I don't know what was more painful; the menacing laughs of the undead pirates or the explosions of the Interceptor. I haven't felt the feeling of complete hopelessness before, and it was making my stomach turn.
I was tied up against the mast next to Elizabeth and the rest of the crew. Every muscle in my body was tired from the endless fighting we all endured, and my energy had dwindled. Will was dead, and I was still trying to wrap my head around that. I did not know him long, but he was kind to me. I was catching my breath, and I anxiously wondered what Barbossa was going to do to us.
Elizabeth ducked under the rope and shouted to Barbossa, "you godless pirate!"
She tried to attack Barbossa, but his strength was far superior to hers. He grabbed at her flailing wrists and said, "welcome back, miss. You took advantage of our hospitality last time. It holds fair now you return the favor." Barbossa pushed her into his crew who grabbed at her and refused to let her move, despite her terrified screams.
Moments later, Will climbed up on board. I saw him out of the corner of my eye, so I turned my head and my smile spread across my face in relief. I truly thought that he perished in the explosion. He was soaking wet, but he was alive.
"Barbossa!" He yelled, gaining his attention. Everyone turned around, equally shocked that he was alive. He grabbed a gun and pointed it at Barbossa and ordered, "she goes free."
"What's in your head, boy?" Barbossa asked calmly. He wasn't afraid of the threat of a gun.
"She goes free," Will ordered again.
Barbossa walked right up to the gun and said smugly, "you've only got one shot, and we can't die."
Jack pleaded with his hands together, "don't do anything stupid."
Will thought for a second before running back to the ship's rail and leapt onto it. He steadied himself with a hand on the rigging and pointed the gun at his own head while leaning out over the ocean. "You can't, but I can."
Jack sighed in defeat, "like that."
"Who are you?" Barbossa asked, obviously unaware of his true identity.
"No one, he's no one," Jack said, walking up to the horrid captain and getting in his face. "A distant cousin of my aunt's nephew, twice removed. Lovely singing voice though. Eunuch."
Will ignored Jack's warning and called out, "my name is Will Turner! My father was Bootstrap Bill Turner. His blood runs through my veins."
Jack slandered off with his head down, and a pirate from Barbossa's crew called out, "he's the spitting image of ol' Bootstrap Bill, come back to haunt us!"
I glowered in the direction of the voice. Did these men truly believe in ghosts? That's preposterous. Ghosts don't exist. Ghost stories are fictional, and I was not one to be so gullible. However, these men are immortal... maybe I should open my mind to the possibility of supernatural occurrences.
"On my word, do as I say," Will said to Barbossa, "or I'll pull this trigger and be lost to Davy Jones Locker!"
This was a threat that Barbossa seemed afraid of. He said, "name your terms, Mr. Turner."
"Elizabeth goes free!" He shouted.
"Yes. We know that one," Barbossa said in annoyance, "anything else?"
I noticed Jack point to himself. I don't know why, but witnessing this action irked me. It told me that he had no regard for anyone but himself. He was just trying to save his own arse, which I did not find admirable. Will looked past him and said, "and the crew. The crew are not to be harmed."
Barbossa approached Will and agreed to his terms. Will lowered the pistol, and willingly stepped off the railing. The pirates surrounded him and snatched away the gun. Due to him not being specific, they started preparing Elizabeth to walk the plank.
We approached a little island in the Caribbean, too small to sustain any life. They forced Elizabeth onto the wooden plank, and started yelling awful things to her that would make their mothers faint.
"Barbossa, you lying bastard!" Will shouted at him. He was being held back by some of Barbossa's crew. "You swore she'd go free!"
"Don't dare impugn me honor, boy!" Barbossa shouted back, "I agreed she'd go free, but it was you who failed to specify when or where."
The entire crew began to laugh as they gagged Will and took him away. I tried to see where they were taking him, but a swarm of nasty pirates blocked my view.
Barbossa walked close to Elizabeth and said, "I'll be having that dress back before you go."
The pirates began cackling and I looked over at Jack, and I could barely hear him say to the pirate holding him, "I always liked you," and the fearful expression on his face was priceless when he flinched as the terrifying pirate grunted and head bobbed his way.
Elizabeth hesitated before stripping off her dress, leaving only her white long sleeve silk chemise, basically her knickers. When she tossed it to Barbossa, she said, "goes with your black heart."
Barbossa did not give any interest to her comment. He tossed the dress into his crew, commenting on its warmth. The pirates continued to point their swords at her, forcing her to walk to the end of the plank. She stood at the end, looking hesitantly at the water below. She looked terrified.
"Too long!" One pirate shouted, stepping on the plank, causing Elizabeth to fall into the water with a scream.
My eyes widened as I watched her fall into the ocean, feeling a little guilty that she was getting marooned. She had lived a cushy life of luxury being the governors daughter, I did not see how she would be able to survive on her own. I looked over to Jack, who was laughing along with the pirates before they began to push him toward the edge.
"I really rather hoped we were past all of this," Jack said.
Barbossa put his arm around Jack and said, "Jack. Jack. Did you not notice? That be the same island that we made you governor of on our last little trip."
Jack espied the island quickly and turned back to Barbossa and said with an impartial tone, "I did notice."
"Perhaps you'll be able to conjure up another miraculous escape. But I doubt it." He took out his sword and pointed it to Jack. "Off you go."
"Jack!" I shouted, but I was suddenly held by two pirates to keep me from interrupting. What had gotten into me? I should not care this much for a pirate I just met, but my blood was boiling at the thought of him being left on this unnamed island to die.
"Last time you left me a pistol with one shot," Jack mentioned.
"By the powers, you're right. Where be Jack's pistol? Bring it forward, hurry, you fucking bollocks," Barbossa said.
Jack's eyes widened and he said, "that, no... you can't curse in front of a woman, mate," Jack put his hands behind his back and tattled to anyone who could hear him, "see? I told him."
I watched as a pirate walked up and handed Barbossa the belt that belonged to Jack with the old pistol still inside. That must be the same pistol that Gibbs told me about, the one that Barbossa gave him the first time they marooned him.
"Seeing as there's two of us, a gentleman would give us a pair of pistols," Jack said while squinting his eyes.
"It'll be one pistol as before, and who said there will only be two of you?" Barbossa snickered and continued, "and you can be the gentleman and shoot the ladies and starve to death yourself." He tossed the belt off the ship. Jack dove for it, disappearing into the water.
Barbossa looked over the edge before snapping his fingers and commanding, "bring her forward."
Before I knew it, I was being pushed to the plank.
"Why me?" I asked in my low voice.
Barbossa took my hat off my head in a swift motion, letting my hair fall down my back. My glare wasn't enough to spook him.
"You can't fool me, Miss Lavesseur," Barbossa snapped.
"Then next things first, return me to my father," I ordered, sticking my nose up.
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"S'il vous plaît," I repeated, begging.
Barbossa laughed before saying, "I don't have to return you to your father... he doesn't know I have you." He tossed my hat overboard and shooed me with his wrinkled hand, "off you go."
"Please don't make me pay for my mistakes," I whined.
Getting marooned was not how I thought I would die.
I looked down at the two in the water, exchanging helpless looks with Jack as he waited for me. I looked back at Barbossa's nasty expression and opened my mouth to beg for forgiveness, but Jack's voice echoed up to us. "Oi!"
Everyone looked at one another in confusion until we all looked down at Jack bobbing up and down in the water. He shouted up at Barbossa, "she's the Darling of the Brethren Court! Daughter of Captain Levasseur of the Victorieux!"
"She is interferin' with my duty!" Barbossa yelled back at him.
"I never said she was smart!" Jack shouted, which made me roll my eyes. Was he trying to help me? Perhaps he thinks if I don't get marooned with him, I can get help. Whatever he's attempting, it is not working.
Barbossa did not pay him any mind. He snapped at me, "next time, it's a bullet through your skull."
"Excellent idea."
"I don't care who you are."
I peered back down at the waters below and said, "I really, really don't want to go in there."
Barbossa grinned widely, "have at her, lads!"
As the pirates rushed to comply, I grunted as I jumped off and dove into the crystal blue water. Foam and bubbles rose around me as I plunged into the cool water. The water was blue and clear with streaks of sunlight that broke through. I coughed when I broke the surface, sucking in air.
I looked up at the ship as it slowly got further away and I shouted, "brûle en enfer, salaud!"
I caught up to the duo, walking up onto the golden shore. I turned around to look at the beautiful blue water, watching as the Pearl got further and further away.
"It cannot go worse than this. This... this is the worst thing," I stated defeatedly.
Jack sighed and said, "that's the second time I've watched that man sail away with my ship."
"Same ship too," I added while shaking the water off of my hat.
Jack's tired yet agitated eyes lingered at me and he said, "thanks for the reminder, love."
Jack walked up the sand bank and sat in the sand while Elizabeth walked off. I was too tired to care where she was going. I walked up beside Jack and sat next to him, and we watched the Black Pearl sail off in the distance.
Jack grabbed two sticks and shoved them into the sand, and placed his boots over them to dry, revealing his bare and blistering feet. He took off his jacket and set it next to him, and I took off my coat and my soggy boots as well but I set them on a nearby plant off the sand.
"Have anything change since you were last here?" I asked him as I walked back and sat beside him in the sand once again. The warm, golden sand was clinging to my wet clothes and my sticky skin. I buried my blistered and bruised feet into the soft sand, hoping to shield them from the unforgiving sun.
Jack looked around before answering, "the trees are taller." Then, he corrected my grammar. I rolled my eyes, because my grammar should be the least of our concerns at the moment. Jack brought his attention back to his pistol, and he blew on it. He let the bullet roll out of the barrel, and he inspected it between his fingers.
There were no animal noises on this island, just the sound of the waves and our impending doom. I laid down in the sand and closed my eyes, feeling the hot sun beat on my face. I could also feel the sand clinging to my sticky wet hair. My plan was to braise in the sun while I slept.
Jack didn't look too bothered by our predicament. He has a crust of a tan man imbibed by the sand. The hot, dry sand has absorbed him, giving him crusty skin. He has been out in the sun for too long. His bitterness is elusive. I don't understand how this child-like man can remain positive in this situation.
Jack broke our silence when he asked, "what brings a fetching woman such as yourself into a life of piracy?"
"Fetching?" I mumbled under my breath. I wasn't quite sure what that meant so I ignored it and picked up on the words I did understand. I opened my eyes but I immediately squinted them due to the bright sun. I answered, "mhmm... same reasons you are, I guess. Freedom, adventure, and the life."
"Pray tell, how's it treating you?"
"At the moment... not so great."
"We could be in worse places, at the moment," Jack said.
I stared at him deadpan. Did he really just say that? I said sarcastically, "right. We could be stranded on an abandoned island in the middle of nowhere."
"No whining," Jack scolded. "Do you really want your last words to be sarcastic?"
"You have been in a worse situation before?" I asked and rested my head back on the sand and closed my eyes. I scratched my cheek briefly, I could feel the skin begin to burn from the sun.
"I've had a mob chase me with torches and they burned me britches."
"What did you do to deserve that?" I asked.
"I never do anything. I've got a scar on my arse because of it. Would you like to see?"
"No! Please, no. I don't want to see."
"You're asking a lot of questions for someone who doesn't want to see."
I stifled my laugh and said, "you're right, I'm sorry."
"I had a flaming hiney," he continued just to watch me squirm.
"I will drown you in salt water," I threatened.
"Second worst, would be being marooned on this godforsaken island alone. Now, I've got company. You could say this is the third worst situation I've ever been in."
"Super," I replied sarcastically. "If you had never kidnap me, I would not be in this situation in the first place."
"I know that most pirates have lame excuses but you are worth a lot of bounty which I think is a fantastic excuse for kidnapping so if you could cut me some slack, that would be smashing."
I muttered to express my annoyance with him, "tu me soules."
"What was that?" Jack asked, as if he understood what I said. He might have. I have no idea.
I decided to ignore him and stay silent and hopefully take a nap. Jack was busy with his gun, which allowed me to try to disassociate and relax despite the circumstances. Being marooned is one of the worst things I can think of. There is no one around for hundreds of miles, and we will die of thirst long before starvation.
My mind drifted to what the next few days were going to entail. Will we line our heads up together and someone will pull the trigger before we all go mad from the heat? I can see Elizabeth waiting fruitlessly for help that will never come only for her to succumb to the elements and suffer an agonizing death and Jack being too stubborn to accept defeat, so perhaps I'll take the liberty of my own salvation. My bones will be found years from now with a fractured skull that shows the point blank range of the gunshot. Or, Jack can prove to me that he is a master gunman by trying to take me out from the other side of the island. We can make a game of it.
Eventually, I could hear Elizabeth walking back around the other side of the island. I opened my eyes and lifted my head up slightly to see her approaching the footsteps she made in the sand when she left. She really wasn't gone that long.
"It's really not all that big, is it?" Jack asked when Elizabeth walked up to us.
"If you're going to shoot me, please do so without delay," Elizabeth requested.
"That's an idea," I said as I sat up and wiped away the few sand grains that blew onto my face.
Jack looked up at Elizabeth. He rested his elbows against his knees and he asked, "is there a problem between us, Miss Swann?"
"You were going to tell Barbossa about Will in exchange for a ship," she hissed at him.
"We could use a ship!" Jack pointed out the obvious. "The fact is, I was not going to tell Barbossa about bloody Will in exchange for a ship, because as long as he didn't know about bloody Will, I had something to bargain with. Which now, no one has. Thanks to bloody stupid Will."
Jack stood up and stared Elizabeth down. We were all angry about this whole situation. I was the true victim, because I shouldn't be here in the first place. I should be halfway across the Atlantic by now.
"Oh," she said.
"Oh," Jack repeated mockingly and shoved the pistol in his belt. I looked up at them, squinting my eyes at the sun that was overhead. I did not realize how bright the sun is in the Caribbean.
"He still risked his life to save ours," Elizabeth said.
Jack's eyes went wide and he screamed, "ah!" without a reason. He began walking inland, and Elizabeth and I exchanged perplexed looks. I scrambled up to my feet and we ran after Jack together.
"So we have to do something to rescue him!" Elizabeth yelled at Jack.
"Off you go then!" He shooed her away with his hands as he continued to walk forward. "Let me know how that turns out."
"You were stranded on this island before," I said to him, taking Elizabeth's lead. "You must know how to get off."
Jack kept walking toward the center of the island with Elizabeth and me following.
"To what point and purpose, young missy?" Jack asked, stopping in his tracks and turning to face us. "The Black Pearl is gone—" he turned to Elizabeth "—unless you have a lot of sails hidden in that bodice... unlikely... young Mr. Turner will be dead long before you can reach him."
"You are Captain Jack Sparrow!" Elizabeth said as Jack started to knock on the trunks of the trees. He started making giant awkward steps toward a bank of sand in between a cluster of palm trees. "You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Company. You sacked Nassau port without even firing a shot. Are you the pirate I've read about or not? How did you escape last time?"
I raised my eyebrows at him, excited to hear his answer. I didn't realize there were so many tales that surrounded this man, but the look on his face told me that there's been some embellishments. Jack hesitated before telling us the truth, "last time I was here a grand total of three days. All right? Last time," he said as he reached down to where he was standing and dug in the sand with his hands before finding an iron ring. He opened up a trap door that was hidden by the sand as he kept talking, "the rum runners used this island as a cache." He walked down the steps of the little bunker and continued, "they came by, and I was able to barter passage off. From the looks of things, they've long been out of business. Probably have your bloody friend Norrington to thank for that."
I peered in to see the barrels and bottles of old rum, covered in dust and cobwebs. Gross. My fathers ship rarely had any alcohol on it. Wine or tea was preferred, but Papa always wanted us sharp so we could defend our ship, and attack others. It's a trick we learned from a teatotaler, Captain Bartholomew Roberts, that has kept us one of the most feared ships in the Atlantic.
"So that's it, then?" Elizabeth asked defeatedly. The sun was beginning to go down, so it was going to be dark soon. "That's the secret, grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow. You spent three days lying on a beach drinking rum."
I asked in my frustration, "do you know what a pirate without a ship is?"
Jack asked, "what?"
"A creative homeless person, but you are not creative."
"I'm creative... I can be creative," Jack retorted. From what I've learned about him so far, no he is not. "I was known as the finest pirate to ever sail the Spanish Main, and the Portugee Main for that matter."
"I thought that was Blackbeard?" I asked.
"No time for questions."
"We are going to die here," I groaned. I felt utterly hopeless. My remains are going to be found years from now on this very beach, hopefully giving Jack's dead body an offensive gesture with my middle finger so everyone is aware that this was all his fault.
Jack looked down at me and spread his arms open, complete with three bottles of rum between his fingers. "Welcome to the Caribbean, love," he said before wondering off, pushing the bottles into our hands.
I looked down at the onion bottle and asked, "what good does drinking do?"
"If the rum's not working, you're not drinking enough of it," he retorted over his shoulder.
I said, "I don't drink rum."
Jack spun around flabbergasted, "what kind of pirate doesn't drink rum?!"
"The French," I said in a deadpan tone. "For no tea, is there wine?"
"No, Annette, there's no wine. Give it back." He marched up to me and took the rum bottle out of my hands. Then he started swaggering toward the shore. Everything about this man was effeminate, from the way he carried himself and his hand gestures, and even the way he flailed his arms.
Elizabeth and I plodded behind him and I said to her in a low voice, "I suppose it's one way to pass the time and not think of our forthcoming and inescapable demise."
"He's Jack Sparrow, things always seem to work out for him," she said, ripping out the cork that kept the bottle sealed. "Maybe we should open our minds."
"By drinking rum?" I asked.
She shrugged, "you're French?"
"In a way. It's a long story," I said.
"We've got all the time in the world, until someone decides to use that pistol in his belt," she said. I looked down at my empty belt, still exasperated that my pistols and sword were seized from me when we got on the Pearl.
"I can't remember exactly what had happened, honestly. But a French pirate found me washed up on a shore like this one. They had just passed a shipwreck, assuming it was mine. I can't remember anything, but my father says I could only speak English to them, and my accent was English."
"I'm so sorry," Elizabeth said gently. Her face told me that she was sympathetic to my decade old situation.
"It's all fine," I said, "I don't remember anything before the Victorieux, so I don't really mind."
"Who is your father?"
"Olivier Levasseur," I said.
She nodded. I couldn't tell if she recognized the name. Then she asked, "and you're Annette?"
"Oui," I nodded.
"Why do you...?" She gestured to her hair as if she was putting it up in an imaginary hat.
"Women can be killed if they're spotted on a ship, it just eliminates that risk. Besides, if the men find out we have brains and can think for ourselves, they're going to tell the church," I joked.
Elizabeth laughed, "right you are."
Jack interrupted us by yelling, "come on, lassies, get your arses over here and let's drink until we are three sheets to the wind!"
Elizabeth and I eyed toward each other with a slight groan, and Elizabeth said to me, "I have an idea, we just need to distract him enough to do it."
I nodded, observing the draining bottle in Jack's hand, "that will be easy."
Elizabeth looked down at the bottle of rum that Jack handed her and she gave it a sniff. She made a face and popped the cork back on it. We met Jack on shore and we stood in front of him. She tossed the bottle into the sand and asked him, "is there any truth to the stories?"
"Truth?" Jack asked. He lifted up his sleeves to reveal the pale P brand on his tan arm, as well as a red, painful rash on the other. Perhaps they were burn marks. Then, he moved his shirt to reveal two old bullet wounds in his chest. "No truth at all."
Jack sat down in the sand, defeatedly. He continued, "still have a month, maybe more. Keep a weather eye open for passing ships and our chances are fair."
The examples that Elizabeth gave while we were running to Jack while he was searching for the rum were stories I've heard of, but I had no idea who the pirate was who took all the credit for it. Being a pirate does not make him immune to being human. Jack finally telling us the truth that he has lied about how he escaped the island last time made him so unreliable for every other tale he has told. How could I trust him again?
"What about Will?" Elizabeth asked while Jack took a sip of his rum. "We have to do something."
"You're absolutely right," Jack said and closed the rum bottle. He let it roll down the sand until it hit her feet. I took a few steps up the beach, nearly tripping in the sand and I fell beside Jack. He turned to me and asked, "are you all right?"
"I'm fine," I reassured, and situated myself in the sand.
He grabbed the other onion bottle and lifted it up in the air, "here's luck to you, Will Turner," before he took a sip. He offered me some, but again I passed. He said, "you call yourself a pirate, darling, but you don't drink like one. There is only one thing that keeps me hydrated, and it's rum. You need to gulp it down, and you'll sleep ten times better on this marooned island, I promise you. It'll do you good. It goes down rough, but it goes down— and the second swig goes down easier."
"Next time," I said and pushed the bottle away. If it was wine, my decision would probably be the opposite since I have no duties to attend to on this island.
"Have you ever welcomed the coming dawn with a rum and coconut water?" Jack asked.
"No," I said.
"It's quite liberating. You know... figuratively."
Elizabeth gave him an angry gaze, which Jack returned. He said, "don't be thinking I'm happy about this. But I see no use in wailing and gnashing my teeth over that which I can do nothing about."
Elizabeth grabbed the bottle and walked up to Jack and sat down on the other side of him. She uncorked it, and half-heartedly said, "drink up me hearties, yo-ho."
Jack's eyebrows came together and he asked her, "what was that, Elizabeth?"
"It's Miss Swann," she barked. Jack put his hand up in surrender and she sighed, "nothing. It's just a song I learned as a child when I actually thought it would be exciting to be a pirate."
"I know a lot of songs about pirates, but none I'd teach a child. Let's hear it," Jack said.
"Don't you start fucking singing. The fucking birds will die," I groaned and rubbed my throbbing eye with the back of my wrist.
"No, she's right, it's silly. Back in England, we didn't know a thing about pirates, really. They seemed to romantic and daring—"
I saw Jack sit up a little straighter and his lips tilted up, obviously liking the way that sounded. I nearly rolled my eyes.
She continued, "that was before I met one, of course."
His face humorously fell before he turned to me and asked, "do you know it?"
"Do I look like someone who would know an English song?" I asked sarcastically.
Jack went back to Elizabeth and said, "come on, we got the time. Let's have it."
"No. I'd have to have a lot more to drink," she said.
Jack paused for a moment before he asked, "how much more?" He raised the bottle up to his grinning lips while waiting for Elizabeth's response. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and took another sip of her rum.
As the day progressed, Jack drank himself senseless while Elizabeth and I gathered some dry fallen wood from around the island to prepare for nightfall.
Once it got dark enough, I used a couple of sticks to make a fire, and the amount of wood that we gathered made it huge. Taking Jack's advice, Elizabeth had a bit more rum and acted to be growing more intoxicated as the night progressed, teaching us the song she learned as a child.
I went off to the plant I had set my coat on to aid in drying and I checked my boots and saw that they were still wet. I set my hat over my coat, and walked over to Jack and Elizabeth who were roaring drunk, dancing around the blazing fire and singing a song so loudly that the stars could hear them from the heavens.
"We're devils, we're black sheep! We're really bad eggs! Drink up, me hearties, yo-ho! Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirates life for me!"
"I love this song!" Jack slurred. In his drunken run, he came up to me and grabbed my arm before twirling me around in the sand. I gripped his arm to avoid falling from his tackle, and my legs caught up with my body.
Jack let me go and he continued spinning in the sand. When I got my bearings, I asked, "why does that song sound so familiar?"
"It's a pirate song! You're a pirate... makes sense, really," Elizabeth said with a bottle in her hand.
"Really bad eggs!" Jack yelled at no one with his bottle in the air. He grunted and collapsed back, landing on his bum in the sand.
I tried humming to the song to try to find a tune that sounded similar but I shook my head, "we do not have a French equivalent."
Elizabeth laughed before falling next to Jack, "maybe you heard it before your shipwreck. That amnesia... messed you all up."
I nodded softly at her thought. I think she was right. This was not the first time that this has happened to me. Something from one of my five senses will trigger a memory I never knew I had, and this was one of those times.
Jack leaned back to look at me and gripped the end of my white shirt. He pulled me down next to him with a little too much force. I landed in the sand and looked at him as he asked, "you've got amnesia? I get that every weekend, love. Sometimes Mondays as well."
"Just a little," I stated. I realized that I never really talked to Jack about that part about myself, but I did not bother to get into it now. I was not going to waste my breath, because I don't have many left. Besides, he probably wouldn't remember it come morning.
"Wait... shipwreck?" Jack asked.
I nodded, "oui. Many years ago, but we don't have to discuss this now."
"And you don't remember anything before then?"
I shook my head.
"Perhaps your eye was due to that shipwreck, eh?"
"Possibly," I agreed.
"Don't get me wrong, love. I find it rather exquisite. A unique characteristic that adds to your charming features."
I looked away and felt myself smile a bit. I always forget about my eye until someone brings it up or I see it in a reflection, and I've only ever seen it as an odd insecurity. When Jack told me that he likes it, it made me feel much better.
Jack started humming to the song and he belched before saying, "when I get the Pearl back, I'm gonna teach it to the whole crew, and we'll sing it all the time."
"You will be the most fearsome pirate in the Spanish Main!" Elizabeth said.
"Not just the Spanish Main, the entire ocean. The entire world! Wherever we want to go, we go," Jack turned to me, "and you, Miss Frenchie, you'll be me first-mate. No, me Captain. No, me co-Captain. We shall be the most attractive duo in the entire world. Come here." He opened his arm to me.
"I will be holding you to this, Jack," I said. I inched just a little closer to him but he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer into his side.
"The sea will be ours, Annie. Where we will, we'll roam. You will sail away with me, to another world and we will explore forever," he said dreamily.
Jack's firm chest was pressing against my shoulder with every breath he took. I turned my head to look at him better, and I could smell his warm rummy breath lingering around us. It made my nose twitch. His glazed eyes were looking back at me fondly, and he raised his hand up to my face. My heart was thumping out of my chest at his touch. He affectionately brushed some of my tangled hair out of my face and tucked it back behind my ear. He slurred softly, "there, that's better. Now we can properly see your exquisite features."
His words sent a slight chill down my back. My mouth was running dry, which I rightfully assumed was due to dehydration. I had never been so physically close to Jack, and his touchy-feely mood was slowly chipping down the wall I have spent years building for myself. I know that he was drunk and he probably didn't mean it, but I couldn't help but fall for his charming ways... and I wished I wasn't. What was he doing to me?
"That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and hull and deck and sails. That's what a ship needs. But what a ship is... what the Black Pearl really is... is freedom," he spoke.
"It's ironic how it was the Black Pearl that got us marooned," I said. I could not think of anything less free than this. Who are more free than the sons and daughters of the waves?
"What you need to do is stop worrying. Just don't worry about anything. Stop thinking about anything. Stop looking at anything. The only thing you need to think of, at the moment, is been right here—" he pointed to himself with his free hand "—right now. You're with me on a little marooned island, for marooners, that's you and me and Miss Swann. It's us here with rum.... on the beach at night, just listening to the waves. Can't get better than this."
"I can think of endless scenarios that are infinitely better than this," I stated flatly.
"I mean, it can get better than this, but at the moment, our current situation, it can't get better than this for a few marooners. Savvy?"
Elizabeth leaned against his other arm and she said, "Jack, it must be really terrible for you to be trapped on this island."
"Oh, yes," he agreed, "but, the company is infinitely better than last time, and the... scenery has definitely improved."
I could feel his thick fingers around my bare shoulder, pressing the bottoms of his many rings into my muscle. The collar of my shirt had loosened, which made one side slide off my shoulder. His warm hand gently rubbed up and down on my arm. I looked up at him through my eyelashes, feeling myself relax into him. I have not been given a single reason to trust this man, yet I felt comfortable around him. Like I've known him my whole life. Why was he growing on me?
I said, "from what I understand... Barbossa mutinied against you and stole your ship ten years ago, and you are trying to get it back?"
Jack paused to take in all of my words before he nodded with a little grunt.
"You can really hold a grudge, huh?" I asked.
"The best that I know," he said proudly.
"I'm sure it wasn't personal," I said. I was hoping that maybe he would give up this grudge long enough for us to get off the island and go on our separate ways before he gallivanted around the Caribbean to get his revenge.
"Aye, well, when they sail up to an abandoned island and throw you overboard, it feels pretty personal," he replied dryly.
Elizabeth sat up straight and held her bottle out in salute and said, "to freedom."
Jack searched around frantically and handed me an empty bottle that he discarded earlier in the night. He lifted his own to clank with a Elizabeth's and didn't move until I joined.
"To the Black Pearl," Jack said. He guzzled the rest of his rum down with his hand resting on my neck, I assume to keep his balance. He slowly lowered himself to the ground, before passing out.
I looked down at Jack and saw that he was truly asleep. I let out a soft sigh, because I had a million opinions about this man in the very short amount of time I've known him. But one thing was certain: I was growing to care for him. I didn't want to, but I could not help myself. This handsome pirate was finding a home in my heart.
Elizabeth cleared her throat and I looked over at her. Her eyes met mine and her demeanor shifted into genuine sobriety. She must have been faking being intoxicated, at least a little. She said dignifiedly, "he will never let us burn what we have to make a smoke signal."
"Luckily, he's asleep and can't stop us," I said, standing up with Elizabeth. I still thought she was a helpless, spoiled rich woman, but maybe she was a little more resourceful than I was giving her credit for.
We worked together to haul all the rum out of the bunker, the bottles and the kegs. Lucky for us, rum is flammable. We put it all into a pile, and gathered the food as well. When we were too tired to move anything else, we went back out to the beach and slept alongside Jack until first light.
AN: would you have mutinied against Jack too if he was your captain?
To be honest I probably would 😂😬 I would not want to be kicked off with him!