Hello! I can't believe we are almost done. One chapter left after this!
Thank you CartoonGeek337 for adding this story.
I hope you all have been enjoying the adventure and will stick around to see the ending. I had to rewrite this chapter several times before it felt right so I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 11
Isla de Muerta stood before them covered in a fog just as thick as before. It was nearly impossible to see anything without the sunlight though. The moon was high in the sky, blocked out by the clouds and fog, making the already earie waterway seem even worse. Caroline had to wonder how they ever managed to get through the obstacles of sunken ships without hitting them. It seemed Jack's compass could do the impossible.
Things were finally coming to a close and Caroline was left on board, stuck watching and waiting. Meanwhile, Norrington and his men had taken Jack, ready to enact their plan against Barbossa and his crew. The waiting was driving her crazy, not knowing what may be happening. And to make things worse, she was basically a prisoner. Her father had made arrangements beforehand to have her out of the way. With the agreement of Norrington, she was locked in the captain's quarters with nothing but her mind to keep her occupied.
Resting with her back along the wall, she sat on the floor, staring at the ceiling. She would need to get out eventually, but she knew she needed to wait long enough that no one would be checking on her. The door would be out of the question but if she found a way to climb down from the rear balcony, she could get out.
The door flew open then, startling her out of her thoughts as she looked over to see Elizabeth being brought inside, curtesy of Gillette and two other men.
"Sorry, but it's for your own safety!" Gillette called after her from the doorway.
I don't care what the Commodore ordered!" Elizabeth shouted back after she was released, turning back towards the door. "I have to tell him, the pirates, they're cursed! They can't be killed!"
Wide-eyed, Caroline stood up quickly in shock. Jack hadn't told them about the curse? What was he thinking?
Mocking her words, Gillette replied, "Don't worry miss, he's already informed of that. A little mermaid flopped up on deck and told him the whole story." The door shut behind him.
"This is Jack Sparrow's doing," Elizabeth snapped as she glared at door.
Taking tentative steps towards the fuming Elizabeth, Caroline still needed answers. "The crew know nothing about the curse?"
"No. They're going in blind and now we're both stuck in here. I know Jack did this."
Unable to defend him, Caroline chose to move on instead. "You tried to warn them. Now we just need to find our own way out. I don't know what he is planning but we have other options for help. If Will is here, the crew should be as well."
Elizabeth turned around as she realized her plan, nodding in agreement. "If we can get to the Pearl, we can find the crew and rescue Will."
"Exactly. We just have to leave when no one will notice," she finished with a gesture towards the window.
Caroline and Elizabeth sat in silence as they rowed towards the Black Pearl in the distance. They weren't willing to be heard as they escaped. The last thing they needed was someone spotting their boat, thinking they were an enemy. Thankfully it wasn't long before she pulled up beside the Pearl, looking up as they found a way to climb up. Very little noise was heard from the ship, aside from one conversation drifting out of an opening. Luck was on their side now that they knew where the lookouts were for the ship.
With careful steps, they made their way across the deck. Amidst the silence, and screech broke through as a skeletal monkey dropped right in front of them. Elizabeth waited no time to let her annoyance be known before she found the nearest object to hit it with, sending it over the side of the ship. Both of them peered over the edge as they followed the monkey's fall as it landed on the cannon, right outside the area they knew the pirates were. Ready to move forward, the girls shared a look as they heard a splash. The pirates must have heard some of that.
Moving quickly, they raced down the steps and ducked behind a partial wall, just as the two pirates ran up the stairs. With them out of the way, they continued down into the brig. As they reached the bottom, they heard the crew fall silent as they were shushed. A second later, they came into view to the delight of Gibbs.
"It's Elizabeth and Caroline!"
The pair swiftly freed the crew, keeping everyone silent as they moved back to the upper deck. Before they went far, Caroline took advantage of being back on the pirate ship and picked up a sword, glad to have a weapon on her again. They still had two undead pirates to take care of and with a crew to assist, they would have a plan in no time.
Just as they spotted the two pirates still looking across the deck for Caroline and Elizabeth, they set their plan into motion. All at once, the crew swung the rowboat that was hanging, knocking it into the pirates, sending them straight into the water below.
"Perfect!" Caroline shouted as she moved with Elizabeth towards the boat. "Now we can go."
Elizabeth stepped beside her as she grabbed the rope, shouting at the crew as she prepared to move the boat. "All of you! With me! Will is in that cave, and we must save him. Ready and...Heave!" Just as she and Caroline pulled, little happened. Turning around, they saw the crew still standing there, unmoving. "Please, I need your help!" Elizabeth pleaded, "Come on!"
"Any port in a storm!" Cotton's parrot squawked, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"Cotton is right," Gibbs said from the amidst the crew. "We've got the Pearl."
Unable to believe how the whole crew was willing to just walk away, Carole spoke up. "What about Jack? You're just going to leave him?"
"Jack owes us a ship," another crew member cut in.
"And there's the code to consider," Gibbs added.
While Caroline didn't know much about the code, she was starting to realize how much of a pain it was. For a bunch of lawless sailors, they sure worried a lot of their own set of rules.
Elizabeth had had enough of it. "The code? You're pirates! Hang the code! And hang the rules! They're more like guidelines, anyway!
Regardless what they said, no one moved. In the end, it was Caroline and Elizabeth alone that would be heading back.
Yet again in the boat, Caroline and Elizabeth glared as they worked towards reaching the island as quickly as possible.
"Bloody pirates," Elizabeth grumbled as they moved closer.
"They could have been more grateful," Caroline agreed. "Should have gone right to the island."
Stuck in their annoyance, they focused on moving to the cave entrance, determined to get there soon. With no other distractions, it wasn't long before they reached land, stepping foot into the caves. One thing was clear as they went. Most of Barbossa's crew were not there, most likely fighting Norrington and his men. The distant sound of fighting within the cave echoed off the walls as they walked further inside.
Caroline pulled out her sword, keeping it in hand as they moved inside. Quickly spotting a few pirates, Caroline and Elizabeth split up, Elizabeth heading towards Will and Caroline moving towards a pirate that seemed to be knocked down. Just off to the side she could spot a third pirate, currently out of the fight due to something shoved over his face.
Not wasting any time, Caroline jumped down into the cave, running over to the pirate and kicking him before he could get back up. In an instant, the pirate rolled over, giving himself space to stand back up and pull his sword out. Just as the sword came down at her, she put her own up, blocking the blow and side stepped as he prepared another. Taking advantage of the piles of gold, Caroline crouched down, allowing herself to slide down the pile and out of reach.
Turning the corner, Caroline stepped around a protruding rock only to pause in confusion. Barbossa was locking in a fight with who she could only assume was Jack, now also cursed. Shaking her head, she had no time to worry about that. In one way, at least she knew he was alright, in a cursed way, but still alive.
It was then that she spotted Will and Elizabeth fighting another pirate just above her. Realizing quickly that she needed to get back up, she spun around and seeing that the pirate was no longer following her, she traced her steps, finding a ledge to climb up just beside the pile of gold she had previously slid down.
Just as she reached their level, she saw her previous opponent moving in on Will and Elizabeth. Running to their side, she swung at another pirate who hadn't realized she was there, stalling him as paused in surprise from the attack. And in that instant, Will attached the last pirate, getting them in a perfect line. With the gold pole Elizabeth had been using, Will helped her run it through the middle of all three skeleton pirates, trapping them in place.
Catching on to the plan, Caroline ran to assist them as Will shoved a bomb into the middle pirates stomach, and then proceeded to push all three of them out of the moonlight, turning them back into their human form.
"No fair!" cried the middle pirate, unable to remove the bomb or do anything to stop it.
With little time before the explosion, Caroline ran off following Will just as the bomb went off, throwing her and Elizabeth off their feet as they hit the ground, scrambling to get back up. Caroline was just ahead of Elizabeth as she looked back, checking on her before she followed Will's footsteps. She could already spot him atop the pile of gold, standing above the chest of cursed gold.
Distracted, it wasn't until she heard the click amidst the silence that she realized the threat suddenly present. Just ahead of them, Barbossa stood with his pistol drawn, though she wasn't sure if the shot would hit her or Elizabeth at that moment. Afraid to move, all she could do was wait with a racing heart as she heard the shot fire.
When she doesn't feel pain or hear a cry from Elizabeth, she finally registered the surprised look on Barbossa's face. Following his attention, her eyes landed on Jack as he stood across from him, pistol drawn and smoking as he stared Barbossa down.
"Ten years you carry that pistol, and now you waste your shot?" Barbossa asked in disbelief.
"He didn't waste it," Will called out, stood over the chest with a knife in hand. Opening his fist, Caroline watched as two medallions fell, landing in the chest.
Unwilling to move, Caroline remained in her spot, watching slowly as Barbossa moved his coat. And within moments, she could see the blood appearing, spreading through his shirt.
"I feel... cold," he uttered just before collapsing dead.
The cave on Isla de Muerta was silent aside from the occasional rattling and clanking of treasures. With the curse broken, the only pirate still present was Jack, who was digging through piles, looking for treasure to take with him. Caroline sat off to the side, watching as he picked up a crown, inspected all the jewels set in it, before placing it on his head.
"You can't take the entire cave, Jack," she reminded him as she ran her hands absentmindedly through the pile she was sitting beside.
"Then I'll just be takin' the best," he called back just as he tossed an item her way. With barely enough time to prepare, she nearly lost her balance trying to catch it. As she looked it over, she realized it was a circlet to go with his crown. Rolling her eyes, she dropped it to the ground. "I'm not dressing like royalty.'
"Why not, you can dress however you like once we're aboard the Pearl."
"I know, but," she could hardly believe that things were working out. This was her last chance to change her mind. She could go back with Will and Elizabeth, make a few apologies and pretend she hadn't gone through this adventure.
Jack dropped the last items in his hand before he walked over to her, arms crossed with a glare. "Nope. No more of this," he said with a wild gesture of his hands, waving at all of her. He grabbed her hands then and pulled her up so she stood before him. "I'm going to only say this once, so listen closely."
Caroline could only watch in confusion as he walked off again, picking up the circlet she had dropped, and walked back to her, shoving it onto her head. "As your captain, I order you to stop… overthinking everything," he said as if it were an insult. "You want to be on the ship. I want you on the ship. Just live a little."
"What?" she squeaked, unable to hear anything aside from those couple words. She was surely overthinking again, as he put it. Even if he wanted her on the ship, it wasn't the way that initially popped into her head. "Sorry," she apologized weakly. "I do want to, but I have one problem I need to work through."
Head tilted, he asked, "and what is that?"
She took the circlet off her head, looking it over more closely this time as she said, "I don't know if I can handle being on that ship with you."
He stepped closer. "And why is that?"
"I've grown attached to your company. But… I realized something else… The panic, and the relief I felt when I saw you fighting Barbossa as a skeleton. I wasn't expecting that."
Jack smirked as he grabbed the circlet again, placing it on her head and forcing her to look at him. "Knew you couldn't resist."
Scowling at his jokes, she tried to step back for space, only to hit the pile of gold, stumbling a step as she grabbed onto his arm for balance. "It's not funny, Jack. I know everything is a joke to you but-"
He cut her off before he could more, grabbing onto her arms that were already braced against him as he kept that smirk on his face. "I've yet to see a problem."
"You're the problem," she snapped, annoyed that he couldn't just let her be when she knew he understood what she was saying.
"No. That's not a problem. Not if you don't want it to be."
"I… don't understand," she said, lacking any response and desperately trying not to read too much into those words again. Perhaps she really did need to stop overthinking.
Jack shook head, laughing at her before he inches closer, sliding his hand up her arm. "How about this?" Before she knew it, he pulled her in, kissing her as he silenced her thoughts.
As he pulled away, Caroline kept her hold on his arms, tightening her grip as she looked at his crooked smirk, trying to find something to say. The anger and annoyance that she felt on top of all the positive emotions bubbling in her. She had to get something out. "I'm not interested in being one of your girls like you have at Tortuga."
"Alright." The crestfallen look on her face seemed to spur him on. Following those words, he looked seriously at her, silent as he stood there, not saying a word. "You know why I offered for you to come with me?" As she shook her head, he continued. "I don't help people just cause they want a new life. Not interested. At least not unless they're useful to the crew. And you have potential, but you're not a pirate. But you keep putting your trust in me. Why?"
Caroline didn't know whether to be insulted, crushed, or what as she listened to his words. She could feel her face falling as he went though, thinking perhaps it was a bad idea. "I don't know why. I just do."
"That's why. I'm curious to see what it's like to have someone around who so genuinely trusts me. That's a rare sight amongst pirates." He paused for just a moment before he continued. "I, on the other hand, am not trustworthy, but you seem to think otherwise. So, as crazy as your decision is, I'm willing to give it a try. I've always enjoy a good, crazy plan," he finished with a grin.
She was beyond confused at that point. "Try what?"
"Whatever you want. No promises but there could be some fun in trying," he said as he stepped closer again, placing his hand on the back of her head as he drew her in, waiting for a response.
Heart beating sporadically, she breathlessly replied, "alright, Captain," before she closed the distance.
Outside of the cave on Isla de Muerta, the four sat in their boat, looking out towards the open ocean. Jack was perched at the front of the boat, a bag of treasure beside him while Will sat in the middle rowing, Elizabeth and Caroline sitting together in the back. The Dauntless stood out amidst the fog, drawing attention to the fact that it was the only ship out there.
Caroline knew what that meant. They all did. With only one place to go, there was only one outcome. After everything that had just happened, it was just going to end. There was nothing she could do. Back on the Dauntless, she would be back under the hands of her father and he would guarantee that Jack was taken out of the picture. Unable to speak without breaking, she sat silently, watching Jack as she reached for Elizabeth's hand, seeking some comfort.
"I'm sorry, Jack." Elizabeth's voice broke through the silence.
"They done what's right by them," Jack said dejectedly. "Can't expect more than that."