Disclaimer: Pirates of the Caribbean ain't mine, savvy?

You know what, hang it all, lets churn out two chapters in two days…wow, I've made it finally to double digits- 10 chapters! Yay! Thankyou all so much for all these reviews, this story has actually generated a following, it's quite exciting :) What interested me especially in the reviews were people saying "It's not Anita Dalma, it's Tia…" Well, you'll see in this chapter that the mistake was intentional, and that I was not making an awful spelling mistake! Thanks again to all the readers and reviewers, I hope that you're enjoying reading this story as much as I am enjoying writing it!

Much love and kisses,

baby swann

Chapter 10: Anita Dalma

She had used to be a beauty- Elizabeth was sure of that. Beautiful dark almond shaped eyes stared out of a wickedly crafty face with a blatant intelligence, and red lips retained the voluptuous fullness of youth. Her hair was wild and thick, barely contained by a red headscarf not unlike Jack Sparrow's own. She appraised Elizabeth with an amused air, her lips curving up in the shadows of a smile.

"Anita Dalma", Elizabeth said slowly, enunciating every syllable carefully. Taking off her three cornered pirate's hat, Elizabeth bowed deeply.

"Jack Sparrow", Anita said in a beautifully accented, lilting voice, "Spare me de theatrics, please. What is it you want?"

"I'd like you ask a favour from you," Elizabeth began, but as soon as she said that, she knew she had said the wrong thing. Anita's eyes hardened.

"Jack Sparrow… de nerve of you! You think that after all you have done to my sister, you can come back 'ere and expect favours from me? I'm sorry Jack, but my loyalty lies with Tia, not with you! I have a good mind to shut dis trapdoor right on your 'uge oversized head!" Anita blazed.

Elizabeth was staggered- Jack definitely hadn't taught her how to deal with issues like this! Clearly Jack had broken Anita's sister's heart, and Anita was not going to forget him in a hurry. Remember the training…

"Anita, love," Elizabeth began, walking forwards slowly, "Please, just hear me out… let me explain what I need, love, and then once I am done, I shall give you free reign to err… shut the trapdoor on my head, savvy?"

After a minute, Anita tossed her hair, and flung the trapdoor completely open. "Follow me, Captain Sparrow" she said grudgingly.

Elizabeth permitted a small smile at her triumph, before slinking down into Anita's underground lair. Once she was inside, however, even she couldn't stop the look of incredulous amazement that was spreading across her face. Anita Dalma looked across at Elizabeth, and smirked.

Anita's house was small and cosy- candles were stuffed into coconut shells and strung up from the ceiling like tiny chandeliers. There seemed to be two rooms: one was the main room, which was almost completely filled by a large wooden table covered in all sorts of things- Elizabeth could make out three slugs, various fruits and vegetables and glass containers in varying sizes filled with brightly coloured liquids- and in the corner of the room, what looked like a beautiful ornate chair sat half hidden by a dirty black cloak. The other room was partially cut off by a curtain of vines that hung down from the ceiling- behind it, a large carved wooden bed with a red velvet bedspread sat covered in dirty white cushions. The walls and ceiling of Anita Dalma's house were made out of dirt, and Elizabeth squirmed as she realised that tiny worms were burrowing their way in and out of the walls. The entire house looked like a bizarre combination of finery and extreme poverty, but Elizabeth couldn't help warming to it.

Anita Dalma noticed Elizabeth's staring. "You broke my sister's heart in dat bed over there", she said coldly. Elizabeth whirled around.

"Now how would you know that, love?" Elizabeth said carefully.

"Tia told me", Anita said shortly. "We keep nothing from each other. Anyway, please enlighten me on de nature of your request. I don't have all day, you know?"

"Well, I was wondering if I could borrow some rum poisoning antidote", Elizabeth said. To her surprise, Anita Dalma laughed.

"Jack Sparrow? Suffering from rum poisoning? Are you joking me?" Anita laughed. "Anyway, you don't look like you are suffering much!"

Elizabeth smiled, sitting down on the chair. Confidence is everything. "It's not for now… see, love, I'm about to go on a journey. A long one. And, between you and me, this body ain't all it used to be, savvy?" Elizabeth used the exact words Jack had spoken to her only a few days previously, accompanied by an infuriating wink. Anita Dalma, however, looked far from impressed.

"Tia seemed to think it was fantastic", Anita snapped. Elizabeth groaned inwardly, she was getting sick of all these jibes about something that she didn't know anything about.

"Please", Elizabeth appealed, arm slightly raised, using every ounce of Jack Sparrow's charm and charisma on this once-beautiful woman. For a minute, it looked like it was working- Anita's face softened, and she looked up and beyond Elizabeth wistfully. Elizabeth crossed her fingers. Please…please…

Suddenly, Anita's eyes focused on Elizabeth, and she grabbed her arm tightly. Sharp fingernails dug into Elizabeth's skin, and she fought the urge to cry out. "Tell me, Captain Sparrow, why did that compass point away from my sister? The very token of her love and devotion that she gave to you, the magical compass that shows whoever uses it their hearts desire, it betrayed her! Tell me why, in dat very bed, when you opened dat compass, it pointed away from Tia? Tell me why she was no longer your hearts desire? Tell me why you cheated on her! You broke her heart… and ran away with her compass! Despicable!" Anita spat, Elizabeth could see she was shaking; she must have been waiting to say this for years. Unfortunately, she was telling it to the wrong person. Elizabeth knew she couldn't keep this act up any longer. She knew too much.

"Anita… Anita, you might find this difficult to believe… but it's true. I am not who you think I am. I am not Captain Jack Sparrow. My name is Elizabeth Swann, and I have swapped bodies with Jack. I'm sorry I deceived you, I didn't mean for it to go this far, it's just… Jack's sick, and he needs the rum poisoning antidote, and he told me to come to you…"

Clearly, Anita Dalma had not been expecting this. She let out her breath in a slow hiss. "So, de bottle has finally been opened", she said softly, half talking to herself. "I always told him that he was living on the edge of a precipice, keeping his soul in a bottle like that… even if it is a tiny portion of his soul- and this was the consequence? Well, I had expected some sort of side effect, but nothing like this…" Anita looked up at Elizabeth, as if seeing her for the first time. "So, Ms Swann, you see that de famous Captain Sparrow has had his fair share of women over de years. Dangerous woman he gets involved with- Tia was nothing compared to some others- but the story of the sea Captain and de beautiful sea Witch is legend. Of course, nobody knows that de Captain from de story is our own Captain Sparrow… but de story…"

Elizabeth was silent, listening intently to Anita's speech.

"Ms Sparrow, once there was a handsome, brave, noble young man, by the name of Jack Sparrow. Even I cannot pretend to know the secrets of Jack's childhood, that man is shrouded in mystery… but one day he came into Tortuga with a mind to get a ship and a crew and find a buried treasure. He was entranced, like many, by the romance of piracy. But Jack was different- he was willing to go to de ends of the world to achieve his goal. He joined de elite Torgugan poker club, and he was brilliant, beating many older pirates out of their ships and crews. Anyway, Captain Sparrow got himself a ship and a crew, and he went out to find his treasure. Unfortunately, he was still too inexperienced- his ship ran aground on an unchartered island, and Jack was de only survivor. He wondered around for days on de island, until he found someone else."

"The witch", Elizabeth whispered.

Anita Dalma nodded. "Witches travel around in clans, you see. This particular witch had been exiled from her clan- nobody knows why- and she was weak. She had been on de island for a long time, and her soul was dying. So imagine her excitement when another young, vivacious soul appeared on de island- and Jack wasn't any normal soul. So, of course, the witch set out to steal Jack's soul. As she was dying, none of her powers were strong enough to force Jack's soul from him- but she did have one asset, and that was her incredible beauty. They say witches are de most beautiful creatures alive, and dis one was no exception. Jack was seduced, and before long, he had gotten close enough to de witch for her to be able to siphon off his soul. So one night, while Jack was sleeping, de witch performed her last piece of magic to gain Jack's soul. She would siphon Jack's soul into a bottle, and drink it, therefore effectively killing Jack."

Elizabeth gasped, as Anita Dalma continued telling the story in her beautiful, lilting voice.

"But dis is de most interesting part, Ms Swann- she couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to steal Jack's soul. For in all her work seducing Jack, she had let herself grow attached to him, to care for him, even to love him. So she couldn't do it. So halfway through siphoning off Jack's soul, she broke off de magic, and Jack woke up. He realised what was happening, so he grabbed de bottle which was half filled with his soul, and ran away. Luckily, a ship from de East India Trading Company was travelling past de island, and picked Jack up. But to dis day, he has never been able to get the bit of the soul to go back into his body."

"Why didn't he just drink it?" Elizabeth asked.

Anita Dalma shook her head. "He was afraid that it would escape if he opened the bottle, and then his soul would be lost forever. So he kept de bottle with him wherever he went, and he travelled the world, hoping to find someone who could put his soul back in his body. But the experience left Jack Sparrow a changed man- when he came back to Tortuga, he had a funny way of walking, and a funny way of talking, and although none of his rugged handsomeness had left him, his personality had changed. He was no longer noble and honest- he became a scoundrel, dishonest and crafty. Dis was probably because most of his 'good side' as you could call it, was trapped in de bottle. But every now and again, you can flashes of it showing through…" Anita Dalma trailed off, eyes misting over.

"And the witch?"

Anita Dalma looked surprised. "Oh, she's probably still waiting on the island- I guess. Nobody knows. But Captain Jack Sparrow den went on to become de most feared pirate in de Caribbean, and, well… you know de rest."

"So that's what we've got to do. We've got to go find the witch", Elizabeth murmured to herself. It was clearly the only way for them to get their bodies back. She looked up at Anita, feeling the need to speak. "I'm sorry about your sister… really I am. I just didn't know that side of Jack", she said awkwardly.

To her surprise, Anita Dalma smiled. "It was a very long time ago, Ms Swann. Seven years, actually. Tia has forgiven Jack already… she was always the nicer out of the two of us. I have a tendency to hold on to de past…" Abruptly Anita got up, and walked around behind the large wooden table. Picking up one of the glass beakers, she poured the bright yellow liquid inside it into a bottle and put a cork in the lid. "Here is de rum poisoning antidote, Ms Swann. No payment required- it is my gift". She pressed the bottle into Elizabeth's hand, and looked up into her eyes.

"Jack is really a good man", Anita said.

Elizabeth smiled. "I know" she said softly. "I really am sorry for deceiving you… you know, pretending to be Jack and all…" she said again, feeling vaguely guilty.

"I think I knew dat you weren't Jack already", Anita said slowly. "You had a different look in your eyes… much more feminine", she finished, and Elizabeth blushed. "I wish you good luck on your journey, Elizabeth Swann", she said.

"Thankyou very much", Elizabeth said honestly, inclining her head towards the beautiful witch-woman.

And with that, she climbed out of the trapdoor and into the cold Tortugan night.

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A/N: You know what, I think that was one of my favourite chapters to write in this story- I hope you all enjoyed it!