In the Hands of Fate II: Dead Man's Chest

Chapter Sixteen

For some reason the silent ride down the candlelit river path to Tia Dalma's was worse than hearing the kraken devour Jack. It meant that the people knew. Which meant Tia knew which made it so much more real. I no longer bothered to hide the tears that fell from my eyes. I was in pain, physically and emotionally. My heart ached. A hole was torn in it, a Jack sized hole. And it was all Elizabeth's fault. I should've known not to leave her alone with him.

The air around me was warm and tropical, but I shivered still. I was cold, that was all I felt. But I didn't feel, I couldn't. I didn't even fell the oddly cool embrace of Tia as she welcomed us in her home.

An underused tankard full of amber liquid was placed in front of me. I swished it around. Rum was the last thing I needed at the moment. It reminded me too much of Jack. Everything did.

"The Black Pearl is gone," Will said a bit too loudly for the ungainly silence, "along with his captain."

"Aye," replied Gibbs. "And already the world seems a bit less bright… He fooled us all right till the end, but I guess that honest streak finally won out." A brief pause came before he lifted his cup and toasted, "To Jack Sparrow."

"Never another like Captain Jack," Ragetti said raising his glass.

Pintel raised his as well. "He was a gentleman of fortune, he was."

"He was a good man."

I grit my teeth at her voice and abruptly stood. "He was a great man," I sneered at her, slamming my cup down. "He was my best friend, and pride myself on calling him that." I sighed as another round of hysterics threatened me. "And I fell in love with him."

Some tiny part in me realized that my part of the curse was fulfilled. Jack had, after everything I did, managed to hurt me at me weakest. No, it wasn't the same way my mother was hurt. I was hurt in a different way. I hurt worse. Jack was gone. And he wasn't coming back.

Tia placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Upstairs, child. He waits for you."

I knew she wasn't talking of Jack but that still didn't keep me from running up there with hope. It didn't damper though when I saw my father, alive and well.

"Oh, Father!" I whispered as he pulled me into a hug. "He's gone, you know. Jack's gone."

He pulled me close and rubbed my back, murmuring sweet soothing words in my hair.

"Would you sail to the ends of the Earth and beyond to fetch back witty Jack and him precious Pearl?" Tia asked the group downstairs.

I moved from my father's embrace and back to the top of the stairs. "Yes!" I called. I walked down to great them again. "Yes, I would do anything, anything at all, to get my best friend back."

"Alright," she whispered a little more chipper. "But if you go and brave the weird and haunted shores at world's end…" She moved to Elizabeth. "Then you will need a captain who knows those waters."

My father walked down the short staircase and pulled me into another hug.

The remainder of Jack's crew seemed bewildered.

"So tell me, what's become of my ship?" he asked. My monkey jumped up on his shoulder and screeched.

I sat with my monkey out on Tia's porch, thinking as I pet him. Since my father's death I'd claimed him, the pesky little guy. He trusted me seen as though I was the only one who never shot him. The black silky water below was so inviting. It beckoned to me.

It reminded me of a simpler time. A time when the gentle swaying motion of a ship rocked me to sleep and I'd forget everything bad that had ever happened to me. A time when all I would have to do was talk it out with my best friend and my troubles would disappear.

My best friend. Jack.

I wish you were here, Jack. But the familiar burning never came no matter how hard I wished.

That brought another wave of emotion.

"Oh, Jack," I whispered between silent sobs. "What's become of me? I didn't used to be so… afectiv."

He simply looked up at me and smiled, causing me to laugh slightly.

"You've grown up," a gruff voice said behind me.

I rolled my eyes. "But shouldn't I become colder-hearted then?"

Barbossa sat next to me. "Not if you've become more attuned to everyone around you and how they feel. Which you have, much like your mother."

"My mother was a strong woman to send away her only child." I sighed. "I haven't heard from her or of her since I left Romania. Then all of a sudden she's in a jail sail in Port Royal. Along with Marko, my younger sister and niece."

He raised his brow at my admission. "She's always been one to stay out of trouble. She risked a lot to send you away. Heaven only knows how much trouble she got into."

"Little did she know, I was heading for trouble myself, a bunch of knifing pirates."

He chuckled and put his arm around me. "Oh, we're not all that bad. Look at you. And Gibbs, and…. Jack."

I looked at him confused. "I thought you didn't like Jack?"

He shrugged and kissed my hair. "I don't like him. I only hated him so much because he was stealing my little girl."

I chuckled and leaned in to him, my hand ghosting over the monkey's head. "I'm not so little anymore, Daddy."

"No," he sighed in to my hair and rubbed my arm. "No, you're not."

"I have to go back. I have to save them."

Barbossa nodded. "I know."

A/N: Afectiv - Emotional