A/N: I'm so sorry, but here I am again with a late update :( Real life has been kind of wild but I promise to do better with updates. Enjoy this chapter, it's a bit action-packed but I promise the next one will be a good one - and will mark the end of the second film! As always, your kind reviews are simply the best and I love each and every one of them - so thank you! 3
The next thing Violet knew, Will Turner was kneeling next to the chest and trying to break it open with a knife.
"I'm going to kill Jones," the man said defiantly, and it was then that Violet glimpsed the flash of a sword out of the corner of her eye, and suddenly Jack was pointing his sword straight at Will.
"Can't let you do that, William. 'Cause if Jones is dead, who's to call his terrible beastie off the hunt, eh?" Jack held out a hand to Will, reaching for the key that was clutched in the boy's hand. "The key, if you please." Smirking, Will snatched Elizabeth's sword away from her and leveled it towards Jack.
"I keep the promises I make, Jack. I intend to free my father. And I hope you're here to see it." Will sneered, and it only took a few seconds before Norrington's sword was in hand, pointed at Will.
"I can't let you do that either. So sorry."
"I knew you'd warm up to me eventually," Jack crooned, and Norrington glared at him.
"Lord Beckett desires the contents of that chest. I deliver it, I get my life back." Norrington swiveled his sword to point it at Jack, and Violet didn't wait before drawing her own blade and pointing it at Norrington.
Jack wanted the chest for his own gain, to save his own skin. Will wanted to save his father, a man he barely even knew, and a quest that would surely end with the heart ending up back to Jones. Norrington wanted his post back. And Violet. She would do anything to keep that heart from falling into Beckett's hands, even if it killed her. That man deserved nothing.
"I'm ever so sorry, my darling Commodore, but that chest can't find it's way into the grasp of Cutler Beckett. It just can't." Violet gave him a sweet smile, and he rolled his eyes.
"Oh, and I'm sure a lady like you will be able to stop me." He turned his sword on her and she narrowed her eyes, the words make red flood her vision. She was not a lady.
"That was a bad move, I'm afraid," Jack said quietly, and Violet lunged. Her sword clashed with Norrington's, and they were off in the deathly dance of swordplay. He was a dead man walking.
"Stop!" Violet could hear Elizabeth's voice faintly through her tunnel vision, but she ignored the girl's outraged cries, focusing on the bastard in front of her. Beside her, she was vaguely aware of Jack and Will fighting their own battle.
"Still think I'm a lady?" Violet hissed through gritted teeth, flipping her sword sideways in order to block Norrington's incoming stab.
"You certainly fight like one." Norrington drove her backward with his calculated slashes, and Violet had to dig her heels into the sand to stop the tirade. She was going to win this fight.
"I appreciate the compliment, darling," she said with a smile, abandoning any sense of technique she ever had and beginning to stab wildly in his direction. It was about time someone taught this fool some manners.
Suddenly, she heard a commotion and noticed Jack, key in hand, running in the opposite direction.
"Damn it," she muttered, and the two took off after Will, following the mad pirate captain with the key.
Running through a jungle-like grove of trees, the pursuit led her up the stairs of an old mill, the wood nearly crumbling beneath her. Suddenly, a blade whizzed past her ear, and all of a sudden she was locked in combat with Will, Norrington and Jack fighting above them.
"Nice to see you, Violet. It's been a while, hasn't it?" The two made their way up the rest of the stairway, swords clashing with every step.
"I've missed you, William. Truly I have." Violet drove her sword forward, and Will's dodge sent him accidentally pulling a rope for balance, setting off a loud bell from above.
"I hope you enjoyed selling me to Jones," Will said as they suddenly careened upwards. "Because it worked out well for me in the end, didn't it?"
"If it's any consolation, it wasn't my idea. But we all get in the way of Jack Sparrow saving his own skin, don't we?"
They found their way in the roof in a moment, taking off across the rickety tiles, blades flashing, and suddenly Jack and Norrington were engulfed in their fight. It was a flurry of swords and shouts before finally, Jack lay on the ground, three swords pointed at his throat.
"Do excuse me while I kill the man that ruined my life," Norrington growled, and Will stepped back with his hands in the air.
"Be my guest."
"Let us examine that claim for a moment, former Commodore, shall we? Who was it that at the very moment you had a notorious pirate safely behind bars saw fit to free said pirate and take your dearly beloved all to himself, aye? So whose fault is it really that you've ended up a rum-pot deckhand what takes orders from pirates?" Jack raised an eyebrow, and Norrington growled angrily.
"You bring up a good point, Mr. Sparrow, but if I recall, it was a different pirate who made a complete mockery of my career." Slowly, Norrington's eyes clouded over with rage, and Violet knew which pirate he was talking about. "'You can't even catch a woman, Norrington.' 'What kind of soldier can't even track down a female pirate?'"
"Apparently you," Violet sneered, regretting the words the moment she said them.
"You know nothing, Charles. How could you, when you can prance around and do whatever you want on the open ocean? Not all of us are so lucky." A strange sadness took over Norrington's face, and Violet found herself feeling sorry for the man. "I did what you asked once long ago, and how did you repay me? By making me into a fool."
"I think you did a fine enough job of that on your own," Jack piped up from his position of the room, and Norrington's face contorted into a mask of rage.
"Enough!" he called, and he quickly took a swipe at Jack with his blade. Suddenly, Violet felt a hand latch around her ankle, and before she knew it, both her and Jack her falling off the side of the roof.
Shouting, she landed with a thump on the soft, sandy ground, her sword clattering to a halt beside her.
"What in the seven seas possessed you to-"
"Let's go, love, before those two imbeciles catch on." Jack, key around his neck, beckoned her forward, and reluctantly, she followed, sheathing her sword.
Before the two of them could get very far, a loud crash drew their attention to a giant millwheel, which was now rolling across the forest, holding both Will and Norrington, who were locked in combat.
"Why is everything always impossibly strange when it comes to the three of you?" Violet yelled, exasperated, and Jack shrugged.
"Oh, come on, love, don't pretend you're not just as strange as the rest of us. Now, allons-y!" The two of them charged through the forest, in pursuit of a pirate - well, if you could it one - with a conch shell for a head who had the chest clasped firmly in its arms.
"Perhaps I should distract him while you come round the back and try to-" Jack's words were silenced when Violet pulled out her sword and sprinted ahead like a madwoman.
"Or I could just do this-" With all her might, Violet swung her sword around and took off the pirate's head like she was wielding a machete. The now-headless pirate dropped the chest, and Jack and Violet kneeled next to it.
"I suppose that was the easier option," Jack muttered as he unlocked the chest, fumbling with the key. Under the lid lay a pulsing, beating heart, and Violet wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"His literal heart? Really? And all this time I thought it would be some clever representation. Or treasure, at the least-"
"Well, no time to mourn, love, it looks like we've got company." Violet looked up to see Elizabeth and those two imbeciles from Barbossa's crew running towards them, trailed by half a dozen mad pirates.
Immediately, Jack shoved the heart down his shirt and took off running, Violet close behind.
"You couldn't just carry it?" Violet asked, disgusted, and Jack grinned.
"Perhaps you'd like to?"
"I'll pass," she said, not really interested in touching the heart of Davy Jones. Suddenly, they were nearing the boat, and Jack practically threw himself into the vessel, seizing his jar of dirt. Quickly, he shoved the organ inside just as the tide of Jones' crew came upon them, and soon it was another flurry of swords and blood.
Violet took on two pirates of her own, slashing at their seaweed like skin with renewed vigor. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Norrginton fumbling around in the boat with Jack's coat. The letters.
If Norrington wanted the letters, there could only be one place he intended to go, and that was straight to Beckett. Shedding her assailants, Violet ran to the boat, sword in hand. This idiot was going nowhere with-
"Trying to stop me, are we, Charles? I'm afraid you were never quite good enough for that." Suddenly, Norrington had spun around and she felt a searing pain in her temple as the oar he was holding made contact with her head, and she was falling, falling, falling, and all she could think about was how, here she was, being knocked by an oar for the second time.
Violet opened her eyes to the sound of Jack Sparrow ordering his crew around like he was a bloody dictator, which, in part, he was.
"Hard to starboard! Hard to starboard, and- Oh, excellent, Violet, you're awake. Just in time, too." He extended a hand and she took it, hoisting herself to her feet.
"What is going-" Her question was answered for her when she came face to face with a massive, hulking ship in the middle of the ocean, covered in barnacles. The Flying Dutchman, cannons slid out and aimed straight to the Pearl. They must have carried her back to the ship. She only hoped it wasn't Jack who had done the carrying. "Oh. Wonderful."
"Raise up the foreyard!" Will's shouts rose above the commotion on board just as the first round of cannonballs shook the ship, nearly causing Violet to fall.
"We've got to move, Jack!" Violet scrambled across the deck, ignoring the throbbing in her head as she did so. "Gibbs!"
"She's all yours, Miss." Gibbs, who was manning the steering wheel, quickly passed it up to Violet, who used all that she had to drag it firmly to the right.
"Make fast!" Will called from where he was struggling with the sails, and Violet gave the wheel everything she had.
"She's falling behind!" Elizabeth called from the deck, and Violet grinned as the ship caught the wind and sped through the sea, leaving the Dutchman in the dust.
"We've got her!" Gibbs called, and Violet gave the wheel one last pull before stepping back, relieved as she'd never been before.
The crew erupted in cheers as the Dutchman broke off pursuit. Jack, prancing through the ship with his stupid jar of dirt, sauntered up to her with a smile.
"Nicely done, love."
"Thank you, Captain," Violet said quietly, and Jack gave her a tight smile.
"I have something that perhaps you might want to hear," Jack said, looking her straight in the eye. "Or perhaps you might not."
"What is it?" Violet asked warily.
"I didn't sell you out. Or, at least, that wasn't my intention." Jack stared at her, a blank expression on his face, as if this was all perfectly normal.
"Don't be ridiculous, Jack. This lie, or whatever you're trying to say, is not going to make me-"
"Beckett found me on the shore that night and told me I could tell him where you were and be generously compensated or I could turn in meself. I- you have to understand, love, it wasn't just about the money. It was-"
"You think that this is an excuse, Jack? That you were saving your own skin, just like you always do, so I should forgive you right here and now?" Violet shook her head, incredulous to his stupidity.
"I don't want your forgiveness, love, but I know you, Coldblood, and you can't look me in the eyes and tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing." Jack's gaze echoed the intensity in her own, and she felt her heart fold inwards.
Would she have done the same thing? Back then, Jack was her everything, her north star, her horizon of what was possible. But would she have let Beckett take her for a second time? Or would she have taken the money and ran?
"You're right," Violet said finally, shaking her head. "I can't."
Jack didn't smile, didn't gloat, merely nodded and turned away, stumbling off in that same drunken manner he always seemed to have.
Because they weren't good people, her and Jack. And maybe that's why the two of them always seemed to end up in the same place.