Elysium- “A destiny untouched and safe.”

She loved this time of day, she thought dreamily as she kicked off her over- worn black boots and squished her barefeet into the wet sand. The sun was just beginning to reach the shoreline far off in the distance, and she half wondered if one could ever reach that point to bathe completely in the later afternoon glow. The scent of the salt in the ocean seemed to seep into her lightly tanned skin, awakening every sense in her body as she sat down in the sand. Her faded pale blue dress soiled at the bottom from the combination of sand and ocean water, but she didn’t care.

This was her time to enjoy the peaceful calm that always seemed to descend upon the shoreline at this time, right before the night came to a stunning open and she was forced back into the reality that was her life. She longed to be the sparrow on the wind that soared high in the air above the water and into the cloudless distance. But it wasn’t to be. Eyes tearing, she raised a sandy hand to her freckled cheek and brushed the liquid from her eyes carefully. It wouldn’t do to cry about things that simply could not be changed. Life had her born to parents that cared not to remain in her existence, an orphaned childhood that had brought her to the tiny port town of Port Delacroix. Of course there had been the lingering of rumors that tied her to a gypsy heritage, whispers that her father was descendant of such ancestry while her mother was an outcast noble.

All of this was surmised from the tiny golden hoop earrings that hung from her ears at the age of eight when she wandered off of a ship with a handful of survivors from a ship wreck off of the gulf coast, and a long gold chain with an odd ruby pendant that was wrapped thrice about her wrist. Sixteen years later, and Rubianne still worn the precious stone about her throat, dipping deep between her breasts and hidden within the material of her slowly deteriorating dress. It was her only link to the life that she could no longer remember, the shreds of memories becoming threadbare from constant revelry in the late nights that she lie awake reliving the moments of her youth as she wondered who she was. Sometimes she thought she could truly see her mother’s face in a dream, or feel the safety of being high within her father’s arms as he spun her in the sky.

“Ruby!” Screeched a voice from the hills above and behind her, pulling her back to the earth with painful force. She blinked and then lie completely back in the sand, letting the wind blow bits of her dress about and cause her dark blonde hair to whip about her face. “Ruby, ye get yer arse back to the tavern! Shift’s just about to start, ye dreamin’ pixie!”

“Oh for the love of God!” Ruby groaned, hearing the intensity of the shrieks coming closer. “Can’t a lass get some piece and bloody quiet?” Her tone was morose and somber as she dragged herself up from the sand, pushing the messy blonde locks from her face with the back of her hand. Her cheeks were slightly streaked with sand that felt cool and gritty against her skin when she began slipping her feet back into the offensive shoes and stood up.

“One of these days that tide’s going to wash ye right out to sea, ye daft girl,” the woman admonished as Ruby wandered up the dried brush and onto the dirt path.

“I would be so lucky,” she answered in a soft voice. The woman stood with her hands on her hips, and a motherly look upon her delicate features that Ruby couldn’t help but admire in the moonlight. Angelique, for only being eight years older than Ruby, held the disposition of a sour mother just having to scold her beloved little baby. Her raven hair was pinned neatly down, her make-up done perfectly dark and alluring to match the dark red gown that she was wearing.

It was difficult to imagine that this so called harlot was the closest thing she had to a mother in her life in the port. Angelique had been the one to happen upon her as she came off of the boat so alone and afraid, immediately taking her into her care at the tender age of fourteen. Ruby had been lucky that this woman before her, who stood with hands on her wide hips and a disapproving glare in her dark eyes, cared so much.

“Always so dramatic,” Angelique sighed pushing Ruby towards the now bustling town with a speed that unnerved Ruby. There was a determination and hidden context behind which her vague words came to Ruby, and quite frankly she did not like it one bit. She dug her heels into the ground as they neared the Lazy Louse, thoroughly stopping Angelique from moving any further. “We have no time for the usual games, girl.”

“What be the problem, Angelique,” Ruby demanded, crossing her arms and glaring at the older girl with equal intensity. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid you’re with child! I really do not wish to visit that creepy old woman. The last bloody time we went she went on and on about ‘prophesies’ and rot about me being the ‘key’.... I had nightmares for a month henceforth!”

“Ruby!” Angelique interrupted in a harsh voice that caused Ruby to wince, bringing her fingers up to absently play with a strand of hair. “You’d best be heeding whatever warnings Madam Tuilla gave you. But this has nothing to do with her, and everything to do with getting you back to the tavern and ready for tonight. So do not fight me on this.”

“What’s tonight,” Ruby asked slowly, feeling her blood start to run cold as she would always hear in those fairytales of pirates and magic that Angelique would tell her when she was a child. She never understood the phrase until that moment when she saw the sadness in Angelique’s eyes, mostly the guilt that shot right through to her soul. It only meant one thing. She supposed she shouldn’t have been too surprised considering it was bound to happen sooner or later. A girl of her age could only remain a bar wench for so long before certain responsibilities were expected to be fulfilled.

“I’m sorry, luv,” Angelique replied gently, the bustling of the drunken fools that were stumbling in and out of the tavern already causing everything to echo within Ruby’s brain. “Tonight is your debut. O’Rourke made the decision today while ye were at the market. I tried talking to him...but he won’t budge.”

“Its okay. Umm...I guess we better be going then,” Ruby answered brokenly, her voice strangled as she walked slowly with Angelique through the doors of the tavern.

“Think on the bright side, sweets.... perhaps you’ll find a poor sailor far from home and in severe miss of his love. They’re the gentlest, and a new girl’s dream,” Angelique answered in a fake confident tone as she hooked her arm in Ruby’s. Ruby just nodded and bit down on her lip.

“Don’t recall this ever being one of my dreams,” Ruby whispered sadly as the door swung closed behind them with a loud click, breaking glasses mingling with her voice.

......

“You get your hands off, Jackson,” an Irish voice cooed amidst the loud voices that danced about the half-filled pub. The owner of the voice was a tall woman with alabaster skin and heavy brown eyes that seemed almost otherworldly in the dimly lit establishment. Her light brown hair was perfectly fixed back in thick curls and her nose was pinched at the end, giving her a regal presence even as she sat in his lap, her bright blue dress out of place compared to the others. And yet, the oddest smile graced her lips as the two hands that held her firmly on the lap inched higher.

“Ah, but luv...ye be forgettin’, this be yer idea in the firsts,” her captor claimed as he stuck his face within the crook of her throat. She sighed in an elaborate fashion and pushed his hands back to a more dignified position and struggled out of his grasp, quirking an eyebrow at him when she managed to free herself. His black hair was neatly groomed under his bandana, the beginnings of a beard tracing the strong set of his jaw and matching the dark lines of kohl about his expressive eyes. While he sat, now propping his boots up on the table, much to her chagrin, he held the simplest guise of innocence that could charm even the most royal of the world.

“Actually, it was your idea. Your last night in port before you go off again on another one of your god-awful journeys, and you wish to come to this.... place,” she spat in a low whisper so as not to disturb the other patrons. He grinned slowly at her, raising a careful eyebrow at her before promptly taking his feet back down and leaning forward over the table. “I am now convinced even more of the intelligence in my choice not to wed you. I will not be made a widow by your mistress the sea.”

“Ah, but therein lay the challenge,” he said silkily, his voice low and seductive as his dark eyes stared deeply into hers. She frowned and crossed her arms, biting down on her lip painfully in aggravation. “Someday I’ll get ye to switch that answer of yers so I can make an honest women of ye.”

“I’ll never be an honest woman thanks to you, Jackson,” she commented airily, her face softening as she let him take her hand. “A little cherub with a definite affinity for getting her way has ensured that little notion.” And then his smile widened and his eyes brightened considerably, causing her to blush lightly at the thought of what they shared.

“And why shouldn’t she?” he asked with a tilt of his head and wave of a free hand. “After this voyage I’ll have more than enough means of making our daughter, and you, into the queens you so rightly deserve to be. Trust me, Nicolette.”

“Trust you?” she scoffed, eyes full of mirth. “I distinctly recall those being words that got us into this situation in the beginning.”

“Luv, I don’t recall you screaming yer pretty little head off when I swept ye away from that white tower of yers,” he teased, bringing a finger to his chin in thought. “In fact, I believe yer exact words were ‘Take me away, Jack. I simply cannot marry that bastard Reilly!’.” He had clapped hands to the side of his face in a melodramatic fashion in a high falsetto, completely embarrassing her into giggling and swatting at him with the closest object, her fan.

“I most certainly did not. Take that back!” she squealed in a girl-like fashion that dissolved his charade immediately. He smiled and then kissed her bare knuckles, his skin soft against hers despite the vast difference in their skin tones. He lived for the outdoors, working on his ship, delighting in taking their three-year-old daughter out on the beach and playing in the water with her.

On the other hand, despite her change in living circumstances, her skin was still overwhelmingly untouched by the sun as she was content to make a modest but warm home for him. He didn’t like to think too much about what she had given up in order to be his, it was much easier to remain selfish and take every moment that he could get with her. Like this, embarrassing her with flirtations and insinuations until she blushed a wonderful shade of pink.

“Not for all the gold in the world, woman,” he chuckled, taking a gulp of his rum and setting the tankard back down on the table with a loud clang. “ Now, let us get home so ye can fully show how much yer gonna miss me.”

“Jackson Sparrow you are the most obnoxious, self centered pig that I have ever had the supreme discomfort of sharing my air with,” she muttered as he swept her into his arms and crushed his lips to hers. It wasn’t long before she was putty in his hands and responding completely and forcefully to his affections, wrapping her slender arms about his neck and pulling him to her. When she finally needed air, he let her out of his grasp only enough to stare into her eyes and smile confidently.

“But ye love this scabborous dog as much as he loves and adores ye,” he commented roughly, brushing his knuckles against her cheeks tenderly. Her answer was a soft smile that reached all the way to her soul as her hand slid down to fall into his.

“Always.”

“I can’t wear this,” Ruby complained firmly, glaring unblinking at the offending orange gown that lay on the bed of the room she shared with Angelique above the tavern. Her dark blonde hair was now wrapped high upon her head in pin curls that still smelled of ashes from the fire, and her freckles were covered completely by the thick powder that Angelique had taken great pains to apply in an antique film across the girls cheeks and collar bone. Ruby now sat in a red dressing gown that seemed three sizes too large in front of the shift, staring at her reflection like one does a stranger. She felt like she was nine again, being caught for the first time getting into Angelique’s makeup and marveling at how grown up and clownish she appeared.

“It’s a perfectly fine gown. Its perfect for yer body.... I certainly never had the necessary gifts to fill it out just right,” Angelique stated, pointing to her hips and chest. “Besides, ye don’t have much of a selection considerin’ that ye generally dress in those horrid pants of yers or that old thing.”

“I happen to like this old thing,” Ruby said hurtfully, looking over at her abandoned blue gown with wistfulness. “It’s the only thing that doesn’t make me look like a common street strumpet.”

“Excuse me,” Angelique muttered with a frown.

“Sorry. I just like my old dress. And orange is not my color.” Ruby argued weakly, wrapping her arms about her body in an effort to dismiss the chills that were descending upon her body as she walked to the window that overlooked the street. She chewed on her lip as her eyes fixed on the horizon and the stars that dotted the mid evening sky. Angelique came to stand behind her, resting her chin on the younger girl’s shoulder and sighing.

“But ye aren’t going to be Ruby when those men come up beggin’ yer company. Yer someone else. As long as ye remember that, I promise ye it will get easier,” Angelique mentioned tenderly. Ruby just nodded and continued to stare out with wet eyes at the sky.

“Don’t they all look like little bits of diamond on blue velvet? The stars?” Ruby asked in a small voice. “I used to try to reach for them when I was a itty bitty child, before I realized you just can’t ever get that close. I remember on the ship ride to this port, right before I met you...just staring up at them like they had all the answers. I spent every moment I could on deck, even had to be dragged down to the quarters by the captain on the count of getting in the way. God...it seems like a different lifetime.”

“Its okay to be upset, luv,” Angelique responded carefully. Ruby rested her head against hers and sniffled.

“I just sometimes wish.... dream.... that I was out there, you know. Just out there...a million miles from here...with nothing but the sky and the water to guide me,” Ruby cried. “But I guess one does have to grow up sometime and give up childish dreams and fancies.”