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.
A big thank you to all who have taken the time to read my story, which was originally intended to be, at most, a 3 part story. For everyone who has taken the time to review, bigger thanks and many hugs.
Chapter 7 : Desperation
Elizabeth woke with a terrible headache and feeling slightly nauseous, in an unknown storage rooms on one of the lowest decks of the Wicked Lady.
My last memory was Barbossa and Jack arguing over shooting the monkey.
She reached up and touched the back of her head, feeling the tenderness and slight bump from being hit.
"Owww." She winced, brushing out stray hay that was tangled in her hair. She looked down to see the deck floor scattered with the stuff. Somewhere she heard the sounds of goats and chickens.
She remembered a voice before she blacked out, a very familiar voice.
"Will." She said aloud.
"Yes?" The familiar voice replied.
She swung around to look behind her, causing her head to throb and her belly to turn unpleasantly.
William Turner, blacksmith, sometimes reluctant pirate, her first love and former fiancé and apparent attacker, sat behind her on some empty animal crates. Seeing that she had woken, he stood up and approached her with a jug in his hand.
"No, I don't want any rum." She put out a hand, to keep some distance between them.
He stopped. "It's water. Cold water." Will replied. "It will help settle your stomach."
She thought for a moment, felt her stomach turn again, and decided to accept the jug. She took a few sips and waited to see if it would help. She, also, tore a piece of her linen shirt and poured some water onto it, to press against her tender bump.
"What have you done, Will?" She asked desperation in her voice. "How long have I been unconscious?"
He looked confused at her questions. "Done, done? Nothing but save you from making a terrible mistake and it has been less than an hour. I didn't hit you that hard."
He walked over and squatted on the floor next to her. "Jack is a charmer, a womanizer and might want you right now, but what of tomorrow; hmmmm? What of the next time he makes port in Tortuga? Will he remember you when surrounded by all of Tortuga's available women?"
"It's not like that, and I think you know it." She tried to stand up, but sat down again, when a wave of dizziness overtook her. "I have to get to Jack. You don't understand what could happen if I don't."
"Happen? Oh, you mean like the possibility of his death?" He answered emotionlessly. "I know all about it and what you have to do to prevent it from happening."
Damn Barbossa, that liar.
"Did Barbossa convince you to do this?" She closed her eyes against the throbbing pain.
"Barbossa?" He seemed surprised. "Barbossa had nothing to do with this. I overheard everything as I stood outside his cabin."
Those noises. Not the crew, but Will.
"I acted on impulse, I admit. I should have found another way to take you, but, well, I did what I had to do, in a pinch. I apologize for the method and pain it caused you, but not for the reasoning behind it." He finished explaining.
I have to get to Jack. Only four hours left, at most.
Elizabeth tried to stand again, and with great efforts rose to her feet, resisting the urge to vomit.
"What reason, Will? Why are you doing this to me?"
He remained squatting before her, looking up at her with hurt in his eyes. "I am doing nothing to you. If anyone will suffer, it will be Jack."
Will stood up. "If you had never met Jack, if none of this had happened, you would not have been swayed away from me by that pirate."
"Not true. If none of this had happened, then I would be married to Commodore Norrington. You would still be a blacksmith and we both would have kept what we felt to ourselves."
This seemed to anger Will, "I would have said something before you had actually married him. I'm sure of it!"
"We shall never know, shall we?" She remarked, keeping her voice even and trying to keep the nausea at bay. "Jack influenced you too. He made you bolder than you would have been, if you never had met him."
"Damn you Elizabeth." He said quietly and leaned in to kiss her, a soft, gentle kiss. She did not respond to it.
"Stop." She said as she pulled away. Her eyes watered and her head throbbed with the movement. "Please don't."
He pulled away. "When did my kisses begin to repulse you? What is it about him that turned your heart away from me?"
"I don't know. Not really. It's nothing and everything about him." She tried to explain. "It happened; unexpected and unplanned."
She took a deep breath to steady herself. "My heart did not turn away from you, but the love I felt changed. I love you Will, but I am no longer in love with you."
Get yourself together. You have to get out of here and get to Jack, before it is too late.
"Is it his kisses? Is that it?" He voice calm again. "Has living amongst pirates changed you so very much? Do you desire to be handled by rough hands? Is that it?"
She tried to say, "No.", but Will grabbed her with harsh hands and brutally kissed her, bruising her lips and bending her backwards.
"Is this how you wish to be treated now?" He released her, allowing her to fall backwards on a thick pile of hay.
Turning onto her stomach, she vomited into the hay, clutching at the scattered straw as she did so.
"Will, this isn't you." She said, when she was finished, wiping her mouth with her still damp piece of linen., trying to catch her breath. "You are not a cold, unfeeling monster, who will let a man die. You are not a murderer."
She heard movement behind her. "It will not be murder. I will simply let nature take its course."
She saw the tips of his boots, in the corner of her eyes, as he continued to speak. "Jack should have died when the Kraken crushed his ship."
"Allowing a man to die, regardless of the reason, by your own hand or not, when you can prevent it, is still murder."
The throbbing in my head is easing, it has become bearable.
She merely heard him make a rude noise, as she groped the deck floor, looking to push herself up. She felt something under the hay. She glanced down. A small, heavy mug.
Someone has been down here drinking. Pirates and their rum, thank God.
"Will," She said as she stood up, keeping the mug hidden from view, her eyes no longer blurring when she moved. "I know you are angry, but letting Jack die will not change how I feel. Do you really think that I will stay with you, if you allow this to happen?"
"No," He answered, as she turned towards him. "I know you will hate me. I know I will hate myself, but I can't seem to stop myself. I want to hurt you as much as you have hurt me."
"Will, please." She begged. "Stop this madness. I beg you."
She stepped closer to him. "I'll do whatever you want, but please, let me save Jack."
How much time has pass? Is it too late?
"Anything." He asked. "Would you leave Jack to return to Port Royal and marry me? Be my wife?"
She hesitated. "Yes."
He sensed something in her words, because he stomped away. "Lies, all lies. You would never truly be mine."
"How could I be, when you want me to be someone I am no longer?" She tried to explain to him. She clenched the mug tighter.
Please Will, don't make me hurt you. I will, if you force my hand.
She continued, "If you force me to be with you, I will, but only to save Jack. Anything between us would be built on lies and broken hearts. You would always know I was only with you because of Jack. He would be between us forever."
"I still love you." He said quietly, he still had his back to her.
"I know and I am sorry for it."
Suddenly, somewhere outside the room they were in, in the distance, they heard noises. The sound of men, shouting to each other.
They're looking for me.
"They're going to find us, you know." She reasoned with him.
"I know, but will it be in time?" Will walked over to the door and listened to the noises outside.
"Will, for all our sakes," She begged. "Please let me go."
Still listening at the door, his back to her, he said, "No."
Now or never.
Elizabeth rushed over and raising the mug, brought it down on the back of his head. It was not enough to render him unconscious, as his had done to her, but it did cause him to collapse to the floor.
He looked up at her with anger and hurt in his eyes. "Why Elizabeth."
"I will not apologize as you did." She answered, as she pulled the door open. "I am not sorry for it."
He weakly tried to keep her from opening the door, but was not able to do so, as Elizabeth ran out, yelling to her searchers.
"Look," She heard one yell back to her. "It be Captains Sparrow's wench."
I've never been so happy to be called a wench.
They rushed over and asked what had happened and she quickly explained the situation to them, pointing towards the storage room she had been locked in.
"Please, take me to Captain Sparrow." She said to her rescuers.
Leading her through storage rooms and up stairs, she finally made it to the top deck. The ship was lit with lanterns, with everyone looking about.
"Where's Jack." Elizabeth called.
"Ms. Swann," Mr. Gibbs approached her. "Thank the Gods, we found ye."
"Thank you." She replied. "But where is Jack?"
"Somewhere on the Pearl, looking for ye. Don't rightly know where." He turned towards the Black Pear and yelled. "Get Jack, we found Ms. Swann."
She heard many "Ayes." As she saw the Black Pearl crew members scrambling around. The moon was full, but it was not yet full dark, although night had fallen and the moon was out.
Still time. There is still time.
Without warning, a dark figure swung on a rope into her vision, before landing quietly on booted feet. Second later, she was pulled into a huge hug by the man she loved, his face buried into her neck. His hair tickling her chin and nose.
Breathing in the scent of Captain Sparrow; a scent of rum, salt and sweat, she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulder, burying her face into his hair. She began to cry; sad and happy tears ran down her cheeks, into his hair.
She didn't care that the crew observed it all. Under any other circumstances, she would have been embarrassed by such displays. But that was when she was still a proper lady and not a pirate's wench.
I don't care what they all think or say.
Jack pulled back, "Lizzie, luv." He looked into her eyes. "I was worried for ye. When ye didn't come back, and I couldn't find ye, a terrible fear gripped me 'eart. I knew somethin' wicked 'ad 'appen."
"Yes," She answered him. "Something terrible indeed. Will took me, intending to let the time pass and you die."
"The whelp?" He seemed surprised. "The whelp did this? That bloody boy"
"Where be William Turner." Jack yelled to everyone.
Elizabeth noticed that the pirates that had helped her, were talking to their Captain, Barbossa.
Barbossa approached them and said, "It appears that young Mr. Turner has vanished. Me men can find neither hide not hair of the boy."
Jack turned towards him, still holding her in his arms, "Find him. I swear I'll make him a eunuch in truth."
"Jack, Captain Barbossa," Elizabeth said. "Please don't hurt him. He needs help."
She could feel Jack tense. "All right luv, just for ye. "
He turned towards Barbossa. "Spare the whelp, but catch him, savvy."
"Aye." Barbossa replied. "But ye will want a full search of yer Pearl. The boy could be anywhere."
"Bugger," Jack muttered. "Ye be right."
Turning to Mr. Gibbs he said, "Find 'im, iffen he be on the Pearl."
"Aye, Captain." Mr. Gibbs answered.
He turned towards the Pearl yelling loudly to the crew aboard it. "Ye scurvy dogs find that boy, now. He could be on the Pearl somewhere a hidin'."
She laughed, her ears ringing from Mr. Gibbs shouting and watched as he scurried across to the Pearl to take charge of the hunt.
"Lizzie, ye be hurt from the whelps monstrous and most vile attack on ye, to bring about me doom?" Jack ran his hands up and down her body.
"Just my head." She admitted. "I feel much better than I did before I was found."
My head and stomach feel better, just by being in his arms.
"Yer poor 'ead." He kissed her forehead. "Jack'll make it all better, jus' ye wait and see."
Elizabeth felt warmth fill her heart and soul.
"Oh, Jack." She whispered.
Without warning and unexpectedly, Jack bent down and, in front of Barbossa and all the crew members, he kissed her. A deep possessive kiss. A kiss meant to stake his claim of ownership on her, before everyone who watched.
I don't care who sees, who knows. Let everyone know who I belong to, I just don't care.
Neither did Captain Sparrow, because, even when Barbossa's monkey jumped onto his shoulder and began to chew at his beloved leather hat, he didn't stop kissing her, to shoot it.
To Be Continued…