Author's Note: Hello all! It's been quite awhile since I've been in the POTC fandom! Lately I've been more in the House, M.D. section but I decided it was high time I come back here! This is just a oneshot, a very short little piece but it's been buzzing around in my head and now I've finally written it! All the dialog is from the movie as this is just a quick look into Jack's head when they're abandoning the Pearl and Elizabeth is chaining him up. So anyway, I hope you enjoy and at the risk of sounding like I'm begging, please, please, please review! I love knowing what everyone thinks!

Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean or any of the related characters. I'm just borrowing them for awhile and no money is being made off of this.

Abandon Hope

In the moments of calm that followed the fatal shot that had wounded the kraken Captain Jack Sparrow surveyed his beloved ship and the remains of his faithful crew. In the instant he had stepped back aboard, deciding that he couldn't abandon his crew and ship, he had known what needed to be done. So with Lizzie clinging to his foot he had taken careful aim and fired, buying them all the time they so desperately needed.

"Cap'n, orders?" came Gibbs' shout, interrupting his thoughts, and his heart clenched painfully, knowing the order he had to give if they wanted any chance at all of survival.

"Abandon ship," he said firmly once he had walked down the stairs and was standing level with Gibbs. "Into the longboat," he added as he handed his first mate the rifle.

"Jack! The Pearl!" Gibbs said in shock after a moment of stunned silence.

"She's only a ship mate," Jack told him heavily, feeling as though his entire world were crumbling down around him.

"He's right, we have to head for land," Elizabeth agreed, looking at Jack strangely.

"It's a lot of open water," Pintel said worriedly, instantly seconded by Ragetti.

"It's a lot of water."

"We have to try," Will said determinedly. "We can get away as it takes down the Pearl," he added as said ship's captain stood still and silent, letting the realization of what they were going to do sink in.

"Abandon ship," Gibbs finally agreed, nodding slightly as though to confirm it. "Abandon ship or abandon hope."

At Gibbs' words everyone seemed to start moving to prepare the longboat. Everyone except Elizabeth, who was still staring at Jack strangely, and he turned away from her, his hand caressing his ship.

Abandon ship or abandon hope. Gibbs' words rang through his head again and again. He didn't think they were entirely right really. The Black Pearl stood for everything good in his life. After everything he had went through to get her, making a deal with Davy Jones to raise her from the depths, selling his very soul, even if he had always intended to find a way out of it. Time had run out on that one though. As though that weren't enough he had barely been captain for two years when she was stolen away from him. Ten years. Ten years he had spent chasing after her. Ten years of his blood and his sweat. All for what?

Abandoning her now seemed to him like he was abandoning hope. Abandoning all hope of his dreams and his freedom. Moving forward to look around one last time he desperately tried to quell the despair he felt welling inside. Hearing Elizabeth's footsteps come up behind him he almost sighed out loud, what could she want now? He had nothing left to give.

"Thank you Jack," she said softly.

"We're not free yet love," he said, just as softly, turning a bleak face to her.

Elizabeth nodded slightly and said, "You came back. I always knew you were a good man."

Stepping closer to him she hesitantly leaned forward and pulled him into a lingering kiss. Pirate that he was he let himself be swept away in it, taking what he wanted. Behind Elizabeth he distantly heard Gibbs' shouting that it was time to cast off, there was no time to lose.

Suddenly he felt himself thump into the masthead and then he heard a clinking sound. Pulling away from Elizabeth he looked into her eyes as her expression hardened and she finished chaining him to the ship, and despite himself he couldn't help but grin, understanding in an instant what had happened, not really needing her explanation.

"It's after you, not the ship," she told him tearfully. "It's not us. This is the only way, don't you see?" Leaning closer as though to kiss him again she quickly pulled away at the last moment, adding as she did so, "I'm not sorry."

Jack grinned even more broadly then, knowing he had been right about her all along, from the very beginning. Even now he couldn't help but feel a certain level of satisfaction at that. "Pirate," he told her smugly as she stared up at him before swallowing and turning away, leaving the pirate captain chained to his ship without another word.

Once she was out of sight he turned to survey the chain binding him to his doom and started to yank frantically at it. It was fitting that he should go down here, with his ship, this he did know, but if it was going to end here like this he wanted to be standing free for it. He was Captain Jack Sparrow after all, and that meant something, at least to him. He had no intention of going down chained like a dog.

Suddenly, hearing the rumblings that meant the kraken would be back soon he grew still, turning to once more survey his surroundings. Maybe something useful was lying around. The ship swayed, things rolling around his feet as he searched with his eyes. There. A lantern. His heart leapt; if there was oil in it he may yet have a chance.

Unsheathing his sword he carefully reached it forward to hook said lantern and lift it up. Success! There was oil in it too, he could tell by the weight! In one smooth motion he smashed it against the masthead above where he was chained and dripped the oil over his hand. Was it enough? Would it work?

Turning his ring around so the jeweled part was in his palm he pulled against the chain. "Come on," he groaned softly, his whole body tensed in anticipation of the hoped for release. Finally pulling free he grinned victoriously for a moment before remembering where he was and why he had needed free in the first place. Turning, his stomach gave an involuntary jolt as he saw the kraken rising up behind him.

Opening its gigantic mouth it roared, spraying him with mucous and assaulting his nostrils with its horrible breath. Giving himself a little shake he pulled a string of the offending snot off of his nose as he considered. "Not so bad," he decided, he had expected worse. Trying to get more of the snot of away from one of his eyes he happened to glance downward a moment and noticed his hat there at his feet. It had come back to him! "Oh!" he exclaimed in delight and bent to pick it up before it got blown away from him again.

Shaking excess mucous form it he put it on his head and couldn't help but grin once more. "Hello Beastie." Captain Jack Sparrow would go down fighting. He would live up to his name to the very end, and as this thought crossed his mind he once again unsheathed his sword, raising it up and charging into the mouth of the beast. He and the Black Pearl would go down together.

The End