Hey! Hey! I'm so glad for the reviews! Well not much to say today, enjoy!! Oh and it might seem that just the story's about plundering ships and fighting but it most definitely is not. It just happens to start that way.
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Tortugan Beginnings
Endings and Beginnings
A Month or so Later
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The morning was interrupted by loud shouts from the crow's nest, making Audrina's head shoot up and eyed Daniel Roberts oddly. His normally jovial face had darkened and his hazel eyes glazed over in worry. In her surprise, she dropped her swab and it clanged against the deck of the ship. It was not like her to be surprised like that but she had never seen Daniel so worried in her life, although she shortly knew him, she also knew that this reaction was unlike him. Within moments, the silhouette of a ship in the distance became clearer and her eyes widened in panic. She knew the ship well, far too well. The Ocean's Harlot was in the near distance now and she felt her small body shaking in fear.
Jack Sparrow was by her side in mere moments, having seen the ship and heard Roberts' calls from above. He narrowed his dark eyes on the nearing pirate ship and wasn't too keen on facing Captain Robert Ulysses.
The ugly wooden hull of the Harlot was leering closer and Jack chewed on his lip, contemplating how to get out of this one. He wasn't on very good terms with the older captain. In fact, Jack had made his men mutiny against him while making him dirt broke at the same time and womanless. With a sly grin, he remembered how he managed to do that. It was easy, actually. The crew was passed out drunk and while having some not so friendly words with them convinced that Robert had paid him a large sum for a made up map. In fact, the only thing made up was Jack's conniving little story. What fueled him to do such a thing? Robert Ulysses had stolen money from him and Jack intended to rob him of everything he had. This included his ship and woman. Grinning wolfishly, he remembered Chastity Ulysses, a shame though when she died. By Robert's own hand too, with a smirk, he felt himself being pulled from his thoughts and stared at the hull of the nearing Harlot. He wondered how he got his ship back.
"Ready the guns!" Jack hollered. He knew that the meeting would be bloody, very bloody. "Hoist the colors!"
The men scurried off to do such, the battle was inevitable. If they didn't react this way, Robert Ulysses would have his guts for garters, a thought Jack didn't cherish. Turning to Audrina, he motioned towards her arm. "Can yer fight, luv?"
"Don't say that too loud!" She hissed before looking at the ship worriedly. For a moment, she was going to say no but couldn't stop herself before she said, "Yes. I'm fine."
A grin danced on Jack's handsome face and he narrowed his eyes on her for a moment. He sensed some hostility, tension and maybe a bit of sadness in her eyes and tone. Before he could inquire more, the loud bang of a cannon reverberated through the Caribbean sea. He whirled and saw the cannon ball had missed the ship but mere feet. He wondered if it was a warning shot but found he didn't care. The Ocean's Harlot would go up in flames that afternoon. What Jack didn't know was that, on the deck of the Harlot, Robert was promising the same thing for the Black Pearl; that she would indeed go up in flames that night.
The ship shook as its own cannons blasted, it made clean holes into the hull of the ship and Audrina grinned to herself. Good bye you bastard. She thought, the grin widening still. Her hand was grasping the hilt of the sword at her belt, waiting until they boarded the ship. Again the ship shook as more cannon balls whizzed through the air and marked the Ocean's Harlot. To her satisfaction, the mizzen mast was cut cleanly and splintered, that would take away her speed. One by one, the ship before them was being destroyed. The loud bang of a cannon ball struck their own black ship and she frowned deeply to herself. She was beginning to love the Pearl as much as Jack did.
"Stop blowin' holes in my ship, Robert!" Jack called out to the other ship, while shooting crew members off the deck on the ship with his pistol in a nonchalant manner. Turning to his crew, he grinned ruefully. "Prepare to board mates!"
With a grin, Audrina tightened her hands around a rope and within moments found herself on the familiar deck, the memories flooding back all too fast. Chewing on her lip, she whirled and felt her sword collide with another. The flushed face of a pirate she recognized smirked and leaned his weight into her making the swords twitch and she broke away. Audrina jumped away from his grasp, grateful for her agility at that moment. The man turned and swiped at her, legs parted. With a gulp, she slid between his legs and when she came unharmed on the other side, her eyes widened. Why don't you look at that? She thought to herself as she cleanly stabbed the man in the back, grinning as he fell at her feet.
Turning again, she found herself face to face with the all too familiar Robert Ulysses. The darkness of his muddy brown eyes were all too much for her to handle. She stood there, her knees locked. He threw back his head and laughed, he mocked her. Suddenly, he grabbed hold of the back of her neck, pulling her head towards him. His familiar rancid breath flooded her face and she gagged. As he raised a hand, it struck her and she felt herself succumbing to him again. Feverishly, he pressed his lips hard against her and she moaned a cry of protest. Tears flooded her cheek but she regained control of herself. No, she was Audrina Hart and no bastard would treat her like a whore again. She pushed him hard off her and his brown eyes widened in surprise.
"Yer little cow!" He roared, raising a hand to strike her again. "Do yer miss me, my sweet Audrina?" He mocked, knowing that Lucas used that phrase with her often.
"Never, you disgusting low-life bastard." Audrina spat, her confidence growing. "I could never miss a bastard that kills his own children!"
"Oh?" Robert smirked. "Yer be wantin' a child now. I'll give you a child!" He sneered before taking his hand and shoving it up her shirt. She gasped out of surprise.
What surprised her even more was the familiar voice behind her, "That is not very nice, Robert." Jack drawled as he came into view. As soon as he did, his hand retreated from her shirt.
"What d'yer want, Sparrow?"
"Captain Sparrow." Jack growled and tilted his head. "Hm? What do I want? What do you want?"
Robert Ulysses was confused for a moment and stepped towards him, he would not show he was afraid of him. "I want you dead, you fuckin' bastard."
"Mother didn't teach you manners, did she?" Jack sneered at him, wagging a finger before his eyes. Then shrugging he added, "Well, likewise actually. Wait, that's not right If it was likewise, I'd want me dead." With a frown he went on, "But I'm not very suicidal, savvy? Rather, I'm wanting you dead. But you probably knew that when I said likewise." With a smirk, he continued, "Which I don't even know why I bothered to explain in the first place."
Audrina couldn't believe her eyes. She was drenched in blood, her shirt half ripped open. With a smirk, she realized how stupid Robert Ulysses really was. Had he forgotten about her bandages suppressing her chest? Stupid bastard.
Looking at the scene before her, it was quite odd really. Jack didn't take him very seriously and merely played with him whilst Robert was shaking with rage. For the most part, the crews battled each other, the deck stained in red from the blood. They didn't bother the meeting captain's or the girl watching them even though they thought she was a boy. They were far too busy with their own matters.
A moment stood where Robert gazed at him perplexed, contemplating his rather drunken explanation. "Shut yer mouth, goddamn it!" He bellowed, enraged that Sparrow had made confused him in the first place. "Let's get it started, eh? See you in hell, Jack…" Robert never finished that sentence.
As he lunged for Jack, Audrina couldn't let him kill him. Not the only man that hadn't betrayed her apart from her brother. The sword in her hand trembled for a moment and she ran in through his back, as she often did but she let it linger there for a moment before pulling it out. Slick with blood, his blood. Audrina Hart never felt a happiness such as that overcome her.
Jack frowned and cocked an eyebrow at the dead captain lying at his feet. "Captain Jack Sparrow ter you, mate." He grinned at Audrina and tilted his head, she had saved his life, and he knew that. "Thanks, luv."
Neither of them suspected that his repayment of her good deed would come so soon. As soon as the late Captain Robert Ulysses fell to their feet, a crewman, much older then either of them jumped from the shadows. His pistol aimed at the girl's head and his arm shaking with sorrow or fury, she wasn't sure. Audrina felt herself tremble with fear. So this was it? She was going to die. She closed her eyes and heard the pistol cocked. Then the bang from the pistol and awaited pain but nothing came. Opening an eye, she saw the man dead at her feet, half his face blown off from the shot. She felt herself shiver with his gruesome demise but looked at Jack, his pistol still aimed. Her heart thumped against her chest when she saw him. His face dark with sweat and his clothes stained with blood. She reckoned that she didn't look much better.
Smiling she walked over to him, not knowing really what to say to the man that had just saved her life. "Thanks, Captain." She grinned, "I owe you one, aye?"
"Aye. And call me Jack, eh?" The captain beamed back at her.
"I told you, out of habit." She said before walking out to the battle once more, dodging several pathetic attacks.
It took all Audrina's self control not to quiver with sorrow and shock. It took everything to keep the hot tears behind her eyelids and not gracing her face. He was dead. It took her a moment to actually believe it. He was dead and she had killed him. It was the last bit that made her excited, her breath growing short as she kept picture his lifeless muddy brow eyes staring at her. The pain evident in them and the shock was etched onto his cold face. Audrina didn't know whether or not to be happy or sad. A moment later, she frowned. Why on earth would she be sad that Robert Ulysses was dead? Smirking, she knew deep inside her, she was never happier in her entire life until that moment. He had taken everything from her and she did the same. An eye for an eye, eh mate?
Jack watched her for a moment; she was still a mystery to him. Who was Robert Ulysses to her? Why had she been so petrified of him? He wasn't quite sure but he felt such a longing to know Audrina Hart. It was nothing more then a curiosity really and perhaps a desire to have her for himself, she was quite attractive. The way she switched emotions too easily reminded him of someone. Himself. She easily went from petrified to annoyed to hateful to grateful and then finally to teasing.
He narrowed his eyes on her as she disappeared in the bodies of crewman and twists of the unfamiliar ship. Moments later, he found himself intertwined with the battle once more. The blood was hot on his face and the sweat cold on his body but standing there side by side with his men in the heat of battle, he felt exhilarated. Jack Sparrow knew this is where he belonged.
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"How many, Gibbs?" Jack said quietly to his first mate.
Joshamee Gibbs sighed and thought for a moment. It hadn't been a ridiculously large death count but large enough to put a damper on things. "Fourteen, I believe, Cap'n." He said equally as quietly. Even one death was far too much on the Black Pearl.
Jack averted his eyes from his first mate's face and sighed and focused his eyes on the orange, pink horizon before him. "We'll have a service a little after sundown. You'll see that the bastard's ship is blown to bits. No survivors, eh?" Jack turned to him and grinned.
"Aye, aye, Cap'n." Gibbs searched his face for a moment, not quite sure why Jack was being so hostile towards the recently departed Robert Ulysses. It was know they weren't exactly too keen on each other but it still troubled him that Jack was taking this so personally. He turned and disappeared whilst Jack focused his eyes on the setting sun.
The ship began moving away from the enemy ship as the Ocean's Harlot was reaching her ultimate doom. Jack wouldn't risk the Pearl so he had to get her away as fast as possible. With his eyes half closed, he smiled as he heard the boom and roar of the ship far in the distance now. Good riddance Robert Ulysses, good riddance. Jack thought, inwardly smirking. In fact, he wasn't quite sure why he was so hostile towards the captain in the first place. Perhaps it was the fact that he had witnessed him beating Jack's very own crewmember and a woman to boot. Something plagued him; he thought he heard something about a baby. He wasn't sure and he wasn't about to bring it up to Audrina. If something did happen with a baby, he very much knew that it was likely to be very traumatic. He felt a pang of sympathy for her and sighed, the service would be beginning shortly.
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"Aye, it saddens me to lower these souls to the sea but alas, it had claimed them nevertheless." Gibbs' voice rang through the silent Black Pearl. "They died doing what they loved and it was a great honor for th' Pearl to have such fine men aboard."
Silence, the Pearl was so silent. Even the waves and the critters seemed to be holding their breath. Jack never liked this part about being a pirate. Anyone around you could die, anyone. He inhaled sharply as he saw the mangled bodies lowered to the ocean, the water turning a shade of pinkish red. As the bodies were lowered, their heads bowed. It wasn't common knowledge that pirates did in fact believe in the Lord. Maybe not all, but most pirates did pray and have a service for their fallen comrades. Captain Jack Sparrow wouldn't see it any other way on his ship.
"Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus,
I accept from Your hands whatever kind of
death
it may please You to send me this day (night)
with all
its pains, penalties and sorrows;
in
reparation for all of my sins,
for the souls in Purgatory,
for
all those who will die today
and for Your greater glory."
Gibbs' voice said softly and as it ended the remaining crew chorused in, 'Amen.' Jack lifted his eyes to see the bodies gone and the stone hard faces for his men. It was like this at every service but he still wasn't used to it.
He was gazing at Audrina whose hand was tight around her brother's. Her façade was over; it was over when Lucas cried out her name weeks ago. But when standing on the Harlot with her shirt ripped open and her hat knocked from her head, many accepted she was in fact a woman. Much of the crew grew to accept it and some weren't surprised at the least. Standing on the deck of the Pearl, she still very much looked like a pirate although her overly wavy hair was pulled lose from its plait and cascaded down her back. The soot and dirt stained her face and her skin was tinted red from the blood she had figuratively been bathing in hours ago. Audrina lifted her turquoise eyes to Jack's face, catching his stare and he didn't avert his eyes. What made him most glad was that she didn't avert her eyes either.
It was all about endings and beginnings, Jack thought to himself. The ending of Robert Ulysses and the beginning of Audrina Hart. He felt himself grinning.
