Sail On Silver Girl
Chapter 20
"'I must express how glad I am that you returned'", Jack mocked with a fake British accent, but his eyes betrayed his humorous voice. "Talks like he's got a stick shoved up his arse…damn pansy", he muttered and kicked at a wooden cornerstone to his left. Instead of toppling over though, the block staid put and Jack found himself clutching his boot-clad foot and hissing angry curses in agony. Ambling along the road and down to the harbor, Jack's mind was replaying images of the man hugging and whispering to Silver as if to torture him. "'I love you, Jack'", he repeated now in an exaggeratedly high-pitched voice to resemble Silver's. "Shoulda guessed she was drunk…"
His mind calmed a little as the Black Pearl came into view.
"My love…" he murmured affectionately, and added, almost warningly: "My true love", as he caressed his ship from afar with his dark eyes.
Gibbs was approaching him, but Jack dismissed her with a wave of his hand.
"Not now, Gibbs." Leaving a dumbfounded Gibbs behind, Jack slammed the door of his cabin right into his face. Grunting, Joshamee turned and disappeared into the galley to ask whether Ana knew more about the mysterious melancholy and irritation of their Captain.
True, women were bad luck, but they did know more about these kinds of things.
Inside his cabin, Jack immediately fell into a nearby chair, and propped his boots lazily onto the table scattered with compasses and maps of all sorts. Leaning back on the two hind legs, Jack reached behind him and pulled a dirty bottle out of an adjoining cabinet. The amber liquid sloshed back and forth as Jack uncorked it and tilted his head back with desperate greed to guzzle almost half its contents at once. Wiping his hand on his lips and tasting the sweet essence of rum on its back he sighed in relief. Though diffused by alcohol, his thoughts nonetheless turned immediately back to Silver. Unconsciously Jack had clenched his fingers around the bottle until his knuckles were white and with a loud crash the bottle connected with the opposite wall after Jack's realization of this…despicable weakness he displayed.
"What have I done?!" he groaned the next moment, already fingering for a second bottle. "Wasted precious rum! What'll be next? The bloody whore'll make me burn my ship?!" His last words came out as a yell, which was followed by a cautious knock on the door.
"Jack…?", the tentative voice called out. "I trust ye…won't be having dinner with us then…?"
"Ye guessed right, Ana. Bugger off already." , he barked, and heard Ana huff indignantly at this less than friendly reply.
A couple of hours later Jack's eyes were glazed and his vision blurry. "Drink up me 'earties yo ho…", he mumbled softly, and collapsed almost soundlessly onto the floor, cradling his seventeenth bottle of rum in the crook of his arm.
Meanwhile Silver was sipping expensive cognac, though secretly all she longed for was some real rum now. Opposite her on an equally expensive couch sat Jonathan, her childhood-sweetheart and best friend, and his hazel eyes mirrored deep concern for her after having heard her story. She didn't remember him as handsome, maybe it was the unfamiliar sight of his marine suit. He had been announced primary commander of the royal fleet a month before.
Silver broke the gaze between them and glanced around the room. Though this had been her home for more than twelve years and almost nothing had changed, Silver felt oddly out of place. The golden frames that held portraits of her father's royal family, the grand fireplace with its ivory ornamentation, the silk that cushioned every couch, every chair: none had changed.
Actually, that was not entirely true. One painting had been covered, with the same simple black satin she had seen on her way through the streets. Slowly, Silver placed her glass onto the table of glass and made her way over to the frame, ignoring Jonathan's attempts to stop her.
Her slender fingers grasped the fabric and pulled it off quickly. She had never seen the painting before, and found herself staring into a pair of eyes identical to hers. Their green intensity was dulled with a peculiar sadness, almost hopelessness. Silver couldn't tear herself away from the sight.
"He was mourning for you. He lost his only child after all…" Jonathan's dim voice broke the silence. And now he was dead. Silver turned to him and quickly covered the painting again. She was sorry for having caused so much pain. But at the same time, she realized that this place truly wasn't what she wanted. She had made the right decision.
Lost in thought, Silver was suddenly distracted by a pair of strong hands on her shoulder.
"I am glad that you have come to take your rightful place now. Your people need a queen. Finally, the last of the line has returned."
Silver turned in shock at Jonathan's words and stared at him, her grey eyes wide.
"No, I…I cannot! This is not what I intended, you misunderstood, I mean –"
She felt him study her face intently, almost lovingly.
"Do you know that you've grown even more beautiful?", he whispered, his hands sliding down her arms gently. "You'll be the perfect queen."
The blush that had crept up her face at his compliment was quickly replaced by anger as she tore away.
"I will not be queen."
Jonathan's expression softened as he saw how anxious Silver was. Taking her shaking hand, he pulled her beside himself on the couch.
"Imagine, Sylvia, it would be wonderful. Remember how we planned to marry when we were young? It could be reality now! We'd be the perfect king and queen, and our kingdom will thrive under our leadership." His hands were now on her knees, not demanding, just with the rush of enthusiasm that shone in his eyes as well and that threatened to drag her along. "I still love you, Sylvia…", he whispered.
If she could have felt any more shocked than she felt before – she was now. Having heard her real name after so many years brought back all the disgusting memories. And Jonathan's confession did nothing to help that feeling.
She averted her head and gazed at the hands on her knee. She noticed how well kept they were, how clean. So unlike Jack's.
Jack.
Gently she pried Jonathan's fingers off her knees and looked into his eyes. His radiant smile was almost unbearable. She felt guilty wiping it off his face.
"I have found my true love, Jonathan. I'm sorry."
His jaw dropped.
"What? But…but who? Don't you remember our promise –"
"We were children Jonathan. Innocent, naïve children. Please, I –"
"Who is it? Who else has managed to pry into that well-hidden heart of yours, Sylvia??"
"It's Jack Sparrow, Jonathan. I love him."
Dundunduuun. Poor Jack. Having to sleep with rum bottles. Feeling all alone. Sad, isn't it?
And there's that man you wanted, sakhara291 :D (If you're still reading it, that is…) I'm sorry for the annoying words of speech Jonathan uses. He's upper class and all that stuff though. Aaaanyhoo, hope you liked this chapter.
Hope y'all noticed that I updated rather quickly ;-) With reviews, the next chappie might be up just as fast…;-)
Thanks for the feedback, Lady Fae, Dlsam, Rose Atlee, Crooning Waterfall, NovemberWind, The lady of the shadows, Miss Cleo, jess, punkdpirate, Deja (did you get past the fourth chap...?) colecole345 and LoLoMo!!!
By the way, as Crooning Waterfall pointed out (thanks! I wouldn't have noticed! :-)), it's the one-year-anniversary of my story. Weeee! Didn't realize that. Wanted to get the new chapter up on time, but I was too stressed. Anyway, that was my pointless random babbling.
Ah,
yes, before I forget. I am also in the process of fixing my other
story, so it'd be great to check for updates there, cuz I think it wont
be sent out to anyone on author alerts if I just change content of
chapters. Well, expect updates there in the next week!
Have a lovely rest of the weekend…
Sereture…who suffers review-addiction
