weepingbutterflies: Omg, so Jafar is your favorite character too? I think that's awesome! *high fives you* A lot of people think that Jasmine is annoying and bitchy, so I don't think that you're alone there. I like writing from her POV and trying to spice up her personality though, you know? I'm currently writing a ScourgexFiona story for the Sonic fandom. You probably dunno what that is. :P And ooo, your self insert story sounds like a good one! I'd be curious to see what Aladdin with a darker personality is like. :)
Eccentricity97: That is very true. :P Poor Lizzie, she just never gets a break. Thanks for the review, btw! I wasn't sure if you were still reading this or not.
lostsocks54: Yay, I'm glad that we agree about how much the curse influenced Barbossa. I assume that it influenced the other crew members just as much and that they were probably much more decent guys to be around when they weren't under the curse. What do you think? And haha, same thoughts here about OST. It was missing the feel that the first three films had. I really missed Davy and Calypso in it.
Saints-Fan-12: That's a good point. Elizabeth will definitely be feeling guilty in this chapter. Hope you like it!
autumn fox: Jason Isaacs does a really amazing job in Peter Pan, doesn't he? I think that he makes the perfect Hook although I love him as a blonde in Harry Potter, haha. I will definitely be continuing this story through the other two movies. I actually have the whole thing written out already and you're right; the Barbossabeth gets a lot deeper. Let me know what you think of this chapter!
Villains' Bad Girl: I'm definitely not used to eating, that's for sure. And I know, right? I always hate the end of CotBP, but at least Barbossa comes back in AWE, right? :)
OnePirateWolf96: I'm very glad that you liked the last chapter and the action in it! Lizzie definitely seems to have taken a liking to Barbossa. She feels really guilty about his death in this next chapter. That's a good point about Lizzie and the monkey. I guess that I really just never put that much thought into it, but I'm pretty sure that you're right now. *nods* Personally, I think that Lizzie likes Jack a bit in DMC too. He's more exciting than Will, so I can't blame her. What do you think? And yay, I'm definitely going to write a story about Davy and Calypso after this one then! :D
Chapter XXV
Before I can hit the rocks that are rising up to meet me, a hand juts out and grasps my shoulder. I'm tugged back up to my feet and find two concerned faces looking down at me. Will's innocent brown eyes are staring into mine and Jack is holding me upright to keep me from crashing to the ground. My spell of faintness slowly fades, but I'm left feeling weak and strangely helpless. Unable to stop myself, I look past the two compassionate faces in front of me to the body of Captain Barbossa lying deadly still on a pile of golden coins. His pet monkey has already found his corpse and is sitting on the man's chest, his uncomprehending eyes focused on his master's pasty face. A jolt of regret rises up within me. I don't know why I care that this man is dead. He deserves death, does he not?
"Steady there, luv," Jack says as he tightens his grip on my arm. "Are you feeling alright? I know that you've seen death before. Hector's death can't have fazed you this much."
"She's probably not used to seeing death up close," Will chides Jack. Reaching out a gentle hand in my direction, Will asks, "Shall we return to the Dauntless? Perhaps you'll feel better once we're back in Port Royal. It's been a long day for all of us."
"That it has been, mate!" Jack chimes in, nodding vehemently as Will starts steering me toward the rowboat hovering by the entrance of the cave that will lead us out of the Isla de Muerta.
"Yes, I suppose that we should return to the Dauntless. Father will be worried," I speak in a toneless voice that sounds much too loud to my own ears. I have to focus on taking steps forward. If I wasn't ordering my feet to move, I might have been stuck on the Isla de Muerta for days. I try not to let myself look back over my shoulder, but I can't help it. It seems so wrong to leave a body lying at the center of the cave. I suddenly see why I'm having such a hard time stepping forward. My feet are telling me to go backward.
Jack looks over his shoulder at me and points out, "I hope that you're not thinking about taking one of those gold medallions. Those are nothing but trouble, you know."
"Yes. No. I mean, of course not. Why would I steal a medallion after all of the trouble that they've put us through?" I ask, my cheeks flushing as I stammer over my own words.
The mournful screeches of Barbossa's monkey pierce the air as the three of us spill into the rowboat. The cries of loss and sorrow cut straight through me and run through my entire body. Jack and Will seem completely indifferent to the monkey's anguish and pick up the oars to row us away from the Isla de Muerta, never to return.
"Wait!" the word slips out of my mouth without me realizing that it was even there. Both Jack and Will turn to me with raised eyebrows. My cheeks turn red and I can only hope that Jack and Will can't see my flush in the moonlight. I feel like a fool for speaking because now I don't know what to say. I know what I want to do, but I can't tell the two men sitting here besides me the real reason behind it. Stuttering as I go along, I say, "I...I dropped something while we were fighting. It was a...bracelet of mine. I'm going to go get it."
"I'll come and help you," Will immediately volunteers as he too rises from the rowboat to step back onto the large rock expanse at the center of the cave. "What does your bracelet look like?"
"You don't have to help me," I say much too quickly, my eyes cold and my voice too hard as I frown at Will. He looks shocked at my words and I cringe as I listen to how odd they sound coming from my lips. Trying to make up for my rudeness, I try and force a smile onto my lips as I reply, "What I mean to say is thank you anyway, but I think that it will be faster if just I go to find it."
"Alright," Will accepts this with a nod. His concern for me is written all over his face. He knows that I'm acting very out of sorts and that something must be very wrong.
As I stumble out of the rowboat, I find that I am glad that Barbossa's body is hidden from the boat by a large pile of gold coins. Trying not to make it obvious that my steps are leading me straight toward the pirate captain, I weave this way and that around gold coins and sparkling jewels. The items may be worth great sums to some people, but they are worthless to me.
When I'm quite sure that Jack and Will aren't watching me and have gone back to their idle chatter, I duck behind the gold mound and fall to my knees next to the corpse of the dead pirate captain. The monkey sitting on Barbossa's chest gives me a mournful cry and scampers a few inches away from me. My hand reaches out of its own accord and presses against the Captain's chest. His skin is ice cold under my touch. No faint heartbeat can be felt. There is no hope of reviving the man lying by my side.
Wetness forms at the corners of my eyes, but I will myself not to cry. I don't know what I'm crying for. Not sure who I'm speaking to exactly, I whisper in a barely audible voice, "You deserve this, you know. What you did to me was unethical. What you took from me was irreplaceable. Yet...I wish that Jack hadn't killed you. I suppose that I owe you a thanks. You could have had me killed or worse, but instead you protected me from your crew. They would have torn me apart like wild beasts fighting over a piece of fresh meat. Thank you for keeping me safe from them and..."
I trail off as one single tear manages to drip out of the corner of my eye and spill down my face. Before I can choke, I stop speaking and try to get a grip on myself. The corpse in front of me belongs to a man that I barely know. However, he treated me the way that no other man has treated me before. I still remember the closeness of our bodies, the way that he ravished my skin, and the way that I wanted to kiss him back at the very end of our night together. My body and my mind were conflicted that night and have remained that way since then. I've become so confused and I had hoped that the Captain might have some answers for me regarding my confusion. Did he truly have feelings for me or was I just another woman out of several? He said that he had reasons for what he did to me, but what were those reasons? Now, I will never know. The unanswered questions that swirl through my head get louder and more urgent.
"Elizabeth? Are you certain that you don't need any help?" I hear Will's voice calling to me from beyond the gold pile.
This is silly. I need to stop feeling sentimental and return to the Dauntless. Barbossa was a pirate for god's sake! Of course he never had true feelings for me. Taking me to his bed that fateful night was probably just a game to him. I was a puppet easily manipulated into an entertainment source for him.
Forcing my voice steady, I shout back to Will, "Yes, I'm fine!"
Knowing that Will will come to find me if I remain here for much longer, I quickly wipe the single tear off of my cheek and run my fingertip over the Captain's slightly parted lips. They're very cold now as Barbossa lies in eternal slumber, but I can still remember the way that their warmth felt against my flesh only two nights earlier. Caught between loss and confusion, I stare at the dead body seeking answers that I will never get. Shaking my head ruefully, I reach forward and close the Captain's eyes in a respectful gesture. Now it appears as if he might only be sleeping if it weren't for the unnatural curl of his right hand and the pasty color of his skin.
A soft whine sounds from next to me as I pull myself to my feet suddenly feeling very, very tired. Turning fatigued eyes to my right, I find the monkey staring up at me with eyes that hold the weight of the world in them. Sympathy runs through me and I give the small creature a knowing look as I murmur, "I'm sorry too."
With that said, I step back out from around the gold mound and walk hastily back toward the rowboat. Even though I'm not looking at him, I can feel Jack's intense gaze on my face. Will is looking at me only in concern, but the expression on Jack's face is much different than the expression on Will's face. It's as if he knows what I was doing. Determined not to look at Jack as if I am fearful that he will be able to read the truth just by meeting my eyes, I sit down in the center of the rowboat and wait for the two men to start rowing.
A long silence falls. Nobody starts rowing. A bit irritated at why we're not moving since I'm finally ready to get away from this cursed place, I raise an eyebrow at Will and say, "Let's return to the Dauntless, shall we?"
"Yes, of course, but did you find your bracelet?" Will asks, tilting his head at me as he motions to my wrists, both bracelet-free.
In my haste to get back to the rowboat, I forgot all about my made up bracelet. I make up another lie and say, "I couldn't find it, but that's alright. I have other bracelets back at home. This one was nothing special."
"But are you sure that this certain bracelet was nothing special?" Jack's curious voice sounds from my right. He leans forward toward me and says, "I think that this bracelet was something special to you if you were willing to go back to look for it. Perhaps it had a special gem inlaid upon it or it had some greater meaning to you?"
I turn and meet Jack's gaze indignantly. Not liking to repeat myself to a man whose words seem to contain a double meaning, I reply flatly, "The bracelet is not important. I thought that you were in a hurry to leave this place, Mr. Sparrow?"
"I am in a hurry," Jack admits, finally taking up the oars and beginning to row in time with Will. "If you two would kindly drop me off at my ship, I'll be on my way and leave the two of you to do whatever it is that you plan on doing once I'm gone."
I chew my lip and don't reply to Jack's request. I don't want to be the one to tell him that the Black Pearl has already left courtesy of its cowardly crew. Silence falls over our group of three as we travel through the dark cave, the gold and the jewels glinting on either side of us no longer a temptation to anyone. Jack seems to only be after his ship at this point and Will and I mainly want to return to The Dauntless. I haven't told Will about how I've been engaged to the Commodore, but I don't feel like this is the proper time to tell him about it. Everyone in Port Royal will know of the upcoming marriage soon enough.
The darkness dissolves as our rowboat travels out of the cave and into the twinkle of the moonlight and the stars. I don't remember the stars shining before, but now they are gleaming down upon us. Just as I suspected, the Black Pearl is nowhere to be seen. Jack has no choice but to return to The Dauntless with Will and me. Clearly, nothing will go right for him there. After he persuaded the Commodore and his men to fight cursed, immortal pirates, nothing but doom awaits him on the royal vessel.
"I am sorry, Jack," I murmur as realization dawns on the pirate's face. "I tried to get them to wait."
"They've only done what's right by them. I cannot ask more than that. It was me who told them to keep to the code in the first place," Jack sighs heavily before suddenly jerking back and looking for his rifle as he calls out, "Ahh! Monkey!"
A flash of mangy fur scampers across the rowboat. Barbossa's monkey must have followed me aboard the boat! I'm not entirely displeased to see the creature, but it appears as if Jack and the monkey have a past because the pirate is glaring daggers at the monkey and is yanking his rifle out of his belt as if he means to shoot the poor creature.
"You don't mean to kill him, do you?" I ask with a frown as the monkey runs over to my feet and cowers behind them as if he knows that I will protect him from Jack.
"Believe me, that monkey is better dead than alive," Jack says, trying to aim his rifle around my feet at the monkey. Before I can protest further, he pulls the trigger! Thank god that nothing happens. Looking annoyed, Jack mutters under his breath, "Bugger! I forgot that I used the last shot."
"He's just a poor monkey," I interject, unsure of why Jack is being so cruel to the little creature.
"Yes, and also the pet of my previous adversary. It's a funny thing that Hector's monkey followed you here," Jack says, that knowing look from earlier back in his eyes.
Frowning, I suddenly stiffen and reply, "Yes, I suppose that it's interesting."
"Interesting?" Jack echoes before leaning forward and adding, "Yes, it's very interesting indeed. You do know that the damned monkey by your feet doesn't take kindly to strangers, don't you?"
"Jack, what are you trying to say?" I ask, starting to get fed up with the situation.
"I'm saying that the monkey only takes kindly to chums of Hector's, that's all," Jack says lightly as if we happen to be discussing the weather, not where my true loyalties lie. "I just thought that I'd point that out."
Hm, do you think that Jack suspects that something went on between Lizzie and the Captain? Review please? :)