This is the night that you will always remember...

Chapter 12

Colours.

Blurry
colours.

Blue,
green, white. Gold. Silver.

That was
what Jack saw when the darkness lit up.

A calming
sound he could not put a name to yet.

Peace.

He closed
his eyes, opened them again, and the veil lifted.

A lake. Incredibly
blue and beautiful, surrounded by the greenest plants he had ever seen.

A
waterfall, glistening silvery, creating the melodic sound Jack had heard.
Sparkling golden when it reflected the warm sunlight.

The ground
he was lying on was soft. Grass and leaves.

Was this
Heaven? Paradise?

Where was
he?

And then
something touched his cheek, brushed back his hair. A warm, gentle hand.

Slowly Jack
turned his head until his lips touched the tender fingers.

Until he
could see.

And the
warm, brown eyes, the last image he had seen before the world had turned dark,
were looking at him again.

Smiling.
The lips he adored so much opened to speak.

“Jack…”

The beloved
voice echoed in his head.

He opened
his mouth to answer, but it took him long to bring out a word.

“Will…”

Warm lips
kissed his face.

Jack lifted
his hand, until he was able to touch the soft brown hair that brushed his
cheek.

He felt it.
It was real.

Will was
real.

“Will…” he
breathed against his skin.

And his first
question seemed surreal to himself, but he had to ask it.

“Are we…
Alive?”

Tears fell
on his face when Will nodded.

Tears of
joy.

“Yes…” he
whispered. “Yes, we are alive…”

There were
so many questions. Where were they. How did they get here. How did they
survive.

But right
now all could do, all that he wanted to do was wrap his arms around Will and
hold him tight. Feel him, smell him, taste him.

They did
not knew how long they laid there. Then Jack spoke again.

“Tell me…”
he whispered.

Will
pressed his lips to Jack´s shoulder.

“When were
down in the ship… You held me, and then something behind you broke and
collapsed…” he shivered at the memory, and Jack felt how hard it was for Will
to live through the memory again. “And hit you on the head. There was another
horrible crashing noise down in the ship and I thought – this is the end. The
ship began to turn… And then… I think it broke apart. The Endeavour broke
apart. And suddenly my legs were free.”

Jack looked
down Will´s body and saw that his pants were torn at the left side, and that
the skin below was dark with bruises. He squeezed his hand gently.

Will took a
deep breath.

“I just
held you tight. I thought, whatever happens now, I will not let you go. I held
you… And then…” He shook his head, still amazed. “The wave pushed us up. Pushed
us to the surface. I could breathe again. And then I saw the lifeboat, and I
screamed…”

He snuggled
up to Jack who caressed his hair.

“At first
they did not hear me, and I feared we would be dragged under water again
because it was so hard for me to move my legs, and you…” he smiled and sighed.
“You were heavy in my arms…”

Jack looked
at him tenderly. “But… Did you know if I was still alive? I could have been dead…
You could have let me go and swim over to the lifebo…”

He did not
get further because Will silenced him with a long kiss.

“Never.
Never ever.” Will whispered when he finally released Jack. “You did not leave
me… down in the ship…” he suddenly started to tremble, and Jack held him
tighter. “And I would not have left you in the water…”

They kissed
again, and there was even more love in their kiss than ever before.

“I never
thought we would make it…” Will continued after a long while, holding Jack in his
arms. “But I screamed again, and this time the crew heard me. They came back,
and they managed to get us into the lifeboat… They tried to ask me what had
happened but…” he shook his head. “My only thought was that I had to find out
if you were still alive… And when I felt your heartbeat…”

Will wiped
a tear from his eye.

Then he
smiled. “And then we rowed to the island. The Isla de la Cascada.“ He turned
around, looked at the beautiful landscape. “The island of the waterfall.”

Jack leant
his head at Will´s shoulder. “When was that…”

Will kissed
his hair. “Three days ago.”

“Three days
ago?!”

Will
nodded. “Yes… We laid you on the beach, tried to build a shelter for you with
the boat until the storm was over… Then, hours later, finally the wind calmed
down. The sun came out and soon it was hot again- so hot that we brought you
here, about a hundred meters away from the beach, here to the lake.”

Jack looked
around. “Where is the crew?”

“On the
beach.” Will laughed. “After a while some remains of the Endeavour were washed
at the shore, among them a jar of rum… They are staying on the beach, drinking,
looking out for a ship to come and rescue us, and they are hunting fish so that
we don´t have to live on coconuts all the time… And three times a day one of them
comes and brings something to eat… They accepted that I said I would stay here
with you. Until you wake up.”

Very
carefully, holding on to Will, Jack sat up. His whole body was aching.

“But what…
Maybe I never would have woken up…”

Will shook
his head.

“I knew you
would wake up. I knew it.”

Without
realising it himself, nearly unconsciously, he pushed something with his right
hand under the leaves behind him. He bent forward, kissed Jack softly on the
lips.

“Let me get
you some water.”

He came
back with a coconut shell that he had filled with water from the lake. Jack
drank it thirstily. Then he looked into Will´s brown eyes for a long time.

“Baby…”

Will
smiled. “Yes…?”

“Why did
you just try to hide this from me?”

Will looked
down. Looked at the knife in Jack´s hand.

“Oh…
That´s… Just for… If any wild animals… You know…”

“Will…”

“Yes…”

“Look at
me…”

When Will
looked up, tears were in his eyes.

“I don´t
know what I had done if you did not wake up anymore…” he whispered. “I don´t
know…”

A sob
escaped his throat, and then he started to cry. Buried his face at Jack´s chest
and Jack held him tight, rocked him in his arms when all the emotions from the
past days finally burst out.

“It´s
alright, my love… Everything´s alright now…” he whispered tenderly.

They were
together. They were alive. And a new life was lying ahead of them.

To be
continued…

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