Barbossa's Daughter

Chapter 40

Cora had been right.

Consoling her crying son after he had the best day ever meeting his father was one of the most painful things she'd ever had to do. Henry had always loved the stories of the sea and the treasure it could hold, Davy Jones Locker, the Isla de Muerta, the Fountain of Youth, but now after meeting Will and seeing how true these stories were, he became obsessed with them. He had become obsessed with trying to find a way to free his father.

So obsessed that one night, two years after Will had left his son and the love of his life alone on that beach, Henry snuck off the Black Pearl in the middle of a torrential rain.

He really was the son of pirates as he enacted his crazy plan and tied a sack of rocks to his leg, letting them drag him to the bottom of the sea.

Except he never reached the bottom as he crashed onto a wooden deck, his lungs screaming for air before he was rushed up to the surface as he coughed and spluttered, the ship breaking through the still water.

He'd really done it.

Henry Barbossa Turner knew exactly where he was, for this green ship was one he would never forget. It was his father's ship after all. It was the Flying Dutchman.

"Father?" he called as the rain poured down and yet the ship was eerily silent and eerily empty. "Father?"

"Henry," came Will's voice from the shadows as the young boy's head turned from side to side. "What have you done?"

"I told ye before ye left that I'd help mother find ye. That I'd help break yer curse."

"Look at me son," Will hissed as he stepped forward into the moonlight and even through the rain, Henry could see the barnacles and sea life that was beginning to grow on his face just like they had for Jones.

"I don't care! Yer my father," Henry insisted.

"There is no place for you on the Dutchman. Your mother would skin us both alive if she knew you were here."

"Did ye know that mother plays with the ring ye gave her every time she thinks of you?" he asked, and Will tried to smile despite the sea life that was packed on his face and seemed to way him down.

"No," he said nostalgically before his smile faded when other voices could be heard as the rain began to lighten up. "They know you're here," Will revealed. "You must get back to the Pearl now! Get back to your mother!"

"I won't leave ye behind!"

"Henry, go now!" Will bellowed as the rain subsided, both of them still soaked to the bone as Will brought his sword down on the ropes around Henry's ankle, freeing him from the rocks. "Leave before it's too late!"

"I won't! I'll never stop! And if ye throw me overboard, I'll come straight back."

Will made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat. "Stubborn just like your mother. Can't you see that I'm cursed to this ship?!"

"That's why I'm here! Mother and I believe that we've found a way to break your curse, to free ye from the Dutchman."

"Henry, no," Will pleaded.

"Grandfather told us about a treasure, a bedtime story he used to tell Mother about a treasure that could control the tide and sea. The Trident of Poseidon can break yer curse!"

And Will was brought to tears again as he brought his son into a hug, one that he never wanted to leave.

"Henry, you brave, strong boy, the Trident can never be found," Will said hopelessly.

"But I found ye when all said otherwise."

"The Trident is just a tale."

Henry pushed himself away from his father, just like Cora used to do.