Little Sparrow

Summary: "Now up is down," was the last thing any of them heard before the rush of water drowned everything else out. Later, waking up on a random, deserted island, they almost immediately notice that something was not right with their Captain. Sparrington, Salazak, Willabeth, maybe others mentioned.

The next morning, the pirate fleet was the first to get to the potential battlefield, just enough leagues away from the Island for maneuvering but still close enough that they could head back to the Crossing if worse came to worst. Thankfully, Jack's plan about the whole parlay thing had panned out quite well and Beckett seemed almost eager for it, answering their offered flag with his own within moments of seeing it. However, seeing the armada as well as the two cursed ships ... It kind of had a very bad effect on morale but Jack, if no one else, didn't seem bothered by it. Although he was anxious and only Gibbs and Frederico seemed to know why.

The group that went to the little island in the middle of the potential battlefield that was actually a small sand dune like spit of land, maybe a total of twenty meters in length and about seven in width, consisted of Jack, Barbossa - who was probably aiming to snatch away Jack's Piece of Eight and go on with his plan - James - who refused to let Jack go alone - and Elizabeth who was actually following Will and he was only going because of his father - not that he was likely to be there. Frederico had wanted to insist on going and Jack had been tempted to have at least one person there as a supporter who knew what he was supporting but he had sensed the shifty insecurity of the crew and knew Sanchez could put the fear of god into them far worse than their fear of the armada awaiting on the other side. So Frederico had to stay behind with Gibbs and Jack had to trust them - and a few of the Keeper's men that his father had insisted stay at all times with Jack, including Ivan and Ian (who he had actually forced to stay behind on the Pearl) - to keep his ship for him. And with the Keeper's own little fleet not far behind the Pearl, it was not likely they would dare. But fear bred bravery, if that made sense. Or was it foolishness? Anyway, in desperation, if they tried anything, they won't be getting too far.

On the other side of the sandy little island stood three figures, two of which Jack had never seen before but bred a lot of negative reactions from his beloved Black Pearl. The third person was not hard to distinguish. You could recognize Davy Jones in all his sea-creature-covered glory with ease, no matter the distance. The shortest in the group must have been Beckett, Jack mused, but who was the third person? Jack knew who it wasn't and he was a bit disappointed. Okay, a lot, actually, but perhaps it was better this way. It meant he could focus on the matter at hand and not ... Well, personal matters that have apparently been closed and done with for twenty years now. He needed to focus on this Beckett and his control over Jones. The Flying Dutchman is a powerful weapon, one that should not have been made into a weapon in the first place. Jack, as the second Pirate King, will have to deal with him now.

"Well, well, well. The rumors apparently are true, Captain Jones. Jack Sparrow obviously has escaped from your Locker. How very not unexpected." Lord Cutler Beckett, standing in the middle between the Captain of the Flying Dutchman and his secretary-assassin, Ian Mercer, clad in his brown trenchcoat and fine clothing with what looked like a very expensive captain's hat on his head, commented with a pleased little smile that had Norrington pulling Jack back as if he wanted to put himself physically between the teen and the Lord of the East India Trading Company. And indeed, Beckett's eyes were solely trained on Jack until they noticed James' protective stance. He hadn't yet realized that Jack hadn't just shaved off his beard and mustache. "And Admiral Norrington! How nice of you to join us. It seems that my hospitality and good will to reinstate you have not been enough so you once again ran off with pirates. You've made such a poor choice in captains, dear James, it makes me want to pity you." His demeanor turned coldly as if a switch had been flipped as he glared at the tallest man present, Jones sea creature bulk not included. "Except you have brought the very bane of my existence back from a well deserved fate. That does not put you high in my regards, Admiral."

"I've not been an Admiral for well over a month, Beckett. Do stop using the wrong form of address and my given name, for I have never given you the liberty to use it." If Beckett's words were cold, James' were icy, colder than the entrance to the World's End. His tone was a sharp, sardonic, sarcastic, disdainful drawl he had used with Sparrow on their first meeting but they held no bitterness when he spoke of his title. Come to think of it, James had not mentioned his title or duty at all since the Pearl's core crew all but kidnapped him from Singapore. As though he had wanted to go but had never gotten the chance to do so willingly before they had knocked him over the head and dragged him away, his Lieutenants following like lost puppies after a potential new owner. "And Captain Sparrow was more than worth being in your less than good graces. It almost came as a bonus."

"Ah, so you're the bloody blighter that set fire to my Wench!" Jack exclaimed, sounding like his usual, cheery, deceptively uncaring self but his smile was sharp and his eyes were flashing like lightning in a storm. You didn't need Tia Dalma's uncanny abilities at reading people to know he was furious. "Well, it's always a pleasure to meet the man who ruined your life."

At his strange words, all three men looked closely at Sparrow, as though trying to figure out how crazy he was this time around, when it finally registered ... Just how young he was. Jones gaped like a fish - pun completely intended - while Beckett was gawking, eyes wide, as he stared at a Jack younger than even he had met. Mercer had not met Sparrow before but even he was surprised by the youthful appearance of someone who should have been nearly forty.

Suddenly, Jones - in his little bucket of seawater he was using since he couldn't step on land for almost a decade - growled like a caged beast and bellowed to the wind in rage. "CALYPSO!" And on the Black Pearl, watching from the distance, Tia Dalma enjoyed his rage and the frightened flinching of the pirates all around her. So her Jones had seen her Witty Jack? Let the games begin.

Back on the island, Jack also winced, more because of the loudness and suddenness of the yell than out of fear, before grinning in a way he knew most found very annoying when sent their way. "Yup. Calypso dearest and I are very close mates. Have been since I was about ye high,'' he placed his hand at about at lower chest region to indicate his even younger self's height. "And was causing trouble left and right as a twelve year old kid of a pirate who didn't want to be a pirate but was more pirate than grownup pirates. Had her blessing since. I'd show you, but that would require me showing off some other things that I'm not keen on sharing with complete strangers."

Jones just growled at him, which made Jack's grin wider. Mercer was staring at him as though he's grown a second head. "You're mad." He said almost incredulously and Jack just chuckled.

"Thank goodness for that or else this wouldn't work." He paused, looked back over his shoulder and hummed mock thoughtfully. "Well, not nearly as good as it had. Seriously, there's more pirate in me than in all those people over there put together." He looked back to Beckett and all the good humor that had been present was absent. "What do you want?"

"Excuse me?" The startled Lord asked with a perplexed blink, not sure what to make of any of this. This Jack was so different to the Jack he had come to know while he worked for him but there were some traits of his that Beckett recognized. He was not prepared for this Sparrow. He had been ready for the Black Pearl's eccentric Captain, not the Captain of the Wicked Wench. All those who've never met the pirate before his sails became black would not see the difference between those two sides of Jack, especially since it was the same ship. Beckett knew better. He was weary of facing this Jack Sparrow again.

He wasn't even aware that this Jack was leagues different from the Jack that had worked for him.

"What do you want? Why did you go out of your way to get the heart? What do you get out of this?"

Now Beckett looked at him as though he was mad. "Are you daft, boy? I get the power of the sea, a weapon, an ultimate weapon. One even you fear. One that could take down even you." He smiled mockingly at him. "And he did. It was obviously worth it."

"I don't fear Jones." Jack told him, huffing, clearly offended at the mere thought of it. "Why should I? And that aside, since I'm still alive and my Pearl is still singing, I'd say he wasn't exactly as successful as you thought. Not such an ultimate, unstoppable weapon, aye?" He scuffed again. "He's not enough, is that it? That's why you have your little armada with you?" He grinned at Jones insufferably again. "You losing your touch in your old age? You couldn't even keep one mortal in your little Locker. But, then again, I am Captain Jack Sparrow."

"If it is not me or Captain Jones that you fear, Jack," Beckett drawled, losing patience with the teen now that it was obvious that Jack actually wasn't afraid of them in the least. He wasn't. You could see it in his eyes. He was weary but he held no fear for them, at least not a personal fear. He knew what Jones could do and was not foolish enough to dismiss him but he didn't cower before him, either. And every time he looked at Beckett, there was more anger than any other emotion flashing in his eyes, probably a result of him finding out what had happened to his beloved ship on Beckett's command, although Beckett didn't know who could have told him about that. As far as he knew, Jack didn't talk about it, but that didn't really matter now. What mattered was finally dealing with Sparrow and removing this one man that always somehow foiled Beckett's plans forever out of the way. "If not the devil himself ... Then what do you fear?" He stepped closer, under the watchful eye of Mercer, of course, since his approach caused more than one person to reach for their weapons, especially Miss Swann. She looked about ready to rip him apart, limb from limb, no doubt because of her learning her father's fate. They were almost chest to chest, that was how close he dared venture, so he can whisper into Jack's ear - thank god he was shorter as a teen or else Beckett would have had to stand on his toes to reach it. "Do you fear death?"

Sparrow frowned at the short man borrowing the line he knew Jones always asked but his eyes strayed upwards, over the Lord's shoulder and his breath was knocked out of him when black eyes fell on the husk of the Black Mary. Something must have shown on his face because Beckett chuckled menacingly, obviously thinking he had won.

"You are right, Jack, as always. The Flying Dutchman wasn't enough."

"Don't you fear the gods, man?" Jack asked, breathless, as he stared at a ship he had once known every crook and cranny of, better than her own crew at times, due to his being unable to stay still for too long. She looked like a shadow of her former self and Jack shuddered to think on whether the crew was still indeed on her decks. He futilely hoped they had all passed on relatively quickly and had crossed to the other side instead of indeed being cursed by the Devil's Triangle as he feared. "You've dared try and tame the sea by making its lord and the farrier of the dead your lap dog. I know at least one goddess that's not happy with you."

"Why should I fear a flesh-bound goddess when I have such a wonderful lapdog? And did you know, he brought a friend?" Cutler's smirk was sharp and cold and cruel. "I must say, having El Matador Del Mar at my disposal is quite the treat. Do you think he will make an even greater lapdog? So proud, he is. Watching him slowly break and fall apart will be so satisfactory when he realizes I have no intention of letting him go. All he wants is a little revenge. I imagine he will be quite disappointed when I don't give it to him."

With a snarl that surprised everyone with its ferocity, Jack lunged at Beckett, an uncontrollable rage taking him at what Beckett had said. If i had not been for James, he would have broken the rules of parley and a lot of things would have gone down the drain with their new Pirate King. As it was, James was struggling to hold Jack back around the waist as his young lover trashed and reached for the now scared and startled Beckett, who was watching with wide eyes as Sparrow tried to wring his neck with his own bare hands, cursing him in every language he knew. Which turned out to be a lot. Thankfully, he stuck mostly to English and Spanish as he spat on the Lord's name, cursed his bloodline and threw insults and death threats around like rice at a wedding.

In all that commotion, as everyone stared at Sparrow, flabbergasted, they didn't even register the approach of one more person from the sea, walking on top of the shallows until this new arrival chuckled. Jack froze mid curse, mid flail at the familiar sound, going absolutely still, eyes widening and skipping over to the left shoreline, where there stood a man. A ghost. A smiling, chuckling ghost that was probably the nightmare of any man who calls himself a pirate except the new Pirate King. Beckett and Mercer were uneasy at the appearance of the black-dressed, blue-skinned ghost, Jones was leering at him and the Pearl's group was staring with wide eyes, agape mouths and fear and disgust in their eyes and on their faces.

The cursed ghost of one Capitán Armando Salazar of the Silent Mary had eyes only for the youngest one on the island and his smile was gentle and fond. "I see you are still as feisty with your Spanish, my little Sparrow. You would do Santos proud."

With a strangled noise tearing out of his throat, Jack wrenched himself free from James' arms and, expertly avoiding Jones, ran straight for the ghost. At his friend's alarmed cries, he stopped not quite within arm's reach but his hand still reached hesitatingly for Salazar, eyes bright with tears as he beheld the face of his once lover. Beckett's group watched in confusion as the Spaniard used the little waves to take a step closer but then had to back up lest his ghost disintegrate since he was not allowed to step on land at all, as if eager to touch Sparrow, to be closer.

"You look well, my little Sparrow." Salazar complimented, his eyes rowing over the younger's body, seeing that he was not hurt and was well dressed. The relief he felt was short lived, however, when he realized Jack had seemingly not aged a day since their last encounter and Salazar knew that to be a good two decades ago. "Do not tell me you have died young or I will be very displeased with you, my little Sparrow."

Jack gave a hollow laugh, eyes shining even more. "I died a year ago, or so I heard. Kraken swallowed me whole, along with my Wench - well, her name is the Black Pearl these days - and I was brought back a month or so ago. I was in a bad way and this was the only solution. Damn, I'm telling this story too often." He shook his head and reached up with a hand to brush the first tear that slid down his cheek at the same time Salazar did the same. Without hesitation and for once not listening to his friends at all, Jack stepped closer and was touched, for the first time in far too long, no matter how you look at it, by the Spaniard once more. A shaky smile stretched across his lips at the worry he saw in those once again sparking eyes.

Salazar was giving Jones a nasty look as he knew only the Flying Dutchman's Captain can order to great beast to hunt and he was not pleased with what he heard, but he drew his attention back to the teen when Jack leaned more into his touch, enjoying it despite his hands being ice cold. The Captain of the Silent Mary knew his eyes had gentled in a way he would prefer the others not to see but he could not help himself. This was his little Sparrow. "You do some many unthinkable things, my little Sparrow."

Jack laughed slightly, the sound choked with tears that he did not let be shed further. "What can I say, love? I'm Captain Jack Sparrow!" He brought his hand up to lay it over Salazar's cracked one, nuzzling into the gentle touch. The others were shocked at the scene playing before them, so shocked that they could not even think, let alone react.

Th Spaniard suddenly looked impossibly pleased, smug, thankful and outright proud and loving as a cold finger stroked a tanned cheek. "You kept the name I gave you." He said in awe, his voice becoming warm and happiness the likes of which he had not felt for far too long returning to him to fill him up from the inside out.

"Armando," Jack choked out, a tear falling despite his best efforts and he lunged into said man's awaiting arms, hugging the ghost tight. The Black Pearl's crew gaped at the name that had just tumbled off of Jack's lips, for they had heard him say it more than once in his many stories and they knew him as the man who had loved Jack so much he had followed him to his own ruin. James, who knew he was also Jack's long term lover whom Jack had led to his death and still mourned, did his best not to feel disheartened or jealous that this dead man held all of Jack's affections even so long after his death while he longed for it even now. He should have expected this. "Idiot. Of course I kept the name, you were only bellowing it as you ordered your crew to chase me. They all heard and it spread like wildfire. Idiot. Mi estúpido amor. Of course I kept the bloody name you gave me. Precious to me as my ship, as my Compass. Español loco."

"Si, estoy muy loco. Loco por ti, mi Sparrow." Armando whispered lovingly to the teen's hair, enjoying his scent and the feel of him against his body that was, somehow, slowly, surely shedding the curse. Ghost he may still be but before them now stood the great man he had once been now that he had gotten this one last chance to hold the one that possessed his heart. "Solo para ti. Mi corazón es tuyo."

"Y mi corazón es para siempre tu buque, mi Capitán."When Jack looked up after that old exchange that had always melted both of their hearts, he gasped in delighted shock upon seeing the very Capitán he had fallen in love with, dressed in his black and white assemble with his hair pulled back in that low bun like style, everything polished and primed to perfection, not a sign of the curse left. He felt solid in his hold but Jack could not feel a heartbeat from him. "Armando?"

"I must leave you, mi amor." Salazar told him as he bent a little lower and brushed a kiss on his forehead. In the distance, the ghost ship had been restored to its previous glory, the pride of the Spanish Royal Navy but the fear of all pirates but the one who had scaled her rigging, tarred her bilge, mended her sails, tied her lines, held her helm and stole the hearts of her Captain and crew. Cheers could be heard coming from the vessel as the Spaniards celebrated their freedom of their curse and soon to be found peace. "We do not belong here anymore. And you have a new life to look forward to, so do not mourn our passing. I only regret not seeing the marvelous man you have become."

"Please don't leave me. Not again. Por favor, no te vayas. Te amo." He begged almost desperately but only got one more kiss on the forehead for his efforts before Armando detangled himself from the new Pirate King. "I need you!"

The Spaniard smiled sadly and took one more step back, and another and another for each one that Jack took into the shallows, shaking his head. "Your corazón is now guarded and held tight by another, my little Sparrow. You have given it freely, so do not throw this away for an old ghost."

"How-"

Salazar chuckled as he slowly started fading away. "I've loved you too long not to see that sparkle in your eye, my little Sparrow. Now, you be good, si?" He was almost completely gone when Jack lunged for him again, taking hold of his head and yanking him down for one last, desperate, goodbye kiss. "Adiós, Jack Sparrow."

One last tear slipped past Jack control when the ghost and his ship were finally fully gone, his fists clenched at his sides, shaking. He had just lost the person he loved for the second time and he was, once again, not allowed to mourn him as he had a job to do. Back straight, head held high, Jack rounded on his heels and glared at the flabbergasted trio of cruel, ruthless men that opposed his own group. The fire in his eyes must have been of the cold sort, for they flinched away at the sight of it.

Jones stared, wide eyed, at the boy, a different image coming to his mind and he, for the first time, saw the resemblance Jack Sparrow bore to a man long since dead.

"I will kill you," he told them calmly. His voice held a dangerous, deadly edge and his words were a promise, an oath, a warning. This was no idle threat. "I will kill all three of you for all that you have done, for the pain and sadness you have caused, for the lives you have taken. And so help you the gods, for you will need it, as you have no idea who you have just made a serious enemy out of."

"Do you believe we should fear you? You?" Beckett asked condescendingly when he got his bearings back, a sneer overtaking his would-be impassive face. "There is nothing to fear as you are now. The Jack I've come to know-"

"Is a mask, or so I hear." Jack sneered right back. "You don't know who you're dealing with. Men far greater than you," he appraised Beckett with his black eyes and made an expression that suggested he found him seriously wanting, much to the short man's ire. "Have fallen before my feet. If you thought fighting ghosts would scare me, that monsters terrify me, that the supernatural or curses being real can surprise me, you obviously don't know me at all. Ask your little lapdog about my adventures and you'll know you're way in over your head. And you," he turned his burning eyes on Jones, who was bristling at the constant mutt references. "You should feel ashamed of yourself. Embarrassed. Look who you are serving! Do you fear death so much?" He mocked and Jones looked ready to lunge for him but Jack didn't so much as bat an eyelash at him as he boldly turned his back on all three of them as he came to stand with his group. "My great grandfather took your side in your little feud with your beau, but I've always been more of a lady's man. This lovers' spat that lasted decades is coming to an end today, Jones."

"Ya are declarin' war against us, Sparrow," Davy Jones leered from his bucket. "Only th' Pirate King can do that an' there's not been one since th' first Brethren Court sealed Calypso."

"Yes, Pirate King Alexander Teague made a grave mistake, I agree with Barbossa on that." He ignored the choking sounds everyone but James was making behind his back again. He was sure Barbossa was also gaping like a fish that he might be getting his way. "It is only right for his great grandson to right his wrong. My great grandfather stood by you, Jones. I stand by Calypso and wish you all the best. I heard her ire was terrible."

Jack turned on his heel and started marching past his companions towards the rowboat. James was the first to go after him, keeping a weary eye on the assassin-secretary Mercer, even flabbergasted as he was. Beckett tried to call after him that if they surrender now, only most will die but if they fight, all will die. Jack didn't so much as turn around as he whipped around like a tornado with a thunderous scowl on his face.

"No, mate. If you surrender to me now, I will let you live. I will let you live." Without another word, Jack was once again heading back towards the rowboat. He heard Elizabeth exchange a few snappy comments with Beckett, raging at what he had done to her father, and Will promising Jones that he will free his father before they and Barbossa fell in step behind the emotionally turbulent Pirate King and his lover. When they got into the rowboat, Jack ignored the young couple's staring and Barbossa's appraising look as he sat himself as close to James as he physically could without being in the taller man's lap. William rowed them back towards the Black Pearl in an uncomfortable silence, Elizabeth bitting back her curiosity at the look in Jack's eyes, so torn, so angry, so sad and yet so relieved while Jack just held tight onto James' hand, needing his grounding presence more than ever before. James held back, realizing that the teen needed him and that he can think about all that has happened between Jack and the ghost of his lover Armando Salazar on the island later, when they actually have the time to maybe discuss it as well as what their own relationship might be.

"Ye're goin' alon' with me plan, then?" Barbossa cut through the silence with his question like a knife through butter and Jack looked up. His eyes, they fount it disconcerting, were the same eyes of his older self, especially in that moment when he had finally exacted his revenge on Barbossa after ten long years. It felt ... wrong to see those eyes on this young teenager. How could they have placed such a great burden on this lad of eighteen years? "Ye'll free Calypso?"

"Tia Dalma, or Calypso, as I've said many times by now, has always been a great friend. It is why I know her so well. She will not let what the first Brethren Court did go that easily. She is a woman wronged and scorned and she will take great pleasure in showing us why we should fear her." Sparrow said, explaining his case. "However, as dangerous as she is, she does care for me as much as I for her. I guess I continued occasionally visiting her over the years, bringing her gifts from wherever I've been to before said visits. She didn't have to go to such great lengths to get my Piece of Eight. She needn't have given me this reprieve for my sanity."

"Then why did you refuse to free her before the Brethren Court?" A curious Will asked as they approached the Pearl. The black ship sang of comfort to her Captain and Jack felt his heart settle a little.

"Because she would have power only over the seas. It sounds like much but the Flying Dutchman is indestructible and the Silent Mary was a cursed ship of ghosts. They'd have survived whatever the armada didn't and Beckett or no Beckett, had Armando not decided to pass on, he would have hunted us down to extinction."

"I don't get what you're aiming at, Jack." The only woman in the boat sighed in exasperation but the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean just smiled at her.

"I didn't expect to be made King, I'll agree with that, but I knew with a King, I could make them consider parlay. I actually thought whoever would be named King would just hand me over to Beckett and be done with it. I would, as such, thus have a chance to speak with Armando and try to diffuse his anger so he can pass on, free from the Triangle's curse. As it is, it worked for the better."

"And the war?" James asked then, trying to understand Jack's logic. It wasn't that hard just ... Strange. Rare few would sacrifice everything they are for people who would betray you without a second's hesitation. Then again, Jack had continued doing this throughout his life, it would seem. Elizabeth, Will, James ... Was Jack foolish? Or truly wise, to leave them all in his debt? He could come collecting whenever he choses and yet he never does. Was he a masochist? If so, James will need to look out better for him. If Jack himself allows him to, that is. Their relationship was still on shaky ground.

"Had to be done, whatever happened with Armando or whatever happens with Calypso. A united front had to be made, for some will survive to tell this tale. The world needs to know that we can fight together against our enemies if we wish so so they will never again try to wipe us out." Jack said with that strange wisdom of his. "Besides, there's no turning back for Davy Jones. He's made his bed the day he told the first Brethren Court how to bind Calypso. He will give us no quarter. We aught to face him head on than suffer his chase."

"If I didn't know no better, Jack Sparrow, I'd say that be a plan an' not yer usual modus operandi." Hector commented, although he was pleased with his once Captain's thinking.

"Mobilis in mobili," Jack replied with a wry grin just as their little rowboat bumped gently against the Black Pearl's hull. He called out to Gibbs to haul them up, turning to give James a peck on the lips that had their three companions gawking again before waiting for the rowboat to be level with the railing. He jumped out and sauntered to where Calypso, still disguised as the swamp voodoo witch Tia Dalma, was watching the Flying Dutchman in the distance. He placed a hand on her shoulder, seizing her attention. "Time to be free, luv."

"Ya trust yer ol' Tia, aye? Witty Jack."

"Like I trust the sea." That got him a laugh and Jack smiled at her. She placed a hand on his cheek, caressing it the way she had when he had first woken up twenty years into his own future. "Do I need to barter for our safety like I did the Compass?"

"Ya needn't've bartered for it den so ya needn't barter fer dis now." She dismissed him, studying him closely with her all knowing eyes. "Ya keep bein' Tia's Witty Jack, aye?"

"Always," Jack said sincerely and smiled at the affectionate pat she gave his cheek. He stepped back and gave her a deep bow, knowing his crew was watching in curiosity. He took out of his pocket the sack that contained all the Pieces of Eight but his own and presented it to her. "Ave, Calypso." He told her with flair as he took off the only bead not directly woven into his hair but hanging over his red bandanna, ignoring the nervous murmuring and fearful gasps from the crew. "Morituri te salutant." Barbossa was too busy giving his two ninnies the stink eye to be angry at Sparrow for managing to nick it off of them.

"Not if I can 'elp it, Jack Sparra." Calypso said in a rumbling purr as Jack prepared the ritual.

The chaos was just beginning.