, gentlemen. I'm not moving another inch until you tell me what is going on!"
Will groaned. He had seen that look on Elizabeth's face before. He knew she wasn't moving another step until she had gotten what she wanted. "We're going to rescue Jack, Elizabeth. He's in trouble and he needs our help?"
"Jack?" Elizabeth asked with wide eyes. Her eyes widened even further as she looked upon the commodore. "Surely you're not speaking of Jack Sparrow, are you? Because I would never deign to help a pirate." Elizabeth was now putting on a somewhat unconvincing act that brought a smile to Norrington's face.
"You don't have to lie to me, Elizabeth. For some reason or other that I don't quite fully understand yet, I've agreed to help Will here rescue your Captain Sparrow."
"You called him Captain." Elizabeth couldn't help but point out in an astonished tone of voice.
Norrington's now pale face was clearly seen in the increasing light. "So I did. Imagine that." He said slowly. "I rather think I need to sit down now," he said, his eyes wide in disbelief.
Will slapped him heartily on the shoulder and spoke up loudly. "Take heart, James. At least he's not here to see witness such a revelation." As soon as he realized what he had said, that he had unintentionally wished for Jack to remain wherever he was, be he in trouble or not, Will's face fell.
Norrington, being at such close proximity with him, saw the immediate change in emotion and whispered slowly in his ear, "I'm sure he's fine. We will rescue your captain. On this, I give my word of honor."
Will pulled back to look at him and saw such a look of absolute seriousness on his face that for that moment he truly believed that if Jack was able to be rescued, he would be rescued with no trouble at all.
"I believe you when you say Jack's in trouble, Will, but how do you know it?" Elizabeth asked.
"I would very much like to know that bit of information myself, Will," Norrington said, giving Will a direct look.
Trapped between two such people whom he knew wouldn't let him change the subject or put off the truth any longer, he spoke. "I wish I could tell you. I just don't know. Whatever I say to you will sound crazy."
"As opposed to tales of undead pirates and cursed Aztec gold?" Norrington said with a wry grin. "Out with it, Will. Elizabeth and I have agreed to help you rescue......Mr. Sparrow," the captain had nearly passed his lips once more before he caught it, "but we deserve to know what we're getting ourselves into."
Will sighed. "I know. I can't force either of you to help me without telling you what you're getting yourselves into now can I?" Will didn't wait for an answer to this rhetorical question, and no one offered one. "It was a dream. That's how I knew Jack was in trouble. Now, believe me. I know how that sounds, but this dream seemed more real that some of my clearest memories. Somehow, I know Jack's crew is dead."
"His crew? What do you mean is crew is dead? His entire crew?" Norrington asked in disbelief. He knew how many men it took to properly run a ship, and the thought of that many souls seemingly killed all at once sickened him.
"His entire crew. I don't know how they died, that part is unclear, but I do know that Jack is the only one left alive."
"My God, how horrible. His entire crew......even? Oh God, Mr. Gibbs." Elizabeth had always had some of a soft spot for the man, and to learn of his death was indeed a blow. "And that Jack would have to witness.......oh God Will. We have to get to him. No one should have to deal with something like this alone."
"I know, Elizabeth," he said, placing an arm tight around her waist to comfort her. "And I wish I could say that the deaths of his crew was the only thing I saw in my dream, but it wasn't. There is something else surrounding Jack right now that's inspiring my movements even more than the thought of Jack's crew."
"What do you mean? What is surrounding him?" Norrington asked quietly, the sick feeling over the toils Sparrow was facing growing worse.
"I'm not sure, exactly. And it was unclear in my dream. I just know that it was something dark and evil. Something that makes Barbossa's most dreadful acts look like mere child's play. Something that we should be wary of and something that will most certainly bring Jack to the breaking point unless we can get to him quickly. Again, I'm not sure how I know all of this, and right now I don't care. The only thing I care about right now is getting to Jack."
Elizabeth and Norrington nodded, each of them accepting this at face value, but knowing that the fact that Will had dreamt that Jack was in trouble, that he knew instinctively that he needed help, would not be put to the side so easily. Sooner or later, they would have to discover why this was happening and deal with it when the time came.
"Have you the faintest idea of where to begin looking for him, Will?" Norrington asked softly, praying that he had.
"Not entirely, I admit. It's a bit like how I know Jack's in trouble. Some part of me knows that when I'm close enough to him I will be able to find him. I wish I could tell you more than that, but I don't understand any of this any better than you do. Jack and I have some sort of......connection that wasn't there before. I don't know what it means or where it came from, but I have to trust it. Jack's life could be depending on it."
"We're going to need a ship, James. Have you any ideas about how to get one?" Elizabeth asked him.
"I might have a few. I'm not so sure about the crew though Will. I fear we may not find many men willing to go out on the sea when she's acting in a way such as this," he gestured down to the beach where the tall waves were beating unmercifully at the dock. "Especially on a mission to rescue a pirate. No to mention the fact that we don't even know where to find him yet."
"Can the three of us man a boat by ourselves? You and Jack made it all the way to......" Elizabeth paused to remember the name. "Tortuga, was it? With only the two of you on board, Will. Surely the three of us could do the same. Couldn't we?"
"While your faith in our abilities is appreciated, the three of us can't man a ship by ourselves." Norrington said with a sad smile, not knowing how they were going to pull this little *adventure* off.
"Why can't we?" Will asked suddenly.
Norrington gaped at him. "Are you mad? The three of us alone on a ship on a day like this? I can taste a storm on the wind even if you can't, Will, and the three of us certainly couldn't man a ship by ourselves in something like that. And even if we could, where are we going to get a ship? I doubt very much that the British Royal Navy would just willingly give one to us. And even if they did......" Norrington's eyes narrowed as he caught sight of a truly mischievous look on Will's face that reminded him a little too much of the man they were setting out to rescue. A horrid thought occurred to him and his face paled considerably. "Oh please tell me you're not thinking what I think you are. I rather like being a commodore, remember? And stealing one of the navy's ships is definitely not going to look good on my record."
"Stealing? No. We're not going to steal a ship." Will said, the mischievous grin on his face growing even wider. "We're going to *commandeer* a ship. Nautical term, you know, Commodore." Norrington just groaned.
***
'Did you have a nice rest?' the voice teased upon its return. Jack fought not to groan.
"Why are you doing this to me? What are you? I've returned all your gold back to wherever we had taken it from! What more do you want!" It was true, Jack had spent his 'rest,' slowly but surely replacing every bit of gold he had found on his crewmembers' bodies back in the chests and piles they had been taken from. The task left a dirty taste in his mouth, and he felt like a grave robber.
'You are a grave robber,' the voice seethed. 'What do you think this place is? Not now, although thanks to you this is definitely a grave now, but what do you think this cave was before you and your crew got here? Are you really stupid enough to think that all this treasure would be laying around for no reason?'
Jack hadn't really cared where it had come from. Gold kept his crew happy, and a happy crew was a non-mutinous crew. Not that any of that mattered now, of course. There was no one left to mutiny should they feel the desire. "I don't care what it was. I don't care what it is now. All I want is for you to leave me and my remaining friends alone. You've already killed......you've already killed many of the people that I care about. Isn't that enough for you? Isn't that a curse enough? To know that I will be haunted by this day for the rest of my days? Well congratulations you bastard. I will be." Jack's tirade was cut off as he was thrown across the room violently, landing hard on the rocks next to Mr. Cotton's body. Wiping a hand across his mouth, he cursed and spit blood onto the ground. He had bit into his tongue sharply as he had hit the ground, and now his mouth was filled with the sick copper taste of his own blood.
'Nothing I do will be enough for what you've done, Sparrow,' the voice said coldly. 'I want you to remember this the next time you feel a need to put on a little display. Just because I haven't hurt you, doesn't mean that I can't.' Jack fell back to the ground in relief as the specter's presence faded once more.
"Oh, bloody hell." Jack cursed, making it to his feet unsteadily. He could feel something warm dripping down his neck and knew that the wound at the back of his head had broken open again. The room began to spin, and spots danced at the edges of his vision as he struggled not to pass out. At this point, unconsciousness might have been welcome save for the fact that he was worried that he might not wake up. Looking up to the ceiling of the cave, Jack spoke. Whom he was speaking to, he wasn't entirely sure. "I can't take much more of this. If Will and Elizabeth are coming for me, they had better hurry."
TBC
A/N: You like? This wasn't too bad of a place to end, now was it? *evil grin* Wow, I'm sure being pretty mean to our dear Captain. And as for Will, Elizabeth and our dear Commodore......well, let's just say that there won't be smooth sailing for them either. What can I say? I'm evil, and you all know it.
A Pirates of the Caribbean story by Merrie
Disclaimer: The Voice told me that Jack and everything POTC related is mine. Or at least, it will be after I kill......I mean, thank a few people first. Yeah, thank.......
Summary: Captain Jack has lost his ship, his crew, and nearly his life to a horrible new curse. Will this Sparrow be able soar again after his wings have been broken?
Characters: Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Commodore Norrington, and all the wonderful cast of POTC.
Author's Note: Thank you so much to those of you who reviewed! And a special thanks to Miss Becky for betaing!!! You're the best, Miss B.
Rating: This story is rated PG-13 for violence and language. The fun stuff, right?
Chapter 4: Rescues? And Revenge
Jack nearly groaned in relief at the absolute silence that surrounded him. The voice that had plagued his thoughts the last few......hours.....days.....Jack wasn't sure anymore, seemed to finally have left him alone for at least a little while. He used this time alone to collect himself and his thoughts. Some part of his brain knew that the voice was just prolonging his torment by allowing this brief period of rest, but Jack didn't care. The effects of a mixture of blood loss, thirst and hunger were beginning to get to him, and he needed the rest. Fortunately enough, there seemed to be plenty of rum left to drink even if there wasn't any food, and after a gentle inspection of whatever wound plagued him at the back of his head, he was relieved to find that it had stopped bleeding. He wasn't too worried about the lack of food either. He had eaten a relatively large meal before coming to this accursed island, and even with all that happened he was still optimistic enough to believe that he would either be rescued or escape on his own before starvation became an issue.
Rising slowly to his feet, he cursed aloud his restless nature. He knew he should have been resting, but he couldn't stand to stay still for long periods of time. He never had been. So, finally giving into the restlessness that had been picking at his brain for quite a while now, he got up slowly and for the first time made his way over to the bodies of his crew. Immediately, his eyes set upon Gibbs and he felt his heart drop into his stomach. The man had died with a smile on his face, a hand still clenched around a fistful of treasure. Jack wanted to stay and watch over the body of his friend and shipmate, one of the only people who had remained at his side while he sought to reclaim the Pearl, but he knew he didn't have the time. He didn't want to think on such grim thoughts, especially now that he was haunted by the source of these thoughts, but he would most likely not be able to look on his crew's faces for very much longer. He had seen many dead men in his long years as a pirate, and he knew what happened to the bodies of the long dead. Decay would eventually set in, and the bodies of his friends would rot away into nothing but bones. And the dampness of the oceanside cave would more than likely speed up this dreadful process as well. Jack prayed fervently to a God he was no longer sure he believed in that he wouldn't have to witness such a horrid sight; that he would be able to set his mates to rest long before such an event could take place.
'Your *prayers*,' the word was sneered obscenely, 'are useless. You will live to see your friends and lover rot and decay around you as I promised.'
"Leave me alone, ye curse'd specter. I want nothing more ta do with ye." Jack said sternly, although he knew it was folly to think that this thing, whatever it was, would acquiesce to his demands.
'But I'm no specter, Jack. Well, maybe I am, but then again, maybe I'm not. You know, there's still a chance that all of this is in your head. Who knows? Maybe you're still on that island, near death from thirst and starvation, and you've been imagining all of this. All these people you've met and loved are merely figments of a dying man's last dreams. Or maybe you're locked up somewhere, and all of this is the ravings of a mad man,'
For an instant-Jack later thanked God that it was at least mercifully short- the world around him changed. The bodies disappeared, the cave walls melted and faded away, and Jack found himself in the very places the specter had mentioned. He struggled with the feelings that accompanied these images, an insanity of the likes he had never seen before; a mad desire to get someone, anyone, to believe that his stories, that his life was real. That Will and Elizabeth were real. That Ana was real. But it was to no avail. No one cared to listen to the unintelligible rantings of a madman.
"This......is.......not......real!!" Jack shouted with all his might. In the instant the last syllable passed his lips, the scene before him dissolved, and he found himself once more in the tomb-like cave. It was hell, that was true, but it was a far preferred hell than the ones the specter had shown him.
'Are you so sure about that?' the voice asked tauntingly. Before Jack could reply, he could sense that the specter had once more left him to his own thoughts. He in no way thought the voice had left for good, no, it had too much for in store for him to leave him be just yet. What the voice had in store for him Jack could only fear would be his eventual loss of anything resembling sanity, leaving him just as mad as everyone seemed to think he was.
At one time he might have still been a little relieved to be left alone with his thoughts at least. That is, if the thoughts that were currently running through his brain were not filled with the images he had just witnessed, he might have been. He should have been able to dismiss them easily from his brain however, because they weren't real. What he had seen couldn't be real. Could it? An ever so small part of his brain that was being well cultivated by the voice began to doubt.
***
"Are you going to tell me why you woke me up in the middle of the night and forced me to sneak out of my own house now, Will? James?" Elizabeth asked the two men when they were out beyond the point where someone might have heard them in the mansion. She gave each of them a stern look when neither man answered. "Listen here, gentlemen. I'm not moving another inch until you tell me what is going on!"
Will groaned. He had seen that look on Elizabeth's face before. He knew she wasn't moving another step until she had gotten what she wanted. "We're going to rescue Jack, Elizabeth. He's in trouble and he needs our help?"
"Jack?" Elizabeth asked with wide eyes. Her eyes widened even further as she looked upon the commodore. "Surely you're not speaking of Jack Sparrow, are you? Because I would never deign to help a pirate." Elizabeth was now putting on a somewhat unconvincing act that brought a smile to Norrington's face.
"You don't have to lie to me, Elizabeth. For some reason or other that I don't quite fully understand yet, I've agreed to help Will here rescue your Captain Sparrow."
"You called him Captain." Elizabeth couldn't help but point out in an astonished tone of voice.
Norrington's now pale face was clearly seen in the increasing light. "So I did. Imagine that." He said slowly. "I rather think I need to sit down now," he said, his eyes wide in disbelief.
Will slapped him heartily on the shoulder and spoke up loudly. "Take heart, James. At least he's not here to see witness such a revelation." As soon as he realized what he had said, that he had unintentionally wished for Jack to remain wherever he was, be he in trouble or not, Will's face fell.
Norrington, being at such close proximity with him, saw the immediate change in emotion and whispered slowly in his ear, "I'm sure he's fine. We will rescue your captain. On this, I give my word of honor."
Will pulled back to look at him and saw such a look of absolute seriousness on his face that for that moment he truly believed that if Jack was able to be rescued, he would be rescued with no trouble at all.
"I believe you when you say Jack's in trouble, Will, but how do you know it?" Elizabeth asked.
"I would very much like to know that bit of information myself, Will," Norrington said, giving Will a direct look.
Trapped between two such people whom he knew wouldn't let him change the subject or put off the truth any longer, he spoke. "I wish I could tell you. I just don't know. Whatever I say to you will sound crazy."
"As opposed to tales of undead pirates and cursed Aztec gold?" Norrington said with a wry grin. "Out with it, Will. Elizabeth and I have agreed to help you rescue......Mr. Sparrow," the captain had nearly passed his lips once more before he caught it, "but we deserve to know what we're getting ourselves into."
Will sighed. "I know. I can't force either of you to help me without telling you what you're getting yourselves into now can I?" Will didn't wait for an answer to this rhetorical question, and no one offered one. "It was a dream. That's how I knew Jack was in trouble. Now, believe me. I know how that sounds, but this dream seemed more real that some of my clearest memories. Somehow, I know Jack's crew is dead."
"His crew? What do you mean is crew is dead? His entire crew?" Norrington asked in disbelief. He knew how many men it took to properly run a ship, and the thought of that many souls seemingly killed all at once sickened him.
"His entire crew. I don't know how they died, that part is unclear, but I do know that Jack is the only one left alive."
"My God, how horrible. His entire crew......even? Oh God, Mr. Gibbs." Elizabeth had always had some of a soft spot for the man, and to learn of his death was indeed a blow. "And that Jack would have to witness.......oh God Will. We have to get to him. No one should have to deal with something like this alone."
"I know, Elizabeth," he said, placing an arm tight around her waist to comfort her. "And I wish I could say that the deaths of his crew was the only thing I saw in my dream, but it wasn't. There is something else surrounding Jack right now that's inspiring my movements even more than the thought of Jack's crew."
"What do you mean? What is surrounding him?" Norrington asked quietly, the sick feeling over the toils Sparrow was facing growing worse.
"I'm not sure, exactly. And it was unclear in my dream. I just know that it was something dark and evil. Something that makes Barbossa's most dreadful acts look like mere child's play. Something that we should be wary of and something that will most certainly bring Jack to the breaking point unless we can get to him quickly. Again, I'm not sure how I know all of this, and right now I don't care. The only thing I care about right now is getting to Jack."
Elizabeth and Norrington nodded, each of them accepting this at face value, but knowing that the fact that Will had dreamt that Jack was in trouble, that he knew instinctively that he needed help, would not be put to the side so easily. Sooner or later, they would have to discover why this was happening and deal with it when the time came.
"Have you the faintest idea of where to begin looking for him, Will?" Norrington asked softly, praying that he had.
"Not entirely, I admit. It's a bit like how I know Jack's in trouble. Some part of me knows that when I'm close enough to him I will be able to find him. I wish I could tell you more than that, but I don't understand any of this any better than you do. Jack and I have some sort of......connection that wasn't there before. I don't know what it means or where it came from, but I have to trust it. Jack's life could be depending on it."
"We're going to need a ship, James. Have you any ideas about how to get one?" Elizabeth asked him.
"I might have a few. I'm not so sure about the crew though Will. I fear we may not find many men willing to go out on the sea when she's acting in a way such as this," he gestured down to the beach where the tall waves were beating unmercifully at the dock. "Especially on a mission to rescue a pirate. No to mention the fact that we don't even know where to find him yet."
"Can the three of us man a boat by ourselves? You and Jack made it all the way to......" Elizabeth paused to remember the name. "Tortuga, was it? With only the two of you on board, Will. Surely the three of us could do the same. Couldn't we?"
"While your faith in our abilities is appreciated, the three of us can't man a ship by ourselves." Norrington said with a sad smile, not knowing how they were going to pull this little *adventure* off.
"Why can't we?" Will asked suddenly.
Norrington gaped at him. "Are you mad? The three of us alone on a ship on a day like this? I can taste a storm on the wind even if you can't, Will, and the three of us certainly couldn't man a ship by ourselves in something like that. And even if we could, where are we going to get a ship? I doubt very much that the British Royal Navy would just willingly give one to us. And even if they did......" Norrington's eyes narrowed as he caught sight of a truly mischievous look on Will's face that reminded him a little too much of the man they were setting out to rescue. A horrid thought occurred to him and his face paled considerably. "Oh please tell me you're not thinking what I think you are. I rather like being a commodore, remember? And stealing one of the navy's ships is definitely not going to look good on my record."
"Stealing? No. We're not going to steal a ship." Will said, the mischievous grin on his face growing even wider. "We're going to *commandeer* a ship. Nautical term, you know, Commodore." Norrington just groaned.
***
'Did you have a nice rest?' the voice teased upon its return. Jack fought not to groan.
"Why are you doing this to me? What are you? I've returned all your gold back to wherever we had taken it from! What more do you want!" It was true, Jack had spent his 'rest,' slowly but surely replacing every bit of gold he had found on his crewmembers' bodies back in the chests and piles they had been taken from. The task left a dirty taste in his mouth, and he felt like a grave robber.
'You are a grave robber,' the voice seethed. 'What do you think this place is? Not now, although thanks to you this is definitely a grave now, but what do you think this cave was before you and your crew got here? Are you really stupid enough to think that all this treasure would be laying around for no reason?'
Jack hadn't really cared where it had come from. Gold kept his crew happy, and a happy crew was a non-mutinous crew. Not that any of that mattered now, of course. There was no one left to mutiny should they feel the desire. "I don't care what it was. I don't care what it is now. All I want is for you to leave me and my remaining friends alone. You've already killed......you've already killed many of the people that I care about. Isn't that enough for you? Isn't that a curse enough? To know that I will be haunted by this day for the rest of my days? Well congratulations you bastard. I will be." Jack's tirade was cut off as he was thrown across the room violently, landing hard on the rocks next to Mr. Cotton's body. Wiping a hand across his mouth, he cursed and spit blood onto the ground. He had bit into his tongue sharply as he had hit the ground, and now his mouth was filled with the sick copper taste of his own blood.
'Nothing I do will be enough for what you've done, Sparrow,' the voice said coldly. 'I want you to remember this the next time you feel a need to put on a little display. Just because I haven't hurt you, doesn't mean that I can't.' Jack fell back to the ground in relief as the specter's presence faded once more.
"Oh, bloody hell." Jack cursed, making it to his feet unsteadily. He could feel something warm dripping down his neck and knew that the wound at the back of his head had broken open again. The room began to spin, and spots danced at the edges of his vision as he struggled not to pass out. At this point, unconsciousness might have been welcome save for the fact that he was worried that he might not wake up. Looking up to the ceiling of the cave, Jack spoke. Whom he was speaking to, he wasn't entirely sure. "I can't take much more of this. If Will and Elizabeth are coming for me, they had better hurry."
TBC
A/N: You like? This wasn't too bad of a place to end, now was it? *evil grin* Wow, I'm sure being pretty mean to our dear Captain. And as for Will, Elizabeth and our dear Commodore......well, let's just say that there won't be smooth sailing for them either. What can I say? I'm evil, and you all know it.