Well, well, well...look who's back...
This is just a random story that I thought of a year ago(January 2005)and I just rewrote it...I didn't change much, just the names and a couple other things.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that Disney claims to own...however, I own Ebony, Adyna (pronounced A-die-na), Alexia, and Tyler...and the porridge... (LOL)
"Ebony!"
"C'mere Ebony!"
"Ebony!"
This girl ran about The Lemure's Alehouse, answering to the pirates and thieves whom were asking for more rum. Ebony was always being ordered around. Her mother had died not too long ago and now she was living with her aunt in Tortuga. It had only been a few months and Ebony already knew the ropes. Her aunt, Adyna, claimed that she was too poor to get Ebony any proper clothing. This was why she wore a very tattered skirt (most likely an old, worn out one from her cousin) and shirts. And Adyna said that water would be saved if Ebony's hair was kept short. Ebony also wore a green cloak but the ends were almost always up around her shoulders like a mantle. This was so it did not catch on anything or anyone in the bar.
"Ebony!" Adyna called. "Come serve th' rum while I run up to me room!" Ebony ran over to the bar and began filling mugs with rum and handing them to the people crowding around the bar as they passed her a few coins in exchange. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her aunt go up the stairs with a strange man. Soon a captain with an awkward walk passed over the threshold. When he came up to the bar and smacked a few coins down onto the weathered wood, Ebony looked at him for a moment and handed a mug to the pirate to the left of him.
"Rum like the others?" Ebony sighed to him.
"Yes," he said gruffly. He watched her closely as she filled the mug. "Ye new here?" the captain asked as Ebony handed him the tankard. She nodded a little.
"Jack!" another woman's voice called from behind the captain. He turned around and greeted her. "Pay no attention to my cousin." the woman, Alexia, said. They sat down at a table but soon many other men swarmed around Alexia. She only giggled. Jack got up without her noticing to have his mug refilled.
"So who are you?" Jack asked Ebony as he pushed another coin towards her.
"I would be Adyna's nice and Alexia's cousin, Ebony..." she said. "And you?" Jack grinned at her, flashing his gold teeth.
"Have you not heard the stories? I'm Captain Jack Sparrow!" Ebony in fact had heard the stories about this pirate. She loved them too. A small smile crept across her lips.
"Oh, yes...mother used to tell me...be-before she died," she said softly. Jack took a gulp and smiled at her once more. Adyna came back down the stairs and took over the bar. Ebony chose her moment when no one was looking, except Jack, to slip outside. She loved being by the sea, but with living at the bar, it was almost impossible to enjoy it. It was sprinkling a bit and so Ebony put the hood of her cloak up. Jack followed her out a while later. He found Ebony leaning against a post, staring out at the ocean, fiddling with a silver dove necklace that hung around her neck. Jack watched her from behind for a little while and then passed her. Ebony watched him row the dinghy out to his ship, the Black Pearl. The captain nodded at her.
"EBONY!" Ebony jumped and ran back to the bar.
----
About three weeks after Ebony and Jack's first meeting, Jack came back. However the moment he walked in, Alexia took him to the far corner. She called Ebony to bring the captain a tankard. Ebony slowly trudged over with her hood up and her sleeves rolled down. They had many a rum stain on them. Alexia began trying to seduce Jack as Ebony sat the mug down on the table. Jack looked up at Ebony cheekily over Alexia's shoulder but Ebony kept her head down and walked off. Jack scowled in confusion and then finally pushed Alexia off of his lap. He walked over to the bar. Ebony had rolled up her sleeves and her hood had slipped. She had bruises up and down her arms and across her face. Her lips were even split in a couple places. Jack saw all this from a distance. Adyna passed by and Jack ordered for her to have Ebony take a few minutes off. Adyna nodded and rolled her eyes. Jack stood at the bar a moment later. Ebony looked up at him and gasped.
"No, it's alright, I saw..." Jack said softly, stopping her from trying to hide herself. "You have a few minutes off. C'mere," he continued. Ebony followed him to the docks again. "What happened, love?" Sparrow inquired. Ebony looked at the ground and explained.
"Aunt Adyna is seeing someone new...and the old one comes by to take her back and ends up abusing me..."
"Aw, Ebony..." Jack whispered. Ebony looked up at him for a minute.
"No, it's alright...it...it doesn't hurt...really...all that much..." she looked down again.
"Don't lie to me, Eb...you and I both know it hurts...bad...now, tell me, where might I find this man?"
"He's gone...he'll probably return in the next few days..."
"Good girl...you run along and get back to your work," Jack replied. Just before Ebony turned, Jack planted a soft kiss on her forehead and got on his ship.
----
About a week passed and Jack did come back but he had just missed the man by a day. He got Ebony some more time off and they went back to the docks.
"So I need to stick around, eh?" Ebony nodded. She had more bruises and a few scrapes and cuts. "What say I get you out of that mad house?"
"What?" Ebony said in disbelief. Jack smiled.
"Aye, I'll stay over at the Faithful Bride, do away with Adyna's ex, and we could get the hell outta there!" Ebony smiled at the thought of freedom. "Just leave your stuff in the alley before he comes; I'll pick it up before I come in and run it back to the Pearl. Just follow my lead if I do anything to threaten you. Don't worry, love, I have a plan." Ebony agreed. Jack then kissed her again and ran off. Ebony ran back to the bar with a smile. Alexia caught her right as she entered.
"What happened!" she screamed. "Sparrow never fives affection to me! And he's out there loving on you!" Ebony looked at her cousin as if she were crazy.
"You're drunk, Alex!" Ebony ran up to her room and slammed and locked the door. She collapsed on her bed in happiness.
----
Over the next few days Ebony heard rumors of Tyler's (Adyna's ex) return. One morning, before Alexia or Adyna had awoken, Ebony pulled out a few extra items of clothing and shoved them into a bag. She pulled on her boots and cloak. Then Ebony opened the squeaky window and dropped the bag down into the alley below.
"EBONY!" Adyna yelled and banged on the door.
"Comin'!" Ebony shouted back, shut the window, opened the door and ran down the stairs.
----
As the hours passed, Ebony did her work absent-mindedly. She was thinking about what Jack might do. What was his plan? Morning passed into afternoon and Tyler still hadn't arrived and neither had Jack. Alexia sneered at Ebony every time she passed. Ebony was afrais that she knew something was up. She continued to work hard as if nothing was up. The minutes seemed like hours and Tyler finally came in. Ebony began serving him his rum, as ordered. She wished she knew where Jack was because Tyler was becoming more violet. When he went to go talk to Adyna, she ignored him. Angry, Tyler walked back to Ebony, snatched her by the collar of her shirt and dragged her into an empty room upstairs. There, he began to endlessly cuss, yell, slap, hit and cut her. Down below in the bar, Jack entered. As always, Alexia immediately ran over to him.
"Jack!" Ebony faintly heard. She bolted for the door but the shrieked and fell to the floor. Tyler had cut her right lowed arm hard and deep. Jack looked up at the ceiling as he heard her. His heart began to beat faster. Ebony used the rest of her strength to open the door and to stagger out into the hall.
"You think I'm done with you?" she heard Tyler yell. Ebony made her way to the top of the stairs but Tyler came and pushed her down. Jack saw her at the bottom with her cloak askew on her shoulders and the huge cut on her arm; her blood staining her sleeve. He moved to help her up but Tyler was already there, standing above her, getting ready to hit her again. Jack rushed over to him, drew his cutlass, and impaled Tyler in the back. He dropped dead and Jack put his cutlass back in his belt and pulled Ebony up.
"Leave her!" Adyna yelled at Jack. "She needs to get back to work!" Jack pulled out his gun, cocked it, and pointed it at Ebony's head.
"You or anyone takes one step closer, she'll be dead..." Adyna drew back. Jack uncocked his gun, whispered a 'sorry, love,' and dragged Ebony out the door and down to the docks. Only there did he slow down. Jack knew that Ebony must have lost a lot of blood. He put her in the dinghy and rowed as quickly as possible to the Black Pearl. Ebony passed out along the way. The crew hauled the little boat up to the rail of the ship and Jack carried Ebony to his quarters. Not one of the crew asked any questions. Jack had given them an introduction when he had concocted the plan, days earlier. He lay Ebony on his bed. Then Jack poured some rum on a cloth and dabbed at Ebony's wound with it. She woke as the pain surged through her arm, disinfecting it.
"Shh, it's alright, love," Jack said softly. "I'm jus' cleanin' it." Ebony nodded and closed her eyes again as it stung. After her was done, Jack wrapped her arm in bandages. Ebony watched him carefully wrap the wound.
"Thank you," Ebony whispered. Jack flashed a smile that would make any girl's heart melt into a puddle of goo.
"No problem, love...you needed to get out of there anyway." He finished wrapping her arm and gently laid it across her stomach. Ebony smiled, closed her eyes and fell asleep.
----
She woke the next morning to the sound of the ocean waves. Now they seemed louder and the movement of the Pearl made all the difference. Ebony lay there for a moment, taking all the had happened in the past day. She stared at the ceiling, then out the window, then at the door. She saw the silhouette of Jack nearing the door.
"Glad to see ye've awoken!" he said cheerily. Ebony nodded and attempted to get out of the bed but she was still too weak. "Not yet," Jack helped her to sit up against the pillows.
"Where are we going?" Ebony asked as the captain removed the bandage to examine her wound.
"No where for the moment," he replied and frowned at the wound.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, love, it just needs to be cleaned again."
"Oh,"
"I know it hurts...I'm sorry," Jack poured more rum over the cut and took a swig or two himself. Ebony closed her eyes in pain. "Come off it, love. It doesn't hurt that bad, now, does it?" Ebony nodded quickly with her eyes still shut tightly. Jack sighed at her and began to wrap her arm back up in a new bandage. Afterwards, Jack went out of the room for a moment and then returned with a bowl and spoon clutched in one hand and a new bottle of rum in the other. "Now, do ye want me to feed you or shall you do it yourself?" Ebony laughed.
"I'll feed myself, thanks," She bent her legs and Jack set the bowl, which was full of hot porridge, on her lap. He pulled up a chair next to his bed and pulled the cork off the bottle of rum. Ebony had a hard time eating. Though she could use her fingers, it still hurt to use her right arm. She ended up using her left arm even though it was very awkward.
"You told me when I first met you that your mother told you stories about me..." Ebony almost choked when Jack pulled this comment from out of the blue.
"Yes..." she answered after swallowing. Jack paused.
"Which stories...?"
"I don't remember...it's been so long..." She took another bite.
"Oh..."
"Why?"
"Just wondered," Jack smiled and got up. "I'll come back later. Rest up, love," Ebony finished up her breakfast and handed the bowl to Jack. She lay back down and closed her eyes and fell asleep once more.
----
Jack slowly opened the door of his quarters, trying not to wake Ebony. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked over at him.
"Hungry?" he asked.
"Mmm, not yet..." she said stretching a little. Jack stood at the bedside with his hands in his coat pockets, absent-mindedly smiling at her. "What?" Ebony asked. Jack shook his head, making a couple of the trinkets in his hair jingle, and looked at the floor.
"Nothing, love," he turned to leave. "I'll be right back," he said. A moment later, he returned with a rolled up hammock under his arm. He began to hang it on a couple of spare hooks.
"What's that for?" Ebony asked. Jack borrowed a pillow and a blanket.
"Well," he said as he dropped the pillow into it. "I was thinking I would sleep here until you are well."
"But I am well," Ebony protested. She tried to stand up and take a step. She was alright for a bit but then she began to lose her balance and fall. Jack rushed over and caught her.
"You are well, eh?" he teased. Ebony smiled sheepishly and Jack guided her back to the bed. "Ebony, I'll be sleeping here until you are better," he stated again just as the last of the sun's beams sunk under the horizon. Jack lit some candles. Ebony looked over at him when he closed his eyes after clambering into the hammock to test it once his boots and coat and hat were removed.
'He cares so much for me...' she thought. Jack's eyes flashed open and saw Ebony looking at him.
"Something wrong, love?" Ebony shook her head and rolled over with a small smile on her lips. Her eyelids began to feel heavy again. She heard Jack get up and blow out the candles. He leaned over her bed and kissed Ebony's cheek before she was swallowed in the peaceful darkness of sleep.