The Broken World
The day passed swiftly after the girls awoke with splitting headaches. Despite their complaints, they were quickly put to work by Jack, who insisted that they must clean off the Navy scum left on the deck. Confused (as usual) they looked around for some sign of the aforesaid scum.
"But Jack, it's sparkling clean!" Li cried incredulously.
"Exactly!" The nefarious Captain said, handing a bucket and a mop to each girl while a silently brooding Will minded the helm. "You must make it nice, dirty and piratey!" They looked at the water in the buckets. It seemed clean enough.
"Whatever, Jack." Li sighed.
"You scare us." Arlen added, shaking her head as they walked off to start at the stern where they could be alone.
Concentrating is not generally something those two girls do for long, and after a few minutes of mopping, at which point they crossed paths since they had started at opposite sides, their concentration began to wane. Arlen mopped viciously towards Liash. The mop hit her in the ankle, and got her pants wet. She looked up, her black eyes smoldering. She shoved her mop towards Arlen in much the same fashion, getting the other girl wet. With an indignant cry, Arlen pulled her bucket over and kicked its contents on to Li, who was stunned a moment before doing the same to her. At this point, Arlen hefted her mop into the air and swung down at Liash, who lifted her mop and parried the blow.
"This calls for swords!" Li cried, throwing down her mop and reaching for her blade. Arlen did the same, and the two set off into a vicious fight.
Li was immediately into the offensive, which suited Arlen just fine. She held at bay her attacks, maneuvering them towards the opposite side of the deck and leaving Li pressed up against it. She then swiped low at the girl's shins. To avoid the blow, Li leapt up and over a shocked Arlen, who whirled just in time to block her friend's (A/Nyes they still love each other... shocking!) downward slash, catching it at the crossbar in a lock. They held it there a minute, each grinning devilishly at each other, as though they had been doing this forever, then Arlen broke it with a vicious sidekick towards Li's abdomen. This forced Li to jump back, but she maintained the sword lock, jerking Arlen along with her. Arlen pressed forward with her sword, pushing Li downwards slowly but surely. Once Liash was on her knees, she pulled her feet out from under herself and kicked into Arlen's stomach, meaning to send her flying backwards and off of her. Arlen would not be dislodged so easily, however; she grabbed Li's free wrist, and they both went tumbling spectacularly into... Captain Jack Sparrow. Li, now on top, looked up to see the ambiguous face of the pirate captain staring down at her, while Arlen was forced to tilt her head back and look up. Both gulped, slowly climbing to their feet and sheathing their swords. They stood side by side, looking for once sheepish.
"What 'ave I told you about playin' with sharp objects?" He asked in a soft tone, eyeing them carefully.
"Nothing that I remember." Arlen said, looking confused.
"Well, let me tell you something 'bout it then, love." He said, putting an arm around her shoulders and leading her to the very back part of the stern, next to the railing. He then stepped back from her. "If yer gonna fight with sharp objects," He turned briefly away from her. "At leas' do i with a bit o' style!"
He whirled suddenly, his sword out, and lunged towards the unarmed Arlen. With lightening quickness, she drew her own sword, knocking the blow aside and lunging in at his stomach. He whirled again and ended up facing her sideways, catching her blow and angling it down as easily as if it were a three-year-old's first foray into the world of swordplay. As he raised his sword high over his shoulder in preparation to slash Arlen across her throat, he felt the tip of one press into his back, right in-between his shoulder blades. He stiffened, stopping his blow just inches from Arlen's neck, then turned his head sightly. Surely enough, there stood Liash, a smart-ass smirk on her face.
"Clever," He conceded. "Bu' not stylish." He smiled roguishly. He leapt and spun in midair, aiming a kick for Li and swinging his sword towards her from over his other shoulder. Li leapt lithely backwards and blocked his blow, ignoring the vibrations that slid down her hand and made her wrist numb.
"That's not stylish Jack!" Li admonished, giving Jack several sharp, short slashes that forced him backwards more and more as he parried them and she stepped closer. "That's just being a bloody show-off!" She grinned.
At that time she leapt up and grabbed the rope she had been maneuvering towards. She swung down on Jack, both feet out in a blow intended to hit him square on in the chest, while her sword was poised for a downward slash. Calm as you please, Jack stepped out of the way of the kick, then grabbed her wrist as she sailed down and landed, jerking the sword out of her hand. This happened so fast that Li still attempted to slash him, stopping halfway when she realized she was blade-less. Jack smirked and twirled the swords in his hands, crossing them just below his grinning face in an eerie display so similar to the Jolly Rodger. He began to advance, slowly sliding the blades across each other until they were held at his sides.
"Read, love?" He asked in a silky tone. Li gulped as he advanced, but stiffened as she heard Arlen's call.
"LI! YOUR BACK!" She screamed. Li paused for a moment, confused, then reached to her back and felt the handles of two long knives.
"OH!" She cried, drawing them just in time to block Jack's double slash. He paused.
"Impressive." He said, nodding.
"Jackass." She growled.
"That'd be me name, Liash, don't wear i' out." The Captain grinned. He broke free of their lock and slashed low with one blade. As Li parried it, he stabbed out with the other sword, a blow with she also caught. Unfortunately, blocking these blows left her wide open in the middle, which was exactly what Jack had wanted. With a courtly grin, he leaned back on one foot and kicked out with the other.
The blow connected solidly with Li's stomach and sent her flying backwards against the rail, where she lay dazed. Jack held his swords out wide and bowed, still grinning like a demon. Just then, something cold, sharp and metallic pressed against his throat, and something pointy pressed delicately into the small of his back. Both forced him into a standing position. He carefully looked over his shoulder to see Arlen standing there, smiling.
"Sneakin' up behind me? Pirate, are we?" He asked.
"You trained me, Jack." She said, traces of an English accent slipping into her voice. She disengaged her weapons and stood back. "Of course I am." She said with a shrug. Jack nodded.
"Ah, well, ye've bested me lass." Jack smiled.
"Yea, because I was keeping you busy! You can't give her all the credit!" Li cried indignantly. "And that was cheating, sneaking up behind like that!"
"Pirate!" Arlen and Jack said simultaneously. Li rolled her eyes.
"Whatever." She muttered, standing and sheathing her knives. Jack tossed her her sword, which she sheathed also.
"There. As a reward, Arlen shall get to help me up at the helm today." Arlen beamed. Jack continued. "Li, as punishment, you shall help Will with the chores. We're drastically short on crew, so I don't wanna 'ear anythin' about you disobeyin' him."
"Who, me?" Li said, placing a hand on her chest. "How could you EVER doubt me, dearest Jack?"
"I know ye a little too well to believe that one, Black Wolf." Jack smiled tenderly. Arlen looked confused.
"Who's Black Wolf?" Arlen asked, confused. Li wore a similarly bewildered expression. Jack's smile faded.
"Oh. I forgot.. You forgot." He said quietly. He looked at them, unspeakable pain in his eyes. Gods, what Fate had wrought this? Here, standing before him, was the only treasure that had truly escaped his grasp. The Black Pearl was always something he could get back, but here were the two girls who had filled his days with light and joy, the daughters of his dearest friends. He had raised them, taught them everything he knew. And they had been wrenched away from him in one bloody dawn. Why was he being punished? Why were they being given back, but not knowing who they were? He sighed. "Come wi' me, Arlen. Li, go get Will and relieve him of the helm." He said their names numbly.
The words tasted like poison on his tongue.
-x-
At the end of the day, Jack stood next to Arlen. She had a steady eye and hand at the wheel, and he was proud of her progress for that day. 'Why wouldn't I be?' He thought vaguely. 'I trained her. All this should be second-nature, and it is. Why can't she and Liash remember who they are?' His reverie was shattered by the sound of a door being shoved violently open. He and Arlen turned to see Will and Liash coming from below deck, where they had passed the day doing chores. They were both sweaty and panting, wearing twin looks of utter hatred.
"Hello ARLEN." Liash spat. "I have a little GIFT for you." She continued. She held up a glass jar. Inside of it was a medium-sized spider, trying desperately to get out. Arlen's face paled instantly, her hands tightening noticeably on the helm. "We spent... all... bloody... day... cleaning them out of the brig... and... I got one for you... thought you'd enjoy it..." She growled in-between ragged breaths.
"How... erm... thoughtful of you..." Arlen smiled weakly. Jack rolled his eyes.
"I can't believe you made us do that, Jack!" Will cried. "Who knows if they're poisonous or not?"
"Well if they were and they bit you then we'd know, wouldn't we mate?" Jack said calmly, watching the sea again.
"Is that why we have headaches?" Li and Will whined at the same time.
"Oh my god, you got bit?" Arlen cried, rushing to her friend. Jack yelped as she let go of the helm and sent it spinning. He quickly righted it, however.
"I's nothing a good night's rest won't cure." Jack said, exasperated. "Li and Arlen, go below-deck and sleep. Will will wake you up when i's your time for watch."
"Aye cap'n." The two girls muttered, suddenly exhausted. They disappeared below-deck. Jack turned back to the sea, silent and ambiguous as always.
"They're interesting girls, aren't they Jack?" Will said quietly, leaning up against the railing nearby.
"Aye." He said hoarsely. "Very interesting..."
-x-
They were trapped. 'I'm trapped I'm trapped I'm trapped I have to help them!' the words ran through their heads endlessly as they shifted restlessly on their respective beds. Their breaths were shallow and short until at last Arlen sat up quickly, but still asleep. Li did the same. Like ones in a dream, they went to the door, feeling out its rough, wooden texture. Slowly, they began to knock it. it was faint at first, and the knocks were few and far between. Then they grew more loud, harsher, harder, until they were pounding on it so hard that their hands nearly bled...
-x-
Their hands were bleeding already. They screamed for all their worth, but knew that they would not be heard over the cacophony of the battle outside. Black Wolf backed away, but Lone Star would not give in.
"JACK! YOU CAN'T LEAVE US IN HERE!" She screamed, falling to kicking the door viciously. It began to splinter under the force until at last Black Wolf came forward again.
"LOOK!" She screeched, desperate to be heard above the gunshots outside. "HE LEFT THE DOOR UNLOCKED!" For once praising Jack's idiocy, they opened the door and went into the maw of the beast...
-x-
At last they were free! The door gave way under their combined efforts, and Arlen and Li stumbled out onto the deck, into the fullness of the silver moonlight.
There was horror in their eyes.
-x-
They were blind and deaf all at once from the bangs of pistols and cannonballs and the flashes of gunpowder. But they were at home too. They whirled through the melee, dispatching men who were once their friends without a trace of remorse. They were pirates, born and bred, after all... They were coordinated as dancers, fluid as water itself, working together with perfect and deadly grace. They saved lives and took them, lost in the vicious ecstasy of battle. Nathaniel, the middle Starre child, was beset by too many enemies and looked as though doom was upon him. They were there in mere instants, slashing away and disengaging some of his combatants. They moved so quickly and effortlessly, Nathan did not at first recognize them... until he saw the brilliant, daring grin on the face of Lone Star.
"Lone Star?" He cried hoarsely over the battle.
"Saved by your little sister... again!" She crowed triumphantly. She heard the whistle of a blade next to her neck and Nathan's cry of warning. She ducked swiftly, and heard a cry of pain behind her, When she straightened and looked over her shoulder, a pirate of the Pearl was lying on the ground, deep within his death throes. Black Wolf stood beside her, smirking.
"And saved by your best friend... again!" She grinned. With a joyous laugh, the young pirates ran back into the battle, unaware of their fate, unaware that they would never laugh together again.
A dynasty was at its explosive end.
-x-
Arlen and Li whirled and slashed across the deck, lost in a battle only they could see, a battle they could see all too easily. Jack was leaning against the mast, asleep, when the heavy sound of a body hitting the deck startled him into wakefulness. He reached for his blade, but saw that it was only Will, returned from the crow's nest. He opened his mouth to cuss the stupid Turner out of his prim breeches, but Will made a violent gesture of silence.
"Look over there." He mouthed, pointing towards the girls. Jack looked at them, his perfectly tanned skin suddenly paling. They were fighting thin air, using the same moves that had been signature to his goddaughters. It felt like his heat had stopped. "What are they doing?" WIll asked in Jack's ear.
"Reliving their death." He whispered.
-x-
The melee grew too fierce and close for the girls. who disliked the close quarters. As they backed out to the fringes, picking off the stragglers, Black Wolf saw two pirates carrying a huge, locked chest with a long cord dangling from it...
"LONE STAR!" She shouted. Her friend turned and saw Nathaniel running below deck too.
"NATHANIEL!" They screamed, running down after him.
They got past the first flight of stairs with no sign of either the pirates or of Nathan. Their hearts rose up into their throats; they could smell blood. As they came to the second deck, they saw Nathaniel Starre lying there, a fast growing pool of blood around him. There was no time for tears now though, and there would be no tears later. Nathaniel Starre would go unavenged. Pure, unbridled rage surged through the girls and they ran down the stairs, trying not to slip in the waterfall of blood that followed them.
At last they reached the hold, filled with the spoils of their adventures. There were the two pirates, wedging the chest up near the top corner of the room and laying the cord along the rows of boxes, well out of the reach of the girls. Both carried heavily bloodied swords, and had fresh blood on their hands. With an irrational cry of utter anguish, Lone Star flung herself at them, Black Wolf close behind. The pirates whirled and countered their blows.
"What would the little misses being doing down 'ere, 'ey." One growled, the foul smell of him clouding their senses.
"Killing murderers!" Lone Star shrieked, slashing viciously at one.
It was a dance to the end, a deadly dance along the hazy borders of oblivion. The quarters were close, but they didn't care. They took many wounds, but it did not matter that their blood mingled with the blood of Nathaniel and all the others that had died up there. They had bled together before, bled, cried, laughed, lived together. They would die together. At last, Lone Star managed to stab her pirate through the heart, as did Black Wolf. They staggered backwards. At that moment, something struck the Running with terrifying force: an explosive cannonball. It struck the wall of the hold, right next to them, shattering the leg bones of Lone Star's pirate, shattering them. The bones began to mend, and both pirates grinned wickedly.
"Isle de Muerta..." Black Wolf whispered fearfully, suddenly remembering why Barbossa had betrayed Jack.
"Sorry, but that ain't where you'll be going." One pirate said. From the gaping hole in the ship, water began to gush in. "You just bought yerself a one way ticket to hell."
Out in the air of the dawn, in air that no longer smelled of salt but of blood and smoke, the still fighting crews of the Pearl and the Running crashed to the listing deck. Below deck, Lone Star and Black Wolf found themselves calf deep in water. Before they could stop them, the pirates ran to the fuse of the chest and lit it. They scrambled up the stairs, ignoring Nathan's body, and out onto the deck. Lone Star and Black Wolf could hear the door slammed, then turned to the explosive chest. The fuse was far out of the reach of the water, even gushing as it was. There was no time left for them...
They ran up the stairs, something that grew harder by the minute as the ship continued to tip over. Upon reaching the door, they discovered it to be locked. They began to scream and pound on it, begging fate to spare them.
"GET OFF THE SHIP! SHE'S A GONER!" Hank Wolfe shouted, ushering the ragged crew of the Running onto his ship, the Wolfe, as the members of the Pearl went back to theirs. Caylyn ran around, calling for Nathan, while James organized the frantic exodus. Jack ran to the captain's cabin.
"LONE STAR, BLACK WOLF!" He shouted, opening the door. They were gone.
"WHERE ARE THE GIRLS?" Hank shouted.
"THEY'RE GONE! I CAN'T FIND THEM!" Jack cried desperately.
"GO, GO!" James was shouting, shoving Jack and his father onto the Wolfe, which began to pull away.
"THE GIRLS! LONE STAR AND BLACK WOLF!" Jack shouted wildly.
It was too late. Far too late.
-x-
Arlen and Liash fell to the ground in utter terror. They began to pound on the deck, willing it to break. They had to escape, but how? Where? Where was Jack? Why were they abandoned...? Was there any hope left...?
-x-
At last the door gave way and Lone Star and Black Wolf stumbled onto the deck, coughing as they inhaled smoke from the fires the crew of the Pearl had set. For an instant, Lone Star tried to turn back into the hold.
"NATHANIEL!" She screamed, reaching her hand out as if to try and reach her brother's body, even though she knew it was lost to the sea for eternity. Black Wolf held her back sheerly by the force of her will.
They were surrounded by a circle of flames. No one they knew was in sight. From his vantage point in the crow's nest of the Wolfe, James could see them there, surrounded by the acrid scent of smoke, blood and death.
"THE GIRLS! THEY'RE STILL ON THE RUNNING!" He shouted desperately. The Captains strained to see them, and cried out as they saw the girls trapped.
"JACK! FATHER!" Black Wolf cried in-between her sobs of terror. Just then, the mast snapped and fell near them, along with all their shattered dreams. Lone Star and Black Wolf clung to each other on the last night of their lives, as they always had. They were still there for each other. Even in death.
There was only one explosion. The ship buckled and shattered, like a piece of glass. Something that had raided ports and settlements for years, a place, a home, filled with memories and hopes and dreams, gone in an instant. Two girls, a whole world, gone up in smoke and flames.
It was hell.
Caylyn and Hank never knew how long they screamed for their girls. Jack shuddered to a stop, realizing he had lot something that was never his, a treasure he loved more than anything else in the world. At last, Hank turned to the helm.
"TURN BACK! WE MUST GO GET THEM!" Caylyn shouted desperately.
"THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO GET!" Hank shouted back. "IT'S ALL GONE, CAYLYN! YOUR SHIP, YOUR DAUGHTER, YOUR SON, MY DAUGHTER! OUR WORLD IS GONE!" He turned back to the helm, leaving Caylyn to sink to his knees and weep, unashamed.
Jack said nothing and didn't move a muscle. He was staring at the black of the Caribbean sea, just tinged by the first rays of a beautiful dawn. If only it had come a few minutes earlier. Would he have been able to see the truth? Would he have accepted it, that they were gone? Would it have stopped hurting? He would never know. Slowly, he leaned over the railing of the Wolf of the Sea and opened his clenched hand. The golden key to the captain's cabin of the Lone Star Running fell into the waters of the Caribbean, winking twice in the light before sinking to the depths of the sea along with the shards of his shattered heart.
-x-
The girls fell silent all of the sudden, their silence much more frightening then the pounding and screaming that had preceded it. It was a minute or two before Jack and Will dared to approach them. When they touched their foreheads, they were feverish. At the touch, they whimpered and tried to move closer to it. Slowly, the two men sat down, and the girls wriggled closer to them. Will found himself with Arlen curled up on his chest, completely content. Jack was cradling Liash with the tenderness of a father. He looked over at the squirming Will and raised a warning eyebrow. Sullenly, the Turner stopped his wriggling and wrapped his arms around his charge. Satisfied, Jack bent his had and whispered in Liash's ear.
"I will never let you out of my arms again, Black Wolf. But even if you do get away again, you and Lone Star will always have a place in my heart." He said the words, realizing that, for the first time in a long time, he actually had a heart.
A/N Everybody do a happy dance! Jack has a heart again! Anyways, hope the chapter wasn't TOO confusing. There's some stuff about Li and Arlen that isn't explained until the second book, so bear with us! And PLEASE, read and review! WE BEG OF THEE! LOL
Freedomfighta6 - Thank you so much for reviewing our story!