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.

Typing convention. / is used for thoughts.

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!

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

A/N: Let me know how you like it.

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Chapter 4 – Population Explosion

Jack awoke feeling very familiar pains: his back felt like he wouldn’t be able to lie on it for days; his jaw was sor like he tried to unhinge it; his shoulders ached like they’d been dislocated, and his bum hole felt like someone had shoved a mainmast up it. He smiled. /Then Bill really WAS here! I didn’t dream it!/ He looked down at his pillow. Will was still asleep, a strange looking smile on his angelic face. Jack carefully climbed out of bed and examined himself in front of the mirror. Dozens of ugly wheals crisscrossed his lower back and there was a small amount of dried blood at his back entrance. He washed the blood away with a rag and water from the basin, then quickly dressed, and tossed the water and the rag out of the window. He didn’t want Will to see it and start asking embarrassing questions.

As he pulled on his boots, Will opened one eye. “What are you doing, Jack?”

“Just getting dressed, love. It’s not me birthday anymore, and we’ve got some supplies to get for the Pearl.” He finished pulling the boots on and noticed the parchment lying on the table. He picked it up and read it.

“My sweetest Captain- In my most recent travels I have discovered a treasure more interesting than that of the Isla del Muerte, and I believe it would be right up your alley. I’m taking the liberty of finding you the perfect crew for this endeavor, as this treasure can only be reached by the dead, though the treasure itself is real enough for the living. I shall meet you in the morning on the pier nearest the Pearl with your crew. All my love, even from beyond the grave, Bill.

Will watched as Jack picked nothing up from the desk, pantomimed opening whatever it was and mouth silent at whatever must have been on it while his eyes grew larger and larger. He still wasn’t positive whether Jack was really seeing his dead father, or if he’d just finally, at last, gone completely off his nut. “So what does my father have to say?”

“Wwwwhat?” Jack looked at Will, wide-eyed, over the note.

“My father. I assume he left you a note? At least it looks like you must be reading something.”

“You can’t see it?” He waved it around.

“No. So what did he have to say?”

Jack read the note aloud. Will looked at him. “So what would the dead want with that treasure? Even if my father wishes to help you out of his love for you, doesn’t mean that the crew he picks up will do anything for free.”

Jack grinned. “Right you are, whelp. No pirate worth his salt will give away the time of day without something in it for him, but we’ll find out what they want when we get back to the Pearl. Now get dressed and get the supplies. I’ll go see what they’re after.” He put on his hat.

“Jack, tell me the truth. I know that you and my father were close. Tell me though, do you have as deep feelings for me as you had for him?”

Jack shrugged, looking sad. “Lad, here’s the truth. I miss Bill. I loved him with all my black heart. On seeing him again, I realize that I still do. But Bill is my past. I can see and feel him NOW, but who knows about the future? And I’m sure that people would stare at me if I spoke to him with people around, let alone sit on his lap or kiss him.”

Will blushed. “Last night definitely looked odd from my angle.”

“You SAW?” Jack's face was the very picture of anguish.

Will’s eyes dropped. “Yes. I saw…everything. He tortured you, yet you got more aroused every moment.”

“Yes, Will." Jack sighed heavily. "Bill and I had a very special kind of relationship. I doubt that I could ever have another one like it. Personally, whelp, I hope I never do. My body just can’t handle it anymore. You, on the other hand, are exactly Bill’s opposite. You are gentle and loving, unlimited affection freely given like yours was never available to me and it is and exactly what I need NOW. I love you, Will Turner, more than I have ever loved another person, and even more than my Pearl, truth be told, but don’t tell anyone; bad for me image…”

Will blushed, moved over to the older man, took him in his arms and hugged him, kissing him on the forehead. Jack hissed slightly. “Since you saw what happened last night, do ye think perhaps ye could avoid me back for a bit? There’s no blood this time, but it’s never comfortable the day after.”

Will pulled away slightly, taking Jack’s face in his hands. “I love you, old man, and I’m going to take care of you forever. And if he hurts you again I’ll find a way to make him disappear forever, I promise!”

Jack kissed him. “I’d better get down to the pier and see what they want for their shares. Get dressed, get the supplies, and get down to the Pearl in a hurry. I don’t know the timing on this venture yet.” He rushed out of the room. Will thought he saw a tear in the corner of one eye.

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Downstairs, Jack found the place fairly lively for this early in the morning. People were talking in groups, some sitting at the bar. Then he noticed that there were two bartenders. One, he knew from the previous morning, but the other one – the one doing all the talking and pouring all of the drinks – Jack knew him from fifteen years ago as the owner of the tavern. But he also remembered that his wife had killed him TWELVE years ago when she found him with one of the barmaids in the back room. Jack looked around again, suspicious now. There she was now, Diane, the barmaid that old Arnie was with when his wife found them. She was bringing drinks to a particularly large group of men.

Jack shook his head, the trinkets tinkling softly. /They’re ALL DEAD!/ Realizing this, he tried to ignore the people, keeping his head down and walk directly out the—

“Oof! Hey, watch where you’re goin’!”

Jack backed up a step. “Sorry, mate. Wasn’t watchin’ where I was walkin’.”

The man he had bumped into looked at him more carefully. “You’re Jack Sparrow, aren’t ye?”

“Captain Jack Sparrow. That I am.”

“I hadn’t heard. Sorry. So when did you cross over? Let me buy ye a drink.”

Jack looked confused for a moment. “Crossed over?” Then he realized it. “Oh! No, mate. I’m not dead…not yet anyway. But thanks for the offer.” He moved past the man, making another attempt at threading his way between the people. Ted, the living bartender watched as Sparrow wove gracefully through the bar, occasionally tipping his hat and mumbling.

Jack was amazed at how many people were out and about on the streets of Tortuga. He assumed they were ghosts, since he’d never seen more than two to three people out at that time of the morning before. He made his way down to the pier and saw a rather large group of men more or less arranged into three lines with Bill waiting in front of them. He walked up to Bill and waved expressively in the group’s direction. “Now Bill, all these men want to help me uncover a treasure. I want to know what’s in it for them.”

Pintel was standing watch on the Pearl. He watched as his Captain walked down to the pier, stopped many feet short of the gangplank, and started talking animatedly to the air. /Wait till I tell Rags. He’ll get a kick outta this. Cap’n Jack’s even more crazy than Barbossa was!/

Bill thought for a moment, obviously trying to figure out what to say. “It’s something to do. Being dead can be very boring, Jack. Sometimes I wish I could move on.” He shrugged. “But anyway, I’ve got you a fine crew. You may even recognize some of them, since they died when that merchant ship exploded with most of the crew aboard.”

“Yeah…I remember that. It was right after that when we picked up Barbossa and his crew. As I recall, it was just you and me who were left from that merchant fiasco. A lot of good men were lost that day.”

“And now they’re back and ready to follow you again.”

“Bill, what kind of treasure is there? Gold?”

“Far better than just gold, Jack. Oh, there’s gold aplenty for your crew. But the REAL treasure is a small black cat statue.”

“Black Jade? Diamond eyes? What’s so special about a cat statue? What’s its value?”

“It’s priceless, Jack. That cat has power over life and death. It can kill without a mark on the victim, and it can raise the dead just as easily. It’s said to have been stolen from an ancient Egyptian priest who had dealings with their god of the dead. It’ll work once for each person who has died who you want to bring back. Don’t ever use it a second time on the same person.”

“Oh? And why not?”

“Because the second time using it on the same person will the destroy the person utterly, along with the cat itself.”

“And why do you believe I would want something like that? I couldn’t use it on meself, and it’s not somethin’ I’d want to share knowledge of, so it’ll do me little good personally.”

“Well, what would you do if anything happened to my son? I can see how much ye love him. It’s obvious to someone as close to you as I was.”

Jack was surprised. “You mean you’re not thinking about having me use it on you or the rest of these fine gentlemen?”

“No, Jack. None of us really wish to live again. But along with the cat there IS a treasure that we can use. There’s a small cross-like item with a loop at the top. It’s called an ankh. This ankh has the power to allow the dead to be seen and felt the same way YOU can see and feel us. But it’s specific to the dead person wearing it. That’s the only part of the treasure that we want, and we’re willin’ t’share it. Truth to tell, it’ll help a lot of the dead move on, as it were, since we’re only here because we had something yet to do when we died. Unfinished business, ye might say. Once that business is completed, we can move on.”

“On to what, Bill? You’ve got an old pirate very curious.”

“I don’t know, actually. As I have unfinished business, I’ve been stuck between the living and the afterlife since I died. Once I complete it, I can move on.”

Jack looked at him suspiciously. “What sort of unfinished business do you have, Bill?”

Bill laughed. “Jealousy really becomes you, Jack! I’m not going to do anything to take Will away from you, old man. Ye have me word on that one! I think he’s good for you and you for him…in a warped kind of way, though I do wish he’d find a girl and make a whelp of his own. No, Jack. Unfinished business is personal, and I’ll not tell ye beyond my word that it won’t harm your relationship with my son as long as ye never harm him.”

“All right. We have an accord. We’ll go after this treasure, and you and your mates get this ankh thing. Anything else I should know before I go proving to me livin’ crew that I've gone off the deep end for good and they know for certain just how crazy their Captain is?”

“Just that they’ll need to prepare for ANYTHING. The area we’re going into is said to be only partially real to the living. Ships sink for no apparent reason. And I mean they go down like a rock. People see things: STRANGE ships; ships in the air; ships without sails that make noises like large cats; mermaids; sea serpents and in some areas, they see ghosts. Not like you can see me, as we really are, but phantoms—monstrous looking ghosts of which legends are made. The crew has to be well prepared or they’ll go mad and possibly destroy the Pearl.”

“Bill, why haven’t you and your crew go off to find it on your own ship?”

“Because it takes a living person to remove the ankh from its resting place. We need YOU, Jack.”

“Why me?”

“Can you think of anyone else who would be willing to help the dead? Not run away? When you first saw me, you were surprised, but you didn’t scream. You didn’t run. You reacted in a way that no one else in the world would have reacted. You’ve met up with Barbossa’s crew while they were still cursed and dealt with them as if it were normal for skeletons to be walkin’ in the moonlight. So you’re the only one we can use to get the ankh, and there’s enough treasure to pay you and a crew to do it.”

Jack turned to the three lines of men. He DID recognize quite a number of them. “All right, men. Those who have sailed under me show the rest what to do. We sail tonight. Ship yer kits aboard and get settled in.” He turned to Bill. “What are they going to be doing on the trip, anyway?”

“Taking care of things that your men can’t see or won’t believe is real. We’ll earn that ankh, believe that. Now I’ve got a couple of errands that need doin’, so I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Or would ye rather we retired to your cabin till your cabin boy returns?”

“Will is not my cabin boy, no matter how I joke about it. He’s a right fine first mate, Bill. Every bit as good as you.”

“So when should we expect him?”

“Maybe by afternoon watch or so. I sent him on the supply run, five hours should be plenty of time.”

“Good. Then we'll spend it together. Last night was not enough to make up for twelve years without.” He took a very shocked looking Jack by the arm and hauled him up the gangplank to the Captain’s cabin.

Pintel watched as Jack stumbled up the gangplank, left elbow extended out in front of him, struggling. /Yeah, Rags is goin’ t’get a real kick out 'a this one./

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TBC