Elizabeth heard a hard knocked upon the door of her newly assigned room upon the strange pirate ship. She trembled as she replied, "come in."
The two pirates Pintel and Ragetti appeared behind the door, holding a dress. Elizabeth was puzzled, but then she looked down and saw that she was only wearing her night gown. She stood up immediately and crossed her arms. "What is it? Has your captain finally grew some manners and is willing to tell me why I was taken upon your ship?"
Pintel and Ragetti looked at each other and laughed. "The captain wants you to dine with him tonight, and he requests that you were this."
Elizabeth stuck her chin up in protest. "Well you can tell your captain that I am disincline to acquiesce his request."
The pirates laughed again. "The captain said you'd say that. He also said that if that be the case, you'll be dinning with the crew…and you'll be naked," Pintel said while giggling. Ragetti also could not hold his laughter in till Elizabeth sharply took the dress from Pintel's hands and gazed at them. Both of their smiles had dropped.
"Fine," Pintel said in defeat. Both of them left the room while Elizabeth held up the dress. It was rather beautifully laced with red velvet. She then began to put the red dress on. To her surprise it fit, perfectly. She took a deep breath as she finished buttoning it up and opened the door to see Pintel and Ragetti standing there patiently.
"This way, puppet," Pintel said as he led the way to the captain's quarters. Elizabeth followed nervously. Once the doors of the captain's quarters were opened there he was, the captain standing next to a table filled with delicious food and drink. Elizabeth was very hungry, her eyes kept wandering at the different types of dishes that were served upon the large wooden table.
"Sit down, Miss Swan," the captain said. Elizabeth looked away from the food and glanced towards him. Without protest she sat down at the large table. The Captain sat himself down right next to her, and waved his hand over the food to signal that she may serve her self. She did just that. Grabbed every piece of food she could get her hands on.
"You must be hungry," the captain commented as he witnessed Elizabeth dig her teeth into the chicken leg that was upon her plate.
"Now, to answer your question about why I invaded your town and took you upon my ship," the captain started.
Elizabeth stopped eating and sat back to listen.
"My name is Captain Barbosa, and this is my ship. I am a simple pirate, who longs for gold and treasure."
"Is that why I am here? You want my father's gold? And you are taking me as hostage so he can pay you?" Elizabeth asked. Barbosa shook his head.
"I don't do those kinds of deals, Miss Swan. If I wanted your father's gold I would have killed him and taken it meself."
"oh."
"Have you heard about the witch's curse?" Barbosa asked.
Elizabeth shook her head as she began to sip the cup of wine that was in front of her.
"Long ago, about 20 years ago to be exact, a witch came to this world. And she fell in love with Davy Jones, the pirate of all pirates. He who takes care of those who die at sea. She had her heart broken, and as a result she cursed all the pirate's treasure in the world."
"Then why don't you get treasure that doesn't belong to a pirate?" Elizabeth asked.
"It doesn't work that way; every pirate cannot take any type of treasure. If he does he is cursed."
"I hardly, believe in ghost stories Captain Barbosa," Elizabeth commented.
"Aye, so did we when we first heard the tale. Magic, is not something you see everyday in this world. So we thought it was just a story to scare all the pirates from taking any gold so Davy Jones can have it all for himself. So we took treasure, lots of it, and then we fell under the curse. We tried to put everything back but the curse was not uplifted. So we went to Davy Jones for help, he said that the witch spoke of a savior named Swan. A woman, named Swan. So naturally, Davy Jones put out a reward for anyone who can find this Swan girl." Unknowingly to Barbosa as he explained his tale to Elizabeth she secretly hid a butter knife from the table and placed it under a napkin on her lap.
"Me? I am no saviour! I know nothing about this witch!" Elizabeth protested.
"But you are the only female named Swan in this world. So it has to be you."
"This is ridiculous," Elizabeth muttered.
"So like I said before Miss Swan, there's no need to be killing ya…unless that's the price to pay to release us from this curse."
Elizabeth without hesitation stood up and firmly held the knife in her hand as a threat. Barbosa began to laugh and played along as though it was a game. This infuriated Elizabeth as she tried to stab him, but he was too quick and would get away with each jab. Both of them ended up dancing around the wooden beams within the room. Elizabeth then took the plunge and stabbed him in the heart. She squealed afterwards and stepped back. Barbosa looked down at his chest and pulled the knife out. Blood dripped from the knife and he began to laugh. Elizabeth's heart was beating rapidly. He looked up at her and said "That's not going to do you any good, missy."
Elizabeth scream and ran out the door onto the main deck, and to her horror every crew member under the moonlight was a walking skeleton with ripped clothing upon their bones. She screamed so loud and began to run from one edge of the ship to the other being encountered by more and more skeletal crew who took fun in her terror. She eventually made it back to the doorway of the captain's quarters and Barbosa held her from behind.
"You see, only our true nature is shown in the moonlight," he said in her ear. He then swung her around to face him. He was untouched by the moonlight but he began to walk slowly towards it causing her to walk backwards at the same speed.
"Too long have we been starving to death, too long have we been thirsty, not knowing what it feels like to fell anything. Even the warmth of another's skin," He began to explain as he fully stepped into the moon light. "You better start believing in ghost stories, Miss Swan. You're in one!" Barbosa then grabbed a bottle of wine and popped off the cork with his teeth. He then began to drink the red wine and Elizabeth began to witness the red liquid bounce against his rib bones and then fall to the floor. She screamed and ran inside, while Barbosa closed the doors behind her. He then looked at the crew and they all began to laugh.
-x-
The sun began to rise within the horizon, the ship was quiet, and the morning fog spread across the black ship. Killian, Will, Henry, Gibbs and Jack were the only ones awake and on deck. Henry at the wheel, while Will gave direction. Killian looked at Jack who seemed to be brushing off dirt and dust from his hat. Killian then turned to see Gibbs on the main deck, sweeping. He then made his way down to accompany Gibbs.
"Mr. Gibbs, may I have a word?" Killian asked. Gibbs stopped what he was doing and looked up at Killian.
"Why of course," Gibbs answered while pointing to the wooden chairs that were next to him. Both of the men sat down. Killian looked around him to make sure that no one was listening. He then turned back to Gibbs.
"I am asking you this because I feel like Jack wouldn't really answer it properly. Since this used to be my ship before given to Jack, what happened to it? Why does it have black sails, and black wood? Why did you all paint it? No pirate I have ever known has put so much effort into changing the look of a ship."
Gibbs nodded, as he began to answer: "Did Henry not tell you?"
"No, he doesn't really tell us anything anymore."
"Shame, I remember it well when he first boarded our ship and joined our crew, such a selfless nice boy. You see, seven years after we got Henry, Jack struck a deal with a man named Norrington. He was captain of a naval ship of the city called Voleya. Because of the curse on the gold, we had nothing to buy food with. We pirates stole what we could. So Captain Norrington, had offered Jack and us, a lifetime supply of food and drink in exchange for pirate secrets. He wanted to know who the pirate lords were, what their weaknesses were, and so on and so forth. Hungry and thirsty beyond belief we took his deal, but Jack later decided not to partake in this quest. Henry, surprisingly, strongly apposed it. He seemed like the lad who would want to do anything to get rid of piracy. However, by that time he began to grow close to the crew and he feared that this deal would cause every pirate to hunt us down and kill us. So Jack, naturally, refused to do it after a few weeks. Norrington, was angry, very angry so angry that we questioned whether he be a pirate himself for his following actions were terrible. His poor son James and his wife were terrified of his anger. He captured us and enslaved us, and burned this ship. Jack, as I mentioned before, was in love with this ship. He then jumped into the sea and went after it almost dying. Since he was about to die, he made a deal with Davy Jones who was coming ready to collect him. In this deal he begged for his life, and said that if Davy Jones granted him thirteen years as captain of this ship he would go and serve as one of Davy's crew on the flying Dutchman. The witch, whom at the time we all think was Davy Jones' lover though Davy for many years after had denied it, said she could persuade Davy Jones to not let Jack become a member of the crew if he prevents Henry from finding his family. Now that the witch has disappeared and he let Henry find his family, who knows what fate is in store for him… So that is why the ship is black, for it is the scars of that terrible fire."
"But it's been 13 years. Isn't he worried that this Davy Jones will find him? Especially since we are on a mission that could lead him to Davy?" Killian asked.
"We think that Jack will argue the fact that he was only captain of the Black Pearl for only a few years since Henry deserted him on that island."
"This Davy Jones character reminds me of a man, a pirate back in my world called Blackbeard."
"AH, but no pirate can compare to Davy Jones," Gibbs commented.
"What makes him so terrifying? Why can't you just kill him?" Killian asked.
"Because you can't," Henry cut in. Killian turned around to see Henry standing right behind them.
"What!? He's immortal?" Killian asked.
"Not exactly. His heart is missing. He ripped it out apparently, according to the drunks in Tortuga."
"I SEE A SHIP!" yelled Will. All the men stood up quickly and looked ahead of them.
"Bloody hell," Killian muttered. He pulled out his telescope that was hanging from his belt and elongated it. He looked through it and saw a large ship showing a pirate flag. "It's a pirate's ship! But are you sure it is the right one?"
"It's the right one!" Jack yelled back. "I've seen this bloody ship many times with my encounters with Barbosa!"
"Elizabeth" Will muttered under his breath as he looked straight ahead at the small speak of a ship. He was ready for anything, as long as he would get Elizabeth back.