Chapter 5: 1741 - About Love and Trust

Jack and Barbossa had spent most of the day trying to figure out the seemingly endless mysteries of the magical sea chart Will had stolen, or received, from Sao Feng.

Without a shadow of a doubt, the moving rings led to locations to be found anywhere around the world:

Real places, any conventional sea chart could take a good sailor to, but also places most people would consider nothing more than a myth or a legend.

After their experiences with curses, undead, fish-people, islands that just vanished into thin air, and captains who cut out their hearts, Jack and Barbossa surely were the kind of people who were willing to believe in anything possible or impossible. And yet the map caused them some headaches, for, in spite of their best efforts, they had not yet been able to discover the path that would lead them out of Davy Jones' Locker and back to the surface.

Barbossa had disappeared on deck at some point to relieve Tai Huang at the helm, and Jack, too, had given up in frustration - at least for the moment - after about another hour or two.

It was well after sunset when he came on deck and although he had a not exactly small crew aboard, it was still strangely quiet around him.

Everyone seemed busy in some way and nobody really seemed to notice him:

Gibbs and van Dijk were engaged in a lively discussion about their heading.

Pintel and Ragetti were checking out the guns and weapons they had on board.

Cotton and Marty passed the time checking the sails and rigging and making repairs where necessary.

Tai Huang's men were just disappearing down to the quarters, after having spent the day working on the damage the ship's hull had sustained in battle.

Tia Dalma pored over her oracle, and from the helm Barbossa kept a watchful eye on everything that was going on aboard.

Only Will and Elizabeth were nowhere to be seen.

Jack guessed the governor's daughter, who wanted to be an adventuress, and the blacksmith, who didn't want to be a pirate, used the time to talk things out.

And probably there was a lot they had to tell each other, if it was true that Elizabeth hadn't told anyone what she had actually done aboard the "Pearl" about a year ago.

Since they all got back on board, she had avoided getting close to him as best she could aboard a ship. And even otherwise, she gave him a wide berth, whenever she ran into danger of crossing paths with him somewhere.

Jack could only guess what drove her to do that. And he guessed she thought he'd still resent her for leaving him behind, although she had known that, if not his death, this would be his eternal damnation.

From his point of view it wasn't necessary, because he was sure he understood by now why she had thought it was the only right thing she could have done.

Everything he would have wished for would have been, that she would have told him. The way things did happen, there was still the bitter aftertaste of her actions that stood between them, and seeing her again in this surreal place had felt all the stranger for that.

What made her decide to embark on this adventure with the others?

Was it guilt?

Was it the hope of being able to ask for his forgiveness?

Or was it just her irrepressible urge for freedom and adventure?

Jack didn't know!

When he spotted her among all the others on the beach, there was a pang in his heart for a moment, and he had been searching somewhere inside him for the feelings he had told himself he had for her - but there was nothing. At least nothing that would once again tempt him to want to seduce her...

Especially since he was now sure that the road to Caith's freedom would lead directly via Davy Jones, the "Flying Dutchman" and his return to the living.

No, his aim was not to seduce another man's mistress, not when he was so close to finding his own again...

Jack was rudely snapped out of his thoughts when the hatch to the crew's quarters slammed shut with a loud crash and hurried footsteps took off in the direction of the bow.

By the looks of it, it was Will who had just come on deck, and he seemed in no mood to join anyone else.

Driven by curiosity once again, Jack decided to follow the boy and found him, indeed, at the bow of the "Pearl" - leaning over the rail and staring absentmindedly at the water and the waves the proud galleon was sailing on.

"Great sight, isn't it?" Jack leaned back against the rail next to Will and tried to look as uninvolved as possible: "Looks like even the night isn't doing us the favour of giving us a hint on how to get out of here, eh?"

"Hm!" Will looked up, briefly, realised who it was standing next to him and turned back to staring into the waves without paying any further attention to Jack.

"Traded barbs with Lizzie, I assume?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Intuition, many years of experience when it comes to fathoming the peculiarities of the female soul or simply a shot into the blue. You're free to choose what appeals to you the most..."

Will rolled his eyes but didn't reply, so, Jack decided to change his strategy: "Let me tell you one thing William: You should stop racking your brain over something you can't change any more and over something you couldn't have prevented in the first place. She did what she felt was the only right thing to do..."

The boy sighed: "It's not about that, Jack!"

"I see," Jack nodded: "So, she really didn't tell you, did she?"

"She did not! None of us knew what she did before we found you here in this endless desert of white sand and grey waters. When we had to watch from the boat how the Kraken dragged the 'Pearl' down to the depths, we were all convinced you stayed aboard voluntarily to give us a head start. We stayed on the island for a while, hoping that you might have escaped after all, but then we had to try to find a way to get ourselves to safety. You know, Jack, even if she didn't tell the others I would have at least expected her to tell me..."

"Did you ever think that she might have had her reasons for not telling you?"

"I'm no fool, Jack! I saw what happened between the two of you. I mean, you know, I saw the kiss before Gibbs urged me to finally get on the boat..."

Jack beheld the boy for a while. He was sure he knew how Will must have felt at the sight of that kiss: Heartbroken, helpless and unable to understand or to forget what had been going on.

Just as he himself would never be able to forget what it felt like having to watch helplessly when Ian Mercer had ravished Caith right in front of his eyes...

What Will said next made Jack even more thoughtful: "The way things are now I no longer want to stand in your way. Once we successfully got you out of here, I will leave the 'Pearl' and your crew. I'm sure there's another way for me to free my father. I just have to find it."

"You know, William, for pretending you're not a fool, you're acting quite conspicuously like one. Whatever you tell yourself you saw, that kiss doesn't matter! Not at all! What you saw was a wink! The fraction of a moment! So, tell me, do you really think that a fraction of a moment is enough to question your feelings for Elizabeth? Your girl kissed me 'cause it was part of her plan not because she wanted to trade you in for a notorious pirate!"

"You're a charmer, Jack, someone who finds it easy to win over others. No wonder you got yourself a girl in every port you made berth since you sail all the seas of the world on your own!" Will looked at him and continued: "I am not like you! I can not go on like that! Elizabeth means the world to me! Do you think I could just forget her like you obviously did with Caithleen!"

The boy's words hit Jack right in the heart. It felt as if someone had stuck a dagger right in the middle of it and as if the same someone was now twisting the blade in the wound with all his might to inflict even more pain on him.

"I didn't just forget about Caithleen, mate," Jack hissed, his words underlain with an undertone as sharp as a knife: "You know nothing about us, Will! Nothing! What I told you back then aboard the 'Interceptor' was only a fraction of the true story!"

"I suppose you told me your truth about what happened to you..."

"My truth, aye!"

"And then what?"

Will presented him with a look telling him that he had expected nothing less from him, and wanted to turn to go, but Jack's voice held him back: "It's been fourteen years since I lost her, Will, but not a day goes by where I don't think of her! I see her standing in front of me! I hear her voice! I feel her gentle touch! And as soon as I close my eyes I see the burning ship Lord Cutler Beckett left her on - chained to the helm! The ship we both died on! The ship on which planks we are standing right now! 'Black Pearl' - that's the name I gave her when I struck my bargain with Jones. But that's not the name she wore when Caith and I still sailed for Beckett and the East India Trading Company. This ship used to be the 'Wicked Wench' and Caith and I got her from Beckett because he believed I was the only captain who could sail her as she deserved!"

"Might be I was just a little kid back then, but I still remember the day you told my mother and grandfather about your new command!"

"Yes, but this you don't know what Beckett and his dark shadow, Ian Mercer, did to us after we refused to sail slaves over to the colonies!"

"I suspect your breakneck manoeuvrer has gone awry again and you ended up in some dungeon once more, right?"

Immediately after dropping that taunting remark, Will deeply regretted it already.

The look on Jack's face told him that nothing that happened to them after they freed the slaves had anything to do with adventure. And the pain reflected in Jack's eyes could almost be felt physically.

"You have no idea what they did to us after we got back to the African coast, William! You know, I didn't care what they planned to do to me! But what they did to Caith, I will never forgive them! Beckett had her interrogated, tortured and branded! Mercer raped her right in front of my eyes! They then wanted to sell her to a brothel but when they realised that she knew how to defend herself, they took her aboard the 'Wench' and set the ship on fire! And now tell me, Will, how could I ever just forget her?"

Both kept silent for a while until the boy finally remarked: "I'm sorry Jack! It's just I love Elizabeth and I don't even want to imagine that something similar to Caith could happen to her. I want to protect her but to be honest, I don't know how."

"You could try to lock her up somewhere, like I suggested to you last year, but I'm sure you know by now that it wasn't really meant to be taken seriously."

"What else can I do?"

"Will, you can't keep Elizabeth from doing what she wants to do forever! She will always find a way to get where she wants to go. Deal with that or let her go."

"I can't, Jack. Neither the one nor the other..."

"Then you're going to have to live with the decisions she makes, one way or another."

"That's exactly the problem! She makes her decisions without telling me anything about it. She makes plans without telling me first. How am I supposed to trust her?"

"That's entirely up to you! Unless you're willing to trust her, you can't..."

Will hesitated for a moment, then asked: "How was it with you and Caith?"

Jack smiled: "Quite simple, William Turner: I trusted her as blindly as she trusted me. I didn't question her decisions any more than she did mine. And I loved her as unconditionally as she loved me."

"I don't think I'm quite there yet, Jack..."

"Well, the day will come when you will have to make a decision on your own, lad. All I can tell you is: If you love her, trust her..."