Not all Treasure is Silver and Gold.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean or any of its characters (unfortunately) but I do own any original characters/places.
What was meant by Jack's words to Will, did he know of love?
Set 12 years before the film.
Chapter 1: The Valiant"Captain!" The call came from a tall, well built man on the far side of the ship. It was directed at a much younger yet reasonably tall man, dressed like the rest of the crew in pirate attire; with a tricorn hat over a red bandana, which was keeping his long black hair, complete with beads and coins, pulled back. He was steering the ship.
He looked up, "Aye."
"Captain, there's a ship of our port bow sir." Replied the man, breathing heavily after running the entire length of the ship.
"There is?" He said without even taking the trouble to look.
"It appears to be flying the union sir." The man stated, obviously concerned by his captain's lack of interest and action.
This time the captain swung round and looked in the direction of the ship, "So it is." He said returning to staring straight ahead.
"Jack! You can't jest ignore it." Exclaimed the pirate
"That's Captain Jack Sparrow." This response only infuriated the man further.
"But captain, it's no doubt seen us – we have to do something."
"You're quite right Bill." Jack replied evenly and suddenly spun the wheel round, so they were heading straight for the ship.
"What!" Bill exclaimed
"Load the cannons!" Jack barked, which sent the crew scuttling to obey.
"Are ye mad?" Bill asked
Jack jest grinned at him, "Ye know me Bill, besides ye wanted me t do something."
"Yeah, like get out of the way." He replied rolling his eyes and making his way back down to the main deck, he could hear Jack's laughter behind him.
"Captain sir, there is a ship off our starboard aft quarter." The lieutenant reported to the senior officer.
The captain held out his hand for the telescope, I had better check it he thought – being in waters known to be sailed by pirates. He looked through the telescope to see a beautiful, sleek ship however, what concerned him was its black sails, he turned to his commander.
"Take a look, tell me what you see." He said proffering the telescope, the stern faced man took it and held it up to his eye.
"A ship." He said evenly, making to hand the telescope back
"Look closer, do you see anything as a cause for concern?" The captain patiently asked.
The commander slightly annoyed looked through the telescope for a second time; running it over the complete body of the ship.
"It is in beautiful condition, well run but nothing which gives me reason for concern." He replied
"What of its black sails?" Asked the captain; running out of patience and time as the ship was now heading towards them.
"Black sails?" He said gain raising the glass to his eye, "That could only mean – the Black Pearl." He said, slightly losing his calmness.
"That was what I first thought. I know of no other ship with black sails."
"But surely…"
"It has to be and now it is coming towards us." The captain said, sighing slightly.
"Prepare the cannons, wake all sailors and prepare to repel borders." The commander wasted no further time in organizing the crew. He then turned to the lieutenant.
"Rouse the commodore, tell him of the situation."
"Yes sir."
"They've definitely seen us now captain." Bill came up onto the quarterdeck.
"That should make it more interesting." Jack replied
"Or more bloody."
"Now Bill, not everything ends in blood."
"Yeah, ye never know – they might even surrender without a fight." He said sarcastically but Jack just laughed and offered him a bottle.
"Do ye think it wise to drink right now?" Bill asked, taking the bottle all the same.
"No." He replied, taking another swallow of rum.
"Prepare to fire, grapples at the ready!" Jack barked at the crew as they neared the Valiant.
"Not bad." Jack said eyeing the ship, at this Bill and the other crew members near enough to hear roared with laughter – they could always rely on Jack to make light of any situation.
"FIRE!" Shouted Jack
"FIRE!" The call was echoed across the water.
The space between the two ships was filled with smoke and flying cannon balls. The Pearl had the superior firepower and its crew were used to sea battles but the Valiant's crew were trained to follow orders without thinking, which the captain was relying on.
"Borders away." Jack gave the order as though he was already tired of the battle but shortly followed his men onto the decks of the Valiant, leaving the Pearl in the capable hands of Daniel.
"Repel borders!" The commodore countered
"Swords!" Called the captain to his men but already knowing that they had lost.
Jack swung skilfully across to the Valiant, landing with practised ease; sword drawn engaging a sailor immediately. His style, a little unorthodox was fluent allowing him to dispatch most of his opponents within in a few strokes. He made his way expertly across the deck towards the captain; you can always tell the captain apart from the crew, he thought despondently – they're always the ones with the big fancy hats, rather stupid really.
"So," Jack said conversationally on meeting the captain, "Nice ship ye ave ere." The captain being so surprised dropped his guard momentarily but regained it just in time to deflect Jack's thrust.
"Quite a shame that we had to blow holes in it really." He continued
"What do you want?" Asked the captain threw clenched teeth.
"Why are ye willing to surrender already." Asked Jack with a smile but before the captain could reply he had Jack's sword pressed against his throat.
"Call off ye men." Jack demanded, his tone was dangerous with none of the politeness of his early 'conversation'.
The captain swallowed slightly, looking up he noticed that the fighting had momentarily ceased – all were awaiting his reply. He stared straight into Jack's eyes.
"If I call them off, do I have your word they will not be harmed?" Jack smiled; glad to see that the captain cared for his crew.
"Aye, as long as they don't do anything stupid."
"Stand down." His command echoed across the deck, punctuated by the sound of swords hitting the deck.
"Very good." Said Jack stepping back and lowering his sword slightly.
"Your word." The captain reminded him
"Bring the officers ere! Tie the rest of 'em up and search the ship! Bill!"
"Aye Captain." Bill answered
"Still alive then." Jack commented
"Jest a bout."
"Good, keep the good captain company." Jack turned to walk down into the hold.
"Sam! Keep an eye on 'em." Bill called to a nearby pirate
"Captain!" Jack had got no further than the stairs, when one of the crew called.
"Aye." He said turning round
"Found her in the captain's cabin." The pirate responded holding tightly onto a beautiful young girl; who was resisting him but not to much avail. Jack looked suggestively at the captain.
"Well captain, ye had an interesting journey?" Jack asked, receiving laughter from his crew but only a cold glare from the captain.
"No? Well in that case…" He let the sentence go unfinished as he swaggered over to the girl, who was promptly released by her guard. He ran his eyes over her, she was beautiful there was denying that he thought but it was the fire in her eyes and her spirit, which he liked most.
"I don't believe we've been introduced my lady, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, captain of the Black Pearl." He said bowing elaborately.
"Bethany Paris." She replied stiffly, as thought unsure how to response to such gallantry.
"Pleased to meet ye Miss Paris." Said Jack, quite aware that the captain was not too pleased about this conversation pressed it on further.
"And how does a lady, such as yourself, come to be on a fleet ship I wonder?"
Bethany's eyes flew to the captain for help, Jack casually stepped in her line of sight, she looked back at his grinning face and decided to tell the truth.
"My father is aboard, I am travelling with him." She said with a certain amount of defiance, which only provoked Jack into continuing.
"Really, I would like to meet him, which one is he?" At this she floundered, she went several times to say something but changed her mind until her face lit up and she replied boldly,
"Mr Paris." Jack erupted with laughter, "Is that so. Well at least I know ye're not taken."
Bethany was horrified and it showed plainly on her face, this only inspired Jack to continue.
"Ye know life on the Pearl isn't that bad." He said seductively sliding his arm across her waist, pulling her closer to him but before he could go any further an officer stepped forward and swords flew up. Jack not moving from his intimate position looked the man in the face.
"I am Commodore Paris, her father." He said with more than a little anger in his voice.
"Is that right." Jack replied calmly, turning back to Bethany. The commodore went to move towards the pair but found Jack's sword point at his throat.
"Not a good idea mate." He said
"Leave my daughter alone." He said unwaveringly
"Why?" Jack's question came as a surprise to the commodore, who had no answer for him.
"Well, if ye don't have a reason I'll be carrying on." At this the commodore bated Jack's sword out of the way and launched himself at Jack but Sam had anticipated this grabbed the commodore and threw him to the floor pushing his sword firmly against the commodore's throat.
"Definitely not a good idea mate." Said Jack still standing with his arm around Bethany, who by now was terrified.
"Your word." The captain suddenly cried out
"I said as long as they didn't do anything stupid." Replied Jack without even turning to look at him.
"Please." The word was more whispered than spoken.
Jack put up his hand, stopping Sam from killing the commodore, and turned to look at Bethany, she up at him looked.
"Please do not kill him." Jack looked into her eyes; they were begging him not to it.
"Please, I will do anything you want but do not kill him." Bethany said her eyes flitting between Jack and her father.
"NO!" The shout came from Commodore Paris, which was ignored by Jack who just looked at him then to Sam.
"Tie him up with the others." He commanded, moving away from Bethany who stood still as a statue.
"Bill!" The pirate moved towards him
"All finished Captain." He said
"Good." After a moments pause he turned to the captain, "Thank ye for your hospitality, maybe we'll see ye again sometime." With that he turned away and nodded to Sam and Rob who pushed the Captain and officers down into the hold. He walked over to Bethany.
"Me lady." He said extending his hand; she took it a little hesitantly her fear showing blatantly in her eyes, he lead over to the Pearl.
Jack gave the orders and the Pearl sailed away leaving the Valiant still, in its wake with the sun slowly sinking behind it. He turned to look at Bethany who standing at the side of the Pearl was watching the Valiant disappear into the distance and, for a moment he wondered if he had done the right thing.
"Don't worry bout em luv, a ship will pass by soon." Bethany jumped, she hadn't heard Jack come up behind her, and she turned to face him. She held his gaze for a few moments before dropping her eyes to the deck. Jack took a moment to look at her the young girl, again unsure.
"Ye must be tired." Said Jack turning to walk to his cabin, she followed obediently.
Bethany stepped into the cabin and looked around with amazement; it was beautiful, well furnished and had a homely feel about it – it was so unlike the cold bare cabins of the Valiant, the only other ship she had sailed on.
"Ye like it?" Asked Jack who had been watching her gaze around the room.
"Yes, it is lovely." She said quietly. Jack looked at her for a moment, silently wondering where her defiance and spirit had gone.
"Glad ye like 'cause this is where ye'll be sleeping." He said indicating to the double bed. She nodded her understanding and walked over to it.
Any minute now, she thought dejectedly, certain that Jack would ask her to sleep with him. And knowing that she had no choice made her feel depressed, she tried to detach her feelings – knowing that she was no better than a slave. She jumped when at the door click shut behind her; she spun around without thinking. She stood staring at the door; he has gone she thought with surprise and amazement. She had thought that all along that the only reason he agreed to spare her father was to sleep with her. She could not puzzle it out – after everything she had ever been told and believed about them, this just did not make sense. Could it be that some pirates were nice? She asked herself silently. She did not think about for much longer; Jack had been right she was tired. She took off her outer clothes and climbed into bed and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Jack watched Bethany as he walked silently over to the bed, when she did not turn around he knew what she was waiting for: him. It made him feel slightly hurt, that she would think that he would do such a thing if she weren't willing. Perhaps it was because he had always had the firm belief that women should not be forced to do anything especially sleep with a man when they didn't want to; he always took no for answer even if went unspoken. He looked at her and turned sharply and walked out of the door, letting it click behind him, and made his way to the helm.
"How's our new passenger?" Bill asked, putting special emphasis on the word passenger. Jack looked at him and shouldered him out of the way of the wheel.
"Now Bill, I hope ye're implying that I would do anything to her." Replied Jack with a certain amount of gravity, which for someone who didn't know Jack well would have been hard to tell whether it was genuine.
"Me?" Bill said innocently, seeing through the gravity of his words.
"Glad to hear it. Now get me some rum." Jack didn't really have a special need for rum at that point; it was more to get Bill out of the way so he could be alone. Bethany had caused him a lot of problems; he wasn't really sure what to do about her – he needed time to think.
After some time and a fair amount of rum, Jack walked into his cabin. He still hadn't reached a decision about Bethany but decided that he needed some sleep. He strode over to the bed and gazed down at her; she looked so innocent like an angel, her long blonde hair spread out on the pillow framing her beautifully proportioned features. Jack gazed for an age at her, before taking off his clothes; flinging them onto a nearby chair, until he was only wearing his breeches. He then climbed into bed snuggling up to Bethany who, much to his surprised moved closer to him – not quite to the point where she was hugging him but still quite close. Jack smiled snaking his arms around her, before falling asleep.
Please be kind and R&R but no flames – they're hot and hurt!
Blueraven33
