Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Pirates of the Caribbean if I did hehe the things I would make them do…
Summary: Captain Jack Sparrow is floating injured and near death on the ocean, all alone and with little hope of survival what will become of him? Will he escape this one? Set post first movie but nothing to do with the second movie.
Title: Call of a Pirate
Captain Jack Sparrow lay unmoving on the piece of wood that moved with the waves as they rolled. His leg twisted at a funny angle and blood trickled from a gash in his head. He struggled to gather his thoughts but they were fast becoming blended into one incoherent babble in his mind.
Rum. He wanted rum but there was none to be had. The pain from his leg and head came in waves like the sea, one minute it was bearable and the next he just wanted to die.
"If I roll meself off this scrap o' wood I'll drown and that'll be the end of Captain Jack Sparrow." He murmured to himself.
At first he had yelled for help but this had been reduced to a whimper when the pain had become too much. No one was coming for him, no one was going to get him out of this and all the smooth talking in the world was useless to him now.
His mind recalled the last few hours. The pirate in the crow's nest had spotted a ship in the distance and when they had neared it had looked as if it was lying low in the water indicating a lot of plunder to be had. Jack had grinned in anticipation. It had been many days since they had accosted a decent ship, the previous few only providing some food and the odd barrel of gunpowder which had made the crew restless and Jack frustrated.
The Pearl had readied her guns and prepared for battle but the other ship it seemed were ready for them and fired before they were ready. Cursing, Jack had ordered that the ship be sunk plunder an' all but the crew for once disobeyed him and had boarded without his say-so. It was a new crew he had his original crew deciding to take a few months off and enjoy themselves in Tortuga for a while and he had agreed not hearing of any particular treasure that they could go after. As soon as he did, they would return to him.
Annoyed, Jack had boarded the ship along with the crew intending to return to port and dump the lot of them with only their lives intact as soon as they were done here.
Unfortunately, things did not go his way for once and he had found himself captured and locked in the brig. The other pirates killed many but eventually found themselves outnumbered and decided to make a run for it but not after carrying out Jack's order of blowing the ship up. They knew that he was locked in the brig but they also knew his reputation for getting himself out of sticky situations and thought he'd probably get out okay.
For once, lady luck was not smiling on Jack and when the ship had blown up; he was still on board and had been thrown into the sea with the blast. His leg broken and a gash in his head, he had somehow managed to get on top a piece of the destroyed ship and lay there yelling as he watched the Pearl sail away into the distance until she was no more than a speck on the horizon.
When the ship returned to Tortuga, Gibbs and the others would be angry and probably kill them for leaving Jack but he knew they were probably only 'sticking to the code' and Jack had definitely 'fallen behind'.
When he thought about it, the ship probably would carry on plundering rather than return to Tortuga and his heart sank like the ship that had been destroyed.
"Will I see 'er again?" He wondered as his head swam in a fog of pain.
The merciless Caribbean sun beat down on him and by the end of the second day, he was so parched that he actually considered drinking the seawater but he knew that was foolish. He had seen before the madness that resulted in drinking seawater and he longed for rum.
He lay and waited for death to take him…
In Tortuga, a young pirate captain sat in a tavern drinking rum from a tankard. He watched the minor brawls and merriment that were the norm round here with a slight smile on his features. He remembered the first time he had been in this tavern and how out of place he must have seemed. That was three years ago and now he was captain of his own ship being unable to stand the boring life of a blacksmith after his travels and adventures with a certain captain of a ship with black sails.
It was because of this captain that he was here now. The reason he had left Port Royal and the reason he had worked so hard to become a pirate captain. He had assembled a good loyal crew who followed his orders without question and between them; they had plundered many ships and done fairly well for themselves.
His pirate blood had been awakened during the time he had spent with the captain of the Pearl and once it had, he could not ignore it.
Elizabeth Swann, his sweetheart, had declined to join him on his pirate travels and he had received a letter not many months ago that informed him that she had married the Commodore and was expecting their first baby.
He could not blame her really, she had been raised a lady with servants at her beck and call and although she had been wonderful when battling Barbossa's damned crew, it had not been the way she really wanted to spend her life. Even if he had remained a humble blacksmith, he doubted that she would have stayed with him really.
"Well well, young Will! It is good ta see ye here." A voice said and the pirate captain who was indeed Will Turner looked up and his face broke into a huge grin.
"Mr Gibbs! And it's Captain Will Turner." He said with a wink and the older man who laughed heartily.
"Well it seems Cap'n Jack rubbed off on ye Captain Turner." He said and bowed – or at least attempted to bow but his rum consumption would not allow this gracefully and he somehow ended up in a heap at Will's feet.
Will laughed and helped Gibbs up and into a seat opposite him.
"More rum!" He called and a busty bar wench wended her way over to them and refilled Wills mug producing another one for Gibbs.
Will passed her a silver coin and she leant over giving Will a full view of her cleavage that threatened to burst forth from its cloth confines at any second.
Will grinned at Mr Gibbs who grinned back and Will put a silver coin down the front of her dress.
"Thanking ye kindly sir." The wench said and left them to it.
Will downed some of his rum and looked at Gibbs.
"Where's Jack?"
Gibbs had been waiting for this.
"He gave us time off from sailin' for a while an' took a new crew to plunder a few ships. Nothin' bin said abou' any special treasures bu' the cap'n can't stay away from the sea. It is his first and only love – well apart from rum o' course." He said and laughed Will joining in.
"But what o' ye Will Turner? I thought you was a smithy by trade?"
"I am but Jack awakened my pirate side and once it was awake, I couldn't ignore it so I came back here and I'm captain of my own ship now."
"So ye said." Gibbs grinned. "Well cap'n Turner I guess Jack will return shortly, he's been gone three months and I think the rest o' the crew are getting' restless and wantin' ta get back to plunderin'"
"My own crew are having time off so I'll guess I'll wait for his return." Will said. In truth he was desperate to see the rogue pirate captain again though he couldn't really explain why he felt like that, he just did.
"So what are ye plannin' ta do when ya do see Cap'n Jack?" Gibbs asked intrigued after all, it had been three years since the recapture of the Pearl why was Will looking for him now?
"Well I've been looking for Jack since I first came back here six months after we defeated Barbossa." Will admitted. "But I have been unable to locate him. Every time I hear of a ship attacked by the Pearl, I was always too late to find him."
"Aye, it is still the fastest ship that sails the waters these days." Gibbs said pride in his voice at being one of its crew.
"When I do meet up with him again, I want my ship to join his and sail by its side."
Gibbs grinned.
"Commodore Jack Sparrow." He chuckled. Will laughed and imagined Commodore Norrington's face if he ever heard that phrase. That would definitely be worth seeing he thought.
A ship was at that very moment sailing into Tortuga minus its captain and it did not take long for the rumour to reach Will and Gibb's ears.
'The Black Pearl has returned.'
'Where's its cap'n?'
'No one knows.'
The whispers went on through the tavern. Will and Gibbs looked at each other in surprise.
"The Pearl is back with no Jack? What's happened?" Will asked out loud and Gibbs frowned.
"I don' like it Will, I thinks we should find out."
The two men rose and exited the tavern hurrying to the docks where they could see the Pearl docked with her sails up and pirates walking up and down the gangplank with various supplies.
Silently the two of them crept up until they were close enough and managed to grab one of the pirates and drag him behind a large pile of crates nearby.
"Scream and I'll slit your throat." Will snarled in the man's ear. He nodded and Will removed his hand from over his mouth.
"Where is Cap'n Jack?" Gibbs demanded.
"F…Fell behind." The pirate stammered and the two exchanged a look knowing what that meant.
"Tell us the whole story." Will said pressing his blade to the pirate's throat meaningfully.
The captive stammered and stuttered his way through the story. When he got to the part where the ship had been destroyed with Jack on it both Gibbs and Will gasped audibly.
"Give us the bearings of where the ship was when you blew it up." Will said pressing his blade to the pirate's throat harder and drawing blood as he did so.
Shaking in his boots, the pirate told them where it was and Will in his anger slit the man's throat and dumped him into the harbour. Gibbs looked surprised but understood.
"Ye really are a pirate Will Turner." He said but Will didn't grin.
"We'll take my ship and find him. I can't believe he's dead Gibbs."
"Aye, I'll find the rest of the crew an' we'll go find Jack." He said and the two men went off in search of the necessary pirates. It was decided that the full crews of both ships should go as after they had found Jack, they would need to find the Pearl as they knew it would not remain in Tortuga for long. When they did find it, they would need as many men as possible to take it.
Pirates assembled, they set sail in the direction of the bearings that the pirate had given them.
"Please be alive Jack." Will begged as he looked out to sea.
Miles away on his piece of wood, Captain Jack Sparrow finally lost consciousness…
TBC…
There ya go mates arr! A new ficcy for ye! This is decicated to my Yami who knows who she is heh.