Catching Up, a pirates fic
Title: Catching Up
Author: WickedRum
Summary/Set: post fountain immortal Jack, Will and Elizabeth sometimes spend decades away from each other, but they sure always have a lot to catch up on when they do meet!
Genre: Angst/Romance/maybe Parody?/very mild slashy connotations.
Rating/Pairing: R for the language and sexual references. Sparrabeth, Willabeth, Norribeth, hints at Barbossabeth and various OC pairings. But you have to forgive the characters, you gotta have many partners if you live for centuries.
Note nr. 1: if you find this story familiar, you read it before and I was the author. Since I don't have any new ideas, but I'm addicted to writing, I'm using one of my old templates for this fic.
Note nr. 2: Of course, as usual, English is still not my first language, so don’t slag me too much about grammar. What’s the point of grammar anyway? Oh, and I haven't been to Rome, so I dunno how accurate the descriptions are. But does it matter? It's fiction.
Disclaimer: This is just for my own and for the readers' enjoyment. Disney owns the characters and the universe (like the entire universe!)
Mariska is the property of whoever came up with the idea of Dracula having brides (I was told that’s Bram Stroker. We Transylvanians don‘t rate his book too high on the appropriateness stakes, so I never bothered reading it). I think I'm also touching on a Matrix idea, so let's mention that too. Although...does anybody care who owns Matrix? Nobody should own it actually, because its basic ideas really existed in Socrates’ time, even if the machines didn’t.
Thanks to Fred, the God of…for the beta of the original story.
Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of Italy
"I'm sorry if my professional approach has met with your disapproval," Elizabeth said tightly to Barbossa. “May I remind you that you were the first pirate who shoved me the ropes and you should maybe blame yourself for what I learned being a pirate means!”
“Mrs. Turner! Or is it Mrs. Sparrow today? Which one of your passports did you use to get here? You're taking this the wrong way anyway. I'm not personally criticizing you. I'd just…like to spend time with you,” he said courteously. Where were the days when Elizabeth was so furious with her two husbands that she moved onto his once ship, the Ramona, just to piss off Will and Jack? “Nobody dares to visit me here on the Dutchman! All I need is a little dinner, a little talkie talkie, ye know, since it's partially you're fault I ended up here as captain on this damned ship!” He grinned at her.
“I thought you liked ghost ships, scaring people, Hector. Immortality while being able to eat apples?”
Barbossa grunted, “how about go ashore, dig up some good ol treasure, hm? But no, Jack took care of that!”
Elizabeth laughed. “What treasure, with the recent downward trend in privacy worldwide, there's not much more left to raid than oil and gas tankers! I think you're a bit pretentious, given the international laws and agreements these days.”
“Yer still pirate king! Sort it out, let it be treasure!” Barbossa said gruffly. Bound to the ship, he really didn't have much bearing on what was going on in the world. “What's the trouble? They don't even hang ye fe plunder these days!”
Elizabeth sighed, “but you do need to know about the law.” Somewhere along the line she got so convinced of that she studied it at University and got a degree. It was pretty much the only ways she could still help pirates, something she felt obliged to, with her still being the pirate king, just as Barbossa said. “The prosecution of pirates by sovereign states represents a complex legal situation. It contravenes the conventional freedom of the high seas. However, because of universal jurisdiction, action can be taken against pirates without objection from the flag state of the pirate vessel. This represents an exception to the principle extra territorium jus dicenti impune non paretur.”
Barbossa grunted. Big words. That girl always came with the feel big words, from the moment he'd known her. “Uh, is that what ye tell Jack in bed?” He shuddered.
“Well, no, but maybe I should stop listening to stupid hormonal rushes. I’m not seventeen you know. How many times did that man land me in trouble?”
“Pissed off with him this century again, are ye? I got a surprise for ye then. Yer dear Jack will be blown up in,” he looked at his pocketwatch, “approximately ten minutes in Rome. Just a little payback for thinking he can steal something more off me.”
"I can't believe you two!" Elizabeth moaned. She couldn't get to the bomb in time, and Jack was immortal anyway, having drunk from the fountain of youth and given her some too, he'd be all right, but after that she wasn't in the mood for Barbossa right now either. Damn her for feeling sorry for him enough to visit. She jumped into her speedboat and in a few minutes, she was out of sight.
Barbossa smiled, even when left behind, “surely ye will be back.”
tbc
Chapter 2: Slope
Will unzipped the holdall to glimpse in, and instead of the navigational charts to mouth of the river Lethe he was expecting to find in it, a ticking bomb was inside, counting down seconds. He dropped the bag and looked at Jack, standing next to him. Why did Jack want to drink from the river Lethe, purifier of souls now anyway? If it's because he wanted to be the good man Elizabeth expected him to be, they had to bring up the subject of her a little...later again.
“Remember I was looking forward to flying back to Europe?” Jack managed before they both raised their hands to their heads in a futile effort to shield themselves as one second later everything seemed to freeze with the last tick. The next instant a deafening cracking sound echoed all around them so that their "aaaa!" almost went unnoticed. The blast from the explosion blew them in two different directions. Car alarms blared all over the place. With a big hole in the pavement and a cloud of smoke, the bomb celebrated its victory.
Jack let out a yelp feeling a blinding pain, which of course couldn‘t be heard either. The pain went on and on, tearing through him so intensely that he couldn't even scream.
Will stood up with a quick jump, looking around at the burning debris from the explosion that littered the street. He brushed himself off, cursing about electronic gadgets. In the past, if you were handed a bomb, it would've been heavy enough for you to notice it. Apart from the tearing in his clothes, there had barely been a scratch on his body, no more than if he had cut himself shaving. Well, even if he would've been injured, he was properly immortal, heart included, since Jack let him drink from the fountain as well, he'd heal. While sizing up the damage on the thankfully otherwise empty street, he thought he could take out the sound of some very faint moaning sound from all the deafening noise the parked cars were making. It came from Jack‘s direction, but he wasn’t sure. As he started forward, the sound came again, louder and more distinguishable this time. More like a groan.
Will walked over to the other side of the hole the bomb has caused to find Jack on the ground. “Look what that explosive device did to our rental car!” He shook his head, wishing Barbossa dead. Really death. But thanks to Jack's antics, his companion, his partner in crime, the one person who he'd spent most of his time with during his long life, they were stuck with Hector Barbossa till judgment day. He might've disapproved some things, but since that springing from jail in Port Royal, it became more and more obvious Will and Jack was alike and whenever one needed help, or some form of entertainment was on the horizon, they'd always go back to meet each other, especially after Elizabeth went off doing her own thing and became a non issue between them. Time did change them, if anything, they became more alike, William getting into the fun side of things as well and talking more nonsense. “What is really the point of blowing each other up if we can't die? Cause I can't see the point...” Not expecting to find anything out the ordinary with Jack he only noticed now that his friend wasn't moving, “Sparrow?” Will kicked into Jack's side, not in the mood with the playing dead game. “Jack?” He rolled his eyes and knelt beside him. Pale complexion, limp muscles, shallow breathing. Jack truly seemed unconscious.
Will lifted his friend's coat and found his whole front a bloody mess. The younger immortal looked around just to see if maybe any of Barbossa's men were back to play with them a little bit more, but he found nothing out of the norm. He turned his attention back to the other ex pirate lying in a puddle of blood before him, "can you hear me?" There was no response. Will poked at him.
“I hear you, eunuch,” Jack replied weakly.
“Nice you finally woke up."
With a loud grunt Jack tried to sit up and look around. "No. Lie back. Your wounds look pretty bad, Jack,” Will remarked, “you need to lay still so you can give a chance for the wounds to close over just a little bit”, Will pushed him firmly, but carefully, back down.
Will had said that he was a real mess. Jack didn’t need to check his own body for himself because he could gather that it was quite bad from the fact that Will called him Jack, not Sparrow, like when he was mad with him. He had every reason to be furious with him for dealing with Barbossa again and yet the eunuch wasn’t making his usual malevolent comments about him or Barbossa. Will's always been good at picking up the jargon of the century and used it as well if he was angry. Jack loved all these different words too, he spoke several languages. The millions they gathered with pirating made them wealthy and terribly bored. It was their nagging and the little practical jokes they played on each other that kept them a bit more interested in life and more alert during the past centuries.
Will took the remnants of his expensive, but already totally ruined coat and tried to wrap it over Jack’s largest wound. With no abdominal organs being exactly where they should’ve been, Will knew exactly just how long it will take that to heal. Several days, some time similar to his heart having been put back in its right place about two hundred years back, thanks to Jack. It was Barbossa that ferried the dead since than and the old captain wasn't happy about it one bit, hence the occasional attack, whenever he could get some of his crewmembers to catch up with culprits on land.
Jack felt sick suddenly, the pain from the wounds was increasing. His head felt light and he had to struggle to keep his eyes open. The pain kept clouding them over, “hope you're muscles are in shape, cause you'll need to carry me,” Jack said with a little smirk, as if he would've found the fact that he'll make William do something, more significant than the state of his own health.
“I said you should rest, not sleep!” He still heard an annoyed Will and then there was darkness.
Tbc
Chapter 3: Dashing Hopes
Elizabeth knew she needed to cool down. She remembered her first affection (love? No it wasn‘t love) at school in England, before they crossed over to the Caribbean, what was his name? They'd spend hours at a time writing little notes to each other and by the time summer came and he was brave enough to hold her hand, her father took her away on the Dauntless, where she met Will. Now that didn't turn out all that well either, did it? She felt the same just now. No matter how many men she tried to have a relationship with, it all ended up a disaster. They either didn't understand her, or they died, well mostly the latter. Which left her not much choice than returning to Will, Jack, or try a little winding up Barbossa, or James Norrington around her finger. Same old, same old...Did she really think for a moment, they'd change? No, chasing mythical maps, still, so they were. She couldn’t trust them. Did they give her anything good over the last century? Well, there was all that kamasutra Jack picked up from somewhere along the line, showing her the Dragon, the Octopus, the way he rubbed her clitoris, his electric touch…however, she had enough of the fact that her love life seemed to revolve only around sex these days. And the arrogance he treated her with. At first, she must’ve mistook it for pride. She felt like burning off some of her frustration with a run and once she was off the train in Rome, she didn’t ignore the urge. In no time she was back at the place where she normally slept at whenever she happened to be in the capital of Italy, James Norrington's house, the man Jack made drink from the fountain of youth just so he had to be grateful to the pirate he hated. In Jack's eyes, it was all good fun.
Upon arrival, Elizabeth considered the disadvantages of getting there so quick though. She was just in time to witness James’s endless evening robe ceremony. The immortal James, having seen too much, not exactly happy with having to live with himself either, had trouble sleeping for the last few decades. He tried to keep to a regular routine for sleep and repeated the same preliminary steps each evening that just drove Elizabeth crazy.
James was right enough in his evening gown, drinking a bottle of orange juice as she peeked in. “Elizabeth! You're early.” He greeted her, not very enthusiastically. Their “only friends” relationship wasn't about to change now, after so many years. The fact that Elizabeth felt lonely sometimes as well and came to console herself with him, didn't change the fact that she will never be in love with him. Maybe she wasn't in love with Jack Sparrow or Will Turner anymore either, but at least at some point in her life, she was head over heels about them.
“Evening, James.” She said gruffly, thinking about the other two men.
"Can I get you anything?” The ex commodore, ex pirate, always courteous. He avoided her eyes wearily, he saw Elizabeth‘s annoyance and was quite sure it mostly wasn‘t because of him. He was a good observer, he got good at it, there wasn't much to do for someone who was once the prime minister of Britain, people would've recognized him if he ventured too far pretending to live a different person's life, having not aged one bit. There was this thing called plastic surgery, but since he was immortal, the scars would just heal and in a few days' time he'd be back looking how he was before.
"I could use a bath," Elizabeth said.
"Of course, you could use a bath, but…" James said hesitantly, "you better do it quickly before your surprise visitors come back."
"What?" Elizabeth asked irritably. Surprise. She hated surprises wholeheartedly. They hardly ever turned out well. All she wanted was for the day to end, without any more bother. He'd look for news of a bomb in the morning papers, find Jack and scold him accordingly.
James looked at her carefully so that he could take fully the reaction in that displayed itself on her face, “Will and Jack were here a couple of times.” Even when she was on bad terms with her ex husbands, he should see a hint of happiness flashing over her features, that'd hurt him so much, but hurting was somehow nice, at least he felt something. He was a man fed up with life, one who had long given up, fed up with not winning where it really mattered, fed up with the same old faces torturing him with their mere existence. In a sense he's never been alive since that night he was ready to give his life on the Dutchman so Elizabeth could escape. He only took the deal to serve on the ship from Davvy Jones just in case he could further help Elizabeth and drinking from that flask with the water of eternal life wasn't his choice really.
Elizabeth was appalled, to say the least. How did they dare to look for her, when she told them not to? She opened her mouth as if to ask a question, but James said “oh, I told them you sent me a text message that you were coming some time this week…I'm through with them showing up here just in case you are staying over again…“
Elizabeth’s mouth shut again and there was yet more irritation evident on her face. She looked so dumbstricken for a minute that James almost laughed. She didn't expect him to betray her so, and to the benefit of Jack. Only as far as he was concerned, it wasn't benefiting Jack, but himself mostly. They could maybe take her and out his life for a while. Then he remembered that as soon as she gets herself together, he will be dust for playing that trick on her. “I dunno more,” he shrugged, “I have no idea what they are up to, why are they looking for you and frankly, I don't give a damn.”
Elizabeth’s face became more thoughtful, “Will? With Jack? Working together again? How could you not tell me this on the phone when I called from the train station?” she asked.
“Turner asked me not to.”
The surprise of James playing her was enough, but did she have to deal with all of them at the same time as well? A bit much for a girl to take, even if once upon a time having all three of them around was commonplace for her. She stood there silently for a few seconds, lost in the nostalgia of it all. Back then, it was different, they were all young, hopeful and naïve love was burning in their insides.
James had the right idea and tried to disappear into the bathroom, muttering quietly to himself at her expression. Pft, as if everything was his fault! Maybe he could get away from the her anger if he stayed there long enough.
Finally, Elizabeth realized what was going on and caught him by the arm before he played vanished. She stood in his way, patted and stroked his robe from the front and looked at him a bit at a loss. James was so unhappy, she knew that, but could he not love another? Could any of them not love another for any longer than half a lifetime and leave her alone with her own sorrows?
James shrugged, “it‘s not my problem, you know, that your husbands don‘t always please you.”
Elizabeth didn't answer him. He was right and it was unfair for everybody to bother James, drag him into it all over again, even if she only initially wanted to come to spend some time with him as well, after she visited Barbossa. “Let me deal with them.” She stepped out his way, head kept down. “When were they here last time?” Maybe she could determine if it was after or before the bomb.
“This morning.”
Before then. “Do they have a house around here or something?”
“Yes. They gave me the address, just in case…”
“Right, well. I’ll go talk to them. Gimme your car keys please. That's what they want after all, see me, if I go, it saves a lot chasing each other hassle,” she sighed and ran down the stairs, determined to find her two ex lovers to set them right. There were a hundred thoughts misfiring in her brain, such as Will, Jack, the cost of immortality, James, the last time she heard from the two, just after they stole twelve paintings, collectively worth from 100 to 300 million dollars, from the Isabelle Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston by posing as police officers, her place in the world as pirate king. Her thoughts were all mixed up together like some strange jigsaw puzzle she couldn't seem to fit together. Concentrate, she told herself. One thing at a time, as she always did in her complicated life. She will have enough time figuring out how exactly she felt about everything once he found them and talked to them. But did she really know why she wanted to find them and if she wanted to find them at all? No. Maybe so she could convince herself that it was true, that she wanted nothing more to do with them? Seeing Jack again, look into his deep dark eyes, hardly containing herself not to peek into the holes on his intentionally ripped jeans, knowing she'll be pulled into some more dangerous, immoral and crazy stuff. You'd think he'd have enough of that way of life after so long, but no...Or seeing Will, for that matter. Will, the Jack copycat, cause that was all he was these days. Will once figured she loved Jack more than him and since then, there was no way back, he became more and more like Jack till they became the bestest friends.
She shook her head and tried to concentrate on the road, so that she didn't cause an accident, endanger somebody else's life.
Tbc