CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: According to Plan
The little boy dragged his stick through the sand as he walked, his dark head bowed and forlorn. The sea beside him drifted calmly in and out and he wished he was big enough to sail, big enough to run away. The other children had been bullying him again, pushing him around because he was the smallest. When he told his father, he was just told to toughen up. He sighed to himself and lifted his head, then gasped as he saw the figure coming out of the trees ahead of him. The woman had brown hair down to her waist and a proud face with high cheekbones. When she saw the boy had noticed her at last, her face broke out into a beautiful smile, losing its tough edge for a moment. The boy dropped the stick he was holding and ran to her, slamming into her legs as he hugged her.
"Mother!" Feronia bent down to examine the little boy's face, so much like hers but with brown eyes like his father instead of her blue. His face was grimy and she could see where the tears had made clean tracks down his cheeks.
"Jackie, are you alright?" His happy beam faded at the question, and fresh tears welled up. He shook his head. She stroked his hair, which was hanging about his shoulders and in need of a wash. She sometimes regretted being away so much, when she saw that her son, hardly six years old, was struggling the way he was. He was in desperate need of nurturing.
"Mum," He said, as they walked up the beach hand-in-hand back to the fortress, "Are you goin' away again?"
"Yes, but not quite yet."
"Can I come wiv you?" His voice was small and pleading. She looked down at him sadly.
"It wouldn't be safe."
"But I'll get beaten up." He sniffed. Feronia stopped and once again crouched down to be level with him.
"You listen to me, Jack Sparrow: one day you're gonna be bigger than all of them, and you'll be able to run 'em through. But until then, you find the biggest, ugliest kid and you be their best friend, alright? And don't cry anymore. I don't want you to cry." Jack peered into his mother's face and nodded bravely. She smiled and kissed him on the forehead before straightening up once more, taking his hand. He felt safe with his mother. If only she didn't have to leave…
"Jack? Jack!" Jack jerked awake as Katie shook him. They were in the captain's quarters on The Black Pearl, though Jack had fallen asleep in the chair at his desk.
"Sorry, love." She noticed he looked sad as he said that, and he turned away from her, back to the papers on the table before him. As the weather had gotten warmer and the pirates had become none the wiser about stagnant hearts and blooming loves, the Brethren Court had decided that they may as well just put their plans into action and hope for the best. Everyone had become sick of being cooped up at Shipwreck Cove anyway. Now, ten ships sailed to a certain place in the middle of the sea, the nine Pirate Lords following The Flying Dutchman. Katie merely watched as Jack took a gulp of rum.
"Where exactly is it we sail to?"
"The Mediterranean. We should be there in a few days." He answered. Katie nodded, though Jack wasn't watching her. When they had set off they'd all been glad to be doing something again, but nerves and anxiety was setting in all round. Many pirates who hadn't prayed in years had begun fervently doing so at every irregular wave and the atmosphere could be cut with a knife except for when everyone was drunk.
"We'll be alright. We have to put on a brave face." Katie said, after a long pause. Jack grimaced at this but agreed, standing up.
"Yer right about that love. No use worryin' about it, is there?"
"None." She agreed with a small smile. The pair headed out on deck where Gibbs was at the helm.
"Any sign of trouble?" Jack asked his First Mate, acting his usual cheerful self once more as he did whenever they were around the rest of the crew; that was what a good captain did, keep the morale up. If only he could keep the dreams he was having a secret from Katie.
"Nothin'," Gibbs said, casting a wary eye around at the surrounding seas, "Seems a bit strange to me, though, no navy in all this."
"Well as soon as Calypso's bound again they'll be on us like flies to dung just like old times." Jack grinned, his gold teeth showing.
"I was just learnin' to sleep easy knowin' I won't wake up in a cell." Gibbs grumbled. Jack looked around and noticed that Katie had drifted off to look over the rail at the green-blue sea they were sailing over.
"I'm just hopin' this works because if it doesn't, we'll 'ave two angry women to deal with."
"Why does I have a feelin' Angelica is gonna show up again soon?" Gibbs asked, eyes glittering.
"Because these things always blow up in our face at the same time." Jack supplied, and Gibbs chuckled.
"Aye, but Calypso an' Angelica only make two enemies an' these things always come in threes." Jack thought about this, wondering what was left on earth that could possibly go wrong they hadn't survived already. His eyes strayed once more to Katie, who suddenly looked very small and vulnerable against the ocean backdrop. He swallowed, then noticed Gibbs was still watching him.
"Ye know at first I didn't believe you loved that girl but it's written all over yer face." Gibbs informed him. Jack gave him a filthy look. "Ye think yer hard to read Jack, but yer not."
"Am too." Jack insisted.
"Are not." Gibbs argued.
"Am too!"
"Are not!"
"Will you two stop?" Katie interrupted amusedly, having drifted back over to the pair as they bickered. "You're like an old married couple." Gibbs mumbled something which she didn't hear but which made Jack punch him in the arm. Cursing, the First Mate wandered away. "Jack, I was just thinking and I think you should teach me to use a sword." She knew his answer before it was out of his mouth:
"No." He said firmly, turning away from her and placing his hands on the wheel.
"I know we don't have time to do it properly right now but if I could just learn to block I'll be better off if… well, you know." Angelica knew how to use a sword, after all, and Katie had an idea of where she had learnt to fight.
"I'm not a good teacher." Jack said uncomfortably, confirming her suspicions.
"I would ask someone else but the crew is in such a touchy mood…" Katie pouted. Jack noticed this and fixed his gaze even more firmly on the horizon, determined not to be taken in by her persuasive powers.
"There won't be a need for it, love." Jack told her.
"You can't possibly know that." She echoed the words he had used when explaining to her why she shouldn't wander off alone at Shipwreck Cove a few weeks before. Jack looked even more uneasy when this occurred to him, which only convinced Katie to continue searching for the chink in his armour.
"There won't be a need fer it 'cause nobody's gonna attack ya, savvy?"
"I suppose you're going to be by my side every second from now until the day I die?" Katie raised an eyebrow. Jack didn't answer, just glared defiantly ahead. "You know how much damage a dagger did, imagine what a sword would do…" Jack suddenly seized her shoulders, shaking her slightly.
"Don't talk like that." He growled, glaring at her with such intensity that Katie felt a little weak at the knees. Recollecting herself as he let go of her, she smiled, knowing she was close to getting what she wanted. Jack was also all too aware that he was on the verge of giving in because he said, "You're gettin' good at manipulating me, aren't you?"
"Is that a bad thing?" Katie asked.
"Well…" A slow grin began to cross his lips, "Fine, I'll teach ye the basics, now quit badgering me, I have work to do!" Katie laughed and stepped forward to kiss him on the cheek. As she made to walk away, however, he pulled her back towards him. "Oi." He muttered, before kissing her properly on the lips.
"Ahem." The obnoxious clearing of a throat interrupted them, and they broke apart to find Gibbs standing there for a second time. "I'll spew up me rum if you two carry on like this."
Jack was not the only one having strange memories come back to him in moments of vulnerability. The sea seemed to swirl in strange patterns as they sailed, almost hypnotic, and many of the crew were quiet by night as the feeling of nostalgia overwhelmed each of them in turn. It was not something they discussed, however, so nobody quite realised everyone else was also experiencing the same thing, not to mention that the other crews, barring that of the Flying Dutchman, were experiencing other strange phenomena.
Katie was stood by the rail of the ship around midnight, watching the mysterious waters, when the memory swept over her as vividly as any current event.
Her long green skirts swished pleasantly around her legs as she climbed the front steps to the house on her father's arm. She was fifteen years old and this was her debut into society, a year later than usual on account of Scarlet Fever the year before. They were greeted by the servants at the door and ushered inside.
"May I present to you, Sir Gerald, my daughter, Kathryn." Her father indeed presented her like a prized object, though she felt a flicker of annoyance at this. She was only interested in the ball, and the dancing, not meeting these old fogies.
"Charming." Sir Gerald made her a bow. "My son has been waiting eagerly to meet you."
"I think every eligible bachelor has been waiting to meet her, am I wrong?" The two men laughed at her father's joke, but her eyes went over Sir Gerald's shoulder and across the elaborate reception area to the grand doors leading to the ballroom.
"My butler will show you to the party." Sir Gerald chortled, and Katie blindly followed the man towards the doors she was so eager to get through. As they got closer she could hear the music through the wood, was already counting the steps, her feet itching to move already, but of course she would have to wait until somebody asked her to dance. She didn't care who did, but she only hoped they would do so quickly. The butler bowed as he opened the doors and light and colour flooded out of them…
"Do you wanna learn to swordfight or what?" Katie blinked, coming back to herself and the present, nine years later. Jack was looking impatient.
"I thought you must've gone to bed." She told him.
"Nah. Take this." He handed her a spare sword. Katie lifted it, testing the weight in her hand. It wasn't too heavy, though she was sure she would still ache after a while of trying to use it. Jack proceeded to show her a few basic moves, mostly defensive ones. He only clipped her sword with his gently, the metal whispering as it met metal, demonstrating the obvious attacks that most enemies would attempt. Katie managed to pick blocking up quickly, though she knew Jack was going a lot slower than he would if he was really attacking her, and-
The sword swung up, catching him unawares and causing his own to go hurtling out of his hand. The sword came around again and stopped inches from his throat. Jack looked down the length of the blade and met Angelica's mirthful brown eyes.
"I am getting good, yes?" She laughed.
"Far too good." He agreed as she lowered the sword.
"Jack?" Katie was once again finding herself looking at Jack as he gawped off into space. Her blinked and seemed to see her again, and realised he was holding his sword aloft, and Katie was before him with her arms folded. "You keep doing that."
"So do you." He retorted. They glared at each other for a minute. He sheathed his sword and came towards her. "Katie, remind me who you are again." He said quietly.
"I'm Katie O'Connor, your wife." She answered, then sucked in a breath. Jack stared down at her shocked expression for a moment, but the strange mood that had suddenly gripped them both passed as he began to laugh. After a moment, Katie began to laugh too.
"I think we've started believing our own lie, love." He said.
"Don't let anyone else hear you say that!" She giggled, and at the sound he impulsively leant forward and kissed her on the lips. Katie looked up at him, her green eyes dancing.
"Can't you keep your hands off me for five minutes, Jack?"
"Five minutes might be all the time we have, love." She shrieked as he picked her up easily, walking with her towards the cabin.
"Jack!" She cried.
"Do you want me to stop?" He asked her, pausing for a second to set her back on her feet.
"Shut up." She advised him, before seizing his hand and dragging him into the cabin. After all, he was right; they may not have much time left if this didn't go according to plan.
A/N: It's probably obvious to anyone who has read this and anyone who cares to examine the gap between this chapter and last that I was suffering horrific writers block here. I don't like this chapter and I am almost definitely going to edit it later. It's hard to keep filler interesting, but that isn't an excuse for the way this is written. I am glad to say, however, that now this is over everything should go smoothly again so please forgive me. In addition to writers block, a family member just died under horrible circumstances so I've been having trouble concentrating on this story. Thanks for bearing with me though, feel free to critique this, but please don't give up on me!