A/N: Ergghhhh I am SO sorry about my massive hiatus! was being a bitch and wouldn't let me upload anything :( I would've included this notice in the previous chapter, but I was so excited at finally being able to upload it I just couldn't wait! So now to make up for my huge lack of update you've got a multi-POV chapter. The next chapter will be all-Evangeline, I promise!

I'm so close. Closer than I have been for months. Probably as close as I'm ever going to get. All those hours of planning, every single carefully orchestrated moment, has led to this. I've put so much time and effort into this it's crazy. It's pretty much the equivalent of my life's work.

So why am I surprised when Jack ruins everything?

I can see his blurry face through my peripheral vision. I try not to focus on it, but too late my eyes stray. He doesn't look betrayed, or angry. Just confused. Which I can understand, because I've crossed everyone two times over and even my head is spinning, and I'm the orchestrator of all this deception. Angelica follows his eyes and doesn't look alarmed: I prompted her into making an agreement that I would complete the ritual for her if she was unable, which currently she is.

Almost in slow-motion, I see her begin to attack Jack, who is still trying to figure out what's going on in my head. I see her pull the sword out of Jack's parry and, with a look of glee that makes me wonder if she's totally conscious of what she's doing, begins to thrust it towards his unguarded belly.

It's only been, what, a week? But the memories are overwhelming. The first time I saw him, my first night on the ship, being thrown into Rocky's care, every outrageous story I was ever told about Jack. Arguing with him, him giving me his hat, working until my hands bled. My first mouthful of rum, walking with poor little Mary through the jungle, leading everyone here.

And if Angelica had never heard about the Fountain, none of it would ever have happened.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like every moment was paradise. There were days when I hated pretty much everyone and everything I set eyes on. But throw it all together and compare it with the convent? It was heaven. It was the most fun I've ever had in my life, and probably ever will have because if I get out of this cave, chances are my life won't go on much longer after that.

Back to the present. Jack is about to die, because he's too busy ogling at me. Idiot! They told me he was a survivor, that he knew what he was doing. Yeah, right. I'm beginning to think he wouldn't survive a day if it weren't for me.

So just before the tear falls into the Hourglass, I straighten and throw the tear- the real tear- at Angelica's head.

It shatters upon impact, and it certainly doesn't kill her, but that wasn't what I was hoping for. She's startled, and Jack's attention is brought back to the woman trying to kill him. Taking advantage of her disorientation, he gives a deft little wrist movement and her sword clatters across the cave floor.

He has got to teach me how to do that.

I draw my own sword- a little cutlass I was given as a precaution- and launch myself into battle. Considering that Angelica's men stripped all of the pirates of their weapons, they've worked pretty well. I guess they had the element of surprise on their side, but you can't help being impressed when you see Rocky sitting on a soldier's back and slamming a rock down on his spine before leaping back into the fray. He sees me and begins to move towards me- oh man, he is so pissed- and before I can react he's got me pinned to a cave wall. In the midst of fear and not having to pretend anymore, my face relaxes and I vaguely remember that I'm supposed to be slackening my face so I look less like Angelica. Then I remember that doing that will probably make things worse.

"Don't!" I gasp. Rocky's face is twisted with fury, but I can see that he's doubtful as to whether or not he can kill me, his pretty little kitchen hand.

"Give me a reason!" he hisses. I've never seen him this angry before. Maybe it's because his only friend has betrayed him.

"I'm trying- to rescue!" I manage.

"And why should I believe you?" Rocky demands, voice low. We're vulnerable here, but everyone seems otherwise distracted.

I try a winning smile, but it's hard when you're being strangled. "No- choice?"

Rocky grudgingly admits I'm right, and lets me fall. I pick myself and try to look in control again. I can't afford to be attacked again. We need to get out of here, now.

xXx

Jack didn't feel any distinct pang of betrayal or turmoil when he saw Evangeline tipping out the contents of the phial. He was just confused. She had told him that she was going to the Hourglass for her own personal gain, but that had obviously been a lie. So was she trying to do if for Angelica? That was impossible. There was no way she would be able to clearly recreate Angelica's ideal image to perfection. How could Angelica trust her with such a massive job? Unless she had crossed Angelica as well. There was the sparrow drawing to consider… And, although Jack's vision wasn't completely clear, there was something about Evangeline's face that had changed in the last few moments. Where before it had seemed dopey and slack, now it had bounced back to a face Jack was vaguely familiar with. What was going on here?

Inevitably, their eyes met. Evangeline blinked, like she was being jerked back to the real world, and then her eyes- Jack's eyes- widened in alarm. After hesitating only a moment longer she straightened, held the phial over her head and threw it with all her might at… Angelica.

Jack followed its progress through the air, and couldn't help laughing when it hit her head. His laughter was cut short when he noticed just how close Angelica had come to killing him when he had been distracted. Angelica blinked, clearly affronted by the flash phial-attack. A tear welled in her eye and for a moment Jack was confused, then he saw just how silvery the liquid that rolled down her cheek was and realized that she had just cried a mermaid tear.

If he was a sentimental man, which he wasn't, he might have paused to write a poem about the beauty of it all. Instead, he separated Angelica's hand from her sword and sent it flying through the air to land with a clang on the wet cave floor that was dulled by the sounds of fighting that surrounded them.

Now, with Jack's sword at her throat, Angelica looked afraid. Not overwhelmingly so, but there was that note of alarm in her now-wide eyes, a certain way that her body stiffened that told Jack just how much she now feared for her survival. And he could end that all now. When he thought about it, thrusting forward now would end all of this turmoil and anger and sadness that bubbled up inside her. He could end all of that. He would be doing her a favour, wouldn't he? She would rather die in battle than an old, angry woman. Right? He should do it. He could do it. Right now. There was nothing to stop him. It would be a mercy. He should kill her, right now.

But no matter how much he willed his arm to drill forward and into her neck, it would not move. He couldn't kill her, because as much as he hated her, Angelica was the only human being he had ever come close to actually loving. Certainly, he had met many women in his time, but they were faces and names that were lost in the bedsheets after one night. Angelica's name never left him, her face, her fire. She had haunted him for all these years, and had returned in the flesh when she dared to impersonate him. And he was terrified. He assumed that she would kill him the moment she saw him, but she didn't. Because she was using him? Probably. But no matter how cynical Jack was about her intentions, part of him wondered if maybe, just maybe, she had been faced with a choice much like his. And maybe she had faltered too.

Bah. Jack wasn't a sentimental man. He was thinking far too deeply. He should just skewer the woman now and be done. All of these stupid thoughts would leave him alone for good… Except for Angelica's ghost. She would find a way to escape the Locker and torment Jack for the rest of his life. In life or in death, Jack would never escape Angelica Teach. They were bound by some sick joke. They would keep running into each other, and they would keep trying to kill each other, and somehow that fatal stab would always miss because it was all just a game with something more hidden very deep underneath. Something that was a mixture of hope and longing and, he may as well say it, love. He could never settle down, and she knew that. So until then they would be content with stabbing and thrusting and missing and kissing.

So, leaving a faint cut across Angelica's throat, Jack tore the sword away from her, grabbed her wrist as it moved to punch him and pulled her into a kiss she pretended to resist. He didn't linger any longer than he had to, because he knew that one second too long and he wouldn't leave. So he stood straight and winked, grinning a charming grin as he shoved his sword back into its scabbard. Angelica pretended to look angry, but Jack could see the surprise and, as per usual, hope in her eyes.

Jack saluted. "I win," he grinned.

"PIRATES!" Angelica and Jack's heads turned as one. They saw Evangeline herding the pirates through the exit, guarding them with her drawn scabbard. "WE'RE LEAVING!"

Now Angelica looked angry. Evangeline had been her little spy, and now she had betrayed her. Of course, chances were this was another trap, but what other alternative did Jack have? Taking advantage, once more, of Angelica's confusion, he leapt over the wet rocks and dived through the exit, not daring to look back in case Angelica's broken face called him back.

xXx

Angelica stared in shock at the slab of rock through which her captives had disappeared. How had they gotten away so easily? How could she have been so stupid as to let Evangeline out of her sight? She liked the girl. She had considered telling her the truth, before she disappeared into oblivion. But she was a traitor! She was a liar. She was just like him, taking every and any opportunity to backstab whatever accomplices she had. How could she have been so stupid to think that she would be faithful? She hadn't changed since the convent. She was still a thief, she was still liar.

She was still doomed, Angelica realized. Evangeline had neglected to take Angelica's tear from her before she vanished. She wouldn't bother chasing after them: her revenge was right here, in this little phial. They would have no idea what hit them.

Dull arrows of guilt stabbed Angelica's gut as she clambered over the wet rocks to the Hourglass, ignoring her crew's requests for orders echoing in the cave around her. Evangeline was a liar, yes, but she was only young. She hadn't even gotten to know the truth. Was this really the right thing to do? Surely there was an alternative… Angelica shook herself. There was no other way. She didn't want to get rid of a child, but she wanted to get rid of Evangeline, because she was just a painful reminder of the past. Angelica couldn't hold onto the past any longer. She had to let go of them, of both of them. No matter how much it hurt, it wouldn't hurt much longer. Jack would fade away into seaspray in the ocean that was her mind. Certainly, she had loved Jack. But anything that she felt for him then was replaced only by irreparable damage and hurt that she wanted to be free of.

So, with trembling fingers, she uncapped the phial and tipped out the contents into the Hourglass, closing her eyes so she wouldn't have to watch in case she changed her mind. She began visualising her alternative scene-

The ground shook. Angelica's eyes flew open, and all too quickly she saw the cave quaking, cracks appearing in the rocks, water shooting up. She looked down and saw a sizzling crater burned in the glass of the Hourglass where she had poured in the mermaid tear. Cracks appeared in the glass as dust and rock rained down upon Angelica's leather-clad shoulders.

She, too, began to shake with fury. She had been tricked. Evangeline had been lying all along. She had given her a fake tear, and now the Hourglass would not be useable for another hundred years. Angelica's only chance of escape was destroyed.

"SPARROW!" she screamed furiously.

xXx

They tore through the jungle like wild animals, sending the real wild animals scampering into the undergrowth. No-one spared any time for speech: the only sounds besides the crashing of the jungle was the sound of their harsh breathing. Evangeline lead the way, and no-one questioned it. Even if she had betrayed them, she was now also saving their lives, and no-one was about to complain.

The ground shook, and Evangeline stopped so abruptly Jack almost slammed into her. She turned, eyes wild as she listened to the sounds of people yelling in fear, the echoing crashes of rock on rock. And an infuriated cry that sent a shudder down Jack's spine:

"SPARROW!"

"Time to go," Evangeline said tightly, turning on one heel to continue running. Jack grabbed her shoulder and jerked her back.

"Just what the hell are you doing?" he demanded.

"I tricked you, and then I tricked Angelica," she panted impatiently. "Can we go now?"

Jack let her go and followed her. She wasn't running- she was holding her side as if it pained her- but her steps were quick. Jack kept up easily enough. "So you basically lied to everyone to get what you wanted," he said slowly.

Evangeline nodded, but said nothing.

"Good trick," Jack said in admiration. "Where'd you learn that?"

"My father," Evangeline panted, looking around as if to check the coast was clear.

Jack straightened, chuffed with himself. "He must be a very dashing young man," he said pompously, before remembering that he actually wasn't Evangeline's father.

"Yes," Evangeline agreed vaguely. "But he'll be dead soon too if he doesn't hurry up."

Jack wasn't sure if she was talking to him, but he obliged anyway. Once she had her breath back she started running again, much to the rest of the crew's disgrace. Eventually, out of breath and drenched in sweat, they stumbled out onto the beach.

"Set sail!" Evangeline gasped, doubled over with her hands on her knees. "Get us out of here."

"I concur with the small one," Gibbs grunted. It was the first time Gibbs had ever concurred with a woman.

The sound of startled voices and a furious woman drifted over to them through the jungle. Jack and Evangeline exchanged a glance, and Evangeline straightened immediately and marched to the boat.

"Time to go," Jack agreed.