18 Years Later
Jack Sparrow walked into The Faithful Bride, where he went every time he came to Tortuga. It had been a year since the war against the East India Trading Company, and losing his precious ship, The Black Pearl, to Barbosa, again.
He walked straight up to the bar, sat on a stool and buried his face in his hands.
"Are you alright sir?" said a voice from behind the bar.
Jack looked up and saw a girl with long dark brown hair and bright green eyes and found that in some ways she looked like him and couldn't help but wonder why.
"I'm fine" he said wearily, "How come I've never seen you around here before?" he asked curiously.
"Well I only work here on Monday and Tuesday nights," she said.
"Ah! That would explain it then, I usually come in here on a Friday or Saturday night" he said.
"Can I get you anything to drink sir? I am just a barmaid after all," she said sadly as if she wasn't important in any way.
"A mug of rum would be nice, if you wouldn't mind!" said Jack, cheering up a little bit. As she poured the out the rum, he had noticed that she spoke a bit like him as well.
"Here you are!" she said putting the mug in front of him.
"Thank you" he said gratefully. "So, tell me, how long have you been working here?".
"Since I was thirteen" she said wiping the counter.
"And how old are you now?" he asked taking a swig of his rum.
"Seventeen" she said watching him drink his rum.
"I'm old enough to be your father," he said setting the mug down again. "So what's your name?"
"Belle."
"Belle who?"
Belle just shrugged her shoulders, "I've never been known to have a second name, and what's your name if I might ask?"
"Captain Jack Sparrow" he said proudly lifting up his hat, bowing then putting it on again which made Belle chuckle. Jack saw her smile and recognised it from somewhere but couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"I think I've heard of you, the fearsome pirate captain of the infamous Black Pearl! Am I right?" she asked.
"Well I used to be!" he said, "Until that damned pirate Barbosa stole it off me, again!"
"What do you mean 'again'?" she asked confused. Then Jack went into telling the story of the Curse of the Black Pearl, the debt he owed Davy Jones, and the war against the East India Trading Company and Cutler Beckett.
"Wow!" was all Belle could say when he had finished; she was absolutely mesmerised by it.
"Anyway, enough about me! Let's here about you, where are you from? Who are your parents?" he asked, and he did seem quite interested to know.
"I was born here in Tortuga and have been here practically all my life, and I never really knew who my mother was, all I know is that she died when I was born, and as for my father, I have no idea who he is, my mother was the only one who knew who he was but she never told anyone" said Belle who looked like she was about to cry, "But she managed to give me this before she died," she said taking out a necklace from the top of her dress. It was a silver chain with a blue stone pendent on it. "She said it belonged to him and that maybe I would find him one day."
"I had a necklace exactly like that once but I lost it years ago" said Jack looking at the necklace.
"So, where are you from? And who are your parents?" she asked as she started wiping the glasses.
"Well I was born in-"
"BELLE!!!!!" yelled a angry manly voice from upstairs.
This made Belle jump and drop the glass she was wiping which smashed on the floor. "Oh no!" said Belle as a frightened look crossed her face.
"What's wrong?" asked Jack.
"That's Harry, he's my boss" she said as she started cleaning up the glass.
A few minutes later there was another yell from upstairs and then a man, quite short and plump with dirty blonde hair and yellow teeth appeared in the tavern from a door behind the bar.
"There you are!" he said angrily walking up to Belle, "Marie tells me you're just standing around chatting up a certain gentlemen?" he said furiously but received no answer from Belle who was looking down at the floor.
"Has she been bothering you sir?" asked Harry looking at Jack.
"No, she's been quite a pleasure to talk to actually" Jack said happily.
"That's what they all say just to get her out of trouble!" he said angrily, "Anyway it's closing time now" he said and he started yelling at everyone to get out of the tavern.
Jack saw Belle trembling with fright as she looked at Harry sending everyone out, what Jack didn't know was that Belle received a beating every night that she worked at the tavern from Harry after closing time.
Jack grabbed her hand, which made her look at him, he saw nothing but fear and terror in her eyes and he knew that something was wrong.
"Oi! That includes you as well" said Harry's angry voice from behind Jack, he stood up and gave Harry a dirty look, then he looked at Belle, "It was very nice to meet you Belle" he said lifting up his hat and he saw her smile sadly. He walked out the door of the tavern and turned to look through the half-open window to see what was going on.
"You stupid bitch!" he growled walking up to Belle and back handing her, which knocked her on the floor. This made Jack angry but he wanted to know what Belle probably had to go through every night.
Harry then started kicking her and yelling at her, calling her names. "You don't just stand around and do nothing!" he yelled. "Tomorrow night I don't want any funny business!" he bellowed as he gave her one last kick and then disappeared upstairs.
Jack saw Belle in a heap on the floor crying. He opened the tavern door and quietly walked over to her and knelt down beside her. "Belle" he whispered softly. "It's Jack." Belle looked up and saw Jack's brown eyes looking down on her.
Jack helped her sit up and saw blood trickling down the side of her face and several tears running down her cheeks, he wiped away one of her tears and looked at her sympathetically, "Where's Harry?" he asked angrily.
"He's upstairs" she choked through her tears. "Why?" she said looking at his face for some sort of sign, but nothing.
"I'll be back in a minute," he said standing up and pulling out his pistol ready. When Belle saw the pistol she knew what he was going to do.
"OK" she said weakly.
Jack then disappeared upstairs leaving Belle on her own, she heard him open all the doors trying to look for Harry. After about a minute Belle heard a gunshot echo around the building making her jump, she also heard several screams, then she heard footsteps coming down the stairs and saw Jack reappear in the tavern. He walked over to her and helped her stand up.
"He won't be laying another finger on you" said Jack when Belle was standing up.
"Thank you" she said.
"Now after seeing that happen to you I ain't letting you stay here another second, so you're coming with me" he said taking her hand and leading her to the hotel he had been staying in for the last year.
"Maria" called Jack when he got to the hotel, a little plump woman with short brown hair and rosy cheeks came into view.
"'Ello Jack, what can I do for you?" she asked.
"I would like to switch rooms please," said Jack.
"Of course you can, what room would you like?"
"One with two single beds please," said Jack.
Maria walked over to where the keys were picked one up and put it on the counter and Jack gave the old key back to her, he took the new key and put it in his pocket.
He knew Belle was weak so he picked her up and carried her up the stairs. When he got to the hotel room door he put her down, undid the lock, picked her up again and placed her on one of the beds. Jack then closed the door and had noticed that Belle was already fast asleep.
Jack sat down in one of the chairs and watched her sleep. He couldn't help but wonder why she looked like him so much, how she spoke like him, and where he'd seen those bright green eyes before and that her smile was very familiar too. He felt some sort of fatherly need to protect her, take care of her and be there for her in a time of need, but he couldn't understand why. If only Jack knew who she really was.