CHAPTER 9

The walk back to the beach, seemed to take longer then the journey away from it, though this was probably due to the fact that now they had a clue about the fountain, they were more eager then ever to go after it, and they just couldn't get back quickly enough.

The heat had grown intense again as Jack, Barbossa, David and Ragetti, Pintel and Gibbs, finally neared the edge of the great rocks, which they had had to climb up before. Looking down at the beach, they could see that the rest of the crew were lazing around in the sun.

Jack cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Hey!" he shouted down as loudly as he could.

"Their back!!" yelled Marty to everyone whilst pointing up to their Captain, causing everyone to immediately start moving about to look as though they were actually doing something other then just daydreaming.

The ropes were still attached to the top, so headed by Jack, all six pirates started to climb their way back down steadily, while everyone below watched and waited patiently.

Luckily, it was much easier getting back down then it had been getting up there in the first place, and they reached the ground below them safely in no time at all. Ragetti especially looking relieved about this.

"Captain!" shouted Marty as he came up running to Jack, "Did you find the fountain?"

Jack looked down strangely at his vertically challenged ship mate.

"Does it appear that I have a "I just found the Fountain Of Youth" look on my face? I think not." he deadpanned, whilst Marty gave him an odd look back, the rest of the crew looking disappointed. "However, "he continued, "we found a clue, telling us how to get there." he grinned to himself whilst he walked towards the boats. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief to find that their journey had not been a complete waste of time.

Back aboard the Pearl, they headed out on the bearings that had been instructed on the cave wall, elevating the mood throughout the crew. They were certainly happy to be getting further along with their voyage.

Whilst Cotton was taking care of business at the helm, Jack and Barbossa were studying the charts once more in the cabin. Jack had marked roughly where they were headed, this time, no island was present on the chart, only the wide open sea.

"A'ha!" said Jack, "Its not on here, that must mean its there!" for a moment, he was puzzled even by his own wording. Of course, this really would have confused anyone who hadn't heard what Solemire had said about the fountain not appearing on any form of map.

"Well Jack, I must tell ye, for a while there, I didn't think we would make it this fair." said Barbossa grinning contentedly.

"All well that ends well eh?"

"Lets hope!" chuckled Barbossa.

"The only question now is, what does that little "riddle" mean." said Jack, stroking the braids that his beard was made up of. When they had arrived back on the Pearl earlier, he had taken it upon himself to scribe down on a piece of parchment the very riddle that they were speaking of, so that they had a record of it just in case. He had placed it down alongside the charts, and was staring down at it as they spoke.

"Bah! Just ancient nonsense I should think. All that mattered there was the bearings." responded Barbossa casually throwing his arms into the air, not looking at all bothered about its meaning. With that, he sat himself down, grabbing an apple from the bowl that was beside him. The juice began to run down his chin as he bit into it hard and fast with a crunch.

Jack the monkey, suddenly jumped onto the table in front of Jack landing on the riddle and screeched loudly at him.

"Get away you little bugger!" Jack cursed at him, reaching down for his pistol, but just in time, he ran across the table to Barbossa, climbed up his chest, and sat on his shoulder.

"I'll get that hairy little bilge rat one day..." Jack muttered under his breath.

"What was that!?" snapped Barbossa.

"Er...I said, I'll get that monkey a hat one day!" Jack lied cheekily.

Barbossa rolled his eyes as he turned his attention back on enjoying his apple, the one treat that he would like without Jack trying to annoy him.

Jack himself, decided to take a short break, sat down on the edge of the table, grabbed his bottle of rum and started to gulp it down, faster then he maybe should do.

The cabin doors came open, Gibbs strolled in carrying two plates laden with food.

"Here." he said placing them onto the table, "We just got this ready for you."

"Thankyou Gibbs." said Jack.

"Will there be anything else Captain?" Gibbs asked.

"No. That will do for now."

"Yes sir." said Gibbs turning to walk back out.

"Actually Gibbs." said Jack, Gibbs turning back to face him. "Would you see the boy back to his "quarters", as it were." with this, he threw his keys at Gibbs, which he caught awkwardly.

"Sir?" Gibbs quizzed, "You want me to lock him back in the brigg?"

"Yes, that would be a correct assumption." answered Jack.

Gibbs stood there and hesitated for a moment.

"Is there a problem Gibbs?" continued Jack, upon noticing his first mate's lack of movement.

"No sir." Gibbs sighed, "I'll get right on to it." then he reluctantly left the cabin, walked out on deck towards David.

David was stood with Marty, who had been showing him how to do various sailors knots and other things which were useful to know aboard a ship.

"Davy. I need you to come with me." Gibbs said to him softly.

David noticed that the keys were in his hands, and it didn't take many seconds before he realised what was going to happen

"Your going to lock me up again, arn't you?" he said sadly.

"I'm sorry kid. Jack just gave me the order." Gibbs sighed.

"Fine. I'll go. I don't want you to get into any trouble with him. I figure that I owe you one for what you did for me back on the Island. Thought he was really going to hurt me." as David said this, he glanced over to the cabin, then dropping the rope which he had been working on, he and Gibbs made their way below deck.

When they reached the brigg, David walked into the cell willingly, and Gibbs locked it shut. It was deadly silent in there, apart from the odd creak that the ship made as she moved through the water.

"Thankyou." said Gibbs quietly.

"Its not your fault. You have no choice but to follow Jack's orders." responded David, managing a slight smile to make Gibbs feel better about having to leave him in there.

Gibbs sighed heavily, looking burdened.

"You know,theres something you should understand about Jack." he said to his young ship mate, "Underneath that exterior, he really is a good man. I've seen that side of him too." as he spoke David listened through the bars attentively. "Not so long ago, he had the chance of becoming the Captain of The Flying Dutchman. All that he had to do was stab Davy Jones' heart to take his place. He held the heart in his hand, he was seconds away from what he desired. He could have sailed the sea for an eternity. But, he gave it up, all because of two other crew members. Elizabeth Swann and William Turner. You see, they were in love. Jones ran his sword through poor Will, Jack could see that it would have broken Elizabeth's heart to lose him, so, he let Will stab the heart to become the Dutchman's Captain instead, saving his life. That way, Elizabeth would still be able to see Will, only once every ten years as is part of the deal of becoming the Captain, but still, he gave up eternity to give them that one day."

David looked quite stunned to hear of this selfless act, almost not believing what he was hearing.

"Thats why," Gibbs continued, "you probably wouldn't be locked up in here if you told him the truth."

"What!" shouted David, "I have told him the truth. I told him all I knew about the fountain!"

"I'm not talking about the fountain." Gibbs said softly, "I'm talking about telling him the truth about who you really are."

"I..I don't know what you mean." responded David looking taken aback.

"From the moment that I first saw you back at the compound, I noticed something. Something that nobody else seems to have." said Gibbs looking closer at David. "I noticed that you have your fathers eyes."

David backed away from the bars, breaking eye contact with Gibbs. He looked worried.

"Your grandfather, he knew the moment that we were attacked by the Navy that day. He knew that the prophecy had been set in motion, didn't he? Thats why he sent you with us." continued Gibbs, "Mary-Ann, she wasn't your aunt was she boy? No. She was your mother. By my calculations, taking into consideration your age, and the time Jack last saw her..."

"Stop it!!" shouted David, now getting very distressed, tears running down his face, powerless to stop them.

"Jack's your father, isn't he?" Gibbs asked. There was a moment of silence that followed before he was answered.

"Y..yes." sniffed David.

"Your the father and the son spoken of in the prophecy. You have to stop another man from getting to its power."

"You can't tell him! Please! Don't tell him!" David pleaded.

"But if the prophecy really does come to pass, he will have to be told." said Gibbs sympathetically.

David approached the bars once more.

"Then...at least promise me that until that moment comes, if it comes, that you won't say anything until then." David bargained.

Gibbs thought over this for a moment before giving his answer.

"I guess...we could leave it for a while."

"Thankyou." said David smiling through his tears.

"Look, I'd better be going back on deck before anyone sees that I have been gone for too long." sighed Gibbs, and slowly started walking away.

"Is this why you have been protecting me?" asked David.

Gibbs faced David once more.

"Aye." he said, then he disappeared up the stairs to the upper deck.