A/N- Oh man, I'm so sorry for the wait, last day of school was June…7th, 8th? I'm not sure, what was Tuesday? But yeah, I've been overloaded with finals, I swear I'm not abandoning this fic, I'll have all summer to write- well most summer anyways…
Disclaimer- PotC is not mine, nor shall it ever be mine unless I become a movie director…I actually plan to be a writer, but hey, I could do both…I have a book coming out in August, well series- The Death Chronicles- email me and I'll detail it if you're interested, but yes on to Breaking Loose.
Chapter Five: Changing of the tides.
She couldn't hate him any longer. She couldn't sit there and try to hate him when she didn't have official proof that he had killed Bram. She wouldn't cry over milk he hadn't spilt, she couldn't cry- her tears had dried up years ago. Loving him was a crime she had always been guilty of. Loving him was something she could never be rid of, and she would love him, damn all the consequences.
Starr sighed deeply and leaned over the starboard side, gazing out into the blue of the ocean. She felt free, for the first time in ten years she felt completely free- it was like some overbearing weight had been torn away; was this how Jack felt everyday he was at sea? Was this how things were supposed to be, the wind, the salt, the free air- Starr had never known freedom, no thief knew freedom, no thief knew what it was like to think for himself. Thieves knew The Rogue, only The Rogue. None of them followed dreams for themselves anymore, none of them answered to their hearts, if The Rogue gave an order…you were going to follow it, even if it meant your death.
Starr didn't notice Jack stepping up behind her, she was oblivious to him even when he closed that distance to stand directly at her back, and only when he spoke did she realize he was even there.
"I've never seen you this quiet."
"I'm thinking, guess I got a little lost in my thoughts…"
Jack took a breath, "I didn't kill your brother, Starr, and I know now that you could not have." She turned to him, her lips parted and the look in her eyes alluringly peculiar…
"Jack…I'm…sorry. I'm sorry I, well I'm sorry, it's jes that I…I was a fool, Jack, 'twas never you." he stepped closer, trapping any distance between them with a kiss.
Jack pulled away half a heart beat later, his voice soft: "I meant what I said that night."
Her eyes widened, "What?"
"About marrying me. Think you could? Think you could handle an old swashbuckler?"
"Yer not so old," she turned her face away, "Jack…I can't."
"Why not?" he yelled, grabbing her shoulders in a surprised rage, "Why the bloody hell not?"
"There's too much hurt 'tween us, too much wrong, surely you can see that, I'm not blind to it, if we tried now- we'd kill each other within the month- the week!" she put her hand on his shoulder, "Let it go Jack, time wounds all heals, it's wot everyone says…I'm gettin off at the next docking," her green eyes filled with angry tears, "It'll be best fer us both." Jack tried to get Starr's eyes to meet with his, she kept a frigid mask and refused to meet his insistent glare, "You'll regret this Starr, I promise you'll regret this." he stormed away
"Believe you me, Jack," she uttered softly, "I already do."
Jack sat at the bowline, watching Port Elliard sink into the sunset. She had left him to die again. Well, not to die in the dying sense of things, but to die in the mental anguish of things. Without her, every second that past was excruciatingly cruel, every breath he took never filled his lungs- he needed her, all anger gone- he wanted her, and he had let her go.
Why? Of all things he could've done, why had he let her go? Why not lock her down in his cabins? Why not keep her chained to he bed, an eye for an eye. Why let her go?
He cursed himself and propped his back against the wooden post of the ship's mast.
"Jack Sparrow, I never thought I'd live to see the day when a girl has you sulking like a four year old." Will kneeled down next to him, "Why let her go?"
"I've asked myself that same question."
"Your answer?"
"She deserves freedom, she deserves to live…she spent the better part of ten years thinking I'd killed her brother-"
"And you thought she had done it. It still doesn't explain why." Jack patted the deck next to him and Will sat down, "I love her enough to know that she'll come back if she wants to."
"If she doesn't?"
"Then I guessed her wrong, but she loves me too, I could feel it in her kiss and see it in her eye-"
An explosion caught everyone off guard and a great scrambling on the deck started. Once it was determined that the blow had not come from the Black Pearl, all eyes turned back to Port Elliard…
Most of the island was in flame…
A/N- Sorry, short chapter, you all deserved a longer chapter, but the monster I'm babysitting needs to be watched every five seconds- especially because I have a pool, and have you ever had to watch a baby while a pool is involved? It's not the prettiest picture.