Power of the Sparrow

Power of the Sparrow, by Hellborne (the_ferret_mom@yahoo.com)
Pirates of the Caribbean – NC-17

Copyright: Characters, not mine, See the Mouse. Story, mine, but I make no money. He does, but not on this.

Archive: adult-fanfiction.org. Other than that, no problem, just tell me the URL.

Beta: Now beta’d by my most perfect and wonderful Pendragginink and her magnificent Jackal! Hail to thee, oh modest and humble BetaGoddess!

Typing convention. / is used for thoughts.

Summary: Will gives Jack a birthday present. Unfortunately, it’s cursed. J/W, O/J. Slash, angst, lemon.

A/N: Well, I'm pretty officially "retired" due to health reasons...so I guess I have more time to write. It's up to the reviews you folks give me that will determine what I write on...so what will it be? Hit the REVIEW button and let me know!

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Chapter 11 – The Light and the Cave

Will stared at Jack, mouth open in shock. "Jack! What happened?! I can see through you!"

Bill looked from Jack to Will and back again. "Jack, that's impossible. I'm sure he can't see or hear ME, but you and he should both be solid to each other."

"Bill, I can see through your son, and he sounds like he's far away."

The spirit looked worried. "Jack, that's how the dead see the living. You may be dying. I'm sorry. You should make your peace with the boy before you disappear to him completely."

"But I feel fine. My back feels like nothin' happened to it." He turned to Will, filled with concern. "Can ye hear me, lad?"

Will nodded. "You sound like you're on the opposite side of a cave, but I can hear you. What's wrong?"

"Bill thinks I may be dyin'. I don't know." He reached out and tried to put his hand on Will's shoulder, but it traveled right through the boy's body, causing both men to look strangely at one another. "William, what happened? It felt like I just passed my hand through hot bath water."

Will looked startled. "Your hand...it felt COLD, Jack. Death going through me is the only way I can describe it. It was horrible."

Jack noticed the spirit crew was now unable to sail the ship; their hands couldn't grasp things, and he noticed one of the one of the spirits walk through the mainmast on his way to the other end of the ship. "Lad, go summon the crew wot would normally be on this watch. The Pearl can't sail herself, and the dead can no longer do it." Will went below to assemble the crew.

Bill put a friendly arm around Jack's shoulder. "Y'know, bein' dead isn't all together bad, Jack. And if ye have no unfinished business, we'll BE together as soon as you're dead."

Jack was beside himself. "I don't love ye, Bill. I love your son, and I won't leav 'im, whether I'm dead or alive. And Bill, if I'm dead, I can't get your treasure for ye. You said it had to be gotten by the living. Who's going to get yer trinket, eh?"

Bill grinned. "You're going to get my son to it, and he can bring it back to the Pearl. And think of it this way; if ye make sure he gets the cat, he can bring ye back to life."

"If I'm dead."

"I see you clearly, Jack. I see my son and all the other living people as ghosts...see-through. And you?"

"Aye, I can see through him and he through me, but as he can see me at all, perhaps I am, as you've put it before, in both worlds."

"No, Jack. You were solid to him before. Now ye can't touch each other. Here now. Try to take the wheel." Jack turned and reached for a spoke of his beloved Pearl's wheel, his hand slipping through it easily. "You see, Jack? You're slipping away from life. I don't honestly know what the cat will do to you in this condition; it could bring ye back, or it could kill ye. I just don't know in your case."

"So young William might think he's savin' my life but actually kill me instead? Couldn't it bring me back if he accidentally kills me with it first?"

"Jack, when that cat kills someone, it destroys them utterly; no coming back and no afterlife. You'd be gone, Jack; gone completely."

Jack took the news amazingly well. He stomped down from the helm muttering curses and strode into his cabin not even bothering to put his hand out as he moved through the door as if it weren't there, tiny wet droplets the size of tears appearing inexplicably on the deck in his wake.

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The island appeared ominous to say the least. It looked entirely too much like a stone statue of a dragon for anyone to want to set foot on it.

Bill instructed Jack where on the island the treasure could be found, and Jack explained to Will how to get there and to not get the cat anywhere near him. "We don't know yet if I'm dead or alive, William, so that cat could mean my salvation or my destruction, and we won't know which till we're out of this thrice-damned area."

Jack descended the Jacob's ladder first and climbed into the jolly boat, followed by Will. Will took up the oars and they made their way to the island, tying it off on a large rock that resembled a claw. "William, if you don't feel right about gettin' the treasure, none will fault ye for it. This island even worries me."

Will smiled grimly at the specter of the older man. "We don't know what's wrong with you, Jack, and I'm not going to give up on you till I know nothing can be done. I'll get you cured, Jack. I swear it.. And an odd-looking island in a strange area won't stop me." Jack's heart sang as the boat rode up on the shore. Will had said he wouldn't give up on him. Someday, Will might even forgive him then.

They climbed out of the boat and proceeded along a path apparently cut out of the rock. After a couple hours' walking, they came to a cave; a warm breeze blew out at them from deep within.

"William, there's something decidedly not right about this cave. I'd suggest that we just head back and forget about the treasure. I don't want to lose you, love."

Will chuckled nervously. "You can't be telling me that the great Captain Sparrow is afraid of walking into a cave." Nevertheless, Will was glad to hear he was not alone in his trepidation.

"'t is not the walkin', William. 't is the teeth." Jack waved his hand up and around the area. All along the edges of the overhang leading into the cave were rows of stalactites with corresponding stalagmites, making the area look like a huge mouth. The odd rock formation just inside did nothing to quell their fears, it was shaped like a large, forked tongue, and it trailed down into the cave, flattening out into a path.

Will lit one of the torches; Jack entered first, then Will, the light from the torch spilling right through Jack, giving him no shadow. As they made their way farther inside, it became much easier to walk if they just stayed on the tongue (that was the only way either of them could describe it). The path led downward at an easy angle, and after about fifty feet they started to find gems littering the ground. The air was stuffier than before, getting hotter and drier as they went, and after a while they started seeing wisps of smoke wafting up from the depths.

Once the mouth of the cave could no longer be seen, the number and frequency of gemstones increased. "Jack, why didn't my father come with us? He's the one who told you how to get here."

"He told me that the dead can't get the treasure, which was why he needed me. Though truth to tell he seemed unnaturally wary of it, if you ask me."

"You mean maybe the island doesn't like the dead walking on it or something?"

"Something like that, I guess."

"Jack? Why did you come with me then?"

Jack stopped, finger to chin in thought. "I suppose had I thought about it earlier, I might not have, since we don't rightly know what's wrong with me. But you can't get rid of me so easily, William. I came with ye because I love you, and I can see more than you. So if anything that you couldn't see came out of the woodwork, I could warn you if nothing else."

"But you told me that the dead and the living couldn't touch each other."

"Under normal circumstances, no. But these don't resemble anything like normal circumstances, do they?"

"So this island could be dangerous to you?"

Jack shrugged. "Aye. But lad, crossing the streets in Port Royal can get you killed. Shall you shut yourself inside merely because life is dangerous? When you chose to join me on the Pearl, you knew I was a pirate captain. There's more danger in piracy than on the very streets of White Chapel at midnight. But did that slow you down?"

"No. I wanted to be with you. But—"

"There's your answer, whelp. Where you go, I go. And no bloody island is going to come between us."

There was a sudden hot wind and a rumble all around the cave, knocking both men down. Jack landed on top of Will and sunk in, giving both of them the creeps. Jack scrambled out of Will and back onto his feet. "Let's not do that again, eh?"

"Agreed." Will stood up. "I wonder what that was?"

Jack quirked an eyebrow and looked around in contemplation. "Or...perhaps the question should be 'WHO'."

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TBC

A/N: So what do you think? Hit the REVIEW button and tell me what I'm doing wrong!