Chapter Eleven: Isla de Meurta

Norrington ordered out four boats from the Dauntless to set up a stakeout just off Isla de Muerta's shore. He, Jack, Murtogg, Mullroy, myself, and two other marines went in the lead boat. Our miniature fleet was stationed behind a grounded ship that had not sunk as far as its comrades. Norrington had his spyglass fixed on the deserted deck of the Pearl, just like Jack had done – had it only been yesterday morning?

Norrington lowered his spyglass. "I don't care for the situation," he admitted to the two of us. "Any attempt to storm the caves could turn to an ambush."

"Not if you're the one doing the ambushing," Jack replied, smirking confidently. "Ashley and I go in there and convince Barbossa to send out his men in their little boats. You and your mates return to the Dauntless and blast the bejesus out of them with your little cannons, eh? What d'you got to lose?"

Norrington kept his gaze fixed on the Pearl. "Nothing I'd lament being rid of."

I cringed. "Harsh, dude. Really harsh." Silence. "You know…all joking aside, there is a slight chance of the pirates bypassing you people and sneaking aboard the Dauntless, meaning all onboard will be in quite the pickle, if you get my drift." I leaned in closer to Norrington's ear. "Including your blushing bride." I saw Norrington's face pale.

After about ten minutes of mass confusion, we were all set to begin the plan. One boat had returned to the Dauntless, conveying Norrington's new set of orders. All of the marines from our boat squashed themselves into the other two boats, leaving Jack and I alone to row into the treasure cavern and begin the next phase.

Jack took his place at the oars, and I reached across the gap and grabbed a lantern from Murtogg. "Good luck," I heard him say in a small voice.

I smiled grimly. "Thanks. We're gonna need it." I glanced over at Norrington. I saw his eyes met mine for a brief moment, and then fix themselves back on the Dauntless. Frowning slightly, I stepped to the front of the boat and lit the lantern. The boat lurched forward, and we were off.

Jack and I were silent until we entered the labyrinth of tunnels. "You may wanna douse the lamp, luv," Jack suggested. "Just in case."

"Okay," I said shortly, doing as I was told. Jack paused in his rowing for a split second.

Ouch. Cut the guy some slack, will ya?

What for? He was deliberately flirting with Elizabeth knowing that I could hear! I think I have a right to be mad.

I wouldn't call that 'flirting'…

You don't really get out of my head much, do you?

…that hurt.

Sorry.

The silence was filled only with the sound of the water washing over the oars. Jack cleared his throat loudly. "Ashley…are you in any way upset with me?"

I turned to face him. His eyes looked hurt and questioning. Not wanting to feel guilty, I quickly looked away. "I…it's just…you…"

I caught a glimpse of Jack's gold teeth. "'S not like you to be speechless, luv." He sobered up quickly. "I mean it, Ashley. What's bothering you?"

I suddenly felt embarrassed. "Nothing…I was just right, is all." My voice sounded bitter.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Funny, most o' the girls I've known actually like being right." He winced. "And that normally means I get slapped…what're you right about?"

I shook my head. "Nothing important." Jack looked at me expectantly, and I sighed deeply. "Hello? You were flirting with Elizabeth! And if they don't know what that means in this century, you told her the same thing you told me!"

"I didn't say Elizabeth and I were cut from the same cloth!" Jack defended himself. "I said we were peas in a pod. There's a difference."

"Same meaning!" I snapped, angry once more. Jack's eyes dimmed from hurt, and I couldn't stop the guilt this time.

"I…I'm sorry, Jack. I know I have no reason to get mad. It's just that, I can be myself when I'm with you. There's no hiding who I really am. I just want you all to myself, I'm too selfish, I'm, I- I'm sorry." I said as I started to cry.

The longboat suddenly slowed; Jack had put down the oars. He looked at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable, before holding out his arms. "C'mere, luv," he said in barely more than a whisper. I shook my head and inched away from him, suddenly on the brink of tears. Crying again…what sort of pirate am I, anyway?

The kind that had a less-than satisfactory childhood and needs a friend. Now, are you gonna hug Jack? If not, I'll gladly take your place.

Like hell.

That's my girl.

I slowly put down the darkened lantern and crawled into Jack's embrace, resting my head on his shoulder. Jack gently tilted my chin up so that I was looking straight into his eyes. He smiled. "I doubt Elizabeth – or any other girl, for that matter – could've gotten us this far, darlin'." He brushed his lips against mine, his arms tightening. I returned the kiss, surprised that this kiss seemed to be less about desire and more about tenderness.

Jack reluctantly pulled away and brushed one of my bangs away from my face. "Is that proof enough for you, luv?"

I smiled up at him. "I guess so."

Jack pouted. "Are you sure, darlin'?" His voice dropped to a whisper. "Because you look like you could use some more convincing, eh?" He closed his eyes and began kissing my neck, his arms dropping down to my hips. I sighed softly and tilted my head back, giving him more of my neck to kiss. This was so totally worth it.

Hello? Earth to Ashley! Ruggedly handsome but still pretty naïve blacksmith-turned-pirate about to die in the next room!

Aww…five more minutes?

GET YOUR ARSE IN THERE!

Fine.

"Jack," I sighed, gently pushing him off me, "we need to go save Will. Now."

"Oh, he's a smart boy, he'll be fine," Jack dismissed, kissing my palm.

I forced myself to calm the butterflies in my stomach. "Jack, stop a moment and think about what you just said."

"…"

"…yeah."

Jack hurriedly picked up the oars. "Let's go."

By the time we reached the treasure cavern, the ritual had already started. The cave was packed with pirates, chanting their bloodlust. Will was standing behind the chest, wrists bound and looking anxious. Twigg and Koehler were standing behind him, making sure he didn't run off. Barbossa was standing next to Will, brandishing the knife and looking triumphant. They were making no mistakes this time.

Jack, his usual confident smirk growing on his face, began pushing his way through the crowd. "'Scuse me, pardon me," he said good-naturedly in response to the pirate's dumbstruck stares. I quickly followed, glaring coldly at anyone who got too close.

Barbossa held up the knife, a maniacal glint in his eye. "Begun by blood, by blood un–" His eyes widened as he spotted us, and his mouth opened slightly. The chanting winded down as we pushed our way to the front of the line.

"Jack! Ashley!" Will gasped, struggling against his bonds.

I waved up at him. "Hey, dude. Gotta love them sea turtles, eh?" Jack snorted.

"It's not possible," Barbossa breathed, baffled.

"Not probable," Jack corrected.

"One day, Barbossa, you'll learn that nothing's impossible when you hang out with this lunatic," I added, pointing at Jack.

"Where's Elizabeth?" Will asked desperately, straightening up.

Bo'sun clapped a hand onto Jack shoulder, but that didn't worry him in the slightest. "She's safe, just like I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington, just like she promised, you get to die for her just like you promised, and Ashley here's been a great help to me just like she promised. So we're all men of our word, really…" I gave him a look. "…except for Ashley and Elizabeth, who are, in fact, women."

"Nice save," I remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"Shut up!" Barbossa snarled at Jack. "You're next!" He leaned in to cut Will's throat.

"Uh, Barbossa?" I called up. "I really don't think you wanna do that."

Barbossa shot me a look. "No, I really think I do."

"No, I really think you don't."

"Aye, I do."

"You do not!"

Barbossa ignored me and pressed the blade against Will's throat. He stopped suddenly, rolled his eyes, and looked back at me. "Why don't I want to be doing it?"

Score one for lust! Wait…ew.

Jack took it from here. "Well, because –" Jack shrugged Bo'sun's hand off his shoulder. "Because the HMS Dauntless, pride of the Royal Navy, is floating just offshore, waiting for you."

"Can't exactly say the same for the Navy themselves, but what're you gonna do?" I muttered. There was some nervous muttering from the crew.

"But no worries, mate," Jack went on, sauntering up beside Barbossa, who noticeably leaned backwards. "Like most things in life, this unfortunate bit of circumstance can be solved with only a bit of negotiations, savvy?"

"With you, I suppose?" Barbossa answered, looking grumpy.

"No," Jack shot back patronizingly. He looked over at me. "With her." I nodded in affirmation and hiked up the mound of treasure, ignoring Will's uncertain glance.

Barbossa smiled. "Ah, well that be different entirely." A couple men laughed, and I gritted my teeth. Perverts. "What exactly did ye have in mind, missy?" Barbossa asked smoothly.

I smiled. "Glad you asked. So here's what's gonna happen: you send your people out to the Dauntless, they go shoot people, wave their swords around, and otherwise cause general chaos." The crew grinned and nodded gamely. "When all that's done, the Dauntless will be drifting all by itself, no one left to be her captain…except for you. And you will end up captaining her, and if you add that to the Pearl, then you get two ships, which means…" I leaned in a little closer. "You'll have control over a fleet. You, my good man, will be unstoppable."

Barbossa smiled. "Well, with an offer like that…"

"Wait, I haven't started negotiating yet!" I waited until the crowd had quieted down. Jack smiled encouragingly. "Now, as you can imagine, someone has to act in your stead onboard one of those ships. You, of course, should take the bigger and more heavily armed ship as your flagship. It is, after all…good business." Oh, God… "So that means, the Pearl will be left captain-less. Now, here's what I've come up with: if you name Jack the Pearl's captain, not only will he not run off with your ship, he'll give up ten percent of his plunder. But a much bigger reward would be the fact that you can call yourself Commodore Barbossa. Really does have a nice ring to it."

Barbossa took about thirty seconds to analyze for loopholes. "I suppose, in exchange, you'd want me not to kill the whelp."

I grinned. "Well, actually –"

"No, no, no. Not at all," Jack interrupted quickly. I rolled my eyes. "By all means, kill the whelp. Just…not yet. Wait to lift the curse until the opportune moment." He pulled a couple of coins out of the chest. "For instance, after you've killed Norrington's men." With each of his next words, he dropped one coin into the chest. "Every…last…one." I saw him tuck the remaining coin into his sleeve.

Will's eyes flashed, and his struggling doubled. "You've been planning this from the beginning! Ever since you learned my name!"

"Yep," Jack answered remorselessly.

"Still rooting for you, mate!" I said, giving him a thumbs-up. He looked over at me, a betrayed look in his eyes. Feeling a little guilty, I turned back to Barbossa. "So, do we have an accord, or what?"

Barbossa thought for a moment. "I want fifty percent of your plunder."

"Fifteen!" Jack haggled.

"Forty!"

"Twenty-five! And I'll buy you a hat! A really big one…Commodore."

Barbossa grinned smugly, licking his lips. "We have an accord." He stuck out his hand, but Jack didn't shake it. His hands were balled into fists, and his face looked pale. His eyes seemed to be black with rage and jealousy. He looked coldly at Barbossa's hand, and made a sort of growling noise deep in his throat.

"Uh, Jack?" I said loudly. "You're supposed to shake his hand."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah…" Jack quickly shook Barbossa's hand, his eyes back to their normal coloring. He turned to face the crew and spread his arms wide. "All hands to the boats!" Barbossa gave him a warning look. "Apologies," Jack said sheepishly, though not looking very sorry at all. "You give the orders."

Barbossa smirked. "Gents…take a walk." The pirates filed out of the cavern, laughing bloodthirstily.

Jack's smile faded. "Not to the boats?" Barbossa's sneer widened.

I spat yet again. "If you weren't a good guy in the third movie, I would so totally shoot you myself."

Barbossa turned to Jack, whose smile faltered. "I must admit, Jack, I thought I had you figured. But it turns out you're a hard man to predict."

Jack looked back at him unblinkingly. "Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest, honestly! It's the honest ones you want to watch out for." He came up behind the guy skipping stones and looked pointedly at Will. "Because you can never predict when they're gonna do something incredibly…stupid."

"I'm sorry, can we repeat that point? Honest people do stupid things!" I shouted, and Will's face flushed. I took a couple deep breaths and smiled demurely at Barbossa. "You know, mate, I'm still sort of new to the whole piracy thing, so by some people, I could be considered…honest!" I pulled my sword from its sheath, and Jack followed suit, grabbing the pirate's sword as well and pushing him into the water. He tossed the extra cutlass to Will, who caught it deftly with his bound hands (more practice, I assume) and locked blades with Jacoby. Monk barely had time to pull his sword out before I went for him, and Jack faced Barbossa.

Monk was not an overly strong fighter, so I was able to watch the fight while steadily overpowering him. Glancing over my shoulder, I spotted Will turn around to dodge Jacoby's sword, and the blade cut harmlessly through the rope. Both hands free, Will redoubled his efforts, and Jacoby looked a bit freaked out. The other guy had finally gotten to his feet and ran to give Jacoby some much-needed assistance.

Monk suddenly picked up his game, and a particularly hard blow sent my sword flying of my hand. Monk pressed the sword tip against my neck, leering at me. "Gotta keep yer eye on the fight, lassie," he growled.

I smiled coolly. "Good advice. I'll keep it in mind!" I swung my leg around and kicked him in the side. Even though he couldn't feel it, he lost his balance and toppled into the water. I quickly spun around and dove for my sword. By the time Monk had gotten to his feet, I had redoubled my offense and had the upper hand once again.

Jack and Barbossa seemed to have a pretty even match. Every one of their blows was met by the other's cutlass, but that was about to change. Jack feinted left and lunged upwards, slicing off the feather in Barbossa's hat. "Ha, ha!" he laughed, but he barely had time to block a swing from an enraged Barbossa.

"You're off the edge of the map, mate," Barbossa snarled after a few more swings. "Here there be monsters!" He shoved Jack into one of the more larger treasure piles.

"Yeah, and they're all ugly as hell!" I called out, side-stepping a blow from Monk.

Barbossa's scowl deepened. "Why, ye little –" Jack suddenly stabbed him in the back (literally this time), and Barbossa sank to the floor, caught off guard. But he was on his feet again soon enough, and angrier than ever.

Monk tried once again to get an opening, but I quickly blocked yet another one of his blows, the force causing my arm to tremble. This was apparently the last straw for Monk. With a roar of fury, he raised his sword high above his head and charged at me.

Oh, shit! Now what? I'd never faced this sort of attack; my old teacher said that this sort of move went against all convention and rules of engagement, and had never used it on me. Unsure of what do to, I glanced over towards Jack, who looked at me at the same time. In the instant our eyes met, it came to me. As Monk drew closer, I leapt into the air, spun in a full circle, and leaned back as far as I could, just as Jack had done in the smithy. Monk's sword swung harmlessly over my head, and Jack grinned widely.

Monk stared at me, dumbfounded. "How'd you do that?"

"Like I'd tell you," I answered, smiling smugly.

Monk was suddenly shoved away by Will, who smiled and offered a hand. I took it gratefully and straightened up. "You know, that wasn't very fair to him," I pointed, gesturing towards the fallen pirate.

Will simply smiled. "Pirate."

I nodded approvingly. "Well, it's about time!" Monk, Jacoby, and the third guy suddenly came rushing towards us, and our fight continued.

The duel between Jack and Barbossa had taken them to the elevated pathways of the cavern. Up there, moonlight shone through a few holes in the ceiling, and Barbossa's skeletal form was revealed every time they passed through them.

Barbossa smiled triumphantly as he pushed Jack to the ground, spreading his arms out. "Ye can't beat me, Jack!"

In stubborn defiance, Jack leapt ton his feet, and stabbed Barbossa in the stomach. Barbossa looked at the sword, sighed exaggeratedly, pulled it out, and drove it into Jack's chest. Jack's eyes widened to the size of golf balls, and he made a strangled, choking noise. It was so realistic; I actually forgot he was just acting and gasped loudly.

Monk smirked at me. "Ol' Sparrow's through now!"

I regained control of my breathing. "No, he's not," I answered. "He's just a good actor." As I finished saying this, Jack staggered backwards into a beam of moonlight, revealing a skeletal form of his own. The look on Barbossa's face was priceless.

Jack slowly examined his hands. "That's interesting," he said thoughtfully. I saw Will jam a golden jar onto the third guy's head and shove him back into the water. He looked up at Jack, eyes wide.

Jack smiled – at least, that's what it looked like – and revealed the coin he had snatched. "Couldn't resist, mate," he explained, slipping the coin through his fingers. Barbossa recovered quickly and continued the fight. Monk and Jacoby took their captain's example, and Will and I soon had our hands full. At least that other guy was out.

"Hey, Will!" I shouted, remembering the next scene. "I have an idea! Run straight at me!" Will did as he was told, and our opponents immediately followed us. Just as we were about to collide, we leapt out of the way. Jacoby's sword plunged into Monk's stomach, and Monk howled in pain. Catching on, Will snuck behind Jacoby, and Monk's sword was soon sticking out of Jacoby's stomach. I took a moment to laugh, but ran alongside Will as the two cursed pirates pulled the swords out and attacked us again.

"So what now, Jack Sparrow?" I heard Barbossa ask from somewhere to our right. "Are we to be two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgment Day and trumpets sound?"

"Or you could surrender," Jack suggested. A few moments later, I saw him run back into our part of the cavern, Barbossa on his heels.

Jacoby suddenly began throwing grenades, and Will and I dove out of the way to either side. Jacoby stood over Will, sneering. "I'm gonna teach you the meaning of pain!"

"You like pain?" Elizabeth came out of nowhere and slammed a thick pole against the side of Jacoby's head. "Try wearing a corset," she finished through gritted teeth. She held out the pole pulled Will to his feet.

"Nice of you to join us," I said cheerfully, coming up beside them. "Unfortunately, this seems to be a bad time!" I blocked a glancing blow from Monk.

Lizzie looked around and spotted the dueling captains. "Whose side is Jack on?"

Will shrugged. "At the moment?"

"OURS!" I shouted, ducking to avoid Monk's sword. "NOW, ARE YOU TWO GONNA HELP ME OR WHAT!" The two looked at each other, nodded, and launched back into the battle.

The third guy finally got the jar off his head, but it was too late; Will and Lizzie and already rammed the pole through all three skeletons. I grabbed a grenade from Jacoby's belt and shoved it in between his ribs. Before he could get it out, we pushed the three back into the shadows, away from the moonlight. Jacoby scrabbled at his chest for a moment before whimpering, "No fair!"

The three of us turned tail and ran just as the explosion went off. I ducked to avoid falling debris (Gross!), but tripped over the abandoned jar and fell flat on my face. I looked up just in time to see Jack toss his medallion, stained with his blood, to Will.

Barbossa suddenly spotted Elizabeth running towards Will. She stopped in her tracks as Barbossa pulled out his pistol, a determined look in his eye.

BANG!

Lizzie gasped with shock, and even I felt a jolt. Barbossa's brow furrowed in confusion as he glanced over his shoulder. Jack had aimed his pistol right at Barbossa's chest, and the barrel was smoking.

Barbossa sneered at him. "Ten years you carry that pistol, and now you waste your shot!"

"He didn't waste it!" Barbossa's eyes shot from Will, to the knife, to the two coins. Will's face hardened and he dropped the coins into the chest. I suddenly felt my medallion grow warm, and I held it away from my collarbone.

Crimson blood blossomed from the wound in Barbossa's chest. He looked down at the blood incredulously, and then back at Jack. "I feel…cold," he whispered. His face went blank, and he fell backwards onto the ground, an apple rolling from his hand. It was over. We'd finally won.