Disclaimer: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean. I do, however, work for Disney and I own Disney stock. Does that count?
AN: This is a verbatim transcription of several scenes in At World's End. They are necessary to set up the rest of the story.
The "Captain's Logs" are designed to give insight into the characters' brains. I'm not English, but they are. Or were. So some things (i.e. honourable) are spelled the English way rather than the American way in their log entries.
If you catch any errors, please let me know so I can fix them. I am a perfectionist and stickler for details.
Chapter 1
Captain's Log
It feels so strange, writing that, seeing that. Nevertheless, it's the truth. When I think back to that little girl, singing on the crossing from England and talking about how fascinating it would be to meet a pirate, I can't help but smile at how far I've come. No longer am I simply the daughter of the Governor of Port Royal. I'm a Pirate Lord. The heir to Sao Feng of Singapore. Captain of The Empress.
It's bittersweet, of course. The losses have been far too many. But despite the costs, I would rather die fighting Beckett than ignore his heinous actions. My father – I can't even think about that. If Will hadn't been there, I don't know what I would have done. Now James is gone too, died to save me. He finally chose a side and look at the price he paid for it.
I suppose that's what we all do when faced with the possible and real consequences of our actions – we choose a side. And all too often, people get hurt. Betrayal begets betrayal and then who can we trust? Trust is a dangerous thing, but without it I do believe we would all cease to exist. And though Jack and Barbossa and even Will, to a degree, have shown me I can't trust them, I do. It's me I don't trust. It seems like all I do ends up hurting people or causing their deaths. I can't help but wonder – if I hadn't thrown myself in with Will between Jack and the Navy, what would have happened? I might still have my father and James might well be alive, but Will would have been hanged, I'm certain of it. And part of me would have died with him.
But now after all of this, I feel more trapped than ever. My family is gone. My friends are gone (or at least questionable). My innocence is gone. I barely have any hope left. I feel I've lost everything. Everything but Will.
Then again, I don't know that's true anymore. I betrayed him and I know he'll never trust me again. Maybe he feels the same way, but I know in my heart that anything he does is for someone else, not for himself. I will admit, I was surprised when his motives for rescuing Jack came out, but I'm not upset with him. I've long since forgiven him. I know he does not feel the same about me. Let's face it – I'm nowhere near as honourable or noble as he. And I know he's hurt by my actions and choices. I just don't know how to fix it. I don't know if I can.
I'd like to think that my love for him and his for me will overcome all of this, but there's a darker, jaded part of me that says I'm not good enough for Will Turner. The man tries to keep me safe and protected even when he's furious with me! He held me when I wanted to follow my father at World's End, though I'm almost sure a part of Will wished I had. He comforted me when I'm sure he wanted to shake me. He first offered to go after Jack when he thought it would make me happy. In Singapore he kept me from being killed though we hadn't truly spoken in months. I love him so much, how can he possibly feel the same after what I've done?
And I don't know how he'll react when he finds out what I've become in the few short days we've been apart. I love him with every fiber of my being, but can he ever trust me again? Does he still love me? Have I destroyed any chance of us being happy together? And what of Tia Dalma's constant warnings about destiny and fate and consequences? What do they mean?
I must go – we've arrived at Shipwreck Cove. I can't wait to see the looks on Barbossa and Jack's faces when they hear the news. Though it's doubtful, maybe that will brighten my outlook.
Captain Elizabeth Swann
The rest of the Brethren Court was already assembled, so Captain Elizabeth Swann hurried from her ship to the meeting hall. From the doorway, she heard Jack argue that they wait for the arrival of Sao Feng and knew she needed to explain.
"Sao Feng is dead," she announced clearly, stepping inside the meeting hall. "He fell to the Flying Dutchman." Ignoring the shocked and unhappy din that erupted, she confidently drew her sword and stabbed it into the globe alongside those of the eight other Pirate Lords.
"And named you captain?!" Jack exclaimed indignantly. "They're just giving the bloody title away!"
Elizabeth ignored him. "Listen to me! Our location has been betrayed. Jones is under the command of Lord Beckett and they're on their way here."
"Who is this betrayer?" demanded Gentleman Jocard.
"Not likely anyone among us," Barbossa tried to soothe the court.
Suddenly noticing the absence of her fiancé, Elizabeth looked around. "Where's Will?"
"Not among us," Jack answered.
Barbossa laid the groundwork for his suggestion. "But it matters not how they found us. The question is what will we do now that they have?"
"We fight!" Elizabeth asserted, not expecting them to laugh at her.
Mistress Ching stood and pronounced, "Shipwreck Cove is a fortress! A well-supplied fortress! There is no need to fight if they cannot get to us."
"There be a third course," Barbossa smoothly interjected. "In another age at this very spot the First Brethren Court captured the sea goddess and bound her in her bones," he paused, taking them all in. "That was a mistake. Oh, we tamed the seas for ourselves, aye. But opened the door to Beckett and his ilk!
"Better were the days when mastery of seas came not from bargains struck with eldritch creatures, but from the sweat of a man's brow and the strength of his back alone – yeh all know this to be true! Gentlemen. Ladies. We must free Calypso."
The Pirate Lords were silent for a moment before chaos erupted. The others were not happy with Barbossa's proposal.
"Shoot him!" demanded Captain Ammand.
Gentleman Jocard called, "Cut out his tongue!"
Jack smirked to himself, offering his compromise. "Shoot him and cut out his tongue then shoot his tongue! And trim that scraggly beard of his!"
"Sao Feng would have agreed with Barbossa," Tai Huang asserted, ignoring his new captain.
"Aye," Barbossa nodded at the other pirate.
"Calypso was our enemy then. She will be our enemy now!" Jocard disagreed.
"And it's unlikely her mood's improved," Chevall added.
Villanueva stood and faced down the taller Frenchman, waving his pistol. "I would still agree with Sao Feng – we release Calypso!"
"You threaten me?"
"I silence you!"
Chevall punched Villanueva in the nose, causing the other to fire his gun at the ceiling. Within mere seconds, Elizabeth, Jack and Barbossa witnessed a complete breakdown of any kind of pseudo-civilized discourse as the other Pirate Lords and their delegations began brawling as if they were in the Faithful Bride on Tortuga.
"This is madness!" she declared, watching in shock as the pirates fought each other.
Jack leaned slightly across Barbossa to correct her. "This is politics."
She frowned at what she considered idiocy. "Meanwhile our enemy is bearing down upon us."
"If they not be here already," Barbossa added cryptically, glancing at the others.
He waited vainly hoping the fight would end quickly on its own. When it did not and he was fed up with the waiting, the Lord of the Caspian Sea climbed onto the table, raised his pistol and fired a warning shot. When he was sure he had their attention once again, he spoke. "It was the first Court wot imprisoned Calypso. We should be the ones to set her free and in her gratitude she will see fit to grant us boons."
"Who's boons? Your boons? Utterly deceptive twaddle-speak, says I" Jack retorted.
The older man returned to the floor and gave him a challenging look. "If yeh have a better alternative, please, share."
Jack thought for a moment before looking Barbossa straight in the eye. "Cuttlefish... eh? Let us not, dear friends, forget our dear friends the cuttlefish." He sauntered around Ammand and his crew and stopped to speak to Mistress Ching's bodyguards. "Flipper glorious little sausages. Pin 'em up together and they'll devour each other without a second thought. Human nature, init? Or… or, fish nature."
Standing behind the blind Pirate Lord of the Pacific, Jack leaned over the back of her chair, resting his hands on her shoulders and ignoring her bodyguards' threats. "So yes, we could hole up here well-provisioned and well-armed and half of us would be dead within the month." He released her to straighten and again speak directly to each bodyguard. "Which seems quite grim to me anyway you slice it."
Jack moved on towards Jocard, only to be hindered in his progress by a large African pirate. "Or, uh," he edged around the man. "As my learned colleague so naively suggests, we can release Calypso. And we can pray that she will be merciful…" He bent and looked into the eyes of Villanueva's First Mate. "I rather doubt it. Can we in fact pretend that she is anything other than a woman scorned like which fury Hell hath no? We cannot." Jack stopped when he finally arrived at the opposite end of the table from Barbossa. "Res ipsa loquitur, tabula in naufragio, we are left with but one option. I agree with – and I cannot believe the words are coming out of me mouth –" he grimaced, clearly dreading continuing. " – Captain Swann. We must fight."
"You've always run away from a fight," Barbossa asserted, pointing out Jack's hypocrisy and starting yet another childish argument between the two.
"Have not!"
"Yeh have so!"
"Have not!"
"Yeh have so!"
"Have not!"
"Yeh have so and you know it!"
"Have not – slander and calumny! I have only ever embraced that oldest and noblest of pirate traditions. I submit that here now that is what we all must do. We must fight… to run away."
"Aye!" Gibbs agreed.
The other gathered pirates cheered at that sentiment.
"As per the Code, an act of war, and this be exactly that, can only be declared by the Pirate King," Barbossa continued, looking smug and determined to get his way.
"You made that up!" Jack accused.
"Did I now? I call on Cap'n Teague, keeper of the Code."
Jack's face fell. He did not want to see or hear from Captain Teague.
"Sri Sumbhadjee proclaims this all to be folly!" started one of the Pirate Lord's assistants. "Hang the code! Who cares –"
Whatever else the man was going to say was cut off when he was shot dead.
"The Code is the law," Teague proclaimed darkly, entering the room. "Yer in my way, boy," he muttered, prompting Jack to move. A small wave of his hand brought two elderly men struggling to carry the large Pirata Codex into the room to lay it out on the table.
"The Code…" whispered Pintel in awe.
"…as set forth by Morgan and Bartholomew," Ragetti finished.
At Teague's whistle, a very familiar looking dog carrying keys in his mouth bounded in. Pintel and Ragetti looked at each other in shock.
"Tha' can't…? How'd it…?" Ragetti sputtered.
Teague looked up. "Sea turtles, mate," he explained simply.
Uncle and nephew smiled in amusement. "Sea turtles," Pintel murmured.
The canine barked once before turning and bounding out of the room. Meanwhile, the Keeper of the Code unlocked and opened the large book before turning carefully to the correct page. He ran a slender finger along the worn parchment before declaring, "Ah, Barbossa is right."
Jack would not give up so easily. "Hang on a minute." He stepped over to examine the text himself. Elizabeth was struck by the similarities between her on-again, off-again friend and this mysterious Keeper of the Code but said nothing. "It shall be the duties of the King to declare war… parlay with shared adversaries… Fancy that."
Capitaine Chevall frowned. "There's not been a king since the first court and that's not likely to change."
"Not likely," Teague agreed before retreating to the corner to pluck at a small guitar.
"Why not?" Elizabeth asked Gibbs in confusion.
"See the Pirate King is elected by popular vote…"
"…And each pirate only ever votes for hisself," Barbossa finished.
"I call for a vote!" Jack smiled despite, or perhaps because of, their groans.
"I vote for Ammand, the Corsair," began Captain Ammand.
"Capitaine Chevall, the penniless Frenchman," called Chevall.
"Sri Sumbhadjee votes for Sri Sumbhadjee," Sumbhadjee's new second-in-command stated.
The other lords each shouted their own names in turn.
"Mistress Ching!"
"Gentleman Jocard!"
"Elizabeth Swann," even amidst the most world's most notorious pirates, Elizabeth's breeding was evident in her tone and demeanor.
"Barbossa!"
"Villanueva!"
All eyes fell to Jack as the Lord of the Caribbean smirked at the Lord of Singapore. "Elizabeth Swann."
"What?" Elizabeth yelped in surprise.
"I know, curious, isn't it?" Jack replied causing the rest of the Court to revolt, each demanding he change his vote and arguing against the election. He remained unreadable and unfazed.
"Am I to understand that you lot will not be keeping to the Code then?" he asked, knowing the answer already.
One of the strings on Teague's guitar snapped as his attention was refocused on the gathered Brethren. This was more than enough to settle them down. The Pirate Lords sat once more and turned to Elizabeth.
"Very well," Mistress Ching began. "What say you, Captain Swann, King of the Brethren Court?"
"Prepare every vessel that floats. At dawn, we're at war," Elizabeth declared with finality.
Sumbhadjee stood, drawing everyone's attention. Opening his mouth, he spoke for the first time in a high, almost comical voice that was certainly the reason he normally had others speak for him, "And so we shall go to war."
No one noticed Barbossa signal to Pintel and Ragetti to smuggle out the seven pieces of eight he had collected. As the rest of the Brethren left to follow their King's command, Jack Sparrow turned to the Keeper of the Code. Teague was watching him.
"What? You've seen it all, done it all – you survived. That's the trick, init? To survive."
"It's not just about living forever, Jackie. The trick is livin' with yerself forever," Teague corrected rather cryptically.
Feeling increasingly uncomfortable talking with his estranged father, Jack asked "How's mum?"
The older pirate held up a withered, shrunken head, utterly disgusting his son. "She looks great!" Jack lied before practically fleeing the room under the pretense of following Elizabeth's orders.
Captain's Log
And now they've made me King. Well, let me amend that, Jack Sparrow has made me King. Who would have expected something like that from Jack?
More pressing things are at hand – tomorrow we fight. We meet with the enemy in the morning. I don't want to be anywhere near Lord Beckett, the murdering bastard, but Will is with him and will be there. Hopefully I can get him away from Beckett and back with me. Maybe then I'll have a chance to fix things. I'll at least get to talk to him once more.
Who knows if we'll survive this? Perhaps I've doomed us all. Perhaps my decision this day will allow Beckett to destroy us. I honestly don't know. But I certainly do wish Will were here.
Captain Elizabeth Swann, Pirate King
Captain's Log
I knew I could count on "Captain Swann" – tomorrow we fight. Things are progressing according to the overall plan. 'f we don't fight, then how'm I supposed to get meself aboard the Dutchman? One does hope that the whelp has come through.
Funny ole world, init it? King Lizzie and her eunuch think we're working against one 'nother. I know better. After all, we all have same goals, don' we? Kill Jones. Kill Beckett. Rescue Bootstrap. Get revenge. Save pirates. Live forever. Sounds 'bout right, as it were. 'Cept maybe that last one – 'at one's just mine. I guess it'd be easier if we were straight with one 'nother. But where's the fun in 'at? I been honest with Will, at least. An' I think Lizzie'll catch on too, knowin' her.
Saw me dad today. Mum too. Looks just bloody awful – don't know why he decided to keep 'er head. He did say something that made me think – I hate that. "It's not about living forever, 'Jackie'. The trick is living with yourself forever." What's that supposed to mean? Regardless, it'll probably come back to haunt me. An' he called me 'Jackie'!
Captain Jack Sparrow
The Brethren and their ships waited just off of Shipwreck Island for Jones and the East India Trading Company. Slightly in front of the other ships, all aboard the Black Pearl kept a careful watch on the murky horizon. It was Marty who first spotted the Dutchman.
"The enemy is here! Let's take 'em!" he cried fiercely from the rigging. The rest cheered at this sentiment before the East India Trading Company fleet began sailing into view. They looked on in shock as ships kept appearing from the fog.
Cotton's parrot squawked "Abandon ship" and flew toward the relative safety of the shore.
Jack Sparrow gulped loudly as the sailors around him glared in his direction. "Parlay?" he asked timidly.
Will stood on a sandbar not far from the gathered ships. Beside him was Lord Beckett and beyond him was Davy Jones, standing in a bucket of seawater. If it weren't for the seriousness of the situation, he would have laughed at the sight of the fish-man. Approaching slowly from the other end of the spit of land were Barbossa, Elizabeth and Jack. Will wasn't quite sure why his rather estranged fiancée had come along, but she was certainly a welcome sight dressed in elaborate fashions apparently bestowed upon her by Sao Feng. Will wondered briefly how Elizabeth had escaped the Pirate Lord, but mentally shrugged it off when they arrived.
"So you be the cur that led these wolves to our door," Barbossa sneered when they arrived.
"Don't blame Turner," Beckett interrupted. "He was merely the tool of your betrayal. If you wish to see its grand architect, look to your left."
Both Elizabeth and Barbossa did, realizing he was referring to Jack.
Jack looked somewhat annoyed. "My hands are clean in this." He looked at them – they were quite filthy. "Figuratively."
Will interjected, "My actions were my own and to my own purpose. Jack had nothing to do with this."
"Well spoke!" Jack grinned and pointed first at him and then at Elizabeth. "Listen to the tool."
"Will, I've been aboard the Dutchman. I understand the burden you bear, but I fear that course is lost," Elizabeth pleaded.
"No course is lost if there is but one fool left to fight for it," he countered, eyes flicking toward Jack, hoping she would catch his meaning. Elizabeth did look toward Jack. Will could almost see her working out their plan in her mind.
Beckett ignored their exchange and spoke again. "If Turner wasn't acting on your behalf, then how did he come to give me this?" He held up Jack's compass before tossing it to him. Barbossa glared at Jack. "You made a deal with me, Jack, to deliver the pirates – and here they are. Don't be bashful. Step up, claim your reward."
"Your debt to me is still to be satisfied," Jones sounded hoarse, something they all attributed to his being on land, even if he was technically standing in seawater. "One hundred years in servitude aboard the Dutchman as a start."
Jack smirked. "That debt was paid, mate. Wif help." He waved rather effeminately toward Elizabeth who had had her eyes locked with Will's. They had always seemed to be able to communicate that way in the past and it did not fail them now.
"You escaped!" Jones protested angrily.
"Technically I –" Jack was cut off.
"I propose an exchange," Elizabeth interrupted, adopting Jack's trademark smirk. "Will leaves with us. And you can take Jack."
"Done," Will agreed.
"Undone!" Jack almost yelped.
Beckett finished with finality, "Done!"
Barbossa turned toward Elizabeth, utterly enraged. "Jack is one of the nine pirate lords, yeh have no right…"
She looked at him, unintimidated. "King!"
"As you command, your nibs." Jack removed his hat and mockingly bowed to her.
Without warning, Barbossa drew his sword and swung it towards Jack, "Blackguard!" He neatly removed the other's piece of eight. Jack the monkey scurried to collect it.
"If ye have something to say, I might be saying something as well," he told Sparrow ominously.
"First to the finish then?" Jack countered before slowly walking forward to change places with Will. Beckett had stepped aside, forcing Jack to stand next to Jones.
The captain of the Flying Dutchman leered, clearly mocking the man. Leaning in close to the pirate as the man replaced his hat he asked, "Do you fear death?"
"You have no idea," Jack responded uncomfortably.
Beckett stepped forward towards Elizabeth in a would-be threatening manner. "Advise your Brethren – you can fight and all of you will die. Or, you can not fight in which case only most of you will die."
Elizabeth stepped forward as well, placing herself inches from the short man. "You murdered my father," she practically growled.
The chief officer of the East India Trading Company remained calm, "He chose his own fate."
"And you have chosen yours," the Pirate King threatened. "We will fight. And you will die," she turned, not waiting for a response.
"So be it," Beckett responded as Elizabeth strode away, Barbossa and Will following.
Jack the monkey leapt up to Barbossa's shoulder. He bit down on the piece of eight formerly held by Jack Sparrow before dropping it into his master's waiting hand. Barbossa pocketed it glumly.
"King?" Will asked quietly as they made their way back to the boat.
"Of the Brethren Court. Courtesy of Jack," Elizabeth explained, smiling and unable to keep the pride from her voice.
He raised his eyebrows. "Maybe he really does know what he's doing."
Will held out his hand to help Elizabeth as she climbed aboard the Pearl behind him and Barbossa. She was explaining her plan of attack.
"We'll need to use the Black Pearl as a flagship to lead the attack," she hadn't paused in strategizing to board.
"Will we now?" Barbossa asked, eyebrows raised.
They looked up and were shocked to see the crew leading Tia Dalma from below decks, heavy ropes wrapped around her small form.
"Barbossa, you can't release her!" Will demanded, prompting several crewmen to point weapons at both him and Elizabeth.
She was thinking the same thing. "We need to give Jack a chance!"
"Apologies, yer majesty," Barbossa spat. "Too long my fate has not been in me own hands. No longer!" He took hold of the small, black talisman Sao Feng had given her and pulled it from her neck. Stepping toward Calypso, Barbossa dropped both Sparrow's & Swann's pieces of eight into the metal dish holding the others.
"Be there some manner of rite or incantation?" Gibbs asked.
"Aye. The items brought together, done. Items to be burned?" Barbossa watched as Gibbs poured a bit of his precious rum over the contents and took hold of one of the igniters normally used with the cannons. "And someone must speak the words 'Calypso, I release you from yer human bonds.'"
"'S 'at it?" Pintel asked, surprised there was not more to it.
"'Tis said it must be spoken as if to a lover," Barbossa nearly winked and the crew reacted with small laughs. Will looked at Elizabeth and resisted the urge to roll his eyes at their reactions. It looked as though she was resisting as well.
"Calypso!" Barbossa began, imitating Davy Jones. "I release you from yer human bonds." He attempted to burn the pieces of eight. Nothing happened.
"'S 'at it?" Pintel repeated, disappointed.
"You didn't say it right!" Ragetti explained. He didn't falter, even under Barbossa's questioning look. "You have to say it right. Calypso?" Leaning in, he brushed her hair away and whispered gently, "I release you from your human bonds."
The pieces of eight caught fire and began to shrivel. As Calypso leaned forward to inhale the smoke that rose from the dish, Will struggled to get free. She needed to know the truth.
"Tia Dalma!" he began urgently. "Calypso."
Her eyes shot open and she glared at him
"When the Brethren Court first imprisoned you, who was it that told them how?" He paused, waiting for a response. "Who was it that betrayed you?"
"Name him!" she demanded.
"Davy Jones."
They could all see the pain of that revelation take over her. Furious, Calypso began to grow.
"This is it! This is it!" Pintel exclaimed as the goddess grew to an enormous size, still tied. Ropes snapped left and right, breaking off pieces of the ship. She towered over them, looking down as Barbossa pushed his way to the front.
"Calypso!" he called as he knelt. The others soon followed suit. "I come before yeh as but a servant, humble and contrite. I have fulfilled me vow and now ask your favor. Spare meself, me ship, me crew. But unleash your fury upon those who dare pretend themselves your masters… or mine."
The goddess responded in an unintelligible, booming voice. As Jack had predicted, she was not helping them. Rather she transformed into thousands, perhaps millions of crabs and poured over the Pearl's rails into the sea.
Like the rest of the crew, Will got to his feet and looked around. Pintel had a crab hanging from his nose. It appeared one was stuck in Ragetti's trousers. Various others were shaking off the crustaceans. But other than that, nothing was different.
"Is that it?" he asked, warily.
Pintel, Ragetti, and several other crewmen looked over the side of the ship into the depths.
"Why she's no help at all," the bald man complained before turning to Barbossa. "What now?"
"Nothin'. Our final hope has failed us."
As they contemplated their options, the weather changed. The wind howled menacingly and the sky grew black with impending rain. Above them, the rigging creaked and the sails snapped.
"It's not over," Elizabeth said, almost to herself.
Will agreed, "There's still a fight to be had."
"We've an armada against us," Gibbs protested. "And with the Dutchman there's no chance."
"There's only a fool's chance," the Pirate King corrected.
Barbossa approached her. "Revenge won't bring your father back, Miss Swann. And it's not something I'm intendin' to die fer."
"You're right," she replied, walking away. She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. "Then what shall we die for?" She walked through the crew. "You will listen to me! Listen!"
Climbing up on the railing, Elizabeth took hold of the rigging and addressed the Pearl's crew in a commanding tone. "The Brethren will still be looking here to us – to the Black Pearl to lead. And what will they see? Frightened bilge rats aboard a derelict ship? No. No, they will see free men and freedom! And what the enemy will see is the flash of our cannons. They will hear the ring of our swords and they will know what we can do! By the sweat of our brows," she looked over to Barbossa. "And the strength of our backs. And the courage of our hearts! Gentlemen, hoist the colors."
Will watched in awe as his petite fiancée commanded the attention of the world's most notorious pirates. Though he was no longer angry with her and hadn't been for some time, he had had doubts about their future. No more. Watching her in all of her glory, her eyes flashing and hair whipping in the breeze, a deep longing was rekindled in the very center of his being. He loved her and her alone because she was strong and different and unexpected. Will knew he would fight for Elizabeth that day the way she was going to fight for the Brethren, for her father. For him. For them both. He smiled as he agreed, "Hoist the colors."
"Hoist the colors!" Pintel and Ragetti passed on the message to the rest of the crew.
Soon echoes of "Hoist the colors" spread across the deck.
Gibbs smiled and added, "Aye – the wind's on our side, boys. That's all we need!"
As the crew cheered, Elizabeth turned and commanded her ship, "Hoist the colors."
One by one each pirate ship in the Brethren armada followed her orders. As they cheered for a cause for which they were willing to die, their jolly rogers flew proudly overhead.
