...& have a very happy, amazing New Year!!!
AU warning: Although (in the 'present time' line of the story) we are going to follow the chronology of the events in AWE, some strange things may happen to the AWE plot... Just so you know;)
Disclaimer: I don't own Jack, Elizabeth, etc.
Chapter 14
Tia Dalma huffed in irritation. "Ye're not serious", she hissed through her gritted teeth. "Ye don't know what ye're doing."
Will took a deep breath, and whispered: "Just three more days. If there is but a small chance..." He approached Tia Dalma, and still pointing his sword at her, quickly took the black glass globe out of her hands. "I have to take it."
"Ye will doom her, yerself, and us all", whispered Tia Dalma menacingly.
"You said that Elizabeth is not in any danger right now-", said Will looking at Tia Dalma intently.
"I said that the herald won't find her soon which doesn't equal her not being in danger", whispered Tia Dalma, gritting her teeth. "And ye? Where are ye going?", asked Tia Dalma sharply, her eyes darting to Barbossa, who unnoticed by Will had moved away from his shooting range, and headed for the door.
"Oh, I don't want to interfere with yer discussion", answered Barbossa with a grin. "An' since I really don't care 'bout the outcome-"
"What is that supposed to mean?", asked Tia Dalma incredulously, glaring at Barbossa.
Will looked at him too, slightly puzzled.
"Well", Barbossa squinted almost thoughtfully, "truth t'be told, no good came out of that mutiny, so I can't say I'm very desperate to do anythin' substantial to prevent it from non-happenin', as it were", he explained in a rather bored tone of voice.
Will blinked, pleasantly surprised.
"Ye're forgettin' who brought ye back to life", snapped Tia Dalma angrily, enraged by Barbossa's lack of support.
"Aye. The problem is, that if there was no mutiny, perhaps they'd also be no need for bringin' me back to life", Barbossa flashed Tia Dalma a toothy grin.
"True", Will could not keep himself from adding, receiving a deadly glare from Tia Dalma.
"Ye're both insane!", she shouted irately.
"Ah, so ye finally noticed that, darlin'."
The three of them darted their eyes to the door, startled.
Jack stood in the doorway, a small smirk hovering over his lips. He looked at them regretting that he had not been listening long enough, and they were looking at him wondering how long he had been standing there.
"Shouldn't ye be asleep?", asked Tia Dalma impatiently, annoyed by the entire situation.
"I happened to wake up", answered Jack with an impish smile.
Will narrowed his eyes, looking at Jack suspiciously. He was apparently back to his normal self, or at least he was pretending well.
"An' I'd like to restore some order on me ship", added Jack shooting a meaningful glance in Barbossa's direction. "An'", he continued, "I want everybody gathered on the main deck within a quarter of an hour, thank ye", he said pointedly, cutting off Tia Dalma who was about to say something at that.
"An' what'd be the point of such gatherin'?", asked Barbossa narrowing his eyes in a sweetish smile.
"Ye shall see when ye attend", answered Jack, mirroring Barbossa's smile, his eyes sweeping over Will, and noticing the black glass globe in his hands.
Will instinctively pulled the globe closer to him, and met Jack's intent gaze, returning it steadily for a moment.
"Well then. I'll see ye there", said Jack cheerfully, and disappeared from view, not bothering to close the door behind him, too preoccupied with convincing himself that he had called the meeting for purely practical, technical, otherwise tactical reasons, and not because he wanted to see a certain person who was, apparently, purposefully avoiding him, and he would not have any person purposefully avoiding him on his own ship, even though his only purpose of speaking to said person who was purposefully avoiding him was to tell said person that he was the one doing the avoiding, and not the other way around, and perhaps he would even purposefully not just say it, but rather demonstrate that he was avoiding said person as soon as said person would be forced to stop avoiding him-
"Oi", Jack rubbed his forehead after he had bumped into his cabin's door.
Elizabeth lost track of time while waiting for Jack, and the time seemed to pass very slow, even though she knew that 'taking care of the ship' would take him the better part of the day. To her solace, she also knew that today nothing was going to happen, and she would still have a night, an entire night (because the longer his absence was now, the greater were the chances that he was not going to take the night shift at the helm, at least it was what she had suspected) to make sure that he believed her, and that he was going to do something about the upcoming mutiny.
Not that there is much he can do, she thought gloomily. Now, that they were on the Black Pearl,everything was probably already planned and prepared, so even if he would not give away the bearings, there was no guarantee that it would prevent the mutiny. Still, she had to at least prepare him for what was going to happen a bit better, as she had to admit that she was not particularly successful at that so far.
In fact, she was not successful at anything (from saying goodbye to changing the past) so far, except for successfully having ruined her reputation, her engagement to Will, and perhaps even her chances to survive, if Tia Dalma's words were more than just a tale aimed at scaring her.
After sitting for quite a long time and occupying herself with all kinds of grim thoughts, Elizabeth decided to do something to keep herself from thinking. She made the bed, eat the breakfast that Jack had brought her, and then began tidying up both cabins, although she clearly overestimated her ability to stop thinking, and soon she was folding clothes, piling the papers on Jack's desk, and doing other things while simultaneously still thinking about all the possible outcomes of the predicament they were currently in.
A new potential problem that she suddenly came across was that even if the mutiny would not happen, and somehow they would manage to maroon Barbossa instead of Jack (yes, her imagination was definitely running away with her), they would still be left with the crew craving the cursed Aztec treasure. And even if she wouldmanage to convince Jack that the curse really existed (not that she already knew how could she achieve that), and even if he would decide to abandon the quest, there was no way the crew would just accept such a turn of events. In fact, it would be then that they could really carry on a mutiny, even without Barbossa to lead them.
Elizabeth slumped into Jack's chair with a heavy sigh. There were so many things that could go wrong, so many aspects of each solution, that it was nigh impossible to predict them all, and to plan everything in such a way that it would go smoothly and lead them to a happy ending.
A happy ending. What was a happy ending? Any changes that she would make in the past would affect the future in a more or less unpredictable way. How could she guess the effects, perhaps even the aftermaths of those changes? How could she know that fate would not find the way to restore the order that she hoped to disturb? How could she know that all the changes that she would attempt to make would not lead to even worst outcomes than those which were meant to be?
Elizabeth slowly rose to her feet, and walked to one of the small cabin windows. How would it be like to be waking up to the sight and the sound of the sea every day, to the light of the sun illuminating the blue surface of the water, and even to the rain falling over the wooden decks, to his lips on her neck-
"Jack!", Elizabeth's eyes widened, and she swirled around in his embrace with a gasp.
"Aye. Ye didn't expect somebody else, did ye, luv?", he smiled impishly, sliding his hand into her hair, and lightly pushing her head towards his, causing her lips to press against his. "Deep in thought, as always", he muttered tightening his embrace around her. "I'd give three bottles of rum to know what ye're thinkin' of, Lizzie", he whispered, kissing her again before she had a chance to answer.
"Only three?", asked Elizabeth with a trace of a sly smile, looking at him through half-lidded eyes.
Jack smirked, and brushed his lips against hers, placing a soft kiss in the corner of her mouth. "Four", he whispered, smiling roguishly, and cupping the side of her face with his hand.
Elizabeth opened her eyes, and narrowed them, trying to keep a serious facial expression. "I assure you, Captain Sparrow that my thoughts are worth much more than that."
"Never had a doubt 'bout it, luv", he brushed his thumb across her lips. "But I had to start the negotiations from the lowest bid", he wiggled his eyebrows, and smiled.
Elizabeth placed her hands on Jack's shoulders, and smiled smugly. "I have a better idea", she leaned forward, and nuzzled his neck.
"I already like yer idea, luv", answered Jack, sliding his hands up her back.
Elizabeth tilted her head backwards, and looked at him from under her eyelashes. "I will tell you what I was thinking about, and you will tell me what are you going to do-"
"I'm goin' to untie those pretty straps on the back of yer lovely dress," whispered Jack, brushing her hair behind her ear, and smiling at her mischievously. "An' then-"
Elizabeth smiled brightly, and shook her head. "No, Jack. I meant... what are you going to do about the situation."
"This is exactly what I'm goin' to do 'bout the situation", grinned Jack, swiftly picking her up from the floor, and carrying her towards the side cabin.
"Jack, I-", started Elizabeth, not really knowing anymore whom she should really blame for the predicament they were in: her inability to effectively warn him, or his ability to effectively deconcentrate her every time she tried to warn him.
The knock on the door caught them kissing in the bedroom doorway.
"It's the food", said Jack in response to Elizabeth's questioning look. "I told them that I'll eat in me cabin", he explained in a low voice, sitting Elizabeth down on the bed. "'Course I didn't mean food, but can't help if they understood it that way", he whispered into her ear, smirking, and then kissed her quickly, and left the cabin.
Jack climbed up the stairs shaking his compass, and mumbling all kinds of insulting words to it. The needle was spinning wildly, and he began to suspect that it was really broken.
"I know what I want, I know what I want, I. Know. What. I. Want. ye bloody, treacherous, good-for-nothin', deceivin' piece of navigational mischief", he muttered angrily, slammed the compass lid shut, and went up on the main deck.
Taking a quick look around he noticed with some satisfaction that everybody seemed to be gathered on deck, as he had requested. He slowly made his way towards the crew, deliberately taking smaller steps than usual which would give him more time for scanning the faces.
He looked disinterestedly at Barbossa, smiled slightly at Tia Dalma, gave a small nod to Gibbs, and swept his gaze as fast as he could over Will, looking briefly at the other members of the crew, some of the faces seeming unfamiliar, and he wondered what they were really doing here. There were more people than necessary to sail not one, but even two ships. They must have had some ulterior motives for coming to fetch him back from the Locker, as they were certainly not doing it for sentimental reasons. And Barbossa's presence was only strengthening that suspicion.
Jack stopped, and narrowed his eyes. "Mister Gibbs", he called in a sharp voice, causing his first mate to quickly step out of the crowd with an eager smile.
"Cap'n."
Jack glanced at him, and he quickly came closer.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I'd asked for everybody to be gathered here", said Jack in a low, slightly irritated tone of voice, keeping his eyes on the crew.
"Aye, Cap'n", Gibbs nodded. "Everybody's gathered here as ye asked", he said with a complacent smile.
Jack narrowed his eyes, and looked at Gibbs suspiciously, wondering whether he was purposefully pretending not to understand what he had meant, or perhaps he really had not noticed one missing person.
Gibbs blinked, slightly puzzled by the fact of being so harshly looked at. Although he did suspect the reason for the look that Jack was giving him, and yet there was nothing he could do about it. Tia Dalma had told them to evade the topic of Elizabeth at all cost.
"Very well. So everybody who's around is here, an' there's nobody around who isn't here, is that what ye're sayin', Mister Gibbs?", asked Jack under his breath, looking at Gibbs poignantly.
The crew looked at Jack and Gibbs. The hushed words of their conversation not reaching their ears, although Will had a nagging, abstract suspicion that it might have something to do with Elizabeth.
"Aye", Gibbs swallowed, and forced a smile, trying to withstand Jack's piercing gaze.
"Aye", echoed Jack, for the first time in his life considering strangling somebody on the spot just for the sake of wiping a smile off his face.
And yet he could not bring himself to just asking a simple question. He would not ask that question. He would not say her name out loud. Actually, the longer he thought about it, the more he began to wonder why he insisted on seeing her. If she was avoiding him, he could not be more happy about that. He did not really want to see her anyway. In fact, he did not even care if she was on the ship or not (although, for some reason, he was certain that she was).
"Thank ye, Mister Gibbs. Ye were of great help. I shall remember just how helpful ye were next time we divide plunder", said Jack, narrowing his eyes, and walking past gloomily-looking Gibbs towards the gathered crew.
Suddenly, the ship jerked, and instead of making a step forward, Jack fell down to the deck, as did everyone else.
"What was that?", grumbled Pintel, rubbing his forehead.
"I don't-", started Ragetti, but his words was cut off by the sudden movement of the ship, which jerked once again, and then began to move faster and faster, rolling across the sand.
Jack got a hold of one of the ropes, and pulled himself up, taking a few unsteady steps toward the side of the ship. He dragged himself upwards, and leaned over the railing, his eyes widening at the most curious sight: the Black Pearl sailing across the desert, or rather – he blinked – rolling across... white crabs...
"Hector!" Jack blinked, half-surprised, half-annoyed that instead of a tray with food, he had to deal with his first mate, which would undoubtedly take him more time.
"Can I?", Barbossa strolled into the cabin with a self-satisfied smile on his face.
Jack twitched his nose, and closed the door after him. "I thought we-"
"Aye, I just forgot 'bout one thing", cut in Barbossa, looking around the cabin. "Oh, tidyin' up, weren't ye?", he asked somewhat amused.
Jack wrinkled his forehead, and looked at him questioningly. Barbossa squinted, and Jack shifted his eyes right and left, suddenly noticing the unusual neatness of his cabin. "Aye", said Jack quickly, putting on a cheerful smile. "So, ye were sayin'...", Jack waved his hand in the air, taking a few glances around the cabin yet, smirking inwardly not so much at the fact that Elizabeth had actually spent her day cleaning his cabin, but rather at the fact that she had probably touched everything that was here, and for some reason the idea made him feel strangely happy. Happy! And that word again...
"I was just thinkin'", started Barbossa almost thoughtfully.
Jack took two bottles of rum from the top of a chest-of-drawers, and handed one bottle to Barbossa, opening his own with his teeth.
"Wouldn't it be better if...", Barbossa paused, and took a swig of his bottle, "we all knew the bearings?"
Jack almost choked on his rum. He darted his eyes to Barbossa, and coughed. "The bearings", he repeated in a slightly strained voice.
In the side cabin, Elizabeth's eyes widened, as she was eavesdropping leaning against the door. Her heartbeat quickened, and she tried to collect her thoughts which were chaotically spinning in her mind. What was that?! It was not supposed to happen today! It was too early! They had just left Tortuga the day before, and according to Mr. Gibbs, Barbossa asked about the bearings on the third day of the journey, and the mutiny happened on the third night! Elizabeth bit her lip, and closed her eyes. Of course. She should have known that Joshamee Gibbs was not the most accurate story-teller.
"Aye", Barbossa smiled broadly. "Everybody would feel better that way, equal share, equal knowledge, ye understand, Jack", he gulped some more rum down his throat, and smiled.
Jack stared at him in utter disbelief. How did she bloody know?!
"Yes, I'm... beginnin' to understand", answered Jack in a low voice, narrowing his eyes in a forced smile.