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A Good Man	By : Ladykohl Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (All) > Het - Male/Female > Jack/Elizabeth Views: 5272 -:- 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.

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Title: A Good Man

Author: Kohl Lined Eyes

Rating: NC-17

Chapter Rating: PG

Warnings: M/F, angst, dark themes

Disclaimer: It�s all mine and I�m writing this for money... except I�m lying.

Summary: Post AWE, Captain Jack�s back... but is he the same?

Author�s Note: Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter! I was nervous coming back after such a long time, and you guys all made it completely worth it! If anyone ever wants to chat with me about this story (or the sequel to WtRRO) just contact me at my life journal: wantingsunrise!
Anyway, thanks again to everyone. I hope this latest installment doesn�t let anyone down!
*****
A Good Man

Chapter Three: Shattered
�A lie would have no sense unless the truth were felt as dangerous.�

Alfred Adler
It had been hours since the loud sound of metal banging against metal had brought Elizabeth Swann back from a very warm and comfortable place. Jack�s cold eyes and cruel smile confirming it to be true: He�d bound her to the mast same as she did him, it seemed, a life time before. She had not known what to think at the time... she had hoped it had been some kind of prank. She�d thought that Jack would go back to his cabin, have a good laugh, and then return to her with the key within a few minutes...
But he�d not returned to her. Not with the key; not at all.
She�d seen him sashay about on deck barking orders at the crew and had seen him carry on what appeared to be a very serious conversation with Mr. Samson... but he had never even so much as spared a glance in her direction. At first she thought it something of a cruel joke... She called his name over and over. Annoyed at first... but then as he continued to ignore her, she began to thrash wildly against her restraints, screaming at him to let her go...
The last time she had seen him, the sun had been above her head. The moon had long since replaced it.
Now Elizabeth sat uncomfortably on the hard wooden deck - her right arm stretched above her. She fought back tears as frustration threatened to over come her. Why had she trusted Jack? She�d known him to do a few good deeds and she had allowed herself to assume that meant he was a good man. She had done the right thing that day so long ago on the Pearl by leaving Jack to the Kraken. Her only mistake was risking her life and allowing Will to risk his in order to bring him back. They should have left him where he was... it was more than he deserved. And now... now Will, than only man she had ever loved, was gone.
Yes, gone.
And she was shackled to the main mast of a pirate ship at the mercy of the fiercest pirate on the seven seas. How could things possibly get worse?
�I failed you, Will.� She whispered as she turned her face in to her arm to allow a few tears to slip from her eyes.
�Ahem.� The sound forced Elizabeth to look forward suddenly - wiping the tears from her face with the back of her free hand. Samson stood in front of her, his eyes cast downward. She took a deep breath.
�What is it?� She asked, her voice cracking a little as she tried to put on her best Governor�s daughter's� voice. �Have you come to set me free?�
�Well...� He sighed, then shook his head and Elizabeth could have sworn she saw the barest hint of regret upon his features. �No, lass. Apologies.�
�What do you want then?� She demanded. Samson looked around a little uncomfortably, then he finally looked up and met Elizabeth�s eyes in the moonlight.
�I came to ask if... if ye be wanting some water.�
�No.� She said defiantly... though, truth be told, she was nearly dying of thirst.
Samson sighed again, this time with a shake of his head.
�Suit yerself, miss... but I�ll not be risking another conversation with ye, lest I receive a flogging for my troubles. And I wouldn�t count on the cap�n offering you anything any time soon, either. He�s in a right foul mood... hasn�t been himself.�
Elizabeth tilted her head. Jack hasn�t been himself? Well, of course he hasn�t been himself. He�d died and been marooned in his own personal hell for months, what did any of them really expect? What did Elizabeth expect? He�d said himself... bringing him back wasn�t a satisfactory form of retribution for killing him. She could never undo what she had done to him. She could never undo what he�d been through. She could never undo the changes in him. He was a different man now. He was back all right... but somehow more worse for the wear.
Another reason she just should have left him where he was.
�I understand, Mr. Samson... but I�ll enjoy a cup of something to drink a lot more when my hand isn�t shackled to the ship.� She was being stubborn and she knew it, but she could not help it.
Samson stared at the woman in front of him almost sadly for a few moments, and then he nodded in resignation.
�Aye...� He said quietly, then moved to walk away, but stopped awkwardly. �I�m sorry about Will.� He added with his head bowed.
Elizabeth tilted her head in confusion - not knowing where this man could possibly have known Will from. Samson pulled out a sword in a swift movement from his belt and held it so that the blade rested over his palms to allow Elizabeth to look it over. She touched her hand to the steel, and looked up at Samson.
�He made this?�
Samson nodded. �Aye.� He said. �Two... maybe three years past. I was a poor merchant sailor and asked him if he had a piece of steel I could be proud of that my purse wouldn�t be sore over... And he crafted this beautiful piece for me free of charge. I tried to pay him what I could, but he only asked that I spread the word of his skill, and we could call it square.� He took the sword and replaced it in his belt. �There�s not a man I�ve met since then who hasn�t heard about him. He�s a skilled craftsmen... and a damn good man.�
Elizabeth, surprised, offered a shadow of a smile in response - and then the first mate was gone.
And she was left thinking about the fact that the man had spoken of Will as though he were still alive.
*****
Jack found himself laying on his back on the deck of the Pearl, arms under his head, as he stared up at the stars that had guided him through so much of his life. The night was cool, but certainly not cold. It was the caribbean after all. There was a gentle and ever present, but not uncomfortable, heat that enveloped him like a broken in childhood blanket. If the rest of his life consisted of only this - never mind rum or physical pleasure - he could, quite possibly, be the happiest man ever to exist.
�You trus� dem stars betta� den you trus� yourself, I tink.� Tia Dalma�s lilting voice floated to him through the thick, sweet air.
�Well, yes.� He said without missing a beat. �If given the opportunity, right circumstances, I might be pre disposed to lie to meself. The stars don�t lie, love. Can�t. Balls of fire are nothing if not truthful.�
Silence for a few moments.
�Dose da same stars dat tell you it�s okay to hurt others when it suits you?�
At this, a deep furrow found it�s way between Jack�s eyebrows.
�Come again?�
�You teke what you want from dose unwilling to give - and if you ceen not teke it from dem, you punish dem in instead, Jack Sparrow...�
Jack sat up.
�Captain.� He replied off handedly as he looked around suspiciously... suddenly aware that there was something very strange about the conversation he was having. Aside from the fact that the witch was not even on the ship - and therefore having a conversation with her should have proven itself quite difficult, if not impossible... he was completely alone on his ship. There was no one bumbling about on deck, no obnoxious music from the barracks below, no one making a sound. He had his ship all to himself. While it was true he had fantasized about being on the open see utterly alone with nothing but the Pearl and the breeze to keep him company... he doubted that even he could cause a dream to physically manifest itself just because he wanted it.
Jack clenched his eyes shut tightly.
�I want a million shillings, I want a million shillings.� He repeated firmly. Cracking open one eye, he saw nothing... and then the other eye followed. �Well, it was worth a shot, anyway.� He said, slightly disappointed. Taking in a deep breath, and slumping forward, Jack sighed. �You promised you wouldn�t invade my dreams anymore, Tia darling. There are things in me head I�d prefer you not be privy to.�
�I have no int�rest in dat.� She responded. �Now leesten close, Captaan Sparrow.�
�Would that I had a choice in the matter...�
�Oh, but you do �have a choice. You alweeys �have a choice.� She responded cryptically. Jack did not care to unravel the threads of obscurity in that statement, and so waited for Tia to continue. �You will have to decide between de man dat you are and de man dat you can be.�
Jack smiled.
�Oh... The man that I am then.� He said. �I wish all decisions were that easy--.�
�The time for wit will pass and you will find yourself drowning in waters you do not know.� Tia interrupted - and her voice seemed somehow less ethereal. More substantial... as though it were coming from right...
�Behind me, love?� Jack asked looking down at the wood beneath him.
�Turn around and see for yourself.�
Jack sighed and got to his feet.
�This is very strange for me, just so you know.� He turned around to face Tia Dalma - no different than she had ever been. �Terrifying as ever.� He said with a bow.
�I have many faces... many forms.� She said as she walked past him to the rail of the ship. When she turned back around to face him her face and form shifted as though to prove her point. �Would you prefer this one instead?�
Jack�s face hardened as Calypso�s eyes stared at him from behind Elizabeth Turner�s face.
�No.� He responded. �I should think, categorically, not.�
Elizabeth�s face smiled as Elizabeth�s body swayed forward to him.
�Oh, Jack.� Elizabeth�s voice said. �Why are you so mean to me?�

Jack raised an eyebrow.
�So am I to gather from this, then, that all women are one and the same? Because if that�s the purpose of your visit you could have easily saved yourself the trip.� He moved away from the witch. �Because in point of fact, I happen to already be aware that all women are the same and that they are all, indeed, put in place to torment and humiliate men not unlike myself...�
�That is a very male thing to believe.�
�Yes, I agree with you, love. Very male to believe the truth.�
Elizabeth�s voice laughed... and then her throat sighed.
�My time has run out for the night, Jack--�
�Captain--�
�And, in any case, I do believe it�s time for you to wake up.� She paused - a very ominous expression coming over her features. �Elizabeth can�t scream.�
Jack became immediately on edge with those words, though he had no idea why.
�And why would she be needing the ability?�
Calypso�s face transformed and once again she was Tia Dalma. She walked to Jack and brought his face very close to hers.
�... Why, indeed?� She asked.

*****
Elizabeth had awaken from an uneasy sleep to a hand around her mouth. She didn�t know to whom this hand belonged - she only knew that it was dirty and more than likely did not mean well. She tried to scream though the results were less than satisfactory as she had expected. Nothing more than a muffled groan coming from deep within her throat... which was probably about to be slashed, now that she thought about it.
And with that thought... Elizabeth became really and truly scared. She began to struggle and try to claw the hand off her face.
�Now, now, that�s not very nice!� A man whispered in her ear with an oddly familiar voice. �What�s ol� Jack up to, shackling you here like a prisoner?�
Elizabeth�s eyes widened as she became aware of others slithering on to the deck . They were being boarded! Where the hell was the night helmsmen? God only knew what these men were going to do with her and the rest of them!
Elizabeth�s heart beat began to pound wildly in her chest. She was full awake now and terrified. She couldn�t scream, she couldn�t run away. Jack had killed her when he shackled her here...
And then there came a noise that Elizabeth had come to know well... the sound of pistols cocking. The hand left her mouth immediately.
�Lovely to see you, Hector.� Came Jack�s voice from behind.
Elizabeth did not know that she could ever be so glad to hear Jack�s voice - but she could have fainted from the relief. She quickly spun her head around to see the owner of the hand that smelled like fish and tasted like salt. She wrinkled her forehead in confusion.
�Barbossa?�
*****
Jack had been expecting this eventually - though not quite so soon. And he had expected Barbossa to be alone... Which was not the case here, apparently, as he found himself staring down the barrels of at least 9 pistols. Though one of those holding a pistol was doing quite a bit to keep his face hidden... Jack�s brows knit together.
�E tu, Gibbs?� He asked.
Gibbs lowered his arm and shrugged apologetically.
�You had yourself a first mate and I needed a captain...�
�We�ll discuss this later.� Jack said sternly - then turned his attention back to Barbossa as his own crew began to assemble behind him, weapons in hand.
There were quite a few things that a person could do to put themselves on Jack Sparrow�s �to kill� list. Things like... trying to kill him, for instance. He never took too kindly to attempts on his life... and so trying to kill Jack was a sure fire way to incite him to act in a manner that might eventually lead to one�s own death. Another thing to avoid while in the pirate�s company, it has to be said, would be marooning him on an island against his will. He didn�t much like that and it had been known to make him quite cross, bent on revenge... and, some would say... mad.
When it came down to it, though, these things could be forgiven - if not forgotten - if the person had something to make the act of forgiving profitable or otherwise worth it in some way. But the one thing that Jack could not bring himself to forgive, the one thing that would ensure Jack�s hatred for all eternity... was the theft of his ship. Twice.
So as Jack stared in to the face of his first mutinous first mate, he could not be blamed for the unmitigated hatred that filled his eyes. Trying to kill him, marooning him, stealing his ship... all these things he could forgive as solitary occurrences for reasons mentioned. But Hector had done all these things - more than once, and all at once on more than one occasion. Jack had floated around the Caribbean in a dingy chasing after his ship equipped only with one bottle of rum (which had been empty since the first hour of his journey, of course), a compass (useless, since it only pointed in the direction where more rum could be found), and a map that was nigh indecipherable. So even though he was now standing on the ship that he loved more than most things in this world... he was not a happy man to be face to face with the one who had tried to take it from him.
�Ah, Jack...� Barbossa said attempting a warm smile. Jack�s eyes flashed as he managed a smile of his own that was not at all accepting of warmth or warm itself.
�Hector.� He repeated shortly. Then there was silence for a moment - the ship separated by the Pearl�s crew on one side and the Pearl�s would be crew should Barbossa have succeeded tonight on the other. �I would have thought you well on your way some place where I am not... yet here you are some place where I am. Imagine my surprise.� Barbossa smiled again.
�What you say we let bygones be bygones, ey?�
Jack was silent for a moment.
�The reason bygones are so easily left as bygones is because, by nature, bygones come by and then are gone, mate... The slights you have made tend to linger which would thereby make them impossible to be bygones.� He said with a fluid step back. Barbossa sighed and his demeanor changed as a man giving up a charade. When he met Jack�s eyes again, he had a pistol pointed in his face.
�The map, Jack.� He said. �Hand it over.�
�Tell me, Hector... in your reading did you ever come across a word that meant �no� more than �no� means �no�?�
Barbossa raised an eyebrow.
�... No.�
Jack smiled.
�Oh, well, then... no.�
And then for a moment - it looked as though a brawl was about to let loose on the deck of the Pearl... One which Jack found himself suddenly very weary to partake in.
�Now, now...� Ragetti started as he stepped between the two men, they glared at him and he seemed to immediately regret his decision to intervene. �We... we was hoping this could be settled...� He gulped as he realized both men�s pistols were now pointed at him. �Civilly?�

�A hanging?� Jack asked. Ragetti creased his forehead.

�Well, no... I didn�t--�

�What did you bring him for, anyway?� Jack interrupted - his question directed toward Barbossa.
�He�s a stow away.� Barbossa responded with an annoyed roll of his eyes. �We let him stay in case we ran out of sheep below deck.�
�What?� Ragetti asked, looking quite sick. Barbossa sighed and pushed him out of the way.
�Enough of this!� He roared. �I don�t want the Pearl. I�ve come for the map, Jack.�
�Well that�s unfortunate for you, mate, because you�re not getting either.�
Barbossa�s face hardened.
�She�s taken Isabelle...� He said. Jack tilted his head back... and slowly lowered his weapon.
�Isabelle died years ago.� He responded almost quietly. He knew who �she� was... and he knew that death meant nothing when it came to her. It was not just Elizabeth and Will she was seeking revenge on then. It was all of them. He could only sit and wait to see what she had in store for him... he already knew she was in his head. What was she planning?
�Aye... so that only leaves a handful of unpleasant places where they could have taken her. I need the map to find her. You can keep your fountain of youth, Jack... I only want to find my daughter.�
The silence on the deck was nearly palpable. It was obvious Hector Barbossa had told no one, not even his own crew, the true reason behind wanting the map. There were only a handful of people in the world who ever even knew about Isabelle... Even Jack knew trying to find her was insane. The ferryman that would have to lead them across Lethe�s River to the underworld where she more than likely was being kept was not exactly known for helping those in need.
�The ferryman--� Jack started.
�Will help us.� Barbossa interrupted. �For a price.�
Jack stood still and silent - contemplating all the lay before him. This was a different situation all together from helping Lizzie find her boy husband. Barbossa had loved very few people in his life - perhaps only two really - and Isabelle had most assuredly been one of them. Jack didn�t know what kind of a man he was, and preferably never would... but he did know that he was not the kind of man who not help another man find his daughter.
�Lower your weapons.� He called to his crew behind him. An almost relieved look passed over Barbossa�s face. He made a gesture to his own crew, and they dropped their arms as well.
�Get your crew off of my ship.� Jack said. �We�ll discuss our heading at dawn.�
�Aye...� Barbossa turned to his crew. �Back to the ship, the lot of you!�
There was a scrambling on board as the two crews dispersed - though there was mostly just silence among them. No one had expected the events that had just taken place.
Barbossa gave Jack a curt nod before he swung himself over the rail and was gone.
Jack took a deep breath.
�Daughter?� Samson asked as he came to stand beside him.
�We were all men once.� Jack said - his eyes far away.
�Captain?� Samson asked - confusion laced through his voice. Jack looked at his first mate and laughed shortly.
�Nothing.� He responded. �Get some rest... I�ll be needing you alert and ready in the morning.�
�Aye, captain.� Samson said, and made his way with the rest of the crew who were disappearing below deck.
Jack looked down at Elizabeth who was resting her head against the mast. She looked weak and tired... and pale as death. If it had been anyone other than Barbossa, she could be dead right now because of him. He had left her here defenseless. Jack�s heart stung sharply as he kneeled down next to her, though he ignored it. Saying nothing, he took the key from his coat pocket and unlocked Elizabeth from her restraints. He had come out here for her, after all.
That dream... he would have to think about it, he knew... but it could wait for now.
Elizabeth rubbed her wrist and looked Jack in the eyes.
�Is Will with Barbossa�s daughter?� She asked... and again, Jack ignored the stab of pain at his heart. Her first thought was always of Will, wasn�t it? It always had been, and it always would be. Jack suddenly found himself wishing that he had not saved Will�s life that day on the Flying Dutchman.
�I don�t know.� He answered plainly - honestly. He stood up to walk away without another word - not wanting to be near her for a moment longer. She was killing him all over again and she didn�t even know it... Would she even care if she did know?
�Jack...� Elizabeth said before he could go. Jack stopped but did not turn to her. �You can�t go on treating me this way.�
�That�s amusing seeing as how I can and will.� He said as he swayed back to facing her with a smile on his face. She got to her feet and stared at him defiantly.
�You�re not half the man Will is.� She spat at him.
A wave of anger and pain crashed over Jack and left him feeling colder than he ever had in his life. He hated her.
�Was.� He said, and all the hate and anger he had in him for Elizabeth was in that one word.
Elizabeth raised her hand undoubtedly to strike Jack across the face - but he knew this gesture all too well coming from a woman and was able to act quickly. He grabbed her by the wrist and spun her around in one quick movement that resulted in her back pressed firmly against his chest.
She smelled so good. He could have made love to her right then and there...
�Try that again, dear Lizzie, and you will find that being chained to the mast without food or water is nothing compared to what I can do to you.�
Elizabeth was shaking... and it took Jack only a few moments to realize that she had begun to cry.
�Jack...� She sobbed. He knew the sound of being broken when he heard it. He felt the sting of tears in his own eyes as he held Elizabeth close - dangerously close. His eyes slipped closed as he held her to him, wanting nothing more than to ease the pain his words had caused her. God, he loved her so much...
With that thought, he let her go and moved away from her. He said nothing more to her as he left her crying quietly on the deck.
What did it matter if she was broken when he, himself, was utterly shattered? He tried to tell himself that it didn't...
Though, try as he might... Jack had never quite been able to lie to himself.
****
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A Good Man