Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Bag
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Chapter 5: Ways to Make the Time Fly
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After popping some morning after pills Poppins had supplied me with, I was walking around the ship with Gibbs. The lovable old fart was explaining the ship to me. The sails were up for the light breeze, but that's all there was. A light breeze.
"An' those three sails?" he pointed at some sails at the bow, "The farthest one be the Flying Jibb. Middle one is called the Jibb and the one closest ta us be the Fore Stay Sail." I nodded to show I was listening. I had actually asked Gibbs to teach me, I had better pay attention, "Those three sails are connected to the fore mast and the bow sprit. Now on the fore mast, ye have the fore sail and the fore top sail. Same with the mast." He pointed behind us. "Main sail and the top sail. The bit o' wood that holds up the top sails are called yards, aye?"
"Aye," I felt a little silly saying that, but oh well,
"Now ye always have to be careful of these bits o' wood." Gibbs pointed directly above us, "These are called the booms. There are two of 'em. If yer not careful, they'll be the last thing you see before getting smacked into the sea." He chuckled, "Aside from that, the bottom front of a ship is called the hull and the bottom is called the keel." We walked towards the wheel, "These are the shrouds," he nodded at a couple of the crew members who sat by some intense looking rigging. He pointed ahead of us, "That be the quarter deck and below is the rudder. Ye got all this lass?" I nodded,
"Thanks Mr. Gibbs," and I trotted off. I sat in the shadow of the fore mast with the Poppins bag. "I feel weird,"
"I wonder why." Drawled the bag. I glared,
"Shove it. It feels weird being the only one without weapons. I feel like… a defenseless damsel."
"Not a good feeling, I'm guessing," Poppins said. I nodded,
"Defiantly not a good feeling, especially since when we rescue Elizabeth," I spat her name out rather venomously, "I don't want to be in need of saving."
"Ah," was Poppins only response.
"Well?" I asked impatiently after a few moments, "Aren't you gonna give me something?" The bag snorted,
"You didn't ask Princess,"
"Don't," I warned, "Ever call me that. Ever."
"Alright, alright," the bag surrendered, "What do you want?" I thought for a few minutes before saying,
"Well, everyone has a cutlass and I don't really know how to use that. I only do crazy Asian shit. Ummmmmm," I looked up and instantly regretted it. Not only was there hardly any wind, but there wasn't any clouds either. So an eyeful of sunshine for me! "I want my sai." I finally said, "I want a pair of sai knives,"
I've been enrolled in seven different martial arts throughout my entire life. Tae Kwon Do was first, strictly because my mother is Korean. I was four. The youngest you could be to start. At age eight, I was a second degree black belt. Getting a black belt is easy enough. There were nine colored belts I had to go through and to achieve the next color; I had to take two tests. Each test took place once a month. It took me two years and two months to be a black belt and two more years to become a second degree.
My father, who by that time had really gotten into the whole martial arts scene, took me to his buddy who taught Karate. I spent some time doing that and dear old dad wouldn't let me quit until I was a black belt. That was a four year process and in the middle of that, Kung Fu had caught my attention. I did about five years of that, learning some weapon handling. I took kendo for a year or two and then seven months of grueling aikido and jujitsu training. Those two were more so based on chokes and trips and pressure points so I learned rather quickly. By then, I was fifteen and up until the death of my parents the previous year, I had been home schooled. Now it was off to high school. I was awkward and socially inept and ended up working crew in all the theatre productions and being in the choir. I graduated early, thanks to mom, at the tender age of seventeen. I didn't have the time or money to enroll in a college, so I took online courses from Yahoo! Advertisements. Muay Thai was the last and hardest martial art I had done. It was developed in Thailand and there are no pads or protective gear used. You basically tried to disable your opponent's ways to injure you. You would attack the knee, the shin, the ankle, anything to keep them from being able to attack you. I had broken plenty of bones during the year and a half I had spent doing that. When I had thought back and remembered all of this, I grew disgusted. Ugh, how Mary-Sueish of me to be able to do all these things.
I sighed and popped open the bag and pulled out two sleek sai knives. I smiled. It felt good to have the familiar weight in my hands. Standing, I gave them a little twirl around my fingers. The blades gleamed in the sunlight,
"Planning on using those?" Anna-Maria asked. I turned to look at her. There was a grin on her face, her hand on her hip and a cutlass in her hand.
"If I find a worthy opponent," I replied coyly, but the smile on my face was anything but humble. I was good, I knew it and I wasn't afraid to flaunt it.
"Then I challenge ye." She announced stridently,
"And I accept," I replied just as loud. It was all in good fun, we both knew that. We also knew that the moment our blades touched, we would have to fight as though we were going to kill each other. After all, that was what made it fun. She struck out like a cobra and I only had a second to parry. I had never fought someone who used a cutlass before and this was certainly turning into a learning experience. The benefit to my sai, though, was I could attack close range. Once I got Anna-Maria into my range, we were too close together for her to attack. Unexpectedly, she sent a punch to my jaw that had me stumbling back. I felt a familiar tangy, rust-like flavor in my mouth; I had bitten my cheek. I wiped the blood off with the back of my hand and spit on the deck.
"Well, if that's the way you want to play," I murmured before throwing one of my sai at her face. Anna-Maria spun to the side and swiped downward as I made a run for my lost knife. I blocked and swung her cutlass down in an arch, causing her to slide into the fore mast. I snatched my sai just in time to do a cross block, preventing Anna-Maria from splitting my head open like a watermelon. I slipped down into the splits and scissor kicked her ankles. She fell on her rear and I kicked the cutlass out of her hand.
"Do you yield?" she grinned up at me,
"Aye," and I helped her up. We weren't breathing that hard and we were barely sweating. It was only a warm up.
"Anyone next?" Several of the crew members laughed, "Will?" I smirked at him. He shrugged, but there was a smile on his face. He drew his sword and I tensed. He was more of the professional fighter, as opposed to Anna-Maria's street style. I inhaled deeply through my nose to prevent getting a cramp before I lunged at him. We were off in a din of metal clashing and heavy breathing. His moves were a little more predictable then Anna-Maria's and his blows didn't seem as hard as they could've been,
"Aw, c'mon Will," I slipped under his defense, "Have a little fun. I can take it like a man," he grinned back and parried my thrust. I caught his blade in the curved handles of my sai. Before he could make any attempt to stab me (the only fault of catching the blade) I swung my leg up and hooked the back of my knee over his wrist and I pulled down with all my weight. We both went to the floor and by the time he grabbed his sword and was up, I made a swift hand stand, hitting him below the chin with my boots. I flipped into an upright position and spun into a hook kick, catching his neck with my knee. Breathing harshly, I watched as he rolled to break his fall. I ran and jumped, tackling so he'd stay down.
"Do you yield?" I panted, my sai crossed at his throat.
"Yes," he breathed, seeing that he couldn't nod. We helped each other to our feet.
"Ahhhh, I'm done for the day," I leaned against the mast,
"I'm sure ye got one more in ye pet," Looking up, I groaned. Jack stood with his cutlass andcoat off due to the heat.
"I honestly don't feel like it," I grumbled,
"And I honestly feel like making ye sweat a little more love," he grinned gold at me and I glared. He was trying to get me riled up. I didn't take the bait.
"That's nice." The crew looked on at our banter and seemed to share a secret smile between them. I felt cold metal caress my cheek,
"May I have this dance?" Jack's grin was cocky and suave and dripping with over-confidence. I batted away his sword with my own blade and began an onslaught of more complicated techniques. He moved like liquid; histechnique far more unpredictable then Anna-Maria's. One moment he'd be on the offense, the next, sliding into defense, nearly catching me off guard. I presented him with a well aimed kick to the shoulder. In one liquid motion he bowed down beneath my leg and delivered a swift jab to my side that I awkwardly blocked. That threw me off balance and I rolled to the railing, popping up and grabbing on to a random rope,
"No!" I heard someone shout as I hacked the rope away. I flew up and kicked Jack in the face. He went reeling into the mast and I landed heavily on the upper deck by the wheel.
"Had enough Jack?" I taunted,
"Haven't even started love," and he grabbed another rope, cut and swung up and over my head. Landing behind me, I bent over backwards and cross blocked his blow. The shock sent tremors through my body and I snarled, coming back up and swinging around and nicking him on the cheek before he jerked back. He took the offensive and almost lazily delivered blows, forcing me to walk down the stairs. I threw one sai in the air and snaked my empty hand through his defense to jab him in the shoulder. My other hand expertly flipped the sai around so that I held the blade. Catching the other sai onto the curved handle I swung the hooked blades over my head to gather momentum and with the flick of the wrist, sent one sai straight to his face. Jack dropped down and I laughed when my sai pierced his hat.
"Bugger." I heard him say before attacking me with more force. I was left with one sai knife to defend and attack but my arm was getting sore and tired. Jack didn't have to fight Anna-Maria and Will and then fight the best of the three. Dammit. I gritted my teeth and sprang, attempting to stab him. Pulling himself forward, Jack used his wrist to force my arm in an awkward direction. Hissing, I had to let go, lest my arm be broken. My last defense fell and skidded a bit before becoming still. Left to use my hands, I did some quick steps learned from Muay Thai, aiming for Jack's shins and knees. I was successful only a few times due to the fact that he had a blade to defend himself against my flesh attacks. I felt something hard against my back.
Shit, I had let myself get cornered in my anger and now the cool steel touched my throat. Jack's eyes were filled with amusement as the tip of the blade slid down, softly tearing through the fabric.
"Do you yield?" he asked, that stupid grin on his face. I inched towards him, up the blade, the shocking metal sliding against my stomach. He raised an eyebrow as my right hand fluttered to his chest. My fingers skimmed down and with a sudden tug, I had his pistol in his face.
"Not a chance,"
"Who's the winner?" someone asked. I let out a little sigh. I had completely forgotten about the crew.
"Aye, a fair question," Anna-Maria nodded sagely,
"T'would be the both of 'em," Gibbs announced proudly, "Seeing that she could pull the trigger and he could just move an inch." Jack slowly lowered his sword and I followed at the same pace.
"Lovely shirt you have there pet," Jack flashed gold and pearl. I stuck my tongue out, "Best put that away if ye won't be using it." He gave me a roguish wink. I scowled. I had definitely walked into that one.
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A few hours later, Jack and I sat alone up on deck. The crew was below seeing that the first shift went to the captain. I had made Will change the sheets.
"Do you enjoy being a pirate?" I asked, looking up from my bottle of root beer. I didn't feel like drinking the rum Jack had offered. He nodded with a smirk.
"Ye'd be daft to even consider asking." I studied him from the starlight,
"Is there a woman?" I took a swig,
"What do you mean?" he looked at me cautiously. I rolled my eyes,
"You know exactly what I mean. Was it that brunette back in Tortuga?" I was referring to the pretty girl with chestnut ringlets that seemed to glow in the candle light… He shook his dreadlocked head,
"No, nothing of the sort pet. I can't have a woman tying me down to land." And from what I could see, a dreamy look passed into his eyes.
"Hnh. But that doesn't mean you couldn't have a lady love." It was his turn to roll his eyes.
"Ol'Jack's not too fond of commitment, savvy?" I nodded as he downed some more rum.
"So I take it you don't like marriage?" I propped my chin up on my hand. Jack looked at me, shocked for a moment before saying.
"Nooooooo. No, no, no, no, no, no, no." Jack shook his head, waving his hands about wildly, "I love women too much to get married. You see pet, if I'd get married, I'd love woman." I sniggered into my bottle. "And I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to do that." I was about to ask, Then what are you ready to do? But I stopped myself from falling into that one.
"How old are you Jack?" I asked, changing the subject. He raised an eyebrow,
"I'm not quite sure ye'll still fancy me if I tell ye," His long finger traced the mouth of his bottle. I snorted.
"I doubt anything would shock me now,"
"Forty-four," I sprayed root beer everywhere,
"Excuse me?" He shrugged as I wiped my face on my sleeve. Jack didn't say anything, "Damn," I whispered.
"Sorry if I disappointed ye love," He grinned. I shook my head,
"No, no. It's alright. You know what they say. Wine is far better aged. Or something like that." He laughed and it was then that I thought how much his voice sounded like the waves.
"And yerself?" He leaned towards me on his elbows, "How old are you Ashlyn?" I raised both my eyebrows. I couldn't recall the last time he actually had called me by my name,
"I'm nineteen. I'll be twenty on the seventh of May." Jack nodded,
"In a few weeks then." I looked up,
"What day is it?"
"The sixteenth of April." And we lapsed into silence.
"Oh, Jack," I said suddenly.
"Yes love?" his voice was calm and quiet, like the sea before a storm. A bit out of character if you ask me.
"Why did you let me come?"
"Do you regret it?" I smiled and I almost thought he looked a bit sad in the darkness,
"Not yet."
The silence stretched on and I didn't bother telling him that he hadn't answered my question yet. As we sat together, I realized that I never could've stayed angry at this man who so casually relocated my knee for me the first time we met. His suggestive remarks and quirky looks and a voice that sounded like the waves would've eventually won me over. Eventually. I stared out into the inky blackness, not able to tell where the sea ended or where the sky began. Eventually, I'd have to return home. I would have to leave all this behind and sink back into the cycle of normalcy, something I wasn't looking forward to. I would miss my boyish lover, the sarcastic misfit daughter, the superstitious old fart and the pirate captain who would never love anything more then the sea and his Black Pearl. I sighed.
"Something bothering you love?" He opened his arms a bit and I saw that as an invitation to crawl over. "Anything ol'Jack can fix?" I could feel him leering at me and I resisted the temptation to happily remove his most prized possession. Instead, I thumped him on the chest. Once I was comfortable in his arms, I shook my head.
"Just thoughts of the future." I closed my eyes,
"Aye?"
"Yeah. Just," I yawned a bit, "Just remembering that I'll have to go back," I snuggled closer, inhaling his scent. It was practically what I had expected it to be. Rum. But beneath the alcohol, I could smell the Caribbean sun and the spray of the sea and I felt like I was home. I mentally shook my head at the thought. Jack? Home? HA. That'd be something to laugh about in the morning.
"It's late." He pulled me up,
"Well then there was no point in having me dozing off in your arms," I replied a bit snarkishly.
"Aye there was."
"And what was that?" my eyes narrowed suspiciously as we walked down to the Captain's cabin,
"Now all I have to do think of the noises ye made and you in my arms and I can imagine what ye did with young William." I glared at him indignantly,
"Pig," I snapped,
"Pirate," he explained before waltzing off to go wake up Anna-Maria for her shift. I went inside and requested a chemise and another change of underwear from Poppins.
"God, how many times can you change your underwear?" Poppins asked exasperatedly.
"Well I don't have the time to bathe," I sniffed, "So I'll change to feel clean." If the bag had eyes, I swear it would have rolled them. I slipped between the sheets and shut my eyes just as Jack came in. I heard him remove his effects and boots and hat and such but he didn't come to bed. I cracked open and eye and watched as he inspected a map on one wall. Mumbling to himself, Jack pointed and poked a bit at the parchment.
"I know you're awake love," And I buried myself in the soft fabric, falling asleep to his amused chuckles.
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Oh goodness. Thanks to all of my reviewers. I wanted this chapter to be longer but… errrrrr… How frustrating. If it's not too much trouble, please tell me when Jack seems out of character. I hate writing and not realizing any character mistakes.
Thank you.
Reviews love. Love makes the Author feel good and write more.
