Chapter 12
A/N: This is gonna be a looooooong chapter.
I ran to the ship's edge, leaping on the very rail and clinging with one hand to the monkey rope. I watched as Jack and Will slowly made their way into the caves. Before they disappeared from sight, Jack lifted his hat, placed it to his chest, and bowed his head. He blew me a kiss. I felt like I was floating on clouds.
"Aye, Meg!" Gibbs rushed over, his ruddy face beaming. "Er, get off of that. It's all slippery from the sea spray." I obliged and jumped down. "Say, Meg, that dress yer wearing looks a little.worn out, dontcha think?"
I looked down. Some parts were wearing thru, and it deeply smelled of sea salt, and it was a little caked near the edges. "Actually, Mr. Gibbs, this has worked pretty nicely for these past few days-"
"Nonsense," he chortled. "Listen, I brought with me a dress I.I thought you might like. Come with me."
"You bought me a dress?" I repeated, following him.
"Just in case. If I couldn't give it to you, I'd probably sell it back in Tortuga."
"Ah."
He led me to a tiny room filled with chests and barrels and gunnysacks. I stood in the doorway, fidgeting slightly. I've never been one to accept a gift from someone I didn't know that well. "Ah, here we go!" he said happily, and raised it up. It was a deep, deep purple, almost black. It was slim and, when I touched it, velvet. Gibbs was grinning like a fool.
"Oh, Mr. Gibbs, this is beautiful," I whispered, fingering the skirt, free of huge petticoats that I detested.
"Here, you change into this," he said, gently placing it in my hands. "Jack won't know what hit him."
I stared at him in surprise. He knew? He grinned. "It's hard not to not know. He's been takin' care of ye, Meg. Go make him happy." And he left, saying over his shoulder, "I'll be waiting outside the door when yer done."
Make him happy.
I quickly changed. The dress felt like water, swirling around my knees. It was a little long, but not long enough that Id trip over it. There were no sleeves, and it was cut just across my sternum. There was a small bow in the middle of my back, tightening the fabric around my waist. It was absolutely beautiful. I untied my hair and let it fall back to my knees and down the front. I took a deep breath and opened the door.
Gibbs started and stared at me, his eyes wide. "Oh, Meg." he said softly. "Yer gonna knock him outta the water."
I smiled and embraced him. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Gibbs," I said happily. "I just love it."
He hugged me gruffly. "I'm glad ye do."
"There they are! There they are!" the call went up, and Gibbs and I raced to the railing. I was pushed aside, to the back, and Annamaria simply gritted her teeth and shoved me back thru. Elizabeth was first on deck, and she stared wide-eyed at the crew.
"Not more pirates," she said pleadingly.
Mr. Gibbs stepped forward. "Welcome aboard, Miss Elizabeth," he said in a very gentlemanly way. She stared at him in recognization.
"Mr. Gibbs?" she asked suspiciously, and he nodded. She caught sight of me, and her whole face lit up. "Oh, Meg, how wonderful to see you!" She embraced me tightly, and I embraced her back, smiling blissfully. I looked over her shoulder for Jack, but only saw Will. He wouldn't look at me, instead looking down at the floor.
"Hey, boy!" Gibbs asked, voicing my concerns. "Where be Jack?"
Elizabeth backed away, looking at Will in disbelief. "Jack? Jack Sparrow?" she tried to confirm. Will still wouldn't look at me.
"Will," I said steadily. "Where is Jack?"
"He fell behind," he said softly, placing a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder and steering her away. He stopped beside me. "I'm sorry," he whispered, then walked away.
I was in shock. I pushed past the crew to the very front of the ship, to the sharp tip of wood, struggling not to cry. I wrapped my arms around myself and wept.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
We sailed at a rapid speed away from the goddamn Isla de Muerta, but I still stayed at the bow, my head in my arms, my tears long since dried. Annamaria was the only one to stop by, and she placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "I'm sorry" before walking back to steer. I barely paid attention to her. I was too lost in my sadness. It was when I noticed the crew moving faster and more frantic that I finally walked away from the bow, running to Annamaria at the wheel at the stern. Elizabeth was behind me.
"What's happening?" she asked.
"The Black Pearl," Annamaria replied shortly. "They're gaining on us."
"That's impossible," Elizabeth sputtered. "This is the fastest ship in the Caribbean!"
"You can tell them that after they caught us," she spat.
"We're shallow on the draft, right?" I asked, an idea coming to me.
"Aye," she said warily.
"Well, can't we lose them amongst those shoals?" I pointed to the crystal blue water off to the starboard side. There was a long coral reef, and white water was easy to see.
Gibbs came up behind me. "We don't have to outrun them long, just long enough."
"Lighten the ship!" Annamaria ordered. "Stem to stern!"
"Anything we can afford to lose, see that it's lost!" Gibbs bellowed. He and I started throwing barrels of ale overboard, and I found my old dress and heaved it over the side. That was the frenzy that the crew was getting in. Will finally came up from below deck, still not looking at me, and leapt onto the rail, looking behind us. One of the crew was getting ready to throw over a cannon, but Will stopped him.
"We're gonna need that," he said. Gibbs and I stared. From the sides of the Black Pearl, long oars were coming out and bracing over the water, ready to tear it up. Annamaria sighed and turned the ship.
"It was a good idea," she said to my how-could-you expression. "Until now."
"Gibbs!" Will cried, running up to us. "We have to make a stand! Load the guns! We must fight!"
"With what?" Annamaria asked coldly.
"Anything. Everything! Anything we have left!"
Gibbs started yelling. "Load the guns! Nails and crushed glass! With a will! The Pearl is going to luff up on our port quarter. She'll rake us without ever presenting a target!" "Lower the anchor on the right side!" Elizabeth demanded. "On the starboard side!" I added.
"It certainly has the element of surprise," Will thought aloud.
"You're daft, ladies," Annamaria shook her head. "All of you are."
"Daft like Jack!" Gibbs proclaimed solidly, before turning to the crew and bellowing, "Lower the starboard anchor! Do it, ye dogs, or it's you we'll load in the cannons!" There was a splash as the anchor was lowered. The ship jerked to the right sharply, and I slid across the floor to the railing, grasping so hard my fingers turned white.
"Let go of the wheel!" Elizabeth and I yelled at the same time. Annamaria obliged, and the ship made a very sharp turn, and Will hit my legs as he slid and hit the side.
"Hard aport!" a deep voice from the pirate ship bellowed, and the Pearl drifted up beside us, the pirates sneering and snarling and yelling. I felt my muscles tense.
This was it.
"Keep us steady now," Will muttered, handing me a gun. "NOW!"
"FIRE!" another man yelled from the ship.
"FIRE!" Elizabeth and I screamed. Booms shook our ship, and gunpowder smoked the air. Will and I fired at anyone we saw moving on the other ship. Some fell in with a yell. Most just kept fighting. And then I thought I heard a voice from somewhere below.
"STOP BLOWING HOLES IN MY SHIP!"
Jack? I didn't dare to think, and kept fighting.
"We could a few more ideas, lass!" Gibbs shouted to Elizabeth, loading and firing.
"Your turn!" she shouted back.
"We need a devil's dowry."
"We'll give them her!" Annamaria pointed her pistol at Elizabeth's head.
"She's not what they're after!" Will shouted, turning to me for the first time. "It's us," he said softly. My mouth opened. Us?
Elizabeth fumbled with her neckline, tensing like a spring. "The medallion," she whispered. Without a word, Will sprinted for the below decks, and vanished without a sight.
"Ya bloomin' cockroaches," someone bellowed on the Pearl. "Hands! Grapples, at the ready. Prepare to board!" Another blast sent two cannon balls, hooked together with a black chain, into our mast, severing it completely. With an inhuman moan, it began to fall over towards the Pearl. Men sprinted to get out of the way, and with a loud crash, it fell over to the ship, giving them total access to us. Grapple hooks flew thru the air, and pirates swung over, their daggers in their teeth. They landed with loud, dull thuds on the planks, yelling and making a ruckus. One pirate saw me and grinned.
"Well, well, well," he snarled, swaggering before me. "If it isn't a sweet, innocent little poppet. Hello, love." I screamed, snatched his sword from his belt, and shoved it thru his stomach before shoving him overboard. With another scream, I ran into the brawling mess of pirates, swinging the sword and stabbing them overboard. Tears ran down my cheeks, but I didn't stop to wipe them away. A man on a rope ran into me, picking me up by the waist and sailing into the air.
"Let go of me, you sick-minded bastard!" I shrieked, kicking and thrashing.
"Don't make me drop you, love," a cool voice whispered in my ear. I turned around. Jack grinned at me. I choked, trying to breath. He landed with a thud on our ship, rolling. He covered my body with his, landing on his back with a groan.
"I thought you were dead," I whispered.
"You forgot one very important thing," he said, running a hand thru my hair. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." I laughed, a gasping laugh full of relief. Then I noticed Elizabeth having trouble with a pirate, struggling with the sword. "Help her," I whispered, jumping off of him. A thought occurred to me.
Where was Will? The hold.
When the mast fell, the wood splintered into huge pieces. A few of them were over the hold gate. I screamed and dodged the pirates-killing-pirates.
"Will!" I screamed, interlacing my fingers in the metal.
"Meg!" he yelled back. "Meg! Get me outta here!"
I wrapped my arms under a relatively small splinter and threw it aside. The main log was huge and heavy, and I could only budge it an inch. A female scream reached me, and I saw Elizabeth flying over to me, her skirt like some sort of parachute. She screamed, "WILL! WILL!"
"Elizabeth! Help me!"
She and I struggled to move the log, but it was too heavy for the both of us, no matter how hard I tried to shove or push or pull.
"We can't move it!" I cried. "Will, we can't move it!" Rough hands grabbed me by the arms, and I kicked and screamed and thrashed wildly. "WILL! WILL!"
"MEG! ELIZABETH!"
"WILL!"
A/N: Whew, so much for THAT chapter. Time to work on the next one..
A/N: This is gonna be a looooooong chapter.
I ran to the ship's edge, leaping on the very rail and clinging with one hand to the monkey rope. I watched as Jack and Will slowly made their way into the caves. Before they disappeared from sight, Jack lifted his hat, placed it to his chest, and bowed his head. He blew me a kiss. I felt like I was floating on clouds.
"Aye, Meg!" Gibbs rushed over, his ruddy face beaming. "Er, get off of that. It's all slippery from the sea spray." I obliged and jumped down. "Say, Meg, that dress yer wearing looks a little.worn out, dontcha think?"
I looked down. Some parts were wearing thru, and it deeply smelled of sea salt, and it was a little caked near the edges. "Actually, Mr. Gibbs, this has worked pretty nicely for these past few days-"
"Nonsense," he chortled. "Listen, I brought with me a dress I.I thought you might like. Come with me."
"You bought me a dress?" I repeated, following him.
"Just in case. If I couldn't give it to you, I'd probably sell it back in Tortuga."
"Ah."
He led me to a tiny room filled with chests and barrels and gunnysacks. I stood in the doorway, fidgeting slightly. I've never been one to accept a gift from someone I didn't know that well. "Ah, here we go!" he said happily, and raised it up. It was a deep, deep purple, almost black. It was slim and, when I touched it, velvet. Gibbs was grinning like a fool.
"Oh, Mr. Gibbs, this is beautiful," I whispered, fingering the skirt, free of huge petticoats that I detested.
"Here, you change into this," he said, gently placing it in my hands. "Jack won't know what hit him."
I stared at him in surprise. He knew? He grinned. "It's hard not to not know. He's been takin' care of ye, Meg. Go make him happy." And he left, saying over his shoulder, "I'll be waiting outside the door when yer done."
Make him happy.
I quickly changed. The dress felt like water, swirling around my knees. It was a little long, but not long enough that Id trip over it. There were no sleeves, and it was cut just across my sternum. There was a small bow in the middle of my back, tightening the fabric around my waist. It was absolutely beautiful. I untied my hair and let it fall back to my knees and down the front. I took a deep breath and opened the door.
Gibbs started and stared at me, his eyes wide. "Oh, Meg." he said softly. "Yer gonna knock him outta the water."
I smiled and embraced him. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Gibbs," I said happily. "I just love it."
He hugged me gruffly. "I'm glad ye do."
"There they are! There they are!" the call went up, and Gibbs and I raced to the railing. I was pushed aside, to the back, and Annamaria simply gritted her teeth and shoved me back thru. Elizabeth was first on deck, and she stared wide-eyed at the crew.
"Not more pirates," she said pleadingly.
Mr. Gibbs stepped forward. "Welcome aboard, Miss Elizabeth," he said in a very gentlemanly way. She stared at him in recognization.
"Mr. Gibbs?" she asked suspiciously, and he nodded. She caught sight of me, and her whole face lit up. "Oh, Meg, how wonderful to see you!" She embraced me tightly, and I embraced her back, smiling blissfully. I looked over her shoulder for Jack, but only saw Will. He wouldn't look at me, instead looking down at the floor.
"Hey, boy!" Gibbs asked, voicing my concerns. "Where be Jack?"
Elizabeth backed away, looking at Will in disbelief. "Jack? Jack Sparrow?" she tried to confirm. Will still wouldn't look at me.
"Will," I said steadily. "Where is Jack?"
"He fell behind," he said softly, placing a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder and steering her away. He stopped beside me. "I'm sorry," he whispered, then walked away.
I was in shock. I pushed past the crew to the very front of the ship, to the sharp tip of wood, struggling not to cry. I wrapped my arms around myself and wept.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
We sailed at a rapid speed away from the goddamn Isla de Muerta, but I still stayed at the bow, my head in my arms, my tears long since dried. Annamaria was the only one to stop by, and she placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "I'm sorry" before walking back to steer. I barely paid attention to her. I was too lost in my sadness. It was when I noticed the crew moving faster and more frantic that I finally walked away from the bow, running to Annamaria at the wheel at the stern. Elizabeth was behind me.
"What's happening?" she asked.
"The Black Pearl," Annamaria replied shortly. "They're gaining on us."
"That's impossible," Elizabeth sputtered. "This is the fastest ship in the Caribbean!"
"You can tell them that after they caught us," she spat.
"We're shallow on the draft, right?" I asked, an idea coming to me.
"Aye," she said warily.
"Well, can't we lose them amongst those shoals?" I pointed to the crystal blue water off to the starboard side. There was a long coral reef, and white water was easy to see.
Gibbs came up behind me. "We don't have to outrun them long, just long enough."
"Lighten the ship!" Annamaria ordered. "Stem to stern!"
"Anything we can afford to lose, see that it's lost!" Gibbs bellowed. He and I started throwing barrels of ale overboard, and I found my old dress and heaved it over the side. That was the frenzy that the crew was getting in. Will finally came up from below deck, still not looking at me, and leapt onto the rail, looking behind us. One of the crew was getting ready to throw over a cannon, but Will stopped him.
"We're gonna need that," he said. Gibbs and I stared. From the sides of the Black Pearl, long oars were coming out and bracing over the water, ready to tear it up. Annamaria sighed and turned the ship.
"It was a good idea," she said to my how-could-you expression. "Until now."
"Gibbs!" Will cried, running up to us. "We have to make a stand! Load the guns! We must fight!"
"With what?" Annamaria asked coldly.
"Anything. Everything! Anything we have left!"
Gibbs started yelling. "Load the guns! Nails and crushed glass! With a will! The Pearl is going to luff up on our port quarter. She'll rake us without ever presenting a target!" "Lower the anchor on the right side!" Elizabeth demanded. "On the starboard side!" I added.
"It certainly has the element of surprise," Will thought aloud.
"You're daft, ladies," Annamaria shook her head. "All of you are."
"Daft like Jack!" Gibbs proclaimed solidly, before turning to the crew and bellowing, "Lower the starboard anchor! Do it, ye dogs, or it's you we'll load in the cannons!" There was a splash as the anchor was lowered. The ship jerked to the right sharply, and I slid across the floor to the railing, grasping so hard my fingers turned white.
"Let go of the wheel!" Elizabeth and I yelled at the same time. Annamaria obliged, and the ship made a very sharp turn, and Will hit my legs as he slid and hit the side.
"Hard aport!" a deep voice from the pirate ship bellowed, and the Pearl drifted up beside us, the pirates sneering and snarling and yelling. I felt my muscles tense.
This was it.
"Keep us steady now," Will muttered, handing me a gun. "NOW!"
"FIRE!" another man yelled from the ship.
"FIRE!" Elizabeth and I screamed. Booms shook our ship, and gunpowder smoked the air. Will and I fired at anyone we saw moving on the other ship. Some fell in with a yell. Most just kept fighting. And then I thought I heard a voice from somewhere below.
"STOP BLOWING HOLES IN MY SHIP!"
Jack? I didn't dare to think, and kept fighting.
"We could a few more ideas, lass!" Gibbs shouted to Elizabeth, loading and firing.
"Your turn!" she shouted back.
"We need a devil's dowry."
"We'll give them her!" Annamaria pointed her pistol at Elizabeth's head.
"She's not what they're after!" Will shouted, turning to me for the first time. "It's us," he said softly. My mouth opened. Us?
Elizabeth fumbled with her neckline, tensing like a spring. "The medallion," she whispered. Without a word, Will sprinted for the below decks, and vanished without a sight.
"Ya bloomin' cockroaches," someone bellowed on the Pearl. "Hands! Grapples, at the ready. Prepare to board!" Another blast sent two cannon balls, hooked together with a black chain, into our mast, severing it completely. With an inhuman moan, it began to fall over towards the Pearl. Men sprinted to get out of the way, and with a loud crash, it fell over to the ship, giving them total access to us. Grapple hooks flew thru the air, and pirates swung over, their daggers in their teeth. They landed with loud, dull thuds on the planks, yelling and making a ruckus. One pirate saw me and grinned.
"Well, well, well," he snarled, swaggering before me. "If it isn't a sweet, innocent little poppet. Hello, love." I screamed, snatched his sword from his belt, and shoved it thru his stomach before shoving him overboard. With another scream, I ran into the brawling mess of pirates, swinging the sword and stabbing them overboard. Tears ran down my cheeks, but I didn't stop to wipe them away. A man on a rope ran into me, picking me up by the waist and sailing into the air.
"Let go of me, you sick-minded bastard!" I shrieked, kicking and thrashing.
"Don't make me drop you, love," a cool voice whispered in my ear. I turned around. Jack grinned at me. I choked, trying to breath. He landed with a thud on our ship, rolling. He covered my body with his, landing on his back with a groan.
"I thought you were dead," I whispered.
"You forgot one very important thing," he said, running a hand thru my hair. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." I laughed, a gasping laugh full of relief. Then I noticed Elizabeth having trouble with a pirate, struggling with the sword. "Help her," I whispered, jumping off of him. A thought occurred to me.
Where was Will? The hold.
When the mast fell, the wood splintered into huge pieces. A few of them were over the hold gate. I screamed and dodged the pirates-killing-pirates.
"Will!" I screamed, interlacing my fingers in the metal.
"Meg!" he yelled back. "Meg! Get me outta here!"
I wrapped my arms under a relatively small splinter and threw it aside. The main log was huge and heavy, and I could only budge it an inch. A female scream reached me, and I saw Elizabeth flying over to me, her skirt like some sort of parachute. She screamed, "WILL! WILL!"
"Elizabeth! Help me!"
She and I struggled to move the log, but it was too heavy for the both of us, no matter how hard I tried to shove or push or pull.
"We can't move it!" I cried. "Will, we can't move it!" Rough hands grabbed me by the arms, and I kicked and screamed and thrashed wildly. "WILL! WILL!"
"MEG! ELIZABETH!"
"WILL!"
A/N: Whew, so much for THAT chapter. Time to work on the next one..