Barbossa's Daughter

Chapter 50

Cora had no idea where they were going. None at all.

For this one moment, for this one day, as she stared at the horizon until the island where her father lay to rest became lost, she just needed to be sad. She needed to be consumed by her grief. By the realisation that her selfish desire to keep her father with her for all her life, the person who had been there for every moment even the disgusting, uncomfortable, not-pretty moments, was nothing more than a desire. It could never be true.

The same could be said of everyone. No one lived forever. But their memories did. And the tales of the fearsome Captain and Commodore Hector Barbossa, Pirate Lord of the Brethren Court, father to the Pirate King and heart of the sea Cordelia Barbossa and grandfather to a relentless pirate named in honour of him, Henry Barbossa Turner, would never be forgotten.

The first accomplishment of Cora's would forever be being the daughter of Hector Barbossa. Not just the captain, but the man.

She stood there for hours with the blanket wrapped around her as she got lost in the waves of thought inside her head, the sun sinking into the sky as Jack steered and Henry conversed with Carina, the two of them standing shoulder to shoulder.

Jack had taken Cora off Henry's hands as they made way and the boy simply walked over to Carina and wrapped his arms around her. The girl had been very surprised, but she hugged him back as she simply breathed. He held her tightly in his arms as he accepted the fact that he would never be seeing his grandfather again.

"How are you?" Carina asked, still hugging Henry's waist.

"Been better," he admitted. "But I'll be better if ye don't slap me for this."

"For what?" Carina asked as Henry pulled away.

"This."

And his lips crashed on hers.

Watching his grandfather die and seeing how heartbroken his mother was... it showed him that every single moment counts, just as his mother had said. He shouldn't waste time because he didn't know how much they'd have. Cora had been lucky enough to get a second chance with her father, but they were certain that no one else would be. So he was going to make this count. He was going to stop denying whatever attraction he felt towards Carina, pulling him to her like a magnet.

But the second their lips touched, Carina gasped as she pulled away and touched her fingers to her lips.

"Why did you do that?" she asked, Henry's hands still cradling her face.

"I'm not sorry about it," Henry said.

"And I'm not sorry about this," Carina returned as she raised her hand and Henry waited for the slap but it never came as she gripped the material of his shirt and pulled his lips back to hers. And now Henry was the one taken by surprise before his hands squeezed Carina's hips in a way that made her heart race before they trailed up her sides and sent shivers up her spine.

And even though Cora was still in complete shock, she was still happy for her son. She was still staring at the horizon, thinking about how Jack's compass would point that way, would point to her father if she held it again, when they finally arrived ashore.

Henry hadn't been certain of it, but he prayed. He wished and he prayed to every god, goddess, to Calypso that this would work, that this was where he would be.

And for perhaps the second time in his life, his wish came true.

Carina's hand was intertwined with his as they walked across the sand, Cora following behind them as she watched the way the wet sand was moulded to the bottom of their feet, leaving a trail of footprints behind.