Chapter 2

(ELIZABETH'S POV)

Elizabeth had had the most tiring days in all her life, which was saying something when she had been the daughter of Port Royal's governor… However, she was not in that moment that, but a supposed king of the Brethren Court and the Lord (or Lady, whatever it was) of the South China Sea.

Since the battle had ended, not counting Barbossa or Jack, she had had to deal with the other pirates wanting to make business with her, trying to fall into her good graces most possibly. When that had finished, most of the ships had left, with the exception of the Empress.

After all of that, she had asked for a map and a small dinghy and had made way to a close island that had been surrounded by trees and which was perfect for her to hide William's heart, as she couldn't be expected to carry it around, in fear of someone using it or stabbing him in a way to become immortal.

When she hid it, she repeated a similar process in various islands that she thought they would have been almost perfect and then she returned back to Shipwreck Island.

It was dark when she finally reached land and found that there was a body near the water. It wasn't that unnatural, as bodies had started appearing at the shores after the battle ended and Elizabeth, after pulling the dinghy into the sand with the other boats, just went towards it to check if he had something of value, not counting the clothes.

When she was closed enough, she noticed that he was obviously a Naval officer and when she was just in front of him, she almost jolted in shock and not only because she knew him, but also because he had risen a bit to cough.

She opened her mouth and almost closed it again in a second. Her mind was reeling, she didn't know if she was breathing and she couldn't help but just stare at him.

Nevertheless, she knew she was in a place full of pirates that would not doubt kill him if they had their chance so she needed to do something since he was obviously alive.

She knelt in front of him and she saw how his eyes struggled to look at her "Elizabeth?" he asked.

"James…" she whispered back, just as he relaxed and collapsed in the sand again "Damn it."

She was, despite that, glad that James wasn't conscious to hear her curse and almost laughed at her own imagination of how James would have reacted.

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With a sigh and a shake of the head, she decided to take him from his shoulders and started pulling him near her dinghy to hide him a bit from sight. She, then, reached for her dagger at her boot and started taking out all forms of recognizing the clothes as Navy. She also threw his wig far away to the sea, glad to see that the waves ate it and disheveled him as much as it was possible. With that done, and checking his pulse again, she went running towards the port, which was usually kept by at least a man from Captain Teague's former crew.

"Yer Majesty" the old man at the port greeted her.

"Can you call for some men? I found a man of… the Pearl's still alive." She hated lying and most of all telling that James worked for Jack, but it had to be done and it wasn't like either of them would be able to stop her at the moment.

After a few minutes, Elizabeth and two men were able to take him to the place she had been residing for the time being, which she shared with Captain Teague, since the house had two sides. As she had been explained, the house technically belonged to him, but he usually tended to rent the right side of the house if someone needed it.

The men that had helped her had put James in the sofa of the living room and then they had left.

Elizabeth prepared a bowl with warm water, some bandages and a wet towel to clean the dirt and the possibly dried blood as she thought of her possibilities.

Her initial plan had been to secure the place she was living in with things that she would need in case she needed to come back (which she expected it would happen if both Will and her had been lucky on at least a department of their brief union), to buy some clothes for both when she would work and when she would be alone, and to prepare the Empress as soon as possible to secure her place in Singapore.

However, with James out of conscience and alone in a pirate island, Elizabeth knew that she wouldn't leave until he was alright and he could take care of himself.

With a little sigh, she opened his jacket, and lifted his shirt as much as she was able and started cleaning. She blushed a bit at seeing his muscles and his old scars, but she tried to keep her hands at task. She was almost thankful that the only injury with blood she encountered was the wound that she supposed had been the one that had killed him. She was guessing, though she wasn't sure why, that Calypso had revived him.

"I didn't know takin' care of men personally was a job for a king." And Elizabeth almost let the bowl drop when taking out her pistol, only to be laughed at Captain Teague, who seemed to be amused. She let out a breath in frustration to what the captain laughed again "Relax, lass."

"You almost scared me to death" she huffed, turning her head to continue with her task "What are you doing here? Don't tell me you have changed your price for the renting."

"Nah, lass, it ain't any of tha'. One of my men informed me of yer castaway and I came here t' see if it were true." He shrugged, looking at the man for a bit.

"And now that you have confirmed it, has your curiosity died?" she snorted, knowing already the answer.

"They said that ye have recognized it as one of the men aboard my son's ship." He said as a way to confirm it.

Elizabeth also noticed it how Captain Teague was referring to the Pearl… She had learnt about that relationship when Jack had confirmed it to her. The reference, though, almost made her bet that his relationship with Barbossa had been cordial just because of the urgency of the meeting and the war that had been announced.

"That's right." She nodded without looking up from the injury that she had wrapped in bandages and the body that was starting to look a lot cleaner "He was hired by Jack."

Which, she told herself, it wasn't a lie, but it hadn't lasted that much. Not something that Captain Teague had to know… Just as her killing his son was something he didn't have to know, as Jack had told her before she had left the Black Pearl.

"He is very lucky to still be alive, then." He said.

"Very." Elizabeth just replied, readjusting his shirt once again and taking the bowl in her hands "If you're going to just stand there without helping me, maybe you should leave, Captain Teague."

This one just smirked at her, patted her shoulder and went towards the door. Just as he opened, he spoke.

"Ye'll have to talk to yer first mate, yer majesty."

And with that final warning, he left.

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As Elizabeth had predicted, convincing the crew of the Empress of staying in Shipwreck Island for a few days more was almost impossible. She and Tai Huang, her first mate, danced back and forth for at least several minutes before deciding to compromise in staying for one more week.

Elizabeth was definitely glad when after three days of waiting, James woke up. Despite her not trusting Captain Teague a lot, she had trusted him with taking care of him for when she wasn't there, as she trusted the rest of the pirates around even less and after her talk at the Empress, she didn't believe that the task of taking care of a man they barely knew would be met with enthusiasm.

She was glad that, despite some obvious flaws of the captain, he was almost as good man as his son… Or maybe it was something that came with ageing.

"Elizabeth? Where am I?"

James' questions brought Elizabeth back from her mind "Hello, James." she smiled, gently "Right now, you're in Shipwreck City. How are you feeling? You've been out for three days…"

"Shipwreck City?" he repeated, as if he couldn't believe it. He probably couldn't. He cleared his throat "I would appreciate for a glass of water… As for the rest, I think I'm as fine as I can be."

Elizabeth smiled once again and handed him carefully a glass of water that she had put near his table in case it would be needed "What happened, James?" she couldn't help it, but the last time she had seen him… "I thought you were dead."

"I was." He whispered lowly, and she would have missed it if it wasn't for the silence of the room "Your… Captain Turner said that he owed me a debt for saving your life and asked Calypso for a favor."

"… I see. Was he okay?" she asked.

"… He seemed to be." He answered carefully.

Elizabeth nodded at that, glad to hear it. She then set her eyes on him again "What are you going to do with this new chance at life?"

"Well… First, I am going to eat and recover and then… I'm not sure…" he almost shrugged "I did tell you that I had many sins… And I wish to pay for them, though I'm not sure how I'm going to do that."

"You could come with me." she replied quickly and when James frowned, she explained further "I meant my ship… the Empress… We are leaving in four days to Singapore to establish… my power, as my first mate has stated."

"I… I'm honored by your offer, but…" James cleared his throat "I can't. It's… It's a pirate ship, for heaven's sake, I can't just go and turn…"

"You can't or you won't?" she couldn't help telling him "It's not like you can go back to your old station, James."

"That," a voice, that belonged to Captain Teague, came from the door that made Elizabeth freeze for a second "it's a thing that would depend on my son, wouldn't it, yer majesty? I would suggest asking him once he has reached port."

Elizabeth turned to him, surprised "Jack is back? Here? You said he always avoids this place!"

"Actually, I said that he tends to avoid it." He corrected "He will reach port in an hour or so."

"I'm sorry, I hate to interrupt, but I seem to be missing something… How is that my fate depends on…?"

"Jack?" Elizabeth interrupted quickly, sending him daggers with her eyes, telling him to not speak "Well, he did hire you." James looked as about to retort something, but the murderous look of Elizabeth made him shut his mouth. "Well, I'm going to dress better and go to the port to receive him. James, there's food in the table. Captain Teague, please, let him rest."

She went towards her room and before closing the door and seeing as Captain Teague was looking elsewhere, she called James' attention and mouthed at him 'Don't get into trouble, and don't speak too much to him. You work at the Pearl, the end.'

And with that, she closed the door.

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&&& A.N.: When I started this story, I had chosen as genre adventures, but in the end, it ended as suspense, which doesn't mean that there won't be some scenes with action and adventures, but I'm kind of realistic since the next four chapters are from different points of views in which I explain something that has already been mentioned in another POV... This is to give some type of perspective and characterization to most of the characters involved (this means that the story takes longer to take place for real x.x)

Luckily, I have no intention to keep this up forever for many reasons and will use it scarcely... My first idea was to make at the same time than this the Fountain of the Youth plot, but this one will take longer than I thought and I think it's better to keep it separated (: (welcome to my not organized life xD)

Anyway, I want to state something: Yes, you'll have new villains who you will know quite quite late because I'm a disaster, a dramatic and I love to torture you all (and myself in the process) :D

In any case, thanks for reading, favs, kudos, follows, etc. As always, comment if you have just a little second and we'll see each other next time :)

P.S.: According to a Spanish reviewer, I did justice to Elizabeth, but what do you think? Because, funnily enough, me being a girl, she's a character I'm always scared to write from her POV XD &&&