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Ship in a Bottle	By : EvilE Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (All) > Het - Male/Female > Jack/Elizabeth Views: 4205 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter 18: Five Lashes

Dawn broke over the ocean. Will's watch had ended, but he remained on deck, his eyes searching the horizon for any glimpse of the Queen Elizabeth. He saw none. The sun began to rise and he leaned, arms folded, on the rail of the Pearl, just thinking. He thought about Elizabeth, who was probably worried about him. But he didn't want her to worry. He wanted her to believe that he would be all right, no matter what. He had an inner strength that pulled him through the tough periods of his life and allowed him to carry on, no matter the circumstances. And despite the lurid realizations and unexpected challenges of the night... he would persevere.

~

Elizabeth had collapsed in complete exhaustion not long after Jack had left her cabin. She curled like a child in Will's bunk, wetting the pillow with tears only for a few moments before her body's need to sleep overcame her emotions. But she awoke just after dawn, and found she could not get back to sleep. Instead, she heard Jack's voice in her mind. His words, all his words, replayed in an endless litany, that attacked her mind and body and made her feel like she was sleeping on a bed of nails. Her many conflicting feelings made no sense... there were so many of them. The confusion made her feel as though she were lost in a crowd, knew she was guilty, and she was being pursued by a nameless, faceless power who meant to punish her for her many sins.

~

Will turned away from the sea when he heard the shouts of a crowd on deck. He looked to see several men pursuing one man who was trying to get away, by climbing up the rigging to escape the others. Instinct took over and he straightened his shoulders and felt immediately at his side for his sword, but to his surprise, it was gone. He then recalled he had laid it aside with the other crewmen's so that he was not hampered while he worked on the deck. But it left him defenseless, now.

~

Elizabeth felt completely weak. Utterly defenseless. Feelings flooded over her from all directions, and she fought against them, wanting the sweet escape of sleep, but it would not come. Instead she heard Jack's voice, over and over many different ways. Teasing her. Laughing at her. Chastising her. Groaning his pleasure into her ear. Hard. Bitter. Lying and truthful, at different times, at the same time. She saw his face as he'd looked after she'd hit him the previous night, a look she hadn't seen on his face a long time. Anger. Pain.

~

“All right, gentlemen, what has he done?” Will said, shouldering his way into the crowd that had caught up with the other man, and held him down to the deck.

Several heads turned toward him, but most of them ignored him. One said, “Fetch the cap'n,” and another dashed up the deck toward the captain's quarters.

“We'll teach you to steal rations from your shipmates,” one growled, and Will recognized Briggs as he held the thrashing young man back by his arms. He was hauled to his feet. Will watched as the young man was shoved over near the mainmast.

The crew suddenly stood at attention, and everything was stonily quiet.

Will heard first one step, then another, behind him. It was Lady E. The crowd parted to allow her to stroll through, and she lifted her arms above her head in an exaggerated stretch, followed by a yawn. All eyes were on her as she reached the empty place in the middle of the crowd and stopped, eyeing the young man who'd been caught. The wind flapped in the sails, and somewhere a gull cried, but no one else made a sound.

Then her face split into a grin, and she spoke in a cheerful, rousing tone. “We love a good flogging first thing in the morning, don't we, boys?” And a cheer went up on the deck, several sailors raising their fists in the air, and others taking swigs from flasks, others clapping and shouting. All except for Will. And the young man in the center. “Now, where's my cat o' nine?” Lady E said, extending her right hand and glancing about.

Her right hand was inches from Will, and he caught her eye as she waited for someone to hand her the whip. “Aren't you going to ask what he's done?” Will said quietly, so that only she and a few others nearby could hear over the ongoing buzz of conversation.

She blinked at him, and he noticed the kohl lining her eyes had smeared during the night, ringing her eyes even more widely, and it didn't seem beautiful and exotic to him in the morning light. It was like a shadow radiating outward from her eyes. “All right,” she said with an indulging smile. “Mr. Turner, what's he done?”

“He took rations from someone else. Probably because he was hungry.”

“Stealing is stealing,” she replied, turning her eyes away from him. “And for that offense, he'll start with five lashes. What's it to you, boy? If you can't stomach it, go elsewhere. Take a swim, for all I care.” Briggs appeared in the front of the crowd again, laying the whip in Lady E's outstretched hand.

Will had been on ships, been on the Flying Dutchman, had seen how things worked. Received his share of lashes, too, and he had the scars to prove it. But still... he thought it cruel. And he longed to take a stand, to snatch the whip from her and have one of his righteous moments, the kind of moment Jack had called a 'bloody stupid' moment, where doing the right thing gained one absolutely nothing. Whether or not one knew it at the time. And he would have done it anyway, stood in her way, argued with her, but he knew he had a larger purpose, and vowed he would right the wrong in some other way. After all, he was planning on helping to commandeer her ship.

His brow furrowed and his lips compressed into a thin line. He knew his eyes were probably flashing black with anger, but all he said was, “Fine.” And he turned to elbow his way out of the crowd.

“Mr. Turner!” He stopped at the sound of her voice, so much like his Elizabeth's, yet harder, more raw. More cruel. He slowly reversed his body to face her again. Everyone else had heard her, too, and the conversation dropped into a lull as they watched the scene unfold. “I detect a note of insolence in your voice, and it displeases me. So you're going to have to rectify that.”

“What will be your pleasure, then, Captain?” Will said in a dry monotone that dripped with sarcasm. His mouth was nearly formed into a sneer as he walked back to her. He watched her eyes as she heard his reply, knew she understood he alluded to the events of the night, how he'd been dying to please her... and she had nearly let him.

The tip of her tongue came out to wet her lips, and she smiled again, knowingly. He tried not to look at that, and instead concentrated on how to extract himself from this increasingly brutal scenario as she spoke. “You know, boy, I do greatly enjoy punishing a man for his misdeeds. But, this time, you're going to do it for me.”

He felt something hard and long in his hands, then, and he realized she'd handed him the whip, its black handle a tangled mass of overlapping leathery skin. So this was how his father had felt... forced to administer cruelty to an innocent. Forced to inflict pain.

“And if I don't?” he asked her, still meeting her penetrating gaze.

She smiled even more, then, but it was not a nice smile. It didn't reach her eyes. “Then you'll take his five lashes yourself.”

Will gripped the whip tightly, so tightly he saw his knuckles were completely white, and he shook his head, slowly, in frustration. He couldn't do this. He wouldn't. He felt her hand on his arm, and she was pulling him out into the center of the crowd, and then walking behind him to press against him, raising her lips to whisper in his ear.

“Go on. You'll like it.”

Will gritted his teeth, his silent refusal manifesting itself in his hands, as he held the whip firmly to his body. What could he do... she'd handed him a weapon, it was right there in his hands... could he use it, before she drew her daggers? Could he get to his sword, before she found one herself? Unlikely. And still she clung to his shoulders behind him, and he could feel the warmth of her curves against his back, her breath against his neck making him hot.

“Don't look at his face,” she whispered. “Just feel the power in your arm, and let it follow down into your wrist. Don't forget to snap your wrist. That's how you get that nice crack.”

Will began to feel nauseated. He felt twenty pairs of eyes on him, and he still hesitated, trying to figure a way out. And he couldn't think at all with her body against him like that, when all he really wanted to do was turn around and wrap his hands around her neck... that pretty, white neck... Elizabeth's neck. “I'd rather watch you,” he said in a throaty whisper, turning his head to the side, so that they were practically nose to nose as she peered over his shoulder.

“I'm sure you would,” she purred. “But no. You flog him, or I'll flog you. You need a to learn a few lessons today, boy.”

~

Elizabeth lay on her stomach in the bunk. Tears squeezed out of the corners of her eyes. Oh no... not again. She knew it was morning, that she should rise and find clothes - men's or women's - and go do something useful, but she didn't feel like leaving her bed. Ever. Jack's words still echoed in her mind, with increasing clarity and sharpness.

Why are you so very angry, hm? Will wanted to do it...

Jack's taunt burned her ears and struck her, deeply, to the core. She was angry that Will hadn't told her where he was going, that he still seemed to admire Jack and follow Jack, when she knew so well that he was not to be trusted. Half of her wanted to tear Will out of his reverie, make him see Jack for who he really was... a manipulative, lying scoundrel who only cared about satisfying himself. She was angry at herself for being helpless, useless when she longed to take a sword and go after Lady E on her own. The fact that Will wanted to do it, wanted to leave her behind and recklessly pursue this mysterious pirate mistress, who even now could have him defenseless in her clutches, raised a great, writhing strip of fear, that circled through her mind, poised to strike her and sear her flesh...

~

One.

Will's right arm fell limply across his body, and he watched it as if it belonged to someone else, as if all the world had slowed to a crawl. His hand fell by his hip, and he stared, almost uncomprehending, at the black handle of the whip he held. The whip that had just struck the young man, who had closed his mouth to stifle a yell of pain that reached Will's ears regardless. A wound as long as a man's finger reddened and then bled on the young man's flesh. Will's lips parted and he struggled to breathe, still unable to grasp that he'd done it. He'd actually struck the blow. He turned, mouth still open, to see Lady E, similarly shocked, turning her eyes to him beneath lifted brows. Her eyes held a new light. Respect. Admiration. Satisfaction. And a little fear.

How...? He lifted the shaft of the whip in both hands, staring at it in disbelief. He remembered Lady E threatening him, provoking him, driving him almost crazy with her touch on his body as she stood behind him, an arm draped around his shoulder. He recalled several images had flashed through his mind... the hopeless despair on his father's face while on the Dutchman, and one more, one that twisted his gut no matter how many times he tried to explain it away... and it was Elizabeth kissing Jack, kissing him full on the mouth, passionately, on the deck of the Pearl.

Lady E, who looked more like Elizabeth than ever at that moment, as the morning sunlight fell on her lovely face and fair skin, smiled at him.

~

You don't get jealous when it's your choice - like when you shared him with Mary - but when it's his choice, that rankles...

Elizabeth rolled away from the truth in Jack's words, her hands coming up to her temples as though to ward them off. It was true that she didn't give a second thought to letting another woman share her husband's bed. The truth was that it was Jack she was most jealous about, Jack that she couldn't bear to share. But now, knowing that Will was alone with the infamous Lady E, she could do nothing but imagine him seducing, being seduced, by her. And it hurt... it hurt no matter which man she loved, no matter which she cried over in the night. She had thought love was a dream, marriage its completion, when now it seemed like it was only the beginning.

She knew she loved Will. But she didn't love Jack, after all... did she?

~

“No. No more,” Will said firmly, shoving the whip back into Lady E's hands.

“What's wrong, boy? You can't? You're frightened to? You'll get over it.” Her voice was a seductive plea in his ear.

“Oh, I can. That's what scares me, that I can. That I might get over it.” He wrenched himself away, and faced her.

And then he knew what was going to happen, as surely as his name was Will Turner. He heard the trumpets sound, saw the banners wave. He felt himself charging headlong into a bloodystupid moment, and was helpless to stop it. “I'll not continue. So you do whatever you wish with me. Captain.”

“Perhaps I was secretly hoping you'd say that, Turner.” And she released him, caressing the whip between her hands. “Those next four lashes are yours.”

“So be it, then.”

“Remove your shirt. Briggs, get our sticky-handed friend out of there, and make him understand how fortunate he is that Mr. Turner decided to invoke my wrath on his behalf.” Briggs pulled the other young man away, and Will found himself shoved into his place. He unbuttoned his shirt and vest, stripped them off and threw them to the deck, and once again turned to look at Lady E, defiance nearly dripping from his every pore.

“I'm going to enjoy this,” she said, running her eyes over his bare chest.

“I'll bet you are,” he answered. He turned his back to her, bracing his hands against the base of the mast, steeling himself for the blow.

“Some interesting scars you have on that beautiful back of yours, Turner. I don't recall giving them to you. You must have been gotten into trouble somewhere else... been bad before.”

He closed his eyes and hung his head, every muscle in his body taut. He felt curls of loosened hair against his nape, knew he was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. His chest rose and fell with each breath, as he waited for her to hurt him, to bring out all the pain he'd felt inside on his exposed back. For a second, he wondered what might have happened if he'd kept his stupid bloody mouth shut in the first place.

He heard the crack of the whip.

Two.

~

Elizabeth bit her lip, willing herself not to start crying again. Even though she was ashamed. Jack's condemnation beat through her tired brain, and she couldn't answer it, no matter how hard she tried.

Why don't you quit cuckolding him, if you care about him so much...?

She didn't know, she didn't know she was capable of it. Didn't know her own traitorous body would carry her to Jack every time, respond to Jack, fall in love with Jack of its own accord. She wanted to stop. She really wanted to... didn't she? Before it was too late?

~

Three.

Will flinched, scraping his hand along the rough wood of the mast. He had turned his head to smile at her after the first blow, after feeling that it stung but did not bleed, knowing she'd failed to hit him hard enough to break to the skin. She hadn't made that mistake again.

This one definitely tore his skin, on the heels of the first. It was then that he started to think about Jack. Partly involuntarily, as he remembered thinking about him during his last whipping on the Dutchman, about how Jack had turned him over without a second's hesitation, about how it was really Jack who had trapped him in the situation, who was inflicting the pain.

And partly because something about Lady E reminded him of Jack. Maybe it was the eyes. Or the gently swaggering walk. Or the capacity to elude, to trick, to deceive. Or perhaps, it was that Elizabeth and Jack had always been more alike than he would ever care to admit.

But this was his choice. He could have walked away... so many times he could have walked away... could have let Jack hang. Could have shot Jack dead and taken the bloody compass to Beckett. Could have refused to go on a rescue after the Kraken destroyed the first Pearl. Could have told him to take this mission and shove it.... but he never did. He never would. He couldn't, wouldn't say no to Jack.

But he would find a way to make him sorry. This time, it was too much.

And her. Somehow in his mind, in the long seconds between cracks of the whip, Lady E and his Elizabeth met and merged in his mind, became one beautiful, damnable, dangerous woman who held the means to transfer all the good intentions and cruel torture in the world from Jack... to him. He would find a way to repay her, too...

~

Give it up. Run away with me. We'll go hunt treasure on the Pearl.

And these were the words of Jack's that haunted Elizabeth the most. These were the words that really tortured her, really caused her internal pain. She remembered when he'd mockingly proposed to her on the deck of the Pearl, when she lamented that she wasn't yet married... and now the tables were turned, and when she heard those words from his mouth she'd simply lost it.

Because in the deepest, darkest corner of her mind... at night, when Will was asleep, or during the day, when she was often alone... she allowed one tiny forbidden thought to reside, one small untouchable fantasy, and it was that when she woke up and couldn't bear it any more, she would pack a bag and be gone, and she would go and find Jack and they would sail away. Together.

And they'd be unstoppable. The most fearsome pirate duo ever to hit the Caribbean. They were equals in intelligence, in bravery - notwithstanding his occasional bouts of cowardice, although he made up for that in strength, when it was needed. No one would be able to interfere with them, capture them, slow them down... and when they were alone, they would live out all of those other secret fantasies she had. Although she was already well down her list after last night and the other times. But the world contained endless possibilities, didn't it? And Jack would pursue them, endlessly, with her...

Of course real life came crushing in, as it always did when she indulged that fantasy even for a moment. Her father would come to call, and express how happy he was that she was taken care of and settled down, and that he could simply relax in his old age. Or Will would return from the shop and surprise her with a gift, or wrap his arms around her and tell her he loved her, and she'd feel even more ashamed to have ever thought, to have ever considered running away, ejecting herself from society forever, breaking the hearts of two men who she knew loved her more than anything.

She could never do it. Could she?

Did Jack want her to? And was that angry, callous statement the only real proposal she would ever receive?

~

Four.

It was after that blow that Will smiled in earnest, even though he had bitten his lip to keep from crying out and it bled on his tongue. He smiled because he'd succeeded in staying quiet, no matter how the blows ripped his flesh. He wouldn't give her the pleasure of hearing him scream.

But he would answer this. This undeserved beating, this pain inflicted on her whim. Will Turner always kept his word, and he promised himself that he would find a way, in the next twenty-four hours, to humble her, to humiliate her, to hurt her. Taking the Pearl wasn't enough, anymore. That was for Jack, anyway. There needed to be something for him.

He smiled as he pondered what exactly that might be. He thought of Lady E's hair, her lips, her breasts. All perfect instruments of his revenge. It would be so very satisfying, after this. The thoughts began to take shape... the shape of him driving himself, relentlessly, into Elizabeth's hot, sweet body.

A warm breeze moved across his back and he realized the pain had dulled to a throbbing ache. It was enough to snap him out of his private thoughts, and when he realized what he'd been thinking... how much he really, truly wanted to both seduce Lady E and return the pain at the same time, he immediately was overcome with shame. This wasn't him. This wasn't how he thought, or felt. He had a lovely wife, he had friends, he had a life back in Port Royal. And the shame made him open his eyes and stare at the mast of the Pearl in front of him, as he struggled to comprehend everything that had happened since he left the Elizabeth. What was wrong with him? How had he let this darkness overtake his mind in only a few short hours? He was suddenly so ashamed of his own treacherous desires that a tear stung his eye, and when he heard the whip slash through the air the final time, he tilted his head back in anticipation, for the blow was welcome.

Five.

~

Will can find someone else who really loves him. Someone like Mary...

Feeling undeserving of Will's love, unworthy of a man who was truly good, Elizabeth sat up and began to sob aloud into her hands, totally overwhelmed. She didn't hear the knock at the door, or the footsteps of the person who then opened it despite its not being answered, and who sighed and sat down on the bed with open arms, who gathered her into them and seemed to comprehend, instantly, everything Elizabeth had been thinking and feeling. It was the one person who could know, who could possibly understand.

Mary stroked Elizabeth's hair and murmured, Shhh, it's all right, as Elizabeth flung her arms around her waist and continued to sob as she gratefully rested her raw, burning cheek on Mary's lap.
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