Adult-FanFiction.org : Movies

Lagoon	By : hallowedmaiden Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (All) > Het - Male/Female > Jack/Elizabeth Views: 3907 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own POTC or the characters and I do not make any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Lagoon
- 2-Shore
- 3-Zeal
- 4-Heartbeat
- 5-Sunrise
- 6-Sunset
- 7-The Code
- 8-Cabin
- 9-Jack
- 6
- 7
- 8
The door squeaked just a little as she slipped quietly into his cabin. Her face was thankfully hidden by the shadows of the room, but she still turned to face away from Jack, unsure about his reaction. This was new territory for them.
Jack's voice cut across the silence of the room, sounding more sober than usual.
"Well, how did the lad take it?"
She wasn't even sure of the answer to that question. Will had called her things, had said things to her that she could have never imagined him saying. Young sweet Will, the little boy she had rescued from the shipwreck so long ago, the little boy that she had played pretend pirate with, had named her a whore, had shaken himself of her like she was a troublesome maggot, unworthy of his presence.
Then he had struck her, and it was in that moment, that terrifying moment, everything changed. He was an entirely different person now, one that she couldn't recognize.
Were things changed, or just revealed?
Her eyes started to sting with fresh tears, the residual pounding in her head intensifying, as she shook her head, silently telling Jack that Will did not take kindly to her confession.
Resting her forehead against the door, she let her eyelids slip closed and blocked out the world for just a moment. She had wanted to tell him, maybe apologize to him, make him understand that she wasn't trying to hurt him. His suspicions must have been festering for some time, ever since that kiss, maybe even before that. With the weight of his father being trapped on the Dutchman, and their wedding being interrupted, the reveal of where her heart truly lied must have finally broken him.
But that didn't excuse him for the way he acted towards her.
"Lizzie?"
The immediate concern in Jack's voice reminded her of exactly how intelligent he was, and how he could surmise that something had gone terribly wrong without her saying anything to him.
When she still didn't respond to him, the tears spilling onto her cheeks now, burning a hot trail down her skin, she heard his chair being pushed back, heard the trinkets in his hair clinking together. Her heart started to pound, but she couldn't fathom why for the life of her. She had nothing to be nervous about when it came to Jack.
She let him tug her away from the door, let him turn her around, feeling like the world was right again for one precious moment when she was enveloped in the warmth of his arms. His shirt was soft against her skin as he gently pushed her face into his chest, and it was there that she finally allowed herself to cry.
Not because of Jack, or this new joy in her life, because she still found no shame in it, but because of the treacherous and destructive path she had taken to get there.
Eventually, her tears petered out, becoming occasional snuffles. But she was still reluctant to raise her head. Unfortunately, Jack was far too perceptive for his own good. He shifted his shoulder, nudging her head away, and then his clever fingers hooked under her chin, tilting her face up.
She couldn't look him in the eye, and she realized that she thought he was going to be angry with her because of what Will had done. Immediately after the thought entered her brain, she felt absolutely ashamed of herself for even having the notion.
"Lizzie, what's the-"
His words were cut off at the same exact moment that he turned her face so that her cheek was facing him, the light from the lantern on his desk illuminating the evidence of Will's anger.
There were a great many reactions that she had expected from him, but they had all involved his wrath being unleashed immediately. She had not expected him to reign that in, bury it until he had the go-ahead from her to take any kind of action. And she nearly started tearing up again when he bent his head to place a tender kiss on the mark that tarnished her normally smooth complexion.
"I...I told him about the pool, about what we did. We were shouting back and forth and I just got sick of it, and well, he did that."
He was quiet for a moment, his left hand playing with the hair that was hanging down her back, his right hand placed on her shoulder.
"I'm... dammit, I'm sorry, love. Even I didn't expect that out of him. I should've been there."
"It's over and done with. I-"
"No, Lizzie, it's not," he said, barely contained anger simmering within his eyes. "Do you really think that I am going to just let him hit you and get away with it? As the damn captain of this ship, I punish crimes accordingly. Laying a hand on you is right at the top of the list of things that will result in...punishment."
His steely resolve left no room for argument, not that she wanted to argue with him anyway.
"...what are you going to do?"
He sighed, taking her face in his hands.
"If it were up to me, I would kill him, feed him to the sharks, hang him from the mast, bloody keelhaul him, but it's not up to me. So the question is, what do you want me to do?"
Was she angry with Will because of what he had done? Yes.
Did any semblance of love that she may have held for him remain? No.
"Don't kill him, please don't kill him. But…"
Her voice trailed off as her mind became jumbled, going around and around in circles.
"...What...what's the normal punishment for such a crime aboard a ship?"
He released her and crossed the room to his desk, looking through his various papers and trinkets that littered it. Eventually, he found what he was looking for, a single sheet of paper, with what looked like his handwriting on it when he gave it to her.
"There isn't actually a punishment described in the codex for it, but Captain John Phillips, of the Revenge, chose 40 lashes, called Moses' Law, for striking another person on board."
Indeed, the fifth item on the list called for 40 lashes to any man that struck another man.
"Don't give him 40, he doesn't deserve that many."
"Lizzie…"
She didn't say anything right away, not because she didn't have anything to say, but because the prospect of naming a punishment for another person was a rather large commitment.
"...Give him 25, and if he repeats the crime, we'll maroon him."
The words came out evenly, without any shakiness or uncertainty. Even she knew that this was just the way aboard a pirate ship, and Will being who he was could not save him in the face of the law. Jack studied her face, thinking about her proposition before nodded once at her.
"There is also…," he began, before stopping to search her face. "There is also a general consensus that everyone aboard the ship witnesses the carrying out of the punishment, but I will spare you that if you like."
If she wanted this life, she had a keen idea of exactly how many uncomfortable situations lie ahead of her, ones that would stain her soul, leave black tarnishes in her mind that would keep her from sleeping peacefully at night. But she couldn't be a coward, couldn't hide in the captain's cabin.
"No, I am a part of this crew."
"Alright then, love. Go out there and tell Gibbs to bring Will on deck."
It had started to rain, the black wood of the Pearl shimmering like onyx. When she walked out onto the deck, Gibbs immediately rushed over to her.
"What are his orders?"
"He said to go and get him, bring him up here."
Trepidation crossed the older man's face.
"What is to be his punishment?"
"25 lashes," came from behind her as Jack stepped out, his face colder than she had ever seen it. His jaw was clenched, his lips set together in a firm line. The rain started to come down harder, in sheets, and now lightning was joining the fray, illuminating the darkness in his eyes with every flash.
She stood next to the mast now, hair wet and hanging in ropes, wiping the rain out of her eyes every few seconds. Gibbs stood next to her, glancing at her, checking on her, she surmised. But she was ready to face this baptism by fire, couldn't look away if she tried.
Her mind tried telling her that this whole thing was ridiculous, that it was just a moment of anger, that he was still a man that she had loved, but when she looked at his face, at the void of anything besides bitterness, she knew that somewhere along the way, Will had died, transitioning into something beyond her.
And she knew that this was justified, that this new man, this man made up of anger and obsession, needed to be put in his place.
He was on his knees, his wrists shackled behind him, his clothes stuck to him from the rain.
Jack, or Captain Sparrow as he was more appropriately called in that moment, stood before him, looking down at him as though he was trying to mentally set him on fire.
When he spoke, his voice was quiet, but it held such a power of authority that it left her no wonder as to how he had kept the title of captain over the years.
"As you all know, any crime carried out on this ship will be dealt with accordingly, with the appropriate punishment set out by the Code.
"However, his particular crime has no stated punishment in Morgan and Bartholomew's Code, so we have resorted to another."
He turned to address the rest of the crew.
"Do you all see Elizabeth as part of this crew just like any of you?"
There was a collection of nods, some more enthusiastic than others.
"And would you all consider her to be under the collective protection of all of us?"
More nods. Ragetti spoke up, all of the attention directed towards him for a moment.
"Some of us, well, we have inferred that she is under the direct protection of you."
Jack inclined his head ever so slightly at the man, before turning to look at Will again.
"Aye, she is. Which brings me to exactly how incomprehensibly stupid a person has to be to lay a hand on her."
Gasps and whispers floated up from the crew, as they stared at Will in shock.
"Mr. Gibbs, is striking a member of the crew under the list of offenses in Captain Bartholomew Robert's code?"
"Aye Cap'n."
"Right, but as I mentioned before, that code does not name a punishment. Miss Swann, what is the punishment that we have agreed upon?"
She looked up at him in surprise, not expecting to be called upon to speak. Taking a deep breath, she answered the question.
"Captain John Phillips, of the Revenge, instilled Moses' Law, a total of 40 lashes on the back, for the offense. But due to the sensitive nature of the situation, the captain and I have agreed upon 25 lashes, and if the crime is repeated in any capacity, there will be a marooning."
"Exactly," he said, glaring down at Will, and then kneeling to look him directly in the eye. "Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
They all waited with bated breath to find out what it was that Will could possibly say to defend hitting her.
"You stole her from me," finally came out, months of pent up jealousy laced into the words.
"Ahh, so you are calling your crime a crime of passion, then." He stood up, brandishing his hand at Will. "Let it be known that William Turner feels that striking a woman because she has decided that she loves another is the appropriate response," he added with sarcastic grandiosity.
"She didn't decide that she loved another, she never loved me to begin with! It was all a lie."
"I don't bloody care if she loved every fucking person on this ship besides you," Jack snapped, his voice cutting through the air like a sword. "You will not touch her again, and if I have my way, once we make port, you will never lay eyes on her again either."
He paused.
"You know, your father did a great many things that I considered to be idiotic, but hurting a woman is one thing that he was incapable of doing. Apparently, you have less in common with him than I thought."
"Don't you dare talk about my father. He is on the Dutchman because of you."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "And how do you figure that?"
"You were marooned because of your inability to captain a ship. My father changed sides at the last second. It's your fault. Had you kept the information about Isla de Muerta from Barbossa, my father would still be here."
"That may be true, but if your father wouldn't have run away from you and your mother, he would have never been on my ship. So, who's fault is it really?"
"I still say you are the reason that Elizabeth betrayed me."
Jack turned to look at him with his lip curled up in disgust.
"Then why didn't you hit me instead of her?"
"She was too cowardly to admit it to me! She tried to lie about it, and then finally instead of apologizing to me, she told me that she fucked you in the jungle, like the whore she-"
Will's words died in his throat with a wheezing breath of strangled air when Jack immediately knelt, grabbing Will by the back of his head, digging his pistol into the skin just above his ear.
"Say it again. Say it one more time, and I don't care which punishment has been agreed upon for you, I will end your miserable life right here."
The icy calmness of his voice made the crew shudder, as it somehow sounded more dangerous than it would be had he shouted it.
When Jack was satisfied that Will understood, he stood and stepped away from him.
"Mr. Gibbs, give him 25 lashes, and when you are finished, throw him in the brig. Leave him there for three days."
Gibbs nodded, and Jack stalked back inside his cabin, pausing to twitch his head at her, and she realized that he meant for her to follow him.
- 6
- 7
- 8
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Lagoon