And Therein Lies the Tail

And Therein Lies the Tail, by Hellborne and Pendragginink (the_ferret_mom@yahoo.com & pendragginink@yahoo.com)
Pirates of the Caribbean – NC-17 Jack/OC

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

Typing convention. / is used for thoughts.

Summary: Jack Sparrow hoped his luck hadn’t run out. Shipwrecked and injured, he hoped the Black Pearl would rescue him. If they knew where to look. If they came back for him at all. Hoped if they found him, it would not be too late. But, what finally found Jack Sparrow…wasn’t the Black Pearl. Het, Lemon. Originally written for the BigGator5 Mermaid Challenge, but now completely rewritten.

* - * - * - * - * - * - * - *

They say that the sea is cold,
But the sea contains the hottest blood of all.
- Whales Weep Not – D. H. Lawrence

* - * - * - * - * - * - * - *

Waking up was wonderful. Such a blessing it was, just to breathe. Breathing had been Jack’s favorite pastime of late, he hoped steady practice would let him get better at it. But the heavy rasp that greeted the dawn with him this day told him the reality of things. The truth was he would die.

He’d be dead long before the Pearl could find him. It was a rather nice rock that he’d found to be stuck on, even though it was a bit on the wrong side of small. Not that he was complaining, mind you. By all means, he was grateful for the rock.

Almost flat at the top, it allowed him space to sit or to lie curled tightly, his broken leg beneath him. He tried to sit up, but fell back, wheezing: the fact was, he was just too weak. He tried it again a little while later…he gave up when the rock started spinning.

/That does it: I’ve got a fever./

He tried to prop himself up on one arm, but all that accomplished was to roll him over, and almost off the rock…again. He tried to look around, but the glare from the sun on the water was blinding, almost intolerable. No good. The sea, the sky, the horizon, all blended together, his vision definitely getting blurrier.

But, no worries. He knew the why of it. The kohl around his eyes was long gone, and he was already thirsty before he was shipwrecked, two…no, three days ago. There had been no water since then. Still, for all that, he could see well enough, for a dead man.

He could see…no island, no ships.

Just the shallow reef that held this and three more jagged rocks in the middle of the ocean, as far as he could see. He hoped to see sails on the horizon. To see black sails, or even, at this point, His Majesty’s Navy’s sails. Any sails. Any kind of sail. At the very least, a sea turtle.

He tried to focus his thoughts…to plan…but it was so hard to do; so hard with the rock spinning the way it was. /Even a boat that leaks. Don’t let me die on this bloody hot frying pan of a rock. Please?/

Almost. He had almost made it back to the Pearl in the longboat; he had seen the cannon fire before he heard the sound of guns. More guns than his pearl could handle. Outgunned, there was no question that she had to leave the area. She had to leave him, but he knew she’d be back for him. She would come. He knew she would come.

So he waited.

He hoped the other ship wouldn’t notice such a small boat as his. Hoped. And they didn’t. He hoped the Pearl would come back soon. But the Pearl hadn’t returned by the time the storm hit him, taking him who knows how many leagues away from the Pearl; all he could do was hang on. All he could hope for then, was that he didn’t drown. That was all. Hope.

He didn’t bother.

Three days. In the bright, hot, burning Caribbean sun. Three days of being shipwrecked; of sitting, lying, and clinging to the rock had left Jack fevered, short of breath, blinded from the glare, nearly naked, and with a broken leg. He needed to be rescued and soon, else he’d be dead by the time such help that might, no…that WAS coming arrived.

The fourth day went slowly. He continued to weaken; he couldn’t raise his head anymore. It was a good thing he’d stopped caring about that. Looking around for the last time, his eyes failed him. Understandable. Nothing for them then, but close them. Nothing yet to do, save give himself up to the sea. The cool, wet arms of the sea he loved so much. So he went to her, as a lover goes, with his eyes closed, turned to her, trusting her, rolling off the rock into the water.

* - * - *

Tired, weak, sick, he floated down, sinking into her cold embrace that soothed, that took hold of his body and his mind, taking him down, like a lover laying him down, take him down to make him drown…take that final breath, sending water rushing into his lungs…to rush…now. Hush…now…breathe…to finish…hymn…

It seemed to invigorate him instead.

Surprised, his eyes popped open. /I must be dead. Or maybe I’m just fevered and still on the rock!/ He saw… a hand. A lady’s hand. Holding his hand. Attached to the most pass-the-rum-beautiful, loveliest woman he’d ever seen. She was wet. She was under water. Her hair was flaming red, and her eyes, crystal green, like a shallow reef. She wore no clothes, but did not look “naked.”

She was smiling at him.

He smiled at her cleavage.

/If I’m alive, she’ll slap me./ He reasoned, waiting for it and, just to pass the time, continued to appreciate her breasts.

/Nice set./ He waited.

/So, I must be dead then; she’s not hitting me./ He tried to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth.

The woman started pulling him, swimming away with him, her shining green-scaled tail swishing powerfully, moving them quickly through the—tail?

Jack looked closer. He’d heard of sailors seeing mermaids when they were about to die, but he couldn’t believe that it was happening to him. Maybe she was here to cart him off to Hell. He couldn’t imagine her doing that though…she was far too beautiful. Demons were supposed to be ugly. Davy Jones then. He relaxed and let her have her way with him, taking him wherever she wanted to go.

She swam, dragging Jack for a long time, finally diving deep under the water, still dragging him. It was dark by now, Jack couldn’t see anything as he floated along with her. He did wonder how he was breathing…IF he were breathing. After a while, he thought he saw lights. He couldn’t believe it. He saw what could only be described as a city, round like a wheel, under some kind of bubble. As they arrived, he saw that the lights were jellyfish. Glowing, they were all over the place. She pulled him through the bubble then, and he could feel a difference in the water, though he couldn’t say exactly what the difference was. There were merfolk everywhere, doing things he could never have imagined in a lifetime. /And I can imagine quite a bit./ Some were obviously herding fish, but most of them were doing things so unfathomable, he could only stare in helpless wonder. His hostess swam with him, into a building, some kind of house. The little bit of furniture there was not designed to accommodate legs. /But why should it? She doesn’t have any…/ She swam him over a kind of large pillow and dropped him. He fell onto the pillow. The water being thin enough, he noticed, that he did not float in mid room. The beautiful mermaid having gone into another room, came back then and brought him a small bottle.

“Drink this.”

He heard her! Her voice was beautiful, delicate, like the chiming of silver bells.

He tried to get up, but he was too weak to go to her. He’d have to try talking to her. “Thank you for saving me.” He could talk! His voice actually sounded like he was on land. He opened the bottle and drank all of the contents.

He started coughing uncontrollably, a dark brown-green cloud pushed its way out of his mouth. He coughed like that forever it seemed; he collapsed completely, at last, flopping back on the pillow, unconscious. The mermaid blew a bubble around the oddly colored cloud and brought it outside, where it started floating upward.

* - * - *

Jack woke up, feeling quite refreshed. The fever felt like it was gone, and he could breathe easily, though his leg was still broken. He looked around, and decided that maybe the fever wasn’t gone after all. He seemed to be inside a house, but the bed he lay on looked very much like moss, and, out the window, there was a merman walking a fish.

/I’m on the rock. I have a fever. None of this is real./

The mermaid entered the room. “You’re awake. Your fever is gone. How do you feel?”

Jack decided to go along with the delusion. “I feel just fine, but I must still have the fever, because I’m seein’ things, love.”

The mermaid swam over and felt his head. “No fever. And your skin is not flushed. It appears that the potion works on your kind. This is good.” She flopped down next to him, scooting around until she came to rest facing him with her tail behind his head, supporting his shoulders, a small lateral fin caressing his head and neck, like the thinnest of silk scarves.

“Love, could you please tell me where I am, what I’m doin’ here, and how is it I haven’t drowned?”

“You haven’t drowned because outside of the city I stayed in contact with you, and Atlantis has ‘airwater’ inside the shield. You are in Atlantis, and you are lying next to me in my home. Is that so bad?”

“Atlantis? So you really are a mermaid?”

“Yes.” She smiled, delighted.

“What’s yer name, love?”

“You may call me Jade. You could not pronounce my true name, or my people’s language.”

“Well, Jade. I’ve heard stories about sailors seein’ your people just before they die. Now, me bein’ a thinkin’ man, I don’t know who would be tellin’ these stories if they all died. So me question is quite simple. Are ye goin’ t’kill me, keep me, or get me back to me own people?”

Jade laughed. “You looked lonely and sick. But you are very pretty for…other than merfolk, and I didn’t want you to die there, so I brought you here.”

Jack frowned. /I wonder what she meant by “die THERE.”/ “Love, ‘pretty’ is for the ladies. Men, such as meself, are handsome.”

She laughed her silvery laugh. “Not you. Your face, your hands, your body…very pretty. For a two-legs. What is your name, pretty two-legs?”

“Captain Jack Sparrow, at your service, luv. So am I to stay here or go home, not meanin’ any disrespect to ye.”

“I shall bring you back to your kind when I have what I want from you.” She dimpled at him.

Jack looked at her, an eyebrow raised. /She did not say I would be alive when she brought me back, I notice./ “And what might that be, love?”

“You have upon you an item of great magic that I must have. When you give it to me, I shall return you.”

“I have no magic on me, love. Me compass would be the only thing I could think of to call magic, but it’s back on me ship under lock and key.”

“No, it is on your body.”

“I’ll believe ye love, but I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Then you are mine till you give it up.” Jade bent forward and took Jack to her breast, kissing his forehead. “Do you find me desirable?”

Jack looked up from his position between her breasts. /If she were any more desirable I’d have embarrassed meself all over the cushion./ “Aye, I think that might be possible.”

“Good. I find you desirable too.” She pressed Jack back against the cushions and removed the remaining rags of his clothes and discarded them. She examined his broken leg, and took hold of it, setting the bones into position, then touching her necklace with one hand as she held his leg with the other. Jack gasped, hissing between clenched teeth when she’d grabbed his leg, but he could feel the pain ebbing away as she moved her necklace about.

“That’s a handy item there, love. Are you sure I have what you want on me? I have nothin’ on me now, and if those rags were magical, I’m a carp.”

“You’re not a carp. The clothes were not the item I seek."

While in the process of examining her charms, Jack suddenly became aware that she was examining HIS.

"See anything that ye like, luv?"

"What is it that I do see, two legs?"

"Not just any two legs, madam, I'm a MALE two legs, a man, to be specific and it is said, at the risk not being humble, I am a man endowed with special, ah, skills, as it were."

"Skill to do what?"

"Ah, expertise in, ah, well, dancing, you might say, couples dancing."

Aware that she was being got around and the human was uncomfortable with the topic, the siren of the sea reacted with nothing more than a slight turning up of the edges of her mouth, and a wry smile it was at that.

"And, is this an old dance among your kind?"

"Oh, aye, it is, ancient in fact."

"I have heard of the ancient dance; danced to the rhythm of the sea, I understand."

Jack gulped, realizing that she understood all too well, and found himself not quite in control of his body as she reached forward and touched his member, which became increasingly pleased at her interest. It suddenly dawned on him what she wanted.

"What is the matter pretty two legs, do you NOT find me desirable, after all?" She lounged back against the bed, her arms stretched above her head, her hair fanning out on the pillows, her breasts straining towards him, begging to be held.

Jack wondered if she were joking, a rock would find her desirable, but he didn't have much of an idea what to do about it.

"But how, I...ah, I mean, I didn't think that fish..."

She sat up instantly with a jerk, taking hold of one of his dreadlocks and pulling him towards her until her nipples touched his bare chest, meeting his own hard knobs; her eyes flashed green fire.

"They do not! Hence the term 'poor fish'. But I assure you pretty two legs, I am no fish." Her lips came near to touching his, but did not. He couldn't move. She let him go and with a sigh, reclined propped on one elbow, with a slight look of scorn on her face. "But I am beginning to wonder about these 'man' skills you speak of. I have heard stories, but perhaps they are only legend." She smiled, showing him her sharp teeth, luminous as pearls, and ran the tip of her tongue over them. Jack wondered how long he could go without breathing or leaping on her.

"ARE you a man of legendary skills? Or are you not? Perhaps you are a man who is…under-endowed."

Stung, Jack rose to the occasion. "I assure you my lady, I am a man who is the very STUFF of legends." Jack purred, leaning over her. Flashing him a delighted grin, she lay down as he advanced on her and positively shimmied under him. Jack knew she was not prone to argue.

"Milady, may I have this dance?" She laughed bubbles at him, and drew him down to her

She leaned in and kissed him. When he responded, she took the kiss deeper, begging entrance to his mouth, with the barest touch of her tongue pressing his lips apart; darting in quick as a minnow, it snaked past his shining teeth, all the way back to his tonsils.

His eyes went wide.

He sucked on the tongue, feeling it moving around his mouth, to settle finally, contented, having leisurely wrapped itself, slowly, around his tongue. He could feel his manhood swelling almost painfully from the thoughts of what she could do with that tongue racing through his head. His tongue, no slouch by any means, followed her tongue back into her mouth; he broke off the kiss, moving his mouth down her neck, tasting her, loving her, sipping the salty sweet taste of her skin. He moved lower, tasting her nipple, then moving his hand down to where a human woman’s center would be, massaging the area. A flap of scales moved, revealing Jade’s womanhood.

Jack just HAD to explore this.

His head sank down, to taste her, his tongue probing to the inside of the flap. Jade’s tail swished back and forth, and little sighs escaped her. She moved her head to his manhood, taking it in her mouth, her tongue completely encircling it just below the crown, squeezing it lightly as she sucked. He moaned loudly, and his tongue plunged deep, with one long finger as well, then two, giving added pleasure to her.

Jade moaned around his rock hard member, taking it deep into her mouth, licking, humming against his sac in such a way that Jack thought he would die from the pure pleasure. He withdrew his hand and mouth, and reluctantly lifted her head off his manhood. He turned around on the cushion, leaning her on her back. He moved over her, holding himself ready at her entrance. She reached behind his back and pulled him into her, squeezing his ass.

Jack eased his length into Jade’s moist heat, slowly, letting the covering drag along his member, making him moan loudly. He plunged his manhood, thrusting it in and out quickly, unable to control himself. Her muscles contracted around his sensitive organ, VERY tightly, almost milking him to completion. He growled and took her nipple in his mouth, suckling like a babe at feeding.

The hot fullness of Jack’s length inside her combined with his mouth made Jade cry out in pleasure again and again, cumming hard. Jack thrilled as her muscles clamped down on his member, her sweetness washed over it like a hot tidal wave. Gasping out his delight, Jack plunged into her so deeply he thought he would die, roaring her name as he spilled deep within her, nearly shrieking in his ecstasy as she screamed softly under him..

She held him as he drifted, derelict in the afterglow, cradling his head between her breasts; he pulled out of her, the soft flap closing as if she had no sex there. He lay against her, nerveless, without bones and nearly without even the ability to think, so thoroughly had she devastated him.

And completed him.

Finally, his mind started to un-cloud. “Love, you are perfect. If you’ll have me, I’ll stay here and worship you forever.” He draped himself across her chest, nuzzling her neck while melting against her shoulder.

“No, Captain Jack Sparrow. Two-legs can only stay here for a short time before they will eventually drown. I will bring you back to your people as soon as you give me the magic you carry.”

“I keep telling you, I have no magic.”

“It is here.” She touched the large, silver trinket on the left side of his face. “This is your magic.”

He took it up and looked at it, examining it as best he could, wondering at it. "I picked it up just before I became Captain of the Pearl the first time.”

“Yes, and it is because of this item that you became the Captain when you did. It has the power to control men’s minds. I need it.”

Jack raised an eyebrow. “So is this the only reason that I can talk people into doing my bidding?”

It is a part of it, but only a part. You, Captain Jack Sparrow have a tongue gifted in its own right. I sense that magic surrounds you, but I also sense your strengths and weaknesses. You do not need this magic. You will be fine without it, I assure you.”

Jack pondered it for a moment. “And if I refuse?”

“Then you will die here. You will never leave Atlantis.”

“I suppose, then, that we have an accord.” He took the trinket out of his hair and handed it to her. “Jade, will I ever see you again?”

“I do not know. I am no fortuneteller. But we rarely go to the surface, so I would say no unless you choose to drown again.”

“I see.”

“Prepare yourself. We must leave now.”

“I’m naked.”

“I have no two-legs clothes. You will have to return as you are.” Jade took his hand and started swimming, dragging him through the water after her as before. As they went through the skin of the city’s bubble, Jack felt his breathing change. It was like trying to breathe fog.

* - * - *

She swam for hours, seemed like, pulling him along. His arm started to hurt, but he held on tight, not wanting to drown. She rose to the surface, bringing him up with her. He struggled to breathe, choking and gagging; she squeezed his stomach tightly several times, compressing his diaphragm to expel water from his lungs. He wretched once, and then, breathed the pure air once again. Eventually, he noticed he was leaning against a dark wall and he looked up at it.

They had arrived at the aft end of the Black Pearl. She had brought him home, just as she said she would. Well, he would keep the accord as well, he leaned into her and kissed her. “I’ll never forget you, Jade.”

“Or I you, Captain Jack Sparrow. Now go to your two-legs friends. I must go home now.” She dove into the water, letting her tail splash Jack in the face.

He laughed.

Jack saluted her, then swam as fast as he could, making his way around the hull to the place where he could climb aboard and sneak into his cabin. When he emerged and started giving orders as though nothing unusual had occurred, the crew looked at him as if he’d grown another head…/or maybe a fish tail…/ Jack smiled, answering their 'how's and 'where's' with a grin and his trademark, "You forget…I'm Captain Jack Sparrow"

't was a fishy tale indeed; he knew they’d never believe him. But it definitely made another interesting story to add to his growing legend – a yarn he would tell – but only rarely and then only when pressed – for a bottle of rum or two.

* - * - *

End

A/N: Ok, we've rewritten it a bit...there was some FANTASTIC constructive critism from someone in a Yahoo Group that led us to believe we had done part of it wrong. So hit that REVIEW button and let's see what you think of the new version!