So dark and deep, the secrets that you keep.
~●~○~●~
Through the windows of the captain's cabin, between the mist, Narissa could observe the fortress set into the side of a cliff, located on a small island and conected to the adjacent land by a large stone bridge. Sat on top of the desk, she shuddered at the sight of the colossal stronghold, partially hidden behind a flock of dark clouds. She listened keenly to Jack's "perfect" plan to infiltrate the Turkish prison, which they had found after two months of sailing.
"Apparently, one of the prison warders has what I'm looking for," he explained, his voice a little toned down by the crows cawing around the ship. "I go there, shoot someone, get arrested and I'm inside. Easy!" He explained it as if it was the most effortless plan ever thought of, grinning at her. Narissa managed to fake a smile to hide her worry.
"And once you have this... Thing, how are you going to get out of there?" she asked, still disturbed by the secrecy of his venture.
"My contact told me that the dead prisoners in their coffins are tossed into the sea. I'll sneak into one coffin, they'll throw me to the water and I'm free again."
With a grimace, she said "That's disgusting. You're not touching me in a month after this." A chuckle escaped from his lips as a sigh left hers. "Still, it's actually not such a bad plan." She hated to say that, she was really worried about him going by himself to a place where routine tortures were carried out. She shook her head, standing up to face him. "I don't know, Jack... You'll be all alone there. Let me go with you," she pleaded, not for the first time since they arrived to those waters.
"No!" Jack looked at her as if she was insane. That was something he would absolutely never let her do. In any other situation, he would not stop her from joining him, but this was something that he had gotten himself into. He would not drag her into this. "You're not coming," he concluded.
She nodded, aware that there was no way to change his mind. With her eyes fixed on her fiddling hands, she insisted "Can you at least take someone of the crew with you?"
Placing two fingers under her chin, Jack raised her head up, making their eyes meet. "If I go alone, it will be easier to sneak out of there. Trust me, it will only take me one day, maybe even less." While he grasped both of her hands, giving them a gentle squeeze, he could still recognize the worry in her expression. "I'll be fine, love"
Her eyes averted his and moved to the floor. "I know there's no need to worry, but I can't help it." She chuckled drily, running a shaky hand through her hair in exasperation. "It's stupid."
The captain was certain that he would be alright and everything would turn out as planned, but if this helped to fade her worries away, he'd be happy to do it. And if by any chance he got himself in trouble, there was nobody else he trusted more than her to save him. After thinking for some moments, Jack reached for his compass. "Take it." Narissa raised an eyebrow, glancing at the object. "Take it," he repeated and she finally accepted it. He met again his familiar eyes, warm with love and concern. "If I'm not back in two days, come and find me."
Slowly, a smirk emerged on her expression. "Bold of you to assume that the compass will point to you." His laugh made her worries a little less heavy. Curiously, she looked at the object in her hand. During the previous few weeks, she had noticed that the compass was causing Jack some trouble; she didn't understand what was wrong with it. He would spend a lot of time opening and closing the compass, expecting it to set a clear heading, unsuccesfully most of the times.
A churning feeling settled in her stomach as she opened the lid slowly, she had never used the compass before. She glanced at the red needle. Jack did not need to look at the compass; he merely smirked knowingly.
~●~○~●~
As the Black Pearl anchored at a save distance from the prison, Marty and Ana Maria launched a small boat onto the sea for their captain to sail away. With the overused tricorn hat in her hands, Narissa followed Jack's fast steps across the deck as he walked towards the ship's rail.
"You forget something, captain," she said before he could begin to climb down the Pearl to get into the longboat.
A large smile appeared on his face when he turned around and saw his beloved hat in her hands. He had left it in his cabin. It was not usual for Jack to forget such a precious item, but lately his mind was elsewhere, and this didn't go unnoticed by her. "Thanks, love." He took the hat and placed it on his head proudly.
Her eyes were fixed on Jack's figure becoming smaller and smaller as he sailed away above the calm Mediterranean waters towards the threatening fortress island, under a tenuous morning sun hidden by thick clouds. The uneasy feeling in her stomach grew stronger with every second, her hands gripped tighly the wooden rail. She convinced herself that he would be alright; he had ventured into many riskier situations, but she had been by his side in all of them. She would have felt better if she had joined him this time as well.
The following day, while everyone was busy with their tasks - repairing barrels, fixing the sail canvas, washing the deck -, Narissa stood by the helm with Gibbs as she kept a sharp eye on the crew.
"Do you know what the capt'n is looking for in that prison?" her friend asked, the worry was evident in his voice. He, as his mates, didn't like the uncertainty of their voyage.
"No idea. He's been acting weird lately," Narissa commented.
"That's not unusual."
"More weird than usual." She recalled how he always looked worried, unsettled, which didn't help him to sleep well. He was keeping something from her, she knew it. "He's troubled, I can see it."
"Let's hope he knows what he's doing," the older man said. He had always believed that he could trust Jack, but lately he was not so sure.
"I would not hope much." She stared at the fluctuating reflection of the full moon on the water. "He's confused, and that's confusing me as well. We're following him blindly; we don't know where we're going, what we're after, what will happen next. Honestly, I don't believe he knows either."
"We shouldn't doubt him. The capt'n always has a plan to make things end his way."
"You really think he always plans everything out?" Shaking her head, she snickered, knowing that everything that Jack did was always improvised.
"Well, I hope he has a plan this time. Some men are getting angry, y'know? I've heard talks, they think we should make more plunder." Upon those words, a looming fear emerged in her mind. She knew how dangerous it was to have a dissatisfied crew. It seemed like Gibbs had read her thoughts, since he added "I'm afraid Jack's risking a mutiny if he keeps venturing into businesses with no profit for us."
She was aware that it was possible, a mutiny could happen again and it would break Jack. She would never let it happen, not again. "If I ever hear talks about a mutiny, I'll make sure they won't use their tongue anymore."
~●~○~●~
It had been almost two full days since Jack had left his ship. On the second night, while the crew was sleeping in the hold, Gibbs and Narissa were the only people on deck. Even the monkey had retired to the captain's cabin and claimed the bed as his, taking advantage of Jack's absence. In order not to be spotted from the distance, Narissa had ordered to blow out every oil lamp that usually illuminated the ship at night, so the pale light of the full moon was the only thing that allowed them to see between the darkness and the fog.
Opening and closing the compass over and over again, expecting the small arrow to change its direction at some point, Narissa sat on the stairs of the helm. If the captain didn't come back by the time the sun had risen, she'd have to find him. Jack's thick coat rested over her shoulders; she pulled it closer to her body, protecting herself from the cold heavy wind that resonated against the sails, much different than the constant warmth of the Caribbean.
A tune drifted her eyes away from the compass. "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest. Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum. Drink and the devil had done for the rest. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!" Clearly drunk, Gibbs sang and laughed along the deck with a glass bottle in hand.
"Joshamee, leave that bottle. You've had enough," she commanded, hanging the compass from her belt again.
"But Miss-"
"It's an order, Mister Gibbs!" she interrupted him sternly. He fell silent, not used to her calling him by his last name. It was clear to him that she was on edge because of their captain.
Standing up, she took the half empty bottle from his hands and had a long gulp. Gibbs was about to protest again, but a thundering bang sound filled the air, followed by the loud cawing of a flock of crows. Narissa quickly headed to the railing. When she opened the compass once again, she saw the arrow pointing straight forward. Narrowing her eyes, she found a small dark figure in the distance, floating towards the ship. To confirm her thoughts, she walked some steps to the right. The arrow moved slightly to the left, pointing to the exact same spot as before. She smiled in relief, he was back!
Running down the steps that led to the hold, Narissa shouted "Wake up, sailors! The captain is back!" Most men got up immediately and ran to the deck, but Leech, one of the new crewmen, was still laying on the hammock. Infuriated, she warned him "If you don't get up to await the captain's next orders, I'll make sure you are keelhauled and if somehow you survive, you won't receive your part of the loot." Leech didn't have to be told twice to know that her threats were real and she was not bluffing. After hurriedly putting on his boots and his turban, he joined his mates outside.
Once she was back on deck with the rest of the crew, Narissa spotted Jack's figure getting closer to the Pearl. He seemed to be floating in a coffin, just like he had planned, and he was rowing with some long and thin object that she could not identify clearly. As the captain climbed up to the deck, Gibbs offered him a hand to help; instead of taking it, he gave him a skeleton leg, which he had been using as an oar, and reached the deck by himself.
As soon as he was on the ship, Narissa shrugged off his coat from her body and, standing behind him, she placed it over his shoulders. Her hands travelled down to his arms and she said "Took you longer than expected, captain. I was beginning to worry."
"Complications arose, ensued, were overcome," he replied simply, starting to walk towards the helm.
"You found what you were looking for, then?" she asked hopefully, following his fast steps along the deck.
"Mm-hmm!" He showed her a rolled up piece of cloth proudly, to which she frowned in confusion. Was that dirty small cloth causing all the fuss?
Before Jack could reach the stairs, his path was blocked by many of his crewmen standing in front of him, clearly irritated by the reward that their captain had come back with. Leech stood face to face with his captain, his arms were crossed and his expression was stern.
Mister Gibbs was quick to stand by his friend's side. "Captain, I think the crew, meaning me as well, were expecting something a bit more... Shiny," he said in almost a whisper, scared of the captain's reaction. He knew he didn't like being told how to do his job. "What with the Isla de Muerta going all pear-shapes, reclaimed by the sea and the treasure with it."
Leech complained as well. "And the Royal Navy chasing us all around the Atlantic."
Marty's voice was the next one to catch Jack's attention. "And everything that happened after the hurricane!" he said, referring to Narissa's incident with the seaglass, to which everyone voiced their agreement loudly. Narissa clenched her jaw angrily; after all, it was thanks to her that they had survived Norrington's constant attacks.
"All in all, it seems some time since we did a speck of honest pirating," Gibbs added.
After pondering his crew's complaints for an uncomfortably silent moment, the captain asked "Shiny?"
Nodding, the older man repeated "Aye, shiny."
"Is that how you're all feeling, then? Perhaps dear ol' Jack is not serving your best interests as captain?" he asked, trying to keep his anger under control. He didn't like where this conversation was going.
Some men were going to keep protesting, but they decided against it, since they saw Narissa standing by the captain's side, her stormy eyes threatening them and her hand dangerously close to the handle of her sword.
Cotton's parrot suddenly proclaimed what was possibly in every man's mind: "Walk the plank!" His owner placed a hand over its beak, trying to silence him.
Immediately, Jack cocked his pistol and aimed it at the colourful animal. "What did the bird say?!" he shouted.
"Do not blame the bird," Leech intervened and, nodding at the cloth, he asked "Show us, what is on that piece of cloth there?" Everyone looked at the roll of cloth in the captain's hand before the undead monkey suddenly dropped down from the rigging ropes and grabbed it, startling Jack. He could only manage to run a few steps before Jack reached Narissa's charged pistol from her belt. He shot the animal, which dropped the cloth and ran back to his owner's shoulder.
"I hate it when you do that," she spat at him while taking her pistol back.
"It's good stress relief."
Marty picked up the cloth from the floor and unrolled it to take a look at it. "It's a key."
Jack rushed to his side and took the cloth from him. "Much more better! It is a drawing of a key." As he showed the drawing to the crew, everyone stared in silence. Narissa had never been so confused in her whole life. Seeing everyone's perplexed expressions, Jack asked, slightly annoyed "Gentlemen, what do keys do?"
"Keys... Unlock things?" Leech answered with uncertainty.
Greed took over Gibbs when he said "And whatever this key unlocks, inside there's something valuable. So we're setting out to find whatever this key unlocks!"
"No," Jack replied drily, making his friend look confused. "If we don't have the key, we can't open whatever it is we don't have that it unlocks. So what purpose would be served in finding whatever need be unlocked, which we don't have, without first having found the key that unlocks it?"
It took Gibbs more than a second to understand his captain's words. "So we're going after this key?"
"You're not making any sense at all." Jack looked at Gibbs as if he was stupid, to which he looked even more baffled, just like Narissa. "Any more questions?" He looked back at his crew, hoping that their conversation was finally over.
Warily, Narissa's voice rose between the silent crowd. "What's the heading, captain?"
"Ah! Heading!" Jack quickly reached for his compass. Narissa saw the needle swinging from one direction to another. Everyone looked at him, waiting for orders. It didn't seem like the compass would stop, so Jack finally pointed to a random direction with his index finger. "That way direction!"
"Captain?" Gibbs' had so many questions in his mind that he didn't even know where to start.
Closing the compass and folding the cloth in half, Jack faced the man. "Come on! Snap to and make sail, you know how this works." He shooed the pirates out of his way as he quickly walked to his cabin.
Sighing, Narissa decided to give the rest of the orders herself. "Marty, Ana Maria, lower the sails! Leech, Duncan, Moises, weigh anchor. Cotton and Gibbs, to the helm. I want movement, sailors!" She walked by Gibbs' side as he was on his way to the helm and whispered to him "Keep an eye on everyone, I'll talk to him."
When she entered the captain's cabin, she found him sitting at the desk, studying a map. His compass was open on the table and he stared at it, waiting for its needle to stop moving.
"What's all this about, Jack?" Narissa asked him softly once the door was closed behind her.
His eyes didn't move from the compass. "What do you mean?"
"Everything! That key, your compass, all this secrecy. What is it that you're not telling me?"
Sighing, he looked at her as she waited for a response. He considered telling her everything; the reason why he seemed so scared, why he didn't know what to do, what had gotten him into that mess. But he couldn't, she didn't deserve to be dragged into this. "I can't tell you, Nari," and he simply looked back to his map, without saying another word.
"I can't believe this," she scoffed and proceeded to discard her weapons, leaving them on the floor. "Do we have to go through this again? I don't care that you don't tell the crew what's going on, but I care about you, Jack. I want to know what is troubling you; maybe the weight you carry will be a little less heavy that way." Standing next to him, she cupped his stubbled cheek with her warm hand. He leaned into her touch, closing his eyes, not wanting to see the hurt in hers. "What do I have to do to make you trust me?" As her voice broke, so did his heart.
"I trust you," he reassured her, his eyes still closed. There was nobody else in the world he trusted.
"Then tell me what is happening."
"I can't." His burden. Only his.
"I worry for you. The men are angry, they want more money and less of your adventures." Standing behind his chair, she rested her hands on his shoulders and felt the tension of his muscles. "You're risking a mutiny here, I hope you know what you're doing."
The mention of a mutiny terrified Jack and memories of Barbossa's betrayal flooded his mind, yet the feeling of her hands on his shoulders somewhat relaxed him. He brought his head back in pleasure as she squeezed gently his flesh, his voice came out slightly hoarse. "And what if I don't know what I'm doing?"
"Then I'll kill every sailor for you if they go rogue." The determination in her tone was almost scary. "I won't leave your side, Jack, no matter what comes against you."
He already knew that. She had fallen for him deeply and she would follow him everywhere. It would be difficult to keep her out of this, but he had to, no matter how much it would hurt both of them.
~●~○~●~
Hello, mates!
"Dead Man's Chest" starts now! I know this is a boring chapter, there isn't much action here, but it's kind of important for future chapters.
Thanks for reading! Please, leave your opinion in the comments.
D.Xx