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Ordinary Man	By : danglingdingle Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (All) > General Views: 1472 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I dot not own PotC nor have any affiliation with Disney. I make no profit from doing this.

Chapter List
- 1-Ordinary Man
- 2-2
- 3-3
- 4-4
- 5-5
- 6-6
- 7-7
- 8-8
- 9-9
- 10-9b
- 11-10
- 12-Interlude
- 9
- 10
- 11
Merciful death. Eternal sleep. An escape, an end to all pain and suffering.

Watching Jack lose all expression, following as his face fell blank, his blind eyes looking through Will, right into the past, made Will‘s throat feel clamped. The almost visible void born so abruptly, and burning everything in its wake as if the man was doused with lye, seeing it made Will crave for his hands to still be able to bring peace where there was none.

Unable to move in fear that the pile of burnt ashes that was Jack mere seconds ago would fall and scatter into the oblivion with the slightest push, Will waited for a whisper of life to return.

After seconds which stretched into small infinities, Jack’s eyes focused on Will. Slowly, uncertainly showing sorrow such as Will had witnessed but rarely, mournful beyond any words known to man.

With a twitch of a moustache, Jack’s eyes hardened; and as if his heart all of a sudden remembered how to beat again, he gasped for air and yanked his hand out of Will’s hold, dropping the compass on the table with a clatter, then stared into the distance again, tilting his head like it was too heavy for him to hold up straight on his own.

Will drew his hands away, pressing them into loose fists in his lap, powerless in front of the surge of sentiments rapidly twisting and warping from one onto another, overlapping and diverging as comprehension grew. There was nothing he could do except wait while Jack’s mind desperately tried to find the right course, the proper reaction to everything having lost its form, to his world being shattered into meaningless.

Then, from the nihility, came a voice; strong, inappropriately loud, not matching the face at all.

“So, that’s it then.”

Will could do nothing but raise an eyebrow slightly, still waiting for Jack to say or do something he could answer to.

“That’s the end of it.”

A constatation, delivered in a manner that dared Will to argue, to force him into trying to deny everything, meant to make Will somehow take his words back and make it all go away.

Jack nodded at Will’s silence. “Well, then, if you’ll excuse me, I must be going now…”

Will’s worry of Jack’s condition hastened when Jack stood up, and staggered on his feet before promptly falling back to his seat, briefly burying his face into his hands and rubbing his eyes frantically.

“Jack…” Will stood on his behalf, but before he could move, Jack looked up again, gritting his teeth, glaring at Will, then flaring out at him. “Jesus Christ on a cross, Will! What am I supposed to do now?”

The outburst drew the attention of the barmaid stifling candles and dousing lamps, who glanced at the men irritably, making Will realize how late it must be already.

The rage seemed to melt as soon as it had appeared, leaving Jack slumped on his chair and staring at his hands blankly.

Deciding that he needed to get Jack out of the tavern, with the last few patrons still finishing their drinks glancing questioning looks at them, and with the fact that they couldn’t very well stay there anyway, Will stepped next to Jack and grabbed his arm. After pulling the limp form up without - to Will’s surprise and dismay - any objections, he draped an arm around Jack to secure his stance and collected the items - cards, coins and the damned compass - from the corner of the table and put them into Jack‘s pockets, finally taking Jack’s hat and planting it on the man’s head.

The short focusing of Jack’s eyes and the smile and ‘Ta’ in thanks to Will’s efforts encouraged Will to lose his hold, then thinking better of it after Jack started to glide back down again, apparently having lost his sense of balance completely.

While tossing Jack’s arm around his shoulder and starting to plow their course to the door, Will had an idea and manoeuvred them back toward the counter. After receiving a bottle of dark rum and planting it to Jack’s hand, which grabbed it rather eagerly, Will shortly wondered if Jack was only pulling a prank on him, then dismissed the thought as impossible and headed outside.

Noticing the lingering men having halted in their tracks, staring at the pair in confusion, Will, with a sudden burst of the absurdity that had been gathering since he first opened his eyes that morning, reached over and tipped Jack’s hat in a greeting and simpered at the men the best he could muster.

Marking that none of it roused any reaction from Jack, Will corrected his hold and begun hauling the disturbingly placid man out of the sight of the strangers.

For the first few hundred yards of their awkward way, Jack seemed to waver in and out of his odd catatonia. The occasional humming sound, as if he was pondering something, debating with himself, then looking at it from another vantage, indicated that at least he’d not struck dumb and mute entirely.

Will almost jumped and yelped when the pressure on his shoulder shortly lessened and Jack’s voice abruptly croaked right next to his ear.

“Could you open this?” The bottle of rum was then shoved under his nose, and a glance at Jack revealed him looking at Will pleadingly, then frowning in wonderment.

“I seem to have some difficulties keeping meself upright, so if you don’t mind, I’ll just sit here for a bit…”

Before Will could do anything but grab the bottle, Jack had already slouched from Will’s eased hold and sat down in one movement, ending up cross-legged in the middle of the cobble stoned street.

Biting his jaw to a frustrated clench, Will popped the cork from the bottle and gave it to Jack, who took it stolidly and brought it to his lips.

Eyes widening at the remarkable ability to gulp down half a bottle of rum in one breath, a feature Jack was giving a show of at the moment, Will was starting to think if in fact it would be better to seek a surgeon, in stead of trying to deal with the situation alone.

Finding Jack looking more like himself than he’d had in the past hour or so after he put the bottle aside, and watching Will with obvious clarity, measuring him, calculating, Will bit back a sigh of relief.

Jack looked around him, quirked his lips in an accepting manner, like there was nothing he could do about anything anyway, and looked back up at Will.

“Sank, you say?”

It took a beat for Will to recognize that Jack was continuing their conversation in the tavern, apparently oblivious to, and not exactly caring what had happened in the mean time. When Will picked up on the notion, he nodded, saturnine, crossing his fingers behind his back that it wouldn’t render Jack back to wherever he had only found his way out of.

“A-ha…Hmm.” Seemingly coming to a result, Jack clapped a hand to his knee, supporting himself with the other while getting up, snatched the bottle from the ground and almost fell on his face after overbalancing, Will’s quick reactions being the only thing saving him.

Acknowledging that it was highly unlikely for Jack to walk on his own, Will once more held him by the waist and steered him towards their destination.

“Nothing more to be done then, just keep going…” Jack turned abruptly, swaying by his arm wrapped around Will’s neck, stopping in front of Will who had to stop not to tumble them over. “Unless, of course, you‘re still the --”

“No, Jack. I’m not. I‘m just an ordinary man now.”

Jack was cut short by Will‘s sharp retort which allowed no leeway for arguing the fact.

A few seconds passed as Jack pursed his lips, disgruntled, before turning his gaze away and to the bottle, waving it in salute between them and taking a sip, then looking at Will again from under his brow, apologetically, if Will wasn’t mistaken.

“’Twas just a thought.“

Jack closed his eyes tightly and shook his head forcefully, the brim of his hat nearly slapping Will in the face. Then, as if he’d never been gone in the first place, there was Jack Sparrow, in the flesh and in spirit. Still forlorn, but yet, undoubtedly Jack.

“By the way, may I inquire as to where we might be going?”

Will pushed Jack aside, straightening him back to walking position, and hazarded removing his arm from around Jack.

“To the smithy.” Will offered a small smile with his words.” I doubt you’d want to meet Elizabeth tonight.”

“Ah.“ Understanding arose in Jack with a lopsided grin. “Right you are, mate.” Pointing his bottle forward like a leading battle flag, the men followed it in silence until Jack spoke again; “Tell me William, did I ever tell you about how I took the Nassau Port?”

When Will shook his head in response, Jack rolled his eyes at his own thoughtlessness. “Of course I didn’t, when would I have done that? How far are we from the smithy?”

“Far enough. At this pace.”

“Good! Very well then, I shall tell you now, then… So, there I was, with me Pearl hiding noiselessly in the night, perfectly blending into the darkness as were her custom with her black sails - You remember what she was like, don‘t you, Will?” A bottle was poked to Will‘s chest, stopping him mid-step, and the journey wouldn‘t continue before Will agreed with the soundless request begging remembrance for a loved one.

“Yes, I remember…”

Jack’s arm on Will’s shoulder lightened and turned from the means of sustaining himself upright into a friendly gesture as he strolled leisurely at Will’s side, his voice catching a familiar tone while he weaved his yarn - the same tone Will heard when he stepped into the tavern what seemed like days ago, the sound bringing Will the utmost certainty that everything would be fine in the end.
- 9
- 10
- 11
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Ordinary Man