Author's note: This chapter is a little long and surreal, as Jack is trying to hold onto the Pearl and his thoughts begins to wander... a step into his fragile mind. It's random and confusing... but it's what he might go through once in a while. Even the movies' writers said that he came away from the Locker a changed man... who is not less of a man, but who might need his friends more than he used to. Those of you who read my other two long fics will understand his thoughts a bit more... my poor Jack...
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The seas were becoming heavier as the winds began to sing their insistant song among the rigging and the ropes above Jack's head. The black sails were full and straining hard, the waves beginning to rise and fall with more and more strength. The wheel was still fluid in his hands, and the decks beneath his feet silkily rocked back and forth, as the captain swiveled his body in time with the ship, as naturally as if he, himself, were made of water. He kept his firm grip upon the wheel, and as the ship rolled beneath him, Jack's thought began to wander, as they always did during a storm.
He was not alone on deck; but the rain was coming down in such sheets that it was hard to see the others as they were holding on to anything that would pull or sway itself loose. His eyes closed halfway as his mind was flooded with recent memories that were so indelibly hammered into his mind to the point that it cracked...
...The rain, in sheets... the maelstrom that threatened to engulf the Black Pearl as she was tangled at the top of her masts with the Flying Dutchman... he, himself, flying about upon rigging and ropes, too determined and lost of sanity to be afraid...wild wind and churning, turning black water... battling Jones on the highest yardarm for the Dead Man's Chest, blades flashing, feet dancing upon the beam beneath them, hanging on for his life, dangling from the chest's handle and staring up at Jones blithely as if he were simply standing down upon the deck, looking up... the events that followed that filled him with horror and the sense of failure... his friend, William, with a sword forged by his own hands running him through, his valiant life ebbing away as his beloved Elizabeth watched, holding his face in her desperate hands... the final leap to William's side as Jones was distracted by Bootstrap Bill Turner... and the thrust of the broken sword blade into the living heart of Davy Jones...his own hand holding the young man's in place... part of the crew, part of the ship.. the rebirth of the Dutchman... a thing of beauty with William Turner at the wheel... part of the ship...
Jack's eyes popped open wide in alarm, as thunder cracked above his head, cold rain pelting his face and drenching him so that he could hardly hold himself up... The ship rocked, almost comfortingly, as the seas lurched up another way and the Pearl rocked with it... even in this hard rain and wind, his mind wandered off into another direction...
The open sea, his birthplace, his home... sailing along in a small, wooden dinghy which he had christened "The Sparrow's Revenge"... the sun shone brightly, and the single small sail billowed with a crackling noise above his head. He leaned back and took another long pull from an amber bottle of spiced rum... good Caribbean rum... burning his throat in the most pleasant fashion and making his head spin a little. It was good to be alive... until his thoughts would turn to his friends, and the fate that had befallen them. He wondered if the stories were true... the ones about the curse of Davy Jones being lifted if one were honorable and true, hardworking and loyal to the duty assigned... if anyone, William was all of that and more, he told his little pirate companions that were hiding among his dreadlocks. They agreed, and sat upon his shoulders, merrily drinking from their own tiny little bottles of rum... we're devils... and black sheep... and really bad eggs... drink up me hearties... yo... ho...
His eyes closed completely, as the rain washed over him...
...Thrashing about in the darkness with sword in hand...being a good man...pain... cold... the belly of the dreaded beastie... sharp teeth... cold, dark ... terrible pain... so cold...so very, very cold...then nothing...oh god...I'm dead...
Darkness... then light... Blinding, painful white light... Hot sands, and piercing blue-green sky... A scuttled Black Pearl, and too many weird and fearful beings playing about in his vision. He was afraid... He was alone...He couldn't control his own body, and his eyes were not really seeing what his brain said they were... were they? Pain... hot...then, there they were... his ... friends???... he didn't know, anymore... he didn't deserve this... did he? William... Elizabeth... did they hate him?...she killed him, but it was to save all of them...she killed him, but she was truly sorry... he did not hate her...They told him that he was in the Locker...did they hate him?... he was dead... pain in his chest... was this how it felt to have your heart broken? Even if you're dead? Why are they all here... if they hate him?
Pain... his dead gypsy mother... he was being taken away, by harsh hands that nearly tore his thin, frail six year old arms from their sockets... sold into slavery... not even able to understand English, only the Irish Gaelic that was his native language...the back of a hand cracking him across his face and splitting open his eyebrow...scarred forever... he couldn't understand... tears... shackles...beaten... rescued by his fearsome pirate father, only to be abandoned, again...
Bill had a new baby son... born back in England of his wife, Mary... the little one needed something special, he reasoned, and he was good at carving... a wee whale, made of teakwood from the Orient... for only being fourteen years old, Jack, ye certainly have gotten around at sea... teakwood... beautiful to work with, and wondrous to the touch... for Bill's new baby son, little Will... a teakwood whale...
...no... not the Black Pearl ... Barbossa, ye mutinous bastard... not the Pearl... marooned...no...hot... sand...alone...
...Port Royal... in jail for saving the governor's daughter? What kind of justice is that? In jail for being a good man... a pirate brand for freeing slaves and being a good man... who is this young blacksmith with his swords?... a good man...
Calypso... the hand of Calypso... granting William's clemency from his curse after he, the captain of the Black Pearl, had petitioned the goddess on William's behalf... the same way that he had petitioned Davy Jones for the raising of his ship... he had helped to reunite William with his bonnie lass, at last, after proving that there were good men... good men... was he one? William and Elizabeth thought so, and told him so... they cared about him... they loved him?...
Cousins? What? After all of these years of being beaten down, locked up, bloodied, branded, flogged and battered, accused of crimes and facing the noose, having no family that would claim the bastard son of a pirate captain and an Irish gypsy girl, he had a cousin? And it was William? Did he deserve this? Yes, dammit!!! He DID deserve this! He had paid for his transgressions in the Locker... even for some that he had never commited... the dreaded, hot, frightening Locker... he cared about these young ones, even though he thought that they hated him... but they didn't hate him! He was alive... they had all saved each other... he was redeemed...he wasn't all bad...he didn't mean to hurt them... he'd paid...
... a child for his cousins... those two love each other so much... and they need him, as much as he needs them... a child...he loves William and Izzy...he doesn't say it... but they know... and he wants another one just like William ... greedy to the end, ain't ye, Sparrow? ... he wants another one... please...please... they all deserve it...happiness...
Another crack of thunder and the Black Pearl lurched crazily against the wildly churning water. As the ship pitched and yawed, Jack was thrown against the wheel so hard that it knocked the wind out of him, and jerked him back to the real world around him. He shook his head, and felt sick for a moment, as his lungs struggled to inhale. Finally, he was able to suck in air, and laughed out loud to himself. "Ye bloody mad fool! Everyone is relying on ye t' hang onto the Pearl, an' ye're off in another place in yer head...again! Daft, ye are, Sparrow... but we will hang on! For William and Izzy, eh, my lassie? Where th' hell is Bill Turner when I needs 'im?"
His dark face grinned upward at the raining, watery, blustering sky, only to have his golden teeth glitter in the lightning that was dancing above his head... daft, mad fool! He chuckled, then shouted, "OI!" as the Pearl topped out the crest of a massive wave, and the deck dropped out from beneath his soaked boots. "Whooaaaa..." the captain spit a dreadlock out of his mouth, and howled as his hat flew off, and a wave hit him broadside from over the railing. He hung on for dear life...for everyone's dear lives...
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Elizabeth writhed, as another pain washed over her. The ship was tossing about like a toy, and the floorplanks seemed to be waving like the sea itself. She gripped the blanket that was under her, as her head pressed back against William's shoulder. Her hands searched desperately for his, as Gibbs hurriedly spread out towels and a blanket at her feet... it would not be long, now. The pains were coming closer and closer together... the ship pitched madly and the lantern that hung from the ceiling of the cabin swung wildly.
Elizabeth opened her eyes wide and cried out, "... Push! I need to push! Oh, God, I need to push..." and she gripped William's hands so hard that he feared that they would break. Gibbs looked up, sweat streaming down his solemn face, and said, "It won't be long now! It won't be long, Missy! That's me girl! That's it!"
Gibbs nodded to the young couple and smiled, as Elizabeth bore down, and William held her up against him, "Push, my love! That's it! That's it!" His experiences aboard the Dutchman had calmed him so much, and he was giving her strength... endless strength. She felt his living heart pounding against her shoulders...she drew huge strength, and bore down.
The waves were washing over the decks outside, and the winds were beating against the walls of the cabin... the thunder cracked loudly as Elizabeth Turner screamed out ... she had never worked so hard or hurt so much in her life...
The lantern swayed back and forth, as above, Captain Jack Sparrow desperately tried to make the ride a little easier upon them all...
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The rain was still pelting down, cold and hard, and the wind was still howling, and Jack was still clinging to the ship's wheel with every ounce of strength that he had... his feet were slipping, and his hands were becoming blistered. Many of the crew had taken refuge below, but Mr. Cotton and Mr. Ragetti were still above, falling to and fro, trying to keep everything, including themselves and their captain, from washing overboard. Much to their shock, another sound was heard above the gales... another sound that was foriegn to their ears, and a marvelous sound it was... the sharp cry... the sound of a new life... the strong wailing of a newborn baby...
The captain of the mighty Black Pearl strained his eyes through the waves of rain falling through the sails... he was nearly frozen in place and he felt like he could not breathe... another wail of life burst forth ... as the ship pitched madly, he waited and hoped...and stared at the door of the cabin with eyes stinging with salt water... almost willing that door to open...
And that door flew open wide, and Jack's eyes beheld a joyfully waving and jubilant William Turner the Second... the young man flew out of the door and into the storm, pitching against the main mast, and stumbling across the main deck... he held onto the rigging, and pumped his fist into the air at his laughing cousin, "Thanks for making the ride as smooth as you could, Jack! I couldn't have done better myself if I was still the Captain of the Dutchman! I'm the father of a healthy, fine baby boy!" William pumped his fist, again, his dark hair flying and his bandana straight out behind him as if they were his own colours. "A BOY!" he laughed at the wind...
Jack shouted back,"...you're not a eunuch, after all, mate!" The wind blew his hair and bandana forward over his face, and he was blinded by a dark, beaded, trinketed mop for a moment, "Aaaa!" He shoved his hair back and grinned, "...and how is Izzy???" His hair blew forward, again. "Bugger! Ow!..." He wondered where his hat was...
"She is going to be fine! Get down here, you scalawag, and meet your new cousin! You hid away when I was reunited with Elizabeth... you'll not be hiding this time! You will be a part of this family!" William's proclamation was met with a tired grin and a nod. Mr. Cotton grinned up at his captain that he and Ragetti would take the wheel... it would take both of them to do what Jack had been doing for hours, all alone. But then, the Pearl was his girl, and she loved no one else like she loved Captain Sparrow.
As the Black Pearl curtsied to the lightning, danced in the stormy waves and pirouetted with the wind, her crew came above at hearing the shouts of their captain and first mate, holding onto bottles of rum, holding onto anything that they could, to shout "huzzah" and to celebrate life... to celebrate love... to celebrate that they had all survived this far, and that new life was promised to a family that deserved it so much...
Jack Sparrow turned the wheel over to his crewmen, and hanging onto the banister down to the main deck, he carefully, tentatively, tiredly made his way down to his First Mate... who threw an arm across his shoulder in a happy embrace, both of them grinning and becoming soaked to the skin.
Jack stopped for a moment and looked at William seriously, and William grinned widely when the captain waved his hands about between them, and asked, "Ye're not gonna make me hold th' little laddie, are ye, William?" His delicate hands fluttered as if they were building an invisible wall..." He'd cry, bein' held by a fearsome pirate captain such as meself, savvy?."
As they were being pelted with the torrential rain, the Pearl lurched forward suddenly and Jack was thrown sprawling to the deck, feet flying straight up. William, who laughed loudly, reached down and easily pulled the slender captain to his unsteady feet with one strong blacksmith's hand.
"... no, cousin, I shall not make you hold him... I think that it would vex you more than it would vex him..."
"...Ah!" the captain smiled, and they opened the door into the cozy...and dry... cabin... and a wondrous sight met their eyes...
To be continued...