-
The night climbed the sky like a monkey and soon the moon was high. Navel officers and Norrington had rowed out in small boats to the entrace of Muerta and waited in the silent night. Jack and you sat behind Norrington, Mullroy and Murtogg. Just as well, Jack had started another argument with Norrington.
"…I don't care for the situation. Any attempt to storm the cave could turn to an ambush."
Jack snickered and retorted, "Not if you're the one doing the ambushing. I go in to convince Barbossa to send his men out in their little boats. You and your mates return to the Dauntless and blast the bejesus outta them with your little cannons, aye?"
He moved up front and put his arm on Norrington's shoulder and asked, "What do you have to lose?"
Norrington pushed his arm off and replied, "Nothing I'd lament being rid of."
Jack ignored the comment, "Now, to be quite honest with you, there's still a slight risk for those aboard the Dauntless which includes the future Mrs. Commodore…"
Norrington nodded and sent several men back to the Dauntless, moved into a separate boat, leaving you and Jack in one. "Nothing I'd lament being rid of…" you muse as you understood what Norrington had meant as Jack rowed into the cave.
Jack helped you out of the boat and back onto the familiar rocks. "So, what sort of entrance this time?" you ask as he peers over the edge to see what was happening.
Will was being pulled up the large hill of treasure to the chest. "No need for a grand one, love", he replied, taking your hand and simple walking into the crowd of pirates.
"Beg your pardon…" Jack says as he pushes past Twigg. Twigg looked dumbfounded and looked from Jack to you, with a large grin.
"Nice ter 'ave - "
"Not now!" You snap.
Barbossa had started and was ready to slit Will's throat, "Begun by blood…"
"Excuse me…" you say as you push past Bo' sun. Immediately, he put a hand on both yours and Jacks shoulder to stop you walking.
"…by blood un –"
Will's head shot up and he saw Jack, "Jack!"
"S' not possible", Barbossa muttered, shock and annoyance in his tone.
"Not probable", corrected Jack.
"Where's Elizabeth?" asked Will straight after Jack finished.
"She's safe, just like I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington, just like she promised. And you get to die for her, just like you promised. So we're all men of our word really except for Elizabeth who is, in fact, a woman", Jack said then clapped his hands together in conclusion.
"Shut up! You're next!" barked Barbossa and leaned in to slit Will's throat again.
"You don't want to be doing that, mate."
"No, I really think I do", replied Barbossa in a dull voice.
"Your funeral", you added with a shrug.
"Why don't I want to be doing it?" Rolling his yellow eyes, Barbossa removed the knife from Wills throat.
"Well, because -" Jack went to take a step but was roughly pushed back by Bo' sun. Jack, annoyed, slapped his hand off and walked forward, continuing, "…Because the HMS Dauntless, pride of the Royal Navy, is floating just offshore…waiting for you."
Barbossa's crew erupted in whispers and talking. Jack continued.
"Just hear me out, mate. You order your men to row out to the Dauntless; they do what they do best. Robert 's your Uncle, Fannie 's your Aunt; there you are with two ships. The makings of your very own fleet. 'Course you'll take the grandest as your flagship and who's to argue? But what of the Pearl? Name me Captain, I'll sail under your colours, I'll give you ten percent of me plunder and you get to introduce yourself as…Commodore Barbossa. Savvy?"
Barbossa still kept a hard stand, "I s'pose in exchange you want me not to kill the whelp?"
Jack stopped in front of Barbossa an shook his head, "No, no, not at all by all means, kill the whelp. Just not yet. Wait to lift the curse… until the opportune moment. For instance," he leaned down to the open chest and picked up several coins with his gloved hand.
"After you've killed Norrington's men - ", he slowly threw each coin in, "Every… last… one."
You watch him stretch his fingers on his gloved hand and see something gold slide into the gap in the glove. Will had noticed this as well. Both of you exchanged glances; telling each other to play along.
"You've been planning this from the beginning. Ever since you learned my name", hissed Will.
Jack turned to Will, "Yeah."
You pull yourself into a frenzy of anger and try to pull away from Bo' sun in an exaggerating way. "Jack! You sick, lying bastard!"
Barbossa's eyes land on you, "An' wha' 'bout tha' lass?"
Jack looked at you with a grin, "She'll be me slave and of cause," he winked, "I'll share."
You look disgusted at him, this time remnants of real anger in your voice, "You -" you lunged forward but Bo' sun is holding you now. "Bastard…" you hiss as you try to pry yourself away.
"I want fifty percent of your plunder", demanded Barbossa.
"Fifteen."
"Forty."
"Twenty-five!" Jack said, his voice slightly louder, "and I'll buy you the hat, a really big one…Commodore", Jack replied in a sly tone.
"We have an accord!" Barbossa said and shook hands with Jack.
Jack, seeming satisfied, forgot his place and turned to the crew, "All hand's to the boats!", he noticed Barbossa looking at him annoyingly, "Apologies, you give the orders."
"Gents! Take a walk."
-
You watch Jack exaimine a gold statue of a lady from your place next to a pirate throwing pebbles into the water. Barbossa spoke, "I must admit, Jack, I thought I had ye figured. It turns out that you're a hard man to predict."
You shoot a glance to Will. He's standing in the moonlight and nudging his head to the right. You look to your side and see a small sharp dagger. Leaning back, you start to rub your bindings against it until there is only a few remanets of rope supporting around your wrists. Slyly slipping the dagger into your hand, you pretend that your still uncomfortable with your arms tied behind your back.
Jack threw the statue back into the pile and strolled down the hill and behind the pirate throwing pebbles, his walk sashaying all the while, "Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest... Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly", he stopped for a split second and watched the striken look on Barbossa's face.
"Stupid", he added before wrenching the sword from the unsuspecting pirates sheath, kicked him into the water and threw the sword to Will.
You move away from the water, and hold up the dagger just in time to block the pirate's sword attack. Will turned around at the right time as well, so his opponent cut through his binds and their fight began.
The pirate looked surprised and glanced from your dagger then to you. A wicked smile formed on his face, "A dagger? Tha' won' save yer!"
You smile sweetly at him, "It's not the size that matters!", and you pushed him with all your force until he fell back onto a sharp-ended rock. It went through his chest and left him in an akward position so he wasn't able to get back up.
"It's the way you use it!" you add with satisfaction and turn to see Jack fighting Barbossa.
Stepping aside, and letting the pirate fall helplessly onto the impaled pirate, you can't help but wonder how these men had even thought of taken a career choice in piracy?
Dodging another attack, you lung forward and stumble into the water. Ducking as the sword came tumbling down towards your body, you grabbed a hand full of mud, shot back up and threw it into the pirates face. You pull yourself out of the water and away from the stumbling pirate. Looking up, you witness Jack plunge his sword into Barbossa's front and a pang of anxiety shoots through your body.
Barbossa stumbled back slightly, yet a bored expression graced his features. Instead, he rolled his eyes and in one fluid motion ripped thee sword from his gut and impaled Jack.
Everything has become silent, your stomach clenches and your voice hoarse. "No", you whisper.
Jack staggered backwards into the shimmering light of the moon, and you take a sharp intake of air. His body had washed over into the deathly form of decaying living flesh.
The medallion!
"That's interesting", he mused at the ultimately confused and bewildered Barbossa as he put the two and two together. He slipped the medallion from his tattered gloved remains of a hand and let the coin flip over his bony fingers with a cheesy grin, "Couldn't resist, mate."
You find yourself back in battle as the pirate with mud-ridden eyes is now lunging towards you. Ducking, dodging and diverting, you stumble to the ground and he leers down at you. Gasping as his sword came down towards your sprawled form, you throw yourself between the gaps of his legs and kick at the back of his knees, causing him to stumble forward and onto the already occupied sharpened rock.
You almost give a sad expression.
Almost.
A yelp almost escapes you as Jack came flailing past, arms flapping as a hurried "Sorry!" comes from him as he continued to run from the charging Barbossa.
Gasping, you witness Jack almost falter, but quickly throws Barbossa down on a rock slab. There seemingly was a moment of rest between the two men.
"So what now, Jack Sparrow?" Barbossa queried in a bland and tiresome tone, "will it be it two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgment Day and trumpets sound?"
Jack lowered his sword for a brief moment and shrugged, "Or you could surrender."
"'Ello, poppet!"
Turning slowly, you find impaled pirate number three staring menacingly at your form. There is a gaping hole through his middle and you can see through the other two pirates struggling to release themselves from the large splinter. Looking at your dagger, you come to terms that it won't help and decide to turn on heel and leg it in the other direction.
Finally, you hide behind a cave wall and gasp for breath. Chest stinging and clothes drenched, your brain worked quickly as you noted the gold statue Jack had been observing.
"Come out pop -" THUD.
You drop the heavy ornament next to the unconscious pirate and quickly head towards Will. A pirate had dislodged Will's weapon and was about to run him through.
"I'm gonna teach you the meaning of pain", he growled.
"You like pain?"
A large golden pole swung upwards, knocking the pirate backwards.
"Try wearing a corset!" Elizabeth snapped. You can't help but feel relieved that Elizabeth was safe and Will and yourself now had someone else to help you fight off the pirates. Greeting her quickly, you all become quiet while watching Jack continue his on going battle, fully fleshed or not.
"Whose side is Jack on?" Elizabeth asked in a puzzled voice.
"At the moment?" Will replied, equally puzzled.
Hearing the triumphant noises behind you, you turn to see the almost all the pirates, wholesome or not, approaching. Elizabeth and Will stared shockingly at the three pirates missing vital parts of their bodies.
"What happened to them?" She exclaimed while slowly backing up.
"They got in my way," skirting your eyes over the ground, you find something useful. Moving together, all three of you shove the pirates forward into the moonlight.
Both Elizabeth and Will plunged the pool into the three pirates. They let out an agitated howl as they tried to pry themselves free. Ripping the pin from the explosive, you shoved the weapon into the middle ribcage of the pirate and Elizabeth and Will shoved the three of them back into the shadows.
Grabbing around his form, trying to pull the explosive away, the pirate looked nervously at the three of you.
"No fair!" He whimpered before the three pirates exploded. Running away from the parts, you begin to drag Will towards the chest.
"You have to finish this!" You yell before turning the other direction and yelling, "Jack!"
Realising what is about to happen, Jack struck Barbossa, knocking him over and giving Jack a split second to cut his hand, let a small amount of blood pour onto the medallion before throwing it upwards towards Will.
Smiling, you feel the warmth of relief shoot through you but are suddenly through back into peril as the sound of a gun being cocked rings in your ears. Barbossa was pointing his pistol directly at your chest.
An echoing bang shot throughout the entire cave, and you jump. Your body is shaking immensely, but you do not fall. There is no pain.
It was not Barbossa who had fired the shot, but Jack who had fired a bullet directly into the heart of his mutinous first mate. Your hands are shaking as your watch the darkening expression of Jack and the wafting smoke around his lifted arm.
Barbossa gave a bored sigh, "Ten years you carry that pistol and now you waste your shot."
Jack's arm was still upright, his glare harder than ever upon the yellow eyes of his enemy.
"He didn't waste it." Will said from the mound, his arm held above the open chest and his fingers opening and releasing the two bloodied medallions.
They had been returned.
Lowering his weapon, true disbelief has finally shot through Barbossa. His eyes became glazed over as he stared at Jack, "I feel…cold."
-
