Disclaimer: Jack Sparrow, Harry Potter, and Legolas Greenleaf are not mine, unfortunately. I mean, what yum they are! However, Feodora Turner and the "Twin Titans" Zeke and Zack Turner do belong to me. If you have a problem, take it up with the Black-Eyed Pea-Eating Naked Arabic Monkey. BEPENAM will be sure to ignore you. PS: Please don't sue me! No money!
So, without furter ado...
Sanctuary
Chapter One
By: Soulful Gray
The Caribbean
Captain Jack Sparrow...
Ah what a name...
The owner of said name tipped back his bottle of rum and drank heartily, his adam's apple bobbing violently as he chugged at his favorite drink. Only a single drop escaped, dribbling from the corner of his mouth and down his chin to soak into one of his twin black braids. He clunked the bottle down on the tiny table he sat at and burped unceremoniously.
"'Ey, luv. Ye'r lookin' a bit chilled this evenin'!" One of the buxom lasses that frequented the tavern he was in sidled up to him and began pressing herself against him in a manner that left little doubt as to was she was thinking. "Why don't ye let me warm ye up?"
Under normal circumstances it would have been a tempting offer. Even all painted up, she was a pretty lass, and she looked soft. Her bosom was ripe looking from where it was almost completely exposed in her dress of bright and gaudy red. Her pretty brown hair was pulled up into curls that cascaded from the top of her head to hang in a tempting curtain about a heart shaped face. A few rogue curls hung about her breasts and his gaze was drawn there, unsurprisingly.
"What's yer name, lass?"
"Sanctuary," she whispered huskily.
"Then tell it to someone who would care to scream it out in the night." He gripped her wrist and made to push her away when he gaze caught the finely wrought change of gold that was looped around her neck. He followed the chain and his eyes landed on a medallion that hung there.
"Do you like it?" she traced the medallion with a delicate finger, and he looked up to see her eyes were gray. The gray of the sky over a sea just before a storm.
"It's an interesting trinket," he said bitterly, turning away from her to grab his bottle of rum again. In truth, it was more than just interesting. It was a twisting circlet of delicate gold vines and leaves. In the center was a sparkling jewel, completely clear and intricately cut so that the light made it shimmer when it hit the hundreds of tiny surfaces. The pirate in him screamed out treasure, while in another, hidden depth he felt nothing, only mild interest.
He took another swig of his rum, intent on ignoring the woman called Sanctuary.
Instead, he focused on drowning out all his sorrows with every precious drop of rum.
Ana Maria. Dear sweet... well, maybe not sweet, Ana Maria.
God, it was all his fault. He shouldn't have insisted on that stop Tortuga... He shouldn't have badgered her into letting Norrington catch their trail. He shouldn't have taken it all in as a stupid game. He shouldn't have followed the damn Code.
Bitterness swept over his soul as he remembered looking back in that alleyway.
Flashback
"Go! Jack! Follow the damn Code! I'll see you-"
A shot was fired. She never finished the sentence. Instead, blood started to flow from her beautifully shaped lips, and her wide brown eyes stared at him. She'd been taking a step, limping, and now she just toppled over, falling flat on her beautiful face.
End Flashback
Bile started to rise up in his throat, and with some effort he pushed it down.
A voice whispered into his ear.
"I am Sanctuary... I give you this chance now and only now. I offer this only once."
He glanced up into gray eyes and raised an eyebrow.
"What does it take to get ye off my back, luv?"
Sanctuary smiled and took a seat across from him. "Why don't you tell me your problems? Tell them, and I will find you a doorway to happiness."
"Oh will ye?"
"Yes." He noted that her voice was now softer, without the accent she had used before in high quantity. Her voice was now soft, cultured, almost completely void of any sort of accent that he could see.
"But I won't give you happiness. I will only open a doorway... I will set you on a path. From there, your decisions and your actions are your own..."
Jack snorted. "And what do ye expect in return might I ask?"
Sanctuary smiled softly. "Only that you would make someone else happy. That is what Sanctuary is for. To escape darkness and find peace and happiness."
"Ye'r an odd one, lass. And I don't need any sanctuary." He took another swig and when he put the bottle down, he noticed her eyes had darkened.
"Jack Sparrow," she said in a smooth tone. "I have removed my offer. Now you have no choice... Nobody refuses Sanctuary..."
Middle Earth
Legolas peered intently at the sun in the distance. He was heading straight for it as his ship sailed for the Gray Havens. His beautiful ship, the very one he had built with Gimli.
Sorrow edged at his soul as he gazed at the setting sun. Gimli. His dearest friend. His ally. His brother-in-arms.
Nobody looking at him could have sensed that he was mourning, that he was deep in his grieving, unless they really knew him. But none of the other Elves on his ship knew him. They looked at him and saw what he was: the calm and elegant Prince of Mirkwood, who had moved on after his friend's death.
It was all his fault.
Legolas took in a deep, calming breath as emotion threatened to choke at him. It had been months, and he still had not accepted it. Others might have thought he was beyond mourning, but inside, he was screaming out for justice, for his friend to come back to life. Inside, his Elven soul seemed to be tearing in a thousand different pieces. Inside, he was blaming himself.
Flashback
"Twenty-three!" Legolas called to his much shorter friend. Another arrow notched, another arrow let loose. "Twenty-four!"
The rogue band of orcs had come upon him and Gimli whilst they had been constructing their passage to the Gray Havens. Legolas had heard them a long time before and they had been prepared for battle, Legolas with his long bow and Gimli with his axe. The dwarf had almost seemed gleeful at the chance to try and beat Legolas's last high tally of kills, which they both knew he probably wouldn't.
He slew another and turned to gloat in his calm, Elvish way and stood stalk still.
The area was a slaughterhouse, without a doubt. All the orcs were dead. No Elves had been slain, and the bodies of the orcs littered the ground. He blinked and tried to clear his vision, as if it would dissipate what he was seeing. His short friend was standing over the corpse of the last orc he was slaying, laughing triumphantly. He wasn't looking at Legolas with that proud, puffed-up look of his, spouting off some number that wasn't close to Legolas's tally of kills.
No... he was on the ground... Dead...
End Flashback
"My lord?" He glanced over in surprise- though the emotion did not show- and met calm gray eyes.
"Yes my lady?" He straightened from his perch against the ship railing and studied the young Elven beauty before him.
He couldn't place her. It was a large ship, sure, but he didn't believe he had seen her amongst the other passengers before. Nothing ever escaped his eyes, and certainly the beauty before him couldn't have been overlooked.
Her face was heart-shaped, rather than the usual leanness and high cheekbones that accompanied most Elves. Her hair too, was odd. Instead of blonde or black, it was a calm sort of brown, and instead of straight, it was infused with an overabundance of curls. Her eyes were gray, and it reminded him of the gray he had seen worn by the Elves of Lothlorien. She was dressed in all white, with an unusually low neckline, and he caught a glimpse of a golden pendant of some sort.
"Something troubles you, my lord." It was not a question, but a statement. Her voice was so calm, and sweet like a breath of air infused with honeysuckle. She smiled softly and stood at the rail, looking over the sea.
"Nothing that should trouble a lady."
"I am Sanctuary," she said and he nearly blinked in surprise. Well, it saved him the embarrassment of confessing to forgetting her name.
Sanctuary. An odd name, to be sure, but he didn't comment.
"Would you like to tell me of your troubles?"
He smiled softly. "No."
"But you would like sanctuary from them." She ran a finger over the pendant that hung at her breasts, and he had a definite feel of power coming from it, and he caught himself before he started staring at it. "You don't want to go to the Gray Havens. You want happiness."
Sanctuary's eyes were glittering. "I will offer you sanctuary, Legolas Greenleaf. But I won't give you happiness. I will only open a doorway... I will set you on a path. From there, your decisions and your actions are your own...
"I only ask that you would make someone else happy. That is what Sanctuary is for. To escape darkness and find peace and happiness."
Legolas was caught in her gaze.
"You have only to accept my offer. You have only to say yes."
Legolas looked away after a struggle. "I wish it were as easy as you say..." He smiled softly to himself.
"Oh, but it is, Legolas. Nobody refuses Sanctuary..."
Number Four, Privet Drive
Harry Potter held his knees to his chest, staring out the window at the bleak, summer rain that drizzled down on his little corner of the world, his little prison of sorts.
He wished like mad he could go back in time to only a few short months before so he could stop Sirius from falling through the veil.
Flashback
Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing- Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second....
But Sirius did not reappear.
"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled, "SIRIUS!"
He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he, Harry, would pull him back out again....
But as he reached the ground and sprinted toward the dais, Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back.
"There's nothing you can do, Harry-"
"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"
"It's too late, Harry-"
"We can still reach him-"
Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go....
"There's nothing you can do, Harry... nothing.... He's gone."
End Flashback
He heard Hedwig calling him from her cage, so he got up and walked over to her. She looked at the window and he got the hint and opened the door for her. She climb out gracefully and he then moved to push up the window. It might be raining, but it was only a soft drizzle, and that wasn't going to deter her from food.
He watched her as she took flight and disappeared around the side of the house. He sighed. He wished he could do that. Just disappear. He walked over to his trunk and lifted the lid. He glanced at his lovely Firebolt and picked it up, just to admire it with disinterest. He took out his wand and gave it the same bored stare. He picked up the Invisibility Cloak and the same treatment was administered. Then he dug deeper and plucked up the Marauder's Map and his photo album.
"Maybe I should just disappear..."
After all, it was not as though anyone would miss him.
It was another of those summers where he got few letters from anyone. Even the Order didn't seem to acknowledge him anymore. It wasn't that he was demanding their attention. It would have been nice though to hear from them. Ron and Hermione... He hadn't received a letter from them since... a month ago? Maybe more. He shrugged and grabbed a bag to shove the cloak and his wand, the Map, and the photo album into and then he dug around his trunk again, coming up with a small square mirror.
Sirius's message was still scrawled on the back. He reached in again and found the other. The Order had sent it to him shortly after his return to Privet Drive and the Durseley's. It seemed pointless now, but he just wanted to keep it for reasons of his own.
Harry took in a deep breath, and without really caring about what he was doing, he perched on the edge of the window and jumped out.
The ground was soft enough from all the rain that he only managed to bruise his back horribly. He stood as the front door slammed open and Uncle Vernon stood there.
"What do you think you're doing boy! Have you gone completely insane!"
He just gave him a bored look and started walking away.
Harry snorted to himself. Goodbye, -Uncle-.
He was a few blocks away, and turned a corner that was mostly hidden by some blooming shrubbery, when he ran headlong into someone.
"Oh dear," came a softly cultured voice, and before he knew it, he was being grabbed and examined from head to toe. "Are you okay, sweetheart?"
He blinked and looked into eyes of pure gray. It was a gray that reminded him of the sad dreary sky above him that was currently soaking him. They were surrounded by a heart-shaped face that was framed by thick, brown curls. She was normal-looking 8
"Why don't you tell me your problems? Tell them, and I will find you a doorway to happiness."
He stopped and stared at her. She turned around.
"Why would you want to know my problems?" he asked.
"Because I don't like seeing you so sad." She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. "I want you to be happy, from the bottom of my soul." He watched her intently and then noticed the beautiful gold pendant that hung at her neck. It looked like a thousand vines twisting around a single gem. He didn't know what kind of stone it was, but he but it was more than precious.
"I will offer you sanctuary, Harry Potter. But I won't give you happiness. I will only open a doorway... I will set you on a path. From there, your decisions and your actions are your own...
"I only ask that you would make someone else happy. That is what Sanctuary is for. To escape darkness and find peace and happiness."
"Why?" he asked finally after she had said something so... strange... and oddly tempting.
Sanctuary's smile was sad. "Just because. Say yes, Harry Potter. Nobody refuses Sanctuary..."
Somewhere
Feodora had a stitch in her side as she ran after the two energetic forms of her twin nephews. Her long, reddish curls streamed behind her as she gave chase, dodging people on the sidewalks as nimbly as the two shrimps ahead of her were doing.
"Get back here!" She yelled. "Ezekiel! Zacharia!"
-The damned little devils!- she thought disdainfully as she followed them, gradually losing ground until she couldn't see them any longer. She stopped finally, huffing and coughing, ready to hurl out her breakfast.
"Shit!" she cursed in frustration, just as the police officer trying to help her catch her nephews caught up. He was in worse shape than she was, but he radioed in for a squad car to be on the lookout for two identical, twelve-year-old boys, Caucasian with brown hair, running for hell downtown.
The little pissants! They'd actually had the gall to vandalize public property in front of her and a cop! As one, they'd both pulled a huge rock out of each of their pockets and hurled them right out a shop window and then taken off running like the hounds of hell were after them.
Which was pretty accurate. If Feo had gotten her hands on them, she would have held on like a spitting mad, rabid bulldog with the name "Satan's Mutt" written on the tag.
She glanced over and found a bench just a few feet away, which she collapsed on, tears of frustration and anger pouring over her cheeks.
"Feodora?" She looked up at the police officer. She knew him from high school. She blinked. Ted. That was his name.
"What?" she snapped dully.
"I'm going to have to ask you-"
Yada, yada, yada. Blah, blah, blah.
She was used to it.
Five times.... Already, five times they had pulled stunts like this. She was beginning to think she was really living in Purgatory, and that those two boys were Satan's right- and left-hand demons that got to sit right next to the hot-boss himself in miniature hell-thrones of their own.
First the grafitti, then the shoplifting, then engraving on desks at school. A busted computer that they'd barely managed to convince people they hadn't destroyed on purpose. Oh, and we shouldn't forget the vending machine incident, in which a flood of soda had washed the sidewalk clean and left sweet and sticky.
Let's hear it for number six.
Feodora Turner was ready to chew nails when a sudden burst of light blinded her nearly to more tears. A strong wind followed suit and she put her hands in front of her to guard her face from the sudden small debris that swept by her. Screams could be heard all around her, and she would have screamed herslef were it not for the fact that she didn't have the energy to pull up her lungpower.
It seemed like an eternity before the wind stopped and the light was gone. Feo found herself on the ground, staring up at the sky, wondering how she'd gotten there.
"The hell?" she asked, sitting up and looking around. Her back ached and she popped it a bit before she could start panicking. She wasn't exactly where she'd been before, to say the least. Instead of just having been thrown from the bench to the ground beside it, she was in a totally different environment.
She was still on the ground, but instead of being in the city still, she was in a small clearing in some sort of woods. She quickly recognized it as her own patch of inherited land; she could see the tops of the acre of pine her grandmother had planted when she was a child way back in the age of dinosaurs.
"And I ended up here, how?" she grumbled as she stood, and finally noticed she wasn't alone.
"Holy mother!" she shrieked, staring at what looked like three dead bodies that occupied the same small clearing she did.
I do hope you enjoyed this first chapter of Sanctuary. I just couldn't resist writing this story. It popped into my head one day and wouldn't leave me alone. Well, hope you review!
Gray