A/N: To skip to the actual chapter please scroll down, but I feel compelled to answer an anonymous reviewer here at length.
"This really stinks. Anybody who thinks that Jack and Elizabeth are meant to be, oughta have their bloody head examined!"
This was a lovely review I received last weekend amidst many other far more kind and enthusiastic missives. Of course, the above is the one that has stuck with me the past few days. The first part, well, I will take full responsibility for if it's true, and if it is true I do apologize. The second part, well, now that's a broader insult not just directed at me, but my dear friends here, and this is what I have to say on the matter.
::throws down gauntlet::
Despite my amusement that this comment was left anonymously (of course it was, you chicken $hit) and on the *seventh* chapter of the fic (if you hate the pairing so much then why read all of it? Maybe secretly you really love it...) it did make me think a bit more specifically about the fandom that has been as intrinsic a part of my being as surely as my heart beats and my eyes are blue since 2006. [Has it really been TEN years?!]
I'm not arguing the fact that maybe my head needs examining, exactly, but it got me thinking about the Jack/Elizabeth fandom, Sparrabethers, and why the character of Elizabeth resounds like a thunderclap in a place rooted deep in my [our] soul[s].
The love of Jack really is the no-brainer. He's fun, witty, handsome, creative, clever as the devil and yet somehow still a good man. He is Trickster Incarnate. He's Johnny Depp, for chrissakes, what more could you possibly want? Furthermore, he really is the leading man, so why shouldn't he get the girl in the end? Elizabeth is a more difficult creature to put one's finger upon.
Elizabeth is beautiful, yaes duh ok, but she is smart as a whip, and there is a ferocity in her that boils beneath the surface of her comely exterior. There is a strength in her spirit that cannot be tamed. She possesses a wildness that in the beginning, only Jack sees. Peas in a pod, the pirate recognizes one of his own.
I think she speaks to those of us who have ever been put in a certain box because we are a pretty female, and expected to be weak, only to meet the world with head high and claws bared. She speaks to those of us who will always choose the path that holds adventure, even if it will be difficult. We recognize a little girl who would dare to sing a song of pirates, just to see what may part the mists. We know a woman who would do an ugly thing that was necessary, even if it killed her inside, and we identify a woman who would go to the mouth of hell itself for a man she loved.
We are adventurers and travelers. We are artists and dreamers. We possess souls forged in fire and hearts deep as the ocean. It takes quite the pirate to call himself our match. The lovely ladies I've met in this fandom have been some of the most intuitive, creative, intelligent, and interesting people I've ever had the pleasure to correspond with.
So if you think that's such a terrible thing, maybe you need *your* head examined. Savvy?
::sticks out tongue::
Ahem. Now, about that next chapter...
Chapter 8: Two Sides of the Same Coin
The next day, trekking through the treacherous mangrove swamps in waist deep water, Elizabeth thought that the previous night's interlude with Jack may have been a distant dream. Neither the heat nor the mosquitoes or even the poisonous snakes could equal the misery inflicted by her very own heart, the treacherous thing. It roiled in her breast like storm-thrashed seas, merciless in its destruction of all her recently hard-won happiness.
Was it really just yesterday that Jack defied and begged a mermaid for her life? Had it only been last night that he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her like there was no tomorrow?
Perhaps he knew there wouldn't be, for them.
Up ahead, she watched Jack Sparrow flirt and banter with Anjelica. She tried to tell herself that it was all just a ruse to gain more knowledge of the profane ritual, but it all seemed too real. Every playful glance he shot the chica hit home in Elizabeth's heart like a thrown blade, every wry smile like a lead ball to the gut. He even called her amor—love, in Spanish, and that one little word she so considered theirs managed to claw painfully at her insides.
She decided for her own sanity she simply couldn't watch, and she fell back in the line to be closer to the captured mermaid. Sirena was her name, and a pretty little siren she was, pink tail and sea-foam green eyes. The mermaid looked to her through the glass with eyes that seemed impossibly wise for a shell so youthful. She wondered if somehow the mermaid knew of the promise Elizabeth had made to her elder sister. Elizabeth got the distinct sense that the mermaid was attempting to communicate something with her.
As they trekked on it seemed the mermaid was losing consciousness, the color of her tail fading to a sickly gray, like the rainbow-colored fishes who lost their color in death in the fishmonger's stalls. Alarmed, Elizabeth studied the glass box, and realized the buffoons who had constructed it had not left any means for the exchange of fresh air. Elizabeth put her hand upon the side of the glass, and with pleading eyes the siren pressed her hand in mirror to hers.
"She can't breathe," she informed the bearers, who ignored her with a mindless grunt.
Knowing there was not a moment to lose, Elizabeth snatched a blade from the belt of one of the nearby pirates, driving it home beneath the lid and popping it free. There was but an inch opened to the outside air, but immediately the siren girl pressed her lips to the crack, gasping for oxygen.
Immediately Elizabeth found herself with three pistols and a musket pointed at her head. Very slowly she lifted her arms, extending the blade pommel first to its owner. Indignant that he'd been taken unawares, the pirate snatched it back, nearly slicing her palm to ribbons.
"What's this?" demanded Blackbeard, a hand upon the pommel of his great sword.
"I bring you mermaid tears which you carelessly toss back to the sea. Now you have caught a mermaid but seem intent on suffocating her. Is there no end to your careless waste, Captain Teach?"
Her heart thundered in her chest as Teach began to draw his sword, his blue eyes glinting cold as ice chips.
Jack regarded them both with wide eyes, a look that had once been reserved for the whelp alone.
Now you've done it.
He began to insert himself between them, moving as inadvertently as possible, pretending to stumble.
The wicked blade cleared its scabbard an inch before Blackbeard burst out laughing, sliding it back home.
"Good thing we've brought you then, eh Pirate King?" he bellowed, ignoring Jack. "Keep proving your usefulness, and you may survive yet."
He began walking again, and the rest of the party followed suit. Jack shot her a look she didn't quite understand, holding up a finger as though to say something, before thinking better of it. He turned to follow suit, falling in beside Anjelica again. It had been annoyance, perhaps, she reckoned. Maybe he was tired of keeping her out of trouble.
She supposed she couldn't really blame him, and her heart sank even further.
They climbed. Up and up and up, until Lizzy's thighs burned with the exertion of propelling herself up over rough terrain and boulders. They needed to find the silver chalices for the ritual, which supposedly could be found in the ruins of Ponce de Leon's ship, the Santiago. Jack claimed to know where the old boat's carcass lay, and they followed him.
The party trekked until they hit a dead end at a ravine, the rotten remnants of a rope bridge constructed long ago hanging by threads from its tethers.
Blackbeard scowled at the gully, as though Mother Nature had placed this obstacle just to annoy him. He and Jack peered over the edge of the cliff. A large river rushed below, but it was a long long way down. "That was decidedly intact on the map," Jack grimaced, looking to the ruined bridge.
"Looks like you'll be taking a swim, Captain Sparrow."
Jack's grimace deepened. "I'd rather not."
As though he hadn't heard him, Captain Teach held out his hand. "Give me the compass."
Jack held the precious object close to his chest, seeming genuinely offended. "No," he refused.
Blackbeard made a gesture to his Bokor quartermaster, and the huge man tossed the voodoo doll of Jack Sparrow's likeness over the cliff. Jack winced as though bracing himself for a blow as the little cloth facsimile spiraled through the air towards the river. But it landed in the fast moving water without incident, earning a chuckle from Teach. "See? Right as rain, Sparrow. The compass, if you please, and be on your way."
Jack peeked over the side of the cliff again. "I still fail to see the merit of this terrible idea."
His patience gone, Blackbeard withdrew one of his silver-chased pistols, pointing it between Jack's eyes. Elizabeth's heart lurched, and Anjelica sprang forward, hand out. "Father!"
Jack, however, appeared unmoved.
Despite his madness, Blackbeard needed him, and he knew it.
With a crooked grin, Blackbeard next pointed the pistol at his daughter. Jack still appeared unmoved, though Anjelica did not seem to appreciate the joke. "Father?" For the first time in this caper there was a thread of doubt in her voice, and Elizabeth almost felt pity for her.
Jack spread his hands as if to say be my guest.
Blackbeard chuckled, and next pointed the pistol at Elizabeth. Though her heart thumped hard in her chest, she did her best not to appear affected, raising her chin at the infamous pirate captain. When she met his eyes defiantly a chill spiked down to her core. Perhaps this really would be the end.
Immediately Jack's expression turned solemn. "Hold on a minute." Placating, he held out the compass towards Teach. "Let's not do anything rash, eh?"
Anjelica's expression shifted from fear to rage in a second flat. "Hombre infiel!" She drew her own pistol, pointing it at Elizabeth.
Before the Pirate King even had a chance to duck Jack sprang into action, and it seemed everything happened at once. Jack swatted Angelica's pistol, the weapon emitting a deafening bark, the lead ball striking the foliage a foot left of Elizabeth's head. Jack tossed Teach the compass as a further distraction, calling "See ye upriver at the cave, mate!", and grabbed Elizabeth's hand.
The next thing she knew they were sprinting towards the edge of the ravine, and then air born, plummeting towards the river below. She hardly even had a chance to scream before they struck the water, the impact from such a height a shocking blow.
Elizabeth kicked against the swirling current with all her might, surfacing with a gasp. Jack appeared not far from her, and for a long moment they regarded each other as they regained their breaths, caught in the gravity of the other's stare.
Finally Elizabeth spoke. "You saved me."
Jack appeared almost offended by the observation.
"Are ye really that bloody surprised by now?"
With a sigh she turned away, beginning the arduous swim towards the bank. She honestly didn't know what to make of Jack. He was fire one minute and ice the next. Whatever that mermaid thought she saw between them…she must have been sorely mistaken.
"Lizzy, wait," he called, catching her hand.
She tried to wrench away, suddenly furious. "I've been waiting!" she exclaimed, thankful that she was soaking wet so that he hopefully would not notice the tears in her eyes. "I've been waiting for you for years, Jack!" He would not release her hand, those eyes boring into her as though they could see straight to her soul…it was maddening.
If he knew so much, then why didn't he know that she loved him, that she'd always loved him, and that watching him make eyes at that insufferable senorita made her feel like she wanted to die?
Helpless, she gave in to the childish impulse to splash him, a wave of water hitting him full in the face.
The indignant surprise written upon his handsome visage was priceless.
Before they knew it they were engaged in a full on battle, water and insults flung full force at each other. This went on until Elizabeth could hardly even see Jack for the froth of water before her, and she did not know it as he sneaked inside her guard, grabbing her with an arm like a band of iron around her waist. His mouth crashed over hers, lips somehow soft and demanding all at once.
For a moment time froze. They froze, and subsequently sank below the surface of the swift moving water.
Jack did not release her, somehow managing to resurface and tread water and kiss her silly all at once. Without a thought she opened to him, moaning as his tongue swept inside to do battle with hers. Even their kisses were like combat, she mused foggily, before her mind went happily and completely blank but for the sensation of Jack's lips on hers. He kissed her until she thought she might suffocate, and gladly too. Finally he broke away, his forehead pressed to hers. "Damnable woman," he grumbled. "Saucy insufferable Pirate King. I love you. Savvy?"
A sound escaped her that was a cross between a laugh and a sob, her fingers tangled in the hair at the base of his neck. "Why didn't you come for me?" she demanded, her throat tight with tears she was determined not to let fall. "Why did you let me leave? I thought you hated me."
"I thought I did too, for a time. But then…I didn't. Turns out love and hate can be two sides of the same coin, darlin'." He kissed her again, a gentler press of lips. It felt like an apology, and just maybe, a new beginning. "Now can we get out of this bloody river before we are eaten by a crocodile?"
Laughing, she nodded, reluctant to let go of him. Somehow they had managed to stay afloat throughout their kiss, and now she marveled that they hadn't drowned each other. With sure strokes they made their way to the bank, slogging up onto the shore. Jack looked down at himself with the indignant disgust of a wet cat, clearly not pleased to have been soaked through yet again on this adventure.
"Perhaps we should strip down and let our clothes dry," he suggested with a sly smile that glinted gold. "We've quite a trek ahead of us, and I would hate to see you chaff, my liege."
Wringing out her long hair, Elizabeth laughed lightly for the suggestion, even as heat pooled in her belly for the mischievous warmth in his eyes. "How considerate you are of my well-being, my love."
Jack straightened a little, a goofy little smile curling his lips. "Say that again?"
She found her way into his arms, finding that they flowed together like water. "I said I love you, Jack Sparrow." Gently she pressed her lips to his, her toes curling in her boots as his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her snug against him.
"Captain Jack Sparrow," he teased, before claiming her mouth again. "Is that a yes to the shedding of our clothing?" His large hands found their way beneath her shirt quite easily, kneading the curve of her waist in a way that made her knees weak.
"That is a no," she somehow managed to counter, glancing back up the cliff to see several of Blackbeard's party watched them from above, Anjelica included. "I can't say I fancy an audience for such a thing."
Jack paid an unkind glance up to their peanut gallery, taking her hand in his. "Me neither, I suppose. Come on, then. We've a pair of chalices to find. We have to make it back before those cod-for-brains kill that mermaid, or you'll never be able to set foot on a ship again. Then what will we do with ourselves? Nothing so sorry as a couple of pirates who can't go to sea…"
Elizabeth felt warmth bloom inside that Jack's concerns for the future seemed to include her. They began their trek through the jungle, Jack using his cutlass as a machete in one hand, and the fingers of his other hand firmly laced with hers, as though he feared he might lose her to the forest if he dared let go.
* Hombre infiel! –Unfaithful man.
**It has recently come to light that Blackbeard's name was probably actually Thatch, not Teach, (a typo in an old document, apparently, and who can really read that bloody flowery handwriting anyway?) but I've decided to use the latter because of the movie and it is more commonly accepted.
A/N II: This might take a turn for M in the soon future, (I'm sorry, I TRIED to write a semi-innocent story, but…the truth is I just have a dirty mind. :P ) so you might have to adjust your browsing settings to find it next time. Or, just add it to your alerts. :) Thank you for all the kind and constructive comments! You very much make my day, and make writing this so much fun! General insults of a masturbatory nature, however, I would prefer ye keep to yourself, savvy?
