Disclaimer: ... If you don't know by now, then shoo.
Morph: Character accuracy is the biggest compliment a writer can get, in my opinion, thank you so much!
Dha-gal: Thank you for reading. Aw, I can't kill Will! I don't know, people would hate me then, and I'd feel bad killin' off a character. I'm sure I'll find something to do with him. ;p
Talondragonfriend: Omg. One of the best? That is the most awesome thing anyones said. Thank you! *showers with love and chocolate*
Qalace: Thank you for reviewing! And yes, that was an Oz line, couldn't resist. Btvs is my passion, first and foremost, so I had to pay homage. Though, I would have thought that reusing Spike lines would be best for Jack. But, that one just worked ..
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The cold reply caused Jack's smile to fade, slowly, as if he felt stupid for smiling in the first place. Just as he was thinking up what he deemed the perfect counter to the statement, fighting became a necessity. Looking around somewhat hurriedly for a weapon, Jack finally located a cutlass, lying on the ground next to Will's first victim. Gripping the handle he cast one final, somewhat pained, glance in Turner's direction, and leapt into the fray.
A wave of relief had washed over Elizabeth as soon as she realized what Will's true intent was. She hadn't had to deal with the problem of escaping from the men who were holding her, since they'd abandoned her and gone off to aid their comrades. Apparently guarding a 'defenseless woman' wasn't as important as fighting off two well trained swordsmen. In fact, no one was paying much attention to her at all. Yah, okay, it was slightly insulting. Still, she decided, it would be good of her to help in some way. The question became: what way?
Will was holding his own, as usual, battling two pirates at once. The use of a sword was almost second nature to him, having spent so much time practicing. It wasn't just because he wanted to be prepared to kill pirates, it was also a means of releasing his frustration over Elizabeth, and the fact that she was so out of his league. Funny how he had seemingly ended up right back where he'd started. Though, instead of being an motivator, as before, the thought of Elizabeth was now an unwanted distraction. A distraction that resulted in injury. A thin red line formed on his bicep, visible through the tear in his sleeve, he'd been careless. Word to the wise? Don't zone out in a fight to the death. As payment for the wound, Will lowered his sword for a second and punched the perpetrator, when the man's head flew backward upon impact, the blacksmith lunged. One down.
Lips parted to gasp for breath as Jack was thrown onto his back by an opponent. Flipping back up as quick as possible, he regained his composure and continued fighting. He often stole glances in either direction, at Will, who had already dispatched a couple of pirates, and at Elizabeth, who was standing just standing there. The pirate captain in him wondered why the bloody hell she wasn't doing her part - but the man who had been kissing her not twelve hours ago was glad that she was staying out of harm's way. 'Great,' he thought, 'now I've got inner conflict an` all. Pretty soon I'll be the eunuch `imself.' He was a pirate, he was supposed to take whatever he wanted and give nothing at all back. He'd stolen women from countless men, and not kept his sweet promises to any of them. Why should this be so different? Why did this betrayed lover make him feel so guilty? More importantly, why did this woman make him want to keep all the promises? Jack, as we have already learned, was never one to be in touch with his emotions.
Still standing very close to Barbossa's rotting corpse, the fact that said corpse would probably be equipped with a sword, finally hit Elizabeth. She took a deep breath before moving any closer to the stench, and began searching the body. To her dismay, a skeletal hand was wrapped around the handle of the sword. Wrinkling her nose in disgust she pried it away and grasped the weapon herself. Giving a few practice swings in the air, she desperately tried to remember the fencing lessons that she'd begged Will to give her. Elizabeth was not entirely sure she'd remember everything she needed to know to successfully .. stay alive.
"Oh well," she shrugged, "guess we're gonna find out."
Eyes scanned the scene around her, trying to determine who could use more help. She decided it was Will - who had two pirates attacking him at once. Wordlessly moving in their direction, she snuck up behind one of the men and attacked without any resistance. A split second before impact the pirate turned, and so the blade was driven into his stomach. The feeling of cold steel cutting through skin, muscle, and tissue was sickening. Will caught her attention for a second, as if he was silently saying 'thank you' for her help, before they both went their separate ways again.
The odds now bad, the trio was overwhelmingly outnumbered, and even though they had killed quite a few of the enemy, they just kept coming. The count now stood at ten against three.
It became clear that something besides lots of stabbing and punching was going to have to happen, and it was going to have to happen soon. It was Elizabeth who had the idea first, deciding that since the pirates had gone to all the trouble of capturing them to raise their captain, who's body was there, that maybe they needed to body. It had been laid out so nicely, like at a wake or something, so maybe it also needed to be on an alter, and in tact. And that was where her idea came in. She quickly looked around for anything heavy, anything she could use as a hammer. But her search was unsuccessful. Trying to stay hidden from anyone who might want to attack her, she began to walk in the direction of another pile of treasure. Perhaps there was something there. Midway to her destination, something caught her foot, and she tripped. Standing up, she cursed under her breath and turned to discover the offending item. Her face lit up when she realized that it was the same gold pole she'd used last time around.
It had gotten heavier. At least Elizabeth could've sworn it had. She was still able to carry it at arms length, inching slowly back to the body that she meant to .. grind into powder. It seemed that everyone was occupied. Jack and Will were fighting back to back. She knew it didn't mean much, but seeing them work as a pair of heroes, just like in her books, always made her smile. Shaken from her thoughts she returned to the task at hand. Once she'd made it back up the seemingly massive hill, weapon in hand, she struggled to raise it above her head.
"Um, excuse me?" She spoke only a little above her normal tone. No response. "Could you just look up here for a--" Still nothing. "HEY!"
All the fighting ceased and all eyes were on Elizabeth. All eyes were also very wide, as this was certainly unexpected. She could tell that some of the pirates were already thinking up plans to counter her plan, so she spoke quickly.
"There, now, that's better." In regards to the new silence, "Well, I'll bet you are all wondering what I'm doing up here, next to your Captain's rotting, disgusting body, with this huge pole."
Everyone looked at each other, and shrugged, it seemed the general audience was, indeed, wondering.
"I thought so." Elizabeth offered a condescending smirk, "So I'll tell you how this is going to go. If the lot of you don't drop your swords right now, I'm going to begin to feel very weak, and when that happens, I'm going to drop this," This, meaning the pole, "and when I do, its going to smash Barbossa's remains into tiny bits. Have I made myself clear?"
For the most part everyone just stared, but the the lack of charging, or returning to individuals fights told her that she had their attention. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all? There was pride rising in Elizabeth, for having thought up a plan that led to the end of the mayhem.
"So, on my word, drop your swords right now, or I will see that you have absolutely nothing to raise."
The sound of swords falling to the ground echoed throughout the cavern, Jack and Will moved into the collect every weapon that fell, to make sure no one could keep them from escaping. As Jack placed the bundle of swords into a boat, Will gathered all the oars and tossed them in as well. All the while, Elizabeth held her position, so that no one would try anything. The threat of her ruining any hope of bringing Barbossa back kept the pirates in place.
Once everything was in order, and it was time for our heroes to make their grand exit, Elizabeth 'accidentally' dropped the pole she'd been holding. Shattering the skeleton. Though she hadn't mentioned that when she'd made her little threat, it had to be done to ensure safety in the future. There was a uprising among the enemy and Elizabeth ran in the direction of Will and Jack, who stood at the edge of the water, ready to take off. She raised one foot to step into the boat, but did not see Twigg, who was running towards her. The man had pulled a dagger from his boot.
"You little whore!" He shouted, intent on getting some sort of revenge.
Just as Twigg lowered his arm to stabbed Elizabeth, Will jumped in front of her, and took the blow himself. Before the pirate had a chance to correct his mistake, he was dead. The gunshot rang out, and all eyes turned to Jack. He'd picked up a pistol among the dropped swords, and it had come in handy. After the shock of what had just happened died down, Elizabeth caught Will, who's hand was resting over the wound, and pulled him into the boat. Jack shoved off and began rowing back to the ship.
The wound didn't appear to be fatal, but it was bleeding quite a lot, so it would have to be patched up once they were on board. Elizabeth kept a hand over the hole to keep the blood loss down, and Will was halfway lying in her lap. Her eyes met Jack's, who was looking on, worried.
"It looks like the knife missed his heart. He'll be fine." She said, giving Will's hand a gentle squeeze. The gratitude she felt was overwhelming, as was the guilt.
Will returned the squeeze and smiled up at her in a strange sort of way.
"M'heart's already been stabbed, Elizabeth."
Morph: Character accuracy is the biggest compliment a writer can get, in my opinion, thank you so much!
Dha-gal: Thank you for reading. Aw, I can't kill Will! I don't know, people would hate me then, and I'd feel bad killin' off a character. I'm sure I'll find something to do with him. ;p
Talondragonfriend: Omg. One of the best? That is the most awesome thing anyones said. Thank you! *showers with love and chocolate*
Qalace: Thank you for reviewing! And yes, that was an Oz line, couldn't resist. Btvs is my passion, first and foremost, so I had to pay homage. Though, I would have thought that reusing Spike lines would be best for Jack. But, that one just worked ..
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The cold reply caused Jack's smile to fade, slowly, as if he felt stupid for smiling in the first place. Just as he was thinking up what he deemed the perfect counter to the statement, fighting became a necessity. Looking around somewhat hurriedly for a weapon, Jack finally located a cutlass, lying on the ground next to Will's first victim. Gripping the handle he cast one final, somewhat pained, glance in Turner's direction, and leapt into the fray.
A wave of relief had washed over Elizabeth as soon as she realized what Will's true intent was. She hadn't had to deal with the problem of escaping from the men who were holding her, since they'd abandoned her and gone off to aid their comrades. Apparently guarding a 'defenseless woman' wasn't as important as fighting off two well trained swordsmen. In fact, no one was paying much attention to her at all. Yah, okay, it was slightly insulting. Still, she decided, it would be good of her to help in some way. The question became: what way?
Will was holding his own, as usual, battling two pirates at once. The use of a sword was almost second nature to him, having spent so much time practicing. It wasn't just because he wanted to be prepared to kill pirates, it was also a means of releasing his frustration over Elizabeth, and the fact that she was so out of his league. Funny how he had seemingly ended up right back where he'd started. Though, instead of being an motivator, as before, the thought of Elizabeth was now an unwanted distraction. A distraction that resulted in injury. A thin red line formed on his bicep, visible through the tear in his sleeve, he'd been careless. Word to the wise? Don't zone out in a fight to the death. As payment for the wound, Will lowered his sword for a second and punched the perpetrator, when the man's head flew backward upon impact, the blacksmith lunged. One down.
Lips parted to gasp for breath as Jack was thrown onto his back by an opponent. Flipping back up as quick as possible, he regained his composure and continued fighting. He often stole glances in either direction, at Will, who had already dispatched a couple of pirates, and at Elizabeth, who was standing just standing there. The pirate captain in him wondered why the bloody hell she wasn't doing her part - but the man who had been kissing her not twelve hours ago was glad that she was staying out of harm's way. 'Great,' he thought, 'now I've got inner conflict an` all. Pretty soon I'll be the eunuch `imself.' He was a pirate, he was supposed to take whatever he wanted and give nothing at all back. He'd stolen women from countless men, and not kept his sweet promises to any of them. Why should this be so different? Why did this betrayed lover make him feel so guilty? More importantly, why did this woman make him want to keep all the promises? Jack, as we have already learned, was never one to be in touch with his emotions.
Still standing very close to Barbossa's rotting corpse, the fact that said corpse would probably be equipped with a sword, finally hit Elizabeth. She took a deep breath before moving any closer to the stench, and began searching the body. To her dismay, a skeletal hand was wrapped around the handle of the sword. Wrinkling her nose in disgust she pried it away and grasped the weapon herself. Giving a few practice swings in the air, she desperately tried to remember the fencing lessons that she'd begged Will to give her. Elizabeth was not entirely sure she'd remember everything she needed to know to successfully .. stay alive.
"Oh well," she shrugged, "guess we're gonna find out."
Eyes scanned the scene around her, trying to determine who could use more help. She decided it was Will - who had two pirates attacking him at once. Wordlessly moving in their direction, she snuck up behind one of the men and attacked without any resistance. A split second before impact the pirate turned, and so the blade was driven into his stomach. The feeling of cold steel cutting through skin, muscle, and tissue was sickening. Will caught her attention for a second, as if he was silently saying 'thank you' for her help, before they both went their separate ways again.
The odds now bad, the trio was overwhelmingly outnumbered, and even though they had killed quite a few of the enemy, they just kept coming. The count now stood at ten against three.
It became clear that something besides lots of stabbing and punching was going to have to happen, and it was going to have to happen soon. It was Elizabeth who had the idea first, deciding that since the pirates had gone to all the trouble of capturing them to raise their captain, who's body was there, that maybe they needed to body. It had been laid out so nicely, like at a wake or something, so maybe it also needed to be on an alter, and in tact. And that was where her idea came in. She quickly looked around for anything heavy, anything she could use as a hammer. But her search was unsuccessful. Trying to stay hidden from anyone who might want to attack her, she began to walk in the direction of another pile of treasure. Perhaps there was something there. Midway to her destination, something caught her foot, and she tripped. Standing up, she cursed under her breath and turned to discover the offending item. Her face lit up when she realized that it was the same gold pole she'd used last time around.
It had gotten heavier. At least Elizabeth could've sworn it had. She was still able to carry it at arms length, inching slowly back to the body that she meant to .. grind into powder. It seemed that everyone was occupied. Jack and Will were fighting back to back. She knew it didn't mean much, but seeing them work as a pair of heroes, just like in her books, always made her smile. Shaken from her thoughts she returned to the task at hand. Once she'd made it back up the seemingly massive hill, weapon in hand, she struggled to raise it above her head.
"Um, excuse me?" She spoke only a little above her normal tone. No response. "Could you just look up here for a--" Still nothing. "HEY!"
All the fighting ceased and all eyes were on Elizabeth. All eyes were also very wide, as this was certainly unexpected. She could tell that some of the pirates were already thinking up plans to counter her plan, so she spoke quickly.
"There, now, that's better." In regards to the new silence, "Well, I'll bet you are all wondering what I'm doing up here, next to your Captain's rotting, disgusting body, with this huge pole."
Everyone looked at each other, and shrugged, it seemed the general audience was, indeed, wondering.
"I thought so." Elizabeth offered a condescending smirk, "So I'll tell you how this is going to go. If the lot of you don't drop your swords right now, I'm going to begin to feel very weak, and when that happens, I'm going to drop this," This, meaning the pole, "and when I do, its going to smash Barbossa's remains into tiny bits. Have I made myself clear?"
For the most part everyone just stared, but the the lack of charging, or returning to individuals fights told her that she had their attention. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all? There was pride rising in Elizabeth, for having thought up a plan that led to the end of the mayhem.
"So, on my word, drop your swords right now, or I will see that you have absolutely nothing to raise."
The sound of swords falling to the ground echoed throughout the cavern, Jack and Will moved into the collect every weapon that fell, to make sure no one could keep them from escaping. As Jack placed the bundle of swords into a boat, Will gathered all the oars and tossed them in as well. All the while, Elizabeth held her position, so that no one would try anything. The threat of her ruining any hope of bringing Barbossa back kept the pirates in place.
Once everything was in order, and it was time for our heroes to make their grand exit, Elizabeth 'accidentally' dropped the pole she'd been holding. Shattering the skeleton. Though she hadn't mentioned that when she'd made her little threat, it had to be done to ensure safety in the future. There was a uprising among the enemy and Elizabeth ran in the direction of Will and Jack, who stood at the edge of the water, ready to take off. She raised one foot to step into the boat, but did not see Twigg, who was running towards her. The man had pulled a dagger from his boot.
"You little whore!" He shouted, intent on getting some sort of revenge.
Just as Twigg lowered his arm to stabbed Elizabeth, Will jumped in front of her, and took the blow himself. Before the pirate had a chance to correct his mistake, he was dead. The gunshot rang out, and all eyes turned to Jack. He'd picked up a pistol among the dropped swords, and it had come in handy. After the shock of what had just happened died down, Elizabeth caught Will, who's hand was resting over the wound, and pulled him into the boat. Jack shoved off and began rowing back to the ship.
The wound didn't appear to be fatal, but it was bleeding quite a lot, so it would have to be patched up once they were on board. Elizabeth kept a hand over the hole to keep the blood loss down, and Will was halfway lying in her lap. Her eyes met Jack's, who was looking on, worried.
"It looks like the knife missed his heart. He'll be fine." She said, giving Will's hand a gentle squeeze. The gratitude she felt was overwhelming, as was the guilt.
Will returned the squeeze and smiled up at her in a strange sort of way.
"M'heart's already been stabbed, Elizabeth."