Disclaimer: Not mine.
I'm not even going to TRY to apologize because I know I can't begin to make up for not updating for about half a year. And what a place to leave off on! Ok, I guess I will try to apologize. I'm sorry! Well, if anyone is still reading this, I hope you enjoy the last chapter. Oh, and an epilogue will also be on the way!
Before Jack could even blurt out a decent obscenity, the wave slammed into the ship with devastating force. Jack was flung across the room, and made contact with the wall of the ship, his head taking the brunt of the impact.
The whole ship groaned as it listed almost to the point of capsizing. Then, as quickly as it appeared, the wave was gone. Some of the windows had broken, and the cabin was thoroughly soggy and completely disheveled, but besides that, the ship seemed to have survived the ordeal with little damage.
Jack groaned and tried to open his eyes to see the condition of both Norrington and the cabin, but quickly closed them as he felt a flash of pain. He reached up and felt a bump that was roughly the size of a ripe coconut through the wild mess of tangled black hair on his head.
Wait a minute…wild mess of tangled black hair?
Jack sat bolt upright despite the pain and dizziness and his eyes flew to his right arm. He slowly pealed back his sopping wet sleeve to reveal a branded "P" and tattoo of a flying sparrow.
Jack grinned broadly, noticing the glint of his gold teeth reflecting off a shard of broken glass nearby.
He suddenly remembered Norrington, and spun around to see him draped over the desk. Norrington slowly pushed himself up, groaning. Besides a good bump on the forehead, he seemed fine. He even had that blasted wig on.
It suddenly struck Jack like a slap in the face from a Tortugan tart. The wig.
Norrington finally realized Jack was in the cabin. He gave him a confused look, the powdered wig slightly askew on his head.
"The wig!? It was the bloody WIG?!!?!"
Norrington's eyes went wide with alarm. He seemed on the verge of panic when he realized that he was on a pirate ship with no recollection of why or how he got there. Jack suddenly going ballistic over a hairpiece certainly wasn't helping the situation.
He finally managed to blurt out, "Sparrow? What in God's name is going on here!?"
Jack stopped mid-rant as it dawned on him that Norrington remembered nothing of what had happened. His mind immediately went furiously to work forming an elaborate explanation. He suppressed his frustration about the whole ordeal and the blasted wig being what brought the entire universe back into balance, and covered it up with what looked like an effortless grin, as he came up with his brilliant excuse.
"I'm glad I could help to defend the colony against those vicious attackers, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline your reward, Commodore."
Norrington stared at the grinning pirate with his mouth agape.
"I don't even want to think about what that attacking ship could have done, with your fort completely unprepared as it was! It was extraordinarily fortunate that we were in the area and heard the cannon fire." Jack was really in his element now. Hands flew as he described an epic battle between the Black Pearl and a mysterious attacker for the safety of the colony of Port Royal. "My only regret is that the bastards got away."
Norrington tried to open his mouth to speak, but Jack stopped waving a hand around and held it up to stop him.
"Now Commodore, don't try to convince me otherwise. No reward is necessary. I'm grateful for the offer, to be sure, but your thanks is all the reward I need." Jack could barely stomach the syrupy-sweet words that were coming out of his own mouth, but at least the Commodore looked like he was buying it, if for no other reason then that he had no memory or evidence to prove otherwise.
"Well Commodore, as truly enchanting as it was having you aboard, we had better get you back to the colony, aye?"
Norrington managed to nod weakly as Jack sashayed over to the cabin door and flung it open to reveal dazzling Caribbean sunshine, a crew of thoroughly confused-looking pirates, a pair of equally confused navy men, and a young blacksmith with a 'what-in- Heaven's–name-happened-in-there?' look. All of them were soaked and disheveled, but otherwise unscathed.
Jack held out his arm offering Norrington out of the cabin first, and then made eye contact with Will and pointed wildly at the wig. Will's brow furrowed. " The wig?" he mouthed to Jack. Jack nodded wildly, then suddenly decided to admire the lovely blue sky as Norrington suddenly turned around.
The sunlight seemed to help the Commodore snap out of his stupor. " Sparrow when I find out what's going on here-"
He was suddenly interrupted by a light tap on the shoulder.
"Uh ..sir?" squeaked Mullroy.
"What is it?" Norrington snapped.
Murtogg then leaned in closely, " W-what are we doing here?"
Norrington's eyes went wide once again. Neither of his men had any clue what had happened either. He reluctantly turned back to Jack, who had an almost impossibly wide grin on his face.
"Looks like your men may have suffered some head injuries as well. Well, we had better get you back! No doubt there's lots to do at the fort." Jack indicated to the railing of the ship where the boat he and Will had taken was still tied up.
"Fantastic seeing you again. We'll have to do it again sometime." Jack said as Norrington started down the side of the ship with his men. "Tell Governor Swann I send my regards." Norrington stared hard at Jack one last time, but he got only a grin and a wave of the hand in return, and finally looked down in defeat ad climbed down into the boat below.
Will walked up to the railing. Making sure Norrington was out of earshot we asked, "S-so everything is back to normal?"
" 'S far as I can tell. Once he put that bloody wig on, all was right with the universe, as it were. "
"Wow. The wig was the key. Who would of thought?"
"Not me. I can tell you that."
Both men stared out at the colony for a moment in silence before they were interrupted by a loud throat clearing below them.
"You best be getting back. Elizabeth will be waiting." Jack said in a sing-song voice.
Will's eyes brightened at hearing her name. "Thank God everything is back to normal."
"Pity, really. I would have made a fine Commodore."
Will tried to stifle his laughter as he heard a louder throat clearing from down below. " Take care, Jack. Try not to get us into anymore trouble like that again! "
Will got one last huge grin from the captain in response before he climbed down to the boat.
Jack turned and looked back at his ship and for the first time, breathed a sigh of relief. He finally had his ship back, and all seemed right with the universe. He started shouting orders to his still-disoriented crew to steer them towards Tortuga. As the crew got to work and he made his way towards the helm, Jack suddenly remembered the roll of parchment that had been in his compass. He opened the compass and, sure enough, there it was. He unrolled the piece of parchment again, and to his surprise, the writing had changed. He slowly read the fancy, looping lettering:
"All is well, you can finally smile,
Things have returned to normal…for a while"
THE END!
Thanks so much for reading!
Stay tuned for the Epilogue!
Alright Ladies and Gents, I can't promise anything, but I'm hoping to start on my second story, "Jack to the Future". I would love any feedback or advice on either this story or the upcoming one. I've seen a lot of time jumping stories, and I like to try making stories original, so please tell me if this still sounds interesting. I can assure you now that Jack isn't going to end up in 2005 and get run over by a bus or anything! (Oh, and no one from the present is going to show up in the 17th century, either)
I'm getting some good ideas, but I'm still stuck on quite a bit too, primarily the beginning. I'm open to ideas and advice. Oh and here's the summary:
Jack to the Future
Jack is flung 20 years into the future and finds out how one past mistake altered the lives of everyone around him. Can he find a way to get back to the present in time to stop… himself?