Sam's crew had been shocked that he had dissapeared, he never let anyone live to say they battled him. His blood red sails were proof of that notion. They had drenched them in all of the blood of who they encountered as a warning post. It was enough to scare even the most equally evil of men themselves. Next to Jack he was the most feared of all pirates. Jack could not even come close to the things Sam had done through out his life. He blamed Jack for killing his daughter when the man himself had done it out of his own drunken rage no less. Jack had also been on the receiving end of that dreadful night.
Jack and Sam had went way back, they both were 'friends' of Barbossa, and they had been deck hands early on in their lives before they became captains.
His daughter Emma, at the time had been 17 and had been sailing with him around to different islands looking for what ever treasure they would happen to find. She was a beautiful tanned young woman, with eyes of crystalline blue and hair spun of pure gold. Jack had come to love her as well, while he didn't love her in a romantic way, he loved her like a daughter himself.
While she was growing up Jack cared for her if her father was away, making sure she didn't happen to get into trouble. Jack promised himself to help with Emma while Marie was sick and if she died. She had been hit fast, and went down with little warning.
She died at the young age of 32. While she was alive her condition drove Sam crazy, he did everything he thought he could to help her with her sickness. He tried his best to tell himself everything would be ok, but the bottle was stronger than the will for his own sanity and it only made things worse for Marie to know her husband was on a downward spiral himself.
Days went by and Marie only got worse. Barely even able to speak, the sickly woman called her young 4 year old daughter in the room to tell her she was dying.
Carrying a worn stuffed bunny by the ear, the little girl walked slowly into the room with her bottom lip in her mouth. Marie gently caressed her daughters face and smiled with tears in her eyes.
"Emma, darling, your mother has to go away for a while." The little girl looked at her in surprise.
"Where do you have to go mommy, can I go with you?" Marie closed her eyes as the tears rolled down her cheeks.
Jack stood in the shadow of the room with a somber look in his features.
"No baby, you can't go where I am being called to." She cupped Emma's face and kissed her forehead.
Emma's eyes watered as she flung herself around her mother's neck.
"Please Mommy, I don't want you to leave, why do you have to leave?" The little girl was desperately trying to convince her mother to stay but it was all unknowingly in vain.
"I'm so sorry my darling, I have no choice, if I could stay here I'd give anything in the world to be able to stay with you longer. I may be gone from this earth, but my spirit will always be with you. Always remember that, I will always be there for you."
Marie limply laid her head back as she watched Jack step out and grab Emma's hand.
"Jack, I'm sorry this is the way things had to go for you. I may be young, but I do regret some of the things I did in my life. I fear I will have afterlife regrets as well." She said sadly as she looked at Emma.
"Marie, you have been the best mother to this child that I have ever seen, Sam was lucky to have you, and I hate that this fate has fallen upon you. But you have nothing to fear for Emma. I will take care of her." Emma looked up at Jack. Marie leaned up and started coughing violently, when the coughing had subsided blood stained the corners of her mouth. Jack walked over and wiped her mouth as she laid down once again.
"Be at peace darling." Jack grasped her hand as she closed her eyes. Emma hugged Jack's waist as he bent down to pick her up.
"Goodbye Emma..." Were the last words Marie breathed out as she drifted to a place farther than the minds eye could see.
Emma buried her head in Jack's neck and cried a long cry as thunder rumbled about signaling a soul gone too soon.
Jack awoke with a start as he felt something shift beside him. Elizabeth looked sleepily up at Jack and smiled.
"Good morning jumpy. What was that all about? You look like you've seen a ghost." Elizabeth pushed up on her elbows and looked at him.
Jack looked at the ground as he tried to clear his head.
"Nothing luv, things of the past seem to come up more than I care to remember." Elizabeth ran her fingers across to top of his bare chest making him shudder quietly.
"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked as she pushed the hair out of her eyes.
"Sam, and his daughter." Jack looked into her eyes as the widened.
"Sam is dead, and from what he said his daughter was too, so you don't have to worry about him." Elizabeth sat up and placed her hands on his shoulders.
"I know Emma is dead, I carried her body in my arms, I remember the horrible screams, and the blood. It was just like it was yesterday." Jack covered his eyes with his hand.
"Jack, your trying to recover and heal. Your body and mind are definitely not at their best, so don't let things bother you. I killed him, he fell over the rail and into the water. He never did come back up." She said with pride in her voice.
"Elizabeth, I know you're convinced you killed him, but darling I don't think he is going to go down that easily. Every woman in his life has seemed to be in either peril, or close to death. His wife Marie was the first to ever see his wrath at full force I believe. I nearly killed him countless times trying to get him away from her. He would go from her to me, it would take 6 men to get him off of someone and that little woman stood absolutely no chance. It was only after she got sick he left her alone." Jack looked off into an unseen distance and Elizabeth noticed he had went pale, as his usually tanned complexion was almost close to the color of the cotton sheets they were laying on.
"He doesn't deserve to live, he let you off Elizabeth, but he could have killed you with out a second glance. That woman that I had saved from drowning was bruised from the waist up, and she went back and lied to him about me for her own sake. If someone else even looks at the woman he is with, he will kill them, and then go abuse the woman for letting another man come in contact with her. It took his sights off of her and made him come after me, for her to bide her time."
Elizabeth gasped with tears in the corners of her eyes.
He could feel the forthcoming questions, and he could also feel the pain radiating out from her thoughts.
"Something is going to have to be done about him, and for as long as I have known him, it will take a lot more than just will power. No jail can ever hold this man. He will pay for what he has done. Marie and Emma will be avenged." She could see Jack's muscles tense as he spoke of Sam.
"He had a wife?" Elizabeth choked out. Jack looked down once more and nodded.
"Yes, her name was Marie, her father was a rich merchant and owned many stores in Port Royal. I think I knew more about her than Sam did, I helped her with Emma most of the time."
Elizabeth glanced away with a tinge of jealousy in her heart. She jumped as she felt Jack caress her arm.
"I didn't love her Elizabeth, I know that is what you are thinking. She and I were friends, just like me and Sam were once friends. I helped her, I protected her from her own husband. Even though we were friends, it took all I had to keep from killing him when we come in contact. Marie begged me to forget it and leave him alone, but there was no trust or further friendship between us. Emma was a beautiful baby, so easy to adore. I only wish that I had known in the very beginning that things were going downhill for Marie, God rest her soul."
"What happened to her?" Elizabeth now looked intrigued by hearing of people in Jack's past.
"She got bad fever and become very ill. Sam acted through the very beginning when she got sick to care for her, and when he knew there was nothing that could be done to help her get better he abandoned her and Emma both, leaving them to waste away, nearly living in the nearest pub." Jack clenched his fist and refrained from slamming the side of the bed.
"When Emma turned 10, Sam came back for her and tried to make amends. Being so young at the time, she didn't really remember what happened, but she forgave him and they lived together, father and daughter sailing the seas."
Elizabeth continued staring at Jack, the thought of him, a pirate, who would only ever look out for themselves caring for a child and a woman abandoned by her husband was more than his usual demeanor told, or his attitude. Jack had just changed everything she thought she knew about him and sent it packing south, he truly was a good man.
"So how did Emma... get killed?" Elizabeth forced out those last words as if she had been choking on them. Jack's face fell as the memories came flooding back to him about that dreadful night.
"It was raining that night, and I had been passing through around Tortuga, and noticed that Sam's ship was docked. No one looked to be on it at the time, so I didn't think much about it. That is 'ol Jack for you." He chuckled to himself and cleared his throat.
"I was passing a pub when a man had been thrown out at my feet, with a bleeding nose and a cut throat. I walked in to see what kind of hell was raging around in there, and there Sam was standing toe to toe with another bloke. Both swords drawn at each others throat, they eyed each other with a piercing glare before Sam lunged at the man and stabbed his sword clean through the man's heart with one swift thrust. He fell to his knees and Emma walked in and stifled a scream. She looked incredulously at her father and ran toward him hitting his shoulders. He then grabbed her wrists and looked fiercely at her."
"What the hell do ye think ye are doing young lady?" Sam breathed heavily through gritted teeth.
"We didn't come here to kill anyone father, we come to drink, that was all you said, remember?"
"I can do pretty much whatever I damn well please, ye got that. No woman, daughter or not or anyone else `ill tell me otherwise." Sam pushed her back and she fell to the floor. She shot back up and brushed herself off.
"What the hell is wrong with you, you have a really bad temper father, and you need to learn to control it, or else you can just forget having me at your side. If I remember correctly, it was you who came looking for me, not the other way around." She glared at his back. This stopped Sam in his tracks and he slowly turned around.
"Ye have one spiteful mouth on you don't ye? I can punish for that, if ya remember correctly, I am your father, and I have that right." He started towards her making her step back a few inches and Jack stepped in front of him.
"Touch her and you can forget the use of your limbs, mate." Jack looked down with the hat shadowing his face.
"What the hell do you have to do with this, she is my daughter, mind your own business, or suffer like 'ol Richard here just did." Sam raised the sword menacingly towards Jack's face, it was gleaming with fresh blood still on the blade. Jack looked up and removed his hat making Sam's eyes grow wide.
"Ja-Jack, what are you doing here?" Jack grinned as his gold teeth glinted in the light.
"I was passing through and thought I'd see how me favorite enemy was doing, aside from Barbossa that is." Sam's friendly expression turned back to a dark angry mask.
"I knew you'd show up one day, ye always did seem to want to make your grave deeper." He examined the sword as if it suddenly interested him.
Emma stepped in front of Jack and examined his face.
"Jack? I remember that name, what are doing here, I thought you were dead!"
"My, you've sure grown up young one. Still beautiful as ever." She smiled at him as he looked into her eyes. Sam suddenly came to her back and grabbed her shoulder tightly making her grimace.
"Just get out of this pub now, and will take care of Jack." He breathed into her ear. She grabbed his huge hand and yanked it off of her shoulder.
"NO, I'm done with you, you're not going to hurt Jack. All you do anymore is kill everyone we meet, Jack is a friend, I remember him being there when mother died, when you weren't!" Sam snarled and slapped her making her face a now stinging red. Jack stepped in front of her and drew his sword.
"Mate lay off, or things will get messy." Jack walked closer to Sam as he did the same.
"Just what do ye intend on doin', seeing as not many make it out from this point?" Sam growled. Jack dropped and sliced Sam's leg, making him cry out in surprise. As Jack came back up Sam took the hilt of his sword and knocked Jack in the back of the head sending him sprawling to the floor. He ran a hand to his head and saw blood on his fingers. As the room began to spin he tried to focus on Sam.
"You're gettin slow Jack, can't keep up pace. You're making it all quite easy." Sam laughed. Jack lunged and sliced across Sam's stomach making him buckle forward in pain. As the dizziness started to become stronger, he fell to his knees and tried to get his breath. Just as he did so he felt Sam's foot come in contact with his chest and he could feel several ribs crack against the force. He yelled in pain, and clutched his chest. He could hear Emma scream in the background as she began to pummel her father with her tiny fists. He looked up as the sweat rolled into his eyes making them burn.
"Leave.. her.. alone." Jack tried to breathe, but his lungs would not comply. Sam bent back making Emma fly to the floor with a loud thud.
The patrons that had been there a few moments earlier to witness what they thought was a good betting fight were nowhere to be seen as the fight began to take a very brutal turn.
Jack stood up shakily and started towards Sam.
"You.. are one ..bastard of a man, to treat a woman like you do. She is your daughter for.. goodness.. sake." This got Sam's attention further, and made him even angrier.
"Marie.. never did anything to you and yet.. you treated her like scum." Emma stood up with tears in her eyes and looked at her father with all the hate in her soul.
"Is this true? You hurt mother?" Emma walked closer to him as he looked into her eyes with a pained expression confirming her new found suspicion. She slapped him hard making his face turn to the side. He looked back at Jack with hatred in his eyes.
"Ye had to open your big mouth ya bastard! You couldn't just 'ave' left well enough alone could ya?" He started to run towards Jack with his sword pointed straight at his heart. Emma's eyes widened as she saw this and she lept in front of Jack and gasped. Sam stared in horror with red rimmed eyes down at his sword now piercing his daughter's stomach. She opened her mouth in a silent scream as she too looked down and watched the blood run down her once white dress.
"Emma, baby, I'm so sorry!" He wrapped his hands around her waist and gently lowered her to the floor.
Jack pushed Sam away as he pulled out the sword.
"Get.. a doctor you bastard!" Jack yelled at Sam. Sam just stared at the blood covering his hands, he backed up to the entrance of the pub and dissapeared.
Emma was slowly fading away.
"Emma, stay with me.. darling, you can fight this." He gently picked her up in his arms and ran out the back of the pub.
He ran into a deserted doctor's inn and looked for bandages. He found a few cloths and pressed them to her wound. She groaned in pain.
"Jack, I'm glad to have been able to see you again, you helped me so much, and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'll say hi to mother for you." She whispered weakly.
"No Emma, please hold on!" He cupped her face with his bloody hands as she closed her eyes and let go.
Jack embraced the once lively young woman in his arms and wept.