(A/N – Oi! Oh! Let's go! LoL… Man, this sucks. I love being student director, but I have absolutely no – time at all anymore. Well, now I do since the shows are over. It's so sad, though. Only downside. I can't wait til next year. If you'd all like to see pictures from the musical and what we've all done, go to and type'CAHSWiz06' in the search box. I still have the performance and cast party pics to put up, too, so check back for those! And for the pictures I take during everyday life, type 'BlackGrace' in the search box. I love you guys! Last few days were awesome and I love all my musical ppl forever!)
Free as a bird, Reviewers!
x) Sentinel Sparrow - No one's gonna die... LoL. But it would add a rather interesting twist... I'm just kidding! Jerry the doorman is fine! He's okay! Haha.. I really hope you like this chapter because there is a huge twist at the bottom (without killing someone)! Thanks for the review and I hope you really enjoy the chapter. It's a nice long one - four more pages than I usually write!
x) Norma Jean - Well tell your best friend she's awesome! LoL. Sadly yes, this story has taken over a year to write mainly because for the summer months I neglected this to work and I lost time with musical, so all in all, it was worth the wait I think. And yes, huzzah for the Steelers because THEY ROCK. LoL. OUT LOUD. I love it! Well, the next chapter is here, and I'm so excited that I shan't keep you waiting! Thanks for reviewing and enjoy this mucho mucho!
x) wayunlucky13 - I have updated! big fire and drums while in pose Bwaha! LoL. Yes, Norry needs to have some fun, too. I swear that guy never got out in life... but I'm so very glad you liked it and happy very belated birthday, haha! Thanks for reviewing and enjoy this wonderfully long enstallment
x) Kenny - Dude, your turn, lol. By the way, I have a fictionpress, too! Same name, so kudos to us! LoL. Man, I am so excited and sad! This is done and over with after the next two posts, but I get to start on a whole other realm of writing since I'll be posting my LotR story after I write another chapter or two for it. I'd like to have fifteen before I start posting, but I'm only starting thirteen now. But it's okay! Now that musical's over, I have so much time, I don't know what to do with myself, hence the lengthy chapter, haha! Enjoy it and thanks!
.: It's the next best thing to be. :.
CLE – "My Immortal" by EvanescenceWhoa man! Disclaimer…
Hoo doggie! Claimer!
The biggest and next-to-last chapter, guys! I hope you really like it!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: "Ceremony?"
- Lindsay's PoV (still) -
I stared back at Norrington, the crazy buttwad.
"You're right," I said. "But I didn't steal it. We gave it to you in the first place to borrow, so I'm allowed to take it back. We gave you power, and we can take it away (yay, Aladdin, lol)!"
Everything in the background played on as Norrington and I stared at one another for a long minute. I thought we were having a staring contest until he sighed and rolled his eyes like he was asking God for strength not to kill me on the spot.
"Fine," he said. "But you know risks and what will happen."
"I've got two weeks," I said stubbornly. "You just used it this morning."
"There is no speaking to you, is there?" he asked.
"Not really," I said. "Selective hearing is one of my better qualities."
"It suits you," Norrington said sarcastically, not looking at me.
"I take that as a compliment," I said. "Thank you."
He didn't answer me. We began to walk back over to the others where I could see Ana and Jack had finally been found. Erica walked up to me immediately and pulled me aside.
"What was all that about?" she asked.
"Nothing," I said quietly. I looked over at Norrington as I pocketed the ruby, and Erica nodded. She got the idea. "So, what now?"
"We go home, I guess," she said. "And since they will be leaving, how about back to where it all began?"
I smiled at her grimly. We both didn't want to be on the subject. Eventually I nodded and sighed.
"Makes sense," I said.
- Around 6 AM -
The sun wasn't up yet.
But we sure as heck were wide-awake.
It was a silent ride home as we each dreaded the coming of another goodbye – but this one was so final and definite. It was like they were dying or something. I knew there were a few things on everyone's mind: the time was inching closer by the second as we rushed home on the highway, how each of us were going to say our goodbyes, and how we would actually take it. I was already getting teary-eyed thinking about it. It was so depressing.
I looked around the limo. Norrington was sitting up straight like it was all formal and everything. Next to him was Stewie who was staring at the floor blankly, and Kourey and Thomas were nodding off. Will was next to him looking out the window with a disgruntled look on his face and a fist jammed under his chin. To my left, Erica was looking around, too. We smiled at each other but didn't go into conversation. On my right, Paige was mimicking Stewie's blank stare beyond the limits of the floor, Elizabeth was playing with her hands, and Jack and Ana were sleeping. The silence was peaceful for some reason; like it was a period of resolution. The finality of it all wasn't going to sink in for a while, but then again, never did the reality of it quite set in yet…
I didn't want this. I know people say it's better to have loved and lost than never loved at all, but right now I feel like telling those people to shove it. I'm sorry, but I'm sad. Do you like people saying clever little phrases to you when you're on an emotional rampage? No. Me neither. But I will miss them so much. More than they'll ever know. And it's not like we can ever catch up someday at a reunion unless there are more magic rubies floating around the Caribbean.
Boy, wouldn't it be awesome if there were…
But there's not. So we don't got to worry 'bout that.
But then again…
Then again what?
If the rubies are like the medallions and were split up and circulated…
No. No more rubies.
But it's still a very interesting thought…
Eh, true. Can't argue with that.
"Am I to go anywhere else before I return you to the Arvin residence?" The chauffer made us jump back into consciousness, but Kourey went right back to falling asleep. We looked around at each other, and I met eyes with Erica again. She bit her lip in thought before looking over at me and then back at the driver.
"I think we'd like to make one more stop," she said.
- Erica's PoV – 30 minutes later -
We drove passed Lindsay's Dad's house and down to the lower truck-loading gates of the Anchor Hocking Glass Plant just down the road a few turns. The man stopped with a questioning look at us as we filed out. Lindsay and Stewie knew what was going on, but as for the others, they were as clueless and confused as the driver. Once I was out, I made him lower the window on the passanger side so I could talk to him.
"Thanks for the lift," I said. "You'll be sending the bill, right?"
"Yes," he said still looking at me strangely. "It will arrive in a few short days."
"Not too short now," Lindsay laughed from next to me. I laughed with her as we stood up and waved to the limo as it drove off over the rough dirt/ rock road (if you want to call it a road… it's more like a path…). From there, Stewie, Lindsay, and I took the lead in guiding the other eight to our place – That Place. Over terrible terrain and railroad tracks and a forbidden and old rickety railroad bridge we went. We all nervously made our way over the rotting wooden bridge that's over a hundred years old, and that took about twenty minutes alone. Once on the other side, everyone freaked out and congratulated each other on surviving the crossing.
"Calm down, Elizabeth," Jack said. "You act like you're wearing another corset."
"I might as well be," she said, staring back at the bridge angrily before her expression became very exhausted. "Oh, I don't think I'll be able to go back over that," she moaned.
"You won't have to worry about that," I said quietly as she continued to go down the soft, moist dirt bank. The others followed in silence to wherever we were leading them, but there weren't too happy about what I just said, I'll bet you anything.
At the bottom of the bank, we walked next to the river around a short bend until we saw an old building with equally old orange and rusted metal gates in front of us. The gates we still locked, but we just walked around them. In front of us was a nice patch of dirt/ mud/ rock/ tree roots and then the old abandoned water plant stood there. The right side of the building's roof had caved in were gold leaves covered in snow had filled the old rooms were the brick walls still stood. The plant itself was relatively small, but inside it was bigger. It was right next to the river, which made sense. The whole place had dirt and dead leaves strewn through it with patch of snow where the roof was missing. We slipped through the broken door that leaned on the building even though it was clearly labeled not to. But that was seventy years ago. Even though it's still dangerous, we went in. Everyone stood around in surprise.
"You brought us here?" Paige asked skeptically as we walked around two huge (and empty) water-purifying tanks. We walked up the metal staircase to the wooden deck in between them where candle wax and cards were everywhere for past visits in the middle of the night.
"Sure we did," Stewie said. "This place is awesome!"
"It's a bit dirty, too," Norrington commented.
"Well it's old and decrepit," Lindsay said. "And abandoned. What do you want for lower-middle class kids? A palace with safety harnesses and helmets?"
Norrington stayed quiet as I smiled. I walked to the back of the platform and went into another room that was much larger and more open. I climbed up onto a metal plank without a rail and walked steadily over to a knocked-out window that faced the collapsed part of the building. I sat down, and Stewie followed suit, her legs swinging fifteen feet above the ground below. We sat there as the rest of them moved around the hollow remains of the water plant.
"Hey Stewart," I sighed with a grim smile. She returned it sadly, looking at the others as they explored our little haven of destruction for what seemed to be miles below us. Everything seemed slow motion again like it did at the wedding. But I had survived that, so maybe I could survive this, too. Just maybe.
"I don't want to say goodbye," she said quietly. She looked over at Jack and Elizabeth who were moving into the white room. She was on the verge of crying, and I swear if she did it now I was going to start, too. I threw my arm around her and rubbed her shoulder as I heaved a great sigh.
"Things just keep getting better, huh?" I said as if it were truth.
Stewie looked at me and gave a short outburst of laughter before wiping her eyes and smearing her black eyeliner. "Things are always getting better," she said, agreeing to my sarcastic statement.
"Yep," I nodded.
"Yep."
We looked back down and behind us. We could hear them in the white room, so we got up and went back down into the other room, onto the wooden deck, down the stairs, and over the white room. It had white pieces of wall that all of its visitors had signed and defaced with profanity and that. Lindsay had climbed up the short ladder the bedroom, as we liked to call it; it was about four feet high and seven feet off the ground on a big solid platform of wood. In the corner near the doorway was a basket where we left messages every time we came. We'd write down all the memories we'd have in one day in leave them in the small rusting wire basket on the wall, and I saw Lindsay, Paige, Kourey, and Thomas leafing through them when Stewie and I joined them.
"This is so cool," Kourey said. "I'm so glad I finally got to come here."
"So are we," Lindsay said. "We have a short history hear, but the memories are liquid."
"Liquid?" Kourey asked.
"Yeah. They fill any time span. And no matter how many there are, even if the history is overflowing with them, we still hold them close so they don't slip away."
"Because if they did," I added, "we'd never remember them again. They'd be gone forever and only the moment would bring it back. That's also why we keep track of them. So one day we can come back and laugh and remember them all since every single one is precious and special."
Kourey nodded in understanding. He looked over at Will who was standing in front of the broken window facing the river. Jack was under our platform doing something while Ana, Elizabeth, and Norrington read the walls in silence and disgust.
"Awful language," Elizabeth commented.
"Pirate talk!" Jack interjected, coming out from under the platform. "Some of these men I'd put on me crew just for the way they speak! This one I'd have as first mate." He pointed sharply at a name that had appeared numerously in the room and walked on as Elizabeth screwed up her face again.
"I'm sure you would."
"Excuse me, ladies," Will said, turning around now. "But could you tell us why you've brought us here?"
"Aye!" Jack said loudly. "Why are we here?"
"To spend a day with us," I said, getting up and moving to the ledge of the platform. "The last day you'll spend with us."
A wave swept over that room in that instant. Everyone was knocked over by it. But they knew it was coming. Lindsay and Stewie sighed and looked at the floor as the others watched me jump off of the platform. Will, Jack, and Anamaria were quiet, Elizabeth's mouth hung open slightly, Thomas and Paige were trying to find something to say. Norrington shot Lindsay a look but she shot back, and he let down for a moment as I continued to talk.
"I'm sure now is the only time will be the easiest to say goodbye," I said. "Of course it'll never be easy, but right now the string seems to be the thinnest, so we cut it now and let our ends fall."
"Now?" Thomas asked. "Right now?"
"Tonight," Lindsay said. "At eleven o'clock. The same time we all first met and our worlds came together." I nodded in Thomas's direction to confirm it.
"It was then that we were brought together, and it will be then that we part," I said quietly. "It's only appropriate. We're going to stay here today because we can remain undisturbed until nighttime when we will start our little goodbye ceremony thing."
"Ceremony?" Norrington asked with some amusement present in his voice. "Here?"
"Yep," I said. "Candles, special items exchanged, singing…"
"That's no ceremony," he said. "That's just some… some hubbub or whatnot…"
"No," Lindsay said. "Ceremony is our fancy way of throwing a party. It's a little more calmer than our other get-togethers, but still a party it is."
"I will attend no party of yours," Norrington said sourly.
"Then you will not return to Port Royal," Lindsay said, taking out the ruby and shaking it front of him. His face twisted more as he silently agreed to join us as he leaned against the wall in frustration. Lindsay put the ruby back in her dress with a satisfied smile.
"Party? With rum?" asked Jack hopefully. Us teenagers laughed.
"If you can find it," Lindsay said. "There's supposed to be some stashed around here somewhere, but we've never found it. Our stash is somewhere else. I'll go get it."
"Today we feast and party and sing yo ho!" I shouted happily. "Huzzah!" And like good little pirate friends, they all shouted back with a hearty "HUZZAH!"
- 10:45 PM – The Remains of The Last Hour -
All day we were in and around That Place reminiscing and laughing and eating and singing yo ho so much we were singing it subconsciously and could still hear it echoing throughout the place. Norrington was a party pooper most of the time until it got dark and we started setting up for the ceremony party of the party. He said that if we wanted it to be half decent, we'd need his help, so we let him help and suggest, but we didn't listen to him, haha.
We told Elizabeth about her father being found, and that really made her happy and anxious to go home. She helped us set up a circle of candles on the wooden deck, and we sat a tall white one in the center. In the ring of candles we all sat, surrounding the large white one. On either side of the white candle was a tall, thin blue one not lit yet.
This was how we began our ceremony.
"Friends, we are here to honor the friendships that withstood four centuries of differences and a lot of nonsense," I said in a very serious voice. "Tonight we close the gap but keep the friendships between Pirates and Littles. Will the Pirates please lift their candle."
Jack leaned forward, taking one of the blue candles. I nodded and continued.
"Will the Littles please lift their candle."
Stewie picked up the other blue candle and held it.
"Now, both of you will take from the center candle the light necessary to keep the memories of one another brilliant and undying."
Jack and Stewie put their candlewicks together and lowered them into the flame of the white candle. A second later they lifted them and pulled them apart, a flame shining brightly on each of their blue candlesticks.
"Please bind your memories as we recite the Code of the Last Hour."
Jack and Jess linked their arms over the white candle as I spoke.
"Memories are now bound forever, they will withstand the test of time; no matter what changes in our lives, we will always remember this rhyme; the hours we shared will remain untouched, the laughter we shared will sound forever; time is not our keeper, so long as our hearts are with each other."
They unlinked their arms. Now came the best part.
NOT.
I gave a heavy sigh.
"Let us rise."
We all stood slowly, tears shining on most of the faces the candlelight reached. I went on.
"Now that our memories are secure and our pledge has been honored to withstand time, we must close the gap with the Ruby of Passage (yeah, we gave it a title… it deserved one…). Pirates please step to the right and Littles to the left according to your time of origin."
Jack, Will, Elizabeth, Ana, Norrington (who did not like being clissifed as a Pirate), Thomas, and Paige stepped to the right, and Lindsay, Stewie, and I stepped to the left. Kourey stepped aside and watched, intrigued by it all.
"Now we say goodbye," I said emotionally. My throat got tight as I spoke and my eyes began to well up. I sniffed once before we exchanged our last hugs and best wishes.
"Tell your father we said hello," Lindsay told Elizabeth as they hugged.
Will was just holding Stewie as she cried all over him, and I hugged Jack for the last time, taking in all of his scent so that I'd never forget it the moment we embraced.
"I'll miss you so much," I said immediately.
"Me, too, lassie," he said. "Just remember who ye are."
I nodded in his shoulder and sniffed again. He held me away from him and looked me over proudly, and I smiled ear to ear with tears still running down my face. I wiped them away, though, and Jack tugged on the wooden tooth around my neck with a wink. I giggled.
"Don't ye ever forget."
"I won't," I said. "Take care of Paige, too."
Jack smiled fondly over at her. I smiled, too. So that's how Jack looks at me… He looked back over at me and nodded.
"She'll be a damn good'n on the ocean once I retire," he said. "And maybe I'll get Arielle te be her first mate someday. Ye think that'll go over well with Elizabeth?"
I laughed. "I don't know," I said honestly. "Just take care of yourself, Jack Sparrow. If I look you up in a history book, I want to see that you scared the hell out of everyone and lived to be a hundred and twenty."
"Oh, much longer than that, luv, much longer than that!"
I laughed with him again.
"Good luck to you and Ana," I said. He didn't reply for a minute but looked at me in bewilderment. I was getting scared he was still mad, but what he said changed my mind.
"Ye know, Isabelle was a darling young woman. Make sure that if she doesn't get to come visit us in the Caribbean sometime that she marries a very fine gentlemen with a pirate's smile."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," I said.
"Good."
At that, we returned to our separate sides of the white candle in semicircles inside the ring of other candles. Everyone was wiping their eyes who had been crying, and I looked at my indiglo watch.
One minute.
I swallowed hard and looked at Lindsay and Jessica.
Here it goes.
"We will now go our separate ways physically but never emotionally or mentally," I said. "Little Bloody Jane Swann, the Ruby of Passage, please."
Lindsay took the ruby from her dress and handed it to Jack silently. He gripped it so hard I thought he might break it considering how small it had become. I stared at his hand a moment before continuing.
"Pirates, please link arms and stand together."
They did so.
"Now we part," I said. "In three counts, may this gap close and…"
Damn, this was so hard…
"…and never be opened again," I choked out. "Pirates, please count."
We all shut our eyes, not wanting to see them go.
"One-"
"Two-"
"Three."
When they counted one, I felt a huge force pulling my insides tightly and painfully. Then when I heard two, I was confused. I shouldn't be hearing them count passed one because two means they're traveling! And the pain was making me sick now. My head was pounding and my chest was tight and I couldn't breath or hear anything properly. Memories of the past year and a half were flying through my head faster than I could think to keep up accompanied by snippets of words and laughter and yelling from all the things we had done together.
"We're gonna have so much fun this summer…"PUMF
"Who are these people!""Captain Jack Sparrow…"
"Maybe we'll wake up and this'll be a dream..."
"What! No rum!"
"Don't attack the squirrel!"
"Yo ho! Yo ho! A pirate's life for me!"
BOINK"REVENGE!"
"Then, the squirrel smiled menacingly, as if to sing the Little Mermaid theme song.,."
"I wish I could just flush you!"
"That grody thing! He told me he had a Viper!""Pirate... yeah, right..."
"Can I have an autograph?"
"Orlando Bloom!"
"Abandon ship!"
"It's Bennington, not Norrington..."
"The ruby…"
"Dungbie equals butt! THEY'RE SYNONYMS!"
"Jonah and the Whale..."
"Very funny, Elizabeth…"
"Story? As in bedtime?"
"Gleeglespaw…""There's no suckin' happenin'!"
"This isn't Gilligan's Island!"
"Murtogg and Mullroy…"
"You knew Bootstrap Bill?"
SMACK!
"I changed my name…"
"We're immortal…"
"Don't make me shoot ye..."
"Hypothetically of course…"
"That'd be my ship…"
"Little Sparrow…"
"I tipped the rowboat…"
"Nobody's coming…"
"Little Swann…"
"That's not the plan…"
"Little Turner…"
"Shminky?"
"Please… you can't…"
"He… he has none…"
"You know, I believe a Letter of Marque should be in order here…""Don't you miss home, Stewy?"
"Missed ye, Grace…"
"Evil French gits…"
"This is hopeless…"
"Can I help you?"
"Captain Jack Sparrow at your service…"
"Oh, just do it…"
"The decorations are not the only beautiful things here tonight…"
"Jack just proposed to me…"
"We can try to split them up…"
"Turn on the radio!"
"We love you, too, Noah…"
"Crazy is our specialty…"
"We're goin' DOWN DOWN in an earlier round-!"
"One…"
"It's too overrun with the other crew!"
"Come on, guys!"
"Two…"
"That's your purse?"
"Change… isn't always bad, darling…"
"One… two…"
"What about the code?"
"Get behind Marietta!"
"Since when do pirates fall in love?"
"One…"
""How was that for a diversion?"
"Two…"
"Some party, huh?"
"ELIZABOTH!"
"Don't ye ever forget…"
"Three."
"I won't…"
And when I heard three, all the pain stopped. But I was so exhausted, I just collapsed into darkness, no memory of even hitting the floor. All I remember was falling.
X X X
Then I came to sometime later. I had a terrible headache. I must have hit my head hard or maybe someone found us and I'm at the hospital…
Oh, did Jack and the others get back?
What about Lindsay and Stewie?
"Oh, my head…"
I sat up slowly and painfully with my eyes still shut. The smell of my surroundings was familiar, but it wasn't of the water plant. I was sitting on something soft, and I was comfortable. I felt a blanket over my legs and I was a bit flush; I could feel it in my face. I took a few deep breaths and felt someone move next to me. I turned my head and opened my eyes, and the other person did the same.
I flipped out.
And so did Lindsay.
We screamed before we did anything else.
There she was in front of me wearing her glasses the same way she used to when we first met three years ago. Her hair was brown – no other shade of purple or orangey-brown as it was before. She wasn't wearing black, either! She was wearing her old plaid pajama bottoms and grey tank top. She looked a lot younger, and then I looked at myself.
My hair was dark brown again. I didn't have one highlight at all in it. My hands looked smaller, and my hair was shorter without layers. I was wearing pajamas, too, and then Lindsay and I both made the observation that we were more flat chested than when we were knocked out. All over we were younger!
Then we looked around. We were in her Grandma's living room! On the old air mattress! We looked up at the clock on the wall in panic – it read 8:57 PM. Bowls of food surrounded us along with movies, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets just finishing up on the television. Then we stared at each other in disbelief.
No – way.
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GASP…
Well, the next chapter is the last, everyone, but there's an epilogue, too! And don't worry… I will be writing little things about us aside from this. It'll be like fan fiction for my own fan fiction! LoL. I love you all so much! Jack, too!
Please Review!