A\N: This is the sequel to Another One, A Better One. You really need to read that one first, (especially the last chapter, which is actually the prolog to this) or this story will make no sense. Enjoy!


Barbossa eventually came to with his eyes closed, but rather than opening them he threw an arm over his face to block out the agonizing sunlight. His headache was so bad he moaned aloud and whispered Jesus stop it. Before he could scold himself - he'd taken bullets with less fuss than he was taking this - someone said, "Regarde, 'e's awake!"

People. In his room. Barbossa sat up immediately, squinting hard against the headache, and tried to piece together his situation. Eight pirates who did not look friendly, his sword and pistol lying on the floor well out of reach, and a set of aches and pains that even the worst hangover could not explain.

Ow. He could move all right and nothing seemed quite broken, but a quick glance down at himself confirmed that he'd been worked over pretty good the night before. Oddly, he couldn't for the life of him remember when or how it had happened. He'd had a girl up here. He'd gone to bed. Then what?

Someone shifted on the bed next to him. "Morning, mate."

Holding onto his pounding head with both hands, Barbossa swung around to face Jack, who looked like he'd been through the wringer himself. After a quick check to make sure Jack had all his clothes on, considering they were in the same bed together, he asked, "What's goin on?"

"I think we've been kidnapped," Jack explained placidly. "Or rather, I've been kidnapped. You were already here. So I suppose we'd say, I was kidnapped and you were invaded."

Barbossa's head was clearing, but it was taking time. No fear. Look bored. Sigh and talk to Jack. "Have they said what they want?"

"Nah, they won't talk to me. Ask that fellow over there - the one who talks funny."

Barbossa looked at the one Jack was indicating. There was a scar stretching from the outside of one eye all the way down to the corner of his mouth on the other side. And Jack had referred to him as the one who talks funny . He forced his brain to concentrate and produce information on pirates with deforming scars, who talked funny. Almost at once a name came to mind. "You must be Prince."

It was a nickname supposedly acquired early on because his shipmates thought his accent sounded snooty, but it didn't seem to bother him now. "Yes. Pleased to meet you."

Barbossa couldn't say the feeling was mutual. "Whad ye want with us?"

Prince's mouth moved and Barbossa winced - even to a man who respected a lot of scars, the face looked awful. He rubbed his eyes and realized he had missed whatever had been said. "Sorry?" he asked, trying to massage away the stabbing at his temples.

"I said, rumour says you ave charts to z'end of ze world. It's said you ave sailed to a place where you wake ze dead."

"Perhaps that's true and perhaps not," Barbossa answered after a moment. "But it is a fact that Davy Jones will nail my corpse to his bow afore he lets me pass that way again. If ye disappear this minute... and apologize for the roughhousin last night, which was not necessary nor appreciated," he added haughtily, "Then I'll sell ye the charts and you can make a go yourself."

"I am afraid I do not trust you," Prince said easily. "I want zat you will come along, so zat I know you are as committed to z'voyage as I am, and aven't sold me charts to nowhere."

Jack and Barbossa exchanged glances. Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Jack's eyes asked. Once he gets where he's going, he's got no need to keep us alive.

"Sorry," Barbossa said firmly, "We're not going." He wiped his mouth, which had begun to bleed again. Someone had apparently clocked him a good one - his favorite gold tooth had come loose. Nobody moved, so he put a bit of an edge to his voice. "I said no - why don't you all just clear out. We're done here."

"I'm afraid no is not acceptable to me." There was a pause during which Barbossa resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and then Prince continued, "I ave much experience persuading people to do zat which zey do not wish to do."

"Course you do. But look at me," Barbossa laughed. "Do I look the type who can be persuaded anything? Try what you like; I guarantee your stomach'll give out before I do." This was his tried-and-true answer to threats of physical violence, and in all his life no one had ever called his bluff and questioned him uncomfortably hard. For all he knew he would crack in ten minutes.

Prince did not put him to the test, which was just as well since he had a reputation for butchering uncooperative prisoners bit by bit and very slowly. Instead, he looked past Barbossa and said to Jack, "And you, mon ami? Perhaps you value your life more than your friend does 'is?"

"Sorry, mate," Jack answered with a shake of his head. "I'd like to help you, I really would, but I've no idea how he got there. Both trips, I was dead and Barbossa was coming to rescue me."

"Oh. I see." There was a new note to Prince's voice that Barbossa did not particularly care for. "So he goes to a great deal of trouble for you, Captain Sparrow? One might think he would be willing to deal with me to save your life."

Barbossa spoke up: "Well, if one thought that, one would be wrong - did ye know that last time I sold Jack to the hangman myself? For which I don't even recall apologizin. Did I, Jack?" He turned from Prince to Jack and popped his eyebrows up a fraction, got an infinitessimal nod in response, and then the two of them leaped off the bed and threw themselves at their captors.

Everyone was caught off guard. Barbossa banged two pirates' heads together and Jack tackled one to the ground. Still, that left five to go, and if there was ever a time when Barbossa could fight five people by himself, it was not when he was hung over and beat up and well past his seventieth birthday.

He and Jack were soon pried off the men they were whaling on, shoved around a bit, and flung back onto the bed. "Now, what were we saying before zat interruption?" Prince mused once things had quieted down. "Ah yes: I was suggesting we should question you zrough Sparrow." He approached the bed and touched the tip of a knife to Jack's cheek, and Jack didn't think it prudent to jerk away. "First I suppose we will cut out 'is eyes," he explained calmly, "And zen 'is tongue. But I 'ope we can come to an arrangement before zat, since it would be a shame to lose a wit such as 'is. Shall we begin now, or do you wish to speak up before blood is spilled?"

Barbossa couldn't answer just yet because his stomach was rolling and he didn't want to give it any further provocation to heave up. Prince took his silence for reticence and pressed: "What you give him is a fate worse than death, you know. Zere is no place you can sail to zat will ever undo it." He beckoned for his men to come and hold Jack still.

"All right, mate, I think it's time to say something," Jack prompted, a little panicky.

Barbossa's mouth was full of blood again and he swallowed it out of the way. "You hold it right there," he snapped. "Jack's to be let go at once... Or I'll bite down." He opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out briefly so they could all see something glittering on it.

"Poison capsule?" Prince smiled. "I commend you, Captain Barbossa. You are everyting I've 'eard and more." When Barbossa acknowledge the compliment with a nod, he added, "Come, I should hate to 'ave to harm you. Let us come to an agreement zat will allow us all to walk away alive."

There was silence for a moment, and then Barbossa barked suddenly: "Now don't you dare insult me intelligence - that be a lie!"

Prince cocked his head. "You don't believe I would let you live? Very well. I suppose you are correct. You ave a reputation... It would not be wise to make an enemy of you and zen let you go."

The accent was already getting on Barbossa's nerves. Pirates, in his opinion, should sound like pirates. "Tell it to me straight - if ye have the courage," he ordered.

"As you wish. I intend to kill you after you show me z'way. All zat remains is to decide how much z'two of you suffer before you tell me. And if you should poison yourself in ze meantime... what I do to Sparrow will be... truly terrible. Even for me."

Barbossa laughed outright. "How d'you expect that to bother me? I'll be dead."

Prince frowned - the poison was indeed a problem. "Spit it out and I will let him go."

"Let him go and I will spit it out," Barbossa shot back. "Now. Otherwise I'll..." he clacked his teeth loudly, ignoring the headache it brought him.

At a nod from Prince the pirates hauled Jack to his feet and pushed him towards the door. Incredibly, Jack resisted. "No - I won't leave you. You can't do this - I won't-"

"You can't do any good here," Barbossa pointed out. "You don't know nothin and all you'll do is get yourself killed. I won't lose myself and you and my ship all in the same morning. I mean it." How could he communicate to Jack without getting anyone else suspicious? Nothing verbal... Aha. Ignoring Jack's panicked pleas, he unclasped his pendant necklace and held it out. "Take this, and take the ship, and go."

Jack shook his head, still not seeming to get it, so Barbossa sighed and stood up. "Do you think I'd forget the meaning of somethin this shiny? Or that I'd ever separate it from its rightful owner? Take it, and get out while ye still can." Of course I'm not givin up yet! It'll go easier if we try to extricate one at a time. We'll get you out and then I'll worry about me. I'll be fine. Even if I have to take his stinking carcass to World's End, eventually I WILL be back to collect my necklace.

After a long silence, with no sign that he took Barbossa's meaning, Jack hung the chain around his neck and turned away.

He was almost out the door before he said, "Wait." He took a deep breath. "Listen, are you really serious about this? You are, aren't you? All right, well... if you're serious... I mean, I know this is a terribly bad time to ask..." He put on his best sheepish sad-puppy look. "But d'you think maybe you could give me a hint about where you've stashed your charts?"

Barbossa was genuinely furious. "Is that a joke?"

Obviously, you gorilla! I just want you to see that I understand what's going on. Do you really think I'd behave like this if you were about to sacrifice yourself?

Jack made a big show of fidgeting. "Euh, actually, no it's not... apologies... It's just that if I'll have sole command of the now, then I think it makes the most sense for me to also have-"

"GET OUT! YOU SORRY LITTLE INGRATE!" Barbossa lunged for him, but Prince's men held them apart. Jack was kicked out and Barbossa soon forgot about him in light of his more pressing concerns.

"Now, spit," Prince ordered, "Or I go right after 'im."

"Deal's a deal," Barbossa agreed. "Wait til I can see Jack out the window so's I know he's been let go... all right, here you go." He hawked it up into his hand and held it out.

It was not a poison capsule at all, just his gold tooth that had fallen loose in his mouth, and Prince's face contorted with rage when he saw how he had been tricked. Hector ye will pay for makin him angry, Barbossa told himself. Yes well it will be worth it, he told himself right back, a little childishly. Let me have my fun while I can.


TBC.