Ch.17 My enemy, my love
Lily smoothly brought the daggers around, her arms crossing in front of her, pivoting her body around so she was turned to look into the full length mirror at the other end of the room, her reflection pink cheeks and sweaty looking back at her. She'd been working on these moves for so long, memorizing every step, every lung...every point on a man's body for death...the weight behind a dagger to kill a man.
Gracefully she side-stepped to the left and danced forward across the semi-bare room, stepping up onto the cedar chest and jumping to her bed, pretending there was an enemy...he had long hair, a mustache and dreadlocks. Some said he had kohl-rimmed eyes but she didn't care, she only wanted him dead.
There was an invisible foe behind her, she pretended to feel his eyes on the back of her head. Whipping around, she left the daggers fly and, in less then a second, they were deep inside the closet door's oak polished wood.
Lily sighed and breathed deeply, sitting down on a plush red chair and staring absentmindedly at the door. She would be leaving here tomorrow, there was nothing left and besides, she'd be playing maid and sitter for Rosa Whitaker, her best friend. Ralph had secured a captaincy in the Navy at Port Royal, something he had not really wanted but there would be better weather and a small raise in pay.
Lying down, she closed her eyes and felt her heart going back to normal. She wouldn't be leaving if her husband hadn't died. She had loved him, Bob, he'd been her love for eight years. A sickness, something the doctors hadn't been able to diagnose, had taken him, leaving her alone in a large house with no one but herself. Her widowed mother had also moved in and still lived here but she was not coming to the Caribbean with Lily, Rosa, Ralph and the Whitaker kids.
Lily felt the sting of tears, Jack...Bob, maybe she was curse. Bob had understood what Lily's need for revenge had been having seen his father murdered. He'd respected her, taught her...she had never loved him like Jack but, he'd been a good friend, an excellent lover and a great man. They'd never had kids, tried but, there was something wrong, they never came. He'd never blamed her, comforted her as they had gone through another failed attempt, said it'd happen.
Turning over, Lily lay down on her pillow, tears running silently down her cheeks. She'd find Jack Sparrow and kill him for ruining her life.
"Jack!" Lily screamed, running down the dark dingy street after him. There was to many people, he was walking way to fast...he wasn't turning around, he wasn't looking at her. "Jack! Stop! Please." He turned into a building. Lily ran but she was hardly going any faster then a walk. She had to get him, save him before Sparrow got him, she knew.
The bar was empty, there was only dark spaces and empty tables. It was hard walking around them, they kept getting in her way so she'd smack into them. She yelled at them many times to get out of her way but it never worked.
"Who are you?" Asked a voice from the corner. Though, deep down she knew it was Bob's voice, she turned to see the person, knowing it was Jack she'd find. He was sitting on the staircase. "Why are you following me?"
"Jack, it's me, Lily." Lily could hardly speak. "Don't you know me?" Jack shook his head. "I..." She couldn't say anymore, she'd been drowned out by a weird scraping sound.
"Lily...Lily..." He husband's voice still issued from Jack's mouth as a deep stain of red began to appear on his stomach, blood seeping from an unseen wound. He looked down.
"I'll find you Jack." Lily said loudly. Jack looked up. "I'll find you."
"I'll find you Jack, I'll find you." Lily was speaking in her sleep again. Rosa came forward, smiling.
"Lily?" She asked calmly, sitting on the bed. "Lily, wake up." She touched her friend on the shoulder and the other woke with a start.
"I was..."
"Dreaming." Rosa answered. Lily wiped away some tears sliding down her face, turning to the wall so Rosa wouldn't see as the ship beneath them rocked back and forth. "Where are we? Are we there?"
"No, another day or so, we're in the Caribbean however." Rosa smiled. "Come up on deck, the water is so beautiful and it is so warm." Lily didn't move. "Come on Lily, you'll love it." Dragging her friend out of bed, Rosa pulled Lily along the cabin and up the stairs to the deck.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shinning, the birds were out and the warm breeze caressed their face. "Ralph's ship should have arrived three days ago along with the boys." Rosa said, leaning on the railing. "I can't wait to see our home but, even so, I'll miss Britain."
"We can always go back to visit." Lily replied, secretly telling herself she had really nothing to go back to and hopping the Caribbean offered more then what she had left behind. Rosa nodded slightly and turned to look at her small daughter, playing near the wheel and bugging the helmsman. There were many soldiers on board and she seemed to find something to say to them all.
Her daughter, Alice, had long flowing brown hair and the cutest freckles ever seen. Her cheek bone were high, even though she had chubby little cheeks and she always looked like she was up to something. She reminded Rosa of Jack.
She had three sons and an older daughter who was in another cabin. Her oldest daughter, Katharine, looked more like Ralph with the pale complexion and dull blue eyes but she was very beautiful. Then there were the boys, Thomas, with blond hair and green eyes, and Jonathan, with brown hair and brown eyes. Rosa sighed, the boys had gone with their father and she missed them.
She loved Ralph but had of course been septic about marrying him. After a few years they had had Katharine, two years later Thomas came, then Jonathan and then little Alice. She had a perfect life but there was still the need to get Sparrow for what he had done to her brother.
Suddenly there was a flurry of activity on deck, a call from the crow's nest calling out over the men, "Sail! Sail on the horizon, drawing closer!" Lily grabbed Rosa's hand and they made their way across the ship to the other side. There was a ship coming closer, drawing level with them...and hoisting the Jolly Roger. "Oh good god! It's the Red-Revenge!"
Jack Sparrow stood at the helm of the Black Pearl, her belly full of left over swag from Barbossa's cave, the crew happy and well fed, enjoying a beautiful day at Tortuga. Jack leaned on the wheel; his eyes staring out at the shimmering water, thinking.
He still couldn't believe what he'd done, saving the Pearl from that mutinous bastard, beating the Navy...outrunning Norrington as he was still chasing him. At least he'd given him, what Jack estimated, a twenty-four hour start. Good old Norrington, a man of his word. Stupid idiot.
Gibbs was ordering the last of the men off and looked up at Jack from the deck below. "You stayin' by yerself there, cap'n?" He asked. Jack nodded, not taking his eyes off the sea. Gibbs shrugged and stalked away, non-chalant. Jack had things he had to do.
It had been months since he'd reclaimed the Black Pearl but he still hadn't done one thing...find the stuff he'd hidden in all the small nooks and crannies of the Captain's cabin. It still reeked of Barbossa, Jack noticed as he entered the large and dark paneled room, the oriental carpet his again. There a loose floor board under the bed which he pulled up first, extracting the Sparrow necklace along with the heart one. He'd had them in his sash that night on the Catherine and had hidden them in the Pearl. He put on the Sparrow necklace and deposited the other in the top drawer on the dresser.
Next he went for his extra sash, the black one he'd replaced for a more colorful one. He put that in the top drawer to and then, at long last, found the book. The note from his mother to his father that Roger had wanted him to get rid of was stuck inside. Jack held on to it, not wanting to let it go just yet. He'd do it tonight, later, when he could. He placed the note in his pocket and opened the book, searching for the last page he'd been on.
"I looked over at Mary, so beautiful, so wonderful...all the dreaded things, all the atrocities I'd seen and nothing, absolutely nothing, could compare with her beauty." Jack through the book behind him where it hit the wall and thumped limply on to the bed. He'd write the last chapter, Fritz dying at the end of his sword.
There was a knock on his door. "What?" He called, thinking Anamaria or Gibbs had come back. There was no answer, only a slight squawk. "Cotton." Jack muttered under his breath. Jack lazily got up and went to the door, placing his hand on the doorknob and pulling it wide. "This had better be..." He stopped as he got a glimpse of the parrot hanging limply from a large beefy man's hand, Cotton held at gun point, before he was hit hard in the face with the blunt end of a gun. Blackness.
Gibbs yawned, walking beside Anamaria who was weaving slightly. He laughed, "Ye look like Jack." Anamaria, to his surprise, didn't snap but smiled slightly before she stopped, eyes on the harbor.
"What does that look like to you?" She asked, pointing at the harbor's base, the morning light glinting off the water. "What ship?" Gibbs squinted, then it hit him.
"The Red-Revenge." He answered. Excitement coursed through him, Jack was going to love this. They raced down the path towards the docks, Anamaria ahead, sprinting up the gang-plank with Gibbs puffing behind until he stopped at the door with a breathed out, "Jack we..." Anamaria was crouched over something in the doorway.
It looked like... "Blood." She said, scooping some up with her fingers. "It's blood." Gibbs turned, looking frantically around the ship.
"Jack! Cap'n!" There was no answer. Anamaria laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Fritz must have him. The map to the Isla de Muerta is also missing...so is the compass."
Lily screamed as Rosa, Katherine, Alice and her were ripped apart, the men hauling them off the small Navy ship and on to the pirate ship with some of the crew, leaving behind the dead.
"No! Let me go! Rosa!" They were pulling Rosa to the captain's cabin as she fought against them, ripping at the man's arms and legs. He was a large man, someone had called him Dick.
"Mother!" Alice cried weakly, a small man holding her tightly in his arms, wincing as she kicked backwards at him. Lily watched, horrified, as Rosa was shoved into the captain's cabin before the deck disappeared from view and she was being taken down a small staircase to the brig.
It was cold and dark, dimly lit, with four very small staw floored cells. There was one visible occupant, a man with a scrubby gray beard, huddled in the lighted corner, his head against the cool wall. There was a deep gash on his cheek and a parrot sat dead next to him on the floor. Alice gasped as she was tossed into the cell. The man caught her as she almost smashed into the wall, and helped her shakily to her feet. Lilly waited as they threw Katherine the cell across from her sister's before throwing Lily one of the cells at the very end, beside it. Katherine leaned through the bars and grabbed Lily's hand, looking over at her sister and the man.
"Alice, are you okay?" She asked. Alice came to the bars and nodded, watching Lily. Her eyes, though, wandered to the cell next to her and she gasped.
"There's a man, in the cell...I think he's dead." The man in the corner tugged on her dress and she jumped, turning to look at him. He shook his head and pointed to the man in the other cell, hitting himself on the head and pointing. Alice smiled. "Your funny." She said. Lily, though scared, also managed a smile as the man looked over at her.
"He's been knocked out, Alice, sweetheart, he's not dead." Alice nodded and kneeled down, reaching through the bars and tugging on the man's shirt. "Alice," Lily felt fear well inside her at the young girl's actions. "Please, don't, he might hurt you."
Again the man shook his head but Katherine yelled, "Yes, don't touch him, he'd obviously a pirate." Alice stopped and sat with her back to the bars, looking at the parrot on the floor.
"Is that your's?" She asked the man. He smiled sadly and nodded. "Is he sleeping to?" The man nodded again and Alice smiled slightly. "Will he wake up soon?" She asked. This time, the man shook his head and Alice's face fell. "Can you talk?" Opening him mouth, he showed them all that he was missing a tongue. "What's your name?" In the dirt, under the straw, he wrote something and Alice spelt it out. "C-O-T-T-O-N." She looked at Lily and Katherine.
"Cotton." Katherine said. The man nodded. "Do you know him?" She pointed to the man across from them and the man again nodded. "Is he a pirate?" Cotton nodded and Katherine stepped back from the bars, leaning against the wall.
Alice reached through the bars and Cotton motioned, encouraging her. "Sir?" She whispered, shaking him with all her strength. "Sir? Are you alright, sir?" There was a slight moan. Alice with drew her hand fearfully and looked over at Cotton who smiled. "I think he's waking up, sir? Can you hear me mister?"
"I can bloody hear you." Came a voice suddenly making them all jump. Lily could just see the man stirring in the darkened cell. His shape sat up and she heard a weird clinking sound. "Ah, hell."
"No, a ship." Alice said. The darkened man looked over at her and Lily could see him rubbing his face, holding his arm funny...it looked broken. "Are you sick?" The man nodded. "Does your head hurt?" Again he nodded. "Are you bleeding?"
"Yes, shut up, please." He said, he had a muffled slightly drawling voice that Lily found odd. It was thick and strained...he was either drunk or very hurt.
"Don't tell her to shut up you bloody pirate!" Katherine yelled. The man covered his ears and moaned. Lily reached through the bars and laid a hand on Katherine's shoulder, smiling slightly.
"It's okay, Kath, don't worry, we'll get out of here." Katherine sat down on the floor and the man snorted derisively as Lily began to pace.
"We won't." He said. "This is the Red-Revenge, Peg-Leg Martin Alexander Fritz's ship, under the captaincy of Martin Alexander Fritz and his coe-hort Dick Lee Dobbs. I doubt a woman will get us out and, if you keep pacing, you'll wear a hole in the ship."
"Good." Lily snapped, her Irish temper flaring. "Maybe we can swim away in the tide, huh?" The other snorted again and then began chuckling in a way meant to annoy and upset her. "What now?"
"The Irish," The man said. "I knew an Irish girl, just like you if you must know. She had hair like your's, voice like your's...I loved her."
"Yeah, right. A pirate and love don't mix." Lily said simply. The man had struck a cord with the love and Irish thing...Jack had loved her, she'd loved him.
The man shrugged. "Believe it if you will." He sounded as if he'd figured something out, as if he were suspicious of something and wanted to clarify it. He looked over at Alice. "What's your name?"
"Alice Whitaker, my mother's name is Rosa Whita..." Lily stopped her.
"You were talking to me." She snapped, glaring at him and stepping to the bars, peering through the darkness at him. She could just make out a skinny body slumped against the wall, the weird arm and long hair...the rest was black shadow. "Now, please, leave the children alone."
"Fine, I just didn't think a civil, cultured girl such as yourself would want to hear." His voice had changed, he was no longer holding a suspicious note to his voice but now had an air of one who had put this and that together. "I met her on the dock...she had a blue dress on."
An image came to Lily. She was stepping off the boat with her mother and father, they were walking along the slippery planks when she caught sight of a handsome brown haired boy not to far away, sitting on the beach, watching her. She swallowed and looked back at the man.
"Her father was a captain in the Navy where I was and had brought his wife and child there. Her name was..." Lily held her breath. Jack was dead though, she knew he was. "Lily." Her body tensed up. Couldn't be Lily Larson. "She had hair, exact same as your's, curly, like your to. And your eyes." Lily placed her forehead against the bars, hardly daring to believe it. "I loved her voice, though she didn't use it often...I thought her the names of some fruit in French." Lily couldn't breath, she wanted to scream and cry and die all at the same time. She wanted to soar and crash...she was going to crash. "She taught me how to fight." The man stood up and leaned against the wall, watching her but staying out of the pool of light. "We'd fight in a small, supposedly haunted forest and...I bought her a necklace." Lily felt her own. "It's supposed to be cursed..."
"It's a spell." Lily whispered under her breath. The man didn't hear her.
"She'll find the man she loves." He sighed. "She gave me one." He pulled it out and showed her. Dimly, with it's soft polished stone and silver chain, she could see the rock and a dim outline of a sparrow.
"Jack." She whispered. He was dead though, murdered...Jack Johnson was dead...or was he?
"It's supposed to give me freedom...and it did. I wish I could tell Lily Larson it worked." Lily jumped.
"Jack!" She screamed, unable to restrain herself and reaching through the bars for him. The man came forward into the dim light, she could hardly make him out and he reached through as well. "I thought you were..."
"I know, it was Joshua, he thought he thought I'd be able to move on if you thought I was dead!" He yelled. Lily reached out harder, trying to touch him.
"That's so stupid...I...I..." She couldn't speak, she'd just seen something that made her heart skip. On his arm, where his sleeve had pulled up, above the brand of a pirate, there was a tattoo. It was a Sparrow, flying over the backdrop of a sunset with the word 'Jack' written underneath. She pulled back, away from him and he looked down at the tattoo as well.
"What?" He asked. Lily shook her head, tears slipping down her face. There was no Jack Sparrow, it was Jack Johnson...the necklace was a Sparrow, Jack Sparrow had only turned up when Jack Johnson had died. Now that she looked at him in the light, he looked slightly like the sixteen year old Jack she had seen so long ago, staring blankly at his mother's grave that cold wet day.
"You bastard." She said, laughing slightly. "You dirty bastard! You faked your death! You...killed me! Do you have any idea how many tears I've cried? The nights I lay awake, thinking of you? What would have happened if I'd stopped you? What would have happened if I'd dragged you down? Maybe you wouldn't be dead but..." Breaking down. Lily slid down the wall, her tears bursting fourth and an animalistic wailing filling her throat until it burst and she was screaming through her hands, Katherine's hand through the bars on her shoulder.
"Who is he Lily?" She asked, scared. Lily tried to control herself but it was a minute before she managed it. Finally she choked out two words.
"Your uncle." Katherine pulled her hand away and Lily managed to look up. Jack had shrunk back to the shadows, silent. Suddenly it hit her. "Oh god! Rosa."
Rosa stood near the table, watching the man at the table who sat, his one leg, which was fake, crossed over his real one. He was smoking a cigar and swirling a glass of amber liquid around and around as he watched her. He had a cold stare that chilled her right through and, though she didn't know how, he'd wronged her...some way.
The other man, Dick, was in the corner of the room, twisting his hands in his shirt. He had a large rolling belly and his eyes continually darted to the floor as he held his gun close to his side.
"Where did you take the other's?" She asked suddenly. The man didn't answer. "Who are you? What are you going to do with us?" With a sudden surge of bravery, Rosa added, "My husband will kill you if you hurt me."
Almost immediately she wished she hadn't spoke. The man stood and set his glass on the table, still puffing his cigar. He walked closer and came with in an inch of her face, blowing smoke at her. She was used to Ralph's smoking and didn't cough but her eyes watered slightly.
"Name's Fritz." He answered finally. He had a thick accent. "I'm the cap'n of this 'ere vessel." Rosa nodded and watched as he backed up with a 'thunk' on every other step. "You be?"
"Rosa Whitaker." Rosa answered bravely. The man nodded.
"And the other woman? She would be..."
"My friend." Rosa said. The man nodded.
"Ah, alrightie. What be yer business way out 'ere Mrs. Whitaker? Yer husband got 'imself a trade er ye jus' out 'ere fer the scenery an' warm air?"
"My husband..." She paused, not knowing how much to tell him. "Is a sailor." Fritz nodded.
"As in the navy or...as in young master Sparrow I got down in me brig, eh?" Sparrow. That hit Rosa hard and she wasn't sure if she'd heard him right.
"Sparrow?" She asked. Fritz sighed and sat down again in his chair, looking over at Dick who stiffened.
"Yeah, I got me a Sparrow...cap'n o' the Black Pearl. No doubt ye know 'im." Rosa nodded and raised her chin, her knees shaking. Sparrow was down in the brig, so close...if only she had a weapon, a gun...a sword...a knife. Well, strangling him with her bare hands would do. Fritz seemed to note her reaction. "Ye got a bone ta pick wit him?" He asked.
"He...he killed my brother." She said. If Fritz was an enemy of Sparrow, maybe she could work it to her advantage. Maybe she could get on the good side of him, use her body to let her daughters and Lily get away and then find a way to sneak off the ship. Either way, she may be able to have everything.
Fritz nodded and looked over at Dick. "Tha' be tough and revenge be sweat but some...can be paid off wit money." He smiled and the other man's face burned red. "Ain't that right Dickie?" Dick nodded simply, an action so small you had to be a well trained person to see it and, after having sons, Rosa knew what to look for.
"Tell ye wha', you tell me who be yer father an' I'll let ye go." He said. Rosa was taken back by this question. She raised her hand and ran it through her hair.
"Pardon?" She asked.
"Tell me who be yer father an' I'll let ye go." Rosa didn't even have to think about it.
"Robert Johnson." She said. Fritz shook his head.
"Who be yer real father? Ye look like Joshua Delore...really ye do." Rosa started. She'd heard that name but where? She cast her mind around, thinking. Josh Delore...Josh Delore...another came to her also.
"Mary Johanna." She whispered. Fritz raised an eyebrow. "It was in a book." Fritz smiled.
"An the map?" He asked. Rosa looked up. Her mother had taken the map. Was there a connection between her and Mary Johanna? If so, where was the map? She'd looked at it, in the library. It had fallen out when she'd opened the secret book's pages.
"Safe." She said. Fritz cocked an eyebrow. "My brother, Jack has it." Fritz smiled and shook his head.
"No, he doesn't. Believe me, I know." He looked at Dick. "Take her down below, do what we planned before, if there ever was something like that happen. Maybe one of them will talk." Dick grabbed her arm roughly and held the gun to her back, leading her out of the cabin and down the steps to the brig.
What did he mean, he knew? How could he know her brother? He was dead! The brig was cold and, when they saw her, Alice and Katherine ran to the bars, reaching through them and calling out pitiful cries of 'Mother!'.
"It's okay, I'm alright." She said comfortingly to them as Dick brought her to stand in front of a dark cell next to Alice's. There was a kind faced man inside, watching. Craning her neck as Dick played with the keys, she saw Lily up against the bars, watching with mingled fear and...something else. She was about to say something when she felt the hilt of a dagger in her hand and Dick shoving her into the cell.
Before she could whip around and hit him with the dagger he'd closed the door and was locking it, looking over her shoulder to the far corner of the cell with a smile on his face. "You thought I was bad, wait until you get a load of the Mrs." He said. Rosa turned around and squinted, realizing she wasn't alone. Carefully, she hid the dagger up her sleeve.
When Dick was gone, Rosa said, "I know you're there. Who are you?" It was a man, she could tell. He had long hair and loose cloths. He was slumped against the wall, watching her. Slowly he stood.
"Let me first guess who you are." He said. Rosa stepped back a little, slightly worried even with the dagger. "Rosa Whitaker, am I right?" Rosa didn't move.
"Depends who wants to know. I asked you first, however. Who are you?" The man raised his hands in a semi-motion of surrender.
"Smith." He answered. Rosa raised his eyebrow and opened her mouth to say something when little Alice piped up.
"I thought your name was Jack Sparrow." She said. The man's head snapped in the darkness to look at her and Rosa leapt, dragging him to the ground with her weight and pulling out the dagger, thrusting it at him forcefully. He growled and rolled, Rosa on the bottom, both ignoring the yells from Lily and Katherine.
Her dagger met flesh, Sparrow's arm. It ripped through his shoulder drawing blood. He ignored it and grabbed her neck, squeezing weakly as his stronger arm took the wrist below her dagger. With a quick thrust, she brought her extra hand up and punched him on the side of the head, slashing with the dagger and tearing into his side.
"For me!" She screamed, hitting him again before he could react. "For Lily!" She'd gotten the upper hand. She was sure one of his arms was hurt, not just from the dagger cut but before they had started battling and she knew, in other conditions, he would have been an extremely hard foe to beat.
On top of him, she held the dagger over his heart and raised it, preparing to kill. "This is for my brother...Jack...I've been waiting my whole life for this moment."
"No!" Lily screamed. Rosa knew better then to take her eyes off the man but the adrenaline was pumping to hard, to fast and her mind wasn't clear. She looked up at Lily who was reaching through the bars, tears on her face. "No! Stop! Don't! It's Jack."
Dun, Dun, Dun....Well, tell me what you think. P.S, this story is almost over, I have about three or so chapters left. I'm really sad about it....oh well. All fun things have to come to an end.
DRAGONHUNTER200: I will never ever be sick of you DragonHunter. I'm reading your Wrong Man right now, it's so good, I swear. I'm on chapter seven, I'll be reading it right after I am done updating. I want to know how Lange knew about Will and Jack being on the ship alone! I smell a traitor! I loved the movie and I tried so hard to make the last chapter on the movie good enough to work with the movie. I know it was not my best but I ad to get the movie over with. Now that it's done I'm back to myself. I want a dolphin! I'd flunk bio if I had to do the eyeball to...I don't even have an eye problem! Yes, this new potc will be my first venture into the world of 'you' fan fics, they seem to be pretty popular, eh? And I have a harry potter thing, man I can't wait to see hp 3 it looks so good! Aries just came to me on the spur of the moment when I got him...he's a fighter. Ani....poor thing. Then again, when I was five we had cows and I named the bull Cupid. You thought your cat has identity issues! Poor Cupid! Oh, my small town, there are drunks. There was this one guy who had my house before I did...he drove every morning to the bar on his lawn moer, stayed until close, drove home and passed out on the toilet with a smoke and a beer. My wall drip nicoteen even to this day. It's gross.
Lily smoothly brought the daggers around, her arms crossing in front of her, pivoting her body around so she was turned to look into the full length mirror at the other end of the room, her reflection pink cheeks and sweaty looking back at her. She'd been working on these moves for so long, memorizing every step, every lung...every point on a man's body for death...the weight behind a dagger to kill a man.
Gracefully she side-stepped to the left and danced forward across the semi-bare room, stepping up onto the cedar chest and jumping to her bed, pretending there was an enemy...he had long hair, a mustache and dreadlocks. Some said he had kohl-rimmed eyes but she didn't care, she only wanted him dead.
There was an invisible foe behind her, she pretended to feel his eyes on the back of her head. Whipping around, she left the daggers fly and, in less then a second, they were deep inside the closet door's oak polished wood.
Lily sighed and breathed deeply, sitting down on a plush red chair and staring absentmindedly at the door. She would be leaving here tomorrow, there was nothing left and besides, she'd be playing maid and sitter for Rosa Whitaker, her best friend. Ralph had secured a captaincy in the Navy at Port Royal, something he had not really wanted but there would be better weather and a small raise in pay.
Lying down, she closed her eyes and felt her heart going back to normal. She wouldn't be leaving if her husband hadn't died. She had loved him, Bob, he'd been her love for eight years. A sickness, something the doctors hadn't been able to diagnose, had taken him, leaving her alone in a large house with no one but herself. Her widowed mother had also moved in and still lived here but she was not coming to the Caribbean with Lily, Rosa, Ralph and the Whitaker kids.
Lily felt the sting of tears, Jack...Bob, maybe she was curse. Bob had understood what Lily's need for revenge had been having seen his father murdered. He'd respected her, taught her...she had never loved him like Jack but, he'd been a good friend, an excellent lover and a great man. They'd never had kids, tried but, there was something wrong, they never came. He'd never blamed her, comforted her as they had gone through another failed attempt, said it'd happen.
Turning over, Lily lay down on her pillow, tears running silently down her cheeks. She'd find Jack Sparrow and kill him for ruining her life.
"Jack!" Lily screamed, running down the dark dingy street after him. There was to many people, he was walking way to fast...he wasn't turning around, he wasn't looking at her. "Jack! Stop! Please." He turned into a building. Lily ran but she was hardly going any faster then a walk. She had to get him, save him before Sparrow got him, she knew.
The bar was empty, there was only dark spaces and empty tables. It was hard walking around them, they kept getting in her way so she'd smack into them. She yelled at them many times to get out of her way but it never worked.
"Who are you?" Asked a voice from the corner. Though, deep down she knew it was Bob's voice, she turned to see the person, knowing it was Jack she'd find. He was sitting on the staircase. "Why are you following me?"
"Jack, it's me, Lily." Lily could hardly speak. "Don't you know me?" Jack shook his head. "I..." She couldn't say anymore, she'd been drowned out by a weird scraping sound.
"Lily...Lily..." He husband's voice still issued from Jack's mouth as a deep stain of red began to appear on his stomach, blood seeping from an unseen wound. He looked down.
"I'll find you Jack." Lily said loudly. Jack looked up. "I'll find you."
"I'll find you Jack, I'll find you." Lily was speaking in her sleep again. Rosa came forward, smiling.
"Lily?" She asked calmly, sitting on the bed. "Lily, wake up." She touched her friend on the shoulder and the other woke with a start.
"I was..."
"Dreaming." Rosa answered. Lily wiped away some tears sliding down her face, turning to the wall so Rosa wouldn't see as the ship beneath them rocked back and forth. "Where are we? Are we there?"
"No, another day or so, we're in the Caribbean however." Rosa smiled. "Come up on deck, the water is so beautiful and it is so warm." Lily didn't move. "Come on Lily, you'll love it." Dragging her friend out of bed, Rosa pulled Lily along the cabin and up the stairs to the deck.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shinning, the birds were out and the warm breeze caressed their face. "Ralph's ship should have arrived three days ago along with the boys." Rosa said, leaning on the railing. "I can't wait to see our home but, even so, I'll miss Britain."
"We can always go back to visit." Lily replied, secretly telling herself she had really nothing to go back to and hopping the Caribbean offered more then what she had left behind. Rosa nodded slightly and turned to look at her small daughter, playing near the wheel and bugging the helmsman. There were many soldiers on board and she seemed to find something to say to them all.
Her daughter, Alice, had long flowing brown hair and the cutest freckles ever seen. Her cheek bone were high, even though she had chubby little cheeks and she always looked like she was up to something. She reminded Rosa of Jack.
She had three sons and an older daughter who was in another cabin. Her oldest daughter, Katharine, looked more like Ralph with the pale complexion and dull blue eyes but she was very beautiful. Then there were the boys, Thomas, with blond hair and green eyes, and Jonathan, with brown hair and brown eyes. Rosa sighed, the boys had gone with their father and she missed them.
She loved Ralph but had of course been septic about marrying him. After a few years they had had Katharine, two years later Thomas came, then Jonathan and then little Alice. She had a perfect life but there was still the need to get Sparrow for what he had done to her brother.
Suddenly there was a flurry of activity on deck, a call from the crow's nest calling out over the men, "Sail! Sail on the horizon, drawing closer!" Lily grabbed Rosa's hand and they made their way across the ship to the other side. There was a ship coming closer, drawing level with them...and hoisting the Jolly Roger. "Oh good god! It's the Red-Revenge!"
Jack Sparrow stood at the helm of the Black Pearl, her belly full of left over swag from Barbossa's cave, the crew happy and well fed, enjoying a beautiful day at Tortuga. Jack leaned on the wheel; his eyes staring out at the shimmering water, thinking.
He still couldn't believe what he'd done, saving the Pearl from that mutinous bastard, beating the Navy...outrunning Norrington as he was still chasing him. At least he'd given him, what Jack estimated, a twenty-four hour start. Good old Norrington, a man of his word. Stupid idiot.
Gibbs was ordering the last of the men off and looked up at Jack from the deck below. "You stayin' by yerself there, cap'n?" He asked. Jack nodded, not taking his eyes off the sea. Gibbs shrugged and stalked away, non-chalant. Jack had things he had to do.
It had been months since he'd reclaimed the Black Pearl but he still hadn't done one thing...find the stuff he'd hidden in all the small nooks and crannies of the Captain's cabin. It still reeked of Barbossa, Jack noticed as he entered the large and dark paneled room, the oriental carpet his again. There a loose floor board under the bed which he pulled up first, extracting the Sparrow necklace along with the heart one. He'd had them in his sash that night on the Catherine and had hidden them in the Pearl. He put on the Sparrow necklace and deposited the other in the top drawer on the dresser.
Next he went for his extra sash, the black one he'd replaced for a more colorful one. He put that in the top drawer to and then, at long last, found the book. The note from his mother to his father that Roger had wanted him to get rid of was stuck inside. Jack held on to it, not wanting to let it go just yet. He'd do it tonight, later, when he could. He placed the note in his pocket and opened the book, searching for the last page he'd been on.
"I looked over at Mary, so beautiful, so wonderful...all the dreaded things, all the atrocities I'd seen and nothing, absolutely nothing, could compare with her beauty." Jack through the book behind him where it hit the wall and thumped limply on to the bed. He'd write the last chapter, Fritz dying at the end of his sword.
There was a knock on his door. "What?" He called, thinking Anamaria or Gibbs had come back. There was no answer, only a slight squawk. "Cotton." Jack muttered under his breath. Jack lazily got up and went to the door, placing his hand on the doorknob and pulling it wide. "This had better be..." He stopped as he got a glimpse of the parrot hanging limply from a large beefy man's hand, Cotton held at gun point, before he was hit hard in the face with the blunt end of a gun. Blackness.
Gibbs yawned, walking beside Anamaria who was weaving slightly. He laughed, "Ye look like Jack." Anamaria, to his surprise, didn't snap but smiled slightly before she stopped, eyes on the harbor.
"What does that look like to you?" She asked, pointing at the harbor's base, the morning light glinting off the water. "What ship?" Gibbs squinted, then it hit him.
"The Red-Revenge." He answered. Excitement coursed through him, Jack was going to love this. They raced down the path towards the docks, Anamaria ahead, sprinting up the gang-plank with Gibbs puffing behind until he stopped at the door with a breathed out, "Jack we..." Anamaria was crouched over something in the doorway.
It looked like... "Blood." She said, scooping some up with her fingers. "It's blood." Gibbs turned, looking frantically around the ship.
"Jack! Cap'n!" There was no answer. Anamaria laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Fritz must have him. The map to the Isla de Muerta is also missing...so is the compass."
Lily screamed as Rosa, Katherine, Alice and her were ripped apart, the men hauling them off the small Navy ship and on to the pirate ship with some of the crew, leaving behind the dead.
"No! Let me go! Rosa!" They were pulling Rosa to the captain's cabin as she fought against them, ripping at the man's arms and legs. He was a large man, someone had called him Dick.
"Mother!" Alice cried weakly, a small man holding her tightly in his arms, wincing as she kicked backwards at him. Lily watched, horrified, as Rosa was shoved into the captain's cabin before the deck disappeared from view and she was being taken down a small staircase to the brig.
It was cold and dark, dimly lit, with four very small staw floored cells. There was one visible occupant, a man with a scrubby gray beard, huddled in the lighted corner, his head against the cool wall. There was a deep gash on his cheek and a parrot sat dead next to him on the floor. Alice gasped as she was tossed into the cell. The man caught her as she almost smashed into the wall, and helped her shakily to her feet. Lilly waited as they threw Katherine the cell across from her sister's before throwing Lily one of the cells at the very end, beside it. Katherine leaned through the bars and grabbed Lily's hand, looking over at her sister and the man.
"Alice, are you okay?" She asked. Alice came to the bars and nodded, watching Lily. Her eyes, though, wandered to the cell next to her and she gasped.
"There's a man, in the cell...I think he's dead." The man in the corner tugged on her dress and she jumped, turning to look at him. He shook his head and pointed to the man in the other cell, hitting himself on the head and pointing. Alice smiled. "Your funny." She said. Lily, though scared, also managed a smile as the man looked over at her.
"He's been knocked out, Alice, sweetheart, he's not dead." Alice nodded and kneeled down, reaching through the bars and tugging on the man's shirt. "Alice," Lily felt fear well inside her at the young girl's actions. "Please, don't, he might hurt you."
Again the man shook his head but Katherine yelled, "Yes, don't touch him, he'd obviously a pirate." Alice stopped and sat with her back to the bars, looking at the parrot on the floor.
"Is that your's?" She asked the man. He smiled sadly and nodded. "Is he sleeping to?" The man nodded again and Alice smiled slightly. "Will he wake up soon?" She asked. This time, the man shook his head and Alice's face fell. "Can you talk?" Opening him mouth, he showed them all that he was missing a tongue. "What's your name?" In the dirt, under the straw, he wrote something and Alice spelt it out. "C-O-T-T-O-N." She looked at Lily and Katherine.
"Cotton." Katherine said. The man nodded. "Do you know him?" She pointed to the man across from them and the man again nodded. "Is he a pirate?" Cotton nodded and Katherine stepped back from the bars, leaning against the wall.
Alice reached through the bars and Cotton motioned, encouraging her. "Sir?" She whispered, shaking him with all her strength. "Sir? Are you alright, sir?" There was a slight moan. Alice with drew her hand fearfully and looked over at Cotton who smiled. "I think he's waking up, sir? Can you hear me mister?"
"I can bloody hear you." Came a voice suddenly making them all jump. Lily could just see the man stirring in the darkened cell. His shape sat up and she heard a weird clinking sound. "Ah, hell."
"No, a ship." Alice said. The darkened man looked over at her and Lily could see him rubbing his face, holding his arm funny...it looked broken. "Are you sick?" The man nodded. "Does your head hurt?" Again he nodded. "Are you bleeding?"
"Yes, shut up, please." He said, he had a muffled slightly drawling voice that Lily found odd. It was thick and strained...he was either drunk or very hurt.
"Don't tell her to shut up you bloody pirate!" Katherine yelled. The man covered his ears and moaned. Lily reached through the bars and laid a hand on Katherine's shoulder, smiling slightly.
"It's okay, Kath, don't worry, we'll get out of here." Katherine sat down on the floor and the man snorted derisively as Lily began to pace.
"We won't." He said. "This is the Red-Revenge, Peg-Leg Martin Alexander Fritz's ship, under the captaincy of Martin Alexander Fritz and his coe-hort Dick Lee Dobbs. I doubt a woman will get us out and, if you keep pacing, you'll wear a hole in the ship."
"Good." Lily snapped, her Irish temper flaring. "Maybe we can swim away in the tide, huh?" The other snorted again and then began chuckling in a way meant to annoy and upset her. "What now?"
"The Irish," The man said. "I knew an Irish girl, just like you if you must know. She had hair like your's, voice like your's...I loved her."
"Yeah, right. A pirate and love don't mix." Lily said simply. The man had struck a cord with the love and Irish thing...Jack had loved her, she'd loved him.
The man shrugged. "Believe it if you will." He sounded as if he'd figured something out, as if he were suspicious of something and wanted to clarify it. He looked over at Alice. "What's your name?"
"Alice Whitaker, my mother's name is Rosa Whita..." Lily stopped her.
"You were talking to me." She snapped, glaring at him and stepping to the bars, peering through the darkness at him. She could just make out a skinny body slumped against the wall, the weird arm and long hair...the rest was black shadow. "Now, please, leave the children alone."
"Fine, I just didn't think a civil, cultured girl such as yourself would want to hear." His voice had changed, he was no longer holding a suspicious note to his voice but now had an air of one who had put this and that together. "I met her on the dock...she had a blue dress on."
An image came to Lily. She was stepping off the boat with her mother and father, they were walking along the slippery planks when she caught sight of a handsome brown haired boy not to far away, sitting on the beach, watching her. She swallowed and looked back at the man.
"Her father was a captain in the Navy where I was and had brought his wife and child there. Her name was..." Lily held her breath. Jack was dead though, she knew he was. "Lily." Her body tensed up. Couldn't be Lily Larson. "She had hair, exact same as your's, curly, like your to. And your eyes." Lily placed her forehead against the bars, hardly daring to believe it. "I loved her voice, though she didn't use it often...I thought her the names of some fruit in French." Lily couldn't breath, she wanted to scream and cry and die all at the same time. She wanted to soar and crash...she was going to crash. "She taught me how to fight." The man stood up and leaned against the wall, watching her but staying out of the pool of light. "We'd fight in a small, supposedly haunted forest and...I bought her a necklace." Lily felt her own. "It's supposed to be cursed..."
"It's a spell." Lily whispered under her breath. The man didn't hear her.
"She'll find the man she loves." He sighed. "She gave me one." He pulled it out and showed her. Dimly, with it's soft polished stone and silver chain, she could see the rock and a dim outline of a sparrow.
"Jack." She whispered. He was dead though, murdered...Jack Johnson was dead...or was he?
"It's supposed to give me freedom...and it did. I wish I could tell Lily Larson it worked." Lily jumped.
"Jack!" She screamed, unable to restrain herself and reaching through the bars for him. The man came forward into the dim light, she could hardly make him out and he reached through as well. "I thought you were..."
"I know, it was Joshua, he thought he thought I'd be able to move on if you thought I was dead!" He yelled. Lily reached out harder, trying to touch him.
"That's so stupid...I...I..." She couldn't speak, she'd just seen something that made her heart skip. On his arm, where his sleeve had pulled up, above the brand of a pirate, there was a tattoo. It was a Sparrow, flying over the backdrop of a sunset with the word 'Jack' written underneath. She pulled back, away from him and he looked down at the tattoo as well.
"What?" He asked. Lily shook her head, tears slipping down her face. There was no Jack Sparrow, it was Jack Johnson...the necklace was a Sparrow, Jack Sparrow had only turned up when Jack Johnson had died. Now that she looked at him in the light, he looked slightly like the sixteen year old Jack she had seen so long ago, staring blankly at his mother's grave that cold wet day.
"You bastard." She said, laughing slightly. "You dirty bastard! You faked your death! You...killed me! Do you have any idea how many tears I've cried? The nights I lay awake, thinking of you? What would have happened if I'd stopped you? What would have happened if I'd dragged you down? Maybe you wouldn't be dead but..." Breaking down. Lily slid down the wall, her tears bursting fourth and an animalistic wailing filling her throat until it burst and she was screaming through her hands, Katherine's hand through the bars on her shoulder.
"Who is he Lily?" She asked, scared. Lily tried to control herself but it was a minute before she managed it. Finally she choked out two words.
"Your uncle." Katherine pulled her hand away and Lily managed to look up. Jack had shrunk back to the shadows, silent. Suddenly it hit her. "Oh god! Rosa."
Rosa stood near the table, watching the man at the table who sat, his one leg, which was fake, crossed over his real one. He was smoking a cigar and swirling a glass of amber liquid around and around as he watched her. He had a cold stare that chilled her right through and, though she didn't know how, he'd wronged her...some way.
The other man, Dick, was in the corner of the room, twisting his hands in his shirt. He had a large rolling belly and his eyes continually darted to the floor as he held his gun close to his side.
"Where did you take the other's?" She asked suddenly. The man didn't answer. "Who are you? What are you going to do with us?" With a sudden surge of bravery, Rosa added, "My husband will kill you if you hurt me."
Almost immediately she wished she hadn't spoke. The man stood and set his glass on the table, still puffing his cigar. He walked closer and came with in an inch of her face, blowing smoke at her. She was used to Ralph's smoking and didn't cough but her eyes watered slightly.
"Name's Fritz." He answered finally. He had a thick accent. "I'm the cap'n of this 'ere vessel." Rosa nodded and watched as he backed up with a 'thunk' on every other step. "You be?"
"Rosa Whitaker." Rosa answered bravely. The man nodded.
"And the other woman? She would be..."
"My friend." Rosa said. The man nodded.
"Ah, alrightie. What be yer business way out 'ere Mrs. Whitaker? Yer husband got 'imself a trade er ye jus' out 'ere fer the scenery an' warm air?"
"My husband..." She paused, not knowing how much to tell him. "Is a sailor." Fritz nodded.
"As in the navy or...as in young master Sparrow I got down in me brig, eh?" Sparrow. That hit Rosa hard and she wasn't sure if she'd heard him right.
"Sparrow?" She asked. Fritz sighed and sat down again in his chair, looking over at Dick who stiffened.
"Yeah, I got me a Sparrow...cap'n o' the Black Pearl. No doubt ye know 'im." Rosa nodded and raised her chin, her knees shaking. Sparrow was down in the brig, so close...if only she had a weapon, a gun...a sword...a knife. Well, strangling him with her bare hands would do. Fritz seemed to note her reaction. "Ye got a bone ta pick wit him?" He asked.
"He...he killed my brother." She said. If Fritz was an enemy of Sparrow, maybe she could work it to her advantage. Maybe she could get on the good side of him, use her body to let her daughters and Lily get away and then find a way to sneak off the ship. Either way, she may be able to have everything.
Fritz nodded and looked over at Dick. "Tha' be tough and revenge be sweat but some...can be paid off wit money." He smiled and the other man's face burned red. "Ain't that right Dickie?" Dick nodded simply, an action so small you had to be a well trained person to see it and, after having sons, Rosa knew what to look for.
"Tell ye wha', you tell me who be yer father an' I'll let ye go." He said. Rosa was taken back by this question. She raised her hand and ran it through her hair.
"Pardon?" She asked.
"Tell me who be yer father an' I'll let ye go." Rosa didn't even have to think about it.
"Robert Johnson." She said. Fritz shook his head.
"Who be yer real father? Ye look like Joshua Delore...really ye do." Rosa started. She'd heard that name but where? She cast her mind around, thinking. Josh Delore...Josh Delore...another came to her also.
"Mary Johanna." She whispered. Fritz raised an eyebrow. "It was in a book." Fritz smiled.
"An the map?" He asked. Rosa looked up. Her mother had taken the map. Was there a connection between her and Mary Johanna? If so, where was the map? She'd looked at it, in the library. It had fallen out when she'd opened the secret book's pages.
"Safe." She said. Fritz cocked an eyebrow. "My brother, Jack has it." Fritz smiled and shook his head.
"No, he doesn't. Believe me, I know." He looked at Dick. "Take her down below, do what we planned before, if there ever was something like that happen. Maybe one of them will talk." Dick grabbed her arm roughly and held the gun to her back, leading her out of the cabin and down the steps to the brig.
What did he mean, he knew? How could he know her brother? He was dead! The brig was cold and, when they saw her, Alice and Katherine ran to the bars, reaching through them and calling out pitiful cries of 'Mother!'.
"It's okay, I'm alright." She said comfortingly to them as Dick brought her to stand in front of a dark cell next to Alice's. There was a kind faced man inside, watching. Craning her neck as Dick played with the keys, she saw Lily up against the bars, watching with mingled fear and...something else. She was about to say something when she felt the hilt of a dagger in her hand and Dick shoving her into the cell.
Before she could whip around and hit him with the dagger he'd closed the door and was locking it, looking over her shoulder to the far corner of the cell with a smile on his face. "You thought I was bad, wait until you get a load of the Mrs." He said. Rosa turned around and squinted, realizing she wasn't alone. Carefully, she hid the dagger up her sleeve.
When Dick was gone, Rosa said, "I know you're there. Who are you?" It was a man, she could tell. He had long hair and loose cloths. He was slumped against the wall, watching her. Slowly he stood.
"Let me first guess who you are." He said. Rosa stepped back a little, slightly worried even with the dagger. "Rosa Whitaker, am I right?" Rosa didn't move.
"Depends who wants to know. I asked you first, however. Who are you?" The man raised his hands in a semi-motion of surrender.
"Smith." He answered. Rosa raised his eyebrow and opened her mouth to say something when little Alice piped up.
"I thought your name was Jack Sparrow." She said. The man's head snapped in the darkness to look at her and Rosa leapt, dragging him to the ground with her weight and pulling out the dagger, thrusting it at him forcefully. He growled and rolled, Rosa on the bottom, both ignoring the yells from Lily and Katherine.
Her dagger met flesh, Sparrow's arm. It ripped through his shoulder drawing blood. He ignored it and grabbed her neck, squeezing weakly as his stronger arm took the wrist below her dagger. With a quick thrust, she brought her extra hand up and punched him on the side of the head, slashing with the dagger and tearing into his side.
"For me!" She screamed, hitting him again before he could react. "For Lily!" She'd gotten the upper hand. She was sure one of his arms was hurt, not just from the dagger cut but before they had started battling and she knew, in other conditions, he would have been an extremely hard foe to beat.
On top of him, she held the dagger over his heart and raised it, preparing to kill. "This is for my brother...Jack...I've been waiting my whole life for this moment."
"No!" Lily screamed. Rosa knew better then to take her eyes off the man but the adrenaline was pumping to hard, to fast and her mind wasn't clear. She looked up at Lily who was reaching through the bars, tears on her face. "No! Stop! Don't! It's Jack."
Dun, Dun, Dun....Well, tell me what you think. P.S, this story is almost over, I have about three or so chapters left. I'm really sad about it....oh well. All fun things have to come to an end.
DRAGONHUNTER200: I will never ever be sick of you DragonHunter. I'm reading your Wrong Man right now, it's so good, I swear. I'm on chapter seven, I'll be reading it right after I am done updating. I want to know how Lange knew about Will and Jack being on the ship alone! I smell a traitor! I loved the movie and I tried so hard to make the last chapter on the movie good enough to work with the movie. I know it was not my best but I ad to get the movie over with. Now that it's done I'm back to myself. I want a dolphin! I'd flunk bio if I had to do the eyeball to...I don't even have an eye problem! Yes, this new potc will be my first venture into the world of 'you' fan fics, they seem to be pretty popular, eh? And I have a harry potter thing, man I can't wait to see hp 3 it looks so good! Aries just came to me on the spur of the moment when I got him...he's a fighter. Ani....poor thing. Then again, when I was five we had cows and I named the bull Cupid. You thought your cat has identity issues! Poor Cupid! Oh, my small town, there are drunks. There was this one guy who had my house before I did...he drove every morning to the bar on his lawn moer, stayed until close, drove home and passed out on the toilet with a smoke and a beer. My wall drip nicoteen even to this day. It's gross.