A/N: Chapter 1 was a bit short – usually I average about 1,500 words/chapter, but I had this plot bunny that I just had to get onto paper (well, computer, in this case) and posted. Hence I had barely anything planned out…and thus spent the last week thinking of ideas to advance the plot without saying "And they rescued him, the end." Anyways, here's the rest of Chapter 1, masquerading as the first part of Chapter 2. I may make some changes to Chapter 1&2 later on...I'm more used to having at least 4 chapters written up before posting the first one!
To all those that left a review - thank you so much for your comments! I had no idea Chapter 1 would be so well received!
Chapter 2
On the Avarice
"I'll not have this brat smart-mouthing me," Nessuno gestured to the pirates behind William with a sneer, "Throw 'im into the brig."
"At least I'm not bad-mouthing you," muttered William rebelliously.
"Shut yer mouth," snarled one of the pirates as they carried the struggling kid down and threw him into one of the cells before slamming the door shut.
William looked at the dark walls of his prison and sighed. "Mom is going to kill me when she finds out about this."
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"Uh, there is a small problem though," Jack suddenly spoke up.
Elizabeth broke off her conversation with Tai Huang to throw a slightly irritated glance in his direction. "What?"
"If I were to go on this little errand of yours, I would like a more suitable ship."
"Go on."
Barbossa simply rubbed his hand over his eyes, "Why do I get the feelin' I know where this is going?"
"I want me ship back."
"You have a ship, Jack."
"I want the Pearl back."
"Now, now Jack," Barbossa wagged a finger at him, "I think we all know that I stole it fair and square – especially since you still have my map!"
"No Pearl, no deal," Jack directed this at Elizabeth with a smug grin.
"Well," Elizabeth paused for effect, "Then I suppose the two of you will just have to learn how to share."
Upon Barbossa's spluttering protests, she just rolled her eyes. "Oh, you can just get him piss drunk again and strand him on another island when you're done! It's not like that hasn't worked the last five or six times."
"It was three times, missy," corrected Jack.
She gave him a long look, "That's Captain Turner to you."
"I still demand my ship back. I won't be sharing with the likes of him!"
Barbossa sneered, "Mutual."
"What about your own ship?" Elizabeth directed this at Jack.
"Uh…Anamaria's more than capable of taking care of it. I'll just take it back when needed."
"-and it won't be the first time," muttered Anamaria from her place beside his seat.
"Besides, how the heck am I supposed to find the Dutchman? It's not like I can just whistle and the damn thing'll appear!"
"You have a compass."
"Oh…that."
"Yes. That."
Jack was silent for a few seconds before he spoke up again. "And where will you be during all this?"
"Why, I'll be coming along, of course," Elizabeth gave him and Barbossa a long look, "Heavens knows if I didn't, the two of you will probably spend every other second thinking of plans to chuck the other overboard and nothing'll ever get done."
"It'll be just like old times, I suppose," said Jack with fake enthusiasm, "Lovely. Hope you don't plan on seducing me again."
Elizabeth just gave him a dirty look before she caught sight of Barbossa's smirk.
Giving an overly dramatic sigh, she turned to Jack, "You know it wouldn't have worked out anyways."
"Having regrets, Mrs. Turner?"
"Hell, NO."
"You wound me, sweetheart."
"You'll live."
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Meanwhile, aboard the British vessel Judicator
"I feel that my predecessor, Lord Beckett had the right idea. He just lacked…vision."
"Indeed?" inquired the man sitting beside the official.
"Yes. He was too short-sighted and his plans were, shall we say, inflexible. They hinged on Davy Jones to fulfill his part of the deal…instead, when the latter decided to turn traitor, Lord Beckett's plans fell apart and rumor was he was so shocked that he couldn't even manage to utter a single word as his ship was blown to smithereens by the Dutchman and the Black Pearl." Lord Southeway sneered, "Suffice to say, I do not intend to make that same mistake."
"But how was Jones able to betray him? I understand that Lord Beckett had some form of leverage…"
"He did, but then he had the leverage – Jones' Heart – transferred onto the Flying Dutchman to make his point and the soldiers he left were incompetent enough that Jones' somehow managed to regain possession of it."
"I see."
"And now with the pirates cutting into our profits with their rampant plundering, even more serious than it was nine years ago, our need to take back control of the seas is more urgent than ever."
"What are you proposing, Lord Southeway?"
Southeway leaned forward, "My proposal is that we do all that we can to regain control of the heart of the Captain of the Flying Dutchman."
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"I still don't get why she insisted on this wild goose chase for her sweetheart," complained Jack to Gibbs as the Pearl began her journey, "It's not like we're not capable for finding the boy ourselves."
"She probably thought he'd be more threatenin'."
Now Jack looked insulted, "Are you saying I'm not scary enough?" But then a thought occurred to him and he shrugged, "I suppose you're right about that. He's the one doing all that 'Are you scared of death' shit. Can't beat that."
"Aye."
"The fact tha' he can walk through ships probably doesn't hurt either."
"You also forgot one little thing, Mr. Gibbs," said Elizabeth, strolling up along the deck towards the two pirates.
"And wha' is that?"
"Other ships have a tendency to avoid the Flying Dutchman…whereas with the Pearl, ships tend to chase after it!"
"Let them try an' caught us. No ship is faster than the Pearl."
"And waste time running away?"
"Well, if you put it that way..."
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Btw, for those of you that wanted the story behind Will's comment in Chapter 1 about how his godfather "threw him overboard after he stole his rum." that one-shot is now posted. Check out Tales of Will:D
As usual, comments, flames, whatever are welcomed!