It was hectic aboard the Black Pearl as the entire crew worked to pick up speed as quickly as possible. Alice was helping to drop the sails when a loud crash of water caught everyone's attention. On the port side of the ship, the Flying Dutchman had surfaced, its crew taunting and jeering those on the Pearl. Seeing it for the first time, it seemed unreal; it looked as though a massive coral reef had taken over a mass of driftwood, and gotten tangled with nets and lines. Even the seaweed covered sails seemed as though they had simply grown there.
While the rest of them watched it frozen in awe and fear, Jack seemed unfazed.
"Oi, fishface!" he yelled out to Davy Jones, causing Alice to stare at him wide-eyed. "Lose something?" He was holding the jar of dirt over his head and tripped, falling down from the aftcastle, causing the entire crew to gasp. "Got it!" He held the intact jar up again as he stood and marched across the deck to the forecastle. "Come to negotiate, eh, have you, you slimy git? Look what I got." He began to sing tauntingly. "I got a jar of dirt, I got a jar of dirt, and guess what's inside it?" He held up the jar, grinning like a fool.
Jones was not amused, as evidenced by the opening of the grotesque gun ports. Barnacle covered cannons rolled out, and Alice grabbed Paul, Pintel, and Ragetti, stepping backward across the deck.
"Hard to starboard?" Jack questioned.
"HARD TO STARBOARD!" Elizabeth screamed, and the crew sprang to action.
As Alice and her band ran, cannonballs tore through the ship, narrowly missing them. They peered through the hole where the captain's door no longer was and could see that the cannons had come clean through the stern windows. Through what used to be the windows they saw the Dutchman turning, following them.
"She's on us!" Pintel yelled, and Alice followed as he and Ragetti ran up to the aftcastle.
The Dutchman continued to fire on them using cannons mounted on the bow of their ship. The Pearl was taking significant damage to both ship and crew; a cannonball narrowly missed Gibbs' head, and several crewmen were knocked overboard by the next barrage. However, the Black Pearl quickly began to outrun their attacker.
"We're the faster?" Will asked, confused.
"Aye, against the wind, the Dutchman beats us; that's how she takes her prey," Gibbs explained. "But with the wind..."
"We rob her advantage," Will finished.
"They're giving up!" Marty yelled, and the crew cheered.
Alice leaned out over the port rail, watching the Dutchman fall behind. There was a momentary sense of relief, but it was eclipsed by the feeling that something worse was coming. Suddenly, the entire ship lurched, and she fell on top of Paul, who she had not realized was standing behind her. There was a loud crash, and Alice looked over to see Jack suddenly scrambling down the stairs. She got to her feet and peered over the side into the blue waters.
"We must have hit a reef," someone shouted, but she could see no such evidence.
"It's not a reef!" Will yelled. "Get away from the rail!" He grabbed Elizabeth, pulling her away.
"What is it?" She asked him.
Will's next words sent a cold spike of dread through Alice.
"The kraken." He looked out across the ship. "To arms!"
She could feel her knees going wobbly, but she forced herself to run.
"Load guns!" Gibbs shouted. "Defend the mast!"
"It'll attack to starboard; I've seen it before," Will called out. "Run out the cannons, and wait for my signal!"
Alice headed belowdecks straightaway, Paul running behind her, followed by Pintel and Ragetti. Everyone on hand began opening the gunports and loading the cannons, rolling them out as quick as possible.
"I've never learned to do this!" Alice said, panicking slightly.
"I got you," Ragetti said.
As he loaded a cannon and shouted out directions, Alice followed along on the next one over, thanking the adrenaline for keeping her laser focused. Paul helped her roll it into place just as something blocked the port, causing them to jump back. The whole crew went silent.
Thick, slimy tentacles began ascending up the sides of the ship. Suction cups the size of her torso gulped and squelched as they thudded over the muzzles of the cannons. Alice felt physically ill with fear: Her heart was hammering so hard she thought it might actually escape her ribcage, her throat was so tight that it was hard to breathe, and she was starting to get light-headed as she fought to keep the panic at a manageable level.
Aside from the sound of the tentacles climbing ever higher, and the creaking from the wood beneath the weight, the ship was eerily silent. She glanced over at Pintel and Ragetti and saw the same terrified look she was sure was etched across her own face.
"Easy, boys!" They all jumped and let out small noises of surprise as Will appeared belowdecks, his arm outstretched in a placating manner.
"Will?" Elizabeth's tone was nervous and questioning.
"Steady! Steady," he said to the cannon crew. Alice held the fuse ready, trying to steady her shaking arm.
"Will?" Elizabeth asked again, her tone more fearful.
"Hold... Hold," Will said, and Alice realized she was even holding her breath.
"I think we've held fire long enough!" Pintel said, his tone urgent.
"WILL!" This time Elizabeth screamed his name.
"FIRE!"
Alice and the others wasted no time, and the already loud blast of the cannons was intensified after the prolonged silence. The ship shook a second time as the kraken's tentacles fell to the deck before falling away, glowing in spots where chunks had been blasted from them. A loud cheer rang out as they disappeared beneath the water.
Alice peered through the gunport; there was no way it had been that simple.
"Pull the grates!" came a call from one of the crewmen. "And get below to load the nets! Gunpowder, all of it!"
They sprang to action, closing and rolling the barrels of gunpowder toward the center, tossing them down to the rest as soon as it was clear.
"We are short-stocked on gunpowder!" the French pirate Boivin called up. "Six barrels!"
"-then load the rum!" The entire crew belowdecks stopped as Will made this proclamation, suddenly silent as they watched Gibbs. He glanced at them for a moment.
"Aye, the rum too!" Alice could tell it pained him to say it, and it pained her to hear it.
The crew further below began rolling more barrels toward the net, and Alice made to head toward the topdeck, but a hand grabbing her arm stopped her. She turned to see Paul holding her.
"Wouldn't it be safer t' stay down 'ere?" Pintel asked, eyes wide. Alice looked over and opened her mouth to answer him when the ship lurched with a heavy thud that could only mean the kraken had returned. She fell forward and Paul caught her.
Suddenly, tentacles came bursting through the sides of the ship. They were everywhere, thrashing and trying to grab anything - or anyone - they could. Alice screamed and dove out of the way as one came crashing past her, taking out the stairs. In the middle of the chaos the net full of barrels was rising up from the middle, Will holding tightly as he rose with it. Alice looked for her friends just in time to see a tentacle wrenching through the gunport between them, a crewman in its grip breaking in half as it pulled him through. They ran to her and Paul, and the four of them made their way to another set of stairs, grabbing any weapons they could before heading up. It was no longer safe anywhere on the ship, and helping where they could see what was happening was better than cowering in the confusion below.
They emerged just as one massive tentacle had smashed the capstan, and several others were slipping around the deck, some holding various members of the crew. There was chaos everywhere, with people and cannons being knocked overboard as everyone tried to attack any part of the creature any way they could. They were running across the deck, watching wildly around to avoid being the next casualty when Alice heard Paul yelp in pain. She quickly turned and saw him grabbing his arm as he continued to run with them.
In the middle of all of this, Will was taunting the kraken to come get him, and get him it tried. Alice looked up to see the kraken now tangled in the net of barrels, Will hanging from them as it looked like he was trying to free himself from being stuck. Alice paused next to Elizabeth for a second, who was aiming a gun at the net, waiting for Will to get away to take her shot. She turned and ran into the captain's cabin with her partners. They pulled her into a recessed area as tentacles slid in through the broken out windows toward the deck. Alice heard sudden screaming and looked down as Ragetti severed one of the creatures limbs that had grabbed hold of Elizabeth and was dragging her toward the sea. It slithered away and they ran to the doorway to survey the situation.
Elizabeth turned and ran up the stairs as another crewman was whipped away in the kraken's grip, and Alice and the others looked up to see Will still caught.
"Just shoot already!" Pintel yelled out as panic completely overtook them. Almost immediately, Will suddenly fell free, slamming into the deck. Behind him, the barrels began to fall free.
"NO!" Alice shouted but, a second later, the barrels began exploding; Ragetti grabbed Alice and pulled her behind the wall, shielding her from the exploding shrapnel. There was a loud roaring sound eschewing from the kraken below, and she peered out from the cabin.
The burning tentacles raised high in the air began to fall away slowly, almost dramatically. The deck was covered in flaming debris, and the remaining crew were slowly rising to their feet, having been knocked down either from the creature or the explosion. People began to carefully move out into the open. Alice glanced around at the dead bodied strewn everywhere, and then back toward the living.
"We just made it angry," she heard Gibbs say. "We're not out of this yet. Captain, orders!" he called out. They stepped out into the open, making their way toward Jack and the others.
"Abandon ship," Jack said evenly. "Into the longboat."
Several people made their way toward the boat, but Alice was rooted to the spot.
"Jack," Gibbs said, stopping the captain. "The Pearl." She felt her heart almost stop as he said the words her brain couldn't communicate to her mouth.
"She's only a ship, mate," Jack responded quietly.
"He's right - we have to head for land," Elizabeth said, and Alice took a sudden deep breath. She glanced up at the damaged mast and the torn sails. Around at the broken rails and smashed stairs. Out through the hole at the aft and the destroyed remnants of the captain's cabin.
"We can get away as it takes down the Pearl." She only vaguely heard the words, but she found it hard to process them. She felt... numb. There were too many feelings, too many emotions all trying to happen at once, and she wasn't in a state to be prepared to deal with them. She wasn't ready to feel such a great loss yet again.
"Abandon ship," Gibbs said, and Alice winced as the pain in her heart cut through everything else. "Abandon ship or abandon hope."
She hadn't realized her eyes were tightly shut until she felt an arm around her, trying to guide her to move. It was Paul, who was looking at her with concern, a pained smiled on his face. She glanced over to see Jack, who was softly touching the ropes attached to the mast, and also slowly looking around the ship, his soft footsteps telling her he was also feeling the sting of their decision to abandon the Pearl.
She shuffled forward in a daze, Paul guiding her away. She didn't feel the ladder beneath her fingers as she climbed down; didn't look to see who else was in the longboat, or gaze out across the open water they still had to cross to safety. She heard Gibbs calling out orders, heard the others loading the boat around her. She held herself tightly, mind buzzing.
"Where's Jack?" Will asked, but his tone seemed to hold no concern for the other man.
"He elected to stay behind to give us a chance," Elizabeth replied. At that, Alice suddenly looked up at her. "Go!" she commanded, and the longboat began to drift away from the Pearl.
Alice's eyes shot toward the ship. As they moved further from her, emotions returned to Alice in full force. This wasn't just a ship. This had been her home. This had been where her life truly changed; really started anew. This had been where she'd met- Her breath hitched in her throat. This ship was him.
She realized that tears were streaming down her face, and she didn't try to stop them. Nor did she try to stop the wracking sobs that began to escape her body. Paul tried to put his arms around her to console her, but she pushed him away, curling further into herself as her eyes remained fixed on the ship. Why hadn't she thought to grab a piece of it? Something of him to keep with her, close to her heart? Something tangible she could hold onto forever?
She tried, but she couldn't look away as her heart was dragged to the depths, wrapped in giant, slimy tentacles.
If she hadn't been gasping for breath as she sobbed, the others might have made out the word her mouth was trying over and over to get out: "Hector."