Aqua Amore (A Jackrine Fan Fiction)

Chapter Two

"All hands on deck!" Pulitzer yelled to the boys as a bugle sounded in the distance signaling the ships departure. The men scrambled about to their positions and heaved the sails to there full length as a gust of wind pulled the ship from the dock.

Jack Kelly grudgingly pushed his wet mop back and fourth across the same spot on the deck as he watched the other guys laugh and joke as the ship began to rock in deeper waters. Pulitzer had given him deck duty until sundown and Jack hated every minute of it. He could of been on the Red Fury right now... with all the older experienced men. This ship, The World, contained nothing more than boys. The oldest crew member was Jack himself  deeming Pulitzer the oldest (and most in charge) man on the boat. There were rumors to why Pulitzer only had young men... some said it was because he didn't want his power to be challenged by a higher authority. But others said it was because Pulitzer starting killing the boys off as soon as they reached the age 20...

Of course the last one wasn't true, but the first one... yes, defiantly. If there was ever anything Pulitzer loved it was his power. After all, there was a reason he never let Jack do anything crazy, there was a reason he always held Jack back from doing what he wanted.

Jack was a threat to his power.

If Jack were to ever cause a Mutiny, all of the boys would be at his side in a heart beat. And that made Pulitzer nervous. That little piece of hope that Jack might be Captain someday was the only reason he didn't snap and run Pulitzer through with his sword. Well that... and Pulitzer was the closest thing Jack had to father and even though he hates him, he couldn't stand to kill him.

"Deck duty again Jackie? Sucks to be you!" Race taunted from up above hanging on a rope as he tried to fix a notch in the mast.

"Shut your face Race!" Jack called back up angrily. Race's only response was to laugh and get back to his work, Jack glared at anyone who dared even look at him.

"If my deck isn't spotless by sun down Kelly you get to start over tomorrow morning." Pulitzer threatened noticing Jack had only been moping in one spot for the past 2 hours.

Jack muttered something that sounded a lot like 'you ducking glass mole' and continued to scrub the filthy deck. It also didn't help the fact that the last shipment they'd had had broken about 200 bottles of wine which resulted in a very sticky deck, and a very nasty case of dead rats getting stuck in the substance. Which could of either been a good thing or a bad thing. As Jack cleaned the deck he noticed a far off rumble of thunder in the distance and rolled his eyes, could this day get any worse? Sailing in storms was an occupational hazard but he sure as hell still hated it. And not to mention Pulitzer made every man stay on deck until the storm passed, he claimed it 'built character and prepared you for the storms of life' which Jack just took as a bunch of shit.

"Category 2 storm sir!" Davey supplied for Pulitzer from the birds eye.

"Full speed ahead boys." Pulitzer ordered his hands clasped behind his back, he watched very carefully, judging the way the storm reacted against the waves.

Jack glanced around at the chatting boys and smirked, a category 2 wasn't a big threat, so why not have a little fun?

"Hey boys!" Jack called glancing back to make sure Pulitzer wasn't watching. The authority in Jacks voice inmeadelty drew the boys attention and they turned toward Jack.

"What's up?" Crutchie asked hobbling over from where he had been peeling potatoes for them too eat like the good cook he was.

"You boys ever heard of Regina's Wrath?" Jack asked smirking at his own cleverness.

Crutchie gave him a strange look and shook his head, the rest of the boys muttered something about 'sounds fimiluar' or 'never heard of it'

"Well..." Jack continued. "Legend has it that there once was a beautiful girl named Regina who loved a young sailor, she would often write to him and confess her love but the sailor never felt the same about the girl."