DISCLAIMER: I think we all know the truth. But for those who want to know, here it is: I do not claim ownership of anything you recognize. They belong to whom they belong and those people know who they are. Savvy?

Summary: For years Jack has kept his darkest secret close beside him. However, he is forced to tell Ana the truth when a mysterious figure confronts Jack and claims to know the answers Jack seeks. J/A. Rating for some violence.

Half-Life

Part 2

Footfalls echoed down the empty lane but were muffled slightly by the mist clouding the air. The sounds turned even more hollow as their owner stepped onto the wooden planks that made up the dock. Jack came to a stop and squinted through the mist and fog, shifting his hands in his coat pockets to keep them warm; the night was growing cool. He glanced about half-heartedly and leaned against one of the tall beams that rose from the depths of the sea to support the dock. Despite his façade of carelessness a feeling deep in his gut told him that something about the situation was amiss. A sense of foreboding coursed through his blood and he felt his senses heighten to detect any movement or sound.

What if this was some sort of trick? An ambush?

He shook his head forcefully, banishing the thoughts along with pulling his hat down to cover his eyes. He also began to hum his favorite tune which soon developed into a muttered song.

"…drink up me 'earties, yo ho. Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me. We kindle and char, da da duh, drink up-"

"Me 'earties, yo ho."

Jack almost jumped and looked up from under his hat's shadow, the thick leather blocking the sight of one eye. He grinned to himself when the hooded man from the tavern strode down the dock toward him, alone.

"Welcome mate. Ye know a good shanty."

"Mmm…yes, Jack Sparrow. It seems we have more in common than we thought, eh?"

Jack tilted his head back so he was looking at the figure full in the face. "I suppose so. But tell me, wha's so great tha' you told me t' come here?"

"Follow me for I have something to show you."

"First tell me why I'm here, savvy?" Jack ordered, his tone suddenly quite business-like. He was not about to march himself into a trap if he could help it.

"I know what you do not about yourself."

"Talk straight, you're startin' t' sound like me."

"I know all about your past, Jack Sparrow."

Jack kept his tone level and his expression blasé as he replied. "Tha's where yer wrong mate. I know my past. So sorry to disappoint."

"Really? Would you care to share? Just to prove me wrong?"

"No."

"That would imply you do not remember it-"

Jack drew himself to his full height and looked at the man with a barely suppressed edge residing in his eyes. His hand flew to the cloaked figure's throat and cut off the passage of air through the man's windpipe while Jack's expression remained collected. "I know my past. Don't you ever insist that I don't," the pirate captain said in a low, dangerous tone, "savvy?" Jack released the strange man and watched as he rubbed at his throat tenderly.

"'Pirate through and through' is that what you think, Jack Sparrow?"

"Aye, an' don't ferget it," Jack hissed, turning his back sharply on the cloaked man and proceeding back toward the town. "This was a waste of time."

"Won't you follow just for curiosity's sake? Who knows? You might learn something."

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"Wha's so great about this?" Jack asked dully, staring uninterestedly at the decrepit carriage house. Part of the roof had collapsed as well as several other support beams which left only one cramped entrance hidden partially by some of the debris.

"So you do not recognize it?"

"Should I?"

"Perhaps. Take a look and see if anything rings a bell."

Jack risked an uncertain sideways glance at the cloaked figure, searching the man's posture for any signs of betrayal, of which he found none. Still wary, Jack stepped toward the carriage house with all his senses alert. Though he still thought this a trap and his mind was screaming at him to stop his forward progress his body continued with a mind of its own. Some deep, forgotten sense of his was drawing him into the deteriorating structure despite the danger of an integral collapse or an ambush.

Upon reaching the doorway and peering into the dark abyss within, his flight instinct took over. Backing away with a hand on the hilt of his cutlass, Jack was ineptly alert once more and searching the premises with his eyes for any signs of a fight to come.

Once again he found nothing.

'I'll come back here later. During the daylight hours,' he reasoned with himself, reluctantly leaving the structure behind. As he turned he was shocked to find that the cloaked man was nowhere to be seen and there was no indication that he had been there at all. Shaking his head to himself, Jack headed back to his Pearl with much more on his mind than had been when he left her.

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"Gibbs,"

"Aye cap'n?"

"I'm going ashore for the afternoon. You're in charge."

"Aye sir."

Jack nodded and strode purposefully toward the gang plank in his oddly rolling gait. He paused before beginning his descent to the dock and turned back to Gibbs with a friendly glint in his eyes even though he kept a straight face. "Try not to sink her; I'd 'ave to kill yah."

Gibbs nodded with a smile and couldn't help but chuckle at his captain's joking comment. While it was true that Jack's life revolved around the Pearl, he and Gibbs had had a type of joke running between them for awhile. Gibbs knew Jack trusted him with the ship but just for looks' sake Jack would give the quartermaster a somewhat snide remark every time he left.

Once Jack was out of hearing range and almost out of sight Ana disembarked from the dark ship and set off stubbornly after him. She was curious as well as angry; the night prior, when she had asked Jack why he had left the tavern so early, he had shrugged the question off and danced around it each time she brought it up.

If it had been any other member of the crew that had asked Jack—even Gibbs—Jack would have danced around the question to no end and it would have been considered a common thing. But Ana had been worried when Jack had ignored her inquiries. Their relationship had grown to more than just captain and first mate over the last few months and Jack had been trusting her with more and more of his best-kept secrets whenever they spoke in private. Now she was worried when he refused to answer her questions no matter how secluded they were.

That's why she was determined to learn the truth.

She followed Jack along his winding path through the outskirts of the town and eventually they both came to a stop outside a carriage house that had definitely seen better times. Ana slipped into the shadow cast beneath a nearby building and watched Jack in complete silence. She would more likely than not reveal her presence to her captain but she was waiting for that 'opportune moment' that Jack always spoke of. At the moment she was more interested in trying to learn the rhyme to his reason.

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Peering into the still-dark carriage house, Jack drew his cutlass in preparation should a surprise attack come. After taking a deep breath to calm his nerves he stepped through the threshold and visually scanned the room. Only a small portion of the main room was still accessible; the roof had collapsed around the back and sides of the building. Where there were patches of roof missing sunlight streamed through, casting eerie beams of pale light throughout the room. Deep in his heart Jack felt as though he had been in this very place a very long time ago but he couldn't bring himself to believe what his senses were telling him. He paced forward slowly, his whole body tensed and prepared for an attack that he was sure would come.

The only things that met him were several old carriages in different stages of disrepair and a small forge in one corner with various rusting tools laid about it. In another corner, to the door's left, there laid a most unusual sight. Half-buried under a pile of rubble there was a human skeleton. Scraps of clothing still were draped about the bones and the carcass was propped up against the deteriorating wall of the carriage house.

Jack narrowed his eyes curiously at the pile of bones and took a few unsure steps toward the gruesome sight.