Disclaimer: The Mouse owns them. The Muse owns me.
Warning: Obliquely spoilerific. Angst and implied character death.
Summary: Pre-DMC fic; a parting of the ways. 400 words, companion-fic to She Remembers. Jack/Pearl, hints of Jack/Ana; PG-13

A Debt To Be Repaid

He knew--he knew.

Didn't tell no one outright, of course. But anyone could see he weren't easy in his mind, the way he paced the Black Pearl's deck, and ran his hands over her timbers, and whispered to her.

One day we took a prize: the Sandpiper was her name, a pretty little sloop, graceful as you please and suitable for handling by one skilled sailor or a small crew. Jack came to me as I stood on her deck admiring the neat trim of her courses.

"She's yours, if you want her," he said, and I stared.

"Why?"

He shrugged. "I owe you a ship."

Which was so, but hardly an explanation. And the fathom-deep darkness in his seaward gaze brought a dreadful suspicion to my mind.

"Jack Sparrow," I said, "what's in that daft head of yours? Why you payin' off your debts so sudden?"

"There's a storm coming, Ana," he said, in tones so grave I turned to glance at the horizon; but it was clear and blue as ever, and I knew at once that weren't the sort of storm he meant. "And it's not yours to weather, love."

"I don't understand," said I, but of course I did, not all but enough at least; and I shivered, from the look he gave me and the chill of foreboding in my blood. "You want me off the Pearl, Captain?"

"A hand like you? 'Tis the last thing I want. All the same, I think 'twould be best, savvy? After all--" he spoke lightly now, though shadows still lurked in the dark pools of his eyes, and his smile didn't reach them-- "there ought to be someone left to come after me, if the worst should happen, eh?"

"An' what makes you think I would?" I countered, but we both knew the truth of it, and he smiled more real this time; it almost warmed me through.

He put that choice to all the Pearls, though mayhaps on different terms. In the end only a few men crewed with me on the Sandpiper. And at last I stood at the helm of the little sloop and watched the Pearl shrink to a dark smudge and vanish over the edge of the world.

I think I knew myself, then, what was to come.

Blasted fool never gave me a chance to make good on my word.