Author's note: you all deserve an explanation for being so patient and so absolutely wonderful and if you really want to know what happened then keep reading this note, if you really just want to get on with the story then continue to the next bolded text first as it contains some very important information. Here goes: After I had posted the end of Sweeney and that I would be working on this story next, I started planning but due to finals, I only had so much time. After finals were over, my family and I took a trip to India to prepare for my sister's wedding this June. My sister is 4 1/2 years older than me so we've never really been that close but as we grew up we grew closer and just when I thought we were actually starting to act like sisters I had to accept the fact that she'd be leaving us soon.
That really was not an easy thing for me to accept because the furthest she's ever been from me is the room next door. On top of that India was just plain stressful due to airline mishaps and completely self-absorbed people who have no idea how they come off to others (aka family members with that holier-than-thou attitude). After we got home my maternal grandfather died and I was thrown into work and school reading about two books a week and having a paper due each week as well. Overall I began to sink into a state of depression where I really didn't feel like doing anything at all (even homework). I cut back my hours at work and whenever I was alone, had myself a good cry. I'm still dealing with certain aftermath emotions and as my sister's wedding date draws nearer I can only imagine the emotional roller coaster I'll be on but now that the story's been started and fully planned, it should be that much easier to keep it going :)
DO NOT SKIP THIS NOTE: I have changed MAJOR canon events in this movie to fit my plans and to wrap up the series nicely. I won't be writing a fourth so this story could possibly be longer than the other two but it will definitely be more complex. Partly due to the fact that the third movie already has so many plot twists in it :) Oh yes and if you have a problem with Elizabeth bashing you may not like this story too much ;)
Disclaimer: you all know what I don't own and what I do, I'm borrowing the wonderful characters from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean for my own (and my reader's) amusement
NOW I'VE KEPT YOU WAITING LONG ENOUGH!
p.s. the chapter is a little over 5 pages long not including the lengthy author's note :)
"Some men have died, and some are alive, and others sail on the sea; with keys to the cage and the devil to pay, we lay to Fiddler's Green. The bell has been raised from its watery grave; do you hear its sepulchral tone? A call to all, pay head the squall, and turn your sail toward home. Yo ho, haul together, hoist the colors high. Heave ho –"
"Theif! And beggar. Never say we die."
Brandy was hard pressed not to jump when the grungy Asian man finished her song, 'part of the plan, it's part of the plan' she thought to herself.
"A dangerous song to be singing, for anyone ignorant of its meaning. Particularly a woman. Particularly a woman alone." The man smirked.
Hector Barbossa's voice interjected as he appeared from the steps above with Elizabeth Swan at his tail, "What makes you think she's alone?"
"You protect her?" The man ignored Elizabeth as another person of little consequence.
Brandy draped an arm across his neck and casually laid her pistol to his skull, "And what makes you think she needs protecting?" She drawled.
Hector smirked at her cheek, "Your master's expecting us and an unexpected death'd cast a slight pall on our meeting." Brandy gave a slight pout but tucked her pistol away none the less.
"Pick those feet up!" The voice of the navy general cut through the pirates' unconventional meeting, "On the double!" Brandy, Elizabeth and the group of men quickly left to find Sao Feng, one of the nine pirate lords, and current keeper of the mystical world maps. If all was going well, the rest of Jack and Alina's crew, including Tia Dalma should be readying their position.
"Can't say I'm too fond of the hurdy-gurdy music." Brandy commented as they passed the newly appointed (by her anyway) crew-mascot who had found entertainment from a music box.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the inane woman and pushed her aside, ignoring the hateful glare, so she could speak to Barbossa, "Have you heard anything from Will?"
"I trust young Turner to acquire the charts and you to remember your place at least in the presence of Captain Sao Feng." He growled
"Is he that terrifying?" Elizabeth scoffed.
"He's much like myself, but absent my merciful nature and sense of fair play." He smirked at her disbelief and Brandy unintentionally paused for a moment, fair my arse.
They paused at a set of large double doors for the man to give the password to enter and were asked to remove their weapons. Barbossa immediately complied and Brandy handed over the pistol she had previously revealed. All three made to step forward before being halted, "Do you think because they are women we would not suspect them of treachery?"
Barbossa smiled innocently, "Well when you put it that way." Brandy sighed and unstrapped her dagger and throwing knives hidden beneath her shirt as well as her backup pistol she had strapped to her thigh.
Elizabeth simply rocked on her heels and looked around innocently, "Remove please." The man ordered once more.
Elizabeth grunted and gave up several knives, two guns, a pistol, a bomb, and what looked to be a small grenade launcher. Barbossa watched curiously, attempting to decipher where exactly she put everything while Brandy cocked her brow in disbelief, "Seriously? What did you think was going to happen exactly?" Elizabeth looked innocently up at the ceiling once more. They moved to enter again but after Elizabeth's display they were stopped once more.
"Remove, please." The man smirked at her pants; of course they couldn't be too careful with their leader. Elizabeth gaped at them, appalled at what they were asking her to do but reluctantly acquiesced after a stern warning glare from Barbossa. Brandy, who was allowed to proceed without removal due to her compliance, passed Elizabeth with an incredibly self-satisfied smirk.
They moved to the back of the steam room, passing all manner of people – barnacled included – and waited to be acknowledged by Sao Feng. The man turned around to greet them, or rather the only one of them who really mattered, "Captain Barbossa. Welcome to Singapore." Barbossa acknowledged him with a grandiose bow and Brandy, quick on the uptake, smacked Elizabeth into doing the same as she curtseyed the best she could in pants. "I understand that you have a request to make of me." He continued approaching them after they straightened from their courtesies.
"More of a proposal to put to ye." Barbossa smiled, "I've a venture underway and I find myself in need of a ship and a crew." Brandy's brow furrowed in slight confusion, they had the Pearl's crew, so what was there a need for more?
"Hmm," Sao Feng scratched his scarred, bald head with disgustingly long, blackened nails, "It is an odd coincidence."
"Because you happen to have a ship and a crew you don't need?" Elizabeth jumped forward slightly in her excitement, forgetting her place as Barbossa had predicted. He threw her an irritated glance and she bowed her head, returning to her place behind him.
"No." Sao Feng replied, clearly unamused by her outburst, "Because earlier this day, not far from here a thief broke into my most revered uncle's temple and tried to make off with these." He held up a bound role that looked to be made of black-painted bamboo, "The navigational charts; the route to the farthest gate. Wouldn't it be amazing if this venture of yours took you to the world beyond this one?" Sao Feng looked at the trio knowingly.
"It would strain credulity at that." Barbossa grimaced.
Sao Feng nodded to two men in the background and they raised Will out of a crude torture barrel. "This is the thief. Is his face familiar to you?" All three shook their heads, Elizabeth slightly more uncertain than the other two. "Then I suppose," Sao Feng began, withdrawing a wooden fid, "he has no further need for it." He moved to slit Will's throat before Elizabeth's horrified gasp stopped him. "You come into my city," he hissed, "and you betray my hospitality!"
"Sao Feng," Barbossa attempted damage control, "I assure you, I had no idea-"
"That he would get caught!" The man raged, "You intend to attempt a voyage to Davy Jones' Locker, but I cannot help but wonder, why?"
Barbossa withdrew a coin and threw it to Sao Feng who caught it expertly. He blew the dust away and held it to his ear and realization swept across his features. "The song has been sung." Barbossa explained gently, "The time is upon us and we must convene the Brethren Court. As one of the nine pirate lords, you must honor the call."
"More steam." There was a pause as nothing happened, "More steam!" Sao Feng yelled, Brandy mentally smirked as she realized the men of the Pearl were in place in the boiler room with the weapons. "There is a price on all our heads, it is true. It seems the only way a pirate can turn profit anymore," he paused briefly to look carefully at Will, which Brandy found slightly disturbing if not foreshadowing, "is by betraying other pirates."
"It be time to be putting our other differences aside," Barbossa continued easily, "The first Brethren court gave us rule of the seas. But now that rule is being challenged by Lord Cutler Beckett."
"Against the East India Trading Company what value is the Brethren Court? What can any of us do?"
"You can fight!" Elizabeth and Brandy exclaimed together, stepping forward as if synchronized. Sao Feng's men moved to restrain them but he raised a single hand to pause them.
Brandy looked slightly disgusted that she and the princess were thinking on the same lines but continued none the less, "You are Sao Feng the pirate lord of Singapore. You command in an age of piracy where bold captains sail free waters. Where waves aren't measured in feet but in measures of fear and those who pass the test become legend."
"Would you have that era come to an end on your watch?" Elizabeth continued, "The most notorious pirates from around the world are uniting against our enemy and yet you sit here cowering in your bathwater!"
"I can see why you chose to have these women join you." Sao Feng commented to Barbossa feigning cordial, "But I cannot help but notice you have all failed to answer my question. What is it you seek in Davy Jones' Locker?"
"Jack Sparrow." Will interjected his two pence. The two concubines giggled and Brandy made a mental note to maim the womanizing pirate captain when she next got a hold of him.
Sao Feng's face contorted to rage once more as he huffed through his nose and ran his hand across the scar on the left side of his scalp, "The only reason I would want Jack Sparrow returned from the land of the dead is so I could send him back myself!"
"Jack Sparrow holds one of the nine pieces of eight, he failed to pass it along to a successor before he died so we must go and get him back!" Barbossa matched his rage in return thinking only about his sweet Chariste as he pushed himself into Sao Feng's face. He would rescue Jack for obligation's sake but his little Chariste should not have to suffer a moment longer because of the insufferable, callow fastilarian that was Jack bloody Sparrow!
Sao Feng looked curiously at Barbossa, "The last I checked, you hated the man almost as much as myself."
Barbossa stepped back slightly though his face revealed nothing, "I owe it to the bastard's father." He shrugged by way of explanation. He would not give Sao Feng the satisfaction of knowing about Alina. Besides that he had a plan, and Sao Feng could not know of Alina until he wanted him to know. And of course until he ran that plan by Alina first – a man only makes that kind of mistake once before learning his lesson.
Sao Feng's eyes widened for a moment before narrowing in on a man who's tattoo had begun to run from the steam. "So! You admit you have deceived me. Weapons!" He exclaimed.
Barbossa looked on in confusion, backing up further and spreading his arms wide in a gesture of good faith, "I assure you! Our intentions are strictly honorable." Six swords were shot out of the floorboards to be caught by the two women and Barbossa who looked at the Chinese pirate lord sheepishly.
"Drop your weapons!" Sao Feng ordered holding his own blade to the impostor's throat, "Or I kill the man."
Will, Elizabeth, Barbossa and Brandy looked at each other for a moment before agreeing to each other that they didn't know him. "Kill him, he's not our man."
"If he's not with you," Will began, obviously confused, "and he's not with us…who's he with?"
Suddenly the room was overrun with EITC soldiers and all manner of weapons were being brandished as battle commenced. Elizabeth threw a sword to Will who had managed to free himself and the company began making their way to the boats. Brandy and Barbossa split from the general group to find an easier route but were pursued by a lone soldier so Brandy parried around him and bent over while Barbossa appeared suddenly in front of the man's face screaming, "Boo!" causing the man to stumble backwards and trip over Brandy and into the river. As the two caught up to the rest of the company, Brandy briefly thought she saw Will and Sao Feng but passed off the notion as she was attacked once more.
Meanwhile Tia Dalma set a trap within the music box that had earlier caught Jack's attention and Jack along with Cotton's parrot set off a flaming rocket into the ammunition hut creating just the distraction they needed to board the Hai Peng. They were finally on their way.
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