Do I Have To Cry For You?
Chapter Four
It had been years since he had had the fabric bound around his wrist and hand. It quickly had become second-nature to him. He had soon grown to forget its presence altogether.
His fingertips lightly grazed over the brown fabric and he frowned at its worn appearance.
He remembered now, though.
Piracy had left its mark on the cloth. Salt from the sea and nicks from the Pearl had made the once untarnished fabric brittle and rough. The strips that were laced securely about and around his fingers had tiny, brown strings hanging from them. Scratches and scrapes covered nearly every inch of the fabric and it had even begun to come undone around the bottom edges. He smiled sadly. It was so much unlike the cloth that had been bound around his wrist all those years ago. He was genuinely surprised that it had not once fallen off during any of those years. Perhaps the cloth had somehow managed to congeal itself to his skin, or whatever it was that lay underneath of it. Not much of anything had been there. Nothing but blood, mostly, and torn, dying skin… and pain… pain had been there, he vividly remembered the pain.
"He's not so great now, eh, Jack? He betrayed you he did, just as he betrayed me. No one to save you from the pain now, Jack, no one."
Torn and bleeding and ripping and dying and crying skin…
His breath caught in his throat as he slowly started to run his fingers along the bindings in a flirtatious manner. It would not surprise him in the least bit if nothing other than rotten flesh and bone lay underneath of the cloth.
Torn and bleeding and ripping and dying and crying skin…
He silently ran a finger over one of the many knots that held the cloth in place. He frowned at the knot.
What if there was skin? What if that skin was still ripping and bleeding and crying?
He was not there to bind his wrist with more fabric. He was not there to rid Jack of the demons that so viciously tore his skin to shreds; causing tears of both blood and fury to flow from dying eyes.
But one of the demons was.
Jack's fingers immediately stopped their journey and he stared wide-eyed at his wrist as if the devil himself were peering back at him and whispering words of death.
"Jack? Somethin' wrong with your wrist, Cap'n?" The female pirate frowned when Jack made no effort to acknowledge that she was there and that she was speaking to him. Ana Maria sat up straight and cocked her head to the side in an attempt to make out Jack's facial expression. Cursing silently to herself about his hair being in the way, she pushed herself up from the corner of her cell where she had been sitting with a bowed head for God only knew how long and made her way to the bars that separated her from her captain. She wrapped her hands around two of them and frowned once more when the man did not even budge. "Jack? Jack, what is it? What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Her frown only deepened at the hollowness that the word held. She had never heard the proud pirate captain's tone be anything other than his usual nonchalant, drunken pitch, and it frightened her. Something was not right, something was wrong… -Jack did not fool her, not for a second. "Nothing at all, love." Ana Maria had to literally keep herself from rolling her eyes in response to his words.
"You lie, Cap'n."
"Do I now?"
She unconsciously narrowed her eyes at the man. "Yes, you do."
"How am I, love?"
"Something's wrong, Jack. You know damn well it's not "nothing"." She paused. "If nothing's wrong, Cap'n, then why're you staring at your wrist?"
"Is it suddenly against the law to peer at my limbs whenever I wish to?" His tone remained hollow; mixing with emotions that Ana Maria did not even want to try to identify. God only knew what was going on inside of the pirate captain's head. That was a territory that few were familiar with. She sometimes even doubted Jack's own familiarity with it.
"Why do you feel you must lie to me, Jack?" Try as she might, Ana Maria could not help the hint of sadness that was laced around her words. Did Jack not trust her? Obviously the man did on at least some level, being that he had made her first mate over Gibbs. This was a different kind of trust, though. This was the kind of trust that friends had for one another, that feeling that, no matter the issue, whether they think it to be petty or massive; they know that they can confide in each other. She considered Jack her friend… did he not consider her one as well?
Perhaps the pirate captain was incapable of loving anything other than the sea and his ship.
"You wouldn't lie to William." She watched as Jack slowly ran his fingers across the brown fabric that was bound around his right wrist and hand before finally allowing his left arm to drop back down at his side. His eyes remained on the brown fabric that undoubtedly was causing him pain. Ana Maria licked her lips. "Would you? You wouldn't lie to William, Jack… why do you need to lie to me? I know something's wrong." The pirate captain slowly shook his head and Ana Maria could have sworn that she saw a grin gradually appearing on the man's face. Jack shut his eyes as he rose his head to the ceiling of his soiled jail cell. His grin only grew wider.
"I've lied to William before, Ana Maria."
Ana Maria ignored his words. Her hands tightened their grip around the bars and she pulled herself as closely as she could to them. "Captain Sparrow, what is wrong?" She made sure that no traces of sadness were evident this time. She would get no where with the pirate captain whilst holding sorrow in her tone. He would sense it and end up ignoring her in order to no longer hurt her. Silence. Perhaps he had already heard it? Ana Maria sighed and slowly shut her eyes. Damn the pirate for being such a hard-headed fool. Why couldn't he just say when he was hurting? Say when he was bleeding? Cry when he was dying? The man had been a pirate since he was fourteen-years-old… even the most simplest of men could see the tears and the pain and the words that he had so carefully locked away inside of his mind.
His eyes deceived him. His eyes were tired and his eyes were empty. He could change everything else about himself to appear unscathed, but he could not change his eyes.
Ana Maria sighed again.
What was she to do with a pirate captain that longed to cry but was much too proud to even frown?
"They hurt me." Her eyes were resting back on Jack within a matter of seconds. The man had not yet lowered his head nor had he opened his eyes. "It's rather humorous, actually. What they did." His words still held that emptiness tightly to them, seemingly covering up emotions that Jack did not want Ana Maria to hear, that Jack did not want to show or to even feel. He was a pirate captain that was immune to emotion… he had neither a use nor a need to feel what non-pirates felt.
Life.
"'They'?" Ana Maria questioned softly.
"Aye," Jack's tone was equally as soft. "Drake, Seth, Jaden and Boone. They hurt me. Or, rather, Seth did, but the other three helped." He paused. "They were, are, his minions. Drake's the one over there." Ana Maria broke her eyes away from the pirate captain and wordlessly rested them on the man that sat in a dimly-lit corner just a few feet away from her and Jacks' cells. She couldn't quite make out his features, but she could very easily make out the sword that was strapped to the man's side, along with the pistol that was clasped tightly in his hand. "Seth's the one that stole the Pearl." She looked back at Jack. His head was lowered now, but his eyes remained closed. "Jaden and Boone are the two that helped him. I don't know where the rest of that crew came from. Here maybe?" He sighed. "The Pearl used to belong to Seth before it belonged to William. They were… friends. It didn't last, and out of jealousy, Seth tried to kill me. Slashed me wrist and then broke it. No biggie." Jack lightly ran his fingers across the brown fabric once more. "William tied this around my wrist, saying it'd heal with time or what not. It never did." Another pause. His fingers stopped their wandering on his knuckles and Ana Maria watched silently as the pirate's hand balled into a fist.
"Jack?" Ana Maria called softly; frowning when the older man did not respond. "Jack, what's wrong?"
"It never healed." She narrowed her eyes in uncertainty. What was he talking about? His wrist? The slash? Jack was not the type to repeat himself, and he had just gotten done explaining to her that neither of the two had healed. Ana Maria slowly shook her head at the man.
"Jack-" Ana Maria's voice immediately ceased as the older man stood to his feet and slowly made his way towards the bars that were in the front of his cell. He wordlessly wrapped his hands around the cold metal as his eyes rested on the still figure that sat just a few feet away in the dimly-lit corner of whatever the hell kind of building it was that Seth had brought them to. It did not take abundant brilliance to know that the figure was, in return, staring callously at Jack as well.
"I will trust that you will refrain from speaking so harshly of Captain Graves, Jack Sparrow."
"I will trust that you will have sense enough to release me, Drake." Laughter filled the small room. Empty, merciless laughter. Rage surged through Jack's veins at the sound.
"And what will you do if I don't, Captain Sparrow?"
"Release myself and then take immense pleasure in personally driving that sword of yours through your body and out the other side."
"Jack!" Ana Maria's shrill tone echoed piercingly off of the walls of the grimy building that they were surrounded by. "You dim, rash, simple-headed fool! What the hell do you think you are doing? It's suicide!" Empty, merciless laughter once again filled the room and Ana Maria's attention was instantly back on the stranger that Jack somehow knew from his past. Drake clasped his hands together behind his back as he casually strode over to Ana Maria and Jacks' cells. The smirk on his face widened almost as soon as he was standing face-to-face with Jack.
"She's right, you know." Jack's expression was one of stone. Emotionless. Completely and utterly blank. Ana Maria frowned. "It is suicide, Jack Sparrow. I have ways of helping you refrain from speaking so harshly of dear ole' Captain Graves, and I won't hesitate to use said ways if you do not keep your mouth shut and keep your place in mind. Do you understand me?" A fresh wave of fury washed over Jack's emotionless figure. It surged through his veins as the ocean does onto the shore, causing his blood to boil and his chest to constrict in absolute detest. His eyes unconsciously narrowed at the man as his left hand grabbed for his shirt and held him in place as he rose his right in the air and forcefully back-handed the man across the face; ignoring the sting of metal as his shoulder slammed against one of the bars. He took advantage of the man's stumbling to push him roughly down onto the ground.
"No," his voice was as sharp as ice, "I don't." Drake rose a hand to his lip to dab curiously at the wetness that was seeping out of the fresh gash. He lowered his fingers a few seconds later and slowly started to rub them together, marveling noiselessly at the redness that now covered them. He rose his eyes back to Jack and growled at the confident smile that covered the pirate captain's face.
"Very well, Mr. Sparrow." Drake smiled as he pushed himself up from the ground and back onto his feet. He lowered his gaze to his shirt and unconsciously started to brush away the dust and dirt that now covered it. "Very well indeed." He rose his eyes back up to the pirate captain and ignored the fresh trickle of blood that seeped out of the gash to his lip as he deliberately widened his grin. "Doctor?" Both Jack and Ana Maria rested their eyes on the shadows that lay behind Drake. Shuffling sounds broke the silence that had settled in around them and soon a tall figure emerged from the darkness and silently walked to stand beside Drake. The black suitcase that the Doctor held tightly by his side was stained with blood.
Jack and Ana Maria froze.
The doctor smiled. "Hola."
To Be Continued…
Added 1/24/04: And four weeks later, Chapter Four is finally rewritten! Yey! This was a painful as hell chapter that gave me a serious case of writers block, but it's now over! Yey! I hope you all like the Doctor and the goriness and whatever else, and thank you so much for having patience whilst I was rewriting 3 and 4. I will start the story back up with 7 ASAP!
Thanks to Ilya, Elf-Vulcan and jackfan2 for their help with the surgery!
See you all in Chapter Seven!
Please review on your way out!
