"Poppet! Poppet... where are ye, Jezzy-poppet!" Jack Sparrow boomed as he shot up from his hammock in a frenzied panic. Running from one tip of the Pearl to the other, only to stop when he heard a soft laugh coming from the water on the starboard side of the ship. "Ha, I'm down here Cap'n... just patching up this hole in this bloody boat. A bird ran into the Pearl last night and its beak left a nasty little hole." She said with an amused grin on her face. "But the damned thing doesn't seem to want to be fixed!" She exclaimed while clinging to the side of the ship.
"Come up here so that I might get a good look at ye, we'll fix that hole later." He called, seemingly calmer than he had been when he woke up. But when the girl climbed over the railing, a look of bewilderment crept back into the old pirate's eyes.
"You alright, Cap'n?" She asked, as the frenzied panic returned.
"You can't be Jezebel! Jezzy's a little girl, small... compact," As he went on Jezebel grew even more entertained by his ramblings. "... But you on the other hand, you're a lovely pirate woman! Tall and elegantly dangerous..."
"Sparrow, I've always been dangerous." She said as she laughed at her captain.
"I know but... girl! How old are you?" he demanded as the other pirates around them stopped to watch the spectacle.
"19 as of tomorrow. Cap'n, what is this all about?" She said wearily.
"Wha? Can't this ol' pirate gawk at how the Baby of the Black Pearl has matured into a most lovely young woman! It seems like only yesterday you took your first steps right o'er there by the bow o' this ship! And now look at you, you've come of age before me very own eye's!" He said, only to bite his tongue after noting that she'd come of age, and by that time all the amused faces of the surrounding pirates had turned grim. For they knew what her coming of age meant, they would soon be torn away from the girl that had made them smile every day for the past 19 years.
"Well, you can't keep me a child forever, I had to grow up at some point. But why has everyone gone from happy to sad in realization of my age? It doesn't have anything to do with those stories about me being a great leader of pirates... does it? Oh god, it starts here, now... doesn't it?" She said quietly, the frenzied panic spreading to her own eyes.
"Of course not, Poppet. It starts tomorrow... I mean... no."
"Cap'n... I'm old enough for the truth, and I believe it's time you tell it to me. Now, what is to happen now?" She said as she focused her soul- piercing gaze on the pirate's face, a stray hair blowing gently about her face. Eyes wide, as if they were awaiting the worst news.
"The battle for the new era is near; that you've always known. The existence of piracy as we know it depends on your victory o'er Blackbeard... there's more riding on that battle than you will e'er know. And us, we won't be there to back ye up, as much as we'd like to be... we cannot be there. It won't be long, until you are taken from the Pearl. But worry not, hope might seem lost... but it will find its way back to ye. Nothing can stay lost for long, at least not for you, poppet. Now, enough talk of things that still have yet to be done. Tortugo isn't but a two-day journey from where we are now. I have to go... alone." He said as he began to untie a spare boat.
"Why? Why must you go alone... and why now?" She questioned while closely following her captain around as he gathered his affects. Dodging rope and sail.
"Because," he said as he stopped abruptly and whirled around. "I'm not supposed to be around on your 19th birthday... I don't know why it has to be this way but I have no say in what is to come of you or me... I am simply a game piece in this twisted game of life. Savvy?"
"You mean that you're not destined to be here when I come of age... when I'm torn from everything I've ever known. That's what you mean, that's savvy." Frustrated with what was going on around her, she stomped off back to her little quarters.
LATER THAT DAY IN JEZEBEL'S QUARTERS...
Jezebel was jarred from her daydreams by a gentle rapping at her door; sitting up she shook her head to shake the weariness from her mind. A minute later the rapping continued. Then a soft whisper followed.
"Jezebel? May I come in?" Father. He was the only one that would actually ask to enter; the rest either entered without warning, knocked while entering or asked if she was decent right before entering.
"Of course, Father. You're always welcome to come in, you know that." She said as she jumped up to open the little door.
"I... heard about what happened earlier... before Sparrow left for Tortugo. I'm very sorry I hadn't told you before, but tomorrow's your birthday and I wanted to give you your present tonight. It was given to me when you were born, I've been hanging onto it all this time." He said as he handed her the locket.
"Oh my, it's very beautiful, father. And there's a compass inside!" She mused as she opened the trinket.
"So you'll never be lost, you'll always know exactly where you are and how to get back home. And the symbol on the front is the emblem on the flag of your ship."
"The Jezebel."
"Yes. For when you have to prove that the ship is, in fact, yours. Every pirate should have a working compass, Sparrow doesn't, but he isn't just any pirate... he's a crazy one." He explained as his daughter laughed.
"Oh father, I love it. Thank you." She said as she hugged William. When she looked at his face once more, instead of happiness she saw sorrow and regret, deeper than the likes that she'd ever felt.
"I am truly sorry that you are encumbered by the ideas that you have been feed since day one. If I could take it all back and give you a life with your mother, I would do it. If I had any say in your future I would have piracy removed from it." He said with tears in his eyes, and like all little girls hate seeing their father cry it made Jezebel equally sad.
"Though it might have been nice to know mum... I wouldn't have it any other way, no matter how much honesty I would have been saturated in... I'd choose this life over anything else that I could ever have been offered. This is my life and there's no taking anything back. I know what I have to do, and it's not just for me... nothing has ever been just for me, it's for my family; for piracy. I won't fail any of them, I can't." She murmured while clutching the locket in her hand so hard that the edges of the square locket cut into her hand and her blood mingled with the golden chain.
"I know you won't, never a loss... never a defeat. That's what she told Jack." Whispered William as he tightened his embrace on his daughter. "But that doesn't mean she'll come out unharmed."
"Father, what are you talking about? Who told Jack what? And who won't come out unharmed?" She asked, furrowing her brows; a look that always brought a smile to William's face.
"A mermaid queen...named Jezebel, told Jack about how you would be a legendary pirate. She said that you would be a fierce pirate, fighting many battles. And there would never be a defeat... never a loss. But nowhere did she ever say that you would come out unharmed... I would've been able to sleep easier these 19 years had she just said that too... even if it were just to calm my mind." He said looking on, almost as if he were in a daze.
"Then let me say it... as a promise to you. I will come back to you after every battle I may fight completely untouched. No cuts, bruises, or other types of wounds." She said with a grin. Looking up at her father, though she'd always thought he looked like he were still in the prime of his youth, he seemed to look even younger as a nameless stress was lifted from him. But when he smiled at her comment, she saw in all his valor, why her mother had fallen in love with him.
"It's getting late, you'll need to get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for you. Goodnight." He said as he kissed her forehead like he had done every night since she'd first came to the Black Pearl.
EVEN LATER THAT NIGHT...
A quick crack of thunder woke Jezebel up from a light slumber; something weighed down on her mind that wouldn't let her sleep peacefully. Exiting her tiny room she crept quietly to the deck, the first thing she saw was Anna Marie asleep at the wheel. Laughing to herself she went on, stopping when she reached the bird hole she'd tried fixing that morning. But at the moment it was being blocked from view by a rather ragged looking pirate, one that Jezebel knew wasn't of the Pearl. Throwing her shoulders back she called fearlessly to the man.
"What are you doing up so late? Give me your name and what ship you come from." Her fearlessness shattered when he began to laugh with a horrible scratchy cackle. As he turned she was frozen by fear when she saw that he was not a man, but instead a skeleton with rotting flesh hanging from his bones. The monkey that sat on his shoulder looked that same as the skeleton he was perched on.
"Why don't you give me your name, missy. And I shall then give ye mine. And as for the ship I came from, I come from the caves of Isle De La Muerta. This was once my ship." He said with a cruel grin.
"Jezebel Turner," She said as she lifted a defiant chin, "And this ship has ALWAYS belonged to the Cap'n Jack Sparrow." Another cackle rang out in the dead of the night.
"Turner, eh? I bet you'd be scared to meet your grandfather's murderer," He noted happily that she flinched when he said murderer. "And I see that you are. Tread carefully, missy. Or I'll be comin' back to finish off ol' Bootstrap's boy... like I tried to years ago."
"What stopped ye, I wonder. Perhaps he lifted the curse you were under at HIS opportune moment, which from what I've heard was in time enough for you to die. But with all that in consideration... how is it that you've come back? You were dead and yet you stand before me." She said with a wild terror reflecting in her eyes.
"Ye have Jack, here, to thank for that. When everyone else had gone and left he placed one of Cortez's coins in me hand... and that is why, before you I stand." He said with another cruel grin and a courtesy.
"Poetic one you are," She grumbled sarcastically. "So, why are you here, and why at night? You have no crew to try to fight us with. What do you want from the Pearl?"
"Ah, so young and full of... an endless amount of questions. Ye have a lot to learn, Miss Turner, and asking questions is something you put in moderation. I am here to tell to you that Blackbeard is waiting for the Pearl to enter Port Royal, I'd hate to spoil the surprise... wait, I don't hate spoiling surprises. Anyway, for your 19th birthday the crew is planning to make a day trip to Port Royal so that you can meet your mum... blah, blah... it's too sentimental for a heartless folk like me. So he's there waiting to blow this fine ship out of the water, I can't let that happen, eventually I'm going to win back the Pearl and I don't want to receive it in pieces!" He bellowed as Jezebel flinched at his volume, at the same time wondered why no-one was rushing up to see what the racket was about, or why Anna Marie was still asleep.
"Lovely shouting voice, Mr. Bones..."
"It's Barbosa!" He said as he struck her across the face. "Another reason I'm here is to give ye this," He said as he pulled out a pistol and pointing it at the girl, "Compliments of Blackbeard himself." He said as he pulled the trigger, her eyes widened as the bullet left the gun. She hit the ground with a loud thud and as her head hit the ground her eyes flew open and she shot up in her cot.
"Oh... thank god, it was all just a dream!" She whispered as she threw back the sheet and ran up to the deck to find Anna Marie asleep at the wheel... and someone standing by the bird hole. "That's most interesting." Though after another step or to she discovered that the person was her father. Sneaking up on him she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his back.
"Jezebel, what are you doing up so late?" He said after jumping slightly.
"Nightmare left me restless... a nightmare about Barbosa, I dreamt that he was on the Pearl... right where you stand now. He told me that Blackbeard was waiting for us in Port Royal tomorrow. That he plans on blowing up the Pearl, and Barbosa didn't like the idea of him destroying his ship, even though this ship isn't his, he thinks he's getting it back. Then he shot me, and that's when I woke up." She said as he froze and turned to face his daughter.
"Barbosa is dead, Jezebel." He said as he took her by the shoulders; she began to shake her head with tear filled eyes. "Do you hear me, Barbosa is dead! He's been dead for longer than you've been alive!"
"No!" She cried, waking Anna Marie on the other side of the deck. "Barbosa's monkey restarted the curse on him after you, mum and Jack left the caves! He's alive; he's been alive the whole time! And he's after us; same as Blackbeard... even if I defeat him I'll still have to go up against Barbosa. Oh father, I don't believe I could survive them both... I'm not ready, it's just too much." She said right before fainting from the frustration.
Upon waking the next morning Jezebel found herself back in her small room tucked away in her cot. Lying next to her was a shiny new sword with the letters J. T. engraved into it, next to that was a pistol... Barbosa's pistol. Getting out of bed she ran up to the deck, pistol in hand. Fear burning in her eyes.
"Morning Jezebel. I see ye found the crews gift to ye, 'tis a fine sword that. Forged by your father, he's got talent with makin' weapons; prime example to that is you. What else do ye got there?" She said when her gaze landed on the pistol in her hand.
"Barbosa's pistol, I don't know how it got into my room. But I had a nightmare last night about it... a-a-and Barbosa." She said holding the pistol out to Anna Marie.
"Aye, that's his pistol. But how it even got onto the Pearl, I don't know. No-one brought it back with them when he died, and that was years ago in the Isle De La Muerta... buried deep into it's caves. He died a few years before you were born, so I don't know how you would know anything about this pistol or it's owner." She said examining the weapon. Jezebel stared wide-eyed at her friend.
"He's haunted my dreams many a time before. E'er since I was very young, he was the nameless fear that would wander my subconscious. I used to feel like someone would be following me, I would see him out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned around I would be alone once more. But last night was the first time I'd ever really talked to him, he said that it would be a deathly mistake to venture into Port Royal today..." she whispered hoarsely.
"Who was the loudmouth that told her about going to Port Royal?!" She shouted to the crew.
"Barbosa did, it wasn't any of them. He told me that Blackbeard was waiting for the Pearl to enter the Port... then he's going to blow it out of the water. Something tells me that Barbosa isn't quite dead... and he won't go quietly, not without a fight, and not without taking a few pirates down with him. He wants to wipe out the Turner bloodline completely, he said he had only just begun with my grandfather and that he's back to finish the job." She said as her father, walking towards the two women, overheard the last part.
"Who's going to finish what job?" he asked stopping between the two.
"So what should we do then?" Anna Marie asked the girl, completely ignoring Will.
"We avoid Port Royal at all costs; and not go anywhere near Tortugo, we can't risk a confrontation with any other pirates. Our only option is to stay right where we are for now, and perhaps tomorrow we can take a boat in to Port Royal to make sure it's even safe, yet. I will not risk the lives of others for a destiny that is mine alone." Jezebel insisted, a look of determination clearing the doubt and fear from her eyes. Anna Marie looked at the young pirate with overwhelming pride in her gaze.
"Spoken like a true leader of our kind. Aye, Aye Jezzy! Your demands are our command." She said with a sly twisted little grin.
"Jezebel... explain to me what is going on." Her father demanded. The girl simply handed him the pistol and walked to the railings of the barge. "He is alive then... but he won't be for very much longer."
THAT EVENING....
The sun was golden and the sea was glittering like dying embers from the fire, and Jezebel stared at the waves sleepily as Anna Marie hummed softly at the helm. A crack of thunder broke the serene moment that the crew of the Pearl had been enjoying. A bolt of lightning shook Jezebel from her daze, standing up and looking at the opposite horizon she was disappointed to see some rather nasty looking storm clouds crawling towards the ship.
"Storm is brewing from the east, looks like a possible hurricane. Let's hope it doesn't hit us too hard." Anna Marie said expressionlessly after barely taking a glance at the clouds.
"Shouldn't get here till the dead of night. We'd better prepare for the worst. You know I've heard and said that many a time but it's never seemed so final, like the worst really is riding those clouds. Like doom has finally come to claim us all." Jezebel murmured numbly, looking into the storm as if she had every intention of staring it down until it was merely a white thread in the sky.
But William knew the truth; this would be the storm that would tear his child from him as her destiny ripped her away from her mother the day she was born. He concentrated on his daughter, every detail of her. The way the orange dying sun turned her streaked brown hair to gold, and how it swayed gently with the sea breeze; how her steady and defiant gaze was just like her mother's; how her soft golden skin gleamed in the light. He stared sadly and tried desperately to hold onto this moment for all time. He didn't know, however, if he would ever be reunited with his Jezebel, his gem; his only treasure that was left to him.
"Jezebel, come here and entertain an old man." He beckoned to his daughter.
"Show me an old man, and I shall entertain him. But you, my father, are not old; and yet I shall entertain you with my presence anyway." She exclaimed as she walked over to her father and sat with him on the stairs that led to the helm. Turning to face the man she had called father all her 19 years, she was taken aback when she saw this relatively young man age dramatically before her eyes. "You are troubled, please... unburden yourself and tell me your troubles."
"I fear tonight is the end to much of what we both once knew, and the beginning of something more; something beyond anything we ever thought possible. It is both a sad time and one in which we should be glad as well. A torturous euphoria you might say." He said absentmindedly babbling about what he knew to be true, his daughter compassionately nodding her head all the while a smile played on her lips.
"You are tired, father, the crew and I can prepare well enough on our own. Why don't you go and get some rest, you look as if you could use it. Go on, I'll be down myself soon." She said as she helped her father up and over to the entrance to the lower levels. "Good night father, I'll see you in the morning."
"Perhaps, or perhaps the sea will sweep me away from what matters most in my life... and I don't mean piracy or the Pearl." He whispered softly, too softly for Jezebel to hear. After taking one last look at her father walking below she felt strangely depressed, but couldn't understand why. After a seemingly routine storm preparation most of the crew went down below to either rest or eat, all but Jezebel; for some reason she felt she couldn't leave the top deck. So instead she remained above, watching the storm closely; it would be upon them soon... maybe too soon.
Without a warning a raging wave struck the ship nearly turning it on its side. Holding on for dear life, Jezebel slowly made her way over to the door to the lower levels. But before she could reach it lightning struck the sails and a wooden beam came crashing down on the little door, trapping everyone beneath it. Frantically she tried with all her might and strength to push the beam aside, but much to her dismay the beam wouldn't budge. Panic and fear quickly claimed her entire being.
"Father! Someone, anyone! I can't get this thing off! I can't it's too big, it's just too big!" She cried hysterically, but instead of hearing desperate screams for help, she heard nothing. Suddenly her confusion cleared, this is how she sets off to be on her own. All she ever knew would be destroyed by the storm, a strange peace filled her mind; she was no longer afraid. Slowly a single hand emerged from one of the holes in the door she recognized it instantly: William. "Father, why didn't you tell me it was to come to this?" She asked taking her father's hand.
"You had to figure it out for yourself, it's been that way for everything. I'm sorry I can't join you on your adventures, or when you finally meet your mother. I wish—I wished I could've seen your faces when you realize who the person you're staring at is. Tell her that I'll always love her." He said sadly.
"No, no father, don't say that. You'll get to tell her yourself, you'll get free somehow. We'll be together again, you'll see. Don't let go, don't let go of me, father. Please don't let go..." She begged as the tears poured down her face, falling in sync with the rain. Her heart shattered as her father's hand slipped out of her grip. "No, come back, please!" She begged once more before a second raging wave bashed into the ship throwing her back and she landed awkwardly on the stairs to the helm, knocking her unconscious. The last wave tore into the ship and threw Jezebel into the ebony waves.
"Come up here so that I might get a good look at ye, we'll fix that hole later." He called, seemingly calmer than he had been when he woke up. But when the girl climbed over the railing, a look of bewilderment crept back into the old pirate's eyes.
"You alright, Cap'n?" She asked, as the frenzied panic returned.
"You can't be Jezebel! Jezzy's a little girl, small... compact," As he went on Jezebel grew even more entertained by his ramblings. "... But you on the other hand, you're a lovely pirate woman! Tall and elegantly dangerous..."
"Sparrow, I've always been dangerous." She said as she laughed at her captain.
"I know but... girl! How old are you?" he demanded as the other pirates around them stopped to watch the spectacle.
"19 as of tomorrow. Cap'n, what is this all about?" She said wearily.
"Wha? Can't this ol' pirate gawk at how the Baby of the Black Pearl has matured into a most lovely young woman! It seems like only yesterday you took your first steps right o'er there by the bow o' this ship! And now look at you, you've come of age before me very own eye's!" He said, only to bite his tongue after noting that she'd come of age, and by that time all the amused faces of the surrounding pirates had turned grim. For they knew what her coming of age meant, they would soon be torn away from the girl that had made them smile every day for the past 19 years.
"Well, you can't keep me a child forever, I had to grow up at some point. But why has everyone gone from happy to sad in realization of my age? It doesn't have anything to do with those stories about me being a great leader of pirates... does it? Oh god, it starts here, now... doesn't it?" She said quietly, the frenzied panic spreading to her own eyes.
"Of course not, Poppet. It starts tomorrow... I mean... no."
"Cap'n... I'm old enough for the truth, and I believe it's time you tell it to me. Now, what is to happen now?" She said as she focused her soul- piercing gaze on the pirate's face, a stray hair blowing gently about her face. Eyes wide, as if they were awaiting the worst news.
"The battle for the new era is near; that you've always known. The existence of piracy as we know it depends on your victory o'er Blackbeard... there's more riding on that battle than you will e'er know. And us, we won't be there to back ye up, as much as we'd like to be... we cannot be there. It won't be long, until you are taken from the Pearl. But worry not, hope might seem lost... but it will find its way back to ye. Nothing can stay lost for long, at least not for you, poppet. Now, enough talk of things that still have yet to be done. Tortugo isn't but a two-day journey from where we are now. I have to go... alone." He said as he began to untie a spare boat.
"Why? Why must you go alone... and why now?" She questioned while closely following her captain around as he gathered his affects. Dodging rope and sail.
"Because," he said as he stopped abruptly and whirled around. "I'm not supposed to be around on your 19th birthday... I don't know why it has to be this way but I have no say in what is to come of you or me... I am simply a game piece in this twisted game of life. Savvy?"
"You mean that you're not destined to be here when I come of age... when I'm torn from everything I've ever known. That's what you mean, that's savvy." Frustrated with what was going on around her, she stomped off back to her little quarters.
LATER THAT DAY IN JEZEBEL'S QUARTERS...
Jezebel was jarred from her daydreams by a gentle rapping at her door; sitting up she shook her head to shake the weariness from her mind. A minute later the rapping continued. Then a soft whisper followed.
"Jezebel? May I come in?" Father. He was the only one that would actually ask to enter; the rest either entered without warning, knocked while entering or asked if she was decent right before entering.
"Of course, Father. You're always welcome to come in, you know that." She said as she jumped up to open the little door.
"I... heard about what happened earlier... before Sparrow left for Tortugo. I'm very sorry I hadn't told you before, but tomorrow's your birthday and I wanted to give you your present tonight. It was given to me when you were born, I've been hanging onto it all this time." He said as he handed her the locket.
"Oh my, it's very beautiful, father. And there's a compass inside!" She mused as she opened the trinket.
"So you'll never be lost, you'll always know exactly where you are and how to get back home. And the symbol on the front is the emblem on the flag of your ship."
"The Jezebel."
"Yes. For when you have to prove that the ship is, in fact, yours. Every pirate should have a working compass, Sparrow doesn't, but he isn't just any pirate... he's a crazy one." He explained as his daughter laughed.
"Oh father, I love it. Thank you." She said as she hugged William. When she looked at his face once more, instead of happiness she saw sorrow and regret, deeper than the likes that she'd ever felt.
"I am truly sorry that you are encumbered by the ideas that you have been feed since day one. If I could take it all back and give you a life with your mother, I would do it. If I had any say in your future I would have piracy removed from it." He said with tears in his eyes, and like all little girls hate seeing their father cry it made Jezebel equally sad.
"Though it might have been nice to know mum... I wouldn't have it any other way, no matter how much honesty I would have been saturated in... I'd choose this life over anything else that I could ever have been offered. This is my life and there's no taking anything back. I know what I have to do, and it's not just for me... nothing has ever been just for me, it's for my family; for piracy. I won't fail any of them, I can't." She murmured while clutching the locket in her hand so hard that the edges of the square locket cut into her hand and her blood mingled with the golden chain.
"I know you won't, never a loss... never a defeat. That's what she told Jack." Whispered William as he tightened his embrace on his daughter. "But that doesn't mean she'll come out unharmed."
"Father, what are you talking about? Who told Jack what? And who won't come out unharmed?" She asked, furrowing her brows; a look that always brought a smile to William's face.
"A mermaid queen...named Jezebel, told Jack about how you would be a legendary pirate. She said that you would be a fierce pirate, fighting many battles. And there would never be a defeat... never a loss. But nowhere did she ever say that you would come out unharmed... I would've been able to sleep easier these 19 years had she just said that too... even if it were just to calm my mind." He said looking on, almost as if he were in a daze.
"Then let me say it... as a promise to you. I will come back to you after every battle I may fight completely untouched. No cuts, bruises, or other types of wounds." She said with a grin. Looking up at her father, though she'd always thought he looked like he were still in the prime of his youth, he seemed to look even younger as a nameless stress was lifted from him. But when he smiled at her comment, she saw in all his valor, why her mother had fallen in love with him.
"It's getting late, you'll need to get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for you. Goodnight." He said as he kissed her forehead like he had done every night since she'd first came to the Black Pearl.
EVEN LATER THAT NIGHT...
A quick crack of thunder woke Jezebel up from a light slumber; something weighed down on her mind that wouldn't let her sleep peacefully. Exiting her tiny room she crept quietly to the deck, the first thing she saw was Anna Marie asleep at the wheel. Laughing to herself she went on, stopping when she reached the bird hole she'd tried fixing that morning. But at the moment it was being blocked from view by a rather ragged looking pirate, one that Jezebel knew wasn't of the Pearl. Throwing her shoulders back she called fearlessly to the man.
"What are you doing up so late? Give me your name and what ship you come from." Her fearlessness shattered when he began to laugh with a horrible scratchy cackle. As he turned she was frozen by fear when she saw that he was not a man, but instead a skeleton with rotting flesh hanging from his bones. The monkey that sat on his shoulder looked that same as the skeleton he was perched on.
"Why don't you give me your name, missy. And I shall then give ye mine. And as for the ship I came from, I come from the caves of Isle De La Muerta. This was once my ship." He said with a cruel grin.
"Jezebel Turner," She said as she lifted a defiant chin, "And this ship has ALWAYS belonged to the Cap'n Jack Sparrow." Another cackle rang out in the dead of the night.
"Turner, eh? I bet you'd be scared to meet your grandfather's murderer," He noted happily that she flinched when he said murderer. "And I see that you are. Tread carefully, missy. Or I'll be comin' back to finish off ol' Bootstrap's boy... like I tried to years ago."
"What stopped ye, I wonder. Perhaps he lifted the curse you were under at HIS opportune moment, which from what I've heard was in time enough for you to die. But with all that in consideration... how is it that you've come back? You were dead and yet you stand before me." She said with a wild terror reflecting in her eyes.
"Ye have Jack, here, to thank for that. When everyone else had gone and left he placed one of Cortez's coins in me hand... and that is why, before you I stand." He said with another cruel grin and a courtesy.
"Poetic one you are," She grumbled sarcastically. "So, why are you here, and why at night? You have no crew to try to fight us with. What do you want from the Pearl?"
"Ah, so young and full of... an endless amount of questions. Ye have a lot to learn, Miss Turner, and asking questions is something you put in moderation. I am here to tell to you that Blackbeard is waiting for the Pearl to enter Port Royal, I'd hate to spoil the surprise... wait, I don't hate spoiling surprises. Anyway, for your 19th birthday the crew is planning to make a day trip to Port Royal so that you can meet your mum... blah, blah... it's too sentimental for a heartless folk like me. So he's there waiting to blow this fine ship out of the water, I can't let that happen, eventually I'm going to win back the Pearl and I don't want to receive it in pieces!" He bellowed as Jezebel flinched at his volume, at the same time wondered why no-one was rushing up to see what the racket was about, or why Anna Marie was still asleep.
"Lovely shouting voice, Mr. Bones..."
"It's Barbosa!" He said as he struck her across the face. "Another reason I'm here is to give ye this," He said as he pulled out a pistol and pointing it at the girl, "Compliments of Blackbeard himself." He said as he pulled the trigger, her eyes widened as the bullet left the gun. She hit the ground with a loud thud and as her head hit the ground her eyes flew open and she shot up in her cot.
"Oh... thank god, it was all just a dream!" She whispered as she threw back the sheet and ran up to the deck to find Anna Marie asleep at the wheel... and someone standing by the bird hole. "That's most interesting." Though after another step or to she discovered that the person was her father. Sneaking up on him she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his back.
"Jezebel, what are you doing up so late?" He said after jumping slightly.
"Nightmare left me restless... a nightmare about Barbosa, I dreamt that he was on the Pearl... right where you stand now. He told me that Blackbeard was waiting for us in Port Royal tomorrow. That he plans on blowing up the Pearl, and Barbosa didn't like the idea of him destroying his ship, even though this ship isn't his, he thinks he's getting it back. Then he shot me, and that's when I woke up." She said as he froze and turned to face his daughter.
"Barbosa is dead, Jezebel." He said as he took her by the shoulders; she began to shake her head with tear filled eyes. "Do you hear me, Barbosa is dead! He's been dead for longer than you've been alive!"
"No!" She cried, waking Anna Marie on the other side of the deck. "Barbosa's monkey restarted the curse on him after you, mum and Jack left the caves! He's alive; he's been alive the whole time! And he's after us; same as Blackbeard... even if I defeat him I'll still have to go up against Barbosa. Oh father, I don't believe I could survive them both... I'm not ready, it's just too much." She said right before fainting from the frustration.
Upon waking the next morning Jezebel found herself back in her small room tucked away in her cot. Lying next to her was a shiny new sword with the letters J. T. engraved into it, next to that was a pistol... Barbosa's pistol. Getting out of bed she ran up to the deck, pistol in hand. Fear burning in her eyes.
"Morning Jezebel. I see ye found the crews gift to ye, 'tis a fine sword that. Forged by your father, he's got talent with makin' weapons; prime example to that is you. What else do ye got there?" She said when her gaze landed on the pistol in her hand.
"Barbosa's pistol, I don't know how it got into my room. But I had a nightmare last night about it... a-a-and Barbosa." She said holding the pistol out to Anna Marie.
"Aye, that's his pistol. But how it even got onto the Pearl, I don't know. No-one brought it back with them when he died, and that was years ago in the Isle De La Muerta... buried deep into it's caves. He died a few years before you were born, so I don't know how you would know anything about this pistol or it's owner." She said examining the weapon. Jezebel stared wide-eyed at her friend.
"He's haunted my dreams many a time before. E'er since I was very young, he was the nameless fear that would wander my subconscious. I used to feel like someone would be following me, I would see him out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned around I would be alone once more. But last night was the first time I'd ever really talked to him, he said that it would be a deathly mistake to venture into Port Royal today..." she whispered hoarsely.
"Who was the loudmouth that told her about going to Port Royal?!" She shouted to the crew.
"Barbosa did, it wasn't any of them. He told me that Blackbeard was waiting for the Pearl to enter the Port... then he's going to blow it out of the water. Something tells me that Barbosa isn't quite dead... and he won't go quietly, not without a fight, and not without taking a few pirates down with him. He wants to wipe out the Turner bloodline completely, he said he had only just begun with my grandfather and that he's back to finish the job." She said as her father, walking towards the two women, overheard the last part.
"Who's going to finish what job?" he asked stopping between the two.
"So what should we do then?" Anna Marie asked the girl, completely ignoring Will.
"We avoid Port Royal at all costs; and not go anywhere near Tortugo, we can't risk a confrontation with any other pirates. Our only option is to stay right where we are for now, and perhaps tomorrow we can take a boat in to Port Royal to make sure it's even safe, yet. I will not risk the lives of others for a destiny that is mine alone." Jezebel insisted, a look of determination clearing the doubt and fear from her eyes. Anna Marie looked at the young pirate with overwhelming pride in her gaze.
"Spoken like a true leader of our kind. Aye, Aye Jezzy! Your demands are our command." She said with a sly twisted little grin.
"Jezebel... explain to me what is going on." Her father demanded. The girl simply handed him the pistol and walked to the railings of the barge. "He is alive then... but he won't be for very much longer."
THAT EVENING....
The sun was golden and the sea was glittering like dying embers from the fire, and Jezebel stared at the waves sleepily as Anna Marie hummed softly at the helm. A crack of thunder broke the serene moment that the crew of the Pearl had been enjoying. A bolt of lightning shook Jezebel from her daze, standing up and looking at the opposite horizon she was disappointed to see some rather nasty looking storm clouds crawling towards the ship.
"Storm is brewing from the east, looks like a possible hurricane. Let's hope it doesn't hit us too hard." Anna Marie said expressionlessly after barely taking a glance at the clouds.
"Shouldn't get here till the dead of night. We'd better prepare for the worst. You know I've heard and said that many a time but it's never seemed so final, like the worst really is riding those clouds. Like doom has finally come to claim us all." Jezebel murmured numbly, looking into the storm as if she had every intention of staring it down until it was merely a white thread in the sky.
But William knew the truth; this would be the storm that would tear his child from him as her destiny ripped her away from her mother the day she was born. He concentrated on his daughter, every detail of her. The way the orange dying sun turned her streaked brown hair to gold, and how it swayed gently with the sea breeze; how her steady and defiant gaze was just like her mother's; how her soft golden skin gleamed in the light. He stared sadly and tried desperately to hold onto this moment for all time. He didn't know, however, if he would ever be reunited with his Jezebel, his gem; his only treasure that was left to him.
"Jezebel, come here and entertain an old man." He beckoned to his daughter.
"Show me an old man, and I shall entertain him. But you, my father, are not old; and yet I shall entertain you with my presence anyway." She exclaimed as she walked over to her father and sat with him on the stairs that led to the helm. Turning to face the man she had called father all her 19 years, she was taken aback when she saw this relatively young man age dramatically before her eyes. "You are troubled, please... unburden yourself and tell me your troubles."
"I fear tonight is the end to much of what we both once knew, and the beginning of something more; something beyond anything we ever thought possible. It is both a sad time and one in which we should be glad as well. A torturous euphoria you might say." He said absentmindedly babbling about what he knew to be true, his daughter compassionately nodding her head all the while a smile played on her lips.
"You are tired, father, the crew and I can prepare well enough on our own. Why don't you go and get some rest, you look as if you could use it. Go on, I'll be down myself soon." She said as she helped her father up and over to the entrance to the lower levels. "Good night father, I'll see you in the morning."
"Perhaps, or perhaps the sea will sweep me away from what matters most in my life... and I don't mean piracy or the Pearl." He whispered softly, too softly for Jezebel to hear. After taking one last look at her father walking below she felt strangely depressed, but couldn't understand why. After a seemingly routine storm preparation most of the crew went down below to either rest or eat, all but Jezebel; for some reason she felt she couldn't leave the top deck. So instead she remained above, watching the storm closely; it would be upon them soon... maybe too soon.
Without a warning a raging wave struck the ship nearly turning it on its side. Holding on for dear life, Jezebel slowly made her way over to the door to the lower levels. But before she could reach it lightning struck the sails and a wooden beam came crashing down on the little door, trapping everyone beneath it. Frantically she tried with all her might and strength to push the beam aside, but much to her dismay the beam wouldn't budge. Panic and fear quickly claimed her entire being.
"Father! Someone, anyone! I can't get this thing off! I can't it's too big, it's just too big!" She cried hysterically, but instead of hearing desperate screams for help, she heard nothing. Suddenly her confusion cleared, this is how she sets off to be on her own. All she ever knew would be destroyed by the storm, a strange peace filled her mind; she was no longer afraid. Slowly a single hand emerged from one of the holes in the door she recognized it instantly: William. "Father, why didn't you tell me it was to come to this?" She asked taking her father's hand.
"You had to figure it out for yourself, it's been that way for everything. I'm sorry I can't join you on your adventures, or when you finally meet your mother. I wish—I wished I could've seen your faces when you realize who the person you're staring at is. Tell her that I'll always love her." He said sadly.
"No, no father, don't say that. You'll get to tell her yourself, you'll get free somehow. We'll be together again, you'll see. Don't let go, don't let go of me, father. Please don't let go..." She begged as the tears poured down her face, falling in sync with the rain. Her heart shattered as her father's hand slipped out of her grip. "No, come back, please!" She begged once more before a second raging wave bashed into the ship throwing her back and she landed awkwardly on the stairs to the helm, knocking her unconscious. The last wave tore into the ship and threw Jezebel into the ebony waves.