Fighting the Undead

They reached the Black Pearl without anyone noticing. It seemed that most of the pirates on board had gone to the caves, with only a few left to guard it and the prisoners aboard.

"You're going to the caves then?" asked Elizabeth in a whisper as Nettie slid of the the boat and into the water. She shivered at the icy cold water, trying to adjust to the sharp drop in temperature. "Make sure... make sure Will is safe, will you, Nettie?"

"Sure," Nettie whispered with a nod. "Just get the rest of the crew to help us out, alright?" After seeing Elizabeth give her back a nod in confirmation, she took a deep breath before diving underwater.

The dark sea water made it difficult for her to see as the salt and cold burned her eyes, and the dim light from the moon didn't help. But the only thing that Nettie was grateful for was her hair, dark instead of blonde like her mother had.

Used to have.

It didn't take long for Nettie to swim up and into the caves, though it was harder since the sword she decided was dragging at her hp. And once she was sure that it was clear, she walked the rest of the way, the water swishing around her legs as she trudged through the stream. The gold glinted under her feet, and she had to resist taking it, or even examining it. If the gold from the chest was cursed, who knew if this gold was the same. She'd rather not take the risk.

The path the same as the last time she came, it didn't take Nettie long to find the same tunnels from before, including the tunnel that lead to the main treasure. Where the chest was. Where Jack and Will were. Where Barbossa was.

It seemed like a lot of her problems had just gathered in one place.

"You better damn appreciate this, Jack Sparrow," Nettie grumbled as she walked up the sand and out of the water. "At the very least, you're gonna buy me a lot of rum."

Peering around the exit of the tunnel, Nettie tried to see what she was up against. There was Jack, looking over some strange gold statue. Barbossa, looking smug as usual. Will, being held by a pirate, his hands bound. And at least three other pirates wandering around. 'Well, that shouldn't be too hard.' Though she did wonder what happened to the other pirates. She hadn't passed them, or seen them out in the water.

It was probably by sheer luck that Will looked her way, his eyes going wide as he realized it was her. Placing a finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet, Nettie slipped forward, making sure not to step in any water or knock over any treasure. She didn't need them knowing she was here yet.

"I must admit, Jack, I thought I had you figured," Barbossa said after a moment of silence. "But it turns out that you're a hard man to predict."

'If only he knew how true that is,' thought Nettie with a roll of her eyes as she hid behind a nearby pile of gold items, peering around it so she could see her captain.

Jack looked to Barbossa, a grin on his face. "Me? I'm dishonest," he stated as he casually walked towards the nearby pirate looking through the treasure "And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest." Jack tossed the statue aside. "Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid."

The look on Barbossa's face was priceless.

Unsheathing the nearby pirate's sword in one fluid movement, Jack kicked the pirate in the rump, sending him into the water before tossing the sword to Will, who then knocked the pirate holding him captive over. Realizing what was going on, Barbossa marched towards Jack, both of them taking out their swords and attacking at each other without a pause.

Loud clangs filled the air as the two captains of the Black Pearl fought one another. Nettie leapt forward, knife in hand, surprising another pirate when she kicked him over.

"Am I glad to see you!" said Will as he held his hands out to her, Nettie slashing through the ropes that bound his hands.

"I'm just glad to see that you're alive!" Nettie said with a smirk as she returned her knife to her boot, drawing out the sword she'd brought with her a moment later. "Have you any idea what Jack's planned?" she asked while blocking another sword. At least it wasn't too bad a fight, two on three - no wait, make it four.

"Not a clue - as usual," said Will as two pirates attacked him.

"My captain's a bloody idiot!" laughed Nettie. "He never tells anyone what his damn plans are," she said as she stabbed her opponent. "Damn it, missed the heart," she muttered as she cursed pirate cried out before lunging at her again. She was starting to think they might go down for awhile if she at least got them in the heart.

"Nettie?"

Knocking the pirate into a pool of water with a punch and a kick, Nettie glanced towards Jack, who was currently holding back Barbossa's sword with his own, who looked at him angrily since his opponents attention was somewhere else. "What are you doing here -"

"Watch yourself, Jack!" called out Nettie before she took on the same pirate, who was dragging himself from the water. She watched as Jack jumped back. "I'm not gonna drag your corpse outta here! Not until we talk about that bloody kiss!"

Looking at her for a long moment, Jack started to chuckle, though Nettie noticed it more out of his shoulders shaking instead of actually hearing him. "I hear you, love!" he called out with a quick wink before he blocked a blow from Barbossa.

"What kiss?" said Will as he jumped back to avoid being sliced by a sword. "Wait - Jack kissed you?!"

"Really? You want to talk about that while fighting a bunch of cursed pirates?" Nettie grabbed a nearby statue and swung it at the nearest pirate, causing him to fall backward, cursing as he clutched his head. "I swear, boys are bloody worse then girls!"

The only answer she got to that was a laugh that Nettie answered with a roll of her eyes.

"Men," barked out Barbossa as he crossed swords with Jack. "Kill Miss Nettie, but keep Mr. Turner alive! We need him to break the curse!"

"Aye aye, captain!" answered the men, and the one Nettie was facing turned to her, growling darkly. His head was still bleeding.

"Little bitch," the pirate snapped out. "You're gonna pay for that."

Nettie grinned. "What, its not like you guys can die. Yet."

"Watch out!"

The warning from Will came a little to late, as Nettie whirled around just in time for the pirate, who she had kicked into the water earlier, come at her. She froze for a moment as he passed through a beam of moonlight, becoming skeletal for a long second, only bits of greying skin still attached and a horrible smell momentarily filling the air. But that single frozen moment was all it took for the pirate to slice her right shoulder with his sword, a grin of triumph on his face.

"Shit," Nettie cursed as she stepped back, clutching her arm. Blood seeped through her fingers, hitting the treasure with rapid 'plops' that remind her of rain. At least it wasn't a deep wound, though it still hurt. "Oh, you little bilge rat," she snarled, wincing not out of pain, but the effort he took to hold back the need to give in to her urges. She couldn't wait to get rid of these damn pirates for good.

"Had enough, deary?" said one of the pirates with a cocky grin, point his sword at her heart

"Never enough," snapped back Nettie before she swung her sword, meet the other with a 'clang'. It was weaker than before, since it was her sword arm that had been injured, and it didn't help that she was no good at swordplay. But she was determined not to die in this cave.

With another swing, Nettie caught the pirate across the cheek, forcing him to stumble with a cry and giving her the chance to step back and face the next pirate. "I'm glad to see that you undead bastards can still feel pain, even if you won't bloody die."

"But you can." Withdrawing a pistol from his side, the pirate barely took the time to take aim before he fired, the weapon going off with a loud 'bang'. So it was more out of sheer, and perhaps dumb luck, that Nettie managed to avoid being hit by dodging to the side. Only to step back when the next pirate lunged at her with his sword.

"Damn it." Nettie stepped back again as the two advanced on her. How could she win when they just wouldn't die? She couldn't fight them forever.

It happened so quickly, it took Nettie a moment to realize what happened. All of the sudden, someone ran into one of the pirate, knocking him to the next pirate. One fell into the water, and the other into a pile of gold. "Sorry," said the man before running off again. Blinking for a moment, Nettie laughed. "Thanks, Jack!" she called out.

"Arrh!"

Stepping back, Nettie watched as Barbossa angrily went after Jack, who continued to run away.

"Ugh," groaned the pirates that had fallen into the gold, who stumbled up. "What the -"

With only a moments thought, Nettie sprang forward. Dropping her sword, she punched the pirate in the nose, taking the moment he cried out in pain to grab his wrist and give it a sharp twist that resulted in a loud 'crack' as she broke it.

Even though the man gave a short but pained howl, he grinned. "You can't even kill me," he said, twisting his own wrist back into place with another crack.

Leaning down so she could grabbed her sword, Nettie gave a little shriek of terror when she saw the other pirate grab it first as he emerged from the water. Stepping back, her thoughts were racing as she tried to figure out what to do. He was right. She couldn't kill him, not until she broke the curse. And the only way to do that was get Will's blood and coin.

How she was going to that, she wasn't sure.

"You're dead, wench," growled the pirate as he advanced towards her, his companion at his side. Nettie stumbled back, a hand going up to clutch her still bleeding wound. Was she really going to die, after all she went through? After being kidnapped? Sold into slavery? Forced into illegal fights? Battling her personal demons? All of that, without even knowing if she was truly in love with Jack or not? Without finding out what happened to her parents? Or her brother?

No.

"I don't wanna die," Nettie mumbled with a shake of her head.

One of the pirate narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"I don't wanna die," repeated Nettie. "I don't wanna die." She held her head up, and she wasn't sure what the pirates saw in her eyes, but she was glad when they stepped back. "I"m not gonna die, you bastards." Reaching down, she picked up the first thing she touched and threw it at the nearest pirate.

It turned out to be a solid gold goblet, which hit the pirate in the forehead, hard enough that he stopped to clutch his head. "Ow, what the -"

Not pausing, Nettie turned on her heel and ran.

"Hey, come back here, you cowardly bitch!"

Ignoring the insult, Nettie raced through small mountains of treasure and rock columns, turning around every corner when she had the chance. She knew it was cowardly to run away, but she couldn't do anything in her injured state. She would find a place to hide, wrap her wound, and figure out what she could do. At least the pirates wouldn't go after Will- being ordered to kill her, they would probably focus on looking for her

Turning another corner so fast she almost slid on the gold coins and fell, Nettie crawled into what seemed like a cave within the cave, pressing herself into the nearest wall, hiding herself in the shadows. Ignoring the sharp stones that were digging into her back, she held her breathe, listening carefully for the sound of footsteps, hoping that she'd lost her attackers.

After a long minute passed and there was nothing but the faint sound of swords clashing, Nettie breathed a sigh of relief before glancing down at her bleeding arm, which was staining the gold coins she was sitting on. What could she tear off to make into a bandage? Sighing a moment later, she pulled her knife out of her boot, sliding it under her already ripped and stained sleeve, ripping it so half of her sleeve was now hanging off by a few threads. It would have to do.

Using only one hand, Nettie quickly wrapped it around her wound, glad to see the blood flow was slowing down, and tightened it with the help of her teeth. Just another scar to add to her collection. Now, she just had to figure out how to get another sword. Her knife wouldn't be enough. Maybe she could find some sort of weapon among the mounds of treasure.

The clang of swords grew louder, and after stiffening for a moment, Nettie was about to stand up and run again when Jack and Barbossa stumbled into view, so instead, she flattened herself against the wall, not daring to breath, not daring to even gasp when Barbossa kicked Jack to the ground.

As Jack looked up at him, Barbossa tossed his sword to the side. "You can't beat me, Jack," he stated.

Stumbling to his feet, Jack thrust his sword into his enemies stomach. To that, Barbossa simply rolled his eyes with a sigh, pulled out the sword with squishing noise, and did something that made Nettie scream, her hands covering her mouth the only thing holding it back.

He stabbed Jack on the chest.

And in that instance, she saw red.

It hurt.

It bloody hurt.

Gasping in pain, Jack glanced down at the sword that had gone through his chest before exiting the other side. He wasn't dead, he knew that much since he taken one of the curse gold pieces earlier - right under Barbossa's nose, in fact - but no one said anything about still feeling the pain. The others made it look like nothing.

Just as Jack stumbled back, overwhelmed by the pain, something leapt out from the shadows and tackled Barbossa to the ground with snarl. "How dare you!" growled a low voice, and familiar blue eyes were lit with a dark fire. "You'll pay for this!"

"Nettie?" Jack whispered. "Oh no..."

"What is this?" yelped Barbossa as he twisted, much like a fish above water. "What do you think you're doin'?"

Snarling, Nettie wrapped her hands around Barbossa's neck, who started to laugh. "You can't kill me, lass, don't you remember?"

"I'm going to rip you apart and send you to the ocean floor," hissed Nettie.

With a grunt, Jack yanked the sword out of his chest, and while Barbossa watched in shock, he grabbed his Nettie by the shoulders and pulled her away. She fought him though, trying to get back so she could rip Barbossa apart with her bare hands. "Enough, Nettie, snap out of it!" He wouldn't let her do it. Killing him was his burden to bare, not hers.

Her head snapped up, Nettie's eyes burned for a long moment before she blinked repeatedly, the fire disappearing as she returned to her senses. "Jack?" she whispered in shock. "I thought..." Lifting her hands up, they fluttered around his chest, looking for the wound that would have normally killed him. "I thought you were dead," she said with her eyes watering.

Jack winced. He hadn't meant for Nettie to even be here. He was going to kill Barbossa, or die trying. Grabbing the coin was more out of chance than anything. He wasn't even sure it would work. So for her to see him stabbed, to think that he was dead. "Its alright, love -"

"Sorry to interrupt this touching moment," barked out Barbossa as he stood, and Jack protectively pushed Nettie behind him. "But how in the blazes did you do that?"

Smirking, Jack slipped the cursed gold coin into his hand and held it up from the other man to see. It entered a beam of moonlight, and when his skin disappeared, leaving only bones behind, he let it 'clink' between his fingers. "Couldn't resist, mate."

"I thought you were dead," Nettie repeated as she stood up, but this time with a hiss.

"It was a spur of the moment idea, love," Jack explained as he glanced back at her, but Nettie just glared at him. "Please, Nettie, don't be mad..."

"So what now, Jack Sparrow?" said Barbossa with an amused smirk. "Will it be it two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgment Day and trumpets sound? Hmm?"

"Or you could surrender?" suggested Jack with a grin.

Laughing at him, Barbossa turned out towards the other pirates fighting. From here, Jack could see that Will was now fighting four pirates at once, and do quite a good job of doing it, at least for now. "Gentlemen!" he barked out, catching two of the pirates attention. "I thought I told you to kill the girl! So why she she still living and breathing? Get your scrawny hides up here!"

"Nettie, you better run, love," Jack muttered as the pirates replied. "Things are about to turn ugly."

"...Fine," Nettie growled in agreement. "But Jack? We have a lot to talk about, so don't die, alright?"

Chuckling, Jack nodded. "Aye. You better promise the same, though."

"You really think I'm gonna let these bastards kill me?" Nettie scoffed, but then suddenly, she stood on her toes, wrapping her arms around his waist in a hug from behind. "In their dreams, Sparrow," she whispered, just loud enough for him to hear. And then Nettie was gone, running off just as the other pirates appeared.

"After her!" ordered Barbossa. "I want her dead!"

"Well not everyone gets what they want, mate," said Jack before running in the opposite direction, rushing passed Barbossa and his crew. Moments later, he heard Barbossa come after him. He grinned a little, all he had to do was distract him just long enough for his plan to work...