Chapter 3 – Split in Half
Disclaimer: Nope, nope, nope. I don't own POTC, except for the 1st movie on DVD (lol). I do own anything that isn't here from the movies, though (Jane, John, map etc.)
A/N: I SAW THE 2nd MOVIE! I am soo happy, happy, happy! I won't say anything; otherwise I shall accidentally spoil everything for you.
Oh, and sorry for some confusion. In the first chapter, where it talks about Will and Elizabeth, the timeline's a tad mixed up. So John actually left two weeks before the story begins, and they find the letter on the day he left. Now, when I re-introduce them, the time is the same as the rest of the chapter. Am I making sense?
By the way, this story is going to have a certain "treasure", after all. So the name may change eventually. Just read to find out!
Thanks to all those who reviewed, and La Flamingo! I really appreciate it.
Edit: One new paragraph (second in "Ana Maria and Jane" section), thanks and credit to La Flamingo. As well just some minor editing (describing etc.) in the "Will and Elizabeth" part.
"That girl… thatgirl is my daughter.""girl
John's eyes bulged, his mouth seeming to be ready to fall to the wood floor. Sparrow? "A... daughter? You? I didn't think pirates had daughters, let alone children in the first place." He sputtered.
Jack simply smirked and shrugged, slumping back onto the hay-covered floor.
John stood there for a moment contemplating this odd existence of the pirate's daughter, his eyebrows firmly knitted together in confusion. "So… Norrington doesn't know about her?" he asked.
"If he did, he wouldn't be asking me, now would he?"
John sighed at the obviousness of his own question. "Well, yes, I suppose. But I never saw her being brought aboard. She might be… gone" the young Turner dared not bring himself to say anything more.
Jack slightly shook his head in objection, "No, no, not my Jane. She's still on the Pearl, I know it. She has her way of… disappearing from the scene, shall we say."
"But- if she's still on the Black Pearl, and Norrington has your crew…"
The pirate frowned, his legendary posture seeming to have vanished into a fatherly state of mind. Jack's beady eyes softened; worry replacing mischievousness. He said nothing; he did not even look at the young Mr. Turner. Finally after a moment of silence, Jack was ready to speak. "I--"
"A map, that will take you anywhere you want, just like that? Ha! That's ridiculous! There's no such thing as a map that can take you anywhere you want just like that—it's impossible!" A subtle, yet obviously skeptical voice came from above. Judging by the whispering and heavy British accent, it must've been one of the guards.
"But it is true! I know it!" someone complained back, having a lighter, younger voice. "If you can find it, then you simply ask where ye want to go, and boom! You're there. It's been around for centuries." The noise trailed off, but then picked up again. "It has a large red seal on it, with a pirate emblem. It's said that over fourteen 'ears ago, two pieces were taken, one by a legendary capt'n, the other by his crew member, who had had a fit and quit the job." A pause. Then the first voice inquired, "Who was this legendary pirate?"
"The capt'n so happens to be our little captive 'ere, Jack Sparrow."
---
Silence crowded the Turner's parlor, the crackling fire lightening up the solemn room. A man and wife sat on either side of the marble hearth, not knowing what to do or what to say. It was dark out –almost midnight— the moon glimmering in the sky; but they couldn't let themselves sleep, not when they were in so much worry on their minds.
Two weeks had already passed for the Turners since John's disappearance. They had searched frantically for their rebellious son, only to find out that the best possible explanation was that he had snuck on a ship—and that ship was most likely Admiral Norrington's.
Will had the pitiful note clenched in his hand as he kept re-reading the scribbled words. He exhaled deeply, fearing it would be a helpless case. "Norrington's left over two weeks ago, looking for Jack, as always." he paused, trying to find a way to soothe his wife's fears, "John should be safe with him, though. I heard it only another two weeks till the ship returns."
Elizabeth would not say a word; instead she had her arm propped up on the arm of the soft red chair, resting her cheek on her hand, fiddling with the frills on her embroidered handkerchief with the other.
"Elizabeth? You've been staring at the rug all night." Will finally stated, seizing his wife's blank gaze.
"I'm sorry, Will. It's just that… What if Norrington ever did capture Jack? I already know what would be first on John's mind… he would go straight to him, no doubt."
It was true. John had a horribly bad habit of finding out things he should not, and it was all out of pure curiosity. But what made it even worse was that John had a love for knowing about pirates. Elizabeth simply wanted him safe, but even when John was born she knew she wouldn't always be able to hide Jack's existence, and their dealings with pirates. So she didn't—and she didn't encourage her son to be one, either. But that obviously wasn't enough for her son, not at all. He wanted to be see one, just to say that he saw one.
And unknowingly, he already had… now, over eight years ago, and all his life.
"I know," Will sighed again. "But there's not much we can do about that, I'm afraid." He tried to cheer his wife up, even with his own doubts. "But Jack is a good man… to some extent, anyways."
"Oh Will," she sniffled, trying to force a smile. "I know."
---
The noises from above had already stopped, and now John had a distinct feeling he was going to have an interesting time trying to digest any information Jack would use to try to explain what those two above meant.
But it looked like the infamous pirate didn't even know. There he was, sitting on the floor, frowning and glaring down at it. He was most definitely giving this some intense thinking.
It couldn't of possibly have been that map. It was a worthless piece of junk. Alright, so he did find it over fourteen years ago, and fought over it (for selfish reasons, I may add) with Ana Maria, and eventually lost her as a crew member (while unfortunately retrieving that horrid, immortal monkey, too), but it was just cloth, with a giant, red seal on it. Nothin' that important.
Now he wasn't so sure.
He could distinctly recall that very day, even still. The map was just lying there, so mysteriously, waiting to be held, waiting to be taken.
"Oh! What may this be?" Jack, a gold crown and jewels that he had plundered strung about over him, had just been going on his way out with his crew, before he noticed a rolled up parchment lying about. He smiled at himself as he examined the rolled up cloth, staring wonderingly at the little emblem on it. "Eh, worthless." He figured, and decided to leave it.
"What's that?" Ana Maria called, looking at the thing curiously.
Jack, selfish as he was, didn't want anyone but himself to have it, or no one should have it at al—especially not Ana Maria. "Hm? Oh, nothing! Move along, mate."
But Ana Maria was a hard one to convince. She kept staring at it, moving closer to it, and not before long, she quickly snatched it up. Jack was in total opposition, his arm stretch out somewhat, then in his odd way he brought it back. All he could do was frown.
"A map?" she wondered aloud. She tried to rip it open, but the seal did not bother to break. Jack found this to be his opportune moment. He walked up to it, grabbed the thing, and tucked it under his arm. "Ah hah, there? You see, it is worthless," he grinned, ready to walk off. The woman snatched it up again, and scowled. "I got it first."
"That doesn't count. I saw it first." he reached for it again. Ana Maria simply snapped her arm back further.
"It's mine, and I order you to give it back."
Oh, but he should've known better.
"Captain or not, Sparrow, it's mine, and you know it. I found it, I got it, and it's mine. Fair and square."
Now the whole crew was staring at the quarreling twosome. It hadn't much surprised them—Jack and Ana Maria always made such issues into such issues, as if the world depended on only one of them to win. They were like the brother and sister that had never existed for each other, and now they had one. It was such a love-hate relationship. And right now they were leaning on the hate.
"Mine!" Jack whined as he kept trying to grab it, his eyes the size of medallions.
"No, it's mine. I keep it." Ana Maria scowled even harsher; she was a bee ready to sting.
The captain put his index finger to his chin, thought a moment, and then pointed it upwards as if he had just remembered where to go for the biggest and cheapest rum supply. "Alright, 'ow about this? I will take a small piece, and you will take another small piece, and we'll leave the rest here? Then we shall be square."
Ana Maria frowned, growled, and sighed. "…Fine. But they must be equal—no cheating."
"Of course," Jack grinned, provided a small, yet exaggerated bow.
"—and you better not be takin' the whole thing while nobody's lookin'." The woman eyed him skeptically, trying to read Jack's mysterious body language.
"Now why would I do something like that?" he grabbed a dagger from his leather boot, handing it to Ana Maria.
Gibbs, still watching the truce, grunted and rolled his eyes, his arms folded. They were acting like children all over again!
The female crew member bent her head down for a moment while she sliced off a piece of the cloth. She stuffed that piece in her pocket, and then made a piece for Jack. She handed it to him, and carefully set the full parchment back down.
Jack pulled his deteriorating section out of his worn jacket, and examined it carefully. What was it? No doubt it was part of a map, but what kind? It looked like someone had hand painted the world, and he got the very left hand corner of it. There was a border, too, made up of painted skulls.
But only half of the original piece was there. The other he gave to someone for safe keeping, just in case.
---
The golden sun reflected off the crystal blue ocean, softly capturing the young woman's slightly tanned face, which was smothered in her brown curly locks. The weather was just as wonderful as it was the day before, seeming as if it were never to end.
Because Jane was sleeping--her head was lolling down in her collarbone gently--she had failed to notice that something was quite odd, about the ship. For one, there was sound emanating from the star-board deck, a rapid clawing noise followed not far after by some colorful language. The language began to shift its way up star-board, until finally there, perched precariously the railing of the Black Pearl, was the slight figure of a woman, nary five feet tall. She paused, head cocked at the figure of Jane, still sleeping soundly, before falling gracefully to the deck and standing. She moved forward, feet silent on the wood planks, before coming to a stop feet away from Jack Sparrow's daughter. She cocked her head once again, puzzlement crossing her features.
"Jane?"
Jane snapped up, the first thing searched for being her rapier. She swirled her head towards the source of the noise.
There a woman of African decent stood, in an over-sized muslin shirt, brown baggy pants, and tight black boots. The lady had to adjust her floppy hat and swap pieces of brunette hair out from her face before Jane actually realized who had called her name.
"Ana... Ana Maria?" the young girl's chest struggled to capture some air before she squealed. "Ana Maria! I am so glad to see you!" she ran up to her father's former crew member and gave her an enormous embrace.
Ana Maria was obviously not used to people giving her such welcomes. She politely peeled the girl off of her and gave a small smile. She had aged some, but her young, wild, adventurous heart could still be seen through her deep brown eyes. Ana Maria called out some orders to her burly crew members, who were firmly planted in her large ship, and then decided to ask some questions that needed some answering. "Where's yer father? Why do I not see anyone else aboard?"
Sadness swept over the young woman's face. "He… he and the crew were captured by the British Navy only yesterday."
"Jack?" It was rather easy to tell that Ana Maria had a hard time digesting this information. "Jack was captured? By the Navy? Oh dear…" the pirate rolled her eyes and sighed. "So… So why are you still 'ere?"
"… I hid down in the cell, so that they couldn't capture me… And they didn't. But, before I went, father told me that if he was captured, to look in Port Royale, for a family… I don't remember the name. …And then also he said that the British commander of the ship was a man named 'Norr'n'ton' or something."
"Norrington, you must mean." Ana Maria rolled her eyes once more and sighed disgustedly at the very sound of the name.
Jane cocked her head. "You know 'im?"
"I know about 'im. Never actually met the man—thankfully. Yer father told you to look to look for a family? Can you remember at all 'o they were?"
"Um… it was.. It was…" the young pirate struggled to remember. "Tur—tur--"
Where had she heard it before? Oh, yes. Them. "Turner?" Ana Maria corrected.
"Aye, 'Turner'. The name sounds familiar... I don't think I've met them before. You know about them too?"
Ana Maria began to look into space, her eyes glazed over. "Hmm? Oh, yes, I know…" she trailed off, her mind elsewhere.
Now she had two ships: the cursed Black Pearl and her own. Now Jack, her "something-close-to" a friend, was in danger of being executed. Should she take the girl and go rescue him? But the Turners were over in Port Royale, were they not? Couldn't Will help the pirate instead of her? It was two weeks to that "civilized" place, anyways. But…
"So... what are you going to do?" Jane interrupted the pirate's thoughts, her arms crossed as she stared wonderingly into the woman's blank eyes.
Ana Maria frowned, looking straight ahead into the horizon, daring not to return the girl's gaze. "As much as I honestly don't want to... fine. I'll go help you find Jack…. If we can find a way to deal with these ships, that is."
"Thank you, Ana Maria." Jane smiled in relief, knowing now that know there was still hope left in the world for her. "Oh, and, how did you find me?"
Ana Maria propped her leathery hands on her hips. She breathed in the salty fresh air and grinned, hazel eyes sparkling. She then stated with a proud smirk, "Once you work—live—on the Pearl... you tend to get very 'attached' to it, in more ways then one."
Wa-la! There it is! Interesting, no? A little change from just "she's going to go after her father… blah, blah, blah—The End", isn't it? I don't know if this chapter "flows" as easily, simply because of all the info I'm trying to pack into it.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, so please review! –Ancient Egyptian Dreams