TMC2: Punished We Were and Punished You'll Be
Summary: Sequel to The Medallion Calls. Jessica faced danger and adventure like she never would have imagined. Now, three years later, she finds herself reliving the adventure, but with even more danger and peril when one comes calling for revenge.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own Pirates of the Caribbean, or any of the characters from the film, just my own:)
WARNING! This fan fiction contains spoilers for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. If you have not seen the film and don't want it spoiled, DO NOT READ THIS FAN FICTON YET!
Chapter One: A VACATION OF SORTS
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The ground was cold beneath her bare feet while the hem of her white satin dress brushed the moist, rocky surface. She walked down the narrow passages; the only sounds to be heard was the soft padding of her bare feet against the wet stone, the rapid beating of her heart, and the waves crashing against stone in the distance, sounding like thunder.
Her hair floated about in waved curls as a gentle breeze blew by. She knew not where she was going, but at the same time, she did. The caves were familiar to her.
Finally, after walking for what seemed like ages, she arrived in an open area, filled with treasure. Gold and jewels glittered as if they were embedded into the very rock faces. But her eyes were drawn away from the mass of treasure to something in the center of the cave, standing atop a rising rock with treasure all around it. The very sight of it sent shivers up and down her spine.
Standing as it was, three years past, the chest of the--
A sharp knock roused Jessica from her sleep. She had fallen asleep on her hotel room's bed, the curtains drawn to reveal the Florida Coast just outside. "Who is it?" She called out, her voice cracking as she rubbed her eyes.
"Are you ready yet? We're about to head to the docks… Beth, Trevor and I have already checked out…" She heard Mimi's voice call from the other side of the door.
"I'll be down in fifteen." Jessica called back, sighing heavily and sitting up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed as she stared out her window.
Three years had come and gone, and it now it was the verge of her 21st birthday. She hadn't forgotten any of her little adventure in the past, and she kept it to herself. Telling no one of it, she knew that if she did confess it, she would possibly have a one way ticket to the loony bin.
Keeping something so large from her friends was hard, and over the past year, it began to wear on her. She knew they suspected she was keeping something from them, which made it harder. But thankfully, no one ever brought anything up, never in the moonlight when she became especially jumpy, nor was anything brought up over the wound on her shoulder that mysteriously appeared after Halloween that year.
Jessica slipped her feet into a pair of black flip flops at the foot of her bed and stood, walking over to the TV stand and taking a long sleeved netted bathing suit cover that ended below her thighs. A small smile touched her lips: even in the midst of all the suspicion, a group of her friends invited her to go sailing off the Coast of Southern Florida. Her friend Mimi's family owned a sailboat. And thus the mission to draw the withdrawn Jessica back into the fold of friends.
That day was the day they would leave, heading out for the open sea and immersing themselves in the joy of sailing. Joy of sailing? Jessica recalled asking. Her last experience in sailing was much less than joyful. But of course, they knew nothing about all that. They knew nothing about her fighting for her own life against undead pirates; getting shot… she hated to think about it all. Everything the memory came back around, those eyes, hollow and dead blue eyes always came back. Piercing her down to her very soil.
Jessica shivered and shook her head. "It's all in the past… literally." She reassured herself before grabbing onto a small duffel bag and laying her key card on the dresser. She turned toward the door and then left the hotel room, letting the door click shut behind her.
xxXxx
About ten minutes later, Jessica stepped onto the last step and made her way into the lobby, her bag thrown over her shoulder, holding onto the strap with her left hand. A pair of sunglasses hid her eyes from view while black shrouded her form: the black wide net cover up barely concealed a black bikini top and a pair of knee length gaucho pants. "G'morning." She waved to the group of three people standing by the entryway.
"Hey, ready to go sailing?" A tall honey blonde girl asked with a great big grin, obviously infused with happiness that the sunshine outside seemed to give without reward.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Jessica responded, unable to keep a smile off her face as the small group left the hotel to head down to the docks.
xxXxx
"So, how about this life at sea, huh? Pretty nice, isn't it?"
Jessica heard a voice behind her and she pushed herself up, sitting with her legs crossed in front of her. She had been lying on her stomach, reading a rather lengthy novel beneath the shade of the sails. She used a finger to mark her place in the book before closing it lightly, not to crush her finger, "Hey, Trevor." She greeted him then looked out to sea, seeing no land for miles in any direction. They had already been out to see for two days. "Yeah, pretty leisurely." She nodded. "How're Beth and Mimi holding up?" She held a hand over her eyes, shading the sun as she looked up at him.
"Pretty good I'd say," He chuckled, looking over at the two young women basking in the sun, "Soaking up the sun looks like." He looked back at Jessica, "Unlike you, who sports the moonlight tan." He gave a teasing grin.
"Ha ha." Jessica stuck her tongue out at him and rolled her shoulders back before leaning on her arms. "Call me old fashioned." She pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head as she answered, "You know… I used to hate sailing… up until about three years ago…" She reminisced unknowingly.
"Really? What happened to chance your mind?" Trevor asked, looking away and out to sea.
"Oh, um," Jessica became aware of what she had said, "A vacation of sorts." She forced a smile and quickly changed the topic, "So, Captain, what be our destination?" She glanced over at him.
"We are on a course for… wherever the wind takes us. We've got all summer to take this trip, so why not take advantage of time?" He replied, looking over at Mimi and Beth before back at Jessica with a large grin.
"Well, that's comforting. Our own Captain doesn't even have a heading!" Jessica laughed, finding her bookmark finally and setting the book down beside her.
"How's this: we have a heading for home when we're all done. Does that work for you?"
"Sure. Why not." Jessica rolled her shoulders in a shrug and picked up her book again, looking down at the pages before a cool breeze struck up. Gooseflesh formed on her arms, causing her to look up and around. As she looked to the horizon, she narrowed her eyes to make sure she was seeing what she thought, "…Is it just me, or was that not there a few minutes ago?" She lifted her hand again to shield from what little sunshine remained as black clouds gathered at an alarming rate not too far off.
"Oh shit no… those weren't there before..."He stood up straight and watched dumbfounded as they continued to grow, moving quickly toward the sailboat.
"Let's get these sails up, get all our stuff below, and oh yeah, us too." Jessica moved to sit up as he nodded and then jumped down to hurry over to Mimi and Beth, telling them what was going on, pointing to the clouds that were just shy of being upon them. Jessica wrapped her things up in her towel, tossed them below through the skylight and then grabbed a hold of the ropes, tugging hard to pull the sails up.
Just as Jessica got a good start, it began to rain, pouring down hard, almost hurting. Around her, she could heard indistinct shouts, Mimi and Bethany's voices shouting our as the wind picked up violently as lightning flashed.
"The storm just … out of nowhere!"
"Hurry… get … sails put up!"
"Mimi … hurry!"
Jessica could barely make out the voices anymore. She pulled hard, the robes becoming slippery with the rain pouring down fast and hard. She gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes, trying to keep the rain from blinding her and trying to keep a good grip. She curled her toes around the edge of the cabin's roof and jerked hard. "Will someone help me!" She called out, but her voice was drowned out by the storm.
Then suddenly, it was as if the world had a mute button, everything went silent, but the storm still raged. A voice, chillingly familiar and quite clear, floated through the air to her.
"… punished we were… and punished ye'll be…"
Blinking out the rain water, the raging sounds of the storm rushed back. She looked around, then began to call out to her friends, but a gust of wind blasted a wave of water over the sailboat, crashing against Jessica and causing her already failing grip on the ropes to falter. Screaming, she tried to keep hold, but it was too late. The storm drowned out the sound of her screams as she flew back, into the water. She screamed and thrashed until she slammed against the hard waters, feeling cold and a stabbing pain before everything went dark.
xxXxx
Lord Cutler Beckett stood on his private balcony at the back of his study, sipping a glass of brandy ad he looked out to sea as a storm formed in the distance. "Your rank will be reinstated, I shall personally see to that." He informed the still ragged, former Commodore James Norrington to his left.
"Thank you. I do hope this is a standing agreement that will not be broken. You now have the ocean at your will… thanks to me." Norrington replied, taking a drink of his own brandy and giving Beckett a sideways glance.
"Of course," Beckett turned to Norrington and gave him his smug, aristocratic smile. "You have nothing to worry my good man, you will be well taken care of, and you will get all the glory you deserve." He raised his glass before taking another drink.
The two men then stood in silence for a few moments before shouts on the beach disturbed them. Beckett's slaves and a few marines had gathered around a dark figure lying on the beach in the surf, face down. "What is that?" Beckett asked, looking over to the source of the commotion, his nose turned up noticeably.
"She's alive!" They heard a voice cry out before a marine came rushing over to Beckett's balcony.
"My Lord!" He spoke between breaths, "A young woman has washed ashore… she's breathing, but very weakly, what shall we do?" He asked for guidance.
Beckett stood still for a moment, but then he breathed in and shifted his weight, setting his brandy glass down on a table, "Bring her in, my slaves shall tend to her."
He marine nodded and hurried off. Norrington watch as the very same marine returned a short time later, carrying a wet and limp young woman in his arms wearing strange black clothes. Her dark hair hid her face, clinging to her wet skin like kelp.
"Wait a moment." Norrington stopped the marine when he reached the landing at the top of the steps. He approached the marine. Carefully, he took a finger and pulled the hair away from her face, revealing a familiar one. "My God…" He stared down at her in disbelief.
"Do you know this young lady, Norrington?" Beckett asked, looking from Norrington's shocked expression to the unconscious young woman.
"Yes. Yes I do." Norrington continued to stare, disbelieving at the young woman.
"Let's get her inside and have the slaves tend to her. We don't want her catching cold." Beckett motioned to the Marine to carry her inside, following as Norrington watched them whisk the young woman into the house, not noticing as it began to rain lightly.
xxXxx
The ground was cold beneath her bare feet while the hem of her white satin dress brushed the moist, rocky surface. She walked down the narrow passages; the only sounds to be heard was the soft padding of her bare feet against the wet stone, the rapid beating of her heart, and the waves crashing against stone in the distance, sounding like thunder.
Her hair floated about in waved curls as a gentle breeze blew by. She knew not where she was going, but at the same time, she did. The caves were familiar to her.
Finally, after walking for what seemed like ages, she arrived in an open area, filled with treasure. Gold and jewels glittered as if they were embedded into the very rock faces. But her eyes were drawn away from the mass of treasure to something in the center of the cave, standing atop a rising rock with treasure all around it. The very sight of it sent shivers up and down her spine.
Standing as it was, three years past, the chest of the eight-hundred and eighty-two pieces of cursed Aztec gold.
Drawing in a deep breath, Jessica made her way up the rock, and then stood before the chest, looking down into the open stone box. The menacing skulls on the faces of the coins grinned maliciously up at her. Looking from each coin, to the next, she bent over slightly, but then suddenly, the lid of the chest snapped shut, startling her and causing her to slip, falling back down the rock and into the water.
Breathing hard, her heart pounding hard against her chest, she pushed herself above the water and looked around as a mist began to form in the cave.
Quickly, Jessica pushed herself into a stand. Slowly, something warm began to make its way down her left arm, slowly, she drew her gaze and then gasped, and watching as blood flowed freely from the bullet wound. She pressed her hand against it tightly and moved to turn around, looking for something that she could wrap around her shoulder to stem the bleeding.
Just as she turned around, she came face to face with a figure from her nightmares: the skeletal form of Barbossa loomed over her. Jessica shook her head and took a step back, but slipped and fell back against the rock where the chest of Aztec gold was perched.
Barbossa's skeletal form vanished as he stepped out of the moons light and approached her, a wicked grin upon his face as he reached out, gripping Jessica's neck with his cold, unfeeling fingers and pushed her against the rock, covering her mouth as she tried to scream with his free hand, "Don't worry lass… there'll be no rogering… till later."
Jessica shook her head and tried to scream again, but she found herself forced in between the undead pirate and the cold and wet rock.
"Punished we were, lass. And punished, you'll be." His lifeless eyes burned with revenge as he spoke.
Jessica's eyes widened and she was about to fight back when she found herself submerged in water, Barbossa's form still looming over her as he held her beneath the surface. Struggling and trying to scream, she thrashed until finally—
Gasping loudly, Jessica woke up with a start, sitting up straight as she did, breathing hard. Her heart pounded beneath her chest as she looked down at her knees, eyes wide as a salty and warm tear made its way down her face, then made a soft "tip" sound as it splashed on the sheet over her knee.
She felt like she'd been having that nightmare for days… and each time, it progressing more and more. She never wanted to finish it. Reaching up, she brushed her cheek, feeling the moisture the tear had left behind. Jessica looked down at her hand, and then slowly lifted her eyes up, not recognizing the room. Things started coming back to her.
Flying to Florida, the hotel, sailing, and the storm. A gust of wind, followed by the pain of hitting the ice cold choppy waters, then nothing.
Where am I? She asked herself quietly, looking around again. At first, she just felt pressure around her ears, but it began to clear up after a few moments, allowing her to hear the pouring rain outside the curtain covered windows.
Jessica slipped off the bed carefully, placing her feet on the cold wood floor before stumbling over to one of the windows. She leaned against the wall beside the curtain and regained herself. She must have been lying down for some time, but slowly, the use of her legs returned and she pushed away from the wall, taking one of the curtains in hand and looking out the rain soaked window.
It was hard to see past the rain, but she moved closer to the window, and when her eyes focused, the sight she saw, she could not believe.
Jessica felt faint. Her knees slowly began to buckle. Then her eyes rolled back. Her body went limp before she crumpled onto the floor with a loud thump, her body sprawling out at the base of the window.
Outside, the all-too-familiar sight of 18th Century Port Royal, Jamaica was covered in a mild mannered storm.
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and here is the revised first chapter of this fanfic, yay! i'm rather pleased with it... and instead of setting it during Dead Mans Chest, i decided to set it immediately after. i'm thinking there might be some romance in this, taking on some hints in the movie, and just adding in some of my own... but we shall see. and i loved Dead Mans Chest! the twist at the end makes it so much easier for this story to move along! yay! although the twist with one of the main pirates will be hard to work with. but i'll do my best... he was a hard character to write anyway...
Reviews (just concerning the note I had posted:)---
Pirate Gyrl - Lol, I did wait until the end of the credits! And I must agree about the twist at the end, wholeheartedly in fact! I love that character and I'm so happy he's back! He's so much fun to write as well... mwhahaha :) I hope you like the first chapter of my revamped story:)
JeanieBeanie33- I don't think anything in the PotC universe could be as good as the first film, but, I really did enjoy Dead Man's Chest. All the twists and turns they made were just, awesome. Davy Jones was pretty kickin' too. Although my favorite part has to be the end when a rather big twist happens as well as the "Undead Monkey!" part. Unfortunately, since I haven't seen Dead Mans Chest (and I'm too poor to see it 9 times in theaters as I did with the first!) and I can't find a copy of the script anywhere, I'm placing my fic at the end of Dead Mans Chest, like, directly at the end, which you'll see since I addedLord Beckett and Norrington (a character I am pleased they brought back as well! And seeing him almost piratical was awesome) to the story. Norrington will have a large part in this fic I believe:) yay.