Disclaimer: I still own nothing. Well, except for Alexa.
A/N: trapt130: Thank ya for the kind review! I have read your story and reviewed, but in case you haven't seen it… Update it soon! It's very original. Kumiko *Kaylin* Eharu: Um… I THINK that was a compliment. I'll pretend it was, anyway. Ginny-Star, Thank you so much!
A/N 2: I have BORROWED the idea of what is inside Pandora's Box from an episode of Hercules. Please don't hurt me or sue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Greed is a fat demon with a small mouth and whatever you feed it is never enough."
~Janwillem Van De Wetering
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a long silence.
"You're married?"
It was Elizabeth who had spoken, Elizabeth who was eyeing the woman with something akin to pity.
Alexa laughed. "Hard to believe, is it? Jackie boy not exactly the run of the mill groom?"
"Hardly."
"If I may interrupt," Jack interjected, feeling that this conversation wasn't exactly boding well for him. "Alexa, you're a good pirate, but, really, there are three of us and one of you. As desolate in my absence as I've heard you've been, I doubt that your ability to determine odds has dwindled."
Green eyes rested on brown as she returned, "Was that sarcasm I detected in your voice?"
"Don't make me fight you."
Jack's voice was hard and Will found himself looking up in surprise. Jack never spoke like that. He had always been easy going and, despite his piracy, kind. Smooth.
But now Will wondered just how far he'd go to get his hands on that box.
"Do you even know what's in it?" Alexa turned her gaze to Will, who, in turn, raised a questioning eyebrow at his friend.
"We were assured that it was harmless," Elizabeth snapped, looking as if she rather regretted not murdering Jack when the opportunity had arisen.
"By this character?" She sent her husband a glare Will was grateful not to be on the receiving end of.
"He's never given us reason to doubt him before," Will defended. Jack smiled brightly.
"You know the story, of course, of Pandora?" Alexa asked. She didn't wait for an answer, but continued, her voice echoing frustration. "Myth has always claimed that she shut the lid too late to keep anything inside, but that's not true." She paused, and it seemed to Will that her eyes glittered in the reflecting light. It was not altogether a pleasant feeling. "There was something inside, something she managed to keep from escaping. And I'll be damned if any of you're going let it free."
Jack rolled his. "Darling if this is about the treasure…" He started forward, then promptly halted when the tip of her sword brushed his neck.
"Don't come any closer."
"What is it," Elizabeth snapped. "What is in that thing that you so obviously don't want out?"
"Death," she answered flatly.
"Do you think you could specify a bit?"
"The 'gift' inside there is nothing more than a curse on mankind. A curse that takes away man's ability to heal himself."
Jack glared. "I think *you've* been listening to too many stories, my lady."
"And I think you have been *ignoring* too many. Honestly, Jack!" She threw up her arms in frustration, just narrowly missing cutting off her husband's chin. "How could you just put these people in danger?"
"You're overreacting, love. We aren't in any danger."
Continuing as though he hadn't spoken, Alexa turned to Will. "And you!"
Will blinked and shared a look of uncertainty with Elizabeth. "Yes?"
"I expect this kind of behavior from Jack. The man is nothing more than a walking nuisance to the rest of us." She stopped long enough to shoot him another icy frown. "But the son of Bootstrap Bill himself."
"You knew my father as well?" Will asked.
She smiled. "Lost many a hand of poker to that man, I don't mind telling ye." She sighed, then. "Why on earth did you get mixed in with… Him?!"
"Listen, I don't know what he's done to you, but Jack-"
What Jack was, Alexa didn't seem to care to discover. She threw back her head and laughed, startling all three. "Don't know what he did to me, eh? Care to tell them, Jack?"
"You probably should," he answered, looking decidedly annoyed. "I'm sure you'll be able to stress your grief far better that I could imitate."
Shooting him yet another glare, she pursed her lips. "Fine. Fifteen years ago, over in Tortuga, Jack and I met, and started spending a lot of time together. A courtship, in its own way. Well, everything went fine; we married in a small church, just us. Blessedly absent of family and the like. Anyway, that very evening, after our night of passion, while I slept, Jackie stole my ship. And then sank it a year later."
Elizabeth's eyes widened in disbelief. "You married this woman to steal her *boat*?"
"Ship," Jack amended quickly. "And it's not as though you've exactly been mourning since my departure."
"YOU STOLE 'THE PROMISE!'"
Alexa's shout rang through the room and made the rest jump.
"The ship?" Will asked.
"The ship," Jack responded.
"The point, darling, is that you mustn't open that chest. Please, just leave it be."
Jack stood, clearly attempting to avoid the woman's gaze. With a beaten sigh, he finally answered, "Alright, alright. If you'll just keep your dramatics under control, I promise, no pun intended, that I won't touch Pandora's Box."
"Thank you," Alexa muttered, and for the first time, lowered her sword. "I've been worried sick, you know. Afraid I might not make it on time."
"It's getting late. Maybe we should all rest here for the evening," Elizabeth suggested, though not entirely for the good of the others. She couldn't bare the idea of returning to a month of sea voyage with Jack already.
Alexa nodded her agreement. "That's a good idea. If it's all the same to everyone else, I'm going to sleep elsewhere. There are rats in here."
No one doubted even for an instant just who she was talking about.
Seemingly simultaneously, the three sank to the floor.
"Why don't we go sleep on the ship," Will suggested, feeling the ground with his hand. Gold may be nice to look at, he thought, but it wasn't exactly a pillow and blankets.
Jack turned a questioning eyebrow on his friend. "You're welcome to do so, but as for me? I'll be sleeping right here. Where the view is so lovely."
Elizabeth sighed, and laid down beside her husband. "Maybe we should stay here with him," she whispered to Will. "You know. Just in case he gets the crazy idea in his head to go against his word."
Will, smothering a moan of irritation, dropped his head back onto his arm. "I suppose."
And, in mere seconds, two of the three had fallen into a deep sleep.
Jack lay silently for a full fifteen minutes before he cautiously sat up. "I promised I wouldn't touch the box," he muttered, rising to his feet, "and I won't. I'm just having a look."
Moving across the room with more stealth than either Turner would have given him credit for, he approached the aforementioned box and stared. He couldn't imagine how much treasure such a chest might hold, but he was trying. Images of gold, of crowns, jewels danced in his mind. And all that kept him from having it in his hands was a rather flimsy promise he made under threat of death. Those sort of promises didn't really count anyway, did they?
(Promises already being rather nebulous things to Jack, he decided that they probably didn't.)
Careful not to wake his friends-Jack always prided himself on his selflessness- he prodded the chest with his sword. No black clouds of death came racing from its inners, nor did any member of the undead leap out at him. With a complacent grin, and quite disbelieving of his wife's warning, he placed both hands on the lid and lifted.
A sharp, cold gust of wind swept across the room, and before Jack's very eyes, the gold walls darkened to black.
"What have you done?"
Alexa stood at the entrance to the room, regarding her husband with fear and disbelief.
Her loud cry woke Will and Elizabeth. It took only moments for the pair to surmise the events, and when they had, they leapt to their feet. Jack returned their gazes of fury with a look of innocence.
"What?"
"Jack," Alexa yelled, "what have you DONE?"
What Jack's reply might have been, there was no telling, for his eyes caught something that make his voice trail away.
And following the look of surprise in his eyes, the other three saw exactly what had him so stupefied.
Standing just behind the chest was a young girl, no older, probably, than 20. White pale cheeks gave the impression of a deep sadness. Long golden hair stretched down her back, and crystal blue eyes rested solely on Jack.
"Do you realize what you've done?" A soft, musical voice met four pairs of ears.
No one spoke.
"You do." Her eyes darted to Alexa, who said nothing. She simply lowered her head, and sighed. The woman returned her gaze to Jack. "Your wife told you no lies earlier, Captain Sparrow. You have released a punishment of the gods."
"Jack!" Will glared at his old friend in frustration.
"How was I supposed to know," he returned.
"She *warned* you," Elizabeth snapped.
"You know what you must do, then." Again the beautiful woman glanced at Alexa for confirmation.
"Yes, I do."
The pair locked eyes. The remaining three glanced at each other questioningly.
The woman nodded. "Good. Then I must go. It was my job to guard the box, and I have failed. I must go receive my punishment." With that, she was gone.
Whirling around, Alexa shoved Jack against the wall. "What in the bloody hell is the matter with you? You said you wouldn't touch it, that you wouldn't go *near* it. Why on earth would you lie about that? What caused you to be so utterly insane? Greed?"
"It's a rather nice box, don't you think?" He gave what he hoped was a charming smile.
"It's not funny!" But realizing arguing with Jack was futile (rather, she supposed, like arguing with a wall-you knew he wasn't listening, and even if he was, there wasn't much he could do), she released him and stepped back.
"Come on, then," she snapped, leading the way out of the room.
"Ms. Sparrow-" Elizabeth began, but Alexa cut her off.
"Don't call me that," she said, her voice strangled.
Elizabeth tried again. "Captain Sparrow?"
"Alexa. I have no desire to hear "Sparrow" used synonymous with me."
Elizabeth understood. "Alexa, do you mind if I ask where we're going?"
Alexa continued briskly down the path they were following, and didn't even glance over her shoulder as she returned the woman's question. "We're going to undo the damage my doting husband has done to the good world."
Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise. "*We?*"
"Yes. We. As in, you three and myself. As in, the four of us."
"And I suppose you, of course, know how to go about doing this?"
She stopped and turned, meeting Jack's eyes with her own. Then, to Will's shock, she gave a disarming grin that reminded him a little too much of his friend.
"Of course I do. I'm Alexa Sparrow."
A/N: trapt130: Thank ya for the kind review! I have read your story and reviewed, but in case you haven't seen it… Update it soon! It's very original. Kumiko *Kaylin* Eharu: Um… I THINK that was a compliment. I'll pretend it was, anyway. Ginny-Star, Thank you so much!
A/N 2: I have BORROWED the idea of what is inside Pandora's Box from an episode of Hercules. Please don't hurt me or sue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Greed is a fat demon with a small mouth and whatever you feed it is never enough."
~Janwillem Van De Wetering
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a long silence.
"You're married?"
It was Elizabeth who had spoken, Elizabeth who was eyeing the woman with something akin to pity.
Alexa laughed. "Hard to believe, is it? Jackie boy not exactly the run of the mill groom?"
"Hardly."
"If I may interrupt," Jack interjected, feeling that this conversation wasn't exactly boding well for him. "Alexa, you're a good pirate, but, really, there are three of us and one of you. As desolate in my absence as I've heard you've been, I doubt that your ability to determine odds has dwindled."
Green eyes rested on brown as she returned, "Was that sarcasm I detected in your voice?"
"Don't make me fight you."
Jack's voice was hard and Will found himself looking up in surprise. Jack never spoke like that. He had always been easy going and, despite his piracy, kind. Smooth.
But now Will wondered just how far he'd go to get his hands on that box.
"Do you even know what's in it?" Alexa turned her gaze to Will, who, in turn, raised a questioning eyebrow at his friend.
"We were assured that it was harmless," Elizabeth snapped, looking as if she rather regretted not murdering Jack when the opportunity had arisen.
"By this character?" She sent her husband a glare Will was grateful not to be on the receiving end of.
"He's never given us reason to doubt him before," Will defended. Jack smiled brightly.
"You know the story, of course, of Pandora?" Alexa asked. She didn't wait for an answer, but continued, her voice echoing frustration. "Myth has always claimed that she shut the lid too late to keep anything inside, but that's not true." She paused, and it seemed to Will that her eyes glittered in the reflecting light. It was not altogether a pleasant feeling. "There was something inside, something she managed to keep from escaping. And I'll be damned if any of you're going let it free."
Jack rolled his. "Darling if this is about the treasure…" He started forward, then promptly halted when the tip of her sword brushed his neck.
"Don't come any closer."
"What is it," Elizabeth snapped. "What is in that thing that you so obviously don't want out?"
"Death," she answered flatly.
"Do you think you could specify a bit?"
"The 'gift' inside there is nothing more than a curse on mankind. A curse that takes away man's ability to heal himself."
Jack glared. "I think *you've* been listening to too many stories, my lady."
"And I think you have been *ignoring* too many. Honestly, Jack!" She threw up her arms in frustration, just narrowly missing cutting off her husband's chin. "How could you just put these people in danger?"
"You're overreacting, love. We aren't in any danger."
Continuing as though he hadn't spoken, Alexa turned to Will. "And you!"
Will blinked and shared a look of uncertainty with Elizabeth. "Yes?"
"I expect this kind of behavior from Jack. The man is nothing more than a walking nuisance to the rest of us." She stopped long enough to shoot him another icy frown. "But the son of Bootstrap Bill himself."
"You knew my father as well?" Will asked.
She smiled. "Lost many a hand of poker to that man, I don't mind telling ye." She sighed, then. "Why on earth did you get mixed in with… Him?!"
"Listen, I don't know what he's done to you, but Jack-"
What Jack was, Alexa didn't seem to care to discover. She threw back her head and laughed, startling all three. "Don't know what he did to me, eh? Care to tell them, Jack?"
"You probably should," he answered, looking decidedly annoyed. "I'm sure you'll be able to stress your grief far better that I could imitate."
Shooting him yet another glare, she pursed her lips. "Fine. Fifteen years ago, over in Tortuga, Jack and I met, and started spending a lot of time together. A courtship, in its own way. Well, everything went fine; we married in a small church, just us. Blessedly absent of family and the like. Anyway, that very evening, after our night of passion, while I slept, Jackie stole my ship. And then sank it a year later."
Elizabeth's eyes widened in disbelief. "You married this woman to steal her *boat*?"
"Ship," Jack amended quickly. "And it's not as though you've exactly been mourning since my departure."
"YOU STOLE 'THE PROMISE!'"
Alexa's shout rang through the room and made the rest jump.
"The ship?" Will asked.
"The ship," Jack responded.
"The point, darling, is that you mustn't open that chest. Please, just leave it be."
Jack stood, clearly attempting to avoid the woman's gaze. With a beaten sigh, he finally answered, "Alright, alright. If you'll just keep your dramatics under control, I promise, no pun intended, that I won't touch Pandora's Box."
"Thank you," Alexa muttered, and for the first time, lowered her sword. "I've been worried sick, you know. Afraid I might not make it on time."
"It's getting late. Maybe we should all rest here for the evening," Elizabeth suggested, though not entirely for the good of the others. She couldn't bare the idea of returning to a month of sea voyage with Jack already.
Alexa nodded her agreement. "That's a good idea. If it's all the same to everyone else, I'm going to sleep elsewhere. There are rats in here."
No one doubted even for an instant just who she was talking about.
Seemingly simultaneously, the three sank to the floor.
"Why don't we go sleep on the ship," Will suggested, feeling the ground with his hand. Gold may be nice to look at, he thought, but it wasn't exactly a pillow and blankets.
Jack turned a questioning eyebrow on his friend. "You're welcome to do so, but as for me? I'll be sleeping right here. Where the view is so lovely."
Elizabeth sighed, and laid down beside her husband. "Maybe we should stay here with him," she whispered to Will. "You know. Just in case he gets the crazy idea in his head to go against his word."
Will, smothering a moan of irritation, dropped his head back onto his arm. "I suppose."
And, in mere seconds, two of the three had fallen into a deep sleep.
Jack lay silently for a full fifteen minutes before he cautiously sat up. "I promised I wouldn't touch the box," he muttered, rising to his feet, "and I won't. I'm just having a look."
Moving across the room with more stealth than either Turner would have given him credit for, he approached the aforementioned box and stared. He couldn't imagine how much treasure such a chest might hold, but he was trying. Images of gold, of crowns, jewels danced in his mind. And all that kept him from having it in his hands was a rather flimsy promise he made under threat of death. Those sort of promises didn't really count anyway, did they?
(Promises already being rather nebulous things to Jack, he decided that they probably didn't.)
Careful not to wake his friends-Jack always prided himself on his selflessness- he prodded the chest with his sword. No black clouds of death came racing from its inners, nor did any member of the undead leap out at him. With a complacent grin, and quite disbelieving of his wife's warning, he placed both hands on the lid and lifted.
A sharp, cold gust of wind swept across the room, and before Jack's very eyes, the gold walls darkened to black.
"What have you done?"
Alexa stood at the entrance to the room, regarding her husband with fear and disbelief.
Her loud cry woke Will and Elizabeth. It took only moments for the pair to surmise the events, and when they had, they leapt to their feet. Jack returned their gazes of fury with a look of innocence.
"What?"
"Jack," Alexa yelled, "what have you DONE?"
What Jack's reply might have been, there was no telling, for his eyes caught something that make his voice trail away.
And following the look of surprise in his eyes, the other three saw exactly what had him so stupefied.
Standing just behind the chest was a young girl, no older, probably, than 20. White pale cheeks gave the impression of a deep sadness. Long golden hair stretched down her back, and crystal blue eyes rested solely on Jack.
"Do you realize what you've done?" A soft, musical voice met four pairs of ears.
No one spoke.
"You do." Her eyes darted to Alexa, who said nothing. She simply lowered her head, and sighed. The woman returned her gaze to Jack. "Your wife told you no lies earlier, Captain Sparrow. You have released a punishment of the gods."
"Jack!" Will glared at his old friend in frustration.
"How was I supposed to know," he returned.
"She *warned* you," Elizabeth snapped.
"You know what you must do, then." Again the beautiful woman glanced at Alexa for confirmation.
"Yes, I do."
The pair locked eyes. The remaining three glanced at each other questioningly.
The woman nodded. "Good. Then I must go. It was my job to guard the box, and I have failed. I must go receive my punishment." With that, she was gone.
Whirling around, Alexa shoved Jack against the wall. "What in the bloody hell is the matter with you? You said you wouldn't touch it, that you wouldn't go *near* it. Why on earth would you lie about that? What caused you to be so utterly insane? Greed?"
"It's a rather nice box, don't you think?" He gave what he hoped was a charming smile.
"It's not funny!" But realizing arguing with Jack was futile (rather, she supposed, like arguing with a wall-you knew he wasn't listening, and even if he was, there wasn't much he could do), she released him and stepped back.
"Come on, then," she snapped, leading the way out of the room.
"Ms. Sparrow-" Elizabeth began, but Alexa cut her off.
"Don't call me that," she said, her voice strangled.
Elizabeth tried again. "Captain Sparrow?"
"Alexa. I have no desire to hear "Sparrow" used synonymous with me."
Elizabeth understood. "Alexa, do you mind if I ask where we're going?"
Alexa continued briskly down the path they were following, and didn't even glance over her shoulder as she returned the woman's question. "We're going to undo the damage my doting husband has done to the good world."
Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise. "*We?*"
"Yes. We. As in, you three and myself. As in, the four of us."
"And I suppose you, of course, know how to go about doing this?"
She stopped and turned, meeting Jack's eyes with her own. Then, to Will's shock, she gave a disarming grin that reminded him a little too much of his friend.
"Of course I do. I'm Alexa Sparrow."