A/N: haha The reason this update took so long is because I edited chapters one through four, and they are much improved. I suggest rereading them, actually. The style is more similar to what I'm writing in now, and I took out some stuff that wasn't applicable to the plot and added some stuff in that was.
I have also updated my other Pirates fic, Lost and Found.
I finally reached one hundred reviews! You have my thanks.
"I'll be damned if you kidnap me again, William Turner!" he heard his Lizzie yell. He then heard the thump! of a body hitting a wall and prayed it wasn't Elizabeth's.
But he could do nothing to help her because he was stuck fast due to his hat and the too-small window. Jack swore the most he'd sworn since he'd mistaken a bottle of soap for a bottle of rum. He couldn't even reach up to take his bloody hat off because his arms were on the other side of the window.
The only thing outside of the ship was his dreadlocked head. He had a sudden, terrible thought: What if the window wasn't too small? What if his head was simply overlarge?
"LIZZIE?" he bellowed, hoping his voice would carry back into the cabin. "IS ME HEAD TOO BIG?"
"Oh yes!" cried Elizabeth, who was at the moment struggling against Will. "Yes, your head is much too sodding big if you think that I even remotely care about something like that right now!"
Jack began to mutter to himself. "When we're married and she asks me if she's fat, I'm going to say, (and here he mimicked her voice) 'Oh yes, you're much too sodding big if you think that I even remotely care about something like that right now!' Women," he spat in disgust.
"WHAT ABOUT WOMEN, JACK?"
Bloody hell, she had heard him.
"Nothing, darlin', nothing at all."
"Jack Sparrow, I'll-" Two people grunted heavily as if colliding, which, reflected Jack, they probably were.
"You'll what, luv?"
Ignoring him, she pressed on. "So you think women are -crash- selfish, do you?"
"Ye will have to excuse Jack, here, he didn't know-"
He could feel her glare without seeing it, and it made him twitch.
Elizabeth's voice dripped with scorn. "Captain, I am going to prove to you that women are not selfish. For example, even though I am locked in combat with this oaf here, (Will cried out indignantly) I am going to rescue you."
He laughed outright. "And how are you going to do that, Lizzie?"
A heavy object that he suspected to be a candlestick hit the back of his skull, and he yelped in pain.
"My apologies! I was aiming to knock your hat off, you see."
Jack would have laughed at her nerve if his head wasn't throbbing.
"Now Lizzie, you really don't have to-" A swooshing sound grew rapidly nearer and he braced himself.
Thwack! Jack moaned as another heavy and distinctly metal object hit him in the back of the head. "Lizzie, darlin', you've made your point."
"Really?" she spat. "I don't think it's made enough of an impression yet."
"Contrary to popular belief, luv, your message actually left a very distinct impression, one I'll always be rememberin', and-" The next object was so heavy that he saw stars.
He was so dizzy, in fact, that he did not notice for a full minute that his hat had been knocked off into the ocean. He refrained from wailing over this particular loss, but just barely.
Jack yanked his head from the window, spun around, and drew his sword. "I have to come to rescue fair maiden, also known as the damsel in distress or my one true love, the one who-"
Elizabeth brushed dirt off of her dress. "Really, Jack, you're about five minutes too late."
He glanced over at the table where they had played cards, where Will was passed out and drooping over his chair. He was disgusted to see him drooling onto the newly polished wood. Eunuch.
"I am sorry about your head, though," she continued. "I'm afraid my temper got the better of me. Does it pain you much?"
Jack touched the back of his head, where he could feel a bump already forming. "Yes, dreadfully so, luv," he answered. He was pleased to see pity on her face as she walked over to him.
"Why are you standing, then?" she replied crossly.
He dropped into the nearest chair, where Elizabeth promptly shifted some of his dreadlocks so that she had a better view of his scalp.
Her hands, he noticed, were freezing, and he told her so.
She laughed. "Does this feel better, then?" she asked, placing them rather gently on the still-growing bump.
"Ever so much, luv."
"What about this?" She began kissing the top of his head slowly, before making her way down to his face and finally to his lips.
"You know, Lizzie," said Jack, trying to sound pitiful, "I think there's a bump growing between my legs, too. Maybe you could make it feel better by-"
She slapped him, and he carried the sting like a man.
He was Captain Jack Sparrow, after all.
When I was fifteen, a funeral procession passed in front of our house. Will and I watched it go by, and then, following the custom, we joined it.
We walked past the village square and several long wheat fields before finally stopped at an old cemetery. One loudly weeping man followed the men carrying the casket. He looked as though he hadn't slept in days, his black clothing wrinkled and his movements strained. He sobbed as though the simple act of sobbing could bring back whomever was in that coffin, and although I did not know him, my heart ached for him.
As the minister began to read, the man moaned, "My wife, my beloved, my Anna," and I knew then that he had lost his love, and that not matter how hard or how long he grieved, he would never again find his other half.
The men holding the casket were standing quietly while the minister read; they would not lower it into the ground until later. But suddenly one of them, our age or younger by the looks of him, dropped his side of the burden, and the coffin spilled open, causing everyone present to cry out.
The weeping man yelled most of all, screaming that they had hurt his wife. As he fought his way through the crowd and made his way over to the open coffin, I noticed that the poor lady's hand was hanging out, palm open, as though reaching for something.
The man, sobbing renewed, gently laced his fingers through his dead wife's and stood there for the remainder of the ceremony.
I wasn't sure what moved me about this: if it were wondering if my father had cried like this at my mother's funeral so long ago or if it were my overwhelming outpouring of sympathy to the man who still stood, clutching his deceased love's hand like a lifeline. But whatever in this sequence of events had moved me, it caused me to burst into tears.
I wept almost as hard as the husband, and Will gently took my hand and led me away from the crowd so that we would not disturb the funeral.
"It's alright," said Will, stroking my back in slow circles. "I understand."
"You- you do?"
"Yes," he said. "You're upset because you think the husband should have caught the coffin before it fell, that he should have anticipated it before it happened because he loved his wife."
I sat speechless, marvelling at this drastically incorrect interpretation.
"But don't worry, Elizabeth," Will continued. "When you and I are married, I'll never leave your side for a moment, living or dead. I'll be with you always. I'll be there to save you every time, and you'll never have to do something dangerous or risky again."
I try to smile and pretend like this is what I want, but the sight of the poor woman's hand reaching out keeps getting in the way.
Three hours later, Will returned to the state of consciousness.
He blinked blearily before trying to sit up, noticing that Elizabeth seemed to be dozing with her head on the desk and that Jack was cleaning his sword. He also noted that the candles had been lit again.
"How long have I been out?" he sputtered, remembering suddenly the second failed kidnapping attempt and wondering why he was allowed to sit in here alive and unbound.
"Few hours, mate," said Jack.
"Did I- did I win Elizabeth?"
"Aye, we haven't yet looked at the final hand. Lizzie insisted on waiting for you, though I cannot say I know why..." his voice trailed off thoughtfully as he turned his head to her, wondering how she could be so beautiful even in sleep.
He strode over to her, in mind to wake her for the results of the card game, but she opened her eyes and sat up seconds before he reached her.
His Lizzie smiled at him before glancing over at the now conscious Will. "Who won?" she asked, her voice still thick with sleep.
"We're about to find out," snapped Will, impatient with the half of the conversation he did not understand, the half that was simply body language between Jack and Elizabeth.
"Then let us proceed," said Elizabeth quietly, looking over at him with sad eyes. She stood up from behind the desk and walked over, taking her place beside Jack.
Jack sat down across from Will. "If I may be rememberin' correctly," he started, "you had-"
"A three of a kind. Three Jacks."
"Aye," said Jack. "Then let's see what I have here, shall we?"
Right before Jack turns over his cards, he squeezes my hand reassuringly, and for some reason this triggers another bout of recovered memories.
Will and I are ten, and we are playing Pirate and Damsel, our favorite game. I was always the damsel, of course, and he alternated between the role of the villainous pirate and the virtuous sweetheart of the damsel who rescues her.
Will charged into the tree house, which was the ship. "Behold!" he bellowed. "I have come to rescue fair lady!" He then destroyed all of the 'pirates', stabbing his makeshift sword into them before turning to me.
"Fair lady, let us depart," he said, offering his hand to me.
But the inside of the tree house was cool, a nice change from the heat of summer, and I didn't want to leave.
"This damsel," I declared, "does not want to be rescued."
He laughed outright. "All damsels want to be rescued from pirates, Elizabeth."
"Not this one. Pirates are people, too. Maybe there's a pirate who is good to me. And maybe I don't want to leave with you."
It is interesting to watch his face as he struggles with my two incomprehensible statements: that there are good pirates and that I don't want to go with him.
"But Elizabeth, that's not how the game goes!"
"Well, maybe I'll make up my own game," I said defiantly, sticking my tongue out at him childishly.
"No one will play with you if you don't follow the rules," he said, climbing down the steps of the tree house and leaving me.
Jack poured himself a glass of rum, wondering why his heart was beating so fast. It was just a card game, after all, just a card game.
But he might lose his Lizzie.
Taking a deep swallow of rum, he turned over his cards with a flourish, looking much more confident than he felt. Why hadn't he cheated?
But to his delight, he saw a King and Ace of Hearts. His face split into a wide grin.
"That, mate, would make a straight flush. I'll be taking Elizabeth, if you please."
Will nodded sickly, standing up and leaving the room. The door banged shut behind him.
"Jack..."
He turned to Elizabeth and saw that she was as overjoyed as he. She threw her arms around his neck in a death grip, kissing him with such a passion that she surprised him.
Jack kissed her back hungrily, savoring the taste of her lips all the more now that he knew she would never be taken from him.
She pulled away briefly and whispered, "You won with a flush of hearts, you know."
He raised his right eyebrow.
Elizabeth blushed. "They do say love conquers all..." She buried her face into his neck, and he kissed her hair, wondering.
When Jack walked out of his office, he strode towards the deck, where he found Will, staring out at the waves.
Will looked up wearily before saying, "I suppose you have come to gloat."
"Gloating," said Jack with dignity, "is below me."
"Thank God," muttered Will, before turning once again to the sea. "And, let me guess- You never meant for this to happen?"
Jack laughed. "Hell no! I have been meaning for this to happen since I first saw the lass take a dive off of a cliff years ago."
Will glared at him, so Jack said hastily, "That, however, is not the reason I came to speak with you. I came to find out where a fellow pirate is headed, actually."
Will's eyes flashed at the word, but he merely said, "I know not, I'm afraid."
"If I may, I have a suggestion, mate." He didn't wait for Will's approval before continuing. "During winter when the sea is rough, bless her heart, I work as a bartender in Tortuga. It is a relaxing life as well as an interestin' one. The barman knows me, and if you tell him you know me, he'll let you work there instead of me this season."
Will nodded slowly. "Yes, Jack... I'd love to take your place."
He strode slowly off the deck and onto land in Morliko, where he told Jack he would catch the next ship to Tortuga.
"Don't worry!" yelled Jack after him as he departed. "The lass and I will name a child after you, savvy?"
Reviews would be lovely!
There was some humor in here, more than in the last chapter, I think. This is the longest chapter so far.
But yeah, definitely let me know what you think!