A/N:Woot! I'm back! You know you missed me...Anyways, I'm glad everyone seems to like the last chapter cause I didn't think it was all that great, but thanks for cheering me up about it! Thanks to my reviewers!
Pghale6- Will is no longer an idiot...neither is Ari. That was just really sad wasn't it? I am going to update quicker from here on out, I just had a bad week, so I didn't know what to write and stuff. As for Jack's 'relatives'-you'll find out. XD Thanks for reviewing!
Jinxeh- No, I am not going to give Jack illegitimate children-Elli would be more upset with him than Karolyn was when she found out! But...his 'relatives' are rather close to him...yes, I know it's agonizing, so I'm just going to let you read now! Er...sorry you didn't feel well. But thanks for reviewing anyways!
TriGemini- Things are getting very, very interesting. And no, that is not all that is left of Ari and Will cause they still have to try and stay in love while helping Elli and Jack survive his relatives. Tis very hard. Let's hope they all can make it through! XD Thanks so much for reviewing!
Siriusly Sirius Lily Black- Yep, now it's time for Elli and Jack and their romantic struggles! I love messing with my poor characters! Muahahah! 'coughs' Well, thanks for reviewing!
The Future Mrs. Jack Sparrow- Hm...that line was kind of like the movie, wasn't it? I wasn't intentionally planning that, but hey-it works! Jack's relatives...yea...let's just say, it's not what you'll expect...Thanks for reviewing!
Elli-Sorry, but I honestly don't remember what offended you. Be more specific! You know how much my head is messed up! And yes, you can be a hell of a lot smarter than me. I guess you do have good aim, but that still doesn't make up for your clumsiness. I know, I have blackmail. Muahahah!
Blossomlite-Suspense! Whoo! Yes, let's just say this chapter is a bit...different...enjoy and thanks for reviewing!
AmericanDrama-That was your favorite chapter out of any story you've read? Wow-that's high praise indeed. Thanks, it made my day. XD. I'll try and be quicker about updating. Thanks for reviewing.
Incubus2704- I'm glad I cheered up your awful day at school. It seems I have a knack for doing that. I also have a knack for causing people bad days as well, but we won't get into that. No, no one's gonna kidnap Ari-she's too good for that! Lol. Thanks for reviewing.
DeadPoetic-Elli is one of the luckiest girls, but she still complains about being with Jack. Any sane girl would tie him up and lock him away so no one else could have him. But what does she do? She hates him. I'm glad you liked the chapter-thanks for reviewing!
Chapter Four-Off the Edge of the Map
It had been about three weeks since Will and I finally told each other that we loved each other and I realized that things had become much easier and less tense since then. This made me feel incredibly stupid because I wasted so much time and didn't tell him the truth when I had the chance. But as I said before, at least we got there.
We were now sitting in some tavern near Venice, Italy. Apparently it wasn't too safe in Tortuga anymore since the Navy had caught news of the Black Pearl being harbored there. They really didn't want to give up on the hope that they would catch Jack. Poor unfortunate souls. So after we found out that they knew where we were, we sailed off to Italy-which was a good ways away from Tortuga, about halfway around the world to be precise.
"Oy Jack!" A shout interrupted my musings. We all turned to see a young man with mousy blonde hair and steal gray eyes running towards us. Jack sat up straight in his chair and turned to the young man who was holding an envelope in his hand.
"Mark-I haven't seen you in ages lad." Jack said rather cheerfully, apparently recognizing the man, who was nodding in agreement. "How have you been doing?"
"Oh, fine." Mark replied, shifting his weight, he looked very anxious about something.
"What do you have there?" Jack inquired, pointing to the letter in Mark's hand. Instantly Mark looked very uncomfortable.
"It's a letter, for ye..." He mumbled, talking to the dirt floor.
"Is it now?" Jack said, mainly to himself and leaned back in the chair. "Well, give it here lad-why so upset?" Jack leaned forward again, extending his hand. Mark tentatively placed the letter in Jack's hand and took a few steps backwards. Paranoia was thick around here. Casually, Jack ripped open the letter and unfolded it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mark scurry off and I wondered what could be so bad about that letter. Elli leaned over Jack, trying to read.
"Who's it from?" She asked, after he pushed her away for the fifth time. Jack's amber eyes scanned the letter quickly and his face had many mixed emotions portrayed on it-surprise, anger, anxiety. At last when he was done with the letter, he threw it down on the table as if it disgusted him and I snatched it up before Elli could. "No fair." She muttered. I ignored her and became engrossed with the letter.
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL!" I shouted, throwing the letter down as if it was on fire.
"What?" Elli asked me, once again reaching for the letter, but this time Will grabbed it before she could. "Damn it!" She shouted. Will finished with the letter and set it down slowly, as if he couldn't believe what was in it. I couldn't believe it either. Elli snatched the letter and held it in a possessive manner so no one else could grab it from her and began reading it quickly. It said this-
'To Jack,
We know it's been many years since you last saw us and that you probably have no desire to see us again-but we do miss you and wish that you would at least stop by, if only for a day. We really want to see you, we worry about you. Adam also misses you, we all want to see you and hope that you're well. If this letter reaches you, come as soon as you can. If you chose not to...well, just know that you still mean the world to us.
Sincerely,
Your Parents'
"Your parents?" Elli cried. "I didn't even know you had parents!"
"Well what do you think Elli, I just popped up out of thin air?" Jack snapped, his head in his hands. He looked as if he had a bad headache. I felt desperately sad for him right now, it seemed like he didn't get along with his parents very well because he wasn't jumping at the chance to see them again.
"Not that, I just thought they were dead or something-you never mentioned them." Elli muttered to herself, scanning the letter again. "What do they mean by 'You probably don't want to see us again.' Did you get in a really bad fight with them?"
Jack sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Yes, when I was seventeen." He replied. "You probably won't believe me when I say this, but I come from a very prestigious and wealthy family-the Moineaus. I took a different last name when I ran away."
"You ran away?" I interrupted. Jack nodded slowly.
"I had a pretty horrible row with them one day. I told them I was tired of parading around in those high-toned and fancy-to-do clothes. I told them I was tired of the dinner parties and the balls and the high life. So my father who was fed up with my attitude by then, told me that if I didn't like it, I could just leave. Now I don't know if he really meant it or not, but I took it to heart and left. I haven't seen them for about 14 years."
"14 years?" Elli repeated, her voice soft. Jack nodded again.
"And now they're begging me to come back, but I'm not going to-no way in hell." He muttered.
"But they're your parents and it sounded like the agreement you had wasn't that bad." I protested. Jack sighed deeply.
"Trust me Ari, the things you've done to annoy or upset your parents and small compared to what I've done to upset my parents." Hew assured me.
"Well, what else have you done?" I asked.
"Let's see. I started ruing all the dinner parties they had, being rude to the guests, oh-I broke some of my mother's best china at one point, I constantly argued with Adam, I let the horses run off one time, I purposely left Adam stranded in the woods many, many times, argued with my father and a whole bunch of other things." Jack listed, counting on his fingers.
"Who's Adam? Your parents mentioned him in their letter." Elli cut in.
"Adam...is my brother." Jack replied slowly.
"You have a brother too? Geez-you haven't told us anything about yourself!" Elli exclaimed.
"So you're not going to visit them?" Will asked softly. Jack laughed, a small, bitter laugh.
"No, I don't ever want to see them again. I'm sick of them, especially Adam." Jack replied.
"Well why not? They sound like they really care about you and they want to see you again." Will persisted.
"Right-they're probably making a bet with all their rich friends on if I actually come back or not." Jack muttered.
"That's not true!" Elli cried. Jack turned to her, his eyes dark with anger.
"How do you know? You have no idea what my parents are like!" He nearly shouted, his eyes shining dangerously. Any sane person would've realized that it would not be good to push Jack any farther once he had reached this limit, but Elli seemed to not care.
"Well then, I guess you're just going to have to take us so we can meet them." She shot back.
"Hell no. I told you, I don't ever want to see them again." Jack countered.
"But they want to see you. Can't you at least do that for them before they die or something?" Elli demanded.
"No." Jack replied, his voice completely devoid of emotion. With that he threw a couple shillings on the table, stood up and stalked out of the tavern.
"Jack!" I called, but he didn't turn around, just marched right out the door into the gloom of night. I looked over at Will and Elli who had now become quiet and solemn.
"So what are we going to do?" I asked, breaking the silence.
xXx
It took about three long days, but we finally convinced Jack to take us to see his parents. (He finally grew annoyed with our persistence and gave in.) I think we were all curious and anxious. We never knew he had such a esteemed and well known family, I thought they were all peasants or pirates as well, but people surprise you.
Jack was sullen on the way to his parent's house and refused to stay out on deck with us, so he locked himself in his cabin, not really pleased with us right now. He had given Will a map to his parent's house though, so at least he was holding up his word that we would go see them.
On the way to their house, I kept wondering what his parents were like. Were they rich snobs? Or were they the overly nice-grandparent like people. I really hoped they weren't either and something in the back of my mind kept nagging me, telling me that this was a bad idea. But what could possibly be wrong about visiting Jack's parents?
Elli seemed a bit anxious though too, only Will seemed to be untroubled by this. The crew had no idea where we were sailing to-so they were also untroubled. Jack had threatened us with keel-hauling if we ever told them that we were going to see his parents.
After about a day's time, we arrived at Florence-where, according to the map, Jack's parents lived. We told Jack when we were about thirty minutes away, but he still didn't come out of his cabin. I hoped we weren't going to fight him in order to get him to come out, but if he was difficult, I'm sure it was going to lead to that.
I stopped working at the riggings and stood up. We had arrived in Florence, maneuvering the Pearl into one of the many large harbors surrounding the town. It was a beautiful city full of happy, carefree people bustling about the market. Tons of stands and shops lined the streets, filled with every thing imaginable from anyplace you could think of. There was everything from large wooden rain sticks from Africa, to tiny silver good luck charms from Asia.
It was also a very friendly city, people on the streets waved to us as we sailed past and we waved back. They called out greetings to us in Italian and we smiled in return, not sure what to say because we were almost certain that as soon as we stepped on land, the would have us arrested for being pirates.
But to my surprise, as soon as we secured the Pearl and made our way down the streets, everyone smiled at us and welcomed us to Italy before going back to their daily shopping.
"Wow-people in Italy are friendly." I murmured to myself, glancing around at all the smiling people. "Do they not care that we're pirates, Jack?" I asked, looking up at him. He was regarding everything with a vague sense of familiarity, but turned to me when I spoke.
"No, they believe that we're all people and can be whoever or whatever we want." He replied simply.
"That's good." Elli murmured. She had looked very nervous up until Jack said that. "So where's your parent's house?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at Jack.
"There." He answered in a bored tone and pointed to a large white house on a hill. We all goggled at it. He looked back at us, seeming disgruntled. "Don't say I never warned you." I heard him mutter before he turned his back on us again to lead the way.
xXx
About ten minutes later we're standing in front of the monster of a house. It's huge, more so than the governor's mansion back at Port Royal. Heck, if that was a mansion than this is a palace. Jack did say that his parents were esteemed folk, but this esteemed? Come on.
It is a beautiful house though with wide, white marble steps, powerful columns in the front with climbing ivy twining around them. The roof is covered in the traditional, Italian red terrace shingles and a magnificent range of flowers in their respective flower beds dominate the front yard, cut in half by a gravel walkway.
Jack steps forward and yanks on the long golden bell pull unceremoniously. It is very obvious that he does not enjoy this one bit. Dislike and anger surround him so thickly and powerfully that it starts to become contagious. I change my attitude to a more positive one and good thing I did because not but five minutes later and old butler with watery blue eyes and long silver hair, which is tied back neatly, opens the door. He stares at Jack for a minute, regarding him in a way that you would regard someone who used to be a part of your life, but slipped out of it and was lost from your memory, but now you are trying to recall who they were.
Then his watery blue eyes grow bright with genuine recognition and he embraced Jack tightly as if he were his own son. He began saying something rapidly in Italian that I don't quite catch and Jack answers. I assume he must've known Italian a long time ago, but his pronunciation is horrible and it's not as fluent as the butler's and I know he's forgotten most of it. The butler now seems disappointed and calls over his shoulder to someone standing in the distance.
"That's Scipio, my old butler. He was one of my best friends growing up." Jack explains, noticing all the odds looks we're giving him.
"Why does he seem upset?" Elli asked in a low whisper.
"Oh, he doesn't speak English at all and he's disappointed cause I don't know much Italian anymore." Jack replied.
"Jack?" Some one calls, their voice full of surprise. We all turn and look towards the door where a man who looks almost exactly like Jack, except older, stands.
"Hello Adam." Jack answered, his voice flat and cold.
"We...oh god...we never thought you were going to come." Adam says softly, just staring at Jack.
"Well, these three convinced me to." Jack muttered and gestured to us.
"Oh...and who are you?" He asked politely, smiling at all of us.
"Elli, Ari and Will." Jack replied, pointing to each of us. "And this is my brother, Adam."
"Pleased to meet you." He said. We echoed the greeting. "Well, please do come in." Adam said and stepped aside to let us in the house. As soon as we made our way inside, I looked all around me in wonder.
The house was even more beautiful on the inside. I had seen a great deal of beauty in my life, but this had to be one of the most beautiful houses I had ever seen. It had a high ceiling and a nice tile floor. Ahead of us was a large, grand spiraling staircase, the stairs also being made of tile. There were tables on which sat cut glass vases full of different flowers and I wondered where they all came from. Also on the table sat little porcelain figurines and dolls. I repressed a shudder. Those things always freaked me out. A antique looking grandfather clock was pressed against one of the far walls and it's soft, rhythmic ticking was the only sound in the room.
"It's so pretty." I heard Elli whisper. I looked over and saw her admiring some of the paintings on the wall.
"Jack, if you'd like to show your guests around-I'll go get mother and father." Adam suggested, looking sideways at Jack who just nodded and stalked off down the main hall, expecting us to follow him-which we did.
He lead us to the main living room, which was probably one of the biggest rooms in the house, other than the dining room. Large, wide windows filled the room with light. A large, soft rug was underneath our feet and the walls were covered with a gold swirling pattern. There was a wooden coffee table, which sat more vases of flowers and a small stack of books. The couches were a pale peach color and looked so soft and thick that I wanted to collapse on them, but knew that would never be allowed.
As magnificent and beautiful the house was, I understood why Jack would get sick of it. Everything was so delicate and pretty that it would drive you insane having to be careful not to break anything. And as large as this house was-it was also suffocating.
"Oh Jack!" I heard a woman's voice cry. In one movement, all four of us turned around to see an elderly woman rushing towards us. I didn't get much of a chance to look at her though, because soon she embraced Jack tightly, her thin, pale arms wrapped around him. I figured that she must be his mother. "We've missed you so much." She whispered, and I noticed her voice was choked with sobs. Jack whispered something back to her and gently detangled himself from her, but as soon as he was free, a man embraced him quickly before stepping back.
"Son, I'm so glad you came home again. We really did miss you." He said in a warm voice. He was tall and I could see where Jack got all his attributes from. He had amber colored eyes and used to have dark brown hair, but it was now turning silver from age. He was wearing a pair of trousers and a nice plain shirt. Somehow he didn't remind me of all the annoying, rich people of Port Royal who went around parading in those freaky white wigs and annoying costumes. But even though this man was dressed in simpler clothes, he still maintained an air of sophistication and dignity.
I then got a better look at Jack's mother. It seemed as if she used to be very pretty, but age had taken that all away except for her eyes which were a bright blue color. Her hair might've been blonde once, but it had faded. Actually, I saw nothing of Jack or Adam in her, they both looked like their father. She was wearing a simple blue silk dress, also very sophisticated.
"And who are you three-friends of Jack's?" She asked in a smooth voice, eying Elli, Will and I.
"Um...yes...I'm Ari." I began first. "And these are my friends Elli and Will." I introduced them, pointing to each of them in turn. Mrs. Moineau looked at each of us carefully as if studying our hearts and souls instead of our faces. I was certain that she knew every single thing I did wrong, every wrong thought I had-including all the times I wished death or serious injury upon Elizabeth. But at last she smiled at us and we smiled back-mostly out of relief.
"Welcome to our home. You may stay as long as you need or like." She said, looking at Jack, smiling warmly-but I hinted a bit of a cold light in her blue eyes. He forced a smile and I could tell that things had not blown over between them. Perhaps she was recollecting the time he smashed all her china.
"Thanks." Jack muttered, not looking grateful at all, but rather he looked as if he had been sentenced to die.
"I'll have Eleanor show you to your rooms then." Mr. Moineau said and walked off to find her. After he left the room became awkwardly silent, no one was sure of what to say and I tried not to look at my feet the whole time.
"What's your name again dear-I don't think I caught it." Mrs. Moineau said softly and I looked up at her, thinking she was talking to me, but when I looked closer, I saw she was looking at Elli-who was staring out the window.
"She's Elli." Jack replied since Elli didn't answer, not hearing Mrs. Moineau.
"I see." She nodded in approval. "Well Jack, she's very pretty and seems quite nice-I hope you'll be smart and not let her go." She smiled gently at Jack and Elli who had whipped her head around so fast that I saw her wince.
"Uh...pardon?" She said in a nervous voice. I saw her look sideways at Jack, her eyes dark-assuming that he had said something. He glared right back at her and then turned to his mother again.
"We're not...um...together." He explained lamely.
"Oh...I see..." Mrs. Moineau murmured, sounding slightly disappointed, while I was doing everything in my power to not start laughing hysterically. The look on Elli and Jack's faces were priceless. "Well...I'm going to see if your father has found Eleanor yet." She said crisply, once again breaking the uneasy silence that had fallen on us. As soon as she was out of the living room, I stopped trying to hold in my laughter and started laughing so hard that I had to sit down or risk falling over.
"What the hell," Elli began politely, "do you find so funny?" I looked up at her, but then started laughing again-thinking of the expression on her face when Jack's mom thought they were in love.
"It's just...she thought...you...and him...were in love!" I cried between bouts of laughter. I thought I saw a ghost of a smile on Elli's lips, but she hid it quickly.
"Yea, that is pretty funny." She muttered to herself.
"Why?" Jack demanded suddenly. At this I stopped laughing and both Elli and I turned towards him.
"What?" Elli asked slowly, her eyes wide. Mine were as well. What was going on here?
"Never mind." Jack murmured, turning away from us.
"Why is the idea of them being in love so ridiculous?" A hesitant voice asked. We all turned and saw that Adam was still standing in the room. I cursed myself silently.
"Well, if you saw how those two argue, you would know that they definitely don't love each other at all." I replied. Adam turned to Elli and Jack who were looking at anything else but at us or each other. They both looked like they would rather be elsewhere right now.
"I see." Adam said to himself with a faint smile on his lips. I raised an eyebrow. Now what was he planning?
"Dinner will be ready in about half an hour-would you like to go get ready?" Mr. Moineau cut in suddenly-walking up to all of us. Jack barely nodded and stalked off upstairs. Will decided that he would go with him. Mr. Moineau left the room again and Adam, Elli and I stood in silence-not knowing what to say now. It seemed like there had been far too many awkward silences just in this hour alone-if an hour had even gone by.
"So...are you a pirate as well?" I heard Adam ask Elli. Instantly I pretended to be interested in the paintings on the wall, but in reality I was just trying to listen in without being conspicuous.
"Yes, I am." Elli replied calmly-having no shame or fear.
"And is that where you met Jack? Out on the ocean?" Adam inquired.
"Yes." Elli answered simply. I tried not to laugh again. If he only knew the truth.
"How long have you known Jack?"
"Oh, a couple months."
And thus their conversation went on like this for awhile. I was starting to become bored and wondered why I even wanted to eavesdrop on them. I amused myself with counting the tiles on the ceiling. That only worked for so long.
"So, um Jack told me that you two used to fight a lot? Is that really true?" Elli asked softly and that caught my attention again. Adam was silent a long time before answering.
"Yes." He replied at last. "We did argue a lot. Quite terribly too. At one point I told him that I agreed with father in the fact that he could just leave if he didn't like it here anymore." He fell silent again after this and looked out the window.
"I'm sorry." Elli murmured. "Sorry if that brought up some bad memories, I was just curious."
"It's alright." Adam replied-he didn't sound very convincing. For some reason, I didn't like Adam all too much-maybe it was his depressed attitude or something, but for some reason there was just something I didn't like about him and I couldn't place it. Elli however seemed to get along with him well. Maybe it was because she was kind to everyone and got long with almost everyone. I looked over my shoulder at the two of them-just in time to see Adam gave Elli a small smile, which she returned. They reminded me of a shy couple out on their first official date. Then an idea hit me. Maybe this was a little bit more than just the usual friendliness- to- strangers/ high class people-thing, Was it really or was I just seeing things?
I had no time to consider this anymore though because at that moment, a maid walked into the living room, beckoning for Elli and I to come with her. Elli looked over her shoulder at Adam again before following the maid out of the living room. I smiled to myself. This had to be something more.
xXx
"So...what do you think of Adam?" I asked Elli, taking a deep breath as one of the maids began lacing up my corset. She looked over her shoulder sharply at me-her eyes narrowed and I knew I had mentioned something she didn't want to talk about, but it was too late now.
"I think he's alright." She murmured incoherently.
"What was that?" I asked, my hazel green eyes twinkling mischievously.
"You know what I said-shut up!" Elli cried, her face turning scarlet. I just shook my head and laughed.
After a heavy silk dress was pulled on me and my hair was put up, the maids released us and we made our way to the grand staircase.
"You like him, you know you do." I continued to tease Elli as we walked down the stairs.
"Do not." She hissed vehemently.
"Do too." I countered.
"You sound like a little kid." Elli replied.
"You have no room to talk." I answered smartly.
We stopped arguing when we were half way down the stairs and close to everyone's hearing range. At that moment, everyone turned to look up at us and I felt extremely uncomfortable. Not to mention that I already felt like I was going to faint because of this damned corset. Life is good.
"Freaky." I heard Elli whisper-looking wary. I just nodded in agreement and then noticed Adam staring up at her with an expression close to awe on his face.
"Adam is staring at you." I said in a sing song voice-just loud enough for her to hear. Her eyes ticked over to him quickly and she flushed slightly and looked away. "Well, Will's staring at you." She countered lamely. I rolled my eyes.
"He's my boyfriend Elli, it's kinda expected. Adam on the other hand is not your boyfriend and yet still seems interested in you." I replied.
"Shut up." She mumbled, her face going red again. I then noticed Jack was also looking at Elli with something close to adoration or even love in his eyes and face and then something clicked in my mind.
"Oh god." I murmured.
A/N: Muahahah! Cliffhangers! What's Elli gonna do? It seems like both Adam and Jack have feelings for her now. I feel some sibling rivalry coming on. Sorry if you thought it was boring, it does pick up later. Confrontation is always interesting...
Moineau is French for Sparrow. Aren't I clever?