Here We Go Again

Disclaimer: Neither of us own any of the Pirates of the Caribbean characters, places or objects.

A/N: You'll be glad to hear, my muse is back! Though it is being kinda smothered by studying, it's still there, so I should get several chapters out before my next block.
Thanks to Lucy (moonchild94) for becoming my beta.
Now on with the tradition...

As they rowed, subduedly, upriver towards Tia Dalma's shack, they passed between a sea of people holding candles in honour of Captain Jack Sparrow, all of whom were humming softly and standing in the water at the river's edges.
Natilra was subdued for her own reasons; she knew that Jack would be safe, not that she could remember how she knew this, but she was missing her husband.

Rike put his arm around his sister. This is so weird, he thought to himself as she leant in to him. She had always been the strong one. She was the one who had taken them to sea when their parents died; she was the one who had built a ship and brought a crew together; she was the one everyone feared and yet... Here she was leaning on him.

Alex gave a little moan and recalled his mother to reality. She smiled down at the bundle and readjusted his position. Just then they arrived at Tia Dalma's landing stage. Ragetti got out of their boat, while Marty scrambled out of the other, then the pair each tied off the mooring line they were responsible for.

Natilra, as now the only captain, stepped out first and preceded the others up into Tia's hut. She pushed the door open and swayed across to Tia, who she then embraced. The voodoo mistress led her over to her own chair and handed her a stake-like, clear amethyst pendant on a silver chain.

"For the child's protection." Natilra nodded and slipped the chain around her neck. The rest of the crew settled in various positions and postures around the shack. After a few minutes, Turner started throwing his father's knife into Tia's table and then plucked it out and threw it in again. He repeated this over and over again. Just as Natilra was going to bark something none too pleasant at him, Tia created a nice distraction by winding her way between them with a tray. She offered it first to Elizabeth.

"Against the cold, and the sorrow." The voodoo priestess then made her way over to Will, who then ceased playing with his knife. "It's a shame. I know you're thinking that with the Pearl, you could have captured the Devil and set free your father's soul." She placed a cup beside him.

"It doesn't matter now. The Pearl is gone, along with its captain."

"Aye, and already the world seems a bit less bright. He fooled us all right till the end, but I guess that honest streak finally won out," said Gibbs, coming in from the balcony where he had been smoking a pipe to his old friend.

"Yes, how like Jack to hide his virtue from us and display his worse tendencies," said Natilra, giving Elizabeth a wry look. She had seen all that had transpired before Jack 'elected to stay behind'.

"To Jack Sparrow!" said the old bosun, raising his beaker.

"Never another like Captain Jack!" declared Ragetti in a choked voice.

"He was a gentleman of fortune, he was," added a near-distraught Pintel.

"He was the best trickster to ever sail," intoned Rike, trying to sound as sombre as the others.

"He was a good man," said Elizabeth in too clear a voice; it was evident to the other two women that she was about to start weeping. Everyone took a drink and then Will turned to his beloved.

"If there was anything could be done to bring him back...Elizabeth..."

"Would you do it?" asked Tia, anxiously interposing. Natilra's head snapped up to inspect the priestess. "What would you... What would any of you be willing to do, hm? Would you sail to the ends of the Earth and beyond to fetch back witty Jack and him precious Pearl?" Despite her now sounding seductive, Natilra realised that this woman had something to tell them that she feared they would find unpleasant and was trying to soften the blow.

"Aye," declared Gibbs, Pintel, Ragetti and Cotton's Parrot one after another. Elizabeth agreed in a choked voice, causing Tia's scrutiny to fall upon the brother and sister.

"Yes," said Rike with a firm nod. Tia Dalma then moved to Natilra, she knelt down before her and looked into the girl's eyes. After a moment, Natilra closed her eyes and the elder woman nodded.

"All right! But if you're going to brave the weird and haunted shores at World's End, then you will need a captain who knows those waters." The pirate empress was glad of her old enemy's melodramatics as it gave her time to think, then she heard a step on the stair and looked up to see... Barbossa with the indelible monkey on his shoulder. She smiled and stood up to greet him.

"So tell me, what's become of my ship?" asked Jack's old first mate with a wide grin and then bit into his apple, juice disgustingly running down his beard.

N&R

Once Tia had delivered all her explanations, they all settled to discuss a plan. Gibbs suggested his catch-all of scraping the gutters of Tortuga for a crew and the Whelp started formulating ideas for commandeering a ship.

"No!" broke in Barbossa, slamming down his cup with a crunch. "We'll go to Singapore! If we're goin' o'er the edge, we'll need ta get the navie-gash-inal charts from the Buddhist temple."

"You can't seriously be suggesting we approach Sao Feng!" exclaimed Gibbs. "What do you think, cap'n?" he asked Natilra. She opened her mouth to respond, then paused, but luckily for her Tia interceded.

"Dinner is ser–"

"It's OK, Tia. I will have to tell them eventually," said Natilra, calmly and calmingly.

"Tell us what?" asked Elizabeth shocked, speaking for the first time since Hector's appearance. Natilra was about to answer, but this time it was her brother who cut her off.

"She's not coming with us."

"What?!" was the cry from the throats of most of the group.

"I have to go after James," she explained, sounding slightly apologetic but firmly. "I must. You have to see that I must follow my husband." There were some nods.

"Dinner is ready," interposed Tia and brought some trays over which held bowls of stew and strips of bread. They all tucked in and there was strained, genial conversation as they tried to reconcile their old differences.

A/N: Just to give you fair warning: if you read this story for the canon plot, which I don't see why you would – you can watch the films for that, then give up on this one now, because the official plot is likely to only get about half of the air-time for a while.

For those of you who do like Natilra's sub-plot, as Lucy calls it, then I hope you enjoy watching her going off on her own adventure and that it gives you a better idea of who she really is.