Beginnings and Endings

As always, unfortunately none of the characters from POTC belong to me. They belong solely to the great Mouse…! This story is set 18 months on from AWE…I hope you enjoy it as it unfolds and please review…

For those waiting for A Pirates Treasure to conclude, my apologies. Although I am still working on it, this tale overtook it. I promise that I will complete it but this just cried to be written first.

CHAPTER 1

Becalmed.

The thick fog sat, dense and heavy, advancing like curling, grasping ghostly fingers swirling about the open ocean, a living, breathing life-force, moving silently, obliterating all sound, masking all, a damp, impregnable cloak for the stagnant ship with black sails. Six days…six whole days without even the merest hint of a breeze to lift the spirits of the crew and fill the sails. The men were below decks, either sleeping or carrying out essential maintenance. Unmoving, and hidden by the thick fog, it was not necessary to have men on deck and the First Mate, Mr Gibbs, knew that the Captain needed some time alone.

The silent ship would not normally be so far north but they had heard rumours that could not just be ignored. There was something that had desperately needed to be investigated and brought to a conclusion. If only that were possible…

On deck, just visible through the damp, cloying, swirling vapour, a lone figure stood by the ships main mast, the collecting moisture running slowly down his greatcoat and dripping, silently to the deck where it met the wetness of the grey mist. The desolate figure, head bowed, shoulders slumped, stood defeated, seemingly lost in thought…his mind swirling in the lost mists of time. His unsteady hand slowly reached out, palm pressed firmly against the mast, fingers unconsciously caressing, eyes lifting to follow the small movement, before moving to lay his forehead against the solid structure, seemingly taking strength from the memories the damp wood evoked…

From a time long ago he heard a dearly remembered voice…

'I'm not sorry.'

'Oh m' sweet Lizzie'….brave words that had quite obviously been forced from between gritted teeth and as believable to him as the thought of a snowflake surviving in hell. Words that had immediately followed her act of imprisonment, had condemned him to the depths of despair, to his own private hell of the Locker. Words that he would carry locked deep in his heart until his dying breath. His mind sped forward in time, conjured her image, so real, so believable that he could imagine her standing beside him as he had last seen her, that day 18 months before when she had left both him and The Black Pearl for the last time, had left them both for the uncertain reality of loving one day every ten years

'Goodbye Jack'. She had leaned towards him for a brief kiss, only for her eyes to cloud with hurt as he had held his hands up in defence.

'Once was quite enough…'

Her look had been hurt, confused, a brief, transparent insight into the woman beneath the smile, the woman who knew that she had made mistakes, had taken the wrong path and in doing so had alienated the one person she needed more than anything. She had hesitated only a moment before shrouding her feelings, once more standing proud before moving down the ship and leaving, disappearing once again from both his view and his life, too proud to admit her mistake…and he had let her slip through his fingers…the woman who, he had come to realise, had meant more to him than any other, the woman who haunted him day and night, who had invaded his dreams and his very being.

He thought back to his words…

'…Once…', but it hadn't been just 'once', he mused. Once had not been enough…would never be enough, although neither of them had been able to confide to any other person. Her mind had been made up and however he had pleaded, had threatened or cajoled her, she had stood fast. She had refused him, deciding instead to wait for the one day every 10 years when she could be with her 'Husband'. He had failed. Had failed both of them. It was a realisation that he had struggled to live with. For once the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow had failed to come up with a failsafe plan…had been forced by circumstance to admit defeat…and it hurt, had the power to grate his insides to a quivering, bloody mess and cut him to the core. It was a hurt he had lived with every day.

The rumours had started to circulate several months before. Chinese whispers that had spread like wildfire through the pirate ports of the Caribbean, the detail being added to at each telling, growing in stature until the day that Jack had heard them, that day weeks before that had changed it all, had ripped his heart from his chest and bludgeoned it until it was barely flickering with life…the rumour that had said the Pirate King was close to death…was dying from a broken heart, unknown, unloved and alone in Plymouth, England.

He had set off to find her. Had been utterly convinced that she would come back with him, felt the same as he…that to live another day apart was too hard to contemplate and that she would feel the same, had been haunted by the same dreams and memories, was finding it too hard to struggle on alone. Not for one moment had he believed the extent of the tale being depicted, knowing only too well how these things became exaggerated with each telling. Lizzie was in Plymouth! That was all he needed to know…and he was going to get her…

Jack closed his eyes and swallowed hard…silently cursing himself for the fool he was…had been…before. Now he would never have the chance to change things…to make things right between them. A lone tear slipped down his face, leaving a faint track through the accumulated grime before disappearing behind the braids that swept forward and hid his face from the world.

And so, he had come, flying across the waters, aboard his first love, his Pearl, the fleetest ship in the water, driving himself, the ship and his crew as hard as he dared, harder and faster than he had ever thought possible…had ever dared to hope for.

Another silent tear traced the path of the first and was angrily swept away before yet another took its place, to be followed by another and another, until Jack was shielded from the world by a shimmering, glistening curtain.

Finally they had arrived, had searched frantically, and he had found her. He thought back to the sight that had greeted him 10 days before. The moment that had turned his dreams to ashes, his hopes to the bitter taste of defeat.

In the pretty little churchyard, with the daffodils idly dancing in the light, spring breeze from the sea, set high on the outcrop alongside the harbour he had found her…the woman he had come to love and had ultimately lost…for etched on the new, cold, hard stone were the words now engraved on his dead and bleeding heart… 'Elizabeth Turner – May her soul rest in peace'.

He and his crew had asked everywhere to try and understand what had happened, but, no matter how hard he tried, he could find no answers…no clue to the tragedy that had unfolded…not even the slightest snippet of information. It was as if Elizabeth had never been there. Apparently the rumours had been right. Lizzie…his Lizzie had died alone, unloved and remembered by no-one in the busy town. Eventually, he had no option left, Mr Gibbs guided The Pearl silently out of the harbour on course for home waters, while Jack drank himself into a stupor in his cabin…leaving his lost love cocooned in the dark, damp soil of England.

Oh dear…sorry for such a depressing start. There are many twists and turns to come…Now please go and review. It only takes a minute and is essential for faster posting and also to improve my writing style…thanks all. Much love xx