~*~*~
Jack and I sat on the shore and tried to sever the ropes binding our wrists. For some reason, they hadn't bound Elizabeth's wrists together. I guess they didn't see her as a direct threat. She was standing and watching us saw on the rope with our cutlasses, and it was really starting to irritate me.
"Since yer just standin' there, why don't ya go explore or something?" I suggested.
"But-" Jack trailed off at my warning glance. Elizabeth nodded and walked down the beach. "You know good and well that there's nothing to see here."
"Aye," I replied and watched as the ties continued to fray. Jack just smirked cheekily.
"Uh-huh."
The ropes snapped. "Finally," I sighed and waited for Jack to free himself. "Well, what are we gonna do now?" I asked.
"I don't know, love. I'm going to dry my boots out." He paused to inspect his pistol. "And then I'm going to find some shade. Now you, on the other hand, I haven't the faintest idea."
I rolled my eyes. "Yer insufferable." I too pulled off my boots, and rolled up the cuffs on my trousers. By this time Elizabeth had returned.
"Find anything?" Jack asked, and grinned when she shook her head. He stood abruptly, and staggered off in the direction of the palm trees swaying in the light breeze.
I sighed heavily. The sun felt so good that I didn't want to stand and follow. Grudgingly, I scrambled to my feet. "Where are you going?" I asked in an exasperated tone. He turned and grinned at me, then continued on. "This better be worth it," I growled. Elizabeth and I hurried after him.
"What do you intend to do about this?" Elizabeth demanded. Jack shrugged. "But you were marooned on this island before, weren't you?!" she called over the wind that was now whipping through the trees. "So we can escape in the same way you did then."
Jack shot me a pleading look, and sighing, I dealt with Elizabeth. "What would be the point?" I asked her. "I have nothing to go back to, Jack's Pearl is gone, and Will is probably dead anyway."
"And unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice-unlikely- we have no way of even getting to him in time," Jack added. I smirked at her, but she didn't take the hint.
Jack knocked on a tree trunk, and then took four exaggerated steps, before jumping up and down on an unstable piece of ground. Elizabeth hurried after him. I leaned idly against a tree.
"But you're Captain Jack Sparrow." Jack smiled and nodded at this. 'Probably glad someone got his title right,' I thought. "You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Company. You sacked Nassau Port without even firing a shot. Are you the pirate I've read about or not? How did you escape last time?"
"Whoah. You did all that?" I snorted. "That's unlikely."
He stopped jumping. "Well, love, we've got plenty o' time for me to tell ya about it," he shot back.
Elizabeth cleared her throat noisily. "How did you escape last time?" she demanded again.
"Last time ...I was here a grand total of three days, alright?" he said irritably. "Last time..." He swung open a door to a secret cellar.
"Well, that explains a lot," I stated bluntly.
"É the rumrunners used this island as a cache. Came by, and I was able to barter a passage off. From the looks of things, they've long been out of business. Probably Éhave your bloody friend Norrington to thank for that." He disappeared inside, and returned with three bottles of rum.
I miled in delight. "Rum!" I exclaimed happily, and bounced over to grab a bottle. Elizabeth looked pissed.
"So that's it then? That's the secret grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow?" she asked incredulously. "You spent three days lying on a beach drinking rum?"
I laughed aloud this time. " 'twould appear so wouldn't it? You didn't expect something more did ya?"
Jack bumped me hard in the shoulder as he walked up to Elizabeth. "Welcome to the Caribbean, love." He handed her a bottle, and stalked off toward the beach. Feeling pleased with myself, I followed, leaving Elizabeth staring dumbly at the rum bottle in her hand.
~*~*~
We'd been sitting on the beach for quite a while, and I felt the effects of the rum beginning to take. Amazingly enough, after taunting her for a while, we were able to get Elizabeth to drink with us. The conversation had been normal for a while, and then Elizabeth had asked if the stories about Jack were true. So, to prove himself, Jack had shown us his numerous scars, and Elizabeth promptly shut up. I vaguely remember Elizabeth singing some song, and us wanting to know what the words were. She refused to tell us.
"So, what's all this about sacking Nassau without firing a single shot?" I asked as drew little designs in the sand. Jack told me. He also rambled on about every other adventure he'd had. I was almost asleep when Elizabeth asked the inevitable.
"What about you?"
'What about me?' I gave her a hard look, the alcohol starting to make my mind swim in confusion. I sighed.
"She won't tell ye, love," Jack said to Elizabeth. "She hasn't even told me."
"Damn right I haven't told ye, ya cur," I snapped. "But I figure after this, either we'll die or you two won't remember anything that was said due to the rum. So I'll tell ya." Grudgingly, I began.
"I got my ship when I was naught but twenty, maybe. Won her in Spain, during a poker game. At the time I was working in disguise as a lad aboard Captain Pete Black's Seahawk." Jack grunted in acknowledgment of Pete Black and his ship.
"Anyhow, I'd been allowed to play because they didn't think I would win, but they also thought I was only thirteen or fourteen years old. So I won the ship from one of the pirates in the game. Stupid blighter, shouldn't have bet his ship, but he figured he'd won," I smirked darkly. "But I had four aces, and plenty of practice in cheating. He'd been completely outraged, and wanted to take his ship back. Pete's crew thought it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen, until I killed the man. Then they bolted out of that bar in a hurry.
"So I went to the docks, and found my new ship, called La Estrella. I thought it was a stupid name, but I kept it for lack of anything better. It did grow on me. I never have been creative in that aspect. I found me a crew, probably the only men (and one woman) who would serve under a woman captain. By then I had decided to reveal my identity, there was no need to hide it anymore. Someone would've found out eventually." I paused in order to piece together the shards of my shattered memory.
"My first mate was named Kayla Johnson, and she was the best friend I ever had. If it weren't for her, I never would've made it. My second mate was-" I gulped. "John Andrews," I stuttered. I hadn't said that name out loud in a long time. It made me sick to my stomach. "I never should've trusted John. Something was not quite right about him from the very beginning, but he did have the most sea experience, so he would have to do.
"All went well for a long time. Around six years perhaps." I fumbled with my conception of time. It was to no avail. I wasn't thinking clearly enough. "Until the mutiny. Until my reputation was lost and my life became hell. I sensed tension for a while, and should've done something about it. My crew had changed several times since I had first gotten La Estrella, and the current crew was brand new-except for Kayla and John.
"The new crew was far from what I would have liked, but it was all I had to work with, so it would just have to do. Obviously they were very impressionable, because they soon fell under John's spell. All, that is, except for Kayla and a few others, but they were outnumbered." I glanced at Jack and Elizabeth. She was paying rapt attention, and Jack was staring thoughtfully at the ground.
I continued. "John knocked on my cabin in the middle of the night. Thinking something was wrong, I answered the door, which was a big mistake. Two men jumped on me, and tied me up. When Kayla and the other loyal crew members protested, John had them tortured and killed right in front of me.
"Naturally, I felt like shit, and didn't care if I lived or died. As luck might have it, they went after me next. They tortured and beat me into oblivion, and tossed my body onto some beach, leaving me to die from hunger, thirst, and my wounds. Unlike you, I wasn't given a pistol with one shot." I deliberately left out the part about being raped. I didn't think Jack needed to hear about that, and I didn't know Elizabeth well enough to tell her something like that. "Bloody bastard," I snarled, the memory of John making me suddenly feel defensive and angry. I fell silent.
"How did you get off the island?" Elizabeth asked gently. I sighed, not wanting to continue, but I knew they deserved the rest of the story.
"Well, it seems that the island they'd thrown me on wasn't as deserted as John had thought. Turns out it was the vacation island of some wealthy British family. They found me unconscious on the shore, and took me up to their home on the side of the island." I smirked at the thought of John finding out I was alive after all of this time.
"They didn't know ye were a pirate?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.
"They didn't even check. I guess they figured that since I was a woman, I automatically wasn't a threat. I told them I had amnesia, and that I didn't remember a thing, and asked if they could take me to the nearest port. Of course, it crossed my mind once or twice that I should kill them. One less snob to worry about, ya know? But they'd saved my life. I owed them a lot.
"After that, I wandered from port to port, island to island without any money. Actually, what money I had, I used for food or passage on ships. I bartered me cutlass in order to reach Port Royal, along with a few shillings. There, I finally found a ship I wanted, and you had to be there." I rolled my eyes.
Jack chuckled lightly. "Aye, your knight in shining armor."
"Shut up. If it weren't for you, I would be sailing along in the Interceptor minding me own business. Instead, I'm yet again marooned on some god forsaken beach, this time with the two of you."
"Knew you couldn't resist me, love." Jack winked.
"Prat."
"Hellcat."
"Bastard."
"Bitch."
"Sick fu-"
"SHUT UP!"
We both jumped at Elizabeth's sudden outburst. "Honestly, the two of you need to get a life."
"We're sooo misunderstood," I sighed, shaking my head.
"Lizzie, darlin'," Jack began.
"It's Miss Swan," Elizabeth interrupted.
"Whatever. Anyway, this is my life. This whole bleedin' island! All thanks to bloody Will."
"Aye, a toast to Will!" I exclaimed drunkenly.
"It's not his fault," Elizabeth protested weakly.
Jack and I clinked our bottles together, and it was then I noticed how much rum we'd drunk. About two or three bottles each. 'Funny how I never noticed going back to the cellar,' I thought dazedly. I shrugged.
The sun was beginning to set, and despite our current predicament, it looked quite beautiful. Everything was bathed in pinks and purples. 'Hehe. Including Jack and Elizabeth!'
" 's cold!" I slurred abruptly, and staggered to my feet. "I'm gonna build a fire."
"I'll help ye!" Jack announced, and clambered to his feet as well.
I went to take a step forward, but found I couldn't do it. Instead, I was falling down. "Whee!!" I giggled, and then felt two arms grab my waist and pull me up. 'That's funny,' I thought stupidly.
"You fell," Jack stated plainly and then collapsed into a peal of laughter.
I pretended to act indignant, and attempted to stomp away, but ended up falling flat on my face. Now Elizabeth was laughing as well. " 's not funny," I grumbled as Jack offered me a hand. Together we helped each other stumble into the palm tree grove.
We did okay until the damned tree root came up out of nowhere. And yet again I was falling, except this time I ended up on top of Jack.
"Bloody root," I swore when all of a sudden, his lips met mine. At first, I was too shocked to do anything, and then, whether from a drunken stupor or pent-up lust, I began to kiss him back. 'Tastes like rum,' I thought hazily. 'Oh shit! Not good, not good!' I pulled myself away, much to Jack's disappointment. "Not good. Bad." I struggled to get to my feet, but the rum was preventing me from doing anything gracefully. I'm sure it looked like I was tripping to my feet.
Jack rolled over onto his stomach, and propped his head up on his elbow. "Do I offend?" he slurred, grinning stupidly.
If only he knew that he didn't. In fact, I'd been enjoying it very much. But it was wrong. So, I didn't reply. I just gathered my sticks and branches together, and hobbled back to where Elizabeth was waiting, leaving a very stunned Jack Sparrow behind. "Probably staring at my ass, the sick pervert," I grumbled under my breath.
~*~*~
"We're devils and black sheep! Really bad eggs! Drink up, me 'earties yo ho!" The three of us belted out the lyrics to Elizabeth's song as we danced around the roaring fire. I was amazed we'd even gotten the fire to ignite in the first place. Elizabeth didn't know how to make one, and Jack and I were drunk as skunks. Somehow we managed to throw the sticks together in a haphazard fashion, and I still don't know what we used for kindling.
"I love this song! Really bad eggs!" Jack bellowed, and tripped over his own feet, landing sprawled on the ground. Elizabeth landed next to him, and I on the other side of her. "When I get the Pearl back, I'm gonna teach it to the whole crew, and we'll sing it all the time!"
"And you'll be positively the most fearsome pirate in the Spanish Main," Elizabeth told him.
"Like that'll ever happen," I snorted. They both threw me dirty looks. I simply shrugged.
Jack continued as if he hadn't heard me. "Not just the Spanish Main , love. The entire ocean. The entire wo'ld. Wherever we want to go, we'll go. That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails that's what a ship needs but what a ship is Éwhat the Black Pearl really is Éis freedom."
'That was really deeeeeep!' I thought, giving a mental giggle.
"Jack Éit must be really terrible for you to be trapped on this island," Elizabeth crooned. 'What's she getting at?' I wondered.
"Oh yes," Jack answered. He put his arm around her, and a pang of jealousy ripped through me. I quickly smothered it, and gave myself a mental shake. "But the company is infinitely better than last time, I think. The scenery has definitely improved." He winked at me this time, and I resisted the urge to throw up.
"Mr. Sparrow ÉI'm not entirely sure that I've had enough rum to allow that kind of talk," Elizabeth simpered.
'I have.' 'Whoa! Where the hell did that come from!' I decided it was the rum. Had to be.
Thankfully, I said none of this out loud. "I know exactly what you mean, love." Jack curled his mustache, doing an impression of a British military man.
Elizabeth held up her bottle. "To freedom."
Jack raised his. "To the Black Pearl."
I stopped sulking long enough to raise my rum bottle. "To me not puking all over myself." They both gave me weird looks, which I returned with a sneer. 'Must've ruined the mood,' I thought sullenly. Tipping my head back, I gulped down the rest of the contents in the bottle, and welcomed the blackness.
TBC
~*~*~
A/N:And there ya are folks! Another chapter! For once I didn't have homework. *does happy dance* ^_^ I want to say thanks for my reviews! But I'm too lazy to reply to them because I want to get this chapter up. Responses will be next chapter. And REVIEW because I want to know what you think of this! No flames please. They'll just go to help light the fire for the rum scene. ^_^ Oh, and Henry the Rabid Seagull says hi.
Henry: Hi!
Readers: O.o
Jack: Come back Henry! You still owe me 20 bucks!
Henry: Hehe. Gotta go! *flies away as Jack comes dashing in waving his cutlass in the air*
Jack: *sees readers and puts away his cutlass* Yo! Sup?
Readers: O.o
Me: And that is my OOC Jack! Isn't he awesome! If you want more of Henry, OOC Jack and OOC Will, GO READ MY PARODY! It's cool. ^_^ Ta for now! *drags Jack away*
Until next time,
~TheSiriusSparrow~
Oh, and I just wanted to say that 'savvy' is the best word ever. Whew, glad I got that off my chest. Lol.
