Author's Note: OkayI give in! I will try to draw out Will's recovery as long as possible. So many of you want this to continue, and I hate to disappoint. I do have a few ideas here, so I promise to keep writing this story as long as the muse is on my side.
Thanks for all the reviews! They're really keeping me going! (Replies to reviews at end of chapter!) I really do appreciate it.
Disclaimer: I don't own it. Disney does. No disrespect is intended. I am making no money from this and write it only for my own amusement.
A Pirate's Life and Death part 7 by Ecri
Captain Jack Sparrow gazed upwards in supplication. The omnipotent creator with a damn good sense of humor he'd told Killian about had turned against him. Jack's haste to depart from Scratch had blinded him to Will's condition until they'd gotten aboard the rowboat. As Gibbs rowed, Jack turned his attention to Will. Seeing him now in the harsh light of a Caribbean sun, Will looked even worse than he had when Jack had first found him.
His skin was pale, and his body was still as stone. If Jack hadn't paid careful attention, he wouldn't have been able to tell the boy breathed at all. The deathlike stillness of the once energetic body sent a stab of fear through Jack's heart. He'd thought he was well passed feeling such things. He thought he'd buried such things on that island where Barbossa had marooned him.
Jack, tentatively, unsure of himself after having gone so long without any compassionate thoughts, reached out a hand and brushed a stray lock of hair from Will's forehead. The boy's head was hot–hotter than could be credited to the blazing Caribbean sun. "Now it begins." He whispered to himself knowing what was coming yet wishing he could somehow spare his friend.
"Friend." Jack barely said the word aloud. Even thinking it was somewhat of a surprise to him. He hadn't had a friend sincesince Bootstrap Bill. William Turner, Senior had been a good friend. No truer a friend could he have found, and he hadn't really been looking. He thought perhaps that he felt protective of Will when they'd first met because he'd heard about the boy from Bootstrap.
Bootstrap Bill had known he'd had a child, and that it was a boy. He'd known where the boy lived, and what his mother went through to raise a child on her own. Though he'd never laid eyes on William Turner, Junior, he'd often spoke to Jack Sparrow of the child. Of what he might become, of hopes that he'd never learn his heritage as a pirate, or if he did, that at least he wouldn't hate his father for what he had been.
Bill, like Jack, was a Pirate by blood. The call of the sea was too great to ignore. Neither of them were evil men, nor were they malicious, or violent by nature. They took things that, perhaps, they had no legal right to take, but they never took what could not be replaced. They never took a life unless it was in self-defense. Not so Pirates like Barbossa.
Barbossa hadn't been a friend. Jack had thought at the time that his crew was loyal, but only Bootstrap had earned the name friend. Only William Turner, Senior had been loyal.
When, Jack wondered, had he begun to consider the next generation of Turners his friend? He supposed it didn't matter, for he did. And he was fairly certain Will considered him a friend. You certainly didn't risk death by hanging to help a man escape the gallows for a mere acquaintance.
Jack's reverie was stopped short when a low moan came from the unconscious boy in his boat. Turning his full attention on Will, he saw that the stillness had broken. Will was now wracked by tremors. His entire body shook uncontrollably.
Jack had hoped to have him safely aboard the Pearl before this started, but they were only halfway there. He looked up to Gibbs. "Row faster, mate, if you value your shoes."
"My shoes?" Gibbs confusion was quickly remedied when Will moaned again, louder than the last time. He began to vomit, and Jack's speed in rolling him onto his side was all that saved him from choking to death.
Gibbs rowed faster, but he knew there was no saving his shoes.
**
Aboard ship, Elizabeth stared at the small boat heading their way from the beach. She'd wanted to go with Jack to the Island to get him, but Jack had locked her in his cabin with strict instructions not to let her out until he'd gone. Anamaria had done so, sympathizing with the girl.
Now the women stood side by side. "Did he tell you how Will was?"
Anamaria shook her head, though she knew Elizabeth's eyes were glued to the approaching craft and her love. "He didn't say a word. I expect he'll be all right, though. The Captain knows what he's doing."
Elizabeth finally tore her gaze away from the waters and looked at Anamaria. "You said he'd been here before. What do you know about that?"
"Precious little, I'm afraid." She considered what she did know. "He never talked about it much. Said he'd been here twice. Said it was a nightmare he'd rather not relive."
Elizabeth's eyes drifted back to the boat, which seemed no closer than before, though she knew that was just her anxiety. She had wondered why he'd been so reluctant to come here, and now that she knew he was running from some personal demon, she didn't know how to thank him.
Jack's appearance in her life had spoken of heroism. He'd dived into the water to save her when she'd fainted from a too-tight corset. More than fainting, she'd plummeted into the water from a height and had been unconscious, weighed down by her heavy gown.
Jack's heroic efforts were quickly forgotten by all present, and eventually, even by Elizabeth herself, who had seen him as a pirate when he'd used her to escape. Looking back, she realized he had done what he had to do to save his own life.
Somewhere during their adventure, however, she'd come to depend on him. It was Will's loyalty to him, that had made her act, to choose in the end the pirate's side, rather than stand idly by and watch as they hung a man who should not be hung. Pirate or not, he was a good man, and deserved better than to be treated so poorly.
She watched Will and Jack's boat drawing closer to the Pearl, and she only hoped she would have the chance to tell each of them what they meant to her.
**
Getting Will aboard the Pearl was no easy task. He couldn't climb aboard, even if he had been conscious. His tremors, the weakness from the lack of food and water all would have made it impossible to climb. It was probably a good thing he was blissfully unaware of it all as Jack tied a rope around him and had him hoisted aboard.
Jack climbed up behind the rising body of the boy he now knew he considered a friend, so as to keep a hold on him in case the rope broke or the crew slipped. He didn't want Will's condition aggravated by a plunge into the sea from such a height. If he sank too quickly, they might be unable to bring him back to the surface.
Finally getting his unconscious form aboard, Jack started issuing orders. "Anamaria, get some water. We need to clean him up." He turned to Gibbs. "Take the Pearl out as fast as she's able. Head toward the nearest port where we can pick up some supplies. Especially medicinal ones."
Not trusting Will to anyone else's care after what had happened on the island, Jack picked up the shivering boy himself and carried him to his own cabin. He didn't have to check to see if Elizabeth followed.
**
Will had not woken since Jack had brought him on board several hours ago. Elizabeth tried to get water down his throat, but he wasn't able to keep much down.
As she stared, she wasn't aware of Jack's entry.
"Any change?" Jack asked.
"No." She replied. "What did Killian do to him?"
Jack sighed. "He did what he tried to do to Bootstrap Bill. He found this altarsome sort of ancient religionon the island. Somehow he figured out a few things, and discovered a wooden boxI don't know the details, but I do know that he has to perform this ritual every so often. By doing it just right, he extends his life."
Elizabeth looked puzzled. "The Fountain of Youth."
"You could say that. Though in this case it wasn't youth he was after but avoidance of death. He was a dead man. He'd contracted some fatal illness on some island somewhere, and if he hadn't found this thing, he'd have died about 200 years' ago."
"Two hundred?"
Jack smiled at the incredulity in her voice. "Killian had Bootstrap in tow heading for that altar a long time ago."
"There's something you're not telling." Elizabeth narrowed her eyes to consider the Captain who had now twice saved Will and herself from death.
Jack nodded slowly, turning away. "That there is, Liz. That there is."
Elizabeth waited hoping he would open up to her, but a low moan interrupted any answers Jack might have offered. Both Elizabeth and Jack rushed to Will's side just as he moaned again. His eyes fluttered. Elizabeth called to him, and finally his eyes opened.
He took a breath to speak, but began to cough, his lips and throat dry and useless. Jack grabbed a cup of water and passed it to Elizabeth who eased Will's head up and helped him to drink.
Easing him back onto the bed, Elizabeth noticed he'd clenched his eyes shut. "Will? Are you in pain?"
Will ignored the question. "Elizabeth? Is it really you?" His voice was softer than a whisper.
Elizabeth smiled, though tears spilled down her cheeks. "It's me, my love. Jack saved me. Then he saved you. We're heading back to Port Royal."
Will turned to Jack. "Thank you."
Jack smiled. "You're welcome, mate."
Will shivered then as a chill took him. Jack stood and opened a trunk. Rummaging inside for a moment, he seemed to find what he'd been looking for. Crossing to Will's bedside, he gave the shivering blacksmith a spare blanket. "I have to warn you, Will, this isn't going to be fun. You're ill, and it's going to take some time until you're yourself again."
"As long as Elizabeth is by my side, I will be fine."
Jack rolled his eyes, knowing he boy wasn't just saying that. He believed it. And so, apparently did Elizabeth.
He watched as the girl placed a cool damp cloth on Will's head.
"I'm not going anywhere." She whispered as she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.
"I'd believe all of that better if I thought either of you had half a clue what you're in for." He looked from one to the other. "But you don't."
**
That evening, Jack stared out to the horizon as he steered the Black Pearl. The weather was favorable, winds were up, and the temperature had mercifully dropped. Images of his visits to Scratch, three visits now, appeared in his mind's eye. He wouldn't be sleeping tonight.
He had doubted for awhile–when he'd first seen Killian in the temple–that he would be able to save Will. Thinking the most he could do was see that Will died at the hand of a friend rather than at the whim of some monster, Jack had only seen potential for ending it favorably when Killian had disarmed him. Odd that the misfortune of being so handily disarmed had brought him to toss that horrid box at the man. He'd expected it would do something to Killian, but he still wasn't quite certain what it had done.
Jack didn't grieve for Killian, however. That was impossible. Killian had sought to use up what years Will had left to stave off his own death, as he had tried to do to Bootstrap.
Memories of that second visit to Scratch had been inevitable. Jack had known that from the beginning. They had come upon him in small flashes at first, but seeing Will strapped to that altar, his mind had inserted Bootstrap upon the same. He couldn't understand that really, since Bootstrap hadn't made it as far as the altar. Jack had gotten to Killian early enough to save Bootstrap from that, at least.
Flashback:
Killian rowed to shore with a very drugged Bootstrap Bill. He'd left everyone else on board the Marauder, never realizing that one of his crew had stolen a life raft and rowed to Scratch slightly ahead of him.
It wasn't until he was on the beach struggling to pull Bill from the boat that Jack Sparrow stepped forward. "You're gonna have to let him go."
Killian turned slowly towards the boy. "Jack. I should have guessed. I thought you'd forgotten."
"Forgotten what? What happened here twenty-five years ago?" He laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Not likely. Here's the deal. I'm taking Bootstrap."
"And"
"And what?"
"What do I get in this deal?"
"You get to not feel hot lead in your brain." He waved the gun in a vague arc. "Don't know it it'll kill you, but I bet it'll slow you down."
"Jack, be reasonable"
"Never have been before. Why start now?"
Killian's face twisted in rage. "How dare you?"
"It's not all that hard." It was then that Jack lost his patience and shot Killian. The Commodore screamed an inhuman scream, as Jack lunged for Bootstrap who was still half inside the small boat. Pulling him the rest of the way in, Jack pushed the boat into the sea and began to row. Killian recovered himself somewhat, and raced towards Jack and his boat, but Jack had been prepared. He had one other gun, and shot the man between his eyes. He watched Killian fall and rowed for all he was worth.
End Flashback
Jack rubbed his eyes as his tired brain threw such images at him. He had saved Bootstrap Bill from facing the altar. That was true enough.
"If I'd have been smarter, or braver, Bill, maybe you wouldn't have had to face the withdrawal." Jack whispered to himself.
Humming Elizabeth's egg song, he couldn't help but wish he were as free as he'd once been behind the wheel of the Pearl. This business with Killian had robbed him of that. And the truth was, it wasn't nearly over.
To Be Continued
Replies to Reviews:
Jackfan2: I've got several more chapters in mind now, and will keep going as long as the muse (and the reviews!) continue! I hope you like this chapter!
Me, Just me: Sorry! I hope this chapter makes up for that!
LordLanceahlot: Does this satisfy?
EnglishMystic: thanks!
Jasini: Thanks!
Rat: I'm flattered you like my writing style. I've got some good Jack bits planned for the next chapter.
Akexa: I had originally thought I'd do a long recovery for Will, but assumed no one would be interested. Seeing that you are inspired my muse to badger me into incorporating some of those original ideasand a few surprises as well.
Rachel the Insane: Well, he's not yetbut that isn't to say he won't be!
Shadow Fox: I'm glad you like the story. I may still have Elizabeth do some butt kicking. I just don't know who's butt, yet!
Padfoor4ever: Thanks! I'm glad you like it!
Ice Flame 17: I hear you. Yes, I'll keep the story going until the muse says otherwise.