Chapter 4

Ana sighed and swung herself off the ledge she had been sitting on, making her way over to Jack and Barbossa. This was the fifth time in twenty minutes that the two had begun arguing over who was the captain of the bloody ship and it was beginning to get on her nerves.

"It's Jack's ship, so he should be the captain," she stated calmly as Barbossa glared down at her, "and they're your charts, so he will allow you to consult with him. Now I suggest that you do what Pintel told you to do, and bloody stow it before someone gives in and shoots you!"

Jack and Barbossa looked down at her with a mixture of surprise, outrage and distaste, causing Ana to scream as they both battled each other up the stairs to the helm. Barbossa pulled out his spyglass and observed their surroundings, causing Jack to try doing the same, only to find that his didn't work.

"Here," Ana sighed, handing him the spyglass she had found on her person in the Locker, "now find us a way out of this bloody place and stop arguing."

"Thanks love," Jack smiled and got to work, leaving Ana to mill around on the deck and observe his competition with Barbossa, "take a shot at the wheel if you like."

Ana smiled and walked to Cotton's side, her father coming over to help her and Cotton moving off to do some other duty on deck. It seemed that Georgia had her hands full as Ana listened to Gibbs instruct her whilst looking out to the lower deck and spotting several of Huang's men whispering with Huang himself in a corner, being closely watched by Georgia, who moved off quickly as Elizabeth and Will disappeared downstairs.

"That's a girl," Gibbs smiled as Ana took to steering the ship and moved her eyes off her sister, "you could be a fine navigator and helmsman if it wasn't such terrible bad luck to have a woman on board."

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Georgia hummed loudly as she moved down the stairs, knowing exactly what she was intruding on. As suspected she had timed it perfectly and Elizabeth dashed up the stairs, pushing past Georgia in a hurry.

"Elizabeth?" she yelled after the girl, realizing that she felt bad for her, even after she had killed Anamaria, "Will? What's going on? Are you ok?"

Will responded by thumping his fist against a wooden pillar as Georgia and her soft calls reached him. He spun to face her and ran his hand through his hair, sighing in frustration and opening his mouth to speak to Georgia several times, closing it again each occasion.

"She loves you," Will's eyes snapped up to look at Georgia immediately and he moved a little closer, "she'd choose you because she needs you, not because she'd feel guilty. Take my advice and fix it before things get hectic around here."

Georgia smiled as Will clasped a hand on her shoulder on the way out; even though she was aware he had no intention on following her advice until he was sure Jack was out of the picture.

Moving back up the stairs she spotted Anamaria at the helm, steering the ship and yelling at Barbossa and Jack who were having a full go of it, hitting each other with their spyglasses and yelling in each others faces.

Running up the stairs to aide her sister, she caught Sao Feng's men staring at her, and a whisper on the breeze about the goddess Calypso. Ignoring it when she heard Ana scream in frustration, Georgia pulled her pistol and made her entrance on the upper deck.

Ana seeing her sister's weapon drawn did the same and the two girls gained the crews attention by firing into the air. The loud noises and the vibrations from the guns sent Ana's head reeling and as she stepped forward she fell in a clumsy heap into Jack, knocking him to the ground.

"Your sister has the right idea darling," Jack smirked as he helped her up and stood keeping her standing, "fire the gun then make a speech whilst remaining in view of everyone is usually the way to go."

He grimaced a little as the barrel of Georgia's pistol found its way into his face and stood back behind Anamaria, careful to swivel the barrel around with the back of his hand to face Barbossa instead.

"It's bloody six o'clock," Georgia yelled and placed her pistol back into her sash, "leave father in control of the bloody ship and stop your bloody arguing for near five minutes to find us a way out of this idiotic situation!"

The captains seemed to commit to the agreement and Georgia smiled at Ana as Jack led her downstairs. Barbossa scowled and moved off to mumble with Tia Dalma and Gibbs shouted orders to the crew leaving Georgia free to follow around any suspicious characters.

It seemed every pirate on the ship wanted something from another, wether it be money, rank, weaponry, food, rum or pleasurable company. Recalling the events to come, Georgia pondered over what to do. Ana would most likely be accompanying Jack, which left her with the choice of following Will, Elizabeth or Huang and his men. Scuffing her boot in confusion she threw her arms above her head and looked up towards the sky for any sign of what to do.

**********

Anamaria sat in Jack's chair behind his desk and watched as he paced back and forth talking to himself. Biting into an apple that she had found in a bowl on the desk, she watched again as Jack made his way to the bed, sat down and jumped straight back up to walk to the desk.

"Your sister," he began, pointing a finger at the door as if Georgia was standing there, "Anamaria love, we are stuck in the middle of the ocean between life and death and you let your bloodthirsty younger sister carry a gun. We all let you have one, hell we gave you extra weapons, but your bloody sister needs her confiscated."

Ana smiled and vacated Jack's seat, allowing him to sit down and open another bottle of rum. Although he'd opened three already, she was well aware he had only taken one mouthful of each one before moving to the next. It was disconcerting to see that he was so mistrusting of everyone that he wouldn't even drink, so taking a seat on the bed she made herself useful to his cause.

"We escaped the locker Jack. How many people can you say have done that?" he moved from the chair and joined her perched on the bed, offering her the rum and then sitting it on the floor when she shook her head, "relax, we're free so to speak, we escaped and now we're free."

She smiled and looked over at Jack who was studying her with a weird expression on his face, twirling his braided beard around one finger. She knew he trusted her, she also know how easily he could not and it was the second option that made her change her course of discussion.

"How long have you known me Jack?" she smiled as she bit into the apple once again, "I mean, I know that you and my dad have known each other a while, but what about me, Georgie and mum?"

The question had the desired effect and Jack placed an arm over her shoulders as he picked up the rum from the floor and prepared to tell his story.

"I met your dad a while back, sometime after I met young William's father but still before the Pearl was taken from me the first time. As opposed to William who I didn't meet until he was seventeen, same age as you are now, I met you when you were just a little lass, three years old perhaps," Jack paused to drink and then smiled down at Anamaria, "your sister was a might bit less violent back then, but not a lot, even if she was only six months old the teeth on that girl were in, early you see."

"Anyhow, I met you a few scattered times after that all the way up until you were ten, never stayed longer than a day or two though, when you were thirteen I met you for the longest, I saw straight away that you were a lot like your mother whom I'd only met once, pretty, charming, but harsh if necessary. I thought you'd be a formidable young woman and I was right, right to I was about your sister, picked up a sword and a gun to early I reckon," Jack looked towards the door then back, smiling in his usual and un-imitated way, "remember the first time you girls had to fight I do, you wouldn't kill a soul, shot seven men in the legs and had them down before they could get to you but you wouldn't kill. Admirable is what it was, and your throwing skills with those daggers were passable, sword work still shabby though. Your sister killed two people, one man that caught you and another that was after her, shot one and stabbed the other, great with a cutlass and a sure shot but can't throw a dagger at the ground without hitting her feet."

Jack trailed off laughing and Anamaria joined in, catching a glimpse of white fog along the after through the small window. Gasping a little and moving closer to take a look, she crawled straight off the bed and away from the water, waiting for Jack to look and then dragging him out the door.

Sure enough, Tia Dalma was just finishing up her story about Davy Jones and the souls of the dead, "…him was a man…once."

Ragetti and Pintel had a look of wonderment on their faces as they moved closer to the railing behind her, quickly changing into a look of something else as Ragetti raised his hand and spoke the words that Anamaria was dreading to hear; "now there's boats' coming."

A chill went down Anamaria's spine as Tia Dalma announced to the crew that they were nothing but ghosts to them, and she turned into Jack's chest as Barbossa announced it was best to leave them be.

His arm around her shoulders was comforting until she heard Elizabeth's voice all out over the railing, "it's my father, we've made it back. Father! Father, here, look here!"

"Elizabeth," Jacks chest vibrated as the pitying words left his mouth, "we're not back."

Anamaria turned to face the girl and raised a hand to touch her arm, Will doing the same from his position beside Barbossa with Georgia. But both their hands fell away as Elizabeth moved down the railing to follow her father and Jack pulled his arm tighter around Anamaria.

"Elizabeth. Are you dead?" her father asked form his little boat, sitting nonchalantly with his hand resting on his knee, continuing to speak as Elizabeth shook her head, "I think I am. There was this chest, you see. It's odd. At the time it seemed so important. And a heart, I learned that if you stab the heart, yours must take its place. And you will sail the seas for eternity. The Dutchman must always have a captain. Silly thing to die for."

Everyone's faces had morphed into looks of pity for Elizabeth since her father had started talking, greed momentarily taking over before she began frantically yelling to cast a line.

"Someone cast a line. Come back with us! Come on," she yelled, grabbing a large coil of rope and chucking it overboard, gripping one end tightly as Tia Dalma whispered about destiny to Will, "take the line."

Georgia appeared on the other side of Jack and Anamaria grabbed her arm, shrugging Jack off and shoving him slightly when he didn't let go. Moving towards Elizabeth the girls made no move to touch her or invade her space, they just waited.

"I'm so proud of you, Elizabeth," the governor said and calmly turned his head to face forward and ignored his daughters' cries to take the line, sending her dashing up the stairs to the helm and past Cotton.

"She must not leave the ship!" Tia Dalma yelled and everyone rushed forward, Ana and Georgia grabbing Elizabeth's wrists to keep her from jumping, but being beaten off, just to have Will get there in time.

"Is there a way?" Will asked Tia Dalma as Elizabeth gave up on trying to get away and collapsed into a crying heap in his arms. Ana moved forwards and placed a hand on her back, leaning a little against Will and whispering to Elizabeth.

"Him at peace," came Tia Dalma's reply as she shook her head, sending Elizabeth into another fit of crying. The crew dispersed around them after a soft word from Barbossa and Jack came to lead Ana away, backing off when she shook her head at him.

As Elizabeth calmed down she pushed away from Will and went running, Ana following and catching her on the stairs, allowing the girl to cry onto her shoulder as she held a hand to her face.

Georgia placed a hand on Will's arm and hugged him it lightly as he turned his face towards Elizabeth. He was obviously upset with her running off, probably also about the passing of Governor Swann, and his look did not change as Ana gave a sad smile from her position with Elizabeth.

"We have to get out of here," Georgia said quietly, not quite knowing what to say, "Things will be better then, I promise. Can you help me find my father?"

Will nodded and led Georgia around the deck, taking her below to find Gibbs and remaining silent the entire time. He left her with a nod and made his way back up onto the deck passing Jack on his way back up.

"We have to get out of here," Georgia said again, this time to Jack as he passed by her in the tight hallway; "I know you can find us a way."

"Listen love, I may be trusting of your sister but I sure as hell don't trust anyone else on this bloody vessel, so I'm looking for a way out of here just as much as you are," his hands moved around and Georgia found it hard to see both at once as he spoke, "that means I'm working on it, savvy?"

"Thank you Jack," she said quietly, catching his arm as he made to walk off and removing her hand as he distastefully crinkled up his nose, "and I'm sorry I didn't go back to save you with Ana."

A/N: so hopefully you can see the hate for Elizabeth fading away, especially from Anamaria, though Georgia's is still pretty much there. I will be changing that in the next chapter though I think. As I always seem to say, thank you for reading, Ange.