DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean. I thought I made this clear 10 chapters ago.

Chapter 11: The Beginning of the Battle

Elizabeth looked out to the horizon. "The sun is rising. We must prepare," she said hastily.

"Aye, that be true," Barbossa agreed.

"Come on, you filthy coward," I muttered, "Show yourself."

"You basterds have to come out in...three...two...one-" Kate said as when she counted down to one the ships started to peek out of the mist.

Marty pointed out the ship from the lookout. "They're here!" he shouted.

"Finally," Kate groaned.

I was worried. Really worried. I mean, will we survive? By the end of this movie, Kate will probably want to go home, and I...I don't know what I'll do. Suddenly, more ships appeared from the mist. There were at least one hundred of them! Everyone's mouths dropped as they looked out to sea.

Cotton's parrot flew away immediately. "Awwk, abandon ship!" it squawked.

"Fuck..." I said.

All heads except for mine and Kate's turned toward Jack. "Parley?" Jack asked.

"Will must be with Beckett," Elizabeth said, "We must get him back."

"We must," Kate declared.

"Prepare the longboat!" Jack commanded.

Instantly, the crew hauled out a longboat. Barbossa and Elizabeth boarded at once. Just as I attempted to board, Jack instinctively grabbed my arm.

"Jack? What are you doing?" I asked in an annoyed tone.

"I can't let you go with us, Ashley," Jack replied.

"This is my fight, too. Why can't I go?"

"Beckett, that's why. He wants your head for personal reasons. I fear he'll take you at the opportune moment."

"He will be dead before he does. I want him to know what suffering he's caused all of us. Especially me. You should know better than to argue with me, Jack. Have you learned nothing from my stubbornness?"

"I suppose I have this moment to learn. Let's go. We have a parley."

We rowed into a narrow sandbar, where Davy Jones, as I expected to see, was in a bucket of water.

Talk about a fish out of water.

We slowly approached the "enemy" and Will.

Barbossa was quick to jump to conclusions. "You be the cur that led these wolves to our door," he said accusingly.

Beckett glanced at Will and back to his five enemies. "Don't blame Turner. He was merely the tool of your betrayal. If you wish to see its grand architect, look to your left," Beckett advised them.

Four heads turned left, in Jack's direction. Jack nonchalantly looked left too and back at a glare from Elizabeth.

Jack held up his dirty hands. "My hands are clean in this. Figuratively," he said calmly.

"My actions were my own and to my own purpose. Jack had nothing to do with it," Will explained.

"Well spoke! Listen to the tool!" Jack said happily.

"Ex-cuse me? Where am I in this?" Kate asked.

"You! Who exactly are you, pirate? You're not dressed like us..." said Beckett.

"Well duhh, I'm with Ashley!"

"And yes, you. Who I let go for reasons I cannot explain." Beckett said to me.

"Whatever, Beckett. You hurt Jack. By many reasons. And then you hurt me. You could be a good guy, you know."

"Good as in "pirate"? No. I'm bound by the king, and so was Governor Swann."

"You killed him!"

"So I did. And you will die too if you don't choose the correct side now."

"I am on the correct side! And you just want to use me to tell YOUR stupid future. Then you'll kill me too. I already see it."

"Thats where you're wrong, girl."

"Don't call me 'girl'."

Then Elizabeth started to go on with Will. Ughh. I would rather argue with Beckett than hear them...

Elizabeth gazed into Will's eyes. "Will, I've been aboard the Dutchman. I understand the burden you bear, but I fear that cause is lost," she said gently.

Will brightened. "No cause is lost," he told her, "If there is but one fool left to fight for it."

Will's eyes turned to a smirking Jack. Elizabeth took note of their eyes.

Beckett held up Jack's compass. "If Turner wasn't acting on your behalf, how did he come to give me this?" he said quizzically.

All eyes turned to Jack.

"You made a deal with me, Jack to deliver the pirates," Beckett reminded Jack, "and here they are. Don't be bashful; step up and claim your reward."

"Your debt to me is still to be satisfied," Jones said angrily, "One hundred years aboard the Dutchman. As a start!"

"That debt was paid, mate," Jack declared, "With some help."

"You escaped!"

Elizabeth watched Will's eyes as Jones and Jack argued. She thought she had an idea, and once she saw Will give her a look of confidence, she went along with it. "I propose an exchange," she said, "Will leaves with us, and you can take Jack."

Jack frowned.

Jones then started to ask about Kate and I. Uggh.

"Who ex'actly arr these two lasses?"

"I'm Kate, and this is Ashley. We're sisters!" Kate said cheerfully.

"Arrr ye in this...deal?"

"Actually, no. But if Jack is, then I officially have something to do with it. Try anything, and I'll kick your slimy ass to where it belongs." I threatened.

"How dare you-"

"The deal is Will for Jack, take it or leave it bitches!" Kate exclaimed.

"Done," Will said immediately.

"Undone!" Jack protested.

"Done!" Beckett added.

Barbossa faced Elizabeth. "Jack's one of the nine Pirate Lords. You have no right," he growled.

"King," Elizabeth said triumphantly.

Jack pulled away and removed his hat. "As you command, Your Nibs," he said, feigning defiance.

With one stroke, Barbossa slashed at Jack's bandanna and cut off the beads and coin. Jack the Monkey retrieved it quickly.

"If ye have somethin' to say, I might be sayin something as well," he warned.

"First to the finish, then?" Jack asked.

Quickly, he and Will switched places.

"Advise your Brethren. You can fight, and all of you will die, or you can not fight in which case only most of you will die," he warned them.

"Well then, it's a win-win situation. I'd rather die than not fight you, so I'll die anyway!" I said.

Elizabeth stepped forward with a fire in her eyes. "You murdered my father," she growled like a lioness stalking its prey.

"He chose his own fate," Beckett said nonchalantly.

"And you have chosen yours," Elizabeth declared, "We will fight, and you will die."

She turned away in a flash.

"So be it," Beckett said defiantly before asking me one more time before they left to their sides. "I could save you."

"I know the future, and I know you'll die. Or I would go with you. Maybe. Like never."

"You are valuable. Make the better choice, dear."

"I'm not your "dear" Beckett." I said as I walked away hearing Will and Elizabeth

Will glanced at Elizabeth. "King?" he asked.

"Of the Brethren Court, courtesy of Jack," Elizabeth explained.

"Maybe he really does know what he's doing," Will declared.

"I don't think he does." said Kate.

As we back to The Black Pearl, Will and Elizabeth spoke so much it was as if they had no conflict at all.

"How did you get to Shipwreck Cove?" Will wanted to know.

"Sao Feng was killed by an attack thanks to the Flying Dutchman. He made me Captain," Elizabeth explained, "Norrington was working for Beckett and he locked us in the brig when he found us, and that's where I found your father."

Will's eyes lit up at news of his father. "My father? Is he all right?" he asked.

Elizabeth's eyes were grim as she held Will's hand for the first time since her father passed. Will's heart skipped a beat at her touch.

"I can't say so, Will," Elizabeth replied sadly, "He told me it was too late, and I believed him. He barely knows me and barely remembers you. I fear for him and pity him."

"He suffers a fate he shouldn't have had to suffer," Will said.

"I know," Elizabeth replied, "When I said I understand the burden you bear, I was sincere. I do understand now. Your father was never a part of your life, and mine was. Now my father is dead, and I understand what it's like to be without a father."

"I understand," Will said, "What happened after? How did you escape?"

"Norrington decided to choose a side," Elizabeth explained, "He let me go, and I tried to persuade him to follow me. He wouldn't, and he was killed after we escaped."

"Who was his killer?" Will asked immediately.

Elizabeth swallowed hard. "Bootstrap lost his mind. He killed Norrington by mistake," she said gravely.

Will shuddered. "I see," he said breathlessly.

Elizabeth squeezed Will's hand. "Jack won't let us down," she reassured him.

Kate rubbed his back. "Yeah, it'll be all right, mate," she added.

Just then, the boat pulled up to the port side of the Black Pearl. Barbossa disembarked first and ambled off quickly. Next, came Will and he helped Kate aboard. Taking Elizabeth's hand, he helped her aboard too.

"We're planning to use the Pearl as our flagship," Elizabeth explained.

Suddenly, all three friends stopped and their eyes were wide.

"Were we now?" Barbossa barked.

Everyone on deck watched as Pintel and Ragetti brought Calypso up to the deck, bound in coils of rope.

"Barbossa, Lucia, you can't release her!" Will protested.

"We have to give Jack a chance!" Elizabeth said.

"Apologies, Your Majesty!" Barbossa said curtly, "Too long me fate has not been in me own hands…but no longer."

Barbossa snapped the necklace from Elizabeth's neck and dropped it into the bowl with the rest of the pieces of eight with rum.

Suddenly, remembering that war was being declared and her dreaded nightmares, Kate snatched Elizabeth's arm and took her out of earshot of Will.

"Kate, what's going on?" Elizabeth gasped.

"We can't let Will fight!" Kate told her urgently.

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.

"I wanted to tell you before. I...He'll die."

"Goodness, Kate!" Elizabeth gasped, "How long have you been having these nightmares?"

"They're not nightmares! It's the future!," Kate replied shortly, "Elizabeth, Will must not fight in this battle for all our sakes... You must believe me. "

"I don't want Will hurt. You and I must speak with him now!" Elizabeth said immediately.

Kate snatched Will by the ear and took him to Elizabeth.

"OW! Kate, what's all this about?" Will gasped.

"Will, you're staying on Shipwreck Cove!" Elizabeth gasped before Kate could open her mouth.

"What? I think it's a bit late for that, Elizabeth," Will replied.

"She's right. I can't let you fight with us, Will," Kate added.

"Have you both been in the rum supply? What's gotten into you both?" Will demanded.

"Kate's seen your death in her nightmares!" Elizabeth shrieked.

"It's true, but they're not nightmares!" Kate said fervently.

"Katherine... I thought we were passed all of this," Will groaned, "I'm not going to die…as you saw in your nightmare."

"You don't know that, Will!" Kate gasped.

"And you think you do?"

"I don't think I do. I know!"

"From what you saw in a dream. It wasn't real, Kate!"

"It was more real than you could imagine. Please, Will just listen to the wisest of the three of us."

"Kate, have you gone mad?"

"Maybe I have! Can I be blamed for wanting you safe?"

"Kate is right, Will," Elizabeth agreed, "I lost my father, Norrington, I can't lose you, too."

"Have you both been using your heads for this matter?" Will inquired, "If you are, don't. Try using your hearts; it's much more sensible and bearable that way. This is war. One of us, if not all of us, is most likely going to die. Even if we survive this battle, we will die. There's nothing we can do to stop it. But we can make the best of this time no matter how dire or brief. If Katherine is right, and Davy Jones does kill me, I will thank The Lord for everything I've been given on this Earth. If I do not, then we will have the rest of our lives together. Either way, we will still be together. Just because I'm not in front of you doesn't mean I'm not there."

Both women smiled lovingly as they considered this wisdom.

"Will, you brilliant boy!" Kate exclaimed, "You've learned from the best!"

"I believe I have," Will replied, "Can we get over this now?"

"Of course," Elizabeth replied.

"Certainly," Kate said with a grin. Even though she didn't want him to die.

"Brilliant," Will said, "I was beginning to fear the worst. Especially with you, Kate. Who knows what you can do while no ones looking!"

"Shut your face!" Katie laughed.

The two friends diverted their attention back to Barbossa as he readied the insignias to release Calypso.

"Be there some right or incantation?" Gibbs asked.

"Aye. The items must be burned, and someone must speak the words 'Calypso, I release you from your human bonds,'" Barbossa explained.

"Is that it?" Pintel asked.

"It must be said as if spoken to a lover," Barbossa replied.

All of the crew giggled and Will and Elizabeth glanced at each other nervously.

"Calypso, I release you from your human bonds!" Barbossa declaimed.

Nothing happened. Everyone wore confused expressions.

"You didn't say it right!" Ragetti said brightly, "You have to say it right."

Barbossa stepped backward to let Ragetti speak.

"Calypso, I release you from your human bonds," Ragetti whispered as if speaking to a lover.

Suddenly, Calypso began to squirm in fits against the ropes, like one who is possessed. The bowl with the insignias burned and sent up not smoke, but a purple dust that Calypso absorbed. Will knew he had to stop her from destroying the Brethren Court.

"Tia Dalma!" he cried, "Calypso!"

The goddess snapped, and knocked the bowl of burnt insignias over.

"When the Brethren Court first imprisoned you, who was it that taught them how? Who was it that betrayed you?" Will asked pointedly.

"Name 'im!"Calypso snapped.

"Davy Jones," Will said.

Calypso wept at another betrayal from the man she loved. Suddenly, her rage and sadness combined and she grew to nearly sixty feet tall.

"This is it!" Pintel cried out as he released the ropes.

Everyone followed Barbossa as he bowed before the goddess.

"Calypso, I come before you as but a servant, humble and contrite," Barbossa declared, "Spare meself, me ship, me crew, and unleash your fury on those who dare call themselves your masters, or mine."

Calypso smiled and then proceeded to chant unintelligible words before exploding into crabs! Everyone ducked for cover as the crabs dropped into the ocean.

"Was that it?" Will wanted to know.

"Blimey, she's no help at all," Pintel commented.

"What'd you expect? She's a goddess," I added, "They're just like us, only one-hundred times worse."

"What now?" Will wanted to know.

"What else can be done?" Kate asked hopelessly.

"Nothing," Barbossa declared, "Our final hope has failed us."

A gust of wind kicked up and sent a sailor's hat afloat to the top of the mast. Everyone noticed the hat flying away, particularly Elizabeth.

"It's not over," Elizabeth said wisely.

"There's still a fight to be had," Will agreed.

"Right you are, both of you!" Kate chimed in.

"We've an armada against us," Gibbs said hopelessly, "And with the Dutchman there's no chance."

I scoffed. "You call that an armada?" she said incredulously, "Perhaps I'm blind, but that's no armada. That's a mass of yellow-bellied, lily-livered sissies brought to fight for one man's lust for power and blood. We took on the Dutchman before, why not again? We have an armada. We fight for our freedom and the freedom of others. We will not run, no. We will fight until the last man. We should show them what we're made of!"

"Ashley's right," Elizabeth declared, "There's a fool's chance."

"Revenge won't bring your father back, Miss Swann, and it's not something I'm intending to die for," Barbossa said.

Elizabeth turned to Barbossa and her eyes danced with determination. "You're right," she agreed, "What shall we die for? You will listen to me. Listen!"

Elizabeth hopped on the starboard side of the Black Pearl and stood strong and her voice echoed with a passion befitting a Pirate King. All eyes, especially Will and Kate's, were glued to Elizabeth.

"The Brethren will still be looking to us. To the Black Pearl to lead," Elizabeth declaimed, "And what will they see? Frightened, bilge rats aboard a derelict ship? No. No they will see free men and freedom! And what the enemy will see is the flash of our cannons. They will hear the ring of our swords and they will know what we can do! By the strength of our backs, the sweat of our brows, and the courage of our hearts! Gentleman…"

Deflated, Elizabeth's eyes trailed to a proud Will and Kate. "Hoist the colours," she commanded.

Will nodded. "Hoist the colours," he repeated.

"You heard the King," I said, "Hoist the colours!"

Soon, the cries of "hoist the colours" were whispered and then shouted among all of the crew on the Black Pearl.

"Let's show Tête de Seau what an armada of pirates can do!" I shouted.

Gibbs felt the wind on his face and he felt a surge of hope. "Aye, the wind's on our side, boys! That's all we need!" he exclaimed.

Thunderous shouts erupted from all aboard. Cutlasses and guns waved in the air.

Amidst the hullabaloo, Elizabeth turned to the Bo 'sun and commanded at the top of her lungs, "HOIST THE COLOURS!"

I climbed atop the port and shouted with the same passion, "LEVEZ LES COLOURS!"

With the swing of his sword, Tai Huang gave the order to raise the colours on the Empress. Gun shots fired in celebration as Gentleman Jocard raised his colours, and aboard Ammand the Corsair's ship, the men danced as Ammand tossed his cape over his shoulder as his colours were raised. Next came the Jolly Roger of Capitaine Chevalle with cries of the French tongue, followed by the colours of Mistress Ching. Finally, Pintel and Ragetti raised the Jolly Roger of the Black Pearl as Will, Elizabeth, Barbossa, Lucia, and Ashley watched from the deck. As the colours were raised, Kate sang at the top of her lungs: Yo ho! All hands! Hoist the colours high! Heave ho! Thieves and beggars! Never say we die! Never say we die!

Narrator's POV

Meanwhile, Beckett calmly sipped tea aboard the Endeavor.

"We have a favorable wind, sir," Groves told him.

"So we do," Beckett noted, "Signal Jones to leavenone alive, but bring Mrs. Parris to me and he may do what he wishes with her. That should brighten his day."

Groves nodded. "To arms! Give no quarter! Retrieve Miss Winslet!" he cried.

Davy Jones looked up to see the skies turning into the black of night and the rumbling of thunder.

"Calypso," he muttered as he screamed out.

In the brig of the Flying Dutchman, Jack was literally left alone with his thoughts.

"Bravo! You've successfully arrived aboard the Flying Dutchman as per the overall scheme," commented a wiser Jack.
"Oh, yes, chapeau, mate. Except for this little sojourn in the brig, everything's like clockwork," agreed another Jack.
"Go away!" commanded Jack.
"Or back to the Locker?" replied the first Jack.
"But without you, Jackie?" the other Jack asked dubiously.
A barnacle-encrusted version of Jack broke out from the wall, holding his brain. "Stab the heart, and live forever, as captain of the Flying Dutchman," he said, "Then again, if you're in the brig, who's to stab the heart?
"It does put immortality a bit out of reach," said the second Jack, "And what of your dearly beloved bride?"

Jack's eyes were wide as he gasped, "Ashley."

"How does she figure into your plan, mate?" questioned the first Jack.

"I have to get out of here!" Jack cried, "The war is starting and I'm not there!"

"That's why the brig is a slight problem," remarked the second Jack.

"I can't let the war go on without me! What if Ashley or Kate dies? I can't let her go without telling them!" Jack cried.

"Well then, I think you should ask yourself one question mate," suggested the first Jack, "What would the whelp do?"

The second Jack scratched his head. "Think like the whelp," he whispered.

The barnacled Jack scratched his brain. "Think like the whelp," he chimed in.

"Think like the whelp!" Jack cried, "Think like the whelp!"

"Peanut," said the second Jack with delight as he pulled a peanut from Jack's hair.

Ashley's POV

On board the Black Pearl, Pintel was fuming. "Did you notice, on top of everything else, it's raining?" he commented.

"That's a bad sign," commented Ragetti.

Gibbs gave orders to keep the powder dry when he looked out to sea and saw a massive whirlpool. "MAELSTROM!" he bellowed.

Elizabeth noticed this and she laid her eyes on Barbossa. "Captain Barbossa!" she shouted, "We need you at the helm!"

Barbossa gave a grin showing his gold teeth. "Aye, that be true!" he shouted in agreement as he grasped the helm, "Brace up the foreyards, ye cockeyed deck apes! Dyin' is the day worth living for!"

As Barbossa shouted, Will, Elizabeth, Kate and I smiled.

"Do you see where I get my sense from?" Kate commented.

"I like his reasoning and yours!" I laughed, "It reminds me of myself!"

"Veer out!" cried Copper from the Flying Dutchman.

"She'll not harm us," Davy Jones said confidently, "Full bore and into the abyss!"

"Are you mad?" Copper gasped.

"Ye afraid to get wet?" Davy Jones taunted.

Will looked out to see the Dutchman gaining on them. "On our stern and gaining!" he cried.

"Lighten the ship!" I cried.

"Belay that! We need all the supply we can get!" Elizabeth corrected me.

"More speed! Haul your wind and hold your water!" Barbossa commanded.

Seeing the Pearl come into sight, Davy Jones readied his weapons. "Bow guns!" he shouted.

Aboard the Pearl, Barbossa waited to get a clear shot off the Dutchman.

"Take her down or she'll overbear us!" Will cried.

"Nay, farther in! We need to cut across faster waters!" Barbossa protested.

"I hope you're as daft or (crazy should I say) as Jack!" I commented, knowing the only strategy needed to be performed.

"Or as daft as both of us!" Kate countered.

"Prepare to broadside!" Elizabeth bellowed.

"Captain the guns!" Gibbs cried.

"At the ready!" Will cried.

Quickly and steadily, the two ships came within range of each other.

"FIRE!" shouted Elizabeth, Will, Barbossa, and me.

"FIRE!" bellowed Davy Jones.

BOOM! BANG! POW! The guns roared to life and the enemies opened fire on each other! The battle of the maelstrom and the war for the survival of the pirates began with the flash and roar of the cannons and guns!