And The Thunder Rolls…
Updated: March 19, 2004. Thanks to MsBrooklyn for correcting my terrible spelling!! *blushes* And thanks trisket-n-gunther for your review also. You guys rock! Chapter 2 is in the works!
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Pirates of the Caribbean Story
Buffy setting: Mid Season Two. Xander & Willow are only good friends. Xander and Cordelia have their little liaisons in any nearby closets. Willow has met Oz but they aren't dating, they're just friends.
Pirates setting: After the movie. Alternate ending with Will sailing away with Jack (he followed him off the cliff or something; it may be discussed in the story). Elizabeth does marry Norrington and breaks Will's heart. To all of you Elizabeth/Will shippers, sorry…but I like Will better as a pirate rather then a blacksmith.
Summary: When Willow and Xander fall through a puddle and Jack finds them...an adventure is in order. The crew of the Black Pearl have a map to lead to a legendary ring that is rumored to lead them to unimaginable treasure. But can they (and their two stow-a-ways) get there before another ship to claim the booty?
Now…on with the story.
~*~*~
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!! Four people sitting in the library involuntarily jumped in their seats as the thunder shook the windows. The storm had been getting closer now for the last half hour, getting brighter and louder every minute. Everyone was sitting around a table researching on the latest demon menace that Buffy was going to have to face. Giles, Buffy and Xander dealt with the storm and moved on. But Willow had the feeling that something wasn't right. Her eyes kept sweeping up to the windows where the rain pounded dangerously harsh. They had been in the library for three and a half hours now, and it didn't even seem like they were getting anywhere. The only indication that they had done anything at all was the huge pile of books in the middle of the table that were discarded because they had already been looked through.
"Do you guys think it'll blow over?" Willow asked nervously, her eyes once again sweeping over the windows that lit up with the bright lightning. "What if there's a tornado or something?" She grew steadily impatient when nobody was paying attention, just going through the books to find the demon. She absently picked at a string in her flowered t-shirt that she was wearing. She had the flowered t-shirt, jeans with flowers on the bottoms, and blue and white sneakers.
Finally Buffy looked up as another sound of thunder tore her attention away from her research. "Relax, Will." Buffy said. She gave her friend a reassuring smile. She continued sifting through the pages of the tome she was reading without even looking at what she was doing. She was wearing her traditional short mini-skirt, and top with a deep neck that doesn't leave much to the imagine. "There won't be a tornado."
"Yeah!" Xander exclaimed cheerily, plopping another heavy book down on the table. "Besides…if there was a tornado…what safer place then the library could we possibly be?" Xander always dressed to his own tune. He had a white tank-top with a loud neon green button up shirt, left unbuttoned, dark jeans and sneakers.
"Until the stacks of books crush us to our untimely deaths and we make the headlines." Willow mumbled.
"Actually the library would be an extremely bad place for a tornado to hit." Giles had to add his two cents in. He stood, stretching his aching back before taking out a handkerchief and wiping off his glasses. His tweed jacket, and pants were the normal thing for him to wear. "We'd most certainly be killed."
"Gee, thanks for summing that up for me, Giles." Willow said sarcastically and rolled her eyes. But Giles didn't even pay attention to her, already nose deep in another book with the rest of them. Willow was usually right there with them, research girl all the way. She loved research parties…for some reason. But there was just something about this storm that wasn't quite right. She couldn't really understand or explain why she felt this way, she just did. There was this strange kind of electricity in the air that they were missing something.
"Here it is!" Xander yelled excitedly pointing to a page in a thick leather book. The pages were crusty and old but under Xander's finger there was a distinct drawing of a nasty looking horned demon. He made a face at the text. "And I would like to add a very personal yuck!"
Giles and Buffy leaned over Xander's shoulder to check out the page. Buffy slapped Xander's finger off the picture. Giles adjusted his glasses and read. "The demon chooses three pre-destined sacrifices to be gutted to look for the signs that only he can see." Giles grimaced. "He pulls out their large intestines while they're still alive. The demon will then sacrifice his left eye to 'see what cannot be seen'."
"To see what cannot be seen?" Buffy asked looking confused. "Okaaaaay…and that's supposed to mean what exactly?"
"I'm not so sure about that," Xander said. "But after looking at these large intestines its got me thinking of pepperoni and cheese. Who's up for pizza?" He looks around. "Anybody with me on this?"
"Ooooh!" Buffy chirps back. "Get it with green peppers!"
Giles glanced up from the graphic picture. "Yes, I could go for some supper about now."
"Will?" Xander asked. Willow was still just staring at the windows where the rain was pelting against. She held the half opened book in one hand. "Earth to Willow!" Xander yelled and snapped his fingers a couple times in front of her face."
"Pink lightning!" Willow called out, causing Xander to jump a bit. She looked at him in confirmation. "Did you see it?! Pink lightning!"
"What?" The three others glanced toward her, as if waiting for an explanation.
"That's got to mean something bad is going to happen, right?!" She looked around at them hopefully. "That's not normal, right? Am I right?"
Xander and Buffy glance at each other, shrug then look to Giles for an explanation. Giles stared thoughtfully at the table for a moment deep in thought. He then removed his clean glasses and started to wipe them off again as he spoke. "Changes in the atmospheric pressure and the direction of the winds can cause many different shades of lighting. Pollution and other factors can also influence it." He stopped talking and everyone just stared at him. "What? It does." He said to defend himself.
Willow squinted at him, not convinced. "It's probably just a cover." She mumbled to herself, but nobody paid any attention to her. Xander was already at Giles' desk ordering the pizza; Buffy was giving him explicit instructions on what to put on that pizza. Giles had picked the book that Xander had back up and was re-reading through the information in it. Willow wondered why her heart was pounding so fast, she somehow knew that something was about to happen.
"No…we want delivery." Xander was saying into the phone. "The Sunnydale High School Library…and you've never been there?" He rolled his eyes at Buffy and sighed. "Alright, alright. Listen…just bring it to the High School's front door, and we'll meet you by that entrance, okay? …you do know where that is, right?" There was a pause. "Hello?" Xander looked to Buffy and said in a hurt tone. "He hung up on me." Over it in a second, he jumped from Giles' desk and made his way back to the table. "It'll be twenty minutes, and $20." He grinned at Giles. "Hey G-man, can you spot me a 20?"
* * *
"Why am I out here?" Willow asked out loud as she hugged her arms close to her body shivering slightly from the cold. She didn't have a coat with her, and her short sleeves weren't that much of a cover from the cold wind that seeped through the cracks in the door. The wind was opening and closing the door slightly with each strong gust that hit it straight on.
"This storm's not too bad." Xander said as he eyed the clouds. "I've seen worse." He glances at Willow. "Trust me, this one time when I was sleeping out in the tent in my backyard because we had relatives over. It started pouring really hard, I was about to call it a night and sleep on the couch inside…I unzipped the zipper and I saw my Uncle Roary sleeping-dancing in the rain…in his underwear. Trust me. That was way worse." He shuddered in memory then turned his attention back to the road and the sky. "This'll probably blow over in another few minutes."
Willow shrugged not quite convinced as she leaned over and wiped off the fogged up window and squinted out through the rain. "Hey Xander…isn't that the pizza car down the street out there?" Xander glanced toward her then the direction she was pointing. There was a car parked on the side of the street about a half a block down with its lights on, and obviously running.
Xander squinted, making out the car. "I'm not—yeah…I think it is."
"So…why is it stopped?" Willow asked.
"This is the hellmouth, it could be anything!" Xander glanced at her quickly before opening the door and letting in a gust of wind and rain. "I'm gonna see if they need help."
"So…we're gonna have to get wet?" Willow groaned and grimaced at the thought. It was still raining cats and dogs out there, you'd be soaked instantly. But Xander didn't hear her, because he was already out the door and dashing across the slippery grass toward the non-moving car, expecting the worst. Willow glanced behind her at the dark, empty, dry hall, sighed then followed Xander, predictably getting soaked instantly. "Xander!!" Willow cried out, but her voice was lost in the storm.
Lightning lit up the sky all around them, and the thunder that followed was deafening. A bright bolt of lightning struck a pole nearby causing sparks to fly through the air. Willow barely noticed this, as her gaze was on Xander while she ran (and prayed) that he wouldn't get hurt.
Xander reached the car wiping his hair from across his eyes. He leaned down and looked in. Inside the car the overhead light was on, but the compartment was empty. The radio was still blaring, and their pizza was sitting on the passenger seat waiting to get delivered. "Damn." Xander glanced over the car, continually wiping rain out of his eyes, but he couldn't see any forced entry.
"Xander!" Willow yelled over the storm twenty feet away from the car and Xander.
"He's gone!" Xander yelled back, and motioned toward the car. Willow skid to a stop right beside Xander, landing in a puddle and splashing water all around. "Some icky hellmouth thing must have gotten him!"
Willow looked around, but she couldn't see much through the sheets of rain that were still falling, but were starting to lighten up. "We need to get inside!" She cried out, tugging on Xander's arm.
"Wait!" Xander yelled back, he could have sworn he'd seen something on the driver's side that could attest to what happened in the car. He reached for the passenger side door, but Willow kept tugging on his arm. Right as Xander opened the door a bolt of lightning hit the car dead in the center of the roof. Willow and Xander flew back from the shock of it, flying a good five feet and landing on their backs in a puddle…yet falling straight through the puddle and disappearing from sight.
Thunder boomed once more in the sky that was steadily growing lighter. The rain started to let up then ceased completely. The pizza delivery man ran quickly toward his car (savoring the smell of freshly fallen rain) stuffing the bills from the delivery in his pocket. He sat heavily in his car, and noticed that the passenger side door was ajar, and part of the seat was soaked from water hitting it. He leaved over, not thinking anything of it, and closed it. He drove forward to deliver his last pizza of the night.
* * *
Thunder boomed loudly, and rain pelted down on the pirates of The Black Pearl, but a little storm like this wouldn't stop the famous Jack Sparrow and his stalwart crew. Although the wind was threatening to blow him straight off the top of the ship, he held tightly to the wheel and yelled at the storm to "bring it on!!". He smiled to himself at how well they were doing against this storm. He couldn't imagine any other life for himself.
"Jack!" A voice was heard from below, Jack turned to see one of his newest crew members Will Turner hollering up at him. "There's something in the water ahead. Should we try and pick it up, in case it's of value?"
Jack squinted through the rain toward where Will pointed. He could vaguely make out the shape of something big in the water. He wondered how in the world they'd be able to get anything that big onto the ship, valuable or not. But it was at least worth a look, first impressions can be deceiving. "Gibbs!" He called out loudly over his shoulder to where he knew his first mate was. "Take over!"
Gibbs materialized out of practically nowhere, and Jack swaggered (trying not to slip) to where Will had seen the object in the water. The storm started to lighten up, the sky became brighter. Jack squinted again, thin king that his eyes were deceiving him in what he saw. He cocked his head to the side before calling out, "Man overboard! Will, grab some rope, Gibbs steer her north!" The storm was only lightly misting now, and Jack's orders were (as usual) carried out promptly.
They came upon a rather large tree that was floating on its side, and lying across it were the shapes of two bodies; one male one female. While the crew managed to rescue the two hapless people, it gave Jack a moment to wonder just how in the world a tree of that size was floating in the middle of the ocean, miles from land in every direction. As soon as the two unfortunate people were safely aboard the Pearl, Jack watched in slight amusement as the sturdy tree slowly tipped to one side, and quickly sank to the depths of Davey Jones' Locker.
But there wasn't time to think about this, as Jack walked toward the two unconscious bodies that were gently laid on the deck. The boy stirred slightly when his back came into contact with the wood floor of the ship, and Jack's gaze (that had lingered on the girl's face) moved to him. "Will…" He murmured, then promptly fainted again.
Everyone glanced from Xander to Will Turner who was kneeling next to Willow's body smoothing her hair from her face, checking vital signs to make sure she was going to be okay. Will noticed all of the attention on him and stood up, then looked to Xander and back to Jack. "What?"
"Do ye know 'im?" Jack asked Will, and glanced down at Xander.
Will shrugged. "Never seen him before."
"Get 'em inside." Jack ordered. "Put 'em in separate cabins and keep 'em warm." The crew moved to follow his instructions.
* * *
"Ooooooh." Willow groaned to herself as she slowly felt herself wake up. Her whole body ached and it took her a moment to remember what had happened. She had gotten electrocuted from the lightning…so how was she lying on something soft? She was no longer soaking wet, and she was no longer cold, but toasty warm. That's when she noticed that she was no longer wearing her own jeans and t-shirt. She turned red and quickly opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a decent size room, but she must have still been a little woozy because the whole room seemed to rock back and forth just while she was sitting there.
Remembering her clothes she quickly looked down to find soft cloth pants that were rolled up at her ankles, bare feet, and a tunic that had a low 'V' cut in front held loosely together by a thick string. The sleeves fell loosely to her elbows. "What the hell…" Willow wondered out loud. Where was she? Whose clothes was she wearing? Who changed her clothes?! Where was Xander?
She quickly made herself stand up, and immediately had to brace herself because the room pitched again. She wondered why she didn't feel like throwing up if she felt so woozy. There was a cute little round window on one side of the room, and beautiful blue sky could be seen. Willow slowly tip-toed herself toward the door, she jumped as it swung open and a very cute man entered holding a tray of food. Willow gasped, half in surprise and half in shock. He was gorgeous!
The man in front of her had dark hair that flowed loosely around his head, it was short and wavy hitting him on the shoulders. He had a slight mustache and beard. It was in the shape of an anchor on a ship if put together. He also had huge brown eyes, and a very welcoming smile. His clothes were strange, they were like the ones that she was wearing. He had on a pair of tan pants, and a white shirt in the exact same style as hers. Willow blushed again, wondering if it was his. On his feet he had a pair of worn boots that had seen better days.
"Ah good, you're awake." Will said, smiling brightly at her. Will was temporarily awed by his smile. He had a nice smile. He set the tray he had been carrying down on the table and extended his hand toward her. "I'm Will Turner." He said in a slightly British accent.
"I'm—I'm—uh…" Willow paused. What was her name?! "Willow!" She laughed nervously. "Rosenberg…hi!" She extended her hand to shake his. Will smiled at her, grasped her hand and lightly and brought it up to his lips and lightly kissed her knuckles. Willow looked at him in amazement and laughed nervously at his action.
Will kept his amusement to himself to keep the woman, Willow, at ease. She was obviously nervous. He realized (that like when she was on the deck of the Pearl) even with her hair in tangles she was very beautiful. He shook his head trying to keep with the thoughts on hand. "Your friend…" He started, and he stopped when Willow's eyes went wide with shock.
"What happened to Xander?!" Willow shrieked loudly. "Is he going to be alright? What's wrong with him? Is he awake? Cause its hard to wake him up. Don't give up on him yet, it can take hours to wake him up. One time when he was young I had to sound a blow horn for him to wake up. Keep trying! He's very strong!"
Willow saw Will's amused look, and stopped her rant abruptly. "…will be fine." Will finished with a smile, and a short chuckle. He saw her relieved look, then watched as her face turned red so he kept talking to try and ease her embarrassment at her outburst. "He is still sleeping, but out first mate Gibbs says that he talks quite readily in his sleep. Something about a woman named Cordelia. I shall relay your message immediately to Gibbs to use a…blow horn…as you called it?" He smiled warmly at her and indicated the table where the tray sat with a steaming plate of food. "I brought you some food, you must be famished. Eat up, the Captain will be in to see you shortly." With one last dazzling smile toward her he slowly backed out, making his exit and Willow collapsed onto the bed.
* * *
Life is good, Xander thought to himself as he kissed Cordelia. They were in the janitor's closet that they often visited for just this purpose. In the process of he heard voices coming from outside the hall. He stopped kissing Cordelia and looked at her. "Hey…did you hear that?" He whispered to her. "I thought everyone went home?"
Cordelia smiled at him and answered in a very male, very deep voice. "Ye should wake up now!" The voice said as Cordelia's lips moved.
"GAH!" Xander yelled and shoved Cordelia and himself apart. He didn't know it was the first mate's voice that was speaking to him. "Cordelia?" He asked looking toward her. She remained as beautiful to him as always.
She opened her mouth and in that same deep voice said, "Wake up!" She poked him in the chest.
* * *
"How's he doing?" Will Turner asked Gibbs as he quietly shut the door behind himself and made his way toward the bed.
Gibbs shrugged. "No better, no worse." He leaned over Xander. "Ye should wake up now." Will watched as Xander's body flinched at the sound of his voice. Gibbs sighed and glanced to Will and shrugged.
"Cordelia?" Xander mumbled gaining both men's attention. Gibbs leaned closer to the boy. "Wake up!" He said gruffly and poked him in the chest. He sighed and looked to Will. "E's close to waking up. Do ye got any ideas?"
"His fried, Willow," Will started and pointed toward the door. "She mentioned he is extremely hard to wake…she said something about a blow horn?"
"Hmm…" Gibbs said scratching his beard thoughtfully while looking down at Xander. "Come here." He motioned to Will. They both stood on either side of Xander's bed. "Now," Gibbs whispered. "On the count of three I want you to yell as loud as you can with me at the boy, okay?"
Will nodded, wondering at the logic of this plan. "One…"
"Two…" Gibbs replied.
"Three!" They both yelled. "AHHHHHHHHHH!"
They stood there both leaned over Xander screaming. Xander flinched initially then he opened his eyes with a start. He saw two men that he had never seen before in his life, standing over him, screaming at him. So he did the most logical thing he's hazy mind could think of. "GAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
They all stay that way for a moment, staring at each other and screaming. The door opened with a start, and Captain Jack Sparrow quickly stuck his head in the room. He flinched at everyone screaming. "Ahhhh!" Jack screamed at them, then left and slammed the door closed. There was a pause after that, everyone looking toward the door then at each other.
"Uh…who was that?" Xander asked, then quickly sat up and scooted away from the two men on either side of the bed he was on. "And…who are you?"
~*~
Authors Note: Well…what do you guys think?? Let me know!!