Siren Song: Curse of the Black Pearl

Chapter 17

"Well. Very well. Excellent." He was fighting a grin as he walked away. Roxanne smiled slightly. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad? She turned back to the sea, and gripped the railing tightly as she thought of the future.

~- Night, Brig, The Black Pearl -~

Pintel and Ragetti were mopping tar onto the interior of the hull. A few inches of water still stood in the brig. Jack's crew were crowded into Jack's old cell, though now it was repaired.

"Shiver me timbers!" Cotton's parrot squawked, drawing Ragetti's attention slightly, before he goes back to mopping, muttering under his breath.

"Cotton here says you missed bit." Gibbs helpfully translated. Pintel slapped his mop against the cell, and Gibbs took the hint. Victoria was alone in the other cell, watching the pirates, and thinking back to her time with Jack.

"You knew William Turner?" She posed to Pintel, who frowned, but took the excuse not to work, and leaned on his mop.

"Ol' Bootstrap Bill. We knew him." He said, as Ragetti kept working. Victoria frowned, and Pintel continued. "Never sat well with Bootstrap, what we did to Jack Sparrow." Pintel scratched his chin. "The mutiny and all. He said it wasn't right with the Code. That's why he sent off a piece of the treasure to you, as it were. He said we deserved to be cursed, and remain cursed." Victoria had never suspected this, and frowned "Stupid blighter."

"Good man." Gibbs interrupted, and Pintel shot him a look.

"Well, as you can imagine, that didn't sit too well with the Captain."

"That didn't sit too well with the Captain at all. Tell 'im what Barbossa did!" Ragetti said eagerly, and Pintel turned his annoyed gaze on his friend.

"I'm telling the story!" He snapped, but continued. "So what the Captain did, he strapped a cannon to Bootstrap's bootstraps, and last we saw of Ol' Bill Turner, he was sinking to the crushing black oblivion of Davy Jones' locker." Jack's crew looked sick at the idea. "'Course, it was only after that we learned we needed his blood to lift the curse."

"That's what you call 'ironic.'" Ragetti mused, the pair looked at each other and laughed, gallows humor. Barbossa appeared behind Pintel, cutting short Ragetti's laughter, and Pintel turned, quickly letting the captain, who was flanked by several other pirates, in. Barbossa regarded Victoria for a moment, then tossed a ring of keys to Ragetti.

"Bring her." He ordered.

-- Evening, Main Deck, HMS Dauntless --

Jack was at the rail, looking out at the sea when Roxanne approached him. She was dressed in sailor's clothes, at her father's insistence that she wear something more modest than just a slip.

"Does she call out to you too?" She asked, and Jack glanced at her, frowning slightly. "The sea I mean." He paused for a moment, looking thoughtful.

"As pleasant as places like Tortuga are, the sea will always be my home. And considering what you are, it doesn't seem strange for it to be yours as well." He mused, and she nodded in understanding.

"Jack... The stories, of Isla Sirena and Whitecap Bay, are they true?" Roxanne asked, and he looked at her amused.

"Of the mermaids? Aye, met some myself. Vicious as can be, just as beautiful as the stories say. Your proof enough." He smirked, and she smiled slightly, standing up a little straighter, a far away look in her eyes as she imagined them swimming around her.

"What were they like?" He paused.

"Curious. Vicious. Beautiful. Territorial." He sighed wistfully. "Decent kissers, but they need to use less teeth." He teased her, and she rolled her eyes, gently punching him in the shoulder and he waggled his eyebrows at her.