Disclaimer: Don't own them, make no money, etc.

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Had he been betrayed before? Certainly. Yet this stung in a whole new way and it wasn't just the bleeding slashes in his side that made it hurt so. There was something in the familiarity of the situation that made him feel not only stupid for letting it happen again, but also somehow defeated.

The two burly pirates unceremoniously, and without any sort of warning, dropped Jack onto the hard floor. Thumping to the ground, Jack felt not only his wounds hurt anew, but he also tasted blood as his jaw connected sharply with the stone floor beneath him, causing him to bite his tongue.

"Could 'ave used a heads up, mates. Literally," Jack mumbled as he lifted his chin from where it had impacted with the ground. Before he could pull himself up, Jack felt a hand roughly grab the back of his hair and yank him painfully to his knees. Large, tightly-gripping fingers wrapped around his shoulders.

As Captain Askew bent down to look him in the eye, Jack realized that he was getting very close to him, right into his space. Normally Jack wasn't very respectful to the idea of personal space, but now it almost unnerved him. It seemed the man no longer considered him a threat. Feeling the blood soaked shirt clinging wetly to his chest and the slight spin to his head, Jack could understand why. He knew how terrible he must look, and if it was even half as poorly as he felt, then it was no wonder Captain Askew viewed him as no threat at the moment. Of course the two giant crewmembers standing behind Jack could have had something to do with it as well, or so he thought to pacify himself.

It was true, he really was of no immediate threat to Captain Askew, not in his present condition anyway. But did the man (and his putrid breath) really need to get so insultingly close?

"Jaaaaack?" the man drawled out in a tone that was more than a little reminiscent of Barbossa. "Not so cocky now are you? Now I think you know just what I want from you, so why not make this easy and tell me?"

"Alright, I confess," Jack began, forcing his voice just to get it near half its normal volume and strength. The room was now doing a nauseating half spin, and he would have liked nothing better than to shake off the hands holding him up on his knees and lay down on the cool floor until the spinning stopped. As he continued speaking, Jack vaguely noticed the deep slice on his shoulder had reopened and apparently doubled its efforts to spill as much blood from his body as quickly as possible. "I DID see you paying that harlot to dress you up in her best dress then spank you 'till you cried and called her Mama. But, see, there's no reason that sorted little tale has to go beyond just us two." Watching as the man in front of him doubled and then tripled in front of his fuzzy eyes, Jack added, "Or us four as the case may be."

Captain Askew smirked at Jack for a moment before his expression turned dark and he backhanded the captive man. While the blow hurt, Jack noticed it wasn't nearly as hard as the man was capable of (he unfortunately knew that first hand). Then again, they were both aware that Jack wouldn't have stayed conscious if much more force had been applied.

Spitting out blood, Jack felt his jaw grabbed in a crushing grip as Captain Askew forced his face up. Rotten breath escaping with each word, he asked, "Now, Jack, since you are regrettably the Captain of the Black Pearl, you know where she's headed. I don't care much for goose chases, nor do I like having my patience tried. You have caused both these thing for the last time." Increasing his hold even tighter, leaning so that he was nearly nose to nose with Jack, he asked, "You've led me on for the last time CAPTAIN Sparrow. Where is the Black Pearl?"

"Tha's where you're wrong, mate," Jack slurred. "I don' know where she is since I'm not her captain anymore."

"Really," Captain Askew said, voice full of disbelief. "And just whom do you want me to believe is in charge of her now?"

"Well see, I 'ad a wee bit of a falling out with the first mate as it were. Traitorous bastard that one is," Jack said, finding the words all too familiar.

"Is that so?" said Captain Askew, tone still clearly reflecting his lack of confidence in Jack's words.

"Led the crew to mutany 'gainst me, he did," Jack said with a slight nod.

"Seems you're not one to learn from your mistakes are you, Sparrow?" Captain Askew said, a smirk twisting normally blank face evilly.

Taking in the familiar man before him, and feeling the biting hold of the two pirates behind him, Jack nodded honestly.

"So who did you lose the Pearl to THIS time, then?" Narrowing his eyes and lowering his voice, Captain Askew added, "Who'd you make the naïve mistake of trusting THIS time, Jack?" Seeing Jack bristle with each question, he drew it out just to further hurt the man. "Who's the first mate that stole the Black Pearl from you for the last time?"

Jack looked up at Captain Askew, even as spots quickly covered his vision and his head felt as if it was floating away from his body. With a resigned sigh just before passing out, he told Captain Askew, "Will Turner."

tbc...