Despite the fact that 10 long and gruelling years had passed since the day of her betrayal Jack Sparrow had never once forgot or forgave the treacherous crew that had left her marooned on Rumrunners Isle, even with the countless bottles of rum that she had downed over the years in her attempts to drowned out the many sorrows that life had decided to deal her, the names and faces of every single member that had once served under her on The Black Pearl were forever imprinted on her brain.
The vow that she had made to herself that day while being forced to walk the plank of her own ship, with Hector's sword, which she had gifted to him after a successful attack on a navy ship, pressing against her back while the rest of the crew cheered him on and cursed her name behind her, had also never been forgotten.
For the next 10 years of her life Jack would think about that promise, to one day get revenge on those who had mutinied against her, every single day without fail, the vow being the first thing that she would think about whenever she would wake up in the morning and also be the last thought to enter her mind just before she would drift off to the realm of sleep.
It didn't matter what she might have been in the middle of doing the night before or what could be possibly be happening around her as she fell asleep, whether she be hungover, hiding from a group of redcoats in an old stable or in dire need to come up with a plan to escape from the bedroom of some lord's pretty daughter whom she had seduced and spent the night with; Jack would always think back on that vow and the man who had forced her to make it.
Hector Barbossa, that vile man's name would remain forever burned into Jack's mind until the day she died, of that the young pirate captain was certain. And it wouldn't just be because of his heinous betrayal against her either but for the feelings that the very memory of him still stirred inside of her to this day whenever she would allow herself to look back at the happier times between them, when they had still travelled together as Captain and First Mate of The Black Pearl.
And yet despite the strong emotions that the very thought of him created inside of her Jack still planned on being the one to eventually kill the much older man when they finally meet again, still carrying the single shot pistol that he had left her with that day on the island, always making sure that she had it on her person in case they ran into each other again on Tortuga or out on the open sea.
Even on her worse days, when all Jack wanted to do was forget about him and the Pearl, with more rum in her body than blood and she could hardly move let alone think that scoundrel still managed to enter her mind, the speech that he had given before abandoning her on Rumrunners Isle running around in her head alongside the almost loving words that he would whisper against her skin whenever they shared a bed; the man never giving her a moment's peace even though they hadn't seen each other in years.
In the end Jack had to separate the two sides of Hector Barbossa in her mind so that she wouldn't find herself going mad, the many times that she would think back on the older man whom she had once cared for quickly turning her emotions from a bitter fondness to a storm of anger and rage every time her memories would eventually drift back to the day of the mutiny, her temper getting her in trouble more than once over the years when she would allow it to overcome and take control of her.
Hector was the man who had opened up her eyes to the wonders that the stars had to offer, a gentleman of the sea with a taste for the finer things in life and whom had protected her in battle more times than she could count, multiple scars on his body coming from the graze of a bullet or the strike of a sword that had originally been intended for her; Hector had been her lover and the only man whom she had ever truly cared deeply for.
One of the fondest memories that Jack had of the two of them together came from the night that they had sneaked into a ball hosted by an Admiral whose name she had long since forgotten, with Hector posing as a high-class merchant stocking up on new supplies during a long voyage to Singapore while she played the role of his loving noble wife that he had refused to leave back home in England on account of the babe growing in her belly.
In truth they were there to memorise every detail of the home, mapping out the layout of the rooms in their minds, figuring out where the valuables were most likely stored and also taking note the rotation of the men that were stationed around the estate; eventually using the information they had gathered to rob the Admiral blind not two days later with the help of the crew.
Jack had hardly recognised herself earlier that day while she had been preparing for the ball, spending hours locked away in her cabin making sure that she had washed away every last speck of dirt and grime that had been caked onto her skin, scrubbing at her entire body until she was practically red raw but much cleaner than she had been in years and smelling of lavender from the soap and perfume that she had been using; the scent filling up the entire room from how much she had to put on to mask the smell of the sea.
She had even spent what had felt like an eternity brushing and unknotting her windswept hair so that she could style it just like any proper noble lady should when attending such grand affairs, following the detailed picture instructions from a small book on fashion that she had kept with her for years despite not being able to read half of it; instead spending her time looking at the pictures of the ladies in their fine dresses and imagining what it would have been like to have been born to such advantages.
Jack had thought she had done a good job in the end despite never having attempted such a complex hairstyle before, just needing something quick rather than stylish each day so that her hair didn't get in the way of day to day life aboard the Peal, typically pinning it back or wearing it in a simple braid to keep the hair out of her eyes.
First Jack had carefully threaded pearls that had once belonged to a necklace she had stolen through her raven locks, then she spent several lengthy attempts trying to style her hair in an elegant braid updo until she eventually grew tired and settled on her last attempt which had also managed to be her best, with the pearls she had threaded in viewable from all angles while the rest of the beads that were twisted into her hair were carefully hidden away as to not reveal her true identity as a pirate.
And finally Jack finished the look off with a small diamond tiara from her own personal collection of treasures that she kept hidden away under one of the floorboards in her cabin, her emergency nest egg with more than enough coin needed to fix up the Pearl again if she was ever as badly damaged as she had been during The Battle Off the Devil's Triangle, not wanting to be left stranded at some port without the means to fix her up ever again.
She had even dressed in a fine gown that they had stolen from a merchant ship just for the occasion, the pink ballgown with lace trimmings and painted roses fitting her frame perfectly while satin slippers graced her feet and a pair of white gloves were used to hide the tattoos on her arms and the roughness of her hands that no true born noblewoman would ever have.
When she was done Jack could do nothing but sit and stare at her reflection in the small mirror that she kept in her cabin, using the last of her time before they had to leave for the ball to memorise the exact way that she looked so that she would never forget what was arguably the most beautiful that she would ever be, not imagining another day in the near or distant future where she would appear as lovely as she did at that moment.
Hector had even jokingly called her a princess when he had at last seen her all dressed up, though he had been calling her that in private for a number of years, ever since he had found out that she was a Teague in fact, often teasing her about how she was practically pirate royalty due to her being a 3rd generation pirate lord; her Father and Grandmama having both been members of the Brethren Court before passing on their titles.
Hector had looked rather handsome that night, dressed in a fine deep blue coat and acting as though he was a trueborn nobleman despite the fact that he had been born into poverty just as she had, the years in his youth that he had spent indulging in his pleasure for the finer things in life coming in handy during the ball, with Jack often following his queues when interacting with the other guests so that she didn't make any mistakes that might reveal their true identity's.
And so, Jack had spent the night pretending to be London born Jackelyn Smyth, devoted wife of Hector Smyth and expecting mother of their first child, chatting with the other women about her 'pregnancy' and what she should expect when she started to show more before waltzing with a lord or two who had asked for the honour to escort her onto the ballroom floor.
The dance that Jack remembered the most, however, had been the one and only waltz that she and Hector had shared that night, having finally managed to convince him to dance with her at least once before they returned to the Pearl, they would never get another chance to do it again after all so why not take advantage of the string quartet playing and the hours that they had spent getting ready to make a memory that they would never come close to experiencing again.
Throughout the entirety of that short yet wonderful waltz Jack had felt as though she and Hector were the only two people left in the entire world as everyone else in the room disappeared around her as both she and Hector lost themselves in the music and each other, her older lover leading her through the elegant dance and treating her with such gentleness that she had only seen in him once before throughout the several years they had known each other; during the night that he had taken her virginity back in Shipwreck City when they had both been different people.
For that one glorious night Jack felt as though she was a princess in a fairy tale while Hector had been her charming prince, however, in the end, there would be no happily ever after for the two of them like there was in the stories, as Hector would lead the mutiny against her only a few months later.
When Jack thought of the side of the man that she had once cared for as the betrayer however the young pirate captain would refer to him as Barbossa both in her head and when talking about him to others. He was the one who had decided to abandon her on an island in the middle of nowhere to either die of starvation or suicide, he was a cruel and evil monster who deserved no mercy from anyone in this world especially her and was the one that she had sworn to take her revenge against; the bullet that she carried with her reserved for him, not Hector.
Jack should have known that something was wrong when Barbossa had been so attentive to her the night before the mutiny had occurred, when he had spent what seems like hours buried between her legs focusing on her own pleasure rather than his own, which was something that he would only ever do when he wanted something from her, whether it be for them to go to port as the stores of his favourite food had run out or for her to stay in her cabin for a few extra hours so that he could have control of the men for a while; enjoying the power which fell to him whenever she wasn't out on deck.
Jack had always seen it as a small kindness, one of the few that Barbossa had ever committed in his life, that during the last night they would ever have together he had spent it focusing entirely on her pleasure rather than his own; never once asking for her to do anything other than to lay back and let him bring her over the edge more times than she could count.
To this day it still made no sense to Jack as to why he had been so attentive that night, if his original plan had worked Barbossa wouldn't have had another woman to warm his bed for some time, having no need to make port with the number of supplies that they had stocked up on for the lengthy journey to Isla De Muerta, meanwhile she would have been dead within a week after he and the rest of the crew had marooned her on the Rumrunners Isle.
He believed that she would die on that small island and yet he still made their last nightly encounter all about her.
And then there was their final kiss that they had shared that morning as the sun had begun to peek through the curtains in her cabin and the men started to shuffle about on deck, a kiss that Jack could still feel against her lips to this day if she thought about it hard enough.
He had been so gentle in the beginning as he brought his lips down to hers that she couldn't help but think about their very first kiss so many years before in a tavern room they had purchased for the night, when she had been so innocent that even the thought of kissing anybody else be they male or female used to make her blush scarlet. The gentleness didn't last long however before things became heated, with Barbossa's hands quickly becoming tangled in her hair while her own wrapped around his neck to pull him as close as possible, both of them still hungry for more despite the fact that they had spent the majority of the night before tangled in the sheets making the beast with two backs; the pair never able to get enough of each other back then.
How in the world was Jack Sparrow supposed to forget about Hector Barbossa when he seemed to be woven into nearly every good part of her life, he was the only man that she had ever laid with, the only man she had cared for and had once believed that he had shared that same sentiment until he mutinied against her.
There were days when Jack wanted nothing more than to forget both sides of Hector Barbossa, to have never meet the older man that day at Shipwreck city all those years ago, to have never hired him to be her first mate when the Pearl had been restored; days when she wished he had just remained a member of her crew and not someone she had grown to care for.
And then there were days when she couldn't stop thinking about him, imagining what their life together might have been like if he had never led the coup against her, easily able to picture the two of them manning the Pearl as equals until they became known as the biggest scourge in all of the world.
And sometimes, on the extremely rare occasions when she allowed herself to dive deep into her fantasies, Jack would picture what a babe would have been like between the two of them if she hadn't diligently made sure to drink her tea every morning to ensure that his seed would not take. Jack would imagine the child that would never be born so easily on those days, seeing herself with a daughter in her arms with raven locks just like her own and blue eyes that she would inherit from Hector who would one day grow to love the sea and stars so much that it would one day eclipse both her parents own passions.
Those dreams would never come to pass, however, her heart to broken by his betray to ever allow herself to care for him again outside of her memories on those dark days when she couldn't escape from the very thought of Hector Barbossa.
Jack's reminiscing had to be abruptly cut short however when she by chance decided to look down from her place at the top of the Jolly Mon's rigging and noticed immediately that the makeshift fixes she made to the small fishing dory had come loose once again, water now beginning to quickly pour inside of the ship just like it had done several times before during her voyage.
Luckily for Jack, she wouldn't have to deal with the damaged Jolly Mon for much longer as a large familiar looking island that she had visited long ago began to appear far off into the horizon.
Port Royal