AN:So. Apologies are in order, I think. Sorry it took so long to update, but I started revising all my earlier chapter, since their lay out, among other things, is kinda shit and I'm afraid this discourages most readers from continuing to read the rest of the story. However, by this point, MotC has reached a 100 pages in Word, without the lay-out I use on this site, so as you can imagine, it took a while to get through the entire thing.
BUT!
I'm here now! Armed with my notes and your enthousiastic response to this fic, I intend to continue onwards, with a semi-regular updating schedule, in which updates wil come at least once a month, as the focus of my writing is now focused on getting HI out of the set-up arc, and getting Naruto into the set-up arc.
Let me know what you think of the fight in this chapter, it took me a very long time and a lot of rewrites and I'm still unhappy about it.
Chapter 13 – James
There was a hushed silence amongst the crew of the Interceptor after Will had hit the deck. Nobody dared to speak up, uneasy with the furious expression on James' face and unwilling to draw his anger. Miss Swann, though, was not part of the crew. Her horrified expression shifted slowly from the unconscious Will to the fuming James, where it lingered for a few tense seconds.
And then the silence shattered.
"What on earth have you done, you... you... barbarian!"
'Damn, that girl has a set of lungs on her.´, James couldn't help but think despite the urgency of the situation, rubbing his ear distractedly. Seeing the girl glower at him and opening her mouth to continue her tirade, James quickly cut her off.
"Look missy, Will here did something stupid, so he had what's coming for him. Now, we have bigger issues to deal with, so if you want to yell at me, fine, but at least until after this wretched island has disappeared behind the horizon, got it?!", James roared at her.
The girl's eyes widened as the colour left her face, apparently not even realizing how she scooted away from James in order to be closer to Will's prone body. James ruthlessly squashed any guilt he felt at yelling at the traumatized girl like that, but the fact of the matter was that what he had said was the cold hard truth. They simply couldn't afford to linger any longer. He didn't know what Will had done in order to stall the undead pirates, but the immortal doubted it would hold them off for long.
As in answer to his thought, bellows of pure rage reached them from within the bowels of the cave. Apparently Barbossa had realized his prize had been stolen from him.
Nervous muttering broke out amongst the pirates aboard the Interceptor, the crew obviously wanting to be anywhere else but here. James gritted his teeth. The situation had been bad already, but with the black hearted captain of the Pearl obviously intending to go on the warpath, the situation had worsened to unmanageable quicker that James could blink.
"We're leaving!", one of the crew members yelled, muttered agreement coming from the rest of the men.
Before James could answer Gibbs had rounded on the unfortunately vocal man.
"And how do you propose we do that, lad?! In case you hadn't noticed, we're gonna need a crew for the Pearl! Unless you want to leave Barbossa his ship so he can chase us down without even going through the trouble of rowing where he anchored his ship in the first place, thanks to us!", Jack's first mate roared in the man's face, spittle flying from his mouth with every other word.
"Screw the Pearl then! It brought us nothing but grief it did! I says we do as Turner said, we sink it!", another man from the crew spoke up, again followed by a chorus of agreement, this time a little louder.
James was both beyond furious and very, very worried. If things continued like this, he would have a mutiny on his hands. Which was just bad news all around for everyone.
Well. Except for Barbossa, maybe. The bastard would probably just laugh his head off before picking off however was left standing.
Which James already knew would be him.
Making a split-second decision he hoped wouldn't haunt him for the rest of his innumerable days, James roared above the din of the crew around him.
"ENOUGH!"
A hushed silence fell across the deck, men looking at him in a mix of weariness and fear.
James growled deep in his chest, before speaking in a low, menacing tone, promising a world of hurt for the next idiot to interrupt him.
"We are not sinking the Pearl. Get me? We lost too many men to simply throw away their sacrifice like that."
Several men looked guiltily at their feet, though the majority simply appeared sullen at the reminder of the fate of their late colleagues. James withheld a sigh. He should've known this argument wouldn't sway too many people; pirates weren't all that concerned with things like solidarity or honour.
Too much trouble for too little reward.
"Now you want to leave with the Interceptor fine, go ahead, it's yours now. But you won't leave these shores before the Pearl has gotten a crew in order to do the same.", James continued, ignoring the angry expressions around him.
"Or what? You'll stop us?!", one of the men yelled challengingly at him.
'I really ought to remember some of these guy's their names', James thought distractedly to himself.
Shaking himself from the thought, he slowly stalked to the unfortunate fool who had spoken, continuing until they were standing almost chest to chest. Still keeping his movements slow and deliberate James unsheathed the claws on his left hand, before lifting it level to his chest, running the fingers of his right hand almost reverently across the exposed bone. Slowly lifting his gaze from his claws, looking the other man in the eye, James raised an eyebrow in question.
"What's the matter, bub? You think I won't? Or do you think I can't? Because let me tell you something, you miserable excuse for a pirate, you're asking the wrong questions. Instead, you should ask yourself one question; how many men would I have to kill before you give up on running away?"
The man, who had been sweating bullets from the moment James had unsheathed his claws less than a few inches from his chest, almost fainted. Instead he gave a weak nod, before quickly taking a few steps backwards, trying to put some space between himself and the pissed off immortal.
Satisfied, James turned to look at the rest of the crew, gratified that the weariness had been mostly replaced with fear. Good. He could work with fear.
"Now, who here has the spine required to crew the most infamous ship to sail the Caribbean and hit Barbossa where it hurts the bastard the most?!", James yelled out.
Silence.
No man stepped forward, the motley crew looking at each other from the corner of their eyes, willing to see which person would be foolish or suicidal to be the first to accept, but nobody willing to be that person.
"How would you even get out of the bay? Look at her! There's barely any sail left on her!", the man who had called the Pearl cursed spoke up.
James simply narrowed his eyes, causing the man to cower in fear and quickly rejoin the ranks.
"Simple. The same way we got her here. We row."
Fearful expressions were swiftly replaced with expressions of distaste. As little as pirates liked honour and solidarity, they liked hard work even less.
Again silence reigned for a few moments, before a few men stumbled forward. James raised his eyebrows in surprise, not expecting such a relatively large amount of men to accept so soon. His eyebrows travelled even higher when some of the men squeaked in a decidedly non-masculine manner, before they all scurried back towards the rest of the crew, who was looking as confused as James felt. However, as the men fled backwards they exposed the reason for why they had almost involuntary volunteered themselves.
Standing there with his hands on his hips, and a stormy expression on his face, the dwarf who had assisted James in taking the Pearl looked James right in the eye, having shoved the men in front of him out of the way in order to say his piece.
"I'm in! When do we leave?", Marty, as James had discovered the dwarf was called, spoke up in his rough voice.
James grinned as behind him Gibbs chuckled.
"Alright lad! That's the spirit! Anybody else of you sorry lot having found any backbone as well?!", Gibbs roared, more spittle flying from his mouth.
Obviously not wanting to be outdone by a man half their size, a few others stepped forward. Seeing their colleagues step forward more and more men stepped forward as well. As mentioned before, pirates didn't care for solidarity, unless it meant they were left out of a chance for plunder or fame.
All in all, a little under two dozen men had volunteered to crew the Pearl. Gibbs walked forwards and put a large, dirty hand on James' shoulder, a grin splitting his beard.
"Well. At least we now have a crew. Sort of."
James heaved the oar with a grunt, sweat pouring down his back and dripping from his face, the men around him not in a much better position. Giving another heave, James looked up for a few moments, taking in the lower deck in a single glance, before bowing his head and resumed heaving his oar, trying to repress a shudder.
It looked more and more like the Pearl had indeed been cursed along with her captain. The moment they had set sail, a dark mist had followed them, despite the clear skies and cool breeze, quickly losing sight of the fleeing Interceptor.
Truthfully, they didn't really need to row the Pearl; while not managing to show her infamous speed with her tattered sales, whatever curse was upon her made sure that the black ship still managed a decent speed.
None of the men were willing to trust the supernaturalness of the ship though, which was why not a single man protested when James' suggested they should be rowing in order to get some distance between them in Isla de Muerta, as if ignoring the way the ship was sailing away without proper sails or any wind to speak of.
Giving another grunt as he heaved his oar yet again, James mused that by rowing as fast as they could, they could at least pretend the ship was moving on their power and not its dark and mysterious own.
'It's tiring as hell though.', James grumbled to himself, feeling the sweat roll down his back in waves.
Hearing the sound of heavy fabric ruffling, James half-turned in his seat, seeing Miss Swann vanish around a corner, a mug with water in her hands and a worried expression on her face. He could easily guess where she was going and felt slightly guilty; it had been several hours now and Will had yet to wake up. The guilt immediately disappeared though when he had to heave the heavy oar yet again, remembering that, if it wasn't for Will's betrayal of Jack, he probably wouldn't be sitting here.
Deciding he had had enough of this charade, James dropped his oar and got to his feet with a grunt, stretching his arms above his head and relishing the soft pops as his back shifted back into place.
He noticed the rest of the crew looking at him warily, but he paid it no mind; they were as good as trapped right now, since they couldn't leave on the long gone Interceptor and even if they were to stage a mutiny, they would still be stuck with a cursed ghost-ship and without an immortal to protect them.
As James picked up his shirt, a new one, not covered in blood thankfully, and made to leave, a voice stopped him.
"And where are you goin'?"
James turned to regard the man who had spoken, like him covered in sweat, but with a pinched expression on his face.
"We need to keep rowing the ship.", the man continued on stubbornly, not relenting under James' heavy gaze.
James simply gave shrug and a sad shake of his head. Like he had thought before, there was no need to keep up the charade any longer now.
"I'm afraid not bub. Whatever's cursed the Pearl, I don't care what it is, but it looks like it spelled the ship to sail without the need for rowing or any sailing at all."
James shrugged again.
"Can't say I have ever seen anything like it before. I don't particularly care for it either, but I figure, since the Pearl can get by just fine without me throwing out my back, she can go on right ahead.", James said, trying to sound unbothered by the unnaturalness of the Pearl.
His confident tone, and the realization that they could get out of doing any labour without consequence, apparently eased the mind of several other crewmembers, who swiftly threw away their own oars, before getting out of the cramped space with all due haste.
The man who had spoken up, however, simply pinched his face even further in disapproval, before turning back and aggressively began rowing again. James shrugged, not really caring whether the man wanted to tire himself out or not, and made his way over to where he had seen Miss Swann heading.
Briefly he considered how rude it was to listen in on other people's conversations, before he remembered that Will had done exactly the same around a week ago himself.
Consciousness relieved of any moral dilemmas James continued onwards with a spring in his step.
Walking the hallways of the Pearl was as unpleasant now as it was the first time he had snuck aboard. There was something in the darkness that hung in the belly of the Pearl, the shadows stubbornly clinging to the walls and unseen corners. The darkness and the decrepit air in the ship were offset by the gaudy decorations and the loot littering the decks of the ghost-ship, creating a contrast that somehow grated on the mind.
The rest of the pirates though didn't mind the expensive bounty found aboard the ship, no matter how creepy the setting. The haul from the captain's quarters alone had appeased the majority of the crewmembers already.
James was so deep in thought, he almost missed the door to Will's room. Slowly stalking forward to the door, he carefully pushed it open, thankful it didn't squeal on its hinges.
Peeking around the door, he quickly took in the room of the recovering blacksmith. It was surprisingly bare, considering the overabundance of tasteless wealth aboard the rest of the ship, mainly consisting of some rough-hewn furniture and a reasonably large bed shoved into one corner of the room.
The bed was currently occupied by Will, who sat with his back against the headboard, a damp cloth pressed to the side of his face. Despite the cloth obscuring his face, James could clearly see a truly magnificently purple bruise blossoming across the young man's jaw, causing the immortal to cringe guiltily.
Sitting next to Will on the bed was Miss Swann, who was pouring the blacksmith a mug of water.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get you anything else, the only other thing available was that filthy drink those... pirates, call rum.", the young woman said softly, though her tone became much harsher when she mentioned her current company, saying it with as much scorn as one would normally reserve for a particularly nasty infestation of a household pest.
James supposed it was fair though; Miss Swann hadn't had the best of interactions with pirates.
Will glared sullenly at the mug of water as it was pushed into his hand.
"I think at this point, I'd have taken the rum.", the young man grumbled to himself, completely forgetting that, as close as she was sitting to him, the young woman next to him could hear him without any trouble.
"Will!"
Which she evidently had, considering her outraged tone of voice as she scolded the injured blacksmith.
Will looked up at her with a startled expression, his eyes wide, looking like a deer confronted with a particularly hungry predator.
"For its... uhhh... medicinal purposes?", the young man hesitantly tried.
Miss Swann's glare simply increased.
"Water's fine though. Completely fine.", the young man quickly amended, lifting the mug to his lips as if in demonstration.
Safely hidden behind his door, James bit his lip, trying his hardest not to laugh out loud at Will's discomfort. Having regained control of himself, James continued to walk to the stairs leading to the upper deck, hearing the soft murmuring of an intimate conversation coming through the door. He decided that he would leave young Will to the tender care of Miss Swann.
For now.
Night had fallen, the moon casting the ghostly ship in a shivering cold white light. The men aboard the Black Pearl were restless, the haunted aura of the cursed ship only amplified by the dreary night.
Both James and Gibbs had forbidden the use of any lanterns on the upper deck or near any nearby portholes, not wishing to broadcast their position so openly, not when Barbossa would be on the lookout for even the smallest sight of them.
This led to most of the crew being holed up in the lower decks of the ship, where they had lit enough lanterns that, had the Pearl not been cursed as she was, there would have been some serious fire hazard.
Unknown to them, this saved most of their lives that night.
Standing next to the wheel of the ship, James stood with his feet spread and his hands clasped behind his back, staring out at the darkness in front of the Pearl's bow. Slightly behind him, Raven, in the form of Annamarie was at the wheel, having sent Mr. Cotton below with the rest of the crew after the man's high-strung nerves started to get on her own.
Neither mutant said a word to the other, uncomfortable with the oppressive silence hanging over the Pearl like a funeral shroud, but unwilling to be the one who had to breach it.
Their silent vigil over the ship lasted for several more minutes until footstep shook both of them out of their thoughts. James turned to the stairs, expecting Gibbs or someone else with a report, but was surprised to see Will standing in front of him, hand still clutching a damp cloth to his face.
The younger man seemed uncomfortable, looking guiltily down at his boots, before looking back up at James with an uncertain expression. James looked back with a stony one of his own.
"James, I... uhh... Raven, would you mind if I... uhh.. spoke to James? Alone?", Will asked nervously of Raven, who in response coolly lifted a single eyebrow, before pointedly turning towards James.
James simply gave a nod, indicating that he didn't mind. Raven nodded back before coldly brushing past Will, leaving the deck deserted save for the two men now standing opposite one another.
"Well?", James spoke up gruffly, already guessing why Will had wanted to speak to him in private.
"James... I... I'm sorry.", Will said sadly, receiving only a raised eyebrow from James in response.
He hurriedly continued.
"I know that leaving Jack was the wrong thing to do. I really do. But James, you have to understand, Elizabeth came first! I had to take her away, get here somewhere safe!", Will pleaded with James.
"We went over this bub, back in Tortuga. There won't be a safe. Not for her and certainly not for you after Barbossa realizes whose blood he needs! Nowhere can you run, nowhere can you hide, where Barbossa and his cursed crew will not follow. Which is exactly why we agreed to go with Jack's plan!", James retorted harshly, anger seeping into his voice.
Will, however, was starting to get angry himself as well, his guilt about leaving Jack, coupled with the emotional talk he had less than an hour ago with Elizabeth fraying his already high-strung nerves, making him abandon any caution he usually would have employed when dealing with the immortal.
"And what plan was that, James! Can you tell me? Because Jack certainly didn't! All I knew, and I agreed to, was using my blood to lift Barbossa's immortality so Jack can put a bullet through his heart! And nowhere was it discussed how we would use Elizabeth as bait! So tell me James! What should I have done!? Because I don't know anymore!", Will shouted back at the clawed man, desperation creeping into his voice.
"I don't know anymore, James...", Will trailed off, sagging in on himself, his tone becoming so incredibly tired.
James regarded the younger man for a while, searching Will's exhausted face, before laying a hairy hand on the lad's shoulder.
"There's a lot of things that you could have done. There's also a lot of things that you probably shouldn't have done. However, there is nothing now that we can change about that. All that's left for us now, is to think about what we are going to do. Alright, bub?", James spoke, his tone softer than before.
Will nodded, before looking at James sharply.
"We take Elizabeth to safety. Return her to Port Royal. Barbossa has a crew, but no ship, in the time it takes for him to get there, we sail back towards Isla de Muerta, where I give my blood sacrifice and Barbossa and his men lose their immortality.", Will said hurriedly.
"You're betting a lot on Barbossa being slow to get to Miss Swann, Will. What happens when he gets to Port Royal before we get to Isla de Muerta? It's keep didn't stop him from taking her the first time, what is to stop him from doing it again?", James replied, his tone firm.
Will bit his lip, before looking upwards, at the tattered black sails above them, fluttering in a non-existent wind, the bright full moon easily visible through the tears in the dark fabric. He turned back to James with a small smirk on his face.
"I guess it's a good thing we have the fastest ship in the Caribbean then, I suppose.", Will replied cheekily, getting a laugh out of James.
James turned back towards the bow of the Pearl, amusement still clear in his eyes.
"It's a good a plan as any we've got right now. Guess there's nothing to it then, it would seem our heading is to be Port Royal.", James spoke softly to himself, though judging by Will's relieved sigh, the young blacksmith had heard his words nonetheless.
Both men stood in a semi-companionable silence, past grievances neither forgotten nor truly forgiven yet, but with a plan and a heading, not to mention a undead captain on their heels, both were willing to put them behind them for now.
The silence reigned for a few minutes more, only disturbed when Raven returned to the wheel, James telling her their new heading. James was about to send Will below in order to get some shut-eye after the young man yawned for the third time in two minutes, but when he opened his mouth a smell hit his nose.
He snapped his mouth shut, and his claws out, bending at the knees in a ready stance as a low growling started to come from his chest. Both his companions had known him for long enough to not question him, immediately grabbing their swords and falling into their own combat stances.
"What is it? What do you smell?", Raven whispered, her eyes frantically scanning their surroundings.
James managed to sum it up in a single word.
"Blood."
As if the word had been the sign of attack, thunderous booming and brief, dull flashes of light lit up in the inky darkness around them.
Will was only a second faster in the uptake than his companions, throwing himself to the ground.
"Cannonfire!"
Right on cue, explosions littered the entire length of the Pearl, showering those on deck in shrapnel, even as others simply disappeared in gory fountains of blood, body parts, and smashed apart woodwork.
James breathed a quiet sigh of relief at the fact that the deck had been deserted for the most part, most of the crew being holed up below, keeping the casualties thankfully low.
"We're under attack! All hands, man your positions! Prepare for counter-fire! Step to it!", James roared across the deck, vaguely hearing Gibbs giving similar orders from below.
"Who is attacking us?", Raven asked in a panicked voice.
While James knew she could survive more than most, and had no reason to fear such things such as drowning should the ship go down, a sea battle was fraught with explosions, cannonballs and shrapnel flying around, smashing everything to bits. Something not even she would be able to survive.
Before James could answer her, or offer any kind of reassurance, Raven's question was answered for her as the unnatural mist that had been following the Pearl ever since they had set sail began to lift, revealing their attacker for the first time.
"What?! Those mangy, inbred, motherless BASTARDS!", James roared in pure fury.
Because, cutting through the waves in order to draw level with them, portside aflame with the flashes of cannonfire, was the Interceptor.
"What?! Why?! Why betray us now?! They didn't even want the Pearl!", Will shouted over the din of the battle going on around them, ducking when another explosion ripped apart a piece of the ship's hull nearby.
"Why don't you ask them that!", James shouted back, before straightening and drawing his swords, his claws still unsheathed.
He made towards the Interceptor, ducking and weaving around the mayhem that was the deck of the Pearl. However, when he reached the balustrade, one boot planted on it with a snarl on his face, James felt his blood turn to ice in his veins. Standing on the upper-deck of the Interceptor, easily recognizable by a wide brimmed hat as black as his heart, stood Barbossa himself. Their eyes connected, and slowly, a cruel smirk crept across the skeletal face of Hector Barbossa, Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea.
Looking across the rest of the deck, James saw the rest of Barbossa's crew, jeering and rattling their weapons, hooks spinning in their hands. The moonlight turned their bodies to gruesome forms of rotting corpses, bone showing through the tears in the rags that their clothing had become. Turning around to view the state of his own crew, James felt his heart drop to somewhere beneath his feet when he saw that the deck was almost deserted, save for the dead or dying. He still heard Gibbs shouting orders below in order to get the crew on their feet, which meant that they still weren't ready for a counterattack.
They were out of time.
"Prepare to be boarded!", James roared, making himself heard all the way down to the lowest deck.
And then the cursed undead fell upon them.
A familiar red haze settled across James' mind, as he roared in rage, slashing at every enemy stupid enough to get within his reach. Several times his body jerked as a bullet tore to him, but his rage dulled his pain, so every time he just straightened himself and threw himself at the immortal pirates.
Duck under a swing. Respond with claws to the face. Turn and block with cutlass. Feel the metal straining under the blow. Pain explodes as a sword catches him in the back. Ignore the feeling of it healing, alongside the rest of the wounds, and manage to catch the undead bastard on his claws. Throw him overboard. At least one pirate less to worry about. Lose any coherent thought as a bullet rips through his chest, even as he responds by cutting another man's head clean off.
And so it continued.
Dimly he noticed Raven and Will standing back to back, holding of more than a dozen of pirates at once, slashing and stabbing their enemies again and again, though the undead never stayed down.
He saw Gibbs leading the majority of the crew back to the upper deck, having fought a way through the invaders who had gone below. The man's shirt was bloody from an unseen wound, and his hair had escaped from his ponytail, falling around his head like a matted grey mane, as the overweight man wielded two pistols with deadly effect, even as those he shot down managed to crawl back up.
Then suddenly a sword was slammed into his chest, and James lost himself to the fighting again.
Later, James wouldn't be able to tell how long the battle had lasted, only that at one point the bleak morning light started to shine down on the blood-soaked deck of the Black Pearl. James was tired, his clothes bloodied and less than tatters; he had been in the frontlines of the fight all night, slashing and stabbing without regard for any wounds he received.
Even as a large cut across his face started to heal painfully, James couldn't help but let out a savage grin.
Though most of the fighting had been a blur, James' mind having been lost to the red haze of rage, he knew that several members of Barbossa's crew we're not going to get back up again. Cutting off their legs and heads with powerful swings of your sword and claws tended to do that to even the most stubborn of immortals.
It was why he was now surrounded on all sides by the cursed pirates of the Pearl, twisted expressions of anger on their face, though they kept a wary distance from him.
As the standoff continued, James noticed that the sound of fighting had started to wear off. Glancing a quick look around informed him that most of the crew had been disarmed and captured, Gibbs with a pained expression on his face among them. Will and Raven were still standing back to back, though both were looking on the verge of exhaustion. James couldn't tell who was leaning on who.
At one point, several of the crewmembers had picked up on James' method of disposing of the undead, and several of Barbossa's crew were now glaring at his crew with scowls on their faces and various limbs in hand.
The slow, rhythmic, thudding of heavy boots approaching drew James' attention to the gangplank that joined the Interceptor to the Pearl. There, striding as a king come home to his throne, walked Barbossa's, smug grin fixed on his, now human, face.
Yellow eyes landed on James' bloodied and tired form, and the grin grew even wider. Barbossa walked closer to James, until he stood close enough that, had he had any energy left, James could've speared the captain on his claws.
"I feel I must commend you, Master Howlett. I cannot remember having faced such a… tenacious opponent before."
Thin lips peeled back to show yellowed teeth.
"But, I'm afraid that your tenaciousness will not save you this time. And, I think I'd like my ship back now.", Barbossa finished, his tone falsely polite, yet still managing to mock him.
Before James could react appropriately, which at this point, the immortal considered to be spitting in the pirate lords eye, a feminine shriek of indignation tore both immortal's gaze to the middle of the deck.
There, surrounded by her kidnappers, stood Elizabeth, a cut across her forward and bruises showing on her arms. She struggled fiercely, and judging by some gingerly held noses and… private parts, had managed to do so successfully.
Her struggles faded away though, when Barbossa approached her, a noticeable swagger in his step.
"Ah, Miss Turner, there you are."
'Miss Turner? Either Will popped the question a lot sooner than I thought he would, or something is going on here.', James thought to himself, though he noted worriedly to himself that his thoughts were starting to get sluggish.
His body, tired and in need of healing, was shutting down.
"You left our hospitality rather sudden. I'm afraid I have to ask you to come back with us now.", Barbossa said to Miss Swann, a smile on his face that would make a shark jealous.
Fear began to creep into Miss Swann's eyes at the prospect of being held captive by the cursed captain once more.
Barbossa stepped closer still, close enough that his breath made Miss Swann's golden hair sway.
"I must caution you now however, Miss Turner. Your little… escapade has upset me and my men most greatly. Should you try anything of the sort, well… the results would be, unpleasant. Do you understand, Miss Turner?", Barbossa asked, his tone soft now, his smile gone, replaced by a cold, ruthless expression that spoke of a cruelty barely held at bay by the man's restraint.
Restraint, which would be abandoned if Miss Swann was taken from him once more.
Turning away from the now terrified young woman, Barbossa began walking towards his quarters aboard the Pearl.
"Take her back to her chambers. Kill the rest.", Barbossa snapped at his crew, who all gained cruel grin at the order.
As undead pirates readied their swords or cocked their pistols, Miss Swann was dragged roughly away, her shrieks of anger now mixed with terror.
"NO!"
James head snapped around, as did Barbossa, to look at the wheel of the Pearl. Standing with his feet apart and a bloodied sword in his hand, stood Will, glaring down at Barbossa. The pirate lord merely raised an eyebrow in question.
"No? Why wouldn't I? Who are you, to tell me what to do, what orders to give to me own crew?", Barbossa asked mockingly, though a dangerous undertone was clearly audible.
'Bub, NO! DON'T!', James yelled inside his head, his mouth not responding to his desperate mental commands, his vision going blurry.
"Her blood won't work for you!", Will yelled, ignoring the resulting muttering of the rest of the undead in favour of looking Barbossa straight in his yellow eyes.
"But…"
An expectant silence fell across the deck. Barbossa expectantly forward, his gaze burrowing into Will's own.
"… I can tell you whose blood would work."
James vision went black.
Fun Fact: The soot Jack used in order to cheat during his fight with Will in Will's smithy, was actually chocolate power. Guess Willl's defeat tasted... bittersweet. Ehh? Ehh? Because of the.. you know.. chocolate... Oh forget it. *Goes off to sulk in a corner. Again.*