Barbossa's Daughter

Chapter 5

Granted the memory was over ten years old, but it was still there. And what helped is that he still looked the same. Jack Sparrow hadn't changed, at least on the outside. On the inside, he burned with greed of his own, for revenge, for his ship.

"Uncle Jack?" she questioned, those words not having left her lips for the last ten years, when she thought that she'd never see him again. When he was Captain of the Black Pearl, he actually loved having her aboard the ship even when she was little. He used to lift her up so she could see over the wheel as he taught her how far to turn it and which way. There had been no relation between the two, but she'd considered him family and though she was completely loyal to her father, if there was one point of contention between them, it was marooning Jack on that island.

She'd taken a step towards him as the crew surrounded them, torches flaming before her father held out an arm to stop her.

"Delia? That you?" Jack asked, the girl having changed a lot since he'd seen her last.

"Who bloody else calls ye that?!" she exclaimed but before he could react, her father spoke first.

"How in the blazes did you get off that island?" he thundered.

"When you marooned me on that godforsaken spit of land, you forgot one very important thing, mate. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."

"Ah," Barbossa said as he neared Jack. "Well, I won't be makin' that mistake again."

"Father!" she snapped, and he glared at her.

"You dare defy yer captain?!" he roared, and her eyes hit the floor. Very few times did she ever feel like a child for her father rarely ever yelled at her and she could understand why he did it now. Jack's return threatened his captaincy of the Black Pearl, and he couldn't have his first mate turning sides the way Jack did. "Gents!" he snapped and some of them flinched. "You all remember Captain Jack Sparrow?"

"Aye," some of them muttered whilst others nodded.

"Kill him," he ordered, and pistols were drawn and aimed at the former captain, save for Cora. Because while yes, he demanded loyalty from her, he would never force her to kill when she didn't want to.

"The girl's blood didn't work, did it?" Jack blurted, not at all caring about the many guns aimed at him.

Her father froze as he met her eyes which widened with equal curiosity.

"Hold your fire," Barbossa said sourly as he turned and faced Jack. "You know whose blood we need," he stated.

"I know whose blood you need," he confirmed.

Looks like her Uncle Jack was going to live a while longer.

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Cora had never wanted to scream more in her life. To just scream out her frustration.

Because now she sat at a table with her head in her hands and her fingers gripping her hair as she listened to the men talk, her leg bouncing beneath the table. Because what Jack wanted in exchange for the name of the person they needed was tearing her in two.

"So, you expect to leave me standing on some beach with nothing but a name and your word it's the one I need and watch you sail away with me ship, with me crew and with me daughter?"

"No," Jack replied as Barbossa chuckled. "I expect to leave you standing on some beach with absolutely no name at all, watching me sail away with my ship and then I'll shout the name back to you. And as for dear little Delia, well I find myself needing a first mate, so she be well taken care of. Savvy?" Jack said with a wink and her father shot to his feet as he shoved his chair back.

"Sit down!" Cora snapped. "I ain't no leverage," she said to both men. "I ain't pickin' sides. I'd sooner shoot both of you."

Her father's jaw was tense as he sat back down. "That still leaves me on some beach with naught but a name and your word it's the one I need."

Jack picked at the apples in the tray on the table. "Of the two of us," he began, an apple in each hand, "I'm the only one who hasn't committed mutiny. Delia not included, of course. Therefore, my word is the one we'll be trusting. Although," he said as he sat down. "I suppose I should be thanking you, because, in fact, if you hadn't betrayed me and left me to die, I would have an equal share in that curse, same as you." He took a bite of the apple. "Funny old world, isn't it?"

Her father gave Jack a mocking noise of agreement as Bo'sun entered the room.

"Captain, Miss Cora. We're coming up on the Interceptor," he informed them.

Cora was the one that stood, answering faster than her father as Jack the monkey, scrambled across the table and onto her shoulder. "Get the guns and cannons in range and at the ready. And get me a spyglass," she ordered and Bo'sun nodded.

"Aye, Miss Cora."

And as he left, Cora glanced between both men. "Once we get the medallion back, we are going to come up with a solution that doesn't leave Jack without a ship and me without a father. Understood?"

She didn't give them the chance to reply. "Good."

And she walked out after Bo'sun.