Drabble: 'Escape' (Jack/Pearl - PG-13)

[dwgm]

100 rather dark and angsty words for the current prompt at blackpearlsails...



~ Escape ~


You let them go? You shall take their place. Runaways are whipped, Jack. Slaves are branded…

He jerks awake to Beckett’s ghostly murmur, a shameful mewl coiled in his throat, hovering on his lips.

By God, he’ll be damned first.

He lies there in the black, heart like a triphammer, sweat pouring, hearing the hiss of words and whip, smelling sickly cologne and his own seared flesh.

He lies there, in the black.

The black.

Puts his hand out, groping, touching the charred bulkhead of his ship. His Pearl.

Not slaves. Not now. Not ever.

The Black Pearl is freedom.


~.~

Comments

Praise from Willofthewisp

[(Anonymous)]

Wow, this was so dark, but I think it rings true. We tend to think Jack is impervious to pain and suffering, but it's all too clear he's been through quite a lot. There's no doubt that brand was a physical and emotional blow. Not to mention all that happened afterwards!

"He jerks awake to Beckett's ghostly murmur, a shameful mewl coiled in his throat, hovering on his lips." Shiver! We're Jack fangirls, all of us, and when someone as despicable as Beckett threatens him, we really feel it! I LOVE this sentence in a dark way.

"Not slaves. Not now. Not ever. The Black Pearl is freedom." I never thought about this, how when Jack says the Black Pearl is really freedom, I never tied it back to the slave backstory. Given the circumstances, it's all too easy to see how Jack would associate it with not only his own freedom, but maybe some romantic notions that it's EVERYONE'S freedom. Very very well written.

Re: Praise from Willofthewisp

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

Please forgive the late reply, I'm thrilled you liked this and thought it worked well with what we know from canon. Jack's darkest moment, perhaps.