A/N: Sorry for the wait my wonderful reviewers! I was out of town on a trip to Hilton Head Island with my tennis team. Four and a half hours of tennis a day. It was certainly an experience. We did have a lotta fun though, going out to dinner and all. We played mini-golf at the pirate-themed place and all I could think about was what Jack would say if we could've taken him to a place like that! We definitely got some laughs out of that one. Well, I know y'all want the story and not some random author's note, so I'll quit it now. A huge thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far!! Hope y'all continue to enjoy!

1. Oh yeah! I've noticed that italics on my computer don't show up on
fanfiction.net (If any of ya'll know how to make that work please
let me know!!) For now I've decided to use dashes to represent
thoughts.
/../ denotes thoughts
* * * * denotes a flashback

Disclaimer: I don't own PotC or any of its characters. The only thing I own is Celeste and any other random characters that pop up for a scene or two.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Deja Vu ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Night was falling over the Caribbean beginning to turn the jewel colored waters into mysterious black deeps. Celeste sat up at the bow of the ship alone enjoying the feel of the ocean spray as it hit her face. The sunset was beautiful and she had a perfect view. Carefully, she poured herself another glass of wine that she had pilfered from the commodore's stash. Two other bottles rolled around on the deck behind her. The commodore, being the "gentlemen" he was, had nothing stronger aboard than a light dinner wine. She wanted to get drunk, dead drunk, and after three bottles the alcohol was finally beginning to have an effect.
"Not even one bottle of bloody rum on the entire ship. There was always rum aboard the Pearl. How could there not be with a Captain like Jack? Jack."
She stole a glance behind her. No sign of the crew - if you could call it that. She sighed to herself. No one to see her get drunk. Before now, she hadn't had time to remember. Now that she did, the old emotions came pouring back. For some people, memories brought happiness; for her they only contained pain - pain for what she had lost. The three years she and Jack had shared had been the best of her life. The ten years since that horrible night had been hell.
She took another swallow of wine relishing the smooth passage of the wine down her throat and the warmth it filled her with. The commodore had good taste in wine, she had to give him that. She watched the waves break on the bow of the ship. Her eyelids felt leaden and slowly the waves all seemed to melt together as her vision swam. She yawned and let her eyes close.

* * * * * *

/"Now that I'm captain of this ship we're free, love. We can go where ever we want. The world's ours."/
She smiled as she heard him whisper the words in her ear. His breath felt warm and his beard tickled the soft skin of her neck. They stood together at the front of the ship, his arms wrapped around her.
/"Freedom,"/ she whispered back.
/"Aye, freedom, plunder and all the rum we can drink!"/
She turned slightly in his arms to look at him, an expression of mock outrage on her face. /"Is that all you ever think of, Jack Sparrow? Rum, rum and more rum?"/
/"Captain, love. 'Tis Captain Jack Sparrow now. And yes, 'tis the only thing I do think about, 'cept for you."/
He leaned forward to kiss her but was thwarted by his captain's hat which bumped into her forehead. Laughing, she grabbed it from his head and tossed it away. The wind took it and it gently blew off the ship into the ocean. He looked after it, feigning incredible sorrow.
/"Not my hat, luv! 'Twas brand-new!"/
/"Buy another one, Captain Jack Sparrow."/ He grinned and kissed her.

* * * * * *

Celeste was startled out of her sleep by a loud clatter. She looked around, her vision slowly settling down. 'Twas only a small crate of provisions that had been left on deck. She rubbed her eyes, blinking quickly as she tried to wake up. How long had she slept? Her back was sore from sleeping where she had dropped on the hard deck. Still night - a few hours then. She staggered to the rail and looked down. Her heart jumped. It was a good thing this ship had a flat bottom. Even through the night blackened waters, she could see the reef below them. A couple feet lower and they would have foundered on it. She breathed deeply and stepped back. The reef meant something else though. Two days 'til they reached Isle de Muerta. Two days until she saw Jack again.
/"My dream.so real. Has it really been ten years since then? My God, ten years. One can change people. How many has ten changed him? I don't know if I can bear it if he's changed."/ Her thoughts spun around and trailed off. She shook her head and heaved the empty wine bottle over the rail, listening with satisfaction to the small splash it made. /"Two days." /

Though the Pearl had left only a day ahead of the Dauntless, it arrived at Isle de Muerta almost two days ahead of the navy ship. Laughter, singing and other banter rung out from the crew as the Pearl dropped anchor. Even Jack joined in. It was mid-morning and he could forget for a little while that he was separated from his crew by a centuries old curse that should have been broken. That and several bottles of rum had mysteriously disappeared from the ship's hold.
Lifeboats dropped and the crew rowed slowly into the cave systems penetrating the isle leaving few behind to guard the ship. Their thoughts on the riches that lay ahead, they took no notice of the skeletons - and lack of skeletons - that lay in their path. The boats docked with a bump and the crew fanned out among the treasure. The click and clink of trinkets being tossed about swiftly permeated the pirates' talk.
Alone, Jack walked slowly up the largest pile of treasure towards the stone box housing the cursed gold. He gazed into it, an amused look on his face. Strange that such small trinkets could impact a life so much. The coins had cost him a good friend, his ship - twice - and even love. He had thought he was rid of them but it looked as if they would continue to plague him. The one on the golden chain still lay on top, the one Bootstrap had given the lad. He reached down to touch it and instinctively drew his hand back. He laughed at himself. /"Isn't like it's going to hurt now!"/ The motion disturbed the pile of gold and it shifted exposing some of the coins on the bottom. Jack was about to turn away when something caught his eye - one of the coins that had been lying at the bottom. Slowly, he turned back around. There was something different about it. He picked it and the one next to it up to compare. There was no doubt now. It was different. The color was just a bit too bright, as if it had been polished recently, and it was just slightly smaller than the other.
/"It's an imitation and a bloody good one! That's why the curse isn't broken! But then.the whelp's wasn't the last one like Barbosa thought. There's another, but who has it?"/
Jack was interrupted from his reverie by screams coming from one of the smaller caves. Yells began breaking out all around him. His reflexes kicked into action before he even realized what was going on. He whipped around, drew his sword and barely had time to sidestep as the body of one of his crew members fell toward him.
/"Gibbs!"/ he thought. Out loud he yelled, "What in bloody hell is going on?"
"We're being attacked!" came an answering yell from another pirate.
"Brilliant observation mate, but what I want to know is who's doing the attackin', savvy?"
"We are," came a sinister voice from behind him. Jack knew that voice all too well but he hadn't thought he'd ever hear it again. He turned to face a sword point and brought his own up to meet it.
"Barbosa."
"Pleased that you recognized me."
"Sorry if I seem a bit surprised mate, but you see, thing is, you're supposed to be dead."
"You forgot one thing."
"What's that?"
Aping Jack's voice and eccentricities, Barbosa replied, "I'm Captain ---- Barbosa!"
"You'll never be captain of the Pearl again."
"Oh really? Tell that to me crew." He gestured behind Jack.
Jack sighed theatrically wishing someone would appear in /front/ of him once in a while and turned yet again. Barbosa's entire cursed crew stood below them.
Almost as one, the damned pirates grinned and a chorus of "Kill 'im" broke out. Jack laughed. "Nice try lads but ye can't kill me! Terribly sorry to disappoint you but the curse is stuck on me too!"
The chorus died out and it was silent for a moment before someone yelled out, "Then throw 'im in the brig and let's leave. I want this bloody curse done with!" The crowd took up the cry.
"Now, now, me lads," spoke Barbosa calmly, "There's no need to be rushing away. Remember how badly those wounds hurt when we were fightin the good commodore and his men? They didn't kill us but they hurt, didn't they? I'm suggestin we take a little retribution for that pain on our good friend Jack here. What'da ye say?"
The swell of cheers filled the cave and drowned out Jack's reply, "Captain! It's Captain Jack to you matey!"

One person heard Jack's voice though and, in spite of the situation, chuckled to herself. Her captain always had to keep up appearances no matter how dire the circumstances. Ana-Maria's laughter quickly died away though as she looked out from her hiding spot behind a large stone formation. A tear fell down her cheek as she looked at the bodies of all her former friends strewn about the cave like so many dead dogs. She slowly backed down the cave behind her. They couldn't kill Jack just yet and there was no sense in getting caught before she could do something to help - though what she could do she had no idea. She had seen Jack remove something from the stone chest and look at it strangely. Perhaps it was a clue about the strange reappearance of the curse. She cast one last look at the strange and ghastly gathering in the main chamber and quietly crept out.

A/N: Remember, please review! Any and all comments are rejoiced over!