Chapter Seven
"You and I both know it's insane that I want you still."
Jack was awoken by the smell of something burning. He awoke with a start and his chest was still warm from where Endelisa had rested her head upon it. Last night had to have been the most magical night of his life and he had been with many a woman, but that experience, actually being in love with the woman he was making love to, was all a new territory for him. As was making love to a virgin.
He jolted up and looked around for her. Her small footprints led away from him in the sand so he decided to follow them from the trees they had somewhat hidden behind during their rendezvous the night before. When he rounded the tree he stopped in his tracks for what he saw there shocked him. The girls were tossing the crates that contained their food and rum onto a fire that had to have been a thousand feet high. He ran towards them screaming "NO!" as he did. He pulled Endelisa aside first just as she threw another crate onto the pile. "What are you doing? You are burning all our provisions and all the rum!" He snapped.
"Yes, Jack, the rum is gone." Elizabeth said walking away from the fire.
Jack let go of Endelisa, rather roughly, so that she stumbled and fell. He turned to Elizabeth, ignoring Endelisa's slight cry. "Why is the rum gone?"
"Well first of all, it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable man into a disgusting pig." Elizabeth snapped and then sat down on the ground. "Second of all, every British fleet ship is out here searching for me. That signal is a thousand feet high; do you really think they'll miss it? Give it about an hour, keep a weather eye open and you will see white sails on the horizon."
Jack pulled out his gun. "JACK!" Endelisa snapped and he quickly put it away before Elizabeth turned around. "We're getting off the island, isn't that what you wanted?"
"By her friend, Commodore Norrington? We face the gallows, Endelisa." He said gravely.
Endelisa looked to Elizabeth. Elizabeth shook her head. "You won't, Endelisa. You aren't really a pirate and as you've said, you don't know anything about Jack. They would never hang someone as beautiful as you." She said comfortingly.
Endelisa glared at her. "They will when I tell them I am his wife." She said angrily. "I do not want to exist in a world where he does not."
"Endelisa," Jack begun to beg.
"No, Jack, I promised you." She said. "I love you and I will only ever love you. There is no one but you for me."
Jack took her hands in his. "And if it were my dying wish that you not accompany me to the gallows?" He asked.
She shook her head. "Absolutely not."
…
As promised, the white sails had appeared and they were hoisted aboard the Dauntless. Despite Elizabeth's pleadings, they were having no talk of going back to save William, until Elizabeth accepted Norrington's proposal and asked for it as a wedding present for her. Then he was more than willing to go and to allow Jack to help them find the Isla de Muerta. Endelisa, of course, would not allow them to be separated so she went in the rowboat with him after he had convinced the Commodore and the British troops to stay behind while they rowed into the cave.
Jack got out of the boat and helped Endelisa out but didn't move. "We don't have much time! We have to save Will! Why have you stopped?" Endelisa asked urgently, walking ahead of him and pulling on his hand but he didn't budge. She cocked her head slightly to the side in confusion at him.
"We have time. Barbossa likes to make a speech about everything he does." Jack said. "This will merely take a moment." He let go of her hand to take off the ring he wore on his pointer finger on his left hand. It was silver and bore an emerald. On either side of the ring, there were skulls. It may have not have been the most romantic thing but for the time being, it was what he had. He got down on his knee. "I think this is how you do this." Judging by the look on her face and the way she had gasped, he was doing this properly. He took her hand in his. "Endelisa, I love you. Immensely so, I have never felt this way for anyone or anything. I would prefer that you not have to lie when you tell them that we are married, unfortunately we don't have enough time for me to perform a marriage ceremony, but I can ask you, if we get out of this alive, some way, somehow, will you marry me?"
Endelisa's eyes had filled with tears; she was so overwhelmed by her emotions that all she could do was nod ecstatically. He smiled and slid the ring on her thumb, for that was the only finger it would fit. "I love you." He said and swept her up into his arms for a kiss much longer and more passionate than any he had ever given to her. "Now let's go save Will, my fiancé.
…
Jack pushed through Barbossa's crew with Endelisa attached to his hand; he enjoyed the feel of his ring on her finger. He promised himself that if he got out of this alive, he would go through every piece of gold and artifact in here until he found a ring that fit her finger and was as beautiful as she was. The crew had stopped chanting and everyone was looking at Jack and Endelisa. "It's not possible." Barbossa breathed.
There were two pirates holding Will over the chest, Barbossa had just been about to slit Will's throat. He had stopped now that he had seen Jack.
"Not probable." Jack corrected him.
Will looked at them. "Where's Elizabeth?" He demanded.
"She's safe, just like I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington just like she promised and you're ready to die for her, just like you promised." Jack said as he pulled Endelisa through the crowd. They were stopped by one of the crew members who put a hand on Jack's shoulder. Another crew member attempted to pull Endelisa away from him but he turned around and punched the man with as much force as he possibly could. The man fell over. "Do not touch my lady." He pulled Endelisa against his side and wrapped his arm around her. "As I was saying, we are all men of our word, except for Elizabeth, who is, in fact, a woman."
Barbossa stared at him. "Shut up!" He snapped brandishing his knife at him. "You're next." He bent back down and placed the knife at Will's neck.
"You don't want to be doing that, mate." Jack warned.
Barbossa rolled his eyes and looked at Jack. "No, I really think I do." He snapped and went back to his task.
"Your funeral," Jack stated with a shrug.
Barbossa sighed and pulled away from Will. He faced Jack then. "Why don't I want to be doing this?"
"Well," Jack said moving forward. He slapped the man's hand that was holding him back and he let go. He kept moving then, "because the HMS Dauntless, pride of the royal navy is floating just offshore waiting for you." He helped Endelisa up the rocks with him. "Just hear me out, mate. You order your men to row out there, do what they do best." All the men began to chuckle then. "Robert's your uncle. Fanny's your aunt. You are there with two ships, the making of your very own fleet. Of course you'll take the grandest as your flagship, and who's to argue? What of the Pearl?" He paused then and let go of Endelisa. "Make me captain. I'll fly under your colors, give you ten percent of me plunder and you get to call yourself Commodore Barbossa."
Barbossa seemed to be contemplating this. "Aye, and in exchange I suspect you want me not to kill the whelp?" He said gesturing at Will.
"No. No. No. No. By all means, kill the whelp." Jack said and Endelisa looked at him in fear. "Just not now. Wait to lift the curse at the opportune moment." He seemed to be speaking directly to Will now. He took up a handful of coins from the chest. "For example, after you kill Norrington's men, every last one." With each word, he dropped a coin but the last coin he slid in his sleeve but only Endelisa and Will noticed.
The fact that Endelisa didn't know what any of this was that was going on didn't help much in her confusion. She had no idea why Barbossa wanted to slit Will's throat or why Jack was hiding a piece of gold in her sleeve. No one had told her anything. She wondered if the truth was really better off unknown at this point.
Barbossa stared at him. "I want fifty percent of your plunder."
"Fifteen" Jack haggled back.
"Forty" Barbossa retorted.
"Twenty five." Jack said with finality. "I'll buy you the hat. A really big one. Commodore."
Barbossa shook his hand. "We have an accord."
"All hands to the boats!" Jack said turning to the crew. Barbossa glared at him from the future. "Apologies, you give the orders."
Barbossa nods. "Gents, take a walk."
The crew moved out then. Jack looked to Barbossa. "Not to the ships."
"They're undead, Jack. They don't need to do things like breathing." Barbossa said.
…
Jack was looking around the cave at all the treasures. "I admit, Jack, I thought I had you figured." Barbossa said. "It turns out you're a hard man to predict. You have a woman now, a faithful one; this is something I never would have expected of you."
Endelisa was standing back away from them all. She now knew that they were undead, or at least the majority of them. She wasn't sure who she could trust anymore, save Jack. She could always trust Jack if there was no one else.
"Me? I'm dishonest." Well, until he said that. "And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest, honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for. You never know when they are going to do something…incredibly stupid." He kicked the man in front of him over and took his sword.
They all began fighting then. Endelisa screamed and jumped back then. She had never been trained to fight by anyone. She didn't know how to throw a punch let alone wield a sword. When she saw that Jack was easily holding his own against Barbossa but Will was against three men. She picked up a large golden helmet and came up behind the one man and used it to strike him repeatedly in the side of the head. When he fell down, she smashed it down over the entirety of his head. William winked at her. "Thanks, darling." He said quickly. She nodded and then looked for Jack.
She spotted him upon a rock with Barbossa, whom had a sword stuck through his chest. She smiled, thinking he'd won but then Barbossa tore the sword from his chest. He then pushed it through Jack's chest. "JACK!" She screamed and sprinted towards him. "JACK!" Just as she made it within reaching distant of him, he stumbled back into the moonlight, into her arms and his body turned into a skeleton. Her eyes couldn't have gotten wider if she tried. She pushed him up and away from her. "Oh my god…" She said and then ran in the opposite direction she came and right into the side of Will.
"What's wrong?" He asked as he attempted to fight off the two pirates while she clung to him. "Endelisa, you're not exactly helping me at this point."
She let go of him and kicked the man in front of them in the groin and when he fell forward, punched him in the face. "Jack is one of them!" she squeaked to Will. "Are you?"
"No, Endelisa!" Will said. "Jack is on our side, I promise you."
Endelisa looked at him conflicted and then Barbossa and Jack were behind her, Jack had knocked him over upon a rock. "So what now, Jack? Are we to be two immortals locked in battle until judgment day and trumpets sound?"
Endelisa grabbed the man's, who she had thrown the helmet on, sword and threw it right through Barbossa's boned chest. Jack turned to look at her. "I didn't know you could wield a sword." He said.
"I can't." She said and showed him her bruised and bloody knuckles from punching the man in the face. "I can't fight either."
He smiled at her and then turned back to Barbossa. "Or you could just surrender." He said, an explosion from behind them distracted them all. Jack slit his hand and grabbed the coin. He tossed to Will who was running to the chest of coins.
Barbossa turned his gun on Endelisa who froze in her steps as she heard the gunshot go off. She waited for the pain to come, but it never did. Barbossa looked at Jack with a slight smirk on his face. "Ten years you carry that pistol and now you waste your shot." He said around a laugh.
"He didn't waste it." Will said just as he dropped the two coins into the chest.
Barbossa opened his shirt in a panic to reveal blood quickly soaking up his shirt. "I feel…cold…" he said and fell over. Endelisa stared at him and then looked at Jack.
"It's over." She whispered. She ran into his arms then. "We can be together forever now."
Jack kissed her cheek repeatedly. "Yes, but first, there is bound to be a ring around here somewhere that will fit your proper finger." He said. "Would you like to help me find it?"
Endelisa smiled wider than she ever had before. There was the warmth, but this time it filled her chest. She never would have imagined that when she was sent away by her father, that she would be meeting her future husband and she could never thank him more.