A/N I don't own anything. Ok, listen. I've been going through some writers block lately, but this just came to me in a moment of inspiration. Tell me what you are thinking.
Jack found the prison without any trouble. And he was delighted to find that the guard was already asleep. All he had to do was sneak in, grab Anne, and sneak out. No problem. Luck was on his side.
He crept in and glanced in all the cells. There were four cells, and three were filled with pathetic looking prisoners, but the last one had only one figure in it, hunched up in the corner, shadow across the features, and a recognizable hat on the person's head. It didn't look like Anne, but Jack didn't know who else it could be. Where else would she be?
"Anne?" He muttered to the figure in the corner. The hat lifted slightly and he could see a half smile on the person's mouth. Jack sighed in relief. It was her.
"So… having trouble figuring out the note, Jack? Or can't you read?" Anne said to him. He shook his head and glanced at a man in one of the other cells who was pretending not to be eavesdropping.
"I came to get you out… don't want you dying 'cos o' me."
Anne sat up straighter and leaned forward, and Jack finally saw her red hair, sweeping out over her shoulder. But what really caught his attention was her eyes… her eyes, when they were happy, were a sparkling green that made you want to laugh, and when she was upset, were like a cold and frozen forest that has seen better days. Her eyes bit into his mind. It was scary.
Her voice was low at first. But when she really got into what she was saying, it sounded like she had thought about all of this for a long time.
"Get me out, Jack? Help me escape?" She laughed softly and bitterly. "There is no escape. Except death. But we're all going to hell anyway, so what kind of escape is that? The fact is Jack… I don't have anywhere to go. I give you back your captaincy, and then I leave your ship. That's what you were planning, right? So where am I going to go? Huh? Back to North Carolina, into Daddy's open arms? Or maybe I could stay here, in Nassau?" She stood up and walked over to Jack, wrapping her fingers around the bars.
"The fact is, Jack… I would rather stay here. Rather face my death, because what else is there? I don't have anything to live for. You think you're some kind of saint, Jack? Coming in here all piratey, with your big shot dreams about being famous… nobody's going to remember you once you die. There's only a couple things worth living for, and I've already tried them all. Let's just see where that gets me. There's dreams… well, I've lived my dreams. I don't have any anymore… nothing to hope for, to want. There are goals and accomplishments… but that all goes back into that… no matter what you do, nobody's going to remember. And there's love…" Her voice faltered, and she looked at the ground for a moment before meeting Jack's eyes again. "Love betrayed me."
Jack was silent during all this, listening to all that she needed to say. He understood that… she needed to say it. She had based her whole life on these thoughts, about how hopeless everything was, and she needed to say it. But when she finished, he shook his head.
"You think you don't have anything to live for, Anne? You're wrong. Bad stuff happens sometimes, but that's no reason to give up hope. You come to a barrier, and you knock it down. Once things get hard, you just push harder. But it all depends on what you want to be remembered for. You want to be remembered as the person who always looked back, never forward? Or the person who lived life for the moment, the thrill of just experiencing it, being there. You tell me Anne. Because once you choose, that's forever how I'll remember you."
Anne shook her head sourly. "You talk big Jack, but the words that come out of your mouth are full of shit." She smiled and shook her head again. "Let me out."
Jack pushed the key in the lock, and it opened smoothly, the door swung open, creaking a little on its hinges, and Anne and Jack left Nassau.
***~***
Jack and Anne were sailing on a small brigantine commandeered form the docks of Nassau (Jack had taken one look at the ship Anne had and decided to commandeer a ship.) The brigantine was called The Gull, but Anne renamed it, evilly, and much to Jack's displeasure, Sparrow's Goods, the implication being that Sparrow's goods were rather small. It did get a good laugh from Anamaria later on, though.
The brigantine was small enough that Jack and Anne could crew it together well enough without any trouble, provided that they get along. It was hard though, because Anne was constantly cross at Jack for being lazy, and in their haste to leave, they had forgotten to check the supplies in the ship, and were running rather low… it was a good thing that Anne and Jack were the only people on the boat, or they would have been in trouble. They did not have food to spare.
They slept in shifts, and not often, because they couldn't sleep when the clouds looked dark or the wind was strong. It would've only taken a day or two to get to the Pearl, but may I remind you that the Pearl was not due to go anywhere for a whole month, and Jack seemed to always be turning them in the wrong direction. Finally he just let Anne take over at the helm, because she seemed to know exactly where they were going. She did… Jack had no idea where the Pearl was, she refused to tell him.
One day the sea was particularly calm, so they secured the wheel and Anne climbed up to the crows nest, with Jack right behind her. Staring quite bluntly at her behind. She kicked him gently and his hat flew off, he immediately scrambled down after it, in almost a panic, swearing all the way down the rigging that if it was lost at sea he was going to kill her.
The hat survived, so, so did Anne. Jack finally recovered and continued climbing to the crow's nest, where he pulled out a bottle of rum and started swigging. Anne was obviously disgusted.
"Thought we were behind all this, love." Jack said, noticing she didn't flinch when he called her love.
"I never said that I loved rum." Anne said, turning her green eyes back to the sea, and taking a deep breath of the salty air wafting up from the sapphire sparkles down below.
"Hmmm…" Jack said, taking another swig.
"Honestly Jack, what am I going to do when we get back to the Pearl? I can't be the captain or the first mate, and… you can keep my share of the treasure. I don't have anything to do with it."
Jack raised his eye brows and stared at the bottom of his rum bottle.
"Actually, Anne, I was um… kind of wondering if you'd like to be captain alongside me again." Jack said, not taking his eyes off the rum.
Anne was very quiet. "I can't do that." She finally said. "I can't take part of your responsibility away… it's your life, I need to get on with mine."
Jack shook his head. "I'd be honored to captain alongside you… I need somebody to keep me in line, threaten me with cleaning the galley every once in awhile, just so that I don't get lazy." Jack sighed. "I'm just offering, love. All you have to do is say yes, no agreement needed. As soon as you want off, you can leave."
Anne was silent. Jack turned to look at her, and noticed the expression on her face… what could she be thinking? Hard to believe she could betray him, and yet be so wrapped up in hating her life and the way the world works.
"What are you thinking?" She asked him, as if she knew that's what he wanted to ask her.
Jack said the first think that came to mind without even thinking about what her reaction might be.
"How beautiful you are."
She turned sharply to look at him, her eyes wide and confused.
"What?" She whispered softly, her face pale in disbelief, and without waiting for him to answer, slid softly down the ropes and disappeared below deck
And then next morning, she reappeared on deck, as snide and cheerful as she normally was, pretending that he hadn't said anything, and that everything that had happened yesterday had never happened at all. After all, she knew she was beautiful, and lot's of people had told her so. So this shouldn't bother her at all. Jack was just being sweet, telling the truth. How nice of him.
But inside she was scared.