Jack of Hearts

This story has been bothering me since I first saw the movie. There was such turmoil in Jack's eyes that I needed to write what I thought was going through his head through all of it. This is probably and most likely going to be my only Pirates story.

Summary: Major spoilers for AWE. "Heady tonic holding life or death in the palm of one's hand." Jack's thoughts throughout the entire scene. One shot

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story. No characters, just possibly the thoughts of Captain Jack Sparrow.

Italics are lines from the movie

A sense of déjà vu falls over me when Jones asks Will if he fears death. I remember when he asked me that question. I did. I don't anymore. I mean, it would be ridiculous to since I've already died once.

Do you? I ask. It must be hard to feel when you don't have a heart. And to fear death when you're job was to carry souls from one place to another is a little pointless, but I still have to ask. He turns to me and sees what I have.

I have it. I have Davy Jones' heart in the palm of my hand. William and Elizabeth can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Heady tonic holding life or death in the palm of one's hand, I yell above the storm raging around us. That statement diverts Jones' attention from Will lying on deck to me. I smile in victory holding my broken sword and pointing it toward the pulsating heart.

He calls me a cruel man. Why? Because I would use his own heart as leverage. He would do the same if the roles were reversed. Cruel is matter of perspective, I retort. He knows what I plan to do.

Now isn't exactly the best time to be facetious with this man… creature… thing, especially with the situation at hand. But at the moment, I have the upper hand, which gives me some semblance of a right to be witty. One wrong move, and he'll be lost to… his own… or would it be my locker? It doesn't matter. It just wouldn't end well for him.

He questions my definition of cruel. There isn't anything that he can do that will be as cruel as what I could do to him.

Then he turns.

I faintly hear Elizabeth gasp in the background. I squeeze the heart in my hand a little to keep me from dropping it to the deck.

I can't believe what he just did.

At that moment, it feels as if I am holding my own heart in my hand because I can't feel it beating in my chest. William…no…what just happened? That didn't just happen. I want to do something, but I can't. It's already too late.

Jones thrust his sword into Will's chest. But not to kill him, just to make him suffer. And then he twisted the sword, a sword that young Turner himself had made, to cause him more pain. But it won't kill him. Not just yet. And Davy Jones has the right to call me cruel. He basically just defined the word for anyone who didn't know what it meant.

Too bad young Turner is too stubborn to not die and leave his precious Elizabeth.

He's laughing. Davy Jones is laughing. He couldn't get to me, so he goes after one of my friends. William. I contemplate stabbing the heart in my hand, but something inside stops me. Why is this confusing me so much?

Elizabeth is instantly at his side pleading for him to stay with her while he's struggling to breathe. She knows that it won't do anything to help him. But she does know that Will will do anything to keep her happy. She's forcing him to keep fighting to stay alive, not that he isn't already trying. She's trying to prolong the inevitable.

The next thing I see is Bootstrap flying himself at Davy. He, like myself, knows that William is dying. The thought of stabbing the heart crosses my mind once again. But Will is dying. This can't be the end for him.

Time stops.

Two of my subconscious Jacks appear in front of me. They look just as confused as I do. They both look around the deck inspecting all that is going on around us. The last thing that they see is Elizabeth and Will, with a sword sticking out of his chest. "William," they both whisper.

"I don't know what to do," I say to them.

"You know what you must do," one of them says to me.

"Yes, Captain. You know what you must do," the other one adds.

"So you both agree on what I was contemplating on doing." The two of them nod their heads. "But… immortality."

"But, Captain. It's Will," the second one says.

"He's your friend, Jack," the first and more sensible one says. "You've used him as your leverage so many times, and you will probably need to use him again in the future."

"He needs to be… alive for him to be leverage."

"I know that," I reply.

"Jack. He's the son of Bootstrap. The only one who fought for you after you were mutinied against. He actually died, or would've died if he could, for you. You can't let him lose his son."

"I know," I say sadly.

The storm again rages on around me. Bootstrap and Davy are still fighting and Elizabeth is on the verge of tears. Or maybe she has already cried but nobody can tell because of the rain.

I quickly make my way to the other side of Will and put the heart beside him. I peel his hand off of the sword with no effort; he's too weak to fight me. "What are you doing?" Elizabeth asks.

"I don't know," I reply.

I put the broken sword in his limp hand and wrap his fingers around the handle, hoping that it will work. I have thoughts that I might be too late and might already be dead, but I can only hope that this will work.

"Jack…" I hear a strained voice. I look and see the whelp staring at me. He's still alive. A little hope. "What are you doing?"

"Shut up."

"Don't do anything stupid," he tells me. He knows what I'm about to do. And he knows the sacrifice I'm making to do it.

"That's my line, love," I tell him. But his eyes are closed again. "And it's too late. You've rubbed off on me. And by that I mean you're ability to make hasty and stupid decisions."

I hear Davy Jones yell something to Bootstrap, but what it is, I don't care. I'm too concerned with what I'm about to do. I wrap my hand around Will's to hold it steady. Then I drive our hands down. His hand limply falls off the blade. Me and Elizabeth look at Davy Jones to see if it works. We see him fall over the deck, so that means that Will will be okay. Right?

A loud crash interrupts my concern. It's time to go. Barbossa has separated the two ships, and I really don't want to be going down with the Dutchman unless I'm the captain. But it shouldn't be sinking. Not unless it didn't work. But it had to have.

Elizabeth whispers something that I can't hear. I watch the last breath leave Will's body, and as it does, Elizabeth's pleas get louder. He's gone. He has to be gone. But he can't be. He can't die. The only way he could really be dead is if it didn't work. But there was no way that it couldn't have. Unless it was too late.

I look around and hear the crew of the ship. They walk toward the dead Turner, chanting. I wonder if they know that they're carving out a heart that isn't beating. I reluctantly pull Elizabeth away from her dead love.

Time is ticking and I know that I have to get Elizabeth off this ship and back onto the Pearl. I rush to gather things that I know we'll need to get to get off this boat quickly and safely. I see Bootstrap approach his son with a blade in his hand. I know what he's going to do next, but I need to get off so Elizabeth doesn't see it.

Bootstrap kneels down and I hear the blade pierce flesh. Hold on. I shoot the ropes and gather Elizabeth in my arms.

Crafty I am to be able to make a parachute out of things on the ship. The winds of the storm easily carry us up and away from one danger. We look down and see the Dutchman go down with into the whirlpool. I swear I can feel Miss Swann's heart breaking as she holds onto me.

Gibbs helps me out of the water and start rambling on about how we should try and escape. Since is it a pirate tradition that we go through when things get too bad. Never actually been one for tradition.

I look out and see Beckett and his army waiting for us to make our move. Call to order. I start yelling orders as Captain of the ship, but Barbossa yells for the crew to belay my order. Who does this man think he is?

Belay that belay that. I start yelling at Gibbs that I don't even realize I'm saying until they leave my mouth. I'm sure I kept repeating a bunch of rubbish and told him to shut up. They must think that I've officially gone mad. Gibbs knows that I want my order to be taken care of.

Here I hope that Beckett will honor the agreement that we made, but I know better. He is more of a pirate than I care to admit.

Something breaches the surface from underwater and catches everyone on deck's attention. It's the Flying Dutchman. And it's coming straight toward us. It didn't work. That's the only explanation I can think of about why the Dutchman is sailing toward us.

Or did it?

I'm pretty sure I see young Turner at the wheel of that ship. William! It worked. It's good to have someone else on our side. We hear yells for guns on that boat and I know what's going to happen next. Full cover! I yell with a smile on my face.

It worked. Seeing young Turner as the captain of the ship instead of Davy Jones has definitely renewed the spirit of those on the Pearl. All hands are working on the guns trying to prepare for the call of the one word. I hear Gibbs trying to get my attention on what to do next.

Fire.

I promise this is a one-shot. I really don't know why it took me so long to post this story. I wrote it after I saw AWE in the theatre. I guess that it just got lost in my files. I hope you all enjoyed it. Please no flames. Please review. Lil-Rock