|
Call the Night
BY: Jemisard*** The first thing he heard was a
voice, rough in his ear and a gentle nudge
against his body, rousing him into partial wakefulness. With bleary eyes, Will turned his gaze around the room. Gibbs was firmly asleep in his hammock on the other wise of the room, and no one else was immediately visible. Uttering a discontent sigh, Will rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. His eyes slunk shut again and sleep started to cloud his mind. Something shoved him, like a particularly violent roll of the ocean, and another whisper passed by his ear, rough words that he couldn't quite understand in a soft, feminine voice. He sat up and looked about. The voice had faded away again, but he could still heard something, lingering on the edge of hearing. Another nudge, and he realised that it was the ship rolling on the waves, leaning him towards the door. He stood up and pushed back his hair, glancing at the slumbering Gibbs. The other man didn't stir, so the boy made his way out of the cabin. The ship gently rocked and tilted, the rigging creaked as the ropes rubbed against one another. Will closed his eyes, let himself list with the ship, slowly following the rolls where ever they would take him. Like a surreal dream, Will found himself walking onto the deck, feeling the cool night air brush his skin. He shivered for a moment, opened his eyes to look about. It was the strangest sight. The wood was silver under the moonlight, pale and ghostly. The ship rocked slightly, nudging him out of the thought of the Black Pearl under Barbossa. He followed once more, walking up the stairs, finding himself standing at the rails, staring over the back of the ship, the wheel to his back. He looked back over his shoulder as a whisper caught his ear. A soft sweet voice that sounded like home and comfort. He stepped back, turned, his hands reached and nearly touched the wheel, the voice calling to him to lay his hands upon the wood. The part of his mind not taken by the dream he was walking in said that he could not do it. Not without Jack's permission. He shook his head, touched the railing, avoiding the wheel but brushing his hands over the rest of the wood. He finally turned back. She was talking to him, nothing meaningful, just quiet whispers and gentle words, trying to lull him back to sleep again. It was so easy. He sank down to sit on the boards, feeling safe and oddly comforted as he leant against the railing, his hands reaching out as though to take a mother's hand in comfort, instead curling around the wood. He heard the soft song of something he didn't understand but felt wonderful all the same as he closed his eyes. A hand on his shoulder woke him up. The song was gone, he caught the tail end of words. "...best be gettin' back ter bed." He opened his eyes and looked up. A figure stood over him, a halo of silver gleaming behind dark hair. A hand softly touched his own, the skin was dark silver. For a second, he thought he had died and a strange fey spirit stood before him. Then, the head tilted slightly and the full moon came into view, throwing light onto the darkened face. "Jack?" Gold teeth gleamed in the silver light, and he was gently pulled to his feet. "Aye, Jack." An arm went around his waist, warm and solidly real, unlike the moonlight. His own arm went around smaller shoulders, he was so sleepy. "C'mon, bed time." Talking o too difficult, he didn't know what to say. He felt a yawn, stifled it on his fist and let his eyes sink shut again. Something told him to trust. The two of them wouldn't let him fall. He felt his arm being moved over slim shoulders, he stumbled slightly with the movement and felt Jack pull him back by the arm around his waist, even as the ship tilted the other way as well, righting his world again. "C'mon, lad, yer gotta wake enough fer me to get yer down stairs." Will smiled slightly. "I won't fall," though he didn't know who was saying it to, it was almost just a statement whispered to the wind itself. "She promised." Jack didn't say anything, but he didn't tense either as he led them across the softly swaying floor. Will wasn't sure where they were going for a moment until she told him he was staying where he belonged and he felt the doors close behind him. The captain's cabin. Of course. He didn't know why it didn't surprise him, but it didn't. He elt himself being laid down, Jack was a lot stronger than he looked, and blankets came up around him. He reached out again, seeking the same reassurance he had felt from the Pearl from Jack. He felt it when his hands loosely curled around the warm wrist, not so dissimilar from the wood of the rails. Only now, fingers curled around his own wrist, holding him back. He was asleep almost in the same instant, held by both ship and captain. |
