Ship in a Bottle

Ship in a Bottle



Disclaimer: I'm not stealing these characters, just borrowing... borrowing without permission. For personal, not commercial, purposes. Mature content follows. Read at your own discretion.



This is a sequel to “The Evil Lady E”. If you haven't read it, read it. If you don't want to read it, but still want to read this, here's what that story established- 1) Jack cut his way out of the Kraken but still drowned. 2) He was brought back to life to avenge his own murder. 3) Will knows Elizabeth killed him. 4) Jack and Elizabeth have been intimate, once. Before she marries Will, which takes place in the interim between the two stories. 5) Elizabeth is a force to be reckoned with: she can fight, she can lie, and she's very in touch with her inner pirate - an identity expressed in this story by her AU-ego Lady E. Enjoy - LadyP



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Prologue: Songs



Life is the fire that burns and the sun that gives light.

Life is the wind and the rain and the thunder in the sky.

Life is matter and is earth, what is and what is not, and what beyond is in Eternity.

--- Lucius Annaeus Seneca



What good is it to live

With nothing left to give

Forget but not forgive

Not loving all you see



Oh the streets you're walking on

A thousand houses long

Well that's where I belong,

And you belong with me

Not swallowed in the sea.



You belong with me,

Not swallowed in the sea. ---- “Swallowed in the Sea” (Coldplay)



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Chapter 1: Words of the Witch



Captain Jack Spar-row? You wannt to know about Jack Spar-row? Sit down. Sit down, and I will tell you.



Jack Spar-row is a man. And what a man he is. We were lovers, onnce... a long time ago. Before I became de way I am now... a witch, yes, if that's how you like to call it, though I only t'ink of myself as a womann...and dis was before he became a pirate.



No, he hasn't always been a pirate. You t'ink he was born a pirate? No one is born with their destiny in their hands.



But t'rough a strange twist of events, Jack Sparrow, de merchannt sailor, became Captain Jack Sparrow, de pirate captain of the Black Pearl. Oh, what a ship she was! What a ship she is.



You say de Pearl is gone? It sank, swallowed by de great sea-beast? Yis, it did, that's true.



But Jack could not let de Pearl go. He loved de Pearl, but what's more, he loved how the Pearl made him feel: free. And if you want to know about Jack Sparrow, you should know de story of how he try to reclaim de Pearl. No, not from Barbossa, that ungrateful fool... may he rot in hell.



No, de other time. De time Jack had to choose between a womann he love, and taking back de Pearl.



Oh, yis.... Jack Spar-row can love a womann. He don' know it, half de time. But that's Jack.



How did it happen? Well, sit down, and drink dis. I will tell you de story. And as you listen, you must remember dat I am telling dis story. I may be a witch, as you say, but I am also a womann. And dis is a story dat should be told by a womann.



In fact, de story begins right here, right where you are sitting wid me. Right in dat chair, Jack Spar-row tol' me he would do anyt'ing to get back de Pearl. Anyt'ing? say I. Now listen.





***



“What is it dat troubles you, Jack Spar-row?” Tia Dalma said, leaning forward to move a short, heavily beaded strand of hair out of Jack's face, which was unlivened by emotion of any kind.



A sigh, from Jack. He twisted one of that braids of his beard between his fingers. Back and forth.



Tia grinned. “A womann? I knew it, it is a womann.”



Jack sighed again, seeming not to hear her, raising his eyes to the roof of the hut, where various insects and parts of bodies and spices dangled in jars and sacks. “I miss her, Tia. Didn't know I would miss her like this, when she was gone. Might've done something differently.”



“When do you mean?”



“Oh, I don't know when it all went wrong, really... obviously when the Kraken was after us - me - that was the last straw, the one event that changed everything irrevocably.” He lifted his teacup to his lips and took a long, thoughtful swill.



“Not'ing is permanent. Everyt'ing can be changed.”



“Not this, Tia. She's lost to me, now. And it would be easier, somehow... if she weren't so incredibly beautiful.” Another slow sip.



“Is this de same girl? De same one who marry de Turnah bwoy?”



“What?” Jack's eyes snapped open, and then rolled impatiently. “No. No. Not Elizabeth. Not the girl, the ship. The Pearl.”



Tia smiled again, having understood at last. “Oh, de Pearl, is she? She is a great ship.”



“Was. Was a great ship. Now she's great bunch of driftwood and Kraken droppings.”



“Maybe so, Jack Spar-row. Maybe for you. But not for everyone, everywhere.”



“What are you getting at, Tia?”



Tia rose then, and walked a few paces on the floor, as though measuring the distance between herself and one of the pouches which hang from a hook protruding from a shelf, and she lifted it down and fished something out. Jack averted his eyes. He'd learned it was better not to look. She brought it back and held it between both of her hands for a moment, before resuming her seat and gathering the other items she often read on the table - two seashells were new, he saw, together with the usual crab claws, small bones and chips of rock. She turned them back and forth before giving them a shake while mumbling something unintelligible, and spilling them out again on the table. Then she looked up, right into his eyes.



“What would you say if I told you that de Pearl still exists, but you cannot see her?”



Jack blinked. “I'd say, I'd have a hard time figuring out where I'd tied her up at a dock, for one thing.”



“Oh no, you cann see her, see her. But not now.”



“Meaning?”



“You cannot see her because there is a mist that separates the worlds. Diff'rent worlds, where different t'ings have happened. Some worlds are very, very strange. Some worlds are just like dis one. But different.”



Jack set down his tea and folded his hands, leaning forward on the table. “I'm all ears, Tia.”



“De Pearl that you know is not de only Pearl. There is a Pearl in at least one other world. If you wannt it, you have to sail it back from there.”



“Back from the other world? How do I get there? How do I get back?”



“You must part de mists.”



“Part... the mist?”



“Yis. I will tell you how. But first, give me your hand.”



He did so, obediently, and watched as Tia suddenly lifted one of the bone pieces she'd had in her fingers, and drove it into his palm, making a tiny hole. A droplet of blood oozed out. “Ouch! Tia, that's not fair. That hurts!”



She grinned at him again. “Sorry. But I must show de spirits who you are before dey will tell me de price.” She let the blood fall on one of the pieces, and raised them in her hands, shaking them before throwing them out.



Jack watched her face. It was one of his skills, one of the ways he read people. Listen less to what they're saying, and more to what their face is telling you. And right now, Tia's face was telling him the news was not good. “What? What is it? What's the price? Something I've got to pay?”



“No, it is not a payment. This is not a purchase, Jack Spar-row. All de worlds must remain balanced, and when somet'ing enters one world, many times somet'ing else must leave dat world.”



“So if I bring the Pearl back, something's got to go?”



“Somet'ing or someone will be in danger. Very risky.”



“Who? What? What's going to be in danger from this little adventure?”



“Dey won't tell me who, so I don't know. But maybe you do.” She paused, lifting her eyes from the items to fix upon his face. “Dey tell me it is de womann you love. Dey say, in de process of helping you take de Pearl, she will die.”



Jack exhaled, deeply, leaning back in his chair. “Well, that doesn't make any sense, does it? My only real love is the sea, and you, of course, Tia, and you're safe and sound right here.”



“Don'cha lie to me, Jack Spar-row.”



Jack's eyes darted back and forth for a moment, and then he leaned forward again. “All right, let's say either she does die or I find a way to keep her out of harm's way and still get the Pearl. How do I part these mists you were talking about?”



Tia smiled again, slowly, pensively. “With magic. That's de onlay way I can help you. I can give you de power to part de mists. For a while. After that, it is up to you.”



“And just how will I find the Pearl, once I part these... mists?”



“She will be close. But if you doubt, use dat compass I gave you.”



Jack cleared his throat, casting his eyes downward.



“You do still have it, don't you? You didn't let it fall into de wrong hands?”



“Well... not precisely. But, it never turned up after I was...eaten, by the Kraken.”



“You are hopeless, Jack Spar-row.” Tia stood and shoved her chair against the table. “Dat was very valuable.”



“Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't... who's to say? The point is, I haven't got it. But, I can promise you that if I get the Pearl back, there'll be no stopping Captain Jack Sparrow. I will find you, bring you, whatever you want. A hundred compasses' worth. I only need one.”



Tia seemed to wrinkle her nose, as though she smelled an unpleasant odor, before closing her eyes for a moment and then opening them again. “Fine. I will do de spell again on another compass. Even though it is so powerful it makes de spirits unhappy. But don' lose it. Understand?”



He smiled genuinely, then, his first warm smile in ages. “Now tell me... when I find the Pearl, just who is it that I'll be relieving of possession of her? Myself?”



“No.” Tia's voice became suddenly dark, foreboding. “In dis world, Captain Jack Sparrow has never existed. It is someone else. Someone who will not want to let her go. And you should be afraid, and find de best, sharpest swordsmen for your crew. You will need de best to defeat dis captain, and it may still cost all of deir lives.”



“All right. More's the pity. But do tell.”



Tia sat down again to speak, and by the time she was finished, the healthy brown tan seemed to drain from Jack's face, and his voice, when he asked questions, was low, deferential, as though if he spoke louder than a whisper, he might make it more true.



But deep down, he wanted the Pearl more than anything. So he prepared for the voyage. Whatever the cost.