One Year Later…

When Jack was on the warpath, not a single man wanted to be in his way. Most of them knew the extent of the temper of the famous Captain Sparrow, and found it a lot easier and a lot less painful just to avoid it. But on that particular day, those who feared his temper were not the target. His target was a dark haired young man wiping the blade of his cutlass on his pant leg. The pirate captain's hand shot out and grasped him none too gently by the ear, and yanked him back towards the Pearl. The crew went about their scouring of the merchant ship for anything of value, pretending not to see the scene at hand. He pushed him against the wall of the cabin, coming face to face with him.

"What part of 'on my command' didn't you understand?" He asked Will, an angry fire burning in his eyes. He missed those days when there would've been a slight hint of fear in his eyes, but he showed none now, and Jack almost felt as if he were being looked down upon himself. "Answer me."

Will stared defiantly back at him, his eyes dark and cold. "A man went for his pistol." He said finally, shoving Jack back from him and beginning to walk away. Jack grabbed his arm, pushing him back against the wall and this time, holding him by the neck.

"I am the bloody captain here, and if I say hold, you will hold." He said scathingly. "Any man who doesn't is punished for disobedience. Don't think I make exceptions for you." Jack's temper was exceptionally hot at the moment. What could have been a simple ship raid had turned into a bloodbath that had lost him several of his crew and left them with a ship of nearly dead merchantmen. All because one person had attacked early. He glanced back over his shoulder. "Gibbs! Ana!" He turned back to Will, who was staring at him angrily now. Hearing the thud of boots on the deck, he let go of Will's neck, stepping away. "Take him back to the Pearl while I finish up here. Don't let him out of your sight." He muttered, turning on his heel and walking away. Gibbs reached out to take Will's arm, and was slapped away.

"I can walk on my own." He snapped bitterly, walking towards the rail. Gibbs looked over at Ana.

"I seem to remember a dark haired lad that looked just like him, gentle soul, a little rash I'll admit, but smart. Did Jack happen to trade him for this one and a bottle of rum?" He asked. Ana was still watching Will walk away, a troubled expression on her face.

"Things change when you've been what he's been through. Look at us." She pointed between them. "Do you think either one of us ever meant to end up here? You were a sailor under the employ of England, and I had a life before..." She trailed off. "We can only hope something changes and the William we all know comes back to us. Otherwise..." She looked at Gibbs. "We might see him dead far before his time and it might be Jack is the one to do it." With that said, she started walking back towards the Pearl as well.

Gibbs mulled over what she had said a moment, before pulling out his flask and taking a deep drink of the liquor he'd come to find was a soothing friend for his damaged nerves. "God help us all then." He muttered, following after.

A while later, the ship had been thoroughly scoured, and anything of value had been taken back to the Pearl. The ship was disconnected from the Pearl, and Jack ordered the sails raised. He left Cotton in charge of the wheel so he could deal with the unpleasant task at hand. The crew watched him carefully, feeling the tension on the air, and knowing what was about to happen.

"William." Jack's voice lacked all emotion as he said the name, pulling his coat off and throwing it across a barrel. As the young man was brought forward, he began rolling up his sleeves. "I don't allow disobedience on my ship. I am more lenient than others, but when I give an order, it is followed, aye?" He said, picking up the cat-o'-nine-tails. Will's eyes went to the object of punishment, then back to Jack's. Still his cold gaze showed no fear. "Shirt off and hold onto the mast." He commanded. "Now." To his surprise, Will did just as he was told. Everyone's attention was on the two men now. Jack strode forwards, leaning over his shoulder. "I don't like doing this, William, but I refuse to treat you any different than the rest of my crew, because that's what you are now. You are not a naive blacksmith any longer. You are the first mate on one of the most feared pirate ships in the Caribbean." He said quietly, and then took a step back.

The next thing Will felt was the horrible burning feeling as the nine tails lashed against his back. He flinched only slightly, but never once did he cry out, determined to remain deadpan. After five lashes, he felt like he was in hell and the devil was poking him over and over in a different place each time. He'd seen this same punishment done to other men, and knew that his back was now a mess of intercepting lines, red and bleeding. He stayed against the mast, weak at the knees, but not wanting to admit it. Not with everyone watching. He didn't want their hate, or their pity. He just wanted to be left alone. Finally finding some strength, he pushed back from the mast and turned to face Jack. Jack stared back at him, still no emotion on his face.

"Gibbs, take him down to the crew's quarters. He's no good to the crew right now in this condition." Gibbs nodded and started towards Will, who again waved him away and slowly made his way towards the door. Will knew he should've been used to the pain by now, as it hadn't been the first time he was punished.

Will pushed open the door to the large room and carefully picked his way among the many makeshift beds of rags and blankets that littered the place. He came to his hammock and pulled the blankets from it. Wincing as he did so, he knelt and laid out the blanket, then placed the folded blanket at the head as a pillow. The hammock would cause even more discomfort to his back, and the floor was as good a place as any. He lay down on his stomach, feeling the burning pain on his back as he lay there, unmoving.

A while later, Ana crept into the room, moving towards the younger pirate in silence. She sat down on the floor beside him and tapped his shoulder. His response was to jerk awake and then hiss in pain as he moved too quickly. She kept her hand on his shoulder. "Lay down." Her voice was firm as she said it, and he did so. "I'm sure you know how this works by now." She told him, taking the jar of salve from the bag and opening it.

"Yes." He grunted in response, his head turned away from her. She shook her head, scooping up some of the salve with two fingers and started to gently apply it to the open marks on his back. His whole body stiffened under her touch and she knew she was causing him more pain, but it couldn't be helped.

"If you had just listened, I wouldn't even need to do this." She muttered.

"He was going to fire at us." Will's tone made it clear that he believed he had done what had needed to be done.

"No, he wouldn't have." Ana told him. "His hands were shaking too badly for him to even get a grip on it. I've been at sea longer than you, William, and Jack longer than both of us. He knows what he's talking about, and I suggest the next time you listen." He didn't respond to her comment, and she got the feeling that she wasn't going to. "And another thing." She said as she finished smoothing on the salve. "Drop the attitude before you lose your friends. When you lose them, you truly have nothing left." She turned on her heel, marching back across the room. He wanted to respond to her comment, but there was nothing he could think of quickly enough to do so. He laid his head back down on the blankets, hoping this week went by quickly enough.

-----------------------

Two weeks had passed since the incident, and Will was as dark as ever. The crew had become just as scared of him as they were Jack when he was in a foul mood, and those close to him found it less and less bearable to be around him. Jack even had to admit that he was sick of his attitude after two years of seeing it.

Will was sleeping curled up in the hammock, the pain in his back lessened to a degree where he could sleep in that position without an ungodly amount of pain keeping him up. A hand covered his mouth and he jerked awake, grabbing for the dagger in between the blankets that served as a pillow.

"I wouldn't do that." Jack told him quietly as not to wake the few crew members scattered at various places on the floor and on the few beds. Many of the others were out enjoying the pleasures that Tortuga offered those who came into its port. Will turned to look at him, a confused expression crossing with his usual dark one. He beckoned him with a finger. "Come on, we're going drinking." Will slid out of the hammock, grabbing his shirt and his boots and following Jack.

A while later, Jack was leading him down the streets of Tortuga. "For a man who has no home to call his own, Tortuga is close enough." Jack said, throwing his arms open. Will only rolled his eyes. Jack finally found the tavern he was looking for and pushed open the door.

It never really changed in the Faithful Bride Tavern. Drunken bar brawls, wenches on the brawl to make a little bit of change so that they could eat, and dirty deals going on in the dark corners of the room. Jack pointed to the empty table. "Go sit. I'm going to grab us drinks." He disappeared into the crowd before Will could respond, so he wandered over towards the table, sliding onto the bench and waiting for Jack to come back.

Jack wasn't the first one to arrive at the table. A fair haired wench slid onto the bench beside him, curling her arm around his. He guessed she was fairly new to the trade because she didn't look world weary like the others. He shook her arm loose, not even glancing at her, but she refused to give in. She scooted closer, her lips nearly brushing his ear. "Would you like to spend the night with me?" She whispered, her tone seductive, but he ignored her, looking the other way. Her hand slid across his stomach, unbuttoning the bottom buttons and sliding her hand down towards the waistband of his pants, a dirty smile on his face. That got a response out of him, to push her away.

"I don't want you." He snapped angrily. She stood up in a huff, crossing her arms.

"Captain, you didn't say he would be this impossible." She said, glancing over at the person behind Will. He spun around to find Jack standing there, arms crossed and not a mug of ale in sight. He got to his feet.

"So you're taking it upon yourself to hire me wenches now?" He said angrily, approaching the older pirate.

"I thought maybe if we found you another woman, you'd break out of this dark mood you seem to be so fond of." His response was the crack of a fist across his mouth, hard enough to split his lip. He touched two fingers to his lip, looking at the blood and raising an eyebrow.

"I don't want another woman, I want Elizabeth!" The whole tavern went quiet, staring at the two men. Jack looked up at Will.

"Now we're getting somewhere." Jack said, wiping at his lip. Will froze.

"What?"

"Thank ye, Jezzab." He told the girl and she nodded. He turned back to Will. "That's not a wench, that's the tavern keeper's daughter. I asked her to play along." Will's eyes narrowed. "Had to get to the root of your problem somehow. I suspected it was Elizabeth, but I wanted to be sure." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "And I only have one thing to say to you, whelp." He noticed Will was practically seething at him now. "Get over it." Jack knocked aside another fist aimed for his jaw and swung one of his own, scoring a hit. Will fell back against the table, rubbing at his eye. "This attitude you've taken on is a little unbecoming of you, William. I know you've been through tough times, but brooding over the past isn't going to help you at all. You brood about the past, you stay in the past."

Will stood up, glaring at Jack, although his left eye looked slightly swollen. "Maybe I like staying in the past."

"If you stay in the past, you'll never get to see the future." Jack responded back quickly.

"Is this why you brought me here Jack? To lecture me? I'm not listening if you are." He started to walk towards the tavern door when Jack put a hand on his chest and pushed him backwards into a chair.

"Sit down and listen." Jack snapped. "You don't have that life anymore, savvy? It ended when you died on the noose back in Port Royal. You don't exist anymore. The life you wish for isn't yours; it belongs to the man who died within you. You..." He poked Will in the chest again. "...are Matthew Stryder now, hear me? You can't go back to what you were, so don't linger on it." He wondered if he was getting through to the boy at all. His answer came when Will lunged out of the chair and slammed into him, sending them both crashing to the floor. The rest of the tavern took it as a signal to resume normal activities and did just that. Soon the two pirates were lost among the fighting.

Jack lost his grip and sight of Will among the bodies. He got to his feet, looking around. Finally he caught sight of him, marching towards Jack, angry as hell. Jack was growing frustrated. Maybe it would be better to shoot the boy and put him out of his misery. He caught the bar stool leg Will swung at him and kicked him in the stomach, forcing him to fall backwards. He grabbed the mug off the bar and took a deep drink, slamming it back down.

"I've been in a lot more fights than you. You wouldn't believe how much pain I can take." Jack told him as Will struggled to his feet. He left the boy swing at him again, easily dodging it. "I've accepted what I am a long time ago." He knocked another stool leg away, and grabbed Will's wrist. Will kneed him in the stomach, and Jack stumbled backwards.

"I don't want to accept who I am. I just want my old life back!" Will shouted at him, tears in his eyes. "I want to feel Elizabeth's embrace again, I want to sing my daughter to sleep! I just want to be happy!" Jack took advantage of his pain for the moment and grabbed him by the collar, dragging him outside into the cool night air. He pushed him backwards to sit down on a crate against the wall.

"You can't have that! You're dead to them, William, and even if you did go back, do you think they'd welcome you with open arms again? No, you're a bloody scallywag, that's why! If not before, you are now." If tough love was what it was going to take to get Will back on track, then Jack was going to do it. He pointed towards a dirty cracked mirror lying in a pile of garbage. "If you don't believe me, go look at yourself." He said, his tone quieter. "Then ask yourself this: Is this the way William Turner would have acted? Personally, I think the answer would be no." Will got up, moving over to the mirror. With the sleeve of his shirt, he wiped away some of the grime, staring at his reflection. The man he never wanted to be stared back. His fingers trailed along the scar on his neck, under his chin and long the right side of his jaw. In that moment, all the emotion that he'd held bottled up since came out, and he fell forward from his crouch. His knees hit the dirt street and his elbows came to a rest on the street, his head buried in his arms.

Jack stood nearby, not making a move to help him, but a sympathetic expression on his face. A small part of him rejoiced, knowing that Will wasn't completely dead inside. He walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, I'll buy you a drink." He said, shaking his shoulder. "It's time to start a new life, lad. You'll always love her, and most likely she'll always love you. Knowing Elizabeth, she'll move on, but you'll always hold her heart. The same for you. You can keep her in your heart always, but you have to move on. So why don't you start right now?" He held out his hand. Will took it, climbing to his feet. The two men started down the street quietly, heading back towards the Faithful Bride.

"Jack?"

"Aye?"

"How do you know so much?" Jack had to grin at the innocence of the boy's question, something he had missed dearly.

"Life. She's a hard teacher, but a good one."