A/N: I know, I know…shoot me. How long have I been writing this for now? Over a year? Argh, I'm bad . Well I always said there would be an ending to this story and damn it there will be no matter how bad it is! Warning, I'm not a good writer, this chapter is bad and I apologise. Please kill me so I never start any new stories!
Disclaimer: I should own it, I've been writing this for over a year. But I don't.
Chapter 26: The Last DayThe next few days passed with a blink of an eye and disappeared into a fog of memory in the back of my mind. The day was drawing nearer, too near in my opinion. I had developed a sever case of the shakes and my heart wouldn't stop shaking. There was no way out of the destiny which lay before me.
Jack, who was still trying to act calm and cool about the whole situation, managed somehow to hide his fear. However there was no way he could hide the restlessness of his nights and the lack of sleep began to show around his eyes.
The crew. What is there to say about the crew? They were all clearly petrified. It showed that even the most fearless of pirates were still human.
An uncanny silence had filled the ship. Silence from the moment they opened their eyes in the morning until they closed them once again at night save from the courteous chit chat every now and then.
I stood at the helm, my hand laying shakily upon the mighty wheel of the ship. The sea looked the same as ever, dazzling blue with a hint of darkness lurking within it's midst. The island of Jamaica lay to the left of us as it had been yesterday. We were circling it for the second time.
"One more," I whispered to myself as my eyes reached the marker we originally started off at.
The crew murmured down on deck as their eyes too struck the same marker which was soon to be distracted from as a loud bang of a cabin door announced Jack's arrival.
To the crew's shock he was smiling, a large cheeky grin which tweaked his beard into the strange position I used to laugh over. Only this time I could not find the energy or the will to laugh.
The sombre mood onboard seemed to have gotten to everyone except, apparently, Jack who still stood there, hands on his hips, smiling at everyone.
In four rather large steps he made his way to the helm while the crew just stood and gaped in wonder.
"Right you scabbless dogs!" he shouted over the silence, "I'm sick of this mood."
The crew said nothing and moved not a muscle in their body as they gazed with confused eyes at their captain.
"And if you don't all start being the crew I once knew then I shall chuck the lot of you overboard and feed you to the fishies," he grinned as the breeze whipped at his dreadlocks.
No one moved.
Jack sighed.
"If these are the last few days of our life," he said a little more quietly yet still loud enough for the crew to hear, "then do you really want to spend them moping about? Enjoy what time you have!"
"We're going to thrash that thing anyway", he added as an afterthought.
I looked at him and found the corner of my lips moving slowly into a position I had forgotten for a while now. Jack looked round at me and, seeing my smile, turned back to the crew and hollered,
"If Annie can smile then damn it so can you lot! And if yeh all happy then tonight we will drain this ship of rum tonight!"
He had said the magic words. An almighty cheer erupted on deck as each and every pirate remembered the rather large stock of rum they held in their holds. They were jumping and skipping like young children who had apparently forgotten their pending doom.
"Damn," muttered Jack, "wish I hadn't said that."
Night finally fell and the deck had become a raging mass of excitement. Half the rum had disappeared within a matter of minutes the pirates simply opening their throats and pouring the liquid down into their bellies.
Song and laughter filled the sky and sea around us as the sun set over the image of Jamaica. But it was not so easy for me to forget and I found myself sat with legs dangling overboard gazing into the sunset.
"Drink up me harties yo ho," I whispered to myself as my crewmates burst into another chorus.
"Can't believe I let them…half gone already!" came a muttering from behind me.
I turned to see the outline of Jack and a bottle of precious rum clasped firmly into his hand. It was an image I had seen many times, the image that was burnt into my head each time I thought about my captain, my friend.
Gazing back to the sunset I said, "What does Rum matter anymore Jack?"
He heard me, I knew he had, but he chose to stay silent.
"Tomorrow, maybe the next day, all this could be over."
But the only sound from Jack was that of the bottle tipping to his lips and the splash as the liquid fell into his mouth.
"Or it could be the beginning of something else. Maybe…victory? All the rum we could ever drink?" I smiled at the fantasy I had created.
"Rum…" mumbled Jack, "Now that sounds like the life to live."
"Heros," he whispered as he sat beside me, his eyes gleaming. "Yeah, that's what we'll be. People will flock to the Pearl with barrels of the stuff," he took another mouthful and pointed into the sunset as though he could see the crowds before us.
"They aren't there you know," I giggled. It was the first time I had smiled in a long time, but it felt good.
"Course they are luv," he frowned at me licking his lips, "look closer."
It was clear he was a little more than rather drunk so I gazed at the sunset searching, if only for his sake, for some form of crowds flocking towards us cheering.
The smile played on my lips once more as the heat from the sun warmed my cheeks and cast a deep orange light on the world around me. Jack had a dazed expression upon his face as he smiled to the imaginary crowds.
And it was then when I felt the fear ebbing away and changing slowly into something else. Not excitement, nor anger, nor fear but contempt. Here I was and whatever destiny had to throw at me I would deal with. There was no choice, there never had been and no matter what happened I would never be alone. As drunk as he was, as crazy as he could be or whatever else that he was Jack was always there with me. The Sparrow and the Magpie.
If I died then I died at least I could be reunited with… with who? Mysteries to my past still laid unanswered and my memory was still as clouded as cotton wool but that didn't matter anymore. It was too late. Here I was. The Sparrow and the Magpie.
And the sun set, taking with it my fear.
The next morning dawned grey and clouded. We set off early catching the morning wind in our sails. Most of the crew moved slowly, a mixture of fear and intense hung over sluggishness.
It passed in a blur, those last few hours of sailing and soon we saw the black island appear, as if from nowhere, on the horizon.
"And so we finally reach it," whispered Ed who stood next to me with the look of fear and shock mingled in his face.
"Don't you worry your pretty head," I laughed, "It's not you going in!"
He turned to look at me with anxiety and pity. "If I could change places with you…"
"Don't be silly. This is what I'm here to do, you know that,"
"It's not right, you shouldn't have to…your only a…woman." He shook his head with sadness.
"Excuse me I think you'll find any woman is better than a man," I laughed half disgusted half humoured.
"How can you take it so easily?" he questioned, "how can you be so calm?"
"Whatever is going to happen will happen whether I'm afraid or not."
And with that I left him to gaze at the ever approaching island to go in search of Jack who was leaning upon the side gazing out, as most of the pirates were.
"Ready?" I asked as he turned towards me and smiled.
"Aye," he returned my smile, "I'm sick of waiting, let's get it over with."
A/N: Once again I apologise for how terrible the chapter is and how nothing really happens in it, but I couldn't just put them straight into the place where the Evil thingy lives so there had to be a boring chapter and here it is!
Please review telling me how terrible it is. Or you could lie and say it was great? No? Oh ok.
Well there is only one chapter to go now and I'll try to update it as soon as possible, like hopefully next week sometime.