Chapter Nine

The Fight Over Chest and Key

Charlotte sighed and put her head on Jack's shoulder as they waited for James Norrington to finish doing the digging. She felt Jack's arm move and then felt her hair that was hanging over one shoulder being picked up. She looked out from the corner of her eye to see Jack playing with her hair. She smiled slightly and took a deep breath. Her eyes snapped open when she heard a thump. They all crawled closer to the hole and looked down into it. Jack pushed some of the sand off the wooden chest that was underneath and picked it out of the hole. He broke open the chest and saw letters scattered in the chest and underneath that was another chest which he picked out. Everyone was silent and they could faintly hear the soft thumps of the heart of Davy Jones.

"It's real." Elizabeth gasped.

"You actually were telling the truth." Norrington said in disbelief.

"I do that quite a lot, yet people are still surprised." Jack said.

"I believed you, Jack." Charlotte said and he smiled warmly at her.

"With good reason." a deep voice said from behind them. They all turned around to see a sopping wet Will Turner standing before them. Charlotte grinned widely and Elizabeth gasped and ran to him.

"Will. You're alright, thank God! I came to find you." she rambled and she bent up to kiss him and he kissed her back. Jack glanced at Charlotte and Norrington watched the couple jealously.

"How did you get here?" Jack asked after he forced himself not to look at Charlotte anymore.

"Sea turtles, mate." he replied and Charlotte grinned. "A pair of them strapped to my feet."

"Not so easy is it?" Jack grinned.

"But I do owe you thanks, Jack."

"You do?" he asked surprised and totally confused even though he tried not to show it.

"After you tricked me onto that ship, to square your debt with Jones." he said and Elizabeth gasped and Charlotte frowned.

"What?" Elizabeth demanded.

"What?" Jack echoed in a high pitched voice.

"I was reunited with my father." Will said and Charlotte's eyes widened. He had gotten to see their father again? Charlotte frowned and looked at the sand beneath her. She had to admit she was a little jealous that he got to see him and she didn't. She always felt as though she was being left out.

"Oh, well, you're welcome, then." Jack grinned and subtly moved closer to Charlotte. She didn't noticed but Will did and he narrowed his eyes and glared at Jack. Jack nervously smiled at him but didn't move away. It was clear as day that Will was telling Jack with his eyes that if he didn't leave her alone that he was going to kill him. Charlotte saw none of this as she was still looking at the ground.

"Everything you said to me, every word was a lie!" Elizabeth accused and glared at him.

"Pretty much. Time and tide, love." Jack agreed and Will unsheathed his father's knife and kneeled next to the chest. "Oi, what are you doing?"

"I'm gonna kill Jones." Will muttered and Jack took out his sword and levelled it at him and Charlotte's eyes widened. Jack wasn't going to hurt her brother was he?

"Can't let you do that, William." Jack said seriously and had such a serious look on his face. Charlotte had never seen him look this serious before. "'Cause if Jones is dead, who's to call his terrible beastie off the hunt, eh?" Will looked like he was about to relent and stood up from his crouched position, key still in hand. Charlotte was inbetween the two of them. "Now, if you please." Jack held his hand out for the key. "The key."

Will snatched Elizabeth's sword from her and pointed it at Jack. Charlotte flinched as she had two swords right above her head. "I keep the promises I make, Jack. I intend to free my father. And I hope you're here to see it."

Norrington took his own sword out and pointed it at Will. Charlotte and Elizabeth watched with baited breath. "I can't let you do that, either. So sorry." he said unapologetically.

"I knew you'd warm up to me eventually." Jack said to him and James swung his sword around to point it at Jack. Charlotte narrowed her eyes at him. Will swung his sword around and pointed it at Norrington and they seemed to form a triangle.

"Lord Beckett desires the contents of that chest. I deliver it: I get my life back." James told them and Charlotte and Elizabeth could only sit there and listen to them all. Charlotte was getting a little nervous and she was right in the middle of the triangle. Elizabeth curled her finger and motioned her to come over to where she was and she quietly crawled and they didn't even notice her move.

"Ah. The dark side of ambition." Jack stated.

"Oh, I prefer to see it as the promise of redemption." Norrington said before they all swung their swords and started to fight.

"Stop it!" Charlotte and Elizabeth yelled but they were ignored. They gasped as Will fell to the ground and they ran to him. "Will!" They knelt down and helped him up.

"Guard the chest." he told them and ran after the other two who were still fighting some way away. Elizabeth looked indignant but Charlotte didn't want to get in the way.

"No!" she called after him and started to run after them. She started to go on a tirade while they just ignored her and just carried on fighting. "This is not funny! This is no way for grown men to - Oh, fine! Let's just pull out our swords and start banging away at each other, that's all there ever is. I've had it! I've had it with wobbly-legged, rum-soaked pirates!" She sat sulkily in the sand and Charlotte who was watching them fight and Elizabeth who wasn't watching at all failed to notice that Pintel and Ragetti had snuck up behind them and was walking toward the chest.

Pintel watched Norrington, Will and Jack fight and also watched Elizabeth throwing rocks at them. "How'd this go all screwy?" he asked.

"Well, each wants the chest for hisself, don't 'e? Mr. Norrington, I think, is trying to regain a bit of honor. Ol' Jack's looking to trade it, save his own skin. And Turner there - I think 'e's trying to settle some unresolved business twixt him and his twice-cursed pirate father." Ragetti explained.

"This is madness!" they heard Elizabeth shout in the distance.

"Sad." Pintel commeted and Ragetti nodded his head. "That chest must be worth more than a shiny penny."

Ragetti tsk'ed. "Terrible temptation."

"If we was any kind of decent, we'd remove temptation from their path." Pintel told him slyly and they looked at each other, laughed and grabbed the chest.

"Enough! Oh. Oh! The heat." Elizabeth said and Charlotte watched in amusement as she pretended to faint but they continued to ignore her. She sat up and looked at Charlotte who smiled before she noticed Pintel and Ragetti. She pointed and Charlotte turned around and gasped. The two girls ran off and chased after the two pirates.

"Bugger." Jack cursed as he fell over. He grabbed the key and started to run. The other two followed him whilst still fighting.

Norrington pulled Will back and managed to make him stumble and fall. He then kicked sand into his face. "By your leave, Mr. Turner." he said and mock-bowed at him before going after Jack. On the beach, Jones's pirates were starting to resurface and they shambled up to the chest and looked at each other when they saw it was gone.

Norrington was in pursuit of Jack and they started to fight up thre stairs of what used to be a mill. Jack was higher up so he had the upper hand but he was also going backwards which didn't help much on his side. Norrington managed to get the key and Jack lost his balance and grabbed a bell-rope so he went down and Will, who was caught up to them flew up and grabbed the key from Norrington. He landed on the top most level. "By your leave, Mr. Norrington." he smirked and Norrington took off after him.

The undead pirates that had surfaced a few minutes ago came up to the chest at the exact moment the bell started tolling and smiled when they realised that that's where the chest must have gone and started to follow the bell.

Will and Norrington had now taken the fight outside and Jack who was followowing them with a cautious step was just walking at a leisurely pace. Will had the key in his hand he was not using and as he was swinging his sword around Jack was trying to reach in and grab it, but as Will was still fighting it was a little difficult to do. He lunged forward one last time and managed to grab it making the other two turn on him.

"Do excuse me while I kill the man who ruined my life." Norrington said to Will, talking about the disarmed Jack.

"Be my guest." Will shrugged.

"Let us examine that claim for a moment, former Commodore, shall we? Who was it that at the very moment you had a notorious pirate safely behind bars saw fit to free said pirate and take your dearly beloved all to hisself... aye? So whose fault is it really that you've ended up a rum-pot deckhand what takes orders from pirates?" Jack said and smirked at him.

"Enough!" Norrington shouted and took a swipe at him and Jack did a somersault off the roof and safely landed on the ground. "Unfortunately, Mr. Turner... he's right!" Norrington then turned on Will.

Jack looked around and found his sword on the ground and sheathed it. "Still rooting for you, mate." he said and jauntily walked off with the key now around his neck. He grunted when he fell down, face first, into an empty grave as he wasn't watching where he was going. "Oof." He looked around in confusion and then shrugged when it dawned on him where he is. "Oh."

Will jumped off the roof and onto a wheel that usually was used to power the mills and Norrington followed. Under the weight of their jump the rotting wood gave way and fell to the ground and started to roll away. Just as Jack tried to hoist himself out of the grave the wheel rolled over him and his mid-drift got stuck in it. He grunt again and tried to get himself out. The wheel kept turning and as he was upside down the key slid off his neck and snagged itself on a nail. The fight seemed to pause for a second as Norrington and Will had to step around Jack's protruding legs before they continued to fight. Jack had now managed to wiggle himself free and had started to run from the inside of the wheel. He reached his hand out to grab the key before he hit his head on a metal bar and was knocked out and fell limply to the ground.

Pintel and Ragetti was running through the jungle holding one side of the chest each. "We've got it!" Pintel cried just as Elizabeth and Charlotte stepped in and blocked their paths and they reached for their swords but just grasped air. Charlotte cursed. She had left her sword on the boat. Pintel and Ragetti took out their own swords and smirked at them. Charlotte gulped. "'Ello, poppet." They paused to stare at the giant wheel that was rolling by with Norrington and Will fighting on top of it and Jack was running close behind them. They shrugged and continued to advance on the two woman. A hatchet sound thuds into the nearest tree truck and they turned around to see Davy Jones's crew running towards them. Ragetti and Pintel thrust the swords on the two girls and picked up the chest and started running. Charlotte and Elizabeth looked at each other before they started running. Pintel and Ragetti, who had the chest, looked behind them and the chest bounded off a tree and fell to the ground. To protect the chest Elizabeth and Charlotte had no choice but to stand in and fight the crew of Davy Jones.

Jack had finally managed to catch up with the wheel and decided to give it another go with running on the inside and jumped inside. Before the key reached him Will fell and dangled over to side of the wheel and seeing the key right under him, he snatched it up and started to fight with Jack from the inside with Norrington soon joining them.

Being two swords short, Pintel, Ragetti, Charlotte and Elizabeth were having to share the two swords and where chucking them back and forth whilst fighting with the pirates. "Sword!" Charlotte shouted and Ragetti tossed her the sword in his hand. She turned around and swung the sword and watched as it sliced threw the neck of one of the undead pirates.

"Sword!" Pintel yelled and she chucked him the sword.

"Sword!" Ragetti shouted and he caught the sword that was passed to him. He faught with some of the pirates and a pirate with the head of a conch caught sight of the chest and picked it up chuckling.

Jack had managed to break the string that the key was attatched to and grab it. Having got his prize he left the wheel quickly latching onto a palm tree. It seemed that he had gotten out just in time as the wheel had just rolled off a slope. When the leaf he was holding onto broke he fell to the ground with a few solid looking fruits. He looked up and saw the pirate with the chest running through the trees. "Hmm." he hummed and hefted one of the fuits from the ground and threw it at the pirate. The throw managed to knock the pirate off his feet and consequently knocking his head off.

"Anido. Anido! Follow my voice, follow my voice!" the pirate said and the body seemed to stumble around while Jack took advantage and walked up to the chest with the key. "To the left. No! Other left. Go..." The body walked into a palm tree and stumbled to the ground. "No, that's a tree."

"Oh, shut it." Jack snapped and turned the key in the lock and the chest opened with a clang. He opened the lid and revealed the still beating heart. He picked it up and stuffed it down his shirt when Charlotte and the other three come running in. He slammed the lid down before he ran off. Ragetti and Pintel resumed carrying it and they all went running off to the beach.

As they got to the beach, Jack ran down towards their abandoned boat. "Jar of dirt!" he mumbled to himself. He looked around quickly and gasped as he saw it and grabbed it. He spilled out some dirt before flinging the heart inside and covers it with some of the dirt he just spilled out. Just as he closed the lid one of Jones's crew came at him. Jack grabbed an oar and started to fight him with it. Charlotte and the other three had finally caught up and made it to the beach and Will and Norrington, who were still rolling in the wheel came around and it rolled over a few of the pirates Elizabeth and Charlotte were fighting with and finally stopped and splashed into the ocean.

Norrington and Will climbed out of the wheel with some difficulty as they were so dizzy. They blinked a couple of times and started to wobble around the water but they kept falling over. "Great." Will groaned when he saw the fight that was going on and tried to walk to it but fell over and didn't seem to be able to get up. Norrington was a bit more successful as he ran to the boat and grabbed the letters of Marque out of Jack's jacket pocket and paused when he saw the spilled dirt. Being clever he grabbed the jar and opened the lid and grabbed the heart and hid it under his shirt before he closed the lid again.

Ragetti and Pintel thinking themselves clever, placed the chest into the boat and pushed off. Will ran over and stopped them and levels his sword at them. They went for their own before realizing Elizabeth and Charlotte had gotten them; they shrugged and brandished a net and an oar against him. Will spotted the chest and forgetting the two others in front of him, picked it up instead. Jack noticed what he was doing and "accidentally" knocked Will out with his oar and he fell to the ground.

"Will." Elizabeth shouted and ran over to him.

"Leave him lie!" Jack told her. "Unless you plan on using him to hit something with." Charlotte ran over to them just as the undead crew closed in on them. Jack stepped closer to her and stepped half in front of her.

"We're not coming out of this." Charlotte said quietly.

"Not with the chest. Into the boat." Norrington said and he grabbed the chest.

"You're mad." Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Don't wait for me." he said and ran off as a distraction with the chest clutched close and the crew followed.

"I-I say we respect his final wish." Jack said and turned to face Charlotte to see if she was hurt.

"Aye!" Pintel agreed and they pushed off.

Norrington ran for a while through the trees before he tripped and fell to the ground. He reached for his sword but the pirate that had previously lost his head and was now holding it in his hand stepped on it. "Your bravery is wasted. I shall pry the chest away from your cold... dead... hands." he sneered.

"Here you go." Norrington said easily and threw the chest to the pirate who dropped his head and catches the chest. He ran off and the crew laughed at his expense.

"What... Anido, Anido! Pirates." the pirate cried as his body left his head and he rolled into the conch and a crab emerged from the shell and crawled after the pirates. "Come back here. Hey, -?"