crack_van | 'Outlaws and Inlaws' by Artaxastra (PG to NC-17)

Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Title: Outlaws and Inlaws
Pairing: Jack Sparrow/Elizabeth Swann/Will Turner
Author on LJ:

artaxastra
Author Website: Outlaws, Aliens, and Mutants
Why this must be read: The fandom was (to put it mildly) taken aback by some of the developments in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Things were left at loose ends, and loose ends that were rather frayed and unraveling at that. Jack had lost the Pearl to Barbossa again, which had seemed the main point of his story in Pirates 1. Will had succeeded in saving his father, but had become the immortal Captain of the Flying Dutchman in the process, losing his chance for any sort of normal life with his beloved Elizabeth. And Elizabeth, who had lost her father, her friend and former fiance,Norrington , and her new husband (except for that one day every ten years), was left alone on an (apparently) deserted island, charged with guarding Will's heart. So many characters dead, too: GovernorSwann, Sao Cheng, Norrington, Mercer, Davy Jones, Beckett. It had to be fixed! And that's what many of us have been trying to do for the last two months, but none (I believe) as successfully and beautifully as

artaxastra with her Outlaws and Inlaws series. The story, which is mostly told from Elizabeth's pov, fits perfectly with canon, elaborating on implied backstory as well as taking the characters to new, satisfying places.

The first night after the battle, after Will leaves, she walks back around Shipwreck Island in a haze of exhaustion. The green flash took with it the last of her energy, and it all crowds in, battle and fire and blood on weathered boards, rain and Will dying in her arms, Will embracing her on the sand, cannon fire that has left her still half deafened, blood still beneath her fingernails. Is it Will’s? Or hers? Or someone else’s entirely?

When she finds a bed she collapses. For one moment she feels like she’s flying again, as though Jack is lifting her from the awash decks of the Dutchman, clutched against his chest. It’s all right then, she thinks, and thinks no more.

The second night she has slept all day, and so she sits awake. Shipwreck Cove is oddly quiet, compared to how it was before. There are so many dead, and the living sleep as though stricken. She looks out over the hulks and wrecks that make up the main core, over the graceful raiders ranged about like swans, their running lights bobbing at anchor. Above, the stars arch as if painted on a cathedral ceiling, bright as the stars of the underworld that are eternity.

Somewhere a dog barks once. A man swears. Somewhere, a baby cries fitfully before it’s hushed. There are children here. There are women too, most of them lovers or wenches or prostitutes, not captains like her and Captain Chin. And where there are women there are children. She supposes this ought not surprise her. Will is the son of a pirate, and so it seems is Jack.

This is hers. She is their king.

It hardly matters that her election was an accident, or an odd contrivance of Jack’s. The Code is clear. Once elected, a king cannot be unmade, except by death. Like the captain of the Dutchman. He has his work, and she hers.

The third night she goes to find Captain Teague. His room is near the center of the core, far up, in what might have once been the main stern cabin of a galleon. It’s full of plunder, ornate chairs from some Spanish colony, Turkish rugs, a strange handleless tea set of translucent pale green porcelain. He looks up from his guitar, his face showing no surprise at all.

“Teach me the Code,” she says, and watches him break into a smile.

artaxastra is a gifted writer, and I would gladly rec any of her work, though her Pirates of the Caribbean stories are, of course, my favorites. Superb characterizations, knowledge of both canon and historical detail, and the right blend of drama and comedy: it's all there.

Her Outlaws and Inlaws series is a WIP, though I feel each part can be read and enjoyed on its own merits. Here are the stories to date: The Swan in Flight, Outlaws and Inlaws, Four Days of Advent, Cradle Tales, and Dream Tides. Additionally, she has done a commentary track for Cradle Tales, which is itself one of the most beautiful and unusual stories I've ever read.

I hope you enjoy these stories as much as I have!