A/N Hey y'all so there will be a little hiatus after this update because omg I'm graduating from high school and I have a lot of stuff going on. And I have no idea what the schedule for this summer will be because I am going to Slovenia to see the old family roots as well as moving out of my house to start college. Thank you to everyone who has loved the last chapter. This one is a bit more movie based but the next chapter will include some original stuff, or at least the next chapter.
Chapter 10 - Rain and Rescue at Last!
I'm going out of my mind on this ship; sword practice is slowly killing me, Sparrow won't stop bothering me, and I am so sick of this lifestyle. I have to deal with this for Elizabeth, but I cannot take another night of Will and I of being the only sober ones on board. Will thinks drinking is disgusting and refuses it, while I would love nothing more than to take the edge of, just a little. But of course because I contribute nothing, I get nothing but the necessities. Jack Sparrow is so close to a beating its ridiculous. He had just sent us directly into a storm after all.
Everyone is busy, trying to brace the ship so no incident occurs, but oddly I feel elated and safe here. I have no duties on board and I had not felt rain since I landed in this world. It feels nice to be shivering cold and drenched with water with my limp hair sticking to my face. I couldn't help but stand up in the middle of the busy ship, blocking out Sparrow's orders and the movement of everyone else around me and just focus on the pouring rain.
It rained on occasion in Port Royal, but as a high class woman I had the luxury of imprisonment of being indoors or outside with the aid of umbrellas. Then I had wanted nothing more than to run out into the monsoon and feel the familiar downpour against me, but I was trapped. Now, nothing except the cold could hold me back.
I twirl around in glee and laugh to myself as I feel the rain cascade down my face and onto the rest of my person. I unbutton my vest and brush all of my hair out of my face and smile up at the sky, happy to feel free and at ease for the first time in a very, very long while. The successive drops on my face energized me in a way that I had never been before. I stretch out my limbs, feeling them go free for the first time in a while, loosening all of the bind this had been imposed through corsets and dresses. I sigh from content and smile; "Everything is okay," I whisper to myself, closing my eyes and angling my head gracefully towards the clouds
"Oi!" a commanding voice yells, piercing the peace I am enjoying, "Crazy! What are ya doing?" Sparrow asks me, eyeing me down from his position above me at the helm. He's just as soaked as I am, but his clothes and hat reminds fully intact, somewhat shielding him form the elements.
I smile and chuckle more. "Feeling free, enjoying life."
Sparrow looks at me puzzled. "You are a mystery, Miss Swann."
"Not really, but I wish I was. I'm just a girl, lost and alone." I smile at him and go over to Will, where he is working next to Gibbs.
"Cass," Will sighs, "Go down below and dry off!"
"Like you can boss me around." I squat next to him and try to help him with his work. Sparrow's eyes follow mine, but he goes back to completely focus at the helm.
"How can we sail to an island that nobody can find with a compass that doesn't work?" Will asks Gibbs.
"Aye, the compass doesn't point north but we're not trying to find north, are we?" Gibbs smiles, clearly hinting that he knows something that we don't. I roll my eyes again. Gibbs turns to Sparrow. "We should drop canvas, sir."
"She can hold a bit longer," the pirate yells back in reply.
"What's in your head that's put you in such a fine mood, Captain?" Gibbs asks.
"I didn't even realize he was in a good mood," I mumble to the quartermaster.
Oblivious to my comment, Sparrow replies: "We're catching up."
It only takes us a few more days to reach the famed cursed island that the Black Pearl is supposed to reside at. I peer over the rail at the deck, mesmerized by the dozens of sunken ships below us and the shark, among other sea life, maneuvering between them like people in a city of the dead and forgotten. I can't help but lightly grip Will's hand next to mine for some type of comfort. He greets it with a kind, friendly smile that we share, both nervous out of our minds at what we have just done. With a grey sky and death all around us, everyone was feeling worried and on edge. The parrot shouting "Dead men tell no tales" wasn't helping either.
Gibbs approaches us and sighs. "Puts a chill in the bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage."
Will turns his head towards the often drunk quartermaster, but I see that his eye is caught by Sparrow fiddling with his compass. "How is it that Jack came by that compass?" he asks.
"Not a lot's known about Jack Sparrow before he showed up in Tortuga with a mind to go after the treasure of the Isla de Muerta. That was before I met him, back when he was Captain of the Black Pearl."
"Captain?! He didn't tell us that," I practically yell.
"Well, he plays things closer to the vest now," Gibbs explains, "And a hard-learned lesson it was. See three days out on the venture the first mate comes to him and says everything's an equal share. That should mean the location of the treasure, too, so Jack gives up the bearings. That night there was a mutiny. They marooned Jack on an island and left him to die but not before he'd gone mad with the heat."
"I honestly don't blame them," I retort.
"Ah. So that's the reason for all the…" Will says, waving his hands around and scrunching up his face in a imitation of Sparrow.
Gibbs glares at Will. "Reason's got nothing to do with it." He then turns to me "Now Cass, when a man is marooned he is a given a pistol with a single shot – one shot. Well it won't do much good hunting or to be rescued. But after three weeks of a starvin' belly and thirst, that pistol will start to look real friendly. But Jack – he escaped the island, and he still has that one shot. Oh, but he won't use it, though, save for one man. His mutinous first mate."
"Barbossa," Will clarifies.
"Aye."
"But how did he survive and be in our wonderful presence?" I ask.
"Well, I'll tell ye. He waded out into the shallows and there he waited three days and three nights till all manner of sea creature 'came and acclimated to his presence. And on the fourth morning, he roped himself a couple of sea turtles, lashed 'em together and made a raft."
Will and I both raise our eyebrows. "He roped a couple of sea turtles?" Will asks.
"Aye, sea turtles."
"What did he use for rope?" I ask.
Suddenly Sparrow is behind us and answers for his sailor. "Human hair…from my back." He looks at the two us smugly, for some reason make both Will and I feel guilty for inquiring about him. He shouts out to the crew: "Let go of the anchor!"
The crew shouts in confirmation, hurrying about to accomplish their task.
"Young Mr. Turner, Miss Swann, and I are to go ashore," Sparrow explains.
"Captain!" Gibbs shouts, "What if the worst should happen?" The Captain only gave him the short reply of keep to the code. Gibbs nods and confirms verbally that he should follow the code. Will and I share yet another look of concern and worry; pirates make things so damn confusing and complicated.
Sparrow escorts us to the long boat where we plan to enter into the island. I hop in and the two men grab the rows as we are slowly lowered into what I can only call the entry of hell. I'm shivering as the boat finally reaches he water and we are pushed away from the familiar ship, not form the cold but the fear. What if Liz wasn't safe or alive? What if we just got ourselves into more trouble than Will and I thought possible? How would we even rescue her? What did Barbossa's crew want with her?
The boys row into the cave as I sit there, trying to clam myself down. Inside the cave, an assortment of pirate themed objects catch our eyes: gold, silver, treasure, swords, and skulls.
"What is this Code you and the Gibbs kept talking about?" I ask, scanning the various things the we cross.
"Pirate's Code," Sparrow answers. "Any man that falls behind…is left behind."
"No heroes amongst thieves, eh?" Will jokes.
"I would technically label them villains," I add.
"You know, for having such a bleak outlook on pirates you're well on your way to becoming one," Sparrow smirks as we stare at the gold beneath us. "Sprung a man from jail, commandeered a ship of the Fleet, sailed with a buccaneer crew out of Tortuga… and you're completely obsessed with treasure." The long boat reaches the ragged edge of the cavern, where we could see words of men gathering with treasure from multiple plunders surrounding them.
"I like pretty things," I shrug, silently climbing out of the boat with Sparrow and Will.
"That's not true," Will bursts out defensively. "I am not obsessed with treasure."
Sparrow just smiles turns his head in front of us at what was a gathering of the evil crew that had ruined so much. "Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate." He smirks as we gaze out in front our selves, focusing on an older man with a large and ridiculous hat giving some type of speech to the rest of his men. Captain Barbossa, I figure. "Gentlemen," he calls in an strained accent. "The time has come! Our salvation is nigh! Our torment is near at end."
I roll my eyes at his speech until Will gasps. "Elizabeth," he half whispers-half shouts. I turn my head to where I see Elizabeth wearing a deep red, somewhat slutty dress, tied up and clearly pissed off and scared. Will is just about to jump out and rescue her, but I place hand on his shoulders run an attempt to pacify him.
The pirate captain continues his rant. "For ten years we've been tested and tried, and each man jack of you here has proved his mettle a hundred times over and a hundred times again!" His men cheer but I can only roll my eyes at the dumb speech; however, my ears stay peaked, hopeful to gain some insight on the group.
On pirate agrees: "Suffered, I have."
"Punished, we were," Barbossa continues. "The lot of us disproportionate to our crimes! Here it is," he announces, kicking off a lid to a giant gold chest. "…the cursed treasure of Cortez himself. Every last piece that went astray, we have returned…save for this." He points to the pirate medallion Elizabeth was wearing which she had told me about on several occasions. I hide my gasp and confusion; what could they possibly want with Will's trinket stolen from him?
Will's fervor rises again and he tries to climb up the treasure shouting Jack's name. Sparrow pulls him down, lecturing: "Not yet. We wait for the opportune moment." I grab Will as well, giving him a coded look that he better be on his best behavior. If he fucked this up, we could become hostages too and that would only be worse. He sighs in agreement and we turn to Sparrow for help with the captain's ravings in the background. "881 we found but despaired of ever finding the last." This only raises more questions for me. Damn curiosity.
"When's that? When it's of greatest profit to you?" Will asks pointedly, referring to this right, or "opportune", moment.
"Sparrow, I agree that Will is rash and stupid, no offense, but there has to be some type of plan here," I add, crossing my arms.
"May I ask you two something? Have I ever given you reason not to trust me? Do me a favor – I know it's difficult for you, but please stay here and try not to do anything stupid." Sparrow sighs, exasperated by all of our faults.
I can still hear the rant in the background. "And who among us has paid the blood sacrifice owed to the heathen gods?" Barbossa asks. "Us!" the pirates shout back in unison. "And whose blood must yet be paid?" "Hers!" The shout again. "Lamest cheer squad ever," I think to myself.
"You know the first thing I'm goin' to do after the curse is lifted?" Barbossa shouts, continuing his rant so only Elizabeth could hear. He rises up a knife and chants: "Begun by blood…by blood undone."
All of the sudden I hear a large thump next to me. I almost shriek and taken out of my trance of the rant, I see Will looking over the unconscious body of Captain Jack Sparrow. "Sorry, Jack," he says. "I'm not going to be your leverage."
"Damn straight," I add. "I hope you have a plan, Will"
"Don't you?" he asks, slight concern on his face.
"Of course I do." We begin to make our way to the other side of the cavern where Elizabeth is standing, our eyes carefully assessing the situation. I see Barbossa roughly grab Liz's and and drag the blade across it, drawing blood.
"That's it?" Elizabeth asks.
"Waste not," the pirate captain smirks. He grabs the medallion and places it in my sister's hand. Dramatically slow, he turns her hand and forces her to drop the unsanitary piece of gold so it could join the others. I see him and the rest of his crew tense in anticipation. What did this gold do to them?
"Did it work?" one pirate asks, again prompting me the question: what did this gold do to them?
" I don't feel no different," another adds.
His friends asks, "How do we tell?" Barbossa simply answers him with a shot in the chest. I gasp and grip Will's hand and we both stare at their fallen comrade, shocked to see that they could murder one of their own. But to our grater shock, no blood cam spilling from his body. He acted as if he felt nothing. "This just keeps getting weirder," I whisper to Will.
"You're not dead," the first pirate declares.
"No!" the shot pirate comments. He then turns to his captain. "He shot me!"
"It didn't work," his skinny friend declares, causing other pirate to shout that a curse was still on them. Weirder by the second.
Barbossa, clearly enraged, turns to Liz and shouts: "You, maid! Your father, what was his name? Was your father William Turner?"
Will and I turn to each other, where I can see him tense up and be filled with shame. "I'm sorry," I whisper, but he ignores me and turns back to Elizabeth, who defiantly shouts "No" to the captain.
"Where's his child?" the captain demands. "The child that sailed from England eight years ago, the child in whose veins flows the blood of William Turner. Where?" He slaps Elizabeth and she tumbles down the treasure, just a few feet from Will and I were staring at each other with sinking fillings in our chests. We begin to swim towards Elizabeth, desperate to finally get her away from these barbarians.
The pirates yell at each other that the wrong person was brought, with the name Turner being thrown out there a few times, each one landing on Will with heavy blows. We reach Elizabeth laying by the water. I shake her gently awake and she wakes suddenly, probably afraid we are pirates. She smiles at the sigh of us, but realizes that it is best to be quiet. Will motions for Elizabeth to follow us into the water. She happily joins us, but not before taking the medallion with her.
We can hear the pirates still squabbling as we exit the cave. The skinny pirate resigning, "I think she lied to us." "No shit," I think to myself. We swim back where we left our long boat, with the voice of the pirates rising with great dissent. We hop into the longboat, leaving Sparrow and the impending coup behind.
Once the sky is above us and the Interceptor in our sights, Elizabeth sighs out of relief and hugs me while Will rows us away.
"I never thought I would see you again, Cassandra. Will," she sighs, trying not to break into tears.
"Ditto, Liz. Why do you have so stubborn?"
"I think I learned it from you. I mean, you are here after all. Why are you here after all?" Elizabeth asks.
Will and I look at each, our guilt and confusing obvious. "It's a long story," I offer, "And we will go over it in detail once onboard."
"You are not very good at hiding your guilt," Liz sighs.
"I'm getting better?" I say, quirking my eyebrow up.
"God, how have I missed you," Liz chuckles, embracing me one last time. "I thought about you a lot and I need to make some things right."
I look at her confused and bewildered. "You haven't done anything wrong, besides getting yourself kidnapped." Liz just hides a small smile.
"Sorry to interrupt," Will says in heaving breaths, "but we are almost on board."
The Interceptor looms over us as we pull close to it, eventually hooking up the longboat to the ropes to pull us aboard. Will and I exchange glances, knowing Elizabeth will be more than shocked when greeted by pirates on board instead of the familiar Royal Navy.
Liz boards first and with on quick glance she sighs, "Not more pirates."
Thank God for Gibbs, because he completely ignores the upper class lady's comment and cheerily replies, "Welcome aboard, Miss Elizabeth."
"Mr. Gibbs?" she questions. I climb aboard following her and sigh. I figure that this would eventually come up after I found out that the two had known each other and Sparrow had only become more confused with my story.
As Will climbs on board, Gibbs turns to us, "Hey, you two, where be Jack?"
"Jack? Jack Sparrow?" Liz questions again, growing even more confused.
"I'll explain in a moment," I say, guiding my sister away and below deck, leaving poor Will to deal with this mess. He simply answers with the fact that he had fallen behind, following us two. Behind us I hear Gibbs shouting that the crew must keep to the code, spurring on several orders for us to sail away hopefully to our freedom.