Scratched Glass

Chapter 8

Karyane smiled, trying to hide a laugh, as she heard another one of Jack's infamous, and overly-dramatic, tales. Jack looked at her seriously for a moment, having noticed that she was fingering the edge of laughing hysterically. Trying her best, she covered the smile with her long, thin, spider-like fingers but failed horribly. Soon, she burst out laughing and within a minute or so, she was clutching her stomach, her lungs begging for air, and her mind willing her to stop.

"I don't know what you think is so funny," Jack mumbled grumpily, taking a rather large swig of rum and muttering a few choice words afterward.

"Language, Jack, language. In case you've forgotten, I'm a lady, and cursing isn't appropriate in the presence of a lady," Karyane scolded mockingly, waving an admonitory finger at him.

"Actually, I have forgotten what with your lack of…" he started, a suggestive smirk on his face.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, you bloody rat!" Karyane shrieked indignantly, blushing with embarrassment, hitting Jack with her balled up fists. In turn, he covered his head and took a few steps backward from her; this only resolved her to step forward and attack him even more fiercely. "Take it back!" she yelled, a smile forming on her face, despite the fact that she was supposed to be angry with him.

"All right, all right, bloody hell! I take it back!" he finally cried out, deciding that he'd rather not feel Karyane's entire wrath. Glaring at her, his eyes squeezed themselves into thin slits, morphing his features into that of a snake's. Karyane only laughed, once again trying to stop.

"I see this is going nowhere," he relinquished, turning his back to her and his attention to steering the ship.

"I want to know something," Karyane said abruptly, her voice appearing out of the blue after a long pause of silence. Jack only grunted in reply, drinking some more rum. "Who…who is this friend of yours? And why is he so important?"

For a long time, Jack didn't say anything. He merely held onto the helm, staring out at the sea, drinking from his bottle of alcohol every so often. But after a while, he turned his head to her, and looked at her intently. "Why?" was all he asked.

Taken aback by the question and the closeness between her and Jack's face, Karyane stuttered. "I…I…I don't know."

Another long pause. The third one so far. And this was the most awkward of them all. "Will Turner. He was married to Elizabeth Swann and they had four children together. Four beautiful children. He was a blacksmith, used to be one before he became a merchant. A very successful one. A good, honest man. Hard to come across men like those nowadays. Will, he was different. A well brought up civilized man and yet a pirate, wild at heart. You could always sit down with him and a jug of rum and he'd help you out with any problem, any problem at all. Even if he was busy with some meeting, all I'd have to do was let him know that I was in town and he'd hurry over. No matter what, he was always there. And now…" Jack's speech stopped. Karyane noticed that there were no tears in his eyes, but that he was suddenly so stiff. So rigid, as if though there was a huge void in his being. And for some reason, she felt his pain. She felt the harshness, the cruelty of his pain.

Suddenly, she enveloped him in a hug. Out of nowhere, just like her questions, she hugged him tightly and hid her face between his neck and shoulder. "I'm sorry," she apologized.

II – II – II

Karyane sat down on the enormous bed in Jack's quarters amidst all of the dresses that she had just bought. Or rather, the dresses that Jack had just bought. A smile flitted across her face as she touched the material that surrounded her like a never-ending sea. She smiled contentedly, feeling at home. Whether it was because of the tenderly made and yet frivolous dresses that were now in her possession, or that fact that she had merely grown accustomed to the ship, she felt at home.

And in the back of her mind, she knew that the latter was the reason for the comfortable feeling that had decided that it wanted to settle itself in Karyane's stomach. Personally, the thought scared her. She didn't mind Jack's annoying half-smile anymore, she didn't mind the constant rocking of the ship – that previously had provoked nearly all of the contents of her stomach out – she didn't mind Gibbs yelling order at the top of his lung, she didn't mind the vulgar language that was used, and she didn't mind Jack's presence. In fact, she really didn't mind anything that much any longer. And all of this was beginning to really, really bother her.

Sighing, she got up off the bright beautiful dresses that she had been sitting on and went over to sit on Jack's desk. Pulling out a clean parchment from Jack's stack of papers, she set it in front of her. To write or not to write?

Write.

Grabbing a bottle of ink, she unscrewed the top and dipped a long feathery quill into it. Dear and then she stopped. Who was she going to write to? Frustrated, she put the quill back in the bottle of ink and held her chin in her hands, her elbows propped up on the desk. She had already written to Thomas and she didn't want to force herself to do that all over again. Her father? Knowing him, he had probably already sent out a handful of excellent ships to find her and her sister. Half-sister. The person left was Adelaide, her dearest mother.

Dear Adelaide

She crossed out the greeting. It was too forward.

Dear Mother

She crossed these words out as well and wrote them again.

Dear Mother

Did she really have to write to her? She scratched it out. Then wrote it again.

Dear Mother

Did she? Yes.

Dear Mother

Never mind, no. This process went back and forth where she wrote 'Dear Mother' and then scratched it out within a moment's notice, until she had filled up the entire parchment. She just couldn't bring herself to write to her mother.

As Karyane thought back to her mother, frustration still engulfing her like a thick, palpable fog, she noted that it was no wonder why she couldn't write.

/Flashback/

"Mother, who is he?" Karyane whispered, tugging gently at the hem of her mother's dress. Her enormous, green orbs stared at the man in front of her. He was tall, well built, and she could tell that he had a large sum of money. The man, seemingly kind, smiled and bent down to pinch her cheek. She tried her best not to flinch and succeeded, though with much difficulty. Later, she found out with a slap to her smarting cheek, that he was to be her father. Not only that, but that she was never to interrupt her mother again while she was meeting someone important.

"Karyane, I don't wish for you to mingle with that… that Zenakabee," Adelaide told her as they were sitting in the living room for tea, waving her hand as if she was dismissing the actual Zenakabee. It was just Karyane and her mother – the maids were upstairs – since her father, Edward, and Zenakabee had left to attend some conference or another.

"Why not?" the ten-year old Karyane asked. Her mother had been married to Edward for two years, but Karyane had only been living with her father and mother for a month. Before, she was living in her grandmere, Elice's, manor in France. "She is my sister, after all."

"Step sister," Adelaide corrected sharply. "And she isn't good for your health. You've been…"

"What?" Karyane asked softly, confusion overcoming her.

"You've been around her too long. Your dresses have been getting dirtier and dirtier by the day…"

"It was only a smudge," Karyane said in a small voice.

"Do not interrupt me. I am your elder. Not only has your clothing become an issue, but so has your behavior, it is unacceptable. The other day you were laughing all too rudely in front of the governor. You have no idea of how embarrassed I was because of you. No child of mine will carry herself like that in public. Altogether, I wish for you to stop interacting with riffraff like that girl," her mother ordered in a strict, formal tone, allowing no opposition to come from Karyane.

"Yes mother," was all poor Karyane could say. She wanted so desperately to become Zenakabee's friend, even though it was clear that Zenakabee didn't like Karyane. And yet, her mother's wishes were to be Karyane's priority. She had no choice but to quietly accept her fate.

'Karyane did it!" Zenakabee shouted, pointing an accusing finger at her twelve-year old step sister.

"No I didn't," Karyane outright lied. It was obvious that she was the one who had broken the vase, but for the sake of arguing, she lied anyway. Her father, Edward, looked at her sternly and was about to scold her when Adelaide interrupted.

"Why must you blame my poor daughter when it is obvious that she is innocent!" Adelaide exploded as she went into lecture mode, yelling at father and daughter for blaming her supposedly innocent child. Soon, Karyane started to feel bad. After all, she was the one who had broken the vase and Zenakabee was getting yelled at.

"But mother…"

"Karyane, please refrain from interrupting me," her mother said in a sharp tone. Once again, Karyane could do nothing but look at the floor pathetically. Eventually, Zenakabee received her punishment: no dinner for the night and no dessert for the entire week.

"Mr. Greeneley, you are a very charming man, but I…I simply cannot accept your proposal," Karyane said, her brilliant green eyes unblinking. He had proposed. She, at the time, had been talking merrily to one of her friends when he had pulled her aside. Suddenly, and out of nowhere, he had asked her to marry him. Caught off guard, she didn't know how to tell him no. she didn't want to reject him, but…

"Karyane, I wish for you to marry Thomas," Adelaide said softly, holding her eighteen-year old daughter's miniscule hand in her own. Despite her close proximity with Karyane, Adelaide didn't notice the involuntary shudder that coursed through her daughter's body. Just the mention of Thomas sent waves of repulsion through Karyane.

"Mother, I…" Karyane started but her sentence was intercepted halfway.

"Please, consider it at the very least. Please, for Thomas's sake."

"Mother…"

"For my sake then." The request succeeded in silencing Karyane.

"But mother, you don't really expect me to court such a…such a…" Karyane stuttered, anger obvious in her voice. Her mother had already brought this subject up numerous times over the past year. Now nineteen, Karyane was not just unwilling but outright defiant when it came to the matter of marriage with Thomas.

"Karyane, what is wrong with him?" Adelaide shouted, turning about from her work so fast that her skirts were a blur of colors. "You are constantly complaining about why you don't want a marriage with him and yet you give me no viable reason!" Anger flooded Karyane's veins and blocked out any reason.

Karyane glared at her mother, unable to think of a reason for a second. In that time, an idea struck her. It was low, but it was the only way out of a forced marriage to a man that she not only didn't know, but despised. Clenching her teeth, she spat out, "He's poor."

Adelaide looked as if though she had been slapped for a mistake that shehad committed. Karyane knew that in the back of her mother's mind, the same thought had been replaying itself.

"He's…he's a young and striving man. Soon, he will…soon…he will…he will be successful. Karyane, I," But Adelaide was interrupted mid-sentence.

Karyane's eyes narrowed and she hissed viciously, "Don't lie. You and I both know of his social status." A knife ripped through her own heart as she said it. She couldn't believe that she could be so cruel. But marriage? No, she couldn't marry him. No. No. No. She was a free bird and marrying him was like…it was like forcing that bird, she, into enclosure. She didn't want it. She wouldn't have it. But if being cruel was the only way out, then so be it.

+

"Be careful," Adelaide said, tears in her eyes.

"I will," Karyane consoled her crying mother as she was about to set off for Haiti in the ship.

"Promise me."

"I promise," Karyane smiled ironically. This was the same mother who, just the other day, had been yelling at her to marry Thomas.

"Karyane…I want you to know that I love you. Yes, I might yell and scream…"

"And throw things, force me to comply with your wishes, and be irrational," Karyane added jokingly. This earned her a reproving glare from her mother.

"What I meant to say is that I love you. I might be…"

"Cruel and unreasonable but…" Karyane went ahead, knowing that her mother would scold her sooner or later.

"But," Adelaide said, emphasizing her word, "But I love you. I just want you to know that."

"I know. And I love you too." Karyane said, her green eyes softening reasonably at the words. No matter how silly and crazy and unpredictable and tense and moody her mother might be, she was her mother after all.

/Flashback/

Shaking her head at the varied memories of her mother, Karyane screwed the lid back on the bottle of ink and put back the things that she had taken out. Maybe it would be better if she didn't write.

II – II – II

Thomas sat in Mr. Reule's study in their Haiti manor. Looking over the letter in his hand, he decided that it was a wonderful thing that he hadn't left looking for Karyane. Otherwise he wouldn't have received the letter. Otherwise he wouldn't have known that she was coming. Otherwise he wouldn't have known how highly she thought of him. Thank God he hadn't left. Folding the sheaf of parchment, he placed it inside his coat pocket and came to another decision: he would comply with her request and not tell anyone of her arrival.

II – II – II

It was another hot and sticky day in the Caribbean Sea. Standing out on deck next to Jack, Karyane could feel the salty water sticking to her already sun kissed face. Before she had stepped aboard the Pearl, she was a pale, ghostly white creature and now she had colored considerably. She still had a fair complexion, except now her skin glowed with health and she had started eating regularly. Not only did she notice it, but so did Zenakabee, the crew, and Jack. It came in the form of a hidden smile that – before, would rarely ever grace her features – came across her face all too often.

Jack, noticing this, told her so, "You look so much better now. Before you looked like a ghost of a stick."

"Excuse me?" she asked, surprised by his sudden conversation – they had both entered into a period of silence before.

"You look better now."

"I beg to differ."

"Go ahead and beg as much as you like girly. I still think you look better now," Jack told her, a smirk playing with his features. In turn, she narrowed her eyes at him.

"As much as your antics might amuse you, I find them to be quite dull," Karyane told him with fake haughtiness. She rolled her eyes at him, hiding a smile that wanted nothing better than to make an appearance.

"Go ahead and be all proper if ye want," he told her, rolling his eyes at her as well, turning his attention back to yelling orders at his men.

"I don't get why we're wandering aimlessly," Karyane said in a bored voice, realizing that they were just walking from one place on the ship to another.

"I don't know about you, but I want to keep this ship running. And if I want that, then I'd better tell these, otherwise unskilled, men what to do," Jack told her sharply, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"But why do we have to walk?" Karyane whined like a child.

"Because they can't hear me if I stand in one place, you dolt," he told her agitatedly, his temper frothing at the surface.

"All right, all right; no need to get so nasty about it."

They walked around in silence as Jack shouted various orders. Karyane found it all very boring. Pretty soon, she started pinching her cheeks, checking for fat. Noticing her weird actions, Jack looked at her oddly from the corner of his eye. "What're you doing?" he asked wearily.

"Checking for fat," she told him, looking at him cross-eyed as Karyane tried to keep one eye on her cheek and the other on Jack. The task was impossible.

"Why're you doing that? It's not like you're fat or anything."

"Chubby," Karyane argued, going back to pinching her cheeks.

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes.

"NO."

"YES."

"NO."

"YES."

"NO!"

"YES!"

"All right, bloody hell! You're fat if it makes you happy," Jack cried out in exasperation. For a second, Karyane merely stood there, realizing that Jack had been complimenting her beforehand; now it was an insult. Huffing indignantly, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and walked off to the railing, knowing that arguing with Jack again would only disprove her first argument. And what would that prove? That she really was a dolt.

She sighed, remembering the romance stories that her maid, Norse, would tell her in secret. She wondered what it was like to be one of those, witty, carefree, independent girls. They were always prepared with some clever remark, always so beautiful, always so much better than her. Always so much more like Zenakabee. Sure, her step-sister wasn't blessed with the looks of a goddess, but it wasn't as if she was ugly either. She, too, had had a fair number of suitors, each of which she refused.

Why couldn't I have an education?

Why couldn't I climb that tree when we were little?

Why did I always have to sit down for tea while she got to go play outside?

Why did my parents think the piano, sewing, and my looks were more important than history or some foreign language?

Why didn't I have a mother that loved me as much as Zenakabee's did?

Why was I always angry with everything while she always seemed so happy?

Why was I supposed to be perfect in everything that didn't matter, while she was supposed to focus on every vital thing to life?

Why couldn't I be a little more like Zenakabee, a little more lively, a little less dull, a little more independent, a little smarter, a little more real?

And so these thoughts plagued Karyane's mind as she realized that she might have inherited the looks in the family, but she was also the one void of everything else that was so much more important to life.

II – II – II

"Jack! We can't make it through this storm! Let's stop somewhere, ye bloody stubborn dog!" Gibbs yelled through the rain. Sheets upon sheets of incessant rain were falling on the Pearl as she was caught in an unexpected storm.

"Gibbs, we're going to run out of time! We need to get to Greeneley…"Jack began but was shortly cut off by a livid Anamaria.

"Forget the bloody rascal! We're running out of supplies and the Pearl has already withstood three other storms in such a short time!" she shouted, doing her best to make her voice be heard.

"Exactly. One more storm won't do…"but once again he was cut off.

"Jack! Stop being unreasonable! We'll only stop for a week or two!" Anamaria shouted back, hoping to coax Jack into reasoning with her. But Jack merely stared out at the raging sea before him, his eyes focusing strictly ahead of him and ignoring his angry crew members.

"Come on, Jack! We could all use the bloody rest!" Gibbs added in his superfluous comment, hoping that it would work, not daring to doubt it. Jack looked at him out of the corner of his eye for a second and in that second, Gibbs's own eyes pleaded with Jack's.

"Fine! We'll make berth in Tortuga, since it's the closest island! But one of you two will have to steer!" Jack finally relented, realizing that the chances of them making it out alive of this storm were slim to none. At their captain's agreement, identical grins spread across Anamaria and Gibbs's faces. The prospect of a week's rest was like a pot of gold waiting for them at the end of all this turmoil.

II – II – II

As he stepped into his quarters, soaking wet, Jack grumbled about 'bloody lazy pirates' and how they were 'slowing down the whole damn procedure'. Sitting down on the chair next to his desk, he grumpily took off his boots and did his best to rid them of rainwater. It was then that he noticed a sheaf of parchment that was held down by a stack of books. Looking closely at the paper, he realized that the tiny, perfect letters formed a message for him.

She's sick and was vomiting. I couldn't keep her with me, her fever would've gotten worse. Sorry for the inconvenience.

-Zenakabee

Jack looked over to his spacious bed and saw that the lump huddled under his downy comforted was the 'she' that Zenakabee was pertaining to. He got up to change into different clothes – preferably dry ones – all the while shaking his head at Karyane's sleeping form.

Climbing into bed and easing under the comforter, Jack groaned slightly as his back protested from all of the pain it had endured that day. Sitting up so as to fluff his pillow a bit, Jack looked down at Karyane's now visible face.

Her cheeks had flushed crimson, her usually straight, immaculate hair now clung to her face – tangled and knotted – and her chest rose up and down quickly. Touching a hand to her forehead, Jack wasn't surprised to find that she was burning.

Karyane's eyelids slowly fluttered open, sleep fogging her green eyes as she gingerly touched the threshold of consciousness. "Jack?" she asked in a soft whisper.

"Sssh, go back to sleep, love."

"But…" she protested.

"Sleep, love, sleep. You need it," Jack told her soothingly, as his hand caressed her burning cheek gently. She shuddered slightly under his cold hand – the contrast between his near frozen hand and her burning cheek was great – and rolled over to one side.

"All right, Jack. Good night," was all that she could manage before she fell back into the alluring arms of slumber.

Waiting until he was sure that she was asleep, he murmured softly into her tangled strands of ebony hair, "Good night."

A/N: Sry for the long wait guys, but school was so hectic! Thnk God finals are over and that Winter Break is here, so I'll be able to update this fic often (every other day, hopefully). Thnx again to everyone who's reviewed! It's you guys that keep me going!