Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own anything related to Pirates of the Caribbean or Little Mermaid. Well, except the movies, a Jack Sparrow poster, a magazine with his picture, and the Pirates soundtrack, but that's pretty much it. Only original creations (characters, places, etc) are mine.
AN: Plot twist! Sorry, had to say it, just as a warning. Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to review!
Chapter 14: A Change in the Wind:
I spent the night in Jack's cabin, where I slept well and peacefully. My cheek hurt from the wound I had taken the day before, but my spirits were surprisingly high. How could I not feel happy and safe when Jack himself had tended my wounds, his face full of worry as he gently cleaned my cheek and spread a healing mixture upon it?
Even without trying, I could hear much of his thoughts and see his emotions dance across his handsome face –he had been worried for me; angry at the man who had attacked me; and proud that I had managed to keep myself generally unharmed for so long.
However, what touched me the most was the deep mixture of feelings he had inside him that I did not recognize. They were strong enough for me to sense, but not for me to understand entirely. Even Jack didn't seem to know what they were, but he had been determined to find their meaning, but only after the crew's wounded had been seen to.
That had been yesterday. Today, I had woken up in his cabin, and had discovered a set of my clothes at the foot of the bed, as well as a small meal waiting on a bedside table. I had swiftly dressed, eaten, and left the cabin, which had been empty of its main occupant.
Once on deck, I could smell the scent of food, meaning that Anna-Maria had already started the stew meant for lunch. Since I clearly had nothing to do, and with the deck void of much of the crew, I decided to savor the quiet.
Sighing, I breathed in the cool morning air and leaned on the railing, my eyes focused on the island that was drifting ever closer.
"You alright, Rina?" Anna asked as she came up beside me. "That bruise looks painful. He didn't break your jaw or anything, did he?"
I shook my head and smiled, indicating that I was fine. "Well, if you say so." She looked skeptical, but didn't try and insist otherwise. "We'll be making port soon, and get the others seen to. Did the Captain tell you where we're headed?"
I shook my head again, and received a smile from my friend. "We're heading towards Tortuga, the place where we found you. Doctor Phillips will see to the men, and we'll have some time to sort out the loot and have some fun while we're here. What do you say to that?"
Grinning, I nodded my excitement. Though I should have felt sympathy for the men who were hurt, both Jack and Anna-Maria had insisted that none of them were vitally so. They had already had their wounds cleaned and dressed, with the more horrid injuries awaiting the skills of the doctor. All were going to survive, of course; of that I had no doubt.
I stood at the railing, out of the way as those who were unharmed emerged from below and raced around the deck, preparing for us to dock. Jack stood at the helm, intensely focused on his navigational duties. With his attention elsewhere, I was able to admire how dashing he looked in all his captain glory, something he practically glowed with. He truly was an amazing man.
Quickly turning my eyes away, I went back to looking at our destination, wondering what it might hold for me.
Jack breathed out a sigh of relief as the doctor headed down the gangplank, having fulfilled his duties at tending his numerous patients. Gibbs had gone with him to see what the damage was, while Anna-Maria and Marina had prepared a good, hearty broth for those who would need it.
The news was good. Very few had been in need of the doctor's skills –those who had, merely required the right medicines to speed the healing of their wounds, and the doctor had left those with the men who needed them. The more seriously wounded would have to remain in their hammocks for a few days, and do only light chores for a few weeks, but they would mend.
Those who had gotten off 'easy' were content to rest a day or two, then head out into Tortuga's streets in search of 'nightly company' or a proper mug (or three) of rum.
And speaking of rum…
"Mr. Gibbs!" Jack snapped, causing his first mate to run to his side. "We'll be heading into town for supplies immediately. I want all of our medicines, weaponry, and essential food supplies replenished as soon as possible. We've got sick men who will need good, wholesome food for a while, and we haven't got it."
"Aye, Captain," Gibbs replied, running off to gather a contingent of men to accompany them.
Within fifteen minutes, Jack was leading his men into the heart of Tortuga, and two hours later, there was nothing left on his list of supplies that needed to be purchased. As it was past noon, but not quite dinner time, a small side trip to the Faithful Bride was required, if only to wet his parched throat.
As usual, the Bride was amusingly chaotic: men fought both upstairs and down, wenches managed to dance around the brawls without spilling a drop of the drinks they were carrying, and in the corners were men laughing, talking, drinking, eating, and playing instruments (often very poorly).
Spotting an empty table in the far corner, Jack led his men over and sat at the head of the large table, a proper place for a captain amongst his crewmen. A wench came over, smiled flirtatiously at all of them, and took their drink orders before sashaying away, drawing the eyes of everyone around her…except for one.
Jack sensed the girl leave, but didn't take in the view she'd presented with her low-cut blouse and the way she walked away to fetch their drinks. No, his mind was too preoccupied with the images that played through it, namely in the form of Marina. Her face kept drifting in and out of his head, and it was maddening. Part of him wanted to forget about the drink that he had ordered, to have another one of his men have his share just so he could get back to Marina and make sure she was alright.
Well, it was too late now. That drink was now being brought to him by the serving wench, and he was rather parched from the bartering he'd done in town, so maybe he'd have this one drink and head back to the Pearl.
Picking up his tankard, he nodded his thanks to the serving girl, who flipped her red-gold hair at him and smiled, then took a long drink.
It had taken her ages to get that potion from a voodoo-witch woman, but it had been worth it. It had also cost Rebecca her only gold coin, which had been given to her by a pirate on his way out to sea. But the money, time, effort and patience were all worth it. If the potion worked as it was supposed to, she would have one of the most famous pirates in the Caribbean under her thumb.
There were only a few ways to live happily in Tortuga, and all of them involved money. As a serving wench, Rebecca had wanted more in life, just like all the other women here, but unlike the others, she had a plan. Using that single gold coin, she had convinced the local voodoo woman to craft a love potion, one that would put the man Rebecca desired in her complete control.
"But beware," the voodoo priestess had warned. "Love potions do not last long, and they can be broken. If the spell is able to run its course, you will only have him for a single year. If he comes perilously close to Death's door, the spell will break. After the spell is broken, you would be fortunate if he does not hate you enough to kill you for what you have done to him."
It was a chance that Rebecca was willing to take. After all, she had managed to get a meeting with the witch in the first place, an audience not given to just anyone. No doubt the gold had done all the talking, as it always did in a port like Tortuga.
'Snagging a well-off man had gotten my sister off this blasted island, so why shouldn't I have the same fate?'
Rebecca didn't bother to think about the fact that her sister had married for love and not money –Olivia had always been soft in that way, thinking about love and dreaming idiotic things like that. She was lucky that merchant had taken an interest in her and hauled her off of this rock, straight to a nice house in a beautiful town called Port Royal.
Today was Rebecca's turn. The potion she had bought now swirled about in the cup of the infamous Captain before her, and he'd just taken a heavy drink of it. Even as she watched, Rebecca saw something change in his brown eyes. He had obviously had something serious on his mind, but now all of that seemed to drain away. Those same eyes turned to meet her violet ones, and she knew she had him.
The deed was done. He was hers.
The crew of the Black Pearl didn't know (or understand) what hit them.
One minute, their Captain was his usual self, and in the blink of an eye, he'd gone from carefree and rum-guzzling to completely infatuated with a red-headed wench who looked ten levels above smug.
It had all started in that blasted tavern, the Faithful Bride. Drinks had been ordered and served, and not long after they dove in, something changed. Jack had gone from being focused and thoughtful to head-over-heels in love with the girl who had brought them their tankards.
At first, they had thought it was Jack being his usual self with women. When he put his mind to it, Captain Jack Sparrow could charm any woman and convince her to do whatever it was he wanted. This time had been no different, it seemed, when he asked the woman, Rebecca, to sit with him a bit.
The lass had done so happily, as every other wench would have, but after that, things turned odd. Jack seemed to want to know all about this girl, but did not want to tell her any of his tales or adventures. He sat and asked the girl a thousand questions about herself, and was happy to just sit and listen to her for what seemed like hours on end!
Before they knew it, their Captain had told Rebecca to go gather her things, because she was going to be joining him aboard the Pearl! After she had run off to gather her belongings, Gibbs, Marty, and every other man voiced their protests on the matter, begging the Captain to see reason.
"Anna-Maria won't take kindly to the woman being aboard!" Marty declared, slightly panicked. "She likes having Marina, but that's an exception!"
"We also don't have room for her," Gibbs put in. "Anna's cabin sleeps two just fine, but we haven't any other place to put this girl."
Jack waved their words aside with his ringed hand. "Anna will get used to it, and we won't have Rebecca staying anywhere near Anna's cabin," he said nonchalantly. "In fact, I'm going to have her bunk with me as soon as we get back to the Pearl."
That certainly put a cat amongst the pigeons, and caused Gibbs to take a different strategy. "Perhaps you ought to wait a while, for propriety's sake," he urged. "And for the lass's as well."
His captain considered the matter, and agreed. Jack then sent several men to convert a storage room neighboring his quarters to be turned into a rough bedroom, a task that was easy enough to accomplish within a short time. The room was half-empty, anyways, and a hammock could be hung in minutes, with a few key pieces of furniture to make the place livable for a little while.
And it was these men, led by Perkins and Masterson, who came back to the Pearl and broke the news to the rest of the men –as well as its two women crewmates.
"He's gone and done what?" Anna yelled, echoing my exact thoughts.
Beneath my shock and horror, I could feel my heart breaking. Jack had found another woman in Tortuga, and he was bringing her aboard within the next hour or so! How could this have happened? I didn't understand human emotions or actions very well, but I knew that Jack cared for me –it had been on his face and in his thoughts. How could this have happened?
Thinking quickly, I returned to the cabin I shared with Anna-Maria while the others rushed to argue the matter or fix a cabin for the sand-grubbing creature who had snared Jack's heart.
Once in the cabin, I shut the door and began to calm my emotions so that I could think. Anger, hurt, heartache, and confusion all tore at me, and it took me some time to sooth and put aside those feelings so that I could focus on what was important: Jack's sudden change in demeanor.
There was only one force in the world that could change a person so quickly, and that was magic. As a creature of magic, I could see that force as clearly as humans could see the world around them. Even though I was no longer a mermaid, I still possessed many abilities, and seeing magical forces at work was something that always stayed with my kind –a gift from our God and King, Poseidon.
'If I could but take a look at Jack, I would be able to see what sort of magic spell has influence over him and his actions.'
Well, if I thought about it, the answer was obvious: a love spell. Love magic was a chancy thing, for it forced a human to feel emotions they did not have for a person they either did not know, or care for. It took a great deal of power, time and effort to cast such a spell, and the endurance of the spell also depended on the will and inner strength of the person casting it. If the caster wished to hold someone in the throes of love for months, or even years, then the spell would draw upon the caster's strength and ability to hold it in place.
'But if it is a potion, the magic is brief, perhaps a few weeks to a few months,' I recalled. 'Grandmother had told us once that humans have a fascination with love potions, but that very few mortals can produce an effective one, much less a brew that could last longer than a few hours or days.'
If it was a potion, all we had to do was wait until it wore off, and Jack would be back to his old self. If it was a spell, however, it would take a great deal to break it.
"Rina!" Anna called through the door. "Come on, the Captain's back with his bloody wench!"
Sighing, I went up and joined her at the railing. When I saw Jack with the red-haired woman on his arm, my stomach felt as though it would spill its contents all over the deck. I barely managed to keep my food down as they climbed up the gangplank and set foot on the deck.
Eying Jack closely, I called upon that inner spark of magic that still flickered inside me. It was a faint flicker, now that I was human, but thanks to Calypso, it had stayed alive and burning in this new body of mine. It was this very spark that allowed me to keep so many of my mermaid abilities, and it was this that I used to see what had been used against the man I so deeply cared for.
Yes, it was a potion to create love in a human. I could see the faint red aura around him, one that was also gold-tinted, which meant a significant amount of power had been used to keep it in place for a long time after the potion had been consumed. If magic was gold-tinted, that meant something traumatic or dramatic would have to be done to break Jack free of its hold.
My heart twisted. I could not do anything horrible to Jack, even if it was to break this spell on him. I didn't want anyone else to harm him, either, so telling Anna-Maria or the other crewmen about this was out of the question.
'But do I want to see him in this woman's grasp for who-knows-how-long?' I wondered. 'What if they produce a child and the spell is broken? What will happen then?'
"Gibbs, show this delicate flower to her quarters!" Jack ordered, smiling foolishly as his first mate ran to obey. "In three days, we'll have a wedding, so I want you, Anna-Maria, to go fetch a fine feast for us to have afterwards, savvy?"
Anna grumbled some very naughty words, but Jack didn't hear; he was too busy ordering other crewmen to go into the Pearl's storage rooms to find some fine things for Rebecca. I frowned, but said nothing; I was too busy thinking of ways to drown the red-headed woman. It was a very pirate-like thought, and I felt proud for having it –it signified my progress in becoming a pirate like Anna-Maria.
Just as I was turning to return to my quarters, Jack turned towards me, his eyes meeting mine. Curious, I gently probed his mind and felt two conflicting thoughts inside him. The dominant thought was the result of the love potion: it was primarily a constant demand that Jack focus on Rebecca and her needs before anyone else's. The one that was being clouded over was Jack's own mind, and it was full of confusion as to what was happening. Jack was likely not aware of what was going on –his only chief thought right now was Rebecca and whatever it was she 'needed.'
Well, it was good to know that he was still in there somewhere, but right now, I had to think of a way to rescue him without causing an incident with the crew.
Watching the black-haired, blue-eyed woman leave, Rebecca smiled from her spot beneath one of the stairwells leading up to the helm.
She had heard talk in Tortuga that the Black Pearl had two women aboard, and after careful observation, she knew that this one was going to be competition for Captain Sparrow's affections. Since everyone knew of the infamous Anna-Maria and her distaste for most men, Rebecca had a feeling that this girl was her enemy in this matter.
From the endless chatter of Mr. Gibbs, Jack's first mate, Rebecca had learned that this girl was called Marina, and the girl was a mute who had washed ashore a few months ago. Gibbs had told her this in the likely hope that Rebecca would try and 'make friends' with Anna and Marina, but there was no chance of that ever happening. Jack Sparrow was hers, at least until the potion wore off, and when it did, she would have everything she'd ever hoped for.
'Not that I plan on staying with him for longer than a few months,' she smirked to herself. 'I'll get all the goods I can out of him, then when the potion begins to fade, I'll take everything and run off where he can't find me.'
She knew that Jack was a successful pirate, and it would be well worth a single gold coin if he was going to give her at least ten times that in the brief few months she was with him. The issue of marriage wasn't even a problem, not when she could disappear and divorce papers could be obtained without difficulty, for the right price.
'And his skills in the bedchamber are legendary, so perhaps being married to him for a while wouldn't be so bad after all.'
Turning, she headed back to her private cabin, satisfied.
AN: Slightly shorter chapter, I know, but the next one will make up for it, I promise! Oh, and I thought everyone should know that this story is almost over, and a sequel might be possible, though I'm still thinking on it. Thanks so much for reading, and please don't forget to review!