TWENTY-FIVE: The Betrayal

Cutler Beckett. Of all people, Cutler Beckett. He'd come to visit Elizabeth like a nice chap; and in her place he had found... Cutler Beckett. He'd barely recognized the man at first – and barely believed his eyes when he had. But it was him alright. Definitely him. And that... that was scary. Was Elizabeth dead? How had he survived? What foul plans would he be getting up to? He didn't really care about the answers, he just wanted to blow his head off. He jumped from the dinghy and into the ocean, wading to shore, managing to get the bullet into his gun at last. He'd never known Beckett to run, he'd been more of a smooth-talking type to slither out of trouble. Could Beckett lose his head?

Well, they'd find out soon enough, wouldn't they?

Grr! He'd made his escape pretty quickly! Seeing a moving shape ducking around behind one of the rocks protruding from the ground, he took a pot shot, which bounced off of said rock, causing splinters of flinty grey rock to fly out in all directions. Where was he going?

Wait. He'd shouted out Elizabeth's name. That was a good thing because Elizabeth was alive... but they were meant to be sworn enemies. So why was Beckett shouting out her name? Hmm – either way, Beckett should be shot.

That he could agree with... uh, himself on.

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Oh dear, Elizabeth thought quietly to herself, as she leapt to her feet and began striding out towards the beach – and had Beckett colliding into her. Beckett and her both staggered backwards a little, and Beckett stared at her for a moment, before starting to talk.

"Jack Sparrow's here, he wants to kill me, he doesn't seem in the mood for listening to reason, would you mind just..." There was another gunshot, and the branch of a tree nearby suddenly exploded.

"Get back to the hut, and when I get there, pass me the empty gun – without Jack seeing!" Elizabeth hissed at him, before rushing out of the forest; leaving Beckett and his questioning look so that she could go and face her friend. Sort of friend. "Jack! It's me!" She shouted, and Jack lowered his pistol with a broad smile, before suddenly seeming to remember the Beckett Situation.

"What is 'Lord' Cutler bloody Beckett doing on your island?" He demanded.

"Jack... look, it seems bad, but... it's going to take some explaining... come up to my hut with me. Beckett probably would have gone up there." Jack blinked at her, and then nodded once, beads and coins a-jangling in his dreadlocks.

"You don't mind if I shoot 'im, do you?" He asked her. "It's great for stress."

"I'm afraid I do..." She smiled at Jack, "Beckett's a prisoner here, don't worry. He washed up, and... I'm keeping him prisoner."

"Oh, smashing," Jack said, but after a pause he frowned, "But wait... why haven't you just shot him?"

"Because... the East India Trading Company have said they'll give me money for his life," Elizabeth said, inventing wildly, though somewhere inside she knew that no amount of lies was going to deter Jack of the truth. He was the lying master, after all.

"Oh..." There was another pause as Jack thought. Elizabeth knew that she shouldn't let his drunk and disorderly looks deceive her – he was sharp. Ish. "But if they know where you are, why haven't they just come here and blasted you to kingdom come? And if Beckett's your prisoner, why was he lying on the beach peacefully? And if-"

"I... look, just wait for me to explain it all, will you?" She sighed to him.

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A couple of hours, and a lot of talking later, Beckett, Jack and Elizabeth were sitting in her small, draughty home – Elizabeth was pointing an empty gun to Beckett's head, Jack was pointing a loaded gun at Beckett's head, and Beckett was trying to feel reassured by the single bullet in his pocket. It wasn't working.

"You've changed, Beckett," Jack said to him.

"You haven't," Beckett smirked, leaning back in his seat, completely at ease with the weapons being pointed at him right at that moment.

"You say that like it's a bad thing!"

"It is."

"Will you two stop a second?" Elizabeth sighed, massaging her temple. This was enough trouble as it was, without Jack and Beckett taking part in their usual mockery, and now both of the men turned to face her. "Jack, look... I... there's no point in killing Beckett, alright? I don't want to."

"You... don't want to kill Beckett?" Jack frowned at her, "Who are you then? What have you done to my friend Lizzie?" He prodded her, "You're fat, too. Who are you, and what 'ave you been doing with Beckett... mmmhhm?" His usual tact.

"Absolutely nothing of that sort," Elizabeth said with a frown.

"Just because every time you're on an island with a member of the opposite sex ends in one thing, doesn't mean it's the same for everyone else," Beckett sneered, "There hasn't been any frenzied lovemaking going on here. Well, apart from perhaps between her and Mr Turner..."

"Will's been here?" Jack asked, dumbly.

"On his last day, Jack," Elizabeth said, blushing, "He... we... I'm pregnant," She blurted. There was a small silence.

"Huh. So he wasn't a eunuch after all." Jack muttered. Then he got back to the matter at hand. "Well, that doesn' matter. What matters is that Beckett is here, Beckett is alive, and you have a gun. Put two and two together, and you have Beckett not here, also known as, dead."

"There's no need to resort to-" Beckett began, and was interrupted.

"No more killing, Jack," Elizabeth said suddenly, "I promised myself. I did shoot Beckett, but it hit his shoulder. I thought he was dead. And I promised myself no more killing." She could only look at him unhappily as he thought about this. Then he laughed.

"You don't honestly trust this man, do you?" The notorious sea captain leaned forwards, resting his elbows on the table, his dark eyes searching hers. Beckett felt a little excluded from their little tête-à-tête, but didn't comment.

Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably as two different pairs of eyes rested on her, heavy as lead, each hoping for a different answer. Any answer would let one or the other down... she kept her mouth closed.

"Betrayal... you know what this is? Betrayal of piratekind! It happens all the time. Everyone hates pirates, even pirates..." Jack scratched behind one ear, "You are siding with Cutler Beckett... the man who tried to wipe out pirates from the world all together!"

"Sadly, I failed," Beckett muttered, narrowing his eyes.

"Though you ain't exactly unfamiliar with betrayal, eh, Liz?" Jack said, looking at her seriously, though a small smile was tugging at the edge of his lips – one that said, I win.

"Jack... you know that what I did was necessary," Elizabeth said, sharply, knowing where this was leading... sort of.

"I'm never going to forget it, you know," Jack wagged a finger at her.

"It was to save our lives!" Elizabeth replied hotly.

"It was a crime!"

"It had to be done!"

"It was evil!"

"It was essential!"

"Wrong!"

"I had to, Jack!"

"There must have been some other way!"

"It's over now!"

"Still immoral, though!"

"Jack!" Elizabeth sighed, "You're never going to forgive me, are you?"

"Never," Jack replied with a small smile, "Burning rum is just... inexcusable." Elizabeth opened and closed her mouth, seeming lost for words for a moment... and then nodded. It'd do.

"Oh, very funny, Jack," Beckett said, rolling his eyes.

"What? What do you mean?" Jack asked, casually pointing his gun towards Beckett in a way that suggested less then friendly intentions. Well, a bullet that would clip him right between the eyes wasn't really a sign of amity.

"Everyone knows about the time Elizabeth fed you to Jones' kraken," Beckett said vaguely, frowning slightly and wiping some dust from the table with a finger.

"I didn't... feed him to the kraken!" Elizabeth said angrily. And what do you mean, 'everyone knows'? She thought to herself, rather worriedly.

"Hmm," was Beckett's rather doubtful reply.

NB: AAAUUGH! JACK SPARROW'S FLIPPING FJADOLKANFKJAN FKLANDKA... ahem. Sorry about that ladies and gentlemen. But I am a complete idiot and find Jack impossible to write. Does he seem out of character?! Ughhhh! Okay, that's that over. Sorry. It's just... ack! Now, I wonder what Jack's going to do next? Mmmmmhm?

Next update contains sniping quips, pity pretty quick, real sliiiiick! Gun going to gruesomely gouge Beckett's goading grin? Great... (ack!) (Beckett gets all surly and I think it's cute... SQUEE! That's me turning into a Beckett fangirl. Oh dear.)