- Prologue -

"I know my uses. I have my pride. But my heart is still untamed. I've learned my lessons. I've conquered Death. I go on and I'm unashamed."

- Slipknot, Vendetta -

-//-

"I want to be a captain just like you!" The boy announced, scooting his bottom across the sand to be next to his father who sat on the beach strumming his guitar in harmony with the rising tide.

"No, Jackie, you never want to be just something. You always want to be the best at something. Never settle."

The boy's dark eyes flashed with excitement and wonder as he pointed to the unknown beyond the horizon, "Then I want to be the best captain to ever sail the seven seas! I will have the fastest ship and the toughest crew! I will be so famous that the whole world will know my name!"

"Well," his father said with a gruff chuckle, "before you embark on your first adventure, I have a gift for you. It is something every captain needs."

"Is it the best?"

"That will be for you to decide, I wager." He smiled, pleased with his young son's clever question. He placed the guitar in his lap and twisted around to his guitar case. When he turned back, he knighted his wide-eyed boy with a crisp new leather tricorne.

"It's too big."

He could barely see the boy's disappointed frown from under the hat's brim, but it was clearly evident in his tone.

"Don't fret. One day it will fit." He assured, tipping the brim up far enough for the boy to see.

"Promise?"

"I promise on the pain of death."

"Then it is the best, because you gave it to me." The boy beamed and wrapped his arms around his new hat, pushing it down over his eyes again.

"You earned it. Earn what you need. Don't wait for it to be simply given to you."

"Earn the things I want?"

"You earn what you need," he said, tipping the boy's hat back once again. "Take what you want. Give nothing back." He turned and locked his guitar back in its case.

"You are leaving again?" the boy said, more a statement than a question.

He gazed out over the water, the frothy curls of the surf calling his name and beckoning him to return and be consumed yet again.

"That's the nature of life on the sea. You are here one day and gone the next."

-//-

Retaliation, reciprocation, and justification all hold their own meanings but, ultimately, are more virtuous sounding pseudonyms for revenge. He was not seeking apology or compensation. What he wanted was a death for a death. It was a time for action and reaction, and his single swing pendulum was already in motion.

'Death has a way of reshuffling one's priorities.' When Jack first uttered this statement, he was referring to his own death. The memory of sharp fangs tearing his flesh and his soul withering in the endless void of the Locker was still fresh in his tormented mind. He had been betrayed that day. Acceptance of that fact was possibly more painful then the actual dying. His situation, although ending in the same result, had been different. He knew his murderer by name, by sight, and by taste. His murderer had the moxie to face him before, during, and after the deed. He respected his murderer.

His father had been shot in the back in his own home, left face down on the floor, and cheated of the honorable death at sea he deserved. His father's murderer was a coward.

Captain Edward Teague stood for honor, respect, and order. He was a gentleman amongst scoundrels, a voice of reason and experience, and a pillar in the pirate world. He was a man who held the Pirata Codex in such high regard that the Pirate Lords appointed him its Keeper. It was not right that history would claim a man of such distinction had apparently died for nothing. History could be re-written and Jack held the figurative quill. Jack's ambitions of finding the Fountain of Youth and recapturing the Black Pearl ran in parallel veins that circulated his purpose and drive. Now, as his father lay naught but bones, his blood pulsed with a new mission. Old ambitions now played second fiddle.

Sao Feng's charts were secure in a hidden location. He had a lifetime to search for immortality. The Fountain would have to wait. Jack would get the Black Pearl back. He believed it was just a matter of patience and strategy. He had done so before but hoped it would take less than ten years this time around. It is not easy to simultaneously avoid and actively seek an individual. With help of a silent partner, Jack was able to stay one step ahead of Barbossa who was still searching for the Fountain of Youth as best he could without the charts by following the numerous ancient stories and legends of its secret location.

Although he hated to do it, Jack had to give his rival due credit. Barbossa always claimed to be a man of integrity and honor and was proving both to be fact now, though it had nothing to do with Jack independently. Barbossa respected the Code and the Keeper and was satisfied, at least for now, to give Jack the leniency needed to delve into his newest obsession, a hunt that just may bleed the very life from him.

Barbossa was not the only of the other Pirate Lords to show solidarity with Jack's endeavor. Each volunteering whatever information they had no matter its size or, in some cases, relevancy. With their petty differences temporary put aside, it appeared that finding Teague's murderer was the second unanimous agreement reached by the Lords, with the first being the bonding of Calypso reached in the First Court. Jack hoped the outcome of this agreement would fare better than the first.

There was one name that repeatedly surfaced within these accounts: Adolfe Godenot.

This name would lead Jack to his father's murderer. It was time for vengeance and vengeance would be his.

A million thanks to Calathiel of Mirkwood for signing on as my beta for this voyage.