Do I Have To Cry For You?

Chapter Five

AN: Please go back and re-read chapters 3 and 4, especially 4, before reading this chapter. Major changes took place in 3 and 4.

"I wonder if you bleed the same as Wren."

            As the sun idly made its debut and the moon wearily bid farewell, the slaughter from the previous night gradually became more and more evident, and soon the stench of rotting flesh and thick smoke was insignificant. Bodies lay with eerie serenity and with hollow eyes that would never again see anything other than the fires of hell or the golden clouds and gates of heaven. Their mouths lay ajar and hushed with the only reminder that they once had moved being the dried redness that was caked into the corners of their frowning lips. Parts of their limp forms lay submerged in the metallic redness that seemed to have swallowed the ground whole.

"I always did like to watch you struggle. It's so very entertaining. Reminds me of the look on Wren's face when I ran that sword through her heart."

            The aroma and immobility of death held tightly to the wind as it washed over and through the blood-stricken port. The streets reeked of obliteration and stung from the wounds that death had caused. Blood lay in pools on the ground as if they were puddles of water caused by passing rain showers.

Destruction and death. Port Royale was crying and her tears were tears of blood.

"I wonder if you bleed the same as Wren."

Why could the past never stay true to its meaning?

            The wound to his arm stung callously, as did its creator's heart.

            "They took everything!" Will shouted from behind him and Elizabeth winced when the older man furiously kicked a chair against the wall. It hit just below the window that Bootstrap was gazing out of. "All of the swords, tools… -Everything!" He ran his hands through his hair and closed his eyes as he sighed. "How the hell are we supposed to get our son back?" Will opened his eyes on Elizabeth. "How the hell are we supposed to save Jack Sparrow when we have no clue of when or how to even start?!" Elizabeth slowly shook her head in response and Will sighed in irritation. He turned back around and continued his search of nothing.

            "You acting like this is not going to help the matter, Will," Elizabeth's voice was stern. "We all just need to settle down and think, not tear apart the Smithy." Will nodded but made no effort to turn and face her.

            "Who is Seth?" Elizabeth knew that the question wasn't meant for her voice. She uncrossed her arms and partly turned around so that she could see Bootstrap and fully hear his reply. A gleaming of some sort caught her attention and she rested her eyes on Bootstrap's arm. The fresh strips of cloth that they had bound around his arm after the first ones that they had applied had grown slick with redness were already nearly covered in blood. Elizabeth frowned.

Those three words. However was he to answer those three words?

"Who is Seth?"

Bootstrap did not know how to answer those three words.

            Out of all of the questions that Will could have asked him… How do we find Jack? Why did you become a pirate? What is your biggest fear? How do we find my son?... he had to ask him the one that Bootstrap had no actual answer to. All that he could say were memories. All that he could supply were yesterdays. Memories and yesterdays are not in any way answers to any form of a question. All they are is outdated information about a person or an object that, over time, has changed, has grown different, has grown past that person or that object that he, she or it was in those memories and yesterdays. Bootstrap had not seen this man in over a decade, yet he was expected to know who he was. He had no answer of who he was, just who he used to be. And that, no matter how much they would pretend that it would, wouldn't help them.

"I had every right to betray you, I did."

Pain.

            If any part of him remained that had not been changed or altered by the hands of time, it had to have been pain. Pain is constant, pain does not change no matter how much the person or the object does. Pain is, and will always be, the same.

Seth was, if anything, pain.

            "What did you say?" Bootstrap's whispered words had been carried away by the wind that still held tightly to itself the strong aroma of death.

            "He's pain, Will." Elizabeth narrowed her eyes in mystification as she turned her head to peer at Will. The blacksmith shrugged at her gaze before walking and covering the few feet that separated them. He stopped and stood beside her as both he and Elizabeth rested their eyes back on Bootstrap. The older man still had not turned around.

            "What do you mean?" A deep, throaty laugh engulfed the silence that lay mockingly around them.

            "What do you mean what do I mean?" More laughter. Will physically winced at the hollowness of it. "Seth is pain, William, Seth is ache, Seth is hurt. That's the best that I can give ye. Can't put it any simpler than that, William." Will frowned. Puzzles and riddles would not help them find Jack or Jack Sparrow! This was not the time for Bootstrap to act like a simpleton!

"Who is Seth?"

Will had asked the question twice now and the only answer he had been granted was not even palpable.

"Seth is… -We have to save Jack… -Both of them. Jack Sparrow and Jack Turner. Seth is… -We have to save Jack Sparrow and Jack Turner."

"Who is Seth?"

"He's pain, Will. Seth is pain, William, Seth is ache, Seth is hurt."

            His eyebrows knitted together in confusion as he irritably studied the wooden floor.

"Who is Seth?"

"He's pain."

"Seth is… -We have to save Jack… -Both of them."

Will blinked at the scrapes that covered the wooden floor and narrowed his eyes as he rose them back to Bootstrap's back.

            "You know him." Elizabeth turned her head towards Will and peered at him with confusion apparent in her eyes. Will ignored her perplexity as he licked his lips and took a few steps closer to his father. "Somehow, you know Seth, don't you?" Silence was the only response. The older man said nothing. He could not say anything. Frustrated eyes slowly walked the length of a tranquil, small form that lay submerged in redness just a few feet away from the Smithy. Children are not meant to be calm, but this one, this little boy of about five or six, was. His darkened eyes bore into Bootstrap's and the former pirate captain quickly looked away. The image sat in his mind, joyfully introducing itself to the memories and yesterdays that had never ceased their torture, even three years after Barbossa had been killed.

There was only one response that he could give.

            "I don't know." It was the truth. Pounding erupted behind him and within seconds furious hands had grabbed hold of his shoulders and preceded to forcefully turn him around and away from the window. Angry eyes bore into his as the hands on his shoulders tightened and the words came out drenched with poison.

            "What do you mean you don't know if you know someone or not?!"

            "Don't dare impugn me of not knowing whether I know someone or not, William, do not even dare." Bootstrap's eyes held a distance that frightened Will. "I don't know if I know Seth, Will, alright? Just as you accused Jack of not really, truly knowing me." Will said nothing as Bootstrap brushed his hands off of his shoulders and gave him one last cold stare before turning away and walking towards the door. "Come, you two, we have to save Jack and… Jack." Will watched his father until the man was out of sight. He sighed and shook his head as his eyes connected with Elizabeth's. The lass did nothing but frown and nod and lower her gaze as she turned to follow Bootstrap. Will made sure that she was out of sight before finally allowing himself to stumble jadedly back against one of the cold, dirty walls of the Smithy. His eyes shut tightly in an attempt to block out both reality and his father. The mocking laughter of the memories and the yesterdays rang loudly in his mind and he vaguely wondered if he was indeed alone. Will slowly opened his eyes to nothing. No one, not anything, only the dead bodies of a small girl and one of Seth's fallen men. His eyes scanned the room as if expecting someone, or something, to jump out, much like Jack had five years earlier. Ah yes, that duel with Captain Jack Sparrow. Will remembered it so vividly.

He leaned his head against the wall once more.

            "Damn."

To Be Continued…

AN: I hope that everyone enjoys the deepness of this chapter, and the length. It's the second largest one. As I stated in the AN at the top of this page, please go back and at least skim chapter three, but read chapter four. Changes were made. I have two projects due next week and then the following week is Christmas, do I don't know when 6'll be up, but I'll try to get it up before Christmas.

I warn you guys now, though, so that you will be prepared, there is going to be at least 3 major character deaths. Fun, eh? :)

Expect flashbacks in upcoming chapters and have Kleenex handy.

Everyone liking the Pirate DVD, or VHS? We have both, and I have lost track of how many times I have watched them…

I'll update ASAP and I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving and will have a wonderful Christmas (or whatever holiday it is that everyone celebrates)!

Please review on your way out!