Ch 8 Negotiations

"Oh," said Jack.

He nearly ran into Cass as he rushed down the ladder.

"What? What are you doing?"

Jack turned around once he reached the bottom. "I am exercising something commonly known as 'self preservation.' Even more commonly known as: 'trying to stay in the land of the living.'"

"What about…" she started, but was unable to finish. A bony hand grabbed her neck and dragged her up. Cass was overwhelmed by a sense of déjà vu when a rusty sword was placed against her throat. Looking around, everyone was in the same position. Once again, there was a sudden weight on the deck.

"Where is Jack Sparrow?" asked the deep, raspy voice of Jolly Rodgers.

"Captain Jack Sparrow!" yelled a voice from below deck. Within the minute, Jack came up. In his hands were a lit match and a grenade. "Nobody move! Or I'll blow the ship!"

Jolly Rodgers just cackled. "And you believe that will stop me from killing you? I would rather kill you myself, but that," he motioned toward the grenade, "would do the job."

"It would!" agreed Jack, "But then you wouldn't have your revenge then… would you?"

"But I would get to watch you die…."

"But it wouldn't end there," said Jack. Cass wondered why he was talking like… like he had won.

"What?" demanded the skeletal menace.

Jack opened his mouth for a split second, but shut it when he saw Cass and Bill. "Come over here… but drop your… your sword first!" he said as he practically flung the grenade at Jolly Rodgers.

Reluctantly, the skeletal form dropped his sword and walked over to Jack and listened.

Cass could not hear what Jack was saying, but she could se him frequently gesturing to either her or Bill. What was going on? In the end, Jack pointed his index finger at Rodgers, only to have it slapped away. Jack reached for his finger in pain, but still looked triumphant.

Jolly Rodgers looked back and glared at Bill, and his gaze soon shifted to Cass. She couldn't tell, but it looked like his brow would have wrinkled if any flesh was still there.

"Ah," he snapped, grabbing Cass' hair, "a familiar face!"

"Umm…" Jack tried to intervene, but Jolly Rodgers picked up his sword before the pirate could reach him.

"Don't worry," said Rodgers, "she will be alive and well when I'm finished!" Cass winced in pain as he grabbed her hair again and brought her to what was left of his face. "I told ye that if ye care for ye self, ye'd stay away from the Sparrow! I'd run it I were ye…" With that, he slapped her. Cass cried out in pain and shock. When another person slaps a you, there is flesh to soften the blow. But there is no flesh (at least Cass hoped not) on Jolly Rodger's hand, so there was no cushion. She could feel moisture on her cheek.

"Come on, ye sea dogs!" Rodgers called to his pirates and they were all gone within a second.

Cass touched her hand to her cheek to see what was wrong. She looked down to see that her hand had turned bright red.

"Cass!" cried Bill, rushing to her side with a rag. "Here!" he thrust it in her hand and made her put pressure on her wound. But Cass' arm got tired after a few minutes, and she stopped applying pressure. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"Just a friendly reunion," she said sarcastically. "What happened with Jack?"

"Captain!" a voice stressed. "Nothing happened. I just bought us a free passage to the fountain."

"How?" asked Bill. Cass was wondering the same thing, but she was beginning to feel dizzy.

"Now does that really matter? I'm risking my neck to save…."

"Cass!"

Cass slumped over, unconscious.

A/N: Hey everyone! I'm sorry it took so long. A whole bunch of stuff came up, and I'm not going to tell you that I've had this chapter done for at least a month. Whoops. Anyway, I've just not been able to put it on the computer. Sorry. I'll post the next chapter ASAP. As always, I 3 reviews.