CHAPTER FIVE

Just Like Shakespeare

The variety of smells assaulted his senses as he walked into the shop. Jack looked up at the walls and noticed multiple jars full of different concoctions labelled with extremely odd names. Gibbs continued to poke around the store, trying his best to look into dusty jars without having to touch them or their contents. Giving up on temptation, Joshamee reached out and dusted off a jar, but before it was too late it crashed to the ground with the sound of breaking glass not far behind it.

Jack turned around and stared at his friend, rolling his kohl-rimmed eyes. 'An' o'course, 'e 'as ter break somethin'.' Jack said with a slight smile.

The pirate swaggered over to Gibbs, helping him pick up the broken glass. The two of them placed it back on the table and looked down. There was a snake on the floor, presumably what was once the contents of the jar. Jack quickly kicked it with his foot causing it to slide back under the table and out of sight.

Just as Jack had moved the snake, the presumed owner of the strange store appeared behind the counter. It was a man, a rather thin man actually. He had long grey beard and wore half-moon spectacles that rested on his crooked nose. He studied the two men and a small smile played on his thin lips.

'Yes?' he asked. His voice was thin and seemed as if he could lose it at any moment. He approached them both and seemed to be putting all of his weight on the thin wooden cane in his right hand. 'Can I help you, gentlemen?'

Jack was slightly stunned. He could not remember the last time someone had called him a gentleman. He looked at Gibbs who shrugged – a great help as always. The two men inched closer to the old man. He looked as if he may fall to the floor if Jack so much as blew some air on him.

'Aye.' Jack said, holding his index fingers up for emphasis. He walked closer to the man and was tempted to breathe on his just to see if he did keel over, but he resisted temptation and continued with his request. 'We need…somethin'.'

It was difficult to pinpoint what they actually needed. Jack and Gibbs hadn't really given any thoughts as to what they were looking for. They didn't really want to explain their situation to this strange man either out of fear of being reported to Commodore Norrington or even the Governor. Then again this old man looked like he couldn't even stand on his own feet without assistance. He couldn't really post any threat to the duo afterall.

'What kind of something are you after?' the old man inquired, stroking his long beard. He looked more like a character from one of Elizabeth's novels as oppose to a real person.

'Let me handle this.' Gibbs interjected, stepping between the elderly man and his captain. Joshamee told the man of their plan to fake Faye's death and he seemed extremely interested asking a lot of questions. Gibbs stressed for him not to tell anyone about it. The old man agreed and the two of them shook hands -sealing the deal.

The man went behind a thick curtain for a few moments and reappeared with a small glass bottle of a strange clear liquid. Jack quirked a brow but before he could inquire further the old man spoke.

'This should do the trick. It'll fake death well, she'll still breathe though.' He said, dexterously throwing the small bottle to Jack who, unprepared, fumbled the prize and almost dropped it to the ground. The pirate breathed a sigh of relief as he found the bottle securely in his left hand.

'Thanks.' Jack said extremely quickly. He took a few gold coins from the pouch on his waist and handed them to the man. The owner smiled appreciatively, most-likely planning to hire a woman for the evening with that same money.

'Let's get outta 'ere…' Jack muttered to Gibbs, who nodded fervently in agreeance. The two men mumbled goodbyes to the old man and walked out of the strange store.

Once on the street, Jack held the liquid up to the sun to see it more clearly. That shop had been so dark that it was impossible to see anything. And the dust, well, it was safe to say that that place had not been cleaned in some time.

The liquid caught the light and glistened. Anyone would think that it was just a phial of water. Jack took the cork out of the top with a loud "pop" and smelt it. Again, no scent whatsoever. Jack wondered if the man had just sold them water, but doubted it and anyway, if he had, Jack would know sooner or later.

Faye sighed as she rolled over. Her head was sore. She shielded her eyes from thew light coming through the window and sighed yet again. What had happened yesterday? It mustn't have been too good because from what Faye could see, whatever had happened had left the room is quite a mess.

The room smelt strange, but for some reason the smell was familiar to Faye. She sighed and groaned as a sharp pain began in her head. To accompany the pain, a knock at the door was heard.

'What?' Faye asked quietly, laying her head back down on the pillow.

The door opened.
It was Jack.

'Jack…'Faye said and sat up slowly, holding her head. 'What are you doing here?'

Jack did not say anything and instead just crossed the room to sit on the bed beside Faye. He took something from his pocket. A bottle. The liquid caught the light as Jack handed it to her.

'Drink it.' The pirate said simply. 'It'll make you sleep.'

'Jack, I don't want to sleep.' Faye replied a curious look in her eyes. What was he doing?

'Don't worry.' Jack said, brushing some hair from Faye's eyes. 'It'll be fine. Just drink it.'

Faye, submitting to defeat and scepticism, drank the liquid slowly. She did not feel tired in the slightest. Strange.
'I love you.' Jack whispered, kissing her softly and walking out of the room, closing the door soundlessly.

The pirate stood with his back to the wall outside the room. It was done and he hoped that it had worked. He exhaled deeply and began walking down the stairs when Elizabeth stopped him in his tracks.

'Jack!' she exclaimed. 'I've been looking for you everywhere!'

'What? Why?' he asked and continued to walk down the stairs.

'There's been an accident.' Elizabeth replied. 'Someone's asking for you.'

'Who?' Jack thought this strange. Why would someone ask for him?

'I don't know their name.' Elizabeth informed him. 'But you'd better hurry up.'

Before Jack could protest, Elizabeth was off and running out of the manor. Sighing, Jack ran and followed her. She was running awfully fast considering the size of what she was wearing. Finally the two came to the scene of the accident. It was not pretty. A horse a carriage had collided with an oncoming pedestrian. The carriage, its horse and passengers were all fine. It was the pedestrian everyone seemed worried about.

Jack kept Elizabeth back and edged closer himself. He grimaced. The pedestrian had someone beside her. A child, well more of a teenager of about fourteen years of age. The young girl looked at Jack, panic in her eyes. Jack made his way over to her and knelt down. There were about thirty people forming a circle around the accident. Jack just felt like screaming at them all to go away.

'What 'appened?' Jack asked, looking at the woman on the ground. From all Jack could tell she was as good as dead.

'I-I don't know…' The girl replied, breaking out into tears.

Jack assumed that the woman on the ground was the girl's mother. He turned to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. 'Can you 'ear me?' he asked, looking at her.

The victim's eyes opened and Jack was shocked. He recognised her immediately. It almost took his own breath away.

'Take care of her.' The woman said, turning her eyes to her daughter. Jack nodded as her last breath faded from her lungs.

'Who was she?' Irving asked Jack as the two men sat down outside the manor. Irving pushed some sandy hair from his eyes and looked at Jack curiously.

'It doesn't matter." Jack replied placing his head in his hands and sighing deeply. He suddenly remembered something. Faye. He cursed and stood up quickly, grabbing Irving a running inside.

'What! Jack!' Irving said as the two ran up the stairs. 'What are you doing?'

'I need your help with somethin'.' Jack said as he led him to Faye's room.

Jack opened the door and there she was. Lying there in the same position he had left her in. Jack quickly walked over to her and placed his hand up to her mouth.

His blood ran cold.

Why could he not feel her breathe?

He watched her chest. It did not rise and did not fall.

His heart skipped.

His hands shaking, Jack placed a palm up to Faye's forehead.

Stone cold.

His head began to spin and he felt tears come to his eyes. What had happened? Suddenly, letting rage take over, Jack kicked the side of the bed hard, hearing the wood crack.

Irving had been standing there the whole time. Just watching.

'Jack,' he said, walking closer. 'Is everything all right?'

Jack spun around on his heel and look Irving in the eyes. 'No! Everything's not bloody all right! She's dead! This wasn't supposed to happen…' Jack trailed off and sunk down the floor, leaning against the bed, his head in his hands.

Irving paled and walked backwards to the door. He called someone's name and Elizabeth immediately ran up to the room. She stopped at the sight of Jack and then saw Faye. Elizabeth, in one stride, was at Jack's side. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled the pirate close. She muttered a few phrases and sighed, tears falling from her eyes. How had this happened?

'I didn' mean for this ter 'appen.' Jack said, looking up. 'I just wanted us to be free from all o' this…'

Elizabeth looked at him, sorrow in her eyes. 'I know, Jack, but it doesn't always work out that way. It's just like Shakespeare, in a way.'

Jack raised an eyebrow. 'Shakes-what?'

Elizabeth hugged Jack to her again and sighed. 'Nevermind.'

Anamaria looked at the young girl and smiled. 'What's your name?' she asked, looking at her curiously.

'Ellen.' She replied quietly. Obviously the loss of her mother had come as quite an extreme shock.

'I'm Anamaria.' Ana said as they continued to walk. 'So, how did your mother know Jack?'

'It's a long story…' Ellen replied, tucking some blonde hair behind her ears.

'Well, we have a long time.' Ana encouraged with a smile. 'In fact, we have all the time in the world.'

'I'd rather not talk about it now.' Ellen said with finality. She walked a few paces ahead of Anamaria and would continue to do so until they reached the manor.

Ana sighed and looked out onto the water beside her. She wondered who the girl was and how she was related to Jack. Perhaps she wasn't. Perhaps she was just a friend of his in need of help or some kind of assistance. The wind blew and pushed her hair in front of her eyes. Anamaria brushed it back and continued to walk, hoping all of these secrets would reveal themselves sooner rather than later. She was not one for surprises. In fact, she never had been. She hated the thought of not knowing what was around the corner or what was coming next. For some reason, Ana knew that the next chapter in all their lives had already started.

(Dun, dun, dun! So, who's the girl, eh? Sorry about killing off Faye,I was so sad when I did that, but it was essential to the plot. Hope you all forgive me. A million hugs and apologies for taking so long to update. All my love, Emily.)