. A Thousand & One Caribbean Nights .

While up aloft, in storm, from me his absence mourn,

And firmly pray, arrive the day, he never more to roam.

1 . rain

"If he's dead I say we throw him overboard! What is he but a sodding drunk?" Carina haughtily asked Henry, looking down to the recently collapsed Jack Sparrow on deck of the Black Pearl.

Henry narrowed his brow, glancing to her, "He's more than that… I think?"

Henry looked back down to the unmoving pirate. Truthfully, he still was not convinced it was Jack Sparrow. The way his mother spoke of the famed pirate Captain always made him sound gallantly inhuman. A rogue, incapable of defeat, with the wit of the devil himself.

A being who bested death and sea monsters on the regular. A pirate who, somehow, acquired a curse from every legendary figure at sea. Henry had thought of him as a myth… That was, until he met the foppish, middle-aged man, face to face.

True, as Jack stood in that cell pant-less, reeking of whiskey and… several other unpleasant things, he was a ghost of his former self. And, perhaps experiencing a sense of DeJa Vu to be before a young man claiming to be of Turner lineage.

All though, considering all he had gone through in the past, he was lucky to be standing at all.

Carina looked to Henry as he stared to Jack. She frowned, realizing Henry seemed to be slightly saddened by the sight.

"Not that I particularly… care, or anything…" she began, seeming to struggle to find the correct words.

Henry eyed her. If there was anything he knew about the young woman, it was her vigor for correctness.

"But, what does Jack Sparrow mean to you?" she asked, carefully. "If you don't mind telling me."

Henry blinked, "I couldn't really say. When I was a child, my mother told me stories of him. They inspired me to consider a life at sea."

"Stories?" she asked, "Consisting of krakens, mermaids, and Davey Jones, no doubt?"

"Actually… yes. That about covers it."

She crossed her arms as Jack's ship mates dragged him down the steps of the Pearl to the Captain's quarters and Gibbs declared himself head of the ship, once more.

"While the Captain rests I'll be taking over!" he shouted as the men scurried around him, "Now back to work, and ready the sails! Let us escape these cursed waters!"

Henry leaned against the railing of the ship as Carina did the same.

"I don't understand you," he began, "after all you've seen, you still scoff at my interests?"

She frowned, "Oh… I don't know what to believe anymore. I think my neck actually did snap, and you didn't save me, after all. That, in fact, I am dead and trapped in some horrible world where nothing is logical."

"Or, maybe you've just entered the true world, for the first time in your life."

She scowled to him, "I think I've been a member of a very real world my whole life, thank you."

"Really? And what was it you did before all of this?"

She glared to him, but glanced down as he questioned her past.

"I… I worked as handmaid. It gave me enough time to continue with my studies."

"And, the woman you served, she agreed with how you spent your free time?"

"No. Hence her eagerness to report me as a witch," Carina looked away shamefully at the word. "We no longer live in such bleak times as the 1500s. The world is changing. And if the seas can part to reveal some sort of… magical trident," she shook her head at the thought, "then I think a woman could bloody well attend university and study science!"

"Here, here!" declared Henry, getting a slight smirk from her. He smiled to her then, noticing the blush on her cheeks, something that always seemed to betray her.

"But… where will you go now, Miss Barbossa?"

She grinned to him and felt warmth hearing the name of her father.

"I don't know, Mister Turner. I suppose it depends upon the whim of the Captain. Whoever he may be," she said, glancing to Gibbs as he took the wheel.

Henry smirked, once again inspiring curiosity from Carina.

"Do you think you could remember anything your mother told you about my father? He seems to be old friends with Jack."

"Aye," said Henry, "Barbossa was in a few of her stories. You see, he kidnapped my mum when she was probably my age. She possessed a cursed Aztec coin that he needed to lift a spell that vexed him and his men! And what a vex it was! She said they turned into skeletons in the moonlight!"

Carina eyed him as if he were mad.

"On second thought, perhaps it's all the better if I don't know."

Henry laughed, looking back out to the sea. And then, he squinted, hardly believing what his eyes had fallen upon. There, in the misty distance, was a distinct hint of land consisting of three particular mountains.

He began to laugh madly as Carina looked to him oddly.

"What?! What is it, you daft loon?"

"Look!" he proclaimed, stretching out a finger and leaning closely to her.

She squinted her eyes as well, though she was unable to make out the land mass.

"I don't see anything!"

He looked to her with a cocky smirk.

"Aye, I have a sailor's eye. I can spot land from three hundred miles away!"

"Land?!" she gasped looking to him, and suddenly realizing how close he was.

He glanced a bit lower to her lips before making a breathy laugh.

"Not just land, Carina. Home."

With that, he turned to Captain Gibbs and proclaimed he knew just where they were.

Jack withered in pain on his cot, sweat gathering at his brow.

Henry had entered the Captain's chamber as a worried Gibbs called him in.

"What could it be?" cried Gibbs, "Understandably, the man has many diseases. But I've never seen him look so near to death!"

Henry looked him over before noticing a dark stain just over his chest. He pushed aside his coat and then ripped open his shirt to find a gushing wound, slicing across his chest. His eyes widened at the sight and Gibbs' mouth fell agape.

"It's no disease," answered the young man. "He was injured below in the fight. And I'm surprised it's not worse."

"Not worse?! He'll die if no one attends to that! And our horse doctor jumped ship months ago!"

"That's why we need to sail for Saint James Parish. We can seek help there."

Gibbs pulled a face of foreboding, "Son, did we not just discuss this on deck?! We are pirates! On one of the most notorious ships in the Caribbean!"

"One of the most notorious ships that has not sailed in near 10 years by a Captain most think is dead!"

Gibbs raised a brow, figuring the young man had a point.

"Believe me, the port was once popular in the slave trade, but after it burnt down, it never became as populated. By merchants, anyway. We can dock and go unseen for weeks!"

"And you're willing to bet your life on that?"

Henry shrugged, "I'm willing to bet his life on it. Besides, once I'm on land I was hoping… I could…" he trailed off, shaking his head.

Gibbs frowned, "What is it, son?"

"Nothing. Just a foolish hope."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time for those later! Let's first try and cease this man's bleeding."

He shoved a green bottle in Henry's hand before ripping a segment of the young man's shirt. He handed the long piece of fabric to Henry who stared to him in confusion.

"What in the-"

"Right," began Gibbs, heading for the door. "You tend to him and I'll ready the crew for port!"

Henry nodded to the replacement Captain before looking hopelessly back to Jack.

"Well, Captain." he said with a shaky sigh, examining the bottle of alcohol. "You're going to hate me even more after this."

Hours passed as Gibbs tediously directed the Black Pearl around coral cliffs and the eyes of lookouts on the bay.

And, just at the setting of the sun, he successfully dropped anchor off the coast of the of the island. It looked to be a ghost town, just as Henry had described. He produced a telescope and examined an abandoned tower looking over the wilderness of the unsettled coast.

"Land ho!" he exclaimed, the crew echoing a similar shout.

Carina awoke from a nap she had taken below deck. After spending a tireless night searching for the Trident, she was all but ready to paddle a longboat to shore.

All though, the thought of starting a new life thrilled her. In Saint James Parish, she was far from the familiar and judgmental eyes of her former village. She fantasized about living near a school that offered education to women. She even began to ponder a new identity, perhaps a forlorn widow to a wealthy businessman, or a daughter to a proper philosopher! Though, it was then that her heart ached with the recent loss of her true father.

She did not know much about Barbossa, besides the fact that he had been the most successful pirate to sail the sea.

And, even if he were not an honest man of society, or even that good of a man, he still carried himself with an air of great importance. She desperately wished that she would inherit the same assured sense of self.

Carina grabbed the small book she had been totting around since birth and headed above deck. There, she was met with the awe-inspiring sight of the sunset behind lush green mountains reflecting in a beautiful turquoise water. It was Jamaica, and more than that, it was a free village in Jamaica, still under English rule.

She watched as Henry exited the Captain's quarters, his hands and shirt bloodied. Her face grew pale as she looked to him, examining him for bodily wounds before realizing it was not his blood.

"It's Jack," he said regrettably, "and it's a bad wound. I only hope he can get help tonight."

She scoffed once more, and looked back to the island as Henry grew quiet at the sight.

"So then, this is from where you hail?" she questioned, with her usual indifferent tone.

He smirked, "Aye. And do you know what the good news is?"

"What? Your butler is out waiting for you?"

He laughed, "No, but me mum is. And she might have something more to tell you about your father."

He walked by her, carrying his head a bit higher as she gawked to him.