FIC: Gardens of Stone 2/2
Title: Gardens of Stone
Part: 2 of 2
Author: miss_drea_fic
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Pairing: Jack/Will, Will/Elizabeth
Rating: NC-17
Summary: A story told in fragments of two men who cannot be together but connect together all the same.
Disclaimer: The Mouse owns it all.
*
It was Calypso who once again managed to throw a wrench in it, She appeared in all her glory - sans crabs to Jack’s relief - on the middle of the third day Sparrow joined ranks. Her eyes were oddly solemn in her black face, even the tattered taffeta of her dress was still and silent. It was though everything else had stopped moving as well.
“Wil’em Tu’ner...” she drawled, and the spell fell even heavier on the crew mates. Slowly Jack felt his awareness slipping away until even his thoughts were quiet. “Ye ‘ave broken dem rules,” she intoned, a trace of sympathy in her tone.
“What rules have I broken?” Will demanded, fear creeping up his spine, the same way scales had only days before.
“‘E was never a’posed ta come ta ye...” Calypso gestured to Jack, his face frozen in the parody of concern.
William’s answering retort was bitter. “Everyone dies.”
But the Water Goddess shook her head, her face drawing closed in her sorrow. “Nay,” she told him. “Not dat one.” With a sweeping motion that was almost comical in its execution, she held out a hand and something small and round lay inside. The fear that had been creeping up his spine splashed fully into his heart.
“You cannot be serious,” William cried, taking a step away.
“On de contrary,” Calypso murmured, sashaying her way towards Jack, “I am quite.” She stroked the side of Jack’s face for a moment, before slipping the gold medallion back into him. The hated coin floated weightlessly for a moment before it looped around his neck and bound him.
“Why?” asked Will as Jack began to fade from sight. “Why?”
This time, her smile was only melancholy. “‘Cause time makes fools of us all...” she began to fade along with Jack. “An’ t’is rather fun ta watch...”
Then both Goddess and Jack were gone and no one could remember that the pirate had ever been on the ship. More horrifying of all was that the scales William had finally learned to shed were now present back on his body.
*
1. Death: Jack did not hesitate in digging up the small grave he had made for William’s heart, it was just behind Elizabeth’s, and under the medallion lay the key. With shaking fingers, he opened the box, but his fears only grew as the heart beat once, twice and was silent.
2. Forgotten: The world didn’t need legends anymore, and Black Jack Davy faded like the best of them, a ghost among other ghosts lost in a fog of forgetfulness.
3. Loss: “No,” he said to the boy, “not yet.”
4. Blood: He didn’t bleed anymore, the cuts just sealed over themselves, leaving nothing but a faint ache and a pain that was only spiritual.
5. Immortality: It wasn’t until after the last 100 years alone did he truly learn what hate meant.
6. Dreams: They dreamed of each other often, but William could never find him in life and Jack didn’t bother waiting.
7. Time: The day the Titanic sunk, William was there to clean up the souls, the shining scales that slid up the side of his neck and played patterns over his cheekbones glinting sinister in the moonlight.
8. Light: One day, the medallion released its hold from him, and dropped effortlessly into the sea.
9. Reunion: The day that Jack died for the second (or was it third?) Time, he was shocked to discover the same William was not waiting for him.
*
Alone in the candlelight of the cabin room, Jack slowly and reverently unbuttoned the small white snaps on William’s shirt, revealing inch by inch the tanned flesh speckled with iridescent scales. They were cool to the touch, but smooth and when Jack laid his lips there, they were tasteless, while his skin was warm with sweat.
The scales painted pictures across his upper body, in great sweeps and whirls that seemed to have no rhyme or reason. And Jack delighted in the way that William’s fingers fisted themselves into the blankets as he traced their patterns happily down his torso.
In rebuttal, William divested Jack of the layers and layers he wore upon his person, until his too thin body came into view. William stared for a long moment and Jack didn’t fidget - though he wanted to - and finally William ducked his head and kissed him.
They moved together, shifting and rolling their hips together in a desperate dance of longing, pain and regret. Jack would have been satisfied only to crawl deeper into Jack’s mouth, his skin and body. Jack would have none of it, flipping them over to slide his hand between the too perfect cheeks of William’s bottom, to find that the scales did not cover him there either.
The dominant captain in William growled and snapped against his tight leash of control while the lover in him spread his legs wider and begged a little prettier. Jack dipped one finger in, two and then three before Will twisted out of his grip and pinned Jack to the bed.
With one fluid movement that shouldn’t have been possible, William slipped up his body only to lower himself onto Jack’s leaking erection, taking care to go as slowly as he dared. Jack strained and grunted, disliking his lack of participation until finally William was seated to the hilt.
They both gasped at the feeling as time seemed to slow and water rushed in their ears. Jack rolled them over and their legs grew tangled as one thrust and the other retreated in a dance they’d long to complete since traveling together on the Interceptor so many years before.
When the water was gone and the sun rose behind them, the candle completely out, William shuddering, finally spoke: “I love you,” he whispered into Jack’s chest. “God, how I love you.”
Jack convulsed, coming harder than he had in years to his words. “Me too,” he muttered against the sea soaked hair. “Me too.”
It wasn’t the words but it was enough.
*
“What did you mean?”
“When? Because I say a rather lot of things and I could have meant anything depending on the day, and my mood, and how many souls you took, or it could have been something I-...”
“You said you buried your immortality with her.”
“...Ah.”
“Ah? What is that, ah? What exactly did you mean, Jack?”
“Nothing, I didn’t mean anything about it.”
“Liar.”
“...Pirate.”
“Jack!”
“The day that she died, she told Billy to give me a large box of things. In this large, wooden box that was poorly made by the way, was your little sea chest. She told me I’d never be able to open it, because she never had the key.”
“I gave you the key.”
“You never told her that.”
“Aye, well, I was afraid she’d suss out the symbolism.”
“...what symbolism?”
“Never you mind, Jack.”
“Right...anyway, I buried it with her.”
“Why? To avoid temptation?”
“I’m not entirely sure what you mean.”
“I can think of a lot of reasons for you to want me dead.”
“I thought we covered this, dear William!”
“Well maybe we need to cover it again!”
“I love you, you stupid, stubborn, overly idiotic creature!”
“Thought so.”
“Thought so?! Thought so?!”
“Don’t shriek so Jack, you’re beginning to imitate Ana Maria.”
“I’m going to tell her you said that.”
“Go ahead.”
Instead, Jack kissed him, and Ana Maria - who had been, without remorse, listening at the door - decided to forgive Will for comparing her to Jack. After all, men in love did often say stupid things.
*
1. Rules: Rules are only there when it’s hardest to follow them, William whispered to the little boy who had a large metal rod through his fragile chest, and then he slipped a hand over his gasping mouth and pressed.
2. Mythology: Somewhere along the line, time just ran out, and the legend that was just went away. The world no longer had any need for him.
3. Alone: “You can’t leave me here alone like this,” Jack begged the earth, as William peacefully passed along the dagger, “you can’t!”
4. Legacy: Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain of the Flying Dutchman buried William’s body beside the grave site of his wife, his son and his unborn daughter. Jack’s own heart went with him.
5. Wrong: “I told him,” Calypso said, “you were never supposed to die.”
6. Right: “Then why did he?” Jack asked hollowly, “why did he?”
7. Heaven: William wasn’t entirely sure what kind of world he woke up in when he finally sat up, gasping for air, but the sand for millions of miles gave him some idea.
8. Hell: Water, water, everywhere and all the boards did shrink, water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.
*
In the year 1945, after both wars were over and done with, and the world sat in a discordant period of psychotic rest, Calypso, now a woman with a gun over her shoulder, finally let the legend go.
There was fun while it lasted, letting William have a taste of forever before giving it to his lover, though she never meant to hurt anyone. William waited and now Jack would find him, it was only a matter of time.
The Flying Dutchman, battle shielded with steel and huge battalions of guns and powder, sank slowly beneath the waves, giving into the curse surrounding the area. No Magic held her together any longer, and finally, finally, Davy Jones’ spirit could be set free.
The world didn’t need her, nor did it need her children, and slowly she began to fade from thought, from book, from memory, until Jack Sparrow, William Turner and all their get were gone. It was easier that way.
*
Jack wasn’t covered in scales, but he was covered in dirt when William accidently stumbled upon him. He lay face down in the side, his chest rising and falling rhythmically. This rather confused dear William, since the last he had heard, Jack had no heart. But, with a quick dry press of hands, he found this was not the case.
When he rolled Jack over and found him to be Jack and not the sad, scary excuse of a man he’d grown used to on the ship. William sat beside him and mused that while he never could understand Calypso’s motives, it must turn out all right at the end.
He never had understood why Jack had arrived on his ship, then been banished three days later only to return again almost a hundred years in the future. Maybe they both needed to grow up, or maybe Jack needed to fulfill some great plan, but it had made their twenty years together very cherished and needed.
A light groan from Jack drew his attention downward, and he tucked a wayward strand of his hair behind his ear. The touch alone drew Jack upwards to consciousness, his exhausted body fighting him every step of the way.
A husky laugh caused his eyes to snap open and Jack looked up into the warm brown eyes of the lover who had died in his arms. “William?”
“‘Lo, Jack,” William rumbled and finally, the sun came out.
*
A Last Message from your Narrator:
Calypso: “I am haunted by humans.”
*End
Part: 2 of 2
Author: miss_drea_fic
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Pairing: Jack/Will, Will/Elizabeth
Rating: NC-17
Summary: A story told in fragments of two men who cannot be together but connect together all the same.
Disclaimer: The Mouse owns it all.
*
It was Calypso who once again managed to throw a wrench in it, She appeared in all her glory - sans crabs to Jack’s relief - on the middle of the third day Sparrow joined ranks. Her eyes were oddly solemn in her black face, even the tattered taffeta of her dress was still and silent. It was though everything else had stopped moving as well.
“Wil’em Tu’ner...” she drawled, and the spell fell even heavier on the crew mates. Slowly Jack felt his awareness slipping away until even his thoughts were quiet. “Ye ‘ave broken dem rules,” she intoned, a trace of sympathy in her tone.
“What rules have I broken?” Will demanded, fear creeping up his spine, the same way scales had only days before.
“‘E was never a’posed ta come ta ye...” Calypso gestured to Jack, his face frozen in the parody of concern.
William’s answering retort was bitter. “Everyone dies.”
But the Water Goddess shook her head, her face drawing closed in her sorrow. “Nay,” she told him. “Not dat one.” With a sweeping motion that was almost comical in its execution, she held out a hand and something small and round lay inside. The fear that had been creeping up his spine splashed fully into his heart.
“You cannot be serious,” William cried, taking a step away.
“On de contrary,” Calypso murmured, sashaying her way towards Jack, “I am quite.” She stroked the side of Jack’s face for a moment, before slipping the gold medallion back into him. The hated coin floated weightlessly for a moment before it looped around his neck and bound him.
“Why?” asked Will as Jack began to fade from sight. “Why?”
This time, her smile was only melancholy. “‘Cause time makes fools of us all...” she began to fade along with Jack. “An’ t’is rather fun ta watch...”
Then both Goddess and Jack were gone and no one could remember that the pirate had ever been on the ship. More horrifying of all was that the scales William had finally learned to shed were now present back on his body.
*
1. Death: Jack did not hesitate in digging up the small grave he had made for William’s heart, it was just behind Elizabeth’s, and under the medallion lay the key. With shaking fingers, he opened the box, but his fears only grew as the heart beat once, twice and was silent.
2. Forgotten: The world didn’t need legends anymore, and Black Jack Davy faded like the best of them, a ghost among other ghosts lost in a fog of forgetfulness.
3. Loss: “No,” he said to the boy, “not yet.”
4. Blood: He didn’t bleed anymore, the cuts just sealed over themselves, leaving nothing but a faint ache and a pain that was only spiritual.
5. Immortality: It wasn’t until after the last 100 years alone did he truly learn what hate meant.
6. Dreams: They dreamed of each other often, but William could never find him in life and Jack didn’t bother waiting.
7. Time: The day the Titanic sunk, William was there to clean up the souls, the shining scales that slid up the side of his neck and played patterns over his cheekbones glinting sinister in the moonlight.
8. Light: One day, the medallion released its hold from him, and dropped effortlessly into the sea.
9. Reunion: The day that Jack died for the second (or was it third?) Time, he was shocked to discover the same William was not waiting for him.
*
Alone in the candlelight of the cabin room, Jack slowly and reverently unbuttoned the small white snaps on William’s shirt, revealing inch by inch the tanned flesh speckled with iridescent scales. They were cool to the touch, but smooth and when Jack laid his lips there, they were tasteless, while his skin was warm with sweat.
The scales painted pictures across his upper body, in great sweeps and whirls that seemed to have no rhyme or reason. And Jack delighted in the way that William’s fingers fisted themselves into the blankets as he traced their patterns happily down his torso.
In rebuttal, William divested Jack of the layers and layers he wore upon his person, until his too thin body came into view. William stared for a long moment and Jack didn’t fidget - though he wanted to - and finally William ducked his head and kissed him.
They moved together, shifting and rolling their hips together in a desperate dance of longing, pain and regret. Jack would have been satisfied only to crawl deeper into Jack’s mouth, his skin and body. Jack would have none of it, flipping them over to slide his hand between the too perfect cheeks of William’s bottom, to find that the scales did not cover him there either.
The dominant captain in William growled and snapped against his tight leash of control while the lover in him spread his legs wider and begged a little prettier. Jack dipped one finger in, two and then three before Will twisted out of his grip and pinned Jack to the bed.
With one fluid movement that shouldn’t have been possible, William slipped up his body only to lower himself onto Jack’s leaking erection, taking care to go as slowly as he dared. Jack strained and grunted, disliking his lack of participation until finally William was seated to the hilt.
They both gasped at the feeling as time seemed to slow and water rushed in their ears. Jack rolled them over and their legs grew tangled as one thrust and the other retreated in a dance they’d long to complete since traveling together on the Interceptor so many years before.
When the water was gone and the sun rose behind them, the candle completely out, William shuddering, finally spoke: “I love you,” he whispered into Jack’s chest. “God, how I love you.”
Jack convulsed, coming harder than he had in years to his words. “Me too,” he muttered against the sea soaked hair. “Me too.”
It wasn’t the words but it was enough.
*
“What did you mean?”
“When? Because I say a rather lot of things and I could have meant anything depending on the day, and my mood, and how many souls you took, or it could have been something I-...”
“You said you buried your immortality with her.”
“...Ah.”
“Ah? What is that, ah? What exactly did you mean, Jack?”
“Nothing, I didn’t mean anything about it.”
“Liar.”
“...Pirate.”
“Jack!”
“The day that she died, she told Billy to give me a large box of things. In this large, wooden box that was poorly made by the way, was your little sea chest. She told me I’d never be able to open it, because she never had the key.”
“I gave you the key.”
“You never told her that.”
“Aye, well, I was afraid she’d suss out the symbolism.”
“...what symbolism?”
“Never you mind, Jack.”
“Right...anyway, I buried it with her.”
“Why? To avoid temptation?”
“I’m not entirely sure what you mean.”
“I can think of a lot of reasons for you to want me dead.”
“I thought we covered this, dear William!”
“Well maybe we need to cover it again!”
“I love you, you stupid, stubborn, overly idiotic creature!”
“Thought so.”
“Thought so?! Thought so?!”
“Don’t shriek so Jack, you’re beginning to imitate Ana Maria.”
“I’m going to tell her you said that.”
“Go ahead.”
Instead, Jack kissed him, and Ana Maria - who had been, without remorse, listening at the door - decided to forgive Will for comparing her to Jack. After all, men in love did often say stupid things.
*
1. Rules: Rules are only there when it’s hardest to follow them, William whispered to the little boy who had a large metal rod through his fragile chest, and then he slipped a hand over his gasping mouth and pressed.
2. Mythology: Somewhere along the line, time just ran out, and the legend that was just went away. The world no longer had any need for him.
3. Alone: “You can’t leave me here alone like this,” Jack begged the earth, as William peacefully passed along the dagger, “you can’t!”
4. Legacy: Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain of the Flying Dutchman buried William’s body beside the grave site of his wife, his son and his unborn daughter. Jack’s own heart went with him.
5. Wrong: “I told him,” Calypso said, “you were never supposed to die.”
6. Right: “Then why did he?” Jack asked hollowly, “why did he?”
7. Heaven: William wasn’t entirely sure what kind of world he woke up in when he finally sat up, gasping for air, but the sand for millions of miles gave him some idea.
8. Hell: Water, water, everywhere and all the boards did shrink, water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.
*
In the year 1945, after both wars were over and done with, and the world sat in a discordant period of psychotic rest, Calypso, now a woman with a gun over her shoulder, finally let the legend go.
There was fun while it lasted, letting William have a taste of forever before giving it to his lover, though she never meant to hurt anyone. William waited and now Jack would find him, it was only a matter of time.
The Flying Dutchman, battle shielded with steel and huge battalions of guns and powder, sank slowly beneath the waves, giving into the curse surrounding the area. No Magic held her together any longer, and finally, finally, Davy Jones’ spirit could be set free.
The world didn’t need her, nor did it need her children, and slowly she began to fade from thought, from book, from memory, until Jack Sparrow, William Turner and all their get were gone. It was easier that way.
*
Jack wasn’t covered in scales, but he was covered in dirt when William accidently stumbled upon him. He lay face down in the side, his chest rising and falling rhythmically. This rather confused dear William, since the last he had heard, Jack had no heart. But, with a quick dry press of hands, he found this was not the case.
When he rolled Jack over and found him to be Jack and not the sad, scary excuse of a man he’d grown used to on the ship. William sat beside him and mused that while he never could understand Calypso’s motives, it must turn out all right at the end.
He never had understood why Jack had arrived on his ship, then been banished three days later only to return again almost a hundred years in the future. Maybe they both needed to grow up, or maybe Jack needed to fulfill some great plan, but it had made their twenty years together very cherished and needed.
A light groan from Jack drew his attention downward, and he tucked a wayward strand of his hair behind his ear. The touch alone drew Jack upwards to consciousness, his exhausted body fighting him every step of the way.
A husky laugh caused his eyes to snap open and Jack looked up into the warm brown eyes of the lover who had died in his arms. “William?”
“‘Lo, Jack,” William rumbled and finally, the sun came out.
*
A Last Message from your Narrator:
Calypso: “I am haunted by humans.”
*End