The Little Sparrow's Tale
By Too Lazy and Datakenobi05
Disclaimer: Too Lazy cries herself to sleep over the fact she does not own it. Datakenobi05 pats my back while I cry because she does not own it either.
Thank you for the wonderful reviews and o the sixty-one of you who read but did not review.
Amberly stood on deck in the fair weather looking over the railing searching for dolphins that would normally race playfully with the Pearl, there were none as if they to knew something about the ship was different and Amberly had to admit there was.
It had been different on the Pearl ever since she arrived with her father a little over a week ago. Ana-Maria was the first mate now, Mr. Gibbs reframed from telling her stories of the ways of the sea and the creatures that thrived in its depths, he sometimes looked at her with something akin to pity but Amberly played it off to her imagination. Her father mostly stayed in his cabin, plotting a course Amberly was sure was far away from Port Royal and all his problems. She knew he was running from his problems because if it had been the Royal Navy they would have pulled into a pirate port and laid low for a time and if he was in a treasure hunting mood he would be begging her to locate some for him.
"Enjoying the view there young Amberly?" A gruff voice called to her startling Amberly from her thoughts, she was happy for the interruption.
She turned her head to meet the older man's stare. "Aye, Mr. Gibbs. It's beautiful."
"Had your mother ever told ye the story of the very first time she had ever seen the Black Pearl?"
Finally! Amberly thought relieved. Her mother hadn't been mentioned at all since the first night she was aboard. The only mentioned words of her mother she had eavesdropped while walking to her father's cabin with his dinner; she had overheard Gibbs talking with Ana-Maria.
"I can't believe Miss Swann stayed a shore. Figured they would work it all out when they saw their kiddies." Gibbs had said, shaking his head in disappointment.
"You knew there was nothing left for her here, at least not ever since she started staying on deck in the nights."
Realizing Gibbs was waiting for her answer she shook her head. "No, I don't think so." And promptly sat and the wet deck floor Indian style giving her full attention to the old pirate.
"Well," Gibbs began once he took a seat on an unturned bucket, "she was just a small lass, a few years younger then yerself. I was on the Interceptor with her, yer grandaddy, and a fellow by the name of James Norrington. She would sing her pirate songs, the ones her own mother teached her. Awful bad luck. Soon the ship came upon wreckage, and there in the distance was the Black Pearl. I had seen the look of horror in her young eyes." He stopped and chuckled. "I think that's when she realized that pirates were real."
Amberly smiled, trying to picture her mother as a young girl afraid of pirates. "Was my daddy on it?"
"Hard to say little miss. I figure that was around the time he was mutinied upon."
Her eyes lit up at this. "Barbossa." He was her favorite villain of all the stories she had been told.
"Aye, the scallywag himself." Gibbs said one eye bulging the other squinting to make his face into a look of terror as to add effect to the story as always it worked.
"Mr. Gibbs."
Both Amberly and Gibbs stood from their positions and turned around. "Aye Captain?"
"Take the wheel; keep her steady and on course." Jack ordered to Gibbs who nodded and left. Jack then looked at Amberly and gave her a weak smile. Amberly smiled back at least he was out of the cabin for more then an hour.
Jack didn't say anything to her as he went to the side and rested his arms on the rail. She gave him a sideways look not knowing how to start a conversation about their family issues she decided a request would be a best bet. "Daddy, I want to go swimming."
"When we get to the next port you can darlin'. As long as someone's with you." Jack said solemnly because now he had to figure out who was best suited to keep an eye on her when he was not around.
"When Ace and I are with Grandfather we go swimming by ourselves." She said softly and lowered her eyes to the water.
"Ah yes, but your brother was with you." Jack said and turned his body towards his darling daughter. She was so young and he hated to part her and her brother. He had been hoping whatever they chose it would be together. "Do you miss him terribly?"
She nodded and angrily wiped her tears away from her eyes before they had a chance to fall. She was homesick, but for what or who she wasn't sure. Her home had always been the Black Pearl but now it seemed strange to her. Remembering her promise with Ace she wanted to be brave and lifted her head no sign of crying evident.
The strong hand of her father rested on her shoulder before giving it a small squeeze and walking off. Jack Sparrow was good at many things but words when it came to ones inner feeling he was never really good at figuring out. Amberly knew this and accepted his gesture as a way of saying I love you and am sorry for this love.
Amberly watched him as he left, she knew he loved her and her brother and as she looked back into the water she remembered the scariest moment of her life.
"Lower the sails! She can't take much more! We're going to have to wait it out!" Jack yelled over the wail of the storm. He caught sight of Elizabeth as she helped Gibbs and the rest of the crew.
Soon his heart fell to his feet. What in God's name were his children doing?
"Ana! Taker her and keep her steady!" He yelled at the female pirate on his left and he ran down the stairs to the deck of the ship where his eight year old son and seven year old daughter stood. Ace had decided to help the crew not listing to his mother's order to stay in the cabin, Amberly followed her brother because she did not want him to get hurt.
"ACE! AMBERLY!" Jack screamed at his children as they went to the side of the ship to avoid getting in the way of some of the crew members and to hold the rail for balance.
Just then a violent wave crashed into the side of the Pearl and Ace lost his footing, falling over the side. Amberly screamed and was about to jump after him but her father's strong arms wrapped around her waist before she was handed to her mother.
"Keep her safe." He said and jumped into the water after his son.
Amberly had watched in stunned horror from the deck of the ship as her father disappeared along with her brother in the harsh waves below. Her mother had pulled her away from the side and took her to their cabin before locking her in the room and going back to the deck to look for her son and his father.
The young girl had been so scared she cried and screamed at the door. She didn't know if her brother and father would be alright or not. Getting on her parents bed she covered herself in the large soft blanket and cried until she fell asleep the pounding of the storm or the motions of the waves did not bother her.
"Here, cover him up Jack. There's nothing else we can do until we get to port."
Amberly awoke at the sound of her mother's soft but at the moment stern voice. She pretended to be asleep as to hear the conversation.
"I know darling, but he will most likely be fine by tomorrow. Why don't you put him in bed with Amberly and I'll go back on deck to take care of any damages." Jack said tiredly, Amberly had no idea how they rescued Ace and her father but she was going to ask Gibbs first thing in the morning.
She opened her eyes a little, so as to watch the exchange between her parents.
"You lay down with them Jack. I can handle things on deck." Elizabeth said helping Jack out of his wet shirt and went to get him another one. The rain had stopped and the storm was dissipated it would be clear sailing for a while at least.
"I'm alright love." He said and Amberly watched with interest as her mother started to cry softly. It was the first time she had ever seen her mother cry in front of her father.
"I was so scared Jack." She sobbed, being pulled into Jack's strong arms.
"I know love, so was I."
Amberly's eyes widened at her father's proclamation. Her father wasn't scared of anything. How could anything make him afraid?
Elizabeth looked up into his eyes and kissed him hard on the lips. "What would I have done if I lost either of you?" She asked, wiping away her tears and hugging Jack's neck, his arms around her waist.
He was silent as he pulled away from her and put on his shirt. Giving her another kiss he left the room.
Sighing Amberly left the side of the ship and looked up into the clear blue sky. Everything would be okay in the end, she was sure of it. Her mum and dad would realize they still loved each other and she would be with her brother again. Looking around for her father she saw him at the helm with Ana-Maria. Wanting to see if her father would let her steer the Pearl for a bit she started for him, then her world fell apart all over again, stopping dead in her tracks as Ana-Maria got close to Jack and said something in his ear. Jack smiled and looked in her eyes.
Amberly was not sure if she wanted to cry or yell at them. So she compromised she ran passed them and slammed the cabin doors shut behind her. In her letter to her brother she did not mention anything of her father or Ana-Maria to him.
Later that night as she was mending clothes for the crew as well as making some (her grandfather was so happy when she told him she loved to sew,) she refused to eat dinner with her father and ignored him for a week straight she would only talk to him through Gibbs.
Jack was lost on the whole situation and figured it best not to worry about it. If only he knew better.
The skies had promised rain but Ace wasn't expecting the storm they were now in. Unlike his father his sense of feeling a storm was still in development.
He and his mother had commandeered a smaller ship a little over a week ago and had named it Freedom, after his mother's dream. What Ace did not know is that it was something his father had taught his mother.
The two of them were able to sail it without any big problems and how his mother managed that was a mystery to him. They sailed right to Tortuga and once docked there they went in search of a crew.
As soon as they had stepped in the city Ace walked close to his mother, glaring at any man who looked at her. Not that would make much difference but still better then nothing. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was secretly looking for his father or any of the crew he had come to know as family. He never found anyone. And three days later after a crew had been sworn in under the articles and the Freedom fully restocked with all the previsions she would need they set sailed to Singapore. That had been about a week ago.
From the deep gray clouds heavy with rain, thunder rumbled and the noise brought Ace out of his musings. Ace felt the first rock of the ship beneath his feet. It was going to be one hell of a storm.
"Lower the sails!"
His head snapped up to look at his mother who was at the helm. Scanning the crew he saw how they listened and obeyed her orders. The ship lurched again but Ace kept his footing despite the rocking and the heavy rain fall.
"Ace, come here!" Elizabeth yelled over the roaring sea.
Going to his mother quickly he waited for her instructions.
"What is it mother?" he asked, he was ready at any command she could give him except the one she gave him.
"Go down below and wait in the cabin until this passes over." She ordered as if he were just another member of her crew.
Ace shook his head stubbornly. "No! I won't leave you out here alone!"
Elizabeth's face was set as she looked at her son whose hair got darker as it was soaked with rain. Jack seemed to be looking at her, a small pain shot through her heart but she pushed it away, Ace's his stubborn gaze was challenging her and she would not back down. "Go now! You know what happened last time!"
"I'm not a child any more!" He yelled back knowing why she wanted him off the deck. "That was an accident."
Lightning struck in the water. "You're my child! Get below now!"
Ace glared at her but knew his mother would not falter to him. Feeling the rain cold at his back he went down to the cabin he shared with his mother and sat at the desk, not bothering to dry off, thinking about that day that was forever etched into his mind.
"ACE! AMBERLY!"
The young boy of Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swann barely heard his father calling in the distance but his father's second scream made him turn around and see his little sister right behind him. Before he could take her back to the cabin and place her in safety, a wave crashed onto the side of the ship and he fell over board, he screamed until he hit the water and the salty taste of the ocean filled his mouth. He looked up through the water and saw the flashes of lightning in the sky above.
Then he saw a shadow coming closer to him. Arms encircled him and his father and him emerged from the sea.
"Dad." Ace asked while he had time to another wave hit them.
"Hang on to me Ace, I got you." Jack said when they had resurfaced.
Ace shut his eyes hard against the sea and the rain holding tightly to his father. Water was getting in his ears and he shivered.
"Take a breath; we're going to go under. Don't let go." Jack said in his son's ear. Ace nodded in understanding and did as he was told as a wave washed over them.
When they were able to breathe again Ace saw that they were a few feet further away from the Pearl then they had been before. "Dad what are we going to do?"
"Hang on."
The only thing on Jack's mind was getting his son to safety. Using all his strength he swam to the ship where a rope was waiting for them. "Ace, you're going to have to hang on to me now, I have to hold on to the rope."
"Okay."
Jack could see his son was getting weak. Worry etched on his face Jack took the rope and pulled on it, him and Ace landing hard on the deck.
As soon as he let go of his father's neck he was scooped up by his mother who pulled him to her chest and kissed his head muttering how much she loved him over and over again. The last thing he remembered was getting handed into his father's arms and feeling of safety with in those strong arms and the warmth of the kiss his mother had placed on his cheek.
Thinking back on that night Ace took out a pencil and a piece of paper to write to Amberly. He was amazed at how a tragedy or near disaster was one of the few things that could bring a family closer together. Maybe it might be helpful in the future but he was not sure how.