Chapter 14: The End of the Beginning
Later that night I was standing out on the deck. The only person around was Cotton at the helm. Everything was silent except for the occasional slap of water against the hull. The moon was half full, its light made the water shine. I welcomed the warm night breeze on my dampened face. Earlier I had woken up with nightmares fresh on my mind. Nothing too bad, but I couldn't get back to sleep.
Throughout the day the crew reaccepted me. It didn't take that long actually. As soon as I said sorry they all laughed and forgave me. Tearlach had to give Marty some money because they made a bet on whether I would come back. I really hate those two sometimes. The day was spent with working and joking around. It was a good day, but sadly the night can bring back bad memories.
I was standing by the rail on the quarter deck, embracing the quiet night when Jack walked out of the captain's cabin. He slammed the doors open and walked loudly up to me. "Hello, Jason!" he exclaimed. I rolled my eyes. "What are you doing out here?"
"Trying to find some peace and quiet." I snapped. Jack nodded.
"You want something to take your mind off of things?" the captain asked.
"Like what?" Jack drew his sword in reply. I laughed. "You know I'll beat you, right?"
"I resent that comment. Here, these belong to you." Jack threw something on the deck. They were the sword I had taken from Isla de Muerta. I remembered that Barbossa made me leave them on the ship. Grinning from ear to ear I picked up my swords and slung them across my back. Reaching back, I gripped the handles in my hands. It felt so natural and the swords withdrew easily.
I lunged at Sparrow. He blocked easily. I couldn't use my left arm that well so I focused on my right. Occasionally I used my left sword to block or parry. Jack noticed my weak side and kept moving to my left. He was a grand sparring partner. The best part was that I had excuse to fight Jack Sparrow. I grinned madly.
Jack saw an opening in my attack. He slammed his sword against my left blade and pressed on it until I dropped it. While I was confused he swiped at my legs making me stumble. He pushed me down with his foot and held his sword at my throat. "You need some practice, lad."
I growled. "Get off me." he let me stand up. I retrieved my dropped sword. Jack stood off to the side with a smug grin on his face.
"You want a lesson?" the captain asked.
"Are you willing to teach me?"
"Of course. You need some practice with that left hand. I'll teach you how to use it. Savvy?"
I rolled my eyes. "Savvy." I replied. Jack smiled.
"Good. Now sheath your right sword." I did as he ordered. With only my left sword out Jack lunged at me. I barely managed to block in time. It was really hard to fight with my left. I only lasted a few minutes before Jack had his sword at my chest again.
"Yeah. You definitely need some practice with the left hand." Jack said smugly. I glared at him and lunged. That was pretty much the rest of the night. We kept going back and forth attacking and blocking. Jack would sometimes stop and give me some advice and he taught me a new move. By the end of the night I was better with my left hand and completely exhausted.
Dawn came and sweat trickled down my brow and into my eyes. Jack was panting as well but he looked much better than me. "Good lesson. Same time tonight?"
"I would prefer if we didn't go for so long next time." I said. "I still need to sleep."
Jack nodded. "Agreed." the crew had started to wake up and came out on deck. The only person that really witnessed Jack's lesson was Cotton. Everyone else just saw us on deck panting with swords drawn. Gibbs laughed when he saw us. "What have you two been doing?" I glared at the man.
"Sword lesson." I replied. Gibbs nodded and turned to Jack.
"You alright, Cap'n? You look almost as bad as the lad." I laughed at that comment.
Jack glared at his first mate. The crew cheered shuffled awkwardly and then quickly went to work. "The lad has an excuse from work today. And so do I. No one disturb me." Jack said, walked to his cabin and closed the doors. I sheathed my swords and sat down on a crate.
The crew went about their day as normal. Marty was complaining that I didn't have to do any work but other than that no one bothered me. Gibbs replaced Cotton at the helm. I had closed my eyes when I heard a scream come from Jack's cabin. "Ahhhhh!" followed by a gunshot. I stood up as the cabin doors flew open. A fury creature came running out.
The capuchin monkey stopped, looked around and saw me. "Jack?" I asked in disbelief. Shrieking, Lil'Jack ran up to me, climbed up my leg and sat on my shoulder. The poor beast was trembling.
Jack, the human, came running out of his cabin. He looked terrified. "That darn beast attacked me!" he cried. The rest of the crew had stopped working and stared at the scene that had unfolded. I could see Marty trying to hold in a laugh.
"He probably didn't like the fact that you were in his old master's cabin." I remarked. Jack, the monkey, was still shaking on my shoulder. "What did you do to him?" I demanded.
"What did I do to it? What he did to me! The bloody thing jumped out of nowhere so I shot it." Jack exclaimed.
I held up my fore finger. "First, the monkey is not an 'it'. His name is Jack." I held up my second finger. "Second, did you hit him?"
"Of course I hit him. He stumbled and kept running." Jack said. I looked at the monkey. "How…?" but then I saw it. Tucked into the monkey's vest was a gold medallion. I grinned.
"Alright, nothing to see here. Everybody back to work." I said. Jack walked up to me.
"We are throwing that thing overboard." he sneered.
"No we're not. Want to know why? You killed my father, you owe me something." Jack's face fell. He looked a little guilty. I almost felt bad for bringing it up, almost. Jack turned around and stalked back to his cabin. "Just keep that thing under control!" he yelled back and slammed the doors.
"Yeah right." I muttered. Lil'Jack had calmed down and stopped shaking, but his tail had a death grip around my neck. The crew seemed amused. Now that their entertainment was over they went back to work.
Lil'Jack stayed on my shoulder for the rest of the day. Even though Sparrow had excused me from work I still wanted to help a little. The monkey was actually really entertaining, for me at least. Most of the time he ran around and annoyed the crew. They didn't like Lil'Jack at all, but they accepted him. It was really funny when he jumped on to Marty's head. The dwarf started freaking out jumping around. When Jack jumped off I was laughing my head off.
By the end of the day I was completely exhausted. Between sword fighting all night and working most of the day, I was ready to sleep. I slumped into my hammock. Lil'Jack was perched on a piece of wood above me. I reached up and scratched the monkey's head. "You and I are going to have fun, Jackie boy." I whispered. "Just you wait and see."
Thank you to all of my readers! You guys and girls are the best! I will be doing Dead Man's Chest along with the other movies. If you have any ideas or suggestions don't be shy, I welcome all the reviews.
I'll be taking a small break, but I'll try to start the next one before the end of February. Thanks again!
Rooivalk253: I like your idea but I wasn't able to put it in this chapter. I will use it in Dead Man's Chest.