Hey, again sorry about the long delay. It's not as long as my Harry Potter one though. Please enjoy.
Chapter twenty-five: Praying for an unbeliever
It was now pitch black. They made their way through the forest with out incident, moving silently as they could through the trees. Will carried Elizabeth in his arms, not daring to let her go now. He couldn't believe he had let her get hurt. He couldn't believe he had almost killed her.
"Elizabeth." He whispered. Her head was on his shoulder and she was silent, asleep. He kissed her forehead softly and then looked over at the man walking beside him. "Who are you again?" He knew he sounded rude but he didn't care. His baby was dead, his wife was injured and he'd killed his uncle/best friend. He really didn't have any emotion left for niceties.
"My name is Christian." He answered. "I'd shake your hand but…" He nodded at Elizabeth. "Your wife, she's a very…independent woman." Will nodded. "I'm glad you're alright."
"I'm not alright." Will snapped unexpectedly. Taking a deep breath, he said more calmly. "I'm sorry, it's just…"
"Captain Sparrow." Christian said quietly, nodding and looking up at the bright moon, appearing every once and a while through the gaps in the trees. "He was a…a complicated man." Will managed a smile this time.
"He was my uncle…and my friend." Will answered. "He is a…was a complicated man. You're right." Will laughed lightly. "From the moment I met him he seemed very strange."
"How did you meet?" Christian asked, confused. He obviously thought that if someone was related to you, you should have known them since the day you were born.
"He threatened
Elizabeth, before we were married." He looked at his sleeping wife.
"He's the reason we got married. If he hadn't led his crew to
find the treasure…if he hadn't threatened Elizabeth…if he
hadn't known everything…I owe my life to him." Will's eyes
found Anamaria and his heart clenched. "If that doesn't
work…"
"It will." Christian answered confidently. "It
will work."
They came to the beach after a long walk, Bill stopping Will who was determined to follow Anamaria. "No." He whispered, running a hand along Will's face and turning to watch the woman disappear around the bend. "Let's just wait. If it doesn't work…" He let the statement hang in the air.
Anamaria came around the last of the tree clumps and her heart began to pound when she saw Jack's body. He was lying exactly where they had left him, untouched and looking so peacefully asleep he could have easily been just sleeping off a long night of drinking.
As the moon beat down on her like the sun and the waves sang to the shore, Anamaria kneeled down beside him and ran a hand along his stone cold face. He was so stiff! So disgustingly stiff. Swallowing the urge to cry, she turned her head to look along the blood bathed beach. It was amazing that most of that had come from one body…from Jack's body. All of that had once fueled a human being.
Slowly, she lifted the bottle and popped the cork, watching as a small shadow of a woman drifted out the top and vanished into smoke. It had a flowery sweet smell, a sickly smell that turned her stomach. It was a smell she associated with what the flowers in India must have smelled like, though she had never been. Wrinkling her nose, she let her hand hover over the body of the man she loved, the liquid only a quivering drop away from him receiving it.
What if it didn't work? What if she poured and nothing happened? What would she do then? Would she be able to cope with the loss? But…then again, what if it did work? What if he came back? Held her in his arms and kissed her? She slap him for scaring her like that! Or would she?
Slowly, the quivering drop fell…then another…then another. One after the next, the drops fell until there was a steady stream, covering his stomach and moving up his throat to his cheek. Anamaria didn't know how much she'd need, didn't know what, if anything, would happen. She set down the bottle and waited…and waited. Minutes crept by and all that moved or stirred was the palm trees above them and the slight breeze. It hadn't worked.
Anamaria felt the sting of tears in her eyes and let her head fall into his neck, screaming, sobbing whatever. The howl of misery that was inside her burst. She didn't care who saw her, didn't care who heard. He was gone! Jack Sparrow, the 'immortal' Captain Jack Sparrow, was gone!
She could hear his voice in her head, remember every song he'd sing in drunken stupidity, every time her hand had crossed his face. The memories though, they weren't enough! They would slip with time, like water through cupped hands and be lost forever. There would never be another adventure, never be another story!
She was still there to remember him but what would happen when she was gone? What would happen to her memory? Lost in her grief, Anamaria happened to look up, about to curse God for hurting her this way, when there was a motion near her that caught her eye.
A small bead of blood was moving up Jack's hand, running along the skin to his stomach. It slid off the side of his palm, ran along the stained areas of his shirt and entered the rip…and then vanished. There was more movement, though, all around her! Blood, lots of blood, was moving from different spots, turning liquid and running in rivers up the sand towards her.
The red liquid on the tree began to drip, hitting the sand and flowing over her legs and arms, back towards Jack, hot and red…as if it had just been bled. She shivered not just with delight but shock and leaned closer to watch the cut on his cheek healing, the skin forming back together until it was just a small mark and suddenly…it was gone to.
"Oh my God." Anamaria whispered, pressing on the fabric of his shirt as it molded back together, gradually transitioning from red to white as the wound beneath sucked back in it's life's water.
The color in his skin was no longer gray, either. It was the same tanned brown she loved and his body…it was warm again! A warmth she hadn't felt since before the curse of the Aztec gold. "Jack?" Anamaria asked quietly, shaking him. His head lolled from side to side, eyes still closed. There was no heartbeat and no breath.
"Jack?" Anamaria asked, louder this time. She had the fleeting idea of calling over Bill and the others but suddenly thought better of it. If he really was not coming back to her, she wasn't going to get her hopes up or theirs.
A thought came to her, so suddenly and so unexpectedly; it knocked the wind from her sails. She decided to do what she had promised herself she would never do again, not since Nicholas died. She decided to pray.
She really didn't believe in prayer anymore. What had God ever done for her? This, though, was out of desperation…maybe there was a small…dismal chance but it was still a chance. Hadn't Jack always taken the first chance he was given?
"Dear Lord," She began awkwardly, "I never ask you for anything. I haven't even talked to you in years but…even if you don't love me, even if you don't have a place in your heart for a pirate, have a place in your heart for a good man. This world will be an awful place if you let him die. I know he has his bad points but, he's so good." She stopped, listening. God stayed his silent self. "Please," She begged, tears tumbling down her cheeks. "Please help me! Help me save him!" She was screaming now, screaming to the cloudless sky as stars twinkled over head. "I've done all I can! I can't do anymore! He's my life! He's my life!" Anamaria let her head fall onto his chest again. "Please I beg you…I love him." Now her voice fell to a whisper. "Help me."
She shifted her body so she was curled right up to him, soaking in his newfound warmth. Why was he warm if he wasn't coming back? She closed her eyes and cried. She cried for everything, for all her life…for not believing in God or Jack when he needed it the most. As she wallowed in grief and misery, a light thumping met her ears. It was her imagination though, it had to be.
"Jack…I love you Jack." Anamaria whispered, her voice muffled against his shirt. Then, suddenly, his chest heaved as he took a large, gasping, terrified breath. Anamaria shot up and pulled him into her arms as he took another one, if heart thumping fiercely against the walls around it. "Jack? Jack! Oh my God!"
Jack's eyes flew open and he looked around, confused and terrified as he took another painful gasp. "No!" Anamaria yelled, trying to get through to him as he wiggled to free himself from her. "No, Jack, it's okay. Calm down, your safe. You're with me."
Jack's breathing slowed and he stared at her, a blank expression on his face. "Ana?"
"What?" Anamaria giggled, "You remembered my…" But before she could finish the sentence he's grabbed her, kissing her hungrily as though he'd never kissed anyone in his life. Anamaria moved into it, letting him pull her down. When they broke apart she took a deep breath. "I love you Jack."
"I know." Jack whispered. "I…I…" He couldn't say it? To hell and back and he couldn't say three simple little words. "Anamaria, I…"
"Am dead." Said a voice behind them. Anamaria turned, clutching Jack to her and came face to face with someone's fist.
TO MY REVEIWERS:
Alteng: Hey. Yes, the Holy Relic of Vecna is quite…frightening. Reading it was scary to because…no offence…it was weird. Oh well, I liked it. It made me laugh. Yeah, the clean up crew is here. Of course, there's more to come…battles to be fought, lost and won! You'll see. It'll be great. The feelings with Ana was one reason I killed him off but also he's really hard to write I find and I was slipping so if I killed him off for a while I could get onto other things and of course, show the true power of this treasure.
xkohleyesx: I'm glad my story was one of the first you checked. That makes me really proud. I'm glad you like it and I hope you liked this chapter. I liked writing it.
DragonHunter200: I'm missing half your review! My computer won't show me all of it. I have it on my email but I'm to lazy to look so…LOL. I can remember a lot of it though, how are the kittens? Still batting at the screen? They're not trying to get me still right? I made them happy? I can't wait for the Favorite Lines Thingy when it gets happier. I'm sorry about how sad it's been lately…kinda.
padme17: I'm sorry gain, for what I did. I hope this chappie made up for it. Of course, now that you've read it…unless your reading this first so I'm not gonna give anything away. Keep reading and reviewing.
forceflow46 ) : I've had a few that just stop to and I can tell you it's made me mad as well. Yeah, comp access sux! I hate not having internet and my stupid laptop! Oh well, my uncle fixed it and I get it back in a few days. A few of the things you said in your last review made me laugh, especially when you speculated on what will happen. I won't tell you why because it would give everything away but you'll see. I have the whole story planned out and It's sequal so…actually the whole story is done, just putting it up will be the challenge now. I hope thanksgiving went all right for you. I'm guessing you live in the USA because you meantioned the holidays. I live in Canada so I hade my thanksgiving like…a month ago. Thanks anyway though. I live really far out of the nearest city, about an hour so the library is really far. I used to do that when I lived closer.
