Broken Wings
A Pirates of the Caribbean story by Merrie
Disclaimer: They're definitely not mine. No one who owned these characters would be doing the things I'm doing to them. :-)
Summary: Captain Jack has lost his crew, nearly his life, and now his sanity 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, Kiquan, and Lorelac that @#$%^&**(^*^$@!
Author's Note: To Miss Becky for doing a wonderful betaing job as always, love ya, Miss B! And to Halia, Sara and Gypsy for pushing me on and encouraging me every step of the way. You guys are the best!!!
Rating: PG-13 for language, violence, and more EXTREME angst.
Chapter 15: Pain, Possession, Punishment and Postludes
"Do you think he'll be ok in there alone?" Elizabeth asked, glancing over her shoulder at Jack's cabin where they had left him tied up once more lying on the bed.
"I don't know. Did you hear the way he was talking? That's not the Captain Jack Sparrow I know," Will said with a frown.
"I know, but can you blame him really? He has suffered quite a few losses as of late," Norrington pointed out with a frown.
"I know, it's just..." Will trailed off with a sigh, not knowing what to say.
"You don't like seeing him this way. Trust me, Will. None of us do. But he'll be alright. He has to be," Norrington said with a somber look.
"I still don't think we should have left him in there alone. Especially in that state," Will said.
"Will, he asked us to leave. And right now, we need to be thinking of ourselves. We have to get this ship moving somehow. Jack needs medical attention; more than we can give him here," Norrington said.
"Let's see if we can't get this ship ready to sail then, shall we?" Will said with one last look in Jack's direction before moving to pull up the anchors and make the Black Pearl ready to make sail.
***
'Well I guess it's just you and me now, Jack,' Lorelac taunted upon seeing that the cabin was now empty. 'It looks like your friends have abandoned you after all. Just like I told you they would.'
"I told them to leave," Jack said absently, staring up at the ceiling of his cabin. The ropes at his wrists chafed a bit; he had made Norrington tie them as tightly as the military man dared, not wanting to injure the sensitive flesh of Jack's wrists. "I wanted to be alone."
'You do realize that you're not bloody going to ever be alone again as long as I'm here, don't you?' Lorelac asked incredulously.
"Yes, I know," Jack mumbled, still staring fixedly at a point above him.
'Well this is going to be bloody easier than I thought,' Lorelac muttered to himself. 'You've given up, haven't you? I don't bloody believe it. Captain Jack Sparrow, and he's given up. You really don't care about anything anymore, do you?'
"You've taken all I cared about away," Jack muttered, still not moving, still staring up at the ceiling.
'What about the witless trio out there? Don't you care about them?' Lorelac asked, and if he had a body just then, he would have been smirking.
"You'll have me kill them sooner or later," Jack murmured with a frown, finally blinking.
'Ahh, finally a reaction! And here I thought you had turned to stone on me, Jack. Or else, gone even more insane. With you, one can never tell.'
"Just leave me alone," Jack moaned softly, still not moving. "I don't want to talk to you right now. Go away."
'You say that as if I'm actually going to just up and leave Jack. Why is that? Haven't you figured it out yet? I'm never leaving. I'll be here for the rest of your life, and there's nothing you can do about it,' Lorlac said with a dark laugh, possessing Jack once more. Jack screamed as his entire body was flooded with pain more intense than anything he had ever felt before, and his mind simply slipped away.
***
"Oh God, you all heard that, right?" Will asked, his face growing pale.
"Jack," Elizabeth whispered, her eyes widening as she turned to run to his cabin, Will and Norrington close behind her.
When they arrived at Jack's cabin however, expecting to find him ranting and raving and tearing at his restraints, they were shocked to find him exactly how they left him. Well, almost, anyway.
"Jack? Are you all right?" Elizabeth asked worriedly, taking in the bloodied streaks on Jack's face trailing out from his eyes, nose and mouth. She had seen this before, and she didn't like it. Jack didn't answer her, and she moved tentatively forward, Norrington and Will close behind her.
"Oh God," Will and Norrington said in tandem, seeing Jack's face together as they moved into the room behind Elizabeth.
"What's wrong with him?" Will asked with a frown. "Jack! Answer me! Are you all right?" he shouted at his pirate friend. Still, Jack did not answer, only stared up at the ceiling with his bloodied eyes, still not moving.
Elizabeth took a deep breath, reassured herself that Will and Norrington were in the room with her and Jack, and moved to the pirate captain's side. She kneeled down beside the bed and laid a hand gently on his shoulder and whispered softly, "Jack? Please talk to us," she said, taking his head in both hands and moving his face to look at hers. What she saw there shocked her. She wasn't confronted by the nightmarish blue eyes of Lorelac, no, she was assaulted by Jack's own brown eyes, but they stared up at her as if he were asleep with his eyes open.
"Is he all right?" Norrington asked, coming to stand at her shoulder. Jack's eyes darted to him quickly, and Norrington took an involuntary step back under the full weight of Jack's intense dark stare. But still, Jack said nothing.
***
Jack heard each of them calling to him dimly, trying to get him to answer, but he found he hadn't the strength. He could feel Lorelac's presence prowling around his mind, annoyed that Jack's body wasn't doing as he commanded it to. He wanted to ask Lorelac what was wrong; why he wasn't taking over, but couldn't manage the words.
'I don't know what's happening any more than you, you pathetic bastard,' Lorelac mumbled, sounding more than a little annoyed. 'Look at you, you have no strength left to fight me, how am I not bathing in your friends' blood right now?'
If Jack could have answered, he would have, but all he could do was to stare in Elizabeth's eyes as she held his face up to his, not able to even blink. He could see her lips moving, obviously trying to talk to him and to get him to respond, but he couldn't get his mind to understand what she was saying to him. He was much too far gone for that; a prisoner in his own mind and body.
'Oh stop your bloody whining. Have you any idea how long I stayed trapped in that godforsaken cave until you and your witless crew came and set me free? It's a number far too high for your pathetic mortal brain to ever hope to comprehend, I bloody assure you,' Lorelac seethed. 'So if you think I'm just going to give up the only freedom I've ever known in millennia, you're even more dim-witted than I had originally though you were. And that would be saying a lot.'
"Jack, answer me please!" Elizabeth's voice suddenly broke through the fog that was enveloping his mind. He struggled to answer her, but the only thing he had been able to accomplish was to close his eyes and slowly open them again in a lazy blink. Elizabeth seemed to sigh in relief at that, at least. That one slow blink was probably the only indication that she had right now that Jack was even still alive; his body had been so still and lifeless.
'What is this? You shouldn't even be able to think coherent thoughts still let alone bloody blink! What in all the gods of heaven and the demons of hell's name is going on here?' Lorelac asked, a very real undercurrent of fear tinging his words for the first time since this nightmare had begun.
'If you...don't know, then how...do you expect....a pathetic mortal...like me too? You...bastard,' Jack managed to ask in the landscape of his own mind, every word a supreme effort.
Lorelac slapped Jack's presence within his own mind hard across the mouth for such insolence, but it was Jack's body who paid the price, and Elizabeth, Will and Norrington gasped to see Jack's lip split, and a thin trail of blood leak down to join the others that already covered his mouth and chin from when Lorelac had taken possession of him. For he was Lorelac's at the moment, despite the fact that the fallen god couldn't take control of his body. For if Jack wasn't in control of his own body, then there was no one else but Lorelac, was there?
'How dare you question me? I am a god! I am above your petty questions and curses! I will make you pay for—' Lorelac was cut off as Jack's body moved. 'Sparrow?' he called out uncertainly. Something had shifted and he didn't like it. He felt his hold on Jack begin to slip, and he didn't know why.
"Where am I?" Jack asked, casting his eyes around the room. He smiled in relief as his glance set upon a familiar face. "Ah, Miss Elizabeth thank God! Perhaps you would be good enough to inform me of where I am, and dear me, just what exactly are you wearing? And why am I tied up?" he asked with a frown, taking in the pants and billowy shirt she had borrowed from Anamaria's cabin to cover her naked state and the ropes that bound his wrists and feet.
"What do you mean; we're in your cabin?" Will said with a confused frown, relieved that Jack was at least talking again. "And you asked us to tie you up!"
"Oh no," Elizabeth whispered. "Edward?" she asked softly.
Jack winced. "I thought I had informed you of my great dislike for that name, Miss Elizabeth. And you didn't answer my questions. I find that rather rude."
"Edward John Corentin Alexandre Sperling, I assume?" Norrington asked wearily, moving to Elizabeth's side.
Jack narrowed his eyes at Norrington's approach. "You seem to have me at a bit of a disadvantage, sir. You know my name, and yet you have not introduced yourself." Jack made this statement sound like the gravest of insults in Norrington's ears somehow.
"James Christopher Michael Norrington III, Commodore of His Majesty's Royal Navy," Norrington said with a small bow. "And you sir, are in fact not Edward John Corentin Alexandre Sperling. You are Captain Jack Sparrow, a pirate."
"Oh not with this pirate business again. Are all of you people daft? Do I look like a pirate to you?" Jack asked in annoyance. "And I demand you release me at once!"
"We'll release you when you've proved to us that you're not a threat, and not a moment sooner. Do I make myself clear, Captain Sparrow? And as for looking like a pirate; have you taken a look at yourself lately?"
Jack scoffed at that but didn't argue, and did as Norrington had commanded him. "Dear God!" he quickly glanced at Elizabeth. "Do I truly look exactly the same as I did the last time I saw you? And is this once more 1693, not 1673?" he asked with a frown. "I can't remember. What's happening to me?"
"You're truly not Jack?" Will asked softly, finding it more difficult to wrap his mind around the concept of Jack not remembering who he was and in fact turning into an entirely different person than Norrington was.
"I am Jack, but I take it that's not what you mean. I find I don't remember you either. Am I supposed to remember you? Or is this our first meeting? Forgive me, but everything's so confusing right now," Jack said with a frown.
"I'm Will, Will Turner. And we're friends. We have been for over a year now, in fact," Will stuttered, his eyes wide.
"Friends for over a year, you say?" Jack looked Will up and down, taking in his dirty and torn clothes, clearly marking him as a member of one of the lower classes. "Well I suppose some allowances must me be made," he muttered to himself, leaving Will feeling slightly insulted. "And are you associated with Miss Elizabeth and Commodore...Norrington, was it?" Norrington nodded.
"Elizabeth is my fiancée, and I'd be honoured to call James my friend. As I am honoured to call you the same, Jack," Will said, determined to not feel insulted by the man before him, who was, for all intents and purposes, still his friend.
"Your fiancée? Oh, I'm, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't know. Forgive me, Elizabeth if I acted untoward to you. I didn't know you were engaged to be wed," Jack said in a rush, a true blush coloring his cheeks that forced Elizabeth to stifle giggles upon seeing him so flustered.
"It's all right, Jack. I'm not offended, and Will certainly isn't going to duel you over my honour or anything ridiculous like that. Nothing happened between us. You acted like a perfect gentleman. Rather opposite than how you usually act around me in fact," Elizabeth almost whispered with a frown.
Jack sighed in relief. "I am relieved, Miss Swann. I should not like it if you were upset with me," Jack whispered with such a charming smile even through the blood covering his face that Elizabeth was the one blushing this time.
Norrington found himself shaking his head ruefully at that. Even tied to a bed, blood covering his face in a macabre display, having forgotten who he was, Jack was still keeping them off balance. "I will untie your feet...Jack, if you swear that you will not move out of our sight. Do we have an agreement?"
"What about my hands?" Norrington just shook his head, not bothering to give reasons why, and Jack sighed. "Very well. We have an accord," he muttered. "Now untie me."
It was Norrington's turn to sigh as he moved to Jack's feet. While he worked the knots, he tried to reconcile the Jack Sperling that lie before him, and the Jack Sparrow he had known and found that he couldn't. What had driven a man of such high birth as he no doubt was by the sound of his proper English accent, become the infamous pirate? It was a question he fully intended to ask the pirate when he became himself again, that is if he didn't strangle his past alter-ego first.
"There, you're free. But if I were you, I'd stay in bed. You've got a number of broken ribs, and I have a feeling you won't want to irritate them any further than they already have been. You need your rest, Captain Sparrow," Norrington said softly.
"Please, don't call me that," Jack whispered. "I am not that man, no matter what you might want to believe. I don't know where your friend went, but for the moment he's gone and I've taken his place. I don't understand how or why, but I have. I didn't ask for this, to be propelled into a future I can't hope to comprehend. A pirate? Me? If you knew how ridiculous that sounded..." he trailed off with a frown. "And I had gathered that there must be something wrong with my chest. It doesn't usually hurt this bloody much," he paused as he realized what he had said. "Forgive me for my language, Miss Swann. It won't happen again," he said with conviction.
For a long moment Elizabeth hadn't the faintest idea of what Jack was talking about, and she turned to Will with a confused frown. Her bewilderment abated as she saw Will mouth "he cursed," in her direction. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that, Jack. I've heard much worse out of your mouth. Well, I'm pretty sure I have. You tend to curse in other languages when I'm not around. I think it's your...well, his, way of doing the same thing you're doing right now."
"And what might that be, Miss Swann?" Jack asked softly, looking as if he had been kicked in the stomach by the blacksmith's donkey.
"Trying to be a gentleman," Elizabeth said with a small smile. "Jack may not be a part of you, but you're most assuredly a part of Jack. Even though he's become rather accomplished at hiding the fact," she muttered.
Jack didn't know quite how to answer that so he just turned his head to stare up at the ceiling, trying to even out his breathing so every intake of breath didn't quite feel as if it were about to cause his chest to rip open at the pain of his broken ribs. He managed to do so about every fourth breath or so, trying not to wince on the others. "Am I to assume I'm some kind of prisoner? Is that why I'm tied up?" A horrid thought occurred to him and the blood drained out of his face. "I'm not to be hung, am I?" he looked to Norrington, his eyes wide and frightened.
Norrington couldn't help feeling sorry for the man in front of him, whose dark eyes managed to look inexplicably innocent set in his horribly bloodied face. "Surprisingly no, as matter of fact," Norrington said with a small smile. "I haven't wanted to see you hanged for few months now," he had to force down a chuckle as Jack's eyes seemed to widen even further. He was being a bit cruel and mischievous, but he found he couldn't help himself.
"Oh, don't listen to him. He's only joking with you. He doesn't want to hang you, do you James?" Elizabeth sent a stern glance in Norrington's direction that left him feeling suitably chastened.
"Quite right," he said quickly. "Forgive me for startling you, Captain Sparrow," Norrington managed to say without laughing again. There was just something...naïve about Jack that he couldn't help but focus on. 'Wait a second, didn't he ask Elizabeth what year it was?' Norrington seemed to think he had, but he couldn't remember what year Jack had thought it was. "I am sorry, Jack. May I ask you a question?"
Jack gave him a distrustful look, but nodded. "I'm not sure I will answer, but you may ask your question, Commodore."
"What year is it for you?" Norrington asked, genuinely interested in the answer.
"1673. But Miss Swann informed me on our last visit that the year is in fact 1693. Why do you ask?" Jack asked, confused.
"And that would make you how old?" Norrington pressed on. "In 1673, that is," he added.
"20," he said, his eyes narrowing. "But I have been my own man for quite a while Commodore," he said a bit standoffishly.
"20, dear Lord," Will whispered. Jack looked at him with a frown. "He thinks he's younger than I am, for God's sake. This can't be happening."
"So you're 40, now? I mean Sparrow's 40? I must admit I'm a bit surprised at that. I thought you'd be younger."
"James, shush," Elizabeth commanded quietly, cleaning off Jack's face gently once more with the wet cloth she had retrieved while they had been talking. "We need to figure out how to bring our Jack back. Not that I don't like talking to you, Jack," she told him softly, "but you don't belong here."
"I understand, Miss Swann, and I'm not offended," he looked up into her eyes as she cleaned the last traces of blood from his face. "How could I be?"
Elizabeth blushed and Will couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes. He'd had to put up with Jack's blatant flirting with Elizabeth ever since he had known him, it was just the pirate's way he supposed, but this was different and he didn't like it. "Why that particular year?" Will asked, pushing aside his inane jealousy.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked, turning away from Elizabeth to look at Will directly.
"I mean, why has your memory gone back to that particular year? Why do you believe its 1673? Why not 10 years earlier? Why not later? What happened to you in that year that was so important?" Will asked.
Jack frowned and looked a bit taken aback. "I-I don't know. Nothing. My life is normal; boring in fact."
"Will has a good point. What is the last thing you remember of 1673?" Norrington asked.
"I was just leaving for the docks. I was going to meet my cousin Sebastian aboard his merchant ship," Jack said sounding a bit flustered. "After that..." he trailed off.
"After that you don't remember anything," Norrington supplied. "Why were you going to meet your cousin, Jack?"
Jack shifted a bit on the bed at Norrington's questions. "My mother thought it would be good for me to spend some time at sea on his ship, the Intrepid. I didn't agree, but I went anyway. Or, at least I'm pretty sure I did."
"And your father?" Will asked.
"My father died when I was young. I hardly remember him. I was raised by my mother Katrina and my older sister Eva," Jack said after a moment's hesitation.
"You have a sister, Jack?" Elizabeth asked, looking up at him from her place on the ground next to his bed. Norrington and Will had taken seats at the tale nearby.
"Yes, her name is Eva Marie Lynnette Sperling-Donnellson. She's two years older than me. I think you would like her Elizabeth, although she's a bit more...open-minded about certain things in life than I am. I suppose it comes from growing up without a father. And her husband, Richard, only encourages her. But I shouldn't speak ill of my sister," Jack trailed off, managing both an embarrassed and fond look at the remembrance of his sister.
"You've never mentioned her before, Jack. I wonder where she is now." Will mused.
"As do I. I find I would very much like to see her at the moment. I think seeing a familiar face might calm me a bit," he admitted. "This whole experience is leaving me feeling rather disconcerted, I don't mind telling you," Jack said with a sigh.
"I'd imagine so," Norrington muttered. "Something must have happened to you on your cousin's ship, that's the only explanation for why you've been pushed back into the past to that particular time."
"What do you mean 'something must have happened to me?' What must have happened? I was just leaving to join him on his ship. That's all. Nothing else happened," Jack said a bit forcefully.
"Has it even occurred to you how you go from," he paused to remember it all, "Edward John Corentin Alexandre Sperling to Captain Jack Sparrow? Because I most certainly have." He turned to Will and Elizabeth. "Do either of you have any idea how long Sparrow's been a pirate?"
Elizabeth and Will looked at each other, and then to Jack before Elizabeth answered. "At least 10 years, and probably more. He was the Captain of the Black Pearl 10 years ago, and you don't just become a pirate captain out of the blue. You have to prove your worth before an entire of crew of people who'd be willing to kill you to take your job. And Mr. Sperling here probably couldn't hold his own against one pirate let alone an entire crew of them, no offense Jack."
"None taken. But you'd be surprised, Miss Swann," Jack whispered, causing her to send him a searching look. He didn't bother elaborating on his rather mysterious comment however, just stared at the ceiling with a solemn look on his face.
"What do you mean by that?" Norrington ventured to ask what Elizabeth didn't.
Jack glared at him, but sighed and spoke softly, "My mother was a wealthy widow who never remarried with only one other man in her life, me."
Understanding donned on Norrington's face and he nodded. "You had to protect her. And your sister."
"There was no one else. My father was dead, I have no brothers, and my mother was an only child." A horrid thought seemed to have occurred to him for his face paled. "If something happened to me as you say, what became of them? Oh God." He sat up as quickly as he could, every muscle in his body tense and his mind urging him to leave, to go home to England and find out what had become of the rest of his family. Once he had finally managed to sit upright, he felt back on the bed again almost immediately, his mouth open in a soundless scream of pain.
They all ran to his side after that, each one of them planning on both comforting him in his obvious worry for his family and intense pain, and yelling at him for being so foolhardy when he was clearly injured. Each one of them stopped however when they saw a fresh trail of blood run down his chin and onto his chest. "Jack? Are you alright?" Elizabeth asked cautiously, almost taking a step back upon seeing the single trail of blood. Jack didn't answer.
Elizabeth wasn't the only one to take a step back when they saw Jack's hands move, the ropes that bound his wrists breaking from the sheer strength of his arms. Jack hadn't opened his eyes yet, but when he finally did, she knew that they'd be a cold pale blue; Lorelac's eyes. "That's not Jack," she warned.
"Of course it's not. Do you actually think a pathetic mortal would have the strength to do what I'm about to do to you right now?" Lorelac asked, opening his eyes and sitting up on the bed, not a trace of the pain Jack was feeling crossing his face. "I think it's about time I heal this body. I wanted to show Sparrow a lesson by re-injuring him, but since he's gone now I think that's a rather moot point. Don't you?" he asked, swinging his legs over the bed.
They all gasped as they saw the bloodied trail still on Jack's chin somehow be pulled back into his mouth and the horrid wound that marred Jack's cheek closed up and disappeared as if it had never existed. "There, that's better, don't you think? I shouldn't like such a ghastly wound on my face either." He got up and walked across the room to where a large mirror stood and glanced into it. "But if I am to truly remain in this body I will definitely have to make some changes," Lorelac said, fingering the beads in Jack's beard and hair.
"I'm growing rather tired of you," Norrington addressed Lorelac, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible after all he had seen.
Lorelac stared at him for a long minute, mirth twinkling in his pale blue eyes; so out of place in Jack's face, before speaking. "Well that is a shame, for I'm the only one you'll be seeing in this particular body for quite a long time. Longer than any of you pathetic mortals live. Now, if you would kindly stifle yourselves," he made an absent gesture with Jack's tattoo covered left hand and the trio suddenly found themselves unable to speak. Lorelac smiled and rolled up the sleeves of Jack's shirt up to his forearms. He held out Jack's right arm for them to see. They watched in mute horror as Jack's sparrow tattoo seemed to be strangled and engulfed by the dark lines of Lorelac's markings as the tattoo spread even further across his body. They didn't cover his face however, but a few jagged back points caressed the lower edge of his jaw where the tattoo had ended. "I see you're at a loss for words. Understandable," Lorelac said with a smirk.
He looked at the mirror again, grabbed one of the beaded strands of Jack's hair, and absently began to take off the beads and unbraid it, humming to himself softly as he did it. "What am I going to do with you three?" he seemed to ask to himself, for they were still unable to speak, as he slowly and methodically removed every trace of Jack's personality from his dark mane, moving to take out the beaded strands out of his beard last. "There, that's much better," he said, taking a piece of leather string that had previously tied back a portion of Jack's hair and swept his hair back, tying it in a low pony tail at the nape of his neck. He conspicuously avoided removing a long strand of gold chain with a brightly shining pale blue jewel among the last remaining braid. Lorelac smirked to himself and wondered what Sparrow and his friends would think that this whole nightmare, as Jack insisted on calling it, began with the removal of a single golden chain from the treasure hoard. His essence had been trapped in that unassuming blue jewel for longer than the human race's memory. He touched the shining jewel briefly and then yanked his hand back as if he had been burned. The jewel had given his fingers quite a shock, as if it were somehow aware of who he was and the fact that he had gotten free due to the actions of a slightly unhinged pirate captain in a fairy tale-esque treasure trove.
After a few more minute of scrutinizing his new appearance, and Jack's; he had removed every bead and braid except for the one and placed the affectations in a small pile on a nearby desk, he turned back to the three. "So, what do you think?" he asked, twirling around in a circle as if on display. "I find I rather like it. The hair still needs a bit of work, and the clothes will have to change, but it's a definite improvement. Go ahead, tell me what you think. I'd like to hear your opinions. Not that they really matter, but it's been quite awhile since I've had anyone to talk to, not counting Sparrow." He waved his hand again and they suddenly felt their voices returned to them.
"How did you do that?" Norrington asked first.
Lorelac smirked. "It's a rather neat trick, isn't it? I've got a lot more up my sleeve now that I'm fully in control of Sparrow's body, I assure you."
"I don't believe that Jack is simply gone. He will find a way to defeat you, you arrogant bastard," Will spat.
Lorelac scrunched his nose up in distaste and waved a hand again. "I've decided silence is golden in your case, Turner," he said and Will found his voice stolen once more. "Do be careful or I might decide you'd be better off in life as a mute. Would you like that? I imagine not." He turned to Norrington and Elizabeth. "Any comments from either of you?"
"What are you going to do with us?" Elizabeth asked softly.
Lorelac stroked Jack's now short beard in thought. He had cleaved the long braids off with a sharp dagger he had found in the desk. "That is the question, isn't it? You and I never got to have our conversation, Elizabeth. Do you think now is a good time?" He smirked to see her flinch. "But have not a worry, lovely lass. I think it will be much more fun to let things play out for themselves. You may not agree, but then again, you wouldn't. No, it will be much more entertaining to see how this little melodrama plays out. And it has been *so* bloody long since I've had a bit of entertainment. So you and your friends are safe...for now," he said with a mischievous smile, showing off all of Jack's golden teeth. "Now if you would be so kind as to get off of my ship," he gestured for them to leave the cabin, and each of them did after a moment's hesitation with Lorelac following closely behind them.
***
"I know you're thinking I'm a bloody rotten bastard for what I'm doing to you right now, but please don't hold it against me. I don't think I could bear it," Lorelac said with a wicked smirk as he lowered the rowboat down from the Pearl's deck and onto the waves containing its silent passengers, although it was only one of them who couldn't speak. There was nothing they could say. A demon had taken Jack's crew, his sanity, control of his life, and now his ship away from him. "I'm sure we'll meet again my friends, so don't fret too much," Lorelac called down from the deck as they were finally afloat in the slightly turbulent ocean. He then turned away and left without another word.
"Will, are you alright?" Elizabeth asked as Norrington pulled in the ropes Lorelac had used to lower them single-handedly and then cut so they couldn't get back up.
"I'm fine," Will mumbled. "The parasitic bastard up there gave me my voice back right before he left. But don't worry about me. Worry about Jack. Worry about what that bastard's done to him," Will said grimly.
"Do you really think I'm not? Do you think I would be that callous? Of course I'm worried for Jack, Will. But for the moment there's not a damn thing we can do for him, so we had better start looking after ourselves."
Will cast his eyes to the deck of the rowboat feeling ashamed. "I'm sorry Elizabeth," he whispered before looking up at her again slowly, his brown eyes wide and sorrowful.
Elizabeth sighed and cast a glance to Norrington who was politely trying his best to ignore their conversation and give them their privacy. It almost made her want to smile. "I know you're worried about Jack. I am too. But we *will* get him back. I'm not ready to give into that bastard any more than you or James are," she said with fervor.
"We should probably try and get to land, it looks like another storm's on its way," Norrington said casting a glance at the quickly darkening sky. "I'm afraid it'll probably have to be on the Lorelac's island. It's the closest place. After the storm passes we'll make our way to...well, my island I suppose since I am the Chief. And we will reclaim Jack. Lorelac will be defeated. Of that, there is no question."
As they rowed to the same island where the whole nightmarish ordeal had begun, with Elizabeth's question, "Chief? Who made you their chief?" fading on the wind.
***
Jack looked after his friends' departure because Lorelac looked at them. He heard Elizabeth's last words as they drifted along the wind because Lorelac did. There was now almost no separation between the two of them. He was Lorelac and Lorelac was him. Although Lorelac seemed to have gained the upper hand. He was no longer in control of his own body, and he knew it. He was walled up in a prison that he could not see or touch, but one that held him more fast than any earthly cell ever could. He had been forced to look on a world that he could not affect no matter how much he might have wanted to. But none of that mattered for the moment. It didn't matter that he was now alone, his friends having been sent away, it didn't matter that Lorelac was now steering his ship with some kind of unseen force as help rather than a crew, the only thing that mattered was that he was still there. He had not disappeared as completely into his own mind as Lorelac might have originally thought. No, he would watch and wait, for that was all he could do, until the opportune moment. And when that moment finally came, and it would, he would make Lorelac bleed.
The End, well almost.
A/N: Note after reviews...
Final Reviewers Thanks Section
Mrs. Sparrow: Thanks for reviewing luv! I'm glad you liked the chapter! Oh, and if you still want to review every chapter before this, I would be extremely grateful.
Blue Trinity: I'm glad you like Lorelac. Someone has to, I suppose. And Jeffrey and Sands are just load of psychopathic, sociopathic, and schizophrenic fun to write. ;-)
Jackfan2: Writing the Ana scene was hard. I wanted to cry myself. Oh, and don't worry. I will give Jack some victories. They won't be pretty, and they won't happen any time soon, but they *will* happen. Of that, I assure you. I am glad you like my story. It's been a load of fun to write. I can only hope the sequel will be half as fun to write as this one was. Oh, and THANK YOU for going back and reviewing some of the earlier chapters!!! You're the best, mate.
Nikki: I'm glad you're liking the story. As for the rape scene being uncalled for? I don't believe it was. Real life isn't what you see in Disney movies. It's dark, sad, and sometimes bad things happen to good people. That's the way of the world. Maybe I'm being cynical, but I don't believe so. I write this story as it comes to me, I don't plan anything ahead of time. I wrote the rape scene because it seemed the natural course of action. I am sorry you didn't like it, but you were warned specifically at the beginning of the chapter.
Lady Russell Holmes: Of course you can have a living tattoo. I've got plenty to go around. And yes, ff.net is stupid *boo, hiss* But oh well. That's life. Be a dear and go back and review some of the earlier chapters for me, would you? I'd be very grateful. Thanks.
Savvy Renegade: I'm so glad you're enjoying this story. It's been a lot of fun to write!!
Mara: Yes, Ana's return was cruel. What can I say, I'm evil. I'm glad you're liking Norry. I love that man to death and I could write him no other way. :-) As for your questions about Jack's past? Just wait until the sequel. Much will be revealed then, I promise.
pendragginink: LOL!!! You have no idea how tempted I was to write Jack taking bites out of the Pearl's railing after reading your review. In answer to your question, I emphasized that it was Jack himself who attacked Will, not Lorelac to show that Jack had really lost it. There was no really deeper thought in Jack's mind other than to make Will pay for what he had done to Ana's body. That's all.
Jigglykat: Yes, again, ff.net sucks. *boo, hiss* I'm glad you're liking my story!! Oh, and don't worry, Lorelac will get his, eventually...
Mistress of Destruction: You know, I hadn't really considered just how much pain Jack must have been it. That was a slip up from me. Thanks for pointing it out!!
Otherhawk: Aww, would it make you feel better to know that I made myself cry while writing it? Don't give up fanfiction though! I'll make you a promise. Once these stories are over, whenever that will be, and if you're still reading, I PROMISE I will write a bit of pure happy fluff just for you. Ok? I promise. It'll be happy, uplifting, and completely ANGST-FREE!!!
Author's Final Note
Finished! Wow, what a ride, huh? But the ride's not quite over yet. I've written an alternate ending to this story. You don't have to read it, in fact you might be better off not reading it, but I'm posting it anyway. If you chose not to read it, please read the sequel, A Gilded Cage, the first chapter of which will be posted very very very very very soon. :-) If you have made it this far and haven't reviewed, please take the time to do so. More than once. For those of you who have been reviewing, ff.net deleted all of those reviews so you get a chance to do so all over again, right? Fun! Or maybe not...Anyway, thank you for reading my little trip into the world of Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a lot of fun and I hope the sequel will be too.
Oh, and here are a few little bits of trivia for you, if you're interested:
This story began with a single image in my head, that of Jack showing up at the Turner's doorstep, his crew dead, and with him being alone. As you can see, that scene never got written. Maybe in the sequel.
A FREAKY COINCIDENCE: I wrote Norrington's first name as James BEFORE the movie was released on DVD and I saw the deleted scene in which they mention it. Needless, to say, I freaked right out.
Thank you again to all of my reviewers, I hope to see you all again for the sequel, and here's a bit of shameless self promotion: If you haven't read my Once Upon a Time in Mexico story, Darkness Rising, Please Do!! I've been told it's good, so how about giving it a chance? Thank you.
Now, on to the ALTERNATE ENDING...or not. It's completely up to you. Have fun. :-D
-Merrie
A Pirates of the Caribbean story by Merrie
Disclaimer: They're definitely not mine. No one who owned these characters would be doing the things I'm doing to them. :-)
Summary: Captain Jack has lost his crew, nearly his life, and now his sanity 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, Kiquan, and Lorelac that @#$%^&**(^*^$@!
Author's Note: To Miss Becky for doing a wonderful betaing job as always, love ya, Miss B! And to Halia, Sara and Gypsy for pushing me on and encouraging me every step of the way. You guys are the best!!!
Rating: PG-13 for language, violence, and more EXTREME angst.
Chapter 15: Pain, Possession, Punishment and Postludes
"Do you think he'll be ok in there alone?" Elizabeth asked, glancing over her shoulder at Jack's cabin where they had left him tied up once more lying on the bed.
"I don't know. Did you hear the way he was talking? That's not the Captain Jack Sparrow I know," Will said with a frown.
"I know, but can you blame him really? He has suffered quite a few losses as of late," Norrington pointed out with a frown.
"I know, it's just..." Will trailed off with a sigh, not knowing what to say.
"You don't like seeing him this way. Trust me, Will. None of us do. But he'll be alright. He has to be," Norrington said with a somber look.
"I still don't think we should have left him in there alone. Especially in that state," Will said.
"Will, he asked us to leave. And right now, we need to be thinking of ourselves. We have to get this ship moving somehow. Jack needs medical attention; more than we can give him here," Norrington said.
"Let's see if we can't get this ship ready to sail then, shall we?" Will said with one last look in Jack's direction before moving to pull up the anchors and make the Black Pearl ready to make sail.
***
'Well I guess it's just you and me now, Jack,' Lorelac taunted upon seeing that the cabin was now empty. 'It looks like your friends have abandoned you after all. Just like I told you they would.'
"I told them to leave," Jack said absently, staring up at the ceiling of his cabin. The ropes at his wrists chafed a bit; he had made Norrington tie them as tightly as the military man dared, not wanting to injure the sensitive flesh of Jack's wrists. "I wanted to be alone."
'You do realize that you're not bloody going to ever be alone again as long as I'm here, don't you?' Lorelac asked incredulously.
"Yes, I know," Jack mumbled, still staring fixedly at a point above him.
'Well this is going to be bloody easier than I thought,' Lorelac muttered to himself. 'You've given up, haven't you? I don't bloody believe it. Captain Jack Sparrow, and he's given up. You really don't care about anything anymore, do you?'
"You've taken all I cared about away," Jack muttered, still not moving, still staring up at the ceiling.
'What about the witless trio out there? Don't you care about them?' Lorelac asked, and if he had a body just then, he would have been smirking.
"You'll have me kill them sooner or later," Jack murmured with a frown, finally blinking.
'Ahh, finally a reaction! And here I thought you had turned to stone on me, Jack. Or else, gone even more insane. With you, one can never tell.'
"Just leave me alone," Jack moaned softly, still not moving. "I don't want to talk to you right now. Go away."
'You say that as if I'm actually going to just up and leave Jack. Why is that? Haven't you figured it out yet? I'm never leaving. I'll be here for the rest of your life, and there's nothing you can do about it,' Lorlac said with a dark laugh, possessing Jack once more. Jack screamed as his entire body was flooded with pain more intense than anything he had ever felt before, and his mind simply slipped away.
***
"Oh God, you all heard that, right?" Will asked, his face growing pale.
"Jack," Elizabeth whispered, her eyes widening as she turned to run to his cabin, Will and Norrington close behind her.
When they arrived at Jack's cabin however, expecting to find him ranting and raving and tearing at his restraints, they were shocked to find him exactly how they left him. Well, almost, anyway.
"Jack? Are you all right?" Elizabeth asked worriedly, taking in the bloodied streaks on Jack's face trailing out from his eyes, nose and mouth. She had seen this before, and she didn't like it. Jack didn't answer her, and she moved tentatively forward, Norrington and Will close behind her.
"Oh God," Will and Norrington said in tandem, seeing Jack's face together as they moved into the room behind Elizabeth.
"What's wrong with him?" Will asked with a frown. "Jack! Answer me! Are you all right?" he shouted at his pirate friend. Still, Jack did not answer, only stared up at the ceiling with his bloodied eyes, still not moving.
Elizabeth took a deep breath, reassured herself that Will and Norrington were in the room with her and Jack, and moved to the pirate captain's side. She kneeled down beside the bed and laid a hand gently on his shoulder and whispered softly, "Jack? Please talk to us," she said, taking his head in both hands and moving his face to look at hers. What she saw there shocked her. She wasn't confronted by the nightmarish blue eyes of Lorelac, no, she was assaulted by Jack's own brown eyes, but they stared up at her as if he were asleep with his eyes open.
"Is he all right?" Norrington asked, coming to stand at her shoulder. Jack's eyes darted to him quickly, and Norrington took an involuntary step back under the full weight of Jack's intense dark stare. But still, Jack said nothing.
***
Jack heard each of them calling to him dimly, trying to get him to answer, but he found he hadn't the strength. He could feel Lorelac's presence prowling around his mind, annoyed that Jack's body wasn't doing as he commanded it to. He wanted to ask Lorelac what was wrong; why he wasn't taking over, but couldn't manage the words.
'I don't know what's happening any more than you, you pathetic bastard,' Lorelac mumbled, sounding more than a little annoyed. 'Look at you, you have no strength left to fight me, how am I not bathing in your friends' blood right now?'
If Jack could have answered, he would have, but all he could do was to stare in Elizabeth's eyes as she held his face up to his, not able to even blink. He could see her lips moving, obviously trying to talk to him and to get him to respond, but he couldn't get his mind to understand what she was saying to him. He was much too far gone for that; a prisoner in his own mind and body.
'Oh stop your bloody whining. Have you any idea how long I stayed trapped in that godforsaken cave until you and your witless crew came and set me free? It's a number far too high for your pathetic mortal brain to ever hope to comprehend, I bloody assure you,' Lorelac seethed. 'So if you think I'm just going to give up the only freedom I've ever known in millennia, you're even more dim-witted than I had originally though you were. And that would be saying a lot.'
"Jack, answer me please!" Elizabeth's voice suddenly broke through the fog that was enveloping his mind. He struggled to answer her, but the only thing he had been able to accomplish was to close his eyes and slowly open them again in a lazy blink. Elizabeth seemed to sigh in relief at that, at least. That one slow blink was probably the only indication that she had right now that Jack was even still alive; his body had been so still and lifeless.
'What is this? You shouldn't even be able to think coherent thoughts still let alone bloody blink! What in all the gods of heaven and the demons of hell's name is going on here?' Lorelac asked, a very real undercurrent of fear tinging his words for the first time since this nightmare had begun.
'If you...don't know, then how...do you expect....a pathetic mortal...like me too? You...bastard,' Jack managed to ask in the landscape of his own mind, every word a supreme effort.
Lorelac slapped Jack's presence within his own mind hard across the mouth for such insolence, but it was Jack's body who paid the price, and Elizabeth, Will and Norrington gasped to see Jack's lip split, and a thin trail of blood leak down to join the others that already covered his mouth and chin from when Lorelac had taken possession of him. For he was Lorelac's at the moment, despite the fact that the fallen god couldn't take control of his body. For if Jack wasn't in control of his own body, then there was no one else but Lorelac, was there?
'How dare you question me? I am a god! I am above your petty questions and curses! I will make you pay for—' Lorelac was cut off as Jack's body moved. 'Sparrow?' he called out uncertainly. Something had shifted and he didn't like it. He felt his hold on Jack begin to slip, and he didn't know why.
"Where am I?" Jack asked, casting his eyes around the room. He smiled in relief as his glance set upon a familiar face. "Ah, Miss Elizabeth thank God! Perhaps you would be good enough to inform me of where I am, and dear me, just what exactly are you wearing? And why am I tied up?" he asked with a frown, taking in the pants and billowy shirt she had borrowed from Anamaria's cabin to cover her naked state and the ropes that bound his wrists and feet.
"What do you mean; we're in your cabin?" Will said with a confused frown, relieved that Jack was at least talking again. "And you asked us to tie you up!"
"Oh no," Elizabeth whispered. "Edward?" she asked softly.
Jack winced. "I thought I had informed you of my great dislike for that name, Miss Elizabeth. And you didn't answer my questions. I find that rather rude."
"Edward John Corentin Alexandre Sperling, I assume?" Norrington asked wearily, moving to Elizabeth's side.
Jack narrowed his eyes at Norrington's approach. "You seem to have me at a bit of a disadvantage, sir. You know my name, and yet you have not introduced yourself." Jack made this statement sound like the gravest of insults in Norrington's ears somehow.
"James Christopher Michael Norrington III, Commodore of His Majesty's Royal Navy," Norrington said with a small bow. "And you sir, are in fact not Edward John Corentin Alexandre Sperling. You are Captain Jack Sparrow, a pirate."
"Oh not with this pirate business again. Are all of you people daft? Do I look like a pirate to you?" Jack asked in annoyance. "And I demand you release me at once!"
"We'll release you when you've proved to us that you're not a threat, and not a moment sooner. Do I make myself clear, Captain Sparrow? And as for looking like a pirate; have you taken a look at yourself lately?"
Jack scoffed at that but didn't argue, and did as Norrington had commanded him. "Dear God!" he quickly glanced at Elizabeth. "Do I truly look exactly the same as I did the last time I saw you? And is this once more 1693, not 1673?" he asked with a frown. "I can't remember. What's happening to me?"
"You're truly not Jack?" Will asked softly, finding it more difficult to wrap his mind around the concept of Jack not remembering who he was and in fact turning into an entirely different person than Norrington was.
"I am Jack, but I take it that's not what you mean. I find I don't remember you either. Am I supposed to remember you? Or is this our first meeting? Forgive me, but everything's so confusing right now," Jack said with a frown.
"I'm Will, Will Turner. And we're friends. We have been for over a year now, in fact," Will stuttered, his eyes wide.
"Friends for over a year, you say?" Jack looked Will up and down, taking in his dirty and torn clothes, clearly marking him as a member of one of the lower classes. "Well I suppose some allowances must me be made," he muttered to himself, leaving Will feeling slightly insulted. "And are you associated with Miss Elizabeth and Commodore...Norrington, was it?" Norrington nodded.
"Elizabeth is my fiancée, and I'd be honoured to call James my friend. As I am honoured to call you the same, Jack," Will said, determined to not feel insulted by the man before him, who was, for all intents and purposes, still his friend.
"Your fiancée? Oh, I'm, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't know. Forgive me, Elizabeth if I acted untoward to you. I didn't know you were engaged to be wed," Jack said in a rush, a true blush coloring his cheeks that forced Elizabeth to stifle giggles upon seeing him so flustered.
"It's all right, Jack. I'm not offended, and Will certainly isn't going to duel you over my honour or anything ridiculous like that. Nothing happened between us. You acted like a perfect gentleman. Rather opposite than how you usually act around me in fact," Elizabeth almost whispered with a frown.
Jack sighed in relief. "I am relieved, Miss Swann. I should not like it if you were upset with me," Jack whispered with such a charming smile even through the blood covering his face that Elizabeth was the one blushing this time.
Norrington found himself shaking his head ruefully at that. Even tied to a bed, blood covering his face in a macabre display, having forgotten who he was, Jack was still keeping them off balance. "I will untie your feet...Jack, if you swear that you will not move out of our sight. Do we have an agreement?"
"What about my hands?" Norrington just shook his head, not bothering to give reasons why, and Jack sighed. "Very well. We have an accord," he muttered. "Now untie me."
It was Norrington's turn to sigh as he moved to Jack's feet. While he worked the knots, he tried to reconcile the Jack Sperling that lie before him, and the Jack Sparrow he had known and found that he couldn't. What had driven a man of such high birth as he no doubt was by the sound of his proper English accent, become the infamous pirate? It was a question he fully intended to ask the pirate when he became himself again, that is if he didn't strangle his past alter-ego first.
"There, you're free. But if I were you, I'd stay in bed. You've got a number of broken ribs, and I have a feeling you won't want to irritate them any further than they already have been. You need your rest, Captain Sparrow," Norrington said softly.
"Please, don't call me that," Jack whispered. "I am not that man, no matter what you might want to believe. I don't know where your friend went, but for the moment he's gone and I've taken his place. I don't understand how or why, but I have. I didn't ask for this, to be propelled into a future I can't hope to comprehend. A pirate? Me? If you knew how ridiculous that sounded..." he trailed off with a frown. "And I had gathered that there must be something wrong with my chest. It doesn't usually hurt this bloody much," he paused as he realized what he had said. "Forgive me for my language, Miss Swann. It won't happen again," he said with conviction.
For a long moment Elizabeth hadn't the faintest idea of what Jack was talking about, and she turned to Will with a confused frown. Her bewilderment abated as she saw Will mouth "he cursed," in her direction. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that, Jack. I've heard much worse out of your mouth. Well, I'm pretty sure I have. You tend to curse in other languages when I'm not around. I think it's your...well, his, way of doing the same thing you're doing right now."
"And what might that be, Miss Swann?" Jack asked softly, looking as if he had been kicked in the stomach by the blacksmith's donkey.
"Trying to be a gentleman," Elizabeth said with a small smile. "Jack may not be a part of you, but you're most assuredly a part of Jack. Even though he's become rather accomplished at hiding the fact," she muttered.
Jack didn't know quite how to answer that so he just turned his head to stare up at the ceiling, trying to even out his breathing so every intake of breath didn't quite feel as if it were about to cause his chest to rip open at the pain of his broken ribs. He managed to do so about every fourth breath or so, trying not to wince on the others. "Am I to assume I'm some kind of prisoner? Is that why I'm tied up?" A horrid thought occurred to him and the blood drained out of his face. "I'm not to be hung, am I?" he looked to Norrington, his eyes wide and frightened.
Norrington couldn't help feeling sorry for the man in front of him, whose dark eyes managed to look inexplicably innocent set in his horribly bloodied face. "Surprisingly no, as matter of fact," Norrington said with a small smile. "I haven't wanted to see you hanged for few months now," he had to force down a chuckle as Jack's eyes seemed to widen even further. He was being a bit cruel and mischievous, but he found he couldn't help himself.
"Oh, don't listen to him. He's only joking with you. He doesn't want to hang you, do you James?" Elizabeth sent a stern glance in Norrington's direction that left him feeling suitably chastened.
"Quite right," he said quickly. "Forgive me for startling you, Captain Sparrow," Norrington managed to say without laughing again. There was just something...naïve about Jack that he couldn't help but focus on. 'Wait a second, didn't he ask Elizabeth what year it was?' Norrington seemed to think he had, but he couldn't remember what year Jack had thought it was. "I am sorry, Jack. May I ask you a question?"
Jack gave him a distrustful look, but nodded. "I'm not sure I will answer, but you may ask your question, Commodore."
"What year is it for you?" Norrington asked, genuinely interested in the answer.
"1673. But Miss Swann informed me on our last visit that the year is in fact 1693. Why do you ask?" Jack asked, confused.
"And that would make you how old?" Norrington pressed on. "In 1673, that is," he added.
"20," he said, his eyes narrowing. "But I have been my own man for quite a while Commodore," he said a bit standoffishly.
"20, dear Lord," Will whispered. Jack looked at him with a frown. "He thinks he's younger than I am, for God's sake. This can't be happening."
"So you're 40, now? I mean Sparrow's 40? I must admit I'm a bit surprised at that. I thought you'd be younger."
"James, shush," Elizabeth commanded quietly, cleaning off Jack's face gently once more with the wet cloth she had retrieved while they had been talking. "We need to figure out how to bring our Jack back. Not that I don't like talking to you, Jack," she told him softly, "but you don't belong here."
"I understand, Miss Swann, and I'm not offended," he looked up into her eyes as she cleaned the last traces of blood from his face. "How could I be?"
Elizabeth blushed and Will couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes. He'd had to put up with Jack's blatant flirting with Elizabeth ever since he had known him, it was just the pirate's way he supposed, but this was different and he didn't like it. "Why that particular year?" Will asked, pushing aside his inane jealousy.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked, turning away from Elizabeth to look at Will directly.
"I mean, why has your memory gone back to that particular year? Why do you believe its 1673? Why not 10 years earlier? Why not later? What happened to you in that year that was so important?" Will asked.
Jack frowned and looked a bit taken aback. "I-I don't know. Nothing. My life is normal; boring in fact."
"Will has a good point. What is the last thing you remember of 1673?" Norrington asked.
"I was just leaving for the docks. I was going to meet my cousin Sebastian aboard his merchant ship," Jack said sounding a bit flustered. "After that..." he trailed off.
"After that you don't remember anything," Norrington supplied. "Why were you going to meet your cousin, Jack?"
Jack shifted a bit on the bed at Norrington's questions. "My mother thought it would be good for me to spend some time at sea on his ship, the Intrepid. I didn't agree, but I went anyway. Or, at least I'm pretty sure I did."
"And your father?" Will asked.
"My father died when I was young. I hardly remember him. I was raised by my mother Katrina and my older sister Eva," Jack said after a moment's hesitation.
"You have a sister, Jack?" Elizabeth asked, looking up at him from her place on the ground next to his bed. Norrington and Will had taken seats at the tale nearby.
"Yes, her name is Eva Marie Lynnette Sperling-Donnellson. She's two years older than me. I think you would like her Elizabeth, although she's a bit more...open-minded about certain things in life than I am. I suppose it comes from growing up without a father. And her husband, Richard, only encourages her. But I shouldn't speak ill of my sister," Jack trailed off, managing both an embarrassed and fond look at the remembrance of his sister.
"You've never mentioned her before, Jack. I wonder where she is now." Will mused.
"As do I. I find I would very much like to see her at the moment. I think seeing a familiar face might calm me a bit," he admitted. "This whole experience is leaving me feeling rather disconcerted, I don't mind telling you," Jack said with a sigh.
"I'd imagine so," Norrington muttered. "Something must have happened to you on your cousin's ship, that's the only explanation for why you've been pushed back into the past to that particular time."
"What do you mean 'something must have happened to me?' What must have happened? I was just leaving to join him on his ship. That's all. Nothing else happened," Jack said a bit forcefully.
"Has it even occurred to you how you go from," he paused to remember it all, "Edward John Corentin Alexandre Sperling to Captain Jack Sparrow? Because I most certainly have." He turned to Will and Elizabeth. "Do either of you have any idea how long Sparrow's been a pirate?"
Elizabeth and Will looked at each other, and then to Jack before Elizabeth answered. "At least 10 years, and probably more. He was the Captain of the Black Pearl 10 years ago, and you don't just become a pirate captain out of the blue. You have to prove your worth before an entire of crew of people who'd be willing to kill you to take your job. And Mr. Sperling here probably couldn't hold his own against one pirate let alone an entire crew of them, no offense Jack."
"None taken. But you'd be surprised, Miss Swann," Jack whispered, causing her to send him a searching look. He didn't bother elaborating on his rather mysterious comment however, just stared at the ceiling with a solemn look on his face.
"What do you mean by that?" Norrington ventured to ask what Elizabeth didn't.
Jack glared at him, but sighed and spoke softly, "My mother was a wealthy widow who never remarried with only one other man in her life, me."
Understanding donned on Norrington's face and he nodded. "You had to protect her. And your sister."
"There was no one else. My father was dead, I have no brothers, and my mother was an only child." A horrid thought seemed to have occurred to him for his face paled. "If something happened to me as you say, what became of them? Oh God." He sat up as quickly as he could, every muscle in his body tense and his mind urging him to leave, to go home to England and find out what had become of the rest of his family. Once he had finally managed to sit upright, he felt back on the bed again almost immediately, his mouth open in a soundless scream of pain.
They all ran to his side after that, each one of them planning on both comforting him in his obvious worry for his family and intense pain, and yelling at him for being so foolhardy when he was clearly injured. Each one of them stopped however when they saw a fresh trail of blood run down his chin and onto his chest. "Jack? Are you alright?" Elizabeth asked cautiously, almost taking a step back upon seeing the single trail of blood. Jack didn't answer.
Elizabeth wasn't the only one to take a step back when they saw Jack's hands move, the ropes that bound his wrists breaking from the sheer strength of his arms. Jack hadn't opened his eyes yet, but when he finally did, she knew that they'd be a cold pale blue; Lorelac's eyes. "That's not Jack," she warned.
"Of course it's not. Do you actually think a pathetic mortal would have the strength to do what I'm about to do to you right now?" Lorelac asked, opening his eyes and sitting up on the bed, not a trace of the pain Jack was feeling crossing his face. "I think it's about time I heal this body. I wanted to show Sparrow a lesson by re-injuring him, but since he's gone now I think that's a rather moot point. Don't you?" he asked, swinging his legs over the bed.
They all gasped as they saw the bloodied trail still on Jack's chin somehow be pulled back into his mouth and the horrid wound that marred Jack's cheek closed up and disappeared as if it had never existed. "There, that's better, don't you think? I shouldn't like such a ghastly wound on my face either." He got up and walked across the room to where a large mirror stood and glanced into it. "But if I am to truly remain in this body I will definitely have to make some changes," Lorelac said, fingering the beads in Jack's beard and hair.
"I'm growing rather tired of you," Norrington addressed Lorelac, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible after all he had seen.
Lorelac stared at him for a long minute, mirth twinkling in his pale blue eyes; so out of place in Jack's face, before speaking. "Well that is a shame, for I'm the only one you'll be seeing in this particular body for quite a long time. Longer than any of you pathetic mortals live. Now, if you would kindly stifle yourselves," he made an absent gesture with Jack's tattoo covered left hand and the trio suddenly found themselves unable to speak. Lorelac smiled and rolled up the sleeves of Jack's shirt up to his forearms. He held out Jack's right arm for them to see. They watched in mute horror as Jack's sparrow tattoo seemed to be strangled and engulfed by the dark lines of Lorelac's markings as the tattoo spread even further across his body. They didn't cover his face however, but a few jagged back points caressed the lower edge of his jaw where the tattoo had ended. "I see you're at a loss for words. Understandable," Lorelac said with a smirk.
He looked at the mirror again, grabbed one of the beaded strands of Jack's hair, and absently began to take off the beads and unbraid it, humming to himself softly as he did it. "What am I going to do with you three?" he seemed to ask to himself, for they were still unable to speak, as he slowly and methodically removed every trace of Jack's personality from his dark mane, moving to take out the beaded strands out of his beard last. "There, that's much better," he said, taking a piece of leather string that had previously tied back a portion of Jack's hair and swept his hair back, tying it in a low pony tail at the nape of his neck. He conspicuously avoided removing a long strand of gold chain with a brightly shining pale blue jewel among the last remaining braid. Lorelac smirked to himself and wondered what Sparrow and his friends would think that this whole nightmare, as Jack insisted on calling it, began with the removal of a single golden chain from the treasure hoard. His essence had been trapped in that unassuming blue jewel for longer than the human race's memory. He touched the shining jewel briefly and then yanked his hand back as if he had been burned. The jewel had given his fingers quite a shock, as if it were somehow aware of who he was and the fact that he had gotten free due to the actions of a slightly unhinged pirate captain in a fairy tale-esque treasure trove.
After a few more minute of scrutinizing his new appearance, and Jack's; he had removed every bead and braid except for the one and placed the affectations in a small pile on a nearby desk, he turned back to the three. "So, what do you think?" he asked, twirling around in a circle as if on display. "I find I rather like it. The hair still needs a bit of work, and the clothes will have to change, but it's a definite improvement. Go ahead, tell me what you think. I'd like to hear your opinions. Not that they really matter, but it's been quite awhile since I've had anyone to talk to, not counting Sparrow." He waved his hand again and they suddenly felt their voices returned to them.
"How did you do that?" Norrington asked first.
Lorelac smirked. "It's a rather neat trick, isn't it? I've got a lot more up my sleeve now that I'm fully in control of Sparrow's body, I assure you."
"I don't believe that Jack is simply gone. He will find a way to defeat you, you arrogant bastard," Will spat.
Lorelac scrunched his nose up in distaste and waved a hand again. "I've decided silence is golden in your case, Turner," he said and Will found his voice stolen once more. "Do be careful or I might decide you'd be better off in life as a mute. Would you like that? I imagine not." He turned to Norrington and Elizabeth. "Any comments from either of you?"
"What are you going to do with us?" Elizabeth asked softly.
Lorelac stroked Jack's now short beard in thought. He had cleaved the long braids off with a sharp dagger he had found in the desk. "That is the question, isn't it? You and I never got to have our conversation, Elizabeth. Do you think now is a good time?" He smirked to see her flinch. "But have not a worry, lovely lass. I think it will be much more fun to let things play out for themselves. You may not agree, but then again, you wouldn't. No, it will be much more entertaining to see how this little melodrama plays out. And it has been *so* bloody long since I've had a bit of entertainment. So you and your friends are safe...for now," he said with a mischievous smile, showing off all of Jack's golden teeth. "Now if you would be so kind as to get off of my ship," he gestured for them to leave the cabin, and each of them did after a moment's hesitation with Lorelac following closely behind them.
***
"I know you're thinking I'm a bloody rotten bastard for what I'm doing to you right now, but please don't hold it against me. I don't think I could bear it," Lorelac said with a wicked smirk as he lowered the rowboat down from the Pearl's deck and onto the waves containing its silent passengers, although it was only one of them who couldn't speak. There was nothing they could say. A demon had taken Jack's crew, his sanity, control of his life, and now his ship away from him. "I'm sure we'll meet again my friends, so don't fret too much," Lorelac called down from the deck as they were finally afloat in the slightly turbulent ocean. He then turned away and left without another word.
"Will, are you alright?" Elizabeth asked as Norrington pulled in the ropes Lorelac had used to lower them single-handedly and then cut so they couldn't get back up.
"I'm fine," Will mumbled. "The parasitic bastard up there gave me my voice back right before he left. But don't worry about me. Worry about Jack. Worry about what that bastard's done to him," Will said grimly.
"Do you really think I'm not? Do you think I would be that callous? Of course I'm worried for Jack, Will. But for the moment there's not a damn thing we can do for him, so we had better start looking after ourselves."
Will cast his eyes to the deck of the rowboat feeling ashamed. "I'm sorry Elizabeth," he whispered before looking up at her again slowly, his brown eyes wide and sorrowful.
Elizabeth sighed and cast a glance to Norrington who was politely trying his best to ignore their conversation and give them their privacy. It almost made her want to smile. "I know you're worried about Jack. I am too. But we *will* get him back. I'm not ready to give into that bastard any more than you or James are," she said with fervor.
"We should probably try and get to land, it looks like another storm's on its way," Norrington said casting a glance at the quickly darkening sky. "I'm afraid it'll probably have to be on the Lorelac's island. It's the closest place. After the storm passes we'll make our way to...well, my island I suppose since I am the Chief. And we will reclaim Jack. Lorelac will be defeated. Of that, there is no question."
As they rowed to the same island where the whole nightmarish ordeal had begun, with Elizabeth's question, "Chief? Who made you their chief?" fading on the wind.
***
Jack looked after his friends' departure because Lorelac looked at them. He heard Elizabeth's last words as they drifted along the wind because Lorelac did. There was now almost no separation between the two of them. He was Lorelac and Lorelac was him. Although Lorelac seemed to have gained the upper hand. He was no longer in control of his own body, and he knew it. He was walled up in a prison that he could not see or touch, but one that held him more fast than any earthly cell ever could. He had been forced to look on a world that he could not affect no matter how much he might have wanted to. But none of that mattered for the moment. It didn't matter that he was now alone, his friends having been sent away, it didn't matter that Lorelac was now steering his ship with some kind of unseen force as help rather than a crew, the only thing that mattered was that he was still there. He had not disappeared as completely into his own mind as Lorelac might have originally thought. No, he would watch and wait, for that was all he could do, until the opportune moment. And when that moment finally came, and it would, he would make Lorelac bleed.
The End, well almost.
A/N: Note after reviews...
Final Reviewers Thanks Section
Mrs. Sparrow: Thanks for reviewing luv! I'm glad you liked the chapter! Oh, and if you still want to review every chapter before this, I would be extremely grateful.
Blue Trinity: I'm glad you like Lorelac. Someone has to, I suppose. And Jeffrey and Sands are just load of psychopathic, sociopathic, and schizophrenic fun to write. ;-)
Jackfan2: Writing the Ana scene was hard. I wanted to cry myself. Oh, and don't worry. I will give Jack some victories. They won't be pretty, and they won't happen any time soon, but they *will* happen. Of that, I assure you. I am glad you like my story. It's been a load of fun to write. I can only hope the sequel will be half as fun to write as this one was. Oh, and THANK YOU for going back and reviewing some of the earlier chapters!!! You're the best, mate.
Nikki: I'm glad you're liking the story. As for the rape scene being uncalled for? I don't believe it was. Real life isn't what you see in Disney movies. It's dark, sad, and sometimes bad things happen to good people. That's the way of the world. Maybe I'm being cynical, but I don't believe so. I write this story as it comes to me, I don't plan anything ahead of time. I wrote the rape scene because it seemed the natural course of action. I am sorry you didn't like it, but you were warned specifically at the beginning of the chapter.
Lady Russell Holmes: Of course you can have a living tattoo. I've got plenty to go around. And yes, ff.net is stupid *boo, hiss* But oh well. That's life. Be a dear and go back and review some of the earlier chapters for me, would you? I'd be very grateful. Thanks.
Savvy Renegade: I'm so glad you're enjoying this story. It's been a lot of fun to write!!
Mara: Yes, Ana's return was cruel. What can I say, I'm evil. I'm glad you're liking Norry. I love that man to death and I could write him no other way. :-) As for your questions about Jack's past? Just wait until the sequel. Much will be revealed then, I promise.
pendragginink: LOL!!! You have no idea how tempted I was to write Jack taking bites out of the Pearl's railing after reading your review. In answer to your question, I emphasized that it was Jack himself who attacked Will, not Lorelac to show that Jack had really lost it. There was no really deeper thought in Jack's mind other than to make Will pay for what he had done to Ana's body. That's all.
Jigglykat: Yes, again, ff.net sucks. *boo, hiss* I'm glad you're liking my story!! Oh, and don't worry, Lorelac will get his, eventually...
Mistress of Destruction: You know, I hadn't really considered just how much pain Jack must have been it. That was a slip up from me. Thanks for pointing it out!!
Otherhawk: Aww, would it make you feel better to know that I made myself cry while writing it? Don't give up fanfiction though! I'll make you a promise. Once these stories are over, whenever that will be, and if you're still reading, I PROMISE I will write a bit of pure happy fluff just for you. Ok? I promise. It'll be happy, uplifting, and completely ANGST-FREE!!!
Author's Final Note
Finished! Wow, what a ride, huh? But the ride's not quite over yet. I've written an alternate ending to this story. You don't have to read it, in fact you might be better off not reading it, but I'm posting it anyway. If you chose not to read it, please read the sequel, A Gilded Cage, the first chapter of which will be posted very very very very very soon. :-) If you have made it this far and haven't reviewed, please take the time to do so. More than once. For those of you who have been reviewing, ff.net deleted all of those reviews so you get a chance to do so all over again, right? Fun! Or maybe not...Anyway, thank you for reading my little trip into the world of Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a lot of fun and I hope the sequel will be too.
Oh, and here are a few little bits of trivia for you, if you're interested:
This story began with a single image in my head, that of Jack showing up at the Turner's doorstep, his crew dead, and with him being alone. As you can see, that scene never got written. Maybe in the sequel.
A FREAKY COINCIDENCE: I wrote Norrington's first name as James BEFORE the movie was released on DVD and I saw the deleted scene in which they mention it. Needless, to say, I freaked right out.
Thank you again to all of my reviewers, I hope to see you all again for the sequel, and here's a bit of shameless self promotion: If you haven't read my Once Upon a Time in Mexico story, Darkness Rising, Please Do!! I've been told it's good, so how about giving it a chance? Thank you.
Now, on to the ALTERNATE ENDING...or not. It's completely up to you. Have fun. :-D
-Merrie