Neptune's War
Day One

"...life's pretty good, and why wouldn't it be? I'm a pirate, after all..."

"Sir?" Neptune glanced up to look at Rupert's replacement, Aaron who was walking down the dock from the Sun. Neptune sighed and walked over to him as Aaron handed him a piece of parchment and said, "It's from Rupert. The Princess is better..." Neptune glanced down at the neat handwriting and instantly recognized it as that of his former first in command. "They're off the coast of Port Royal."

"Alright." Neptune said, folding the parchment back up and looked down at the young man. "Load up the ships. The time is now." He walked past Aaron, his long purple cloak blowing behind him as he walked. Pushing a strand of his long, blonde hair out of his eyes, he made his way down the docks to the Sun. Just before he got on to the ship, he glanced out a the sea.

The same thing happened that night when Lila first went missing. He glanced down at what was suppossed to be the reflection of the sun rise to see that it was not rising, but setting. He looked back up at the sky in time to see a green flash shoot thru the early morning sky. He closed his ocean blue eyes for a moment, before he whispered, "Stay safe, darling."

He looked out the palace window to see his young daughter walking along the shores. He smiled sadly at how much she looked like her mother. She was beautiful, just like her mother. He opened the door leading out to the beach, and walked up behind her. She smiled up at him when he came to stand beside her and asked, "Is it true that Uncle Davy is dead?"

Neptune smiled down at her and said, "No, darling. He's not." His little brother had been missing for a few weeks now. Stories had been circling around that the great Davy Jones was dead. He was getting a little worried himself.

He glanced back down at his daughter who made a face that made her look every bit Sparrow that she was, and sat down on the docks. Swinging her legs back and forth, she started humming a tune that he instantly recognized. The song her mother used to scold her for singing. The old pirate chanty...

"...never shall we die..."

She sang that low, but in a beautiful voice that you would have never dreamed to come out of a nine year old. She made a sad face at that last sentence, possibly remembering her mother. But something caught her eye. "Daddy?"

Neptune was brought out of his gaze at the sound of his terrified daughter. He looked down at the reflection she was looking at to see the sun setting instead of rising. She stood up and screamed when a green flash shot thru the morning sky. Not a few moments later, the Flying Dutchman rose from the depths. Lila smiled when she saw her uncle standing on the deck. Many people would have been scared at the sight of seeing a squidly, Davy Jones. But not Lila.

"His day on land..." Neptune whispered to himself as he watched his young daughter run down the deck to meet her uncle. Davy smiled and picked her up with his human arm. "How's my princess?" She smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Neptune." Davy said as he walked along the deck. Neptune smiled at his brother and said, "Davy, what brings you here? You only have one day at land...why spend it-" He saw the way that Davy was smiling at Lila and nodded as he said, "Alright then. Come on in."

"Everything that he's told you is a lie!" Lila was outside her father's door that night. She wasn't supposed to be there, but she was. She leaned her ear against the door to hear her uncle yell again, "You're putting her in danger-"

"Don't bloody tell me how to raise my daughter, alright?" Neptune wasn't yelling like Davy had. He merely said that in an accusing voice before he said, "You just want the crown? Get me out of the way so you can-"

"I never damn said that and you know it." Davy shouted, his voice firm. Lila closed her eyes as a silence broke out before Davy said, "You can't keep her like this, Neptune. Look at you! You keep the poor girl in the whole time, Beckett's not protecting her. He's not. Do you know that he recently attacked the Black Pearl?"

Lila perked up at that as she heard Davy say, "Yes. You know why? He thought Sparrow had Lila. Do you know what he would have done to her had Jack Sparrow had her? He would have killed her, Neptune. She's the heir the the seven seas, mate. Once she's out of the way, all he's got to do is get to-"

"SHUT UP!" Lila felt a tear roll down her cheek when her father yelled that. Another silence, before her father whisperered thru gritted teeth, "Cutler Beckett is a well respected man-"

"-he's a lyin' backstabber that's just as bad as bloody pirate." Davy said with a bitter laugh, "He wants nothing more than to get to Lila-"

"-you're lying!"

"Believe what the bloody hell you want to believe! I'm tellin' ye the truth! I don't want our damned father's crown, Neptune. I told you that years ago! I don't want to be king! I have to live with the lie that I'm a damned prince every day of my life-" She heard a thump as he walked, probably the thump of his 'bad' leg. "-I'm not lyin'! I'm tellin' ya this because I fear every day I get more souls on the Dutchman that one of them will be her."

Her father fell silent. Both of them did. Lila sensed that the conversation was nearly over, so she started walking back up the stiars. Back inside Neptune didn't dare look at his brother as he said, "Do you know what that's like-"

"I-"

"No you bloody don't, and don't go sayin' that you do." Davy spat at him as he turned to stare at his older brother. Neptune stared over at the fire as another long silence filled the room. "She's not Amphitrite, Neptune. And it's time you realize that maybe this way...of protection isn't the best thing for her. Cutler Beckett want's our family's crown, and he's 'protecting' Lila as a way to get closer to it."

"You never say 'our family', Davy." Neptune said with a slight smile. Davy softened up a bit before he said, "Well, I'm not doing this for our father. I don't owe him a damn thing. You don't either. It's for our mother." Neptune nodded before saying, "I don't know if I believe-"

"Then don't." Davy said, getting up from his seat. "I just don't want to see my niece in my locker." And with that, Davy walked out of the room leaving Neptune in complete silence. Davy walked into Lila's room where she was fake sleeping. He sat down on her bed, and whispered, "Don't become your father."

Jack was unusually quiet that day as they prepared for war. Guns were being brought out along with swords, cannons were being loaded. An eerie feeling washed over the Pearl that morning. He sighed as he leaned against the railing, looking down at his reflection in the water. A few minutes later, another reflection appeared beside him. For the slightlest moment, he thought...

...well, he thought it was his aunt...

"Are you alright, Jack?" Lila whispered as she came to stand beside him. Jack smiled at her as he brought her close to him, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She rested her head on his chest as he said, "I'm fine, love."

"No, you're not." Lila said, pulling her head off of Jack a minute later. "You're completley...sober..." Jack chuckled at that as he pulled her back to him and rested his head on hers. "Well, darlin'. You think it wise to get drunk before a war."

"Never stopped you before." Lila said with a smile as she turned around to face Jack. She saw a look in Jack's dark, chocolate eyes that she had rarely seen before. Maybe the last time that she had seen them like this was when her mother had just died. A look of, well, being scared. Jack was never scared, and that alarmed Lila. When Jack was scared, she knew that she had a right to be as well.

Jack was about to say something, but was cut off when Will materialized from nowhere causing Jack to nearly jump out of his boots. "Aw, bloody 'ell, Turner! Damn, mate. You don't have to bloody do that just because you can-" Will couldn't even hide his smile as Jack fell against the mast, panting to catch his breath.

"Sorry, Captain Sparrow-" He said, tossing Jack a sword. Which, Lila thought that was rather stupid on Will's part considering the way Jack was carrying on, it could have been a fatal move. The ageless captain immediatley snapped out of it and caught the sword as Will said, "-your father told me to inform you that we're making port."

"Oh." Was all Jack said as he put the sword in his belt. "Well, then I guess we shall be on our way, then. eh?" Will nodded, glancing over at Lila. The three of them made it to the longboats. Lila sat in between Jack and Will. Something about being between both of them calmed her a little bit. Probably the fact that she knew the two of them would keelhaul anyone that tried anything to her .

She closed her eyes, feeling Will's hand on her knee in a protective way. Once the three of them reached shore on the small Spanish island, they began walking down the path to meet the rest of their crews. Lila was silent. It wasn't like her to be scared, but she was. She was plenty scared. Looking at Jack and Will told her that they were too, and that fact didn't help her at all.

She looked down at her feet, her boots crunching beneath the wet rocks and sand that covered the ground. Will, who had been walking behind her, fell in step with her and took her hand. She smiled up at him, feeling a little better, but that feeling she had just wouldn't seem to go away...

They got to a deserted town. It looked as if it hadn't been used in a couple decades at the most. They silently walked thru broken irron gates into the cemetery. Lila's breath hitched when she saw it, "Jack-" She breathed. Jack stopped walking, and came to stand beside her. His face fell when he glanced down at the headstone

Here Lies
Amphitrite Sparrow-Parrish

Beloved Sister, Aunt, Mother and Wife.
And Devoted Queen To Us All.
May She Rest With God In Peace.

1515-1714

"Two centuries of love, a century to sea..."

Will felt Lila stiffen beside him, so he brought her close to him and allowed her to cry softly on his chest. He held her tightly as he glanced up at Jack who was tracing the sparrow in flight over a sunset that was engraved on her headstone. He pulled his sleeve up just barely to reveal the same sparrow on his arm. "Jack?" Will whispered, causing Jack to snap out of his little trance and look up at the younger captain. Jack gave a slight smile and a nod, before saying, "We should go-"

But as soon as he said that, a gun shot rang out from behind them. The trio turned to look in the direction that it was coming from, and saw an army of the red-coated Royal Navy walking down the hill. The three pirates took a step back, but Will whispered to Jack, "We're never going to make it out without-" Will glanced over at Jack, and said, "Jack!"

"Wha'?" Jack said as he pulled out his sword. Lila just stared at him as madly as she did when she figured out that he was entirely sober. "Mate, you said youself that we won't get out of this without fighting...well, most of us won't. Not all of us have our heart cut out of us...bloody fountain doesn't immune me from fatal blows to any part of my body..."

"Will, we have to." Lila said, taking her own sword out.

Will sighed as he pulled out his own, and looked as the army advanced on them. Will shrugged and said, "Take what you can..."

"...give nothing back." Lila said with a forced smile at the same time Jack said, "And hope the dear Lord will spare us..." Jack looked up, for want of a better direction as he whispered, "I am truly sorry for anythin' that I've done that was stupid..."

"We'll be fine." Will said, nodding. "We're pirates after all."

"...life's pretty good, and why wouldn't it be? I'm a pirate, after all..."