AN: Well, this is it. :( And my longest chapter ever, no less! More notes at the end.
The Damsel and the Distressed
Chapter Twelve
I was pretty sure Jack wasn't dumb enough to leave me on the ship without a lookout, though I doubted who he left was the most competant person on earth, either. The only thing I knew for sure was that I wasn't going to stay on the Pearl while Jack stole that treasure (or attempted to, without the key) out from under that poor girl who had already lost everything. Besides, I had an odd little feeling that my part in this adventure wasn't finished yet, and I wasn't about to wait it out in Jack's cabin while everyone else was on land.
I sat on the bed and thought for a long moment how best to go forward with THE PLAN, trying to decide on a course of action. If there was a lookout then they would hear me knock the door down, assuming of course, that I could even accomplish that without knocking myself out in the process. There were no windows in Jack's cabin either, and I knew that even if there were they wouldn't get me anywhere except for a straight drop into the ocean.
Well, there was a sure fire way to see if someone was onboard with me and to get the door unlocked. I reached for something heavy (the only thing I could find was a giant bottle of rum, sorry Jack) and lifted it over my head in front of the door. Then I let loose the most terrifying scream you've ever heard.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!" I shouted, sounding somewhat possessed. My lung capacity was amazing, quite frankly.
I heard the shuffling of feet somewhere far off as someone ran to investigate the noise. I had to stop and catch my breath to start over.
"Heeeeellllllllllpppppp meeeeeeee! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
"What's going on in there?" someone shouted from the other side of my door but it was barely heard over my screams. I rolled my eyes (honestly, what did he think was going on? Did people scream like this because they saw a spider? Think man, think!) and kept on screaming.
The door rattled as the person unlocked it and yanked it open. I brought the rum bottle down on his head, wincing as it connected and shattered. Liquid flew everywhere and my hand jarred as the pirate slumped to the floor. I stood there a minute, not quite believing THE PLAN had worked in all aspects so far.
"Finally!" I said. It was about time things started going my way!
I stole the pirate's sword before I stepped off the Pearl and held it awkwardly in front of me as I walked, looking like a teen from a scary movie who thought she could fend off a serial killer with a butter knife. My arm trembled as I fought to hold up the shaking sword and I knew without even attempting to try that the only way I was going to hurt someone with this thing was if I shook hard enough to hit them over the head with it.
It was dark when I stepped out off the ship but there was moonlight filtering down from the top of the cliff. I tilted my head back to attempt to see around the heavy trees and was surprised to see several torches at the top. The cliffside almost looked... familiar? Something fell off the top of the mountain and spashed into the water not very far from the ship. I jumped a little, then stepped towards the dark woods.
Torches had been jammed into the ground every twenty feet or so, lighting the makeshift path that Jack and the crew had taken. I ran, careful to keep the sword out to my side incase I tripped. After a few minutes, the torches grew farther apart as if whoever had left them had worried about running out, and then suddenly I heard voices coming closer. My heart pounding in sheer terror, I leaped of the path and behind a tree. Crouching in the darkness, I clutched the sword and no longer felt silly for stealing it. I could suddenly understand Jack's feeling about the jar of dirt, because even though I may not have been able to use my sword, I felt capable of killing anyone that tried to take it from me.
"Aye, Mistuh Gibb!" a gruff voice called out of the darkness. I peeked up just a little, then just as quickly shot back down. The crew of the Black Pearl, or at least the majority of them, were standing at the path.
"Keep yer voice down or I'll cut your tongue from its root!" Gibbs hissed, sounding meaner than I was used to him being. His voice shook. Then, in a slightly calmer tone, he said, "Jack's still in there, and I'll not be in the business of getting our Captain killed."
"But why did he send us back then?" one of the other men asked. My ears perked up at that. Jack was in there alone? Doing what? Looking for the treasure? And why would he have sent the crew away?
"Jack'll be needing a quiet escape out of this one, and he'll be wanting the Pearl ready," Gibbs answered, still walking. Much further and they would be out of earshot.
"How will he carry the treasure back?" someone asked.
"Yeah, and wot if it's like 'e said? What if Tortono be waiting for him?"
My heart thundered in my chest so loud I was worried they might hear it and discover me. Tortono was alive? And was after Jack?
"Aye yes, I believe he is and that doesn't bode well with Jack Sparrow. But I know Jack and..."
"Jack Sparrow is crazy!" one of the men mummbled and the leaves rustled as Gibbs turned.
"Captain still to ye!" Gibbs barked, then, almost under his breath, "And that's exactly why he's going to escape."
They were gone after that, or at least their voices were. I gave them a few extra minutes just in case. My heart continued to drum, shimmying its way up into my throat as I crouched there in the darkness. Somehow I found the nerve to stand. I wasn't in a hurry to see Tortono again but I wouldn't let Jack face him alone, especially since he had nearly killed himself to save me just a day or two ago.
Taking a deep breath and holding it, I once again jumped out onto the path and began to run. The trees, dark and forbidden, grew closer together. Their branches slapped me as I went and I eventually had to slow to a fast walk, moving the branches away with my sword. I was sweaty and my arms itched. The farther I went, the farther apart the torches seemed to grow. I dreaded the dark moment when they ran out and I was left alone in the inky blackness of the night.
But then I saw it: the mouth of a cave. A rock had been in front of it but had been pushed aside and I thought I could hear voices coming from within it. I tiptoed closer, step by step growing more scared and nervous but not allowing myself to stop. I was suddenly sure that Tortono was in there and that he had Jack. Jack who was now more than a mere annoyance... Jack who had stolen me back, killed his men, and sunk his ship.
I stepped into the mouth of the cave and tried to peek in. It was dim inside but not as dark as the woods had been, which was surprising. A torch posted to the wall illuminated a set of stone stairs leading up and at the top I could see another door off to one side and a pile of coffins to the other. I gulped but I held my sword out in front of me as I slowly began to move up the stairs. I was fearless. Determined. Unstoppable.
Someone grabbed my arm and I screamed like a madwoman, smaking them with the blade of the sword rather than stabbing them with it. Stupid girl! The boss bitch inside of me screamed. It didn't do one bit of good. After all those years of watching scary movies, screaming at those dumb bimbos who ran up the stairs rather than down and proudly announcing that I was different than them, I would keep my cool, I would escape... after all those years there I was, reduced to a screaming lump of terror from a mere hand on my arm. Honestly, I'm lucky I didn't piss myself.
The person who had me stepped out of the darkness and smirked at me. It was the pirate that I had kicked in the crotch. The asshole just wouldn't go away. I opened my mouth to scream again and he slapped me hard enough to knock my head back with a loud crack. Swift tears filled my eyes and black crowded my vision. I didn't know you could be knocked unconscious from just a slap but apparently a hard enough one would do just that, because I could feel myself slipping. I tried to take a deep breath and he raised his hand to hit me again, connecting solidly over the jaw that was already throbbing like it was broken. My arms stayed limp at my sides and didn't even raise to defend me, the traitors. Black inked over my vision.
"Who there?" someone shouted from a world as far away as the top of the stairs. I felt myself yanked back into darkness, a hand over my mouth, and could only watch as the man at the top of the stairs looked down at the place where we had just been. He stood there for a long time and, satisfied to find no one, finally grabbed one of the coffins and dragged it through another door on the opposite end of the stairs. I heard the door slam shut with a heavy thud and the pirate holding me shoved me forward. My knees locked and I knew this was it.
Breathe! My mind shouted, but that thought was in vain as well.
The world went black.
When I woke up, my hands were tied behind my back and I was sitting slumped against a treasure chest. Beside me, tied up as well, was Marie... my "twin." She gave me a weak look of concern, seeming to say, "how are you feeling?" It was almost funny. Until that moment I hadn't felt anything, just the heavy sleep still pulling at my mind. I opened my mouth to speak and groaned instead as pain the size of a Mack truck rolled over my body from head to toe. It was not localized or contained to my jaw... it seemed to fill my whole being... my hair even hurt. I worried for a moment that I would vomit, and when that worry was proven wrong I set about running my tongue over my teeth to see if I had them all still.
I did, but blood was in my mouth nonetheless, and I grimaced as I swallowed the liquid penny taste of it.
"Where's J..." Marie cut me off before I could finish my stupid question, interjecting with a sharp, "What have you done with the key?"
Even if I had wanted to answer, I wasn't given the chance, because at that moment I heard the grinding slide of boots on the stone floor and knew we weren't alone. Tortono was listening. We both looked up at him as he stepped out of the darkness, moving towards us with a grace that was surprising given his stature. He towered over me, seeming ten foot tall from my place on the floor with my head bobbing on my shoulders, and smiled his cruel smile at me.
"Yes, Senorita," he said, and crouched on top of me. Now that I could see his smile up close I could tell that it was different from the last time I had seen it. There was less amusement and more malice in this twist of his lips. When he raised his hand, I cowered immediately, my jaw protesting more pain before it was given. Lightly, he patted my swollen cheek and watched my reaction with an even larger smile. Just that small gesture had caused enough pain to make me swoon.
"What have you done with that key?" he asked, voice low. I wouldn't look at him. Instead my watery eyes were focused behind him, searching the room for signs of Jack. He obviously hadn't been discovered yet, which could only men he was somewhere close, probably watching. He was my last hope, my only hope.
Tortono saw my gaze and knew what I was looking for. He tutted at, shaking his head.
"Oh, Senorita... you are so innocent. So naïve," he said, almost making himself sound sad for me. Sympathy was an emotion I didn't think him capable of, and I had good reason to doubt it.
He rubbed my cheek and then slapped it, a controlled movement that made my eyes once again fill with tears.
"You think Jack Sparrow will come after you again, knowing that you are not the girl he thought you were and knowing that I am here? What do you think he is?"
"Jack…" I started, and the pain flared. Tears filled my voice as well as my eyes, but somewhere inside of me anger and bravery were bubbling together, a dangerous brew. "I know exactly what Captain Jack Sparrow is." I locked eyes on the monster, letting my anger surge through my mind and out my mouth. "He's a pirate that's twice now stolen something right out from under you! A pirate that sunk your ship and killed all but, what…? One of your men? Or is he only one would come with you? They've all abandoned the great Tortono, haven't they?"
I could tell from the look in his eyes that I was right, and my speech wasn't appreciated. I laughed and he reared back and hit me with a slap that was more a punch, knocking me on my side. I tried to sit up but it was hard with no hands and blood pouring out of my nose. I was sobbing, but screaming through it.
"You know what else he is? Jack Sparrow is a good man! He's a good man and he's coming for me!" I shouted and he knocked me back down on the stone, hitting me with punches from both sides without giving me a moment to breathe in between. Blood was sliding into my mouth and suffocating me. I flailed from side to side but it was no good.
"I'll tell you one word that describes Jack Sparrow…" Tortono growled above me. Then suddenly everything stopped. The room was silent except for a gasp from Marie and Tortono didn't move a muscle, his hands frozen at my neck. I looked up through the blood and tears and there was Jack, holding the blade of his sword to Tortono's throat.
"How about…" Jack seemed to think on it, then smiled his most wicked smile. "…Surprising?"
The world stood still for only a moment before all hell broke loose. The pirate who had first captured me was running at Jack with his sword out and I screamed for him to look out.
Jack gave me a look that would not have been more obvious if he'd held up a sign with detailed instructions of what he wanted me to do.
"The code, Mary," he said, gesturing with his head to Tortono, and I understood instantly. My version of the code. Oh certainly.
I looked at Tortono for only a fraction of a second and felt the fiery pain in my jaw urge me on. With every ounce of strength I had left in my poor body, I brought my knee up into his groin. He collapsed onto me with a puff of breath and when he didn't immediately move from me, I brought my knee up again. I wasn't able to get as good of a kick in this time, but he had learned his lesson just the same and rolled off of me. Scooting as quickly as I could, I manuevered my way over to Marie just as Jack turned to meet the other pirate's sword. With my back to her back, I began blindly trying to undo the knots holding her arms captured, but it was hard to do while barely being able to move my own. I felt my fingers fumble through the knots and cursed as Tortono groaned and tried to move. He wouldn't be down long.
A moment later, Jack was at my side and I could only assume that he had finished the other pirate off. He had his sword still out, however, and prepared to free our hands.
"Her first," I said, surprising myself. If I'm going to be honest though, my reasons for this request were not entirelly valient. I knew Marie was better with a sword than I was (that was putting it mildly) and if the crap started going down in a moment then she would need to be the one free. Jack didn't seem to question this; merely slid the sword between her wrists and rope to free her.
At my feet, Tortono was gasping and now attempting to stand.
"Jack!" I shouted, trying to scoot back. He had already moved to free me and my sudden jump had caused him to miss. Sharp pain stung my arm and I felt blood flow into my palm, slick like oil.
"Bugger," he hissed, but then my arms were free and I was clawing and stumbling back from Tortono who was finally standing.
"Your sword!" Marie shouted, and Jack tossed it to her. The blade of it glimmered in the light just a bit as it arced to her hand, and if hadn't caught it just right she probably would have ended up dead then and there. Tortono pulled out his own sword and swung it at her but she was able to block it with Jack's. Instantly they began an all out sword fight, the clash of the blades loud in the small cave. Tortono may have been larger but Marie had anger and vengence on her side, and was able to stand her own.
I was pulled away from the fight by Jack taking my wounded arm into his own hand. I winced at the jolt of pain which was quickly being replaced by the sensation of prickles in my fingertips. It felt like my arm was falling asleep and my head was light on my shoulders. I wondered how much blood I had lost and when Jack moved his hand away and afforded me a view of the cut, I nearly swooned. I watched as he pulled his sash away from his waist and began wrapping it around the wound without saying a word. When he had tied it, he looked up at me with a look in his eye so out of character from the Jack that I was used to that it could only be described as tender.
Uncomfortable, I forced a smile.
"Think I'll live, doctor?" I asked, eyes down. I couldn't see his face but I knew by instinct that he was smiling.
"Aye love, just a scratch."
A sudden shout brought us back to Marie and Tortono who were currently knocking each other from one end of the room to the other. I held my breath at the fury on Marie's face and the grace with which she moved carefully away a fraction of a second before a striking blow. I hardly noticed Jack as he rose to walk away, enamoured by the scene as I was. Wanting to remain unnoticed as well, I hid behind the chest and watched the fight play out.
"Senorita, I am surprised you fight me," Tortono said, almost taunting Marie as he met each of her blows. "You are so much braver than your father. Never in all my years have I heard someone beg for his life so shamelessly." I saw the look on Marie's face harden, twisting into something else… an odd mixture of pain and anger. Tortono only continued. He didn't seem to entertain the concept of defeat even for a moment, even when it was too late. "He cried in the end, Senorita. That was why I slit his throat. I couldn't stand to listen to him anymore. He disgusted me!"
"Liar!" She screamed, trembling with the strength of her blows. Tortono didn't seem to realize that she was leading him into the center of the room. "You… you…"
"Monster?" he asked, feet flying back as he raced to defend himself. Then it happened: he tripped over the chest next to me and flew backwards over it, sword flying out of his hand. The look in his eyes at that moment was too much. I knew how this was going to end and even though I knew he deserved it, I had to look away.
I heard his grunt as she stabbed the sword into his chest, then her whispered reply.
"No," she said, watching him as he stopped struggling. "No, you're just a man."
And a dead man at that.
I looked back over at her then and was surprised to see tears in her eyes as she stood over him, letting the moment sink in. I had the feeling that the past few weeks or months had been filled with the idea of vengence and now that it was over and he was dead she wasn't quite sure what to do with herself.
I stood, my head swimming as I stumbled and nearly fell. When I finally reached her, I put my unwounded hand on her shoulder and gave it what I hoped was a reassuring squeeze. I'm notoriously bad at comforting people, and yet I always try.
Mary looked down at the body a moment longer, then at my hand on her shoulder. She nodded.
"It's done," she said, but I could tell it wasn't over. Not for her.
We were brought back to reality by the sound of Jack rustling through the rocks on the other side, investigating a patch of dirt where the treasure chest had apparently been hidden before being dug up by Tortono. Marie smiled just a little, a surprising sight, and turned back to him.
"Looking for the infamous treasure, Captain?" she called. "It's right here."
Jack winced when she pointed to the small chest and continued rummaging through the overturned dirt.
"Right. I'm looking for the rest of it," he said, which only made Marie laugh. It wasn't exactly what I would call a happy laugh. More of a oh oh oh, just you wait kinda laugh, which made me feel uncomfortable. The fact that the person laughing had just killed someone certainly didn't help either.
"This is it. This is the treasure. Hardly worth the fuss, was it?"
Jack made a sour face and looked at it.
"Hardly." Then, smiling, he brushed off his hands and walked to the chest. "Well, better than nothing. Maybe there's rum in there. Do you think they'll be rum?" he asked and Mary pointed her sword to him before he could lay one hand on the chest.
"I'm afraid I can't let you have that, Sparrow."
Jack gave her a wicked grin and put his palms up and backed away a step, his gaze almost respectful. He tilted his head to the chest and added, "Won't be much good to ye, lass, seeing as I have the key to open it."
I shifted my feet and coughed.
"No you don't," I said. Jack looked at me as if I'd lost my mind as well as half of my blood supply.
"Yes I do!"
"No you don't."
"Yes I… no I don't," he finished dryly, once his empty pocket had been turned out. I shifted my feet again.
"You!" he said, and pointed a finger at me. I couldn't help but smile though the effort left me feeling weak.
"Pirate," I whispered, and God help me, he smiled back.
"So that's how it is then?" He said, turning back to Marie. "Captain Jack risks life and limb to save the lot of ye and this is how I'm repayed! Mutiny!" But he was still smiling.
Marie stepped closer and lowered her sword. Something about the way she looked at him made me feel the oddest twinge of jealousy.
"I want to thank you for your help, Captain Sparrow. Even if your intentions weren't honorable."
"I can assure you that they were not in the least bit honorable and I would love to have you…" he drawled the moment out to make her wonder, a tactic that worked… I knew by experience. "…thank me."
Marie turned and held out her palm for the key, and I hesitated a moment before handing it to her. I didn't have the energy to be jealous, however, and deposited the key in her hand. I stepped back, feeling my knees buckle just a little, and Jack looked at me with a look of near concern. That moment faded as Marie opened the chest.
He tried to peek around her but she blocked his view, pulling out a small roll of fabric.
I knew what it was without even seeing it unrolled.
"I've heard stories about you, Captain Sparrow. There's a chest you need but it isn't this one."
He looked at her shrewdly, seeming to realize at the same moment that I did that there was more to this girl than what met the eye. How did she know about his deal with Davy Jones? He wasn't stupid enough to ask, as she still had his sword and the roll of fabric in her hand.
She handed him the cloth and he opened it with wide eyes.
It was the picture of the key that went to the Dead Man's Chest. So that was how he got that.
"Right then," he said, rolling it up quickly and stuffing it in his jacket pocket. "Anyone know the way out?"
There was a door leading out of the room and we all crossed the room to look out of it. It appeared we were at the top of the large staircase, with the coffins and another door across from us. At the bottom of the stairs, the mouth of the cave was closed off. Someone had apparently shoved the rock back in front of it. I pointed at the door opposite ours.
"Where does that door go? Can't you escape through there?" I asked Jack. He made a face.
"Could try, but I wouldn't want to. It's a prison above us, love. One of the worst sort. Full of pirates and guards that love to torture them."
I looked at him a moment longer, not sure if he was kidding.
"What crackpot buried a treasure under a prison full of criminals?" I asked, snorting before I realized that the crackpot in question was Marie's dead father. I grinned at her sheepishly but apparently she didn't understand the meaning of the phrase "crackpot" because she didn't kill me just then. Right. Back to THE PLAN. No more talking.
Then I took one look at the coffin and remembered the guard that had taken the coffin away earlier. Suddenly everything clicked together. I turned to Jack, excited even though I felt like I could fall over.
"I know! You can jump in one of those coffins! They're throwing them off into the sea… I know because I heard it earlier but I wasn't sure what it was! Then you can just float to the Black Pearl without anyone knowing you were here!"
Jack looked at me with narrowed eyes, as if he hadn't been thinking the exact same thing.
"What makes you think that would work?"
I smiled sadly.
"Saw it in a movie once."
He didn't understand me, but that didn't matter. He read the change of emotion on my face as simply as if I had sat down and told him all my deepest darkest secrets. I would miss that about him.
"So you're leaving me then?" he asked, and I sighed. My head felt light and I was weaving on my feet. The sudden tears in my eyes certainly didn't help matters either.
"Yeah, I'm gonna go with Maria, if that's ok." Maria nodded, not that it mattered. I wouldn't be going anywhere with her, not really. "I've got a feeling I'll be going home soon anyway," I amended. That was closer to the truth.
Jack gave me a look and when I didn't immediately move he smiled and tipped his head back. I drank in the sight of him: wicked grin, gleam in his eye, legs apart in a defiant stance. It was a look that a week ago I thought could only be seen on a poster, and my heart fluttered in my chest.
Jack tipped his hat a final time to me and turned to leave and that was it. That. Was. It. I didn't give a damn if it was Mary Sue or whatever. If I didn't give this man a real kiss before he left I would go insane!
"Jack!"
He turned and looked at me and for one moment, one heartbreak of a moment, he looked like he had been waiting for me to call him back.
"Yes?"
I stepped forward and nearly fell down from blood loss and anticipation. What little blood I had was pumping through my cheeks, fueling my hot blush. I made it all of two steps before I lost my nerve. I could apparently kick pirates in their genitals and talk back to people even under the threat of torture but taking the incintive to kiss someone who made me weak in the knees? That, apparently, was just too much.
I sighed and Jack said, "Oh bugger all."
The he grabbed me and gave me the kiss of a lifetime.
At the risk of sounding Goldylocks-ish, it was just right. Not too hard, but just passionate enough to not be too soft either. There were no promises of undying love, no aches and desires left unfulfilled. There was only what he was giving and what I was taking. And that was just fine.
He slipped his arms around me tighter and for a second the kiss became almost unbearably passionate. In the moment before he released me, my mouth opened and his tongue swept inside, searching all of me and making me moan. I wish I could crack jokes and pass off how Mary Sue our kiss probably was, or even make light of the emotion I was feeling just then, but I can't do that. Standing there… woozy from blood loss and covered in dirt… standing there with him after all that had happened… I had never felt so alive and well. It would be a sin to joke about such a pure, natural emotion as the one that was coursing through my veins in that moment, Mary Sue or not.
He released me and our mouths almost popped as we came apart. I stared at him, my lips hanging open and my hands clutching at his arms. I felt dizzy enough to fall over, and it wasn't just from my wound.
Jack smirked.
"Well now, I'd love to indulge you further love, but I believe I have a coffin to catch."
I smiled at him and black crowded around the edge of my vision. Having went through this not long before, I had a good idea what was getting ready to happen. Jack's smile dropped and I figured he had a pretty good idea too.
"Alright there, Mary?"
I felt myself slumping and he tightened his arms around me to catch my fall. Somehow I found the strength to smile at that, thinking:
'Damsel in distress… right to the very end.'
Then I passed out.
My first thought upon waking was that I must be dead, because only the dead slept the way I just had. Then the headache crept on and I realized with a slow dawning that I had a hangover. That didn't cross out death but it certainly crossed out Heaven. Surely hangovers weren't allowed within the pearly gates.
So if it wasn't heaven, then it must be…
I cracked my eye open to see the soft glow of my laptop staring back at me, and it took me a moment after that to realize that I was sitting in the floor of my living room in my tank top and sleep pants. I sighed out loud, not having the nerve to move yet, and thought sadly, 'Just a dream. Best dream I ever had, but still just a dream, nonetheless.' I gave that horrible thought a moment to set in.
I sat up off the keyboard then, groaning because it felt like I hadn't moved in a week, and looked again at the laptop.
My heart stopped.
Stopped, I tell you.
I scrolled up and down the Word document in disbelief, not understanding why there was nearly 100 pages of a story that I couldn't remember writing.
I picked out a passage to read, my mouth opening in shock and confusion:
It was Captain Jack, but he wasn't even looking at me, let alone smiling. He was staring at his compass in deep concentration, shaking it a little when he didn't see what he wanted. Annoyed, he looked up at his men and waved his hand in that way of his, the way that was all Jack Sparrow and a little bit silly looking.
"Stowaway then? Well, overboard with her mates, then back to yer places."
I scrolled down more, skipping to halfway through.
He was standing above me and although I didn't mind the view, I was annoyed at his attempt to intimidate me. I stood, my cheeks still flushed from the embarrassment of my overreaction, and the crews apparent delight from it. Some of them were still laughing. I suddenly felt overwhelmed with annoyance at the realization that I had spent the bulk of the past few days being scared out of my wits, running or being dragged from this or that. What kind of story was this anyway? What kind of LIFE was this? I knew from experience (from both reading and writing) that bad stories were written out of laziness: too lazy to write the character correctly, to lazy to do something right, etc. I now had a vague realization that life was the same way; that if you allowed yourself to be dragged around all the time and didn't actively participate in it that you could hardly complain about the outcome because it was your own damn fault if you didn't like what you ended up with. You had to take control to be happy. Your life was no one's responsibility but your own.
I sat back in the chair, my mind racing. Had it really happened? Had I been there with them and really lived that adventure? And if I hadn't, where the hell had this story come from?
"I can't believe this," I muttered, looking at the rows upon rows of letters, but then I smiled as that sunk in. I mean, really! I had just spent a week with pirates, chasing a treasure that had turned out to be nothing more than a scrap of cloth basically, and this was the part of it I just couldn't believe? A literary account of the events? That was where I drew the line?
I laughed and laughed until the laughter turned to tears and I couldn't remember what was so funny... laughed until the sadness from leaving had escaped me. I lifted my hand to wipe away my tears and I saw it: Jack's sash still wrapped tightly around my wrist. My heart contracted and I smiled through the tears.
I could remember our conversation that day on the Pearl with a clarity that was almost overwhelming... I didn't even need to look at the words on the page:
"You should write a story about me, love," he said after a moment, slurring just a little. I would have laughed if I wasn't so flustered.
"I will," I said smartly, huffing. "And I'll make the last words 'Jack Sparrow was a good man.'"
"Now why would you tell a lie like that?" he asked me, quite seriously. Then he put one finger out, wagging it in my face. "Besides, I can't let you end it like that. That's a horrible ending."
"Oh really?" I asked, irritated for no particular reason. Apparently it was possible to be offended by constructive criticism for a story that didn't even exist. "And what would you suggest?" Jack threw out his arms and the rum sloshed over a little bit out of his right hand.
"That's easy!" Here there was a dramatic pause in which he got right up in my face, his lips a scant few inches from my own. He looked endlessly pleased with himself. "The. End."
I wiped my eyes with the sash again, this time for different tears. I may not have been able to remember what I had for breakfast on any given morning, but I would remember his words forever.
Leaning forward, I typed:
Jack Sparrow was a good man.
THE END
AN: Well, that's it. I hope you liked this little adventure and weren't too distracted by the unanswered questions I left, especially regarding our little Marie. I wanted to leave it open for a sequel, well, just in case. :)
A big thank you to everyone who reviewed this story or added it as a favorite/alert. You can't know how much it meant to me, having you guys enjoy this silly little story with me. If you haven't reviewed so far, feel free to let me know if you liked the end (or if you didn't!) because I'd love to hear from you as well. With that being said, I hope you enjoyed the story and another thank you to everyone that read it and encouraged me to keep on.
Mattie