A Swann's Sparrow

*DISCLAIMER* None of the Pirates of the Caribbean characters or settings, or anything else you may

recognize from the movies, belong to me. I've just borrowed them for the sake of fan-worship in the form of this

story, and I make no profit from my writings.

A/N: Hey, ch.3 is finally here! *Don't kill me*, but I'm sorry it took me so long. ^-^ Enjoy! Ch.4 should be up

by next Wednesday, if not sooner. Please read and review so that I know if my story is worth

continuing!

Luvs,

--Nefaeri

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Ch. 3 Broken Clues

*Lizzie*

Lizzie just stared at the things the old woman had given her.

"My name is Rebecca," the woman spoke softly. "These were found with you, dear. They are yours, by all

means. You were found on the beach not two nights ago, poor thing. It is such a shame you cannot remember.

Those boys in that locket of yours must miss you dearly."

Elizabeth looked at the woman questioningly, and then picked up the afore-mentioned necklace with careful

fingers. The name Elizabeth was engraved into the front. Tracing the name with a curious longing, Lizzie

then examined the rest of the locket. It was in the shape of a book, a well-crafted and detailed depiction of a

journal, or maybe a diary, with two miniature clasps on the sides that looked like locks, holding the locket closed.

Pushing those small clasps open, she gasped at the two worn pictures inside. One was of a man who looked

quite respectable and decent, smiling a smile that looked as if he wasn't quite sure how he'd ended up there in

her locket, much less the picture. The other picture, though both were black and white photographs, held the

image of another sort. This man had longer hair that looked thick and maybe soft to the touch with strange

things threaded in here and there, such as beads and a feather or two. His mouth seemed to quirk with

amusement, his eyes holding a mischievous gleam. Elizabeth shivered as she touched that picture, a warm feeling

uncurling in her stomach. This man must have been important to her, she knew it. The other man was important

too, but not like this one...

"Elizabeth? That's what your locket says, so I suppose that's what we'll call you."

Elizabeth nodded distantly, not quite paying attention as she continued to memorize the pictures in the little

locket. The name sounded right, anyway.

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*Jack*

Jack opened his eyes slowly, wincing at the sudden light, instinctively groping for his now ever-present rum

bottle. What he didn't expect was to find a hand halting his own. Looking over groggily, Jack came face to face

with Will, who was sitting on the ground next to him.

"Jack, this has to stop. You can't keep yourself drunk forever!"

"Maybe not, but you can't blame a man for trying, can you? 'Specially when the face he wakes up to every

morning is on a stunningly beautiful as yours, Will." Jack retorted sarcastically, slowly becoming

frustrated over his newest lack of a pleasantly numbing buzz brought on by rum. Will's eyes hardened at Jack's

rude attempt at chasing Will away from him. Not today. Today, this had to end. Will was quickly becoming

tired of being asked to look after Jack, seeing as how Gibbs had to look after the repairs being done to the ship,

and the pub owners were becoming agitated with Jack's repeated theft of their rum. They were all losing

patience with the drunken captain.

"Jack, that's not going to work today. And you're not getting your rum. You don't have a penny to your name to

buy any more, regardless of the fact that the pub owners already know that it's you breaking into their

store sheds every night! They've kept silent about their losses only because of their past debts to you, Jack,

but I have no such limitations!" Will growled, glaring at Jack.

Jack shook his head as if trying to rid his ears of Will's incessant voice, not wanting to listen. He knew that what

Will was saying was true, but he didn't care. The pain was coming back, and he couldn't handle it on his own

for too much longer. He was not above begging, if that's what this came to... Any pride he once had, being

the renowned captain of the Black Pearl, was quickly lost in the face of the empty pit he felt was his insides. An

achingly painful hole in his very heart that nothing could fill or heal, one that ate away at him, devouring him from

the inside and slowly working it's way out. It took all he had to sit in some alley corner somewhere and quietly

drink his rum, and that was the force of his deteriorating will alone. He didn't know how long he could last

without the rum to help take the edge off.

"Will," Jack stated dejectedly, "I don't have time for this, alright? You can try being a good friend later, but right

now I really need my rum." Jack stumbled upwards, dusting

his trousers as he stood, and turned to walk away.

His only problem was, Will was not about to let that happen.

"Will..." Jack growled warningly, his bloodshot eyes narrowing in annoyance.

"No, Jack." Will spoke calmly, determined to get his point across to Jack. "I'm not leaving you alone today. I'm

not going to get frustrated and leave you so you can drown your tears and sorrows in a bottle of stolen rum. I'm

not going to take pity on you and let you run away. In fact, I'm not going to do anything you want me to. What

I am going to do is stop you from acting like the fool you have been acting like and try to talk some

sense into your senseless head. Elizabeth wouldn't have wanted you to act like this. She would be appalled at

your behavior, Jack, and you know it! Just look at yourself!"

Jack flinched at the first mention of Lizzie, the pain that shot through him quickly turning into anger, an

unjustifiable rage at Will's audacity, making him feel guilty just because he was dealing with his grief in the only

way that he could... It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair!

"Look, Will, just because you seem able to move on so quickly doesn't mean that I can! I can't take it, I can't

take this, I can't... You can't tell me how to grieve! You can't make me feel ashamed just to get me to do what

you want! I don't wake up a single day without knowing that Lizzie's gone, Will, and I don't need

you to remind me! I don't drink my rum just to be a pathetic man or an even more pathetic captain! I don't sit on

the beach and stare as waves come crashing over me just to freeze my bloody arse off! I don't dream that

Lizzie's still here, I don't wonder what the future could have been like with her here, or what our future

could have been! I don't ask myself if she loved me. I don't imagine her smiling face, or running my hands

through her soft curly hair..."

Jack was struggling now to hold back the tears that threatened to spill as memories overwhelmed him, closing

his eyes tightly to block out the sight of the nearly empty rum bottle Will had taken away from him while he was

sleeping in his drunken stupor.

Will was just as affected by Jack's impassioned rant, but he didn't even try to stop the tears that fell from his

eyes. Will swallowed past the tightness in his throat, knowing what he had to say.

"Jack..." He began, hoping the other man could hear him, because he didn't know if he could repeat this. Jack

opened his eyes, the struggle still raging as he tried to control his emotions, and tried to hear Will out.

"She loved you, Jack. She loved you."

It happened in an instant, and neither man was more shocked than Will as Jack launched himself in his direction,

tackling Will to the ground and tearing the nearly empty rum bottle from Will's hands. Jack took the bottle and

ran, away from Will, towards the beach, stumbling to a halt and falling to his knees when he reached the edge

the ocean and collapsed there. Jack threw his last bottle of rum into the ocean, sobbing uncontrollably and

howling his grief to the wind.

"Jack..." Will whispered as he finally caught up. The sun wasn't out today as rain began falling on them both,

the storm flung winds causing waves to crash over them again and again as Jack clung to Will and cried for the

first time in the presence of another. At this point, Jack didn't care what others thought of him, and neither did

Will as he allowed Jack to cling to him and release all of his pent up grief.

From that moment, Jack was a broken man.

TBC...

A/N: Wow. That takes a lot out of me to write, because I get so caught up in it... I hope my readers feel the

same! Tell me what you think, and thanks, as always, for reading.

--Nefaeri