OK, before I do anything else, I want to apologize to everyone for taking SO LONG to update... I'll bet you'd all thought I'd stopped writing this story, didn't you?! (Which, admittedly, I did let it sit for quite some time... I blame high school basketball, and high school in general, for that...) At any rate, I'm really sorry, and I appreciate your patience. I'll try to update MUCH more frequently in the future...

So this chapter includes a lot of dialogue you've already heard, and some you haven't, including a lot of internal angst and such. Hope it's not too tedious... please review and tell me what you think!

As you already know, "Pirates" and all of the characters involved belong to Disney.

10. Morality

'Anamaria, are you all right?'

I was sitting on the dirty floor of the Black Pearl's brig. It took me a moment to realise that Will was shaking me gently by the shoulder. My mind was reeling with flashes of everything that had happened in the past hour… Jack, swinging on a rope through the smoke of the cannons onto the deck of the Interceptor… the feel of rough hands on my arms as a burly pirate seized me and dragged me, howling and kicking, onto the Black Pearl… the resounding boom as the Interceptor exploded in a ball of fire… the look of hope on Elizabeth Swann's face as a dripping Will Turner bounded onto the railing of the Pearl and demanded Elizabeth's freedom… the slightly mad look on Jack's face as he dove gracefully into the warm waters of the Caribbean after his sword and pistol, Barbossa's laugh echoing gratingly after him…

'Anamaria?'

I looked up quickly. Will was staring down at me, concern etched in his face.

'Sorry,' I grunted. 'Just thinking…' I cleared my throat and gestured awkwardly for Will to sit down next to me. There was not much room in the brig, but he lowered himself to the ground, stretching his legs out in front of him with a sigh.

I glanced at the young man seated next to me. He was certainly good-looking, with his tanned, muscular arms and his large brown eyes. It made me smile to think that I might have fallen in love with him, if my heart had not already been captured by a different pair of twinkling black eyes…

'How did you end up here, anyway?' asked Will, gesturing towards the group of sullen pirates strewn about the brig. I raised an eyebrow.

'I could ask you the same thing,' I answered. 'Why do you want to know?'

Will shrugged. 'Curiosity, I guess. Not every day one meets a female pirate, and a good one at that.'

His compliment mollified me somewhat. 'My career as a pirate starts and ends with Jack Sparrow,' I said.

'Captain Jack Sparrow,' Will corrected automatically. 'I'd suspected as much, from the greeting you gave him.'

I smiled. 'Well, there you have it. There's not much else to the story.'

This time it was Will who raised his eyebrow at me. 'Or, at least, there's not much more you're going to tell me.'

I was glad he understood. 'You?'

Will sighed and looked away. 'I was a blacksmith's apprentice,' he said slowly. 'A good, honestly, law-abiding man who aided in the capture of a dangerous fugitive, and set him free only hours later.' He looked up at me. 'And it's strange to admit it, but if I had to go back to that kind of life, I don't think I'd survive. After having lived like this, I'd feel so…'

'Confined.' I nodded. 'Honesty, or at least whatever His Majesty the King defines as honesty, is a small price to pay for freedom.'

I had never thought that I could understand a man who was madly in love with a girl as flighty as Elizabeth Swann, but my respect for William Turner had grown tenfold in the last few minutes. It was nice to know that just because he was in love with a governor's daughter didn't mean he felt constrained by the rules of her society.

We sat listening to the lap of the waves against the hull of the ship for a few moments. I wondered how many of the blanks Will had filled in for himself about my relationship with Jack – the comment he made when I had seen Jack again for the first time, 'I suppose you didn't deserve that one either,' was enough to make me slightly suspicious. I toyed with the idea of asking him exactly what he presumed I had been through with Jack, but decided against it.

'You mentioned something about your father,' I said finally. 'Up there, when you were threatening to shoot yourself.'

Will nodded, a slight frown creasing his forehead. 'My father…' He broke off as two grimy pirates stomped down the stairs, grumbling and carrying a pair of mops and a pail of what might have once passed for grimy water.

'Yes?' I prompted.

'… Was a good man, and a pirate,' continued Will. 'And it's his blood that's gotten us all into this mess.' Before I could ask what any of this meant, Will had risen to his feet and walked to the bars of the brig, where he could view the pirates more clearly.

I sighed and found myself wishing for nothing more than to be seated at my favourite tavern back in Tortuga, throwing down a mug of rum. Closing my eyes, I tried to block out the sounds around me one by one… Cotton's parrot squawking … Gibbs saying, 'Cotton here says you missed a spot' to one of the pirates swabbing the brig… the wet splat of the mop as the pirate brandished it through the bars at Gibbs… Will's voice quietly asking the pirates, 'You knew my father?'…

I could no longer fight the exhaustion that had been threatening to overwhelm me since the battle. A few moments later, I was fast asleep.

When I awoke, it was dark on the ship. A sole lantern, its glass panels flecked with wax and salt, swayed unsteadily from the ceiling, casting eerie shadows about the brig. The creak and groan of the wood of the ship added to the ghostly feel of the vessel. I had been on many ships before, of course, but for some reason this one reeked of the supernatural, and every noise was enough to make me jump.

'Captain?'

I blinked as Marty's face came into focus above me, and sat up quickly. The little man jumped backwards in alarm.

'Where's Will?' I demanded, noting that he was no longer amongst the rest of my crew.

'They took him, Captain,' said Marty apologetically. 'Right after you fell asleep.'

I slapped the ground in frustration. Were all the people I cared about going to be snatched from under my nose? Jack, Will… who was next? Mr Gibbs? Marty? Cotton?

'Stop calling me "Captain",' I ordered Marty. 'I haven't got a ship any more, so I'm not a captain.'

'That's never stopped Jack,' muttered Gibbs, a slight smile glimmering on his face for a moment. He must have remembered the next moment what had happened to Jack, for the next time I looked at him, his face had drooped into a resigned frown.

'What're we going to do?' groaned Marty, sitting down (which did not change his height much). 'Wait for them to come finish us off, too?'

I shrugged. 'Do you have any good escape plans? Because if you have any ideas as to how to get through the bars, past any guards they have on the ship, and then back to some body of land that is NOT the Isla de Muerta…'

We all sighed in dismay and sat in silence for I don't even know how long. I let my mind wander to Jack. I wondered what he was doing… probably enjoying a nice, romantic evening with Elizabeth Swann on the beach of their own private island, I thought in disgust. How I hated that girl at the moment…

I was so wrapped up in my envy that I completely ignored the splashes and yelling coming from the deck of the Pearl until a series of rapid footsteps jerked me out of my vengeful reverie. To my shock, who should appear in the stairwell but Elizabeth Swann, clad in a British naval uniform.

'It's Elizabeth!' cried Gibbs unnecessarily.

Well, I reasoned, at least she wasn't still stranded on the island, all alone with Jack.

'Where's Jack?' I demanded.

'Leading the Navy in an attack against Barbossa's crew,' said Elizabeth breathlessly. She pulled a rusty key from her pocket and shoved it into the lock. It turned with an ear-piercing screech of protest. 'Quickly now, we don't have much time!'

Bewildered, we all filed out of the brig after her and started to rush up the stairs, but Elizabeth held out a warning hand before we could reach the deck.

'They're up there,' she whispered, her brown eyes huge with nerves.

I carefully peered out onto the deck and gasped as I noted two skeletal figures with their backs to us, looking down over the edge of the boat. So there really was a curse. Immediately, every ghost story my mother had told me around the fire as a young girl pushed any thought of pirating, sailing, or even Captain Jack Sparrow out of my head. If he wanted to lead an attack against these hellish fiends, he would have to do so alone – I for one valued my life!

I shuddered and turned to retreat back down the stairs, as if that would save me from whatever evil powers were at hand… when suddenly I spotted a longboat, swaying slightly from a pair of ropes. I glanced at Elizabeth, who followed my gaze and nodded after a moment. Maybe the girl wasn't so daft after all.

Gesturing towards my crew, we crept silently up onto the deck, lined up behind the boat, and, with a whispered count of three from Elizabeth, shoved the boat as hard as we could at the cursed pirates. I was not the only one to cheer with relief when we heard them splash into the dark waters below.

'All of you with me,' cried Elizabeth, rushing forward with a determined look on her face. 'Will is in that cave and we must save him. Ready? And heave!'

She turned to see all of us standing absolutely still. I wasn't looking at any of my fellow crewmates, but I could tell they were all thinking the same thing – as likeable as Will Turner was, I was not ready to give my life to save him from a crew of pirates that could not be killed. I couldn't see how our motley crew of fifteen or so could be of any help, and so I was quite content to let the British Navy rescue Will.

'Please, I need your help!' said Elizabeth, obviously frustrated. I almost felt bad for her.

Cotton's parrot squawked. 'Any port in a storm!' it croaked in its monotone voice.

'Cotton's right, we've got the Pearl,' said Gibbs, voicing my thoughts exactly.

'And what about Jack? You're just going to leave him?' Her words struck a nerve this time. I felt a tinge of guilt and opened my mouth hesitantly.

'Jack owes us a ship,' said Marty stubbornly. I closed my mouth. He did have a point. The mention of Jack owing me a ship brought back too many memories of standing on a beach, utterly betrayed, watching my only friend sail away in my ship, leaving me to who knew what fate…

Marty was right. I did my best to convince myself that abandoning Jack would be no worse than what he had done to me. (I did my best to ignore the little voices in the back of my head that were reminding me that I was abandoning him to the mercy of a band of ruthless, undead pirates who hated him.)

'And there's the Code to consider,' added Mr Gibbs. My confidence in my decision boosted a bit further – even Mr Gibbs, who idolized Jack, felt leaving him was justified.

'The Code,' repeated Elizabeth, disbelievingly. My conscience nipped irritatingly at my sense of reasoning again. Jack had already tried to kill Elizabeth during the one meeting they'd had – why, then, was she so eager to save him when all of us, his shipmates, his crew, his fellow pirates, were ready to put our rudder to this accursed isle and leave him to whatever fate befell him?

'You're pirates,' pleaded Elizabeth. 'Hang the Code, and hang the rules! They're more like guidelines anyway.'

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mr Gibbs flinch. Damn it. Was this girl going to send our senses of morality chasing themselves in circles all night long? I caught Gibbs's eye and raised an eyebrow. So, what do we do? was the unspoken message that passed between us in that glance.

'Miss,' said Gibbs slowly, clearing his throat. 'You've just said it yourself. We're pirates. And that means that we fend for ourselves first. Now, if you want,' he continued, placing a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder and leading her to the railing where they stood staring out at the moonlight dancing on the waves between our ship and the skull-shaped island, 'we can put you in a little boat with an oar and send you out to do what you can. But here's my reasoning.'

Gibbs took a deep breath and sighed, his shoulders rising and falling like a wave, before continuing.

'You're young and in love with Master Will, and that's all very well,' he said. 'But whenever you go into battle with pirates what can't be killed, Miss Elizabeth, it's usually a good idea to remember that you're the one's going to end up dead.'

'But if we all go out to fight together…' began Elizabeth.

'We'd all end up dead,' finished Mr Gibbs calmly. 'If it's a fight to the death and one side can't die… well, obviously you see what'll happen.' He turned to face Elizabeth, whose jaw was jutting out slightly in defiance. 'Listen to me, Miss Elizabeth,' he said softly. 'Will wouldn't've wanted you to die needlessly for his sake. Come with us, away from this place. We can drop you back at home, so long's your father doesn't try and hang us for our pains…'

'I can't leave him, Mr Gibbs,' whispered Elizabeth. 'I just can't.'

Mr Gibbs sighed and scratched his head. 'Well, it's your choice,' he said resignedly. He glanced over at me. 'Captain, permission to give Miss Swann a boat?'

I had been watching in silence this whole time, torn between admiration and scorn. I could not fault Elizabeth Swann for being willing to give her life for a man she loved… but Gibbs was right. Perhaps it was just that I thought with a pirate's sensibility, perhaps it was just that I'd had my heart broken once, and had lost much of my sympathy for the more dramatic side of romance.

'You're sure this is what you want?' I said in a low voice, approaching Elizabeth. Her eyes glinted with tears in the moonlight. She nodded.

I sighed. 'Marty, Cotton, see if there's a boat aboard this ship that Miss Swann can take,' I ordered, not taking my eyes from this poor, foolish creature. 'And may whatever higher powers be protect you,' I added. Although I had no great love for the girl, I would feel ashamed of myself not to wish her well.

The entire crew watched the small boat as it propelled its way to the mouth of the cave. Then Mr Gibbs turned to me.

'So, what now, Captain?' he asked in a would-be casual voice that nonetheless betrayed his agitation.

I sighed. 'Let's fill our sails with whatever wind blows away from here tonight,' I said wearily. 'All hands on deck!'

Immediately, the crew fell to carrying out my orders as I marched down the deck barking at them. Perhaps I made all of my demands a bit too specific, but I needed something, anything, to distract me from the lithe man with twinkling black eyes who I knew was going to his doom behind me…

As I reached the end of the ship, I looked upwards to where the full moon had finally emerged from behind the clouds and was shining through the holes in the sails.

'And, Mr Gibbs,' I added with a frown, 'we'll have to see about getting new sails as soon as possible…'