AWAKENINGS
DISCLAIMERS: Mr. Mouse and his whole crew own all the characters in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
This is my take on the resurrection of Jack Sparrow in the third Pirates of the Caribbean film. Also, I am a Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swann shipper fan; ye be warned.
I wish to take a quick moment to thank everyone who left reviews. I cannot express how happy they make me and the joy they bring to my heart! Hugs to everyone!
Chapter 6 : Learning Truths And Betrayal
Jack took Elizabeth's hand and helped her up to one of the planks, which allowed passage from the Black Pearl to the Wicked Lady.
"Careful, luv." He said, as she balanced herself on the plank, grabbing the rope next to it to keep herself from falling off.
She felt the plank wobble and tightened her grip on the rope; as she felt Jack push himself up, to leap onto the plank. She felt him behind her, so close that his clothes brushed against her back and she could feel his breath on her neck.
Elizabeth shivered, causing him to ask, mischievously. "Alright Lizzie?
"Jack," She asked. "I hope this is the right thing to do; going to see Barbossa."
"No choice Lizzie." He answered, as they continued to walk across to the other ship. "We need answers and 'e most likely 'as them. It's getten the truth out o' his mouth that could be trouble."
Listening to him, Elizabeth took her time walking the plank, but she could tell Jack was an old pro at it.
If I wasn't in front of him, he would have been across in seconds.
They reached the other ship, and Elizabeth carefully jumped down. As she turned, she witnessed Jack leap down, with flair.
The man definitely likes to put on a show, so much so that it is second nature to him. But I, also, think he is doing his best to impress me.
Jack looked around, sizing up the Wicked Lady, before saying, "Not as impressive as the Pearl."
"Now Jack," a familiar voice said. "Ye don't come to see a body and insult his home. Bad manners an' all that."
Jack twirled around on the balls of feet. "Why Hector," He replied. "So nice o' ye to 'ave us, so unexpected like."
"Why Jack, I don't rightly recall inviting' ye." Barbossa smirked, as he stepped forward, offering his hand.
After a second or two, Jack took the offered hand and shook it.
Barbossa then turned to Elizabeth. "Why Ms. Swann, ye are looking better. " He turned to Jack again. "It seems not even death can keep ye Jack."
"Everyone always seems to forget," Jack answered, spreading his arms wide. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."
Out of nowhere, the other Jack appeared and leapt onto Barbossa's shoulder, staring at the two visitors. It screeched when it saw its namesake.
"Bloody monkey." She heard him mutter, and saw him resisting the urge to grab his pistol and shoot said monkey.
At least I think it is the monkey, but it could be Barbossa. Most likely both.
"I would ask you to keep your Jack under control; not causing problems on the Black Pearl." Elizabeth responded quickly.
"Ah, Missy, I'll keep me Jack under control, iffen ye keep yers." Barbossa said. "Yers looks like he wants to be shooten somethin'."
"Well, can one blame him?" She replied.
"Barbossa," Jack interrupted. "We, being meself and m'lady, 'ave come for answers, anwers that ye 'ave." He stepped between Elizabeth and Barbossa. "Answers that I be wanten to know."
"Aye." The Captain of the Wicked Lady said, as he turned and began to walk to his cabin. "Follow me."
Jack turned to Elizabeth and offered his arm, which she took, but, as they walked behind Barbossa, she felt the eyes of the Wicked Lady's crew, watching them.
Jack leaned in and whispered in her ear. "They prob'ly think ye be the prettiest boy they ever seen an thinken I be a lucky one to 'ave him."
At that comment, she wrinkled her nose at him, which elicited a chuckle from Jack, as they entered Barbossa's cabin.
Indicating the chairs at a large table, they both took a seat. The room seemed dark and sinister, not bright and open as Jack's cabin was, but that could be the influence of its occupant. However, both Captains kept their cabins cluttered.
I always tried to avoid being alone with Barbossa, in this cabin, while we searched for Jack and the Black Pearl.
Jack sat down, and immediately propped his booted feet on the table. When he did so, the bottle in his pocket clanked against the side of the chair.
"What be in yer pocket Jack?" Barbossa questioned, as he took a seat across from them; his monkey jumping onto the table and, grabbing a green apple, carried it over to its master.
"Oh, nothing Hector," He replied. "jus' a bottle of fine rum I don't want to be sharin'with you."
"Come now Jack. It'd be rude to not offer a drink or two when ye be the visitors. Don't ye think Missy?" He cut the apple, offering a piece to the monkey, before taking eating a slice himself.
"Jack," She looked at him. "Let's make this as easy as possible, offer him the rum."
Looking reluctant, he pulled the bottle out and handed it to Barbossa. Barbossa took the bottle, but Jack would not release it. This lead to a tug of war between the two.
"Jack…" Elizabeth said.
Giving her a disgruntled look and the bottle one last look of longing, he released it.
"Jus' doesn't seem right." He said to Elizabeth.
You would think he is giving up his first born child.
Barbossa opened the bottle and took a deep swig, before offering it to Elizabeth.
"No, thank you."
He offered it to Jack, who looked at it, glanced at her, and then shook his head no.
"More for me." Barbossa said, drinking down a quarter of the bottle in several swigs.
"On ter business." He said, setting the bottle down. "What questions do ye have?"
"You said Jack's time was limited, unless I tell the crew what I had done." Elizabeth sat forward. "Is that all I have to do? Tell everyone?"
"Aye, girl." He answered, "Ye must confess yer sin to all those who survived the Black Pear and witnessed its destruction."
There was an endless pause.
"But ye must also be willin' ta take the death experience o' Jack into yer self."
"What do you mean, death experience?" She whispered.
"Ye will feel the pain an' agony o' his last moments as he is devoured by the Kraken."
Oh my God.
"Ta feel the rip and tear o' the monster's teeth an' tentacles. No a pleasant feelin', I be thinken."
She shuddered, "But I will live, won't I?"
"Aye." He answered. "Tia Dalma said it be your punishment for yer betrayal. The humiliation and pain fer such a well heeled respectable lady, such as ye be." He laughed. "Tis worse than death fer one such as ye."
Jack is worth it. All of it.
"If it will keep Jack here, then I will do it." She said in a steady, cold voice. "How long do I have?"
"Well now Missy. Ye have till Midnight." He said, looking out one of the windows. He saw the sun setting. "Gives ye about 5 hours, pre'aps."
"No." Jack finally spoke up. "What I endured, what I can be rememberin', was 'orrible. I'll not let ye do it Lizzie."
She took one of his hands. "For you Jack, it is nothing."
There was a noise outside, which caught her attention.
What was that?
If there had been a noise, Jack and Barbossa had paid it no heed.
"Nay lass," He argued. "twas a terrible thing. I don't want ye to experience it."
"Jack, I will not argue with you about it. I'm doing it." She touched his cheek. "I am stronger than any of you think. I'll do this and gladly."
He seemed uncertain, his eyes searching hers, before accepting it.
He really does care for me, love me. Even if he never says the words.
Watching them both seems to irritate Barbossa, "'ow touching. It almost brings a tear to me eye."
Jack and Elizabeth shot a look at him.
"Hector," Jack asked. "If me and the Pearl was torn to itty bitty pieces by that smelly, slimy beastie o' Davy Jones', how be it me and the Pearl are all togetherish?"
"Now that be the ring ye stole from Tia Dalma." Barbossa picked up the bottle of rum and took several more swigs.
"I stole nothin', I was jus' borrowin' it for an indefinite period o' time." Jack fingered the jeweled ring on his left hand.
It's my time to listen, while they talk.
"Our dear voodoo priestess, forsaw what was to be. Forsaw that ye be needin' said ring, so made sure it be there for ye to snatch."
"Well, mate, if she saw me fate, it would 'ave been nice iffen she had said somethin' to me about it." He grabbed the bottle from Barbossa and took a swig, with a frown. "Thought she liked me."
Barbossa laughed. "Ye know what she be like. Never revealin' what she be knowing until she has to." He took the bottle back. "She told me I'd break me curse, but failed ta mention ye be shootin' me dead soon thereafter."
Jack took off the ring, looking at it in the half light of the cabin. "So the ring saved me?"
"That be it. Kept ye and yer beloved Pearl all in one piece." He motioned to Elizabeth. "But the ring also trapped yer experience in it. The Missy will have to take the ring and put it on 'er own finger." He looked over at Elizabeth. "After yer confession o' course."
"Of course." Elizabeth looked at the ring, watching Jack place it back on his finger.
So the power placed in the ring saved Jack. Saved Jack and the Pearl.
She heard the noise again, turning towards the cabin door, from where the sound seem to come from.
"Did anyone hear that?" She asked.
The pirates, who had been paying more attention to the bottle of rum and their conversation, both looked at her blankly.
"Only one o' the crew." Barbossa suggested. "Going 'bout their duties."
I'm sure he is right.
"So," She began. "I just need to get all of those that witnessed the end of Jack and the Black Pearl, confess my betrayal to them and take the ring, placing it on my finger and experience the pain of Jack's end, by midnight tonight? Is that all?"
"Is that all." Barbossa smirked. "Ye be wanten more?"
She just glared at him.
So I need to gather Mr. Gibbs, Pintel, Ragetti, Mr. Cotton, and Mr. Cotton's parrot, just to be safe, and Will. Will…
Where are you Will?
"Have you seen Will?" She asked Barbossa.
"Seen him, aye. Spoken to him, nay. He be somewhere on me ship. He didn't seem to be wanten company. Broke yer lad's heart did ye?"
"That is none of your concern." She replied.
Will I hope you are safe and have returned to the Black Pearl.
"Aye," Jack interjected. "that be none of yer concern. What be between me, Lizzie and the whelp, be between only us, savvy."
"Jack, Jack, Jack…" He said.
Jack smiled and said, "Excellent. I 'ope that ye be leav'en soon?"
Barbossa sat back in his chair, eating more of his apple slices and offering a few to his monkey.
"Soon, I be wanten to see the Missy live up to 'er part in keepin' ye alive, If ye don't follow through, Jackie boy 'ere dies, wit' no comin' back."
"No worries," Jack answered. "My Lizzie be as fierce as any pirate and as brave. She'll get through it, wit' me at 'er side."
"Ye hold her no grudge?" Barbossa was curious.
"Nay. She did what was right by 'er, what any good pirate would 'ave done. Not to say I enjoyed it, the bein' eaten part o' it, but I don't 'ave a grudge."
He seems almost proud of what I did.
The two, despite that they were enemies, began to talk of pirating and the past, like two old friends that had not seen each other in a long time. She shook her head.
I'll never entirely understand pirates, no matter how much of one I might become.
"Jack," Elizabeth said. "I'm going out onto the deck, to watch the sunset."
Jack nodded, before returning to his conversation with Barbossa
She walked outside. The setting sun cast the ship in deep shadows, giving it an unearthly feeling. Walking over to the railing, she looked over at the Black Pearl.
She and Jack are my home now.
The Black Pearl, painted black with black sails, would seem invisible, once the sun had completely set, if not for the lit lanterns.
"Yo ho, yo ho," She sang to herself. "a pirates life for me."
As she continued to watch the sun set, watching the crew of the Black Pearl go about their business and hearing the sounds of the crew of the Wicked Lady go about theirs; she continued to sing to herself.
"..really bad eggs."
She whirled around, when she heard a screech and an explosion, and ran to the cabin door without thinking, but stopped, before opening it, when she heard Barbossa.
"Damn it Jack, stop shooten at me monkey!"
Leaning her forehead against the door, she quietly laughed to herself.
Jack really did have a grudge against that monkey.
Just as she decided to go back in, to help smooth the situation over, she felt an explosion of pain in the back of her head.
As she sank to the floor of the deck, her vision graying and fading, she heard a familiar voice speak.
"Forgive me Elizabeth."
Everything went silent and black.
To Be Continued…
( F.Y.I. In Dead Man's Chest, did anyone else notice that, when Tia Dalma went to get the infamous jar of dirt, that Jack filched a ring from her table, putting on his finger? You see it again, when there is a close up of him trying to pull his hand free from the manacle at the end of the movie.)