Broken Glass

By Cursed Pearl

Chapter 1 – Curse

Disclaimer: I do not own the people or the ship that I obviously do not own, as they are fictional and belong to the people that created them. :-P

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Jack and Ellie

Authors Note: Oh, I got lots of reviews for the prologue! :D I was pleased! Hehe. Well then, here we go. First chapter, :P

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A Month Later…

Jack was uneasy. Only an hour earlier, Anamaria returned from her brief visit with her father. From what she had been willing to say, he had died almost as soon as they had met. It wasn't this that disturbed him. Death was a very common occurrence to him, after all. It was the fact that, two days before, a similar thing had happened to James Richards, another one of the crew. And only three weeks before that, it had happened to Albert Tershire. A coincidence was almost definitely not the case. Coincidences didn't exist when it came to Jack Sparrow. Something was happening.

Another curse?

Jack shuddered at the thought, rolling over in his bed. He closed his eyes and tried to think of something else. Trying to set his mind on something other than what was happening to his crew. And within seconds, it did. It settled on something almost as bad as the potential curse. Elizabeth.

It had been eight months since he last saw her. Eight long months. But the day she had walked away from him was still fresh in his mind. The day she decided she could never forgive him for what he'd done. The day he had taken Megan's advice and done the same as she had done to him years before; he let her go. And it was the worse mistake of his life.

He still remembered her smile. Her laugh. The first flash of her fire showing in her eyes after Will's death. He remembered the sunset. Remembered the mast. Remembered the Merlion. The first time he kissed her. The first time she kissed him. The feel of her hair beneath his fingers…

He shook his head, rolling back over onto his left side, banishing any thoughts of Ellie from his head. The new predicament of the probable curse once again filled his thoughts.

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Jack stirred in his sleep, shielding his eyes from the glow. Voices seemed to be whispering in his dreams. Jumbled prayers. The colour of the glow slowly went from blue to red. The whispering turned to cries: incomprehensible pleas. A whirlwind of appeal.

Jack's eyes snapped open. His brow furrowed slowly when his eyes rested on the corner of the room, where a blue light seemed to be glowing from behind the desk. He threw the covers off himself and flung his legs over the side of the bed, hurrying across the room. He grasped the desk and pulled it from the wall. The glow seemed to brighten, but only filled the corner of the room. Whispers still sounded. The same he'd heard when he was sleeping.

He peered over the side of the desk. He frowned again and reached down, his hand closing around a gold pendant. The glow disappeared and the whispers immediately ceased. He pulled his arm out from behind the desk and opened his hand; the pendant was warm against his palm. He reached over for the lamp, turned up the flame, and eyed the pendant in his hand. He frowned, noticing the writing carved into it.

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'What's it say?' Gibbs looked over Jack's shoulder at the gold. 

'Marveau,' Jack peered through the magnifying glass, 'Glass of Décès.' He frowned and look at Gibbs, then back at the pendant as he lowered the magnifying glass, 'Well, obviously French then.' He turned from the table and addressed the crew, 'Hard port!' He looked back at Gibbs, 'Get back t' Cherbourg, see if Rotes knows what it is.'

'Ye think it's got anythin' t' do with Ana's father?'

Jack shrugged, pushing the pendant into his pocket, 'Might.'

Kursar gripped the helm tightly, his eyes on the Captain and his First Mate. He knew they'd find the pendant sooner or later, but not this soon. It was only the night before he'd hidden it. He could still feel the burning on the inside of his arm. Every time someone in the crew lost someone. It was the first time he'd felt the pain that he'd noticed the tattoo-like carving just below the joint of his arm. An identical image of the pendant.

Ye can't escape the curse, Mr Kursar.

He squeezed his eyes shut, the familiar voice sounding in his head once again.

'Mr Kursar!'

He jumped and his eyes shot open, immediately meeting with the exasperated face of his Captain, 'Aye Capt'n?'

'I assume that, as a pirate of this ship for the past four years, you'd know that in order to steer the ship, ye'd need t' keep yer eyes open?' he didn't wait for a reply, before he was making his way down the few steps.

'Aye, Capt'n,' Kursar muttered, sheepishly, fixing his eyes on the horizon.

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The town was a lot quieter than Jack expected it to be at this time of night. Mind you, it wasn't Tortgua. He smirked at the thought as he made his way down the quiet street towards the tavern. His crew had been more than a little aggravated that he had forced them to stay aboard ship but he didn't plan on staying here long. Just long enough to gather any information he needed.

He grinned as he neared the tavern, the peaceful quiet of the street diminishing with every step. He pushed the doors open and walked into the room, immediately scanning it for Rotes. He grinned again, recognising him in the corner of the room, drinking from one of the metal mugs. He hurried over and sat down in front of him.

'Jack!' Rotes grinned at him across the table. He indicated towards another mug in front of him, 'Got ye a drink.'

'Thanks,' Jack drank some of the liquid, then put the mug back down on the table. He reached into his pocket and tossed the pendant into the middle of the table, 'What ye think of that?'

Rotes frowned, looking at it curiously. He lifted it and eyed it, uncertainly, 'Looks like the Marveau.'

'Aye,' Jack nodded, 'One o' me crew must've picked it up.'

Rotes eyed it, warily, and looked back up at Jack, 'Ye don't know 'bout this, do ye, Jack?'

Jack frowned, noticing the expression on his friend's face, 'Ye know somethin' I don't.'

Rotes held eye contact with him for a moment before he turned to look over his shoulder. His eyes scanned the room for a moment before he called out, 'Hey, Blanc!' He motioned for a man to come over. Within a few minutes the man was at the table. 'Jack, Josef Blanc. Joe, Jack Sparrow…'

'Captain Jack Sparrow,' Jack corrected, giving the man a gold-toothed grin.

Josef sat down next to them, noting Rotes expression, 'Somethin' wrong?'

'Aye,' he tossed the pendant to him.

Josef frowned and eyed it from a moment, before he's eyes widened in recognition. He looked at Jack, 'Where'd ye get this?'

Jack shrugged, 'Caverne Maudite, I guess. Not mine, one of me crews.'

Joe let out a humourless laugh, 'Ye obviously don't care enough t' know what this is.'

'What is it?'

Joe's eyes darkened 'It's a curse. Not like the one ye're already familiar with. Death comes t' all ye care about,' he stopped and lifted Rotes mug, taking a swig from it, before his darkened eyes returned to Jack's, 'But there's more t' the pendant than that. It controls ye. The one that took it, that is. Best ye get all the folk ye care about on that ship o' yours, Capt'n.'

'Why me ship?' Jack frowned, confused.

'The only place they'll be safe,' Rotes spoke up, 'the curse is over the ship, so it's the only place they can't die from the curse.'

'How do we lift it?'

'Few have managed to lift the curse before they die,' Joe responded, 'The man that took the pendant has t' give his life. His blood his to hit the pendant and the glass.

'Glass?' Jack frowned.

'Glass that the pendant was encased in,' Rotes spoke again.


Jack leaned back in his chair, his brow furrowed, as he pondered the Pearl's new predicament.

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Tada! There we go! Second chapter will be up asap!